USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1 > Part 4
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1 N. Y. Doc. Hist., iii., 32.
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The Dutch Settlements
1664]
strong and aggressive policy, reflecting the will of the Company, which was to be 'the supreme law of New Netherland.' The position was deemed of great value, as a station whence the Dutch might sally forth to attack the Spaniards, while, still further to strengthen themselves, they established a station on the Delaware, near Trenton, where several French families were settled."
Affairs now assumed a more settled aspect. A fort was built on the site of the Bowling Green and named Fort Amsterdam. Provision was made for religious services, and though no clergyman had yet come over, the colon- ists had two " Krank-be-soeckers," Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck, whose duty it was to look after and con- sole the sick and "read to the Commonalty there on Sun- days from texts of Scripture with the Comment." Some Spanish bells, captured at Porto Rico, were hung in a tower connected with a horse-mill, over which was con- structed a spacious room sufficient to accommodate a large congregation. A small settlement was made at Fort Orange, the present Albany, but progress in that direction was retarded by trouble with the Indians, who came into conflict with the Dutch, killed one of them and devoured his body "after he had been well roasted." Negotiations with the colony in Plymouth under Governor Bradford were opened, but the result was a denial of the Dutch claims, and a warning that their vessels might be seized by the New England fisherman or by the English from Virginia. The Dutch in reply claimed the right to trade based on occupation, while Bradford stood on the English right under the royal patents, suggesting that an agree- ment between the two governments would be necessary to prevent a collision. Bradford felt kindly towards the Dutch, on account of the old relations with them in Hol- land, and desired to make it as comfortable for them as possible. This, however, was the opening of a contro-
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History of Trinity Church
[1624-
versy that lasted until 1663, when the Dutch lost their power.1 First and last, even from the day in 1613 when the Dutch made their submission to Argall, the right of Holland was denied.
In 1628 the Dutch received their first minister, the Rev. Jonas Michaelius, from the Synod of North Holland, who is said to have established the first "form of a Church "; the "two Elders " being Minuit and Huyghen, " having both been formerly in office in the church, the one as Deacon and the other as Elder in the Dutch and French churches, respectively, at Wesel." At "the first administration of the Lord's Supper full fifty communi- cants Walloons and Dutch," made "their first confession of faith before us, and others exhibited their Church certificates. Others had forgotten to bring their certificates with them, not thinking that a Church would be formed and established here," showing that they had regarded the colony more or less as a temporary station for trade and a military depot with reference to the Span- ish possessions. Michaelius also says :
" We administer the Holy Sacrament of the Lord once in four months, provisionally until a larger number of people require. The Walloons and French have no service on Sundays otherwise than that in the Dutch language, of which they understand very little. Some of them live far away," evidently referring to the upper end of the island, "and could not come on account of the heavy rains and storms, so that it was neither advisable nor was it possible to appoint any special service for so small a number with so much uncertainty. Nevertheless, the Lord's Supper was administered to them in the French
1 October 11, 1627, Bradford wrote again, saying that the Dutch should "clear the title " to the lands they held in " these parts which His Majesty hath, by patent, granted to divers his nobles and subjects of quality, lest it be a bone of division in these stirring evil times, which God forbid. We persuade ourselves, that now may be easily and seasonably done, which will be harder and with more difficulty obtained here- after, and perhaps not without blows." Bradford's Letter Book, 365. [Quoted in Brodhead's History, vol. i., 18o.] The Dutch, however, took no action, and Mr. Brod- head fancies that it was because the treaty of 1625 gave the Dutch access to English ports.
29
The Charter of Privileges
1664]
mode, with a preceding discourse, which I had before me in writing, as I could not trust myself extemporaneously."
The West Indian Company were now amassing great wealth by their expeditions against the Spaniards, and New Netherlands reaped some benefit from the Dutch victories, which added Brazil to the Company's posses- sions. In fact the Dutch flag was everywhere successful upon the high seas. The Colony of New Netherlands, however, did not pay its expenses, and heavy drafts were made upon the Company's funds, while Minuit went home in disgrace.
In 1630 the charter of "Privileges and Exemptions " was granted by the Company to the Patroons of New Netherlands. By this charter a form of feudalism was established, and the Patroons were authorized to trade anywhere on the coast between Florida and Newfound- land. Other provisions were made for the encourage- ment of enterprise, but in subordination to the Company's interest, colonial manufactures and commerce being pro- hibited under the penalty of banishment and confisca- tion. The plan included provision for churches and schools. The practical establishment of the Dutch Church may be dated from the year 1629, at which time the ser- vices of this body enjoyed an exclusive legality.
In 1632, another Dutch ship from New Netherlands was seized at Plymouth, England, into which port she had been driven by bad weather, and when application was made to the king for her release, he replied that his father, James I., "had interdicted their [the Dutch] sub- jects from trading in those regions," and declined to grant the order. At a subsequent period the ship was released from arrest, the warrant bearing the qualification, "saving any prejudice to His Majesties rights."1
' The Dutch in their request for the release of the ship repeated the old argument,
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History of Trinity Church
[1624-
During the administration of Wouter Van Twiller, who came over in 1633, matters went from bad to worse. In 1638 he was succeeded by Kieft, who found every- thing in a deplorable state. The fort and the church, both sadly out of repair, were types of the condition of other interests. Free trade, however, was proclaimed, and the colony became more hopeful; but Kieft, on the other hand, resolved to lay tribute on the savages. DeVries, then in the Colony, thought the banks of the Hudson "little fitted to be peopled." The "Church," mentioned in the Dutch records, seems to have been a small wooden building on the East River, near the Old Slip. The meeting-place over the horse-mill had been abandoned on the arrival of Domine Bogardus in 1633, who took the place of Michaelius and lived in a house built for him close to the church.1
In 1640 we come to what must be regarded as the for- mal re-establishment of the Dutch Church. This was done by a provision of the Company in a new charter given to the Patroons. It was provided that " No other religion was to be publicly tolerated or allowed in New Nether- lands, save that then taught and exercised by authority in the Reformed Church in the United Provinces, for the inculcation of which the Company promised to support
beginning with the " discovery " of the Hudson in 1609, and the "purchase " of the Island in 1627. The English replied on the ground of " first discovery, occupation and possession," denying that the purchase from the savages was valid. See Mr. Brodhead's treatment of the subject in History, i., 216-17.
1 See De Witt's Discourse, etc., 1857, 23. For the State toleration at this period, see the articles proposed by the company at Amsterdam, August 30, 1638 : "Religion shall be taught and preached there according to the Confession and formu- laries of union here publicly accepted in the respective churches, with which every one shall be satisfied and content, without, however, it being inferred from this, that any person shall be hereby in any wise constrained or aggrieved in his conscience, but every man shall be free to live up to his own in peace and decorum ; provided he avoid frequenting any forbidden assemblies or conventicles, much less collect or get up any such." N. Y. Col. Docs., i., 110.
31
Religious Toleration
1664]
and maintain good and fit preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick." 1
The case of Francis Doughty shows, however, that the Dutch were not severely strict in this particular, as he received a patent from Governor Kieft for lands at New- town, Long Island, where he and English settlers might enjoy freedom of religion and worship as they pleased. Doughty came to Newtown, accordingly, and later on ap- peared in New Amsterdam, where he preached in the Dutch Church and the people made two collections for his support. There is ground to believe that the explana- tion of their toleration of Doughty lay in the fact that the Dutch were getting into serious peril, and were inclined to do all in their power to placate a class of English whose co-operation was sorely needed at the time.2
In September, 1643, Father Jogues, S. J., having es- caped from the Mohawks, visited New York, and was kindly entertained. He wrote an account of Manhattan, where he found four or five hundred men of different religion and nationality, speaking eighteen different lan- guages. This shows that representatives of all the lead- ing nations of the day were then in the colony, and yet, under the Dutch rule, as Jogues says, " no religion except the Calvinistic was publicly exercised, and the orders were to admit none but Calvinists."3 He was given a free pas-
' See O'Callaghan's New Netherland (i., 220.,) where this Roman Catholic writer brings out the fullest strength of the language, and compare with the translation in N. Y. Col. Docs., i., 123. Brodhead (i., 312) says, that no other religion was to be "publicly sanctioned," which is very different from the actual provision, that no other religion should be " tolerated."
' Brodhead's History of New York, i., 333, and O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 257. See Briggs's Am. Presbyterianism, 101. Kieft afterward disagreed with Doughty and committed him to prison for a space of 24 hours for contempt of court. N. Y. Col. History, i., 305-6. Mr. Brodhead (i., 555) refers to the Dutch having sheltered Capt. Underhill when humiliated by the ecclesiastical discipline of Massa- chusetts, but he was sheltered simply because the Dutch wanted his military services.
3 Brodhead's History of New York, i., 374.
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History of Trinity Church
[1624-
sage to Europe, being the first Roman priest now known to have entered the province of New York.
The next year the Dutch with the aid of English soldiers made a terrible attack upon the Indians in Con- necticut, upward of five hundred of whom perished by fire and sword ; whereupon Kieft ordered a general thanksgiving.
In May, 1647, the famous Peter Stuyvesant arrived at New Amsterdam and superseded Kieft, who retired in disgrace, like his predecessors.
The annals of New Amsterdam, during the closing years, are not pleasant to read. The colony was full of the elements of social and political disease; and the Dutch domination was hastening to its inevitable down- fall. The document entitled, Breeden Raedt, containing a remonstrance on the part of many inhabitants of the New Netherlands, and sent home to the government in Holland, presents a painful picture of the state of affairs, the revelations concerning the administration of Governor Kieft being repulsive. It is said " that he never wished to hear God's word, or partake of Christian sacraments, doing everything to keep from church those who depended on him." Even de la Montaigne, the Huguenot, appears to poor advantage. Noisy games were played near the church, persons going in to the Communion Service were scoffed at, indecent language was used, drums were beaten and cannons discharged, "so that a miserable villainy against God's Church was perpetrated in order to disturb the congregation." 1 Making allowances for exaggeration this important document throws a sombre shadow on a scene of moral decline and political decay.
In 1652, war broke out between England and Holland, and Tromp engaged Blake in the Straits of Dover. New 1 " Breeden Raedt " or " Broad Advice," N. Y. Hist. Sod'y Coll., iii., 1857, 260.
33
The Dutch Church Established
1664]
Amsterdam was now, of course, on the alert against the English. At this period a municipal government was inaugurated, going into operation in 1653.
It is a general, though a mistaken, impression that free- dom of conscience and religious liberty were enjoyed by all residents in New Netherland. The facts do not bear out the assertion. The Calvinistic Dutch Church of Hol- land was established by law, as has been observed, and there was great jealousy on the subject of non-conformists. In 1654, the Lutherans had become so numerous as to de- sire a clergyman of their own persuasion, but this was refused. An appeal to the West India Company was of no avail, their petition being opposed by the Dutch at New Amsterdam, on the ground that, if the Lutherans were tolerated, the English would demand the same lib- erty. Stuyvesant was accordingly told to do all in his power to bring the Lutherans into the Dutch Church, and, in communicating the decision to the Lutherans, Megapo- lensis and Drisius, the Directors hoped that the Reformed religion would be "preserved and maintained without hin- drance from the Lutheran and other errors." 1
In 1656 the Dutch clergy complained of conventicles held at Middleburgh (Newtown), "from which nothing could be expected but discord, confusion, and disorder in Church and State," and Stuyvesant issued a proclamation on behalf of the "Reformed religion," forbidding unau- thorized preachers to exercise their vocation and to set up conventicles not in harmony with the Synod of Dort. Preachers and people alike were threatened with heavy fines, though family worship was not interdicted.2
The proclamation was enforced, the Lutherans being
1 Brodhead i., 582, who refers to Cor. Cl. Amsterdam ; Letter of Megapolensis and' Drisius, 6th October, 1653 ; Letter of Classis, 26th February, 1654; Alb. Rec., iv., 130.
' O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 317.
3
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History of Trinity Church
[1624-
the first against whom proceedings were taken. Com- plaints having been sent to Holland, Stuyvesant was ad- monished by the Company; and the Lutherans were allowed to exercise their religion in private houses at Middleburgh.1 This, naturally, did not satisfy them, but the Governor was firm against conventicles, and the Lutherans were repressed at Beverwyck as elsewhere. The Baptists at Flushing were also proceeded against, and two members of the sect were fined and banished .?
In 1657, the Quaker women Dorothy Waugh and Mary Witherhead, who preached in the streets of New York, were arrested, imprisoned, discharged, and sent to Rhode Island, "where," as the Dutch ministers reported to the Holland Classis, " all kinds of scum dwell, for it is nothing else than a sink for New England.3 One Robert Hodshone, however, went to Long Island, and preached at Hempstead, when he was sentenced to labor two years at a wheelbarrow, along with a negro, or pay a fine of six hundred guilders. He refused to work, and was beaten with a rope until he dropped, and after frequent whippings and imprisonments was banished.4 Henry Townsend, for holding a meeting in his house, at Rustdorp (now Jamaica) was banished, and a proclamation was issued prohibiting any person from entertaining a Quaker for a single night. Twenty-nine inhabitants of Jamaica rebelled, but were speedily crushed and humili- ated, while Townsend again found himself in prison.5 In 1661 the Quakers were persecuted, feeling the heavy hand of Stuyvesant again the next year. Bowne was fined and
1 Brodhead, i., 617. The Company regretted to hear that Stuyvesant had " op- pressed them with imprisonment," but consented only to liberty in private houses.
? O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 321 ; and Brodhead, i., 626.
3 Brodhead, i., 636 ; O'Callaghan, ii., 347.
4 O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 347-9.
" Ibid., 350-2, 450.
35
1798605
1664]
The End of Dutch Dominion
banished, while, September 21, 1662, a proclamation was issued against any religion except the Dutch Reformed "in houses, barns, ships or yachts, in the woods, or fields, under the penalty of fifty guilders for the first offence." 1
Bowne went to Holland and entered a complaint, when the Company seeing that persecution would not avail, told Stuyvesant that "some connivance" was "useful, and that at least the consciences of men ought to remain free and unshackled," and while unwilling to toler- ate "Sectarians" it was thought best upon the whole to cease the persecution.2
During the latter days of the decadence that absurd claim was set up to which reference has already been made. Governor Stuyvesant's Commissioners being in Maryland, October 6, 1659, took the ground that the Dutch received their title to New Netherland from Spain, and that " when we were obliged to take up arms and achieved our liberty, the King of Spain conveyed over and to us, in full propriety, by lawful right and title, all his own and other conquered lands in Europe and America." The Commissioners did not mention the pre- cise time at which this alleged conquest was made, but the claim was repeated in the following year; and in 1660 the Directors of the West India Company also took the same ground. Thus deplorably were the Dutch reduced ; and their advocates, perceiving the ridiculous character of the argument, have quietly ignored the subject.3
Events were progressing rapidly, and the time of the end had come. In November, 1663, the English towns
1 O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 453-456-7 ; Brodhead, i., 705-6.
? Brodhead i., 707 ; O'Callaghan's New Netherland, ii., 457.
3 See History of New York, i., 663-670. Yates and Moulton allude to it, in History of the State of New York, i., 1824, vol. i., IS2. O'Callaghan, in New Netherland, ii., 381, lays aside his judgment by following Yates and Moulton, who took their information from documents found in N. Y. Hist. Society's Col., iii., 368. See the papers in N. Y. Col. Docs., ii .. 80-91-93.
.
36
History of Trinity Church
[1624-64
at the west end of Long Island declared their inde- pendence of the Dutch, and proclaimed allegiance to the King of England. Symptoms of bankruptcy became more threatening from year to year; in vain did the Company endeavor to obtain from Holland either armed assistance or funds with which to pay their arrears ; equally futile were their efforts to combine with the East India Company ; at last creditors began to seize the Company's property. The death-blow was struck in 1664, when New Netherland, the Company's last valuable possession, was surrendered to the English. The popu- lation at that time did not exceed fifteen hundred souls, of whom about thirteen hundred were women and chil .. dren under age. O'Callaghan sums up the case in words which, though painful, are borne out by history. Refer- ring to the "Administration of the last of the Dutch Governors," he says of it, that it
"Was one of trouble and anxiety. Discontents and broils were its sponsors ; clamors and disaffection its pall-bearers ; whilst scarcely an hour of its existence was free from menace or danger from its neighbors, whether savage or civilized. Lacking those impulses which filled other colonies so rapidly, whatever advantages the Dutch province possessed from nature were seriously counterbalanced by the vicious system under which it was colonized, and the institutions under which it was governed, which would convert settlers into serfs, and by con- stant petty intermeddling, hamper their exertions and paralyze their energies." Vol. ii., 539.
CHAPTER III.
JAMES, DUKE OF YORK, PROPRIETOR.
Appointment of the Duke of York to the Charge of Affairs in America-Surrender of New Amsterdam-Generous Treatment of the Dutch by Their Conquerors-The Duke's Laws-Lovelace Succeeds Nicolls-Virtual Establishment of the Reformed Dutch Church in New York by the English Rulers-The Dutch Regain Possession -Disgrace of Lovelace and Confiscation of His Property by the Crown-Re-occupa- tion of the Town by the English-The Bogardus Farm, its Sale to Lovelace and Subsequent History-Governor Andros-Rev. Charles Wolley, Chaplain to the Forces-The Labadists Witness a Church of England Service-Governor Dongan ; His Just and Impartial Administration-The Book of Common Prayer in Use on Long Island-Rev. Samuel Eburne at Brookhaven-Advances toward Civil and Re- ligious Freedom-Death of King Charles II.
O NE of the first acts of King Charles II., on his acces- sion to the throne of his ancestors, was to remit the entire care and management of North American affairs to his brother James, then Duke of York. In this the king acted wisely, for no man then living knew so much about them as James, or was so competent to deal with them at that critical hour. The state of affairs called for prompt and resolute action. The foothold of England was secure in Virginia, Maryland, and New England ; and New Eng- land included, at that time, the eastern part of Long Island. To the north, however, lay Acadia and Canada, occupied by England's hereditary foes, the French ; and thence came perpetual menace along the line of sea coast, rivers, and lakes, and from dense forests filled with Indians allied with France. It was of urgent importance to Eng- land to consolidate her scattered strength, and remove, if
37
38
History of Trinity Church
[1664-
possible, the obstacle to a union between her northern and southern possessions. New Amsterdam, like a wedge, split those possessions in two ; and the Duke of York well knew the present and prospective value of the tract, of which the occupation and possession were a strat- egical necessity. The coast-line, including the finest har- bor and bay in the whole region, must be completed and her colonies united before England could be secure in her possessions ; France might seize what England should let slip from her hands ; and the question was, whether France or England should have the noble bay, the mighty river, the access to the lakes, and the road to Canada, and whether England could afford to risk being cut in twain by her most powerful and most dreaded enemy, with the Iroquois at his back. The stake was one about which there could be no trifling; and the man in all England who was clear-headed enough to comprehend the situa- tion, and bold enough to do what had to be done quickly, was the Duke of York.
In their just indignation at his subsequent acts as King of Great Britain, churchmen have not done justice to the sagacity and efficiency of the proprietor of the English colonies in North America. Not only did James Stuart display the higher qualities of the statesman in dealing with the question of the hour ; he foreshadowed, in his comprehensive designs, what has actually been ac- complished by the American people after a century of experience and amid the horrors of a civil strife of un- equalled dimensions and extent. There can be no doubt that it was in his mind to secure the whole coast from Acadia to Florida, to make the entire country English, to break up the petty oligarchies then in existence, to unite and consolidate the possessions of the Crown, and to put and keep them under one government. This is
39
Patent from Charles II.
1685]
substantially what has come to pass, as the doctrine of State Rights has yielded to the national idea in the history of our own Government. It is natural to feel pity for the little Dutch province, in its feebleness and decay, but every one must see that nothing could have saved it, and it seems contrary to common sense for us, as Ameri- cans to wish that it might have been saved. Grateful for the benefits undoubtedly derived to us from the old Knickerbocker days, we cherish a kindly remembrance of the honest Dutchmen ; but there is no just ground of complaint that union and consolidation were effected, as they were, in the interests of English civilization, under the strong hand of that much-abused statesman the Duke of York.
The first steps of the proprietor were wary and cau- tious. He had received a patent from King Charles II., which included the entire region occupied by the Dutch- a region to which (as the reader must again be reminded) the English had always contended that Holland could show no just title-and invested him, his heirs and assigns with
"full and absolute power and authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern and rule all such subjects of us, Our Heirs and Successors, who may from time to time adventure themselves into any of the parts or places aforesaid, or that shall or do at any time hereafter inhabit within the same, according to such Laws, Orders, Ordinances, Directions, and Instruments as by our said Dearest Brother or his Assigns shall be established." 1
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