. The
Pilgrims, having many of them for a long time resided in Holland,
cherished memories of that country with feelings of strong affection
and regarded the Hollanders almost as fellow-countrymen.

But again Governor Bradford asserted the right of the English to the
country claimed by the Dutch, and even intimated that force might soon
be employed to vindicate the British pretentions. We must admire the
conduct of both parties in this emergency. The Dutch, instead of
retaliating with threats and violence, sent a conciliatory memorial to
Charles I., then King of England. And Charles, much to his credit,
issued an order that all the English ports, whether in the kingdom or
in the territories of the British king, should be thrown open to the
Dutch vessels, trading to or from New Netherland.

The management of the affairs of the Dutch Colony was entrusted to a
body of merchants called the West India Company. In the year 1629,
this energetic company purchased of the Indians the exclusive title to
a vast territory, extending north from Cape Henlopen, on the south
side of Delaware Bay, two miles in breadth and running thirty-two
miles inland.

The reader of the record of these days, often meets with the word
_Patroon_, without perhaps having any very distinct idea of its
significance. In order to encourage emigration and the establishment
of colonies, the authorities in Holland issued a charter, conferring
large extents of land and exclusive privileges, upon such members of
the West India Company as might undertake to settle any colony in New
Netherland.

"All such," it was proclaimed in this charter,

"shall be acknowledged _Patroons_ of New Netherland, who
shall, within the space of four years, undertake to plant a
colony there of fifty souls upwards of fifteen years of age.
The Patroons, by virtue of their power, shall be permitted,
at such places as they shall settle their colonies, to
extend their limits four miles[3] along the shore, and so
far into the country as the situation of the occupiers will
admit."

The patroons, thus in possession of territory equal to many of the
dukedoms and principalities of Europe, were invested with the
authority which had been exercised in Europe by the old feudal lords.
They could settle all disputes, in civil cases, between man and man.
They could appoint local officers and magistrates, erect courts, and
punish all crimes committed withi