USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 4
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Whilst the arrangements for this colony were in progress, due care was had, by the ministry of Sweden, for the scion they had already planted. One Jost de Bogardt was nominated, rather as an agent and superintendent of the colony of Christina, than as governor. He engaged, by an obligation, called the counterpart of his commission, to be faithful and subject to her majesty; "and not only to aid, by his counsel and actions, the persons who are at Fort Christina, and those who may be afterwards sent there from
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Sweden, but to employ his exertions to procure, as occasion may present, whatever will be most advantageous to her Majesty and the crown of Swe- den; end, moreover, not to suffer an opportunity to pass of sending infor- mation to Sweden, which may be useful to her Majesty and the crown." The reward of these services was stipulated to be two hundred rix-dollars per annum.
XVI. The country, which had been settled, appears to have been pur- chased, chiefly, by an association called the Navigation Company, who, en- joying the soil, submitted to the political direction of the crown. John Printz, it . a colonel of cavalry in the Swedish service, was appointed governor. Ilis commission bears date August 16, 1646. His instructions charge him to preserve amity, good neighbourhood, and correspondence with foreigners, with those who depend on his government, and with the natives of the coun- try ; to render justice without distinction, so that there shall be injury to no one; and if any person behave himself grossly, to punish him in a conve- nient manner; and as regards the cultivation of the country, in a liberal manner to regulate and continue it, so that the inhabitants may derive from it, their honest support, and even, that, commerce may receive from it a sen- sible increase. As to himself, he was required so to conduct in his govern- ment, as to be willing and able, faithfully; to answer for it before God. be- fore the Queen and every brave Swede, regulating himself by the instruc- tions given to him. These instructions, remarkable for their simplicity, re- mind us of the patriarchal era, to which the state of New Sweden, had some resemblance. The salary assured to the governor, was 1200 rix-dollars per annum; a portion of which, at least, was imposed on the colony in a tariff of compensations, which gave to the governor 800 rix-dollars; (half from excise and half in silver;) to a lieutenant governor, sixteen dollars per month; a sergeant major ten, a corporal six, a gunner eight, trumpeter six, drummer five; to 24 soldiers, four, cach ; to a paymaster ten, a secretary eight, a barber ten, and a provost six. We must not infer from comparison of the wages of the secretary and barber, that the latter was the most valued though the most appreciated. The first had, doubtless, the most honour, though the second had a greater compensation in base lucre.
On the 16th February, 1642-3, Printz, accompanied by John Campanius, a clergyman and subsequent historian of New Sweden, with many emi- grants, on board the ship Fame and Transport Swan, arrived in the Dela- ware. The governor established himself on the island of Tennekong, cor- rupted into, Tinicum; which, in Nov. 1613, was granted him by the Queen Christina, in fee; where he built a fort called New Gottenburg, a convenient dwelling for himself, denominated Printz Hoff or Printz. Hall, and a church, which was consecrated in 1646. Around this nucleus, the principal settlers mared their habitations. Pursuant to his instructions, he recognised the right of the aborigines to the soil, confirmed the contract made with them by Minuit, for land fronting the river, from the Cape to the Falls, and extending inland, so far, as the necessities of the settlers should require. He refrained from every species of injury to the natives, cultivated their favour by a just and reciprocal commerce, supplying them with articles suitable to their wants, and employed all friendly means to win them to the Christian faith.
The result of these measures was such as they should have produced. The savage was disarmed by respect and gratitude; for, when the presents from the Swedes were discontinued, and conneils were holden by the discontented. to weigh the fate of the strangers, the old and wise expatiated on their bene- volence and justice, and assured the young and violent, that no easy con- quest, would be made, of men, who, whilst cherishing the arts of peace, were armed with swords and muskets, and guarded by vigilance and courage.
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The ire of the Indians on one occasion, it seems, was particularly directed against the pastor, who speaking alone, during divine service, was supposed to exhort his audience to hostility against them .*
1641
XVII. Before Printz left Sweden, it was known that an English colony had alighted on the eastern shore of the Delaware; sixty persons having settled near Oijtsessing, Assamohocking, Hog or Salem Creek, at the close of the year 1640, or commencement of , who were, probably, pioneers of Sir Edmund Plocyden, or squatters from the colony of New Haven. The Swedes purchased all the lands from Cape May to Narriticon or Raccoon Creek, for the purpose of bringing the English under their dominion; and Printz was instructed, either to attach them to the Swedish interests, or to procure their removal without violence.t He disregarded his instructions on this occasion, since, we are told, that the Dutch and Swedes united to expel the English; and that the latter, assuming the task of keeping out the intruders, seized their possessions, and erected a fort; which they called Elfts- burg or Elsinborg.# But, Acrelius assures us, that this fort was reared in 1651, as a counterpoise to the Dutch power, acquired by the erection of Fort Casimer; and that, the guns of Elsinborg, compelling the Hollanders to strike the flag from their vessels' mast, gave mortal offence, and was the cause of their subsequent wrath, so fatal to the dominion of the Swedes. Be this as it may, all authors agree, that the Swedes were driven out by an in- vincible, and sometimes invisible, foe,-that the moschettoes, 'in countless hosts, alike incomparable for activity and perseverance, obtained exclusive possession of the fort, and that the discomfited Swedes, bathed even in the ill-gotten blood of their enemies, were compelled to abandon the post, which, in honour of the victors, received the name of Moschettoesburg.
The Salem settlers were not the only Englishmen who endeavoured, at this time, to establish themselves in the vicinity of the Delaware. A colony seated under the patent of Lord Baltimore, was discovered on the Schuylkill, whence they were driven by the watchful Kieft, governor of New Nether- lands, without difficulty. His instructions, dated 22d May, 1642, to Jan Jansen Alpendam, commandant of the expedition, strongly assert the right of the Dutch to the soil and trade there.
XVIII. The Swedish government anticipated, that, resistance might be made to their plans of colonization, by the Dutch West India Company, of whose pretensions to the shores of the Delaware, they were well instructed. Yet, Printz was authorized to protest against their claims, supported as they were, by the actual possession of Fort Nassau, now garrisoned by twenty men ; and in case of hostile efforts on their part, to contend to the uttermost ..
Printz conducted the affairs of New Sweden with due discretion, receiving the thanks and commendations of his sovereign, whose permission he soli- cited, in 1617, to return to Europe. He remained in America, however, until 1654, when he was succeeded in the government by John Papegoya, his son-in-law. Papegoya had come to the Delaware with the earliest Swe- dish settlers, probably in 1638; but had returned to Sweden about the time of Printz's departure. In 1613 be revisited New Sweden, bearing letters recommendatory, from the Queen, to the governor, whose daughter he subse- quently married. He remained in the government two years; when embark- ing for Europe, he devolved the administration on John Risingh, who came out, a short time before this period, clothed with the authority of commissary
* " The Indians sometimes attended the religious assemblies of the Swedes; but with so little edification, that they expressed their amazement that one man should detain his tribe with such lengthened harangues, without offering to entertain them with brandy."-Grahame's Col. Hist. 2 vol. 200.
+ Acrelius. # Beschryvinge van Virginie. Smith's New Jersey.
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and counsellor, and continued to preside over the Swedes until they were subjected by the Dutch. He renewed the treaties with the Indians; and at a convention held in 1604, both parties engaged to preserve and brighten the finally dain. The engineer Lindstrom, who accompanied Risingh, mi- nar ly explored several portions of the country, constructed plans for some forts, aided in the fortification of others, and framed a map of the bay, river, and adjacent territory, remarkable for its correctnesss, and curious, as giv- ing the Indian names of the streams. A descriptive memoir, highly interest- ing, accompanied the map .*
The country on the Delaware was, for some years, holden by the Swedes and Dutch, in common. To the forts at Nassau and the Hoarkills, the lat- ter, in 1651, added Fort Casimer, at Sandhocken, the present site of New. castle .¡ This near approach to the primitive seat of their American domain, became intolerable to the Swedes. Printz remonstrated, and Risingh for. mally demanded, that Fort Casimer should be surrendered to him. This having been refused, he mpresolved to seize it by force or fraud. He approached it in seeming amity, and after firing two complimentary salutes, landed thirty men, whom the garrison, unsuspectingly, admitted within their The Swedes suddenly mastered the place, seized the effects of the Wist India Company, and even compelled some of the conquered soldiers to wwwwar allegiance to Queen Christina. Not even Dutch phlegm would lic opet under this grievous insult. The redoubted Stuyvesant, then governor of New York, though busily engaged in restraining the encroachments of his restless mercurial neighbours of Connecticut, resolved on instant and dire ful vengeance.
XIX. On the 9th September, 1654, he appeared in the Delaware, with seven vessels, carrying between six and seven hundred men. He descended first upon Elsinborg, where the patriotism of the Swedes had again led them, in despite of the moschettoes, and where it was their fate to become prisoners to the invaders. Next, he asailed the fort of the Holy Trinity, and having landed and intrenched his force, demanded its surrender, threatening, in case of refusal, the utmost extreme of military severity. Whether the fort were taken by storm, or surrendered upon capitulation, history has, with repre- hensive carelessness, omitted to state : but certain it is, that the Dutch, also, Ix vame masters of the Holy Trinity, and striking the Swedish colours, gave from the towering flag-staff, those of the States-General, to the brecze. On the 16th, the fleet anchored in front of Fort Casimer, then commanded by Sven Seutz, or Schute, who, in reply to the summons, asked leave to con- sult his superior, Risingh ; which being denied him, he yielded, upon most ho- hourable terms; marching forth in military pomp, and retaining, not only the arius of his troops, but the battery of the fort. The stronger fortress of Cheisthst was held by Risingh, in person; but even he, unable to resist the invincible Stuyvesant, submitted on the 25th of September; and the fall of Nes Gotenburg, with its fort, Printshoff, and church, soon followed. Thus perished. never to be revived, the provincial power of New Sweden.# Stuyvesant issued a proclamation favourable to such of the Swedes as chave to remain under his government. About twenty swore fealty to the " States-General, the Lords, Directors of the West India Company, their subalterns of the province of New Netherlands, and the Director-General, then, and thereafter to be, established." Risingh and one Elfyth, a noted trader, were ordered to Gottenburg.§ Among those who remained, was the wifi. of Papegoya, to whom Tennekong had descended; and who, subse-
· MSS. Lib. of Am. Phil. Soc. t Campanius, Acrelius.
! Acrelins ; Smith's N. Y .; Smith's N. J .; Dutch Records.
§ Smith's N. Y.
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quently, sold it to Captain Carr, the English governor, from whom the pur- chase money, 300 guilders was recovered, by execution from the council at New York .* In March, 1656, the Swedish resident at the Hague, remon- strated against the conduct of the West India Company; but the United Pro- vinces never gave redress. These wars of the Dutch and Swedes have been more minutely and worthily chronicled by the facetious and veracious Knickerbocker. We will add, only, that they appear to have been wholly unstained by blood, and admirably adapted to a country where restraint on population was not necded.
During the government of the Swedes, several vessels, other than we have mentioned, arrived from Sweden with adventurers, who devoted them- selves to agriculture. The last ship, thus freighted, through the unskilful- ness of her officers, entered the Raritan, instead of the Delaware, river, and was seized by Stuyvesant, then preparing for his campaign against Risingh. Many improvements were made by this industrious and temperate people, from Cape Hlenlopen to the falls of Alumeter Sanhikans. Beside the places we have already named, they founded Upland the present Chester, at Mocoponaca; Korsholm at Passaiung; Fort Manaiung at the mouth of the river, called by the Indians Manaiung, Manaijunk, Manajaske, Nitaba- cong, ar Matinacong; by the Dutch, Schuylkill, and by the Swedes, Skiar- killen and Landskillen; marked the sites of Nya Wasa and Gripsholm, somewhere near the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, Strawswijk and Nicu Causeland or Clauseland; (the present Newcastle) and established forts, also, at Kinsessing, Wicacoa, (Southwark) Findlant, Mculandael, and Lapananel. On the eastern shore of the Delaware, they had settlements at Swedesborough, at the site of the present city of Burling- ton, and other places. Most of these stations are marked on the maps of Campanius and Lindstrom, and were, probably, little else than dwellings of farmers, with such slight defences, as might protect them from a sudden in- cursion of the natives. Gold and silver mines are said to have been disco- vered by the Swedes; and the latter are mentioned by Master Evelyn, in his description of the country, reported by Plantagenet, in his memoir on New Albion. The ores were probably pyrites, which have so often proven de- ceptive.t
* New York Records.
t We are assured by Lindstrom, that a silver mine existed on the eastern shore of the Delaware, in the vicinity of the falls; and that gold was found in considerable quantities higher up the river, on the Jersey side " The shore before the mountain is covered with pyrites. When the roundest are broken, kernels are found as large as small peas, containing virgin silver. I have broken more than a hundred. A savage- Unapois beholding a gold ring of the wife of governor Printz, demanded, why she carried such a trifle. The governor rephed. . if yon will procure ine such trifles, I will reward you with other things suitable for you. . I know,' said the Indian, a mountain filled with such metal.' . Behold,' rejoined the governor, 'what I will give you for a specimen ;' presenting to bim at the same time, a fathom of red and a fathom of blue frize, seine white lond, looking-glasses, bodkins, and needles, declaring that he would cause him to be accompanied by two of his soldiers. But the Indian, refusing this escort. said, that he would first go for a specimen, and, if it gave satis- faction, he might be sent back with some of the governor's people. He promised to give a specimen, kept the presents and went away ; and, after some days. returned with a lump of ore as large as his doubled fist, of which the governor made proof, found it of good quality, and extracted from it a considerable quantity of gold, which he manufactured into rings and bracelets. He promised the Indian further presents if he would discover the situation of this mountain. The Indian consented, but de- manded a delay of a few days, when he could spare more time. Content with this, Printz gave him more presents. The savage, having returned to his nation, boasted of his gifts, and declared the reason of their presentation. But he was assassinated by the sachem and his companions, lest he should betray the situation of this gold mine : they fearing its ruin if it were discovered by us. It is still unknown."-Extract from Lindstrom's MS. Journal. Am. Phil. Soc.
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XX. The Dutch governed the newly recovered country on the Delaware, by lieutenants, subject to the Director-General at New Amsterdam. Jo- hannes Paul Jaquet was the first Vice-Director. His successors were Peter sirene, Hunojossa, and William Beckman. These officers were empowered to grant lands; and their patents make part of the titles of the present pos Nwwrs. Alrick's commission, of 12th of April, 1657, indicates the extent of the Dutch claim, on the west of the Delaware. It constitutes him " Di- rector-General, of the Colony of South river, of New Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimer, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the lands dependent the reon, according to the first purchase, and deed of relcase, from the na- tives, dated, July the 19th, 1651 ; beginning at the west side of the Minquas, or Christina' Kill, in the Indian language named, Suspecough, to the mouth of the bay or river called Boompt Hook, in the Indian language, Cannaress, and so far inland, as the bounds and limits of the Minquas land, with all the streams, appurtenances and dependencies." Of the country north of the Kill, or south of Boompt "Hook, no notice is taken. In 1658, Beekman was directed to purchase Cape Henlopen, which, for want of goods, was not done, until the succeeding year .* From the order and purchase of 1658, it would wem, that no regard was had, either by the Indians or Dutch, to the contracts made for Goodyn, in 1629, or by the Swedish governors.
Upon the eastern side of the present State of New Jersey, the Dutch had, at this period, acquired several tracts of country. Beside the purchase of Staten Island, for the Heer Pauw, t Augustine Herman purchased an exten- sive plot, stretching from Newark Bay, west of the present site of Elizabeth- town ## and the Lord Director-General and Council, a large tract, called Bergen.§ And we may, justly, suppose, that, the road between the colonies, on the Hudson and Delaware, was not wholly uninhabited.
XXI. Although, for fifty years, these extensive possessions of the Dutch, were not disputed by the English government, still the claim of the English nation, founded on the discoveries by Cabot, Hudson, and other navigators, was neither abandoned nor unimproved. The Puritans were making con- tinued pretensions and encroachments upon the east, and emigrants from New Haven settled on the left shores of the Delaware, so early as 1610- svine of whose descendants may, probably, yet be found, in Salem, Cumber- land, and Cape May, counties. The adventurers of Maryland had penetrated to the Schuylkill, and the agents or grantees of Sir Edward Ploeyden, had attempted to people his palatinate. Of these efforts it is proper that we should siwak more particularly.
In 1612, as we have seen, the Dutch expelled the English, from the & hylkill, as intruders, on rights too notorious to be disputed. But in 1654, C.Jonel Nathaniel Utie, commissioner of Fendal, governor of Maryland. de- mande d possession of the shores of the Delaware, by virtue of the patent fran the English crown, to Lord Baltimore; visited New Castle to protest against the ceupation of the Dutch, to threaten the assertion of Baltimore's rale by force, and to offer his protection to the inhabitants, upon terms sander to those given to other emigrants. Beckman proposed to refer the controversy to the republics of England and Holland; and Stuyvesant, by commissioners, at Annapolis, repeated the proposition ; asserting, however, the title of the India Company, by prior occupancy, and assent of the English nation; and protesting against the conduct of Fendal, as in breach of the
. Smith's New York.
t Deed, dated, 10th August, 1630. Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery.
: Deed, 6th December, 1651.
§ Deed, 30th January, 1658.
C
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treaties between the two nations. In the following year, Lord Baltimore applied, through his agent, captain Neale, to the Dutch Company, for orders to the colonists on the Delaware, to submit to his authority. A peremptory refuer! was instantly given; and a petty war in the colonies was prevented, by the weakness of Maryland, and the hopes of redress from measures then contemplated by the English government against all the Dutch possessions in America.
We learn, from a pamphlet, published in 1648, that a grant had been made by James the First, to Sir Edward Plocyden, of the greater part of the country between Maryland and New England, which was erected into a province and county palatine, with very comprehensive, if not precise boundaries. f
The rights derived from this patent were unexercised during the reigns of James, and the first Charles-but were acted on, during the revolution. Before 1648, a company was formed, under Sir Edward Ploeyden, for planting this province, in aid of which, our author wrote his description of New Albion. This little work compares New Albion with other countries of the new world, giving all preference to the former, and contains a learned exposition and defence of the rights of an carl palatine, who, among other royalties, having power to create barons, baronets, and knights, of his palatinate, had bestowed a baronage upon our author, and others, as well as upon each of his own children. Thus, there were, the son and heir ap- parent, and Governor, Francis, Lord Ploeyden, Baron of Mount Royal, an extensive manor, on Elk river; and Thomas, Lord Plecyden, High Admiral, Baron of Roymount, a manor on the Delaware bay, in the vicinity of Lewis- town; and the Lady Winifrid, Baroness of Uvedale, in Webb's Neck, de- riving its name from its abundance of grapes, producing the Thoulouse, Muscat, and others.
From circumstances, it is probable, that this New Albion Company sent out agents, who visited different parts of the province, some of whom esta- blished themselves there; that the Palatine and some friends, of whom was Plantagenet, sought temporary cover from the storms of civil war in England, amid the American wilds ;- that a fort named Erewomec was erected at the mouth of Pensaukin Creek, on the Jersey shore; and that, there was a con- siderable settlement at Watcessi or Oijtsessing, the present site of Salem, which was probably broken up, or reduced, by the united force of the Dutch and Swedes. No known vestige of these settlements remains; and all our knowledge in relation to their fate is conjectural.₺
XXII. In 1610, as stated by Trumbull. some persons at New Haven, by. Captain Nathaniel Turner, their agent, purchased for thirty pounds sterling, a large tract of land, for plantations, on both sides of the Delaware river ; erected trading houses, and sent out near fitty families to settle them.§ It is proba- ble, that this number is over-rated. But we gather from the complaints of
* New York Records. New York Hist. Col. vol. iii. p. 368. Smith's New York. This pamphlet is addressed by Beauchamp Plantagenet, " To the Right Honour- able and mighty Lord Edmund, by Divine Providence, Lord Proprietor. Earl Palatine, Governor, and Captain-General of the province of New Albion; and to the Right Honourable, the Lord Viscount Monson, of Castlemain; the Lord Sherard, Baron of Leitrim, and to all other { the Viscounts. Barons, Baronets, Knights, and gentlemen, merchants, adventurers. and planters, of the hopeful company of New Albion, in all forty-four undertakers, and subscribers, bound by indenture. to bring and settle 3000 able, trained men, in our several plantations, to the said province."
# New Albion. Smith's N. J. Bescryvinge van Virginie. New, Netherlandts. Penn. Register, 1:28, vol. iv. See, for a further account of New Albion, Appendix, note B, and Philadelphia Library, No. 1019, Oct.
§ Trumbull's Conn.
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the Connecticut traders, that, they visited the Delaware for the purpose of barter, and were driven thence by the Swedes and Dutch, under Kieft, in Inite; that, their trading house was destroyed, their goods confiscated, and dear persons imprisoned. The commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, upon an investigation of the facts, directed governor Winthrop to remonstrate with the Swedish governor, and to claim indemnity for the losses sustained, amounting to one thousand pounds. Winthrop addressed letters to Kieft and Printz, but received no satisfactory answer.
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