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CHAPTER VII
THE NEIGHBORS OF
NEW NETHERLAND
MACHIAVELLI
observed that to the wise ruler only two courses were open — to
conciliate or
to crush. The history of the Dutch in America illustrates by
application the
truth of this view. The settlers at Fort Orange conciliated the Indians
and by
this means not only lived in peace with the native tribes but
established a
bulwark between themselves and the French. Under Stuyvesant the
settlers at
Fort Amsterdam took a determined stand against the Swedes and crushed
their
power in America. Toward the English, however, the Dutch adopted a
course of
feeble aggression un-backed by force. Because they met English
encroachments
with that most fatal of all policies, protest without action, the
Empire of the
United Netherlands in America was blotted from the map. The
neighbors of
the Dutch in America were the Indians, the French, the Swedes, and the
English.
The earliest, most intimate, and most continuous relations of the Dutch
settlers were with the Indians. These people were divided into a number
of
independent tribes or nations. The valley of the North River was shared
by the
Mohawks, who inhabited the region along the west side of its upper
waters, and
the Mohegans, or Mahicans, as the Dutch called them, who lived on
either side
of the banks of its lower reaches, with various smaller tribes
scattered
between. The warlike Manhattans occupied the island called by their
name, while
the Mohegans raised their wigwams also on the eastern shore of the
upper river
opposite the Mohawks, and ranged over the land reaching to the
Connecticut
River. The
Mohawks, with
the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, formed the
famous
Five Nations, generally known as the Iroquois. Their territory was
bounded on
the north by Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, on the east by
Lake
Champlain and the North River, on the west by Lake Erie and the Niagara
River,
and on the south by the region occupied by the Lenni Lenape, or
Delaware
tribes. But their power extended far beyond these limits over dependent
tribes.
They were in a constant state of warfare with their Algonquin neighbors
on the
north and east, who had been enabled to offer a formidable resistance
by the
use of firearms furnished them by the French. When,
therefore,
the white men appeared among the Mohawks, bearing these strange weapons
which had
been used with such dire effect against the Iroquois by the Algonquins,
the
Mohawks eagerly sought the friendship of the newcomers, hoping to
secure the
same power which had made their enemies triumphant. The Dutch were
intelligent
enough to make instant use of these friendly sentiments on the part of
the
natives and hastened to make a treaty with the Iroquois, the Mohegans,
and the
Lenni Lenapes. This
treaty, which
is said to have been signed on the banks of Norman’s Kill in the
neighborhood
of Albany, was concluded with all formalities. Each tribe was
represented by
its chief. The calumet was smoked, the hatchet was buried, and
everlasting
friendship was sworn between the old inhabitants and the new. By this
agreement
the Dutch secured not only peace with the neighboring Indians — a peace
never
broken in the north, whatever broils disturbed the lower waters of the
river —
but at the same time a guard between them and any encroachments of the
French
and Algonquins in Canada. On the
other
boundaries and outskirts of their possessions, the Dutch were less
fortunate.
They had always claimed all the territory from the South or Delaware
River to
the Fresh or Connecticut River, but their pretensions were early
challenged by
the English on the ground of prior discovery and by the Swedes on the
argument
of non-occupation of the land. The
reports of the
wealth to be acquired from the fur trade had quickly spread from
Holland to
Sweden, and as early as 1624, Gustavus Adolphus, encouraged by William
Usselinx, a Dutchman and promoter of the Dutch West India Company, was
planning
expeditions to the New World. But the entrance of Sweden into the
Thirty Years’
War in 1630 put a stop to this plan, and the funds were applied to war
purposes. Gustavus Adolphus fell at Lützen in 1632, leaving the kingdom
to his
little daughter Christina. Her Government was conducted by Oxenstiern,
a
statesman trained in the great traditions of Gustavus, who felt with
him that
an American colony would be “the jewel of his kingdom.” An instrument
for his
purpose presented itself in Peter Minuit, who had returned to Holland
in 1632,
smarting under his dismissal as Director of New Netherland. He offered
his
services to Sweden for the establishment of a new colony, and they were
accepted. In the opening of 1638, he arrived in what is now Delaware
Bay with
two ships, the Griffin
and the Key of Kalmar.
From the Indians he bought
large tracts of land in what is now the State of Delaware, and on the
site of
the present city of Wilmington he planted a fort named Christina. When news
was
brought to Kieft that Minuit had sailed up the South River and planned
to raise
the Swedish flag on a fort upon its shores, the Director promptly
dispatched
the following letter: I, Willem Kieft, Director-General of New Netherland, residing in the island of Manhattan, in the Fort Amsterdam, under the government of the High and Mighty States-General of the United Netherlands and the West India Company, privileged by the Senate Chamber in Amsterdam, make known to thee, Peter Minuit, who stylest thyself commander in the service of Her Majesty, the Queen of Sweden, that the whole South River of New Netherland, both upper and lower, has been our property for many years, occupied with our forts, and sealed by our blood, which also was done when thou wast in the service of New Netherland, and is therefore well known to thee. But as thou art come between our forts to erect a fort to our damage and injury, which we will never permit, as we also believe Her Swedish Majesty bath not empowered thee to erect fortifications on our coasts and rivers, or to settle people on the lands adjoining or to undertake any other thing to our prejudice; now therefore we protest against all such encroachments and all the evil consequences from the same, as bloodshed, sedition and whatever injury our trading company may suffer, and declare that we shall protect our rights in every manner that may be advisable. This
blustering
protest Minuit treated with contempt and continued building his fort.
The Swedish
colony soon grew so rapidly as to be a serious menace to the Dutch in
spite of
their stronger fortifications. In 1642
Johan
Printz, a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry, was sent over as Governor of
New
Sweden with instructions to maintain friendly relations with the Dutch,
but to
yield no foot of ground. He established several other settlements on
the South
or Delaware River. So tactlessly, however, did he perform his duties,
that
conflicts with the Dutch grew more and more frequent. He built two
forts on
opposite sides of the river and ordered that every ship entering the
waters
should strike her colors and await permission to pass. The first vessel
on
which the new orders were tried carried as a passenger David de Vries.
The
skipper asked his advice about lowering his colors. “If it were my
ship,” De
Vries asserts that he answered, “I would not lower to these intruders.”
But
peace at any price prevailed, the skipper lowered his colors, and the
ship
passed on to New Gottenburg, the capital of the colony. Here De Vries
was
welcomed by Governor Printz, whom the traveler describes as “a brave
man of
brave size.” The evening was spent in talk over a jug of Rhenish wine.
Such
friendly intercourse and the aggressions of the English against both
Dutch and
Swedes led to the temporary alliance of these latter in 1651. Indians
called in
council confirmed the Dutch title to all lands except the site of the
Swedish
fort planted by Minuit, and a peace which lasted for three years was
declared
between the Dutch and the Swedes. In
endeavoring to
understand the relations between the settlements of the different
nations in
America in the seventeenth century we must realize that the colonies
were only
pawns in the great game being played in Europe between Spain and the
Papacy on
the one hand and the Protestant countries, England, Sweden, and the
United
Netherlands on the other. Once apprehending this, we can easily
understand why
the governor of each colony, though instructed to seize and hold every
foot of
land which could be occupied, was advised not to antagonize the other
friendly
nations and thus weaken the alliance against the common enemy. As the
power of
Spain declined, however, and the estimate of the value of the American
colonies
increased, the friction in the New World became more acute and the
instructions
from the home governments grew imperative. Affairs
then came
to an open rupture between New Netherland and New Sweden. In 1651
Governor
Stuyvesant inaugurated a more aggressive policy against the Swedes by
building
Fort Casimir near what is now New Castle, Delaware, not far from the
Swedish
fort. Three years later Fort Casimir fell into the hands of the Swedes.
The
Dutch Government now commanded Stuyvesant to drive the Swedes from the
river or
compel their submission. As a result the Director and his fleet sailed
into the
Delaware in September, 1655, and captured one fort after another, till
Rysing,
the last of the Swedish governors, was completely defeated. Though the
colonists were promised security in possession of their lands, the
power of New
Sweden was ended, and the jurisdiction of the Dutch was for a time
established. New
Netherland had,
however, other neighbors more powerful, more persistent, and with more
at stake
than the French, the Indians, and the Swedes. These were the English
colonists,
pressing northward from the Virginias and southward from New England.
From the
beginning of the Dutch colonization, England had looked askance at the
wedge
thus driven between her own settlements. She had stubbornly refused to
recognize the sovereignty of the States-General in the region of New
Netherland
while at the same time she vainly sought a pretext for the
establishment of her
own. England put forward the apocryphal claim of discovery by Cabot;
but here
she was stopped by the doctrine announced in a previous century that in
order
to give title to a new country, discovery must be followed by
occupation. When
England maintained that, since Hudson was an Englishman, the title to
his
discovery must pass to his native land, she was reminded that Cabot was
a
Genoese, and that Genoa might as well claim title to Virginia as
England to New
Netherland. The
Plymouth
Company particularly was concerned at the Dutch occupation of this
middle
region to which the charter granted by King James gave it a claim. It
formally
protested in 1621 against these “Dutch intruders.” Whereupon King James
I
directed Sir Dudley Carleton, his ambassador at The Hague, to protest
against
the Dutch settlements; but nothing was accomplished, both parties
having their
hands too full with European quarrels to carry these transatlantic
matters to
extremities. The tension, however, was constantly increased on both
sides by a
series of encroachments and provocations. In April,
1633, for
example, the ship William arrived at Fort Amsterdam under command of
Captain
Trevor, with Jacob Eelkens as supercargo. Eelkens had been dismissed by
the
West India Company from the post of Commissary at Fort Orange, and was
now in
the service of some London merchants, in whose behalf he had come, as
he told
the Director, to buy furs on Henry Hudson’s River. “Don’t
talk to me
of Henry Hudson’s River!” replied Van Twiller, “it is the River
Mauritius.” He
then called for the commission of Eelkens, who refused to show it,
saying that
he was within the dominions of the English King, and a servant of His
Majesty,
and asking the Dutch Council what commission they themselves had to
plant in
the English dominion. Whereupon Van Twiller replied that it was not
fitting
that Eelkens should proceed up the river, as the whole of that country
belonged
to the Prince of Orange and not to the King of England. After this
exchange
of amenities, Eelkens returned to his ship, which remained at anchor
for
several days. At the end of the time, he presented himself again at the
fort to
ask if the Director would consent in a friendly way to his going up the
river;
otherwise, he would proceed if it cost his life. In reply, Van Twiller
ordered
the Dutch flag to be run up at the fort and three pieces of ordnance
fired in
honor of the Prince of Orange. Eelkens on his part ordered the English
flag to
be hoisted on the William
and a
salute fired in honor of King Charles. Van Twiller warned Eelkens that
the
course which he was pursuing might cost him his neck; but the
supercargo
weighed anchor and proceeded calmly on his way. Van
Twiller then
assembled all his forces before his door, brought out a cask of wine,
filled a
bumper, and cried out that those who loved the Prince of Orange and him
should
follow his example and protect him from the outrages of the Englishman;
Eelkens, by this time, was out of sight sailing up the river. The
people drank,
but only laughed at their governor, and De Vries told him that he had
been very
foolish. “If it were my affair,” he said, “I would have helped him away
from
the fort with beans from the eight-pounders.” The William, meanwhile, journeyed
up the river
and Eelkens, who knew the country well, landed with his crew about a
mile below
Fort Orange and set up a tent where he displayed the wares which he
hoped to
exchange with the natives for beaver-skins. Very soon reports of this
exploit
reached the ears of the commissary at Fort Orange, who at once embarked
with a
trumpeter on a shallop decorated with green boughs. The Dutch landed
close
beside the English and set up a rival tent; but the Indians preferred
to deal
with Eelkens, whom they had known years before and who spoke their
language. In the
high tide of
success, however, Eelkens was rudely ordered to depart by a Dutch
officer who
had come up the river in charge of three vessels, a pinnace, a caravel,
and a
hoy. To enforce the commands came soldiery from both Dutch forts, armed
with
muskets, half-pikes, swords, and other weapons, and ordered Eelkens to
strike
his flag. They pulled down the tent, sent the goods on board ship, and
sounded
their trumpets in the boat “in disgrace of the English.” The Dutch
boarded the William,
weighed her anchor, and convoyed
her down the river with their fleet, and finally dismissed her at the
mouth of
the river. The
troubles of the
Dutch with their English neighbors, however, did not end with these
aggressions
on the Hudson and similar acts on the Delaware. In the year 1614,
Adriaen
Block, a great navigator whose name deserves to rank with that of
Hudson, had
sailed through the East River, and putting boldly across Long Island
Sound, had
discovered the Housatonic and Connecticut rivers. He also discovered
and gave
his own name to Block Island and explored Narragansett Bay, whence he
took his
course to Cape Cod. These discoveries reported to the States-General of
the
United Netherlands caused their High Mightinesses at once to lay claim
to the
new lands; but before they could secure enough colonists to occupy the
country,
restless pioneers of English stock planted towns in the Connecticut
valley,
along the Sound, and on the shore of Long Island. These were
uncomfortable
neighbors with aggressive manners which quite upset the placid Dutch of
New
Amsterdam. Inevitable boundary disputes followed, which reached no
adjustment
until, in 1650, Stuyvesant went to Hartford to engage in a conference
with
commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. The
Director began
as usual with bravado; but presently he consented to leave the question
of
boundaries to a board of four arbitrators. This board decided that the
boundary
between the Dutch and English possessions should run on Long Island
from Oyster
Bay south to the Atlantic, and that on the mainland it should run north
from
Greenwich Bay, but never approach within ten miles of the Hudson River.
The
Dutch in New Netherland were amazed and disgusted at the decision; but
though
Stuyvesant is said to have exclaimed in dramatic fashion that he had
been
betrayed, he found it hopeless to struggle against the superior force
arrayed
against him. |