USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 21
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Jan. 31.
The interests of New Netherland were, meanwhile, occu- pying the attention of the authorities in Holland. The States General had already appointed, at the beginning of the year, several deputies to confer with the Assembly of the XIX. concerning the differences between the Patroons and the com- pany. These were instructed, at the same time, to suggest some plan whereby the country itself might not only be pre- served, but its settlement promoted, and its inhabitants obtain the best possible privileges. This subject of reference engaged the consideration both of the Assembly and of the July deputies from the States General until midsummer, when, with 17. the approbation of their High Mightinesses, a new charter of " Freedoms and Exemptions, for all Patroons, Masters, and private persons, who should plant colonies in, or convey cattle to New Netherland," was agreed upon. A copy of this im- July portant paper was laid before the States General, a few
19. days afterwards, by the Honorable Elias de Raedt, who was duly accredited by his co-directors for that purpose.
1 Alb. Rec. ii., 84, et seq. ; Winthrop's Journal, 204; Winthrop's N. Eng. ii., 4, 5, 6, 7; Leechford, 44; Hol. Doc. ix., 198; Lond. Doc. i., 60, 61, 62. The date of Farrett's deed of the Southampton grant is stated in the last- mentioned " document" to have been 12th June, 1639. There is evidently an error here in the year; all the Dutch and English authorities fix the date in 1640. Mr. Thompson represents Farrett (Hist. L. I. ii., 53) as protesting against the English for having entered on the above lands, of which pro- ceeding, it is added, he disapproved. The protest Mr. Thompson has pub- lished must have reference to some other transaction, as it will be seen by the extract above given from Farrett's deed of sale, that he acknowledges the Eng- lish had been planted by him. He could not, therefore, very properly have protested against them.
219
NEW NETHERLAND.
This charter essentially modified that already granted. In CHAP. the first place, the privileges confined by the charter of 1629 > to "members" of the West India Company, were now ex- tended to "all good inhabitants of the Netherlands," who were permitted to send three or four agents in the company's ships to examine the country, cabin-passengers paying fifteen stivers a day ; those who went in the "orloop," or 'tween decks, to have their conveyance and board gratis. In case the land selected by these should not turn out afterwards as good as was expected, they were privileged to change it for more suitable localities ; but the period allowed Patroons for completing the number of fifty settlers, which they were obliged to convey to their colonies, was limited to three instead of four years ; one-third of the quota to be sent over annual- ly. The extent of future colonies was to be confined to one (Dutch) mile, calculated at 1600 Rhineland rods, instead of four, along a coast, bay, or navigable river, and to two only into the interior of the country. But no two Patroonships on different sides of a river or bay should be selected right oppo- site each other, the company reserving to itself, as before, the lands between colonies, to dispose thereof as it might think proper ; and all Patroons and colonists were to allow free pas- sage by land and water to each other at the nearest point, and with the least damage, submitting themselves, in case of dis- pute, to the decision of the Director-general for the time be- ing. To these Patroons were to be continued the feudal priv- ileges of erecting towns, appointing officers over the same, (saving the company's rights,) with " high, middle, and lower jurisdictions," exclusive hunting, fishing, fowling, and milling, (grinding,) within their manors, to be holden as an eternal heritance, to devolve as well to females as to males, and to be redeemed on each such occasion, on the renewal of fealty and homage to the company, by the payment, within a year, of one pair of iron gauntlets and twenty guilders,' with the understanding, that in case of division of the fief, or manor,
1 Soo wel op vrouw-oor als man-oor, te versterven ende te verheergewaden telckens met een paar ysere handschoenen aen de Compagnie te redimeren met twintig gulden, &c.
1. 1640.
220
HISTORY OF
BOOK the parts were to possess the same privileges as the whole, III. 1640. each part to pay a similar fee as the whole, in case it should devolve to the original grantors.
Whoever should hereafter convey himself, and five souls over the age of fifteen years, to New Netherland, was to be acknowledged "a master, or colonist," and entitled to claim one hundred morgen, or two hundred acres of land, with the privilege of hunting in the public forest, and fishing in the public streams. If, by these means, the settlement of masters, or free colonists, should so increase as to become towns, vil- lages, or cities, the company was bound to confer subaltern or municipal governments on them, to consist of magistrates and ministers of justice ; which were, however, "to be selected and chosen by the Director-general and council, from a triple nomination of the best-qualified in the said towns and villages, to whom all complaints and suits arising within their district shall be submitted ;" but from these courts, as well as from those of the Patroons, an appeal was to lie to the Director- general and council, where the sum in dispute exceeded one hundred guilders, or forty dollars, or where infamy might at- tach to the sentence ; as well as from all judgments in crimi- nal proceedings, where the same was allowed by the custom of Fatherland. The protection of the company was guarantied, in case of war, to the colonists ; but these were bound to take proper measures for self-defence, each male adult emigrant providing himself, in Holland, at his own expense, with a fire- lock, or musket, of the same calibre as those in use in the company's service, or a hanger (verjager) and side-arms.
"No other religion was to be publicly tolerated or allowed in New Netherland, save that then taught and exercised by au- thority in the Reformed Church in the United Provinces," for the inculcation of which the company promised to support and maintain good and fit preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick.
The commercial privileges, accorded by the charter of 1629, were not only continued unchanged as far as Patroons were concerned, but now extended to all free colonists and inhab- itants of New Netherland, and to the several partners of the company, on the following conditions : That all goods to be
221
NEW NETHERLAND.
sent from Holland to that country, and intended for sale, CHAP. whether by the company, the colonists, or the partners, should be brought to the company's warehouses to be examined, and the duties thereon paid at the rate of ten per cent. on their prime cost ; the cargo not to be broken before the arrival of the vessel at New Amsterdam, or such other place as the company may designate ; and five per cent. on all return cargoes, the value of which was to be determined in Holland, beavers, otters, and other peltries excepted, which were to pay to the Director-general and council an export duty of ten per cent. in cash, before leaving New Netherland, for the payment of which a receipt was to be produced on pain of confiscation of the furs. But no person was to leave New Netherland, with any goods obtained in barter there, without first register- ing them and obtaining a permit from the Director and coun- cil, and binding themselves to return, with their vessel and cargo, to the United Provinces, where they were to discharge their freight into the company's magazines according to their manifest, under the penalty of losing both ship and cargo, in case they had broken bulk, or of having any goods on board not duly entered.
This charter having, next, abolished the clause prohibiting the manufacture of woollen, linen, and cotton cloth, and other stuffs, and repeated the pledge to supply the colonists "with as many blacks as possible," the company declared that they reserved unto themselves all great and small tithes ; waifs ; estrays ; forests ; the right of coining money ; making roads ; erecting forts, and using the same in peace and war ; founding cities, towns, and churches ; maintaining the supreme and sovereign authority, the interpretation of all differences arising out of these privileges, with the express understanding that nothing already granted to the Patroons, relating to " high, middle, and low jurisdiction," should be, hereby, changed or diminished.
The company, finally, pledged itself to appoint and support within the province a governor, competent counsellors, officers, and other ministers of justice, " for the protection of the good and the punishment of the wicked." To this governor and council were to be committed all questions touching the free-
1. 1640.
222
HISTORY OF
BOOK doms, sovereignty, domain, finances, and rights of the General III. West India Company ; complaints in cases of privilege, un- 1640. usual innovations, whether by foreigners, neighbors of New Netherland, or by the inhabitants of the latter country ; to- gether with the supervision of all customs, usages, or laws, with power to declare the same corrupt, or to abolish them as bad, if found so to be ; they were also invested with the care of minor children, widows, orphans, and other unprotected persons, regarding whom, or whose affairs, application was to be made to this court holding prerogative jurisdiction ; as well as of all matters relating to possession of benefices, fiefs, cases of lesæ majestatis, religion, and all criminal affairs, and the administration of the laws and justice in all matters in which the interests of the company were concerned. Of such importance was this new charter considered, that the several provinces composing the States General demanded copies thereof, with a view of communicating to their re- spective constituents, and of making more generally known, the favorable conditions on which immigration was now in- vited to New Netherland.1
Though the opening of the trade with the interior was pro- ductive, in the first instance, on the island of Manhattans and its immediate neighborhood, of considerable benefit, by the increase of population-planting of bouweries-introduction of stock-cultivation of tobacco and corn, and clearing and preparation of new lands,2 it must be acknowledged, at the same time, that the temptations of the fur-trade were, on the other hand, so great, owing to the quick and excessive profits which it promised or produced, and the free and careless habits it engendered, that it is a matter of great doubt whether it was not, eventually, a greater injury than service to the community, and an obstacle rather than an encouragement to
1 Hol. Doc. ii., 234, 235, 239-262.
2 In plaats van seven bouweryen ende twee a drie plantagies, die alhier waren, sagh men dartich bouweryen soo wel gebouwt ende met bestiael versien als in Europa ; en hondert plantagies, die in twee a drie jaaren oock gefor- meerde bouweryen soude geweest hebben. Want naerdat den Tabak uyt de gront was, wort daer koren ingesmeten sonder ploegen. Des Winters was men besich omme nieuw landen te prepareren. Journal van Nieu Nederlant.
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223
NEW NETIIERLAND.
the prosperity and settlement of this infant province. For a CHAP. great many, under the impression that now was the accepted 1. time to make their fortunes, spread themselves abroad among the Indians, far from their own countrymen, whom they re- garded with suspicion, as rivals in this alluring trade ; and thus reduced to a dangerous degree the strength of the coun- try, as well as jeoparded their own individual safety. Too great a familiarity with the Indians was also the consequence of this indiscreet course ; for to secure the friendship and preferences of these uncivilized people, every sort of allure- ment was had recourse to by the trader. They were invited to their tables ; helped to wine and other liquors, and other- wise treated on such an equality, that quarrels and misunder- standings ensued rather than esteem and respect. Add to this, the Indians, whom the Dutch were in the habit of employing as servants, indulged in their natural propensities ; often stole more than their wages came to, and then running away, com- municated to their tribes the domestic arrangements of the Europeans, and made them acquainted with their habits, strength, and usages, so that they were enabled to turn this knowledge afterwards to account, in their wars, or other attacks.1
The Indians, on their side, if they were slow to perceive the encroachments of the whites on their homesteads, were soon made to feel the pressure of their presence. The cattle of the new-comers, wandering abroad through the woods, un- tethered and without a herdsman, destroyed the Indians' corn- hills, which were unprotected and unfenced ; while the Dutch authorities, with a fatuity not easily to be accounted for, em- broiled as they were with their English neighbors, came to the determination to levy tribute off the savages in corn, furs, or wampum, in return for the heavy expenses which were incur- red by the company in the construction of forts, and the pay- ment of soldiers, and under the shallow pretence that the In- dians were thereby defended from their enemies ; threatening the savages, at the same time, that measures should be taken, in case of non-compliance with these unjustifiable demands, " to remove their reluctance."2 .
1 Ibid.
2 Alb. Rec. ii., 65, 81.
1640.
224
HISTORY OF
BOOK III. 1640.
This combination of unfavorable circumstances required but a slight addition to convert into estrangement whatever good understanding or friendship hitherto existed between the natives and the new-comers ; and this provocation was not long wanting.
The inhabitants of Rensselaerswyck, who numbered at the time as many traders as individuals, noting the avidity with which the Mohawk sought after fire-arms, willingly paying the English twenty beavers for a musket, and from ten to twelve guilders for a pound of gunpowder, were desirous to share so profitable a trade. They commenced, accordingly, to furnish fire-arms to these Indians. The profits which accrued be- came soon known, and traders from Holland soon introduced large quantities of guns and other munitions of war into the interior. The Mohawks, thus provided with arms for four hundred warriors, swept the country from Canada to the sea- coast, levying tribute on the surrounding terror-stricken tribes.1
The latter, especially such as dwelt along the North River, endeavored not the less to place themselves, as far as weapons went, on an equality with the Mohawks, and importuned the Dutch settlers for fire-arms. But as the Director-general had forbidden the furnishing guns or powder to the Indians, on pain of death, the solicitations of the river tribes were in vain, and they remained, comparatively speaking, as defenceless as be- fore.
It was while the aborigines were thus indisposed and irri- tated, that Director Kieft had recourse, in conformity, as he alleged, to orders from Holland, to the highly impolitic meas- ure of taxing the Indians, as before mentioned ; a proceeding the more unwise, as it eventuated in a long and ruinous war.
1 Dese extraordinaire winste wert niet lange secreet gehouden ; de Cooplny- den uyt Holland comende, hebben haest vernomen, ende van tyt tot tyt groote mennichte overgebracht, soodat men de Maquaas in corten tyt gesien heeft met vierroers, kruyt en loot naer advenant. Vier hondert gewapende mannen hebben haer voordeel weten te gebruycken, voornamentlyck tegen haer vyan- den, woonende langs de Riviere van Canada, daer sy nu veel profytelyck togb- ten opgedaen hebben, ende vantevooren luttel voordeels badden; dit doet haer oock ontsien syn van de omlegende wilden, tot aen de zeecust toe, die haer generalyck tribuyt moeten geven. Journael van N. N.
225
NEW NETHERLAND.
The Indians expressed their astonishment at this proceeding CHAP. in loud murmurs against " the Sakema of the fort, for daring to make such exactions." Sneers and reproaches followed " The Sakema," they said, "must be a mean fellow : he had not invited them to come and live here, that he should now take away their corn." The Dutch they reviled and despised. "They were Materiotty, or men of blood ; they had neither Great Sachem nor Chief," alluding to their country being a republic, " and though they may be something on water, they were good for nothing on land."}
1640.
The feelings of the Indians towards the Dutch assumed, from this date, a manifest change, and such an appearance of hostility, that the Director-general considered it necessary to May 9. call on every inhabitant to provide himself with a gun, and to keep the same in good order. Notice was issued at the same time to the people, that they should be warned, in case dan- ger occurred through the night, by the discharge of three can
1 Dacrover de Wilden niet minder getracht hebben om roers te becomen, ende door de gemeensaamheyd die sy met de onse hadden, begonden haer te soliciteeren omme, roers ende kruyt ; maer alsoo sulx op de galge verboden was, ende 't selve niet sekreet soude connen blyven, door de groote conversatie, 800 hebben sy niet connen obtineren. Dit heeft, beneffens de voorige cleynach- tinge, de haet seer vermeerdeert, dat haer beweeght heeft tegen ons te con- epireren, beginnende eerst door injurien die sy sonder discretie overal uytstrooy- den, ons scheldende voor Materiotty : (dat is te seggen :) Bloode Menschen ; dat wy wel yets te water mochten wesen, maer te lande niet en dochten ; en dat wy sonder Groote Sackima, ofte oversten waren. Journael van N. N .: compare De Vries ; also Report and Advice in Appendix E. ; Van der Donck says expressly, that Kieft alleged that the tribute on the Indians was levied conformably to or- ders from the directors in Holland, and that this led to the war. His words are :- " Ja, het staet van den oorloch, volgens het seggen van den Dr. Kieft is in het Vaderlandt mede eerst gesaeyt. Want de Directeur seyde expres ordre te hebben, om de contributie van de Wilden te vorderen." And again :- " De oor- saake van desen oorloch oordeelen wy te wesen het vorderen van de contributie, daer de Directeur ordre van de Majores toe secht te hebben." Vertoogh van N. N. Van Tienhoven does not undertake, in his defence of the colonial ad- ministration, to deny the exaction of this tribute, but endeavors to palliate its injustice, by saying that no contribution in corn was ever received from the In- dians without having been paid for twofold, "for these people," he adds, " are so stingy that they would not give a herring unless they got a codfish in return." The directors positively deny having ever authorized any such contribution, or been cognizant of its having been levied. Hol. Doc. v., 30. Kieft's order, how- ever, is inserted at length in Alb. Rec. ii.
29
226
HISTORY OF
BOOK non shots, at which signal they were to appear, armed, at the fort, each person under his respective corporal.1
III. 1640.
When parties are indisposed the one towards the other, little is required to produce collision. Some of the company's servants landed, about this time, on Staten Island to take in water, on their way to the South River. Before they re- embarked, they stole some hogs belonging to their employers and to Captain David De Vries, who then had an infant settle- ment on that island. The blame was thrown on the Indians who lived on the Raritan, some fifteen or twenty miles distant, and whose guilt seemed the more probable, as they were charged with having made an attempt, only a short time previous, to seize a yacht sent to that quarter for furs, and to kill its crew, who, however, escaped with the loss of their canoe.
Prudence, it might reasonably be supposed, would have prompted Kieft to pass over, in the present excited state of feeling among the Indians, these petty aggressions, and to have endeavored to calm irritation by inquiring into, and re- moving the causes of any discontent that might exist. But prudence formed no trait in Kieft's character. The stealing of a few swine, and an isolated attack on a boat, which event- uated in scarcely any loss of property, and no loss of life, was declared to be " a case of great consequence," affecting the dignity of the States General, the respect due to the company July and its interest, and Secretary van Tienhoven was dispatched 16. with an armed force of fifty soldiers and twenty sailors, under the command of Hendrick Gerritsen, skipper of the ship the Neptune, to attack the Indians, destroy their corn, and to make as many prisoners as he could, unless the savages should sue for peace and pay damages.
Arrived on the ground, Van Tienhoven lost all control over his followers, who demanded permission to slaughter and plunder the Indians at once. The secretary, irritated at this insubordination, quitted the party, warning them that they should have to answer for whatever mischief might result from their disobedience. But all his monitions were disre- garded. He had not retired three-quarters of a mile, when
1 Alb. Rec. ii., 82.
227
NEW NETHERLAND.
one of the Indians was shot ; the chief's brother, whom the CHAP. party had taken prisoner, was barbarously butchered by Go -;
vert Loockermans, one of the party. Similar acts of cruelty were committed by others, after which the soldiers returned, having burnt the crops belonging to the Indians, leaving, how- ever, one Ross, the supercargo of the Neptune, dead on the field.
The effects of this injudicious proceeding were soon per- ceptible. Cornelis Melyn, Patroon of Staten Island, brought out a number of farmers to settle his colonie, but in conse- quence of these hostilities, several of them were deterred from going on the island, as they originally intended, and the progress of this settlement was, for the moment, interrupted.1
The settlers in and around New Amsterdam were generally supplied at this period from the company's store with what- ever goods they required, at fixed prices, being, as already stated, fifty per cent. advance on their prime cost. A list of these prices was posted in a conspicuous place for public in- spection. The value of produce and imported goods was as follows :- Indian corn, 60 cents ; barley, 2 dollars ; peas, $3.25 ; wheaten flour, 1 dollar, per schepel of three pecks ; pork, 5 stivers ; fresh meat, 5 stiv. ; butter, 8 stiv. ; tobacco, 7 stiv .; dried fish, 12 stiv. (or 2 York shillings) per lb .; hard bread, 15 stiv. ; cabbages, $12 per 100; staves, $32 per 1000 of 1200 ; a hog, 8 dollars ; rye bread, 5 stiv., wheaten bread, 7 stiv., corn bread, 4 stiv. per loaf; sour wine, $31 per hhd. ; Spanish wine, 4 stiv., French wine, 10 stiv. per quart; sugar, 17 and 24 stiv. per lb. ; grogram, 1 dollar, kersey flannel, $1.20, cloth, 2 dollars, white linen, 18 to 20 stiv., red flannel, $1.20 per ell ; children's shoes, 36 stiv., or six York shillings a pair ; brass kettles, 40 cents apiece. The inhabitants complained, it is right to add, that the goods in the company's store were over- valucd ; a complaint which was subsequently admitted to have
1 Alb. Rec. i., 263 ; ii., 95, 96 ; Hol. Doc. iii., 165 ; v., 314. De Vries says Van Tienhoven took one hundred armed men along with him, but that it was against his orders to kill and plunder. Another anthority represents the party to have been composed of " eighty soldiers." I follow the text of the Alb. Rec. Kieft is accused of having given to the soldiers themselves, at the moment of embar- kation, even harsher orders than those he gave to Van 'Tienhoven.
I. 1640.
228
HISTORY OF
BOOK sufficient foundation in fact, for Ulrich Lupold, the storekeeper III. 1640. in charge, was found guilty of extortion and malversation, and sentenced by the Director and council, by and with the advice of the principal inhabitants, to removal from office ; to pay, in addition, a fine of eighty dollars, and to be banished to Hol- land. His sentence was, however, afterwards remitted on Lupold's petition ; but he was ordered to satisfy the compa- ny for his malversations.
The first ardent spirits ever made in America, were manu- factured, it is said, at the close of this year in New Netherland, by Willem Hendricksen, a native of Wesepe in Holland, who Dec. erected a private still on Staten Island, for Director Kieft, from which, during six or seven months that it was in opera- tion, he ran a considerable quantity of brandy and other strong liquors. Hendricksen was allowed twenty-five guilders per month while thus employed.1
1 Alb. Rec. i., 156, 231, 232, 240, 248 ; ii., 107, 116. Hol. Doc. v., 105, 108.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
CHAPTER II.
Murder of one of the company's slaves by six other negroes-Lots drawn to de- termine which should be executed-Scene at the place of execution-Proc- lamations against drunkenness, and regulating the currency-New Haven people intrude on the South River-Protested against-Renewal of the diffi- culties on the Connecticut-Collision between the Dutch and English there -Rev. Hugh Peters sent by Massachusetts to England ; commissioned to proceed to Holland to settle the difficulties between Connecticut and New Netherland-Propositions submitted to the West India Company by Gover- nors Winthrop and Haynes-Several English families propose removing from Massachusetts to Long Island-Privileges granted to them-A new colonie planted behind Newark Bay-Staten Island granted to Melyn-Other set- tlements at Hoboken-Increased misunderstanding between the Indians and the Dutch-The latter set a price on the heads of the Raritans-Peace concluded between both parties-A Weckquaesqueeck Indian assassinates a Dutch settler to avenge the murder of his uncle, committed twenty years previously-Kieft demands the murderer-His surrender refused-The mur- der justified-Meeting of the commonalty in consequence-Election of " the Twelve Men"-Their proceedings-Kieft displeased-Sends out expeditions against the offending tribe, but effects nothing-The Twelve Men seek re- forms in the government-Absolute power of the Director-general-Exercises legislative and judicial functions-Demands of the Twelve Men-Answers of the Director-general thereupon-Meeting of the Twelve Men forbidden on pain of corporal punishment-Expedition against the Weckquaesqueecks -Fails in discovering the enemy-Peace with these Indians.
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