Schuylers,1 Cuylers, etc., took very extensive leases of the fertile plains along the river, with boundless liberty of woods and pasturage, to the westward. The terms were, that the lease should hold while water runs and grass grows, and the landlord to receive the tenth sheaf of every kind of grain the ground produces. Thus ever accommodating the rent to the fertility of the soil, and changes of the seasons, you may suppose the tenants did not greatly fear a landlord, who could neither remove them, nor heighten their rents. Thus, without the pride of property, they had all the independence of proprietors. They were like German princes, who, after furnishing their contingent to the emperor, might make war on him when they chose. Besides the profits (yearly augmenting) which the patroon drew from his ample possessions, he held in his own hands an extensive and fruitful demesne. Yet preserving in a great measure the simple and frugal habits of his ancestors, his wealth was not an object of envy, nor a source of corruption to his fellow-citizens. To the northward of these bounds, and at the southern extremity also, the Schuylers and Cuylers held lands of their own. But the only other great landholders I remember, holding their land by those original tenures, were Phillips 1 Philip (Pietersen) Schuyler bought his farm of several hundred acres and a large island about four miles north of Albany at a cost of 8,000 florins; and in recognition of the patroon's right he gave 40 bushels of wheat yearly. VOL. I.-4 and Cortlandt; their lands lay also on the Hudson's river, half way down to New York, and were denominated Phillip's and Cortlandt's manors.1 At the time of the first settling of the country the Indians were numerous and powerful all along the river; but they consisted of wandering families, who, though they affixed some sort of local boundaries for distinguishing the hunting grounds of each tribe, could not be said to inhabit any place. The cool and crafty Dutch governors, being unable to cope with them in arms, purchased from them the most valuable tracts for some petty consideration. They affected great friendship for them; and, while conscious of their own weakness, were careful not to provoke hostilities; and they, silently and insensibly, established themselves to the west. Philipse, or Philipsen, a carpenter by trade, who founded a wealthy Dutch family. In 1674 a valuation of the estates of the principal inhabitants of New York was made, when that of Frederick Philipsen, the highest, was valued at 80,000 florins. A portion of this manor was sequestered by reason of the defection of the owner in the Revolution, who fled to England, and was allowed by that government about three hundred thousand dollars as compensation for his loss. The whole of the original property was at a later day estimated at over three millions of dollars. The Van Cortlandt manor is still in a measure intact, and known as such. Chapter II THE FIVE NATIONS-JOHN AND PHILIP ON SCHUYLER N the Mohawk river, about forty miles distant from Albany, there subsisted a confederacy of Indian tribes, of a very different character from those mentioned in the preceding chapter; too sagacious to be deceived, and too powerful to be eradicated. These were the once renowned Five Nations, whom any one, who remembers them while they were a people, will hesitate to call savages. Were they savages who had fixed habitations; who cultivated rich fields; who built castles (for so they called their not incommodious wooden houses, surrounded with palisadoes); who planted maize and beans, and showed considerable ingenuity in constructing and adorning their canoes, arms, and clothing? They who had wise though unwritten laws, and conducted their wars, treaties, and alliances with deep and sound policy; they whose eloquence was bold, nervous, and animated; whose language was sonorous, musical, and expressive; who possessed generous and elevated sentiments, heroic fortitude, and unstained probity: were these indeed savages? The difference "Of scent the headlong lioness between And hound sagacious, on the tainted green," is not greater than that of the Mohawks in point of civility and capacity, from other American tribes, among whom, indeed, existed a far greater diversity of character, language, etc., than Europeans seem to be aware of. This little tribute to the memory of a people who have been, while it soothes the pensive recollections of the writer, is not so foreign to the subject as it may at first appear. So much of the peace and safety of this infant community depended on the friendship and alliance of these generous tribes, and to conciliate and retain their affections so much address was necessary, that common characters were unequal to the task. Minds liberal and upright, like those I am about to describe, could alone excite that esteem, and preserve that confidence, which were essential towards retaining the friendship of those valuable allies. From the time of the great rebellion, so many English refugees frequented Holland, that the language and manners of our country became familiar at the Hague, particularly among the stadtholder's party. When the province of New York fell under the British dominion, it became necessary that everybody should learn our language, as all public business was carried on in the English tongue, which they did the more willingly, as, after the revolution, the accession of the stadtholder to the English crown very much reconciled them to our government; still, however, the English was a kind of court language, little spoken, and imperfectly |