The extent of New-Netherland was to Delaware, then called South river, and beyond it; for I find, in the Dutch records, a copy of a letter from William Kieft, May 6, 1638, directed to Peter Minuit,* who seems, by the tenor of it, to be the Swedish governor of New-Sweden, asserting, "that the whole south river of New-Netherlands had been in the Dutch possession many years, above and below, beset with forts, and sealed with their blood :"-Which, Kieft adds, has happened even during your administration "in New-Netherland, and so well known to you."

The Dutch writers are not agreed in the extent of Nova Belgia or New-Netherland; some describe it to be from Virginia to Canada, and others inform us that the arms of the States General were erected at Cape Cod, Connecticut, and Hudson's river, and on the west side of the entrance into Delaware bay. The author of the pamphlet mentioned in the notes gives Canada river for a boundary on the north, and calls the country, northwest from Albany, Terra Incognita.

In 1640, the English, who had overspread the eastern part of Long-Island, advanced to Oysterbay. Kieft broke up their settlement in 1642, and fitted out two sloops to drive the English out of Schuylkill, of which the Marylanders had lately possessed themselves. The instructions, dated May 22, to Jan Jansen Alpendam, who commanded in that enterprise, are upon record, and strongly assert the right of the Dutch both to the soil and trade there. The English from the eastward shortly after sent deputies to New-Amsterdam, for the accommodation of their

See Note C.

disputes about limits, to whom the Dutch offered the following conditions, entered in their books exactly in these words:

"Conditiones à D. Directore Gen. senatuys Novi Belgii, Dominis e Wytingh atque Hill, Delegatis a nobili Senatu Hartfordiensi, oblatæ :

"Pro agro nostro Hartfordiensi, annuo persolvent Præpotentiff. D. D. Ordinibus Foed. Provinciarum Belgicarum aut eorum vicariis, decimam partem reventus agrorum, tum aratro tum ligone, alieve cultorum medio; pomariis, hortisq: oleribus dicatis, jugerum Hollandium non excedentibus exceptis ; aut decimarum loco, pretium nobile postea constituendum, tam diu quàm diu possessores ejusdum agri futuri erunt. Actum in arce Amstelodamensi in novo Belgio, Die Julii 9, Anno Christi 1642."

We have no account that the English acceded to these proposals, nor is it probable, considering their superior strength, that they ever did: on the contrary they daily extended their possessions, and, in 1643, the colonies of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New-Haven entered into a league both against the Dutch and Indians, and grew so powerful as to meet shortly after, upon a design of extirpating the former. The Massachusetts Bay

declined this enterprise, which occasioned a letter to Oliver Cromwell from William Hooke, dated at New Haven, November 3, 1653, in which he complains of the Dutch, for supplying the natives with arms and ammunition, begs his assistance with two or three frigates, and that letters might be sent to the eastern colonies, commanding them to join in an expedition against the Dutch colony, Oliver's affairs

would not admit of so distant an attempt;*—but Richard Cromwell afterwards drew up instructions to his commanders for subduing the Dutch here, and wrote letters to the English American governments for their aid-copies of which are preserved in Thurloe's Collection, vol. I. p. 721, &c.

Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch governor ; and though he had a commission in 1646, he did not begin his administration till May 27, 1647.— The inroads and claims upon his government kept him constantly employed. New-England on the east, and Maryland on the west, alarmed his fears by their daily increase; and about the same time captain Forrester, a Scotchman, claimed LongIsland for the dowager of Stirling. The Swedes too were encroaching upon Delaware: through the unskilfulness of the mate, one Deswyck, a Swedish captain and supercargo, arrived in Raritan river; • the ship was seized, and himself made a prisoner at New-Amsterdam. Stuyvesant's reasons these-In 1651, the Dutch built fort Casimir, now called Newcastle, on Delaware. The Swedes, in-→ deed, claimed the country, and Printz their governor formally protested against the works. Risingh, his successor, under the disguise of friendship, came before the fortress, fired two salutes, and landed thirty men, who were entertained by the commandant as friends; but he had no sooner discovered the weakness of the garrison, than he made himself master of it, seizing also upon all the ammunition, houses, and other effects of the West-India Company, and com

were

See note D.

pelling several of the people to swear allegiance to Christina, queen of Sweden. The Dutch, in 1655, prepared to retake fort Casimir. Stuyvesant commanded the forces in person, and arrived with them in Delaware the 9th of September. A few days after, he anchored before the garrison, and landed his troops. The fortress was immediately demanded as Dutch property: Suen Scutz, the commandant, desired leave to consult Risingh, which being refused, he surrendered the 16th of September, on articles of capitulation. The whole strength of the place consisted of four cannon, fourteen pounders, five swivels, and a parcel of small arms, which were all delivered to the conquered. Fort Christini was commanded by Risingh. Stuyvesant came before it, and Risingh surrendered it upon terms the twentyfifth of September. The country being thus subdued, the Dutch governor issued a proclamation in favour of such of the inhabitants as would submit to the new government, and about thirty Swedes swore "fidelity and obedience to the States General, the lords directors of the West-India Company, their subalterns of the province of New-Netherlands, and the director general then, or thereafter, to be established." Risingh and one Elswych, a trader of note, were ordered to France or England, and the rest of the Swedish inhabitants to Holland, and from thence to Gottenberg. The Swedes being thus extirpated, the Dutch became possessed of the west side of Delaware bay, now called the three lower counties.

This country was afterwards under the command of lieutenant governors, subject to the control of, and commissioned by, the director general at New

Amsterdam. Johan Paul Jaquet was the first vicedirector, or lieutenant governor, of South River.His successors were Alricks Hinojossa, and William Beekman. The posterity of the last remains amongst us to this day. These lieutenants had power to grant lands, and their patents make a part of the ancient titles of the present possessors. Alrick's commission, of the twelfth of April 1657, shows the extent of the Dutch claim on the west side of Delaware at that time. He was appointed "director-general of the colony of the South River of New-Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimir, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the lands depending thereon, according to the first purchase and deed of release of the natives, dated July 19, 1651, beginning at the west side of the Minquaa, or Christina Kill, in the Indian language named Suspecough, to the mouth of the bay or river called Bompt-hook, in the Indian language Cannaresse; and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaas' land, with all the streams, &c. appurtenances, and dependencies." Of the country northward of the Kill, no mention is made. Orders, in 1658, were given to William Beekman to purchase cape Hinlopen from the natives, and to settle and fortify it, which, for want of goods, was not done till the succeeding year.

In the year 1659, fresh troubles arose from the Maryland claim to the lands on South river; and in September colonel Nathaniel Utie, as commissioner from Fendal, lord Baltimore's governor, arrived at Niewer Amstel, from Maryland. The country was ordered to be evacuated, lord Baltimore claiming all VOL 1-2