USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 35
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1 " To the Honorable Jacob Alrike at Delaware : SIR-I received a letter from you directed to me as Lord Baltimore's Governor and Lieutenant of the province of Maryland, wherein you suppose yourself to be Governor of a people seated in a part of Delaware Bay, which I am very well informed lyeth to the south- ward of the degree forty, and therefore can by no means owne or acknowledge any for governor there but myself, who am by his lordship appointed Lieutenant of his whole province, lying between the degrees of thirty-eight and forty : but do by these require and command you presently to depart forth of his lordship's province, or otherwise desire you to hould me excused, if I use my utmost in- deavour to reduce that part of his lordship's province unto his due obedience under him." Hol. Doc. xvi., 99. This letter bore date 8th July, 1659. Alb. Rec. xii., 514. The Instructions are in New York Hist. Soc. Coll. iii., 363.
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ness, and our tobacco is harvested. We, therefore, demand CHAP. your positive answer." The Dutch craved delay. They~
x. could not decide this matter ; it must be left to their prin- 1659. cipals. But Utie "cared nothing for them." But "we can do nothing without them," said the others; " we must refer the matter to the Director-general and Council, and it will take some time to hear from them." " What time ? " Three weeks." "I have no orders to give you any re- spite," replied the Colonel, " yet I will grant you the time you request."
The conference now broke up ; the parties separated for the evening, and the Dutch counselled together as to what was best to be done. Beekman had already urged that the Englishmen should be arrested and sent prisoners to the Manhattans to answer for this intrusion ; but this was strongly opposed both by Alrichs and his Lieutenant, D'Hinoyossa. "Great calamities might grow out of it. It would cause a revolt among the citizens, who were already much irritated against them." Nothing, therefore, remained but to protest. This recapitulated all that had already Sep. 9. occurred between the parties. Such conduct was unex- pected from fellow Christians and neighbors, and the pretensions they put forth were unsupported by any documentary evidence. If Lord Baltimore had any title either by purchase, conquest, or grant, it ought to have been submitted. The Dutch were prepared to show their title to the country, both by charter and legal purchase. All the papers were preserved in the archives at the Man- hattans. That part of Gov. Fendal's instructions which authorized, on application, offers of protection and liberty to the city's colonists, and free trade to Maryland, " whereby many are lured to run away without paying their honest debts," was reprobated as altogether unlawful, and those who made such proposals should be held responsible for all losses and damages accruing therefrom. They were con- trary to the provisions of the treaty of 1654, which en- joined governors, as well in America as in Europe, to abstain from all acts of hostility and injustice, the one towards the other.
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BOOK V. Col. Utie, in answer to all this, only repeated what he had already stated, and then turning to Beekman, told him 1659. that he, too, should depart from Fort Christina, as that place also was situated within the forty degrees. But Beekman retorted; if he had anything to say to him, let him come to his place of residence and say it. The colonel considered it sufficient to have made the communication there, and two Sep. 11. days afterwards he and his suite took their departure.
Rumors now came in that five hundred men were in readiness to march from Maryland to the South River. Alrichs and D'Hinoyossa evinced much alarm. Ruin seemed to stare New Amstel in the face. Scarcely thirty families remained in the colonie. The soldiery had been reduced by desertion to twenty-five men, and two-thirds of this number were at the Whorekill, leaving only some eight or ten to garrison the principal fort. In this state of disorder, ill preparation and dismay, messen- gers were sent overland to the Director-general to advise him of what had transpired. As if to increase existing difficulties, the Manhattan savages proclaimed war against the Raritans, and the messengers from the South River were obliged to return.1
The Burgomasters of Amsterdam were, by this time, as sick of their purchase and colonization scheme, as their colonists. The expenses were found excessive, and the profits very inconsiderable. They therefore determined Sep. 30. to reconvey their colonie to the Company for whatever sum they might obtain. But the latter were chary, and refused to reassume the burthen. The city of Amsterdam was, therefore, per force, obliged to continue its under- taking, and now voted an additional sum of twelve thou- sand guilders to repay various old debts which had been Nov. 8. incurred in its behalf, and a committee was appointed to enquire in what manner the city could be relieved of its burthens.2
Sep. 23. Director Stuyvesant, on learning Colonel Utie's visit to
1 Alb. Rec. xii., 510-514 ; xvii., 1-11; xviii., 42 ; Hol. Doc. xvi., 117-121, 173; Lond. Doc. iv., 174, 175.
$ Hol. Doc. xv., 29, 31 ; Beschryv. der Stad Amsterdam, i., 594.
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New Amstel, expressed considerable surprise at his frivo- CHAP. lous demands, and at the " no less frivolous and poor x. answer" of the Dutch. Instead of permitting the English 1659. emissary " to sow his seditious and mutinous seed among the community for four or five days, he deserved to have been apprehended, and sent hither as a spy." "To remedy what passed, and to correct the blunders of others," Secre- tary Van Ruyven and Burgomaster Krygier were sent to the South River with a force of sixty soldiers, to regulate the disorders there, and to defend the place from the threatened attack of its English neighbors. Messrs. Augustine Heermans and Resolved Waldron were sent ambassadors to Maryland to request the surrender of those colonists who had left the South River, to conclude a treaty for the future mutual rendition of all fugitives, and to remonstrate against Col. Utie's late proceedings.1
The Dutch ambassadors arrived, towards the middle of Oct. 16. the next month, at Patuxent, in the Chesapeake Bay, the residence of the Governor of Maryland, and on being ad- mitted to an audience, presented to his Excellency and his Council " a Manifesto and Declaration from and in behalf of the Director and Council of New Netherland." Laying down the boundaries of the latter country, the Dutch claimed to derive their title, 1st, from the King of Spain, whose subjects they were at the time of the first discovery of the New World by the Spanish expedition under the command of Columbus ; 2d, from the relinquishment by the Spanish monarch to the United Provinces, free and independent, of all the possessions in America, then occu- pied by the citizens of that Republic, whereby New Neth- erland, Curaçoa and Brazil became the inheritance of the Dutch nation ; 3d, from the discovery of the Delaware and the North River by Henry Hudson, and first actual possession and settlement by the Dutch in these parts. Tracing, next, the history of the settlements, particularly on the South River, from the planting and destruction of Godyn's colonie at the Whorekill, to the expulsion of the
1 Alb. Rec. xviii., 50 ; xx., 331, 332; Hol. Doc. xvi ; New York Hist. Soc. Coll. iii., 371.
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BOOK Swedes, " against all which no man from Maryland or V. Virginia ever entered a caveat or claim," reference was 1659. made to the fact that the people of the latter provinces always remained at peace with the Dutch, even during the last war between Holland and England, and until Colonel Utie came into the town of New Amstel, " without any special commission or lawful authority from any state, prince, parliament or government, exhibiting only, by a piece of paper, a cartabel by form of an instruction, from Philip Calvert, Secretary, written without year or day, or name or place, neither signed nor sealed ;" demanding the surrender of the country ; going from house to house and inciting the inhabitants to rebel, and threatening, in case of non-submission, to return and reduce them "by force of arms, fire and sword," for which purpose the whole province of Maryland would rise ; and that then they should be plundered and stripped of their houses. Such proceedings were properly condemned as a violation of neighborly friendship, the law of nations, and common equity. They were also declared to be contrary to several of the articles of peace concluded between the Republics of England and the United Provinces, in 1654, in virtue of which were now demanded justice and satisfaction of all wrongs and damages suffered by the province of New Netherland and its subjects. The surrender of the runa- ways who had fled to Maryland was also required, in return for which the Director-general and Council pledged themselves to restore all such persons as might come within their jurisdiction. Should this, however, be refused, then . the lex talionis would be acted on, and " free liberty, access and recess should be proclaimed to all planters, servants, negroes, fugitives and runaways who, from time to time, might come from Maryland into New Netherland.
Lord Baltimore's claim to the South River was utterly denied. That river was in unquestionable, just and lawful possession of the Dutch, and by them settled full forty years, whilst Lord Baltimore's patent was not, at furthest, more than twenty-four to twenty-seven years old. It included, moreover, in no way the Delaware, and had not even as
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much reference to it as that which Sir Edmund Ployden CHAP. formerly subreptively obtained. But granting, for the moment, that Lord Baltimore had originally any claim to 1659. the country in question, his right was debarred by the thirtieth article of the treaty of peace, by which he was obliged to file before the 18th May, 1652, any claims he might have in these foreign parts. But as the Director and Council entertained every disposition to be on good terms with their neighbors, they now proposed that three persons be appointed on each side, to meet, on a fixed day, at a hill situate midway between the Chesapeake and the South River, at the head of the Sassafras River and another stream emptying into the Delaware, with full power to determine the bounds of both provinces ; or to refer the points, on which they might not be able to agree, to their respective principals in Europe ; all acts of hostility in the meanwhile to cease. Should this, however, be declined, they proclaimed their innocence to all the world, and protested against all wrongs and injuries already suffered, or which may hereafter be committed ; " declaring and manifesting that they are and shall then be necessi- tated and obliged, by way of reprisal, and in accordance with the twenty-fourth article of peace, to preserve, main- tain and hold their right, title and property to the aforesaid South River colonie, or Delaware Bay, and their subjects' lives, liberties and estates, as God, in their just cause, shall strengthen and enable them."1
This formal declaration immediately called forth con- siderable discussion. Gov. Fendal disclaimed having any- thing to do with the Governor or government at the Manhattans. His controversy was with those who had recently established themselves on the Bay of Delaware, within his limits. To these people he had sent Colonel Utie. His Excellency was told that the people on the South River were not a distinct, but a subaltern and dependent government ; merely a Vice-governor and co- members of the province of New Netherland, who there-
1 Hol. Doc. ix., 171-175, 274-291 ; xvi., 127-140. An imperfect translation of this paper is in New York Hist. Soc. Coll. iii., 373-381.
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BOOK fore had no authority in matters of high jurisdiction. The v. affairs of the whole of that province, and the sovereignty 1659. of their High Mightinesses, were entrusted alone to the Director-general and Council. The Governor, on re- ceiving this explanation, acknowledged that he had not been aware of the fact. His impression had been, that those at New Amstel had their commission from the city of Amsterdam, and were consequently a separate and independent government. Colonel Utie now interposed. All this was foreign to the matter before them. His acts were directed against persons who had intruded on Lord Baltimore's province, and if the Governor again ordered him, he should repeat all he had already done. He was thereupon informed by the Dutch commissioners, that if he should do so, and behave as he had already done, he would be treated, not as an ambassador, but as a disturber of the peace, as his conduct in threatening, or summoning a place by fire and sword, partook of the character of a public enemy. He denied having acted any further than his instructions authorized him. He was given to under- stand, he added, that the people had threatened to send him to Holland. He only wished they had done so. He was immediately told that if he returned and repeated his misconduct, his wishes would probably be gratified.
These altercations assuming, now, a heated and per- sonal turn, the Governor interfered, and the audience terminated. The remainder of the evening was passed in private conversation, the Dutch ambassadors endeavoring to impress on the several members of the council the wisdom of referring to commissioners the question of boundary, and the propriety of preventing any further misunderstanding by a treaty of confederation and alliance for the advancement of trade, " whereunto they found the majority very well inclined." The Governor also ex- pressed himself much disposed to prefer peace and quiet- ness to tumult and war, but it was not within his attributes to enter into any treaties. He had no other power than to defend the patent, and this he was in- clined to do " as discreetly and as reasonably as possible."
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On the next day, the Governor, being obliged to absent CHAP. himself, in order to hold a court at a neighboring planta- X. tion, communicated to Messrs. Heermans and Waldron 1659. Lord Baltimore's patent for the province of Maryland. On examining this document, they immediately discovered that his lordship had applied for and obtained permission to establish a colony only in a tract of country in America, "not previously planted, though inhabited by a certaine barbarous people, having no knowledge of Almighty God." Now, it was evident that such a grant could not apply to the Bay of Delaware. The South River had been taken up, purchased and planted, long before the date of this patent, by the Dutch. It was, therefore, manifestly not the intention of the King of England to include it in the deed to Lord Baltimore, whose claim and pretensions to the Delaware must, consequently, be invalid. On the Governor's return, the Dutch commissioners handed in a written statement to the above effect. Mr. Fendal at- tempted to parry the objection, by maintaining that the patent was granted with a full knowledge of the facts, and demanding communication of the Dutch patent for New Netherland. But the commissioners said that they had not come hither for the purpose of exhibiting any such paper ; they were sent to prepare the way for the appoint- ment of a commission to settle questions at issue between the respective governments. "We remarked that they were sorry for having so far exposed themselves; for they said, ' If that part of our patent be invalid, then the whole is good for nought.'" They maintained, however, that the objection now brought by the Dutch ambassadors was disposed of by the case of Col. Clayborne, who had already claimed the Island of Kent, on the principle that he too had had possession of that place before the date of Lord Baltimore's patent. But this objection profited him nothing, for he had to beg his life afterwards from the patentee. The Dutch replied that such a precedent did not apply to them : it was a totally different case. "We," said they, "are not subjects of England, but a free, sover- eign people of the Dutch nation, who have as much right VOL. II. 25
Oct. 17.
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BOOK to explore any countries in America as any other state." V. " And with such and similar debates was the meeting ad- 1659. journed for that night." The answer of the Maryland authorities to the declaration of the Director-general and Council of New Netherland having been at length pre- Oct. 19. pared, was formally communicated to Messrs. Heermans and Waldron. After reciprocating expressions of amity and love, the Governor and Council at once avowed that Colonel Utie had acted, at the South River, in pursuance to their instructions. And as the Director-general acknowl- edged that the Dutch colonie on the Delaware was estab- lished by his command, they protested against him, as against all other persons who might intrude thereon.
" The original rights of the Kings of England to these countries and territories, it must (they continue) be our endeavor to maintain ; not our discourse to controvert, nor in the least, our attempt to surrender. It is what we can neither accept from any other power, nor yield up to any other authority, without the consent of the supreme ma- gistracy, their successors in the dominion of England. Though we cannot but mind you, that it is no difficult matter to show that your pretended title to that part of this province where those people (now, if at all, the first time owned by the High and Mighty States to be in Dela- ware Bay seated by their order and authority) do live, is utterly none, and your patent, if you have any, from the States General of the United Provinces, voide and of no effect." " We cannot believe the High and Mighty States General think, or will now owne, those people to be seated at Delaware Bay by their sanction, since they have here- tofore protested to the supreme authority then in England not to own their intrusion on their territories and dominions. As to indebted persons, if there be any that are to you engaged, our courts are open and our justice speedy, and denied to none that shall demand it. This, we think, is as much as can in reason be expected. In regard to the
1 Extract uyt't Journael gehouden by Augustine Heermans op zyn Ambas- saetschap aen de Achte. Heere Governeur ende Raden van Marylandt. Hol. Doc. xvi., 141-156 ; Alb. Rec. xviii., 337-365.
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special objection against Lord Baltimore's patent, "the CHAP. Council resolved to take no notice of that paper." Such x. a summary disposition of so serious an objection proved, however, either the weakness of their case, or their igno- rance of public law. They either did not wish to discuss a question wherein they could not fail to be worsted, or they were unable to perceive the vital bearing it had on the point at issue. But, however cavalierly the objection was now treated, it was, notwithstanding, the one which proved eventually fatal to Lord Baltimore's claim. For in the great controversy which subsequently ensued between that nobleman and the founder of the neighboring colony of Pennsylvania, the strongest point the latter adduced against Lord Baltimore's pretensions, was the very objec- tion which the Dutch ambassadors originally raised at Patuxent ; and so strong was it, that the committee of trade and plantations made it the basis of their decision against his lordship, in 1685, when they declared "that they found that the land intended to be granted by Lord Balti- more's patent was only uncultivated and inhabited by savages, but that the tract, then in dispute, was inhabited and planted by Christians, at and before Lord B.'s patent, as it has ever continued to be since that time, and con- tinued as a distinct colony from that of Maryland." It is now further admitted that Lord Baltimore was aware of the fact, even when he was most urgently contending against it.2
Throughout the whole of the discussion between the authorities on the Chesapeake and those of New Nether- land, the conduct of the former was marked by the most courteous urbanity, whilst the latter evinced a tact and shrewdness of a high order; and it is doubtful, now, whether, in the prolonged suit which occurred subsequently between the patentees of Maryland and Pennsylvania, any solid plea was brought forward against the Baltimore claim that was not already anticipated in the Dutch papers.
1 New York Hist. Soc. Coll. iii., 381-385.
Hazard's Reg. of Penn. ii., 202; Dunlap in Mem. Penn. Hist. Soc. 166, 171; Bancroft, ii., 393, 394.
1659:
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And no man can rise from a perusal of the whole of the
BOOK V pleadings, without being convinced of this truth-that if 1659. the State of Delaware now occupies an independent rank in this great Republic, she is indebted, mainly, for that good fortune and high honor, to the stand taken by the Dutch in 1659.
Secretary Van Ruyven and Capt. Krygier continued, in the meanwhile, busily endeavoring to establish order and regularity at New Amstel. But as Alrichs and D'Hinoyossa maintained that the city's servants were not bound to obey any orders except such as they issued, their efforts failed. Crimination and recrimination followed. The local au- thorities were charged with acting oppressively towards the people, in consequence of which the latter would not " stir a foot" for the defence of the colonie. The agents of the Director-general were accused of fomenting discon- tent among the colonists, and debauching them to the Manhattans.1 No better understanding prevailed among those whom the city of Amsterdam had appointed to superintend their interests. Sheriff Van Sweringen and Dec. 8. D'Hinoyossa were writing to Holland, accusing Alrichs of being the cause of the general ruin. Sickness and death only increased the confusion. Dominie Welius, who, by his counsel and sympathy, encouraged many to Dec. 9 bear up against their heavy afflictions, was removed from his labors " to rest in the Lord," and Vice Director Alrichs Dec. 30. followed him, soon after, to a welcome grave, leaving New Amstel "over head and ears in debt."" In sober truth, these were the dark days of colonization on the South River.
I Compare Van Ruyven's letters, Alb. Rec. xviii., 417, 419, 420, 423, 425, with affidavits in Hol. Doc. xvi., 157, et seq.
? Hol. Doc. xvi., 106, 115, 177, 208; Alb. Rec. xvii., 25. D'Hinoyossa repre- sents these debts at fl. 5520, "as far as he knows." But they were seemingly incurred for public purposes. They were not personal debts.
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CHAPTER XI.
Indian affairs-Treaty with the Mohawks-Collision at Esopus-War with the natives there-Efforts to raise troops at New Amsterdam-Expedition to the Esopus-Siege raised-Stuyvesant's report to the Company-Massachu- setts claims the country westward to the Pacific-Makes a grant of land in the neighborhood of Fort Orange-Demands a passage through the North River-Negotiations in consequence.
THE relations between the Indians and the Dutch were, CHAP. of late, assuming an aspect by no means favorable to the continuance of that good understanding so necessary to 1659. the settlement of this young country. Two soldiers who deserted from Fort Orange, had been recently murdered July 31. midway between that post and Hartford, and some Rari- tans had destroyed a family, three men and a woman, at Aug. 26. Mespath Kill, on Long Island, in order to obtain posses- sion of a small roll of wampum which, in an unguarded moment, had been exhibited to them, and excited their cupidity.1 Considerable uneasiness prevailed everywhere in consequence, for none could tell where the blow might next fall. At this conjuncture, a delegation from the Mo- hawks arrived at Fort Orange. "The Dutch," they said, Sep. 6 " call us brothers, and say that we are bound one to the other by a chain; and this continues so long as we have beavers, after which we are no longer thought of. The bond by which we have hitherto been united, who would now presume to break ? That union must be maintained. We are continually engaged in watching your enemies, the French. But our warriors are too much addicted to drink, and when overpowered by liquor, they cannot fight.
1 Alb. Rec. xviii., 35-37. This was the nineteenth or twentieth murder com- mitted by the savages since the commencement of Stuyvesant's administration, exclusive of the massacre of 1655. They were caused by the Christians living isolated, for not a single murder or robbery had occurred in a village or hamlet, though consisting of only four or five houses.
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BOOK V. 1659.
We ask that no more brandy be sold to our people ; that the liquor kegs be plugged up, and that whoever, hencefor- ward, will bring fire-water into our country, shall have their vessels burnt, and be themselves complained of to the chiefs of the Fort. The gun-makers and gun-smiths re- fuse to repair our fire-arms when we have no wampum. This is not generous. And when we have guns, we have neither powder nor lead. Should the enemy appear, the Dutch will be sore afraid if they now do not help their friends. They ought to consider how the French behave towards their Indians, when they are in need. They should act by us in the same manner, and assist us to repair our castles. We now require thirty men with horses, to cut and draw timber for the forts which we are building ;" and with each of these requests they presented suitable gifts, adding they did not expect any presents in Sep. 8. return. The delegates were assured that the Dutch were desirous to maintain, unbroken, the ancient league, and that their requests should be submitted without delay to the Director-general, whose arrival was daily expected. A present of fifty guilders was given to the chiefs as an acknowledgment for their kind visit.
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