46 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

except the Prince of Orange and the Lords my
masters."

The practical result of this interchange of ameni-
ties was a shot which tore the mainsail of the Good
Hope, "perforated the princely flag/' and so en-
raged the skipper that on his arrival at New Am-
sterdam he hastened to lay his grievance before the
Council, who thereupon ordered Coorn to behave
with more civility.

The patroon system was from the beginning
doomed to failure. As we study the old docu-
ments we find a sullen tenantry, an obsequious
and carew6rn agent, a dissatisfied patroon, an
impatient company, a bewildered government —
and all this in a new and promising country where
the natives were friendly, the transportation easy,
Ithe land fertile, the conditions favorable to that
Conservation of human happiness which is and
should be the aim of civilization. The reason for
the discontent which prevailed is not far to seek,
and all classes were responsible for it, for they
combined in planting an anachronistic feudalism
in a new country, which was dedicated by its
very physical conditions to liberty and democracy.
The settlers came from a nation which had battled