USA > New York > Courts and lawyers of New York; a history, 1609-1925, Volume I > Part 17
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ever, this suicidal determination fortunately passed before July, when the Governor gave official notice at the Stadt Huys that the province could no longer be ruled by him, or any other Dutch governor.
CHAPTER XIII. DUTCH MAGISTRATES. The Governors and the Patroons .*
When one remembers that Dutch sovereignty in the New World covered a period of only about fifty years, and that the rule extended over only a small part of the North American continent, one is prompted to look for other reasons why Dutch institutions made such a lasting impression upon American life of succeeding centuries. There are many reasons. Some are obscure, some clear. Some are especially interesting. Romancers find picturesque reasons in the col- orful characteristics of the Dutch, in their domestic life and hospitable dispositions. Commercial men of New York might think of the traders of New Amsterdam as the founders of the great commercial mart of to-day. But students of polit- ical economy and government will be more attracted by the distinct political phenomenon shown in Dutch history illus- trating the profound problem of self-government in mankind. The Netherlanders who came to America had in childhood been nursed in the spirit of freedom; the theories of indepen- dence had been inoculated in them as they grew to manhood ;
*AUTHORITIES-"State of Jurisprudence During the Dutch Period"; "History of Bench and Bar of New York," by Daly; "The Rise of the American People," by Usher; "History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century," by Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer; "Legal and Ju- dicial History of New York," by Chester; "Voyages of De Vries," New York Historical Soc. Coll., Vol. I: "National Cyclopedia of American Biog- raphy," White; "Civil List and Constitutional History of New York," by Werner ; "History of United States," by Bryant; "History of United States," by Hawthorne; "Beacon Lights of History," by Lord; "History of United States," by Lossing; "Courts and Lawyers of Pennsylvania," by Eastman; "Rise of the Dutch Republic," by Motley; "Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck," translated by Archivist Van Laer (Univ. State of New York, 1922) ; "History of Troy and Rensselaer County, New York" (1925) ; "Anti-Rent Agitation," by E. P. Cheyney (1887) ; "New York Colonial Manuscripts."
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and the struggle to attain it had been part of their life from earliest manhood. Their fathers had served under William the Silent, perhaps; and the most absorbing question ever before them, and their forebears, throughout the eighty years of grim struggle against the mightiest European power, Spain, had been the inalienable right of the commonalty to rule their affairs through their own representatives. The principle of self-government had been close to them in their own munici- palities of the United Provinces. Their bosoms had expanded in a national consciousness as they rose gradually out of the serfdom of feudalism; and they were satisfied that their gov- ernment by States General, Burgomasters and Schepens-a sham democracy though it actually was-was Independence. But, when transplanted in a new world, they gradually be- came aware that the freedom with which they had been con- tented in the old world, that was hoary with the decrepitude of feudalism, was not the liberty they might expect to enjoy in the wide spaces of a new world. Notwithstanding that they sought only the establishment of burgher government like that of the Fatherland, the consciousness that in America the commonalty had broader rights could hardly fail to come to them. Conditions were so different. Freedom in the Old World was modified by the grades of society, and conserv- atism was so imbedded in the thoughts of all classes that the levelling of these social grades was hardly expected by even the most radical reformer. But in the primal splendor of the American wilderness, the pioneers were nearer to fundamen- tals, in both thought and action. Still, it must be admitted that the Dutch of New Netherland never saw clearly, as Jef- ferson did, "that all men are created equal." They were rather examples of Hawthorne's theory that "the conception of human equality before the law is not a congenital endow- ment, but an accomplishment, arduously acquired and easily forfeited."
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The New Netherlanders were not radical theorists or dreamers. They lived a practical life, and were amenable to constituted authority. It is, possibly, this latter trait in them that carried the Dutch impress most indelibly into American institutions of long after their own day of sovereignty. Their struggle for self-government was not a rebellion against reg- ularly constituted government, as ordered by the States Gen- eral; it was against the usurpation of such constitutional rights by the agents of commercial adventurers-by the Di- rectors-General of the West India Company. Throughout the administration of New Netherland by the latter, constitu- tional government was subordinated to commercial expedi- ency ; only those privileges that did not jeopardize or deplete the coffers of the West India Company were recognized by the governors ; others were evaded until popular agitation made evasion no longer possible.
However, the Dutch colonist was ever logical and reason- able. In general, he did not see that the plebeian should not bow to the patrician; the poor immigrant who came across the sea at the expense of the patroon did not see that service to the latter was slavery; and the illiterate citizen was ever ready to acknowledge the mental superiority of the man of letters who was helping his cause. He knew that some must serve and some direct ; but, in the New World, where dangers were common to all, where labor was almost the common lot, where muscle was more the need of the moment than culture, men got to feel that the hide-bound habits, customs and precedents of the Old World should not wholly govern the New. In the majesty of the great works of nature that surrounded him in all their primal grandeur the average col- onist could not fail to be strengthened in independence; he could not fail to see that God's bounteous providence was meant as much for himself as for the patroon and governor; for the commonalty as well as the nobility ; he could not fail to realize that God's plan made man supreme over all other
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living things, but that "no man or body of men, no matter how richly endowed by nature or circumstance with intellect or riches," should be accorded the right to dispose arbitrarily of the lives and welfare of a less fortunate class. He saw it as God's will that "not elsewhere than in the hands of the entire community shall be lodged the reins of government; that although the administration shall be with the chosen ones whose training and qualifications fit them for that function, the principles on which their administration is conducted shall be determined by the will and vote of all."
The New Netherlanders came to this way of thinking more by the "slow irresistible energy of natural law" (which tells a man that the profit he wins by his labor must first yield himself sustenance before others may share), than by the ponderous search in political codes. The same freedom was sought along other roads in other colonies; but all found "in the virgin solitudes of an untrodden continent" that man's destiny in America could not long remain crimped and hedged by the class barriers that hampered the exercise of man's natural rights in Europe. "American democracy originated in necessity."1 The Dutch of New Netherland did not travel to the end of the road, and the footprints indelibly marked by the Dutch in American institutions are those of the more cul- tured section of the commonalty-the magistrates, lawyers
I. American democracy originated in necessity; the settlers did their own work because there was no one else who could by any possibility do it. . The circumstances of settlement, permitting no great extremes of wealth or poverty, of education or ignorance, naturally provided the very conditions best adapted for democracy. Indeed, any other form of govern- ment would have been an anomaly, and the various schemes, worthy and unworthy, concocted by capitalists and theorists, from the complicated sys- tem of councils proposed by Sir Thomas Smith to the elaborate dreams of John Locke and the constitutional experiments of William Penn, one and all promptly and ingloriously failed. The conditions were right for democ- racy and were therefore wrong for feudal palatinates and aristocratic lord- ships. No one tried to plant democratic governments; nothing else could be made to grow .- Roland Greene Usher, in "The Rise of the American People," pp. 44, 45.
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and leaders of the people generally. But, as a whole, the strong characteristics of the New Netherlanders have been discernible through all of the generations to the present, con- tributing to America, in each generation, valuable elements of citizenship.
That some of the solid bases of character necessary to mould a worthwhile American would be found in the Dutch was to be expected. Great achievements are not won by the weak; and some of the achievements recorded of the Dutch in their history were such as would test or build the strongest manhood. The Dutch, the "first nation to put a girdle of empire around the world," the little nation, living on the fringes of the sea, that made itself the greatest maritime power in the world, while fighting incessantly on land for possession of their little low-lying home tract, which they had literally won from the sea, and which the sea, as well as the mightiest nation of Europe, was trying to rob them of, must have contained the elements of moral strength needed to build a people capable of asserting the principles of self- government, of democracy, in a new land as vast as the whole of Europe. It was America's destiny to draw strength from the Dutch as well as from the English. The obstinacy of men like Petrus Stuyvesant contributed self-confidence and perseverance; the manorial dignity and lordly manners of the patroons have been seen in their descendants in New York, in innate gentlemanliness and in the ability of some to handle large affairs in a large spirit. The stolidity of the Dutch burgher has been shown in amusing anecdote by some chroniclers, but this stolidity may be relied upon for steadiness and mature sound judgment in the more serious happenings of life. The commercial instinct of the traders of New Amsterdam is the heritage of the great merchants of the great city of to-day. The high professional qualifications, purposes and dignity of Adriaen van der Donck and Lub- bertus van Dincklagen, both Doctors of Law, are good pat-
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terns for New York lawyers of to-day. In so many ways, all, of course, predestined, the Dutch of New Netherland helped to lay the firm foundation of the great nation that was to be and now is. Had they, for instance, not lived amicably with the powerful Mohawks and the Iroquois Confederacy in gen- eral, thus creating hostile territory which the French of Can- ada must penetrate and pass through to reach the Atlantic coast and isolate New England, the history of colonial Amer- ica might have been very different, and the dominant language of North America might now be French instead of English.
It is not generally recognized, or realized, that the Dutch of New Netherland were cultured. They are looked upon primarily as traders, just as the Virginian pioneers are deemed to have been scions of noble English families, fond of ease and adventure, and the Massachusetts Bay colonists are gen- erally thought to have been learned unbending Puritans, who worked hard and prayed harder. But New Netherlanders were interested not only in trade; there was a school for the sons of the burghers in New Amsterdam as early as 1629, it seems. Moreover, in that year the patroon system was in- troduced, one of the conditions of grant being the institution of schools by the patroons. Massachusetts, on the other hand, did not institute a free school until 1642.
There are other indications that the thoughts of the people of New Netherland were not only mercenary. One cannot read far in the court records translated by Van Laer and others without realizing that men of learning and high moral purpose were connected with the administration of justice in the Dutch colony. Former Chief Justice Daly wrote : "Upon perusing them it is impossible not to be struck with the comprehensive knowledge they display of the principles of jurisprudence." He was the more surprised when he realized how complicated was the Dutch legal code of that period, and how difficult it was to acquire a knowledge of jurisprudence. "That these magistrates should have had any
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general or practical acquaintance of such a system at all was scarcely to be expected," he writes, "but that they had is apparent, not only from the manner in which they disposed of the ordinary controversies that came before them, but in their treatment of difficult problems." Mrs. Schuyler van Rensse- laer came to like conclusions. She writes: "The mental caliber of the New Netherlanders may be tested by reading the bulky volumes which contain translations of their public papers-popular petitions, complaints and expositions, official journals, reports, manifestos and letters. Many of them, besides the Remonstrance of 1649, have the high merit of logical arrangement, lucidity and dignity. . . . Some have a flavor of scholarship, literary skill and individuality which persists even in an alien language." "In short," she writes, "it is not more justifiable to think of New Amsterdam as a slow-witted, illiterate place than as a drowsy uneventful place. The more closely we read its chronicles in the words of its own founders and fosterers, the more clearly we perceive how civilized, how modern it was in its essential habits of mind."2
But it may be well here to point out that most of the records, other than ecclesiastical, which stamp New Amster- dam as a place of many cultured men, were the work of gov- ernment officials, magistrates, lawyers, legislators. In other words, the cultured men of the Dutch period were, in the
2. In short, it is not more justifiable to think of New Amsterdam as a slow-witted, illiterate place than as a drowsy, uneventful place. The more closely we read its chronicles in the words of its founders and fosterers, the more clearly we perceive how civilized, how modern, it was in its essential habits of mind. If an American of to-day could be transplanted back two hundred and fifty years, he would find himself more comfortably at home on Manhattan than anywhere else. In some of the English settlements he would have the chance to exercise more direct political power, but in none excepting Rhode Island would he find as much personal freedom, and in none at all a general mental attitude, a prevailing temper, as similar to the temper of America of to-day .- Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer, in her "His- tory of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century," Vol. I, 483.
C.&L .- 12
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main, those who were identified with governmental processes, and with the administration of justice."3
THE GOVERNORS.
A review of those who had part in governmental affairs must, of course, begin with the governors, or Directors-Gen- eral, who were the chief magistrates. In the main, they were capable men of affairs, but suffered a blackening of their records-as viewed by the commonalty-by adhering to the fundamental requirement of their office, viz .: that govern- ment should conform to, and in no wise jeopardize, the com- mercial interests of the proprietors, the West India Company. The Directors-General were: Cornelis Jacobsen May, in office in 1623-24; Willem Verhulst, in office in 1625; Pieter Minuit, in office in 1626-1632; Bastiaen Jansz Krol, in office in 1632- 1633; Wouter van Twiller, in office in 1633-1638; William Kieft, in office in 1638-1647; Petrus Stuyvesant, in office in
3. The struggle of the commonalty and its able representatives against the exactions of the governors and the determination of the West India Company to control, was always active, never ceasing, and often virulent. It was the work of men who were of sturdy, resolute character, firmly grounded in the democratic principles of the Fatherland, and determined to. brook no opposition that stood in the way of their attaining their ends. In New Amsterdam and in the other villages there was continuous agitation in public and in private. Affairs of state-and they were certainly important affairs, fraught with great things for the future-were discussed on the street corners, at the tapsters, and in the privacy of homes. The meetings of the governor and council were often stormy, and in the representatives of the commonalty, who from time to time appeared before them in defence or demand of the rights of the people, the officials met their peers in argu- ment, patriotic determination and energy. Some of the documents which that struggle for political control brought out have become historic. They were the production of men of natural activity of mind and of earnest convic- tions, who were masters of clear methods of expression. In the literary sense they may not have been equal to the didactic and religious tracts which the leaders of New England put out at that time, but as the full expression of manhood, and of wholesome devotion to the democratic principles, they will stand comparison with the ablest productions of the kind that the world has ever known. No one can read the famous Remonstrance of the Board of Nine Men against Governor Kieft; the various petitions of the different Boards of Men to the governors, to the West India Company, or the States General; the petition of Kuyter and Melyn to Stuyvesant, in 1647, and the answer of the same leaders to Governor Kieft, making allegations respecting
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1647-1664; Anthony Colve, in office in 1673-1674. (Werner, in the "New York Civil List," shows Adriaen Joris as in office in 1623, though he came with May).
So much has already been written of the Directors-General, in reviewing their administrations, that little more is here called for. Those who held office, as the chief representatives of the West India Company in New Netherland, for periods prior to the coming of Peter Minuit in 1626, hardly exercised magisterial control other than that of a sea captain over his crew. Prior to 1623, when the Walloons came, the Dutch of New Netherland were almost all servants of the Company- their traders and seamen; therefore, those who were in au- thority prior to 1623 are not classed as directors, but as super- intendents, navigators, and the like. Adriaen Block, Hen- drick Christaensen and Cornelis Jacobson May (Mey) were trading in New York waters in 1611-12. There were some others, but Christaensen seems to have been superintendent of the principal trading posts-on Manhattan Island and at what became Albany. At the latter place he was murdered by Indians in 1616 or 1617. Jacob Eelkens, a clerk in the Amsterdam office of the Company, succeeded him as superin- tendent. He negotiated and concluded the treaty of Ta- wasentha, with the Iroquois, Mohican, Delaware and North River Indian nations, which treaty has most important effect upon the destiny of New Netherland. Without such friendly understanding with the dominant Indian nations, the experi- ment in colonization by the West India Company might not have lasted many years. So that Jacob Eelkins did well,
the war against the Indians; without instinctively recognizing the statesman- like quality of the productions, and the masterly minds of these men in the handling of the subject which was nearest their hearts. Certainly, New Amsterdam was a serious-minded place at that time; and it cannot be doubted that the views thus strongly expressed by the leaders and preserved in the old records sufficiently voiced the spirit and the temper of the whole people, and stamped them as men of intelligence, enterprise, sobriety and democratic spirit .- Chester's "Legal and Judicial History of New York," Vol. I, pp. 101-102.
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while in charge in New Netherland, much better probably than several of the later Directors-General. He, however, blackened his record by endeavoring later-during the admin- istration of Van Twiller-to transfer the prosperous Upper Hudson region to the English.4
The first of the regularly appointed directors was Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May, who was placed in command of the "New Netherland," in which the Walloons made the voyage in 1623. May's name is perpetuated in the Cape May of Southern New Jersey. It might have been perpetuated in New York Bay also, for that was for some years called Port May in his honor. May was in New York waters with Block and Christiaensen in 1612-1613. May cruised along the Ameri- can coast during subsequent years, going as far south as Chesapeake Bay. He explored Delaware Bay in the ship "Fortune," and gave his name to the northern cape. In 1623 he established some of the Walloons on the South (Delaware)
4. In April, 1633, shortly after the arrival of Governor Van Twiller, an English vessel, the "William," entered New York Harbor. Upon it was Jacob Eelkens, as supercargo. Van Twiller and De Vries dined with the English captain, and after the customary courtesies had been exchanged, matters of business were discussed. Eelkens then boldly declared his intention to go up the Hudson River with the vessel, so that the English captain might trade with the Indians on his own account and see for himself the land "that belonged to the English," the land that was discovered by "Hudson, who was an Englishman.'
Upon returning to the fort, Van Twiller ran up the flag of Orange, and saluted with three guns, to indicate that the Dutch were in possession. The English captain hoisted the English flag, and also saluted with gunfire, sig- nifying that he defied the Dutch. And while Van Twiller paced angrily up and down the ramparts, the English captain weighed anchor and sailed away-not out to sea, but up the Hudson River. Van Twiller was aghast at this audacity. He "collected all his people in the fort before his door" ordered a barrel of wine to be brought, and after "stoutly drinking bumper after bumper" himself, and presumably permitting his collected people to imbibe freely. he cried: "Those who love the Prince of Orange and me, emulate me in this, and assist me in repelling the violence committed by that Englishman." Then he retired to his quarters, and meanwhile, the Eng- lish ship passed out of sight. De Vries, commenting disgustedly on the incident, exclaimed : "This commander, Van Twiller, who came to his office from a clerkship-an amusing case!" Van Twiller allowed the day to pass without action. De Vries dined with him, and expressed himself quite
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River, building a fort near the present town of Gloucester. His "lieutenant" was Adriaen Joris, to whom he may for a time have deputed authority, though Joris does not seem to have been more than acting governor. Joris returned to Am- sterdam in December, 1624. Regarding Verhulst, who suc- ceeded May as Director in 1625, there is very little on record. He was a captain in the West India Company's service, and, possibly, took the reins of office as acting governor when Captain May decided to return home at the end of 1624. In fact, both May and Verhulst, it would seem, may be classed as only temporary governors.
Regarding Peter Minuit (who, by one account, was ap- pointed Director-General in 1624, but who did not reach New York waters until May of 1626) much more is known. He was the first to be given broad authority, and indeed the first to be accorded the title of Director-General. Born in Wesel, Rhenish Prussia, of, it is believed, Dutch parents, in 1580, he grew to manhood in that place. He was a deacon in the Protestant or Walloon church in Wesel; but "early in the seventeenth century" removed to Holland. He arrived off Manhattan Island on May 4, 1626. Soon he purchased the
freely. He writes : "I spoke then as if it had been my own case, and told him that I would have made him go from the fort by the persuasion of some iron beans sent him by our guns, and would not have allowed him to go up the river. I told him that we did not put up with things in the East Indies; there we taught them how to behave."
After several days of hesitation, Van Twiller despatched some small craft, with a force of soldiers to Fort Orange, to compel Eelkens to desist from trading. The "William" was brought down the river, and was then ordered out of the harbor by Van Twiller.
The upshot was that Eelkens made complaint to the English Govern- ment, and demanded damages. The West India Company countered by claiming that damages should be paid to them for Eelkens' interference with Dutch trade. This brought to the front the question of the Dutch title to New Netherland. It was suggested that the English ambassador at the Hague and the Dutch ambassador at London should consider the matter and delineate a boundary line between Dutch and English possessions in America. However, in a few months other and weightier matters caused both governments to lose sight of the New Netherland difference of opinion. -See "Voyages of De Vries," N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, Vol I.
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