tion against trading. The emancipation of the internal trade of the province, CHAP. IX. however, soon began to produce irregularities; and a new 1639. proclamation warned all persons, of whatever rank or con- 30 March. dition, against selling guns or ammunition to the Indians. Proclama A similar edict prohibited any person from sailing to Fort irregular Orange, the South River, or Fort Hope, without a permit from the director general, and from returning without a passport from the company's commissary. But Kieft's indiscretion hurried him into the adoption of another measure, which produced, before long, the most disastrous results. Under the plea that the company was burdened with heavy expenses for its fortifications and garrisons in New Netherland, the director arbitrarily resolved to "de- 15 Sept. mand some tribute" of maize, furs, or sewan from the solves to neighboring Indians, "whom we thus far have defended ute on the against their enemies," and threatened, in case of their refusal, to employ proper measures "to remove their reluctance."* Kieft re levy a trib savages. English en in Connec Meanwhile, the colonists of New England had been rap- Progress of idly narrowing the eastern frontier of New Netherland. croachment The exterminating war against the Pequods had revealed ticut. a territory hitherto unknown to the English; and Stoughton and Underhill, returning in triumph to Boston, extolled the 1637. beauty of the fertile coasts between Saybrook and Fairfield. "The place whither God's providence carried us, that is, to Quillipeage River, and so beyond to the Dutch," wrote 14 August. Stoughton to Winthrop, "is abundantly before" Massachusetts Bay. "The Dutch will seize it if the English do not," he urged, "and it is too good for any but friends." Just then Davenport, the former Non-conformist clergyman at Rotterdam, and Eaton and Hopkins, "two merchants of London, men of fair estate and of great esteem for religion, and wisdom in outward affairs," arrived at Boston, and were besought to settle themselves in Massachusetts. But they could not be satisfied to "choose such a condition," 1638. and determined to remove to the "parts about Quillipieck." Sailing from Boston, the English colonists soon 30 March. *Alb. Rec., ii., 46, 47, 65. 1638. Colonists sent from Boston to New Ha ven. CHAP. IX. reached the place which Block had first named the "Roodenberg," or Red Hills. The Dutch title was, however, disregarded; and Davenport, under the shadow of a spreading oak, laid the foundations of New Haven. A simple "plantation covenant" bound the colonists to be "ordered by the rules which the Scriptures held forth to them;" land was purchased from the Indian sachems; 1639, and the vigorous settlement throve apace. In a year, its 25 October. population exceeded two hundred; and Theophilus Eaton was chosen governor by electors, whose qualification was church membership.* 18 April. June. With a boldness fostered by the consciousness of superior numbers, English emigrants now aimed at possessing "all the land" as far westward as the Hudson River.t At the mouth of the Housatonic, the village of Stratford already contained more than fifty houses. Enterprising Norwalk. emigrants were also beginning to build at Norwalk and Stamford; and even at Greenwich two houses were alPatrick and ready erected. One of these was occupied by Captain Feake at Greenwich. Fort at Hartford. Daniel Patrick, "who had married a Dutch wife from the Hague." Patrick, who had been in command of a portion of the troops sent from Massachusetts during the Pequod war, had ample opportunities of observing the country in the neighborhood of the Dutch. Becoming dissatisfied with Watertown, he resolved to seek a more congenial home; and in company with Robert Feake, who had married the daughter-in-law of Winthrop, he removed to Connecticut, and commenced the settlement of Greenwich.‡ At the mouth of the Connecticut "a strong fort" was Saybrook. now completed by Gardiner, the governor of Saybrook. Growth of Hartford was already a little town, with over one hundred houses and a fine church. The Dutch, however, continued in possession of the flat lands around "the Hope,' where Gysbert op Dyck was now commissary, with a gar ,, * Winthrop, i., 228, 400, 405; Hutch. Coll., 62; Trumbull, i., 96-99, 104; ante, p. 56. De Vries, 149, says, that on the 6th of June, 1639, he anchored over night at New Haven, where he found "about three hundred houses built, and a handsome church.” + Mather's Magnalia, i., 6. De Vries, 151; Winthrop, i., 69, 74; ii., 151; Trumbull, i., 118; O'Call., i., 298. The maiden name of Captain Patrick's wife was Annetje van Beyeren. 1639. Hartford rison of fourteen or fifteen soldiers. At their first coming, CHAP. IX. the English conducted themselves discreetly; but increasing in numbers, they boldly began to plow up the re- Aggresserved lands around the Dutch redoubt. Op Dyck en- sions of the deavored to resist; but the English cudgeled some of the people. garrison who attempted to stop their proceedings, and Haynes, the newly-elected governor of Connecticut, justified his countrymen. The Dutch, he said, had been many 9 June. years in possession, and had done nothing to improve the land, which "was lying idle" around their house. "It Grounds of English would be a sin to leave uncultivated so valuable a land, justificawhich could produce such excellent corn." Thus the Hartford people vindicated their conduct. They "gave out that they were Israelites, and that the Dutch in New Netherland, and the English in Virginia, were Egyptians."* tion Continued sions at The next year witnessed still bolder aggression. The 1640. right of the Dutch to any of the land around their little aggresfort was openly denied. In vain Commissary Op Dyck Hartford. pleaded Dutch discovery before English knowledge of the river, and Dutch possession under a title from the Indian owners, anterior to English purchase and settlement. "Show your right," said Hopkins, who had succeeded 23 April. Haynes as governor, "and we are ready to exhibit ours." Evert Duyckingk, one of the garrison, while sowing grain, was struck "a hole in his head with a sticke, soe that the 25 April. blood ran downe very strongly." Ingenuity was taxed to devise modes of worrying the Hollanders; and to fortify the English claim of title, Sequasson, the son of the sachem who had assented to Van Curler's original purchase, was brought 12 July. into court, to testify "that he never sold any ground to the Dutch, neither was at any time conquered by the Pequods, nor paid any tribute to them." Kieft's repeated protests brought no alleviation of annoyance; for no re-enforcements came from Manhattan to vindicate the rights of the West India Company. Disgusted with a post where he was so constantly insulted, Op Dyck resigned his office, 25 October. * De Vries, 149, 150, 151; ante, p. 261, note. CHAP. IX. and Jan Hendricksen Roesen succeeded him as commissary at the Hope.* 1640. The progress of English encroachment along the shores of the Sound naturally awakened the anxiety of the New Netherland government. Excepting Bronck and his lessees, there were as yet scarcely any Dutch colonists east of the Haerlem River. In order to "maintain the charchases the ter and privileges" of the West India Company, Kieft distween Nor-patched Secretary Van Tienhoven, early in the spring of the North 1640, with instructions to purchase the "Archipelago," or 19 April. Kieft pur lands be walk and River. Requires Feake to group of islands at the mouth of the Norwalk River, together with all the adjoining territory on the main land, "and to erect thereon the standard and arms of the High and Mighty Lords States General; to take the savages under our protection; and to prevent effectually any other nation encroaching on our limits." These directions were executed; and the West India Company thus obtained the Indian title to all the lands between Norwalk and the North River, comprehending much of the present county of West Chester.t ! Patrick and Feake, who had been quietly settled for 30 April. some time at Petuquapaen, or Greenwich, now purchased. from one of the neighboring sachems, his title to that region. Kieft, however, who had already secured a formal 15 October. cession from the savages, soon afterward protested against Patrick and Patrick's intrusion, and warned him and his associates submit that they would be ejected, unless they recognized the sovereignty of the Dutch. But Patrick, though he immediately declared that he would do nothing "that should be in the least against the rights of the States General," continued in adverse possession at Greenwich for two years longer, before he formally acknowledged the jurisdiction of the authorities of New Netherland.‡ themselves to the Dutch. * Hol. Doc., ix., 192-197; Alb. Rec., ii., 104; Hazard, ii., 263, 264; N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 272, 273; Col. Rec. Conn., 51, 52; ante, p. 235, note. † Alb. Rec., ii., 78, 147; De Laet, viii.; Hazard, ii., 213; O'Call., i., 215; Bolton's West Chester, i., 120, 283; ii., 16, 145. Hol. Doc., ix., 198, 204; Hazard, ii., 264, 265; N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 274, 275; O'Call., i., 218, 252; Trumbull, i., 118. 1640. Extent of the Dutch jurisdiction Island. Up to this time, the Dutch settlements on Long Island CHAP. IX. had been confined to the neighborhood of the present city of Brooklyn. By purchases from the Indians, the West India Company had already become the proprietary of frictio Mespath, or Newtown, and of the regions eastward as far over Long as Cow Bay, and southward to the Atlantic coast. Kieft now bought from "the great chief Penhawitz," the head 10 May. of the tribe of Canarsee Indians, who claimed the territory forming the present county of Kings, and a part of the town of Jamaica, his hereditary rights to lands on Long Island. Thus all the Indian title to that part of the island westward of Oyster Bay, comprehending the present counties of Kings and Queens, became vested, by purchase, in the West India Company. The territory east of Oyster Bay, now forming the county of Suffolk, however, remained in the hands of its aboriginal lords. But the Dutch, who were the first Europeans that occupied any part of Long Island, always considered it the "crown of New Netherland," whence they obtained their supplies of wampum; and the possession which they had formally asserted, by affixing to a tree the arms of the States General, they were determined to maintain.* 20 of his prop- 3 April. Farrett ac- James Far rett comes gland as A new encroachment now threatened this "crown" itself. Under his grant from the council of Plymouth in 1635, Lord Stirling soon afterward gave a power of attorn- 1637. ey to James Farrett, to dispose of any part erty upon Long Island or its neighborhood. cordingly visited New England; and, having selected for to New Enhis own private use Shelter Island and Robins' Island, in Lord StirPeconick Bay, extinguished the Indian title by a formal agent. purchase. Previously to Farrett's arrival, however, Lion Gardiner, the commandant at Saybrook, had purchased of 1639. "the ancient inhabitants" the island near Montauk Point, "called by the Indians Manchonack; by the English, the diner's IslIsle of Wight." This valuable purchase was soon after Alb. Rec., ii., 83; Thompson's L. I., i., 93; O'Call., i., 215; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 275. + Hartford Records, Towns and Lands, i., 5; Southampton Rec.; Thompson's L. I., i., 364, 367; Winthrop, i., 231; ante, p. 259. ling's Lion Gardi ner purchases Gar and. |