The people in Holland listened to this
complaint and a new Governor was sent out. This was Peter Stuyvesant,
the last and most famous of the Governors of New Amsterdam.
Peter Stuyvesant, Governor from 1647-1664; He was a fiery old
fellow, with a great love of pomp, and a tremendous opinion of his
own importance. He had lost a leg in the Spanish Wars, and now he
stamped about with a wooden one. But as no plain wooden leg would
please his taste for grandeur he had it bound with silver.
The people were heartily tired of their old Governor, so they
hailed the coming of Stuyvesant with joy. But no sooner had their
new Governor arrived than they began to wonder if after all the
change was a happy one. For Stuyvesant seemed to look down upon
them all. He landed with great state and pomp, and some of the chief
inhabitants who had come to meet him were left standing bareheaded
for several hours while he kept his hat on, as if he were Tsar of
all the Russias.
When he took over the direction of affairs from the late Governor,
he did it with great ceremony in presence of all the colonists.
And the late Governor, thinking to make a good impression before
he left, made a speech thanking the people for their faithfulness
to him. But the stolid Dutchmen were not going to have any such
farce. So they up and told him boldly that they would not thank
him, for they had no reason to do so.
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