Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York

Front matter

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LANDMARKS _£^

Chapter I

Early Settlements in the Valley of the Hudson — Explorations of Henry Hudson — Records of His Journey — The First White Man to Set Foot on the Soil of Rensselaer County — Privileges Extended to Traders in the Newly Discovered Territory . 1-6

Chapter II

Early Indian Occupancy — The Mohicans the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Rensselaer County — The Five Nations: Their Organization and Development — Warfare Between the Mohicans and Mohawks — Uncas and Miantonomoh-^ Origin of the Schaghticoke Indians. 6 — 14

Chapter III

Killiaen \'an Rensselaer, Founder of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck — The Famous Charter of Freedom and Exemptions — Jealousy Over the Patroon's Large (irant — Early Administration of the Colony — Collision P>etween the Colony and the Province — The Early Trade in Piu's — First White Settlers in Rensselaer County 14-32

Chapter IV

The French and Indian War — Cause of the Hostilities — Expeditions Against Canada — Origin of Yankee Doodle — English Control of the Colony — The Strife Over the Government of the Hampshire Grants — Outrages Committed by the Bennington Mob — Temporary (Jovernment Organized by the Insurgents 32-46 viii CONTENTS.

Chapter V

The War of the Revolution and the Participation Therein of the Colonists of Rensselaerwyck — General Schuyler Deposed- -Baum's Proclamation — The Famous Battle of Benninijton and the Events Leading up to It— F'ought I'ntirely Within the Town of Hoosick — The Accounts of General Stark and Lieutenant Glick — Losses on Both Sides — Direct Result of the Battle — 'I'he Decisive Action at Saratoga . 4fi-G5

Chapter VI

Division of New York into Counties and Organization of Rensselaer County — Work of Developing the Resources of the County Renewed — Act Erecting Rensselaer County — The First Judges and other Civil Officers — Description of the County, its Geography and Geology 05-75

Chapter VII

The Erection of the First County Buildings — Rivalry Between Troy and Lansingburgh as to Which Should Secure the Court House — Formation of New Towns — Rapid Development of the County and Its Increasing Needs — Organization of the State Militia — Appointments for the Rensselaer County Brigade — Its Evolution in the Early Days of the Nineteenth Century 76-90

Chapter VIII

Tlic Famous Anti-Rent Troubles in Rensselaer County and Vicinity— The Centres of the Scenes of Disturbance — Anti-Rent Associations — Refusals of the Occupants of Farms to Pay Rent— The Murder of Griggs — Arrest. Trial and Ac(|uillal of Witbeck, the Alleged Murderer 91-1(4

Chapter IX

Rensselaer County in the War of the Rebellion — Organization in Troy of the First Regiment of Yohmteer Soldiers Who Served in the War — History of the Second Regiment — Operationsof the Thirtieth, One Hundred and Sixty-ninth, and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiments — The Twenty-first New York, or the Griswold Cavalry IIS-ISO

Chapter X

Closing Days of the Nineteenth Century — New County Buildings — History of the Railroad.s — Rensselaer County Citizens Who Have Held High Public Office — The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument — Statistics of the Development of the Countv .. ... i;<()-153

CONTENTS. ix

Chapter XVII

Industries and Institutions of Troy — The Leading Manufactures and Mercantile Establishments— Tro\' Famous for Collar and Cuff Industries — The Manufacture of Iron and Steel, Stoves. Ranges and Valves — Other Big Industries — Troy's Celebrated Educational Institutions — History of its Churches — Municipal Departments — Statistics Showing I)evelo])mcnt Along Various Lines 304-374

CHAPTER XXVI. \/ TOWN OF I'lCTRRSRURGH r)01-509 CHAPTER XX\'II

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ciiapti:r XXVIII.

TOWN Ol' F.Rl'NSWICK S'Jl-MO

CHAPTER XXIX.

TOWN OF NORTH C.REFNF.ITSII r>30-.i:?7

CHAPTER XXX. '!'< )WN OF ICAST GREENHUSII T):}; -543

CIIAPTICR X.XXI.

TOWN OF NASSAU . 543-555

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER XXXI I.

TOWN OF POESTENKILL ^ ...555-561

CHAPTER XXX HI.

TOWN OF GRAFTON 561-570

Part II. Biograph Ical 571 -7.'j

PART ill

Landmarks of Rensselaer County.

Chapter I

Early Settlements in the Valley of the Hudson— Explorations of Henry Hudson — Records of his Journey— The First White Man to Set Foot on the Soil of Rensselaer County — Privileges Extended to Traders in the Newly Discovered Territory.

The history of the county of Rensselaer up to the year 1791 is identical with that of the county of Albany, of which it formed a part up to that year. The foundation of the colony was the result of an attempt to establish in the New World the European feudal system of land tenure and local government which was then beginning to be unpopular in the Old World. The main peculiarity of this system was that the bulk of the land was divided into feuds or fiefs, held by their owners on condition of the performance of certain duties to a superior lord who, in default of such performance, could reclaim the land. The lord was entitled to the fealty of his tenants, but not to that of their subtenants, every man being responsible only to his iminediate lord. In a new and comparatively free country it was but natural that this system should fail, as it did. The system prevailed in New York, however, until the War of the Revolution, but the changes then wrought were not of a radical nature, else we should never have been called upon to chronicle the Anti-rent War, as it became known.

The settlement at Fort Orange, now Albany, was made in 1614, five years after the exploration of the Hudson by Sir Henry Hudson and six years before the foundation of Plymouth by the Pilgrim Fathers. Hudson was followed by a number of Dutch adventurers, he having taken possession of the country in the name of Holland, prominent among whom were Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, Adrian Block and Hendrick Corstiarnsen. Gerrit Jacob Witsen, a former burgomaster of the city 1 of Amsterdam, and twelve associates received, Oct. 14, 1614, a grant giving- them the exclusive right to navigate and explore for three years the lands then called New Netherlands, The company sailed up the Hudson, which they called " De Riviere van den Vorst Mauritius," and in the spring of 1615 they built two posts — one at the southern end of the island of Manhattan, and the other on Castle island, in the southern part of the city of Albany. The latter, called Fort Nassau, was begun in the spring of 1614 by some of the members of the company. It was in command of Jacob Jacoby Elkinz and a garrison of less than a dozen men, all in the employ of the company. In the spring of 1618, at which time the special grant of the company expired, the fort was injured by a freshet and the company abandoned t, building one on the mainland a short distance further down the river, at the mouth of the creek now known as the Norman's Kill. Soon after the completion of the fort the Dutch settlers made their first treaty with the Mohawks, representing the Iroquois nation, gaining for the former a friendship with the red men which was never broken. Jvily 1, 1621, the powerful Dutch West India company took possession of the lands granted it by the States-General June 3, 1620, the province of the company including New Netherlands. The year afterward permission was granted several families of Walloons, then settled at Amsterdam, to establish in the New Netherlands a colony to be governed by magistrates which they themselves were to select. The Walloons were descended from the ancient Belgae, mixed with Germanic and Roman elements. They were one of the divisions of the Huguenots and spoke the French language. They were very conscientious, industrious and persevering; cleanly in their habits and lived on an unusually high moral and spiritual plane. The ship "New Netherland," which was sent out from Texel in the spring of 1623 by the West India company, carried about thirt}- families, mostly Walloons, and in May, after a voyage of about two months, arrived in New York harbor. Fort Orange, which had been started the year before, was the destination of these immigrants, over half of whom, under the leadership of Ad riaen Joris, immediately settled there and began the work of completing the fort. This was early in the summer of 1623. Joris at once renewed the original treaty with the Iroquois. In the following year Cornells Jacobsen Mey was made first director of New Netherlands.

The name of Henry Hudson is ineffably associated with Rensselaer

SIR HENRY HUDSON'S VOYAGE. 3

county Under the orrant of King James I of England, dated April 10, ICOG, the territory embraced within the limits of the present county of Rensselaer became a part of the grant to the Plymouth company, which embraced all the land on the continent between the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees of latitude. When the Council of Plymouth succeeded the original Plymouth company, Rensselaer county still remained in the same grant, which was increased, however, by the addition of the territory lying between the fortieth and forty-first degrees on the south and the forty- fifth and forty-eighth degrees on the north. The English at once began the settlement of New England. But the voyages and explorations of the illustrious wSir Henry Hudson resulted in the settlement of a portion of the Plymouth grant by the Dutch.

Hudson was employed by a company of London merchants to endeavor to discover a new route to the Indies. His two voyages while in the employ of the Englishmen, his fellow countrymen, resulted in failure and he offered his services to the Dutch East India company. This company furnished him with a small ship — the Half Moon — hardly more than a yacht, and in April, 1G09, he set out on his third voyage for the Indies. Baffled, but not discouraged, at his inability to pass through the ice fields of the north, he turned toward America once more. He touched at Newfoundland, the coast of Maine, Cape Cod, Chesapeake bay, Delaware bay, and finally the harbor of New York. September 10, 1609, he entered the picturesque river which now bears his name and sailed northward. "On the evening of the fifteenth he arrived opposite the mountains which lie from the river side, where he found *a very loving people and very old men,' and the day following reached the spot hereafter to be honored by his own illustrious name. One day more wafts him up between Schodac and Castleton; and here he landed and passed a day with the natives, greeted with all sorts of barbarous hospitality ; the land ' the finest for cultivation he ever set foot on;' the natives so kind and gentle that when they found he would not remain with them over night, and feared that he left them — poor children of nature! — because he was afraid of their weapons, — he, whose quarterdeck was heavy with ordnance! — they 'broke their arrows in pieces and threw them in the fire!' "

Hudson, then, undoubtedly set foot on the soil of the present town of Schodack before his crew sailed up the river to Albany. There is little doubt, by reason of the long stops he made and the slowness with which he proceeded up the stream, that he spent considerable time on the shores on both sides of the river. On the 19th he anchored again a short distance further up the river. From here a small exploring party rowed up the river to a point not far from the present city of Troy. Two voyages in row boats were made — the first on the 20th of the month and the second on the 22d. At noon of the 23d the Half Moon weighed anchor, Hudson finding that navigation was impossible beyond the islands at the mouth of the Mohawk, and started on the journey homeward. In the journal in which he recorded his daily doings we find the following records for the period from Sept. 15 to 23 inclusive:

The fifteenth, in the morning, was misty until the sunne arose; then it cleered. So we weighed with the wind at South, and ran up the riuer twentie leagues, passing by high mountains. Wee had a very good depth, as six, seven, eight, nine, twelve and thirteen fathoms, and great store of salmons in the river. This morning our two savages got out of a port and swam away. After we were under sayle they called to us in scorne. At night we came to other mountains which lie from the river's side. There wee found very loving people and very old men ; where we were well used. Our boat went to fish, and caught great store of very good fish.

The sixteenth faire and very hot weather. In the morning our boat went againe to fishing, but could catch but few by reason their canoes had beene there all night. This morning the people came aboard and brought us eares of Indian corne and pompions and tobacco, which wee bought for trifles. Wee rode still all day and filled fresh water; at night wee weighted and went two leagues higher and bad shoaled water ; so we anchored till day,

The seventeenth, faire sunshining weather and very hot. In the morning as soon as the sun was up we set sayle and ran up six leagues higher and found shoales in the middle of the channel and small islands but seven fathoms water on both sides. Toward night we borrowed so neere the shoare that wee grounded, so wee layed out our small anchor and heaved oflf againe. Then we borrowed on the banke in the channel and came aground againe. While the floud ran we hoved off againe and anchored all night.

The eighteenth, in the morning was faire weather and we rode still. In the afteruoone our master's mate went on land with an old savage, a governor of the countrey, who carried him to his house and made him goode cheere.

The nineteenth was faire and hot weather. At the floode, being neere eleven of the clocke, wee weighed and ran higher up two leagues above the shoals and had no lesse water than five. We anchored and rode up in eight fathoms. The people of countrie came flocking aboord and brought us grapes and pompions which wee bought for trifles. And many brought us bevers' skinnes and otters' skinnes, which wee bought for beades, knives and hatchets. So we rode there all night.

The twentieth in the morning was faire weather. Our master's mate with four men more went up with our boat to sound the river, and found two leagues above us but two fathoms of water and the channell very narrow, and above that place between seven or eight fathoms. Toward night they returned and we rode still all night.

THE MOHICAN INDIANS. 7

tude. One of the principal villages of the Mohicans was in the county of Rensselaer, covering a portion of the site of the present city of Troy. At the time when our first knowledge of them begins they were already beginning to decay, and when the white settlers made their appearance the decadence of all the tribes of the family were accelerated.

In the reign of Atotarho XII, one of the kings of the Five Nations, perhaps about fifty years before Columbus discovered America, we are told by an authority on Indian history' that the Tehatirihokea, or Mohawks, were at war with Ranatshaganha, " supposed Mohegans, who occupied the opposite bank of the river Skaunataty or Hudson. The warfare was maintained by small expeditions; the Mohawks would cross the river and attack the enemy; the canoes were kept in the river continually to cover their retreat; but after a while the Mohegans expoliated the war; the chief of the Mohawks received orders from the king, and invited the two confederate nations, the Oneidas and the Onondagas, to unite against the common enemy; the band of the combined forces immediately crossed the river and revenged a part of the country, and the enemy were compelled to sue for peace."

In the centre of the great expanse of territory occupied by the Algonquins, and entirely cut off from communication with other nations, except in the event of war, lived the powerful nations called the Iroquois and the Hurons. By some these two families were called one nation, the Huron-Iroquois.

The Iroquois Indians, or the Five Nations as they were called by the French (subsequently, by the amalgamation with them of the Tuscaroras, becoming the Six Nations), occupied practically all the territory now known as New York State when the first white man penetrated the wilderness through which they roamed. The English called them the Confederates ; the Dutch, more particularly those who settled the Mohawk valley, called them theMaquaas; and the Indians called themselves the Agannschioni, meaning "United People." They also called themselves the Hodenosaunee, meaning "the people of the long house," all their houses being low, narrow and as a rule very long. They also likened their confederacy, stretched for 200 miles along a narrow valley, to one of the long wigwams containing many families. ^

The Five Nations were composed of the Mohawks, on the east; next

' David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations.

' Credit is due George S. Conover, the well-known authority on Indian history, for much of the information contained in this chapter.

west being the Oneidas, then the Onondagas, the Cayugas and the Senecas. When the Tuscaroras, from the Carolinas, joined the Confederacy which existed among those nations they became amalgamated with the Oneidas and gradually lost their identity. It is not postively known when the Confederacy was established. In David Cusick's history of the Six Nations he relates the Indian traditions relative to the origin of the kingdom, which was called " a Long House, the Wars, Fierce Animals," etc. He says:

By some inducement a body of people was concealed in the mountain at the falls named Kuskehsawkich (now Oswego). When the people were released from the mountain they were vi.sited by Tarenyawagon, i. e., the Holder of the Heavens, who had power to change himself into various shapes; he ordered the people to proceed toward the sunrise as he guided them and come to a river and named Yenonanatche, i. e., going round a mountain (now Mohawk), and went down the bank of the river and come to where it discharges into a great river running towards the midday sun ; and Shaw-nay-taw-ty, i.e., beyond the pineries (now Hudson), and wtnt down the bank of the river and touched bank of a great water. . . The people were yet in one language; some of the people went to the banks of the great water towards the midday sun, but the main company returned as they came, on the bank of the river, under the direction of the Holder of the Heavens. Of this company there was a particular body which called themselves one household; of these were six families and they entered into a resolution to preserve the chain of alliance which should not be extinguished in any manner. The company advanced some distance up the river of Shaw-na-taw-ty (Hudson), the Holder of the Heavens directs the first family to make their re.sidence near the bank of the river, and the family was named Te-hawre-ho-geh, i. e., a speech divided (now Mohawk) and their language was soon altered ; the company then turned and went towards the sunsetting, and travelled about two days and a half, and come to a creek, which was named Kaw-na-tawte-ruh, i. e., Pineries. The second family was directed to make their residence near the creek, and the family was named Ne-haw-re-tah-go, i. e., Big Tree, now Oneidas, and likewise their language was altered. The company continued to proceed towards the sunsetting; under the direction of the Holder of the Heavens. The third family was directed to make their residence on a mountain named Onondaga (now Onondaga) and the family was named Seuh now-kah-tah, i. e., carrying the name, and their language was altered. The company continuedtheir journey towards the sunsetting. The fourth family was directed to make their residence near a long lake named Goyo goe, i. e., a mountain rising from the water (now Cayuga) and the family was named Sho-nea-na-we-towah, i. e., a great pipe, their language was altered. The company continued to proceed towards the sunsetting. The fifth family was directed to make their residence near a high mountain, or rather nole, situated south of the Canandaigua lake, which was named Jenneatowake and the family was named Tehow-nea-nyo-hent, i. e. , Passing a Door, now Seneca, and their language was altered. The sixth family went with the company that journeyed towards the sunsetting, and touched the bank of a great lake, and named Kau-ha-gwa-rah-ka, i. e., A Cap, now

THE GREAT IROQUOIS FEDERATION. 9

Erie, and then went towards between the mid-day and sunsetting, and travelled considerable distance and came to a large river which was named Ouau-we-yo-ka, i. e., a principal stream, now Mississippi. . . The family was directed to make their residence near Cau-ta-noh, i. e., Pine in water, situated near the mouth of Nuse river, now in North Carolina, and the family was named Kau-ta-noh, nowTuscarora and their language was also altered. . . The Holder of the Heavens returns to the five families and forms the mode of confederacy which was named Ggo-nea-seab. neh, i. e., A Long House, to which are 1st— Tea-kaw-reh-ho-geh ; 2d— New-haw tehtah-go ; 3d— Seuh-nau-ka-ta ; 4th— Sho-nea-na-we-to-wan ; 5th— Te-hoo-nea-nyo-hent.

This organization is supposed to have taken place between 1900 and 2000 years before Columbus discovered America, or betv^een 400 B. C. and 500 B. C. While this account is purely traditional it is the most authentic in existence.

When the white intruders first discovered that such an alliance existed, all that was known of the organization of the form of government so remarkable among a savage people was, as we have shown, mere tradition. Each nation of the Confederacy was independent of every other in all matters of a local character, and in the councils no sachem was superior to another, except by reason of higher intellectual attainments, such as they might be. The fifty offices created at the organization of the Confederacy were distributed among the nations according to their numerical strength. Of these ofifices the Mohawks had nine, the Oneidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the Cayugas ten and the Senecas eight. Although these offices were hereditary, no one could became a ruler or sachem until elevated to such a place by a council of all the sachems of this original American Confederacy. The sachems who, in council, constituted the legislative body of the union were also the local rulers of their respective nations. While a sachem or chief had civil authority, he could not be a chieftain in war until elected to that position. Every sachem went on the warpath as a common warrior unless he had been doubly honored and made a military leader as well as a civil officer. The Iroquois nation then was practically a Republic, founded on much the same lines as the United States of America.

The policy of the Iroquois nation in war appeared to have been not alone for the sake of war, but for conquest and the extension of the nation's power and influence. Instead of trying to exterminate their foes the Iroquois strove to subjugate and adopt them, and as far as they could in their weak way, to enlighten them. So successful were they in their efforts that at the end of the seventeenth century they

10 LANDxMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY.

dominated a very large portion of what is now the United States. The Iroquois of New York and the Algonquin tribes of New England were perpetually at war. The Mohawks and Oneidas occupied the Mohawk valley mainly, and the three nations west of them were compelled to pass through this region when starting out upon the eastern warpath. The most natural and convenient pathway for them to traverse was from the Mohawk valley eastward, leading them up from theHudsonto the valley of the Hoosick river, then across the Berkshire hills or the southern spur of the Green mountains to the valley of the Connecticut river. Over this trail the Five Nations marched on many occasions, according both to history and early tradition, and in and near the county of Rensselaer many a bloody battle was fought by the red men of the wilderness.

At the time the Dutch first ascended the Hudson the war against the Mohicans was carried on mainly by the Mohawks. " The Mohe gans occupied its banks, and the Mohawk villages were no nearer than Schoharie creek. The Dutch at first took sides with the Mohegans and were defeated, but afterwards were friends of their opponents. The Mohegans made their last invasion in August, 16G9, unsuccessfully attacking a Mohawk town. The Oneidas and Onondagas joined the Mohawks and invaded the Mohegan country in retiirn, with even smaller results, but it led to peace. The Mohegans were called Loups, or Wolves, this being the meaning of their name. They were of Algonquin stock, and kindred to the Delawares. "^

Even many years after its settlement by the Dutch bands of the Iroc[uois, then of the Algonquins, passed through it on their way to carry out their plans for laying waste the villages of their enemy; but fortu nately for the colonists of the manor of Rensselaerwyck but few of these savage contests occurred after the foundation of the colony. The famous old Wampanoag chieftain, King Philip, once invaded the county, in the winter of 1075-76, at the head of a band of 300 warriors bound for the north. His followers encamped about fifty miles north of Albany and prepared to strike a decisive blow at the Mohawks. In February, 1676, the Mohawks assembled and marched northward and, by reason of superior numbers and a better acquaintance with the field of the campaign, succeeded in driving the brave old chieftain and his band back through the Hoosick valley to the other side of the moun-

' W. M. Beauchmnp's notes on David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Si.x Nations.

EARLY INDIAN WARS. 11

tains. The famous old chief, Graylock, of the Woronoaks, the last chief of his tribe, also frequently passed through the Hoosick valley with his band of warriors.

In the Connecticut valley there was a band called the Pacomptucks. During an invasion they wandered down the valley of the Hoosick, accompanied by straggling members of the Wampanoags, the Narragansetts and the Nipmucks, and settled about the junction of that river with the Hudson. They evinced a friendly disposition, frequently visited the white settlers, traded more or less with them and were known among the Dutchmen of the manor as the Schaghticoke Indians.

The Mohegan or Mohican Indians, who occupied the east side of the Hudson, had a fortified village on the present site of the city of Troy, and as a rule were friendly with the whites. Tradition says that in this village Uncas, the famous Mohican chief, who went down when his tribe was exterminated, was born. The original central home or capital of the Mohicans was mainly the southern part of Rensselaer county, of which they were complete masters until 1G28. The northern part of the county, in the valley of the Hoosick, was the original home of the Horicons. Beside the village on the present site of Troy the Mohicans had a still larger village in the present town of Schodack, They devoted much time to agriculture, their principal crop being corn. The flat land in the river valley produced great quantities of this grain annually. The Indian name for Troy, "Paanpaack," means "The field of standing corn."

Three years before Killiaen Van Rensselaer's colonists sailed up the Hudson the Mohicans and the Mohawks declared war, the principal scenes of their hostile demonstrations being about Fort Orange and the present site of West Troy, and the Mohican village on the east side of the river. For nearly two years the war continued. The Mohawks were the more powerful nation and they pursued their foes relentlessly. In the spring of 1828 they captured the castle of the Mohicans and drove the few remaining members of that tribe to the valley of the Connecticut. As late as fifty years afterward, according to tradition, Uncas and his little body of Mohicans, now greatly reduced numerically, returned to their aboriginal home and even crossed the Hudson to the present sites of Albany, West Troy and Waterford, where they succeeded in slaying many of their old enemies among the unsuspecting Mohawks. Later on some of the Mohicans emigrated westward and joined the Five Nations, some of them amalgamating with their old enemies, the Mohawks; others finding a new spot in the Schoharie valley, where they established villages.

The Iroquois, as we have said, were constantly at war with the Algonquin tribes, and usually for the purpose of conquest. The Mohicans suffered greatly at their hands. After driving the Mohicans from their homes in the Connecticut valley, in 1628, they continued to annoy them in many ways. The Mohicans appeared to be the especial target for their spite. After this tribe was driven out of the way the Iroquois turned their attention to the Hurons on the north, completely overrunning the country of the latter. The next year, 1G51, they destroyed the Neutral nation, and the year after that they made war against the Eries, practically wiping them out of existence. Eleven years later they marched over into the Connecticut valley, presumably in search of the remnant of the Mohicans, and laid waste the country of the Squakheags and the Pacomptucks. Most of these expeditions were lead by the Mohawks, whose name was dreaded by every tribe in the Algonquin family. When on the war path their fury knew no bounds. They were relentless when once a campaign had been begun, and even in the dead of winter, when the members of most tribes would be found hugging the v^agwam fire, the Mohawks often would start out on an expedition against the foe, traveling hundreds of miles through the snow and returning at the season of the year when progress was even more difficult on account of melting snows. Every tribe of the Algonquins within easy marching distance of the Mohawks paid tribute to the latter. The title, •' Romans of the West," was one which they justly deserved.