1643. 10 Sept.

J

CHAP. XI. nie;" and determined to enlarge his own domain, so as to include all the territory "from Rensselaer's Stein down to Katskill." Instructions were, therefore, sent to Van Curler to stop the schout's proceedings, and, in case he had already acquired a title from the Indians, to constrain him to surrender it to the patroon. If he should prove obstinate, he was to be deprived of his office, which was to be conferred, provisionally, upon Nicholas Koorn. The stringent orders of his feudal chief arrested Van der Donck's design, and his proposed settlement at Katskill was abandoned.*

The Swedish government, in the mean time, had taken measures to place their colony at the South River on a 1642. permanent footing. In the summer of 1642, the queen 16 August. appointed John Printz, a lieutenant of cavalry, to be

John

"Governor of New Sweden," which was declared to be under the royal protection. The territory was defined as extending "from the borders of the sea to Cape Hinlopen, in returning southwest toward Godyn's Bay, and thence toward the great South River as far as Minqua's Kill, where is constructed Fort Christina, and from thence again toward South River, and the whole to a place which the savages call Sankikan,† which is at the same time the place where are the limits of New Sweden." Of these frontiers, Printz was instructed "to take care;" yet, if pointed possible, to maintain amity and good neighborhood with governor. the Dutch at Fort Nassau, "now occupied by about twenty men," as well as with "those established higher up the North River at Manhattan, or New Amsterdam, and likewise with the English, who inhabit Virginia, especially because the latter have already begun to procure for the Swedes all sorts of necessary provisions, and at reasonable prices, both for cattle and grain." Toward the colonists under Joost de Bogaerdt good-will was to be shown. Printz might choose his own residence where he should

Printz ap

Swedish

* Renss. MSS.; O'Call., i., 332, 338, 339, 462.

†The falls at Trenton, in New Jersey, sometimes written Santickan; ante, p. 282; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 409; ii., 283.

1642.

find it most convenient; but he was to pay particular at- CHAP. XI. tention that the South River "may be shut," or commanded by any fortress which he might erect. The trade in peltries with the Indians was not to be permitted to any persons whomsoever, except to the agents of the Swedish Company. Detailed instructions were also given for the internal government of the colony; and Divine service was enjoined, "according to the true Confession of Augsburg, the Council of Upsal, and the ceremonies of the Swedish Church." The Dutch settlers, however, were not to be disturbed "with regard to the exercise of the Reformed religion." The governor's appointment was for three years, at an annual salary of twelve hundred silver dollars, commencing on the first of January, 1643. The Swedish government furnished officers and soldiers, and 30 August. passed an ordinance assigning upward of two millions of rix dollars, to be collected annually from the excises on tobacco, for the support of the government of New Sweden.*

15 Feb.

rives at

tina.

Under such auspices, Printz sailed from Gottenburg late in the autumn of 1642, with the ships "Fame" and 1 Nov. "Stork," and accompanied by the Reverend John Campanius as chaplain. Early the next year, the expedition 1643. reached Fort Christina.† Desiring to control the trade of Printz arthe river, and be as near as possible to the Dutch at Fort Fort ChrisNassau, Printz chose for his own residence an island on the west shore, then called by the Indians "Tenacong," now known as Tinicum, near Chester, about twelve miles below Philadelphia. Upon this island a "pretty strong" fort, named "New Gottenburg," was promptly construct- Building of ed of heavy hemlock logs. A mansion called "Printz GottenHall" was built for the governor; orchards were planted; and the principal colonists took up their abode at Tinicum. Toward Fort Christina there were a few scattered farms; but between Tinicum and the Schuylkill there were no plantations.‡

+ Campanius, 70.

* Hazard's Reg. Penn., iv.; Ibid., Ann. Penn., 63-69. Acrelius; Hudde's Report; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., i., 411, 429; Ferris, 62, 63; Hazard's Ann. Penn., 70. Reorus Torkillus, the clergyman who had accompanied Minuit to New Sweden in 1638, died at Fort Christina on the 7th of September, 1643, soon after the arrival of Printz.-Campanius, 107, 109.

Fort New

burg.

CHAP. XI.

Printz now hoped to secure to himself all the Indian trade against the competition of the Dutch. Still more 1643. effectually to "shut up" the river, in the course of the folconduct an-lowing summer he erected another fort "with three anDutch. gles," called "Elsingburg," upon the east shore of the

Printz's

noys

the South

River.

13 October.

bay near Salem Creek, from which the New Haven intruders had just before been expelled. The new fort was garrisoned by twelve men commanded by a lieutenant, and was armed with eight iron and brass twelve-pound guns. At this place all vessels coming up the river were compelled to lower their colors, and stop, until permission to proceed had been obtained from the governor at Tini

cum.*

De Vries at The Swedish garrison had an early opportunity of displaying their vigilance. De Vries, on his way from Manhattan to Virginia, put into the South River; and, as the Rotterdam vessel passed by Fort Elsingburg, a gun was fired for her to strike her flag. Blanck, her schipper, asked De Vries his advice. "If it were my ship, I should not strike," was the reply; "for I am a patroon of New Netherland, and the Swedes are mere intruders within our river." But the schipper, wishing to trade, lowered his colors. A boat from the fort immediately visited the vessel, which sailed up to Tinicum the same afternoon. At Fort New Gottenburg, the Dutch were welcomed by the governor, who "was named Captain Printz, a man of brave size, who weighed over four hundred pounds." Learning that De Vries was the patroon of the first Dutch colonie at Swaanendael, Printz pledged him in "a great romer of Rhine wine;" and the Dutch vessel continued five days at the fort, trading confectionary and Madeira wine for beaver skins. After a short visit to Fort Nassau, where he found the West India Company's people in gar19 October. rison, De Vries accompanied the Swedish governor down the river to Fort Christina, where there were now several houses. Having spent the night with Printz, who "treat20 October. ed him well," De Vries bade farewell to his Swedish host,

* De Vries, 184, 185; Hudde's Report, 482; Hol. Doc., viii., 32, 50.

for whom he fired a parting salute, as the Dutch vessel CHAP. XI. sailed onward to Virginia.*

1643.

New Al

bion.

21 June.

Kieft's attention was soon afterward drawn to a new Plowden's and unexpected claim to the ownership of a part of New claim to Netherland. An English knight, Sir Edmund Plowden, calling himself Earl Palatine of New Albion, arrived at Manhattan from the South River, and boldly affirmed that all the land from the west side of the North River to Virginia was his, by gift of the King of England. Plowden's claim rested upon a patent issued at Dublin by the 1634. Viceroy of Ireland, to whom the knight addressed himself after Charles I. had refused him a charter under the Great Seal of England. By his Irish patent, Plowden was invested with the title and dignity of "Earl Palatine” of the Province of New Albion, which, under a vague and imperfect description, seems to have been meant to include. most of the territory between Cape May, Sandy Hook, and the Delaware River, now forming the State of New Jersey. Under this worthless charter, issued by a Viceroy of Ireland, who had no authority to grant territorial rights in America, Plowden set sail for Delaware Bay; but, "wanting a pilot for that place," he went to Virginia. From there he visited the South River. But becoming "very much piqued" with the Swedish governor, John Printz, "on account of some affront given him, too long to relate," he proceeded northward to Manhattan. The 1643. pretensions of the titular Earl Palatine of New Albion were, however, entirely disregarded by Kieft. Plowden, nevertheless, warned the director that, "when an opportunity should offer," he would go to the South River and take possession; while, at the same time, he assured Kieft that he "did not wish to have any strife with the Dutch."

* De Vries, Voyages, 184, 185. We must here take leave of the blunt mariner, whose original journal has been so pleasant a guide. De Vries was emphatically a man of the people; ever opposing arbitrary power; biased, perhaps, in some of his opinions and statements; but frank, honest, religious, and a sincere advocate of the true interests of New Netherland. After spending the winter in Virginia, De Vries sailed for Holland, where he arrived in June, 1644. He seems never to have revisited America. His unpretending and simply-written work was published at Alckmaer, in 1655, illustrated by a well-engraved portrait of the author, taken in 1653, when he was sixty years of age. See ante, p. 156, note.

1643.

CHAP. XI. The disappointed Earl Palatine presently returned to Virginia; and though he came to Manhattan several years afterward, and reasserted his claim to New Albion, no actual settlement under his insufficient title appears ever to have been made within the territory of New Netherland.*

Lamberton

Printz.

July.

If the proceedings of Printz excited the animosity of the Dutch at Manhattan, his arbitrary conduct was not less George annoying to the New England Puritans. Lamberton, notarrested by withstanding the warning he had received the previous year, persisting in revisiting the Delaware in a New Haven pinnace, was induced, by the Swedish governor, to land at Fort New Gottenburg, where he was instantly imprisoned, with two of his men. Printz began to ply one of these men with strong drink and liberal promises, to influence him "to say, that George Lamberton had hired the Indians to cut off the Swedes." But the governor could not persuade his prisoner to perjure himself; and in his vexation, "he put irons upon him with his own hands." According to Winthrop's account, Printz was "a man very furious and passionate, cursing and swearing, and also reviling the English of New Haven as runagates," &c.

21 Sept. Action of

England

commissioners.

દી

When Eaton's statement of this transaction reached the New Boston, the commissioners of the United Colonies instructed their president to write to Printz, "expressing the particulars, and requiring satisfaction" for the "foul injuries" offered to Lamberton and the New Haven people on the Delaware. A commission was also given to Lamberton, "to go treat with the Swedish governor about satisfaction for those injuries and damages, and to agree with him about settling their trade and plantation." But

* Hol. Doc., iv., 71; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 279; Alb. Rec., iii., 224; xviii., 349; Hazard's State Papers, i., 160-174; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 36-38, 108-112; Winthrop, ii., 325. The subject of Plowden's claim to New Albion has been considered in C. King's Address, in Proc. N. J. H. S., i., 39-42; Pennington's "Examination of Beauchamp Plantagenet's Description of New Albion ;" Mulford's New Jersey, 66-74; and in Mr. Murphy's very excellent note to the "Vertoogh van N. N.", in ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 323-326. + Winthrop, ii., 130, 140, 141; John Thickpenny's Deposition, in New Haven Col. Rec., i., 97-99; S. Hazard's Ann. Penn., 74-76. ‡ Hazard, ii., 11; Winthrop, ii., 140.