USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume I > Part 5
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State papers and formal histories cannot record every breath of Dame Rumor, and even that gossipy female does not note every feeling that agitates the body politic. Every Dutch settler was anxious, the Swedes might rise against their masters or the English might fall on the colony. Two things at least were certain : the colony was feeble, and the English -were on the lookout for new territory. Confidence could not be re- stored. A vague feeling, more powerful day by day, urged many to leave Delaware, and those who remained dreaded conquest, not the awful conquest of fire and sword, but the tyrannical conquest of new masters who would seize the best lands and reduce the present settlers to a lot verging on that of hewers of wood and drawers of water.
When Evert Pieterson landed in 1658, he found himself a celebrity. Delaware had never had a schoolmaster, and he represented a large share of what little culture then flourished on the banks of the "South River of Florida." Pieterson declared that there were more Swedes than Dutch in the colony, and this may explain what at first puzzles the reader. Holland was noted for her tolerance in matters of religion ; but the Dutch in Delaware were not disposed to allow re- ligious freedom to their Swedish neighbors. In theory, they frowned on any religious services except those of the Re- formed Church of Holland, but there may have been a lurk- ing dread that Swedish Lutheran assemblies might be a pre- text for Swedish political gatherings. Religion and politics are strangely intertwined. Many a measure apparently polit- ical has a religious animus. Many an act, nominally framed in the interests of religion, has a political bearing. Pieterson, whatever his abilities, found that New Amstel was not a place for large classes or thriving congregations. Hot summers overpowered settlers from the milder climates of Europe, short rations undermined the health of many, soldiers left the forts and went to Maryland and Virginia. In the timid, worried state of public feeling, if a drunken corporal deserted because he had not as much grog as he wanted, people were
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ready to believe that he had received a large bribe from the Crown of England, and that he would soon lead English troops against his old neighbors. At the end of 1659 the inhab- ited colony did not reach more than two miles from the fort.
On the death of Alrichs in 1659, Alexander D'Hinoyossa became Governor, with Gerrit Van Sweringen and Cornelis Van Gezel as Counselors. The new Governor was not popu- lar; complaints of his barsh and overbearing manners were carried to New Amsterdam, and he scouted the regulations against selling liquor to savages. Amsterdam tired of its bargain, and wished to deed back New Amstel, but the West India Company declined. In 1661 a colony of Anabaptists or Mennonists came over, their leader being Pieter Cornelis Plockhoy. In February, 1663, the Dutch West India Com- pany decided to grant the whole of the South River to Amster- dam, but the transfer was not executed until near the close of the same year. Beekman then became sheriff of a district ou the North River.
Sweet is the song of the dying swan, and rich are the promises of handsome dividends issued just before a company goes into a receivership. D'Hinoyossa wrote to the burghers of Amsterdam that the plantations flourished; that there would soon be thriving breweries; that the beer would be paid for in good tobacco ; and that the fur trade would yield substantial profits. Merchants and bankers risked their money on Delaware breweries as on costly tulips, and the leaky craft floated awhile longer, but the fear of the drunken Indian was stronger than the desire for capital from abroad, for the authorities forbade all brewing or distilling.
Early in the reign of Charles the Second, Lord Baltimore demanded his alleged rights through Captain James Neale, his agent in Holland. Colonel Nathaniel Uttie, in the days of Alrichs, had visited Delaware and ordered the inhabitants to surrender to Lord Baltimore or seek homes elsewhere. His small force, consisting of himself, his brother, his cousin and three others, did not seem formidable, but a very cheap bully
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can frighten those who are already fearful, and Uttie's threats did much damage.
D'Hinoyossa had watched every stage of the proceedings, and he knew that the English were foes not to be despised. He also knew that there had been bitter feuds among the Dutch officials, and that a number of scandals had been pub- licly aired. Perhaps he was aware that one Dutch functionary had called Stuyvesant " a great muscovy duck with something of the wolf," and disrespectfully added that the older the renowned Peter grew, the more inclined he was to bite. D'Hinoyossa had quarreled with Van Gezel over the settle- ment of the Alrichs estate, Van Gezel being a nephew of Alrichs. Dismissing Van Gezel, the Governor had appointed John Prato in his place. Van Gezel appealed to Beekman for protection. Governor D'Hinoyossa ordered Van Gezel to appear before him; Van Gezel kept out of the way; the Gov- ernor went to Van Gezel's house and carried away a mirror and pictures. Beekman, disposed to favor Van Gezel, wrote to Stuyvesant. D'Hinoyossa intimated in plain Dutch that Van Gezel was slow in submitting his accounts of public auc- tions and of the funds contributed for the benefit of orphans. There seems to be no doubt that Alrichs believed D'Hinoyossa to be his friend, and there is no question that D'Hinoyossa wrote to Amsterdam that the colony had been injured by the misgovernment of Alrichs.
Under Governor D'Hinoyossa occurred the first criminal case of which records have been preserved. Govert Jansen cut Gerrit Herman in the palm of the left hand, and cut off his finger. Jansen was sentenced to pay Herman for loss of time, to pay the surgeon's bill, and to work for six weeks with spade and wheelbarrow in the fort at Altona. Had there been a vigorous reform movement there might have been several trials, the defendants being officeholders. There was a small Guy Fawkes excitement, for somebody found some gunpowder in a desk, and immediately the timid began to cry that the Swedes were going to blow up the Governor. Good
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news was scarce, bad news plentiful, and those who recalled the peaceful days of Swedish rule, days of scarcely broken harmony between red man and white, were thrown into panic by the news that the bodies of three murdered Indians had been found on the lands of Jacob Alrichis. Popular suspicion pointed in the direction of two of the dead Governor's servants. The Indians who found the bodies grew wrathful and carried the news to their tribe. With fears of savage vengeance before their eyes, the whites fled inside the walls of the fort. Gover- nor D'Hinoyossa saw fit to observe that he would not pay a farthing damages, that the community must bear all the expense, and that he was "pretty indifferent whether the sav- ages went to war or not."
This speech, coming from an executive who had no popu- larity to spare, was injudicious, and Beekman made special efforts to prevent an uprising. News that the suspected crimi- nals had been found was sent to Stuyvesant, who wrote back urging a speedy trial, and sent two officials to represent him. Meanwhile D'Hinoyossa had the men tried, convicted and sentenced, but it is generally believed that the higher authori- ties of New Netherlands reversed tlie decision. A public servant named Becker sold rum to the soldiers, who, while under its influence, burned a canoe belonging to the Indians. Becker was dismissed, and payment was made to the Indians on account of the murder already mentioned. Formally the Indians were satisfied, but pending decision they robbed Andries Hudde of a large share of his possessions, and their- promise to return the stolen property was never redeemed.
Verily, whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. After poverty, disease, famine, cold winters, hot summers, religious bitterness, political strife, financial stringency, scar- city of labor, and friction with the Indians had nearly ruined the colony, the Dutch authorities revived the old movement to induce the Swedes to remove from their farms to wild re- gions. Men who had grown acclimated, and whose lands were yielding good crops, would not break new ground, court.
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a dozen years of bilious fever, and begin life over again. The proposition was a mere irritation, for the Dutch were not strong enough to deport their Swedish subjects, but it was a bad time to apply irritants to a colony which had little expe- rience of anything else. The Swedes parleyed, dallied and refused to go to Passyunk. They refused with some tartness to go to Esopus, a region then noted for its war with the Indians. Amid the race troubles and rumors of hostilities comes the news that a Finnish woman seeks a divorce from a brutal husband, that a clergyman has performed an illegal marriage, and that an assault and battery case gives some trouble to the authorities. D'Hinoyossa took umbrage at a letter of reproof from Stuyvesant, and Stuyvesant was not prone to apology or explanation.
It is not probable that all the troubles of the colony were carried to Amsterdam, but the wrangles of men in office were fairly well known. Nevertheless when Neale, Lord Balti- more's attorney, notified the directors of his principal's claim, they felt or pretended to feel much surprise. Neale based his demands on the old grant from Charles the First, and prom- ised that in case of compliance, Lord Baltimore would pledge indemnity for " all costs, damages and interest already under- gone or yet to be incurred." The company asserted that it had long exercised the right of possession, undisturbed by any- body, and that it would defend its lands against invasion. While there was constant and increasing danger that the English would appear in the Delaware, the colonial records still repeat the old tale of faction. D'Hinoyossa, if we may credit Beekman, continued to sell liquor to the Indians, to flout the orders of Stuyvesant, to cast odium on the memory of Alrichs, and to manage the Governor's estate with little regard to legal formalities or ethical restraints. If one-tenth part of what one Dutch faction said against the other Dutch faction be true, the English may be pardoned for believing that the people of New Amstel privately encouraged the Indians to kill Englishmen. Lord Baltimore's son was
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courteously received by Beekman, and sanguine people might pretend that they hoped that possibly the difficulties would be adjusted.
James, Duke of York, received in 1664 a patent which in- cluded New England, New York and New Jersey ; and in May of that year an expedition commanded by Colonel Richard Nicholls sailed from Portsmouth with instructions to reduce the Dutch to obedience. According to their orders, the Dutch colonies were a sanctuary for defaulters, runaway apprentices, and disreputable persons in general ; and the old grievance of Amboyua was brought forward as an excuse. While every Dutchman knew that attacks were not improb- able-Englishmen had driven many Dutchmen from their homes in Long Island-there were no adequate defences even at New Amsterdam. In Delaware the colony of the Company and the colony of the City were still on bad terms, and more zeal was spent in cajoling servants away from their employers to new occupations than in getting ready for war. A pro- jected attack from Sweden did not amount to anything be- cause the vessels ran aground, but it gave one more proof that the colony was in danger.
The English expedition was a very different affair from the ill-fated Swedish cruise. It barely missed catching some African slaves, and on the 28th of August it was in the bay of Amsterdam. Letters passed backward and forward, but the brave old Stuyvesant was between two fires. A powerful local sentiment urged him to yield, the English refused to grant any further delay, terms were agreed on upon the 6th day of September, ratified on the Sth, and the formal surren- der took place on the 9th of September, 1664. For some time there had been ill feeling between the traders and the soldiers, resistance would have been a bloody farce, and the sturdy Governor had to make the best of it.
The English, wishing the profit of a thriving colony rather than the spoils of a ruined one, granted easy terms, among which were security of lands and goods, permission to remove,
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admission of immigrants from the Netherlands, trade with the English on the same basis as with the Indians, ships mnight go to Netherlands and come to Manhattan for the space of six months, inferior magistrates might hold their places, the Manhattan towns might retain several local liberties, no Dutchman or Dutch vessel should be pressed into war, and every Dutch soldier remaining in the country should have fifty acres of land. Conquest is never sweet to the conquered, but the prudent merchants who had feared that the assailants and defenders would rival each other in pillage, thought that these terms were easy. New Amsterdam became New York, and Sir Robert Carr was sent to the South River, where he found the Swedes, if not desirous of English rule, at least will- ing to see the end of Dutch rule. New Amstel was surren- dered by the civilians, but D'Hinoyossa and the soldiers retreated to the forts. Terms like those granted at New York were announced, and the soldiers might have profited by the example of the burghers. Two broadsides from the ships battered the fort, the soldiers carried the works by storm, and the victors were guilty of numerous acts of plunder. The soldiers and many peaceful citizens were sold into slavery in Virginia, grain, sheep, horses and cattle were stolen, a brew- house and a saw-mill were also seized. Stuyvesant gives a painful account of these outrages, and Carr, with some em- barrassment, attempts to soften down the ugly record. New Amstel became New Castle, and D'Hinoyossa, after going to Maryland and vainly seeking to recover his property, went back to Holland, and fought against Louis XIV.
Nicholls was succeeded as Governor of the Dutch settle- ments by Sir Francis Lovelace. Carr had charge of Delaware. In 1672, New Castle became a corporation with Captain Ed- mund Cantwell as High Sheriff and Peter Alrichs as Bailiff or "Chief Magistrate for town and river." A Swede wlio claimed to be the son of Count Konigsmark sought to over- turn the government only to his own downfall, for he was publicly whipped, branded on the face and breast, and sold in
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Barbadoes. During the war between Holland and England, the Dutch under Binckes and Evertsen retook the New Netherlands, but their triumph was short. The victory of 1673 was followed by the peace of 1674, and the province re- turned to the hands of the English. Dutch Delaware, like Swedish Delaware, had passed from the world of commerce and politics into the world of students and antiquaries.
Persons who look on Prohibition as a modern issue might study with advantage the History of colonial Delaware. Strong drink was raging, the drunken white man insulted the drunken Indian, the drunken Indian drew his tomahawk, and there was always some actual or impending difficulty over the cup that cheers and inebriates. Under Swedish, Dutch and English rulers there were protests against selling liquor to the Indians, and efforts, spasmodic it is true, to prohibit the traffic. Thrifty Dutchmen bought casks of liquor, not so much for gain as from a desire to provide for the next winter. In a severe season, the white man needed supplies, and the Indians refused to aid those who had denied them their coveted dram. Directly counter to this argument ran the assertion that white men consumed grain in distilling and were brought to short rations in consequence. The Whisky Rebellion of George Washington's time was due to the wide- spread conviction of the farmers who claimed that unless they sold their grain to the distilleries they could not sell it at all. From their point of view the high internal revenue tax was meant as a blow at the agricultural interests. Within late years the old argument has been revived in some grain-grow- ing districts, but the general drift of sentiment among farmers is hostile to the liquor business. Colonial Delaware considered the matter from every standpoint, moral, financial, social, and racial. The land owner who wished to have a good supply of liquor for himself and his friends but who seriously ob- jected to having a drunken Indian set fire to his barn was free to admit that there were two sides to the question. For a time, a tax on each can of liquor was laid with the direct
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provision that said taxes be used for the new blockhouse, fort or some other public building.
When New Netherlands passed from English to Dutch con- trol and then returned to English rule, a legal question arose. Did the patent granted to the Duke of York survive the changes wrought by war? The decision was that it did not, that by reason of the treaty the land receded vested in the King. Yet this question, however important to English law- yers, was scarcely heeded by those who fished or farmed along the Delaware. Charles the Second granted his brother a new patent, and Governor Nicholls and his council selected from the statutes of other colonies a set of laws to be enforced on the Delaware by courts setting respectively at New Castle, on the Whorekill, at Upland (later known as Chester), and at St. Jones. Delays checked the enforcement of the new code, and in 1668 it was vaguely stated that the laws were to be enforced in convenient time. Governor Lovelace in 1672 decreed that they be established, and in 1676 Governor Andros issued an order to put them in force. "The Duke's laws," as they were called, granted the Dutch religious freedom, trial by jury, equal taxation, with some regulations concerning slavery and sundry enactments about conscription.
Dutchmen fared better under the English than the Swedes had fared under the Dutch. Swedes and Dutch alike were called into council with English officials. After the pendu- lum swung back to England, Governor Andros reinstated all the magistrates who had been in office at the time of the Dutch conquest except Peter Alrichs. Alrichs had been an offensive partisan. Governor Nicholls had allowed him to trade with whom he pleased, to ride to Maryland on his coach drawn by six horses, and to add to his possessions two islands in the Delaware. Alrichs repaid these courtesies by espousing the Dutch side in the war, and he could not reasonably expect to be rewarded by an English administration. In general the English held out the olive branch, partly on grounds of busi- ness and partly because of the underlying necessity. White
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men were scarce and Indians treacherous. The incessant bickering between Swede and Dutch had weakened the colony, and it was the part of statesmen to ignore as far as possible all grievances and feuds which divided the settlers among them- selves. It was the duty of the Governor to look to the bound- aries and see that Maryland did not trample on her smaller neighbor, to guard the revenues against unlicensed traders, to hear the constant arguments for and against the sale of liquor, to watch lest pirates swooped down on the coast, to raise enough revenue to please the Duke of York, to tax so moder- ately that settlers would not leave the colony, to foster trade, to be prepared for Indian uprisings, and to win the actual as well as the merely formal allegiance of Dutch and Swedes to their new rulers. If he did not satisfy every one, he at least made a praiseworthy effort to unite the three Caucasian races as Dane, Saxon and Norman had been united of old.
Documents yet in-evidence show that the courts on the Delaware settled cases of misdemeanors, suits for debt, indent- ures of apprentices and servants, conferred with the Indians, laid taxes, imposed fines, and made appropriations for various public purposes. They were empowered, under certain con- ditions, to grant lands ; it was their duty to pass upon titles ; there were roads to be inade and lunatics to be protected. When in 1676 it was necessary for Governor Andros to appoint justices for the Upland (Chester) Court, he selected Peter Cock, Peter Rambo, Israel Helm, Lace Andries, Oele Swen, and Otto Ernest Cock. Isaac Helm was chief interpreter to the Indians. History says that all these were old settlers, and the ear recognizes that these names did not come over with Brown, Jones and Robinson.
Records do not show that Delawareans, like some of the early Virginians, bought their wives for so much tobacco, but there is no lack of proof that tobacco was a circulating med- ium, although Indian corn, pork, bacon, wampum and skins were also received for poll-taxes. There were citizens lacking in public spirit who would not aid in constructing a mill, no
WILLIAM PENN, Founder of Pennsylvania.
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matter how sore the need ; who shirked their proportion of taxes or labor in constructing roads, and who grudged the timber which broad-minded citizens gladly subscribed to the cause of bridge building.
Passing from the litigants to the honorable court, which cannot now inflict any penalties for contempt, it can be said that the Swedish judges ruled wisely and humanely. Several generations ago the last vestige of local passion subsided, but there was hot blood rising when a certain plaintiff accused a certain defendant of shooting his boar, nor did he at once admit the plea that the defendant's life was endangered. Yet from the folds of the ermine came the sage advice to go home and make peace. This mildness did not proceed from languor, for the court could assert itself. When Oele Oelsen assaulted Judge Helm and tore his honor's shirt to tatters, the court justly regarded this act as a deed so reprehensible that the offender must suffer the weight of the law. Oelsen was sen- tenced to pay a fine and to publicly ask pardon of Judge Helm and of the court. After his apology, in consideration of his poverty and the size of his family, the fine was remitted. Hans Petersen having stated that Claes Cram was a thief, and having failed to prove said charge, was obliged to confess him- self a liar, to declare the plaintiff an innocent man, and to pay a fine and costs. Apparently the court deemed it more heinous to assail an innocent man's reputation than to lay hands on a judge.
The Andros regime covered about seven years, and the governor was unpopular in New Jersey, where he was looked on as aggressive, unscrupulous, mindful only of the interests of himself and the Duke of York. However, he strove to for- ward the growth of Delaware, but the days of the ducal rule were fast closing, and the days of William Penn were at hand. Jenkins, in speaking of Delaware in 1680, says : " The hard- ships of the earliest beginnings were over. They had been, on the whole, small when compared with what the first settlers elsewhere in the eastern colonies of America had endured. No
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destructive war, no deadly conflicts with the natives, no pesti- lence, no famine had visited the Delaware settlements. There had been the usual diseases of a new country, there had been scanty food, coarse apparel and rude shelter, there had been loneliness and home-sickness, but on the whole the experience of over seventy years since Hudson looked inside the cape's door had served to show that here without great cost in life or treasure the homes of a new commonwealth might be prosper- ously planted."
An old claim, " like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along," and the Baltimore grant, which had tormented Swedes, Dutchmen and Englishmen before him, tried the soul of Wil- liam Penn. The grant was obscure because there was in Charles the First's days nothing even approximating to a good map of America. Fifty years after the original grant, that is, in 1682, Penn was seriously annoyed by the legal ghost ; in 1685 the case was urgent, and in 1709 it was still clamorous. Add to the geographical uncertainties, the pos- sible errors of surveyors, the doubtful construction of certain phrases, the misapprehensions of Dutch and Swedish officials, and, it may be, the false testimony rendered by interested parties, and the gentle reader will perceive that the Baltimore case was no trifling matter.
Penn, whose patent dates from 1681, was not the first dis- tinguished Friend in the annals of Delaware. In 1672 a party headed by George Fox " came to Christiana river, where we swam-over our horses, and went ourselves in canoes ; but the sides of the river were so bad and miry, that some of the horses had like to have been laid up." Prior to this the travelers had " passed over a desperate river, which had in it many rocks and broad stones very hazardous "-evidently the Brandywine. According to Fox the land from Amboy to New Castle was almost untouched by civilization, the creeks, forests and swamps were a source of danger to travelers, and the ferry service was the irregular service of Indian canoes. Burlington had not been settled, ten years were to pass before
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