History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 19

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844

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From their priority in discovery and their commercial Commer- superiority, the Dutch had hitherto enjoyed decided ad- riority of cial supe- vantages over the Pilgrims. Almost all the fur trade in at Manhat- the Dutch the neighborhood of Narragansett and Buzzard's Bays was tan. monopolized by the enterprising schippers from Manhat- tan. This the Pilgrims felt, and grieved ; and one of Bradford's chief motives in hurrying Winslow off to Mas- sasoit's country, was to endeavor to dissuade the Dutch from interfering with a trade in which they so greatly overmatched the Plymouth colonists. These enterprising rivals of the Puritans supplied the Indian tribes with the various fabrics imported from Holland, and obtained in return the furs, corn, and venison of the savages. When a circulating medium was required, the Indians, reject- ing the coins of Europe, with which they were unac-

* Winslow, in Young, 371.

t Ibid., 313, 317.

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

Its value and uses.

Long Isl- and its ufactory.

CHAP. VI quainted, substituted their own aboriginal money, which 1626. Sewan or wampum. they called Sewan. Of this there were two kinds; Wam- pum, or white beads, made of the stem of the periwinkle, and Suckauhock, or black beads, made of a part of the inside of the clam-shell. The black beads were the gold of the Indians-of double the value of the white ; but either were of more esteem with the red men than the coinage of Europe. The ascertained value of Sewan, or, as it was usually called by the English, Wampum, ren- dered it the most convenient medium of trade, not only between the European and the savage, but between the various tribes of Indians themselves. It was not only their money, but their jewelry. Universal in its use and unquestioned in its value, it ornamented their per- sons, distinguished the rich from the poor, paid ransoms, satisfied tribute, sealed contracts, atoned for injuries. In the form of a belt, it entered largely into the ceremonial of Indian diplomacy ; and it recorded the various public transactions of the tribes .* The chief manufacturers of chief man- this aboriginal currency were the Indians of Long Island, or "Sewan-hacky ;" and the primitive colonial mint which the Dutch at Manhattan thus early possessed, almost at their very doors, gave them an immense advantage in their trade with the neighboring savages.t Of this they had not failed to avail themselves. Their sloops contin- ually visited the Narragansett, and penetrated the adja- cent rivers. From the Indians with whom they traded, the New Netherland settlers had often heard of the Pil- grims nestled at New Plymouth ; but, hitherto, they had not met.

The native courtesy of the Dutch colonists now prompt-

* Moulton, 376, 377 ; Mass. Hist. Coll., i., 152 ; iii., 231.

t "Sewan-hacky," the name frequently applied by the Dutch to Long Island, was com- pounded from "Sewan," and the Delaware word " hacky," or "hacking," "the land."- Moulton, 342. " The Mohawks, the Pequods, and other powerful tribes, made frequent wars upon the Long Island Indians, and compelled them to pay tribute in this almost uni- versal article of trade and commerce. The immense quantity that was manufactured ac- counts for the fact that, in the most extensive shell-banks left by the Indians, it is rare to find a whole shell, all having been broken in the process of making wampum. And it is not unlikely that many of the largest heaps of shells still existing are the remains of a wampum manufactory."-Thompson's Long Island, i., 87; ante, p. 373.

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PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

ed them to open a friendly correspondence with the for- CHAP. VI. mer guests of their Fatherland. De Rasieres, the secre- tary of New Netherland, by Director Minuit's order, ae- 1627. 9 March. cordingly drew up a letter, dated at " Manhattas, in Fort The Dutch open a cor- Amsterdam," which, with a counterpart in French, " writ- respond- ence with the Puri- tans. ten in a very fair hand," was dispatched to Bradford, the Governor of New Plymouth. This was the first commu- nication between the Pilgrims and their Dutch neighbors, " of whom," said Bradford, " we had heard much by the natives, but never could hear from them or meet with them, before they themselves thus wrote to us, and after sought us out." The New Netherland authorities con- gratulated the Governor of New Plymouth on the pros- perous condition of his people ; proffered good-will and reciprocity ; alluded to the propinquity and long-contin- ued friendship of their native countries ; and inviting friendly commercial relations, offered to accommodate their English neighbors with any commodities or mer- chandise they might want .*

The Governor of New Plymouth at once answered the Bradford friendly overture from Manhattan; and, unwilling to be 2% March. replies. outdone in courtesy, translated his reply into the Dutch language. Deprecating the " over high titles" which Ba- tavian politeness required, and which Puritan usage re- jected, Bradford reciprocated the friendly greetings of his neighbors in New Netherland, and congratulated them upon the recent alliance of their native countries against their " common enemy the Spaniards." This of itself was enough to unite the two colonies together " in love and good neighborhood ;" "yet," he added, " are many of us further tied by the good and courteous entreaty which we have found in your country, having lived there many years with freedom and good content, as many of our friends do to this day ; for which we are bound to be thankful, and our children after us, and shall never forget the same." The Plymouth colony being, for this year,

* Morton's Memorial, 133 ; Prince ; Bradford's Letter Book, in Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 51 ; and ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 355, 360.

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. " fully supplied with all necessaries," Bradford suggested . 1627. that, at some future occasion, they might, perhaps, have dealings with their Holland neighbors, if their "rates be reasonable." At the same time, his English loyalty prompted him to question the right of the Dutch "to trade or plant" within the limits of New England, "which ex- tend to forty degrees." Yet the Plymouth colonists, de- sirous to continue " good neighborhood and correspond- ence" with the Dutch, would not "go about to molest or trouble" them in any thing, if only they would " forbear to trade with the natives in this Bay and River of Narra- gansett and Sowames, which is, as it were, at our doors."*

Asks the Dutch to forbear trading in Narragan- sett Bay.

May.

The claim of English supremacy over New Netherland, which the Governor of the New Plymouth colony thus set up, could not be admitted by the authorities at Fort Am- sterdam. A few weeks afterward, Director Minuit ac- cordingly dispatched a letter to Bradford, which, though expressed in very friendly terms, firmly maintained the Minuit maintains the Dutch. " right and liberty" of the Dutch to trade with the Nar- the right of ragansetts, as they had done, for many years, without question or interruption. ""As the English claim author- ity under the King of England, so we," said Minuit, "de- rive ours from the States of Holland, and will defend it."t

Bradford sends cop- ies of the correspond-

gland. 15 June.

Thinking that this correspondence of the Plymouth col- onists with the Dutch would give their enemies at home ence to En- "occasion to raise slanders and frame accusations" against them, Bradford took care to send copies of De Rasieres's "first letter, with our answer thereto, and their reply to the same," to the Council of New England. He wrote, at the same time, another letter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and intrusted his dispatches to the care of Isaac Allerton, who was now sent out a second time to London, as agent

* Bradford's Letter Book ; Moulton, 379 ; ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 360, 361.

+ ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 362. Bradford, in his Letter Book, does not give the second letter from the Dutch in full, nor even their third letter, of the 7th of August, by the hands of Jan Jacobsen. The tenor of the two is, however, gathered from Bradford's reply to both, of the 14th (24th) August. The second Dutch letter must have been written about May, for Bradford, along with his letter to the Council of New England, of 15th (25th) June, sent copies " of their first letters, of our answer, and of their reply," to which he adds, he had "as yet no opportunity to give answer."-Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 56 ; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 365, 366.

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PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

for the colony. In his letters to England, Bradford stated CHAP. VI. that the Dutch, " for strength of men and fortification, far exceed us, and all in this land." "They have used trad- 1627. , ing here," he added, "this six or seven and twenty years, but have begun to plant of later time ; and now have re- duced their trade to some order, and confined it only to their company, which heretofore was spoiled by their sea- men and interlopers, as ours is, this year, most notorious- ly." And, besides spoiling their trade, the Dutch still con- tinued "to truck pieces, powder, and shot," with the In- dians, " which will be the overthrow of all, if it be not looked into."*

Meanwhile, no answer was returned to the last commu- nication from Fort Amsterdam. Minuit, after waiting three months longer, accordingly dispatched Jan Jacob- 7 August. sen, of Wiringen, the captain of the ship "Three Kings," sends a Minuit which then happened to be in port, as a special messen- with pres- ger, with another letter, reiterating the most friendly sen- Bradford. ents to timents, and inviting the English to send an authorized agent to Manhattan, to confer " by word of mouth touch- ing our mutual commerce and trading ;" or, if that should be inconvenient, offering " to depute one" themselves. At the same time, in token of their good-will, the Dutch au- thorities sent " a rundlet of sugar and two Holland cheeses," as a present to the governor of New Plymouth.

messenger

The Dutch messenger was kindly received, and hand- somely entertaincd by Bradford ; and, a few days after- ward, brought back to the authorities at Fort Amsterdam 2; August. the reply of the Puritans to their two last letters. Ac- knowledging their acceptable presents, and reciprocating their expressions of friendship, Bradford requested that the The Puri- Dutch would delegate a commissioner to New Plymouth, Dutch to and excused himself from sending one to Manhattan, bc- egate to cause "one of our boats is abroad, and we have much bus- outh. iness at home." With friendly zeal, he added a warning to his neighbors against " those of Virginia, or the fishing ships which come to New England," which might make

tans ask the send a del-

New Plym-

* Bradford's Letter Book, Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 48, 49, 56, 57.

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. prize, of them, " as they surprised a colony of the French 1627. not many years since, which was seated within these bounds." And against the Dutch claim of rights, by rea- son of their early and long-continued trade, and the charter - from their government, Bradford, pleading prior English title, under Elizabeth's grant of Virginia, and James's sweeping patents, suggested that the States General should come to some "agreement with the king's majesty and state of England hereabout, before any inconvenience befall ; for howsoever you may be assured for ourselves, yet we should be sorry to hear you should sustain harm from any of our nation."*

Isaac de Rasieres dispatched on an em- bassy to t Puritans.

Minuit, on receiving the report of the "kind and friend- ly entertainment" with which Bradford had treated his messenger, determined to send a formal embassy to New Plymouth, conformably to the governor's request. Isaac de Rasieres, the Secretary of the Province, and second in rank to the Director, was selected as the first ambassador of New Netherland. He was " a man of fair and genteel behav- ior," and well fitted for a mission, which was of as much relative importance, in the primitive days of the Dutch and English colonies, as the more stately embassies of Eu- rope. Freighting the " barque Nassau" with a few arti- cles for traffic, and manning her with a retinue of soldiers September. and trumpeters, De Rasieres set out from Manhattan, late in September ; and, sailing through Hell-gate, and along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island, arrived, early the next month, off "Frenchman's Point,t at a small riv- er, where those of Patuxet (New Plymouth) have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptuxet ; where they keep two men winter and summer, in order to maintain Arrives at Manomet, on Buz- zard's Bay. the trade and possession."# This was Manomet, near an Indian village, at the head of Buzzard's Bay-the site of the present village of Monumet, in the town of Sandwich.§ Hither the Dutch and French had " both used to come" to traffic with the natives. It was about eight miles from

* Bradford's Letter Book, Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 53 ; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 362, 363. t Morton's Memorial, 61. # De Rasieres's Letter, ii., N. Y. H. S Coll., ii., 350. § ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 358.

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PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

Cape Cod Bay, into which flowed a creek, affording a ready CHAP. VI. channel of communication across the peninsula .* " For greater convenience of trade," says Bradford, "to discharge 1627. our engagements, and maintain ourselves, we build a small pinnace at Manomet, a place on the sea, twenty miles to Manomet, the south; to which, by another creek on this side, we man's or French- Point. transport our goods by water within four or five miles, and then carry them overland to the vessel. We thereby avoid compassing Cape Cod, with those dangerous shoals, and make our voyage to the southward with far less time and hazard. For the safety of our vessel and goods, we there also build a house, and keep some servants, who plant corn, rear swine, and are always ready to go out with the bark, which takes good effect, and turns to advantage."t

The Dutch trumpets awoke unusual echoes, as they saluted the advanced post of the English colony. De Ra- sieres at once dispatched a courier with a letter to Brad- 4 October. ford, announcing his arrival on the part of the director and council of New Netherland, to have a friendly conference " by word of mouth of things together," and to assure him of the "good-will and favor" of the Dutch West India Company. Specifying the articles which composed the Nassau's cargo, he requested Bradford to furnish him with the easiest conveyance to New Plymouth. "John Jacob- sen aforesaid hath told me," wrote the Dutch envoy, "that he came to you overland in six hours ; but I have not gone so far this three or four years, wherefore I fear my feet will fail me." Bradford promptly complied, and sent a boat to the head of the Manonscussett Creek. A short portage of five miles divided its waters from those of the De Ra- Manomet River. Crossing this portage, De Rasieres, with reaches sieres "the chief of his company," embarked in the English boat, outh.

New Plyn

* Winslow's relation, in Young's Chronicles, 306. Prince, 208 (writing in 1736), says, " this creek runs out easterly into Cape Cod Bay, at Scussett Harbor ; and this river runs out westerly into Monumet Bay. The distance overland, from bay to bay, is but six miles. The creek and river nearly meet in a low ground ; and this is the place through which there has been a talk of making a canal this forty years, which would be a vast advantage to all these countries, by saving the long and dangerous navigation round the Cape, and through the shoals adjoining."

t Bradford, in Prince, 244 ; Old Colony Records ; Book of Court Orders, vol. iii., p. 82. See also Mr. W. S. Russell's " Pilgrim Memorials," p. 122-124.

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. which awaited him at the head of the creek ; and soon 1627. reached New Plymouth, "honorably attended with the noise of trumpeters."*

De Ra- sieres at outh. Here Bradford entertained the Dutch ambassador sev- New Plym- eral days. The friendly colonists of two allied European nations now met, for the first time, in the solitudes of America. That first meeting, too, was "the joyful meet- ing of kindred as well as friends ; for the wives and chil- dred of some of the Pilgrims had also their birth-place in Holland."+

Observes its institu- tions.

Describes the settle- ment.

The English colonists' form of government ; their an- nual elections ; their abolition of primogeniture, with only a small difference in favor of the eldest son, as an "ac- knowledgment for his seniority of birth ;" their stringent laws on the subject of morality, which they even enforced among the neighboring Indian tribes ; the example which they set to those savages, of " better ordinances and a bet- ter life," were- noted with interest by the envoy of New Netherland. "They have better means of living than ourselves," wrote De Rasieres, "because they have the fish so abundant before their doors ;" but then "their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony." With these fish they manured their barren soil, which otherwise would produce no maize. Quaintly, but graphically, the representative of Manhattan described the rival settlement. "New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill, stretching east toward the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon-shot of eight hundred [paces ?] long leading down the hill, and with [another street] crossing in the middle, northward to the rivulet and southward to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also inclosed behind and at the sides with hewn timber ; so that their houses and court-yards are ar- ranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sud- den attack. At the ends of the streets are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the govern- or's house ; before which is a square inclosure, upon which

* Bradford, in Prince, 248; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 364. + Moulton, 384.

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PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

four swivels are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. CHAP. VI. Upon the hill they have a large square house with a flat roof, made of thick sawn plank, staycd with oak beams; upon 1627. the top of which they have six cannon, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds weight, and command the sur- rounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firclock, in front of the captain's door. They have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant, without beat of drum. Behind comes the governor in a long robe. Beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher, with his cloak on ; and on the left hand the captain, with his side-arms and his cloak on, and with a small canc in his hand. And so they march in good or- der, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day."*

Having "demeaned himself to his own credit" and De Ra- that of his government, De Rasieres pledged to the Plym- turns to sieres re- outh colonists "assistance against the French, if need Manomet. were," and returned to his bark at Manomet, accompa- nied by an escort of the Puritans. And now they readily The Puri- purchased some of his wares, especially the Sewan or chase tans pur- Wampum, " which was the beginning of a profitable Dutch. trade." The Dutch naturally desired to retain the con- trol of the wampum traffic in the Narragansett, because " the seeking after Sewan" by the Puritans, said De Ra- sieres, " is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the trade in furs, which, if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to main- tain ; for they already dare to threaten that, if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means." The chief supply of this universal- ly current Indian coin camc, as we have seen, from Long

* De Rasieres's Letter, 351, 352. The accuracy of De Rasieres's account is confirmed hy Morton in his Memorial, p. 82. Mr. W. S. Russell, in his "Pilgrim Memorials," p. 28, says that Leyden Street at Plymouth was originally named First Street, and after- ward Great and Broad Street ; and that it received its present name in 1823, in grateful memory of the kindness and hospitality shown to the Pilgrims during their eleven years' residence in Leyden.

goods of the

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CHAP. VI. Island ; and De Rasieres now sold a large quantity to the 1627. English, "telling us," says Bradford, " how vendible it is at their Fort Orange, and persuading us we shall find it so at Kennebeck." Nor were the Puritans disappointed. As soon as the neighboring Indians learned that the Plym- outh colonists had a supply of wampum, a great demand sprung up, which, for a long time, yielded them large profits. "The Massachusetts and others in these parts had scarce any, it being made and kept among the Pe- quots and Narragansetts, who grew rich and potent by it; whereas the rest, who use it not, are poor and beggarly."*

Mutual trade estab- lished at Manomet.

Thus, when the whole tonnage of New England con- sisted of "a bass-boat, shallop, and pinnace," a mutually advantageous trade sprung up between the neighboring European colonists. "After which beginning," says Brad- ford, " they often send to the same place, and we trade together divers years, sell much tobacco for linens and stuffs, &c., which proves a great benefit to us, till the Virginians find out their colony."t

Oct. Bradford replies to Minuit, and urges the Dutch to clear their title to erland.

On his return to Manhattan, De Rasieres carried with him a letter from Bradford to Minuit, in which, saving al- ways their allegiance to the King of Great Britain, he pledged the Pilgrims to the performance of all good offices New Neth- toward the Dutch colonists in New Netherland. "We acknowledge ourselves tied," wrote the Puritan governor, "in a strict obligation unto your country and state, for the good entertainment and free liberty which we had, and our brethren and countrymen yet there, have and do enjoy, under our most honorable Lords the States." With respect to the question of trade and supplies, he expressed his regret that it had not been "propounded at the begin- ning of the year," before Allerton had gone as agent to England and Holland, until whose return a positive de- termination must be postponed. But, in the mean time, he reiterated the desire of the Puritans that the Dutch should " clear the title" of their planting "in these parts

. * Bradford's Letter Book, 364 ; Prince, 248, 249 : De Rasieres's Letter, 350.

+ Bradford, ut sup., 364 ; Prince, 248.

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PETER MINUIT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

which His Majesty hath, by patent, granted to divers his CHAP. VI. nobles and subjeets of quality ; lest it be a bone of divi- sion in these stirring evil times, which God forbid. We per- 1627. suade ourselves, that now may be easily and scasonably donc, which will be harder and with more difficulty ob- tained hereafter, and perhaps not without blows."*

the English

Thus earnestly did Bradford maintain the English title to Spirit of New Netherland, and urge the Dutch to "clear" their own. claim. A royal charter, of doubtful validity, was the alleged apol- ogy for ealling in question those territorial rights which, while in Holland, the Puritans had themselves distinct- ly admitted, when, in 1620, they solieited the States Gen- eral " to protect and defend them" in their proposed set- tlement within the Dutch Provinee. But now they found it convenient to insist upon the paramount authority of a patent which had been denounced from the speaker's chair by the highest legal authority, as a monopoly, con- taining " many particulars contrary to the laws and priv- ileges of the subjects,"t and which was not sealed until nearly a year after the application to the States General, by which they had virtually affirmed the Dutch title to the fullest extent.

Under these eircumstances, the director and council at Minuit Fort Amsterdam felt obliged to call the attention of the Holland for writes to West India Company, as soon as possible, to the somewhat diers. some sol- threatening aspcet which the subject had assumed. "The last ship from New Netherland brings tidings," reported 16 Nov. the College of XIX. to the States General, in November, " that our settlers there were menaeed by the English at New Plymouth, who (notwithstanding the people of this land had some years ago eommended themselves to those very English in all good correspondenee and friendship) now wish to hunt them out, or disturb them in their quiet possession and infant colony. They, therefore, ask the as- sistance of forty soldiers for their defense."#

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History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 19

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n Publication date: 1871 Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers Number of Pages: 844

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844