too much dignity and
reserve, and of wrapping himself in mystery. Others, however, have
pretended to discover in all this a shrewd policy on the part of the old
governor. It is certainly of the first importance, say they, that a
country should be governed by wise men; but then it is almost equally
important that the people should think them wise; for this belief alone
can produce willing subordination. To keep up, however, this desirable
confidence in rulers, the people should be allowed to see as little of
them as possible. It is the mystery which envelopes great men that gives
them half their greatness. There is a kind of superstitious reverence for
office which leads us to exaggerate the merits of the occupant, and to
suppose that he must be wiser than common men. He, however, who gains
access to cabinets, soon finds out by what foolishness the world is
governed. He finds that there is quackery in legislation as in everything
else; that rulers have their whims and errors as well as other men, and
are not so wonderfully superior as he had imagined, since even he may
occasionally confute them in argument. Thus awe subsides into confidence,
confidence inspires familiarity, and familiarity produces contempt. Such
was the case, say they, with William the Testy. By making himself too easy
of access, he enabled every scrub-politician to measure wits with him, and
to find out the true dimensions not only of his person, but of his mind;
and thus it was that, by being familiarly scanned, he was discovered to be
a very little man. Peter Stuyvesant, on the contrary, say they, by
conducting himself with dignity and loftiness, was looked up to with great
reverence. As he never gave his reasons for anything he did, the public
gave him credit for very profound ones; every movement, however
intrinsically unimportant, was a matter of speculation; and his very red
stockings excited some respect, as being different from the stockings of
other men.

Another charge against Peter Stuyvesant was, that he had a great leaning
in favor of the patricians; and, indeed, in his time rose many of those
mighty Dutch families which have taken such vigorous root, and branched
out so luxuriantly in our state. Some, to be sure, were of earlier date,
such as the Van Kortlandts, the Van Zandts, the Ten Broecks, the Harden
Broecks, and others of Pavonian renown, who gloried in the title of
"Discoverers," from having been engaged in the nautical expedition f