Joost de Backer being accused also by the above named corporal of having bought gun-locks and gun-barrels from him, and the first information having proved correct, his house was searched according to law, in which was found a gun of the Company which he had procured from the corporal; he was therefore taken into custody until he gave security [to answer] for the claim of the fiscaal.
As the English of New England protected among them all fugitives who came to them from the Manhatans without the passport required by the usage of the country, whether persons in the service of the Company or freemen, and took them into their service, it was therefore sought by commissioners to induce the English to restore the fugitives according to an agreement previously made with Governors Eaton and Hopkins, but as Governor Eaton failed to send back the runaways, although earnestly solicited to do so, the Director and Council, according to a previous resolution, issued a proclamation that all persons who should come from the province of New Haven (all the others excepted) to New Netherland should be protected; which was a retaliatory measure. As the Governor permitted some of the fugitives to come back to us, the Director and Council annulled the order, and since then matters have gone on peaceably, the dispute about the boundaries remaining the same as before.(1)
(1) Theophilus Eaton, governor of New Haven 1639-1658, and
Edward Hopkins, governor of Connecticut seven times in the
period 1640-1654. The recriminations and retaliations
alluded to took place in the winter of 1647-1648. Two
months before the date of this Answer, Stuyvesant had
arranged with the Commissioners of the United Colonies at
Hartford a provisional Agreement as to boundaries between
English and Dutch on Long Island and on the mainland; but
the treaty was not ratified by the English and Dutch
governments.
Nobody's goods have been confiscated in New Netherland without great reason; and if any one feels aggrieved about it, the Director will be prepared to furnish an answer. That ships or shipmasters are afraid of confiscation and therefore do not come to New Netherland is probable, for nobody can come to New Netherland without a license. Whoever has this, and does not violate his agreement, and has properly entered his goods, need not be afraid of confiscation; but all smugglers and persons who sail with two commissions may well be.
All those who were indebted to the Company were warned by the Director and Council to pay the debts left uncollected by the late William Kieft, and as some could, and others could not well pay, no one was compelled to pay; but these debts, amounting to 30,000 guilders, make many who do not wish to pay, angry and insolent, (especially as the Company now has nothing in that country to sell them on credit,) and it seems that some seek to pay after the Brazil fashion.(1)
(1) The recent conquest of the company's province of Brazil
by the Portuguese had enabled many debtors there to avoid
paying their debts.
The memorialists have requested that the people should not be harassed, which however has never been the case, but they would be right glad to see that the Company dunned nobody, not demanded their own, yet paid their creditors. It will appear by the account-books of the Company that the debts were not contracted during the war, but before it. The Company has assisted the inhabitants, who were poor and burdened with wives and children, with clothing, houses, cattle, land, etc., and from time to time charged them in account, in hopes of their being able at some time to pay for them.
If the taxes of New England, before spoken of, be compared with those of New Netherland, it will be found that those of New England are a greater burden upon that country than the taxes of New Netherland are upon our people.
The wine excise of one stiver per can, was first imposed in the year 1647.
The beer excise of three guilders per tun, was imposed by Kieft in 1644, and is paid by the tapster alone, and not the burgher.