Holland was then at war with Spain. A prize was captured and the question arose respecting its disposal. Fiscal Van Dyck claimed, by virtue of his office, a seat at the council board and a voice in the decision. The governor rudely repulsed him with the words,
"Get out. Who admitted you into the council. When I want you I will call you."
When they arrived at Curaçoa, Van Dyck again made an attempt to gain that place in the Council to which he thought his office legitimately entitled him. Stuyvesant punished him by confining him to the ship, not allowing him to step on shore. All the other officers and soldiers were freely allowed to recruit themselves by strolling upon the land.
Upon reaching Manhattan, Stuyvesant was received by the whole community with great rejoicing. And when he said, "I shall reign over you as a father governs his children," they were perhaps not fully aware of the dictatorial spirit which was to animate his government. With wonderful energy he immediately devoted himself to the reform of abuses. Though he availed himself of absolute power, taking counsel of no one, all his measures seem to have been adopted, not for the advancement of his own selfish interests, but for the promotion of the public good.
Proclamations were issued against Sabbath desecration, intemperance and all quarrelling. No intoxicating liquors were to be sold to the savages under a penalty of five hundred guilders. And the seller was also to be held responsible for any injury which the savage might inflict, while under the influence of strong drink. After the ringing of the nine o'clock bell in the evening, intoxicating drinks were not to be sold to any person whatever.
To draw a knife in a quarrel was to be punished with a heavy fine and six months imprisonment. If a wound was inflicted the penalty was trebled. Great faults accompanied this development of energy. The new governor assumed "state and pomp like a peacock's." He kept all at a distance from him, exacted profound homage, and led many to think that he would prove a very austere father. All his acts were characterized by great vigor.
New Amsterdam, at that time, presented a very dilapidated and deplorable appearance. The fort was crumbling to ruins. The skeleton of an unfinished church deformed the view. The straggling fences were broken down. The streets were narrow and crooked, many of the houses encroaching upon them. The foul enclosures for swine bordered the thoroughfares.
A system of taxation upon both exports and imports was introduced, which speedily replenished the treasury. Governor Stuyvesant was a professing christian, being a devout member of the Reformed Church of the fatherland. He promptly transferred his relations to the church at fort Amsterdam. He became an elder in the church, and conscious that the christian religion was the basis of all prosperity, one of his first acts was the adoption of measures for the completion of the church edifice. Proprietors of vacant lots were ordered to fence them in and improve them. Surveyors of buildings were appointed to regulate the location and structure of new houses.
The embarrassments which surrounded the governor were so great that he found it necessary to support his authority by calling public opinion to his aid. "Necessity," writes Brodhead, "produced concession and prerogative yielded to popular rights. The Council recommended that the principle of representation should be conceded to the people. Stuyvesant consented."
An election was ordered and eighteen "of the most notable, reasonable, honest and respectable persons" in the colony were chosen, from whom the governor was to select nine persons as a sort of privy council. It is said that Stuyvesant was very reluctant to yield at all to the people, and that he very jealously guarded the concessions to which he was constrained to assent. By this measure popular rights gained largely. The Nine Men had however only the power to give advice when it was asked. When assembled, the governor could attend the meeting and act as president.