Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 19

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 19

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RENSSELAERWYCK AND BEVERWYCK.

peremptorily ordered that no building whatsoever, much less a fortification, should be constructed be- yond the limits of Rensselaerwyck.

But Nicolaus Coorn, Commander of Rensselaer- Stein, was not to be intimidated by the paper bullets of Director Kieft's Attorney-General. "As the Vice-Commander of the honorable Van Rens- selaer," he replied, "I call on you, Cornelis Van der Huygens, Attorney-General of New Nether- land, not to presume to oppose and frustrate my designs on Bear's Island, to defraud me in any manner, or to cause me any trouble, as it has been the will of their High Mightinesses, the States-Gen- eral and the privileged West India Company, to invest my patroon and his heir with the right to extend and fortify his 'colonie,' and make it powerful in every respect. If you persist in so doing, I protest against the act of violence and assault committed by the honorable Lords- Majors, which I leave them to settle, while this undertaking has nothing else in view than to prevent the canker of free-traders entering his 'colonie.'"

In the spirit in which this protest was drafted were the feudal pretensions of the Lord of Rensse- laerwyck asserted and maintained during the re- mainder of the patroon's life. The same policy was steadily continued by his executors for several years after his death, which event took place in Amsterdam, in the year 1646.

With the demise of the first patroon terminated also Van der Donck's connection with the "colonie." He was succeeded in his office of fiscaal by Nicolaus Coorn. He did not, however, quit Rensselaerwyck before experiencing a heavy loss in the destruction of his house on Castle Island, by fire, in consequence of which he and his wife temporarily removed to Van Curler's resi- dence, the hospitalities of which were generously offered to him by its proprietor. Differences of opinion now arose between him and Van Curler, as to the party on whom the loss of the house should fall-one maintaining that the property was at the risk of the patroon, the other of the lessee. A quarrel ensued. Van der Donck gave Van Curler the lie, whereupon the latter ordered him out of his house. Van der Donck removed imme- diately to Fort Orange, where he remained until the opening of navigation, whence he pro- ceeded to Manhattan.

Rensselaerwyck was the only " colonie " which remained uninjured by Kieft's Indian war. Asa con- sequence, its population generally prospered, and sundry farms were taken up. Beverwyck continued,

however, in swaddling-clothes ; for the city which, in 1885, holds about 100,000 inhabitants, con- tained, in 1646, no more than ten houses. Several farmers had, at an early date, begun another settle- ment south of Beverwyck, to which they gave the name of Bethlehem. A few . bouweries were also cultivated on the east side of the river, oppo- site Fort Orange, in what is now Greenwich. Katskill and its fertile bottoms had engaged, at an early date, the attention of the settlers at Rens- selaerwyck, but the pretensions of opposite parties prevented any planting of consequence in that quarter; and Van Slyck, who had received a patent for lands there, had as yet made no com- mencement. The country between Rensselaer- wyck and Manhattan, on both sides of the river, still remained a wilderness. It is true that the Hollanders had built a fort at Esopus, in the year 1614, contemporaneously with the erection of their post on Castle Island. This possibly might have been followed by the clearing of some small portions of land in that vicinity ; but it is very doubtful whether any such settlements survived the destructive Indian war of 1644-5.

Such was the state of public affairs in Rensselaer- wyck and vicinity when General Peter Stuyve- sant assumed the government of New Nether- land in 1647.

Johannes Van Rensselaer, heir to the patroonship of Rensselaerwyck, being a minor at his father's decease, the care of his interests devolved on his uncle, Johannes Van Wely, and Wouter Van Twiller, executors to the last will and testament of the first patroon, who immediately rendered fealty and homage for "the colonie " to their High Mightinesses, in the name and on the behalf of their ward.

The immediate management of this estate was entrusted to Brant Arent Van Slechtenhorst, of Nieukerke, in Guilderlandt, who was appointed Director of the Colony, President of the Court of Justice and Superintendent of all the bouweries, farms, mills and other property belonging to the patroon, at a salary of seven hundred and fifty flo- rins ($300) per annum, to reckon from the date of his arrival out, together with a house, four milch cows, two horses, eight acres of tillage and eight acres of pasture land. He was specially charged to uphold, maintain and defend the freedoms and privileges with which the colony was invested ; to promote the interests and advance the settlement of Beverwyck and its immediate neighborhood ; and to acquire, by purchase, the lands around Kats- kill, for the greater security of the colony, inas-

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

much as the colonists, through a notion of acquiring property in that quarter, were forming companies or associations to remove thither and abandon Rensselaerwyck. He was further ordered to ex- plore the country for minerals, and to report to his superiors in Holland whatever success might crown these labors. Thus commissioned and instructed, the newly-appointed Director sailed with his family and servants and arrived in the colony in the latter part of March. His son, Gerrit Van Slechten- horst, was to act as Officier or Schout-fiscaal, at a salary of six hundred florins ; but he filled the office only two months, when it was merged in that of the Director.

From the moment that colonies began to be planted by patroons in New Netherlands the Di- rectors of the Amsterdam Chamber became jealous of their existence and opposed to their continuance. They considered them injurious to the settlement of the country and the increase of its population. By the repurchase of Pavonia and Zwanendaal, in 1634, they took the earliest and easiest means to check the evil. In the prosecution of their policy, they endeavored to induce the patroon of Rens- selaerwyck also to cede to them his rights, privileges and possessions ; but, having failed in effecting this, they now changed front, and determined to circumscribe a jurisdiction and weaken a power which they could not buy off, and which they wished to destroy. Gen. Stuyvesant and Brant Van Slechtenhorst were the champions of these hostile interests and opposing views. The former claimed to be supreme ruler of the whole country, irrespective of the special rights and feudal privi- leges granted-as well by the Charter of 1629 as by the civil law-to the local authorities of independ- ent fiefs. The latter, thoroughly conversant with the immunities claimed for manors and municipal- ities in continental Europe, recognized the exercise of no authority within his limits, save that of his patroon, or such as was approved and sanctioned by his legal representatives. Whatever orders or placards the Director-General of New Netherlands might issue were, he maintained, null and power- less, unless endorsed and countersigned by his commander and executed by the officers of his court. It was easy to foresee that pretensions so opposite could not fail to lead to collision ; and Slechtenhorst had not been much more than a month at his post when an explosion took place.

A copy of a proclamation ordering the first Wed- nesday in May, 1648, to be observed as a general fast, and the performance of public worship in the several churches of New Netherlands, was duly forwarded

to Rensselaerwyck. It was received by the authori- ties of this place, not in that spirit of submissive obedience which the Director-General demanded for all his orders ; but as an invasion of the rights and authority of the Lord of the Manor, against which Van Slechtenhorst forthwith protested.

This proceeding did not comport with Stuy- vesant's ideas, either of law or propriety. To cor- rect the abuse, he resolved to visit the " colonie," where, accompanied by a military escort, he soon after landed, his arrival being most loyally greeted by salvos from the patroon's artillery. Summoning Van Slechtenhorst, he called in question his pre- tensions, and charged him with infringing the West India Company's sovereignty. But the sturdy commander retorted : "Your complaints are un- just ; I have more reason to complain on behalf of my patroon against you." The Director-General fulminated thereupon a lengthy protest, in which Van Slechtenhorst was accused with having con- veyed lots and authorized the erection of buildings in the immediate vicinity of Fort Orange, in disre- gard not only of the sovereign authority, but in contempt of the Director-General's commission, thus infringing the privileges granted by their High Mightinesses and destroying the security of the fort. Such proceeding was totally repugnant to " military discipline and tactics." He therefore ordered, "in a friendly manner," a stop to be put to all building within range of cannon shot, un- less specially ordered by the Lords Majors. He further commanded that no new ordinances affecting the sovereign authority, or relating to commerce or the public welfare, be issued without the previous con- sent of their High Mightinesses or their representa- tive in New Netherland, and that no exclusive right to any branch of trade be rented, nor any grain, masts or other property belonging to the Company's servants be seized, unless the prosecu- tions on such suits were disposed of without delay. The practice of compelling the inhabitants of the colony to sign a pledge that, as defendants, they should not appeal to the Supreme Court of New Netherland from judgments rendered by the Court of Rensselaerwyck was pronounced "a crime," an infraction of the law of the land, and a subver- sion of the Charter. To prevent the recurrence of this illegal practice, an annual return to the Direc- tor and Council of all the affairs transacted in the colony and of the proceedings of the court was in- sisted on. And, as Van Slechtenhorst claimed, in direct contradiction to the charter and the Director- General's commission, to the vilification of the latter's office and in disrespect of the Lords

RENSSELAERWYCK AND BEVERWYCK.

Majors, not to be responsible to the govern- ment at Fort Amsterdam, he was called on to produce his authority, either from the States- General or the Directors of the Chamber at Amster- dam, for such pretension. Failing in this, the Director-General protested against him for disobe- dience of orders.

Commander Slechtenhorst was, in the estima- tion of his opponents, " a person of stubborn and headstrong temper." He was, besides, fully con- fident that he had law and custom on his side ; he was sure that he had the instructions of his super- iors in his pocket, and was therefore determined not to abandon the rights of " his orphan patroon." He answered protest by protest. He charged, in his turn, the Director-General with having pro- claimed a day of fasting and prayer in Rensselaer- wyck, "contrary to ancient order and usage, as if he were the lord of the patroon's colonie."

He accused the company's servants at the fort, with having cut without permission the best tim- ber and firewood in the patroon's forests, "as if these were their own;" and with having ranged through the whole colonie, along with people from Manhattans, "with savages by their side to serve as brokers," trading publicly with the abori- gines, as if the place were their property ; all this without license from the patroon or his authorized agents, and without paying either duties or recog- nitions. As for the order not to build within a prescribed distance of Fort Orange, it was an ag- gression which could not be justified. The pa- troon's trading house stood, "a few years ago," on the border of the moat which surrounded that fort. That soil, with all around, belongs still to the patroon ; he was never disturbed in its possession until Director Stuyvesant sought now "by unbe- coming means" to oust "his orphan heir," to deprive him of the benefit thereof, and to appro- priate the soil to himself; threatening to destroy the patroon's buildings by cannon shot. Van Slechtenhorst is hereby prevented erecting "even a hog pen" on the patroon's own land; 'and Stuyvesant has become a judge in his own case. The assertion that the objectionable buildings en- dangered the security of the fort was a mere pre- text. They were more than five hundred rods from the fort or trading-house ; and it was added, eight houses already intervened between them and Fort Orange.

In keeping with that spirit here displayed did Van Slechtenhorst continue his improvements in Beverwyck. Another protest from the Director at Manhattan followed, warning the patroon's agent 8

that force should be used if he did not desist. But this had the effect only of calling forth "a counter blast." No suit, he insisted, could be in- stituted, nor execution issued in another district, without previous consent of the Schout-fiscaal or Court of that jurisdiction on the pain of nonsuit and arbitrary correction, and therefore the present pro- ceeding was informal. The pretensions now put forth were, moreover, at variance with those which had already been promulgated and in contradiction to practice even at New Amsterdam. The Director- General claimed, in July, that all the territory within range of cannon shot belonged to Fort Orange ; now he reduces the circle to the range of a musket ball, within which he will not allow a house to be built, "notwithstanding he permits whole streets to be filled with houses in view of Fort Amsterdam."

This continued contumacy served but to irritate the New Amsterdam executive. The freshets of the past winter had nearly destroyed Fort Orange, and the West India Company's Commissary had received orders to surround that fort with a solid stone wall in lieu of the wooden fence by which it had hitherto been encompassed. But scarcely had a rod of the work been finished, when Van Slechtenhorst forbade Carl Van Brugge "in an im- perious manner" to quarry stone within the col- ony, or to fell a tree either for the repair of the fortification or for firewood. The farmers and in- habitants were also ordered, contrary to the prac- tice of former magistrates, to convey any such ma- terials thither. The Company was thus deprived of articles necessary to build forts, or other edifices, and compelled either to beg them from their vas- sals, or, "what is worse," to purchase them at enormous prices. Whilst thus opposing repair of the public works, Van Slechtenhorst actively con- tinued his own buildings "even within pistol shot of Fort Orange."

On receipt of this intelligence, General Stuyves- ant resolved to maintain his authority by force. Six soldiers were dispatched to Van Brugge's as- sistance, with orders to demolish the offending house ; to arrest Van Slechtenhorst "in the most civil manner possible," should he offer any opposi- tion, and to detain him in custody until he delivered a copy of his commission and his instructions, and had declared that he had no other. He was finally summoned to appear at Fort Amsterdam to answer for his conduct. Orders were at the same time issued, prohibiting the importation of guns into the " colonie " without license from the Lords Majors. Such arms, when imported, were to be sold only to

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

the West India Company at a fixed price of two beavers each.

The excitement produced in the hitherto peace- ful hamlet of Beverwyck on the appearance of this armed posse may be easily conceived. The oldest inhabitant had not seen a soldier nor heard the sound of a drum in that place until the Direc- tor-General's visit in the course of the last summer. And now, when another armed band arrived, with the hostile design of razing the houses of quiet and inoffensive settlers, they were sorely amazed and much alarmed.

Those whom the Director-General had dispatched to enforce his orders, were not, in truth, the best qualified for the performance of this delicate mis- sion. They were very zealous " when the patroon's timber was to be cut, or his deer killed," and were not slow to exhibit their insolence by grossly in- sulting the commander " when walking the public street " in company with his deputy, Andries de Vos, cursing them and "abusing God's holy name," because " they had not bade them good evening."

This rude conduct, and the unconcealed avowal of their mission, aroused the indignation, not only of the settlers, but even of the Indians. These assembled in a tumultuous and angry manner, and demanded if "Wooden Leg," in whom they had confided as their protector, intended to tear down the houses which were to shelter them in stormy and wintry weather ? When they learned that all the trouble was about a few rods of land, they told the commander to accompany them home, and they would give him plenty of land " in the Ma- quaas country ;" so that "more kindness was evinced by the unbelieving savages than by our Christian neighbors, subjects of the same sovereign, bound by their oaths to protect us against insult and outrage."

The soldiery were disposed to celebrate what- ever victory they obtained by firing a feu-de-joie. They accordingly discharged three or four volleys. This brought the Indians again together. Slech- tenhorst succeeded, however, in soothing their irri- tation, and persuaded them to depart. They returned shortly in increased numbers, and inquired in angry terms, "If Wooden Leg's dogs were gone?" They were assured that all would yet be well ; that they had been mis- informed, that the houses should not be pulled down. A threatening storm was thus happily averted ; for the Director-General's rash conduct had well-nigh produced bloodshed, "and the ruin, not only of the 'colonie,' but of the Manhattans

and of the Christians within this land, who are all at the mercy of the savages "-especially had these been joined by some Christians, "as might have been the case."

Van Slechtenhorst's indignation at this encroach- ment on the patroon's privileges was not so easily removed. He gave vent to his feelings in a long and angry protest. The demand for a copy of his commission, and the summons to appear at Fort Amsterdam, he answered by calling for a copy in writing of the Director-General's claims and com- plaints. "The noble patroon had obtained his possessions and immunities, was invested by the States-General with high and low jurisdiction and the police of the most privileged manors; and were he, as his agent, now so base as to crouch before the present unwarrantable proceedings, and to pro- duce his commission, before he had received orders to that effect from his lords and masters, not only would they be injured, but he be guilty of a viola- tion of his oath and honor, a betrayal of his trust and a childish surrender of the rights of his pa- troon." He could not, therefore, obey such de- mands, the illegality of which was only rendered the more flagrant by the unusual and insolent man- ner in which they were made.

Such illegal conduct betrayed a deep contempt of the patroon and his court, as well as of the sover- eign whom they represented. Those who have been guilty of similar violations of law in Fatherland " had often been apprehended, and condemned to bread and water for the space of five or six weeks ; yea, were sometimes brought to the block," so jealous was every local jurisdiction of the least en- croachment on its privileges.

As for preventing timber being cut within the colonies, "Is the patroon," he demanded, "not master on his own land ? Is he not free to cut his timber as well as his corn? And can he not arrest these, when cut by others without his permission ? It is notorious that all the present proceedings em- anated from party spirit, had no foundation in reason, and were as justifiable as the complaint in Æsop's fable of Cousin Gysbert, who, whilst drinking on a hill from a waterfall, quarreled with a lamb, who stood below, for disturbing the water and making it muddy."

This protest produced a long replication from Director Stuyvesant and Council, whose power, it was maintained, "extended to the colony of Rensselaerwick, as well as to the other colonies." Stringent orders were issued to Van Brugge and Labadie to prosecute and complete the repairs of the fort ; to procure, for that purpose, timber

RENSSELAERWYCK AND BEVERWYCK.

anywhere within the limits of New Netherland ; to quarry stones from the mountains, rocks and plains, and have them conveyed from any place, and in the most convenient manner, except from farms and plantations which are fenced and culti- vated, or about being so." The jurisdiction of the company, and "the ancient and uninterrupted use of the gardens and fields near the fort," were to be rigidly maintained, and the destruction of the buildings within musket or cannon shot proceeded with forth with.

The Schout-fiscaal of New Netherland averred that it was long since notorious that the Director and Council had been treated with disrespect by Van Slechtenhorst. Van Slechtenhorst was summoned to appear at Fort Amsterdam. He could have obeyed without inconvenience as "the river remained open, the winter pleasant, and several vessels sailed up and down during the whole month of Novem- ber." Now, however, to remove all doubt, the cita- tion was again renewed, and the commander was peremptorily ordered to appear at Fort Amsterdam on the 4th of April next ensuing, by the first sailing vessel, "when he will be informed of the com- plaint against him." The prospect from Fort Orange ought, in his opinion, to be unobstructed, at least within circle of cannon shot. There were plenty of vacant lots along the river, on which the in- habitants could construct their dwellings, yet they persist, "through pride," in building near the walls. But the truth was, it was neither through pride nor obstinacy that the colonists at this early day persisted in clinging to Fort Orange. This post supplied them in their feebleness with security against the Indians, and they were loath to forego its protection.

Removed from the contentions which were dis- tracting the capital of New Netherland, Com- mander Van Slechtenhorst was actively extending the limits of Rensselaerwyck by the purchase of the Mohegan lands to the south of that "colonie." On the 4th of September, 1648, he had acquired for the patroon the tract called Paponicuck, in exchange for some thirty ells of duffels and a few handfuls of powder ; and this spring pur- chased Katskill and Claverack. On the other side of the Atlantic, Wouter Van Twiller was boldly laying claim to the control and monopoly of the upper waters of the Hudson River in behalf of his ward, the orphan patroon, and publicly announcing his determination not to permit any merchant ves- sel to pass Beeren Island, or to trade in the vicinity of Rensselaerwyck. For he maintained that Fort Orange had been built on the patroon's territory,

and that none-"not even the West India Com- pany"-had a right to permit others to erect houses or to pursue any branch of business thereabout. Feudal law and feudal privileges thus brought along with them, into these parts, the old feudal quarrels of Europe for the free navigation of nature's high- ways to the ocean, and the question was, whether the North River should be open to all their High Mightinesses' subjects, or whether these should be debarred from its use by the garrison on Beeren Island, now named "in such a lofty way, 'The place by right of arms.'"

The absurdity of the claim to the soil on which Fort Orange stood was clearly established by the fact that the fort was built and garrisoned by the West India Company full 15 years before the existence of Rensselaerwyck ; that up to the year 1644 the West India Company had the exclusive enjoyment of the fur trade, which the company intended to reclaim "whenever it shall be able to provide its magazines with a sufficient store of goods." In view, therefore, of all these circumstances, and in order to correct a state of things of which the merchants generally com- plained, the Directors determined to use their sov- ereign rights-to the confusion of Van Twiller, " that ungrateful individual, who had sucked his wealth from the breasts of the company which he now abuses." They accordingly dispatched orders to remove all obstructions to the free navigation of the North River and commercial intercourse with Fort Orange. If Van Twiller should again plant guns near that river, they were to be seized ; and if any person dared to exact tolls, or salt duty on any rivers, islands or harbors within the company's limits, to the injury of the inhabitants or traders generally, such were to be prevented by all means possible-even by force if necessary-as it was the firm determination of the Directors never to part with these pre-eminences or jurisdictions to any colonists whatsoever.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 19

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452