USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 55
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27 June. 7 July. Fort Good Hope seized by Uuderhill.
But if open war was averted, covetousness was not re- pressed. Underhill, finding his offer of service neglected, availed himself of his Rhode Island commission to better his private estate at the expense of his recent friends. Going to the unoccupied Dutch Fort Good Hope, he post- ed upon it a notice, declaring that, "with permission from the General Court of Hartford," he did " seize upon this house and lands thereunto belonging, as Dutch goods claimed by the West India Company in Amsterdam, en- emies of the commonwealth of England, and thus to re- main seized till further determined by the said court."f
25 June. 5 July.
A special meeting of the General Court of Connecticut' was now held at Hartford, and a representation was or- dered to be made to "the Bay," humbly craving that "the design may go on according to the consult of the commis- sioners," and that Connecticut might have liberty to
* Col. Rec. Conn., 244 ; Hazard, ii., 233, 248, 250-256, 268-273 ; Trumbull, i., 206-208 ; Hutchinson, i., 167, 168.
t Hartford Rec. Towns and Lands, i., 77, 81, 86-88 ; O'Call., ii., 234, 570. Within four months, Underhill twice sold the Dutch fort and lands, as his private prize, to citizens of Rhode Island and Hartford. But though he alleged that he had permission from the Gen- eral Court to make the seizure, there is nothing in the records of Connecticut to justify his assertion ; on the contrary, Hartford the next year sequestered the property for her- self .- Col. Rec. Conn., 254, 16th April, 1654.
559
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
"gather up volunteers" in Massachusetts ; and Haynes CH. XVI. and Ludlow were appointed to confer with the govern- ment of New Haven on the subject. Eaton and the New 1653. 27 Jun.e. Haven court fully coincided with their brethren at Hart- 7 July. Connecti- ford ; and messengers were sent to Massachusetts to urge cut and that "by war, if no other means will serve, the Dutch, at ven urge New Ha- and about the Manhatoes, who have been and still are like & July. war. to prove injurious and dangerous neighbors, may be re- moved." But Massachusetts again refused to act " in so 24 July. Massachu- weighty a concernment as to send forth men to shed blood," setts again unless satisfied " that God calls for it; and then it must refuses. be clear and not doubtful, necessary and expedient."*
In the mean time, Stuyvesant had not neglected meas- ures for the security of New Netherland. A new danger seemed to threaten the province from Virginia, where Berkeley, the royal governor, had been obliged to capitu- 1652. late to a parliamentary expedition, and had been succeed- 22 March. ed by Richard Bennett, one of the Roundhead commis- 30 April. sioners. Maryland, too, was reduced to subjection, and June. Lord Baltimore's authority was abrogated. In this situ- ation of affairs, Stuyvesant, in obedience to his instruc- tions to arrange, if possible, a treaty with Virginia, sent 1653. Van Tienhoven, the fiscal, and Van Hattem, one of the 5 May. burgomasters of New Amsterdam, to negotiate with Ben- nett. But the Puritan governor did not feel at liberty to conclude a treaty without instructions from Westminster. He, nevertheless, agreed to submit Stuyvesant's proposi- tions to the home government; and with this promise the Dutch agents returned to New Amsterdam.
Embassy to Virginia.
It was also thought necessary to send Allard Anthony, 5 June. one of the schepens, as a special agent to represent the sit- Holland. uation of affairs to the Amsterdam Chamber. The volun- tary loan raised by the inhabitants in the spring had en- abled the municipal authorities to inclose a part of the city with palisades. Fort Amsterdam, however, was not yet entirely repaired ; and Stuyvesant called upon the city 28 July.
.-* Col. Rec. Conn., 244 ; New Haven Rec., 3, 8, 11, 12, 27 ; O'Call., ii., 231 ; Trumbull, i., 208, 209.
560
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1653. 29 July. 2 August. Disagree- ment be- tween the director and the city govern- ment.
CH. XVI. government for assistance. The corporation replied that the citizens had done all they had undertaken to do, and should not be further burdened, as they were "altogether in the background.", A few days afterward, Stuyvesant's demand was submitted to a meeting of the principal burgh- ers at the City Hall. The meeting, considering that the repair and maintenance of the fort was a proper charge upon the provincial revenue alone, unanimously resolved "not to contribute any thing until the director general ( give up the whole excise on wines and beers." With this resolution, the burgomasters waited upon Stuyvesant, who peremptorily refused to yield ; and the meeting promptly resolved not to contribute any thing "unless the director general acceded to their terms."*
14 May. 24 May. " Descrip- tion of New Nether- land."
Return of Van der Holland. Van der Donck now prepared to return to New Neth- Donck from erland, from which he had been absent nearly four years. He had taken the degree of Doctor of Laws at the Uni- versity of Leyden, and had been admitted to practice as an advocate in the Supreme Court of Holland. During his leisure hours, he had occupied himself in writing a " Description of New Netherland," which he submitted to the West India Company for their approval. The direct- ors, pleased with the book, recommended it to the States General; and a copyright was granted to the author. The work, however, as it had been prepared, was chiefly a top- ographical description of New Netherland-an amplifica- tion of parts of the "Vertoogh." Wishing to give it a more historical character and value, Van der Donck de- ferred its publication, and applied to the company for per- mission to examine the records in the office of the provin- cial secretary. He also asked to be allowed "to follow his profession as advocate in New Netherland." The di- rectors referred Van der Donck's application to examine their records to Stuyvesant, with an intimation that the permission, if given, should not be so used that "the com- pany's own weapons should be turned against itself, and
- 24 July.
* Hazard, i., 560-563 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 117, 122, 165; viii., 96, 97; ix., 57; xviit., 163; New Amst. Rec., i., 199, 219-221 ; O'Call., ii., 216, 235, 254 ; Valentine's Manual, 1850, 450.
561
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
new troubles raised to its annoyance." As to his other CH. XVI. demand, they resolved to permit him " to give his advice to all who may desire to obtain it ;" but as regards his 1653. pleading before the courts, they could not see "that it ean be admitted yet, with any advantage to the director and couneil in New Netherland." - " Besides that," wrote they to Stuyvesant, "we are ignorant if there be any of that stamp in your eity (who, nevertheless, before they can be admitted, must apply to your honor, or directly to our de- partment) who ean aet and plead against said Van der Donek in behalf of the other side." Returning to New, Amsterdam, he was " suspected so vehemently" by Stuy- vesant, that he was obliged to petition the municipal au- 1 Dec. thorities of the eity, whose interests he had so ably repre- sented in the Fatherland, for protection "as a citizen or burgher."*
To strengthen the council of New Netherland "with 24 July .. another expert and able statesman," the Amsterdam Cham- counselor. De Sille ber at the same time commissioned. Nieasius de Sille, " a man well versed in the law, and not unacquainted with military affairs," as first counselor to the director, to reside at Fort Amsterdam. Cornelis van Ruyven was likewise Van Ruy- appointed provincial secretary, and Van Brugge, whom vincial soc- ven pro- Stuyvesant had provisionally named to that office, was or- retary. dered to be employed in the custom-house, where he sery- ed before. Upon the arrival of these new officers, the di- rector again endeavored to arrange a commercial treaty with Virginia. Domine Drisius, whose knowledge of the Domine English recommended him for the position, was selected sent to Vi ?- Drisius as the envoy of New Netherland, and sent with specific 16 Dec. ginia.
* lol. Doc., vii., 40-47 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 111, 112, 135 ; viii., 75; N. Y. IT. S. Coll., i., 128-130, 378, 379 ; ii., 258, 259 ; New Amst. Rec., i., 321. Van der Donck appears never to have gained Stuyvesant's good will, or even a permission to examine the provincial records ; and we have thus lost what would no doubt have been an interesting history of the early days of New Netherland and of Minuit's and Van Twiller's directorships. Ile published his book as he wrote it in Holland, under the title of " Beschryvinge van Nieuw Nederlandt," &c. The first edition was printed at Amsterdam in 1655, in which year the author himself died, leaving to his widow his estate at Colendonck. In 1656, the second edition was published. It contained a map reduced from the larger one of Visscher, which had just appeared, and was embellished by a view of New Amsterdam, drawn by Augustine lleermans. Both editions are in the library of the N. Y. Ilistorical Society, and a translation of the second in ii .. Coll., i., 129. S. e post, p. 674, not. .
N N
562
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XVI. proposals to Bennett for the regulation and encourage- 1653. ment of trade between the two provinces. The Domine's success in this negotiation prepared the way for a more formal treaty several years afterward .*
16 Dec. Complaints of the pro- prietors of Rensse- laerswyck.
20 Dec.
15 January. Reply of the company.
Counter charges.
In the mean time, Stuyvesant's high-handed proceed- 1652. ings at Beverwyck had been brought under review in Hol- land. The proprietors of Rensselaerswyck complained to the Amsterdam Chamber that he had extended the juris- diction of Fort Orange; demanded the production of the colonial records ; imprisoned Van Slechtenhorst ; absolved Gerrit Swart, the newly-appointed schout, from his oath of office, and obliged him to swear allegiance to the com- pany; levied taxes and excises, for the company's benefit, on the colonists; and encouraged a contraband traffic with the savages. The company answered unsatisfactorily ; and the proprietors of the colony addressed a memorial to 1653. the States General. The directors soon sent their reply to the Hague. They were not aware that the patroon's flag had been hauled down, or his colonists released from their oaths, or his lots taken, away, or that a court of justice had been established in Fort Orange. As to the jurisdic- tion of that post, it had been determined " before the col- onie of Rensselaerswyck was granted." The schout, Ger- rit Swart, had not been absolved from his oath to the pa- troon, but had only been obliged to swear allegiance to the company, "remaining subject to both masters." The char- ter authorized Stuyvesant to demand the production of the colonial rolls and papers, and to levy taxes and excises within the colonie. Van Slechtenhorst had been arrested, in order to curb his "insufferable insolence, effrontery, and abuse of power." In regard to the sale of arms and am- munition to the savages, "it was deemed prudent that it should be now and then permitted." The company then charged the proprietors of the colonie with having unlaw- fully attempted to engross additional territory on the North River ; monopolize trade ; assert an unfounded claim to a
* Alb. Rec., iv., 100, 107, 111, 117 ; vii., 328 ; ix., 57-59 ; O'Call., ii., 236, 237 ; post, p. 683.
563
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
" staple right;" stop the vessels of private traders; gain CH. XVI. possession of Fort Orange; grant lieenses to private per- sons to sail to the coast of Florida ; and with having forbid- 1653. den their colonists to remove within the company's juris- dietion, furnish wood for Fort Orange, pay the debts they owed the people at that post, or appeal from the judgments of the colonial court, as the "Exemptions" had provided. They had refused to allow extraets from their records, or the publication of the directors' proelamations ; had neg- lected to make the required annual reports ; and had ineit- ed their colonists and officers not to obey the legal process of the provincial government. Moreover, the oath which their colonists were compelled to take recognized neither the States General nor the company, and was therefore " seditious and mutinous." A rejoinder was soon presented 20 Feb. on behalf of the proprietors ; but some of the eopartners 19 June. beginning to quarrel among themselves, no definite action upon the points in dispute with the company seems to have been taken by the States General. In writing to Stuyve- 6 June. sant, the Amsterdam Chamber now suggested whether, for trading- Proposed protection against the Mohawks and to facilitate the fur above Fort house trade with the Canadian Indians, it would not be expedi- Orange. ent to build a trading - house, eighteen or twenty miles above Fort Orange .*.
Hostilities had, meanwhile, been renewed between the The Mo- Iroquois and the French. The Mohawks, supplied with the French. hawks and fire-arms by the Dutch, invaded the Huron country soon after the death of Father Jogues, and attacked the Jesuit 1648. missions. The village of Saint Joseph was destroyed, and 4 July Father Daniel, murmuring the name of Jesus, perished in the midst of his converts. Brebœuf and Lallemant were captured at Saint Louis, and burned at the stake with 1649. horrid torture. Garnier was beheaded near Saint John's, and Chabanel was lost in the forest. The Huron missions were broken up, and the desolated country became a hunt- ing-ground of the Iroquois. War parties of the Mohawks
* Alb. Rec., iv., 99 ; viii., 59-63, 215-221 ; Hol. Doc., vi., 303-306 ; vii., 1-27, 48-51 ; O'Call., ii., 206-210.
564
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
20 June.
CH. XVI. hovered along the Saint Lawrence, and scornfully passed before the walls of Quebec. In vain did the governor of 1651. Canada call on New England for aid. The Puritan felt unable to help the Papist ; and the commissioners of the United Colonies, alleging that the Mohawks were "neither in subjection to, nor in any confederation with" them- selves, turned a deaf ear to the appeal.
16 Sept. 1653. 20 August. Father Poncet.
8 Sept.
The Onondagas declared for peace, but the Mohawks continued warlike. Father Joseph Poncet was seized at Three Rivers, and hurried off through the Richelieu Riv- er and Lake Champlain to the Mohawk castles. The prisoner was doomed to torture; but his life was saved by adoption into the family of an old member of the tribe. A few days afterward, word came that peace was about be- ing concluded with De Lauzon, the governor of Canada, who had required the restoration of " the black gown" as 20 Sept. a preliminary condition ; and Poncet was conveyed to Fort Orange, to be clothed and healed. Notwithstanding De Lauzon's letters of recommendation, he was coldly received by Dyckman, the commissary. But "a worthy old Wal- · loon" colonist invited the father to his house ; and a sur- geon, employed by a Scotch matron "who was always kind to the French," dressed his wounds. After adminis- tering the rites of religion to two Roman Catholic residents, 3 October. the missionary took leave of his generous friends at Be- 15 October. verwyck, and returned to the Mohawk country, whence he set out for Canada. Travelling by way of the Oswego and Lake Ontario, he descended the Saint Lawrence to Que- bec. Of Europeans, Poncet appears to have been the next after Champlain to visit the borders of Onondaga .*..
11 Sept. . Temper of the New England govern- monts.
20 Sept.
At the annual meeting of the commissioners, Massachu- setts maintained her proud position with a firmness which almost perilled the stability of the confederation. A bit- ter altercation between the representatives of the other col- onies and the General Court was terminated by an am- biguous concession, which, nevertheless, averted hostilities.
* Tanner, 531-543; Relation, 1648-9, 1652-3, 46-77 ; Creuxius, 672-682 ; Charlevoix, i., 283-316 ; Hazard. ii., 183 ; Bancroft, iii., 138-142 ; O'Call., ii., 300-302 ; Hildreth, ii., 87, 88 ; Macerata Relation, 1653; ante, p. 423.
565
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
The Connecticut governments seemed animated by the CH. XVI. most vindictive feelings ; and their own recent historian laments the refusal of the Massachusetts authorities to bear 1653. part in an offensive war against New Netherland, as an " indelible stain upon their honor as men and upon their morals as Christians."* -
The commissioners, however, had the power to cause some annoyance to the Dutch ; and they used their pow- er. Thomas Baxter, a former resident of New Amster- Thomas dam, inflamed with zeal in the parliamentary cause, turn- piracics. Baxter's ed pirate, and committed various outrages on Long Island and the neighborhood. Under an alleged commission from Rhode Island, he seized in Heemstede harbor a vessel be- longing to New Plymouth, and also captured a Dutch boat near Manhattan. Stuyvesant promptly dispatched two vessels with a hundred men to blockade Baxter in Fair- field Roads. But the commissioners declared it " neces- 27 Sept. sary" that every jurisdiction should prohibit all Dutch ves- sels exclud Dutch vey- sels from coming into any harbor belonging to any of the New En- ed from confederate colonies, without express license ; and made bors. gland har- it lawful for each colonie to " surprise and seize" any such offenders. The New Netherland bloekading force was, therefore, obliged to retire ; and Baxter continued his dep- redations against both Dutch and English property, until he, was eventually ordered to be arrested by the authorities 2 Dec of New Haven and Hartford.t
The hostile feelings of Connecticut could scarcely be re- pressed. It was thought that Hartford and New Haven were strong enough to subdue the Dutch without any aid from Massachusetts ; and Stamford and Fairfield, under- taking to raise volunteers on their own account, appointed Ludlow their leader. These irregular proceedings were suppressed with some difficulty by the government of New Haven, and the ringleaders were punished. An address
* Hazard, ii., 274-283 ; Trumbull, i., 212; North American Review, viii., 96-105.
t Hazard, ii., 285-288, 294 ; Alb. Rec., ix., 117, 129, 155 ; New Haven Rec., 31, 34 ; Col. Rec. Conn., 252, 253 ; O'Call., ii., 235 ; R. I. Hist. Coll., v., 95. Baxter was afterward surrendered on Stuyvesant's requisition ; but escaping from jail, his vessel and house at New Amsterdam were sold.
566
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1653. October. Letters to the English govern- mont.
13 Nov.
CH. XVI. was sent to Cromwell, urging that "the Dutch be either removed, or so far, at least, subjected that the colonies may be free from injurious affronts, and secured against the dangers and mischievous effects which daily grow upon them by their plotting with the Indians and furnishing them with arms against the English." And Hooke wrote from New Haven to the Lord General, that those of " the Bay" had broken "the brotherly covenant" in declining to draw the sword; and that, if the Dutch be not remov- ed, "we and our posterity (now almost prepared to swarm forth plenteously) are confined and straitened." Two or three frigates should, therefore, be sent " for the clearing of the coast from a nation with which the English can not either mingle, nor easily sit under their government, nor so much as live by, without danger of our lives and all our comforts in this world."*
Libellous pamphlet published at London.
That nothing might be left undone to excite animosity in England, a rancorous pamphlet was published in Lon- don, entitled "The second part of the Amboyna Tragedy ; or a faithful account of a bloody, treacherous, and cruel plot of the Dutch in America, purporting the total ruin and murder of all the English colonists in New England ; extracted from the various letters lately written from New England to different merchants in London." In this ex- traordinary publication the " devilish project" to stir up the savages to assault the New England colonists "on a Sunday, when they would be altogether in their meeting- houses, and murder and burn all which they could effect," was roundly charged against the Dutch, and amplified without scruple, to move popular hostility. The Amster- dam directors immediately ordered the translation of what they termed this "most infamous lying libel," a copy of which they sent to Stuyvesant and his council, "that your honors may see what stratagems that nation employs, not only to irritate the populace, but the whole world, if pos- sible, and to stir it up against us."t
4 Nov.
* Col. Rec. Conn., 248; New Haven Rec., 27 ; Thurloe's State Papers, i., 564, 565 ; Trumbull, i., 212, 214, 215.
t Alb. Rec., iv., 121; viii., 147-150 ; O'Call., ii., 571. The original appears to be rare.
567
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
The company, now seriously alarmed at the danger CH. XVI. which threatened their American province on the side of New England, presented to the States General a long me- 6 Nov. 1653. morial, accompanied by various explanatory papers, ask- ing for an immediate confirmation of Stuyvesant's provi- sional agreement at Hartford, and that the boundary ques- tion might be included in the instructions to the ambassa- dors in England. The importance of the trade to Barba- does was also urged ; and the directors warmly represent- ed that the Dutch interests in America and the West In- dies were as worthy of the favor of the Fatherland as werc those in the East Indies. The subject was seriously con- 8 Nov. sidered in the meeting of the States General. But the tion for Negotia- ambassadors at London were now engaged in discussing, England. with the English Council of State, the details of a general treaty of peace, under the auspices of the new Pensionary of Holland, John de Witt; and, perhaps to avoid embar- rassing the more important negotiation, the question of New Netherland was postponed .*
In this critical situation of provincial affairs, with a 11 Nov. bankrupt treasury and a mouldering fort, Stuyvesant was affairs of at length obliged to yield to the demands of the burghers sterdam. of New Amsterdam. The principal citizens werc called together, and informed that the director had consented to give up a part of the excise; and the meeting unanimous- ly resolved to submit to such ordinances as should be made for the defense of the city. On the same day, a petition of the inhabitants was presented to the municipal author- ities, praying that a burgher schout might be chosen, and that the company's fiscal should no longer act as a city officer. Stuyvesant, however, yielded what he had with great reluctance, and with the condition that the city gov- ernment should support the two clergymen, the school- masters, and the secretary. But the burgomasters and 19 Nov. schepens, finding it "incompatible to continue thus," unan- imously agreed to ask their dismission from office, unless the whole city revenue should be surrendered to them.
Municipal
New Am-
* Hol. Doc., vii., 63-103 ; Verbael van Beverninck, 603-611 ; Davies, ii., 722, 724.
The compa- ny apply to the States General to arrange their boundary.
peace with
568
6
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
25 Nov. Excise sur- rendered to the city.
CH. XVI. The director, however, replied that he could neither ac- 1653. cept their resignations, nor give up the whole of the excise. The demand was renewed ; and Stuyvesant at last agreed to surrender to the city the excises upon liquors consumed within New Amsterdam, upon condition that the burgo- masters and schepens should furnish subsidies for the main- tenance of the city works, and for the support of civil and ecclesiastical officers, and that the excise should be pub- licly farmed out to the highest bidder, "after the manner of Fatherland."*
Disaffec- tion of the Long Isl- and. `A spirit of disaffection had, meanwhile, been spreading English on among the English on Long Island. Notwithstanding its sycophantic letter to the Amsterdam Chamber in 1651, Gravesend, under the influence of Ensign George Baxter and Sergeant James Hubbard, was now foremost in op- posing the provincial government. Contrary to its charter, that town, instead of openly nominating for magistrates three of its ablest " approved honest men," had determined to choose "one leading man," who should select a second, and they two a third, and so on until six were chosen. Three of these were to be magistrates, and the other three assistants. The object of this change was to exclude, if possible, the Dutch from any influence in the town mag- istracy. Baxter had at first opposed the innovation, and had called on Stuyvesant not to approve the nominations. And the director did not, in fact, approve them until the nominees had sworn allegiance to the States General, the West India Company, and the provincial government of Gravesend. New Netherland. This oath, however, sat very lightly on the consciences of the Gravesend magistrates when news of the war in Europe reached America. Nevertheless, the feeling of disaffection was chiefly against Stuyvesant him- self and his council. During the summer of 1653, the numerous losses which the Long Island colonists had suf- fered from the savages and from pirates induced them to take some measures for their security. Deputations from Gravesend, Middelburgh, and Heemstede accordingly as-
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