Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam Part 19

A solemn treaty was soon negotiated. It was signed the next day, and the event was celebrated by salvos of artillery. On the whole, the terms were fair, but rather hard for the Indians. The treaty is concisely given by O'Callaghan in the following words:

"By its terms all that had pa.s.sed was to be forever forgotten and forgiven. The land, already given to the Dutch as an indemnity, and now again conquered by the sword, the two forts belonging to the Indians included, became the property of the Christians. The savages were not to return thither to plant, nor to visit the village, or any remote Dutch settlements with or without arms. But as it was not intended to expel them altogether from the country, they were permitted to plant near their new fort, and this year only, by their old castle, as they had already placed some seed in the ground there. But the lands, in the neighborhood of these forts, having been conquered, were to belong to the Dutch.

"To prevent all future collision, no savage should hereafter approach the place where the Christians were ploughing, pasturing, sowing or engaged in agricultural labor. The violation of this article was to subject them to arrest.

They might sell meat or maize at the Ronduit, in parties of three canoes at a time, but only on condition that they sent a flag of truce beforehand to give notice of their approach.

For their accommodation, on such occasions, a house was to be built beyond the kill.

"Should a Dutchman kill an Indian, or an Indian a Dutchman, no war was to be declared. A complaint was to be lodged against the murderer, who should be hanged in the presence of both the contracting parties. All damages, by the killing of cattle, were to be paid for; and this treaty was to be annually ratified by the Esopus Indians. The Hackingsack and Staten Island sachems were security for the faithful observance of this contract; and were bound to co-operate against either the Esopus Indians or the Dutch, whichever might violate its terms."

The peace thus secured gave universal satisfaction in the Dutch settlements. Governor Stuyvesant devoutly proclaimed a day of general thanks giving to G.o.d for the great blessing.

It will be remembered that John Scott had received a commission from Connecticut, and it was expected that, as their agent, he would cause the English towns on western Long Island to be annexed to the Connecticut province. Instead of this, those towns declared themselves independent, and Scott allowed himself to be chosen their president.

The Court at Hartford, upon being made acquainted with these facts, was very indignant. A proclamation was soon issued by the a.s.sembly of Connecticut, charging Scott with various high crimes and misdemeanors, and ordering his arrest. A party of soldiers was sent under the command of John Allyn, secretary, "to seize on the body of John Scott." Mr. Allyn returned to the Honorable Court the following interesting report of his procedure on the occasion:

"When we came within sight of the house of John Scott we saw him draw forth those men which came from New Haven to aid him, with some others, unto a body. When we came up towards the house, within twenty or thirty rods thereof. John Scott commanded us, in his Majesty's name to stand, upon our peril. John Scott charged us in his Majesty's name, to get off from his land. John Scott desired to know what our business was.

"Then it was replied, by Nathaniel Seely, that he desired a parley. John Scott granted a parley, and we met, each of us with a couple of musketeers. Then Nathaniel Seely told him that he had come to arrest him, and read the commission unto him. When it was read Seely demanded of him whether he would surrender himself according to commission?

"John Scott replied that he would sacrifice his heart's blood on the ground, before he would yield to him or any of Connecticut jurisdiction. With that the New Haven men answered, 'So will we.' John Scott said, 'Stay awhile and I will fetch you a letter, from under Governor Winthrop's hand, which I do not question much will satisfy you.' So he went into the house and fetched it forth and read it before us, bearing date as he said, of March 25, 1664.

"It was concerning the governor's desiring him to meet him to end some difference in the Narragansett country about a tract of land. John Scott said, 'If you will return to your body, I will fetch a commission under his Majesty's hand, which shall command you all.' Whereupon he made a flourish and said that he would go down unto the face of the company and read it, and he would see if the proudest of them all dared to lay hands upon him. 'Let them,' said he, 'take me if they dare.'

"Then he came down to the head of the company, and read the commission, which he said had the seal manual upon it.

Whereupon he renewed his challenge that he would see if the proudest of them all dared to lay hands upon him. Then Nathaniel Seely arrested him in his Majesty's name to go with him according to law."

Scott was taken to Hartford and thrown into jail, where, it is said, he experienced much harsh usage. Soon after this Governor John Winthrop, from Hartford, visited the English Long Island towns, removed the officers appointed by Scott, and installed others who would be devoted to the interests of Connecticut.

Governor Stuyvesant being informed of his presence, immediately crossed the East river to Long Island, to meet the Connecticut governor, who was thus encroaching upon the Dutch domains. He urged upon Governor Winthrop the claims of Holland upon New Netherland, by the apparently indubitable t.i.tle of discovery, purchase and possession, as well as by the clearly defined obligations of the Hartford treaty of 1650. It will be remembered that by that treaty it was expressly agreed that,

"Upon Long Island a line run from the westernmost part of Oyster Bay, in a straight and direct line to the sea, shall be the bounds between the English and the Dutch there; the easterly part to belong to the English, the westernmost part to the Dutch."

But here was Governor Winthrop, in total disregard of this treaty, many miles west of this line, endeavoring to wrest several towns from the Dutch dominion, and to annex them to the Connecticut colony. All Governor Stuyvesant's arguments were unavailing. Governor Winthrop paid no heed to them. He knew very well that the Dutch governor had no military power with which to enforce his claims. Governor Winthrop therefore contented himself with simply declaring that the whole of Long Island belonged to the king of England.

"All Governor Stuyvesant could address, writes O'Callaghan,

"was of no avail. The country was the king's, the people his subjects. When priority of t.i.tle from the Indians was invoked, those from whom the Dutch purchased were, it was replied, not the right owners and had no right to sell. But when deeds which the English held from natives, happened to be older than those of their opponents, then the t.i.tle could not be gainsayed. All must be received without contradiction.

"The truth is, the Directors in Holland were mistaken in their reliance upon Winthrop's friends.h.i.+p. He now manifested the greatest hostility to the Dutch, and was the head and front of all the opposition they experienced. He was no doubt well-advised of the designs of the Duke of York, and of his brother the king of England, which were about to develop themselves against this province."

While New Netherland was thus fearfully menaced by England, the internal affairs of the province were in a state of prosperity. The rich soil was producing abundant harvests and farms were extending in all directions. Emigrants were continually arriving and were delighted with their new homes. The population of the province now amounted to full ten thousand. New Amsterdam was a flouris.h.i.+ng city, containing fifteen hundred inhabitants.

This prosperity excited both the jealousy and the covetousness of the British court. The king resolved, by one bold blow, to rob Holland of all her American possessions. On the 12th of March, 1664, the king of England granted to his brother James, the Duke of York, the whole of Long Island, all the islands in its neighborhood, and all the lands and rivers from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware Bay. This sweeping grant included the whole of New Netherland. This was emphatically expelling the Dutch from the New World.

The first intimation Governor Stuyvesant received of this alarming movement came to him from Boston. A young man, named Ford, brought the tidings to New Amsterdam that a fleet of armed s.h.i.+ps had sailed from the naval depot in Portsmouth, England, to enter the Hudson river and take possession of the whole territory. This intelligence created not a little panic. The governor summoned his council, and it was decided to exert every energy in fortifying the city. The hostile fleet might make its appearance any day.

Money was raised. Powder was ordered from the forts on the Delaware.

Agents were sent to New Haven to purchase provisions. As it was expected that the fleet would come through the Sound, agents were stationed along the sh.o.r.e, to transmit the tidings of its approach, so soon as the sails should be seen in the distant horizon. Several vessels on the point of sailing with supplies to Curacoa were detained.

So secretly had the British government moved in this enterprise, that the governmental authorities, in Holland, had not the slightest suspicion of the peril to which their colony in New Netherland was exposed. At the moment when all was agitation in New Amsterdam, and every hand was busy preparing for the defence, Governor Stuyvesant received dispatches from Holland, a.s.suring him that no apprehension of danger from England need be entertained.

"The king of England," it was said,

"is only desirous of reducing his colonies to uniformity in Church and State. With this view he has dispatched some commissioners with two or three frigates, to New England, to introduce Episcopacy in that quarter."

It was supposed in Holland, that this intolerant policy would strengthen the Dutch interests in America; that the religious freedom, which the States-General insisted upon, would invite to New Netherland from all the countries of Europe, those who were not willing to conform to the doctrines and ritual of the Church of England.

Governor Stuyvesant, upon receiving these dispatches from the home government, felt relieved of all anxiety. He had no doubt that the previous rumor which had reached him was false. Neither he nor his council antic.i.p.ated any difficulty. The whole community indulged in the sense of security. The work on the fortifications was stopped; the vessels sailed to Curacoa, and the governor went up the river to fort Orange. A desolating war had broken out between the Indian tribes there, which raged with such ferocity that the colonists were full of alarm for their own lives and property.

But the English fleet was rapidly approaching. It consisted of four frigates, containing in all an armament of ninety-four guns. This was a force to which defenceless New Amsterdam could present no resistance.

The fleet put into Boston the latter part of July, and the commissioners applied to both Ma.s.sachusetts and Connecticut for aid in their military expedition against the Dutch. But the Puritans of Ma.s.sachusetts found innumerable obstacles in the way of rendering any a.s.sistance. They feared that the king of England, having reduced the Dutch, would be induced to extend his arbitrary sway, both civil and religious, over those colonists who were exiles from their native land, simply that they might enjoy freedom to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d.

Connecticut, however, hoped that the conquest of New Netherland might annex the magnificent domain to their own region. Governor Winthrop, of Hartford, manifested so much alacrity in the cause, that he was invited to meet the British squadron, at the west end of Long Island, to which point it would sail with the first fair wind.

Colonel Richard Nicholls was in command of the expedition. Three commissioners were a.s.sociated with him. They had received instructions to visit the several New England colonies, and to require them, "to join and a.s.sist vigorously in reducing the Dutch to subjection." The Duke of York, soon after the departure of the squadron, conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all the territory between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, from Cape May north to forty-one degrees and forty minutes of lat.i.tude, "hereafter to be called Nova Caesarea or New Jersey."

A friend of Governor Stuyvesant, in Boston, sent word to New Amsterdam of the arrival of the fleet and its destination. An express was instantly dispatched to Albany to recall the Governor. He hurried back to the capitol, much chagrined by the thought that he had lost three weeks. Every able-bodied man was immediately summoned to work at the city defences, "with spade, shovel and wheelbarrow." This working party was divided into three cla.s.ses, one of which was to labor every day. A permanent guard was organized. The brewers were forbidden to malt any more grain, that it all might be reserved for food. Six pieces of cannon were added to the fourteen already mounted. The garrison at Esopus was summoned to the defence.

About the 20th of August, the English squadron anch.o.r.ed in Nyack Bay, just below the Narrows, between New Utrecht and Coney Island. A strict blockade of the river was established. All communication between Long Island and Manhattan was cut off. Several vessels were captured. Upon Staten Island, about three miles from where the frigates rode at anchor, there was a small fort, a block-house, about twenty feet square. It had been constructed for defence against the savages. For its armament it had two small guns, carrying one pound b.a.l.l.s, and a garrison of six old invalid soldiers. A party was sent on sh.o.r.e, in the boats, which captured the fort and also a lot of cattle.

The next morning, which was Sat.u.r.day, Colonel Nicholls sent a delegation of four men up to fort Amsterdam, with a summons for the surrender of "the town situated on the island commonly known by the name of Manhattoes, with all the forts thereunto belonging." At the same time proclamations were scattered abroad, forbidding the farmers from furnis.h.i.+ng any supplies to the Dutch garrison, under penalty of having their houses fired. All the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, who would quietly submit to his Britannic Majesty, were promised the safe possession of their property. Those who should otherwise demean themselves were threatened with all the miseries of war.

Governor Stuyvesant had but one hundred soldiers in garrison. He could not place much reliance upon the aid of undisciplined citizens. Still his brave spirit was disposed to present a desperate resistance. He called his council together, but was unwilling to have the people know the nature of the summons, lest they should clamor for a surrender.

But the citizens held a meeting, voted in favor of non-resistance, and demanded an authentic copy of the communication, which had been received from the commander of the English fleet. They adjourned to meet on Monday morning to receive the reply. Governor Stuyvesant was greatly distressed. After the Sabbath he went to the meeting in person, and endeavored to convince those present of the impropriety of their demands. But the citizens, trembling in view of the bombardment of the town, were in no mood to listen to his persuasions.

It was not needful for the English to be in any hurry. The prey was entirely within their grasp. It will be remembered that Governor Winthrop of Hartford, had joined the expedition. Colonel Nicholls addressed a letter to Governor Winthrop, requesting him to visit the city under a flag of truce, and communicate the contents to Governor Stuyvesant. The Dutch governor came out of the fort to receive the letter, and then returned into the fort to read it. The following was the letter:

"Mr. Winthrop:--

"As to those particulars you spoke to me, I do a.s.sure you that if the Manhadoes be delivered up to his Majesty, I shall not hinder but any people from the Netherlands may freely come and plant there or thereabouts. And such vessels of their own country, may freely come thither. And any of them may as freely return home, in vessels of their own country; and this and much more is contained in the privilege of his Majesty's English subjects. This much you may, by what means you please, a.s.sure the governor from, Sir, your affectionate servant,

"Richard Nicholls.

"August 22, 1664. O.S."

The Council demanded that this letter should be exhibited to the people. The governor refused, saying that it would be quite unfavorable to the defence to communicate such intelligence to the inhabitants. As the council persisted, the governor, in a pa.s.sion, tore up the letter and trampled it beneath, his feet. The rumor spread rapidly that a flag of truce had come.

The citizens collected in a large and excited gathering, and sent a delegation of three persons to demand of the governor the communication which he had received from the hostile fleet. Threats were uttered. Curses were heard. Resistance was declared to be madness. The universal voice clamored for the letter. The community was upon the eve of mutiny.

At length Stuyvesant yielded. A copy of the letter was made out from the fragments, and it was read to the people. This increased their disposition to capitulate. Still the indomitable governor could not endure the thought of surrendering the majestic province of New Netherland to a force of four frigates. He regarded the movement, on the part of the English, as an atrocious act of highway robbery. But he was well aware that there was no escape from the sacrifice.

In the night he sent a vessel, "silently through h.e.l.l Gate," to the Directors in Holland, with the following laconic dispatch. "Long Island is gone and lost. The capitol cannot hold out long." When a man's heart is broken his words are few.

Much of the night the governor spent in drawing up a strong remonstrance, in answer to the message of Colonel Nicholls. All the argument was with the Dutch. All the force was with the English. But when argument and force come into collision in this wicked world, argument must generally yield.

In the very able manifesto of the governor, he traced the history of the country from the earliest period to the present time. He deduced the t.i.tle of the Dutch, to the territory, from the three great principles of Discovery, Settlement, and Purchase from the Indians. He severely denounced the pretence, now put forth by the English, that his, "Britannic Majesty had an indisputable right to all the lands in the north parts of America." Courteously he added that he was confident that if his Majesty had been well informed in the premises, his high sense of justice would have dissuaded him from authorizing the present hostile demonstration. In conclusion he said,