Cadwallader Colden (4 page)

Colden's association with the Five Nations formed the basis for two significant contributions, one to the cartography of North America and the other to colonial descriptive literature. In 1721, William Bradford, New York's first resident printer, published Cadwallader Colden's “A MAP of the Countrey of THE FIVE NATIONS belonging to the province of NEW-YORK and of the LAKES near which the Nations of FAR INDIANS live with part of CANADA taken from the Map of LOUISIANE done by M
^r
DeLisle in 1718” (
fig. 3
). This rare map is considered to be the first map published in the province. The map was first published separately and subsequently appeared in 1724 in Colden's
Papers Relating to an Act of New-York for Encouragement of the Indian Trade
, which was also printed by William Bradford.
³²

It is a relatively crude map, which is almost a precise magnification of the map that appears as a frontispiece in Baron La Hontan's
1702 book.
³³
Colden's map, however, contains added details related to the Five Nations. It depicts an area extending from the southern portion of Canada to the middle of Maryland, from the Hudson River to the middle of Lake Michigan. It locates each of the Five Nations (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas), and the lands to the west conquered by the Five Nations. It depicts several “carrying places” of portage. In an included script, it is noted that the Tuscaroras had joined the Iroquois as a sixth nation in 1723. The “Map of LOUISIANE,” from which Colden indicated that his map was taken, is a landmark in the cartography of North America. This large, expansive, and detailed map by Guillaume Delisle, the leading French mapmaker at the time of publication in 1718, is regarded as the main source for all later maps of the Mississippi River and the first large-scale map to accurately show the lower Mississippi and surrounding area. It is also the first map to contain the name Texas (Mission de Teijas).
³⁴

Figure 3. Cadwallader Colden, “A Map of the Countrey of the Five Nations belonging to the province of New York and of the Lakes near which the Nations of Far Indians live with part of Canada taken from the Map of the Louisiane done by M
^r
DeLisle in 1718.” Engraving 23 x 37 cm. Printed by William Bradford, New York. Published separately and also appeared in Colden's Papers Relating to an Act of New York for Encouragement of the Indian Trade (New York, 1724). Courtesy of Private Collector.

Colden's interest in cartography persisted. He was unsuccessful in an attempt to obtain funding from the government for a map of the colony of New York based on his surveys and involvement in intercolonial boundary commissions. He later wrote this to Peter Collinson: “We have but too much reason to be sensible in the great Defects of Geography of North America not withstanding that in many cases it must be useful and in some necessary to our Ministers to have a true Account of our Coasts & most considerable plans on it as well as our Merchants.”
³⁵

Colden's significant contribution to colonial America's literature,
The History of the Five Indian Nations
, was published by William Bradford in New York in 1727. The printing of five hundred copies quickly sold out to a colonial, English, and European audience.
³⁶
It was critically acclaimed by the contemporary readership. In 1755, John Huske wrote: “As to the Histories of the Indians…not one [is] worth reading but that of Colden.”
³⁷
In 1757, William Smith, Jr., an outspoken critic of Cadwallader Colden, in
The History of the Province of New York
, relied a great deal upon Colden's work. Smith “found some passages accurate, some inaccurate and others incorrect, and noted carefully where Colden and Charlevoix, the French Jesuit contradicted each other.”
³⁸

Colden's literary reputation was established by the publication of
The History of the Five Indian Nations
as evidenced by its immediate popularity and its subsequent expansion and publications. Lawrence C. Wroth, the librarian of the John Carter Brown Library and the Rosenbach Fellow in Bibliography, points out that the narrative is an important part of the corpus of colonial literature.
³⁹
Colden indicated in the preface:

THOUGH every one that in the least acquainted with the Affairs of North-America, knows of what Consequence the Indians, commonly known to the people of New-York by the Name of the Five Nations, are both in Peace and War, I know of no Accounts of them Published in English, but what are meer Translations of French Authors. This seems to throw some Reflection on the Inhabitants of this Province, As if we wanted Curiosity to enquire into our own Affairs, and that we were willing to rest satisfied with the Accounts the French give us of our own Indians, notwithstanding that the French in Canada are always in a different Interest, and sometimes in open Hostility with us. This Consideration, I hope will justify my attempting to write an History of the Five Nations at this time; and my endeavoring to remove the Blame with which we may be charged, perhaps will atone for many Faults which the want of Capacity may have occasioned.

Having had the Perusal of the Minutes of the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, I have been enabled to collect many Materials for this History, which are not to be found any where else; And this Collection will, at least be useful to any Persons of more Capacity, who shall afterwards undertake this task….
⁴⁰

Colden specifically credits the works of Mr. de Bacquevillle de la Potherie
⁴¹
and Mr. Baron de Lahontan.
⁴²
The book is dedicated to Governor William Burnet and focuses on the favorable relationships between the Five Nations and the province of New York and other colonies and the attempts of the French in Canada to disrupt those relationships. Colden begins with a brief description of the government of the confederacy of the Five Nations, which the Tuscaroras had recently joined, and the structure of the Nations themselves. What follows are anecdotal descriptions of six segments of history that occurred in the seventeenth century and impacted on the Five Nations and their relationships with the English and French colonists. Despite Colden's extensive involvement with the Indians, however, the work incorporates none of his personal knowledge or any recent or contemporary issues.

Colden had a positive impression of the individual members of the Five Nations (Iroquois), and, despite an appreciation of their deficiencies and some patterns of behavior, he championed their cause. He wrote:

The Five Nations are a poor Barbarous People, under the darkest Ignorance, and yet a bright and noble Genius shines thro' these black Clouds. None of the greatest Roman Heros have discovered a greater Love to their Country, or a greater Contempt of Death than these Barbarians have done, when Life and Liberty came in Competition: Indeed, I think our Indians have out-done the Romans in this particular; for some of the greatest Romans have Murder'd themselves to avoid Shame of Torments, (
a
) Whereas our Indians have refused to Dye meanly with the least pain, when they thought their Country's Honour would be at stake, by it, but gave their Bodies willingly up to the most cruel Torments of their Enemies, to shew, that the Five Nations consisted of Men whose Courage and Resolution could not be Shaken. The sully, however, those noble Vertues by that cruel Passion Revenge, which they think not only lawful, but Honourable to exert without Mercy on their Country's Enemies, and for this only they deserve the Name of Barbarians.

But what have we Christians done to make them better? Alas! We have reason to be ashamed, that these Infidels, by our Conversation and Neighbourhood, are become worse than they were before they knew us. Instead of Vertues we have only taught them Vices, that they were entirely free of before that time. The narrow Views of private Interest have occasioned this, and will occasion greater, even Publick Mischiefs, if the Governors of the People do not, like true Patriots, exert themselves, and put a stop to these growing Evils, If these Practices be winked at, instead of faithful Friends that have Manfully fought our Battles for us, the Five Nations will becaome faithless Thieves and Bobbers, and joyn with every Enemy that can give them the hopes of Plunder,

If care were taken to plant in them, and cultivate that General Benevolence of Mankind, which is the true Principle of Vertue, it would effectually eradicate those horrid Vices occasioned by Unbound Revenge; and then the Five Nations would no longer
deserve the name of Barbarians, but would become a People whose Friendship might add Honour to the British Nation tho' they be now too generally despised.
⁴³

Indicative of the confidence and esteem that the Indians held for Colden was his adoption by the Mohawks of Canajoharie.

During his first decade as a New Yorker, Cadwallader Colden's role of a colonial politician formally began with the arrival of Governor William Burnet in New York. In one of Burnet's first letters to Parliament, he suggested the appointment of Colden as Councilor and, at the same time, proposed James Alexander, a Scotsman and close friend of Colden, for a second position on the Council.
⁴⁴
These had been vacated by the removal of Peter Schuyler and Adolph Philipse. Colden took his seat on the Council for the first time on May 30, 1722.
⁴⁵

In 1723, Colden prepared a comprehensive memorandum for London officials that detailed the state of commerce in colonial New York.
⁴⁶
It is considered to be the most definitive description of the time. The memorandum emphasized the colony's dependence on foreign trade and the fact that wheat and flour were the major export commodities.
⁴⁷
The report was an attempt to convince Great Britain that restrictive measures related to the commerce with her colonies would be counterproductive.

In 1724, Colden became a communicant of Trinity Church and he remained a devout Christian. But, he believed that the pleasures of life and pursuit of enjoyment through intellectual interests did not lessen the devotion to God.
⁴⁸
“A Memorial concerning the Fur Trade of the Province of New York presented to His Excellency William Burnet, Esquire, Captain Generall & Governor &c By Cadwallader Colden, Surveyor General of said Province, November 10
^th
, 1724” was printed for distribution. It was an expression of the governor's policy for trade with the Indians and a rebuttal of the criticisms of the merchants who opposed the policy. A small trading post had been built on the southern shore
of Lake Ontario and the Indians were encouraged to use that post and also to trade with the English in Albany rather than the French in Canada. Direct trade between the English and French merchants was disallowed by the Import Act that was approved by the Board of Trade. Powerful merchants in New York and London, believing that their profits were being threatened, launched an attack on the governor's policy, and had the act repealed. In response, Colden's Memorial indicated that, in their argument to the Board of Trade, the merchants blatantly misrepresented the facts. They had erroneously stated that “
Besides the Nations of
Indians
that are in the
English
Interest, there are very many Nations of
Indians,
who are at present in the Interest of the
French,
and who lie between New-York.
”
⁴⁹

Colden's report was factual, but was nuanced by negative and polarized attacks on the New York merchants who had misrepresented the facts. Although specific names were not mentioned, Colden's expressed personal grievance against those in opposition was characteristic of his argumentative and unforgiving personality. Subsequently, Colden issued a scathing attack on George Clarke, a member of the Council and one of the largest land owners in the province and an influential politician. Clarke would become lieutenant governor of New York in 1737, at which time Colden and he reconciled their differences. Colden also incurred the lifelong antipathy of the influential Delancey family when he refused to qualify Stephen Delancey as a member of the Assembly because his citizenship was deemed doubtful. Colden, throughout his life, provoked critics—a factor that clouded his accomplishments and, in part, was responsible for an inappropriate lack of recognition of his contributions. Colden's report was a significant and influential factor, which led the Board of Trade to overturn the repeal and, thereby, approve the governor's policy related to the fur trade.

In the colony of New York during the 1720s conflicts over the
relative merits of free trade, as contrasted with protective duties, were pervasive and dominated politics. In 1726, two pamphlets espousing the competing arguments were printed.
The Interest of the Country in laying Duties: or, a Discourse, shewing how Duties on some Sorts of Merchandize may make the Province of New-York richer than it would be without them
was written by Colden and printed as an anonymous document by John Peter Zenger. It was countered by another anonymous document, also printed by Zenger.
The Interest of City and Country to Lay No Duties: or A Short Discourse shewing that Duties on Trade, tend to the Impoverishing City and Country.
In response to the two disparate publications, Colden produced a pamphlet, also printed in 1726 by Zenger,
The Two Interests reconciled; occasioned by two late Pamphlets, called The Interest of the Country and the Interest of City and Country.
Disguised as an attempt at reconciliation, Colden's publication was a partisan expression that called for a direct tax upon land accumulators or usurers, a locally built and home-owned merchant marine, and a continuation of protective duties.
⁵⁰