open a cor ence with tans. ed them to open a friendly correspondence with the for- CHAP. VI. mer guests of their Fatherland. De Rasieres, the secre- 1627. tary of New Netherland, by Director Minuit's order, ac- 9 March. cordingly drew up a letter, dated at "Manhattas, in Fort The Dutch Amsterdam," which, with a counterpart in French, "writ- respondten in a very fair hand," was dispatched to Bradford, the the PuriGovernor of New Plymouth. This was the first communication between the Pilgrims and their Dutch neighbors, "of whom," said Bradford, "we had heard much by the natives, but never could hear from them or meet with them, before they themselves thus wrote to us, and after sought us out." The New Netherland authorities congratulated the Governor of New Plymouth on the prosperous condition of his people; proffered good-will and reciprocity; alluded to the propinquity and long-continued friendship of their native countries; and inviting friendly commercial relations, offered to accommodate their English neighbors with any commodities or merchandise they might want.* replies. 20 The Governor of New Plymouth at once answered the Bradford friendly overture from Manhattan; and, unwilling to be 1 March. outdone in courtesy, translated his reply into the Dutch language. Deprecating the "over high titles" which Batavian politeness required, and which Puritan usage rejected, Bradford reciprocated the friendly greetings of his neighbors in New Netherland, and congratulated them upon the recent alliance of their native countries against their "common enemy the Spaniards." This of itself was enough to unite the two colonies together “in love and good neighborhood;" "yet," he added, "are many of us further tied by the good and courteous entreaty which we have found in your country, having lived there many years with freedom and good content, as many of our friends do to this day; for which we are bound to be thankful, and our children after us, and shall never forget the same." The Plymouth colony being, for this year, * Morton's Memorial, 133; Prince; Bradford's Letter Book, in Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 51; and ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 355, 360. 1627. Dutch to CHAP. VI. "fully supplied with all necessaries," Bradford suggested that, at some future occasion, they might, perhaps, have dealings with their Holland neighbors, if their "rates be reasonable." At the same time, his English loyalty prompted him to question the right of the Dutch "to trade or plant" within the limits of New England, "which extend to forty degrees." Yet the Plymouth colonists, desirous to continue "good neighborhood and correspondence" with the Dutch, would not "go about to molest or Asks the trouble" them in any thing, if only they would "forbear to trade with the natives in this Bay and River of NarraNarragan gansett and Sowames, which is, as it were, at our doors."* The claim of English supremacy over New Netherland, which the Governor of the New Plymouth colony thus set up, could not be admitted by the authorities at Fort Amsterdam. A few weeks afterward, Director Minuit accordingly dispatched a letter to Bradford, which, though expressed in very friendly terms, firmly maintained the right and liberty" of the Dutch to trade with the Narthe right of ragansetts, as they had done, for many years, without question or interruption. "As the English claim author forbear trading in sett Bay. May. Minuit maintains the Dutch. ity under the King of England, so we," said Minuit, "derive ours from the States of Holland, and will defend it."+ Thinking that this correspondence of the Plymouth colies of the onists with the Dutch would give their enemies at home Bradford sends cop correspond gland. 15 ence to En-❝occasion to raise slanders and frame accusations" against them, Bradford took care to send copies of De Rasieres's "first letter, with our answer thereto, and their reply to 25 June. the same," to the Council of New England. He wrote, at the same time, another letter to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and intrusted his dispatches to the care of Isaac Allerton, who was now sent out a second time to London, as agent * Bradford's Letter Book; Moulton, 379; ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 360, 361. tii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 362. Bradford, in his Letter Book, does not give the second letter from the Dutch in full, nor even their third letter, of the 7th of August, by the hands of Jan Jacobsen. The tenor of the two is, however, gathered from Bradford's reply to both, of the 14th (24th) August. The second Dutch letter must have been written about May, for Bradford, along with his letter to the Council of New England, of 15th (25th) June, sent copies "of their first letters, of our answer, and of their reply," to which he adds, he had "as yet no opportunity to give answer."-Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 56; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 365, 366. for the colony. In his letters to England, Bradford stated CHAP. VI. that the Dutch, "for strength of men and fortification, far 1627. exceed us, and all in this land." "They have used trading here," he added, "this six or seven and twenty years, but have begun to plant of later time; and now have reduced their trade to some order, and confined it only to their company, which heretofore was spoiled by their seamen and interlopers, as ours is, this year, most notoriously." And, besides spoiling their trade, the Dutch still continued "to truck pieces, powder, and shot," with the Indians, "which will be the overthrow of all, if it be not looked into."* Minuit messenger ents to Meanwhile, no answer was returned to the last communication from Fort Amsterdam. Minuit, after waiting three months longer, accordingly dispatched Jan Jacob-7 August. sen, of Wiringen, the captain of the ship "Three Kings," sends a which then happened to be in port, as a special messen- with presger, with another letter, reiterating the most friendly sen- Bradford. timents, and inviting the English to send an authorized agent to Manhattan, to confer "by word of mouth touching our mutual commerce and trading;" or, if that should be inconvenient, offering "to depute one" themselves. At the same time, in token of their good-will, the Dutch authorities sent “a rundlet of sugar and two Holland cheeses,' as a present to the governor of New Plymouth. و, tans ask the The Dutch messenger was kindly received, and handsomely entertained by Bradford; and, a few days afterward, brought back to the authorities at Fort Amsterdam 14 August. the reply of the Puritans to their two last letters. Acknowledging their acceptable presents, and reciprocating their expressions of friendship, Bradford requested that the The PuriDutch would delegate a commissioner to New Plymouth, Dutch to and excused himself from sending one to Manhattan, be- egate to cause "one of our boats is abroad, and we have much bus- outh. iness at home." With friendly zeal, he added a warning to his neighbors against "those of Virginia, or the fishing ships which come to New England," which might make * Bradford's Letter Book, Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 48, 49, 56, 57. send a del New Plym 1627. CHAP. VI. prize of them, "as they surprised a colony of the French not many years since, which was seated within these bounds." And against the Dutch claim of rights, by reason of their early and long-continued trade, and the charter from their government, Bradford, pleading prior English title, under Elizabeth's grant of Virginia, and James's sweeping patents, suggested that the States General should come to some "agreement with the king's majesty and state of England hereabout, before any inconvenience. befall; for howsoever you may be assured for ourselves, yet we should be sorry to hear you should sustain harm from any of our nation.”* Minuit, on receiving the report of the "kind and friendly entertainment" with which Bradford had treated his messenger, determined to send a formal embassy to New Plymouth, conformably to the governor's request. Isaac de Rasieres, the Secretary of the Province, and second in rank dispatched to the Director, was selected as the first ambassador of New bassy to the Netherland. Isaac de on an em Puritans. He was 66 a man of fair and genteel behavior," and well fitted for a mission, which was of as much relative importance, in the primitive days of the Dutch and English colonies, as the more stately embassies of Europe. Freighting the "barque Nassau" with a few articles for traffic, and manning her with a retinue of soldiers September. and trumpeters, De Rasieres set out from Manhattan, late in September; and, sailing through Hell-gate, and along the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island, arrived, early the next month, off "Frenchman's Point,t at a small river, where those of Patuxet (New Plymouth) have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptuxet; where they keep two men winter and summer, in order to maintain Arrives at the trade and possession." This was Manomet, near an on Buz- Indian village, at the head of Buzzard's Bay-the site of the present village of Monumet, in the town of Sandwich.§ Hither the Dutch and French had "both used to come" to traffic with the natives. It was about eight miles from Manomet, zard's Bay. * Bradford's Letter Book, Mass. Hist. Coll., iii., 53; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 362, 363. "For 1627. or French Point. Cape Cod Bay, into which flowed a creek, affording a ready CHAP. VI. channel of communication across the peninsula.* greater convenience of trade," says Bradford, "to discharge our engagements, and maintain ourselves, we build a small pinnace at Manomet, a place on the sea, twenty miles to Manomet, the south; to which, by another creek on this side, we man's transport our goods by water within four or five miles, and then carry them overland to the vessel. We thereby avoid compassing Cape Cod, with those dangerous shoals, and make our voyage to the southward with far less time and hazard. For the safety of our vessel and goods, we there also build a house, and keep some servants, who plant corn, rear swine, and are always ready to go out with the bark, which takes good effect, and turns to advantage."+ The Dutch trumpets awoke unusual echoes, as they saluted the advanced post of the English colony. De Rasieres at once dispatched a courier with a letter to Brad- 4 October. ford, announcing his arrival on the part of the director and council of New Netherland, to have a friendly conference "by word of mouth of things together," and to assure him of the "good-will and favor" of the Dutch West India. Company. Specifying the articles which composed the Nassau's cargo, he requested Bradford to furnish him with the easiest conveyance to New Plymouth. "John Jacobsen aforesaid hath told me," wrote the Dutch envoy, "that he came to you overland in six hours; but I have not gone so far this three or four years, wherefore I fear my feet will fail me." Bradford promptly complied, and sent a boat to the head of the Manonscussett Creek. A short portage of five miles divided its waters from those of the De RaManomet River. Crossing this portage, De Rasieres, with reaches "the chief of his company," embarked in the English boat, outh. * Winslow's relation, in Young's Chronicles, 306. Prince, 208 (writing in 1736), says, "this creek runs out easterly into Cape Cod Bay, at Scussett Harbor; and this river runs out westerly into Monumet Bay. The distance overland, from bay to bay, is but six miles. The creek and river nearly meet in a low ground; and this is the place through which there has been a talk of making a canal this forty years, which would be a vast advantage to all these countries, by saving the long and dangerous navigation round the Cape, and through the shoals adjoining.” + Bradford, in Prince, 244; Old Colony Records; Book of Court Orders, vol. iii., p. 82. See also Mr. W. S. Russell's "Pilgrim Memorials,” p. 122–124. M sieres New Ply |