ger, and the captains often unskilful. Many of the exiles found homes in the bosom of the deep.

The American colonies were desirous of receiving the refugees. Massachusetts and South Carolina had agents in England to make proposals to them. William Penn would fain have their assistance in the forming of his new colony, and Virginia offered them land at trifling cost and even as a gift, provided they would settle upon it.

Many of the refugees took out papers of naturalization before they left England. Others, loath to cut the slender tie that united them to their native land, deferred the act until they should reach the precise locality in which they should decide to settle.

When Charles II. first invited the Huguenots to England, he led them to believe that by one general act, they all would receive the benefits of naturalization; but this idea was not realized. For a long time they were allowed to obtain under the royal seal a grant by which they might secure to themselves and families all the rights, immunities, and privileges enjoyed by free-born citizens; the only obligation being that of actual residence in England or within its dominions: but several exactions were made; among which was a certificate proving that they had received communion, and another promising they would take the oath of allegiance and supremacy within a year.

In 1671 Virginia passed an act giving to all aliens, that desired to become citizens the liberties, privileges and immunities of those born within the British dominions upon their presenting a petition to the Assembly, and taking the usual oath of supremacy and allegiance. New York passed a similar act in 1686, and South Carolina did the same in 1691.

Escape from their country was not, however, the sole solicitude of the exiles. By it one step might be accomplished, but other steps were yet to be taken before

their lives could assume a peaceful tenor. First was the passage across the great ocean that lay between them and the new world in which they hoped to plant their “vine and fig tree;" after which some time must elapse before they could hope to eat their fruits and rest beneath their shade.

The passage of the Atlantic was fraught with many dangers. No two vessels ever pursued the same course, as Maury had not yet planned his wind and water-current charts. Chronometers and quadrants were unknown to navigation, the compass being the captain's sole assistant. Sometimes, indeed, the ship would be found many degrees out of its intended course, and again approaching to the very coast it had lately quitted. Steam not having been impressed into the service, the small and inferior vessels were the sport of every wind and wave. One moment raised on a mighty billow, the next would find them engulfed in its depths, to be tossed upwards just as the passengers thought to find a watery grave.

Pirates infested the waters; consequently, however distant, every sail caused a tremor of anxiety to captain, passengers, and crew. Every vessel was obliged to carry guns and ammunition, which occupied the room needed for provisions for such a lengthy voyage, and sometimes they were reduced almost to starvation. Frequently deaths ensued from lack of food as well as from want of medical attendance and the simplest of remedies.

"Land ho!" was a joyful cry; but often it was only the beginning of new dangers, as no pilots were found awaiting them, and no friendly lighthouse warned them of dangerous rocks; and in case of shipwreck no saving life-boats manned by willing hands and fearless hearts were there to save them. What wonder if many of the poor exiles required no earthly home.

Provided the landing was successful, who shall describe the homesickness of those who had left the most luxurious of all the modern countries, with the refinement of its society and the comforts of the family hearthstone, with its well-known faces and familiar language, to meet the inconveniencies and privations of a new land, with its strange tongue and unfamiliar countenances?

But brighter days were in store for these poor wanderers. To whatever part of the new world they came they brought their industry and enterprise, and probably no other class of emigrants contributed more, in proportion to their number, toward the prosperity of the country of their adoption than they. In whatever station of life they belonged they were remarkable for their kindliness and courtesy, as likewise for the refinement, and even elegance of their manners, as well as their mental calibre.

Of the seven presidents of the Continental Congress, three were of Huguenot parentage: Henry Laurens, John Jay, and Elias Boudinot. In New York city and in its vicinity the names of the French refugees are amongst the most prominent ones.

"N

Chapter Second

EW YORK is settled upon the west end of the island having that small arm of the sea which divides it from Long Island on the south side of it, which runs away eastward to New England, and is navigable though dangerous. For about ten miles from New York is a place called Hel Gat which being a narrow passage, there runneth a violent stream both upon ebb and flood, and in the middle lieth some Islands of rocks, which the current sets so violently upon that it threatens present shipwreck; and upon the flood is a large whirlpool which continually sends forth a hideous roaring, enough to affright any stranger from passing any further, and to wait for some charm to conduct him through; yet to those that are well acquainted little or no danger, yet a place of great defence against any enemy coming in that way, which a small fortification would absolutely prevent and necessitate them to come in at the west end of Long Island by Sandy Hook, where Nutten Island doth force them within command of the Fort at New York, which is one of the best Pieces of Defense in the north parts of America.

"New York is built most of brick and stone and covered with red and black tile, and the land being high, it gives at a distance a pleasing aspect to the spectators. The bay upon the south side which joins to the sea, it is so fortified with bars of sands and shoals, that it is a sufficient defense against any enemy. Upon the south side of Long Island in the winter lie stores of Whales and Crampusses, which the inhabitants begin with small boats to make a trade, catching

to their no small benefit. Also innumerable multitude of seals which make an excellent oil. They lie all the winter upon some broken marshes and beaches or bars of sand before mentioned, and might be easily got were there some skilful men would undertake it. Hudson River runneth by New York northward into the Country towards the head of which is seated New Albany (a place of great trade with the Indians) betwixt which and New York being above one hundred miles is as good corn land as the world affords."

Such was one of the first published accounts of the colony of New York, written much in the style of Mandeville, and it is probably as accurate a description of Manhattan Island and environs as may be found.

The “hideous roaring" of Hell Gate has moderated its tone; the seals that once basked upon the marshes of southern Long Island have taken themselves to more congenial shores; and the whales and grampuses that frolicked in its waters probably continue their sports in quieter places. The bar, once such an obstacle to navigation, is there no longer; it has subsided into the harbor bottom or else continues its "moanings" in some other locality, allowing vessels of the largest size to approach the city except at the lowest tide: this has proved of great benefit to the young colony.

As a violent storm makes itself known by ripples breaking upon far distant shores, so the great disturbance in France occasioned by the revocation of the "Edict of Nantes caused itself to be felt even in the insignificant little colony of New York; the majority of whose inhabitants had scarcely recovered from the shock occasioned by the fact of being handed over, like so much merchandise, into the hands of another sovereign.

During the years 1685-6 a continuous tide of immigration poured into this obscure colony. Every