UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
10307 8
MAKERS OF AMERICA"
PETER STUYVESANT
DIRECTOR-GENERAL FOR THE WEST INDIA
COMPANY IN NEW NETHERLAND
.
BAYARD TUCKERMAN
AUTHOR OF "A LIFE OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE," ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
(D'893
* fP 90802
Copyright, 1S9S,
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved.
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
TO
DR. J. WEST ROOSEVELT.
PREFACE.
ORIGINAL sources of information concerning
the early Dutch settlers of Manhattan Island
are neither many nor rich. The two volumes
of Holland Documents, published by the State
of New York, contain the official papers of the
colony and the West India Company. Some
contemporary descriptions exist, of which Van
der Donck's is the best. But the Dutch wrote
^ very little, and on the whole their records are
£? meagre. Concerning their social conditions,
H the best authority is to be found in the pro-
-1 ceedings of the burgomasters and schepens,
E preserved in the City Hall and in the books of
L the Surrogate's and Register's offices. These
sources and the collections of the New York
Historical Society have been relied upon in the
preparation of this book. The author's thanks
are due to Mr. WILLIAM KEBBY, Librarian of
the Historical Society.
THE BENEDICK, NEW YORK,
March, 1893.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Settlement of Manhattan Island by the Dutch West
India Company. — Administrations of Directors
Peter Minuit, Wouter van Twiller, and Wilhelm
Kieft
CHAPTER II.
The Administration of Peter Stuyvesant ... 57
CHAPTER III.
Social Aspect of New Amsterdam in the Time of
Peter Stuyvesant 103
CHAPTER IV.
New Amsterdam becomes New York . . . 169
PETER STUYVESANT.
CHAPTER I.
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND BY THE DUTCH
WEST INDIA COMPANY. ADMINISTRATIONS OF GOV-
ERNORS PETER MINUIT, WOUTER VAN TWILLER, AND
WILHELM KIEFT.
ON the morning of the 4th of September, 1609, a
few Indians wandering upon the shore of Sandy
Hook, were surprised by the sight of a ship sailing
slowly along the coast. They fled inland, spreading
among their tribe the news of the strange appari-
tion. The vessel, carefully sounding as it went,
rounded the Hook and cast anchor in the waters of
what is now known as the lower bay of New York.
A century of maritime and colonial enterprise had
begun, which was to make familiar to Europe the
continents of Asia, Africa, and America ; to witness
the foundation of new empires, and to broaden in-
definitely the horizon of human activity. As yet,
colonization in America had made little progress.
Spaniards under Menendez had built the fort at St.
Augustine in 1565. A few settlers in Virginia had
been struggling since 1607 under the leadership of
Captain John Smith. In 1608, Champlain planted
8 PETER STUYVESANT.
the cross and the fleur-de-lys at Quebec. Now, in
1609, the flag of the United Netherlands was car-
ried by Henry Hudson up the river which bears his
name.
The Dutch, who thus entered into competition
with Spain, England, and France for the possession
of American territory, were in the heroic period of
their history. Industry and fortitude, .qualities es-
sential to their existence, had been impressed on
the national character. Possessing a land situated
in great part below the level of the sea, and liable
to overflow besides from the fresh waters of the
Rhine, persevering toil had shut out the tides of the
Atlantic, had confined by great dykes the river be-
tween its banks, had changed marshes and inland
seas into meadows. The precious territory thus
redeemed was turned to such account that visitors
from other nations of Europe were astonished at
the aspect of Dutch cultivation. The towns promi-
nent on the few elevations which the country af-
forded, or in the lowlands intersected by waterways
which served for streets, were hives of wealth-pro-
ducing industry. Merchandise from every corner
of the civilized world was floated through the quiet
canals up to the warehouse doors. A soil too re-
stricted to sustain its population by agriculture made
foreign commerce the basis of prosperity. Dutch
ships carried for every nation, making Amsterdam
and The Hague markets where all the world came
to buy. The destiny of the country was well ex-
pressed by the stamp on an old Zealand coin, — a
sceptred king riding over the waves on a sea-horse,
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 9
with the device, "Your road is upon the sea, and
your paths are in many waters." The motto of the
noble order of the Golden Fleece, which declared
the wages of labour to be honourable, indicated the
spirit of industry which animated the higher as well
as the lower ranks of Dutch society.
It was natural that a people so intelligent and
self-reliant should rest uneasily under the weight of
arbitrary power and the Roman Inquisition. From
an early period, the provinces of the Netherlands
had enjoyed an exceptional degree of political lib-
erty. The large towns managed their own affairs
as semi-independent corporations, while the nobles
ruled on their estates in accordance with liberal cus-
toms which had the force of law. The principles
of the Reformation rapidly gained adherents. The
efforts of the Inquisition to stifle religious thought
at the gallows and the stake were met by rebellion
and image-breaking. Charles the Fifth of Spain, of
whose vast inheritance the Netherlands formed a
part, abdicated his throne in time to avoid the solu-
tion of the problem presented by Dutch political
and religious liberty. But in 1555 he had brought
his son Philip to the Netherlands, and had intro-
duced to the provinces their future master. In the
security of his palace at Madrid, the monarch who
combined most completely an ignorant bigotry with
a relish for human blood, brooded over a plan to
extirpate every Dutchman not wholly devoted to the
Roman Inquisition and the absolute authority of the
Spanish crown. In 1567 Philip had decided upon
the method, had received the approval of the earthly
10 PETER STUYVESANT.
representative of Christ, and had appointed the Duke
of Alva to carry out the holy work. The duke
arrived in the Netherlands with his boxes of death-
sentences signed in blank by Philip, and ten thou-
sand picked veterans from the Spanish army, to
which were added the king's troops already in the
country. Against this force the Netherlands had
almost none to oppose. Alva, holding the king's
commission, had the law on his side. In several
of the provinces the Catholics predominated, and
welcomed what they considered a holy crusade
against heretics. Moreover, the lack of union
among the provinces enabled Alva to proceed
against each one separately. Thus for a time the
Dutch could only suffer. Three men stood pre-
eminent as leaders, — William of Orange, and the
counts Egmont and Horn. William foresaw the
object of Alva's mission, and left the Netherlands
in time to save a life which was to be his country's
salvation. Egmont and Horn, trusting in Philip's
treacherous promises, remained to lose their heads.
In the course of a few years, Alva and his Council
of Blood had taken the lives of eighteen thousand
persons by the hand of the executioner alone. The
sword, the rope, the stake and the rack were sup-
plied to their full capacity with victims whose crime
was a belief in the reformed religion. Tortures
which surpassed the ingenuity of savage races ex-
torted from innocent servants accusations against
equally innocent masters, which sent accuser and'
accused together to the scaffold.
The resistance to Alva and the Spanish armies
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 1 1
could be made only by isolated towns which had
none but their burghers and families to defend the
walls. The endurance and valour displayed by the
citizens of Haarlem, Leyden, Maestricht, and Alk-
maar hardly find a parallel in history. Men, women,
and children resisted for months the famine within
as well as the veterans without. Leyden, reduced to
the last extremity of starvation, held out until Dutch-
men opened gaps in the dykes, led the waters of
the Atlantic over the land, and forced the besiegers
to abandon their exhausted prey. Of the character
of the war waged by the Spanish generals, the fate
of Maestricht is a sufficient example. After defend-
ing their walls for four months against the Spanish
veterans, the burghers and their wives were sur-
prised in their sleep. The city had contained over
thirty thousand inhabitants before the siege, occu-
pied in flourishing industries. All those who had
survived the previous fighting were put to the sword,
except four hundred whom sheer fatigue of slaughter
allowed to escape. They wandered away, and the
town became a shelter for camp-followers and vaga-
bonds. Such was the system chosen by Philip to
tempt his Dutch subjects back to the fold of the
Roman Church. After all the executions and the
massacres, it was wonderful that there remained
men or spirit enough to rise against the oppressor.
But, as Sir Philip Sidney said to Queen Elizabeth,
the spirit of the Dutch was the spirit of God, and
was invincible.
Through these years of suffering, the hearts of
the Netherlander had turned to William of Orange
12 PETER STUYVESANT.
as the only hope of their need. He had sold or
mortgaged all his property to procure the means to
hire soldiers to fight the Spanish, but the merce-
naries which he could collect had been of little
avail against the trained veterans of Philip. The
patient fortitude of William the Silent proved supe-
rior, at last, to Spanish force. The Protestant
provinces, hitherto divided, united under his stand-
ard. In 1579, the Union of Utrecht arrayed the
country under William, and from that hour the tide
turned. During forty years of war, Holland and
Zealand led the other Protestant provinces in de-
stroying and expelling the armies of Spain ; and
during these years of struggle, the rebellious pro-
vinces rose to an extraordinary height of prosperity.
On the other hand, Hainault and Brabant (now
Belgium), which submitted to the rule of Philip,
sank into complete desolation. The withering rule
of the Inquisition and the Spanish soldiery so re-
duced the country that its inhabitants deserted it.
The suburbs of Antwerp were abandoned to wolves,
that reared their young in once prosperous human
dwellings ; the crops ceased to be planted ; Catholic
nobles who had lived in feudal pomp on their estates
were seen begging for bread in the streets of Pro-
testant Amsterdam and The Hague. From such a
fate Holland and Zealand escaped by a desperate
struggle of forty years against the power of Spain,
when that power was the greatest in Europe, and
was supported by the treasures taken from South
American mines. In William the Silent, the Dutch
had a soldier and statesman whose character ap-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN7 ISLAND. 13
preaches more nearly to Washington's than that of
any leader of men recorded in history. William
was assassinated in 1584 by a hireling of Philip;
but he left a son known as Prince Maurice of Nas-
sau, who lived to be the first captain of his time,
and to complete the work of national independence
begun by his father.
Great as were the victories won by the armies of
Holland, they were surpassed by the prowess of her
seamen. From every port on the coast sailed pri-
vateers to prey on the commerce of Spain. Galleons
from America, merchant- men from the East Indies,
trading-vessels from European ports, ships which
had carried their cargoes safely for thousands of
miles were captured as they entered their own har-
bours, and brought as prizes into the Dutch canals.
As navigators and sea-fighters there was no compari-
son to be made between the two nations. In 1602,
Jacob Heemskerk, with two small vessels containing
together one hundred and thirty men.captered in
the Straits of Malacca a great Lisbon carrack manned
by eight hundred men, and divided among his sailors
a booty of a million florins. Wolfert Hermann, with
five trading-vessels and three hundred men, put to
flight off the coast of Java the fleet of twenty- five
large ships which Mendoza had brought to punish
the islanders who had dared to trade with the ene-
mies of Philip and the Pope. In 1607, Admiral
Heemskerk discovered the Spanish war-fleet com-
manded by Don Juan Alvarez d'Avila at anchor in
the Bay of Gibraltar under the guns of the fortress.
Heemskerk had twenty-six small vessels, several of
14 PETER STUYVESANT.
which could not be brought into action. D'Avila
had twenty-one sail, of which ten were galleons of
the largest size, containing four thousand soldiers.
Heemskerk attacked at one o'clock, and by evening
every Spanish ship had been destroyed with the
crews and soldiers, while the Dutch lost not a single
vessel and only one hundred men.
Spain had exhausted her resources in vain to
reduce the rebellious provinces to political and re-
ligious subjection. The treasures which were to pay
her soldiers had been wrested from her on the seas.
While she was poor and defeated, the Netherlands
were rich and victorious. Her pride could not yet
recognize that independence which the provinces
had won ; but she consented eagerly to a truce of
twelve years, in which to regain energy to renew the
struggle. This truce, which began in 1609, was
not generally acceptable in the Netherlands. Prince
Maurice led a powerful party, which preferred to
continue a war which gratified the national desire
for revenge at the same time that it filled with
treasure the warehouses of the towns. But the
peace-party, under the guidance of John of Barne-
velt, carried the day, and a brief period of repose
intervened before the Thirty Years' War.
The national energies called into being by the
conflict with Spain immensely increased the mari-
time enterprise of Holland, and eventually made
Dutchmen supreme on the seas. In 1596, Corne-
lius Houtman doubled the Cape of Good Hope and
showed his countrymen the way to India. The
India trade increased so rapidly that the States-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 15
General, fearing the results of excessive competition,
compelled all Dutchmen thus engaged to unite in a
single organization. Thus, in 1602, was formed the
great Dutch East India Company, which expelled
the Portuguese from India, captured Spanish prop-
erty all over the world, and grew into an unexampled
commercial power.
In 1609 this Company, hoping to find a northern
passage to India shorter than that around the Cape
of Good Hope, was looking about for a suitable
explorer. He was found in Henry Hudson, — an
Englishman who had already made two arctic voy-
ages in the employment of the London Trading
Company, and who had shown himself to possess
the necessary intrepidity, perseverance, and know-
ledge of navigation. The East India Company
placed him in command of the " Half-Moon," a
small vessel manned by a picked crew of Dutch and
English sailors, and he set sail from Amsterdam
on the 25th of March, 1609. Ice and fog having
balked his efforts to pass either to the south or the
north of Nova Zembla, he sailed westward along the
coast of North America from Newfoundland to Vir-
ginia ; then turning again to the north, he followed
the shore as far as the mouth of the great North
River. Hoping that a passage might here exist to
the north and west around the Pole, he sailed up
the river as far as the site of Albany. He traded
with the Indians, and gave them their first taste of
intoxicating liquor. He observed the beauty and
fruitfulness of the land, the remarkable adaptation
of the waters to the purposes of commerce, and
1 6 PETER STUYVESANT.
returned down the river, disappointed in his object
of finding a northwest passage to India, but confi-
dent that he had made a discovery valuable to his
employers. The " Half-Moon " soon after made
port at Dartmouth, England, where the authorities,
jealous of Dutch interference in America, forbade
Hudson to proceed to Holland. But the vessel,
with maps and descriptions of the new discoveries,
reached the Dutch East India Company at a propi-
tious moment.
The truce with Spain made it necessary to find
new outlets for the maritime enterprise which had
grown so fast during the war, and many ship-owners
in Holland now turned their attention to America.
During the five years following Hudson's discovery,
the coasts were explored and the advantages of the
fur-trade determined. Hendrick Christiansen and
Adrian Block especially distinguished themselves.
Block's ship having been burned at Manhattan
Island, he built himself a new one on the spot, called
the " Restless," in which he explored Long Island
Sound and Cape Cod, and discovered the island
which still bears his name. In 1614, the territory
made known by Hudson and Block was formally
named New Netherland by the States-General, and
the monopoly of trade conceded to the Amsterdam
Trading Company. This association kept up a
small station on Manhattan Island and another up
the river in the Mohawk country, and prosecuted the
fur-trade for several years. A few agents lived at
each station in log-huts, bartered Dutch trinkets for
beaver-skins collected by the Indians, and were
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 17
visited in their solitude at regular intervals by an
Amsterdam ship, which brought supplies and carried
home the peltry. In 1618 the Company's charter
expired, and the States-General refused to grant a
new one, as they had more extensive plans in view
for New Netherland. The marvellous success of
the East India Company as a commercial institution,
and as an instrument for inflicting injury on the he-
reditary enemies of Holland, convinced the States-
General that their new possessions would be utilized
to the best advantage by similar means. Therefore
in 1621 was incorporated for twenty-four years the
West India Company, with exclusive power to plant
and govern colonies, to prosecute trade, and to wage
war against national enemies in the West Indies and
America. The government of this commercial and
military monopoly was intrusted to a board of nine-
teen directors, called the College of the XIX., of
which Amsterdam furnished eight, Zealand four,
The Maas two, North Holland two, Friesland and
Groningen two, and the States-General one.
The first agricultural colonists were sent out in
the ship "New Netherland" in 1623, and culti-
vated the fertile lands along the shore of the East
River. Soon after, several families of Walloons, per-
secuted Protestants from the Catholic provinces,
settled at the Waal-Bogt, now Wallabout Bay, Long
Island. Others followed, and under Cornelis Mey
and Wilhelm Verhulst a small settlement grew up
at the extreme end of Manhattan Island ; a trading-
post, called Fort Orange, was erected on the Hud-
son, near the present site of Albany, and another,
1 8 PETER STUYVESANT.
called Fort Nassau, on the South or Delaware
River. These three points in the wilderness marked
the only habitations of white men between Virginia
and Plymouth. In 1626, Peter Minuit came out as
director for the West India Company, and under
his administration of seven years much progress was
made. The Island of Manhattan was purchased for
the Company for twenty- four dollars, — a fair sum,
considering that the Indians suffered only a slight
diminution of their hunting-grounds, and that the
land had no value beyond that which the Company
could give it by its own expenditure. A block-
house, surrounded by a stockade, was erected to
serve as a fort on the shore of the Bay. A mill was
built, of which the upper room served as a church.
The place of a clergyman was taken by a " krank-
besoecker," or consoler of the sick, who read the
creed and the Scriptures on Sundays. Around the
block-house and the Company's counting-room grew
up a settlement of small log-huts thatched with
reeds. Before the little village lay the beautiful
waters of the harbour, and behind it the unbroken
forest. Such was Fort Amsterdam in 1630. The
settlers were busily and profitably occupied with the
collection of furs for export, sailing up the river in
sloops, and making journeys into the woods to ex-
change cloths and beads from Holland for beaver
and other skins. The trade grew rapidly at first.
In 1626 the exports were valued at 46,000 guilders ;
in 1632 they were worth 143,000 guilders, showing
the Company a profit over expenses. And the in-
dustry of the colony was not confined to the fur-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND, 19
trade. A ship of six hundred tons burden, called
the " New Netherland,'1 was built at Manhattan in
1631, and sent home loaded with peltry.
Still, the Dutch possessions in America were no
more than trading- posts, and it was evident that the
West India Company was unfitted by its military and
commercial character for the task of planting per-
manent colonies. At the same time, the opposition
already made by the English government to the
Dutch settlements, and the hostile attitude toward
them assumed by the colony of Massachusetts Bay,
had made it plain that actual occupation of the soil
was necessary to secure possession. The Dutch had
little surplus population inclined to emigrate, and no
body of men, like the English Non-conformists, who
were obliged to build up a home in a distant wil-
derness for the sake of religious freedom. There-
fore, the Directors of the Company had to devise an
artificial Method of colonization.
The people of Holland were divided into three
classes : the noble families owning land ; the bur-
ghers who controlled the cities, and the common
people. Many Of the burghers were rich, and
sought to enter the highest class by the possession
of land and the feudal rights connected with it.
This wish could not be gratified in Holland, where
the limited territory was held tenaciously by its
owners. But the burgher of Amsterdam or The
Hague might become the feudal chief of an Amer-
ican domain. This idea was embodied in the
"Charter of Privileges and Exemptions" adopted
in 1630, by which any stockholder in the West India
20 PETER STUYVESANT
Company who should plant a colony of fifty souls in
New Netherland was to acquire title to land six-
teen miles in length on one side of a river, or eight
in length if situated on both sides, and as far into
the interior as the owner could occupy. Such owner
was to be called a " Patroon," and to possess the
hereditary rights of a feudal noble, — power to make
laws, to establish courts of justice, and to control
hunting, fishing, and the grinding of grains, subject
only to allegiance to the States-General. The
patroons were allowed to trade along the American
coast, and with Europe, on paying a duty of five per
cent on the cargoes to the West India Company.
The fur-trade was permitted on condition that the
exports should be sent through the Company's agents
at Manhattan. Thus, colonists were tempted to emi-
grate by free transportation and the promise of good
lands at a nominal rental, while rich burghers were
tempted to assume the expense involved by the pro-
spect of attaining the dignity of feudal lords. This
plan seemed especially feasible, as wealth had lately
been pouring into the coffers of the West India
Company. The war with Spain had been renewed
after the expiration of the truce in 1621, and the
Company had shown itself equal to the East India
merchants in making booty of Spanish commerce.
In 1628, Peter Heyn, in command of the Com-
pany's squadron, met the Spanish " silver fleet "
bearing home the spoils of South American mines.
Ten galleons were captured off Havana at the first
encounter, and the remainder soon after in Matanzas
Bay. Heyn brought in all the Spanish vessels ex-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 21
cept two as prizes, together with pure silver worth
twelve millions of guilders. The enthusiasm was
great throughout Holland, and the West India Com-
pany declared a dividend of fifty per cent.
Chief among those who now sought the honours
of patroonship was Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a wealthy
jeweller of Amsterdam. In 1630, he purchased from
the Indians, through the Company's agent at Fort
Orange, a great tract of land lying on the river to
the north and south of the fort. He made good his
title by sending out emigrants, and thus planted
the colony of Rensselaerwyck. Two other directors
of the Company, Godyn and Blommaert, secured
lands on the Delaware or South River, their patent
ante-dating by two years that given by Charles I. to
Lord Baltimore. Michael Pauw soon afterward pur-
chased from the Indians Staten Island and Paulus
Hook, the site of Jersey City, to which he gave the
name of Pavonia. But the rapidity with which these
enterprising directors had seized upon the best terri-
tory excited so much jealousy among their colleagues
that they were obliged to share their acquisitions
with other members of the Company by taking them
into partnership. The same jealousy caused the
recall of Peter Minuit, who, as director, had con-
firmed the obnoxious grants. The influence of Van
Rensselaer was still strong enough to enable him to
procure the appointment to the directorship of
Wouter van Twiller, who had married his niece, and
had served as his agent in shipping colonists and
cattle to Rensselaerwyck, but who was only a clerk
in the Company's employment, and quite unfit for
the responsibility of the post.
22 PETER STUYVESANT.
Van Twiller arrived1 in New Netherland in the
spring of 1633, bringing with him one hundred sol-
diers,— the first military garrison of the place. Other
important fellow- passengers were Everardus Bogar-
dus, the first clergyman, and Adam Roelandsen, the
first schoolmaster. Besides these were two emi-
grants, Govert Loockermans and Jacob van Cou-
wenhoven, destined to play a leading part in their
adopted country. Var; Twiller proceeded to spend
the Company's money with a generous hand. The
room over the mill, hitherto used for religious ser-
vices, was now too small for the growing congrega-
tion. A wooden church of rude design was built at
the corner of Pearl and Broad streets, with a house
for Domine Bogardus, overlooking the East River.
The block-house was changed into something like a
fort, with barracks for the newly arrived soldiers.
Three windmills were set up, injudiciously to the
north of the fort, where they lost the force of the
south wind. Houses were built for the director and
other officers of the Company, for the cooper, the
smith, and the midwife. Van Twiller confirmed the
Company's title to land on the west of the Connecti-
ticut River by purchase from the Indians, and to
protect the claim, erected a fort called the Good
Hope on the present site of Hartford.
In 1633, a Dutch sea-captain named De Vries,
who had entered into partnership with two of the
Amsterdam directors for the establishment of a
patroonship, brought his vessel to Manhattan. De
Vries belonged to the class of bold seamen who had
rendered such great service to Holland, and he forms
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 23
the most interesting figure among the Dutchmen
connected with the early history of New Netherland.
He rejoiced in an opportunity to lay his ship along-
side a Dunkirk pirate, and thought nothing of en-
gaging two or three Spaniards at once. While he
was making the acquaintance of Van Twiller and
the people at the fort, an English vessel named the
" William " came up the Bay. In command of her
was Jacob Elkens, a Dutchman formerly in the ser-
vice of the West India Company at Fort Orange and
dismissed for dishonesty in 1623. Having entered
the service of Englishmen, he now announced his
intention to take the " William " up the river to his
old station, to trade with the Indians. Van Twiller
declared that the river belonged to the West India
Company of Holland, and that the " William " should
not go up. Elkens replied that the river was dis-
covered by an Englishman, and that he should carry
out his intention. Van Twiller displayed the Orange
flag at the fort, and fired three guns'. Elkens ran
up the English flag on the " William," and likewise
fired three guns. For six successive days Van
Twiller contemplated the English vessel riding at
anchor with a complacent sense of his authority.
But on the seventh morning the "William " weighed
anchor, and sailed defiantly past the fort. She was
the first vessel to carry the English flag up the
Hudson River. Van Twiller's rage was great, and
his official action characteristic. Calling the inhabi-
tants into the fort, he tapped a cask of beer in front
of his house, and taking a glass himself, he called
upon the others to drink with him, and to protect
24 PETER STUYVESANT.
him from the violence of the Englishmen. The
cask was soon emptied, amidst laughter and jeers.
De Vries looked upon the scene with contemptuous
indignation. The people, he declared, would al-
ways help the director in that way, — they would
even get to the bottom of seven casks of beer to
protect him ; but meanwhile the " William " was
ascending the river unmolested. Soon after, De
Vries taxed Van Twiller in private with his folly.
" If it had been my case," he continued, " I should
have helped him from the fort to some eight-pound
iron beans, and have prevented him from going up
the river. The English are of so haughty a nature,
they think everything belongs to them. I should
send the ship ' Soutberg ' after him, and drive him
out of the river." Stung by the taunts of De Vries.
Van Twiller embarked his soldiers on the " Sout-
berg," a Dutch vessel lying in port, and overtook
Elkens while trading with the Indians. With their
greatly superior force, the Dutch had no difficulty in
confiscating the peltries which Elkens had purchased,
and in expelling his ship from the waters of Man-
hattan. The director returned from this expedition
in a vain-glorious spirit, and looked about for further
opportunities to exercise his authority. De Vries
ordered his yacht " The Squirrel " to go through
Hell Gate to the East on a trading-voyage, as he had
a right to do in his quality of patroon. Van Twiller
forbade " The Squirrel " to proceed, and ordered the
guns of the fort to be trained on the little vessel.
At this, De Vries ran up to the fort. "The country
is full of fools," he called out to the director and
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 25
his secretary. " Why did you not shoot when the
Englishman violated your river?" The abashed
director withdrew his order, and "The Squirrel"
proceeded. Soon after, when De Vries's boat was
lying on the beach waiting to convey the captain to
his ship, Van Twiller insisted that De Vries should
not depart until his vessel had been searched by the
officers of the West India Company. Twelve sol-
diers were sent down to the shore to stop the boat.
De Vries jumped in, and ordered his men to pull off
without regard to the soldiers, who " were ridiculed
with shouts and jeers by all the by-standers." De
Vries left Manhattan after his first visit with a low
opinion of the Company's officials. " They know
nothing," he declared, " but about drinking. In
the East Indies they would not serve for assistants ;
but the West India Company sends out at once,
as great masters of folks, persons who never had
any command before ; therefore it must come to
naught."
Van Twiller's alternate pusillanimity and tyranny
made him an unpopular director. Dominie Bogar-
dus felt called upon to threaten him with " such a
shake from the pulpit as would make him shudder."
His honesty was not unquestioned. When replaced
by Wilhelm Kieft in 1637, he hired two of the
Company's best boweries, or farms ; and it happened
that upon these particular boweries had strayed
nearly all the Company's cattle, although their pre-
vious habit had been to wander over other parts
of the island. Van Twiller claimed and kept them
as his own property. During his administration the
26 PETER STUYVESANT.
population had increased ; but the emigrants were
chiefly traders, who looked to peltry instead of to
agriculture for their maintenance, so that the colony
could not support itself without supplies from Hol-
land, which the Company had to send out at great
expense.
The new director proved himself to be a yet
more unfortunate selection. Wilhelm Kieft was a
bankrupt merchant of Amsterdam, whose portrait,
in accordance with Dutch custom, had been nailed
on the gallows. There were dark rumours, also, of his
having been sent to Turkey with money to ransom
Christian captives, and of his having appropriated
the money, leaving the captives to their fate. The
inferior character of the agents appointed by the
West India Company — upon which De Vries had
commented — was the result of two circumstances :
the wide field of Dutch activity at the time caused
a scarcity of available men, and the best material
was required at points where there was fighting as
well as trading to be done. Kieft arrived at New
Amsterdam in the spring of 1638, and his early
labours were suggestive of the new broom. He
placed on record the condition in which he found
the settlement : the fort in decay, the guns dis-
mounted ; of the three windmills, one burned,
another useless ; the church and the counting-house
out of repair. The prosecution of the fur-trade by
individual settlers had prevented agricultural de-
velopment, and had cut down the profits of the
Company's monopoly.
Kieft reorganized the administration. Cornelius
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 27
van Tienhoven (formerly the book-keeper) became
provincial secretary, — a good choice only so far as
his handwriting was considered. The Council was
improved by the addition of Johannes de la Mon-.
tagne, a Huguenot physician of high character.
The Company's buildings were repaired, a strenuous
prohibition was issued against the participation of
private persons in the fur-trade, and the morals of
the people, which their isolated condition had caused
to degenerate below the standard of the fatherland,
were regulated to some degree.
At the same time the States- General of Holland'
interfered in the management of the colony much
to its advantage. The West India Company sent
out few persons besides its clerks and fur-buyers ;
the patroonships had .failed as a colonizing system,
with the single exception of Rensselaerwyck. Real-
izing that under the Company's narrow commercial
policy the fertile province of New Netherland re-
mained undeveloped while the colonies of New
England advanced with rapid strides, the States-
General abolished the exclusive privileges of the
Company, and threw open the Hudson River trade'
to all comers. The loss of its monopoly forced the
directors into agricultural colonization as a means of
giving value to their lands. Tempting inducements
to farmers were now held out : the Company's ves-
sels conveyed colonists without charge, and land
ready for the plow, together with the use of house,
barn, and cattle, were promised at a low rental.
These changes of management produced an imme-'
diate effect. Various persons employed by the Com-
28 PETER STUYFESANT.
pany at Manhattan left its service to take up farms ;
others established themselves in trade, exporting
peltries, and importing clothing and provisions.
Private vessels arrived, giving to the Bay a new
animation. Farmers in considerable numbers em-
igrated from Holland, settling at Manhattan, at
Paulus Hook, and on Long Island. In a few years
Kieft had a thriving colony to govern. Among the
arrivals were men who brought property with them.
Cornelius Melyn, the new patroon of Staten Island,
settled there with his family ; Jochem Pietersen
Kuyter, who had seen sendee in the East Indies,
established a bowery on the Haarlem River; Dr.
La Montagne took up a farm which he called
" Vredendal," — the Valley of Peace, — described
as lying " between the hills and the kills and a point
on the East River called ' Rechga wanes ; ' " Abra-
ham Isaacsen Verplanck settled at Paulus Hook ;
four brothers named Evertsen cultivated tobacco at
Pavonia, and had a tannery on Manhattan Island ;
Nicholas Koorn (the sergeant), Hans Kierstede
(the surgeon), Jacob van Curler (the inspector of
merchandise), and David Provoost (the commis-
sary), had small houses close to the fort. Among
the soldiers in the barracks was Oloff Stevensen,
the founder of the Van Cortlandt family ; Gyspert
Op Dyck had charge of Fort Good Hope, on the
Connecticut River ; Hendrick and Isaac de Forest
began farming ; De Vries, the bold sea-captain,
sailed from the Texel with a small colony, which he
established on Staten Island. In 1640 an impetus
to the colony was given by a new charter agreed
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 2Q
upon by the States-General and the West India
Company, the liberal provisions of which removed
many of the obstacles to colonization created by
the Company's exclusive powers. Henceforth any
inhabitant of New Netherland could take up lands
for his own use ; towns could be formed with the
privilege of municipal government ; and commer-
cial freedom was promised to all persons, subject
only to export and import duties payable to the
Company. De Vries, who had lately explored
the beautiful shores of the Hudson, purchased from
the Indians a tract at Tappan, which he called
" Vriesendael," containing meadow-land enough to
pasture two hundred head of cattle, and a fine
stream. Not far from De Vries's new home, and
bordering on the Achter Cul, or Newark Bay,
Myndert van der Horst, of Utrecht, established a
bowery. The settlement of Gravesend was begun
by a Huguenot named Anthony Salee, who obtained
two hundred acres opposite Coney Island. The
site of Brooklyn (then called Marechkaweick) was
occupied only by an Englishman named Thomas
Belcher. Two of his countrymen, George Holmes
and Thomas Hall, lived at Deutel (since called
Turtle Bay), a cove on the East River, about two
miles above Corlaer's Hook.
The province of New Netherland soon assumed a;
cosmopolitan character. Colonists arrived from Vir-
ginia, introducing the cultivation of tobacco, and the
cherry and peach trees which afterward became so
abundant. The severity of religious censorship in
New England sent many of its inhabitants to seek
3O PETER STUYVESANT.
among the Dutch the liberty denied to them at
home. Among these was John Underbill, distin-
guished in the Pequod War. Persecuted English-
men from Lynn and Ipswich settled on Long Island
in 1641. Francis Doughty, expelled from Cohasset
for preaching that Abraham's children should have
been baptized, founded the town of Mespath, L. I.,
in 1642. John Throgmorton, with thirty-five Eng-
lish families, was given land at Westchester. Anne
Hutchinson and her son-in-law, the zealous Collins,
fleeing before the vengeance of Massachusetts, found
their last home at Annie's Hoeck, now called Pel-
ham Neck, where the neighbouring Hutchinson's
River still preserves the memory of the remarkable
woman and her tragic fate. The foreigners who
came to -New Netherland were subjected to no re-
strictions beyond taking the oath of allegiance to
the States-General. So considerable became the
demand for land that Kieft purchased from the In-
dians the western part of Long Island, extending
from Rockaway to Sicktewhacky, or Fire Island Bay,
on the south side, and on the north to Martin Ger-
ritsen's, near Cow Bay.
After 1640, Manhattan began to assume more of
the appearance of a town. Fairs for the exchange
of agricultural products were held periodically near
the fort. Most of the business was done by barter ;
but beaver-skins, and the Indian beads called
"seawant," served as a medium of exchange. The
best seawant in America was made by the Long Is-
land Indians, who picked up a superior supply of
shells on their long beaches. " Good, splendid
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 31
seawant, usually called Manhattan's seawant," were
worth, when strung, four beads to a stiver, or an
English penny. But loose beads were generally of
an inferior quality, were regarded as a debased cur-
rency, and valued only at six to a stiver. The dom-
ine had occasion to complain that contributions
at church were too frequently made in loose seawant.
Fort Amsterdam became a stopping place for travel-'
lers between New England and Virginia, the coast- '
ing vessels regularly putting in to the Bay to trade.
The number of visitors thus requiring hospitalities
at the fort became embarrassing to Kieft, and in
1642 he built a stone " Harberg," or hotel, on the
shore of the East River, at the corner of Coenties
Lane and Pearl Street, opposite Coenties Slip. The
need of a new church had been felt by many per-
sons besides Domine Bogardus, and the energy of
De Vries brought about its construction. Dining
one day with Kieft in the Fort, he told the director
that it was a shame to the community that visiting
Englishmen should see the " mean barn " in which
the domine preached ; that in New England a fine
church was always built immediately after the dwel-
ling-houses. " We should do the like ; we have fine
oak wood, good mountain stone, and excellent lime,
which we burn from oyster shells, — much better
than our lime in Holland." De Vries supported his
plea by a subscription of a hundred guilders ; and
Kieft, mindful of the fact that the people of Rensse-
laerwyck were taking steps to build a new church,,
consented to give a thousand guilders on behalf of
the Company. The construction was confided to the
32 PETER STUYVESANT.
care of Kieft, De Vries, Jan Jansen Dam, who lived
conveniently near the Fort, and Jochem Pieter-
sen Kuyter, " a devout professor of the Reformed
religion." It was decided to have the church in-
side the fort for greater protection against the In-
dians. To raise the necessary funds then became
a difficulty which the cunning of Kieft overcame.
A daughter of Domine Bogardus was about to be
married. At the wedding feast, " after the fourth
or fifth round of drinking," Kieft announced the
worthy project in hand, and produced the subscrip-
tion list headed by his own name and that of De
Vries. Amid the expansive enthusiasm of the occa-
sion the company subscribed " richly." Not a few,
as the chronicles record, " well repented it " on the
morrow ; but " nothing availed to excuse." The con-
tracts called for a stone church, in length seventy-two
feet, in width fifty, and in height sixteen. John and
Richard Ogden of Stamford did the work for twenty-
five hundred guilders, with a hundred added for
doing it well. English carpenters covered the roof
with oak shingles, and completed the finest building
in New Netherland. The words, " Anno Domini,
1642, William Kieft Director-General, hath the
Commonalty built this Temple," were cut in a stone
on the front wall. The congregation worshipped
here until 1693, when it removed to Garden Street
(now Exchange Place). The building was used
then by the military until its destruction by fire in
1741. In 1 790, workmen, digging the foundations
for the Government House on the southern end of
the Bowling Green, uncovered the stone in which the
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 33
inscription had been cut. It was set up inside the
Garden Street church, and there remained to share
the fate of that church in the great fire of 1835.
The commercial system upon which the little
Dutch colony had been established contained ele-
ments of weakness, which were soon to turn pros-
perity into ruin. The New England colonies were
peopled by independent men, who came prepared
to brave every hardship in a country which they in-
tended to make the home of themselves and their
descendants forever. They were bound together by
powerful religious ties. To them success meant
liberty of conscience and a living wrung from the
soil of their adopted country by self-denying toil.
But the Dutch had won the right to worship God in
their own land and in their own way before the " Half
Moon" had sailed into the Hudson River. They hadi
neither the religious incentive nor the religious ties'
of their neighbours. Moreover, the establishment
of a permanent home in America was to them, in
those early days, an object subordinate to the im-j
mediate profits of the fur-trade. Instead of the'
complete independence and self-reliance of the
English colonists, they had the serious drawback
of their subjection to a private commercial Com-
pany, and the habit of looking to that distant
power, rather than to their own efforts, for em-
ployment and aid.
The requirements of the fur-trade caused an all-
important difference in the policy pursued toward
the Indians by the English and the Dutch. The
New England people sought to avoid complications
34 PETER STUYVESANT.
by keeping the savages at arm's length. When in-
volved in troubles with them, as in the case of the
Pequod War in 1637, they took the offensive at
once, and by a vigorous display of power procured a
peace of forty years. But it was to the Indians that
the Dutch looked for the supply of furs upon which
their gains depended. For the, better prosecution
of the trade, the Hollanders made long journeys
into the woods and encouraged the visits of the
Indians to Manhattan. As competition increased,
the traders sought to be nearer the base of supply,
and made settlements at great distances from the
fort, thus extending dangerously the population of
the colony. The Indians visiting at the fort were
treated too indulgently, allowed to lounge about, get
drunk at the taverns, quarrel with one another and
the Dutch, and worst of all to become acquainted
with the slender defensive resources of the settle-
ment. The savages, who at first dreaded a gun as
" the devil," no sooner understood its uses, than
their eagerness to possess one made arms and am-
munition the most profitable medium of exchange.
The traders could not resist such a temptation as
the offer of twenty beaver- skins for a gun. The
people at Rensselaerwyck pushed this trade so far
that the Mohawk nation was soon supplied with
firearms, by the help of which they exacted tribute
from the terror-stricken tribes of Canada, New
England, and the Hudson River. At Manhattan,
strenuous efforts were made to prevent the sale of
guns to the neighbouring savages. But this prohi-
bition so greatly aided the tyranny of the Mohawks,
SET7^LEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 35
that the river tribes became exasperated at what
they deemed the unjust advantages accorded to
their enemies by the Dutch.
In 1640. when the friendship of the savages had
become somewhat alienated by this quarrel, the
headstrong Kieft was foolish enough to arouse their
active hostility. Finding himself short of provisions,
he proceeded to levy a tribute of corn upon the
river tribes on the pretext that the Dutch protected
them against their enemies. As we learn from De
Vries, the Indians refused the payment, on just
grounds. The Dutch had never protected them
against the oppression of the Mohawks. " Kieft,"
they said, " must be a very shabby fellow ; he had
come to live in their land uninvited, and now sought
to deprive them of their corn for nothing." They had
paid for everything obtained from the Dutch ; when
the Hollanders, "having lost a ship there, built a
new one [the "Restless"], they had supplied them
with food and other necessaries, and had taken care
of them for two winters until the ship was finished.
... If we have ceded to you the country you are liv-
ing in," they concluded, " we yet remain masters
of what we have retained for ourselves." The
estrangement brought about by the injudicious de-j
mands of the director soon entailed more serious
complications. A trading party in the Raritan coun-
try complained of having been attacked by savages ;
and the theft of some hogs on Staten Island was tool
hastily attributed to the same source. The Dutch
were inclined to treat the Indians well, and these
difficulties might have been smoothed over. But
36 PETER STUYVESANT.
Kieft, as the Company's director, had absolute au-
thority in this matter, and he had resolved upon a
violent policy. He now sent a party of seventy men
into the Raritan country to seek reparation or re-
venge. Van Tienhoven, the secretary, who was
placed in command, shared the director's animosity
toward the Indians, and allowed his men to kill and
plunder without attempting a peaceful negotiation.
By such ill-advised injustice was made inevitable a
condition of active war. It was not long before the
Raritans had responded by burning De Vries's build-
ings on Staten Island, killing four of his men, and
thus destroying that promising colony.
While this unnecessaiy quarrel with the Raritans
was in progress, an avoidable difficulty arose with
the Weckquaesgeeks of Westchester. About ten
years before this time a Weckquaesgeek, accom-
panied by his youthful nephew, was bringing peltry
to New Amsterdam for sale. Some rough Dutch-
men met them in the woods near the Kolck (a pond
on the site of the Tombs prison), murdered and
robbed the Indian, but allowed the boy to escape.
JThe latter, having grown to manhood, savage cus-
tom required that he should avenge the death of
his kinsman. In August, 1641, in pursuance of his
obligation, he came down the trail to Manhattan,
which skirted the East River. In the woods near
Deutel Bay stood the lonely cottage of Claes, the
smith. The Weckquaesgeek entered, offered a
beaver in trade, and when the smith stooped to
take an article from his chest, he killed him at a
blow. The demands of the Dutch for the surrender
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 37
of the murderer were met by a relation of the pro-
vocation and the claim of a just revenge. This cir-
cumstance was the more unfortunate, in that it gave
Kieft an excuse for the policy of violence upon
which he was resolved. The community was averse
to extreme measures. The boweries were scattered
and defenceless ; while the people living about the
fort might be secure, the outlying settlements were
in danger of instant destruction. As De Vries de-
clared, " It would not be advisable to attack the
Indians until we have more people, like the English,
who have built towns and villages." Moreover,
there were not a few men in New Amsterdam who
accused the director of seeking a war to conceal
irregularities in his accounts with the Company.
Others, again, reminded him that hostilities were
not as attractive to them as to the official " who
could secure his own life in a good fort, out of which
he had not slept a single night in all the years he
had been there." In face of this opposition, Kieft
endeavoured to shift as much responsibility as he
could upon other shoulders. Calling together the
heads of families, he submitted to them the question
whether or not the murder of Claes Smits should be
avenged by the destruction of the village to which
the assassin belonged. This, the first popular assem-l
bly held upon the territory of New York, elected
twelve men to decide the question. These were
Jacques Bentyn, Maryn Adriaensen, Jan Jansen Dam,
Hendrick Jansen, David Pietersen de Vries, Jacob
Stoffelsen, Abram Molenaar, Frederik Lubbertsen,
Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, Gerrit Dircksen, George
90802
38 PETER STUYVESANT.
Rapelje, and Abram Verplanck. The Twelve Men
gave as the result of their deliberations that " the
director send further, once, twice, yea, for the third
time, a shallop, to demand the surrender of the
murderer in a friendly manner." This failing, re-
venge should be sought, but with a proper regard
to " God and the opportunity." It would not do to
bring a sudden war upon the scattered population.
Peaceful relations should be kept up, and meanwhile
the director should prepare arms for the soldiers
and freemen. Finally, in case war became unavoid-
able, they hinted that Kieft himself " ought to lead
the van."
The director was little pleased with this result.
In January, 1642, he called the Twelve Men to-
gether again, represented to them that the mur-
derer of Claes had not been surrendered, and that
a favourable moment for reprisals had arrived, the
Indians being dispersed on their hunting expeditions.
Kieft's authority was nearly unrestricted in the col-
ony. The Council which should have limited it had
but one member, Dr. La Montagne. The reader
will recollect occasions in history when, on a greater
scene and in more important emergencies, the
monarch who has sought the assistance of his sub-
jects for the prosecution of war has been forced to
grant reforms as a preliminary condition. In this
situation the director of New Netherland now found
himself. The Twelve Men, instead of giving the
; expected consent, demanded some of the political
privileges to which they had been accustomed in
Holland. Four representatives, elected by the peo-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 39
pie, should sit on the Council Board to save " the
land from oppression; " the militia should be pro-
perly organized ; and every freeman should have
liberty to visit and to trade with vessels arriving in
port. Kieft promised these concessions, meaning
never to carry them out. The Twelve Men then
gave their consent to an expedition against the
Weckquaesgeeks. This point secured, the director
announced that he did not consider that the Twelve
had " received from the Commonalty larger powers
than simply to give their advice regarding the murder
of the late Claes Smits." He then issued a procla-
mation in form, dissolving the Twelve and forbidding
further political meetings of the people, as tending
" to dangerous consequences and to the great injury
both of the country and of our authority."
The long talked-of expedition against the Weck-
quaesgeeks took place in March. Kieft declined
" to lead the van," and the command devolved upon
Ensign Hendrick van Dyck. The guide missed
his way, the soldiers wandered aimlessly about, and
returned to the fort without firing a shot. The In-
dians, discovering from the Dutch trail the danger
from which they had escaped, now sent messengers
to Manhattan to sue for peace. Van Tienhoven,
the secretary, went to Westchester, and at the
house of Jonas Bronck, on the Bronx River, a treaty
was arranged, by which the Weckquaesgeeks agreed
to surrender the murderer. This promise was not
fulfilled; but the treaty served to maintain peace
for some months.
The year 1643 opened ominously. In both New
40 PETER STUYVESANT.
England and New Netherland prevailed a vague
terror of impending Indian troubles. The great
sachem Miantonomoh was reported to be circulat-
ing among all the tribes to organize a general attack
upon the whites. The inhabitants of the boweries
distant from Manhattan looked anxiously into the
forests about them, hardly doubting from day to day
that the war-whoop would resound from them. In
an atmosphere so charged with alarms, a slight in-
cident might have grave results. One day in Janu-
ary De Vries was strolling about the woods near
Vriesendael, gun on shoulder, in search of game.
Suddenly an Indian, excited by drink, approached
the patroon, " stroked him over the arms as a sign
of good-will," and thus addressed him : " You are
a good chief; when we visit you, you give us milk
to drink for nothing. But I have just come from
Hackinsack, where they sold me brandy half mixed
with water, and then stole my beaver-skin coat."
Notwithstanding the patroon's remonstrances, the
injured savage declared that he should get his bow
and arrows, and kill one of the " roguish Swanne-
kins." De Vries, fearful of trouble, hastened over
to Hackinsack, Van der Horst's bowery, and warned
the inhabitants of the danger which their conduct
had provoked. On his return to Vriesendael, there
appeared several chiefs of the Hackinsacks and
Rechawancks, who related that the harm had al-
ready been done. The Indian had shot a Dutchman
named Garret Jansen van Voorst, at Hackinsack, as
he was thatching a roof. The chiefs had hastened to
Vriesendael to offer the blood atonement of money
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 41
(the usual Indian expiation of murder), and to se-
cure the mediation of De Vries in favour of peace.
The latter, knowing the provocation received by the
murderer, and that the choice lay between the ac-
ceptance of these well-meant offers and a bloody
war, himself accompanied the Indians to the fort,
and supported their cause. They had much to
plead in their favour. " Why do you sell brandy
to our young men?" they said to Kieft. "They
are not used to it ; it makes them crazy. Even
your own people, who are accustomed to strong
liquors, sometimes become drunk, and fight with
knives. Sell no more strong drink to the Indians,
if you would avoid mischief." To their offer of
atonement to the widow, Kieft would not listen.
The person of the murderer must be surrendered.
The Indians replied that this they could not do :
he had gone off two days' journey among the Tan-
kitekes. Thus the efforts of De Vries to preserve
peace were foiled by the obstinacy and bad judgment
of Kieft.
In February, the Mohawks, armed with the guns
obtained from the traders at Rensselaerwyck, made
their annual descent upon the Algonquin tribes, in
the vicinity of Manhattan, to plunder and levy
tribute. De Vries awoke one morning to find his
bowery filled with hundreds of starved and terror-
stricken fugitives, seeking food and protection from-
the Mohawks. He had but five men besides him-
self to defend Vriesendael. It was the depth of
winter, and the river was full of floating ice. But he
embarked alone in a canoe, and made his way pain-
42 PETER STUYVESANT.
fully to Manhattan, where he asked the director for
the assistance of a few soldiers. Kieft refused it.
Almost immediately large numbers of fugitive In-
dians, including many from Vriesendael, camped
with the Hackinsacks near the oyster banks of
Pavonia, depending in their danger upon the pro-
tection of the Dutch at the fort. The wise De
Vries saw the opportunity offered by this emergency
to win the lasting gratitude and friendship of the
savages. He pointed out earnestly to Kieft that by
/affording these people in their hour of suffering the
'assistance they asked, the disputes of the past would
be forgotten, and a permanent peace secured.
But Kieft had neither wisdom nor humanity.
Hatred of the savages and love of revenge hurried
him on his fatal course. The measures to be taken
were concerted in secret with some of his boon
companions. Accompanied by Van Tienhoven, he
went to dine at the house of Jan Jansen Dam, and
there met Verplanck and Adriaensen. — two oth-
ers who had belonged to the Twelve Men. After
dinner, the wily Van Tienhoven presented to the
director a petition which purported to come from
the Twelve Men. In this, it was urged that the
murderers of Smits and of Van Voorst had not been
given up, that circumstances had placed the savages
in the power of the Dutch, and that a favourable
moment had arrived to snatch an easy vengeance.
The men there present had no right to speak for
the Twelve, whom Kieft had formally dissolved in the
previous year ; but the excuse of the petition was
enough for the purposes of the bloodthirsty direc-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 43
tor. Van Tienhoven and Corporal Hans Steen were '
sent to reconnoitre the position of the Indians, and
to plan the attack. There was no lack of opposition
to these proceedings. Domine Bogardus protested
vehemently ; La Montagne foretold that " war
would stalk through the whole country." De Vries
learned of the proceedings at Dam's house with
disgust and dismay. He went immediately to the
fort, and as a former member of the Twelve denied
that that body had given its consent or had even
been consulted. In vain he pointed out to Kieft the
folly of his course, and the certainty that the scat-
tered settlers, taken unawares, would be massacred
on their boweries. But the director would reply
only that his measures had been taken with the
consent of the Commonalty, and leading De Vries
to the window, pointed out triumphantly the sol-
diers drawn up in review within the fort. " Let
this work alone ! " cried De Vries ; " you want to
break the Indians' mouths, but you will also murder
our own people." " The order has gone forth,"
replied Kieft, obstinately, " it cannot be recalled."
That night De Vries sat by the kitchen fire in the
director's house, sorrowfully reflecting on the crim-
inal folly which was plunging the colony into ruin.
He was alone in the fort ; not even a sentinel had
been left behind. "About midnight," he says,
" hearing loud shrieks, I ran to the ramparts of the
fort. Looking toward Pavonia, I saw nothing but
shooting, and heard nothing but the shrieks of In-
dians murdered in their sleep." He had returned
sadly to the kitchen fire, when an Indian and his
44 PETER STUYVESANT.
squaw, who had escaped from Pavonia in a canoe,
burst into the room. "The Fort Orange Indians
have fallen upon us," they cried; "we have come
to hide ourselves in the fort." " It is no time to
hide yourselves in the fort," replied the patroon,
who recognized the savages as neighbours at Vries-
endael ; " no Indians have done this deed. It is
the work of the Swannekins, — the Dutch." He
led them to the gate of the fort, and pointed to the
woods beyond as their only place of safety.
The night attack upon the unsuspecting Indians
resulted in a general massacre of the families at
Pavonia and at Corlaer's Hook. Neither women
nor children were spared. The next morning
the director enjoyed his momentary triumph, and
greeted the " Roman achievements " of his soldiery
with hand-shakings and gifts of money.
Kieft's bad example was soon followed by the
turbulent element of the Long Island settlers, who
wantonly attacked the friendly tribe of Marechka-
wiecks, killing several, and stealing their corn. This
outrage was the more stupid, as the enmity of the
Long Island Indians left the Dutch surrounded by
j foes. Eleven tribes now rose in furious war. On
the Hudson River, in Westchester, on Long Island,
the forests resounded with their cries, and every
outlying bowery suffered attack. The farmers, with
such of their families as survived, fled to Manhattan,
and camped about the fort. The ships in the harbour
became crowded with people anxious to. return to
Holland. To keep the homeless and angry colonists
from starving, Kieft had to take them into the pay
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 45
of the Company as soldiers. Even Vriesendael did
not escape. The savages destroyed the out-build-
ings and gathered crops, while De Vries and his
men awaited behind the loopholes of his house the
final attack. But at this juncture the Indian whom
De Vries had befriended on the night of the Pavonia
massacre reminded the attacking party of the pa-
troon's constant friendship ; and the savages de-
parted, saying that they would do the good chief no
more harm, and would even let the brewery stand,
although they " longed for the copper kettle to
make barbs for their arrows."
Leaving the smouldering ruins of his beloved
Vriesendael, De Vries went down to Manhattan.
" Has it not happened just as I said," he demanded
of Kieft, " that you were only helping to shed
Christian blood?" The director could make no
answer. He stammered out his surprise that the/
Indians had not come to the fort to make terms.
" Why should they come here," asked De Vries,
"whom you have so treated?"
Kieft was now as much alarmed as he had been
confident before, and sent messengers to the Long
Island Indians to ask for peace. But the savages \
would not even parley. "Are you our friends?"
they cried from a distance. " You are only corn
thieves ! " The director's position became daily
more uncomfortable. Manhattan was crowded with
widows, with fatherless children, with farmers, who
mourned the loss of buildings, crops, and relatives.
It was winter, and shelter for the homeless was hard
to find. Provisions were growing scarce. Dark
46 PETER STUYVESANT.
looks and angry words met Kieft at every turn.
Within two weeks of his vain boast that he would
make the Indians " wipe their chops," he could
find no palliation for the calamities which he had
brought upon the colony other than to proclaim
the fourth of March as a day of fasting and prayer.
" We continue to suffer," the proclamation ran,
" much trouble and loss from the heathen, and
many of our inhabitants see their lives and property
in jeopardy, which is doubtless owing to our sins."
But Kieft's day of fasting did not help him much.
A number of burghers talked plainly of putting the
director on board of a ship bound for Holland ; oth-
ers upbraided him even in the fort. To all he had
but one reply to make : the responsibility rested
with Adriaensen, Dam, and Verplanck, who, as
members of the Twelve, had urged the midnight
attack. But the retort of the burghers was con-
clusive : " You forbade those freemen to meet, on
pain of punishment for disobedience ; how came it
then?" Among the most furious was Adriaensen
himself, who had not only signed the petition, but
had commanded the expedition which murdered
forty Weckquaesgeeks at Corlaer's Hook. Ruined
by the destruction of his own bowery, and stung
by the reproaches of his companions, he resented
Kieft's attempt to make him responsible. On the
morning of March 21 he forced his way, armed,
into the director's room, shouting : " What lies are
these you are reporting of me ? " He was arrested.
But a party of his friends and servants came to his
rescue, and one of them fired at the director. The
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 47
man was shot, and his head set upon a pole, while
Adriaensen was sent to Holland.
In this distracted state of the colony Kieft listened
at last to De Vries. The latter, accompanied by
Jacob Olfertsen, sought out the Indians in the
woods, and his influence brought about a peace.
But Kieft, persistently wrong, was niggardly with his
gifts. The atonement was not sufficient, and De
Vries knew well that, although the Indians were will-
ing to observe a truce until their corn was planted,
the chiefs could not restrain their young men from
finally seeking a full revenge for the dead whom
they mourned. And so it proved. In August, the
Tankitekes of Haverstraw and the Wappingers of
the Highlands dug up the hatchet, killing fifteen
Dutchmen along the river, and plundering the fur-
laden sloops coming down from Fort Orange.
Kieft called the burghers together to assist him
in this new emergency. By them an advisory
board was chosen known as the Eight Men, consist-
ing of Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, Cornelis Melyn,
Jan Jansen Dam, Barent Dircksen, Abraham Pieter-
sen, Gerrit Wolfertsen, Isaac Allerton, and Thomas
Hall. The first two, Kuyter and Melyn, henceforth
took in the affairs of the colony a leading part,
which was destined to make much trouble for them
in Stuyvesant's time. Allerton, a Mayflower emi-
grant, had come to Manhattan from Plymouth. His
presence on the board and that of Hall showed thej
growing influence of the English in the colony.
The Eight Men began their proceedings by expel-
ling Dam on account of his part in bringing about
48 PETER STUYVESANT.
the Pavonia massacre, and chose in his place Jan
Evertsen Bout. The prosecution of hostilities was
then authorized. The director took into the Com-
pany's service fifty Englishmen, who were about to
leave the unhappy colony, and placed at their head
Capt. John Underhill, the hardy soldier whose ser-
vices to New England in the Pequod War had
not prevented his banishment thence for religious
differences.
But, as De Vries had pointed out before, the
colony was too scattered to admit of defence. In
September, the Weckquaesgeeks murdered Anne
Hutchinson and her family at Annie's Hoeck, in
Westchester. Lady Deborah Moody's settlement
of English people from Salem at Gravesend, Long
Island, barely escaped with their lives by hard fight-
ing. Doughty's prosperous colony at Mespath was
destroyed. The Hackinsacks burned Van der
Horst's buildings at Achter Cul. The village at
Pavonia was burned in October, and the garrison
killed to a man, — although Stofifelsen, who was in
charge and had shown the Indians kindness, was
sent away by them on some pretext before the
attack. Van Voorst's little son was made captive,
and De Vries had to go into the forest to obtain
his release. Thus, from the Highlands to the
Honsatonic River, the province of New Netherland
was desolated. The surviving farmers camped with
their families about the fort. Above the Kolck but
a few boweries maintained armed possession. New
Amsterdam itself was in danger. Men gathering
firewood as far north as Wall Street were constantly
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 49
fired at. Van Dyck was shot in the arm while re-
lieving guard. Provisions were falling short, and
yet Kieft allowed two vessels laden with grain to sail
for Curacoa. An application for assistance sent to
New Haven by Allerton and Underhill resulted in
failure.
At this sad time New Netherland lost its best
friend. De Vries, the bold sea-captain and enter-
prising patroon, left the colony forever. His public
spirit, his rough wisdom, his tact in dealing with the
Indians would have given to New Netherland a
happy history had he been in the place of the
director. His boweries were in ruins, and the
prospect of rebuilding them became daily more
remote. A herring-buss from Rotterdam came
through Hell Gate, whose skipper had failed to
sell his cargo of Madeira in New England " because
the English there lived soberly." He wanted a
pilot to guide him to Virginia, and De Vries took
the opportunity to return to Holland. Before em-
barking, the patroon went up to the fort. "The
murders in which you have shed so much innocent
blood," he said to Kieft, " will yet be avenged
upon your own head," — a prophecy before long
fulfilled.
During the winter of 1644 the Dutch sent out i
expeditions against the Indians in Westchester and |
on the great plains of Long Island, under Van
Dyck, Kuyter, and Underhill, in which the Christian
showed himself to be no less cruel than the heathen.
But Kieft was much straitened in his supply of pro-
visions for the people, and of ammunition for the
50 PETER STUYVESANT.
soldiery. A bill of exchange which he had drawn
on the West India Company in the previous autumn
had returned protested. The unprofitable wars
waged against the Portuguese and Spaniards in
South America had brought the Company to bank-
ruptcy. At this juncture, a vessel arrived in port
with a cargo of supplies sent by the patroon to
his colony of Rensselaerwyck. The skipper, Peter
Wynkoop, having refused to sell shoes for the sol-
diers at Manhattan, Kieft had the ship searched, and
finding goods not included in the manifest he con-
fiscated both ship and cargo. The ammunition and
clothing thus acquired not proving sufficient, the
director levied a tax on beer, which excited great
opposition among the impoverished people. The
Eight Men remonstrated justly, on the ground that
the Company had formally agreed to defray all the
expenses of war. " I have more power here than
the Company itself," replied Kieft; "therefore I
may do and suffer in this country what I please. I
am my own master,, for I have my commission not
from the Company, but from the States-General."
Kuyter, Melyn, and Hall of the Eight who went to
the fort to protest against the tax were allowed to
kick their heels in the director's hall for four hours,
and to depart "as wise as they came." In July a
Dutch vessel called the " Blue-Cock " arrived from
Curacoa, containing a hundred and thirty soldiers
sent by Peter Stuyvesant, the governor there. The
burghers hailed the arrival of these men as a means
of terminating the Indian war during the summer.
But Kieft quartered the soldiers on the Common-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 51
alty, and took no warlike steps. All summer,
" scarce a foot was moved on land or an oar laid
in the water."
The Eight Men, exasperated by the sufferings of
the colony, now apparently interminable, saw that
their only hope of redress lay in applications to
the States-General and the West India Company.
Kuyter and Melyn were the authors of a vigorous
memorial sent out in the " Blue-Cock." " Our
fields lie fallow and waste," said the Eight ; " our
dwellings and other buildings are burnt. The crop
which God the Lord permitted to come forth dur-
ing the last summer remains on the field, as well as
the hay standing in divers places, whilst we poor
people have not been able to obtain a single man
for our defence. We are burdened with heavy
families ; have no means to provide necessaries any
longer for our wives and children. We are seated
here in the midst of thousands of Indians and bar-
barians, from whom is to be experienced neither
peace nor pity. We have left our fatherland, and
had not the Lord our God been our comfort, must
have perished in our wretchedness. There are
men amongst us who by the sweat and labour of their
hands have been endeavouring at great expense to
improve their lands and gardens. ... All these are
now laid in ashes through a foolish hankering after
war ; for it is known to all right-thinking men here
that these Indians have lived as lambs amongst us
until a few years ago, injuring no one, affording
every assistance to our nation. The director hath,
by various uncalled-for proceedings, so estranged
52 PETER STUYVESANT.
them from us, and so embittered them against the
Dutch nation, that we do not think anything will
bring them back, unless the Lord God, who bends
all men's hearts to his will, propitiates them."
The memorials of the Eight Men were considered
by the College of the XIX. at the end of 1644.
They were conclusive in their description of the
misgovernment of the colony, and moreover had the
support of De Vries. The West India Company,
now bankrupt, was seeking to merge itself with the
successful East India Company. An examination
into the affairs of New Netherland revealed the fact
that instead of the long looked-for profits, the
colony had cost, from 1626 to 1644, over five hun-
dred and fifty thousand guilders above the receipts.
But the College of the XIX. considering that the
Company had promised to assist the colony, and
that there might yet be some hope for it, resolved
that the directors could not " decently or consis-
tently abandon it." Kieft's policy was condemned,
his acts repudiated, and he and his Council were
ordered to Holland to assume responsibility for the
" bloody exploit " at Pavonia and Corlaer's Hook.
A new director was to be sent out and the admin-
istration thoroughly reformed.
In the spring of 1645 *ne Indians, themselves,
weary of war, made proposals of peace. The nego-
tiations were long ; but on the 2oth of August the
burghers assembled joyfully at the fort, where the
articles of the treaty were submitted to their ap-
proval. None objected but Hendrick Kip, who
opposed all the proposals of the director, on princi-
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 53
pie. The next day was set apart as a day of thanks-
giving, and in all the English and Dutch churches
it was ordered " to proclaim the good tidings
throughout New Netherland." But during the five
years of war the colony had been nearly depopu-
lated ; hardly more than three hundred freemen
remained capable of bearing arms, and all were im-
poverished. The news of Kieft's repudiation and
recall made life at Manhattan very uncomfortable
for him. Surrounded by men who attributed to
him their ruin, he was often threatened with per-
sonal chastisement when he should " take off the
coat with which he was bedecked by the lords his
masters." All this provoked Kieft to reprisals, and
the fort was the scene of constant turmoil. Domine
Bogardus arraigned him from the pulpit as " a vessel
of wrath and a fountain of woe and trouble ; " to
which Kieft replied by causing the garrison to beat
drums and discharge cannon about the church dur-
ing the time of the domine's discourse.
The colony at Rensselaerwyck, having kept on
good terms with the surrounding Mohawks, had es-
caped the Indian war, and formed the most pros-
perous portion of New Netherland. Nature was
profuse in her gifts. The river abounded with stur-
geon and the brooks with trout. Nuts, plums,
blackberries, and grapes were to be had on all sides
for the picking. The wild strawberries grew so
thickly that the children had but to lie down and
eat. Deer, turkeys, partridges, and pigeons were
abundant. The lazy burgher could get a fat buck
from an Indian in exchange for a pipe. Arendt
54 PETER STUYVESANT.
van Curler, the agent for the patroon, received the
emigrants, allotted them land, and administered a
rude justice. In 1642, Domine Johannes Mega-
polensis was sent out by the Classis of Alckmaar,
and he preached to both Dutch and Indian. The
fur-trade was a steady source of income, although
the independent traders who came up the river
curtailed seriously the patroon's profits. To remedy
this abuse, Van Rensselaer ordered Van Curler to
stop illicit trading, and to preserve his exclusive
rights as the " first and oldest " patroon on the
North River. For this purpose, in 1644, Van
Curler erected a fort on Beeren Island command-
ing both channels of the river, to which he gave
the name of Rensselaerstein. The Dutch claim of
" staple right " was set up, a toll of five guilders was
levied on passing vessels, and all were ordered to
strike their colors to the fort in homage to the
patroon in whose territory they were. Nicholas
Koorn was appointed " wacht-meester " to enforce
these rules. In July, Covert Loockermans, a leading
burgher of New Amsterdam, was sailing down the
river in his sloop, the " Good Hope," laden with
furs collected in the country above. As the " Good
Hope " floated lazily past the fort, her crew were
surprised to hear a cannon discharged thence, and
the voice of Koorn from the ramparts, shouting, —
" Strike thy colours ! "
Loockermans was at the helm. " For whom shall
I strike?" he inquired.
" For the staple right of Rensselaerstein," shouted
Koorn, grandly.
SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND. 55
'•' I strike for nobody," retorted Loockermans,
" but the Prince of Orange, or those by whom I am
employed."
The sloop passing defiantly on, three shots were
fired from the fort, one of which passed through
Loockerman's "princely flag," just above his head.
Thus began a long struggle between the authorities;
of New Netherland and of Rensselaerwyck. Nich-,
olas Koorn was immediately summoned before the
Council at Manhattan, and a lively dispute took
place between him and Van der Huygens, the
schout- fiscal. The latter protested against the
patroon's attempt to control the Hudson River,
while Koorn maintained the right of the patroon,
derived from the States-General, to fortify and pro-
tect his colony. And there the contention rested
until Stuyvesant's time.
The other Dutch possessions in America were •
faring badly. The South or Delaware River had
been explored by Hendricksen in 1616, and in 1623
a beginning was made by the erection of Fort
Nassau, on the Jersey shore, ab~but four miles below
Philadelphia. In 1631, the patroon Godyn and his
partners established the colony of Swaanendael on
the Delaware side. But in 1638 Peter Minuit, the
former director of Manhattan, brought a party of
Swedes into the river, who built Fort Christina,
disregarded Kieft's remonstrances, and by superior
enterprise soon made themselves masters in that
country.
The Dutch were still less successful in opposing!
the encroachments on their eastern boundaries by
56 PETER STUYVESANT.
the English. Western Connecticut belonged by dis-
covery and by the erection of Fort Good Hope to
New Netherland. But the New England people
moved steadily westward, taking up good lands
wherever they found them, replying to Dutch re-
monstrances that the soil was too rich to be left
idle. They settled all around the Fort Good Hope,
making that Dutch stronghold the favourite subject
of their jokes. The turnips planted by Op Dyck
and his men were cooked in New England kettles,
and the soldier who objected got a buffeting for his
pains. The English ploughman ran his furrows
close to the walls of the fort, and complained of the
obstruction. The garrison that nominally held Con-
necticut for the West India Company found them-
selves living in an English community, with the town
of Hartford growing up before them. The Dutch
claim was undoubtedly good, but there was no force
to prevent the all-absorbing English immigration.
The New England people were already at Stamford,
and the eastern end of Long Island was within their
grasp. In 1640, the Lynn emigrants at Cow Bay
pulled down the arms of Holland and left in their
place "an unhandsome face."
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 57
CHAPTER II.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF PETER STUYVESANT.
THE neglect shown by the West India Company
towards its colony of New Netherland had been
unavoidable. The conquests in Brazil and other
portions of South America had proved so costly
and unremunerative, the number and the value of
Spanish prizes had so far diminished, that the ces-
sation of dividends was followed speedily by bank-
ruptcy. The competition of private traders had
curtailed the profits of the fur- trade, and New Ne-
therland, showing a balance on the wrong side of
the ledger, was not an interesting subject to the
Company. Indeed, the College of the XIX., sorely
pressed by greater troubles, had nearly forgotten its
North American possessions, until the information
of the Indian wars and the aggressions of the Eng-
lish made it evident that a total loss would result
from further neglect. There were compunctions of
conscience, too, — several of the directors declaring
that the Company, after the promises it had made,
was bound to give assistance to the settlers. A
strong man must be sent out who would repair the
errors of Kieft, subdue the Indians, and resist the
encroachments of the English. The choice fell on
Peter Stuyvesant.
58 PETER STUYVESANT.
The word " Stuyvesant " signifies " shifting sands,"
a condition characteristic of parts of the coast of
Holland. Peter was the son of Balthazar Stuy-
vesant, a clergyman of the Reformed religion.
Previous to 1619, Balthazar was settled at Scherpen-
zeel, in southern Friesland. In 1622 he removed
with his family to Berlicum, in the same province.
Thence, in 1634, he went to Delfzil, in Guelderland,
where he died in 1637. At Berlicum, on May 2,
1625, he lost his wife, Margaretta Hardenstein, who
left two children, — Peter, and a daughter Annake.
On July 22, 1627, he married Styntie Pieters, of
Haarlem, by whom he had three more children, —
Margaretta, Tryncke, and Balthazar.
Peter had his own way to make ; and his vigour-
ous and impetuous character had led him into the
adventurous rather than the peaceful paths of Dutch
commercial life. His record was well known to the
directors of the West India Company, in whose
service he had fought the Spaniards and Portuguese
in South America, and had been for some years
governor of the island of Curacoa. During his
command there, he had made a naval attack upon
the island of St. Thomas, his conduct of which was
ever afterward a subject of contention between
his friends and enemies. The former always spoke
of it as an instance of his "Roman courage,"
sufficiently proved by the wooden leg worn in con-
sequence of it ; while the latter declared that the
undertaking was foolhardy in the beginning, and
carried out with such vain bluster that the store
of powder in the attacking fleet had been exhausted
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 59
in a threatening cannonade before the ships got
within gunshot of the enemy. It is certain that the
attack was unsuccessful, and that Stuyvesant's leg
was so badly injured that he was obliged to return
to Holland, where it was amputated. He was now
walking about on a wooden leg bound with silver
bands, and had married, at Amsterdam, Judith,
the daughter of Balthazar Bayard, a French pro-
testant who had fled to Holland from persecution.
The directors of the West India Company took the
" Roman-courage " view of the St. Thomas inci-
dent, and decided to confide to Peter Stuyvesant
the execution of their plans for the regeneration
of New Netherland.
The expedition was liberally fitted out. There
were four vessels, — the "Great Gerrit," the " Prin-
cess," the " Zwol," and the " Raet." A new'
Council to assist the director was sent with him,
consisting of Hon. Lubbertus Van Dincklage, vice-
director of New Netherland and first councillor
of New Amsterdam ; Hendrick van Dyck, schout-
fiscal; Capt. Bryan Newton, an Englishman who
had served under Stuyvesant at Curacoa ; Adriaen
Keyser, the commissary ; and Jesmer Thomas, a
captain in the Dutch navy. Besides these, there
were soldiers and servants, and a number of traders
and adventurers. Stuyvesant took his wife with
him, and also his sister Annake (the widow of
Nicholas Bayard), with her three sons, — Balthazar,
Peter, and Nicholas. The fleet sailed from the ;
Texel on Christmas, 1646.
In such an enterprise it was necessary that full
6O PETER STUYVESANT.
authority should be vested in the commander ; but
Stuyvesant soon showed that to his rightful predom-
inance he added an overbearing spirit. For reasons
known only to himself, he determined to proceed to
Manhattan Island by way of Curacoa. The remon-
strances of Van Dyck and others of the Council,
who were exhausted by the tedium of the voyage
and the unhealthfulness of a tropical climate, met
with stern denial. At St. Christopher's the fleet
fell in with a vessel called the " Love," whose
papers not being satisfactory to Stuyvesant, was
made a prize of. 'While the director was sitting
in his cabin arranging for the disposal of the prize,
the schout-fiscal — Van Dyck — attempted to take
part in the business. "Get out!" roared Stuyve-
sant. " Who admitted you into the Council ? When
I want you, I'll call you." At Curacoa, poor Van
Dyck tried to enter the council-room again with
no better success ; and, to teach him who was mas-
ter, Stuyvesant never allowed him even a "stroll
ashore " during the three weeks that the fleet lay
under the tropical sun in the harbour of Curacoa.
By the time the long voyage was over, there had
ceased to be any doubt as to the extent of the
director's authority.
It was the ayth of May, 1647, before the fleet cast
anchor off the fort of New Amsterdam. Great was
the joy on board at the view of these beautiful
shores, and great was the satisfaction in the little
settlement at the prospect of a new governor and
new friends. At the fort all the ammunition that
remained was consumed in firing salutes, while along
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 6 1
the bank of the East River gathered the inhabitants
with their vrows and children, ready with a hearty
welcome. Kieft was there, his feelings divided be-
tween satisfaction at relief from his burdensome
position and fears as to his treatment by the new
authorities ; Melyn and Kuyter, burning for an op-
portunity to let the new director know what they
thought of the old one ; Van Tienhoven, anxious
for his office of colonial secretary ; and the other
burghers, ready to forget the past in pleasant
anticipations.
On landing, Stuyvesant proceeded to the fort,
whither he was followed by the principal burghers.
His bearing, as reported by unfriendly critics, was
" like a peacock's, with great state and pomp," and
he kept the burghers " for several hours bare-
headed," while he was covered " as if he were the
Czar of Muscovy." Standing within the fort, he'
formally assumed authority. Then the wily Kieft,
thinking to profit by the general good humour,
made a farewell speech, in which he thanked the
Commonalty profusely for their fidelity to him. He
hoped that fair words would bring a responsive
compliment, under which he might retire without an
exposure of the hatred in which he had long been
held. But his voice only excited still more the feel-
ings which he sought to calm. Kuyter, Melyn, and
others of the Eight Men answered angrily that they
had no thanks for him. A stormy scene was im-
minent. Stuyvesant cut it short by announcing that
he would do justice to all, and would govern them
as a father his children. But there was something
62 PETER STUYVESANT.
in the director's manner which " caused some to
think that he would not be a father."
Stuyvesant's first work was to organize the ma-
chinery of government. To the members of his
Council, who had come out with him, he added
Dr. La Montagne, who had served for many years
in a similar capacity, and Van Tienhoven, who con-
tinued in his old office of provincial secretary.
Baxter, who had been appointed English secretary
by Kieft, remained undisturbed, as he was the only
man at Manhattan who could " tolerably read or
write the English language." Paulus Leendertsen
van der Grist was made " equipage master." A
' court of justice was formed, with Van Dincklage as
judge, although Stuyvesant reserved the right to
preside when he desired.
When the new director surveyed the capital of
his dominions, he found that a great task lay before
him. The long Indian wars, the consequent pov-
erty, the incessant quarrels between Kieft and the
burghers had left everything at loose ends. The
town was confined between the site of Wall Street
and the water fronts, and it was thickly settled only
in the small space between the fort and the canal, or
arm of the East River, which extended up the pres-
ent Broad Street as far as Exchange Place. The
streets were hardly named as yet, and were no more
than broad paths, alternately muddy or dusty, ex-
tending from the fort to the canal. The houses
were rudely constructed of wood, with roofs generally
thatched, and with wooden chimneys. Pig-pens
and out-houses were set directly on the street, dif-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 63
fusing unpleasant odours. The hogs ran at will, kept
out of the vegetable gardens only by rough stockades.
Stuyvesant insisted on the removal of nuisances from
the streets, ordered the proprietor? of vacant lots to
improve them within nine months, and appointed
Van Dincklage, Van Tienhoven, and Van der Grist
" surveyors of buildings " to see that his reforms
were carried out. The morals of the people were
regulated by proclamations, which called for a
" thorough reformation." Drunkenness, Sabbath-
breaking, and brawling must cease. The selling of
liquor to the Indians was prohibited. The church was
still unfinished ; the walls of the fort trodden down
by cattle, and an embankment was sorely needed
along the water-front, against the encroachments of
the tide. These works required money, and turned
the director's attention to the revenue. He found
that the West India Company was being defrauded
of its due by the selling of furs to Virginia and New
England. This unlawful business was summarily
stopped. A " hand-board " was erected on the
shore of the East River, at the foot of the pres-
ent Whitehall Street, where all vessels were com-
pelled to anchor, and where they could be properly
supervised. A method of raising money, charac-
teristic of Dutchmen and more attractive than port
duties, was immediately adopted. Two vessels,
the " Cat " and the " Love," were despatched
to the West Indies in search of Spanish prizes.
Stuyvesant had hardly started on this preliminary
work, when a contest arose which greatly disturbed
the peace of the colony, and formed the beginning
64 PETER STUYVESANT.
of a long series of dissensions between the director
and his people. The majority of the burghers had
been satisfied with the dismissal of Kieft from the
directorship, and .were bent only on making the
most of the new conditions. But Kuyter and Melyn,
who were partners in a patroonship, men of means
and education much superior to Kieft, were not in-
clined to let him off so easily. Their losses through
, his misgovernment had been ruinous, and the long
enmity rankled unsatisfied. Now they presented to
the director and Council formal accusations against
Kieft, with a petition that the leading citizens should
be examined with a view to laying bare his whole
conduct, from the imposition of the Indian tribute in
1639. Had the patroons known more of the char-
acter of the new director they would not have ven-
tured so far. If there was one opinion unalterably
fixed in the mind of Stuyvesant, it was that to the
powers that be is due a blind obedience. Right
or wrong, there should be no resistance to a consti-
tuted authority. Although political liberty was the
birthright of the Dutch, their colonies, generally
military in character, had to be arbitrarily governed.
Stuyvesant was accustomed to a rigid discipline, and
he knew how to govern only as a master.
When the petition of Kuyter and Melyn was re-
ceived, the director at once took alarm. If the
administration of Kieft were thus to be put in judg-
ment on the demand of private persons, his own
conduct would be subject to the same examination.
The precedent was dangerous. He " chose the side
of Kieft ; " declined to recognize Kuyter and Melyn
HIS ADMINISTRATION 65
in their official capacity as members of the Eight
Men, and refused to consider such a petition from
private individuals. " If this point be conceded,"
he said at the Council Board, " will not these cun-
ning fellows, in order to usurp over us a more un-
limited power, claim and assume in consequence
even greater authority against ourselves and our
commission, should it happen that our administra-
tion may not square in every respect with their
whims? '•' He ended by saying, and no doubt it
was his earnest belief : " It is treason to petition
against one's magistrates, whether there be cause or
not." The Council agreed with him, and the pe-
tition of the " malignant subjects " was rejected.
The guilty Kieft had been much alarmed at
the possible issue. Now, seeing his advantage, he
boldly became complainant, and accused Kuyter
and Melyn of being the authors of the Memorial
to the Congress of the XIX. in 1644, which, he
claimed, contained false statements calculated to
bring the magistrates into contempt. Stuyvesant
had worked himself into a passion by this time, and
made up his mind to punish Kuyter and Melyn as
an example. He ordered them to appear to an-
swer within forty-eight hours. Kieft's complaint
being no more than the accusation that the pat-
roons had told the truth about himself, other
charges were trumped up. Both were convicted : \
Melyn was sentenced to seven years' banishment
and a fine of three hundred guilders ; Kuyter, to
half of the same penalty. The sentences were un-
just and very unpopular. But Stuyvesant was re-
5
66 PETER STUYVESANT.
solved that there should be no question in the col-
ony as to the extent of the director's authority.
Melyn declared his intention to appeal to the
directors in Holland, which increased Stuyvesant's
anger to fury. "If I was persuaded," he said to
Melyn, " that you would appeal from my senten-
ces, or divulge them, I would have your head cut off,
or have you hanged on the highest tree in New
Netherland." Nothing excited him so much as the
contempt of his authority involved in a threatened
appeal to Holland. When any one mentioned the
subject, he became so angry that " the foam hung
on his beard." He said to Van Hardenberg, as
the two were leaving the parsonage house after
a meeting of the consistory : " If any one during
my administration shall appeal, I will make him a
foot shorter, and send the pieces to Holland, and
let him appeal in that way." His whole conduct of
this affair was in accordance with a remark attributed
to him in the " Representation from New Nether-
land ": "These brutes may hereafter try to knock
me down also, but I will manage it so now that
they will have their bellies full for the future."
The ship " Princess " lay at anchor in the East
River ready to sail for Holland. Domine Bogardus
and Kieft embarked to return home, and the un-
fortunate patroons were sent aboard as prisoners.
Off the coast of England the " Princess " struck
upon a rock in the night, and began to go to pieces.
" And now," says the Breeden Raedt, " this wicked
Kieft, seeing death before his eyes, sighed deeply,
and, turning to these two, said : ' Friends, I have
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 6j
been unjust towards you; can you forgive me?'"
His repentance came too late ; he perished in the
fulfilment of the prophecy of De Vries, that his sins
would be visited upon his own head. The Domine
Bogardus and nearly all the ship's company were
lost. " Jochem Pietersen Kuyter remained alone
on a part of the ship on which stood a cannon,
which he took for a man ; but speaking to it and
getting no answer, he supposed him dead. He was
at last thrown on land, together with the cannon, to
the great astonishment of the English, who crowded
the strand by thousands, and set up the ordnance
as a lasting memorial. Melyn, floating on his back,
fell in with others who had remained on a part of
the wreck, till they were ^driven on a sand-bank,
which became dry with the ebb." Then they got
ashore. As Kuyter and Melyn " were more con-
cerned for their papers than for anything else, they
caused them to be dragged for, and on the third day
Jochem Pietersen got a small part of them. . . .
When they arrived in Holland, the Dutch directors
much lamented the loss of the ship and its rich
cargo, and were doubly pained that, while so many
fine men, were lost, two rebellious bandits should
survive to trouble the Company with their com-
plaints." But the patroons had justice on their side, •
and they succeeded finally in changing this hostile
opinion.
After the departure of the " Princess," Stuyvesant
threw himself vigorously into the work of improve-
ment. A devout professor of the Reformed religion,
he had joined the consistory of the church at New
68 PETER STUYVESANT.
Amsterdam, and now took measures to have the
building finished. The place of Domine Bogardus
was taken by Domine Backerus, who had come out
with the director. Work on the fort and the
i streets proceeded ; but in everything the director
was hampered by lack of means. The " Love "
and the " Cat " were still looking for a prize, and
the port duties came in slowly. • In this difficulty,
IStuyvesant proclaimed a tax on wines and beers.
Immediately there was great opposition from the
burghers. They conceded to the Company its right
of government, but insisted that it must pay its own
expenses. " No taxation without representation "
was a principle perfectly understood by the Dutch.
Stuyvesant tried in vain to carry his point. At last,
to allay the discontent, he was obliged to make
concessions which admitted the people to a share
. in the government. In September, 1647, a Board
of Nine Men was established, to be presided over
by the director. They were to advise, not to legis-
late. Three members were to sit in rotation to hear
civil suits, the litigants to have the right of appeal
to the Council. Six were to retire annually, and
their places to be taken by six others, to be ap-
pointed by the director from a list of twelve of the
" most notable citizens " named by the Commonalty.
Thus, the Board of Nine Men was to be largely the
director's choice ; and as it was to continue " until
lawfully repealed," he could dispense with it if he
chose. Still, the concession was a great step toward
the representation of the people in public affairs,
and prepared the way for better things to come.
SIS ADMINISTRATION. 69
The first Board was made up of excellent men.
From the merchants were chosen Augustine Heer-
mans, Arnoldus van Hardenberg, Covert Loocker-
mans ; from the citizens, Jan Jansen Dam, Jacob
Wolfertsen (Van Couwenhoven), Hendrick Kip;
from the farmers, Machyel Janssen, Jan Evertsen
Bout, Thomas Hall. At the first meeting of the
Board Stuyvesant was ill with an influenza which
prevailed throughout New Netherland and New
England ; but he sent a summary of the subjects to
be considered, among which the principal were re-
pairs to the fort, the completion of the church, the
building of a schoolhouse, and the maintenance of
a school-teacher. The Nine Men showed them-
selves worthy of their responsibility. The means
for all these objects were provided for by internal
taxation, except the work on the fort. The Board
contended, and maintained successfully, that the
West India Company's charter of 1629 bound the
Company to bear all the expense of the military
establishment. For that purpose the director must
depend^ upon the port and mill duties.
Domestic affairs had hardly been got in running
order when Stuyvesant's attention was drawn to the
aggressions of New England. All the country lying
between the Connecticut and Hudson rivers was'
claimed by the Dutch by right of first occupation.
We have already seen how ineffective a barrier had
been Fort Good Hope and its small garrison to the
steady westward progress of the English. These
extensive and fertile lands were valuable to the
Dutch as a rich field of the fur-gathering industry ;
7O PETER STUYVESANT.
but they had never attempted to fill it with boweries.
The restless New England people, continually mov-
ing in search of better land, scorned the Dutch
claim. " The land," they said, " was too good to
stand idle." It rapidly became covered with their
farms and villages. New Haven and Hartford grew
apace. The Dutch had no power to keep back the
English tide, and their numbers were not sufficient to
send settlers to anticipate the intruders. The Eng-
lish policy, openly avowed, was " to keep crowding
the Dutch." Stuyvesant, alarmed at the prospect,
opened communication with New England, and
sought an interview with Winthrop ; but New Eng-
land preferred to put off discussion, while the
" crowding out " went on. Winthrop agreed to
meet Stuyvesant when his health permitted, — a
time which seemed never to come. The Dutch
director made a formal proposition that the bound-
aries of New Netherland should be recognized as
the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. Winthrop
evaded an answer, and made complaints of the sell-
ing of arms to the Indians by the Dutch, and of the
restrictions on trade at the port of New Amsterdam.
Already in Kieft's time a party of Englishmen had
laid claim to Long Island as belonging to the Earl
of Stirling. In the autumn of 1647, a man named
Forester appeared, and attempted to take posses-
sion as the agent of Lord Stirling's widow. This
was pushing matters too far. Stuyvesant captured
him, kept him in close confinement at New Amster-
dam, and sent him off in the first ship that sailed
for Holland.
HIS ADMINISTRATION. J\
The flourishing colony of New Haven, under
Governor Eaton, was within the nominal bound-
aries of New Netherland. Stuyvesant heard that a
Dutch ship, named the " Saint Benino," was taking
in a cargo there without paying dues or obtaining
permission from the authorities of New Amsterdam.
In the director's opinion, this was a flagrant defi-
ance of the West India Company's rights. He
pronounced the ship a smuggler, and devised a
skilful plan to capture her. The " Zwol," a Dutch
vessel, had been purchased by the deputy gover-
nor of New Haven, and delivery was to be at that
place. Stuyvesant sent the vessel off with a party
of armed men on board, under Captain Van der
Grist. The " Zwol " sailed into the harbour at
New Haven " on the Lord's Day," ran alongside the
"Saint Benino," captured her and her crew; and
Captain Van der Grist, leaving his own vessel to her
new owner, sailed away on the " Saint Benino "
before the English knew what was going on. Gov-
ernor Eaton was naturally very angry. " We have
protested," he wrote, " and by these presents do
protest against you Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of
the Dutch at Manhattans, for disturbing the peace
between the Dutch and the English in these parts,
... by making unjust claims to our lands and
plantations, to our havens and rivers, and by taking
a ship out of our harbour without our permission
by your agents and commission ; and we hereby
profess that whatever inconvenience may hereafter
grow, you are the cause and author of it, as we
hope to show and prove before our superiors in
72 PETER STUYVESANT.
Europe." Stuyvesant replied that the ship was
legally confiscated within the boundaries of New
Netherland. But he was careful to conduct his
correspondence in Dutch, which Eaton could not
understand.
Three servants of the West India Company ran
away soon after, and took refuge at New Haven.
Stuyvesant wrote to Eaton, to request their sur-
render ; but in his characteristic way he addressed
the letter to New Haven in New Netherland. This
angered Eaton still more, and he refused to give up
the men. The harbouring of each other's fugitives
was for all the colonies a dangerous practice, and
Winthrop much regretted the action of Eaton. But
Stuyvesant, instead of leaving his adversary in the
wrong, put himself there by proclaiming that " if
any person, noble or ignoble, freeman or slave,
debtor or creditor, yea, to the lowest prisoner in-
cluded, run away from the colony of New Haven, or
seek refuge in our limits, he shall remain free un-
der our protection on taking the oath of allegiance."
This policy was so unpopular at home as well as
hostile to the other colonies that Stuyvesant found
himself obliged to inform Massachusetts and Vir-
ginia that the rule did not apply to them. By as-
surances of immunity, privately conveyed to the
deserters at New Haven, he induced them to return,
and was then able to revoke his proclamation with
some show of dignity. Thus the conflict went on.
Ever since the scene on the Hudson River, when
Govert Loockermans had refused to strike his flag
to the " right " of Rensselaerstein, there had been dis-
ff/S ADMINISTRATION. 73
agreement between New Amsterdam and Rensse-
laerwyck ; and Stuyv'esant was not the man to
smooth matters over by a conciliatory attitude.
In 1648, having proclaimed a fast, Stuyvesant found
that it was not observed at Rensselaerwyck, the
commissary there taking this means of showing his
independence of New Amsterdam. The first pat-
roon had never been in New Netherland. He was
now dead, and the title and estates descended to his
son Johan, a minor in Holland. The guardians of
the heir had sent out Brandt van Schlechtenhorst as
agent and commissary, — a man who loved indepen-
dent command as well as Stuyvesant himself. On
hearing of the commissary's neglect of his proclama-
tion, the director went up to Fort Orange in per-
son. The fort and some land about it belonged to
the West India Company ; but the remainder of the
territory was the property of the patroon. Hence a
conflict of authority was easy. Stuyvesant found
that the village of Beverwyck, which had nestled for
protection close to the fort, was on land belonging to
the Company. Moreover, the proximity of some of
the houses to the ramparts interfered with the use
of the fort. These houses he ordered to be pulled
down ; and he further directed that the fort should
be repaired with stone taken from the patroon's
land. Van Schlechtenhorst refused to carry out
either order, and a violent quarrel ensued, even
the Indians standing about and wondering why
"Wooden Leg" wanted to pull down his country-
men's houses. Stuyvesant wished to assert his au-
thority ; but he also wished to take measures to
74 PETER STUYVESANT.
insure the safety of that portion of New Netherland.
He departed from Rensselaenvyck in great wrath,
and sent up from Manhattan a detachment of sol-
diery to enforce his orders. But the force was not
enough to overcome the opposition of the inhabi-
tants, and victory, for the present, lay with the
commissary.
During the first two years of Stuyvesant's authority
a substantial immigration from Holland took place ;
the ravages of the Indian wars were repaired ;
boweries were repeopled ; and trade grew at New
Amsterdam. With returning prosperity the people
grew restless under the commercial rule of the
West India Company, and began to resent the ar-
bitrary domination of the director. These Dutch-
men had been accustomed at home to political
liberty, and in their adopted country wished to be
surrounded by the cherished institutions of the
fatherland. In the hands of Stuyvesant absolute
authority became a galling yoke. Well meaning
though he was, and solicitous for the good of the
colony, his impetuous temper and rough words kept
him in an attitude of apparent hostility toward
the burghers. The first Board of Nine Men had
, many conflicts with him. The second Board, ap-
pointed in 1649, were against him to a man. They
accused him of selling arms to the Indians, while he
forbade to the other citizens that profitable traffic ;
of monopolizing various branches of trade for his
own benefit ; and, lastly, of a tyrannical manner
toward persons having business with the Company.
The last accusation was well founded ; the others
were probably mistaken.
HIS ADMINISTRATION. y$
However, the Nine Men decided among them-
selves that a reform in the administration of the
province was imperatively needed ; abuses must be
corrected, and a more popular government secured.!
To attain this end a delegation must be sent to Hol-
land to lay the demands of the people before the
College of the XIX. and the States- General. The
Board asked Stuyvesant's permission to call a meet-
ing of the Commonalty to obtain its support and
pecuniary aid. Stuyvesant, as usual, went into a
rage, swore that there should be no public meeting,
and that any communication between the people
and the College should go through him only.
Naturally, this method did not suit the Nine Men.
As they were forbidden to consult the Commonalty
in meeting assembled, they resolved to do so indi- j
vidually and privately. They went about from
house to house asking from each burgher his moral
support and financial aid. With them went Adriaen
Van der Donck, — the first lawyer to settle in New
Netherland, a graduate of the University of Leyden,
and a Doctor of Laws ; he took down in writing the
substance of these interviews. Stuyvesant was furi-
ous when he heard of what was going on. He went
in person to Donck's house while the lawyer was
away, and seized his papers. Donck, on his return,
was imprisoned. The director then called a meet-
ing of burghers chosen by himself, procured their
approval of his conduct, expelled Donck from the
Board, and kept his papers. Although an apparent
victory for Stuyvesant, this conduct excited great
dissatisfaction in the colony, and roused an increased
opposition to him.
76 PETER STUYVESANT.
At this critical juncture, Melyn returned trium-
phantly from Holland, bringing with him a reversal
of his sentence obtained from Their High Mighti-
nesses, together with a letter ordering Stuyvesant to
appear in person or by proxy at The Hague, to
answer the accusations which Kuyter and Melyn
had brought against him. Melyn, smarting under
his ill-treatment, was not inclined to spare the di-
rector. Soon after his return, a meeting of citizens
was held in the church. There he went accompa-
nied by his friends, and demanded that the reversal
\ of his sentence be pronounced as publicly as the
sentence itself had been. A hot dispute arose : on
one side Stuyvesant and his supporters, on the other
Melyn and the party opposed to the administration.
The question put to a vote was decided in Melyn's
favour. So, Van Hardenberg, one of the Nine,
took the paper and rose to read it. Furious at this
proceeding, Stuyvesant declared that a copy must
first be served on him, and going up to Van Harden-
berg, he tore the paper from his hand. Hardenberg
attempted to recover it ; an uproar ensued ; the op-
posing parties struggled for the possession of the
paper, and the sea* was torn from it. This scene
of violence lasted for some minutes. Then some of
the cooler heads interceded. Stuyvesant saw that
his position was untenable ; Melyn promised to fur-
nish him with a copy, and Van Hardenberg was
allowed to read the mutilated paper.
This scene, together with Stuyvesant's treatment
of Van der Donck and the other subjects of com-
plaint, roused so strong a feeling against the director
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 77
that he could no longer prevent .the departure of a!
delegation to Holland. A memorial of the com-'
plaints and wants of the citizens was drawn up and
signed on behalf of the Commonalty, by Augustine
Heermans, Arnoldus van Hardenberg, Oloff Stevenss
(Van Courtlandt), Machyel Janssen, Thomas Hall,
Elbert Elbertsen, Govert Loockermans, and Hen-
drick Hendricksen Kip. The memorial was dated;
July 26, 1649. The delegates chosen to present it
were Jacob Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven, Jan Evert-
sen Bout, and Adriaen Van der Donck. Stuyvesant
sent Van Tienhoven to represent him.
On arriving in Holland, Van der Donck wisely
perceived that he could expect nothing from the
West India Company, who would support Stuyvesant
right or wrong, and so he appealed directly to thej
States- General. At the same time he realized the
necessity of arousing some public interest in his
mission, without which the States- General, occupied
with greater affairs, might accord the delegates from
New Netherland but slight attention. With this
object, he published his " Vertoogh," a book which
set forth the history of the settlement of the Dutch
colonies in North America, with many interesting
facts concerning their progress and necessities. The
plan was eminently successful. The book was so
much read and excited so much attention that the
Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company
wrote to Stuyvesant : " The name of New Nether-
land, was scarcely ever mentioned before, and now it
would seem as if heaven and earth were interested
in it."
78 PETER STUYVESANT.
The delegates were received formally in the great
hall of the States-General, and a committee was
appointed to consider their application. They asked
for protection from the Indians, for freedom of trade,
and, above all, for a popular municipal government
in place of the arbitrary rule of a commercial Com-
pany. They pointed out the necessity for encour-
aging the emigration of real settlers who meant to
make their permanent home in New Netherland,
and without whom the Dutch territories could not
be retained. At present, they said, there were too
many " Scots and Chinese," — persons who were de-
fined as " petty traders who swarm here with great
industry, reap immense profit, and exhaust the coun-
try without adding anything to its population or
security. But, if they skim a little fat from the pot,
they can take again to their heels." Against Stuy-
vesant they urged his tyrannical conduct, his mo-
nopoly of profitable branches of trade, his injustice
to litigants. " His manner in court," they said, " has
been from his first arrival up to this time, to brow-
beat, dispute with, and harass one of the two par-
ties. ... If any one offer objection, his Honor bursts
forth incontinently into a rage, and makes such a
to-do that it is dreadful." Stuyvesant, they urged,
was quite uncontrolled by his Council. Van Dinck-
lage was always overruled ; La Montagne was afraid
to speak frankly ; Brian Newton did not understand
Dutch, and so was obliged to say "Yes" to every-
thing; Van Dyck was not allowed to give an
opinion. The colony could never prosper until
it had proper courts of justice and a free burgher
government.
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 79
Van Tienhoven, representing Stuyvesant, relied
upon the support of the West India Company, and
sought only to discredit the motives of the popular
party. . " Arnoldus van Hardenberg," he sneered,
"knew how to charge the colonists well for his
wares." Oloff Stevensen (Van Courtlandt) having
gone out as a common soldier, had been promoted
by Kieft to be commissary of the store ; " he has
profited by the Company's service, and is endeavour-
ing to give his benefactor the pay of the world, —
that is, evil for good." Elbert Elbertsen was in
the Company's debt, from which he would like to
escape ; Covert Loockermans owed his prosperity
to the Company, and should support it. Hendrick
Kip, he said, was a tailor who had lost nothing, pre-
sumably, because he had nothing to lose. This line
of defence could not have much effect, and Van
Tienhoven soon discredited himself altogether by be-
ing arrested and imprisoned for immoral conduct.
Still, the delegates had against them the influence
of the West India Company, whose policy it was to
tire them out by vexatious delays. Postponement
after postponement took place, causing to Van der
Donck and his associates an expense and a loss of
time which they could ill afford. During the pro-
gress of the negotiations, their High Mightines-
ses of the States-General endeavoured to smooth
matters over by ordering Stuyvesant to appear in
person in Holland, and the West India Company
to institute reforms in New Netherland. But the
Company, standing on its technical rights, disputed
the authority of the States^ General, and privately
80 PETER STUYVESANT.
informed Stuyvesant of the attitude it had taken.
So when the director received the order to repair
to Holland, he said that he should "do as he
pleased," and he stayed where he was. For three
)long years the faithful delegates urged the cause of
their fellow-colonists at The Hague and at Amster-
dam before they could prevail against the power of
the commercial Company which held New Nether-
land as its private property.
Melyn had been assisting the delegates at The
Hague, and in 1650 sailed from Holland in a good
ship laden with colonists and stores for his manor at
Staten Island. When off the coast, his ship was
struck by a storm and put into Rhode Island for
repairs. This was a technical violation of the West
India Company's laws regarding trading without a
license, although there was no proof to show that
any trading had been done. But when the ship
arrived at New Amsterdam, and Stuyvesant heard of
the stopping at Rhode Island, he seized upon the
excuse to persecute his enemy. He brought Melyn
to trial as owner of the vessel ; unable to prove it,
he was obliged to release him. But he confiscated
both ship and cargo, — a high-handed act of tyranny,
for which the Company had to pay heavy damages
to the real owner of the vessel. Poor Melyn lost
his stores ; and not only that, Stuyvesant brought
new charges against him, and confiscated his prop-
erty in New Amsterdam. Melyn retired to Staten
Island, built a fort, and intrenched himself against
the fiery director.
Stuyvesant's domineering temper was increasing,
HIS ADMINISTRATION.. 8 1
and the people were becoming less inclined to en- }
dure it. New Amsterdam was a small place, and"
irritation grew with constant contact. Money and
letters were privately despatched to Holland to aid
the cause of the delegates. Disaffection arose even
in 'the Council. Van Dincklage, the vice-director,
got up a new protest in support of Van der Donck.
Stuyvesant discovered it, and expelled Van Dinck-
lage from the Council. The vice-director resisted,
contending that his commission was from the States-
General. Stuyvesant imprisoned him in the fort.
He escaped, and took refuge behind the stockade
of Melyn on Staten Island. "Our great Muscovy
Duke," he wrote to Van der Donck, "goes on as
usual, resembling somewhat the wolf: the older he
gets the worse he bites. He proceeds no longer by
words or letters, but by arrests and stripes."
Van Dyck, the schout-fiscal, whom Stuyvesant
had treated with such severity on the voyage out,
was found to have been concerned with Van Dinck-
lage. He was punished by being reduced from the
office of fiscal, or attorney-general, to the position
of a clerk. Stuyvesant's opponents assert that poor
Van Dyck was "charged to look after the pigs and
keep them out of the fort, — a duty which a negro
could very well perform." The late attorney-general
objected to such an occupation, and then.the direc-
tor " got as angry as if he could swallow him up,"
and when he disobeyed "put him in confinement or
bastinadoed him with his rattan." Yet the feelings
of Van Dyck were still more sorely offended. Van
Tienhoven, after presenting Stuyvesant's defence to
6
82 PETER STUYVESANT.
the committee of the States- General, had been con-
victed of licentious conduct, and Holland being
too hot for him, had returned to New Amsterdam.
Stuyvesant now accused Van Dyck of drunkenness,
and appointed Van Tienhoven in his place as fiscal.
The appointment was very unpopular, and particu-
larly hateful to Van Dyck. " The perjured secre-
tary," he wrote, " returned here contrary to their
High Mightinesses' prohibition ; a public, notori-
ous, and convicted whore-monger and oath-breaker,
a reproach to this country and the main scourge
of both Christians and heathens. . . . The fault of
drunkenness could be easily noticed in me, but not
in Van Tienhoven, who has frequently come out
of the tavern so full that he could get no further,
and was forced to lie down in the gutter." All
these animosities kept New Amsterdam in a fer-
ment, and Stuyvesant now went about accompanied
by a guard of four soldiers.
In 1650, the director found himself obliged to
make some settlement regarding his New England
boundary. The English farmers were extending
constantly westward, and serious quarrels were tak-
ing place between them and the Dutch owners of
outlying boweries. Stuyvesant concluded wisely
that he could only lose by delay, and that it was
' better to draw a definite line somewhere, even if
much territory justly claimed by the Dutch had to
be surrendered. Negotiations were opened with
Connecticut, and commissioners appointed on both
; sides. Those representing the Dutch were Thomas
Willett of Plymouth, and George Baxter, the Eng-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 83
lish secretary of New Netherland. Much indigna-
tion was expressed at New Amsterdam that both
commissioners to present the Dutch cause were
Englishmen. Stuyvesant probably found it impossi-
ble to select competent Dutchmen who could speak
English ; and moreover the nationality of his com-
missioners was of little importance to him, as the
real work of sustaining the Dutch claims was to be
performed by himself. He proceeded in state to
Hartford, where, as well as on the journey, he was
treated with great respect by the inhabitants. As
he travelled eastward, he could not help recognizing
the weakness of the Dutch claim to Connecticut.
It was true that the Dutch had been the first white
men to tread upon these lands, and that they had
taken formal possession by the erection of Fort
Good Hope and the maintenance of a garrison
there. But the fertile valley of the Connecticut
was actually occupied by English farms and villages-
The Dutch director had no power to compel their
allegiance or to drive them away. By force of
numbers and by activity of settlement the English
had acquired a right of occupation which was at
least as good as the Dutch right of discovery. The
eastern end of Long Island was in the same situa-
tion as Connecticut.
When the negotiations were opened, Stuyvesant
raised a small storm by characteristically dating his
first communication from " Hartford in New Nether-
land." But this blew over, and business proceeded
quite amicably. The agreement reached provided'
that the line dividing Dutch and English jurisdiction
84 PETER STUYVESANT.
I on Long Island should run from Oyster Bay to the
\Atlantic Ocean. On the mainland, the line began
west of Greenwich Bay, four miles from Stamford,
and ran northerly thence ; but it was never to ap-
proach nearer than ten miles to the Hudson River.
In the vicinity of Hartford, the Dutch were consid-
ered as controlling only such lands as they actually
held and cultivated. This agreement was condemned
vigorously at New Amsterdam, where the people re-
proached Stuyvesant with the abandonment of so
large a portion of New Netherland. The West India
Company also disapproved the treaty. Yet there
can be no doubt that Stuyvesant knew best, and
set the wise course for the Dutch to pursue under
the circumstances.
At last, in the beginning of 1653, Van der Donck
) and his companions returned to New Amsterdam
with the hard-earned fruits of their patriotic labours
in Holland. The West India Company had op-
posed them long with success ; but the collapse of
Van Tienhoven, the continued support sent to the
delegates from New Amsterdam, the persistent ap-
peals by Van der Donck, Bout, and Couwenhoven
to the States-General and the people of Ho'.iand had
proved too much for the Company. It was obliged
to yield, or see its power transferred altogether to
the States-General. The government of New Am-
sterdam was henceforth to be conducted by two
burgomasters, five schepens, and a schout, or sheriff,
after the manner of the towns of the fatherland.
These offices were directed to be filled by election.
But Stuyvesant, disregarding the orders of the States-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 85
General to that effect, took it upon himself to fill
them by his own appointment. The first burgo-
masters were Arendt van Hatten and Martin
Cregier ; the schepens, Wilhelm Beeckman, Paulus
Leendertsen van der Grist, Maximilian van Gheel,
Allard Anthony, Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwen-
hoven ; and Jacob Kip was the first secretary to the
magistrates. It is significant that none of those
men to whose efforts the great reform was chiefly
due were appointed to office. Still, the appoint-
ments were good and well received. Van Tien-
hoven, however, was made the schout, which gave
great dissatisfaction. It is difficult to understand
Stuyvesant's continued support of this man except
on the ground that he made a useful tool. Thus
began municipal government on Manhattan Island,
where burgomasters and schepens conducted the
city's affairs until the English had taken the place
of the Dutch flag. The labours of these officers will
be considered in another chapter.
At the same time that their High Mightinesses
granted the reforms asked for by Van der Donck, they
commanded Stuyvesant to return to Holland to an-
swer the accusations which had been made against
himself. But this order was soon rescinded. War/'
had broken out between England and Holland ;
Blake and Tromp were contending for the mastery
of the English Channel ; and Stuyvesant's hand, too
heavy in times of peace, was needed at the helm in
the prevailing storm. The news of the European
war was received in New England and New Am-
sterdam with consternation, as it seemed to involve
86 PETER STUYVESANT.
hostilities between the colonies. Stuyvesant, know-
ing his own slender resources, was much troubled
at the prospect, and sent to New England and
Virginia assurances of his continued friendly feeling.
But the danger was imminent, and all the director's
energies were concentrated on measures of defence.
The northerly boundary of the town, where an attack
by the English would be made, was quite unpro-
tected. Stuyvesant began the construction of a
ditch and palisade from the East to the North River,
upon which work was pushed rapidly while the dan-
ger of invasion lasted. The palisade was erected on
the present site of Wall Street, whence the name was
derived. There was a gate on the shore of the East
River called the Water Gate, and another at Broad-
way called the Land Gate. The inhabitants at first
cheerfully seconded Stuyvesant's efforts to erect
this defence : but as war became less probable, they
refused to go on with it, and Stuyvesant was obliged
to raise the necessary means to complete the work
by a private subscription among the richer citizens.
In New England the alarm of coming war was
intensified by a report circulated in Connecticut, as
derived from Uncas the Mohegan chief, that Stuy-
vesant was in league with Pessicus, Mixam, and
Ninigret, chiefs of other tribes, to make a concerted
descent upon the English. As soon as the director
heard of the story, he denied it publicly and indig-
nantly. Still, the possibility of savage hostilities was
so much dreaded that New England sent commis-
sioners among the tribes to investigate the report.
To them Uncas said : " Do not we know the Eng-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 87
lish are not a sleepy people ? Do they think we are
mad to sell our lives and the lives of our wives and
children and all our kindred, and to have our country
destroyed for a few guns, powder, shot, and swords ?
What good will they do us when we are dead?"
Ninigret, in his defence, set forth the contemptuous
treatment of himself by Stuyvesant : " I stood a great
part of a winter's day knocking at the governor's
door, and he would neither open it nor suffer others
to open it to let me in. I was not wont to find
such treatment from the English my friends."
Massachusetts was persuaded of Stuyvesant's
peaceful intentions, and refused to join Connecticut
in making war on the Dutch. The Connecticut
people, being so much nearer the point of danger
and so much more liable to Indian attacks, were
less confident of security ; but they could not pro-
ceed without the help of Massachusetts Bay. Gov-
ernor Eaton sent Captain John Underhill to Long
Island to investigate there the reported conspiracy.
Underhill, who was a turbulent fellow, did not trouble
himself to investigate, but began a small war on his
own account. Raising his standard at Heemstede
and Flushing, he made proclamation that Stuyve-
sant had been guilty of unlawful taxation, conspir-
acy with Indians, violation of conscience and other
obnoxious conduct, and called upon the Dutch
and English inhabitants to throw off his tyranni-
cal yoke. Stuyvesant arrested Underhill, and would
have hanged him ; but thinking it a good opportu-
nity to show his friendship toward New England, he
released him after a short imprisonment.
88 PETER STUYVESANT.
The graceless Underbill then went to Rhode
Island, where he succeeded in inducing the General
Assembly to declare war against New Netherland.
He was made captain of the land forces, while
William Dyre and Edward Hull were appointed
commanders on the sea, to relieve the English on
Long Island " from the cruell tirannie of the Dutch
power at the Manathoes " and to " bring the Dutch
to conformitie to the Commonwealth of England."
Underhill set out for Fort Good Hope with twenty
volunteers. The deserted and ruined fort, with
about thirty acres of land, was all that remained to
the Dutch in the Connecticut valley. This property
Underhill claimed by right of conquest, and sold to
two different persons, giving to each a deed. Then
he disbanded his valiant army. At sea, Hull took a
French ship, which was not a severe blow to Stuy-
vesant ; and Baxter, under a letter of marque from
Rhode Island, turned pirate and attacked Dutch
and English vessels impartially.
A number of fights occurring among the Indians,
and some outrages upon white settlers at this time
renewed in Connecticut the fears of Indian hostility.
The prospect of such a calamity was so appalling,
and a belief in a league between Dutch and Indians
so strong, that the people prepared actively for a
war. Until New Netherland should be subject to
English rule, there seemed no certainty that the
savages could be kept in subjection. Large gather-
ings of armed men took place at Stamford and
Fairfield. Massachusetts was loudly blamed for her
refusal to send assistance. Commissioners were
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 89
sent to England to ask Cromwell for men and arms,
and Governor Hopkins, who was then in London,
was urged to press the demand. Cromwell com-
plied ; and several vessels, with arms and soldiers
under Captain Leverett and Major Sedgwick, reached
America, where Plymouth and New Haven had raised
a co-operating force. But before the beginning of
hostilities, in 1654, news arrived that peace hadj
been concluded between England and Holland. It
was a fortunate escape for New Netherland, which
must have yielded to so superior a force. Stuyve-
sant had realized the gravity of the situation, and on
the announcement of peace he set apart a day of
thanksgiving. " Praise the Lord," ran the procla-
mation, " O England's Jerusalem ! and Netherland's
Zion, praise ye the Lord ! He hath secured your
gates and blessed your possessions with peace, even
here where the threatened torch of war was lighted ;
where the waves reached our lips, and subsided only
through the power of the Almighty."
After the establishment of burgher government in
New Amsterdam there continued to be some fric-
tion regarding taxation between Stuyvesant, as the
representative of the West India Company, and
the municipality. But with this exception, matters
went smoothly enough. On the other hand, there
was much discontent among the inhabitants of the
English towns on Long Island. They were still
subject to the rule of the West India Company,
and paid taxes to the director. They claimed that
no protection against the Indians was afforded them,
and that they got no equivalent for their money.
go PETER STUYVESANT.
In 1653 these towns chose delegates to a conven-
tion held at the Stadt Huys in New Amsterdam,
under the leadership of George Baxter and James
Hubbard. These English residents of New Nether-
land had been relied upon hitherto by Stuyvesant
as a support against the disaffected Dutch party.
Their opposition was, therefore, a serious blow to
him. When the convention met, he sent La Mon-
tagne and Van Werckhoven of his Council to rep-
resent him. The delegates declined positively to
receive Van Werckhoven, and refused to allow La
Montagne or the director himself to preside over
them. They made the point that while acknowl-
edging allegiance to the States- General of Holland,
they rejected the authority of the West India Com-
pany. Hence they would receive into the con-
vention representatives of the burgomasters and
schepens, but not of the director. Furthermore,
they declared that as they were obliged to take
their own measures for defence, they would pay no
more taxes to the Company.
Stuyvesant was much enraged, and informed the
convention that its conduct " smelt of rebellion, of
contempt of his high authority and commission,"
which was indeed the fact. Unable to prevent this
new disaffection, he sought to modify its effects. If
a convention were to be held, he claimed, the Dutch
as well as the English towns had a right to be rep-
resented in it. The delegates had to agree to this,
and postponed their meeting for a month, saying,
"the director might then do as he pleased, and
prevent it if he could."
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 91
On re-assembling, delegates appeared from the
four Dutch towns, New Amsterdam, Breukelen,
Amersfoort (Flatlands), and Midwout (Flatbush) ;
and four English towns, — Flushing, Newtown,
Heemstede, and Gravesend. Nine Englishmen)
and ten Dutchmen composed the convention./
George Baxter was secretary, and drew up the
memorial of grievances. Stuyvesant sought to sow
discord among the members. " Is there no one
among the Netherlands nation," he inquired scorn-
fully, " expert enough to draw up a remonstrance to
the director and Council, . . . that a foreigner or
an Englishman is required to dictate what you have
to say?" But this taunt did not disturb the union
of the delegates. They presented their memorial,
complaining of the arbitrary character of the gov-
ernment, and of its neglect of their interests ; the
West India Company collected taxes, and left them
to fight their own battles with the savages. Stuy-
vesant replied, denying that there was any cause of
complaint. A debate followed. The director took
the ground that there was no inherent right in the
people to share in the government, and that the
convention itself was an unlawful body. The
delegates manfully sustained the contrary, and car-
ried their views into effect by sending to Holland
an agent, named Le Bleeuw, to argue their cause.
The mission failed ; the agent's remonstrances
were considered frivolous, and he was forbidden to
return to New Netherland. The West India Com-
pany wrote to Stuyvesant that his administration
was approved. His only fault had been in showing
92 PETER STUYVESANT.
too much leniency to " the ring-leaders of the
gang," and in condescending to parley with them.
So Stuyvesant expelled Baxter and Hubbard from
their offices. Soon afterward they raised the
English flag at Gravesend, and declared the town
subject to England. The director then sent a
'military force to Long Island, captured the English-
men, and locked them up at New Amsterdam.
Thus ended the last organized opposition against
the rule of Stuyvesant and of the West India
Company.
The Dutch possessions on the South or Delaware
River had never been successfully settled or strongly
held. After a time the Swedes began a colony
there on the opposite side of the river. They
commanded the most favourable situation for the
Indian trade, grew in numbers, and quite overruled
the Dutch, who were allowed to retain their lands
only on sufferance. The Dutch claims to sole own-
rship of the river excited only the derision of the
Swedes, whose superior strength made acts of hos-
tility unnecessary. In 1654 the Dutch fort Casimir,
commanded by Gerrit Bikker, was occupied by the
Swedish Captain Rysyngh, and its name changed
to Fort Trinity. The Dutch inhabitants were kindly
allowed to remain in the country, but under the
Swedish flag.
The news of these proceedings created great ex-
citement at New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant's rage
was shared by the burghers, who gathered about the
fort to denounce the outrage. An unfortunate
Swedish ship, on its way to the South River, ran
s
HIS ADMINISTRA TION.
93
aground near the mouth of the harbour, and, igno-
rant of the state of affairs, sent up to New Amster-
dam for a pilot. Instead of the pilot, Stuyvesant
sent a vessel full of soldiers, who brought the Swede
up to New Amsterdam, where she and her cargo
were confiscated. This incident afforded some al-
leviation to the director's fury, and he sought to
open a negotiation with Rysyngh. But the Swedish
commander, satisfied with possession, declined to
enter into a discussion. Stuyvesant was belligerent,
but had not the means for hostile measures ; he
could only write an indignant account of the event
to the West India Company, and ask for assistance.
While awaiting a reply, he carried out a long-de-
layed purpose, and made a voyage to the West
Indies to open new trade for the Dutch. But
in this object he was defeated by the efforts of
the English.
When the directors of the West India Company
heard of the capture of Fort Casimir by the Swedes,
they were as angry as Stuyvesant could wish. The
director of New Netherland was ordered to drive
away the intruders, and a ship of war, named the
" Balance," was sent to him. Great preparations
were made at New Amsterdam for the enterprise,
and all possible secrecy was observed with the pur-(
pose of surprising the enemy. Six other ships were;
hired or impressed ; a force of six or seven hundred
men was collected. The expedition, planned on a
scale which must be overwhelmingly superior to the
Swedish means of defence, was so evidently destined
to easy victory that every man in New Amsterdam
94 PETER STUYVESANT.
wished to take part in it. A summer voyage to the
Delaware River, with glory at the end of it, was a
more attractive prospect than the routine of daily
toil at home. So the fleet set sail in the midst of
jollity and confident valour.
Stuyvesant arrived in the South River on Sept.
10, 1655. Fort Trinity surrendered at the first
summons. Rysyngh held out for twelve days in
Fort Christina. A great deal of talking was done,
and a great deal of firing; but very little injury was
received on either side. Rysyngh, having made
a show of resistance, yielded to the inevitable ; the
Swedes were allowed to stay where they were on
taking the oath of allegiance ; and a Dutch gar-
rison was placed in charge of the fort. Domine
Megapolensis, who had gone as chaplain, preached
a thanksgiving sermon. Thus ended Swedish rule
on the South River. But the Dutch never pros-
pered there. The West India Company conveyed
the territory to the City of Amsterdam, in return
for advances of money, and the colony was only a
trading-post when it passed into the hands of the
English with the rest of New Netherland.
While Stuyvesant was in the midst of his triumph
over the Swedes, he was suddenly recalled to New
Amsterdam by the news of a great calamity. He
had always kept on satisfactory terms with the
Indians ; his conduct toward them had been a
mixture of sternness and justice which commanded
their respect. But others had been less judicious,
and lately a brutal murder had roused their just
resentment. Van Dyck, the late fiscal, whom Stuy-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 95
vesant had expelled from office, discovered a squaw
in his garden picking the peaches from trees. He/
fired upon and killed her. This outrage demanded
revenge, and the director's absence with the fighting
force of the town gave the opportunity. One morn-
ing in September, the streets of New Amsterdam •,
began to swarm with savages in war-paint. At first'
they made no attempt to kill, but contented them-
selves with bullying and robbing. The burghers, so
much reduced in numbers, dared make no resistance
to the plundering of their houses. Such soldiers as
remained at home were kept in readiness in the
fort, and 'meanwhile the Dutch sought to temporize
and to come to a peaceable agreement with the
savages. An arrangement was made that the Indi-
ans should all go over to Nutten's, or Governor's,
Island, there to await the result of a conference
between the burghers and the chiefs ; but a quar-
rel occurred, and fighting began no one knew how.
Van Dyck was killed by an arrow ; Captain Van der
Grist was felled with an axe. The struggle extended ;
the soldiers were called from the fort, and before
their organized attack the Indians fled in canoes.
But they were now excited by bloodshed. Instead
of going to Governor's Island, they went to Pavonia
and Hoboken. What happened there was too well
known to the people on Manhattan Island, who stood
on the shore and watched the flames arise from the
ravaged boweries. Men were killed, women and
children taken prisoners. The savages then went to
Staten Island, where the same scenes were enacted.
For three days there was burning and murdering
g6 PETER STUYVESANT.
all about the Bay, Long Island, and Manhattan
Island. The killed numbered one hundred ; the
prisoners, one hundred and fifty; the homeless,
three hundred.
Stuyvesant returned as soon as the news reached
him, called in the outlying farmers, and prepared
\ for hostilities ; but the Indians sued for peace.
Their attack had been provoked, and they had
many prisoners in their power. Instead of seeking
new vengeance and prolonging the war indefinitely
as Kieft had done, the director granted a peace,
and received back the prisoners. The result proved
his wisdom, for there was no renewal of war on
the part of the tribes about New Amsterdam. At
Rensselaerwyck, no trouble was experienced. When
knowledge of the hostilities at New Amsterdam was
received there, the usual policy of conciliating the
Mohawks was resorted to, and none of the other
tribes dared to attack such allies.
In 1658 another disastrous Indian war broke out,
which affected only the town of Esopus on the
Hudson River, near Rondout. The Dutch there
were the aggressors, and the usual course of fighting
and burning continued intermittently until 1663. In
that year Stuyvesant went up in person to settle the
disputes, and to put an end to a state of hostility in
which the settlers could not fail to have the worst.
While he was holding a conference with the chiefs,
the warriors suddenly fired the village, and began a
massacre of the whites. After this treachery, Stuy-
vesant abandoned peaceful methods, and followed
up the Indians until the small surviving remnant
HIS ADMINISTRATION.
97
was glad to sue for peace. The troubles were ter-
minated by treaty in 1664, — the last Indian treaty
made by the Dutch.
Religious affairs never played the important part
in New Netherland that they did in New England.
The Dutch had won freedom of conscience in the
wars with Spain and the Inquisition. They had come
to New Netherland only for self-advancement, and
there existed generally among the people a toler-
ance of religious differences, and indeed an apathy
toward sectarian disputes. Society in New Amster-
dam was divided by political, but not by religious,
quarrels. For thirty years after the settlement of
Long Island no church was built there, the people
depending upon the minister at New Amsterdam
for spiritual aid. With theological rigour and per-
secution there was no sympathy. With these senti-
ments rthe West India Company was in full accord,
and it intended New Netherland to be a common
ground for persons of all opinions.
It was the arbitrary spirit of the director, ratheif
than religious narrowness on the part of the Dutchj
that brought about such persecution as occurred in
New Netherland. Stuyvesant was a devout member
of the Reformed Church ; but above all he believed
in obedience to established authority, that power was
derived from God, and that any one who rejected the
generally accepted order of things was a disturber
of the peace, and should be suppressed. When he
persecuted a Lutheran or a Quaker, it was not so
much the religious tenet that he attacked as it was
the individual man who presumed to set up peculiar
98 PETER STUYVESANT,
views of his own and obstinately follow them out,
when the right way had been pointed out to him by
his superiors.
In 1654 the Lutherans had become numerous
enough to have religious meetings of their own.
Stuyvesant issued a proclamation to them, pointing
out the propriety of their attendance at the regular
Dutch church. What was good enough for the
other inhabitants was good enough for them. When
they tried to get a meeting- room for services, he
prevented it. When they procured a minister from
Holland, the director made life so uncomfortable
for him that he left the colony. To have one body
of non-conformists at liberty was to invite the pres-
ence of others ; the idea was offensive to the direc-
tor's sense of order. The Domines Megapolensis
and Drisius were intolerant enough to support him.
But the Lutherans appealed to Holland, where they
found relief in the national spirit of liberality. The
West India Company blamed Stuyvesant for perse-
cuting these people, on grounds of both policy and
principle. To retard the growth and happiness of
a commercial colony on account of a "needless
preciseness " on the subject of baptism was an
act of folly; nor was it in accordance with the
Christian spirit. So the Lutherans, who were law-
abiding persons, were allowed henceforth full liberty
of worship.
Stuyvesant could accept the Lutheran Church,
and could even in 1656 treat the Anabaptists on
Long Island with comparative mildness. But he
could not endure the Quakers. They were ob-
HIS ADMINISTRATION. 99
noxious to him, as a Calvinist ; but as director
their methods offended him much more, and his
anger at their obstinacy carried him beyond all
bounds. In 1 65 7 there arrived some " cursed
Quakers ; " they had been expelled from Boston,
and now reached New Amsterdam from Barbadoes,
on their way to Rhode Island, — that " sink of New
England, where all kinds of scum dwell," as the
Domines Megapolensis and Drisius described it.
These Quakers went about the streets of the quiet
Dutch town, gathering crowds on the corners, har-
anguing against steeple- houses, a priesthood, and the
powers that be in general. The inhabitants of New
Amsterdam stood about, and stared, without under-
standing the pious exhorters. But scenes of dis-
order were of constant occurrence, and the Quakers
would submit to no regulation. Nothing could be
better calculated to excite the wrath of Stuyvesant.
Two of the women-preachers were thrown into
prison, and sent off, with their hands tied be-
hind them, on the first ship bound for Rhode
Island. But a man named Robert Hodgson was
more aggravating in his conduct, and suffered a
barbarous treatment. He was arrested at Heem-
stede, where he had been preaching, and brought
to New Amsterdam at a cart's tail. When arraigned
in court, he drove the director into a paroxysm of
rage by refusing to remove his hat, which was his
way of showing respect to God alone. Stuyvesant
proceeded to reduce the obstinate rebel to sub-
mission. He was chained to a wheelbarrow, and
compelled to work on the roads ; a negro accom-
IOO PETER STUYVESANT.
panied him armed with a whip ; he slept in a dun-
geon. But Hodgson's spirit was hard to break,
and he preached to the passers-by from his wheel-
barrow. For this disobedience Stuyvesant had him
hung up by the hands, and severely beaten. The
contest between the outraged director and the
obstinate preacher continued until the Dutch be-
came disgusted with the spectacle. Mrs. Anna
Bayard, Stuyvesant's sister, interceded for the un-
fortunate Quaker, and he was released, with a
sentence of banishment.
Another contumacious Quaker named John Bowne,
an old resident of Flushing, was sent to Holland ;
Stuyvesant, writing to the directors of his offence,
declared that he meant to treat others more se-
verely. But the West India Company would not
permit it. To send away active citizens on account
of their religion was not the way to populate the
colony. They ordered Stuyvesant to " let every
one remain free as long as he is modest, moderate,
his political conduct irreproachable, and as long as
he does not offend others or oppose the govern-
ment." This was the time-honoured custom of the
magistrates of Amsterdam : " Tread thus in their
steps, and we doubt not you will be blessed."
Stuyvesant obeyed this injunction, and thus ended
a religious persecution which had never had the
sympathy of the people of New Netherland.
During the last ten years of Stuyvesant's govern-
ment the emigration from Holland had been stead-
ily increasing, and was of a good class of farmers
and burghers. By 1660 New Amsterdam had three
HIS ADMINISTRATION. IQI
hundred and fifty houses. Outside settlements in-
creased rapidly, and boweries were cultivated as far
as the Haarlem River. In 1656 the Rust Dorp,
or Quiet Village, was settled, which was afterward
called by the English Jamaica, from the Indian
name Jemaico. New Utrecht and Boswyck, or
Bush wick, followed in 1661. About 1656 Oost
Dorp was settled in Westchester County, principally
by Englishmen ; Thomas Pell bought a tract of
land, which included the old possessions of the
unfortunate Anne Hutchinson. In 1660 New
Haarlem became a distinct village. In 1661
Melyn gave up the struggle with Stuyvesant, and
sold his property on Staten Island to the West
India Company. There sprang up New Dorp,
built by French Waldenses and Rochelle Hugue-
nots. In the same year Bergen was founded in
New Jersey, which preserved Dutch characteristics
long after they had been crowded out elsewhere.
Meanwhile Rensselaerwyck pursued its even way,
untroubled by religious or political dissensions. Its
alliance with the powerful Mohawk nation, wisely
maintained, preserved it from the dangers of In-
dian war. The inhabitants traded in furs, culti-
vated their rich soil, fished and hunted in peace.
The patroon's agent governed in his name, so far as
any government was necessary. Stuyvesant had a
long-continued quarrel with this agent, whom he
kept under arrest at New Amsterdam for a time, for
defiance of his authority. But toward the end of
the Dutch rule in New Netherland the patroon's
officers acknowledged the director's supremacy by
IO2 PETER STUYVESANT.
an annual tribute of wheat. In 1661 Arendt van
Curler bought for the patroon the " great flat" be-
tween Fort Orange and the Mohawk country, which
was then opened to settlement. In 1664 Schaen-
heckstede, now Schenectady, was founded.
Such, briefly stated, were the more important
events of Stuyvesant's administration as far as the
period when New Netherland became New York.
That a considerable portion of the province had
fallen under English rule was due to the want of
a sufficient Dutch emigration and not to any fault
of the director. The same difficulty had prevented
the development of the territory about the Delaware
River. On Long Island and along the shores of
the Hudson River the Dutch had flourished and had
made permanent homes. New Amsterdam had be-
come an orderly, substantial town, already marked
by characteristics destined to be lasting. There
prevailed religious and political liberty, a cosmo-
politan spirit tolerant of varied tongues and cus-
toms, a commercial activity suited to an unequalled
maritime situation. In the., next chapter we shall
consider the outward appearance of the town in the
days of Dutch supremacy, its social, educational, and
national features.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 103
CHAPTER III.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM IN THE TIME OF
PETER STUYVESANT.
IN the early days of Dutch settlement the fort
was the centre of activity, being at once the busi-
ness headquarters of the West India Company and
the only safe refuge from external danger. About
it clustered the storehouses and dwellings of the
colonists. As the settlement increased, new build-
ings were constructed along the line of paths which
diverged from the fort to other points of interest.
Thus Broadway came into existence as the road lead-
ing from the front of the fort over the ridge of the
island to the common pasture-lands. Whitehall
Street was the shortest way to the East River and
the anchorage-ground. Stone Street originated in
the path which ran from the fort down to a point on
the East River, now Peck Slip, which was found to
be the most convenient for a ferry to Long Island.
Most of the streets at present in use in the lower
part of New York city had a similar origin. In
1657 these streets were already indicated with some
distinctness as thoroughfares, but they abounded in
irregularities of direction and width. In this year
the town below Wall Street was surveyed by Jacques
Cortelyou, and the streets definitely laid out.
IO4 PETER STUYVESANT.
In front of the fort lay an open space, now called
the Bowling Green. It was first used as a parade-
ground for the garrison. In 1659 it became the
established market-place of the town, and was called
the Marckvelt. In this use it continued for many
years. In 1732 the Corporation resolved to "leave
a piece of land, lying at the lower end of Broadway,
fronting the fort, to some of the inhabitants, in order
to be enclosed to make a bowling-green there, with
walks therein, for the beauty and ornament of said
street, as well as for the delight of the inhabitants
of this city." John Chambers, Peter Bayard, and
Peter Jay were the lessees for eleven years, at one
peppercorn per annum. In Stuyvesant's time, his
private secretary Cornells van Ruyven and Allard
Anthony had houses facing the Marckvelt, and Mar-
tin Cregier kept a tavern there.
Broadway was first called Heere Straat, — princi-
pal street ; later, the Breede Weg, translated by the
English into the Broadway. It extended from the
market-place to the Land Gate as a residence street,
and thence northward as a country road as far as the
pastures on the site of the present City Hall Park.
As the business interests of the Dutch town were
along the shore of the East River, Broadway was ne-
glected for many years. Lots there had begun to be
granted by Kieft in 1643, but tnev were generally held
for speculation. In 1664 the condition of the street
was about as follows : Leaving the fort and going up
on the west side, near the present Morris Street, we
find the town cemetery, about one hundred feet front
and extending back to the North River. Some years
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 105
later the cemetery was removed, and this land was
sold in four lots. Next above was the property of
Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist. He had com-
manded one of the vessels which accompanied
Stuyvesant from Holland, and had become a magis-
trate and a man of wealth. His house was one of the
best in the town, and was built near the river with a
garden about it. Beyond Van der Grist was the house
lately occupied by the fiscal Van Dyck, whom
Stuyvesant had expelled from the Council. Next-
were two lots, each ninety-three feet front and run-
ning back to the river. The first of these the
director had allotted to his son Nicholas William,
and the second to his other son Balthazar. Beyond
these was the West India Company's garden, after-
ward granted to the English Church, and now
Trinity churchyard. Turning at the Land Gate and
going down Broadway on the east side, we find a
number of small houses occupied by mechanics.
This side of the street, sloping off to the marshy
lands near the Broad Street canal, was not consid-
ered desirable ; but it improved afterward, as the
water-courses were filled up.
The site of the present Broad Street was occupied
by a sort of canal, or inlet, from the East River.
Toward this canal four streets ran eastward from
Broadway. The first — now Wall Street — began at
the Land Gate, and extended to the East River.
It was called De Cingel ofte Stadt Waal ("The
Walk by the City Wall"), and was built upon at
this time only on the south side, facing the stockade.
Boatmen and labourers had cottages here.
106 PETER STUYVESANT.
The next street — now Exchange Place — was a
path called De Shaap VVaytie ("Sheep Walk") run-
ning down to a bridge across the canal. Beyond
the bridge, the site of Exchange Place was occupied
by a stream, which, in common with the upper part
of the Broad Street canal, was called the Prince
Graft. On the Graft lived Johannes Hardenbrook,
Jacob Kip, and Bay Roosevelt. Here, about 1691,
when the stream was filled in and the street had
been named, — first Tuyen, and then Garden
Street, — was built the Dutch church, to replace
the old one in the fort.
Near the foot of Broadway was the Bever Graft
("Beaver Canal"), the site of a stream running
to the Heere Graft, or large canal, on Broad Street.
When this "old ditch" was filled up, the street was
built upon with houses of an inferior character.
After crossing Broad Street, the Bever Graft was
called Prince Street, and later Smith Street Lane.
There lived Albert the Trumpeter.
From the foot of Broadway to the East River ran
Beurs Straat, or Whitehall Street. On the south side
lay the fort and Stuyvesant's official residence. On
the north side lived Jacob Teunis de Kay, Cornelis
Steenwyck, the rich dry-goods merchant, and later
Jacob Leisler.
Four streets connected Whitehall Street with the
Heere Graft, or Broad Street Canal. The first was
called T'Marckvelt Steegie ("Market-field Path"),
because it led from a boat-landing on the Heere
Graft to the open space in front of the fort.
Here lived Claes van Elslant, the sexton, and
some mechanics.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. IQ'J
The present Stone Street came next. From
Whitehall to Broad it was called Brouwer (Brew-
er) Straat, on account of Oloff Stevensen van
Courtlandt's brewery situated there. Besides Van
Courtlandt, the inhabitants were Jeroninus Ebbingh,
Isaac de Forest and his wife Sara Philipse, and
Isaac Kip. Beyond the Heere Graft, Brouwer
Straat became Hoogh (or High) Straat, on account
of its elevation above the East River. Hoogh
Straat extended to the city wall, parallel to the
Water Side. It was the favourite situation for dwell-
ings in Stuyvesant's time, being sufficiently near the
river for convenience, and yet safe from high tides ;
it was also the principal thoroughfare for all persons
entering the town by the Water Gate. Here lived
Govert Loockermans, Johannes van Bruggh, Abra-
ham de Peyster, Abiggel Verplanck, Jacob and
Johannes van Couwenhoven, Nicholas de Meyert
and his wife Lydia van Dyck, Nicholas Bayard and
his wife Judith Verlett, Evert Duyckinck and his
wife Hendrickje Simons, and two Englishmen, —
Isaac Bedlow and John Lawrence. Brouwer Straat
and its continuation — Hoogh Straat — were the
first to be paved ; which was done with cobble-
stones in 1657, under the superintendence of Isaac
de Forest and Jeroninus Ebbingh. Hence was de-
rived the present name of Stone Street.
De Brugh (or Bridge) Straat was the next, con-
necting Whitehall with Broad. It took its name
from the large bridge over the canal which lay at its
foot. Hendrick Hendricksen Kip — the ancestor
of the Kip family — lived here.
108 PETER STUYVESANT.
Continuing down Whitehall, past Bridge, we come
to Pearl Street, which formed the eastern boundary
of the fort. It had this name only south of White-
hall Street. There lived Pieter Wolfertsen van
Couwenhoven, Jacques Cousseau, Gerrit van Tricht,
and Dr. Hans Kierstede.
North of Whitehall Street, on the present line of
Pearl, there was not, during Stuyvesant's govern-
ment, any street regularly built upon. The locality
was called the Water Side, and was simply the
shore of the East River. The present Water, South,
and Front streets were then covered by the tide.
The present Pearl Street came into existence gradu-
ally. In 1642 Director Kieft built the stone tavern,
called the Harberg, down on the shore of the river,
where it could be seen from the anchorage-ground,
and there it stood alone for some years. In 1654,
when the municipal government was organized,
this building was granted to the municipality as
a town hall, and called the Stadt Huys. Its situ-
ation was that of the present Nos. 71 and 73 Pearl
Street, facing Coenties Slip. High tides rose close
to the building, and to prevent such encroachments
a stone wall was built out in front of the Stadt
Huys to keep off the water. This wall protected
the building but not the rest of the shore, which
often became impassable by the washing of the tide.
On this account a barrier against the water was
built along the shore, on a line with the wall in
front of the Stadt Huys. It was called the Schoey-
inge, and consisted of planks driven endwise into the
mud, the space behind them being filled in. The
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 109
work went on from 1654 to 1656, by which year
it extended from Broad to Wall streets. Owners of
lots fronting on the Water Side were compelled to
bear part of the cost. When the Schoeyinge was
completed it made a dry walk along the shore, and
then houses were built on the line of the Stadt
Huys and fronting on the East River. This street
was called from the tide-barrier De Waal, and also
Lang de Waal, and is sometimes confounded with
the present Wall Street. The first people to build
on De Waal were Balthazar de Haart, Carel van
Brugh, Cornelis Jansen van Hoorn, and Dirck
van Clyflf. At a later period the street became
populous.
On the shore of the East River, east of Pearl and
south of Whitehall, was a small street of one block,
called T Water. When the flats along the river-
front were filled in, the continuation of this block
formed the present Water Street. Two short lanes,
called De Winckel and Achter de Perel, near the
fort, were closed up at an early period.
Extending nearly parallel to Whitehall Street and
Broadway, from the East River to Wall Street, on
the site of the present Broad Street, was De Heere
Graft, or principal canal, — an important feature of
the town. The Graft was an inlet of the East
River, of which the waters rose and fell with the
tide as far as Exchange Place. It was crossed by
a large bridge near its mouth, at Bridge and Stone
streets, and farther up by smaller foot-bridges.
The Graft was the chief centre of trade. Near its
outlet were the stores of the West India Company ;
IIO PETER STUYVESANT.
opposite was the anchorage-ground, where vessels
were complied to unload. Boats laden with mer-
chandise went into the Graft to discharge their
cargoes. The Long Island farmers brought their
produce there, selling from boats drawn up on the
bank. Indians paddled up in canoes with skins to
barter. Wooden sidings to protect the banks, like
those on the East River, were constructed in 1657,
and until 1659 two men were kept constantly at
work upon them. Throwing refuse into the Graft
was prohibited by the burgomasters. In 1659 Re-
solvert Waldron was made " Graft officer," with in-
structions to keep the sidings in repair, to prevent
nuisances, and to see that " boats, canoes, and other
vessels which came into it were laid in order."
The vicinity of the bridge which crossed the Graft
at Stone Street was the most populous portion of
the town, and the bridge itself was a generally re-
cognized place of meeting for the transaction of
business. In 1670 the merchants met there every
Friday morning, forming the first established Ex-
change in the city.
In 1660 a petition was presented to the "Re-
spected Lords, the Burgomasters and Schepens of
Amsterdam in New Netherland," to have a pave-
ment laid on the walks along the banks of the Graft.
Among the petitioners were Oloff Stevensen van
Courtlandt, Johannes van Bruggh, Isaac, Jacob, and
Hendrick Kip, Isaac de Forest, and Maria Geraerd.
The petition was granted ; the street was surveyed,
and the assessments apportioned by Jacques Cor-
telyou, town surveyor. After the paving, the Heere
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. HI
Graft was used much more for dwellings, and prop-
erty rose greatly in value. In 1676 the primitive
conditions of commerce, which made the water-
course useful, no longer existed ; the Heere Graft
was filled in, and became Broad Street. Persons
owning lots there, besides the petitioners mentioned
above, were Nicholas Delaplaine, Abel and Johan-
nes Hardenbrook, Johannes de Peyster, Cornelius
de Silla, Conraet Ten Eyck, Guilian Cornelis,
Joghem Beeckman, Adriaen Vincent, Jacob van
Couvvenhoven, Cornelis Melyn, Brandt Schuyler and
his wife Cornelia van Courtlandt, Jan de la Mon-
tagne and his wife Annetje Waldron, Wilhelm Bo-
gardus, and Jan Vincent.
The site of William Street, south of Wall Street,
and the south side of Hanover Square were on land
granted to Borger Joris, who kept a blacksmith shop
there. William Street- and Old Slip were then called
Borger Joris's Path, and later Burgher's Path. The
name was afterward Smee Straat, and under the
English became Smith Street. Abel Hardenbrook
and John Ray lived there.
Such were the streets of New Amsterdam in the
last years of Dutch supremacy. The town was in-
cluded in the space bounded on the south by the
fort and Whitehall Street, on the west by Broadway,
on the north by Wall Street, and on the east by
Pearl Street. It was intersected near the middle
by the waterway on Broad Street. The large major-
ity of the people lived near the fort and the East
River. Two or three streets only had been roughly
paved with cobble-stones ; the others were muddy
112 PETER STUYVESANT.
and uneven. The only drainage was a gutter in the
middle of the street. Trees abounded both in the
streets and in the gardens about the houses. The
houses were set irregularly, and generally surrounded
by fences to keep out wandering hogs and cows.
There was no attempt made to light the streets at
night during the Dutch period. At first, horses,
cows, goats, and hogs were allowed to run free in
the streets and unenclosed grounds ; as the town
improved, regulations on this subject were made :
" On account of damage to roads by rooting of
hogs, all inhabitants are ordered to stick a ring
through the noses of their animals." Later : " On
account of damage to orchards and plantations by
hogs and goats, these animals are ordered to be
kept within enclosures." In 1650 the fort having
been injured and trodden down by animals, Stuy-
vesant ordered that none should be allowed at large
within the city. As nearly every house had its cow,
which had to go daily to the common pastures, it
was found convenient to have a town herdsman.
One Gabriel Carpsey was chosen ; and for many
years he went each morning from house to house,
collected the cattle, and drove them along the
Heere Weg to the commons. At night he drove
them back ; and, as each cow stopped before its
familiar gate, he sounded a horn to announce the
arrival.
Above the stockade at Wall Street, we find our-
selves in the country. Broadway, within the stock-
ade called the Breede Weg, now becomes the Heere
Weg. It extended from the Land Gate north as far
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 113
as the City Hall Park, then the common pastures
called De Vlacke, or Flat. Thence it took a north-
easterly course on the line of Park Row, Chatham
Street, and the Bowery, as far as New Haarlem, to
which village it was extended in 1669.
The land lying between the stockade and Maiden
Lane, from river to river, was granted by Director
Kieft in 1644 to Jan Jansen Damen, and was oc-
cupied by him as a farm. He had married Adriana
Cuvilje, widow of Guleyn Vinje. He left no chil-
dren ; but his wife had four by her first husband,
who inherited and lived upon this property. They
were John Vinje the son, and three daughters, —
Maria, wife of Abraham Verplanck ; Rachel, wife of
Cornelis van Tienhoven ; Christina, wife of Dirck
Volkertsen.
On the west side of Broadway, next above the
Damen farm, was a farm belonging to the West
India Company ; its boundaries were about the pres-
ent Fulton and Chambers streets and the North
River. On the capture of the town by the English,
this land was confiscated and called the King's farm ;
it was afterward given to the English Church.
North of the King's farm lay a tract of about
sixty-two acres. Its boundary line began at a point
between Warren and Chambers streets, ran along
the site of Broadway about as far as Duane Street,
thence northwesterly to the Hudson River. This
tract was known as the Domine's bowery. At a
very early period in the settlement it was granted
by Director Van Twiller to Roeloff Jansen, a super-
intendent at Rensselaerwyck who had removed
8
114 PETER STUYVESANT.
thence to New Amsterdam. Jansen married a wo-
man named Annetje, or Annie, who as Annetje
Jans attained a curious fame. On the death of
Jansen she inherited the farm, and married Domine
Everardus Bogardus. By each husband she had
four children. After the death of Bogardus in the
wreck of the " Princess," she went to live in Albany,
and died there in 1663, leaving a will executed in
January of the same year. The will provided that
all her property should be divided equally among
her eight children, — the four children of Jansen,
however, to be first paid one thousand guilders, out
of the proceeds of the farm which Annetje had re-
ceived from their father. The widow's title to the
land had been confirmed by Stuyvesant in 1654, and
was confirmed again in 1667 by Nichols, the first
English governor. In 1670, Governor Lovelace
bought the Domine's farm, but only a majority of
the heirs signed the deed. Lovelace getting into
debt, the property was confiscated by his successor,
Governor Andros, and called the Duke's farm after
the Duke of York. It was afterward considered to
belong to the English Crown, and was granted by
Queen Anne to Trinity Church. This land had
rented for many years for a few hogs per annum ;
when Governor Lovelace purchased it, he had not
thought it worth while to get a perfect title. But as
the town grew and values rose, the heirs of Annetje
Jans began to cast longing eyes upon the great
patrimony which had been sold for a mess of pot-
tage. The heirs of those of Annetje's children who
had not signed the deed claimed that Queen Anne
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 115
had no right to convey their share in the property.
The first suit to recover possession was brought by
Cornelius Brower in 1750, and unsuccessful litiga-
tion since that time has kept alive the name of
Annetje Jans and her Domine's bowery.
To return to Broadway. Only one street ex-
tended eastward connecting Broadway with the
East River. This was a path called T'Maagde
Paatje, now Maiden Lane, which formed the north-
ern boundary of the Damen farm. Maiden Lane
was the first side-street above Wall to be built upon ;
but although the Damen heirs sold some lots here
about 1660, it was many years before the Maiden's
Path lost its rural beauties. In 1679 there was an
orchard between the present Cedar Street and
Maiden Lane. One day a bear was found among
the trees feeding upon the fruit, and the neigh-
bours had an exciting time chasing him with clubs
from tree to tree.
On the east side of Broadway above the Damen
farm was the property of Wilhelm Beeckman. In
1656 Beeckman applied to the burgomasters and
schepens, stating that certain persons claimed a right
of way across his land, and requested that they be
ordered to show their right. The alleged trespassers
proved that there had long been a path through
Beeckman's by which they drove their cattle to the
common. This was the beginning of Beekman
Street, but it was not laid out and paved until 1750.
There were no streets parallel to Broadway be-
tween it and the East River. Nassau Street was
not begun until 1692. In that year we find a "pe-
I 1 6 PETER STUYVESANT.
tition of Teunis de Kay, that a carte-way may be
made leading out of the Broad Street to the street
that runs by the Pye-woman's leading to the com-
mon of this city ; that the petitioner will undertake
to do the same providing he may have the soyle."
This road was called Kip Street in 1732. The
Middle Dutch church was erected upon it, which in
our own time was used as a temporary post-office,
and then torn down to make way for the Mutual
Life Insurance Building.
Another road extended out of the town along the
shore of the East River from the Water Gate to the
Long Island Ferry. It was a continuation of Stone
Street, and was called De Smit's Valey. At the cor-
ner of this road and Maiden Lane a blacksmith
called Cornelius Clopper had set up his forge to get
the custom of visitors from Long Island, and his
occupation gave the name to the road. For many
years the street connecting Wall Street with Franklin
Square continued to bear the name, although modi-
fied with time to Valey, Vly, and Fly. As it was
directly on the shore, houses were built only on its
west side, overlooking the river. Pearl Street now
occupies its site.
Just outside the Water Gate, Augustyn Heermans
had a good house, with an orchard and garden ex-
tending back over the present line of Pine Street.
Heermans made a drawing of the town as it appeared
from the East River in 165 6, which remains our best
guide as to the appearance of New Amsterdam.
Beyond his house, on the Smith's Yaley, we find
some of the Damen heirs, — John Vinje, and Abra-
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 1 17
ham Verplanck with his sons Isaac and Guleyn.
North of them lived Thomas Hall, an Englishman
prominent in the affairs of the colony. On his death,
the widow sold the property to Wilhelm Beeckman.
That part of it called Beekman's swamp afterward
belonged to Jacob Leisler, and was confiscated
on his attainder. In 1732 Jacobus Roosevelt
bought it for ^200, and sold it off in lots. It
is still known as the Swamp, and is the site of the
leather trade. The tanners had first established
their pits in the swampy places on Broad Street ;
thence they had moved to Maiden Lane and the
shores of the Fresh Pond; they finally moved to
Beekman's swamp, where the leather business has
since remained.
The ferry-landing was at Peck Slip. There one
Cornelis Dircksen had settled before 1642, and
added to his earnings by ferrying to the Long Is-
land shore. As the number of travellers increased,
the municipality assumed control of the ferry, and
in 1654 regulated its use. Dircksen was given a
monopoly of the business, but was compelled to
conduct it systematically. He was allowed double
fares at night, and might refuse passage during a
storm. His wife furnished refreshments and beer
to travellers, and Dircksen's became an important
place.
North of the common lands, and on the site of
the Tombs prison, was a pond called the Kolch-
hock. The name signified " Shell Point," and was
derived from a deposit of shells on a point on the
westerly side of the pond. This name was abbre-
Il8 PETER STUYVESANT.
viated into Collck, and changed by the English
to Collect. A stream ran from the pond to the
East River, near the line of Roosevelt Street,
and was called by the Dutch the Versch (fresh)
Water; the land north of it was called Overyet
(beyond) Versch Water. The pond itself was
afterward called the Fresh Water by the English.
It long remained the favourite fishing-ground for
boys; and even as late as 1734 a town law was
passed to prevent netting, or the taking of fish in
any manner other than angling. Fifty years after
the capture of the town by the English, land in the
vicinity of the pond sold for twenty-five dollars
per acre.
Another outlet of the pond flowed in a north-
westerly direction, into the large creek which occu-
pied the site of Canal Street, and mingled its waters
with those of the Hudson River. The creek was
navigable for small boats. The shores of the pond
were a constant camping-ground for Indians ; they
paddled their canoes from the Hudson up the
creek, and nearly to the pond itself. The creek
and the marshy lands about it formed a serious
obstacle to travel, so that the road northward to
Haarlem kept along the east side of the island. It
crossed the fresh-water stream by a bridge known
afterward as the Kissing Bridge. A few labourers
and negroes had houses near the creek, and they
were described as living " Aen de Groote Kill,"
which was the first name for Canal Street. The
low lands in the vicinity were called Lispenard's
Meadows.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 119
As the dread of Indian hostility passed away,
farms were gradually established in the upper part
of the island. In Stuyvesant's time there were five
boweries between the common-lands and his house,
in the neighbourhood of Fourth Avenue and Twelfth
Street; but the greater portion of the land was
densely wooded. A small hamlet, containing a few
houses and farms, called Sapokanican, was the be-
ginning of Greenwich, now comprising most of the
eighth and ninth wards of the city. New Haarlem I
was in its infancy, and growing.
On Stuyvesant's arrival at New Amsterdam in
1647 he found about one hundred and fifty houses
and seven hundred people, but not more than one
hundred permanent citizens capable of bearing arms.
In 1664, when his directorship terminated, there j
were two hundred and twenty houses and a popula- \
tion of fourteen hundred. The inhabitants of Rens-
selaerwyck and the other Dutch towns had increased
in the same proportion. Ten years later there were'
three thousand people on Manhattan Island. At the
end of the seventeenth century the population had
increased to four thousand four hundred, and the ,
commerce of the port had become so considerable
that forty square-rigged vessels and sixty-two sloops
were entered at one time at the custom-house.
Another century passed before the population of
New York reached sixty thousand. .
When Stuyvesant had restored order in the col-
ony, and particularly after the establishment of mu-
nicipal government, the emigration from Holland
increased considerably, and was of a good character.
I2O PETER STUYVESANT.
Some of the laws made in 1656 by the West India
Company for the government of its emigrant-ships
may be cited as illustrative of the times : —
" No man shall raise or bring forward any ques-
tion or argument on the subject of religion, on pain
of being placed on bread and water three days
in the ship's galley; and if any difficulty should
arise out of the said disputes, the author thereof
shall be arbitrarily punished.
" If any one quarrel or strike with the fist, he
shall be placed three days in irons on bread and
water ; and whoever draws a knife in anger, or to
wound, or to do any person bodily injury, he shall
be nailed to the mast with a knife through his hand,
and there remain until he draws it through ; and if
he wound any one, he shall be keel-hauled, forfeit-
ing besides six months' pay. If any person kill an-
other, he shall, while living, be thrown overboard
with the corpse, and forfeit all his monthly wages
and booty."
The desire to possess lands of their own was the
chief attraction to emigrants ; and the West India
Company, after the fur- trade became unprofitable,
could gain only through the sale of its territory, and
thus encouraged emigration as much as possible.
The new-comers spread over Long Island, northern
New Jersey, and the banks of the Hudson River as
far as Rensselaerwyck.
In 1655, the burgomasters Allard Anthony and
O. S. van Courtlandt requested the director and
Council to establish some system for the allotment
of land within the city to emigrants wishing to settle
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 121
there. Stuyvesant directed the road-masters, to
gether with councillor La Montagne and burgomas-
ter Anthony, to divide the spare land into lots, and
to sell them at reasonable prices to persons wish-
ing to build. These commissioners held regular
sessions, at which they adjusted conflicting claims,
ordered repairs and improvements, sold and gave
away lots. The following examples will illustrate
their procedure : —
" Jan Videt asks permission to build on the ground
heretofore given to Daniel Teneur, which has not
been built upon. Answer. Jan's application is re-
fused, because on the ground asked for a corner
house should be built, and he wishes to build little
houses thereon.
" Albert Jansen requests that, inasmuch as he is
ready to build a house, a piece of ground may be
given him, which is acceded to, and he may have
the ground next to that of Jannette Boon."
Until 1653, the government of the colony was con-
ducted arbitrarily by the director and his Council,
who acted with the authority of the States-General
of Holland, but more particularly as the servants of
the West India Company. The director's commands
were announced by proclamations. In 1648 Stuyve-
sant thus ordained a proper observance of Sunday :
" Whereas the Sabbath in various ways has been pro-
faned and desecrated, to the great scandal, offence,
and reproach of the community : . . . Therefore
the director-general and Council for the purpose
of averting as much as lies in their power the
dreaded wrath and punishment of God, through
122 PETER STUYVESANT.
this sin and other misdemeanours, . . . ordain that
from this time forth, in the afternoon as well as in
the forenoon, there shall be preaching from God's
Word." All the Company's servants were ordered
to attend the services, and "tapping" during the
day was forbidden. Similar proclamations were is-
sued against brawling, drunkenness, and other mis-
demeanours as circumstances called for them.
At first, the only courts of justice in New Nether-
land were those held by the patroon's agent at
Rensselaerwyck and by the director at New Am-
sterdam. Town courts were established on Long
Island at Heempstede in 1644, at Gravesend in
1645, and at Breukelen in 1646. Stuyvesant and
his Council at first undertook to hear all lawsuits
arising in New Amsterdam at their own court. But
the amount of business soon became embarrassing.
Many suits of trifling importance were brought.
The attention of the director and Council was drawn
by them from more important matters, and at the
same time the delays were becoming vexatious to
litigants. Hence, in 1647, when Stuyvesant found
it necessary to attract popular support by the ap-
pointment of the Nine Men, he placed upon their
shoulders the duty of hearing the cases of lesser
moment. Three of the Nine sat in rotation as a
court of arbitrators, their decisions subject to appeal
to the director's Council. The pressure was some-
what relieved by this means, but dissatisfaction with
the administration of justice continued to prevail.
Stuyvesant was far from being fitted for a judicial
position ; his temper carried him away ; his preju-
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 123
dices caused him to adopt one side or the other
impetuously before he had heard the whole case.
In court he browbeat one side or the other, and
when resisted he " made a to-do that was dreadful."
This continued to the distress of the colony until
Van der Donck and his companions obtained their
reforms in Holland, and a government by burgo-
masters and schepens was established in New Am-
sterdam in 1654. Henceforth Stuyvesant governed
New Netherland for the West India Company, but
New Amsterdam became a free Dutch town. The
administration of justice as well as the regulation of/
the municipality was conducted by the burgomasters
and schepens during the remainder of the Dutch
possession. In 1655,3 separate "Orphan's Court"
was established for surrogate cases.
The scene of the meetings of the burgomasters
and schepens was the two- story stone building/
erected by director Kieft in 1642 as a tavern, then
called the Harberg, and under the management of
the inn-keeper, Philip Gerritsen, who there retailed
the Company's wines. Stuyvesant gave the building
to the municipal government in 1654, to be used as a
town hall, after which it was called the Stadt Huys.
It stood on Pearl Street, opposite Coenties Slip, at
high-water mark, overlooking the East River. Be-
fore it was the walk along the Schoeyinge, called
De Waal, or Lang t'Wall ; behind it was a garden
fronting on Hoogh (or Stone) Street. In the tav-
ern days this space was used for growing vegetables ;
but after the building became the town hall, the bur-
gomasters' secretary was allowed to raise a crop of
124 PETER STUYVESANT.
grain in the garden for his own use. In 1659,
Evert Duyckinck engraved the city arms on a
window-pane in the council-chamber, where for forty
years it was pointed out with pride. On the roof
was a cupola, where in 1656 was placed a bell, rung
for the assemblage of the magistrates and on the
publication of proclamations, which was done from
the front steps. Jan Gillisen, nicknamed " Koeck,"
held the office of bell-ringer for many years. The
Stadt Huys contained a council-chamber, town offi-
ces, and a prison. In 1697 the building had become
so old and insecure that the judges refused to hold
court in it. A new town hall was built in Wall
Street, opposite Broad ; and the old Stadt Huys,
with its garden, was sold at auction for ^920 to
John Rodman, a merchant.
t The town magistrates were eight in number, — a
/schout or sheriff, two burgomasters, and five sche-
1 pens. When the States-General granted municipal
government to New Amsterdam, they intended these
offices to be elective. But Stuyvesant, as we have
seen, ignored their intention, and appointed the first
set himself. Half of the officers retired each year,
and their places were filled according to the follow-
ing method : The schout, on behalf of the director's
Council, appeared at the meeting and requested the
burgomasters and schepens to nominate a list of
men of "goed naem and faem staen " (of good
name and standing), from which the director and
his Council should choose magistrates for the next
year. Each burgomaster and schepen made out a
separate list ; they were compared, and the per-
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 12$
sons receiving the highest number of votes were
declared in nomination. From these Stuyvesant
then made his choice.
Among the magistrates who held office during
Stuyvesant's time may be mentioned the following :
Sellouts — Cornelis van Tienhoven, Nicasius de Sille,
Pieter Tonneman, Allard Anthony. Burgomasters —
Arent van Hatten, Martin Cregier, Allard Anthony,
Oloff Stevensen van Courtlandt, Paulus Leendertsen
van der Grist, Cornelis Steenwyck. Schepens —
Wilhelm Beeckman, Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwen-
hoven, Johannes de Peyster, Jacob Strycker, Johan-
nes van Bruggh, Hendrick Kip, Covert Loockermans,
Adriaen Blommaert, Hendrick Jansen Vandervin,
Isaac de Forest, Jacob Kip, Jeroninus Ebbingh.
The magistrates were treated by the people withj
much respect, and were generally addressed as
" Most worshipful lords." But they seemed to have /
no confirmed official titles ; and when Stuyvesant
addressed them, he adopted a form which suited
the importance of the communication or his own
momentary humour. Thus, in announcing to the
magistrates a Fast Day, he directed his letter to
"The Most Worshipful, Most Prudent, and very
Discreet, their High Mightinesses, the Burgomasters
and Schepens of Nieuw Amsterdam." When he
had occasion to request them to adopt regulations
to keep pigs out of the fort, he addressed them as
" Respected and particularly dear friends." But
when a quarrel had arisen between the director
and the municipal authorities on the subject of the
propriety of a game called " Riding the Goose,"
126 PETER STUYVESAA'T.
Stuyvesant addressed his angry reproofs to "The
Small Bench of Justices."
In 1654 the salary of the burgomasters was
fixed at about one hundred and forty dollars, and
that of the schepens at one hundred dollars. But
the salaries were to be paid out of the municipal
" chest," which was always empty. The magistrates
grumbled occasionally, and hoped for better times
when the arrears might be collected. But those
times never came, and they were obliged to be
satisfied with the dignity of office, with the title of
" worshipful lord," and the separate pew in church,
where they sat in state on cushions brought over
from the Stadt Huys by the sexton.
I The schout's duties combined in a primitive
I fashion those of a sheriff and district attorney.
• He prosecuted offenders, executed judgments, and
supervised the order of the town. Nicasius de
Sille used to complain that when he made his
rounds after dark, the boys would annoy him by
shouting " Indians ! " from behind the fences and
raising false alarms.
The duties of the burgomasters and schepens
were of two kinds. They regulated the affairs of
the town like a board of aldermen, and they sat as
a court of justice both civil and criminal.
Among their proceedings we find ordinances for-
bidding galloping through the streets and shooting
partridges or other game within the town limits ; or-
dering horses and oxen to be led through the streets
by the head, and children to be catechised on
Sunday; regulating the value of wampum and the
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 127
prices of various commodities. But although these
municipal powers were usually conceded to the
magistrates, the director and his Council reserved
the right to make regulations overriding those of
the burgomasters and schepens. Thus the arbitrary
spirit of Stuyvesant continued to obstruct the free
institutions which the States-General intended to
implant in New Netherland. One day an order
issued from the fort forbidding the game of " Riding
the Goose " at the feast of Backus and Shrove-tide.
The order was very unpopular, and the magistrates
at the Stadt Huys felt aggrieved that it should
have been proclaimed without any consultation
with them. " Aggrieved, forsooth ! " wrote Stuy-
vesant, haughtily, " because the director-general had
done this without their consent and knowledge ! As
if without the knowledge and consent of the burgo-
masters and schepens no order can be made, no
mob interdicted from celebrating the feast of
Backus ; much less have the privilege of correcting
such persons as tread under foot the Christian and
holy precepts, without the knowledge and consent
of a little bench of justices ! Appreciating their own
authority, quality, and commission better than oth-
ers, the director and Council hereby make known
to the burgomasters and schepens that the institution
of a little bench of justices under the name of the
schout, burgomasters, and schepens, or commission-
ers, does in no wise diminish aught of the power of
the director-general and councillors."
The first police and fire departments were estab-\
lished by the burgomasters and schepens. In 1658 |
128 PETER STUYVESANT.
twas organized the " ratel wacht," or rattle-watch.
The first watchmen were Pieter Jansen, Hendrick
van Bommel, Jan Cornelsen van Vlensburg, Jan
Pietersen, Gerrit Pietersen, Jan Jansen van Lang-
straat, Hendrick Ruyter, Jacques Pryn, and Tomas
Verdran. The wages were twenty-four stuyvers per
night, to have " one or two beavers besides, and two
or three hundred sticks of firewood." The captain
of the watch, Ludowyck Pos, was authorized to collect
monthly from each house the sum of fifty stuyvers
to meet the expenses. The following rules of the
watch were adopted : —
" When any one comes on the watch being drunk,
or in any way insolent or unreasonable in his beha-
viour, he shall be committed to the square-room or
to the battlements of the town hall, and shall be-
sides pay six stuyvers.
" When any one shall hold watch in the battle-
ments, he shall diligently be on the lookout ; and if
he be found asleep during his hours of watch, he shall
forfeit ten stuyvers.
" If any one be heard to blaspheme the name of
God, he shall forfeit ten stuyvers.
" If any one attempt to fight when on the watch,
or tries to draw off from the watch for the purpose
of fighting, he shall forfeit two guilders.
" When they receive their quarter money, they
shall not hold any gathering for drink or any club
meeting.
" They shall at all corners of the streets, between
the ninth hour of the evening and the break of morn-
ing, call out the time of night and how late it is."
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 129
The customary thatched roofs, wooden chimneys, ,
and hay-stacks near the houses were a constant i
source of danger from fire. An order was issued in
1655 forbidding the future construction of wooden
chimneys between the fort and the Fresh Water.
Adriaen Keyser, Thomas Hall, Martin Cregier, and
Joris Wolsey were appointed wardens to enforce
the regulation. But it was not until 1657, when it
was evident that one fire might sweep the town, that
systematic precautions were adopted. In that year
all wooden chimneys, thatched roofs, hay-stacks,
hen-houses, and hog-pens within the town wall were
ordered to be removed. The burgomasters and
schepens levied a tax on each house, great or small,
of one beaver-skin, or eight guilders in seawant,
to furnish fire-buckets, ladders, and hooks. To
maintain them a yearly tax of one guilder was col-
lected for every chimney. The shoemakers were'
called before the burgomasters, and it was agreed
with Remout Remoutsen and Adriaen van Lair to
make two hundred and fifty buckets for six guil-
ders two stuyvers each ; payment, — half beavers,
half seawant. The ladders were placed at con-
venient points in the streets. The buckets were\
distributed as follows : in the Stadt Huys, fifty ;
in Abraham Verplanck's house in the Smith's
Valey, twelve ; in Johannes Pietersen van Bruggh's,
twelve ; in Heer Paulus Leendertsen van der
Grist's, twelve ; in Heer Nicasius de Sille's, in the
Sheep Path, twelve ; in Pieter Wolfertsen van
Couwenhoven's, twelve ; in Hendrick Hendricksen
Kip's, ten.
9
130 PETER STUYVESANT.
The burgomasters and schepens met as a civil
and criminal court once a fortnight ; and when busi-
ness required it, once a week. A recess of a month
took place about Christmas-time, and no sittings
were held during the harvest. At nine o'clock Jan
Gillisen Koeck rang the court-house bell ; and in-
side the council-chamber Johannes Nevius turned
the hour-glass, and fined all persons who were late.
The burgomasters and schepens sat on benches
provided with cushions, the same which on Sundays
were carried to their pew in church. Behind them
was the coat-of-arms of New Netherland, sent over
from Holland. Johannes Nevius had charge of the
law-library, to which the court resorted when in
doubt. Among the books were " Placards, Ordi-
nances, and Octroys of the Honourable, Great, and
Mighty Lords, the States of Holland and of West
Friesland," " The By-laws of Amsterdam," and
"The Dutch Court Practice and Laws." Claes van
Elslant, son of the old sexton, was court- messenger ;
Pieter Schaafbanck was jailer; and Matthew de
Vos, bailiff. Proceedings were opened by a prayer
from the domine.
Litigants nearly always appeared in person, and
presented their own cases. Van der Donck, who
was an educated lawyer, requested permission of the
College of the XIX., in 1653, to practise at New
Amsterdam ; but he was allowed only to give advice,
on the ground that " as there was no other lawyer
in the colony there would be none to oppose him."
There were several notaries. Dirck van Schelluyne,
who came out in 1641, was the first: others were
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 131
David Provoost, Solomon La Chair, Van der Veen,
Van Vleck, and Pelgrum Clocq. These men could
draw wills and deeds, and their knowledge of legal
forms was sufficient for the simple needs of their
clients. If they made a mistake, the Worshipful
Court was not slow in its reprimand. Pelgrum Clocq
drew up a deed without procuring the appointment
of a guardian for an infant, whereupon he was thus
addressed in open court : —
" Whereas, you, Pelgrum Clocq, in the above and
other of your instruments, have committed great
abuses, wherefrom serious mischiefs might arise ;
and, according to the law of the Orphan Chambers,
no notary can draw up any instrument relating to
widows and orphans without a chosen guardian, —
therefore you are hereby ordered and charged by
the burgomasters and schepens of this town not to
draw up within six weeks from date any instrument
appertaining to the Subaltern court of this town."
The proceedings of the court may be shown best
by reciting some cases, and their disposition.
"Jan Haeckins, plaintiff, demands payment from
Jacob van Couwenhoven, defendant, for certain beer
sold him according to contract. The defendant says
the beer is bad. Plaintiff denies that the beer is bad,
and asks whether people would buy it if it were
not good. He further insists that the beer is of
good quality, and such as is made for exportation.
Couwenhoven denies this, and requests that after
the rising of the bench the court may come over
and try the beer, and then decide. The parties
having been heard, it was ordered that after the
132 PETER STUYVESANT.
meeting breaks up the beer shall be tried, and if
good, then Couwenhoven shall make payment ac-
cording to the contract ; if otherwise, the plaintiff
shall make deduction."
Wolfert Webber, plaintiff, against Judith Verleth,
defendant : " The plaintiff makes complaint that the
defendant has for a long time pestered him, and
with her sister Sara came over to his house last
week and beat him in his own house, and afterward
threw stones at him. He requests that said Judith
may be ordered to let him live quietly in his own
house. The defendant acknowledges that she has
struck Webber, but excuses the act because he has
called her names ; moreover, he once threatened
to strike her with a broom. The parties are or-
dered to leave each other unmolested." Webber is
fined twelve stuyvers for passing the lie during the
meeting.
Certain domestic troubles between Arent Juniaan-
sen Lantsman and his wife Beletje, the daughter
of Ludowyck Pos, having been brought to the notice
of the court, the matter was referred to the Domi-
nes Megapolensis and Drisius, who were requested
to reconcile the pair. " Then, on the promise of
amendment and that such should not occur again,
shall the past be forgiven ; but if one or the other
party shall not abide by nor submit to advice and
arbitration of the reverend preachers between this
and the next court day, then proceedings may be
expected according to the style and custom of law,
as an example to other evil housekeepers."
Pieter Kock and Anna van Voorst having entered
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. '133
into an agreement, of marriage, and then having
shown unwillingness to fulfil the engagement, " the
burgomasters and schepens by these presents decide,
that as the promise of marriage has been made be-
fore the Omniscient God it shall remain in force ;
so that neither the plaintiff nor defendant, without
the approbation of their lordships the magistrates
and the other one of the registered parties, shall
be permitted to enter matrimony with any other,
whether single man or single woman."
As there was no prison for criminals, they were
punished by fines, whipping, branding, the stocks,
the ducking-stool, labour with negroes, riding on a
wooden-horse, and banishment. The rack was used
to threaten with ; but it is unlikely that there ever
was a rack on Manhattan Island. In criminal cases
the schout prosecuted.
Hannen Barentzen was sentenced to be chastised
with the rod and banished from the town for five
years for stealing three half beavers, two nose-cloths,
and a pair of linen stockings. Mesaack Martens
stole cabbages from Pieter Jansen, in the Maiden
Lane. He had to stand in the pillory with cabbages
on his head, and was then banished for five years.
Jan Alleman, an officer in the fort, was sentenced
to ride the wooden-horse and to be cashiered for
sending a challenge to Jan de Fries who was bed-
ridden. Abel Hardenbrook was fined forty guilders
for having " at night and at unseasonable hours, in
company with some soldiers, created an uproar and
great insolence in the street by breaking windows."
Madaleen Vincent accused Wilhelm Beeckman and
134 PETER STUYVESANT.
the schout-fiscal of winning her husband's money at
play, and of leading him into evil courses. She could
not prove her allegations, and so was fined sixty guild-
ers. Pieter Pietersen Smit called Joghem Beeckman
a "black pudding ; " Isaac Bedlo called Joost Goderis
a " horned beast." The slanderers were fined.
An aggravated case was that of the schout An-
thony de Mill against Abel Hardenbrook. " The
Heer Schout complains that the defendant Harden-
brook has shoved him on the breast, and abused
him with foul and unseemly language, wishing that
the devil should break his neck, when, on the third
September last, the Heer Plaintiff repaired, by or-
der of the burgomasters and schepens, to defend-
ant's house, to warn his wife that she should not go
again to the house of the Heer Burgomaster Johan-
nes de Peyster, as she now had twice done, to make
trouble there ; also had obstinately refused to obey
the order of the burgomasters and schepens as well
as the court-messenger Henry Newton, the burgo-
master Luyck, and Heer Schepen Wilhelm Beeck-
man, as to him the plaintiff; and that the said
delinquent being in the evening a prisoner at the
town hall, in the chamber of Pieter Schaefbanck,
carried on and made a racket like one possessed
and mad, notwithstanding the efforts of the Heer
Burgomaster Johannes van Bruggh, running up to
the court-room and going away next morning as if
he had not been imprisoned. ... All which qught
in no manner to be tolerated in a well-ordered bur-
ghery, being directly contrary to the customs and
provisions of the laws. . . . The burgomasters and
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 135
schepens, having heard the delinquent's excuse
and the arguments between parties, and examined
the evidence produced, condemn the delinquent in
a fine or penalty of twenty-five florins in beavers ;
further, that the delinquent for the assault shall
beg pardon of the Court, God, and Justice, and pay
the costs incurred herein."
The magistrates were careful to uphold the dig- 1
nity of public office. When the fire inspectors were
going about ordering the demolition of wooden
chimneys, Solomon la Chair lost his temper, and
abused the inspectors, calling them, among other
names, " chimney-sweepers." His conduct having
come to the knowledge of the court, he was fined,
and a messenger was sent to collect the fine.
Solomon paid it with the contemptuous remark,
*' Is it to have a little cock booted and spurred that
I am to give it?" For this the court imposed a
fflrther fine of twelve guilders, on the ground that
" it is not seemly that men should mock and scoff
at persons appointed to any office, — yea, a neces-
sary office." The house of Pietertje Jans was sold
on an execution for debt. Whereupon she declared
publicly to the officers of the court, "Ye despoilers !
ye bloodsuckers ! ye have not sold, but given away
my house ! " The officers complained that such
words were " a sting that cannot be endured."
Whereupon Pietertje was brought before the magis-
trates, and reprimanded in the following terms :
" Whereas, thou, Pietertje Jans, hast presumed
shamefully to attack honourable people with foul,
villainous, injurious words, — yea, infamous words ;
136 'PETER STUYVESANT.
also insulting, defaming, affronting, and reproach-
ing the Worshipful Court of this town, publicly on
the highway, to avenge the loss which thou hast
caused thyself in regard that thy house and lot were
sold on an execution, — which blasphemy, insult,
affront, and reproach cannot be tolerated or suf-
fered to be done to a private individual, more
especially to the court aforesaid, but must in the
highest degree be reprimanded, particularly cor-
rected, and severely punished as criminal : There-
fore the heeren of the court hereby interdict and
forbid you to indulge in such blasphemies for the
future, or by neglect the judge shall hereafter pro-
vide for it."
The notary Walewyn van der Veen was in con-
tempt of court several times. On one occasion,
when a case had been decided against him, he
spoke of the magistrates as " simpletons and block-
heads." The court decided that "Van der Veen,
for his committed insult, shall here beg forgiveness,
with uncovered head, of God, Justice, and the Wor-
shipful Court, and moreover pay as a fine one hun-
dred and ninety guilders." On another occasion,
when the secretary Johannes Nevius declined to
show him some records, Van der Veen called him
a " rascal," and said further, " Had I you at another
place I would teach you something else." The
secretary complained to the burgomasters and
schepens of this treatment, and the schout, as pro-
secutor, presented the case to the court, saying :
" That in consequence of the slander and affront
offered to plaintiff in scolding him as a rascal,
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 137
which affects his honour, being tender ; and as the
Honourable and Worshipful Court is not willing to
be attended by a rascally secretary, — he demands a
fine of fifty guilders, that it may serve as an example
to all other slanderers, who for trifles have con-
stantly in their mouths curses and abuse of other
honourable people."
Until the adoption of the burgher government
the finances of New Amsterdam were entirely in the
hands of the West India Company. But in 1654,
when the director found himself confronted by a
debt of seven thousand guilders incurred in preparing
for the expected hostilities with New England, he
resolved to shift the burden upon the new magis-
trates, and directed them to consider the means to
pay the debt. A special meeting was held for the
purpose, the following being present : Arent van
Hatten, Martin Cregier, Paulus Leendertsen van
der Grist, Pieter Couwenhoven, Wilhelm Beeckman,
and Martin van Gheel. The importance of the
issue made it advisable to secure the support of
the Commonalty, and a number of burghers were
requested to attend in an advisory capacity, among
whom were Johannes Pietersen van Bruggh, Johan-
nes Gilliesen van Bruggh, Jacob van Couwenhoven,
Govert Loockermans, Oloff Stevensen van Court-
landt, Abram Verplanck, Johannes de Peyster, and
Coenraet Ten Eyck. The burgomasters and sche-
pens, with the concurrence of the private burghers,
decided that the duty of defending the town be-
longed to the West India Company, and that the
Commonalty was not liable for the debt. They
138 PETER STUYVESANT.
would take no steps in the matter until the di-
rector-general abandoned his excise on wine and
beer, when they would find means to raise the ne-
cessary money. Stuyvesant refused to give up the
obnoxious excise, saying that it had already been
paid into the Company's counting-house. The
magistrates held another meeting, and declared
positively that they would do nothing toward pay-
ing the debt until the excise was transferred to the
treasury of the burgomasters and schepens. If any
calamity resulted, they held themselves blameless.
The director was obliged to yield, and relinquished
the "tapster's excise" to the town authorities, with
the only condition that the salaries of Domines
Megapolensis and Drisius should be paid out of
it. This was the first revenue coming to the town
of New Amsterdam.
Having gained this point, the burgomasters and
schepens raised the seven thousand guilders in 1655
I by a direct tax on the citizens in proportion to their
' supposed wealth. A considerable number not only
paid the sum levied upon them, but added a further
voluntary contribution. The largest payments were
made by P. Stuyvesant, C. van Tienhoven, A. An-
thony, O. S. van Courtlandt, T. W. van Couwen-
hoven, J. P. van Bruggh, C. Steenwyck, Govert
Loockermans, Jacobus Backer, J. L. van der Grist,
J. van Couwenhoven, P. L. van der Grist, Jo.
Nevius, Jo. de Peyster, Martin Cregier, Domine
Megapolensis, Domine Drisius, Jeremias van Ren-
sselaer, Isaac de Forest, Cornelis van Ruyven,
Wilhelm Beeckman, Hendrick van Dyck, Ludowyck
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 139
Kip, Arent van Corker, Jacob Kip, Isaac Kip,
Conraet Ten Eyck, Abrarn Verplanck, P. C. van
der Veen, H. J. Vandervin.
The next year the town was again in financial
straits. The town wall, the schoeyinge, the Stadt
Huys, the watchroom, the schoolhouse, and the graft
were all in need of repairs, for which the excise
duties were far from sufficient. The burgomasters
and schepens applied in vain to the West India
Company for relief. Stuyvesant was resolved that
the Stadt Huys should get no help from the Fort.
The next year, 1657, matters were not improved,
as the records show : —
'•' Hendrick Hendricksen, drummer, attended the
meeting of the burgomasters, and requested payment
of promised yearly wages ; but as the chest at pres-
ent is not well supplied, the applicant is requested
to wait until the first convenient opportunity, when
he shall be satisfied.
"Jan Jansen, woodcutter, left at the meeting his
account for timber and other work for the town;
but since he is not present himself, and the chest
is not well supplied, the consideration of the same
is put off."
In 1658 the burgomasters and schepens placed
taxes upon land-transfers, taverns, and slaughtered
cattle, and managed to raise sufficient money to
meet the necessary expenses of the town. But the
chest never contained enough to pay their own
salaries.
There was very little gold or silver money at New^
Amsterdam. In their place beaver and other skins J
I4O PETER STUYVESANT.
/and the Indian wampum, or seawant, served as a
medium of exchange in cases where simple barter
was inconvenient. The beaver-skin was the stan-
dard. The West India Company paid eight guil-
ders for a beaver over its counter, and thus its value
was fixed. Inferior skins brought less, and so their
condition entered into every bargain. The seawant
derived its value from its purchasing power with
the Indians. As beaver-skins grew scarcer, it re-
quired more seawant to buy one : hence this cur-
rency depreciated steadily. The buyer and the
seller had to come to an agreement as to the
amount of beavers and seawant an article was
worth.
The foreign trade of New Amsterdam was made
up by the exportation of skins and tobacco, and the
importation of tools, clothing, and articles adapted
to Indian exchange. Until 1660 the foreign trade
was limited to Holland, — a circumstance which re-
stricted the enterprise of New Amsterdam mer-
chants, and caused much complaint. In that year
trading was allowed with France, Spain, Italy, and
the West India Islands, on payment of duties ; and
this extension brought added prosperity during the
few years which remained of Dutch rule. It was
not until after the English occupation, when New
York became a grain-producing and exporting coun-
try, that wealth became considerable. The peltry-
trade alone was never sufficient to meet the wants of
the colony.
Several causes tended to reduce the profits of the
Dutch- Indian trade. The French in Canada became
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 141
active competitors ; as New Netherland grew, the
Indians were pushed into the interior, and skins
were less easily obtained. But the most serious ;
cause was the intrusion of foreign traders, who sailed
past New Amsterdam, outbid the Dutchmen at the
trading-posts up the river, and gradually stole away
their business. Even in the town the foreign ped-
dlers, who kept no " fire and light," were reaping
profits which belonged to Dutch citizens. Realiz-
ing the injury which resulted to permanent settlers
by the operations of these " base, itinerant deal-
ers," who bore no share in the expense of govern-
ment, the burgomasters and schepens petitioned the
director and Council to withdraw the privilege of
free trade from foreigners; to make them keep
open shop in New Amsterdam, and pay the
usual taxes.
In February, 1657, Stuyvesant and his Council'
limited the right of trade to recognized citizens; j
and in order to draw the line between them and the
foreigners, an institution called the " Great and Small
Citizenship " was established. The Great Citizens
were to be : (i) Those who have been or are mem-
bers of the supreme government, with descendants
in the male line ; (2) Past and present burgomasters
and schepens in the town with their descendants ;
(3) Former and present ministers of the gospel, with
their descendants: and (4) Officers of the militia,
with their descendants. Other persons could obtain
the distinction by paying fifty guilders. The Small
Citizens were to be : ( i ) Residents for one year and
six weeks, who have kept fire and light ; (2) All born
142 PETER STUYVESANT.
in the town; (3) All who have married daughters
of citizens born in the town; and (4) All who have
opened a store, and paid to the burgomasters twenty
guilders. The distinction created between Great
and Small Citizens was declared to be " grounded
in reason," and to be " in conformity with the cus-
toms of the city of Amsterdam in Europe." But
very few of the burghers considered the rank of
Great Citizens to be worth fifty guilders. The
names on the list were nearly all of persons who
had held office ; others who desired enrolment
for business reasons contented themselves with
the Small Citizenship. Of these there were two
hundred.
Until 1656, the shores of the Heere Graft formed
the market-place of the town. There the Indians
drew up their canoes and bartered their beaver-
skins. There the farmer from Long Island, from
Bergen, Nieuw Haarlem, or Gamoenepa, exchanged
his vegetables and fruits for tools, clothing, sugar,
and beer. In 1648 was inaugurated the annual fair
called the Kermis, which began on the first Monday
after the feast of Saint Bartholomew and continued
for ten days. All comers sold their goods from tents.
In 1656, it became evident that better means were
required to bring together the producer and con-
sumer ; and the magistrates proclaimed, " Whereas,
divers articles, such as meat, pork, butter, cheese,
turnips, cabbage, and other country produce, are
from time to time brought here for sale by the peo-
ple living in the country, and oftentimes wait at the
strand without the people living out of that immedi-
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 143
ate neighbourhood knowing that such things are for
sale in the town : Therefore it is ordered that from
this time forward, Saturday in each week shall be
appointed as market-day, the articles to be brought
on the beach, near Mr. Hans Kierstede's house ; of
which all shall take notice." This spot remained for
many years a resort for dealers in country produce.
In 1659 a yearly cattle- market was established by
the burgomasters and schepens for " fat cattle,
steers, cows, sheep, goats, hogs, bucks, and such
like." It opened on October 20, and lasted till
the end of November. The site was the present
Bowling Green, where shambles were erected and
" the key given to Andries the baker, to keep over-
sight of the same." Posts were set up along Broad-
way opposite the churchyard, to which the animals
were attached pending sale. The proclamation for
this market was translated into English and sent to
Standtfort, Uncque, Suidhampton, Suidhool, Straat-
foort, Milfort, and Oosthampton. This fair was held
for more than thirty years. During its continuance
no visitor could be arrested for debt, and the attend-
ance was large from Connecticut and all parts of
New Netherland. The fish-market was at Coenties
Slip, so-called because the land in this vicinity was
the property of Conraet Ten Eyck, who was famil-
iarly known as Coentje.
Of separate shops there were none ; but many
of the merchants used parts of the ground- floor of
their houses as retail stores, especially those living
on the Hoogh Straat. Most of these were general
stores, in which hardware, dry-goods, and wines were
144 PETER STUYVESANT.
all sold. Cornells Steenvyck, at the corner of
Bridge and Whitehall streets, made a specialty of
dry-goods, and grew rich by selling petticoats, linen,
and ribbons to the women, breeches and shirts to
the men. Steenwyck's was the most fashionable
store, and much frequented by the "vrows."
When Peter Stuyvesant came out as director, the
houses of New Amsterdam were nearly all poorly
built of wood, with thatched roofs and wooden
chimneys ; but with the return of peace and pros-
perity the town was gradually rebuilt. By 1664,
when the Dutch rule terminated, there were about
two hundred and fifty houses, of which a consider-
able number were of a substantial character. Small
/coloured bricks, and black and yellow tiles for roofs,
I were imported from Holland ; and it was the ambi-
tion of the wealthier Dutch citizens to construct
their houses of these. The buildings stood with the
gable end toward the street, the roof rising to a
peak by a series of steps. The stoop was made an
important feature ; there the burgher sat with his
family on pleasant evenings. Connected with every
house of any pretension was a garden, where kitchen
vegetables and flowers were cultivated. In some
cases these gardens were made highly ornamental,
and the subject of family pride. The improvement
in the appearance of the town was gradual, but con-
tinuous. After the haystacks, piggeries, and other
unsightly objects had been suppressed by the mag-
istrates, and the streets straightened and paved, the
citizens made individual efforts to adorn their prop-
erties, which soon changed the appearance of New
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 145
Amsterdam very much for the better. The water
supply during this period was derived from wells
near the houses, and from streams and springs when
convenient. Later on, public wells were dug in
various parts of the town.
In the interior of the houses we see the same
improvement keeping pace with prosperity. The
floors were covered with a thin layer of sand drawn
by the broom into quaint figures. Carpets were
long in coming into use. There was one in Cor-
nelis Steenwyck's " great chamber " when he died
in 1686, and by that time the parlours of the principal
citizens probably had them. There were "tabby"
curtains at the windows. The principal articles of
furniture, imported from Holland and handed down
from father to son, were the sideboard, with its
pewter and sometimes silver or china furniture, the
sofa and chairs in the best room, the four- posted
bed, the linen chest, and the hand-loom. As it ap-
pears by the inventories of deceased persons, the
furniture increased very much in quantity and value
as time went on. Before 1650 people had only
the most necessary articles; after 1670 a great in-
crease in wealth and comfort appears. Dr. Jacob
Lange died in 1685. Enumerated as part of his
estate were a sword with silver handle, another with
an iron handle, a carbine, a pistol, a cane with silver
head, and another with ivory head. Among his cloth-
ing were found a gros-grained cloak lined with silk,
a black broadcloth suit, a coloured serge suit with sil-
ver buttons, silk and calico drawers, silk night-caps, a
pair of yellow hand-gloves with black silk fringe, five
146 PETER STUYVESANT.
white calico stockings, and two worsted stockings.
Dr. Lange's wife had when she died red and
scarlet under-petticoats, cloth petticoats with black
lace, striped stuffed petticoats, coloured drugget pet-
ticoats with various coloured linings and lace, black
silk petticoats with gray silk lining, black pottofoo
petticoats with black and gray silk linings : these
petticoats were valued at ^30. Besides these she
had a black tartanel samare with a tucker, a flow-
ered calico samare, flowered and red calico night-
gowns, silk and red calico waistcoats, a bodice,
white cotton stockings, five black love-hoods, one
white love-hood, sleeves with great lace, cornet
caps with and without lace, a black silk rain-cloth,
a yellow love-hood, a black plush mask, an em-
broidered purse with silver bugle and chain to the
girdle, a silver hook and eye, five small East India
boxes, five hair- curlings, four yellow love-drowlas,
one silver thread-wrought small trunk, in which was
the following jewelry : a pair of black pendants with
gold hooks, a gold boat, wherein were thirteen dia-
monds to one white coral chain, one pair gold pen-
dants in each ten diamonds, two diamond rings, one
gold ring, and another gold ring with diamonds.
When Cornelis Steenwyck died in 1686, he left
seven hundred and twenty-three ounces of silver
plate and ^300 in money. Among the articles
found in his house, apart from the store, were a
gold chain and medal, a child's whistle, coats and
breeches with silver buttons and buckles, rush-leather
chairs, velvet chairs with fine silver lace, tables, a
cabinet, a looking-glass, thirteen pictures, bedsteads,
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 147
ten pieces of china, five alabaster images, tapestry for
twelve cushions, a great deal of pewter, and some
watches and clocks which were out of order. Prob-
ably purchased at Steenwyck's store were the fol-
lowing articles of men's dress, which are elsewhere
enumerated : green silk breeches flowered with sil-
ver and gold, silver gauze breeches, scarlet stockings,
blue silk stockings, laced shirts, laced neck-cloths,
a lacquer hat, bob wigs and periwigs.
Elizabeth van Es died in 1694, aged seventy
years. Her inventory contains the goods in the
shop, a share in a brigantine, a negro-boy Toby,
two bands of seawant, two breast- plates of seawant,
one silver tankard, one silver beker, one silver mus-
tard-pot, three gold hoop-rings, two gold rings with
stones, one hundred and three beaver-skins, eighteen
otters, twenty-three maters, nine fishers, eight minks,
two cats, eighteen rat-skins, forty-nine hespannen,
nine gray squirrels, one red squirrel, seven bear-
skins, one wolf, one beaver-rock, two Bibles with
silver clasps and two Dutch Bibles, a New Testa-
ment with silver clasps, and two catechisms. Her
library — which was a good sample of the contem-
porary bookshelf — contained "Isaac Ambrosius,"
" Housewife," Howin's " Church History," French
"Flock of Israel," Coleman's "Christian Interest,"
"Christ's Ways and Works," Dewitt's " Catechism,"
Duyken's " Church History."
In Stuyvesant's time domestic servants were rare ; \
the housework was performed by the housewife and '••
her daughters. In a few of the wealthier families
one or two Dutch domestics were employed as
148 PETER STUYVESANT.
apprentices ; but as their term of service expired
they usually married. The same difficulty prevailed
in regard to male labourers. Thus, a ready market
f was found for African negroes when Dutch traders
brought them to Manhattan Island. In 1629 the
West India Company promised to supply negro
slaves to the colony as fast as possible ; but for
many years the arrivals were few, and these served
as labourers for the Company. The treatment of
'them was humane, and freedom was generally
within their reach as a reward of good conduct.
In 1644 a number of slaves petitioned Kieft to free
them, on the ground of long service. The petition
was granted as to themselves and their wives, but
not as to their children. The freedmen were placed
on the same footing with other citizens, except that
they had to pay a yearly tribute to the Company.
In 1646, on request of Domine Megapolensis, a
slave named Jan Francisco was freed in conse-
quence of faithful service, on condition of paying
the Company ten skepels of wheat annually. Ne-
groes were brought to New Amsterdam only from
the West Indies until 1654, when the first cargo
arrived direct from Africa. The slave-trade was
allowed to citizens of New Netherland, but was
not participated in by them until the end of the
century. The negroes seemed to have fared well
at the hands of the Dutch citizens, and to have been
orderly and contented. At the end of the century
they had increased in number, and were generally
employed as domestic servants. At that time, we
find that the widow Van Courtlandt had seven adults
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 149
and two children ; Colonel de Peyster, the same
number. William Beeckman had three ; Rip van
Dam, five and one child. The widow Philipse had
four, and three children. Members of the Kip family
had twelve. Mrs. Stuyvesant had five ; Balthazar
Bayard, six ; John van Horn, four ; Jacobus van
Courtland, four and a child ; David Provoost, Jr.,
three ; Col. Nicholas Bayard, three ; Abraham
Loockermans, five and three children. Rebecca
van Schaick had three.
During the rule of the West India Company
building-lots were conveyed to settlers at nominal
prices, and until near the end of Dutch control real-
estate values remained very low. About 1660 there
was a decided advance, following on increased pros-
perity ; and this advance continued steadily. In
1647 a farm of two hundred acres near Haarlem
brought forty dollars. In 1667 the house and lot
on west side of Broadway, near Morris Street,
brought three hundred dollars. In the same year
the house and lot next north of Trinity churchyard,
fifty by ninety feet, was sold for seventy-five dollars.
In 1682 a lot on Wall Street brought thirty dollars.
In 1683 a lot on Pearl Street, near John, brought one
hundred and fifty dollars. In 1700 Wall Street had
become a favourite locality, and a lot on the corner
of Wall and Broad was sold for $815. The fol-
lowing is a record of a contract of sale of real estate
made in Stuyvesant's time : —
" Before me, Cornelius van Tienhoven, secretary
of New Netherland, appeared Harck Sybesen, who
acknowledged to having sold to Barent Dircksen his
150 PETER STUYVESANT.
house and lot, earth and nail- fast, both big and
little, as the same is situated on the Island of Man-
hattan, near Fort Amsterdam, — which Dircksen also
acknowledges to have purchased for one hundred
and seventy-five guilders, and a half-barrel of beer
as a treat for the company, to be paid in fourteen
days, when the delivery of the house and depend-
encies shall take place. It is agreed that if either
party backs out, or repents of the sale, he shall pay
a half-barrel of beer."
The descriptions of property transferred were usu-
ally rather indefinite. When Govert Loockermans
purchased the land near Hanover Square, on which
he lived, it was thus described in the deed, dated
1642 : "A dwelling-house and lot situated on East
River, on Manhattan Island, beginning at a brook
of fresh water emptying into the East River, till to
the farm of Cornelius van Tienhoven, whose pali-
sades extend from the long highway toward the
East River, as may be seen by the marks by him
made bordering on the aforesaid land, from the
fence to the great tree."
In the disposition of property by will, the general
custom among the Dutch was for the husband and
wife to inherit absolutely from each other. The
married pair appeared before a notary and declared
such to be their wish, " out of love and special nup-
tial affection." When husband or wife married a sec-
ond time, it was arranged that the property of the
deceased should eventually go to his or her children.
The children inherited equally, without regard to
sex or priority of birth. "An instance of which I
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 151
remember," said Wooley, "in one Frederick Phi-
lipse, the richest Mein Heer in that place, who was
said to have whole hogsheads of wampum, who,
having one son and one daughter, I was admiring
what a heap of wealth the son would enjoy; to
which a Dutchman replied that the daughter must
go halves." In dividing property among the chil-
dren, the testator usually specified every article
in detail : the scarlet petticoat was to go to Ger-
truyd, the black love-hood to Annetje, the pew-
ter tankard to Jan. So the father left his Sunday
suit to Pieter, the three-cornered hat to Evert,
the gun to Nicholas, the linen-chest to Tryntje.
Through these wills heirlooms can be traced in
families for several generations. When a man died
insolvent, his widow could relieve herself from the
claims of creditors by relinquishing the right of in-
heritance. This was done in legal form, when the
wife declared that she " kicked the estate away with
the foot, and laid the key on the coffin."
The festivals observed by the Dutch were Ker-
stydt — Christmas ; Nieuw Jar — New Year's Day ;
Pinxter — Whitsuntide ; Paas — Passover ; and
Saint Nicholas Day. For two or three weeks after
Christmas the burghers and their families spent
much of their time in firing guns, beating drums,
dancing, card-playing, playing at bowls or nine-pins,
and in drinking beer. The public offices were
closed during these holidays. " Whereas," says the
record of the burgomasters and schepens, " the win-
ter festivities are at hand, it is found good that be-
tween this day and three weeks after Christmas the
152 PETER STUYVESANT.
ordinary meetings of the court shall be dispensed
with." May Day was observed so boisterously that
the burgomasters provided that damage done to
property during its celebration should be reported
lo them, and reparation would be made. There
was always a contest between the rigid director at
the fort and the complaisant magistrates at the
Stadt Huys as to the toleration of these public
amusements. On one occasion Stuyvesant pro-
claimed : " Whereas experience has taught us that
on New Year's days and on May days from the
firing of guns, the planting of May-poles, and
drunken drinking there have resulted unnecessary
waste of powder and much intoxication, with the
bad practices and accidents which generally arise
therefrom : therefore we expressly forbid on New
Year and May days any firing, or plantiug of May-
poles, or beating of the drum ; nor shall there be
at those times any wines, brandy, or beers dealt
out." This order may have modified, but it did
not suppress, the popular ebullition of spirits. There
was a game called " Pulling the Goose," introduced
at New Amsterdam in 1654. A goose with head
and neck smeared with grease was suspended be-
tween two poles. Men rode at full gallop, and
tried to grasp it as they passed. Stuyvesant forbade
this game, pronouncing it " an unprofitable, heathen-
ish, and popish festival, and a pernicious custom."
Some farmers who " pulled the goose " after the
prohibition were fined and imprisoned, " in order
to prevent more sins, debaucheries, and calamities."
Against this severity the burgomasters remonstrated.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 153
As the colony grew in wealth and stability, the
amusements of the people became more refined.
The rougher sports were replaced by ball games, i
bowling, and cricket, introduced by the English. '
Shooting and fishing were much in favour. The
young people of both sexes met at dancing-parties
and at jaunts in boats, wagons, and sleighs. Mrs.
Knight, an English visitor, in 1 700, says : " Their
diversion in winter is riding in sleighs about three
miles out of town, where they have houses of en-
tertainment at a place called the Bowery ; and
some go to friends' houses, who handsomely treat
them. ... I believe we met fifty or sixty sleighs
one day ; they fly with great swiftness, and some
are so furious that they '11 turn out of the path for
none except a loaded cart. t Nor do they spare for
any diversion the place affords, and sociable to a
degree, their tables being as free to their neighbours
as to themselves." Among the wealthier families
chocolate parties were much in vogue, which a j
domine objected to as keeping people up till '
nine o'clock at night.
A great deal of beer was consumed in New Am-
sterdam, and several of the richest men were
brewers. Stuyvesant and the domines had to
struggle against intemperance and its consequences,
which they did very earnestly. The traditional
fondness of the Dutch for smoking seems not to
have been exaggerated. " They are obstinate and
incessant smokers," says Wooley, " both Indians
and Dutch, — especially the latter, whose diet, es-
pecially of the boorish sort, being sallets and
154 PETER STUYVESANT.
bacon and very often picked buttermilk, require
the use of that herb to keep their phlegm from
coagulating and curdling. I once saw a pretty
instance, relating to the power of tobacco, in two
Dutchmen riding a race with short campaigne-pipes
in their mouths, — one of whom, being hurled from
his steed, as soon as he gathered himself up again,
whip'd to his pipe, and fell a-sucking and drawing,
regarding neither his horse nor fall, as if the prize
consisted in getting that heat which came from
his beloved smoke. Tobacco is two pence and a
half a pound."
The church in the fort was the only Dutch
Reformed church in New Amsterdam during Stuy-
vesant's time. The first religious services at Man-
hattan were begun in 1626, in the room over the
horse-mill. When Domine Bogardus arrived in
1633, a plain wooden building was erected on the
East River, near Old Slip, with a parsonage for the
domine. The people worshipped here until 1642,
when, at the suggestion of De Vries, the stone
church in the fort was built. This building re-
mained in use until 1693, when it had become
much dilapidated, and the congregation, under
Domine Selyns, gladly removed to the new church
in Garden Street, now Exchange Place. The old
edifice in the fort was used by the military until
1741, when it was burned. The site remained un-
touched until 1790, when the government house
was built upon it. Then it was that the commem-
orative stone erected by Kieft in 1642 was dug
up and placed in the Garden Street church.
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 155
Subscriptions began to be taken up for the new
building in 1689. Many persons thought Garden
Street was too far up-town ; but a piece of land
there was finally chosen in 1690, which adjoined
the orchard of Domine Drisius's widow. The
church was opened in 1693, having cost about
$28,000. It was an oblong building with a brick
steeple. The windows were of small panes set in
lead. On many of the panes were the coats-of-
arms of elders and magistrates engraved thereon by
Gerard Duyckinck. There were also painted coats-
of-arms hung on the walls. Galleries ran along the
sides ; in them sat the men, with the women below.
The interior was quite plain ; the seats were wood-
en benches ; the pulpit, imported from Holland,
stood in the middle of the end opposite the door ;
the bell-rope hung down in the middle aisle.
As the population increased, another church was
built on Nassau Street, on the corner of Liberty
Street. It was of stone, with a clock in the tower ;
and there the true Reformed doctrines were preached
far into the nineteenth century. It was surrounded
by trees in early times, and looked as though " built
in a wood." The Garden Street church was then
called the Old Church, and the Nassau Street church
the New Church. When another was built at the
corner of Fulton and Williams streets it was called
the North, that in Garden Street the South, and that
in Nassau Street the Middle Church. The building
in Garden Street was destroyed in the great fire of
1835 ; that in Nassau Street was pulled down in
our own time ; prayer-meetings of the Dutch Re-
formed Church are still held in Fulton Street.
156 PETER STUYVESANT.
Religious services on Manhattan Island were first
held by a schoolmaster and " consoler of the sick."
In 1633 the first domine came out, Everardus Bo-
gardus, who served the people faithfully for fourteen
years, resisted the tyranny of Kieft, and perished
with him in the wreck of the " Princess " in 1647.
Johannes Backerus succeeded him in 1648, but re-
turned to Holland in the following year. His de-
parture left Manhattan without a minister, much to
the discouragement of Stuyvesant. At this juncture
Domine Johannes Megapolensis, who had served at
Rensselaerwyck since 1642 as minister to the Dutch
and Indians, arrived at New Amsterdam on his way
to Holland, whither his wife had preceded him.
Stuyvesant pictured to him the miserable state of
the people without a minister, and persuaded him
to remain. He continued to be the leading domine
in the colony until his death in 1669. The famous
Jesuit, Father Lemoyne, visited him in 1658, in
order to convert him to Romanism, but without
success. Megapolensis had a son Samuel, who had
been taught Latin and English at the " Academy of
New England," in Cambridge. In 1658 Samuel
went to Holland, studied for five years at Utrecht,
and was ordained. In 1664 he came out to Man-
hattan, and ministered to a parish which included
Breukelen, the Waal-Bogt, Gowanus, and Stuyve-
sant's bowery. But after five years he wearied of
colonial life, and returned permanently to Holland.
Samuel Drisius of Leyden arrived in 1652. He
could preach in Dutch, English, and French, and
remained for twenty years, during most of this time
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 157
acting as a colleague of Megapolensis. Whilhelmus
van Nieuwenhuysen officiated from 1671 to 1681,
and Henricus Selyns from 1682 to 1701. Although
Selyns began his ministrations in New Amsterdam
only in 1682, he had lived for a long time in New
Netherland. In 1660 he succeeded Domine Joh.
Polhemus at the parish of Breukelen, which included
also Midwout (Flatbush), Amersfoort (Flatlands),
and the Waal-Bogt. The population of Breukelen
was then only one hundred and ninety-four persons.
When Selyns arrived from Holland, Stuyvesant de-
puted Nicasius de Sille and Martin Cregier to intro-
duce him to his parishioners, and invited him to
preach from time to time at his bowery. In 1664
Selyns decided not to live under the English rule,
and went to Holland. But the call to the New Am-
sterdam church in 1682 brought him back, and he
died here in 1701. Among those who were influ-
ential in inducing him to return were Stephanus van
Courtlanclt, Nicholas Bayard, Joh. de Peyster, and
Dr. Joh. Kerfbyl. He was the most cultivated and
accomplished of the domines.
These preachers were all of the Reformed Dutch
Church. The Lutherans only succeeded in forming
a congregation toward the end of Stuyvesant's rule, {
and many years passed before it became consider-
able in numbers. Megapolensis and Drisius gave a
vigorous support to Stuyvesant's attempt to suppress
the Lutherans, and were never on cordial terms with
their minister. Megapolensis accompanied Stuyve-
sant to the South River in 1655, and preached the
Thanksgiving sermon at the taking of Fort Casimir.
158 PETER STUYVESANT.
He then thought the terms of the treaty of capitula-
tion too easy, because they allowed the Lutheran
minister to continue to preach. This antagonism
animated his successors also. The Rev. Charles
Wooley, who was rector of the English church, now
Trinity, in 1679, relates the following anecdote :
" In the city of New York, where I was minister
to the English, there ,were two other ministers, or
domines as they were called there, — the one a
Lutheran, a German or High Dutch ; the other
a Calvinist, an Hollander or Low Dutchman, —
who behaved themselves one toward another so
shily and uncharitably as if Luther and Calvin had
bequeathed and entailed their virulent and bigoted
spirits upon them and their heirs forever. They
had not visited or spoken to each other with any
respect for six years together before my being there ;
with whom I being much acquainted, I invited them
both, with their vrows. to a supper one night, un-
known to each other, with an obligation that they
should not speak one word in Dutch, under the
penalty of a bottle of Madeira, alleging I was so im-
perfect in that language that we could not manage
a sociable discourse. So accordingly they came;
and at the first interview they stood so appalled as
if the ghosts of Luther and Calvin had suffered a
transmigration. But the amaze soon went off with a
salve fu quoque and a bottle of wine, of which the
Calvinist domine was a true carouser ; and so we
continued our menzalia, the whole meeting in Latin,
which they spoke so fluently and promptly that I
blushed at myself with a passionate regret that I
could not keep pace with them."
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 159
Claes van Elslant was the first sexton of the
church in the fort. After him came Jan de la
Montagne, who had a son Jan who was sexton of
the Garden Street church. A third Jan, a son of
the preceding, succeeded his father. Egbert Ben-
son, when a boy in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, saw the third Jan de la Montagne going
his rounds to collect the " Domine's gelt." The
Dutch were careful to pay their minister promptly, so
that he should not need to " desire a gift."
Sunday was not observed in New Amsterdam with
anything like the strictness of New England. Still,
the day was kept with respect. Stuyvesant would
tolerate no selling of beer or disorder on Sundays,
and treated the offenders with great severity. In
this he was supported by the burgomasters and
schepens. Albert the Trumpeter had to answer to
the magistrates for being found on Sunday with an
axe on his shoulder ; he excused himself on the
ground that he only intended to cut a bat for his
little boy. Fishing, fowling, gathering nuts or
strawberries, the playing of children in the streets,
were forbidden on Sundays. Dancing, playing ball,
cards, tric-trac, tennis, cricket, nine-pins, and plea-
sure parties were not allowed before or during di-
vine service. It was a day of relaxation, however,
when the people put on their best clothes (which
were used at no other time) and enjoyed a respite
from toil.
As the occasions for social reunion were few,
marriages were made much of, and furnished the
opportunity for the display of silver, pewter, or
160 PETER STUYVESANT.
china, and the best clothing. The publication of
banns at the church was necessary, and run-away
or impatient couples had to go down to Lady
Moody's settlement at " Gravenzande," where there
were no such restrictions. At both weddings and
funerals it was customary to load the dining- table
with the best dishes, wine, or beer which the family
could afford. At funerals a pewter or silver tankard
was passed around filled with hot wine.
In Holland the church was an essential part of
the government, and it was not less so regarded in
New Netherland. It was as much the duty of the
West India Company to keep the colony supplied
with a domine as with a director. And the domines
were of the utmost importance to the social order.
They were a mediation between the authorities and
the people, — a restraint on the one hand to tyranny,
on the other to rebellion. Upon them the burgo-
masters' court frequently relied to reconcile husband
and wife, or to reform the youthful evil-doer.
Not less inseparately connected than the church
with the Dutch idea of government was the school.
The church and the school belonged to each other
and to the civil authority. The appointment of
domines and schoolmasters rested conjointly with
the Company and the Classis of Amsterdam. When
Domine Bogardus came out in 1633, there accom-
panied him Adam Roelandsen, the first schoolmas-
ter. He taught the children until 1639, when he
resigned and went to Rensselaerwyck. Jan Corne-
lissen, a carpenter living there, heard of the vacant
.post, and coming down to New Amsterdam secured
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. l6l
it. He taught until 1650. Roelandsen had a school-,
room assigned to him ; Cornelissen received his'
pupils in the house in which he lived. In 1647,
when Domine Backerus returned to Holland, Stuy-
vesant sent by him a message to the Classis of
Amsterdam asking for " a pious, well-qualified, and
diligent schoolmaster." William Vestens was sent
in answer to this appeal, arriving in 1650 in the
same ship with Domine Megapolensis's wife. Ves-
tens continued in office for five years, the school
being held in a hired room. During this period
he was the principal teacher ; but there being more
scholars than he could well take care of, Jan de la
Montagne was appointed a second teacher, and a
room in the tavern was assigned to him. A school-
house was then built, and at the same time Vestens
was succeeded by Harmanus van Hoboocken. The
school was soon after burned, and Hoboocken was
allowed one hundred guilders annually to hire new
accommodations, " as the town youth are doing so
uncommonly well now." In 1661 Hoboocken was
transferred to Stuyvesant's bowery, to teach the
children of settlers in that growing quarter. Evert
Pietersen then became the schoolmaster at New
Amsterdam, living and teaching in the Brouwer
Straat. The school with difficulty founded and
maintained through the early years of the settle-
ment was continued by the Collegiate Dutch Church
after the English possession. There the Dutch
youth were educated for many years in their native
language only, later in both English and Dutch.
The school, like the church, still exists and flourishes
1 62 PETEK STUYVESANT.
in New York ; they are bound together by the old
ties, and look back upon an honourable and inter-
.esting history.
While this was the official free school, maintained
by Church and State, there were also private schools
in New Amsterdam. Licenses for the teachers of
these were issued before 1664 to Jan Stevensen,
Aryaen Jansen, Andries Hudde, Jacob van Corlaer,
Jan Lubberts, Joost Carelse, Adriaen van Ilpendam,
Juriaense Becker, and Johannes van Gelaer.
In 1658 a general desire was felt for a high or
classical school, which would carry the youth beyond
the rudiments of education. Accordingly the bur-
gomasters and schepens thus petitioned the West
India Company : " It is represented that the youth
of this place and the neighbourhood are increasing
in number gradually, and that most of them can read
and write, but that some of the citizens and inhab-
itants would like to send their children to a school
the principal of which understands Latin, but are
not able to do so without sending them to New
England ; furthermore, they have not the means to
hire a Latin schoolmaster expressly for themselves
from New England, and therefore they ask that the
West India Company will send out a fit person as
Latin schoolmaster, — not doubting that the number
of persons who will send their children to such a
teacher will from year to year increase, until an
academy shall be formed whereby this place to great
splendour will have attained, for which, next to God,
the Honourable Company which shall have sent such
teacher here shall have laud and praise. For our
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 163
own part, we shall endeavour to find a fit place in
which the schoolmaster shall hold his school." The
petition was granted, and in 1659 Dr. Alexander
Carolus Curtius, of Lithuania, arrived in New Am-
sterdam. The burgomasters gave him the use of
a house and garden, promised him a salary of five
hundred guilders, and allowed him to charge each
scholar a fee of six guilders per quarter. Curtius
turned out to be not a fit person for the place.
Parents complained that he could keep no order
among the pupils, who "beat each other and tore
the clothes from each other's backs." Curtius ex-
cused the lack of discipline on the ground that " his
hands were tied, as some of the parents forbade
him punishing their children." He overcharged
some scholars by asking from them a whole beaver-
skin per quarter. The discontent with his services
sent Curtius back to Holland. The Rev. ^Egidius
Luyck, who had been tutor to Stuyvesant's sons, was
then appointed principal, and under his care the
academy succeeded admirably, — students attend-
ing it from Virginia, the South River, and Rens-
selaerwyck, as well as from the neighbourhood of
New Amsterdam.
The first educated physician who practised in
New Amsterdam was Dr. Hans Kierstede, who
lived on the East River, near the foot of Whitehall
Street. Samuel Megapolensis, the domine's son,
added the practice of medicine to his spiritual
duties while he lived in the colony. Other phy-
sicians were Johannes de la Montagne, Johannes
Kerfbyl, — a graduate of Leyden, — Jacob Bloeck,
164 PETER STUYVESANT.
Samuel Coster, and two or three of lesser fame. In
1652 the profession petitioned the director and
Council that none but surgeons should be allowed
to shave people. After weighty consideration, the
Council gave the following answer : —
" That shaving doth not appertain exclusively to
chirurgery, but is only an appanage thereof. That
no man can be prevented from operating herein
upon himself, or doing another this friendly act,
provided that it be through courtesy, and that he
do not receive any money for it, and do not keep
any open shop of that sort, which is hereby forbidden,
declaring, in regard to the last request, this act to
belong to chirurgery and the health of man."
The medical profession, like other skilled occu-
pations, increased very much in importance to-
ward the end of the century, when there was
wealth enough in the colony to attract well- trained
men from Holland.
Only a portion of the early Dutch settlers had
family names. It was at about this time that such
names were becoming fixed and hereditary. There
were three ways in which, commonly, family names
were attained. The first and most usual was the
attachment of sen or se (a termination meaning
son) to the father's Christian name : thus, Evert
Pietersen and Frederic Philipse. To signify a
daughter the termination s was used : thus, An-
netje Jans, Tryntje Everts. If we take, for ex-
ample, a man named Jan : his son Hendrick, to
distinguish himself from other Hendricks, calls
himself Hendrick Jansen ; -his son again is called
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AATSTERDAM. 165
Evert Hendricksen ; his son Teunis Evertsen ; his
son Willem Teunissen. Thus the second name va-
ried from generation to generation. Gradually the
second name became hereditary, and Hendrick
Jansen's children were called Jansen instead of
Hendricksen.
Another method of fixing a family name was by
the father's trade. Thus, the brewer Willem Hen-
dricksen was called Willem Brouwer; Jan Willem-
sen the bleacher was called Jan Bleecker. In the
same way originated the names of Coster, Schoon-
macker, Stryker, Dyckman, and Hofman.
A third derivation of names was that from places
of origin. When Oloff Stevensen van Courtlandt
first came out to New Amsterdam as a soldier, he
was known as Oloff Stevensen, and so signed his
name to the protest carried by Van der Donck to
the States-General. As he became a leading man,
he distinguished himself from other Stevensens by
adding van Courtlandt — the town of his birth —
to his name ; his descendants continued the custom,
and so it became the family appellation. Other
names of similar origin are Van Bergen, Van
Antwerp, Van der Veer (Ferry), Verplanck (of the
plank- walk), Ten Eyck (at the oak), Ten Broeck (at
the marsh,) Opdyck (on the dyke), and Wyckoff
(parish-court). Some of these names had been
borne in Holland ; many became hereditary first
in New Netherland.
Augustyn Heermans, who made a good sketch of
the city of New Amsterdam as it appeared from the
East River, was the only artist whose work survives.
1 66 PETER STUYVESANT.
But three Dutchmen wrote poetry in their native
language, which may still be read. Jacob Steendam
composed a " Complaint of New Amsterdam "
and " The Praise of New Netherland," dedicated
to the Hon. Cornelis van Ruyven, secretary of the
West India Company, — "a faithful and very up-
right promoter of New Netherland." The next
poet was Nicasius de Sille. He was a member of
Stuyvesant's Council and an educated man. In
1656 he succeeded Van Tienhoven as fiscal, and
afterward held the office of schout. In 1657 he
built a house at New Utrecht, L. I., where he
afterward lived. ' This house was of stone, roofed
with large Dutch tiles, and originally protected by
palisades. In 1850 this house was still standing,
and formed a comfortable dwelling. In front of
it stood a great tree, which had probably shaded
De Sille himself. He kept the records of New
Utrecht in good language and handwriting. One
of his daughters married Hendrick Kip, and an-
other Gerritse van Couwenhoven of Breukelen.
He composed " Imitations of the Psalms," an
"Epitaph on a Cortelyou Child," — the first born
in New Utrecht, — and " The Earth speaks to its
Cultivators." The third poet was the good Domine
Henricus Selyns. The subjects which inspired him
were : " Nuptial Song for ^Egidius Luyck and
Judith van Isendoorn ; " " Birthday Garland woven
in Honour of Matilda Specht ; " "To my Friend,
Captain Gerard Douw ; " " Epitaph on Domine
Johannes Megapolensis ; " " Epitaph for Madam
Anna Loockermans, widow of Oloff Stevensen van
SOCIAL ASPECT OF NEW AMSTERDAM. 167
Courtlandt ; " " Epitaph for P. Stuyvesant ; " " Rea-
sons for and against marrying Widows."
There was no lack of good food in New Am-
sterdam in time of peace. Game was shot in plenty
by the young men, and brought to town in canoes
by the Indians. Deer were very numerous : an In-
dian would sell a fat buck for five guilders ; in some
seasons a pipe would buy one. Bears, elk, hares,
and rabbits abounded. Close at hand were quail,
partridges, and wild turkeys ; of the latter De Vries
shot one weighing thirty pounds. Along the shores
of the rivers and harbour fluttered and swam great
numbers of wild geese, ducks, and swans. Van der
Donck knew a gunner, named Hendrick de Backer,
who killed eleven gray geese out of a large flock at
one shot from his gun. The waters in the vicinity
of Manhattan Island furnished sturgeon, salmon,
bass, shad, drum, smelts, cod, sheepshead, herring,
mackerel, black-fish, lobsters, weakfish, oysters, and
shrimps. Nor did the terrapin swim unappreciated.
" Some persons," wrote Van der Donck in 1656,
" prepare delicious dishes from the water terrapin,
which is luscious food."
The gardens of New Netherland produced lettuce,
cabbages, parsnips, carrots, beets, spinach, radishes,
parsley, cresses, onions, leeks, artichokes, asparagus,
squashes, melons, cucumbers, and beans. On the
farms were cows, goats, sheep, and hogs. Horses
were bred and used ; but oxen did the farm work.
The native grasses were mixed with the wild onion,
which gave its taste to the milk. A great deal of
tobacco was raised, which ranked next to that of
1 68 PETER STUYVESANT.
Virginia. But the crops most cultivated were wheat,
rye, barley, and corn. The latter was grown in hills
with pumpkin-vines, as at present. The rye grew so
tall that a man could bind the ears together above
his head. Van der Donck saw a field of barley,
of which the stems were seven feet high. The soil
seemed inexhaustible. Domine Megapolensis stated
that a farmer had raised fine crops of wheat on the
same field for eleven years in succession.
It was when the inhabitants of New York looked
for profit to the land rather than to the forest, that
wealth flowed in upon them. At the end of the cen-
tury the colony was celebrated more for its grain
than for its beaver-skins ; then the trader and the
farmer, working together, laid the foundations of a
great prosperity.
NEW NETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 169
CHAPTER IV.
NEW NETHERLAND BECOMES NEW YORK.
DURING the last few years of Stuyvtsant's admin-
istration the Dutch colonists prospered, good order
prevailed, and immigration steadily increased. Ex-
cept for the Indian war at Esopus, nothing occurred
to interrupt the growing activity of the settlement.
But although the people were contented and pros-
perous, the director had cause for ceaseless anxiety
and exertion. The encroachments of the English
were menacing the very existence of New Nether-
land as a Dutch colony. On the South or Delaware
River, the " crowding out " policy was being
pursued with little disguise. The English there
claimed jurisdiction over the whole territory under
Lord Baltimore's patent. Stuyvesant sent Wilhelm
Beeckman to defend the Dutch rights and direct
the affairs of the colony. Matters not improving,
Cornelis van Ruyven went to the assistance of
Beeckman, accompanied by Captain Martin Cregier
and sixty soldiers. Later on, the director appointed
Resolved Waldron and Augustyn Heermans as com-
missioners to negotiate with the English authorities.
They presented the Dutch claims so forcibly that
further English aggression was postponed until 1664.
1 70 PETER STUYVESANT.
New England gave the director still greater cause
for apprehension. Massachusetts set up the claim
that her territory extended indefinitely westward,
and so claimed the northern Hudson. Connecticut
did more. In 1662 John Winthrop obtained in
London a new patent from Charles II., which made
Connecticut, like Massachusetts, extend indefinitely
westward and include all northern New Netherland.
In Westchester and on Long Island, English settlers
were increasing much faster than the Dutch, and
their towns were becoming restive under Dutch
jurisdiction. Against this accumulation of threat-
ened disaster Stuyvesant laboured earnestly but with
little effect. He made a visit to Boston in person
and conferred with representatives of the United
New England colonies. But all his efforts were
checkmated by the English policy of delay. While
the director was thus pressed from the East and the
South by harassing aggressions, and had the Esopus
war on his hands, the Long Island English towns
revolted under John Scott and repudiated Dutch
authority.
Stuyvesant had to struggle on alone. In 1660
he had written to the Amsterdam Chamber of the
West India Company : " Place no confidence in the
weakness of the English government and its indis-
position to interfere in affairs here. New England
does not care much about its troubles and does not
want its aid. Her people are fully convinced that
their power overbalances ours tenfold ; and it is to
be apprehended that they may make further attempts
at this opportunity without fearing or caring for home
NEW NETHERLANDS NEW YORK. 171
interference." While New England needed no help1
from the mother country, Stuyvesant could get none!
The West India Company was unable to send mili-
tary assistance, and the subtle character of English
aggression was of a sort difficult to make, through
the States-General, a national grievance.
A treaty of peace between England and Holland
had been signed at Westminster in 1662. But
Charles II. hated the Netherlands ; he had his rea-
sons for wishing to conciliate New England ; and he
had the fortune of his brother, the Duke of York, to
make. Hence in March, 1664, he granted to the
Duke of York all the territory between the Con-
necticut River and Delaware Bay, the exact boun-
daries of New Netherland. The grant was kept
secret, and nothing was heard of it in Old or New
Amsterdam.
In April, 1664, a fleet of four ships sailed for
New England under the command of Colonel
Richard Nicholls, carrying three hundred and fifty
soldiers. This news was brought to Stuyvesant in
July by Captain John Willett. The director divined
the object of the fleet, and feared that his worst
predictions were about to be realized. All his
energies were immediately devoted to preparations
for defence. But the same news had reached
Holland long before. The West India Company
had made inquiries in London, had been informed
that the expedition was intended only to enforce
certain of the king's wishes in New England, and
the directors wrote to Stuyvesant that he had noth-
ing to fear. Thus thrown off his guard, Stuyvesant
172 PETER STUYVESANT.
went up to Fort Orange to conduct negotiations
with the Mohawk Indians. The English fleet ar-
rived in Boston Harbour, remained there inactive
for a month, and all seemed safe.
One day toward the end of August the English
flagship was seen sailing into the lower bay. Stuy-
vesant was informed, and hurried down from Fort
Orange. One by one the other ships of the hostile
fleet came to anchor in the Narrows with reinforce-
ments of men from New England. The enemy
made no secret of its mission. A fort on Staten
Island was taken immediately. Soldiers were landed
on the Long Island shore, and the inhabitants were
warned not to send supplies or assistance to the
town. Stuyvesant threw himself into the work of
defence with all his wonted vigour. All able-bodied
men were put to work on the fortifications or en-
rolled as soldiers ; new guns were mounted, and the
shores patrolled. But with all this effort, the result
could be slight. The town lay unprotected except
for the poor fort at the Battery. There were guns,
but of powder hardly sufficient for a day's cannon-
ade. On the north the only defence was an earthen
rampart three feet high, surmounted by the old rot-
ten palisade which had done duty in the Indian
wars. From the hills beyond it cannon could com-
mand the whole town. On the east and west the
hostile ships could sail up and down, pouring in un-
answered broadsides. Stuyvesant, however, was hot
/for the fight.
On Friday, August 29, he sent a messenger to
Nicholls, demanding to know the meaning of his
NEW NETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 173
invasion. The answer, couched in friendly language,)
was a summons to surrender the town, with a prom-f
ise of protection and fair treatment to all who sub-
mitted like good subjects to the authority of Charles
II. The director read this communication to his
Council and the assembled magistrates. His labours
to provide means of defence had been ill supported.
The Long Island farmers refused to come in, on the
ground that they had their own property to defend.
The townspeople were persuaded that resistance was
useless, and their work was half-hearted. Stuyvesant
was anxious to keep the summons secret, lest its
favourable terms should incline the people to yield.
But he was overruled by the Council and the burgo-
masters. They were resolved not to have their houses
knocked about their ears to preserve the interests
of the West India Company. They insisted on
making public the contents of Nicholls's letter,
and the director had to give way, saying that he
would not hold himself " answerable for the ca-
lamitous consequences."
The evident intention to accomplish their objects
as peacefully as possible helped the English cause
very much. On Monday, Winthrop, who guided
the policy of the invaders, came up the Bay under
a flag of truce, bearing another summons yet more
attractive in its terms. There was to be no change
but that of the flag and the governor. The Dutch
were to trade with Holland as before, Dutch prop-
erty was to be inviolate, and immigration from
Holland to continue. When this communication was
read in the council-chamber at the fort, Stuyvesant
174 PETER STUYVESANT.
saw in it a death-knell to his plans. The people,
with the consequences of a bombardment in their
minds, seeing no prospect but bloodshed, fire, and
the destruction of homes acquired by long and
painful toil, were already nearly unanimous for sur-
render on any favourable terms. The soldiers were
becoming mutinous, and were heard talking of
booty and where the young women lived who wore
gold chains. Stuyvesant felt that the only way to
make his people fight was to give them no other
alternative. Hence, he announced in Council that
the letter must be kept secret ; but the councillors,
the burgomasters, and schepens, knowing that de-
feat was certain in the end, and wishing to preserve
life and property, contended that the public had a
right to know what the English proposed. A hot
debate ensued, in which the director maintained
his point with his customary violence. At last
, Stuyvesant, finding that all were against him, char-
jacteristically settled the question by tearing the
letter into small pieces, and throwing them pas-
sionately on the floor. The meeting broke up in
confusion, and its members carried into the town
information of what had occurred. The people be-
came angry and rebellious, work on the fort ceased ;
a large crowd gathered in front of the Stadt Huys
clamouring for Stuyvesant and the letter. The di-
rector appeared, harangued the people, and sought
to inspire in them some of his own patriotic deter-
mination ; but they continued to call for the letter,
and denounced him and the West India Company as
indifferent to their interests. Stuyvesant returned
NEW NETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 175
mournfully to the fort. The fragments of the letter
were gathered up by a secretary, pieced together,
and delivered to the burgomasters. A copy was
then made, which was read from the steps of the
Stadt Huys. Meanwhile, Stuyvesant retired to his
own house to compose his answer. He demon-
strated the title of the Dutch to New Netherland
by discovery, settlement, and possession; he de-
nounced the violation of English and Dutch treaties
by the present invasion ; he concluded by defying
the English, and by declaring his trust to be in God,
who could give victory to the weak over the strong.
On receipt of this communication, Colonel Nich-
olls made his preparations for an assault. Soldiers
were landed on Long Island, and marched toward
Breukelen. The war-ships were anchored off the
fort, with their guns trained on the town. Stuyvesant
stood gloomily beside a gun on the ramparts; his
situation was desperate, and he could expect no
better issue than death at his post. From time to
time came Domine Megapolensis, members of the
Council, the burgomasters a"nd schepens, begging
him not to make a useless sacrifice of the town.
After some hours, the director went down to the
shore with one hundred soldiers, prepared to oppose
a landing. Thus matters remained all day, neither
side being desirous of firing the first shot. Then
Stuyvesant sent another letter to Nicholls, his tone
still defiant ; but he despatched commissioners with
it, whom he hoped might gain some advantage.
But the commissioners returned with the final answer
that the terms could not be changed, and that the
176 PETER STUYVESANT.
only choice "lay between their acceptance and bom-
bardment. When this became known, the people
crowded about the director clamouring for sur-
render. A remonstrance against resistance was
handed to him, signed by all the principal burghers,
including his son Balthazar. Stuyvesant declared
that he would rather be carried a corpse to his grave
than to surrender ; but there was no alternative, a
fact as well known on board the fleet as in the town.
On Saturday, September 6, Jan de Decker, Nicholas
Verleth, Samuel Megapolensis, Cornelis Steenwyck,
Jacques Cousseau, and O. S. van Courtlandt met
Colonel Nicholls, and agreed upon terms of surren-
der. By these, safety of life and property, freedom
in religion, trade, and emigration, and a represen-
tative government were guaranteed to the Dutch.
rOn Monday, Stuyvesant had to ratify the treaty ; and
immediately afterward he walked out of the fort
followed by his soldiers, whom he led through
Marckvelt Straat to the East River, where the mili-
tary were embarked on the ship " Gideon " for
Holland. The English flag was hoisted in place of
the Dutch ; Fort Amsterdam became Fort James ;
and New Netherland, New York. A fortnight
later Fort Orange surrendered, and was named
"Albany," — the Duke of York's second title.
The inhabitants of Rensselaerwyck were given the
same terms as those of New Amsterdam, and the
patroon himself afterward received a confirmation
of his rights. On October i Fort Casimir, on the
, South River, was taken, and the Dutch flag ceased
i to wave in North America.
NEW NETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 177
The object of the English — to gain possession of '
the Dutch colony without injuring its value — had
been gained ; but such a proceeding was tantamount
to a declaration of war, and it was so received in
Holland. As soon as the " Gideon " arrived with
the garrison of Fort Amsterdam, orders were de-
spatched to Admiral de Ruyter, off the coast of
Africa, to reduce the English possessions there,
which he did without delay. In 1665 great prepar-
ations for the war were made in Holland, and the
fisheries were suspended to gain men for the war-
ships. Then Charles II. formally declared war.}
During its progress the advantage remained with
the Dutch, whose captures were much the more
important.
Meanwhile the West India Company sent word
to Stuyvesant to come out, and explain the surren-
der in person. Before his departure, he asked from
the burgomasters and schepens a statement regard-
ing his conduct as director. They testified : " His
Honour hath, during eighteen years' administra-
tion, conducted and demeaned himself not only as
a director-general, as, according to the best of our
knowledge, he ought to do on all occasions for the
best interests of the West India Company, but be-
sides as an honest proprietor and patriot of this
province, and as a supporter of the Reformed Re-
ligion." Stuyvesant arrived at The Hague in Oc-
tober, 1665, and presented his report to the
States-General. He found the directors of the
West India Company much incensed against him.
Angry at the loss of their property, and prejudiced
178 PETER STUYVESANT.
by misrepresentations of the facts made by hostile
members of the Fort Amsterdam garrison, they
wished to hold him responsible for the " scandalous
surrender." His situation for some time was very
unpleasant. He wrote to New York for testimony
in confirmation of his defence, and received in six
months letters from the city magistrates and from
Jeremias van Rensselaer, which enabled him to make
before the States-General an able and conclusive
vindication of his conduct.
Medhvvhile negotiations for peace were conducted
between England and Holland. A treaty was signed
in August, 1667, according to which each nation was
to retain its conquests. These terms were considered
both in London and The Hague to be highly favour-
able to the Dutch, who gained more than they lost.
Stuyvesant exerted himself to obtain from the Eng-
lish government privileges of trade advantageous to
New York, and returned there in October, 1667,
where he passed the remainder of his life in retire-
.ment on his bowery.
-N4m> years afterward Holland and England were
again at war. In August, 1673, while De Ruyter
and Tromp were maintaining the reputation of the
Dutch for prowess on the seas, by defeating the com-
bined English and French fleets off the Helder,
Dutch mariners again hoisted the national flag on
Manhattan Island.
Cornelis Everts and Jacob Binckes had just cap-
tured eight English tobacco ships in the Chesa-
peake, when the idea occurred to them that New
York would be an easy prey. They were soon
NEW iVETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 179
anchored off the fort, at which they fired a few
broadsides, while Capt. Anthony Colve, at the
head of six hundred men, landed at Trinity
churchyard, and marched down Broadway. No
defence was offered beyond a cannon-shot fired at
the fleet. The fort surrendered unconditionally ;
the English marched out, and the Dutch marched
in. Governor Lovelace then formally capitulated.
The English had taken the place by surprise in
time of peace. The Dutch re-took it in time
of open war. Prizes were made of all the English
vessels in the harbour. The province was re-named
New Netherland ; the city was called New Orange ;
and the fort, William Hendrick. A Dutch admin-
istration was appointed, with Anthony Colve at its
head. Anthony de Mill was made schout ; Johan-
nes van Bruggh, Johannes de Peyster, and ^Egidius
Luyck, burgomasters ; Wilhelm Beeckman, Jeroninus
Ebbingh, Jacob Kip, Laurens van der Spiegel, Gelyn
Verplanck, schepens. The joyful shout of "Oranje
Boven " was heard throughout the province.
But England soon became disgusted with a war
which cost her too much. Twenty-seven hundred
British ships had been taken by Dutch men-of-war
and privateers. In 1674 the Treaty of Westminster
was signed, by which it was agreed that each power
should return to the other the conquests made dur-
ing hostilities. Thus New Netherland became per-
manently New York.
Peter Stuyvesant died in 1672 at his bowery, and'
his remains were interred in a vault beneath the
chapel which he had built near his house. When
1 80 PETER STUYVESANT.
the present St. Mark's church was erected, on the
site of the old chapel, the vault was preserved, and
a commemorative stone was placed upon its wall,
which still marks the grave of the hardy director of
New Netherland. The character of Stuyvesant has
appeared plainly in the narrative of events at New
Amsterdam. Honest, blunt, and passionate, his vir-
tues and his faults were evident to all men. He had
been a faithful servant to the West India Company,
guarding its interests with a jealous fidelity and pro-
moting them with untiring zeal. In the service of
his employers, he never lacked vigour or courage.
In his enforced conflicts with other colonies he
showed judgment and foresight, yielding when he
must, but struggling to the last against any odds.
Had the West India Company heeded his warnings,
New Amsterdam might have resisted for many years
the English pressure. In his dealings with the In-
dians he pursued a policy of stern justice, which won
their respect and confidence. No Indian war can
be laid to his charge ; and during his presence on
Manhattan Island, the sleep of the Dutch settlers
was undisturbed by fears of savage invasion. His
conduct as director was marred by conflicts with
those under his authority, which were caused not so
much by harshness of nature as by an unnecessarily
rigid idea of his duty. To govern a colony of ad-
venturous men, settled in the wilderness, threatened
on the one hand by savage enemies, on the other by
aggressive neighbours of uncertain friendliness, —
he conceived that his mastery must be unquestioned.
The responsibility was his, — the authority must be
NE W NE THERLA ND : NE W YORK. \ 8 1
his also. His life had been spent in Dutch colonial
adventures, where the word that was passed from
the quarter-deck was the law without appeal. Hence
the contentions which characterized the early years
of his rule, and the attitude of apparent tyranny in
which he appeared. As time wore on, he and the
burghers understood each other better, and a mutual
respect succeeded to the old antagonism. Head-
strong and violent in his temper he always was, but
animated by good motives, faithful to the line of his
duty, and seeking the interest of those committed to
his charge.
Stuyvesant's last years were passed in seclusion
on the old bowery, which had been the home of his
family for some years before the capitulation in
1664. The house was of wood, two stories in
height, with projecting rafters. Its situation, as
described by the Hon. Hamilton Fish, was a point
about one hundred and fifty feet east of Third Ave-
nue and about forty feet north of Twelfth Street.
In front of it was a stiff Dutch garden, laid out with
formal paths and flower-beds. Near the house
Stuyvesant had planted a pear-tree, which had a
remarkable history. For more than two hundred
years it marked the spot where had been the old
director's garden. Generations of his descendants
grew up and passed away, and still the pear-tree
held its own. As new streets were laid out and the
open fields of Stuyvesant's bowery became city lots,
the pear-tree found itself on the corner of Third
Avenue and Thirteenth Street, protected by an iron
railing. The onward march of improvement had
1 82 PETER STUYVESANT.
left it behind in a thickly settled part of the city,
when in February, 1867, it was blown down in a
storm. The boundaries of Stuyvesant's bowery
were, roughly speaking, Fourth Avenue on the
West, the river on the East, on the North Seven-
teenth Street, and on the South Sixth Street ; it
contained about six hundred acres.
Stuyvesant's widow, Judith Bayard, lived upon the
bowery until her death in 1687. By her will, she
founded St. Mark's Church. She had two sons, —
Balthazar, born in 1647 '> an^ Nicholas William, born
in 1648. Balthazar went to the West Indies, where
he died, leaving a daughter. Nicholas William mar-
ried, first, Maria Beeckman ; and, secondly, Elizabeth
Schlectenhorst. He passed his life at New York, and
is the ancestor of the present family.
Although New Netherland became a permanent
English colony under the Treaty of Westminster in
1674, its population remained largely Dutch until
nearly the middle of the next century. The pros-
perity of New York, growing steadily with the prog-
ress of trade and the exportation of grains, attracted
emigrants from Holland notwithstanding the change
of flag. Many families now living on Manhattan
Island are descended from Dutchmen who came out
after the English occupation. The old names with
which we have become familiar in the early annals
of New Amsterdam continue in positions of honour
and prominence through the English colonial rec-
ords. In 1673, we find among the city magistrates
Johannes van Bruggh, Johannes de Peyster, ^Egi-
dius Luyck, Jacob Kip, Laurans van der Spiegel,
NEW NE7WERLAND: NEW YORK, 183
Wilhelm Beeckman, Guleyn Verplanck, Stephen
van Courtlandt. In 1677, Stephanus van Court-
landt is mayor, and Johannes de Peyster deputy-
mayor. In 1682, Cornells Steenwyck is mayor;
in 1685, the office is filled by Nicholas Bayard; in
1686, by Van Courtlandt again. Abraham de Peys-
ter was mayor from 1691 to 1695 ; and in his time
the following Dutchmen were aldermen : W. Beeck-
man, Johannes Kip, Brandt Schuyler, Garrett Douw,
Arent van Scoyck, Gerard Douw, Rip van Dam,
Jacobus van Courtlandt, Samuel Bayard, Jacobus
van Nostrandt, Jan Hendricks Brevoort, Jan van
Home, Petrus Bayard, Abraham Wendell, John
Brevoort. These names recur down to 1717. In
1718, John Roosevelt, Philip van Courtlandt, and
Cornelius de Peyster are aldermen. In 1719, Ja-
cobus van Courtlandt is mayor, and among the
aldermen are Philip van Courtlandt, Harmanus van
Gilder, Jacobus Kip, Frederic Philipse, John Roose-
velt, Philip Schuyler. In 1745, Stephen Bayard is
mayor. During the last half of the eighteenth
century the Dutch names are more and more
crowded out by the English. But we still find
Nicholas and Cornelius Roosevelt, Cornelius van
Home, Dirck Brinckerhoff, Huybert van Wagener,
Henry Brevoort, Jacob Lefferts, John Hardenbrook,
Nicholas Bayard, Tobias van Zandt, John Quack-
enboss, Theophilus Beeckman, and others. By the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the Dutch
names occur only occasionally.
These Dutchmen not only preserved their leader- ;
ship in public affairs, but carried on a large proper- '
I 84 PETER STUYVESANT.
\ tion of the city's trade. New York was an English
• colony, but its greatness was largely built on Dutch
foundations. It is often said that the city became
flourishing only after the English occupation. This
is true, with the qualification that the Dutch trader
and the Dutch farmer after that event had greater
opportunities for successful activity.
j Not a few of the old Dutch houses have remained
intact until our own day. Notable among these was
the De Sille house at New Utrecht ; the Cortelyou,
Schermerhorn, and De Hart houses in Brooklyn ; and
the Kip house on Kip's Bay, near the foot of East
Thirty-fifth Street, New York. The Van Courtlandt
manor-house at Yonkers still stands in much its
original condition.
Some of the Dutch geographical names remain
unchanged, as Barnegat, Kill van Cull, Staten Island,
Corlaer's Hook, Spuyt den Duyvel (in spite of the
devil). Others have been Anglicised or trans-
lated ; thus, Sandt Hoeck, Sandyhook ; Beeren's
Island, Barren Island ; Conyn's Island, Coney Isl-
and ; Vlachte Bos, Flatbush; Jemaico, Jamaica;
Vliessengen, Flushing; Robyn's Rift, Robin's Reef;
Waal-Bogt, Wallabout ; Kruine Punt, Crown Point ;
Deutel Bay, Turtle Bay ; Helle-gat, Hell Gate ; Mar-
tyn Wyngaard's Island, Martha's Vineyard ; An-
tonie's Neus, St. Anthony's Nose. Yonkers was
called Jonckers, from Jonge Heer, and signified the
"young gentleman's place."
Dutch continued to be the language of New York
iuntil the end of the seventeenth century, after
which time English contended for the mastery with
NEW NETHERLAND: NEW YORK. 185
steady success. In the outlying towns of Long
Island and New Jersey and along the Hudson River,
Dutch was generally used for a century later. The
diakct called " Jersey Dutch " is still heard in the
Ramapo Valley. But in New York city the large
English immigration, the requirements of com-
merce, and the frequent intermarriages of Dutch
and English families had given to English the pre-
dominance by the year 1750. The Rev. Dr. Laid-
lie preached to a Dutch Reformed congregation
the first sermon in English in March, 1 764, in the
Middle Church. In 1773, English was first used
in the Dutch school. Mary, the daughter of Peter
van Schaack of Kinderhook, and the wife of James
Jacobus Roosevelt, who died in 1845, spoke Dutch
in her family ; and her son, C. V. S. Roosevelt, who
lived on the southwest corner of Broadway and
Fourteenth Street, could also speak it. Many similar
cases of the survival of the language occurred. But
after the beginning of the present century they were
unusual, and the services of the Reformed churches
were conducted entirely in English. The colony of
Cape Town in South Africa, like New Amsterdam,
became an English possession after being settled by
the Dutch. There the language continued more
steadily in use. The late Nicholas L. Roosevelt vis-
ited Cape Town in 1870 as a lieutenant on board
the United States ship " Alaska " of the East In-
dian squadron. A ball was given on board to the
residents of the town, and some of them expressed
to Lieutenant Roosevelt their surprise that he could
not converse with them in the language of the
fatherland.
1 86 PETER STUYVESANT.
The language and customs of Holland survived
until recent years in isolated villages of Long Island,
of New Jersey and the Hudson River. In Albany,
the Dutch inhabitants continued in nearly exclusive
possession through the eighteenth century. The
Van Rensselaer patroonship was the only one which
succeeded and endured. After the English occupa-
tion, the patroonship was changed to a manor, but
the proprietor retained his title. Stephen van Rens-
selaer, the last of the family to be called " The
Patroon," died in 1839.
In New York city, the high- stoop house, and the
peculiar observance of New Year's Day which
continued until 1870, are two familiar relics of
Holland. The valuable custom of registering trans-
fers of real estate has been received from the same
source. The Collegiate Dutch Church has flour-
ished for two centuries and a half in a career of
uninterrupted and unmeasured usefulness. When
the English flag was hoisted at New Amsterdam
in 1664, the infant city had already stamped upon
it the characteristics of commercial enterprise, of
a cosmopolitan spirit, of religious toleration, of free
public education, and of a representative munici-
pal government.
INDEX.
— *—
ACHTER DH PEREL STRAAT, 109. Bikker, Gerrit, 92.
Adriaensen, Maryn, 37, 42, 46.
Binckes, Jacob, 178.
Albert the Trumpeter, 106.
Bloeck, Jacob, 163.
Allerton, Isaac, 47.
Block, Adriaen, 16.
Alva, Duke of, 10.
Blommaert, Adriaen, 21, 125.
Amersfoort, 91.
Bogardus, Everardus, 22, 32, 43, 53,
Amsterdam Trading Co., 16.
67, 114, 156.
Anchorage ground, no.
Wilhelm, in.
Animals, at large, 112.
Books, 147.
Anthony, Allard, 85, 104, 125.
Bout, Jan E., 48, 69, 77.
Artists, 165.
Bowery, the Domine's, 113, 114.
Stuyvesant's, 181.
BACKER, Jacobus, 138.
Bowling Green, 104.
Backerus, Johannes, 156.
Bowne, John, 100.
Bayard, Annake, 59.
Bommel, van, Hendrick, 128.
Balthazar, 59, 149.
Breede Weg, 104.
Nicholas, 59, 107, 149, 183.
Brevoort, Henry, 183.
Peter, 59, 104, 183.
Jan Hendrick, 182.
Samuel, 183.
Bridge Street, 107.
Stephen, 183.
Bridge, the, 107, 1 10.
Baxter, George, 62, 90.
Brinckerhoff, Dirck, 183.
Beaver Street, 106
Broadway, 103, 104, 112, 115.
Becker, Juriaense, 162.
Broad Street, 105.
Bedlow, Isaac, 107, 134.
Bronck, Jonas, 39.
Beeckman, Joghim, in.
Brooklyn, 29, 91.
Maria, 182.
Brouwer, Cornelius, 115.
Theophilus, 183.
Straat, 107.
Wilhelm,85, 115, 125, 133,137,
Bruggh.van, Carel, 109.
138, 149, 169, 179.
Johannes, 107, no, 125, 179, 182.
Beekman Street, nS.
Johannes G-, 137-
Beekman's Swamp, 117.
Johannes P., 129, 137, 138.
Belcher, Thomas, 29.
Bruggh Straat, 107.
Benson, Egbert, 159.
Building lots, 149.
Bentyn, Jacques, 37.
Burgher's path, in.
Bergen, 101,
Burgomasters and schepens, the first.
Beurs Straat, 106.
85; method of appointment, 124;
Beverwyck, 73. meetings of, 123; duties of, 126;
i88
INDEX.
powers of, 127 ; salary of, 126 ; title
of, 125 ; impose taxes, 138 ; sitting
as civil and criminal court, 130,
'33-
Bushwyck, 101.
CANAL, on Beaver Street, 106.
on Broad Street, 105, 109.
Canal Street, 118.
Carelse, Joost, 162.
Carpsey, Gabriel, 112.
Cemetery, the, 104.
Chambers, John, 104.
Charles II. grants New Netherland
to Duke of York, 171.
Charter of privileges, 19.
Christiansen, Hendrick, 16.
Church, the first building, 22 ; in the
fort, 31, 32; others, 154, 155; the
English, 105.
Cingel ofte Stadt Waal, 105.
Citizenship, great and small, 141.
Clergyman, the first, 22.
See Domines.
Clocq, Pelgrum, 131.
Clopper, Cornelius, 116.
Clothing, 145.
Clyff, van, Dirck, 109.
Co'enties Slip, 108.
Collect, the, 118.
Collins, John, 30.
Colve, Anthony, 179.
necticut lands, 22.
orlaer, van, Jacob, 162.
ornelis, Guilian, in.
ornelissen, Jan, 160.
ortelyou, Jacques, 103, no.
oster, Samuel, 164.
Courts of justice, 122, 123, 130.
Courtlandt, van, Cornelia, in.
Jacobus, 149, 183.
Oloff Stevensen, 28, 77, 79, 107,
1 10, 125, 137, 138, 148, 176.
Philip, 183
Stephen, 183.
Cousseau, Jacques, 108, 176.
Couwenhoven, van, Jacob, 22, 69, 77,
107, in, 131, 137-
Johannes, 107.
Pister, 85, 108, 125, 129, 137.
Cows, 112.
Cregier, Martin, 85, 89, 104, 125, 129,
37, 138, 169.
Crops, 168.
Curler, Arendt, 54.
Jacob, 28.
Curtius, Alex. C., 163.
Cuvilje, Adriana, 113.
DAM, Jan Jansen, 32, 37, 47, 69.
Dam, van, Rip, 149, 183.
Damen, Jan Jansen, 113.
Decker, de, Jan, 176.
Delaplaine, Nicholas, in.
Delegates to Holland, 77, 78, 84.
Dincklage, van, Lubbertus, 59, 78.
Dircksen, Barent, 47.
Cornelius, 117.
Gerrit, 37.
Domines, the, their salaries, 138 ; in-
fluence of, 160 ; those who officiated
in New Amsterdam, 156, 157.
Donck, van der, Adriaen, consults
with people, 75 ; sent to Holland
to procure reforms, 77 ; publishes
" Vertoogh," 77 ; returns success-
ful, 84 ; law practice, 130.
Doughty, Francis, 30, 48.
Douw, Gerard, 183.
Gerrit, 183.
Drainage, 112.
Drisius, Domine, 98, 138, 156.
Duyckinck, Evert, 107, 124.
Gerard, 155.
Dutch people, character of, 8 et seq.
Dutch influence, after English occu-
pation, 182, 184, 186.
Dyck, van Hendrick, 39, 59, 78, 94.
Lydia, 107
Dyre, William, 88.
EAST INDIA COMPANY, 15.
Eaton, Governor, 71.
Ebbingh, Jeroninus, 107, 125, 179.
Eight Men, the, 47, 51.
Elbertsen, Elbert, 77.
Elkens, Jacob, 23.
Eislant, van, Claes, 106, 130, 159.
Emigration, 100, 119, 120.
English language, first used in Dutch
church and school, 185.
Es van, Elizabeth, 147.
INDEX.
189
Esopus War, 96.
Governor's Island, 95.
Everts, Cornells, 178.
Graft, Bever, 106.
Exchange Place, 106.
Heere, 109, 142.
Exchange, the first, no.
Prince, 106.
Gravesend, 20, 91.
Greenwich, 119.
FAIRFIF.LD, 88.
Farm, the Duke's, 114; the king's,
113 ; West India Company's, 113.
Grist, van der, Paulus L., 62, 71,85,
95. i°5, 125, 129, '37, 138-
Ferry, the, 103, 116, 117.
Festivals, 151.
HAART, de, Balthazar, 109.
Finances, 137.
Fire department, 127, 129.
Fish, Hamilton, 181.
Flat, the, n
Haeckens, Jan, 131.
Half-Moon, the, 15.
Hall, Thomas, 29, 47, 50, 69, 77, 117,
129.
Flatbush, 91.
Flatlands, 91.
Flushing, 91.
Hanover Square, in.
Hardenberg, van, A., 66, 69, 76, 77.
Hardenbrook, Abel, in, 133, 134.
Fly, the, 116.
Johannes, 106, in, 183.
Food, 176.
Harlem, 101, 119.
Forest, de, Isaac, 28, 107, no, 125,
Hartford treaty, 84.
138.
Fort Amsterdam, 18, 103, 176.
Hatten, van, Arent, 85, 125, 137.
Heemskerk, Jacob, 13.
Casimir, 92, 176.
Heemstede, 91.
Christina, 55, 94.
Good Hope, 22, 56, 88.
Heere Straat, 104.
Heere Weg, 112.
James, 176.
Heermans, Augustyn, 69, 77, 116,
Nassau, 18.
Orange, 17.
165, 169.
Hendricksen, 55.
Trinity, 92,94.
Herberg, 31, 108.
William Hendrick, 179.
Herdsman, the, 112.
Franklin Square, 116.
Fresh Water, the, 118.
Front Street, 108.
Funerals, 160
Fur trade, 18, 57, 140, 141.
Hermann, Wolfert, 13.
Heyn, Peter, 20.
Hoboocken, van, Harmanus, 161.
Hodgson, Robert, 99.
Hoogh Straat, 107.
Holland, naval victories, 13 ; war with
GAME, 167.
England, 177, 178.
Garden Street, 106.
Holmes, George, 29.
Garden, West India Company's, 105.
Hopkins, Governor, 89.
Gelaer, van, Johannes, 162.
Home, van, Cornelius, 109, 183.
Geographical names, Dutch, 184.
Jan, 149, 183.
Geraerd, Maria, no.
Horst, van der, Ulyndert, 29, 48.
Gerritsen, Philip, 123.
Houses, 144, 145. '84.
Gheel, van, Martin, 137.
Houtman, Cornelius, 14.
Maximilian, 85.
Hudson, Henry, discoveries, 8 ; at
Gilder, van, Harmanus, 183.
Hudson River, 15.
Gillisen, Jan, 124.
Hubbard, James, 90.
Godyn patroon, 21. 55.
Hudde, Andries, 162.
Golden fleece, 9.
Hull, Edward, 88.
Good Hope, Cape of, 14.
Hutchinson, Anne, 30, 48.
INDEX.
ILPENDAM, van, Adriaen, 162.
Indian War, the, 35 ; end of, 53 ; in
Stuyvesant's time, 95.
Indians, treatment of, by Dutch, 33,
34 ; by Stuy vesant, 94.
Inheritance, 150.
Inventories, 146, 147.
JAMAICA, 101.
Jans, Annetje, 114.
Jansen, Albert, 121.
Aryaen, 162.
Hendrick, 37.
Machyel, 69, 77.
Pieter, 128.
Roeloff, 113
Jay, Peter, 104
Jersey, Dutch, 185.
Joris, Borger, m.
KAY, de, Jacob Teunis, 106, 116.
Kerfbyl, Johannes, 157, 163.
Kermis, 142
Keyser, Adriaen, 59, 129.
Kieft, Wilhelm, his appointment as
director and previous reputation,
26 ; his administration, 27 et seg ;
his conduct toward Indians, 35, 37?
attacks Indians, 42 ; accuses Kuyter
and Melyn, 61, 65 ; his death, 66.
Kierstede, Hans, 28, 108, 143, 163.
Kip, Hendrick, 52,69, 77, no, 125.
Hendrick H , 107, 129.
Isaac, 107, 139, 149.
Jacob, 85, 106, no, 125, 139,
179, 182, 183.
Johannes, 183.
Ludowyck, 138.
Kip Street, 116.
Kissing Bridge, 118.
Koeck, Jan, 130.
Kolch-hoeck, 117.
Koorn, Nicholas, 28, 54.
Krank-besoecker, 18
Kuyter, 28, 32, 37, 47, 50, 61, 64, 66, 67.
LA CHAIR, Solomon, 131, 135.
Laidlie, Dr., 185.
Lair, van, Adriaen, 129.
Land Gate, 104, 105.
Lang de Waal, 109.
Lange, Jacob, 145.
Langstraat, van, Jan, 128.
Lawrence, John, 107.
Lawyers, 130.
Lefferts, Jacob, 183.
Leisler, Jacob, 106, 117.
Leverett, Captain, 89.
Lispenard's Meadows, 118.
Litigation, 130.
Loockermans, A., 149.
Covert, 22, 54, 69, 77, 107, 125,
i37, 138.
Long Island, settlement of, 30.
Long Island towns, convention of, 90.
Lovelace, Governor, 179.
Lubberts, Jan, 162.
Lubbertsen, Frederik, 37.
Lutherans, the, 98, 157.
Luyck, Aegidius, 134, 163 166, 179,
MAAGDE Paatje, 115.
Magistrates, the, 124, 125.
Maiden Lane, 115.
Manhattan Island, purchase of, 18.
Marckvelt, the, 104.
Marckvelt Steegie, 106.
Market-field Path, 106.
Markets, 142, 143.
Marriages, 159.
Maurice, Prince, 13, 14.
Megapolensis, Johannes, 54, 94, 98,
138, 156, 175.
Samuel, 156, 163, 176.
Melyn, Cornelius, 28, 47, 50, 61, 64,
66, 67, 76, 80, 101, in.
Mespath, L. I., 30.
Mey, Cornelis, 17.
Meyert, de, Nicholas, 107.
Midwout, 91.
Mill, de, Anthony, 179.
Minuit, Peter, 18, 21, 55.
Mixam, 86.
Molenaar, Abram, 37.
Money, 139.
Montagne, de la, Jan, in, 159.
de la, Johannes, 27, 28, 43, 62,
78, 163.
Moody, Lady Deborah, 48.
Municipal government, its beginning,
84, 85.
INDEX
191
NAMES, family, 164, 165.
Nassau Street, 115,
Nevins, Johannes, 130, 136, 138.
New Amsterdam, as Stuyvesant found
it, 62; its limits, in; its appear-
ance, 112; houses in, 119; popula-
tion of, 119; allotment of land in,
12 1 ; establishment of municipal
government, 123 ; finances of, 137 ;
first public debt, 137 ; first revenue,
138; foreign trade, 140; attacked
by English force under Nicholls,
171; its surrender, 176; re-taken
by Dutch, 178.
Newark Bay, 29.
New Dorp, 101.
New England, encroachments of, 57,
70, 82, 170.
New England settlers in New Neth-
erland, 30.
New Netherland named, 16 ; growth
under Stuyvesant, 100 ; its charter,
19; government of, 121 ; courts of
justice, 122; granted by Charles II.
to Duke of York, 171 ; becomes
New York, 176, 179-
"New Netherland," built at Man-
hattan, 19.
New Orange, 179.
Newton, Bryan, 59, 78.
Newtown, 91.
New Utrecht, 101.
Nicholls, Richard, 171, 176
Nieuwenhuysen, van, Wilhelmus, 157.
Nine Men, the, 68, 69, 75, 122.
Ninigret, 86.
Nostrandt, van, Jacobus, 183.
Notaries, 130, 131.
Nutten's Island, 95.
OLFERTSEN, Jacob, 47.
Oost Dorp, 101.
Op Dyck, Gyspert, 28, 56.
PALISADE, at Wall St., 86.
Park, City Hall, 113.
Pastures, the, 104, 112.
Patroons, their creation and privi-
leges, 20 ; failure of the system, 27 ;
the last patroon, 186.
Pauw, Michael, 21.
Pavonia, massacre at, 43.
Pearl Street, 108, 116.
Peck Slip, 103.
Pell, Thomas, 101.
Pessicus, 86.
Peyster, de, Abraham, 107, 183.
Cornelius, 183.
Johannes, in, 125, 137, 138,
149, 179, 182, 183.
Philipse, Frederic, 147, 151, 183.
Sara, 107.
Physicians, 163.
Pietersen, Abraham, 47.
Evert, 161.
Gerrit, 128.
Jan, 128.
Pine Street, 116.
Poets, 166.
Polhemus, Johannes, 157.
Police, 127.
Pos, Ludowyck, 128.
Prince Street, 106.
" Princess," wreck of, 67.
Provoost, David, 28, 131, 149.
Pryn, Jacques, 128.
Punishments, 133.
QUACKENBOSS, John, 183.
Quakers, 99.
Quebec, 8.
RAPELJE, George, 38.
Rattle-watch, 128.
Ray, John, in.
Real estate, 149, 150.
Religious toleration, at New Amster-
dam, 99.
Remoutsen, R., 129.
Rensselaer, van, Jeremias, 138, 178.
Johan, 73.
Kiliaen, 21, 54.
Stephen, 186.
Rensselaerwyck, 55, 73, 101, 176.
Representative government, in New
Amsterdam, 37, 47, 68, 69, 75, 84
85, "7. 133-
Restless," the, 16.
Rodman, John, 24.
Roelandsen, Adam, 22, 160.
Roosevelt, Bay, 106.
C. V. S., 185.
192
INDEX.
Roosevelt, Cornelius, 183.
Smit's Valey, 116.
Jacobus, 117.
Smoking, 153.
James Jacobus, 185.
South River, 55, 92, 169.
John, 183.
South Street, 108
Nicholas, 183.
Spiegel, van der, Laurens, 179, 182.
Nicholas L., 185.
Stadt Huys, 108, 123.
Roosevelt Street, 118.
Stamford, 88.
Rust Dorp, 101.
St. Augustine, 7.
Ruyter, de, Admiral, 177.
" St. Benino," capture of, 71.
Ruyter, Hendrick, 128.
Stevensen, Jan, 162.
Ruyven, van, Cornells, 104, 138, 166,
Steen, Hans, 43.
169.
Steendam, Jacob, 166.
Rysyngh, Captain, 92, 94.
Steenwyck, Cornelius, 106, 125, 138,
144, 146, 176, 183,
SALEE, Anthony, 29.
Stirling, Lord, 70.
Schaack, van, Peter, 185.
Stoffelsen, Jacob, 37, 48.
Rebecca, 149.
St. Mark's Church, 180.
Schaafbanck, Pieter, 130.
Stone Street, 103, 107.
Schenectady, 102.
Stoop, the, 144.
Schepens, 85.
Streets, origin of, 103 ; the first paved,
Schelluyne, van, Dirck, 130.
107.
Schlechtenhorst, van, Brandt, 73.
Strycker, Jacob, 125.
Elizabeth, 182.
Stuyvesant, Balthazar, 58, 105, 176,
Schoeyinge, the, 108, 109, 123.
182.
School, the, 160, 161.
Judith Bavard, 149, 182.
the Latin, 162.
Nicholas William, 105, 182.
Schoolmaster, the first, 22; others, 160.
Pear Tree, 181.
Schont, the first, 85; duties of, 124, 125.
Peter, at Cura^oa, 50 ; appointed
Schuyler, Brandt, in, 183.
Director, 57; early life, 58 ; loss of
Philip, 183.
his leg, 58 ; his wife, 59 ; voyage to
Scott, John, 170.
New Netherland, 60 ; his overbear-
Scoyck, van, Arent, 183.
ing spirit, 60; arrival at Manhat-
Seawan, 30, 140.
tan, 61 ; organizes government, 621
Sedgwick, Major, 89.
his reforms, 63 ; his course toward
Selyns, Henricus, 157, 166.
Kieft, Kuyter, and Melyn, 64, 65;
Servants, 147.
his anger at an appeal to Holland,
Sexton, the, 159.
66 ; quarrels with burghers about
Schaap Waytie, 106.
taxation, 68 ; appoints nine men,
Scheep Walk, 106.
68 ; negotiates with New England,
Ship, first built at Manhattan, 16.
70; quarrels with New Haven, 71 ;
Shops, 143.
with Rensselaerwyck, 73 ; dissatis-
Sidney, Sir Philip, n.
faction with his government, 74 ;
Silla.de, Cornelius, in.
punishes Van der Donck, 75 ; quar-
Sille, de, Nicasius, ^5, 129, 166.
rels with Melyn, 76, 80 ; sends Van
Simons, Hen^rickje, 107.
Tienhoven to represent him in
Slavery, 148.
Holland, 77 ; his arbitrary temper
Smee Straat, 111.
and acts, 81 ; negotiates with Con-
Smith, Capt. John, 7.
necticut, 82 ; journey to Hartford,
Smith Street, in.
83 ; appoints burgomasters and
Smith Street Lane, 106.
schepens, 85 ; prepares for war, 86,
Smith, the, Claes, 36.
89 ; opposes Long Island towns,
INDEX. 193
90; his expedition against Swedes, Verplanck, Maria, 113.
93; pacification of Indians, 96;
Vesteus, Wilhelm, 161.
persecutes Lutherans, 98 ; the
Videt, Jan, 121.
Quakers, 99; his authority, 121 ; as
Vin, van der, 125.
a magistrate, 122 ; overrules bur-
Vincent, Adriaen, in.
gomasters, 127; his opposition to
— Jan, in.
English encroachment, 169 ; visits
Vinje, Guleyn, 113.
Boston, 170 ; his dread of invasion,
Vlacke, the, 113.
171 ; hears of Nicholl's expedition,
Vlensburg, van, Jan, 128.
172 ; prepares for defence, 172 ; de-
Vly, the, 116.
termination to defend the city, 173 ;
Volkertsen, Dirck, 113.
his contest with the burgomasters,
Voorst, van, Gerrit, 40, 48.
174; defies the English, 175; is
Vos, de, Mathew, 130.
forced to surrender, 176 ; goes to
Vries, de, arrives at Manhattan, 22 ;
the Hague, 177: vindicates his con-
opposes Van Twiller, 24 ; colonizes
duct, 178; returns to New York.
Staten Island, 28 ; opposes Kieft's
178; his death, 179; his character,
War, 40, 44 ; leaves New Nether-
180 ; his bowery, 181.
land, 49.
Sunday, observance of, 159.
Vriesendael, 29, 45.
Surrender of New Amsterdam, 176.
Surveyor, the town, no*
WAAL, the, 109.
Swamp, the, 117.
Wagener, van, Huybert, 183.
Waldron, Annetje, in.
TANNERS, the, 117.
Resolved, 1 10, 169.
Taxation, 68, 138, 139.
Wall Street, 86, 105.
Teneur, Daniel, 121.
Walloons, 17.
Ten Eyck, Conraet, in, 137, 139, 143.
Water Side, the, 108.
Thomas, Jesmer, 59.
Water Street, 108, 109.
Throgmorton, John, 30.
Water Gate, 1 16.
Tienhoven, van, Cornelius, 27, 42, 61,
Wendell, Abraham, 183.
77, 79, 82, 113, 125.
Werckhoven, Van, 90.
Tonneman, Pieter, 125.
West India Company, incorporation,
Tricht, van, Gerrit, 108.
17; profits, 18; successes, 20;
Tromp, Admiral, 178.
bankruptcy, 52, 57 ; opposed to re-
Tuyen, Straat, 106.
forms, 77, 84 ; its religious tolera-
Twelve Men, the, 37.
tion, 98, 100 ; summons Stuyvesant
to Holland, 177.
Westminster, treaty of, 179.
UNCAS, 86.
Whitehall Street, 103, 106.
Underbill, John, 30, 48, 87.
Willet, John, 171.
Utrecht, Union of, 12.
William of Orange, 10, 12.
William Street, in.
VEEN, van der, Walewyn, 131, 136.
Winckel Straat, 109.
Verdran, Thomas, 128.
Windmills, 22.
Verhulst, Wilhelm, 17.
Winthrop, John, 70, 170, 173.
Verleth, Nicholas, 176.
Wolfertsen, Gerrit, 47.
Verplanck, Abraham, 28, 38, 42, 113,
Wolsey, Joris, 129.
117, 129, 137, 139-
Wooley, Charles, 158.
Abiggel, 107.
Wynkoop, Peter, 50.
Guleyn, 117, 179, 183.
Isaac, 117-
ZANDT, van, Tobias, 183.
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