ENCROACHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH.
Annihilation of the Esopus Tribe.--The Boundary
Question.--Troubles on Long Island. The Dutch and English
Villages.--Petition of the English.--Embarrassments of
Governor Stuyvesant.--Embassage to Hartford.--The
Repulse.--Peril of New Netherland.--Memorial to the
Fatherland.--New Outbreak on Long Island.--John Scott and
his High-handed Measures.--Strengthening the Fortifications.
All but three of the captives carried away by the Esopus Indians, were
eventually recovered. The fate of those three is lost in hopeless
obscurity. The revelations of the day of Judgment can alone make known
their tragic doom. To them, as to thousands of others, this earthly
life, if this be all, must have been an unmitigated calamity. But this
is not all. After death cometh the judgment. It will be easy for God,
in the future world, to compensate his children a thousand-fold for
all the ills they are called to suffer in this life. There is true
Christian philosophy in the beautiful poetry of Bryant,
"Oh, deem not they are blest alone
Whose lives an even tenor keep.
For God, who pities man, hath shown
A blessing for the eyes that weep.
"For God has marked each sorrowing day
And numbered every secret tear,
And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay
For all his children suffer here."
Peace was now restored by the annihilation of the hostile Indians.
Most of the Dutch soldiers returned to New Amsterdam. Still it was
deemed important to enlarge and strengthen the fortifications at
Esopus.
The boundary line between the British colonies in New England, and the
Dutch settlements in New Netherland, still continued in dispute. The
English, in numerical strength, were in the vast ascendency, and could
easily overpower the Dutch. Very strenuous efforts had been made, by
the States-General, to lead the British government to accept some
boundary line. But all was in vain. It was very evident that the
English intended to claim the whole. And it was also evident that
their colonies were increasing so rapidly that, in a short time, they
would be able to take possession of all the territory so strongly that
it would be hopeless for the Dutch to attempt any resistance.
Governor Stuyvesant now received intelligence from Holland that there
was no hope of any settlement being effected through the two
governments, and that he must do everything in his power to strengthen
the boundary lines the Dutch claimed, and to enter into such friendly
relations with the New England colonists that they should not be
tempted to undertake any encroachments. To add to the governor's
embarrassments very many Englishmen had taken up their residence in
the Dutch settlements, particularly on Long Island. Though they had,
of necessity, taken the oath of allegiance to the constituted
authorities, their sympathies were with the New England colonists; and
they would welcome any revolution which should transfer the territory
to Great Britain, and thus absolve them from their oaths.
In accordance with the instructions received from Holland, the
governor repaired to Boston to enter into a friendly conference with
the authorities there. Scarcely had he left New Amsterdam, when an
English emissary, James Christie, visited Gravesend, Flushing,
Hempstead and Jamaica, with the announcement that the inhabitants of
those places were no longer under the Dutch government, but that their
territory was annexed to the Connecticut colony. This important
movement took place on the sixth of September, 1663.
Only about six weeks before, the Connecticut council, on the 20th of
July, had sent Captain John Talcott with an armed force of eighteen
soldiers, to that portion of New Netherland now called West. Chester,
to declare that the inhabitants were absolved from their allegiance to
the Dutch government, to dismiss the old magistrates and to appoint
others in their stead. These were high-handed measures, apparently
inexcusable.
When John Christie reached Gravesend, he summoned the whole village
together and read to them the dispatch. The British element was there
strongly in the ascendency, even the magistrates being mainly on that
side. As Christie was reading the treasonable document, one of the
Dutch magistrates, sheriff Stillwell, faithful to his oath, arrested
him. The other magistrates ordered the arrest of Stillwell. His life
was in danger from the passions of the mob. He succeeded in sending
word to New Amsterdam of the peril of his condition. A sergeant and
eight soldiers were dispatched, who arrested Christie again and held
him under their guard.
News of these agitations spread rapidly through the adjoining
villages. It was rumored that a large mob was gathering to rescue
Christie from the soldiers. Consequently, two hours after midnight,
under protection of darkness and without the knowledge of the
community, Christie was secretly removed from sheriff Stillwell's
house to New Amsterdam. During the next day the tidings of his removal
spread through the streets. It created great exasperation. At night a
mob of one hundred and fifty men surrounded the house of sheriff
Stillwell, shouting that they would have him, dead or alive.
He succeeded in the darkness, in escaping by the back door, and in
finding his way to the house of his son-in-law. The mob broke in,
ransacked his house in every corner, poured down their own thirsty
throats a large quantity of brandy which they found there, and
dispersed without committing any further depredations.
Stillwell hastened to New Amsterdam, to enter his complaints there,
and to seek protection. The other magistrates wrote, throwing all the
blame upon him, accusing him of having acted in a violent manner and
of causing "a great hubbub in the town." "We are," they wrote, "the
loyal subjects of the Dutch government, but not of sheriff Stillwell,
who is the greatest disturber of the peace who ever came among us."
The excitement was great. Threats were uttered of retaliation if
Christie were not released. But the Dutch council in New Amsterdam
approved of the conduct of its sheriff. Christie was held firmly.
Dispatches were sent to all the towns in western Long Island, where
there was a considerable English population, ordering that any
seditious persons who should visit their settlements, should be
arrested and sent to New Amsterdam. They then sent an express to
Governor Stuyvesant in Boston, that he might bring the question of
these disorderly measures before the General Assembly there.
But the governor could obtain no redress and no promises of amendment.
The Massachusetts authorities would not hold themselves bound to the
faithful observance of the treaty of 1650. They said that it was
subject to his Majesty's approval and to any limitations which might
be found in the charter granted to Connecticut. They refused to submit
the question to any arbitrators whatever. The New England colonists
were conscious that the power was in their own hands, and they were
disposed to use it.
In the meantime the English residents in the settlements on western
Long Island were not idle. The following very emphatic petition was
got up and signed by twenty-six individuals:
"The humble petition of us the inhabitants of Jamaica,
Middleborough and Hempstead, Long Island, whose names are
subscribed, to the honored General Court, to be assembled at
Hartford on the 8th of October 1663, humbly showeth,
"That forasmuch as it has pleased the all-disposing
Providence to appoint unto us our dwellings in these parts
of the country, under the Dutch government, in which
government we meet with several inconveniences, which do
much to trouble us, and which we find very uncomfortable,
and forasmuch as we have received information how it hath
pleased the Highest Majesty to move the heart of the King's
Majesty to grant unto your colony such enlargements as
comprehend the whole island, thereby opening a way for us,
as we hope, from our present bondage, to such liberties and
enlargements as your patent affords,
"Our humble petition is that, as we are already, according to our best
information, under the skirts of your patent, so you would be pleased
to cast over us the skirts of your government and protection; for
assuredly if you should leave us now, which we hope we have not cause
to fear, our lives, comforts and estates will be much endangered, as
woful experience makes manifest. For a countryman of ours, for
carrying a message to a neighbor plantation, from some of yourselves,
has been imprisoned for several weeks, and how long it will be
continued we know not."
This last sentence had reference to John Christie. It must be admitted
that this was a very mild way of putting the question, when it is
remembered that he came, commissioned by the Connecticut authorities,
at least so he represented it, to announce to the people in the Dutch
settlements, that they were no longer under the Dutch government, but
under that of Hartford.
This petition was speedily followed by vigorous measures, which were
undoubtedly countenanced, if not authorized, by the Connecticut
authorities. One Richard Panton, "whose commission was his sword and
whose power his pistol," threatened the people of Flatbush and other
Dutch villages in the neighborhood, with the pillage of their property
unless they would take the oath of allegiance to the Hartford
government and take up arms against the Dutch provincial authorities.
Such were the news which first greeted Governor Stuyvesant when he
returned, not a little dispirited, from his unsuccessful mission to
Boston. He was fully aware that he could bring forward no physical
power which could resist the encroachments of his unscrupulous
neighbors. He had no weapon to which he could resort but diplomatic
skill. He accordingly immediately sent a deputation of four of his
principal men to Hartford, still to make another attempt with the
authorities there to settle the boundary question, "so that all
further disputes may, for the welfare of our mutual subjects, be
prevented."
The commissioners sailed from New Amsterdam and after two days landed
at Milford. Thence they took horses and rode to New Haven, where they
passed the night. The next day they rode to Hartford. The road through
the almost unbroken wilderness was rough and the journey very
fatiguing. It took our fathers four days to traverse the space over
which we can now easily pass in four hours. The General Assembly at
Hartford appointed three persons as a committee of conference to meet
the delegation from New Amsterdam. A long negotiation followed. John
Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, was then governor
of Connecticut. He seems to have been the worthy son of his noble
sire. His sense of justice disposed him to respect the claims of the
Dutch delegation. He admitted that the patent issued by the king of
England could by no justice rob the Dutch of their territory, and that
it was not so intended. But the Hartford commissioners were
inexorable. "The opinion of the governor," they said,
"is but the opinion of one man. The grant of the king of
England includes all the land south of the Boston line to
Virginia and to the Pacific Ocean. We do not know any New
Netherland, unless you can show a patent for it from the
king of England."
"But did you not," said the Dutch delegates
"agree by the treaty of 1650, that the boundary line on Long
Island should run from the western part of Oyster bay
straight across the island to the sea; and that the land
east of that line should belong to the English and west to
the Dutch?
"And did you not agree that, on the mainland, the boundary
line between the Dutch and English possessions should begin
upon the west side of Greenwich bay, running twenty miles
into the unknown interior, and that the region west of that
should belong to the Dutch?"
The emphatic reply to those questions was,
"We regard that treaty as an absolute nullity--of no force.
We shall govern ourselves entirely by the patent granted us
by his majesty the king of England. The Dutch may hold as
much as they now actually occupy. But that shall not hinder
us from taking possession of any territory not occupied by
them."
The Dutch then proposed, by way of compromise, that for the present,
Westchester should remain in possession of Connecticut, while the
towns on western Long Island should remain under the government of New
Netherland. To this the Hartford commissioners replied:
"We do not know of any province of New Netherland. There is
a Dutch governor over a Dutch plantation, on the island of
Manhattan. Long Island is included in our patent, and we
shall possess and maintain it."[11]
Thus repulsed at every point, the Dutch agents commenced their return.
They bore a letter to Stuyvesant from the General Assembly, in which,
withholding from him the title of governor of New Netherland, they
discourteously addressed him simply as "Director General at
Manhattan."
As we have mentioned, there were many English settlers in the Dutch
towns on the western end of Long Island. In some of them it is not
improbable that the English element predominated. In the letter sent
by the General Court to Governor Stuyvesant, it was stated that
Westchester and Stamford belonged to Connecticut; that, for the
present, the General Court would forbear from exercising any authority
over the English plantations on Long Island; but that, should the
Dutch molest the English there, the Connecticut authorities would use
all just and lawful means for their protection.
The situation of the Dutch province was now alarming in the extreme,
and Governor Stuyvesant was environed by difficulties which no mortal
sagacity or energy could surmount. His treasury was exhausted. The
English settlers in the Long Island villages, were in determined and
open revolt. And his English neighbors, whom he was altogether too
feeble to resist, were crowding upon him in the most merciless
encroachments.
Under these circumstances, he called a Convention, to consist of two
delegates from all the neighboring villages, to meet at New Amsterdam
on the 22d of October, 1663. Eight towns were represented.
The Convention adopted an earnest remonstrance to the authorities in
Holland, in which the disastrous situation of the province was mainly
attributed to their withholding that aid which was essential to the
maintenance of the colony.
"The people of Connecticut," the remonstrance stated,
"are enforcing their unlimited patent according to their own
interpretation, and the total loss of New Netherland is
threatened. The English, to cloak their plans, now object
that there is no proof, no legal commission or patent, from
their High Mightinesses, to substantiate and justify our
rights and claims to the property of this province, and
insinuate that through the backwardness of their High
Mightinesses to grant such a patent, you apparently intended
to place the people here on slippery ice, giving them lands
to which your honors had no right whatever."
Governor Stuyvesant sent with this remonstrance a private letter to
the home government, in which he urged that the boundary question
should be settled by the national authorities of the two countries.
"It is important," he said,
"that the States-General should send letters to the English
villages on Long Island, commanding them to return to their
allegiance. And that the objections of Connecticut may be
met, the original charter of the West India Company should
be solemnly confirmed by a public act of their High
Mightinesses, under their great seal, which an Englishman
commonly dotes upon like an idol."
Scarcely were these documents dispatched when new and still more
alarming outbreaks occurred. Two Englishmen, Anthony Waters of
Hempstead, and John Coe of Middlebury, with an armed force of nearly
one hundred men, visited most of what were called the English
villages, convoked the people, told them that their country belonged
to the king of England, and that they must no longer pay taxes to the
Dutch. They removed the magistrates and appointed their own partisans
in their stead. They then visited the Dutch towns and threatened them
with the severest vengeance if they did not renounce all allegiance to
the Dutch authorities, and take the oath of fealty to the king of
England.
Only four weeks after this, another party of twenty Englishmen from
Gravesend, Flushing and Jamaica, secretly entered Raritan river, in a
sloop, and sailing up the river several miles, assembled the chiefs of
some of the neighboring tribes, and endeavored to purchase of them a
large extent of territory in that region. They knew perfectly well not
only that they were within the bounds which had been the undisputed
possession of New Netherland for nearly half a century, but that the
Dutch had also purchased of the Indians all their title to these
lands.
Stuyvesant, being informed of this procedure, promptly sent Ensign
Crygier, with an armed force, in a swift sailing yacht, to find the
English and thwart their measures. At the same time he sent Hans, a
friendly Indian, in whom he could repose confidence, to warn the
sachems against selling over again, lands to which they no longer had
any title. The Dutch party reached the spot where the Englishmen and
the Indians were in council, just in time to stop the sale. The
Indians were shrewd enough to know that all they could give was a
"quit claim" title, and they were very willing to give that in view of
the rich remuneration which was offered them.
The English thus baffled, again took their sloop and sailed down the
bay, to a point between Rensselaer's Hook and Sandy Hook, where they
were about to renew their endeavors when Ensign Crygier again overtook
them. "You are traitors," he exclaimed. "You are acting against the
government to which you have taken the oath of fidelity." "This whole
country," they replied, "has been given to the English by his Majesty
the king of England."
Thus the antagonistic parties separated. The Dutch sloop returned to
New Amsterdam. The next day a number of sachems came to New Amsterdam
and sold to Governor Stuyvesant the remainder of the lands on the
Raritan, which had not previously been transferred to the Dutch.
One John Scott, an Englishman of turbulent character, and a zealous
royalist, petitioned king Charles Second to bestow upon him the
government of Long Island. In his petition, which was referred to the
Council for Foreign Plantations, he said:
"The Dutch have of late years, unjustly obtruded upon and
possessed themselves of certain places on the mainland of
New England, and some islands adjacent, as in particular on
Manhattan and Long Island, being the true and undoubted
inheritance of his Majesty."
In reply to this petition, Scott with two others, was appointed a
committee to prepare
"a statement of the English title to those lands; with an
account of the Dutch intrusion, their deportment since and
management of that possession, their strength, trade and
government there, and of the means to make them acknowledge
and submit to his Majesty's government or by force to
expulse them."
Armed with this authority, Scott came to America, where he was very
cordially received by the authorities in New Haven. Connecticut
invested him with the powers of a magistrate throughout the whole of
Long Island, and Governor John Winthrop administered to him the oath
of office. Scott entered vigorously upon his work of wresting western
Long Island from the dominion of the Dutch, whom he denounced as
"cruel and rapacious neighbors who were enslaving the English
settlers."
He visited most of the villages, where large numbers of the English
resided, but found that there was strong opposition to being annexed
to Connecticut. Many of them, particularly the Baptists and the
Quakers, were very unwilling to come under the rule of the Puritan
government.
Consequently, six of the towns, Hempstead, Gravesend, Flushing,
Middlebury, Jamaica and Oyster Bay, formed a combination to govern
themselves independently of Connecticut, and empowered Scott to act as
their President, until the king of England should establish a
permanent government among them. Scott in his pride now unfurled an
almost imperial banner. Placing himself at the head of one hundred and
seventy armed men, horse and foot, he set out to compel the
neighboring Dutch villages to renounce their allegiance to Holland and
to subject themselves to his sway.
He first marched upon Brooklyn. Summoning the citizens, he told them
that the soil they occupied belonged to the king of England, and that
he now claimed it as his own, and that they were consequently absolved
from all further allegiance to the Dutch government and were required
to take the oath of submission to the new government, now about to be
established over them.
Scott was accompanied by so powerful an armed force that the
magistrates could not arrest him. One of them, however, Secretary Van
Ruyven, invited him to cross the river to New Amsterdam and confer
with the governor there. Scott replied, "Let Stuyvesant come here with
a hundred men; I will wait for him and run my sword through his body."
There was no disposition manifested whatever, on the part of the
people, to renounce the government of their fathers and accept of that
of Scott in its stead. There was a little boy standing by, whose proud
and defiant bearing arrested the attention of Scott. He was a son of
the heroic Crygier, of whom we have before spoken. Scott ordered him
to take off his hat and bow to the flag of England. The boy refused.
Scott struck him. A bystander scornfully said, "If you have blows to
give, you should strike men, not boys."
Four of Scott's soldiers fiercely assailed the man, and though for a
moment he defended himself with an axe, he was soon compelled to fly.
Scott demanded his surrender and threatened to lay the town in ashes
unless he were given up. He was not surrendered, and Scott did not
venture to execute his barbarous threat.
From Brooklyn Scott went to Flatbush. He there unfurled the flag of
England in front of the house of the sheriff. Curiosity assembled a
large concourse to witness what was transpiring. Scott addressed them
at much length. "He jabbered away," writes a Dutch historian, "in
English, like a mountebank."
"This land," said he,
"which you now occupy, belongs to his Majesty, king Charles.
He is the right and lawful lord of all America, from
Virginia to Boston. Under his government you will enjoy more
freedom than you ever before possessed.
"Hereafter you shall pay no more taxes to the Dutch
government, neither shall you obey Peter Stuyvesant. He is
no longer your governor, and you are not to acknowledge his
authority. If you refuse to submit to the king of England,
you know what to expect."
His harangue produced no effect. The Dutch remained unshaken in their
loyalty. Some of the magistrates ventured to tell him that these were
matters which he ought to settle with Governor Stuyvesant. He replied,
"Stuyvesant is governor no longer. I will soon go to New
Amsterdam, with a hundred men, and proclaim the supremacy of
his Majesty, king Charles, beneath the very walls of the
fort."
The next day he went to Flatbush, where there was a renewal of the
scenes which we have above described. Though the people could present
no resistance, he found no voice to cheer him. The want of success
exasperated Scott. He went to New Utrecht. There was a block fort
there, armed with cannon, and over which floated the Dutch flag. He
hauled down that banner and raised in its stead the flag of England.
Then, with Dutch cannon and Dutch powder, he fired a salute in honor
of his victory. All passers-by were ordered to uncover their heads and
bow in submission to the English flag. Those who refused to do so were
pursued by his soldiers and cruelly beaten.
Governor Stuyvesant, upon being informed of these transactions,
immediately sent three of his principal men to Long Island, to seek
some arrangement with Scott for the termination of such disorders.
They met him at Jamaica. After much discussion they entered into a
partial agreement, which was to be submitted to the approval of
Governor Stuyvesant. As the Dutch deputies took their leave, Scott
said to them,
"This whole island belongs to the king of England. He has
made a grant of it to his brother, the duke of York. He
knows that it will yield him an annual revenue of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He is soon coming with
an ample force, to take possession of his property. If it is
not surrendered peaceably he is determined to take, not only
the whole island, but also the whole province of New
Netherland."
With these alarming tidings, the Dutch envoys returned to New
Amsterdam. Disorders were now rapidly multiplying. Scott rallied
around him all the most turbulent of the English population, and the
Dutch towns were menaced with violence. The Dutch families in the
English villages, were many of them compelled to abandon their houses,
and repair to the Dutch villages for protection. Frequent collisions
occurred. There was no longer any happiness or peace to be found in
these dwellings agitated by the approaching tempests of revolution.
The inhabitants of New Amsterdam became greatly alarmed from fear that
their rich and beautiful city would be attacked or plundered by the
English. The burgomasters and principal men drew up a petition to the
authorities urging additional fortifications for the city and the
enlistment of an increased armed force.
In this petition they said,
"this capital is adorned with so many noble buildings, at
the expense of so many good and faithful inhabitants,
principally Netherlanders, that it nearly excels any other
place in North America. Were it duly fortified it would
instil fear into any envious neighbors. It would protect
both the East and the North rivers, the surrounding villages
and farms, as well as full ten thousand inhabitants who
would soon flock to this province, where thousands of acres
of land remain wild and uncultivated. It would become the
granary of fatherland. Yes, if permitted to abide in peace
this land will become an emporium to fatherland by its
growing plantations."
In accordance with this memorial, heavy taxes were imposed and large
contributions subscribed to enlarge and strengthen the fortifications.
A militia of two hundred men was organized, and one hundred and sixty
were enlisted as regular soldiers.