USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 31
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" XXX. Any of the colonists, who, by himself or his family, or any person in his service, shall discover any minerals, crystals, precious stones, marble, &c., of whatever nature the same may be, may possess and keep them as his own, without paying any imposition or duty for them, for the term of ten years; but after the expiration thereof, he shall be held to pay the Company one-tenth of their pro- ceeds.
"XXXI. The city of Amsterdam shall cause a conven- ient warehouse to be prepared here, wherein shall be de- posited all the goods which the said city intends to send to its colonie in New Netherland, where they may be visited by any person appointed by the Directors of the West India Company, under the inspection of a person appointed for that purpose by the city of Amsterdam, and marked with the marks of the city and Company, the
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recognition thereof being paid to the Company according CHAP. VII.
to the list ;
" XXXII. Which goods then may be laden, with the 1656. knowledge of the Company, in any vessel or vessels the said Company shall be able to obtain.
"XXXIII. If the city of Amsterdam shall ship any goods on freight in any vessel to New Amsterdam, they shall submit to the same regulations as others.
" XXXIV. But if the city of Amsterdam shall send away its own, or any chartered ship, laden only with its own goods, it shall send that ship, or ships, directly to its own city, town, or colonie, provided that all the goods laden on board shall be advertised in the city's warehouse there, under the inspection of any one of the Company appointed for that purpose, to whom also the letters and commission from the Company shall be delivered.
"XXXV. In like manner all wares, produce or mer- chandise, imported from the city's colonie, must be brought here, and advertised in the city's warehouse, under the inspection of a person appointed for that purpose by the Company, and the duties due to the country and the Com- pany must be paid out of them according to the list.
" All materials and necessaries for farming and the exer- cise of trades are free from recognition. All produce of New Netherland is free of duty on importation, as are all kinds of salted or dried fish, taken there. Peltry, as bea- vers, otters, &c., pay eight per centum. Besides the afore- said duties here, there must be paid on all goods in New Netherland, four per cent. in light money, reckoning the rix-dollar at sixty-three stivers."
These conditions were approved by the States General, Aug. 16. on condition that a preacher and consistory be appointed for the settlement, whenever the number of its inhabitants should amount to two hundred, or thereabouts. A recom- mendation was also made that the tariff of duties be so moderated as not to be too onerous to the colonists.1
1 Hol. Doc. viii., 138, 148, 149, 151-177 ; xv., 1-6, 184-187, 191, 192; N. Y. Hist. Coll. i., 291 ; Hazard's State Papers, ii., 543.
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BOOK V. All preliminaries having been thus arranged, the city forthwith appointed a board of commissioners resident at 1656. Amsterdam to manage the affairs of the new colonie. Preparations were made for the removal of a large body of emigrants in the fall of the year ; and for the defence of the settlement, a company of forty soldiers was engaged, and placed under the command of Capt. Martin Krygier, already a resident of New Netherland, and Lieutenant Alexander D'Hinoyossa, who had been in the Company's employ in the Brazils. The expense attendant on this ex- pedition, and the support of the settlers for one year, was estimated at about thirty-six thousand guilders, or between fourteen and fifteen thousand dollars, to meet which a loan Nov. 11. was raised, and the proceeds placed at the disposal of the commissioners.
One hundred and fifty freemen and boors, principally Dec. 21. inhabitants of Gulick, were now embarked in three ships for the South River. Previous to their departure, how- ever, they were obliged to swear allegiance to the States General, the Lords Burgomasters of the city of Amsterdam, the Director and Council of New Netherland, and to prom- ise, also, faithful observance of the articles which had been drawn up for the regulation of their conduct in the country to which they were proceeding.1 By these articles they were forbidden to take with them, under any pretext whatsoever, any munitions of war ; to sell them, either by themselves or others, to the Indians; or to trade them away, under a penalty of four times their value. To en- force this the more stringently, they were to submit their chests, cases, or other packages, to such examination as might be deemed necessary. All such persons as emigrated at the expense of the city were to remain four years in the colonie, except for sufficient reasons, or unless they had reimbursed, within the prescribed time, all the expenses incurred and advances made in behalf of themselves and families.
This expedition, consisting of the ships the Prince Mau-
1 Alb. Rec. xviii., 400. Montanus' Nieuwe en Onbekende Wereld of Be- schryving van America en 't Zuidland, 4to., Amsterdam, 1671, p. 134.
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rice, the Bear, and the Flower of Gelder, sailed from the CHAP.
Texel on Christmas day. They had been at sea only three VII. days when they were separated by a violent storm, which 1656. caused the loss, to the first-named vessel, of six or seven of Dec. 23. her crew. A southern course was now decided upon, in which the Prince Maurice continued for the next six weeks, 1657. until having reached the twenty-second degree of north Feb. 22. latitude they bore up, and ten days afterwards descried Mar. 2. land for the first time about Cape Romaine. All on board were now flattering themselves with the pleasing hope of soon reaching the Manhattans, but in this they were doomed to be disappointed. None of the officers of the ship had ever been in these parts. Ignorant of the coast, and neglecting to " keep the lead going," they suddenly found themselves in shoal water, and the vessel, refusing to wear, . struck, about eleven o'clock at night, on the south side of Mar. 8. Long Island, at a place called Secoutague, about a gun-shot from the shore.1 The night was dark and bitter cold ; the surf broke wildly on the ill-fated ship, which was expected every moment to go to pieces. After passing a long and comfortless night in this dangerous position, some managed to make their way in the morning through the ice to the Mar. 9. shore, in a leaky boat. They landed on a broken coast " without weeds, grass or timber of any sort to make a fire." Falling in, at length, with some Indians, Jacob Alrichs, who accompanied the expedition as Director of New Amstel, dispatched two of these to the Manhattans, to announce their Mar. 11. misfortune to Stuyvesant, and to request immediate succor.2
The Director-general, with most commendable prompt- ness, sent down nine or ten yachts and lighters, and proceeded himself to the scene of the disaster, where the people were suffering the greatest distress. All the cargo, with the exception of the stores, tiles and smith's coal, was saved, and forwarded, with the settlers, to New
1 This shipwreck took place in the neighborhood of the present town of Islip, in the great South Bay near Fire Island inlet. In another Record the place is called " Sichtewacky."
2 Mr. Alrichs was uncle to the Hon. Mr. Beck, Vice Director at this time of Curaçoa.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK Amsterdam. The Gilded Beaver was chartered, and in V. her sailed Director Alrichs with his colonists, one hundred 1657. and twenty-five in number, seventy-six of whom were April 21. women and children. They arrived at the South River after a passage of five days. The other vessels belonging to this expedition arrived a few days afterwards, whilst Capt. Krygier and his soldiers, with a few of the settlers, proceeded overland to the Delaware.1 Alrichs' arrival terminated the official career of Jacquet. Charges had been brought against this officer of refusing to admin- ister justice, obstructing legal arrests, seizing by violence lands belonging to others, harassing the commonalty, and acting tyrannically towards the people. Notwithstanding that these, on investigation, were considered to arise " more April 20. from passion than reason," he was dismissed from office, and ordered to give up all public papers in his hands. Fort Christina, which was henceforward called " Altona," was placed in charge of Andries Hudde and a few soldiers, as well to defend it against the Swedes, as to "imbue the natives with proper awe."
The municipal government of New Amstel continued unchanged for four months longer, but the Balance Aug.21. arriving with additional settlers, it was reconstructed. A " Vroedschap," or permanent council, of seven members, was elected by the burghers, and from this body three magistrates were chosen, who, with a Schout and Secre- tary, constituted a court for the administration of justice. The congregation, hitherto superintended by a " Ziecken trooster," or comforter of the sick, was now supplied by a clergyman, the Rev. Everardus Welius, who had been commissioned on the 9th of March preceding ; and every preparation was made to render the settlement both orderly and secure. Lots were conceded to the colonists, a maga- zine erected, the fort repaired, a guard-house, bake-house
1 Gerrit van Swerringen, who accompanied this expedition as supercargo of the Prince Maurice, writing in 1684, represents the soldiers to have been sixty in number, and the other passengers one hundred and eighty ; and that they took possession of Fort Casimir, " now called New Castle," on the 25th April, 1657. (Lond. Doc. iv., 173.) The statement in the text is taken from Alrichs' letters and other Dutch papers which are considered more correct.
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and forge built, together with'residences for the clergyman CHAP. and other public officers. A city hall "for the burghers" followed. This important building was a log-house, two 1657. stories high and twenty feet square. The whole of the public buildings were enclosed in a square, and New Amstel assumed, in consequence, quite a promising ap- pearance, forming at the end of the first year " a goodly town of about one hundred houses."1
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 237, 247; xii., 405-411, 419, 424-427, 448, 449 ; xv., 124 ; Hol. Doc. xv., 12, 213, 225, 227-231, 233-252 ; xvi., 196-200. As it cannot fail to be of interest to trace the rise of civil government in the wilderness, we append an extract from one of Alrichs' letters, to show more clearly the manner in which the municipality of New Amstel first came into existence. He says, "I found the government to consist of a military council over the soldiers who were here of old ; the differences between the old settlers, who consisted of about twelve or thirteen families, were decided by the commander and two persons acting as Schepens, and a secretary appointed from among the inhabitants by the Gene- ral on the part of the West India Company. These expressed a desire, now that the place had changed hands, that a burgher-like government should be con- tinued according to the conditions, as it was under the Director-general and the West India Company. So it was, and they continued to decide all differences between burgher and burgher. All affairs appertaining to ' the city ' and mili- tary matters, were disposed of by me and the Council, and differences between the city's servants, soldiers, trainsbands, and freemen, until the arrival of the Balance, [21st August, 1657,] when seven city councillors were elected, and from them three new Schepens were chosen, another secretary and Schout were also appointed, two elders, and two deacons," for the management of church affairs.
VOL. II.
22
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HISTORY OF
CHAPTER VIII.
Causes which led to the colonization of New Netherland-Consequences of opening the trade-Privilege of "Burgher recht" conferred on the citizens of New Amsterdam-Nature of that law-Benefits accruing therefrom- Causes which modified that law in New Netherland-Further intrigues of George Baxter and Hubbard-Another petition sent to Cromwell-Result of the mission-The Protector's letter-Proceedings thereupon at Gravesend, Gemeco, &c .- Final disposition of the letter-Revival of religious persecu- tions-A Lutheran minister arrives-Is expelled the province, and forced to return to Holland-Controversy about the form of baptism-Arrival of Qua- kersat the Manhattans-Their reception-Conduct of a Heemstede magistrate towards one of the Friends-Inhuman treatment of Robert Hodshone-Rich- ard Townsend prosecuted-The people of Flushing vindicate the rights of conscience-The magistrates of that town arrested and prosecuted-Quakers reappear at Rustdorp, (Gemeco,) also at Gravesend-Prosecutions against offenders in these towns-The charter of Flushing altered-Town taxed to support orthodoxy-A Catholic prosecuted-Proclamation against Quakers- Mary Scott and Mrs. Weeks fined-Reappearance of Friends at New Amster- dam-Banished-The Dutch clergy report the spread of sectarianism to the Classis at Amsterdam.
BOOK V. AMONG the causes which gave birth to the province of New Netherland, and stimulated the industry of its citi- 1657. zens, none are so marked as the desire of gain. Religious persecution peopled New England and Virginia. Colonists were driven to the inhospitable coasts of the former by the prelates ; to the fertile bottoms of the latter by the Round- heads. But neither religious nor political persecution stimulated in any way the settlement of America by the Dutch. Trade was their great aim, and edicts and ordon- nances for its regulation, especially with the Indians, enter largely into their early legislation. The opening of that trade in 1638 necessarily led to competition ; this soon Mar. 14. became offensive to the resident merchants, who, biassed by institutions with which they were conversant in their native country, and ill acquainted with sound rules of trade, with a view to its monopoly by themselves, pre- vailed on the Director-general in 1653 to order that no
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merchants should carry on any retail business with the CHAP. interior, except such as were "in actual possession of a VIII. decent house and farm, and had resided in the country four 1657. years."
This law was, however, annulled in the following year by the home authorities. "The growth of a community yet in its infancy, must be rather promoted," they wisely observed, "by encouraging unlimited privileges, than restrained by prohibitions and restrictions. To compel individuals to settle and establish themselves in the coun- try, and that, in many instances, against their inclinations and interests, is disgusting, indeed horrible; to compel them to remain stationary is servile-is slavery." They, therefore, contented themselves with ordering that traders in general should keep a store, by which means "inter- lopers and pedlars" would be checked, and merchants pay their share of the public burthens. On these conditions they were to be afterwards free to trade with the interior, or not, as suited their interests.1
This regulation led to the introduction of the important Dutch law of " Burgher recht," or municipal freedom, which, "in consideration of the several faithful and vol- untary services as well in expeditions as otherwise, and of the submission to burthens evinced by the citizens," was accorded this year, at the request of the Burgomasters Feb. 1. and Schepens, to the city of New Amsterdam.
The policy of conferring special privileges on the natives and residents of commercial cities may be said to be co- equal with the foundation of the Roman Empire. The exclusive right to trade in the city of Amsterdam was confined by law, almost from the commencement of its ex- istence, to such of its inhabitants as were burghers, either by birth, purchase, intermarriage, or by a vote of the city, all of whom enjoyed the same privileges, with this differ- ence only, that native citizens acquired them immediately on becoming of age and enregistering their names; the others, after the lapse of a year from the time of their enrol- ment. The " Burgher right" thus obtained, conveyed not
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 129.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK only commercial but important political and legal privi- v. leges. It conferred on the citizen freedom of trade and 1657. exemption from toll, and opened to him all offices under the city government. If wronged or injured when from home, it ensured him protection ; secured him from suits of law by a fellow burgher beyond the city's jurisdiction, and if arrested in the public service, it guarantied him redress at the city's expense. A Dutch burgher could not be arrested or imprisoned if he could procure bail, nor indicted, nor tried for any offence after the term of one year. He was saved from attaint of blood and confiscation of prop- erty, if found guilty on a capital charge, for "he could not forfeit for any crime more than his life and one hundred guilders." Females, under this charter, could also share in burgher right, with this peculiarity, however: if ac- quired by purchase, they could enjoy it only while spinsters or widows ; they lost it if married to those who were not themselves burghers, and their children, like those of Jewish burghers, did not inherit the parent's privilege.1 On the decease of the husband, the mother became re- integrated in her municipal privileges.
This law continued unaltered until the year 1652. A false policy, fomented by feelings of pride and aristocracy, then took possession of men's minds, and under the pretence of replenishing the city's coffers, the Council was per- suaded by the Burgomasters to divide the burghery into two classes-" Great and Small "-giving to the wealthy, for the sum of five hundred guilders, or two hundred dol- lars, the privilege of enrolling their names on the list of "the Great," who, alone, were to be invested with the monopoly of all offices, and the exemption from confiscation and attainder in case of conviction for capital offences. The lesser citizenship conveyed, under this new order of things, only freedom of trade, and the privilege of being received into the respective guilds.2
1 Het Poorterschap gaat, niet dan door de mannen over op de kinderen, was the maxim of the law. The names of several females are to be found on the list of burghers of New Amsterdam.
3 Wagenaar Beschryving, i., 142, 582, 583; iii., 141, et seq. To the credit
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Unfortunately for New Amsterdam, it was after the CHAP. establishment of those odious and unwise distinctions at~ VIIL home, that burgher right was conferred on her. Her 1657. citizens, among whom circumstances and birth created little or no difference-who removed to America with scarcely any other advantages than industrious habits and good health-and who, in their native land, could not put forth any exclusive pretensions on the score either of birth or riches, became at once, by Stuyvesant's short-sighted- ness, divided into two castes, the great and the small burgh- ers. All members of the Council ; all Burgomasters and Schepens ; all ministers of the gospel and officers of the militia, " to the ensigns included," " past and present," " with their descendants in the male line," were enrolled among the first class ; and all others who desired that rank "and wished to enjoy its privileges," could obtain the same, on payment to the city treasury of fifty guilders, Holland currency. All natives of the city ; all who had resided there during a year and six weeks; all who married, or hereafter might espouse the daughters of burghers ; all who kept a store, or exercised any business within the city ; all salaried servants of the Company, were placed on the second list, on which, also, strangers and passengers could have their names inscribed on paying twenty-five guilders.1
The government was now fated to experience consider- able annoyance through the continued intrigues of Baxter. In the excitement attendant on the operations against the Swedes and the incursions of the savages, this individual and Hubbard lay almost forgotten in the keep of Fort
of the Amsterdammers, this change was generally unpopular and unproductive of any of the expected benefits. ""The separation into great and small burgher right," says Wagenaar, "it was hoped would allure numerous foreigners hither to purchase the great burgher right, inasmuch as it conferred the reception of high offices. But men lost their aim. The heavy fee attendant upon it, and the small hope, when procured, of attaining to eminent offices, frightened the greater portion of the foreigners away, so that it was presented only in a few instances, and purchased but once during a period of sixteen years. Therefore, the difference between great and small burghers being abolished by an edict, dated 25th March, 1668, the burgher right was fixed at fifty guilders, and every burgher was declared legally entitled to all burgher privileges.
1 Alb. Rec. vii., 389-392 ; xv., 54; New Amsterdam Rec.
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HISTORY OF
1656.
BOOK Amsterdam. At length, in the beginning of 1656, through V. the intercession of Sir Henry Moody and the magistrates of Gravesend, the latter was set at liberty, and the former was transferred to the debtors' room in the court-house, to await the decision of the Directors in Amsterdam, bail having been given that he should not attempt an escape. But he took, a few weeks after, unexpected leave both of bail and prison, and, through the aid of an old man named Greedy, succeeded in removing, by night, his cattle which were under seizure at Gravesend. His creditors became now clamorous. He owed, among other debts, two hundred florins to the poor of his town. Execution was issued, and his farm and remaining effects were ordered to be sold to pay his liabilities .? Ruined in estate and branded as " a traitor," he returned to New England the irreconcilable foe of his former friends. Previous to his departure, how- ever, he contrived to persuade several persons on Long Island to sign a petition to Cromwell to be emancipated from the Dutch yoke and to be taken under his protection. This petition he dispatched to London by James Grover, " the very man who hoisted the colors of the English Re- public in the village of Gravesend."" The result of this mission was a letter from Thurloe, Secretary to the Lord Protector, "to the English well affected inhabitants on Long Island in America," in vindication of the right of the British to the northern part of this continent.3 The dis- coveries of the Cabots were declared to be the foundation of this title, which was afterwards fortified by the settle- ment of a colony under Sir Walter Raleigh in Virginia. These discoveries and plantations excluded, it was main- tained, all right in the Dutch to colonize any part of North America, who were, thereupon, declared to be intruders, having, as it is commonly reported, obtained from King
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 189 ; x., 180, 234, 235, 299, 300; xi., 119, 182, 183, 266-268; xii., 321.
2 The first mention we find of this Grover is in 1650, when he was collector for the poor at Gravesend. He eventually removed to New Jersey, where (if we mistake not) he was [ roprietor of some iron works, which he sold to Col. Morris.
3 Thurloe, v., 81; Hazard's State Papers, i , 602-605.
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James only "a certain island, called, therefore, by them, CHAP. States Island, as a watering place for their West India VIII. fleets." The English towns on the westward part of Long Island, or any other of the English nation, intending to settle towns and colonies, were, in conclusion, lovingly ad- vised "to be very cautious of making themselves guilty either of ignorant or wilful betraying the rights of their nation, by their subjecting themselves and lands to a foreign state." In case they wilfully and knowingly did so, they became, "in a degree, as guilty as he or they, that shall in England acknowledge subjection to a foreign state." However plausible were the positions laid down in this official document, its fallacies are too manifest to impose on the minds of those who will take the trouble to analyze them. Mere discovery of a country, not followed by actual possession, confers no title. This principle of public law was laid down and acted upon by Elizabeth, Queen of England, as far back as 1580, when resisting the ex- clusive pretensions of Spain to the new world, by virtue of the same title which Thurloe now put forth in favor of the English. " As she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title by donation of the Bishop of Rome, so she knew no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of ; for their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to a few rivers, or capes, were such insignificant things as could in no ways entitle them to a propriety, farther than in the parts where they actually settled, and continued to in- habit."" The right derived from the Cabots, which had not even the plea of "having touched here and there on a coast" to support it, thus falling to the ground-for what was good as against Spain for England, must be admitted good also against the latter for the Dutch-the only re- maining title in favor of England to this continent rests on the colonization of Virginia. This did not extend farther north than the Chesapeake or James River. Actual settle-
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