Book: Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI, June, 1862

V >> Various >> Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI, June, 1862




At daybreak we made our way to the chapel, a large and beautiful room
with many pictures and rich ornaments, gifts of persons who have shared
the hospitality of the place. At the altar the brother who had welcomed
us on our arrival was officiating in his priestly robes, assisted by
several others. A few persons, servants of the establishment and
peasants stopping for the night, with ourselves, composed the
congregation. Two of the women present, we were told, were penitents; we
asked no further of their history, but at this remote place the incident
gave us cause for reflection and surmise. Heaven grant that in this
sublime solitude their souls may have found the peace arising from the
consciousness of forgiveness. I have never been more impressed with the
Catholic service than I was this morning, when the voices of the priests
blending with the organ, rose on the stillness of that early hour in one
of the familiar chants of the Church. It seemed, indeed, like heavenly
music. Here with the first dawn of morning on these lofty mountaintops,
where returning day is welcomed earlier than in the great world below,
men had assembled to pour forth their worship to God, here so manifest
in his mighty works. The ever-burning lamp swung in the dim chapel, and
it seemed a beautiful idea that morning after morning on these great
mountains, the song of gratitude and praise should ascend to Him who
fashioned them; that so it has been for years, while successive winters
have beat in fury on this house, and the snows have again and again shut
out all signs of life from nature. As my heart filled with emotion, I
could not but think of the aptness to the present scene of those
beautiful lines of our poet:

'At break of day as heavenward
The pious monks of St. Bernard
Chanted the oft-repeated prayer.'

Time and place were the same, and the service seemed as beautiful and
solemn as might have been that chanted over the stiff, frozen body of
the high-souled but too aspiring boy. The service ended, and we were
left alone in the chapel. In one corner of it is the box in which those
who can, leave a contribution for the support of the establishment. No
regular charge is made, but probably most persons leave more than they
would at a hotel--and our party certainly did. I believe that the money
is well applied; at any rate, for years the hospice afforded shelter
before travel became a fashionable summer amusement, and in those days
it expended far more than it received.

Our breakfast was very simple, and the Superior of the establishment
confined himself to a small cup of coffee and morsel of bread. They have
but one substantial meal a day. I was interested in observing our host.
His appearance and manner were prepossessing and agreeable, but this
morning something seemed to weigh anxiously on his mind. He was
abstracted in manner, and once as I looked up suddenly, his lips were
moving, and he half checked himself in an involuntary gesture. Had the
confession of the penitents, perhaps, troubled him? I believe he was a
sincere, self-sacrificing man, and I have often thought of his manner
that morning.

We were, of course, very anxious to see the dogs, but were told they are
now becoming exceedingly scarce. They can not be kept very long in the
piercing air of the mountains, its rarefaction being as injurious to
them as to human beings. Most of them are therefore kept at Martigny, or
some other place below. We were told, however, that two 'pups' were now
at the hospice; and as we sallied out for a walk over the hills, we
heard a violent scratching at an adjoining door, which being opened, out
burst the pups. They were perfect monsters, though very young, with huge
paws, lithe and graceful but compact forms, full of life and activity,
and faces beaming with instinct. Darting out with us, they seemed
frantic with joy, snuffed the keen air as they rushed about, sometimes
tumbling over each other, and at times bursting against us with a force
that nearly knocked us down. They reminded me of two young tigers at
their gambols. I have never seen nobler-looking brutes. What fine,
honest, expressive countenances they had! At times a peculiar sort of
frown would ruffle the skin around their eyes, their ears would prick
up, and every nerve seem to be quickened. The face of a noble dog
appears to me to be capable of almost as great a variety of expression
as the human countenance, and these changes are sometimes more rapid.
The inquisitive and chagrined look when baffled in pursuit of prey, the
keen relish of joy, the look of supplication for food, of conscious
guilt for misdemeanor, the eyes beaming with intense affection for a
master, and whining sorrow for his absence, the meek look of endurance
in sickness, the feeble, listless air, the resigned expression of the
glassy eye at the approach of death, blending even then with indications
of gratitude for kindness shown! These dumb brutes can often teach us
lessons of meek endurance and resignation as well as courage, and few
things call forth more just indignation than to see them abused by men
far more brutish than they.

Accompanying one of the younger brethren on an errand to the valley
below, we watched them dashing along till the intervening rocks hid them
from our view. In the extensive museum of the Monastery we found much to
interest us. Many of the curiosities are gifts of former travelers, and
some of them are of great value. There is also a small collection of
antiquities found in the immediate neighborhood, where, I believe, are
still traces of an ancient temple. The St. Bernard has been a favorite
pass with armies, and is thought by many to have been that chosen by
Hannibal.

Not very far from the house is the 'morgue' so often noticed by
travelers, containing numerous bodies, which, though they have not
decayed, are nevertheless repulsive to look upon. The well-known figures
of the woman and her babe show that for once the warm refuge of a
mother's breast chilled and fainted in the pitiless storm.

After cordial well--wishes from the brethren, we left the hospice,
bringing away remembrances of it as one of the most interesting places
it has been our privilege to visit. It has, of course, changed character
within half a century, and there is now less necessity for it than
formerly. Many travelers complain of it as now wearing too much the
appearance of a hotel; but we were there too late in the season to find
it so; and even if true at other times, the associations with the
Monastery and the Pass are so interesting, the scenery so bold, and the
welcome one meets with so cordial, that he who regrets having made the
ascent must have had a very different experience from ourselves.

A few hours' ride brought us to the valley, where we met peasants
driving carts and bearing baskets piled up with luscious grapes. A
trifle that the poorest traveler could have spared, procured us an ample
supply.




THE HUGUENOTS OF STATEN ISLAND.

Staten Island, that enchanting sea-girt spot in the beautiful Bay of
New-York, early became a favorite resort with the French Protestants. It
should be called the Huguenot Island; and for fine scenery, inland and
water, natural beauties, hill, dale, and streams, with a bracing,
healthful climate, it strongly reminds the traveler of some regions in
France. No wonder that Frenchmen should select such a spot in a new
land, for their quiet homes. The very earliest settlers on its shores
were men of religious principles. Hudson, the great navigator,
discovered the Island, in 1609, when he first entered the noble river
which bears his undying name. It was called by its Indian owners,
_Aquehioneja, Manackong_, or _Eghquaous_, which, translated, means the
place of _Bad Woods_, referring, probably, to the character of its
original savage inhabitants. Among the very earliest patents granted for
lands in New-Netherland, we find one of June 19th, 1642, to Cornelius
Melyn, a Dutch burgomaster. He thus became a Patroon of Staten Island,
and subsequently a few others obtained the same honor and privileges.
They were all connected with the Dutch Reformed Church, in Holland; and
when they emigrated to New-Netherland, always brought with them their
Bibles and the '_Kranek-besoecker_,' or 'Comforter of the Sick,' who
supplied the place of a regular clergyman. Twice were the earliest
settlers dispersed by the Raritan Indians, but they rallied again, until
their progress became uninterrupted and permanent.

Between the Hollanders and the French Refugees, there existed an old and
intimate friendship. Holland, from the beginning of the Middle Ages, had
been the asylum for all the religious out-laws from all parts of Europe.
But especially the persecuting wars and troubles of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, brought hither crowds of exiles. Not less than
thirty thousand English, who had embraced the Reformed faith, found here
a shelter during the reign of Mary Tudor. Hosts of Germans, during the
'Thirty Years' War,' obtained on the banks of the Amstel and the Rhine,
that religious liberty, which they had in vain claimed in their own
country. But the greatest emigration was that of the _Walloons_, from
the bloody tyranny of the Duke of Alba, and the Count of Parma. For a
long period the Reformed faith had found adherents in the Provinces of
the Low Countries. Here the first churches were _under the Cross_, or
_in the Secret_, as it was styled, and they concealed themselves from
the raging persecution, by hiding, as it were, their faith, under mystic
names, the sense of which believers only knew. We will mention only a
few. That of Tournay, '_The Palm-Tree_;' Antwerp, '_The Vine_;' Mons,
'_The Olive_;' Lille, '_The Rose_;' Douay, '_The Wheat-Sheaf_;' and the
Church of Arras had for its symbol '_The Hearts-Ease_.' In 1561, they
published in French, their Confession of Faith, and in 1563, their
Deputies, from the Reformed Communities of Flanders, Brabant, Artois,
and Hainault, united in a single body, holding the first Synod of which
we have any account. These regions were an old part of the French
Netherlands, or Low Countries; and a small section of Brabant was called
_Walloon_; and here were found innumerable advocates of the Reformed
faith. The whole country would probably have become the most Protestant
of all Europe, were it not for the torrents of blood poured out for the
maintenance of the Roman religion by the Duke of Alba.

Welcomed by the States General, Walloon Colonies were formed from the
year 1578 to 1589, at Amsterdam, Harlaem, Leyden, Utrecht, and other
places. But new persecutions arising, the Reformed French retired to
Holland, where new churches arose at Rotterdam, in 1605, Nimeguen, 1621,
and Tholen, in 1658. It was natural, therefore, that the Huguenots of
France should afterward settle in a country of so much sympathy for the
Walloon refugees, whom they regarded as their brethren. When Henry III.
commanded them to be converted to the Romish Church or to leave the
kingdom in six months, many of them repairing to Holland, joined the
Walloon communities, whose language and creed were their own. After the
fall of La Rochelle, this emigration recommenced, and was doubled under
Louis XIV., when he promulgated his first wicked and insane edict
against his Protestant subjects. From that unfortunate period, during a
century, the Western Provinces of France depopulated themselves to the
benefit of the Dutch Republic. Many learned men and preachers visited
these Walloon churches, while endeavoring to escape the persecuting
perils of every kind, to which they were exposed. Among the ministers we
may mention the names of Basnage, Claude, Benoit, and Saurin, who
surpassed them all, by the superiority of his genius, who was the
patriarch of 'The Refuge,' and contributed more than all the rest to
prevail on the Huguenots to leave France.

During the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, the French
Protestant emigration into Holland rose to a political event, and the
first '_Dragonades_' gave the signal in 1681. The Burgomasters of
Amsterdam soon perceived the golden advantages which the Hollanders
would derive from the fatal policy of Louis XIV. The city of Amsterdam
announced to the refugees all the rights of citizenship, with an
exemption from taxes for three years. The States of Holland soon
followed the example of Amsterdam, and by a public declaration,
discharged all refugees who should settle there, from all taxes for
twelve years. In less than eight days all the Protestants of France were
informed of this favorable proclamation, which gave impulse to new
emigration. In all the Dutch provinces and towns collections were taken
up for the benefit of the French refugees, and a general fast proclaimed
for Wednesday, November 21st, 1685, and all Protestants were invited to
thank God for the grace he gave them to worship Him in liberty, and to
entreat him to touch the heart of the French King, who had inflicted
such cruel persecutions on true believers.

The Prince of Orange attached two preachers to his person from the
church of Paris, and the Huguenot ladies found a noble protectress in
the Princess of Orange. Thanks to her most generous care, more than one
hundred ladies of noble birth, who had lost all they possessed in
France, and had seen their husbands or fathers thrown into dungeons, now
found comfortable homes at Harlaem, Delft, and the Hague. At the Hague,
the old convent of preaching monks was turned into an establishment for
French women. At Nort, a boarding-house for young ladies of quality
received an annual benefaction of two thousand florins from her liberal
hands. Nor did she forget these pious asylums, after the British
Parliament had decreed her the crown. Most of the refugees came from the
Southern provinces--brave officers, rich merchants of Amiens, Rouen,
Bourdeaux, and Nantes, artisans of Brittany and Normandy, with
agriculturists from Provence, the shores of Languedoc, Roussillon, and
La Guienne. Thus were transported into hospitable Holland, gentlemen and
ladies of noble birth, with polished minds and refined manners, simple
mechanics and ministers of high renown, and all more valuable than the
golden mines of India or Peru. Thus Holland, of all lands, received most
of the French refugees, and Bayle calls it 'the grand ark of the
refugees.' No documents exist, by which their numbers can be correctly
computed, but they have been estimated from fifty-five to seventy-five
thousand souls, and the greatest number were to be found at Amsterdam,
Rotterdam, and the Hague. In 1686, there were not less than _sixteen_
French pastors to the Walloon churches at Amsterdam.

Thus intimately, by a common faith, friendship, and interest, did the
Huguenots unite themselves with the people of Holland, who, about this
period, commenced the establishment of New-Netherland in America. We
have traced this union the more fully for the better understanding of
our general subject. The Walloons and Huguenots were, in fact, the same
people--oppressed and persecuted French Protestants. Of the former, as
early as the year 1622, several Walloon families from the frontier,
between Belgium and France, turned their attention to America. They
applied to Sir Dudley Carleton, for permission to settle in the colony
of Virginia, with the privilege of erecting a town and governing
themselves, by magistrates of their own election. The application was
referred to the Virginia Company,[1] but its conditions seem to have
been too republican, and many of these Walloons looked, toward
New-Netherland, where some arrived in 1624, with the Dutch Director,
Minuit.

[1: Lond. Doc. 1, 24.]


At first, they settled on Staten Island, (1624,) but afterward removed
to _Wahle Bocht_ or the 'Bay of Foreigners,' which has since been
corrupted into Wallabout. This settlement extended subsequently toward
'Breukelen,' named after an ancient Dutch village on the river Veght, in
the province of Utrecht; so that Staten Island has the honor of having
presented the first safe home, in America, and on her beautiful shores,
to the Walloons or Huguenots. The name of Walloon itself is said to be
derived either from Wall, (water or sea,) or more probably, the old
German word _Wahle_, signifying a foreigner. It must be remembered that
this is a part of the earliest chapter in the history of New-Netherland,
which the 'West-India Company' now resolved to erect into a province. To
the Chamber of Amsterdam the superintendence of this new and extensive
country was committed, and this body, during the previous year, had sent
out an expedition, in a vessel called the 'New-Netherland,' 'whereof
Cornelius Jacobs of Hoorn was skipper, _with thirty families, mostly
Walloons, to plant a colony there_.' They arrived in the beginning of
May, (1623,) and the old document, from which we quote, adds:

'God be praised, it hath so prospered, that the honorable Lords
Directors of the West-India Company have, with the consent of the
noble, high, and mighty Lords States General, undertaken to plant
some colonies,'[2] ... 'The Honorable _Daniel Van Kriecke-beeck_,
for brevity called _Beeck_, was commissary here, and so did his
duty that he was thanked.'

[2: Wassemaer's Historie Van Europa, Amsterdam, 1621-1628.]


In 1625, three ships and a yacht arrived at Manhattan, with more
families, farming implements, and one hundred and three head of cattle.
Hitherto the government of the settlement had been simple, but now,
affairs assuming more permanency, a proper 'Director' from Holland was
appointed, and Peter Minuit, then in the office, was instructed to
organize a provincial government. He arrived in May, 1626, and to his
unfading honor be it recorded, that his first official act was to secure
possession of Manhattan Island, by fair and lawful purchase of the
Indians. It was estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres, and was
bought for the sum of sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars! Lands were
cheap then, where our proud and princely metropolis now stands, with her
millions, her churches, palatial stores, residences, and shipping.

As yet there was no clergyman in the colony, but two visitors of the
sick, Sebastian Jansen Keol and Jan Huyck, were appointed for this
important duty, and also to read the Scriptures, on Sundays, to the
people. Thus was laid, more than two hundred years ago, the corner-stone
of the Empire State, on the firm foundation of justice, morality, and
religion. This historical fact places the character of the Dutch and
French settlers in a most honorable light. They enjoy the illustrious
distinction of fair, honest dealing with the aborigines, the natural
owners of the lands.

The purchase of Manhattan, in 1626, was only imitated when William Penn,
fifty-six years afterward, purchased the site of Philadelphia from the
Indians, under the famous Elm Tree. The Dutch and Huguenot settlers of
New-Netherland were grave, firm, persevering men, who brought with them
the simplicity, industry, integrity, economy, and bravery of their
Belgic sires, and to these eminent virtues were added the light of the
civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith. To such we can point
with gratitude and respect, for the beginnings of our western
metropolis, and the works of our American forefathers.

The Rev. Joannes Megapolensis, as early as the year 1642, took charge of
the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, under the patronage of the Patroon
of Renssaelaerwick, and five years afterward became 'Domine' at
Manhattan. In 1652, he selected for a colleague, Samuel Drissius, on
account of his knowledge of French and English, and from his letters we
learn that he went, once a month, to preach to the French Protestants on
Staten Island. These were Vaudois or Waldenses, who had fled to Holland
from severe persecutions in Piedmont, and by the liberality of the city
of Amsterdam, were forwarded to settle in New-Netherland. We wish that
more materials could be gathered to describe the history of this
minister and his early Huguenot flock upon Staten Island. His ministry
continued from 1652 to 1671, and I have recorded all that I can find
respecting him and his people. About the year 1690, the New-York
Consistory invited the Rev. Peter Daille, who had ministered among the
Massachusetts Huguenots, to preach occasionally on Staten Island.

In August, 1661, a number of Dutch and French emigrants from the
Palatinate obtained grants of land on the south side of Staten Island,
where a site for a village was surveyed. In a short time its population
increased to twelve or fourteen families, and to protect them from the
Indians, a block-house was erected and garrisoned with three guns and
ten soldiers. Domine Drissius visited them, and from a letter of his to
the Classis of Amsterdam, we learn the names of these early emigrants,
and some are familiar ones[3], Jan Classen, Johannes Christoffels, Ryk
Hendricks, Meyndert Evertsen, Gerrit Cornelissen, Capt. Post, Govert
Lockermans, Wynant Peertersen, etc., etc. Previous to this period, the
island had been twice overrun by the savages and its population
scattered; but now its progress became uninterrupted and onward. Crowds
of people from Germany, Norway, Austria, and Westphalia had fled to
Holland, and their number was increased by the religious troubles of the
Waldenses and Huguenots. Several families of the latter requested
permission to emigrate with the Dutch farmers to New-Netherland, at
their own expense. They only asked protection for a year or two from the
Indians; and the English, now in possession of the New-York colony, were
most favorably disposed toward them. This transfer from the Dutch to the
British rule took place in 1664. Fort Amsterdam became Fort James, and
the city took its present name, imposed as it was upon its rightful
owners. Staten Island was called Richmond County, and the province of
New-Netherland New-York, the name of one known only in history as a
tyrant and a bigot, the enemy of both political and religious freedom.

[3: Alb. Rec. xviii.]


From 1656 to 1663, some Protestant emigrants from Savoy came to Staten
Island, and a large body of Rochelle Huguenots also reached New-York
during the latter year. This fertile and beautiful spot, with its gentle
hills and wide-spread surrounding waters, became a favorite asylum for
the French refugees, and they arrived in considerable numbers about the
year 1675, with a pastor, and erected a church near Richmond village. I
have visited the place, but all that remains to mark the venerable and
sacred spot is a single dilapidated grave-stone! The building, it is
said, was burned down, and none of its records have been discovered. At
that period, there were only five or six congregations in the province
of New-York, and this must have been one of them. The Rev. David
Bonrepos accompanied some of the French Protestants in their flight from
France to this country, and in an early description of New-York, the
Rev. John Miller says: 'There is a meeting-house at Richmond, Staten
Island, of which Dr. Bonrepos is the minister. There are forty English,
forty-four Dutch, and thirty-six French families.' In 1695-1696, letters
of denization were granted to David Bonrepos and others. Among my
autographs is a copy of his; he wrote a fair, clear hand.

Under the tolerant rule of 'Good Queen Anne,' many French refugees
obtained peaceful abodes in Richmond county. In their escape from their
own land, multitudes had been kindly received in England, and afterward
accepted a permanent and safe shelter in the Province of New-York. What
a noble origin had the Staten Island Christian refugees! Their
ancestors, the Waldenses, resided several centuries, as a whole people,
in the South of France, and like the ancient Israelites of the land of
Goshen, enjoyed the pure light of sacred truth, while Egyptian darkness
spread its gloom on every side. In vain have historians endeavored to
trace correctly their origin and progress. All, however, allow them a
very high antiquity, with what is far better, an uncontaminated, pure
faith. A very ancient record gives a beautiful picture of their simple
manners and devotions:

'They, kneeling on their knees, or leaning against some bank or
stay, do continue in their prayers with silence, as long as a man
may say thirty or forty _paternosters_. This they do every day,
with great reverence, being among themselves. Before meat, they
say, '_Benedicite_.' etc. Then the elders, in their own tongue,
repeat: 'God, which blessed the five loaves and two fishes, bless
this table and what is set upon it. In the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Amen.' After meat, they say: 'Blessing, and
worship, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, virtue, and strength,
to God alone, for ever and ever. Amen. The Lord which has given us
corporeal feeding, grant, us his spiritual life; and God be with
us, and we always with him. Amen.' Thus saying grace, they hold
their hands upward, looking up to heaven; and afterward they teach
and exhort among themselves.'

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