Courts soc assembled, WEE DOE . . . graunte . . . That the Governor, or, in his absence, the Deputie Governor . . . and such of the Assistants and freemen . . as shalbe present, or the greater nomber of them soe assembled, whereof the Governor or Deputie Governor and six of the Assistants, at the least to be seaven, shall have full power and authoritie to choose, nominate, and appointe such and soe many others as they shall thinke fitt, and that shall be willing to accept the same, to be free of the said Company and Body, and them into the same to admitt, and to elect and constitute such officers as they shall thinke fitt and requisite for the ordering, mannaging, and dispatching of the affaires of the saide Governor and Company. . . . And wee doe... ordeyne, That yearely once in the yeare for ever hereafter, namely, the last Wednesday in Easter tearme yearely, the Governor, Deputy Governor, and Assistants . . ., and all other officers of the saide Company, shalbe, in the Generall Court or Assembly to be held for that day or tyme, newly chosen for the yeare ensueing by such greater parte of the said Company for the tyme being, then and there present, as is aforesaide. [Vacancies caused by the death or removal of any officer of the Company may be filled by new elections. All officers are required to take an oath for the faithful performance of their duties.] . . . AND wee doe . . . graunt . . ., That it shall . . . be lawful to and for the Governor or Deputie Governor and such of the Assistants and Freemen of the said Company . . . as shalbe assembled in any of their Generall Courts aforesaide, or in any other Courtes to be specially summoned and assembled for that purpose, or the greater parte of them, (whereof the Governor or Deputie Governor and six of the Assistants, to be alwaies seaven,) from tyme to tyme to make, ordeine, and establishe all manner of wholesome and reasonable orders, lawes, statutes, and ordinances, directions, and instructions not contrarie to the lawes of this our realme of England, aswell for setling of the formes and ceremonies of government and magistracy fitt and necessary for the said plantation and the inhabitants there, and for nameing and stiling of all sortes of officers, both superior and inferior, which they shall finde needefull for that governement and plantation, and the distinguishing and setting forth of the severall duties, powers, and lymytts of every such office and place, and the formes of such oathes warrantable by the lawes and statutes of this our realme of England

as shalbe respectivelie ministred unto them, for the execution of the said severall offices and places, as also for the disposing and ordering of the elections of such of the said officers as shalbe annuall, and of such others as shalbe to succeede in case of death or removeall, and ministring the said oathes to the newe elected officers, and for impositions of lawfull fynes, mulcts, imprisonment, or other lawfull correction, according to the course of other corporations in this our realme of England, and for the directing, ruling, and disposeing of all other matters and thinges whereby our said people, inhabitants there, maie be soe religiously, peaceablie, and civilly governed, as their good life and orderlie conversation maie wynn and incite the natives of [that] country to the knowledg and obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of mankinde, and the Christian fayth, which, in our royall intention and the adventurers free profession, is the principall ende of this plantation. . . . PROVIDED also. That theis presents shall not in any manner enure, or be taken to abridge, barr, or hinder any of our loving subjects whatsoever to use and exercise the trade of fishing upon that coast of New England in America by theis presents mentioned to be graunted: But that they . . . shall have full and free power and liberty to continue and use their said trade of fishing upon the said coast in any the seas thereunto adjoyning, or any armes of the seas or saltwater rivers where they have byn wont to fishe, and to build and sett up upon the landes by theis presents graunted such wharfes, stages, and workehouses as shalbe necessarie for the salting, drying, keeping, and packing up of their fish, to be taken or gotten upon that coast: And to cutt downe and take such trees and other materialls there groweing, or being, or [as] shalbe needefull for that purpose, and for all other necessarie easements, helpes, and advantage concerning their said trade of fishing there, in such manner and forme as they have byn heretofore at any tyme accustomed to doe, without making any wilfull waste or spoyle, Any thing in theis presents conteyned to the contrarie notwithstanding.

No.

9.

Charter of Privileges to Patroons

June 7/17, 1629

THE governinent of the Dutch West India Company, chartered in 1621, was vested in five chambers, or boards, established in as many Dutch cities, with a board of nineteen for the exercise of general executive powers. Of the chambers, that of Amsterdam was the most important. The region known as New Netherland was not named in the charter, but was included within the jurisdiction of the Company. On the final organization of the Company under the charter, in 1623, New Netherland was made a province, and placed under the immediate control of the Amsterdam chamber. The continued unprofitableness, however, of the trade of New Netherland, except the fur trade, led to a change of policy; and the Charter of Privileges to patroons, drafted in March, 1628, but not adopted by the board of nineteen until June, 1629, was intended to encourage private individuals to establish settlements at various points on the Hudson and Delaware, or North and South, rivers. Numerous grievances, occasioned by friction between the patroons and the Company, were partially allayed by a new charter in 1640, restricting the area of the grants, and encouraging independent settlement; but the feudal privileges of the patroons were not interfered with. "Many of the old patroon estates long remained undivided, and the heirs of the founders claimed some semifeudal privileges well into the nineteenth century."

REFERENCES. Text in Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, II., 553-557. On the Dutch West India Company, see O'Callaghan's History of New Netherland; the charter of 1621 is in Hazard's Historical Collections, 1., 121–131. See also Brodhead's History of New York, I., chaps. 5 and 6; Winsor's Narr. and Crit. Hist., IV., chap. 8.

FREEDOMS AND EXEMPTIONS

GRANTED BY THE BOARD OF THE NINETEEN OF THE INCORPORATED WEST INDIA COMPANY, TO ALL PATROONS, MASTERS OR PRIVATE PERSONS WHO WILL PLANT COLONIES IN NEW NETHERLAND

I. Such members of the said Company as may be inclined to settle a Colonie in New Netherland, shall be permitted to send in the ships of this Company going thither, three or four persons to inspect the situation of the country, provided that they, with the officers and ship's company, swear to the articles, so far as they relate to them, and pay for provisions and for passage, going and coming, six stivers per diem; and such as desire to eat in the cabin, twelve stivers, and to be subordinate and give assistance like others, in cases offensive and defensive; and if any ships

be taken from the enemy, they shall receive, pro rata, their proportions with the ship's company, each according to his quality; that is to say, the colonists eating out of the cabin shall be rated with the sailors, and those who eat in the cabin with those of the Company's servants who eat at table and receive the lowest wages. II. Though, in this respect, shall be preferred such persons as have first appeared and desired the same from the Company.

III. All such shall be acknowledged Patroons of New Netherland who shall, within the space of four years next after they have given notice to any of the Chambers of the Company here, or to the Commander or Council there, undertake to plant a Colonie there of fifty souls, upwards of fifteen years old; one-fourth part within one year, and within three years after the sending of the first, making together four years, the remainder, to the full number of fifty persons, to be shipped from hence, on pain, in case of wilful neglect, of being deprived of the privileges obtained; but it is to be observed that the Company reserve the Island of the Manhattes to themselves.

IV. They shall, from the time they make known the situation of the places where they propose to settle Colonies, have the preference to all others of the absolute property of such lands as they have there chosen; but in case the situation should not afterwards please them, or they should have been mistaken as to the quality of the land, they may, after remonstrating concerning the same to the Commander and Council there, be at liberty to choose another place.

V. The Patroons, by virtue of their power, shall and may be permitted, at such places as they shall settle their Colonies, to extend their limits four leagues along the shore, that is, on one side of a navigable river, or two leagues on each side of a river, and so far into the country as the situation of the occupiers will permit; provided and conditioned that the Company keep to themselves the lands lying and remaining between the limits of Colonies, to dispose thereof, when and at such time as they shall think proper, in such manner that no person shall be allowed to come within seven or eight leagues of them without their consent, unless the situation of the land thereabout be such that the Commander and Council, for good reasons, should order otherwise; always observing that the first occupiers are not to be prejudiced in the right they have obtained, other then, unless the service of

the Company should require it, for the building of fortifications, or something of that sort; the command of each bay, river or island, of the first settled Colonie, remaining, moreover, under the supreme jurisdiction of their High Mightinesses the StatesGeneral and the Company: but that on the next Colonies being settled on the same river or island, they may, in conjunction with the first, appoint one or more Deputies in order to consider what may be necessary for the prosperity of the Colonies on the said river and island.

VI. They shall forever possess and enjoy all the lands lying within the aforesaid limits, together with the fruits, rights, minerals, rivers and fountains thereof; as also the chief command and lower jurisdictions, fishing, fowling and grinding, to the exclusion of all others, to be holden from the Company as a perpetual inheritance, without it ever devolving again to the Company, and in case it should devolve, to be redeemed and repossessed with twenty guilders per Colonie, to be paid to this Company, at the Chamber here or to their Commander there, within a year and six weeks after the same occurs, each at the Chamber where he originally sailed from; and further, no person or persons whatsoever shall be privileged to fish and hunt but the Patroons and such as they shall permit. And in case any one should in time prosper so much as to found one or more cities, he shall have power and authority to establish officers and magistrates there, and to make use of the title of his Colonie, according to his pleasure and to the quality of the persons.

VII. There shall likewise be granted to all Patroons who shall desire the same, venia testandi, or liberty to dispose of their aforesaid heritage by testament.

VIII. The Patroons may, if they think proper, make use of all lands, rivers and woods lying contiguous to them, for and during so long a time as this Company shall grant them to other Patroons or private persons.

IX. Those who shall send persons over to settle Colonies, shall furnish them with proper instructions in order that they may be ruled and governed conformably to the rule of government made, or to be made, by the Board of the Nineteen, as well in the political as in the judicial government; which they shall be obliged first to lay before the Directors of the respective Chambers.