USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. II > Part 2
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1 July, 1648. Whereas, the council of the colony directed that the Heer General Peter Stuyvesant should be greeted on his arrival and departure, with several salutes from the Heer Patroon's three pieces of cannon; so hath the director employed Jan Dircksen Van Bremen, and Hans Encluys, to clean the same, as they were filled with earth and stones, and to load them, in which they were employed three days, to wit: one day in cleaning them; the second in firing for the arrival, and the third, for Stuyvesant,s departure-for which Slech- tenhorst purchased 20 lbs. of powder, and expended ten guilders for beer and victuals, besides having provided the Heer General, at his departure, with divers young fowls and pork .- Ib.
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
Slechtenhorst was accused with having conveyed lots, and authorized the erection of buildings, in the immediate vicinity of Fort Orange, in disregard not only of the sove- reign authority, but in contempt of the director-general's commission, thus infringing the privileges granted by their high mightinesses and destroying the security of the fort. "Such proceeding was totally repugnant to military disci- pline and tactics." He therefore ordered, " in a friendly manner," a stop to be put to all building within range of cannon shot, unless specially ordered by the lords majors. He further commanded, that no new ordinances affecting the sovereign authority, or relating to commerce or the public welfare, be issued without the previous consent of their high mightinesses or their representative in New Netherland ; and that no exclusive right to any branch of trade be rented, nor any grain, masts, or other property belonging to the company's servants be seized, unless the prosecutions on such suits were disposed of without delay. The practice of compelling the inhabitants of the colonie to sign a pledge that, as defendants, they should not appeal to the supreme court of New Netherland from judgments rendered by the court of Rensselaerswyck, was pronounced " a crime," an infraction of the law of the land, and a sub- version of the twentieth article of the charter. To prevent the recurrence of this illegal practice, an annual return to the director and council of all the affairs transacted in the colonie and of the proceedings of the court was insisted on, conformably to the twenty-eighth article of the said char- ter. And as Van Slechtenhorst claimed, in direct contra- diction to the charter and the director-general's commission, to the vilification of the latter's office and in disrespect of the lords majors, not to be responsible to the government at Fort Amsterdam, he was called on to produce his authority, either from the states-general or the directors of the chamber at Amsterdam, for such pretension. Failing this, the director-general protested against him for dis- obedience of orders.
Commander Slechtenhorst, was, in the estimation of his opponents, " a person of stubborn and headstrong temper." He was, besides, fully confident that he had law and cus- tom on his side; he was sure that he had the instructions
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
of his superiors in hispocket, and was therefore determined not to abandon the rights of " his orphan patroon." He answered protest by protest. He charged, in his turn, the director-general with having proclaimed a day of fasting and prayer in Rensselaerswyck, " contrary to antient order and usage, as if he were the lord of the patroon's colonie."
He accused the company's servants at the fort with having cut, without permission, the best timber and fire- wood in the patroon's forests, "as if these were their own ;" and with having ranged through the whole colonie, along with people from Manhattans, "with savages by their side to serve as brokers," trading publicly with the aborigines, as if the place were their property; all this without license from the patroon or his authorized agents, and without paying either duties or recognitions. As for the order not to build within a prescribed distance of Fort Orange, it was an aggression which could not be justified. The patroon's trading house stood, " a few years ago," on the border of the moat which surrounded that fort. That soil, with all around, belongs still to the patroon ; he was never disturbed in its possession until Director Stuyvesant sought now " by unbecoming means," to oust " his orphan heir," to deprive him of the benefit thereof, and to appro- priate the soil to himself; threatening to destroy the pa- troon's buildings by cannon shot. Van Slechtenhorst is hereby prevented erecting "even a hog pen" on the pa- troon's own land, and Stuyvesant has become a judge in his own case. The assertion that the objectionable build- ings endangered the security of the fort, was a mere pre- text. They were more than five hundred rods from the fort, or trading house; and, it was added, eight houses already intervened between them and Fort Orange.
In keeping with the spirit here displayed, did Van Slechtenhorst continue his improvements in Beverwyck. Another protest from the Manhattans followed, warning him that force should be used if he did not desist. But this had the effect only of calling forth " a counter blast." No suit, he insisted, could be instituted, nor execution issued in another district, without previous consent of the schout- fiscaal or court of that jurisdiction, on the pain of non-suit
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
and arbitrary correction, and therefore the present proceed- ing was informal. The pretensions now put forth were, moreover, at variance with those which had already been promulgated, and in contradiction with practice even at New Amsterdam. The director-general claimed, in July, that all the territory within range of cannon shot belonged to Fort Orange ; now he reduces the circle to the range of a musket ball, within which he will not allow a house to be built, " notwithstanding he permits whole streets to be filled with houses, in view of Fort Amsterdam." It was a matter of surprise, that he should use the power with which he was invested, to oppress " our infant patroon." It was his duty, as a Christian neighbor, to preach other doctrines; to turn his arms, not against friends, but enemies. It was besides, highly unbecoming in him to use force whilst their high mightinesses had not yet decided the case, especially as the house in dispute was not within musket shot of the fort.
This continued contumacy served but to irritate the ex- ecutive. The freshets of the past winter had nearly de- stroyed Fort Orange, and the company's commissary had received orders to surround that post with a solid stone wall in lieu of the wooden fence by which it had hitherto been encompassed. But scarcely had a rod of the work been finished, when Van Slechtenhorst forbade Carl Van Brugge, " in an imperious manner," to quarry stone within the colonie, or to fell a tree either for the repair of the fortifica- tion or for firewood. The farmers and inhabitants were also ordered, contrary to the practice of former magistrates, and contrary, it might be added, to the fifth article of the charter of 1629, not to convey any such materials thither .* The company was thus deprived of articles necessary to
* This prohibition arose rather in consequence of the claim to ju- risdiction, than on account of the value of the timber. For "about midsummer of 1649, the Heer General being here, asked Jan Bae- rentsen to wheel out some masts, which he refused to do, saying that the horses and the land which he made use of belonged to the pa- troon, whose consent he must first have. Whereupon the Heer General came to the director, and requested him, after relating the above cir- cumstances, to consent thereto. The director accordingly consented. Rensselaerswyck Gerechtsrolle, 1648-1652, 71.
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
build forts, or other edifices, and compelled either to beg them from their vassals, or " what is worse," to purchase them at enormous prices. Whilst thus opposing repair of the public works, Van Slechtenhorst actively continued his own buildings, "even within pistol shot of Fort Orange."
On receipt of this intelligence, General Stuyvesant re- solved to maintain his authority by force. Six soldiers* were dispatched to Van Brugge's assistance, with orders to demolish the offending house, to arrest Van Slechtenhorst " in the most civil manner possible," should he offer any opposition, and to detain him in custody until he delivered a copy of his commission and instructions, and had declared that he had no other. He was finally summoned to ap- pear at Fort Amsterdam to answer for his conduct. Orders were at the same time issued, prohibiting the importation of guns into the colonie without license from the lords ma- jors. Such arms, when imported, were to be sold only to the company at a fixed price of two beavers each.
The excitement produced in the hitherto peaceful ham- let of Beverwyck, on the appearance of this armed posse, may be easily conceived. The oldest inhabitant had not seen a soldier nor heard the sound of a drum in that place, until the director-general's visit in the course of the last summer. And now, when another armed band arrived, with the hostile design of razing the houses of quiet and inoffensive settlers, they were sorely amazed and much alarmed.
Those whom the director-general had despatched to en- force his orders, were not, in truth, the best qualified for the performance of this delicate mission. They were very zealous " when the patroon's timber was to be cut, or his deer killed," and were not slow to exhibit their insolence by grossly insulting the commander, "when walking the public street," in company with his deputy, Andries de Vos, cursing them and " abusing God's holy name," be- cause " they had not bade them a good evening."
This rude conduct, and the unconcealed avowal of their
* A MS. protest among the Rensselaerswyck papers, represents this force as " seven soldiers and five sailors," who remained fourteen days in the colonie.
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
mission, aroused the indignation not only of the settlers, but even of the Indians. These assembled in a tumultuous and angry manner, and demanded if " Wooden Leg,* in whom they had confided as their protector, intended to tear down the houses which were to shelter them in stormy and wintry weather ?" When they learned that all the trouble was about a few roods of land, they told the com- mander to accompany them home, and they would give him plenty of land " in the Maquaas country ;" so that " more kindness was evinced by the unbelieving savages than by our Christian neighbors, subjects of the same sove- reign, bound by their oaths to protect us against insult and outrage."
The soldiery now flushed with triumph, were disposed to celebrate whatever victory they obtained, by firing a feu-de-joie. They accordingly discharged three or four volleys. This brought the Indians again together. Slech- tenhorst succeeded, however, in soothing their irritation, and persuaded them to depart. They returned, shortly, in increased numbers, and enquired in angry terms, "If Wooden Leg's dogs were gone?" They were assured that all would yet be well ; that they had been misinformed, that the houses should not be pulled down. A threatening storm was thus happily averted, for the director-general's rash conduct had well nigh produced bloodshed, " and the ruin not only of the colonie, but of the Manhattans and of the Christians within this land, who are all at the mercy of the savages"-especially had these been joined by some Christians, " as might have been the case."
Van Slechtenhorst's indignation at this encroachment on the patroon's privileges was not so easily removed. He gave vent to his feelings in a long and angry protest. The demand for a copy of his commission, and the summons to appear at Fort Amsterdam, he answered by calling for a copy in writing of the director-general's claims and com- plaints. " The noble patroon had obtained his possessions
* Ebeling, in his Erdbeschreibung und Geschichte von Amerika, Hamburg, 8vo., 1796. iii., 34, represents Stuyvesant as having "a silver leg." Slechtenhorst and the Indians are better authority on this point.
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
and immunities ; was invested by the States General with high and low jurisdiction and the police of the most privi- leged manors ; and were he, as his agent, now so base as to crouch before the present unwarrantable proceedings, and to produce his commission, before he had received orders to that effect, from his lords and masters, not only would they be injured, but he be guilty of a violation of his oath and honor, a betrayal of his trust, and a childish sur- render of the rights of his patroon." He could not, there- fore, obey such demands, the illegality of which was only rendered more flagrant by the unusual and insolent man- ner in which they were made. If a sworn messenger in Holland had to serve a summons, or to execute a warrant, in one of the small cities, in the name of the supreme" court, or of any of the states, he was previously required to solicit admittance, consent and aid from the local ma- gistrates, who should give permission in writing, by en- dorsing the words "Fiat insinuatio" on the paper, before the summons could be made. This written authority was then placed in the hands of the messenger of the city in which the order was to be served, who thereupon made his first service both verbally and in writing on the party com- plained against, and reported the result to the messenger of the court or state. This, and no other, constituted a legal service. Such was the practice in Fatherland, even in the same province, though subject to a high court of appeal. But none of these prerequisites were observed by the director-general's commissary. Accompanied by an armed soldiery, he not only entered the patroon's jurisdic- tion, but violated, on the 28th September, the sanctity of his house. Such illegal conduct betrayed a deep contempt of the patroon and his court, as well as of the sovereign whom they represent. Those who have been guilty of similar violations of law in Fatherland " had often been apprehended, and condemned to bread and water for the space of five or six weeks ; yea, were sometimes brought to the block ;" so jealous was every local jurisdiction of the least encroachment on its privileges.
As for preventing timber being cut within the colonie, is the patroon, he demanded, not master on his own land ?
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
Is he not free to cut his timber as well as his corn ? And can he not arrest these, when cut by others without his - permission ? Jacob Jansen had cut two fir trees in the course of the summer without leave; the patroon's officer seized them eight days afterwards, on the river, and can he not now exercise a like authority ?" The objection, that the houses he was building militated against the defence of the "famous fortress," was, he again maintained, a mere pretence. "The ten houses which stood betwixt them and the fort on the north, besides those to the west, and the patroon's woods, not a stone's throw to the west, south-west and north-west," were left unmolested, though they were a greater obstruction than the new buildings to the fort, " which you can enter or quit at pleasure, by night or by day," without let or hindrance. " Wherefore it is notorious that all the present proceedings emanated from party spirit ; had no foundation in reason, and were as justifiable as the complaint in Æsop's fable, of Cousin Gysbert, who; whilst drinking on a hill from a waterfall, quarrelled with a lamb, who stood below, for disturbing the water and making it muddy."
This protest produced a long replication from the director and council, whose power, it was maintained, “ extended to the colonie of Rensselaerswyck, as well as to the other colonies, such as Heemstede, Vlissingen and Graven- zande." Stringent orders were issued to Van Brugge and Labadie to prosecute and complete the repairs of the fort ; to procure, for that purpose, timber every where within the limits of New Netherland ; to quarry stones " from the mountains, rocks and plains, and have them conveyed from any place, and in the most convenient manner, except from farms and plantations which are fenced and cultivated, or about being so." In case the people were forbid to assist with their horses and wagons, the commissaries were to have a wagon made, and to use the horses belonging to Jonas Bronck, on Van Curler's farm, as he was indebted to the company. The jurisdiction of the company, and " the antient and uninterrupted use of the gardens and fields near the fort," were to be rigidly maintained, and the destruction of the buildings within musket or cannon shot proceeded with forthwith.
Colony of Rensselaerswyck. 23
The schout fiscaal of New Netherland followed. He averred that it was long since notorious that the director and council had been treated with disrespect by Van Slech- tenhorst. No court of justice in the colonie could pro- nounce on the present case, even if the director-general should condescend to appear before such a tribunal. The only question to decide now was, whether Van Slechten- horst had been summoned three times by the company's commissary in the presence of two credible witnesses; for it was, by no means, the custom in Holland to serve writ- ten summons. It was a base misrepresentation to assert that three armed soldiers insolently intruded themselves into the patroon's house. Van Brugge had knocked at the door " in a civil manner," and had been admitted by the back way, when he " courteously" demanded the com- mander to exhibit his commission and to furnish him with a copy thereof. This having been refused, a protest was served, according to order, and Van Slechtenhorst sum- moned to appear at Fort Amsterdam. He could have obeyed without inconvenience, as "the river remained open, the winter pleasant, and several vessels sailed up and down, during the whole month of November." Now, however, to remove all doubt, the citation was again re- newed, and the commander was peremptorily ordered to appear at Fort Amsterdam, on the fourth of April next ensuing, by the first sailing vessel, " where he will be in- formed of the complaint against him."
The director-general immediately forwarded a report of the whole of this affair to his superiors. The prospect from Fort Orange ought, in his opinion, to be unobstructed, at least within circle of cannon shot: there were plenty of vacant lots along the river, on which the inhabitants could construct their dwellings, yet they persist, " through pride," in building near the walls. But the truth was, it was neither through pride nor obstinacy that the colonists, at this early day, persisted in clinging to Fort Orange. This post supplied them in their feebleness, with security against the Indians, and they were loth to forego its protection.
* Alb. Rec. v., 72-83, 87-90 ; viii, 192-198, 204-296, 208, 217-319. t Ibid, iv., 16.
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
Removed from the contentions which were distracting the capital of New Netherland, Commander Van Slechten- horst was actively extending the limits of Rensselaerswyck, by the purchase of the Mohegan lands to the south of that colonie. On the 4th of September, 1648, he had acquired for the patroon the tract called Paponicuck, in exchange for some thirty ells of duffels and a few handfuls of powder* and this spring purchased Katskillt and Claverack. On the other side of the Atlantic, Wouter Van Twiller was boldly laying claim to the control and monopoly of the upper waters of the Hudson river, and publicly announcing his determination not to permit any merchant vessel to pass Beeren Island, or to trade in the vicinity of Rensselaers- wyck. For he maintained that Fort Orange had been built on the Patroon's territory, and that none-" not even the company"-had a right to permit others to erect houses or pursue any branch of business thereabout. Feudal law and feudal privileges thus brought along with them, into
* The names of the proprietors of Paponicuck, were Waneman- keebe, Askanga his brother, Skiwias (alias Aepje), and Wampumit, "chiefs of the Mahecanders."
t " In manner, under restriction, stipulation, and condition as herein before particularly mentioned, [in the deed of Paponicuck, ] hath the honorable the director sent deputies in the presence of the Rev Mr. Megapolensis, in the name and for the account of the honorable the patroon of this colonie Rensselaerswyck, and bought of Pewasck, being a squaw, and chief of Katskill, therein included, and her son Supahoof, through the medium and interpretation of Skiwias, or Aepje, chief of the Mahecanders, a kill named Katskiil, accounted to be nine miles from Fort Orange, and six miles from Beeren island, together with the land on both sides that is to say, the kill with the falls, also along the north side of the kill three flat parcels of land, and on the south side two flats, extending on both sides, from the mouth of the kill unto the aforesaid fall, together with the wood and pasture of the woods on both sides. to hold all in peaceable possession. Whereof cession and conveyance are from this day made to the afore- said patroon. For the purchase thereof is this day handed to them, by the honorable director of this colonie, seventeen and one half ells of duffels, a coat of beaver, and a knife, and that in full without any further demand, all without fraud or deceit. In witness whereof the aforesaid Squaw as cedant, and her son, with witnesses, have signed this instrument with their own hands. Actum in the colonie Rens- selaerswyck, this 19th day of April, Anno 1649. Skiwias for his services hath received 54 ells of duffels." [All these goods were valued at gl. 108, 16.]
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Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
these parts, the old feudal quarrels of Europe for the free navigation of nature's highways to the ocean, and the ques- tion was, whether the North river should be open to all their high mightinesses' subjects, or whether these should be debarred from its use by the garrison on Beeren island, now named " in such a lofty way, ' The place by right of arms.' " The absurdity of the claim to the soil on which Fort Orange stood, was clearly established by the fact that that fort was built and garrisoned by the company full fif- teen years before the existence of Rensselaerswyck; that up to the year 1644, the company had the exclusive en- joyment of the fur trade, which the company intended to reclaim " whenever it shall be able to provide its maga- zines with a sufficient store of goods." In view, there- fore, of all these circumstances, and in order to correct a state of things, of which the merchants generally com- plained, the directors determined to use their sovereign right to the confusion of Van Twiller-" that ungrateful individual, who had sucked his wealth from the breasts of the company whom he now abuses." They accordingly dispatched orders to remove all obstructions to the free navigation of the North river and commercial intercourse with Fort Orange. If Van Twiller should again plant guns near that river, they were to be seized; and if any person dared to exact tolls, or salt duty, on any rivers, islands, or harbors within the company's limits, to the in- jury of the inhabitants or traders generally, such were to be prevented by all means possible-even by force if ne- cessary-as it was the firm determination of the directors never to part with these preeminences or jurisdictions to any colonists whatsoever. *
Previous to this date Van Slechtenhorst had granted several leases for land in Katskill. But the directors re- fused to admit the patroon's pretensions to that section of country, as it had already been granted to another. In conformity with his instructions, Stuyvesant now protested against those leases, and announced his resolution to op- pose these encroachments. The authorities of Rensse- laerswyck were, consequently much embarrassed, and
* Alb. Rec. iv., 44, 46, 49, 50. 3
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Colony of Rensselaerswych.
therefore remonstrated : they had only obeyed the orders of their superiors in Holland: "as two opposite things can not be made to approximate unless one give way," it is easy to see how impossible it had become for them to per- form their duty according to their oaths. "It is unbecom- ing natives of the United Netherlands," they added, "to loosen the bond of union by which they are joined ; on the contrary, they ought to use all possible means to tighten it." They therefore requested the director-general to de- fer further proceedings in the matter, until they should communicate with their superiors, and promised in the meanwhile neither to send nor allow to be sent any settlers or cattle to the land in dispute. Thus was impeded the early settlement of the present county of Greene.
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