USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 3
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22
HISTORY OF
BOOK almost annihilated the public revenue. To rectify this IV. unpromising state of things, he applied all his energies. 1647. Proclamations were issued against the desecration of the
May 31. Sabbath, drinking, fighting, and such like irregularities. Tavern keepers were forbidden to furnish any persons, except travellers and the inmates of their own families, with liquors before two o'clock on the Lord's day, "when there is no preaching ;" otherwise, not before four o'clock in the afternoon. No liquors were to be sold, on any account, to the savages, under a penalty of five hundred Carolus guilders, the seller to be held responsible for the consequences, nor to any person whatsoever after the ringing of the bell at nine o'clock in the evening. The statute law of Fatherland was next declared to be in force against all who should draw a knife upon, and wound others ; simply drawing a knife was to be punished by a fine of one hundred Carolus guilders, or six months' hard labor on bread and water ; if a wound followed, the penalty was to be increased three-fold. The most strin- gent enactments against smuggling were next promulga- ted. Traders, with a view to defraud the revenue, were in the habit of sending their furs to New England and Virginia, to be thence shipped to Europe ; merchandise was surreptitiously introduced into the province in vessels July 4. which passed Fort Amsterdam by night. Strict orders were given that no merchandise should be sold within the Company's limits before it had been entered and the duties thereon paid. It was moreover commanded, that no furs were, thenceforward, to be exported, under the penalty of confiscation, unless they had been marked by the Com- pany's stamp, and " recognized ;" and all fur traders were to exhibit their books, on demand, to be inspected by the Director-general, in order that he might ascertain to whom sales had been made and whether the proper duties had been paid. These commercial regulations gave subse- quently rise to a powerful opposition to this new admin- istration.
Ways and means became, now, necessary to carry on the public service. Fort Good Hope was in a ruinous
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NEW NETHERLAND.
condition, and demanded immediate repairs, if it, or the land CHAP. around it, was worth preserving. Fort Amsterdam was in ~ 1. a condition equally, if not more dilapidated. The walls 1647. were daily trodden under foot by men and cattle, and afford- ed no means of defence. Special instructions had been given to put this important fortification in a thorough state of repair, so as to afford protection to the inhabitants in case of war. The church, already commenced, remained unfinished, and an embankment or breastwork was need- ed to secure " the city " against the encroachments of the river, and to accommodate the merchants and citizens. These laudable undertakings required money, to provide which recourse was had, now for the first time, to an ex- cise duty on wines and spirituous liquors. All Spanish wines, brandies, and other spirits sold by retail, or sent to other parts of the Province, were ordered to pay two stivers per can ; and French wines half that amount ; equal to one hundred and thirty-three cents per anker on the former, and sixty-three and a half cents on the latter liquors. From these duties were exempted such wines and spirits as were purchased for domestic con- sumption, previous to buying which, however, a permit was to be obtained on paying one shilling, of twelve and a half cents, per anker on French wines, and double that sum on all other liquors. The export duties on furs were next revised, and it was ordered, that every merchantable beaver, otter, or elk hide should each pay thirty cents, other furs of less value in proportion. An attempt was made, at this time, also, to improve the Treasury by the collection of the outstanding tenths. But this utterly failed. The war had ruined the farmers, who were con- sequently unable to meet any such demand. A year's grace was, therefore, accorded them. As the war with Spain still continued, two of the Company's yachts, the Cat and the Love, were dispatched on a cruise to the West Indies, in the hope of falling in with, and capturing some of the enemy's richly laden galleons.
Municipal regulations next occupied the Director-gene- ral's attention. At the period of which we write, the
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HISTORY OF
BOOK appearance of New Amsterdam was by no means pre- IV. possessing. Most of the lots already granted remained 1647. unimproved, and the greatest irregularity obtained among those occupied by buildings. Hog pens and "little houses" encroached on the public ways and streets, emitting odors neither savory nor sweet. To abate the nuisance, fence July 25. viewers were appointed, whose approbation was necessary previous to the erection of new buildings ; and all those to whom lots had already been conceded, were ordered to improve the same within nine months, on pain of forfeiting the property. The Court of Justice was, finally, re-or- ganized. The Honorable Van Dinclage was appointed President thereof, and to him were occasionally adjoined some of the Company's servants as associate judges. Power was given to this tribunal to decide in all cases whatsoever, subject, nevertheless, to the obligation of asking, in all mo- mentous matters, the opinion of the Director-general, who reserved to himself the right to preside in the Court when- ever it was his pleasure.1
In this wise did Director Stuyvesant occupy himself, with all the energy of a neophyte, in correcting public irregularities, so that he soon gained for himself the char- acter of a thorough-going Reformer." Happy had it been for him and the colonists, had he confined his energies to the future, and not permitted himself to be embroiled in the squabbles and quarrels of the past.
Joachim Pietersen Kuyter, and Cornelis Melyn, mem- bers of the College of the EIGHT MEN during Kieft's adminis- tration, and two of the most active of the popular party, deeming that the time had now come to investigate the conduct of the ex-Director, and to put that in a fair light, as well for the judgment as for the information of the Com- pany in Holland, petitioned Stuyvesant, shortly after his arrival, to examine Hendrick Van Dyck, Cornelis Van der Huyghens, Johannes La Montagne, Cornelis Van Tien- hoven, the Rev. Mr. Bogardus, and Jan Claessen Dam,
1 Alb. Rec. vii , 3-6, 18, 20, 25, 26, 29, 30, 34, 35, 60, 61, 290, 294-297.
$ Arendt Van Curler, writing July, 1647, from the Manhattans, says : "D'heer Stuyvesant voert hier in een geheele reformatie."
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all members of the late Council, on certain interrogatories CHAP. which they, the petitioners, appended to their request. 1. These interrogatories opened anew Kieft's entire policy 1647. towards the Indians, from the time he had imposed tribute on them in 1639, to the close of his administration. They entered, searchingly and thoroughly, into all his acts, as well as into the part taken by his advisers in the manage- ment of the public affairs during that period, and were manifestly directed to elicit such a train of evidence as would gravely inculpate Kieft and certain members of his Council in the eyes of their superiors in Europe. A com- mission was immediately issued, appointing the Director- general, the Honorables Van Dinclage, La Montagne, At- torney-general Van Dyck, Captains Newton, Thomas, Van der Grist, Commander Loper, and Capt. Claesz. Bol of the Princess, to report on the propriety of granting the prayer of this petition.
Stuyvesant was a soldier, and a strong stickler, withal, for the prerogative. He considered himself as able at the pen, as at the sword ; but he lacked the knowledge of that valuable secret, that it is much safer not to act at all than to become a party to other men's quarrels. Without waiting for the opinion of the other members of the commission, he at once pronounced such an enquiry improper. " Was June 14. it ever seen or heard, in a republic," he asked, " that vas- sals and subjects conceived, modelled, and delivered to magistrates, articles which they had broached and obtruded, to be examined by their superiors, unless such an act had been previously authorized by their sovereign ? Must it not be an affair of the most dangerous consequences ; and must it not open the road to others more fatal, if two ma- lignant subjects dare to propose to the Director and Coun- cil, without having been either authorized by the Execu- tive, or solicited by the citizens at large, to examine the late Director and his Council, by whom they were con- sidered and proved to be perturbators of the public peace and tranquillity, and declared undeserving of any confi- dence, and unfit to be associated to any office of honor or trust ? If this point be conceded, will not these cunning
26
HISTORY OF
BOOK IV. fellows, in order to usurp over us a more unlimited power, claim and assume, in consequence, even greater authority 1647. against ourselves and our commission, should it happen that our administration do not quadrate, in every respect, with their whims? Even if the Honorable Directors did send some secret orders to the Director-general and Coun- cil, regarding some matters relating to the Indians, is it feasible, without causing disturbance, that their Secretary, in whose bosom these secrets have been confided, should be compelled, by two private individuals, to betray his trust ? In case he refuse, have they the power to oblige him to submit ?"
Having charged the board thus strongly against the petitioners, and concluded by deciding against granting their request, it was easy to foresee what answers the Director-general would obtain in return. The several members agreed with him in opinion, and answered ac- cordingly. This point having been gained, the tables were now turned on those who had "dared" to make the above proposition. It was ordered that they should be examined on interrogatories, instead of the ex-Director and Council, as to the causes of the late war; that they name those who were its first authors, and state if they were authorized to demand information concerning that war, either by the Director-general, the legitimate sover- eign, or the community at large. In case they were, then communication might be given them of the dispatches and orders which the Director-general had received. But if, on the other hand, they could not produce those author- ities, then they should be obliged to return to Fatherland, with the functionary whom they accused, to establish their charges and complaints before their High and Mighty Sovereign Lords ; " as we," concludes the report, " have not been ordered to make such an enquiry, much less author- ized to pronounce judgment on the late Director and Coun- cil, or any individual."1
Kieft having now obtained judgment thus far in his favor, and estopped all investigation as to the past, at least
1 Alb. Rec. vii., 9-16.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
in New Netherland, lost no time in seeking revenge on CHAP. those from whom he had experienced so much opposition,~
I. and against whom he had succeeded in prepossessing the 1647. mind of his successor. The authorities at Amsterdam had, with a view to acquaint him of the accusations against him, and to afford him an opportunity of defending him- self, communicated to Kieft the letter which the Eight Men had addressed to the Assembly of XIX., in October, 1644. They had no expectation, however, that the writers of that communication should be molested for having written it.1 But Kieft, now enraged at finding his charac- ter and future prospects exposed to ruin, if these represen- tations were allowed to pass uncontradicted, addressed a June 18. letter to the Director-general, in which he accused Kuyter and Melyn of having been the authors of the communica- tion of 1644, the contents of which, he declared, were cal- umnies and lies. That letter, he maintained, had been surreptitiously concocted, and secretly sent off. The peo- ple whose names were appended to it, were unacquainted with its contents. They were, on the contrary, the vic- tims of the grossest deception, resorted to in order to per- suade them to calumniate their magistrates, to impose on their patroons, and to bring the former into contempt. Therefore he demanded that justice be done in the prem- ises, so that his innocence may be made apparent, as well here as in Holland ; that the authors be prosecuted and banished as pestilent and seditious persons ; and that, in the mean time, they be obliged to produce copies of the letters they had sent to the Directors of the West India Company. In accordance with this request, the parties complained of were called upon to answer within twice twenty-four hours, and to produce the letter referred to; failing compliance, the Attorney-general was ordered to prosecute them for slander.2
1 Den brieff is met een goede intentie van Bewinthebberen aen den Directeur gesonden, ten eynde hy syne beschuldinge soude sien, ende hem purgeeren, son- der bevel dat de ondergeschryvers van den brieff daerover souden gemolesteert worden. Hol. Doc. v., 31.
2 Hol. Doc. iii., 184, 203; Alb. Rec. vii., 17.
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HISTORY OF
June 22.
BOOK IV. The accused replied, without loss of time, and substan- tiated, with every appearance of truth, the allegations 1647. contained in the letter of 1644, by documentary evidence as well official as private, and by the affidavits of sundry individuals conversant with the facts. They did not deny having complained to the authorities in Holland. " In the heat of the war we did complain, as we still complain, to our Lords Patroons-to the noble Lords Majors-but not to strangers, nor to the enemies of the United Provinces." They called on the Council to institute a thorough and searching scrutiny as to the number of bouweries and plantations burnt, and the amount of cattle destroyed, during that war. They estimated the former at between forty and fifty. They denied absolutely having used any deception to the Eight Men or any of the commonalty, and repudiated, with a good deal of warmth, all feelings of ill will towards the late Director personally. "We wish from our hearts," said they, "that he may establish, to the satisfaction of their High Mightinesses, his innocence as regards the war against those Americans, and are willing to be brought before those to whom he denounced us, as we shall meet them with an honest face. .... As it is not true that we have wronged the Honorable Kieft either generally or in particular, so his Honor ought not to repri- mand us so bitterly nor so sharply; for the ancient sage was of opinion, that a person of high rank could not com- mit a graver error than to insult those whom he durst not answer. More laudable would it have been for him to carry this matter before those who could come to a decision thereupon, for it remains yet for him to demon- strate that he legally, and through necessity, declared war against the inhabitants of this country. If he acted legally, then will his Honor rejoice, whilst we, on the contrary, shall be disgraced. If otherwise ; if he acted solely from his own impulse, then let us see what law of nations justi- fied him." They proceeded next to examine the abstruse and knotty question, what should justify a declaration of war? Kieft alleged that he had recourse to that step to punish the Indians for the murders they had committed.
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But when about to inflict that punishment, he ought, it was CHAP. now insisted, first have been certain that he was more I. powerful than the opposite party ; for not only prudence, 1647. and the love of one's kind, demand that men abstain from a doubtful war ; the rules of justice, like those arising from the nature of government, moreover, bind magistrates to be careful of their subjects no less than subjects to be obe- dient to their rulers ; so that a king, who, for a trifling cause, undertakes a dubious war, is bound to indemnify his subjects for all damages arising therefrom, as he thereby inflicted wrong, and, on insufficient grounds, brought them into great difficulties. In support of these proposi- tions they quoted the opinion of various authorities, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, from all which it will be perceived "how cautiously men should go to war, and how dangerous it is to undertake it, especially against such rude and barbarous people as these Indians." As for the threat to transport them to Holland " as pestilent and seditious persons," they hesitated not to meet it with an expression of willingness on their side to proceed thither, not as dan- gerous and seditious subjects, however, but as good patriots and proprietors in New Netherland who expended in the country all they possessed, and lost that by the war. They insisted that the four survivors of the Eight Men should accompany them, in order that they substantiate their sig- natures before the States General, and that all the freemen and Company's servants, who remained in the country since the war, be called on to declare if the Dutch had not lived in peace with the surrounding Indians before the attack of the 24th February, 1643 ; and if all the colonists did not, up to that date, pursue their out-door labor unmo- lested, and live with their wives and children in safety in their houses, without fear of the savages. The copy of the letter which they transmitted to the XIX., they were unable to furnish, not having retained the original ; but Andries Hudde, who drafted the letter, might, they said, have retained a transcript of the paper.
Far from satisfying the Executive, this letter aggravated in its estimation, the offence of the accused. The Attorney- July 4.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK IV. general was ordered to proceed with his prosecution, and the parties, in the mean time, were placed under arrest.1
July 11.
1647. Fiscaal Van Dyck prepared a bill of indictment accord- ingly, but so imperfectly and so loosely, "either from malicious disobedience, or ignorance, or incompetency," that Director Stuyvesant and his Council took the affair into their own hands, and prepared, for themselves, the indictment on which they were desirous to try " the delin- quents." It is true that they were to act, at the same time, as judges, between the accused and their accuser : it would, therefore, be only reasonable that they should carefully avoid any act which might create suspicion or reproach. But these little niceties were not of much moment in those days, and Cornelis Melyn and Joachim Pietersen Kuyter were, therefore, arraigned. The former was charged, individually, with having, in the course of conversation with the late Attorney-general, threatened Willem Kieft, his lawful Governor, with the gallows and the wheel ; with having resisted his authority, and denied being subject thereto, (though he was, at the time, actually an inhabitant and citizen of Manhattans,) saying, " What have we to do with the head of the devil? Let him rule over the Company's servants ; I have nothing to do with justice ; here is no justice for me ;" with other mutinous and disor- derly words. It was further charged against him, that he had endeavored to seduce the Company's servants from their employ, as they could not get their pay ; and that his own men had, by his orders, robbed the Indians, long before the war, of a portion of their hunting ground.
Kuyter was accused of having compared Kieft to Saul, whose passions were soothed by music ; of having pro- posed throwing the Indian sachem into the cellar, and shooting the other savages, whilst negotiating a treaty of peace ; and threatening, moreover, to pinch them with red- hot tongs. He had, it was finally averred, menaced the Director-general, in the College of the Eight Men, with strange things, whenever he should doff' his robes of state ;
1 Hol. Doc. iii., 186-205 ; Alb. Rec. vii., 34.
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and endeavored to induce Kieft to mortgage and surren- CHAP. der the Manhattans to the English. I.
Conjointly, they were put on trial for having written the 1647. "calumnious and scandalous" letter of the 28th Oct., already so often alluded to, out of which a charge of forgery was also made to arise ; for this letter, purporting to have been written and signed by the Eight Men, it was now alleged, had never been communicated to, nor authorized by them. If it was signed by those whose names were appended to it, it was " in a precarious way :" it was not read to them in College, or it was altered after it was read ; or those whose signatures were affixed to it, " plain, illiterate men," some of whom could not sign their names, were illuded and grossly deceived. The commonalty, for whom the accused professed to act, gave them no power to write such a letter.
It was finally charged against both the accused, that they had treated the new Council with contempt, by refusing to furnish documents which their Honors required, and had introduced a threat into their petition, wherein it was stated that they had further proofs, but should reserve them for the High and Mighty Lords, the States General.
Having replied, in their letter of the 22d June, to most of these accusations, Melyn and his associate considered it unnecessary now to notice any but those brought against each in his individual capacity. The former denied in July 16. toto, or explained away, most of the charges against him ; the latter disclaimed having compared the ex-Director to the King of Israel, but admitted that when the Eight Men were deliberating on the imposition of the duties, they were unexpectedly interrupted by Kieft, who cried out : " Yes, there be many among you who say, that I have more ready cash in mine houses than four horses can draw at once ;" whereupon he (Kuyter) became excited, and exclaimed : " What signifieth all this, sir ? We are convened here to deliberate on the interests of our country, and not on the private affairs of individuals. There will be no end to this matter if every altercation be mentioned. This might more properly be done, if you would take off
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HISTORY OF
1647.
BOOK the coat with which you have been decorated by the Lords IV. your masters." The Director becoming enraged at this reply, flung himself out of the room in a passion, saying, " Thou art an ungrateful fellow !" The charge of recom- mending the mortgaging of the Island to the English he did not deny, but explained that he gave the advice in good faith, as member of the Board.
The evidence, documentary and parole, for the prosecu- tion and defence, having been gone through, the members of the Council delivered their respective opinions. The July 18. Attorney-general had demanded, at first, that both the pris- oners should suffer death, but afterwards modified his motion and asked, that they be banished, and fined one thousand guilders ($400) each. Van Dinclage consid- ered the accused guilty of having attempted to sow sedi- tion, and stir up rebellion against their Chief Magistrate, and advised that, "agreeably to written and customary law," Melyn be condemned to perpetual, and Kuyter to temporary banishment. The other members concurred in this advice, though they were of opinion that a pecuniary fine ought to be exacted from the prisoners.
Stuyvesant was the last to deliver his views. He strongly censured the mode of procedure adopted by the Schout-fiscaal. His conclusions he declared to be dubi- ous ; he had not produced one legal authority to prove that the defendants subjected themselves to death, banish- ment or fine. It would not do, he added, to demand that any person should be so punished ; it must be proved that such a conclusion was justified by law. He then proceed- ed to recapitulate the several heads of accusation against Melyn, and dwelt particularly on the charges of mutiny and rebellion, which, however, do not seem to have been well proved according to the modern rules of criminal jurisprudence. " Ye shall not curse your judges ; neither shall ye calumniate the chiefs of the nation." Exod. xx. 2. " Do not curse the king, not even in your hearts." Eccles. x. 20. " Be ye subject to the higher powers." On these texts he read a long lecture. " To speak evil of magis- trates," says Bernardinus de Muscatellus, (in pract. crimin.)
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"is the highest degree of slander that can be committed;" CHAP. who slanders the chief magistrate ought not to go unpun- ished, inasmuch as he is guilty of crimen lesæ majestatis, says Ludovicus in Tract. de Jurisdic. Criminal. Injuries done in writing to officers, whether they belong to the Courts or the Supreme Council, are of a more heinous nature, and ought to be brought by every one acquainted with them to the knowledge of the court, as such is a capital offence, and capital punishment ought to follow, (Damhou- der in criminalibus.1) Words having a tendency to raise a mutiny, or rebellion, must be capitally punished ; agree- ably to the military ordinance of calumny, defamation and injury, whoso writes against his lawful sovereign is guilty, and thereby equally subject to legal punishment. It was therefore his opinion, that Melyn ought to be punished by DEATII, and confiscation of his property.
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