USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 45
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" These have, first, manifested themselves in the still to be deplored and tragical massacre by the savages of the honest inhabitants of that excellent and fruitful country, the Esopus, occasioned by the premature, and at this con- juncture, totally indefensible reduction of the soldiery in this province, at a time they ought rather have been increased and reinforced. Such a reduction, as regards the state of the colony, was utterly contrary to all sound views and maxims of state and policy ; especially when it is recol- lected that your remonstrants stand here between a bar- barous nation on the one side, and a powerful and quarrel- some neighbor on the other. So that the good people are, thereby, reduced to a state nearly as deplorable as a flock without a shepherd-a prey to every one who will seize his advantage and attack it. And, lastly, are they visible in (what is of considerable importance) the actual encroachments and aggressions committed by the neigh- boring English nation, in divers parts of this province, of which your Honors, no doubt, have been advised by the Director-general and Council.
" This English nation hath, in the meanwhile, as your remonstrants have learned by experience, at a moment when it was not watched by your Honors, lately obtained an unlimited patent and commission from his Majesty of
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England, which they enforce according to their own inter- CHAP pretation, proving, as experience teaches us, by manifold V. examples, that the most powerful are usually justified whilst the feeble must succumb. There is no question, then-at least the apprehension is very strong-that we must expect the total loss of this province ; or that it shall be circumscribed within such narrow limits, that it will resemble only a useless carcass, devoid either of limbs or form-divested of all its internal parts-its head separated from its trunk, and your remonstrants, consequently, so closely cooped up, if not entirely crushed, that they shall, at last, be compelled, to their irreparable ruin, to abandon this country in despair, and become outcasts with their families.
" The English, to cloak their plans, now object that there is no proof, no legal commission or patent from their High Mightinesses, to substantiate and justify our rights and claims to the property of this province, and insinuate that through the backwardness of their High Mightinesses to grant such patent, you apparently intended to place the people here on slippery ice ; giving them lands, to which your Honors had no right whatever ; that this, too, is the real cause of our being continually kept in a labyrinth, and of the well intentioned English, settled under your govern- ment, being at a loss how to acquit themselves of their oaths.
" Wherefore your remonstrants are compelled, in their anxiety, and intricate and extreme danger, to throw them- selves on your Honors' gracious consideration, and to solicit, with all humility, that you should place us in a proper position, and provide us with those essential means whereby we, your Honors' faithful subjects, might directly and effectually be maintained, or enabled to maintain our- selves, in the real possession of those lands, properties and dependencies granted and actually conveyed by the afore- said exemptions, and which have been preserved and culti- vated so long a time, at the expense of so much toil, bloody fatigue, and the sweat of our brows ; that your Honors may be further pleased to take under your fatherly care
1663.
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BOOK and protection so many hundred families-so many thou- VI. sand afflicted souls, and apply, in the shortest way, the 1663. most efficacious means to relieve us from our calamitous and distressing condition. If, however, we are unsuccess- ful in our petition ; if we cannot obtain a redress of our grievances, so fully detailed, the reasonableness of which is so palpable and conspicuous ; then do we declare, with all due respect, that we shall, by an imperious necessity, be compelled, in order to save ourselves and families, to address ourselves to the College of Deputies from the respective Departments-the Assembly of the XIX .- to obtain their favor and support, so that we may, through their efficacious intercession and powerful influence, be qualified and encouraged to make application to their High Mightinesses, our supreme sovereigns.
" Wishing, nevertheless, that when reflecting on our just demands and alarming situation, you will be moved to interest yourselves in our behalf, by speedy and effect- ual aid, so that any further application may become unnecessary, we pray from our souls, that ALMIGHTY GOD may mercifully bestow on you additional blessings and salutary success."1
This remonstrance was expressed to Holland, where Jeremias van Rensselear and Jacob Bakker were author- ized to support it, and Stuyvesant took occasion to urge again on the Directors, the necessity of settling the limits. He recommended, also, that their High Mightinesses address the English and Dutch towns on Long Island, commanding the first to return to their allegiance under pain of condign punishment, and the latter, to remain loyal to the government under which they lived. To meet the objections of those who denied that the Dutch had any patent for the country, he suggested that a public act confirming the original grant to the Company, be issued by the States General, under the great seal, " which an Englishman usually worships like an idol."?
1 Alb Rec. xxi., 351-355, 357, 361. 369-376; Hol. Doc. xii., 291.
2 " Waeraen een Engelsman als een affgod gemeenlyk vergaepl." Hol. Doc. xii., 363.
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The English towns on the west end of Long Island CHAP. were now the scenes of renewed disorder. For Anthony
V. Waters and John Coe, "miller of Middelburgh," having
1663. raised a force of nearly a hundred men, roved through Nov. 7-9. these places, convoked the people; told them that the country belonged to the King, and that they should hence- forth pay neither taxes nor customs ; removed the magis- trates, appointed others in their stead ; and finally threatened the Dutch towns if they did not also pronounce in favor of his Majesty. This revolution was completed by proclaim- ing the King, establishing the laws of England, and chang- ing the names of several of the settlements. Gemeco became "Crafford ;" Flushing, " New-warke ;" Newtown, "Hastings ;" and Oyster Bay, "Folestone.""
The intelligence of this outbreak awakened the Director- general to the danger of inaction. He dispatched De Sille with an armed force to protect the Dutch villages, and wrote to Hartford, accepting the terms already offered Nov. 15 by that colony. Westchester thereby became annexed to Connecticut, and the English towns on Long Island, hitherto belonging to New Netherland, were left altogether to themselves." This was followed by a descent on the west side of the Hudson, by a number of persons belong- ing to the east end of Long Island and Gravesend, who secretly proceeded to Nevesing, "behind Rensselaer's hoeck," with a design to purchase the lands thereabout from the Indians, notwithstanding they had already been bought and paid for, ten or twelve years previously, by the Dutch. Capt. Krygier, Govert Loockermans, and some others, were immediately dispatched with a small Dec. 6. armed force to stay these illegal encroachments. On arriving at the mouth of the Raritan River, they learned that the English had gone up the creek to meet the savages. A runner was, thereupon, started to advise the Dec. 8.
I I am not perfectly satisfied that the name Folestone applied to Oyster Bay, but as those of Hempstead and Gravesend remained unchanged, I know not any other English town on Long Island claimed by the Dutch, to which it could apply.
$ Alb. Rec. xxi., 382-385. Colonial Boundaries, Hartford, ii., 8.
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BOOK VI. Indians that the English had come "in silence," without acquainting " the Dutch sachems on the Manhattans." 1663. This interference arrested the sale.
The Gravesend men now finding themselves estopped, proceeded further down the bay. Messrs. Krygier and Dec. 10. Loockermans followed, and having obtained an interview, told them they ought not to purchase any lands from the savages, as most of these had already been bought by the Dutch. They insisted that they had as good a right to trade, and look after land in that quarter, as any others. Loock- ermans told them they were a pack of traitors, acting as they did against the government. "The King's patent," they replied, " was of quite another cast." The expedition Dec. 11. now returned to the Manhattans, whither some Indian chiefs followed, next day, to sell the Director all the land at the Nevesing, not already disposed of; and in ratification of the bargain, which they promised to com- plete on the return of some sachems then absent, they received a present of eight red blankets, besides some frieze " for their great chief Passachynon."1
1 Alb. Rec. xxi., 418, 431-435 ; Hol Doc. xii., 369 ; Whitehead's East Jersey, 177-179.
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CHAPTER VI.
Captain John Scott-His previous history-Intrigues in England-Returns to America-Is commissioned by Hartford-Invited to the west end of Long Island-Elected President of the English towns-Proceeds against the neigh- boring Dutch villages-Consequent collisions-Delegates from the Dutch towns meet at Midwout-The Burgomasters and Schepens of New Amster- dam raise funds to fortify the city-Meeting of the English towns at Heem- stede-Stuyvesant proceeds thither-Enters into a convention with Scott- A general Representative Assembly held in New Amsterdam-Its delibera- tions-Efforts in Holland to engage the States General to uphold the rights of the Company-The result-Peace with the Esopus Indians-Scott arrested by order of Hartford-Gov. Winthrop visits Long Island-Manifests the great- est hostility to the Dutch-Abets the designs of the Duke of York.
PROMINENT among the agitators whom the difficulties on CHAP. Long Island brought out, was Captain JOHN SCOTT, a man VI. of much boldness, but not of much principle. Originally 1663. an officer in the army of Charles the First, in whose cause his father lost both fortune and life,1 he was detected in the act of cutting the girths of some of the Parliament's horses at Turnham Green, for which he was seized, brought before the Committee of State, mulcted in the sum of five hundred pounds, and banished to New England, in charge of one Downing, by whom "he was most perfidiously dealt." He thence passed over to Long Island, nearly one-third of which, according to his own statement, he subsequently purchased. His sufferings in the royal cause did not prevent him, however, co-operating with the Cromwel- lians in the difficulties of 1654, in the spring of which year he was arrested by Van Tienhoven, and arraigned with others before the Council at Fort Amsterdam.2 With these varied claims he sailed, in 1660, on receiving news of the Restoration, in the Oak Tree, from the Manhattans ;
1 Col. Scott fell at Alford, Hampshire, according to Lloyd's Memoirs of the Sufferers under Charles I., London, 1698. It is stated that he advanced £14,300 to the King.
* New Amst. Rec., 16th March, 1654.
VOL. II. 32
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BOOK went to England and petitioned the King to be invested VI. with the government of Long Island, or that the people 1663. thereof be allowed to choose yearly a governor and assistants. Satisfied of the petitioner's loyalty and great sufferings, as well as of his ability to serve his Majesty, and inclined to encourage him in his desires, the King July 5. referred Scott's request to the Committee of Foreign Plantations, with instructions to inquire if there were any other claims to the island in virtue of former grants, so that his Majesty might know what was proper July 16. to be done to gratify his petitioner. Scott took this occasion to complain of the "intrusions" of the Dutch at the Manhattans, Long Island, and on the main land of New England, by whose practices the intentions of the Navigation Act were in great part prostrated, and many frauds committed on the customs.1 The council thereupon ordered him, with Messrs. Maverick and Baxter, to lay before them a report as to his Majesty's title to the premises ; the intrusions of the Dutch ; their deportment ; management of the country ; strength, trade and govern- ment ; and lastly, of the means necessary to induce, or force, them to acknowledge the King, or if necessary, to expel them altogether from the country.2 Having done thus much to hasten the downfall of New Netherland, Scott returned to America with a royal letter recommend- ing his interests to the protection of the New England Governors, bringing also instructions from the King direct- ing the observance of the navigation laws. He was im- mediately commissioned by Connecticut, conjointly with Talcott, Young and Woodall, to incorporate Long Island with that colony.3
1 Alb. Rec. xviii., 168; Hutchinson's Coll. 380, 381. The farmers of the customs estimated the loss to the revenue by the trade between the Dutch and English in the colonies, at £10,000. Lond. Doc. i., 130.
$ Lond. Doc. i., 128, 129. Hazard's State Papers, ii., 498.
3 New Haven declared that he had been in England a good friend to that colony and to some of its principal persons ; voted him a remuneration for his services, and went so far as to endeavor to engage him to obtain for them a patent for the lands they claimed on the Delaware. New Haven Rec. He promised to improve his best skill and industry to bring all the plantations upon Long Island under the Connecticut gov't, especially the western end,
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Meanwhile, Stuyvesant having accepted the ultimatum CHAP. of Hartford, the English on the west end of Long Island
VI. found themselves in a peculiar position, belonging neither 1663. to one colony nor the other, and in a measure defenceless in the midst of Indians. Considerable discontent and division consequently broke out. Those who were in favor of annexation, complained that they received noth- ing from Connecticut, " who sounded the trumpet" in their ears, but "if-so-bees and doubtings," whilst those who inclined to the principles of the Baptists, Quakers or Mennonists, dreaded falling into the hands of the Puritans. In this dilemma, the discontented sent an invitation to Dec. 23. Scott, then resident at Ashford, now Brookhaven, request- ing him to come and arrange their difficulties.1 On his arrival among them, the people enquired what disposition 1664. had been made of the island. They were told his Majesty had granted it to the Duke of York, who before long would manifest his intentions regarding them. The towns of Heemstede, Newwarke, Crafford, Hastings, Folestone and Gravesend, thereupon entered into an agreement or Jan. 4. "Combination," as they termed it, to manage their own affairs irrespective of Connecticut, and resolved to elect deputies in each town to draw up laws for their govern- ment, choose magistrates, and " did, further, fully impower
which was under the Dutch ; upon which the Council appointed him to be a commissioner within the town of Ashford, and he was invested with magistra- tical power throughout the Island, and accordingly took an oath (being admin- istered to him by the Governor,) to the faithful discharge of his place according as he was commissioned. In order to effecting what he had promised, he was commissioned with several other gentlemen to go to Long Island to settle the government there. Towns and Lands in Secretary of State's Office, Hartford, i., 30.
1 Dec. 13, 1663. Dear Sir : In the behalfe of sum hundreds of English heer planted on the west end of Long Island wee address ourselves unto you ; the business is that wee ware put uppon proclaiming the King by Capt. John Youngs who came with a trumpet to Heemstede and sounded in our eares that Conec- ticot would do great things for us, which hath put us to greate trouble, and extramely diuided us. We beseech you, noble sir, come and settle vs; wc beseech you think of our condition. The Dutch treaten vs; our neighbors abuse vs; and nothing from Conecticot but if so bees and doubtinghs, and yet at first they sayed wee ware part of thaire patent, and this is our case which we intreate you to consider in hope of which wee subscribe ourselves yours ever to be commanded, &c Addressed-" For the worthy Capt. John Scott at Ashford these presents." Towns and Lands, i., 21.
-
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BOOK the said Captain John Scott to act as their PRESIDENT, VI. until his Royal Highness the Duke of York or his Majesty 1664. should establish a government among them." "Our dreade sovereign, Charles the Second, was then proclaimed by the said Captain," who forthwith set out at the head of a hundred and fifty followers, horse and foot, to reduce Jan. 11. the neighboring Dutch towns.1 The first halt was made at Breukelen. Here Scott addressed the settlers, told them the soil they occupied was the King's, and ab- solved them from further allegiance to the Dutch govern- ment.
His appeal was met by an invitation from Secretary Van Ruyven to visit the Director-general. Scott declined accepting the invitation. "Let Stuyvesant come here with a hundred men ; I shall wait for him and run a sword through his body." Turning next to a lad, a son of Burgomaster Krygier, he ordered him to doff his hat to the King's flag. The boy refused ; Scott struck him; a Dutch bystander remarked that he ought to strike men, not boys. Four of Scott's followers thereupon set on the man, who at first defended himself with an axe, but was eventually obliged to fly. The English called for his surrender, and threatened to fire the village if he were not given up. Proceeding next to Midwout, they, caused the British ensign to be hoisted in front of the sheriff's house. Scott, uncovering his head, then addressed the people in English at considerable length.1 The land they occupied belonged to his Majesty King Charles, the right and lawful lord of all America, from Virginia to Boston, under whom they would enjoy more freedom than they ever before possessed. Henceforward they should pay no more tenths, nor obey Peter Stuyvesant. He was no longer their governor, and they were not to acknowlege his authority. If they refused to submit, they knew what to expect. The Dutch, however, refused to acknowledge the King, and asked Scott for his com-
1 Towns and Lands, i., 25.
9 "He jabbered away in English like a mountebank "-als ofte hy een quack- selver hadde geweest.
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mission. They told him these were matters which he CHAP. ought to settle with their Director-general ; but he replied, VI. he was a General no longer, and as for his commission 1664. he should return in April, and then produce it. He would go with a hundred men to the Manhattans, and proclaim his Majesty under the very walls of the fort. On the next day, Amersfoort and New Utrecht witnessed a Jan. 12 repetition of these disorders. At the latter, Scott took possession of the block-house, in the King's name, caused his men to remove the cannon from the port-hole it occupied, to another which he called "the King's port," and fired a salute in commemoration of the event. Those who refused to uncover their heads before the flag, were here also assaulted and beaten; considerable confusion ensued, and mutual dislikes were engendered.1
The authorities at Fort Amsterdam, on learning these transactions, sent Van Ruyven, Burgomasters Van Cort- land and Krygier, and one or two other gentlemen, to Long Island, with a view to enter into some arrangement with Scott for the termination of these disorders. The parties met at Gemeco, where, after considerable discus- sion, the basis of an arrangement, to be submitted to the Director-general, was agreed to, and on taking leave, Scott Jan. 14. informed the Dutch deputies that the King of England had granted the island to his brother, who, being informed that it would yield him a yearly revenue of thirty thousand pounds sterling, was determined, if not surrendered peace- ably, to possess himself not only of it, but of the whole province. With these consoling tidings Van Ruyven and his friends returned to New Amsterdam.2
The inhabitants of the Dutch towns continued, mean- while, to suffer from their English neighbors. Threats were held out that their magistrates should be deposed and Englishmen appointed in their stead. Collisions occurred, besides, with the more violent of Scott's rangers, whose prejudices, no doubt, impelled them to acts which, under
1 Hol. Doc. xii., 308-319, 327; Alb. Rec. xx., 374. Stephanus van Cortlandt to Jeremias van Rensselaer, 20th January, 1664. Renns. MSS.
$ Hol. Doc. xiii., 83.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK other circumstances, they would not have committed. VI. Several Dutch families were obliged, during these troubles, 1664. to abandon their homes more than once. The magistrates Feb. 21. were, at length, constrained to request the Director-general to call a meeting of delegates from the several Dutch settlements on Long Island, for the purpose of sending a deputation to Holland to lay before the Company and the States General a report of their sufferings. This meeting Feb 27. was held at Midwout, in the course of the following week, and was attended by the sheriff and magistrates of the five Dutch towns,1 who voted a remonstrance to the Directors, in which were detailed the outrages committed by Scott, of which they were all eye-witnesses.2
But the Burgomasters and Schepens of New Amsterdam Feb. 20. took up, in the mean time, the general state of the country and its defenceless condition ; addressed a memorial to the authorities, in which they recommended additional fortifications for the city and the enlistment of an increased armed force. The object of the English was, in their opinion, to seize and plunder the city, well knowing it was abundantly stocked with merchandise, and if they had that, the rest of the province would follow. "This capital is adorned with so many noble buildings, at the expense of the good and faithful inhabitants, principally Netherlanders, that it nearly excels any other place in North America. Were it duly fortified, it would instil fear into any envious neighbors, protect both the East and North Rivers, the surrounding villages and bouweries, as well as full ten thou- sand inhabitants, both Dutch and French, who, in the course of a few years, if it pleased God, might become a mighty people in this happily situated province, where thousands of acres of land remain wild and uncultivated, and where
1 Adriaen Hegeman, Schout ; Elbert Elbertsen, Pieter Claessen, Roeloff Martensen, Amersfoort ; Willem Bredenbent, Albert Cornelisz. Wantenaar, Joris Gysbertsen Bogaert, Breukelen ; Tomas Verdonck, Willem Jacobs van Boerum, Hendrik Jorissen, Midwout; Jan Snediker, Jacob Pietersen, B. Vosch, François de Bruyn, Utrecht; Pieter Jansen Witt, Barent Joosten, Bos- wyck.
2 Alb. Rec. xxii , 68, 69; Hol. Doc. xi., 253-259 ; xii., 303-326 ; Bushwick Records, 35-39.
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our Netherlanders would find a safe retreat, should they CHAP. be visited with foreign or civil war. It would become the
VI. granary of Fatherland, for even in these troublesome times 1664. more than eight thousand schepels of winter grain have been planted, besides an immense quantity of summer grain, rye, peas, oats, barley, buckwheat, and others yet to be sown. Yea, if permitted to abide in peace, this land will become an emporium to Fatherland, by its growing planta- tions of tobacco, hemp, flax, and other necessaries, more of which may be cultivated with success." To secure these blessings, forts and soldiers were required. "With two hundred men in separate vessels, we could sack and destroy all the English settlements to Cape Cod, as all their villages are open and entirely defenceless." But the treasury was exhausted by the Indian war. To remedy this, the city fathers engaged to devote all the city revenues, and further to raise such funds as were required, if the tavern-keepers' excise, within the city, were appropriated to pay the debt and interest. The Director and Council accepted these propositions ; the excise, from May, 1665, was surrendered, on condition that the authorities enlist two hundred men and maintain besides one hundred and sixty soldiers. Thirty thousand guilders, at ten per cent. interest, were immediately subscribed, and sealed letters Mar. 6. were deposited in the hands of the Burgomasters surrender- ing the excise from the above date, to repay the debt.1
As the time approached for the occurrence of Captain Scott's threatened visit, Director Stuyvesant felt all the responsibility of his position. Public opinion was con- siderably divided as to the policy already pursued to- wards "the usurper." "Some extolled the forbearance exhibited ; others, losing sight of the consequences, de- nounced this non-resistance and abstinence from hostility as a disgraceful and contemptible cowardice in the nation." Under these circumstances, the Director-general deemed it his duty, before taking any proceedings, to ask his Council and the city fathers, whether they should advise
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