HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 19

colonists had clustered, to the number of 270 souls, subsisting chiefly by the products of their own labor, any deficiencies being supplied from the company's stores. The impression conveyed to a casual observer of that day, was, that they subsisted “in a comfortable manner” and “promised fairly both to the State and undertakers.” Still, prosperous as the colony appeared, its industry was not self-supporting; and, thus far, the company’s seven years’ experience had neither justified their own expectations, nor fulfilled the conditions imposed upon them by their charter, in regard to the permanent agricultural colonization of the province. “Not a particle of the soil was reclaimed, save what scantily supplied the wants of those attached to the three forts, which were erected within the limits of this rich and vast country; and the only exports were the spontaneous products of the forest. Experience had demonstrated, in the interim, that no benefits had accrued to the company from this plantation, under the present system of management, except what the peltries produced; the mode of life pursued by the people was very irregular, the expenses of the establishment exceedingly high, and the results not so flattering as anticipated.” These were unpalatable facts to the directors of a great mercantile corporation, whose ships under Admiral Heyn, bravest of the brave, were sweeping the Spanish navy from the seas, capturing booty which added twelve millions of guilders to their treasury, so that their dividends advanced, in one year, to fifty per cent. Flushed with the easy spoils of these glorious victories, it is not a matter of surprise that the annual returns from their far-off American colonies seemed paltry and unremunerative. They, therefore, began earnestly to consider plans for a systematic and extended colonization of the whole province-which, after a year of deliberation, resulted in the adoption of a “Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions,” which was promptly approved and confirmed by the States General, on the 7th of June, 1629. In this charter, the company, with the purpose of encouraging independent colonists, offered to such the absolute property of as much land as each could “properly improve;” yet, fully aware that few or none of that class of persons possessed the requisite means, they sought to secure the co-operation of capitalists by the offer of