Nobody's goods have been confiscated in New Netherland without great reason; and if any one feels aggrieved about it, the Director will be prepared to furnish an answer. That ships or shipmasters are afraid of confiscation and therefore do not come to New Netherland is probable, for nobody can come to New Netherland without a license. Whoever has this, and does not violate his agreement, and has properly entered his goods, need not be afraid of confiscation; but all smugglers and persons who sail with two commissions may well be.
All those who were indebted to the Company were warned by the Director and Council to pay the debts left uncollected by the late William Kieft, and as some could, and others could not well pay, no one was compelled to pay; but these debts, amounting to 30,000 guilders, make many who do not wish to pay, angry and insolent, (especially as the Company now has nothing in that country to sell them on credit,) and it seems that some seek to pay after the Brazil fashion.(1)
The memorialists have requested that the people should not be harassed, which however has never been the case, but they would be right glad to see that the Company dunned nobody, not demanded their own, yet paid their creditors. It will appear by the account-books of the Company that the debts were not contracted during the war, but before it. The Company has assisted the inhabitants, who were poor and burdened with wives and children, with clothing, houses, cattle, land, etc., and from time to time charged them in account, in hopes of their being able at some time to pay for them.
If the taxes of New England, before spoken of, be compared with those of New Netherland, it will be found that those of New England are a greater burden upon that country than the taxes of New Netherland are upon our people.
The wine excise of one stiver per can, was first imposed in the year 1647.
The beer excise of three guilders per tun, was imposed by Kieft in 1644, and is paid by the tapster alone, and not the burgher.
The recognition of eight in a hundred upon exported beaver skins does not come out of the inhabitants, but out of the trader, who is bound to pay it according to contract.
The Director has always shown that he was desirous and pleased to see a deputation from the commonalty, who should seek in the Fatherland from the Company as patrons and the Lords States as sovereigns, the following: population, settlement of boundaries, reduction of charges upon New Netherland tobacco and other productions, means of transporting people, permanent and solid privileges, etc.
For which purpose he has always offered to lend a helping hand; but the remonstrants have pursued devious paths and excited some of the commonalty, and by that means obtained a clandestine and secret subscription, as is to be seen by their remonstrance, designed for no other object than to render the Company—their patrons—and the officers in New Netherland odious before Their High Mightinesses, so that the Company might be deprived of the jus patronatus and be still further injured.
The remonstrants say that we had relied upon the English, and by means of them sought to divert the college, (as they call it,) which is untrue, as appears by the propositions made to them. But it is here to be observed that the English, living under the protection of the Netherlanders, having taken the oath of allegiance and being domiciliated and settled in New Netherland, are to be considered citizens of the country. These persons have always been opposed to them, since the English, as well as they, had a right to say something in relation to the deputation, and would not consent to all their calumnies and slanders, but looked to the good of the commonalty and of the inhabitants.
It was not written on their petition, in the margin, that they might secretly go and speak to the commonalty. The intention of the Director was to cause them to be called together as opportunity should offer, at which time they might speak to the commonalty publicly about the deputation. The Director was not obliged, as they say, to call the commonalty immediately together. It was to be considered by him at what time each one could conveniently come from home without considerable loss, especially as some lived at a distance in the country, etc.
That they have not been willing to communicate, was because all whom they now paint in such black colors would have been able to provide themselves with weapons, and make the contrary appear, and in that case could have produced something [in accusation of] some of them. And since the Director and those connected with the administration in New Netherland are very much wronged and defamed, I desire time in order to wait for opposing documents from New Netherland, if it be necessary.
As to Vander Donk and his associates' report that the Director instituted suits against some persons: The Director going to the house of Michael Jansen, (one of the signers of the remonstrance,) was warned by the said Michael and Thomas Hall, saying, there was within it a scandalous journal of Adrian van der Donck; which journal the Director took with him, and on account of the slanders which were contained in it against Their High Mightinesses and private individuals, Van der Donck was arrested at his lodgings and proof of what he had written demanded, but he was released on the application and solicitation of others.
During the administration both of Kieft and of Stuyvesant, it was by a placard published and posted, that no attestations or other public writings should be valid before a court in New Netherland, unless they were written by the secretary. This was not done in order that there should be no testimony [against the Director] but upon this consideration, that most of the people living in Netherland are country and seafaring men, and summon each other frequently for small matters before the court, while many of them can neither read nor write, and neither testify intelligibly nor produce written evidence, and if some do produce it, sometimes it is written by some sailor or farmer, and often wholly indistinct and contrary to the meaning of those who had it written or who made the statement; consequently the Director and Council could not know the truth of matters as was proper and as justice demanded, etc. Nobody has been arrested except Van der Donk for writing the journal, and Augustyn Heermans, the agent of Gabri, because he refused to exhibit the writings drawn up by the Nine Men, which were promised to the Director, who had been for them many times like a boy.
Upon the first point of redress, as they call it, the remonstrants advise, that the Company should abandon and transfer the country. What frivolous talk this is! The Company have at their own expense conveyed cattle and many persons thither, built forts, protected many people who were poor and needy emigrating from Holland, and provided them with provisions and clothing; and now when some of them have a little more than they can eat up in a day, they wish to be released from the authority of their benefactors, and without paying if they could; a sign of gross ingratitude.
Hitherto the country has been nothing but expense to the Company, and now when it can provide for itself and yield for the future some profit to the Company, these people are not willing to pay the tenth which they are in duty bound to pay after the expiration of the ten years, pursuant to the Exemptions to which they are making an appeal.
Upon the second point they say that provision should be made for ecclesiastical and municipal property, church services, an orphan asylum and an almshouse. If they are such philanthropists as they appear, let them lead the way in generous contributions for such laudable objects, and not complain when the Directors have endeavored to make collections for the building of the church and school. What complaints would have been made if the Director had undertaken to make collections for an almshouse and an orphan asylum! The service of the church will not be suspended, although Domine Johannes Backerus has departed, who was there only twenty-Seven months. His place is supplied by a learned and godly Minister who has no interpreter when he defends the Reformed Religion against any minister of our neighbors, the English Brownists.(1)
The foregoing are the points which really require any answer. We will only add some description of the persons who have signed the remonstrance and who are the following:
Adrian van der Donk has been about eight years in New Netherland. He went there in the service of the proprietors of the colony of Renselaerswyck as an officer, but did not long continue such, though he lived in that colony till 1646.
Arnoldus van Hardenburgh accompanied Hay Jansen to New Netherland, in the year 1644, with a cargo for his brother. He has never to our knowledge suffered any loss or damage in New Netherland, but has known how to charge the commonalty well for his goods.
Augustyn Heermans came on board the Maecht van Enkhuysen,(1) being then as he still is, the agent of Gabrie(2) in trading business.
Jacob van Couwenhoven came to the country with his father in boyhood, was taken by Wouter van Twiller into the service of the Company as an assistant, and afterwards became a tobacco planter. The Company has aided him with necessaries as it is to be seen by the books, but they have been paid for.
Olof Stevensen, brother-in-law of Govert Loockmans, went out in the year 1637 in the ship Herring as a soldier in the service of the Company. He was promoted by Director Kieft and finally made commissary of the shop. He has profited in the service of the Company, and endeavors to give his benefactor the world's pay, that is, to recompense good with evil. He signed under protest, saying that he was obliged to sign, which can be understood two ways, one that he was obliged to subscribe to the truth, the other that he had been constrained by force to do it. If he means the latter, it must be proven.
Michael Jansen came to New Netherland as a farmer's man in the employ of the proprietors of Renselaerswyck. He made his fortune in the colony in a few years, but not being able to agree with the officers, finally came in the year 1646 to live upon the island Manhatans. He would have come here himself, but the accounts between him and the colony not being settled, in which the proprietors did not consider themselves indebted as he claimed, Jan Evertsen came over in his stead.
Thomas Hall came to the South River in 1635, in the employ of an Englishman, named Mr. Homs, being the same who intended to take Fort Nassau at that time and rob us of the South River. This Thomas Hall ran away from his master, came to the Manhatans and hired himself as a farmer's man to Jacob van Curlur. Becoming a freeman he has made a tobacco plantation upon the land of Wouter van Twyler, and he has been also a farm-superintendent; and this W. van Twyler knows the fellow. Thomas Hall dwells at present upon a small bowery belonging to the Honorable Company.
Elbert Elbertsen came to the country as a farmer's boy at about ten or eleven years of age, in the service of Wouter van Twyler, and has never had any property in the country. About three years ago he married the widow of Gerret Wolphertsen, (brother of the before mentioned Jacob van Couwenhoven,) and from that time to this has been indebted to the Company, and would be very glad to get rid of paying.
Govert Loockmans, brother in law of Jacob van Couwenhoven, came to New Netherland in the yacht St. Martin in the year 1633 as a cook's mate, and was taken by Wouter van Twyler into the service of the Company, in which service he profited somewhat. He became a freeman, and finally took charge of the trading business for Gilles Verbruggen and his company in New Netherland. This Loockmans ought to show gratitude to the Company, next to God, for his elevation, and not advise its removal from the country.
Hendrick Kip is a tailor, and has never suffered any injury in New Netherland to our knowledge.
Jan Evertsen-Bout, formerly an officer of the Company, came the last time in the year 1634, with the ship Eendracht [Union], in the service of the Honorable Michiel Paauw, and lived in Pavonia until the year 1643, and prospered tolerably. As the Honorable Company purchased the property of the Heer Paauw, the said Jan Evertsen succeeded well in the service of the Company, but as his house and barn at Pavonia were burnt down in the war, he appears to take that as a cause for complaint. It is here to be remarked, that the Honorable Company, having paid 26,000 guilders for the colony of the Heer Paauw, gave to the aforesaid Jan Evertsen, gratis, long after his house was burnt, the possession of the land upon which his house and farmstead are located, and which yielded good grain. The land and a poor unfinished house, with a few cattle, Michiel Jansen has bought for eight thousand guilders.
In brief, these people, to give their doings a gloss, say that they are bound by oath and compelled by conscience; but if that were the case they would not assail their benefactors, the Company and others, and endeavor to deprive them of this noble country, by advising their removal, now that it begins to be like something, and now that there is a prospect of the Company getting its own again. And now that many of the inhabitants are themselves in a better condition than ever, this is evidently the cause of the ambition of many, etc.
At the Hague, 29th November, 1650.
Letter of Johannes Bogaert to Hans Bontemantel, 1655. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed., Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early American History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909.
THE chief military exploit of Director Stuyvesant was the conquest in 1655 of the Swedish settlements on the Delaware River. New Sweden had been founded in 1638 by a party of settlers under Peter Minuit, sent out by the Swedish South Company, with private help from Dutch merchants. The history of this little colony belongs to another volume of this series, but some account of its absorption in New Netherland should find a place in this.
At first the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, the former with their Fort Nassau on the east side, the latter with their three forts, Nya Elfsborg on the east side, Christina and Nya Goteborg (New Gottenburg) on the west, dwelt together in amity. But competition for the Indian trade was keen, conflicting purchases of land from the Indians gave rise to disputes, and from the beginning of Stuyvesant's administration there was friction. This he greatly increased by proceeding to the South River with armed forces, in 1651, and building Fort Casimir on the west side of the river, near the present site of Newcastle, and uncomfortably near to Fort Christina. In 1654 a large reinforcement to the Swedish colony came out under Johan Rising, who seized Fort Casimir. But the serious efforts to strengthen the colony, made by Sweden in the last year of Queen Christina and the first year of King Charles X., were made too late. The Dutch West India Company ordered Director Stuyvesant not only to retake Fort Casimir but to expel the Swedish power from the whole river. He proceeded to organize in August, 1655, the largest military force which had yet been seen in the Atlantic colonies. The best Dutch account of what it achieved is presented in translation in the following pages; the Swedish side is told by Governor Rising in a report printed in the Collections of the New York Historical Society, second series, I. 443-448, and in Pennsylvania Archives, second series, V. 222-229.(1)
Of Johannes Bogaert, author of the following letter, we know only that he was a "writer," or clerk. Hans Bontemantel, to whom the letter was addressed, was a director in the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, and a schepen (magistrate) of Amsterdam from 1655 to 1672, in which last year he took a prominent part in bringing William III. The letter was first printed in 1858 in De Navorscher (the Dutch Notes and Queries), VIII. 185-186. A translation by Henry C. Murphy was published the same year in The Historical Magazine, II. 258-259, and this, carefully revised by the present editor, appears below. For a history of New Sweden, see Professor Gregory B. Keen's chapter in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, IV. 443-488.
LETTER OF JOHANNES BOGAERT TO HANS BONTEMANTEL, 1655
Noble and Mighty Sir:
Mr. Schepen Bontemantel:
THIS is to advise your Honor of what has occurred since the 5th of September, 1655, when we sailed with our seven ships,(1) composed of two yachts called the Holanse Tuijn (Dutch Frontier), the Prinses Royael (Princess Royal,) a galiot called the Hoop (Hope), mounting four guns, the flyboat Liefde (Love), mounting four guns, the yacht Dolphijn (Dolphin), vice-admiral, with four guns, the yacht Abrams Offerhande (Abraham's Offering), as rear-admiral, mounting four guns; and on the 8th arrived before the Swedish fort, named Elsener.(2) This south fort had been abandoned. Our force consisted of 317 soldiers, besides a company of sailors.(3) The general's(4) company, of which Lieutenant Nuijtingh was captain, and Jan Hagel ensign-bearer, was ninety strong. The general's second company, of which Dirck Smit was captain, and Don Pouwel ensign-bearer, was sixty strong. Nicolaes de Silla the marshal's company, of which Lieutenant Pieter Ebel was captain, and William van Reijnevelt ensign-bearer, was fifty-five strong. The major's second company, which was composed of seamen and pilots, with Dirck Jansz Verstraten of Ossanen as their captain, boatswain's-mate Dirck Claesz of Munnikendam as ensign-bearer, and the sail-maker Jan Illisz of Honsum as lieutenant, consisted of fifty men; making altogether 317 men. The 10th, after breakfast, the fleet got under way, and ran close under the guns of Fort Casemier, and anchored about a cannon-shot's distance from it. The troops were landed immediately, and General Stuijvesant dispatched Lieutenant Dirck Smit with a drummer and a white flag to the commandant, named Swen Schoeten,(5) to summon the fort. In the meantime we occupied a guard-house about half a cannon-shot distant from the fort; and at night placed a company of soldiers in it, which had been previously used as a magazine. The 11th, the commander, Swen Schoeten, sent a flag requesting to speak with the General, who consented. They came together, and after a conference the said commander surrendered Fort Casemier to the general, upon the following conditions:
First, The commander, whenever he pleases and shall have the opportunity, by the arrival of ships belonging to the crown, or private ships, shall be permitted to remove from Fort Casemier the guns of the crown, large and small: consisting, according to the statement of the commander, of four iron guns and five case-shot guns, of which four are small and one is large. Second, Twelve men shall march out as the body-guard of the commander, fully accoutred, with the flag of the crown; the others with their side-arms only. The guns and muskets which belong to the crown shall be and remain at the disposition of the commandant, to take or cause them to be taken from the fort whenever the commander shall have an opportunity to do so. Third, The commander shall have all his private personal effects uninjured, in order to take them with him or to have them taken away whenever he pleases, and also the effects of all the officers. Fourth, The commander shall this day restore into the hands of the General Fort Casemier and all the guns, ammunition, materials, and other property belonging to the General Chartered West India Company. Done, concluded and signed by the contracting parties the 11th September, 1655, on board the ship De Waegh, lying at Fort Casemier. (Signed) Petrus Stuijvesant, Swen Schuts.(1)
The 13th, was taken prisoner the lieutenant of Fort Crist[ina], with a drummer, it being supposed that he had come as a spy upon the army, in consequence of the drummer's having no drum. The 14th, the small fleet was again under sail with the army for Verdrietige Point,(1) where they were landed. The 15th, we arrived at the west of Fort Christina, where we formed ourselves into three divisions; the major's company and his company of sailors were stationed on the south side of the creek, by the yacht Eendraght (Union), where the major constructed a battery of three guns, one eight-pounder and two six-pounders; the general's company and the field marshal's were divided into two. The marshal threw up a battery of two twelve-pounders, about northwest of the fort. The general placed a battery about north of the fort, opposite the land entrance, one hundred paces, by calculation, from the fort, and mounting one eighteen-pounder, one eight-pounder, one six-pounder, and one three-pounder.(2)
The 17th, the flyboat Liefde returned to the Manhathans with the Swedish prisoners. From the 17th to the 23rd nothing particular happened. Then, when we had everything ready, the governor of the fort received a letter from our general, to which our general was to have an answer the next day. The same day an Indian, whom we had dispatched on the 13th to Menades, arrived, bringing news and letters to the effect that some Dutch people had been killed at Menades by the Indians;(1) which caused a feeling of horror through the army, so that the general sent a letter immediately to the fort, that he would give them no time the next morning. Then Then the general agreed wit the Swedish governor to come together in the morning and make an arrangement. The general had a tent erected between our quarter and their fort, and there an agreement was made, whereby the governor, Johan Risingh, surrendered the fort on the 24th of September, upon the conditions mentioned in the accompanying capitulation.(2) On the 28th of September the general left with the ships and yachts, and we were ordered to remain from eight to fourteen days, and let the men work daily at Fort Casemier, in the construction of ramparts.(3)
The 11th of October, Governor Rijsingh and Factor Elswijck, with some Swedes, came on board, whom we carried with us to Menades. We ran out to sea for the Menades on the 12th, and on the 17th happily arrived within Sandy Hook. On the 21st we sailed for the North River, from Staten Island, by the watering-place, and saw that all the houses there, and about Molyn's house,(1) were burned up by the Indians; and we learned here that Johannes van Beeck, with his wife and some other people, and the captain of a slave-trader which was lying here at anchor with a vessel, having gone on a pleasure excursion, were attacked by the Indians, who murdered Van Beeck and the captain, and took captive his wife and sister. We found Van Beeck dead in a canoe, and buried him. His wife has got back. The general is doing all that lies in his power to redeem the captives and to make peace. Commending your Honor, with hearty salutations, to the protection of the Most High, that he will bless you and keep you in continued Health, I remain your Honor's
Obedient servant,
JOHANNES BOGAERT, Clerk.
THE Dutch clergy of the Reformed Church, as has already been mentioned in a previous introduction, were men whose observations we must value because of their intelligence and their acquirements; and they also had a point of view which was to a large extent independent of the Director General and other civil officials. Hence the series of their reports to the Classis of Amsterdam is worthy of much attention. In the absence of a continuous narrative of high importance for the years from 1655 to 1664 it has been deemed best to make use for those years of certain of these clerical letters.
Of their authors, Domine Megapolensis has been already treated, in the introduction to his tract on the Mohawks. He remained at New Amsterdam through the period of the English conquest, and died there in 1669. The Reverend Samuel Drisius (Dries) was born about 1602, of Dutch parents, but was throughout his earlier life a pastor in England, until the troubles in that country caused him to return to the Netherlands. Since he was able to preach not only in Dutch but also in English and even in French, it was natural that the Classis should send him out to New Netherland in response to the urgent requests made for assistance to Megapolensis, especially in dealing with the non-Dutch population at New Amsterdam. He began his pastoral service there in 1653, and continued throughout the remainder of the period represented by this book. In 1669 he is reported as incapacitated by failing mental powers, and he died in 1673. Domine Henricus Selyns was examined as a candidate for the ministry in 1657, ordained by the Classis in 1660, called to Breukelen and inducted there in that year. He returned to Holland in 1664, before the surrender, but came back to New York in 1682 as minister of the Collegiate Church, and died there in 1701.
John Romeyn Brodhead, at the time of his remarkable mission to the Netherlands (1841), included in his endeavors a search for Dutch ecclesiastical papers bearing on New Netherland. The letters which follow were among those which he found in Amsterdam, in the archives of the Classis. In 1842 they were Lent, in 1846 given, by the Classis to the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church in America. To this material large Additions were made by a further search carried out in 1897-1898, by the Reverend Dr. Edward T. Corwin, acting as agent of that church, who is responsible for the translations which follow. An account of all this ecclesiastical material, under the title "The Amsterdam Correspondence," was printed by him in 1897 in the eight volume of the Papers of the American Society of Church History. He edited the material for publication in the first volume of the series called Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York, published by the state in 1901. The letters which follow are taken, with slight revision, from various pages (from page 334 to page 562) of that volume.
LETTERS OF THE DUTCH MINISTERS TO THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM, 1655-1664
Rev. Johannes Megapolensis to the Classis of Amsterdam (March 18, 1655).
Reverendissimi Domini, Fratres in Christo, Synergi observandi:(1)
I FEEL it my duty, to answer the letter of your Reverences, dated the 11th of November, 1654.(2)
We have cause to be grateful to the Messrs. Directors(3) and to your Reverences for the case and trouble taken to procure for the Dutch on Long Island a good clergyman, even though it has not yet resulted in anything. Meanwhile, God has led Domine Joannes Pelhemius(4) from Brazil, by way of the Caribbean Islands, to this place. He has for the present gone to Long Island, to a village called Midwout, which is somewhat the Meditullium(5) of the other villages, to wit, Breuckelen, Amersfoort and Gravesande. There he has preached for the accommodation of the inhabitants on Sundays during the winter, and has administered the sacraments, to the satisfaction of all, as Director Stuyvesant has undoubtedly informed the Messrs. Directors.
As to William Vestiens, who has been schoolmaster and sexton here, I could neither do much, nor say much, in his favor, to the Council, because for some years past they were not satisfied or pleased with his services.(1) Thereupon when he asked for an increase of salary last year, he received the answer, that if the service did not suit him, he might ask for his discharge. Only lately I have been before the Council on his account, and spoken about it, in consequence of your letter, but they told me that he had fulfilled his duties only so-so(2) and that he did little enough for his salary.
Some Jews came from Holland last summer, in order to trade. Later some Jews came upon the same ship as Dr. Polheymius;(1) they were healthy, but poor. It would have been proper, that they should have been supported by their own people, but they have been at our charge, so that we have had to spend several hundred guilders for their support. They came several times to my house, weeping and bemoaning their misery. When I directed them to the Jewish merchant,(2) they said, that he would not lend them a single stiver. Some more have come from Holland this spring. They report that many more of the same lot would follow, and then they would build here a synagogue. This causes among the congregation here a great deal of complaint and murmuring. These people have no other God than the Mammon of unrighteousness, and no other aim than to get possession of Christian property, and to overcome all other merchants by drawing all trade towards themselves. Therefore we request your Reverences to obtain from the Messrs. Directors, that these godless rascals, who are of no benefit to the country, but look at everything for their own profit, may be sent away from here. For as we have here Papists, Mennonites and Lutherans among the Dutch; also many Puritans or Independents, and many atheists and various other servants of Baal among the English under this Government, who conceal themselves under the name of Christians; it would create a still greater confusion, if the obstinate and immovable Jews came to settle here.
In closing I commend your Reverences with your families to the protection of God, who will bless us and all of you in the service of the divine word.
Your obedient
JOHAN. MEGAPOLENSIS.
Amsterdam in New Netherland the 18th of March, 1655.
Addressed to the Reverend, Pious and very Learned Deputies ad res Ecclesiasticas Indicas, in the Classis of Amsterdam.
Revs. J. Megapolensis and S. Drisius to the Classis of Amsterdam (August 5, 1657).
Reverend, Pious and Learned Gentlemen, Fathers and Brethren in Christ Jesus:
The letters of your Reverences, of the 13th of June 1656, and of the 15th of October of the same year have been received. We were rejoiced to learn of the fatherly affection and care which you show for the welfare of this growing congregation. We also learned thereby of the trouble you have taken with the Messrs. Directors, to prevent the evils threatened to our congregation by the creeping in of erroneous spirits; and of your Reverences' desire, to be informed of the condition of the churches in this country.
We answered you in the autumn of the year 1656, and explained all things in detail. To this we have as yet received no reply, and are therefore in doubt, whether our letters reached you. This present letter must therefore serve the same end.
The Lutherans here pretended, last year, that they had obtained the consent of the Messrs. Directors, to call a Lutheran pastor from Holland.(1) They therefore requested the Hon. Director and the Council, that they should have permission, meanwhile, to hold their conventicles to prepare the way for their expected and coming pastor. Although they began to urge this rather saucily, we, nevertheless, animated and encourage by your letters, hoped for the best, yet feared the worst, which has indeed come to pass. For although we could not have believed that such permission had been given by the Directors, there nevertheless arrived here, with the ship Meulen(2) in July last, a Lutheran preacher Joannes Ernestus Goetwater,(3) to the great joy of the Lutherans, but to the special displeasure and uneasiness of the congregation in this place; yea, even the whole country, including the English, were displeased.
We addressed ourselves, therefore, to his Honor the Director-General, the Burgomasters and Schepens of this place,(1) and presented the enclosed petition. As a result thereof, the Lutheran pastor was summoned before their Honors and asked with what intentions he had come here, and what commission and credentials he possessed. He answered that he had come to serve here as a Lutheran preacher, but that he had no other commission than a letter from the Lutheran Consistory at Amsterdam to the Lutheran congregation here. He was then informed by the Hon. authorities here, that he must abstain from all church services, and from the holding of any meetings, and not even deliver the letter which he brought from the Lutherans at Amsterdam without further orders; but that he must regulate himself by the edicts of this province against private conventicles. He promised to do this, adding however that with the next ships he expected further orders and his regular commission. In the meantime, however, we had the snake in our bosom. We should have been glad if the authorities here had opened that letter of the Lutheran Consistory, to learn therefrom the secret of his Mission, but as yet they have not been willing to do this.
We then demanded that our authorities here should send back the Lutheran preacher, who had come without the consent of the Messrs. Directors, in the same ship in which he had come, in order to put a stop to this work, which they evidently intended to prosecute with a hard Lutheran head, in spite of and against the will of our magistrates; for we suspect that this one has come over to see whether he can pass, and be allowed to remain here, and thus to lay the foundation for further efforts; but we do not yet know what we can accomplish.
Domine Gideon Schaats(1) wrote to you last year about the congregation at Rensselaerswyck or Beverwyck, as he intends to do again. We know nothing otherwise than that the congregation there is in a good condition; that it is growing vigorously, so that it is almost as strong as we are here at the Manhatans. They built last year a handsome parsonage. On the South River, matters relating to religion and the church have hitherto progressed very unsatisfactorily; first because we had there only one little fort, and in it a single commissary, with ten to twenty men, all in the Company's service, merely for trading with the Indians. Secondly: In the year 1651 Fort Nassau was abandoned and razed, and another, called Fort Casemier, was erected, lower down and nearer to the seaboard. This was provided with a stronger garrison, and was reinforced by several freemen, who lived near it.
But the Swedes, increasing there in numbers, troubled and annoyed our people daily. After they had taken Fort Casemier from us, they annoyed our countrymen so exceedingly, that the South River was abandoned by them. However in the year 1655 our people recovered Fort Casemier, and now it is held by a sufficiently strong garrison, including several freemen, who also have dwellings about. One was then appointed, to read to them on Sundays, from the Postilla.(1) This is continued to this day.(2) The Lutheran preacher who was sent there was returned to Sweden.
Two miles from Fort Casemier, up the river, is another fort, called Christina. This was also taken by our people, at the same time, and the preacher there(1) was sent away, with the Swedish garrison.
But because many Swedes and Finns, at least two hundred, live above Fort Christina, two or three leagues further up the river, the Swedish governor made a condition in his capitulation, that they might retain one Lutheran preacher,(1) to teach these people in their language. This was granted then the more easily, first, because new troubles had broken out at Manhattan with the Indians, and it was desirable to shorten proceedings here and return to the Manhattans to put things in order there; secondly, because there was no Reformed preacher here, nor any who understood their language, to be located there.