USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 32
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1 Camden, Rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum Annales, regnante Eliza- betha, Svo. Leyden, 1639, p. 328. "Proscriptio sine possessione haud valeat," was the principle laid down in this case.
1656.
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BOOK ment and continual habitation, which Queen Elizabeth laid V. down as necessary to make out a title, were, therefore, 1656. wanting to establish the English right to the country first discovered and now actually possessed by the Dutch. To call these "intruders," was, in the words of Louis XIV., " a species of mockery ;" they had as good a right to reclaim the American wilderness as any other European power, and so long as they could show all the pre-requisites insisted on by England in 1580 to establish a title, theirs must be con- sidered unobjectionable. This view of the case is only strengthened by an examination of the New England patent, granted by James I. to the Plymouth Company. This charter conveyed all the country from forty to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, with this express reservation, however : "Provided, always, that the said islands, or any of the said premises hereinbefore mentioned, . be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or Estate." The Dutch had actual possession of New Netherland many years before the issue of this patent, and the reservation in favor of the rights of others which that document contains, was a full and perfect acknowl- edgment of the soundness of their title.1 The assertion that James had granted them permission to use Staten Island as a watering place for their fleets, is purely an afterthought-a mere assertion, up to the present time un- confirmed by any evidence. The premises laid down by Thurloe being thus unsound, his conclusions become equally untenable ; for where the English nation had no legal right, those inhabiting the English towns on Long Island could not be guilty of betraying such, by remaining under a government from which alone they derived every title to their lands, and to which they had voluntarily and solemnly sworn obedience. Baxter's emissary, however, thought otherwise, and, therefore, proceeding to Gravesend,
1 See Patent in Hazard, i., 111. Consult further, “ A State and Representa- tion of the Bounds of the Province of New York against the claim of the Prov- ince of the Massachusetts Bay," &c., in the Journals of the New York Prov. Assembly ; also, Lettres du Comte d'Estrades, Lend. 8vo. 1748, iii., 340, for the letter of the King of France, in which he states that after examination of both sides of the question, the right of the Dutch to the country is, in his estimation, the best established-" le mieux fondé."
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demanded that the letter be opened and read to the people. CHAP. The magistrates of that town immediately advised the VIII. Director-general of the matter, who gave instant orders 1657. that Grover and his papers be sent to the Manhattans. Aug. 24. The seizure produced considerable excitement throughout the English towns under Dutch jurisdiction. A general meeting of delegates from these several localities was invited to assemble at "Gemeco, to agitate concerning Sep. 14. the letter sent by the Lord Protector unto the English living uppon Long Island, detained by the Governor- general," and Gravesend recommended that a messenger be at once dispatched to England to acquaint his Highness of the detention, and to inform him of the "wrongs and injuries which we receive here from those in authority over us." The communication which created all this tur- moil was subsequently forwarded to Holland by Stuyve- Oct. 30. sant, "without daring to open it or allowing it to be opened, so as not to be accused either by the Lord Pro- tector, of the crime of opening his letter or breaking his seal," or by the Directors "of admitting letters from a foreign prince or potentate from which rebellion might arise."1
Religious excitement now took the place of political. The Reverend Joannes Ernestus Goetwater, a Lutheran minister, had arrived with a commission from the Con- July. sistory at Amsterdam, authorizing him to act as pastor to the Lutheran congregation at the Manhattans. The Dutch clergymen immediately informed the authorities of the circumstance. Dominie Goetwater was cited before the tribunals, and forbidden to exercise his calling. Messrs. Megapolensis and Drisius demanded that he should be sent back to Holland in the same ship in which he had arrived .? He was ordered to quit the province accordingly. Sick- ness, however, prevented his immediate compliance with this harsh and unchristian mandate. He was, therefore, " put on the limits" of the city, and finally forced to em- bark for Holland ; and the established clergy wrote to the
1 Hol. Doc. ix., 165-168, 269, 271 ; Alb. Rec. iv., 265; Gravesend Rec.
9 Letter of the Rev. Megapolensis and Drisius, August 5, 1657.
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BOOK Directors protesting against the non-conformists. The
V. department at Amsterdam endeavored to soothe the irri- 1657. tation of the Lutherans on the one side, and soften the too strict orthodoxy of the clergy on the other. Though they approved of the banishment of the Lutheran, they ordered the abandonment of the new and odious formulary of bap- tism, and the introduction into all the churches in New Netherland of the ancient formula, by which parents and guardians were obliged to acknowledge, generally, " that the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testaments, and in the articles of the Christian faith, and consequently taught in the Christian church, is the true and perfect doc- trine of salvation." The fastidious and those of tender conscience would, by these means, be gained over in time, and the interests of religion and the country be promoted. The clergy were too much imbued with the leaven of "needless preciseness " to follow these injunctions. They scrupled using the old formulary, without a previous order from the Classis, lest they should be guilty of innovation. The Directors told them sharply in reply, that those might, with more truth, be called innovators who had originally altered the form of baptism. The new formulary had not been sanctioned either by the Church or the Classis. All moderate clergymen acknowledged this. It was a matter purely ceremonial, to be followed or omitted according to circumstances. The Directors expected that the ministers at New Amsterdam would have so decided after they had been once admonished. Whatever harmony then existed was, in their opinion, very precarious, whilst " that over- bearing preciseness, so shocking to the feelings of others, is not avoided." If the present course be persisted in, the consequence will be that a separate church must be allowed to the Lutherans, who will not find it very diffi- cult, on complaining to the home government, to obtain that privilege, to curtail which every endeavor will then be vain. The clergy were, therefore, seriously recommended to respond to the intentions of their superiors, and no longer hesitate to put in practice the "old formulary of baptism" without further orders. "In this manner alone can the
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tranquillity of church and state be maintained and se- CHAP. cured."1 VIH.
Meanwhile a few obscure men and women whom no- 1657. body knew-without learning or reputation-expelled from Boston as something worse than a pestilence-landed at August. New Amsterdam to announce a simple and humanizing creed, of which peace on earth and good will to men were the corner-stones. All being equal in the sight of God, individual superiority was no longer to be admitted by uncovering the head in the presence of a fellow mortal. Oaths were a profanation, when "Swear not at all " was the divine command ; and wars and physical violence an outrage, when " Love one another" was the supreme will. Christopher Holder, John Copeland, Humphry Norton, Robert Hodshone, Richard Dowdney, William Robinson, Sarah Gibbons, Mary Clarke, Dorothy Waugh and Mary Witherhead, were the first apostles of these novel doctrines at the Manhattans. Glowing with zeal and impelled by the Spirit, the two last-named women " publicly declared their principles in the streets," and announced to the Dutch burghers the existence of the benevolent society of " Friends." They were immediately arrested, and com- mitted, apart from each other, to the keep. Hodshone went to Heemstede to disseminate his peculiar tenets in that place.2
Richard Gildersleeve, a magistrate of Heemstede, was one of the most prominent of the persecutors of the new sect. To " hold the garments of those who stoned the saints," was not glory enough for him. He pursued them with proclamations, and inflicted on them and their friends pains and penalties without end. Hodshone, whilst peaceably walking in an orchard, was seized and brought before this man, who committed him, and then proceeded to the Man- hattans to acquaint Stuyvesant with the fact. Returning in a short time with the Fiscaal and a guard of musketeers, they seized Hodshone's papers and Bible, then pinioned
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 234, 266, 267, 275, 277, 323, 324; viii., 195 ; xiv., 323, 405.
" Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, fol. Lond. 1753, ii., 182; Haz. Reg. Penn. vi., 174.
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BOOK their prisoner, and thus kept him during that night and the V.
following day. They next arrested two poor, defenceless 1657. women who had entertained him, one of whom was burthened with a small child, and a nursing infant. Trun- dling these into a cart, they tied the unfortunate Quaker, pinioned, to its tail, and dragged him, by night, through the woods, over bad roads, " whereby he was much torn and abused." Arrived at New Amsterdam, he was cast into a filthy dungeon which was full of vermin. The women were removed to another place. Some time after he was brought before the Council, where Capt. Willet, of New Plymouth, succeeded in incensing the Director- general against him. Hodshone was sentenced to two years' hard labor at the wheelbarrow with a negro, or to pay the sum of six hundred guilders, equal to two hundred and forty dollars. In vain he attempted to make a de- fence. He was not suffered to speak, but remanded to prison, " where no English were suffered to come to him." After spending some time in this horrible hole, he was taken out, pinioned, his face set before the Council chamber, his hat removed from his head, and another sen- tence read to him in Dutch, which he did not understand ; " but that it displeased many of that nation did appear, by the shaking of their heads."
After spending some additional days in prison, he was again brought forth, early one morning, chained to a wheelbarrow, and commanded to work. In vain he plead- ed that he was never used to such labor. A pitched rope, some four inches thick, was placed in the hands of a sturdy negro, who beat the unfortunate man until he sank on the ground. Not satisfied, his persecutors had him lifted up. The negro again beat him until he fell a second time, after receiving, as was estimated, one hundred blows. Not- withstanding all this, he was kept, in the heat of the sun, chained to the wheelbarrow, his body bruised and swol- len, faint from want of food ; until, at length, he could no longer support himself, and he was obliged to sit down. The night found him again in his cell, and the morrow at his wheelbarrow, with a sentinel over him, to prevent all
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conversation. On the third day, he was again led forth, CHAP. chained as before. He still refused to work, for he "had VIII. committed no evil." He was then led, anew, before the 1657. Director-general, who ordered him to work; "otherwise he should be whipt every day." Hodshone demanded, " what law he had broken ? and called for his accusers, that he might know his transgression." Instead of an answer, he was again chained to the barrow, and threatened, if he should speak to any person, with more severe punishment. But not being able to keep him silent, he was taken back to his dungeon, where he was kept several days, "two nights and one day and a half of which, without bread or water."
The rage of persecution was still unsatiated. He was now removed to a private room, stripped to his waist, then hung up to the ceiling by his hands, with a heavy log of wood tied to his feet, " so that he could not turn his body." A strong negro then commenced lashing him with rods until his flesh was cut into pieces. Now let down, he was thrown again into his loathsome dungeon, where he was kept two days in solitary confinement, after which he was brought forth to undergo a repetition of the same barbarous torture. Fainting, and feeling as if he were about to die, he prayed that some English person might be allowed to visit him. An English woman came and bathed his wounds. " As she thought he could not live until morning," she acquainted her husband with the horrid sight she had witnessed. Her representation made such an impression, that the man went to the Fiscaal, and offered him a fat ox if he would allow Hodshone to be removed to his house until he recovered. This was refused, unless the whole fine were paid. Some would willingly accept these hard terms, but the Quaker, strong in his innocence, would not consent. He was now kept " like a slave to hard work." But his case eventually excited so much compassion, that Stuyvesant's sister at length interfered, and implored her brother so incessantly, that the Director-general was, at last, induced to liberate
350
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BOOK the unfortunate man.1 In the face of the statute against V. conventicles, Henry Townsend, a conscientious and influ- 1657. ential inhabitant of Rustdorp, had prayer-meetings in his Sep. 15. house. He was immediately prosecuted, fined eight pounds Flemish, failing payment of which he was to be subjected to corporal punishment and banished the prov- ince. The town officers of Flushing, to their honor, Dec. 27. refused absolutely to enforce the law against the rights of conscience. For their part they could not condemn the persecuted, nor stretch out their hands to punish or banish them, " for, out of Christ, God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." They declined, therefore, to judge in the case, lest they should be judged ; or to condemn, lest they be condemned ; but preferred rather to let every man stand or fall to his own master. They were commanded by the law to do good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith. The law of love, peace and liberty, extending, in the state, to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, forms the glory of Holland ; so love, peace and liberty, extending to all in CHRIST JESUS, condemn hatred, war and bondage. But inasmuch as the Saviour hath said that it was impossible that scandal shall not come, but woe unto him by whom it cometh, they desired not to offend one of His little ones, under whatever form, name or title he appear, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker. On the contrary, they should be glad to see anything of God in them, desiring to do unto all as they wished all men should do unto themselves, " which is the true law both in church and state,"-" this, says our Saviour, is the law and the prophets." Should any of those people come in love among them, they, therefore, in conscience, could not lay
1 This humane lady was Mde. Anna, widow of Nicholas Bayard, who, with her family, accompanied the Director-general to America. She had three sons : Balthazar, at this time a clerk in one of the public offices, Peter and Nicolaus. Balthazar Bayard married Maria, daughter of Govert Loockermans, by whom he had, 1. Anna Maria, married Augustus Jay, grandfather of Gov. Jay ; 2. Ari- etta, married Samuel Verplanck ; 3. Jacobus, married Hellegonda de Kay ; 4. Judith, married Gerardus Stuyvesant, grandson of the Director-general.
2 Sewell's History of the Quakers, 2d ed. Lond. 1725, 217-219; Besse, ii., 182; Alb. Rec. xix., 275.
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violent hands on them. They should give them free CHAP. ingress and egress into their houses, "as God shall per- VIII. suade our consciences." And in this, they maintained, 1658. they were true subjects both of church and state, for they were bound by the law of God to do good, not evil, to all men, "according to the patent and charter of our town, given unto us in the name of the States General, which we are unwilling to infringe and violate."
The high-toned and just sentiments here enounced were subscribed by all the inhabitants of the town.1 Instead, however, of convincing, they only incensed the govern- ment. Sheriff Feake, who was commissioned to present the paper containing them, was immediately placed under Jan. 1. arrest, together with Messrs. Farrington and Noble, the magistrates of the village.
The town clerk was subjected, according to the proce- Jan. 3. dure of the courts of those days, to a searching examina- tion on written interrogatories, with a view to discover the authors of the remonstrance. But though nothing of importance could be extorted from him, he was sent to prison. The magistrates " having been inveigled into signing the paper by Feake, were discharged, but suspend- Jan. 23 ed from office until further orders. Hart, after three weeks' confinement, was forced to make a most humble submission, and finally released only at the intercession of his neighbors, as he was one of the oldest settlers, and had a large family to provide for. It fared harder. however, with the sheriff. He was the mainspring of the whole popular movement, and an old soldier in the fight for religious liberty. He had, moreover, entertained and lodged " some of the abominable sect called Quakers."
1 The names appended to this truly Christian remonstrance, ought to be handed down through all time. They were Edward Hart, clerk, Tobias Feake, William Noble, William Charles Stiger, William Thorne, Jun., Rudolf Blackford, Ed- ward Feake, Mirabel Stevens, John Glover, Nathan Jeffs, Benjamin Hubbard, Philip -, William Pidgeon, George Blee, Elias Doughty, Anthony Field, Richard Stortin, Edward Griffin, Nathaniel Coe, Robert Field, Sen., Robert Field, Jun., Nicholas Persells, Michael Millner, Henry Townsend, George Wright, John Ford, Lyman Bumtell, Edward Reurt, John Masline, John Town- send, Edward Ffarrington.
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BOOK He had composed "the seditious cartabel " which the others V. had but signed. He had justified the "incendiaries" " who 1658. treat with contempt all ecclesiastical and political authority, and undermine the foundation of all government ; maintain- ing that all sects, particularly the said abominable sect, ought to be tolerated, in direct opposition to orders which he ought to have maintained." As an example to all Jan. 28. others, he was, therefore, degraded from his office, and fined two hundred guilders, with costs of court, refusing to pay which, he was to be banished from the province.1
These arbitrary proceedings evoked only increased resistance. The light which was extinguished in one quarter, burst forth, with increased energy, in another. Jan. 8. Intelligence was received that the Quakers and their adherents reappeared at Rustdorp. Henry Townsend, by no means convinced of his errors by the fine already imposed on him, still maintained conventicles there "in full blast." Gravesend, too, became infected. John Til- ton, the clerk of that town, "had dared to provide a Quaker woman with lodgings." Both these rebellious spirits were cited before the Council. Tilton was fined twelve Flemish pounds, and Townsend three hundred guilders, with costs of court .? But this fine the latter absolutely refused to pay. His person and estate were in the hands of his persecutors. These they might take if they would, but he should not pay the fine. " Whereupon they cast him into a miry dungeon, from whence some of his friends at length procured his liberty, by giving the oppressors two young oxen and a horse."3
Having thus disposed of these cases, the opportunity was taken to infringe the patent of Flushing, and to cir- cumscribe within narrower limits the privileges of its inhabitants. "To prevent in future the disorders arising from town meetings, as these are very prejudicial," all such Mar. 26. assemblies were henceforward forbidden, except on per- mission of the Director-general and Council, obtained through the sheriff, or in his absence from the magistrates.
1 Alb. Rec. xiv., 1-9, 15, 38, 48, 49, 67, 68.
2 Alb. Rec. xiv., 12-14, 20.
3 Besse, ii., 197.
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And instead of such meetings being composed, as hereto- CHAP. fore, of the mass of the settlers, a " vroedschap," or council VIII. of seven persons, was to be elected " from the best, most 1658. prudent and most respectable inhabitants," and consulted on all local affairs by the sheriff and magistracy. One of these seven "councillors" was to be occasionally selected by the magistrates to act as their assistant when the bench was not full, or when any of the magistrates was a party in a law-suit. " Whatever shall be decided by said sheriff, magistrates and councillors, relating to fences, bridges, roads, schools, the church or public build- ings, shall be submitted to by the inhabitants in general." And as the village had been bereft, for the three or four past years, of " a good, pious and orthodox minister," whereby the settlers were inclined to neglect religious duties, and violate the Sabbath, the above authorities were directed to look out for a proper clergyman, towards whose maintenance each proprietor was to pay a land tax of twelve stivers per morgen. In case this did not furnish an adequate support, the deficit was to be made up from the tenths. " All who do not consent to this order, are to dispose of their property and quit the town."" A conscientious Frenchman, and an equally unmanageable Englishman, were brought up by the sheriff of Breukelen, April 2. soon after this, on a charge of refusing to contribute to the support of the Rev. Mr. Polhemus. They " most in- solently pleaded frivolous excuses-the first, that he was a Catholic ; the other, that he did not understand Dutch." They were each fined twelve guilders.2 Heemstede be- came next the theatre on which orthodoxy and heterodoxy came to blows. Separation made such alarming inroads here, the magistrates were under the necessity of issuing the following proclamation :-
" Whereas we judge, by woful experience, that, of late, April 13. a sect hath taken such ill effect amongst us to the seducing of certain of the inhabitants, who by giving heed to seducing spirits, under the notion of being inspired by the
1 Alb. Rec. xiv., 169-173. 2 Ibid. 184.
VOL. II. 23
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BOOK Holy Spirit of God, have drawn away with their error V. and misguided light those which, together with us, did 1658. worship God in spirit and in truth, and more unto our grief do separate from us ; and unto the great dishonor of God, and the violation of the established laws and the Christian order, that ought to be observed, with love, peace and concord, have broke the Sabbath, and neglected to join with us in the true worship and service of God, as formerly they have done; Be it, therefore, ordered, that no manner of person or persons whatsoever shall hence- forth give any entertainment, or have any converse with those people who are called by us Quakers ; or shall lodge them in their houses, (except they are permitted for one night's lodging in the parish, and so to depart quietly, without dispute or debate the next morning ;) and this is to be observed in the town and to the uttermost bounds thereof."
Yet all this was of no avail. "Mary the wife of Joseph Scott, together with the wife of Francis Weeks, con- trary to the law of God, and the laws established in this place, not only absented themselves from public worship, but profaned the Lord's day by going to a conventicle or meeting in the woods, where there were two Quakers." They were accordingly arraigned. But instead of be- ing downcast or abashed, they, on examination, justified the act. "They knew no transgression they had done. They went out to meet the people of God." The plea was overruled, and these good women were each fined twenty guilders, "with all costs and charges which arise herefrom."1
The winter had not yet set in, when three other persons, "suspected of being Quakers," made their appearance at New Amsterdam. These individuals were Thomas Christian, John Cook, and Thomas Chapman. Being Sep. 30. brought before the Director and Council, " they entered the room, their heads covered, without paying any re- spect" to the authorities present. Stuyvesant appeared to
1 Besse, ii., 196, 197 ; Thompson's L. I. ii., 11, 12.
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have had enough of "the wheelbarrow and the pitched CHAP. rope." He ordered the under-sheriff to conduct the VIII. Quakers to "Gamoenepan," (Communipau,) at the other side 1658. of the river, whence they had come. They requested per- mission to go to New England ; but this was refused, and they were warned not to appear again at the Manhattans, under pain of corporal punishment. Dominies Megapolen- sis and Drisius sent a report on the alarming spread of sectarianism to the Classis of Amsterdam, who brought the subject, in consequence, before the Assembly of the XIX.1
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