LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap.L.__ Copyright No.. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ■^ GOVERNOR THEODORE ROOSEVELT HISTORY OF IW lORK STATE FOR THE USE OP HIGH SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES AND FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING BY WILLIAM EEED PRENTICE, A.M. SYRACUSE, IsT. Y. C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 1900 Copyright. 1900, by C. W. Eardeen 37910 LibPMry mf Congre** ■"wc CoPtES Recene» AUG 23 1900 ^\'? SECOND COPY. 0«<»'ations'\ from the five principal tribes which were united in the confederacy: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayngas, the Senecas. In fact there were six nations, as the Tuscaroras, a small kin- dred tribe that had at an early day removed to Xorth C^arolina, rejoined them in 1712*. This confederacy of the five most advanced Indian ^tribes in the new world was formed solely for mutual protection against invasion by the powerful, because numerous, Algonquins, who virtually surrounded and sought to drive them from their coveted hunting- grounds. The league was essentially a republic. Merit alone could secure office, and that merit was able leadership and prowess in battle. Each ''nation" was divided into tribes or cantons, and from these a council was chosen. The president, or grand chief, might come from any tribe in any nation. There were fifty permanent sachem chiefs. To the Mohawks were allotted nine, to the Oneidas nine, to the Onondagas fourteen, to the Cayugas ten, to the Senecas eight. The Onondagas were the real founders of the confederation f. Government. — The military power stood before the civil. The army was composed of volunteers, though every able-bodied man was a soldier, and any one who shirked his duty or failed to face any danger when called upon was forever disgraced. Behind the coun- *The Tuscaroras did not subsequently maintain dis- tinct tribal relations. t Hiawatha was an Onondaga ludian. To 1500] Location of Tribes 19 cil of the chiefs was the voice of the soldiery, and their consent was necessary before any great enterprise could be undertaken. The matrons also sat in council, and could veto any war measure, yet they tilled the small fields on the margins of the lakes and rivers, and did all the drudg- ery of the family. Slavery was unknown among them, and captives might become members of the tribes among which they dwelt. Location and boundaries.— When first visited by Ohamplain, the Iroquois inhabited chiefly the sheltered valleys and level uplands of Central New York. Par- ticularly did they love the region of the Mohawk valley and the lesser lakes. The Mohawks lived to the eastward, and were said to keep the " eastern door"; the Senecas were at the extreme west, and kept the " western door"; while it was the duty of the Onondagas to keep the "central fire " burning*. The territory claimed by the Iroquois may be roughly outlined as that embraced between Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence and Adirondacks on the north, the upper Hudson and Catskill mountains on the east, the present State of Pennsylvania on the south, and Lake Erie and the ISiiagara river on the west. Beyond these borders, particularly to the westward, they frequently carried war, and, but for the coming of the white race, it is quite probable that in time their confederacy * The seat of the Onondagas is still in the present county of Onondaga, eight miles south of Syracuse. DISTRIBUTION OF THE LEADING INDIAN TRIBES To 1500] Indian Civilization 21 Avould have embraced the Eries, the Miamis, and other western tribes. Civilization. — Their civilization was of the primi- tive sort usually found among tribes who live by the chase. They knew little of agriculture; indeed where fish and game were so plentiful, it was hardly necessary to till the soil. Their dwellings were the rudest kind of huts, their cooking utensils limited to a few unbaked clay dishes, and their small supply of corn was pounded in stone, or even wooden, mortars. In all these matters the Iroquois differed little from the tribes that surrounded them. These belonged to the great Algonquin family, which covered Canada and extended along the coast from the Strait of Belle Isle to the Savannah river. Among these tribes came the French, who, by inter- marrying and adopting their customs, soon acquired a great influence over them. Between the Algonquins and the Iroquois a state of continual warfare existed. The forays over the border were numerous and bloody, and when the French first made an invasion into the Iroquois territory with the Algonquins, the seeds of a hatred which bore fruit in after years had been sown. From that time the Iro- quois held the French in the same bitter dislike that they had for the Algonquins. The Dutch, aware of this feeling, used it to their own advantage, and to this alone is attributable the fact that the English were able for so many years to hold the Iroquois as allies against the encroachments of the French on the north. In this also may be '2'2 The Aborigines [Period I found the reason for the sufferings of the Jesuit mis- sionaries at the hands of the Iroquois and for the small results they were able to accomplish. Neighboring tribes. — To the Algonquins belonged the numerous small tribes with which the Dutch first came in contact and against which they finally waged a war of extermination. Lacking the inter-tribal organization of the Iroquois, they fell an easy prey to the rapacity of the traders ; and when war finally came they had been so weakened by the vices inseparable from the frontier that as a disturbing element they soon disappeared entirely. Two tribes on the Hudson river, the Mohegans on the east and the Mincees on the west, also belonged to the Algonquins, but they were united in one thing only, — hatred for the Iroquois. On Long Island were several tribes, the chief one, the Metowacks, dwelling to the west end of the island. The Manhattans, a feeble tribe living on Manhattan Island, gave to it their name. Character of Indians. — -The general character of all these Indians, particularly of the Iroquois, has been well portrayed by F. S. Eastman in the following language : " They were quick of apprehension and not wanting in genius. At times they were friendly, even courte- ous. In council they were distinguished for gravity and eloquence, in war for bravery and contempt for danger. When provoked to anger they were sullen and retired, and when determined upon revenge, no danger could deter them, nor absence or time cool them. If cap- To 1500] Character of Indians 23 tured by an enemy, they never asked for life, nor would they betray emotions of fear in view of the tomahawk or the kindling fagot." The Iroquois brave, like all American Indians, was a silent, gloomy, unsocial man. He preferred the trackless forest to his wigwam. He was superstitious and vain. He did not, as is so commonly supposed, believe in one Great Spirit; he was not a monotheist; he believed in one spirit greater than all others. He was a pantheist, and saw and heard his divinities in every manifestation of nature about him. With the savage courage of the wild beast he combined the timidity of the hare. He feared every thing, for all he suffered was the work of some enemy. He believed in a hereafter, and he peopled it not with those who had been his friends and dependents here, not even with wife or child, so much as with those creatures which had in some way ministered to his necessities. His heaven was a " Happy Hunting Ground", where roamed the game he loved best to follow; a place where the warm sun shone and clear streams flowed through green valleys; a place where he should be happy because free from cold and hunger. His vanity required that the gaudy trinkets he so dearly loved in this world should go to his grave with the weapons he had needed here. The position of the Iroquois, surrounded as they were by hostile tribes, undoubtedly drove them to the organization which they had developed; while the fer- tile soil and prolific hunting grounds of Xew York saved them from the frequent ravages of famine that decimated other tribes less fortunately situated. 24 The Aborigixes [Period I To the philanthropist it seems particularly un- fortunate that the Iroquois, by taking side with the English in the Revolutionary struggles were finally estranged from the white men who dwelt among them, and were thus, in a few years reduced to a bare rem- nant; but the student of history observes that only by the yielding of a weaker civilization to the stronger, because the more advanced, has the Avorld developed from the barbarism of the dark ages to the enlighten- ment of the nineteenth century. It is the same story, old as the world, that the new displaces the old, but rarely builds upon it. Reservations. — At the close of the Revolution the Mohawks removed to Canada, and in 1797 sold all their claims for $1,600. The lands of the others were gradually purchased and the remnants of the tribes located on reservations of which there are now in the State seven. The Onondaga (3) reservation contains 6,100 acres; the Tonawanda-Seneca (2) 8,000 acres; the Allegany-Senecas (7) 30,469 acres; the Shinnecock (5) 640 acres; the Cattaraugus-Senecas (6) 21,680 acres; the St. Regis (4) 14,640 acres*; the Tuscaroras (1) 6,249 acres. Of the Oneidas remaining a part live near Green Bay, Wis., and a part are " guests " of the Onondagas and other tribes. The Cayugas are scat- tered among the different tribes, the larger part living with the Senecas at Cattaraugus. The number of Indians in the State in 1890 was * These entered the league after the Revolution tak- ing the place of the Mohawks. To 1500] Reservations 27 5,133, of whom nearly 3,000 could not speak English. They have 12 churches and 30 schools, and they fur- nished 162 soldiers and sailors in the War of the Rebellion. In July, 1898, at the annual Convocation of the Regents of the University of Xew York, the very valu- able collection of wampums in the possession of the Indian chiefs was formally turned over to the State for preservation, and will hereafter be carefully preserved in the capitol at Albany. SUMMARY. — THE ABORIGINES OF NEW YORK 1. Reasons for interest in. 2. Tribes in Iroquois Confederation ; origin of name. 3. Nature of their union. 4. Location of tribes and character of each. 5. Their government. 6. Their dwellings and manner of life. 7. The Algonquins and lesser tribes. 8. Relation of each to early colonists. 9. Character of Indians. 10. Indian reservations. PERIOD II CHAPTER II Explorations, 1496-1614 Europe's interest in the new world. — AVhile other nations had heard of, half believed, but hesitated, to Spain must be given the supreme honor of being the first to accept and act upon the magnificent con- ceptions of Columbus. Portugal, from having discovered and explored the Azores, claimed everything to the west of them. Ac- cording to the custom of the times the dispute was referred to the Pope, and Alexander VI very benevo- lently gave to Spain "all those heathen lands found or to be discovered to the westward of a meridian one hundred leagues westward of the Azores ". The news of the great discovery, the interest created by the controversy over it, aroused the maritime spirit of all Europe. The grandiloquent Spaniard was not to be left in undisputed possession of one-half the earth. The Pope's decision bound no one, and English, Dutch, Spanish, and French were soon in violent competition for the empire of the west. Voyages of the Cabots^ 1496. — On the 5th of May, 1490, Henry VII of England commissioned John Cabot, a Venetian, to carry the English flag and make explorations in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and to (28) 1496-1498] The Cabots 29 take possession of all lands, whether islands or conti- nents, discovered in the name of Great Britain. John Cabot was well qualified for the great work entrusted to him. On the •24th of June (1496), Cabot first saw the gloomy headlands of Labrador, and this was the actual discovery of the x\merican continent. He explored the coast for several hundred miles, saw no inhabitants, but went ashore and, taking yjossession in the name of the king of England, he raised, side by side, the flags of England and Venice *. Like Columbus, he supposed he had reached the shores of Asia. John Cabot returned to England, and was honored for his enterprise, but beyond this we know nothing of him. Sebastian Cabot^ 1498.— The next record of Eng- lish discovery speaks of Se- bastian, the second son of John Cabot, who, in 1498, with a squadron of well armed vessels followed the course of his father. West of Greenland he encountered ice and turned his course to the south. He traced the shores of the New England Sebastian cakot. 1477-1557 ^^^^ Middle States and Sailed as far as Cape Hatteras, from which point he began his homeward voyage. The voyages of the Cabots were later supplemented * This was more than one year before Columbus saw the mainland of South America. 30 Explorations [Period II by those of Frobisher, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh and others. n these voyages and discoveries England based her claim to territory in America. In the charters she granted, in the colonies she sent out, and in her disputes with other nations, England steadfastly siK kkanc IS Drake, 1540-159H maintained her right to all the mainland as the result of these explorations. Terrazaiio, 15*24. — In 1524 Francis I of France, not ignorant of the impor- tance of giving attention to the regions in the newly dis- covered west, engaged Ver- razano, a native of Florence, Italy, to explore on his be- half. Somewhere near Cape Hatteras, it is claimed that Verrazano sighted land. He then turned to the north and, on his way, entered Xew York GIOVANNI DA vkhkazano. i48()-io27 i^arbor and ascended the Hud- son. Returning, he coasted along the southern shore of Long Island, saw Block Island, which he called Claudia, in honor of the king's mother, and subsequently entered the harbor of Newport. Discredit has very frequently been cast upon Ver- razano's claims. The only account of his voyage was written by his brother in 1529 in a letter to Francis I. It was accompanied by a map, and was preserved for many vears at Rome. 1524-1009] Champlain; Hudson 31 Jacques Cartier^ 1584. — Ten years later, Jacques Cartier, also under French orders, while in search of a passage to India and Cathay entered St. Lawrence gulf and river. He sailed up the river, passed the heights on which Quebec noAV stands, then westward and southward till the rapids barred his further prog- ress toward Cathay. A steep hill on the nortnern bank Cartier named Mount Koyal, and at its base has grown the city of Montreal (Mont- Real.) Our interest in Cartier and his voyages of explora- tion must centre in the fact that he was the pioneer in jN"ew France, — a region from which our State subse- quently suffered many depredations. Champlaiii and Hudson^ 1609. — It is fortunate that the names of two men who visited our shores at about the same period have been permanently recorded in the history and geography of New York. Their discoveries are worthy of the immortality their names have secured. Lake Champlain and the Hudson river! Unrivalled in beauty, associated with every chapter of our early history, they remain perpetual reminders of the men whose enterprise first made our State known to the outside world. Samuel de Champlain, an eminent French navi- gator, was commissioned to explore and prepare the way for a colony on the banks of ^iiT*^ ^'^"^SL the St. Lawrence. He landed at the present site of Quebec in 1603. In order to secure the friendship of Canadian Indians he, with a few other Frenchmen, joined them in Samuel de Champlain. 1567-1635 1609 in an expedition against 1)2 Explorations [Period II tlie Huroii-Iroquois Confederacy. From the St. Law- rence they ascended the Sorel river to the " Lake of the Iroquois" (Lake Champhiin). They met the Iro- quois between Crown Point and Lake George, where the fire arms in the hands of the French won an easy victory for the invaders. Later, with a party of Frenchmen, Champlain en- tered into an alliance with these Canadian Indians against the Iroquois. They penetrated well into the interior of Xew York and a battle was fought in the vicinity of Syracuse, in which Champlain was wounded, defeated and compelled to retreat. He is often called " The Father of Xew France " (Canada), and his pub- lished account of his exj^lorations did much to attract settlers to the future State of Xew York. Through Champlaiu's influence a party of Francis- can friars came to Canada in 1615 and began their work among the 'Indians. These were followed in 1()25 by some Jesuit Fathers, and before the middle of that century these brave, self-sacrificing men had planted missions all about the lakes, and had even made their way to the Onondaga salt springs, — the first white men to visit that part of our State. Following in the steps of the missionaries, Marquette and Joliet skirted our State in 1672, on their way to search for " The Great River of the West", of which they had heard through the Indians; and in 1679 La Salle, then commander of Fort Frontenac (Kingston), set out to secure possession of the Mississippi country for the king of France. 1603-1609] Hendrick Hudson 33 Hendrick Hudson was an English navigator. In the service of a company of Eng- lish merchants he had made two voyages in search of a shorter passage to China, with the usual results. Still believing the problem could be solved, he went to Hol- land and ofPered his services to the Dutch, then the most enterprising maritime power Here he obtained command of a small vessel, the Half Mootr^, was furnished with a crew, half English, half Dutch, and in the month of April, 1609, again set out, this time from Amsterdam, commissioned to explore a passage to China by the north-east or the north-west. He first sailed to the north-east and, after a stormy voyage, in May reached the Cape of Xorway, where he found the sea so full of ice that his crew compelled him to turn to the west. It was July when his battered vessel reached the banks of Newfoundland, where he was for a time becalmed. Then sailing still to the west he came at last to Penobscot Bay. Con- tinuing to the south and west, early in September Hudson entered New York Bay. No vision of the empire to which this was the gateway ever dawned upon his mind. No voyager had as yet com- prehended the vast area of the American continent, and doubtless anyone of them would have bartered all * For picture of this, see Hendrick's Brief History, page 12. 34 EXPLORATIOXS [Period II his discoveries for a narrow channel to the Pacific. In September the vohime of water in the Hndson river is so very small it seems a tide- water channel, and no doubt to Hudson it appeared the long- sought-for passage. He sailed up the river until its fresher, shoaling waters showed him his mistake, and in the vicinity of the site of Albany he turned back, x4.gain past the beautiful Cats- kills, through the Highlands, over the charming Tappan Zee, by the castellated Palisades, and out the Xarrows, Hudson sailed, never again to behold what he well called " The fairest land the foot of man ever trod*". On the fourth of October, 1609, Hudson set sail for Hol- land. Pride in his discoveries led him to stop and report them in England. His ship was al- lowed to proceed, but Hudson, himself, was detained by royal order, virtually a pris- * It is interesting to remember that at this time Champlain was only a hundred miles away in the for- ests to the northward ; that neither was aware, perhaps never knew of the presence of the other and yet; on the explorations of these two men rival nations were destined in after years to claim the territory embraced within the State. 1609-1612] Dutch Enterprise 35 oner. His tragic death a few years later at the hands of a mutinous crew in the frozen bay which he also discovered, has helped to immortalize his name. Dutch enterprise, 1609. — In this same year (1609) Holland had achieved independence and taken her place among the sovereign States of Europe. For the first time in her history she had been allowed by Spain the free navigation of the seas and the privi- lege of trade with India. This gave a fresh impulse to Dutch commerce, and soon trading ships began to visit the lands discovered by Hudson. In 1610 a Dutch ship, manned by some of the sailors who in the Half Moon had visited the " River of the Mountains '', was on its way across the Atlantic, laden with trinkets for trade with the Indians. Their trip was successful, and in 1611 Hendrick Christiaensen and Adrian Block made the same voyage, bringing back with them two young Indian chiefs. The suc- cess of this venture emboldened three wealthy mer- chants of the city of Amsterdam to make a further venture, and in 1612, two other ships. The Fortune and The Tiger, were fitted out and entrusted to Chris- tiaensen and Block for the continuation of this profit- able traffic on the "Mauritius" river, as the Hudson then began to be called. Block's ship. The Tiger, was unfortunately burned. This made it necessary for him to remain over winter to build a new one, which he was able to do from the timber found on the island of Manhattan *. * It is customary to date the settlement of New York from this year (1612), when, to protect his sailors 30 Explorations [Period II Block's explorations. — In the spring of ie;i3, in this ship, which he named The Onred (The Restless), Block proceeded to explore to the eastward. With his small vessel he was able to pass through Helle-gat (Hellgate) into Long Island Sound. Here he explored the shores and inlets and discovered the Connecticut, which from that day was called East River. Later he visited I^arragansett Bay and gave his name to Block Island. Proceeding to Cape Cod, Block fell in with Chris- tiaensen, and returned to Holland in The Fortune^ leav- ing his own ship in charge of Christiaensen's brother, Cornelius. The return of these two now famous navigators still further stimulated a spirit of adventure, and in the spring of 1614 many ships visited the new trading posts established about Xew York Bay. In small sloops the adventurous traders penetrated every creek and bay, and carried on a profitable traffic with the natives. Christiaensen builds Fort Nassau^ 161-t. — In this year (1614) Christiaensen ascended the " Mauri- tius " to a point a little below the present site of Al- bany, where the Indian trail from the west struck the river. Here on Castle Island, as a protection for his men and a storehouse for merchandise, he built a small fort which he called Fort Xassau *. from the cold. Block built huts on the southern point of Manhattan Island. This was but temporary, and when the OmrPd was ready for sea the hut'' were abandoned. *The fort was injured in a flood soon after and was abandoned. 1613-1614] Summary 37 summary — explorations 1. Portugal; Spain; the Pope, and the Azores. 2. Object of explorations of that period. 3. England and the Cabots. Frobisher; Drake; Raleigh. 4. Verazzano; Cortier; Champlain. 5. Henry Hudson. His voyages and discoveres. Importance of. 6. Marquette and Joliet. 7. Claims of England, France, and Holland; ground and justice of each. 8. Dutch traders. Block. The first ship built in Xew York. 9. Explorations to the eastward. 10. Christiaensen. Fort Xassau. PERIOD III UNDER DUTCH GOVERNMENT CHAPTER III The Dutch in Xew York, 1614-1G26 Dutch trade. — AVhat had been accomplished thus far was the result of private enterprise, entirely for commercial purposes. Xo governmental sanction had, as yet, been given to the undertaking, no national grant or charter or recognition lay behind the movement. The profits from the trade with the natives were enor- mous, and the search for a shorter passage to the Indies was soon forgotten in the prosecution of the new industry. The number of ships annually visiting the trading posts was increasing. Monopolies are not a modern invention, and the time soon came when one company wished to appropriate to itself the benefits from this profitable traffic. First charter from the states-general. — In l(il4 the states-general^ (Dutch Eepublic) granted to an Amsterdam company, for three years, the exclusive '^Extract from " Resolution of the states-general (of the United Xetherlands) on the Report of the Dis- covery of Xew Xetherlands." " Saturday, the 11th of October, appeared before the Assembly, the Deputies from the United Company (38) 1614-1617] First Charter and Treaty 39 privilege " to fre(][uent the newly discovered lands lying between ^ew France (Canada) and Virginia (the Eng- lish colony)." New Netherland.— This charter, the first formally to define the Dntch possessions in America, consti- tuted a distinct claim to the territory described, and was the first to designate it by the term " ^ew Nether- land". It was, however, superseded in 1621 by a more distinct charter granted to the Dutch West India Company, a company which, to all intents, ruled Xew Xetherland until the coming of the English in 1664. The treaty of Tawasentha^ 1617.— In the year 1617 the trading post on Castle Island (Fort Xassau) was abandoned, and a more advantageous location was found at the mouth of Norman's Kill, — in the lan- guage of the Mohawks " The Tawasentha ". Here on the bluff now covered by the city of Albany a new trading post was established, and here in that year (1617) was made the first formal treaty with the Iro- quois, — a treaty renewed by Kieft in 1645 and observed by both Dutch and English until the Revolution. of Merchants who have discovered and found New Netherlands, situate in America, between New France and Virginia, the sea-coasts whereof lie in the Latitude of forty to forty-five degrees. And who ordered a Re- port of their said Discovery and finding, requesting, in consequence, the Grant promised by their High Mightinesses' published placard. " Deliberation being had thereon, their High Mighti- nesses have granted and allowed, and hereby grant and allow, the Petition that they alone shall have the right to resort to or cause to be frequented, the aforesaid newly discovered countries situate, etc., etc." — N. Y. Col Doc. I, JO. 4(» Dutch Rights to the Territory [Period III Eepresentatives from all the Iroquois tribes were present ; and with them were delegates from the Mohi- cans, the Mincees, and the Lenni-Lenapes *. Here, "in the vale of Tawasentha", the pipe of peace was smoked and a tomahawk buried in soil over which the Dutch promised to build a church " so that none might dig it up again." In making this treaty the Dutch were wiser than they knew. Their thought was chiefly with reference to a profitable trade, but as these Indians were sup- plied with fire arms, they subsequently proved of im- mense advantage as allies against the aggressions of the French on the north. The Dutch rights.— The Dutch did not fail to understand that their claims in the new world would be disputed. The French were in possession of the St. Lawrence and all the region about the great lakes. The English had now (1620) planted settlements at Plymouth and Jamestown, and for nearly one hundred years Spain had been in undisputed possession of all the shores and islands about the Gulf of Mexico; but no one had entered upon the region discovered by the Dutch, and of which they had taken formal possession. They were aware of the charter granted to the Plymouth Company in 1606, and they knew that it covered the whole of Xew Xetherland from the Connecticut to the Delaware river. Sir Ferdiiiaiido Gorges and Dernier. — In 1619 an event occurred which still further endangered the * These were subjugate tribes and held to be a " nation of women ". l(ilT-l«J*2U] ClAI.MS of SlK FiRDTXANDO (xORGES 11 Dutch possessions. During that year Captain Thomas Dermer, employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, set sail in a small pinnace from Kennebec, Me., for Virginia. Sailing through Long Island Sound he entered Xew York Bay. Meeting here some Dutch traders, he in- formed them that they were " trespassing " on English territory, and "forbade them'', as Gorges reported, " to trade or settle in those parts.'' On reaching Eng- land, Dermer reported what he had done, and boldly laid claim to being the first to have passed through the Sound. On the strength of this, Gorges petitioned the king that the territory " discovered '" might be called " Xew England '", and asked that " the bound- aries be settled from forty to forty-five degrees of north latitude and from sea to sea." In 1620 this prayer was granted, and a '' council " of forty (including Gorges), called the " Council of Plymouth ", was appointed " for the planting, ruling and governing of Xew England.'' All this was done notwithstanding the French and Dutch had for some years been in undisputed possession of much of this territory. The powers granted to this council were so vast that they excited the suspicions even of parliament. By the conditions of this grant not a ship could enter a port from Xewfoundland to Philadelphia, not an immigrant could land, not a pelt be purchased of an Indian except by consent of this company. Parlia- ment ordered an inquiry, but the king stood by the charter. The British ministry brought the matter to the at- tention of the states-general, demanding that the West India Company " vacate these possessions." To this order no attention was paid. The Dutch 4-i First Permaxext Settlement [Period III continued to ply their trade from the Connecticut to the Delaware and for a number of years the claim was not pressed. The Walloons. — Until 162o there had been no per- manent settlements established. All who had come were traders. They had lived in huts clustered about the trading posts on Manhattan Island and at Albany. They did not clear the forest nor till the soil, nor did they bring their families, but they expected one and all to return to Holland. It was soon found desirable to establish a colony of agriculturists, who could pro- duce the food now procured from the Indians or brought .across the ocean. Fortunately there was a people anxious to come. These were the Walloons. They had originally come from the southern provinces of Belgium. When the northern provinces of the United Netherlands had formed their union in 1597, the Wal- loons had declined to join the confederation. These people were of French extraction, and spoke the French language. Some of them were Protes- tants, and as they found themselves the subjects of most bitter and unrelenting persecution from the Spaniards they had removed to Holland. They were mainly artisans, and proved a most valuable accession to the population of that country, much of the fame of Dutch manufactures being due to their skill. They had asked permission to settle in A'irginia but this request the English had denied; and when the West India Company invited them to locate in Xew Xetherland they gladly accepted. In the spring of 1623, thirty families, 110 souls, arrived at Xew Amsterdam. They w^ere a hardy, in- 1623] Governor May .43 dustrious, virtuous people. It would have been difficult to find in all Europe a better class of settlers for that time. The Dutch West India Company, never generous, neither gave nor sold them lands ; they became tenants, very nearly servants, but they remained in the colony, a most desirable nucleus for the future State. Their names still linger among the best families on Long Island, and Brenckelen (Brooklyn), Waalboght (Wallabout), and other towns to this day remind us of these first permanent settlers. With the Walloons came Cornelius Jacobson May as "commander"*. He was to remain as first "gover- nor" or "director" with Adriaen Joris as second in command. The settlers were scattered to different points as pleased the directors of the company. A few families went to South River (Delaware) ; eighteen families in charge of Joris were sent up the Hudson to the present site of Albany and built Fort Orange ; a few settled on the west shore of Long Island at a point which they called Waalboght (Wallabout). Administration of Oovernor May^ 1628.— May's administration was brief but efficient. On the very day of his arrival, he found in the harbor a French ship whose captain was about to set up the arms of France and claim the country for his king. May drove him out and followed him to the Delaware, where he attempted the same ceremony. May again sent him * May had made his first voyage to these shores in 1613 in command of The Fortune^ and Cape May bears his name. 44 Governor Verhulst [Period III to sea, after which May built on the Delaware a small log fort which he named Fort Kassau *. This incident showed plainly that the French would not without a struggle abandon their claim to the ter- ritory of Xew Xetheriand. After serving one year, Governor May was succeeded by AVilliam Verhulst as second director of Xew Xetherland, who also served one year. He was followed by Peter Minuit, who arriA'ed in January, 1626 f . SUMMARY — TBE DUTCH IN XEW YORK 1. The first voyages to Xew York. 2. The first Dutch charter, 1614. Xature of. 3. Name Isew Xetherland. 4. The second charter and the Dutch West India Company. Privileges granted. 5. Treaty of Tawasentha, 1617. Value of. 6. French, English, Dutch, and Spanish claims. 7. The Plymouth charter, 1606. 8. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 1609. Thomas Dernier. Voyage of and report made. 9. The Council of Plymouth; its claim. 10. The Walloons, 1623. Origin, character and set- tlement. 11. Governor May. 12. Joris and Fort Orange. 13. The French in Xew York Bay and on the Dela- ware. 14. Fort Nassau on the Delaware. * Fort Nassau on the Hudson had been abandoned. t Minuit is commonly, but erroneously called the first governor of New Netherland. He found a popu- lation of about two hundred people. CHAPTER IV GoYERN^OR Peter Minutt, 1G2G-1632 First form of goyernmeiit. — To assist Mmuit in his administration there was appointed a "council" of five men, besides a " koopman ", or commissary and secretary, and a " sellout ", or sheriff. This was the first form of government within the boundaries of our State, for Minuit and his council were invested with legislative, judicial, and executive power, subject only to the " chamber of deputies" at Amsterdam. One of Minuit 's first acts was an effort towards hon- est dealing with the natives. The Dutch had until this time held Manhattan Island only by the right of discovery and occupancy. Minuit proceeded to make a treaty for its purchase. The island contained about 22,000 acres, and the price agreed, sixty guilders (twenty-four dollars), was paid in such trinkets as the Indians desired, — beads, rings, and knives being in special request*. Fort Amsterdam. — Minuit now began the con- struction of a fort, — a block house surrounded by a palisade of cedar posts, which was known as Fort Am- sterdam. The settlement which soon grew up around this was called " Manhattan". -'-See picture of this purchase in Ilendrick's History, page 18. (45) 46 Governor Mi n lit [Period HI Staten Island was also purchased of the Indians, and soon the western shore of Long Island* was dotted with the farms which the Walloons had cleared and cultivated, and from which specimens of the harvest were sent to Holland to show the fertility of the soil. In the first year of Minuit's administration (1G26), an event occurred which for a time vacated the settle- ment about Fort Orange, and came very near inter- rupting the peaceful relations which existed between the Dutch and the Iroquois. In a stockade village on the east bank of the Hudson, just above Fort Orange, dwelt the Mohicans. They had been parties to the treaty of Tawasentha, and since that time only had lived in peace with the Mohawks at the west. Xow this treaty was broken, and the two tribes were at war. The fort was in charge of one Daniel Van Krucke- beeck. He foolishly consented to accompany the Mohicans on an incursion into the territory of the Mohawks. The party was caught by the latter in am- bush and defeated, and Kruckebeeck and three of his men were killed. Fearful of the results of this in- considerate act, Minuit removed all the families from Fort Orange to Manhattan, leaving only a garrison of sixteen men. So great was the distrust that many other detached settlements on the Hudson were abandoned. The Dutch and the Puritans. — Very early in the history of Xew Xetherland, the Dutch had pushed their trading ventures not only southward to Delaware Bay, but eastward through Long Island Sound to the Connecticut river, and even as far as Xarragansett * This was the beginning of Brooklyn. 1626] Relations with the Puritans 47 Bay. Here they were destined to come into contact with the Puritans, to whom they were bound by many ties of friendship. On leaving England, the Puritans had settled in Holland, and had remained there twelve years, this residence being entirely satisfactory to the Dutch. Furthermore, when the Puritans at last contemplated the project of removing to America, they had made application for permission to settle among their friends in New Netherland. The prospect of 400 families of such a character as settlers was gladly considered by the Dutch merchants, who in 1620 held the Charter of Privileges. Application was accordingly made to the Prince of Orange for authority to enter into an agreement for their transportation to America, and for one other con- sideration which they demanded, — " protection " after they had gone. The Prince referred the question to the " states-general ". This conservative body had just learned that England claimed all the coast of N^orth America, and therefore it doubted the advisa- bility of planting an English colony within the very territory over which there was likely to be contention. So it chanced that the Puritans settled in New Eng- land instead of in New Netherland. Here after many hardships they had begun to prosper; here they had set up a form of government more nearly like that of Holland than of England; and here they had, in 1629 obtained a charter, which in its westward extension, included all that portion of New Netherland lying between Esopus (Kingston) and the Mohawk river. To this charter was added, however, the saving clause 48 (lOYERXOR MixuiT [Period III that this gmnt was to be " utterly void concerniug any parts or parcels thereof actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or State before the third day of Xovember, 1(520." This was a remarkably im- portant reservation. Until 1623 the Dutch had an entire monopoly of the trade with the region north of Long Island Sound. They supplied the Indian tribes with Dutch wares, and received in return furs, corn, and venison. Croveriior Minuit and Governor Bradford. — In 1627 Minuit drew up a let- ter, " written in a very fair hand ", which he dispatched to Governor Bradford at Plymouth, congratulating him on the prosperous con- dition of his people, allud- ing to the former friend- ships made in Holland, and inviting commercial rela- WlLLIA.M UUADFOHU. 1590-lt>.'l7 . • To this Governor Bradford replied in the same vein, in turn congratulating Governor Minuit on the recent alliance of their respective countries against their common enemy, the hated Spaniard, and referring to their happy residence in Holland, '*for which we are bound to be thankful and our children after us, and shall never forget the same." He declined the commercial reciprocity proposed, "being fully sup- plied with necessaries," and then curiously added his regret that the Dutch should trade within the limits of New England. 1627] Conference with Gov. Bradford 49 Governor Bradford suggested that by King James's patent the English possessions extended from the 40th to the 48th degrees north latitude, and from sea to sea; to which Minnit replied in substance : " We came here, we found no English ; we have settled here and shall be obliged to defend our rights." Bradford wrote to his government that "for strength of men and forti- fications, the Dutch far exceed us, and besides spoiling our trade they continue ' to truck ' guns, powder and shot with the Indians, which will soon be the over- throw of us all if it be not looked into*." Minuit receiving no answer to his last letter to Gov- ernor Bradford sent a special messenger with tokens of good will, "rt rimdlet of sugar and two Holland cheeses,^ ^ and invited the Puritans to come to Manhattan " to confer ". Governor Bradford kindly entertained the Dutch messenger, but replied that he could not send a messenger as " one of our boats is abroad and ive have much business at home. ' ' Governor Minuit, anxious still for peaceful relations, finally sent a deputation to Plymouth, which was very graciously received. It was the first meeting in the new world of representatives from the colonies of the old world. Each party was most anxious to maintain friendly relations, yet neither would abate one jot of what it believed to be its colonial rights. The Puritans did not forget that their visitors came from the only land that would receive them, when, as " Pilgrims" they had left England forever; while the Dutch, on their part, remembered their own struggles for religious freedom. But the latter learned a lesson * Massachusetts Historical Collection. 50 GovERXOR MixuiT [Period III which they carried home with them to put in practice when they at last felt the yoke of the West India Company to be too heavy. They learned much of the English form of government, of their annual elec- tions, and their better means of living. Currency. — In their dealings with the Indians the Dutch had one great advantage over the English, by means of which they had been able to monopolize the fur trade about Narragansett Bay. The Indians did not care for European coins. The currency they pre- ferred was " seawan ", which was of two kinds : " wam- pum " or white beads, made from the stem of the periwinkle ; and ' ' suckanhock ' ' or black beads, the value of which was double that of the white. " Sea- wan" was both used as currency and worn as jewelry. It distinguished the rich from the poor; it bought lands and merchandise; it purchased a ransom, it atoned for an injury, and it Avas used in various In- dian ceremonies. "Wampum" was chiefly manufactured by the In- dians of Long Island. The Dutch trader was not slow to avail himself of the advantages derived from living so near to the source of this valuable medium of exchange. Governor Minuit went so far as to pro- pose to Governor Bradford a sort of reciprocity which would furnish the English traders with this currency, but his friendly overtures were rejected. The patrooii sytenij, 1629. — The population of Manhattan at this time was but 270, and its growth was very slow. Only a small area about the settle- ments was under cultivation, and the supply of food was entirely insufficient for the use even of the traders who 1629] The Patroon System 51 still constituted the greater part of the population. Settlers did not come. The island of Manhattan had become by purchase the private property of the Dutch West India Company, but the revenues of that com- pany came from the peltries purchased from the In- dians, and did not at all satisfy the men who were looking in Xew Netherland not for a future Dutch State but for an increase in the number of profitable trading posts. Their profits they saw would be greatly increased if there were on this side the Atlantic prosperous colonies that would purchase cargoes of Dutch wares and in return furnish products of which European markets were in need. So it was thought desirable to plant several distinct colonies within their possessions here. For this purpose a plan was suggested for transplant- ing to this country one of the features of the old feudal system of Europe. This plan was approved by the college of nineteen*. A " Charter of Privileges " and exemptions was issued, granting to any member of the company extensive domains in New Nether- land, outside of Manhattan Island, on condition that he should within four years place upon the land so granted, a colony of fifty adult settlers. Those to whom these grants should be made were to be known as " Patroons ", i. e., patrons, or defenders. Each patroon might select sixteen miles frontage on any navigable water, or eight miles on both sides, and might extend that tract into the interior as far as he * The "College of Nineteen" was the executive committee of the West India Company. In this col- lege the states-general had one representative. 52 Governor Minuit [Period III chose. The patroons must purchase their lands from any Indians laying claim to them, and must support a minister and school-master. These colonies were for ten years to be protected "against all inlandish and outlandish wars and powers", but were forbidden to manufacture any linen or cotton cloth, or "to traffic in the skins of otters, beavears, and minks". The patroon system brought to our shores men who became of great service to the country, and many of their names linger among us still; but the system was opposed to the genius of American institutions and could not long endure. Ultimately it led to those serious anti-rent troubles which will be treated of later. The colonists brought over by the patroons were tenants for a term of years, and when their period of service expired, they were free to renew the contract or to go away from the colony. The patroon estates. — The patroons were active in securing valuable estates for themselves. In fact, so many of Governor Minuit's friends became patroons that his partiality to them ultimately led to his recall. Killian Van Rensselaer, one of the directors, became the owner of an immense tract of land near Fort Orange*. Michael Paauw took a district opposite Fort Amsterdam, at that time called " Hoboken-Hacking "f. Even David Pietersen De Vries, one of the wisest and most liberal of all the directors, perceived the ad- vantage of these investments, and in company with * He managed by proxy to secure a tract 48 by 24 miles in one body, and 62,000 acres in another. t From a corruption of Paauw we get Pavonia. 1632] English Claim to Xew N^etherland 53 Samuel Godyn, Samuel Blommaert and John De Laet (or Laert) acquired an extensive tract of land in Dela- ware, taking possession in the name of the states- general and founding the patroonship of Swansdale *. Hoboken, or Pavonia, gradually spread southward on the New Jersey shore and finally embraced the whole of Staten Island f, which afterwards came into pos- session of De Vries. Complete feudal rights were granted to these propri- etors. Within the limits of their patents or charters they exercised absolute rule over their domains. They made laws and executed them, even inflicting the death penalty. They did not prosper, and when the English came in 1664, Rensselaerwick was the only patroonship remaining. The English claim New Netherland.— In 1632 Governor Minuit was recalled. It so happened that the ship on which he took passage was by a storm driven into Plymouth harbor. Here it was seized on the charge of illegally trading within the king's dominions. Captain Mason of Plymouth, who made the seizure, reported to the English government that the Dutch were "interlopers, having fallen into the middle be- tween Virginia and New England ". This letter took no account of Dutch claims or titles, but boldly in- cluded the territory of New Netherland in the charter given to the Council of Plymouth in 1620. The West India Company immediately prepared a strong docu- * This settlement was in the next year entirely de- stroyed by the Indians, not one person being left to- tell the tale. f Staten or Staats Island. 54 Governor Mtnuit [Period III mentary statement of the ground of their rights. It was clear, explicit, truthful and dignified. The ground of their claim was as follows: 1. The discovery in 1609. 2. Their occupancy in 1610. 3. The grant of a trading charter in 1614. 4. The maintenance of a fort and garrison. 5. The failure of the English to occupy the territory claimed. These were indeed strong claims. King Charles could not refute them, neither would he concede their justice. Fearing his foreign relations might be en- dangered by its further detention, he ordered the re- lease of the ship, " saving any prejudice to his Majesty's rights". This was another postponement, not a set- tlement of the dispute. Review of Miiniit's Administration. — Notwith- standing the abuses complained of and which finally secured his recall, Minuit's administration was, on the whole, a wise one. He had made an honest purchase of Manhattan Island, had improved the settlements about the Island, and had maintained peaceful relations with the Indians and with the English. The patroon- ships of Rensselaerwick and Swaansdale had been founded and both the exports and imports of the col- ony had been greatly augmented. For two years after his recall the little colony was without a governor, its affairs being managed by the " Council ". SUMMMARY 1. The coming of Minuit, 1636. His government. The purchase of Manhattan. 1632] Summary of his Administration 55 2. Fort Amsterdam. 3. Indian troubles at Albany. 4. The Dutch and the Puritans. Why the Puritans did not settle in ^""ew Xetherland. 5. Their charter and the Dutch possessions. 6. Minuit and Governor Bradford. Minuit's efforts for peace. 7. Wampum ; nature and value. 8. The patroons (1629) ; their privileges and obiga- tions. Character of patroons. 9. Prominent patroons. 10. Defects of the system. 11. Departure of Minuit; arrest of ; Plymouth com- plaint. 12. Dutch statement of the ground of their rights. CHAPTER V GovER:t^OR WouTER Yax Twtller, 1633-1(;38 In the spring of 1633 Wouter (Walter) Van Twiller came as governor. Be was ignorant of public affairs and wholly unfitted for so responsible a position. Whatever may have been his good qualities, he will al- ways, to the ^N^ew York school-boy, be seen as repre- sented by Washington Irving *. But this is in no sense a true picture of him, nor must Irving's description of the times during which Van Twiller was governor be taken at all seriously. Lazy and bibulous the governor doubtless was, but as we have seen, the people among whom he came were poor, and there were no such scenes of plenty on the island of Manhattan as Irving depicts. Van Twiller brought with him a hundred soldiers as a garrison for the fort, the first to be stationed in the colony. The good Dominie Bogardusf, and Adam Eoelandson, the first schoolmaster in the colony, came with Van Twiller. While we know little of Roeland- son, we find much recorded of Dominie Bogardus. He frequently thought he ought to rejirove the governor, * Irving's " Knickerbocker's History of Xew York ". t Bogardus is usually spoken of as the first minister in Manhattan, but Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer tells of one Rev. Jonas Michaelius who was there in 1628, and was both minister and schoolmaster. (56) 1633] " Staple Rights " 57 and did not fear to do his duty. On one occasion to Governor Van Twiller's face he called him a " child of the devil ", and threatened to give him a "shaking from the pulpit". Later, it was Dominie Bogardus who called Governor Kieft to account for his cruelties to the Indians, and from his pulpit declared that " our great men are but vessels of wrath and fountains of trouble." Manhattan invested with ^*^ Staple Rights", 1633. — In the management of Xew Netherland the West India Company looked only for quick returns from their investments. They viewed the colony from a commercial standpoint; for its political future, they cared very little. Consequently Van Twiller's whole purpose as governor was to extend the monopoly of the company. For this reason the little village of Manhattan, now containing about 300 whites, was in 1633 invested with " Staple Rights ", by virtue of which act, all merchandise passing up or down the river became subject to such duties as the company saw fit to impose, thus giving it a monopoly of all the trade of the colony. Fort Good Hope and the Puritans. — Among the enterprises entrusted to Van Twiller was the protection of the interests of the West India Company on the East river (Connecticut). At this point a danger still threatened. Here the Dutch were constantly coming into contact with the Puritans, under conditions greatly to their own disadvantage. The early Dutch were a race of merchants; and so, unfortunately, their American possessions were almost 58 Governor Van Twiller [Period III entirely occupied by traders. These men were enter- prising; they pushed their ventures east, west, north and south; but they neither cleared the forests nor tilled the soil. As a result, at the east they had early come into contact with a race who were both traders and agriculturists, Avho were as keen for traffic as themselves, but who were followed at once by an army of farmers who cared less for furs than for choice lands; who had come to this country to stay; who had transplanted all their earthly possessions, and who were setting up new homes in a western wilderness. The Dutch traders had observed the Puritans' thrift and especially their tendency to colonize farther and farther to the w^est. Their keen commercial instinct told them something must be done to check this west- ward tendency of their enterprising neighbors. So, relying upon their right by virtue of Block's discoveries (1613), they determined to take formal possession of the valley of the Connecticut. In 1633, Van Twiller sent commissary Jacob Van Curler out in charge of a small expedition for that purpose. Van Curler set up the arms of Holland at the mouth of the Connecticut river, and, sailing north to what gave promise of being a good location, bought land of the Indians and began the construction of a fort which he called "Fort Good Hope", on the site of the city of Hartford. This fort was but half finished when Captain Wil- liam Holmes of Plymouth came sailing boldly up the river. He was ordered to halt, but paid no attention; nor did he give any more heed when Van Curler threatened^to fire on him. He pushed on past the 1633] A^ English Ship in N^ew York Bay 59 Dutch fort and established a rival trading post where Windsor now stands, a few miles above Hartford. Here matters rested until two years later, when sl colony from Dorchester, Mass., half the population of that town, came and settled at AVindsor, making clear- ings and establishing a town, while Good Hope re- mained only a trading post. Other settlements followed, and in a few years the Dutch found themselves crowded out of the valley of the Connecticut. Eelkens and the ^^ William".— In 1633 another incident occurred to show the determination of the English to gain possession of JS'ew Netherland. One Jacob Eelkins, a former employe of the West India Company who had been dismissed from their service, arrived from London in the English ship William and attempted to sail up the Hudson to trade with the In- dians. This was the first English ship to enter New York Bay. The vacillating Van Twiller remonstrated, swore, and finally allowed Eelkens to proceed. The real head of the colony was a director, David Pieter- sen De Vries. He proposed that Eelkens should be driven out, and he carried his point. The William was brought down to Manhattan and forced to sea. Eelkens returned to London entirely foiled in his pur^ pose of interfering with Dutch trade. Tan Twiller recalled. — At last complaints against Van Twiller began to reach Holland. It was not just to charge to his incompetence all the troubles of the colony, but it did not prosper. There were reasons for this. The patroons brought 60 Governor Van Twiller [Period Til a number of colonists to our shores, but they kept more away. There was really nothing to invite thrifty, industrious people to emigrate to New Motherland, as there was on the other hand little to tempt the lazy and vicious. The West India Company decided that Van Twiller must be recalled, and in 1638 he was replaced by Wil- liam Kieft. SUMMARY 1. The coming of Van Twiller, 1633. Character of the man. 2. Koelandson and Bogardus. 3. Staple rights; nature of. 4. English and Dutch contrasted. 5. Van Curler and Fort Good Hope. 6. Captain Holmes of Plymouth. 7. The conflict for the possession of the Connecti- -cut Valley. 8. Eelken's visit to New York. CHAPTER VI Gover:n'OR William Kieet, 1638-1647 Much that is uu complimentary has been written of the early life of William Kieft, and the character of his administration did not redeem the reputation that preceded him. He truly found the affairs of the com- pany in a bad condition and he set about reforming abuses so vigorously as almost to destroy the semblance of liberty among the people. While Van Twiller had governed too little, Kieft governed too much. He ;soon concentrated power as much as possible in his own hands, and at once spoke of the people as his *" subjects ". The morals of the community under the easy rule of the good-natured Van Twiller had grown lax. Kieft instituted a rigorous police system, and threat- ened evil doers with fines and imprisonment. Sailors were for the first time required to be on their ships after night-fall. The promiscuous sale of liquors was prohibited, and the "tapping of beer during divine service^'' was forbidden. He reformed the court by requiring that all complaints should be written in proper form by the colonial secretary. For these and many other restraints on what the people were pleased to call their "liberties", the new governor was roundly censured. (61) 62 Governor Kieft [Period III The Swedes on the Delaware^ 1638.— In the same month that Governor Kieft arrived at Manhattan, ex- Governor Minuit entered Delaware Bay with a colony of Swedes. Smarting under the disgfrace of his dismissal from the service of the West India Com- pany , he deter- mined to profit by his knowledge of Dutch manage- m e n t in X e w Xetherland. For this purpose he went to Sweden, and offered hi& services to Gusta- VQs AdolphuSy then the most powerful military leader in all Eu- rope, proposing ta lead a Swedish colony to Ameri- ca. While negotiations were pending, Gustavus Adol- phus died, and the government descended to his daughter Christina, a child of six years. On this account, his proposal was not acted upon un- til 1638, when, a regency having been established with the illustrious Axel, Count of Oxenstiern, at its. 1638] Fort Christina m liead, a colony of fifty, accompanied by a man-of-war, was dispatched in care of Minuit. He knew of the construction of the Dutch fort on the Delaware and of the advantages offered there, both for trade and agriculture. Ignoring the little garrison still main- tained at Fort Nassau, he boldly landed fifteen miles below that place, purchased land of the Indians, and proceeded to build a fort*, which in honor of the child queen of Sweden, he named Fort Christina. Kieft at once sent out one of his " proclamations " Bgaiust this encroachment of the Swedes, to which Minuit paid not the slightest attention. The colony remained, with varying fortunes, the first permanent settlement in the State of Delaware. Complaints against the West India company^ 1638. — Even before Kieft's arrival complaints of mismanagement on the part of the company reached Holland, and an investigation was ordered. The facts came out that, so far the company had managed atfairs solely in its own interests; that few settlers were going to New Netherland ; and that the states-general were reaping no benefit from all that had been done in America. The patroons, too, grew more grasping year by year, and brought little or no revenue to the company. They even demanded that their already enormous pow- •ers and privileges be still further enlarged. They wanted to monopolize more territory, to have longer time in which to settle colonies; to become entirely independent of the company; to have a vote in the * About when Wilmington now stands. 64 Governor Kieft [Period III council; to be supplied with ne^ro slaves as laborers;; and, lastly, they demanded that " private persons " should not be allowed to purchase land from the In- dians, but should be obliged to settle within the= domains of these manorial lords. Proclamation of free trade. — It was now de- termined to attempt the experiment of opening to free competition the internal trade of Xew Xetherland. The Amsterdam chamber proclaimed " that all inhabi- tants of the United Provinces, and of friendly coun- tries might freely convey in the company's ships any cattle and merchandise they desired," and " might receive whatever returns they or their agents may be able to obtain in these quarters therefor." A more liberal policy toward immigrants was forced upon the company, and under this system a desirable class of settlers began to arrive in New Xetherland. Small farmers came, and for the first time in the his- tory of the colony fruit trees were planted and gardens- were cultivated. Commercial privileges which had been confined to the patroons were extended to all free colonists*, and trade began to revive f. Dutch and English claims to Long Island.— The New England colonists each year narrowed more and more the frontier of New Netherland to the east, and "^ Those not bound to service. fin the midst of the general depression one colony- prospered. This was the Van Rensselaer patroonship at Fort Orange. It embraced most of the present counties of Albanv, Rensselaer and Columbia, more than 1,000 square miles, extending twenty-five miles along the Hudson river. 1640] First English Settlement in 'N'ew York 65 slowly but surely circumstances were shaping the future State of New York. The Dutch settlements on Long Island had up to this time been confined to the vicinity of Brooklyn. Kieft now extended the possessions of the company by purchase from the Indians of all that portion west of Oyster Bay, although the Dutch had always considered the entire island theirs by right of discovery and possession. The Council of Plymouth laid claim to the eastern portion of Long Island and granted charters to parts of the same. The first grant was made in 1639 to one Lyon Gardiner, of an island which the Indians called Machonack, but which was afterward known as Gardiner's Island. Here, in 1640, was planted the first English settlement within the present limits of the State of New York. Relations with the Indians. — The opening of trade with its benefits brought its troubles also. The old, cautious policy of the company was no longer enforced, and greedy traders furnished the Mohawks with guns and ammunition so freely that they began to levy tribute from the surrounding tribes, — at once arousing jealousy against the Dutch. The hatred of the river tribes was still further aroused by Kieft, who, alleging " express orders from Holland ", exacted contributions of corn and furs from them. These tribes were soon entirely estranged, and their vindictive manner led Kieft to order all residents of Manhattan to arm themselves and at a given signal to repair to the fort. 66 GoYERXOR KiEFT [Period III For a petty theft*, Kieft at once undertook to pun- ish the Raritans. In this "punishment" several In- dians were killed, and all hope of regaining the good will of the savages was lost. Trouble with the Baritaiis. — The cruelties in- flicted upon the Raritans had aroused their animosity, and they only awaited the time when they might avenge their injuries. Before long they laid waste De A^ries's settlement on Staten Island. Kieft, learning of this, determined upon their destruction, and offered a reward for the heads of all who had been concerned in the affair. De Vries, though the real sufferer, remon- strated with Kieft, and insisted that the Indian troubles were the result of bad faith on the part of the whites. He said to him, "You wish to break the Indians' mouths, but you will also murder our own people." The murder of Claus Smits. — The Indian troubles grew more threatening. In revenge for an injury done him when a child, an Indian murdered a poor inoffens- ive wheel-wright, Claus Smits. Immediately Kieft sent out to the Weckquaesgeeks, demanding the mur- derer. Their sachem refused to deliver him up. With his usual hasty spirit, Kieft proposed to punish this tribe as he had punished the Raritans, but was fearful of the consequences should a general Indian war result. From this circumstance grew the first attempt at a representative government in Xew York. ^^The council of twelve", or, ^^The twelve men," 1641. — In his perplexity Kieft summoned ^'all the masters and heads of families to meet him * On De Vries plantation on Staten Island. 1641] The Council of Twelve 6^7 in Fort Amsterdam to resolve on something of the first necessity." This was the first popular meeting ever held in New Netherland, the first recognition of the right of the people to a voice in the atfairs of the colony, and, as such, should be placed to the credit of Governor Kieft. The question he proposed to the meeting showed that his own mind was already made up, and that he only wanted the sanction of the people to what he was about to undertake. But even this was a concession to the growing demand for a share in the government*. This assembly chose *' Twelve select men" to consider the question sub- mitted, and the "twelve" elected David Pietersen De Vries as their presidentf. Their answer to the governor contained one re- markable sentence; "God and the opportunity ought to be taken into consideration." The " twelve" assented to the hostilities proposed, but advised the hot-headed governor to proceed cautiously. *This is the question he proposed: "Is it not just that the murder lately committed by a savage upon Claus Sniits be avenged and punished; and in ease the Indians will not surrender the murderer, is it not just to destroy the whole village to which he belongs? In what manner ought this to be done?" fDe Vries, who was competent to speak, and not likely to give Kieft undue credit, says they were selected to aid in the management of the affairs of the colony; but Van der Donck, in his " Vertoogh " writ- ten soon after Kieft's recall says they had " neither vote nor advice in judicial matters", but "were chosen to serve as cloaks and ' cats-paws' in time of war". 68 Governor Kieft [Period III Demands of the ^^ twelve", 1642.— The next year Kieft called the " Council of Twelve " together, and while it was agreed that war should begin at once, they insisted that Kieft should lead the expedition in person. They were bold enough to demand also some re- forms in the government of the colony. They com- plained of the arbitrary constitution of the govern- ment; they asked that four persons be chosen from their number (two to retire each year), " who shall have access to the council so that taxes may not be imposed on the country in the absence of the twelve "; and they reminded him that while in Holland the smallest village had a board of from five to seven schepens, Manhattan had none. They also asked that all freemen should be allowed to visit vessels arriving from abroad, as was the custom in their native country; and that all colonists should have the right to go and come freely and to trade where they pleased, provided they paid the company's duties. Kieft was grieved at the unsolicited advice given by the " twelve", and plainly toJd them that their duties ended with the case of the murdered Smits. A few of their requests were granted, and to save himself from their further meddling in his affairs, the governor issued a proclamation in which he thanked the ** twelve", dismissed them, and forbade the calling of other assemblies, " without express orders of the direc- tor". Thus for the time, ended popular government in New Netherland. The governor now having the sanction he desired did not delay the campaign. Fortunately the Indians 1643] The Year of Blood 69 submitted in time to save both parties from the conse- quences of their folly, and a temporary peace was made which postponed, but did not avert the war. The year of blood, 1643. — In the early annals of 'New Xetherland the year 1643 was always known as *' the year of blood ". In Xew England there was general alarm over reports of an intended rising of all the Indian tribes in those colonies, while in Xew Xetherland there was a feeling of insecurity among all the outlying settlements. The almost universal fear was soon realized. The trouble began with a drunken Indian who murdered a Dutch settler. De Vries, the peace maker, undertook to prevent an outbreak. After giving his personal promise of their safety, he persuaded the sachems of the Hackensacks to go to the fort, see the governor, and offer full atonement, according to their standard, in money. This they did, but Kieft was inexorable; the guilty Indian must be delivered up*. Before Kieft had time to take this matter in hand a more serious event occurred, which drove the first from men's minds. One winter's night, some neighboring Indians hav- ing been attacked by another river tribe, sought refuge among the whites. De Vries and others were trying to * The Indians would not do this, but they read the governor a temperance lecture which has rarely been equalled. " Why do you sell brandy to our young men ? They are not used to it; it makes them crazy. Even your own people sometimes become drunk and fight. Sell no more strong drink and you will save trouble." 70 Governor Kieft [Period III protect these savages, when Kieft ordered his soldiery to assault them, and in spite of the protests of their protectors, they were murdered. Such an act could bring but one result; all the tribes were at once in arms. The farms were laid waste, the farmers murdered, and many of the smaller settlements entirely destroyed. Kieft was now bitterly reproached, and his life was in danger from the people he had come to govern. De Vries had suffered much from the Indians, but he was opposed to Kieft's policy of going to war with them. When his colony of Swansdale had been de- stroyed he had not retaliated, but had made peace with the guilty tribe, which had became his friends. When the Raritans had laid waste his settlement on Staten Island, he Avas still for peace, but Kieft offered a re- ward for the Raritans who had been concerned in the matter. The war which followed nearly depopulated the colony. The Indians on Long Island, hitherto always friendly, made common cause with the other savages. Tribes that had never agreed before united to drive the Dutch into the sea. Eleven tribes were in the league. The attacks came from every side; they came by day and by night; they swarmed on the settlers from swamps and thickets. Vriesdale was destroyed, and De Vries himself was in danger. He was in his manor house when, in the midst of the attack, word was passed to the besiegers that he was a friend to the Indians, and instantly the seige was raised. Going down to Manhattan, De Vries entered the fort where Kieft was safely housed, and indignantly reminded the governor of his warning. 1643] The Eight Men 71 " Did I not tell you that you were only helping to shed Christian blood ? " he demanded. Kieft was humbled. The colony was ruined, and the people charged all their woes upon his head. Only after much bloodshed was a peace arranged which lasted till the following August (1643). Then the hatchet was dug up and again war raged from the Connecti- cut to the Hackensack. It spread to New Jersey and even invaded the island of Manhattan. The eight meii^ 1643. — The governor had dis- banded the " twelve men " and in his extremity asked the people to appoint eight men as a council. The *' eight" were very determined men*. They recom mended the enlistment of as large a force as the colony could equip. Fifty Englishmen enlisted and were placed under command of Captain Underbill, a veteran of the Pequod war. Little was done during the winterf. De Vries, hav- ing lost everything and being weary with the constant warfare with which he was surrounded, sailed for Hol- land. As he was leaving, he called on Governor Kieft and gave him solemn warning. " Tbe murders," he said, " in which you have shed so much innocent blood will yet be visited on your own head." Again the "eight men" came together and this time they sent a most pitiful appeal to the states-. * The "eight men" suggested that a little less " taverning" and more preaching would be good for the people. f It was this year that the palisade, or fence, with a wall was built across Manhattan Island, marking what is now known as Wall street. 72 Governor Kieft [Period III general, describing the condition of the colony and making complaint against the governor. In the spring of 1644 the campaign was pushed with all the vigor that was possible from the ruined colony. Captain Underbill went to Connecticut and reduced the savages there, then returned and pursued those nearer Man- hattan. Unexpected aid now came. One hundred and thirty Dutch soldiers from the West Indies arrived in time to be of real service. The governor and the '' ei^ht men "now quarrelled over the conduct of the campaign, and Captain Un- derbill, with his English soldiers were dismissed. At the close of 1G44 the " eigbt men" sent another ap- peal to Holland, and also begged for the recall of Gov- ernor Kieft. It is difficult, in our time, even to imagine the deplorable condition to which the colony was reduced. For four years Xew Netherland had hardly known rest from Indian wars. Manhattan was nearly depopulated, scarcely one hundred able-bodied men remained, while 1,600 savages had been killed. With the return of spring, the Indians again desired peace, and Kieft most eagerly acquiesced. Rest was at last brought to the distracted colony, and gradually the people returned to their desolated farms. Kieft recalled, 1647.— The demand for Kieft's recall was now stronger than ever, and in 1647, he took his departure, carrying with him the dislike of the colony, but consoling himself with £20,000 which he had been able to accumulate. In the same ship sailed good Dominie Bogardus, who with Kieft and 1647] Summary of his Administratiok 73 eighty others perished in the wreck of their vessel on the home voyage. Soon after Kief t's departure came Peter Stuyvesant, the sixth and last Dutch governor. SUMMARY 1. Governor William Kieft. His character. 2. Some improvements made. 3. The Swedes on the Delaware. Fort Christina. 4. Complaints against the West India Company. 5. Complaints against the Patroons. 6. The opening of trade. Effect of. 7. Controversy over Long Island. 8. Extent of the Rensselaer patroonship. 9. Indian troubles; origin of. 10. Kieft's unwise policy. 11. Troubles with the Raritans. 12. The Claus Smits trouble. 13. Origin of "The Council of Twelve". Their office. 14. The action of the twelve. 15. The complaints of the twelve and their discharge. 16. The "year of blood", 1643; De Vries; the " eight men ". 17. Captain John Underbill. 18. The complaint of the " eight men ". 19. Effects of Kieft's wars. 20. Fate of Kieft and Dominie Bogardus. CHAPTER VII The La^=t Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant, 1647-1664 Peter Stuyvesaiit. — The new governor was a gal- lant soldier who had seen much service in the wars of Holland, but he was very in- experienced in administrative affairs. It being now the sincere wish of the West India Com- pany to improve the condi- tion of their colony, Stuyve- sant's duties were outlined Peter Stuyvesant. 1602-1682 x- i • i! ii tf tor him as lollows: He was to keep peace with the Indians; to repair the fort; to make sure the English did not further encroach on the territory of Xew Netherland; to induce the settle- ment of desirable colonists; to prevent the sale of arms to the Indians ; to maintain a permanent garri- son; and to open trade to all the inhabitants. This was work enough to tax the wit of a wiser man than Governor Stuyvesant. Fortunately for him, the Iroquois kept their early treaties, and gave little trouble, while, thanks to Kieft's blood-thirsty policy, the neighboring tribes had been nearly exterminated and were incapable of doing much harm. (74) 1647] Demand for Self-Government 75 Settlers were ready to come to the colony at any time whenever its affairs ga^e promise of being peaceful and its proprietors were willing to allow a laboring man the fruits of his industry. The English problem promised to give trouble and the Swedes, now well established on the Delaware, evidently intended to maintain their position in spite of Stuyvesant's authority. The people of Manhattan were rejoiced when their new governor came, and they wished to pay him their respects. When they had been kept waiting bare- headed in the sun for an hour, and were told by Stuy- vesant that he had come to govern them " as a father would govern his children ", some of them went away in doubt. He soon showed the burghers that, like Kieft, he regarded them as his "subjects". He de- clared that it was " treason to appeal from the decision of one's superiors", and that if any one appealed from his decisions he " would make him a foot shorter,, and send the pieces to Holland ". However, he showed himself a despot "with a bite not so bad as his bark". He reformed many abuses. He was tyrannical but just, and treated the Indians with kindness. A demand for self-government^ 1647.— Concern- ing one matter Stuyvesant found the people stubbornly insistent. They remembered the local self-government of Holland. They demanded the same freedom, and the same share in the government of Xew Netherland that they had enjoyed in the "Fatherland"; while Stuyvesant, more accustomed to camps than courts, had no liking for free institutions, and preferred good 76 Governor Stuyvesant [Period III dividends for the stockholders to the advice of the €ommon people, whom he held in great contempt. But these demands finally became so imperative, they could be no longer ignored. An election was therefore held in which Manhat- tan, Breuckelen, Amersfort (Fiatlands), and Pavonia participated. Eighteen '' of the most notable, reason- able, honpst, and respectable" persons among them were selected, from whom, according to customs in the *' Fatherland ", the " director and his council" were to choose " Nine Men^^ to " advise and assist the gover- nor lohen called upon^\ A small concession to the popular demand for a share in the government! It was, however, a recognition that the people existed, and as such they accepted it. The ^^nine men". — Stuyvesant ambiguously de- fined the powers and duties of the " nine " as follows: They were " to promote the honor of God and the wel- fare of our dear Fatherland;" to " preserve pure Re- formed religion;" "to meet only when convened in a legitimate manner; " and ^' when called upon " they were " to bring forward their advice." Three of the nine were to have seats by rotation in the council once a week, to whom, as arbitrators, civil cases "might be referred ". It would be difficult to hedge about more completely the powers of any body of public offices. One of the first matters recommended by the " nine " was the reorganization of the public school, thus prov- ing their genuine interest in the concerns of the colony. Stuyvesant's intolerance. — For a time this small share in the government was accepted with good grace, 1649] The Nine Men 77 l)ut soon, having plenty of proofs that the governor would in no sense be bound by their opinions, the '" nine " thought it wise to preserve in a proper jour- Tial the transactions of his council*. Stuyvesant was even more intolerant in religious matters. Until this time there had been absolute freedom of religious worship in the colony. The new governor proposed to allow none except the Dutch Eeformed services. In 1656 he imposed a fine of one hundred Flemish pounds on any who should preach without a license. For this he was rebuked by the company. In the next year some Quakers, driven from Plymouth, came to Manhattan. Enraged beyond measure at their advent, Stuyvesant scourged, impris- .oned, and finally drove them from the colony. The memorial of 1649. — Stuyvesant's efforts at repression only excited to a greater degree the growing sentiment in favor of popular government. This resulted in 1649 in a memorial to the states-general in which the "nine men" plainly stated the wishes of -the colonists. They made three requests which were ably enforced with earnest arguments : 1. New Netherland should be peopled at once with oolonists from Holland, brought over in public vessels. 2. The states-general should immediately establish -a " suitable burgher government resembling that of the Fatherland". *This duty they imposed on Adrian Von der Donck one of their number. Stuyvesant arrested him and lodged him in jail. 78 Governor Stuyvesant [Period III 3. The boundaries of New Netherland should be established so that the people might "dwell in peace and quietness". These were the chief points in the memorial, but the " nine men " explained in marginal remarks the organization of the Xew England colonies where " neither patroon nor lord was known but only the people." With this went a popular remonstrance in which complaint was made of the mismanagement of the West India Company, concluding with these memor- able words: "In our opinion this country will never flourish under the government of the honorable com- pany, but will pass away and come to an end. There- fore it would be more profitable for them and better for the country that they should be rid thereof and their effects transported hence." This " vertoogh ", or remonstrance, and the memorial were intrusted to three men, who with Dominie Backerus departed for Holland, July 6, 1649. The commission to Holland^ 1650. — The three commissioners sent to the fatherland performed their duty faithfully. For the first time in the history of the colony its affairs were truthfully presented to the home government, while an agent whom Stuyvesant also sent over presented the governor's side of the- matter in complaint. So much had never before been heard of Xew Xeth- erland. A member of the Amsterdam chamber of deputies wrote to Stuyvesant, "The name 'Xew Xetherland' was hardly ever before mentioned here^ now it Avould seem that heaven and earth are inter- 1650] The Commissioi^ to Holland 79 ested in it." Interest in the almost forgotten colony across the Atlantic was excited, and the states-general reported a remedy which they thought should give satisfaction to all parties. In the "order" which they issued, the following important directions were given: 1. They condemned Kieft's Indian wars, and directed that thereafter no hostilities should be waged against the Indians except by the approval of the states-general. 2. Trade in guns with the Indians was to be discon- tinued. 3. Three additional clergymen should be provided and schools established. 4. The admiaistration and collection of taxes should be regidated by the people. 5. Two members of the council should be chosen by the commonalty, and a burgher government established in Manhattan. 6. The "nine men" should continue three years longer and have jurisdiction in cases between "man and man ". 7. Private iships sailing from Holland to New Nether- land should be compelled to carry emigrants, for which purpose 15,000 guilders should be annually expended *. The plan of the commissioners did not meet the * Three other matters of complaint were also regu- lated. All sales ot real estate were made void unless ap- proved by the director and council ; bread was required tu be made of a standard weight and quality; and the currency w.is regulated. For lack of current specie, wampum was made lawfully current, at the rate of three black or six white beads for one " stiver". 80 Governor Stuyyesant [Period III fond expectations of the commonalty, while the Am- sterdam directors on their part, prepared to resist as far as possible even these small concessions to the popular demands. The Hartford treaty. — One of the most impor- tant events of Stuyvesant's administration also oc- curred in 1650. In the midst of his controversies at home, he under- took a settlement of the long standing difficulty on Long Island and on the Connecticut river. For this purpose he visited Hartford, undertaking, as he explained, " this long and troublesome journey '^ for the purpose of arranging a definite and final un- derstanding with the English. All the points in con- troversy were reviewed, and at last it was agreed that the question in dispute should be submitted to four commissioners, two to be appointed by each party. Stuyvesant chose two Englishmen, citizens of Man- hattan, to act for him. The decision of this commission was that the Dutch should retain their lands in Hartford (trading post only), and that the bounda^'y between the two colonies should be a line drawn across Long Island from the west side of Oyster Bay to the sea; also a line from the west side of Greenwich Bay, north twenty miles and after that, not less than ten miles from the Hudson river*. Fort Nassau and New Sweden. — In July, 1651, * It will be noticed that this line north of the Sound is substantially the division between the States to-day. 1655] THEl^HAiiTFORD Tbeaty; Fort Casimer 81 Stuyvesant ^weiit to 'New Sweden to look after the interests of the West India Company on the Delaware. He visited Fort Nassau (see page 62), and, finding it too far up the river fur any practical purpose, he had it demolished and caused another to be constructed on lands purchased of the Indians, just below the Swed- ish Fort Christina near the present site of Xew Castle. This he named Fort Casimer. Stuyvesant's action brought on a crisis. Three years later, in 1654, the government of Sweden sent over a strong force under command of a new gover- nor, John Rising. These appeared before Fort Casi- mer on Trinity Sunday. The Dutch commander had no means of defence, so he walked out, leaving the gates of the fort wide open. The Swedes occupied it, and called it Fort Trinity. Recapture of Fort Casimer. — When the news of this event reached Stuyvesant he was expecting an attack from an English force, and was perplexed as to what course of action he should follow. The English did not come; Stuyvesant was therefore ordered by the states-general to re-take Fort Casimer, and en- tirely destroy the power of the Swedes on both sides of the Delaware. In September, 1655, the governor sailed from Xew Amsterdam for the Delaware with a fleet of seven ships and seven hundred men. The landing was made near Fort Christina. Stuyvesant placed a force between the iwo forts and demanded the surrender of I'ort Casimer and all forts in the colony. The demand was soon complied with, and the rule of the Swedes on the Delaware was ended. The next day, Sunday, Dominie Megapolensis, who had accompanied 82 Governor Stuyy?:sant [Period III the expedition, preached a sermon to the troops, and Stuyvesant despatched an account of his bloodless victory to Manhattan and ordered a day of thanks- giving. The biirglier act. — When, in answer to the memo- rial of 1649, the states-general had directed the estab- lishment of a burgher government at Manhattan, it was intended that this should be done at once. Opposed as this concession was both by the directors of the AVest India Company, who saw in it their ulti- mate downfall, and by Governor Stuyvesant, who op- posed it on principle, it was too much to suppose that it would be done while it could on any excuse be de- layed. Three years had now passed during which the people had continued to plead for their rights. At last the company yielded, and in April, 1652, it was directed that the citizens be allowed to elect two bur- gomasters, five schepens, and a schout* "as much as possible after the custom in Amsterdam." These officers were to constitute a municipal court of justice, subject only to the right of appeal to the supreme court of the province. The concession for which the people had so long prayed had been granted, and there was general satisfaction over the event. The joy with which it was heralded was somewhat cooled, when on Candlemas day, February 2, 1653, the day the new government was to be established, Stuyvesant to whom self-government was an unknown term, himself * A burgomaster was a governing magistrate ; a schepen was an alderman, and a schout was a prosecuting attor- ney, a judge, and a sheriff. 1653] Mai^hattan becomes New Amsterdam 83 named the municipal officers, and defined their duties. At the same time he informed those worthies that their existence did not in any way limit his powers. Manhattan becomes the city of New Amsterdam, 1653. — A few days afterward, the newly appointed officers met and gave notice that their ordinary meet- ings would be held every Monday morning at nine o'clock, in the building hitherto called the " City Tav- ern and now known as the Stadt Huys or City Hall ". A solemn form of prayers was adopted with which their meetings were thereafter to be opened, a record book was prepared, and the village of Manhattan had become the city of New Amsterdam. The colonies prepare for war. — It is easy now to see how rapidly events were drifting toward the final overthrow of the Dutch power in America. In 1653 England and Holland were again at war. Stuyvesant proposed to the English colonies that the commercial relations which had existed between them and New Netherland should continue; but at the same time he prepared for possible war by strengthening the forti- fications and compelling people of all classes to mount guard and be ready to defend the city day or night. The New Englanders had received a report from some mischief-maker that Stuyvesant was inciting the Indians in their colonies to re-open hostilities. This was denied by the Indian chiefs, but the denial did not satisfy the English, and they determined that Stuyvesant must answer for himself. For this pur- pose a peace commission was appointed to go to New Amsterdam and question the governor, but at the 84 Governor Stuytesant [Period III same time an expedition against the Dutch was made ready, " in case God called the colonists to war." John Leverett, one of the peace commissioners, had been chosen to command the expedition on his return. It was evident that these commissioners were not anx- ious to bring about a settlement, and nothing came of their mission. After much parlying, and a warning to Governor Stuyvesant, not to " offer any injury to any English in these parts" the commission departed for Plymouth. The general conyention of 1653.— This meeting sprang from two causes: First, the contention between the Dutch and English on Long Island; second, op- position of all parties to what they were pleased to call "the arbitrary conduct of the governor". It was the most important convention that had ever been held in Xew Xetherland. It met at Xew Amster- dam, Dec. 10, 1653. Xineteen delegates were present from eight villages. The principal action of this con- vention was the preparation of an address setting forth their complaints, which may be summarized as follows: 1. The establishment of an arbitrary government is feared. 2. The provincial government does not protect the people against the savages. 3. Officers and magistrates are appointed without the consent of the people. 4. Old orders and proclamations of the director and council, of which the people are ignorant, are forced upon them. 1. Promised patents on which improvements have been made are delayed. 1653] Threaten^ed War WITH New England 85 6. Large grants of lands have been made to favorites. Stuyvesant's answer. — To this indictment Stuy- vesant made a lengthy answer, showing how much had already been granted, charging the people with ingrati- tude, and telling them he derived his power "from God and the company". He then ordered them to disperse, on pain of his "highest displeasure". The people again sent their complaints to the states- general, this time by the hand of Francois C. Bleeuw, an advocate. Gradually small concessions were now made; grudg- ingly by the company, grumblingly by Stuyvesant ; but until 1658 were the burghers and schepens appointed from the men selected by the municipality, and it was two years later still that the people were allowed to elect their own schout. The New England colonies threaten war. — Most startling rumors now disturbed Kew Amsterdam. In 1663 it was reported that an English fleet would soon come to subdue New Ketherland. The New England colonies were at once aroused and pre- pared to join in an expedition against the Dutch. They en- trusted the command of their forces to Miles Standish and Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658: Captain ThomaS Willctt (the PROTECTOR 1653-1658 latter being one of the men whom Stuyvesant had so generously chosen as his 86 GovEKNOR Stuyyesant [Period III Charles II, 1630-1685: Reigned 1661-1685 agents to negotiate the Hartford treaty). There were grounds for this rumor, for at that very time the plot against Holland was being matured. Cromwell had in 1654 made a treaty of peace with Holland and this had been observed by both countries until the accession of Charles II to the throne of his father in 1660. One of Charles's first acts was to send as a min- ister to The Hague George Downing, who had lived in Massachusetts, and had been educated at Cambridge. He was ambitious and unscrupu- lous. He went to Holland fully charged with hate against the Dutch colony and intent on accomplishing its ruin. In the same year Charles added more stringent regulations to the enforcement of the] first navigation act of Cromwell's administration, which aimed a direct blow at the commerce of Holland aud her colonies. For two years a treaty of commercial alliance was in nego- tiation between the two countries. After many days this was signed at Whitehall, September 14, 1662. The Dutch accepted the terms of this treaty in good faith and loyally carried out their part. King Charles, however, entirely ignoring this transaction, at once granted to Connecticut a charter which included all the territory from Xarragansett Bay westward to the Pacific ocean. He thus set aside the treaty of Hart- ford (1650) and gave to Connecticut the very heart of New Netherland. For a year Stuyvesant carried on 1663] Difficulties Multiply 87 negotiations with the Xew England colonies in a sin- cere effort to bring about a settlement, but to no purpose. Trouble with the Esopus Indians. — The Dutch had for a year been carrying on war with the Indians about Esopus. These savages had given trouble be- fore, but a peace had been made with them and for three years the village had prospered. In June, 1663, with scarcely any warning they were again on the "warpath". They burned the village of Esopus, murdered a large number of the inhabi- tants, and carried away many women and children. A party of friendly Mohawks interfered and recovered a part of the captives. Then an expedition was sent out against the Indians and after four months of de- termined warfare they were at length subdued. Stuyvesant asks advice.— Stuyvesant for the first time sought advice from the municipal authorities. They loyally supported him, at the same time declar- ing that they held the West India Company responsible for the troubles of the colony. They recommended that the city be completely fortified; that a loan of 30,000 guilders be raised; and that two hundred militia and one hundred and sixty soldiers be enlisted. A temporary arrangement was patched up with the English in Connecticut and on Long Island, but the con- ditions were so serious that the burgomasters advised that a " Landt-tag " or assembly be called. The " Landt-tag " of 1664. Close of Stuy ve- sant's rule. — On April 10, 1664, the delegates met in the city hall. Eepresentatives appeared from New 88 Governor Stuyvesant [Period III Amsterdam, Rensselaerwick, Fort Orange, Breuckelen, Midwout, Xew Utrecht, New Haerlem, Bergen, and Staten Island, Governor Stuvyesant met with them. The assembly thought it the duty of the provincial gov- ernment to protect the people against the Indians and *' those malignant English". Stuyvesant informed them that the government of New Amsterdam had even exceeded its powers in that direction. He also stated that the company had already expended 1,200,- 000 guilders more than it had received. The assembly being unable to suggest a remedy adjourned for one week. Meantime the states-general for the first time took action. That body promised intervention at London against the encroachments of the English. While this was in progress, a treaty was ratified with the Esopus Indians. Everything seemed to be so serene that the assembly again adjourned, and the governor proclaimed another day of thanksgiving. A montli later, King Charles made his grant to his dissolute brother, the Duke of York. Thus were the last days of Stuyvesant's administra- tion mainly taken up with the petty cares of his office. The people of New Amsterdam still persistently de- manded the possession of those political rights to which they felt themselves entitled, but the fulfillment of which he had as persistently obstructed. SUMMARY. — THE LAST DUTCH GOA^ERNOR 1. Character of Governor Stuyvesant. 2. His duties. The condition of the colony. 3. The demands of the people. 4. The first popular meeting. 1664] Summary of his Administration 89 5. The "nine men"; how chosen; their duties. 6. Stuyvesant's intolerance. 7. The "memorial of 1649"; its demands. 8. Effect of memorial in Holland. 9. Action of the states-general. 10. Better regulations in New Amsterdam. 11. The Hartford treaty, 1650. Result of. The line drawn. 12. Fort Nassau and the Swedes. Fort Casimer. 13. Stuyvesant on the Delaware, 1655. 14. The burgher act ; nature of. 15. Stuyvesant's action. 16. City of New Amsterdam, 1653. 17. Dominie Megapolensis. 18. The New England peace commission. 19. The convention of 1653. Object of. 20. The address ; its nature. 21. Stuyvesant's answer. 22. King Charles II and New Netherland. 23. The l^Jsopus Indians. 24. The Landt-tag of 1664; character and object of. 25. Its recommendations. CHAPTER VIII New York in Stuyvesant's Time The city, which then contained a population of less than a thousand, would not be recognized by the most loyal New Yorker of to-day. The houses were mainly clustered about the fort, rather than arranged on streets. Such streets as existed were narrow, crooked, unpaved, without sidewalks, and not lighted at night. Broadway was a country road, straying north from the battery, up hill and down dale, until it was lost in the forests which still covered most of the island. The fort was not a formidable affair, but was built for pro- tection against too familiar Indian neighbors. Bricks were still brought from Holland, and were so costly that for the most part the houses were constructed of wood, many of these having the imposing front and steep gables of yellow brick, after the fashion then common in Holland. The roofs of the poorer houses were of thatch, others of shingles, a few of tiles. The front door was made of oak, often in two parts, an upper and a lower, and ornamented with a great brass knocker in the shape of a dog's or lion's head, which must be burnished every day. Inside the house, the most prominent features were the sanded floors of hewn oak, the great yawning fire- places, the heavy carved furniture, the high-posted beds, the tall Dutch clock, the great cupboards filled (90) 1650] The Minister and the Schoolmaster 91 with Delft ware, — never brought out except on state occasions. The most important room in the house was the great kitchen, really the living room of the family, where the women worked by day and where the men gathered to smoke at evening. The people were simple in their tastes, their living was plain, their food wholesome and abundant. Labor was honorable, and idleness was accounted a crime. If the income was small, the expenditures were less. The women were particularly domestic ; and every house-^ wife was expected to know how to card wool and flax, to spin, to weave, to bake and brew. There were few who could not read and write; edu- cation if not broad was general. Schools were com- mon, and were free. President Draper says of the Dutch: " They were free, and had celebrated their greatest military victories by founding universities, and they had opened elementary schools for the rich and the poor together." Motley says of Holland: " It was a land where every child went to school ; where almost every individual inhabitant could read and write." Into New Netherland the minister and the school- master came together. The people had few books, but the family bible and prayer-book were in every house. All in all, it is probable that the early Dutch col- onists left as marked and as healthful an impress on the character ot* New York as did the Puritans on the character of New England. To them the home was the foundation-stone of the State. In those early homes dwelt virtue, honesty, industry, frugal ty, and 92 New York in^ Stutvesant's Time [Period III loyalty; and it is these qualities in the hearts of her citizens, not great navies nor high battlements, that are the strength of a State. The simple habits of the people gave them more leisure than their descendants have known, and this often gave the impression that they were indolent. Their housekeepers were as neat as those of Xew Eng- land, but their more quiet ways gave time for repose and sociability. In their observance of the Sabbath they were quite as strict as were the Puritans, but in a different way. No work must be done and all must go to church; but they had no " Blue Laws ", and could enjoy them- selves, even on that day. Christmas early became a deeply religious festival, but was at the same time a merry-making day. St. Nicholas's image was the figure-head of the first emi- grant ship that came to New Netherland, and for him they named the first church they built. Much was made of New Year's day. Visits were exchanged and receptions held, when cake and wine were offered to every guest. In the church, a pew was set apart for the city officials. Early on Sabbath morning those good men gathered at the city hall, from which, preceded by the bell-ringer with their cushions, they went in solemn procession to the church. The bell-ringer was, perhaps, the most useful man in town, as he certainly was one of the most important in appearance. He was a court oflficial, the chorister and reader at church, the grave-digger and sometimes the schoolmaster; while in addition to these duties he 1650] Religious Tolerance 93 was a general waiter and factotum for the city magis- trates. Those Dutch officials were serious men, and could no more approve a joke than could a Puritan minister. Their meetings were first opened with solemn prayer, and they then proceeded to levy taxes, impose fines, and lecture the governor. Dutch tolerance. — In religious matters, the early Dutch acknowledged but one church, the " Reformed Church of Holland ", and but one ecclesiastical author- ity, the " Synod of Dort", but in practice they toler- ated all. Until Stuyvesant's time there was no proscription, and even he was rebuked for his interference. As a natural result, many who could not endure the strict Puritanical discipline of Xew England fled to Xew Amsterdam. Hither came Anabaptists and Quakers, Catholics and Huguenots, and all were made welcome. New Amsterdam contained as great a mixture of races as of religions. While the Plymouth colony would not permit an Irishman even to land on their shores, he passed into New Amsterdam unquestioned. Father Jogues, who visited New Amsterdam at this time, said he had counted 18 languages among its residents. The Waldenses. — It has been said that God sifted the old world to obtain seed with which to plant the new. It would seem that in the seventeenth century all the monarchs of Europe were insane in their efforts to drive from their possessions the people who were most needed here. The English Puritans came, and were followed almost immediately by the Walloons, 94 New York ix Stuya^p:sant's Time [Period III who may well be called the French " Pilgrims ", for like the Puritans they fled from the country of their birth to find a refuge in Holland, and like them crossed the ocean to find a home m the American wilderness. In 1657, hundreds of Waldenses, escaping from per- secution, left the mountain valleys of Piedmont to find a welcome and a home in Xew Netherland. Many of these went to the Delaware, but others located on Staten Island and Long Island where their descendants have since remained. The Huguenots. — The same description with change of name would answer for the Huguenots. They were French adherents to the cause of the Refor- mation, and as such were subjected to the severest persecution from 1560 to the promulgation of the "Edict of Xantes ", in 1598. During these years hundreds of thousands of the very best citizens of France fled to England, Germany, Holland, the West Indies, and to Xew York and the southern colonies, while many thousands more had been put to death. From 1598 to 1685 they were allowed comparative peace and security, but in the latter year, Louis XIY revoked the famous edict. Again the fires of persecu- tion blazed forth, again the exodus began and continued until France had lost fully one million of her very best people. Many of these French Protestants located in Xew Xetherland. They settled Xew Rochelle and other early towns, bringing with them, as the Waldenses had done, the church and the school, and names that, somewhat modified, are to-day found scattered all over our State. 1657] A Blending of Peoples 95 New Netherland and New England. — It will not do to draw the inference that Dutch ideals were the best, for the tide of English immigration which came in later very materially changed the conditions there. It would no doubt be nearer the truth to say that the blending of the two peoples in the future metropolis of this hemisphere, by restraining the one and liberaliz- ing the other, produced a more desirable, because a more rational type of civilization. N"ew England has produced a remarkable race of men, not because of her narrowness but in spite of it, and because of the character and enviornment of her early settlers. I^ew N^etherland produced a people different in almost every trait of character, but more in harmony with the lines along which our country has developed. Why New Netherland failed as a Dntch col- ony. — New Netherland was a purely commercial en- terprise, founded by a commercial company, for com- mercial purposes, and was governed from Holland for the benefit of the company that founded it. The people were always loyal to their fatherland, never to the corporation that ruled them ; and of all the agents sent out as governors, not one secured the confidence of the people. The taxes paid by the colonists were heavy, and were neither voted by themselves nor paid out by their direction. Personal enterprise was not fostered, for it would interfere with the company's gains. The common people were not in sympathy with the baronial rights given the patroons. The English colonies were for the most part purely English, but New Netherland 96 Xew York ix Stuyvesant's Time [Period III was cosmopolitan, the greater religious freedom there having united men of all nationalities. This last, aa element of weakness then, has, in late years, con- tributed to make a State which has both fostered liberty and compelled prosperity. SUMMARY 1. Xew York in Governor Stuyvesant's time. The houses, their furnishings, the people; education, cus- toms; religious toleration. 2. Comparison between the Dutch and the New Englanders. 3. The Waidenses ; origin, character, and emigration. 4. The Huguenots; origin, character, and emigra- tion. 5. Why Xew X^'etherland failed. CHAPTER IX Louis XIV, 1638-1715 Reigned 1643-1715 The Crime against Holland Charles II of England. — At this period, all Europe was on the brink of most bloody wars. Louis XIV, of whom it has been said "there was stuff enough in him to make four kings and an honest man", was king of France, but he swayed one-half of Europe. Among all who came un- der his influence there was not a meaner nor a more insincere monarch than Charles II of England. An exile and a wanderer for many years, he had at thirty been recalled and placed upon the throne. He brought with him no proper sense of his position, and his reign was the most execrable in the history of England. James Duke of York. — There was at this time no real ministry in England. All her foreign affairs were managed by a council appointed by the king, while parliament was even worse than the king himself. Charles II had a brother, James Duke of York and Albany, afterward James II, who, although having more ability, was even more unscrupulous. His chief passion was a burning hatred for Holland. (97) •98 The Crime against Holland [Period III The Dutch West India Company had one rival, the Royal African Company, and of this company James was governor. Several motives were be- hind the proposed over- throw of Dutch interests in America. The immedi- ate excuse was the loss to the revenue of the English James 1171633-1701 colonics by the Smuggling Reigned 1685-1688 practicCS of the Dutch. ^ext, the Duke of York could pay a long standing grudge against the West India Company. A third motive, which influenced the mind of James and in time governed the actions of Charles (who must be a partner, must sanction the crime and fur- nish the necessary force of English ships and sailors) Was found in the colonial conditions of America. France was the pioneer. She had pushed her way up the St. Lawrence, and planted her settlements thickly along its banks. England had prosperous col- onies in Virginia, and along the Xew England coast. Between these, as a wedge, lay New Netherland, occupying by far the most advantageous portion of all. It boldly laid claim to all the coast from Cape Hen- lopen to Montauk Point, and was in a position to secure the lion's share of the inland trade with the natives. Charles II saw that the safety of the English posses- sions lay in connecting them all from Massachusetts Bay to the Potomac. The claims of different nations by right of discovery 1661] CoNFLiCTr:N^G ClxVims of :N"ations 99 also conflicted. Spain, by right of Columbus's dis- coveries claimed it all. England claimed most of North America from the voyages of the Cabots. But occupancy as well as discovery had been held necessary to confer a valid right. James I in granting his patent in 1620, including all the territory between 40° and 48° of latitude, had in that charter explicitly stated that it was not to " include any territory actually possessed by any other Christian nation, prince, or estate," and thus he clearly excepted both New France and New Netherland. No Englishman had entered the Connecticut river or the Delaware bay when Hudson's discoveries and Dutch occupancy were put forth as a valid claim to the territory of New Netherland, and for forty years the Dutch had been practically in indisputed posses- sion. - Thus the case stood when Charles II was restored to the throne. He had no sympathy with the New England colonists; his restoration had been a serious disappointment to them. Sorely against their will they had acknowledged him king, yet Charles II did not hesitate to make use of the differences between these colonists and New Netherland, as one ground for the claim which he proposed to put forth. He was not seeking for truth, but for a suitable pretext to seize New Netherland. Expedition against New Netherland. — At the risk of war with a friendly nation, in controvention to the charter granted to New England by James I, an expedition against New Netherland was ordered. The Duke was given a patent to appoint and discharge all 100 The Crime against Holland [Period Til officers; to execute martial laws; to regulate trade, and to expel all persons living under his government without license. In fact, this patent created James a petty sovereign over the liv^es and property of a people who rightfully owed allegience to another free and independent power. Charles had no more title to these lands than had the devil to " all the kingdoms of the earth ", but in those days " might made right", and Charles gave to brother, Duke of York, "all those lands and rivers from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay"*. The Duke lost no time in giving effect to his patent. In August, 1664, four ships with 450 soldiers under command of Robert Nicolls were sent to enforce the claim. Governor Stuyvesant was thrown off his guard by a despatch from Holland informing him that no danger was to be apprehended from the expedition, as it had been sent out only "to settle the affairs of the English colonists, and to establish Episcopacy", which would be a benefit to the interests of ]^ew Xetherland. The English squadron anchored below the N^arrows ; communication with Xew Amsterdam was cut off, and several block houses were seized. Stuyvesant, hur- riedly returning from an absence at Fort Orange, demanded of Xicolls what the invasion meant. His only reply was a demand for the surrender of the place. * This included the whole of Xew Netherland and a part of Connecticut, which Charles had two years before confirmed to Winthrop and his associates. 1664] Xew Amsterdam becomes New York 101 This was accompanied by a proclamation declaring that all who would submit to his "majesty's govern- ment" should be "protected by his majesty's laws and justice, and peaceably enjoy their property." Stuyvesant kept these terms from the people and pre- pared to defend himself. A meeting of the burgomas- ters and citizens being called, the terms became known, and the people showed that they did not intend to stand by the governor. Indeed, some of them said the Dutch West India Company was not worth fight- ing for. The next day Governor Winthrop of Con- necticut appeared and advised Stuyvesant to surrender. It was evident that he stood alone. Men, women, and children flocked around and urged him to give up. His only answer was, " I would rather be carried out dead! " All his soldierly spirit rebelled at the thought of surrender. But dominies, schouts, burgomasters, schepens, and eighty-five of the principal citizens, among them his own son, joined in an appeal to him not to bring bloodshed upon the city, and at last the old veteran yielded. On the following Monday morn- ing, August 26, 1664, Stuyvesant, at the head of his little garrison, marched down to the water side and embarked for Holland. The English flag was hoisted over Fort Amsterdam and the name was changed to Fort James. Mcalls was proclaimed "governor for the Duke of York", and it was directed that there- after the city of New Amsterdam should be called New York. The reduction of other settlements rapidly followed. Fort Orange soon capitulated, and its name was changed to Albany. The Swedish settlements on the 102 The Crime agaij^st Holland [Period III Delaware gave more trouble, but were finally subdued. All this was done while England and Holland were at peace. Judged by all righteous standards, it was a monstrous national robbery, with hardly a parallel in modern history. Yet out of it all came, in process of time, a higher good not contemplated by those who wrought the crime; this was the final unification of all the American colonies in preparation for the great struggle with England, when should be formed a new nation, combining within its govenment all that was best in the constitutions of the old. Governor Stuyvesant, after his return from Holland, where he answered every charge against him, settled upon his estate on East River. He lived to an ad- vanced age. His remains lie in the venerable church of St. Marks in the City of ^"ew York^. SUMMARY. — THE CRIME AGAINST HOLLAND 1. King Charles 11. His character. 2. James Duke of York. His character. 3. Motives for the overthrow of Dutch authority in America. 4. Importance of Isew Xetherland to England. 5. Charles's grant to the Duke. 6. Its conflict with the charter of Connecticut. 7. The expedition and its commander, 1664. 8. The surrender of New Xetherland. 9. The dark side, the bright side, of the change. 10. Death of Stuyvesant. * For a picture of his tombstone, see Hendrick's History, page 25. PERIOD IV CHAPTER X Tn^ew York a Ducal Province Governor Nicolls. — ^^ew Xetherland having been formally surrendered to the English, the new provin- cial government, of Xew York was organized with Richard Xicolls as chief magistrate. In justice to the governor it should be said he proceeded wisely. He continued the courts which "the Dutch had established and gradually founded English settlements on Long Island. By the terms of the surrender he was bound only as follows: " All inhabitants of Xew Netherland were to be free denizens " and were to be secure in their prop- erty; any Hollander might come into the colony freely or return home and carry his property with him ; inter- course with Holland was for six months to continue as heretofore; liberty of church and conscience was guar- anteed; all present public records were to be respected; all inferior officers were to retain their present posi- tions until the customary time for elections. The citizens were required to take an oath of alle- giance to the English king, which they were quite will- ing to do; the burgomasters consoling themselves by sending to the West India Company, as a sort of " fare- (103) 104 Governor Xicolls [Period IV well greeting ", a letter giving an account of the change in their government, and ending as follows: " Since we are no longer to depend on your honor's promises or protection, we, with all the poor, sorrowing and abandoned commonalty must fly to Almighty God, not doubting but he will stand by us in this sorely afflicting conjuncture." The new goyernment. — In February, 1665, the new municipal government was appointed by the retiring members. The burgomasters and schepens were all Dutch citizens, but out of compliment to the governor, they made Allard Anthony schout; while Nicolls, on his part named as the first mayor. Cap- tain Thomas Willett, who had already been conspicuous in the affairs of the colony. The Duke's laws. — In 1665 the governor called the council together and read to them what were there- after known as the " Duke's Laws ". The members of the council took it for granted that they were to be consulted in regard to this " code ", but when any one proposed an amendment, he learned that he had been invited to hear the laws, not to amend them. The "Duke's Laws" were compiled chiefly from those in use in other English colonies. They covered a very wide field, applying to every occupation and crime. They regulated the administration of estates, methods of worship, the relation of master and ser- vant, tlie conveyance of real estate, and prescribed days of fasting and thanksgiving. They ordered the punishment for assault, defamation, forgery, " lyi ug and false news", and defined twelve other crimes which were to be punishable by death. 1668] New Jeksey SEPARATED EROM New York 105 They also established four principles which have remained to this day a part of the fundamental law of the State: 1. Equal taxation. 2. Eight of trial by jury. 3. The obligation of military duty. 4. Freedom of religious worship. Separation of New Jersey. — Before the Duke of York was in actual possession of his newly and easily acquired territory, he granted to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, two royal favorites, the land within the present boundaries of New Jersey, thus separating the colonies established there from the future State of New York. Governor Nicolls recalled, 1668. — The task which Nicolls had undertaken was a very diflticult one. In his honest efforts to win the regard of the Dutch, he offended many of the English citizens, and they constantly wearied him with complaints. When he had governed New York four years, he wrote to both the King and the Duke, begging to be relieved of an office "which", he said, "he had in his ignorance undertaken, which had kept him more bus^ than any former position, and which had drawn from his purse every dollar he possessed." His request was granted. In the same year Francis Lovelace was commissioned to succeed him. England and Holland had been at war during almost the entire period of Nicolls's administration, yet he had so con- ducted himself that he had won the personal regard of 106 Xew York a Ducal Province [Period IV the people and they expressed much regret at his departure ^. Witchcraft in New York. — While Xicolls was governor, there occured the only recorded trial for witchcraft within our State. This was in 1605. Ralph Hull and Mary his wife were charged with " certain detestable acts commonly called ' witchcraft ', whereby two or three persons have lost their lives." The duke's laws did not mention the crime of witch- craft, so the unfortunate couple were indicted for *' murder by means of witchcraft ". They were tried by a jury of twelve (one of whom was Jacob Leisler, so prominent in later provincial matters). The verdict of the jury was that they found " some suspicions of what the woman is charged with but not enough to take away her life ". They declared the man not guilty and required him to " give security for his wife's good behavior thereafter". Holland's protest. — The high-handed proceedings of England could have but one outcome ; that was war. New Xetherland had been a proprietory colony owned and governed by the West India Company. The states-general had taken almost no part in its manage- * During Xicolls's term of office one matter very important to Xew York was settled. Connecticut claimed the eastern half of Long Island. Charles had by name included the whole of it in his gift to the Duke. In 1664 Nicolls secured the appointment of a commission to meet one from Connecticut, by which all the history of that island was carefully reviewed. The commission decided that Long Island should go to New York. 1668] Holland's Protest 107 ment since the day when, in 1621, it had given that company its sweeping charter. At the time it lost these American possessions, the West India Company was practically bankrupt, Never- theless its directors at once complained to the states- general, and this body, through its ministers at the court of St. James, protested against the robbery as a " notorious infraction of the treaty just concluded". The king could give no truthful answer to the charge unless he confessed the wrong. This a monarch of his character could hardly be expected to do. So he wrote his creature at The Hague, Downing, to say to the Dutch that he was not accountable to them for what he did. On receipt of this impudent answer, word was at once despatched to Commodore De Ruyter, who com- manded the Dutch squadron on the coast of Africa to reduce all English possessions there, and on his way home "to do as much damage as possible on said nation anywhere ". The Duke of York was admiral of the English navy. In the first engagement with the Dutch he gained an important victory. Returning to London in great triumph, he had a medal struck off which bore the inscription, "7 claim the four seas.''^ At this point, Louis of France undertook the difficult role of peacemaker. To the Dutch, he frankly ac- knowledged the justice of their claim to Xew Nether- land. To Charles, he proposed that it should be restored to Holland in exchange for certain small islands which had been taken from him. This proposi-^ 108 New York a Ducal Province [Period IV tion Charles spurned, and all efforts for peace were ended. The triple alliance^ 1666. — Holland now formed an alliance with France and Sweden against England, and once more war raged on all the duke's " Four Seas". Some of the greatest naval battles of history were fought, in which England's fleets were nearly destroyed, so that Charles was willing to treat for peace. On July 31, 1667, the famous treaty known as the "Peace of Breda" was signed, in which France secured the lion's share of all concessions and from which Holland gained little except a brief respite from war. SUMMARY — NEW YORK A DUCAL PROVINCE 1. Xicolls the first English governor, 1664. 2. Terms of the surrender. 3. Character of the new government. 4. The Duke's Laws, origin of. 5. Four principles established. 6. Royal grants; New Jersey. 7. The governor's complaint and recall. 8. Witchcraft in Xew York. 9. The Long Island commission. 10. Holland's protest to England. 11. English reply. 12. The Duke's Four Seas. 13. The Triple Alliance, 1666. 14. The Peace of Breda. CHAPTER XI ]S[ew Yokk once more under iHE Dutch Peace of Breda broken^ 1670. — A secret treaty l^etween Charles II and Louis XIV made in 1670 again united England and France for the ruin of Holland. Her fleets were defeated and her territory invaded by the armies of the allied monarchs. It was then that William, the valiant young Prince of Orange was made commander-in-chief and by his stirring ap- peals, once more gave heart to the people of Holland. Then it was that the sluices were opened. Holland again became a sea, and the allied armies were com- pelled to retreat. Then, too, occurred that memorable battle off the mouth of the Helder, when 75 Dutch ships engaged 150 French and English vessels in a contest which lasted all day. Within hearing of the ^uns, the people of Holland met in their churches and prayed for victory, till the allied fleets had been de- feated and Holland had won her second independence, — the right to navigate all the seas unmolested. It was while these great events were taking place that a Dutch fleet under Cornelius Evartson had been sent to the West Indies with orders to "harass the English in those parts ". Having completed his work, he sailed for Virginia, when it was suggested that now was a good time to recover New Netherland. (109) 110 Again under the Dctch [Period IV A Dutch fleet at New York, 1673.— In a few days this fleet with 1600 men on board was inside Sandy Hook. The next day it appeared before Xew York and demanded its surrender. The governor, Lovelace ^ was absent on a visit to Governor Winthrop of Connecti- cut and Captain John Manning Avas in command. He promptly sent for the governor, beat an alarm, and called for volunteers to defend the fort. Few came and some of the Dutch even spiked the guns in front of the city hall. In his extremity, Manning sent to inquire the purpose of the Dutch commander. " We have come to claim our own, and our own we wi]l have," was the ready reply. The Dutch re-take New York, 1673.— Soon 600 men were landed above the town, where they were joined by 400 Dutch citizens in arms, who encouraged them to storm the fort. They were preparing to do this when Manning offered to surrender, provided his troops were allowed to march out with the honors of war. This was granted. The English marched out; the Dutch marched in. Stuyvesant was avenged. The wrongs of the fatherland had been righted. Xew Xetherland had been re- taken in honorable warfare. The \Yest India Company having had no part in the matter, the colony was no longer a proprietary prov- ince, but part and parcel of the Dutch Eepublic. Eightly its captors in defining its bounds included just what had been theirs at the time of its loss, not a foot more, except the eastern portion of Long Island. They thus respected the treaty of 1650. The joyful cry, " The fatherland " was again heard. The name "Xew Xetherland " was restored. Xew York city 1673] Incident might have been an Event 11 1 was called N"ew Orange, and Fort James was named Fort William Headrick in honor of the Prince of Orange. A new government was organized with An- thony Colve of Zealand at its head as governor. Mcholas Bayard, the old city clerk, was restored to his office. All persons were declared released from their oaths of allegiance to the English crown. The com- monalty were required again to nominate men from among whom a council might be selected. The government of New Orange having been settled, a force was sent up the river to obtain the surrender of Esopus and Albany, and soon peace reigned over the entire colony. Fate of Governor Lovelace. — Governor Lovelace soon returned, and was at once seized by his creditors and put into prison. He was not detained long, for he found means to pay his debts and was released. Soon after he took his leave for England*. Estimate of the act. — It has often been said that the re-conquest of Xew Netherland by the Dutch was *'but an incident in the progress of a bitter war". This is true. It was done by the Dutch fleet entirely without orders from the home government; but had there been telegraphic communication in those days between the two continents, it is easy to see that the * On his departure he wrote to Governor Winthrop, *'I am now intending for England with all the con- veniency I may. Would you be curious to know what my losses amount to ? I can in short resolve you. It was my all whichever I had been collecting; too great to misse in this wilderness." 112 Again lnder the Dutch [Period IV subsequent history of a whole nation might have been changed by this "incident"^. The rule of Colve was active, but brief. The dream of a Dutch Republic in the Xew World was never realized. The European war came to a sudden end by the treaty of Westminster. With the ambitious Louis of France and the unscrupulous Charles II of England in league against her, Holland's case was hopeless. The treaty of Westminster. — In vain Holland made alliances with Spain and Germany. She was finally forced to treat with England on the basis of " mutual restoration ", and two months after the cap- ture, and one month before the news had reached Hol- land, February 9, 1674, a treaty had been signed that compelled her to surrender New Netherland to England f- SUMMARY 1. The peace broken and the war that followed. 2. Cornelius Evartson and his voyage. 3. Recapture of Xew Netherland, 1673. * Dr. Colden says: "lam informed that when the Dutch ships were under Staten Island, they had no thought of attempting the re-capture of Xew York, but only to take on wood and water ; but being invited by the burghers and informed also of the weakness of the place, they proceeded to take the fort." t The fort and city were taken by the Dutch July 30, 1673. The province was resigned to Andros by Colve Xovember 10, 1674. 1674] Holland loses ^"^ew York forever 113 4. Effect of — change of names, etc. o. Fate of Governor Lovelace. 6. Governor Colve. 7. The treaty of Westminster, 1674, nature and effect of. CHAPTER XII Under the English again 8ir Edmund Aiidros, 1674.— The first English governor sent out after the ^^'JBjSf^^^ restoration was Edmund An- dros. He had already been governor of Virginia, was a man of great energy, and was educated in language and art. He had great ca- pacity for statesmanship, and was ready to serve his master, the duke. Sir Edmund Andros, 1637-1714 ^^^^^ ^^ ^is administration a difficulty arose. The best English lawyers insisted rightly that the forcible capture of Xew York by the Dutch had extinguished the title of the duke. "A new charter was necessary. Charles, therefore, issued a new grant conveying the same territory as before, with absolute powers of government which did not in any way refer to any preceding grants he had made. By this very simple process the duke once more came into possession of the province of Xew Jersey so recently sold to his friends, Berkeley and Cartaret. The duke soon found himself in a strange position in regard to this grant. The commission to Andros comprehended New Jersey, hence Cartaret could claim (114) 1674] General Pacification 115 no power or authority to govern. Berkeley, seeing he was to be cheated, quietly sold his half for £1,000. Carta- ret stood near the king and soon found means to compel the Duke to make a new char- ter, re-instating him as propri- etor of one-half the province, known as East Jersey*. The duke's instructions to Andros were to choose a coun- cil, not exceeding ten, who should serve during his pleasr ure and assist in the administration of the govern- ment, to retain in force the laws published by Kicolls, and to see that no one was molested in the free exer- cise of his religious privileges. Under such circumstances, Andros assumed control of the government. The people had now become accustomed to the change. By the duke's instructions, Andros was to pacify every one so far as possible, but he was especially directed to collect sufficient duties ' ' that the duke might be sure of a good revenue therefrom ' ' . Andros demanded from the burghers a new oath of allegiance to the king. This they refused to take unless it should be accompanied by a confirmation of religious freedom. Andros in turn declined to grant this, and the petitioners were promptly put in prison *The province was divided by a line running from Little Egg Harbor on the coast to a point in latitude 41° 40' on the Delaware river, a line which may still be traced in the geography of New Jersey. 110 Governor Andros [Period IV Robert Livingston on charge of " disturbing the government and endeav- oring a rebellion ". They were released only upon giving heavy bonds. ReneAval of treaty with the Iroquois, 1675. — Governor Andros during this year visited the Mohawks and received from them the name of Corlear. The treaty of peace with the Iroquois was renewed, and a local board of commissioners for Indian affairs was appointed, of which Kobert Livingston was a member. " Corlear" they told him '* was a man of good dispositions and esteemed deare amongst us." This was a reference to Arendt Van Curler. Note. — During Andres's term William Penn secured his charter to the State which bears his name. At this time, James, the duke, claimed Delaware, and Penn's charter was made to begin " twelve miles west of Xew Castle Town ". This gave Delaware its peculiar circular border on the north. Thomas Dongan's administration.— In 1G82, Andros was recalled ; and after one year, during which Anthony Brockholls was comm.ander-in-chief of the colony, Thomas Dongan, an Irishman was sent out as governor. He had been in the service of the king of France, at the head of a royal Irish regiment, and it 1682] Governor Dongan 117 was thought that his experience would be of value in the present crisis, when the peaceful relations between Canada and Xew York were in momentary danger of in- terruption*. Dongaii calls a general assembly. — During his ad- ministration, Andros had labored to convince the duke that it was best to give his colony some system of self- The good offices of William Penn, who had considerable influence •vith the duke, led him to yield to the requests of the people. The desire for a voice in the government was the one thing upon which both the Dutch and the Eng- lish colonists were agreed. Accordingly the duke di- rected Dongan on his arrival in Xew York, to call together Frederick Phillips, an Englishman, who had been one of Andres's council ; Stephen Van Cortlandt, a Dutch- man who had served with Colve; and other ''most Thomas Dongan. 1634-1715 government. ,&^ William \'y * Dongan at once took steps to rid the province of Frenchmen who had come in with the Jesuit mission- aries. He plainly told the Indians that the missionaries might remain, but the Frenchmen must go. Indians rarely do things by halves and they sent both away. 118 Governor Dongax [Period IV eminent inhabitants, not to exceed ten in all, as a council." These councilors were to have freedom of debate and " a vote on all matters of public concern ". With the aid and advice of this council Dongan was also to issue writs to the proper officers in all parts of his dominions for the election of " a general assembly, not to exceed eighteen of all the freeholders, by the persons whom they shall choose to represent them." This assembly was to consult with the governor and his council " what laws are fit and necessary to be made and established for the good of the people of the colony ". The duke further declared that this general assembly should have liberty to meet, to debate and to propose such laws as they deemed best for the colony ; and also that if such laws appeared for the general good and not prejudicial to his interests he would sanction them. Moreover, such laws passed by the assembly were to be " binding until he had signified his disapproval ". First meeting of the general assembly^ 1683. — The 17th of October, 1683, is memorable in the his- tory of Xew York, for on that day convened the first general assembly, a body actually elected by the people, and free to execute legislative functions within a very limited sphere. The assembly consisted of 17 members. It sat three weeks and enacted 14 laws. I^hese laws were intro- duced, were read three times, were voted upon by the assembly and were then assented to by the governor and his council. The most important measure was " The Charter of Liberties and Privileges granted by His] Royal High- 1685] The First General Assembly 119 ness to the inhabitants of Xew Yorke and its depend- encies. " This charter was a remarkable document. It granted to every freeholder in the province entire freedom of casting his vote " without let or hindrance ". It guaranteed entire freedom of conscience "to all peaceable persons who profess faith in God by Jesus Christ ", and declared that no tax or imposition what- ever should be levied on any of His Majesty's subjects *'but by the act of the governor, his council, and ' The People met in General Assembly ' ". Here was established the great principles of taxation only "by consent". Here came in the term "The People". Prophetic words! words soon to be objected to by the king as being quite too distinct a recognition of their rights. New York divided into wards.— New York city was now divided into wards for the election of alder- men. A charter making Albany a city was granted in 1686, and Peter Schuyler was first mayor. Erection of counties. — The Xew York assembly, in Nov., 1683, pased a law to " divide the province and dependencies into shires and counties." Ten counties were established: New York, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Albany, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk*. The duke becomes King James II, 1685. — The fourteen laws enacted by the first general assembly had been submitted to the duke for his approval. Thirteen of them he had approved, but the most coveted one, * Cornwall and Duke's counties were two additional counties outside the province of New York. 120 Governor Dong an [Period l\' the " Charter of Liberties", had been held back. In February, 1685, King Charles suddenly died, and the Duke of York ascended the throne as James XL His rights as proprietor of Xew York were now merged in his sovereignty as king. Step by step, James now undid what as proprietor he had so well begun. He revoked the "Charter of Liberties", objected to the expression "The people met in general assembly", and entirely restricted the freedom of the press. Freedom of religious worship was not entirely de- stroyed, but Dongan was directed to especially foster the Church of England. Doiigaii dissolves the assembly. — In September, 1686, Dongan for "weighty reasons" prorogued the assembly until March, 1687. Meantime, having re- ceived additional instructions from King James, in January, 168T, he issued an order permanently dis- solving it. This was a most terrible responsibility, and could the governor and his king have forseen the final results of the act, they would have recoiled from it. So early as 1572, Hollanders had laid down for themselves and all liberty-loving people the principle that, " Only the State can tax itself". And the same principle having once obtained a foothold in this continent, was destined in God's providence to remain and obtain here its fullest aud freest expression. GoYeriior Donijau's recall. — By this act all gov- ernment reverted to Governor Dongan and his council. To his credit, let it be said the governor used this power more wisely than was expected. He thoroughly looked after the commercial interests of the colony, and it 1688] Summary 121 prospered during the six years of his administration. As a loyal servant of King James, he endeavored to carry out all his instructions; as an honest Christian gentleman he did his best to protect the people in their rights. This was too much for any man to attempt successfully. In 16