USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. I > Part 2
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In 1640, the English, who had overspread the eastern part of Long-Island, advanced to Oysterbay. Kieft broke up their settlement in 1642, and fitted out two sloops to drive the English out of Schuylkill, of which the Marylanders had lately possessed them- selves. The instructions, dated May 22, to Jan Jan- sen Alpendam, who commanded in that enterprise, are upon record, and strongly assert the right of the Dutch both to the soil and trade there. The English from the eastward shortly after sent deputies to New-Amsterdam, for the accommodation of their
See Note C.
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disputes about limits, to whom the Dutch offered the following conditions, entered in their books exactly in these words :
" Conditiones à D. Directore Gen. senatuys Novi Belgii, Dominis e Wytingh atque Hill, Delegatis a nobili Senatu Hartfordiensi, oblatæ :
" Pro agro nostro Hartfordiensi, annuo persolvent Præpotentiff. D. D. Ordinibus Fœd. Provinciarum Belgicarum aut eorum vicariis, decimam partem re- ventus agrorum, tum aratro tum ligone, aliove cul- torum medio; pomariis, hortisq : oleribus dicatis, jugerum Hollandium non excedentibus exceptis ; aut decimarum loco, pretium nobile postea constitu- endum, tam diu quàm diu possessores ejusdum agri futuri erunt. Actum in arce Amstelodamensi in novo Belgio, Die Julii 9, Anno Christi 1642."
We have no account that the English acceded to these proposals, nor is it probable, considering their superior strength, that they ever did: on the contrary they daily extended their possessions, and, in 1643, the colonies of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New-Haven entered into a league both against the Dutch and Indians, and grew so powerful as to meet shortly after, upon a design of extirpating the former. The Massachusetts Bay
declined this enterprise, which occasioned a letter to Oliver Cromwell from William Hooke, dated at New Haven, November 3, 1653, in which he com- plains of the Dutch, for supplying the natives with arms and ammunition, begs his assistance with two or three frigates, and that letters might be sent to the eastern colonies, commanding them to join in an expedition against the Dutch colony, Oliver's affairs
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would not admit of so distant an attempt ;*- but Richard Cromwell afterwards drew up instructions to his commanders for subduing the Dutch here, and wrote letters to the English American govern- ments for their aid-copies of which are preserved in Thurloe's Collection, vol. I. p. 721, &c.
Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch governor ; and though he had a commission in 1646, he did not begin his administration till May 27, 1647 .- The inroads and claims upon his government kept him constantly employed. New-England on the east, and Maryland on the west, alarmed his fears by their daily increase; and about the same time captain Forrester, a Scotchman, claimed Long- Island for the dowager of Stirling. The Swedes too were encroaching upon Delaware : through the unskilfulness of the mate, one Deswyck, a Swedish captain and supercargo, arrived in Raritan river ; the ship was seized, and himself made a prisoner at New-Amsterdam. Stuyvesant's reasons were these :- In 1651, the Dutch built fort Casimir, now called Newcastle, on Delaware. The Swedes, in- deed, claimed the country, and Printz their governor formally protested against the works. Risingh, his successor, under the disguise of friendship, came be- fore the fortress, fired two salutes, and landed thirty men, who were entertained by the commandant as friends; but he had no sooner discovered the weak- ness of the garrison, than he made himself master of it, seizing also upon all the ammunition, houses, and other effects of the West-India Company, and com-
See note D.
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pelling several of the people to swear allegiance to Christina, queen of Sweden. The Dutch, in 1655, prepared to retake fort Casimir. Stuyvesant com- manded the forces in person, and arrived with them in Delaware the 9th of September. A few days after, he anchored before the garrison, and landed his troops. The fortress was immediately demanded as Dutch property : Suen Scutz, the commandant, desired leave to consult Risingh, which being refused, he surrendered the 16th of September, on articles of capitulation. The whole strength of the place consisted of four cannon, fourteen pounders, five swivels, and a parcel of small arms, which were all delivered to the conquered. Fort Christini was commanded by Risingh. Stuyvesant came before it, and Risingh surrendered it upon terms the twenty- fifth of September. The country being thus sub- dued, the Dutch governor issued a proclamation in favour of such of the inhabitants as would submit to the new government, and about thirty Swedes swore " fidelity and obedience to the States General, the lords directors of the West-India Company, their subalterns of the province of New-Netherlands, and the director general then, or thereafter, to be estab- lished." Risingh and one Elswych, a trader of note, were ordered to France or England, and the rest of the Swedish inhabitants to Holland, and from thence to Gottenberg. The Swedes being thus extirpated, the Dutch became possessed of the west side of Delaware bay, now called the three lower counties.
This country was afterwards under the command of lieutenant governors, subject to the control of, and commissioned by, the director general at New-
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Amsterdam. Johan Paul Jaquet was the first vice- director, or lieutenant governor, of South River .- His successors were Alricks Hinojossa, and Wil- liam Beekman. The posterity of the last remains amongst us to this day. These lieutenants had power to grant lands, and their patents make a part of the ancient titles of the present possessors. Alrick's commission, of the twelfth of April 1657, shows the extent of the Dutch claim on the west side of Delaware at that time. He was appointed " director-general of the colony of the South River of New-Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimir, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the lands depending thereon, according to the first purchase and deed of release of the natives, dated July 19, 1651, begin- ning at the west side of the Minquaa, or Christina Kill, in the Indian language named Suspecough, to the mouth of the bay or river called Bompt-hook, in the Indian language Cannaresse ; and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaas' land, with all the streams, &c. appurtenances, and de- pendencies." Of the country northward of the Kill, no mention is made. Orders, in 1658, were given to William Beekman to purchase cape Hinlopen from the natives, and to settle and fortify it, which, for want of goods, was not done till the succeeding year.
In the year 1659, fresh troubles arose from the Maryland claim to the lands on South river; and in September colonel Nathaniel Utie, as commissioner from Fendal, lord Baltimore's governor, arrived at Niewer Amstel, from Maryland. The country was ordered to be evacuated, lord Baltimore claiming all VOL 1-2
-
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the land between thirty-eight and forty degrees of latitude, from sea to sea. Beekman and his coun- cil demanded evidence of his lordship's right, and offered to prove the States General's grant to the West-India Company, theirs to them, payment for the land, and possession ; and upon the whole, pro- posed to refer the controversy to the republics of England and Holland, praying at the same time, three weeks to consult Stuyvesant, the general. The commissioner, notwithstanding, a few days after, warned him to draw off beyond the latitude of forty degrees ; but Beekman disregarded the threat. Colonel Utie thereupon returned to Maryland, and an immediate invasion was expected.
Early in the spring of the year 1660, Nicholas Varleth, and Brian Newton, were despatched from fort Amsterdam to Virginia, in quality of ambassa- dors, with full power to open a trade, and conclude a league offensive and defensive against the barba- rians. William Berckly, the governor, gave them a kind reception, and approved their proposal of peace and commerce, which Sir Henry Moody was sent here to agree upon and perfect. Four articles to that purpose were drawn up and sent to the governor for confirmation. Stuyvesant artfully endeavoured, at this treaty, to procure an acknowledgment of the Dutch title to the country, which Berckly as carefully avoided. This was his answer :
"Sir : I have received the letter you were pleased to send me, by Mr. Mills, his vessel, and shall be ever ready to comply with you in all acts of neigh- bourly friendship and amity. But truly sir you
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desire me to do that, concerning your titles and claims to land in this northern part of America, which I am in no capacity to do; for I am but a servant of the Assembly : neither do they arrogate any power to themselves, farther than the miserable distractions of England force them to. For when God shall be pleased in his mercy to take away and dissipate the unnatural divisions of their native country, they will immediately return to their own professed obedience. What then they should do in matters of contract, donation, or confession of right, would have little strength or signification ; much more presumptive and impertinent would it be in me to do it without their knowledge or assent. We shall very shortly meet again, and then, if to them you signify your desires, I shall labour all I can to get you a satisfactory answer.
" I am, sir, " Your humble servant, " WILLIAM BERCKLY.
" Virginia, August 20, 1660."
Governor Stuyvesant was a faithful servant of the West-India Company : this is abundantly proved by his letters to them, exciting their care of the colony. In one, dated April 20, 1660, which is very long and pathetic, representing the desperate situation of affairs on both sides of New-Netherland, he writes, " Your honors imagine that the troubles in England will prevent any attempt on these parts : alas! they are ten to one in number to us, and are able with- out any assistance, to deprive us of the country when they please." On the twenty-fifth of June, the same
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year, he informs them, " that the demands, encroach- ments, and usurpations of the English, gave the people here great concern. The right to both rivers, says he, by purchase and possession, is our own, without dispute. We apprehend that they, our more powerful neighbours, lay their claims under a royal patent, which we are unable hitherto to do in your name."* Colonel Utie being unsuccessful the last year in his embassy for the evacuation of the Dutch possessions on Delaware, lord Baltimore, in the autumn of 1660, applied by captain Neal, his agent, to the West-India Company, in Holland, for an order on the inhabitants of South river to sub- mit to his authority, which they absolutely refused, asserting their right to that part of their colony.
The English, from New-England, were every day encroaching upon the Dutch. The following letter, from Stuyvesant to the West-India Company, dated July 21, 1661, shows the state of the colony at that time, on both sides : "We have not yet begun the fort on Long-Island, near Oysterbay, because our neighbours lay the boundaries a mile and a half more westerly than we do, and the more' as your honors, by your advice of December 24th, are not inclined to stand by the treaty of Hartford, and propose to sue for redress on Long Island and the Fresh Water river, by means of the States' ambas-
* If we should argue from this letter, that the West-India Company had no grants of the New-Netherlands from the States General, as some suppose, we discredit De Laet's history, dedicated to the States in 1624, as well as all the Dutch writers, and even Stuyvesant himself, who, in his letter to Richard Nicolls, at the surrender, asserts, that they had a grant, and showed it under seal to the English deputies. But the genuine construction of the Dutch governor's letter, is this, that in 1660, he had not the patent to the West-India Company, to lay before the English in America, who disputed the Dutch right to this country.
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sador. Lord Sterling is said to solicit a confirma- tion of his right to all Long-Island, and importunes the present king to confirm the grant made by his royal father, which is affirmed to be already obtain- ed. But more probable, and material, is the advice from Maryland, that lord Baltimore's patent, which contains the south part of South River, is confirmed by the king, and published in print ; that lord Balti- more's natural brother, who is a rigid papist, being made governor there, has received lord Baltimore's claim and protest to your honors in council, (where- with he seems but little satisfied,) and has now more hopes of success. We have advice from England, that there is an invasion intended against these parts, and the country solicited of the king, the duke and the parliament, is to be annexed to their dominions; and, for that purpose, they desire three or four frigates, persuading the king that the company possessed and held this country under an unlawful title, having only obtained of king James leave for a watering place on Staten-Island, in 1623."
In August, 1663, a ship arrived from Holland at South river, with new planters, ammunition, and implements of husbandry. Lord Baltimore's son landed a little after, and was entertained by Beek- man at Niewer Amstel. This was Charles, the son of Cecilius, who, in 1661, had procured a grant and confirmation of the patent passed in favour of his father in 1632. The papistical principles of the Baltimore family, the charge of colonizing, the par- liamentary war with Charles I. and Oliver's usurpa- tion, all conspired to impede the settlement of Ma- ryland, till the year 1661; and these considerations
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account for the extension of the Dutch limits on the west side of Delaware bay.
While the Dutch were contending with their Eu- ropean neighbours, they had the art always to main- tain a friendship with the natives, until the war which broke out this year with the Indians at Esopus, now Ulster county. It continued, however, but a short season. The Five Nations never gave them any disturbance, which was owing to their continual wars with the French, who settled at Canada in 1603. I have before observed, that Oliver Crom- well was applied to for his aid in the reduction of this country, and that his son Richard took some steps towards accomplishing the scheme; the work was however reserved for the reign of Charles II. an indolent prince, and entirely given up to pleasure, who was driven to it, more perhaps by the differen- ces then subsisting between England and Holland, than by any motive that might reflect honor upon his prudence, activity, and public spirit. Before this expedition, the king granted a patent on the twelfth of March, 1664, to his brother the duke of York and Albany, for sundry tracts of land in America, the boundaries of which, because they have given rise to important and animated debates, it may not be improper to transcribe :
"All that part of the main land of New-England, beginning at a certain place, called or known by the name of St. Croix, next adjoining to New Scotland, in America, and from thence extending along the sea-coast, unto a certain place called Pemaquie, or Pemequid, and so up the river thereof, to the fur- thest head of the same, as it tendeth northward ;
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extending from thence to the river of Kimbequin, and so upwards, by the shortest course, to the river Canada, northward; and also all that island, or islands, commonly called by the several name or names of Meitewacks, or Long-Island, situate and being towards the west of Cape Cod and the narrow Higansetts, abutting upon the main land between the two rivers there called or known by the several names of Connecticut and Hudson's river, together also with the said river called Hudson's river, and all the land from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay, and also all those several islands, called or known by the names of Martin's vineyard, or Nantuck's, or otherwise Nan- tucket : together, &c."
Part of this tract was conveyed by the duke to John lord Berkley, baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret, of Saltrum in Devon, who were then mem- bers of the king's council. The lease was for the consideration of ten shillings, and dated the twenty- third of June, 1664. The re-lease, dated the next day, mentions no particular sum of money, as a consideration for the grant of the lands, which have the following description :
" All that tract of land, adjacent to New-England, and lying and being to the westward of Long-Island, and bounded on the east part by the main sea and partly by Hudson's river ; and hath upon the west Delaware bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main as far as Cape May, at the mouth of Delaware bay: and to the northward, as far as the northernmost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, which is forty-one degrees and
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forty minutes of latitude : which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of Nova Cæsarea, or New-Jersey."
The New-Netherlands became divided into New- Jersey, so called after the isle of Jersey, in compli- ment to Sir George Carteret, whose family came from thence ; and New-York, which took its name in honour of the duke of York.
The Dutch inhabitants, by the vigilance of their governor, were not unapprised of the designs of the English court against them, for their records testify that on the eighth of July, " the general received intelligence from one Thomas Willet, an English- man, that an expedition was preparing in England against this place, consisting of two frigates of forty and fifty guns, and a fly boat of forty guns, having on board three hundred soldiers, and each frigate one hundred and fifty men, and that they then lay at Portsmouth waiting for a wind." News arrived also from Boston, that they had already set sail. - The burgomasters were thereupon called into coun- cil; the fortress ordered to be put into a posture of defence; and spies sent to Milford and West- chester for intelligence. Boston was in the secret of the expedition, for the general court had, in May preceding, passed a vote for a supply of provisions, towards refreshing the ships on their arrival. They were four in number, and resolved to rendezvous at Gardener's Island in the sound, but parted in a fog about the twentieth of July. Richard Nicolls and Sir George Carteret, two of the commissioners, were on board the Guyny, and fell in first with Cape Cod. The winds having blown from the south-west, the
.
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other ships, with sir Robert Carr and Mr. Maverick, the remaining commissioners, were rightly conclud- ed to be driven to the eastward. After despatching a letter to Mr. Winthrop, the governor of Connecti- cut, requesting his assistance, colonel Nicolls pro- ceeded to Nantasket, and thence to Boston. The other ships got into Piscataway. John Endicot, a very old man, was then governor of Boston, and in- capable of business. The commissioners, therefore, had a conference with the council, and earnestly im- plored the assistance of that colony. Colonel Nicolls and Sir George Carteret, in their letter from Boston, to Sir H. Bennet, secretary of state, complain much of the backwardness of that province. The reasons urged in their excuse, were poverty and the season, it being the time of harvest ; but perhaps disaffec- tion to the Stuart family, whose persecuting fury had driven them from their native country, was the true spring of their conduct. The king's success in the reduction of the Dutch, evidently opened him a door, to come at his enemies in New-England, who were far from being few ;* and whether this considera- tion might not have given rise to the project itself, I leave to the conjectures of others.
On the 27th of July, Nicolls and Carteret made a formal request in writing. " That the government of Boston would pass an Act to furnish them with
* T. Dixwel, Esq. one of Charles I.'s judges, and excepted out of the general pardon, lived many years at New-Haven, (incog.) in quality of a country mer- chant : Sir Edmond Andross, in one of his tours through the colony of Con- necticut, saw him there at church, and strongly suspected him to be one of the regicides. In his last illness, he revealed himself to the minister of the town, and ordered a small stone to be set at the head of his grave, which I have often seen there, inscribed, T. D. Esq. While at New-Haven, he went under the name of John Davis.
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armed men, who should begin their march to the Manhattans, on the twentieth of August ensuing, and promised, that if they could get other assistance, they would give them an account of it." The gover- nor and council answered, that they would assem- ble the general court, and communicate the proposal to them.
From Boston, a second letter was written to gov- ernor Winthrop, in Connecticut, dated the twenty- ninth of July, in which he was informed, that the other ships were then arrived, and would sail with the first fair wind, and he was desired to meet them at the west end of Long-Island.
One of the ships entered the bay of the North River several days before the rest ; and as soon as they were all come up, Stuyvesant sent a letter dated the 19th-30th of August, at fort Anill, directed to the commanders of the English frigates, by John Declyer, one of the chief council; the Rev. John Me- gapolensis, minister ; Paul Lunder Vander Grilft, Major ; and Mr. Samuel Megapolensis, doctor in phy- sic, with the utmost civility, to desire the reason of their approach, and continuing in the harbor of the Naijarlij, without giving notice to the Dutch, which (he writes) they ought to have done. Colonel Nicolls answered the next day with a summons : "To the honourable the Governors and Chief Council at the Manhattans.
" Right worthy Sirs : I received a letter by some worthy persons intrusted by you, bearing date the 19th-30th of August, desiring to know the intent of the approach of the English frigates; in return of which, I think it fit to let you know, that his majesty
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of Great Britain, whose right and title to these parts of America is unquestionable, well knowing how much it derogates from his crown and dignity, to suf- fer any foreigners, how nearsoever they be allied, to usurp a dominion, and, without his majesty's royal consent, to inhabit in these or any other of his majes- ty's territories, hath commanded me, in his name, to require a surrender of all such forts, towns, or places of strength, which are now possessed by the Dutch, under your commands ; and in his majesty's name, I do demand the town, situate on the island, common- ly known by the name of Manhatoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging, to be rendered unto his majesty's obedience and protection, into my hands. I am further commanded to assure you, and every respective inhabitant of the Dutch nation, that his majesty being tender of the effusion of christian blood, doth by these presents, confirm and secure to every man his estate, life and liberty, who shall readily submit to his government. And all those who shall oppose his majesty's gracious intention, must expect all the miseries of a war, which they bring upon themselves. I shall expect your answer by these gentlemen, colonel George Carteret, one of his ma- jesty's commissioners in America ; captain Robert Needham, captain Edward Groves, and Mr. Thomas Delavall, whom you will entertain with such civility as is due to them, and yourselves, and yours shall receive the same, from, worthy sirs,
Your very humble servant,
RICHARD NICOLLS.
Dated on board his majesty's ship, the Guyny,
riding before Naych, August 20-31, 1664."
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Mr. Stuyvesant promised an answer to the sum- mons the next morning, and in the mean time con- vened the council and burgomasters. The Dutch governor was a good soldier, and had lost a leg in the service of the States. He would willingly have made a defence ; and refused a sight of the sum- mons, both to the inhabitants and burgomasters, lest the easy terms offered, might induce them to capitu- late. The latter, however, insisted upon a copy, that they might communicate it to the late magistrates and principal burghers. They called together the inhabitants at the Stadt-House, and acquainted them with the governor's refusal. Governor Winthrop at the same time wrote to the director and his coun- cil, strongly recommending a surrender. On the twenty-second of August, the burgomasters came again into council, and desired to know the contents of the English message from governor Winthrop, which Stuyvesant still refused. They continued their importunity ; and he, in a fit of anger, tore it to pieces : upon which, they protested against the act, and all its consequences. Determined upon a de- fence of the country, Stuyvesant wrote a letter in answer to the summons, which, as it is historical of the Dutch claim, will doubtless be acceptable to the reader. The following is an exact transcript of the record : .
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