up his domain. While other colonies were either maintaining an apathetic silence or else complaining bitterly of the hardships of their lot and the difficulty of sustaining life without aid from the company or government that planted them, the long reports of the great advantages and rich fertility of Rensselaerswyck stirred the imagination of many a seventeenth-century Boer. Other ships might bring provisions and encouragement for those already on the ground, but those of our patroon brought colonists, with implements for the farm, the forest, and the mill. The documents that have been preserved would put to shame most modem advertisers. Of course, the growth of the up-river colony could not be effected without rousing the jealous opposition of the Company's director at New Amsterdam. The patroon 's director, Van Slechtenhorst, if he did not exceed the original patent, at least stretched it to its uttermost limit. The fortification of Beam Island, undertaken with a view to controlling the commerce of the river, called forth a most energetic protest from Stuyvesant. With singleness of purpose he gave his undivided attention to reducing this "government within a government," and finally succeeded in tem- Digitized by Microsoft® 522 The Hudson River porarily separating the village of Beverwyck from the manor of Rensselaerswyck. But though the Company had backed the Governor in his action, the States- General, before whom the matter was finally brought, decided that Fort Orange stood within the limits of the patroon's estate, while the corporation did not own a foot of land in that part of the country. The second patroon, also a non-resident, was Johan- nes Van Rensselaer, whose half-brother, Jan Baptist, succeeded Van Slechtenhorst as agent. Johannes vis- ited his possessions on one or two occasions, but re- turned to Holland. It was not till the third proprietor of this princely estate came to his own that the people of Rensselaerswyck enjoyed the novelty of having their landlord make his home among them. There is not space to go into the genealogical records of this great family, or to note the marriages by which it became allied with all of the leading men of the colony. The Van Cortlandts, Schuylers, Livingstons, Nicollses,Wattses, and others were thus connected, and formed an aristocracy about which cluster the tradi- tions of a day that is dead. Writing of the pomp and circumstance attending the movements of the Van Rensselaer chief, Mrs. Lamb, the historian, says: To many of the present generation a simple sketch of the style of life of these old feudal chieftains would read like a veritable romance. Upon the Van Rensselaer manor there were at one period several thousand tenants, and their gatherings were simi- lar to those of the old Scottish clans. When a lord of the manor died, these people swarmed about the manor-house to do honour Digitized by Microsoft® An Old Dutch Town 523 at the funeral. They regarded the head of the family with rev- erence, a feeling shared by the whole country. The manor- house was well peopled with negro slaves. The manor always had its representative in the assembly; and whenever it was announced in New York that the patroon was coming to the city by land, the day he was expected crowds would turn out to see him drive through Broadway with his coach and four as if he were a prince of the blood. An actual glimpse of the Van Rensselaer estate, in its old-time grandeur, would unfold as much to astonish the progressive New Yorkers of to-day as the patroons of colonial memory would be lost in wonder and amazement could they but be with us long enough to cross the Brooklyn Bridge! The great Van Rensselaer manor-house, long con- sidered the most palatial dwelling in the New World, and noted for the princely character of its entertain- ments, was built by Stephen, the fourth patroon. His wife was Catherine, the daughter of Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Their son, born in New York City, was the fifth and last patroon, known in later life as General Stephen Van Rensselaer. He was not only a lordly gentleman, liv- ing according to all the traditions of his house, but was also a thorough republican, enlisted heart and soul in the cause of American liberty. No man in the country staked more for conscience sake than he, for he willingly relinquished the power and pomp that had been the vital atmosphere of his house for generations, to accept the doctrine of the equality of man. During the War of 181 2 the last patroon received at the hands of Governor Tompkins, his pohtical Digitized by Microsoft® 524 The Hudson River adversary, a commission to command a large body of militia. He stipulated that his assistant in command