FLUSHING (Dutch Vlissingen), a forti fied seaport with a rich medimval history, on the island of Walcheren in the province of Zee land. Formerly a naval station, it has been since 1867, through canal, railway and steamer, made a centre of commerce and manufactures and the terminal of the steamer route to and from England. Pop. about 18,893. Its chief historical interests to Americans lies in the fact that here, in 15 Dec. 1585, Robert Dud ley, Earl of Leicester (q.v.), sent by Queen Elizabeth, arrived with his imposing English fleet and 6,000 °help troops,' as allies of the Dutch Republic, in the service of which every one of the military leaders of English and Dutch colonies in America and active from 1609 to 1690 received their training.
In 1586, the seven states of the Republic contributed 10,000 guilders to build a chapel for the 1,000 British soldiers, English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh, who occupied the town until 1616. The chaplains were Episcopalian and Presbyterian, and later Scottish, the first of whom married the daughter of Admiral De Ruyter whose statue is in the town. Despite wars, this church, in which the English lan guage is used, continues to this day. One of its ministers was the Rev. Samuel Megapolen sis (1667-89) who conducted the negotiations at the English conquest of New Amsterdam, in 1664, and secured the rights of the Dutch people. Another from 1759 to 1763, was the Rev. Archibald Laidlie: b. 4 Dec. 1727, who
was called to the Collegiate (four congrega tions in one) church, still flourishing on Fifth Avenue in New York city, to preach to the people in English. Despite lawsuits and other opposition, Laidlie served until 1779, dy ing in that year at Red Hook, N. Y., where, because of his ardent Americanism, he had been in exile from the first British occupation of the city. With his attractive personality he won the ultra-conservative Dutch to the use of the English language, especially since their young people were so numerously flocking into the Episcopal churches. He translated the Heidelberg Catechism from Latin into Eng lish and the whole of the Dutch liturgy— largely framed by John Calvin and A'Lasco and the creeds into English. His achievement was probably the first and most successful of the efforts to Americanize the speakers of other than English. His portrait hangs in the lecture room of the church on 29th Street and Fifth Avenue. On 27 June 1918, ex-President Roosevelt, in addressing the minister of his ancestral Reformed Church in America, ad vised them to follow Laidlie's example — a process which, since the word "Dutch" was dropped from the corporate name, being now the Reformed Church in America, has been in continuance since 1628. Consult Stevens, `Scottish Church in Rotterdam' (1832) and Griffis, 'The American in Holland' (1899).