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Page 53
Upon the faith of Nicolls' promise to deliver back the city and fort
"in case the difference of the limits of this province be agreed upon
betwixt his majesty of England and the high and mighty States-General,"
Stuyvesant now commissioned Counsellor John de Decker, Captain
Nicholas Varlett, Dr. Samuel Megapolensis, Burgomaster Cornelius
Steenwyck, old Burgomaster Oloff Stevenson van Cortlandt, and old
Schepen Jacques Cousseau to agree upon articles with the English
commander or his representatives. Nicolls, on his part, appointed Sir
Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwright, John Winthrop, and Samuel
Willys, of Connecticut, and Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon, of
Massachusetts. "The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut were
joined," afterward explained the royal commander, "was because those
two colonies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the
Dutch had been overconfident of their strength."
At eight o'clock the next morning, which was Saturday, the
commissioners on both sides met at Stuyvesant's "bouwery" and arranged
the terms of capitulation. The only difference which arose was
respecting the Dutch soldiers, whom the English refused to convey back
to Holland. The articles of capitulation promised the Dutch security
in their property, customs of inheritance, liberty of conscience and
church discipline. The municipal officers of Manhattan were to
continue for the present unchanged, and the town was to be allowed to
chose deputies, with "free voices in all public affairs." Owners of
property in Fort Orange might, if they pleased, "slight the
fortifications there," and enjoy their houses "as people do where
there is no fort."
For six months there was to be free intercourse with Holland. Public
records were to be respected. The articles, consented to by Nicolls,
were to be ratified by Stuyvesant the next Monday morning at eight
o'clock, and within two hours afterward, the "fort and town called New
Amsterdam, upon the Isle of Manhatoes," were to be delivered up, and
the military officers and soldiers were to "march out with their arms,
drums beating, and colors flying, and lighted matches."
On the following Monday morning at eight o'clock Stuyvesant, at the
head of the garrison, marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the
honors of war, and led his soldiers down the Beaver Lane to the
water-side, whence they were embarked for Holland. An English
corporal's guard at the same time took possession of the fort; and
Nicolls and Carr, with their two companies, about a hundred seventy
strong, entered the city, while Cartwright took possession of the
gates and the Stadt-Huys. The New England and Long Island volunteers,
however, were prudently kept at the Breuckelen ferry, as the citizens
dreaded most being plundered by them. The English flag was hoisted on
Fort Amsterdam, the name of which was immediately changed to "Fort
James." Nicolls was now proclaimed by the burgomasters deputy-governor
for the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the city
of New Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as "New York."
To Nicolls' European eye the Dutch metropolis, with its earthen fort,
enclosing a windmill and high flag-staff, a prison and a governor's
house, and a double-roofed church, above which loomed a square tower,
its gallows and whipping-post at the river's side, and its rows of
houses which hugged the citadel, presented but a mean appearance. Yet
before long he described it to the Duke as "the best of all his
majesty's towns in America," and assured his royal highness that, with
proper management, "within five years the staple of America will be
drawn hither, of which the brethren of Boston are very sensible."...
The reduction of New Netherlands was now accomplished. All that could
be further done was to change its name; and, to glorify one of the
most bigoted princes in English history, the royal province was
ordered to be called "New York." Ignorant of James' grant of New
Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret, Nicolls gave to the region west of
the Hudson the name of "Albania," and to Long Island that of
"Yorkshire," so as to comprehend all the titles of the Duke of York.
The flag of England was at length triumphantly displayed, where, for
half a century, that of Holland had rightfuly waved; and from Virginia
to Canada, the King of Great Britain was acknowledged as sovereign.
Viewed in all its aspects, the event which gave to the whole of that
country a unity in allegiance, and to which a misgoverned people
complacently submitted, was as inevitable as it was momentous. But
whatever may have been its ultimate consequences, this treacherous and
violent seizure of the territory and possessions of an unsuspecting
ally was no less a breach of private justice than of public faith.
It may, indeed, be affirmed that, among all the acts of selfish
perfidy which royal ingratitude conceived and executed, there have
been few more characteristic and none more base.
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