USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 29
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" It has grieved us, collectively and individually, in our in- nermost hearts," said they, " to learn the desolate and misera- ble condition of the poor people there; the rather, finding ourselves so utterly unable not only to bring those precious colonies to such a state for the company, as would for once authorize us to expect, with time, the long looked-for profits from thence, but to send, at present, to the poor inhabitants who have left their Fatherland, in the hope of finding the means of honorably maintaining their wives and children there, those supplies so earnestly demanded for the main- tenance and defence of their lives against the barbarous tribes of the country. And though we are of opinion that long de- lays will cause additional suffering, as well in New Nether- land aforesaid, as in other distant places, whereby the com- pany, and, consequently, this nation, must apprehend no less danger from the scarcity of divers required and necessary pro- visions, ammunition, merchandise, &c., it behooves us to represent, respectfully, to your High Mightinesses, that the company has fallen altogether into such impotency and dis- credit, that it cannot, without effectual assistance from the States, any longer either supply those distant places, or con- tinue even the further necessary payments here. We, there- fore, most humbly beseech your High Mightinesses to be pleased to take these embarrassments into such consideration as the constitution of the said company, for the welfare of the state, so urgently requires. The good and willing sharehold.
April 23.
305
NEW NETHERLAND.
ers, who have contributed so largely to the advancement of CHAP. this nation's prosperity, and have already, provisionally, passed V. a profitable resolution, authorizing a union with the East India Company ; let their High Mightinesses not discourage, nor make them despond of contributing to so wholesome a work as the union of these two eminent companies should be for this state. The vigorous continuation of the said company and its foreign affairs, at least the payment of its daily expend- iture, would, thereby, be not a little promoted, and placed, with a present subsidy of about one million, in good, prosper- ous, and profitable order."
Urging these views in terms which evidently prove the de- rangement and embarrassed condition of their financial affairs, the directors concluded by stating, that the committee whom they had deputed to present their letter was authorized to re- ceive their High Mightinesses' conclusions thereupon, which they earnestly hoped would be favorable to their prayers.
No immediate result, however, followed this application. The States General ordered copies of the directors' letter to April be forwarded to the provincial chambers of the West India 27. Company,1 and consequently all action was postponed for the moment, as regarded the relief of the suffering colonists of New Netherland, whose condition, all this while, was by no means one to be envied, and to whom the Assembly of the XIX., in the mean time, dispatched letters expressive of their sympathy and desire to afford them every assistance in their power.
The peace, or rather the hollow truce, which had been en- tered into between the Dutch and the Indians was of little or no advantage. The principal tribes were still out, and as hostile as ever to the Hollanders, whose few remaining bouweries and dwellings they continued to harass in every possible way. The pay of the soldiers engaged by the com- monalty went on, in the mean time, and no funds were avail- able to provide for this portion of the public expense. The prospect of relief from home was, as we have shown, slender and cheerless in the extreme. A bill of exchange, drawn in
1 Hol. Doc. ii., 329, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337.
39
1644.
306
HISTORY OF
BOOK the course of last November on the directors in Amsterdam, III.
n 1644.
for the trifling sum of two thousand, six hundred, and twenty- two guilders, ($1045,) had been returned protested for non- acceptance,' and thus misfortune seemed to threaten this de- voted country from every quarter. In the midst of these dis- May couragements, Captain Blauvelt entered the port with two 29. Spanish prizes, laden with sugar, tobacco, ebony wood, and wine, which the privateer La Garce had captured in the Carib- bean Sea, after a severe contest.2 But though valuable, these prizes and their cargoes could not be made available at this precise time, since they could not be declared confiscate with- out due course of law. Under such deplorable circumstances, recourse was had, for the first time in the annals of the colony, to the unpopular expedient of imposing taxes on the impover- ished commonalty to defray the public exigencies. To obviate objections which such a step would necessarily create at first, the Director-general and council determined to call again to- gether the Eight Men.
This popular body had not been assembled since the fourth of November of the past year, though various measures of public importance had been adopted, and though it had been agreed upon at their first meeting that their sittings should be weekly. Now, however, that money was required, their meeting could no longer be deferred. The state of the public June treasury was, therefore, submitted to them, as well as the exi- 18. gencies of the public service. To meet the latter, it was pro- posed that certain excise duties should be levied, without which it was impossible to retain the English soldiers. This course did not meet the approbation, at first, of the Eight Men. They represented the difficulty of raising funds in that way, in the present condition of the people, beggared as they were by the war; and gave it as their opinion that the imposi- tion of taxes was the attribute of a higher authority than that possessed by the Director-general. It should emanate from and be first ordered by the Lords Majors.
Kieft was not prepared to allow his authority to be thus im- pugned. The refractory board was told, in sharp terms, that
1 Alb. Rec. iii., 212.
2 Alb. Rec. ii., 250, 251.
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NEW NETHERLAND
he had more power in the country than even the company, CHAP. and that he could do as he pleased, for he derived his commis- sion not from the Directors, but from the States General.1 The Eight Men succumbed. But in yielding the point, they suggested, that the more proper and least burdensome course would be, to oblige the private traders, who by their com- merce with the settlers and natives had realized such large gains, to contribute something to the treasury, and thus re- lieve the commonalty. A plan, embracing an excise, and an additional duty on certain exports, was concluded upon ; and in a few days after the following proclamation was issued, June establishing for the first time, in this country, an excise on 21. wines, beer, and other liquors :
" WHEREAS, the general war, which we have been forced to wage against the surrounding savages, hath obliged us, in order to retain the country, and to employ an extraordinary quota of soldiers, who must necessarily be paid, together with the other heavy expenses caused by the war ; to accomplish which we have spared none of the available means of the Hon'ble the West India Company, but have, in addition, been obliged to raise as much money as we could obtain on bills of exchange drawn on the honorable the directors; and, whereas, we are now devoid of all means, and despair of suddenly re- ceiving any assistance from Holland, in this our necessity ; We, therefore, are constrained to find out some means to pay the soldiers, or else to dismiss them, which, according to all ap- pearances, will tend to the utter ruin of the country, especially as the farming season is at hand, whereby the people must live, and fodder must be procured for the remaining cattle ; for neither grain nor hay can be cut without soldiers. These things, then, being gravely considered, so is it, that by the ad- vice of the Eight Men chosen by the commonalty, no better nor more suitable means can be agreed upon, after duly weigh- ·
1 Hierover heeft hem den Directenr seer vergramt, en met een gealtreert gemoet tegens ons (: in presentie van den Fiscaal en Montaigne :) gesecht :- Ick hebbe hier meerder macht als de Compagnie ; dierhalven mach ick hierte- landen doen en laten wat myn gelieft ; voochde daer verder by, want ick en hebbe myn Commissie niet van de Compagnie, maer van de Heeren Staten. Letter of the Eight Men.
v. 1644.
308
HISTORY OF
BOOK ing all the premises, than to impose some duties on those III. 1644. . wares from which the good inhabitants will experience the least inconvenience, as the scarcity of money is very general :-
" We have, therefore, enacted and ordained, and hereby do enact and ordain, that there shall be paid on each ' half vat' (or barrel) of beer tapt by the tavern-keeper, two guilders, half to be paid by the brewer, and half by the tapster-the burgher who does not retail it, to pay half as much ; on each quart of Spanish wine and brandy four stuyvers ; French wine two stuyvers, to be paid by the tapsters ; on each beaver-hide brought to the port, and purchased within our limits, one guil- der ; triplets and halves in proportion. All on pain of forfeit- ing the goods ; one third for the informer, one third for the officer, and the remainder for the company. All this provi- sionally, until the good God should grant us peace, or that we shall be sufficiently aided from Holland."
June 24.
June 30.
The duties on the beaver were, subsequently, reduced to fifteen stivers, but it was ordered that all then on hand should be brought in and marked, under the penalty of being confis- cated. These imposts, however, continued to cause much dissatisfaction. The commonalty, especially the traders, looked on the whole proceeding with an unfavorable eye, and Kieft seems to have attributed much of the discontent to the Eight Men. He took an early opportunity to manifest his displea- sure against some of the most prominent members of that body. Towards the end of the month he sent for Joachim Pietersen Kuyter, Cornelis Melyn, and Thomas Hall, for the purpose, ostensibly, to confer further with them on the subject of these duties. These gentlemen waited on him accordingly. But instead of giving them an audience, he left them to dance at- tendance in his ante-chamber, from eight o'clock in the morn- ing until past midday, without condescending to. see them, though, as they allege, they had frequently sent in word by his servant, that they were in waiting to hear what he had to propose. They were, finally, obliged to depart to their re- spective abodes, " as wise as when they came."1
1 Dat men de acht mannen met cleyne reputatie heeft bejegeert, en weynich syn geacht, hetselve hebben wy, onderschreven, in compagnie met Thomas Hal, by experientie bevonden, sulx dat den Heer Kieft ons, ultimo Juny, 1644,
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NEW NETHERLAND.
While these quarrels and misunderstandings were going on CHAP. between the Director-general and the Eight Men in New Am- sterdam, the Dutch authorities at the Island of Curaçoa were much perplexed by the mnopportune addition to the population of that place, of between four and five hundred persons, in the West India Company's service, who arrived there from Ma- ranham, one of the northern provinces of Brazil, whence the Dutch had been expelled with severe loss by the Portuguese.1 Curaçoa had already been frequently visited by failure of the crops and actual famine, and was, at this time, suffering from May want of provisions. As it was impossible to furnish, or indeed 18. to procure food for so many people, it was determined to re- move the greater part of them to New Netherland, the Direc- tor of that place having already sent word that he was in want of men to assist him against the savages, with whom he was then at war. One hundred and thirty soldiers under the com- mand of Captain Jan de Fries, and a number of other persons, the whole amounting to about two hundred souls, were accord-
liet beroepen, wegens het opsteleen van den geëysten toll, en van 8 uyren tot over 12 in de saele heeft laten sitten, sonder dat ons een wordt werde gevraecht, alhoewel wy syn E. door den boode meermalen lieten aendienen, dat wy waren gecomen en daer wachten om aentehoeren het geene syn E E. ons geliefde voor- stellen ; doch ons is niet een wort tot openinge van 't syn E E. toegesonden, en hebben derhalven onverrecht de saecke wederom moeten vertrekken, son wys alswy gecomen waren. Joachim P. Knyter and Cornelis Melyn to Director Stuyvesant. 1647. Hol. Doc. iii., 192.
1 While Portugal was under the dominion of Spain, Brazil was attacked by the Dutch, who got possession of seven of the fourteen provinces into which it is divided. They expected soon to conquer the other seven, when Portugal re- covered its independence by the elevation of the family of Braganza to the throne. The Dutch, then, as enemies to the Spaniards, hecame friends to the Portuguese, who were likewise the enemies of the Spaniards. They agreed, therefore, to leave that part of Brazil which they had not conquered to the king of Portugal, who agreed to leave that part which they had conquered, to them, as a matter not worth disputing about with such good allies. But the Dutch government snon began to oppress the Portuguese colonists, who, instead of amusing themselves with complaints, took arms against their new masters, and by their own valor and resolution, with the connivance, indeed, but without any avowed assistance from the mother country, drove them out of Brazil. Smith's Wealth of Nations, ii., 63. A full report on this revolt against the Dutch in Brazil is to he found in Aitzema iii., 30 ; in Vaderlant. Hist. xii., 11, 12 ; and in Southey's Hist. of Brazil, ii., c. xxix. The W. I. Company estimated its loss at the hands of the Portuguese at 280 tons of gold.
1644.
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HISTORY OF
1644. May 26.
BOOK ingly embarked on board the Blue Cock, commanded by Cap- tain Willem Cornelissen Oudemarkt, for New Amsterdam, where they unexpectedly, but providentially arrived in the be- ginning of the following month of July, to the great relief and joy of the inhabitants, who were already beginning to despair of all succor.1
Kieft was now considerably embarrassed as to the disposi- tion of this force ; whether he should retain them at Fort Am- sterdam or distribute them through the interior; and, if retained, how they were to be supplied with clothing and provisions. A meeting of the council was called to consider these grave July difficulties. It was attended by the Director-general, Bastiaen 21. Janssen Crol, Mr. La Montagne, Attorney-general Van der Huygens, Capt. Jan de Fries, and Capt. Oudemarkt, who de- termined to retain Capt. de Fries at the Manhattes ; to fill up the ranks under his command with old soldiers to the number of one hundred and fifty men ; and to dismiss gradually, " in the most civil manner," the remaining English soldiers. It was further concluded to billet on each of the commonalty, ac- cording to his rank and circumstances, one or more of the above soldiers, for whom the company was to pay whenever it should have means.
But clothing remained yet to be provided for these troops. The Director-general avowed his inability to furnish these ne- cessaries. The company's stores were empty. Winter was approaching. "Naked men were useless; nay more, they were a severe burden." The council was again convoked. The same members again assembled, and they resolved to con- Aug. 4. tinue the duties and excise which had already been " provi- sionally" imposed, with a view to supply means to clothe the troops. The duties on beaver remained unaltered, but every tun of beer which the brewers sold to the tavern-keepers for twenty-two florins, or 88 80, was to pay three guilders, or a dollar and a quarter, while every brewer was required to send in a return of the quantity manufactured by him before he could dispose of any part thereof. Willem de Key was ap-
2 Alb. Rec. ii., 260 ; xii., 49, 50, 52, 55; Hol. Doc. iii., 187 ; Winthrop's Journal, 342 ; Winthrop's N. England, ii., 179.
311
NEW NETHERLAND.
pointed receiver of these imposts, with an allowance of five per CHAP. cent. for his trouble and loss of time.
1644.
Nothing could surpass the excitement produced by this ar- bitrary taxation. The first duties were imposed with the ex- plicit understanding that they should be continued only until relief should arrive. That relief had now been received, but instead of proposing to remove the burdens temporarily en- acted, a decree was issued to continue them indefinitely. And for what ? For the clothing of the company's soldiers, when it was one of the company's obligations to protect its subjects from all foreign and domestic wars. If the settlers could be obligated to furnish clothing for the troops, they might, with equal propriety, be required to furnish ammunition, cannon, or transports. The tax in question was, moreover, arbitrarily im- posed. The commonalty had its chosen representatives, whose prerogative it was, and not that of the paid and dependent ser- vants of the West India Company, to impose these taxes, if necessary. It was, therefore, determined to resist the pay- ment of the excise. The attorney-general was, on the other hand, ordered to collect the tax with the utmost rigor of the Aug law. The contumacious brewers were summoned before the 18. same council that imposed the tribute, and asked why they re- fused to obey the placard ? " Were we voluntarily to pay the three florins," they replied, " we should offend the Eight Men and the whole commonalty." But Kieft had no idea of being thwarted by such constitutional scruples. Judgment was given against the brewers, and thus another victory was achieved in New Netherland over popular rights.1
Aug. 25.
This triumph was, however, purchased, like all such vic- tories, at the price of the peace and harmony of the commu- nity. Factions and party rent the citizens in twain. One section sided with the Director, the other with the EIGHT MEN ; and henceforward the impression became a conviction, that neither justice nor the government was impartially admin- istered. "Those on the Director's side could do no ill, how badly soever they demeaned themselves ; those who opposed him were always wrong, however well they acted."2 In the
1 Alb. Rec. ii., 260, 261, 264, 265, 267
2 Van der Donck, Vertoogh van N. N.
312
HISTORY OF
BOOK bickerings and personalities which ensued, the attorney-gener- III. al seems to have had his hands full of prosecutions against 1644. individuals, for attacks on Kieft's character. One of these trials alone consumed six weeks of the summer, and that at a time when the Indians were prowling actively around unmo- lested, committing whatever damage they pleased on the in- habitants and their property, or attending, undisturbed, to securing their crops or their catch of fish. This waste of a valuable season was the more to be regretted, if not censured, since, by the arrivals from Curacoa, Kieft now could bring in- to the field a force of between three and four hundred men, allowing still a sufficient number for garrison duty.1 So strong was the opinion that this inaction was highly detrimental to the public interests, for already the Indians had commenced killing the Dutch settlers, that Thomas Hall and Barent Dirck- sen protested against the Director-general in strong terms for Aug. 6. adhering to it. Cornelis Melyn wrote to M. van Nederhorst, and addressed a remonstrance to the States General, calling their attention, in urgent terms, to the deranged condition of things in the colony. The Eight Men also sent home a com- plaint, in the fall of the year, to the directors of the company, in which they reviewed at length, and in highly condemnatory terms, the course and administration of Director Kieft, on whose recall they insisted in the strongest manner :
Oct. 28.
" We have been greatly gladdened," they began, "by the miraculous arrival of the Blue Cock here, as we expected that the field would be taken with between three and four hundred men, (not counting the sailors and settlers,) divided into three companies, each one hundred and thirty strong ; and that by this force, the neighboring savages, from fifteen to twenty miles around, would have had their produce destroyed, and
1 The following was the estimated available force at this time : Men arrived in the Blue Cock 130
Old soldiers numbering between 40 and 50 45
English in the pay of the Dutch 50 Mariners willing to serve 55
Freemen, not including the English nor the company's servants 200
Total available force 480
Hol. Doc. iii., 187.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
their tribes stript of all the provisions which they have collect- CHAP. ed against the winter, whereby great injury would have been
1644.
V. inflicted on the enemy, and their people brought to terms. But nothing in the least has been done. In all this time, scarce a foot has been moved on land, or an oar laid in the water.
" 'The Indian prisoners, who could have been of great ser- vice to us as trusty guides, have been given away to the sol- diers, and allowed to go to Holland. Others of them have been sent to the Bermudas, as a present to the English gover- nor.1 The oldest and most experienced soldiers, who were acquainted for several years with all the paths here, have ob- tained their passports, and been permitted to return home. In the mean while have the savages conveyed away, according to their pleasure, the fish caught by their people this last summer on the river, of which they made use as they wished, and without hinderance.
"Our fields lie fallow and waste ; our dwellings and other buildings are burnt ; not a handful can be either planted or sown this fall on the deserted places ; the crops which God the Lord permitted to come forth during the past summer, remain on the field standing and rotting in divers places, in the same way as the hay, for the preservation of which we, poor people, cannot obtain one man. We are burdened with heavy families ; we have no means to provide necessaries for wife or children ; and we sit here amidst thousands of Indians and barbarians, from whom we find neither peace nor mercy. We have left our beloved father-land, and unless the Lord our God had been our comfort, we must have perished in our misery.
"There are among us those who, by the sweat and labor of their hands for many long years, have endeavored, at great
1 The practice of reducing Indians to slavery is as old as the discovery of America. It was continued for nearly two centuries by the English colonies. In 1637 the colony of Massachusetts sent fifteen boys and two women as slaves to Bermuda, but the skipper having missed that island, took the con- signment to Providence, and sold them there. Governor Winthrop bequeathed several Indian slaves by will ; and frequent mention of such "chatiels" is met with in the annals of New York. For a very interesting and instructive chap- ter on ancient and modern slavery, see Bancroft's U. S. i., 159, (10th Ed.)
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BOOK expense, to improve their lands and villages ; others with III. their private capital have equipped, with all necessaries, their own ships, which have been captured by the enemy in coming hither, though they have continued the voyage with equal zeal, and at considerable cost. Some, again, have come hither with ships, independent of the company, freighted with a large quantity of cattle, and with a number of families, who have erected handsome buildings on the spots selected for their people ; cleared away the trees and the forest ; enclosed their plantations and brought them under the plough, so as to be an ornament to the country and a profit to the proprietors, after their long laborious toil.
" The whole of these now lie in ashes through a foolish hankering after war ; for all right-thinking men here know that these Indians have lived as lambs among us, until a few years ago, injuring no man, affording every assistance to our nation, and in Director Van Twiller's time, (when no supplies were sent for several months,) had furnished provisions to several of the company's servants, until, as they state, they had received supplies. These hath the Director, by various uncalled-for proceedings, from time to time, so estranged from us, and so embittered against the Netherlands nation, that we do not believe that any thing will bring them and peace back, unless that the Lord God, who bends all men's hearts to his will, propitiate their people ; so that the ancient hath 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.
" A semblance of peace was attempted to be patched up last spring with two or three tribes of savages towards the north, by a stranger1 whom we, for cause, shall not now name, without one of the company's servants having been present, while our principal enemies have been unmolested. This peace hath borne little fruit for the common advantage and reputation of our Lords ; for so soon as these savages had stowed away their maize into holes, they began again to murder our people in various directions. They rove
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