Executive Government of New Netherland

WHILE the English were laying the foundations of flourishing commonwealth in Virginia on the broad basis of republicanism, the Dutch were busy fashioning a state upon the still broader foundations of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, with its capital on the site of the city of New York.

We have seen how refugees from persecution in France, and native Hollanders; first made settlements on Manhattan Island and elsewhere, and so established the colony of New Netherland, and founded a city which they called New Amsterdam, with Peter Minuit as director-general or governor. Minuit was an energetic man from Wesel, in Rhenish Prussia, where he had been a deacon in the Walloon or French Refugee Church, and had good family connections. He was assisted, we have observed in Chapter IV of the Second Book, by a council appointed by the Dutch West India Company. Also by a secretary who was the bookkeeper of the Company, and a sheriff who was also the manager of the revenues of the province. These several officers composed the executive government of New Netherland; its laws derived their life from Holland, and were subservient to the supposed interests of the Company. The first commissary or chief secretary was Isaac de Rasieres, already mentioned as a correspondent with the Pilgrim and Puritan authorities in New England.

The intercourse between the Dutch and Indians was friendly for some time. The Hollanders had extended their traffic as far north as the upper waters of the Hudson, and built a military work on the site of Albany which they called Fort Orange. Eight families had settled there and begun to cultivate the land, when the Mohawk Indians on one side of the river and the Mohegans on the other, both friendly with the Dutch, quarreled and went to war. The commander of the fort foolishly joined the Mohegans in and expedition against the Mohawks in violation of the treaty made at Tawasentha. They were met by the fierce Iroquois, and in a battle with them, the Dutch commander and three of his men were slain, with many of the Mohegans. The settlers at Fort Orange were terrified, and were about to fleet to Manhattan in their boats, when Barentsten, a very popular trader, arrived, and received a deputation of Mohawks, who came to justify their deed. "We have done nothing against the white people," they said' "why did they meddle with us? Had it been otherwise, this would not have happened from us." The position was considered unsafe, and the eight families, with every woman in the garrison, were removed to New Amsterdam. That was in the year 1626.

Now followed the correspondence and personal intercourse between the Dutch on Manhattan and the Puritans in New England mentioned in Chapter VI of the Second Book. During that time, and until 1628, wars between the Indians on the upper Hudson caused Fort Orange to remain only a military and trading post, for settlers would not venture much beyond the bounds of Manhattan Island. But while the extension of settlements in New Netherland was thus checked by the hostilities of two savage nations, and the general prosperity of the colony was somewhat depressed, the Dutch West India Company were reaping a rich harvest of wealth and honors from the circumstances of war between Christian nations--Holland, Spain and Portugal. Its battle-ships depredated fiercely and successfully upon the floating commerce of those kingdoms of the Peninsula. The fleets of the two India companies were then the right arm of Dutch power and controlled the state.

Peter Petersen Heyn, who had risen from the position of a peasant boy to that of distinguished naval commander, captured for the Company, in 1629, the Spanish "Silver Fleet" while on its way from Yucatan with the spoils of the mines of Mexico and Peru. He put about five million dollars of treasure into their coffers. The joy of the people of Holland was unbounded when the news reached Amsterdam. The reception of the victor there was princely in its display. He was conducted into the Assembly Chamber of the States-General at the Hague, and there received the thanks of the nation publicly. He asked for no share of the booty he had won; and when the commission of Admiral was offered him, he refused, it, saying: "It is too great a dignity for one of so mean birth and unpolished manners to possess." It was forced upon him, and he went forth to win other victories. The next year, while fighting two Dunkirk pirates, with his ship between them, he was killed on the deck of his vessel. His body was conveyed in regal pomp to the old church at Delft, wherein the Pilgrim fathers had worshipped on the shores of Holland, and he was buried by he side of Prince William of Orange. his grateful government erected over his remains under the great aisle a superb marble monument. When the States-General sent a letter of condolence to his peasant mother by the hand of a high officer, she said: "Aye, I thought that would be the end of him. He was always a vagabond; but I did my best to correct him. he has got no more than he deserved."