New-York tribune., 1910-02-05
Literary NetOs and Criticism,

eeive how civilized. how modern it was in
its essential habits of mind. If an Amer
can of to-day could be transported back
Two hundred and fifty years he would hnu
himself more comfortably at home on Man
haitian than anywhere else. IN some oa
the English settlements he Would nave tlle
oEanee TO exercise more direct p9i,'1Iil 9n Tsi
power. but in none. excepting khoae Isl
and, would he find as much personal iIee,
dom, and in none at all a general nen,,a ,ia,
attitude. prevailing temper as sini'Hi SIM
TO the temper of the America OF to-oas'
The genealogist can find in Mrs. van
Rensselaer, pages some instructive IN
formation concerning the origins OF the
knickerbockers From the very f1rst 'he
population OF the city and the province
WAS cosmopolitan, French. NaIlooh anu
German political and religious refugees
coming to them in great numbers to ma
liberty and the hope of bettering their
material condition. Religious persecu-
ton was unknown there as 1t WAS IN the
mother country, though stuyVesaht
made a brief attempt at exclusion on re-
Hgious grounds As for the putch thenn-
selves, the author observes
New Netherlands tinge of sristocratic
blood has often been exagserated Only
three four scions of the old Netherlsna e. "a
The eve Of fancv. not of history. which.
looking back 10 Stuyresant province. sees
little forest of family trees trahspisnse hs s,ai
soil of Holland and France. Inc pIepeiai
shoots that were brought insteao were pet
Thonrh ' Holland M did not send to New Meth.
erland what England sent 10 New tneiehu
thousands of its best in tEner ansn ma ,
feudal sense-neithe- did il send thousands
Of its worst. as England old 10 us more
southerly colonies Mixed though the popu-
lation of New Netherlard was IN respees 10 20
Dationalities it was not nearly SO nlked III
other ways as that of Virginia IN VII
ginia during the first half of the seven.
Srajned adventurers seeking for gold ana
.'unrillv sailauts packed thither by ineir
friends to escape i'll destinies" mlngled VIII
many renripyp1 prisoners, young Wolhe y
'.nressed'' and transported, Willy.nliiF, anu
bands of boys and girls shipped from Lon. eI, =
don because thfy PysonIs aE Of ns these sorts were
never shipped from Holland to its province
The Dutch governors, the sport OF
Washington Irving's pen, are placed IN
the true historic light, which Goes NOT
crown them with halos. The best OF
them, Peter Stuyvesant, came 100 late'
and, transferred from q tropical coionE'
came TO find his drastic methods III
irreconciable conflict with the growing
American spirit II may be well to make
2 brief reference here to the authors ad-
,nirable chapters on Jacob Leisler. which
close her second volume.
The History of New York IN the
Seventeenth Century is to be followed
in course of time by a History OF New
York in the Eighteenth Century down
10 11S9 and the inauguration OF WASH
ington. At this point Mrs. van Rens-
selaer will lay down her pen. because
she SAYS. ito go further than this would
be. not to continue the same story, put
10 begin on the same ground one OF a
different kind. In 1io5 ne"
York's original kind Of Importance was
shorn away from it. It was no longer
as it had been for generations, the cap
ital Of a province Independent OF It's
neighbors. or. as it had been in recent
wears. the capital Of virtually noe-
nendent state: and eight years later 1t
ceased 10 be even the capital of one OF
the United States