Vries' at their head, to act for them; and this was the first representative assembly ever formed among Europeans on Manhattan Island. They did not agree with the governor's hostile views; and Keift finding them not only opposed to his war designs, but that they were also taking cognizance of alleged grievances of the people, dissolved them, in February, 1642. Finally, the commission of other murders by Indians, and the presence of a body of Mohawks, who had come down to exact tribute from the River tribes, concurred with the changed opinions of some leading citizens of New Amsterdam, to make Keift resolve to embrace this opportunity to chastise the savages. A large number of them had fled before the Mohawks, and sought shelter with the Hackensacks, near Hoboken, and there craved the protection of the Dutch. Now was offered an opportunity for a wise and humane governor to make a covenant of peace and friendship; but Keift could not be satisfied without a flow of blood. At midnight, in February, 1643, a body of Hollanders and Mohawks crossed the Hudson, fell upon the unsuspecting fugitives, and before the dawn, they massacred almost a hundred men, women, and children. Many were driven from the cliffs at Hoboken into the freezing flood; and at sunrise the bloody marauders returned to New Amsterdam with thirty prisoners, and the heads of several Indians.

The fiery hatred and vengeance of all the surrounding tribes were aroused by this massacre, and a fierce war was soon kindled. Villages and farms were desolated, and white people were butchered wherever they were found by the incensed Indians. The Long Island tribes,' hitherto friendly, joined their kindred, and the very existence of the Dutch colony was menaced. Fortunately for the settlers, that eminent peace-maker, Roger Williams,* arrived [1643], to embark for England," and he pacified the savages, and secured a brief repose for the colony. But the war was soon renewed, and for two years the colony suffered dreadfully. Having no competent leader, they employed Captain John Underhill, who successfully beat back and defeated the Indians, and hostilities ceased. The Mohawks came and claimed sovereignty over the River Indians, made a treaty of peace with the Dutch, and the hatchet was buried.

The conduct of Governor Keift was so offensive to the colonists and the Company, that he was recalled, and he sailed for Europe in 1647, in a richly laden vessel. It was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and there he perished. He had already been succeeded in office [May, 27, 1647], by Peter Stuyvesant, lately governor of Cura,oa, a soldier of eminence, and possessed of every requisite for an efficient administration of government. His treatment of the Indians was very kind and just, and they soon exhibited such friendship for the Dutch, that Stuyvesant was falsely charged with a design to employ them in murdering the English in New England.' Long accustomed, as a military leader, to

2

Note 2, page 92.

It was during this frenzy of revenge that Mrs. Hutchinson, who had been banished from Massachusetts, and had taken up her residence near the present New Rochelle, Westchester County, New York, was murdered, with all her family. The stream upon which she lived is yet known as Hutchinson's River. 4 Page 87. Page 91. Page 87. See page 121. This idea prevailed, because during almost the entire winter of 1652-3, Ninigret

3

Page 21.

6

arbitrary rule, he was stern and inflexible, but he had the reputation of an honest man. He immediately commenced much needed reforms; and during his whole administration, which was ended by the subjugation of the Dutch by the English,' in 1664, he was the faithful and energetic defender of the integ

rity of the province against its foes. By prudent management he avoided collisions with the English, and peaceably ended boundary disputes" with them in the autumn of 1650. This cause for irritation on his eastern frontier being removed, Stuyvesant turned his attention to the growing power of the Swedes, on the Delaware.

Governor Stuyvesant built Fort Casimir, on the site of the present New

and two other Narragansett sachems had been in New Amsterdam, and on very friendly terms with Stuyvesant. These sachems, who were true friends of the English, positively disclaimed all bad intentions on the part of Stuyvesant, and yet historians of the present day repeat the slander. 1 Page 144.

See page 85. He went to Hartford, and there made a treaty which fixed the eastern boundary of New Netherland nearly on the line of the present division between New York and Connecticut, and across Long Island, at Oyster Bay, thirty miles eastward of New York. The Dutch claims to lands on the Connecticut River were extinguished by this treaty. From the beginning of difficulties, the Dutch were clearly in the right. This was acknowledged by impartial and just New Englanders. In a manuscript letter before me, from Edward Winslow to Governor Winthrop, dated at Marshfield, 2d of 6th month, 1644," in which he replies to a charge of being favorable to the Dutch, in some respects, he says that he had asserted in substance, that he "would not defend the Hartford men's cause, for they had hitherto (or thus long) wronged the Dutch."

Castle, in Delaware, in 1651. This was soon seized by the Swedes, and the garrison made prisoners. The States-General' resolved to prevent further trouble with these enterprising neighbors of the Dutch, and for this purpose, gave Stuyvesant full liberty to subjugate the Swedes. At the head of six hundred men, he sailed for the Delaware, in August, 1655, and by the middle of October, he had captured all the Swedish fortresses, and sent the governor (Risingh) and several other influential men, to Europe. Some of the settlers withdrew to Maryland and Virginia, but the great body of them quietly submitted, took an oath of allegiance to the States-General of Holland, and continued in peaceable possession of their property. Thus, after an existence of about seventeen years [1638-1655], NEW SWEDEN disappeared by absorption into NEW NETHERLAND.

While Stuyvesant

New trouble now appeared, but it was soon removed. and his soldiery were absent on the Delaware, some Indians, who were not yet reconciled to the Dutch, menaced New Amsterdam. The return of the governor produced quiet, for they feared and respected him, and, for eight years, the colony was very little disturbed by external causes. Then the Esopus Indians suddenly fell upon the Dutch settlements [June, 1663] at Wiltwyck (now Kingston, in Ulster County), and killed and captured sixty-five of the inhabitants. Stuyvesant promptly sent a sufficient force to chastise them; and so thoroughly was the errand performed, that the Indians sued for peace in May, 1664, and made a treaty of friendship.

4

External difficulties gave Stuyvesant little more trouble than a spirit opposed to his aristocratic views, which he saw manifested daily around him. While he had been judiciously removing all cause for ill-feeling with his neighbors, there was a power at work within his own domain which gave him great uneasiness. The democratic seed planted by the Twelve, in Keift's time, had begun to grow vigorously under the fostering care of a few enlightened Hollanders, and some Puritans who had settled in New Netherland. The latter, by their applause of English institutions, had diffused a desire among the people to partake of the blessings of English liberty, as they understood it, and as it appeared in New England. Stuyvesant was an aristocrat by birth, education, and pursuit, and vehemently opposed every semblance of democracy. At the beginning he found himself at variance with the people. At length an assembly of two deputies from each village in New Netherland, chosen by the inhabitants, convened at New Amsterdam [December, 1653], without the approbation of the governor. It was a spontaneous, and, in the eyes of the governor, a revolutionary movement. Their proceedings displeased him; and finding argument of no avail, he exercised his official prerogative, and commanded obedience to his will. The people grew bolder at every rebuff, and finally they not only resisted taxation, but openly expressed a willingness to bear English rule for the sake of enjoying English liberty.

The opportunity for a change of rulers was not long delayed. A crisis in

the affairs of New Netherland now approached. Charles the Second, of England, without any fair pretense to title, gave the whole territory of New Netherland [March 22, 1664] to his brother James, Duke of York,' The duke sent an English squadron, under the command of Colonel Richard Nicolls, to secure the gift; and on the 3d of September, 1664, the red cross of St. George floated in triumph over the fort, and the name of New Amsterdam was changed to New York. It was an easy conquest, for, while the fortifications and other means of defense were very weak, the people were not unwilling to try English rule. Stuyvesant began to make concessions to the people, when it was too late, and when his real strength, the popular will, had departed from him. He hesitated long before he would sign the articles of capitulation; and thus, until the end, he was faithful to his employers, the Dutch West India Company.* With the capital, the remainder of the province passed into the hands of the English; and early in October, 1664, New Netherland was acknowledged a part of the British realm, and Nicolls, the conqueror became governor. us now consider

Let

NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISII.

CITY OF NEW YORK IN 1664.

Very soon after the conquest the people of New York' perceived that a change of masters did not enhance their prosperity and happiness.

They were disappointed in their hopes of a representative government; and their taxes, to support a government in which they had no voice, were increased. Lovelace, the vile successor of Nicolls, in 1667, increased their burdens; and when they sent a respectful protest to him, he ordered the paper to be burned by the common hangman. He was a petty tyrant, and declared that the people should have "liberty for no thought but how to pay their taxes." But the people did think of something else, and were on the eve of open rebellion when

1 Page 94.

2 Note 6, page 123.

The royal standard of England is sometimes so named because it bears a red cross, which is called the "cross of St. George," the patron saint of Great Britain. After the union with Scotland [note 1. page 63], the cross of St. Andrew (in the form of an X), was added, and is now seen on the British flag. In the centre are the royal arms. This Union, as the figure is called, was borne upon the American flags, sometimes, until after the Declaration of Independence, in 1776. It was upon the flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, which Washington caused to be unfurled at Cambridge, on the first day of that year. See page 245.

The name of Fort Orange settlement [note 9, page 139], was changed to Albany, one of the duke's titles. 5 Page 72

We have elsewhere noticed the fact, that before Nicolls was dispatched, the duke, being certain of victory, sold that part of New Netherland now included in New Jersey, to other parties. [See page 94.] Long Island, which had been previously granted to the Earl of Stirling, was purchased by the Dutch, in total disregard of the claims of Connecticut. The colonies on the Delaware remained under the jurisdiction of New York, and were governed by deputies.

The above picture is a correct view of the city of New York two hundred years ago It is now [1856] the largest city on the American continent. On the left of the picture is seen Fort Amsterdam, with the church and governor's house within it, and a windmill. The point of Manhattan Island, from the present Battery Place to the foot of Wall-street, is here seen.