Vol. XII.

No. 2.

THE English claim to that part of North America in which Pennsylvania is situated, was based upon the voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1498. In that voyage Cabot discovered the Island of Newfoundland, and then directing his prow southward, he skirted the Atlantic coast as far as Charleston harbor in South Carolina. In August, 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch East India Company, discovered Delaware Bay, and spent a day in its exploration. Upon this fact the Dutch based their claim to the adjacent regions. In the summer of 1610, Lord Delaware, on his way to Virginia as Governor and CaptainGeneral of that ill-regulated colony, entered the bay which has borne his name almost ever since. In 1623, Captain Cornelius May, in the service of the Dutch East India Company, entered the bay and sailed up the river as far as the mouth of the Schuylkill. He assigned to the Capes at the entrance of the bay his

Own name-the southern one he called Cape Cornelius, and the northern Cape May. The latter still retains the name he gave it; the name of the former was soon changed to Cape Henlopen. The Dutch called the Delaware river the South river, to distinguish it from the North river at New Amsterdam, now New York; and the bay they called the South Bay, a name soon changed to Godyn's Bay, after the patroon Samuel Godyon, who, in 1629, received a patent for a large tract of land there.

In the early part of the year 1638, Peter Minuit,* who had some years before been the Dutch Governor of New Netherlands, but now in the Swedish service, arrived within the capes with two vessels from Sweden, the Key of Colmar and the Bird Griffin, both vessels "laden with people, provisions, ammunition, and

*This man figures variously as Menewe, Menuet, Minuit, Minuits, and Minnewitz.

merchandise suitable for traffic, and gifts to the Indians." These Swedish colonists landed near the place where Lewes, in the State of Delaware, now stands. They called the place Paradise Point. They at once purchased land from the natives, extending from Cape Henlopen to the falls in the Delaware, at what is now Trenton, New Jersey, and stretching indefinitely westward. They do not seem to have made a permanent settlement at Paradise Point, but at the mouth of Christiana Creek, near the site of the present city of Wilmington, where they built Fort Christina. The Swedes tacitly admitted the claims of the Dutch to the eastern side of the bay, but allowed them no right to the western side. The latter, however, had occupied the western side some years before the coming of the Swedes. In 1631 they had built a fort and formed a settlement called Swaanandael, on Cape Henlopen; but in the same year the Indians attacked and destroyed the place and killed the inhabitants. The Dutch of New Netherlands looked upon the Swedish settlement at Fort Christina with distrust and alarm. Governor Kieft promptly sent a protest to Minuit, in which he says: 'The whole South river of the New Netherlands, both above and below, hath already, for many years, been our property, occupied by our forts, and sealed with our blood; which was also done when you were in service in the New

Netherlands, and you are, therefore, well aware of this. But whereas you have now come among our forts to build a fortress to our injury and damage, which we shall never permit; as we are also assured that Her Royal Majesty of Sweden has never given you authority to build forts upon our rivers and coasts, nor to settle people on the land, nor to traffic in peltries, nor to undertake anything to our injury we do, therefore, protest against all the disorder and injury, and all the evil consequences of bloodshed, uproar and wrong which our Trading Company may thus suffer and that we shall protect our rights in such manner as we may find most advisable."* For the present, however, the Dutch confined themselves to protest, and the Swedish colony prospered under the care of Minuit. He continued to preside over their affairs for above three years. Acrelius says he died at Fort Christina; but Dr. Reynolds, in a foot note, says that Minuit returned to Sweden, and disappeared from the further history of the colony. He was succeeded in the governership by Peter Hollendare, who continued in that position for about a year and a half.

Hollendare was followed by Governor John Printz, who sailed from Stockholm in August, 1642, and ar

*"A History of New Sweden," by Israel Acrelius. Translated, etc., by Wm. M. Reynolds, D.D., Philadelphia, 1874. pp. 26, 27.

rived at Fort Christina in February, 1643. Six months was not an usual length of time in which to make the passage from Europe to America in those days, and it does not seem surprising when we consider the old tubs in which they floated across, and the roundabout course which they pursued. Printz sailed on this occasion with three vessels, the Fama, the Swan, and the Charitas, all "laden with people and other necessaries." Acrelius says that he sailed along the coast of Portugal and Africa, then directly across, leaving the Canary Islands far to the north. They landed at Antigua, one of the West India Islands, and then turning northward, they skirted the coast of North America as far as Cape Henlopen. In view of this "long route," Acrelius thinks that six months' time "quick enough" for the voyage. We should incline to the same opinion.

was

Governor Printz upon sailing was supplied by the Swedish Council of State with a paper of "Instructions," according to which he was to "regulate himself, as well during his voyage as upon his arrival in the country." The preamble affirms that "Her Royal Majesty approves and finds. this, their undertaking and voyaging not only laudable in itself, but reasonable, and likely, in the course of time, to benefit and strengthen Her Royal Majesty and the Swedish Throne." He was instructed to endeavor to cultivate a good understanding with all his neighbors,—the

Hollanders, of New Netherlands, the English of Virginia, as well as with "the Wild Nations.” There is an

undertone of doubtfulness in the paper, in reference to the people of New Netherlands. The Dutch and Swedes made counter claims to both sides of the South river. The latter claimed that they had purchased from "the wild inhabitants of the country" the whole of the eastern side of the river, from Cape May northward to Raccoon Creek. The Dutch had possession of the eastern side, and had a fort called Fort Nassau, at the mouth of Timber Creek, where Gloucester, New Jersey, now stands. These people, according to Printz's Instructions, "also make pretensions to the whole western side of the aforesaid South river, and consequently to all that of which our subjects aforesaid have taken possession, which they have seized, relying upon their Fort Nassau, whereby they. would take possession of the whole South river, and of the whole country, situated upon both sides of the same river." Such extravagant claims and pretensions Printz is instructed to resist,-first by remonstrance and admonition, and if these will not do, then he is to "repel force by force." He is further instructed to provide a suitable place for a fortification, such as will enable him to close up the South river, "having it commanded by the same fortress," but if Fort Christina should found sufficient for his purpose, noth

be

ing more was necessary in that direction. The governor saw fit to establish himself upon Tinicum Island, in the Delaware, about nine miles below the present site of Philadelphia. He chose this place mainly because Fort Nassau "lay some miles over against it, to which he could thus command the passage by water." He called the fortification which he erected here New Gotheborg. It was a place of strength, and was furnished with considerable armament.

Troubles with the Dutch were not long in developing. The doughty Peter Stuyvesant became Governor of New Netherlands in 1646. Various attempts were made by the Hollanders to get a legal footing in the coveted territories, but Governor Printz had for many years succeeded in frustrating their efforts. In 1651, however, they purchased, or pretended to have purchased from the Indians a tract of land on the western shore. This was a portion of the land that the Swedes in the time of Minuit had

already purchased. Acrelius says,

"It is therefore unreasonable to believe that the true owners of the land subscribed that bill of sale." At all events, shortly afterwards the Dutch took possession of the region, and built a fort, which they called Fort Casimir, on the spot where New Castle, Delaware now stands. To all this Governor Printz strongly objected, but he does not seem to have had the means of making his objec

tions effectual. As an offset to this enterprise on the part of the Dutch, Printz erected, at what is now Salem Creek, in New Jersey, a fort which he called Elfsborg. The Swedes had forts also at Passayunk, Manayunk, and Upland. By the fort at Elfsborg the Dutch vessels passing up the river were intercepted and compelled to lower their flags. This, says Acrelius, "stuck very hard in their maw." The Dutch chronicler Adrian Van der Donck, quoted by Acrelius, complains of the proceedings of the Swedes. "The Swedish governor," he says, "thinking that now is the right time, has built a fort called Elsingborg. There he holds a high hand over each and all, even over the vessels of our Trading company, and all those who sail up into the South river, compelling them to strike their flags, without exception. He sends two men on board to inquire where they come from, which is scarcely better than searching us, to which it will come at last." This fort, however, was afterwards abandoned by the Swedes and destroyed, as it was found to be almost impossible to live there on account of the gnats. Many people since then have become familiar with the size and activity of the New Jersey mosquitoes; but this is perhaps the only instance on record where that lively insect has succeded in capturing a fortified post and driving the garrison away.

Van der Donck relates another case of outrageous proceeding on the part