USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 35
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1642. ligion, and furnished with whatever they required " at lower prices than those they received from the Dutch or the English their neighbors, so that they may by this means be disengaged from these people, and accustomed more" to the Swedes. He was particularly enjoined to turn his attention to the culture of tobacco; to inquire if silk-worms and silk could be raised there ; to encourage the propagation of flocks of sheep and cattle, so that " a considerable portion of good wool may be sent here," and for the better securing of the trade in furs, to establish com- missaries, and take especial care " that no person whomsoever be permitted to trade in peltries with the Indians, but that this be done in the name and on the account of the Swedish Com- pany, by the agents appointed for that purpose." The culture of the vine, the manufacture of salt, by evaporation, were also enjoined, as well as the exploration of the mineral wealth of the country. " A good quantity of oak and nut wood" was to be sent to Sweden as ballast, as " we must also try if the nuts by pressure may not furnish oil." The fisheries were also to be attended to, the country cultivated, and the colony governed " according to the laws, customs, and usages of Sweden," pun- ishing by death or otherwise all offenders, " but not otherwise than according to the ordinances and legal forms, and after having sufficiently considered and examined the affair with the most noted persons, such as the most prudent assessors of jus- tice that he can find and consult in the country." Before all, he was enjoined to " labor and watch that he render in all things to Almighty God the true worship which is his due, the glory, the praise, and the homage which belong to him, and to take good measures that the Divine service is performed according to the true confession of Augsburg, the Council of Upsal, and the ceremonies of the Swedish church, having care that all men, and especially the youth, be well instructed in all the parts of Christianity, and that a good ecclesiastical discipline be observed and maintained." The Dutch colonie established within her majesty's limits must not, however, be disturbed in the rights guarantied to it in religious matters.1
1 Hazard's Register of Penn. iv., 177, 178, 200, 219, 220, 221, 314, 373
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NEW NETHERLAND.
Immediately on the arrival of this Swedish governor, he es- CHAP. tablished his residence at Tinnicum, or New Gottenburg, situ- ate some ten or twelve miles below Philadelphia, where he erected a pretty strong fort, by laying heavy hemlock logs the one on the other. To secure still more effectually the country and its trade, he built at Hog or Salem Creek, on the east bank of the river Delaware, near its mouth, a fort, which he called Elsinburg, or Elsborg, and which he garrisoned with a lieu- tenant and twelve men, and strengthened with six or eight twelve-pounders. By means of this fort, he effectually secured the mouth of the river ; and all vessels, no matter of what na- tion, entering the Delaware, were obliged to lower their colors and bring to here, to be visited until they obtained from Tin- nicum Printz's permit to proceed.
Fort Christina, which Minuit had erected in 1638, and which was situate on the west side, about half a mile up the Minquaas Creek, commanded the passage to the country of the Min- quaas. It was the principal Swedish trading-post, and contain- ed a magazine well supplied with every description of mer- chandise. The avenue to the Indian country was still further secured by a third fort on an island at the mouth of the Schuyl- kill, right in front of fort Beversrede, erccted by the Dutch in 1633, and thus every valuable point was seized on and garri- soned, so that finally no access to the Minquaas was left open to the Dutch. The trade with the savages fell, consequently, altogether under the control of the Swedes, and the Delaware became of little or no value to their rivals, who maintained at Fort Nassau, on the east bank of that river, a miserable trad- ing-post, scantily supplied with goods or merchandise.
The loss experienced by the Dutch in consequence of being thus, in a manner, driven from this valuable district, will be more correctly estimated by reference to the opinions of wri- ters on the spot. "We acknowledge freely," says Van der Donck, "that we are unable fully to describe the value and the advantages which this river possesses ; for in ad- dition to the navigation and trade, which are great, there are fourteen navigable rivers, creeks, and streams which fall into this river. Some of these are large, and boatable to a great distance, and may be well named rivers, as the ordi-
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VIII. 1643.
370
HISTORY OF
BOOK nary tides flow several miles up the same, where the wa- III. ters meet and are fresh, and still remain wide and are tolerably 1643. deep. There are also many streams, presenting rich and ex tensive valleys, which afford good situations for villages and towns. The river itself is roomy, wide, clean, clear, deep, not foul nor stony, with good settings and anchorage. The tides are strong, and flow up near to the falls. The land is fine and level on both sides, not too high, but above floods and freshets, except some reed land and marshes. Above the falls the river divides into two large boatable streams, which run far inland to places unknown to us. There are several finc islands in this river, with many other delightful advantages and conditions, which are estimated by those who have exam- ined the river, and who have seen much of the world, not to be surpassed by any other river that is known. Equalling in many respects the celebrated river of the Amazons, although not in greatness, yet in advantages with which this river and the neighboring land are favored, we would regret to lose such a jewel by the devices and hands of a few strangers,"-mean- ing the Swedes.
1644. The Dutch had, in truth, sufficient cause for such regret. In the active prosecution of the advantages they had secured, the Swedes freighted, this year, the Key of Calmar and the Fame with two valuable cargoes, consisting of 2,127 packages of beaver, and 70,421 Ibs. of tobacco. In consequence, how- ever, of the breaking out of war between Denmark and Swe- den, and owing to stress of weather and other causes, these ships were obliged to put into Harlingen, a seaport in the province of Friesland, to revictual and repair. Immediately Oct. 6. on their arrival, the West India Company, claiming the sovereignty of the country in which the cargo was obtained, placed officers on board, and demanded, by virtue of their charter and of other privileges granted them by the States General, the payment of import duties on the cargoes, and eight per cent. additional accruing to them, as recognitions, on all goods purchased and brought to Holland from their transatlantic possessions. This demand gave rise to a lengthy Oct. 29. and rather warm correspondence between the Swedish ambas- sador at the Hague and the States General, in which the for-
371
NEW NETHERLAND.
mer laid claim to the country around the South River, by right CHAP. of purchase, preoccupation, and lawful possession, and main- tained that no other power had any just pretension there. He protested, also, against the detention of these vessels belong- ing to the King his Master, on the ground that it was a viola- tion of existing treaties between both countries, which guar- antied to the ships of either power, freedom of commerce to the east and north seas ; and qualified it as an unjustifiable piece of insolence, affecting in a serious degree the respect due to his Swedish Majesty, who never visited nor searched any of their High Mightinesses' ships touching at his ports, whether prizes or not, whatever were the goods or cargoes with which they were freighted ; and concluded by demand- ing the removal of the company's officers, and that no part of the ships' cargoes should be disposed of for payment of the recognitions, as he categorically refused to pay any such exaction.
This representation had, eventually, such effect, that their High Mightinesses ordered the discharge of the cargoes, on payment simply of the customary import duties, but without the exaction of the eight per cent. recognitions by the West India Company.1
The question of the right of sovereignty over the South River and the land thereabout was not discussed, and matters continued, in that quarter, in an unsettled and in quite an un- satisfactory position.
The authorities at Fort Amsterdam were not, however, dis- 1646. posed to sit quietly down and allow the valuable trade of that rich section of the country to be wrested entirely out of their hands, without making some effort to save, at least, a portion thereof. Jan Jansen van Ilpendam, the commissary in that quarter, had been found guilty of fraud, and manifested other- Feb. wise an unfitness for his situation, "having paid the Indians too high a price for furs." He was therefore removed, and Andreas Hudde was ordered to the South River, to superin- tend the company's commercial interests in that quarter.
1 Alb. Rec. xvii., 321 ; Acrelius, Hist. New Sweden; Hol. Doc. ii., 340, 341, 342-345, 350-361 ; iv., 1, 2, 13, 14, 15, 18.
VIII. 1644.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK IU. 1646.
This functionary had not been long at his new post, when he became embroiled with the Swedish governor, who now, claiming supreme authority over the whole of that country, would not allow any Dutch merchants to trade, nor, indeed, any Dutch farmers to settle on or about that river.
A number of enterprising residents of New Amsterdam had dispatched a vessel to the Delaware, with a cargo to be ex- changed with the Indians for furs, corn, and other barter. On June its arrival, Hudde ordered it to the Schuylkill, there to await 23. the Minquaas. But Skipper Blanck, who commanded the sloop, had scarcely cast anchor, when he was ordered off by a Swedish officer. In vain did Hudde represent that the place had been always a rendezvous for traders; in vain did he counsel discretion-inquire by what authority the company was forbidden to trade there ; and, finally, plead the alliance which existed between their High Mightinesses the States General and the Swedish Crown. Printz peremptorily order- July 1. ed the skipper to quit the place, and threatened to confiscate his ship and cargo if he disobeyed. As the Dutch commis- sary could not afford any protection in the premises, and as the Swedish commander manifested every disposition to exe- cute his threat, Skipper Blanck withdrew, and nothing was July 12. left to Hudde but to report the matter to his superiors at Fort Amsterdam.
Governor Printz manifested his jealousy of the Dutch in every possible way, and as he was instructed to preserve the monopoly of the Indian trade, which commerce was the great bone of contention in those days, he endeavored to instil the same feeling into the minds of the natives. To effect this pur- pose the more certainly, he spread a rumor among the Indians that the Dutch intended to build a fort near " the great falls" (of Trenton,) to be garrisoned by two hundred and fifty men ; that they would slaughter all the Indians on the lower part of the river, and, by means of the proposed post, prevent those above coming to the assistance of their brethren situated be- low. So effectually did he succeed in spreading alarm through- out the villages of the Indians, that the latter opposed every attempt which Hudde made to penetrate into the interior, when he attempted, in pursuance to orders received from the Direc-
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NEW NETHERLAND.
tor-general, to proceed to the upper part of the country to ex- CHAP. plore that section for minerals.
VIII. 1646.
It was in this state of things that Abraham Verplanck, Simon Root, Jan Andriessen, and Pieter Harmanse, obtained a grant Aug. 10. of land on the west side of the South River, "lying almost over against the little island called 'Vogelsang' or singing bird (now Egg) island," for the purpose of making four plantations there, conditionally that the grant should be void if they did not settle on it within a year. Commissary Hudde received orders to extinguish by purchase the Indian title to the soil. Sept. 7. Hudde concluded the purchase, and erected, with the consent of the natives, and as was the custom on such occasions, the arms of the company, on the spot on which the Dutch freemen were making preparations to build. This proceeding excited fresh opposition on the part of the Swedes. They tore down Oct. 8. the company's ensign, declaring, at the same time, that they should have pulled down the colors of their High Mightinesses, had even these been raised on Swedish soil.1 Governor Printz followed up this aggression by this emphatic protest :-
" Andreas Hudde! I remind you again, by this written Oct. 10. warning, to discontinue the injuries of which you have been guilty against the Royal Majesty of Sweden, my most gracious Queen ; against Her Royal Majesty's rights, pretensions, soil, and land, without showing the least respect to Her Royal
1 In corroboration of the above insult offered to the Dutch flag, we meet with the following passage in Van der Donck :- " The arms of their High Mighti- nesses were erected over Machchachansio, among the Sankikans, by order of Director Kieft, in token that The river, with all the adjoining country, and sur- rounding lands and soil, remained under the power and possession of their High Mightinesses. But what fruit did this bear, save lasting reproach to the coun- try and lessening of respect? For the Swedes, with an insolence intolerable, tore them down ; and now that they are allowed to remain so, it is considered, especially by their governor, to have been a Roman achievement. It is very true That several protests have been made as well against this, as against other occurrences, but they have had as much effect as the flight of a crow overhead. And it is supposed that if this governor had a supply of men, we should have as much trouble with him as we have had with the English, or any of their gov- ernors. This, in fine, is what appertains to the Swedes, about whom the com- pany's officers can make pertinent declaration, for we further refer to all the papers, documents, and journals which remain in their hands." Vertoogh van N. N.
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HISTORY OF
1646.
BOOK III. Majesty's magnificence, reputation, and dignity ; and to do so no more, considering how little it would be becoming Her Royal Majesty to bear such gross violence, and what great disasters might originate from it; yea, might be expected. Secondly, with what reluctance, as I think, your nation, or your masters would, for such a trifle, come into collision with Her Royal Majesty, as you have no shadow of right for this your gross conduct ; particularly, for your secret and unlawful purchase of land from the savages, by which you evidently betrayed your conviction of the justice, equity, and antiquity of your pretended claims, of which you so loudly boasted, and which, by this purchase, have been brought to light ; showing clearly that you had no shadow of right to that place, of which you have taken possession, no more than to others on this river which you now claim, in which, however, you were never mo- lested by her Royal Majesty or her plenipotentiaries. All this I can freely bring forward in my own defence, to exculpate me from all future calamities, of which we give you a warn- ing, and place it at your account. Dated New Gothenburg, 30th Sept. stil. veteri. 1646."
Printz followed up his protest, by forbidding the Swedes to transact any business with the Dutch. Hudde, on the other Oct. 22. hand, disclaimed all intention of encroaching on the rights of the Swedes, or to act in an unjust and clandestine manner. " The place we possess we hold in just deed," he replied, " perhaps before the name of the South River was heard of in Sweden." He complained of the insolent and hostile manner with which the arms of the company had been torn down, and of the insulting declaration that, had they been the colors of the Prince of Orange, they should have been trampled under foot. He warned Printz that these proceedings would event- ually cause great calamities ; protested his innocence of all disasters that might follow, and concluded by impressing on his attention that, as Christians, they should not, by their dis- agreements, render themselves a stumbling-block or laughing- stock to the savage heathens.
This paper obtained a very cavalier reception from the Swedish commander. He flung it on the ground, ordering one of his attendants to take charge of it, and when Hudde's mes-
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NEW NETHERLAND.
senger requested an answer to the letter of which he had been CHAP. the bearer, Printz (whom De Vries describes as a man who weighed upwards of four hundred pounds, and drank three drinks at every meal) threw the Dutchman out of doors, and having taken a gun from the wall, threatened to shoot him, which, however, was fortunately prevented by the timely in- terference of the bystanders.
In this wise was the general behavior of the Swedes towards the Dutch on the South River at this period. Whenever any of the latter visited Printz's head-quarters, they were sure to be abused in an unwarrantable manner, and frequently returned "bloody and bruised." Commissary Hudde urged, in vain, rights acquired by prior possession. The Swedish Governor answered him with a profane jeer :- " The devil was the oldest possessor in hell, yet he, notwithstanding, would some- times admit a younger one,"-with other language equally coarse, expressing, at the same time, the greatest contempt for the States General, as well as for the commissions issued by the company, under the authority derived from their High Mightinesses. To such a pitch did this insolence proceed at last, that the Dutch traders who resorted to the Delaware, complained to the commissary in the strongest terms, and obliged him to forward to the Director-general and council at New Amsterdam, a remonstrance on their part against the annoyances to which they were subjected, together with their claims for the redress of the various grievances which they suffered.1
In the mean time another controversy had sprung up with the people of New Haven, which diverted the attention of the Dutch, for the moment, from the encroachments of the Swedes. Some of the inhabitants of that colony had pur chased land from the Indians, between twenty and thirty (Dutch) miles up the country, towards the northwest, some twenty miles east of the North River, and about sixty miles from Fort Orange, and built a trading-house there.2 Director
1 Alb. Rec. xvii., 321, 322, et seq ; Hazard's Reg. iv., 119; Acrelius, New Sweden.
2 Van der Donck, in allusion to this post, has the following statement :-
" The English of New Haven have a trading-post on the east or southeast side
VIII. 1646.
376
HISTORY OF
BOOK III.
Kieft, who was jealous of every movement of his English
neighbors, wrote in strong terms to Governor Eaton, claim- Aug. 3. ing this place as a part of New Netherland, and protesting I646. against such a settlement. He accused the New Haven peo- ple with entertaining an insatiable desire to possess that which belonged to the Dutch ; with having, contrary to his protests, against the law of nations, and in contravention of ancient leagues between the kings of England and the States General, indirectly entered the limits of New Netherland, and usurped divers places therein. And, he continued, " because you and yours have of late determined to fasten your foot near the Mauritius River, in this province, and there not only to disturb our trade, of no man hitherto questioned, and to draw it to yourselves, but utterly to destroy it, we are compelled again to protest ; and by these presents do protest against you, as against public breakers of the peace and disturbers of the pub- lic quiet." He concluded by threatening that if the New Ha- ven people did not restore the places they had usurped, and repair the losses which the Dutch had experienced, the latter would manfully recover them by such means as God should afford, holding the English responsible for all the evils that might ensue.
Ang.
To this letter Governor Eaton replied by the return of Lieut. Baxter, Kieft's messenger. He utterly disclaimed all knowledge of such a river as the Mauritius, and denied having, at any time, formerly or latterly, entered upon any place to which the Dutch had any known title, or, in any other re- spect, injured them. He admitted that they had recently built a small house within their own limits on "Paugussett River,1 which falls into the sea in the midst of the English plantations, many miles, nay, leagues, from the Manhattoes,
of Magdalen Island, not more than six (Dutch) miles from the North River ; for this island lies towards the upper part of the North River, twenty-three (Dutch) miles and a half higher up than Fort Amsterdam, on the east bank. It is erected with no other view than to encroach on the whole trade of the North River, or to destroy it altogether, for it is now free for all to resort to." Magdalen Island is on the east side of the Hudson's River, a little below Red- hook, upper landing, Dutchess county.
1 The ancient Indian name of Derby, Coun., and of the river Nangattuck, which empties into the Housatonic. Am. Hist. Mag. i. 203, note.
22.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
from the Dutch trading-house, or from any port on Hudson's CHAP. River," but that they had not built, even there, until they had
1646.
VIII. first purchased a title from the true proprietors. Governor Ea- ton next alluded to the injuries and outrages which the people of New Haven had received, both at the Manhattans and on the Delaware, at the hands of the Dutch ; he declared that, not- withstanding all these injuries and the very unsatisfactory an- swers Kieft had hitherto given to their various complaints, the New Haven colony had, as he conceived, done nothing repug- nant to the law of God, the law of nations, nor to the ancient confederation and friendship between their superiors at home ; and concluded by assuring the Director, that he was ready to refer all differences between his people and the Dutch, for dne examination and adjudication, to any authorities, either in this country or in Europe, feeling satisfied that his majesty, King Charles, and the English parliament, then assembled, would maintain their own rights against all unjust encroachments, and that even Kieft's superiors would, on due and mature consid- eration, approve the righteousness of the course pursued by the New Haven people.
The commissioners of the New England colonies met at New Haven shortly after this, when the above correspondence Sept. 9. was duly laid before them. The people of Hartford embraced the occasion of bringing forward, at the same time, several accusations against the Dutch, who had "now grown to an insufferable boldness" on the Connecticut, where they still maintained a distinct establishment and an independent gov- ernment at Fort Good Hope ; while the Hartford colony, on the other hand, claimed obedience to its laws from the inhab- itants of that post, which, they averred, was established with- in English territory. The Dutch were likewise charged with having inveigled an Indian slave, who, having become liable to public punishment, had fled from her master to the Dutch fort, where she was protected, notwithstanding she had been demanded by her master as his servant, and by the ma- gistrates as a criminal. It was insinuated that she was retained for purposes of wantonness, and as " such a servant was part of her master's estate, and a more considerable part than a beast," they insisted that she be restored, for their children
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378
HISTORY OF
BOOK would not long be secure if this were suffered. With this III. 1646. conviction, the Hartford authorities had already dispatched a "guard to recover the woman, even by force if necessary. David Provost, the Dutch commissary, had, however, resisted the guard, drew his rapier against them, and broke it on their arms ; after which he withdrew into the fort, where he de- fended himself, successfully, against these invaders, of what he considered, his just jurisdiction.
Sept. 15.
These complaints having been duly heard, the commission- ers considered it their duty to address Director Kieft concern- ing them, which they did at some length, expressing, at the same time, their great desire to examine carefully into the various differences so long existing between their confederates and the Dutch, in order that peace may be preserved. They reminded him that the governor of Massachusetts had written to him, some three years before, regarding the difficulties on the Fresh River, to all which he had returned an ignoramus, with an offensive addition which would be left to his better consideration. They next recapitulated the recent occurren- ces at Fort Hope, and declared that if the commissary had been slain in the proud affront which he had given, his blood would have been on his own head. Governor Eaton's an- swer to Kieft's protest they considered fair and just, and then expressed a hope that it would give satisfaction, and that they should receive such a reply to their own dispatch, by the re- turn of their special messenger, as would testify to them his agreement with them " to embrace and pursue righteousness and peace."
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