X THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND
this would have entailed still further delay in the completion of a work that
has already been extended to a point which must sorely have taxed the patience
of the subscribers.
One further specific apology is due the reader:—The capitalization through¬
out the Chronology is ragged and often illogical. It is the result of an attempted
compromise between conflicting theories, and, like most compromises, has
proved unsatisfactory to all concerned.
Before accepting as final statements made in the Chronology, the reader
should consult the Addenda, under corresponding dates, for possible corrections.
Perhaps the most important contribution to the present volume is the exten¬
sive series of extracts from the William Smith Papers acquired by the New York
Public Library in 1915, and comprehensively considered for the first time in
connection with this work. These papers contain much new information, and
throw many interesting side lights on events in New York, especially during
the Revolutionary Period.
The long hoped-for publication, in 1924, of the Van Rappard Documents,
under the able editorship of Mr. van Laer, although an event of considerable
importance, historically, has not added as much to our knowledge of the early
years, just before and just after the settlement, as the titles of those documents
gave reason to expect. Nevertheless, their careful examination, in connection
with the sequence of events recorded in the Chronology during the years im¬
mediately preceding and following 1626, and in that year itself, should convince
any open-manded student that houses had been built and farms established on
Manhattan Island before the Summer of 1626. Furthermore, the "Instructions
for WillemlVerhiilst". .(Document C) show conclusively that a fort was in
existence onNoten (Governor's) Island in 1624.^
A note added at the end ofthe "Provisional Regulations" (Document A),
which note'is lacking in the copy of the "Regulations" in the Rijksarchief,
discovered by Dr. Wieder In 1912, clearly establishes the fact that these articles,
which were adopted by the Assembly of the Nineteen on March 28, 1624,
were intended for the expedition sailing a few days later on the "Nieu Neder-
landt."^ This note reads as follows:—"The foregoing articles having been read
^ This fort, as will be shown later, presumably had been established in 1623, by the leaders
of the "Mackerel" expedition, although references are found in the early records to a fort
on the North River, "Even before the year 1614."
2 Mr. van Laer is evidently right in thus interpreting the Dutch text, which at first sight
seems to read "Nieu Verdriet," which reading, adopted by Dr. Wieder in his catalogue de¬
scription of the Van Rappard Documents, led the author Into confusing complications in
treating this period In Vol. IV.
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