the country indefinitely. They also requested that letters might immediately be addressed by the States General to all the places and towns heretofore placed under their jurisdiction, which have already placed themselves under the authority of the English, or which have been solicited by the English to that end, in order that the former may return to their allegiance, and the latter be preserved in it, and moreover, that the power of the States General for bringing into execution these instructions, may reduce them to just subjection, and preserve them therein. 3d. They requested that the States General would communicate these measures to His Royal Majesty of Great Britain, in order that he may give directions that the places invaded may be immediately restored, and preserved from all usurpation during the negotiation.

This memorial was placed in the hands of a committee, according to usual custom, but the complaints continued, until finally the whole of New Netherland and New Amsterdam were overpowered by the English.

1664. FROM VOL. V. PAGE 193.

The Directors of the West India Company, on the 24th of October, gave notice, that they had from time to time been obliged to press upon the States General the consideration of the intolerable acts of violence by which the English had dispossessed the Company of their possessions in New Netherland one after another, in order that their High Mightinesses might not be unacquainted with the manner in which they had been deprived of their foreign conquest, of the inhabitants settled there, and the trade carried on there; and also that they might devise some means in their accustomed wisdom, by which that total loss might be prevented. At last they are sorrowfully obliged to give information, that in fulfilment of the forebodings expressed in former remonstrances and grievances, the ships and people sent from England by the Duke of York, assisted by the authorities of New England, seized upon the city of New Amsterdam, now for fifty years possessed by these States in peace and quietness, on the 27th of August last, and the whole of the province of New Netherland was brought in subjection to the English government, and immediately named New York. This event has caused great grief to thousands of inhabitants there, and the States have lost a possession full of great promise, where thousands were from

year to year gaining a livelihood, commerce was increasing, and the colony was continually enlarging. The trade of this country was continually increasing, which would soon have enabled the Company to bring in millions for the benefit of the State, and the advancement of its trade. The Company felt themselves once more obliged to request the States General to take into consideration these violent and hostile proceedings, in view of the equity of the case, as they have operated to the great injury of the States and the Company; and also to regard the sad and lamentable condition of the inhabitants there, in hope that they may yet devise some measures by which these possessions may be restored to us.

XIII.

HISTORY

OF THE

NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

WITH

NOTICES

OF

SOME OF ITS MOST DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS.

AN ANNIVERSARY DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
NOVEMBER 21, 1848.

BY CHARLES KING.

NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

FORTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY.

AT a meeting of the New York Historical Society, held in the Chapel of the Universty, on Thursday evening, Nov. 21, 1848, to celebrate the Forty-fourth Anniversary of the Society

Mr. JAMES B. MURRAY offered the following Resolution, which was adopted: Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to CHARLES KING, Esquire, for the entertaining Discourse delivered by him this evening, and that he be requested to furnish a copy for publication.

Extract from the Minutes.

ANDREW WARNER,

Recording Secretary.

DISCOURSE.

MR. PRESIDENT, and Gentlemen OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

In fulfilling the agreeable charge committed to me of addressing this Society at its Annual Meeting, I propose to ask its attention for the brief hour allotted to such occasions, to a hasty sketch of the Origin, Progress and Present Condition of one of the oldest Associations of our city-one which, by its connection with many of the stirring events and prominent men of our past history, seems to have a natural alliance with this Society, of which one great object is to perpetuate and elucidate all that pertains to that history.

The Chamber of Commerce of New York, is my theme. The date of the Association reaches far back in our young annals, and is older by many years than the Republic, and the Constitution which makes us one people.

It was instituted by voluntary agreement of the leading merchants of this city in the year 1768. It is, therefore, antecedent in its origin to the Revolution which emancipated the Colonies.

It is a remarkable fact, and one significant of the method and care which are such essential elements in the commercial character, that from the day of its origin until this day, the Records of the Chamber of Commerce have been preserved unbroken and unmutilated, and it is to the Books of Minutes of the Chamber, that I am indebted for very much of whatever may prove attractive in this address.

The period in which this Association was formed, was one of deep interest. For several preceding years, the feelings of the Colonists had been deeply roused by the preten