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505
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
privileges. Many would then be attracted toward this CHAP. XV. country ; while, on the contrary, every one is now dis- couraged by the company's harsh proceedings and want of 1649. means." II. The States General should establish a " suit- able Burgher Government, such as their High Mightiness- Burgher es shall consider adapted to this province, and resembling ment. govern- somewhat the laudable government of our Fatherland." Free trade, colonial commerce, and the encouragement of the fisheries would also contribute materially to the pros- perity of the province. III. The boundaries of New Neth- erland should be established, so that the people might " dwell in peace and quietness, and enjoy their liberty, as well in trade and commerce as in intercourse and settled limits." Referring the States General for further inform- ation to their annexed " Remonstrance," this bold memo- rial to the government of the Fatherland was signed on the twenty-sixth of July, " in the name and on the behalf 26 July. of the commonalty of New Netherland," by Van der Donek, Heermans, Hardenburg, Couwenhoven, Loockermans, Kip, Van Cortlandt, Jansen, Hall, Elbertsen, and Bout, all members of the existing and former board of Nine Men .*
The inhabitants of New Netherland had now for many years observed the administration of the New England governments ; and in some marginal "remarks and ob- Remarks servations" upon their memorial, the Nine Men explained, vations of in detail, to the States General, the organization of the Men. the Nine Puritan colonies, where " neither patroons, nor lords, nor princes are known, but only the people." Between the system of their " neighbors of New England" and that of the United Netherlands, they urged, there was " no differ- ence, but fundamentally a similarity."t It was against the misgovernment of the West India Company and its agents that the popular representatives complained ; and they now asked that the franchises enjoyed in Holland should be enjoyed in New Netherland, and that the gov- ernment of the province should resemble the "laudable government" of their Fatherland.
* Hol. Doc., iv., 28-36 ; Doc. Ilist. N. Y., i., 595-598.
and obser-
t HoL Doc., iv., 53-55.
506
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1649. " Remon- New Neth- erland. 28 July.
Further measures of relief.
CHAP. XV. The " Remonstrance" of New Netherland, which ac- companied the memorial of the Nine Men, was drawn up for the purpose of detailing the grievances of the people, strance" of and of enforcing the necessity of the political reforms for which they had petitioned the States General. It de- scribed the aborigines, and the physical features of the country ; sketched the first discovery and occupation of New Netherland by the Dutch; and reviewed the policy and proceedings of the West India Company and of its co- lonial agents. The administrations of Kieft and Stuyve- sant were described in terms of severity, and the personal characters of both directors, and of the prominent mem- bers of their councils, were graphically sketched, by no friendly pen. In conclusion, several specific measures of relief, in addition to thé reforms requested in the memo- rial, were suggested. "In our opinion," said the repre- sentatives of the commonalty, "this country will never flourish under the government of the honorable company, but will pass away, and come to an end of itself, unless the honorable company be reformed. Therefore it would be more profitable for them and better for the country that they should be rid thereof, and their effects be transported hence. * It is doubtful whether divine worship will not have to cease altogether, in consequence of the depart- ure of the minister,* and the inability of the company. There should be a public school, provided with at least two good masters, so that first of all, in so wild a country, where there are many loose people, the youth be well taught and brought up, not only in reading and writing, 1 but also in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. As it is now, the school is kept very irregularly ; one and another keeping it according to his pleasure, an'd as long as he thinks proper. There ought also to be an alms-house and an orphan asylum, and other similar institutions. * *
Public school.
The country must also be provided with godly, honorable, and intelligent rulers, who are not very indigent, and who are not too covetous. A covetous governor makes poor
* Domine Johannes Backerus. .
507
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
subjects. The mode in which the country is now govern- CHAP. XV. ed falls severely upon it, and is intolerable, for nobody is unmolested or secure in his property longer than the di- 1649. rector pleases, who is generally strongly inclined to con- govern- A better fiseating. * * * A good population would be the conse- quired. ment re quence of a good government, as we have shown, accord- ing to our ability, in our memorial. And although to give free passage and equip ships, if it be necessary, would be expensive at first, yet, if the result be considered, it would ultimately prove to be a wise measure, if by that means farmers and laborers, together with other poor peo- ple, were brought into the country with the little proper- ty which they have. Of these the Fatherland has enough to spare. We believe it would then prosper, especially as Prosperity good privileges and exemptions, which we regard as the predicted. mother of population, would encourage the inhabitants to carry on commerce and lawful trade. Every one would be allured hither by the pleasantness, situation, salubrity, and fruitfulness of the country, if protection were secured within the already established boundaries. It would then, with God's assistance, according to human judgment, all go well, and New Netherland would in a few years be a brave place, and be able to do service to the Netherland nation, to repay richly the cost, and to thank its benefac- tors."
'This " Vertoogh," or Remonstrance, which, as well as the Authorship memorial, appears to have been drawn up by Van der of the " Re- and signers Donek, was signed by the same persons. Three of the strance." signers, Van der Donek, Couwenhoven, and Bout, were de- Delegates puted by the rest to proceed to the Hague, and lay their therland. to the Fa- complaints before the government of the Fatherland. Bear- ing with them formal letters of credence to the States Gen- 26 July. eral from their colleagues, and from Van Dineklagen, the 12 August. vice-director, the first delegates of the people of New Neth- erland embarked for Holland on their important mission .* 15 August.
Domine Backerus, who had already received permission Departure of Domine to return from the Classis of Amsterdam, now took his Backerus.
* Hol. Doc., iv., 22, 26, 71-207, 208 ; v., 57-63 ; ii. N. Y. II. S. Coll., ii., 319, 320.
508
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1649. 6 July.
CHAP. XV. leave of the church at Manhattan. Stuyvesant very nat- urally apprehended that the Domine, on his arrival in Hol- land, would "join the complainants" coming from New Netherland ; and the event verified the director's fears. He availed himself, however, of the occasion to write earn- estly to the Classis of Amsterdam to send out a pious, well- qualified, and diligent schoolmaster. "Nothing," he add- ed, "is of greater importance than the right early instruc- tion of youth."
August.
Domine Megapolensis, having also obtained his letters of dismission from the church at Rensselaerswyck, was about to sail for the Fatherland, whither his wife had al- ready returned. The colonists appeared to be threatened with the total loss of a ministry ; and Stuyvesant pressed . Megapolensis to remain at Manhattan, where children were every Sunday presented for baptism, " sometimes one, sometimes two, yea, sometimes three and four togeth- Succeeded er." The Domine was finally prevailed upon to give up his voyage at the urgent solicitation of the council, and was formally installed as the successor of Backerus, in the church of New Amsterdam, with a yearly salary of twelve hundred guilders .*
by Megapo- lensis. 6 August.
29 July. Melyn's case. 9 August. All this time Melyn had been fruitlessly endeavoring to obtain from Stuyvesant a reversal or mitigation of his sen- tence. Weary of suffering, he now embarked again for Holland, "with the delegates of the commonalty," to seek tardy justice in the Fatherland. The director's pride was 10 August. sorely wounded by the action of the States General; to Stuyve- sant's an- swer to the whom, however, he wrote that he would obey their sum- States Gen- mons, and appear in person at the Hague, if discharged eral. by the company ; but that, as it was, he should send an attorney. He thanked them for having "kept one ear open," as many of the papers necessary to his justification had been lost with the Princess, in which Kieft had been wrecked. Melyn had abused their safe-conduct, and had behaved mutinously ; and he himself would rather never
* Cor. Classis Amsterdam; Letter of Stuyvesant to the Classis, August, 1649; Alb Rec., iv., 16, 23 ; vii., 229, 251-256 ; Rev Dr. De Witt, in N. Y. H. S. Proc., 1844, 71.
509
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
have received the commission of their High Mightinesses, CHAP. XV. than have had his authority lowered in the eyes both of neighbors and subjects. 1649.
Cornelis van Tienhoven, the secretary of the province, Van Tien- was the person whom the director selected to appear for to Holland hoven sent him at the Hague. Van Tienhoven was "cautious, sub- of the di- on the part tle, intelligent, and sharp-witted ;" he had been long in rector. New Netherland, and its circumstances were thoroughly known to him. The representative of the director imme- August. diately set sail for Holland in a small vessel, carrying with him a mass of exeulpatory documents ; among which was a letter to the Amsterdam Chamber from the magistrates Letter fro .. of the English settlement at Gravesend, who, under the Gravesend influence of Baxter, declared their confidence in Stuyve- sant's " wisdom and justice in the administration of the common-weal." To insure Van Tienhoven's earlier arriv- al in Holland, he was sent off fourteen days before the ship which conveyed the popular delegates and Melyn. The secretary, wishing to avoid the scene of Kieft's shipwreck, went by the north of Ireland. But the experiment was unlucky. The ship in which Van der Donek and his col- leagues sailed, keeping a straight course for the channel, reached the Fatherland before Stuyvesant's baffled emis- sary could make his port .*
Sinee Kieft's treaty of 1645, the disposition of the sav- Temper of ages had generally been friendly, although the contiguity the North of the whites occasionally produced excesses and blood- ages. shed. Early in the spring of this year, a Meckgaekhanie Indian killed Simon Vanderbilt at Paulus' Hook. Stuy- vesant refrained from attempting retaliation; and the sav- ages sent a deputation to Fort Amsterdam to solicit for- July. giveness and renew their covenant of peace. The director thanked them for their visit, and expressed his wish to live in " neighborly friendship." Any injuries done them by
* Hol. Doc., iv., 8, 217 ; v., 65, 66, 82-205 ; ix., 234 ; Alb. Rec., vii., 220-247 ; O'Call., ii., 86-SS, 143 ; Breeden Raedt, 37. During this visit, Melyn seems to have prepared the " Breeden Raedt," which was printed at Antwerp, bis native place. It is a quarto tract of forty-five pages, bearing the date of 1649, and is the earliest known separate publica- tion respecting New Netherland .- See ante, p. 45, note ; Int. Mag., Dec., 1851, p. 597.
510
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XV. the Dutch would be surely punished, if they complained
1649.
directly to him. Accepting their gifts, Stuyvesant made them some presents in return ; the chain of peace was again rubbed bright; " and so the savages departed very much satisfied."
(
Katskill and Claver- From the time that Van der Donck attempted to estab- lish a colonie at Katskill, the patroon of Rensselaerswyck the patroon of Rensse- laerswyck. had coveted that region; and, disregarding the patent which Kieft had granted three years before, Van Slechten- 19 April. 27 May. horst now procured a cession of the Indian title. The next month, a large tract was purchased at Claverack, on the opposite side of the river. These acquisitions emboldened the proprietors of the colonie to reassert their claim to a staple right at Beeren Island. The arrogant pretension was derided ; but as yet Stuyvesant had taken no meas- 14 July. Weck- quaesgeek purchased ures to oppose it. Two months afterward, however, he bought for the company the region called Weckquaesgeek, by the West on the east shore of the North River, comprising a large India Com- pany. proportion of the present county of West Chester; and the Indian grantors at the same time promised to induce the North River chiefs "to talk the matter over, and not to sell to any without the knowledge of the director gen- eral."*
South Riv- er.
In the mean time, Printz had spared no efforts to obtain from the savages all the lands on the east side of the South River, between Fort Nassau and the Falls at. Trenton. intelligence of this design was communicated to the gov- ernment at Fort Amsterdam, who, perceiving that its ob- ject was to cut the Dutch off from intercourse between the North and South Rivers, heartily assented to Hudde's proposition to purchase "all the lands above Fort Nassau." As the commissary was unprovided with means, an asso- ciation was formed with Simon Root and three other Dutch traders, providing that the territory they might obtain should be transferred to the company whenever their ad- vances should be repaid. Under this agreement, the part-
23 May.
6 April. Purchase of lands abov Fort Nas- sanl.
* Alb. Rec., vii., 252; G. G., 507; Renss. MSS .; O'Call., ii., 95, 96, 159 ; Bolton's West Chester, i., 165 ; ante, p. 378, 421.
511
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ners purchased "the lands at the east and west side," ex- CHAP. XV. tending southward from Rancocus Creek, in West Jersey, to Fort Nassau. 1649.
At the same time, Thomas Broen was authorized by Stuyvesant to take possession of " Red Hook, otherwise called Mantes Hook," a little below Fort Nassau, with the promise of letters patent, as soon as the Dutch should ex- tinguish the Indian title. Broen, presenting his author- Conduct of ization to Printz, solicited his assistanec in the construc- Printz. tion of the proposed buildings. The Swedish governor as- sented, upon condition that the settlement should be un- der his jurisdiction. To this Broen refused to accede; and Printz immediately purchased from the savages the lands from Mantes Hook downward to the Narratikon or Rac- coon Creek, and ereeted upon it a post with the arms of the Swedish crown .* Stuyvesant's personal presence at Fort Nassau was now anxiously desired. But affairs at New Amsterdam were too pressing to allow the director to leave the seat of government ; and the Swedes, who far outnumbered the Dutch, remained for more than a year in virtual command of the whole of the South River.
On reaching Holland, Van der Donck and his colleagues The popu- proceeded at once to the Hague, without communicating gates at the lar dele- Hague. with the Amsterdam Chamber. The voluminous papers - which the delegates of the commonalty of New Nether- land submitted to the States General were referred to a committee, with instructions to examine and report on the 13 October. whole ease as soon as possible. Several weeks afterward, Van Tienhoven, arriving at the Hague, presented doeu- 2 Dec. ments in support of Stuyvesant's proceedings against Me- lyn. These, together with several other memorials and letters complaining of the director's treatment of Teunis- sen, Claessen, and Heermans, were referred to the com- mittee of their High Mightinesses, who had already made 13 Dec. progress enough to satisfy themselves that there were in- deed grievances in New Netherland to be redressed.t
* De Vries, 103 ; Alb. Rec., xii., 526 ; xvii., 270-274 ; Acrelius, 411, 412 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 113-116 ; ante, p. 225. t Alb. Rec., iv., 24 ; Hol. Doc., iv., 211, 231, 233, 254.
512
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XV. The popular delegates, faithful to their trust, now laid 1650. before the committee a formal abstract, detailing sixty- 27 January. eight specific points, in which they alleged that the com- pany had treated their province with "excessive and most prejudicial neglect." To these charges Van Tienhoven 31 January. drew up a reply on behalf of the Amsterdam Chamber. Addressing themselves again directly to the States Gen- 7 February. eral, the delegates contrasted the condition of New En- gland with that of their province, and urged that New Netherland should be taken under the sole protection of the general government, and the administration of its af- fairs be intrusted to its inhabitants. Unless this were done, they distinctly declared that its prosperity could not be assured. Still further to aid their efforts, they caused The " Ver- toogh" printed. the " Vertoogh," or Remonstrance of the commonalty, to be printed and circulated .*
16 Feb. Letter of the West India Com- pany.
The distant province was now brought prominently to the notice of the people of the Fatherland. The states of Guelderland were addressed. " The name of New Neth- erland," wrote the Amsterdam Chamber to Stuyvesant, " was scarcely ever mentioned before, and now it would seem as if heaven and earth were interested in it.". "Your apprehensions in regard to Domine Backerus have been verified. He has made a common cause with the com- plainants who have arrived here from your country. These silly persons, or at least the largest part of the petitioners, have been imposed upon by a few worthless persons, name- ly, Cornelis Melyn, Adriaen van der Donck, and a few others, who, as it appears, will leave nothing untried to abjure every kind of subjection to government, under pre- text that they groaned under too galling a yoke. In this frantic opinion they are confirmed by Wouter van Twiller, who aims to appoint himself as the only commander on the North River, and dares to declare in public that he
* Hol. Doc., v., 1-64. The Remonstrance was printed at the Hague in 1650, in the form of a quarto tract of forty-nine pages, under the title of " Vertoogh van Nieuw Ned- erlandt," &c. A copy which I procured in Holland is in the library of the N. Y. H. Soci- ety, and a translation, with notes by Mr. Murphy, is in ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 253-338. There seems to have been a map of New Netherland annexed to the original, but I could not find it in the archives at the Hague.
513
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
does not intend to permit any one to navigate this river CHAP. XV. with a commercial view ; and that he will repel with foree every one who with that purpose shall come there, or into 1650. Rensselaerswyek."*
emigration
Suggestions were soon made that several hundred char- 22 Feb. ity children in the orphan houses at Amsterdam should be to promote Measures sent over ; and emigrants in large numbers pressed their applications for means of conveyance. But the company did not supply sufficient vessels for the demand. At last Van der Donek and his colleagues succeeded in arranging 19 March. for the conveyance of two hundred additional persons. The company agreed to advance four thousand guilders, and to allow seven thousand more out of the colonial rev- enue, upon condition that the emigrants would bind them- selves to remain three years in the province. Van Tien- hoven also prepared several explanatory papers respecting the boundaries, the customs' regulations, the mode of es- tablishing colonies and bouweries in New Netherland, and a schedule of the taxes imposed in New England, which were all submitted to the committee of the States Gen- 4 March. eral. The delegates of the commonalty, on their part, pre- sented further memorials respecting the high duties exact- 7 March. ed by the company, and the unredressed grievances of the province.t
After full consideration, the committee reported to the 11 April. States General " a remedy" which it was thought "ought the com- Report of to give contentment to both parties until further provision the S. G. on mittee of should be made." Passing over for the present several erland. New Neth points in the "great Remonstrance presented from the commonalty," they submitted the draft of a " Provisional Order" for the government of New Netherland, which they recommended that the States General, with the advice and consent of a majority of the directors of the company, should enaet.
The proposed Order condemned the measures by which Kieft had brought on the Indian war, and required that
* Alb. Rec., iv., 25, 26 ; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 377 ; ante, p. 420.
t Hol. Doc., v., 111, 123, 131, 134, 159, 179, 191, 215 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 25-36.
K K
514
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XV. in future no hostilities should be waged "against the ab-
Provisional order for the govern- ment of New Neth- erland.
1650. origines or neighbors of New Netherland" without the knowledge of the States General. Dam and Planck, who had petitioned for the war, should be sent to the Hague, to be examined. The trade with the Indians, in guns and ammunition, should be gradually and totally abolished ; the inhabitants should be armed and enrolled as militia ; and the forts should be maintained in such a manner as to afford proper protection to the inhabitants. Three cler- gymen more should be provided ; one to attend divine serv- ice at Rensselaerswyck, one "in and around the city of New Amsterdam," and a third in the "distant settle- ments ;" while the commonalty should " be obliged to cause the youth to be instructed by good schoolmasters." The provincial council should favor, by every means, agri- culture and the peopling of the country, restrain the ex- portation of cattle, and promote " a good trade and com- merce" between New Netherland and Brazil. The com- monalty should be convoked, and be induced to consent to the imposition of taxes and duties, "placing the collection, administration, and payment of the recognitions on such a footing as their constituents shall order." Two counselors should be elected by the commonalty. Stuyvesant should be instructed " to return to Holland and report;" and a suit- able person, " experienced in matters relating to agricul- ture," should be dispatched "to take charge of the coun- try lying on both sides of the great North River, extending south to the South River, and north to the Fresh River." A Court of Justice should be erected in the province. A burgher government, consisting of a schout, two burgomas- ters, and five schepens, should be established in the "city of New Amsterdam." In the mean time, the Nine Men should continue three years longer, and should have limited judicial powers in small causes " between man and man." All inhabitants and immigrants should take "an oath of fidelity." Private ships, sailing from Holland to North America, should, according to their tonnage, be compelled to convey emigrants. And, finally, at least fifteen thousand
Clergymen and school- masters.
Taxes.
Burgher govern- ment.
515
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
guilders should be expended every year by the "commis- CHAP. XV. sioners of New Netherland," in the Amsterdam Chamber, in the transportation of poor agricultural cmigrants .* 1650.
While, on the one hand, this Provisional Order did not 11 April. The Am-
fully meet the views of the delegates of the commonalty, sterdam on the other it provoked the determined resistance of the opposes the Chamber Amsterdam Chamber. Its statements relative to Kieft's order. provisional war were questioned. In regard to the Indian trade, the provincial government was obliged to furnish the savages sparingly with arms, "in order to prevent misunderstand- ing ;" and as to prices, the Indians would sometimes in the spring pay one hundred and twenty guilders for a gun, and ten or twelve for a pound of powder. The patroons of Rensselaerswyck should provide a clergyman for them- selves ; there was one already at New Amsterdam, and " none are required for the more distant places." It was improbable that the colonists could be induced to defray the public expenses voluntarily, when they had already complained so much about the wine and beer excises. For the satisfaction of the colonists, however, two persons might be added to the council ; but they should be selected by the company from a triple nomination by the people. It would be unnecessary to recall Stuyvesant; the vice-di- rector could be sent for, if requisite. The Nine Men should have no more power ; the administration of justice in the province had better be left " as it then stood." Vessels go- ing thither would be required to carry as many passengers as their burden was rated in tons; but it would be unjust to the creditors of the company if, in the exhausted state of their treasury, the directors should be bound to expend fifteen thousand guilders a year for the conveyance of em- igrants to New Netherland.
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