Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New AmsterdamAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
New York (State) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Stuyvesant, Peter, 1592-1672
On the 11th of July, Governor Stuyvesant left New Amsterdam for
Esopus. Messengers were dispatched to summon the Esopus chiefs to his
presence. Appalled by the fate of their brethren, who had been sent as
slaves to the West Indies, they were afraid to come. After waiting
several days the governor sent envoys to the chiefs of other tribes,
urging them "to bring the Esopus savages to terms."
At length four Esopus chiefs appeared before the gate of the village.
Delegates from other tribes also appeared, and a grand council was
held. It is very evident from this interview, that many of the more
delicate feelings of the civilized man had full sway in the hearts of
these poor Indians. Instead of imploring peace themselves, the Esopus
Indians employed two chiefs, one of the Mohawk and the other of the
Mingua tribe, to make the proposition in their behalf.
Governor Stuyvesant assented to peace upon condition that the Mohawks
and the Minguas would stand as security for the faithful observance of
the terms exacted. The chiefs of these tribes agreeing to this, in a
formal speech admonished the Esopus chiefs to live with the Dutch as
brothers. And then, turning to the Dutch, in a speech equally
impressive, they warned them not to irritate the Indians by unjust
treatment. The Indians were compelled to yield to such terms as
Stuyvesant proposed.
All the lands of Esopus were surrendered to the Dutch. The starving
Indians were to receive eight hundred schepels of corn as ransom for
the captive christians. The Indian warriors sent as slaves to the West
Indies, were to be left to their awful fate. The mediators were held
responsible for the faithful execution of the treaty. Should the
Esopus Indians break it, the mediators were bound to assist the Dutch
in punishing them. No spirituous liquors were to be _drank_ near the
houses of the Dutch. No _armed_ Indians to approach a Dutch
plantation. Murderers were to be mutually surrendered, and damages
reciprocally paid for.
Thus were the Esopus Indians driven from their homes, deprived of
their independence and virtually ruined. Having thus triumphantly
though cruelly settled this difficulty, Stuyvesant went up to fort
Orange, where he held another grand council with the chiefs of all the
tribes in those regions.
A clergyman was sent to Esopus and a church organized of sixteen
members. In September, 1660, Domine Selyus was installed as the
clergyman of Brooklyn, where he found one elder, two deacons and
twenty-four church members. There were, at that time thirty-one
families in Brooklyn, containing a population of one hundred and
thirty-four persons. They had no church but worshipped in a barn.
Governor Stuyvesant contributed nearly eighty dollars annually to the
support of this minister, but upon condition that he should preach
every Sunday afternoon, at his farm or bouwery upon Manhattan Island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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