USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 66
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1660.
12 Feb. Measures to raise
676
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1660. 25 March. Declara- tion of war against Esopus savages. 4 April.
CH. XIX. Amsterdam, and the remaining savages to be driven across the Katskill. Going up the river to Fort Orange, Stuyve- sant issued a formal declaration of offensive and defensive war against the Esopus savages and their adherents, and ordered all vessels navigating the North River during the hostilities to sail in company .*
21 April. 24 May.
25 May. Esopus prisoners ordered to be sent to the West Indies.
The savages were soon attacked and routed ; and the chiefs from the neighboring tribes, who came to Fort Or- ange and Esopus to solicit peace, were referred to the di- rector general. A month afterward, three Mahican sa- chems visited Fort Amsterdam, and declared that the Eso- pus savages were willing to give up their land as a com- pensation to the Dutch, if they would surrender their pris- oners and make a firm peace. Stuyvesant, however, de- clined to do so as long as Christian captives remained in the hands of the savages. The next day, an order was made in council for the transportation of several of the pris- oners to Curaçoa, "to be employed there or at Buenaire, with the negroes in the company's service." In this se- vere measure Stuyvesant followed the example of Massa- chusetts in 1637. But the red men never forgot their ex- iled brothers ; and, before long, the Dutch settlers at Eso- pus bitterly atoned for the conduct of their provincial chief.
30 May. War Esopus savages. Again the savages were attacked. Smit, with a large against the force, advanced against their encampment, some distance above the second fall on "Kit Davit's Kill," about nine miles from the North River, and captured Preummaker, the "oldest and best of their chiefs," whom they had left behind in their hurried retreat. " As it was a considera- ble distance to carry him," the Dutch " struck him down with his own axe." Meanwhile, one of the principal sa- chems of the tribe, after obtaining the unanimous voice of the warriors, and squaws, and young men, in favor of peace, had gone down to Communipa, to obtain the mediation of the Hackinsack and Haverstraw chiefs. While there, news came that Preummaker had been killed by the Dutch; and the envoy returned to his tribe with a heavy heart. The
2 June
* Alb. Rec., xvii., 45 ; xxiv., 55-76, 115, 118-137 ; 368, 369 ; ante, p. 641, 660.
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PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
next day, Oritany, the chief of the Hackinsacks, went over CH. XIX. to Fort Amsterdam, and a truce was agreed to, upon con- dition that he should personally visit Esopus with Claes 1660. 3 June. Jansen Ruyter, the Dutch interpreter .*
Up to this time, Esopus had been a dependency of Fort Orange. But the people, who had already organized a con- gregation and called a clergyman, felt that they were now entitled to a municipal government of their own; and Roe- lof Swartwout, a son of one of the original settlers, who had visited the Fatherland and engaged several colonists to ac- company him to New Netherland, induced the Amsterdam directors to make the settlement an independent jurisdic- tion. Swartwout was immediately commissioned as schout, 15 April. and furnished with full instructions ; and Stuyvesant was schout of Swartwout ordered to induct him in office, and establish a separate Esopus. court of justice at Esopus. This action of his superiors did not please the director, who wrote back that he had 25 June. postponed the organization of a court for "lack of persons Stuyvesant Refusal of to organize qualified to preside over it," and that Swartwout was a the court minor, and, in his judgment, incompetent. there.
On learning the occurrences at Esopus the previous au- 9 March. tumn, the directors also recommended that the Mohawks ment of Mo- Employ- should be engaged to act as warriors on the side of the ommended. hawks rec- Dutch. But Stuyvesant knew the nature of the Indians better than his superiors in Holland. "The Mohawks," 25 June he replied, " are, above all other savages, a vainglorious, Stuyve- proud, and bold tribe, and yet more presumptuous on ac- count of their continued victories over the French and the French Indians in Canada. If their aid be demanded and obtained, and success follow, they will only become the more inflated, and we the more contemptible in the eyes of the other tribes. * * * It appears the safest way to stand on our own feet as long as possible." The reasoning of the director was satisfactory to the Amsterdam Chamber, and the thought of employing the Mohawks was abandoned.t Learning that the Esopus savages were now really anx-
Opposed by
* Alb. Rec., vi., 328-331 ; xvi., 125-135 ; xxiv., 253-266, 279-285 ; ante, p. 272, 396, 429.
+ Alb. Rec., iv., 331, 340, 348 ; viii., 314-318 ; xviii., 102, 103, 108.
-
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1660. il July. Stuyvesa again at Esopus.
CH. XIX. ious for peace, Stuyvesant set out from New Amsterdam, accompanied by Kregier and Van Cortlandt ; and, on reach- ing Esopus, found Van Curler and delegates from the Mo- hawks, Mahicans, Wappingers, Minquas, Hackinsacks, and Staten Island Indians, awaiting his arrival to assist in the negotiation. But none of the Esopus sachems were there ; and messengers were sent to summon them. After wait- 14 July. Conference with the delegates. ing several days, the director invited the delegates of the other tribes to a conference, at which he explained his own desire to conclude a peace, and urged them to bring the Esopus savages to terms. His words impressed the grave assembly. Messengers again went into the interior; and 15 July. the next day four Esopus sachems appeared before the gate of the village. All the inhabitants were now sum- moned to a grand council; and Stuyvesant and his attend- ants, with the delegates from the various tribes, being seat- ed, a Minqua sachem asked a peace in behalf of the Eso- pus savages. To this the director assented, provided the Mohawks, Minquas, and other tribes would answer for its faithful observance. A Mohawk and a Minqua then ad- monished the Esopus chiefs to live with the Dutch as broth- ers ; and a Mohawk warned the settlers not to irritate the Treaty pro- savages. The hatchet was trampled in the earth; and posed. Stuyvesant proposed the conditions of the treaty. Hostil- ities were to cease, and past injuries be forgotten ; the Esopus savages, in compensation for damages, were to con- vey "all the lands of Esopus" to the Dutch ; eight hund- red schepels of corn were to be paid as ransom for the cap- tive Christians ; future damages were to be reciprocally paid for ; murderers should be mutually surrendered and punished ; the savages were not to approach the Dutch plantations with arms, but might trade freely if unarmed ; no spirituous liquors were to be drunk near the houses of the Dutch ; all other friendly tribes were to be included in the peace ; and the mediators at the treaty were to be- come bound for its faithful execution, and, in case the Esopus savages should break it, were to assist the Dutch Ratified. in subduing them. These terms were accepted ; and the
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PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
treaty was formally ratified, " near the concentration of CH. XIX. Esopus, under the blue sky of heaven."*
1660.
ers at Fort
From Esopus Stuyvesant went up to Fort Orange, where his presence was urgently demanded. The colonists at Beverwyck being almost all fur traders, and competition increasing with the progress of population, runners or "bosch-loopers" from the village, like the "coureurs de Bosch-loop bois" of Canada, perseveringly waylaid the Indians as they Orange. came down to tide-water. Irregularities followed ; and both the savages and the honest traders complained. The measures which had been adopted in 1650 to check this evil seemed to have been unavailing. The authorities now 31 May. interfered again ; and ordinances were passed to prohibit 26 June. the employment of runners. But the people would not re- spect the law, and many declared that they would "scour the woods with Dutch brokers, whether permitted or not." The Mohawks again complained of the conduct of the bosch-loopers, and threatened to break their treaty with the Dutch, when " perhaps matters might end as at Eso- pus." Commissary La Montagne was at last obliged to visit the woods himself with a detachment of soldiers, to 14 July. discover and arrest the offenders, among whom were sev- eral of the Beverwyck magistrates.
On reaching Fort Orange, Stuyvesant issued a procla- 21 July. mation against the bosch-loopers, and at the same time at Fort Or- explained to the authorities of Rensselaerswyck the com- ange. pany's instructions respecting jurisdiction. An oath of al- legiance to the company was to be taken by the colonial schout, and the collection of tithes was to be enforced. A few days afterward, several Seneca delegates came down from the western door of the " Long House" of the Iroquois, to renew the covenant with the Dutch, which they had made some years before at Manhattan. A grand council 25 July. with the red men from the far-off " Niaugaurah" was held Conference with the Senecas. at Fort Orange, which was attended by the colonial and provincial magistrates and by the principal residents of
Stuyvesant
* Alb. Rec., vi., 330 ; xii., 317, 318 ; xviii., 118, 119 ; xxii., 227, 229 ; xxiv., 303, 318, 320, 332-342 ; O'Call., ii., 408-420.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIX. Beverwyck and its neighborhood. The Senecas demand- 1660. ed that trade should be made free, while the bosch-loop- ers should be restrained ; and they asked for supplies of ammunition to enable them to hunt beavers in their ene- mies' country. Stuyvesant presented tobacco and powder in return, and urged the Senecas to make peace with the Minquas, so that the Dutch might "use the road to them In safety." But he could not comply with their demand that a piece of cloth should be the price of a beaver, as long as it "must come so far over the water."*
16 Feb. Domine Blom or- dained.
26 March.
Domine Selyns.
1 March.
In the mean time, Domine Blom had been ordained to preach in New Netherland, "both on water and on the land, and in all the neighborhood, but principally in Eso- pus," and his call had been approved by the Classis and confirmed by the West India Company. The want of another clergyman on Long Island was also supplied by the appointment of Domine Henricus Selyns to preach at Breuckelen. Blom and Selyns left Holland soon afterward, bearing with them a letter from the Classis to the Dutch churches in New Netherland, which were earnestly exhort- ed " not to depart from the usual formulary" of baptism.
12 Sept. Blom at Esopus.
The troubles with the northern Indians retarded the set- tlement of the new clergymen ; and it was not until the autumn that Blom began his ministry at Esopus. The church at first consisted of sixteen members only. But the people gladly listened to the preaching of the word, and all was soon " well ordered in church matters and in consistory."
3 Sept. Selyns at Breucke- len.
Domine Selyns, after preaching a few sermons at New Amsterdam, Esopus, and Fort Orange, was formally in- stalled as the clergyman of Breuckelen, where he found one elder, two deacons, and twenty-four members of the church. The population of the village was now one hund- Population. red and thirty-four persons, in thirty-one families. Steps Church. were immediately taken to build a church; and, in the mean time, the congregation worshiped in a barn. The
* Alb. Rec., iv., 302 ; vi., 236-238, 254-283 ; xxiv., 343-352 ; O'Call., ii., 420-424 ; ante, p. 523.
681
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
bounds of Domine Selyns' charge included "the Ferry, the CH. XIX. Waal-bogt, and Gujanes." As the people there were un- able of themselves to pay his salary, they petitioned the 1660. council for assistance; and Stuyvesant individually agreed to contribute two hundred and fifty guilders, provided Dom- ine Selyns would preach a sermon on Sunday afternoons at the "director's bouwery, on the island of Manhattan." To this arrangement the Domine assented. The director's Stuyve- " bouwery" was a sort of " stopping-place, and the pleas- Bouwery. sant's ure-ground of the Manhattans." Thither the people came from the city to evening service; and besides Stuyvesant's own household, about forty negroes, who lived in that neigh- borhood, received religious instruction. In announcing these arrangements to the Amsterdam Chamber, Stuyve- 6 October. sant urged that more clergymen should be sent over, to gymen re- More cler- supply the wants of New Utrecht, Gravesend, and New quired. Haerlem, " besides a newly-commenced village of about one hundred and thirty families on the North River."
After the installation of Selyns at Breuckelen, Polhemus Polhemus confined his services to Midwout and Amersfoort, whose pe- wout. at Mid-
tition to the council for aid was answered by a promise of 4 Nov. four hundred guilders " as soon as the treasury shall per- mit it." At Beverwyck and Fort Orange, Schaats felt Schaats at some annoyance that the Lutherans were promoting a wyck. Bever- subscription for a clergyman of their own. Nevertheless, they were submissive, and attended the Dutch church, which had now increased to two hundred members. The Church at church at New Amsterdam continued to flourish under the sterdam. New Am- ministration of Megapolensis and Drisius, although the question of the form of baptism seemed to have placed the Amsterdam Chamber for a time in direct opposition to the governing Classis in Holland .*
Stuyvesant now revisited Esopus, to see after the finish- 10 Nov. ing of the redoubt and the settlement of Domine Blom in at Esopus. a proper residence. Thence he went again to Fort Orange,
* Alb. Rec., iv., 337, 364 ; viii., 270-278, 304 ; xviii., 133 ; xxiv., 149, 383-386, 441, 442; Cor. Cl. Amst. ; Letters of Polhemus, 29th Sept. ; Schaats, 22d Sept. ; Drisius and Selyns, 4th October, 1660 ; Bicm, 18th Sept., 1663 ; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii., 109, 961, 962; O'Call., ii., 431, 437 ; Dr. De Witt, in N. Y. H. S. Proc., 1844, 74, 75 ; ante, p. 657.
Stuyvesant
682
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1660. Fort Or- ange.
CH. XIX. at the request of the governor of Massachusetts, to use his good offices with the Mohawks, who were meditating an expedition against the Kennebeck savages. The director urged the sachems to be at peace, and was so far success- ful that they promised "to discuss that point with the other chiefs."
January. Troubles at New Am- stel. On assuming the government of New Amstel at Alrich's' death, Hinoyossa, by his indiscreet conduct, produced great discords, which were increased when news of the proposed 12 May. retransfer of the colony to the West India Company reach- ed the South River. With Beeckman his relations were 25 May. scarcely pleasant ; and complaints were constantly made 8 October. to New Amsterdam of his haughty and insolent demean- 9 Dec. or, and his contempt of the provincial regulations respect- ing the sale of liquors to the savages.
The hostile attitude of the Maryland authorities had, in the mean time, been under the consideration of the Am- 9 March. Stuyvesant sterdam directors, who ordered Stuyvesant to oppose their encroachments, "first warning them in a civil manner not oppose the encroach- ments of to usurp our territory ; but if they despise such kind en- Maryland. treaties, then nothing is left but to drive them from there, as our claims and rights on the lands upon South River are indisputable." But while the company was thus stren- uous in asserting its territorial rights to the whole South River, it declined to receive back from the city of Amster- 27 August. dam the colony of New Amstel ; and the city's commissa- Hinoyossa New Am- stel. director of ries, obliged to continue their reluctant support, appointed Hinoyossa director in place of Alrichs .*
During the whole of the Protectorate, and while a spirit of war was inflamed by New England, Virginia had main- Intercourse tained a friendly intercourse with New Netherland, and with Vir- ginia. reciprocal courtesies had confirmed the good-will which Harvey had promised to De Vries. Notwithstanding par- liamentary ordinances, Dutch vessels conveyed the prod- ucts of Virginia to Europe, and carried on a mutually satis- factory commerce ; and envoys from New Amsterdam had
* Alb. Rec., iv., 331, 350, 351 ; xvii., 33-96, 141 ; xxiv., 109, 115, 181, 364, 450; Acrelius, 422, 423 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 300-320; ante, p. 670.
683
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
conducted pleasant negotiations with the authorities at CH. XIX. Jamestown. Upon the death of Governor Mathews, Sir William Berkelcy was called from his eight years' retire- 1660. ment, and reinstated by the Assembly, which foresaw the triumph of the royal cause in England. Stuyvesant, whose brother-in-law, Nicholas Varlett, was about visiting James- 23 Feb. town on private business, took advantage of the occasion to appoint him and Captain Bryan Newton commission- ers to negotiate an intercolonial treaty. They were in- 27 Feb. structed to go to Virginia "to renew our former and ancient sioners to Commis- friendship, correspondence, and neighborship; to propose to treaty. them a more strict offensive and defensive union against the savage and barbarous nations, the enemies of both; and to conclude, on a more certain basis, a treaty of commerce, in the manner our lords and principals, with their subjects, are enjoying in Europe." The Dutch agents were also di- rected to endeavor to enlist as many Scotchmen as they 1 March. could obtain ; to inquire in Maryland if danger threatened the South River ; and to avail themselves of the "aid and tongue of Augustine Heermans," who was then in Virginia. On reaching Jamestown, Varlett and Newton were received with favor, and a satisfactory treaty was promptly nego- March. tiated. A "free trade and commerce" was stipulated be- Treaty ar- twcen New Netherland and Virginia ; the inhabitants of ranged. the respective provinces were reciprocally to enjoy "equal dispatch and justice in each other's courts of judicature ;" runaway servants were to be mutually surrendered ; and the creditors of absconding debtors were assured swift re- dress. The Assembly at once passed a law to give effect March. to the treaty in Virginia ; and with equal promptitude the New Netherland government established a favorable tariff 6 May. of duties on imports and exports from and to Virginia.
Soon afterward, Berkeley dispatched Sir Henry Moody, 18 May. the son of Lady Moody of Gravesend, " on an embassy to embassy to Moody's the Monhadoes," to exchange the ratifications of the treaty. Manhattan Upon his reaching New Amsterdam, the "ambassador of the 21 June. governor and assembly of Virginia" was received with all the usual diplomatic honors. Two members of the coun-
negotiate a
684
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIX. cil, accompanied by halberdiers, were sent "to compliment
Corre- spondence with Vir- ginia.
00
Berkeley's letter to Stuyve- sant.
1660. him in his lodgings;" and Moody, appearing with the com- mittee in Fort Amsterdam, presented his credentials, and also private letters from Berkeley soliciting a loan of four thousand pounds of tobacco from the Dutch, to be returned in kind the next November. Twelve hundred guilders were accordingly advanced; and the articles of the treaty were discussed and adopted. A correspondence followed, in which Stuyvesant unsuccessfully attempted to draw from the governor of Virginia an express recognition of the . August. Dutch title to New Netherland. "Truly, sir," wrote Berke- ley in reply, "you desire me to do that concerning your titles and claims to land in this northern part of America which I am in no capacity to do ; for I am but a servant of the Assembly, neither do they arrogate any power to themselves further than the miserable distractions of En- gland force them to. For when God shall be pleased in his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural divi- sions of their native country, they will immediately return to their own professed obedience. What, then, they should do in matters of contract, donation, or confession of right, would have little strength or signification ; much more pre- sumptive and impertinent would it be in me to do it with- out their knowledge or assent.". The Amsterdam direct- ors promptly signified their approbation of Stuyvesant's ne- gotiations with Virginia. " A free and unshackled com- merce with that nation," wrote they in reply, " must be con- ducive to the prosperity of your city and its inhabitants."*
20 Sept.
29 May. 8 June. Restora- tion of Charles II.
The fugitive King of England had, meanwhile, been re- stored to the throne. On his way from Breda to London, Charles the Second was magnificently entertained at the Hague ; and as he took his leave of the States General, he pointedly declared that he would feel jealous if the Dutch should prefer the friendship of any other state to that of Great Britain. But England, observing her commercial
* Alb. Rec., iv., 351 ; xviii., 97, 157 ; xxiv., 101-106, 199, 301, 302, 399-402; Herring's Stat. at large, 539, 540 ; Chalmers, 125; Smith's N. Y., i., 10, 11 ; O'Call., ii., 408, 413- 415 ; Col. Rec. Conn., 387 ; Thompson's L. I., ii., 174 ; Bancroft, ii., 310 ; Hildreth, i., 366. 442 ; ante, p. 559, 562. Varlett's name is often spelled "Verlett" and "Varleth."
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PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
prosperity, envied Holland ; and the convention Parlia- CH. XIX. ment, which had called home the king, took early steps to render still more obnoxious one of England's most selfish 1660. measures. The Navigation Act of 1651 was revised ; and Act of Nav. it was now enacted, that after the first day of December, igation. 1660, no merchandise should be imported into or exported from any of his majesty's plantations or territories in Asia, Africa, or America, except in English vessels, of which " the master and three fourths of the mariners at least are English."*
Charles had hardly reached Whitehall, before Lord Bal- 24 July. timore instructed Captain James Neale, his agent in Hol- more de- Lord Balti- land, to require of the West India Company to yield up to surrender mands the him the lands on the south side of Delaware Bay. Neale Dutch pos- of the accordingly made a formal demand for the surrender of the South River. New Amstel, and informed the directors that Lord Balti- 23 August. more would use all lawful means to defend his rights and subject the Dutch to his authority. The Amsterdam Cham- ber referred the question to the College of the XIX., who returned a "proud answer" that the company's rights were 1 Sept. by possession under grant of the States General; that they Answer of the W. I. Company. were resolved to defend those rights; and that, if Lord Baltimore should persevere and resort to violent measures, "they would use all the means which God and nature had given them to protect the inhabitants and preserve their possessions."+
Seriously alarmed at the condition of New Netherland, which, after an outlay of one million of guilders, was only now in a position to sustain itself, the College of the XIX. 5 Nov. addressed a memorial to the States General, praying them of the W. I. Memorial to instruct their ambassadors at London to demand of the to the Company king that Lord Baltimore should be ordered to desist from General. States his pretensions until a boundary line should be settled ; and also, that the territory which the English had usurped at
* Aitzema, iv., 598 ; Basnage, i., 606 ; Lingard, xii., 65-69 ; Davies, iii., 10-13 ; Ban- croft, ii., 30-43 ; Chalmers, 241, 257 ; Act xii. Charles II., cap. xviii., Statutes at large, iii., 166 ; ante, p. 543, 653.
+ Alb. Rec., iv., 354 ; viii., 292-302 ; Hol. Doc., ix., 111-126, 175-177 ; Lond. Doc., iv., 175-177; N. Y. Col. MSS., iii., 344, 345 ; O'Call., ii., 460, 461 ; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 317, 318 ; Smith's N. Y., i., 12.
sessions on
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CH. XIX. the East, and on Long Island, should be restored, and the 1660. inhabitants be required to conduct themselves as Dutch subjects. The memorial likewise prayed that the treaty at Southampton of 1625, which allowed the company's ships the free use of English ports, should be renewed. Accom- panying the memorial, the directors presented various ex- planatory papers, including a deduction of their title to New Netherland, and detailing the usurpations of the En- glish from the time of Van Twiller. The States General communicated these papers to their ambassadors, who were about to set out for London, and instructed them to call the king's attention to the subject as soon as possible.
P& July. English Plantation Committee.
One of the first acts of the royal government had, mean- while, been to appoint a committee, " to receive, hear, ex- amine, and deliberate upon any petitions, memorials, or other papers presented by any persons respecting the plan- tations in America, and to report their proceedings to the council from time to time." Of this committee Lord Say and Seal was one of the principal members. In the fol- lowing autumn, a standing "Counsell of Trade" was cre- ated by patent. Soon afterward, the Plantation Commit- tee, appointed in July, was superseded by another patent, which constituted Hyde, the lord chancellor, and several others, a Standing Council for Foreign Plantations, with Council for instructions to acquaint themselves with the state of the colonies, to correspond with the governors, to regulate trade, and generally to take "all prudential means for the ren- dering those dominions useful to England, and England helpful to them."* Z Nov. Council of Trade.
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