USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 17
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From the moment that he had been commissioned, he was treated by Stuyvesant with marked contumely, and excluded from the Council for over two years after his arrival in the colony. In the exercise of his office he was most commonly employed as a scrivener, to copy legal papers, the drafts of which the Director-general usually prepared ; at other times he was " charged to look after the pigs and keep them out of the fort, a duty which a negro could very well perform." When Van Dyck hap- pened to object, the Director "got as angry as if he would swallow him up;" or if he presumed to disobey, " put him in confinement, or bastinadoed him with his rattan !" A series of ill-usage such as this naturally drove the Fiscaal into the ranks of the opposition. Charges of drunkenness and of having received bribes were brought against him as early as 1647, and periodically renewed, but did not ac- complish as yet his dismissal or disgrace.2 But in the spring of this year a silly lampoon against the Director- Mar. 28. general made its appearance, and Van Dyck was put down as its author.3 The Council was convoked to con-
1 Rensselaerswyck MSS.
2 The Directors, writing this year to Stuyvesant, say : " We have observed that your climate does not reform much the manners of individuals. Of this there is yet much less hope if the chiefs of the administration set a bad example to others. In this respect, we receive many complaints from those who re- turn from New Netherland, against the Attorney-general, for drunkenness and other vices. If he continue such a disorderly life, we shall be compelled to em- ploy such means of restraint as we deem expedient." Alb. Rec. iv., 74.
3 This pasquinade was in these terms :- " Myn Heer General ! It is impossi- ble for me to conceal from your Excellency, that I heard you scolded and cursed on the evening of the 11th of March, at Mr. Fyn's house, as a rogue and a tyrant, with many other calumnious defamations, which cut me to the heart.
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BOOK sider this weighty affair of state, and a resolution followed, IV. dismissing the Schout-fiscaal from office, "on account of 1652. the multitude of his misdemeanors and connivances." This resolution purported to be "by and with the advice of the Nine Men," but these repudiated the assertion, and de- clared, " that they never had any knowledge of the com- monalty having complained of Van Dyck; that they had never agreed to the resolution ordering his dismissal ; that Stuyvesant had passed it on his own authority, and that the secretary had falsely appended to it their names."
To fill this vacancy, Cornelis van Tienhoven, the puta- tive author of the above intrigue, received the appointment of Attorney-general ; Carel van Brugge, " an Englishman," provisionally succeeded him as provincial secretary ; and Adriaen van Tienhoven became Receiver-general in place of his brother.
" Were an honorable person appointed in my stead," says Van Dyck, commenting on these proceedings, "the false accusations against me, which have been so long resolved upon and written, might have some semblance of truth ; but the person whom the Director-general hath, on his own mere motion, made Fiscaal, is his perjured secretary, who returned here contrary to their High Mightinesses' prohibition ; a public, notorious, and convicted whore- monger and oath-breaker ; a reproach to this country, and the main scourge of both Christians and heathens, with whose sensualities the Director himself has been always acquainted." "The fault of drunkenness could easily be noticed in me, but not in Van Tienhoven, who has fre- quently come out of the tavern so full that he could go no further, and was forced to lie down in the gutter."1
Thou art a God appointed of God ! I pray you for Christ's sake to prevent it, or I shall feel very unhappy, for I can no longer listen to it, and durst not ac- quaint you with it by word of mouth. Christman, Fyn, and two other women heard it also. I wish Mat the Fiscaal would bestir himself. No other man is better. Was neither signed nor subscribed, nor compared with the discovered scrap, this 28th March, 1652, in New Amsterdam, (signed,) Cor. van Thienh. secretary." Van Dyck accused Van Tienhoven, Christman, (V. T.'s clerk,) and others of having got up this plot, and circulated this lampoon to have him dismissed. Hol. Doc. vi., 263-265.
1 Alb. Rec. iii., 264-268 ; Hol. Doc. vi., 194-276.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
Having thus disposed of Van Dyck, Stuyvesant turned CHAP. his attention to Van Slechtenhorst, and to conclude all XI. difficulties with him, repaired to Fort Orange and called 1652. on the authorities of Rensselaerswyck to state where their bounds commenced. It was indifferent to him from what point, north or south, they should start. The exemptions allowed them four miles on one, or two miles on both banks of the river, and he was prepared to concede to that extent ; but he warned them, if they should refuse this " reasonable offer," he would proceed ex parte. They replied that they had no instructions to act in the prem- ises ; and requested delay, until they advised with the interested parties in Holland. The delay was granted, but the question of supremacy over Beverwyck was not so easily settled. Sergeant Litschoe presented himself April 1. with a party of soldiers before the Patroon's house, and having stationed his followers at the door, ordered Van Slechtenhorst to strike the Patroon's flag. The latter peremptorily refused to obey, whereupon "fourteen soldiers armed with loaded muskets, entered the enclosure, and after firing a volley, hauled down the Lord's colors." Stuyvesant followed up this act, by issuing a proclamation erecting in April 10. Fort Orange a Court of Justice for the village of Bever- wyck and its dependencies, apart from, and independent of, that of Rensselaerswyck. This placard having been affixed to the court-house of the colonie, was torn down by Van Slechtenhorst, who in return posted a proclamation vindi- April15. cating the Patroon's rights, and denouncing the pretensions of those who infringed them. This was removed by those of the fort.1
From the date of General Stuyvesant's proclamation above mentioned, reckons the establishment of a legal tri- bunal in Beverwyck, and consequently, in the present city of Albany. It was an exercise of the prerogative which
1 Gerechtsrolle der Colonie Rensselaerswyck, 103-114; Alb. Rec. ix., 123; Rensselaerswyck MSS. Gerechtsrolle van den Banck van Justitie der For- tresse Orange, Dorpe Beverswyck ende appendentie van dien, door den Eerent- festen ende Achtbaeren Heer, Myn Heeren, de Heer Directeur Generaal en Raaden van Nieuw Nederlandt, den 10 Aprilis Aº. 1652, in loco synde gestelt. Mortgage Book A. in County Clerk's Office, Albany.
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BOOK followed naturally the high-handed proclamation of the IV. fifth of March preceding.
1652. Van Slechtenhorst's reign was now evidently drawing to a close. For four years he had manfully defended the rights of his "orphan Patroon," and unflinchingly contended against the invasions of superior force. But what, in those days, could avail in New Netherland the opposition of one man against the attacks of the Executive ? Nine April 18. armed soldiers burst into his house, and, without exhibiting any authority for the act, dragged him, a prisoner, " against all his protests," to Fort Orange, " where neither his chil- dren, his master, nor his friends, were allowed to speak to him," whilst " his furs, his clothes, and his meat were left hanging to the door-posts," and his house and papers were abandoned to the mercy of his enemies. He was next conveyed on board a sloop lying in the river, and removed, in charge of a guard, to New Amsterdam, " to be tormented, in his sickness and old age, with unheard-of and insuffer- able prosecutions, by those serving a Christian government, professing the same religion, and living under the same authority."1
April 24.
Jan Baptiste van Rensselaer succeeded Van Slechten- horst as Director, and Gerrit Swart was appointed Sheriff or Schout-fiscaal of Rensselaerswyck in his place. Pro- vision was made at the same time for the regular preaching of the gospel, and the conversion of the heathen, by the appointment of the Rev. Gideon Schaets as minister of the colonie, at a salary of eight hundred guilders, or $320, per annum. This stipend was afterwards raised to one thou- sand, and then to thirteen hundred guilders.2
July 1. On returning to New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant set about
1 Slechtenhorst's Memorial, MS. It has been stated that the commander was lodged in the keep at New Amsterdam. This was not so. He was placed under what was called " civil arrest." Some of his time was passed at Staten Island, some at Breukelen.
2 The power of attorney to J. B. van Rensselaer is dated 8th May, 1652. Gerrit Swart was born in 1607, and was, consequently, 45 years of age when he came to New Netherland. He filled the office of sheriff in Albany, to 1670, when Capt. Salisbury was elected his successor, by a majority of the burghers of that city. His commission and instructions will be found in App. C. For some particulars relating to the Rev. Mr. Schaets and his descendants, see App. D.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
introducing, in conformity to the instructions of his supe- CHAP. riors, some regulations relative to the purchasing of
XI. Indian lands, now rendered necessary by the disposition 1652, which several individuals manifested, to acquire large tracts of wilderness, not with any view to improvement, but on speculation, and in the hope of disposing of their rights to the Company at enormous prices. The lands held by Van Twiller at Red Hook, and elsewhere ; the flats at Amers- foort claimed by the Gerritsens ; Katskill and Claverack, purchased by Van Slechtenhorst ; the land about the Neve- sinck acquired by Van Dinclage for Van der Capellen; Loockerman's purchases at Mattineconck, were declared to be of this description, and the sales thereof by the Indians were pronounced null and void. The purchase money was ordered to be returned, or if the "pretended proprietors" preferred, they were to hold such tracts as the Director and Council may please to give them, provided they peti- tioned therefor within six weeks. And in keeping with the rule laid down on 24th May, 1650, all persons were forbidden to buy land from the natives without the consent of the Director and Council, on pain of forfeiting all such illegally acquired tracts.1 The Amsterdam Chamber subsequently modified this order, so far as it related to Katskill, Claver- ack, and the other Indian purchases in the neighborhood of Rensselaerswyck. These were to be granted to the hold- ers in the name of the Company, but the farms thereon were not to be subject to feudal burthens, or the " patron- age" of the colonie.2
Meanwhile the Honorable Cornelis van Werckhoven, Schepen of Utrecht, and one of the members of the Dutch 1651. government, gave notice to the Amsterdam Chamber of his Nov. 7. intention to plant two colonies in New Netherland, “ one of which was to begin at Nevesing and to proceed north- wards to the colonie of Baron Van Nederhorst ; the other, at Tappaan, extending northward to the highlands ; all in
1 Smith, Hist. N. Y. i., 39, ascribes the introduction of the law relative to the purchases of Indian lands, to Nicolls, and gives 1665 as the date of the " rise " of this " salutary institution." It had then been already in force over twelve `S.
Ulb Rec. iv., 97; vii., 318-320.
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BOOK conformity to the regulations lately presented by the Com- IV. pany to the States General for their approval." Augustine n
1651. Heermans accordingly purchased from the Indians, for
Dec. 6. Werckhoven, the land extending from the mouth of the Raritan westerly to Mankackkewacky creek, now known as the Raritan Great Meadows ; next from Point Amboy north up along the kill behind Staten Island unto Pechciesse creek, and along the same westerly, until it meets the above mentioned Great Meadows. Another tract, called Kehackanick Wakonaback, on the south side 1652. of the Raritan, was afterwards added to the first named Nov. 22. purchase ;1 together with two tracts on Long Island-one situated to the east of the North River, near its mouth, and joining Gowanus, " as it was before purchased by the Company," and stretching in an oblique line through the mountain to Merrakawick, (Breukelen,) lying to the east (west) of Amersfoort, whence a course is taken by Graves- end to the sea; the other was "Nyack," a parcel of land within the present town of New Utrecht. For the first of these Long Island tracts, the Indians received six shirts, two pairs of shoes, six pairs of stockings, six chisels, six axes, six knives, two pairs of scissors, and six cans ; for the second, six coats, six kettles, six axes, six chisels, six small looking glasses, twelve knives and twelve combs .? In the selection of these lands Mr. Van Werckhoven was very unfortunate. Baron Van der Capellen entered a caveat against his obtaining Nevesing, whilst the lands on Long Island had, it was maintained, been positively granted to Englishmen, who had built on and cultivated them "long
1 Augustine Heermans is represented in " East Jersey under the Proprietors," as purchasing these Raritan tracts on his own account. But this was not the case, as most clearly appears from a declaration of Jan Vigne, Schepen of New Amsterdam, dated 1st November, 1656, of which the following is a translation : " In the year 1651, 1652, Sieur Augustyn Heermans purchased from the Indians the Raritan lands for the behoof of the Hr. C. van Werckhoven, for which pur- pose he, deponent, was present when possession was taken of the aforesaid lands for the said Hr. C. van Werckhoven, and in the trees of each hook of the afore- said land, were cut the marks of the Hr. C. van Werckhoven, thus, WH." N. A. Rec.
2 Alb. Rec. viii., 20-23, 151-153, 161. The Nyack farm is now in the posses. sion of the Cortelyou family.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
.before the Indian war."' A protracted dispute was the CHAP. consequence, and the Directors finally decreed that as colo- XI. nists were not allowed more than four (Dutch) miles along 1652. a navigable river, and as the tracts claimed by Van Dec. 13. Werckhoven on the main were supposed to extend twenty miles in a straight line, he could not be allowed both these parcels of land. He might take one of them, if he pleased. He did not do so, however. He abandoned both, and commenced a settlement on his lands on Long Island ; but dying in a few years, even this never prospered until it was erected, several years afterwards, into the town of New Utrecht, so called out of respect to Mr. Van Werckhoven's native city in Holland.2
The accumulated grievances of the last two years had Feb. 10 already been formally brought before the States General, by Van der Donck, in a long remonstrance embodying all the complaints which, during that period, he had received from New Amsterdam. He called the attention of their High Mightinesses, at the same time, to the Hartford treaty, and charged Stuyvesant with having surrendered an immense tract of Dutch territory to his English neighbors. He called again for the confirmation of the Provisional Order of 1650, and as he was about to return to America in the spring, prayed that he should be furnished with such conclusions as would afford consolation and encouragement to the commonalty. This representation was referred to the Heer Van der Capellen and other Feb. 16. deputies. Van der Donck was called on for evidence in support of the allegations contained in his petition, and ordered to send in a description of the old boundaries of New Netherland, distinguishing those parts which had been ceded by Stuyvesant. Copies of the " Provisional Order" were again transmitted to the several chambers of
1 Alb. Rec. viii., 23, 55.
2 Alb. Rec. iv., 88. Mr. Van Werckhoven died in Holland, in 1655, whither he had returned from New Netherland, in 1654. He left Jacques Cortelyou, the private tutor of his children, to manage his estate. His children, Peter and Cornelis Jansen van Werckhoven, entered a complaint against Cortelyou, in 1658, for refusing to render an account of his stewardship. He should be first paid, said he, what was due him. Alb. Rec. viii., 191, 192.
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BOOK IV. the West India Company, with instructions to report their opinions thereupon without delay.
1652. Van der Donck lost no time in complying with the above orders. He furnished copious extracts from letters, jour- nals and resolutions, with memorials furnished him by the commonalty, all corroborative of the representations he had made against the provincial authorities.1 He also handed in a paper on the boundaries of New Netherland, explaining those claimed in 1609, the subsequent usurpa- tions of the English, and the district since given up by Stuyvesant. The last, he stated, embraced from Cape Cod to Greenwich, a distance of sixty Dutch miles, including divers commodious bays, kills, rivers and islands, " namely Stamford, Stratford, the Redhill, (New Haven,) Totolet,2 Gillfort, Kieft's Hoeck, (Saybrook,) and the beautiful Fresh River, whereupon fifty or more colonies might be planted ; also Pequatoos River, with numerous islands, bays, kills and advantageous places." The greater part of Long Island with its shores, two hundred miles in extent, was also surrendered. All the latter should have been retained, together with the main land as far as Sequin's river. The English would then have gained the territory from Cape Cod, thirty miles in length. As it was, the Dutch trade had been greatly injured, for by the treaty, the English obtained the possession and control of all the wampum manufacturers, and the Dutch must hereafter "eat oats from English hands."
Anticipating the effect of these representations, the Chamber at Amsterdam had already sought to strengthen themselves by securing the influence of the Burgomasters of their city. With this view, they addressed a memorial to the latter, in which they referred, with confidence, to the improvement the province had of late experienced in population, commerce and agriculture, though the return- ing insolence of the savages, under the impression that the Dutch were forbidden to offer them any resistance, was
1 These are not repeated here, as their substance has already been related in the chronological order in which the events occurred.
2 " Totoket," Trumbull ; "Sotoket," Hazard.
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somewhat of a drawback to the general prosperity. To CHAP. counteract this insolence, the Director-general had en -~ XI. deavored to engage the English in an alliance offensive 1652, and defensive against the Indians, but as yet was not suc- cessful. Grave disorders, they admitted, prevailed in New Netherland ; these were caused by the committee of the States General, who had provided several insolent in- dividuals with letters of safety, under which they claimed authority to perpetrate every sort of mischief, and to insti- gate every sort of malefactor against the Director-general and the Company's servants. Vice Director Van Dinclage patronized all these seditious persons, in consequence of which he had been ordered home to defend his con- duct ; but before the receipt of these orders he had re- tired along with Melyn, "the principal leader of all the factions," to Staten Island, where they set up a sort of government and court of judicature, on their own prin- ciples. The committee had also commissioned and sent out, without the Director's knowledge, one Dirck van Schelluyne, as a notary public, all which was in absolute contravention to the Company's orders and privileges, and in their opinion a serious grievance. The unlimited grant of colonies, and the excessive pre-eminences accorded to and claimed by these, were likewise prejudicial and incon- venient. For " the Patroons have become so daringly enterprising as not only to abuse their privileges, but to presume to exclude the inhabitants of New Netherland from trading in their colonies, which is not only contrary to the law of nature, but opposed to the laws and customs of the land." To remedy these abuses, the Directors asked Feb. 14. a conference, the result of which was a recommendation on the part of the Burgomasters that the authorities of New Netherland be invested with the necessary power to keep the Indians in check, and to conclude an offensive and defensive league with the English. The committee of the States General had, in their opinion, no power to grant sureté de corps to any person. As for Melyn, Van Schelluyne, and others, " who are skulking under those letters and unwilling to submit to the Company's orders,"
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HISTORY OF
BOOK they advised their prosecution according to law in New IV. Netherland ; " but if this were not deemed prudent, they 1652. should then be brought hither by compulsion-pede ligato- if they refused to come voluntarily to defend their con- duct." The deputies from the Burgomasters at the Hague were requested to support the Directors in all their reason- able claims, and to defend their privileges against all indi- viduals. Supported by this influence, the Amsterdam Chamber replied to the letter of the States General. They Feb. 23. reminded their High Mightinesses that they had already given their opinions on the Provisional Order of 1650. Since that time, they had repeated conferences with the deputies of the States, and had concluded that it was their High Mightinesses' intention to set aside the unfounded complaints of " the pretended and disaffected delegates of a few evil-disposed persons in New Netherland." They were now astonished that a plan should be revived which had lain dormant for so long a time. They concluded by hoping that nothing would be done in the matter until full information be laid before them, which could not be fur- nished except by themselves, as the government of the province in question had been conferred specially by the XIX. on the Chamber at Amsterdam.
The Maas department had already approved- of the Mar. 2. " Order" of 1650, and now recommended that all the Chambers and private persons might trade henceforward to New Netherland. They were specially favorable to the advance of fifty thousand guilders to promote emigra- tion. The settlement of the boundaries was a matter of great importance, and they insisted that in whatever ar- rangement may be agreed upon, Long Island, "lying right in front of the coast," should be retained by the Dutch. The Zealand Chamber coincided with that of the Maas, that the benefits to be derived from New Netherland should not be confined exclusively to the department of Amster- dam, but that they should be participated by all the mem- bers of the Company. It was contrary to right and law that one Chamber should monopolize the whole of that province. If the present system were changed, they would
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NEW NETHERLAND.
be happy to assist in bringing about a reform in the CHAP. government, to the utmost of their power. Until then XI. they could not interfere. The other Chambers replied in 1652. the same sense.1
Power, in redressing grievances, never anticipates public discontent. The tone of these replies and the con- tinual clamor which was kept up, satisfied the department at Amsterdam that, if they wished to retain their monopoly, they must make some concession. They had already addressed a letter to the commonalty at the Manhattans, recommending them to be more dutiful and quiet. "Some malignants had dared to allege that this letter was a forgery." It became now necessary to " silence such false and calum- nious fomenters of rebellion ;" with this view, another letter was sent out to the people, communicating "the good in- April 4. tentions" which the Chamber at Amsterdam entertained towards them ; and thus at length, after years of heart- burning, a few partial concessions were, grudgingly, con- sented to. The export duty of eight per cent. on tobacco was removed ; the passage money to New Netherland was reduced from fifty to thirty guilders ; and, in addition to the privilege of trading to the Brazils, the colonists were, henceforward, to be allowed to " sail to the coast of Angola and Africa, to procure there as many negroes as they might be willing to employ." Supplies of ammunition were sent out for distribution "at a decent price" to the inhabitants ; the establishment of a public school was assented to, and the city tavern was to be appropriated to a school-house " if the same were practicable ;" the Reverend Samuel Drisius, a clergyman of piety and parts, qualified to preach in English, French and Dutch, was sent out to assist " that worthy old servant, the Rev. Megapolensis."" " As we are informed," continue the Directors, "that there still remain
1 Hol. Doc. vi., 1-112.
2 Dominie Drisius, (or Dries,) was at this time about forty years of age, and unmarried. He had sojourned some time in England, which country he now quitted, in consequence of its disturbed state. His salary was fixed at 1450 gl. or $580. He subsequently married Lysbeth Juriaensen, (daughter of Skipper Juriaen Andriessen and Jannetin Jans,) widow of Isaac Greveraet. " Elisa- beth Drisius," and " Mother Drisius," are both mentioned in a tax list of the city of New York for 1677.
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