[Sidenote: =Young Peter Stuyvesant=]
=52. Peter Stuyvesant.= This sturdy son of Holland was born at a time
when his country was fighting hard against Spain for independence. His
father was a minister, who, it may be supposed, brought up young Peter
after the strict manner common to Dutch boys.
Peter early began to study Latin. He was vain of his knowledge, and
later took pride in showing it off to the settlers of New Amsterdam.
[Illustration: THE DUTCH SETTLEMENTS]
[Sidenote: =Becomes a soldier=]
When he left school young Peter joined the army. He found plenty of
hard work; but he performed his duties as a soldier more quickly and
better than some of his comrades, and before many years was given
command over a Dutch colony in the West Indies.
[Sidenote: =Goes to New Netherland=]
In an attack on a Portuguese fort Stuyvesant lost a leg and had to
return to Holland. As soon as he was well the Dutch West India Company
sent him to New Netherland (1647) to save that colony from the Indians.
[Illustration: PETER STUYVESANT
_From a seventeenth-century portrait at present in the collection of
the New York Historical Society_]
[Sidenote: =What Stuyvesant said to the settlers=]
The arrival of Stuyvesant, with his little army and fleet of four
vessels, brought great joy to the discouraged settlers and fur traders.
He said to the people: "I shall reign over you as a father over his
children." But he ruled the colony far more like a king than a father.
He was not only commander in chief of the army, but was also lawmaker,
judge, and governor, all in one.
[Sidenote: =Strict order in New Amsterdam=]
The new laws made by Stuyvesant showed that he intended to keep order
in the colony. He forbade Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, the sale of
drink to the Indians or to any one else after the nine o'clock bell
had rung. He ordered the owners of all vacant lots in New Amsterdam to
improve them, and tried to fix the location of all new buildings. He
taxed traders, whether they shipped goods to Europe or brought goods
into New Netherland.
Stuyvesant did, indeed, restore order to the colony, but he stirred up
the people until they demanded a voice in the government. He finally
agreed that they might select nine of their wisest men to advise
with him. They were called the council. He had no idea of following
anybody's advice unless it agreed with his own notions, but the people
had gained something.
[Sidenote: =Stuyvesant and his neighbors=]
At the same time Stuyvesant was just as busy with his neighbors'
affairs. He quarreled with the English in New England, as well as with
the patroons in his own colony.
Stuyvesant claimed all the region now included in New Jersey, a large
part of that in the states of New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and
also a part of the territory of New England.
[Sidenote: =Government by the people demanded=]
The colony grew in numbers. New towns sprang up along the Hudson and on
Long Island. But the increase in the number of the towns only made the
call for a government by the people still louder.
For several years the dispute between the people and the governor
went on until, one day in 1664, news came that a fleet of English war
vessels was in sight. Although England and Holland were at peace, the
English king had given New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York,
and the English fleet had come to take it for the duke.
[Illustration: A VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW
YORK), 1656]
Governor Stuyvesant was resolved to defend the colony to the last. But
he was surprised to find that his people were not willing to fight for
a governor who had given them so little share in governing themselves.
[Sidenote: =What Stuyvesant learned after it was too late=]
[Sidenote: =Brave to the last=]
The commander of the fleet sent a letter to Stuyvesant offering very
favorable terms of surrender. The council wanted the governor to
surrender, but he grew angry, tore the letter to pieces, and declared
he would never give up. The council put the pieces of the letter
together and read it to the people. The minister of his own church
begged the governor not to fight, and leading citizens, and mothers
with their children, pleaded with Stuyvesant to surrender. Now what
could the brave old Dutchman do? He could not fight a whole fleet
alone. He turned sadly away, saying, "I would rather go to my grave
than to surrender the city."
[Illustration: A DUTCH COTTAGE AND STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK, 1679]
[Sidenote: =New Netherland becomes New York=]
=53. The Dutch Surrender to the English.= The English took possession,
and the colony of New Netherland became the colony of New York, and at
the same time the town of New Amsterdam became the town of New York.
Fort Orange became Albany. English governors came to rule instead
of Dutch governors. A few years later a Dutch fleet recaptured the
colony; but, by a treaty at the close of the war, Holland returned it
to England. When William and Mary came to the throne of England (1689)
they gave New York a representative assembly.
[Sidenote: =Dutch ideas and customs remain=]
Although Dutch rule was gone forever, the Dutch people and Dutch ideas
and customs remained. They were given no cause to regret the change.
Peter Stuyvesant himself had become so attached to the colony that he
came back from Holland and spent his last years on his great farm, or
bowery, as the Dutch called it.
[Illustration: A DUTCH SOLDIER]