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1648.

timber." The sachems themselves warned the intruding CH. XIV. Swedes to depart, and told thern that they had already ceded the spot to the Dutch, who, moreover, "should build there." Two of the principal chiefs then "planted there, with their own hands, the colors of the Prince of Orange,” and asked Hudde to fire a gun three times "as a mark that he had taken possession." This was done; and the first house in the new Dutch Fort "Beversrede" was raised in the presence of the sachems.*

Fort Be

versrede.

ence of the

by the sav

Toward evening, Huygens, the Swedish commissary, Interferarrived at Fort Beversrede, with seven or eight men, and swedes. demanded by whose authority Hudde was raising the building. "By order of my masters, and with the previ ous consent of the savages," replied the Dutch commissary. The sachems now interposed. "We shall grant this land Reproved to the Dutch, who will settle here; but by whose orders ages. do the Swedes erect buildings here?" said they to Huygens. "Is it not enough that the Swedes are already in possession of Matinnekonk, the Schuylkill, Kinsessing, Kakanken, Upland, and other places, all of which they have stolen from us? About ten or eleven years ago, Minuit had no more than six small tracts of land upon Paghaghking, which he bought to plant there some tobacco, of which we were to enjoy half the produce. You would be greatly surprised if we were to come to you and purchase land, and then take the land adjoining it, as you have done on the river here, and yet continue to do. You would even prescribe laws to us, who are the original and natural proprietors of the land, as if we might not do with our own what we wish. The Swedes have only lately arrived on the river, yet they have already taken so much land from us, which they have actually settled; while the Dutch have never taken from us any land, although they have dwelt here and conversed with us more than thirty years." With this admonition from the savages, Huygens and his party retired, and Hudde continued his "commenced

انو

* Alb. Rec., iii., 258; vii., 80; xvii., 268, 321; Hudde's Report, 436-439; O'Call., ii., 80; Hazard, Ann. Penn., 94-99, 115; ante, 232, 426.

1648.

May.

CH. XIV. work." While he was thus engaged, Mounce Kling, the Swedish lieutenant of the fort on the Schuylkill, arrived "with twenty-four men, fully armed with charged muskets, and bearing maces, marching in ranks." To his demand whether the Dutch intended to proceed with their fort, Hudde promptly replied, "What is commenced must Damages be finished." Upon this, the Swedish soldiers were orthe dered to cut down every tree near the house.

inflicted by

Swedes.

16 May.

The order was soon executed; and even the fruit trees which Hudde had planted were destroyed.*

Campanius, who had accompanied Printz to New SweCampani den as chaplain six years before, now returned home. Sweden. His desire to improve the condition of the savages induced

returns to

Plowden

again visits

May.

him to study their language; and he has the honor of having been the first missionary among the Indians of Delaware and Pennsylvania. After his return to Sweden, he completed the translation, which he had begun at Tinnicum, of Luther's Catechism into the Lenni-Lenape tongue, in which, accommodating the Lord's Prayer to the circumstances of the savages, he interpreted the petition for "daily bread" into a supplication for "a plentiful supply of venison and corn."+

About the same time, Sir Edmund Plowden, the titular Manhattan. earl palatine of New Albion, whose pretensions had been derided by Kieft in 1643, paid a second visit to Manhattan. He had now been "about seven years" in Virginia, where he lost all the property he had brought over. Plowden's absurd claim seems to have been treated as contemptuously by Stuyvesant as it had been by Kieft; and the bankrupt earl palatine went to Boston, on his way "to England for supply, intending to return and plant Delaware, if he could get sufficient strength to dispossess the

14 June.

* Hudde's Report, 439, 440; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 100, 101.

+ Campanius, Preface, 72; Records of Swedes' Church; S. Hazard, Ann. Penn., 101, 102. The translated Catechism, a copy of which is in the library of the Am Phil. Society, was printed in Delaware and Swedish at Stockholm, in 1696. Campanius died on the 17th of September, 1683. In 1702, his grandson, who had never been in America, published the "Description of New Sweden," now generally quoted as "Campanius." A translation of this work, by Mr. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia, was issued by the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1834.

1648.

Swedes." But his purpose was never executed; though, CH. XIV. upon reaching London, he seems to have published a romantic pamphlet-" Description of the Province of New Plantage Albion"-under the fabulous name of "Beauchamp Plan- net's New tagenet."*

Albion.

lagen and

tagne sent

River.

In the mean time, the West India Company had ex- 4 April. pressed their dissatisfaction that the limits between the Swedes, the English, and the Dutch were still unsettled. Stuyvesant accordingly dispatched Van Dincklagen and Van Dinck La Montagne to the South River, with instructions to pro- La Moncure a formal confirmation of the lands which had been to the South previously purchased of the savages. Three days after 7 June. their arrival at Fort Nassau, the commissioners proceeded to Fort Beversrede, and invited to a conference the native chiefs and "rulers over the territories and lands lying on and around the Schuylkill, called Armenveruis." Their 10 June. former sale to Arendt Corssen, of "the Schuylkill and ad- the Schuyl joining lands," was now irrevocably confirmed; and of all firmed. this territory the Dutch officers "took a public and lawful possession."+

Purchase of

kill con

with

Continued

The commissioners then sailed to Tinnicum "with a be- Interview coming suite," and solemnly protested against the injuri- Printz. ous acts of the Swedish governor. Nevertheless, Printz continued his vexatious conduct. Hans Jacobsen, attempt- 2 July. ing to establish himself on the Schuylkill, was stopped, and annoythreatened "that if he came there again and dared to the build, he should carry off with him a good drubbing." A 6 July. few days afterward, Thomas Broen was treated in a similar manner at "New Holm."

ances from

Swedes.

Hudde's re

The next autumn Hudde visited Manhattan, at Stuyve- 8 Sept. sant's summons, and made a report on the situation of af- port. fairs on the South River, with suggestions for their improvement. Not long afterward, the director received in- 25 Sept. telligence of new provocations of the Swedes. Printz had

→ Winthrop, ii., 325; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 279, 323-326; arte, p. 381, 382; Appendix, note E. Plantagenet's "Description" has been reprinted by Mr. Force, in his Collection. of Tracts, vol. ii.

† Alb. Rec., iv., 5; Hudde's Report, 440; Hol. Doc., viii., 55; O'Call., ii., 81; Hazard, Ann. Penn., 102; ante, p. 232.

1648.

16 Sept.

CH. XIV. built a large house, thirty feet long and twenty wide, in front of Fort Beversrede, and within twelve feet of its gate, so that it could now be scarcely seen from the river. The inland savages, too, were dissatisfied that the river was not "always crowded" with Dutch cargoes; for the Swedes had but few. The commissariat of the company was "in want of every necessary article," and there were now only six able-bodied men on the South River to garrison the two Dutch forts.*

Settlement It was therefore determined to commence the coloniza

commenced

yunk.

18 October. Hudde returned to Fort Nassau.

by the Swedes.

at Passa- tion of Passayunk; and patents were granted to Simon Root and other freemen, to settle and build on the Schuyl kill, at "the Mast-maker's Point." With these patentees, Preparations were immediately made for building in the neighborhood of Fort Beversrede; and the palisades around that post which the 4 Nov. Swedes had torn down were replaced. The work had scarcely been repaired, before it was destroyed a second Interrupted time by the Swedes. The same day, the Swedish lieutenant, Swen Schute, going to Mast-maker's Point, where Root was beginning to raise a house, forbade him to proceed. At the intercession of Adriaen van Tienhoven, the clerk of the court on the South River, and Alexander Boyer, the deputy commissary, Schute "relented" until they could send to Fort Nassau and obtain Hudde's further orders. These were sent the same night; and at sunrise the next morning Schute warned the Dutch officers that he had also received "positive orders" from Printz to destroy what they had built. Ordering his men to draw their swords, he marched to Mast-maker's Point, followed by the Dutch. In spite of all protests, and the exhibition of Stuyvesant's instructions, the Swedes presently destroyed Root's building, "using their swords in lieu of axes."

5 Nov.

7 Nov.

Protests of

Hudde, not having "any other arms than paper,” again the Dutch. protested against this "destruction of mutual harmony and friendship." Van Tienhoven also wrote to Stuyvesant, de

9 Nov.

* Alb. Rec., v., 71; xvii., 268; Hol. Doc., viii., 32-35; Hudde's Report, 440, 441; S. Hazard, 78, 102-104.

1648.

tailing the injurious conduct of the Swedish officers, and CH. XIV. urging him to examine in person the situation of the South River, "because the Swedes do here what they please." They had entirely shut out the garrison at Fort Beversrede from "the sight of the water on the kill," and had not left them land enough "to make a small garden in the spring." The savages, too, "continually renew their demand for powder and balls." Commerce was "nearly spoiled;" for the Dutch were compelled to give two fathoms of white, and one fathom of black sewam for a beaver. This barter was "rather too much against them." Every fathom, it was found, amounted "to three ells," as "the Indians always take the largest and tallest among them to trade with us."*

affairs at

sterdam.

partment.

The director, in the mean time, had not neglected mu- Municipal nicipal affairs at New Amsterdam. Commissary Keyser, New Amfrom the council, and Thomas Hall, Martin Kregier, and George Woolsey, from the commonalty, were appointed "fire-wardens," to visit and inspect all the houses in the 23 January. town, "between the fort and the Fresh Water." In case any house should be burned through the owner's negligence, he was to be fined twenty-five guilders. If the fire- Fire dewardens should condemn any chimney as foul, the owner was to pay a fine of three guilders, "to be appropriated to the maintenance of fire-ladders, hooks, and buckets, which shall be provided and procured the first opportunity." Taverns were also regulated. As "almost one full fourth part of the town of New Amsterdam" had become "houses for the sale of brandy, tobacco, or beer," it was ordained that 10 March. no new taverns should be licensed, except by the unanimous regulated. consent of the director and council. Those already established might, however, continue for four years longer, upon condition that their owners would abstain from selling to the savages, report all brawls to the council, and procure.

* Alb. Rec., v., 6, 10, 11; vii., 206; xvii., 340-348; Hol. Doc., viii., 35, 36, 57, 58;. Hudde's Report, 441, 442; O'Call., ii., 83; Hazard, Ann. Penn., 104-108; ii., N. Y. H. S. Coll., ii., 248. A fathom was commonly estimated at as much as a man could reach with outstretched arms. The Indians, therefore, had good reason to choose their "largest and tallest" men to trade with the Dutch.

Taverns

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