method, we request to be informed of them by the first ship, that we may act accordingly. The Receiver gratefully acknowledges the honor, conferred upon him by your Honors: we neither can nor wish to doubt, that you and we shall be benefitted by his good and faithful services, as we have already so far.

The order issued by you in regard to the sale of real estate shall henceforth be obeyed and carried out; we have only considered it advisable to wait with the collection of the 40th penny until the arrival of the expected candidates for the ministry (propenenten**), for then we shall have so many more reasons for the introduction of this measure.

Not only the present Secretary Van Ruyven, but also all others, who have before served in that capacity, have received 5 p. ct. for selling real estate, but only when the property was sold to the highest bidder at public auction; for this commission the Secretary has not only to attend to the sale and everything connected with it, but he must also collect the purchase money and in case of bad debts, make up and pay the deficit: he must further pay the Court inessenger for acting as auctioneer. This custom has until now been followed by the said Van Ruyven, but henceforth this business shall be attended to by the Secretary of the City at such a salary as you may consent to give him.

Your orders concerning passengers, from time to time coming over at the expense of the Company, were already put into practice before now and we shall continue to obey them strictly. The advances made by you out of pity to the passengers lately arrived in the “Trouw” have been carried to the debit of each individual; the book containing these accounts is being copied and will be sent you by the "Moesman."+

So far in answer to your Honors' favor of the 13th of September received by the " Trouw." While we considered the same the ship "Moesman" arrived here bringing us your favor of the 25th of April last, to which we have to reply as follows.

The complaints and lucubrations of the Patroon and the other directors of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck, together with your reply to them, first call for our answer. We have little or nothing to add to what you said, because since the departure of Brant van Slechtenhorst little has occurred between us and his successor Jan Baptista van Rensselaer concerning the old, frivolous claims and questions; as far as we know no other complaints have been made, than against the farming of the tavernkeepers' excise on beer and wine and the collection of the tenths and as what has occurred between us and them in regard to these matters has been sent to and received by you from time to time, we think a repetition of it unnecessary. But we must say about your displeasure over our too minute explanation concerning the expense borne by the Patroon and the other directors of said Colony, and over the expression "or if impartial men, etc": first, that we could not assume the final decision of this case without erring on one side or the other, especially as by maintaining the right of the Company, in whose pay we are, in matters of this nature we would be suspected of being too favorably inclined toward it: we used however such expressions, as we thought, to the best of our knowledge, would be the least prejudicial to the Company and therefore referred the case, not to arbitrators "or impartial men etc," but directly to your Honors "or impartial men" called by you, meaning that in case a difference of opinion should be claimed, their High: Might: or the Worshipful Magistrates of the City of Amsterdam should give judgment, as you might decide.

*The letter is in the handwriting of Cornelius van Ruyven.

** Proponent is a Bachelor of Divinity, a Vicar.

+ Here follow again explanations of items in private accounts, which are omitted.

As to your further remarks on this point, concerning the appointment of a Schout or the continuation of the present incumbent under our commission and instructions, also in regard to the collection of the tenths pursuant to agreement, we shall carry out the one and the other conform to your orders in due time and with all possible leniency and report the result to you. But we request now your advice and order by the next opportunity, whether the salary of the Schout for the said Colony should not be paid out of the Company's funds; this, we think, is necessary to uphold the sovereignty of the Company.

Alexander Carolus Cursius, engaged by you as Latin schoolmaster, has arrived here. We hope and trust, that the community shall reap the desired fruits through their children, to which God may give his blessing: the state of the school shall be reported to you in due time.

Secretary van Ruyven has put the cash books into such order and kept such accurate accounts of what has been transacted since the dismissal of the former Receiver van Tienhoven, that not only we, but also everybody else, who has now an account with the Company, is well pleased and satisfied. As it has pleased you to send over as bookkeeper one Jacob Sam, we shall employ him as such and let him open the new general ledgers on the last of December, while Commissary van Brugge writes up his old account books and corrects the errors in them. Please to inform us, whether you desire, that Carel van Brugge shall be continued as Commissary of the Warehouse or whether the abovesaid Sam shall attend to these duties, as van Brugge has acted in both capacities for some years past. We think, that one man can easily do it with the assistance of a faithful clerk but we await your decision.

D' Johannes Theodorus Polheym, preacher upon Long Island, remonstrates, as you may see from the enclosure N°-that you have deducted fl 782.6. — heavy money from his credit on his Brazilian account, which amount he has received here in light money besides fl 160,- a total of fl 942.6. for serving as minister from October 1654 to the 7th of April 1657; for these services the above sum was allowed him and credited to his account, as shown by the Register of Resolutions, sent to you, under let. E. p. 63 January 29th. You will please to give such order in this matter, as in your opinion equity demands.

If the work of the masons continues to progress as fast, as it does now, we may hope to have the fort completed by next summer; then it will be necessary to build new carriages for the guns, for which we shall require also wheels: these could be made here, to avoid expensive freightage, but some flat and square iron must be sent over for bolts and coverings of the axles and similar purposes: as these axles must be proportionately heavier and thicker, than the axles of common carts or wagons, a large wheelmaker's anger should be sent us, to bore out the naves of 5 to 5 inches diameter, for we have here in the country none larger than 3 to 3 inches. It should be made in the Fatherland and sent with the first ship.

Here with, etc., etc.

Amsterdam in New Netherland, 23d of July, 1659, per "Trouw."

Post datum.

Your Honors' faithful servants.

Councillor Johan de Deckere, who sails with his wife in the "Trouw," has asked us for free passage for himself, wife and maid, as you may learn from the enclosure No. 10. We have granted his request subject to your approval and you may decide according to your pleasure. To the Lords Directors of the W. I. Company, Dept. of Amsterdam.

*See Vol. XIII, 100.

LETTER FROM STUYVESANT TO THE DIRECTORS IN HOLLAND: SICK DECLINE OF TRADE AT FORT ORANGE; EMIGRATION.

Per "Moesman.”

Honorable, Wise, Prudent and Very Worshipful Gentlemen.

I did not think, that I would be able to address your Honors once more, because the All Good, but not less Just God has been pleased to visit me, during the past four weeks, with a sickness accompanied by a hot internal fever, (I hope it is for my best,) and although now and then the use of such medicines, as may be obtained here, produced a change and improvement, I am and remain still very sick and weak, having neither inclination nor appetite for anything to eat, except liquids, which are considered injurious. However, as I have been upon my feet for two or three days now, I hope, that with God's blessing I shall recover, which I desire so much more, because your Honors' service and the present state of the country require our presence here and elsewhere. At Fort Orange almost everybody complains against his neighbor, wholesale dealers against retailers and vice versa, because of the decline of the trade, which grows worse from year to year. It is stated on authority, that although the beavers have been bartered from the savages at high prices this summer, 100,000 guilders have been given to them as presents. I see no or only little hope to remedy this, but upon the complaints and requests of the inhabitants I have contemplated go there during the greater part of the summer, more to restore harmony among them and give them some satisfaction through my presence, than in the hope of effecting any redress in the decline of the trade; principally also to carry out, quietly and gradually, your orders and instructions concerning the Colony of Rensselaerswyck. Hitherto I have been prevented by manifold other business and my subsequent indisposition.

to

*

I must submit to your Honors, that I am convinced by your letters and documents, of your zeal and inclination to make this country prosperous, sending over for that purpose, as the lists show, free people at your expense, but when they arrive here, we find them to be mostly traders and hence persons unaccustomed to labor, who quickly become a charge of the Poormasters; others, who are more honest, enter the military. It would be better and the Company would with more certainty recover the sums advanced to these people, the country would also be more benefitted, if in place of sending such persons, you would look about and send us farmers or farmlaborers, foreigners and exiles, used to labor and poverty.

What I have stated on this point, as my opinion concerning passengers brought over at the expense of the Company, in the hope, that it shall not be misinterpreted, applies with still greater force to the people sent over by the City of Amsterdam; if they had been persons of frugal and industrious minds, the good intentions of the Burgomasters would not have been rendered void and the country acquired such a bad reputation. It is therefore necessary, if the said Burgomasters or the Company expect any return or advantage from previous or future expenditures of this kind, that farmers and farmlaborers, frugal and industrious people, be sent over.

To the Lords Directors of the Priv. W. I. Company, Dept. of Amsterdam.

* See Vol. XII, p. 259 and Vol. XIII, 107.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF STUYVESANT TO THE DIRECTORS: LATIN SCHOOL; MEDICINAL
SEEDS WANTED.
Septbr 17, 1659.*

*

*

The Latin schoolmaster or rector, lately sent over, complains of his salary, because, he says it is impossible to support himself decently with it, as you may see by his enclosed letter to us. Your repeated instructions do not allow us, to raise anybody's salary without your knowledge, we have therefore referred him to you, promising him our favorable recommendation: we now request your Honors' advice, whether a reasonable sum may not be granted to him for board money. As to his services and his diligence, we must truly testify, that his industry is astonishing and the progress of the young people remarkable.

Among other necessaries required we would respectfully remind your Honors and submit, whether it is not possible, to receive by somebody's recommendation and intervention from the Botanical Garden at Leyden some medicinal seeds and plants, which could be cultivated here; if so, which we desire most heartily, please to have some of them sent over by the first opportunity, taking care, that such seeds be not packed in boxes or pots in the shipshold, but in small, linen bags, all placed in a larger one and hung up in the cabin, in the room on the quarterdeck or in the gunner's quarters, to be preserved from spoiling.

LETTER FROM STUYVESANT TO THE DIRECTORS: DIRECT TRADE WITH FRANCE.

Per "Meulen.”

Honorable, Wise, Prudent and Very Worshipful Gentlemen.

By your Honors' consent, granted to the inhabitants of this Province by your letter of the 17th of February last past, several prominent burghers of this City have been encouraged to freight the fly-boat, the "Moolen," here with boards and other lumber, as per enclosed invoice, and dispatch her directly to France, where the lumber is to be exchanged for wine and other goods, and then she is to sail for Amsterdam direct, pursuant to the clearance and permit here annexed. As this is the first attempt, the abovementioned burghers and freighters requested letters of introduction to your Honors, that upon arrival in the Fatherland they might be favored by you.

We enclose also a petition, handed in by the master of said flyboat, concerning a cargo of salt, taken in at the Island of Tortugas without the proper salt permit, brought here, discharged and partly sold as this is prejudicial to the Company's monopoly and intentions regarding the salt trade, limited to the Islands of Curaçao and Bonairo, while the carriers must deliver one fourth part of their cargo salt without pay and expenses at the place of their destination and as we do not know what rules for discharging salt at other places have been prescribed by you, we have by our resolution referred the said skipper to you for disposal of his case, but we beg to remind you, that, if this is permitted in the future, salt will be imported from other places than your colonies, and in smaller quantities, which, under correction, would injure the Company and its territories.

Herewith we commend your Honors to God's protection etc. Fort Amsterdam in N. N.

the 17th of September 1659.

Your Honors' devoted servants.

*For the balance of this letter see Col. Doc. Vol. XII, 254 and XIII, 110.

RESOLUTION OF THE AMSTERDAM DEPARTMENT, W. I. Co., CONCERNING MAIL FACILITIES.

Thursday, the 30th of October 1659.

It has been discovered that private letters are not placed into sealed bags in New Netherland and Curaçao, as ordered by the government and long practiced in Brasil, and sent to the Company in charge of the supercargos or masters of the vessels, sailing to these parts, (for the benefit of the merchants, as the Company intended it,) but that masters of private vessels, coming this way, usually take them along and very often deliver them badly or with great delay. It is therefore ordered, that to enforce again the abovementioned order henceforth a clause shall be inserted in the bailbond, given by skippers, sailing to New Netherland and Curaçao, forbidding them to bring privately letters to this place under penalty of one hundred Carolus guilders for each contravention; they are to hand them in at the places to be designated by the DirectorGeneral of New Netherland and the Vice-Director at Curaçao respectively, and both these officers shall be written to and ordered to see to the collection and expedition of the letters in the aforesaid manner by all ships, which shall also be done here, as far as possible.*

Agrees with the Register,

L. VAN SEVENTER.

LETTER FROM THE GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS, THROUGH SECRETARY RAWSON, TO DIRECTOR STUYVESANT, CLAIMING PART OF THE TERRITORY OF NEW NETHERLAND.

Much Honnored Sr

Wee received yors of the 27th of October 59 In Answer to a Letter of the Commission" of the Vnited Colonies dated Septb' 7th 59 wherein wee confesse yo" haue Gratified vs in Letting vs know yo' minde, though yo' resolution, & the reasons thereof be no matter of satisfaction to vs.

Wee haue therefore thought it necessary by this o' Letter as also by or Honnored & welbeloved Major William Hauthorne and Mr. John Richards (to whom wee desire you to giue Credit) to Lett you vnderstand o cleare & honest Intentions in the business to stop yo' Admiration & demonstrate the equitie of the motion of the Honnored Commission" on o' behalfe.

The Pattent graunted to the Colonie of the Massachusetts by the Late King Charles beginns one the South part three miles to the Southward of Charles River or Massachusetts Bay which Lyeth in the Northerly Lattitude of fforty two degrees & twenty minutes & vpon an East & West Line is to extend quite through the maine Land of Amerrica from sea to sea And wee are very well assured that some part of Hudsons River (a name wel knowne to the English before the arrival of any Dutch in those parts **) Lyeth to the Northward of the said Lattitude, & is within of Pattent graunted & possessed by vs about thirty two years & although perhaps the Dutch may haue Intruded within the said Limitts & wee by reason of or remoteness to the said Hudson's River & oppertunitie of planting together whilst our numbers were fewer, have made no vse of o' rights there, yet being now Increased & wanting Convenient places to settle of people, wee conceive no reason can be Imagined, why wee should not Improve & make vse of o❜ just

* See the Ordinance passed June 2, 1660, in Laws of N. N., p. 379.

** The first mention of the river by the name of Hudson in English or any other books or documents seems to have been in "A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England and of sundry accidents occurring therein from 1607 to 1622," which speaks of Capt. Dermer having met "Hollanders, who trade in Hudsons River in 1621."-B. F.