Dutch and English on the Hudson : a chronicle of colonial New York

DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

TEXTBOOK EDITION

THE CHRONICLES
OF AMERICA SERIES
ALLEN JOHNSON
EDITOR

GERHARD R. LOMER
CHARLES W. JEFFERYS
ASSISTANT EDITORS

DUTCH AND ENGLISH
ON THE HUDSON

A CHRONICLE OlfF
COLONIAL NEW YORK
BY MAUD WILDER GOtjTDWTN

NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO.
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright, 1919, by Yale University Press

CONTENTS

I. UP THE GREAT RIVER Page I

II. TRADERS AND SETTLERS “ 17

III. PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR “ 32

IV. THE DIRECTORS " 51

V. DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS “ 83

VL THE BURGHERS “ 102

VII. THE NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND “ 123

VIII. THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS “ 137

IX. LEISLER “ 150

X. PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES “ 165

XL COLONIAL GOVERNMENT IN THE EIGH¬
TEENTH CENTURY “ 180

XII. THE ZENGER TRIAL “ 193

XIII. THE NEGRO PLOTS “ 206

XIV. SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON " 218

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE “ 231

INDEX - 235

vii

DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE
HUDSON

CHAPTER I

TTP THE GREAT RIVER

Geography is the maker of history. The course
of Dutch settlement in America was predeter¬
mined 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 colo¬
nies. No man, however, could foresee the devel¬
opment 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

l

2 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

anchorage in what is now the outer harbor of New
York.

Robert Juet of Limehouse, one of the adven¬
turers 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 haIf. 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

UP THE GREAT RIVER 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 mes¬
senger 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 ar¬
ranged 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 amid¬
ships 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 trans¬
lated, read: Honor thy father and thy mother! Do

UP THE GREAT RIVER 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 happen¬
ings 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 dark¬
ness. 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 fall¬
ing, 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

UP THE GREAT RIVER 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 as¬
sembly on the impropriety of returning the glass with

9

UP THE GREAT RIVER

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 hint 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 state¬
ment 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 i 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 mis¬
sionary’s chronicle reports, Juet would-probably

10 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 there¬
fore 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 be¬
hind, 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

UP THE GiiEAT RIVER

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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Knicker¬
bocker, 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

UP THE GREAT RIVER 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 jour¬
ney 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 re¬
joiced to find the victim professing great satisfac¬
tion over his experience.

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 experi¬
ences 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 seven¬
teenth 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 equip¬
ment 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.

UP THE GREAT RIVER 15

for which he sold his life. The window in the stem
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 re¬
turned, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 cer¬
tainly, 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 gild¬
ing, her sails, and her gay pennants. She still
t 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 bold¬
ness of those early mariners whom savages could
not affright nor any form of danger daunt. 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).

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 Com¬
pany a report of his discoveries. Immediately the
enthusiasm of the Dutch was aroused by the pros¬
pect 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 indepen¬
dence 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

17

18 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Hud¬
son’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 coloniza¬
tion. Shiploads of tobacco and furs were de¬
manded by the promoters, and to obtain these
traders and not farmers were needed.

The chronicle of these years is melancholy read¬
ing for lovers of animals, for never before in the
history of the continent was there such a whole¬
sale, organized slaughter of the unoffending crea¬
tures of the forest. Beavers were the greatest
sufferers. Their skins became a medium of cur¬
rency, 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 pri¬
vate 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS 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 expedi¬
tions.” 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 com¬
mand of Cornelis Jacobsen May, of Hoorn, the
first Director-General. With him embarked some
thirty families of Walloons, who were descend¬
ants 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
Netherland. After a two months’ voyage the ship
Nieu Nederlandt reached the mouth of the Hudson,
then called the Mauritius in honor of the Stad-
holder, 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS

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 sub¬
sisted 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

1 See the monograph by Augustus H. Van Buren in the Proceed•
mgs of the New York Historical Society , vol. xi, p. 18$.

£4 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 perma¬
nent community.

From the time of the founding of settlements,
outward-bound ships from the Netherlands brought
supplies for the colonists and carried back car¬
goes of furs, tobacco, and maize. In April, 16£5,
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 re¬
spective 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS 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 Netherlands 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 In¬
dians.

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 north of Virginia in 1625 or 1626.
Among the first slaves were Simon Congo, Anthony
Portuguese, John Francisco, Paul d’Angola—

26 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

names evidently drawn from their native coun¬
tries — 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, hav¬
ing 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS 27

modern currency. If they failed in this payment
they lost their recently acquired liberty and re¬
turned 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 advance¬
ment 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.

£8 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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, 55 he says naively, “are of the color of our
Prince’s flag, orange, white and blue, so that the
crabs show clearly enough that we ought to peo¬
ple the country and that it belongs to us. 55 When
the very crabs thus beckoned to empire, how
could the Netherlanders 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

TRADERS AND SETTLERS 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 house¬
wife 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

it was celebrated throughout Holland by the ring¬
ing of bells, the discharge of artillery, the illumi¬
nation 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 it¬
self, the instinct of self-government and self-help,

TRADERS AND SETTLERS

31

hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer,
aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, inso¬
lence, 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 pic¬
turing their mental and spiritual qualities in the
pioneer days of their venture in the New World.

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 over¬
lapping 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 lapi¬
dary 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

si

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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,
findin g 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 some¬
one, 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 pa-
troonship was developed.

The list of “Privileges and Exemptions” pub¬
lished 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 al¬
lowed to change should their first location prove

34 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Nether-
land 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 es¬
caped 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 jus¬
tice— 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.

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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 com¬
pelling their colonists to promise not to appeal
from the tribunal of the manor.

The scherprechter, or hangman, was included with
the superintendent, the schoutfiscaal, or sheriff, and
the magistrates as part of the manorial court sys¬
tem. One such scherprechter named Jan de Neger,
perhaps a freed negro, is named among the dwell¬
ers at Rensselaerswyck and we find him presenting
a claim for thirty-eight florins ($15.00) for execut¬
ing Wolf Nysen.

No man in the manorial colony was to be de¬
prived 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 adminis¬
tration of justice in all the records of disputes, re¬
proaches, and recriminations which mark the rec¬
ords 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Even before the West India Company bad
promulgated its charter, a number of rich mer¬
chants had availed themselves of the opportunity
to secure lands under the offered privileges and
exemptions. Godyn and Blommaert, in associa¬
tion 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 Neth-
erland, under the authority of their High
Mightinesses, the Lords States-General and the
West India Company Department of Amster¬
dam, testify to the bargain made with the na¬
tives, who are treated throughout with legal
ceremony as if they were high contracting parties
and fully capable of understanding the trans¬
action in which they were engaged. These origi¬
nal owners of the soil appeared before the
Council and declared that in consideration of

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 37

■certain merchandise, they agreed to “transfer, cede s
convey and deliver for the benefit of the Honor¬
able Mr. Michiel Paauw” as true and lawful free¬
hold, the land at- Hobocan Hackingh, opposite
Manhattan, so that “he or his heirs may take pos¬
session 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 pre¬
tension, right, power or authority either concern¬
ing 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 divert¬
ing 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 ex¬
change 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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, ex¬
cept 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 main¬
tain 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 trans¬
action did not prove a financial triumph for the
purchaser, as the enterprise cost much in trouble
and outlay and did not meet expenses. The prop¬
erty 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 origi¬
nal owners eight years earlier.

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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 unsuccess¬
ful from the beginning or short-lived.

The patroonship most successful, most per¬
manent, and most typical was Rensselaerswyek,
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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

tract comprising what are now the counties of
Albany and Rensselaer with part of Columbia.
Of this tract, called Rensselaerswyck, Van Rens¬
selaer was named patroon, and five other men,
Godyn, Rlommaert, De Laet, Bissels, and Mous-
sart, 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 f
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 miser¬
able 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 con¬
venient. 55 The patroon 5 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

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 41

thatch, having no mason-work except in the chim¬
neys. 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

window. This existence was a tragic change
indeed from the lively social existence along the
canals of Amsterdam or on the stoops of Rottei -
dam.

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 cheer*
ful 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 modem standards. Bearing in
mind that, a stiver was equivalent to two cents of

PATROONS AND LORDS OP THE MANOR 4S

our currency and a florin to forty cents, it is easy
to calculate the cost of living in the decade be¬
tween 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 dis¬
pose of it in the settlements rather than by trans¬
porting 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 Rens¬
selaer, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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/ 5 Van Curler’s letter to
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer begins: “Laus Deo! ' At
the Manhattans this 16th June, 1643, Most honor¬
able, wise, powerful, and right discreet Lord, my
Lord Patroon —. 55 After which propitiatory
beginning it embarks at once on a reply to the
reproaches which the honorable, wise, and power¬
ful 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/ 5

If the patroon’s relations with his tenants were
thorny, he had no less trouble in his dealings with

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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 follow¬
ing 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 Rensselaers¬
wyck.”

Loockermans: “I lower my colors for no one

46 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

except the Prince of Orange and the Lords my
masters . 55

The practical result of this interchange of ameni¬
ties was a shot which tore the mainsail of the Good
Hope, “perforated the princely flag , 55 and so en¬
raged the skipper that on his arrival at New Am¬
sterdam 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 docu¬
ments 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

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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 wil¬
derness to establish the same principles of liberty
and democracy. No sane mind could have ex¬
pected the Dutch colonists to return without pro¬
test to a medieval system of government.

When the English took possession of New
Netherland in 1664, the old patroonships were con¬
firmed 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 Tarry-
town, 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 acu¬
men and by marrying two heiresses in succession
he achieved wealth, and built “Castle Philipse”
and the picturesque little church at Sleepy Hollow,

48 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

still in use. Farther up the river lay the Living¬
ston 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 5 ' 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 . 55 Adjoining the orchard
was a huge barn raised from the ground by beams
which rested on stone and held up a massive oak

PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 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 pic¬
turesque aspects of manors and patroonships is
likely to forget that New Netherland was peopled
for the most part by colonists who were neither pa-
troons nor lords of manors. It was the small pro¬
prietors who eventually predominated on western

50 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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.”

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 Span¬
iard 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 be¬
queathed his name to Verhulsten Island, in the Del¬
aware River, and then quietly passed out of history.

51

52 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 regis¬
tered as “of Wesel,” Germany, was of Huguenot
ancestry, and is reported to have spoken French,
Dutch, German, and English. He proved a tact¬
ful and efficient ruler, and the new system of
government took form under the Director and
Council, the hoopman, 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 Amster¬
dam, 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.

THE DIRECTORS

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 Com¬
pany, 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 finis hed
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 approxi¬
mately ten acres for one cent. A good bargain,
Peter Minuit! The transaction was doubly effec¬
tive 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 hav¬
ing 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 Fred-
ericksen, 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 Man¬
hattan 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 sur¬
rounded 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

THE DIRECTORS

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 com¬
mander, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 hun¬
dred tons carrying thirty guns, was built and
launched.

This enterprise cost more than had been ex¬
pected 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 in¬
vestigation 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

THE DIRECTORS 57

were held by Sebastian Krol, whose name is
memorable chiefly for the fact that he had been
influential in purchasing the domain of Rensse-
laerswyck for its patroon (1680) and the tradi¬
tion 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 Rens¬
selaer, must have owed his appointment as Direc¬
tor 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 Amster¬
dam he found there a ship called the Soutbergh
which had brought over the new Governor, Wou¬
ter 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 ex¬
pressed his own surprise that the West India Com¬
pany should send fools into this country who knew
nothing except how to drink, and quotes an Eng¬
lishman 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

the Doubter, 55 we must turn again to the testi¬
mony of Knickerbocker, whose mocking descrip¬
tions have obtained a quasi-historical authority:

This renowned old gentleman arrived at New Amster¬
dam 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 dis¬
figure the human countenance with what is termed ex¬
pression. . . . 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 impeach¬
ment and protests that “so far from being the
aged, fat and overgrown person represented in
caricature Van Twiller was youthful and inex¬
perienced, and his faults were those of a young

THE DIRECTORS 59

man unused to authority and hampered by his
instructions.’ 51

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

1 Van Twiller’s advocate, W. E. Griffis, quotes the Nijkerk records
in proof that Van Twiller was born on May £2, 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 chron¬
icles was their son and therefore Van Rensselaer’s nephew. We are
the mGre inclined to accept the year 1606 as the true date of Van
Twiller’s birth because the year 1580, previously accepted by his¬
torians, 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 Netherlands, 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.

60 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

was more than justifiable. To have neglected the
defenses would have been culpable; and the bar¬
racks 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 Nether-
land, 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 1638, after he had been five years in
office, the outcry against Van Twiller for mis¬
feasance, 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.

THE DIRECTORS

61

The principal service which he had rendered to
the Company in his term of office was the estab¬
lishment 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 dis¬
mounted, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

4

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 be¬
tween 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 ex¬
pense. The situation, already bad enough, was

THE DIRECTORS

63

further complicated by Kieft’s clumsy handling
of an altercation on Staten Island. Some pigs
were stolen, by servants of the Company as ap¬
peared later; but the offense was charged to the
Raritan Indians. Without waiting to make in¬
vestigations 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 exas¬
perated 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 Weckquaes-
geecks 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

while it was being built; that he himself had
escaped and had vowed revenge; and that the un¬
lucky 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 remon-

THE DIRECTORS

65

strance 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 as¬
sembled. 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

suggested that they all adjourn to the Fort, promis¬
ing 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 posi¬
tive advance during his rule — and that was
carried through against his will — was the appoint¬
ment of an advisory committee of the twelve men,
representing the householders of the colony, who
were called together in the emergency following

THE DIRECTORS 6?

the murder of Claes Smits, and in 1643 of a simi¬
lar board of eight men, who protested against
his arbitrary measures and later procured his
recall.

After the departure of Kieft the most pictur¬
esque 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 char¬
acter 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
Curagao, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 capa¬
city 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 Netherlands
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 Stuyves¬
ant 5 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 anyone 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.

THE DIRECTORS

69

When two burghers, Kuyter and Melyn, who
had been leaders of the opposition to Kieft, peti¬
tioned 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 con¬
victed 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 banish¬
ment] or bring it before Their High Mightinesses,
I would cause you to be hanged at once on the
highest tree in New Netherlands In another case
the Director said: “It may during my administra¬
tion 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 Tien-
hoven, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 con¬
tinually 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 had 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

THE DIRECTORS

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 Rens-
selaerswyck. 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 occa¬
sion 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 or¬
der, as the settlers at Rensselaerswyck, reenforced
by the Indians, outnumbered his troops. Stuy¬
vesant then recalled his soldiers and ordered Van

72 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Slichtenhorst to appear before him, which the
agent refused to do.

In 1652 Stuyvesant ordered Dyekman, 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. Yan Slichtenhorst tore down the procla¬
mation, whereupon Stuyvesant ordered him to be
imprisoned in the fort. Later the Director trans¬
ported the agent under guard to New Amsterdam.

Stuyvesant’s arbitrary character also appears in
his overriding of the measure of local self-govern¬
ment 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.

THE DIRECTORS

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
165& 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
Coen ties 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 govern¬
ment as to concede to the schepens and burgo¬
masters 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 iiscaal ,
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

THE DIRECTORS

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 In¬
dian 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 Market-
field, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Amster¬
dam. 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 prop¬
erty. Here we must acquit Stuyvesant from re¬
sponsibility, 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

THE DIRECTORS

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 inhabit¬
ants 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 strength¬
ened 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 im¬
mediate threat of danger being removed by the
treaty between England and Holland in 1654, the
New Netherlanders 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 Graves¬
end who had gathered to consider the defense and

78 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

welfare of the colonies. The English of the Long
Island towns were the prime movers in this sig¬
nificant gathering. There is an unmistakable
English flavor in the contention of The Humble Re¬
monstrance adopted by the Convention, that “’tis
contrary to the first intentions and genuine princi¬
ples 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 mu¬
tual 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 con¬
sent 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

THE DIRECTORS

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 de¬
nied or ignored, the end of New Netherland was
clearly in sight. In 1663 Stuyvesant wrote to the
Company begging them to send him reenforce¬
ments. “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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 in¬
vasion, were so far lulled by dispatches from Hol¬
land that he allowed several ships at New Amster¬
dam to sail for Curagao 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 in¬
form him that the English fleet was hourly ex¬
pected in the harbor of New Amsterdam. Stuy-
vesant 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.”

THE DIRECTORS 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 diplomati¬
cally; 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 Amster¬
dam, 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 gun¬
ners with lighted matches awaited his command
to fire. The people entreated him to yield. “Re¬
sistance 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,
6

82 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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.

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 momen¬
tous epoch in the struggle for the freedom of con¬
science. 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 de¬
termined to uphold the right to worship God in

83

84 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 5
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 repro¬
duce 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 con¬
scientiously accept it. The devout wish of William
the Silent that all his countrymen might dwell to¬
gether 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 col¬
ony, and Huguenots, Lutherans, Presbyterians,

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 85

Moravians, and Anabaptists lived unmolested in
New Netherland till the coming of Director
Peter Stuyvesant in 1647.

The religious tyranny which marked Stuyve-
sant’s rule must be set down to his personal dis¬
credit, for almost every instance of persecution
was met by protest from the settlers themselves,
including his coreligionists. He deported to Hol¬
land 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 bap¬
tized 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 de¬
clined 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Domines Megapolensis and Drisius in a letter to
the classis of Amsterdam, not only without pro¬
test 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 ap¬
peared, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Bap¬
tist, 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

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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 tolera¬
tion 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 ac¬
quiesced 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, Me-
lanchthon, iEcolampadius, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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, dis¬
suaded 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 con¬
senting.

When Megapolensis arrived at New Netherland
he found the Reverend Everardus Bogardus al¬
ready installed as minister of the Gospel at Fort
Amsterdam, his predecessor Michaelius having
returned to Holland. From the beginning Bo¬
gardus proved a thorn in the side of the Govern¬
ment. 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

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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 pul¬
pit, “are the great men of the country but recep¬
tacles of wraith, 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 kerb; 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 can¬
not be tolerated in a country where justice is

90 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

maintained, therefore our sacred duty impera¬
tively requires us to prosecute you in a court of jus¬
tice.” 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 Nether-
land, 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 ap¬
pointed 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 empha¬
size the authority of the church.

The clerk, or voorleser , standing in the baptis¬
tery below the pulpit, opened the services by read¬
ing from the Bible and leading in the singing of

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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 connec¬
tion 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 con¬
tribution by thrusting in front of each row of seats
the Tcerk 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 ob¬
served 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

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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, sub¬
scribed away at a handsome rate, one competing
with the other; and although some heartily re¬
pented 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 educa¬
tion 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

I Brodhead, History of the State of New York , vol. I, p. 837 (note).

94 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 credit¬
ably than did the bibulous domine that of religion.
Adam Roelantsen was twenty-seven years old
when he was sent over seas 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 exe¬
cution 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

HOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Duiid 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 after¬
wards always serve for the residence of the sexton
or for a school.”

How small were the assemblies of the faithful
jx the early days we may gather from a letter of
Michaelius, the first domine of the colony, inci¬
dentally also one of the most lovable and spirit¬
ually minded of these men. In his account of the

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS W1

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 pa¬
thetic 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 avond -
maalsbeker , 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 rea¬
sons for this coolness are a subject for curious

98 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

consideration. The Dutch in Europe were a highly
cultivated people, devoted to learning and rever¬
encing 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 suit¬
able 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

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 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 con¬
sider 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 emi¬
gration as a business enterprise or a chance of
professional advancement. As a first considera¬
tion 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 en¬
thusiasm, from the opportunities of the libraries

100 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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, pre¬
centor, 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 under¬
stand 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 accommo¬
date 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 sche'pens
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

DOMINES AND SCHOOL-TEACHERS 101

proper to find a convenient place for their accom¬
modation 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 iEgidius Luyck, who, though only
twenty-two years old, established such discipline
and taught so well that the reputation of the acad¬
emy spread far and wide, and Dutch boys were no
longer sent to New England to learn their classics.

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

102

THE BURGHERS

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 lin¬
gered long even on Manhattan Island. As late as
1649 the farmers petitioned for a free pasturage
between their plantation of Sehepmoes and the
fence of the Great Bowerie Number One. The
City Hall Park region bounded by Broadway, Nas¬
sau, 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 sum¬
mons 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Com¬
pany’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 them¬
selves and that settlers might safely solidify their
houses and holdings.

In 1648 the building of wooden chimneys was
forbidden, and roofs of reed wex-e 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

THE BURGHERS

buckets, which shall be procured and provided at
the earliest and most convenient opportunity.”

The early settlers found much difficulty in en¬
forcing 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 desig¬
nated 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

and on the top of the roof was perched a fierce
little weather-cock to let the family into the im¬
portant 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 animaPs 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 com¬
munities, 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 hasty 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.

THE BURGHERS

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 pre¬
vailed 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 pro¬
tection. 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 Am¬
sterdam. 1 It was they who owned the finest houses.

1 In 1657 tlie 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
drawnas follows:first, thosewhohad been members of the supreme gov¬
ernment; 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,

108 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 him¬
self 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

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 abol¬
ished and every burgher, on payment of fifty guilders, was declared
entitled to all burgher privileges.

THE BURGHERS

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 frivo¬
lous to consider at some length what life had to
offer to the small colonists. Little Sarah Rapaelje,
“the first-born Christian daughter in New Nether-
land,” 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 Mi-
chaelius 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 protect¬
ing four-poster, however, probably came later than
the built-in doey-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 groot 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

THE BURGHERS 111

clearing where the pioneers were making a home
for themselves and their children.

When the babies’ eyelids unclosed in the morn¬
ing 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 draw¬
ing water, while the goede vrouw was busily prepar¬
ing 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 Netherlanders. As
prosperity advanced and as negro servants were
introduced, the privileges of childhood were ex¬
tended 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 Icalk,
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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 chron¬
icler 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 dough¬
nuts 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

THE BURGHERS

“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 Nether-
land after much the same fashion as in the old
home.

s

114 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 super¬
stition. Perhaps it was on the principle of robbing
Satan of his hoofs and horns but keeping his cheer¬
ful 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 onivangkamer, where wine was handed to
their callers to be received with the wish of a
“Happy New Year!” While these stately cere¬
monies 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

THE BURGHERS

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, gather¬
ing 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 herh 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

indeed a festive appearance that the market pre¬
sented, with its double stalls filled with eggs and
gherkins, its booths hung with dried fish, its pojfert -
jeskraam 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 laugh¬
ter. 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 Nether-
landers 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

THE BURGHERS 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 chest¬
nuts, 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 celebrat¬
ing 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 Nether¬
lander, 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

THE BURGHERS

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 substantiate 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 9
and it was no doubt with a keen realization of the

120 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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. 5 ’

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 explana¬
tion perhaps lie in the fact that the Dutch colonists,
coming from a small country situated on a level

THE BURGHERS

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 youth¬
ful 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 inter¬
woven 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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.”

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 them¬
selves 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 un¬
backed by force. Because they met English en¬
croachments 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.

128

124 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

The earliest, most intimate, and most continuous
relations of the Dutch settlers were with the In¬
dians. 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 Man-
hattans 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

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 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 in¬
telligent 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 calu¬
met 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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-occu¬
pation 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 Ltitzen in 1632, leaving the kingdom to his little
daughter Christina. Her Government was con¬
ducted 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

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 127

to Holland in 1632, smarting under his dismissal as
Director of New Netherland. He offered his ser¬
vices 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 Am¬
sterdam, 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 advis¬
able.

This blustering protest Minuit treated, with con¬
tempt and continued building his fort. The Swed¬
ish 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

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 129

as a passenger David de Vries. The skipper asked
his advice about lowering his colors. “If it were
my ship/ 9 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 wel¬
comed 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 aggres¬
sions 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 Swed¬
ish 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 be¬
tween 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 Protes¬
tant countries, England, Sweden, and the United
Netherlands on the other. Once apprehending

130 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 de¬
clined, 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 Gov¬
ernor 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

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 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 north¬
ward 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 dis¬
covery 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 main¬
tained 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 Vir¬
ginia as England to New Netherland.

The Plymouth Company particularly was con¬
cerned at the Dutch occupation of this middle

132 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Euro¬
pean quarrels to carry these transatlantic matters
to extremities. The tension, however, was con¬
stantly increased on both sides by a series of en¬
croachments and provocations.

In April, 1633, for example, the ship William
arrived at Fort Amsterdam under command of
Captain Trevor, with Jacob Eelkens as super¬
cargo. 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 ft, saying that he was within the
dominions of the English King, and a servant of
His Majesty, and asking the Dutch Council what

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 133

commission they themselves had to plant in the
English dominion. Whereupon Van Twiller re¬
plied that it was not fitting that Eelkens should
proceed up the river, as the whole of that country
belonged to thfe Prince of Orange and not to the
King of England.

After this exchange of amenities, Eelkens re¬
turned 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 froih the fort with
beans from the eight-pounders / 5

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 Eel¬
kens, 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 en¬
force the commands came soldiery from both
Dutch forts, armed with muskets, half-pikes,
swords, and other weapons, and ordered Eelkens

NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND 135

to strike his flag. They pulled down the tent, sent
the goods on board ship, and sounded their trum¬
pets 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 aggres¬
sions on the Hudson and similar acts on the Dela¬
ware. 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 dis¬
covered 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 Mighti¬
nesses 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Biver. The Dutch in New
Netherland were amazed and disgusted at the de¬
cision; 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.

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 rechris¬
tened, and New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and
Fort Orange became respectively New York, Fort
James, and Albany in honor of the Kang’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 re¬
ligion, and for nearly a year the city government
at New Amsterdam went on as of old under the
control of burgomasters, sche'pens, and sellouts.

In the following year Nicolls, according to in¬
structions from the Duke of York, abolished “the

187

138 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 de¬
parted in many particulars from New England
traditions. In the Dutch towns sellouts and
schepens gave place to overseers and constables.
The characteristic form of town government in
the province was that in which freeholders elected

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 1S9

a board of eight overseers and a constable for one
year. Little by little English law and English in¬
stitutions 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, Nieolls
seems to have won all hearts. Maverick, his
colleague, wrote Lord Arlington that it was won¬
derful 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 Nieolls, 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 flour-

140 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

ished. 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 Love¬
lace shortly decided on a wider extension of com¬
munication, 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

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 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 in joins 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

indefatigable. He is swome 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. Hart¬
ford 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 seale of the Secretaries 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 sover¬
eignty and the reconquest of the English colony
by the Dutch under much the same circumstances
as had marked the surrender of Stuy vesant 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

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 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 ex¬
change of volleys between the strong fleet and
the weak fortress, the garrison recognized that re¬
sistance was hopeless, New York surrendered to
Admiral Evertsen, and the flag of the Dutch Re¬
public floated once more over the fortress, which
changed its name to Fort Willem Hendrick while
New York became New Orange. Governor Love¬
lace 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, Cap¬
tain Anthony Colve was appointed Governor. He
proceeded with energy to put the fort into condi¬
tion 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

treaty which was signed at Westminster in Febru¬
ary, 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 with¬
out 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 char¬
acter 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 ad¬
ministrator. He never succeeded in winning the
complete confidence of the people.

From the beginning Andros showed himself hos¬
tile 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

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 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 favor¬
ites, 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 Car¬
teret’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 can¬
celed, but under the new treaty, James, although
by this time thoroughly informed of the complica¬
tions involved, with the usual fatuity of the Stuarts
now made a grant of the eastern part of New
Jersey to Carteret in severalty, 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 respon¬
sible to his master the Duke? Was East Jersey a

10

146 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

part of New York, or was it an independent prov¬
ince? 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 mat¬
ter 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 per¬
tinacity Andros asserted the Duke’s authority in
West Jersey, haling Fenwick, one of the claim¬
ants 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 advan¬
tage of the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680,
Andros next arrested and imprisoned Gover¬
nor Philip Carteret on the ground that he now
had no authority, and then himself assumed the

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 14?

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
im perious 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 re¬
moved 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 Eng¬
land forbade a Catholic to hold office in that coun¬
try; 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 Catholi¬
cism 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 estab¬
lishing 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 Bang. 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 Bang 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 Bang of England,
and this Bang 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

THE EARLY ENGLISH GOVERNORS 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 Do¬
minion 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 popu¬
lar 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 con¬
trol of a Dutch sovereign.

CHAPTER IX

LEISLER

The story of the so-called Leisler Rebellion illus¬
trates the difficulty of sifting conflicting historical
testimony. Among the earlier chroniclers of New
Netherland there is the widest difference of opin¬
ion about the chief actor in the drama. Leisler
was “an illiterate German,” says one authority.
Another says: “He was the son of a French clergy¬
man 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 dema¬
gogue ready to ally himself with the mob against
the conservative citizenry. By another he was ac¬
claimed as the champion of the people’s rights and
religion when they were threatened with invasion
by the minions of the perfidious Stuarts.

ISO

LEISLER

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 Massa¬
chusetts 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 communi¬
cate 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Prot¬
estant, and withal a man of firm purpose, and
they begged him to act as their leader in a deter¬
mined 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

LEISLER 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 coun¬
ties of New York to choose delegates to a conven¬
tion 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 responsibili¬
ties 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 Prot¬
estant 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 Ro¬
man Catholic Religion in the English Plantations
of America,” we can scarcely call it bigotry on

154 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Leisler’s part to fear their influence. Unfortunately
for the Leislerians “the gentry” made common
cause with the Catholics against the new Govern¬
ment. Albany, which was preeminently 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 fanat¬
ical 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 com¬
mitted 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

LEISLER 155

and Commander-in-Chief of our Province of New
York, or in Ms 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 ap¬
pointed a council of eight men, all reputable citi¬
zens and by no means representing the rabble, as
Ms enemies charged. In this procedure he was
acting in strict conformity with the letter from
the Privy Council.

Leisler assumed the title of Lieutenant-Gover¬
nor 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 Mil-
borne, to demand the recognition of his Govern¬
ment; but the mandate being opposed by Schuyler,
Livingston, and Bayard, all well known and highly

156 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

esteemed in Albany and representing the aristo¬
cratic faction, that town refused entrance to
Milborne and his escort and refused likewise to
recognize Leisler as Governor.

The Albany Records for November, 1689, de¬
scribe the incident as follows: “Three sloops neared
Albany bearing troops under Jacob Milborne and
immediately Captain Wendell and Blucker, Jo¬
hannes Cuyler and Reymier Barents go aboard to
learn the object of his visit. Jacob Milborne asks:
Ts 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,
reenforced 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

LEISLER

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 Kang and Queen with
their conflicting claims. In 1690, Captain Rlagge,
congratulating their Majesties on “the late Happy
Revolution in England” asked their Majesties’
approbation for Leisler on the ground that “Nich¬
olson, like Col. Dongan, had neglected to repair
the fortifications of the city, which excited sus¬
picions 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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, 44 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 Comman¬
der 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 mem¬
bers 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 con«
dition, excepting a lack of ammunition. The Commis¬
sion of all military men who had acted under Governors

LEISLER

159

Dongan and Andros, had been called in, and other
Commissions issued in the name of their present Majes¬
ties, 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-Gover¬
nor 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 mis-
chiefe. 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 oppres¬
sion 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

best Protestant subjects in the Province. He impris¬
oned 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 oppo¬
nents of Leisler agreed: there was no Dutch plot
behind this revolution. The notion of a Dutch
plott cannot be applicable to Leisler and his ad¬
herents, 55 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 . 55 To these representa¬
tions their Majesties 5 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 , 55 the selec¬
tion 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.

LEISLER

161

In December, 1690, Sloughter set sail with
several ships and a body of troops. By some ac¬
cident 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 In¬
goldesby 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 hiin in enforcing the royal com¬
mission. Leisler issued a counter proclamation
warning him at his peril not to attempt hostilities
against the city or the fort; but on receiving assur¬
ances that Ingoldesby had no intention of using
force against the people of New York, he per¬
mitted the troops to land. The fort, however, he
would not yield. With rival forces in the town,

162 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

peace was difficult to maintain. Neither com¬
mander trusted the other. Recrimination fol¬
lowed 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 harhor 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 him¬
self 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

LEISLER

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 sen¬
tenced to death. Sloughter was reluctant to sign
the death-warrants; but his associates, more par¬
ticularly 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 in¬
fluence 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

The scaffold was erected at the lower end of the
park and weeping people thronged about the vic¬
tims. 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, be¬
headed, and buried, and so the worthless Slough-
ter 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 tanta¬
mount to a confession that Leisler had been un¬
justly 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.

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 Eng¬
land 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

165

166 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 naviga¬
tion. 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 roy¬
alty was not above accepting a share in the ques¬
tionable 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

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES 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 swag¬
gered about the taverns in the shadow of the Stadt-
Euys 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 mer¬
chants were in terror.

Many of the adventurers in the West Indies
having been originally engaged in the honest busi¬
ness 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 Hol¬
landers they were named “zee rovers by the

168 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

French “ flibustiers ,” which was only the French¬
man’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 re¬
covery. 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 enter¬
prises 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 re¬
spected merchant held private stock in some more
than dubious sea venture. The coast of Madagas¬
car was a meeting place for pirates and merchant¬
men, and there Oriental stuffs, gold, and jewels
were exchanged for rum or firearms, and the mer¬
chant vessel returned to New York, where her

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES 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 en¬
couragement 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 bar¬
gain 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 ridicu¬
lous, not more respected.

170 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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/ 5

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, Or-
ford, and Romney, Robert Livingston, and others
took shares, for the purpose of fitting out a priva¬
teer 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 recom¬
mended by Robert Livingston to Lord Bellomont,

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES

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 Ad¬
venture-Galley and reached New York in the spring
of 1696. He set up placards all over the town ask¬
ing 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 guaran¬
tee; but even at that epoch there were not wanting
those who predicted strange things for the Ad¬
venture-Galley. Few, however, foresaw any events
as strange as those which actually occurred. After

172 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

cruising along the American coast without achiev¬
ing 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 sev¬
eral 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 Adven-
twre-GaUey being in bad condition, Kidd set the
crew of the Quedagh Merchant on shore, took pos¬
session of the ship, burned his old one, and set sail
in his new vessel for Madagascar.

In spite of their rich spoils, the mutineers re¬
mained 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

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES

173

injury proved fatal to Moore and ultimately re¬
sulted in disaster for Kidd. After leaving Mada¬
gascar 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 proclama¬
tion to all pirates who would surrender. But an
ominous exception was made in this proclama¬
tion 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 person¬
ages 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 circum¬
stances 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

and other booty and, with what remained of his
crew, he set sail for New York. Thus at San
Do min go the Quedagh Merchant, with her fifty
g uns 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 ad¬
venture 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 Bel¬
lomont replied that, if Kidd could establish his

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES 175

innocence, he might count on the Governor’s
protection . 1

Amid all these rumors there seems good evi¬
dence 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.

1 Bellomont was commissioned Governor of Massachusetts and
New Hampshire, as well as of New York.

176 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

However we may feel as to Kidd’s guilt in the
matter of piracy, we can but realize that, accord¬
ing to the standards of modern times, he was not
given a fighting chance for his life. He was de¬
tained 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 sover¬
eign Lord the King do upon their oath present that
Wil li am 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 afore¬
thought 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.”

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES 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 New¬
gate 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

12

178 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 con¬
victed 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

PRIVATEERS AND PIRATES

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.

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 fortifi¬
cations, 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

180

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 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 Leis-
lerian 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 Comman¬
der Jacob Leisler and of Jacob Milborne [eight years and

18 * DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

five months after their execution and burial] were ex¬
humed, 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 cir¬
cumstance 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 Bello-
mont, 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 adminis¬
tration] 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, com¬
bined 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

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 183

unlawful privileges won from Fletcher and now
stripped from them by Bellomont; but the Gover¬
nor 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 in¬
trenched 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 approach¬
ing 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 sup¬
pressed 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 spend¬
thrift, and a drunkard. Relying upon his rela¬
tionship 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 approach¬
ing 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

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT

185

by indignant creditors in the charge of the sheriff,
and was held in custody until the news of his suc¬
cession 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-Go'vemor 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

180 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

against Canada caused such, indignation that he
was withdrawn and Robert Hunter became Gover¬
nor 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 im¬
portance 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 Govern¬
ment appropriated the sum of £10,000 for the
project and agreed not only to transport the emi¬
grants 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

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 187

Hunter working in the interest of the English
Government against that of the colony and repre¬
sents 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 situa¬
tion some of the Palatines turned from their fellow
Christians to the native savages, and their appeal
was not in vain. The Indians gave them per¬
mission 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 Hun¬
ter, 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 re¬
ported of the locality that it “had the finest air to
live upon; but not for me”; again he says that

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 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 cam¬
paign of 1711 against Canada and his assertion of
the English Government’s right to tax the colo¬
nists without the consent of the colonial Govern¬
ments. 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 occa¬
sion. 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 au¬
thority conferred by his commission and his in¬
structions, the Governor must bow to the lower

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 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 succes¬
sive 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 your¬
selves independent of the crown of Great Britain!”

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 pro¬
ceeding 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

193

13

194 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

currency, to be paid by the church masters and
promised that they would speak with him fur¬
ther 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. AH 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 Min¬
orca, 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

THE ZENGER TRIAL

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 repu¬
tation: 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 tes¬
timony 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 Gover¬
nor. 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 be¬
tween 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

authority the half of the emoluments which you
have received during the same period . 55

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 re¬
moved Morris as Chief Justice. Cosby's party in¬
cluded De Lancey, Philipse, Bradley, and Harrison,
while Alexander, Stuyvesant, Livingston, Cad-
wallader Colden, and most of the prominent citi¬
zens, 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

THE ZENGER TRIAL 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, how¬
ever, 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 Colden were the principal contributors
to the new paper, and in a series of articles they
vigorously criticized the Governor’s administra¬
tion, 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 de¬
clared the order illegal and refused to allow it to

198 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 re¬
corder, and some other partizans of Cosby, the
magistrates declining to be present at the cere¬
mony. 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 “in¬
formation” 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,

THE ZENGER TRIAL 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 Laneey 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 Laneey, 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 re¬
mained active in counsel if not in court. Mean¬
while the judges appointed an insignificant attor¬
ney, 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 Laneey acting
as Chief Justice, Philipse as second judge, and

200 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Bradley as attorney-general. Chambers pleaded
“not guilty” on behalf of his client; but to the
throng who crowded the court-room to suffoca¬
tion, Zenger 5 s case must have looked black indeed.
There was no question that he had published the
objectionable articles, and according to the Eng¬
lish 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

THE ZENGER TRIAL

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 prose¬
cutions 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 com¬
plain, and then make that very complaint the founda¬
tion 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, gentle¬
men 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-citi¬
zens, 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 se¬
curing 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 op¬
posing arbitrary power ... by speaking and writing
truth!

With scathing irony he fell upon the theory that
truth was no defense for libel:

202 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 prov¬
ince) to err, and they (meaning the people of the
province) are destroyed (innuendo, are deceived into
the loss of their liberty),’ 5 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

THE ZENGER TRIAL

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 (in¬
nuendo, 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 gov¬
ernor and council) are greedy dogs which can never have
enough (innuendo, enough of riches and power).”

Thus Hamilton skillfully appealed to the in¬
dependent 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. Hamil¬
ton has taken, to show you how little regard juries are

204 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 trib¬
ute to the eloquence of the aged counsel who had ac¬
cepted 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 threat¬
ened with imprisonment the leader of the cheers;

THE ZENGER TRIAL

20 5

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.

CHAPTER XIII

THE NEGRO PLOTS

As early as the eighteenth century New York had
become a cosmopolitan town. Its population con¬
tained 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

206

THE NEGRO PLOTS 20?

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 spread¬
ing 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 col¬
onnade 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 mysteri¬
ous 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

THE NEGRO PLOTS 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 jus¬
tices of the peace in King’s County to seize and
w

210 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

apprehend all negroes who had assembled them¬
selves 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. Meet¬
ing 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

THE NEGRO PLOTS 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 pall¬
bearers 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 de¬
velop 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 dis¬
covered 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 hope¬
less 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

little over an hour everything in the fort was des¬
troyed, 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
Ylei 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.

THE NEGRO PLOTS 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 in¬
fluence 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 impheating
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; four¬
teen 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

£14 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Catholics had stirred up the plot; and persons of
reputation and standing were accused of com¬
plicity. 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 £0, 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 acci¬
dent 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 testi¬
mony 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 Lord-
ships 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

THE NEGRO PLOTS

215

great. . . . Whether, or how far, the hand of popery
has been in this hellish conspiracy, I cannot yet dis¬
cover; 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 con¬
spiracy 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 dis¬
appeared 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 ap¬
parent that the hand of popery is in it, for a Romish
Priest having been tryed, was upon full and clear evi¬
dence 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 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 speed¬
iest 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 busi¬
ness 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

THE NEGRO PLOTS

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 num¬
berless unjustified accusations.

CHAPTER XIV

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON

The story of the French and Indian wars on our
border does not fall within the scope of this chron¬
icle; but in order to understand the development
of New York we must know something of the con¬
ditions 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

218

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON

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 Lieuten¬
ant-Governor De Lancey, acting under instruc¬
tions of the Lords of Trade, all the colonies north
of the Potomac except New Jersey sent com¬
missioners 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 com¬
mon pasture at the end of the town. In the
evening they returned all together, of their own ac¬
cord, with their tinkling bells hung at their necks,
along the wide and grassy street, to their wonted

£20 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 in¬
gredient of their frugal supper, which they gener¬
ally ate sitting on the steps in the open air/ 5

The court-house of Albany to which the com¬
missioners 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 distinc¬
tion 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 some¬
times made historians forget the services rendered
by this redoubtable Colonel Johnson at a mo¬
ment when the friendship of the Six Nations was
hanging in the balance. Though gifts had been

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 221

prepared and a general invitation had been sent 3
only a hundred and fifty warriors appeared at Al¬
bany and they held themselves aloof with a distrust
that was almost contempt. “ Look at the French! 55
exclaimed Hendrick, the great chief of the Mo¬
hawks. “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. 55 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 55 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 affec¬
tionate interest. He described him as “a spritely
boy well grown of good parts and keen wit but
most onruly and streperous, 55 and the sailor added:
“I see the making of a strong man. I shall keep
my weather eye on the lad. 55

The result of this observation was so favorable

222 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 superintend¬
ing land at what was then a week’s journey from
the seacoast. “Billy” was his choice as an assist
tant, 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, over¬
see settlers, clear and hedge fields, “girdle” trees
(in order to kill them and let in the sun), pur¬
chase supplies, and in partnership with Warren
establish a village store to meet the necessities

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON

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 ser¬
vant 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 John¬
son.” She presided over his anomalous household
with dignity and discretion; but it is noticeable

224 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

that Johnson, who was so willing to defy public
opinion in certain matters, was sufficiently con¬
ventional in others, as we learn from a descrip¬
tion 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 Kaya-
derosseras Creek close at hand, “the young ladies’ 5
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 Port 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

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON

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, es¬
pecially 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 physi¬
cian, 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 him¬
self 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 John¬
son dispensed. A visitor reports having seen at the
Hall from sixty to eighty Indians at ope time lodg¬
ing 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 John¬
son, a thousand natives gathered, and Johnson’s

15

226 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

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 Wil¬
liam’s tribal hospitality, since its purpose was as
much political as social and its results were of end¬
less 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 there¬
fore 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 Wil¬
liam Johnson. Unlike the French, he did not
strive to force an alien form of worship upon this
primitive people. Unlike the Dutch, he insisted

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 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 con¬
gress 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 colo¬
nel and later as major-general. After*the Battle
of Lake George, Johnson was knighted by the
King and received a grant of £5000 from Par¬
liament. In the same year he was appointed by the
Crown “Agent and Sole Superintendent of the
Six Nations and other northern Indians” inhabit¬
ing 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 com¬
manding 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,

m DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

countenance open and beaming with good nature,
eyes grayish black, hair brown with tinge of au¬
burn. 55 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 v/as 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 Iro¬
quois gathered at Johnson Hall.

He was one of the fortunate few whose charac¬
ters 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

SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON 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 al¬
ready 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 them¬
selves no longer Dutch or English but Americans.

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 9 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 interest¬
ing 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 Netherlands 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
Netherlands 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 Americas
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
Yorks 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),

231

232 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

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 writ¬
ten 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 valu¬
able studies of the social and topographical fea¬
tures 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 anti¬
quarian.

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),
T%e 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 deal¬
ing 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

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 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 Pri¬
vate Journal of Sarah Kemble Knight, the record of a
journey from Boston to New York in 1704 (1901).

Further bibliographical references will be found ap¬
pended to the articles on Hudson River , New York ,
and New York (City), in The Encyclopaedia Britannica 9
11th edition.

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; preeminently Dutch, 154;
refuses to recognize Leisler, 154,
156; Leisler sends troops to as¬
sistance 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 “Domin¬
ion 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 Stuy-
vesant, 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 Gover¬
nor of New York, 170-71,180-
181; Captain Kidd communi¬
cates with, 174; royal Gover¬
nor of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire, 175 (note); up¬
rightness, 181; espouses Leisler-
ian cause, 181-83; death (1701),
183; revenues under, 191
Berkeley, Lord, 145
Beverwyck, 72
Birds of Hudson region, 28
Bissels, associate of Van Rens¬
selaer, 40

Blagge, Captain, defense of
Leisler, 157-59
Block, Adriaen, 135
Block Island, 135, 174
Blommaert, Samuel, 36, 40
Blucker, of Albany, 156
Bogardus, Rev. Everardus, 88-
90

Boston, 151, 168

Bradford, William, printer, 193

Bradley supports Cosby, 196

235

236

INDEX

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 Privi¬
leges , 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 Cos¬
by, 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 Twiller,
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 inci¬
dent, 134

Dongan, Colonel’Thomas, Gov¬
ernor 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

INDEX 237

East Indies, pirates in, 168
Education in New Netherlands
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 Nether-
land, 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 Cornelis, 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
Twilier, 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- 1.0; journeys up Hudson,
10-12; homeward course, 13;
Hudson’s cabin, 14; puts to
sea, 15; replica, 16

Hamilton, Andrew, defends Zen-
ger, 200-05

Harrison, Francis, 196, 198
Hartford, Treaty of, 77
Heckwelder, Rev. John, Mora¬
vian 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
Hutchinson, Anne, 65

INDEX

£38

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 neigh¬
bors of Dutch, 124-26; treaty
signed on Norman's Kill, 125;
friendship of the “Six Na¬
tions," 218; take warpath, 219;
Sir William Johnson as friend
of, 226-27

Ingoldesby, Major Richard, 161,
185-86

Irving, Washington, see Knicker¬
bocker, 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 In¬
dian policy, 221; born in Ire¬
land, 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; per¬
sonal characteristics, 228-29

Johnson, Fort, 224. 228

Joris, Adriaen. 22

Juet. Robert, of Limehouse,
quoted. 2. 9

Kalm, Peter, describes court¬
house 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, f 1-67; char¬
acter, 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 (Ir¬
ving), 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 con¬
vention at Fort James, 153;
appointed “Captain of the
fort at New York. . 153;

Catholics and aristocracy op¬
pose, 153-54; temporary vic¬
tory, 154-55; assumes title
of Lieutenant-Governor, 155;
demands recognition, 155-56;
calls convention to discuss
defense, 156-57; controversy
about, 157-60; refuses sur¬
render 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

INDEX

£39

Long Island, 50; Dutch on, 22; '
English on, 78, 135-36; be- j
comes county of Yorkshire,
138

Loockermans, Govert, 45-46
Lovelace, Colonel Francis, suc¬
ceeds Nicolls as Governor of
New York, 139-40; establishes
first mail service, 140-42
Lovelace, Lord, Governor of
New York, 185
Luyck, iEgidius, 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; pur¬
chased from Indians, 25, 53;
reserved for Dutch West In¬
dian 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; re¬
called (1632), 45, 56; buys
Manhattan Island, 53; builds
Fort Amsterdam, 54; prepara¬
tions for war, 55; shipbuilding,
56; 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-Gov¬
ernor 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 Nether¬
lands

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 seven¬
teenth 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 Berke¬
ley and Carteret, 145-46; en¬
ters “the Dominion of New
England,” 149

New Netherland, Dutch claim,
17; commerce, 18-19; New
Netherland Company, 19-20;
Dutch West India Company,

I 20-22, 30, 32, 33-34; coloniza-

£40

INDEX

New Netherland— Continued
tion, 21-23; settlers, 23-24;
supplies from Holland, 24—25;
slavery, 25-27; resources, 28;
patroonship, 32-47; “Privi¬
leges and Exemptions,” 33-35;
English take possession of
(1664), 47; small proprietors
in, 49-50; demands made to
States General, 72-73; conven¬
tion 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 condi¬
tions, 103-04; fire protection,
104-05; public sanitation, 105;
improvement in living con¬
ditions, 105-06; “great burgh¬
ers,” 107-08; dress, 10S; chil¬
dren, 109-20; holidays, 114-18;
christenings, 118; spirit of mys¬
tery, 120-21; neighbors, 123
et seq.; relations with New Swe¬
den, 128-31; relations^ with
English, 131-36; question of
boundaries, 136; bibliography,
231-33; see also New York
New Netherlands The (ship), 56
NewNetherland Company, 19-20
New Netherlands The Representa¬
tion 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; Char¬
ter of Liberties a?id Privileges,
148; becomes royal province,
148; enters “The Dominion
of New England,” 149; piracy,
165-79; see also New Nether-
land

New York City, market for
pirates, 168; becomes cosmo¬
politan, 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, ex¬
pedition against New Nether-
land, 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 In¬
dians 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 govern¬
ment 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

INDEX

£41

Philipse, Frederick, 164
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 Rens¬
selaer), 45

Rensselaerswyck, typical pa-
troonship, 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 Com¬
pany, 45; Stuyvesant and, 71-
72

Roelantsen, Adam, 94
Romney, Earl of, 170
Rondout, 102

Rysing, Governor of New Swe¬
den, 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 Amster¬
dam, 56

l6

Shrewsbury, Duke of, 170
Slavery, Dutch introduce, 25-26;
treatment of slaves in New
Netherland, 26-27; in New
York, 208-09; ordinance regu¬
lating slaves (1684), 209-10;
see also Negroes

Sleepy Hollow, church at, 47-
48

Sloughter, Colonel Henry, Gover¬
nor of New York, 160, 161,
162, 163, 165, 191
Smith, William, 197,198-99
Smits, Claes, 63
Somers, Lord Chancellor, 170
Southergh. 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 Amster¬
dam, 61

Staten Island, 36, 50, 63; pur¬
chased by Pauw, 39; trans¬
ferred 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 be¬
calmed 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 Slich-
tenhorst, 71-72; arbitrariness,
72; opposes local self-govern¬
ment, 72-73; treatment of
Indians, 74; warns Company of
lack of defense, 76; treatment
of Convention, 77-79; begs

2A2

INDEX

Stuyvesant, Petrus —Continued
for reenforcements, 79; sur¬
renders to English, 81-82; re¬
ligious 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; es¬
tablishes colony in America,
127-28

Tarrytown, 47
Tew, Thomas, 166-67
Thirty Years' War, 83, 126
Tienpont, associate of May, 51
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 foot¬
hold 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 Nether¬
lands

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 Rensse-
laerswyck, 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 Rens¬
selaer, 45, 59 (note); De Vries’s
opinion of, 57; Irving’s descrip¬
tion of, 58; Griffis defends, 58-
59; birth, 59 (note); lavish ex¬
penditure of, 59-60; Eelkens
incident, 59, 132-35; recalled,

60

Van Wassenaer, Nicholas Jans-
zoon, account of shipment of
live stock, 24; of colony under
Minuit, 52-53; of settlement
of Fort Orange, 53-54
Verhulst, William, Director-Gen¬
eral 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 York¬
shire, 138

West Point, Hudson reaches,
10

Willem Hendrick, Fort, 143
William of Orange and Mary,
sovereigns of England, 149
et seq .

INDEX

243

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 sub¬
scription for playing organ,
193-94; publisher of New York
Weekly Journal , 197; arrested
for libel, 198; trial, 199-205