WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND.
Action of the Patroons.--Settlements on the Hudson.--Alarm
of the Home Government.--Recall of Stuyvesant.--His Escape
from Humiliation.--Difficulties between England and
Holland.--The Breaking out of War.--Directions to
Stuyvesant.--The Relations of the Colonies.--Charges against
the Dutch Governor.--Their Refutation.--Efforts of
Stuyvesant for Peace.--Noble Conduct of the Massachusetts
Government.--The Advocates for War.
Governor Stuyvesant having removed the obnoxious vice-director, had
another, Johannes Dyckman, who he thought would be more subservient to
his wishes, appointed in his stead. The commissary of the patroons,
whom he had imprisoned at Manhattan, secreted himself on board a sloop
and escaped up the river to Beaverwyck. The enraged governor seized
the skipper of the sloop on his return, and inflicted upon him a heavy
fine.
The patroons were now fearful that the governor would fulfill his
threat of extending his authority over the extensive territory whose
jurisdiction the Charter of Privileges had entrusted exclusively to
the patroons. They therefore, on an appointed day assembled the
freemen and householders who bound themselves, by an oath, "to
maintain and support offensively and defensively the right and
jurisdiction of the colony against every one."
Among the persons who took this oath we find the name of John Baptist
Van Rensselaer. He was the younger half-brother of the patroon, and
probably the first of the name who came to New Netherland. It was now
reported that Governor Stuyvesant himself was about to visit fort
Orange, and that a new gallows was being prepared for those who should
attempt to thwart his wishes. The governor soon arrived and, with his
customary explicitness, informed the authorities there, that the
territory by the Exemptions, allowed to the patroon, was to extend
sixteen miles on one side of the river, or eight miles if both banks
were occupied. He called upon them to define their boundaries, saying
that he should recognize the patroons' jurisdiction only to that
extent. These limits would include but a small portion of the
territory which the patroons claimed by right of purchase from the
Indians.
The authorities were not prepared to act upon this question without
instructions from Holland. Stuyvesant would admit of no delay. He sent
a party of fourteen soldiers, armed with muskets, to the patroon's
house, who entered the enclosure, fired a volley, and hauled down the
flag of the patroon. He then issued a decree that Beaverswyck, which
included the region now occupied by the city of Albany, was
independent of the patroon's government, and was brought under the
jurisdiction of the colony of fort Amsterdam.
Van Slechtenhorst, the patroon's bold and efficient Commissary at
Rensselaerswick, ordered the governor's placards, announcing this
change, to be torn down, and a counter proclamation, affirming the
claims of the patroon to be posted in its stead. The governor arrested
him, imprisoned him for a time in fort Orange, and then removed him to
New Amsterdam, where he was held in close custody, until his
successor, John Baptist Van Rensselaer, was formally appointed in his
place.
At this time, 1652, there were no settlements, and but a few scattered
farmhouses between the island of Manhattan and the Catskill mountains.
Thomas Chambers had a farm at what is now Troy. With a few neighbors
he moved down the river to "some exceedingly beautiful lands," and
began the settlement of the present county of Ulster.
Stuyvesant returning to Manhattan, forbade any persons from buying
lands of the Indians without his permission. The large sales which had
been made to prominent individuals were declared to be void, and the
"pretended proprietors," were ordered to return the purchase money.
Should they however petition the governor, they might retain such
tracts as he and his council should permit.
By grant of the governor several new settlements were commenced on
Long Island, one at Newton, one at Flatbush. The news had now reached
the Directors of the Company in Holland, of the governor's very
energetic measures on the Delaware, supplanting the Swiss, demolishing
fort Nassau and erecting fort Casimir. They became alarmed lest such
violent measures might embroil them with the Swedish government. In a
letter addressed to Stuyvesant, they wrote:
"Your journey to the South river, and what has passed there
between you and the Swedes, was very unexpected to us, as
you did not give us before so much as a hint of your
intention. We cannot give our opinion upon it until we have
heard the complaints of the Swedish governor to his queen,
and have ascertained how these have been received at her
court. We hope that our arguments, to prove that we were the
first possessors of that country, will be acknowledged as
sufficient. Time will instruct us of the design of the
new-built fort Casimir. We are at a loss to conjecture for
what reason it has received this name. You ought to be on
your guard that it be well secured, so that it cannot be
surprised."
The States-General were more and more dissatisfied with the measures
of Governor Stuyvesant. The treaty of Hartford was severely censured.
They said that the Connecticut river should have been the eastern
boundary of New Netherland, and that the whole of Long Island should
have been retained. Even the West India Company became convinced that
it was necessary to make some concessions to the commonalty at
Manhattan. They therefore communicated to Stuyvesant their consent
that the "burgher government" should be established, which the
committee of Nine had petitioned for in behalf of the commonalty, in
1649, and which the States-General had authorized in 1650.
By this arrangement the people were to elect seven representatives,
who were to form a municipal court of justice, subject to the right of
appeal to the Supreme Court of the province. The sheriff was also
invested with new powers. He was to convoke and preside at the
municipal court, to prosecute all offenders against the laws, and to
take care that all the judgments of the court should be executed. The
people at Manhattan had thus won, to a very considerable degree, the
popular government which they had so long desired.
Quite to the amazement of the Directors of the West India Company, the
States-General recalled Stuyvesant, ordering him to return immediately
to Holland to give an account of his administration. He had been in
the main the faithful agent of the Company, carrying out its wishes in
opposition to popular reform. They therefore wrote to him, stating
that the requirement was in violation of their charter, and requesting
him "not to be in too much haste to commence his voyage, but to delay
it until the receipt of further orders."
It so happened, however, that then the States-General were just on the
eve of hostilities with England. It was a matter of the first
importance that New Netherland should be under the rule of a governor
of military experience, courage and energy. No man could excel
Stuyvesant in these qualities. Yielding to the force of circumstances,
the States-General revoked their recall. Thus narrowly Stuyvesant
escaped the threatened humiliation.
The English government was angry with Holland for refusing to expel
the royalist refugees, who, after the execution of Charles I., had
taken refuge in Holland. The commerce of the Dutch Republic then
covered every sea. England, to punish the Dutch and to revive her own
decaying commerce, issued, by Parliamentary vote, her famous "Act of
Navigation," which was exultantly proclaimed at the old London
Exchange "with sound of trumpet and beat of drum."
This Act decreed that no production of Asia, Africa or America should
be brought to England, except in English vessels, manned by English
crews, and that no productions of Europe should be brought to England,
unless in English vessels, or in those of the country in which the
imported cargoes were produced. These measures were considered very
unjust by all the other nations, and especially by the Dutch, then the
most commercial nation on the globe.
The States-General sent ambassadors to London to remonstrate against
such hostile action; and at the same time orders were issued for the
equipment of one hundred and fifty ships of war. The States-General
had not yet ratified Stuyvesant's treaty of Hartford. The ambassadors
were instructed to urge that an immovable boundary line should be
established between the Dutch and English possessions in America.
The reply of the English Government was not conciliatory. The English,
it was said, had always been forbidden to trade in the Dutch colonies.
The Dutch ought therefore to find no fault with the recent Navigation
Act, from which measure the Council did not "deem it fitting to
recede." As to the colonial boundary, the ungracious reply was
returned,
"The English were the first settlers in North America, from
Virginia to Newfoundland. We know nothing of any Dutch
plantations there, excepting a few settlers up the Hudson.
We do not think it necessary at present, to settle the
boundaries. It can be done hereafter, at any convenient
time."
A naval war soon broke out. England, without warning, seized the ships
of Holland in English ports, and impressed their crews. The Dutch war
fleet was entrusted to Admiral Tromp. He was enjoined to protect the
Dutch vessels from visitation or search by foreign cruisers, and not
to strike his flag to English ships of war. The instructions of the
commanders of the British men of war, were to compel the ships of all
foreign nations whatever, to strike their colors to the British flag.
England thus set up its arrogant claim to "its undoubted right to the
dominion of the surrounding seas."
The English fleet, under Admiral Blake, met the Dutch fleet in the
Strait of Dover, on the 29th of May, 1632, and a bloody but undecisive
battle ensued. A series of terrible naval conflicts followed, with
victory now on the one side and now on the other. At length Blake,
discomfited, was compelled to take refuge in the Thames. Admiral
Tromp, rather vain-gloriously, placed a broom at his masthead to
indicate that he had swept the channel of all English ships.
In this state of affairs the Directors wrote to Governor Stuyvesant,
saying,
"Though we hope that you have so agreed with the colonists
of New England about boundaries that we have nothing to fear
from them, still we consider it an imperious duty to
recommend you to arm and discipline all freemen, soldiers
and sailors; to appoint officers and places of rendezvous;
to supply them with ammunition; and to inspect the
fortifications at New Amsterdam, fort Orange and fort
Casimir. To this end we send you a fresh supply of
ammunition.
"If it should happen, which we will not suppose, that New
Englanders incline to take part in these broils, then we
should advise your honor to engage the Indians in your
cause, who, we are informed, are not partial to the English.
You will also employ all such means of defence as prudence
may require for your security, taking care that the
merchants and inhabitants convey their property within the
forts.
"Treat them kindly, so that they may be encouraged to remain
there, and to give up the thought of returning to Holland,
which would depopulate the country. It is therefore
advisable to inclose the villages, at least the principal
and most opulent, with breastworks and palisades to prevent
surprise."
Looking into the future with prophetic eyes, which discerned the
future glories of the rising republic, the Directors added,
"When these colonies once become permanently established,
when the ships of New Netherland ride on every part of the
ocean, then numbers, now looking to that coast with eager
eyes, shall be allured to embark for your island."
This prophecy is now emphatically fulfilled when often one or two
thousand emigrants, from the old world, land at the Battery in a day.
When the prophecy was uttered, New Amsterdam was a small straggling
village of one story huts, containing about seven hundred inhabitants.
The whole island of Manhattan belonged in fee to the West India
Company. A municipal government was soon organized, which about the
year 1653, gave birth to the city of New Amsterdam.
Holland and England were now in open and deadly warfare. It will
hardly be denied by any one, that England was responsible for the
conflict. The New England colonies wished to avail themselves of the
opportunity to wrest New Netherland from the Dutch, and to extend
their sway from Stamford to the Chesapeake. Governor Stuyvesant
perceived his danger. He could be easily overpowered by the New
England colonies. He wrote very friendly letters to the governors,
urging that, notwithstanding the hostilities between the
mother-countries, commercial intercourse between the colonies should
continue on its former peaceful footing. At the same time he adopted
very vigorous measures to be prepared for defence should he be
assailed.
Rumors reached New Amsterdam of active military preparations in
progress in New England. It was manifest that some hostile expedition
was contemplated. Fort Amsterdam was repaired. The city was enclosed
by a ditch and palisade, with a breastwork extending from the East
river to the North river. The whole body of citizens mounted guard
every night. A frigate in the harbor was ready at any moment to spread
its sails, and its "guns were kept loaded day and night." The citizens
without exception, were ordered to work upon the defences, under
penalty of fine, loss of citizenship and banishment.
Thus barbaric war came again to mar all the prosperity of the colony,
and to undermine all its foundations of growth and happiness. The
Mohican Indians, on the east side of the North river, and whose
territory extended to the Connecticut, were allies of the English.
Uncas, the chief of this tribe, declared that Governor Stuyvesant was
plotting to arm the Narragansetts against New England. At the same
time nine chiefs from the vicinity of Manhattan, sent a messenger to
Stamford, who said:
"The Dutch governor has earnestly solicited the Indians in
these parts, to kill all the English. But we have all
refused to be hired by him, for the English have done us no
harm."
The New England colonists were by no means satisfied that these
charges were true. Veracity was not an Indian virtue. Cunning was a
prominent trait in their character. An extraordinary meeting of
commissioners was held in Boston, in April, 1653. Two messengers had
been previously sent by the Massachusetts council, to interrogate
three of the principal Narragansett chiefs, respecting the conduct of
Governor Stuyvesant. They reported at the meeting, that the
Narragansett chiefs utterly denied that Governor Stuyvesant had ever
approached them with any such proposition. One of them, Ninigret,
said:
"It was winter when I visited the Dutch governor. I stood
the great part of a winter's day, knocking at his door. He
would neither open it nor suffer others to open it, to let
me in. I found no proposal to stir me up against the
English, my friends."
Mixam, another of these chiefs, replied, "I do not know of any plot
that is intended by the Dutch governor against the English, my
friends."
The third of the chiefs, who was conferred with, Pessacus, was still
more emphatic in his denial. "Though I am far away," he said, "from
the governor of the Dutch, I am not willing for the sake of pleasing
the English, to invent any falsehood against him."
The result of these investigations led some to suppose that
individuals among the English had originated these rumors, and had
bribed some of the Indian chiefs to false charges that they might
instigate the governors to send out an expedition for the capture of
New Netherland.
Still the Council was unsatisfied, and retained its suspicions.
Governor Stuyvesant. hearing of the charges against him, wrote at once
to the governors of Massachusetts and New Haven, unequivocally denying
the plot, and offering to come himself to Boston "to consider and
examine what may be charged, and his answers." Should the Council
prefer, he would send a delegate to Boston, or they might send
delegates to Manhattan to investigate the whole affair.
The Council decided to send three commissioners, men of note, to
Manhattan. At the same time an army of five hundred men was ordered to
be organized "for the first expedition," should "God call the colonies
to make war against the Dutch."
The New England agents were hospitably received at New Amsterdam. They
urged that the meeting should be held in one of the New England
colonies, where Stuyvesant "should produce evidence to clear himself
from the charges against him." He was to be regarded as guilty until
he proved himself innocent.
The Puritan agents appear to great disadvantage in the conference
which ensued. "They seem to have visited the Dutch," writes Mr.
Brodhead,
"as inquisitors, to collect evidence criminating the Dutch
and to collect no other evidence. And, with peculiar
assurance, they saw no impropriety in requiring the
authorities of New Netherland, in their own capital, to
suspend their established rules of law in favor of those of
New England."
Governor Stuyvesant repressed every expression of impatience, and
urged the most friendly overtures. It may be said that it was
manifestly for his interest to do so, for the Dutch colonies were
quite powerless compared with the united colonies of New England. The
New England agents ungraciously repelled his advances, and at length
abruptly terminated the conference without giving the governor an
opportunity to prove his innocence. At nine o'clock in the evening
they suddenly took leave of New Amsterdam, declining the most friendly
invitations to remain, and "cloaking their sudden departure under
pretence of the day of election to be held this week at Boston." They
left behind them the following menace:
"The Commissioners conclude their negotiation by declaring
that if you shall offer any injury to any of the English in
these parts, whether by yourselves or by the Indians, either
upon the national quarrel, or by reason of any differences
depending between the United English Colonies and
yourselves, that, as the Commissioners will do no wrong, so
they may not suffer their countrymen to be oppressed upon
any such account."
The morning after this unfriendly retirement of the agents, Governor
Stuyvesant dispatched a messenger to Boston, with a letter containing
a very full reply to the grievances of which the New England colonists
complained. In this letter, which bears the impress of frankness and
honesty, he says,
"What your worships lay unto our charge are false reports
and feigned informations. Your honored messengers might, if
they had pleased, have informed themselves of the truth of
this, and might also have obtained more friendly
satisfaction and security, concerning our real intentions,
if they had pleased to stay a day or two with us, to have
heard and considered further of these articles."
On their way home, the New England agents stopped at Flushing,
Stamford and New Haven, to collect all the evidence they could against
Governor Stuyvesant. The hearsay stories of the Indians they carefully
picked up. Still the only point ascertained, of any moment was, that
Governor Stuyvesant had told an Englishman, one Robert Coe, that if
the English attacked him, he should try to get the Indians to come to
his aid; and that he had said the same to William Alford.
This was all the evidence the agents could find against the governor.
He had made these declarations without any purpose of concealment. He
had been instructed to pursue this course by the Amsterdam Directors.
The New England colonists had in their Pequod war, set the example of
employing Indian allies. This repulsive feature in the British
colonial administration continued until the close of the war of the
Revolution.
Captain John Underbill, an Englishman, who had obtained considerable
renown in the Pequod war becoming dissatisfied with some
ecclesiastical censure which he had incurred, petitioned Governor
Stuyvesant for permission to reside, with a few other families in New
Netherland, under the protection of the Dutch, offering to take the
oath of allegiance which was required of all foreigners. His request
was promptly granted. It was the liberal policy of the Dutch
government not to exclude foreigners from any privileges which the
Hollanders themselves enjoyed. Underhill was now residing at
Hempstead, Long Island. His restless spirit, ever eager for change,
seized upon the present moment as a fitting opportunity to wrest from
the Dutch their portion of Long Island, and pass it over to his
countrymen. In violation of his oath he issued a treasonable
proclamation, in which he said,
"You are called upon to abjure the iniquitous government of
Peter Stuyvesant over the inhabitants residing on Long
Island. His rule is too grievous for any brave Englishman
and good Christian to tolerate any longer. All honest hearts
that seek the glory of God and his peace and prosperity, are
exhorted to throw off this tyrannical yoke. Accept and
submit ye then to the Parliament of England; and beware of
becoming traitors to one another for the sake of your own
quiet and welfare."
This proclamation did not meet with a cordial response. Underbill fled
to Rhode Island. Here he received from Boston a commission, "to take
all Dutch ships and vessels as shall come into his power, and to
defend himself from the Dutch and all enemies of the commonwealth of
England."
The report of the agents who had visited Manhattan was such that the
General Court at Boston voted that they were not "called upon to make
a present war with the Dutch."
There were eight commissioners from the New England colonies in
Boston. Notwithstanding this decision of the General Court, six of
them were in favor of instant war. They sent back to Governor
Stuyvesant an abusive and defiant reply, in which they said,
"Your confident denials of the barbarous plot with which you are
charged will weigh little in the balance against the evidence, so that
we must still require and seek due satisfaction and security."
The Connecticut colonists were ever looking with a wistful eye to the
rich lands west of them. The Court at New Haven and that at Hartford
sent messengers to Massachusetts to urge that "by war if no other
means will serve, the Dutch, at and about the Manhattoes, who have
been and still are like to prove injurious, may be removed." The
General Court nobly replied, "We cannot act in so weighty a
concernment, as to send forth men to shed blood, unless satisfied that
God calls for it. And then it must be clear and not doubtful."
"In speaking of these events Mr. Brodhead says,
"At the annual meeting of the Commissioners, Massachusetts
maintained her proud position with a firmness which almost
perilled the stability of the confederation. A bitter
altercation, between the representatives of the other
colonies and the General Court, was terminated by an
ambiguous concession which nevertheless averted hostilities.
"The Connecticut governments seemed animated by the most
vindictive feelings; and their own recent historian laments
the refusal of the Massachusetts authorities to bear part in
an offensive war against New Netherland, as an 'indelible
stain upon their honor as men, and upon their morals as
Christians.'"
There was a strong party in favor of war as the only means of wresting
the magnificent domain of New Netherland from the Dutch and annexing
it to the New England possessions. The majestic Hudson was greatly
coveted, as it opened to commerce vast and unknown regions of the
interior.
Hartford and New Haven discussed the question if they were not strong
enough without the aid of Massachusetts to subdue the Dutch. Stamford
and Fairfield commenced raising volunteers on their own account, and
appointed one Ludlow as their leader. A petition was sent to the home
government, the Commonwealth over which Oliver Cromwell was then
presiding, praying
"that the Dutch be either removed or, so far, at least,
subjected that the colonies may be free from injurious
affronts and secured against the dangers and mischievous
effects which daily grow upon them by their plotting with
the Indians and furnishing them with arms against the
English."
In conclusion they entreated that two or three frigates be sent out,
and that Massachusetts be commanded to assist the other colonies to
clear the coast "of a nation with which the English cannot either
mingle or set under their government, nor so much as live near without
danger of their lives and all their comforts in this world."
To fan this rising flame of animosity against the Dutch, a rancorous
pamphlet was published in London, entitled,
"The second part of the Amboyna Tragedy; or a faithful
account of a bloody, treacherous and cruel plot of the Dutch
in America, purporting the total ruin and murder of all the
English colonists in New England; extracted from the various
letters lately written from New England to different
merchants in London."
This was indeed an inflammatory pamphlet. The most violent language
was used. The Dutch were accused of the "devilish project" of trying
to rouse the savages to a simultaneous assault upon all the New
England colonists. The crime was to be perpetrated on Sunday morning,
when they should be collected in their houses of worship. Men, women
and children were to be massacred, and the buildings laid in ashes.
The Amsterdam Directors had this "most infamous and lying libel,"
translated into their own language and sent a copy to Governor
Stuyvesant and his council, saying: "We wish that your honors may see
what stratagems that nation employs, not only to irritate the
populace, but the whole world if possible and to stir it up against
us."
The position of Governor Stuyvesant had become exceedingly
uncomfortable. He was liable at any day to have from abroad war's most
terrible storm burst upon him. And the enemy might come in such force
that he would be utterly unable to make any effectual resistance. On
the other hand the Dutch settlements were composed of emigrants from
all lands. Many Englishmen, dissatisfied with the rigid rule of the
New England colonies, had taken their residence in New Netherland.
The arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant was obnoxious to the majority of his
subjects, and they were increasingly clamorous for a more liberal and
popular government. On the 16th of December, 1630, a very important
popular convention was held at New Amsterdam, composed of delegates
from eight towns. There were nineteen delegates, ten of whom were
Dutch and nine English. Unanimously they avowed fealty to the
government of Holland. But they remonstrated against the establishment
of an arbitrary government; and complained that laws had been enacted
without the consent of the people.
"This," said they,
"is contrary to the granted privilege of the Netherland
government and odious to every free-born man; and especially
so to those whom God has placed in a free state in
newly-settled lands, who are entitled to claim laws not
transcending, but resembling as near as possible those of
the Netherlands."
There were several minor offences enumerated to which we need not here
refer. The memorial was drawn up by an Englishman, George Baxter. The
imperious Stuyvesant was greatly annoyed by this document. To weaken
its effect, he declared that the delegates had no authority to act or
even to meet upon such questions. He endeavored to rouse national
prejudice against the document by saying:
"The most ancient colony of Manhattan, the colonies of
Rensselaerswyck and Staten Island and the settlements at
Beaverswyck and on the South river are too prudent to
subscribe to all that has been projected by an Englishman;
as if among the Netherlands' nation there is no one
sagacious and expert enough to draw up a remonstrance to the
Director and council."