Читать книгу A Beginner's History - William H. Mace - Страница 35

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Young Peter Stuyvesant

52. Peter Stuyvesant. This sturdy son of Holland was born at a time when his country was fighting hard against Spain for independence. His father was a minister, who, it may be supposed, brought up young Peter after the strict manner common to Dutch boys.

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

Peter early began to study Latin. He was vain of his knowledge, and later took pride in showing it off to the settlers of New Amsterdam.

Becomes a soldier

When he left school young Peter joined the army. He found plenty of hard work; but he performed his duties as a soldier more quickly and better than some of his comrades, and before many years was given command over a Dutch colony in the West Indies.

PETER STUYVESANT

From a seventeenth-century portrait at present in the collection of the New York Historical Society

Goes to New Netherland

In an attack on a Portuguese fort Stuyvesant lost a leg and had to return to Holland. As soon as he was well the Dutch West India Company sent him to New Netherland (1647) to save that colony from the Indians.

What Stuyvesant said to the settlers

The arrival of Stuyvesant, with his little army and fleet of four vessels, brought great joy to the discouraged settlers and fur traders. He said to the people: "I shall reign over you as a father over his children." But he ruled the colony far more like a king than a father. He was not only commander in chief of the army, but was also lawmaker, judge, and governor, all in one.

Strict order in New Amsterdam

The new laws made by Stuyvesant showed that he intended to keep order in the colony. He forbade Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, the sale of drink to the Indians or to any one else after the nine o'clock bell had rung. He ordered the owners of all vacant lots in New Amsterdam to improve them, and tried to fix the location of all new buildings. He taxed traders, whether they shipped goods to Europe or brought goods into New Netherland.

Stuyvesant did, indeed, restore order to the colony, but he stirred up the people until they demanded a voice in the government. He finally agreed that they might select nine of their wisest men to advise with him. They were called the council. He had no idea of following anybody's advice unless it agreed with his own notions, but the people had gained something.

Stuyvesant and his neighbors

At the same time Stuyvesant was just as busy with his neighbors' affairs. He quarreled with the English in New England, as well as with the patroons in his own colony.

Stuyvesant claimed all the region now included in New Jersey, a large part of that in the states of New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and also a part of the territory of New England.

Government by the people demanded

The colony grew in numbers. New towns sprang up along the Hudson and on Long Island. But the increase in the number of the towns only made the call for a government by the people still louder.

For several years the dispute between the people and the governor went on until, one day in 1664, news came that a fleet of English war vessels was in sight. Although England and Holland were at peace, the English king had given New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York, and the English fleet had come to take it for the duke.

A VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK), 1656

Governor Stuyvesant was resolved to defend the colony to the last. But he was surprised to find that his people were not willing to fight for a governor who had given them so little share in governing themselves.

What Stuyvesant learned after it was too late

Brave to the last

The commander of the fleet sent a letter to Stuyvesant offering very favorable terms of surrender. The council wanted the governor to surrender, but he grew angry, tore the letter to pieces, and declared he would never give up. The council put the pieces of the letter together and read it to the people. The minister of his own church begged the governor not to fight, and leading citizens, and mothers with their children, pleaded with Stuyvesant to surrender. Now what could the brave old Dutchman do? He could not fight a whole fleet alone. He turned sadly away, saying, "I would rather go to my grave than to surrender the city."

A DUTCH COTTAGE AND STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK, 1679

New Netherland becomes New York

53. The Dutch Surrender to the English. The English took possession, and the colony of New Netherland became the colony of New York, and at the same time the town of New Amsterdam became the town of New York. Fort Orange became Albany. English governors came to rule instead of Dutch governors. A few years later a Dutch fleet recaptured the colony; but, by a treaty at the close of the war, Holland returned it to England. When William and Mary came to the throne of England (1689) they gave New York a representative assembly.

A DUTCH SOLDIER

Dutch ideas and customs remain

Although Dutch rule was gone forever, the Dutch people and Dutch ideas and customs remained. They were given no cause to regret the change. Peter Stuyvesant himself had become so attached to the colony that he came back from Holland and spent his last years on his great farm, or bowery, as the Dutch called it.