USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 57
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580
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XVII. was the protection of their commerce and the punishment of robbery .*
1654.
The prompt loyalty of Breuckelen, Amersfoort, and Mid- wout now received its reward ; and Stuyvesant executed the purpose he had announced the autumn before, of giv- ing them such municipal privileges as would counterbal- ance the political influence of the English villages. Breuck- April. Breucke- foort, and Midwout obtain mu- elen had already two schepens ; two more were now added, len, Amers- and David Provoost, the former commissary of Fort Hope, was made her first separate schout. Midwout was granted nicipal gov- the right to nominate three schepens. Amersfoort obtain- ernments. ed two. The powers of these local magistrates were some- what similar to those of the municipality of New Amster- dam. A superior "district court" was also organized, composed of delegates from each town court, together with the schout. This district court had general authority to regulate roads, build churches, establish schools, and make local laws for the government of the district, subject to the approval of the provincial government. This arrangement continued until 1661.+
Up to this time, the Dutch on Long Island had been without a church or a minister ; and to attend public wor- ship they had been obliged to cross the East River to New Amsterdam. The metropolitan clergymen occasionally preached at private houses in the Dutch villages; but the want of a settled minister at length became so serious an 9 Feb. Church at embarrassment, that Domine Megapolensis and a commit- Midwout or tee of the provincial council were sent over to Midwout Flatbush. 23 Feb. to assist the people in organizing a church. On their part, the West India Company did what they could to remedy the evil. Six hundred guilders were appropriated for a salary ; and the Classis of Amsterdam was requested to select a qualified preacher " to watch over the public re-
* New Amst. Rec., i., 376-427 ; Alb. Rec., vii., 264-266 ; ix., 80, 81, 107-120 ; O'Call., ii., 258 ; Thompson's L. I., i., 113.
+ Alb. Rec., ix., 16, 35, 47, 118, 226 ; x., 16, 36, 47, 79, 115, 240, 302, 345; xi., 187; xix., 91, 444 ; O'Call., ii., 271, 272, 429 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., i., 633-655 ; Flatbush Rec. ; ante, p. 422, 569. New Utrecht and Boswyck, or Bushwick, were joined to Breuckelen, Am- ersfoort, and Midwout in 1661, when the district was called the "Five Dutch Towns." Provoost remained schout of Breuckelen until 1656, when he was succeeded by Peter Tonneman, who held the office until 1660. Adriaen Hegeman was then appointed.
581
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ligion there." But before a proper clergyman was found CH. XVII. willing to emigrate from Holland, Domine Johannes The- odorus Polhemus, who had been for some time stationed 1654. Domine Polhemus called. at Itamarca, in Brazil, arrived in New Netherland, and ac- cepted the call of the people of Midwout. The magistrates of Midwout and Amersfoort petitioned the council for as- sistance in their enterprise ; and permission was accord- 13 October ingly given them to employ Domine Polhemus, "until an answer be received from Holland," and to raise funds for his support by a general collection. A small wooden church in the form of a cross, about sixty fect long and twenty-eight wide, was ordered to be constructed at Mid- 17 Dec. wout ; and Megapolensis, with two of the magistrates of Flatbush. Church at the village, were appointed " to promote the work to the best advantage of the public." Upward of three thousand guilders werc contributed by the Dutch inhabitants of New Amsterdam, Fort Orange, and Long Island ; and Stuyvc- sant added four hundred more out of the provincial treas- ury. The West India directors approved of the arrange- ment ; but intimated that the people of Midwout must pay the salary of their clergyman without recourse to the company. In this first Reformed Dutch church on Long Island, Domine Polhemus prcached every Sunday morn- ing, and in the afternoon at Breuckelen and Amersfoort alternately. Thus affairs remained until 1660, when Domine Henry Sclyns arrived from Holland, and became the pastor of the people at Breuckelen .*
The Lutherans had now become so numerous at Ncw Lutherans Amsterdam, that they proposed to call a clergyman of at New Amster- dam. their own denomination. To this end they asked formal permission of Stuyvesant to worship publicly in a church by themselves. The director, however, who was a zcal- ous Calvinist, declined, for the reason that he was bound by his oath to tolerate openly no other religion than the Reformed. The Lutherans then addressed themselves di- rectly to the West India Company and to the states of
* Cor. Classis Amst. ; Letters of 26th February, and 11th November, 1654 ; Megapo- lensis to Classis, 18th March, 1655; New Amst. Rec .; Alb. Rec., iv., 179; ix., 102, 238, 302; x., 332 ; xiv., 80, 81 ; O'Call., ii., 272 ; Thompson's L. I., ii., 202-204.
582
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1654. Illiberal treatment of the Lu- therans.
12 March.
26 Feb.
CH. XVII. Holland. But the Dutch clergymen at Manhattan, and the Classis of Amsterdam represented that such a compli- ance would produce bad consequences ; for the Anabap- tists and English Independents, of whom there were many in the province, would then demand the same liberty. The directors, therefore, resolved that they would encour- age no other doctrine in New Netherland than'" the true Reformed ;" and Stuyvesant was instructed to use " all moderate exertions" to allure the Lutherans to the Dutch churches, " and to matriculate them in the public Re- formed religion." In communicating this resolution to Megapolensis and Drisius, the Classis expressed their hope that the Reformed religion would now " be preserved and maintained, without hindrance from the Lutheran and other errors." This departure from the policy of the Ba- tavian Republic was a triumph of bigotry over statesman- ship ; and one of the crowning glories of the Fatherland was, for a season, denied to New Netherland .*
16 Dec. Cromwell Protector.
February.
7 Feb. Expedition against New Neth- erland.
1653. The representations which Connecticut and New Haven had addressed to Cromwell strongly influenced the ambi- tious soldier, who had just assumed the office of Protector. Though negotiations for peace were in progress, England was still at open war with the United Provinces; and a favorable opportunity of engaging the support of the friends of New England, by seizing New Netherland, was 1654. now offered to Oliver. He, therefore, advised the govern- ors of the New England colonies that the number and strength of the ships destined for those parts had been in- creased, and called upon them to give their " utmost as- sistance for gaining the Manhattoes, or other places under the power of the Dutch." At the same time, Major Rob- ert Sedgwick and Captain John Leverett were instructed to proceed, with four ships of war, to some good port in New England, and ascertain whether the colonial govern- ments would join in " vindicating the English right and extirpating the Dutch." "Being come to the Manhat-
* Cor. Cl. Amsterdam ; Letter of Megapolensis and Drisius, 6th October, 1653 ; Letter of Classis, 26th February, 1654 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 130 ;'ante, p. 312, 432.
583
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
toes," wrote Secretary Thurloe, "you shall, by way of sur- Cu. XVII. · prise, open foree, or otherwise, * * * endeavor to take in that place for the use of his Highness the Lord Protector 1654. Instruc- of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; tions. and you have power to promise and give them fair quar- ter, in case it be rendered upon summons, without hostile opposition. The like, also, you shall do to the Fort of Au- ranea, or any other place upon Hudson's River." "If the Lord give his blessing to your undertaking, that the forts and places be gained, you shall not use cruelty to the in- habitants, but encourage those that are willing to remain under the English government, and give liberty to others to transport themselves for Europe." With these instruc- tions, Sedgwick and Leverett promptly set sail for New England. But the squadron running southwardly to Fay- al, the Protector's commissioners did not reach Boston un- 153 June. til the beginning of the next summer .*
In the mean time, the eupidity of Connecticut had been Sequestra- partially gratified by the formal sequestration of the Dutch Good Hope tion of Fort fort at Hartford. Disregarding Underhill's volunteer seiz- ticut. by Connec- ure, and referring to an order from the parliamentary Coun- cil of State to act against the Dutch "as against those that have declared themselves enemies to the commonwealth of England," the General Court directed that "the Dutch 18 April house, the Hope, with the lands, buildings, and fenees thereunto belonging, be hereby sequestered and reserved, all particular claims or pretended right thereunto notwith- standing ;" and with hasty thrift it claimed the disposal of all "rent for any part of the premises."t
One of the vessels which had been dispatched from En- May. News of gland arriving at Boston early in May, brought intelli- the En- gence of the projected expedition against New Netherland. dition. glish expo- Informed of his danger by Isaac Allerton, Stuyvesant in- 29 May. stantly summoned a meeting of the couneil at Fort Am- sterdam, to consider the state of the province. The direet- or was full of apprehension. He did not expect that " the 30 May.
* Thurloe, i., 721, 722 ; ii., 418, 419, 425. The English usually spelled " Fort Orange" as the Dutch pronounced it-" Fort Auranea."
t Col. Rec. Conn., 254 ; Trumbull, i., 217 ; O'Call., ii., 260; ante, p. 558.
584
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XVII. people residing in the country-not even the Dutch"- 1654. would assist him in case of an unexpected attack. " The English, although they have sworn allegiance, would take up arms against us and join the enemy:" "To invite them to aid us would be bringing the Trojan horse within our walls." Shall we abandon Fort Casimir, and recall all Dutch subjects from the South River ? Shall we allow the King Solomon to sail ? If we do, the people will clamor, " for we have no gunners, no musketeers, no sail- ors, and scarcely sixteen hundred pounds of powder."
As a last resource, Stuyvesant proposed that a loan should be raised, to repair and garrison Fort Amsterdam. The burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam, and the magistrates of Breuckelen, Amersfoort, and Midwout, 2 June. therefore, met with the director and council at the fort. The joint meeting resolved to enlist a force of sixty or sev- enty men, " in silence, and without beat of drum," and to borrow money to pay them, and provide supplies for the 13 June. New Am- sterdam put in a fense. city, in case of a siege. It was also resolved " not to aban- don Fort Casimir for the present, neither to call its garri- state of de- son from there to re-enforce that of this city ; and as to the ship King Solomon, she is to remain, to gratify the inhab- itants."- The patriotism of the people was aroused. The fund which the representatives of the commonalty had sanctioned was quickly raised. The Dutch inhabitants, spade in hand, worked heartily at the fortifications ; and, though treason yet lurked within her walls, New Amster- dam was soon put in a state of defense.
In truth, Stuyvesant's government, which had weaned from him the affections of the Dutch, had entirely alien- ated the English. Many of the adopted citizens of New Amsterdam were now observed "stirring to mutiny the otherwise well disposed," sending off their effects, commu- nicating with privateers, and in active correspondence with New England. All persons, "of whatever rank," found removing their property were, therefore, declared subject to banishment and the confiscation of goods, and the au- thors and propagators of false reports to severe punishment.
7 July.
585
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
On Long Island, it was rumored that the Dutch had hired CH. XVII. Frenchmen and savages to massacre the inhabitants of the English villages ; and the magistrates of Gravesend, 1654. Heemstede, and Middelburgh were summoned to give an account. Loyalty to Holland was renounced as soon as Middel- news of the proposed expedition from New England ar- Gravesend. burgh and rived. Middelburgh proposed to "open the ball." Graves- end wrote to Boston, offering to seize the ship King Solo- mon, lying at New Amsterdam, and carry her off to Vir- ginia. The right of the director and council to pass upon nominations was disowned ; and twelve men were appoint- ed to manage the affairs of the town, and to choose mag- · istrates and local officers .*
The Protector's letters roused New England to action. ,' June. New Haven sent delegates to Boston, and eagerly pledged herself to the most zealous efforts. Connecticut promised 23 June. two hundred men, and even five hundred, "rather than the design should fall." The " council of war" at Plym- 30 June. outh ordered fifty men to be pressed into the service ; and, averring that they' only concurred in hostile measures against their ancient Dutch neighbors at Manhattan " in reference unto the national quarrel," intrusted the com- Warlike mand of these forces to Captain Miles Standish and Cap- tions in prepara- tain Thomas Willett, the latter of whom Stuyvesant had gland. so unwisely made one of his negotiators at Hartford, in 1650. Massachusetts, however, showed less zeal. The General Court, declaring their readiness to attend the % June. Protector's pleasure, as far as they could "with safety to the liberty of their consciences and the public peace and welfare," simply consented that Sedgwick and Leverett might raise five hundred volunteers against the Dutch within their jurisdiction.t
In the mean time, the negotiations for peace between Holland and England had been vigorously prosecuted. Upon assuming the Protectorate, Oliver, receding from the
* New Amst. Rec., i., 465-494 ; Alb. Rec., ix., 132-171 ; x., 71 ; xi., 12; O'Call., ii., 261-265 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 151.
t Hazard, i., 587-589, 595, 596 ; Col. Rec. Conn., 259, 260 ; Hutchinson, 1., 168 ; Trum- bull, i., 219.
New En-
586
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
25 April. Treaty of peace be- tween En- gland and Holland.
CH. XVII. parliamentary proposition for a coalition between the com- 1654. monwealth and the republic, which the States General- had unanimously rejected, proposed more acceptable terms to the Dutch ambassadors. New obstacles arose ; but at length the treaty; by which England quietly abandoned most of her pretensions, was definitely signed. The Pro- tector, however, insisted upon the exclusion of the Prince of Orange from the office of stadtholder as the condition of his ratification of the treaty. The States General would have rejected this condition ; but the adroitness of the grand pensionary, John de Witt, prevailed with the states of Holland. An act of the desired tenor was passed in that body, and sent to the ambassadors in England. Upon its delivery, Oliver ratified the treaty, and issued a proc- lamation restraining all English subjects from committing any further acts of hostility against the Dutch. And or- ders were promptly dispatched to Sedgwick and Leverett countermanding their previous instructions to surprise the Dutch possessions, and requiring them "to desist from that design."* .
28 April. 8 May.
T'a May. Orders counter- manded.
Go June. Effect in New En- giand.
These important documents reached Boston a few days after the arrival of the Protector's commissioners. The delegates of Connecticut and New Haven, assembled at Charlestown, apprehending that "a satisfying account could not be given of any further acting in this design against the Dutch," reluctantly agreed to dismiss their session. The forces intended to act against New Nether- land were sent to dislodge the French from the coast of Maine; and for ten years longer the coveted province, the possession of which the English government had now vir- tually 'resigned to the Dutch, continued under the sway of Holland.+
The joyful intelligence of peace between the Fatherland ' and England reaching New Amsterdam a few days after-
* Basnage, i., 319, 333-339 ; Aitzema, iii., 858, 859, 930 ; Verbael van Beverninck, 357- 422; Thurloe, ii., 219, 238, 253, 259; Lingard, xi., 187-191 ; Davies, ii., 727-730. The State Papers collected by Secretary Thurloe show that the English government had constantly the best intelligence of what was going on in Holland. Even the dispatches to and from the Dutch ambassador's appear to have been opened and copied.
t Thurloe, ii., 420 ; Hutchinson, i., 169; Hazard, i., 589, 590 ; Bancroft, i., 445.
587
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ward, was published from the City Hall " with ringing CH. XVII. of bell." The twelfth of August was appointed as a day of general thanksgiving ; and Stuyvesant piously ealled on all the inhabitants to praise the Lord, who had se- cured their gates, and blessed their possessions with peace, erland. " even here, where the threatened toreh of war was light- ed, where the waves reached our lips, and subsided only through the power of the Almighty."*
With the news of peace eame also the determination of the West India Company upon the various demands of re- form which the agent, Le Bleeuw, had carried to Holland. His errand not being " suited to the taste" of the direct- ors, he was forbidden to return to New Netherland. " We are unable," wrote they to Stuyvesant, " to discover in the 18 May. whole remonstranee one single point to justify complaint." the compa Letter of " You ought to have aeted with more vigor against the vesant. ringleaders of the gang, and not have eondeseended to an- swer protests with protests, and then to have passed all by without further notice." "It is, therefore, our express command that you punish what has occurred as it de- serves, so that others may be deterred in future from fol- lowing sueh examples." As to " the seditious" of Graves- end, they were to be punished " in an exemplary manner." To the burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam the 18 May. directors wrote recommending and charging "that you the city au- Letter to conduet yourselves quietly and peaceably, submit your- New Am. thorities of sterdam. selves to the government placed over you, and in no wise allow yourselves to hold partieular convention with the English or others in matters of form and deliberation on affairs of state, which do not appertain to you, and what is yet worse, attempt an alteration in the state and its government."
The directors at the same time consented that the office of city sehout should be separated from that of the provin- cial fiseal, but they would not give the burgomasters and schepens the power of appointment. A commission was Kuyter ap- accordingly inclosed for Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, who schout.
* Alb. Rec., viii., 121 ; ix., 180; New Amst. Rec., i., 495.
pointed city
1654. 18 July. Thanks- giving in New Neth-
ny to Stuy-
588
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ..
CH. XVII. had formerly suffered so much from Stuyvesant's vindic- 1654. tiveness, and to whom it was perhaps now felt that some amends should be made. The city authorities were also required to pay the public salaries out of the wine and beer excise ; and, if permitted by the provincial government, they might impose other taxes "with the consent of the commonalty." They were empowered to mortgage and convey real estate within the limits of the city, and were granted the use of the City Hall. "We have decreed that a seal for the city of New Amsterdam shall be prepared and forwarded," added the directors ; but as for arms and ammunition, they must be obtained from the provincial government. The city authorities, gratefully acknowl- edging the " benefits" which the Amsterdam Chamber had bestowed, at the same time earnestly justified their own conduct, and repudiated the charge of disaffection. " We have never thought of any thing," wrote they, "but of discharging our duties to the utmost ;" and of exhibiting, " to the best of our ability, the situation and necessity of this country."
City Hall and seal.
27 July. Reply of the city au- thorities.
Kuyter murdered. 21 July.
Kuyter, however, did not live to receive the tardy atone- ment by which the company proposed to wipe out the memory of Stuyvesant's early tyranny. Not long after his appointment as a schepen of New Amsterdam, he had been murdered by the Indians. The office of city schout was therefore offered by Stuyvesant to Jacques Cortelyou, a tutor in Van Werckhoven's family. But Cortelyou, ow- ing to scruples respecting his instructions, declined the ap- pointment. The burgomasters and schepens, finding that no other steps were taken, urged that the schout might be appointed " in conformity with the orders" of the Cham- ber at Amsterdam. Yet, notwithstanding all the efforts of the municipal authorities, Stuyvesant obstinately per- sisted in continuing the two offices of city schout and pro- vincial fiscal in the hands of Van Tienhoven .*
Van Tien- hoven con- tinued as schout.
* Alb. Rec., iv., 135-143 ; viii., 96-99; ix., 174; New Amsterdam Rec., į., 497-506 ; O'Call., ii., 265-268, 429 ; Doct. Hist. N. Y., iii., 397; Valentine's Manual, 1847, 373 ; 1848, 378. Not long afterward Cortelyou began the settlement of New Utrecht, on Long Island ; post, p. 693.
589
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
Up to this time there had been such "daily confusion" among the ferrymen on Manhattan Island, that the in- habitants often waited "whole days before they could ob- tain a passage, and then not without danger, and at an exorbitant price." The director and council, therefore, or- regulated. dained that " no person shall ferry from one side of the river to the other without a license from the magistrates ;" that " the ferryman shall always keep proper servants and boats, and a lodge on both sides of the river, to proteet passengers from the weather ;" that he should not "be compelled to ferry any thing over before he is paid," nor " be obliged to ferry during a tempest or when he ean not sail ;" and it was expressly provided that "the director and members of the council, the court messenger, and other persons invested with authority, or dispatched by the executive, are to be exempt from toll."*
In a few days a new difficulty arose. Stuyvesant, com- 2 August. plaining that the burgomasters and schepens had been culties " prodigal of fine promises, without any succeeding action, municipal with the during the last year," required them to make provision for ment of govern- the maintenance both of the political and eeelesiastieal New Am- sterdam. ministers, and of the troops which the company had sent over in the last ships, as well as those which were soon expected ; and to give an account of the income and dis- bursement of the excise which the city had received. The account was promptly rendered, and the city magistrates 10 August. informed the director that, having estimated the last and present year's expenditure for "outside and inside works" at sixteen thousand guilders, they would make up their quota along with " the other courts of justice ;" and they agreed to contribute three thousand guilders as their pro- portion, provided they should be authorized to lay a tax on all real estate under their jurisdiction. But Stuyve- sant was dissatisfied. The municipal authorities had not paid the salaries of the clergymen, and besides, they had
* Alb. Rec., vii., 267 ; ix., 163 ; Val. Man. for 1848, 385, 386. The rates of toll were as follows : for a wagon and horses, 2 guilders 10 stuyvers, or one dollar ; a one-horse wag- on, 2 guilders, or 80 cents ; a horse or horned beast, one guilder 10 stuyvers, or 50 cents ; " a savage male or female," 6 stuyvers ; "each other person," 3 stuyvers.
CH. XVII.
1654. 1 July. Ferry at Manhattan
Fresh diffi-
590
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XVII. credited their account with the expenses of the agent, Le 1654. 13 August. Bleeuw, whom they had sent to Holland. The provincial government, therefore, determined to resume the control of the surrendered excise, and farm it out for the benefit of 24 August. the company. A special war tax of twenty stuyvers on War tax laid. every morgen of arable land, the hundredth penny on each house and lot in New Amsterdam and Beverwyck, one guilder on every horned beast, and ten per cent. on all merchandise exported during the season, was soon after- ward decreed by the provincial government, to meet the loan which had been contracted in the spring. Under these circumstances, the burgomasters and schepens again 31 August. addressed the director and council. They formally offered to support, at the expense of the city, one of the ministers, a " foresinger," to act also as schoolmaster, and a dog-whip- per or sexton, of the ecclesiastical officers ; and of the civil department, the schout, both the burgomasters, the five schepens, the secretary, and the court messenger. With respect to the support of the soldiers, the burghers were not able to contribute, and should be excused ; they had already " continually engaged in the general works, sub- mitting to watchings and other heavy burdens," and had already proved their bravery and willingness in times of calamity. But the provincial government was still dis- satisfied. The city authorities had expended the moneys borrowed in defenses for the city, and not in repairs to Fort Amsterdam ; they had not fixed their quota of three thousand guilders high enough ; and they had failed in their undertakings respecting subsidies and salaries. The 16 Sept. The excise Stuyve- sant. director and council, therefore, insisted upon resuming the resumed by excise. It was farmed out to the highest bidder ; the sal- aries of the clergymen were paid up ; and the city govern- 22 Sept. ment again appealed to the Amsterdam Chamber .*
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