fitted for Van der Donck, as he was later the author of the first history of the colony.[1] It asks that a new and better kind of administration be set up by the States-General in the province in lieu of the one that in so many instances had nearly proved fatal for the colony. It pointed out that the province was large and fertile, capable of supporting a large body of emigrants from the home land; that if the home government were but to spend a little more time, money and labor in support of the colony it would not be many years until it would be opulent and highly productive; and that it would prove a source of unfailing income for the Fatherland, and help Holland to take a paramount place among the maritime nations of the world. The tone of the Remonstrance was scholarly and respectful; it contained neither word nor hint of threat of revolt or self-government. It was merely an address of grievances which had accumulated since the province was established. Rather in asking for independence, the Remonstrance really pleaded for a closer union between the mother country and New Netherland.[2]
One Olaff Stevens was one of the signers of the Remonstrance and after his name made the curious annotation, “under protest. Obliged to sign as to Heer Kieft’s administration”.[3] Both the Memorial and the Remonstrance were sent to Holland with a delegation consisting of Van der Donck, Van Couwenhoven and Jan Evertsen Bout.[4]
Peter Stuyvesant naturally was furious when he learned of
- ↑ Beschryvinge van Nieuw-Nederlant. Beschreven door Adriaen Vander Donck, Amsterdam, 1656. This book contains the famous Visscher map and the sketch of New Amsterdam drawn by Herrman.
- ↑ The full text of the Remonstrance is given in Holland Documents in O’Callighan’s Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., Albany, 1856, Vol. I. pp. 275–318.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 318.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 258.
