USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. II > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
Van Slechtenhorst's reign was now evidently drawing to a close. For four years he had manfully defended the rights of his " orphan patroon," and unflinchingly contended against the invasions of superior force. But what, in those days, could avail in New Netherland the opposition of one man against the attacks of the executive ? Nine armed soldiers burst into his house, and, without exhibiting any authority for the act, dragged him, a prisoner, "against all his protests," to Fort Orange, " where neither his child- ren, his master, nor his friends, were allowed to speak to him," whilst " his furs, his clothes, and his meat were left hanging to the door-posts," and his house and papers were abandoned to the mercy of his enemies. He was next conveyed on board a sloop lying in the river, and removed, in charge of a guard, to New Amsterdam, " to be torment- ed, in his sickness and old age, with unheard of and insuffer- able prosecutions, by those serving a Christian government, professing the same religion, and living under the same authority."*
Jan Baptist Van Rensselaer succeeded Van Slechten- horst as director, and Gerrit Swart was appointed sheriff or schout-fiscaal of Rensselaerswyck in his place. Pro- vision was made at the same time for the regular preach- ing of the gospel, and the conversion of the heathen, by the appointment of the Rev. Gideon Schaets as minister of- the colonie, at a salary of eight hundred guilders, or $320
van dien, door den Eerentfesten ende Achtbaeren Heer, Myn Heeren, de Heer Directeur Generaal en Randen van Nieuw Nederlandt, den 10 Aprilis A0. 1652, in loco synde gestels. Mortgage Book A, in County Clerk's Office, Albany.
* Slechtenhorst's Memorial, MS. It has been stated that the com- mander was lodged in the keep at New Amsterdam. This was not so. He was placed under what was called " civil arrest." Some of his time was passed at Staten Island, some at Breukelen.
4
38
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
per annum. This stipend was afterwards raised to one thousand, and then to thirteen hundred guilders .*
Information was received by the patroon and co-directors of Rensselaerswyck of the high-handed measures which Stuyvesant had exercised in the early part of this year in regard of their colonie. They thereupon sent in to the Amsterdam chamber a remonstrance, complaining, 1st. That the director-general had dared to intrude in their colonie, and had commanded the patroon's flag to be haul- ed down; 2d. That he had caused timber to be cut on the complainants' lands, without either their knowledge or per- mission ; 3d. 'That he had claimed for the company the right of jurisdiction and property over all the land within a circumference of one hundred and fifty rods of Fort Orange, where he had erected a court of justice, notwithstanding the soil had been purchased from the right owners by the patroon, with the jurisdictions thereunto belonging ; where- by the colonists were reduced to a state of dependency, absolved from their oaths, " transformed from freemen to vassals, and incited to disregard their former solemn com- pacts and their lord and master ;" 4th. He had, moreover, discharged sheriff Swart from his oath of office, and obliged him to swear allegiance to the company; 5th. Demanded copies of all the rolls, protocols, judgments, resolutions and papers relative to the colonie and its affairs; 6th. Ordered his commissary to force Van Slechtenhorst's house, and to toll the bell at the publication of his illegal placards ; 7th. Arrested by force and arms the director of the colonie; had him conveyed to the Manhattans, where he illegally detained him in custody ; Sth. Taxed the colonie to swell the company's revenues; licensed those who quit the pa- troon's service to sell articles of contraband to the savages ; and in addition to the exaction of the tithes, had raised a tax by farming out the excise on wines and beers-" thus in every respect and everywhere using violence and in- fringing rights, jurisdictions and pre-eminences, apparently
't The power of attorney to J. B. Van Rensselaer is dated 8th May, 1652. Gerrit Swart was born in 1607, and was, consequently, 45 years of age when he came to New Netherland. He filled the office of sheriff in Albany, to 1670, when Capt. Salisbury was elected his successor, by a majority of the burghers of that city.
.
39
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
determined to take our goods and blood, contrary to all laws, human and divine; declaring, over and above all this, that he is continued in his administration solely in the hope and consideration that before his departure he should ruin this colonie."* The patroon and co-directors solemnly avowed their intention " to employ all lawful remedies to preserve and maintain their rights and privi- leges, and to protect their colonists against such lawless aggressions," and insisted that the West India Company should forthwith order their director to abandon these at- tempts, repeal his placards, and compensate for the injuries which he had inflicted. But if the directors were of opin- ion that they had any just cause of complaint, they were then called on to appear in any court of justice to make good their pretensions before " our common judges." Fail- ing to answer categorically the above accusations within four and-twenty hours, the interested parties threatened " to complain where they expect they shall be heard."
The director answered, in vague terms, that they were unwilling to commit an infraction on any person's privi- leges ; but this not being deemed satisfactory, the patroon and his friends addressed a memorial to their high mighti- nesses the states general, of whom they demanded justice and redress. This paper was immediately sent to the de- partment of Amsterdam, who, after considerable delay, re- turned a reply to some of the charges brought against their agent in New Netherland. They denied all knowledge of the patroon's flag having been hauled down ; of his colo- nists having been released from their oaths; of any of his lots having been taken away ; and of the establishment of a court of justice in Fort Orange. The timber was re- moved from a place so defined as to injure no one, and all complaints against the extension of the jurisdiction of Fort Orange were without foundation. That jurisdiction was determined " before the colonie of Rensselaerswyck was
* We, the undersigned, certify that it happened in December, Anno 1651, when M. Joannes Dyckman was in conversation with us con- cerning the Heer General Petrus Stuyvesant, and the difference be- tween his honour and the colonie, that he answered thereupon, that the Heer General was continued in his office for no other purpose than
40
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
granted." "The limits of the colonie were, therefore fixed above and below the fort, under whose walls the pe- titioners were afterwards permitted to shelter themselves from the savages ; but from this concession no right or title can be imagined or acquired." Gerrit Swart was not dis- charged from his oath to the patroon. He was only obliged to take a second one to the company, " remaining subject to both masters." The demand of the rolls and papers belonging to the colonie, as well as the levying tithes and excise therein, was authorized by the charter. As Van Slechtenhorst would not " toll the bell" on the publication of the placards, it was unavoidably necessary that it should be executed by others ; and his arrest was im- peratively demanded, in order " to curb the insufferable insolence, effrontery and abuse of power, " of which he was guilty. The authorizing the sale of arms and ammu- nition to the savages was acknowledged. " It was deemed prudent that it should be now and then permitted."
Having thus disposed in one way or another, and as best they could, of the charges which were brought against them, the directors now assumed the offensive, and persented against the patroon and co-directors of Rensselaerswyck a number of counter-charges, in justification of the measures they had adopted, or as an offset to those accusations made against themselves.
They had, it was averred, exceeded their lawful limits, and were now called on to record their boundary lines in the land office of the company, otherwise the latter would have the survey made by its own orders. They had at- tempted, against all law, to extend their lines along the North river, to monopolize the trade, to the ruin of private persons. They refused to permit any vessel to pass by a certain house called Rensselaers-stein, and claimed without any foundation the privilege of staple right. They exacted seven per cent. duty on each beaver and five per cent. on other goods, enforcing these pretensions with cannon shot,
to plague the colonie. This we declare to have occurred, and are ready to confirm the same by a solemn oath. Done in the Colonie Rensselaerswyck, the 16th March, Ao. 1652. B. V. Slechtenhorst, Director; A. van Curler. Rensselaerswyck MSS.
41
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
which they discharged into yachts that refused to come to. They have endeavored, " by perverse machinations," to possess themselves of Fort Orange, and when frustrated herein, they undertook to lease lots in its vicinity and erect buildings thereupon. " They had dared to grant commis- sions to individuals to sail to the coast of Florida ;" and forbade colonists to move within the company's limits on pain of corporal punishment, confiscation of property and banishment ; to cut or cart wood for the inhabitants of Fort Orange ; to pay to the latter what they owed them ; or to appeal from any judgments over fifty guilders, as they were privileged to do. They declined to furnish any extracts of their proceedings or judgments; to make returns to writs of appeal ; to publish placards or permit such publication by others, but tear them by force from the hands of the court messengers and destroy their seals ; and if any writ be served by the company's officers, then they incite the parties summoned not to appear. Over and above all this, the oath which the colonists are compelled to take is " se- ditious and mutinous," for no notice is taken therein, either of their high mightinesses or of the company. No report has been made of the state of the colonie, as should have been annually done, nor have the instructions issued for the administration of the colonie been ever communicated, as the charter required. " From all which flow, as a na- tural consequence, an insolent and overbearing demeanor on the part of their commanders to their inhabitants; in- sufferable protests, injuries, menaces, disputes and pro- vocations against the company's ministers ; and, lastly, a general disobedience of all the company's commands and ordinances, to such a degree that they would not permit the director and council to proclaim even a day of prayer in the colonie in the same manner as in all other parts of New Netherland."*
The limits between Fort Orange and the colonie were in 1654 still undetermined. Some confusion as to jurisdic- tion necessarily ensued, to remove which the director- general called again on the patroon's agents to fix on their
* Alb. Rec. viii, 59-63, 215-221; Hol. Doc. vi, 303-306: vii, 1-24.
42
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
point of departure, as he was willing to allow them, agree- ably to the charter, four miles on one side, or two on each bank of the river, " without the limits of Fort Orange." The magistrates of the colonie being unprovided with in- structions from their superiors, requested delay, and Stuy- vesant seized an opportunity which offered, shortly after, to enlarge his jurisdiction. The court of Rensselaerswyck was about to farm the excise, and demanded how far they could collect this impost. The answer was an order to the court of Fort Orange to collect the duties on all wines, beers and spirituous liquors sold by retail " within a circuit of one thousand rods of the fort." The colonie was hereby deprived of a very important source of revenue, and fresh fuel was heaped on the old fires of litigation and trouble. As if the elements of strife were not sufficiently numerous, a claim for tenths was also put in. Counter orders were given by the patroon's officers to their vintners, to refuse the payment of the excise, on the ground that the general government defrayed none of the local charges ; and as for the tenths, " neither the inhabitants of the colonie nor those of Beverwyck could be induced either by monitions or per- suasions to pay them."*
Commissary Dyckman, whose violent demeanor might, long ere this, have justified doubts of the soundness of his mind, became now so unquestionably insane that the ma- gistrates were forced to represent his condition to the supreme council, who thereupon appointed Johannes de Decker vice-director, " to preside in Fort Orange and the village of Beverwyck, in the court of justice of the com- missaries aforesaid, to administer all the affairs of police and justice, as circumstances may require, in conformity to the instructions given by the director-general and council, and to promote these for the best service of the country and the prosperity of the inhabitants."
Shortly after the installation of the new vice-director, Father Le Moyne took occasion to pay his respects to the Dutch at Beverwyck. He was received with much respect by the Hollanders ; and the Mohawks whom he visited for the purpose of concluding a treaty, on the part of the
* Alb. Rec. iv., 213; ix., 121-125, 128, 129.
43
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
French, evinced more than ordinary gratification at seeing him .* But the Father had not well left the country when a body of one hundred of these Indians presented them- selves at Fort Orange. They were on the eve of setting forth on a war excursion against the Canada Indians, and fearing " that the French had poisoned the ears of their Dutch brothers against them," now asked the latter to re- main neuter. They complained, at the same time, that when they visited the fort, they did not experience as much hospitality and feasting as the Dutch did when they came to their castles ; they could not have the smallest repairs done to their guns unless they had wampum to pay in re- turn, which treatment was not such as a brother should receive from a brother. The authorities assured them that they should observe a perfect neutrality, as they had no concern with their quarrels with other Indians. when they visited the Mohawk country they went few in num- ber, and should their brothers observe the same rule, they should be lodged and entertained in a manner becoming their rank. In regard to the other subject of complaint, they could not interfere. Every Dutchman was obliged to earn his bread, and no man could be obliged to serve another for nothing. This being the rule among Christians, their brothers could not justly complain if they were treated as their other brethren. Presents were duly exchanged. The Indians laid there wampum belts at the feet of the white men, and the latter furnished powder and lead in return ; "all which they accepted with their customary barbarous applaudings," and departed.t
The church erected in 1643 had long since become in- adequate to the accommodation of the community, and it had been determined in the course of the preceding year to erect a new building. To assist this good work, the pa- troon and co-directors subscribed one thousand guilders, or four hundred dollars,# and fifteen hundred guilders were
* Relation, 1655, 1656., 7-16.
t Present on this occasion, Commissary De Decker and the magis- trates of both the courts, viz .: Rutger Jacobson, Andries Herperts, Volckert Jansen, J. B. van Rensselaer, A. van Curler, J. van Twiller, J. Hap, H. Jochemsen, and Philip Pietersen Schuyler, &c. Fort Or- ange Rec.
# Rensselaerswyck MSS.
44
Colony of Rensselaerswyck
appropriated from the fines imposed by the court at Fort Orange. A site, at the junction of what is now State street and Broadway, was selected, and in the early part of the summer, Rutger Jacobsen, one of the magistrates, laid the corner-stone of the sacred edifice, in presence of the au- thorities, both of the town and colonie, and of the assembled inhabitants. A temporary pulpit was, at first, erected for the use of the minister, but the settlers subscribed twenty- five beavers to purchase a more splendid one in Holland. The Chamber at Amsterdam added seventy-five guilders to this sum, for " the beavers were greatly damaged ;" and " with a view to inspire the congregation with more ardent zeal," presented them in the course of the next year with a bell " to adorn their newly constructed little church."*
The difficulties about the excise in the colonie remaining still unsettled, orders were sent up by the director and council to arrest and convey the contumacious tapsters to New Amsterdam. De Decker accordingly invited one of them to his house, where, on his arrival, he made him prisoner. The sloop in which he was to be conveyed down the river not being ready to sail until the next day, De Decker, for greater security, lodged his prisoner through the night in the same bed with himself. Through the con- nivance of the soldiers on guard, the tapster contrived to escape from the fort on the morrow, and repaired forthwith to the patroon's house. Hither De Decker followed and ordered him to return to the fort, but he refused. The other tapsters now made common cause with the fugitive, and arming themselves, remained together to protect each other from the emissaries of the law. The vice director, esteeming it an absurdity to suffer an asylum for fugitives from justice to exist in the very centre of his jurisdiction was preparing to execute his orders by force, when John B. van Rensselaer pledged himself to repair to the Man- hattans and arrange the matter with the supreme authori- ties. To avoid bloodshed, De Decker acquiesced in this proposal ; but another order arrived a few days afterwards,
* Alb. Rec. iv., 233. A fragment of this little bell is still in pos- session of one of the Dutch reformed churches at Albany. It bears the inscription " Anno 1601."
45
Colony of Rensselaerswyck
directing him to send down the tavern-keepers forthwith. In obedience to these instructions, he proceeded with an armed posse to the houses of the parties, where he again met Van Rensselaer and " his associates." He summoned them, in the name of the director and council to surrender and accompany him to the fort. "Whereupon they each answered, ' There sits the Lord he will answer for me.' " Van Rensselaer acquiesced herein, and again bound him- self to produce the tapsters when required. De Decker, finding it useless to continue the discussion, protested, and Mr. Van Rensselaer proceeded to New Amsterdam. Here, on his arrival, he presented a strong remonstrance against the course which the government was pursuing. Their exactions, he insisted, were contrary to the sixth article of the charter. Instead of the directors having any claim on the patroon, the contrary was the fact. The company had guarantied to defend the colonists against all violence, yet the latter had thrice come forward, at great expense, to assist Fort Orange : first, during the war with the French savages; secondly, in the troubles with the English ; and lately during the unhappy misunderstanding with the Indians around the Manhattans. Whenever there was any prospect of trouble, they were the first to appease the savages by presents. The losses which the latter inflicted on the colonie, by the killing of cows, horses, and other cattle, amounted annually to several thousand guilders ; and, in addition, the patroon and co-directors mantained, at their own expense, all the ministers and officers of the colonie. In the face of these facts, it was manifestly un- just to seize now on the excise, and to insist on the pay- ment, also, of tenths. However, to prevent all further disturbance, he was willing to permit the payment of the former, under protest, if the director and council pledged themselves to refund the money, should a final decision be given against them by impartial judges, either here or in Holland.
This remonstrance was, at once, pronounced " frivolous" by the director-general and council, whose " high office and quality permit them not to stoop so low as to enter the lists with their subjects and vassals, much less to answer their frivolous and unfounded protests with a pusillanimous
46
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
diffidence." Their duty was rather " to correct such absurd assertions, and to punish the offenders." Wherefore, as a public example, the protestor was fined twenty guilders.
Having thus, as they considered, vindicated their dignity, Van Rensselaer was informed that his colonists were bound equally with other settlers in the province to contribute to the public burthens, not only by the very nature of civilized government, but by Art. xviii, of the charter of 1629; and this they ought to do, without suspecting any infraction on their privileges or jurisdiction. The excise due from this colonie, which amounted, by estimate, to fifteen hundred guilders, must therefore be paid, together with all damages which may have accrued by the delay. The tavern-keepers must, moreover, submit to the guaging of their stock as often as the same may be required ; and as John Baptist van Rensselaer was, himself, the original cause that the excise is resisted, he was called on to give a bond of three thousand guilders, for the personal appearance of the " con- tumacious tavern-keepers ;" otherwise he was to remain at the Manhattans under civil arrest.
The director and council also insisted that the colonie was obliged to pay the tithes. If Mr. Van Rensselaer would agree with some of his colonists on a round sum, in lieu of these, it would be accepted until instructions should be received from Holland ; if the directors or arbitrators should decide afterwards that the colonie was not subject to tenths, the amount paid should be reimbursed. The assertions that the colonists assisted the company in its difficulties " were made, but not proved." It is true they promised to assist in putting Fort Orange in a state of re- pair, at the time of the troubles with the English ; but it was not less true, that after having given three or four days' labor, " they left us to shift for ourselves." The director and council were entirely ignorant of being under any obligations to them " during the late troubles." This re- joinder was followed by a proclamation, ordering all the towns and colonies in the province not to remove their crops before they settled with the company's commissaries for the tenths. A copy of this placard was sent for pub- lication to the authorities of Rensselaerswyck, but they refused to publish it.
47
Colony of Rensselaerswyck.
It was during this misunderstanding that the " contuma- cious tapsters," having been guarantied by the director and court of the colonie against damage, arrived at the Manhattans to answer for their conduct. The plea of re- sidence in the colonie and of acting according to superior orders availed them nothing. One was fined two hundred pounds, failing payment of which he was to be banished ; the other was mulcted eight hundred guilders. The pa- troon subsequently made good both these fines The dif- ficulties about the tenths were not settled until July, 1658, when the colonie compounded for them by the yearly pay- ment of three hundred schepels of wheat. Commissary De Decker being now about to return to Holland, resigned his office, and Johannes La Montagne, hitherto one of the council, was commissioned vice-director of Fort Orange. Johannes Provoost became secretary, and Ludovicus Cobbes court messenger .* Vhe vice-dtrector's house at this period was an old building within the fort, twenty-six feet nine inches long, Rhineland measure ; two stories high, constructed of boards one inch thick, with a roof " in the form of a pavilion," coverd with old shingles. Under this house was a cellar " as long as the house was broad." The first floor was divided into two compartments. At the north end was a chamber, sixteen or seventeen feet broad ; at the south end an entry ten feet wide. The space on the second floor was one undivided room, directly under the roof, without a chimney, to which access was had by a straight ladder, through a trap-door. Here the magistrates administered justice : this was the first court-house of the present city of Albany.
Fort Orange was, until the year 1661, the frontier town on the northern and western borders of the province. Beyond that all was " the far west," little known and less explored, wholly abandoned to the wild savage or wilder beasts of prey. But civilization, that giant before whom beasts and savages were alike fated to disappear, and who was never
* Alb. Rec. x., 68; xi., 409, 410, 415-420, 445-447, 466 470, 488 -499; xiii., 72; 221-223; xviii., 83; Rensselaerswyck MSS .; Fort Orange Rec. The number of furs exported this year from Fort Orange and vicinity, amounted to 34,840 beaver, and 300 otter skins.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.