The government of this newly-established colony was vested in the director, and a council of five, who possessed supreme executive, legislative and judicial authority in the colony. The only other important officer of the Government was the Schout Fiscal, who filled both the offices of Sheriff and Attorney General. Under the superintendence of these authorities, the trade of the colony prospered. Then followed the first purchase of Staten Island from the Indians, in 1626. The exports of the colony this year amounted to $19,000.

In the ensuing year, 1627, amicable correspondence was opened between the Dutch athorities at New Amsterdam and the Pilgrim settlers at Plymouth. In this correspondence the English authority was set up by the Plymouth colonists over the region watered by the Connecticut, and denied by the Dutch. The Council of XIX, of the Dutch West India Company began speculations, the result of which is still felt in the State. It granted land to individuals and made restrictions and limitations to those who wanted to establish colonies in New Netherlands.

Under this grant Samuel Godyn and Samuel Bloemmaert purchased, soon after, a tract on the southwest side of Delaware Bay; and on the 18th of April, 1630, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a pearl merchant from Amsterdam, secured a tract on the west side of the North River, embracing the site of the present city of Albany. By subsequent purchase, in this year and in 1637, Mr. Van Rensselaer became proprietor of a tract of land now composing the counties of Albany, Rensselaer and a part of Columbia. In 1630, Godyn and Bloemmaert also secured a tract, on the opposite side of the Delaware Bay. Another of the company's directors, Michael Pauw, purchased Staten Island, Jersey City and Ashimus (afterward called Harsimus), with the lands adjacent. This colony was called Pavonia; that on the Delaware, Zwanendal (or the valley of swans), and Mr. Van Rensselaer's, Rensselaerwyck.

Active exertions were forthwith made to colonize these vast estates. Colonies were sent to Rensselaerwyck and Zwanendal, and fortifications were erected. Anxious, however, to participate in the very profitable trade in furs and peltries, the Patroons, in the opinion of the other directors, soon transcended the limits prescribed, in the bill of Freedoms and Exceptions. Hence difficulties arose between the two parties, which materially embarrassed the prosperity of the infant colonies. Minuit, the director, was recalled, partly probably from the machinations of Wouter Van Twiller, who, in the capacity of agent of the company, had visited the colony two years before.

On his way home, in March, 1632, Director Minuit was forced, by stress of weather, to put into the port of Plymouth, England. The vessel was immediately seized, on her arrival, on a charge of having traded and obtained her cargo in countries subject to Her Britannic Majesty. Considerable diplomatic correspondence ensued between

the State officers of England and the Netherlands; and finally, the object of the English Government, (the assertion of their title), having been attained, the vessel was released. During this period the dispute between the Patroons and the colony continued. In the latter part of the year, the Indians in the neighborhood of the Delaware Bay, considering themselves injured, came suddenly upon the colony of Zwanendal, and butchered in cold blood all the colonists, thirtyfour persons in number. The next year, Captain de Vries, the founder of the colony, returned from Holland, and finding himself unable to punish the treachery of the Indians, made peace with them.

In April, 1633, Wouter Van Twiller, a relative of the Patroon Van Rensselaer, having been appointed director of the settlement, arrived at New Amsterdam. About this time also Rev. Everardus Bogardus, the first minister, and Adam Roelandsen, the first schoolmaster, arrived in the colony. Van Twiller seems to have been ill calculated to govern the colony, at so stormy a period as this. Addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, he only resorted to heavier potations, when the emergency called for sober and vigorous action. In the early part of his administration, the Dutch settlements, on the Connecticut, were established.

KING JAMES II.

In 1632, Hans Encluys, one of the servants of the West India Company, had set up the arms of the States General at Kievits Hoeck, (now Saybrook Point), thus formally taking He had also purpossession of the river.

chased a tract of land at that point, for the company from the Indians. On the 8th of June, 1633, Jacob Van Curler, under the direction of Van Twiller, purchased territory along the Connecticut River, embracing most of the site of the present city of Hartford, and several of the adjacent towns of Tattoepan, Chief of Lickenaen (Little) River. On this territory he erected a fort or trading post, which he fortified with two pieces of cannon.

On the 16th of September following, a vessel commanded by Captain William Holmes, was sent by the Plymouth Colony, who had settled about Massachusetts Bay, ascended the Connecticut. On passing the fort, Captain Holmes was ordered to stop; but being in stronger force than the Dutch, he persisted, and proceeded, (though not without repeated protests from the Dutch authorities at New Amsterdam), to erect, a little above, the frame of a house which he had brought round on his vessel. Trouble between the Patroons and the company followed during the succeeding year to the serious disadvantage of both.

But in 1635, the English at Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay sent

several new colonies to the Connecticut River, one of which, under the command of Governor Winthrop, landing at Saybrook Point, tore down the arms of the States General, and carved a buffoon's face in its stead. They also refused to let the Dutch land on the tract they had purchased in 1632, and erected on the very same tract Saybrook fort. At the present site of Springfield, Mass., Mr. Pynchon established a trading house and a plantation; and the next year, 1636, Hooker and his followers located themselves in Hartford.

In 1638, Peter Minuit, the first Director of the New Netherlands, who had, after his dismission from that station, gone to Sweden, arrived on the coast with a Swedish colony, and settled upon the banks of the Delaware, within the limits of the territory claimed by the Dutch. Having erected a fort there, which he named Fort Christina, after the Swedish queen, Kieft protested against his course, as an invasion of his territory; but from the weakness of his own colony, he was obliged to content himself with protesting.

In the latter part of the year 1638, the restrictions which had hitherto been placed, by the company, upon the trade of the New Netherlands, were taken off, and free traffic encouraged. The measure gave a new impulse to trade and emigration; new farms were taken up, and a number of gentlemen of wealth and distinction removed to the colony. Persecution, too, drove many from New England and Virginia to settle among the more tolerant Dutch of New Amsterdam and Staten Island, who, though firm in their adherence to their own creed, did not deem it necessary to persecute those who differed from them in religious tenets.

In the meantime the aggressive disposition of the English settlers still continued. They founded a colony at New Haven, notwithstanding Director Kieft's protests; and even went so far as to plough and sow the company's lands around the Fort of Good Hope at Hartford, assaulting and severely wounding some of the men in charge of that post, whom they found at work in the fields. The commander of the fort, Gysbert Op Dyke, promptly remonstrated against the unwarrantable procedure; but the English justified themselves on the ground that, as the lands were uncultivated, and the Dutch did nothing to improve them, "it was a sin to let such fine lands lie waste."

Not satisfied with these aggressions, the Plymouth Company granted the whole of Long Island to the Earl of Stirling, and a settlement was soon afterwards effected by Lyon Gardiner, at Gardiner's Island. The Dutch, in the meantime, were active in establishments at the western extremity of Long Island. Lands were granted to settlers in Brooklyn, then called Breuckelen; at Gowanus, and at Gravenzande, now called Gravesend.

In May, 1640, a company of emigrants from Lynn, Mass., claiming authority under the Earl of Stirling's patent, commenced a settlement near Cow Neck. Kieft having learned this fact, despatched the

Schout, or Sheriff, with a band of soldiers, to investigate the matter; and, if they had actually commenced a settlement, to take them prisoners. This was accomplished, and, after examination, they were dismissed, on condition that they should leave the territory of their High Mightinesses, the States General. In the same year they returned and founded the town of Southampton. They were never again disturbed by the Dutch.

Encroachments upon the rights of the Indians were carried on to such an extent, that a most sanguinary contest commenced in 1640, which lasted for five years, and the colony was almost entirely ruined. All the time Kieft claimed that he was acting under instructions from Holland. The indignation of the Indians knew no bounds when Kieft attempted to lay a tax upon them for the support of the colony. Staten Island, as well as the surrounding country, was a battle ground for many years.

Kieft's advisors counselled patience and forbearance; but he heeded not. It so enraged him that he dismissed his counsel. The horrible scenes that followed have been described in a preceding chapter. The consequences, as might have been expected, were that the farms and buildings of the Dutch were burned by the exasperated Indians; numbers of the settlers were killed, and in a few weeks Kieft was compelled to receive the inhabitants into the fort, as the only place which afforded protection against the assaults of the savages. His course aroused the prejudices of the people against him; and endeavoring to throw the blame of it upon others, he was threatened with assassination. Murders were daily occurrences and the years that followed were filled with horror.

During this whole period, from 1640 to 1645, the English colonists were constantly pursuing a course of aggression, upon the territories claimed by the Dutch. On the southern frontier, too, the Swedes were depriving them of their trade with the Indians, and securing the fairest lands, notwithstanding these had been previously purchased of the native proprietors by the Dutch. The "Colonie" of Rensselaerwyck, meanwhile, removed from these troubles, and cultivating a friendly relation with the Indians, was peaceful and prosperous.

The Assembly of XIX., finding their colony at New Amsterdam decreasing in numbers and wealth, and verging towards destruction, under the management of Director Kieft, resolved to recall him; and in 1645, appointed in his place General Peter Stuyvesant, formerly Director of the Island of Curacoa and adjacent islands. He had required a high reputation for military prowess. Having been wounded in the siege of St. Martins, in 1644, he returned to Holland for surgical aid.

Changes, however, made at his suggestion, in the organization of the colony, and the difference of opinion which existed between the various chambers of the company, relative to the propriety of these changes, prevented him from proceeding immediately to take charge

of his post; and it was not till the 27th of May, 1647, that he entered upon the duties of his office. Meanwhile, the colony continued under the misrule of Director Kieft.

Though possessed of stern integrity and honesty of purpose, yet the strict military education which he had received, had impressed Governor Stuyvesant with ideas of the necessity of rigid discipline, which soon involved him in contentions with the citizens. These, having tasted in their own country some of the blessings of freedom, and witnessing daily the liberty enjoyed by their English neighbors, were desirous of making trial of a liberal form of government. His first controversy was with the guardians of Johannes Van Rensselaer, son of the first Patroon, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, who had died in 1646, leaving his son, then a minor, to the guardianship of Wouter Van Twiller, (the second Director), and one Van Sleightenhorst. This controversy was kept up for a long period, and finally terminated by a reference to the States General.

While this was pending, in 1649 and 1650, the Gemeente, or Commonalty of New Netherlands, instigated by Adriaen Van der Donk, the first Attorney General of Rensselaerwyck, sent repeated remonstrances to the States General, concerning the administration of Stuyvesant, and earnestly solicited his recall. The States General, unwilling to act hastily, in a matter of so much importance, repeatedly appointed committees to investigate the charges made against him; and on the 27th day of April, 1652, passed an order for his recall. Just at this juncture a war with England commenced, and the States General, esteeming it highly important that their interests in the New World should be protected by an officer of courage and ability, on the 16th of May rescinded the resolution of the 27th of April, and Stuyvesant retained his station.

In order to compensate, as far as possible, for thus slighting the wishes of the people, the States General, in 1653, granted to the city of New Amsterdam a charter of incorporation, making the city officers elective, and giving them jurisdiction except in capital cases. During this period the English, against whom Kieft had so often protested, encroached still further upon the bounds of the Dutch. They established settlements upon the Housatonic River and at Greenwich, upon the mainland; and, crossing over to Long Island, organized several colonies there. Quite a number came to Staten Island, where they were kindly received.

In vain Stuyvesant remonstrated against the encroachments of the English colonies; in vain he attempted to remove their settlements by force, or compel the inhabitants to swear allegiance to Holland. For every remonstrance they had a reply; and against the employment of force they made threats, which the more flourishing state of their colonies, he well knew, would enable them to fulfill. They seemed as much offended at his resistance, as the Dutch were by their aggres