The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-09
7

Under the shadow Of TIA fountain
where balloons bark all day, ~ the tip
OF the island Of the Mannahattaes be-
tween Stone street and Wall street, the
Dutch did not plan the conquest OF new
land for the relief of an overcrowded
metropolis. There was no such density
Of population In the polders as to drive
the lahoring man overseas la the hope
of carving out of the wilderness an es-
tate for himself Religious factions had
been brought to settlement by the es-
adjustment of a state church In an
evangelical communion TO the complete
satisfaction Of the Low Countries.
therefore there was no impulse toward
such religious exile as peoplcd Massa-
chusetts Bay and Connecticut and, in
an opposite sense. Maryland
The goal of all voyaging in the fif-
tenth century was India, the land Of
rubes and diamonds, the land of gold,
more estimablc in the martS the spices
Of that remote and mysterious Orient.
Discovery 4 new lands was no more
than an incident in the search for the
fairway To the Indies. where the great
merchant and adventurous races Of the
north OF Europe might enter upon the
lands of wealth without encouutering
the prohibitions of the great Iberian
lands. hudson passed by our present
Battery. or rather the land just inshorc
there T. as not worthy Of a halt so long
as the great river opened in promise of
a channel 10 Cathay and Xipangu; on
his return, disappointed, his stay at Hoo
boken was nothing more than the halt
10 equip his crazy Half Moon the better
IN wiz stand he open sea while he
irtNt cool. fttt. bar IN ba
There was no great rush to occupy
the cape, whether Cape Of Storms ar
cape of Good Hope Bartholomew Diaz
but sighted 1t when he was beating a
battered way back from the southern
ocean into which ne had been driven
by gales. II was not until 1877. n
lapse of ten years in an age when the
search for the way To the Indies was
pressed with fever, that Nasco da Cana
rounded the Cape and found the Indian
way for the Portuguese. Yet TO them
It was never more than "A landmark. a
place whore vessels might renew their
store of wood and water at the imminent
risk Of combat with tho savages.
Six months earlier than the Pilgrim
Fathers. namely June 81, 1920, two
masters of English Indiamcn. Andrew
Shilling and Humphrey Fitz-Herbert
made an empty proclamation Of Brit
ism sovereignty over the watering place
In Table Bay and of the whole CONT
nent adjoining so far as it was not oc-
cupied by any Christian Power, The
act Of sovereignty was futile, the au-
thorities OF the Honorable East Indian
Company, King James in whose name
the land was proclaimed, made no effort
10 ratify the action; il has been pre-
served from oblivion only by reason OF
the fact that one of the company Of
Shilling's ship was a greater than he,
William Bafiln, whose lustre ilumines
the icy north.
1t was not until Christmas Eve of
1851 that any real effort was made to
assume possession of this distant land.
The Dutch East India Company On
that day despatched from the Texel an
expedition under the command of Jan
van Riebcek, formerly a surgeon in
their service, with two ships and a
smaller vessel to establish a settlement
in Table Bay. ON April &, 1862, the
lttle expedition came to anchor and
proceeded to accomplish its errand of
building and garrisOning n fort for the
relief OF the vessels of The company
which might pause in their long voy-
ages 10 and out of the East The plan
Of the for had been placed In Van
Rebeek's hands before he left the Low
Countries and all that was required of
him was to build according to that
plan and on those specifications a
stronghold which should house some
seventy or eighty persons. Sufficient
ground was to he taken up for pas
turage and gardenings. The aborisina
inhabitants were not to be molestcd
Excepting the Portuguese, other ma
ii MS of Europe We're to be permitted
to make settlements on the bay for
their own similar needs of rcfrcshmen,
in the long Indian voyage, The firs
settlers were n few more than hundred
in number, for the most part soldier,
and sailors on draft. only the com
mandcr and n few officers brought thrii
families with them. and that with n,
intention If carving out homes in tn,
new land.
:. WAS planned to make this modes
settlement sclf-puppOrting so far al
might he possible but it was not mean
10 he trading post The settlers wer,
ordered to dispose Of their produce 4
but Dutch vessels the prices were es
tabllshed by the court Of directors il
Amsterdam. That this small factor,
has become n metropolis OF the world
commerce, that nj the tip of the islam
which Hudson neglected has grown al
even greater MARI. these but show tina
the inevitable logic of development /
Qot at all Affected by the futilitv n