USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 19
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" Although we flattered ourselves with the hope that some arrangement would have been made between our govern- ment and the commonwealth of England, we have been disappointed, as that republic, notwithstanding all our honorable and just proposals, did not hesitate, whilst our Ambassadors were yet there, to arrest all our vessels, with- out paying any regard whence these came; to take the crews from others, who, ignorant of the present state of affairs, had entered their harbors ; to arrest these vessels, to our great loss, not permitting the departure of a single one-not even of the men-of-war arrived from the Brazils. So that when the Ambassadors of our Republic complained
strike sail to them, which had never been refused by any nation .- CLARENDON. Aitzema, iii., 713, gives the Instructions to Van Tromp on the above occasion. He was to protect Dutch ships from being visited and searched, by force of arms if necessary. It was the first struggle against the arrogant claim which Eng- land set up of its " undoubted right to the dominion of the surrounding seas."
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to Parliament in vain of these grievances, and received CHAP. only empty words in lieu of redress, they were recalled, 1. and are actually returned home. It appears to us from the 1652. formidable equipments and preparations, principally by our government, that war will be soon declared, especially as our Admiral Tromp has been seen about the north, with about one hundred sail, whilst the British Admiral Blake was steering the same course. May it please the Al- mighty to bless us with a happy issue, and to crush British pride !
" This unexpected rupture, which we have not courted, induced many merchants trading to New Netherland, to solicit us to send an express to your Honor, so that you and the colonists might be informed of this state of things. Wherefore we have considered this plan, and agreed with them that they should freight and dispatch a swift-sailing galliot. Although we do not doubt but that you shall have agreed about the limits with those of New England, in conformity with our intentions, or entered into a more close union and harmonious compact with them, as once before, so that we have nothing to fear from New England ; we consider it, nevertheless, an imperious duty to recommend you to arm and discipline all freemen, sol- diers and sailors ; to appoint the officers and rendezvous ; to supply them with ammunition, and to inspect the fortifi- cations of New Amsterdam, Forts Orange and Casimir. To this end we send you, for your protection, a fresh supply of ammunition. We warn you not to place an unbounded confidence in our English inhabitants, but to keep a watchful eye on them, so that you may not be deceived by a show of service, through their sinister machi- nations, as we have been before deceived. If it happen, which we will not yet suppose, that those New Englanders did incline to take a part in these broils, and injure our good inhabitants, then we should advise your Honor to engage the Indians in your cause, who, we are informed, are not partial to the English. You will employ, further, all such means of defence as prudence may require for your security, paying attention that the merchants and
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BOOK inhabitants convey their valuable property within the forts. V. Treat them with kindness, so that they may be encouraged 1652. to remain there, and to abandon the thought of returning hither, which would cause the depopulation of the country. It is therefore advisable to surround the villages, at least the principal and most opulent, with breastworks and pali- sades to prevent surprise."
But the vessel by which these instructions were sent out, was captured-" God help it !"-by the English, who thus obtained a full knowledge of the plans of the Dutch. The Directors at Amsterdam, no way deterred Dec. 13. by this accident, sent out a duplicate of their dispatch ; but having received advices, in the mean time, that harmony continued between the Dutch and those of New England, they expressed the hope that it would be in the Director- general's power to avoid any broils with the latter. He was instructed, at the same time, to use all honest means to cultivate good neighborship with them, and to promote commerce, principally with the Virginians, "which is the way through which the Manhattans must prosper, the pop- ulation increase, and trade and navigation flourish. For when these are once established on a permanent footing ; when the vessels of New Netherland ride on every part of the ocean ; then numbers, now looking towards that coast with an eager eye, shall be lured to embark thither. It is needless to warn you," add, however, the Directors, "that you will remain on your guard, so as not to be deceived by them through artful wiles. You will secure and strengthen your fortifications, and keep an ever-watching eye, so that you may employ all those means which God and Nature have prepared for your defence."1
Information had now been received by the Patroon and Co-directors of Rensselaerswyck of the high-handed meas- ures which Stuyvesant had exercised in the early part of Dec. 16. this year in regard of their colonie. They thereupon sent in to the Amsterdam Chamber a remonstrance, complain- ing, Ist. That the Director-general had dared to intrude
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 83-85, 87, 91; Hol. Doc. vi., 165, 167, 176, 177, 190, 191.
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into their colonie, and had commanded the Patroon's flag CHAP. to be hauled down; 2d. That he had caused timber to be ~ I. cut on the complainants' lands, without either their knowl- 1652. edge or permission ; 3d. That he had claimed for the Com- pany the right of jurisdiction and property over all the land within a circumference of one hundred and fifty rods of Fort Orange, where he had erected a court of justice, notwithstanding the soil had been purchased from the right owners by the Patroon, with the jurisdictions thereunto belonging; whereby the colonists were reduced to a state of dependency, absolved from their oaths, "transformed from freemen to vassals, and incited to disregard their former solemn compacts and their Lord and master ;" 4th. He had, moreover, discharged Sheriff Swart from his oath of office, and obliged him to swear allegiance to the Com- pany ; 5th. Demanded copies of all the rolls, protocols, judg- ments, resolutions and papers relative to the colonie and its affairs ; 6th. Ordered his commissary to force Van Slech- tenhorst's house, and to toll the bell at the publication of his illegal placards ; 7th. Arrested by force and arms the Director of the colonie ; had him conveyed to the Manhat- tans, where he illegally detained him in custody ; 8th. Taxed the colonie to swell the Company's revenues ; licensed those who quit the Patroon's service to sell articles of contraband to the savages; and in addition to the ex- action of the tithes, had raised a tax by farming out the excise on wines and beers-" thus in every respect and everywhere using violence and infringing rights, jurisdic- tions and pre-eminences, apparently determined to take our goods and blood, contrary to all laws, human and divine ; declaring, over and above all this, that he is con- tinued in his administration solely in the hope and con- sideration that before his departure he should ruin this colonie."' The Patroon and Co-directors solemnly avowed
1 We, the undersigned, certify that it happened in December, Anno 1651, when M. Joannes Dyckman was in conversation with us concerning the Heer General Petrus Stuyvesant, and the differences between his Honor and the colonie, that he answered thereupon, that the Heer General was continued in his office for no other purpose than to plague the colonie. This we declare to have occurred, and are ready to confirm the same by a solemn oath. Done in
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BOOK their intention "to employ all lawful remedies to preserve V. and maintain their rights and privileges, and to protect 1652. their colonists against such lawless aggressions," and insisted that the West India Company should forthwith order their Director to abandon these attempts, repeal his placards, and compensate for the injuries which he had inflicted. But if the Directors were of opinion that they had any just cause of complaint, they were then called on to ap- pear in any court of justice to make good their pretensions before "our common judges." Failing to answer cate- gorically the above accusations within four-and-twenty hours, the interested parties threatened "to complain where they expect they shall be heard."
The Directors answered, in vague terms, that they were unwilling to commit an infraction on any person's privi- Dec. 20. leges ; but this not being deemed satisfactory, the Patroon and his friends addressed a memorial to their High Mighti- nesses the States General, of whom they demanded justice and redress. 'This paper was immediately sent to the de- 1653. partment of Amsterdam, who, after considerable delay, Jan. 17. returned a reply to some of the charges brought against their agent in New Netherland. They denied all knowl- edge of the Patroon's flag having been hauled down; of his colonists having been released from their oaths ; of any of his lots having been taken away; and of the establish- ment of a court of justice in Fort Orange. The timber was removed from a place so defined as to injure no one, and all complaints against the extension of the jurisdiction of Fort Orange were without foundation. That jurisdiction was determined " before the colonie of Rensselaerswyck was granted." "The limits of the colonie were, there- fore, fixed above and below the fort, under whose walls the petitioners were afterwards permitted to shelter them- selves from the savages ; but from this concession no right or title can be imagined or acquired." Gerrit Swart was not discharged from his oath to the Patroon. He was only obliged to take a second one to the Company, "re-
the Colonie Rensselaerswyck, the 16th March, Aº. 1652. B. V. Slechtenhorst, Director ; A. van Curler. Rensselaerswyck MSS.
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maining subject to both masters." The demand of the CHAP. rolls and papers belonging to the colonie, as well as the ~ I. levying tithes and excise therein, was authorized by the 1653. charter. As Van Slechtenhorst would not "toll the bell," on the publication of the placards, it was unavoidably necessary that should be executed by others ; and his arrest was imperatively demanded, in order "to curb the insuffer- able insolence, effrontery and abuse of power," of which he was guilty. The authorizing the sale of arms and ammunition to the savages was acknowledged. “ It was deemed prudent that it should be now and then permitted."
Having thus disposed in one way or another, and as best they could, of the charges which were brought against them, the Directors now assumed the offensive, and pre- sented against the Patroon and Co-directors of Rensselaers- wyck a number of counter-charges, in justification of the measures they had adopted, or as an offset to those accu- sations made against themselves.
They had, it was averred, exceeded their lawful limits, and were now called on to record their boundary lines in the land office of the Company, otherwise the latter would have the survey made by its own orders. They had attempted, against all law, to extend their lines along the North River, to monopolize the trade, to the ruin of private persons. They refused to permit any vessel to pass by a certain house called Rensselaers-stein, and claimed with- out any foundation the privilege of staple right. They exacted seven per cent. duty on each beaver and five per cent. on other goods, enforcing these pretensions with cannon shot, which they discharged into yachts that refused to come to. They have endeavored, "by perverse machinations," to possess themselves of Fort Orange, and when frustrated herein, they undertook to lease lots in its vicinity and erect buildings thereupon. " They had dared to grant commissions to individuals to sail to the coast of Florida ;" and forbade colonists to move within the Com- pany's limits on pain of corporal punishment, confiscation of property and banishment ; to cut or cart wood for the inhabitants of Fort Orange ; to pay to the latter what they VOL. II. 14
1
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BOOK owed them; or to appeal from any judgments over fifty V. guilders, as they were privileged to do. They declined to 1653. furnish any extracts of their proceedings or judgments ; to make returns to writs of appeal; to publish placards or permit such publication by others, but tear them by force from the hands of the court messengers and destroy their seals ; and if any writ be served by the Company's officers, then they incite the parties summoned not to appear. Over and above all this, the oath which the colonists are compelled to take is " seditious and mutinous," for no notice is taken therein, either of their High Mightinesses or of the Company. No report has been made of the state of the colonie, as should have been annually done, nor have the instructions issued for the administration of the colonie been ever communicated, as the charter required. "From all which flow, as a natural consequence, an insolent and overbearing demeanor on the part of their com- manders to their inhabitants ; insufferable protests, injuries, menaces, disputes and provocations against the Company's ministers ; and, lastly, a general disobedience of all the Company's commands and ordinances, to such a degree that they would not permit the Director and Council to proclaim even a day of prayer in the colonie in the same manner as in all other parts of New Netherland."1
Whilst all parties were in this state of turmoil and agitation in the United Provinces, no less excitement prevailed at the Manhattans. After a protracted strug- pal gov- Munici- gle of many years its citizens had, at length, acquired ernm't municipal privileges, and a Court of Justice, to consist in Am- sterdam of a Schout, Burgomasters and Schepens.2 To understand,
1 Alb. Rec viii., 59-63, 215-221 ; Hol. Doc. vi., 303-306 ; vii., 1-24.
2 Dunlap, in his History of New York, (Ed. 1839,) i., 40, 46, gives 1623, or 1625, (indeed, some infer, 1621,) as the date of the first Incorporation of the city of New Amsterdam. He even goes so far as to refer to certain Articles, which he publishes, ii., App. F, as the charter by right of which the citizens chose their municipal officers. These errors are so palpable that they would not need correction, were it not that they have misled some already, and may mislead more. The charter Dunlap publishes in his Appendix, (under date 1623,) is that granted to the colonie which the city of Amsterdam planted, in 1656, on the South River, and has not the least reference to New Amsterdam T+ __: 11 L found in its proper place in Chapter VII. of this Book.
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fully, the duties and powers of these several officers, it CHAP. will be necessary to turn to the city of Amsterdam, and I. examine the constitution of its government, and the source 1653. whence its several branches derived their existence. That government consisted of one Schout, four Burgomasters and nine Schepens, besides a council of thirty-six members. The fourteen first-named officers composed a board or college, and were styled " The Lords of the Court of the City of Amsterdam." In these was vested the right to make all city laws and ordonnances.
The Schout or Sheriff, the nature of whose office has Schout. already been sufficiently explained, was originally appoint- ed by the Counts of Holland, or their deputy. In the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the city purchased the right of appointment, which it has since reserved. This officer assisted in the enactment of the city ordonnances ; he was the public prosecutor on its behalf, and executed the sen- tences of the Court of Schepens. All constables and deputy sheriffs were under his superintendence.
The office of Burgomaster, though not so ancient as that Burgo- of Schepen, was esteemed the highest and most important in the city. It dates from the fourteenth century. On the 31st January of each year, the electors of burgomasters- that is, all who had already served as such, or as schepens -were summoned by those in office, to assemble on the following morning at the town-hall, to nominate three new, instead of the three outgoing functionaries. Those adjoined a fourth unto themselves. The burgomasters were, ex- their officio, the chief rulers of the city ; the principal church- duties. wardens; the guardians of the poor, of widows and orphans ; and without their consent, no woman or minor could execute any legal instrument. They held, in trust, all city property and managed the same. They also farmed the city excise, and assisted in the enactment of city laws. No distress could be levied on a citizen's property unless one of them were present; their con- sent was necessary before sentence of death could be pronounced on a burgher, and in their presence only could such sentence be executed ; for they were " the fathers of
masters
how elected;
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BOOK the burghery." In their capacity as guardians of the v. public peace, they had certain authority over the military, 1653. and power to quell riots. They were keepers of the city seal, and in their names were all public instruments drawn. Each burgomaster attended, daily, in rotation, during three months of the year, in the city hall, for the dispatch of the public business ; and at the end of his quarter called a meet- ing of the acting and ancient burgomasters, to whom he reported the state of the city. In this particular the offi- ciating burgomaster resembled somewhat our mayor.
Sche- pens ; The office of Schepen was first established in the year 1270. The city council assembled on the 28th of January in each year, and nominated fourteen citizens, whose names their were forwarded by the burgomasters to the Stadtholder, election after they had pricked or designated such as they consid- ered best qualified for the office. The selection having been made, the new schepens entered on their duties on the second of February, or Candlemas day. They consti- and powers. tuted a court of criminal and civil jurisdiction. In the former case they could inflict, with the consent of the bur- gomasters, capital punishment. In the latter, their juris- diction was almost unlimited ; subject, in certain cases, to an appeal to the Supreme Court at the Hague. It was their province to appoint curators to vacant estates ; to author- ize the sale of minors' property ; to issue interdicts ; to provide for the burial of friendless strangers ; and to per- mit the erection of " dangerous buildings" within the city. Bailbonds, conveyances, mortgages, and such-like instru- ments, were executed before them. They acted, also, in certain cases, as arbitrators between citizen and citizen. Thus it will be perceived, that whilst the office of schout and burgomaster was chiefly executive, that of schepen was judicial. Assembled together, they exercised legis- appoint- lative powers for municipal purposes.1 How
Amster- dam.
ed in New The powers of these officers in New Amsterdam were far more limited. Though the instructions plainly laid
1 Wagenaar Beschryving der stad Amsterdam iii., 269, et seq ; Van Leeu- wen's Com. 12; Van der Linden, 379. Consult also Bilderdyk, Vad. Histo- rie ; Kok Vaderlandsche Wordenboek, Art. Amsterdam.
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down, that they were to be "elected," and to constitute a CHAP. " court similar to that which exists in this city." Stuyve- I. sant retained their appointment in his own hands, and 1653. gave them early to understand, that their existence did not in any way diminish the power and authority of him- self and Council "to make ordinances or publish particular interdicts even for New Amsterdam."
On the feast of Candlemas, or the 2d of February, 1653, Feb. 2. the Director-general issued a proclamation, appointing Arent van Hattem and Martin Krygier burgomasters; Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist, Maximilian van Gheel, Allard Anthony, Willem Beekman and Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven, schepens. The city was, however, not allowed a Schout of its own : Cornelis van Tienhoven, the Company's Fiscaal, was commissioned to act as the city's sheriff. A similar infraction of the city privileges was committed on the appointment of Secretary. " Ever since Amsterdam had burgomasters, the city secretary was ap- pointed by them." This rule was, however, no precedent for Stuyvesant. He nominated Jacob Kip clerk to the board, at a salary of two hundred and fifty guilders ($100) a year.1
In the transaction of public business, the burgomasters and schepens sat at first together, and performed the same duties. They constituted a court of sessions " for the hear- ing and determining differences and disputes between parties as far as it may be practicable." Yet their jurisdiction was
1 Alb. Rec. vi., 54, 60. Jacobus Kip was born in Amsterdam, 16th May, 1631, and married, the year following his appointment to the above office, Maria La Montagne, (8th March, 1654,) then in her seventeenth year. He was ap- pointed Schepen of New Amsterdam in 1659, and filled that office also in 1662, 1663, 1665, 1673, and 1674. The family had a farm of 150 acres on the East River, on what is still known as Kip's Bay. Jacob erected on this farm a house, in 1655, which was rebuilt in 1696 ; it was for a short time, during the Revolution, Washington's head quarters. Five generations of the family have been born here. As everything in this transitory world must pass away, sooner or later, scarcely a vestige is left of the Kip mansion, the Corporation having ordered the opening of Thirty-fifth st., on the line of which it stood. Like many other families of New York, the Kips were divided in politics at the period of the Revolution, and Samuel Kip became a captain in Col. Delancey's regiment of Loyalist Rangers. He was severely wounded in a skirmish with the Whig forces in Westchester Co., yet survived the war several years. That portion of Nassau st., N. Y., between Ann and Spruce sts., was originally called " Kip st.," after one of this family.
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BOOK not well defined. They tried actions for the recovery of V. debt, for defamation of character, for breaches of marriage 1653. promise, and prosecutions for assault and theft, and commit- ted to prison for contempt of court. They summoned before them parents and guardians accused of withholding their consent, without sufficient cause, to the marriage of their children or wards, and if they thought proper, obliged the former to withdraw their opposition to the desired union. It was their province also to grant passports to those who were leaving the city, either for another country, or another part of the province. The proceedings before this court were in writing. Witnesses were examined on interrogatories, and from its decisions in certain cases an appeal lay to the Director-general and Council. Its regular sessions were held once in two weeks, or oftener, as occa- sion required ; the court opening at nine o'clock in the morning and adjourning at noon. The absent magis- trates were fined six stivers for the first half hour, twelve for the second, and forty stivers if absent during the whole meeting. As the attendance of farmers was inconvenient during the season of harvest, there was a vacation for three weeks, commencing about the middle of July. There was also a short intermission during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The annual installa- tion of the new magistracy was opened with a long and solemn prayer, in which the blessing of the Most High was invoked on their deliberations and on their acts.1
This new power in the government came into existence at an important crisis in public affairs. The parent state was at war with that country to which the English colonies were most closely connected, and it was important to maintain peaceful relations with these powerful neigh- Feb. 26. bors. The Council immediately resolved to write to New England and Virginia, to express to those governments the sincere esteem which the authorities of New Nether- land and the West India Company entertained towards them, and to propose a continuance of peaceful com-
1 New Amsterdam Rec.
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mercial intercourse.1 The Director-general not only com- CHAP. municated to the Burgomasters the letters of the Direct- I. ors, but informed them of certain preparations then making 1652. in New England, but whether offensive or defensive Mar. 13. was not known, in view of which it was unanimously determined that the citizens should from this date mount guard every night at the city tavern and court-house, and that the fort should be thoroughly repaired.2 But as this could not contain all the inhabitants, and as all the houses could not be defended, it was determined, further, to enclose the principal part of the city with palisades and a breastwork to be thrown up from a ditch three feet wide and two feet deep. Within these defences all the people were to retire, with their goods and families, in case of imminent danger. The city magistrates were at the same time ordered to devise ways and means to defray the ex- penses attendant on these precautionary measures. They proposed to raise six thousand guilders, to be collected from Mar. 15. the commonalty when the defences should be completed. In the mean time the money was to be borrowed from the wealthier portion of the citizens.3 Allard Anthony, one of
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