USA > New York > New York City > A history of New-York : from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty > Part 28
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arm, cocked his hat upon his head, and girding up his loins, stumped indignantly out of the council chamber-every body making room for him as he passed.
No sooner had he gone, than the busy burgomas- ters called a public meeting in front of the Stadt- house, where they appointed as chairman one Dofue Roerback, a mighty gingerbread-baker in the land, and formerly of the cabinet of William the Testy. He was looked up to with great reverence by the populace, who considered him a man of dark know- ledge, seeing he was the first that imprinted new-year cakes with the mysterious hieroglyphics of the Cock and Breeches, and such like magical devices.
This great burgomaster, who still chewed the cud of ill-will against the valiant Stuyvesant, in conse- quence of having been ignominiously kicked out of liis cabinet at the time of his taking the reins of gov- ernment-addressed the greasy multitude in what is called a patriotic speech, in which he informed them of the courteous summons to surrender-of the gov- ernor's refusal to comply therewith-of his denying the public a sight of the summons, which, he had no doubt, contained conditions highly to the honour and advantage of the province.
He then proceeded to speak of his excellency in high-sounding terms, suitable to the dignity and grandeur of his station, comparing him to Nero, Caligula, and those other great men of yore, who are generally quoted by popular orators on similar occa- sions ; assuring the people, that the history of the
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world did not contain a despotic outrage to equal the present, for atrocity, cruelty, tyranny, and blood- thirstiness-that it would be recorded in letters of fire, on the blood-stained tablet of history ! that ages would roll back with sudden horror when they came to view it! that the womb of time-(by the way, your orators and writers take strange liberties with the womb of time, though some would fain have us believe that time is an old gentleman)-that the womb of time, pregnant as it was with direful hor- rors, would never produce a parallel enormity !- With a variety of other heart-rending, soul-stirring tropes and figures, which I cannot enumerate- neither, indeed, need I, for they were exactly the same that are used in all popular harangues and pa- triotic orations at the present day, and may be class- ed in rhetoric under the general title of RIGMAROLE.
The speech of this inspired burgomaster being finished, the meeting fell into a kind of popular fer- mentation, which produced not only a string of right wise resolutions, but likewise a most resolute memo- rial, addressed to the governor, remonstrating at his conduct-which was no sooner handed to him, than he handed it into the fire ; and thus deprived poster- ity of an invaluable document, that might have served as a precedent to the enlightened cobblers and tailors of the present day, in their sage intermeddlings with politics.
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CHAPTER VII.
Containing a doleful disaster of Antony the Trum- peter-And how Peter Stuyvesant, like a second Cromwell, suddenly dissolved a rump Parliament.
Now did the high-minded Pieter de Groodt shower down a pannier-load of benedictions upon his burgo- masters, for a set of self-willed, obstinate, headstrong varlets, who would neither be convinced nor per- suaded; and determined thenceforth to have nothing more to do with them, but to consult merely the opinion of his privy counsellors, which he knew from experience to be the best in the world-inas- much as it never differed from his own. Nor did he omit, now that his hand was in, to bestow some thou- sand left-handed compliments upon the sovereign people ; whom he railed at for a herd of poltroons, who had no relish for the glorious hardships and il- lustrious misadventures of battle-but would rather stay at home, and eat and sleep in ignoble ease, than gain immortality and a broken head by valiantly fighting in a ditch.
Resolutely bent, however, upon defending his be- loved city, in despite even of itself, he called unto him his trusty Van Corlear, who was his right-hand man in all times of emergency. Him did he adjure to take his war-denouncing trumpet, and mounting
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his horse, to beat up the country, night and day. Sounding the alarm along the pastoral borders of the Bronx-starting the wild solitudes of Croton-arous- ing the rugged yeomanry of Weehawk and Hoboeken -the mighty men of battle of Tappan Bay *- and the brave boys of Tarry Town and Sleepy Hollow- together with all the other warriors of the country round about; charging them one and all to sling their powder-horns, shoulder their fowling-pieces, and march merrily down to the Manhattoes.
Now there was nothing in all the world, the divine sex excepted, that Antony Van Corlear loved better than errands of this kind. So, just stopping to take a lusty dinner, and bracing to his side his junk bottle, well charged with heart-inspiring Hollands, he issued jollily from the city gate, that looked out upon what is at present called Broadway ; sounding as usual a farewell strain, that rung in sprightly echoes through the winding streets of New-Amsterdam-Alas ! never more were they to be gladdened by the melody of their favourite trumpeter !
It was a dark and stormy night, when the good Antony arrived at the famous creek (sagely denomi- nated Hærlem river) which separates the island of Manna-hata from the main land. The wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no Charon could be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For a short time he vapoured like '
* A corruption of Top-paun; so called from a tribe of In- dians, which boasted a hundred and fifty fighting men. See Ogilby's History,
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an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethink- ing himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valor- ously that he would swim across, en spijt den Duyvel, (in spite of the devil !) and daringly plunged into the stream .- Luckless Antony ! scarce had he buffeted half-way over, when he was observed to struggle vio lently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters -- instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast-sunk for ever to the bot- tom !
The potent clangour of his trumpet, like the ivory horn of the renowned Paladin Orlando, when expiring in the glorious field of Roncesvalles, rung far and wide through the country, alarming the neighbours round, who hurried in amazement to the spot. Here an old Dutch burgher, famed for his veracity, and who had been a witness of the fact, related to them the melancholy affair; with the fearful addition (to which I am slow of giving belief) that he saw the duyvel, in the shape of a huge moss-bonker, seize the sturdy Antony by the leg, and drag him beneath the waves. Certain it is, the place, with the adjoin- ing promontory, which projects into the Hudson, has been called Spijt den duyvel, or Spiking Devil, ever since ;- the restless ghost of the unfortunate Antony still haunts the surrounding solitudes, and his trumn- pet has often been heard by the neighbours, of a stormy night, mingling with the howling of the blast. Nobody ever attempts to swim over the creek, after dark ; on the contrary, a bridge has been built, to
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guard against such melancholy accidents in future- and as to moss-bonkers, they are held in such abhor- rence, that no true Dutchman will admit them to his table, who loves good fish and hates the devil.
Such was the end of Antony Van Corlear-a man deserving of a better fate. He lived roundly and soundly, like a true and jolly bachelor, until the day of his death ; but though he was never married, yet did he leave behind some two or three dozen chil- dren, in different parts of the country-fine, chubby, brawling, flatulent little urchins, from whom, if le- gends speak true, (and they are not apt to lie,) did descend the innumerable race of editors who people and defend this country, and who are bountifully paid by the people for keeping up a constant alarm -and making them miserable. Would that they in- herited the worth, as they do the wind, of their re- nowned progenitor !
The tidings of this lamentable catastrophe impart- ed a severer pang to the bosom of Peter Stuyvesant, than did even the invasion of his beloved Amsterdam. It came ruthlessly home to those sweet affections that grow close around the heart, and are nourished by its warmest current. As some lorn pilgrim, while the tempest whistles through his locks, and dreary night is gathering around, sees stretched, cold and lifeless, his faithful dog-the sole companion of his journeying, who had shared his solitary meal, and so often licked his hand in humble gratitude-so did the generous-hearted hero of the Manhattoes contemplate the untimely end of his faithful Antony. He had
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been the humble attendant of his footsteps -- he had cheered him in many a heavy hour by his honest gayety, and had followed him in loyalty and affection through many a scene of direful peril and mishap- he was gone for ever-and that too at a moment when every mongrel cur seemed skulking from his side. This-Peter Stuyvesant-this was the mo- ment to try thy fortitude; and this was the moment when thou didst indeed shine forth-Peter the Headstrong !
The glare of day had long dispelled the horrors of the last stormy night; still all was dull and gloomy. The late jovial Apollo hid his face behind lugubrious clouds, peeping out now and then, for an instant, as if anxious, yet fearful, to see what was going on in his favourite city. This was the eventful morning, when the great Peter was to give his reply to the
summons of the invaders. Already was he closeted with his privy council, sitting in grim state, brooding over the fate of his favourite trumpeter, and anon boiling with indignation as the insolence of his rec- reant burgomasters flashed upon his mind. While in this state of irritation, a courier arrived in all haste from Winthrop, the subtle governor of Connec- ticut, counselling him in the most affectionate and disinterested manner to surrender the province, and magnifying the dangers and calamities to which a re- fusal would subject him. What a moment was this to intrude officious advice upon a man who never took advice in his whole life !- The fiery old gover- nor strode up and down the chamber, with a vehe-
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mence that made the bosoms of his counsellors to quake with awe-railing at his unlucky fate, that thus made him the constant butt of factious subjects and jesuitical advisers.
Just at this ill-chosen juncture, the officious burgo- masters, who were now completely on the watch, and had heard of the arrival of mysterious des- patches, came marching in a resolute body into the room, with a legion of schepens and toad-eaters at their heels, and abruptly demanded a perusal of the letter. Thus to be broken in upon by what he es- teemed a "rascal rabble," and that, too, at the very moment he was grinding under an irritation from abroad, was too much for the spleen of the choleric Peter. He tore the letter in a thousand pieces *-- threw it in the face of the nearest burgomaster- broke his pipe over the head of the next-hurled his spitting-box at an unlucky schepen, who was just making a masterly retreat out at the door, and finally prorogued the whole meeting sine die, by kicking them down stairs with his wooden leg.
As soon as the burgomasters could recover from the confusion into which their sudden exit had thrown them, and had taken a little time to breathe, they pro- tested against the conduct of the governor, which they did not hesitate to pronounce tyrannical, uncon- stitutional, highly indecent, and somewhat disrespect- ful. They then called a public meeting, where they read the protest, and addressing the assembly in a
* Smith's History of New-York.
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set speech, related at full length, and with appropriate colouring and exaggeration, the despotic and vindic- tive deportment of the governor; declaring that, for their own parts, they did not value a straw the being kicked, cuffed, and mauled by the timber toe of his excellency, but they felt for the dignity of the sove- reign people, thus rudely insulted by the outrage committed on the seat of honour of their represent- atives. The latter part of the harangue had a vio- lent effect upon the sensibility of the people, as it came home at once to that delicacy of feeling and jealous pride of character, vested in all true mobs ; who, though they may bear injuries without a mur- mur, yet are marvellously jealous of their sovereign dignity-and there is no knowing to what act of re- sentment they might have been provoked against the redoubtable Peter, had not the greasy rogues been somewhat more afraid of their sturdy old governor, than they were of St. Nicholas, the English-or the D-1 himself.
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CHAPTER VIII.
How Peter Stuyvesant defended the city of New-Am- sterdam, for several days, by dint of the strength of his head.
THERE is something exceedingly sublime and mel- ancholy, in the spectacle which the present crisis of our history presents. An illustrious and venerable little city-the metropolis of an immense extent of uninhabited country-garrisoned by a doughty host of orators, chairmen, committee-men, burgomasters, schepens, and old women-governed by a deter- mined and strong-headed warrior, and fortified by mud batteries, pallisadoes, and resolutions-blockaded by sea, beleaguered by land, and threatened with direful desolation from without ; while its very vitals are torn with internal faction and commotion ! Never did historic pen record a page of more complicated distress, unless it be the strife that distracted the Is- raelites during the siege of Jerusalem-where dis- cordant parties were cutting each other's throats, at the moment when the victorious legions of Titus had toppled down their bulwarks, and were carrying fire and sword into the very sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
Governor Stuyvesant, having triumphantly, as has been recorded, put his grand council to the rout, and
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thus delivered himself from a multitude of imperti- nent advisers, despatched a categorical reply to the commanders of the invading squadron ; wherein he asserted the right and title of their High Mightinesses the Lords States General to the province of New- Netherlands, and, trusting in the righteousness of his cause, set the whole British nation at defiance ! My anxiety to extricate my readers and myself from these disastrous scenes, prevents me from giving the whole of this gallant letter, which concluded in these manly and affectionate terms :
" As touching the threats in your conclusion, we have nothing to answer, only that we fear nothing but what God (who is as just as merciful) shall lay upon us ; all things being in his gracious disposal, and we may as well be preserved by him with small forces, as by a great army ; which makes us to wish you all happiness and prosperity, and recommend you to his protection .- My lords, your thrice humble and affectionate servant and friend,
P. STUYVESANT."
Thus having resolutely thrown his gauntlet, the brave Peter stuck a pair of horse-pistols in his belt, girded an immense powder-horn on his side-thrust his sound leg into a Hessian boot, and clapping his fierce little war hat on the top of his head-paraded up and down in front of his house, determined to de- fend his beloved city to the last.
While all these woful struggles and dissentions were prevailing in the unhappy city of New-Amster- dam, and while its worthy, but ill-starred governor
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was framing the above-quoted letter, the English commanders did not remain idle. They had agents secretly employed to foment the fears and clamours of the populace ; and moreover circulated far and wide, through the adjacent country, a proclamation, repeating the terms they had already held out in their summons to surrender, and beguiling the simple Nederlanders with the most crafty and conciliating professions. They promised that every man who voluntarily submitted to the authority of his British Majesty, should retain peaceable possession of his house, his vrouw, and his cabbage-garden. That he should be suffered to smoke his pipe, speak Dutch, wear as many breeches as he pleased, and import bricks, tiles, and stone jugs from Holland, instead of manufacturing them on the spot. That he should on no account be compelled to learn the English lan- guage, or keep accounts in any other way than by casting them up on his fingers, and chalking them down upon the crown of his hat ; as is still observed among the Dutch yeomanry at the present day. That every man should be allowed quietly to inherit his father's hat, coat, shoe-buckles, pipe, and every other personal appendage, and that no man should be obliged to conform to any improvements, inventions, or any other modern innovations ; but, on the con- trary, should be permitted to build his house, follow his trade, manage his farm, rear his hogs, and educate
. his children, precisely as his ancestors did before him since time immemorial. Finally, that he should have all the benefits of free trade, and should not be re-
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quired to acknowledge any other saint in the cal- endar than St. Nicholas, who should thenceforward, as before, be considered the tutelar saint of the city.
These terms, as may be supposed, appeared very satisfactory to the people, who had a great disposition to enjoy their property unmolested, and a most sin- gular åversion to engage in a contest, where they could gain little more than honour and broken heads -the first of which they held in philosophic indif- ference, the latter in utter detestation. By these in- sidious means, therefore, did the English succeed in alienating the confidence and affections of the popu- lace from their gallant old governor, whom they con- sidered as obstinately bent upon running them into hideous misadventures ; and did not hesitate to speak their minds freely, and abuse him most heartily-be- hind his back.
Like as a mighty grampus, who, though assailed and buffeted by roaring waves and brawling surges, still keeps on an undeviating course; and though overwhelmed by boisterous billows, still emerges from the troubled deep, spouting and blowing with tenfold violence-so did the inflexible Peter pursue, unwavering, his determined career, and rise, con temptuous, above the clamours of the rabble.
But when the British warriors found, by the tenor of his reply, that he set their power at defiance, they forthwith despatched recruiting officers to Jamaica, and Jericho, and Nineveh, and Quag, and Patchog, and all those towns on Long Island which had been subdued of yore by the immortal Stoffel Brinkerhoff;
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stirring up the valiant progeny of Preserved Fish, and Determined Cock, and those other illustrious squatters, to assail the city of New-Amsterdam by land. In the meanwhile, the hostile ships made aw- ful preparation to commence an assault by water.
The streets of New-Amsterdam now presented a scene of wild dismay and consternation. In vain did the gallant Stuyvesant order the citizens to arm, and assemble in the public square or market-place. The whole party of Short Pipes in the course of a single night had changed into arrant old women-a metamorphosis only to be paralleled by the prodigies recorded by Livy as having happened at Rome on the approach of Hannibal, when statues sweated in pure affright, goats were converted into sheep, and cocks turning into hens ran cackling about the streets.
The harassed Peter, thus menaced from without, and tormented from within-baited by the burgo- masters, and hooted at by the rabble, chafed and growled and raged like a furious bear, tied to a stake and worried by a legion of scoundrel curs. Finding, however, that all further attempts to defend the city were vain, and hearing that an irruption of borderers and mosstroopers was ready to deluge him from the east, he was at length compelled, in spite of his proud heart, which swelled in his throat until it had nearly choked him, to consent to a treaty of sur- render.
Words cannot express the transports of the peo- ple, on receiving this agreeable intelligence ; had they obtained a conquest over their enemies, they
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could not have indulged greater delight. The streets resounded with their congratulations-they extolled their governor, as the father and deliverer of his country-they crowded to his house to testify their gratitude, and were ten times more noisy in their plaudits, that when he returned, with victory perched upon his beaver, from the glorious capture of Fort Christina. But the indignant Peter shut his doors and windows, and took refuge in the innermost re- cesses of his mansion, that he might not hear the ig- noble rejoicings of the rabble.
In consequence of this consent of the governor, a parley was demanded of the besieging forces to treat of the terms of surrender. Accordingly, a deputa -- tion of six commissioners was appointed on both sides ; and on the 27th August, 1664, a capitulation highly favourable to the province, and honourable to Peter Stuyvesant, was agreed to by the enemy, who had conceived a high opinion of the valour of the Manhattoes, and the magnanimity and unbounded discretion of their governor.
One thing alone remained, which was, that the ar- ticles of surrender should be ratified, and signed by the governor. When the commissioners respectfully waited upon him for this purpose, they were receiv- ed by the hardy old warrior with the most grim and bitter courtesy. His warlike accoutrements were laid aside-an old India night-gown was wrapped about his rugged limbs, a red night-cap overshadowed his frowning brow, and an iron gray beard, of three day's growth, gave additional grimness to his visage.
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Thrice did he seize a little worn-out stump of a pen, and essay to sign the loathsome paper-thrice did he clinch his teeth, and make a most horrible counte- nance, as though a pestiferous dose of rhubarb, senna, and ipecacuanha, had been offered to his lips; at length, dashing it from him, he seized his brass-hilted sword, and jerking it from the scabbard, swore by St. Nicholas, he'd sooner die than yield to any power under heaven. :
In vain was every attempt to shake this sturdy resolution-menaces, remonstrances, revilings, were exhausted to no purpose-for two whole days was the house of the valiant Peter besieged by the clam- orous rabble, and for two whole days did he partake himself to his arms, and persist in a magnanimous refusal to ratify the capitulation.
At length the populace, finding that boisterous measures did but incense more determined opposi- tion, bethought themselves of an humble expedient, by which, happily, the governor's ire might be sooth- ed, and his resolution undermined. And now a solemn and mournful procession, headed by the bur- gomasters and schepens, and followed by the popu- lace, moves slowly to the governor's dwelling, bear- ing the capitulation. Here they found the stout old hero, drawn up like a giant in his castle, the doors strongly barricadoed, and himself in full regimentals, with his cocked hat on his head, firmly posted with a blunderbuss at the garret-window.
There was something in this formidable position, that struck even the ignoble vulgar with awe and ad- VOL. II. T
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miration. The brawling multitude could not but reflect with self-abasement upon their own pusillani- mous conduct, when they beheld their hardy but de- serted old governor, thus faithful to his post, like a forlorn hope, and fully prepared to defend his un- grateful city to the last. These compunctions, how- ever, were soon overwhelmed by the recurring tide of public apprehension. The populace arranged themselves before the house, taking off their hats with most respectful humility .- Burgomaster Roer- back, who was of that popular class of orators de- scribed by Sallust, as being "talkative rather than eloquent," stepped forth and addressed the governor in a speech of three hours' length; detailing in the most pathetic terms the calamitous situation of the province, and urging him in a constant repetition of the same arguments and words to sign the capitula- tion.
The mighty Peter eyed him from his little garret- window in grim silence-now and then his eye would glance over the surrounding rabble, and an indignant grin, like that of an angry mastiff, would mark his iron visage. But though he was a man of most undaunted mettle-though he had a heart as big as an ox, and a head that would have set adamant to scorn-yet after all he was a mere mortal :--- wearied out by these repeated oppositions and this eternal haranguing, and perceiving that unless he complied, the inhabitants would follow their own in- clinations, or rather their fears, without waiting for his consent, he testily ordered them to hand up the
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