History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 60

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844

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19 Sept. 29 Octob Chaumonot and Da- blon.

5 Nov.

9 Nov. Lake Ge- nentaha.

Light now gleamed over the regions west of the Mo- hawks. Two Jesuit missionaries, Joseph Chaumonot and Claude Dablon, setting out from Quebec, passed up the Saint Lawrence, and landed at Oswego. In a few days the Fathers were hospitably welcomed at the principal vil- lage of the Onondagas ; and a site for a permanent settle- ment was chosen at "Lake Genentaha," near the Salt Springs which Le Moyne had visited the year before. With fervid eloquence, Chaumonot preached the word; and the excited crowd sang the chorus, led by their chief, " Glad tidings ! glad tidings ! it is well that we have spoken to- gether." The zeal of the natives built a temporary chapel of bark in a single day ; the solemn service of the Roman Church was chanted in the silent forest; and the emblem of Christianity and the banner of France were simultane- ously raised in Onondaga .*

18 Nov. Jesuit chapel at Onondaga.

* Relation, 1655-6, 7-23 ; 1657-8, 30 ; Journal de Dablon ; Creuxius, 739-775 ; Charle- voix, i., 320-322 ; Bancroft, iii., 142-144 ; Renss. MSS .; Fort Orange Rec. ; O'Call., ii., 292, 306 ; Clark's Onondaga, i., 139-151, 171, 172 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., i., 44; ante, p. 592.

613

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1656-1658.

THE Indian ravages of 1655 repeated to the people of CH. XVIII. New Netherland the lesson which they had first learned in 1643. Their losses were mainly owing to the isolated sit- 1656. uation of the farmers. To prevent future calamity, Stuy- 18 Jan. vesant issued a proclamation, ordering all who lived in se- tion to form Proclama- cluded places in the country to collect themselves together villages. by the next spring, and to form villages "after the fashion of our New England neighbors."

The burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam now 17 Jan. renewed the demand to be allowed the right to name their successors. Almost all the villages in New Netherland pos- sessed this privilege. Why should it be denied to the cap- ital of the province ? The director explained that the priv- ilege had been conferred on those places on account of their distance from the seat of government. He would now 18 Jan. make the same concession to New Amsterdam, provided yields to the Stuyvesant the magistrates actually in office should always be under- ters and burgomas- stood as nominated for approval ; that only persons well schepens. qualified, and not unfriendly to the provincial authorities, should be named; and that a member of the council should have the right to assist, when the nominations were made. The city authorities accepted these conditions, and propos- 31 Jan. ed their candidates. But Stuyvesant objecting to some of his prom- Retracts them, "on account of former disputes," refused to sanction ise. the nomination. The question was earnestly discussed in the council ; but the director maintained his ground. Eventually, five of the old officers were continued for another year ; and Willem Beeckman and Hendrick Kip 2 Feb. were appointed new schepens, to fill two vacancies .*

* Alb. Rec., x., 220, 260 ; xii., 169 ; New Amst. Rec., i., 37; ii., 323-342.

614

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CH. XVIII.

1656. Religious affairs.

Authority of the Classis of Amster- dam.

New Netherland was now to witness within her own borders a gross violation of the rights of conscience. Un- til 1654, the ecclesiastical policy of her government had not, practically, departed from that of the Fatherland, where, notwithstanding the establishment of a national Reformed Church, we have seen that all other sects were tolerated, and allowed the use of their several forms of worship. The West India Company recognized the au- thority of the Established Church of Holland over their co- lonial possessions ; and the specific care of the Transatlan- tic churches was early intrusted by the Synod of North Holland to the Classis of Amsterdam. By that body all the colonial clergy were approved and commissioned. With its committee, "ad res exteras," they maintained a con- stant correspondence. The Classis of Amsterdam was, in fact, the Metropolitan of New Netherland. For more than a century its ecclesiastical supremacy was affectionately acknowledged; and long after the capitulation of the prov- ince to England, the power of ordination to the ministry, in the American branch of the Reformed Dutch Church, remained in the governing Classis in Holland, or was ex- ercised only by its special permission .*

Colonial clergy.

The clergymen commissioned by the Classis of Amster- dam were, of course, Calvinists. They were generally men of high scholarship and thorough theological training ; for the people, who at Leyden preferred a university to a fair, insisted upon an educated ministry. The colonial clergy had much work to do, and peculiar difficulties to encoun- ter. A lax morality, produced by the system of govern- ment and the circumstances of the province, undoubtedly prevailed among many of the New Netherland colonists. It was difficult to minister the offices of religion to scat- tered farmers and isolated traders. It was still more dif- ficult to teach the word to the savages. Yet, Megapolen-

* Dr. Gunn's Memoirs of Dr. Livingston, 78-92 ; Dr. De Witt, N. Y. H. S. Proc., 1844, 68-76. While in Holland, in 1841, I had an interview, in behalf of the General Synod, with the Classis of Amsterdam, and obtained from its archives extracts of its proceed ings, and much valuable correspondence with the clergy and churches in New Netherland and New York, from 1641 to 1775, of which I have availed myself in this work.

615

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

sis, contemporancously with Jogues, had attempted to in- CH. XVIII. struct the Mohawks several years before Eliot began his missionary labors near Watertown and Dorchester. At 1656. Manhattan, too, the work was tried, but with very indif- ferent success. The Dutch colonists themselves gladly Feelings of listened to the Gospel which they had heard in the Father- the people. land ; and churches were built, partly by voluntary con- tributions of the commonalties, at Manhattan, Beverwyck, and Midwout. To these churches the country people made toilsome journeys, to bring their children to baptism, to hear the words of the preacher, and to join in that simple but majestic music which they had first sung far across the sea, where the loud chorus overpowers the diapasons of Haerlem and Amsterdam.

In the beginning of the year 1656, there were four Re- Clergymen formed Dutch clergymen in New Netherland. Megapo- es at New andchurch- lensis and Drisius were colleagues at New Amsterdam ; dam, Bev- Amster- Schaats ministered at Beverwyck ; and Polhemus had the and Long erwyck, joint charge of Breuckelen, Midwout, and Amersfoort. Be- Island. sides his regular services at New Amsterdam, Drisius oc- casionally visited Staten Island, where a number of Vau- dois or Waldenses soon settled themselves ; and his knowl- edge of the French language enabled him to prcach satis- factorily to these faithful men, who fled to Holland and to America from the tyranny of their despotic sovereign. Flushing, which had obliged Doughty to quit the place and Flushing. go to Virginia, had been for more than a year without a minister. At Heemstede, where there were many Dutch Heemstede. and English Calvinists, Richard Denton, a Presbyterian ~ clergyman, and "an honest, pious, and learned man," had preached since 1644. He had " in all things conformed" to the Established Church of the province. The Puritan Independents of the place "listened attentively" to his preaching ; but when he began to baptize the children of such parents as were not communicants, "they some- times burst out of the church." At Middelburgh, or New- Middel- town, where the Independents outnumbered the Presbyte- burgh. rians, John Moore, who did not administer sacraments,

616

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CH. XVIII. preached with acceptance. The people of Gravesend were

Esopus.

South Riv- er.

1656. understood to be " Mennonists," or Anabaptists. They re- jected infant baptism, the Sabbath, the office of preacher, Gravesend. and the teachers of God's word, "saying that through these have come all sorts of contention into the world." When- ever they met together, one or other "read something for West Chester. them." The English settlers at West Chester were Puri- tan Independents. They had no preacher, but held Sunday meetings, "reading a sermon from an English book, and making a prayer." At Esopus, or " Atkarkarton," the few Dutch inhabitants, having no clergyman, had conducted divine service themselves on Sunday, one of them reading "something out for a postille," or commentary. On the South River, Lokenius, the Lutheran clergyman, continued his ministrations to the Swedes and Finns near Fort Chris- tina. He was represented to lead "a godless and scandal- ous life," and to be "more inclined to look into the wine kan than to pore over the Bible." At Fort Casimir, the Dutch residents, being without a minister, appointed a lay- Onondaga. man, "who should read every Sunday." In the Far West, Jesuit missionaries preached to the Onondagas. So stood Schools. New Netherland with regard to religion. As to popular education, excepting at Manhattan, Beverwyck, and Fort Casimir, there was no schoolmaster. Though the people at large were anxious that their children should be in- structed, they found great difficulty, because many of them, coming "naked and poor from Holland," had not sufficient means, and because there were few qualified persons, ex- cept those already employed, who could or would teach .*

Jealousy of the metro- politan clergy.

In their correspondence with the Classis of Amsterdam, the Dutch clergymen at Manhattan had frequently refer- red to the increase of Mennonists and Lutherans in the prov- ince. At New Amsterdam, the Lutherans, as we have seen, had been refused permission to worship publicly in a church of their own. Nevertheless, the directors of the Amsterdam Chamber did not sanction in their province

* Letters to Classis, 5th Aug. and 22d Oct., 1657 ; Doct. Hist. N. Y., iii., 103-108, 189, 190 ; Dr. De Witt, in N. Y. H. S. Proc., 1844, 69, 70; Thomps. L. I., ii., 20; ante, p. 375.

617

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

a sectarian persecution unknown in the liberal Father- CH. XVIII. land.

1656.

The immediate cause of the first exhibition of religious intolerance in New Netherland was ecclesiastical jealousy, and a too rigid constuction of official duty. Early in the year 1656, the metropolitan clergymen, Megapolensis and Drisius, complained to the director general that unquali- fied persons were preaching and holding conventicles at Middelburgh, " from which nothing could be expected but discord, confusion, and disorder in Church and State." Stuyvesant was himself a zealous son of the Church. He was an over-strict constructionist, and loved the display of arbitrary power. A proclamation, assuming "to pro- 1 Feb. mote the glory of God, the increase of the Reformed relig- tion Proclama- ion, and the peace and harmony of the country," soon ap- authorized peared, forbidding preachers, " not having been called there- cles. conventi- to by ecclesiastical or temporal authority," from holding conventicles not in harmony with the established religion as set forth by the Synod of Dort, " and here in this land, and in the Fatherland, and in other Reformed churches observed and followed." Every unlicensed preacher who should violate this ordinance was subjected to a penalty of one hundred Flemish pounds ; and every person who should attend such prohibited meetings became liable to. a penalty of twenty-five pounds. The ordinance, however, expressly disclaimed " any prejudice to any patent hereto- fore given, any lording over the conscience, or any prohi- bition of the reading of God's holy word, and the domestic praying and worship of each one in his family." A simi- 10 March. lar proclamation was immediately published by De Deck- er, the vice-director at Fort Orange.

against un-

The invidious law was enforced. Recusants were fined and imprisoned. Complaints to Holland followed ; and the West India Company promptly rebuked their director for his bigoted zeal. " We would fain not have seen," wrote 14 .June. Instruc- they to Stuyvesant, "your worship's hand set to the pla- tions of the card against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you op- Company. West India pressed them with the imprisonments of which they have

618

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CH. XVIII. complained to us, because it has always been our intention 1656. to let them enjoy all calmness and tranquillity. Where- fore, you will not hereafter publish any similar placards without our previous consent, but allow to all the free ex- ercise of their religion within their own houses."*

Information had meanwhile reached the provincial gov- ernment that the English intruders at West Chester not only sheltered and encouraged fugitives from justice, but had kept up a constant correspondence with the Indians during the late "dismal engagements with the savages." 6 March. Expedition sent to West Chester. To defend the rights of the West India Company, Captain De Koninck, Captain Newton, and Van Tienhoven, the schout-fiscal, were now sent thither with a sufficient force, and ordered to apprehend the leaders and compel the other settlers to remove thence with their property. The expe- dition was met with a show of resistance by Lieutenant Wheeler and an armed force; but the English were prompt- ly disarmed, and twenty-three of them were conveyed as prisoners to New Amsterdam, and secured on board the 14 March. ship Balance. The runaways from the Dutch were sent to prison ; those from New England and elsewhere were 16 March .. put under civil arrest. Wheeler and his party soon offered to submit themselves to the Dutch government, upon con- dition of being allowed to elect their magistrates, make laws not contrary to those of the province, divide the lands among the townsfolk, and have their arms restored. Stuy- vesant replied that they should have the same privileges " as the freemen of the villages of Middelburgh, Breucke- len, Midwout, and Amersfoort were enjoying." The pris-

25 March.

oners were then released ; and a few of the English who had taken up arms were "commanded to depart the limits of New Netherland, unless some of the inhabitants of Vrede- land adopt them and become bail for their good behavior." A few days afterward, a double nomination of magistrates was sent to Stuyvesant, with a petition that the settlers might have certain local privileges, that they might be

* Cor. Classis Amsterdam ; Letters of 6th October, 1653 ; 25th July, 1654 ; 18th March, 1655 ; Alb. Rec., iv., 130, 212; vii., 355-357 ; New Amst. Rec., i., 41, 42 ; ii., 350 ; Fort Orange Rec .; O'Call., ii., 317, 320 ; Bancroft, ii., 300; ante, p. 101, 102, 582.

619

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

furnished with a copy of the laws of the province "drawn CH. XVIII out in English," and that the writings passed between them and the provincial authorities might be in English, so that 1656. they might " fully and perfectly understand them." Stuy- vesant promptly selected Thomas Wheeler, Thomas New- 28 March. man, and John Lord, from the nominees, as the first mag- istrates of istrates of West Chester, which now obtained the name of or West Oost-dorp, " Oost-dorp," or East Village. A decision upon the peti- Chester. tion was, however, postponed for further consultation .*

First mag-

Another village was now incorporated on Long Island. Upon the petition of several of the inhabitants of Heem- stede for permission to begin a plantation about midway between that village and Amersfoort, Stuyvesant readily granted them free leave to establish a town with such priv- 21 March. ileges "as the inhabitants of New Netherland generally do possess in their lands, and likewise in the choice of their magistrates as in the other villages or towns." The new settlement was named by the Dutch "Rust-dorp," or "Qui- Rust-dorp, et Village." The settlers themselves wished to call it or Jamaica. "Jemeco," after the Indian name of the beaver pond in its neighborhood. The village is now known as Jamaica. At the first regular town meeting, in the spring of the next year, Daniel Denton, the oldest son of the Presbyterian Daniel clergyman at Heemstede, was appointed clerk, " to write town clerk. Denton and enter all acts and orders of public concernment to the town." A few years afterward, he published the first orig- inal English " Description of New York, formerly called New Netherland."t

Baxter and Hubbard had now been nearly a year in the keep of Fort Amsterdam. At the intercession of Sir Hen- 1 ry Moody and the Gravesend magistrates, Stuyvesant re- leased Hubbard, and transferred Baxter, upon bail, to the debtor's room at the court- house until the Amsterdam Chamber should decide upon his case. A few weeks aft-

* Alb. Rec., iv., 187 ; x., 38, 250, 315-346 ; xi., 283-321; xvi., 303 ; O'Call., ii., 312- 314 ; Bolton's West Chester, ii., 157-161 ; ante, p. 601.

t Alb. Rec., x., 339 ; xiv., 12 ; Jamaica Rec. ; Thompson's L. I., ii., 20, 96, 97 ; O'Call., ii., 323. Denton's work was printed at London in 1670, and a handsome edition, with notes by Mr. Furman, was republished here in 1845.

620

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

CH. XVIII. erward, the faithless Englishman forfeited his bail and es- 1656. Baxter at Gravesend. caped to Gravesend, where he again began to plot against his former patrons. Several of the inhabitants were in- duced by him to sign a memorial praying Cromwell to take them under the protection of England, and emancipate them from the dominion of the Dutch. The memorial was carried to London by James Grover, who, with Baxter and Hubbard, had hoisted the English colors at Gravesend the year before. To public treason Baxter now added private dishonesty. Besides other debts, he owed two hundred guilders to the poor fund; and his cattle were under seiz- ure. These he secretly removed at night. His defrauded creditors became clamorous ; his farm and other effects Escapes to were seized in execution ; and the bankrupt traitor fled to New En- gland. New England to work all the mischief he could against New Netherland .*

Swedish ship at the South Riv- er.

On the South River the Swedes remained generally loy- al; though some of them, found plotting with the savages, were ordered to be sent to Fort Amsterdam, and such as would not take the oath of allegiance to be transported. Early in the spring, the Mercury, a ship which had been dispatched from Sweden, with one hundred and thirty em- igrants, before news of the surrender had been received, arrived at Fort Casimir ; and Stuyvesant, on learning the circumstances, directed Jacquet to prevent the landing of the Swedes, but to allow the Mercury to come to Manhat- tan for a supply of provisions. Huygh, the Swedish cap- tain, then proceeded overland to New Amsterdam, and laid

29 March.

11 April.

his case before the director.

But Stuyvesant would allow

12 April.

no foreigners to settle themselves on the South River; and a messenger was dispatched thither with directions to send the Swedish ship to Fort Amsterdam. Meanwhile, sev-

27 April.

eral Swedes and Indians, headed by Pappegoya, had board- ed the Mercury and conveyed her up the river as far as Mantes Hook. The rumor soon reaching New Amster- dam, Ensign Dirck Smit was sent with a re-enforcement

* Alb. Rec., iv., 265 ; v., 367 ; x., 180, 234, 299 ; xi., 119, 182, 266 ; xii., 321 ; Hol. Doc., ix., 165 ; O'Call., ii., 342 ; ante, p. 597.

621

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

of twelve or fifteen soldiers across the country to the South CH. XVIII. River ; and a few days afterward, the ship Balance was dispatched, with two members of the council and the Brought to 1656. Swedish captain, to secure the vessel, and "soothe the an- Fort Am- - sterdam.

The 11 July.

imosities between the Christians and the savages." Mercury was soon recovered and anchored before Fort Am- sterdam, whence, after her cargo had been sold, she return- ed to Sweden .*

The States General, hearing of the arrival in England of the Swedish soldiers whom Stuyvesant had sent home, ordered the Amsterdam directors to inform them fully of 6 Jan. the circumstances. A few days afterward, the company submitted a long "deduction," with voluminous appendi- 24 Jan. ces, explaining all the proceedings on the South River from the year 1638 ; and soliciting help to secure them in pos- 5 session of their recovered territory. These documents were 28 Jan. referred to a committee of their High Mightinesses, in se- cret session.t

Having at last received a copy of the Hartford treaty, the 22 Feb. Amsterdam Chamber applied to the States General to rati- tion of the Ratifica- fy it on their part, and thus promote the settlement of the treaty. Hartford long-delayed boundary question. A formal act was there- fore passed, under the seal of their High Mightinesses, ap- proving and ratifying the arrangement ; and the West In- dia Company was at the same time directed "to take care that the like act of ratification of the said articles be ob- tained of the Lord Protector of England." But this injunc- tion seems never to have been fulfilled ; and the affair re- mained thus in suspense until the restoration of Charles II.#

Intelligence of the conquest of New Sweden now reach- ing Stockholm, the king directed his resident at the Hague to bring the subject before the Dutch government. Ap-

* Alb. Rec., x., 351-384, 411-421 ; xi., 326-374, 433 ; xiii., 1-7, 374 ; Lond. Doc., iv., 172 ; N. Y. Col. Rec., iii., 343 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 211-219 ; Acrelius, 419.

+ Hol. Doc., viii., 1-117. Appended to these papers, as they exist in the archives at the Hague, is a copy of an engraved map of New Netherland, published just before at Am- sterdam, entitled " Novi Belgii, Nove que Anglia, nec non partis Virginia Tabula, multis in locis emendata, à Nicolao Joannis Visschero."

# Alb. Rec., iv., 207; Hol. Doc., viii., 119-129 ; ix., 98, 99; x., 15; Thurloe, iv., 526 ; Letters of De Witt, iii., 192; Hazard, ii., 549 ; Groot Placaatbook, ii., 1278 ; Lambrecht- sen, 106 ; ante, p. 520, 545 ; post p. 685.

622

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

1656. 22 March. Memorial of the Swedish resident at the Hague.

CH. XVIII. pelboom accordingly presented a memorial setting forth the right of the Swedes on the South River, "optimo titulo juris," and praying that the injuries which they had suf- fered from the West India Company might be redressed. Sweden, however, was now at war with-Poland; Oxen- stierna was no more; and the throne of the victorious Gus- tavus was filled by the less fortunate Charles the Tenth. The complaints of Sweden, though renewed during eight years, never moved the government at the Hague. But the Swedish colonists remained on the shores of the Dela- ware ; at Stockholm they were remembered with affection- ate regard; and in the New World where they had chosen their home, a part of their descendants "still preserve their altar and their dwellings round the graves of their fathers."*

13 May. Fort order- ed to be built at Oyster Bay.

The, West India Company now sent directions, to Stuy- vesant to build a fort at Oyster Bay, and maintain by force of arms, if necessary, the integrity of the Dutch province, the boundaries of which had just been formally confirmed by the States General. ""We do not hesitate," they add- ed, "to approve of your expedition on the South River, and its happy termination, while it agrees in substance with our orders. We should not have been displeased, however, if such a formal capitulation for the surrender of the forts had not taken place, but that the whole business had been transacted in a manner similar to that of which the Swedes set us an example when they made themselves masters of Fort Casimir."+

13 May. Van Tien- hoven di missed.

At the same time, the company, yielding to the "reit- erated complaints" of the people of New Netherland, gave orders to Stuyvesant no longer to employ either Cornelis van Tienhoven or his brother Adriaen in the public serv- ice. The schout-fiscal was declared to be "the prominent cause of that doleful massacre" the previous autumn, and his brother was detected in fraud as receiver general. Ni- De Sille ap- casius de Sille was appointed schout-fiscal of the province, and De Decker confirmed as commissary at Fort Orange.

pointed in his place.

* Hol. Doc., viii., 130-135 ; x., 22-41 ; Letters of De Witt, i., 276 ; iii., 201, 202 ; Thur- loe, iv., 599, 612 ; Aitzema, iii., 1260; v., 247 ; Hol. Mer., 1656, p. 30; O'Call., ii., 327, 573 ; Bancroft, ii., 297, 298. + Alb. Rec., iv., 204-207 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 209.

623

PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.

Hearing of Van Tienhoven's disgrace, the burgomasters CH. XVIII. and schepens of New Amsterdam petitioned Stuyvesant to appoint "an intelligent and expert" person from among the citizens as schout of the city. The director, however, re-

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History of the state of New York Vol I, Part 60

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n Publication date: 1871 Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers Number of Pages: 844

Author: Brodhead, John Romeyn, 1814-1873. 4n
Publication date: 1871
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Number of Pages: 844