The West India Company and the Walloons. 59 



on board nearly one hundred and forty thousand pounds of pure silver, 

 valued at 12.000,000 guilders.* This was a result that Barneveldt feared 

 would happen if the company was chartered; the desire for large gains 

 would be added to the success of conquest, and war would be pro- 

 longed for mercenary purposes and national renown; and the arts 

 of peace that tend to build up a nation on a firmer basis, would 

 be cast aside for the more dazzling glories of war. Yet the course 

 they pursued was not an unusual one, nor one deserving of great blame. 

 Spain had been for years the most malignant, cruel, blood-thirsty 

 enemy that Holland or any other country on the face of the earth 

 ever had. Murder, fire, persecution and the sword were her allies in 

 war; deception, intrigue and broken promises were her companions in 

 peace; and if ever a nation of noble, fearless, God-serving patriots 

 were driven to destruction and frenzy by cruelty and crime, the Dutch 

 were that nation; and if the means they took to avenge themselves 

 were not perfectly justifiable in view of the proposed truce, let the 

 rivers of blood Alva's persecution poured forth, be their excuse; 

 and let the nation who under their sufferings would have done differ- 

 ently, cast the first stone. 



But were we disposed to criticize with severity the purposes for 

 which the West India Company was formed, and the manner in which 

 these purposes were carried on, we must admit that in its system of 

 colonization it was governed by the principles which are more in ac- 

 cord with the known characteristics of the Dutch people. Their col- 

 onies were not oppressed or ground down or subjected to onerous 

 burdens; those who were sent as rulers were generally men of ability, 

 fairness and honesty; the sentiments of religious freedom and unre- 

 stricted commerce were fostered in the minds of the colonists; and 

 the principles of self-government were clearly seen written over the 

 rules for the guidance of their colonies; and although the company 

 was not successful as the developer of a new country, for the simple 

 reason that it was organized for warlike, rather than for fostering, 

 protecting, colonizing purposes, still it left a beneficial impress on this 

 State, and the work it has done here can never be effaced, although 

 the policy under which it acted worked its own ruin. 



But we have at this time more particularly under consideration the 

 work the West India Company did as the colonizer of this State, and 

 also the applications made to them for the privilege of settling here 

 under their protection; and why the privilege was granted to some 

 and denied to others, is an interesting part of our early history. 



The massacre of St. Bartholomew caused large numbers of the m- 

 ^B^adhead's History of New York, vol. I, p. 184. 



