CHAP. X. erty was not to be injured; but the commissary was to "remain master," and, above all, "maintain the reputation of their High Mightinesses, and the noble directors of the West India Company." 1642. The English settle ments broken up. Lamberton to account Lam Jansen executed his orders promptly. The settlement on the Schuylkill was broken up at once. That on the Varkens' Kill, or Salem Creek, was next visited, and, with the hearty co-operation of the Swedes, who had agreed with Kieft "to keep out the English," the intruders were expelled. The trespassers were conveyed to Fort Amster 28 August. dam, and from there sent back to New Haven. compelled berton, however, persisting in trading at the South River, at Manhat- was soon afterward arrested at Manhattan, on his return to New Haven, and compelled to give an account of his peltries, and pay duties on his cargo. The New Haven people protested, and threatened retaliation. But Kieft furnished the Dutch who had occasion to visit the "Red Hills" with passports, in which he boldly avowed his own responsibility for all that had happened. The damages which the English sustained at the South River were estimated at one thousand pounds; but though they complained bitterly, they never obtained redress.* tan. Difficulties at Hartford. Eve The difficulties between the Dutch garrison at the Hope and the English at Hartford continued unabated. ry vexation that ingenuity could contrive was practiced against the Hollanders, who, on the other hand, were charged with enticing away and sheltering the servants of the English colonists; with helping prisoners in jail to escape; and with purchasing and retaining goods stolen from the English. Under these circumstances, Kieft, findbids inter- ing that his protests were of no effect, had recourse to reHartford. taliatory measures; and all trade and commercial intercourse with the Hartford people, in the neighborhood of the Dutch post, was formally prohibited.† 3 April. Kieft for course with * Alb. Rec., ii., 162, 164, 177, 185; Acrelius; i., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 413; ii., 281; O'Call., i., 254; Hazard, ii., 164, 214; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 61, 62; Ferris, 59, 60; Trumbull, i., 122, 123. † Alb. Rec., ii., 157, 158; Hazard, ii., 216, 265; i., N. Y. H. S. Coll., 276; Trumbull, i., 122. 1642. 11 May. from Hart Manhattan. It was not long before the Hartford authorities felt the CHAP. X. inconvenience of their position. The General Court, therefore, ordered that the magistrates "shall have liberty to agitate the business betwixt us and the Dutch, and, if they think meet, to treat with the governor concerning the same. "* Under this authority, Whiting, a magistrate, Delegation and Hill, a deputy of Hartford, came to Manhattan, to ar- ford visits range with the director for the purchase of the West In- July. dia Company's lands around the Hope. Kieft, after ex-9 July. plaining in detail the antiquity of the Dutch title, offered to lease "the field at Hartford” to the English, for an annual rent of a tenth part of the produce, as long as they should occupy it. The delegates, on their return, sub- The Dutch mitted these conditions to the General Court. But no tions. abatement of annoyance followed. The coveted field was again despitefully plowed up by the Hartford people, who even prevented "cattle that belonged not to them" from being driven toward New Netherland.† proposi motives of ford people There was a strong, though not, perhaps, an honorable motive for this system of petty annoyance. Hopkins had now returned from London, bringing with him Boswell's letter to Wright. The recommendation of the British min- Policy and ister at the Hague, "Crowd on-crowd the Dutch out," the Hartwas now to be the system by which New Netherland was, by degrees, to be dismembered of her territory, and gradually separated from Holland. The General Court direct- 29 Sept. ed that "a letter be returned to the Dutch, in answer to their letter brought by Mr. Whiting;" and also that letters should be written to Dudley and Bellingham, the former governors of Massachusetts, "concerning what the Dutch governor reporteth that they have wrote to him about our differences." Dudley, in 1640, had written to Kieft in conciliatory terms; and Bellingham, the next year, had advised moderation on both sides; but the Hartford authorities now seemed apprehensive that Massachu *Col. Rec. Conn., 72. † Hazard, ii., 265; i., N. Y. H. S. Coll., 276; Col. Rec. Conn., 72; Alb. Rec., ii., 171, 172; Smith, Hist. N. Y., i., 6. Winthrop, ii., 7, 32; Col. Rec. Conn., 75, 566; ante, p. 299, 322. CHAP. X. setts had committed herself to more liberal views than those which suited the policy of Connecticut. 1642. Puritan agents in England. letter to the bassador. 66 The agents in England, in the mean time, had not been unsuccessful. Though Peters failed in his undertaking to "pacify" the Dutch West India Company, the New England delegates, acting on Boswell's advice, succeeded in inducing "persons of quality" to communicate with the representative of the States General at London. Lord Say, as one of Lord Warwick's original grantees, was 23 July. warmly interested; and, in the course of the summer, he addressed a letter to Joachimi, the Netherlands' ambassador, in which he strenuously advocated the cause of the Connecticut colonists, and severely censured the Dutch. Lord Say's They, he said, had protested and threatened, and used Dutch am- 'haughty arguments" against the English; yet, though there were only five or six Netherlanders residing on the river, "where there are more than two thousand English," no violent proceedings had been taken against the Dutch, who, it was asserted, had been treated "with all civility." The Pequod Indians, of whom the Hollanders claimed to have purchased a portion of the land, "had no other than a usurped title." The "weakness" of the Dutch title was inferred, because "the English having addressed sundry letters to their governor, William Kieft," he had refused to accept their proposal to refer the settlement of the question to impartial arbitrators. The Dutch should be ordered to demean themselves peaceably, and be content with their own limits, "or to leave the river." This last suggestion would "tend most to their master's profit," as the returns from their post never had, and never would repay expenses. "Moreover," added Lord Say, "they live there in an ungodly way, in no wise beseeming the Gospel of Christ. Their residence there will never produce any other effect than expense to their masters and trouble to the English." Other influential persons in London, against the moved by the representations of the New England agents, openly threatened that, before the end of the year, the Hollanders should be utterly expelled from the valley of Threats the Connecticut. Joachimi therefore sent Lord Say's com- CHAP. X. munication to the States General; and, in subsequent 1642. "For 31 July. 17 Sept. dispatches, explained the irritated feeling which existed among the friends of the Puritan colonists, and urged the 8 August. king should be asked to command his New England sub- 17 October. jects not to molest the Dutch, who had possession of New Netherland before the English ever came there. such commands must proceed from his majesty; and it might be taken ill that redress should be sought from the House of Parliament, whose orders would probably not be received in those far-distant quarters." The Dutch ambassador at London, however, little knew the temper of the men of New England. Beginning war. Charles set up his standard at Nottingham, and the 22 August. civil war began. Parliament was supreme at London, of the civil but the king was still sovereign in the rural districts. The sympathies of the Puritan colonists in America were with the Puritan House of Commons. The States General promptly referred Joachimi's dispatches to the West 25 October, India Company; but though the ambassador was instructed to represent that it need not be apprehended that his countrymen in New Netherland could ever "prevail" against their stronger neighbors, the threats of the London friends of New England were entirely disregarded at the Hague. The distracted kingdom caused no present anxiety to foreign powers. van der schout-fis Rensse Interesting events were now occurring at Rensselaers- 1641. wyck. Adriaen van der Donck, of Breda, in North Bra- Adriaen bant, a man of intelligence and learning, having taken a Donck lease from the patroon of the westerly half of Castle Isl- cal of and, known as "Welysburg," adjoining the fertile farm laerswyck of Brandt Peelen, was appointed schout-fiscal of the colonie, and arrived at Manhattan in the autumn of 1641. As the colonists had shown a disposition "to pass by the carpenters and other of the patroon's laborers," and to employ whom they pleased, Van der Donck was specially instructed to repress this spirit of independence, and pros- 18 July * Hol. Doc., ii., 276-307; O'Call., i., 255–257; Aitzema, ii., 932; Lingard, x., 152. CHAP. X. ecute the offenders before the colonial court. He was also charged to procure the enactment of "stricter statutes or ordinances, and to punish the delinquents by penalties and fines, according to law."* 1642. 6 March. Johannes sis the first in the colo nie. . The want of a permanent clergyman, and the need of a proper church edifice, had now for some time been felt in the colonie; and, early the next year, the patroon took measures to place his colonists in as good a condition in these respects as the inhabitants of Manhattan. He therefore made an agreement with the Reverend Megapolen- Doctor Johannes Megapolensis, a learned clergyman beclergyman longing to the Classis of Alckmaer, to send him out to Rensselaerswyck, "for the edifying improvement of the inhabitants and Indians." The patroon bound himself to convey the Domine and his family to New Netherland free of expense, provide him with a proper residence, and assure him, for six years, an annual salary of one thousand guilders, with a promise of an addition of two hundred guilders annually for the three following years, "should the patroon be satisfied with his service." On the other hand, Megapolensis agreed" to befriend and serve the patroon in all things wherein he could do so without interfering with or impeding his duties." As the Classis of Amsterdam was the ecclesiastical superior of all the Dutch colonial clergy, it was necessary to obtain its assent to the arrangement; and 18 March the Domine accordingly appeared before the committee of that body, "ad res exteras," and explained his views in wishing to settle himself in New Netherland. A few 22 March. days afterward, the classis attested a formal "call" for Megapolensis to preach the Gospel and govern the Church at Rensselaerswyck, "in conformity with the Government, Confession, and Catechism of the Netherland churches, and the Synodal acts of Dordrecht." The Amsterdam Chamber, however, as the political superior of New Netherland, claimed the right of approving this instrument. The patroon, on the other hand, at first demurred to what he thought a curtailment of his feudal * Renss. MSS.; O'Call., i., 327, 328. |