USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 3
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In order to understand the history of our city for the first half cen- tury of its existence it is necessary to obtain a clear idea of the pow- ers and privileges granted to this formidable company. For a period of twenty-four years after July 1, 1621, it was permitted, " to the ex- clusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants, within the bounds of the United Provinces," to send ships for trade to the countries of America and Africa bordering on the Atlantic Ocean, and those also of America on the side of the Pacific. Within the re- gions thus carefully defined the company was granted the privilege (which also the East India Company possessed within its sphere) of effecting " treaties and alliances with princes and potentates." Here, too, forts might be erected in defense of trade or for carrying on war; troops might be levied and armed, and war vessels equipped and manned. Governments might be established in conquered or pur- chased territories, but " the Governor-General must be approved and commissioned by the States General, and swear fealty to them as well
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as to the Assembly of the XIX." The company was also " conceded the privilege of exporting home manufactures and of importing the products of the countries along the Atlantic, free of all duties for the space of eight years." Such, then, was the body to whom now reverted by chartered rights the possessions in the new world which had fallen to the citizens of the Dutch Republic by the discovery and exploration of Hudson, and by the trading voyages of Christiansen, Block, and other enterprising men. New Netherland was henceforth to be governed by an association of merchants to whom belonged many sovereign powers; a sort of imperium in imperio. It was rather a republic within a republic, the one strictly commercial in its aims, vet endowed with important political and civil functions; the other strictly the supreme civil power, but knowing that its very life de- pended upon the commercial activity of its people, and therefore ever ready to stimulate such activity by the grant of the most extraordi- nary privileges and prerogatives.
Simultaneously with the creation of the West India Company war between the United Provinces and Spain was resumed, and war was at first the company's principal business. It sent out fleet after fleet, splendidly equipped, and commanded by famous admirals, to the coasts of Brazil, and actually wrested that colony from the Portu- guese, whose country had been conquered by Spain in 1584, and whose colonies were thus a fair prey for the Dutch in both the East and West. In 1636 the company had gained so many provinces of Brazil that they induced John Maurice, Count of Nassau, nearly allied to the House of Orange, to accept the position of Governor-General, which he held for about eight years. In the West Indies, too, conquests were made, and many islands there to this day are among the colonial possessions of Holland. How severe were the blows dealt to Spain by the warlike company, and what were some of its sources of large and quick returns on the investments necessary to equip its arma- ments, may be understood from the famous capture of the Spanish " Silver Fleet " (in 1628) by the world-renowned Dutch admiral, Piet Heyn. The booty secured for the company by their doughty officer " was worth no less than eleven and a half millions of florins ($4,600,- 000)." The prizes brought home to the company's wharves by other and smaller fleets or privateers, commissioned and fitted out by them in the same year, amounted to more than four millions of florins ($1,- 600,000). It is no wonder that the company felt justified in declaring a dividend of fifty per cent. in 1629, and one of twenty-five per cent. in 1630.
Exploits like this, however, that fascinated the popular mind, and realized the wildest dreams of profit, were not the kind to advance the interests of the section of country in which we are mainly inter- ested. It was tame work colonizing and developing the resources of Manhattan Island and vicinity, compared with conquering Brazil and
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capturing silver fleets. There were no immediate millions in prosy colonization. And so but a sorry corner was given to this part of the company's obligations in the charter. Even the article that referred to it was very general in its phraseology, and had no special applica- tion to New Netherland alone. It read: " Further (they) may pro- mote the populating of fertile and uninhabited regions, and do all that the advantage of these provinces, the profit and increase of commerce shall require." Brief as is this language, there was enough of it to express the vicious principle underlying colonization as conducted in those days. It was the advantage of these provinces that must be held mainly in view-that is, the home country must receive the main ben- efit from the settlements wherever made, and commerce must be made profitable. The welfare, present or prospective, of colonies or colonists, was quite a subsidiary consideration. This accounts for much of the subsequent injustice, oppression, and neglect which made life in New Netherland anything but agreeable, and finally bade the people hail the conquest by England as a happy relief.
Slight as was the requirement to colonize, and smaller the taste for it among so many more alluring occupations, yet it had to be done; and when complaints were made about the neglect of it, the company stirred itself to fulfill its stipulations in this respect. And thus we are brought to the earlier attempts to begin colonial life upon the
banks of the Hudson, and within the territory of the Greater New York.
The difficulty was to obtain col- onists. There was no reason why Hollanders should leave their country permanently, and culti- vate wild traets on distant. sav- age shores. Nobody was denying them the right to worship God as they chose; no royal hand was pressing the last cent out of them for senseless taxes. These repub- licans were their own masters, and while they taxed themselves heavily to maintain a long-con- tinued war, it was a war for inde- pendence already practically se- cured, and they were accumulat- ing wealth so fast that they did A DUTCH WINDMILL. not feel the drain. But just be- cause of the civil and religious liberty enjoyed within the borders of the Dutch Republic, it became a place of refuge for many people of other nations driven from their homes by religious persecution or
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political oppression. Thus the country swarmed with Walloons from the Walloon (the Gallic or French-speaking) provinces of Belgium. Here the hand of Spain and of Rome was still heavy upon the people. and Protestants were compelled to seek safety among their brother Netherlanders of the north, whose seven provinces held together and continued the battle against Spanish dominion and Romist persecu- tion, when the league of all the seventeen provinces fell to pieces. We shall soon have to refer to these Walloons again, but we must first ob- serve another class of refugees in Holland who came strangely and in- terestingly to the foreground in this early history of the settlement of New York.
In 1620 the New Netherland Company was not yet extinct. The West India Company was still within a year of its formal creation, and thus this and other associations trading with America still had a corporate existence. So we find among the archives of the larger and later corporation a document, dated February 12, 1620, which is a petition addressed by the directors of the New Netherland Company to Maurice, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder or Chief Executive of the Republic. In this they say: " It happens that there is residing at Leyden a certain English preacher, versed in the Dutch language, who is well inclined to proceed thither [i.e., to New Netherland] to live, assuring the petitioners that he has the means of inducing over four hundred families to accompany him thither, both out of this country and England, provided they would be guarded and preserved from all violence on the part of other potentates, by the authority and under the protection of your Princely Excellency and the High and Mighty Lords States General, in the propagation of the true, pure, Christian religion, in the instruction of the Indians in that country in true doctrine, and in converting them to the Christian faith, and thus through the merey of the Lord, to the greater glory of this coun- try's government, to plant there a new commonwealth, all under the order and command of your Princely Excellency and the High and Mighty Lords States General." That the directors were in earnest about this appeal, and very much wished to secure these desirable colonists, is shown by the fact recorded by the latter's annalists that they made " large offers," including free transportation in the com- pany's ships, and cattle enough to supply each family. All they wanted of the Dutch government was " two ships of war," to convoy an expedition necessarily so costly, in order to protect it against the risks of war or piracy. But the States General, on consulting with their Boards of Admiralty, or Navy Department, found they could not spare the two ships of war on an uncertain quest, with war al- ready started on their borders, and soon to be resumed by themselves at the now near expiration of the truce. So the scheme of the Nether- land Company was abandoned, and the Pilgrims did not settle on Manhattan Island. That was reserved for a far future day, when their
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descendants began to see the brilliant openings to fortune afforded to their keen wits and shrewd practices in the growing metropolis. Yet in some minds must have lingered the idea that the Pilgrims did not abandon the hope of settling on the Hudson; for one or two writers have lately worked themselves into a fury against Captain Jones of the Mayflower, stating that " Dutch employers " (of whom he had none) basely bribed him, which was the reason that he refused to take the vessel to the mouth of the Hudson, but was determined to land somewhere near Cape Cod. From the account given a few sen- tences back it would seem that these Dutch merchants would have been more likely to bribe Captain Jones to take the Pilgrims to Manhat- tan Island than to keep them away from there.'
So much, then, for this class of refugees, enjoying the protection of Holland. It is now necessary to turn to another. In April, 1622, a petition came before the States General again, stating that some sixty families of Walloons, residing in Amsterdam, were desirous of going to America and settling in the countries belonging to Holland by vir- tue of discovery. As nothing was said about furnishing ships of war, which could not be spared any better now than before, no hindrance to the proposed emigration was furnished by the Dutch government. Preparations for the expedition, therefore, pro- ceeded, and in March, 1623. everything was in readiness. A large ship for those days. ap- propriately christened the " New Netherland," of two hundred and sixty tons bur- den, and therefore more than three times the size of the Half Moon, was provided for the ac- commodation of thirty of the families, who were to precede the rest. An armed yacht, the Mackarel, accompanied the larger ship. It was command- ed by Captain Cornelius Jacob- sen May (whose name is still attached to Cape May), who was to be also the governor of the colony when on land, and SHIP NEW NETHERLAND. to make his headquarters on the Delaware after he had deposited por- tions of his company at various points on the Hudson River.
We must confine ourselves obviously to an account of this earliest serious attempt at colonization in New Netherland. only so far as it
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has relations to the territory embraced in Greater New York. A con- temporary Dutch historian is the sole authority for a rather striking incident in the waters of our inner bay. As the New Netherland and her armed tender entered the Narrows they were surprised to behokl anchored in the bay a French vessel, evidently npon an errand similar to their own. The little Mackarel bore down upon the stranger, and quite unmistakably impressed upon the Frenchmen the expediency of following her out to the ocean, and sailing away from these parts alto- gether, without any purpose of returning. The New Netherland then prepared to ascend the Hudson, but first deposited several families upon some of the neighboring shores. Just where they were landed we can only conjecture by putting together a number of state- ments as to the movement of certain families. From the formal dep- osition of one Catelina Trico, before Governor Dongan as late as 1686, based upon her personal recollection as a passenger in this ship, we learn that eight men were placed on Manhattan Island. It does not seem a very large number to be left alone among the Indians. It is possible, therefore, that there already was a settlement here as a re- sult of the many trading voyages. Yet some of the Walloon families must have been set down on Staten Island too. For we are all famil- iar with the story of Sarah, the first girl of European parents born in New Netherland, and the first child thus born in Greater New York. She was the daughter of Simon de Rapallo (or Rapalje, as the Dutch spell it), and was born on June 6, 1625, at the Wallabout-i.e., the Waalen Boght, or Walloon Bay, now a part of Brooklyn. Now that name is significant; it must have been derived from a settle- ment of Walloons, also on this shore of Long Island. But then. again, we are informed that before Simon Rapalje fixed his abode at Wallabout he had been a settler on Staten Island; so there. too some of the Walloons from the " New Netherland " must have been dropped.
To the pages of Wassenaer, the only contemporary Dutch historian who devotes much attention to events in America at this time, we are again indebted for a most valuable piece of information as to an event occurring in 1624. Colonization of New Netherland was now a fixed purpose, and the settlement upon Manhattan Island must have begun to attract the interest of the directors of the West India Company. One of them, Peter Evertsen Hulst, proposed to send thither a body of colonists, not of the human species, but of exceeding great value for purposes of permanent settlement, nevertheless. He provided at his own expense three ships, and the government furnished an armed vacht to accompany them. Two of the ships were fitted up to receive over one hundred head of cattle. " A special deck was constructed for their stalls, which were kept thickly sanded," and every other device was ingenionsly applied to insure that amazing cleanliness which is the marvel of Dutch stables to-day. Great tanks of water
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were placed beneath this deck on each ship. On the third ship was stowed the needed supply of fodder, while it also carried six families numbering forty-five persons, who went over as colonists. The cattle, consisting of beeves, hogs, and sheep, were so well cared for that only two died on the passage. On arrival before Manhattan they were landed on Governor's Island to prevent their being lost in the inter- minable woods. As they could not be adequately or conveniently supplied with water here, it was necessary to transfer them to Man- hattan Island, where twenty died from the effects of grazing on poi- sonous weeds. It surely was an achievement for which Director Hulst deserved great credit and gratitude, for the possession of these crea- tures must have been of immense comfort to the colonists. It is to be noted with some satisfaction that in this particular the Dutch beat the Yankees of New England, since not till 1627 were any cattle
THE PURCHASE OF MANHATTAN ISLAND.
brought to Plymouth. No doubt the awful death rate of the first winter of 1620 to 1621 might have been greatly reduced, if not pre- vented altogether, had the Pilgrims been possessed of cattle.
Important and inviting as must have appeared the situation of Manhattan Island, the two governors that preceded the final and per- manent establishment of colonial government were directed to make
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the Delaware their headquarters. Captain May was succeeded after only one year of service by one William Verhulst, who also ruled but for one year. An island in the Delaware called Verhulsten island, seems to be a memento of his presence in New Netherland, and argues that he too was ordered to make this part of the province the seat of his authority. The time seemed now to have come for establishing a more elaborate system of government for the colony, which evi- dently had been showing symptoms of a possibly satisfactory return on their investments to the directors of the West India Company. And when this determination was arrived at, there could be no ques- tion where the seat of the new government should be placed, what spot most conspicuously invited the planting of a commercial center.
The colonial government determined upon for New Netherland was to consist first of a chief executive, the Director-General ( Direkteur Generaal). He was to be advised by a council of five members, who were also to exercise judiciary functions, to sit as a court for the trial of offenses. Their power of punishment, however, did not go beyond the imposition of a fine, and all capital cases must be transferred to the courts of the mother country. There was also to be a secretary of the council, who appears to have been the person in most need of an edneation for the proper performance of his functions, supplementing especially the lack of legal knowledge apt to characterize the council members. Finally, there was to be a Schout, or Schoutfiscaal-that is, a treasurer. The last-named office reminds us that the colonial gov- erment intended for the whole province was really somewhat mod- eled after the Dutch municipal system. Later we shall have occasion to enter more fully into the details of those corporations. Here it will suffice to say that a Dutch city was in earliest times governed by a chief executive, called a Schout, whose office most resembles that of what we call a sheriff. The Burgomasters and Schepens constituted the legislative and judiciary branches; and the Schepens (from Sca- bini) were always of an nneven number, five, seven, nine, or more, ac- cording to the size of the town. Thus, in the colonial government now provided for New Netherland, we may already recognize an in- cipient stage of municipal existence for the settlement on Manhattan Island.
The first Director-General appointed by the West India Company was Peter Minuit. It has been supposed he was a German, because he hailed from the City of Wesel on the Rhine. But as we learn that he was a deacon in the Dutch Reformed Church there, we at once see that he must have been a member of the colony of Dutch refugees from persecution who made Wesel their home in the days of Alva. It was here in 1568 that the first synod of the Holland churches was held, and enough of the refugees would naturally establish them- selves permanently to constitute a church. The director's name, too, does not necessarily indicate a German origin, but is decidedly Dutch.
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HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.
The five members of the council were Peter Bylvelt, Jacob Elbertsen Wissink, John Jansen Brouwer, Simon Direksen Pos, and Reynert Harmensen-all good solid Dutch names, and indicating that those who bore them were not only Dutchmen, but the sons of Dutchmen. The secretary was Isaac de Rasières, evidently a Walloon, not to be wondered at when so many of that people made up the colony. Last- ly, the Schout-fiscal, or treasurer, was John Lampe, which might be either a Dutch or a Walloon name.
Peter Minuit and his council (without the secretary, who went in a later vessel) sailed from Amsterdam in the " Sea Mew " on December 19, 1625. Detained by ice in the Zuyder Zee, the harbor of Texel was not finally cleared till January 9, and on May 4, 1626-an eventful day, therefore, in our city's history-the " Sea Mew " arrived before Manhattan Island.
The first act of the colonial government, under the express direc- tion of the authorities at home, was one of which the great commer- cial metropolis of America may well be proud; a prime incident to record among her annals. It was well that her foundations were laid in honest dealing with the ignorant; in justice and integrity, when the law of nations was one of might only, with no regard for right, untutored savages being a party to the transaction. Indubitable evi- dence of what took place so early in our city's history is at hand. Any one may go to the archives at The Hague in Holland, and, upon request, with cordial courtesy will be shown a letter, dated November 5, 1626. It is the identical missive that was sent by a Mr. P. Schaghen -the member of the States General attending the " Assembly of the XIX." of the West India Company-to his colleagues in The Hague, announcing that a ship had arrived the day before, bringing news from Manhattan Island. The all-important item reads: " They have bought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders; it is 11,000 morgens in extent." Thus for $24 the island, roughtly estimated as containing over 22,000 acres of land, was duly and regularly purchased by the Company. It has been the fashion to ridicule this honorable transaction; to sneer at it as practically a cheat, because of the enormous disproportion of price to the value of the possession. Even royalty has been represented as attempting (it must be said not very successfully) to sharpen its wits upon the inci- dent. But what were a few thousand acres of land to the Indians roaming over miles of it continually, compared with the glittering glory of utensils and trinkets and gandy dress-stuffs or blankets, to the value of more than four times $24, as money counted in that day. It was an honest, honorable transaction, worthily inaugurating the trade and traffic of America's mercantile and financial capital; satis- fying the instincts of justice and equity in the savage breast; and setting an example that was not conspicuously followed until the days of Penn in Pennsylvania, and of Oglethorpe in Georgia.
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& cce 5. Recy' Hooghe Mogherde Heeren
17 november 1626
gut is jöttek t'Bgp twagen van Amsterdam xingshows sul is os 23 3 supthe. net rei rok Laut Jogget myt Se Abank Manictives. kaptoxicity Dat and wolch dark Plot is in Veldigy Espa Saks Howras gosBy cor fundky al arte on Bankt 81889 t' Slant Manhattes Vay de varlo 9 onforgt, voor di warka way 60 one is groot 11000 marys SiBBhave all Roxas Sulf mcg grozist, hive golf augusto gourmand. Danke bas Ereunde mumplekhuh? Vay gounk-horas, all taxes, Hogyv, Jaseff, gabik Doutorit. Praxisant, Boontjes In Var.
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7246 Bob to volley
178h Others vres
675. Ottiks way
48. Much wees 36. Catkost-vely
33 miniburg 34 Hallo Weefuchs.
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Goorge meogshi Birkes, gut de Demograhis
Fr Amsterdam den 5. novem d' b 26 Grove Hoo: 200: Dienstwillughe
Schaghen
FAC-SIMILE OF SCHAGHEN LETTER.
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HISTORY OF THE GREATER NEW YORK.
The first aet having been properly to acquire the land upon which they were to settle, active preparations went on immediately to oc- cupy and improve it. By the middle of May the farmers had broken ground and sown their grain; and before the ship carrying the news of the purchase sailed to Holland, the harvest was safely and abun- dantly gathered. But while the relations with the Indians were be- gun upon a footing of friendship, it was necessary to provide against emergencies in case of neighbors so uncertain. Our Dutch contem- porary historian again places us under obligation by recording that the expedition included a military engineer, and he even gives us his name as Kryn Frederickse. Under his directions the lines for a fort were soon laid out, on the spot that may be indicated in a general way as the block bounded to-day by Bridge, Whitehall, State (or Bat- tery Park) streets and Bowling Green. Earthworks rudely thrown up along the lines marked out were at first the only fortifications, but in the course of a few years these were faced with mason work of good quarry stone on the inside. At the same time a storehouse was put up of stone, or of brick baked on the spot; but it is difficult to tell which, as the Dutch word " steen " may denote either one or the other. This necessary building was erected toward the east of the fort; a street called after it, Winckel Street, is no longer in exist- ence, but it ran parallel to Whitehall and Broad streets, and about half way between. A mill, whose motive power was a literal horse, was also constructed, perhaps of boards, and it is Wassenaer again who tells us that the upper loft was used for religious services.
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