Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox software and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornell *s replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1993.Y. BROAD ADVICE TO THE UNITED NETHERLAND PROVINCES GELRELAND. HOLLAND. ZEELAND. UTRECHT. VRIESLAND. OVER-YSSEL. GROENINGEN. MADE AND ARRANGED, FROM DIVERS TRUE AND TRUSTY MEMOIRS, BY I. A. G. W. C. Ml o n 0 TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH, FOR THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BY tHENRY 0. MURPHY. T /Isaiah: I., 12,13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, onae‘ A civil mouth and spotless hand Can travel over every land. What did this Director Kieft do further ? I had formerly seen his portrait on the gallows -at Rochelle, so I guess not much property followed him here. B. Passing by divers trifling abuses, I proceed to the peculations which tend to the ruin of the whole country. Be it known, then, that he had a long time nourished in his own bosom the design of making war upon the Indians of Hew Hetherland, because they had refused him certain con- tributions, which they had done for reasons, saying that they did not consider themselves bound to contribute, to the director or the Hetherlanders : 1. Hot for the purpose of maintaining the soldiers, as they did them no service when they were engaged in war with other tribes ; that they then crept together like cats upon a piece of cloth, and could be killed a thousand times before any tidings could come to the fort, which was situ- ated far from them, much less could they be rescued by the soldiers, or seconded in time by them. 2. Further, that they had allowed our countrymen to take possession of the country peaceably ; that they had never demanded any thing for it; and that we were indebted to them for that reason, and not they to us. 3. Item, that when our people, having lost a certain ship there, had built another new ship, they had assisted our people with provisions and all kinds of necessaries, and had taken care of them for two winters, until the ship was finished, for which we were indebted to them, and not they to us. 4. Wherefore, they asked, for what reason should they give our people maize for nothing, when they paid for every thing which they came to buy of us, as much as we asked ? 5. We have, said they, given you the land where you live, but we remain masters of that which we retain for our- selves. Have we not, then, Swannekens (that is, Dutch, or Hollanders), when you first came here, and had no mochols (that is to say, ships), furnished you victuals for two winters254 BKOAD ADVICE. through, when, without that, you must have perished with hunger ? The delegates from all the Indian tribes, namely, the Raritans—whose chief they called Oringkes, after Orange,— the Hacquinsacks, the Wappenas, the Highlanders, WIc- quasgecks, Eeckewacki, Mereckewacks, Tappanders, Massa- peins, Zinceuw, and others ^ had as many sticks as they had points to debate, which they laid down there one by one. Director Kieft seeing himself deprived, by so many reasons, of the contributions for which he was very greedy, and that it was disgracing him with our people, carefully meditated by what means he might satisfy his insatiable avarice. E. Well, Skipper, how did that end ? B. At this time, anno 1643, about Shrovetide, these Indians were surprised by some other tribes (who were too strong for them) and compelled to retreat. They came to shelter themselves amongst us, not thinking that they had any /treachery to expect from us. About this same time, there was a shroving feast at the house of Jan Janssen Damen, at which the director, in a significant toast, made known his meditated design against the Indians to three in- considerate boors, to wit, Maryn Adrisensz, Jan Jansz Damen, and Abraham Plancq, who presented to him a peti- tion prepared by Secretary Tienhoven, asking, inasmuch as the Indians before that time had shot a certain servant of Mr. Yan Nederhost, and no reparation or punishment had been made for the act, that he would now avenge it, in order to maintain the reputation of our nation. • K. Was that so ? B. I will tell you, Sir. A certain Hacquinsack Indian chief, who was not considered very sensible by the Indians themselves, was made drunk with brandy by our people, and being asked whether he in such condition could, use his bow and arrow, in reply bent his bow upon a certain man named Grerrit Jansz, a servant of the late Mr. Yan Nederhorstj and shot him dead, and then asked whether he was able. Several Indians were killed in revenge for this man, and peace was made with the Indians. So that at the date when the director ordered the massacre, the very tribe which had killed the servant of the late Mr. Yan Nederhorst, had been staying some weeks among the Dutch, and were supplied by the director with' every thing necessary. Thus the pretext was entirely false.BEOAD ADVICE. 255 K. Was it, then, in one man's power to undertake for that reason war or murder ? B. That it might have some plausibility, a petition for it was presented; whereupon a letter .was written on the 25th of February, 1643, to the effect that Maryn Adrisensen was authorized, at his request, to perform an exploit with his company, against the Indians living behind Curler's plantation, and to treat them as he found convenient, but according to time and circumstances. E. Who ever gave such a letter ? Who was the writer of it ? B. Secretary Cornelis van Tienhoven, who has now come home in order to make a report concerning New Nether- land. He also had prepared the petition. C. A child would have seen that this was a mere sham. This secretary deserved to be torn to pieces by four horses, as traitors are ; and these three boors had, according to law, forfeited their lives. Were the people who were settled in the country warned to be on their guard, that no injury might befal them by resistance or assistance ? B. Nobody in the world, except the three heretofore named. The people settled in the country were not once thought of. The secretary himself went where the Indians were, the day before, to spy them out ; and if the people of the farm lands had known that such was the intention, and there had been reason for it, not one of all the Indians would have escaped ; or if there had been no reason for it, as there was not, the director could not have perpetrated such a mur- der, though he had had ten such treacherous secretaries. J. As well as I can see into the business, the secretary was the principal cause of the consequences. But how did they do then ? B. Between the 25th and 26th of February, 1643, at night, over eighty Indians were massacred at Pavonia by eighty soldiers, where young children were snatched from their mothers' breasts, and cut to pieces in sight of the pa- rents, and the pieces thrown into the fire and into the water ; other sucklings were bound to wooden boards, and cut, stuck, or bored through, and miserably massacred, so that a heart of stone would have been softened. Some were thrown into the river, and when the fathers and mothers endeavored to rescue them, the soldiers would not let them come ashore again, but caused both old and young to be drowned. Chil-256 BKOAD ADVICE. dren, five or six years old, and also some old, decrepid people, as many of them as had escaped this fury and secreted them- selves in the hushes and reeds, when they came forth in the morning to beg a piece of bread and to warm themselves against the cold, were murdered in cold blood, and pushed in- to the water or into the fire. Some came running past our peo- ple living on the farms, with their hands cut off; others had their legs cut off. Some carried their bowels in their arms ; others had such horrible cuts, hacks, and wounds, that the like can never have happened elsewhere. And these poor people, and also many of our nation, did not know any bet- ter than that other Indians, the Maquas, had surprised them. After this exploit, the soldiers were recompensed for their services, and thanked by Director Kieft, by shaking of hands and congratulations. At another place, at Corlor’s Hook, near Corlor’s plan- tation, on the same night, forty Indians were surprised in their sleep in the same manner, and massacred in the same way. D. Has the Duke of Alba done more evil in the Nether- lands ? F. Certainly you have such Netherland governors or di- rectors, as the Duke of Alba might yield in reputation to them. B. Yes, Sir. It is a disgrace to our nation, and it be- hooved me to have kept it secret, if keeping it secret would have remedied it. But they have been written to there con- cerning it ; yet it not only has not been remedied, but it has gone on worse, as you will hear presently. H. Did the Indians let this go so P B. Oh no, Sir. As soon they were aware that the Swan- nekens had treated them so, they killed all the men on the farm lands whom they could surprise ; but, as to the women and children,we have never heard that they did them any harm. Besides, they burned all the houses, farms, barns, stacks of grain, and destroyed every thing that they could come at, so that they began an open and destructive war. C. — Quicquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi. What kings and princes madly say, That must their suffering subjects pay. B. I have been told for a truth that a certain skipper,BROAD ADVICE. 257 named Isaac Abrahamsen, having saved a little boy in a sail- boat and hidden him under the sail, in order to present him to one Gornelis Melyn, and the child having, through cold and hunger, made himself heard by the soldiers, eighteen German tigers dragged him from under the sail in spite of the skipper, who could not, alone, save him against eighteen, cut him in two, and threw the pieces overboard. F. But how did it please the inhabitants P B. They were not only greatly dissatisfied, but they took notes of what passed from time to time ; for those on the farm lands were all ruined, and there was little provision and little strength in the fort. These they wrote to the Fatherland, and related the cause and occasion of this war, with all the circumstances, as they had happened. J. How did you manage in the mean time, before an answer came back ? B. We were indeed compelled to choose .one of two evils. Then the director allowed ravaging and robbing where he could, and in the year 1643 and 1644, full sixteen hundred Indians were slain in the war in the manner before related, some of whom were settled ten to twenty miles,* and more, off from us under the English, and were most all surprised in the night while asleep, some of whom had never seen any Dutch in their lives, much less done them any harm. In April, 1644, seven Indians were arrested by the Eng- lish on the great plain which is called Hempstead,—where Mr. Fordham, an English minister, had the rule,—because they had killed a hog or two of his, which was afterwards found to have been done by his own countrymen. Director Kieft being advised by Mr. Fordham that he had seven In- dians under arrest, in a cellar, whom he dared not treat cruelly, because it could not be justified to his own people,— for such treatment will not be permitted there,—or also be- cause his nation rather sought to create a general discontent among the Indians towards our governors, he immediately sent there Ensign Opdyck, with John Underhill, an English- man, and fifteen or sixteen soldiers, who killed three of the seven in the cellar, and took four with them in the sail-boat, two of whom, with ropes tied round their necks, were thrown overboard and fastened to the boat, and in that manner were * Dutch measure. SECOND SERIES.—YOL. m. 17258 BROAD ADVICE. towed after it and drowned. Two were taken prisoners to Fort Amsterdam, where, having been kept a long time in the guard-house, the director became tired of providing them food any longer ; and the soldiers being at variance, to whom this booty belonged, about going with it to Holland, he gave these poor naked Indian prisoners over to them, in order to cool off their insolence. They immediately dragged them out of the guard-house by the arms and legs, and attacked them with knives from eighteen to twenty inches long, which Di- rector Kieft had caused to be made expressly for such pur- poses, saying that the swords were too long to be used in the huts of the Indians when they wanted to surprise them, but these knives could be more handily plunged into their bowels. The first of these Indians having received, before the guard- house, a horrible wound from such a knife, wished them to let him Kinte-Kaeye,—being a dance, performed by them as a religious rite %—but he received so many wounds, one up- on' another, that he forgot the Kinte-Kaeye, and dropped down dead upon the spot. The soldiers cut strips from the live body of the other, from the hams, up the back and shoul- ders, and down to the knees. Whilst this thong-cutting was going on, Director Kieft stood by, in presence of his counsellor, Jan le Montaigne, a Frenchman, and laughed right heartily, rubbing his right arm and laughing out loud, such delight had he in the work. He then ordered him, thus cut, to be dragged out of the fort, whence this poor, naked, simple creature went Kinte-Kaeying all the way. The soldiers, go- ing with him to the beavers' path, threw him down, and stuck his private parts, which they had cut off, into his mouth while he was still alive, and after that placed him on a mill-stone and beat his head off. H. What murder that was ! B. What I say is true. By the same token, there stood at the time twenty-four or twenty-five Indian women at the north-west angle of the fort, who, seeing this spectacle, threw up their hands, beat their mouths, and said in their language, “ Shame,—what foul and unspeakable villainy this is ; such was never heard of, or seen, or happened among us." The Indians have frequently during the war called out to us * Denton, in his “ Brief Description of New York,” describes this dance un- der the name of Cantica. The term is one of the few Indian words adopted by the whites, and is still in use among our old inhabitants to designate a dancing frolic. It is by them pronounced “Canticoy.”BROAD ADVICE. 259 from a distance, “ What scoundrels you Swannekens are ! you war not against us, but against our innocent women and children, whom you murdered ; while we do your women and children no harm, but give them to eat and drink, yea, treat them well and send them back to you : ” as, in truth, it had happened that our children, who were taken prisoners by the Indians, on being returned to their parents would hang round the necks of the Indians, if they had been with them any length of time. K. Well, Skipper, you have more news, though little of it good, than all of us together. How did it progress ? B. Director Kieft not being content with thus causing the fugitive Indians to be surprised, sent certain English spies with soldiers, as guides, in order to point out the places which were unknown to us, where the Indians were living, by which means many poor, unoffending Indians were foully and treacherously massacred. G-. What pay did the guides have for that service ? B. By the journey, according to the amount of booty taken,—sometimes 80, 100, to 200 guilders. E. Well, what booty was there to take from these poor Indians ? B. Belts of zeewan, bows and arrows, sometimes beaver skins, but few to signify. E. What importance was that ? B. It cannot reduce the expenses of the war; and in- deed, if there were any thing to tempt robbery, it was not worth enough—all the booty which was obtained—to cause a gallows to be erected for a thief, if one had stolen it, much less to carry on such a hazardous war. F. How did your director manage with the inhabitants under these circumstances ? B. He began to introduce tolls, excises, and imposts, in order to obtain the means for the war, to which proceedings they were all opposed. Eight men, chosen from the people, understanding that Kieft, in his letter to the XIX.,* en- deavored to shift the origin and cause of the war upon the people, have sent a second letter to the Chamber of Amster- dam, wherein every thing is particularly stated, which letter was sighed by these persons, namely, Joachim Pietersz- Keuyter, an elder of the Church, Comelis Melyn, Isaac Al- * The nineteen managers of the West India Company.260 BROAD ADVICE. lerton, Jacob Stoffelsz : Gerrit Wolfertz: Thomas Hall, Jan Evertsz-Bout, and Barent Dircksz : E. Was there nothing done ? B. Yes; the managers before-mentioned, with whom he corresponded so intimately, sent him back a copy, and made known to him what persons had written, and what they had written ; whereupon he meditated every means to revenge himself upon these persons, and by all kinds of pre- texts and violence to discharge himself of those things laid to his charge. A. That same work happened also in Brazil ? 0. Whoever goes once beyond the limits of modesty, is generally stout in his immodesty. D. He must have been a wicked man. E. Had he any religion ? B. Havens' religion, who rob whatever falls in their way. What religion could be expected in a man who, from the 3d January, 1644, to 11th May, 1647, has never wished to hear God's word, or to partake of Christian sacraments, doing every thing to keep from Church all those who depended upon him ? His godless example was thus followed by his fiscal, Cornelis van der Hoyckens, and his counsellor, Jan de la Montaigne,who was formerly an elder, Ensign Gisbert de Leeuw, Cornelis van Tienhoven, his secretary, Deacon Oloff Stevensz : and Gys- brecht van Dyck, besides various minor officers and servants of the company, down to the soldiers inclusive, who all did not attend the administration of the Lord's Supper, or even the meetings to hear God's word. He permitted the officers and soldiers to perform all kinds of noisy plays during the sermon, near and around the church, rolling ninepins, bowl- ing, dancing, singing, leaping, and other profane exercises. Yes, even the members who came in the fort* to celebrate the Lord's Supper, were scoffed at by this rabble, saying, u There they go again; they will give them a piece of bread to drink once thereto, and then sing and frolick." By this scoffing, difficulties have frequently arisen. During the pre- paratory sermon, Director Kieft often let the drum beat. The minister, Bogardus, requesting that the drum might be beaten a little further off, so as not to disturb the congrega- tion, was answered that the drummer must go where the Erector bad ordered him. The cannon was discharged sev- * The church was built within the fort.BROAD ADVICE. 261 eral times during the sermon, as if he had ordered it for the purpose of going a-Maying, so that a miserable villainy against God's church was perpetrated in order to disturb the congregation. In the new church, which was built in the year 1642 by collections from the people, and roofed in the year 1643, there could have been preaching from that time to the year 1647, when Director Stuyvesant came. He has also often said to his own adherents,in substance, “Now the minister shall dispense the Lord's Supper again, and there shall scarcely come a man and a half or one horse's fac$. They will all follow us, and every one of them remain out!? E. What was the cause of his making such bravados ? B. The cause of this director's crooked proceedings against the worship of God besides his own perverseness and the devil's, and the instigations of evil people, was, external- ly, because the minister, the late Everhardus Bogardus, many times in his sermons freely expressed himself against the hor- rible murders, covetousness, and other gross excesses. The director reported falsely of the minister that he was drunk in the pulpit, so that the minister was compelled to take the affidavits of the people to the contrary, in order to use them as occasion required ; and also said that the minister rattled only old wives' stories, drawn out from a distaff; that he was a great eackler, who spoke without tolerating contradiction ; and that he was a seditious man, who sought nothing else than to excite people and the servants of the company against him, who was their sovereign ruler. That Elder Joachim Pieterz : Keuyter, because he stood by the minis- ter, was an assassin ; wherefore, by the director's means, no consistory was assembled for two or three years, as no more than the minister and one elder were left, who did not dare to hold the consistory, as was sufficiently -endeavored to be done afterwards, in order to cast a slur upon the body, and say, that they organized the consistory on private author- ity. It was said that the wickedness of the director extend- ed so far, and he had so far forgotten himself, and his flat- terers so well agreed with him, that he gave himself no concern either about God or man. Notwithstanding all the uproar against God's church, the wise God has so specially directed that whereas there were not, before his abandonment, more than seventy members from among the people, there were after- wards more than half as many added, and the members are262 BROAD ADVICE. so restrained by G-od’s guidance, that less scandal has taken place than ever before. F. Tell me, how could such an impious rascal as this director govern the people afterwards ? B. That may with good reason be brought up. As the spit was thus turned into the ashes, to go straight to sea was with him not to come from it. He was as jealous as the devil, whenever he! observed that those whom he meant to trust without suspicion, came to speak familiarly with those whom he suspected. It was, as is said, Conscius ipse sibi de se putat omnia dici: “ He whose conscience is troubled, supposes that every one is speaking of him/' In the administration of justice, he gave corruption a free rein for himself and his people. He consid- ered it crime if any one spoke of appeal from his judgment, as appeared, among others, in a certain law-suit which he in- stituted against Laurens Cornelisz : captain of the Maid of Enckhuysen, because he said he had brought a box of pearls to his mother ; which being true, as is known to this day, he nevertheless caused the skipper, on account of the richness of his freight and his illegal acts, to be condemned by his coun- cil according to his pleasure. He was so boastful of his commission, which he had both from the company and from their High Mightinesses and his Highness, that not only he himself, but his councilor, Jan de la Montaigne, maintained that he had absolute and sovereign power, like his Highness, or their High Mightinesses, and the West India Company ; which comparison fell very odiously on the feelings, for this man wished to be great without striving after the qualities of true greatness, namely, virtue, honor, and piety. His injustice and illegal administration of justice were also apparent in a certain suit against Francis Douthey, an English minister, to whom he had given permission to form a colony, before the war, and who had made such a begin- ning therein, that more than eighty persons had proceeded there. The war coming on, every thing ran down and came to a stand. They durst not go on with the work. The beforennentioned persons and the means melted away. Out of this, a suit was instituted. Master Douthey was per- mitted to build a colony, on condition that he peopled theBROAD ADVICE. 263 designated land, which condition was not performed. It could not be performed by him. It was, however, sufficient cause of action, in order to have the lands turned into the company by confiscation, and to give them to another pa- troon ; as, by suit for that purpose, the matter was accom- plished. Master Douthey appealing from this judgment, was fined twenty-five guilders, and was to remain in close confinement until the twenty-five guilders were paid. G. Durst he do that to an English minister ? It was a brave case for reprisals upon the ships of the West India Company. B. But Kieft saw that very well, and therefore he would not let the man go away, though he was greatly injured ; but they were willing to let him go if he would promise, in writing, not to mention what had happened. He carried on similar proceedings against one Arnoldus van Hardenburgh, curator of a certain barque of Seger Teu- nissen, in which some smuggled goods were found. The director and the fiscal claimed, therefore, that the goods in the barque were confiscated. Hardenburgh and his co- curators feeling aggrieved, protested against the judgment, and appealed therefrom to such judges as counsel should bring it before. For this he also was fined twenty-five guilders. He went as far as the prison, but not being will- ing to be led in by the sergeant, he paid it, like Master Doughty. G. Why do not the States of Holland send some other person to hold better rule ? B. The States having fully understood all these evils, directed the managers—who were well aware that they had too long played with Director Kieft they well knew, what part—to correct them. The managers thereupon chose Petrus Stuyvesant, late director at Curagoa, a minister’s son in Yriesland, who had formerly stolen the daughter of his own landlord at Franiker, and was caught at it, and let off for the sake of his father, otherwise he would have been dis- graced. He was to be director in Kieft’s place. E. How did this company know where to look up all these rascals ? I believe that they must have magazines full of them. B. Their High Mightinesses thought that the managers would take care that no more complaints would be made about a brutal, much less a wicked direction; but we are264 BROAD ADVICE. informed that the same managers who had intrigued with Kieft, had already, to the decline and ruin of New Nether- land, induced him (Stuyvesant) to sustain Kieft, and to annoy the inhabitants upon every pretext whatever. He could not restrain himself until time and occasion furnished a cause, but while on his way to New Netherland, threat- ened that when he arrived there he would teach the boors better. As he had promised by oath and by grip of the hand that he would punish the faults of Director Kieft according to their merits, and properly sustain the inhabi- tants, so the result has proven entirely the contrary of those fine promises, according to the instructions which he had already shown to several, and which had been given him by the managers, ordering him to do as he has since done. I. Is that not the same Stuyvesant who, before this, attempted to take Fort St. Martin for the company, where he lost his leg ? B. He is the very same. The managers regarded that as a Roman achievement by him. I. All those who were with him there will say other- wise ; how he used up the powder, which was given us for the expedition, in firing salutes on the voyage, and when any thing was to be done, there was none on hand. Every thing went on as disorderly in that expedition, as had never happened on any expedition. We were compelled to move off and retire without accomplishing any thing,—on account of his leg alone, which was shot off by the first cannon-shot from Fort St. Martin,—and leaving every thing behind which we had brought there, including five or six fine field- pieces. Was not that a brave Roman business ? Who knows what expense the company has been put to for this expedition ? Did not such a brave and prudent hero deserve to be chosen and sent, by way of promotion, as director and redressor-general to New Netherland ? B. When he comes from there, the managers may send him to Brazil as president, in order to spoil entirely what remains, as he is accustomed to do. I. He now, surely, gets every day a day older, and ought to improve so as to wipe out previous faults. How does he manage, now, in New Netherland ? B. Improve, say you, Comrade ! like old wolves and sailing-ships, which get every day a day worse.BROAD ADVICE. 265 I. Does he curse and storm and rage, as he used to do, to striking and beating ? B. In that respect he is still the same man as he was of old ; so there is no change to be expected, except for the worse. I. What entry had he in New Netherland ? B. There was brave shooting on all sides, so that they were compelled to buy powder elsewhere to use in case of need, and for exercise. I. That I can well guess. But how does he manage with the inhabitants P B. When he first came, some of the principal inhabi- tants welcomed with uncovered heads their new director. He kept them standing several hours bareheaded, while he had his hat on, as if he were the Grand Duke of Muscovy, offering nobody a seat to sit down, although he himself had sat down at his ease in a chair, in order the better to give audience to the welcomers. I. You speak so lively of his manner, that I imagine I see it all now. Proceed about this brute. B. In short, when he took the direction from Kieft, and the Commonalty were called together for the purpose, Kieft first thanked the Commonalty for their loyalty, and the like, but more than was reasonable, in hopes that the Commonalty would have returned him thanks unanimously, which w^s actually proposed. Some spoke out roundly that they did not thank him, nor had they reason to do so, among whom were Joachim Pietersz : Keuyter, and Cornelis Melyn. Stuyvesant, under the blue heaven, promised, with loud words, that every one should have equal justice, which was pleasant to the ears of the Commonalty to hear. But some days afterwards, as he was persuaded and induced by Kieft, Stuyvesant held court, and let the letter of the Com- mon's-men, written to the Chamber of Amsterdam against Kieft, be brought before it. As he had taken sides with Kieft, he wished to take care that nothing should be written afterwards against himself, and accordingly considered these eight deputies as private individuals, and also so regarded all their business and the whole suit between Kieft and them. With him it was crimen loesce majestatis, to unite against the magistrates, whether there were cause or not. Kieft's bare denial availed more than the Commonalty's men proved; and when the deputies offered divers memorials,266 BKOAD ADVICE. points of inquiry, and persons, in order to establish the truth of what was written, they were at once partly rejected, partly received without weight, and partly concealed before the day came. Yes, what was still more, they got the per- sons who had signed the letter, and compelled them by high authority and heavy threats, as also fine promises, first not to mention what should be proposed to them ; then, to re- voke what they had written, or at least to give it another gloss, and to say that they were suborned to sign it, and were misinformed, not even knowing what they had signed, and that they had done it only upon the earnest solicitation of some who, as was seen by the signatures, remained firm, and still defended the same. So Director Stuyvesant passed sentence against Joachim Pietersz : and Cornelis Melyn, in which he maintained— that they had clandestinely and lyingly accused Director Kieft, their lawful governor and chief, and injured him, yes, falsely belied him—in which he, with his Council, in that well-ordered republic of New Netherland, willing to protect his cause, in the name of their High Mightinesses the Lords States General, his Highness the noble Prince of Orange, and the General Authorized West India Company, con- demned Joachim Pietersz: Keuyter to a banishment of three successive years, and (a fine of) one hundred and fifty guilders, one-third for the fiscal, one-third for the poor, and one-third for the church. Cornelis Melyn was charged in his sentence with more crimes, and visited with severer punishment. (As Kieft had before this supposed that he would have a share with him in Staten Island, and Cornelis Melyn, with whom he had agreed in the Fatherland to treat with about it, had been compelled to conclude agreements with others,* Kieft meditated playing him this trick, as the result showed.) As can more fully appear by the sentence, which is in existence,f he was convicted as above-men- tioned, of having committed crimen Icesce majestatis, crimen falsi, crimen of slander, and on account of these incurred the deprivation of all benefits derived or to be derived from the company, a penalty of three hundred guilders, to be applied as before-mentioned, and banishment for seven years * Kieft had, upon the mandate of the West India Company, granted a pa- troonship in Staten Island to Melyn. f See Note, at the end.BKOAD ADVICE. 267 from New Netherland. So that those whom Kieft had in- sulted were kicked away by Stuyvesant. It is worthy of particular note that when it was stated to Director Kieft that these proceedings would he regarded in a different light in Holland, he answered, “We may alarm each other but little about justice in Holland, which in this case I consider nothing more than a bugbear/' And Stuyvesant said, “ If I knew you would hereafter appeal from my sentence, or divulge the same, I would, by my soul! take off your head, or hang you to the highest tree in New Netherlands He represented the affair of Kieft to those around as favorably as he could, and spoke against the faithful Commonalty's men so violently that the froth hung from his beard. And that it might more boldly appear that he was not inclined to observe the order of their High Mightinesses, and his promises' to them, and to give the Commonalty reasonable contentment, he immediately made Jan Janssen Damen church-warden—a man who had signed the petition to murder the Indians. E. He was a fine churchwarden, with his bloody hands ! B. It is to be apprehended, if the Netherland United Provinces, their High Mightinesses, and his Highness, do not see to it in time, that the names of Netherland, their High Mightinesses, and Orange, will stink, not only with the Indians, but with all Christendom. It is disgrace enough that it has not been attended to before. Therefore, those to whom the welfare of Netherland, New Netherland, and of the government and the inhabitants, is dear, ought to endeavor that this matter be redressed. I. But the sentence before-mentioned, was it carried into execution ? B. Certainly ; for it was of great importance to the new director, Stuyvesant, to his own honor and reputation, yea, his own life. They were brought on board as exiles, and torn away from their goods, wives, and children. The ship “ Princess ” bore the director (Kieft) and these two true patriots from New Netherland, till, arriving in the (English) Channel, she ran upon a shoal and beat to pieces; when this godless Kieft seeing death before his eyes, and sighing deeply, doubtfully asked both of them : “ Friends, I have done you wrong, can you forgive me P " The ship being broken in eight pieces, drove the whole night in the sea till day-break. The most of them were drowned. Cor-268 BROAD ADVICE. nelis Melyn lost his son. The Minister Bogardus, Kieft, Captain John de Vries, and a large number of men were drowned. There was much wealth lost with Kieft, as the ship's return cargo was worth more than four hundred thou- sand guilders. Joachim Pietersz : Keuyter remained upon the after part of the ship alone, upon which a piece of cannon stood, which he observing from above out of the port-hole, in the break of day, took to be a man, and accord- ingly spoke to it, but receiving no answer supposed he was dead. He'was finally thrown on land with it, to the great astonishment of the English, who stood by thousands on the shore, and hauled the cannon to land, as a perpetual memo- rial. Melyn floating back to sea, fell in with others who remained upon a part of the ship on a sand bank, which at the ebb-tide became dry, when they took some planks and pieces of wood, which they put together in the sand bar, and took as many shirts and other garments as were neces- sary for a sail, so that they were enabled to get from the sand bar, over the channel, to the main-land of England. And as these persons were mostly concerned for their papers, some of which were totally lost in the sea, they fished for them till the third day. As many of them as were packed in a box, were saved, and are to-this hour in posses- sion of Joachim Pietersz. C. How some people are tossed about in the world ! How did these men ever get justice ? B. They told me afterwards, that when they reached Holland, they understood the managers lamented very much the loss of the rich cargo and the ship, and so many fine folks, and grieved’ that two bandits, rebels, and mutineers had come to annoy the company with their complaints. I. Was that the comfort which they received from the managers ? B. That was not only their comfort, but some of the . managers have attempted to prevent a hearing for them by their High Mightinesses. I. It were better that hell and hell fire stopped these villains. Who dared attempt that ? B. Those who corresponded with these godless children of Belial,—Van Beeck and Pasquin,—men whom they knew how to stir up. They obtained a hearing, however, and presented their matters so plainly before their High Mighti- nesses, that they thought proper to prohibit such wickedBROAD ADVICE. 269 proceedings, dispatching letters of prohibition. They sent for Stuyvesant to come back, or else to send an attorney either to sustain his sentence, or hear it annulled, or to reverse it there. For this their High Mightinesses provided them all necessary mandates, protections, executions, and other necessary instruments. I. How did Stuyvesant manage in the mean time to- wards the inhabitants ; and what regulations did he adopt ? B. Show of religion, and hypocrisy, form one part of this man, and puffed-up pride, especially in regard to his commis- sion, another part, and avarice a third part. All his acts sprout from these three roots, and shoot their tops in the wind far above others. As soon as he had taken possession of his directorship, he began first to make the church of use to him, which was a fine example. He sighed during the sermon so that he was heard by the whole church. Who would not suppose that he would be a righteous Solomon, Abiah, Asa, and desired prince ? But all this fine show was covered by the clouds of his dark deeds. And when the news came that the exiles were permitted by their High Mightinesses to return, and that their High Mightinesses had granted their appeal—which Stuyvesant had never thought that they would have gone so far with, but that the managers would, as they had assured him, have prevented it—feeling pricked on account of these things, he sought advice on all sides, which was not without benefit to him ; for some showed him how wrongly he had proceeded against the persons,— who were chosen for the Commonalty's men,—as against private individuals; so that, he knowing that he had in- jured them, and being advised to quiet the people, was well disposed to do so. But when he came to Secretary Tien- hoven, he was, as if it would hurt his reputation, turned around. So that, relying upon his worn-out reputation, he has dared to say, “ If they return with never so strong an or- der of their High Mightinesses, I will send them back again, and teach them how to appeal." Item : it being mentioned to him that in Kieft's time ap- peals were intended, he said, “ What happened then little con- cerns me, but some one may in my time think of appealing also, but if any one should appeal from my sentence, I would cut off his head, and send the pieces to Holland, and so let him appeal." Notwithstanding the great noise with which he inquired of these people, he began on their arrival to create a diver- sion, but it failed him.270 BROAD ADVICE. And when Cornelis Melyn arrived on the 1st of January, after many hardships, he wanted to take by force all the letters which Melyn had brought with him, to whom he sent the fiscal and secretary twice in the night. But Melyn sent nothing to him, except the passport of their High Mightinesses. He thereupon sent, the third time, a sergeant to have him appear before the General with his papers. He was answered by Melyn, that he would come before the council in the morning, and then produce and de- liver up every thing which he had to produce and deliver. Had it not been for the strong protest of the councilor Lub- bertus van Dincklage, vice-director, who was not willing to have any thing to do with his opposition and hasty rage against the passport of their High Mightinesses, he would with his soldiers have thrown Melyn again into prison. The next day, in the morning, Melyn being summoned, appeared and delivered all the orders and despatches of their High Mightinesses, and also those of his Highness, and of divers others written to him particularly. When these let- ters were read through, the hand was in the hair* Good advice was the best, whereby he was so far brought over, that he said to Melyn and answered that he, Stuyvesant, would follow the orders of their High Mightinesses, and he, Melyn, should pursue his business as before. But these words had no significance ; for Melyn desired to be rung in as he was rung out, and reinstated as a Commonalty's man, from which place he had been unrighteously removed ; also to have res- titution of the losses he had sustained by these rude and unlawful proceedings. He would grant none of them. It was determined to carry into effect the order of their High Mightinesses on the 8th of March, 1649, at the time when the general, Stuyvesant, had convened the Commonal- ty of New Netherland in the church, in order that he might have his ample commission read before them, and his sove- reign government vindicated thereby. By this he intended to kill dead the present order of their High Mightinesses, or at least to suspend it, besides endeavoring to effect other like designs upon his own responsibility. The vice-director Dincklage protested that he had no knowledge of and gave no consent to these movements, and that the general had of his own motion caused this assembling of the Commonalty, and * That is, Stuyvesant was perplexed.BROAD ADVICE. presented his own views to them without communicating them to him, the vice-director. This protest he villainously ridiculed ; whereupon Melyn, perceiving that the longer he staid the worse it was, left the execution of the mandate of their High Mightinesses to be effected by Arnoldus van Har- denberg, who was invited and agreed to do so in presence of the whole Commonalty. The director-general seeing such unexpected opposition befalling him, did not know what countenance to assume : to attack any one hostilely in the presence of all these wit- nesses was not prudent, and to do nothing was to injure his reputation before such a large assemblage of more than three hundred persons. He asked Melyn whether he would now let the order be executed, who answered, Yes. He seized the mandate angrily out of the hands of him executing it, so that the seal of their High Mightinesses hung to the parch- ment in halves, and if it had been paper only, it would have been torn by this irreverent grabbing. When those who stood next to him earnestly admonished him to have respect for their High Mightinesses, a copy of the mandate was placed in his hands by Melyn, and the original mandate was ' again put in the hand of the person executing it, who read it out loud, and required his answer thereto. Shortly after- wards, the lowest part of the seal fell off. H. I have seen more such birds hobble off than fly. Had he no other respect for his lords and chief magistrates, he would with us certainly forfeit his life. B. It ought to be so here too, and I do not consider him yet free. E. But did he give no answer to the mandate ? B. That would have been worse than madness, as he had nothing to answer. He said the States and their com- mission were to be honored, their commands obeyed, an au- thorization sent, and the sentence sustained. E. But, as on a sentence of banishment more persons ordinarily sit, why were not the others, who had taken part in the sentence, cited with him ? B. On the 16th of March, 1649, the fiscal, Henrick van Dyck (who had committed a well-known murder at Utrecht, and had been compelled to go from thence on account of it), was summoned to sustain the sentence. He answered that he had taken no part in this question, notwithstanding he was mentioned in the sentence as the accuser, and had subscribed it.272 BROAD ADVICE. I. Henrick van Dyck ! Was he not ensign formerly in New Netherlands when Kieft was there ? B. Yes, it is the same man who dragged the Indians from Hempstead. I. But since then he has been fiscal. How has he at- tended to that office ? B. That I will tell you shortly. It happened that Cor- nells Eenckhoorn was very murderously cut in the belly by Skipper Jan Huygens, after some had escaped from him whom he intended to serve similarly. This murderer was imprisoned in the guard-house, and the same night was taken back by the fiscal, Van Dyck, to the house where the dead man was lying, and sat there drinking with the fiscal till the latter part of the night, when he made his escape by the chimney. Furthermore, Skipper -Isaac Abrahamsz: being shot dead by Skipper Adrisen Blowmserts, pilot of Stuy- vesant's galiot, he was brought by the fiscal on board of us, and remained till we were some days at sea. I knew nothing of it, and put him ashore at the Huys-duynen, to take care of himself. But it may be seen how strongly the disposition to murder has increased in the fiscal under this director. G-errit Slomp, son of a fish woman of Amsterdam, was very murderously stabbed to death by Joannes Bodenburgh. The murderer was never molested in New Netherland, where the deed was committed, whose brother was one of the councilors there. I. How fared the other councilors ; were they not cited ? B. The vice-director, Lubbertus van Dincklage, was summoned on the same day, and answered that he had been misled, because the various papers which were now produced were concealed from him at the time, and would otherwise have acquitted the condemned ; furthermore, because Stuy- vesant, in giving the sentence, had first decided that these persons had written about public affairs without being qual- ified by public authority. Monsieur la Montaigne, councilor without commission from the Fatherland, a Frenchman, cited, made answer that Melyn should first give the reasons for citing him, and then he would answer. Brian Nuton, captain and lieutenant, an Englishman, answered that he did not understand what it was, but would answer in the morning. Paulus Leandertsz, equipage-master, gave for answerBROAD ADVICE. 273 that he would appear or send an attorney, provided Melyn would first give security. Abraham Planck, one of the request-masters, answered that he did not know how the war began. On the 23d March, 1649, Cornelis van Tienhoven, the secretary, was summoned by process as before. He was the cause of the war with the Indians, and of all this affair, and deferred answering until the 25th of May. He said that he did not wish to give any answer, and did give none. On the 23d of May, Jan Jansz : Damen, one of those whose names were upon the petition to carry on the war with the Indians, answered that whenever the order of their High Mightinesses was shown him wherein his name was specified, he would then come, provided Melyn first gave security for the costs. 0. If it be managed there, as you say, it is very badly done by the director and part of his council. But did he manage afterwards to sustain his sentence, and to send his attorney to the Hague ? B. As Melyn was compelled to protest against him, he finally sent a written answer. The protest was made on the 29th of July, and was first read in full council on the 9th of August. The answer was dated the 10th of August, in which he for a great part receded from his former sentence, especially from the banishment; excusing himself also that he was not bound to make restitution because he had received nothing, and also because he understood that while the matter was hanging under appeal he was not obliged to make resti- tution, and alleging similar frivolous reasons; and leaving Melyn in free possession of his goods and effects. In short, of all what this affrighted judge had undertaken, his troubled conscience remained. Seeing that the men stood firm to their purpose, that he should either make them reparation or send an attorney to Holland, he resolved to send the Secre- tary Tienhoven to Holland ; and in order that he might an- ticipate them, the secretary went in a small ship fourteen days before them, and we, with the deputies of the Common- alty, followed fourteen days afterwards. But as the secretary ran behind Ireland, as he deemed it necessary to do so, in or- der not to get on the same shoal as Kieft, and as we, with the deputies of the Commonalty, took our course straight to the Channel, we got in before him. C. Must, then, a whole committee be sent against one SECOND SERIES.---VOL. Ill 18274 BROAD ADVICE. man ? Could not Melyn alone see after him—one against one ? B. No, Sir. I understand there are more complaints to he made against the director, and their High Mightinesses must he fully informed, and see‘ what the Commonalty have done to be rid of such an intolerable government, or at least to have it corrected. C. Certainly it is not necessary that more should he shown than you have already stated. . B. I would have, indeed, a year's work, if I were to tell all that has passed there improperly. E. If you have any more of these proofs, Skipper, tell them as briefly as possible. I have something else to inquire of you about. B. In order to conclude this statement, you should know of this director that whoever has him opposed to him in New Netherland, as long as he is there, if he have ever so just a case, he must suffer such fines and amends as pleases him. In matters of confiscation, he has as much discretion as a wolf for the lamb, which it devours be he right or not. If he see beforehand that he cannot bring his ordinary councilors to concur with him in their votes, he takes as many extraordinary councilors as he can, with their votes to accomplish his devil- try, and then advises with his ordinary councilors. And when he can do nothing else, he brings his own opinion in writing upon the table, in order that those who have any thing against it may immediately speak against it ; which is ordinarily so long that the reading becomes tiresome. If that miscarry, he proceeds to scold and threaten every one, and makes such a clamor that one might wish that he were out of the council-chamber. Where there are two parties, before the case is presented he is the advocate of one of the parties to whom he is most friendly, or who has best bespoken him. • There is no trade, in which there is any certain profit, but he seeks to get it all. The diversity of which is wonderful. He is a brewer ; he is a shipowner ; he carries on alone all kinds of business which we all do ; he builds, he fishes, and does a thousand like things, especially annoying to the farm- ers. In what he does alone, he regards nobody, either the least or the greatest—either public or private persons ; for when it was determined by the Commonalty's men to send a committee to Holland, the director at first was willing it should be done ; but when they made charges against theBROAD ADVICE, 275 director himself, he would not consent to it. He went in person to the lodgings of the president of the people’s men, and took from thence certain notes from which he (the presi- dent) intended to prepare a journal. Having possessed him- self of these, he then made the president stay in his own cottage, a prisoner. He undertakes a business rashly, which he soon wishes, when he comes to himself, that he had never begun. He first sees every thing from behind, and is so hypo- critical and fickle that he cannot be depended upon. He has secretly complained to the minister that his mind was so troubled that he wished God would, ordinarily or ex- traordinarily, by his word or his servant, show him what to do ; whereupon the minister boldly held up before him his errors, and exhorted him to improvement, so that he whined like a dog ; but, coming to his work and wants again, he fell continually into greater and grosser faults. Thus, there are no hopes for. the better. He forbids, upon pain of death, any one to sell fire-arms, powder, or lead to the Indians, yet does it himself in the sight of all the world; for which, he says, his masters have given him orders. If this be true, what do they else than to put in the hands of the Indians a knife with which to cut our throats, as opportunity may offer ?—the which (God help them) has happened too much to those from Fatherland ; and it was time that a stricter order was given thereupon. To say all in word, this man has so many particular qualities, of which not one is serviceable in a desir- able republic, that he is not fit to rule over Turkish slaves in the galleys, much less over free Christians. The persons who have come over as deputies, have whole trunks full of papers containing charges against him, which the Secretary Tienhoven will have enough to do to answer. E. You are continually speaking of this Tienhoven. Who is he P B. He is a man who has run after the Indians like an Indian for love, departing from his religion, and whose father killed himself. E. What devil, then, does he worship ? B. He never has any scruples of conscience, from which' he is to the remotest extent removed. He is a libertine, and there is no religion unless it will burn him. He resembles the serpents : those whom he stings he laughs at, and while he flatters he bites. He cheats every one who deals with him. Even his own brothers-in-law and friends are not free from276 BROAD ADVICE. his tricks, who have on that account frequently made him out a villain and the like. His wife was, before he married her, reputed to be a whore ; and he frequently told others, “ If this whore think that I will marry her, I will know bet- ter than that;99 and shortly afterwards he married her, though, not ten days before, he himself had considered her a whore. Her mother protested that what had happened be- fore his time should not be laid to her charge ; that he well knew what she was ; if she, therefore, did not please him, he might have left her as she was. She was, even during her marriage, caught in adultery, and proclamations were made concerning it for the purpose of instituting criminal proceed- ings against her. The pot was, however, covered up. He has also been the book-keeper of the Company, where he has acted so wickedly, both as regards private individuals and the Company, that the poor common soldiers have not been secure from his thievish accounts and book-keeping. Peter Kock has shown me, as is to be seen at the office of the company at Amsterdam, how impudently he filched from him twelve guilders, and placed them to his own credit. He has endeavored to pilfer from another honest commis- sary, Crol, four thousand guilders by false accounts. . In whatever he is engaged there is always, by his manage- ment, strife and contention ; as, in writing a will for Wil- helm Bredenbent, he had the witnesses, but would not let them subscribe their names. Every species of villainy which can be thought of, he has committed. Pie has so kept his books, that never, or very seldom, especially if any dispute occurred, could the truth be drawn from them, so as to show the people where the entries were taken from which were charged against those interested in them. In short, nothing good can be said of this man, and no wickedness can be left unsaid of him. To the Indians and Christians in New Netherland is he so obnoxious, that they have desired and sought that this rascal should be sent out of the country, or that they would again engage in open war with us. Both his brothers-in-law signed that wicked request to murder the Indians. What worse can be said than mur- derer, thief, cheat, whoremonger, and villain ? and if he had not these faults, he would, with Clement Marot’s servant, be the best man in the world. E. What nations live next to New Netherland, and howBROAD ADVICE. 277 do these wicked regents behave themselves towards them ? It is very dangerous to live under such a government. B. The English, in thousands and an hundred thousand families, are our neighbors, so to speak ; and there are some Swedes, or Hollandish Swedes, who have wedged themselves in, God knows how, between them and us ! Our directors have so conducted towards them, taking from English har- bors ships of persons trading with the English, that much bad blood exists ; but that nation are not easily led to excesses. If, however, their High Mightinesses, or the government of our Fatherland, do not see to it in time, our nation will, by means of such scoundrels, come short; for the English, while they might have gone along smoothly, being once of- fended, are very sensitive. Matters have transpired between us and them, which would not be tolerated if every thing should be examined into, as it ought to be, by us as well as by them. E. Is there no boundary-line between you and them ? B. There is no trifling difficulty about that, with which the sovereigns of both nations may be troubled. I would that that matter was settled. E. But how came the Swedes there ? What pretense have they there ? B. You may well ask that ? but what is known to me, I will keep in my sleeve, in order to see if they who are the cause of it will not remedy the same ; for Jan Prins, who is the commander there, obtains cargoes and ships from Holland. I cannot understand how men so lost to all shame live in our Fatherland. But I say no more. God help or God destroy those who so contrive to injure us, and send to him openly guns, powder, and lead, in order to sell them to the Indians, and ultimately to murder our people. H. Is there no counsel in Holland against all such vil- lainy ? B. There is in Holland counsel more than enough against it, if they who receive it would only adopt it. How easily could those who were appointed regents be required to state their birth-place and condition, and their subsequent lives then be inquired into, in order that such notorious scoundrels should not be appointed to high places over us ! Or it might be left to the Commonalty to seek out one or more persons, according to their pleasure, or to contrive other means, so that at least open murderers, thieves,278 BROAD ADYICE. and .villains should not be entrusted with the command, and neither the people there nor the government here, a£ well of the country as of the company and stockholders, should be served by them. Further, as inordinate and improper charges are imposed in many things, how easily can it be provided to remove them, and as opportunity offers*, when the sheep have any wool, to pull it reasonably ! . And as to the taxes which will be imposed upon the Com- monalty by honest regents, nothing is to be done except with the increase of means to undertake, with discretion, at first, what is practicable, proper, and reasonable, and then to be content therewith. Furthermore, to manage to reduce all high officers and their salaries, or at least to pay them so little, that they, living honestly, may do the State and the country more service. For, hitherto, in New Netherland, over seventy thousand guilders have ordinarily been spent by the company for wages ; and the income of the company has been scarcely fifty thousand guilders. Must that not go behindhand which is not differently managed ? And if the directors have quarrels about it with their masters, then the people, hardly four or five hundred men strong, will be fleeced by force. Is not every one by this means frightened off from doing any thing in New Netherland, from building up colonies, or attempt- ing any enterprise which would result in benefit to the in- habitants of our country, both here and there ? Above all, care should be taken not to put it in the power of one person to injure a large number, and even a whole community, by a needless and unjust, yea, such a destructive war, and to bring our nation into contentions with other na- tions. I dare assure the regents of the Netherlands, that if no redress be afforded to New Netherland it will go to ruin, as has already happened by bad regents to other countries which have been under the management of the company. In New Netherland they are waiting, both inhabitants and neighbors, Christians and Indians, the business of this deputation. And it will be a subject of much thought, while the government is committed to such an obstinate vagabond, whether the country will be found in the same state as we left it ; as the Indians have a sharp eye upon those who were the cause of their cruel massacre, which they have yet in their minds. They want neither the power nor the opportunity.BROAD ADVICE. 279 A. Skipper, you have talked almost all of us to sleep, with your bad news. B. Well, if they are all asleep, I will sleep awhile. Whoever wishes more, may inquire of others. Best, com- rade, rest ye a little. It is late enough to take rest. The Provinces and the stockholders of the company, and others, private merchants, have here enough to think of, as to what has swallowed up all their subsidies and means, namely, a godless, indecent, wicked, unmannerly, and profligate govern - men, which is known too well to all the world, and which must be redressed.APPENDIX. L. grants license to M. to settle upon and possess N., a conquest, provided that the fullest power over the subjects who should put themselves under M. should remain with L., as should also, after the lapse of a certain number of years, all forts and fortresses. 0. thereupon agrees with M. to settle upon and possess a portion ofN., pursuant to the aforesaid license, and under established privileges. 0. being a subject, although a secret councilor of L., perceiving that some particular loss, either by the ill-direc- tion of M., or by M/s severe burdens, or by the fraudulent ad- ministration of his particular officers, would befall him,—in order to escape the same, makes an agreement with P., an office! of Q., an absent friend of L., sent by L. from Q., for the preservation of friendship. O. sells to P. his possessions or lands acquired in N. with- out informing L. or M. thereof. P. , without the knowledge of L. or M., takes full power and authority from his master Q., and means, people, am- munition, even provisions and ships from the country of L., debauches there, besides, some of the officers of M., by means of which, under the appearance of wishing to trade with the inhabitants in N., takes possession of the before-mentioned purchased lands lying at the entrance of one of the best rivers in N. ; where the officers of P. first began to plant vegeta- bles, then to sow the fields, and finally to build a fort, as they have subsequently, in process of time, built seven forts upon the river, whereby the subjects of L. and M. in N., who wish to go up the river, are compelled to lie before that fort each time, so that L., contrary to his own granted license, andM., contrary to the privileges given him, come to lose their sove- reign jurisdiction on the river, and all manner of harm is done to the good inhabitants of L. and M., under pain of death.APPENDIX. 281 Hence arise these questions : 1. What crime or crimes has 0. committed against L., M., and,their subjects ; and how shall,can, or must he make reparation to L., M., and their subjects ? 2. What crime or crimes have P. committed, and his debauched officers, as also others who have in any degree meddled therewith ; and how will they make reparation ? * * The case here presented relates evidently to the encroachments of the Swedes on the Delaware. Advorsum hsec et alia, implorantur Consilia RemediaNote. The judgment against Melyn is preserved in the records at Albany. It should be read in connection with his complaint in the Breeden Kaedt. It runs as follows: Whereas Cornelis Melyn, born at Antwerp, about forty-five years of age, an inhabitant of New Amsterdam, in New Netherland, dared, as is proven by statements under oath, to oppose and violate justice, on the 2d of May, 1645, and to threaten the Director-General, Kieft, then his governor and chief mag- istrate, with the gallows and wheel, or, as the delinquent, prevaricating but voluntarily confessing, admitted that he said to the attorney-general and Others, “They who have given such orders* may be upon their guard that they come neither to the gallows nor on the wheel,” and to oppose himself further to the orders of Director Kieft, so that the Attorney-general was ob- liged to protest of contumacy and opposition against said Melyn: And as said Melyn is, by sundry other statements under oath at different times, convicted of abusing the court, saying, that there was no justice here: that* he was not subject to the director-general; that the director-general might look after the company’s servants; that he was the devil’s head, with numerous mutinous and seditious words to divers soldiers and freemen, endeavoring to persuade the servants of the company to leave its service, because they would not receive their pay; that the governor was the greatest liar in the country, who gave many fair words and promises, but never performed them; and also of instigating the freemen not to pay what they owed; and of many other acts of the same kind, as is proven by various affidavits and credible wit- nesses, all of which were distinctly read to said Melyn; and also of robbing or endeavoring to steal from the Indians on Long Island at the beginning of the war, in which they did not participate, their corn, in a clandestine or forci- ble manner, on which occasion an Englishman was shot by the said Indians; which fact, notwithstanding his denial, appears from his own confession in open court on the 16throf January of this year, when he admitted that his servants, with some soldiers, planned the expedition, but against his orders ; of which, however, he never made any complaint, nor informed any court of what had happened, which is sufficient proof that he connived at the trans- action, and by his silence approved of it; and also of compelling the Indians on Staten Island to surrender to him a part of their hunting-grounds, as ap- pears by statements under oath on the last day o/ July, 1645 ;—all which do- ings are of a pernicious tendency, leading to mutiny and rebellion, defamation of justice, and of the chief magistrate, and encouraging violence: To all this must be added that he, Melyn, with one Jochem Petersen Kuyter, conceived and wrote a letter on the 28th of October, 1644, in the name of the eight elect men, which they copied, signed, and sent to the Honorable Directors of * Orders in relation to the Indian war.NOTE. 283 the West India Company of the Chamber of Amsterdam, as calumnious as false, wherein they, in the most false and scandalous manner, abuse and in- sult the Hon. Director Kieft, then their governor and chief magistrate, as may be seen and read in the original,—the which being examined and investigat- ed at the request of the aforesaid Director Kieft, We declare that said let- ter is false in its principal points, as is confirmed by his voluntary confession, by the evidence of as many as fifteen others, and by the declarations and answers of several who signed the letter: Whereupon the attorney-general instituted proceedings against the said Melyn, and convicted him of having committed the crime of defamation against the court and justice, and falsehood in writing, and consequently of being guilty of the crime of lessee majestatis. All which facts, proofs, and documents having been examined, and every part duly considered by the Hon. Director and Council, It is their opinion that such misdeeds are of the most serious and alarming consequences under any well-regulated government, where they ought not and cannot be tolerated, but ought to be exemplarily punished; Wherefore the director-general, Petrus Stuyvesant, with the advice of the members.of his council, administer- ing justice in the name and in behalf of their High and Mighty Lords, the States General, his Highness the Prince of Orange, and the Noble Directors of the privileged West India Company, does condemn the aforesaid Cornelis Melyn to be banished for seven years from the limits of the jurisdiction of New Netherland, to depart with the first sailing vessel, revoking and withdrawing all benefices, pretensions, and honors which he owed to said directors, and in addition sentencing him to pay an amend of three hundred Carolus guilders, to be distributed, one-third to the poor, one-third to the church, and one- third to the attorney-general, and rejecting the other parts of the said attor- ney’s conclusions. Done in Council in Fort Amsterdam, 23djuly, 1647. (Sd.) P. Stuyvesandt, L. van Dincklage, Brian Newton, Pouwelis Leenders van der Grift, Jan Claessen Boll. The judgment against Kuyter follows that of Melyn in the record, under the date of 25th July, 1647. I2 Timothy, III., 1, 2, 3, 4, o, and 9. 1. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come ; 2. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, 5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 9. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. i