40 THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY I626-I926 At a meeting of the Executive Committee held May 20, 1924, the following Preambles and Resolutions were adopted: Whereas on May 4, 1626 the Ship "Sea-Mew" Captain Adriaen Joris, Master, arrived at Manhattan, conveying Peter Minuit as Governor of New Netherland and Whereas it is recorded by Peter Schaghen, of the West India Company, in a letter dated November 5, 1626 to the "High and Mighty Lords, My Lords the States General at the Hague" that before the 23rd September, 1626, the Island of Manhattan had been purchased from the Indians for the value of sixty guilders, and Whereas on July 9, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was first read to the American Army by order of General George Washington, on the Commons, the present City Hall Park and Whereas the year 1926 will mark the three hundredth anniversary of the purchase of Manhattan Island which made its settlement permanent and the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in the City of New York and Whereas the Chamber of Commerce in the State of New York, organized in the year 1768, is the oldest and most influential civic organization in the City of New York. Therefore be it Resolved That The New York Historical Society respectfully call the attention of the Chamber of Commerce to the two important anniversaries occurring in the year 1926 and suggest that they be appropriately observed and that the Chamber of Commerce take the lead in securing the co-operation of all civic, patriotic, and historical associations towards this end, Be It Further Resolved That The New York Historical Society lend its hearty co-operation to the Chamber of Commerce and appoint a Committee of three to act upon all matters relating thereto.