PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 33
New Netherland could not be carried on without
labor, and that labor could not be procured without
permanent settlers. "Open up the country with
agriculture: that must be our first step/' was his
urgent advice; but the dwellers in the Netherlands,
finding themselves prosperous in their old homes,
saw no reason for emigrating, and few offered
themselves for the overseas settlements. The
West India Company was not inclined to involve
itself in further expense for colonization, and
matters threatened to come to a halt, when some-
one, very likely the shrewd Kiliaen himself,
evolved the plan of granting large estates to men
willing to pay the cost of settling and operating
them. From this suggestion the scheme of pa-
troonship was developed.
The list of "Privileges and Exemptions5' pub-
lished by the West India Company in 1629 declared
that all should be acknowledged patroons of New
Netherland who should, within the space of four
years, plant there a colony of fifty souls upwards of
fifteen years old. "The island of the Manhattes"
was reserved for the Company. The patroons, it
was stipulated, must make known the situation
of their proposed settlements, but they were al-
lowed to change should their first location prove