USA > New York > New York City > The story of the city of New York > Part 3
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
gotten the kindness shown the Pilgrims in Holland, but that for the current year they were well supplied with necessaries; "thereafter " he would be glad to trade " if the rates were reasonable." At the same time he expressed a doubt as to the propriety of the Dutch traffic with the Indians on English territory. Director Minuit replied promptly, and, as evidence of good-will, sent a "rundlet of sugar and two Hol- land cheeses " ; but he firmly maintained the right of the Dutch to trade in the disputed territory. Governor Bradford, in his reply, modestly disclaimed the titles bestowed by his "worthy and loving " brother of New Netherlands as being " over high " and beyond his deserts, but asked that an ambassador be sent to confer on the matter. Isaac de Rasières, the secretary, was chosen for this delicate and im- portant mission. Now Rasières was by nature a very presentable man, and we may be sure that on this occasion he was made to appear at his best. He donned his long coat with its silver buttons, his vel- vet breeches, and black silk stockings, slipped on his military boots, thrust his sword into its sash, and with a noble retinue of trumpeters and men-at-arms, marched down to the company's dock, where the barque Nassau, neatly painted and furnished, and loaded with wampum, a chest of sugar, and " cloth of three sorts and colors," was waiting to receive him. Of the voyage we have, happily, a minute account by de Rasières himself, given his patron, Samuel Bloemmaert, in Holland.
The Nassau sailed through Long Island Sound, we learn, bravely flying the orange, white, and blue
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PETER MINUIT.
flag at her peak, threaded the island passages of Nar- ragansett Bay, and then ran " east by north fourteen miles to Frenchman's Point, where in a little harbor where a stream came in the English had an out- post." This was the present Manomet, in the town of Sandwich, at the head of Buzzard's Bay, on the south side of the isthmus connecting Cape Cod with the mainland, and which will be shortly the southern terminus of the Cape Cod ship canal. Plymouth was twenty miles north, across the isthmus "four or five miles" then by boat up the coast. At Mano- met the Nassau anchored, while the ambassador de- spatched a trumpeter to Governor Bradford with a message saying he had come in a ship to visit him and to report to him "the good will and favor which the Honorable Lords of the American West India Company had toward him." He mentioned the cloth of three sorts and colors, the chest of white sugar, and the seawan (wampum), that they might trade, and begged the Governor to send a convey- ance for him, as he had not walked so far "in three or four years." Governor Bradford accordingly sent a boat for him, and he came " honorably attended by a noise of trumpets," as the Governor himself records. De Rasières spent several days in the village courte- ously entertained by Governor Bradford, and laid the foundation of a very lucrative trade between the two lone colonies. He gives in his letter a graphic de- scription of Plymouth, and of the customs of its people. Among other pleasant details he tells us how the Pilgrims attended church.
" They assemble by beat of drum, each with his mus-
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
ket or firelock, in front of the captain's (Miles Standish's) door ; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor in a long robe ; beside him on the right hand the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain (Miles Standish) with his side arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand, and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him."
The secretary's mission seems to have been success- ful in every particular. The Pilgrims were much pleased with his genteel appearance and courteous behavior, and when he returned in triumph to New Amsterdam he bore a letter from Governor Bradford to his " very loving and worthy friends and Christian neighbors," the Dutch, assuring them of his disposi- tion to trade, and of his great regard and friendship.
The little colony prospered, however, without Eng- lish trade. Six farms or " boweries " were opened . by the company in the natural meadows along the shores of the East River, which were stocked with cattle, goats, hogs, and sheep, and tilled by its serv- ants. Ships were continually arriving from the father-land, bringing colonists, cattle, and household goods. By 1628 the number of inhabitants had risen to two hundred and seventy. In 1629 the imports amounted to 113,000 guilders (about $45,200), * and
* A guilder, strictly speaking, was worth forty-one and a-half cents. A stuyver, two cents. Wampum, which soon became the circulating medium, four beads for a stuyver. A braided string a fathom long, four guilders. Beaver skins, also used as currency, were at first worth three dollars of our money, though subject to fluctuation.
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PETER MINUIT.
the exports to 130,000. The company, however, was not satisfied with this progress, nor with the rich future it promised. The expense of colo- nizing the new country, under the liberal terms granted emigrants, was very great, and the directors now perfected a plan by which this outlay might be met, in part at least, while their privileges should be retained.
There were many wealthy merchants among their stockholders, who, it was thought, would value a title and an estate. To these men they said, in effect :
" We have a vast territory in America lying along the Mauritius River (the Dutch name of the Hudson) and on the shores of the sea. To each of you who will, at his own expense, establish a colony there we will freely grant these privileges : an estate extending sixteen miles along the one bank of a navigable river, or eight miles on both banks, and stretching inland as far as you can explore ; a title, the title of patroon or feudal chief ; exempt you and your people for ten years from taxation : grant you freedom in trade, except in furs, which we reserve to our- selves, and full property rights ; protect you from ene- mies, and supply you with negro servants. You may take up this land anywhere but on Manhattan Island, which we reserve to ourselves. . You shall forever possess and enjoy these lands, with the fruits, rights, minerals, rivers, and fountains, the supreme authority and jurisdiction, the fishing, fowling, and grinding ; and if you shall so prosper as to found cities, you shall have authority to establish for them officers and magistrates. In return you must agree to satisfy the Indians for the land taken ; to plant a colony of fifty souls above fifteen years age
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
within four years ; to provide a minister and schoolmas- ter for the colony as soon as possible, and until that is done 'a comforter of the sick.'"
Several directors of the company were willing to accept these terms, and a charter styled the " Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions " was granted by the Assembly of the XIX., as the governing body of the West India Company was called. It was dated June 7, 1629, and was a lengthy document containing thirty-one articles, from which we can learn some- thing more of these curious feudal establishments in free America. The patroons were to govern their people conformably to the rules of government made or to be made by the directors of the company. They were to have liberty to sail or traffic all along the coast from "Florida to Terra Neuf," provided they "entered " the goods received in this trade at the company's custom house at Manhattan, and paid a duty of five per cent. upon them; they were to have two thirds of all prizes taken from the Spaniards, the company reserving the other third ; they might trade in furs in places where the company had no "facto- ries " or stations, provided they paid the company one guilder on each merchantable beaver and other skin. It was further provided that in cases tried before the patroons, where more than fifty guilders were involved, an appeal might be taken to the commander and council in the New Netherland. If any one should discover "minerals, precious stones, crystals, marbles, or any pearl fishery" on the estate, it should remain the property of the patroon, he pay- ing the discoverer a certain price to be agreed on be-
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PETER MINUIT.
forehand. The people were not to make any woollen, linen, or cotton cloth, or weave any other stuffs, on pain of banishment. Finally, the colonies lying in the same neighborhood were to appoint a deputy, who should give information to the governor and council of all things transpiring in his district, and who was obliged to report at least once in every twelve months. This charter was the outcome of the social system then prevailing in Europe and among nearly all civilized nations. At this very mo- ment the French were founding "lordships" and " seigneuries" of similar character in Canada, while forty years later the English proprietors of Carolina attempted to introduce the same system into that province in the guise of landgraves and caciques. Its merits were that it satisfied the Indian for his soil, it provided schools and churches, and settled men in strong, well-ordered communities ; its evils were that it introduced monopoly, servitude, and aristocratic privilege. Colonies were quickly estab- lished under this instrument. 1753319
On June 1, 1629, Samuel Bloemmaert and Samuel Godyn, through agents, purchased of the Indians a tract of country on the southwestern shores of Delaware Bay two miles in width, and ex- tending inland from Cape Henlopen thirty-two miles. The next spring, April, 1630, Kilian Van Rensselaer, a pearl merchant of Amsterdam, and also a director, purchased of the Indians, through agents, a large tract of land on the upper Hudson, which was in- creased by subsequent purchases until he was master of a territory twenty-four miles long by forty-eight
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
broad, and of an estimated area of seven hundred thousand acres ; a tract now comprising the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and a part of Columbia. Next month, May, 1630, directors Godyn and Bloemmaert increased their estate by buying a tract on the shore of Delaware Bay, opposite their former purchase, sixteen miles long by sixteen square. Michael Pauw another director, finding the best lands on the Hud- sen and the Delaware taken, purchased, in June, the territory called Hobokan-Hacking, situated opposite New Amsterdam, on the west side of the Hudson, to which he added, in the course of the following month, Staten Island and the territory north of his first pur- chase, now known as Jersey City. These lands were in all cases bought of the Indians, through agents, and were duly ratified before the director and council at Fort Amsterdam, who " sealed them with the seal of New Netherland in red wax." The tract on the Dela- ware was called Zwanendael or the Valley of Swans. Pauw gave his purchase the pleasant-sounding name Pavonia ; the estate on the upper Hudson was called Rensselaerwyck. Zwanendael was the cradle of the present State of Delaware, and Pavonia that of New Jersey. These purchases of the more desirable lands in the company's territory excited the jealousy of the remaining directors, and to appease them, and also to secure their aid in settling the lands acquired, several others were allowed to share in the enter- prise ; Godyn, De Laet the famous Dutch historian, Bloemmaert, Adam Bissels, and Toussaint Moussart, being admitted to a share in Rensselaerwyck, and six directors together with Captain Petersen De
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PETER MINUIT.
Vries sharing Zwanendael among them. The latter was soon colonized, and farmers, cattle, and farming implements were sent to Rensselaerwyck, which soon became a flourishing settlement. Kilian Van Rens- selaer, the patroon, did not himself remove to the colony, but entrusted the management of its affairs to an agent called a Seneschal. His sons, however, emigrated and became successive lords of the great estate, founding a family that has held an honorable place in the annals of the city and State. Michael Pauw also founded on his patroonship, a village which he called " the Commune," and which occu- pied the present site of Communipaw, and no doubt gave its name to that ancient village. Very soon the directors had cause to regret giving the patroons such privileges, for they found the latter much more eager to secure the rich trade in furs, than to clear and cultivate their lands. The patroons based their right to the fur trade on the fifteenth article of their charter, which gave them the privilege of trading on the coast from Newfoundland to Florida, and in the interior anywhere " where the company had no commissaries at the time the charter of 1629 was granted," and their ships and their agents were soon out trading at almost every point.
The directors held that this was too liberal a ren- dering of the fifteenth article ; that the whole tenor of the charter was to give the company a monopoly of the fur trade, on which it chiefly depended for its revenues, and a bitter quarrel arose which greatly re- tarded the progress of the colony. The charter to the patroons was revised, new articles were proposed,
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
-some of the directors even advocated doing away with the charter altogether. The quarrel was carried before their High Mightinesses the States-General, and complaints were made against Director Minuit, who had officially ratified the purchase of the pa- troons, and who, it was charged, had favored them as against the company. Another circumstance aided in bringing Minuit into disrepute at this time. A short time before, two Belgian ship-carpenters had appeared in New Amsterdam and, seeking out the Director, had asked his aid in building a famous ship, the largest that had ever floated. The Director, seeing in the project a means of exhibiting to Holland mer- chants the resources of his colony in ship timber, consented, and in due time the New Netherlands, a ship of eight hundred tons and thirty guns-one of the finest pieces of naval architecture that had ever been built-was launched. It cost much more than had been expected, however, and the bills were severely criticised at home both by the stockholders and by the press. Incited by all these complaints, the States-General decided to investigate the Direc- tor, the patroons, and the affairs of the West India Company in general, the result being that Minuit was recalled and the privileges of the patroons re- stricted. Minuit embarked for Holland in the spring of 1632, in the ship Eendracht (Union), -which also carried five thousand beaver skins belonging to the company-leaving the affairs of the colony in the hands of his council. But his troubles were not yet over. His ship was driven by stress of weather into Plymouth, England, and was seized by the authori-
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PETER MINUIT.
ties there on the charge that she had traded to and obtained her cargo in countries subject to the Eng- lish king. Minuit promptly advised the directors, and himself hurried up to London and laid the case before the Dutch ambassadors, by whom it was brought to the attention of King Charles. The ambassadors also wrote to the States-General, asking them to send over all the documents proving the right of the Dutch to trade to New Netherland, " as that right will undoubtedly be sharply disputed in England." A long and spirited correspondence followed, in which the right of the two nations to the disputed territory was freely canvassed without ac- complishing any result, the English government at last consenting to release the Eendracht, " saving and without any prejudice to His Majesty's rights." The seizure, however, had served to assert the claim of the English to New Netherlands, which uninter- rupted possession by the Dutch might have im- paired. Director Minuit will again appear in our history. He had ruled the infant colony for six years, in general, it must be said, with wisdom and moderation. Under his sway it had increased in wealth, trade, and population, and had escaped serious difficulties with the Indians on the one hand, and with the English on the other. Of the four governors of New York under the Dutch dynasty none are worthier of more kindly remembrance than Peter Minuit.
15
II.
WOUTER VAN TWILLER.
THE directors, after much laying of their heads together, and canvassing of numerous candidates in their great oak-panelled chamber in Amsterdam, fixed on Wouter Van Twiller as Minuit's successor. " Wouter Van Twiller,"-the name provokes a smile as one recalls the famous description by Knicker- bocker :
"He was exactly five feet six inches in height, and six feet five inches in circumference. His head was a perfect sphere, and of such stupendous dimensions that Dame Nature, with all her sex's ingenuity, would have been puzzled to construct a neck capable of supporting it ; wherefore she wisely declined the attempt, and -set- tled it firmly on the top of his backbone just between the shoulders. His body was oblong and particularly capa- cious at bottom. His legs were short but sturdy in pro- portion to the weight they had to sustain ; so that when erect he had not a little the appearance of a beer-barrel on skids."
A grotesque figure truly, and not all caricature, for Van Twiller was stout of body and slow of
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WOUTER VAN TWILLER.
thought ; in habit something of a roysterer, with a burgomaster's fondness for good dinners and good wine, and withal of a petty spirit and narrow mind- a man totally unfitted for the place.
He had been a clerk in the employ of the West India Company, we are told, and had been appointed at the instance of the powerful patroon and director, Kilian Van Rensselaer, whose niece he had married, and whose interests he might be trusted to look after, which seems all the more queer when we con- sider that the chief grievance against Minuit was that he had favored the patroons at the expense of the company. Van Twiller arrived early in April, 1633. As he came ashore, he saw between two and three hundred men and women with stolid Dutch faces, the men clad in wide, deep-seated breeches tattered and earth-stained, the women in shabby kerchiefs and short gowns; behind them Indians looking curiously on ; and, forming the back- ground, noisome marshes and fens, a few clearings and cornfields, and a great deal of forest.
He took up his quarters in the fort, and the people went on with their daily tasks as though nothing un- usual had occurred. It was but a few days later. that a quaint, tub-like craft furled her sails in the harbor, and despatched a boat shoreward, bearing a stranger differing much in appearance from the average voyageur of that day. He was slight and compact in frame, with fair, Saxon features, curly hair, and kindly blue eyes-one of the most polite, humane, and interesting of the knights-errant of his time-the co-patroon, Petersen De Vries. At
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
home he was known as the rich merchant, but hav- ing early become interested in America, as we have seen, had been among the first to plant a colony in the new countries. A sad story he told the Direc- tor over their wine that night. He had left Hol- land, he said, the November before, in his yacht, with provisions and stores for his colony of Zwanendael, but on arriving there found only blackened ruins and the bones of his massacred people. An Indian was enticed on board and induced to tell the pitiful story.
The Dutch, they learned, had reared a pillar on a prominent point in their territory, to which they had affixed a piece of tin bearing the arms of Hol- land, as an emblem of sovereignty. An Indian chief spying it, had innocently taken it to make himself a tobacco-box. Hoossett, whom De Vries had left in charge of the colony, on discovering the theft, had expressed great indignation, whereupon certain In- dian allies greatly attached to him had killed the offender. The murderers were sternly rebuked by the commander, and sent away in disgrace. But in the Indian code blood must atone for blood, and one day, as the colonists were nearly all in the tobacco- fields, a band of savages had rushed upon them and massacred them all-thirty-two in the tobacco-fields, Hoossett and a sick man in the company's house. They had further glutted their vengeance by setting fire to the company's buildings. All the money and labor spent on the plantation had been made useless in a moment ; worse than all, his confidence in being able to keep peace with the Indians had been rudely assailed.
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WOUTER VAN TWILLER.
Being now without occupation, De Vries lingered a long time in the settlement, and one day witnessed an incident which showed the Director's mettle. They were chatting and smoking on the fort parapet after dinner one day, when they saw a vessel pass the Narrows and head directly for the fort. She flew the Red Cross of England, but her straight lines and " ship-shape " appearance sufficiently proclaimed her nationality. She came to under the guns of the fort, and presently despatched a boat to the shore. A man in resplendent uniform stood in its bow. " What ship is that ?" growled Van Twiller, as the boat grounded. "The William, of London," re- plied the officer, with a deep obeisance, "and last from Boston." " Who commands?" pursued the Director. " Jacob Eelkens," was the reply. " I know the varlet," said De Vries, quietly ; "he was post trader at Fort Orange (Albany) for the first Dutch trading company, and was dismissed for thievery." " What doth he here?" continued the Director. " Prithee, to trade with the savage," replied the envoy. The Director bit his lip. Here was the old vexed question of English supremacy again present- ing itself. In fact, like Banquo's ghost, it was con- tinually popping up in those days on the most inop- portune and unexpected occasions. " He hath sent me to present compliments," continued the envoy, " and to invite your Excellency and the Honorable Councillors to dine with him to-morrow. He bade me say there shall be no lack of good wine and ale."
The pleasures of the table were the Director's chief failing, and though De Vries tried to dissuade him,
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THE STORY OF NEW YORK.
he decided to accept Eelkens' invitation. Next day, two boats conveyed the Director, his mighty coun- cillors, and De Vries to the William, where, as the patroon afterward told the home company, the songs and mad antics of Van Twiller in his cup did griev- ously tend to bring the Dutch government into dis- repute, and caused the English to laugh at the Di- rector's authority. The William lay five days before the town, and then Eelkens coolly announced his intention of sailing to Fort Orange to trade with his old friends, the Indians, there. The Director was almost beside himself at the audacity of this pro- posal, and the measures he took to prevent it were characteristic of the man. He gathered the whole crew of the William into the fort and, to overawe them, mustered his men-at-arms, ran up the tri-col- ored flag, and ordered his gunner to fire three pieces of ordnance in honor of the Prince of Orange. But Eelkens, no whit dismayed, sent his gunner on board ship with orders to throw the Union Jack to the breeze and fire a whole broadside in honor of King Charles,-or in defiance of Van Twiller. While this was being done he hurried on board with his crew, weighed anchor, and stood up the river, his sailors twirling their thumbs at the Dutch garrison, which stood petrified at the audacity of it. Van Twiller was first to recover speech. He ordered a barrel of wine to be brought and broached, and then invited the entire village, which had been attracted to the spot by the guns, to join him in drinking it. Then made valiant by the potion he swung his hat and shouted : " All ye who love the Prince of Orange
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WOUTER VAN TWILLER.
and me, emulate me in this and aid me in repelling the violence of that Englishman."
As quickly as was consistent with Dutch stolidity three armed vessels-a pinnace, a caravel, and a hoy -were got ready, and, manned with one hundred and four soldiers, stood up the river in pursuit. Meantime, Eelkens had proceeded to a point about a mile below Fort Orange, landed his cargo, raised a marquee and began a brisk trade with the Mohawks who were delighted to meet again their old friend and ally. It was in vain that Houten, the Dutch factor at Fort Orange, came in his shallop, wreathed in green boughs, with a trumpeter making stirring music, sat up a Dutch booth beside the English, and did his utmost to disparage their goods and hinder their trade. Eelkens was familiar with the Indian language and tastes, and was fast disposing of his cargo, when, fourteen days after his arrival, the three armed vessels we have seen leaving New Amster- dam hove in sight. Getting ashore as quickly as possible, the Dutch officer in command gave Eelkens two letters protesting against his action, and order- ing him to depart forthwith. There were soldiers from " both the Dutch forts, armed with muskets, half-pikes, swords, and other weapons," to enforce . these demands. Eelkens not complying as promptly as they desired, they attacked the Indians who were trading with him and "beat them well," and then, disregarding the trader's pleadings that he was on British soil and had a right to trade there, they pulled his tent about his cars and hurried his goods on board the William ; as they did so, they added
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