Of course he had orders from the
West India Company that he was bound to obey, and these orders did not
always please the people. But his rule was just, and he was the most
satisfactory of all the Dutch governors.
Stuyvesant's first work was to put the city in better condition. He did
this by having the vacant lots about the fort either built upon or
cleared. The hog-pens which had been in front of the houses were taken
away. All the fences were put in repair, and where weeds had grown rank,
they were replaced by pretty gardens. These, and a great many other
things he did, until the town took on quite a new air.
Up to this time the people had been ruled by governors who did all
things just as they saw fit. They became tired of this, and complained
so much that the Company in Holland decided to make a change. So after
Stuyvesant had been Governor for a while, some other officers were
appointed to help him. There was one officer called a schout, very
much the same as a mayor is in these days. Two others were called
burgomasters, and five others were called schepens. The burgomasters
and the schepens presided over the trials, in the stone tavern which
Governor Kieft had built at Coenties Slip, and which had now become
the Stadt Huys or City Hall.
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