1654.

tions.

toes," wrote Secretary Thurloe, "you shall, by way of sur- cú. xvII. prise, open force, or otherwise, *** endeavor to take in that place for the use of his Highness the Lord Protector Instrucof the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and you have power to promise and give them fair quarter, in case it be rendered upon summons, without hostile opposition. The like, also, you shall do to the Fort of Auranea, or any other place upon Hudson's River." "If the Lord give his blessing to your undertaking, that the forts and places be gained, you shall not use cruelty to the inhabitants, but encourage those that are willing to remain under the English government, and give liberty to others to transport themselves for Europe." With these instructions, Sedgwick and Leverett promptly set sail for New England. But the squadron running southwardly to Fayal, the Protector's commissioners did not reach Boston until the beginning of the next summer.*

1

June.

tion of Fort

by Connec

In the mean time, the cupidity of Connecticut had been sequestrapartially gratified by the formal sequestration of the Dutch Good Hope fort at Hartford. Disregarding Underhill's volunteer seiz- ticut. ure, and referring to an order from the parliamentary Council of State to act against the Dutch "as against those that have declared themselves enemies to the commonwealth of England," the General Court directed that "the Dutch April. house, the Hope, with the lands, buildings, and fences. thereunto belonging, be hereby sequestered and reserved, all particular claims or pretended right thereunto notwithstanding;" and with hasty thrift it claimed the disposal of all “rent for any part of the premises."+

6 16

News of

glish expe

One of the vessels which had been dispatched from En- May. gland arriving at Boston early in May, brought intelli- the Engence of the projected expedition against New Netherland. dition. Informed of his danger by Isaac Allerton, Stuyvesant in- 29 May. stantly summoned a meeting of the council at Fort Amsterdam, to consider the state of the province. The director was full of apprehension. He did not expect that "the 30 May.

* Thurloe, i., 721, 722; ii., 418, 419, 425. The English usually spelled "Fort Orange"

as the Dutch pronounced it-" Fort Auranea."

+ Col. Rec. Conn., 254; Trumbull, i., 217; O'Call., ii., 260; ante, p. 558.

1654.

CH. XVII. people residing in the country-not even the Dutch"would assist him in case of an unexpected attack. "The English, although they have sworn allegiance, would take up arms against us and join the enemy. "To invite them to aid us would be bringing the Trojan horse within our walls." Shall we abandon Fort Casimir, and recall all Dutch subjects from the South River? Shall we allow the King Solomon to sail? If we do, the people will clamor, "for we have no gunners, no musketeers, no sailors, and scarcely sixteen hundred pounds of powder."

2 June.

13 June.

As a last resource, Stuyvesant proposed that a loan should be raised, to repair and garrison Fort Amsterdam. The burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam, and the magistrates of Breuckelen, Amersfoort, and Midwout, therefore, met with the director and council at the fort. The joint meeting resolved to enlist a force of sixty or seventy men," in silence, and without beat of drum," and to borrow money to pay them, and provide supplies for the city, in case of a siege. It was also resolved "not to abandon Fort Casimir for the present, neither to call its garristate of de- son from there to re-enforce that of this city; and as to the ship King Solomon, she is to remain, to gratify the inhabitants." The patriotism of the people was aroused. The fund which the representatives of the commonalty had sanctioned was quickly raised. The Dutch inhabitants, spade in hand, worked heartily at the fortifications; and, though treason yet lurked within her walls, New Amsterdam was soon put in a state of defense.

New Amsterdam

put in a

tense.

7 July.

In truth, Stuyvesant's government, which had weaned from him the affections of the Dutch, had entirely alienated the English. Many of the adopted citizens of New Amsterdam were now observed "stirring to mutiny the otherwise well disposed," sending off their effects, communicating with privateers, and in active correspondence with New England. All persons, "of whatever rank," found removing their property were, therefore, declared subject to banishment and the confiscation of goods, and the authors and propagators of false reports to severe punishment.

1654.

burgh and

On Long Island, it was rumored that the Dutch had hired_că. xvii. Frenchmen and savages to massacre the inhabitants of the English villages; and the magistrates of Gravesend, Heemstede, and Middelburgh were summoned to give an account. Loyalty to Holland was renounced as soon as Middelnews of the proposed expedition from New England ar- Gravesendů. rived. Middelburgh proposed to "open the ball." Gravesend wrote to Boston, offering to seize the ship King Solomon, lying at New Amsterdam, and carry her off to Virginia. The right of the director and council to pass upon nominations was disowned; and twelve men were appointed to manage the affairs of the town, and to choose magistrates and local officers.*

20 June.

prepara

The Protector's letters roused New England to action. June. New Haven sent delegates to Boston, and eagerly pledged herself to the most zealous efforts. Connecticut promised 13 June. two hundred men, and even five hundred, "rather than the design should fall." The "council of war" at Plym- 30 outh ordered fifty men to be pressed into the service; and, averring that they only concurred in hostile measures against their ancient Dutch neighbors at Manhattan "in reference unto the national quarrel," intrusted the` com- Warlike mand of these forces to Captain Miles Standish and Cap- tions in tain Thomas Willett, the latter of whom Stuyvesant had gland. so unwisely made one of his negotiators at Hartford, in 1650. Massachusetts, however, showed less zeal. The General Court, declaring their readiness to attend the June. Protector's pleasure, as far as they could "with safety to the liberty of their consciences and the public peace and welfare," simply consented that Sedgwick and Leverett might raise five hundred volunteers against the Dutch within their jurisdiction.†

In the mean time, the negotiations for peace between Holland and England had been vigorously prosecuted. Upon assuming the Protectorate, Oliver, receding from the

* New Amst. Rec., i., 465–494; Alb. Rec., ix., 132–171; x., 71; xi., 12; O'Call., ii., 261-265; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 151.

+ Hazard, i., 587-589, 595, 596; Col. Rec. Conn., 259, 260; Hutchinson, i., 168; Trumbull, i., 219.

New En

19

5

1654.

15

Treaty of

tween En

Holland.

CH. XVII. parliamentary proposition for a coalition between the commonwealth and the republic, which the States General had unanimously rejected, proposed more acceptable terms to the Dutch ambassadors. New obstacles arose; but at length the treaty, by which England quietly abandoned April. most of her pretensions, was definitely signed. The Propeace be tector, however, insisted upon the exclusion of the Prince gland and of Orange from the office of stadtholder as the condition of his ratification of the treaty. The States General would have rejected this condition; but the adroitness of the grand pensionary, John de Witt, prevailed with the states of Holland. An act of the desired tenor was passed in that 28 April. body, and sent to the ambassadors in England. Upon its delivery, Oliver ratified the treaty, and issued a proclamation restraining all English subjects from committing any further acts of hostility against the Dutch. And or ders were promptly dispatched to Sedgwick and Leverett countermanding their previous instructions to surprise the Dutch possessions, and requiring them "to desist from that design."*

8 May.

May. 10 Orders

countermanded.

20 June.

30

Effect in

giand.

These important documents reached Boston a few days NewEn- after the arrival of the Protector's commissioners. The delegates of Connecticut and New Haven, assembled at Charlestown, apprehending that "a satisfying account could not be given of any further acting in this design against the Dutch," reluctantly agreed to dismiss their session. The forces intended to act against New Netherland were sent to dislodge the French from the coast of Maine; and for ten years longer the coveted province, the possession of which the English government had now virtually resigned to the Dutch, continued under the sway of Holland.t

The joyful intelligence of peace between the Fatherland and England reaching New Amsterdam a few days after

* Basnage, i., 319, 333-339; Aitzema, iii., 858, 859, 930; Verbael van Beverninck, 357– 422; Thurloe, ii., 219, 238, 253, 259; Lingard, xi., 187-191; Davies, ii., 727-730. The State Papers collected by Secretary Thurloe show that the English government had constantly the best intelligence of what was going on in Holland. Even the dispatches to and from the Dutch ambassadors appear to have been opened and copied.

Thurloe, ii., 420; Hutchinson, i., 169; Hazard, i., 589, 590; Bancroft, i., 445.

18 July.

Thanks

ward, was published from the City Hall "with ringing CH. XVII. of bell." The twelfth of August was appointed as a day 1654. of general thanksgiving; and Stuyvesant piously called on all the inhabitants to praise the Lord, who had se- giving in cured their gates, and blessed their possessions with peace, erland. ❝even here, where the threatened torch of war was lighted, where the waves reached our lips, and subsided only through the power of the Almighty."*

New Neth

Letter of

ny to Stuy

With the news of peace came also the determination of the West India Company upon the various demands of reform which the agent, Le Bleeuw, had carried to Holland. His errand not being "suited to the taste" of the directors, he was forbidden to return to New Netherland. "We are unable,” wrote they to Stuyvesant, "to discover in the 18 May. whole remonstrance one single point to justify complaint." the compa "You ought to have acted with more vigor against the vesant. ringleaders of the gang, and not have condescended to answer protests with protests, and then to have passed all by without further notice." "It is, therefore, our express command that you punish what has occurred as it deserves, so that others may be deterred in future from following such examples." As to "the seditious" of Gravesend, they were to be punished "in an exemplary manner.' To the burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam the 18 May. directors wrote recommending and charging "that you the city auconduct yourselves quietly and peaceably, submit your- New Am selves to the government placed over you, and in no wise allow yourselves to hold particular convention with the English or others in matters of form and deliberation on affairs of state, which do not appertain to you, and what is yet worse, attempt an alteration in the state and its government."

Letter to

thorities of

sterdam.

The directors at the same time consented that the office of city schout should be separated from that of the provincial fiscal, but they would not give the burgomasters and schepens the power of appointment. A commission was Kuyter apaccordingly inclosed for Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, who schout.

* Alb. Rec., viii., 121; ix., 180; New Amst. Rec., i., 495.

pointed city