1647. Wales, and himself, with some eighty others, were lost. The general opinion was, if we may credit Winthrop, that this calamity was a mark of divine displeasure against such as had opposed or injured God's "poor people of New England," so prone are men to pronounce harsh and uncharitable judgments respecting calamities which it pleases God to send upon individuals. On Stuyvesant's assuming the government, in May, 1647, the colony was far from being in a prosperous condition, as compared with Virginia and Maryland on the south, and New England on the north. The former numbered some twenty thousand inhabitants, and New England about as many; while New Netherland had hardly three thousand, including the Swedes on the Delaware. Beverswyck-the site of the present city of Albany-was a hamlet of ten houses; New Amsterdam was a village of wooden huts, with roofs of straw, and chimneys of mud and sticks, and a large proportion of rum-shops, and shops for the sale of tobacco and beer. On the western end of Long Island there were several plantations, but a considerable part of the inhabitants were English. The United Colonies of New England sent to Stuyvesant a congratula 1650. and it was not till September, 1650, that any award was effected by the arbitrators appointed by the respective litigants in the case. "By their award, all the eastern part of Long Island, composing the present county of Suffolk, was assigned to New England. The boundary between New Haven and New Netherland was to begin at Greenwich Bay, to run northerly twenty miles into the country, and beyond 'as it shall be agreed,' but nowhere to approach the Hudson nearer than ten miles. The Dutch retained their fort of Good Hope, with the lands appertaining to it; but all the rest of the territory on the river was assigned to Connecticut. Fugitives were to be mutually given up. 1651. Adventurers from New Haven undertook a fresh expedition to the Delaware, the question respecting which had unfortunately been left unsettled. Stuyvesant resisted this attempt instantly, seized upon the ship, detained the emigrants, and proceeded to build a fort-Fort Casimir—on the present site of Newcastle. This encrgetic conduct was denounced at New Haven as a violation of the late treaty, and fresh troubles sprang up in consequence. It was even contemplated to attempt the conquest of New Netherland, especially as at the time war had broken out between Cromwell and the Dutch, and inasmuch as it was alleged that there was a plot between the Dutch and the Narragansetts to murder the entire body of English colonists. Massachusetts refusing to join Hildreth's "History of the United States," vol. i., p. 438 CH. X.1 in any 1652. STUYVESANT'S ADMINISTRATION. such scheme, it came to nought. The inhabitants of New Amsterdam, having obtained by petition to the authorities at home, certain municipal privileges, were desirous of proceeding still further in the path of popular liberty. A convention of two delegates from each village assembled, and were disposed to demand for the people a share in legislation and the appointment of magistrates. Sturdy old Stuyvesant dissolved the convention, rejected their demand as absurd and presumptuous, and gave them to understand that he needed no help from the ignoble crowd to sustain his authority, or aid him in the discharge of his duties. His conduct and bearing were highly approved by the Company in Holland. The Swedes by a stratagem, got possession of Fort Casimir; but as Sweden no longer held the rank of a 1653. 1654. formidable power, the Company directed Stuyvesant to subdue the Swedes and take possession of the South Bay and River. The year following, the Director embarked for the Delaware with a force of six hundred men, and without difficulty accomplished his object, so that New Sweden became again a part of New Netherland. 1655. 87 claiming the territory as within the limits of that colony, and the 1659. Dutch stoutly denying the Maryland claim, and insisting upon their right of prior occupancy. Further difficulties, too, occurred this year (1659) with the Indians, whose thirst for blood was stimulated by selling or giving to them the poisonous "firewater." Murders on their part were followed by retaliatory steps on the part of the Dutch, and many lives were lost in consequence. A peace was made the next year; but in 1663, the savages, who had been waiting an opportunity to revenge the sending away some Indians by Stuyvesant to the West Indies, attacked the settlers at Esopus with unpitying fury. Late in that year the Indians were nearly all subdued, and tranquillity was restored for the time. The dispute with Maryland was vexatious and troublesome, but, comparatively, was of small moment: it was the restless New England spirit which seemed destined to be the plague of Stuyvesant's life. Connecticut was eager in the pursuit of territory, and on obtaining a royal charter, 1662. began to press a claim to Long Island, Westchester, and in fact, all the land east of the Hudson. Stuyvesant went to Boston, and sent agents to Hartford: the New Englanders spoke fairly, but their actions still excited the suspicions of the old soldier; and despite his contempt for popular assemblies, he was fain to ask the advice of the people in the emergency. Unfortunately the Assembly could not yield him any assistance: the 1663. days of New Netherland were num- he sent, in concert with the deputies, bered. to request of the English commander the reason of his hostile appearance. Nichols replied by asserting the claims of England, and demanding an immediate surrender of New Amsterdam on condition that the lives, liberties, and property of the inhabitants should be respected. Stuyvesant retorted by a spirited protest, detailing the manner in which the Dutch had obtained a lawful possession of the country, affecting to doubt whether, "if his Majesty of Great Britain were well informed of such passages, he would not be too 1664. The English claim, such as it was, to the territory occupied by the Dutch, it will be remembered, had never been given up; it was now determined to enforce that claim by something more cogent than words.* The Duke of York had bought up the claims of Lord Stirling, under grants which he had received from the extinct Council of New England; and in March, 1664, he had received from his brother, Charles II., a charter for a large and valuable tract between the Connecticut and the Delaware princi-judicious to grant such an order" as pally, and swallowing up entirely New Netherland. NEW YORK was the name bestowed upon this new province. Prompt measures were adopted. Three ships, with six hundred soldiers, having on board Colonel Richard Nichols, Colonel George Cartwright, Sir Robert Carr, and Samuel Maverick as commissioners, were dispatched in August, 1664, to seize upon New Netherland for the Duke of York. Rumors of their design had indeed reached that city, but no effectual defence had been, or indeed could be, attempted by the Dutch. Stuyvesant endeavored to awaken the spirit of the inhabitants to a gallant defence, by recalling to them the recent heroic struggle of the fatherland against the Spaniards, but he met but with a feeble response. Determined at least to put a bold front upon the matter, *Chalmers, who writes with strong English feel that by which he was summoned, especially in a time of profound peace; and reminding the commissioners, that it was "a very considerable thing to af front so mighty a state as Holland, although it were not against an ally and confederate." Neither argument nor threats produced, however, any effect upon the English commander, who refused to protract the negotiation, and threatened an immediate attack upon the city. Mortifying as it was to an old soldier to surrender without a struggle, Stuyvesant was compelled to submit to circumstances; the majority of the inhabitants were unwilling to run the risk of an assault to which they could not hope to offer any effectual opposition, in defence of a government with which they were discontented, and against another which many among them were secretly disposed to welcome. A liberal capitulation was ar ing and prejudices, goes so far as to state that the ranged; the rights and privileges of settlement of New Netherland was in violation of the law of nations! See his "Introduction to the Revolt of the American Colonies," vol. i., p. 116. the inhabitants were guaranteed; and New Amsterdam quietly passed into CH. X.] CLAIM OF JUSTICE FOR THE DUTCH. the possession of the bold invaders. A few days after, Fort Orange, on the Hudson, capitulated, and the name Albany was bestowed upon it. 1664. A treaty was here concluded with the chiefs of the Five Nations, whose hostilities had occasioned so much distress to the Dutch. Sir Robert Carr meanwhile entered the Delaware, and plundering and ill using the Dutch, soon reduced them to submission. Thus it was that, by a claim firmly persisted in, and enforced without the shedding of a single drop of blood, New Netherland became an integral part of the growing and important colonial empire of England. The Dutch inhabitants readily acquiesced in the change of rulers, and even the sturdy Governor Stuyvesant, attached to the country, spent the remainder of his life in New York. It seems but fair, at this point in the history of New York, to quote the words of Mr. Brodhead, who claims that the Dutch have hardly received justice at the hands of American historians. "The reduction of NEW NETHERLAND was now accomplished. All that could be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the most bigotted princes in English history, the royal province was ordered to be called NEW YORK. The flag of England was at length triumphantly displayed, where, for half a century, that of Holland had rightfully waved; and, from Virginia to Canada the King of Great Britain was acknowledged as sovereign. This treacherous and violent seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsus VOL. I.-14 89 pecting ally was no less a breach of private justice than of public faith. It may, indeed, be affirmed, that among all the acts of selfish perfidy which royal ingratitude conceived and executed, there have been few more characteristic, and none more base. The emigrants who first explored the coasts and reclaimed the soil of New Netherland, and bore the flag of Holland to the wigwams of the Iroquois, were generally bluff, plainspoken, earnest, yet unpresumptuous men, who spontaneously left their native land to better their condition, and bind another province to the United Netherlands. They brought over with them the liberal ideas, and honest maxims, and homely virtues of their country. They came with no loud-sounding pretensions to grandeur in purpose, eminence in holiness, or superiority in character. They were more accustomed to do than to boast; nor have their descendants been ambitious to invite and appropriate excessive praise for the services their ancestors rendered in extending the limits of Christendom, and in stamping upon America its distinguishing features of freedom in religion, and liberality in political faith. Much of what has been written of American history has been written by those who, from habit or prejudice, have been inclined to magnify the influence, and extol the merit of the AngloSaxon race, at the expense of every other element which has assisted to form the national greatness. In no particular has this been more remarkable than in the unjust view which has so often been taken of the founders of New York. Holland has long been a theme for the ridicule of British writers; and even in this country, the character and manners of the Dutch have been made the subjects of an unworthy depreciation, caused, perhaps, in some instances, by too ready an imitation of those provincial chroniclers who could see little good in their 'noxious neighbors' of New Netherland."* 1664. which finally broke out into open insurrection. The Assembly convened at Elizabethtown, deposed Philip Carteret, who was compelled to fly, and elected James Carteret in his place. The latter had been active in encouraging the agitation and insurrection. One of the earliest measures adopted by the Duke of York, in behalf of the new State called by his name, was the passing a code embodying many valuNew Jersey was established at this able privileges and customs derived from date. The country between the Hud- local experience, and adapted to the son and the Delaware had been con- wants of the colonists, trial by jury veyed by the Duke of York to being among them. That democratic Lord Berkeley and Sir George spirit, however, which had led the inCarteret. This latter had been gov- habitants of the colony to rebel against ernor of the Island of Jersey during the severe government of Stuyvesant, the civil war, and thus the name of the and to welcome the English rule as pronew province was derived. As this ex-mising a more liberal policy, dissatisfied tensive tract was thinly inhabited, the and disappointed with these concessions policy of the proprietaries led them alone, vented itself in angry and bitter to offer the most favorable terms to remonstrances against a system no less. settlers. Absolute freedom of wor- despotic than the former. The mership, and a colonial Assembly, having chants felt themselves oppressed by the sole power of taxation, and a share fresh duties, which, to swell the coffers in the legislation of the province, were of the Duke of York, were levied upon among the principal inducements. Many their imports and exports. Thus at the were attracted to New Jersey, and it moment when, war having been dewas thought to be almost a paradise, on clared between England and Holland, account of the liberality of its institu- in 1673, through the artifices of Louis tions and the beauty of the climate. XIV., a Dutch fleet suddenly appeared before the city, a general disaffection prevailed amongst the citizens, and Colonel Manning, who, in the absence of the governor, Lovelace, held possession of the fort with a small body of English soldiers, surrendered without resistance. He was afterwards adjudged guilty by a court martial of cowardice Philip Carteret had been appointed governor, much to the discontent of Nichols, who protested in vain against this encroachment upon his jurisdiction. Carteret's attempt to collect the quit-rents for the proprietaries in 1670, caused much discontent, 1670. * Brodhead's “ History of the State of New York," and treachery. For awhile New York First Period, p. 745–750. again became a Dutch city, and was |