south from Philadelphia. Here May landed and built Fort Nassau. This ad venture was not profitable. De Vries, it is conjectured, came over from Holland in the spring of 1631, with a ship and a yacht, laden with cattle, grain, seeds and agricultural implements. His people settled near Cape Henlopen, on Lewes Creek, which he named Hoorn-kill, probably after Hoorn, a port in north Holland. He built a trading-house, or fort, and leaving one of the emigrants in command returned home. This colony was destined to be of short duration. Soon after the departure of De Vries, a quarrel arose between the Dutch and the Indians, which speedily terminated in the slaughter of all the former, thirty-two in number.

De Vries came over again in 1633, to see the charred remains of his fort on Lewes Creek and the bones of his murdered countrymen, and sailed up to Fort Nassau, only to find it in the possession of the natives, its former occupants having mostly removed over to Fort Amsterdam. Thus, it will be seen that from the date of Hudson's discovery, 1609, up to the time of De Vries' second visit, every attempt of the Dutch to plant a colony on the Delaware had ended in failure and disappointment. Their settlements on Manhattan Island, and on the North River, in the meantime, had been more prosperous, and continued to grow in population and wealth until all their possessions in America, called New Netherlands, were finally surrendered to the English, under the treaty between the States-General and England, of the 9th of February, 1674.

Gustavus Adolphus, the soldier-king of Sweden, and the champion of the Protestant cause in Europe, in the early part of the seventeenth century, had projected a plan of sending out a colony to America, which he did not live to carry into execution, having fallen in the battle of Lutzen, in 1632, in the zenith of his fame; but his distinguished Chancellor, Oxenstiern, faithful to the memory of his king, and having confidence in the success of the enterprise, prevailed on Queen Christina, the daughter of Gustavus, to give it her patronage. Peter Minuit, who had been Governor of New Amsterdam, and had lately quarrelled with the Dutch Company and been dismissed from his office, was selected to take charge of the expedition, and under his direction two vessels, the "Key of Calmar" and the "Griffin," were equipped for the service. They were stored with provisions, with arms and ammunition, and with merchandise for

trade. They arrived in the early spring of 1638, and sailed up the Delaware. The colonists disembarked at "The Rocks," on Minquas Creek, where they at once erected a fort, naming it, in honor of their youthful Queen, Fort Christina.

By the public records at Stockholm, it appears that in 1640, several companies of emigrants left Sweden for the new colony. One ship, called the Fredenburg, laden with men, cattle, and implements of husbandry, was licensed by the Swedish authorities to proceed to New Sweden, as they called the country on the west side of the Delaware. Peter Minuit, the first Governor, died in 1641, and was succeeded by Hollendare, a native Swede and a soldier by profession, who was soon followed by John Printz, a lieutenant-colonel in the service of the Queen. Governor Printz came out with a little squadron of two ships of war and a transport, having on board soldiers and a large number of emigrants, and arrived at Christina on the 15th of February, 1643. In seeking a location for his colony he found a spot, a short distance above where Chester now stands, called by the Indians, Tenacong, since known as Tinicum, and, still later, as The Lazaretto. In his commission he was styled Governor of New Sweden. His instructions, dated at Stockholm, August 15, 1642, point out, in detail, his official duties. Among other things, he is directed:

"1st. To promote, by the most zealous endeavors, a sincere piety towards Almighty God, in all respects. To maintain the public worship according to the doctrines and rites of the National Church. To support a proper ecclesiastical discipline. To urge instruction and virtuous education of youth and children. To administer justice according to Swedish laws in decision of controversies, and penalties on offenders-even capital, on atrocious malefactors-but not without a scrupulous examination, and the approbation of his counsellors, whom he was to choose amongst the wisest and best men in the colony. To preserve, so far as practicable, the manners and customs of Sweden, accommodating them, in some cases, to existing circumstances. To promote diligently all profitable branches of industry." Particular attention is to be given to agriculture, and to the raising of cattle and sheep. He is also to create a traffic for peltry, with the Indians, and to explore the country for valuable kinds of woods and metals.

"2d. Relating to the Dutch and English. With the first mentioned he was to cultivate a friendly intercourse, but positively to deny their pretended right to any

part of the land on the west side of the river, purchased by the Swedes from the * and he was authorized, if all friendly negotiation

Indians;

* *

*

*

proved fruitless, to repel force by force." *

*

* *

*

"Some English fami

lies, about sixty persons, having settled in the preceding year, (1641) on Ferken's

Creek," (now Salem) *

* *

*

*

"he may receive them under allegiance

to the Swedish Crown, but rather by gentle means endeavor to effect their departure, as more expedient for the interest of her Majesty, and of the Company."

Soon after the arrival of Printz, the struggle began between the Dutch and the Swedes for the control of the territory on the west shore of the Delaware, from the Schuylkill to Cape Henlopen, the former claiming by right of discovery and settlement, the latter by settlement and purchase from the Indians. The Dutch also bought land from the natives and erected Fort Cassimir, at the place where New Castle now stands. Printz, apprehensive of trouble from this fort, and perhaps to solicit aid from the home government, returned to Sweden in 1652, or 1653, leaving his son-in-law in temporary command of the colony. Before his departure, Printz had built Fort Elfsborg, at the mouth of Salem Creek, on the east side of the Delaware, but this was abandoned, after the erection of Fort Cassimir, on the pretence that it was untenable on account of the mosquitoes, and was called, in ridicule, Fort Mosquito. He had also built Fort New Gottenburg at

Tinicum.

Printz was succeeded by Governor Rising, who came over in a man-of-war, with a military engineer, officers, and soldiers. Rising captured Fort Cassimir, the garrison being unprepared for defense, and capitulating on favorable terms.

About the middle of August, 1655, Governor Peter Stuyvesant, with a squadron of seven ships and transports, containing six or seven hundred men, sailed from New Amsterdam and arrived in the Delaware, on the 30th. On the 1st of September he recaptured Fort Cassimir, and on the 14th took possession of Fort Christina, without opposition, the Swedes being practically defenseless against the superior forces of the Dutch. All the other possessions of the Swedes, on the Delaware, fell into the hands of the Dutch at this time, and thenceforth the Swedish colony existed only in history.

John Paul Jaquet was the first Dutch Governor on the Delaware. The country

was divided into two colonies; one of these, including Christina, and extending from Christina to Bambo-Hook, was called the "Colony of the Company," and the other, extending north, up the Delaware, to the extent of the settlement, was called "The Colony of the City." Lands in the "Colony of the City," were conveyed in Amsterdam, by the Burgomasters and Council; deeds for land in the Company's Colony were executed by directors and commissioners. Jacob Alrich, December 19, 1656, was appointed Governor of the City Colony, by the Burgomasters and Council, and fixed his residence at New Amstel.* October 28th, 1658, William Beekman was appointed Governor over the Company's Colony, to reside at Altona, now Wilmington. He administered the affairs of the Company, regulated the trade, levied the customs payable on all vessels arriving at New Amstel, and superintended the Swedes.

The number of Swedish families in the colony at this time was 130, as ascertained by an official return, and they made a majority of the whole population. Allowing six persons to a family, there were probably not more than 1200 Europeans on the Delaware in 1659, including women and minors.

At first there was an attempt made to drive out the Swedes. Governor Stuyvesant ordered them to remove, notwithstanding that some of them had been in the country for more than twenty years, had cleared lands, built houses and planted orchards. They were a quiet, peaceable and inoffensive people. The parent government had declined in military power and national influence, and was no longer able to aid them in regaining the control of the country. They refused to go, and Governor Beekman not having any inclination to enforce Stuyvesant's order, nothing more was heard of it. In a few years the Dutch and Swedes, by family alliances, formed one people. The language of the Dutch had such affinity to the Swedish, that their children soon understood the religious services in the Swedes' Church and finally joined in their worship. The Dutch had no regular ministry among them. The Swedes, on the contrary, were careful to maintain public worship as regularly as their isolated situation would admit; and constituting so much the larger portion of the population, especially about Christina, the rising generation of the Dutch lost their national language and character so entirely, that, in 1697, Rudman, who had just arrived from Sweden, as a mission

Now New Castle.

ary, says: "We live scattered among the English, yet our language is preserved as pure as anywhere in Sweden." (Ferris' Original Settlements on the Delaware, 110.)

On August 27, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered to the English, and the remainder of the New Netherlands was soon subjected to the same authority. Colonel Nicholls assumed the administration of the territory on the west side of the Delaware, as Governor, under the Duke of York, to whom it had been granted by Charles II. on March 12, 1664. The Dutch, in August, 1673, recaptured all the New Netherlands, and once more in possession of their old domain in America, reestablished the government under their own officers. But, in the following year, on the conclusion of the war between England and the StatesGeneral, by the treaty of Westminister, made February 19, 1674, the country was restored to the English.

On the 4th of March, 1680, Charles II. granted to William Penn the province of Pennsylvania, and on the 24th of August, in the same year, the Duke of York conveyed to Penn the "territories of Pennsylvania," or "the three lower counties on Delaware." Sir Edmund Andross was the last Governor, under the Duke of York, who exercised authority over Delaware, his administration ending on the establishment of the Proprietary Government. Courts had been established in each of the Counties, and the Governor, as the deputy of the Duke, issued patents for locating lands, and executed deeds.

Penn first landed at New Castle, on the 24th of October, 1682, and after formally taking possession of the country, proceeded to Upland, now Chester, and on the 4th of November summoned an Assembly, to consist of an equal number of members for the province and the three lower counties, according to the 16th article of the frame of government which had been made before his departure from England, with the approval of the authorities there. At this Assembly an act of union was passed, annexing the three lower counties, at their own request, to the province, in all matters of legislation. Also an act of settlement, confirming certain laws agreed on in England, with some alterations, was passed in form. The Dutch, Swedes, and other foreigners were then naturalized, and the Assembly adjourned, after a session of three days. The Legislature was composed of a Provincial Council and Assembly, called the General Assembly,