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ny of Pavonia had been lately purchased up for $10,400, chapter so that of the three large patroonships only Rensselaerswyk remained. By a new "charter of privileges and 1640. exemptions," patroonships were limited for the future July 17. to four miles of frontage on navigable waters, with a depth of eight miles. Every person transporting himself and five others to the colony was to be entitled to two hundred acres of land; and such villages and towns as might be formed were to have magistrates of their own. The prohibition against making cloths was repealed. The monopoly of the Indian trade was also relinquished, and, in place of it, a moderate export duty was imposed; but the company still maintained the monopoly of transportation to and from the colony. The Dutch Reformed Church was declared the established religion, to be alone publicly taught; and the company undertook to provide preachers, schoolmasters, and "comforters of the sick."

Some

Under this new arrangement a number of immigrants came from Holland, some of them men of means. English indented servants, who had served out their time in Virginia, settled also in New Netherland, where they carried on the cultivation of tobacco. Settlers also still came in from New England, Anabaptists and others, driven away by religious intolerance. Upon all these strangers an oath of fidelity to the States-General was imposed.

Considerable portions of the western end of Long Island, the only valuable and fertile part of it, had been already purchased of the Indians. The whole of the present Queen's county was now included in the Dutch limits; and, in addition to the settlements at Wallabout and Flatlands, another at Breukelen was commenced. 1639. About the same time, Staten Island, except the bowery

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CHAPTER of De Vries, was granted as a colony or patroonship to Cornelis Melyn, while another was soon after erected 1641. on the main land extending from Newark Bay, which the Dutch called Achter Cul, to Tappan. New boweries were established in every direction, Two annual fairs were presently set up at New Amsterdam, the one for cattle, and the other for hogs. A "fine stone tavern" was built; and, through the zeal of Captain De Vries, who contrasted the New England meeting-houses with "the mean barn" at New Amsterdam, a new stone 1642. church was erected within the inclosure of the fort, partly at the company's expense and partly by subscription. The settlement at Red Hill, which the English called New Haven, was considered by the Dutch an alarming encroachment. The traders at the House of Good Hope, on the Connecticut, surrounded by the English settlers at Hartford, were not only confined to a plot of thirty acres, beyond which they were not permitted to culti vate, but by a variety of petty annoyances it was attempted to drive them away altogether. Long Island was claimed as the property of Lord Sterling, and his agents in New England were busy in making grants. One Farrett, a Scotsman, an agent of Sterling's, presented himself at New Amsterdam, claiming the whole. of Long Island; but he was driven away, followed by 1640. the jeers of the mob. A party from Lynn, in Massa

chusetts, attempted to settle toward the western end of that island, under one of Farrett's grants. They pulled down the Dutch arms from a tree to which they were affixed, and carved an "unhandsome face" in their stead. Taken prisoners by a detachment of Dutch soldiers under Secretary Van Tienhoven, these insolent intruders, after apology and promise to leave the Dutch territory, retired to the east end of Long Island, a sandy and bar

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ren region, where they founded the town of Southamp- CHAPTER ton, and put themselves under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. Southold, in the same neighborhood, settled 1641. by another Puritan party, associated itself with the colony of New Haven. Kieft, in a Latin letter to the governor of Massachusetts, protested against English encroachments, first on the Connecticut, then at Red Hill, and now on Long Island. Dudley, in reply, disclaimed any responsibility for settlers who did not acknowledge the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.

An attempt had been made to stop the encroachments of the English by purchasing from the Indians the lands along the north shore of the Sound, those especially in the neighborhood of the "Archipelago," the group of little islands at the mouth of Norwalk River. But settlers from Connecticut, crossing the Housatonic, had already planted the towns of Stratford and Fairfield. Another party, advancing still farther west, in spite of the remonstrances of the Dutch, established themselves at Stamford. Still another party fixed themselves at Greenwich, ultimately the frontier town of Connecticut; but these last, of whom the principal was Captain Patrick, formerly in the employ of Massachusetts, were presently persuaded to acknowledge the jurisdiction 1642. of the Dutch. About the same time, Mespath and April. Gravenzande, now Newtown and Gravesend, on Long Island, and Vredeland, now Westchester, on the main, Oct. 3. were occupied by Anabaptist refugees from Massachusetts, under charters of settlement from the Dutch. great, indeed, had the accession of English inhabitants become, as to make the appointment of an English secretary necessary, an office conferred upon George Baxter. Not confining their encroachments to the coasts of Long Island, the people of New Haven aspired to estabᎠ Ꭰ

I.

So

CHAPTER lish a trading-house, and to found a settlement up the XIII. Delaware Bay. In the prosecution of this undertaking 1641. some fifty families sailed from New Haven. They touchApril. ed at New Amsterdam, and informed Kieft of their in

tention, against which he protested on the spot; but, not heeding this protest, they proceeded to establish themselves, some on Delaware Bay, at Hog or Salem Creek, about twelve miles from the mouth of the river, and others on the Schuylkill. To this interference with their trade the Dutch would not submit. Two sloops May. were dispatched from New Netherland to break up this settlement, an enterprise in which the commander of the Swedish fort readily joined. This Swedish commander, "a very furious and passionate man, demeaned himself," if we may credit the New England account, "as if he had neither Christian nor moral conscience." Under false pretenses, he got Lamberton, the leader of the settlement, into his power, and obliged him to pay a ransom. The rest he compelled to swear allegiance -to Sweden. As Lamberton persisted in trading to the South River, he was stopped presently after at New Amsterdam, and compelled to give an account of his fur trade in the Delaware, and to pay duties on the whole. This proceeding gave very great offense at New Haven. Meanwhile, the quarrel with Connecticut had gone so far that Kieft proclaimed a non-intercourse with that colony.

While thus in controversy with their English neighbors, the people of New Amsterdam became involved also in hostilities with the Indians. Fire-arms were freely sold to the Mohawks by the colonists of Rensselaerswyk, who thus became more than ever the terror of their enemies; but Kieft would allow none to be sold to the Indians about New Amsterdam, upon whom, much

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to their disgust, he even undertook to levy a tribute. CHAPTER The Raritans, a tribe on the west shore of the Hudson, were accused of having attacked a Dutch bark with de- 1640. sign to rob it. They were also suspected, falsely it July. would seem, of stealing hogs from Staten Island. On these grounds, an expedition was sent against them, their crops were ravaged, and, in spite of the orders of Van Tienhoven, the leader, several warriors were barbarously killed. The Raritans amused the director with pro- 1641. posals of peace, but took the opportunity to attack July. Staten Island, where they killed four of De Vries's servants, and burned his buildings. Kieft persuaded some of the neighboring tribes to assist him, by offering ten fathoms of wampum for the head of every Raritan. That tribe was soon induced to make peace; but, meanwhile, a new quarrel had broken out.

Twenty years before, the servants of Director Minuets had murdered an Indian warrior, upon whose infant nephew, according to the notions of the Indians, the duty devolved of revenging his uncle's death. The nephew, now grown up, had performed that duty by killing an inoffensive old Dutchman. The murderer was demanded, but his tribe, who dwelt up the Hudson about Tappan, refused to give him up, on the ground that, in revenging his uncle's death, he had only done what he ought.

The director presently summoned a meeting of mas- Aug. 28. ters of boweries and heads of families to consult what should be done. As the harvest was not yet gathered, they advised to protract matters by again demanding the murderer, but, meanwhile, to prepare for an expedition. To assist in these preparations, a board of "Twelve Men" was appointed by the commonalty. This popular board presently turned their attention to civil af- 1642. fairs. Kieft's council consisted only of himself and La Jan. 21

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