USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 11
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The trade of the province was even at this time considerable. Its exports consisted of agricultural produce, among which, mistakenly, we think, rice has been enumerated, with which it supplied the West Indian islands; furs, skins, and a little tobacco, for the English market; and oil, fish, and other provisions, which were sent to Spain, Portugal, and the Canary islands. Burlington. at this time, gave promise of becoming a place of considerable trade; and the comfort and neatness of its buildings, are commended by several writers of this era. It possessed a thriving manufactory of linen and woollen cloth, which was soon smothered by the jealous policy of the mother country. In 1695, the governor's salary, in East Jersey, was one hundred and fifty pounds; in West Jersey, two hundred pounds; and those of other officers, at proportionate moderate rates.
* Grahame's Col. Hist vol. ii. 366. Holmes' Ann. vol. ii. p. 45, &c.
+ Kalın's Travels, vol. i. and ii. Winterbotham, ii. 279. Warden, vol. ii. 38. Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, vol. i. 131, 136.
: Gab. Thomas' Hist. of West N. J. 13, 33. Oldmixon, i. 141. Blome celebrated the excellence of the New Jersey tobacco.
§ Thomas. Blome, who wrote in 1686.
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IX. Having thus brought our history to the termination of the proprietary governments, it may be proper, before we proceed to a narration of events, under the royal administration, to consider the condition of the aborigines, the manner in which their interest in the soil was extinguished, and the prin- ciples adopted by the proprietaries, in disposal of their acquisitions.
The strong are every where masters of the weak. In all ages, and with all people, the power to subdue has been accompanied with the pretension of right. The European, eminently endowed with this power, mentally and physically, over the untutored savage of America, unhesitatingly, appropri- ated to himself, all that the latter possessed, comprehending his labour and his life. From the first landing of Columbus, at Guannahane, or San Salva- dor, to the present era, the right by discovery has been the right of conquest. The ambition of princes, stimulated by the most sordid motives, was dignified by the approval of grave and politie counsellors, and sanctified by the fathers of the church, who in the plenitude of spiritual arrogance assumed, to dispose of all countries :- of those inhabited by Christians, because the inhabitants, as members of the church, were subjects of the supreme Pontiff-of other coun- tries, because the church would be advanced by the estates and services of infidels. So long as colonization was prompted by state policy, and was effected by the sword, the rights of the original possessors of the soil, what- ever they may have been, were wholly disregarded. The most sacred, most venerated spots, endeared to their inhabitants by the long occupancy of them- selves and their ancestors, were seized with the same ruthless indifference, as the untrodden wild; and the fruits of cultivation, with the same license, as the spontaneous productions of nature. All the principles of property, growing out of occupancy and manipulation, which society in its simplest form must recognise, were utterly prostrated, in the subjugation of the newly discovered countries of the West. When. however, these countries were sought, not with the view of increasing regal power, or of gratifying the insatiate long- ings of avarice, but as an asylum against princely misrule and clerical tyranny, that justice which the colonist would obtain for himself, was in a measure, extended to the owner of the soil he would possess. The emigrant did not, perhaps could not, and ought not, divest himself' of the idea of right, ac- quired by discovery of sparsely peopled land, to participate in the occupancy of an uncultivated soil, with the indigene, who exercised over it the slightest of all species of appropriation, that of occasional hunting upon it. But he re- cognised in this ocenpant also, a right impeding that full and separate property which his convenience required, and which his conscience forbade him to ex- tinguish without a colour of compensation. The requisitions of conscience,. however, in these cases, were easily appeased. In some instances, perhaps, their very existence may be attributed to the fears caused by the fierce, war- like, and indomitable character of the North American savage. The veriest trifles which could be imposed on the ignorance and vanity of the native were deemed adequate compensation for scores of miles of fertile lands; and such contracts of sale, whose nature was not comprehended by the vendors, were enforced by the vendees with as'much confidence in the legality and equity of their title, as if a court of chancery had passed upon the adequacy of the consideration.
It has been erroneously supposed, that, the first instance of purchase from the aborigines of America, was given by William Penn; and modern histori- rians and essayists, delighted to contrast the humanity and justice of his con- duct with the violence and devastation of other European agents, have by the inflation of his deeds, obscured and almost hidden the scarce inferior merit of others. The Dutch, Swedes, and Fins on the Delaware, the English in Massachusetts, in New York, and New Jersey, had given examples of this
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just and prudent policy, which Penn gladly followed, but which he dared not reject. He has the merit of conforming to this established practice, with a kindness of spirit and humane consideration, which have made an indelible impression on the Indian race.
Compared with the value of the lands acquired, the sums paid for them were generally inconsiderable; and consisted, but too frequently, of articles of destructive luxury, serving to debase and destroy those who received them. This consideration, small and personal and perishable in its nature, was soon consumed; leaving the vendor, only, vain regrets, which frequently hurried him into imprudent and unjustifiable hostilities. Had it been practicable in the early period of the intercourse between the whites and Indians of North America, to have adopted the annuity system, which has been, in part, pursued by the United States, the Indian race might, possibly, have been improved, en- lightened, and preserved.
The Indians inhabiting the country between the great lakes and the Roanoke, belonged, it would seem, either to the Lenni Lenape, or the Meng- tre nations. The former, known among their derivative tribes, also, by the name of the Wapanachki, corrupted by the Europeans into Opennaki, Ope- nagi, Abenaquis and Apenakies, and among the whites by the name of Delawares, held their principal seats upon the Delaware river, and were ac- knowledged by near forty tribes as their "grandfathers," or parent stock. 'They relate, that many centuries ago, their ancestors dwelt far in the western wilds: but emigrating castwardly, they arrived after many years peregrina- tion, on the Namesi Sipu (Mississippi), or river of fish, where they encoun- tered the Mengue, who had also come from a distant country, and had first approached the river, somewhat nearer its source. The spies of the Lenape reported, that the country on the cast of the river was inhabited by a power- ful nation, dwelling in large towns, erected upon their principal rivers.
This people were tall and robust, some of them were said to be even of gigantic mould. They bore the name of Alligewi, from which has been derived, that of the Alleghany river and mountains. Their towns were de- fended by regular fortifications, vestiges of which are yet apparent, in greater or less preservation. The Lenape, requesting permission to establish them- selves in the vicinity, were refused; but obtained leave, to pass the river, in order to seek a habitation farther to the castward. But, whilst crossing the stream, the Alligewi, alarmed at their number, assailed and destroyed many who had reached the eastern shore, and threatened a like fate to the remain- der, should they attempt the passage. Fired by this treachery, the Lenape eagerly accepted a proposition from the Mengue, who had hitherto been spectators of their enterprise, to unite with them, for the conquest of the country. A war of great duration was thus commenced, which was prose- cuted with great loss on both sides, and eventuated in the expulsion of the Alligerri, who fled from their ancient seats, by way of the Mississippi, never to return. The devastated country was apportioned among the conquerors; the Mengire choosing their residence, in the neighbourhood of the great lakes, and the Lenape in the lands of the south.
After some years, during which, the conquerors lived together in much harmony, the hunters of the Lenape, crossed the Alleghany mountains, and discovered the great rivers, Susquehanna and Delaware. Exploring the Sheyichbi country (New Jersey) they reached the Hudson, to which they, subsequently, gave the name of the Mahicannittuck river. Upon their return to their nation, they described the country they had visited, as abound- ing in game, fruits, fish, and fowl, and destitute of inhabitants. Concluding this to be the home destined for them, by the Great Spirit, the tribe esta- blished themselves upon the four great rivers, the Hudson, Delaware, Sus-
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quehanna, and Potomac, making the Delaware, to which they gave the name of the Lenape wihittuck, (the river or strcam of the Lenape) the centre of their possessions.
They say, however, that all of their nation who crossed the Mississippi, did not reach this country; and that a part remained west of the Namesi Sipu. They were finally divided into three great bodies; the larger, one- half of the whole, settled on the Atlantic; the other half was separated into two parts; the stronger continued beyond the Mississippi, the other remained on its eastern bank.
Those on the Atlantic were subdivided into three. tribes; the Turtle or . Unamis, the Turkey or Unalachtgo, and the Wolf or Minsi. The two former inhabited the coast from the Hudson to the Potomac, settling in small bodies, in towns and villages upon the larger streams, under chiefs subordi- nate to the great council of the nation. The Minsi, called by the English, Muncys, the most warlike of the three tribes, dwelt in the interior, forming a barrier between their nation and the Mengue. They extended themselves from the Minisink, on the Delaware, where they held their council seat, to the Hudson on the cast, to the Susquehanna on the south-west, to the head waters of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers on the north, and on the south to that range of hills now known, in New Jersey, by the name of the Musconetcong, and by that of Lehigh and Coghnewago, in Pennsyl- vania.
Many subordinate tribes proceeded from these, who received names either from their places of residence, or from some accidental circumstance, at the time of its occurrence remarkable, but now forgotten.
The Mengue hovered for some time on the borders of the lakes, with their canoes, in readiness to fly should the Alligewi return. Having grown bolder, and their numbers increasing, they stretched themselves along the St. Law- rence, and became, on the north, near neighbours to the Lenape tribes.
The Mengue and the Lenape, in the progress of time, became enemies. The latter represent the former as treacherous and cruel, pursuing, pertina- ciously, an insidious and destructive policy towards their more generous neighbours. Dreading the power of the Lenape, the Mengue resolved, by involving them in war with their distant tribes, to reduce their strength. They committed murders upon the members of one tribe, and induced the injured party to believe they were perpetrated by another. They stole into the country of the Delawares, surprised them in their hunting parties, slaughtered the hunters, and escaped with the plunder.
Each nation or tribe had a particular mark upon its war clubs, which, . placed beside a murdered person, denoted the aggressor. The Mengue perpe- trated a murder in the Cherokee country, and left with the dead body, a war club bearing the insignia of the Lenape. The Cherokees, in revenge, fell suddenly upon the latter, and commenced a long and bloody war. The treachery of the Mengire was at length discovered, and the Delawares turned upon them with the determination utterly to extirpate them. They were the more strongly induced to take this resolution, as the cannibal propensities of the Mengire had reduced them, in the estimation of the Delawares, below the rank of human beings.'
Hitherto, each tribe of the Mengire had acted under the direction of its particular chiefs; and, although the nation could not control the conduct of its members, it was made responsible for their outrages. Pressed by the Lenape, they resolved to form a confederation which might enable them
* The Iroquois or Mengwe sometimes ate the bodies of their prisoners .- Hecke- welder, i. N. Y. Hist. Col. 55.
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better to concentrate their force in war, and to regulate their affairs in peace. Thunnawrage, an aged Mohawk, was the projector of this alliance. Under his auspices, five nations, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, and Saras, formed a species of republic, governed by the united counsels of their aged and experienced chiefs. To these a sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, was added in 1712. This last, originally dwelt in the western parts of North Carolina, but having formed a deep and general conspiracy, to exterminate the whites, were driven from their country, and adopted by the Iroquois con- federacy .* The beneficial effects of this system, early displayed themselves. The Lenape were checked, and the Mengue, whose warlike disposition soon familiarized them with fire arms, procured from the Dutch, were enabled, at the same time, to contend with them, to resist the French, who now at- tempted the settlement of Canada, and to extend their conquests over a large portion of the country between the Atlantic and the Mississippi.
But, being pressed hard by their new, they became desirous of reconcilia- tion with their old, enemies ; and, for this purpose, if the tradition of the Delawares be credited, they effected one of the most extraordinary strokes of policy which history has recorded.
The mediators between the Indian nations at war, are the women. The men, however weary of the contest, hold it cowardly and disgraceful to seek reconciliation. They deem it inconsistent in a warrior, to speak of peace with bloody weapons in his hands. He must maintain a determined courage, and appear, at all times, as ready and willing to fight as at the commencement of hostilities. With such dispositions, Indian wars would be interminable, if the women did not interfere, and persuade the combatants to bury the hatchet, and make peace with each other.
Their prayers seldom failed of the desired effect. The function of the peace maker was honourable and dignified, and its assumption by a coura- geous and powerful nation could not be inglorious. This station the Mengue urged upon the Lenape. " They had reflected," they said, " upon the state of the Indian race, and were convinced that no means remained to preserve it, unless some magnanimous nation would assume the character of the WOMAN. It could not be given to a weak and contemptible tribe; such would not be listened to : but the Lenape and their allics, would at once pos- sess influence and command respect."
The facts upon which these arguments were founded, were known to the Delawares, and, in a moment of blind confidence in the sincerity of the Iroquois, they acceded to the proposition, and assumed the petticoat. The ceremony of the metamorphosis was performed with great rejoicings at Al- bany, in 1617, in the presence of the Dutch, whom the Lenape charge with having conspired with the Mengue for their destruction.
Having thus disarmed the Delawares, the Iroquois assumed over them the rights of protection and command. But, still dreading their strength, they artfully involved them again in war with the Cherokees, promised to fight their battles, led them into an ambush of their foes, and deserted them. The Delawares, at length, comprehended the treachery of their arch enemy, and resolved to resume their arms, and, being still superior in numbers, to crush them. But it was too late. The Europeans were now making their way into the country in every direction, and gave ample employment to the astonished Lenape.
The Mengire deny these machinations. They aver, that they conquered the Delawares by force of arms, and made them a subject people. And,
" Smith's New York. Dougl. Summ.
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though it be said, they are unable to detail the circumstances of this con- quest, it is more rational to suppose it true, than that a brave, numerous, and warlike nation should have, voluntarily, suffered themselves to be disarmed and enslaved by a shallow artifice; or that, discovering the fraud practised upon them, they should, unresistingly, have submitted to its consequences. This conquest was not an empty acquisition to the Mengwe. They claimed dominion over all the lands occupied by the Delawares, and, in many in- stances, their claims were distinctly acknowledged. Parties of the Five Nations occasionally occupied the Lenape country, and wandered over it, at all times, at their pleasure.
Whatever credit may be due to the traditions of the Lenape, relative to their migration from the west, there is strong evidence in support of their pretensions to be considered the source, whence a great portion of the In- dians of North America was derived. They are acknowledged as the "grandfathers," or the parent stock, of the tribes that inhabited the extensive regions of Canada, from the coast of Labrador to the mouth of the Albany river, which empties into the southernmost part of Hudson's Bay, and from thence to the Lake of the Woods, the northernmost boundary of the United States; and also by those who dwelt in that immense country, stretching from Nova Scotia to the Roanoke, on the sea-coast, and bounded by the Mississippi on the west. All these nations spoke dialects of the Lenape lan- guage, affording the strongest presumption of their derivation from that stock. The tribes of the Mengire, interspersed throughout this vast region, are, of course, excepted. They were, however, comparatively, few in number.
We have no data by which to determine the number of Indians in New Jersey, at the advent of the Europeans. It is certain that it was very in- considerable. The tribes were small, and scattered over the country; and consisted then, or soon after, of portions of the Mengue and Lenape nations. These petty hordes were commonly distinguished in their intercourse with the whites, by the names of creeks, or other noted places, near which they dwelt. Thus, there were the Assunpink," the Rankokas,t the Mingo, the Andastaka; about Burlington, the Mantas ;; the Raritans, the Navisinks, &c. The most noted nations, who occasionally inhabited the province, and claimed lands within it, were the Naraticongs, on the north side of the Raritan river ; the Capitinasses, the Gacheos, the Muncys, or Minisinks, the Pomptons, the Senecas, the Maquas, or Mohawks, and perhaps others, of the confederates of the Five Nations. These tribes were frequently at war with each other, and the heads of their arrows and javelins, are even . now occasionally discovered in the battle-fields; and near the falls of the Delaware, on the Jersey side, and at Point-no-Point, in Pennsylvania, and at other places, entrenchments were made against hostile incursions. At some seasons of the year, the country, on the sea shore was probably more thickly covered by swarms, who crowded from the adjacent provinces to enjoy the pastimes, and partake the plenty of the fishing and fowling sea- sons. And we may conceive, that they were Mengire warriors, whom Hudson encountered in the Kill-van-Kuhl, and the New York Bay.
From the petty resident tribes, purchases of the soil of New Jersey, were from time to time, made by the Dutch, the Swedes, and the English proprie-
* Stony Creek.
f Lamikas, or Chichequas, was the proper Indian name. The Indians did not use the r.
# Frogs. A creek or two, in Gloucester county, are called Manta, or Mantua, from a large tribe that resided there. The tribes were probably of the same stock.
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tors of East and West Jersey. Prior to the conquest of New York, by Nicholls, it is probable, that individuals were permitted to purchase from the natives, such tracts of land as they required. Subsequently to that event, a like practice was for a short time permitted, upon the express license and confirmation of the governor. But after the grant to Berkeley and Carteret was proclaimed, no purchase from the Indians, other than by the general proprietors, could be deemed lawful. These proprietors, appear to have conducted themselves, with much equity; and for nearly a century to have maintained, with the remnant of the tribes, great cordiality and friendship .*
When the war of 1756, unbridled the evil passions of the western Indians, some of those who had usually resided in New Jersey, ungratefully, united with the enemy, and probably, in the year 1758, led the way to the massa- cres of a few families on the Walpack. Upon the first evidences of Indian hostility, the legislature of New Jersey appointed commissioners to examine into the treatment of those who dwelt within their boundaries, with whom a convention was holden, at Crosswicks, in the winter of 1756, and they were invited to unfold whatever grievances they might have. They complained of some impositions, in grants of lands, to individuals, and in their private traffic, particularly, when intoxicated; of the destruction of the deer, by iron traps; and the occupation of some small tracts of land, the title to which, they had not sold. At the session of 1757, the Assembly imposed a penalty on persons selling them strong drink, so as to intoxicate them-pro- hibited the setting of traps weighing more than three pounds-avoided all sales and leases of land, made in contravention of the laws-and appropri- ated sixteen hundred pounds, to the purchase of a general release of Indian claims, in New Jersey; one-half to be expended for a settlement, for such Indians as resided south of the Raritan, where they might dwell, and the remainder, to be applied to the purchase of any latent claims of non- residents. At a second convention, holden also at Crosswicks, in February, 1758, the Indians produced a specification of their claims, appointed attor- neys, to represent them in future negotiations, and executed a formal release, to all lands in New Jersey, other than those in their schedule, and also to such of those as might have been before conveyed; excepting the claims of the Minisinks and Pomptons, in the northern parts of the province; rc- serving the right to hunt and fish, on unsettled lands. t
' The last purchase from the Indians, entered in the East Jersey Records, was made by John Willocks, from the Indian Weequehelah, June 16th, 1703, of a tract of land. in Monmouth county .- Book F. 221.
1 The Indians who retired to the west, had, to one of the messengers, from Penn- sylvania, complained of the death of the sachem, Wecquehelah; but this was a mere pretence, to colour their attempts with the appearance of justice; as that Indian was known to have been executed for actual murder, and to have had a legal trial. He was an Indian of great note, among Christians and Indians, of the tribe that resided about South river, where he lived, with a taste much above the common rank of In- dians, having an extensive farm, cattle, horses and negroes, and raised large crops of' wheat; and was so far English in his furniture, as to have a house well provided with feather beds, calico curtains, &c. He frequently dined with governors and great men, and behaved well: but his neighbour, Captain John Leonard, having purchased a cedar swamp of other Indians, to which he laid clain, and Leonard refusing to take it on his right, he resented it highly, and threatened that he would shoot him; which he accordingly took an opportunity of doing, in the spring, 122-, while Leonard was in the day tune walking in his garden, or near his own house .- Smith's New Jersey, pp. 410-111, n.
The commissioners for treating with the Indians, were Andrew Johnston, and Richard Salter, esquires, of the council; and Charles Read, John Stevens, William Foster, and Jacob Spicer, esquires. The Indians were, Teedyuscung, king of the Delawares; George Hobayock, from the Susquehannah ; Crossicick Indians, Andrew
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Towards the close of the summer of 1758, and after the inroads on the Walpack, Governor Bernard, through the medium of Teedyuscung, king of the Delawares, summoned the Minisink or Muncy, and the Pompton Indians, who had joined the enemy, to meet him at Burlington. Thither, they des- patched deputies, who opened a council, on the 7th of August, 1758, at which a Mingo attended, who, exercising the right of a conqueror, declared, the Muncys to be women, and, consequently, unable to treat for themselves ; and proposed to adjourn the conference, to the council fire, about to be lighted at Easton-to which, the governor readily acceded .* The great council holden at this place, in October, 1758, had the general pacification of the Indian tribes, for its chief object. A special conference was, however, had, by Governor Bernard, with the chief of the united nations, the Minisinks, Wapings, and other tribes, on the 1Sth of that month; when he obtained, in consideration of one thousand dollars, a release of the title of all the In- dians, to every portion of New Jersey.
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