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Title: Dutch and English on the Hudson
A Chronicle of Colonial New York
Author: Maud Wilder Goodwin
Illustrator: C. W. Jefferys
Release Date: January 15, 2011 [EBook #34977]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON ***
Produced by Al Haines
ROOSEVELT EDITION
VOLUME 7
THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES
ALLEN JOHNSON
EDITOR
GERHARD H. LOMER
CHARLES W. JEFFERYS
ASSISTANT EDITORS
* * * * *
[Frontispiece: LOWER BROADWAY IN 1650. From the painting by C. W.
Jefferys]
DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON
A CHRONICLE OF COLONIAL NEW YORK
BY MAUD WILDER GOODWIN
NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO.
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1921
_Copyright, 1919, by Yale University Press_
{vii}
CONTENTS
I. UP THE GREAT RIVER Page 1
II. TRADERS AND SETTLERS " 17
III. PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR " 32
IV. THE DIRECTORS " 51
V. DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS " 83
VI. THE BURGHERS " 102
VII. THE NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND " 123
VIII. THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS " 137
IX. LEISLER " 150
X. PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES " 165
XI. COLONIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY " 180
XII. THE ZENGER TRIAL " 193
XIII. THE NEGRO PLOTS " 206
XIV. SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON " 218
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE " 231
INDEX " 235
{ix}
ILLUSTRATIONS
LOWER BROADWAY IN 1650
From the painting by C. W. Jefferys. _Frontispiece_
THE HUDSON RIVER REGION, 1609-1770
Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American
Geographical Society. _Facing page 12_
{1}
DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON
CHAPTER I
UP THE GREAT RIVER
Geography is the maker of history. The course of Dutch settlement in
America was predetermined by a river which runs its length of a hundred
and fifty miles from the mountains to the sea through the heart of a
fertile country and which offers a natural highway for transportation
of merchandise and for communication between colonies. No man,
however, could foresee the development of the Empire State when, on
that memorable September day in 1609, a small Dutch yacht named the
_Halve Maene_ or _Half Moon_, under the command of Captain Henry
Hudson, slipped in past the low hook of sand in front of the Navesink
Heights, and sounded her way to an {2} anchorage in what is now the
outer harbor of New York.
Robert Juet of Limehouse, one of the adventurers sailing with Hudson,
writes in his journal:
At three of the clock in the afternoone we came to three great rivers,
so we stood along to the northermost, thinking to have gone into it;
but we found it to have a very shoald barre before it, for we had but
ten foot water; then wee cast about to the southward and found two
fathoms, three fathoms, and three and a quarter, till we came to the
souther side of them; then we had five and sixe fathoms and anchored.
So wee sent in our boate to sound and they found no lesse water than
foure, five, six, and seven fathoms and returned in an hour and a half.
So wee weighed and went in and rode in five fathoms, oozie ground, and
saw many salmons, mullets and rayes very great.
So quietly is chronicled one of the epoch-making events of history, an
event which opened a rich territory and gave to the United Netherlands
their foothold in the New World, where Spain, France, and England had
already established their claims. Let us try to call to our minds the
picture of the _Half Moon_ as she lies there in harbor, a quaint,
clumsily built boat of forty lasts, or eighty tons, burden. From her
bow projects a beakhead, a sort of gallery, painted and carved, and
used as a {3} place of rest or of punishment for the sailors. At the
tip of the beakhead is the figurehead, a red lion with a golden mane.
The ship's bow is green, with ornaments of sailors' heads painted red
and yellow. Both forecastle and poop are high, the latter painted a
blue mottled with white clouds. The stern below is rich in color and
carving. Its upper panels show a blue ground picked out with stars and
set in it a crescent holding a profile of the traditional Man in the
Moon. The panel below bears the arms of the City of Amsterdam and the
letters V.O.C. forming the monogram of the Dutch East India
Company--Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie.
Five carved heads uphold the stern, above which hangs one of those
ornate lanterns which the Dutch love so well. To add to all this
wealth of color, flags are flying from every masthead. At the foretop
flutters the tricolor of red, white, and black, with the arms of
Amsterdam in a field of white. At the maintop flames the flag of the
seven provinces of the Netherlands, emblazoned with a red lion rampant,
bearing in his paws a sword and seven arrows. The bowsprit bears a
small flag of orange, white, and blue, while from the stern flies the
Dutch East India Company's {4} special banner. It is no wonder that
such an apparition causes the simple natives ashore to believe first
that some marvelous bird has swept in from the sea, and then that a
mysterious messenger from the Great Spirit has appeared in all his
celestial robes.
If Hudson's object had been stage-setting for the benefit of the
natives, he could not have arranged his effects better. The next day,
when the ship had moved to a good harbor, the people of the country
were allowed to come aboard to barter "greene Tabacco" for knives and
beads. Hudson probably thought that the savages might learn a lesson
in regard to the power of the newcomers by an inspection of the
interior of the ship. The cannon which protruded their black noses
amidships held their threat of destruction even when they were not
belching thunder and lightning. The forecastle with its neatly
arranged berths must have seemed a strange contrast to the bare ground
on which the savages were accustomed to sleep, and the brightness of
polished and engraved brass tablets caught the untutored eyes which
could not decipher the inscriptions. There were three of these
tablets, the mottoes of which, being translated, read: _Honor thy
father and thy mother_! _Do {5} not fight without cause_! _Good
advice makes the wheels run smoothly_!
Perhaps the thing which interested the Indians most was the great
wooden block fastened to the deck behind the mainmast. This strange
object was fashioned in the shape of a man's head, and through it
passed the ropes used to hoist the yards. It was called sometimes "the
silent servant," sometimes "the knighthead." To the Indians it must
have seemed the final touch of necromancy, and they were prepared to
bow down in awe before a race of beings who could thus make blocks of
wood serve them.
Trusting, no doubt, to the impression which he had made on the minds of
the natives, Hudson decided to go ashore. The Indians crowded around
him and "sang in their fashion"--a motley horde, as strange to the
ship's crew as the _Half Moon_ and its company seemed marvelous to the
aborigines. Men, women, and children, dressed in fur or tricked out
with feathers, stood about or floated in their boats hewn from solid
logs, the men carrying pipes of red copper in which they smoked that
precious product, tobacco--the consolation prize offered by the New
World to the Old in lieu of the hoped-for passage to Cathay.
{6}
Everything seemed to breathe assurance of peaceful relations between
the red man and the white; but if the newcomers did not at the moment
realize the nature of the Indians, their eyes were opened to
possibilities of treachery by the happenings of the next day. John
Colman and a boat's crew were sent out to take further soundings before
the _Half Moon_ should proceed on her journey. As the boat was
returning to report a safe course ahead, the crew, only five in number,
were set upon by two war-canoes filled with Indians, whose volley of
arrows struck terror to their hearts. Colman was mortally wounded in
the throat by an arrow, and two of his companions were seriously,
though not fatally, hurt. Keeping up a running fight, the survivors
escaped under cover of darkness. During the night, as they crouched
with their dead comrade in the boat, the sailors must have thought the
minutes hours and the hours days. To add to their discomfort rain was
falling, and they drifted forlornly at the mercy of the current. When
at last dawn came, they could make out the ship at a great distance;
but it was ten o'clock in the morning before they reached her safe
shelter. So ended the brief dream of ideal friendship and confidence
between the red men and the whites.
{7}
After Colman had been buried in a grave by the side of the beautiful
sheet of water which he had known for so short a time, the _Half Moon_
worked her way cautiously from the Lower Bay through the Narrows to the
inner harbor and reached the tip of the island which stands at its
head. What is now a bewildering mass of towers and palaces of
industry, looking down upon a far-extended fleet of steam and sailing
vessels, was then a point, wooded to the water's edge, with a scattered
Indian village nestling among the trees.
A Moravian missionary, writing at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, set down an account from the red man's point of view of the
arrival of the _Half Moon_. This account he claimed to have received
from old Indians who held it as part of their tribal traditions. As
such it is worth noting and quoting, although as history it is of more
than doubtful authenticity. The tradition runs that the chiefs of the
different tribes on sighting the _Half Moon_ supposed it to be a
supernatural visitor and assembled on "York Island" to deliberate on
the manner in which they should receive this Manito on his arrival.
Plenty of meat was provided for a sacrifice, a grand dance was
arranged, and the medicine-men were set to work to determine the {8}
meaning of this phenomenon. The runners sent out to observe and report
declared it certain that it was the Great Manito, "but other runners
soon after arriving, declare it a large house of various colors, full
of people yet of quite a different color than they [the Indians] are
of. That they were also dressed in a different manner from them and
that one in particular appeared altogether red, which must be the
Mannitto himself."
The strange craft stopped and a smaller boat drew near. While some
stayed behind to guard the boat, the red-clothed man with two others
advanced into a large circle formed by the Indian chiefs and wise men.
He saluted them and they returned the salute.
A large hock-hack [Indian for gourd or bottle] is brought forward by
the supposed Mannitto's servants and from this a substance is poured
out into a small cup or glass and handed to the Mannitto. The expected
Mannitto drinks, has the glass filled again and hands it to the chief
next him to drink. The chief receives the glass but only smelleth at
it and passes it on to the next chief who does the same. The glass
then passes through the circle without the contents being tasted by
anyone, and is upon the point of being returned again to the
red-clothed man when one of their number, a spirited man and a great
warrior jumps up and harangues the assembly on the impropriety of
returning the glass with {9} the contents in it--that the same was
handed them by the Mannitto in order that they should drink it as he
himself had done before them--that this would please him; but that to
return it might provoke him and be the cause of their being destroyed
by him. He then took the glass and bidding the assembly a farewell,
drank it up. Every eye was fixed on their resolute companion to see
what an effect this would have upon him and he soon beginning to
stagger about and at last dropping to the ground they bemoan him. He
falls into a sleep and they saw him as expiring. He awakes again,
jumps up and declares that he never felt himself before so happy as
after he had drank the cup. Wishes for more. His wish is granted and
the whole assembly soon join him and become intoxicated.
The Delawares, as the missionary points out further, call New York
Island "Mannahattanik," "the place where we were all drunk." With this
picturesque account let us contrast the curt statement of Robert Juet:
"This morning at our first rode in the River there came eight and
twenty canoes full of men, women and children to betray us; but we saw
their intent and suffered none of them to come aboord of us. At twelve
of the clocke they departed. They brought with them oysters and beanes
whereof we bought some." If there had been any such striking scene as
the missionary's chronicle reports, Juet would probably {10} have
recorded it; but in addition to his silence in the matter we must
recall the fact that this love-feast is supposed to have occurred only
a few days after the killing of Colman and the return of the
terror-stricken crew. This makes it seem extremely improbable that
Hudson would have taken the risk of going ashore among hostile natives
and proffering the hospitalities which had been so ill requited on his
previous landing. Let us therefore pass by the Reverend John
Heckwelder's account as "well found, but not well founded," and
continue to follow the cruise of the _Half Moon_ up the great river.
The days now were fair and warm, and Hudson, looking around him when
the autumn sun had swept away the haze from the face of the water,
declared it as fair a land as could be trodden by the foot of man. He
left Manhattan Island behind, passed the site of Yonkers, and was
carried by a southeasterly wind beyond the Highlands till he reached
what is now West Point. In this region of the Catskills the Dutch
found the natives friendly, and, having apparently recovered from their
first suspicious attitude, the explorers began to open barter and
exchange with such as wished to come aboard. On at least one occasion
Hudson {11} himself went ashore. The early Dutch writer, De Laet, who
used Hudson's last journal, quotes at length Hudson's description of
this landing, and the quotation, if genuine, is probably the longest
description of his travels that we have from the pen of the great
navigator. He says that he sailed to the shore in one of their canoes,
with an old man who was chief of a tribe. There he found a house of
oak bark, circular in shape, apparently well built, and with an arched
roof.
On our coming near the house, two mats were spread to sit upon and
immediately some food was served in well-made red wooden bowls; two men
were also dispatched at once with bows and arrows in quest of game, who
soon after brought a pair of pigeons which they had shot. They
likewise killed at once a fat dog and skinned it in great haste, with
shells which they get out of the water.... The natives are a very good
people, for when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed that I
was afraid of their bows, and taking the arrows they broke them in
pieces and threw them into the fire.
So the _Half Moon_ drifted along "_the River of the Steep Hills_,"
through the golden autumnal weather, now under frowning cliffs, now
skirting low sloping shores and fertile valleys, till at length the
shoaling water warned Hudson that he could not penetrate much farther.
He knew now that he had failed to {12} find the northwest passage to
Cathay which had been the object of his expedition; but he had explored
one of the world's noblest rivers from its mouth to the head of its
navigable waters.
It is a matter of regret to all students that so little is known of
this great adventurer. Sober history tells us that no authentic
portrait of him is extant; but I like to figure him to myself as drawn
by that mythical chronicler, Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was always
ready to help out fact with fiction and both with humor. He pictures
Henry Hudson as "a short, brawny old gentleman with a double chin, a
mastiff mouth and a broad copper nose which was supposed in those days
to have acquired its fiery hue from the constant neighborhood of his
tobacco pipe. He wore a true Andrea Ferrara, tucked in a leathern
belt, and a commodore's cocked hat on one side of his head. He was
remarkable for always jerking up his breeches when he gave his orders
and his voice sounded not unlike the brattling of a tin trumpet, owing
to the number of hard northwesters which he had swallowed in the course
of his sea-faring."
This account accords with our idea of this doughty navigator far better
than the popular picture of the forlorn white-bearded old gentleman
{13} amid the arctic ice-floes. The cause of the fiery nose seems more
likely to have been spirits than tobacco, for Hudson was well
acquainted with the effects of strong waters. At one stage of his
journey he was responsible for an incident which may perhaps have given
rise to the Indian legend of the mysterious potations attending the
first landing of the white men. Hudson invited certain native chiefs
to the ship and so successfully plied them with brandy that they were
completely intoxicated. One fell asleep and was deserted by his
comrades, who, however, returned next day and were rejoiced to find the
victim professing great satisfaction over his experience.
[Illustration: The Hudson River Region, 1609-1770]
The ship had now reached the northernmost bounds of her exploration and
anchored at a point not exactly determined but not far below Albany.
Hudson sent an exploring boat a little farther, and on its return he
put the helm of the _Half Moon_ about and headed the red lion with the
golden mane southward. On this homeward course, the adventurers met
with even more exciting experiences than had marked their progress up
the river. At a place near the mouth of Haverstraw Bay at Stony Point
the _Half Moon_ was becalmed and a party of Mountain Indians came off
in canoes to {14} visit the ship. Here they showed the cunning and the
thieving propensities of which Hudson accused them, for while some
engaged the attention of the crew on deck, one of their number ran his
canoe under the stern and contrived to climb by the aid of the
rudder-post into the cabin.
To understand how this theft was carried out it is necessary to
remember the build of the seventeenth century Dutch sailing-vessels in
which the forecastle and poop rose high above the waist of the ship.
In the poop were situated the cabins of the captain and the mate. Of
Hudson's cabin we have a detailed description. Its height was five
feet three inches. It was provided with lockers, a berth, a table, and
a bench with four divisions, a most desirable addition when the vessel
lurched suddenly. Under the berth were a box of books and a
medicine-chest, besides such other equipment as a globe, a compass, a
silver sun-dial, a cross staff, a brass tinder-box, pewter plates,
spoons, a mortar and pestle, and the half-hour glass which marked the
different watches on deck.
Doubtless the savage intruder would have been glad to capture some of
this rich booty; but it must have been the mate's cabin into which he
stumbled, for he obtained only a pillow and a couple of shirts, {15}
for which he sold his life. The window in the stern projecting over
the water was evidently standing open in order to admit the soft
September air, and the Indian saw his chance. Into this window he
crept and from it started to make off with the stolen goods; but the
mate saw the thief, shot, and killed him. Then all was a scene of wild
confusion. The savages scattered from the ship, some taking to their
canoes, some plunging into the river. The small boat was sent in
pursuit of the stolen goods, which were soon recovered; but, as the
boat returned, a red hand reached up from the water to upset it,
whereupon the ship's cook, seizing a sword, cut off the hand as it
gripped the gunwale, and the wretched owner sank never to reappear.
On the following day Hudson and his men came into conflict with more
than a hundred savages, who let loose a flight of arrows. But one of
the ship's cannon was trained upon them, and one shot followed by a
discharge of musketry quickly ended the battle. The mariners thereupon
made their way without molestation to the mouth of the river, whence
they put to sea on a day in early October, only a month after their
entrance into the bay.
Hudson was destined never again to see the {16} country from which he
set out on this quest, never again to enter the river which he had
explored. But he had achieved immortal fame for himself and had
secured a new empire for the Netherlands. The Cabots possibly, and
Verrazano almost certainly, had visited the locality of "the Great
River" before him; but Hudson was in the truest sense its discoverer,
and history has accorded him his rights. Today the replica of the
_Half Moon_ lies in a quiet backwater of the Hudson River at the foot
of Bear Mountain--stripped of her gilding, her sails, and her gay
pennants. She still makes a unique appeal to our imagination as we
fancy the tiny original buffeting the ocean waves and feeling her way
along uncharted waters to the head of navigation. To see even the copy
is to feel the thrill of adventure and to realize the boldness of those
early mariners whom savages could not affright nor any form of danger
daunt.[1]
[1] For further details of the appearance of the _Half Moon_, see E. H.
Hall's paper on _Henry Hudson and the Discovery of the Hudson River_,
published by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society
(1910).
{17}
CHAPTER II
TRADERS AND SETTLERS
As he was returning to Holland from his voyage to America, Hudson was
held with his ship at the port of Dartmouth, on the ground that, being
an Englishman by birth, he owed his services to his country. He did
not again reach the Netherlands, but he forwarded to the Dutch East
India Company a report of his discoveries. Immediately the enthusiasm
of the Dutch was aroused by the prospect of a lucrative fur trade, as
Spain had been set aflame by the first rumors of gold in Mexico and
Peru; and the United Provinces, whose independence had just been
acknowledged, thereupon laid claim to the new country.
To a seafaring people like the Dutch, the ocean which lay between them
and their American possessions had no terrors, and the twelve-year
truce just concluded with Spain set free a vast energy to be applied to
commerce and oversea {18} trading. Within a year after the return of
the _Half Moon_, Dutch merchants sent out a second ship, the crew of
which included several sailors who had served under Hudson and of which
the command was given, in all probability, to Hudson's former mate.
The vessel was soon followed by the _Fortune_, the _Tiger_, the _Little
Fox_, and the _Nightingale_. By this time the procession of vessels
plying between the Netherlands Old and New was fairly set in motion.
But the aim of all these voyages was commerce rather than colonization.
Shiploads of tobacco and furs were demanded by the promoters, and to
obtain these traders and not farmers were needed.
The chronicle of these years is melancholy reading for lovers of
animals, for never before in the history of the continent was there
such a wholesale, organized slaughter of the unoffending creatures of
the forest. Beavers were the greatest sufferers. Their skins became a
medium of currency, and some of the salaries in the early days of the
colony were paid in so many "beavers." The manifest of one cargo
mentions 7246 beavers, 675 otters, 48 minks, and 36 wildcats.
In establishing this fur trade with the savages, the newcomers
primarily required trading-posts {19} guarded by forts. Late in 1614
or early in 1615, therefore, Fort Nassau was planted on a small island
a little below the site of Albany. Here the natives brought their
peltries and the traders unpacked their stores of glittering trinkets,
knives, and various implements of which the Indians had not yet learned
the use. In 1617 Fort Nassau was so badly damaged by a freshet that it
was allowed to fall into ruin, and later a new stronghold and
trading-post known as Fort Orange was set up where the city of Albany
now stands.
Meanwhile in 1614 the States-General of the United Netherlands had
granted a charter to a company of merchants of the city of Amsterdam,
authorizing their vessels "exclusively to visit and navigate" the newly
discovered region lying in America between New France and Virginia, now
first called New Netherland. This monopoly was limited to four
voyages, commencing on the first of January, 1615, or sooner. If any
one else traded in this territory, his ship and cargo were liable to
confiscation and the owners were subject to a heavy fine to be paid to
the New Netherland Company. The Company was chartered for only three
years, and at the expiration of the time a renewal of the charter was
refused, although the {20} Company was licensed to trade in the
territory from year to year.
In 1621 this haphazard system was changed by the granting of a charter
which superseded all private agreements and smaller enterprises by the
incorporation of "that great armed commercial association," the Dutch
West India Company. By the terms of the charter the States-General
engaged to secure to the Company freedom of traffic and navigation
within prescribed limits, which included not only the coast and
countries of Africa from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope
but also the coasts of America. Within these vague and very extended
bounds the Company was empowered to make contracts and alliances, to
build forts, to establish government, to advance the peopling of
fruitful and unsettled parts, and to "do all that the service of those
countries and the profit and increase of trade shall require."
For these services the States-General agreed to grant a subsidy of a
million guilders, or about half a million dollars, "provided that we
with half the aforesaid million of guilders, shall receive and bear
profit and risk in the same manner as the other members of this
Company." In case of war, which {21} was far from improbable at this
time, when the twelve years' truce with Spain was at an end, the
Company was to be assisted, if the situation of the country would in
any wise admit of it, "with sixteen warships and four yachts, fully
armed and equipped, properly mounted, and provided in all respects both
with brass and other cannon and a proper quantity of ammunition,
together with double suits of running and standing rigging, sails,
cables, anchors, and other things thereto belonging, such as are proper
to be used in all great expeditions." These ships were to be manned,
victualed, and maintained at the expense of the Company, which in its
turn was to contribute and maintain sixteen like ships of war and four
yachts.
The object of forming this great company with almost unlimited power
was twofold, at once political and commercial. Its creators planned
the summoning of additional military resources to confront the hostile
power of Spain and also the more thorough colonization and development
of New Netherland. In these purposes they were giving expression to
the motto of the House of Nassau: "I will maintain."
Two years elapsed between the promulgation of the charter and the first
active operations of the {22} West India Company; but throughout this
period the air was electric with plans for occupying and settling the
new land beyond the sea. Finally in March, 1623, the ship _Nieu
Nederlandt_ sailed for the colony whose name it bore, under the command
of Cornelis Jacobsen May, of Hoorn, the first Director-General. With
him embarked some thirty families of Walloons, who were descendants of
Protestant refugees from the southern provinces of the Netherlands,
which, being in general attached to the Roman Catholic Church, had
declined to join the confederation of northern provinces in 1579.
Sturdy and industrious artisans of vigorous Protestant stock, the
Walloons were a valuable element in the colonization of New Nether
land. After a two months' voyage the ship _Nieu Nederlandt_ reached
the mouth of the Hudson, then called the Mauritius in honor of the
Stadholder, Prince Maurice, and the leaders began at once to distribute
settlers with a view to covering as much country as was defensible.
Some were left in Manhattan, several families were sent to the South
River, now the Delaware, others to Fresh River, later called the
Connecticut, and others to the western shore of Long Island. The
remaining colonists, led by Adriaen Joris, voyaged up the {23} length
of the Mauritius, landed at Fort Orange, and made their home there.
Thus the era of settlement as distinguished from trade had begun.
The description of the first settlers at Wiltwyck, on the western shore
of the great river, may be applied to all the pioneer Dutch colonists.
"Most of them could neither read nor write. They were a wild, uncouth,
rough, and most of the time a drunken crowd. They lived in small log
huts, thatched with straw. They wore rough clothes, and in the winter
were dressed in skins. They subsisted on a little corn, game, and
fish. They were afraid of neither man, God, nor the Devil. They were
laying deep the foundation of the Empire State."[1]
The costume of the wife of a typical settler usually consisted of a
single garment, reaching from neck to ankles. In the summer time she
went bareheaded and barefooted. She was rough, coarse, ignorant,
uncultivated. She helped her husband to build their log hut, to plant
his grain, and to gather his crops. If Indians appeared in her
husband's absence, she grasped the rifle, gathered her children about
her, and with a {24} dauntless courage defended them even unto death.
This may not be a romantic presentation of the forefathers and
foremothers of the State, but it bears the marks of truth and shows us
a stalwart race strong to hold their own in the struggle for existence
and in the establishment of a permanent community.
From the time of the founding of settlements, outward-bound ships from
the Netherlands brought supplies for the colonists and carried back
cargoes of furs, tobacco, and maize. In April, 1625, there was shipped
to the new settlements a valuable load made up of one hundred and three
head of live stock--stallions, mares, bulls, and cows--besides hogs and
sheep, all distributed in two ships with a third vessel as convoy. The
chronicler, Nicholaes Janszoon Van Wassenaer, gives a detailed account
of their disposal which illustrates the traditional Dutch orderliness
and cleanliness. He tells us that each animal had its own stall, and
that the floor of each stall was covered with three feet of sand, which
served as ballast for the ship. Each animal also had its respective
servant, who knew what his reward was to be if he delivered his charge
alive. Beneath the cattle-deck were stowed three hundred tuns of {25}
fresh water, which was pumped up for the live stock. In addition to
the load of cattle, the ship carried agricultural implements and "all
furniture proper for the dairy," as well as a number of settlers.
The year 1625 marked an important event, the birth of a little daughter
in the household of Jan Joris Rapaelje, the "first-born Christian
daughter in New Netherland." Her advent was followed by the appearance
of a steadily increasing group of native citizens, and Dutch cradles
multiplied in the cabins of the various settlements from Fort Orange to
New Amsterdam. The latter place was established as a fortified post
and the seat of government for the colony in 1626 by Peter Minuit, the
third Director-General, who in this year purchased Manhattan Island
from the Indians.
The colony was now thriving, with the whole settlement "bravely
advanced" and grain growing as high as a man. But across this bright
picture fell the dark shadow of negro slavery, which, it is said, the
Dutch were the first to introduce upon the mainland of North America in
1625 or 1626. Among the first slaves were Simon Congo, Anthony
Portuguese, John Francisco, Paul d'Angola--names {26} evidently drawn
from their native countries--and seven others. Two years later came
three slave women. In a letter dated August 11, 1628, and addressed to
his "Kind Friend and Well Beloved Brother in Christ the Reverend,
learned and pious Mr. Adrianus Smoutius," we learn with regret that
Domine Michaelius, having two small motherless daughters, finds himself
much hindered and distressed because he can find no competent maid
servants "and the Angola slave women are thievish, lazy, and useless
trash." Let us leave it to those who have the heart and the nerves to
dwell upon the horrors of the middle passage and the sufferings of the
poor negroes as set down in the log-books of the slavers, the _St.
John_ and the _Arms of Amsterdam_. It is comforting to the more
soft-hearted of us to feel that after reaching the shores of New
Netherland, the blacks were treated in the main with humanity. The
negro slave was of course a chattel, but his fate was not without hope.
Several negroes with their wives were manumitted on the ground of long
and faithful service. They received a grant of land; but they were
obliged to pay for it annually twenty-two and a half bushels of corn,
wheat, pease, or beans, and a hog worth eight dollars in {27} modern
currency. If they failed in this payment they lost their recently
acquired liberty and returned to the status of slaves. Meanwhile,
their children, already born or yet to be born, remained under
obligation to serve the Company.
Apparently the Dutch were conscious of no sense of wrong-doing in the
importation of the blacks. A chief justice of the King's Bench in
England expressed the opinion that it was right that pagans should be
slaves to Christians, because the former were bondsmen of Satan while
the latter were servants of God. Even this casuist, however, found
difficulty in explaining why it was just that one born of free and
Christian parents should remain enslaved. But granting that the
problems which the settlers were creating in these early days were
bound to cause much trouble later both to themselves and to the whole
country, there is no doubt that slave labor contributed to the
advancement of agriculture and the other enterprises of the colony.
Free labor was scarce and expensive, owing both to the cost of
importing it from Europe and to the allurements of the fur trade, which
drew off the _boer-knecht_ from farming. Slave labor was therefore of
the highest value in exploiting the resources of the new country.
{28}
These resources were indeed abundant. The climate was temperate, with
a long season of crops and harvests. Grape-vines produced an abundant
supply of wines. The forests contained a vast variety of animals.
Innumerable birds made the wilderness vocal. Turkeys and wild fowl
offered a variety of food. The rivers produced fish of every kind and
oysters which the letters of the colonists describe as a foot long,
though this is somewhat staggering to the credulity of a later age. De
Vries, one of the patroons, or proprietors, whose imagination was
certainly of a lively type, tells us that he had seen a New
Netherlander kill eighty-four thrushes or maize-birds at one shot. He
adds that he has noticed crabs of excellent flavor on the flat shores
of the bay. "Their claws," he says naïvely, "are of the color of our
Prince's flag, orange, white and blue, so that the crabs show clearly
enough that we ought to people the country and that it belongs to us."
When the very crabs thus beckoned to empire, how could the Netherlander
fail to respond to their invitation?
The newly discovered river soon began to be alive with sail,
high-pooped vessels from over sea, and smaller _vlie booten_
(Anglicized into "flyboats"), {29} which plied between New Amsterdam
and Fort Orange, loaded with supplies and household goods. Tying the
prow of his boat to a tree at the water's edge, the enterprising
skipper turned pedler and opened his packs of beguiling wares for the
housewife at the farm beside the river. Together with the goods in his
pack, he doubtless also opened his budget of news from the other
settlements and told the farmer's wife how the houses about the fort at
Manhattan had increased to thirty, how the new Director was
strengthening the fort, and how all promised well for the future of New
Netherland.
For the understanding of these folk, who, with their descendants, have
left an indelible impression on New York as we know it today, we must
leave the thread of narrative in America, abandon the sequence of
dates, and turn back to the Holland of some years earlier. Remembering
that those who cross the sea change their skies but not their hearts,
we may be sure that the same qualities which marked the inhabitants of
the Netherlands showed themselves in the emigrants to the colony on the
banks of the Mauritius.
When the truce with Spain was announced, a few months before Hudson set
sail for America, {30} it was celebrated throughout Holland by the
ringing of bells, the discharge of artillery, the illumination of the
houses, and the singing of hymns of thanksgiving in all the churches.
The devout people knelt in every cathedral and village _Kerk_ to thank
their God that the period of butchery and persecution was over. But no
sooner had the joy-bells ceased ringing and the illuminations faded
than the King of Spain began plotting to regain by diplomacy what he
had been unable to hold by force. The Dutch, however, showed
themselves as keenly alive as the Spanish to the value of treaties and
alliances. They met cunning with caution, as they had met tyranny with
defiance, and at last, as the end of the truce drew near, they flung
into the impending conflict the weight of the Dutch West India Company.
They were shrewd and sincere people, ready to try all things by the
test of practical experience. One of their great statesmen at this
period described his fellow-countrymen as having neither the wish nor
the skill to deceive others, but on the other hand as not being easy to
be deceived themselves.
Motley says of the Dutch Republic that "it had courage, enterprise,
intelligence, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and
self-help, {31} hatred of tyranny, the disposition to _domine_er,
aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of
science, of liberty, and of money." As the state is only a sum of
component parts, its qualities must be those of its citizens, and of
these citizens our colonists were undoubtedly typical. We may
therefore accept this description as picturing their mental and
spiritual qualities in the pioneer days of their venture in the New
World.
[1] See the monograph by Augustus H. Van Buren in the _Proceedings of
the New York Historical Society_, vol. xi, p. 133.
{32}
CHAPTER III
PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR
Their High Mightinesses, the States-General of the United Netherlands,
as we have seen, granted to the Dutch West India Company a charter
conveying powers nearly equaling and often overlapping those of the
States themselves. The West India Company in turn, with a view to
stimulating colonization, granted to certain members known as patroons
manorial rights frequently in conflict with the authority of the
Company. And for a time it seemed as though the patroonship would be
the prevailing form of grant in New Netherland.
The system of patroonships seems to have been suggested by Kiliaen Van
Rensselaer, one of the directors of the West India Company and a
lapidary of Amsterdam, who later became the most successful of the
patroons. A shrewd, keen, far-seeing man, he was one of the first of
the West India Company to perceive that the building up of {33} New
Netherland could not be carried on without labor, and that labor could
not be procured without permanent settlers. "Open up the country with
agriculture: that must be our first step," was his urgent advice; but
the dwellers in the Netherlands, finding themselves prosperous in their
old homes, saw no reason for emigrating, and few offered themselves for
the overseas settlements. The West India Company was not inclined to
involve itself in further expense for colonization, and matters
threatened to come to a halt, when someone, very likely the shrewd
Kiliaen himself, evolved the plan of granting large estates to men
willing to pay the cost of settling and operating them. From this
suggestion the scheme of patroonship was developed.
The list of "Privileges and Exemptions" published by the West India
Company in 1629 declared that all should be acknowledged patroons of
New Netherland who should, within the space of four years, plant there
a colony of fifty souls upwards of fifteen years old. "The island of
the Manhattes" was reserved for the Company. The patroons, it was
stipulated, must make known the situation of their proposed
settlements, but they were allowed to change should their first
location prove {34} unsatisfactory. The lands were to extend sixteen
miles along the shore on one side of a navigable river, or eight miles
on both sides of a river, and so far into the country as the situation
of the colonies and their settlers permitted. The patroons were
entitled to dispose of their grants by will, and they were free to
traffic along the coast of New Netherland for all goods except furs,
which were to be the special perquisite of the West India Company.
They were forbidden to allow the weaving of linen, woolen, or cotton
cloth on their estates, the looms in Holland being hungry for raw
material.
The Company agreed that it would not take any one from the service of
the patroon during the years for which the servant was bound, and any
colonist who should without written permission enter the service of
another patroon or "betake himself to freedom" was to be proceeded
against with all the available force of the law. The escaped servant
would fare ill if his case came before the courts, since it was one of
the prerogatives of a patroon to administer high, middle, and low
justice--that is, to appoint magistrates and erect courts which should
deal with all grades of crimes committed within the limits of the manor
and also with breaches of the civil law. In civil cases, {35} disputes
over contracts, titles, and such matters, where the amount in
litigation exceeded twenty dollars, as well as in criminal cases
affecting life and limb, it was possible to appeal to the Director and
Council at Fort Amsterdam; but the local authorities craftily evaded
this provision by compelling their colonists to promise not to appeal
from the tribunal of the manor.
The _scherprechter_, or hangman, was included with the superintendent,
the _schout fiscaal_, or sheriff, and the magistrates as part of the
manorial court system. One such _scherprechter_ named Jan de Neger,
perhaps a freed negro, is named among the dwellers at Rensselaerswyck
and we find him presenting a claim for thirty-eight florins ($15.00)
for executing Wolf Nysen.
No man in the manorial colony was to be deprived of life or property
except by sentence of a court composed of five people, and all accused
persons were entitled to a speedy and impartial trial. As we find
little complaint of the administration of justice in all the records of
disputes, reproaches, and recriminations which mark the records of
those old manors, we must assume that the processes of law were carried
on in harmony with the spirit of fairness prevailing in the home
country.
{36}
Even before the West India Company had promulgated its charter, a
number of rich merchants had availed themselves of the opportunity to
secure lands under the offered privileges and exemptions. Godyn and
Blommaert, in association with Captain David de Vries and others, took
up a large territory on Delaware Bay, and here they established a
colony called "Swannendael," which was destroyed by the Indians in
1632. Myndert Myndertsen established his settlement on the mainland
behind Staten Island, and his manor extended from Achter Kul, or Newark
Bay, to the Tappan Zee.
One of the first patents recorded was granted to Michiel Pauw in 1630.
In the documentary record the Director and Council of New Netherland,
under the authority of their High Mightinesses, the Lords
States-General and the West India Company Department of Amsterdam,
testify to the bargain made with the natives, who are treated
throughout with legal ceremony as if they were high contracting parties
and fully capable of understanding the transaction in which they were
engaged. These original owners of the soil appeared before the Council
and declared that in consideration of {37} certain merchandise, they
agreed to "transfer, cede, convey and deliver for the benefit of the
Honorable Mr. Michiel Paauw" as true and lawful freehold, the land at
Hobocan Hackingh, opposite Manhattan, so that "he or his heirs may take
possession of the aforesaid land, live on it in peace, inhabit, own and
use it ... without that they, the conveying party shall have or retain
the least pretension, right, power or authority either concerning
ownership or sovereignty; but herewith they desist, abandon, withdraw
and renounce in behalf of aforesaid now and forever totally and
finally."
It must have been a pathetic and yet a diverting spectacle when the
simple red men thus swore away their title to the broad acres of their
fathers for a consideration of beads, shells, blankets, and trinkets;
but, when they listened to the subtleties of Dutch law as expounded by
the Dogberrys at Fort Amsterdam, they may have been persuaded that
their simple minds could never contend with such masters of language
and that they were on the whole fortunate to secure something in
exchange for their land, which they were bound to lose in any event.
It has been the custom to ascribe to the Dutch and Quakers the system
of paying for lands taken {38} from the Indians. But Fiske points out
that this conception is a mistake and he goes on to state that it was a
general custom among the English and that not a rood of ground in New
England was taken from the savages without recompense, except when the
Pequots began a war and were exterminated. The "payment" in all cases,
however, was a mere farce and of value only in creating good feeling
between savages and settlers. As to the ethics of the transaction,
much might be said on both sides. The red men would be justified in
feeling that they had been kept in ignorance of the relative importance
of what they gave and what they received, while the whites might
maintain that they created the values which ensued upon their purchase
and that, if they had not come, lands along the Great River would have
remained of little account. In any case the recorded transaction did
not prove a financial triumph for the purchaser, as the enterprise cost
much in trouble and outlay and did not meet expenses. The property was
resold to the Company seven years later--at a price, however, of
twenty-six thousand guilders, which represented a fair margin of profit
over the "certain merchandise" paid to the original owners eight years
earlier.
{39}
Very soon after the purchase of the land on the west shore of the North
River, Pauw bought, under the same elaborate legal forms, the whole of
Staten Island, so called in honor of the Staaten or States-General. To
the estate he gave the title of Pavonia, a Latinized form of his own
name. Staten Island was subsequently purchased from Pauw by the
Company and transferred (with the exception of the _bouwerie_ of
Captain De Vries) to Cornelis Melyn, who was thus added to the list of
patroons. Other regions also were erected into patroonships; but
almost all were either unsuccessful from the beginning or short-lived.
The patroonship most successful, most permanent, and most typical was
Rensselaerswyck, which offers the best opportunity for a study of the
Dutch colonial system. Van Rensselaer, though he did not apparently
intend to make a home for himself in New Netherland, was one of the
first to ask for a grant of land. He received, subject to payment to
the Indians, a tract of country to the north and south of Fort Orange,
but not including that trading-post, which like the island of Manhattan
remained under the control of the West India Company. By virtue of
this grant and later purchases Van Rensselaer acquired a {40} tract
comprising what are now the counties of Albany and Rensselaer with part
of Columbia. Of this tract, called Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer was
named patroon, and five other men, Godyn, Blommaert, De Laet, Bissels,
and Moussart, whom he had been forced to conciliate by taking into
partnership, were named codirectors. Later the claims of these five
associates were bought out by the Van Rensselaer family.
In 1630 the first group of emigrants for this new colony sailed on the
ship _Eendragt_ and reached Fort Orange at the beginning of June. How
crude was the settlement which they established we may judge from the
report made some years later by Father Jogues, a Jesuit missionary, who
visited Rensselaerswyck in 1643. He speaks of a miserable little fort
built of logs and having four or five pieces of Breteuil cannon. He
describes also the colony as composed of about a hundred persons, "who
reside in some twenty-five or thirty houses built along the river as
each found most convenient." The patroon's agent was established in
the principal house, while in another, which served also as a church,
was domiciled the _domine_, the Reverend Johannes Megapolensis, Jr. The
houses he describes as built of boards and roofed with {41} thatch,
having no mason-work except in the chimneys. The settlers had found
some ground already cleared by the natives and had planted it with
wheat and oats in order to provide beer and horse-fodder; but being
hemmed in by somewhat barren hills, they had been obliged to separate
in order to obtain arable land. The settlements, therefore, spread
over two or three leagues.
The fear of raids from the savages prompted the patroon to advise that,
with the exception of the brewers and tobacco planters who were obliged
to live on their plantations, no other settlers should establish
themselves at any distance from the church, which was the village
center; for, says the prudent Van Rensselaer, "every one residing where
he thinks fit, separated far from others, would be unfortunately in
danger of their lives in the same manner as sorrowful experience has
taught around the Manhattans." Our sympathy goes out to those early
settlers who lived almost as serfs under their patroon, the women
forbidden to spin or weave, the men prohibited from trading in the furs
which they saw building up fortunes around them. They sat by their
lonely hearths in a little clearing of the forest, listening to the
howl of wolves and fearing to see a savage face at the {42} window.
This existence was a tragic change indeed from the lively social
existence along the canals of Amsterdam or on the stoops of Rotterdam.
Nor can we feel that these tenants were likely to be greatly cheered by
the library established at Rensselaerswyck, unless there were hidden
away a list of more interesting books than those described in the
patroon's invoice as sent in an _oosterse_, or oriental, box. These
volumes include a Scripture concordance, the works of Calvin, of Livy,
and of Ursinus, the friend of Melanchthon, _A Treatise on Arithmetic_
by Adrian Metius, _The History of the Holy Land_, and a work on natural
theology. As all the titles are in Latin, it is to be presumed that
the body of the text was written in the same language, and we may
imagine the light and cheerful mood which they inspired in their
readers after a day of manual toil.
I suspect, however, that the evening hours of these tenants at
Rensselaerswyck were spent in anxious keeping of accounts with a
wholesome fear of the patroon before the eyes of the accountants. Life
on the _bouweries_ was by no means inexpensive, even according to
modern standards. Bearing in mind that a stiver was equivalent to two
cents of {43} our currency and a florin to forty cents, it is easy to
calculate the cost of living in the decade between 1630 and 1640 as set
down in the accounts of Rensselaerswyck. A blanket cost eight florins,
a hat ten florins, an iron anvil one hundred florins, a musket and
cartouche box nineteen florins, a copper sheep's bell one florin and
six stivers. On the other hand all domestic produce was cheap, because
the tenant and patroon preferred to dispose of it in the settlements
rather than by transporting it to New Amsterdam. We learn with envy
that butter was only eight stivers or sixteen cents per pound, a pair
of fowl two florins, a beaver twenty-five florins.
How hard were the terms on which the tenants held their leases is
apparent from a report written by the guardians and tutors of Jan Van
Rensselaer, a later patroon of Rensselaerswyck. The patroon reserved
to himself the tenth of all grains, fruits, and other products raised
on the _bouwerie_. The tenant was bound, in addition to his rent of
five hundred guilders or two hundred dollars, to keep up the roads,
repair the buildings, cut ten pieces of oak or fir wood, and bring the
same to the shore; he must also every year give to the patroon three
days' service with his horses and wagon; {44} each year he was to cut,
split, and bring to the waterside two fathoms of firewood; and he was
further to deliver yearly to the Director as quit-rent two bushels of
wheat, twenty-five pounds of butter, and two pairs of fowls.
It was the difficult task of the agent of the colony to harmonize the
constant hostilities between the patroon and his "people." Van
Curler's letter to Kiliaen Van Rensselaer begins: "Laus Deo! At the
Manhattans this 16th June, 1643, Most honorable, wise, powerful, and
right discreet Lord, my Lord Patroon--." After which propitiatory
beginning it embarks at once on a reply to the reproaches which the
honorable, wise, and powerful Lord has heaped upon his obedient
servant. Van Curler admits that the accounts and books have not been
forwarded to Holland as they should have been; but he pleads the
difficulty of securing returns from the tenants, whom he finds slippery
in their accounting. "Everything they have laid out on account of the
Lord Patroon they well know how to specify for what was expended. But
what has been laid out for their private use, that they know nothing
about."
If the patroon's relations with his tenants were thorny, he had no less
trouble in his dealings with {45} the Director-General at New
Amsterdam. It is true, Peter Minuit, the first important Director, was
removed in 1632 by the Company for unduly favoring the patroons, and
Van Twiller, another Director and a nephew of Van Rensselaer by
marriage, was not disposed to antagonize his relative; but when Van
Twiller was replaced by Kieft, and he in turn by Stuyvesant, the
horizon at Rensselaerswyck grew stormy. In 1643 the patroon ordered
Nicholas Coorn to fortify Beeren or Bears Island, and to demand a toll
of each ship, except those of the West India Company, that passed up
and down the river. He also required that the colors on every ship be
lowered in passing Rensselaer's Stein or Castle Rensselaer, as the fort
on the steep little island was named.
Govert Loockermans, sailing down the river one day on the ship _Good
Hope_, failed to salute the flag, whereupon a lively dialogue ensued to
the following effect, and not, we may be assured, carried on in low or
amicable tones:
_Coorn_: "Lower your colors!"
_Loockermans_: "For whom should I?"
_Coorn_: "For the staple-right of Rensselaerswyck."
_Loockermans_: "I lower my colors for no one {46} except the Prince of
Orange and the Lords my masters."
The practical result of this interchange of amenities was a shot which
tore the mainsail of the _Good Hope_, "perforated the princely flag,"
and so enraged the skipper that on his arrival at New Amsterdam he
hastened to lay his grievance before the Council, who thereupon ordered
Coorn to behave with more civility.
The patroon system was from the beginning doomed to failure. As we
study the old documents we find a sullen tenantry, an obsequious and
careworn agent, a dissatisfied patroon, an impatient company, a
bewildered government--and all this in a new and promising country
where the natives were friendly, the transportation easy, the land
fertile, the conditions favorable to that conservation of human
happiness which is and should be the aim of civilization. The reason
for the discontent which prevailed is not far to seek, and all classes
were responsible for it, for they combined in planting an anachronistic
feudalism in a new country, which was dedicated by its very physical
conditions to liberty and democracy. The settlers came from a nation
which had battled {47} through long years in the cause of freedom.
They found themselves in a colony adjoining those of Englishmen who had
braved the perils of the wilderness to establish the same principles of
liberty and democracy. No sane mind could have expected the Dutch
colonists to return without protest to a medieval system of government.
When the English took possession of New Netherland in 1664, the old
patroonships were confirmed as manorial grants from England. As time
went on, many new manors were erected until, when the province was
finally added to England in 1674, "The Lords of the Manor" along the
Hudson had taken on the proportions of a landed aristocracy. On the
lower reaches of the river lay the Van Cortlandt and Philipse Manors,
the first containing 85,000 acres and a house so firmly built that it
is still standing with its walls of freestone, three feet thick. The
Philipse Manor, at Tarrytown, represented the remarkable achievement of
a self-made man, born in the Old World and a carpenter by trade, who
rose in the New World to fortune and eminence. By dint of business
acumen and by marrying two heiresses in succession he achieved wealth,
and built "Castle Philipse" and the picturesque little church at Sleepy
Hollow, {48} still in use. Farther up the river lay the Livingston
Manor. In 1685 Robert Livingston was granted by Governor Dongan a
patent of a tract half way between New York and Rensselaerswyck, across
the river from the Catskills and covering many thousand acres.
But the estate of which we know most, thanks to the records left by
Mrs. Grant of Laggan in her _Memoirs of an American Lady_, written in
the middle of the eighteenth century, is that belonging to the
Schuylers at "the Flats" near Albany, which runs along the western bank
of the Hudson for two miles and is bordered with sweeping elm trees.
The mansion consisted of two stories and an attic. Through the middle
of the house ran a wide passage from the front to the back door. At
the front door was a large _stoep_, open at the sides and with seats
around it. One room was open for company. The other apartments were
bedrooms, a drawing-room being an unheard-of luxury. "The house
fronted the river, on the brink of which, under shades of elm and
sycamore, ran the great road toward Saratoga, Stillwater, and the
northern lakes." Adjoining the orchard was a huge barn raised from the
ground by beams which rested on stone and held up a massive oak {49}
floor. On one side ran a manger. Cattle and horses stood in rows with
their heads toward the threshing-floor. "There was a prodigious large
box or open chest in one side built up, for holding the corn after it
was threshed, and the roof which was very lofty and spacious was
supported by large cross beams. From one to the other of these was
stretched a great number of long poles so as to form a sort of open
loft, on which the whole rich crop was laid up."
Altogether it is an attractive picture of peace and plenty, of
hospitality and simple luxury, that is drawn by this visitor to the
Schuyler homestead. We see through her eyes its carpeted winter rooms,
its hall covered with tiled oilcloth and hung with family portraits,
its vine-covered _stoeps_, provided with ledges for the birds, and
affording "pleasant views of the winding river and the distant hills."
Such a picture relieves pleasantly the arid waste of historical
statistics.
But the reader who dwells too long on the picturesque aspects of manors
and patroonships is likely to forget that New Netherland was peopled
for the most part by colonists who were neither patroons nor lords of
manors. It was the small proprietors who eventually predominated on
western {50} Long Island, on Staten Island, and along the Hudson. "In
the end," it has been well said, "this form of grant played a more
important part in the development of the province than did the larger
fiefs for which such detailed provision was made."
{51}
CHAPTER IV
THE DIRECTORS
The first Director-General of the colony, Captain Cornelis May, was
removed by only a generation from those "Beggars of the Sea" whom the
Spaniard held in such contempt; but this mendicant had begged to such
advantage that the sea granted him a noble river to explore and a cape
at its mouth to preserve his name to posterity. It is upon his
discoveries along the South River, later called the Delaware, and not
upon his record as Director of New Netherland, that his title to fame
must rest. Associated with him was Tienpont, who appears to have been
assigned to the North River while May assumed personal supervision of
the South. May acted as the agent of the West India Company for one
year only (1624-1625), and was followed in office by Verhulst
(1625-1626), who bequeathed his name to Verhulsten Island, in the
Delaware River, and then quietly passed out of history.
{52}
Neither of these officials left any permanent impress on the history of
the colony. It was therefore a day of vast importance to the dwellers
on the North River, and especially to the little group of settlers on
Manhattan Island, when the _Meeuwken_ dropped her anchor in the harbor
in May, 1626, and her small boat landed Peter Minuit, Director-General
of New Netherland, a Governor who had come to govern. Minuit, though
registered as "of Wesel," Germany, was of Huguenot ancestry, and is
reported to have spoken French, Dutch, German, and English. He proved
a tactful and efficient ruler, and the new system of government took
form under the Director and Council, the _koopman_, who was commercial
agent and secretary, and a _schout_ who performed the duties of sheriff
and public prosecutor.
Van Wassenaer, the son of a _domine_ in Amsterdam, gives us a report of
the colony as it existed under Minuit. He writes of a counting-house
built of stone and thatched with reeds, of thirty ordinary houses on
the east side of the river, and a horse-mill yet unfinished over which
is to be constructed a spacious room to serve as a temporary church and
to be decorated with bells captured at the sack of San Juan de Porto
Rico in 1625 by the Dutch fleet. {53} According to this chronicler,
every one in New Netherland who fills no public office is busy with his
own affairs. One trades, one builds houses, another plants farms.
Each farmer pastures the cows under his charge on the _bouwerie_ of the
Company, which also owns the cattle; but the milk is the property of
the farmer, who sells it to the settlers. "The houses of settlers," he
says, "are now outside the fort; but when that is finished they will
all remove within, in order to garrison it and be safe from sudden
attack."
One of Minuit's first acts as Director was the purchase of Manhattan
Island, covering some twenty-two thousand acres, for merchandise valued
at sixty guilders or twenty-four dollars. He thus secured the land at
the rate of approximately ten acres for one cent. A good bargain,
Peter Minuit! The transaction was doubly effective in placating the
savages, or the _wilden_, as the settlers called them, and in
establishing the Dutch claim as against the English by urging rights
both of discovery and of purchase.
In spite of the goodwill manifested by the natives, the settlers were
constantly anxious lest some conspiracy might suddenly break out. Van
Wassenaer, reporting the news from the colony as {54} it reached him in
Amsterdam, wrote in 1626 that Pieter Barentsen was to be sent to
command Fort Orange, and that the families were to be brought down the
river, sixteen men without women being left to garrison the fort. Two
years later he wrote that there were no families at Fort Orange, all
having been brought down the river. Only twenty-five or twenty-six
traders remained and Krol, who had been vice-director there since 1626.
Minuit showed true statesmanship by following conciliation with a show
of strength against hostile powers on every hand. He had brought with
him a competent engineer, Kryn Frederycke, or Fredericksen, who had
been an officer in the army of Prince Maurice. With his help Minuit
laid out Fort Amsterdam on what was then the tip of Manhattan Island,
the green park which forms the end of the island today being then under
water. Fredericksen found material and labor so scarce that he could
plan at first only a blockhouse surrounded by palisades of red cedar
strengthened with earthworks. The fort was completed in 1626, and at
the close of the year a settlement called New Amsterdam had grown up
around it and had been made the capital of New Netherland.
During the building of the fort there occurred {55} an episode fraught
with serious consequences. A friendly Indian of the Weckquaesgeeck
tribe came with his nephew to traffic at Fort Amsterdam. Three
servants of Minuit fell upon the Indian, robbed him, and murdered him.
The nephew, then but a boy, escaped to his tribe and vowed a vengeance
which he wreaked in blood nearly a score of years later.
Minuit's preparations for war were not confined to land fortification.
In 1627 the hearts of the colonists were gladdened by a great victory
of the Dutch over the Spanish, when, in a battle off San Salvador,
Peter Heyn demolished twenty-six Spanish warships. On the 5th of
September the same bold sailor captured the whole of the Spanish
silver-fleet with spoils amounting to twelve million guilders. In the
following year the gallant commander, then a lieutenant-admiral, died
in battle on the deck of his ship. The States-General sent to his old
peasant mother a message of condolence, to which she replied: "Ay, I
thought that would be the end of him. He was always a vagabond; but I
did my best to correct him. He got no more than he deserved."
It was perhaps the echo of naval victories like these which prompted
Minuit to embark upon a {56} shipbuilding project of great magnitude
for that time. Two Belgian shipbuilders arrived in New Amsterdam and
asked the help of the Director in constructing a large vessel. Minuit,
seeing the opportunity to advertise the resources of the colony, agreed
to give his assistance and the result was that the _New Netherland_, a
ship of eight hundred tons carrying thirty guns, was built and launched.
This enterprise cost more than had been expected and the bills were
severely criticized by the West India Company, already dissatisfied
with Minuit on the ground that he had favored the interests of the
patroons, who claimed the right of unrestricted trade within their
estates, as against the interests of the Company. Urged by many
complaints, the States-General set on foot an investigation of the
Director, the patroons, and the West India Company itself, with the
result that in 1632 Minuit was recalled and the power of the patroons
was limited. New Netherland had not yet seen the last of Peter Minuit,
however. Angry and embittered, he entered the service of Sweden and
returned later to vex the Dutch colony.
In the interval between Minuit's departure and the arrival of Van
Twiller, the reins of authority {57} were held by Sebastian Krol, whose
name is memorable chiefly for the fact that he had been influential in
purchasing the domain of Rensselaerswyck for its patroon (1630) and the
tradition that the cruller, _crolyer_ or _krolyer_, was so called in
his honor. The Company's selection of a permanent successor to Minuit
was not happy. Wouter Van Twiller, nephew of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer,
must have owed his appointment as Director to family influence, since
neither his career nor his reputation justified the choice.
David de Vries, writing on April 16, 1633, notes that on arriving about
noon before Fort Amsterdam he found there a ship called the _Soutbergh_
which had brought over the new Governor, Wouter Van Twiller, a former
clerk in the West India House at Amsterdam. De Vries gives his opinion
of Van Twiller in no uncertain terms. He expressed his own surprise
that the West India Company should send fools into this country who
knew nothing except how to drink, and quotes an Englishman as saying
that he could not understand the unruliness among the officers of the
Company and that a governor should have no more control over them.
For the personal appearance of this "Walter {58} the Doubter," we must
turn again to the testimony of Knickerbocker, whose mocking
descriptions have obtained a quasi-historical authority:
This renowned old gentleman arrived at New Amsterdam in the merry month
of June.... He was exactly five feet six inches in height and six feet
five inches in circumference. His head was a perfect sphere and of
such stupendous dimensions that Dame Nature, with all her sex's
ingenuity would have been puzzled to construct a neck capable of
supporting it: Wherefore she wisely declined the attempt and settled it
firmly on the top of his backbone just between the shoulders.... His
legs were short but sturdy in proportion to the weight they had to
sustain so that when erect he had not a little the appearance of a beer
barrel on skids. His face, that infallible index of the mind,
presented a vast expanse, unfurrowed by any of those lines which
disfigure the human countenance with what is termed expression.... His
habits were regular. He daily took his four stated meals,
appropriating exactly an hour to each; he smoked and doubted eight
hours, and he slept the remaining twelve of the four-and-twenty.
A later historian, taking up the cudgels in behalf of the Director,
resents Knickerbocker's impeachment and protests that "so far from
being the aged, fat and overgrown person represented in caricature Van
Twiller was youthful and inexperienced, and his faults were those of a
young {59} man unused to authority and hampered by his instructions."[1]
In his new office Van Twiller was confronted with questions dealing
with the encroachment of the patroons from within and of the English
from without, the unwelcome visit of Eelkens, of whom we shall hear
later, and massacres by the Indians on the South River. Such problems
might well have puzzled a wiser head and a more determined character
than Van Twiller's. We cannot hold him wholly blameworthy if he dealt
with them in a spirit of doubt and hesitation. What we find harder to
excuse is his shrewd advancement of his own interests and his lavish
expenditure of the Company's money. The cost of building the fort {60}
was more than justifiable. To have neglected the defenses would have
been culpable; and the barracks built for the hundred and four soldiers
whom he had brought over from the Fatherland may also be set down as
necessary. But when the Company was groaning under the expenses of the
colony, it was, to say the least, lacking in tact to build for himself
the most elaborate house in New Netherland, besides erecting on one of
the Company's _bouweries_ a house, a barn, a boathouse, and a brewery,
to say nothing of planting another farm with tobacco, working it with
slave labor at the Company's expense, and appropriating the profits.
In the year 1688, after he had been five years in office, the outcry
against Van Twiller for misfeasance, malfeasance, and especially
nonfeasance, grew too loud to be ignored, and he was recalled; but
before he left New Netherland he bought Nooten or Nut Island, since
called Governor's Island, and also two other islands in the East River.
At the time of his marriage in 1643, Van Twiller was in command of a
competence attained at the expense of the West India Company, and there
is much excuse for the feeling of his employers that he had been more
active in his own affairs than in theirs.
{61}
The principal service which he had rendered to the Company in his term
of office was the establishment of "staple right" at New Amsterdam,
compelling all ships trading on the coast or the North River to pay
tolls or unload their cargoes on the Company's property. But on the
reverse side of the account we must remember that he allowed the fort
to fall into such decay that when Kieft arrived in 1638 he found the
defenses, which had been finished only three years before, already in a
shamefully neglected condition, the guns dismounted, the public
buildings inside the walls in ruins, and the walls of the fort itself
so beaten down that any one might enter at will, "save at the stone
point."
The hopes of the colonists rose again with the coming of a new
governor; but the appointment of Kieft reflected as little credit as
that of Van Twiller upon the sagacity of the West India Company. The
man now chosen to rule New Netherland was a narrow-minded busybody,
eager to interfere in small matters and without the statesmanship
required to conduct large affairs. Some of his activities, it is true,
had practical value. He fixed the hours at which the colonists should
go to bed and ordered the curfew to be rung at nine o'clock; {62} he
established two annual fairs to be held on the present Bowling Green,
one in October for cattle and one in November for hogs; and he built a
new stone church within the fort, operated a brewery, founded a
hostelry, and planted orchards and gardens. But on the other side of
the account he was responsible for a bloody war with the Indians which
came near to wrecking the colony.
His previous record held scant promise for his success as a governor.
He had failed as a merchant in Rochelle, for which offense his portrait
had been affixed to a gallows. Such a man was a poor person to be put
in control of the complicated finances of New Netherland and of the
delicate relations between the colonists and the Indians--relations
calling for infinite tact, wisdom, firmness, and forbearance.
The natives in the region of New Amsterdam were increasingly irritated
by the encroachments of the whites. They complained that stray cows
spoiled their unfenced cornfields and that various other depredations
endangered their crops. To add to this irritation Kieft proposed to
tax the natives for the protection afforded them by the Fort, which was
now being repaired at large expense. The situation, already bad
enough, was {63} further complicated by Kieft's clumsy handling of an
altercation on Staten Island. Some pigs were stolen, by servants of
the Company as appeared later; but the offense was charged to the
Raritan Indians. Without waiting to make investigations Kieft sent out
a punitive expedition of seventy men, who attacked the innocent
natives, killed a number of them, and laid waste their crops. This
stupid and wicked attack still further exasperated the Indians, who in
the high tide of mid-summer saw their lands laid bare and their homes
desolated by the wanton hand of the intruders.
Some months later the trouble between the whites and the red men was
brought to a head by an unforeseen tragedy. A savage came to Claes
Smits, _radenmaker_ or wheelwright, to trade beaver for duffel cloth.
As Claes stooped down to take out the duffel from a chest, the Indian
seized an axe which chanced to stand near by and struck the wheelwright
on the neck, killing him instantly. The murderer then stole the goods
from the chest and fled to the forest.
When Kieft sent to the tribe of the Weckquaesgeecks to inquire the
cause of this murder and to demand the slayer, the Indian told the
chief that he had seen his uncle robbed and killed at the fort {64}
while it was being built; that he himself had escaped and had vowed
revenge; and that the unlucky Claes was the first white man upon whom
he had a chance to wreak vengeance. The chief then replied to the
Director that he was sorry that twenty Christians had not been killed
and that the Indian had done only a pious duty in avenging his uncle.
In this emergency Kieft called a meeting at which the prominent
burghers chose a committee of twelve to advise the Director. This took
place in 1641. The Council was headed by Captain David de Vries, whose
portrait with its pointed chin, high forehead, and keen eyes, justifies
his reputation as the ablest man in New Netherland. He insisted that
it was inadvisable to attack the Indians--not to say hazardous.
Besides, the Company had warned them to keep peace. It is interesting
to speculate on what would have been the effect on the colony if the
Company's choice had fallen upon De Vries instead of on Kieft as
Director.
Although restrained for the time, Kieft never relinquished his purpose.
On February 24, 1643, he again announced his intention of making a raid
upon the Indians, and in spite of further {65} remonstrance from De
Vries he sent out his soldiers, who returned after a massacre which
disgraced the Director, enraged the natives, and endangered the colony.
Kieft was at first proud of his treachery; but as soon as it was known
every Algonquin tribe around New Amsterdam started on the warpath.
From New Jersey to the Connecticut every farm was in peril. The famous
and much-persecuted Anne Hutchinson perished with her family; towns
were burned; and men, women, and children fled in panic.
On the approach of spring, when the Indians had to plant their corn or
face famine, sachems of the Long Island Indians sought a parley with
the Dutch. De Vries and Olfertsen volunteered to meet the savages. In
the woods near Rockaway they found nearly three hundred Indians
assembled. The chiefs placed the envoys in the center of the circle,
and one among them, who had a bundle of sticks, laid down one stick at
a time as he recounted the wrongs of his tribe. This orator told how
the red men had given food to the settlers and were rewarded by the
murder of their people, how they had protected and cherished the
traders, and how they had been abused in return. At length De Vries,
like the practical man that he was, {66} suggested that they all
adjourn to the Fort, promising them presents from the Director.
The chiefs consented to meet the Director and eventually were persuaded
to make a treaty of peace; but Kieft's gifts were so niggardly that the
savages went away with rancor still in their hearts, and the war of the
races continued its bloody course. It is no wonder that when De Vries
left the Governor on this occasion, he told Kieft in plain terms of his
guilt and predicted that the shedding of so much innocent blood would
yet be avenged upon his own head. This prophecy proved a strangely
true one. When recalled by the States-General in 1647, Kieft set out
for Holland on the ship _Princess_, carrying with him the sum of four
hundred thousand guilders. The ship was wrecked in the Bristol channel
and Kieft was drowned.
The evil that Kieft did lived after him and the good, if interred with
his bones, would not have occupied much space in the tomb. The only
positive advance during his rule--and that was carried through against
his will--was the appointment of an advisory committee of the twelve
men, representing the householders of the colony, who were called
together in the emergency following {67} the murder of Claes Smits, and
in 1643 of a similar board of eight men, who protested against his
arbitrary measures and later procured his recall.
After the departure of Kieft the most picturesque figure of the period
of Dutch rule in America appeared at New Amsterdam, Petrus or Pieter
Stuyvesant. We have an authentic portrait in which the whole
personality of the man is writ large. The dominant nose, the small,
obstinate eyes, the close-set, autocratic mouth, tell the character of
the man who was come to be the new and the last Director-General of New
Netherland. As Director of the West India Company's colony at Curaçao,
Stuyvesant had undertaken the task of reducing the Portuguese island of
St. Martin and had lost a leg in the fight. This loss he repaired with
a wooden leg, of which he professed himself prouder than of all his
other limbs together and which he had decorated with silver bands and
nails, thus earning for him the sobriquet of "Old Silver Nails."
Still, so the legend runs, Peter Stuyvesant's ghost at night "stumps to
and fro with a shadowy wooden leg through the aisles of St. Mark's
Church near the spot where his bones lie buried." But many events were
to happen {68} before those bones were laid in the family vault of the
chapel on his _bouwerie_.
When Stuyvesant reached the country over which he was to rule, it was
noted by the colonists that his bearing was that of a prince. "I shall
be as a father over his children," he told the burghers of New
Amsterdam, and in this patriarchal capacity he kept the people standing
with their heads uncovered for more than an hour, while he wore his
hat. How he bore out this first impression we may gather from _The
Representation of New Netherland_, an arraignment of the Director,
drawn up and solemnly attested in 1650 by eleven responsible burghers
headed by Adrian Van der Donck, and supplemented by much detailed
evidence. The witnesses express the earnest wish that Stuyvesant's
administration were at an end, for they have suffered from it and know
themselves powerless. Whoever opposes the Director "hath as much as
the sun and moon against him." In the council he writes an opinion
covering several pages and then adds orally: "This is my opinion. If
any one have aught to object to it, let him express it!" If any one
ventures to make any objection, his Honor flies into a passion and
rails in language better fitted to the fish-market than to the
council-hall.
{69}
When two burghers, Kuyter and Melyn, who had been leaders of the
opposition to Kieft, petitioned Stuyvesant to investigate his conduct,
Stuyvesant supported his predecessor on the ground that one Director
should uphold another. At Kieft's instigation he even prosecuted and
convicted Kuyter and Melyn for seditious attack on the government.
When Melyn asked for grace till his case could be presented in the
Fatherland, he was threatened, according to his own testimony, in
language like this: "If I knew, Melyn, that you would divulge our
sentence [that of fine and banishment] or bring it before Their High
Mightinesses, I would cause you to be hanged at once on the highest
tree in New Netherland." In another case the Director said: "It may
during my administration be contemplated to appeal; but if anyone
should do it, I will make him a foot shorter, and send the pieces to
Holland and let him appeal in that way."
An answer to this arraignment by the burghers of New Netherland was
written by Van Tienhoven, who was sent over to the Netherlands to
defend Stuyvesant; but its value is impaired by the fact that he was
_schout fiscaal_ and interested in the acquittal of Stuyvesant, whose
tool he was, {70} and also by the fact that he was the subject of
bitter attack in the _Representation_ by Adrian Van der Donck, who
accused Van Tienhoven of continually shifting from one side to another
and asserted that he was notoriously profligate and untrustworthy. One
passage in his reply amounted to a confession. Who, he asks, are they
who have complained about the haughtiness of the Director, and he
answers that they are "such as seek to live without law or rule." "No
one," he goes on to say, "can prove that Director Stuyvesant has used
foul language to or railed at as clowns any respectable persons who
have treated him decently. It may be that some profligate person has
given the Director, _if he has used any bad words to him_, cause to do
so."
It has been the fashion in popular histories to allude to Stuyvesant as
a doughty knight of somewhat choleric temper, "a valiant, weather
beaten, leathern-sided, lion-hearted, generous-spirited, old governor";
but I do not so read his history. I find him a brutal tyrant, as we
have seen in the affair of Kieft _versus_ Melyn; a narrow-minded bigot,
as we shall see later in his dealing with the Quakers at Flushing; a
bully when his victims were completely in his power; and a loser {71}
in any quarrel when he was met with blustering comparable to his own.
In support of the last indictment let us take his conduct in a conflict
with the authorities at Rensselaerswyck. In 1646 Stuyvesant had
ordered that no building should be erected within cannon-shot of Fort
Orange. The superintendent of the settlement denied Stuyvesant's right
to give such an order and pointed to the fact that his trading-house
had been for a long time on the border of the fort. To the claim that
a clear space was necessary to the fort's efficiency, Van
Slichtenhorst, Van Rensselaer's agent, replied that he had spent more
than six months in the colony and had never seen a single person
carrying a sword, musket, or pike, nor had he heard a drum-beat except
on the occasion of a visit from the Director and his soldiers in the
summer. Stuyvesant rejoined by sending soldiers and sailors to tear
down the house which Van Slichtenhorst was building near Fort Orange,
and the commissary was ordered to arrest the builder if he resisted;
but the commissary wrote that it would be impossible to carry out the
order, as the settlers at Rensselaerswyck, reënforced by the Indians,
outnumbered his troops. Stuyvesant then recalled his soldiers and
ordered Van {72} Slichtenhorst to appear before him, which the agent
refused to do.
In 1652 Stuyvesant ordered Dyckman, then in command at Fort Orange, not
to allow any one to build a house near the fort or to remain in any
house already built. In spite of proclamations and other bluster this
order proved fruitless and on April 1, 1653, Stuyvesant came in person
to Fort Orange and sent a sergeant to lower the patroon's flag. The
agent refusing to strike the patroon's colors, the soldiers entered,
lowered the flag, and discharged their guns. Stuyvesant declared that
the region staked out by posts should be known as Beverwyck and
instituted a court there. Van Slichtenhorst tore down the
proclamation, whereupon Stuyvesant ordered him to be imprisoned in the
fort. Later the Director transported the agent under guard to New
Amsterdam.
Stuyvesant's arbitrary character also appears in his overriding of the
measure of local self-government decreed by the States-General in 1653.
Van der Donck and his fellows had asked three things of their High
Mightinesses, the States-General: first, that they take over the
government of New Netherland; second, that they establish a better city
government in New Amsterdam; and third, {73} that they clearly define
the boundaries of New Netherland. The first of these requests, owing
to the deeply intrenched interest of the West India Company, could not
be granted, the last still less. But the States-General urged that
municipal rights should be given to New Amsterdam, and in 1652 the
Company yielded. The charter limited the number of _schepens_ or
aldermen to five and the number of burgomasters to two, and also
ordained that they as well as the _schout_ should be elected by the
citizens; but Stuyvesant ignored this provision and proceeded to
appoint men of his own choosing. The Stone Tavern built by Kieft at
the head of Coenties Slip was set apart as a _Stadt-Huys_, or City
Hall, and here Stuyvesant's appointees, supposed to represent the
popular will, held their meetings. It was something that they did hold
meetings and nominally at least in the interest of the people. Another
concession followed. In 1658 Stuyvesant yielded so far to the
principles of popular government as to concede to the _schepens_ and
burgomasters of New Amsterdam the right to nominate double the number
of candidates for office, from whom the Director was to make a choice.
In 1655, during the absence of Stuyvesant on the South River, the
Indians around Manhattan {74} appeared with a fleet of sixty-four war
canoes, attacked and looted New Amsterdam, then crossed to Hoboken and
continued their bloody work in Pavonia and on Staten Island. In three
days a hundred men, women, and children were slain, and a hundred and
fifty-two were taken captive, and the damage to property was estimated
at two hundred thousand guilders--approximately eighty thousand
dollars. As usual the Dutch had been the aggressors, for Van Dyck,
formerly _schout fiscaal_, had shot and killed an old Indian woman who
was picking peaches in his orchard.
It must be set down to Stuyvesant's credit that on his return he acted
toward the Indians in a manner that was kind and conciliating, and at
the same time provided against a repetition of the recent disaster by
erecting blockhouses at various points and by concentrating the
settlers for mutual defense. By this policy of mingled diplomacy and
preparation against attack Stuyvesant preserved peace for a period of
three years. But trouble with the Indians continued to disturb the
colonies on the river and centered at Esopus, where slaughters of both
white and red men occurred. Eight white men were burned at the stake
in revenge for shots fired by Dutch soldiers, and an Indian chief was
{75} killed with his own tomahawk. In 1660 a treaty of peace was
framed; but three years later we find the two races again embroiled.
Thus Indian wars continued down to the close of Dutch rule.
In spite of these troubles in the more outlying districts, New
Amsterdam continued to grow and thrive. In Stuyvesant's time the
thoroughfares of New Amsterdam were laid out as streets and were named.
The line of houses facing the fort on the eastern side was called the
Marckveldt, or Marketfield, taking its name from the green opposite,
which had been the site of the city market. De Heere Straat, the
principal street, ran north from the fort through the gate at the city
wall. De Hoogh Straat ran parallel with the East River from the city
bridge to the water gate and on its line stood the _Stadt-Huys_. 'T
Water ran in a semi-circular line from the point of the island and was
bordered by the East River. De Brouwer Straat took its name from the
breweries situated on it and was probably the first street in the town
to be regulated and paved. De Brugh Straat, as the name implies, led
to the bridge crossing. De Heere Graft, the principal canal, was a
creek running deep into the island from the East River and protected
{76} by a siding of boards. An official was appointed for the care of
this canal with orders to see "that the newly made _graft_ was kept in
order, that no filth was cast into it, and that the boats, canoes, and
other vessels were laid in order."
The new city was by this time thoroughly cosmopolitan. One traveler
speaks of the use of eighteen different languages, and the forms of
faith were as varied as the tongues spoken. Seven or eight large ships
came every year from Amsterdam. The Director occupied a fine house on
the point of the island. On the east side of the town stood the
_Stadt-Huys_ protected by a half-moon of stone mounted with three small
brass cannon. In the fort stood the Governor's house, the church, the
barracks, the house for munitions, and the long-armed windmills.
Everything was prospering except the foundation on which all depended.
There was no adequate defense for all this property. Here we must
acquit Stuyvesant from responsibility, since again and again he had
warned the Company against the weakness of the colony; but they would
not heed the warnings, and the consequences which might have been
averted suddenly overtook the Dutch possessions.
The war which broke out in 1652 between {77} England and the
Netherlands, once leagued against Catholic Spain but now parted by
commercial rivalries, found an immediate echo on the shores of the
Hudson. With feverish haste the inhabitants of New Amsterdam began to
fortify. Across the island at the northern limit of the town, on the
line of what is now Wall Street, they built a wall with stout palisades
backed by earthworks. They hastily repaired the fort, organized the
citizens as far as possible to resist attack, and also strengthened
Fort Orange. The New England Colonies likewise began warlike
preparations; but, perhaps owing to the prudence of Stuyvesant in
accepting the Treaty of Hartford, peace between the Dutch and English
in the New World continued for the present, though on precarious terms;
and, the immediate threat of danger being removed by the treaty between
England and Holland in 1654, the New Netherlander relaxed their
vigilance and curtailed the expense of fortifications.
Meanwhile Stuyvesant had alienated popular sympathy and lessened united
support by his treatment of a convention of delegates from New
Amsterdam, Flushing, Breuckelen, Hempstead, Amersfort, Middleburgh,
Flatbush, and Gravesend who had gathered to consider the defense and
{78} welfare of the colonies. The English of the Long Island towns
were the prime movers in this significant gathering. There is an
unmistakable English flavor in the contention of _The Humble
Remonstrance_ adopted by the Convention, that "'tis contrary to the
first intentions and genuine principles of every well regulated
government, that one or more men should arrogate to themselves the
exclusive power to dispose, at will, of the life and property of any
individual." As a people "not conquered or subjugated, but settled
here on a mutual covenant and contract entered into with the Lord
Patroons, with the consent of the Natives," they protested against the
enactment of laws and the appointment of magistrates without their
consent or that of their representatives.
Stuyvesant replied with his usual bigotry and in a rage at being
contradicted. He asserted that there was little wisdom to be expected
from popular election when naturally "each would vote for one of his
own stamp, the thief for a thief, the rogue, the tippler and the
smuggler for his brother in iniquity, so that he may enjoy more
latitude in vice and fraud." Finally Stuyvesant ordered the delegates
to disperse, declaring: "We derive our authority from God and the
Company, not from a {79} few ignorant subjects, and we alone can call
the inhabitants together."
With popular support thus alienated and with appeals for financial and
military aid from the States-General and the West India Company denied
or ignored, the end of New Netherland was clearly in sight. In 1663
Stuyvesant wrote to the Company begging them to send him
reënforcements. "Otherwise," he said, "it is wholly out of our power
to keep the sinking ship afloat any longer."
This year was full of omens. The valley of the Hudson was shaken by an
earthquake followed by an overflow of the river, which ruined the
crops. Smallpox visited the colony, and on top of all these calamities
came the appalling Indian massacre at Esopus. The following year,
1664, brought the arrival of the English fleet, the declaration of war,
and the surrender of the Dutch Province. For many years the English
had protested against the Dutch claims to the territory on the North
and South rivers. Their navigators had tried to contest the trade in
furs, and their Government at home had interfered with vessels sailing
to and from New Amsterdam. Now at length Charles II was ready to
appropriate the Dutch possessions. He did not {80} trouble himself
with questions of international law, still less with international
ethics; but, armed with the flimsy pretense that Cabot's visit
established England's claim to the territory, he stealthily made
preparations to seize the defenseless colony on the river which had
begun to be known as the Hudson. Five hundred veteran troops were
embarked on four ships, under command of Colonel Richard Nicolls, and
sailed on their expedition of conquest. Stuyvesant's suspicions,
aroused by rumors of invasion, were so far lulled by dispatches from
Holland that he allowed several ships at New Amsterdam to sail for
Curaçao ladened with provisions, while he himself journeyed to
Rensselaerswyck to quell an Indian outbreak. While he was occupied in
this task, a messenger arrived to inform him that the English fleet was
hourly expected in the harbor of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant made haste
down the river; but on the day after he arrived at Manhattan Island, he
saw ships flying the flag of England in the lower harbor, where they
anchored below the Narrows. Colonel Nicolls demanded the surrender of
the "towns situate on the island commonly known by the name of
Manhattoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging."
{81}
Although the case of New Amsterdam was now hopeless, Stuyvesant yet
strove for delay. He sent a deputation to Nicolls to carry on a
parley; but Nicolls was firm. "When may we visit you again?" the
deputation asked. Nicolls replied with grim humor that he would speak
with them at Manhattan. "Friends are welcome there," answered
Stuyvesant's representative diplomatically; but Nicolls told them
bluntly that he was coming with ships and soldiers. "Hoist a white
flag at the fort," he said, "and I may consider your proposals."
Colonel Nicolls was as good as his word and, to the consternation of
the dwellers in New Amsterdam, the fleet of English frigates, under
full sail and with all guns loaded, appeared before the walls of the
useless old Fort Amsterdam. Stuyvesant stood on one of the angles of
the fort and the gunners with lighted matches awaited his command to
fire. The people entreated him to yield. "Resistance is not
soldiership," said one of them. "It is sheer madness." Stuyvesant,
who with all his faults was a brave soldier, felt to the quick the
humiliation; but he saw also that resistance meant only useless
bloodshed. At last he submitted, and the English vessels sailed on
their way unmolested, {82} while Stuyvesant groaned, "I would much
rather be carried to my grave."
Without firing a shot the English thus took possession of the rich
country which the States-General had not thought worth defending, and
New Netherland became New York.
[1] Van Twiller's advocate, W. E. Griffis, quotes the Nijkerk records
in proof that Van Twiller was born on May 22, 1606, which would fix his
age at twenty-seven when he was sent out to the colony. The editor of
the Van Rensselaer-Bowier manuscript states that Kiliaen Van Rensselaer
was born in 1580, that his sister, Maria, married Richard, or Ryckaert,
Van Twiller and that the Wouter of our chronicles was their son and
therefore Van Rensselaer's nephew. We are the more inclined to accept
the year 1606 as the true date of Van Twiller's birth because the year
1580, previously accepted by historians, would have been the same as
that of the birth of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer himself, and because,
according to the author of the _Story of New Netherland_, Maria Van
Rensselaer was betrothed in 1605. Otherwise we should find it almost
beyond credence that a youth of twenty-seven should have been so
suddenly promoted from the counting-house at Amsterdam to the
responsible post of Director of New Netherland.
{83}
CHAPTER V
DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS
Because the Netherlander were not, like the New Englanders, fugitives
from persecution at the hands of their fellow-countrymen, the Dutch
colonization in America is often spoken of as a purely commercial
venture; but in reality the founding of New Netherland marked a
momentous epoch in the struggle for the freedom of conscience.
Established between the long contest with the Inquisition in Spain and
the Thirty Years' War for religious liberty in Germany, this plantation
along the Hudson offered protection in America to those rights of free
conscience for which so much blood had been shed and so much treasure
spent in Europe.
The Dutch colonists were deeply religious, with no more bigotry than
was inseparable from the ideas of the seventeenth century. They were
determined to uphold the right to worship God in {84} their own way;
and to say that their own way of worship was as dear to them as their
beliefs is not strikingly to differentiate them from the rest of
mankind. They brought with them from the home country a tenacious
reverence for their fathers' method of worship and for the Calvinistic
polity of the Dutch Reformed Church. They looked with awe upon the
_synod_, the final tribunal in Holland for ecclesiastical disputes.
They regarded with respect the _classis_, composed of ministers and
elders in a certain district; but their hearts went out in a special
affection to the _consistory_, which was made up of the ministers and
elders of the single local _kerk_. This at least they could reproduce
in the crude conditions under which they labored, and it seemed a link
with the home which they had left so far behind them.
They had no intention, however, of forcing this church discipline on
those who could not conscientiously accept it. The devout wish of
William the Silent that all his countrymen might dwell together in
amity regardless of religious differences was fulfilled among the early
settlers in New Netherland. Their reputation for tolerance was spread
abroad early in the history of the colony, and Huguenots, Lutherans,
Presbyterians, {85} Moravians, and Anabaptists lived unmolested in New
Netherland till the coming of Director Peter Stuyvesant in 1647.
The religious tyranny which marked Stuyvesant's rule must be set down
to his personal discredit, for almost every instance of persecution was
met by protest from the settlers themselves, including his
coreligionists. He deported to Holland a Lutheran preacher; he revived
and enforced a dormant rule of the West India Company which forbade the
establishment of any church other than the Dutch Reformed; and he
imprisoned parents who refused to have their children baptized in that
faith. But it was in his dealings with the Quakers that his bigotry
showed itself in its most despotic form. Robert Hodgson, a young
Quaker, was arrested in Hempstead, Long Island, and was brought to New
Amsterdam. After he had been kept in prison for several days, the
magistrate condemned him either to pay a fine of a hundred guilders or
to work with a wheelbarrow for two years in company with negroes. He
declined to do either. After two or three days he was whipped on his
bare back and warned that the punishment would be repeated if he
persisted in his obstinacy. This treatment is recorded by the {86}
Domines Megapolensis and Drisius in a letter to the _classis_ of
Amsterdam, not only without protest but with every sign of approbation.
Yet in the end public opinion made itself felt and Mrs. Bayard,
Stuyvesant's sister (or sister-in-law, as some authorities say)
procured the release of his victim.
In another case, a resident of Flushing ventured to hold Quaker
meetings at his home. He was sentenced to pay a fine or submit to be
flogged and banished; but the town officers refused to carry out the
decree. A letter, signed by a number of prominent townsfolk of
Flushing, declared that the law of love, peace, and liberty was the
true glory of Holland, that they desired not to offend one of Christ's
little ones under whatever name he appeared, whether Presbyterian,
Independent, Baptist, or Quaker. "Should any of these people come in
love among us therefore," said they, "we cannot in conscience lay
violent hands upon them." This letter immediately brought down upon
the writers the despotic rage of Stuyvesant. The sheriff of Flushing
was cashiered and fined; the town clerk was imprisoned; and penalties
of varying degree were imposed on all the signers.
When accounts of Stuyvesant's proceedings {87} reached Amsterdam,
however, he received from the Chamber a letter of stinging rebuke,
informing him that "the consciences of men ought to be free and
unshackled, so long as they continue moderate, inoffensive, and not
hostile to government." The Chamber, after reminding the Director that
toleration in old Amsterdam had brought the oppressed and persecuted of
all countries to that city as to an asylum, recommended Stuyvesant to
follow in the same course. Herewith ended the brief period of
religious persecution in New Netherland.
The amiable Domine Megapolensis who acquiesced in these persecutions
came over to the colony of Rensselaerswyck in 1642 in the service of
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. He was to have a salary of forty guilders per
month and a fit dwelling that was to be provided for him. So the
"Reverend, Pious, and learned Dr. Johannes Megapolensis, junior," set
sail for America "to proclaim Christ to Christians and heathens in such
distant lands." His name, by the way, like that of Erasmus,
Melanchthon, Æcolampadius, Dryander, and other worthies of the
Reformation, was a classical form of the homely Dutch patronymic to
which he had been born.
Apparently the Reverend Johannes was more {88} successful in his
mission to the heathen than in that to the Christians, for he learned
the Mohawk language, wrote a valuable account of the tribe, and
understood them better than he understood the Lutherans and Quakers of
New Amsterdam and Long Island. In 1664 when Stuyvesant was in the mood
to fire on the British fleet and take the consequences, Megapolensis,
so tradition runs, dissuaded him with the argument: "Of what avail are
our poor guns against that broadside of more than sixty? It is wrong
to shed innocent blood." One wonders if the _domine_ had any room in
his mind for thoughts of the useless sufferings which had been
inflicted on Hodgson and Townsend and the Lutheran preachers while he
stood by consenting.
When Megapolensis arrived at New Netherland he found the Reverend
Everardus Bogardus already installed as minister of the Gospel at Fort
Amsterdam, his predecessor Michaelius having returned to Holland. From
the beginning Bogardus proved a thorn in the side of the Government.
He came to blows with Van Twiller and wrote a letter to the Director in
which he called him a child of the Devil, a villain whose bucks were
better than he, to whom he should give such a {89} shake from the
pulpit the following Sabbath as would make him shudder.
The difficulties which Bogardus had with Van Twiller, however, were as
the breath of May zephyrs compared to his stormy quarrels with Kieft.
This Director had taken Bogardus to task for having gone into the
pulpit intoxicated, and had also accused him of defending the greatest
criminals in the country and of writing in their defense. The fighting
parson promptly countered on this attack. "What," he asked from the
pulpit, "are the great men of the country but receptacles of wrath,
fountains of woe and trouble? Nothing is thought of but to plunder
other people's property--to dismiss--to banish--to transport to
Holland." Kieft, realizing that he had raised up a fighter more
unsparing than himself and, unable to endure these harangues from the
pulpit, ceased to attend the _kerk_; but the warlike _domine_ continued
to belabor him till Kieft prepared an indictment, beginning: "Whereas
your conduct stirs the people to mutiny and rebellion when they are
already too much divided, causes schisms and abuses in the church, and
makes us a scorn and a laughing stock to our neighbors, all which
cannot be tolerated in a country where justice is {90} maintained,
therefore our sacred duty imperatively requires us to prosecute you in
a court of justice." The quarrel was never fought to a finish but was
allowed to die out, and the episode ended without credit to either
party.
Like everything else in the colony of New Netherland, the original
meeting-places for worship were of the simplest type. Domine
Megapolensis held services in his own house, and Bogardus conducted
worship in the upper part of the horse-mill at Fort Amsterdam, where
before his arrival Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck had read from
the Scriptures on Sunday. These men had been appointed
_ziekentroosters_ or _krankenbesoeckers_ (_i.e._, consolers of the
sick), whose business it was, in addition to their consolatory
functions, to hold Sunday services in the absence of a regularly
ordained clergyman. In time these rude gathering-places gave way to
buildings of wood or stone, modeled, as one would expect, on similar
buildings in the old country, with a pulpit built high above the
congregation, perhaps with intent to emphasize the authority of the
church.
The clerk, or _voorleser_, standing in the baptistery below the pulpit,
opened the services by reading from the Bible and leading in the
singing of {91} a psalm. The _domine_, who had stood in silent prayer
during the psalm, afterward entered the pulpit, and then laid out his
text and its connection with the sermon to follow--a part of the
service known as the _exordium remotum_. During this address the
deacons stood facing the pulpit, alms-bag in hand. The deacons
collected the contribution by thrusting in front of each row of seats
the _kerk sacjes_ of cloth or velvet suspended from the end of a long
pole. Sometimes a bell hung at the bottom of the bag to call the
attention of the slothful or the niggardly to the contribution, and
while the bags were passed the _domine_ was wont to dwell upon the
necessities of the poor and to invoke blessings upon those who gave
liberally to their support. When the sermon commenced, the
_voorsinger_ turned the hour-glass which marked the length of the
discourse. The sermon ended, the _voorleser_ rose and, with the aid of
a long rod cleft in the end, handed to the _domine_ in the pulpit the
requests for prayers or thanksgiving offered by members of the
congregation. When these had been read aloud, another psalm was sung
and the people then filed out in an orderly procession.
The principle of competitive giving for the church was evidently well
understood in New {92} Amsterdam. De Vries has left us an account of a
conversation held in 1642 between himself and Kieft in which he told
the Director that there was great need of a church, that it was a
scandal when the English came that they should see only a mean barn for
public worship, that the first thing built in New England after the
dwellings was a church, and that there was the less excuse for the
Dutch as they had fine wood, good stone, and lime made from oyster
shells, close at hand. The Director admitted the justice of the plea
but asked who would undertake the work. "Those who love the Reformed
Religion," De Vries answered. Kieft replied adroitly that De Vries
must be one of them, as he had proposed the plan, and that he should
give a hundred guilders. De Vries craftily observed that Kieft as
commander must be the first giver. Kieft bethought himself that he
could use several thousand guilders from the Company's funds. Not only
was he as good as his word, but later he contrived to extort private
subscriptions on the occasion of the marriage of Bogardus's
step-daughter. As usual when the _domine_ was present, the wine flowed
freely. "The Director thought this a good time for his purpose, and
set to work after the fourth or fifth drink; and he himself {93}
setting a liberal example, let the wedding-guests sign whatever they
were disposed to give towards the church. Each, then, with a light
head, subscribed away at a handsome rate, one competing with the other;
and although some heartily repented it when their senses came back,
they were obliged nevertheless to pay."
In view of this story it was perhaps a fine irony which inspired the
inscription placed on the church when it was finished: "Ao. Do.
MDCXLII. W. Kieft Dr. Gr. _Heeft de Gemeente desen Tempel doen
Bouwen_," _i.e._, "William Kieft, the Director-General, has caused the
congregation to build this church." The correct interpretation,
however, probably read: "William Kieft being Director-General, the
congregation has caused this church to be built."[1]
Evidently religion prospered better than education in the colony, for
the same lively witness who reports the Bogardus affair and the
generosity stimulated by the flowing wine says also: "The bowl has been
passed around a long time for a common school which has been built with
words, for as yet the first stone is not laid; some materials only have
been provided. However the money {94} given for the purpose has all
disappeared and is mostly spent, so that it falls somewhat short; and
nothing permanent has as yet been effected for this purpose."
The first schoolmaster sent to New Netherland arrived in 1633 at the
same time as Bogardus, and represented the cause of education even less
creditably than did the bibulous _domine_ that of religion. Adam
Roelantsen was twenty-seven years old when he took up his duties as
instructor of youth in the colony, and he was as precious a scoundrel
as ever was set to teach the young. He eked out his slender income in
the early days by taking in washing or by establishing a bleachery,
which must be noted as one of the most creditable items in his
scandalous career. He was constantly before the local courts of New
Amsterdam, sometimes as plaintiff, sometimes as defendant, and finally
he appeared as a malefactor charged with so grave an offense that the
court declared that, as such deeds could not be tolerated, "therefore
we condemn the said Roelantsen to be brought to the place of execution
and there flogged and banished forever out of this country."
Apparently, on the plea of having four motherless children, he escaped
the infliction of punishment and continued alternately {95} to amuse
and to outrage the respectable burghers of New Amsterdam. He was
succeeded in order by Jan Stevensen, Jan Cornelissen, William Verstius,
sometimes written Vestens, Johannes Morice de la Montagne, Harmanus Van
Hoboocken, and Evert Pietersen. In addition to these there were two
teachers of a Latin school and several unofficial instructors.
The duties of these early teachers were by no means light, especially
in proportion to their scanty wage. We learn in one case that school
began at eight in the morning and lasted until eleven, when there was a
two-hour recess, after which it began again at one and closed at four
o'clock. It was the duty of the teacher to instruct the children in
the catechism and common prayer. The teacher was ordered to appear at
the church on Wednesdays with the children entrusted to his care, to
examine his scholars "in the presence of the Reverend Ministers and
Elders who may be present, what they in the course of the week, do
remember of the Christian commands and catechism, and what progress
they have made; after which the children shall be allowed a decent
recreation."
Besides his duties as instructor, the official schoolmaster was pledged
"to promote religious {96} worship, to read a portion of the word of
God to the people, to endeavor, as much as possible to bring them up in
the ways of the Lord, to console them in their sickness, and to conduct
himself with all diligence and fidelity in his calling, so as to give
others a good example as becometh a devout, pious and worthy consoler
of the sick, church-clerk, Precenter and School master."
Throughout the history of New Netherland we find the church and school
closely knit together. Frequently the same building served for secular
instruction on week-days and for religious service on Sundays. In a
letter written by Van Curler to his patroon, he says: "As for the
Church it is not yet contracted for, nor even begun.... That which I
intend to build this summer in the pine grove (or green wood) will be
thirty-four feet long by nineteen wide. It will be large enough for
the first three or four years to preach in and can afterwards always
serve for the residence of the sexton or for a school."
How small were the assemblies of the faithful in the early days we may
gather from a letter of Michaelius, the first _domine_ of the colony,
incidentally also one of the most lovable and spiritually minded of
these men. In his account of the {97} condition of the church at
Manhattan he observes that at the first communion fifty were present.
The number of Walloons and French-speaking settlers was so small that
the _domine_ did not think it worth while to hold a special service for
them, but once in four months he contented himself with administering
the communion and preaching a sermon in French. This discourse he
found it necessary to commit to writing, as he could not trust himself
to speak extemporaneously in that language. There is something
beautiful and pathetic in the picture of this little group of half a
hundred settlers in the wilderness, gathered in the upper room of the
grist-mill, surrounded by the sacks of grain, and drinking from the
_avondmaalsbeker_, or communion cup, while the rafters echoed to the
solemn sounds of the liturgy which had been familiar in their old homes
across the sea.
There is the true ring of a devout and simple piety in all the
utterances of the settlers on the subject of their church. The
pioneers were ready to spend and be spent in its service and they gave
freely out of their scanty resources for its support. In the matter of
education their enthusiasm, as we have seen, was far less glowing, and
the reasons for this coolness are a subject for curious {98}
consideration. The Dutch in Europe were a highly cultivated people,
devoted to learning and reverencing the printed book. Why then were
their countrymen in the New World willing to leave the education of
their children in the hands of inferior teachers and to delay so long
the building of suitable schoolhouses?
We must remember that the colonists in the early days were drawn from a
very simple class. Their church was important to them as a social
center as well as a spiritual guide. For this church they were willing
to make any sacrifice; but that done, they must pause and consider the
needs of their daily life. Children old enough to attend school were
old enough to lend a helping hand on the _bouwerie_, in the dairy, or
by the side of the cradle. Money if plentiful might well be spent on
salaries and schoolhouses; but if scarce, it must be saved for bread
and butter, clothing, warmth, and shelter. In short, reading, writing,
and figuring could wait; but souls must be saved first; and after that
eating and drinking were matters of pressing urgency. Fortunately,
however, not all education is bound up in books, and, in the making of
sturdy and efficient colonists, the rude training of hardships and
privation when combined with a {99} first-hand knowledge of nature and
of the essential industries provided a fair substitute for learning.
On the other side of the picture we must consider what type of men
would naturally be drawn to cross the sea and settle in the new colony
as schoolmasters. Many of the clergymen came urged by the same zeal
for the conversion of the savages which fired John Eliot in New England
and the Jesuit Fathers in the Canadian missions. For the schoolmasters
there was not this incentive, and they naturally looked upon the
question of emigration as a business enterprise or a chance of
professional advancement. As a first consideration they must have
realized that they were leaving a country where education and educators
were held in high respect. "There was hardly a Netherlander," says
Motley, "man, woman or child, that could not read and write. The
school was the common property of the people, paid for among the
municipal expenses in the cities as well as in the rural districts.
There were not only common schools but classical schools. In the
burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not been taught Latin
or girls unacquainted with French." From this atmosphere of scholastic
enthusiasm, from the opportunities of the libraries {100} and contact
with the universities, the pedagogue was invited to turn to a rude
settlement in the primeval forest, where the Bible, the catechism, and
the concordance formed the greater part of the literary wealth at his
disposal, and to take up the multiple duties of sexton, bell-ringer,
precentor, schoolmaster, consoler of the sick, and general understudy
for the _domine_. In return for this he was to receive scanty wages in
either cash or public esteem.
What hardships were experienced by these early schoolmasters in New
Netherland we may understand by reading the _Reverential Request_
written by Harmanus Van Hoboocken to the burgomasters and _schepens_
that he may be allowed the use of the hall and side-chamber of the
_Stadt-Huys_ to accommodate his school and as a residence for his
family, as he has no place to keep school in or to live in during the
winter, for it is necessary that the rooms should be made warm, and
that cannot be done in his own house. The burgomasters and _schepens_
replied that "whereas the room which petitioner asks for his use as a
dwelling and schoolroom is out of repair and moreover is wanted for
other uses it cannot be allowed to him. But as the town youth are
doing so uncommon well now, it is thought {101} proper to find a
convenient place for their accommodation and for that purpose
petitioner is granted one hundred guilders yearly."
Can we wonder that New Netherland did not secure a particularly learned
and distinguished type of pedagogue in the early days? In 1658 the
burgomasters and _schepens_ of New Amsterdam with a view to founding an
academy petitioned the West India Company for a teacher of Latin, and
Alexander Carolus Curtius was sent over to be the classical teacher in
the new academy; but he was so disheartened by the smallness of his
salary and by the roughness of the youthful burghers that he shortly
returned to Holland, and his place was taken by Ægidius Luyck, who,
though only twenty-two years old, established such discipline and
taught so well that the reputation of the academy spread far and wide,
and Dutch boys were no longer sent to New England to learn their
classics.
[1] Brodhead, _History of the State of New York_, vol. 1, p. 337 (note).
{102}
CHAPTER VI
THE BURGHERS
In the earliest days of New Netherland there were no burgers because,
as the name implies, burghers are town-dwellers, and for a number of
years after the coming of the Dutch nothing worthy to be called a town
existed in the colony. In the middle of the seventeenth century a
traveler wrote from New Netherland that there were only three towns on
the Hudson--Fort Orange, Rondout, and New Amsterdam--and that the rest
were mere villages or settlements.
These centers were at first trading-posts, and it is as idle to judge
of the manners, customs, and dress prevailing in them by those of
Holland at the same epoch, as to judge San Francisco in the mining days
of 1849 by Boston and New York at the same date. These early traders
and settlers brought with them the character and traditions of home;
but their way of life was perforce modified by the {103} crude
conditions into which they plunged. The picturesque farmhouses of Long
Island and the crow-gables of New Amsterdam were not built in a day.
Savages must be subdued and land cleared and planted before the
evolution of the dwelling could fairly begin. Primitive community life
lingered long even on Manhattan Island. As late as 1649 the farmers
petitioned for a free pasturage between their plantation of Schepmoes
and the fence of the Great Bowerie Number One. The City Hall Park
region bounded by Broadway, Nassau, Ann, and Chambers Streets continued
very late to be recognized as village commons where the cattle were
pastured. The cowherd drove the cows afield and home again at
milking-time, and it was his business to sound his horn at every gate
announcing the safe return of the cows. Correspondingly in the morning
the harsh summons called the cattle from every yard to join the
procession toward the meadows.
When Tienhoven, Stuyvesant's secretary, sent out information for the
benefit of those planning to take up land in New Netherland, he
suggested that those who had not means to build at first might shelter
themselves by digging a pit six or seven feet deep as large as needed,
covering the {104} floor and walls with timber and placing over it a
roof of spars covered with bark or green sods. Even with this rude
housing he suggests planting at once a garden with all sorts of
pot-herbs and maize, or Indian corn, which might serve as food for man
and beast alike. Naturally these pioneer conditions of living lasted
longer in the farming region than at New Amsterdam, where as early as
1640 we see simple but comfortable little houses clustered in the
shelter of the fort, and gathered close about the stone tavern, the
West India Company's stores, and the Church of St. Nicholas. The
gallows and pillory, in full view, seemed to serve notice that law and
order had asserted themselves and that settlers might safely solidify
their houses and holdings.
In 1648 the building of wooden chimneys was forbidden, and roofs of
reed were replaced with more solid and less inflammable material. The
constant threat of fire led to drastic regulations for the cleaning of
chimneys. It was ordered that "if anyone prove negligent he shall,
whenever the Firewardens find the chimneys foul, forthwith without any
contradiction, pay them a fine of three guilders for every flue found
on examination to be dirty, to be expended for fire ladders, hooks and
{105} buckets, which shall be procured and provided at the earliest and
most convenient opportunity."
The early settlers found much difficulty in enforcing public
sanitation, for, in spite of the world-wide reputation of the Dutch for
indoor cleanliness, we find the burghers in 1658 bitterly reproached
for throwing their rubbish, filth, dead animals, and the like into the
streets "to the great inconvenience of the community and dangers
arising from it." The burgomasters and _schepens_ ordained that all
such refuse be brought to dumping-grounds near the City Hall and the
gallows or to other designated places. Failure to observe this rule
was punishable by fines or severer penalties.
As prosperity increased, all conditions of living improved. Many ships
from Holland brought loads of brick and tiles as ballast, and the
houses began to assume the typical Dutch aspect. They were still built
chiefly of wood, but with a gable end of brick facing the street. The
steep roofs seldom had eave-troughs, at least in the early days, and
mention is made in deeds of "free-drip."
The house was supplied, as the chronicler tells us, with "an abundance
of large doors and small windows on every floor, the date of its
erection was curiously designated by iron figures on the front, {106}
and on the top of the roof was perched a fierce little weather-cock to
let the family into the important secret which way the wind blew." The
front doors were usually divided, as in the old houses in Holland, into
an upper and lower half hung on heavy hinges. The door opened with a
latch, and bore a brass knocker wrought frequently in the device of an
animal's head.
Only on formal occasions was this door thrown open or the fore-room to
which it gave access used, for the life of the family, as in all
primitive communities, was centered in the kitchen. Here in winter
roared the great fires up the wide-throated chimneys. Here children
and negro servants gathered in groups and told stories of the old home
and the new. Here the women knit their stockings and here the burghers
smoked when the day's work was done. But the fore-room, or _voorhuis_,
though seldom occupied, was dear to the soul of the vrouw of New
Netherland. Here stood all the treasures too valuable or too fragile
for daily use: the least, or chest, stored with household linen, the
cabinet filled with Delft plates from Holland, and generally the carved
four-poster covered with feather beds of prime goose-feathers and hung
with gay chintz.
{107}
A shrewd observer has said that luxury implies waste while comfort
lives in thrift. We are safe in assuming that comfort rather than
luxury prevailed in New Netherland and that the highly colored pictures
of elegant life on the shores of the Hudson represent a very late
phase, when the Dutch influence still prevailed under English
protection. The earlier settlers were a far simpler people, whose
floors were scrubbed and sanded instead of carpeted, who used
hour-glasses instead of clocks, and who set their four-poster beds in
the rooms where visitors were formally received.
It was of course the "great burghers" who set the social as well as the
official tone in New Amsterdam.[1] It was they who owned the finest
houses, {108} who imported tables and chests of ebony inlaid with
ivory. It was they whose wives were bravely fitted out with
petticoats, over which an upper garment was looped to display the
velvet, cloth, silk, or satin which marked the social position and
material wealth of the wearer. The burgher himself went clad,
according to his wealth, in cloaks of cloth or velvet, embroidered or
silk-lined; but he always wore wide boots and wide breeches and a coat
adorned with an abundance of buttons, the whole topped by a
broad-brimmed hat adorned with buckles and feathers and seldom removed
in the house. The dress of the farmers was simpler than that of the
town-dwellers or burghers. It consisted generally of wide breeches, a
_hemdrok_ or shirt-coat made of wool or cotton, an overfrock called a
_paltsrok_, a low flat collar, the usual wide-brimmed hat, and shoes of
leather on Sundays, and of wood on week-days for work on the
_bouwerie_. The children of burghers and farmers alike were clad in
miniature copies of the garb of their elders, doubtless in many cases
wearing the same garments {109} made over by removing the outworn
portions. It was a question of warmth rather than fashion which
confronted the settlers and their children.
To those of us who believe that the state exists for the protection of
the home and the home for the protection of the child, it is neither
futile nor frivolous to consider at some length what life had to offer
to the small colonists. Little Sarah Rapaelje, "the first-born
Christian daughter in New Netherland," was soon surrounded by a circle
of boys and girls. Cornelis Maasen and his wife came over in 1631, and
their first child was born on the voyage. Following this little
Hendrick came Martin, Maas, Steyntje, and Tobias. We have already
noted the two little motherless daughters of Domine Michaelius who were
so hard put to it for a nurse. A little later came Domine Megapolensis
with his children Hellegond, Dirrick, Jan, and Samuel, running from
eight to fourteen years in age. The patroon had directed that they be
furnished with clothing "in such small and compact parcels as can be
properly stowed away on the ship."
With the era of permanent settlers in New Netherland, cradles came to
be in demand. In the region of New Amsterdam the familiar hooded
variety was brought from Holland, while farther {110} up the river and
especially among the poorer folk birch bark was fashioned into a
sleeping-place for the babies. For the older children trundle-beds
fitting under the big four-posters of the elders and rolled out at
night were much in use, since the difficulty of heating made economy of
bedroom-space a necessity. This _treke-bed_ and its protecting
four-poster, however, probably came later than the built-in
_sloep-bank_, little more than a bunk in the side of the wall concealed
by a curtain and softened by thick feather-beds.
However rude the sleeping-place of the babies, the old home lullabies
soothed them to slumber. Dearest and most familiar was the following:
Trip a trop a tronjes,
De varken in de boonjes,
De koejes in de klaver,
De paaden in de haver,
De eenjes in de water plas,
De kalver in de lang gras,
So goed myn klein poppetje was.
Thus to pictures of pigs in the bean patch and cows in the clover,
ducks in the water and calves in the meadow, the little ones fell
peacefully to sleep, oblivious of the wild beasts and wilder men
lurking in the primeval forests around the little {111} clearing where
the pioneers were making a home for themselves and their children.
When the babies' eyelids unclosed in the morning they opened on a busy
scene, for whatever anxious vigils the father and mother might have
kept through the night, toil began with the dawn. The boys were set to
gathering firewood and drawing water, while the _goede vrouw_ was
busily preparing a substantial morning meal of suppawn and sausage
before her husband began the day's work of loading beaver-skins or
tilling the ground or hewing timber. A pioneer life means hard work
for children as well as for their elders, and in the early years there
was little time for play on the part of the youthful New Netherlander.
As prosperity advanced and as negro servants were introduced, the
privileges of childhood were extended and we find accounts of their
sliding on their _slees_ or sleds down the hills of Fort Orange and
skating at New Amsterdam on the Collect Pond, which took its name from
the Dutch _kalk_, or lime, and was so called from the heaps of
oyster-shells accumulated by the Indians. The skates were of the type
used in Holland, very long with curves at the front and rear, and, when
metal could not be obtained, formed of ox-bone.
{112}
With an appetite bred of out-of-door work and play, and a breakfast
hour at five or six in the morning, the children were hungry for the
homely and substantial dinner when it eventually appeared at early
noon. Whatever social visits were planned took place at the supper,
which occurred between three o'clock and six. The tea-table, the
chronicler tells us,
was crowned with a huge earthen dish, well stored with slices of fat
pork and fried trout, cut up into morsels and swimming in gravy. The
company, being seated round the genial board and each furnished with a
fork, evinced their dexterity in launching at the fattest pieces in
this mighty dish in much the same manner as sailors harpoon porpoises
at sea, or our Indians spear salmon in the lakes.
Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple pies, or saucers full
of preserved peaches or pears; but it was always sure to boast an
enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat and
called doughnuts or _olykoeks_.... The tea was served out of a
majestic Delft tea-pot ornamented with paintings of fat little Dutch
shepherds and shepherdesses tending pigs, with boats sailing in the air
and houses built in the clouds.... To sweeten the beverage a lump of
sugar was laid beside each cup and the company alternately nibbled and
sipped with great decorum.
In the houses of the richer colonists, as prosperity advanced,
shell-shaped silver boxes for sugar, called {113} "bite and stir"
boxes, were set on the table and, according to one authority, the lumps
of sugar were of the nature of toffy with molasses added to the sugar.
The feast ended, the young folk went their homeward way lighted by the
moon, or, late in the century, on dark nights by a lantern hung on a
pole from every seventh house. When the curfew rang from the belfry
"eight o'clock," lights were put out and all was made fast for the
night, while the children's minds were set at rest by the tramp of the
_klopperman_, who shook his rattle at each door as he passed from house
to house through the dark hours, assuring the burghers that all was
well and that no marauders were about.
If winter offered sports and pastimes, spring, summer, and autumn had
each its own pleasures, fishing and clam digging, shooting and
trapping, games with ball and slings, berry picking, and the gathering
of peaches which fell so thickly that the very hogs refused them. The
market days in New Amsterdam offered a long procession of delights to
the young colonists. But merriest of all were the holidays which were
observed in New Netherland after much the same fashion as in the old
home.
{114}
I do not know how to account for the fact that while the struggle of
the Dutch people with the Papacy had been as bitter as that of England
and the throwing off of the yoke by the Dutch fully as decided, they
still retained the holidays which the Puritans eschewed as dangerous
remnants of superstition. Perhaps it was on the principle of robbing
Satan of his hoofs and horns but keeping his cheerful scarlet costume,
or perhaps they thought, as Rowland Hill remarked, that "it was poor
policy to leave all the good times to the Devil." In any case it was
all grist to the children's mill.
On the 1st of January all was arranged for the greeting of the New
Year. Mighty bowls of punch were brewed, cordials prepared from
long-cherished family recipes were brought out, and the women, in their
best apparel, seated themselves in the seldom-used _ontvangkamer_,
where wine was handed to their callers to be received with the wish of
a "Happy New Year!" While these stately ceremonies were in progress
the young people amused themselves with turkey-shooting, sleigh-riding,
skating, and dancing.
After New Year's Day the most characteristic national and local holiday
was _Pinkster_, coming in the seventh week after _Paasch_, or Easter,
and {115} falling generally in late May or early June. The orchards
were then white with blossoms and the grass thick with dandelions and
spring flowers. Children set out early to gather boughs from the green
woods. These boughs they sprinkled with water and left over the doors
of late sleepers that the sluggards might be drenched on opening the
door. At first all was innocent merriment, gathering of Pinkster
flowers, and picnicking; but for some unexplained reason this festival
was gradually relegated to the negroes. Apple-jack was freely
consumed, barbaric dances began, and fun so far degenerated into
license that the white people and their children shunned the festivity.
The _Kermis_, an Old World festival, was one of those early introduced
at New Amsterdam. It originated centuries before and had taken its
name from the _kerk mis_ or church mass. In the olden days it was
celebrated with pomp and solemnity, but it early developed a more
festive character. Booths and stalls were erected for a market, and
dances and processions were organized. The first stroke of the clock
at noon opened at the same moment the market and the first dance. The
last stroke saw white crosses nailed on all the bridges across the
canal and on the market place. It was {116} indeed a festive
appearance that the market presented, with its double stalls filled
with eggs and gherkins, its booths hung with dried fish, its
_poffertjeskraam_ dispensing the tempting batter-cakes, and its
_wafelkraamen_ offering the more costly and aristocratic waffles. The
youths and maidens were given full license to parade arm in arm along
the streets singing "Hossen, hossen, hossen!" and making the town ring
with their mirth and laughter. The first _Kermis_ held at New
Amsterdam was in October, 1659. Booths were arranged on the parade
ground, and barter and sale and merrymaking went on gaily for six
weeks, to the unspeakable joy of the little Hendricks and Jans and
Annetjes who wandered from booth to booth.
But keen as the delight of the Dutch children may have been, there was
in their minds the hope of even better things to come a few weeks
later, at their own especial, particular, undisputed feast of St.
Nicholas, the beloved Santa Claus, patron saint of children in general
and of young Netherlanders in particular. The 6th of December was the
day dedicated to this genial benefactor, and on the eventful night a
white sheet was spread on the floor. Around this stood the children
singing {117} songs of welcome, of which the most popular was the
familiar
Saint Nicholaes, goed heilig man,
Trekt uw'besten tabbard aan,
En reist daamee naar Amsterdam,
Von Amsterdam naar Spanje.
If the Saint would ride forth thus accoutered and if he would do what
they asked of him, the children explained that they would be his good
friends, as for that matter they always had been, and would serve him
as long as they lived. At last the fateful moment arrived. A shower
of sweets was hurled through the open door and amid the general
scramble appeared the Saint in full vestments attended by a servant
known as _Knecht Ruprecht_, and, after the Dutch settlements in
America, a black man, who added much to the fascination and excitement
of the occasion. He held in one hand an open sack into which to put
particularly ill-behaved children, while in the other hand he carried a
bunch of rods, which he shook vigorously from time to time. The good
Saint meanwhile smilingly distributed to the children the parcels that
he had brought, and, after these had all been opened and the presents
had been sufficiently {118} admired, the children dropped into their
trundle-beds to dream of all the glories of the day.
When the dust-sheet and litter of wrappings had been removed, the older
people gathered around a table spread with a white cloth and set out
with chocolate punch and a dish of steaming hot chestnuts, while the
inevitable pipe, ornamented with a head of St. Nicholas, made its
appearance and the evening ended with dancing and song in honor of the
"goed heilig man."
Besides these stated anniversaries, home life had its more intimate
festivities such as those celebrating the birth of a child, whose
christening was made quite a solemn event. Every church owned its
_doop-becken_ or dipping bowl from which the water was taken to be
dropped on the baby's head. One beautiful bowl of silver dating from
the year 1695 is still in existence in a New York church. About a week
after the birth of the little New Netherlander, the neighbors were
summoned to rejoice with the proud father and mother. In the early
days of the colony and in the farming region, these gatherings were as
rude and simple as they were under similar conditions in Holland. The
men were invited at noon to partake of a long pipe and a bottle of gin
and bitters. The women arrived {119} later to find spread for their
entertainment dishes of rusks spread with aniseed and known as muisjes
or mice, accompanied by eggnog. As society grew more sophisticated in
the colony, these simple gatherings gave place to the elaborate caudle
parties, where the caudle was served in silver bowls hung about with
spoons that each guest might ladle out for himself into a china cup the
rich compound of lemons, raisins, and spiced wine. It is evident that
there was no lack of material good cheer among the colonists of New
Netherland, and we may be sure that the boys and girls secured their
share of substantials and dainties. I fear they were rather rough and
rude, these young burghers, for all the reports which we have of them
show them always in conflict with law and order. The boys especially,
owing to deficient schooling facilities, were quite out of hand. They
set dogs upon the night watchman at New Amsterdam and shouted
"Indians!" to frighten him in his rounds. They tore the clothes from
each other's backs in the schoolroom where the unfortunate master was
striving to keep order. In Fort Orange sliding became so fast and
furious that the legislators were obliged to threaten the confiscation
of the _slees_, and it was no doubt with a keen realization of the
{120} behavior of their offspring that the inhabitants of Flatbush
inserted these words in the articles of agreement with the new
schoolmaster: "He shall demean himself patient and friendly towards the
children and be active and attentive to their improvement."
However little learning from books entered into the lives of the young
colonists, much that was stimulating to the imagination came to them by
word of mouth from the _wilden_, from the negroes, and from their
elders as they sat about the blazing fire in the twilight, or
_schemerlicht_. Then the tales were told of phantom ships, of ghosts
walking on the cliffs of the Highlands, and of the unlucky wight who
found his death in the river where he had sworn to plunge in spite of
the Devil, a spot which still bears the name of Spuyten Duyvil in
memory of the rash boast.
We may find it hard to reconcile the reputation of the Dutch as a
phlegmatic and unimaginative people with the fact that they and their
children endowed the Hudson with more glamour, more of the supernatural
and of elfin lore than haunts any other waterway in America. Does the
explanation perhaps lie in the fact that the Dutch colonists, coming
from a small country situated on a level {121} plain where the
landscape was open as far as the eye could see, and left no room for
mystery, were suddenly transplanted to a region shut in between
overhanging cliffs where lightning flashed and thunder rolled from
mountain wall to mountain wall, where thick forests obscured the view,
and strange aboriginal savages hid in the underbrush? Was it not the
sense of wonder springing from this change in their accustomed
surroundings that peopled the dim depths of the _hinterland_ with
shapes of elf and goblin, of demons and super-human presences?
At any rate the spirit of mystery lurked on the outskirts of the Dutch
settlements, and the youthful burghers along the Hudson were fed full
on tales, mostly of a terrifying nature, drawn from the folklore of
three races, the Dutch, the Indians, and the Africans, with some few
strands interwoven from local legend and tradition that had already
grown up along the banks of the Hudson.
It was a simple but by no means a pitiable life that was led in those
days by burghers and farmers alike on the shores of this great river.
Never does the esteemed Diedrich Knickerbocker come nearer the truth
than when he says: "Happy would it have been for New Amsterdam could it
always {122} have existed in this state of blissful ignorance and lowly
simplicity; but alas! the days of childhood are too sweet to last.
Cities, like men, grow out of them in time and are doomed alike to grow
into the bustle, the cares and the miseries of the world."
[1] In 1657 the burgomasters and _schepens_ were authorized to create a
great _burger-recht_ the members of which should be in a sense a
privileged class. It was set forth that "whereas in all beginnings
some thing or person must be the first so that afterward a distinction
may take place, in like manner it must be in establishing the great and
small citizenship." For which reason the line of great burghers was
drawn as follows: first, those who had been members of the supreme
government; second, the burgomasters and _schepens_ of the city past
and present; third, ministers of the gospel; fourth, officers of the
militia from the staff to the ensign included. The privileges of this
caste were open to the male descendants of each class; but as they
could be secured by others outside the sacred circle on payment of
fifty guilders it is difficult to understand wherein the exclusiveness
lay. The small burghers were decreed to be those who had lived in the
city for a year and six weeks and had kept fire and light, those born
within the town, and those who had married the daughters of citizens.
A payment of twenty guilders was exacted of all such. This effort to
promote class distinctions was soon abandoned. In 1668 the distinction
was abolished and every burgher, on payment of fifty guilders, was
declared entitled to all burgher privileges.
{123}
CHAPTER VII
THE NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND
Machiavelli observed that to the wise ruler only two courses were
open--to conciliate or to crush. The history of the Dutch in America
illustrates by application the truth of this view. The settlers at
Fort Orange conciliated the Indians and by this means not only lived in
peace with the native tribes but established a bulwark between
themselves and the French. Under Stuyvesant the settlers at Fort
Amsterdam took a determined stand against the Swedes and crushed their
power in America. Toward the English, however, the Dutch adopted a
course of feeble aggression unbacked by force. Because they met
English encroachments with that most fatal of all policies, protest
without action, the Empire of the United Netherlands in America was
blotted from the map.
The neighbors of the Dutch in America were the Indians, the French, the
Swedes, and the English. {124} The earliest, most intimate, and most
continuous relations of the Dutch settlers were with the Indians.
These people were divided into a number of independent tribes or
nations. The valley of the North River was shared by the Mohawks, who
inhabited the region along the west side of its upper waters, and the
Mohegans, or Mahicans, as the Dutch called them, who lived on either
side of the banks of its lower reaches, with various smaller tribes
scattered between. The warlike Manhattans occupied the island called
by their name, while the Mohegans raised their wigwams also on the
eastern shore of the upper river opposite the Mohawks, and ranged over
the land reaching to the Connecticut River.
The Mohawks, with the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the
Senecas, formed the famous Five Nations, generally known as the
Iroquois. Their territory was bounded on the north by Lake Ontario and
the St. Lawrence River, on the east by Lake Champlain and the North
River, on the west by Lake Erie and the Niagara River, and on the south
by the region occupied by the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware tribes. But
their power extended far beyond these limits over dependent tribes.
They were in a constant state of warfare {125} with their Algonquin
neighbors on the north and east, who had been enabled to offer a
formidable resistance by the use of firearms furnished them by the
French.
When, therefore, the white men appeared among the Mohawks, bearing
these strange weapons which had been used with such dire effect against
the Iroquois by the Algonquins, the Mohawks eagerly sought the
friendship of the newcomers, hoping to secure the same power which had
made their enemies triumphant. The Dutch were intelligent enough to
make instant use of these friendly sentiments on the part of the
natives and hastened to make a treaty with the Iroquois, the Mohegans,
and the Lenni Lenapes.
This treaty, which is said to have been signed on the banks of Norman's
Kill in the neighborhood of Albany, was concluded with all formalities.
Each tribe was represented by its chief. The calumet was smoked, the
hatchet was buried, and everlasting friendship was sworn between the
old inhabitants and the new. By this agreement the Dutch secured not
only peace with the neighboring Indians--a peace never broken in the
north, whatever broils disturbed the lower waters of the river--but at
the same time a guard between {126} them and any encroachments of the
French and Algonquins in Canada.
On the other boundaries and outskirts of their possessions, the Dutch
were less fortunate. They had always claimed all the territory from
the South or Delaware River to the Fresh or Connecticut River, but
their pretensions were early challenged by the English on the ground of
prior discovery and by the Swedes on the argument of non-occupation of
the land.
The reports of the wealth to be acquired from the fur trade had quickly
spread from Holland to Sweden, and as early as 1624, Gustavus Adolphus,
encouraged by William Usselinx, a Dutchman and promoter of the Dutch
West India Company, was planning expeditions to the New World. But the
entrance of Sweden into the Thirty Years' War in 1630 put a stop to
this plan, and the funds were applied to war purposes. Gustavus
Adolphus fell at Lützen in 1632, leaving the kingdom to his little
daughter Christina. Her Government was conducted by Oxenstiern, a
statesman trained in the great traditions of Gustavus, who felt with
him that an American colony would be "the jewel of his kingdom." An
instrument for his purpose presented itself in Peter Minuit, who had
returned {127} to Holland in 1632, smarting under his dismissal as
Director of New Netherland. He offered his services to Sweden for the
establishment of a new colony, and they were accepted. In the opening
of 1638, he arrived in what is now Delaware Bay with two ships, the
_Griffin_ and the _Key of Kalmar_. From the Indians he bought large
tracts of land in what is now the State of Delaware, and on the site of
the present city of Wilmington he planted a fort named Christina.
When news was brought to Kieft that Minuit had sailed up the South
River and planned to raise the Swedish flag on a fort upon its shores,
the Director promptly dispatched the following letter:
I, Willem Kieft, Director-General of New Netherland, residing in the
island of Manhattan, in the Fort Amsterdam, under the government of the
High and Mighty States-General of the United Netherlands and the West
India Company, privileged by the Senate Chamber in Amsterdam, make
known to thee, Peter Minuit, who stylest thyself commander in the
service of Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, that the whole South River
of New Netherland, both upper and lower, has been our property for many
years, occupied with our forts, and sealed by our blood, which also was
done when thou wast in the service of New Netherland, and is therefore
well known to thee. But as thou art come between our forts to erect a
fort to our damage and injury, which we {128} will never permit, as we
also believe Her Swedish Majesty hath not empowered thee to erect
fortifications on our coasts and rivers, or to settle people on the
lands adjoining or to undertake any other thing to our prejudice; now
therefore we protest against all such encroachments and all the evil
consequences from the same, as bloodshed, sedition and whatever injury
our trading company may suffer, and declare that we shall protect our
rights in every manner that may be advisable.
This blustering protest Minuit treated with contempt and continued
building his fort. The Swedish colony soon grew so rapidly as to be a
serious menace to the Dutch in spite of their stronger fortifications.
In 1642 Johan Printz, a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, was sent over as
Governor of New Sweden with instructions to maintain friendly relations
with the Dutch, but to yield no foot of ground. He established several
other settlements on the South or Delaware River. So tactlessly,
however, did he perform his duties, that conflicts with the Dutch grew
more and more frequent. He built two forts on opposite sides of the
river and ordered that every ship entering the waters should strike her
colors and await permission to pass. The first vessel on which the new
orders were tried carried {129} as a passenger David de Vries. The
skipper asked his advice about lowering his colors. "If it were my
ship," De Vries asserts that he answered, "I would not lower to these
intruders." But peace at any price prevailed, the skipper lowered his
colors, and the ship passed on to New Gottenburg, the capital of the
colony. Here De Vries was welcomed by Governor Printz, whom the
traveler describes as "a brave man of brave size." The evening was
spent in talk over a jug of Rhenish wine. Such friendly intercourse
and the aggressions of the English against both Dutch and Swedes led to
the temporary alliance of these latter in 1651. Indians called in
council confirmed the Dutch title to all lands except the site of the
Swedish fort planted by Minuit, and a peace which lasted for three
years was declared between the Dutch and the Swedes.
In endeavoring to understand the relations between the settlements of
the different nations in America in the seventeenth century we must
realize that the colonies were only pawns in the great game being
played in Europe between Spain and the Papacy on the one hand and the
Protestant countries, England, Sweden, and the United Netherlands on
the other. Once apprehending {130} this, we can easily understand why
the governor of each colony, though instructed to seize and hold every
foot of land which could be occupied, was advised not to antagonize the
other friendly nations and thus weaken the alliance against the common
enemy. As the power of Spain declined, however, and the estimate of
the value of the American colonies increased, the friction in the New
World became more acute and the instructions from the home governments
grew imperative.
Affairs then came to an open rupture between New Netherland and New
Sweden. In 1651 Governor Stuyvesant inaugurated a more aggressive
policy against the Swedes by building Fort Casimir near what is now New
Castle, Delaware, not far from the Swedish fort. Three years later
Fort Casimir fell into the hands of the Swedes. The Dutch Government
now commanded Stuyvesant to drive the Swedes from the river or compel
their submission. As a result the Director and his fleet sailed into
the Delaware in September, 1655, and captured one fort after another,
till Rysing, the last of the Swedish governors, was completely
defeated. Though the colonists were promised security in possession of
their lands, the power of {131} New Sweden was ended, and the
jurisdiction of the Dutch was for a time established.
New Netherland had, however, other neighbors more powerful, more
persistent, and with more at stake than the French, the Indians, and
the Swedes. These were the English colonists, pressing northward from
the Virginias and southward from New England. From the beginning of
the Dutch colonization, England had looked askance at the wedge thus
driven between her own settlements. She had stubbornly refused to
recognize the sovereignty of the States-General in the region of New
Netherland while at the same time she vainly sought a pretext for the
establishment of her own. England put forward the apocryphal claim of
discovery by Cabot; but here she was stopped by the doctrine announced
in a previous century that in order to give title to a new country,
discovery must be followed by occupation. When England maintained
that, since Hudson was an Englishman, the title to his discovery must
pass to his native land, she was reminded that Cabot was a Genoese, and
that Genoa might as well claim title to Virginia as England to New
Netherland.
The Plymouth Company particularly was concerned at the Dutch occupation
of this middle {132} region to which the charter granted by King James
gave it a claim. It formally protested in 1621 against these "Dutch
intruders." Whereupon King James I directed Sir Dudley Carleton, his
ambassador at The Hague, to protest against the Dutch settlements; but
nothing was accomplished, both parties having their hands too full with
European quarrels to carry these transatlantic matters to extremities.
The tension, however, was constantly increased on both sides by a
series of encroachments and provocations.
In April, 1633, for example, the ship _William_ arrived at Fort
Amsterdam under command of Captain Trevor, with Jacob Eelkens as
supercargo. Eelkens had been dismissed by the West India Company from
the post of Commissary at Fort Orange, and was now in the service of
some London merchants, in whose behalf he had come, as he told the
Director, to buy furs on Henry Hudson's River.
"Don't talk to me of Henry Hudson's River!" replied Van Twiller, "it is
the River Mauritius." He then called for the commission of Eelkens,
who refused to show it, saying that he was within the dominions of the
English King, and a servant of His Majesty, and asking the Dutch
Council what {133} commission they themselves had to plant in the
English dominion. Whereupon Van Twiller replied that it was not
fitting that Eelkens should proceed up the river, as the whole of that
country belonged to the Prince of Orange and not to the King of England.
After this exchange of amenities, Eelkens returned to his ship, which
remained at anchor for several days. At the end of the time, he
presented himself again at the fort to ask if the Director would
consent in a friendly way to his going up the river; otherwise, he
would proceed if it cost his life. In reply, Van Twiller ordered the
Dutch flag to be run up at the fort and three pieces of ordnance fired
in honor of the Prince of Orange. Eelkens on his part ordered the
English flag to be hoisted on the _William_ and a salute fired in honor
of King Charles. Van Twiller warned Eelkens that the course which he
was pursuing might cost him his neck; but the supercargo weighed anchor
and proceeded calmly on his way.
Van Twiller then assembled all his forces before his door, brought out
a cask of wine, filled a bumper, and cried out that those who loved the
Prince of Orange and him should follow his example and protect him from
the outrages of the Englishman; {134} Eelkens, by this time, was out of
sight sailing up the river. The people drank, but only laughed at
their governor, and De Vries told him that he had been very foolish.
"If it were my affair," he said, "I would have helped him away from the
fort with beans from the eight-pounders."
The _William_, meanwhile, journeyed up the river and Eelkens, who knew
the country well, landed with his crew about a mile below Fort Orange
and set up a tent where he displayed the wares which he hoped to
exchange with the natives for beaver-skins. Very soon reports of this
exploit reached the ears of the commissary at Fort Orange, who at once
embarked with a trumpeter on a shallop decorated with green boughs.
The Dutch landed close beside the English and set up a rival tent; but
the Indians preferred to deal with Eelkens, whom they had known years
before and who spoke their language.
In the high tide of success, however, Eelkens was rudely ordered to
depart by a Dutch officer who had come up the river in charge of three
vessels, a pinnace, a caravel, and a hoy. To enforce the commands came
soldiery from both Dutch forts, armed with muskets, half-pikes, swords,
and other weapons, and ordered Eelkens {135} to strike his flag. They
pulled down the tent, sent the goods on board ship, and sounded their
trumpets in the boat "in disgrace of the English." The Dutch boarded
the _William_, weighed her anchor, and convoyed her down the river with
their fleet, and finally dismissed her at the mouth of the river.
The troubles of the Dutch with their English neighbors, however, did
not end with these aggressions on the Hudson and similar acts on the
Delaware. In the year 1614, Adriaen Block, a great navigator whose
name deserves to rank with that of Hudson, had sailed through the East
River, and putting boldly across Long Island Sound, had discovered the
Housatonic and Connecticut rivers. He also discovered and gave his own
name to Block Island and explored Narragansett Bay, whence he took his
course to Cape Cod. These discoveries reported to the States-General
of the United Netherlands caused their High Mightinesses at once to lay
claim to the new lands; but before they could secure enough colonists
to occupy the country, restless pioneers of English stock planted towns
in the Connecticut valley, along the Sound, and on the shore of Long
Island. These were uncomfortable neighbors with aggressive {136}
manners which quite upset the placid Dutch of New Amsterdam.
Inevitable boundary disputes followed, which reached no adjustment
until, in 1650, Stuyvesant went to Hartford to engage in a conference
with commissioners of the United Colonies of New England.
The Director began as usual with bravado; but presently he consented to
leave the question of boundaries to a board of four arbitrators. This
board decided that the boundary between the Dutch and English
possessions should run on Long Island from Oyster Bay south to the
Atlantic, and that on the mainland it should run north from Greenwich
Bay, but never approach within ten miles of the Hudson River. The
Dutch in New Netherland were amazed and disgusted at the decision; but
though Stuyvesant is said to have exclaimed in dramatic fashion that he
had been betrayed, he found it hopeless to struggle against the
superior force arrayed against him.
{137}
CHAPTER VIII
THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS
The English Government was fortunate in its first representative after
the surrender of Stuyvesant. Colonel Richard Nicolls, who had enforced
the surrender with all the energy of a soldier, afterward displayed all
the tact and wisdom of a statesman. It is true that the towns and
forts were rechristened, and New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and Fort
Orange became respectively New York, Fort James, and Albany in honor of
the King's brother, James, Duke of York and Albany, to whom as Lord
Proprietor the new English province was now granted; but the Dutch were
not interfered with in their homes, their holdings, or their religion,
and for nearly a year the city government at New Amsterdam went on as
of old under the control of burgomasters, _schepens_, and _schouts_.
In the following year Nicolls, according to instructions from the Duke
of York, abolished "the {138} form of government late in practice,"
appointed a mayor, aldermen, and a sheriff to rule New York, and
directed the new officials to swear allegiance to the Duke. He
continued the commercial rights of the freeman who represented the
burghers of the Dutch period, and he also introduced trial by jury,
which placated the dwellers at New York and along the Hudson.
On Long Island and in Westchester where New Englanders had settled,
Nicolls proceeded with greater vigor. This section together with
Staten Island was erected into the district of Yorkshire, where "the
Duke's Laws" were proclaimed and the machinery of English county
government was put in operation. With its three ridings, its courts of
sessions, and its court of assizes, Yorkshire soon had an unmistakable
English character even though Dutch inhabitants were numerous in
western Long Island and in Staten Island. The Duke's Laws were
compiled mainly from the laws of the New England colonies, though they
departed in many particulars from New England traditions. In the Dutch
towns _schouts_ and _schepens_ gave place to overseers and constables.
The characteristic form of town government in the province was that in
which freeholders elected {139} a board of eight overseers and a
constable for one year. Little by little English law and English
institutions were to crowd out Dutch law and Dutch political
institutions in the conquered province.
By his wise policy, his magnetic personality, his scholarly tastes, and
his social geniality, Nicolls seems to have won all hearts. Maverick,
his colleague, wrote Lord Arlington that it was wonderful how this man
could harmonize things in a world so full of strife. Entrusted by the
Duke of York with practically unlimited power, he used it with the
utmost discretion and for the good of the province. When he resigned
his post after four years of service, New York was deeply regretful
over his departure and Cornelis Steenwyck, the Dutch mayor of the city,
gave a farewell banquet in his honor.
His successor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, was a favorite at court and a
gallant cavalier who had been loyal to the King throughout his
adversity. With far less ability than Nicolls, Lovelace was at one
with him in desire to benefit and unify the colony. He established a
club where English, French, and Dutch were spoken, and he offered
prizes to be run for on the Long Island race-course. Under his rule
shipping increased and trade {140} flourished. Merchants began to hold
weekly meetings, thus laying the foundations of The Merchants'
Exchange. But his most notable achievement was the establishment of
the first mail service on the American continent.
In spite of all the sea commerce and trading up and down the river by
sloops, pinks, flyboats, ketches, and canoes, the colonies of New York
and New England demanded swifter and more frequent means of
communication, and Governor Lovelace began to consider how the bonds
could be drawn closer. In 1671 one John Archer bought part of Van der
Donck's old estate and built a village "near unto the passage commonly
called Spiting Devil" on "the road for passengers to go to and fro from
the main as well as for mutual intercourse with the neighboring
colony." Lovelace consented to make the village an enfranchised town
by the name of Fordham Manor, provided its inhabitants should forward
to the next town all public packets and letters coming to or going from
New York. The scheme evidently proved a success, for Lovelace shortly
decided on a wider extension of communication, and the year 1673 was
celebrated by the setting out of the first post between New York and
New England. It was to have started on New {141} Year's Day, but was
delayed by waiting for news from Albany. On the arrival of
communications from Albany the carrier was sworn into office,
instructed "to behave civily," to inquire of the New England
authorities as to the best post-road, and to mark it for the benefit of
other travelers. The message which Lovelace sent to Governor Winthrop
of Massachusetts on this occasion ran as follows:
I here present you with two rarities, a pacquett of the latest
intelligence I could meet withal, and a Post. By the first, you will
see what has been acted on the stage of Europe; by the latter you will
meet with a monthly fresh supply; so that if it receive but the same
ardent inclinations from you as at first it hath from myself, by our
monthly advises all publique occurrences may be transmitted between us,
together with severall other great conveniencys of publique importance,
consonant to the commands laid upon us by His sacred Majestie, who
strictly injoins all his American subjects to enter into a close
correspondency with each other. This I look upon as the most
compendious means to beget a mutual understanding; and that it may
receive all the countenance from you for its future duration, I shall
acquaint you with the model I have proposed; and if you please but to
make an addition to it, or subtraction, or any other alteration, I
shall be ready to comply with you. This person that has undertaken the
imployment I conceaved most proper, being both active, stout, and {142}
indefatigable. He is sworne as to his fidelity. I have affixt an
annuall sallery on him, which, together with the advantage of his
letters and other small portable packes, may afford him a handsome
livelyhood. Hartford is the first stage I have designed him to change
his horse, where constantly I expect he should have a fresh one lye.
All the letters outward shall be delivered gratis with a signification
of _Post Payd_ on the superscription; and reciprocally, we expect all
to us free. Each first Monday of the month he sets out from New York,
and is to return within the month from Boston to us againe. The maile
has divers baggs, according to the townes the letters are designed to,
which are all sealed up till their arrivement, with the scale of the
Secretarie's Office, whose care it is on Saturday night to seale them
up. Only by-letters are in an open bag, to dispense by the wayes.
Thus you see the scheme I have drawne to promote a happy
correspondence. I shall only beg of you your furtherance to so
universall a good work.
By trail, road, and waterway the colonists were thus drawing nearer to
each other and steadily increasing their facilities for trade, when all
was interrupted by the reassertion of Dutch sovereignty and the
reconquest of the English colony by the Dutch under much the same
circumstances as had marked the surrender of Stuyvesant in 1664. The
old habit of unpreparedness survived under the English as under the
Dutch; and the third war between England and Holland, begun in 1672 and
{143} ended in 1674, found the strategic points on the Hudson again
unprotected. One August day in 1673 a powerful Dutch fleet appeared
off Staten Island. On the next day it sailed up through the Narrows,
and Manhattan saw a repetition, with a difference, of the scene of
1664. After a brief exchange of volleys between the strong fleet and
the weak fortress, the garrison recognized that resistance was
hopeless, New York surrendered to Admiral Evertsen, and the flag of the
Dutch Republic floated once more over the fortress, which changed its
name to Fort Willem Hendrick while New York became New Orange.
Governor Lovelace was absent from the city at the moment, and the blame
of the surrender fell upon Manning, a subordinate, who was tried for
neglect of duty, cowardice, and treachery. His sword was broken over
his head and he was pronounced ineligible for any office of trust. But
no governor could have saved the situation, as nothing was ready for
defense. When the Dutch took possession, Captain Anthony Colve was
appointed Governor. He proceeded with energy to put the fort into
condition for defense, and for a time it seemed as if the Dutch might
at last hold their rich heritage along the Hudson. At the close of
hostilities, however, a {144} treaty which was signed at Westminster in
February, 1674, and proclaimed at the City Hall of New Orange in July
of the same year, stipulated that New Netherland should again become an
English province. Thus for the third time, a national flag was lowered
at the fort on Manhattan Island without serious effort at opposition.
The treaty did not restore New York to the Duke whose name it bore but
handed it over directly to Charles II, who, however, again granted it
to his brother James. Edmund Andros, a major in Prince Rupert's
regiment of dragoons, was sent out to take control of the province,
which had now changed hands for the last time. His character was
probably neither so white nor so black as it has been painted; but it
is certain that he lacked the tact of Nicolls, and he brought to his
task the habits of a soldier rather than an administrator. He never
succeeded in winning the complete confidence of the people.
From the beginning Andros showed himself hostile to popular liberty and
loyal to the interests of his patron as he saw them. But the
difficulties of his position, it must be admitted, were very great.
James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II, and, in the absence of
legitimate children of {145} the King, the heir to the throne, had, as
we have seen, been granted all rights in the conquered territory of New
Netherland in 1664. Part of this territory he promptly gave to two
court favorites, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The sagacious
Nicolls protested that this partition which surrendered to a divided
ownership the rich lands of New Jersey--so called in honor of
Carteret's gallant defense of the Island of Jersey during the Civil
Wars--was a menace to the well-being of New York. His warning, which
might not have been heeded in any case, did not reach England until the
transfer was completed.
With the Dutch occupation all titles were canceled, but under the new
treaty, James, although by this time thoroughly informed of the
complications involved, with the usual fatuity of the Stuarts now made
a grant of the eastern part of New Jersey to Carteret in severally,
taking no notice of the western part, which Berkeley had already sold
for the sum of a thousand pounds. By this grant to Carteret many
questions were at once raised. Was Sir George Carteret a lord
proprietor like the Duke himself, responsible only to the King, or was
he only a lord of the manor responsible to his master the Duke? Was
East Jersey a {146} part of New York, or was it an independent
province? As usual the importance of the questions was based on
commercial considerations. If New Jersey were a separate entity then
it might trade directly with England; if it were dependent on New York
it could trade only by permission of the Duke's representative.
Philip Carteret, a kinsman of Sir George, whom the latter had appointed
Governor of his share of New Jersey, and who went to America in the
same ship as Andros in 1674, determined to test the matter by declaring
Elizabethtown a free port, while Andros demanded that all ships bound
to or from any port in the original New Netherland must enter and clear
at New York. With equal pertinacity Andros asserted the Duke's
authority in West Jersey, haling Fenwick, one of the claimants under
the original grant of 1674, to court in New York. Fenwick's land
titles, however, were sustained, and Andros then released him upon his
explicit promise that he would not meddle with the government of West
Jersey. Taking advantage of the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680,
Andros next arrested and imprisoned Governor Philip Carteret on the
ground that he now had no authority, and then himself assumed the {147}
governorship of East Jersey. But Carteret was acquitted, the Assembly
of East Jersey sustained their Governor, and the towns refused to
submit. Meanwhile, charges of corruption had been brought against
Andros in New York, where his imperious manner and arbitrary conduct
had made enemies. He was recalled to England in 1681 to answer these
charges, and in consequence of the disaffection which he had stirred up
he was removed from office.
Colonel Thomas Dongan, the Governor chosen to succeed Andros, was a
younger son of an Irish Baronet and a Roman Catholic. The laws of
England forbade a Catholic to hold office in that country; but there
was not the same barrier in the province subject to a Lord Proprietor.
James, being of the Catholic faith, was therefore glad to appoint
people of that religion in the New World. Realizing, however, that the
feeling against Catholicism was strong in the colony, the Duke gilded
the pill by granting more liberal laws and a more popular form of
government than had previously been permitted. At the time of his
appointment Dongan received instructions from the Duke of York to call
a representative Assembly of not more than eighteen members to be
chosen by the {148} freeholders of the province. This Assembly met in
October, 1683, and passed some fifteen laws, the first and most
memorable of which was the so-called _Charter of Liberties and
Privileges_. The most notable provisions of the charter were those
establishing the principles of popular representation and religious
liberty, and those reciting the guarantees of civil rights familiar to
all Englishmen.
Before this charter could be finally ratified by the Duke of York,
Charles II died from a stroke of apoplexy, and James became King.
After fifteen minutes in his closet, where he had retired to give "full
scope to his tears," he emerged to work for three years his bigoted
will on the affairs of the realm. James the King took a different view
of many things from James the Duke. The status of New York was
similarly changed from a ducal proprietorship to a royal province. The
new charter recognized a Lord Proprietor. But that Lord Proprietor had
now become King of England, and this King found some of the enactments
of the charter so objectionable to His Majesty that he disallowed the
charter. Moreover, James did away with the Assembly which he had
previously allowed to be summoned. But the seed of popular government
had been planted in the Western {149} Hemisphere and within the next
century it was ripe for the harvesting.
In 1688 New York and New Jersey were united with the Eastern colonies
under title of "The Dominion of New England," and Sir Edmund Andros was
appointed Governor-General of a territory of imperial dimensions. But
the year of his arrival in New York marked the departure of his royal
master from England. Bigotry and tyranny had overshot the mark and the
English people had determined to dethrone James.
On the invitation of the Protestant nobility, James's son-in-law,
William of Orange, landed at Torbay in November, 1688, and rapidly won
popular support. After beginning negotiations with him, James became
alarmed and took flight to France at the close of the year. William of
Orange and his wife, James's daughter Mary, then became King and Queen
of England (February 13, 1689) and New York once more passed under the
control of a Dutch sovereign.
{150}
CHAPTER IX
LEISLER
The story of the so-called Leisler Rebellion illustrates the difficulty
of sifting conflicting historical testimony. Among the earlier
chroniclers of New Netherland there is the widest difference of opinion
about the chief actor in the drama. Leisler was "an illiterate
German," says one authority. Another says: "He was the son of a French
clergyman driven into exile, and making his home in Frankfort where the
little Jacob was born. The boy was taught to write and speak Dutch,
French, and German; but being unskilled in the English tongue he was
unjustly charged with illiteracy." By one party he was branded as a
vulgar demagogue ready to ally himself with the mob against the
conservative citizenry. By another he was acclaimed as the champion of
the people's rights and religion when they were threatened with
invasion by the minions of the perfidious Stuarts.
{151}
In regard to the main events of this troubled time there is,
fortunately, little dispute, although they are so complicated that they
require close attention. When James II fled from England at the end of
the year 1688 and was succeeded by William and Mary, the affairs of the
American provinces were thrown into a state of chaos. The change of
government was not known in Massachusetts until March, 1689. The
immediate result of the news was to fan the popular wrath against Sir
Edmund Andros, then in Boston, into such a flame that the Governor was
seized and thrown into prison before he was able to make his escape to
New York. His imprisonment left Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson,
Andros's deputy at New York, in a difficult position. Andros was still
Governor and Nicholson was unable to communicate with him. Some people
held that Nicholson thus became acting Governor; others claimed that
the whole existing machinery of government was swept away by the
abdication of James and that the provinces were free to govern
themselves till they could learn the will of the new sovereigns.
Nicholson was a weak man, and his vacillation produced the impression
that he might be engaged in a conspiracy to bring back the rule of
James. {152} Three years before, in the King's camp, he had knelt when
Mass was celebrated. Who knew what Catholic designs might lurk behind
this significant act? Rumor grew into suspicion, and suspicion turned
to panic. At length Nicholson fell into an altercation with an officer
on guard at Fort James who asserted his authority. In the course of
the argument the Lieutenant-Governor remarked angrily: "I would rather
see the city on fire than commanded by an impudent fellow like him."
Next morning word had spread far and wide through the town that
Nicholson had threatened to burn New York, and all was in an uproar. A
crowd of citizens appeared at the house of Leisler, who was an officer
in the train-band, a citizen well known for honesty, a stanch, even
bigoted Protestant, and withal a man of firm purpose, and they begged
him to act as their leader in a determined effort to preserve their
liberties and hold New York for William and Mary. It is easy to see on
looking back over two centuries that the dangers of conspiracy were
greatly exaggerated; but we must remember that these men really
believed that they themselves and all that they held sacred were in
jeopardy. The possibility of war with France was indeed not remote;
and fear {153} of an invasion from Canada with all the horrors of an
Indian war haunted the minds of every frontier family.
Leisler invited the people of the towns and counties of New York to
choose delegates to a convention to be held at Fort James on June 25,
1689, to consider what was best to be done under existing conditions.
Ulster, Albany, and most of the towns in Queens County refused to send
delegates. The others responded, however, and the delegates formed
themselves into a committee of safety. They appointed Leisler "Captain
of the fort at New York until orders shall be received from their
Majesties," and Leisler accepted the responsibilities of government.
Massachusetts and Connecticut congratulated him on his conduct, and in
the province of New York he was generally approved; but he had the
misfortune to be opposed by the Roman Catholics and the landed gentry.
The former were few in number and, after the establishment of the
Protestant succession, a negligible danger, though in view of the
assertion made by James to the Pope that "it was his full purpose to
have set up Roman Catholic Religion in the English Plantations of
America," we can scarcely call it bigotry on {154} Leisler's part to
fear their influence. Unfortunately for the Leislerians "the gentry"
made common cause with the Catholics against the new Government.
Albany, which was preëminently Dutch and held the Reformed Church in
reverence, was also aristocratic in sympathy and resented the rule of
Leisler as the representative of the common people. Even so, had
Leisler shown more tact and less obstinacy there might still have been
a chance to placate the opposing factions; but by his fanatical attacks
on all Catholics and his open defiance of such prominent citizens as
Nicholas Bayard, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Frederick Philipse, Peter
Schuyler, and Robert Livingston, he fomented the strife until
conciliation became impossible.
In the beginning of January, 1689, Leisler committed a grievous
strategical error in permitting Nicholson to leave for England to
render an account of the state of affairs, while the Leislerians
depended upon communications written in dubious English and carried by
a bearer who was of inferior social standing.
Meanwhile Leisler won a temporary victory over his opponents. In
December dispatches arrived from the Privy Council and the King and
Queen of England, addressed to "Our Lieutenant-Governor {155} and
Commander-in-Chief of our Province of New York, or in his absence to
such as for the time being take care to keep the peace and administer
the laws," and authorizing him to take the reins of government, calling
to his assistance "in the administration thereof the principal
freeholders and inhabitants of the same, or so many of them as you
shall think fit." Nicholson having departed for England, the messenger
was in some doubt as to the proper recipient of the message. Bayard
and his faction strove to obtain possession of it; but it was finally
delivered to Leisler. He appointed a council of eight men, all
reputable citizens and by no means representing the rabble, as his
enemies charged. In this procedure he was acting in strict conformity
with the letter from the Privy Council.
Leisler assumed the title of Lieutenant-Governor and, much to the
chagrin of his foes, took his seat in the Governor's pew at church. It
was his moment of triumph; but troubles were already darkening the
horizon. In November Leisler sent to Albany his deputy, an Englishman
named Milborne, to demand the recognition of his Government; but the
mandate being opposed by Schuyler, Livingston, and Bayard, all well
known and highly {156} esteemed in Albany and representing the
aristocratic faction, that town refused entrance to Milborne and his
escort and refused likewise to recognize Leisler as Governor.
The Albany Records for November, 1689, describe the incident as
follows: "Three sloops neared Albany bearing troops under Jacob
Milborne and immediately Captain Wendell and Blucker, Johannes Cuyler
and Reymier Barents go aboard to learn the object of his visit. Jacob
Milborne asks: 'Is the fort open to receive me and my men?' The reply
is: 'No, the Mayor is in command and will hold it.'"
On the receipt of this inhospitable message, reënforced by military
demonstrations, Milborne wisely withdrew his inadequate force and
returned to New York to report the failure of his mission. Three
months after Milborne's rejection, in the bitter February weather of
1690, the village of Schenectady, at that time a western frontier post,
was burned and its inhabitants were massacred in a French and Indian
raid. Once more Leisler sent his deputy at the head of a body of
troops to the assistance of the Albanians, and this time Milborne was
not denied entrance to the town. Having thus gained control of the
province, Leisler summoned {157} a convention of delegates from
Massachusetts and Connecticut to meet at New York on May 1, 1690, in
order to discuss the defense of the colonies.
Meanwhile the Leislerians and their opponents were bombarding the new
King and Queen with their conflicting claims. In 1690, Captain Blagge,
congratulating their Majesties on "the late Happy Revolution in
England" asked their Majesties' approbation for Leisler on the ground
that "Nicholson, like Col. Dongan, had neglected to repair the
fortifications of the city, which excited suspicions against his
loyalty, and he was disaffected towards the late happy revolution in
England." Hence Jacob Leisler had been chosen, "with a committee, to
make such repairs and to administer the government until William's
pleasure could be known." The memorial goes on to say:
Shortly after, their Majesties' Proclamation arrived by which William
and Mary were to be proclaimed King and Queen of England. Notice was
given to the late Council of Nicholson, and to the Mayor and Aldermen
to assist, with proper ceremonies, in this Proclamation. They desired
an hour's time for considering it, and then refused. Leisler and his
Committee and most of the inhabitants did then celebrate the event with
many demonstrations of joy and affection.
The Mayor and Aldermen were then suspended from {158} office, and
certain opponents of the Revolution and their Majesties' interests,
were imprisoned. Shortly after their Majesties' letters arrived,
directed to Lieutenant Governor Nicholson, or, "in his absence to such
as for the time being do take care for the preservation of their
Majesties' Peace, and administering the Lawes in that their Majesties'
Province; ordering such to take upon them the place of Lieutenant
Governor and Commander in Chief of the said Province and to proclaim
King William and Queen Mary, King and Queen of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, and supream Lord and Lady of the Province of New
York, if not already done"; which was accordingly done.
The Inhabitants generally were satisfied therewith, and Leisler's
committee was dismissed, and a Council chosen to assist him in the
government; but the members of the old government opposed all this and
created a faction. This excited fear lest the Province should yet be
delivered up to the French in Canada, which fear greatly agitated the
Protestant population. The said faction also surrounded Captain
Leisler and abused him with ill language and threats, and would have
done violence to him, if they had not feared the people, who rescued
him out of their hands, and imprisoned the ringleaders of the
opposition. Multitudes also flocked into the city from the country, to
defend the existing government, and it was with great difficulty that
their zeal could be restrained. The prisoners were ultimately fined
and discharged upon their own recognizance to keep the peace.
The Fort and City were therefore, now in a good condition, excepting a
lack of ammunition. The Commission of all military men who had acted
under Governors {159} Dongan and Andros, had been called in, and other
Commissions issued in the name of their present Majesties, and only to
those who were well affected thereto. But our efforts thus to secure
their Majesties interests have been greatly misrepresented, and we have
been loaded with reproaches; our actions have been called a Dutch plot,
although three quarters of the inhabitants are of Dutch descent, and
speak Dutch; and our ruin is threatened, if the government ever falls
into the hands of our opponents.
To this lengthy defense Bayard and Nicolls made response as follows:
Jacob Leisler a man of desperate fortune, ambitiously did assume unto
himselfe the title of Lieutenant-Governor of this Province of New York,
and chose a councel of ye meanest and most abject common people; made
to himself a Broad Seale, which he called ye Seale of ye Province, with
ye usuall armes of Kings of England; and affixed the same to some
unlawful graunts of land within this Province; and commissionated under
ye same Justices of ye Peace, in whose hartes were mischiefe. He
constituted Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and tryed severall subjects
for pretended treason, murther and other crimes. He taxed and levied
monney upon their Majesties subjects to their grievous oppression and
great impoverishment. When he wanted more money for his occasions, he
forcebly robbed and spoiled, broke open doors and locx were he guissed
it was to be found, and carried away to ye vallue of some thousands of
pounds in money or goods; and all this against the {160} best
Protestant subjects in the Province. He imprisoned whom he feared,
without any other cause than that their integrity to ye Protestant
interest, and fidelity to their Majesties, became a terroire to him;
some of them after a tedious confignment, without collour of law, he
whipt and branded; and some he kept in duresse so long as he held ye
fort.
Upon one point, both the followers and opponents of Leisler agreed:
there was no Dutch plot behind this revolution. "The notion of a Dutch
plott cannot be applicable to Leisler and his adherents," said Bayard;
"the much greater part of Albany which wholly consists of Dutch people,
and all the men of best repute for religion, estatte, and integrity of
the Dutch nacon, throughout the whole Province, having alwaies been
manifestly against Leisler and his society, in all their illegall and
irregular proceedings." To these representations their Majesties'
advisers made no reply, but the appointment of Governor of New York was
given to Colonel Henry Sloughter, "a profligate, needy, and narrow
minded adventurer," the selection of whom did little credit to the
wisdom of William of Orange. All the papers from both factions were
committed to this inefficient officer with instructions to examine the
allegations strictly and impartially and to make a true report.
{161}
In December, 1690, Sloughter set sail with several ships and a body of
troops. By some accident the vessels were separated, and the ship
bearing Major Richard Ingoldesby, "a rash, hot-headed man" who had
served in Holland and recently returned from service in Ireland,
arrived in the _Beaver_ two months before Sloughter's ship reached New
York. His commission required him to obey the royal Governor, but did
not give him authority to act as commander-in-chief in case of
Sloughter's absence or death. Nevertheless Ingoldesby at once
announced the appointment of Sloughter and demanded the surrender of
the fort. Leisler replied by offering quarters for Ingoldesby's
soldiers; but refused to surrender the fort till he saw the Major's
commission.
Ingoldesby had no credentials whatever, but he issued a proclamation
calling on the people and magistrates to aid him in enforcing the royal
commission. Leisler issued a counter proclamation warning him at his
peril not to attempt hostilities against the city or the fort; but on
receiving assurances that Ingoldesby had no intention of using force
against the people of New York, he permitted the troops to land. The
fort, however, he would not yield. With rival forces in the town,
{162} peace was difficult to maintain. Neither commander trusted the
other. Recrimination followed protest. Finally, on the 17th of March,
Leisler fired on Ingoldesby's troops, killing two and wounding others.
At length on March 19, 1691, Sloughter entered the harbor of New York.
Representative anti-Leislerians hastened to board his ship and escorted
him to the City Hall, where he took the oath of office at eleven
o'clock at night. He immediately dispatched Ingoldesby to demand the
surrender of the fort. Again Leisler's bigotry and obstinacy overcame
his prudence. Instead of surrendering at once he dispatched a
messenger bearing letters and warning him to look well at Sloughter and
be sure he was no counterfeit. Sloughter informed Leisler's messenger
that he intended to make himself known in New York as well as in
England and ordered Ingoldesby for the second time to demand possession
of the fort and to release from their prison Colonel Bayard and Mr.
Nicolls, that they might attend the council to which they had been
appointed members.
Leisler refused either to surrender the fort or to release the
prisoners but sent Milborne and De la Noy to endeavor to make terms.
Sloughter {163} imprisoned both envoys and ordered his frigate to hold
itself in readiness to fire on the fort. Leisler, at length and too
late realizing that resistance was useless, sent a letter to the
Governor offering submission. For the third time Ingoldesby was
ordered to demand the possession of the fort. This time the garrison
yielded and Leisler was put under arrest.
With Milborne, now his son-in-law, and eight others, Leisler was
arraigned before a court having inveterate royalists as judges. Two
insurgents were acquitted. Six made their defense, were convicted of
high treason, and were reprieved. Leisler and Milborne declined to
plead and appealed to the King. They were, however, condemned and
sentenced to death. Sloughter was reluctant to sign the
death-warrants; but his associates, more particularly Bayard, who had
been imprisoned by Leisler, were determined on the execution. It is
maintained that the Governor's signature was obtained at a banquet when
he was under the influence of liquor, and that an officer stole with
the warrant to the prison and ordered the victims led out for immediate
execution. Be this as it may, Sloughter's compunctions were overcome
and the death-warrants signed.
{164}
The scaffold was erected at the lower end of the park and weeping
people thronged about the victims. Leisler's dying speech, which was
marked by neither anger nor bitterness, affirmed that he had no other
aim than "to maintain against Popery or any schism or heresy whatever
the interest of our Sovereign Lord and Lady and the Reformed Protestant
Churches" in these parts. The drop fell, the populace rushed up to
claim some relics of their leader, the bodies were taken down,
beheaded, and buried, and so the worthless Sloughter thought to make an
end of "a troublesome fellow."
But the Leisler blood still flowed in the veins of the dead man's son,
who never ceased fighting till in 1695 the attainder on the estate was
removed. This action of the English Parliament was tantamount to a
confession that Leisler had been unjustly accused, tried, and hanged,
and that these, the only people ever put to death for political reasons
on the soil of New York, died as misguided martyrs, not as criminal
conspirators.
{165}
CHAPTER X
PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES
Sloughter did not live long to enjoy his triumph over Leisler, and his
death came so suddenly that the anti-Leislerites raised their eyebrows
and whispered "poison," while the Leislerites shrugged their shoulders
and sneered "delirium tremens." Neither faction seemed particularly
reluctant to part with him.
Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, who was sent over from England as the next
Governor, arrived in New York in the summer of 1692. His rule is
chiefly memorable for the founding of Trinity Church and for the
encouragement which he gave to piracy. These strangely differing
activities were both obnoxious to the Dutch burghers, who were almost
as strongly opposed to the Church of England as to that of Rome, and
who suspected the Governor of conniving at the practice of piracy or at
least of closing his eyes to the source of the {166} doubloons of
Spain, the louis d'or of France, and other strange coin which at this
epoch had begun to circulate together with ivory and sandalwood in the
little town at the tip of Manhattan Island.
In one sense Fletcher cannot be held responsible for the existence of
piracy in the colony or on the high seas. The institution was as old
as navigation. Moreover the issuance of letters of marque in the war
with Spain had legalized privateering, which was so near akin to piracy
that it was often hard to distinguish between the two. Even royalty
was not above accepting a share in the questionable spoils of the sea,
as in the well-known case of Queen Elizabeth and the booty which Drake
brought home.
It is easy, therefore, to guess the source of the Eastern rugs, the
carved teakwood furniture, and stuffs from India looms which adorned
the houses of the rich men of New York. On the streets pirate captains
were pointed out as celebrities. One of them, Edward Coates, presented
Madam Fletcher with jewels, silks, and cashmere shawls. Thomas Tew,
another "filibustier," is described by a contemporary as a slight, dark
man about forty years of age, who wore a uniform consisting of a blue
jacket bordered with gold lace and short {167} trousers of white linen
covering his legs to the knee, below which came embroidered stockings.
Around his neck he wore a chain of beaten gold and from his belt
protruded a dagger's hilt set with sparkling jewels.
These picturesque pirates and privateers swaggered about the taverns in
the shadow of the _Stadt-Huys_ or lounged along the wharves at the
harbor. Everywhere they were the center of attention, and their tales
of adventure were listened to with the most eager interest. But these
adventurers in the end pushed things so far that the Government in
England found itself obliged to take vigorous action against them.
James expressly instructed the provincial Governors Andros and Dongan
to suppress "all pirates and sea rovers," for they had become so bold
in their activities along the Spanish Main that lawful trading was
languishing and merchants were in terror.
Many of the adventurers in the West Indies having been originally
engaged in the honest business of _boucanning_, or smoking fish and
meat after the manner of the Carib savages, they and their piratical
comrades were generally known in Europe as "buchaniers" or
"buccaneers." By the Hollanders they were named "_zee rovers_"; by the
{168} French "_flibustiers_," which was only the Frenchman's way of
pronouncing "freebooter." In 1652 Samuel Sewall established in Boston
a free mint, which attracted the pirates to that town, where they could
bring their booty in gold and silver and have it safely dropped into
the melting-pot beyond the reach of either discovery or recovery. In
1687 Sir Robert Holmes was sent with a squadron to the West Indies to
put a stop to the nefarious trade of the freebooters, and in the next
year Nicholson imprisoned at Boston several pirates whose leader was
"one Petersen." These activities on the part of the authorities had
the effect of driving the "_zee rovers_" from the Caribbean to the East
Indies for their enterprises and from Boston to New York for their
market.
Sea commerce at this time had so far outstripped a naval power adequate
to protect it that piracy grew more and more profitable, and many a
respected merchant held private stock in some more than dubious sea
venture. The coast of Madagascar was a meeting place for pirates and
merchantmen, and there Oriental stuffs, gold, and jewels were exchanged
for rum or firearms, and the merchant vessel returned to New York,
where her {169} goods were sold cheaply and no questions were asked.
One ship sailing from New York laden with Jamaica rum, Madeira wine,
and gunpowder returned with a cargo of slaves and East India goods, and
the voyage was reported to have cleared a net profit of thirty thousand
pounds.
The scandal of "adventuring" continued to grow, and in 1695 Peter De la
Noy wrote thus to the home government:
We have a parcell of pirates in these parts which (people) call the Red
Sea men, who often get great booty of Arabian Gold. His Excellency
gives all due encouragement to these men, because they make all due
acknowledgements to him; one Coats, a captain of this honorable order
presented his Excellency with his ship, which his Excellency sold for
eight hundred pounds and every one of the crew made him a suitable
present of Arabian Gold for his protection; one Captain Twoo who is
gone to the Red Sea upon the same errand was before his departure
highly caressed by His Excellency in his coach and six horses, and
presented with a gold watch to engage him to make New York his port at
his return. Twoo retaliated the kindnesse with a present of Jewells;
but I can't learn how much further the bargain proceeded; time must
shew that.... After this all you will perhaps wonder when I tell you
that this man's bell rings twice a day for prayers and that he appears
with a great affectation of piety; but this is true, and it is as true
that it makes him only more ridiculous, not more respected.
{170} Not only were the buccaneers terrorizing the West Indies, the Red
Sea, and the Madagascar coast, but according to the Albany Records of
1696 "pirates in great numbers infest the Hudson River at its mouth and
waylay vessels on their way to Albany, speeding out from covers and
from behind islands and again returning to the rocky shores, or
ascending the mountains along the river to conceal their plunder."
The Government in England now prepared to take vigorous measures. It
desired to fit out an armed force to suppress the buccaneers; but as
all the regular navy was needed in the war with France it was decided
to organize a stock company in which the King, the Duke of Shrewsbury,
Lord Chancellor Somers, the Earls of Bellomont, Oxford, and Romney,
Robert Livingston, and others took shares, for the purpose of fitting
out a privateer vessel to fight the pirates and at the same time to win
some profit for themselves.
The _Adventure-Galley_, carrying thirty guns and manned by over one
hundred sailors, was fitted out and entrusted to the command of William
Kidd, a sea-captain of New York who chanced to be in London at the time
and who was warmly recommended by Robert Livingston to Lord Bellomont,
{171} who had been appointed to succeed Fletcher as Governor of New
York. He was well known as a bold and skillful sailor, and a man of
wealth and repute in New York, and in his marriage certificate he was
called "Captain William Kidd, Gentleman."
The plan finally formed was that Kidd with a privateer furnished with a
letter of marque and a special commission from the King should cruise
about in search of the pirates and capture them. In pursuance of the
scheme Kidd set sail on the _Adventure-Galley_ and reached New York in
the spring of 1696. He set up placards all over the town asking for
recruits, with the result that a motley crew of adventurers rushed to
take ship in this strange new enterprise. At this time Kidd was living
in one of the handsomest houses in New York, on what is now Liberty
Street. Before this, in 1691, he had married the widow of a fellow
sea-captain, a woman of great respectability, by whom he had one
daughter, and he was known far and wide as a solid and trustworthy
merchant.
His venture seemed bulwarked by every guarantee; but even at that epoch
there were not wanting those who predicted strange things for the
_Adventure-Galley_. Few, however, foresaw any events as strange as
those which actually occurred. After {172} cruising along the American
coast without achieving the capture of any pirate ships Kidd set sail
for the Red Sea and reached the coast of Madagascar in the fall of
1697. Here again he found no trace of the corsairs, who had probably
been forewarned of his coming.
Kidd then took on water and provisions and proceeded to the coast of
Madagascar. Still no pirates. Water and provisions were running low,
and the crew threatened mutiny unless they were allowed to take up the
business of piracy on their own account. Kidd thereupon decided to
yield, and the _Adventure-Galley_ began by capturing several vessels
owned by the Great Mogul, as well as some ships sailing under French
colors. In December, 1698, Kidd captured an East India ship named the
_Quedagh Merchant_. The _Adventure-Galley_ being in bad condition,
Kidd set the crew of the _Quedagh Merchant_ on shore, took possession
of the ship, burned his old one, and set sail in his new vessel for
Madagascar.
In spite of their rich spoils, the mutineers remained sullen, and many
deserted. The men's discontent led to an altercation with William
Moore, a gunner, in the course of which Kidd hit him on the head with a
bucket. The resulting {173} injury proved fatal to Moore and
ultimately resulted in disaster for Kidd. After leaving Madagascar the
pirate captain sailed for the West Indies, and it must have been with a
sinking heart that he received the news which awaited him there. The
piracy of the _Adventure-Galley_ was already known in England, and a
committee of Parliament had been appointed to inquire into the whole
affair. Free pardon for acts committed before May 1, 1699, was offered
by royal proclamation to all pirates who would surrender. But an
ominous exception was made in this proclamation of mercy: Avery, a
notorious buccaneer, and William Kidd were not included.
The cause of this exclusion from grace is not far to seek. It was not
that Kidd was a sinner above all others; but that he had involved great
personages from the King down, and that the Tories were making capital
out of the connection between prominent Whig statesmen and the misdeeds
of Captain Kidd. The outlaw now determined on a course which in a
righteous cause might well have been called bold but which under the
circumstances could only be described as brazen. He bought at the
island of Hispaniola a small sloop which he loaded with gold coin, gold
dust, gems, {174} and other booty and, with what remained of his crew,
he set sail for New York. Thus at San Domingo the _Quedagh Merchant_,
with her fifty guns and her valuable cargo, was abandoned. Her fate
has continued a mystery to this day, and from time to time the search
for the lost booty is still suggested and inaugurated by enthusiasts
for adventure or seekers for gold.
When Kidd drew near New York he found that the Earl of Bellomont had
gone to Boston, and he resolved to follow the Governor to
Massachusetts. Much uncertainty surrounds his course at this time. It
is said that he sailed up Long Island Sound, stopped at Gardiner's
Island, and buried a chest of treasure there, that he presented Mrs.
Gardiner with brocades embroidered with gold threads and dropped jewels
into his wine. It is said that he succeeded in reaching his wife by a
letter, asking her to meet him at Block Island. Rumor has it that from
Narragansett Bay he communicated with Bellomont and informed his
lordship that he, William Kidd, was on board a sloop with ten thousand
pounds' worth of goods and that he was entirely guiltless of the piracy
with which he was charged. It is said that Bellomont replied that, if
Kidd could establish his {175} innocence, he might count on the
Governor's protection.[1]
Amid all these rumors there seems good evidence that Kidd landed in
Boston in July and had the effrontery to offer the Governor a gift of
jewels for Lady Bellomont. With the approval of the Council Bellomont
accepted the gift and handed the gems to a trustee as evidence in the
case against Kidd. The Earl of Bellomont, being a man of sterling
integrity, was naturally sensitive as to his apparent complicity in the
Kidd piracy, refused any further parley, and sent the buccaneer to
England to stand his trial there.
Kidd was held in London for several months pending the collection of
evidence against him, and his trial for piracy and the murder of
William Moore finally began at the Old Bailey in the spring of 1701.
From this point we have the original documents of the state trials and
a complete record of the evidence for and against Kidd. Bellomont is
eliminated as a factor, and it becomes a case of the Crown against
Captain William Kidd and a number of others, for murder and piracy upon
the high seas.
{176}
However we may feel as to Kidd's guilt in the matter of piracy, we can
but realize that, according to the standards of modern times, he was
not given a fighting chance for his life. He was detained in Newgate
Prison and denied all counsel until he had pleaded "guilty" or "not
guilty." In spite of all his protests he was brought to trial on the
first indictment for murder, incidentally the least certain of his
offenses. The jury being sworn, the clerk proceeded with the first
indictment for murder and declared that "the jurors of our sovereign
Lord the King do upon their oath present that William Kidd, late of
London, married, not having the fear of God before his eyes; but being
moved and seduced by the Devil ... did make assault in and upon one
William Moore ... and that the aforesaid William Kidd with a certain
wooden bucket, bound with iron hoops, of the value of eight pence,
which he the said William Kidd then and there held in his right hand,
did violently, feloniously, voluntarily, and of his malice aforethought
beat and strike the aforesaid William Moore in and upon the right part
of the head of him, the said William Moore then and there upon the high
sea in the ship aforesaid and within the jurisdiction of England."
{177}
Several sailors testified to the circumstances of the murder, that Kidd
had called the gunner "a lousy dog" and Moore had replied: "If I am a
lousy dog you have made me so. You have brought me to ruin and many
more." At this, Kidd's temper being roused, he struck Moore with the
bucket, and the gunner died the next day as a result of the blow.
Considering the severity of treatment of mutinous sailors permitted to
ships' officers at that time, there is little reason to think that
under ordinary circumstances Kidd would have been adjudged guilty of
murder for a blow struck in hot blood and under provocation; but the
verdict was certain before the trial had begun. The jury after an
hour's consultation brought in a verdict of guilty, and Kidd was
remanded to Newgate Prison to await trial for piracy.
This second trial took place in May, 1701, and included, beside the
Captain, nine other mariners charged with piracy, in that "they
feloniously did steal, take and carry away the said merchant ship
_Quedagh Merchant_ and the apparel and tackle of the same ship of the
value of four hundred pounds of lawful money of England, seventy chests
of opium, besides twenty bales of raw silk, a hundred bales of calico,
two hundred bales of {178} muslins, two hundred and fifty bales of
sugar and three bales of romels."
Kidd's defense was that the ships captured were sailing under French
passes and therefore lawful prizes according to the terms of his
commission. These passes, he said, had been delivered into Bellomont's
hands. But the Court made no effort to procure these passes or to
inquire further into the matter. The jury was out for a short time
only and brought in their verdict against or for the mariners
separately. All but three were found guilty. In addressing them the
Court said: "You have been tried by the laws of the land and convicted
and nothing now remains but that sentence be passed according to the
law. And the sentence of the law is this: You shall be taken from the
place where you are and be carried to the place from whence you came
and from thence to the place of execution and there be severally hanged
by your necks until you be dead. And may the Lord have mercy on your
souls!"
Captain Kidd was hanged at Execution Dock on May 23, 1701. Thus ended
the most famous pirate of the age. His career so impressed the popular
imagination that a host of legends sprang up concerning him and his
treasure ship, while {179} innumerable doleful ballads were written
setting forth his incredible depravity. Yet it is curious to consider
that, had he died a few years earlier, he would have passed away as an
honored citizen of New York and would have been buried with pomp and
circumstance and the usual laudatory funeral oration.
[1] Bellomont was commissioned Governor of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, as well as of New York.
{180}
CHAPTER XI
COLONIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
While Captain Kidd was still on the high seas and pirates were still
infesting the lower Hudson, the Earl of Bellomont arrived in New York
(in April, 1698), accompanied by his wife and his cousin, John Nanfan,
who had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor. The citizens greeted the
new Governor with every demonstration of delight. The corporation gave
a public banquet and offered a eulogistic address. Bellomont on his
part entered into his task with enthusiasm. In the new Assembly called
in 1699, he spoke of the disorder prevailing in the province, left as
it was with a divided people, an empty treasury, ruined fortifications,
and a few half-naked soldiers. He spoke of the ill repute of New York
as a rendezvous for pirates and said: "It would be hard if I who come
before you with an honest heart and a resolution {181} to be just to
your interests, should meet with greater difficulties in the discharge
of His Majesty's service than those who have gone before me." He
declared it his firm intention that there should be no more
misapplication of the public money, a veiled attack upon Fletcher's
grants of land and privileges which had become a public scandal. He
would, he said, pocket none of the money himself nor permit any
embezzlement of it by others and promised exact accounts to be laid
before the Assembly "when and as often as you require." The Assembly
passed a vote of thanks and voted a six years' revenue. Apparently
everything was auspicious; but the seed of discord was already sown by
Bellomont's early espousal of the Leislerian cause, which was in effect
the cause of the common people.
In the Ecclesiastical Records of the State an account of the
disinterment and reburial of the mutilated remains of Leisler and of
his son-in-law Milborne shows the determination of Bellomont to make
what reparation was possible, in addition to the removal of attainder,
for the injustice done. The document closes with these words:
Yesterday, October 20, [1698] the remains of Commander Jacob Leisler
and of Jacob Milborne [eight years and {182} five months after their
execution and burial] were exhumed, and interred again with great pomp
under our [new] Dutch Church [in Garden Street]. Their weapons and
armorial ensigns of honor were there [in the Church] hung up, and thus,
as far as it was possible, their honor was restored to them. Special
permission to do this had been received by his Honor's son, Jacob
Leisler, from his Majesty. This gave unutterable joy to their families
and to those people who, under him, had taken up arms for our blessed
King William. With this circumstance we trust that the dissensions
which have so long harassed us, will also be buried. To this end our
Right Honorable Governor, my lord the Earl of Bellomont, long wished
for by us, is exerting his good offices. He tries to deal impartially
with all, acting with great fairness and moderation. He has begun [his
administration] by remembering the Lord God; for he has ordered a day
of solemn fasting and prayer throughout the whole land. In a
proclamation of great seriousness, he has exhorted the inhabitants
earnestly to pray for these things [peace among the people] to the
Divine Majesty. We hope the Lord will bestow his gracious blessings
and grace, upon your Reverences, with all our hearts.
This proceeding on the part of Bellomont, combined with the appointment
to office of prominent Leislerians and the dismissal of some of their
opponents, arrayed at once a formidable body of important citizens
against him. Their numbers were augmented by the people who had
profited by {183} unlawful privileges won from Fletcher and now
stripped from them by Bellomont; but the Governor pursued his course
undaunted either by the threats or by the taunts cast against him as a
partner of the pirate, Captain Kidd. So beloved was Bellomont by the
people and so strongly intrenched by influence in the Government at
home that he could probably have carried through the reforms which he
had at heart; but his untimely death in 1701, after a brief rule of
three years, put an end to all his far-reaching schemes for the good of
the colonies.
His death was followed by a condition approaching civil war between the
followers of Leisler and their foes. In 1702 Queen Anne, who had
recently ascended the throne, appointed as Governor her relative,
Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury. He suppressed the Leislerians and exalted
the aristocratic party, thereby restoring order but at the same time
bringing odium upon his cause by his personal vices. Cornbury was a
type of everything that a colonial governor should not be, a scamp, a
spendthrift, and a drunkard. Relying upon his relationship to Queen
Anne, he felt himself superior to the ordinary restraints of
civilization. He took bribes under guise of gifts, was addicted to all
{184} forms of debauchery, and incidentally proved as foolish as he was
wicked, one of his amusements, it is said, being that of parading the
streets of New York in the evening, clad in woman's attire. His lady
was as unpopular as he and it is said that when the wheels of her coach
were heard approaching the house of any of the wealthy citizens of New
York, the family was hastily set to work hiding the attractive
ornaments to which her ladyship might take a fancy, as she had no
compunction in asking for them as a gift. In an expedition to Albany
in 1702, Cornbury's vanity led him to decorate his barge with brilliant
colors, to provide new uniforms for the crew, and generally to play the
peacock at the expense of the colony. Rumor placed the sum of his
debts at £7000. Moreover he was charged with the embezzlement of £1500
of government money.
A long-suffering community finally demanded the recall of Lord Cornbury
and demanded it with the same insistence which was to make itself felt
in revolution in the last half of the century. As is usual with
sovereigns when any right is demanded with sufficient firmness, Queen
Anne was graciously pleased to withdraw Lord Cornbury in 1708. On the
arrival of his successor, Cornbury was placed {185} by indignant
creditors in the charge of the sheriff, and was held in custody until
the news of his succession to the earldom of Clarendon reached the
colony. The library, furniture, and pictures of the Queen's cousin
were sold at auction, while the ex-Governor skulked back to England to
make the best possible showing as to his appropriation of public moneys
to private uses. We can picture him wiping his eyes in pathetic
deprecation, as he exclaimed: "If the Queen is not pleased to pay me,
the having the Government of New Jersey, which I am persuaded the Queen
intended for my benefit, will prove my ruin!"
Lord Lovelace, Cornbury's successor, demanded a permanent revenue. But
recent experience had taught the colonists to hold the financial power
in their own hands and they consented only to an annual appropriation,
thus making the salary of the Governor dependent on his good conduct.
What would have been the result of this clash of interests will never
be known, since Lord Lovelace died on May 5, 1709, the same day on
which the act was passed.
Major Richard Ingoldesby, Leisler's old enemy, now came into power and
held the reins for a few months, until mismanagement of an expedition
{186} against Canada caused such indignation that he was withdrawn and
Robert Hunter became Governor in 1710. Although of humble Scotch
parentage he had risen to prominence in English society, numbering
Swift and Addison among his friends and being married to Lady Hay,
whose influence had procured for him successive positions of importance
which culminated in this appointment.
With a view to encouraging the production of naval stores and obtaining
a profit for the English Government, Hunter brought over at the expense
of the Crown several thousand Palatines, German inhabitants of the
Rhine valley harried by the French, thereby adding another alien
element to the cosmopolitan population. The British Government
appropriated the sum of £10,000 for the project and agreed not only to
transport the emigrants but to maintain them for a time in return for
their labor. These Palatines settled on both banks of the Hudson in
four villages on lands belonging to Robert Livingston, and in three on
those belonging to the Crown and situated on the west side of the river.
Authorities differ so widely in respect to the treatment of these
German immigrants that it seems only fair to present both sides. One
shows {187} Hunter working in the interest of the English Government
against that of the colony and represents the movement as a clever plan
on the part of the Governor to stimulate the production of tar and
turpentine, to contribute to the government income, and to prevent the
manufacture of wool, linen, and cotton goods, which at that time were
largely bought in England. When Hunter found that the income did not
meet the outlay, it is said, he notified the newcomers that they "must
shift for themselves but not outside the province."
On the other hand, the Governor asserted that dwellers in the lower
Palatinate of the Rhine, when driven from their homes by the French,
begged the English Government to give them homes in America; that Queen
Anne graciously agreed that the Palatines should be transported to New
York at the expense of the English with the understanding that they
were to work out the advance payment and also the food and lodgings
provided by the State and by Livingston; but that the Palatines proved
lazy and failed to carry out their contract.
All accounts agree, however, in describing the hard lot of these
unfortunate exiles. Their ocean voyage was long and stormy with much
fatal {188} illness. The sites selected for their settlements were not
desirable. The native pine was found unsuited to the production of tar
in large quantities. They soon discovered that they would never be
able to pay for their maintenance by such unprofitable labor.
Moreover, the provisions given them were of inferior quality; and they
were forced to furnish men for an expedition against Canada while their
women and children were left either to starvation or to practical
servitude. In this desperate situation some of the Palatines turned
from their fellow Christians to the native savages, and their appeal
was not in vain. The Indians gave them permission to settle at
Schoharie, and many families removed thither in defiance of the
Governor, who was still bent on manufacturing tar and pitch. But the
great majority remained in the Hudson valley and eventually built homes
on lands which they purchased.
The climate of New York disagreed with Hunter, and his mental
depression kept pace with his physical debility. After six years of
hopeless effort, he was obliged to admit the failure of his plans to
produce naval stores. In 1710 he reported of the locality that it "had
the finest air to live upon; but not for me"; again he says that {189}
Sancho Panza is a type for him, since that in spite of every effort to
do his duty no dog could be worse treated. It is easy to understand
that a member of the Pope-Swift-Bolingbroke circle in England should
have found the social atmosphere of early New York far from
exhilarating; and it is equally easy to comprehend that the pioneers of
the New World resented his mismanagement of the campaign of 1711
against Canada and his assertion of the English Government's right to
tax the colonists without the consent of the colonial Governments. But
perhaps Hunter and the people appreciated each other more than either
realized, for when he took leave in 1719 his words were warmly
affectionate and his address embodied the exhortation: "May no strife
ever happen amongst you but that laudable emulation who shall approve
himself the most zealous servant and most dutiful subject of the best
of Princes." And in response to this farewell address the colony of
New York assured Governor Hunter that he had governed well and wisely,
"like a prudent magistrate, like an affectionate parent," and that the
good wishes of his countrymen followed him wherever he went.
It would be pleasant to dwell on this picture of {190} mutual
confidence and regard, but the rude facts of history hurry us on to
quite different scenes. William Burnet, son of the Bishop of
Salisbury, continued the policy of his predecessor, it is true, and
lived on unusually amicable terms with the Assembly. He identified
himself with the interests of the province by marrying the daughter of
a prosperous Dutch merchant and by prohibiting the fur trade between
Albany and Canada; yet even Burnet clashed with the Assembly on
occasion. And when after an interval William Cosby became Governor,
the worst abuses of executive power returned, fomenting quarrels which
reached a climax in the famous Zenger trial.
The truth was that no matter how popular a governor might be, clashes
were bound to occur between him and the representatives of the people
whom he governed, because they represented divergent interests. The
question of revenue was an ever-recurring cause of trouble. Without
adequate funds from the home Government, the Governor looked to the
Assembly for his salary as well as for grants to carry on the
administration of the province. No matter how absolute the authority
conferred by his commission and his instructions, the Governor must bow
to the lower {191} house of the provincial Legislature, which held the
purse strings.
Under Sloughter, Fletcher, Bellomont, and Cornbury the Assembly had
voted revenues for a term of years. But when Cornbury appropriated to
his own uses £1000 out of the £1800 granted for the defense of the
frontiers and when in addition he pocketed £1500 of the funds
appropriated for the protection of the mouth of the Hudson, the
Assembly grew wary. Thereafter for four successive years it made only
annual appropriations, and, wiser still by 1739, it voted supplies only
in definite amounts for special purposes. Short-sighted the Assembly
often was, sometimes in its parsimony leaving the borders unprotected
and showing a disposition to take as much and to give as little as
possible--a policy that was fraught with grave peril as the French and
Indian War drew on apace.
The growing insubordination of the province gave more than one governor
anxious thought. Governor Hunter wrote warningly to friends in
England: "The colonies are infants at their mother's breasts and will
wean themselves when they become of age." And Governor Clinton was so
incensed by the contumacy of the Assembly that he said bluntly: "Every
branch of this {192} legislature may be criminal in the eyes of the
law, and there is a power able to punish you and that will punish you
if you provoke that power to do it by your behaviour. _Otherwise you
must think yourselves independent of the crown of Great Britain!_"
{193}
CHAPTER XII
THE ZENGER TRIAL
Among the children of the Palatines imported by Governor Hunter in 1710
was a lad of thirteen by the name of John Peter Zenger. Instead of
proceeding to the Palatine colony, his widowed mother and her little
family remained in New York. There Peter was bound apprentice to
William Bradford, then a well-known printer, for a term of eight years,
at the end of which time he set up an office of his own. He evidently
found himself hard pressed for the means of living, since one finds him
in 1732 applying to the consistory of the Dutch Church of New York and
proposing that, since he had so long played the organ without
recompense, he might take up a voluntary subscription from the
congregation and that the members of the consistory should head the
paper as an example to others. The consistory agreed to allow him
provisionally the sum of six pounds, New York {194} currency, to be
paid by the church masters and promised that they would speak with him
further on the subject of his seeking subscriptions in the
congregation, a favor for which John Peter was duly grateful.
Governor William Cosby, as he drove in his coach on a Sunday to Trinity
Church, or as he walked in stately raiment, attended by a negro servant
who carried his prayer-book on a velvet cushion, could have little
dreamed that the young printer striding past him on his way to play the
organ in the old Dutch Church was destined to be the instrument of His
Excellency's downfall; but the time was not far off when this David,
armed only with a blackened type of his printer's form, was to set
forth against this Goliath. All flaming convictions have a tendency to
cool into cant, and "the Freedom of the Press" has so long been a
vote-catching phrase that it is hard nowadays to realize that it was
once an expression of an ideal for which men were willing to die but
which they scarcely hoped to achieve.
When Colonel Cosby, former Governor of Minorca, came over the seas in
1732, to become Governor of New York, he brought with him a none too
savory reputation. All that he seemed {195} to have learned in his
former executive post was the art of conveying public funds to private
uses. His government in New York sustained his reputation: it was as
high-handed as it was corrupt. He burned deeds and strove to overthrow
old land-patents, in order that fees for new ones might find their way
into his pocket. "Cosby's Manor," a vast tract of land in the Mohawk
Valley, bore testimony to the success of his methods in acquiring
wealth.
Upon the death of Cosby's predecessor, John Montgomerie, in 1731, Rip
van Dam, as president of the Council, had assumed control of the
affairs of the province until the arrival of the new Governor. At the
close of his term, which had lasted a little more than a year, the
Council passed warrants giving Rip van Dam the salary and the fees of
the office for the time of his service. When Cosby appeared he
produced an order from the King commanding that the perquisites of the
Governor during the interregnum be equally divided between him and Van
Dam. On the authority of this document, Cosby demanded half of the
salary which Van Dam had received. "Very well," answered the stalwart
Dutchman, "but always provided that you share with me on the same {196}
authority the half of the emoluments which you have received during the
same period."
The greedy Governor maintained that this was a very different matter.
Nevertheless he was somewhat puzzled as to how to proceed legally with
a view to filling his purse. Since he was himself Chancellor, he could
not sue in chancery. He did not dare to bring a suit at common law, as
he feared that a jury would give a verdict against him. Under these
circumstances Cosby took advantage of a clause in the commissions of
the judges of the Supreme Court which seemed to constitute them Barons
of the Exchequer, and he therefore directed that an action against Van
Dam be brought in the name of the King before that court. The Chief
Justice, who had held office for eighteen years, was Lewis Morris. Van
Dam's counsel promptly took exception to the jurisdiction of the court
and Morris sustained their plea, whereupon Cosby removed Morris as
Chief Justice. Cosby's party included De Lancey, Philipse, Bradley,
and Harrison, while Alexander, Stuyvesant, Livingston, Cadwallader
Golden, and most of the prominent citizens, supported Van Dam. The
people of New York were now awakening to the fact that this was no
petty quarrel between two men as to which {197} should receive the
larger share of government moneys, but that it involved the much larger
question of whether citizens were to be denied recourse to impartial
courts in the defense of their rights.
The only paper published in the province, the _New York Weekly
Gazette_, established in 1725, was entirely in Cosby's interest, and
the Van Dam party seemed powerless. They determined, however, to
strike at least one blow for freedom, and as a first step they
established in 1733 a paper known as the _New York Weekly Journal_, to
be published by John Peter Zenger, but to be under the control of far
abler men. Morris, Alexander, Smith, and Golden were the principal
contributors to the new paper, and in a series of articles they
vigorously criticized the Governor's administration, particularly his
treatment of Van Dam. The Governor and Council in high dudgeon at once
demanded the punishment of the publisher. They asked the Assembly to
join them in prosecuting Zenger, but the request was laid upon the
table. The Council then ordered the hangman to make a public bonfire
of four numbers of the _Weekly Journal_; but the mayor and the aldermen
declared the order illegal and refused to allow it to {198} be carried
out. Accordingly the offending numbers of the _Journal_ were burned by
a negro slave of the sheriff in the presence of Francis Harrison, the
recorder, and some other partizans of Cosby, the magistrates declining
to be present at the ceremony. Whatever satisfaction the Governor and
his adherents could gain from the burning of these copies of the
_Journal_ was theirs; but their action served only to make them both
more ridiculous and more despicable in the eyes of the people.
Not long after this episode Zenger was arrested upon order of the
Council and thrown into the jail, which was at that time in the City
Hall on the site of the present United States Sub-Treasury building on
Wall Street. Zenger was denied the use of pens, ink, or paper. The
grand jury refused to indict him. But Cosby's attorney-general filed
an "information" against Zenger for "false, scandalous, malicious and
seditious libels."
Public interest was now transferred from Van Dam to Zenger, and the
people saw him as their representative, robbed of his right of free
speech and imprisoned on an "information" which was in form and
substance an indictment without action of a grand jury. Months elapsed
while Zenger was kept in prison. His counsel, Smith and Alexander,
{199} attacked two judges of the court before which he was to be tried,
on the ground that they were irregularly appointed, the commissions of
two of them, Chief Justice De Lancey and Judge Philipse, running
"during pleasure" instead of "during good behavior" and having been
granted by the Governor without the advice or consent of his Council.
The anger of the judges thus assailed was expressed by De Lancey, who
replied: "You have brought it to that point, gentlemen, that either we
must go from the bench or you from the bar," wherewith he summarily
ordered the names of the two distinguished lawyers stricken from the
list of attorneys.
This was obviously a heavy blow to Zenger, as the only other lawyer of
note in New York was retained in the interests of Cosby and his
faction. But Zenger's friends never ceased their determined efforts in
his behalf, and Smith and Alexander remained active in counsel if not
in court. Meanwhile the judges appointed an insignificant attorney,
John Chambers by name, to act for Zenger and fancied that their
intrigue was sure of success.
The trial came on before the Supreme Court sitting on August 4, 1735,
De Lancey acting as Chief Justice, Philipse as second judge, and {200}
Bradley as attorney-general. Chambers pleaded "not guilty" on behalf
of his client; but to the throng who crowded the court-room to
suffocation, Zenger's case must have looked black indeed. There was no
question that he had published the objectionable articles, and
according to the English law of the day the truth of a libel could not
be set up as a defense. It was even some years later that Lord
Mansfield upheld the amazing doctrine that "the greater the truth the
greater the libel." A part of the importance of the Zenger trial lies
in its sweeping away in this part of the world the possibility of so
monstrous a theory.
A great and overwhelming surprise, however, awaited the prosecutors of
Zenger. The secret had been well kept and apparently every one was
amazed when there appeared for the defense one Andrew Hamilton, a
citizen of Philadelphia, of venerable age and the most noted and able
lawyer in the colonies. From this moment he became the central figure
of the trial and his address was followed with breathless interest. He
touched upon his own age and feebleness with consummate tact and
dramatic effect:
You see that I labour under the weight of years, and am borne down with
great infirmities of body; yet, old and {201} weak as I am, I should
think it my duty, if required, to go to the utmost part of the land,
where my service could be of use in assisting to quench the flame of
prosecutions upon _information_ set on foot by the government, to
deprive a people of the right of remonstrating (and complaining too) of
the arbitrary attempts of men in power. Men who injure and oppress the
people under their administration provoke them to cry out and complain,
and then make that very complaint the foundation for new oppressions
and prosecutions. I wish I could say there were no instances of this
kind. But to conclude: the question before the court, and you,
gentlemen of the jury, is not of small nor private concern; it is not
the cause of a poor printer, nor of New York alone, which you are now
trying. No! It may in its consequence affect every freeman that lives
under a British government on the main of America! It is the best
cause. It is the cause of liberty, and I make no doubt but your
upright conduct this day will not only entitle you to the love and
esteem of your fellow-citizens, but every man who prefers freedom to a
life of slavery will bless and honour you, as men who have baffled the
attempt of tyranny, and by an impartial and uncorrupt verdict have laid
a noble foundation for securing to ourselves, our posterity, and our
neighbors, that to which nature and the laws of our country have given
us a right--the liberty both of exposing and opposing arbitrary power
... by speaking and writing _truth_!
With scathing irony he fell upon the theory that truth was no defense
for libel:
{202} If a libel is understood in the large and unlimited sense urged
by Mr. Attorney, there is scarce a writing I know that may not be
called a libel, or scarce any person safe from being called to account
as a libeller; for Moses, meek as he was, libelled Cain, and who is it
that has not libelled the devil? For according to Mr. Attorney, it is
no justification to say that one has a bad name. Echard has libelled
our good King William; Burnet has libelled among others, King Charles
and King James; and Rapin has libelled them all. How must a man speak
or write, or what must he hear, read, or sing? Or when must he laugh,
so as to be secure from being taken up as a libeller? I sincerely
believe that were some persons to go through the streets of New York
nowadays and read a part of the Bible, if it were not known to be such,
Mr. Attorney, with the help of his innuendoes, would easily turn it
into a libel. As for instance, the sixteenth verse of the ninth
chapter of Isaiah: _The leaders of the people cause them to err, and
they that are led by them are destroyed_. But should Mr. Attorney go
about to make this a libel, he would treat it thus: "The leaders of the
people (innuendo, the governor and council of New York) cause them
(innuendo, the people of this province) to err, and they (meaning the
people of the province) are destroyed (innuendo, are deceived into the
loss of their liberty)," which is the worst kind of destruction. Or,
if some person should publicly repeat, in a manner not pleasing to his
betters, the tenth and eleventh verses of the fifty-sixth chapter of
the same book, there Mr. Attorney would have a large field to display
his skill in the artful application of his innuendoes. The words are,
"His watchmen are all blind, they are ignorant; yes, they are greedy
dogs, that {203} can never have enough." But to make them a libel,
there is according to Mr. Attorney's doctrine, no more wanting but the
aid of his skill in the right adapting of his innuendoes. As for
instance, "His watchmen (innuendo, the governor's council and Assembly)
are blind; they are ignorant (innuendo, will not see the dangerous
designs of His Excellency); yea they (meaning the governor and council)
are greedy dogs which can never have enough (innuendo, enough of riches
and power)."
Thus Hamilton skillfully appealed to the independent principles of the
jury. There was no note, satiric, pathetic, or patriotic, which he did
not strike. Overwhelmed by the torrent of his eloquence, Bradley, the
Attorney-General, scarcely attempted a reply. The Chief Justice stated
that the jury might bring in a verdict on the fact of publication and
leave it to the Court to decide whether it were libelous. But Hamilton
was far too wary to be caught thus. "I know, may it please your
Honor," said he, "the jury may do so; but I do likewise know that they
may do otherwise. I know they have the right, beyond all dispute, to
determine both the law and the fact, and where they do not doubt the
law, they ought to do so." Nevertheless the Chief Justice charged the
jury:
Gentlemen of the Jury: The great pains Mr. Hamilton has taken, to show
you how little regard juries are {204} to pay to the opinion of the
judges, and his insisting so much upon the conduct of some judges in
trials of this kind, is done, no doubt, with a design that you should
take but very little notice of what I might say upon this occasion. I
shall, therefore, only observe to you that, as the facts or words in
the information are confessed; the only thing that can come in question
before you is whether the words set forth in the information, make a
libel. And that is a matter of law, no doubt, and which you may leave
to the Court.
But the show of authority and the attempt at allurement were all in
vain. The jury took but a few moments to deliberate and returned with
the verdict of "not guilty." The roar of applause which shook the
court-room was more than a tribute to the eloquence of the aged counsel
who had accepted an unpopular case without fees because he felt that he
was working for the cause of freedom. It was more than a tribute to
the poor printer who had risked everything in the same cause. It was
the spirit of the barons at Runnymede, of the Long Parliament, of the
Revolution of 1688, of Patrick Henry of Virginia when he cried: "Give
me liberty or give me death!"
The Court, divided between wrath and surprise, strove to check the wave
of applause and threatened with imprisonment the leader of the cheers;
{205} but a son-in-law of ex-Chief Justice Lewis Morris succeeded in
making himself heard, and declared that cheers were as lawful there as
in Westminster Hall, where they had been loud enough over the acquittal
of the seven bishops in 1688. Upon this the applause broke out again,
and Hamilton was acclaimed the people's champion. A dinner was given
in his honor and the freedom of the city was bestowed upon him. When
he entered his barge for the return journey to Philadelphia, flags
waved, cannon boomed, and hurrahs resounded from all quarters.
{206}
CHAPTER XIII
THE NEGRO PLOTS
As early as the eighteenth century New York had become a cosmopolitan
town. Its population contained not only Dutch and English in nearly
equal numbers, but also French, Swedes, Jews, Negroes, and sailors,
travelers from every land. The settled portion of the city, according
to a map of 1729, extended as far north as Beekman Street on the East
Side and as far as Trinity Church on the West Side. A few blocks
beyond the church lay Old Wind Mill Lane touching King's Farm, which
was still open country. Here Broadway shook off all semblance to a
town thoroughfare and became a dusty country road, meeting the
post-road to Boston near the lower end of the rope walk. "The cittie
of New York is a pleasant, well-compacted place," wrote Madam Knight,
who journeyed on horseback from Boston over this post-road and who
recorded her experiences in an entertaining {207} journal. "The
buildings brick generally, very stately and high, though not altogether
like ours in Boston. The bricks in some of the houses are of divers
coullers and laid in checkers, being glazed look very agreeable. The
inside of them are neat to admiration."
Besides its welcoming houses set among spreading trees, New York
possessed public buildings of dignity and distinction. There was
Trinity Church, whose tall steeple was one of the first landmarks to
catch the traveler's eye as he journeyed down the river from Albany.
The new City Hall, dating from Bellomont's time and standing on a site
at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets, given by Colonel Abraham de
Peyster, was also a source of pride. With its substantial wings and
arched colonnade in the center it was quite imposing. Here the
Assembly, Council, and Court sat. Here, too, were offices and a
library. But the cellar was used as a dungeon and the attic as a
common prison.
New markets and wharves told of the growing commerce of the city and
province. On every hand were evidences of luxurious living. There
were taverns and coffee-houses where gold flowed in abundant streams
from the pockets of pirates and smugglers, and in the streets
crest-emblazoned {208} family coaches, while sedan chairs were borne by
negro slaves along the narrow brick pathways in the center of the town.
The dress of the people told the same story of prosperity. The streets
of the fashionable quarter around Trinity Church were fairly ablaze
with gay costumes. Men of fashion wore powdered wigs and cocked hats,
cloth or velvet coats reaching to the knee, breeches, and low shoes
with buckles. They carried swords, sometimes studded with jewels, and
in their gloved hands they held snuff-boxes of costly material and
elaborate design. The ladies who accompanied them were no less gaily
dressed. One is described as wearing a gown of purple and gold,
opening over a black velvet petticoat and short enough to show green
silk stockings and morocco shoes embroidered in red. Another wore a
flowered green and gold gown, over a scarlet and gold petticoat edged
with silver. Everywhere were seen strange fabrics of oriental design
coming from the holds of mysterious ships which unloaded
surreptitiously along the water front.
The members of one class alone looked on all this prosperous life with
sullen discontent--the negro slaves whose toil made possible the
leisure of their owners. These strange, uncouth Africans seemed {209}
out of place in New York, and from early times they had exhibited
resentment and hatred toward the governing classes, who in turn looked
upon them with distrust. This smoldering discontent of the blacks
aroused no little uneasiness and led to the adoption of laws which,
especially in the cities, were marked by a brutality quite out of
keeping with the usual moderation of the colony. When Mrs. Grant wrote
later of negro servitude in Albany as "slavery softened into a smile,"
she spoke in the first place from a narrow observation of life in a
cultivated family, and in the second place from scant knowledge of the
events which had preceded the kind treatment of the negroes.
In 1684 an ordinance was passed declaring that no negroes or Indian
slaves above the number of four should meet together on the Lord's Day
or at any other time or at any place except on their master's service.
They were not to go armed with guns, swords, clubs, or stones on
penalty of ten lashes at the whipping-post. An act provided that no
slave should go about the streets after nightfall anywhere south of the
Collect without a lighted lantern "so as the light thereof could be
plainly seen." A few years later Governor Cornbury ordered the
justices of the peace in King's County to seize and {210} apprehend all
negroes who had assembled themselves in a riotous manner or had
absconded from their masters.
In 1712, during the Administration of Governor Robert Hunter, a group
of negroes, perhaps forty in number, formed a plot which justified the
terror of their masters, though it was so mad that it could have
originated only in savage minds. These blacks planned to destroy all
the white people of the city, then numbering over six thousand.
Meeting in an orchard the negroes set fire to a shed and then lurked
about in the shadows, armed with every kind of weapon on which they
could lay hands.
As the negroes had expected, all the citizens of the neighborhood,
seeing the conflagration, came running to the spot to fight the flames.
The blacks succeeded in killing nine men and wounding many more before
the alarm reached the fort. Then of course the affair ended. The
slaves fled to the forests at the northern end of the island; but the
soldiers stationed sentries and then hunted down the negroes, beating
the woods to be sure that none escaped. Six of the negroes, seeing
that their doom was sealed, killed themselves, and the fate of the
captives showed that they well knew what mercy {211} to expect at the
hands of the enraged whites. Twenty-one were put to death, one being
broken on the wheel and several burned at the stake, while the rest
were hanged.
After this experience of the danger attending the holding of slaves,
the restrictions upon the negroes grew even more irksome and the
treatment they received more that of outcasts. For instance, a slave
must be buried by daylight, without pallbearers and with not more than
a dozen negroes present as mourners.
In spite of bright spots in the picture the outlook grew constantly
darker; a mistrust ready to develop on slight provocation into terror
perturbed the whites; and every rumor was magnified till there reigned
a panic as widespread as that caused by the reports of witchcraft in
New England. At length in 1741 the storm burst. One March night,
while a gale was sweeping the city, a fire was discovered on the roof
of the Governor's house in the fort. Church bells sounded the alarm
and firemen and engines hurried to the spot; but it was hopeless to try
to extinguish the flames, which spread to the chapel and to the office
of the secretary over the fort gate, where the records of the colony
were stored. The barracks then caught fire, and in a {212} little over
an hour everything in the fort was destroyed, the hand-grenades
exploding as they caught fire and spreading destruction in every
direction.
A month later a fire broke out at night near the Vlei Market. A bucket
brigade was formed and the fire was extinguished. On the same night
the loft in a house on the west side of the town was found to be in
flames, and coals were discovered between two straw beds occupied by a
negro. The next day coals were found under the coach-house of John
Murray on Broadway, and on the day following a fire broke out again
near the Vlei Market. Thus the townsfolk were made certain that an
incendiary plot was on foot. Of course every one's thoughts flew to
the negro slaves as the conspirators, especially when a Mrs. Earle
announced that she had overheard three negroes threatening to burn the
town.
The authorities were as much alarmed as the populace and at once leaped
to the conclusion that the blame for the incendiarism, of which they
scarcely paused to investigate the evidence, was to be divided between
the Roman Catholics and the negroes, who without reasonable grounds had
so long constituted their chief terror.
{213}
The Common Council offered pardon and a reward of one hundred pounds to
any conspirator who would reveal the story of the plot and the names of
the criminals involved. Under the influence of this offer one Mary
Burton, a servant in the employ of Hughson, the tavern-keeper, accused
her master, her mistress, their daughter, and a woman of evil
reputation known as Peggy Carey, or Kerry, as well as a number of
negroes, of being implicated in the plot. She said that the negroes
brought stolen goods to the tavern and were protected by Hughson, who
had planned with them the burning and plundering of the city and the
liberation of the slaves. On this unsupported evidence Peggy Carey and
a number of negroes were condemned to execution, and under terror of
death, or encouraged by the hope of pardon, these prisoners made
numerous confessions implicating one another, until by the end of
August twenty-four whites and one hundred and fifty-four negroes had
been imprisoned. Four whites, including Hughson and Peggy Carey, were
executed; fourteen negroes were burned at the stake; eighteen were
hanged, seventy-one transported, and the remainder pardoned or
discharged.
Accusations were also made that the Roman {214} Catholics had stirred
up the plot; and persons of reputation and standing were accused of
complicity. The effect of the popular panic, which rendered impossible
the calm weighing of evidence and extinguished any sense of proportion,
is seen in the letters of Governor George Clarke. On June 20, 1741, he
writes to the Lords of Trade as follows:
The fatal fire that consumed the buildings in the fort and great part
of my substance (for my loss is not less than two thousand pounds), did
not happen by accident as I at first apprehended, but was kindled by
design, in the execution of a horrid Conspiracy to burn it and the
whole town, and to Massacre the people; as appears evidently not only
by the Confession of the Negro who set fire to it, in some part of the
same gutter where the Plumber was to work, but also by the testimony of
several witnesses. How many Conspirators there were we do not yet
know; every day produces new discoveries, and I apprehend that in the
town, if the truth were known, there are not many innocent Negro
men.... I do myself the honor to send your Lordships the minutes taken
at the tryal of Quack who burned the fort, and of another Negro, who
was tryed with him, and their confession at the stake; with some
examinations, whereby your Lordships will see their designs; it was
ridiculous to suppose that they could keep possession of the town, if
they had destroyed the white people, yet the mischief they would have
done in pursuit of their intention would nevertheless have been {215}
great.... Whether, or how far, the hand of popery has been in this
hellish conspiracy, I cannot yet discover; but there is room to suspect
it, by what two of the Negroes have confessed, viz: that soon after
they were spoke to, and had consented to be parties to it, they had
some checks of conscience, which they said, would not suffer them to
burn houses and kill the White people; whereupon those who drew them
into the conspiracy told them, there was no sin or wickedness in it,
and that if they would go to Huson's [Hughson's] house, they should
find a man who would satisfy them; but they say they would not, nor did
go. Margaret Keny [Kerry] was supposed to be a papist, and it is
suspected that Huson and his wife were brought over to it. There was
in town some time ago a man who is said to be a Romish Priest, who used
to be at Huson's but has disappeared ever since the discovery of the
conspiracy and is not now to be found.
Later in the summer the Governor recorded his suspicions as follows:
We then thought it [the] Plot was projected only by Huson [Hughson] and
the Negroes; but it is now apparent that the hand of popery is in it,
for a Romish Priest having been tryed, was upon full and clear evidence
convicted of having a deep share in it.... Where, by whom, or in what
shape this plot was first projected is yet undiscovered; that which at
present seems most probable is that Huson, an indigent fellow of a vile
character, casting in his thoughts how to mend his circumstances,
inticed some Negroes to rob their Masters and to bring the stolen
[goods] to him on {216} promise of reward when they were sold; but
seeing that by this pilfering trade riches did not flow into him fast
enough, and finding the Negroes fit instruments for any villainy, he
then fell upon the schemes of burning the fort and town, and murdering
the people, as the speediest way to enrich himself and them, and to
gain their freedom, for that was the Negroes main inducement.... The
conspirators had hopes given them that the Spaniards would come hither
and join with them early in the Spring; but if they failed of coming,
then the business was to be done by the Conspirators without them; many
of them were christen'd by the Priest, absolved from all their past
sins and whatever they should do in the Plott; many of them sworn by
him (others by Huson) to burn and destroy, and to be secret; wherein
they were but too punctual; how weak soever the scheme may appear, it
was plausible and strong enough to engage and hold the Negroes, and
that was all that the Priest and Huson wanted; for had the fort taken
fire in the night, as it was intended, the town was then to have been
fired in several places at once; in which confusion much rich plunder
might have been got and concealed; and if they had it in view too, to
serve the enemy, they could not have done it more effectually; for this
town being laid in ashes his Majesties forces in the West Indies might
have suffered much for want of provisions, and perhaps been unable to
proceed upon any expedition or piece of service from whence they might
promise themselves great rewards; I doubt the business is pretty nigh
at an end, for since the Priest has been apprehended, and some more
white men named, great industry has been used throughout the town to
discredit the witnesses and prejudice the people {217} against them;
and I am told it has had in a great measure its intended effect; I am
sorry for it, for I do not think we are yet got near the bottom of it,
where I doubt the principal conspirators lie concealed.
With the collapse of the excitement through its own excess, ends the
history of the great negro "plot." Whether it had any shadow of
reality has never been determined. Judge Horsmanden, who sat as one of
the justices during the trials growing out of the so-called plots,
compiled later a record of examinations and alleged confessions whereby
he sought to justify the course of both judges and juries; but the
impression left by his report is that panic had paralyzed the judgment
of even the most honest white men, while among the negroes a still
greater terror, combined with a wave of hysteria, led to boundless
falsification and to numberless unjustified accusations.
{218}
CHAPTER XIV
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON
The story of the French and Indian wars on our border does not fall
within the scope of this chronicle; but in order to understand the
development of New York we must know something of the conditions which
prevailed in the province during that troubled epoch. The penurious
policy pursued by the Dutch and continued by the English left the
colony without defenses on either the northern or southern boundaries.
For a long time the settlers found themselves bulwarked against the
French on the north by the steadfast friendship of the "Six Nations,"
comprising the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the
Senecas, and the Tuscaroras; but at last these trusty allies began to
feel that the English were not doing their share in the war. The lack
of military preparation in New York was inexcusable. The niggardliness
of the Assembly alienated successive governors and {219} justified
Clinton's assertion: "If you deny me the necessary supplies all my
endeavors must become fruitless. I must wash my own hands and leave at
your doors the blood of innocent people."
When the Indians under the leadership of the French actually took the
warpath, the colonists at last awoke to their peril. Upon call of
Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey, acting under instructions of the Lords
of Trade, all the colonies north of the Potomac except New Jersey sent
commissioners to a congress at Albany in June, 1754, to plan measures
of defense and of alliance with the Six Nations.
Albany was still a placid little Dutch town. Mrs. Grant of Laggan in
Scotland, who visited Albany in her girlhood, wrote of it afterward
with a gentle suavity which lent glamour to the scenes which she
described. She pictures for us a little town in which every house had
its garden at the rear and in front a shaded stoop with seats on either
side where the family gathered to enjoy the twilight. "Each family had
a cow, fed in a common pasture at the end of the town. In the evening
they returned all together, of their own accord, with their tinkling
bells hung at their necks, along the wide and grassy street, to their
wonted {220} sheltering trees, to be milked. At one door were young
matrons, at another the elders of the people, at a third the youths and
maidens, gaily chatting or singing together, while the children played
around the trees, or waited by the cows for the chief ingredient of
their frugal supper, which they generally ate sitting on the steps in
the open air."
The court-house of Albany to which the commissioners journeyed by boat
up the Hudson, is described by Peter Kalm, a Swedish traveler and
scientist, as a fine stone building by the riverside, three stories
high with a small steeple containing a bell, and topped by a gilt ball
and weather-vane. From the engraved print which has come down to us,
it seems a barren barrack of a building with an entrance quite
inadequate for the men of distinction who thronged its halls on this
memorable occasion.
In this congress at Albany, Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania and
William Johnson of New York were the dominating figures. The famous
plan of union which Franklin presented has sometimes made historians
forget the services rendered by this redoubtable Colonel Johnson at a
moment when the friendship of the Six Nations was hanging in the
balance. Though gifts had been {221} prepared and a general invitation
had been sent, only a hundred and fifty warriors appeared at Albany and
they held themselves aloof with a distrust that was almost contempt.
"Look at the French!" exclaimed Hendrick, the great chief of the
Mohawks. "They are men. They are fortifying everywhere; but, we are
ashamed to say it, you are all like women--bare and open without any
fortifications." In this crisis all the commissioners deferred to
William Johnson as the one man who enjoyed the complete confidence of
the Six Nations. It was he who formulated the Indian policy of the
congress.
He had been born in Ireland. His mother was Anne Warren, sister to
Captain Peter Warren, who "served with reputation" in the Royal Navy
and afterward became Knight of the Bath and Vice-Admiral of the Red
Squadron of the British Fleet. Captain Warren was less than a dozen
years older than his nephew, whom he regarded with affectionate
interest. He described him as "a spritely boy well grown of good parts
and keen wit but most onruly and streperous," and the sailor added: "I
see the making of a strong man. I shall keep my weather eye on the
lad."
The result of this observation was so favorable {222} that the captain,
who was on station in America, sent for William Johnson to come out and
aid him in the development of a real estate venture. A large tract of
land near the Mohawk River had come into Warren's possession, and as a
sailor Warren naturally found difficulty in superintending land at what
was then a week's journey from the seacoast. "Billy" was his choice as
an assistant, and the boy, who was then twenty-three years old, left
the Old World and in 1738 reached the new plantation where his
life-work lay before him. For this he was admirably equipped by his
Irish inheritance of courage, tact, and humor, by his study of English
law, and by a facility in acquiring languages which enabled him to
master the Mohawk tongue in two years after his arrival in New York.
The business arrangement between Captain Warren and his nephew provided
that Johnson should form a settlement on his uncle's land known as
Warrensbush, at the juncture of Schoharie Kill and the Mohawk, that he
should sell farms, oversee settlers, clear and hedge fields, "girdle"
trees (in order to kill them and let in the sun), purchase supplies,
and in partnership with Warren establish a village store to meet the
necessities {223} of the new colonists and to serve as a
trading-station with the Indians. In compensation for his services he
was to be allowed to cultivate a part of the land for himself, though
it is hard to imagine what time or strength could have been left for
further exertions after the fulfillment of the onerous duties marked
out for him.
A few years after his arrival at Warrensbush he married a young Dutch
or German woman named Catherine Weisenberg, perhaps an indentured
servant whose passage had been prepaid on condition of service in
America. Little is known of the date or circumstances of this
marriage. It is certain only that after a few years Catherine died,
leaving three children, to whom Johnson proved a kind and considerate
father, in spite of an erratic domestic career which involved his
taking as the next head of his household Caroline, niece of the Mohawk
chief Hendrick, and later Molly Brant, sister of the Indian, Joseph
Brant.
Molly Brant, by whom Johnson had eight children, was recognized as his
wife by the Indians, while among Johnson's English friends she was
known euphemistically as "the brown Lady Johnson." She presided over
his anomalous household with dignity and discretion; but it is
noticeable {224} that Johnson, who was so willing to defy public
opinion in certain matters, was sufficiently conventional in others, as
we learn from a description of the daily life of the legitimate
daughters of the house. While Mohawk chiefs, Oneida braves, Englishmen
of title, and distinguished guests of every kind thronged the mansion,
and while the little half-breed children played about the lawns and
disported themselves on the shores of Kayaderosseras Creek close at
hand, "the young ladies" lived in almost conventual seclusion.
The grim baronial mansion where this mixed household made its dwelling
for many years, was called variously Mount Johnson, Castle Johnson, and
Fort Johnson. It was built in 1742 with such massive walls that the
house is still standing in the town of Amsterdam. In 1755, when the
Indian peril loomed large on the horizon, the original defenses were
strengthened, a stockade was built as a further protection, and from
this time on it was called Fort Johnson.
Owing perhaps to Johnson's precautions and the Indian's knowledge of
his character, the fort was not attacked and its owner continued to
dwell in the house until 1762, when, having become one of the richest
men in the colony, he built on a tract {225} of land in Johnstown a
more ambitious, and, it is to be hoped, a more cheerful mansion known
as Johnson Hall. This house was built of wood with wings of stone,
pierced at the top for muskets. On one side of the house lay a garden
and nursery described as the pride of the surrounding country. Here
Johnson lived with an opulence which must have amazed the simple
settlers around him, especially those who remembered his coming to the
colony as a poor youth less than thirty years earlier. He had in his
service a secretary, a physician, a musician who played the violin for
the entertainment of guests, a gardener, a butler, a waiter named
Pontiach, of mixed negro and Indian blood, a pair of white dwarfs to
attend upon himself and his friends, an overseer, and ten or fifteen
slaves.
This retinue of servants was none too large to cope with the unbounded
hospitality which Johnson dispensed. A visitor reports having seen at
the Hall from sixty to eighty Indians at one time lodging under tents
on the lawn and taking their meals from tables made of pine boards
spread under the trees. On another occasion, when Sir William called a
council of the Iroquois at Fort Johnson, a thousand natives gathered,
and Johnson's {226} neighbors within a circuit of twenty miles were
invited to assist in the rationing of this horde of visitors. The
landholders along the Mohawk might well have been glad to share the
burden of Sir William's tribal hospitality, since its purpose was as
much political as social and its results were of endless benefit to the
entire colony.
At last the Indians had found a friend, a white man who understood them
and whom they could understand. He was honest with them and therefore
they trusted him. He was sympathetic and therefore they were ready to
discuss their troubles freely with him. As an Indian of mixed blood
declared to the Governor at Albany in speaking of Sir William: "His
knowledge of our affairs, our laws, and our language made us think he
was not like any other white but an Indian like ourselves. Not only
that; but in his house is an Indian woman, and his little children are
half-breed as I am."
The English therefore were peculiarly fortunate in finding at the most
critical stage of their political dealings with the Indians a
representative endowed with the wisdom and insight of Sir William
Johnson. Unlike the French, he did not strive to force an alien form
of worship upon this primitive people. Unlike the Dutch, he insisted
{227} that business should be carried on as honestly with the natives
as with the white men. Unlike his fellow-countrymen, he constantly
urged adequate preparation for war on the part of the English and
demanded that they should bear their share of the burden. In a written
report at the Albany congress he strongly recommended that inasmuch as
the Six Nations, owing to their wars with the French, had fallen short
both in hunting and planting, they should be provided with food from
the English supplies. Finally he testified to the sincerity of his
convictions by going to the war himself and rendering valuable service
first as colonel and later as major-general. After the Battle of Lake
George, Johnson was knighted by the King and received a grant of £5000
from Parliament. In the same year he was appointed by the Crown "Agent
and Sole Superintendent of the Six Nations and other northern Indians"
inhabiting British territory north of the Carolinas and the Ohio River.
Johnson is described by one who saw him about this time or somewhat
earlier as a man of commanding presence, only a little short of six
feet in height, "neck massive, broad chest and large limbs, great
physical strength, the head large and shapely, {228} countenance open
and beaming with good nature, eyes grayish black, hair brown with tinge
of auburn." His activity took every form and was exerted in every
direction. His documents and correspondence number over six thousand
and fill twenty-six volumes preserved in the State Library. Nor did
these represent his chief activities. He was constantly holding
councils with the native tribes either at Fort Johnson or at the Indian
camps. It was he who kept the Mohawks from joining in Pontiac's
conspiracy which swept the western border; it was he who negotiated the
famous treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1768. In the midsummer of 1774 he
succumbed to an old malady after an impassioned address to six hundred
Iroquois gathered at Johnson Hall.
He was one of the fortunate few whose characters and careers fit
exactly. He found scope for every power that he possessed and he won
great rewards. His tireless energy expressed itself in cultivating
thousands of acres and in building houses, forts, and churches. He
dipped a lavish hand into his abundant wealth and scattered his gold
where it was of the greatest service. He loved hospitality and
gathered hundreds round his board. He was a benevolent autocrat and
nations bowed {229} to his will. He paid homage to his King, and died
cherishing the illusion of the value of prerogative. He was fortunate
in his death as in his life, for he was spared the throes of the mighty
changes already under way, when the King's statue should be pulled down
to be melted into bullets, when New York should merge her identity in
the Union of States, and when the dwellers along the banks of the
Hudson and its tributaries should call themselves no longer Dutch or
English but Americans.
{231}
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The student who has the courage to delve in the _Documents relative to
the Colonial History of the State of New York_, the _Documentary
History of the State of New York_, the ecclesiastical records, the
pioneer journals, and the minutes of early city councils, will not only
reach the fundamental authorities on the history of the settlers on the
Hudson, but will find many interesting incidents of which the dull
titles give no promise.
If the reader prefer to follow a blazed trail, he will find a path
marked out for him in reliable works such as _The History of New
Netherland_ by E. B. O'Callaghan, 2 vols. (1855), _The History of the
State of New York_ by J. R. Brodhead, 2 vols. (1871), _The Narratives
of New Netherland_, admirably edited by J. F. Jameson (1909), _New
York_, a condensed history by E. H. Roberts (1904), John Fiske's _Dutch
and Quaker Colonies in America_, 2 vols. (1899), and William Smith's
_History of the Late Province of New York_ (first published in 1757 and
still valuable).
Many histories of New York City have been written to satisfy the
general reader. Among the larger works are Mrs. M. J. Lamb's _History
of the City of New York_, 2 vols. (1877; revised edition, 1915, in 3
vols.), Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer's _History of the City of New York
in the Seventeenth Century_, 2 vols. (1909), {232} James G. Wilson's
_Memorial History of the City of New York_, 4 vols. (1892), and
_Historic New York_, 2 vols. (edited by M. W. Goodwin, A. C. Royce, and
Ruth Putnam, 1912). Theodore Roosevelt has written a single volume on
New York for the _Historic Towns_ series (1910). In his _New Amsterdam
and its People_ (1902), J. H. Innes has brought together valuable
studies of the social and topographical features of the town under
Dutch and early English rule. I. N. P. Stokes's _Iconography of
Manhattan Island_ (1915) is calculated to delight the soul of the
antiquarian.
One who wishes to turn to the lighter side of provincial life will find
it set forth in attractive volumes such as _Colonial Days in Old New
York_ by A. M. Earle (1915), _The Story of New Netherland_ by W. E.
Griffis (1909), _In Old New York_ by T. A. Janvier (1894), and the
_Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta_ by M. K. Van Rensselaer (1898).
Most rewarding perhaps of all sources are those dealing with the
biographies of the prominent figures in the history of the State, since
in them we find the life of the times illustrated and personalized. E.
M. Bacon in his _Henry Hudson_ (1907) gives us a picture of the great
mariner and the difficulties against which he strove. The _Van
Rensselaer-Bowier Manuscripts_, edited by A. J. F. Van Laer (1908) show
us through his personal letters the Patroon of the upper Hudson and
make us familiar with life on his estates. J. K. Paulding in _Affairs
and Men of New Amsterdam in the Time of Governor Peter Stuyvesant_
(1843) makes the town-dwellers equally real to us, while W. L. Stone's
_Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, 2 vols. (1865), shows us the
pioneer struggles in the Mohawk Valley. In the English _State Trials_
{233} compiled by T. B. Howells, 34 vols. (1828), we read the story of
the famous pirate Captain Kidd, and find it more interesting than many
a work of fiction.
Among the autobiographical accounts of colonial life the most
entertaining are _The Memoirs of an American Lady_ by A. M. Grant
(1809), _A Two Years' Journal in New York, etc._ by Charles Wolley
(1902), and _The Private Journal of Sarah Kemble Knight_, the record of
a journey from Boston to New York in 1704 (1901).
Further bibliographical references will be found appended to the
articles on _Hudson River_, _New York_, and _New York_ (_City_), in
_The Encyclopædia Britannica_, 11th edition.
{235}
INDEX
_Adventure-Galley_, The (ship), 170, 171, 172, 173
Albany, name of Fort Orange changed to, 137; refuses to send delegates
to Fort James, 153; preëminently Dutch, 154; refuses to recognize
Leisler, 154, 156; Leisler sends troops to assistance of, 156; congress
(1754), 219, 220-21; court-house, 220; _see also_ Orange, Fort
Alexander, James, supports Van Dam, 196; contributes to _New York
Weekly Journal_, 197; counsel for Zenger, 198-99
Amersfort, 77
Amsterdam, Fort, established, 54; condition in 1638, 61; becomes Fort
James, 137; _see also_ James, Fort
Andros, Sir Edmund, Governor of New York, 144; asserts authority in New
Jersey, 146-147; recalled, 147; appointed Governor-General of "Dominion
of New England" (1688), 149; imprisoned in Boston, 151; instructed to
suppress piracy, 167
Angola, Paul d', one of the first negro slaves, 25
Archer, John, 140
Arlington, Lord, 139
_Arms of Amsterdam_, The (ship), 26
Avery, buccaneer, 173
Barents, Reymier, 156
Barentsen, Pieter, 54
Bayard, Mrs., sister of Stuyvesant, 86
Bayard, Nicholas, 154, 155, 159, 160, 163
Bear Mountain, replica of _Half Moon_ at foot of, 16
Bears Island fortified, 45
_Beaver_, The (ship), 161
Beeren (Bears) Island fortified, 45
Bellomont, Earl of, in stock company to fit out privateer, 170;
succeeds Fletcher as Governor of New York, 170-71, 180-181; Captain
Kidd communicates with, 174; royal Governor of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, 175 (note); uprightness, 181; espouses Leislerian cause,
181-83; death (1701), 183; revenues under, 191
Berkeley, Lord, 145
Beverwyck, 72
Birds of Hudson region, 28
Bissels, associate of Van Rensselaer, 40
Blagge, Captain, defense of Leisler, 157-59
Block, Adriaen, 135
Block Island, 135, 174
Blommaert, Samuel, 36, 40
Blucker, of Albany, 156
Bogardug, Rev. Everardus, 88-90
Boston, 151, 168
Bradford, William, printer, 193
Bradley supports Cosby, 196
Brant, Molly, 223
Breuckelen (now Brooklyn), 77
Burnet, William, Governor of New York, 190
Burton, Mary, 213
Cabots, The, explorations in Hudson region, 16
Canada, expeditions against, 185-86, 188
Carey (Kerry), Peggy, 213
Carleton, Sir Dudley, English ambassador at The Hague, 132
Caroline, niece of Mohawk chief Hendrick, 223
Carteret, Sir George, part of New Jersey granted to, 145; death (1680),
146
Carteret, Philip, Governor of New Jersey, 146, 147
Casimir, Fort, 130
Catholics, Roman, oppose Leisler, 153-154; accused of inciting negro
plots, 212, 213-17
Chambers, John, 199
_Charter of Liberties and Privileges_, 148
Christina, Fort, 127
Clarke, George, Governor of New York, letter on negro plots, 214-15;
suspicions of, 215-17
Clinton, George, Governor of New York, quoted, 191-92, 219
Coates, Edward, 166
Cod, Cape, 135
Colden, Cadwallader, 196, 197
Colman, John, 6-7
Colve, Captain Anthony, Dutch Governor of New York, 143
Commerce, aim of Dutch in America, 18; with Holland, 24; dubious sea
ventures, 168-169
Congo, Simon, one of the first negro slaves, 25
Connecticut River, 22, 65, 135
Coorn, Nicholas, 45-46
Cornbury, Edward Hyde, Lord, Governor of New York, 183-185; revenues
under, 191
Cornelissen, Jan, 95
Cosby, William, Governor of New York, 190, 194-96
"Cosby's Manor," 195
Curtius, Alexander Carolus, 101
Cuyler, Johannes, of Albany, 156
De Laet, Johan, 11, 40
De Lancey, James, supports Cosby, 196; Chief Justice, 199;
Lieutenant-Governor, 219
De la Montagne, J. M., 95
De la Noy, Peter, 162, 169
Delaware, Swedish colony in, 127-28; _see also_ New Sweden
Delaware Bay, 36
Delaware (or South) River, 22, 51, 59
De Neger, Jan, 35
De Peyster, Colonel Abraham, 207
De Vries, Captain David, quoted, 28; takes up territory on Delaware
Bay, 36; _bouwerie_ of, 39; opinion of Van Twilier, 57; head of
committee of twelve, 64; appearance, 64; treats with Indians, 65-66;
account of building of church, 92-93; visits Governor Printz, 129;
opinion of Eelkens incident, 134
Dongan, Colonel Thomas, Governor of New York, 48, 147, 157; instructed
to suppress piracy, 167
Drisius, Domine Samuel, 86
"Duke's Laws," 138
Dutch East India Company, 17
Dutch West India Company, 20-22, 30, 32, 33-34, 38, 51, 56, 60, 73
Dyckman, 72
Earle, Mrs., overhears negroes plotting, 212
East Indies, pirates in, 168
Education in New Netherland, 93-101
Eelkens, Jacob, 59, 132-35
_Eendragt_, The (ship), 40
Elizabethtown declared a free port, 146
England, war with Holland (1652), 76-77; treaty (1654), 77; sends fleet
to New Netherland, 79-82; war with Holland (1672), 142-43; treaty
(1674), 143-44; takes steps against buccaneers, 170
Esopus, Indian troubles at, 74, 79
Evertsen, Admiral Cornells, 143
Fenwick, land claimant in West Jersey, 146
Flatbush, 77
Fletcher, Colonel Benjamin, Governor of New York, 165; encourages
piracy, 165-66; revenues under, 191
Flushing, 77; religious toleration in, 86
Food resources, 28
Fordham Manor, 140
_Fortune_, The (ship), 18
Francisco, John, one of the first negro slaves, 25
Franklin, Benjamin, at Albany congress, 220
Frederycke (Fredericksen), Kryn, 54
Fur trade, 17, 18-19, 27, 41
Gardiner's Island, Captain Kidd at, 174
Godyn, Samuel, 36, 40
_Good Hope_, The (ship), 45-46
Governor's Island, 60
Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, _Memoirs of an American Lady_, 48; on negro
servitude in Albany, 209; describes Albany, 219-220
Gravesend, 77
_Griffin_, The (ship), 127
Griffis, W. E., defends Van Twiller, 58-59
Gustavus Adolphus, 126
_Half Moon_, The (_Halve Maene_) (ship), anchors in New York harbor,
1-2; description of, 2-5; effect on Indians, 4-5, 7-10; journeys up
Hudson, 10-12; homeward course, 13; Hudson's cabin, 14; puts to sea,
15; replica, 16
Hamilton, Andrew, defends Zenger, 200-05
Harrison, Francis, 196, 198
Hartford, Treaty of, 77
Heckwelder, Rev. John, Moravian missionary, account of arrival of _Half
Moon_, 7-9, 10
Hempstead, 77
Heyn, Peter, 55
Hill, Rowland, quoted, 114
Hobocan Hackingh, 37
Hoboken, 74
Hodgson, Robert, 85
Holland, _see_ United Netherlands
Holmes, Sir Robert, 168
Horsmanden, Judge, 217
Housatonic River discovered, 135
Hudson, Captain Henry, explores Hudson River in _Half Moon_, 1-16;
barters with Indians, 4-5, 10; entertains Indians, 4-5, 8-10, 13-14; at
West Point, 10-11; Irving's description of, 12; fights with Indians,
15; held at Dartmouth, 17
Hudson River, explored, 1-16; "the River of the Steep Hills," 11;
called Mauritius, 22, 23, 29, 132; commerce on, 28-29; overflows, 79;
pirates on, 180
Hughson, tavern-keeper, 213, 215-16
Hunter, Robert, Governor of New York, 186; brings Palatines to New
York, 186-88; resigns, 189; quoted, 191
Hutchiuson, Anne, 65
Huyck, Jan, 90
Indians, effect of _Half Moon_ on, 4-5, 7-10; attack Colman, 6;
friendly at West Point, 10; on _Half Moon_, 13; attempt theft, 14-15;
conflict with, 15, 62-66, 74-75; legal ceremony toward, 36; paid for
lands, 37-38, 53; servants of Minuit kill friendly Indian, 55; Kieft's
troubles with, 62-66; attack New Amsterdam, 74; as neighbors of Dutch,
124-26; treaty signed on Norman's Kill, 125; friendship of the "Six
Nations," 218; take warpath, 219; Sir William Johnson as friend of,
226-27
Ingoldesby, Major Richard, 161, 185-86
Irving, Washington, _see_ Knickerbocker, Diedrich
James, Duke of York and Albany, Lord Proprietor of New York, 137,
144-45; becomes King of England, 148
James, Fort, 137, 143, 153; _see also_ Amsterdam, Fort; Willem
Hendrick, Fort
Jogues, Isaac, Jesuit missionary, describes Rensselaerswyck, 40-41
Johnson, Sir William, at Albany congress, 220; formulates Indian
policy, 221; born in Ireland, 221; described by his uncle, 221; life,
222-24; home, 224-25; hospitality, 225-26; in French and Indian War,
227; knighted, 227; appearance, 227-28; activities, 228; personal
characteristics, 228-29
Johnson, Fort, 224, 228
Joris, Adriaen, 22
Juet, Robert, of Limehouse, quoted, 2, 9
Kalm, Peter, describes courthouse at Albany, 220
_Key of Kalmar_, The (ship), 127
Kidd, Captain William, 170-179
Kieft, William, succeeds Van Twiller, 45; as Governor of New
Netherland, 61-67; character, 61; activities, 61-62; relations with
Indians, 62-66; recalled (1647), 66; drowned, 66; Kuyter and Melyn
against, 69; upheld by Stuyvesant, 69; opposed by Bogardus, 89-90;
raises money for church, 92-93; letter to Minuit, 127-128
Knickerbocker, Diedrich (Irving), description of Henry Hudson, 12;
description of Van Twiller, 58; quoted, 121-122
Knight, Sarah Kemble, quoted, 206-07
Krol, Sebastian, 54, 56-57, 90
Kuyter, Jochem Pietersen, 69
Labor in New Netherland, 27
Leisler, Jacob, 150; calls convention at Fort James, 153; appointed
"Captain of the fort at New York...", 153; Catholics and aristocracy
oppose, 153-54; temporary victory, 154-55; assumes title of
Lieutenant-Governor, 155; demands recognition, 155-56; calls convention
to discuss defense, 156-57; controversy about, 157-60; refuses
surrender of fort, 161-63; finally yields, 163; sentenced to death,
163-64; attainder removed, 164; Bellomont causes reburial, 181-82
_Little Fox_, The (ship), 18
Livingston, Robert, 48, 154, 155, 170, 186, 196
Livingston Manor, 48
Long Island, SO; Dutch on, 22; English on, 78, 135-36; becomes county
of Yorkshire, 138
Loockermans, Govert, 45-46
Lovelace, Colonel Francis, succeeds Nicolls as Governor of New York,
139-40; establishes first mail service, 140-42
Lovelace, Lord, Governor of New York, 185
Luyck, Ægidius, 101
Maasen, Cornelis, 109
Madagascar, meeting place for pirates and merchants, 168-169, 170; Kidd
reaches, 172
Manhattan Island, 29; Hudson leaves, 10; settlers in, 22; purchased
from Indians, 25, 53; reserved for Dutch West Indian Company, 33;
surrendered to England, 80-82; life on, 103
"Mannahattanik," 9
Manors in New York, 32, 34-35, 47-49
Mauritius, (Hudson) River, 22, 23, 29, 132
Maverick, Samuel, 139
May, Cornelis Jacobsen, of Hoorn, 22; first Director-General of New
Netherland, 51
_Meeuwken_, The (ship), 52
Megapolensis, Rev. Johannes, Jr., 40, 86, 87-88, 90, 109
Melyn, Cornelis, 39, 69
Michaelius, Domine Jonas, 26, 88, 96-97, 109
Middleburgh, 77
Milborne, Jacob, 155-56, 162, 163, 181-82
Minuit, Peter, Director-General of New Netherland, 25, 52; recalled
(1632), 45, 56; buys Manhattan Island, 53; builds Fort Amsterdam, 54;
preparations for war, 55; shipbuilding, 66; enters service of Sweden,
56, 126-27; establishes Swedish colony in Delaware, 127-28
Montgomerie, John, Governor of New York, 195
Moore, William, 172-73
Morris, Lewis, Chief Justice, 196, 197
Motley, J. L., quoted, 30-31, 99
Moussart, associate of Van Rensselaer, 40
Murray, John, 212
Myndertsen, Myndert, 36
Nanfan, John, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, 180
Narragansett Bay, 135
Nassau, Fort, 19
Navesink Heights, Hudson passes, 1
Neger, Jan de, 35
Negroes, plot of 1712, 210-11; alleged plots of 1741, 211-17; _see
also_ Slavery
Netherlands, _see_ United Netherlands
New Amsterdam, established (1626), 25, 54; growth of, 29; "staple
right" established at, 61; Indian troubles at, 62-66, 74; municipal
rights given to, 73; in Stuyvesant's time, 75-76; fortification of, 77;
church building in, 91-93; in seventeenth century, 102, 103;
development of, 104-06; class distinction in, 107-08 (note); becomes
New York, 137; _see also_ New York City
New Castle (Del.), 130
New Gottenburg, 129
New Jersey, 65; granted to Berkeley and Carteret, 145-46; enters "the
Dominion of New England," 149
New Netherland, Dutch claim, 17; commerce, 18-19; New Netherland
Company, 19-20; Dutch West India Company, 20-22, 30, 32, 33-34;
colonization, 21-23; settlers, 23-24; supplies from Holland, 24-25;
slavery, 25-27; resources, 28; patroonship, 32-47; "Privileges and
Exemptions," 33-35; English take possession of (1664), 47; small
proprietors in, 49-50; demands made to States General, 72-73;
convention to consider defense, 77-79; _The Humble Remonstrance_, 78;
becomes New York, 82; religion in, 83-93; religious liberty in, 83-85;
religious tyranny, 85-87; education, 93-101; burghers in, 102-22;
pioneer living conditions, 103-04; fire protection, 104-05; public
sanitation, 105; improvement in living conditions, 105-06; "great
burghers," 107-08; dress, 108; children, 109-20; holidays, 114-18;
christenings, 118; spirit of mystery, 120-21; neighbors, 123 _et seq._;
relations with New Sweden, 128-31; relations with English, 131-36;
question of boundaries, 136; bibliography, 231-33; _see also_ New York
_New Netherland_, The (ship), 56
New Netherland Company, 19-20
_New Netherland, The Representation of_, 68, 70
New Orange, 143
New Sweden, established, 127-128; relations with Dutch, 128-131
New York, government changed, 137-38; surrenders to Dutch (1674), 143;
name changed to New Orange, 143; returned by treaty to English, 144;
_Charter of Liberties and Privileges_, 148; becomes royal province,
148; enters "The Dominion of New England," 149; piracy, 165-79; _see
also_ New Netherland
New York City, market for pirates, 168; becomes cosmopolitan, 206; in
1729, 206-07; public buildings, 207; luxury, 207-08; negro slaves,
208-17; bibliography, 231-33; _see also_ New Amsterdam
_New York Weekly Gazette_, 197
_New York Weekly Journal_, 197-198
Nicholson, Francis, Lieutenant-Governor of New York, 151-152, 157;
leaves for England, 154; imprisons pirates, 168
Nicolls, Colonel Richard, expedition against New Netherland, 80-81;
first English Governor of New York, 137-138, 139, 144; warns against
division of territory, 145
Nicolls, William, 159
_Nieu Nederlandt_, The (ship), 22
_Nightingale_, The (ship), 18
Nooten (Nut) Island, old name for Governor's Island, 60
Norman's Kill, treaty with Indians at, 125
Nysen, Wolf, 35
Olfertsen treats with Indians, 65
Orange, Fort, 39; established, 19; colonists, 23, 25, 40; supplies
brought up Hudson to, 29; in 1626-28, 54; Stuyvesant's orders
concerning, 71-72; strengthened, 77; town on Hudson, 102; Eelkens lands
near, 134; becomes Albany, 137; _see also_ Albany
Oxenstiern conducts government of Sweden, 126
Oxford, Earl of, 170
Palatines in New York, 186-88
Patroons, 32 _et seq._
Pauw, Michiel, 36-37, 39
Pavonia, 39, 74
Philipse, Judge Adolphe, 196, 199
Philipse, Frederick, 184
Philipse Manor, 47
Pietersen, Evert, 95
Piracy, 165-79
Portuguese, Anthony, one of the first negro slaves, 25
Postal service established, 140-42
_Princess_, The (ship), 66
Printz, Johan, Governor of New Sweden, 128-29
Quakers, pay Indians for land, 37-38; Stuyvesant's dealings with, 70,
85-86
_Quedagh Merchant_, The (ship), 172, 174, 177
Rapaelje, Sarah, 25, 109
Raritan Indians, 63
Religion in New Netherland, 83-93
Rensselaer's Stein (Castle Rensselaer), 45
Rensselaerswyck, typical patroonship, 39; settlement, 39-41; life in,
41-46; library, 42; cost of living, 42-43; terms of leases, 43-44;
hostility between patroon and tenants, 44; relation of patroon and
Company, 45; Stuyvesant and, 71-72
Roelantsen, Adam, 94
Romney, Earl of, 170
Rondout, 102
Rysing, Governor of New Sweden, 130
_St. John_, The (slaver), 26
San Salvador, victory of Dutch over Spanish off (1627), 55
Schenectady, massacre at, 156
Schoharie, Palatines at, 188
Schuyler, Peter, 154, 155
Schuyler estate near Albany, 48-49
Sewall, Samuel, 168
Shipbuilding at New Amsterdam, 56
Shrewsbury, Duke of, 170
Slavery, Dutch introduce, 25-26; treatment of slaves in New Netherland,
26-27; in New York, 208-09; ordinance regulating slaves (1684), 209-10;
_see also_ Negroes
Sleepy Hollow, church at, 47-48
Sloughter, Colonel Henry, Governor of New York, 160, 161, 162, 163,
165, 191
Smith, William, 197, 198-99
Smits, Claes, 63
Somers, Lord Chancellor, 170
_Soutbergh_, The (ship), 57
South (now Delaware) River, 22, 51, 59
Spain, truce with Holland, 17, 30; plots against Holland, 30; defeat by
Holland, 55
Spuyten Duyvil, 120
Stanwix, Fort, Treaty of, 228
"Staple right" at New Amsterdam, 61
Staten Island, 36, 50, 63; purchased by Pauw, 39; transferred to Melyn,
39; Indians attack, 74; becomes part of Yorkshire, 138; Dutch fleet
off, 143
Steenwyck, Cornelis, 139
Stevensen, Jan, 95
Stony Point, _Half Moon_ becalmed at, 13
Stuyvesant, 196
Stuyvesant, Petrus (Pieter), made Director-General, 45; appearance, 67;
as Director-General, 68; upholds Kieft, 69; arraigned by burghers, 69;
defense of, 69-70; character of, 70-71; contest with Van Slichtenhorst,
71-72; arbitrariness, 72; opposes local self-government, 72-73;
treatment of Indians, 74; warns Company of lack of defense, 76;
treatment of Convention, 77-79; begs for reinforcements, 79; surrenders
to English, 81-82; religious tyranny under, 85-87; builds Fort Casimir,
130; tries to settle boundary disputes, 136
Swannendael, 36
Sweden, plans expedition to New World, 126; entrance into Thirty Years'
War, 126; establishes colony in America, 127-28
Tarrytown, 47
Tew, Thomas, 166-67
Thirty Years' War, 83, 126
Tienpont, associate of May, 61
_Tiger_, The (ship), 18
Trevor, Captain of the _William_, 132
Trinity Church founded, 165
Ulster refuses to send delegates to Fort James, 153
United Netherlands, gains foothold in America, 2, 17; colonists from,
22-29; relations with Spain, 30, 55; character of people, 30-31;
relations with England, 76-77, 79-82; takes possession of New York in
1674, 143; _see also_ New Netherland
Usselinx, William, 126
Van Buren, A. H., cited, 23 (note)
Van Cortlandt, Stephanus, 154
Van Cortlandt Manor, 47
Van Curler, Arendt, 44
Van Dam, Rip, 195-97
Van der Donck, Adrian, 68, 72; _Representation_, 68, 70
Van Dyck, Hendrick, 74
Van Hoboocken, Harmanus, 95; _Reverential Request_, 100
Van Rensselaer, Jan, 43
Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, system of patroonship suggested by, 32-33;
establishes Rensselaerswyck, 39-40; born (1580), 59 (note)
Van Rensselaer, Maria, 59 (note)
Van Slichtenhorst, Brandt, 71
Van Tienhoven, Cornelis, 69-70, 103
Van Twiller, Wouter, Governor of New Netherland, 45, 56, 57-61; nephew
of Van Rensselaer, 45, 59 (note); De Vries's opinion of, 57; Irving's
description of, 58; Griffis defends, 58-59; birth, 59 (note); lavish
expenditure of, 59-60; Eelkens incident, 59, 132-35; recalled, 60
Van Wassenaer, Nicholas Janszoon, account of shipment of live stock,
24; of colony under Minuit, 52-53; of settlement of Fort Orange, 53-54
Verhulst, William, Director-General of New Netherland (1625-1626), 51
Verhulsten Island, 51
Verrazano visits Hudson River region, 16
Verstius (Vestens), William, 95
Walloons, 22, 97
Warren, Anne, mother of Sir William Johnson, 221
Warren, Captain Peter, 221
Warrensbush, 222
Weckquaesgeecks, 55, 63-66
Wendell, Captain, 156
Westchester, New Englanders in, 138; becomes part of Yorkshire, 138
West Point, Hudson reaches, 10
Willem Hendrick, Fort, 143
William of Orange and Mary, sovereigns of England, 149 _et seq._
_William_, The (ship), 132, 133, 134, 135
Wiltwyck, 23
Wisenberg, Catherine, wife of Sir William Johnson, 223
Yorkshire, 138
Zenger, John Peter, apprentice to Bradford, 193; collects subscription
for playing organ, 193-94; publisher of _New York Weekly Journal_, 197;
arrested for libel, 198; trial, 199-205
AN OUTLINE OF THE PLAN OF THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA
The fifty titles of the Series fall into eight topical sequences or
groups, each with a dominant theme of its own--
I. _The Morning of America_
TIME: 1492-1763
The theme of the first sequence is the struggle of nations for the
possession of the New World. The mariners of four European
kingdoms--Spain, Portugal, France, and England--are intent upon the
discovery of a new route to Asia. They come upon the American
continent which blocks the way. Spain plants colonies in the south,
lured by gold. France, in pursuit of the fur trade, plants colonies in
the north. Englishmen, in search of homes and of a wider freedom,
occupy the Atlantic seaboard. These Englishmen come in time to need
the land into which the French have penetrated by way of the St.
Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and a mighty struggle between the two
nations takes place in the wilderness, ending in the expulsion of the
French. This sequence comprises ten volumes:
1. THE RED MAN'S CONTINENT, by Ellsworth Huntington
2. THE SPANISH CONQUERORS, by Irving Berdine Richman
3. ELIZABETHAN SEA-DOGS, by William Wood
4. CRUSADERS OF NEW FRANCE, by William Bennett Munro
5. PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTH, by Mary Johnston
6. THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND, by Charles M. Andrews
7. DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON, by Maud Wilder Goodwin
8. THE QUAKER COLONIES, by Sydney G. Fisher
9. COLONIAL FOLKWAYS, by Charles M. Andrews
10. THE CONQUEST OF NEW FRANCE, by George M. Wrong
II. _The Winning of Independence_
TIME: 1763-1815
The French peril has passed, and the great territory between the
Alleghanies and the Mississippi is now open to the Englishmen on the
seaboard, with no enemy to contest their right of way except the
Indian. But the question arises whether these Englishmen in the New
World shall submit to political dictation from the King and Parliament
of England. To decide this question the War of the Revolution is
fought; the Union is born: and the second war with England follows.
Seven volumes:
11. THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTION, by Carl Becker
12. WASHINGTON AND HIS COMRADES IN ARMS, by George M. Wrong
13. THE FATHERS OF THE CONSTITUTION, by Max Farrand
14. WASHINGTON AND HIS COLLEAGUES, by Henry Jones Ford
15. JEFFERSON AND HIS COLLEAGUES, by Allen Johnson
16. JOHN MARSHALL AND THE CONSTITUTION, by Edward S. Corwin
17. THE FIGHT FOR A FREE SEA, by Ralph D. Paine
III. _The Vision of the West_
TIME: 1750-1890
The theme of the third sequence is the American frontier--the conquest
of the continent from the Alleghanies to the Pacific Ocean. The story
covers nearly a century and a half, from the first crossing of the
Alleghanies by the backwoodsmen of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the
Carolinas (about 1750) to the heyday of the cowboy on the Great Plains
in the latter part of the nineteenth century. This is the marvelous
tale of the greatest migrations in history, told in nine volumes as
follows:
18. PIONEERS OF THE OLD SOUTHWEST, by Constance Lindsay Skinner
19. THE OLD NORTHWEST, by Frederic Austin Ogg
20. THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, by Frederic Austin Ogg
21. THE PATHS OF INLAND COMMERCE, by Archer B. Hulbert
22. ADVENTURERS OF OREGON, by Constance Lindsay Skinner
23. THE SPANISH BORDERLANDS, by Herbert E. Bolton
24. TEXAS AND THE MEXICAN WAR, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson
25. THE FORTY-NINERS, by Stewart Edward White
26. THE PASSING OF THE FRONTIER, by Emerson Hough
IV. _The Storm of Secession_
TIME: 1830-1876
The curtain rises on the gathering storm of secession. The theme of
the fourth sequence is the preservation of the Union, which carries
with it the extermination of slavery. Six volumes as follows:
27. THE COTTON KINGDOM, by William E. Dodd
28. THE ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE, by Jesse Macy
29. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE UNION, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson
30. THE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACY, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson
31. CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR, by William Wood
32. THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX, by Walter Lynwood Fleming
V. _The Intellectual Life_
Two volumes follow on the higher national life, telling of the nation's
great teachers and interpreters:
33. THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN EDUCATION, by Edwin E. Slosson
34. THE AMERICAN SPIRIT IN LITERATURE, by Bliss Perry
VI. _The Epic of Commerce and Industry_
The sixth sequence is devoted to the romance of industry and business,
and the dominant theme is the transformation caused by the inflow of
immigrants and the development and utilization of mechanics on a great
scale. The long age of muscular power has passed, and the era of
mechanical power has brought with it a new kind of civilization. Eight
volumes:
35. OUR FOREIGNERS, by Samuel P. Orth
36. THE OLD MERCHANT MARINE, by Ralph D. Paine
37. THE AGE OF INVENTION, by Holland Thompson
38. THE RAILROAD BUILDERS, by John Moody
39. THE AGE OF BIG BUSINESS, by Burton J. Hendrick
40. THE ARMIES OF LABOR, by Samuel P. Orth
41. THE MASTERS OF CAPITAL, by John Moody
42. THE NEW SOUTH, by Holland Thompson
VII. _The Era of World Power_
The seventh sequence carries on the story of government and diplomacy
and political expansion from the Reconstruction (1876) to the present
day, in six volumes:
43. THE BOSS AND THE MACHINE, by Samuel P. Orth
44. THE CLEVELAND ERA, by Henry Jones Ford
45. THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE, by Solon J. Buck
46. THE PATH OF EMPIRE, by Carl Russell Fish
47. THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND HIS TIMES, by Harold Howland
48. WOODROW WILSON AND THE WORLD WAR, by Charles Seymour
VIII. _Our Neighbors_
Now to round out the story of the continent, the Hispanic peoples on
the south and the Canadians on the north are taken up where they were
dropped further back in the Series, and these peoples are followed down
to the present day:
49. THE CANADIAN DOMINION, by Oscar D. Skelton
50. THE HISPANIC NATIONS OF THE NEW WORLD, by William R. Shepherd
_The Chronicles of America_ is thus a great synthesis, giving a new
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The General Editor of the Series is Dr. Allen Johnson, Chairman of the
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