Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam Part 13

The inhabitants of Flushing, where Townsend had formerly resided, and where he was very highly respected, issued a n.o.ble remonstrance to Governor Stuyvesant against this persecution of their former townsman.

The remonstrance was drawn up by the town clerk, Edward Hart, and was signed by all the adult male inhabitants, twenty-nine in number. The memorial said:

"We are commanded by the law of G.o.d to do good unto all men.

The law of love, peace and liberty, extending in the state to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, forms the glory of Holland. So love, peace and liberty extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemn hatred, war and bondage. We desire not to offend one of Christ's little ones under whatever form, name or t.i.tle he may appear, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or Quaker. On the contrary we desire to do to all as we could wish all to do to us. Should any of those people come in love among us, we cannot lay violent hands upon them. We must give them free ingress and egress into our houses."

This remonstrance was carried to New Amsterdam by Tobias Feake, and presented to the governor. His indignation was roused. Feake was arrested and committed to prison. The sheriff was sent to Flushing to bring Hart and two of the magistrates, Farrington and n.o.ble, to the presence of the enraged governor. It was a fearful thing to fall into his hands when his wrath was inflamed. They were imprisoned for some time, and were then released upon their humbly imploring the pardon of the governor, expressing their deep regret that they had signed the remonstrance and promising that they would sin in that way, no more.

The town itself was punished by the prohibition in future of all town meetings, without the permission of the governor. Indeed the ma.s.s of the settlers were no longer to decide upon their local affairs, but a committee of seven persons was to decide all such questions. All who were dissatisfied with these arrangements were ordered to sell their property and leave the town.

It is not necessary to continue the record of this disgraceful persecution. The governor was unrelenting. Whoever ventured to oppose his will felt the weight of his chastising hand.

New Amsterdam consisted of wooden houses cl.u.s.tered together. The danger from fire was very great. The governor imposed a tax of a beaver skin, or its equivalent upon each householder to pay for two hundred and fifty leather fire buckets and hooks and ladders, to be procured in Holland. He also established a "rattle watch" to traverse the streets from nine o'clock in the evening until morning drum-beat.

Stuyvesant would allow nothing to be done which he did not control.

The education of the young was greatly neglected. Jacob Corlaer opened a school. The governor peremptorily closed it, because he had presumed to take the office without governmental permission. To establish a place of amus.e.m.e.nt the governor formed a village called Haarlem, at the northern extremity of Manhattan island. He also constructed a good road over the island, through the forest, "so that it may be made easy to come hither, and return to that village on horseback or in a wagon." A ferry was also established to Long Island.

Staten Island was a dreary waste. It had not recovered from the ma.s.sacre of 1655. Efforts were made to encourage the former settlers to return to their desolated homes, and to encourage fresh colonists to take up their residence upon the island. To promote the settlement of the west side of the North river, Stuyvesant purchased from the Indians, all the territory now known as Bergen, in New Jersey.

This purchase comprised the extensive region,

"beginning from the great rock above Wiehackan, and from there right through the land, until above the island Sikakes, and from there to the Kill van Col, and so along to the Constables Hook, and thence again to the rock above Wiehackan."

The settlement at Esopus, was in many respects in a flourishing condition. But it was so much more convenient for the farmers to have their dwellings in the midst of the fields they cultivated, instead of cl.u.s.tering them together in a compact village, that they persisted in the dangerous practice, notwithstanding all the warnings of the governor. There were individuals also who could not be restrained from paying brandy to the savages for their peltries The intoxicated Indians often committed outrages. One of the settlers was killed. The house and outbuildings of another were burned. The Dutch retaliated by destroying the cornfields of the Indians, hoping thus to drive them to a distance. At this time, in May, 1658, there were about seventy colonists at Esopus. They had widely extended fields of grain. But the Indians were becoming daily more inimical, and the alarmed colonists wrote to Govern or Stuyvesant, saying,

"We pray you to send forty or fifty soldiers to save Esopus, which, if well settled, might supply the whole of New Netherland with provisions."

The governor ordered a redoubt to be built at Esopus, sent an additional supply of ammunition, and taking fifty soldiers with him, went up the river to ascertain, by a personal investigation, the wants of the people. He urged them strenuously to unite in a village, which could be easily palisaded, and which would thus afford them complete protection. The colonists objected that it would be very difficult to remove from their farms, while their crops were ungathered, and that it would be impossible to select a site for the village which would please all. The governor refused to leave the soldiers with them unless they would immediately decide to concentrate in a village. In that case he would remain and aid them in constructing the palisade till it should be completed.

In the mean time messengers were sent to all the neighboring chiefs inviting them to come to Esopus to meet "the grand sachem from Manhattan." Sixty of these plumed warriors were soon a.s.sembled, with a few women and children. The governor, with two followers and an interpreter, met them beneath the widespread branches of an aged tree.

One of the chiefs opened the interview by a long speech, in which he recounted all the injuries which he conceived that the Indians had experienced from the foreigners. The governor listened patiently. He then replied,

"These events occurred, as you well know, before my time. I am not responsible for them. Has any injury been done you since I came into the country? Your chiefs have asked us, over and over again, to make a settlement among them. We have not had a foot of your land without paying for it. We do not desire to have any more without making you full compensation. Why then have you committed this murder, burned our houses and killed our cattle? And why do you continue to threaten our people?"

There was a long pause, as though the chiefs were meditating upon the answer which should be made. Then one of them rose and, with great deliberation and dignity of manner, said, "You Swannekins," for that was the name they gave the Dutchmen,

"have sold our children drink. We cannot then control them, or prevent them from fighting. This murder has not been committed by any of our tribe, but by a Minnisinck, who now skulks among the Haverstraws. 'Twas he who fired the two houses and then fled. We have no malice. We do not wish to fight. But we cannot control our young men after you have sold them drink."

The best of the argument thus far, was manifestly with the Indians.

The irascible governor lost his temper. "If any of your young savages," said he, "want to fight, let them come on. I will place man against man. Nay, I will place twenty against forty of your hotheads.

It is not manly to threaten farmers and women and children who are not warriors. If this be not stopped I shall be compelled to retaliate on old and young, women and children. I expect of you that you will repair all damages and seize the murderer if he come among you.

"The Dutch are now to live together in one spot. It is desirable that you should sell us the whole of the Esopus land and move farther into the interior. It is not well for you to reside so near the Swannekins. Their cattle may eat your corn and thus cause fresh disturbance."

The Council was closed with professions of friendship on both sides.

The Indians promised to take the suggestions of the governor into careful consideration. The settlers also decided to adopt the counsel of the governor. They agreed unanimously to form themselves into a village, leaving it with Governor Stuyvesant to select the site. He chose a spot at the bend of the creek, where three bides would be surrounded by water. Two hundred and ten yards of palisades formed the sufficient enclosure.

All hands now went to work energetically. While thus employed a band of Indian warriors, in their most showy attire, was seen approaching.

It was feared that they were on the war path, and the soldiers immediately stood to their arms. It is undeniable that the Indians seemed ever disposed to cherish kindly feelings when justly treated.

These kind hearted savages fifty in number, notwithstanding all the wrongs which they had endured, came forward and one of them, addressing the governor, said,

"In token of our good will, and that we have laid aside all malice, we request the Grand Sachem to accept as a free present, the land on which he has commenced his settlement.

We give it to grease his feet, as he has undertaken so long and painful a journey to visit us."

The labor of three weeks completed the defences. The buildings were reared within the enclosure. A strong guard-house, sixteen feet by twenty-three, was built in the northeast corner of the village. A bridge was thrown across the creek, and temporary quarters were erected for the soldiers. The energetic governor having accomplished all this in a month, left twenty-four soldiers behind him to guard the village, and returned to Manhattan.

In 1658, the little settlement of New Amstel presented quite a flourishing appearance. It had become a goodly town of about one hundred houses, containing about five hundred inhabitants. As many of these were Waldenses, Swedes and emigrants from other nationalities, they seemed to think themselves independent of the provincial authorities at New Amsterdam. The governor therefore visited the place in person, and called upon all to take the oath of allegiance.

There was great jealousy felt by the governor in reference to the encroachments of the English. They were pressing their claims everywhere. They were establishing small settlements upon territory undeniably belonging to the Dutch. English emigrants were crowding the Dutch colonies and were daily gaining in influence. Though they readily took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch authorities, all their sympathies were with England and the English colonies.

The Directors of the Company wrote to Stuyvesant recommending him

"to disentangle himself in the best manner possible from the Englishmen whom he had allowed to settle at New Amstel. And at all events not to admit any English besides them in that vicinity, much less to allure them by any means whatever."

There were many indications that the English were contemplating pressing up from Virginia to the beautiful region of the Delaware. The Directors urged Stuyvesant to purchase immediately from the Indians the tract of land between Cape Henlopen and Bombay Hook. This contained a frontage on Delaware bay of about seventy miles.

"You will perceive," they wrote,

"that speed is required, if for nothing else, that we may prevent other nations, and princ.i.p.ally our English neighbors, as we really apprehend that this identical spot has attracted their notice. When we reflect upon the insufferable proceedings of that nation not only by intruding themselves upon our possessions about the North, to which our t.i.tle is indisputable, and when we consider the bold arrogance and faithlessness of those who are residing within our jurisdiction, we cannot expect any good from that quarter."

In the autumn of this year a very momentous event occurred. Though it was but the death of a single individual, that individual was Oliver Cromwell. Under his powerful sway England had risen to a position of dignity and power such as the nation had never before attained. A terrible storm swept earth and sky during the night in which his tempestuous earthly life came to a close. The roar of the hurricane appalled all minds, as amid floods of rain trees were torn up by the roots, and houses were unroofed. The friends of the renowned Protector said that nature was weeping and mourning in her loudest accents over the great loss humanity was experiencing in the death of its most ill.u.s.trious benefactor. The enemies of Cromwell affirmed that the Prince of the Power of the Air had come with all his shrieking demons, to seize the soul of the dying and bear it to its merited doom.

Scarce six months pa.s.sed away ere the reins of government fell from the feeble hands of Richard, the eldest son and heir of Oliver Cromwell, and Monk marched across the Tweed and paved the way for the restoration of Charles the Second.

To add to the alarm of the Dutch, Ma.s.sachusetts, taking the ground that the boundary established by the treaty of Hartford, extended only "so far as New Haven had jurisdiction," claimed by virtue of royal grant all of the land north of the forty-second degree of lat.i.tude to the Merrimac river, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. The forty-second parallel of lat.i.tude crossed the Hudson near Red Hook and Saugerties. This boundary line transferred the whole of the upper Hudson and at least four-fifths of the State of New York to Ma.s.sachusetts.

In accordance with this claim, Ma.s.sachusetts granted a large section of land on the east side of the Hudson river, opposite the present site of Albany, to a number of her princ.i.p.al merchants to open energetically a trade with the Indians for their furs. An exploring party was also sent from Hartford to sail up the North river and examine its sh.o.r.es in reference to future settlements. The English could not enter the Hudson and pa.s.s fort Amsterdam with their vessels without permission of the Dutch. This permission Stuyvesant persistently refused.

"The Dutch," said the inflexible governor,

"never have forbidden the natives to trade with other nations. They prohibit such trade only on their own streams and purchased lands. They cannot grant Ma.s.sachusetts or any other government any t.i.tle to such privilege or a free pa.s.sage through their rivers, without the surrender of their honor, reputation, property and blood, their bodies and lives."

CHAPTER X.

THE ESOPUS WAR.

Outrage at Esopus.--New Indian War.--Its Desolations.--Sufferings of both Parties.--Wonderful Energies of the Governor.--Difficulties of his Situation.--The Truce.--Renewal of the War.--The Mohawks.--The Controversy with Ma.s.sachusetts.--Indian Efforts for Peace.--The Final Settlement.--Claims of the English upon the Delaware.--Renewed Persecution of the Quakers.

The exploring party from Ma.s.sachusetts, which had ascended the North river, found a region around the Wappinger Kill, a few miles below the present site of Poughkeepsie, which they p.r.o.nounced to be more beautiful than any spot which they had seen in New England. Here they decided to establish their settlement. Stuyvesant, informed of this, resolved to antic.i.p.ate them. He wrote immediately to Holland urging the Company to send out at once as many Polish, Lithuanian, Prussian, Dutch and Flemish peasants as possible, "to form a colony there."