In 1604, two years after the establishment of the East India Company, and long before the first appearance of the Dutch tlag on the American coast, the aconception of a West India Com] .any was carefully formulated in paper drawn up by one William Usselinx and presented, progressively, to the hoard of burgomasters of Amsterdam, the legislature or " states " of Holland province, and the States-General of the nation. In this document Usselinx proposed the formation of "a strong financial corporation, similar to that exploiting the East Indies, for the fitting out of armed vessels to attack the fleets of Spain and make conquest of her But it was deemed inexpossessions in the American hemisphere."1 pedient to sanction such a venture at the time. Upon the termination of the twelve years' truce, in the spring of 1621, and the revival of the war between the two countries, the Dutch statesmen had the details of the much-cherished West Indian Company enterprise thoroughly matured, and on the 3d of June of that year the charter of the new corporation, comprising a preamble and forty-five articles, was duly signed. The subscriptions to its stock, which was required by law to be not less than seven millions of florins (12,800,000), were immediately forthcoming. But although the existence ofthe company dated from July 1, 1621, it was some two years before its charter took complete effect, various disputed points not being immediately adjustable. Twelve additional articles were subsequently incorporated, the whole instrument receiving final approval on the 21st of June, 1623. The Dutch West India Company, to whose care the conversion of the American wilderness into a habitation for civilized man was thus committed, and under whose auspices European institutions were first planted and organized government was erected and for many years administered here, was in its basic constitution a most notable body, that is practipartaking of the character of a civil congress so far asends.