1674 [1846] - Official extract, made in 1846, from Colonial Council Minutes of New York, that detail the surrender of New York to the Dutch in 1673 as well as trial of the British captain who surrendered the province without ever firing a shot in its defense

"The court . . . do adjudge ye sd John Manning to be . . . brought ought to the public place before ye City Hall, there to have his sword broken over his head & from that time be rendred uncapable of wearing a sword or serving his Maty. . .."

New York, 1846. Ribbon-bound.

This official six-page extract from the Colonial Council Minutes of New York measures 8" x 13" and is bound within a blank leaf tied with a pink ribbon. This single 1846 document combines the official 1674 record of Captain John Burroughs's surrender of the colony to the Netherlands in 1673 as well as his subsequent trial and sentencing. It is in nice shape.

In 1609, under the flag of the Dutch East India Company, Henry Hudson sailed up the river that now bears his name searching for a northwest passage to Asia. Along the way men from his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), explored the region. Five years later, the Netherlands established Fort van Nassouwen, a factoring (i.e., combination fort and trading post) near present-day Albany. In 1624, it established a second fur-trading settlement on what today is known as Governor's Island in New York Harbor and the following year, purchased the island in 1626 from the Lenape band in 1626 where it constructed a citadel, Nieuw Amsterdam.

Although the colony grew slowly, by 1650 the population had reached 8,000, however in 1664, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, English troops appeared in the harbor and Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant, who had no force to defend the colony, surrendered it without firing a shot. After which, it was renamed, New York. Although it is commonly believed that ended Dutch rule in New York; not so.

Nine years later in 1673, the colony would again trade hands after a Dutch fleet of 26 ships appeared in the harbor and 600 Dutch soldiers landed on shore. At the time the British governor was visiting Connecticut, and the Sheriff of New York, Captain John Manning, promptly surrendered the province to them rather than engage in combat. Almost immediately, Manning realized that he made a grave political error and caught a ship to England where he convinced King Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, that he had not intentionally committed treason. In the interim, as part of peace negotiations that had very little to do with New York, the Netherlands returned the province to Britain. Upon his return to New York with what amounted to a royal pardon, Manning found its English residents were not as forgiving as the King.

This extract provides a full first-hand account of the incident including the exact charges Manning faced, and the punishment imposed upon him:

• "The court have taken [Captain Manning's] case into serious consideration & examind all papers relating thereunto doth acquit him of ye treacherous part . . . but find him guilty of every particular besides & that the said crimes deserve to be punish with death: But in regard to his being in England since, and seeing his Maty & his Royall highnesse: They do adjudge ye sd John Manning to be . . . brought ought to the public place before ye City Hall, there to have his sword broken over his head & from that time be rendred uncapable of wearing a sword or serving his Maty in any public employ or place of benefit & trust within this government. . .."

(For more information, see Boxer's "Some Second Thoughts on the Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674" in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Vol 16 and Rivers' "Orange is the New York" at the This Week in New York City website.)

An exceptional document. Nothing similar is for sale in the trade or held by any institution per OCLC. One similar New York Council Extract relating to the establishment of Vermont as a separate colony was sold at a Swann auction in 2015.