USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 9
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On a review, therefore, of the patents down to 1628, granted for trading to, or settling in, America, we cannot find any more favorable to colonial liberty than that granted by the Dutch in 1621.3 If that of Massachusetts proved eventually more fa- vorable to the colonists, it was because the powers of that charter were exercised in the colony, and not at a distance of thousands of miles from it. Had it been otherwise, we are warranted in believing that it would have been far from pro- moting freedom in the plantation.
Though the West India Company obtained its charter in 1621, various circumstances prevented the commencement of operations for two years after. In the interval, however, their
1 Chalmers, p. 39.
* Hazard, State Papers, i. 239, 256.
3 Representative government was not accorded to Virginia, in 1619, by char- ter, but by instructions from the London Company. Chalmers, 39.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK
II. privileges were considerably amplified, and various amend- ments and explanations introduced, in the fundamental grant.1
162]. The spirit of enterprise was not suffered to lie dormant in the mean time. Merchants, and other public-spirited individ- uals, belonging to various parts of the United Provinces, con- tinued to send ventures to the New World. Among the most active of these we find Hendrick Eelkens, Adriaen Jansen Engel, and Hans Joris Houten, of Amsterdam, with whose names the reader is now familiar. These gentlemen obtained Sept. permission, in the fall of this year, to send their ship the White
13. Dove, of eighty tons burden, to New Virginia, under the com- mand of Captain Jans Houten. Dirck Volckertsen, Doctor Verus, and Doctor Carbasius, of Hoorn, Pieter Nannincks of Medenblick, Cornelis Volkertsen, and Pieter Schoder, were al- Sept. lowed to send a vessel with a cargo of merchandise also to the 24. Virginias ; and Claes Jacobsen Haringcarpsel, counsellor and ancient alderman of Amsterdam, Petrus Plancius, minister of the gospel,2 Lambrecht van Tweenhuyzen, Hans Claessen,
1 De Laet, Hist. ofte Jaerlyck verhael van de Verrechtingen van de Geoc- troye erde W. I. Compe.
2 The Rev. PETRUS PLANCIUS, of whom mention is here made, was born at Dremontre, in Flanders, in 1552. He was educated at Honskote, but spent the greater part of his life at Amsterdam. He rendered himself celebrated in more than one respect. Having heen ordained in 1577, he preached in divers parts of Brabant, by which he was exposed to great danger, owing to the high state of religious animosity in those days. He escaped being taken prisoner only by swimming the river Lys, leaving every thing behind him, especially his books, which were publicly burnt at Ypres. He was next called to Brussels, where he preached six years ; but this city falling into the enemy's hands, he passed into Holland disguised as a soldier. He came in 1585 to Amsterdam, where he immediately resumed the ministry. Here he opposed Arminius and the Ln- therans, and some time afterwards came out against " the Remonstrants." In 1618 he assisted at the Synod of Dordrecht, where he was chosen, with others, to superintend the translation of the Old Testament. He contributed, in the mean while, to the elucidation of geography, astronomy, navigation, and other mathematical sciences, and was one of the principal projectors of the Dutch expeditions to the East Indies. The first Dutch ship sailed thither by the aid of charts which Plancius had constructed. He likewise advised the expeditions to Nova Zembla, in the hope of discovering a nearer way to China, in which project he was very much engaged in 1608. He may be truly said to have been in this manner accessory, in an especial degree, to the discovery of the Hudson's river and New Netherland, to which we now find him sending a ven-
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NEW NETHERLAND.
and company, "traders to certain countries by them dis- CHAP. covered between Virginia and New France, situated between
1621.
I. the latitudes of 40° and 45°, and called New Netherland, and to the adjacent territories, together with a great river lying be- tween 38° and 40°," were licensed to send two ships, also fully freighted, one to the New Netherland, and the other to the aforesaid new river, which must doubtless be the Delaware, and to the small streams thereunto adjoining, to truck and trade with the natives of those parts. But the States General, anticipating the commencement of business by the West India Company, inserted a special proviso, in each of the above- mentioned licenses, obliging the several parties interested to return on or before the next first of July, with their respective vessels and goods.1
This activity on the part of the Dutch excited consid- erable jealousy in England among those who were interested in the plantations already established in Virginia, and in the charter recently granted for the colonization of New England. The English ever maintained the right to the whole American coast, from the Spanish possessions in the south to those of the French in the north, on the triple ground of first discovery, occupation, and possession, as well as by charters and letters patent obtained from their own sovereigns. When intelligence was received that prepara- tions were thus making in the United Provinces to send a fleet of merchant vessels to Virginia and New Netherland, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and Captain Mason, active members of the Plymouth Company,2 and Sir Samuel Argall, governor of Virginia, who had already paid a
ture in company with others. PLANCIUS died at Amsterdam on the 25th May, (N. S.) 1622, aged 70 years. He gave it in charge, on his death-hed, that his remains should not he interred in any church. He was accordingly buried in the South church-yard. There is a sketch of his life in Wagenaar's Beschry- ving der Stad Amsterdam, iii., 219, from which most of these particulars are taken.
1 Hol. Doc. i., 107, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114.
2 " Of all the persons who were concerned in the business of New England, or whose names were inserted in the grand council thereof, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason were the most active, and probably had the greatest in- terest therein." Hubbard, 226.
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HISTORY OF
1621.
BOOK hostile visit to Manhattan Island, presented a remonstrance 1I. immediately to James I., complaining of such proceedings. His majesty, in consequence, directed Sir Dudley Carle- ton, his ambassador at the Hague, to urge upon their Lord- ships the States General the necessity of preventing the de- parture of those vessels, and to forbid their subjects to settle in that plantation. As this document contains the earliest distinct assertion by the British government of the illegality of the Dutch settlement on this continent, it is worthy of particular note.
Dec.15,
O. S.
" Whereas," say the Lords of the Privy Council, " his Majesty's royal predecessors have, for many years since, taken possession of the whole precinct, and inhabited some parts of the north of Virginia, by us called New England, of all which countries his Majesty hath, in like manner, some years since, by Patent, granted the quiet and full possession unto particular persons ; nevertheless, wee understand that the year past the Hollanders have entered upon some part thereof, and have left a Colonie, and given new names to the several ports apper- taining to that part of the country, and are now in readinesse to send for their supplie six or eight shipps : whereof his Ma- jesty being advertised, wee have received his Royall com- mandment to signifie his pleasure that you should represent these things unto the States Generall in his Majesty's name, (who, jure primæ occupationis, hath good and sufficient title to those parts,) and require of them that as well those shipps as their further prosecution of that plantation, may be pres- ently stayed."
1622. On receipt of this dispatch, Sir Dudley Carleton proceeded Feb. 5. to make inquiries into the subject, before he brought the mat- ter under the notice of the States General. All he could learn, either from such merchants as he was acquainted with in Amsterdam, or from the Prince of Orange, or such of their High Mightinesses as he made inquiries of, was, that about four or five years previously, two companies of Amsterdam merchants had begun a trade to America, between the lati- tudes of forty and forty-five degrees, to which parts they had given, " after their manner," their own names of New Nether- land, North and South sea, Texel, Vlieland, &c .; that they
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NEW NETHERLAND.
had since continued to send thither vessels, of sixty to eighty CHAP. tons at most, to fetch furs, which was all their trade ; for which purpose they have factors resident continually there, who truck with the savages ; but the ambassador could not learn that the Dutch had, as yet, planted any colony there, or intended to do so.
In obedience, however, to the orders which he had received, he demanded an audience of the States General, to whom he presented a written memorial on the whole subject,1 which was referred, at their request, to the deputies from Holland, who expressed a desire to inform themselves of the affair, concerning which they pretended ignorance. No further no- tice having been taken of the matter, Sir Dudley called the attention of their High Mightinesses again to his memorial, March and requested that some order be taken upon it. Burgomaster 16. Paauw was, therefore, directed to write to the participants in the trade to New Netherland for information. No letter in
1 " Messieurs-J'ay reçu charge expresse du Roy mon maistre de representer a VVSS un surcroist de doleauce aux affaires maritimes causé par les sujets de ces Provinces Unies, particulierement par les Hollaudois, et de vous prier de sa part par vostre authorité d'y donner remede. C'est que plusieurs de ses sujets d'Angleterre, seigneurs et autres gens d'honneur et qualité, ayants desja longtemps passé prins possession de tous les precincts de Virginia, et planté leur habitations en certains endroicts du Nord quartier du dit pays, qui en a tire le nom, [Nova Anglia,] S. M. desirant l'heureuse issue d'une si saincte et utile entreprinse qui tend a l'avancement de la Religion Chrestienne et l'accroissement du Com- merce, a donné (comme il est notoire a un chacun) quelques années passées par ses lettres patentes la tranquille et pleniere possession de tout le dit pays a plusieurs personnes particulieres. Quoy nonobstant, il est informé que l'année passée aucuns Hollandois ont mis pied sur quelques quartiers du dit pays, et y ont planté une Colonie, changeants les noms des ports et havres et les baptisants de nouveau a leur mode, avec intention d'y envoyer d'autres navires pour la continuation de la dite plantation, et que de faict ils ont maintenant six ou huit navires tous prests pour y faire voile. Or, S. M. ayant (jure primæ occupa- tionis) de tiltre au dit pays non subject a contredict, m'a commandé de vous representer l'etat du dit affaire et vous requirer, en son nom, que par vostre authorité non seulement les navires desja equippez pour le dit voyage soyent arrestez, mais aussi que l'ulterieure prosequution de la dite plantation soit ex- pressement deffendue. Ce que vous prendrez (Messieurs) s'il vous plaist en prompte deliberation, me faisant scavoir au plustot la responce que de vostre part j'en feray a Sa Majesté. Exhibé par escrit en l'assemblée des Etats G'raulx le 9e. de Febvier, 1622, et signe DUDLEY CARLETON." Lond Doc., i., 22, 23.
13
1622.
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HISTORY OF
1622.
BOOK reply to this order has been discovered, and it is at least doubt 11. ful if any was ever returned to the British government. It has been asserted that the Dutch ambassador at London disclaimed, on the part of the States General, any such pro- ceedings in reference to New Netherland as the Privy Council had complained of, but no document has been produced to support such an assertion.1
The death of King James, shortly after this correspondence, put a temporary termination to these wrangles. Carleton's representations seem to have been made rather as a protest to save British rights, than with a view to enforce them by taking possession, just then, of the territory in dispute. The Dutch ships proceeded, according to the design of the owners, on their voyage, but when the time approached to which their commission limited their absence, some of them had not yet June returned. Their owners were obliged, therefore, to petition 18. the States General for an extension of time, and six months more were granted to them.2
Publications descriptive of the various plantations in North America began to emanate now from the press in Amsterdam, and plans were submitted for the removal of families to this continent. The West India Company, which was specially enjoined to promote the settlement of its transmarine pos- sessions, had its attention called to the fulfilment of this part April of its obligations. A proposition was referred to it in the early 21.
part of this year, by the States General, to send some fami- lies to its American colonies. The company viewed the project with a favorable eye. It declared that it would be very advantageous to its interests, and promised to furnish employment to such persons as should proceed thither ; but suggested, at the same time, that the matter should be postponed until the appointment of a director-general, to superintend the affairs of the country; while their High Mightinesses recommended, on their part, that the magistrates should be consulted in whatsoever should be proposed.3
1 Lond. Doc. i., 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 48 ; Hol. Doc. i., 117. Brod- head's Address before the N. Y. Hist. Soc., 24, 25, 26.
2 Hol. Doc. i., 120.
' Ibid., 118, 119.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
CHAPTER II.
The West India Company takes possession of New Netherland-Several settlers and servants sent ont-Fort Nassau built on Sonth River-Fort Orange on the river Mauritius-Peter Minuit, of Wesel, arrives in the country as Direc- tor-General, accompanied by a colony of Walloons-First settlement on Long Island-First white child born-Members of Minuit's council-Duties of schout-fiscaal-first schont-fiscaal-Colonial secretary-Imports and exports- Dutch purchase island of Manhattans and adjoining islands from the Indians -A blockhouse erected on Manhattan Island, and called Fort Amsterdam -Murder of an Indian by some of Minuit's servants-Trade opened with the English settlement at New Plymouth-Correspondence and intercourse with that colony-Dutch alarmed at threats thrown out by their English neighbors-Apply to directors in Holland for a military force-Charles I. ex- tends to the ships of the West India Company the privileges conferred by the treaty of Southampton on the vessels of the States General-Progress of trade-Renewed efforts in Holland to promote the settlement of New Netherland-The assembly of the XIX. determine to establish lordships or colonies there-Heyn's victory over the Spanish silver fleet-Charter to Pa- troons in New Netherland.
THE West India Company having finally concluded its pre- CHAP. paratory arrangements, and completed, with the sanction of the States General, the articles of agreement between the man- agers and the other adventurers,1 lost no time in commencing operations and forming establishments in New Netherland, which was erected into a province, having been invested by their High Mightinesses with the armorial bearings of an earl.2 The chamber of Amsterdam, to whose superintendence that extensive country was committed, having already, in the course of the preceding year, sent out some of its servants to that quarter, dispatched a ship called the " New Netherland" this season thither also, with a number of people, most of whom, however, were persons in the company's service. Captain Cornelis Jacobsen Mey and Adriaen Jorisz. Tienpont having been appointed directors of this expedition, the first-named of
Il. 1623. June 20.
1 This agreement, as well as the names of the first directors of the company, will be found in Appendix B.
" Het wert een provincie genaemt, omdat het van haer Hoog Moogende met een Graeffelyck wapen is vereert. Hol. Doc. iv., 39.
100
HISTORY OF
BOOK these officers proceeded to the South or Prince Hendrick's II. River, on the eastern bank of which, fifteen leagues from its 1623. month, at a spot called by the natives Techaacho, in the vicin- ity of the present town of Gloucester, he erected Fort Nassau. This was the first settlement of Europeans on the Delaware.1
Another fortified post, called Fort Orange, was commenced on the west bank of the river Mauritius, as the North River was called, a few miles north of the redoubt which had been erected in 1618 on Tawalsontha creek, and thirty-six (Dutch) miles from the island of Manhattans.
1624. PETER MINUIT, or Minnewit, of Wesel, in the kingdom of Westphalia, having been appointed director of New Nether- land, arrived in that country in the course of this year. Sev- eral families of Walloons, inhabitants of the frontier between Belgium and France, having been desirous to emigrate to America, applied, in the early part of 1622, to Sir Dudley Carleton, for permission to settle in Virginia, with the privilege of erecting a town there, and of being governed by magistrates to be elected by themselves. This application was referred to the Virginia Company, but the conditions the latter attached to the permission which they granted, seem not to have been satisfactory, and many of these Walloons turned their
1 The names of the ship, and of the directors above mentioned, will be found in the report of 1644-5 to the Assembly of the XIX. The descrip- tion of persons which were sent out, is stated in Verbael van Beverninck, p. 606: "Strax na't geobtineerde octroy hebben de Ed. Heeren Bewinthebberen diversche schepen met volck ende beestialen naa N. Nederlandt gesonden, by welck volck, synde meest Dienaaren van de meergemelde Compagnie, syn gekoft veel en verscheyden landeryen." There is some contradiction as to the precise year in which Fort Nassau was erected. Van der Donck fixes it at 1623- Vertoogh van N. N. c. iii. ; so does Stuyvesant in his declaration to the governor of Maryland. The report above referred to, has it 1624; while a paper entitled Deductie, ofte Naecht ende claer verhael over de gelegentheyt van de Zuyt Revier, fixes its date at 1626. That Mey was the first European who made a settlement on the Delaware, is put beyond douht by the evidence of the Sachem Mattehoorn, who declared before Stuyvesant, subsequently, that a skipper named Cornelis, with one eye, or having a film on the eye, (ofte hebbende een vlies op't ooge,) was the first, who, coming there, established himself on the South River. Hol. Doc. viu., 73. Moulton, 366, says that Fort Nassau was erected in 1623. See also Barker's Sketches of principal Settlements on Del., in Haz. Reg. i., 179, and Acrelius' Hist. N. Sweden.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
attention subsequently to New Netherland, where a small num- CHAP. ber of them now arrived with Director Minuit. Some settled II. at first on Staten Island, but afterwards removed to a bay on 1624. the northwestern extremity of Long Island, called the Wahle- Bocht, or " the bay of the foreigners," which has since received the corrupt appellation of Wallabout. Here Sarah de Rap- pelje, the first child of European parentage, was born on the 6th June, 1625.1 This settlement subsequently extended it- self towards the western extremity of the island, which was called "Breukelen," after an ancient Dutch village of that name, situate on the river Veght, in the province of Utrecht.
The government of the small community which now com- posed the population of New Netherland, was committed to the Director and his council, consisting of Pieter Bylvelt, Jacob Elbertsen Wissinck, Jan Janssen Brouwer, Symen Dercksen Pos, and Reynert Harmenssen. This council had supreme executive and legislative authority in the colony. It was also the tribunal for the trial of whatever civil and criminal cases might arise, and all prosecutions before it were instituted and conducted by an officer called a " Schout Fis- caal," whose duties were equivalent to those performed among us by a sheriff and an attorney-general.ª
" The Walloons were inhabitants of the frontier between France and Flan- ders, extending from the Scheld to the river Lys. They spoke the old French or Gallic language, and professed the reformed religion. During the thirty years' war, they distinguished themselves for their valor and savage spirit. The name comes, it is said, either from Wall, (water or sea,) or more probably, from the old German word Wahle, signifying a foreigner. The application of the Walloons to settle in Virginia is in Lond. Doc. i., 24. The Hon. Jer. Johnson of Brooklyn is of opinion, in a letter with which he has had the politeness to favor me, that George Jansen de Rapelje and Sarah his wife arrived at Staten Island, from Holland, in 1624, and that he prepared a cabin, at what is now call- ed the Wallabout, for his residence, to which he removed in the spring of 1625. He adds, that Sarah Rapelje was horn at the latter place on the 6th (Moulton says on the 9th) of June, 1625. Meyer's Annals of Holland States, anno 1624, quoted by Rev. Dr. De Witt, Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1844, 55.
2 In every tribunal there is a Schout or sheriff, who convenes the judges, and demands from them justice for the litigating parties ; for the word " schout" is derived from schuld, debt, and he is so denominated because he is the person who recovers or demands common debts, according to Grotius. The right of the sovereign, in criminal cases, is sustained before the court by the advocate
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HISTORY OF
BOOK II. He was charged specially with enforcing and maintaining the placards, laws, ordinances, resolutions, and military regula- 1624. tions, of their High Mightinesses the States General, and pro- tecting the rights, domains, and jurisdiction of the company, and executing their orders, as well in as out of court, without favor or respect to individuals ; he was bound to superintend. all prosecutions and suits, but could not undertake any actions on behalf of the company except by order of the council ; nor arraign nor arrest any person on a criminal charge, except on information previously received, or unless he caught him in flagrante delictu. In taking informations, he was bound to note as well those points which made for the prisoner, as those which supported the charge against him, and, after trial, he was to see to the proper and faithful execution of the sen- tence pronounced by the judges, who, in indictments carrying with them loss of life and property, were not to be less than five in number. He was, moreover, specially obliged to attend to the commissaries arriving from the company's out- posts, and to vessels arriving from, or leaving for, Holland, to inspect their papers, and superintend the loading and dis- charging of their cargoes, so that smuggling may be pre vented, and all goods introduced, except in accordance to the company's regulations, were at once to be confiscated. He was to transmit to the directors in Holland copies of all in- formations taken by him, as well as of all sentences pro- nounced by the court ; and no person was to be kept long in prison at the expense of the company, without special cause, but all were to be prosecuted as expeditiously as possible be- fore the Director and council.
The schout-fiscaal of New Netherland had no voice in the council. He was privileged to sit in that body merely when questions arose relating to finance, justice, or police, and give his opinion when asked, but not to vote. He was strictly for- bidden to accept presents, or gifts, from any person whatso- ever ; and had to content himself with the civil fines and penalties adjudged to him, and such part of the criminal fines and confiscated wages of the company's servants, as the
fiscal, or attorney general of Holland. Van Leeuwen's Commentaries on Ro- man Dutch Law.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
director and council, after prosecution, might allow. He CHAP. was not to have any part, however, of captured prizes or con- 11. fiscated goods.
1624.
This office, perhaps the most responsible in the colony, was filled, during the administration of Director Minuit, by JAN LAMPO of Cantelberg. Isaac de Razier acted as book- keeper of monthly wages, and second to the Director, also as provincial secretary. In the last-mentioned capacity he was afterwards succeeded by Jan van Remund, under whom Lenaert Cole acted as assistant.1
Under the superintendence of these authorities, the infant trade of the colony prospered apace. The imports from Holland were estimated at twenty-five thousand, five hundred and sixty-nine guilders, equal to about $10,654 ; in return for which were exported four thousand, seven hundred beaver and otter skins, which were valued at twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and twenty-five guilders, or $11,302. "Several ships" followed in the course of the ensuing year; one of which, 1625. called " The Orange-Tree," of 150 tons, having touched at Plymouth, England, was there detained, and her captain Jan.28. ordered to London, to appear before the Lords of the Privy Council, inasmuch as the place in America for which Feb. 8. he was bound, was claimed to be comprehended in the grant made by his Britannic Majesty to divers of his subjects. The imports, this year, were reduced to eight thousand, seven hun- dred and seventy-two guilders, or $3,655, which was a falling off of two-thirds ; but the exported furs amounted to five thousand, seven hundred and fifty-eight skins, valued at thirty- five thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five guilders,2 equal to $14,927 of our currency ; a large increase on the exporta- tions of the preceding year.
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