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Page 43
With great respect, Mr. Editor,
Your ob't servant,
HERMANUS VANDERDONK.
* * * * *
CONSPIRACY OF THE COCKED HATS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE KNICKERBOCKER.
Sir: I have read with great satisfaction the valuable paper of your
correspondent, Mr. HERMANUS VANDERDONK, (who, I take it, is a descendant
of the learned Adrian Vanderdonk, one of the early historians of the
Nieuw-Nederlands,) giving sundry particulars, legendary and statistical,
touching the venerable village of Communipaw and its fate-bound citadel,
the House of the Four Chimneys. It goes to prove what I have repeatedly
maintained, that we live in the midst of history and mystery and
romance; and that there is no spot in the world more rich in themes for
the writer of historic novels, heroic melodramas, and rough-shod epics,
than this same business-looking city of the Manhattoes and its environs.
He who would find these elements, however, must not seek them among the
modern improvements and modern people of this moneyed metropolis, but
must dig for them, as for Kidd the pirate's treasures, in out-of-the-way
places, and among the ruins of the past.
Poetry and romance received a fatal blow at the overthrow of the ancient
Dutch dynasty, and have ever since been gradually withering under the
growing domination of the Yankees. They abandoned our hearths when the
old Dutch tiles were superseded by marble chimney-pieces; when brass
andirons made way for polished grates, and the crackling and blazing
fire of nut-wood gave place to the smoke and stench of Liverpool coal;
and on the downfall of the last gable-end house, their requiem was
tolled from the tower of the Dutch church in Nassau-street by the old
bell that came from Holland. But poetry and romance still live unseen
among us, or seen only by the enlightened few, who are able to
contemplate this city and its environs through the medium of tradition,
and clothed with the associations of foregone ages.
Would you seek these elements in the country, Mr. Editor, avoid all
turnpikes, rail-roads, and steamboats, those abominable inventions by
which the usurping Yankees are strengthening themselves in the land, and
subduing every thing to utility and common-place. Avoid all towns and
cities of white clapboard palaces and Grecian temples, studded with
"Academics," "Seminaries," and "Institutes," which glisten along our
bays and rivers; these are the strong-holds of Yankee usurpation; but if
haply you light upon some rough, rambling road, winding between stone
fences, gray with moss, and overgrown with elder, poke-berry, mullein,
and sweet-briar, with here and there a low, red-roofed, whitewashed
farm-house, cowering among apple and cherry trees; an old stone church,
with elms, willows, and button-woods, as old-looking as itself, and
tombstones almost buried in their own graves; and, peradventure, a small
log school-house at a cross-road, where the English is still taught with
a thickness of the tongue, instead of a twang of the nose; should you,
I say, light upon such a neighborhood, Mr. Editor, you may thank your
stars that you have found one of the lingering haunts of poetry and
romance.
Your correspondent, Sir, has touched upon that sublime and affecting
feature in the history of Communipaw, the retreat of the patriotic band
of Nederlanders, led by Van Horne, whom he justly terms the Pelayo of
the New-Netherlands. He has given you a picture of the manner in which
they ensconced themselves in the House of the Four Chimneys, and awaited
with heroic patience and perseverance the day that should see the flag
of the Hogen Mogens once more floating on the fort of New-Amsterdam.
Your correspondent, Sir, has but given you a glimpse over the threshold;
I will now let you into the heart of the mystery of this most mysterious
and eventful village.
Yes, sir, I will now--"unclasp a secret book;
And to your quick conceiving discontents,
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,
As full of peril and adventurous spirit,
As to o'er walk a current, roaring loud,
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear."
Sir, it is one of the most beautiful and interesting facts connected
with the history of Communipaw, that the early feeling of resistance to
foreign rule, alluded to by your correspondent, is still kept up. Yes,
sir, a settled, secret, and determined conspiracy has been going on
for generations among this indomitable people, the descendants of the
refugees from New-Amsterdam; the object of which is to redeem their
ancient seat of empire, and to drive the losel Yankees out of the land.
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