USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 28
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1 Relation des Années 1652, 1653., 46-77; Creuxius, 679, 680 ; Charlevoix, i., 314-316.
2 Relation, 1653, 1654., 51.
3 Relation, 1653, 1654., 13, 14.
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accordingly allowed to accompany them. He had not CHAP. been gone many days, when a deputation of the. Kayinge- VI. hagas, or Mohawks, strengthened with letters from the 1654. Dutch of Beverwyck, arrived to make a similar request. July 4. They were exceedingly disappointed when they learned that the Onondagoes had forestalled them. " We of the Five Nations have but one cabin," said their orator ; " we make but one fire, and have always dwelt under the same roof.1 Is it not then by the door that the house should be entered, and not by the chimney and roof, unless you be a thief and desire to surprise the inmates ? You do not enter by the door, which is on the first floor. We, Mohawks, are that door. You enter by the roof and chimney, for you begin with the Onondagoes. Are you not afraid that the smoke will blind you, as our fire is still burning ? Do you not fear to fall from the top to the bottom, having nothing solid to rest your feet on ?" Means were taken to pacify them, and they retired for a season to their homes.
Father Le Moyne was, meanwhile, far on his journey to the country of the Onondagoes. He sojourned among that tribe some ten days, and crowned his mission, on the 16th of August, by. the discovery of the rich and exhaustless Aug. 16. Salt Springs for which that district has been so long and so justly celebrated .?
The limits between Fort Orange and the colonie were all this time undetermined. Some confusion as to jurisdic- tion necessarily ensued, to remove which the Director-
1 From all time these Five Iroquois Nations called themselves in their own language, Hotinnonchiendi-that is, the complete cabin, (la cabane achevée,) as if they were but one family. Rel. 1653-4, 54. Kayingehaga (says Megapolensis) is the name the Mohawks give themselves. Letter to Classis of Amsterdam.
2 This discovery is thus noted in his Journal: "Le 16. Nous arrivons à l'entrée d'un petit lac, dans vn grand basin a demy seché ; nous goustons de l'eau d'vne source, qu'ils n'osent boire, disants qu'il y a dedans vn demon qui la rend puante ; en ayant gousté, ie trouvay que c'estoit vne fontaine d'eau salée, et en effet nous en fismes du sel aussi naturel que celuy de la mer ; dont nous portons une monstre à Quebec. Ce lac est très poissonneux en truites saulmonnées et autres poissons." Relation 1653, 1654., 91. Four years after this, Père Le Moyne communicated his discovery to Dominie Megapolensis at New Amsterdam. But "whether this [information] be true, or whether it be a Jesuit lie, I do not determine," adds the Dominie in his letter to the Classis at Amsterdam.
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BOOK v. general called again on the Patroon's agents to fix on their point of departure, as he was willing to allow them, agree- 1654. ably to the charter, four miles on one side, or two on each April 16. bank of the river, " without the limits of Fort Orange." The magistrates of the colonie being unprovided with in- structions from their superiors, requested delay, and Stuy- vesant seized an opportunity which offered, shortly after, to enlarge his jurisdiction. The court of Rensselaerswyck was about to farm the excise, and demanded how far they May 13. could collect this impost. The answer was an order to the court of Fort Orange to collect the duties on all wines, beers and spirituous liquors sold by retail " within a circuit of one thousand rods of the fort." The colonie was hereby deprived of a very important source of revenue, and fresh fuel was heaped on the old fires of litigation and trouble. As if the elements of strife were not sufficiently numerous, a claim for tenths was also put in. Counter orders were given by the Patroon's officers to their vintners, to refuse the payment of the excise, on the ground that the general government defrayed none of the local charges ; and as for the tenths, " neither the inhabitants of the colonie nor those of Beverwyck could be induced either by monitions or persuasions to pay them."1
1655. Commissary Dyckman, whose violent demeanor might, long ere this, have justified doubts of the soundness of his mind, became now so unquestionably insane that the magistrates were forced to represent his condition to the June 21. Supreme Council, who thereupon appointed Johannes de Decker Vice-Director,2 " to preside in Fort Orange and
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 213 ; ix., 121-125, 128, 129.
2 Alb. Rec. x., 68. Jan de Decker, for several years a notary public at Schie- dam, having connections in the Amsterdam Chamber, and being a young man of sound judgment and high character, was sent out by the Company to New Netherland, in November, 1654; he arrived April, 1655, as supercargo of the ship Black Eagle, with instructions to receive the first vacant office. These recom- mendations having been renewed in the spring, he was accordingly commission- ed Vice Director of Fort Orange. In the following May, orders were sent to appoint him Receiver-general and member of the Council, but his private affairs calling him home, he returned to Holland, December, 1656, where he married the daughter of Jacob van Belcamp. With her he returned to New Netherland, May, 1657, as Receiver-general and member of the Council, at a salary of 78 gl. per month, and 200 gl. for board. In April, 1662, his father-in-law applied, at his
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the village of Beverwyck, in the court of justice of the com- CHAP. missaries aforesaid, to administer all the affairs of police VI. and justice, as circumstances may require, in conformity 1655. to the instructions given by the Director-general and Council, and to promote these for the best service of the country and the prosperity of the inhabitants."
daughter's request, for Mr. De Decker's discharge from the Company's service. This caused his employers much regret, who expressed a hope that he would be prevailed on to remain in this country. He was afterwards employed, in 1663, in visiting the Esopus as member of the Council, and attending to the interests of that settlement ; after which, he was sent to Virginia to reclaim the Company's ship, " The Arms of Amsterdam," which an English privateer had captured on her voyage from Guinea with a cargo of slaves, and carried into the Chesa- peake. He remained there half a year, but returned to New Netherland without accomplishing the object of his mission, having quarrelled, it is said, with the authorities of that place. Some misunderstanding occurred between him and Stuyvesant, to whom he wrote, in July, what the latter considered an "igno- minious and insufferably harsh letter, filled with false accusations and calum- nies." The approach of the English left no time to the parties to follow up the quarrel. The country surrendered to Nicolls. Mr. De Decker, being one of the Dutch commissioners, signed the treaty of capitulation, 7th September, 1664, at the close of which month he was banished, for reasons set forth in the following order: " Whereas the Heer John de Decker, late of the Councill for the Dutch West India Company in New Yorke, did (contrary to the 14th Art. of Surren- der) actually travaile from hence and trafficke with powder and negroes unto ffort Albany and other places upon Hudson River, without requesting or having a certificate from mee, or liberty so to doe ; and being fully informed that then and there he did endeavor by discourses to alienate the mindes of H. M. Dutch subjects from that happy reconcilement without bloodshed, uppon articles so lately made, and that he did committ these misdemeanors before that ffort Al- bany was surrendered unto his Majesty's obedience, the consequences whereof are contrary to the peace of this government ; I have, therefore, thought fitt to order and appoint, and doe by these presents order and appoint that the said John de Decker shall within the space of ten days transport himselfe out of this gov- ernment. Given under my hand and seale the 30th day of September, 1664, at ffort James, &c. R. NICOLLS." On the 8th of October he received permission to sail with eight negroes for any of the French plantations of Martinico, Guada- loupe, or St. Christopher's, and from thence to Holland. There was due to him at this period 7350 gl. from the West India Company, and he had besides some land on Staten Island. He complained to the Duke of York, and obtained a reference on his petition to Gov. Lovelace, with which he arrived in New York in January, 1671. He succeeded in obtaining a grant for 120 acres of land on Staten Island, " though according to the strictness of the laws and cus- toms of the country his right thereunto is lapsed." He was bound to settle this land within a year. For the arrears of salary which he claimed, he was re- ferred to the West India Company. It is presumed that he remained in this country, where many of his descendants are still to be found, who have given the name of Deckerville to a settlement in northern New Jersey. The whole of his official correspondence whilst Vice Director of Fort Orange, is still among the Dutch Records in the County Clerk's Office, Albany. The reference of the Duke of York is in the Register of Wills, Surrogate's Office, New York.
VOL. II. 20
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BOOK V. Shortly after the installation of the new Vice Director, Father Le Moyne took occasion to pay his respects to the 1655. Dutch at Beverwyck. He was received with much Sep. respect by the Hollanders; and the Mohawks whom he visited for the purpose of concluding a treaty, on the part of the French, evinced more than ordinary gratification at seeing him.' But the Father had not well left the country Nov. 18. when a body of one hundred of these Indians presented them- selves at Fort Orange. They were on the eve of setting . forth on a war excursion against the Canada Indians, and fearing " that the French had poisoned the ears of their Dutch brothers against them," now asked the latter to re- main neuter. They complained, at the same time, that when they visited the fort, they did not experience as much hospitality and feasting as the Dutch did when they came to their castles ; they could not have the smallest repairs done to their guns unless they had wampum to pay in re- turn, which treatment was not such as a brother should receive from a brother. The authorities assured them that they should observe a perfect neutrality, as they had no concern with their quarrels with other Indians. When they visited the Mohawk country they went few in num- ber, and should their brothers observe the same rule, they should be lodged and entertained in a manner becoming their rank. In regard to the other subject of complaint, they could not interfere. Every Dutchman was obliged to earn his bread, and no man could be obliged to serve another for nothing. This being the rule among Chris- tians, their brothers could not justly complain if they were treated as their other brethren. Presents were duly exchanged. The Indians laid their wampum belts at the feet of the white men, and the latter furnished powder and lead in return ; " all which they accepted with their cus- tomary barbarous applaudings," and departed.2
1 Relation, 1655, 1656., 7-16.
2 Present on this occasion, Commissary De Decker and the magistrates of both the courts, viz. : Rutger Jacobsen, Andries Herperts, Volckert Jansen, J. B. van Rensselaer, A. van Curler, J. van Twiller, J. Hap, H. Jochemsen, and Philip Pietersen Schuyler, &c. Fort Orange Rec.
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The church erected in 1643 had long since become in- CHAP. adequate to the accommodation of the community, and it VI. had been determined in the course of the preceding year 1656. to erect a new building. To assist this good work, the Patroon and co-directors subscribed one thousand guilders, Feb. 18. or four hundred dollars,1 and fifteen hundred guilders were appropriated from the fines imposed by the court at Fort Orange. A site, at the junction of what is now State street and Broadway, was selected, and in the early part of the summer, Rutger Jacobsen, one of the magistrates, laid the June 2. corner-stone of the sacred edifice, in presence of the au- thorities, both of the town and colonie, and of the assembled inhabitants. A temporary pulpit was, at first, erected for the use of the minister, but the settlers subscribed twenty- five beavers to purchase a more splendid one in Holland. The Chamber at Amsterdam added seventy-five guilders to this sum, for " the beavers were greatly damaged ;" and " with a view to inspire the congregation with more ardent zeal," presented them in the course of the next year with a bell " to adorn their newly constructed little church.""
The difficulties about the excise in the colonie remaining still unsettled, orders were sent up by the Director and May 13. Council to arrest and convey the contumacious tapsters to New Amsterdam. De Decker accordingly invited one of them to his house, where, on his arrival, he made him May 24. prisoner. The sloop in which he was to be conveyed down the river not being ready to sail until the next day, De Decker, for greater security, lodged his prisoner through the night in the same bed with himself. Through the conni- vance of the soldiers on guard, the tapster contrived to es- cape from the fort on the morrow, and repaired forth with to the Patroon's house. Hither De Decker followed and or- dered him to return to the fort, but he refused. The other tapsters now made common cause with the fugitive, and arming themselves, remained together to protect each
1 Rensselaerswyck MSS.
2 Alb. Rec. iv., 233. A fragment of this little bell is still in possession of one of the Dutch Reformed churches at Albany. It bears the inscription " Anno 1601."
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BOOK other from the emissaries of the law. The Vice Director, v. esteeming it an absurdity to suffer an asylum for fugitives 1656. from justice to exist in the very centre of his jurisdiction, was preparing to execute his orders by force, when John May 26. B. van Rensselaer pledged himself to repair to the Man- hattans and arrange the matter with the supreme authori- ties. To avoid bloodshed, De Decker acquiesced in this proposal ; but another order arrived a few days after- wards, directing him to send down the tavern-keepers forthwith. In obedience to these instructions, he pro- ceeded with an armed posse to the houses of the par- ties, where he again met Van Rensselaer and " his asso- May 31. ciates." He summoned them, in the name of the Director and Council, to surrender and accompany him to the fort. " Whereupon they each answered, 'There sits the Lord he will answer for me.'" Van Rensselaer acquiesced herein, and again bound himself to produce the tapsters when required. De Decker, finding it useless to continue the discussion, protested, and Mr. Van Rensselaer proceeded June 20 to New Amsterdam. Here, on his arrival, he presented a strong remonstrance against the course which the govern- ment was pursuing. Their exactions, he insisted, were contrary to the sixth article of the charter. Instead of the Directors having any claim on the Patroon, the con- trary was the fact. The Company had guarantied to de- fend the colonists against all violence, yet the latter had thrice come forward, at great expense, to assist Fort Or- ange : first, during the war with the French savages ; sec- ondly, in the troubles with the English ; and lately during the unhappy misunderstanding with the Indians around the Manhattans. Whenever there was any prospect of trouble, they were the first to appease the savages by presents. The losses which the latter inflicted on the colonie, by the killing of cows, horses, and other cattle, amounted annually to several thousand guilders ; and, in addition, the Patroon and co-directors maintained, at their own expense, all the ministers and officers of the colonie. In the face of these facts, it was manifestly unjust to seize now on the excise, and to insist on the payment, also, of tenths. How-
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ever, to prevent all further disturbance, he was willing to CHAP. permit the payment of the former, under protest, if the ~ VI. Director and Council pledged themselves to refund the 1656. money, should a final decision be given against them by impartial judges, either here or in Holland.
This remonstrance was, at once, pronounced "frivolous" June 27. by the Director-general and Council, whose "high office and quality permit them not to stoop so low as to enter the lists with their subjects and vassals, much less to answer their frivolous and unfounded protests with a pusil- lanimous diffidence." Their duty was rather "to correct such absurd assertions, and to punish the offenders." Wherefore, as a public example, the protestor was fined twenty guilders.
Having thus, as they considered, vindicated their dignity, Van Rensselaer was informed that his colonists were bound equally with other settlers in the province to con- tribute to the public burthens, not only by the very nature of civilized government, but by Art. xviii. of the charter of 1629 ; and this they ought to do, without suspecting any in- fraction on their privileges or jurisdiction. The excise due from this colonie, which amounted, by estimate, to fifteen hundred guilders, must therefore be paid, together with all damages which may have accrued by the delay. The tavern-keepers must, moreover, submit to the guaging of their stock as often as the same may be required ; and as John Baptist van Rensselaer was, himself, the original cause that the excise is resisted, he was called on to give a bond of three thousand guilders, for the personal appear- ance of the " contumacious tavern-keepers ;" otherwise he was to remain at the Manhattans under civil arrest.
The Director and Council also insisted that the colonie was obliged to pay the tithes. If Mr. Van Rensselaer would agree with some of his colonists on a round sum, in lieu of these, it would be accepted until instructions should be received from Holland; if the Directors or arbitra- tors should decide afterwards that the colonie was not subject to tenths, the amount paid should be reimbursed. The assertions that the colonists assisted the Company
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BOOK in its difficulties " were made, but not proved." It is true V. they promised to assist in putting Fort Orange in a state 1656. of repair, at the time of the troubles with the English ; but it was not less true, that after having given three or four days' labor, "they left us to shift for ourselves." The Director and Council were entirely ignorant of being under any obligations to them "during the late troubles." July 6. This rejoinder was followed by a proclamation, ordering all the towns and colonies in the province not to remove their crops before they settled with the Company's com- missaries for the tenths. A copy of this placard was sent for publication to the authorities of Rensselaerswyck, but they refused to publish it.
It was during this misunderstanding that the " contuma- cious tapsters," having been guarantied by the Director and court of the colonie against damage, arrived at the Manhattans to answer for their conduct. The plea of residence in the colonie and of acting according to superior Aug. 7. orders availed them nothing. One was fined two hundred pounds, failing payment of which he was to be banished ; the other was mulcted eight hundred guilders. The Patroon subsequently made good both these fines. The difficulties about the tenths were not settled until July, 1658, when the colonie compounded for them by the yearly payment of three hundred schepels of wheat. Commissary De Decker being now about to return to Holland, resigned his office, and Johannes La Montagne, hitherto one of the Sep. 28. Council, was commissioned Vice Director of Fort Orange. Johannes Provoost became Secretary, and Ludovicus Cobbes court messenger.1 The Vice Director's house at this period was an old building within the fort twenty- six feet nine inches long, Rhineland measure ; two sto- ries high, constructed of boards one inch thick, with a roof " in the form of a pavilion," covered with old shingles. Under this house was a cellar "as long as the house was
1 Alb. Rec. x., 68, xi., 409, 410, 415-420, 445-447, 466-470, 488-499 ; xiii., 72; 221-223 ; xviii., 83; Rensselaerswyck MSS. ; Fort Orange Rec. The number of furs exported this year from Fort Orange and vicinity, amounted to 34,840 beaver, and 300 otter skins.
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broad." The first floor was divided into two compartments. CHAP. At the north end was a chamber, sixteen or seventeen feet VI. broad ; at the south end an entry ten feet wide. The space 1656. on the second floor was one undivided room, directly under the roof, without a chimney, to which access was had by a straight ladder, through a trap-door. Here the magistrates administered justice : this was the first court-house of the present city of Albany.
The tenacity with which the authorities persisted in withholding from the city of New Amsterdam its munici- pal privileges, continued still a serious eye-sore. In the country from which the colonists derived their birth, and towards which their affections constantly centred, the magistracy, time out of mind, were invested with the right to nominate their successors. The same privilege had already been granted to the village of Beverwyck, and almost all the towns on Long Island had possessed it from their first foundation. Under these circumstances it was felt to be a grievance, as well as an infraction of the instructions of 1652, still to refuse the same freedom to the metropolis of the province. Under this impression, the Burgomasters and Schepens again renewed, with the commencement of the year, their demand to be allowed to send in a double nomination. Perseverance seemed at length about to be crowned with success, and Stuyvesant found it necessary to yield somewhat to the public will. The double nomination was granted on condition, Ist, that the acting Jan. 18. magistrates should be always considered as nominated to be retained in office, if the authorities thought proper ; 2d, that they should uniformly nominate for their suc- cessors well qualified persons, favorable to the Director- general and Council, and not opposed to them ; and 3d, that the latter should have the right to appoint one of their body to assist at the nomination. These conditions were accepted. Martin Krygier and Peter van Couwenhoven Jan. 31. were proposed for Burgomasters ; P. L. van der Grist, Willem Beekman, Jacob Bakker, P. Cornelis van der Veen, Isaac de Foreest, Hendrick Kip, Govert Loockermans and Adriaen Bloomaert, for Schepens. But Stuyvesant
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BOOK found an excuse for not ratifying his promise. Some of V. the persons named were obnoxious " on account of former 1656. disputes, and should any new misunderstanding arise, it might be said that he was the cause, were he to sanction this nomination." On this shallow pretext he broke his Feb. 2. word, and the old officers, after a considerable discussion in the Council, were continued for another year. Willem Beekman and Hendrick Kip were, however, appointed from the list to fill vacancies in the board of Schepens.1
The Directors having received, by this time, information of the encroachments of the English at Oyster Bay and Westchester, sent out orders to erect a fort at the former place, and to repel, even by force, all attempts to settle on the Company's lands in violation of the treaty of 1650, Feb. 22. which the States General formally approved this spring.' Pursuant to these instructions the Director-general took the necessary steps to vindicate the Company's rights to Vreedlant. The English of that settlement (" which they called Westchester,") were not only in the habit of enter- taining fugitives from justice, but had kept up, during the recent Indian excesses, a constant correspondence with the savages. To put an end to these irregularities, Captains Mar. 6. De Koninck, Newton, and the Attorney-general were sent secretly to that quarter with a suitable force to arrest the leaders and destroy all the buildings, except three or four, permitting the other settlers to remove their furniture within three days. Those of the expedition who should be guilty of plunder were to be most vigorously punished. This party set out immediately, and on reaching the place, were met by Lieut. Wheeler and other settlers, prepared for resistance, " as the land was their own." They were forthwith disarmed, and removed, twenty-three in number, to the Manhattans, where they were placed on board the Ballance. Those among them who were runaways were Mar. 14. afterwards sent to prison. The others, who had been inno-
1 Alb. Rec. ix., 163, 164, 213, 215-217 ; x., 220-222, 259, 260, 261. New Am- sterdam Rec. Anno 1656.
2 Hol. Doc. viii., 122, 124; Alb. Rec. iv., 207; De Witt, iii., 192; Thurloe, iv., 526 ; Hazard's State Papers, ii 549.
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