USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume I > Part 3
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- Printz had a large share of vanity, a desire to make others bow before him, and a total lack of perception of the ridicu- lous. The twentieth century mayor or governor who over- steps the bounds of modesty incurs the severe discipline of the cartoon. Printz had not the fear of the cartoon before his eyes, and he played the bully to his own satisfaction and to the annoyance of the wiser heads among his countrymen. It will be necessary to review his administration with some full- ness.
Queen Christina was anxious to make the new settlement distinctly Swedish, and Swedish immigrants were in special demand. Elfsborg and Värmland, married soldiers who had
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committed various military offences, were ordered to be trans- ported to New Sweden, their wives and children to accompany them. The government promised that they should return in a year or two; but even this provision did not fire the Swedish army with any enthusiasm. It was only too plain that free citizens, respectable mechanics, experienced farmers, and trained servants did not want to go to the new colony.
However, by untiring labor some emigrants were gathered and the " Key of Kalmar," or " Kalmar Nyckel," to give her her Swedish name, sailed away, for her second voyage to America. Spiring and Blommaert had raised a Dutch crew, and Cornelis Van Vliet, a Dutch captain, was in command. The most distinguished passenger was Peter Hollendare, the second governor of the colony, and his name also indicates a Dutch origin. After thrice returning to Holland for repairs, Captain Van Vliet was discharged for dishonesty and negli- gence. Pouwell Jansen succeeded him, and on February 7, 1640, the Key of Kalmar left the Texal, reaching Christina on April 17. It is probable that the Rev. Reorus Torkillus, the first pastor in Delaware's annals, was one of the passengers on this expedition ; but it cannot be claimed that the influence of Torkillus was in any sense analogous to that of the great divines of Puritan New England, or to the Jesuit missionaries of Canada. While he is known to the student of early Dela- ware, he did not stamp his personality on history as Joliet or Marquette, as Captain Roger Williams or Cotton Mather did.
On a surface view there is an inconsistency between the Swedish laments over the wretchedness of their settlement, and the Dutch complaint that they were fast monopolizing the fur trade. It is easy, however, to reconcile the statements. Nearly every prosperous merchant of to-day feels it his bounden duty to assert that his business, once thriving, has been wrecked by competition ; and the agents of the Dutch West India Company, no doubt saw ruin to Holland in every skin bought by their Swedish neighbors. The Swedes may have been and apparently were good traders and poor farmers.
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It was easier for them to make bargains than to raise crops. Wealth and hardship may have gone hand in hand on the banks of the Delaware, as they have since done among the gold-seekers of California and the Klondike. There is no doubt that the Dutch were jealous, for as Governor Hollendare sailed by Fort Nassau he was fired upon, this act leading to a remonstrance on his part. Royal instructions directing the colonists to cultivate peaceful relations with their Dutch neigh- bors were obeyed, and the two settlements went on their way, suspicious and occasionally indulging in a, growl, but with a recognition of the fact that the Crown of Sweden and the States of Holland wished to avoid war.
Wyndert Wyndertsen Van Horst, scarcely known to history, is saved from oblivion because he begged her Swedish Majesty for a charter empowering him to plant a Dutch colony in New Sweden. Then as now charters passed from hand to hand, and the document granted to Van Horst was transferred by him to Hendrick Hockhammer and other Dutchmen. Under royal sanction these colonists were to take up land on both sides of the Delaware, four or five German miles below Chris- tina, to be exempt from taxation for ten years, to trade only in Swedish vessels and with Swedish ports. Jost van Bogardt was chosen as agent in charge of the new colony and Captain Jacob Powelsen of the Fredenburg was to transport the Dutch- men to their new home. While the time of sailing is uncer- tain, the Fredenburg reached the Delaware on November 2, 1640 and a settlement was made not far from Christina. The Dutch colony, like "the lost State of Franklin," has disap- peared from history, and barring one reference to it in the Instructions to Governor Printz, nothing is known of it. We may not unreasonably conclude that the newcomers mingled with the earlier colonists and that all trace of their separate existence was soon lost.
New Sweden's fields and furs attracted settlers from New England. Captain Nathaniel Turner and George Lamberton, both of New Haven, seem to have bought land from the
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Indians under doubtful titles. From the best evidence that can now be collected, it seems that the lands in question had been bought by the Swedes and formally conveyed to them. At all events a small number of English people settled in New Jersey, and their arrival was construed to mean a pos- sible invasion of Delaware by Englishmen. No one can be certain about the surveys made two hundred years ago, especially if the surveyor was not at all afraid of his em- ployers in Sweden or Holland, and very much afraid that if he did not hurry through his work he might tread on a rattle- snake or be scalped by an Indian.
But the Swedish Government was not seriously concerned about the few Englishmen who came to New Jersey. It was more agitated over the decided reluctance of Swedes to emi- grate to Delaware. Yet the government was hopeful, and early in 1641 Spiring was authorized to pay eighteen thousand guilders if necessary to buy out all the Dutch stockholders. Either in the summer or fall of 1641 the third colony landed. The English showed a disposition to advance further along the Delaware, and the Swedes and Dutch made common cause against them. Sickness weakened the English settlers, and the Dutch made it difficult and perilous for Englishmen to trade on the river.
All these events took place before the great civil war which sent an English king to the scaffold and made Cromwell a dictator. In 1642, the capitalists of Sweden organized a new company generally called the South Company, although its official title was the West India American and New Sweden Company. Of the capital, thirty-six thousand riksdaler in the aggregate, half was contributed by the South and Ship Company, one-sixth by the Crown, and the remainder by individuals, the best known being Chancellor Oxenstiern, Spiring, Fleming and others. The new company was to enjoy the monopoly of the tobacco trade in Sweden, Finland and Ingermanland.
In August, 1642, the crown selected for governor of New
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Sweden John Printz, who had been dismissed from the army, restored to favor, and even raised to the ranks of the nobility. His military delinquencies, whatever they were, had probably been forgiven, because of his zeal in recruiting emigrants among the Finns. Now as governor he was to exercise many functions, to guard the fur trade, to raise tobacco, to breed cattle, to hunt for valuable timber, to plant vineyards, to establish the silk industry, to develop salt works and fisheries. It was enjoined upon him to open schools, to maintain the established church of Sweden, and to labor for the conversion of the Indians. With regard to the Dutch colonists, he was charged to see that they kept within the bounds of their charter; he was to seek peace with the Dutch authorities at Manhattan and Fort Nassau, though not to submit to oppres- sion. The English settlement was a subject left to his discre- tion, and he might bring them under Swedish control or drive them away as he deemed expedient. In the government of his province he was to be aided by a lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, gunner, trumpeter, drummer, twenty-four private soldiers, a chaplain, clerk, barber-surgeon, provost and execu- tioner. Agencies were to be established in Gottenburg and Amsterdam, the latter being a clear proof that Sweden wished to keep on friendly terms with Holland.
On the first of November, 1642, the Fama and Svanen, or "Fame " and "Swan," left Gottenburg. Governor Printz and family and Lieutenant Mans Kling, who had already visited the Delaware, were among the passengers, while some- thing must be said of the Rev. Johan Campanius Holm. Holm is better known simply as Campanius. He is not likely to be forgotten, and yet he lives not so much because of his own merits as because he was the grandfather of Campanius, the historian. Odd bits of information gathered by the mis- sionary were used by his descendant, but the junior was credulous and careless. While his book is continually quoted, it is often laughed at for inaccuracy, and yet it contains much that is not to be found elsewhere. Peace to the memory of
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Campanius. If every writer who has treated of the fauna, flora and topography of this country were to be scrutinized as harshly as he has been, many would suffer. Campanius had merits, or he would not have drawn the fire of several genera- tions of critics.
In those days most vessels leaving Sweden for America ran down by Portugal and Barbary, passed the Canaries, touched at Antigua, and thence proceeded to the Western Continent. With the Governor came over a new installment of forest- burning Finns, and the voyage was lengthened by snow- storms. Chaplain Campanius, besides the journal from which his oft-abused grandson drew so much material, worked at translating Luther's Catechism into the language of the Indians.
According to Washington Irving, Governor Wouter van Twiller was five feet six inches high, and six feet five inches in circumference. His Excellency, according to the same authority, took four meals a day, allowing one hour to each, searched and doubted for eight hours, and slept for twelve hours. De Vries disrespectfully says of Governor Printz that he " weighed upwards of four hundred pounds, and drank three drinks at every meal." Outside of dime museums, people are rarely seen who weigh over four hundred pounds, but three drinks a meal, blended with natural irritability and official arrogance, may partly account for some of the fantastic tricks which marked the administration of Governor Printz.
On February 15, 1643, Governor Printz, his chaplain, his soldiers, his surgeon, his Finns, and all his retinue landed at Fort Christina, and he was not long in building himself a good house ; while a log fortress, called New Gottenburg, ex- pressed his loyalty to the good town whence he had sailed. Both these structures were on Tinicum Island, and by Mill Creek ; a battery called New Elfsborg turned its frowning brass guns on every vessel that passed up or down the Dela- ware. A Dutch skipper was obliged to strike his flag and give an account of his cargo, and this affront rankled in the
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soul of De Vries, who was on board, and whose uncompli- mentary description of the Governor has been already quoted. Buildings rose, grain was sown, tobacco was planted, and boats gave the settlers an opening for trade up and down the stream.
It will be remembered that the royal injunctions which urged Governor Printz to seek the good will of the Dutch, allowed him to use his own discretion in dealing with the English, and he was not likely to err on the side of suavity. He visited some of the English at their houses, and forced them to swear allegiance to the Crown of Sweden. A warrant from the governor brought Lamberton, the stubborn English trader, before a Swedish court; and passionate as he might seem, Printz went about the trial in a most effective and lawyer-like fashion. Lamberton's claim that he had bought land from the Indians was answered by proof that said land had previously been sold to the Swedish Governors, Minuit and Hollendare.
Next followed satisfactory proof that Lamberton had carried on an illegal trade with the natives, and that he had re- peatedly been ordered to cease from this unlawful commerce. The more serious charge of bribing the natives to murder the Swedes and Dutch was supported by less certain evidence, and the court postponed action. It was no light matter to hang a British subject, although such responsibility, five generations later, was readily assumed by General Jackson. Lamberton did not wish to lie under the charge of directing a massacre, and in September, his complaint was finally laid before the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. This body, without taking up the cudgels for Lamberton, expressed its sympathy for him, and advised him to discuss the matter with Governor Printz. A second trial made it appear that Printz had acted justly in the former proceedings, and friendly, or at least civil, letters passed between the Governor of Delaware and the Governor of Massachusetts. Official courtesies did not, however, alter stubborn facts, and the
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Swedes and Dutch were united in cutting off all chance of trade between the Indians and the New Englanders. It is hinted, not at all obscurely, that Governor Printz gave his word not to molest the New England vessels, and that he kept his pledge in the letter while privately suggesting to the Dutch that it might be well to thwart the movement.
Sir Edmund Plowden also found that a patent from Charles the First would avail him little. Governor Printz treated Sir Edmund with the respect due to his rank, and surrendered to him some fugitives who had deserted Sir Edmund in an hour of peril. This was characteristic, for Printz believed that all servants should be kept in due subordination. But when it came to sailing up the river, Governor Printz would not per- mit Sir Edmund Plowden or any other Englishman to do that. Sir Edmund, though he bore the proud title of Earl Palatine of New Albion, could not force his way past the fortresses, and he sailed away. King Charles the First had no fleet or army to help the Earl Palatine ; on the contrary, the unfortunate Stuart found that his rebellious subjects were aggressive, and the colonists had to settle their disputes with- out aid from him.
The year 1644 witnessed what rarely happened in the annals of Swedish Delaware-a hostile movement of the Indians, and several whites were murdered. Governor Printz called out a strong force, the natives craved pardon for the crime of those whom they really or diplomatically did not know, a treaty was made, and nominal peace was restored, though Printz was distrustful of the savages, and begged the home government for more troops. Anxiety over possible uprisings came on the heels of several years of hardship and a few bad outbreaks of disease, one of which had swept away six per cent. of the male residents.
A fifth expedition, landing in March, 1644, brought a few more settlers, and some inferior supplies, but did not ma- terially strengthen the garrison. The most notable arrival was Johan Papegaja, who took command of Fort Christina,
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and married Printz's daughter. At this time, judging from a report made by the governor, the whole white population of New Sweden consisted of ninety men, besides women and children ; and of these men a number were culprits brought to the country against their will, and forced to labor in a state of servitude. The outlook was not promising, and matters grew worse when on a night in November, 1645, New Gotten- burg was destroyed by fire. Printz arrested the incendiary, a gunner, and sent him to Sweden for trial ; but the homeless immigrants were not so easily provided for, and great hard- ships were endured in the winter and early spring following.
While the Swedes and Dutch had cheerfully agreed in thwarting the English, they had never trusted each other, and their old dislike grew more decided. In June, 1646, a sloop reached Fort Nassau, and sought to run into the Schuyl- kill, but the Swedes ordered her to leave at once. Hot words followed, and the Dutch had reason to fear that Printz would seize the vessel and cargo. Printz threw off all pretence of friendship. He told the Indians to beware of their enemies from Manhattan, and the Indians checked a Dutch mining expedition. Affronts were offered to Dutch officials, and Printz formally ordered the Swedish colonists not to trade with their Dutch neighbors.
Governor Printz was a man of violent temper. Tradition says that he did not scorn with his own hands to put fetters on captives, and that he would order his servants to seize offenders and toss them about the room until, breathless and bruised, the unhappy victims were ready to yield to any terms his excellency might propose. Andries Hudde, the Dutch governor on the Delaware, charged that Printz sought to induce the Indians to attack the Dutch. He also states that he (Hudde), while dining with Printz, urged that the Dutch were older settlers on the Delaware than the Swedes, to which Printz answered "The devil was the oldest possessor of hell, but he sometimes admitted a younger one." Holland was not likely to overlook such insults, and Sweden, occupied by
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a war with Denmark, ignored her colonists, until the boldest grew anxious.
With joy the Swedes received the Gyllene Hajen, or Golden Shark, which arrived on the first of October, 1646. It is doubtful if she. brought any new settlers, but the cargo of cloth, iron-ware and other necessities relieved existing wants, and revived the drooping trade with the Indians. The Shark, like the Fama, discovered that the Delaware tobacco crop was not large enough to supply the home market, and the great bulk of the cargo was purchased elsewhere. Printz sent home a cheering report, to the effect that health conditions were better, that the forts had been strengthened, and that a num- ber of the settlers were thriving. Nevertheless, he admitted that more immigrants were urgently needed, and confessed that several officers, himself included, wanted to return home. Papegaja sailed on the Shark's homebound voyage, but re- turned in the Swan, a vessel which brought a good supply of gun-powder. Immigrants were few, and the Crown sent word to the effect that Governor Printz must remain at his post until a successor was chosen. In May, the Swan set off for Europe, and Chaplain Holm was on board, while Papegaja sent a letter begging for an official post in Sweden.
Printz might bully a little trading sloop, or frighten a lonely Englishman, but he met his match in Petrus Stuyvesant, who, in May, 1647, succeeded Willem Kieft as Governor of New Netherlands. According to Stuyvesant, all land from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod belonged to Holland, and Printz recog- nized that the sturdy Dutchman was not a foe to be despised. Irving's account of Stuyvesant, while near the truth so far as the worthy Governor's obstinacy and bad temper were con- cerned, does not do justice to the hard-headed ruler's good sense and executive capacity. Printz did all he could to thwart the Dutch in building and trading, and the signs pointed to war. In the spring of 1649, the Swedish govern- ment fitted out the "Kattan," or the "Cat," whose captain, Cornelius Lucifer, found it an easy task to secure passengers.
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A number of mechanics volunteered their services to New Sweden, three hundred Finns were eager for Western homes, guns and military stores were abundant, and such resources might have preserved Swedish rule for several years. Yet the Kattan never reached the Delaware. She struck on a rock on an island near Porto Rico, her passengers were robbed by the Spaniards, and many tragedies followed before the little rem- nant got back to Sweden. Printz continued to write home glowing accounts of the colony, and incidentally to beg that he might be relieved from official cares.
With all due gravity and decorum, the Dutch West India Company began to discuss a plan for applying to Queen Chris- tina for a settlement of the boundary line. Stuyvesant, less ceremonious, sent an armed vessel to Fort Christina. Printz sent a vessel which drove her away. Stuyvesant collected eleven vessels, sailed up and down the stream, landed near New Castle, and built Fort Casimir, cut down Swedish boun- dary posts, levied toll on foreign vessels, and drove Governor Printz into a frenzy. All these acts, Stuyvesant asserted, were justified by the States General, but in reality he went ahead on his own responsibility, and did what seemed to him best, trusting that his government would ratify his action. Like Jackson in Florida, he acted in haste and left others to explain at their leisure. The Dutch West India Company was alarmed at his boldness, and the Swedish government was disposed to call for redress. Once more the "Svanen " was chosen for an expedition across the ocean, but a year rolled on, nothing was done, the settlers grew discouraged, and though Printz still boasted of the colony, he admitted that water had spoiled the grain, and that a vessel built for the defence of the emigrants was only waiting for sails, rigging and guns. A brisk attack from an English or Dutch man-of-war might have shown that a vessel which lacks "only " sails, rigging and guns is not of much use in the day of battle. In another letter, the Gov- ernor, though he still made the best showing he could for his colony, admitted that the soldiers sought to escape with or
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without leave, that no letters from home had been received for five years and a half, that the English trade was a memory, that the fur trade was unprofitable, that it was impossible to drive the Dutch from Fort Casimir, and that the Indians were doubtful friends. Still once more he wrote, he sent home his son, and in the fall of 1653, he appointed his son-in-law, Pape- gaja, Vice-Governor. Then, pledging to return or send over a vessel and cargo, he left for Holland, taking his wife and several other persons with him. By the following April he was in Sweden, glad to be free from the duties which had so long weighed upon him.
During the summer of 1653, the Vismar was ordered to be fitted out for the relief and protection of the colonists on the Delaware. For some reason the "Ornen " or " Eagle " was chosen instead, and the Gyllene Hajen was also stored with needed supplies. Sven Schute was to rule over the emigrants and Hans Amundson to have charge of the defences of the colony. Queen Christina wrote to Printz that he might come home (her Majesty did not know that he had already left the Delaware), but requesting him to wait until his successor had been chosen. She selected Johan Claeson Rising as his assist- ant. A good salary and a substantial land grant were to con- sole Rising for leaving his native land, while his place as Secretary of the College of Commerce was to be held open in case he should return. He was to aid Governor Printz in the routine duties of his office, encourage immigration, peacefully remove the Dutch from Fort Casimir (gentle sovereign, not all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men could peacefully thwart the fiery Stuyvesant), and guard against English en- croachments.
Damages compelled the Gyllene Hajen to abandon her voy- age, and February 2, 1654, the "Orner" sailed alone, many would-be passengers remaining at home because the ship could not find them lodgeroom. Elias Gyllengren, who had served under Governor Printz, was a passenger on this expe- dition, which also included Peter Lindstrom, the celebrated 3
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engineer, and two Lutheran divines, Petrus Hjort and Mat- thias Nertunius. The voyage was full of hardship, many fell sick, the ship came near being captured by the Turks, and a hurricane played havoc with the rigging. On May 20 the emigrants gazed on a ruin which had been Fort Elfsborg, and on the 21st day they anchored off Fort Casimir, seized the place, hoisted the Swedish flag, and called it Trinity Fort, in honor of Trinity Sunday, the day of its capture. Rising soon reached Christina and compelled the Dutch who wished to re- main on the Delaware to take the oath of allegiance to Sweden. He looked after the various settlements, made a treaty with the Indians, exchanged civilities with the New England colonies, and granted an audience to Lawrence Lloyd, the English commandant of Virginia. Lloyd pressed the old claim of Plowden, while Rising deferred action until word could be received from Sweden. Affairs quickly changed for the better, and Rising's sanguine letters were justified. He could not, however, find enough produce to give the Eagle a cargo, and he shipped a quantity of tobacco, purchased in Virginia, to be sold in Sweden on his private account. Pape- gaja returned in the "Örnen."
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