NEW AMSTERDAM GARDENS 57 
formed a barrier against which it beat in vain, ulti¬ 
mately shattering itself. Hallam says “their self- 
government goes beyond any assignable date.” And 
another writes, “Here,” (in Holland) “art was first 
made the servant of the home, glorifying the things 
of common life, and the people rather than the kings 
and nobles.” 
The States-General of Holland seem not to have 
realized this spirit of the people, when they took the 
first definite steps towards establishing a permanent 
colony in New Netherland, in 1629; for to the mem¬ 
bers of the West India Company—the holders of the 
Charter of 1621—each of whom was already assigned 
a large grant, they gave the privilege of extending 
their limits sixteen English miles on one side of the 
river, or half that distance on both sides—exclusive 
of the island itself, which was reserved to the Com¬ 
pany—and “so far into the country as the situation of 
the occupiers will permit,” on condition of their 
planting, each of them—as “Patroon” or master—a 
colony of fifty souls, above fifteen years of age. 
These lands the Patroons were to hold as “a perpetual 
inheritance”; they were also allowed and instructed 
“to establish officers and magistrates in the cities,” and 
to dispose of the property by will. To others who 
should go to the Colony and settle independent of the 
Patroons, as much land was granted, under the ap- 
