Part 8 (1/2)

TROUBLE WITH THE ENGLISH

I do know this, however, that an English vessel came to anchor one certain day off the town, and her captain said it was his purpose to go up the river to one of our posts called Port Orange, there to trade with the Indians on his own account.

Master Van Twiller forbade his doing so; but after remaining five days, the English captain sailed up the river, and then it was that our new Director, calling together all the men in the town, armed three vessels and drove the English out of the river.

I also know that he brought trouble to himself and to the West India Company, by doing that which the English people in Plymouth claimed he had no right to do, and it was much like this:

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Our Dutchman, Adrian Block, had sailed up a river to the east of us, which he called the Fresh River, and Master Minuit had traded there with the savages to the extent of near ten thousand beaver skins, besides other furs, each year.

Now it seems the English of Plymouth claimed that this land had been given them by King James, and so notified Master Van Twiller; but he sent his secretary with a lot of toys, and bought from the savages that piece of land called Connittec.o.c.k, building thereon a trading post, in which we mounted two cannon, and called it the House of Good Hope.

Because of this the English of Boston, together with those in Plymouth, set about driving the Dutch away from Fresh River by building another post a short distance above them, and there, so I learned from the traders who came to New Amsterdam, we were having considerable trouble.

Master Van Twiller contrived also to get himself into trouble with the English at Jamestown, and did have a pitched battle with them at our forts at Na.s.sau, on the Delaware River, gaining a victory, but giving the Dutch a bad name with their neighbors.

MASTER VAN TWILLER DISCHARGED

This much I know, Master Van Twiller did much that was unwise; but out of the harm he accomplished considerable of good, so far as concerned New Amsterdam.

He strengthened and beautified the fort, building within its limits a goodly house of brick where he himself might live. He also laid out a farm on the East River equal to any in Holland. On this he put up a barn, a brewery, a boathouse, and a good stable, together with two mills, and dwellings for a blacksmith, a cooper, and such soldiers as might be lodged there to protect the place.

Master Van Twiller also built us a wharf on the easterly side of the point; a church which would have been an ornament to any town, as well as a house for the minister, for by this time we had a licensed clergyman.

But with it all, so it was charged against him, he was making himself rich at the expense of the Company, for he bought of the Indians, to be held as his own property, three of the large islands nearby, as well as a farm of sixty-two acres, which lay between the fort and the swamp.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In some way the Council of the Company in Holland heard that Master Van Twiller was working more to his own advantage than theirs, and before he had been in New Amsterdam five years, a s.h.i.+p called the _Blessing_ came into the harbor, having on board Master Wilhelm Kieft, who had with him papers to show that he had been appointed Director of New Netherland.

Master Van Twiller was ordered to return at once to Holland, and there give an account of his proceedings.

And now, because of this same Master Kieft's having worked much harm to us in New Amsterdam, causing the Indians to rise against us, I am minded to tell you more concerning him than I have thought well to say regarding Master Van Twiller.

DIRECTOR KIEFT

First, the seamen of the _Blessing_ whispered here and there stories concerning him which were not to his credit; that he had failed in business in Holland, and as a punishment his portrait had been nailed to the gallows; again, that when he was sent by the king to Turkey, having been given charge of money to be paid for the release of some Dutch people who were held in slavery there, he put it in his own pocket, allowing the poor men to wear out their lives as slaves to the Turks.

He was a small man, with a sharp nose, sharp chin, and a face generally that gave one the idea of a weasel, or of a person who is ever ready to shed blood even though he does not benefit thereby.

Perhaps I am overly severe in describing this new Director of ours, because of the trouble which we in the storehouse had with him.