CHAP. XV. the same time wrote to Eaton, threatening "force of arms and martial opposition, even to bloodshed," against all English intruders within southern New Netherland.* 1651. 11 April. Calls on Rensse for a sub sidy. In this new attempt of the English to gain a foothold on the South River, Stuyvesant perceived a covert purpose to dispossess the Dutch of all their American territory. He therefore called upon the authorities at Rensselaerslaerswyck wyck for a subsidy. But as the patroons had alone borne all the expenses of colonization, this demand of the provincial government was felt to be unjust; and Van Slechtenhorst went down to New Amsterdam to remonstrate. His representations were disregarded; and the director, to punish him for his conduct with respect to the Katskill 1 May. settlements, ordered his arrest. In spite of all his protests, tenhorst ar- and the repeated applications of the colonial officers at Manhattan. Rensselaerswyck, Van Slechtenhorst was arbitrarily detained four months at Manhattan.† 29 April. Van Slech rested at Views of the West pany about River. The West India Company had now become aware of the India Com- necessity of arranging with the newly-crowned Queen of the South Sweden the differences respecting jurisdiction on the South 21 March. River. In the mean time, they instructed Stuyvesant to "endeavor to maintain the rights of the company in all justice and equity," while they recommended him to conduct himself with discretion and circumspection. The director, therefore, resolved to make his long-projected visit to the South River, where his presence was again urgently July. desired. Upon his arrival at Fort Nassau, whither he was on the Del- accompanied by Domine Grasmeer and a large suite of officers, he communicated to Printz an abstract of the Dutch title. This was stated to rest on first European discovery and occupation, and actual purchase from the savages "many years before the Swedes arrived there." The Swedish governor was also requested to produce, on his part, proof of what lands his countrymen had purchased, and their authority to possess them. But Printz simply replied that the Swedish limits were "wide and Stuyvesant aware. *Hazard, ii., 192-195, 260; New Haven Records, 40; Trumbull, i., 196; Bozman, ii., 486, 487. + Renss. MSS; O'Call., ii., 164, 173, 174. broad enough;" and excused himself from producing his CHAP. XV. muniments of title, as they were in the chancellery at 1651. Stockholm. Wappang-zewan, one of the chief sachems, soon afterward informed the director that Printz was at this very time endeavoring to purchase from him the lands upon which the Swedes were settled. He had, however, refused to sell; and he now "presented" to Stuyvesant, New acquiin behalf of the West India Company, all the lands on the land. east and west shores; commencing, on the eastern side, from Narratikon or Raccoon Creek, "and stretching down the river to Maetsingsing, and on the western side, from a certain creek, called Neckatoensing, to the westward along the river to Settoensoene, also called the Minquas' Kill, on which is the Swedish Fort Christina.” sition of with the Stuyvesant soon summoned all the Indian chiefs who Conference lived near the river, and who claimed to own any lands savages. there, to attend a grand council at Fort Nassau, in the presence of the officers who had accompanied him from New Amsterdam. After a solemn conference, in which 19 July. the sachems declared that the Swedes had usurped all the land they claimed, except the precinct of Fort Christina itself, they confirmed to "the chief sachem of the Manhat- More territans," as a perpetual inheritance for the West India Com- chased. pany, the whole territory south of that fort to "Boomtje's" or Bombay Hook, "called by them Neuwsings." The conveyances were duly attested; and the only conditions which the chief Pemmenatta imposed were, that the Dutch "should repair his gun when out of order," and give the Indians, when they required it, "a little maize." tory pur sau demol Fort Casi The director, thinking that Fort Nassau "was too far Fort Nasup, and laid too far out of the way," now demolished the ished, and post which the Dutch had first built on the Jersey shore, mir built. twenty-eight years before, and erected a new fort, "called Casimir," on the west side of the river, at "Sand Hook," near the present site of New Castle, and about four miles below the Swedish Fort Christina. Against the building of this new fort Printz protested in vain; and Stuyvesant, having completed his object, prepared to return to Man L L 1651. 66 CHAP. XV. hattan. Previously to his departure, he had several interviews with the Swedish governor, in which both officers mutually promised to cause no difficulties or hostility to each other, but to keep neighborly friendship and correspondence together, and act as friends and allies."* 24 May. 5 June. 25 Sept. sant. Foiled in their designs upon the South River, the New Haven people laid their case before the other colonies; and the Massachusetts government remonstrated with StuyveNew Plymouth was also applied to for assistance; but the "Old Colony" of New England "would have no hand in any such controversy." At their annual meeting, the subject was brought before the commissioners, who protested against the director's "hostile carriage," and declared the Dutch claim to the South River no better than that "which the English, upon as good grounds, can make to the Manhatoes." Eventual assistance was also promNew Ha- ised to New Haven; and information was asked from Edward Winslow, who was then in London, "how any engagement by the colonies against the Dutch, upon the aforementioned occasion, will be resented by the Parliament." Anxious to obtain a leader of courage and skill, the New Haven people made liberal offers to Captain John 16 October. Mason; but the General Court at Hartford opposed his removal from Connecticut, and so the project was again frustrated.† Com plaints of ven. A change was now made in the provincial government on the North River. Labbatie was superseded, and JoDyckman hannes Dyckman, a former clerk in the Amsterdam Chamcommissa- ber, who had come out with Van Tienhoven in the spring, Orange. as book-keeper at Fort Amsterdam, was promoted to be appointed ry at Fort commissary and vice-director at Fort Orange. Van Slechtenhorst, the patroon's commissary, who had remained un * Alb. Rec., iv., 46; Hol. Doc., viii., 32–50, 59–65, 67,77; ante, p. 153, 511; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 122–127; O'Call., ii., 166, 167; Smith's N. Y., i., 9; Ferris, 77, 78; Acrelius, 412; Chalmers, 632; Bozman, ii., 481. The latter writer is misled by the errors of Chalmers and Acrelius. Stuyvesant's attendants, on the 19th of July, when the Indians conveyed their land, were Domine Grasmeer, Isaac Allerton, Cornelis de Potter, Captain Newton, Ensign Baxter, Isaac de Foreest, Captain Martin Kregier, and Surgeon Abraham Staats. † Plymouth Coll. Rec., iv., 234; Col. Rec. Conn., 227; Hazard, i., 554; ii., 192-196; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 123, 127-133; Trumbull, i., 197-201. der arrest at Manhattan, finding Stuyvesant inexorable, at CHAP. XV. length secreted himself on board a sloop, the schipper of 1651. which he was obliged to indemnify against future harm, › September. and returned to Beverwyck. The director, enraged at this Van Slechaudacity, arrested the schipper on his return to Manhat-breaks his tan, and fined him two hundred and fifty guilders and returns to costs for helping the escape of the unfortunate commis- wyck. sary, who reckoned the whole expenses of his luckless visit to Fort Amsterdam at about a thousand guilders. tenhorst arrest, and Bever exploration kill Mount One of Van Slechtenhorst's motives for breaking his ar- Proposed rest was his anxiety to cause an exploration of the Kats- of the Katskill Mountains. A daughter of one of the farmers at Kats- ains. kill had found a stone, "which some thought was silver;" and the proprietaries in Holland had directed an examination of the country. Van Slechtenhorst, therefore, sent 10 Sept. his son Gerrit to make a search. But a heavy rain set in as soon as the young adventurer reached the patroon's newly-established bouwery. In three hours, the mountain torrent rose thirty feet; the farm-house was swept into the kill, and all the cattle and horses would have perished, but for the exertions of Gerrit Van Slechtenhorst, "who was an excellent swimmer." The ruin which the Abandoned flood had caused diverted all thought of immediate explo- of a great rations; and the hope of finding a silver mine in the Katskill Mountains was postponed. on account flood. Colonists Fearful that the director would execute his threatened purpose of extending the jurisdiction of Fort Orange, Van Slechtenhorst now called upon all householders and free- 23 Nov. men of the colonie to take the "Burgherlyck oath of allegiance." At the appointed day, the order was obeyed by 28 Nov. a number of the residents, who bound themselves "to main- take oath of tain and support, offensively and defensively, against every to the pa one, the right and jurisdiction of the colonie." Among the persons who took this oath was John Baptist van Rensselaer, a younger half-brother of the patroon, and the first of the name who appears to have come to New Netherland.* * Renss. MSS.; O'Call., ii., 174-177; Holgate's American Genealogy. allegiance troon. CH. XVI. 1652. CHAPTER XVI. 1652-1653. THE four years during which Stuyvesant had administered the government of New Netherland were marked by arbitrary efforts to repress the spirit of popular freedom which the Dutch emigrants brought with them from their Fatherland. In turn, the Nine Men, the vice-director, the only notary in the province, and the patroon of Staten Island, were made to feel the displeasure of authority. Van Dyck, the schout-fiscal, who sided with the Nine Men, was early excluded from the council, and personally insulted by his imperious chief. The fiscal, indeed, had been complained of for leading "a disorderly life," and the Amsterdam Chamber had threatened to pun28 March. ish him. A pasquinade against the director, of which he was assumed to be the author, was now made the occaFiscal Van sion of his removal from office by the council, whose acperseded. tion was claimed to have been "by and with the advice of the Nine Men." They, however, afterward declared that they had never assented to the resolution, which was Stuyvesant's own work, and that "the secretary had falsely appended to it their names." Van Tienhoven was ac Dyck su hoven pro cused by Van Dyck of having originated the lampoon to accomplish the displacement of an obnoxious official. Van Tien- Whatever may have been the truth in that respect, Van moted. Tienhoven was promoted to be schout-fiscal; Van Brugge, the former commissary at Fort Orange, was made provincial secretary; and Adriaen Van Tienhoven, lately the clerk of the court on the South River, succeeded his brother as receiver general. Appealing to the States General, Van Dyck denounced his successor, in plain terms, as "a 18 Sept. |