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| Van der Donck's Nieuw Amsterdam |
FROM A WORK CALLED
BREEDEN RAEDT
AEN DE VEREENIGHDE
NEDERLANDSCHE
PROVINTIEN.
PRINTED IN ANTWERP IN
1649.
Translated from the
Dutch Original
AMSTERDAM 1850.
FR. MULLER.
In the year 1649,
delegates were sent from New Netherland to Holland
to obtain redress of
various grievances of which the Colonists of the day com-
plained. A number of
representations were made by the complainants as well as
by the government. Of
these Van der Donck's Vertoogh and Secretary Van
Tienhoven's answer, have
been published in the Collections of the N. Y. Hist.
Soc, 2d. Ser. ii. The
''Breeden Raet" or Full Information to the United
Netherland Provinces, is
another of the publications called forth by the same
circumstance. It was
printed at Antwerp originally in 1649. It consists of a
Dialogue between eight
persons [represented by letters of the alphabet] and appears to be
a strong attack on the adminis-
a strong attack on the adminis-
trations of Directors Kieft and Stuyvesant. A brochure, made up of Extracts
from this work having
recently appeared in Amsterdam, a copy was obtained for
the State Library which
is now reprinted. Hitherto, the work has been unknown
to bibliographers.
B. Nobody at all was
warned but the three before mentioned.
The settlers were not so
much as thought of. The secretary
himself went to
reconnoitre the camp of the savages the day
before the attack, and
if the settlers had known what was intend-
ed, supposing there had
been reasons for it, not one of the savages
would have escaped ; but
if, as was really the case, there had
been no reasons, the
director would never have been able to
commit such a murder, if
even he had such traitors as secretaries.
J. By what I understand
of the affair, the secretary is the
principal cause of what
followed. But how did they proceed ?
B. Between the 25 and 26
Febr. 1643, at midnight 80 and odd
savages were murdered at
Pavonia, by 80 soldiers. Young
children, some of them
snatched from their mothers, were cut in
pieces before the eyes
of their parents, and the pieces were
thrown into the fire or
into the water ; other babes were bound
on planks and then cut
through, stabbed and miserably massacred,
so that it would break a
heart of stone ; some were thrown
into the river and when
the fathers and mothers sought to
104 EXTRACTS FROM A WORK
save them, the soldiers
would not suffer them to come ashore but
caused both old and
young to be drowned. Some children of from
5 to 6 years of age, as
also some old infirm persons, who had
managed to hide
themselves in the bushes and reeds, came out
in the morning to beg
for a piece of bread and for permission to
warm themselves, but
were all murdered in cold blood and
thrown into the fire or
the water. A few escaped to our settlers,
some with the loss of a
hand, others of a leg, others again holding
in their bowels with
their hands, and all so cut, hacked and
maimed, that worse could
not be imagined ; they were indeed in
such a state that our
people supposed they had been surprised
by their enemies, the
tribe of the Maquaes. After this exploit
the soldiers were
recompensed for their services, and thanked
by the director Kieft in
person. In another place, on the same
night, at Curler's Hook,
near Curler's plantation, about forty
savages were surprised
in their sleep in the same way, and
massacred like the
others.
D. Did ever the duke of
Alba do more evil in the Nether-
lands ?
F. Certainly you have
such Dutch Governors or directors who
honour and respect the
duke of Alba.
B. Yes sir, it is a
scandal for our nation ; and if silence would
have remedied it I should
never have mentioned it. But
information has been
given of it in the proper quarter, and not
only it has not been
remedied, but it has gone still worse as you
shall hear directly.
H. But did the savages
suffer this so quietly ?
B. Oh no sir. As soon as
they found how the Swannekens [Dutch]
treated them, they
killed all the men they could lay hands on,
but I never heard that
they did any harm to the women or
children. Besides this
they burned and destroyed all the houses,
farms, barns and
everything they could come at, so that they
began a declared and
destructive war.
C. Quicquid delirant
reges plectuntur achivi.
B. I am told for a fact
that a certain skipper Isaac Abraham-
sen, having saved a
young boy, and hidden him under the sails
in order to give him to
one Cornelius Melyn, towards morning
the poor child, overcome
with cold and hunger, made some noise
CALLED BREEDEN RAEDT.
105
and was heard by the soldiers,
18 Dutch tigers, dragged from
under the sails in spite
of the endeavors of the skipper, who
was alone against 18,
cut in two and thrown overboard.
F. But what did the
inhabitants say of the massacre ?
B. They were not only
much displeased but took notes of
all that passed from
time to time, for those of the country (plant-
ers) were all ruined,
and in the forts there was little provision
and little strength.
This they wrote and sent to government
relating the causes and
occasions of the war, with all the circum-
stances as they had
occurred.
J. How did you do in the
meanwhile, before an answer ar-
rived ?
B. We had but a choice
of evils. The Director robbed and
murdered wherever he
could, and in the manner already related
1600 savages were killed
in the years 1643 and 1644 ; some of
them were settled among
the English, at a distance of from 10
to 20 miles from us, who
were most of them surprised in their
sleep, many of them
never having seen a Dutchman much less
ever having done them
any harm.
In April of the year
1644, seven savages were arrested at
Heemstede (where an
English clergyman, Mr, Fordham, was
governor), on a charge
of killing two or three pigs, though it was
afterwards discovered
that some Englishmen had done it them-
selves. Director Kieft
was informed by Mr. Fordham, that he
had just arrested seven
savages, who were confined in a cellar,
but whom. he had not
dared to treat inhumanely, as he could
not answer for the
consequences to himself, because such things
are not to be winked at
there, or perhaps because the English
nation wish to cause a
general dislike among the savages to our
people. Kieft immediately
sent ensign Updyk with an English-
man, John Underhill, and
15 or 16 soldiers, who killed three of
the seven in the cellar.
They then took the other four with
them in the sailing
boat, two of whom were towed along by a
string round their necks
till they were drowned, while the two
unfortunate survivors
were detained as prisoners at fort Am-
sterdam. When they had
been kept a long time in the corps de
garde, the director
became tired of giving them food any longer,
and they were delivered
to the soldiers to do as they pleased
106 EXTRACTS FROM A WORK
with . The poor
unfortunate prisoners were immediately dragged
out of the guard house
and soon dispatched with knives of from
18 to 20 inches long,
which director Kieft had made for his sol-
diers for such purposes,
saying that the swords were too long
for use in the huts of
the savages, when they went to surprise
them ; but that these
knives were much handier for bowelling
them. The first of these
savages having received a frightful
wound, desired them to
permit him to dance what is called the
Kinte Kaeye, a religious
use observed among them before death ;
he received however so
many wounds, that he dropped down
dead. The soldiers then
cut strips from the other's body, be-
ginning at the calves,
up the back, over the shoulders and down
to the knees. While this
was going forward, director Kieft,
with his councillor Jan
de la Montaigne, a Frenchman, stood
laughing heartily at the
fun, and rubbing his right arm, so much
delight he took in such
scenes. He then ordered him to be
taken out of the fort,
and the soldiers bringing him to the Beaver's
path (he dancing the
Kinte Kaeye all the time) threw him down,
cut off his partes genitales,
thrust them into his mouth while still
alive, and at last,
placing him on a mill stone, cut off his head.
H. What shameful
barbarity !
Editor’s note:
Director-General Willem
Kieft arrived at New Netherland in 1639. Among his orders was a directive to
increase profits at the port city of Pavonia (near present day Jersey City). He
levied a tribute on the native Hackensacks, Tappans and Wecquaesgeeks. These tribes
refused to comply. A dispute over stolen pigs on Staten Island resulted in the
death of Dutchman Claes Swits by the Hackensacks. Another Dutchman was shot
with an arrow while roofing his house.
Director-General Kieft
ignored the Council of Twelve’s advice for negotiations with the tribes. He
then ordered the attack on Pavonia. For the next two years, several tribes
in the area were at war with the Dutch. The patroonship at Pavonia, which
employed African slave labor, was evacuated to New Amsterdam across the river.
A truce between the Dutch and the several tribes was established in August
1645.
In 1647, Director-General
Kieft was recalled to the Netherlands to explain his conduct with the natives
and his business activities. He died in a shipwreck while returning home. Peter
Stuyvesant succeeded Willem Kieft as Director-General.
References:
Documentary History of
New York
Colonial Seminar
Credit:
Internet Archive
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