Page:Augustine Herrman, beginner of the Virginia tobacco trade, merchant of New Amsterdam and first lord of Bohemia manor in Maryland (1941).djvu/66



Augustine Herrman’s first mission of diplomacy can hardly be said to have resulted in much credit to himself or in much honor to his chief. This was not because of any shortcoming in the ability and capacity of the ambassador, but more because of the fickleness of the Dutch governor. Herrman for once was caught off his guard; and the episode proved to be an ingenious way whereby Peter Stuyvesant and his creature, Van Tienhoven, again placed him in an embarrassing situation. In April 1652 Adriaen Keyser and Herrman proceeded to Rhode Island as special envoys from New Amsterdam. George Baxter, one of the magistrates of the English colony, Gravesend, and a personal friend of Van Tienhoven, gave the Dutch ambassadors a letter to be delivered to William Coddington, governor of Rhode Island.

Herrman and his companion were received in Newport with all marks of respect becoming their high office, and everything was proceeding so satisfactorily that it seemed certain that the representatives of both colonies could go ahead in a friendly manner with what business was to be transacted. All went on perfectly until the letter was opened. When read before the General Assembly of the English colony, a cold silence reigned over the hall; and when the Rhode Islanders had recovered from their surprise, and their anger and indigtion were aroused, they ordered the two astonished ambassadors to be seized. To their utter consternation Herrman and