USA > New York > History of the state of New York Vol I > Part 71
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New Netherland now appeared to be in such jeopardy, that the schout, burgomasters, and schepens of the metrop- 18 March. olis requested the director to summon another " Landtdag," to consider the state of the province; and Stuyvesant 19 March. General promptly assenting, sent letters to the several Dutch set- Provincial tlements, requiring each to depute two representatives to a Assembly called. General Provincial Assembly at New Amsterdam on the tenth of April. Elections were immediately held; and, at 10 April. Delegates meet at New Am- sterdam. the appointed day, the delegates met at the City Hall. New Amsterdam was represented by Burgomaster Cornelis Steenwyck and Schepen Jacob Backer ; Rensselaerswyck
* Alb. Rec., xviii., 242 ; xxii., 138; Stuyvesant's Letters ; Hol. Doc., xii., 230 ; New Amst. Rec., v., 410-429 ; O'Call., ii., 502-504, 578 ; Smith's N. Y., i., 26.
729
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
by Jeremias van Rensselaer, its director, and Dirck van CHAP. XX. Schelluyne, its secretary ; Fort Orange by Jan Verbeck and Gerrit van Slechtenhorst; Breuekelen by William Breden- 1664. bent and Albert Cornelis Wantenaar ; Midwout by Jan Strycker and William Guilliams; Amersfoort by Elbert Elbertsen and Coert Stevensen; New Utrecht by David Jochemsen and Cornelis Beeckman ; Boswyek by Jan van Cleef and Gysbert Teunissen ; New Haerlem by Daniel Terneur and Johannes Verveeler ; Wiltwyck by Thomas Chambers and Gysbert van Imbroeek ; Bergen by Engel- bert Steenhuysen and Hermanus Smeeman; and Staten Island by David de Marest and Pierre Billou. As the me- tropolis, New Amsterdam claimed the honor of presiding ; Presidency but Rensselaerswyck being the oldest "colonie," the chair was awarded to Van Rensselaer, "under protest."
The Landtdag at once called upon the provincial govern- The As- ment to protect the inhabitants against the savages and demands. sembly's the "malignant English." Stuyvesant replied that the di- 11 April. rector and council had even execeded their powers in en- sant's prop- Stuyve- listing and maintaining soldiers, and asked the delcgates ositions. to furnish supplies for a regular force, or else call out every third man, "as had more than once been done in the Fa- therland." The Assembly now inquired whether it should 12 April. address the company or the States General. The director insisted that the people of New Netherland had not con- tributed to its support and defense ; that the company had expended on the province twelve hundred thousand guild- ers inore than it had received ; and required the advice of the delegates in regard to hostilities with the Indians and the English, the enrollment of two hundred militia, and the raising of means by taxation. The Assembly, however, de- 15 April. clining to vote supplies, adjourned its session for a week .* ment. Adjourn-
In the mean time, the West India directors, upon receiv- ing the dispatches of November from New Netherland, had united with the burgomasters of Amsterdam in demanding of the States General aid against Connecticut ; an act un- 21 Jan.
* New Amst. Rec., v., 429-431, 450 ; Alb. Rec., xviii., 237 ; xxii., 78-90, 105, 106, 145- 182 ; Renss. MSS. ; Kingston Rec .; O'Call., ii., 505-508 ; Bancroft, ii., 312.
730
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
23 Jan. Action of the States General.
the W. I. Company.
Letters to the towns.
CHAP. XX. der the Great Seal, confirming the charter of the company ; 1664. mandatory letters to the several towns on Long Island ; and a prompt intervention with the King of England. The States General now took those steps which, if earlier adopt- ed, might have prevented many unnecessary doubts, and have permanently secured New Netherland. The ambas- sadors at London were instructed to insist upon the ratifi- cation by the British government of the Hartford articles Charter of of 1650. An act was also passed under the Great Seal, de- claring that the charter of the West India Company au- thorized it to plant colonies in any unoccupied parts of America, from Newfoundland to the Straits of Magellan, and particularly in New Netherland, the boundaries of which were defined to be those agreed upon at Hartford. Letters, signed by the greffier of the States General, were likewise addressed to Oostdorp, Gravesend, Heemstede, Vlissingen, Middelburgh, Rustdorp, Amersfoort, Midwout, New Utrecht, Breuckelen, and Boswyck, charging them to remain in allegiance until the boundary question should be settled with the King of Great Britain., Hoping much from the "peaceable inclinations of Governor Winthrop," 1 Feb. the directors sent these documents to Stuyvesant by Abra- ham Wilmerdonck, one of their colleagues, and ordered six- ty additional soldiers to New Amsterdam. The provincial government was instructed to exterminate the Esopus In- dians ; to check the English, and reduce the revolted vil- lages to allegiance; and to receive with favor a number of "Frenchmen of the Reformed Church at Rochelle," who Return of Domine now sought homes in New Netherland. Domine Samuel Samuel Me- Megapolensis, having taken his university degrees, at the same time returned to New Amsterdam, on terms similar to those agreed upon with Blom and Selyns .*
gapolensis.
22 April. ' Opinion of the Asser bly.
These dispatches were communicated to the Landtdag when it met again. After deliberating, the members con- sidered it impossible to execute the company's orders re-
* Alb. Rec., iv., 449-465 ; viii., 380 ; xviii., 295 ; xxii., 182 ; Hol. Doc., ix., 302 ; x., 1- 21 ; Groot Placaatboeck, ii., 3153; Aitzema, v., 64, 65 ; Holl. Merc., 1664, 10, 15; Hart. Rec. Col. Bound., ii., 11; O'Call., ii., 508, 509, 579, 580 ; Ebeling, iii., 31 ; Selyns to Classis, 9th June, 1664; ante, p. 643, 680, 723,
731
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
specting the English rebels, who were " as six to one, and, CHAP. XX. with aid from Hartford, would easily overcome and mas- sacre the few Dutch soldiers that could be brought against 1664. them." As the Esopus Indians were now completely hum- bled, and all the Christian captives, except three, recovered ; and as the Minquas, Mohawks, and river tribes were all urging peace, a general treaty was now thought advisable, especially as the Connecticut people had been discovered tampering with the Wappinger savages.
In a few days, chiefs from Esopus, the Wappingers, and other river tribes, and from Hackinsack, Staten Island, and Long Island, met Stuyvesant, who was assisted by Wilmer- 15 May. donck and several of the most prominent citizens, in the council chamber of Fort Amsterdam. Sarah, the daughter Sarah Kier- of Annetje Jansen Bogardus, and wife of Surgeon Hans preter. stede inter- Kierstede, acted as interpreter. Calling on " Bachtamo," his God, Sewackenamo, chief of the Esopus Indians, gave the right hand of friendship to the director general ; and the last treaty between the Hollanders and the Indians was 16 May. signed the next day, under a salute from Fort Amsterdam. peace with Treaty of The Esopus country, including the two Shawangunk forts, savages. the Esopus now "conquered by the sword," was ceded to the Dutch. No savages were in future to approach the farms of the Christians ; but they might come to trade at the Ronduit with three canoes at a time. Reciprocal presents were an- nually to ratify this treaty, for the faithful observance of which the Hackinsack and Staten Island sachems became bound. Thus ended the Esopus war ; and Stuyvesant, 31 May. partaking of the universal satisfaction, proclaimed a day ing. Thanksgiv- of general thanksgiving to the Almighty .*
Roelof Swartwout, the discharged schout of Wiltwyck, 14 Feb. had, meanwhile, been reinstated, upon his asking pardon of reinstated the director. It was, however, thought proper to have a wyck. at Wilt- more immediate representative of the West India Compa- ny's interests there; and Willem Beeckman, whose employ-
* Alb. Rec., xviii., 238-248, 259, 263 ; xxii., 119, 180, 214-227, 245, 275 ; Hol. Doc., xii., 234 ; O'Call., ii., 509-511. Mevrouw Kierstede, having often acted as Indian interpreter, was presented with a large tract of land, on the west side of the North River, by Oritan". the chief of Hackinsack and Tappan.
Swartwout
732
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1664. 4 July. Beeckman appointed commissa- ry at Eso- pus,
CHAP. XX. ment at the South River had ceased, was appointed com- missary at Esopus and its dependencies. His jurisdiction extended from Katskill, where that of Fort Orange termin- ated, to the Dans-Kamer, just above the Highlands, which was the northern limit of that of Fort Amsterdam. The local court of Wiltwyck was to be in subordination to Beeck- man, who, as commissary, had the right to summon and preside at its meetings .*
Settlement at Schaen- The provincial government having, in the spring of 1662, hechstede. confirmed Van Curler's purchase of Schonowe, upon condi- tion that the frontier settlement of New Netherland should be wholly agricultural, a "concentration" soon arose at "Schaenhechstede." The West India directors, however, were desirous to obtain a cession of the Mohawks' lands, " by which our English neighbors would be prevented from dispossessing the company of that immense beaver trade which our nation is in possession of by the Seneca Indians." Stuyvesant accordingly refused to allow Cortelyou, the sur- veyor, to lay out the lands at Schaenhechstede, unless the inhabitants would promise to devote themselves to agricul- Trade with ture, and abstain from any traffic with the savages. Against the savages restricted. this invidious system Van Curler remonstrated in vain. The fur trade must be retained at Beverwyck; and the Indians must not be tempted to repeat their attacks upon the wag- ons conveying merchandise across the plain. The schout of Fort Orange, of which the new settlement was a de- pendency, was directed to enforce these orders, and the sur- May. Surveyed. vey of Schaenhechstede was not permitted until the spring of this year.t
Hostilities between the Mo- hawks and Eastern tribes.
19 May.
Notwithstanding the accommodation which Stuyvesant had arranged in 1662, the Mohawks had continued hostile. to the Abenaquis, and had provoked the enmity of the So- quatucks, at the head of the Connecticut River, within the present State of New Hampshire. Upon the complaint of Colonel Temple, the authorities at Fort Orange held inter- views with the Mohawks, and afterward dispatched Jan * Alb. Rec., xxii., 55, 56, 265-269 ; Acrelius, 425 ; ante, p. 302, 714, 718; App., Note R. t Alb. Rec., iv., 416 ; xxi., 135-139 ; xxii., 169, 234; Schenec. Papers, in Albany Clerk's Office ; O'Call., ii., 440-442 ; ante, p. 691.
733
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
Davits and Jacob Loockermans across the "Winterberg" CHAP. XX. or Green Mountains, to arrange a peace. At Narrington, an English settlement, they met delegates from the East- 1664. The Dutch ern tribes, with whom a treaty was concluded. The next arrange a month, the Mohawk ambassadors, who came to "Fort Pa- 24 May. peace. conthetuck" with presents to confirm the peace, were mur- 21 June. dered by some Abenaquis, who are said to have been in- stigated by the English. War now broke out again. The Mahicans attacked the Mohawks, destroyed eattle at Green- bush, burned the house of Abraham Staats at Claverack, 11 July. and ravaged the whole country on the east side of the North the Mahi- Ravages of River. Alarmed for their own safety, the officers and peo- cans. ple at Fort Orange entreated Stuyvesant to come up to 14 July. them at once .*
In the mean time, the Hartford authorities, having sent Allen, their secretary, to confer with the delegates of the English towns at Heemstede, accepted them under the gov- ernment of Connecticut ; caused Scott to be imprisoned ; and deelared " that they claim Long Island for one of those 22 May. 6 adjoining islands expressed in the charter, except a pre- eut claims Connecti- cedent right doth appear, approved by his majesty." They and. Long Isl- also authorized Pell to buy all the land "between West West Ches- Chester and Hudson's River (that makes Manhattoes an ter. island), and lay it to West Chester." When the Dutch messengers eame with the letters of the States General, and an address from Stuyvesant, the English either refused to receive them or sent them to Hartford. There they Treatment "eaused not the smallest effect;" for the Conneetieut men, ters of the of the let- finding them unanswerable, pretended that they had been eral. States Gen- forged, either by the company in Holland or by its officers at New Amsterdam. Soon afterward, Winthrop visited the June. Long Island towns, removed the officers appointed by Seott, proceed- Winthrop's and installed others. Stuyvesant immediately went to Long Is !- ings on meet the Connecticut governor, and urged the Duteh title and. by discovery, purchase, and possession, as well as the obli- gations of the Hartford treaty. But all was unavailing.
* Alb. Rec., vii., 394-404, 423-431 ; Hol. Doc., xi., 236-241 ; Renss. MSS .; Relation, 1663-4, 162, 163; O'Call., ii., 518, 519 ; ante, p. 704.
734
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XX. Winthrop, throwing off any appearance of friendship, claim- 1664. ed the country as his king's, and insisted that the English title was unquestionable, "according to the proverb," wrote Stuyvesant, "Sic volo, sic jubeo, stat pro ratione voluntas."*
Virginia and Mary- land.
De Decker, who had been for some months in Virginia endeavoring to obtain the release of a Dutch ship with a cargo of slaves from Guinea, which had been captured by an English privateer and carried into the Chesapeake, now sent intelligence of the threatening attitude of Virginia and Maryland. Clouds seemed to gather all around New Neth- erland. Yet Stuyvesant was not discouraged. Agricul- ture had improved ; the prospect of the harvest was good ; and the French Huguenots from Rochelle, who had just come over from Amsterdam, were delighted with their new 10 June. Stuyvesant hopeful. home on Staten Island. "It would, indeed, be highly de- sirable," wrote he to the West India directors, " that the yet waste lands, which might feed a hundred thousand in- habitants, should be settled and cultivated by the oppress- ed ; on the one side, by the Roman Catholics in France, Savoy, Piedmont, and elsewhere, and on the other, by the Turks in Hungary and upon the confines of Germany." Population. The population of the province was now "full ten thou- sand," while New Amsterdam contained fifteen hundred, and wore an air of great prosperity. Domine Warnerus Hadson, whom the Classis of Amsterdam had sent to the South River, died on his voyage out; and the Dutch colo- nists there, whose children had not been baptized since the death of Welius, and who held the Lutheran clergyman Lokenius in little esteem, anxiously desired another min- ister. The arrival of Domine Samuel Megapolensis, how- 17 July. Return of Domine Selyns. ever, was joyfully hailed at New Amsterdam ; and Selyns, whose place was supplied by the young graduate, received permission to revisit the Fatherland.t
English jealousy had, meanwhile, grown with the in-
* Juvenal wrote this line " Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas."-Sat. vi., 223. t Alb. Rec., xviii., 256-289, 295 ; xxii., 290 ; New Amst. Rec., v., 568 ; Col. Rec. Conn., 418-431 ; Trumbull, i., 261 ; Thompson, i., 118; ii., 321, 322; O'Call., ii., 511-514 ; Bol- ton, ii., 20, 169, 170 ; Riker, 62; Selyns to Classis, 9th June, Drisius, 5th Aug., 1664 ; ante, p. 670, 674. Domine Selyns returned to New York in 1682, as minister of the Col- legiate Church, and died here in 1701.
735
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
ercasing commerce of Holland, and a rupture with the CHAP. XX. Dutch appeared to be near at hand. The East India di- rectors complained of their formidable Batavian rivals. 1664. England and Hol- The African Company, of which the king's brother, James, land. Duke of York, was the governor, denounced the Dutch West India Company, which had striven to secure its territory on the Gold Coast from English intruders. James, who had been libelled in Holland, became the advocate of his African Company with the king and with Parliament; and Downing, the British ambassador at the Hague, having a personal interest, with menacing language pressed exorbi- tant demands for damages upon the States. An expedition, February. under Sir Robert Holmes, was secretly dispatched against African Holmes's the Dutch possessions in Africa; and aggressions, which expedition. Clarendon described as "without any shadow of justice," were committed in the midst of a covenanted peace.
A still more iniquitous measure was soon arranged. The Complaints farmers of the revenue had complained that traders to Vir- ers of the of the farm- ginia, New England, Maryland, and Long Island were con- revenue. stantly conveying great quantities of tobacco to the neigh- boring Dutch plantations, the customs on which "would amount to ten thousand pounds per annum or upward ;" and the Plantation Board had taken measures to put the 11 Feb. British Acts of Navigation and Trade "carefully in execu- tion." The brother of Governor Berkeley, too, coveted New Jersey. To accomplish all objects at one blow, England now determined boldly to rob Holland of her American province. The king accordingly sealed a patent granting }} March. to the Duke of York and Albany a large territory in Amer- Royal pat- ica, comprehending Long Island and the islands in its neigh- York. Duke of borhood-his title to which Lord Stirling had released- and all the lands and rivers from the west side of the Con- necticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay. This sweeping grant included the whole of New Netherland, and a part of the territory of Connecticut, which, two years be- fore, Charles had confirmed to Winthrop and his associates.
The Duke of York lost no time in giving effect to his atent. As Lord High Admiral, he directed the fleet.
736
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XX. Four ships, the Guinea, of thirty-six guns ; the Elias, of 1664. Squadron detached against New Neth- erland. thirty ; the Martin, of sixteen ; and the William and Nich- olas, of ten, were detached for service against New Neth- erland, and about. four hundred and fifty regular soldiers, with their officers, were embarked. The command of the expedition was intrusted to Colonel Richard Nicolls, à faithful Royalist, who had served under Turenne with 12 April. Nicolls ap- pointed deputy gov- ernor. James, and had been made one of the gentlemen of his bed-chamber. Nicolls was also appointed to be the duke's deputy governor, after the Dutch possessions should have been reduced. With Nicolls were associated Sir Robert 25 April. Carr, Colonel George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick, as 5 May. Royal com- royal commissioners to visit the several colonies in New missioners. England. These commissioners were furnished with de- tailed instructions ; and the New England governments were required by royal letters to "join and assist them vig- orously" in reducing the Dutch to subjection. A month after the departure of the squadron, the Duke of York 24 June. Nova Cæ- sarea or New Jersey conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all the territory between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, from conveyed to Cape May north to forty-one degrees and forty minutes of Berkeley and Carte- ret. latitude, and thence to the Hudson, in forty-one degrees of latitude, "hereafter to be called by the name or names of Nova Cæsarea or New Jersey .*
8 July. Willett warns Stuyve- sant.
Intelligence from Boston that an English expedition against New Netherland had sailed from Portsmouth was soon communicated to Stuyvesant by Captain Thomas Willett; and the burgomasters and schepens of New Am- sterdam were summoned to assist the council with their advice. The capital was ordered to be put in a state of de- fense; guards to be maintained ; and schippers to be warn- ed. As there was very little powder at Fort Amsterdam, a supply was demanded from New Amstel; and a loan of five or six thousand guilders was asked from Rensselaers-
Prepara- tions at New Am- sterdam.
* Lond. Doc., i., 130-180 ; iii., 99 ; xvi., 253 ; N. Y. Col. MSS., iii., 47-65, 105, 225 ; Alb. Rec., xviii., 259 ; Charter, in State Library ; Patents, i., 109-121 ; Hazard, ii., 634-640; Trumbull, i., 522-524 ; Hutchinson, i., 459; Smith, i., 14-16 ; O'Call., ii., 517; Whitehead, 30-37 ; Let. d'Estrades, ii., 435-474 ; Lister's Clarendon, ii., 258, 328 ; Lingard, xii., 163- 168; Davies, iii., 20, 21 ; Duer's Life of Stirling, 37. On the 30th of July, 1674, the Duke of York granted an annuity of £300, out of the revenue of his colony, to Henry, Earl of Stirling.
737
PETER STUYVESANT, DIRECTOR GENERAL.
wyek. The ships about to sail for Curacoa were stopped ; CHAP. XX. agents were sent to purchase provisions at New Haven ; and, as the enemy was expected to approach through Long 1664. Island Sound, spies were sent to obtain intelligence at West Chester and Milford. But at the moment when no preeau- tion should have been relaxed, a dispatch from the West Dispatch India directors, who appear to have been misled by adviees 1. Compa- from the W from London, announced that no danger need be apprehend- ny. ed from the English expedition, as it was sent out by the king only to settle the affairs of his eolonies, and establish Episeopacy, which would rather benefit the company's in- terests in New Netherland. Willett now retraeting his previous statements, a perilous confidence returned. The Curacoa ships were allowed to sail ; and Stuyvesant, yield- 6 August. ing to the solicitation of his couneil, went up the river to goes to Fort Stuyvesant look after affairs at Fort Orange .* Orange.
The English squadron had been ordered to assemble at May. Gardiner's Island. But, parting company in a fog, the 13 July. Guinea, with Nieolls and Cartwright on board, made Cape · Cod, and went on to Boston, while the other ships put in at Piscataway. The commissioners immediately demand- 27 July. ed the assistance of Massachusetts ; but the people of the Bay, who feared, perhaps, that the king's suecess in redue- ing the Dutch would enable him the better to put down his enemies in New England, were full of excuses. Con- nectieut, however, showed sufficient alaerity ; and Win- 29 July. throp was desired to meet the squadron at the west end of 8 August. Long Island, whither it would sail with the first fair wind.
6 August. English commis- sionery at Boston.
When the truth of Willett's intelligence became confirm- ed, the eouneil sent an express to recall Stuyvesant from Fort Orange. Hurrying baek to the capital, the anxious Stuyvenat. director endeavored to redeem the time which had been New Am returns to sterdam. lost. The municipal authorities ordered one third of the 25 Augus! inhabitants, without exception, to labor every third day at
* Alb. Rec., xviii., 286, 298 ; xx., 377 ; xxii., 271-276; Hol. Doc., xi., 219-239 ; xii., 92- 119 ; New Amst. Rec., v., 522-524 ; Smith, i., 16 ; O'Call., ii., 517, 518 ; Thompson, i., 121, 130; Let. d'Estrades, ii., 459 ; ante, p. 519. Willett, who had been one of Stuyvesant's arbitrators at Hartford in 1650, afterward became the first English mayor of New York, and was the ancestor of the late Colonel Marinus Willett.
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738
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
CHAP. XX. the fortifications ; organized a permanent guard ; forbade 1664. Arrange- ments for defense. the brewers to malt any grain ; and called on the provin- cial government for artillery and ammunition. Six pieces, besides the fourteen previously allotted, and a thousand 26 August. pounds of powder, were accordingly granted to the city. The colonists around Fort Orange, pleading their own dan- ger from the savages, could afford no help; but the soldiers called from at Esopus were ordered to come down, after leaving a small Esopus.
29 August. Soldiers re-
garrison at the Ronduit.
English squadron in Nyack Bay. In the mean time, the English squadron had anchored just below the Narrows, in Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht and Coney Island. The mouth of the river was shut up; communication between Long Island and Man- hattan, Bergen and Achter Cul, interrupted; several yachts, on their way to the South River, captured; and the block- 18 August. house on the opposite shore of Staten Island seized. Stuy- sant's mes- vesant now dispatched Counselor De Decker, Burgomaster Stuyve- sage. Van der Grist, and the two Domines Megapolensis, with a letter to the English commanders, inquiring why they had come, and why they continued at Nyack without giving no- tice. The next morning, which was Saturday, Nicolls sent Colonel Cartwright, Captain Needham, Captain Groves, 2º August. and Mr. Thomas Delavall up to Fort Amsterdam, with a summoned summons for the surrender of "the town situate on the isl- Manhattan to surren- der. and commonly known by the name of Manhattoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging." This summons was ac- companied by a proclamation declaring that all who would Terms of- fered by Nicolls. submit to his majesty's government should be protected "in his majesty's laws and justice," and peaceably enjoy their property. Stuyvesant immediately called together the council and the burgomasters, but would not allow the terms offered by Nicolls to be communicated to the people, lest they might insist on capitulating. In a short time, several of the burghers and city officers assembled at the Stadt-Huys. It was determined to prevent the enemy from surprising the town; but, as opinion was generally against protracted resistance, a copy of the English communication 1 Sept. was asked from the director. On the following Monday,
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