Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam

"If I were persuaded," said the Governor, "that you would divulge our sentence, or bring it before their High Mightinesses, I would have you hanged at once, on the highest tree in New Netherland."

Again he said, with characteristic energy, "If any one, during my administration, shall appeal, I will make him a foot shorter, and send the pieces to Holland and let him appeal in that way."7

Melyn and Kuyter being sent to Holland as criminals, did appeal to the home government; their harsh sentence was suspended; they were restored to all the rights of colonists of New Netherland, and Stuyvesant was cited to defend his sentence at the Hague. When Melyn returned to Manhattan with these authoritative papers, a great tumult was excited. Anxious that his triumph should be as public as his disgrace had been, he demanded that the Acts should be read to the people assembled in the church. With much difficulty he carried his point. "I honor the States and shall obey their commands," said Stuyvesant, "I shall send an attorney to sustain the sentence."

The Indians loudly, and with one accord, demanded the right to purchase fire-arms. For years they had been constantly making such purchases, either through the colonists at Rensselaerswyck, or from private traders. It was feared that the persistent refusal to continue the supply, might again instigate them to hostilities. The Directors of the West India government therefore intimated that "it was the best policy to furnish them with powder and ball, but with a sparing hand."

Stuyvesant ordered a case of guns to be brought over from Holland. They were landed openly at fort Amsterdam and placed under the care of an agent of the governor. Thus Stuyvesant himself was to monopolize the trade, which was extremely lucrative; for the Indians would pay almost any price for guns, powder and shot. This increased the growing dissatisfaction. The Indians would readily exchange skins to the amount of forty dollars for a gun, and of four dollars for a pound of powder.

"The governor," it was said,

"assumes to be everything. He establishes shops for himself and does the business of the whole country. He is a brewer and has breweries. He is a ship-owner, a merchant, and a trader in both lawful and contraband articles."

The Nine Men persisted in their resolve to send a remonstrance to the fatherland. The memorial was signed and forwarded the latter part of July. In this important document, which first gave a brief account of the past history of the colony, the administration of Stuyvesant was reviewed with much severity.

"In our opinion," said the remonstrants,

"this country will never flourish under the present government. The country must be provided with godly, honorable and intelligent rulers, who are not very indigent, and who are not too covetous. The mode in which this country is now governed is intolerable. Nobody is secure in his property longer than the Director pleases, who is generally strongly inclined to confiscating. A good population would be the consequence of a good government. Many would be allured here by the pleasantness, situation, salubrity and fruitfulness of the country, if protection were secured."

Three of the signers were deputed to convey the remonstrance to the Hague and lay it before the authorities there. The pastor of the church at Manhattan, Domine Backerus, returned to Holland with the commissioners. He was greatly dissatisfied with the regime of the governor, and upon his arrival in Holland, joined the complainants.

Domine Megapolensis, who had been pastor of the church at Rensselaerswyck, having obtained letters of dismission from his church, was also about to sail to the fatherland. The colonists, generally religiously disposed, were greatly troubled, being threatened with a total loss of the gospel ministry. By the earnest solicitation of Stuyvesant, he consented to remain at Manhattan, where he was formally installed as pastor of the church, upon a salary of twelve hundred guilders, which was about four hundred dollars. At the same time the energetic governor manifested his interest in education by writing earnestly to Amsterdam, urging that a pious, well-qualified and diligent schoolmaster might be sent out. "Nothing," he added, "is of greater importance than the right, early instruction of youth."

The governor was sorely annoyed by the action of the States-General, reversing his sentence against Melyn and Kuyter. He wrote that he should obey their decision, but that he would rather never have received their commission as governor, than to have had his authority lowered in the eyes of his neighbors and friends.

The three commissioners, bearing the memorial of the Nine Men, reached Holland in safety. The States-General received their memorial, and also listened to the reply of the agent, whom Stuyvesant had sent out to plead his cause. The decision of the States was virtually a rebuke of the dictatorial government of Stuyvesant, and several very important reforms were ordered. This decision displeased the West India Company. Those men deemed their rights infringed upon by this action of the States-General. They were therefore led to espouse the cause of the governor. Thus strengthened, Stuyvesant ventured to disregard the authority of the States-General.

The Dutch at Manhattan began to be clamorous for more of popular freedom. Stuyvesant, hoping to enlist the sympathies of the governors of the English colonies in his behalf, made vigorous arrangements for the long projected meeting with the Commissioners of the United Colonies.

On the 17th of September, 1650, Governor Stuyvesant embarked at Manhattan, with his secretary, George Baxter, and quite an imposing suite. Touching at several places along the sound, he arrived at Hartford in four days. After much discussion it was agreed to refer all differences, of the points in controversy, to four delegates, two to be chosen from each side. It is worthy of special remark that Stuyvesant's secretary was an Englishman, and he chose two Englishmen for his delegates.

In the award delivered by the arbitrators, it was decided that upon Long Island a line running from the westernmost part of Oyster Bay, in a straight direction to the sea, should be the bound between the English and the Dutch territory; the easterly part to belong to the English, the westernmost part to the Dutch. Upon the mainland, the boundary line was to commence on the west side of Greenwich bay, about four miles from Stamford, and to run in a northerly direction twenty miles into the country, provided that the said line came not within ten miles of the Hudson river. The Dutch were not to build any house within six miles of said line. The inhabitants of Greenwich were to remain, till further consideration, under the Government of the Dutch. It was also decided that a nearer union of friendship and amity, between England and the Dutch colonies in America, should be recommended to the several jurisdictions of the United Colonies.

Stuyvesant reported the result of these negotiations to the Chamber at Amsterdam but, for some unexplained reason, did not send to that body a copy of the treaty. Upon his return to Manhattan he was immediately met with a storm of discontent. His choice of two Englishmen as the referees, to represent the Dutch cause, gave great offence. It was deemed an insult to his own countrymen. There was a general disposition with the colonists to repudiate a treaty which the Dutch had had no hand in forming. Complaints were sent to Holland that the Governor had surrendered more territory than might have formed fifty colonies; and that, rejecting those reforms in favor of popular rights which the home government had ordered, he was controlling all things with despotic power.

"This grievous and unsuitable government," the Nine Men wrote,

"ought at once to be reformed. The measures ordered by the home government should be enforced so that we may live as happily as our neighbors. Our term of office is about to expire. The governor has declared that he will not appoint any other select men. We shall not dare again to assemble in a body; for we dread unjustifiable prosecutions, and we can already discern the smart thereof from afar."8

Notwithstanding these reiterated rebukes, Stuyvesant persisted in his arbitrary course. The vice-director, Van Diricklagen, and the fiscal or treasurer Van Dyck, united in a new protest expressing the popular griefs. Van Der Donck was the faithful representative of the commonalty in their fatherland. The vice-director, in forwarding the new protest to him wrote,

"Our great Muscovy duke keeps on as of old; something like the wolf, the longer he lives the worse he bites."

It is a little remarkable that the English refugees, who were quite numerous in the colony, were in sympathy with the arbitrary assumptions of the governor. They greatly strengthened his hands by sending a Memorial to the West India Company, condemning the elective franchise which the Dutch colonists desired.

"We willingly acknowledge," they wrote,

"that the power to elect a governor from among ourselves, which is, we know, the design of some here, would be our ruin, by reason of our factions and the difference of opinion which prevails among us."

The West India Company, not willing to relinquish the powers which it grasped, was also in very decided opposition to the spirit of popular freedom which the Dutch colonists were urging, and which was adopted by the States-General. Thus, in this great controversy, the governor, the West India Company and the English settlers in the colony were on one side. Upon the other side stood the States-General and the Dutch colonists almost without exception.

The vice-director was punished for his protest, by expulsion from the council and by imprisonment in the guard-room for four days. Upon his liberation he took refuge with the Patroon on Staten Island. The notary, who had authenticated the protest, was dismissed from office and forbidden any farther to practice his profession. In every possible way, Stuyvesant manifested his displeasure against his own countrymen of the popular party, while the English were treated with the utmost consideration.

In the treaty of Hartford no reference was made to the interests of the Dutch on the south, or Delaware river. The New Haven people equipped a vessel and dispatched fifty emigrants to establish a colony upon some lands there, which they claimed to have purchased of the Indians. The governor regarded this as a breach of the treaty, for the English territory terminated and the Dutch began at the bay of Greenwich. The expedition put in at Manhattan. The energetic governor instantly arrested the leaders and held them in close confinement till they signed a promise not to proceed to the Delaware. The emigrants, thus discomfited, returned to New Haven.

At the same time Governor Stuyvesant sent a very emphatic letter to Governor Eaton of New Haven, in which he wrote: "I shall employ force of arms and martial opposition, even to bloodshed, against all English intruders within southern New Netherland."

In this movement of the English to get a foothold upon the Delaware river, Stuyvesant thought he saw a covert purpose on their part, to dispossess the Dutch of all their possessions in America. Thinking it not improbable that it might be necessary to appeal to arms, he demanded of the authorities of Rensselaerswyck a subsidy. The patroons, who had been at great expense in colonizing the territory, deemed the demand unjust, and sent a commissioner to remonstrate against it. Stuyvesant arrested the commissioner and held him in close confinement for four months.

The Swedes were also making vigorous efforts to get possession of the beautiful lands on the Delaware. Stuyvesant, with a large suite of officers, visited that region. In very decided terns he communicated to Printz the Swedish governor there, that the Dutch claimed the territory upon the three-fold title of discovery, settlement and purchase from the natives. He then summoned all the Indian chiefs on the banks of the river, in a grand council at fort Nassau. After a "solemn conference" these chiefs ceded to the West India Company all the lands on both sides of the river to a point called by them Neuwsings, near the mouth of the bay.

The Swedes were left in possession only of a small territory surrounding their fort, called Christina. As Stuyvesant thought fort Nassau too far up the river and inconvenient of access, he demolished it. In its seclusion in the wilderness it had stood for twenty-eight years. A new fort called Casimir was erected, on the west side of the river near the present site of New Castle, four miles below the Swedish fort Christina. Having thus triumphantly accomplished his object, Stuyvesant returned to Manhattan.

CHAPTER VII.

WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND

Action of the Patroons.—Settlements on the Hudson.—Alarm of the Home Government.—Recall of Stuyvesant.—His Escape from Humiliation.—Difficulties between England and Holland.—The Breaking out of War.—Directions to Stuyvesant.—The Relations of the Colonies.—Charges against the Dutch Governor.—Their Refutation.—Efforts of Stuyvesant for Peace.—Noble Conduct of the Massachusetts Government.—The Advocates for War.

Governor Stuyvesant having removed the obnoxious vice-director, had another, Johannes Dyckman, who he thought would be more subservient to his wishes, appointed in his stead. The commissary of the patroons, whom he had imprisoned at Manhattan, secreted himself on board a sloop and escaped up the river to Beaverwyck. The enraged governor seized the skipper of the sloop on his return, and inflicted upon him a heavy fine.

The patroons were now fearful that the governor would fulfill his threat of extending his authority over the extensive territory whose jurisdiction the Charter of Privileges had entrusted exclusively to the patroons. They therefore, on an appointed day assembled the freemen and householders who bound themselves, by an oath, "to maintain and support offensively and defensively the right and jurisdiction of the colony against every one."

Among the persons who took this oath we find the name of John Baptist Van Rensselaer. He was the younger half-brother of the patroon, and probably the first of the name who came to New Netherland. It was now reported that Governor Stuyvesant himself was about to visit fort Orange, and that a new gallows was being prepared for those who should attempt to thwart his wishes. The governor soon arrived and, with his customary explicitness, informed the authorities there, that the territory by the Exemptions, allowed to the patroon, was to extend sixteen miles on one side of the river, or eight miles if both banks were occupied. He called upon them to define their boundaries, saying that he should recognize the patroons' jurisdiction only to that extent. These limits would include but a small portion of the territory which the patroons claimed by right of purchase from the Indians.

The authorities were not prepared to act upon this question without instructions from Holland. Stuyvesant would admit of no delay. He sent a party of fourteen soldiers, armed with muskets, to the patroon's house, who entered the enclosure, fired a volley, and hauled down the flag of the patroon. He then issued a decree that Beaverswyck, which included the region now occupied by the city of Albany, was independent of the patroon's government, and was brought under the jurisdiction of the colony of fort Amsterdam.

Van Slechtenhorst, the patroon's bold and efficient Commissary at Rensselaerswick, ordered the governor's placards, announcing this change, to be torn down, and a counter proclamation, affirming the claims of the patroon to be posted in its stead. The governor arrested him, imprisoned him for a time in fort Orange, and then removed him to New Amsterdam, where he was held in close custody, until his successor, John Baptist Van Rensselaer, was formally appointed in his place.

At this time, 1652, there were no settlements, and but a few scattered farmhouses between the island of Manhattan and the Catskill mountains. Thomas Chambers had a farm at what is now Troy. With a few neighbors he moved down the river to "some exceedingly beautiful lands," and began the settlement of the present county of Ulster.

Stuyvesant returning to Manhattan, forbade any persons from buying lands of the Indians without his permission. The large sales which had been made to prominent individuals were declared to be void, and the "pretended proprietors," were ordered to return the purchase money. Should they however petition the governor, they might retain such tracts as he and his council should permit.

By grant of the governor several new settlements were commenced on Long Island, one at Newton, one at Flatbush. The news had now reached the Directors of the Company in Holland, of the governor's very energetic measures on the Delaware, supplanting the Swiss, demolishing fort Nassau and erecting fort Casimir. They became alarmed lest such violent measures might embroil them with the Swedish government. In a letter addressed to Stuyvesant, they wrote:

"Your journey to the South river, and what has passed there between you and the Swedes, was very unexpected to us, as you did not give us before so much as a hint of your intention. We cannot give our opinion upon it until we have heard the complaints of the Swedish governor to his queen, and have ascertained how these have been received at her court. We hope that our arguments, to prove that we were the first possessors of that country, will be acknowledged as sufficient. Time will instruct us of the design of the new-built fort Casimir. We are at a loss to conjecture for what reason it has received this name. You ought to be on your guard that it be well secured, so that it cannot be surprised."

The States-General were more and more dissatisfied with the measures of Governor Stuyvesant. The treaty of Hartford was severely censured. They said that the Connecticut river should have been the eastern boundary of New Netherland, and that the whole of Long Island should have been retained. Even the West India Company became convinced that it was necessary to make some concessions to the commonalty at Manhattan. They therefore communicated to Stuyvesant their consent that the "burgher government" should be established, which the committee of Nine had petitioned for in behalf of the commonalty, in 1649, and which the States-General had authorized in 1650.

By this arrangement the people were to elect seven representatives, who were to form a municipal court of justice, subject to the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the province. The sheriff was also invested with new powers. He was to convoke and preside at the municipal court, to prosecute all offenders against the laws, and to take care that all the judgments of the court should be executed. The people at Manhattan had thus won, to a very considerable degree, the popular government which they had so long desired.

Quite to the amazement of the Directors of the West India Company, the States-General recalled Stuyvesant, ordering him to return immediately to Holland to give an account of his administration. He had been in the main the faithful agent of the Company, carrying out its wishes in opposition to popular reform. They therefore wrote to him, stating that the requirement was in violation of their charter, and requesting him "not to be in too much haste to commence his voyage, but to delay it until the receipt of further orders."

It so happened, however, that then the States-General were just on the eve of hostilities with England. It was a matter of the first importance that New Netherland should be under the rule of a governor of military experience, courage and energy. No man could excel Stuyvesant in these qualities. Yielding to the force of circumstances, the States-General revoked their recall. Thus narrowly Stuyvesant escaped the threatened humiliation.

The English government was angry with Holland for refusing to expel the royalist refugees, who, after the execution of Charles I., had taken refuge in Holland. The commerce of the Dutch Republic then covered every sea. England, to punish the Dutch and to revive her own decaying commerce, issued, by Parliamentary vote, her famous "Act of Navigation," which was exultantly proclaimed at the old London Exchange "with sound of trumpet and beat of drum."

This Act decreed that no production of Asia, Africa or America should be brought to England, except in English vessels, manned by English crews, and that no productions of Europe should be brought to England, unless in English vessels, or in those of the country in which the imported cargoes were produced. These measures were considered very unjust by all the other nations, and especially by the Dutch, then the most commercial nation on the globe.

The States-General sent ambassadors to London to remonstrate against such hostile action; and at the same time orders were issued for the equipment of one hundred and fifty ships of war. The States-General had not yet ratified Stuyvesant's treaty of Hartford. The ambassadors were instructed to urge that an immovable boundary line should be established between the Dutch and English possessions in America.

The reply of the English Government was not conciliatory. The English, it was said, had always been forbidden to trade in the Dutch colonies. The Dutch ought therefore to find no fault with the recent Navigation Act, from which measure the Council did not "deem it fitting to recede." As to the colonial boundary, the ungracious reply was returned,

"The English were the first settlers in North America, from Virginia to Newfoundland. We know nothing of any Dutch plantations there, excepting a few settlers up the Hudson. We do not think it necessary at present, to settle the boundaries. It can be done hereafter, at any convenient time."

A naval war soon broke out. England, without warning, seized the ships of Holland in English ports, and impressed their crews. The Dutch war fleet was entrusted to Admiral Tromp. He was enjoined to protect the Dutch vessels from visitation or search by foreign cruisers, and not to strike his flag to English ships of war. The instructions of the commanders of the British men of war, were to compel the ships of all foreign nations whatever, to strike their colors to the British flag. England thus set up its arrogant claim to "its undoubted right to the dominion of the surrounding seas."

The English fleet, under Admiral Blake, met the Dutch fleet in the Strait of Dover, on the 29th of May, 1632, and a bloody but undecisive battle ensued. A series of terrible naval conflicts followed, with victory now on the one side and now on the other. At length Blake, discomfited, was compelled to take refuge in the Thames. Admiral Tromp, rather vain-gloriously, placed a broom at his masthead to indicate that he had swept the channel of all English ships.

In this state of affairs the Directors wrote to Governor Stuyvesant, saying,

"Though we hope that you have so agreed with the colonists of New England about boundaries that we have nothing to fear from them, still we consider it an imperious duty to recommend you to arm and discipline all freemen, soldiers and sailors; to appoint officers and places of rendezvous; to supply them with ammunition; and to inspect the fortifications at New Amsterdam, fort Orange and fort Casimir. To this end we send you a fresh supply of ammunition.

"If it should happen, which we will not suppose, that New Englanders incline to take part in these broils, then we should advise your honor to engage the Indians in your cause, who, we are informed, are not partial to the English. You will also employ all such means of defence as prudence may require for your security, taking care that the merchants and inhabitants convey their property within the forts.

"Treat them kindly, so that they may be encouraged to remain there, and to give up the thought of returning to Holland, which would depopulate the country. It is therefore advisable to inclose the villages, at least the principal and most opulent, with breastworks and palisades to prevent surprise."

Looking into the future with prophetic eyes, which discerned the future glories of the rising republic, the Directors added,

"When these colonies once become permanently established, when the ships of New Netherland ride on every part of the ocean, then numbers, now looking to that coast with eager eyes, shall be allured to embark for your island."