Should one or two brickmakers offer to come hither in service or else as free men, there is a good opportunity for them; please engage them, and let them come over in the one capacity or other, at pleasure. I have, up to this time, issued such reasonable and necessary rations as circumstances, in any wise permitted, but it has been impossible to excuse the distribution to soldiers' wives, their maids and children; to wit, the women the same as the men, and the maids with the children, each half a ration, as is to be seen in the annexed list. In course of time it will be requisite to send out some wax, green or red, as may be proper, with a seal for this place. Herewith ending, I shall pray God, Honorable, Worshipful, Wise and Right Prudent Gentlemen, to bless your administration, and to preserve your Honors' persons in continual health. Resolution appointing a Committee to inquire into the affairs of the Colonie on Holland Documents, missioners of the Co the Delaware. [From the Resolutien van de Vroedschappen, A., 246, in the Stad Huys, Amsterdam. ] 7th September, 1657. On the application of the Commissioners of the Colonie in New Netherland Request of the Com- to send another ship thither, and to be supplied with the necessary funds for lonie in New Neth- that purpose by the city, Resolved, whereas, it was not the Council's intention erland for a subsidy. to foster said Colonie by excessive and endless expenditure, that Mess" Tulp,1 Cornelis de Graeff, Lord of South Polsbroeck, Witsen, Valckenier, Van Hoorn and Burgh be 'Doctor NICOLAS TULP, the celebrated Regent and Physician of Amsterdam, came into the world in that city on the 11th of October, 1593. At the age of twenty-nine, he was chosen Schepen and Member of the Common Council in the place of his birth; was reëlected five times as Schepen, and filled the office until 1642. In 1654 he arrived at the honorable and important post of Burgomaster, and was again called to it in 1656, 1666 and 1671. In the following year he gave a grand entertainment to his fellow Burgomasters and Councillors on the completion of the fiftieth year of his being a Member of the Common Council, on which occasion each of the guests was presented with a silver medal, which was struck to commemorate the event. The festivities lasted from noon until eleven o'clock at night. Two customs were observed on the occasion one somewhat general; the other, rather rare. The first was, that each guest, on retiring, took home with him a large plate of loaf sugar and fruit from the dessert; the second, that the pipes, from which the guests smoked, were served up, with the tobacco, on salvers of Porcelain. Dr. Tulp died on the 12th September, 1674, in the 81st year of his age. He was author of a work entitled Geneeskundige Aenmerkingen (Observations on the Art of Medicine), published both in Latin and Dutch. Kok's Vaderlandsch Wordenboek, XXIX., 56, which contains also his portrait. — ED. 2 Doctor CORNELIS JANSEN WITZEN was the son of Excise-Master Jan Cornelis Witzen, and a native of Amsterdam, where he was elected to the office of Schepen, 1636-1651. In 1643 he obtained a seat in the Common Council, and became Burgomaster in 1653, and subsequently in 1658, 1662 and 1667, when he exchanged the office for that of Hoofdschout, or High Sheriff of the city. Ibid. commissioned and requested to consider and examine said matters maturely and to report their conclusion and opinion accordingly. Resolution granting further Aid to the Colonie on the Delaware. Holland Documents, lonie in New Netherland. [From the Resolutien van de Vroedschappen, A., 252, in the Stad Huys, Amsterdam. ] 13th October, 1657. The Committee appointed on the 7th September last, to examine the application Subsidy for the Co- of the Commissioners of the Colonie in New Netherland to be supplied with 16,000 gl. for the equipment and dispatch of a ship, have this day reported: That the Commissioners of the Colonie had informed them that they meant henceforth to promote the work with a yearly outfit, and, as they should require only 16 @. 20 thousand gl. for each venture, not doubting but the good fruits of the planting this Colonie would manifest themselves in a short time, sooner or later; the Committee of this Council, as their opinion, therefore, consider, inasmuch as such subsidy is moderate, and would still further diminish in course of time, that the required subsidy ought to be continued and granted said Commissioners, by reason of the notorious appearances of increase in the Colonie. Which report being heard, the Committee is thanked for the trouble they have taken, and it is accordingly resolved that for this once, the required 16 thousand guilders shall be granted, and for the raising thereof the revenue, means and effects of this city, shall be bound, as has heretofore been done, the council reserving to itself, to determine, then, in regard to the future. Resolution granting further Aid to the Colonie on the Delaware. Holland Documents, [From the Resolutien van de Vroedschappen, B., 16, in the Stad Huis, Amsterdam. ] 11th April, 1658. The application of the Commissioners or Directors of the Colonie in New Netherland to be supplied with a sum of 20 thousand gl. for the fitting out of a the Colonie in New ship to be sent thither with a number of persons who offer to go there, for the advancement of said Colonie, having been submitted by Mess" the Burgomasters, 20 thousand gl. for advancement of Netherland. to the Council. It is, after deliberation, remarked that the reasons and motives which led to the prosecution of said Colonie, still continue, and from time to time afford more probable tokens of a good result; and it is therefore resolved that the above named Commissioners shall be allowed the required 20 thousand gl. for the next outfit, on like negotiation and pledge, as is expressed in the resolution adopted on the 13th October, 1657. Sundry Papers in relation to the Case of Jan Gaillardo and his Negro Slaves. [From the authenticated copy in the Royal Archives at the Hague; Loketkas of the States-General, K.; Letter L.; Division, West Indische Compagnie, No. 46. ] Received 26th April, 1658. Letter of the West India Company to the States-General, with sundry Appendices, respecting Jan Gaillardo, a Spanish Pilot. High and Mighty Lords! Your High Mightinesses having, on the repeated instances of the Spanish Ambassador, instructed and ordered the Company's Director-General in New Netherland not only to be helping one Joan Gaillardo ferara, a Spanish pilot, in his petition, according to reason and equity, but to furnish your High Mightinesses with information and communication of whatever was done there in this matter, or may happen then again to be done. The said DirectorGeneral, accordingly, hath sent to us, by the last ships, a despatch drawn up by him on this subject and addressed to your High Mightinesses, together with divers documents and inclosures appertaining thereunto, which we have resolved to transmit herewith to your High Mightinesses in order that you may use the same as may be proper. Herewith, High and Mighty Lords, we shall pray God for the continual welfare of your High Mightinesses' prosperous government, and remain, Your High Mightinesses' humble servants, Amsterdam, 25th April, 1658. The Directors of the West India Company's Chamber at Amsterdam. To the High and Mighty Lords, States-General of the United Netherlands. Received 26th April, 1658. Director-General and Council of New Netherland to the States-General. Right Honorable, High and Mighty Lords! My Lords. Your High Mightinesses have been pleased, in a despatch dated 25th January, 1657, to send us copy of the Memorial of the Ambassador of Spain for and in behalf of one Jan Gallardo, a Spanish pilot, with an order and command to us that we, on finding the matter as set forth in the aforesaid Journal,' do grant, in all its parts, as far as it concerns us, the request of the said Ambassadors, contained in that Memorial, and, further, to inform your High Mightinesses what we shall have done and accomplished in the premises. In obedience to your High Mightinesses' letters and orders we transmit herewith the papers presented to us, and our answer and resolutions thereupon. To read and examine all these will too much interrupt your High Mightinesses' application to higher and weightier affairs, in the same manner as the bold and shameless impertinence of the aforesaid Gaillardo, to the effect that we merely glance 1 Sic.-ED. at your High Mightinesses' recommendations without correcting the complaint, has troubled and disturbed, not a little, our small occupations. The Ambassador has been very much imposed on by the aforesaid Gallardo, and consequently your High Mightinesses, by the Ambassador, in regard to the merits of the case, in representing that we had demeaned ourselves angrily towards him, Gallardo, in refusing of justice and examination of witnesses whom the said Gallardo was willing to propose. The contrary appears by the papers. 'Tis further set forth in the Memorial that one Bastiaen Raaff, alias, Martyn Bastiaensen, and his Lieutenant, Jan van Campen, have taken and brought hither a certain Spanish ship with negroes and other merchandise belonging to the aforesaid Juan Gallardo. The truth of the matter is, that Sebastiaen Raaff and Jan van Campen have never been here, at least not in our time. But in or about the last of July and beginning of August, of the year 1652, Guert Tyssen, a French privateer, appeared off the Narrows (voor de hoofden) with a commission from Chevalier du Poinci,1 hereditary Governor of St. Christophers, etc., Lieutenant-General of the King of France in the Islands of America, having with him a Spanish prize; his ships remaining outside, he came up in person, bringing with him only his commission, executed and signed by the said M. Poinci, in virtue whereof he requested, as a servant of the Crown of France, permission to come up and to supply himself with necessaries for his money or wares. In consideration of the alliance and friendship existing between the said Crown of France and your High Mightinesses, we dare not refuse the request, the rather so as to be able to take advantage of his aid and crew, the most of whom were Frenchmen, in time of need, as we were then in no little dread of being attacked by the English. The aforesaid Geurt Tyssen remained lying here for the space of about half a year, and left in the winter with the drift-ice, having purchased and trucked provisions and other necessaries, with divers persons, both English and Dutch, in exchange for negroes and other commodities; some of these negroes are dead, others again sold or exported by the first and second purchasers. The aforesaid Jan Gallardo claims those negroes as his property, with a petition for restitution With this view he brought with him last year, and now again brings the above mentioned Memorial, and your High Mightinesses' recommendation, together with letters recommendatory from the Right Worshipful the Burgomasters and Regents of the city of Amsterdam, and Directors of the Incorporated West India Company; the last containing an order to send the aforesaid Jan van Campen or Geurt Tyssen pede ligato to Fatherland and to allow the above named Gallardo to enjoy speedy and prompt justice. The first cannot be done, because Jan van Campen has never been here, nor has Geurt Tyssen since his departure hence four years ago. 1 Chevalier DE LONVILLERS POINCY, Bailiff and Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Commander d'Oisemont and de Coulours, Commodore of the King's ships in Brittany, was born in the year 1583. In 1639 he was appointed Governor of St. Christophers. In 1652 the Knights of Malta purchased that Island from the French West India Company, and Poincy, then already very old, was appointed Lieutenant-General of the Islands of St. Christopher, St Croix, St. Martin and St. Bartholomew in 1654. His administration was marked by prudence and valor; he conferred great benefit on the Island, which he found a desert, and left full of beautiful buildings, well peopled and prosperous. He built, on the slope of a very high and well wooded mountain, about three miles from the sea shore, an elegant mansion of cut-stone and brick, a description and plan of which are in Du Tertre's Indes Occidentales and in Rochefort's Histoire des Antilles. Here he had a suite of one hundred French servants and some three hundred negroes, exclusive of his body guard, and lived in almost regal style, at the expense, however, of the Order, for, at his death, which occurred on the 11th April, 1660, all he left behind him consisted merely of the debts he had contracted to support his government. His chateau was destroyed, after his death, by an earthquake. Labat's Nouveau Voyage aux Isles de l'Amerique; Rochefort, 4to, p. 49: Du Tertre; Indes Occidentales, I., 581.-ED. Secondly, on his petition for restitution. Said Jan Gallardo was again last year informed and notified in writing that the aforesaid negroes captured by the Geurt Tysen, acting in virtue of a commission from the Crown of France in actual war with his Majesty of Spain, were sold or exchanged here, paid for and again exchanged. Therefore, in our judgment the owners in possession could not be stripped or deprived thereof, unless the purchasers and payers were given proper satisfaction in return. On his second reply, dated 29th August of this year, demanding the negroes, not from the owners in possession, but from the Company, as Lords and proprietors of this country, or from us their servants who have declared the negroes herein required, to be good prize. With respect for your High Mightinesses, we pronounce this to be false and untrue, and our orders, therefore, not obligatory to pay, on our own or our principals' account, for what we have neither taken nor confiscated, much less issued any order or commission to take or confiscate, but have notified the claiming owner that he must seek his redress either from the captor and seller himself, who is one Geurt Tysen; but whether a Hollander, a Zealander, or an Overyssels man, we are ignorant, nor is it material; his commission declared him to be a subject and servant of the Crown of France; or else from Governor Chevalier du Poinci, who issued the commission. This, High and Mighty Lords, is, in brief, agreeably to your High Mightinesses' order, the substance of what has been done in the matter of the above mentioned Memorial. If your High Mightinesses' most wise judgment doth not quadrate with it, but absolutely orders us, contrary to our expectation and belief, to restore the sold and long since paid for negroes, to the claimant Jan Gallardo, either at the expense of the owners in possession, who have paid for them, or at the cost of the Company or of their servants, who have issued neither commission for capturing, nor order for selling, your High Mightinesses' will and further recommendation must be law to us. Meanwhile we will hope and humbly request your High Mightinesses in your accustomed wisdom and kindness to your subjects, to be pleased to point out to us a way and a means where and how to seek and to obtain for your High Mightinesses' supplicating subjects, restitution or satisfaction. First, for a ketch belonging to a private citizen of this place, sent, with the consent and commission of the government here for the prosecution of commerce to the Carribbee and Curaçao islands, and thence to the Caymanos for turtle, and captured, contrary to the Treaty of Peace on its return by the Spaniards and carried to St. Jago de Cuba, and there declared a prize by the Governor and sold. As appears by the declaration annexed, letter A. Secondly, for a small ship or yacht, named 't Haentje (the Little Cock), which, on the 15th June, 1654, was purchased here for account of the Incorporated West India Company, fitted out and sent under the annexed commission and instruction to the Island of Curaçao: on her return, being about the Island of Hispaniola she was taken by three Spanish ships and carried into St. Domingo and kept there, as appears by the authentic copy of the skipper's letter to us, hereunto annexed, letter B. Thirdly, for the loss and damage suffered by those of the aforesaid Island of Curaçao, in the seizure, by the Spaniards of Coro, of the sloop belonging to the island, together with some of the Company's negroes and soldiers, the more ample details whereof are in the hands of the Honble Company at the Chamber at Amsterdam. We might enumerate many other injuries which your High Mightinesses' subjects have suffered directly from the Spaniards during the Treaty of Peace, were it not that we fear to interrupt, too much, your High |