USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
To those who were superstitiously disposed, and whose an- CHAP. ticipations of the future received a coloring from passing events, the year 1641 opened, in New Amsterdam, with an ill omen. The first month of the new year had not counted many days, when that " village" was thrown into considerable excitement by intelligence that a murder had been committed behind the fort. Six of the company's slaves had perpetrated the horrid deed. A fellow-slave was their victim. As there was no evidence, however, against them, torture, the common expedient of the law in such cases, was resorted to for the purpose of extorting self-accusation from the prisoners. But to avoid this terrible engine, the latter confessed that they had all jointly committed the act. The court was in a dilemma.
Il. 1641.
230
HISTORY OF
BOOK The company could not afford, in the scarcity of laborers, to III. lose six of its negroes. Justice could not be defrauded. The difficulty was solved by a resolution that lots should be drawn in order to determine which of the six should be executed. The lot fell on Manuel de Reus, " the giant," and he was ac- cordingly sentenced to be hanged.
On the appointed day, the village of New Amsterdam poured forth its scanty population to witness the execution of the murderer. He was placed on a ladder in the fort, with two strong halters around his neck. The fatal signal was given, and the unfortunate man was turned off, when, horrid to relate ! both the ropes broke, and " the giant" fell prostrate to the ground. Forthwith the inhabitants and bystanders cried aloud for pardon with great ardor ; and so strong were their appeals, that the Director-general granted the culprit his life, under a pledge of future good behavior.
Some municipal regulations were issued in the course of this spring for the better observance of the Sabbath, and to check the prevailing vice of drunkenness on that day. The tapping of beer during divine service, or after ten o'clock at night, was strictly forbidden, under a penalty of ten dollars for each offence. Measures were also taken to prevent the de- terioration of the currency, which heretofore consisted, en- tirely, of "the good splendid seawan, usually called Manhat- tans' seawan," four beads of which were equal to one stiver. But now, " nasty, rough seawan," fifty per cent. cheaper, was surreptitiously introduced from foreign places. This drove, according to the laws of currency, the better sort out of circu- lation ; nay, threatened "the ruin of the country." This inferior article was therefore condemned to pass at five for one stiver during the following month, and afterwards at six, at which rate circulated, subsequently, the loose, unstringed wampum, which served the community as change.1
April 18.
The progress of these municipal reforms was, however,
1 Alb. Rec. ii., 108, 109, 110, 111, 118, 119. " Ter tyde van den Directeur Kieft ging de Seewan voor vier die goet was ; ende losse lompen wierden op ses stucx in een stuyver gestelt ; de redenen waarom de losse seewan niet is affgeset is, om datter geen gelt anders hebbende, veel verliesen souden." Van Tienhoven.
1641 Jan. 17. Jan. 24.
April 11.
231
NEW NETHERLAND.
now interrupted by the further attempts of the English at New CHAP. Haven to usurp another section of the Dutch territory. A number of families-some fifty in all-belonging to that quar- ter, had become dissatisfied with their settlement on account of the sickliness of the place, and concluded, in the fall of the past year, to seek a more favorable climate and to remove to the South River, which country they claimed as part of Vir- ginia. This expedition sailing in the beginning of April, in a bark belonging to a Mr. Lamberton, a New Haven merchant, put into New Amsterdam in its progress south, and communi- cated its designs to the Dutch authorities.
With the encroachments of the New Haven people at the east, and of the Swedes on the Delaware, fresh in his recol- lection, Director Kieft could not but look with an unfavorable eye on this movement, which would, in the nature of things, only add to the competition the Dutch were already contend- ing against on the South River, in their trade with the natives, as well as to the difficulties which their title to the soil was already encountering. He considered it, therefore, to be his duty to express his disapprobation of the proceeding on the threshold, and accordingly ordered the following protest to be served on the interested parties :
" I, WILLEM KIEFT, Director-general in behalf of the High April 8. and Mighty Lords the States General of the United Provinces, of his Highness of Orange, and the Noble Lords Directors of the Privileged West India Company, residing in New Netherland, make known to you, Robert Cogswell, and your associates, not . to build nor plant on the South River, lying within the limits of the New Netherlands, nor on the lands extending along there, as lawfully belonging to Us, by our possessing the same long years ago, before it was frequented by any Christians, as appears by our forts which we have thereon ; and also the mouth of the rivers sealed with our blood, and the soil itself, most of which has been purchased and paid for by Us, unless you will settle under the Lords the States, and the Noble West India Company, and swear allegiance and become subject to them, as the other inhabitants have done. Failing whereof, we protest against all damages
п. 1641.
232
HISTORY OF
BOOK
III. and losses which may accrue therefrom, and desire to be
holden innocent thereof."
1641.
To this protest, Cogswell, who lay in the stream opposite Fort Amsterdam, replied, that it was not his intention to settle under any government, but to select some spot over which the States General had no authority ; and in case no such place was to be found, it was his determination to return ; or, if he settled within the limits of their High Mightinesses, to become subject, and swear allegiance to them.1 With this explana- tion the party was allowed to proceed. On their arrival at the place of their destination, they purchased from the Indians large tracts of land on both sides of the South River; began to plant and set up trading-houses on Varken's Kill, or Hog Creek, and a short time afterwards fortified a post on the Schuylkill.2
With the return of the season for putting in the crops, the difficulties were renewed between the Dutch and the English on the Connecticut. Pieter Colet, Evert Duyckingh, and April Sybrant Sybols, set about preparing the company's lands 15. around Fort Good Hope, but had not progressed far when a number of Hartford people came along. "Ye are smart far- mers to be abroad so early in the morning," was their first salute ; " but the ground ye work on is ours !" Pieter Colet would not submit to any such pretension. " We plough our own ground," he replied, " and we are determined to maintain our right." " What !" retorted the Englishmen, " will ye three resist the whole English village ?" And thereupon they fell on the Dutch servants, and beat both them and their horses off the ground. Colet and Duyckingh proceeded immediately to Governor Hopkins and Mr. Haines for redress. But the question of title was here mooted again, and the Dutchmen left, repeating their determination-" please the Almighty God !"-to plough their own soil. They kept their words. April. Two days afterwards they proceeded again to work, and were
17. again driven off by the Hartford men, who not only threw their implements of husbandry into the river, but ran a strong
1 Hol. Doc. ix., 205.
" Hazard, ii., 213. Acrelius, Hist. of New Sweden.
233
NEW NETHERLAND.
fence of palisades across the road leading from the fort to the CHAP. II. 1641.
woods, in order to cut off all communication between the for- mer and the interior, so that the Dutch could procure neither May fuel nor any other necessaries. In addition to this, they im- 24. pounded the company's hogs and cows, and, though the Dutch broke down the fence and threw the palisades into the river, the English continued their annoyances in all possible ways.
Hendrick Roesen, the recently appointed commissary of this post, having deceased shortly after his arrival on the Con- necticut, his widow, Elsje Goosens, transmitted intelligence of May these unneighborly and unjustifiable proceedings to Fort Am- 26. sterdam. The Director-general and council ordered Doctor Johannes La Montagne to repair, with fifty soldiers and a June 6. couple of yachts, to Fort Good Hope, to defend that post and prevent a recurrence of these hostilities ; but this expedition was subsequently countermanded, owing to the continued mis- understandings with the Indians. The authorities at Hartford seem to have felt as much aggrieved by the resistance of the Dutch, as the latter felt injured by the attacks of the English. They took immediate steps to confer with the governor and June council of Massachusetts on the subject, but the latter, with- 21. out determining the case for either side, recommended the Hartford people to be more moderate in their proceedings, and to allow the Dutch more than thirty acres of land, which were the limits to which the English had restricted Fort Good Hope.1
The news of the fall of Strafford and of Laud had now reached the English colonies. "Upon the supposal that great revolutions were at hand," the general court concluded to send delegates to England, to congratulate the people of that coun- try on their happy success ; to assist them by their advice in
1 Hol. Doc. ix., 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 ; Alb. Rec. ii., 123. Hazard's State Papers, ii. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll. i., 274, 275. Winthrop alludes (Hist. N. Eng. ii., 32) to this order of Kieft's to send troops to the Connecticut, and then adds, " but it pleased the Lord to disappoint their purpose at that time, for the Indians falling out with them, killed some of their men at the Fort of Orange," [this is an error, it was at Staten Island ;] " whereby they were forced to keep their soldiers at home to defend themselves." Winthrop's Journ. 224, 225.
30
234
HISTORY OF
1641.
BOOK III. establishing a right form of church-government, and to explain to their creditors the reasons which prevented them sending remittances at that time. The individuals selected for this important mission were the Rev. Mr. Welde, pastor of Rox- bury ; Mr. Hibbins, of Boston ; Mr. John Winthrop, a mem- ber of the Massachusetts council ; and the Rev. Hugh Peters, pastor of Salem, since well known on account of the active part which he took against Charles the First, the unhappy monarch of England ; the fiery zeal which he evinced in favor of the usurper Cromwell ; and the great misfortunes which he suffered after the Restoration, and which terminated only by his death on the scaffold.1
1 The Rev. HUGH PETERS, the descendant of a wealthy and ancient English family, was born in 1599, and graduated at Cambridge, England, in 1622. He received holy orders from Dr. Mountain, Bishop of London ; but in consequence of the active part which he took against the bishops, he was forced to leave the country, and to retire to Holland, where he officiated as minister to an English congregation at Rotterdam. He proceeded to New England in 1634, and was there elected minister of the church at Salem, and officiated afterwards in the great meeting-house in Boston, at which place he enjoyed a high reputation and was much respected. After a residence in New England of seven years, he was sent by the colonies as their ambassador to the parliament of England, for the purposes mentioned in the text, and also to obtain some favorable com- mercial privileges. On his arrival, he found the civil war at its height, and at- tached himself to the Parliamentarians with a "zeal which overwhelmed his judgment." He visited Holland in 1643, in several cities of which country he preached so violently against Charles I., that the English ambassador, Bos- well, was under the necessity of complaining of him to the States General. He delivered a series of discourses to the English congregation at Amsterdam, in which he accused the king of exciting the Catholics of Ireland against Crom- well and his partisans in that country ; and such effect had these sermons, that crowds of women, it is said, gave their wedding-rings to supply the English malecontents with funds. The Dutch connived at the whole of these proceed- ings. Peters was subsequently appointed chaplain to Cromwell, of whom he was so thorough a partisan, that he gave God thanks for the Drogheda mas- sacre, where between three and four thousand people were put to death in cold blood. In the part he took against Charles I., his opposition assumed the character of the bitterest passion, and he is represented as having uttered the most terrible denunciations against that unfortunate monarch in the sermon which he preached before his majesty previous to his execution. " Bind fast your king with chains, and your nobles with fetters of iron," were the words which he is said to have taken for his text, when he compared Charles to Ba- rabbas, and the red-coats to saviours and saints, " not inferior to those who sur- round the throne of God." But it is to be hoped that in this particular the
235
NEW NETHERLAND.
As Mr. Peters had, by his previous residence in Holland, CHAP. become well acquainted with many of the directors of the West India Company, the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut considered this a favorable opportunity to en- deavor to enter into such arrangements with that body, as miglit obviate the recurrence of those late collisions which had disturbed public harmony on the Connecticut River. In this hope, they furnished the Rev. Mr. Peters with the follow- ing letter of credence,1 accompanied by a series of proposi- tions, which, if concurred in by the directors, would, they ex- pected, be productive of beneficial results.
" Whereas, the bearer, Mr. Hugh Peters, minister of Salem, is sent, at the public request, to England, to negotiate with the present parliament there about such matters as concern us, which we confide to his care and fidelity, this is to authorize him, if occasion permit him to go to the Netherlands, to treat with the West India Company there, concerning a peaceable neighborhood between us and those of New Netherland, and whatever he shall further think proper touching the West In- dies ; wherefore we have agreed and consulted with each other, in a matter of such great importance, God willing, to
accusation is overcharged, for Dr. Lingard says, " it should be recorded to the honor of that fanatical preacher," that it was at the request of Hugh Peters, that Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, had been permitted to attend on Charles preparatory to his death. After the Restoration, the Rev. Mr. Peters was ac- cused as a regicide. His trial was a scene of flagrant injustice. He was allowed no counsel, and was sentenced to die, though even false witnesses did not substantiate the charges on which he was condemned. He was hanged on the 14th Oct. 1660, exhibiting, even at the gallows, the most indomitable cour- age. " You may do your worst," was his last address to his unfeeling execu- tioner ; and with these words " the first freeman of Massachusetts who lost his life for opposition to monarchy," was launched into eternity. His course and his character have been differently appreciated by friends and enemies. Those praise and these asperse, according as hias has swayed their judgment. Who- evor wishes to arrive at a just conclusion, may consult Bancroft's U. S. i., 383 ; ii., 32 ; Aitzema, ii., 936 ; Von Reanmer's Pol. Hist. of Eng. ii., 399 ; and Lingard's Hist. Eng. x., 257.
1 Winthrop's New Eng. i., 25, 26, 31, 32 ; Journal, 225 ; Hubbard's New Eng. 371, 432, 433. Hubbard, copying Winthrop, says that Peters did not carry a commission with him to treat with the West India Company. But in this, it will be seen, all these New England authorities are in error.
11. 1641.
Oct. 10.
236
HISTORY OF
BOOK reduce the particulars to be treated of, to such propositions as III. shall be presented on coming together.
1641. (Signed)
" JOHN WINTHROP,
Gov. of Massachusetts.
" JOHN HAYNES,
Gov. of Connecticut.
" This 10th day of Oct. 1641, in the Bay of Massachusetts, in New England."
The "propositions" referred to in the above letter, and sub- mitted to the West India Company, were :-
" I. That the Honorable Company will be pleased to devise some expedient for the settlement of the limits between New England and New Netherland, or at least to define for us their limits.
" II. That their Honors will wholly abstain from molesting our people on the Fresh River, alias the Connecticut, since we are willing that indifferent persons, if any such can be found, may examine our title.
"III. That the said company will set a price on their plan- tation, if they have any intention to part with it.
"IV. That if any Englishmen should remove from our dis- trict to the continent of the West Indies, being provided there- for with all necessaries, except ships and ordnance, which the company should furnish, what conditions would they be willing to require ?
" V. That the company, knowing that the English in Amer- ica amount to about fifty thousand souls, may be pleased to inform us in what manner we can be employed in advancing the great work there, being of the same religion with them- selves, and such as we hope may be trusted, and furnislı us with an analysis of such government as they, in conjunction with us, would be willing to grant there.
" VI. That the company would be pleased in all things to see in the inhabitants of New England, who number about forty thousand souls, a people who covet peace in their ways, the planting of the gospel above all things, and not to cause trouble or injury in any manner whatever to the company.""
1 Hol. Doc. ix., 224, 225. The above is a translation from the Dutch, and possibly may not accord in all expressions with the English original.
237
NEW NETHERLAND.
What issue followed these propositions we are unable to CHAP, determine. The terrible crisis that had overtaken England II. 1641. and the English monarchy, absorbed exclusively all men's at- tention. New England and New Netherland were for the moment alike forgotten. It is evident, however, that a desire very generally prevailed among the English at the east, to re- move to the territories of the West India Company. A con- siderable number of "respectable Englishmen" came in the June 6. course of this summer from Lynn and Ipswich, Massachu- setts, to examine the Dutch lands on Long Island, and to treat with the Director-general for permission to settle, with their clergyman, there. This permission was readily accorded on the following very favorable terms, in conformity with the pro - visions of the charter of 1640, which formed the basis of all future grants from the Dutch to the English.
They were to take the oath of allegiance to their High Mightinesses the States General and the West India Compa- ny, and in return, to enjoy free exercise of religion, and if they desired to have a magistracy from among themselves, they were to be allowed to nominate three or more persons from the most respectable among them, from which the Director-gene- ral would select one or more schepens, or magistrates, to be invested with power to decide definitively in all civil cases to the amount of forty guilders, or sixteen dollars, above which sum an appeal was to lie to the Director-general and council. In criminal cases, they might proceed to, but not inflict capi- tal punishment. They were empowered to erect towns, but could not construct forts except by special leave. Lands were to be shown to them free of expense, and whatever ground they might select, they were to hold free of rent or taxes for ten years ; at the expiration of which time, they should be holden to pay the tenths of the produce. They were, in addition, to enjoy free hunting and fishing, and un- shackled commerce, conformably to the privileges granted to New Netherland, but they were bound, in return, to make use of the weights and measures of the country.1
2 Alb. Rec. ii., 122, 123, 169. The above privileges were those of a simple manor. Schepens were town magistrates whose authority was confined to causes between private individuals ; matters of municipal polity ; management
238
HISTORY OF
BOOK The families above referred to did not follow up their in- tention of moving to Long Island. Though satisfied with the 1641. "very fair terms" which the Dutch authorities offered, and which, with few exceptions, were similar to the immunities which they enjoyed in Massachusetts; their court was of- fended at their " strengthening the Dutch, our doubtful neigh- bors," and at their accepting from them that which the king had already granted by patent to the Earl of Stirling. They viewed, also, with particular displeasure, the assent which the English had given to the " oath of fealty." The consequence, Oct. 6. therefore, was, that the proposed emigration was prevented, and the parties were persuaded to remain in New England.1
Respectable Dutch planters continued, however, to take an interest in the settlement of the country. A new " colonie," of which Meyndert Meyndertsen, the Heer Nederhorst, was Patroon, was established in the beginning of this year on the main behind Staten Island, and extended from Achter Cul, or Newark Bay, north to Tappaan. Cornelis Melyn, a Dutch 1640. merchant, who visited New Netherland in 1639, had obtained July 3. from the directors in Holland an order for Staten Island, authorizing him to erect the same into a " colonie." But 1641. having, on his voyage out, been taken prisoner by the " Dun-
Feb.
18. kirkers," who had also captured his vessel, he was obliged to apply to the company for a passage for himself and family, Aug. which obtaining, he arrived in New Netherland in the middle
20. of the following summer, with his wife, children, servants, and a small venture valued at about one thousand guilders, in the ship the Eyckenboom, or Oak Tree. On the 19th June,
of town revenues, and the welfare and security of their locality, so far as the same was permitted by the above-mentioned charter. The nomination hy the people of a double or triple number, from which the executive was to choose the person or persons to be commissioned as magistrates, was in conformity to the custom prevalent in many parts of Holland, where the inhabitants of various localities, down to 1672, submitted a double list to the Stadtholder, from which he selected one half to be magistrates. A somewhat similar cus- tom prevails in England and Ireland, where the circuit judges submit the names of three gentlemen as sheriffs, from which list the crown " pricks" one to be commissioned as high sheriff of the county. See Van Leeuwen's Com. ; also Institutions Judiciaires, iii., 165, 166.
1 Winthrop's N. Eng. u., 34; Journal, 226, 227.
239
NEW NETHERLAND.
1642, letters patent were issued, constituting him patroon of CHAP. the whole of Staten Island, the bouwerie of Capt. De Vries
IL. excepted, and investing him with all the powers, jurisdictions, and pre-eminences appertaining to that privileged order.
1641.
Aert Teunissen van Patten took a lease, this year, of Hoboken, situate in Pavonia, which he stocked with all sorts of cattle, and on which he erected a respectable bouwerie, and planted a considerable number of fruit-trees. So favor- able, indeed, became the prospects of the country, that the Director-general and council established two fairs at New Sept. Amsterdam ; one to be holden annually on the fifteenth 15. October, for cattle generally ; the other on the first of No- vember, for hogs.'
The ill-feeling which had existed for some time between the Dutch and the Indians, led unfortunately, this summer, to increased misunderstanding, accompanied by the shedding of blood. Staten Island became again the theatre of these sad deeds. The Raritan tribe, smarting under the attacks of the Dutch in the preceding spring, which they considered the more unjustifiable, inasmuch as they were guiltless of the charges made against them, determined now that the " Swan- nekins," as they called the Europeans, should have dead men instead of dead hogs to fight for. They accordingly made a descent on the bouwerie belonging to Captain De Vries, on Staten Island, killed four of his planters, and burned his dwelling and tobacco house. This assault, which was the more unexpected as the Indians had been suing for peace, and had assured the Dutch that the " talk" of their chief would be forthcoming in a few days, excited considerable anger in the mind of the Director-general. He forthwith re- solved-contrary, however, to the express commands of his July 4. superiors, who seriously and particularly enjoined on him to cultivate good understanding with the Indians-to wage a war of extermination against the Raritans, and with that view in- vited his savage allies, who resided in the neighborhood, to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.