1642. CHAP. X. conceived in an enlarged and liberal spirit, the Twelve Men added two others, dictated by a short-sighted impolicy. As some kinds of cattle imported from Holland had fallen in value, in consequence of the sale of English stock within New Netherland, they asked that, in future, English traders should be allowed to introduce oxen and poultry only, and should be forbidden to sell cows or goats. And, to prevent the currency of the province being exported, they solicited that its nominal value should be increased. Kieft's concessions. Kieft's jealousy was aroused by the demands of the popular delegates; but he saw the imprudence of refusing any concessions. He replied, that he had already written to Holland, and expected, by the first ships, "some persons of quality," and "a complete council." The "common men” had been called upon because the council was so small; but the commonalty might now choose four persons "to help in maintaining justice for them." Two of these persons should be changed every year; they should be called into council "when need required," and certain times in the year should also be appointed for them to assemble together "upon public affairs," and advise upon specific propositions-"thus far their authority should extend." With respect to the Twelve Men, added the director, “I am not aware that they have received from the commonalty larger powers than simply to give their advice respecting the murder of the late Claes Smits." An annual muster of the militia should be required; but as the company was bound to provide ammunition only in cases of emergency, he could not furnish powder merely for practice. The freemen could not be allowed to visit vessels arriving from abroad; it would be contrary to the company's instructions, and "would lead to disorder," especially as several prizes were soon expected in port. The inhabitants might, however, freely trade with neighboring friendly colonies, upon condition of paying the company's recognitions, and abstaining from trade with the enemy. The English should be prohibited, in future, from selling cows and sheep within New Netherland; and the value CHAP. X. of the provincial currency should be raised. The action monalty ous. 1642. Thus ended the first attempt to ingraft upon New Netherland the franchises of the Fatherland. The demand of of the comthe commonalty was the spontaneous act of the emigrants spontane from Holland, who composed the Twelve Select Men of the Province. It was prompted by no desire to imitate any other form of government than that to which they had been accustomed in their Fatherland. solves the Men." But Kieft was no friend to popular reform. He had secured the assent of the representatives of the people to the hostilities which he longed to commence against the savages. In return, a reluctant promise of very limited concessions had been extorted, which, if he ever intended to do it, the event proved he never did fulfill. He there- Kieft disfore ́determined to save himself from further embarrass- "Twelve ment by dissolving the Twelve Men. A proclamation was 18 Feb. presently issued, thanking them for their advice in respect to the war against the savages, which would be adopted, "with God's help and in fitting time;" and forbidding the calling of any assemblies or meetings of the people without an express order of the director, as they "tend to dangerous consequences, and to the great injury both of the country and of our authority."* Unsuccess tion against quaes The director did not delay the execution of his cherish- March. ed design, which the people had now formally sanctioned. ful expediEarly the next month, an expedition of eighty men was the Weckdispatched against the Weck quaesgeeks, with orders to geeks. punish that tribe with fire and sword. Kieft did not head the forces in person, but intrusted the command to Ensign Hendrick van Dyck, who had now been about two years in garrison service at Fort Amsterdam. A guide, who professed a full knowledge of the country, accompanied the expedition, which pressed on vigorously toward the enemy's village. Crossing the Haerlem River, Van Dyck arrived in the evening at Armenperal,† where he halted his * Hol. Doc., iii., 175-180, 214, 215; O'Call., i., 244–249; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 9. †This was the Sprain River, which rises back of Dobbs's Ferry, and empties into the Bronx.-Bolton, ii., 490, 491. 1642. CHAP. X. command. The men were eager to push on before the savages should be warned of their coming. But more than an hour was lost by delay; night set in dark and clouded; and the guide missed his way. Van Dyck, in the midst of embarrassment, losing his temper, ordered a retreat; and the expedition, which Kieft had dispatched to lay waste the wigwams of the West Chester savages, returned to Fort Amsterdam in all the mortification of fail Treaty with the Weck quaesgeeks ure. Yet a fortunate result followed. The Indians, alarmed at the danger to which the trail of the white men showed them they had been exposed, sent to ask for peace. Van Tienhoven, the provincial secretary, was therefore dispatchat Bronx ed to West Chester, and a treaty was made with the Weckquaesgeeks, on the Bronx River, at the house of the pioneer colonist, Jonas Bronck. The Indians bound themselves to surrender the murderer of Smits; but they never fulfilled their promise.* River. Hostile temper of the Connecticut Indians. The settlement at The treaty with the Weckquaesgeeks had scarcely been concluded before rumors began to spread that the Connecticut savages were meditating a bloody vengeance against the European colonists. Uncas, the chief of the Mohegans, who was in high favor with the English for his assistance in exterminating the Pequods, sought to discredit. his rival Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narragansetts; and accused him of combining with the sachems on the Connecticut, to destroy the colonists throughout New England. Anxiety and alarm prevailed; Hartford and New Haven concerted measures of defense; and a constant vigilance was thought indispensable to the security of the English plantations.† Under these circumstances, Captain Patrick and his Greenwich friends, who had now been established about two years at' the Dutch. Greenwich, determined to submit themselves to the government of New Netherland. They declared that they submits to * De Vries, 164; Journal van N. N.; Hol. Doc., iii., 107, 146, 166, 371, Alb. Rec., ii., 202; iii., 25; Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv., 9. Hol. Doc., iii., 106, 107; Col. Rec. Conn., 71, 73; Winthrop, ii., 78, 79, 80-84 ; Trumbull, i., 121; Hutchinson, i., 108, 109; Hubbard's Indian Wars, 42. 1642. could no longer remain usurpers against the "lawful CHAP. X. rights" of the Dutch, on account "both of the strifes of the English, the danger consequent thereon, and these treacherous and villainous Indians, of whom we have seen sorrowful examples enough." Patrick, therefore, went to 9 April. Fort Amsterdam, and, for himself and his associates at Greenwich, swore allegiance to the States General, the West India Company, and the Dutch colonial authorities, upon condition of being protected against their enemies as much as possible, and of enjoying the same privileges "that all patroons of New Netherland have obtained agreeably to the Freedoms."* intoleranco chusetts. The Puritan colonists, who, in their new home in Amer- Religious ica, were exulting over the fall of Laud, had, meanwhile, of Massabeen reading a significant lesson to the world. In their turn, the founders of Massachusetts became persecutors; and, so far from recognizing the grand principle of the freedom of every one's conscience, required the submission of all to their peculiar ecclesiastical system. "The arm of the civil government," says Judge Story, "was constantly employed in support of the denunciations of the Church; and, without its forms, the Inquisition existed in substance, with a full share of its terrors and its violence."† Williams. A shining mark was soon offered. Among the earliest who followed Winthrop to Massachusetts was Roger Will- Roger iams, "a young minister, godly, zealous, having many precious parts." Revolving the nature of intolerance, his capacious mind found a sole remedy for it in "the sanctity of conscience." "The civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control opinion." The mind of Williams, however, was in advance of the spirit of his neighbors. His ideas of intellectual liberty" shocked the religious despotism of Massachusetts; and the General Court sen- 1635. tenced him to depart out of their jurisdiction within six to weeks, "all the ministers, save one, approving the sen-sachusetts. tence." Flying to the South, the exile wandered through *Hol. Doc., ix., 204; O'Call., i., 252; Hazard, ii., 214; ante, p. 296. "Captain's Island," on which stands the light-house off Greenwich, no doubt derived its name from Captain Patrick. + Story's Miscellanies, 66. Winthrop, i., 171. October. Exiled from Mas CHAP. X. the forests, in mid-winter, for fourteen weeks, until at last he found a refuge in the wigwam of the chief of Pokanoket. The next summer, the father of Rhode Island laid the foundations of Providence; desiring, he said, "it might be a shelter for persons distressed for conscience.”* 1636. January. June. Founds Providence. Anne Hutchinson. The banishment of Williams was soon followed by other persecutions in Massachusetts. Anne Hutchinson, for maintaining "the paramount authority of private judg ment," was denounced as "weakening the hands and hearts of the people toward the ministers," and as being 1637. "like Roger Williams, or worse." She was, therefore, exNovember. communicated, and, with several of her friends, banished, Banished. as "unfit for the society" of their fellow-citizens. The ex August. iles instinctively followed the footsteps of Williams. His 1638. influence aided them in obtaining from the chief of the 24 March. Narragansetts the cession of the island of Adquidnecke, Rhode Isl- which, from its "reddish appearance," its early Dutch ed. discoverers had named the "Roode," or Red Island. A 1641. form of government, resting on "the principle of intellect and found March. Proposed emigra Massachu setts to New Netherland. ual liberty," was soon established; and the first Democratic Constitution of Rhode Island nobly ordained that "none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine;" and declared that "liberty of conscience was perpetuated."+ a The same spirit which had driven Williams and Hutchtions from inson from Massachusetts soon brought to Manhattan " number of Englishmen" from Lynn and Ipswich, to "solicit leave to settle" among the Dutch, and to treat with the director for a patent for lands on Long Island. Kieft readily agreed to grant them all the franchises which the charter of 1640 allowed. Upon condition of their taking an oath of allegiance to the States General and the West. vincial gov- India Company, they were to have the free exercise of religion, a magistracy nominated by themselves and approved by the director, the right to erect towns, lands free of rent for ten years, and "an unshackled commerce, in conformity to the privileges of New Netherland."‡ 6 June. Liberality of the Dutch pro ernment. * Bradford; Winthrop, i., 171; Backus, i., 94; Bancroft, i., 366, 367, 379. + Hutchinson, ii., 447; R. I. Records; Bancroft, i., 388, 392, 393; Chalmers, 271; ante, Alb. Rec., ii., 122, 123, 169; O'Call., i., 237. p. 58. |