Monmouth County NJ Archives History....Hulse/Hulsehart and Aumack families: Beekman's, Early Dutch Settlers
************************************************
Copyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/nj/njfiles.htm
************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
JMP jpaatter@comcast.net
************************************************
The html index page for this book may be found at
http://usgwarchives.net/nj/monmouth/beekman-hist.html
************************************************
EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS
OF
MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
GEORGE C. BEEKMAN.
MOREAU BROS., PUBLISHERS,
FREEHOLD, N. J.
Second Edition Printed, 1915.
============================
97 THE HULSES OR HULSEHARTS OF MONMOUTH
AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
The men and women bearing above
names are very numerous in Monmouth
and Ocean counties. They are all des-
cendants of "Benjamin Holsaert" and
"Annetie Luyster" his wife, as their
names are spelled on the records of
the Dutch church of Monmouth, where
they became communicants in 1717.
A writer on the early migration of
the Dutch from Long Island to Somer-
set county. N. J., says that Benjamin
Holsaert settled there. This is a mis-
take, originating from the fact that
the people of Kings county, L. I., in
those times spoke of their relatives and
friends who had migrated to New Jer-
sey as "gone to the Raritans."
The territory south of Raritan Bay
as well as that through which the Rar-
itan river flows went with them under
this one name. In this generation Rar-
itan is the name of one locality in
Somerset and one township in Mon-
mouth. Sloops carried the early set-
tlers with their goods and stock from
the Brooklyn shore of the East river
down the upper bay, through the Nar-
rows into Raritan Bay, until they
reached the south end of Staten Is-
land; here the settlers going to Middle-
sex or Somerset counties sailed up the
Raritan river, while those coming to
Monmouth continued on the same
course landing up Matawan or Waycake
creeks. In the family records kept in
some of the old homesteads in Kings
county, they were often put down as
pemoved to the "Raratons." Modern
writers on family genealogies have
seen these entries, and jumped at the
conclusion that "Raritan" was the same
region or place it is now. Some per-
sons who settled in Monmouth, like
Derrick Barkalow and Benjamin Hols-
aert, are said to have settled along the
Raritan river in Somerset county.
An agreement and deed recorded in
Book E of deeds, p. 340, etc., Monmouth
clerk's office, shows beyond any doubt,
that Benjamin Hulse. (to us the modern
name), first settled in Monmouth. A
Mark Salem and Cornelius Salem of
Freehold township purchased together
a tract of 230 acres in same township
(now Marlboro), generally described in
said deed as bounded "E. by 'Hopp
Brook,' W. by Gravel Brook, N. by
Thomas Hart's land and S. by unappro-
priated lands." Cornelius Salem by deed
dated June 5th, 1718, conveyed his in-
dividual half of said tract to'"Benjamin
Holsaert," described in said deed as a
cordwainer by trade, and a resident of
New Utrecht, Kings county, L. I. By
this agreement said tract is equally
divided, the southermost half to be the
separate property of Holsaert, and the
northermost half to belong to Mark
Salem.
This name has been spelled in several
different ways. Persons who write
their names today "Hulse" had parents
who wrote the name "Hulshart." Among-
the many marriages of this family rec-
orded in Books A and B of marriages
in our county clerk's office, the follow-
ing have been selected to show this fact:
Samuel Hulshart to Mary Emmons, August 11, 1796.
Tunis Hulshart to Margaret Covenhoven,
January 5, 1797.
John Hulse, son of William, to Elizabeth
Harvey, daughter of William Harvey, June 15, 1805.
William Hulse was married to Sarah For-
man, April 18, 1799, by Rev. John Woodhull, D.D.
Ezra Havens was married to Mahala Hulse.
both of Howell township, May 3, 1814, by
John Cooper, V. D. M.
Hendrick Hulst,* widower, was married to
____________________
* "Our county records show that this name
is sometimes spelled Hulst and Hulz. The
owing entry from minutes No. 6 of Mon-
mouth Sessions, 1775-1783, shows one of these
ways:
OCTOBER TERM, 1778.
Before
John Longstreet, Esq.,
Joseph Lawrence, Esq.,
Peter Forman, Esq.,
Denise Denise, Esq.,
Judges.
John Hulst, Appellant, ads. The State.
Appeal from Militia fine, £18.15 under the
substitution.
It appearing that the Appellant when called,
was employed at a salt works which boils at
least 1000 gallons of salt water for the pur-
pose of making salt, and as the Legislature of
the State of New Jersey passed an act the 11th
day of December, 1777, for the exempting one
man from Military Duty for every 500 gallons
of salt water boiled as aforesaid, and a sub-
stitute hired in his stead. Ordered that said
fine of eighteen pounds and fifteen shillings be
remitted and entirely set aside."
98 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
Margaret Yetman, widow, by Rev. Benjamin DuBois.
Sidney Hulshart was married to Ann Ben-
nett, both of Freehold township Feb. 24, 1820.
Thomas Hulshart was married to Anndoshe
Hulshart April 23, 1824, by John D. Barkalow,
elder of the Independent Methodist church.
Stephen Hulshart to Jane Matthews, Dec. 29, 1829.
Joseph G. Hulshart, Esq., was married Jan-
uary 19, 1832, to Agnes M. Ely Bennett, by
John D. Barkalow, elder, etc.
The last couple were the parents of
John W. Hulse, Esq., one of the jus-
tices of the peace of the township and
police justice of the town of Freehold.
Justice Hulse has abbreviated his name
to the first syllable of his father's sur-
name, and many others have done the
same. John W. Hulse enlisted as as
private when a lad of eighteen years,
and served as a Union soldier until the
close of the Civil War. He has served
one term as justice of Freehold town-
ship, and gave such satisfaction by his
fair and impartial decisions that he
was elected to his second term without
opposition. In his physical appearance
he is a fair type of the old generations
of this family and also seems to have
their usual mental traits. For the Huls-
harts have ever been a plain and unpre-
tentions people, without those meddle-
some propensities, overweening self-
conceit and insatiable curiosity which
make the descendants of certain people
such unmitigated nuisances to their
neighbors. Justice Hulse has in his
possession a letter dated August 16,
1830, written and signed by "John Hol-
sart" as he spells his name, who is
also one of this family.
It is addressed to "John Barcalow,"
then overseer of the poor of Freehold
township, and the grandfather of Wicoff
Barkalow, the present overseer of the
poor of this township. He signs him-
self in this letter as a justice of the
peace of Middletown township. The
letter is well written and words cor-
rectly spelled. This man lived and
died on his farm which lay about a
mile west of Colts Neck. This part of
Middletown was taken off when Atlan-
tic township was formed. He married
Mary, daughter of Tobias Polhemus of
Upper Freehold township, and was one
of our soldiers in the Revolutionary
war, and was with Col. Asher Holmes
at the battle of Germantown. He died
December 6, 1846, aged 87 years, 6
months, 27 days, according to the in-
scription on his tombstone in yard of
Marlboro Brick church. His wife, Mary
Polhemus. died February 13, 1851, aged
84 years, 10 months, 3 days. Their un-
married daughter, "Maria P. Holsairt."
as name is spelled on headstone, is in-
terred by them. She was born Decem-
ber 24, 1792, and died August 12, 1883.
John Holsart's will is recorded in
Book E of Wills, page 173, Monmouth
Surrogate's office. He gives his wife
Mary, and his daughter Maria, full pos-
session of his lands, stock and house-
hold goods as long as they live to-
gether and his widow remains unmar-
ried. All his weaving apparatus he
gives to his son-in-law, Elias Sickles,
his watch to his grandson, John Hol-
sart Sickles, but if he dies under age,
then to his brother, DeWitt Sickles. He
directs 150 acres to be run off so as to
take in all the buildings on his home-
stead farm and devises it in fee to his
daughter Mariah. The remainder of his
lands is to be equally divided between
his daughter Mariah, and his daughter
Hannah, wife of Elias Sickles. He pro-
vides for his colored man Jack and or-
ders that he shall be maintained on the
homestead out of his estate. His
daughter Mariah, and "trusty friend"
John Statesir, are appointed executors.
Henry D. Polhemus, J. M. Hartshorne,
and R. S. Hendrickson are the witness-
es. The will is dated June 27, 1838, and
proved January 27, 1847.
'Squire Holsart had another daughter
not named in this will, Eleanor. She
married Daniel, son of Daniel Barkalow
and Annttje Luyster, his wife, and they
removed to and settled in Western New
York or Ohio.
Elias Sickles, who married Hannah
Holsart, and named in above will, re-
sided near the village of Marlboro and
was a deacon in 1830 and elder in 1844
of the Dutch church. He is a descend-
ant of the "VanSiclin" or "VanSikkele."
family who settled in the vicinity of
Gravesend, L. I. The name on the old
records of Monmouth Dutch church is
spelled in the latter way; see page 87
of Wells' Memorial Address at Brick
church.
Elias Sickles by Hannah Holsart, his
wife, had eight children. One of his
daughters, Willempe, married Peter
Antonides, who has always lived and
carried on a blacksmith business at
East Freehold, where his father, Peter
Antonides,* and grandfather, John An-
tonides, also lived and carried on same
business.
He was born November 12, 1818, and
___________________
* Peter Antonides is buried in old graveyard
near East Freehold, called erroneously the
Wyrkoff burying ground. His tombstone states
he died Dec. 6, 1828, aged 53 yrs. 5 m. 16 d.
Mary Lloyd, his wife, died March 3, 1836,
aged 56 yrs. 11 m. 26 d.
++++++++++++++++++
Photos:
JOHN W. HULSE,
Justice of the Peace of Freehold Township, N. J.
WIKOFF BARKALOW,
Overseer of the Poor of Freehold Townshiip, N. J.
JOHN R. LONGSTREET,
Son of Gilbert Longstreet, of Upper Freehold
Township, Monmouth County. N. J.
MARY MIERS,
Wife of John R. Longstreet, and
Granddaughter of Garret Conover
Alice Hendrickson, his wife.
++++++++++++++++
99 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
was a son of Peter Antonides and Mary
Lloyd, his wife. She was a daughter of
David Lloyd. Mr. Peter Antonides, al-
though now over four score years, is
as straight and erect as a flag staff,
supple and quick and able to shoe a
horse and do other blacksmith work as
well as any other young man in this
county. One of his uncles, Vincent, or
Vincentius Antonides, removed to and
settled in Ohio during the early part of
this century. It is said he has raised a
large family there.
The grandson, John H. Sickles, named
in Squire Holsart's will, and to whom
the watch is given, is still living. He
was a Union soldier in the war of the
rebellion and very stong in his devo-
tion to the Union cause, hating rebels
or rebel sympathizers with all his
heart. He is still a bachelor, for like
a celebrated judge of Monmouth county
used to remark, he believes a "man is
never satisfied until he gets as bad off
as possible, as is the case when mar-
ried." So he has escaped the marriage
noose and rejoices in single blessed-
ness. He is Dutch clear through on
both sides, and sometimes remarks that
not a drop of mongrel or English blood
beats in his heart.
The Hulsharts have generally follow-
ed agricultural or kindred pursuits and
have been as a rule good citizens.
=========================
THE AUMACKS OR AUMOCKS OF MONMOUTH
AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
The name of "Teunis Amak" and
Lena Lain (Lane), his wife, appear as
members of the Monmouth Dutch
church in 1723, while his brother.
"Stephen Aumack" and Jannetie Janse,
his wife, are entered on the church
records five years later. *
Abraham Emans** (Emmons), a resi-
dent of Freehold township, conveys to
Hendrick Htndrickson and Jaques
Denys (Denise) of New Utrecht, L. I.,
by deed dated May 1, 1719, ninety-six
and a half acres of land in Freehold
township, bounded east by Bartlett
Brook, west by lands of Thomas Cooper,
south by lands of Samuel Dennis and
north by lands formerly William Scott's.
This tract is described as beginning at
William Layton's. formerly John Scott's
corner.*** The grantor and grantees
named in this deed, all join in a deed
dated May 5, 1730, conveying this same
land to Stephen Aumack. Emans joins
in order to cure a defect in the former
deed. "Theuny Amack" and "Peter
Jansen," as they spell their names, are
witnesses to this second deed.**** Solomon
Deboogh (Debow) by deed dated March
11, 1739, conveys a tract of 100 acres in
Freehold township to "Theunis Amack"
who is described as a weaver, and resi-
dent of Monmouth county. Bartlet
Brook and Long Brook are mentioned
as part of the boundaries of this tract. *****
"Thunis Amack" is named among the
grand jurors impannelled by Sheriff
H. Hindus Verbryck at April term,
1735, and Stephen Amack among the
grand jurors impannelled by Sheriff
James Stevenson at April term, 1744. ******
In Book H of Deeds, page 275, is the
record of a public Highway laid out on
June 14, 1740, by the surveyors of the
highways. "Theunis Amack's" lands
and "Stephen Amack's" mill are named
in this return. They also make "void"
(vacate) a 2-rod road laid through the
Amack's, Tunis Denis (Denise), Gilbert
VanMater, Judah Williams, Thomas
Borden, and Nathan Tilton's lands. This
record shows that the two Aumack
brothers lived near each other on this
new road, and that Stephen Aumack
operated a grist mill. Teunis Aumack
married Lena, a daughter of Jacob
Thysen Laen (Lane) and Elizabeth
Barkalow, his wife, and had the follow-
ing children baptized:
Jannetje, Nov. 24, 1723.
Child unnamed, August 8, 1725.
Elizabeth, August 5, 1733.
Afhie, August 17, 1735.
Jan, April 15, 1738.
Mathys, August 2, 1742.
__________________
* Wells' Memorial Address at Brick Church, page 87.
** Abraham Emans and Hendrick Emans, who
settled at Six Mile Run, Somerset county. N.
J., in 1703, were sons of Andrews Emans, who
came to America in 1661 and settled at Grave-
send, L. I. This name in Monmouth county
is now spelled Emmons. Margaret, wife of
above Abraham Emans, was a member of the
Monmouth Dutch church in 1713. See Wells'
Memorial Address, page 85.
*** Book G of Deeds, page 61, etc., Monmouth records.
**** Book H of Deeds, page 114, Monmouth records.
***** Book H of Deeds, page 237, Monmouth records.
****** Minutes of Monmouth courts, 1735-1744.
_________________
100 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
Teunis and Stephen Aumack were
born at Flatlands, L. I., and were the
sons ot Theunis Janse VanAmach, of
that place. He is named among the
citizens who took the oath of allegiance
in 1687, and he is then put down as
having been 14 years in America.* The
name is there spelled as VanAmach. I
do not know how many children he
had. The name was first spelled in
Monmouth "Amak" and "Amack."
In Book A of Marriages, page 59, is
record of a marriage, where the parties
were both of this family, and it shows
how unsettled they were a century ago
in the spelling of this name.
"Teunis Aumack to Mary Aamach,
Nov. 26, 1801," is the way it is entered.
According to tradition Theunis Janse
VanAmach was a marine on one of
Admiral Cornelius Evertsen's or Jacob
Binckes' ships, when they compelled
the English to haul down their flag-
over New York in 1673. The red, white
and blue of the Netherlands Republic
waved over New York and New Jersey
for about a year. VanAmach, then a
young man, during the occupation, be-
came attached to the daughter of a
Dutch settler who lived in Brooklyn.
Either his term of enlistment expired,
or he was discharged, for when the
fleet sailed away, he remained and be-
came a resident of Flatlands, where he
raised a family. He is therefore the
progenitor of all the Aumacks and
Aumocks in Monmouth and Ocean
counties.
This family can therefore look back
to one of the Dutchmen who wrested
the New Netherlands from the English
in 1673, and helped fight in the mem-
orable war of that year, as their pro-
genitor. This conquest of the New
Netherlands was not a secret, treacher-
ous attack, without a declaration of
war, but a fair conquest after announc-
ed hostilities. England and France with
the German Provinces of Munster and
Cologne, had combined in an alliance to
wipe out the Republic of Holland trom
the map of Europe. It is true, there
was a party in England opposed to this
alliance and war, but they were made
up principally of the old Republicans
and Roundheads, who had followed
Cromwell. They knew King Charles
II was a papist at heart, and this al-
liance was really a blow at the Pro-
testant religion, and to restore the
Roman Hierarchy to its old power over
the world. Charles II had attacked and
seized the Dutch colony of New York
in 1661. in order to provoke the States
_____________
* Vol. I, O'Call. Doc. Hist. of N. Y., p. 661.
_____________
General into a declaration of war
against England. Such an attack must
cause war as a child might know. This
in England would be reprensented as a
defensive war, and so, the Protestant
party would be compelled, nolens vol-
ens, to stand up for their country.
As Charles II and his secret instiga-
tor, Louis XIV expected and intended,
this capture of the Dutch colony in
America, together with an attack on
their African trading posts at about
the same time, and the seizure of Dutch
merchant ships, compelled the States
tieneral to declare war against Eng-
land. The successes of the Dutch ad-
mirals at sea, together with other
troubles, led the English Parliament to
interfere with the purposes of their
King. A hollow peace was patched up,
but the English puppet of the French
monarch, held to the same resolution to
destroy if possible, the Holland Repub-
lic. It became necessary, however, to
educate public opinion, and inflame the
passions of the English people, in order
to overcome the opposition of the Pro-
testant leaders. Pamphlets and other
writings were circulated, filled with the
most outrageous accusations against
the Dutch.
A roorbach was circulated through
England that Admiral VanTromp, as
they called him, after defeating the
English fleet in the late war, had hoist-
ed a broom at his masthead and cruised
up and down the English coast, to show
that he had swept the English ships
from the seas.
This canard was well calculated to
arouse the patriotism and wrath of the
English masses, and make them sup-
port any alliance, even with the Turks,
to punish such insolence. There was
no one in England to contradict this
lie, so it run its full course, and arous-
ed the English people to bitter anger
and fury against the Dutch. Admiral
Tromp was a brave, bluff sailor, with-
out the bravado of the French or the
cant and hypocrisy of the English. He
was no more likely to perpetrate such
a puerile, fantastic and idiotic act, than
General Grant was to stick a peacock
feather in his hat, and strut around
with it, after the surrender at Appo-
mattox. Nevertheless, every charge
against the Dutch was believed without
any question. No one ever asked how
it was possible to see a little broom,
fastened high up among the ropes and
sails of a ship's mast, two or three
miles off at sea from the English coast.
Like the story of the Dutch drinking
intoxicating liquors before suing into
action, it was a lie cut out of the whole
101 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
cloth. At that time and for many gen-
erations after, it was the custom of
the English navy to serve out grog to
their sailors before going- into action.
It was supposed to give them courage,
yet in this, as in many other things,
they charged all their vices on the
Dutch, while they arrogated all the vir-
tues to themselves.
It would have been far more in ac-
cordance with the truth, to have label-
led it Cockney or British courage, in-
stead of Dutch. Not only were such
roorbachs industriously circulated, but
plays were written and acted in the
theatres of England, showing the Dutch
up in the most odious light.
Even the famous John Dryden devot-
ed his talents to composing such a play,
which was acted to crowded houses,
and excited the fury and hatred of the
lower classes, so that private citizens
of Holland were mobbed in the streets
of London. This play was written and
acted long before the open alliance be-
tween France and England was con-
summated, yet there are several pas-
sages in it which point to it. and show
that Dryden was either conversant
with the plans of the king, or else
wrote the play under particular in-
structions. Straws, it is said, show
which way the wind blows, and this
play coming from a man like John
Dryden, shows that it was one of the
methods used to educate public opinion,
and shut the mouths of the Protestant
or peace party. This play, called Am-
boyna. met with great success. The
theatres were crowded to overflowing
by the people, and it seemed to move
them as much as the play of Uncle
Tom's Cabin influenced the people of
the North, prior to the election of
Abraham Lincoln. A strong appeal to
the feelings will often move the masses
more strongly than the best argument
addressed to their reason. The copy of
"Amboylia" which I have, was printed
in London, England, during the latter
part of the 17th century. It begins with
a personal address to the "Right Hon-
orable Lord Clifford of Chudleigh," who
appears to have been high treasurer of
England and one of Dryden's patrons.
As a specimen of fulsome flattery, and
snobbish sycophancy it is unequalled.
Dryden says that this play was "con-
trived and written" in a month, and
ends up his adulations with these
words:--
"I pretend not by it (the play) to make any
manner of return for your favors : and that I
only give you a new occasion for exercising
your goodness to me, in pardoniig the failings
and imperfections of, My Lord, Your Lord-
ship's most humble, most obliged, and most
obidient servant.
JOHN DRYDEN."
Then comes what he calls a prologue
to Amboyna in verse as follows: --
"As needy Gallants in the Scriv'ners' hands.
Court the rich knave that gripes their mort-
gag'd lands.
The first fat buck of all the Season's sent.
And keeper takes no fee in compliment ;
The Dotage of some Englishmen is such.
To fawn on those who ruin them-- the Dutch.
They shall have all, rather than make a war
With those, who of the same religion are.
The Streights. the Guiney Trade, the Herrings
too,
Nay to keep Friendship, they shall pickle you.
Some are resolved not to find out the cheat.
But cuckold-like, loves him who does the feat:
What injuries so'ever upon us fall,
Yet still, the same religion answers all :
Religion wheedled you to Civil War,
Drew English blood, and Dutchmen's now would
spare:
Be gull'd no longer, for you'll find it true.
They have no more Religion, faith--than you:
Interest's the God they worship in their State.
And you. I take it, have not much of that.
Well, monarchies may own Religious name,
But States are Athiests in their very frame.
They share a sin, and such proportions fall
That like a stink, 'tis nothing to 'em all.
How they love England, you shall see this day:
No map shows Holland truer than our Play:
View then their falsehoods, rapine, cruelty :
And think what once they were, they still
would be:
But hope not either language, plot, or art.
'Twas writ in haste but with an English heart :
And let's, hope, wit in Dutchman would be
As much improper as would honesty.
The play is entitled "Amboyna, or the
Cruelties of the Dutch to the English
Merchants." The scene opens at Am-
boyna, with a dialogue between the
Dutch Governor and his fiscal, in which
they congratulate each other, in dam-
aging the English East India company
to an immense amount, and then set-
tleing for a trifling sum. The fiscal then
proposes to carry out a "Plot" against
the English, which he has contrived.
The substance of it is, to cut all their
throats and seize their wealth.
The history of England during this
century is full of charges and counter
charges, of plots and conspiracies. As
it was a favorite accusation among
themselves it became very easy to
make it against foreign people.
An English captain named Towerson,
in the employ of the English East India
company, and an English merchant are
next brought on the stage. The English
merchant and the Dutch fiscal engage
in the following dialogue. The English
merchant thus speaks of the Hollanders:
102 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
English Merchant-- "Not being gnetlemen,
you have stolen the arms of the best families
in Europe, and wanting a name, you make
bold with the first of Divine attributes, and
call'd yourselves the 'High and Mighty;'
though, let me tell you, that besides the blas-
phemy, the title is ridiculous, for. 'High' is no
more proper for the Netherlands, than 'Might'
is, for seven little rascally Provinces, no big-
ger in all than a Shire in England. But for
my main theme, your ingratitude to England.
We have set you up and you undermind our
Power and Circumvent our trade."
Dutch Fiscal-- "Yes, and good reason, if our
interest requires it ; besides you give one of
the names of the 'Almighty' to your high men
in England, by calling them Lords, and so
make the vulgar people worship them, as
Deities or Human Gods."
English Merchant-- "That leads me to your
religion, which is made up of interest ; at home
ye tolerate all worships in them who can pay
for it, and abroad you were latterly so civil to
the Emperor of Pegu (Peru) as to offer sac-
rifices to his idols."
Dutch Fiscal-- "Yes, this is all true, and you
English were such precise fools as to refuse it."
English Merchant-- "For frugality, we con-
fess we cannot compare with you. Our English
merchants live like noblemen, while you gen-
tlemen, if you have any, live like Boors. You
are the mill horses of Mankind ; a pickled her-
ring is all your riches. You have good title to
cheat all Europe, for you cozen your own
backs and bellies."
Dutch Fiscal-- "Yes, this is all true."
English Merchant-- "Your liberties are a
greater cheat than any of the rest. You are
ten times more taxed than any people in
Christendom. You flatter our Kings and ruin
their subjects."
Dutch Fiscal-- "You English are so honest,
that we Dutch can easily fool you in name of
our Protestant religion."
English Merchant-- "I prophesy the day will
come, when some English king will see through
your hypocricies and frauds and protect the
honest and true-hearted English, against the
rascalities of the Dutch, and resume the fisher-
ies of the seas, and the riches of the East
Indies."
Some light scenes and dialogues are
next introduced to relieve the gravity
of the play. Then an English woman,
pale, weak, and in tattered garments,
appears on the stage. She tells a hor-
rible story, how she and her husband
had been on an English ship, and by
treachery certain Hollanders had mur-
dered the English crew and plundered
the ship. That she and her husband
had escaped in a small boat, and after
terrible suffering her husband died, but
she was rescued by a noble English
captain. Then follow scenes in which
great outrages are perpetrated by a
son of the Dutch Governor, and the
English Captain, Towerson, fights with
and kills him in a fair duel. The
Dutch Governor and his fiscal then ar-
ranged a treacherous plot against the
English. They falsely accuse them of
trying to capture the Dutch fort, and
put them to horrible tortures to elicit
a confession. Scene opens and shows
the English tortured in the most fiend-
ish manner by fire and water, while the
Dutchmen joke and laugh at their suf-
ferings. The Governor remarks, as
they burn the English merchant, that
he will light his pipe just where the
"wyck" is fed with English fat; that
"the tobacco tastes divinely after being
so fired."
After torture, the English captain is
put to death, and the play closes with
a scene in which the Dutch are feasting
and making merry over a division of
the wealth of the murdered English.
Then follows an "Epilogue" as Dryden
calls it, as follows:
To one well-born, th' affront is worse and more.
When he's abus'd and baffled by a Boor:
With an ill-grace the Dutch their mischiefs do,
They've both ill nature and ill manners too.
Well may they boast themselves an ancient
nation,
For they were bred 'ere manners were in
fashion:
And their new Commonwealth has set 'em free
Only from honor and civility.
Venetians do not more uncouthly ride
Than did their Lubber State mankind bestride.
Their sway became 'em with as ill a mien,
As their own paunches swell above their chin;
Yet is their empire no true growth but humor,
And only two kings touch can cure the
tumour.*
As Cato did his Afric fruits display;
So we before your eyes their Indies lay,
All loyal English will like him conclude
Let Caesar live and Carthage be subdued.
This is a clear and plain effort to
educate public opinion in England, so
that an alliance with France against
Holland would be popular among the
English masses. This play is well con-
trived to stir up their anger and pride,
and was intended for that very purpose.
It fell in with the policy and purposes
of Charles II, and we can see why
Dryden was a favorite of the court and
patronized by the high officials.
This play was written and acted in
the theatres of London several years
before the alliance between England
and France against Holland was con-
summated by an aggressive movement
against the Republic.
______________
* The two Kings refer to an alliance be-
tween England and France.
103 EFFORTS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND TO CRUSH
HOLLAND REPUBLIC.
Louis XIV of France was one of the
most astute and able of the king's of
Europe. His zeal and devotion to the
Roman Hierarchy is proved by the ban-
ishment of half a million of his protes-
tant subjects from France. These ref-
ugees were known as French Hugue-
nots. As Macaulay, Dickens, and other
truthful historians of England have
shown, Charles II was a mere puppet
of this champion of Rome. Behind both
stood the priests, dictating and urging
a union which would restore, as they
thought, the church to its old authority
and power in the world. Their object
was to crush the Protestant Republic
of Holland. They were not only here-
tics but republicans, setting a bad ex-
ample to Christendom. Their great
prosperity and wealth also excited jeal-
ousy and alarm. This Republic so near
the territory of France and England
was a continual menace to the exis-
tence of monarchies. If people without
a king could prosper so, what necessity
was there for royalty and an aristo-
cratic or Brahmin caste, to uphold it.
Kingcraft and priestcraft were there-
fore in hearty agreement to wreck this
upstart Republic. These "seven ras-
cally little provinces," as Dryden put
it, "not as big as an English shire."
The two great monarchies of France
and England could easily wipe Holland
off the map of Europe, everybody
thougnt. The two Catholic Bishops of
the German Provinces of Munster and
Cologne also joined this alliance with
England and France to destroy Holland.
This fact alone would show that behind
this alliance of nations stood the Roman
Hierarchy. Our American historian,
Bancroft, thus describes this great and
most eventful contest: --
"Charles II had begun hostilities as a
pirate, and Louis XIV did not disguise
his purpose of conquest.
"With armies amounting to 200,000
men, to which Holland could oppose no
more than 20.000, the French monarch
invaded the Republic. Within a month
Holland was exposed to the same des-
perate dangers she had encountered a
century before, while the English fleet,
hovering off the coast, endeavored to
land English troops into the heart of
the wealthiest of the provinces. Ruin
was imminent and come but for
the public virtues.
"The annals of the human race record
but few instances where moral force
has so successfully defied every dis-
parity of force, and repelled such des-
perate odds by invincible heroism,
"At sea, where greatly superior num-
bers were on the side of the allied
fleets of France and England, the un-
tiring courage of the Dutch would not
consent to be defeated. On land the
dikes were broken up and the country
drowned. The son of Grotius, con-
cealing his anger, at ignominious pro-
posals of the French, protracted the
negotiations till the rising waters
could form a wide and impassable moat
around the cities. At Groningen, men.
women and children worked on the for-
tifications. Fear was not permitted to
the women. William of Orange (after-
wards King of England), was advised
by Arlington, one of the great Virgin-
ian proprietors, to seek advancement
and gain for himself, by yielding to
England: 'My country,' calmly replied
the young man, 'trusts in me. I will
not sacrifice it to my interests, but if
needs be, die with it in the last ditch.' "
The landing of the British troops in
Holland could only be prevented by
three naval engagements. The veteran
DeRuyter and the younger VanTromp,
a son of the old Admiral, had been bit-
ter enemies. The latter had been dis-
graced on the charge of the former.
June 7, 1673, at the battle of Soulsbay,
where the Dutch with 52 ships of the
line engaged an enemy with 80, De-
Ruyter was successful in his first man-
oeuvers, while the extraordinary ardor
of VanTromp, plunged him headlong
into danger and he could not recover.
The frank and true hearted DeRuyter,
checked himself in his career of vic-
tory, and turned to the relief of his
rival. "Oh, there comes grandfather to
the rescue!" shouted VanTromp in ecs-
tasy. "I will never desert him, as long
as I breathe." The issue of the battle
was uncertain. June 14, seven days
later, a second battle was fought, and
the advantage was with the Dutch.
About three weeks after the Dutch cap-
tured New York, August 2, 1673, the
last and most terrible conflict took
104 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OE MONMOUTH.
place near Helder. The enthusiasm of
the Duloh mariners dared almost infin-
ite deeds of valor.
The noise of the artillery boomed
along the low coast of Holland. The
churches on the shore and the dikes
were thronged with people, praying to
the God of Battles to give victory to
the risht cause and their country. The
contest raged and exhausted, and was
again renewed with unexampled fury.
Victory was with DeRuyter and Van-
Tromp. The British fleet retreated and
was pursued. This defeat caused the
English Parliament to refuse Charles
II further supplies. This led to peace
with England, although war went on
with France. At one time affairs seem-
ed so hopeless, with the great French
army in the heart of the country, and
the mighty allied fleet on the coast it
was resolved with inflexible Dutch res-
olution, to defend the country to the
last, and, if all failed, to take to their
ships, and sail to some other part of
the world, and there found a new coun-
try and so preserve the liberties of
which Europe was unworthy.
About a month after the defeat of
the allied fleets, or between the 7th and
13th of September, 1673, Capt. Knyff
and Lieut. Snell with a company of
Dutch mariners from one of Admiral
Evertsen's ships which lay in the North
River before New York, came over in
a sloop to Monmouth county, landed at
Waycake creek, and marched up to
Middletown village and administered
the oath of allegiance to the States
General of Holland to the citizens there
and then went to Shrewsbury and did
the same. The people with exception
of a dozen or so who were absent, took
the oath of allegiance. So our people
of Monmouth were a part of the little
Netherland Republic and entitled to
some share of the glory which belonged
to their mother country at this time.
If this alliance had succeeded in crush-
ing Holland, there would have been no
Stadtholder with his Dutch army to
land at Torbay. and deliver the Protes-
tants of England from the tyranny of
James II. The great revolution of 1688
would never have occurred. James II,
backed by the subtle brain and strong
arm of Louis XIV would perhaps have
crushed protestantism in England, as
completely as Louis XIV had done in
France by revoking the Edict of Nantes.
For after the failure of Monmouth's
rebellion, the spirit of the English peo-
ple seemed crushed. The savage and
brutal punishments inflicted by Jeffrey
and Kirke hardly called forth a whim-
per of protest, so abject was the terror
and fear they inspired with the gibbet,
hot pitch and dismembered corpses
hung up at nearly every cross road in
England.
This victory of the Dutch made the
deliverance of the English by William
of Orange possible. The hand of Prov-
idence was never more signally dis-
played in the history of states and na-
tions than in the defeat of these power-
ful nations by "seven little rascally
provinces, all told no bigger than an
English shire." to use Dryden's expres-
sion. It was a year big with future
events in the history of Christendom
and the world, as subsequent results
show.
The sacrifices, services, and patriot-
ism of William of Orange* in this war
wth England, France and the two Ger-
man provinces, together with those of
his great grandfather, Willam the
Silent in the Spanish war, have made
their names venerated in Holland, as
Washington's is in America.
The descendants of the Dutch in the
United States claim all three as their
worthy trio of heroes, and worthy of
each other to stand in eternal union
and glory. For all three, one as much
as the other, they feel a veneration and
gratitude which words cannot express.
The following song, so popular in Hol-
land, gives but a feeble echo of what is
in the hearts of all who prize justice,
independence and liberty for "the Fris-
ians shall be free as long as the winds
of heaven blow!"
We leven in Nederland vrij en blij,** hoezea !
Wars zijn we van elke dwingelandij, hoezee !
Vervloekt zij eeuwig het vreemde juk.
Op vrijheid, rrijheid zijn we tuk.
VIVAT ORANJE, HOEZEE!
Oranje maakte ons vrij en groot, hoezee !
Oranje was altijd een vriend in den nood,
hoezee !
Oranjedlant lijn we dus op en top !
Oranje boven. Oranje voorop !
VIVAT ORANJE. HOEZEE!
Oranje blijv, Nederlands toeverlaat, hoezee !
Alleen met Oranje ons Nederland staat hoezee !
Lang leve Oranje ! met Rood Wit en Blaauw!
Oranje, we zweren U howu en trouw !
VIVAT ORANJE. HOEZEE!
**Vrij en Blij means Free and Happy.
* Bishop Burnet thus describes William of
Orange :
"I had occasion to know him well, having
observed him very carefully in a course of 16
years.
"He believed in the truths of the Christian
religion very firmly, and expressed a horror of
atheism and blasphemy.
"He was constant in his private prayers and
in reading the Scriptures.
105 EARLY DUTCH SETTLERS OF MONMOUTH.
"His indifference to the form of church gov-
ernment and his being zealous for toleration,
together with his cold behavior towards the
clergy, pave them generally an ill opinion of
him. He loved the Dutch, and was much
beloved among them; but the ill returns he
met from the English nation, their jealousies
of him, and thier perverseness towards him,
had soured his mind, and had in a great meas-
ure alienated him from them, which he did
not take care enough to conceal, though he
saw the ill effect this had upon his business.
"Watching over the court of France, and
bestirring himself against their practices was
the prevailing passion of his whole life. I
considered him a person raised up by God to
resist the power of France and the progress of
tyranny and persecution.
"The series of five Princes of Orange that
was now ended in him was the noblest succes-
sion of heroes we find in any history. And
the 30 years from 1672 to his death in which
he acted so great a part, carry in them so
many amazing steps of a glorious and dis-
tinguishing Providence that in the words of
David he may be called "The man of God's
right hand whom he made strong for himself.
He received, however, in his life time little
else than calumnies, abuse and ingratitude
from the nation he served so well. He once
remarked to Lord Halifax, when speaking of
the treatment he had received from the two
great parties of England, that all the difference
he knew between them was 'the Tories would
cut throat in the morning and the Whigs in
the afternoon. Subsequent generations and
posterity in England have acknowledged his
great services and abilities, but in a grudging
spirit and without any heartiness, as though
jealous of the contrast between their native
born monarchs and this Dutchman from over
the sea. Macaulay, who is of Scotch ancestry,
has done him justice but even he thus des-
cribes him: 'His manners, (when King of
England) were altogether Dutch. Even his
countrymen thought him blunt. To foreigners
he often seemed churlish. In his intercourse
with the world he appeared ignorant or negli-
gent of those arts which double the value of a
favor and take away the sting of a refusal.' "
=======================