USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
* Alb. Rec., ii., 140, 141 ; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 278.
t Hol. Doc., viii., 50, 52, 53 ; S Hazard, Ann. Penn., v., 45, 50, 56.
320
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. IX. new charter for patroons, did not accept the Swedish grant, 1640. Hockham- mer's grant. which was, therefore, transferred to Henry Hockhammer. It authorized him' and his associates to send out vessels, cattle, and colonists from Holland under the royal protec- tion, and to take up as much land on both sides of the South River as should be necessary for their purposes, pro- vided it be " at least four to five German miles from Fort Christina." The exercise of the Reformed religion of Hol- land was guaranteed, and the support of ministers and 30 January. schoolmasters enjoined. Joost de Bogaerdt was appoint- gaerdt com- ed special commandant of the new colony, at an annual Joost de Bo- mandant. salary from the Swedish government of five hundred flor- ins, or two hundred rix dollars, "to be remitted to his banker in Holland" by the Swedish resident at the Hague .*
April. The couraged. Powelson reached the Delaware early in the spring. His Swedes en- arrival gladdened the desponding Swedes, who had de- termined to abandon Fort Christina the next day. The new colonists from Holland were soon settled a few miles south of the fort, under the superintendence of De Bo- gaerdt. Traffic with the Indians was now prosecuted with vigor, and the Dutch West India Company's trade on the South River was "entirely ruined." In the follow- 15 October. ing autumn, Kieft wrote from Manhattan to the Amster- dam Chamber, informing them of the " re-enforcement of people" which the Swedes had received the previous spring, "otherwise it had been arranged for them to come here;" but stating his intention to treat them "with every po- liteness, although they commenced, with many hostilities, forcibly to build, attack our fort, trading, and threatening to take our boats."t
Peter Hol- lændare.
Mounce Kling.
The same autumn, Peter Hollændare arrived from Got- tenburg, at Fort Christina, as deputy governor of New Sweden, bringing a number of fresh colonists and the promised supplies. Mounce Kling, who had formerly act- ed as deputy to Minuit, followed soon afterward with two vessels. The Swedes now purchased additional lands
* Swedish Documents, in Hazard's Reg. of Penn., iv., 177 ; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 51-56.
+ Hol. Doc., viii., 53, 54 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 56, 57 ; Acrelius, 411 ; Ferris, 52-5^
321
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
from the Indians; and, in token of the sovereignty of CHAP. IX. their queen, set up " the arms and crown of Sweedland." The next year, it is said, that Peter Minuit died at his 1641. Death of
post, and was buried at Fort Christina, which he had Minuit.
" protected during three years." On his death, Hollæn- dare, the deputy governor, succeeded to the command, " who, after one year and a half, returned to Sweden, and obtained a military post there."*
The enterprising men of Connecticut were now hoping New Ha- to obtain a foothold on the Delaware, which, hitherto, had poses a ven pro- been occupied cxelusively by the Dutch and the Swedes. on the plantation South Riv- Sometime during the year 1640, Captain Nathaniel Turn- er. er, as the agent of New Haven, is said to have made a large purchase of lands " on both sides of Delaware Bay or River." In the following spring, a " bark or ketch" Lamberton was fitted out at New Haven by George Lamberton, a well's ex- and Cogs- principal merchant there, and dispatched to the Delaware, pedition under the command of Robert Cogswell. When the ves- sel reached Manhattan, Kieft learning her destination, and warned by his experience with the Hartford people, in- stantly protested against the enterprise ; and notified the 8 April. New England adventurers not to " build nor plant upon Manhattan. Stopped at the South River, lying within the limits of New Nether- land, nor on the lands extending along therc," unless they would agree to settle themselves under the States Gen- eral and the West India Company, and swear allegiance to them. But upon Cogswell's assurance that they did not intend to intrude upon any territory over which the States General had authority ; and that if they found no land free from claims, they would either peaceably return, or else settle themselves in allegiance to the Dutch gov- ernment, the New Haven bark was allowed to proceed.t
Aided by a refugee Pequod sachem, the New Haven adventurers succeeded in purchasing from the Indians " what land they desired" on both sides of the South Riv-
E
Allowed to proceed.
* Acrelius, in N. Y. II. S. Coll., ii., 410 ; Ferris, 57 ; O'Call., i., 366 ; Mulford, 83; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 57, 59, 60 ; ante, p. 284, note.
t Hol. Doc., ix., 205; Hazard, ii., 213, 265 ; Trumbull, i., 119; O'Call., i., 231 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 58.
X
322
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1641. Settlements at Varkens' Kill and the Schuylkill. 30 August.
CHAP. IX. er. Trading-houses were immediately commenced at the Varkens' Kill, near Salem in New Jersey, and also " on the Schuylkill," where about twenty English families set- tled themselves. The same summer, the General Court of New Haven resolved that the plantations in Delaware Bay should be considered "in combination with this town ;" and Turner was formally authorized to go there, " for his own advantage and the public good, in settling the affairs thereof."*
Vexatious conduct of the Hart- ford people. 15 April.
6 June. Kieft's pro- ceedings.
While adventurers from New Haven were thus intrud- ing within southern New Netherland, the English colo- nists at Hartford were pertinaciously vexing the Dutch, and endeavoring, by petty annoyances around Fort Good Hope, to drive them out of the valley of the Connecticut. " Will ye three resist the whole English village ?" cried the assailants, as the Holland plowmen sturdily endeav- ored to maintain their rights. An appeal to Governor Hopkins brought no redress. Upon receiving intelligence of these new provocations, Kieft ordered a force of fifty men to be dispatched, in two yachts, to Fort Good Hope, under the command of La Montagne. " But," wrote Win- throp, "it pleased the Lord to disappoint the purpose" of the Dutch ; for the Staten Island Indians just then sud- denly attacking De Vries's plantation, the New Nether- land authorities "were forced to keep their soldiers at home to defend themselves.". The Hartford people, how- ever, thought it prudent to lay a statement of their case before the government of Massachusetts, " for advice about the difference between them and the Dutch." Belling- ham, by direction of the, General Court, accordingly "re- turned answer, without determining of either side, but, advising to a moderate way, as the yielding some more land to the Dutch house-for they had left them but thirty acres."" Thus Massachusetts quietly reproved the cupid- ity of Connecticut.
The Hart- ford people refer their case to Massachu- setts. 21 June.
Reply.
* S. Hazard, Ann. Penn , 59; Winthrop, ii., 62, 76 ; Ferris, 59 ; Mulford, 71. t Hol. Doc., ix., 199-203 ; Alb. Rec., ii., 123 ; Winthrop, ii., 32 ; Hazard, ii., 264, 265 ; 1., N. Y. H. S. Coll., 274, 275.
323
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
In the mean time, events had occurred in England CHAP. IX. which were to have a material influence upon the rival European colonies in America. Soon after the meeting Progress of 1640. the Puri- of the "Long Parliament," among the members of which tans in En- were many zealous friends of New England, the Puritan gland. emigrants were urged to " send over some" to solicit fa- vors for them in that body, to which the king had now left "great liberty." At first, the suggestion was declined. But the next year, news of the fall of the Earl of Straf- 1641. ford, and of Archbishop Laud, their "great enemy," reach- 2 June. ing Massachusetts, the General Court thought fit "to send some chosen men into England, to congratulate the hap- py success there," and " to be ready to make use of any opportunity God should offer, for the good of the country here." The persons chosen for this service were the Delegates "fiery" Hugh Peters, pastor of the church in Salem, Massachu- sent from Thomas Welde, pastor of the church in Roxbury, and setts. William Hibbins, of Boston. The younger Winthrop also accompanied the commissioners, who presently sailed for 3 Auguet. England by way of Newfoundland .*
The Hartford people now determined to arrange, if pos- Hopkins sible, their controversy with the Dutch. Edward Hop- Hartford. kins, who had just been succeeded by John Haynes as governor, being about to visit London, the General Court 9 Sept. desired him "to arbitrate or issue the difference betwixt the Dutch and us, as occasion shall be offered when he is in England."'t As Peters was well acquainted with some of the leading members of the West India Company, it was thought that advantage might be taken of that cir- cumstance to " pacify" the directors, and arrange, if pos- sible, the questions in dispute between New Netherland and New England.# Winthrop and Haynes, as governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, accordingly signed a joint letter authorizing Peters, "if occasion permit him to go to the Netherlands, to treat with the West India Com- pany there concerning a peaceable neighborhood between"
* Winthrop, ii., 25, 26, 31, 32 ; Chalmers's Revolt of the Colonies, i., 83, 84.
+ Col. Rec. Conn., 68.
* Winthrop, ii., 32.
324
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
10 October. Peters com- missioned to negotiate with the West India Company.
CHAP. IX. the New England and New Netherland colonists. A se- 1641. ries of " propositions," the scope of which was to induce the Amsterdam directors to define the limits between the Dutch and English territory ; "abstain from molesting" the English on the Connecticut ; and "see in the inhab- itants of New England, who number about forty thousand souls, a people' who covet peace in their ways, the plant- ing of the Gospel above all things, and not to cause trouble or injury in any manner whatever to the company," was also sent out to Peters .*
29 January.
1 February. Boswell's letter to Wright.
The New England agents, on reaching London, found many warm friends of the Puritan colonies. Among these, Dr. Law- rence London. was Dr. Lawrence Wright, of the Charter House, an "hon- Wright, of ored friend" of Hopkins.t Wright was also a familiar correspondent of Sir William Boswell, the English minis- ter at the Hague ; to whom he immediately sent a memo- 1642. rial which Hopkins had drawn up, on the subject of the English settlements in Connecticut. In a few days, Bos- well replied to Wright, lamenting that the unsettled state of English domestic politics had diminished his own in- fluence with the Dutch government; but suggesting that the parties in London who had drawn the memorial should procure from Parliament, or, "at least, from the House of Commons," some declaration, " whereby it may appear that they take notice and care of our people and plantations in those parts." Formal instructions on the subject should also be sent him from the council; and "persons of quality" should acquaint the Dutch ambassa- dor in London with the state of the case. But, above all, Boswell urged that, in the mean time, the English in Con- necticut should "not forbear to put forward their planta- tions, and crowd on-crowding the Dutch out of those places where they have occupied."#
* Hol. Doc., vii., 131; ix., 224, 225 ; O'Call., i., 235, 236. As these papers are re-trans- lated from the Dutch in the Archives at the Hague, they may not be precisely identical with the original English. But they show, at all events, that Winthrop is strangely in- accurate in stating that, when Peters "undertook to pacify the West India Company," they " would not treat with him," "for. want of commission from those of Hartford."
~ # Trumbull's Col. Rec. Conn., App., p. 565, 566. + Winthrop, i., 229.
325
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
CHAPTER X. ,
1642-1643.
THE spirit of popular freedom which the Dutch colo- CHAP. X. nists brought with them to New Netherland had already made itself felt by the provincial government. Under the pressure of publie sentiment, Kieft, though intrusted with almost dictatorial authority, had been compelled to sum- mon the people into eouneil, and yield his personal wishes to the judgment of their representatives. The war which the director was anxious to begin, had been postponed by the votes of the Twelve Men. But Kicft did not abandon his design ; the moment winter had fairly set in, he eon- voked again the popular delegates.
The Twelve Men met accordingly. The murderer of 21 January. Smits had not been delivered up; and the Indians were Twelve The now on their hunting excursions. It was, therefore, agreed convoked. Men again that an expedition should be prepared at once to attack the Weekquaesgeeks. The director should head it in per- son, and the commissariat of the company should provide ammunition and necessary provisions. Such of the expe- dition as might be wounded while on service should be nursed, and their families maintained at the expense of the company, which had promised to " protect and de- fend" all the colonists .* Upon these conditions the Twelve Assent to Men assented to the hostile measures which Kieft so urg- posed expo- the pro- ently pressed. Their assent was unwillingly given ; it against the dition was conditional, specifie, and limited ; it was obtained quaes- Wéck- only after repeated solicitations had failed to procure the geeks. surrender of an identified murderer; it had no ultimate
- Hol. Doc., v., 330, 332.
1642. Free spirit Dutch colo nists at Manhattan.
326
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. design to exterminate an aboriginal race, that strangers 1642 .. might turn the red man's pleasant hunting grounds into fields of waving corn.
Popular spirit of the 'Twelve Men.
But the popular representatives were not content to lim- it their action to the registry of a proposed decree of their director. The time had now come for the people to take the initiative. For many generations, the towns and vil- lages of the Fatherland had been accustomed to the gov- ernment of magistrates elected by their fellow - citizens. Domineering arrogance was restrained, and honest ambi- tion encouraged, by the system of rotation in office, under which the burghers of Holland annually invested new candidates with municipal dignities. The self-relying men, who had won their country from the sea, and their liberties from the relaxing grasp of feudal prerogative, knew that they could govern themselves; and they did govern themselves .*
Why should the system, under which Holland had pros- pered and grown great, not be transplanted into New Netherland ? It was true, indeed, that the circumstances of the Fatherland differed somewhat from those of its prov- ince. The supreme government at the Hague had unwise- ly committed the management of New Netherland to a commercial corporation, whose enormous monopoly, at the same time, comprehended interests in comparison with which even the affairs of an embryo empire were too often esteemed insignificant. But if the Fatherland sometimes forgot its transatlantic province, the emigrants from Hol- land did not, in their wilderness home, forget the country of their birth, nor her local names, her religion, her laws, and her freedom. When they first emigrated, they volun- tarily pledged themselves to submit to the government of the West India Company. For many years they did pa- tiently submit to that government; and though experi-
Desire the franchises of the Fa- therland.
* Alb. Rec., x., 221 ; xix., 131 ; " It is customary in our Fatherland, and other well-regu- lated governments, that some change takes place annually in the magistracy, so that some new ones are appointed, and some are continued to inform the newly appointed." See also Meyer's "Institutions Judiciaires," iii., 47-70, 165-185 ; Davies, i., 76-106 ; O'Call., i., 392 ; post p. 453.
327
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ence had prompted many to long for those franchises CHAP. X which they had enjoyed in Holland, no opportunity for in- troducing any politieal reforms had yet occurred. 1642.
The grievance which they felt most oppressively was Organiza- the organization of the Council of New Netherland. This, Provinciai tion of the in effect, was the director alone; for La Montagne, the chief griev- Council th- only nominal counselor, had but one vote, while Kieft re- ance. served two votes to himself. It often happened, however, that the director found it necessary to have the assistance of other persons ; and on these occasions, instead of call- ing upon such of the colonists as were the most compe- tent and worthy, he invariably chose some of the inferior agents of the company ; " common people," who were de- pendent immediately upon himself for their daily emolu- ments. This naturally excited criticism and distrust ; and the discontent of the community was now officially expressed in a memorial to the director. The Twelve Men demanded that the colonial council should be reorganized, 21 January. and the number of its members increased, so that there Twelve The should be at least five ; for, argued the popular represent- mand re- Men de- atives, " in the Fatherland the council of even a small forms. village consists of five or seven sehepens." To save " the land from oppression," four persons, clected by the com- monalty, should have seats in the colonial council. Two of these four counselors should annually be replaced by two others, to be chosen from the Twelve Men selected by the people. The company's "common men" should no longer have seats in the council. Judicial proceedings should be had only before a full board. The militia of the provinec should be mustered annually, and every male, capable of bearing arms, should be required to attend with a good gun ; the company to furnish each man with half a pound of powder for the occasion. Every freeman should be allowed to visit vessels arriving from abroad, " as the custom is in Holland." All the colonists should enjoy the right freely to go to and trade with the neighbor- ing places belonging to friends and allies, always paying the company's duties and imposts. To these demands,
328
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. Conceived in an enlarged and liberal spirit, the Twelve 1642. Men added two others, dictated by a short-sighted impol- icy. As some kinds of cattle imported from Holland had fallen in value, in consequence of the sale of English stock within New Netherland, they asked that, in future, En- glish traders should be allowed to introduce oxen and poul- try only, and should be forbidden to sell cows or goats. And, to prevent the currency of the province being ex- ported, they solicited that its nominal value should be increased.
Kieft's con- cessions.
Kieft's jealousy was aroused by the demands of the pop- ular delegates ; but he saw the imprudence of refusing any concessions. He replied, that he had already written to Holland, and expected, by the first ships, " some per- sons of quality," and "a complete council." The " com- mon men" had been called upon because the council was so small; but the commonalty might now choose four per- sons " to help in maintaining justice for them." Two of these persons should be changed every year ; they should be called into council " when need required," and certain times in the year should also be appointed for them to as- semble together "upon public affairs," and advise upon specific propositions-" thus far their authority should ex- tend." With respect to the Twelve Men, added the di- rector, " I am not aware that they have received from the commonalty. larger powers than simply to give their ad- vice respecting the murder of the late Claes Smits." An annual muster of the militia should be required ; but as the company was bound to provide, ammunition only in cases of emergency, he could not furnish powder merely for practice. . The freemen could not be allowed to visit vessels arriving from abroad ; it would be contrary to the company's instructions, and " would lead to disorder," es- pecially as several prizes were soon expected in port. The inhabitants might, however, freely trade with neighboring friendly colonies, upon condition of paying the company's recognitions, and abstaining from trade with the enemy. The English should be prohibited, in future, from selling
329
WILLIAM KIEFT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
cows and sheep within New Netherland ; and the value CHAP. X. of the provincial currency should be raised.
Thus ended the first attempt to ingraft upon New Neth- The action
erland the franchises of the Fatherland. The demand of the commonalty was the spontaneous aet of the emigrants from Holland, who composed the Twelve Select Men of the Province. It was prompted by no desire to imitate any other form of government than that to which they had been accustomed in their Fatherland.
But Kieft was no friend to popular reform. He had secured the assent of the representatives of the people to the hostilities which he longed to commence against the savages. In return, a reluctant promise of very limited concessions had been extorted, which, if he ever intended to do it, the event proved he never did fulfill. He there- Kieft dig- fore determined to save himself from further embarrass- "Twelve ment by dissolving the Twelve Men. A proclamation was 18 Feb. Men." presently issued, thanking them for their advice in respect to the war against the savages, which would be adopted, "with God's help and in fitting time ;". and forbidding the calling of any assemblies or meetings of the people without an express order of the director, as they " tend to dangerous consequences, and to the great injury both of the country and of our authority."*
The director did not delay the execution of his cherish- March. ed design, which the people had now formally sanctioned. ful expedi- Early the next month, an expedition of eighty men was the Weck- dispatched against the Weckquaesgeeks, with orders to geeks. quaes- punish that tribe with fire and sword. Kieft did not head the forees in person, but intrusted the command to Ensign Hendrick van Dyck, who had now been about two years in garrison service at Fort Amsterdam. A guide, who pro- fessed a full knowledge of the country, accompanied the expedition, which pressed on vigorously toward the ene- my's village. Crossing the Haerlem River, Van Dyck ar- rived in the evening at Armenperal,t where he halted his
* Hol. Doc., iii., 175-180, 214, 215 : O'Call., i., 244-249 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 9.
t This was the Sprain River, which rises back of Dobbs's Ferry, and empties into the Bronx .- Bolton, ii., 490, 491.
1642.
the com- monalty spontane- ous.
solves the
Unsuccess-
tion against
330
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. X. command. The men were eager to push on before the savages should be warned of their coming. But more than 1642. an hour was lost by delay ; night set in dark and cloud- ed; and the guide missed his way. Van Dyck, in the midst of embarrassment, losing his temper, ordered a re- treat; and the expedition, which Kieft had dispatched to lay waste the wigwams of the West Chester savages, re- turned to Fort Amsterdam in all the mortification of fail- ure.
Treaty with the Weck- quaesgeeks at Bronx River.
Yet a fortunate result followed. The Indians, alarmed at the danger to which the trail of the white men showed them they had been exposed, sent to ask for peace. Van Tienhoven, the provincial secretary, was therefore dispatch- ed to West Chester, and a treaty was made with the Weck- quaesgeeks, on the Bronx River, at the house of the pion- eer colonist, Jonas Bronck. The Indians bound them- selves to surrender the murderer of Smits; but they never fulfilled their promise .**
Hostile temper of the Con- necticut In- dians.
The treaty with the Weckquaesgeeks had scarcely been concluded before rumors began to spread that the Connec- ticut savages were meditating a bloody vengeance against the European colonists. Uncas, the chief of the Mohe- gans, who was in high favor with the English for his as- sistance in exterminating the Pequods, sought to discredit his rival Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narragansetts ; and accused him of combining with the sachems on the Connecticut, to destroy the colonists throughout New En- gland. Anxiety and alarm prevailed; Hartford and New Haven concerted measures of defense ; and a constant vig- ilance was thought indispensable to the security of the English plantations.t
'The settle- ment at
submits to the Dutch.
Under these circumstances, Captain Patrick and his Greenwich friends, who had now been established about two years at Greenwich, determined to submit themselves to the gov- ernment of New Netherland. They declared that they
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.