USA > New York > Courts and lawyers of New York; a history, 1609-1925, Volume I > Part 11
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20. This usurpation created great excitement. The taxes had been rendered more oppressive, and inquisitorial returns demanded, at a time when relief was necessary, and freedom from arbitrary rule had been prom- ised. The brewers resisted the collection of the tax, were prosecuted, and compelled to pay .- Ibid, p. 30.
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Europe, and for fifteen years in England violation of that principle had been inexorably sharpening the axe which was to part the head from the body of a heedless king in 1649. Taxation without representation stirred the Dutch of New Netherland, just as like usurpation a little more than a cen- tury later was to stir the English colonists to grim resistance. The arbitrary rule of Director-General Kieft and the precari- ous state of the colony so exasperated the Eight Men, repre- senting the people, that, on October 28, 1644, they appealed direct to Holland, memorializing the Board of the Nineteen of the West India Company, and also the States General. They blamed Kieft for their predicament, complaining that he had usurped "princely power." "We did not conceive," they said, "that our powers extended as far as to impose new taxes, but that such must first be considered by a superior authority (to wit, by the Lords majors)." They despaired of ever settling the country under the existing system of government; and their memorial ended with a prayer for a new Governor and representative government, "so that the entire country may not be hereafter, at the whim of one man, again reduced to a similar danger."21 The Indian trouble they attributed wholly
21. Honored Lords! This is what we have, in the sorrow of our hearts to complain of : That one man who has been sent out, sworn and instructed by his Lords and masters, to whom he is responsible, should dispose here of our lives and properties at his will and pleasure, in a manner so arbitrary that a King dare not legally do the like. We shall terminate here and commit the matter wholly to our God; who we pray and heartily trust will move your hearts and bless your deliberations; so that one of these two things may happen; that a governor may be speedily sent with a beloved peace to us; or, that your Honors will be pleased to permit us to return with wives and children to our dear Fatherland. For it is im- possible ever to settle this country until a different system be introduced here and a new Governor sent out with more people, who will settle them- selves in suitable places, one near the other, in form of villages and hamlets, and elect, from among themselves a Bailiff, or schout, and schepens, who will be empowered to send their deputies and give their votes on public affairs with the Director and Council; so that the entire country may not hereafter be, at the whim of one man, again reduced to a similar danger .- Chester's "Legal and Judicial History of New York," Vol. I, 40, quoting the "Holland Documents," III, in "Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York," Vol. I, 213.
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to the relentlessness of Kieft22 ; and they knew that confidence of the Dutch could not be restored in the natives while Kieft remained in the country.
The complaint reached the States General and the Board of the Nineteen of the West India Company, in Amsterdam, at the time when the Company had become practically bank- rupt. The colonists were sustained, and on December 10 the Company resolved to recall Kieft. They were even seri- ously considering the advisability of transporting the whole of the colonists back to the Fatherland, and of abandoning New Netherland, as an unprofitable enterprise. Such an alter- native undoubtedly deeply concerned the States General ; hence the request by the Company "for a subsidy in order that the colony should be placed in a safe and prosperous condition" was not inopportune. Decision against the aban- donment of New Netherland was taken; matters of recon- struction were promptly considered, the remonstrances, peti- tions and memorials of the colonists being referred to the Chamber of Accounts. That chamber in March, 1645, sus- tained the colonists, and recommended the organization of village and hamlet communities somewhat after the manner of the English, and that each community should appoint dep- uties who, at the call of the Director-General, should assemble twice yearly for "the upholding of the statutes and the laws," with power to deliberate "on all questions which might con- cern the prosperity of their colonies."
To bring this new order in effect, the Company decided to send Dr. Lubbertus van Dincklagen, a former schout-fiscal under Van Twiller, to New Netherland to take the reins of
22. The director hath by various uncalled for proceedings, from time to time, so estranged these from us, and so embittered against the Dutch nation that we do not believe anything will bring them back, unless that the Lord, who bends all men's hearts to his will, propitiate them. Thus hath the Antient very truly observed: "Any man can create turmoil, and set the people one against the other ; but to establish harmony again is in the power of God alone .- Chester's "Legal and Judicial History of New York," Vol. I, 40.
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government from Kieft, and hold them temporarily. How- ever, he did not leave Holland, and ere long his commission was revoked. In July, 1645, the "Assembly of the XIX of the General Privileged West India Company" decided to commission Peter Stuyvesant as Director-General, and in- structed him as to the new system of government he was to introduce.23 But his commission by the States General was not issued until July 28, 1646, and he did not reach New Am- sterdam until 1647. Therefore, possibly because peace had been signed with the Indian nations in August, 1645,24 and an immediate danger to the colony had been thus removed, Kieft was permitted to hold office until the arrival of General Stuyvesant.
23. The Commissioners of the Assembly of the XIX of the General Privileged West India Company acted upon this report (of the Chamber of Accounts) in instructions given to the Director and Council under date of July 7, 1645. The Council was to consist of "the Director as President, his Vice and the Fiscal." In cases in which the Advocate-Fiscal appeared as Attorney-General, either civil or criminal, the military commandant was to sit in his stead; and if the charge was criminal, three persons were to be associated from the commonalty of the district where the crime or act was committed. The Supreme Council was the sole body "by whom all occur- ring affairs relating to police, justice, militia, the dignity and just rights of the company" were to be "administered and decided." That is, it was an executive, administrative and judicial body, but possessed no legislative func- tions, and had no power to alter or abridge the ancient rights of the people. The gathering of the inhabitants "in the manner of towns, villages and hamlets, as the English are in the habit of doing," was to be aided by all means in their power, and the privileges (heretofore noted) as being granted in the Freedoms and the amplications thereof," were continued ; and further, "inasmuch as the respective colonists have been allowed, by the Freedoms, to delegate one or two persons to give information to the Director and Council concerning the state and condition of their colonies, the same is hereby confirmed." The recommendation of a semi-annual as- sembly, therefore, was not confirmed .- "New York Civil List," 1888, p. 33.
24. The treaty was executed at "Fort Amsterdam before the Director and Council, in presence of the whole community," on August 30, 1645, "under the blue canopy of heaven." Those who signed by their marks were the sachems of Achkinkeshacky, Tappaens, and two others, acting for their own tribes and for the Marechawieck Nayeck, Wappinck, Wiquaeskecks, Sintsings, and Kichtawangh tribes. The white men who signed were William Kieft, La Montagne, Jacob Stoffelsen, Jan Onderhil (Underhill), Francis Douthey, George Baxter, Richard Smith, Gysbert Opdyc, Jan Ever- sen Bout, Oloff Stevensen, Cornelis van Hoyckens, Cornelis Tonissen. "To my knowledge," Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secretary.
CHAPTER X. NEW NETHERLAND UNDER STUYVESANT .*
Petrus Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in May, 1647. He had come to right the disordered colony; and the colonists were hopeful that his coming would mark the real beginning of popular government in New Netherland. But it soon seemed that Stuyvesant and Kieft were alike in policy. Stuyvesant's bearing was autocratic, arrogant, unbending, pompous; and he soon let it be known that the Director- General was supreme in New Netherland.1 Yet, he was so different in characteristics to Kieft that the brutal frankness of his threat, to make any man "a foot shorter" who dared to appeal to Holland against his rulings as Governor, was looked upon by the colonists as an evidence of his basic honesty.
*AUTHORITIES-Lossing's "History of the United States"; "Translations
from the Breeden Raedt, in the Documentary History of New York"; Bryant's "History of the United States"; Hawthorne's "History of the United States"; Daly's "State of Jurisprudence in the Dutch Period"; "History of Bench and Bar of New York"; Albany Records ; O'Callaghan's "History of New Netherland"; Werner's "New York Civil List," 1888 ed. ; Hazard's "State Papers"; "Encyclopedia Britannica"; Chester's "Legal and Judicial History of New York"; Green's "History of the English People"; Ridpath's "History of the World"; Van Laer's "Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck," 1648-52; and Van Laer's "Minutes of the Court of Fort Orange and Beverswyck," 1652-56 and 1657-60.
I. Stuyvesant came with the commission of Director-General over New Netherland and the adjoining places, and also over the islands of Curacoa, Buenaire, Aruba, and other dependencies. He was accompanied by Lubbertus van Dincklagen, who had caused the recall of Kieft, as Vice- Director, or Lieutenant-Governor. They landed on a fine morning, in the presence of all the people, who came out with guns and received them with shouts. So vehement was their welcome that nearly all the breath and powder of the city was exhausted. Stuyvesant marched to the fort in great pomp, displaying a silver-mounted wooden leg of fine workmanship. After keeping the principal inhabitants who went to welcome him waiting for several hours bareheaded, while he remained covered, "as if he were the Czar of Muscovy," he told the people that he should govern them "as a father his children, for the advantage of the chartered West India Com- pany, and these burghers and this land." He assured them that justice C.&L .- 8
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Stuyvesant's history was interesting if not wholly commend- able1ª ; his personality was commanding; and his silver- mounted "peg-leg" testified both to his bravery and exalted station.2
Stuyvesant's staff included Lubbertus van Dincklagen, as Vice-Director or Lieutenant-Governor; Henry van Dyke, as schout-fiscal, and Cornelius van Tienhoven, as secretary. A significant provision was that of the appointment of an Eng- lish secretary. George Baxter, who, indeed, had been English secretary in the previous administration, since 1642, was con- tinued in office because "none of the company's officers could tolerably read or write in the English language." The per- centage of English-speaking settlers in the Dutch colony was increasing rapidly. Another Englishman, Captain Bryan Newton, was a member of Stuyvesant's Council, in which
should rule; at the same time, he asserted the exclusive privileges of the directorship, and frowned upon every expression of republican sentiment. He declared it to be treason to "petition against one's magistrates, whether there be cause or not; "and he defended Kieft's conduct in rejecting the in- terference of the Twelve, saying: "If any one during my administration shall appeal, I will make him a foot shorter, and send the pieces to Holland, and let him appeal in that way." These sentiments made the people suspect that the new governor would be an inflexible despot, instead of an indul- gent father .- Lossing's "History of the United States," Book III, Chap. IV.
Ia. Translations from the "Breeden Raedt," and published in the "Doc- umentary History of New York" paint Stuyvesant in somewhat dubious colors. "It is said that in Holland he had been detected in robbing the daughter of his host, and that he would have been punished for the act had he not been mercifully forgiven for the sake of his father, who was a clergyman in Vriesland, and greatly esteemed. The famous expedition against St. Martin, where Stuyvesant lost his leg-in place of which he ever after wore a wooden one, bound together with rings of silver-this expedition, it is said, was unsuccessful because it was so badly conducted ; for the commander wasted, in vainglorious salutes at sea nearly all his powder before he reached the fort; and when he raised the siege . . . he left not only his leg behind him, but much property, especially cannon."- William Cullen Bryant's "History of the United States," Vol. II, 115.
2. Peter Stuyvesant is a favorite character in our history, because he was a manly and straightforward man, faithful to his employers, fearless in doing and saying what he thought was right, and endowed with a full share of obstinate, homely, kindly human nature. He was not in advance of his age, or superior to his training; he was a plain product of both, but free from selfishness, malice, and unworthy ambitions. He was born
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Johannes de la Montagne, who had been the sole member of Kieft's Council at one time, also had a seat.
At the outset of Stuyvesant's administration, it seemed that there was little to choose between directors. Kieft re- mained in the colony for a little while after the arrival of the new Director-General; and he seemed to have Stuyvesant's ear, for those of the Board of Eight Men who had been chiefly instrumental in bringing about Kieft's removal from office were brought to trial by Stuyvesant and found guilty "of grave offense for presuming to attack one in authority over them." Cornelius Melyn and Joachim Pietersen Kuyter were both heav- ily fined and banished from the colony. The court of justice was, presumably, that which Stuyvesant established immedi- ately after his arrival; it can hardly have been impartial justice, in view of the fact that the presiding judge was Vice- Director van Dincklagen, who had as associates occasionally "others of the Company's officers." And whenever the Di- rector-General wished to preside over the court, his Vice- Director, of course, gave way.3 It seems somewhat remark-
in 1602, and came to America a warrior from honorable wars, seamed and knotty, with a famous wooden leg, which all New Yorkers, at any rate, love to hear stumping down the corridors of time. His administration, the last of the Dutch regime, wiped out the stains inflicted by his predeces- sors, and resisted with equal energy encroachments from abroad and inno- vations at home. He was a true Dutchman, with most of the limitations and all the virtues of his race; fond of peace and dwelling in his own "Bowery," yet not afraid to fight when he deemed that his duty. His tenure of office lasted from 1647 till 1664, a period of seventeen active years; after the English took possession of the town and called it New York, Peter went back to Holland, unwilling to live in the presence of new things ; but he found that, at the age of sixty-three, he could not be happy away from the home that he had made for himself in the new world; so he returned to Manhattan Island, and completed the tale of his eighty years on the farm which is now the most populous and democratic of New York's thoroughfares. There he smoked his longstemmed pipe and drank his schnapps, and thought over old times, and criticized the new. After two and a half centuries, the memories of him are undimmed-Hawthorne's "History of the United States," Vol. I, III.
3. Immediately after his arrival, Stuyvesant established a court of justice, of which van Dinclage was made the presiding judge, having asso- ciated with him occasionally others of the company's officers. The new
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able that for seven years after the coming of Stuyvesant the principal court of the colony remained so constituted. How- ever, by its ruling, Melyn and Kuyter, the leaders in the case of the people against Kieft, were banished and sailed as prisoners for Holland on the very ship that took Kieft tri- umphant and complacent, away from the colony. This ship, the "Princess," sailed from New Amsterdam on August 16, 1647, bound for Amsterdam. It reached no nearer to that port than the rocky coast of Wales, where, in its dismember- ment, Governor Kieft, Reverend Everardus Bogardus,3ª and Schout van der Huygens were drowned. Melyn and Kuyter were rescued, and soon reached Holland, where they per- sonally pleaded their own cases and that of the people.
Van Dincklagen's Council was not the only court. An- other of inferior jurisdiction was forced upon Stuyvesant by popular demand ere many months had passed. The West India Company had refused to give the colonists represen- tative government, and Stuyvesant probably was but follow- ing their instructions in holding within his own hands the reins of government. "That the people should rule them- selves was as good as to say that the horse should loll in the carriage while his master tailed between the shafts," seemed the general attitude of officialdom. But the States General had some degree of control over the Company, and
tribunal was empowered to decide "all cases whatsoever," subject only to the restriction of asking the opinion of the governor upon all momentous questions, who reserved to himself the privilege, which he frequently exercised. of presiding in the court, whenever he thought proper to do so .- Justice Chas. P. Daly, in "State of Jurisprudence During the Dutch Period," quoting Breeden Raedt, extracts in 4 "Doc. Hist. of N. Y.," 69; Albany Records 20, 28, 29, 38, 56 to 61.
3a. The farm of Dominie Bogardus-called first the Dominie's Bowery, afterwards the Duke's Farm, the King's Farm, the Queen's Farm, as it was conveyed in the progress of events from one proprietor to another-became at length the property of Trinity Church, New York, by letters patent under the seal of the Province. In recent years this property has produced an immense revenue for the church .- O'Callaghan's History of New Neth- erland.
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there were certain principles of government which could not be altogether ignored. The Company might wish to extort much in the way of taxes, but experience had shown that the people always will demand representation in measures that affect their purse. The first pressure upon Stuyvesant had its result in the forming in September, 1647, of the Board of the Nine Men, chosen by the Governor, from eighteen men elected by the commonalty. These nine men were to act in advisory capacity in public affairs; they were also to have certain magisterial authority, it being decreed that three of their number should, in rotation, attend each session of court, and consider all civil cases which might be referred to them as arbitrators. The Board of the Nine Men also had some degree of legislative authority; or at all events, claimed such au- thority in matters of taxation.4 But that the Governor did not intend to institute popular government is clear in the stipulation that the first members of the board should nom- inate their successors, with the aid of the Director, without recurrence again to a popular election, also that the board
4. The new Director proceeded with great vigor to restore the dis- ordered government. He promulgated municipal regulations, and stringent enactments against smuggling; established customs duties on wines and liquors, and on beaver skins. He ordered an election of eighteen men from Manhattan, Breukelen (Brooklyn), Amersfoort (Flatlands), and Pavonia (N. J.), from whom he selected nine, as "Interlocutors and Trustees of the Commonalty," or "Tribunes" of the people. These Nine Men were to hold courts of arbitration weekly, and were to give advice to the Director and Council on all matters submitted to them. They received their appointment September 25, 1647. Three were taken from the merchants, three from the burghers and three from the farmers. Thus was preserved and continued the system of giving representation to the various vocations which formed the groundwork of municipal organization in the Netherlands. (The tribunal was of very ancient date. Indeed, in its essence it was a method of adjudication which prevailed in one form or another from time imme- morial; of which the village elders were the most ancient type. The "Tribunal of Well-Born Men," or "Men's Men," had existed for centuries in the Netherlands. It originally had separate criminal and civil jurisdic- tion, the first exercised by thirteen and the second by seven men. These courts were afterwards united, the number of members being thirteen until 1614, when it was altered to "Nine Well-Born Men"). This institution was now introduced, as a form of government for the capital of New Neth-
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could only function at the pleasure of the Director, or "con- tinue until lawfully repealed." That the Board of Nine Men was actually able to guard the interests of the people arose from determination of the Nine Men rather than from paternal interest manifested by the Governor.
The nine men who constituted the first board were: Au- gustine Heermans, Arnoldus van Hardenburg, Govert Loock- ermans, merchants; Jan Jansen Dam, Jacob Wolfertsen van Cowenhoven, citizens; Hendrick Hendricksen Kip, Michael Jansen, Jan Evertsen Bout and Thomas Hall, farmers. They took office in September, 1647.
In addition to the Governor's Council, and the Nine Men's Court of Arbitrators, there were, of course, the courts of the patroons. Over these the Director had little control, though Stuyvesant had at least temporarily nullified the authority of one manorial court, by banishing Melyn, the Patroon of Staten Island. And he was probably hoping that in the pow- erful manor of Rensselaerwyck he would henceforth have more power, seeing that the old Patroon was dead. How- ever, Stuyvesant was destined to leave Beverswyck, Albany, much discomfited by the failure of an attempt he made, in 1648, to override the authority in the patroonship of Brandt van Slichtenhorst, the commissary of the young patroon, Johan van Rensselaer. For better defence of Fort Orange against Indian attack, the Governor had ordered the demoli-
erland and surrounding villages. It was provided that six should annually retire, and that twelve men were to be referred to the Director, with the Nine who had served during the year, from whence the new board was to be selected. The Board met on the 15th of November, when the Director communicated his views by written message, in consequence of illness, They consented to appropriations for schools and for completing the church; but declined to repair the fortifications, on the ground that, as the company had agreed to incur expenditures of that class, the money for that purpose ought to come out of the funds derived from customs and excise duties, and from tolls paid at the company's mills. This board, therefore, was also a legislative body, in the ancient sense; that is, a body without whose con- sent taxes could not be lawfuly assessed nor vested rights modified .- Werner, in "New York Civil List," 1888, p. 33-34.
NEW NETHERLAND UNDER STUYVESANT 119
tion of certain houses in Beverswyck. Van Slichtenhorst forbade their destruction, and, in view of "the temper of the people of Beverswyck," the soldiers at Fort Orange dared not enforce the order.5
In some other respects the Governor administered his office with effective vigor. The Dutch in New Netherland were fast becoming the minority of the inhabitants, and the English settlers on Long Island and elsewhere in New Netherland were rapidly reaching the point which led to insurrection. However, taking all the colonists-Dutch and English-of New Netherland as an unit, their strength would be but little to pit against that of New England, which had proposed con- federation. It must, therefore, be conceded that Stuyvesant's handling of inter-colonial complications, in his first years at New Netherland, was resolute beyond the point of prudence. He succeeded better by his boldness, perhaps. In 1647 he disposed of the Stirling claim to Long Island by arresting the English "governor" sent to administer Long Island, and ship- ping him on a vessel bound for Holland. In 1650 he tact-
5. A complete record of the courts presided over by him (Van Schlechtenhorst) from the time when he first entered upon his office until April 10, 1652, has been preserved among the Rensselaerwyck manuscripts. At that date came the culmination of the long controversy which had existed between the patroon's government on the one hand and the Director- General at New Amsterdam on the other, concerning the limits of the jurisdiction between Fort Orange and the colony of Rensselaerwyck, for on that day Pieter Stuyvesant, the Director-General, issued his proclamation establishing a court of justice for Beverwyck (Fort Orange) and its depen- dencies independent of the patroon's court of Rensselaerwyck and appointed three justices thereto.
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