USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 54
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The " fast-sailing galliot" by which this letter and the promised supplies were dispatched was captured by the English. The States General again admonished the West 3 Sept. India Company to put their province in a proper state of structions. defense. Another vessel was, therefore, fitted out, and a duplicate of the intercepted dispatch was forwarded. The directors, at the same time, wrote to Stuyvesant to be care- 13 Dec. fully on his guard against the "artful wiles" of his territo- rial neighbors, and to avoid, if possible, any broils with the people of New England. All honest means were to be used to cultivate friendship with them, and also to promote commerce, chiefly with the Virginians, by which means " must the Manhattans prosper," her population increase, and her trade and navigation flourish. "For when these Maritime once become permanently established-when the ships of of Manhat- superiority New Netherland ride on every part of the ocean-then dicted. tan pro- numbers, now looking to that coast with eager eyes, will be allured to embark for your island." Such was the prophecy which the merchants of Amsterdam addressed to the merchants of Manhattan two centuries ago.t
* Alb. Rec., iv., 83, 84.
+ Hol. Doc., vi., 190, 192 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 87, 91 ; O'Call., ii., 205, 206 ; Bancroft, ii., 294
ment of In- vised.
Further in-
548
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 1
CH. XVI.
1652. Actual condition of Manhat- tan.
When that prophecy was uttered, New Amsterdam.was yet a small village, with a population of seven or eight hundred souls. Belonging, in fee, to the West India Com- pany, its municipal affairs had always been administered by the director and council of the province. That admin- istration, however, had never been advantageous, either to the company or to the colonists ; and from the beginning of Stuyvesant's government, scarcely one new bouwery had been planted on the island .*
The time had now come when its inhabitants were to be invested with the civic powers which the Amsterdam Chamber had so unwillingly conceded to their earnest pray- Organiza- tion of the ipal gov- New Am- sterdam. ers. Its municipal government was to resemble "as much first munic- as possible" that of Old Amsterdam ; nevertheless, the fran- chises which the citizens of New Amsterdam actually ob- tained were far less extensive than those which the burgh- ers of the parent city enjoyed. The director general re- tained in his own hands the appointment of burgomasters and schepens, and insisted upon the right of the provincial government "to make ordinances or publish particular in- terdicts even for New Amsterdam." The citizens were not allowed to elect their own schout ; the city govern- ment did not choose its own clerk. The ungraceful con- cessions of the grudging Chamber were hampered by the most illiberal interpretation which their provincial repre- sentative could devise.
1653. 2 Feb. Stuyvesant accordingly issued a proclamation on the feast of Candlemas, appointing Arendt van Hattem and Martin Kregier, burgomasters, and Paulus Leendertsen Burgomas- ters and schepens. van der Grist, Maximilian van Gheel, Allard Anthony, Willem Beeckman, and Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwenho- ven, schepens of the city of New Amsterdam. Cornelis Schout and van Tienhoven, the company's fiscal, was made schout of clerk. 5 Feb. the city, and Jacob Kip was appointed secretary to the municipal government. A few days afterward, the bur- gomasters and schepens met together, and gave notice that they would hold their ordinary meetings every Monday . * Hol. Doc., vi., 227 ; xi., 213.
549
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
morning at nine o'clock, "in the building hitherto called CH. XVI. the City Tavern, and now named the Stadt Huys or City Hall." Stuyvesant, whose attention had been so much given to the municipal affairs of the capital, often attended these meetings in person. Record books were then com- govern- ment. meneed ; and a solemn form of prayer was adopted, with which the proceedings of the court were to be opened. The island of Manhattan had at last formally become the city of New Amsterdam .*
The organization of the municipal government of New Critical Amsterdam took place at the most important erisis which New Neth- the Dutch province had yet seen. Holland and England erland. were now at open war. The Puritan colonies, sympathiz- ing with Parliament, longed to make New Netherland a trophy of the strife, and to extend the English power from Stamford to the Chesapeake. Stuyvesant, foreseeing his 26 Feb. danger, wrote to the several governments of Virginia and New En- Letters to New England, expressing the friendly feelings both of the Virginia. gland and West India Company and of the authorities of New Neth- erland, and proposing that the commercial intereourse be- tween the Dutch and English colonies should continue on its former peaceful footing, notwithstanding the hostilities between their mother countries. At the same time, he did not neglect proper military precautions at home. He eom- 13 March. municated to a joint meeting of the provincial council, and tions for the Prepara- of the burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam, the the city. defense of dispatches from the West India Company ; and also inform- ed them of the military preparations which were now in progress in New England. The meeting promptly resolv- ed that "the whole body of citizens" should mount guard every night; that Fort Amsterdam should be repaired ; and as it was not large enough to contain all the inhab- Ditch and itants, that the city should be enclosed, from the East to palisad. s the North River, by a diteh and palisades with a breast- work. Sehipper Visscher was directed to keep his sails
* Alb. Rec., vi., 54, 60; New Amsterdam Records, i., 105-107, 109; O'Call., ii., 213 ; Valentine's Manual for 1850, 538, where the form of prayer is inserted at length. The Records of the city of New York, commencing with this date, are still preserved in good condition. See note Q, Appendix.
1653. First meet- g of the municipal
condition of
550
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XVI. always ready, and " his gun loaded day and night." To
First public debt of the city.
15 March.
17 March.
1653. defray all these expenses, the city government proposed to raise about six thousand guilders, by a loan from the prin- cipal citizens, to be repaid by a tax upon the commonalty. In two days, upward of five thousand guilders were sub- scribed.' A contract was made with Thomas Baxter to provide palisades twelve feet high and eighteen inches in girth; and the inhabitants, "without one exception," were required to work at the fortifications, under penalty of fine, loss of citizenship, and banishment. Nor did the people forget, in the time of their trouble, to call upon the Al- mighty for aid ; and the ninth of April was ordered to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer throughout the province. The inhabitants at Beverwyck and Fort Orange were likewise directed to assist those of Rensselaerswyck in putting the redoubt and other defenses in good repair .*
Fast day. 28 May. Fort Or- ange and Bever- wyck. State of feeling in New En- gland.
These precautions were by no means untimely. Uncas, the Mohegan ally of the English, had spread a report that Stuyvesant had been plotting to excite the Narragansetts against the New England colonies ; and nine sachems, who lived "about the Manhatoes," sent messengers to Stamford toward the end of March, affirming that, about a month before, the Dutch governor " did earnestly solicit the Indians in those parts to kill all the English, but they all refused to be hired by him, for that the English had done them no harm."
28 March.
29 April. Meeting of the New England commis- sioners.
An extraordinary meeting of the commissioners of the United Colonies was accordingly held at Boston in the end of April. Previously to the meeting, two messengers had been sent by the council of Massachusetts to interrogate Ninigret, Pessacus, and Mixam, three of the Narragansett chiefs, as to Stuyvesant's conduct. But the sachems' an- swers disproved the alleged plot. " I found no such en- tertainment from the Dutch governor when I was there," said Ninigret, "to stir me up to such a league against the English, my friends. It was winter time, and I stood a
* Alb. Rec., vi., 58-78 ; ix., 57 ; New Amst. Rec., i., 150-153, 164, 182 ; O'Call., ii., 215; Valentine's Manual for 1850, 450.
551
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
great part of a winter's day knocking at the governor's CH. XVI. door ; and he would neither open it, nor suffer others to open it, to let me in ; I was not wont to find such carriage 1653. from the English, my friends." Said Mixam : "I know of no such plot that is intended or plotted by the Dutch governor against the English, my friends." And Pessacus replied, " that for the governor of the Dutch, we are loth to invent any falsehood of him, though we be far off from him, to please the English, or any other that bring these reports."
The commissioners were still suspicious and unsatisfied. A long " declaration" was therefore drawn up, reviewing the complaints which the New England colonics had re- itcrated for thirteen years, and cmbodying the new charges Charges against the Dutch which rested upon the testimony of Dutch. " the Indians, who know not God, but worship and walk after the prince of the power of the air, serving their lusts, hateful, and hating one another." Upon the reading of this, the commissioners, " being exercised with different apprehensions," called upon the Massachusetts council, " with the neighboring elders," for advice. Their advice was, that it best became those " professing to walk in the Gospel of peace, having to do with a people pretending to the same profession," to give the Dutch governor an oppor- tunity to answer for himself.
Stuyvesant, however, did not wait for the action of the stuyve- commissioners. Hearing of the. charges against him, he duct. wrote at once to the governors of New Haven and Massa- 22 April. chusetts, denying the plot, and offering to come or send to Boston to elear himself, or desiring that delegates might be sent to Manhattan "to consider and examine what may be charged, and his answers." The commissioners accord- Agents to ingly appointed Francis Newman, a magistrate of New Nether- Haven, and Captain John Leverett, and Licutenant Will- land. iam Davis, of Boston, to visit New Netherland. The agents were instructed specifically as to their duties in procuring testimony, and intelligence from Europe or Virginia, and were also furnished with letters which Underhill had writ-
against the
sant's con-
visit New
552
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
12 May.
Prepara- tions for war.
CH. XVI. ten to the commissioners, according to the tenor of which they conceived that " himself and the English at Hemp- 1653. stede will produce such evidence as the case requires." A letter to Stuyvesant, at the same time, embodied their long " declaration" of complaints, and demanded " speedy and just satisfaction for all former grievances, and due secu- rity for the future." The commissioners likewise made preparations, in case " God call the colonies to make war against the Dutch.". Five hundred men, " for the first ex- pedition," were to be proportionally raised out of the four jurisdictions ; and Captain Leverett was judiciously chosen commander-in-chief, "with respect to the opportunity he now hath to view and observe the situation and fortifica- tion at the Manhatoes."
22 May. Conduct of agents at New Am- sterdam. The New England agents, on reaching New Amsterdam, the English were lodged at "the Basse's house in Manhatoes." They at once proposed to choose " some convenient place, within the United Colonies of New England," for Stuyvesant to produce evidence to clear himself from the charges against him. This proposition the director declined. The agents 23 May. then asked that the place might be at Flushing or Heem- stede ; that they should have full power to call such to" testify as they might think meet; that the magistrates there should be obliged to administer oaths to the witness- es ; and that no person should be molested for the testi- Answer of mony he might give. To these exactions Stuyvesant and the Dutch mands. to their de- his council, "together with those that represent the partic- ular courts of justice in the colonies of New Netherland," avowing themselves "guiltless of any plot, either offensive or defensive, against the English nation," readily assented, upon condition that the proposed examinations should be held in the presence of three persons, to be associated with the New England commission, namely, La Montagne, the first counselor in New Netherland, David Provoost, and Govert Loockermans, " which all jointly in some measure understand the Dutch, English, and Indian speeches." If any person should be found "that would stand to the ac- cusation," he might be examined, and might also, " accord-
553
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ing to the custom of our laws of New Netherland," be CH. XVI. " touched and heard," in the presence of the New England agents, before the director and council at New Amsterdam 1653. and the representatives of the particular colonies and courts of the province. And all inferior magistrates and officers should be commanded to bring before the joint commis- sion " all such as they shall require, whether they be Dutch or English."* .
These liberal conditions did not suit the Puritan agents. With lawyer-like precision they " excepted" to the num- 24 May. ber and thic character of the signers, the mode in which rejeet the they stated the question, and the examination of witnesses Dutch. according to the laws of New Netherland ; and, in the name of the United Colonics, demanded " due and full satisfaction" for all the particulars in their letter. They seemed to have visited the Dutch province as inquisitors, . to collect evidence criminating the Dutch, and to collect no other cvidence ; and, with peculiar assurance, they saw no impropriety in requiring the authorities of New Ncth- erland, in their own capital, to suspend their established rules of law in favor of those of New England.
The director's temperate reply, rebuking their pertinac- 24 May. ity, submitted a series of general propositions. I. Neigh- sant's re- Stuyve- borly friendship, without regard to the hostilities in Eu- ply. rope ; II. Continuance of trade and commerce, as before ; III. Mutual justice against fraudulent debtors ; IV. A dc- fensive and offensive alliance against the enemies of both the Dutch and English provinces; and, V. In case the agents had not full powers to negotiate on these points, that the Dutch government would be pleased to send plen- ipotentiaries to the commissioners of the United Colonies.
But the New England agents repelled Stuyvesant's 25 May. friendly overtures ; and " concluded their negotiation" by tiation end. The nego- declaring, in the name of the commissioners, that " if so ed. be you shall offer any injury to any of the English in these parts, whether by yourselves or by the Indians, cither upon
* Hazard, ii., 234, 235. Besides Stuyvesant himself, this letter was signed by Werck- boven, Newton, Kregier, J. B. van Rensselaer, Van der Grist, Van Carloe, Willem Beeck- man, Pieter Wolfertsen, Allard Anthony, and Rutger Jacobsen.
The agents
offer of the
554
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
'CH. XVI. the national quarrel, or by reason of any differences de- 1653. pending between the United English Colonies and your- selves of the province of New Netherland, that, as the commissioners of the United Colonies will do no wrong, so 2 they may not suffer their countrymen to be oppressed upon any such account." This paper was delivered to Stuyve- sant about six o'clock on Sunday afternoon. About nine o'clock the same evening, the New England agents, with- out waiting for Stuyvesant's reply, took their leave, and "cloaking their sudden departure under pretence of the day of election, to be held this week at Boston," they de- clined a friendly invitation to remain, and abruptly left New Amsterdam.
26 May. Stuyve- sant's an- swer to the tion" of the commis- sioners. The next day Stuyvesant dispatched Augustine Heer- man to Boston with a full reply to the letter of the commis- "declara -. sioners, and an abstract of "passages" between New Neth- erland and New England. Touching the reiterated charge of conspiracy with the natives, there would " never any appearance of truth be found in it." If the New England messengers had made inquiry, " according to due course and manner of law," the case would have been "truly dis- covered and found out." Ninigret had come to New Am- sterdam in the month of January, with a pass from the younger Winthrop, " to be cured and healed." What he had done on Long Island "remains to us unknown ; only this we know," added Stuyvesant, "that what your wor- ships lay unto our charge are false reports and feigned in- formations. Your honored messengers might, if they had pleased, have informed themselves of the truth of this at Nayack and Gravesande, and might also have obtained more friendly satisfaction and security concerning our real intentions, if they had been pleased to have staid a day or two or three with us, to have heard and considered fur- ther of these articles."
On their way homeward, the New England agents stopped at Flushing, Stamford, and New Haven, and, " without any help or concurrence from the Manhatoes," took all the testimony they could procure to sustain their
555
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
charges against the New Netherland authorities. The CH. XVI. hearsay stories of several Indians were eagerly recorded. A conversation at Underhill's house, in Flushing, with 1653. 26 May. the wife of Van der Donek, who said that "the Maquaas are ready to assist the Dutch if the English fall upon them," and with Doughty, her father, who "said that he knew more than he durst speak," was carefully noted. Several depositions of disaffected Englishmen at Hcem- Testimony stede and Middelburgh were secured. The only point real- Long Isl- ly ascertained upon which to found the charge of a plot and. was that Stuyvesant had told Robert Coe, one of the Mid- delburgh magistrates, that "if the English came against him, he had spoken to Indians to help him against the English." William Alford also swore that Stuyvesant had told him "he had no hand in any such plot ; but confess- ed that in case any English should come against him, then he would strengthen himself with the Indians as much as he could." This was all that the agents succeeded in proving. These declarations were made by Stuyvesant without any mystery or purpose of concealment. They were merely the announcement of his intention to obey the instructions of the Amsterdam directors, who had, as we have seen, written to him the previous August, that, in case the New Englanders inclined "to take a part in these broils, and injure our good inhabitants, then we should ad- vise your honor to engage the Indians in your cause." The Puritan colonists had themselves set the example of em- ploying Indian allies in the Pequod war ; and the policy which New England originated continued, until the end of the American Revolution, a repulsive feature in the British colonial administration .*
Meanwhile, Underhill had been agitating a revolt on Underhill's Long Island. His unstable nature longed for change; and ness. faithless- the moment seemed propitious to betray the friends who had sheltered and honored him when humiliated by the ecclesiastical discipline of Massachusetts. At the instiga- tion of Eaton and the agents of New England, he had
* Hazard, ii., 203-267 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 83 ; North Am. Rev., viii., 96-105; ante, p. 547.
obtained on
556
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Underhill arrested.
20 May. Seditious proceed- ings at Heemste and Flush- ing.
CH XVI. busied himself in collecting the testimony which he had 1653. promised the commissioners, and had openly charged the' fiscal, Van Tienhoven, with plotting against the English. He was, therefore, arrested at Flushing, and conveyed to New Amsterdam under guard. After a short detention, he was dismissed without trial. Returning to Long Isl- and, he committed open treason against his adopted coun- try by hoisting " the Parliaments' colors" at Heemstede and Flushing, and crowned his treachery by issuing a se- ditious address to the commonalty of New Amsterdam, set- ting forth the reasons which had impelled the insurgents "to abjure the iniquitous government of Peter Stuyvesant over the inhabitants living and residing on Long Island, in America." After enumerating the specific wrongs, which he declared were " too grievous for any brave En- glishman and good Christian to tolerate any longer," he- exhorted "all honest hearts, that seek the glory of God and their own peace and prosperity, to throw off this tyran- nical yoke." "Accept and submit ye then to the Parlia- ment of England," concluded this bold address, "and be- ware ye of becoming traitors to one another, for the sake of your own quiet and welfare."*
Underhill banished. 27 May. 2 June.
But Underhill's mutinous appeal fell upon unwilling ears. The loyalty of the Dutch to their Fatherland was proof against all treasonable placards ; and though they had themselves felt the pressure of Stuyvesant's arbitrary rule, they could not think of abjuring their allegiance to the States General, to become subjects of the Parliament of England. Upon the departure of the New England agents, Underhill was ordered to quit the province. Fly- ing to Rhode Island, he addressed a letter to the commis- sioners at Boston, offering his services and loyalty, as he was, like, Jephthah, " forced to lay his life in his hands," to save English blood from destruction. , To this end he had "requested our neighbors of Rhode Island to afford some small assistance." This " assistance" was granted
* Alb. Rec., iv., 121 ; Hol. Doc., ix., 227 ; Hazard, ii., 223 ; Hartford Rec. Towns and Lands, i., 81; Col. Rec. Conn., 275; O'Call., ii., 225-227 ; Trumbull, i., 205.
557
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
the next day, in the form of a commission "under the seal CH. XVI. of the colony of Providence Plantations," giving " full pow- er and authority to Mr. William Dyer and Captain John 1653. 3 June. Underhill to take all Dutch ships and vessels as shall come, into their power, and to defend themselves from the Duteh sioned by Rhode Isi- and. and all enemies of the commonwealth of England."*
The New England agents, on reaching Boston, reported 31 May. their proceedings in New Netherland, with the testimony missioners The com- they had collected ; and also submitted to the eommis- chusetts at sioners some propositions for protection and, assistance variance: which had been presented to them on behalf of the disaf- fected English at Heemstede and Middelburgh. Upon a statement of the case, the General Court of Massachusetts 3 June. desired a consultation with the commissioners, and ap- pointed a committee to prepare a joint report of the facts respecting the difference with the Dutch. The joint com- mittee, however, could not agree; and two separate state- 4 June. ments were drawn up, one on the part of the commission- ers, by Governor Eaton, and another on the part of Mas- sachusetts, by Major General Denison. A conference was then held before the General Court of Massachusetts "and divers neighboring elders," to whom the testimony was submitted for their opinion " what the Lord calleth to do." The elders found enough to "induee them to believe" in 7 Jnne. -the reality of "that late execrable plot, tending to the de- struction of so many dear saints of God, which is imputed to the Dutch governor and fiscal." Yet, upon serious ex- amination, they could not find the proofs " so fully con- clusive as to clear up present proceedings to war." The next day, the General Court of Massachusetts voted that 8 June. they were not "called to make a present war with the Dutch." This, however, was not the general sentiment out of Boston. The " teacher of the church at Salem" wrote to the commissioners, urging immediate hostilities, 13 May. the postponement of which had already " caused many a pensive heart." Six out of the eight commissioners were
* Hazard, ii., 249; Hartford Rec. Towns and Lands, i., 76; O'Call., ii., 232, 233; Trumbull, i., 205.
and Massa-
558
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Cn. XVI. for instant war. The General Court of Massachusetts, 1653 12 June. however, again interposed. In an able exposition of the Articles of Confederation, they declared that it was not competent " for six commissioners of the other colonies to put forth any act of power in a vindictive war, whereby they shall command the colonies dissenting to assist them Massachu- setts pre- with New Nether- land. 3 June. in the same." Thus Massachusetts, affirming the doctrine vents a war/of "state rights," prevented New England from commenc- ing an "offensive war" against New Netherland. The commissioners, foiled in their hostile designs, sent a pee- vish reply to Stuyvesant, reiterating that the English were right and the Dutch were wrong on every point in contro- versy, and telling him, with insulting pertinacity, that his "confident denials of the barbarous plot charged, will weigh little in the balance against such evidence, so that we must still require and seek due satisfaction and security."*
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