chained fast, and whom they most feared, twenty-five arrows before they could dispatch him. They then proceeded towards the rest of the men, who were at their work, and going amongst them with pretensions of friendship, struck them down. Thus was our young colony destroyed, causing us serious loss."

Taught by this sad experience, De Vries adopted an eminently pacific policy, and, by the free use of presents and mild words, gradually gained the esteem and confidence of the savages, and finally succeeded in concluding a treaty of peace. On the first day of the year 1633, De Vries sailed up the river in quest of food, which had been nearly exhausted in his long voyage out. At Fort Nassau he met numbers of the natives, whom he found to be the sole occupants, and who had assembled to trade away their furs; but the voyagers could enter upon no trade for gain until their necessities were first satisfied. They accordingly moved on up the river, where they found natives wearing English jackets, which proved to have belonged to a party from the Virginia colony who had visited the river the year before in a sloop, and had been murdered through the treachery of the Indians. At the mouth of Minquaskill (Christina Creek) they saw a whale, but, having no means for taking it, returned to the ship at Swanendael. On the 18th the yacht again sailed up the stream with a fresh supply of goods, but were frozen in and detained for nearly a month, experiencing a degree of cold which in this latitude, judging by the mild climate of Holland, they had deemed impossible. During their detention the crew sent out hunting parties, who returned with "wild turkeys weighing from thirty to thirty-six pounds." Still in want of certain kinds of provisions necessary for the health and well-being of his men, which he was unable to obtain from the natives, and evidently desirous of seeing what he could of the New World, De Vries sailed for Virginia, where he was well received by the Governor, who sent a present of six goats to his brother Governor at Manhattan, but was surprised to hear that the Dutch had settlements

upon the Delaware, setting forth that the territory upon that stream had been discovered by De la War. Having purchased the needed stores, De Vries returned, and found that the party whom he had left at Swanendael had taken but seven whales, and these very poor, yielding but thirty-two cartels of oil. De Vries was satisfied by the large numbers seen that whales frequented these waters, but the small quantities of oil obtained from those taken convinced him that the business would not be profitable. Accordingly, on the 14th of April, gathering in all his effects, and taking all his party with him, thus leaving the bay clear of Europeans, he set sail for Holland, touching on his way at Manhattan, and leaving the present of the English Governor of Virginia.

WOUTER VAN TWILLER, 1633–38.—A lucrative trade in furs had now been established in the New World, and the policy adopted by the West India Company seemed to be to make every other interest bend to the development of that. Hence only such permanent settlements as should enable them to hold firmly their possessions, and form a sufficient basis for trade, were encouraged. Accordingly, settlements upon the Delaware were made and abandoned as best suited their paramount purpose. As the trade increased in value, the strife became animated for its exclusive possession. And now a fatal evil in the system which had been adopted by the Company, was developed. Patroonship and directorship came in conflict. Patroons had seized upon all the most valuable lands, and profitable points of trade, and the director and his council, who were vested with supreme authority, found themselves stripped of power. Bitter quarrels ensued. The director, Peter Minuit, having incurred the enmity of the powerful patroons, and forfeited the confidence of the Company, was recalled, and Wouter Van Twiller, a near relative of one of the most grasping of the patroons, Van Rensselaer, was selected to succeed him. To rectify their system, and to re-acquire the exclusive control of trade, which had now been proven to be profitable, the Company authorized the purchase

of patroonships. Accordingly, on the 7th of February, 1635, all the patroons having title to lands upon the Delaware sold their interests in them to the Directors of the Company for fifteen thousand six hundred gilders, equal to six thousand two hundred and forty dollars.

In the mean time, the New England colonies having rapidly increased in population, a party from Connecticut, during this same year, incited by the love of adventure, under command of George Holmes, sailed to the Delaware, with the design of planting themselves upon its shores. At Fort Nassau they found a Dutch garrison in possession, which they attacked. Finding it stronger than they anticipated, they were obliged to surrender to the party whom they had sought to conquer, who sent them as prisoners to Manhattan, where they were pardoned and allowed to settle in the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam, the first English to acquire a habitation in New Netherland.

CHAPTER II.

DUTCH AND SWEDISH RULE, 1638-55.

IR WILLIAM KIEFT, 1638-47.-PETER MINUIT, 163841.-Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, a monarch no less renowned for his arbitrary will and personal courage, than for his devotion to the rights of humanity and the privileges of the Protestant religion, seeing the enterprise displayed by neighboring rulers in planting colonies and acquiring lands in the New World, determined to extend the power of his own throne in the same direction. As early as 1626, a Swedish West India Company was incorporated by the States of Sweden, under royal sanction and patronage, and William Usselincx, a Netherlander, who claimed to have been the originator of the Dutch Company, was appointed to lead an expedition. But before the anticipations of prosperity and power which were fondly indulged could be realized, and to a participation in which all nations were invited, Gustavus. found the Protestant religion in Germany in danger of overthrow, and postponing his plans of colonization for the time, and arbitrarily seizing the treasure which had been pledged to the new company, he buckled on his armor and led his legions to the defence of the cherished faith. At the battle of Lützen, fought on the 16th of October, 1632, where a glorious triumph for Protestantism and the rights of conscience was gained, the great monarch fell, mortally wounded. Though borne down by the cares and sore trials of the campaign, he had not forgotten his fond purpose of colonization, which he had come to regard as "the jewel of his kingdom," and a few days before his death he earnestly commended it to the people of Germany. It was not the hope of trade

which allured him, but the visions of colonists planted in happy homes, a blessing to the common man, to the whole Protestant world, to all oppressed Christendom.

Christina, the little daughter of the king, succeeded to the throne, and Oxenstiern, the prime minister, desirous of carrying out the cherished policy of his late master, renewed the charter of the Company, and extended its benefits to Germany, the Chambers at Frankfort confirming the act on the 26th of June, 1633. But for more than four years active operations were delayed. Near the close of the year 1637, a little company of Swedes and Finns embarked in two small vessels, the Key of Calmar and the Griffin, under the charge of the same Peter Minuit, who, in 1626, had been invested with the general directorship of New Netherland, and who, in 1632, after being involved in frequent quarrels with the Patroons, had been superseded by Wouter Van Twiller.

Early in the spring of 1638, the vessels arrived in Delaware Bay, and the lands from the southern cape to the falls near Trenton were purchased of the Indians. Near the mouth of a little creek on the northern limits of the State of Delaware, which, in honor of their youthful sovereign, they called Christina Creek, the party landed and erected a fort, which they likewise named Christina. Kieft, who was now Director of New Netherland, sent a vigorous protest to Minuit against occupying and erecting forts on any part of the territory claimed by the Dutch Company, of which the lands upon the Delaware were a part. "This," says Kieft, "has been our property for many years, occupied with forts, and sealed by our blood, which also was done when thou wast in the service of New Netherland, and is therefore well known to thec." Minuit, trusting to the power of the flag under which he sailed, for Sweden was now one of the foremost of nations, paid little attention to this protest, but went on with the erection of his fort, entered upon a vigorous competition for the trade in furs, an art which he had learned while in the service of the Dutch, and by the end of July had completed, his fort had erected pillars inscribed with the