AN ENERGETIC ADMINISTRATION.
New Amsterdam in 1656.--Religious Intolerance.--Persecution
of the Waldenses.--The New Colony on South river.--Wreck of
the Prince Maurice.--The Friendly Indians.--Energetic Action
of the Governor.--Persecution of the Quakers.--Remonstrance
from Flushing.--The Desolation of Staten Island.--Purchase
of Bergen.--Affairs at Esopus.--The Indian
Council.--Generosity of the Indians.--New
Amstel.--Encroachments of the English.
War would doubtless have arisen, between Sweden and Holland, in view
of transactions on South river, had not all the energies of Sweden
been then called into requisition in a war with Poland. The Swedish
government contented itself with presenting a vigorous memorial to the
States-General, which for eight years was renewed without
accomplishing any redress.
The vice-governor resided at fort Orange, in a two story house, the
upper floor of which was used as a court-room. This station was the
principal mart for the fur trade, which had now become so considerable
that upwards of thirty-five thousand beaver skins were exported during
the year 1656.
A survey of the city of New Amsterdam was made this year, which showed
that there were one hundred and twenty houses, and a population of one
thousand souls. A man like Stuyvesant, the warm advocate of arbitrary
power, would almost of necessity, be religiously intolerant. Zealously
devoted to the Reformed church, and resolved to have unity in
religion, notwithstanding the noble toleration which existed in
Holland, he issued a proclamation forbidding any one from holding a
religious meeting not in harmony with the Reformed church.
Any preacher, who should violate this ordinance was to be subjected to
a penalty of one hundred pounds. Any one who should attend such a
meeting was to be punished by a penalty of twenty-five pounds.
This law was rigorously enforced. Recusants were fined and imprisoned.
Complaints were sent to Holland, and the governor was severely rebuked
for his bigotry.
"We would fain," the Directors wrote to Stuyvesant,
"not have seen your worship's hand set to the placard
against the Lutherans, nor have heard that you oppressed
them with the imprisonments of which they have complained to
us. It has always been our intention to let them enjoy all
calmness and tranquillity. Wherefore you will not hereafter
publish any similar placards, without our previous consent,
but allow all the free exercise of their religion within
their own houses."
But Stuyvesant was a man born to govern, not be governed. He was
silent respecting the instructions he had received from home. When the
Lutherans informed him that the Directors of the Company had ordered
that the same toleration should exist in New Netherland which was
practiced in the fatherland, he firmly replied that he must wait for
further explanations, and that in the mean time his ordinance against
public conventicles must be executed.
At Flushing a cobbler from Rhode Island, a baptist, William Wickendam
by name, ventured to preach, "and even went with the people into the
river and dipped them." He was fined one thousand pounds and ordered
to be banished. As he was a poor man the debt was remitted, but he was
obliged to leave the province.
It will be remembered that thus far nearly all the operations of the
Dutch, in the New World, had been performed under the authority of
Dutch merchants, called "The West India Company." Their chartered
powers were very great. Only in a subordinate degree were they subject
to the control of the States-General.
At this time there was a very cruel persecution commenced by the Duke
of Savoy against the Waldenses. Hundreds of them fled to the city of
Amsterdam, in Holland, which was then the refuge for the persecuted of
all nations. They were received with the most noble hospitality. The
city government not only gave them an asylum, but voted large sums
from its treasury, for their support.
Carrying out this policy, the city decided to establish a colony of
its own in New Netherland, to be composed mainly of these Waldenses.
The municipal authorities purchased of the West India Company, for
seven hundred guilders, all the land on the west side of South river,
from Christina kill to Bombay Hook. This gave a river front of about
forty miles, running back indefinitely into the interior. This region
was named New Amstel. The colonists were offered a free passage, ample
farms on the river, and provisions and clothing for one year. The city
also agreed to send out "a proper person for a schoolmaster, who shall
also read the holy Scriptures in public and set the Psalms." A church
was to be organized so soon as there were two hundred inhabitants in
the colony.
[Illustration]
The Company wrote to Stuyvesant saying,
"The confidence we feel about the success and increase of
this new colony of which we hope to see some prominent
features next spring, when to all appearance, large numbers
of the exiled Waldenses will flock thither, as to an asylum,
induces us to send you orders to endeavor to purchase of the
Indians, before it can be accomplished by any other nation,
all that tract of land situated between the South river and
the Hook of the North river, to provide establishments for
these emigrants."
On Christmas day of 1656, three vessels containing one hundred and
sixty emigrants, sailed from the Texel. A wintry storm soon separated
them. The principal ship, the Prince Maurice, which had the largest
number of passengers, after a long voyage, was wrecked on the South
coast of Long island, near Fire island inlet, in the neighborhood of
the present town of Islip. It was midnight when the ship struck. As
soon as it was light the passengers and crew succeeded in reaching the
shore in their boats through the breakers and through vast masses of
floating ice.
They found upon the shore a bleak, barren, treeless waste, "without
weeds, grass or timber of any sort to make a fire." It was bitter
cold. A fierce wind swept the ocean and the land, and the sea ran so
high that it was expected every moment the ship would go to pieces.
These poor emigrants thus suddenly huddled upon the icy land, without
food and without shelter, were in imminent peril of perishing from
cold and starvation.
Their sufferings were so terrible that they were rejoiced to see some
Indians approaching over the wide plains, though they knew not whether
the savages would prove hostile or friendly. But the Indians came like
brothers, aided them in every way, and dispatched two swift runners
across the island to inform Governor Stuyvesant of the calamity. Some
sails were brought on shore, with which a temporary shelter from the
piercing blast was constructed, and enough food was secured to save
from absolute starvation.
The energetic governor immediately dispatched nine or ten lighters to
their assistance, and with needful supplies proceeded in person to the
scene of the disaster. Thus nearly all the cargo was saved and the
passengers were transported to New Amsterdam. There were one hundred
and twenty-five passengers on board the Prince Maurice, seventy-six of
whom were women and children. Another ship, the Gilded Beaver, was
chartered at New Amsterdam which conveyed them all safely, after a
five days' passage, to South river. The other vessels, with soldiers
and a few settlers, also soon arrived.
It is said that at this time the "public," exercises of religion were
not allowed to any sects in Holland except the Calvinists. But all
others were permitted to engage freely in their worship in private
houses, which were in fact, as if public, these places of preaching
being spacious and of sufficient size for any assembly. Under this
construction of the law every religion was in fact tolerated.[9]
The Lutherans in Holland sent a clergyman, Ernestus Goetwater, to New
Amsterdam, to organize a church. The Directors wrote,
"It is our intention to permit every one to have freedom
within his own dwelling, to serve God in such manner as his
religion requires, but without authorizing any public
meetings or conventicles."
This tolerance, so imperfect in the light of the nineteenth century,
was very noble in the dark days of the seventeenth. Upon the arrival
of Goetwater at New Amsterdam, the clergy of the Reformed church
remonstrated against his being permitted to preach. The governor,
adhering to his policy of bigotry, forbade him to hold any meeting, or
to do any clerical service, but to regulate his conduct according to
the placards of the province against private conventicles. Soon after
this the governor ordered him to leave the colony and to return to
Holland. This harsh decree was however suspended out of regard to the
feeble health of Goetwater.
On the 6th of August, 1657, a ship arrived at New Amsterdam with
several Quakers on board Two of them, women, began to preach publicly
in the streets. They were arrested and imprisoned. Soon after they
were discharged and embarked on board a ship to sail through Hell
Gate, to Rhode Island, "where," writes Domine Megapolensis, "all kinds
of scum dwell, for it is nothing else than a sink for New England."
One of the Quakers, Robert Hodgson, went over to Long Island. At
Hempstead he was arrested and committed to prison, and was thence
transferred to one of the dungeons of fort Amsterdam. He was brought
before the Council, convicted of the crime of preaching contrary to
the law, and was sentenced to pay a fine of six hundred guilders,
about two hundred and forty dollars, or to labor two years at a
wheelbarrow, with a negro.
After a few days' imprisonment he was chained to the wheelbarrow and
commanded to work. He refused. A negro was ordered to beat him with a
tarred rope, which he did until the sufferer fell, in utter
exhaustion, almost senseless to the ground. The story of the
persecutions which this unhappy man endured, is almost too dreadful to
be told. But it ought to be told as a warning against all religious
intolerance.
"Not satisfied," writes O'Callaghan,
"his persecutors had him lifted up. The negro again beat him
until he fell a second time, after receiving, as was
estimated, one hundred blows. Notwithstanding all this, he
was kept, in the heat of the sun, chained to the
wheelbarrow, his body bruised and swollen, faint from want
of food, until at length he could no longer support himself
and he was obliged to sit down.
"The night found him again in his cell, and the morrow at
the wheelbarrow, with a sentinel over him, to prevent all
conversation. On the third day he was again led forth,
chained as before. He still refused to work, for he 'had
committed no evil.' He was then led anew before the
director-general, who ordered him to work, otherwise he
should be whipt every day. He was again chained to the
barrow and threatened, if he should speak to any person,
with more severe punishment. But not being able to keep him
silent, he was taken back to his dungeon, where he was kept
several days, 'two nights and one day and a half of which
without bread or water.'
"The rage of persecution was still unsatiated. He was now
removed to a private room, stripped to his waist, and then
hung up to the ceiling by his hands, with a heavy log of
wood tied to his feet, so that he could not turn his body. A
strong negro then commenced lashing him with rods until his
flesh was cut in pieces. Now let down, he was thrown again
into his loathsome dungeon, where he was kept ten days, in
solitary confinement, after which he was brought forth to
undergo a repetition of the same barbarous torture. He was
now kept like a slave to hard work."
His case eventually excited so much compassion that Stuyvesant's
sister interfered, and implored her brother so importunately that he
was at last induced to liberate the unfortunate man. Let a firm Quaker
resolve that he will not do something, and let a Governor Stuyvesant
resolve that he shall do it, and it is indeed "Greek meeting Greek."
Henry Townsend, of Jamaica, ventured to hold prayer-meetings in his
house, in defiance of the ordinance against conventicles. The governor
sentenced him to pay a fine of eight pounds and to leave the province
within six weeks, under pain of corporeal punishment. This sentence
was followed by a proclamation, fining any one fifty pounds who should
entertain a Quaker for a single night, and confiscating any vessels
which should bring a Quaker to the province.
The inhabitants of Flushing, where Townsend had formerly resided, and
where he was very highly respected, issued a noble remonstrance to
Governor Stuyvesant against this persecution of their former townsman.
The remonstrance was drawn up by the town clerk, Edward Hart, and was
signed by all the adult male inhabitants, twenty-nine in number. The
memorial said:
"We are commanded by the law of God to do good unto all men.
The law of love, peace and liberty, extending in the state
to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, forms the glory of Holland. So
love, peace and liberty extending to all in Christ Jesus,
condemn hatred, war and bondage. We desire not to offend one
of Christ's little ones under whatever form, name or title
he may appear, whether Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist or
Quaker. On the contrary we desire to do to all as we could
wish all to do to us. Should any of those people come in
love among us, we cannot lay violent hands upon them. We
must give them free ingress and egress into our houses."
This remonstrance was carried to New Amsterdam by Tobias Feake, and
presented to the governor. His indignation was roused. Feake was
arrested and committed to prison. The sheriff was sent to Flushing to
bring Hart and two of the magistrates, Farrington and Noble, to the
presence of the enraged governor. It was a fearful thing to fall into
his hands when his wrath was inflamed. They were imprisoned for some
time, and were then released upon their humbly imploring the pardon of
the governor, expressing their deep regret that they had signed the
remonstrance and promising that they would sin in that way, no more.
The town itself was punished by the prohibition in future of all town
meetings, without the permission of the governor. Indeed the mass of
the settlers were no longer to decide upon their local affairs, but a
committee of seven persons was to decide all such questions. All who
were dissatisfied with these arrangements were ordered to sell their
property and leave the town.
It is not necessary to continue the record of this disgraceful
persecution. The governor was unrelenting. Whoever ventured to oppose
his will felt the weight of his chastising hand.
New Amsterdam consisted of wooden houses clustered together. The
danger from fire was very great. The governor imposed a tax of a
beaver skin, or its equivalent upon each householder to pay for two
hundred and fifty leather fire buckets and hooks and ladders, to be
procured in Holland. He also established a "rattle watch" to traverse
the streets from nine o'clock in the evening until morning drum-beat.
Stuyvesant would allow nothing to be done which he did not control.
The education of the young was greatly neglected. Jacob Corlaer opened
a school. The governor peremptorily closed it, because he had presumed
to take the office without governmental permission. To establish a
place of amusement the governor formed a village called Haarlem, at
the northern extremity of Manhattan island. He also constructed a good
road over the island, through the forest, "so that it may be made easy
to come hither, and return to that village on horseback or in a
wagon." A ferry was also established to Long Island.
Staten Island was a dreary waste. It had not recovered from the
massacre of 1655. Efforts were made to encourage the former settlers
to return to their desolated homes, and to encourage fresh colonists
to take up their residence upon the island. To promote the settlement
of the west side of the North river, Stuyvesant purchased from the
Indians, all the territory now known as Bergen, in New Jersey.
This purchase comprised the extensive region,
"beginning from the great rock above Wiehackan, and from
there right through the land, until above the island
Sikakes, and from there to the Kill van Col, and so along to
the Constables Hook, and thence again to the rock above
Wiehackan."
The settlement at Esopus, was in many respects in a flourishing
condition. But it was so much more convenient for the farmers to have
their dwellings in the midst of the fields they cultivated, instead of
clustering them together in a compact village, that they persisted in
the dangerous practice, notwithstanding all the warnings of the
governor. There were individuals also who could not be restrained from
paying brandy to the savages for their peltries The intoxicated
Indians often committed outrages. One of the settlers was killed. The
house and outbuildings of another were burned. The Dutch retaliated by
destroying the cornfields of the Indians, hoping thus to drive them to
a distance. At this time, in May, 1658, there were about seventy
colonists at Esopus. They had widely extended fields of grain. But the
Indians were becoming daily more inimical, and the alarmed colonists
wrote to Govern or Stuyvesant, saying,
"We pray you to send forty or fifty soldiers to save Esopus, which, if
well settled, might supply the whole of New Netherland with
provisions."
The governor ordered a redoubt to be built at Esopus, sent an
additional supply of ammunition, and taking fifty soldiers with him,
went up the river to ascertain, by a personal investigation, the wants
of the people. He urged them strenuously to unite in a village, which
could be easily palisaded, and which would thus afford them complete
protection. The colonists objected that it would be very difficult to
remove from their farms, while their crops were ungathered, and that
it would be impossible to select a site for the village which would
please all. The governor refused to leave the soldiers with them
unless they would immediately decide to concentrate in a village. In
that case he would remain and aid them in constructing the palisade
till it should be completed.
In the mean time messengers were sent to all the neighboring chiefs
inviting them to come to Esopus to meet "the grand sachem from
Manhattan." Sixty of these plumed warriors were soon assembled, with a
few women and children. The governor, with two followers and an
interpreter, met them beneath the widespread branches of an aged tree.
One of the chiefs opened the interview by a long speech, in which he
recounted all the injuries which he conceived that the Indians had
experienced from the foreigners. The governor listened patiently. He
then replied,
"These events occurred, as you well know, before my time. I
am not responsible for them. Has any injury been done you
since I came into the country? Your chiefs have asked us,
over and over again, to make a settlement among them. We
have not had a foot of your land without paying for it. We
do not desire to have any more without making you full
compensation. Why then have you committed this murder,
burned our houses and killed our cattle? And why do you
continue to threaten our people?"
There was a long pause, as though the chiefs were meditating upon the
answer which should be made. Then one of them rose and, with great
deliberation and dignity of manner, said, "You Swannekins," for that
was the name they gave the Dutchmen,
"have sold our children drink. We cannot then control them,
or prevent them from fighting. This murder has not been
committed by any of our tribe, but by a Minnisinck, who now
skulks among the Haverstraws. 'Twas he who fired the two
houses and then fled. We have no malice. We do not wish to
fight. But we cannot control our young men after you have
sold them drink."
The best of the argument thus far, was manifestly with the Indians.
The irascible governor lost his temper. "If any of your young
savages," said he, "want to fight, let them come on. I will place man
against man. Nay, I will place twenty against forty of your hotheads.
It is not manly to threaten farmers and women and children who are not
warriors. If this be not stopped I shall be compelled to retaliate on
old and young, women and children. I expect of you that you will
repair all damages and seize the murderer if he come among you.
"The Dutch are now to live together in one spot. It is
desirable that you should sell us the whole of the Esopus
land and move farther into the interior. It is not well for
you to reside so near the Swannekins. Their cattle may eat
your corn and thus cause fresh disturbance."
The Council was closed with professions of friendship on both sides.
The Indians promised to take the suggestions of the governor into
careful consideration. The settlers also decided to adopt the counsel
of the governor. They agreed unanimously to form themselves into a
village, leaving it with Governor Stuyvesant to select the site. He
chose a spot at the bend of the creek, where three bides would be
surrounded by water. Two hundred and ten yards of palisades formed the
sufficient enclosure.
All hands now went to work energetically. While thus employed a band
of Indian warriors, in their most showy attire, was seen approaching.
It was feared that they were on the war path, and the soldiers
immediately stood to their arms. It is undeniable that the Indians
seemed ever disposed to cherish kindly feelings when justly treated.
These kind hearted savages fifty in number, notwithstanding all the
wrongs which they had endured, came forward and one of them,
addressing the governor, said,
"In token of our good will, and that we have laid aside all
malice, we request the Grand Sachem to accept as a free
present, the land on which he has commenced his settlement.
We give it to grease his feet, as he has undertaken so long
and painful a journey to visit us."
The labor of three weeks completed the defences. The buildings were
reared within the enclosure. A strong guard-house, sixteen feet by
twenty-three, was built in the northeast corner of the village. A
bridge was thrown across the creek, and temporary quarters were
erected for the soldiers. The energetic governor having accomplished
all this in a month, left twenty-four soldiers behind him to guard the
village, and returned to Manhattan.
In 1658, the little settlement of New Amstel presented quite a
flourishing appearance. It had become a goodly town of about one
hundred houses, containing about five hundred inhabitants. As many of
these were Waldenses, Swedes and emigrants from other nationalities,
they seemed to think themselves independent of the provincial
authorities at New Amsterdam. The governor therefore visited the place
in person, and called upon all to take the oath of allegiance.
There was great jealousy felt by the governor in reference to the
encroachments of the English. They were pressing their claims
everywhere. They were establishing small settlements upon territory
undeniably belonging to the Dutch. English emigrants were crowding the
Dutch colonies and were daily gaining in influence. Though they
readily took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch authorities, all
their sympathies were with England and the English colonies.
The Directors of the Company wrote to Stuyvesant recommending him
"to disentangle himself in the best manner possible from the
Englishmen whom he had allowed to settle at New Amstel. And
at all events not to admit any English besides them in that
vicinity, much less to allure them by any means whatever."
There were many indications that the English were contemplating
pressing up from Virginia to the beautiful region of the Delaware. The
Directors urged Stuyvesant to purchase immediately from the Indians
the tract of land between Cape Henlopen and Bombay Hook. This
contained a frontage on Delaware bay of about seventy miles.
"You will perceive," they wrote,
"that speed is required, if for nothing else, that we may
prevent other nations, and principally our English
neighbors, as we really apprehend that this identical spot
has attracted their notice. When we reflect upon the
insufferable proceedings of that nation not only by
intruding themselves upon our possessions about the North,
to which our title is indisputable, and when we consider the
bold arrogance and faithlessness of those who are residing
within our jurisdiction, we cannot expect any good from that
quarter."
In the autumn of this year a very momentous event occurred. Though it
was but the death of a single individual, that individual was Oliver
Cromwell. Under his powerful sway England had risen to a position of
dignity and power such as the nation had never before attained. A
terrible storm swept earth and sky during the night in which his
tempestuous earthly life came to a close. The roar of the hurricane
appalled all minds, as amid floods of rain trees were torn up by the
roots, and houses were unroofed. The friends of the renowned Protector
said that nature was weeping and mourning in her loudest accents over
the great loss humanity was experiencing in the death of its most
illustrious benefactor. The enemies of Cromwell affirmed that the
Prince of the Power of the Air had come with all his shrieking demons,
to seize the soul of the dying and bear it to its merited doom.
Scarce six months passed away ere the reins of government fell from
the feeble hands of Richard, the eldest son and heir of Oliver
Cromwell, and Monk marched across the Tweed and paved the way for the
restoration of Charles the Second.
To add to the alarm of the Dutch, Massachusetts, taking the ground
that the boundary established by the treaty of Hartford, extended only
"so far as New Haven had jurisdiction," claimed by virtue of royal
grant all of the land north of the forty-second degree of latitude to
the Merrimac river, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific
ocean. The forty-second parallel of latitude crossed the Hudson near
Red Hook and Saugerties. This boundary line transferred the whole of
the upper Hudson and at least four-fifths of the State of New York to
Massachusetts.
In accordance with this claim, Massachusetts granted a large section
of land on the east side of the Hudson river, opposite the present
site of Albany, to a number of her principal merchants to open
energetically a trade with the Indians for their furs. An exploring
party was also sent from Hartford to sail up the North river and
examine its shores in reference to future settlements. The English
could not enter the Hudson and pass fort Amsterdam with their vessels
without permission of the Dutch. This permission Stuyvesant
persistently refused.
"The Dutch," said the inflexible governor,
"never have forbidden the natives to trade with other
nations. They prohibit such trade only on their own streams
and purchased lands. They cannot grant Massachusetts or any
other government any title to such privilege or a free
passage through their rivers, without the surrender of their
honor, reputation, property and blood, their bodies and
lives."