Barent Lampe. Het achtiende deel of 'T vervolgh van het Historisch Verhael, 1629.
f. 94 r. Na dat de E .E. Heeren Bewint hebbers van de Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Mart ius 163 0 . Compagnie, inde Vereenighde Nederlande, alles wat tot defensie va Nieu-Neder
landt versorght, ende op alles goede ordre gestelt hadden, so hebben sy, con
siderende de gelegentheyt der voorsz plaets, de goede temperature des Luchts,
ende der Aerde, ende dat aldaer groote negotien ende Goederen, ende vele Coop
manschappen van daen soude connen ghevoert werden, eenighe vrywillighe personen
derwaerts met alderley Vee, ende ghereedtschappen tot de Land-bouwerije noodt
sakelijck gesonden, gelijck dan in het Jaer 1628. op het Eylandt vande Man
hattes al reede twee hondert ende tseventich zielen, soo Mannen als Vrouwen
ende kinderen, onder den Gouverneur Minut, Successeur van Verhulst, haer resi
dentie hielden, ende leefden in goede vrede met I nwoonders aldaer: Doch
also het landt groot ende op vele plaetsen vol onkruyt ende wild ghewas zijnde,
door de kleyne menighte des volcks, niet en conde ghecultiveert werden na be
hooren: Soo hebben de gemelde Heeren B ewinthebbers der West-Indische Compagnie,
om hare Landen te beter te vermenighvuldighen, ende het Landt tot meerder
Vruchtbaerheydt te brenghen, goet gevonden verscheyden Privilegien, Vryheden,
ende exemptien aen alle Patronen, Meesters ofte particuliere, die op Nieu
Nederlandt eenighe Colonien ende Vee souden p lanten, te gheven, ghelijck sy dan
dese volgende e x emptien, om aen een yeder die ghenegen soude zijn, op Nieu-
Nederlandt te woonen, ende sijn Colonien te planten, beter lust te maken ende
grooter uver te geven, hebben gheconstitueert ende in openbaren Druck uytghe
gheven. 2
Vryheden ende Exemptien voor de P atronen, Meesters ofte Particulieren, die op Nieu-N ederlandt eenighe Colonien ende Vee sullen planten, gheconsidereert ten dienst van de generale West-Indische Compag nie in Nieu-Nederlandt, ende het voordeel van de Patronen, Meesters ende Particulieren.
I.
Dat de Participanten in de ghemelde Compagnie, die geneghen sullen zijn in
Nieu-Nederlandt eenighe Colonien te planten, vermoghen met de Schepen van dese
Compagnie derwaerts gaende, drie ofte vier personen te senden, om de gheleghent f. 94 v. heyt aldaer te besichtighen, midts datse neffens de Of-/ficieren ende Boots
volck den Articul-Brief sullen be-eedigen, voor so veel die haer aengaet. Ende
"betalende voor mondt-cost, Passagie van gaen ende comen, ses stuyvers daeghs:
Ende die in de Cajuyte soude versoecken te eten, twaelf stuyvers, ende hun
onderwerpen in cas van offensie ende defensie haer ter weere te stellen, ghe
lijck als d ’andere; Ende eenighe Schepen van den Vyandt veroverende, sullen
oock haers portie ghenieten Pro Rata, neffens de Bootsghesellen, yeder na sijn
qualiteyt, te weten, dat de Coloniers buyten de Cajuyt etende, gherekent
sullen worden neffens de Matrosen, ende die in de Cajuyte eten teghens den
ghenen die aldaer van 'sCompagnies Volck de Tafel, ende de cleynste gagie
heeft.
2. D och sullen in desen gheprefereert zijn soodanighe personen, die haer
eerst sullen hebben geopenbaert, ende aen de Compagnie versocht.
3. Ende sullen voor Patronen van Nieu-Nederlandt erkent worden, alle soo
danighe die binnen den tijdt van vier Jaren, na dat sy haer aen eenighe Camer
van de Compagnie alhier, ofte aen den Commandeur ofte Raden aldaer, sullen ver- 3
claren, datse een Colonie van vijftigh zielen boven de vijfthien Jaren oudt
zijnde aldaer aennemen te planten, een vierde part binnen 'sJaers, ende in
drie Jaren na de sendinghe van d'eerste, makende t'samen vier Jaren de rest
erende tot het voile ghetal van vijftigh personen van hier te schepe, op pene
van by notoir versuym te verliesen de vercreghene Vryheden; doch sullen g e
waerschout zijn, dat de Compagnie 'tEylandt van de Manhattes aen sich behoudt.
4. Ende vander eerster uyre af, dat sy de plaetsen, alwaer sy haer Colonien
willen planten, hebben aenghewesen, voor alle andere gheprefereert zijn tot
den vryen eyghendom van soodanighe Landen alsse aldaer sullen hebben vercoren;
doch deselve plaetse haer naderhandt niet ghevallende, ofte in 't kiesen van
den grondt bedroghen zijnde, sullen deselve na voorgaende remonstrantie aen
den Commandeur ende R aedt aldaer, een ander gheleghentheydt moghen uytkiesen. f. 95 r. 5. Ende sullen de Patronen door hare Volmachtigheden, / ter plaetse daer
sy haer Colonien willen planten, haer Limiten mogen extenderen vier mijlen
langhs de Cust, ofte een zijde van een Navigable R eviere, ofte twee mijlen
langhs beyde de zijden van een R eviere, ende so diep Landtwaerdts in als de
geleghentheydt van de Occupateurs toelaten sal. Welverstaende dat de Compagnie
den eyghendom aen haer behoudt van de Landen, die tusschen de Limiten van de
Colonien blijven legghen, om daer van in tijt ende wijle te disponeren n a haer
welghevallen, sonder dat yemandt anders op seven oft acht mijlen haer sal
moghen naerderen teghens haren danck: Ten ware de gheleghentheydt van het
Landt daer ontrent sulcks waer, dat den Commandeur ende daedt op goede redenen
anders ordonneerden; Altoos acht nemende, dat d'eerste Occupateurs in haers
vercreghen Recht niet gheprejudiceert en worden, dan voor soo veel als den
dienst van de Compagnie soude moghen vereyschen, het zy om aldaer Fortificatien
te bouwen, ofte yets dierghelijcke, blijvende (buyten dat) het commandement op 4
eleke Baeye, R eviere ofte Eylandt, aen de eerstcomende Colonie, onder de
Hooghe Jurisdictie van de H.H. Staten Generael en Compagnie: Midts dat de
naestcomende Colonien op deselve R evier ofte Eylandt, sullen vermoghen een
ofte meer R aden, neffens den selven te stellen, om met ghemeen advijs dam
oir-baer van de Colonien op die R ivier ofte Eylandt te versorgen.
6 . Ende alle het Landt binnen de voorsz Limiten ghelegen, midtsgaders
de Vruchten, Supersitien, Mineralen, R evieren ende Fonteynen van dien voor
altoos in Eighendom te besitten: Ende de hooghe, middele ende laghe Jurisdictie,
Visscherijen, Voghelrijen ende Malerijen, met exclusie van alle andere, te
houden van de Compagnie tot een onversterflijck Erf-Leen, te verheer-gewaden
alst versterkt met twintigh guldens par Colonie aen dese Compagnie binnen
een Jaer ende ses weken, aen de Cameren alhier, ofte den Commandeur aldaer,
een yeder ter Camere daer hy oorspronckelijck van daen is ghevaren. Des
nochtans dat de V isscherije ende Voghelrije by niemandt anders dan de Patronen,
ende die syluyden dat sullen toestaen, sullen werden ghepleeght: Ende soo f. 95 v. yemandt metter / tijdt in sijn Colonie soo veel quame te prospereren, dat hy
een oft meer Steden soude moghen fonderen, sal den selven d'authoriteyt hebben,
om aldaer Officien ende Magistraten te stellen, ende Tijtel van sijn Colonie
moghen ghebruycken, na believen ende qualiteyt der Personen.
7. Sal mede aen alle Patronen, die sulcks versoecken, vergunt worden Venia
Testandi, ofte Octroy, om van de voorsz Leen-goederen by Testament te moghen
disponeren.
8 . D e Patronen sullen mede alle na gheleghene Landen, R evieren ende Bos
schagien tot haren oirbaer mogen gebruycken, ter tijdt ende wijle deselve by
dese Compagnie, andere Patronen ofte Particulieren warden aengheveert. 5
9. Die dese Colonien sullen oversenden, sullen deselve voorsien met behoor
lijcke Instructie, om conform de maniere van R egieringhe, soo in Politie,
als Justitie, by de Vergaderinghe van de Neghenthiende beraemt ofte noch te beramen, geregeert ende ghestiert te worden, welcke sy al vooren de Bewint hebberen van de respective Cameren sullen verthoonen.
10. De Patronen ende Coloniers sullen vermoghen alle haer Volck ende goed
eren derwaerts te senden in de Schepen van de Compagnie, mits den E edt doende,
ende betalende aen de Compagnie voor 't overbrenghen van 't Volck, als in 't eerste Articule; ende voor Vracht van de goederen vijf par Cento contant, van
tt ghene deselve goederen hier gecost hebben: Sonder nochtans hier onder te begrijpen het Bestiael ende andere gereetschappen tot de Landtbouwinge dien ende, die de Compagnie voor niet sal overvoeren, als sy plaets in hare
Schepen heeft, mits dat de Patronen de plaetse daer toe approprieren op haer eyghen cos ten, endd alles provideren, dat tot onderhoudt van 't Bestiael noodigh is.
11. Maer in ghevalle het de Compagnie niet gheleghen en quame eenighe
Schepen te senden, ofte dat inde gaende Schepen gheen plaets en ware, soo sullen in sulcken gevalle de Patroonen vermoghen, na voorgaende communicatie van hare intentie, ende schriftelijck consent daer over vercreghen van de
Compagnie, selver Schepen of Jachten derwaerts te senden,/ mits datse in't gaen of keeren niet en sullen vermoghen te loopen buyten haer ordinaire Vaer water, ende de Compagnie daer voren caveren, en een Adsistent opnemen tot mondt
costen van de Patroonen, ende Maendtgelden van de Compagnie. Op pene datse ter contrarie doende, alle haer vercreghen R echt ende Eyghenschap tot de
Colonie sullen verliesen 6
12. Ende alsoo d'intentie van de Compagnie is het Eylandt van de Man
hattes voor eerst te populeren, sal aldaer provisionelijck oock zijn de
stapel van alle Vruchten ende Waren, die op de Noordt-Rivier ende Landen
daer ontrent vallen, eerse vorder versonden sullen moghen worden: Wtghenomen
die uyt der natuyren, seifs daer niet nut zjjnde, ofte niet als met grooten
ondienst van de Eyghenaers daer ghebracht souden moeten worden. In welcken
ghevalle de Eyghenaers van dien ghehouden sullen zijn soodanighe ongheleghent
heyt aen de Compagnie alhier, ofte den Commandeur ende R aden aldaer, tijdelijck
by gheschrifte te remonstreren, om daer in voorsien te werden, als na ghele
gentheyt van saken bevonden sal wer den te behooren.
13. A.lle Patroonen van de Colonien in Nieu-Nederlandt, midtsgaders Qolonien
op het Eylandt van de Manhattes woonende, sullen vermogen te bevaren ende te behandelen die gantsche Kust van Florida tot Terra-Neuf toe, midts met alle hare gehandelde Goederen voor eerst wederom op 't Eylandt Manhattes keerende,
ende betalende vijf ten hondert voor recognitie aen de Compagnie, om, soo 't moghelijck is, van daer, na behoorlijcke Inventarisatie van alle ingeladen
Goederen, na dese Landen ghesonden te worden. Ende ofte gebeurde dat sulcks niet en konde geschieden, 'tzy door contrarie Stroomen oft andersins, in sulck en ghevalle sullen deselve Goederen nerghens elders moghen gebracht worden, als alhier te Lande, om met kennisse vande B ewinthebberen, ter plaetse daer sy arriveren sullen, ghelost ende gheinventarieert, ende de voorsz recognitie van vijf ten hondert, hier te Lande aen de Compagnie betaelt te worden, op verbeurte van hare ghehandelde Goederen, ofte de rechte waerde, indien sy ter contr arie deden 7
f. 96 v. 14. In cas dat de Schepen van de Patroonen, in 't gaen ofte komen, ofte
in 't bevaren van de Custe van Florida tot Terra-Neuf, ende verder niet, binnen
ons Octroy, eenighe Prinsen van den vyandt quamen te veroveren, sullen ge
houden zijn deselve te brengen ofte doen brengen, aen de Camer ter plaetse
daer sy uytgevaren zijn, om by haer E, ghebeneficeert te worden: En sal de
Compagnie het derdepart daer van behouden, blijvende d'andere twee derdeparten
voor haer, teghens haer ghedane Costen R isico, alles op de ordre van de
Compagnie.
15. Sal oock de ghemelte Patroonen vrystaen, al-omme op de Kuste van Nieu-
Nederlandt ende Circumjacentien van dien, te verhandelen hare Goederen al
daer gheconquesteert, voor allerhande soorten van Coopmanschappen aldaer vallen
de, uytgesondert Bevers, Otters, Mincken ende alderhande Pelterijen, welcke
handelinge de Compagnie allen voor haer reserveert: Doch werdt het selfde
toeghestaen te moghen gheschieden daer de Compagnie gheen Commissie en heeft,
midts dat soodanighe Handelaers ghehouden sullen zijn, alle de Pelterijen die
sy sullen konnen becomen, te brengen op 't Eylandt van de Manhattes, soo 't
eenighsins moghelijck is, ende die aldaer te leveren aen den Directeur, om
by hem met de Schepen ende Goederen herwaerts aen ghesonden te werden, ofte
alhier te Lande komende sonder 'tselve ghedaen te hebben, die te lossen met
kennisse vande Compagnie onder behoorlijcken Inventaris, om by haer betaelt
te werden aen de Compagnie een gulden van yeder leverbaer Vel, Otter ende
B ever, blijvende den incoop Risico ende alle andere oncosten tot laste van
de Patronen ofte Eyghenaers 8
16. A l l e grove Waren die de Coloniers van de Patronen aldaer sullen
hebben gheconquesteert, 'tzy Peck, Teer, Weedalsch, Hout, Granen, Visch,
Zoudt, Hartsteen ofte dierghelijcke, sullen met de Schepen van de Compagnie
overghebracht werden teghens achthien guldens par Last, vier duysent voor een
Last ghereckent, midts dat het Bootsvolck van de Compagnie het Zoudt sullen
gehouden zijn te kruyen ende aenboort te brenghen, waer van de thien Lasten f. 97 r. een hondert maken. Ende by / by gebreck van Schepen, ofte plaetse in de
Schepen, vermogen 'tselve met hun eyghen Schepen te doen overcomen op hare
costen: Ende ghenieten hier te Lande alsulcke Vryheden ende Beneficien, als
de Compagnie vergunt is, mits in beyde ghevallen betalende, hoven de recog
nitie van vijf ten hondert, achtien guldens van yeder hondert Zouts, dat met
de Schepen vande Compagnie overghebracht wordt.
17. Ende alle Waren die in't voorgaende Articule niet ghementioneert en
zijn, ende gheen Last-waren en zijn, daer van sal voor Vracht betaelt worden
een Daelder voor elck hondert ponden ghewichts, ende de Wijnen, Brandewijnen,
Verjuys ende Azijnen sullen betalen par Vat achthien guldens.
18. De Compagnie belooft de Coloniers van de Patronen, inden den tijt van
thien Jaren niet te beswaren met Convoy, Tol, Accijs, Imposten, ofte eenighe
andere Contributien: Ende na d'expiratie van deselve thien Jaren, ten hooghsten
met sulcken Convoy als de goederen hier te Lande tegenwoordigh beswaert zijn.
19. Dat sy oock gheene Coloniers van de Patronen, Man ofte Vrou, Soon ofte
Dochter, Dienstknecht ofte Dienstmaecht, sullen uyt haren dienst onttrecken:
En schoon yemandt alsulcks begeerde, datse den selven niet en sullen aennemen,
veel min ghedooghen dat sy van hare Patronen in eens anders dienst souden over-
loopen, als na voorgaende schriftelijcke bewillinghe van hare Patronen. Ende
dit gheduyrende den tijdt van sulcke jaren, als sy aen hare Patronen vry sal 9
staen de Coloniers, die in haren dienst niet willen continueren, hier te doen
brenghen, ende dan eerst in hare vryheydt te stellen. Ende soo wat Colonier
aen een ander Patroon overloopt, ofte buyten sijn Contract hem in vryheydt
sal b egeven, den selven beloven wy, na vermoghen, te doen leveren in handen
van sijnen Patroon ofte Commijs, om aldaer na gheleghentheydt van saken te
ghens hem gheprocedeert te worden, na Coustume deser Landen. f. 97 v. 20. Alle Vonnissen by de Gherechten van de Patronen ge-/wesen, monterende
boven de somme van vijftigh guldens, daer van sal Appel vallen aen den Com
mandeur ende R aden van de Compagnie in N ieu-Nederlandt.
2 1 . Ende belangende de particuliere personen, die voor haer selfs ofte
anderen, die in dienst van haer Meesters hier te Lande in minder ghetal, als
de Patronen, derwaerts als vrye luyden sullen gaen woonen, sullen met goet
vinden van den Directeur ende R aedt aldaer, soo veel Landts vermoghen te
kiesen ende aenveerden, als sy bequamelijck sullen connen bearbeyden, ende
'tselve in vollen eygendom behouden, voor haer oft voor haer M eesters.
22. Oock vermoghen te vanghen met de vrye Jacht, soo te water, als te
Lande, generalijck in de publijcke bosschen ende R evieren, ende privative,
in't R esort van hare Colonien, na d'ordre van den Directeur ende r aedt.
23. Soo wie 'tzy Coloniers van de Patronen voor haer Patronen, ofte vrye
Luyden, voor haer selven, ofte andere particuliere voor hare Meesters, vinden
bequame Stranden, Baeyen, ofte andere gheleghentheydt tot Visscherijen, ofte
om aldaer Zoutpannen te maken, vermoghen 'tselfde te aenveerden ende te be
arbeyden in vollen Eyghendom, met exclusie van alle anderen. Werdt de patro
nen van de Coloniers oock toegestaen Schepen te senden langs de Custe van 10
N ieu- Nederlandt op de Visscherije van de Cabeljauw, en met de Vangst te gaen
adroicture na Italien ofte andere Neutrale Landen; midts in sulcken ghevalle
aen de Compagnie voor recognitie te betalen ses guldens par Last: Ende hier
te Lande comende met hare Ladinge, vry zijn, sonder onder pretext van dit
consent, ofte van de Compagnie, eenighe andere Waren na Italien te voeren,
op arb itrale straffe, blijvende in't believen van de Compagnie een Sobra
Cargo op elck Schip te stellen, als in't elfste Articul.
24. Ende indien yemandt van dese Coloniers, door sijn industrie ende naer
stigheyt, quame te ontdecken eenighe Mineralen, costelijcke Ghesteenten,
Cristallen, Marmoren, ofte yets dierghelijcke, oock eenighe Visscherijen van f. 98 r. Peerlen, sullen de-/selve Patroon ofte Patronen van alsulcke Colonie eyghen
blijven; midts de Vinder toelegghende voor een premie sulcks als de Patroon
al voren met sijn Colonien sal stipuleren by Contract. Ende sullen de Patron
en vry zijn van alle recognitie aen de Compagnie den tijt van acht Jaren,
ende alleen voor 't overbrenghen betalen twee ten hondert, ende na de voorsz
acht Jaren voor recognitie ende vracht, een achtstepart van 'tghene het hier
te Lande waerdigh is.
25. De Compagnie sal alle Coloniers, soo vrye, als dienstbare, nemen in
hare Sauvegarde, ende deselve tegens alle Wtlandtsche ende Inlandtsche Oor
loghe ende gheweldt, met de macht die sy aldaer heeft, helpen defenderen, soo
veel mogelijck zijn sal.
26. Soo wie eenighe Colonien sullen planten buyten 'tResort van Manhattes
Eylandt, sullen ghehouden wesen de Wilde van der plaetse voor de grondt te
contenteren, ende de Limiten van hare Colonien moghen vergrooten, midts na
advenant Coloniers daer plantende. 11
27. Sullen haer oock de Patronen ende Coloniers, insonderheydt evertueren,
om op *'t spoedighste eenighe middelen onder haer te vinden, waer mede sy den
Predicant ende schoolmeester sullen moghen onderhouden, op dat de Gods-dienst
ende yver tot de R eligie in haer niet en verflaeuwe, ende voor 't eerste der
waerts een Siecke-trooster versorghen .
28. De Colonien die op de respective R i v i e r e n ofte Eylanden sullen
comen te legghen, sullen vermoghen (te weten, elcke Riviere ofte Eylandt voor
sich) een Ghecommitteerde uyt te maken, die den Commandeur ende R aedt van dat
Gheweste sal informeren, ende sijns Coloniers saken hy den Raedt bevorderen;
van welcke Ghecommitteerde alle twee Jaren een sal verandert worden, ende
alle de Colonien sullen ghehouden zijn, ten minsten alle twaelf Maenden, per
tinent rapport van haer Colonie ende Landen daer ontrent, aen den Commandeur
ende R aedt aldaer over te senden.
29. De Coloniers sullen niet vermoghen aldaer eenighe Wollen, Linnen ofte f. 98 v. Cattoene Lakenen te maken, ofte eenighe / andere stoffen te woven; op pene
van uytghestooten ende als meyneedigh arbitralijck ghestraft te worden.
30. Sal de Compagnie haer evertueren, om aen de Coloniers soo veel
Swarten toe te stellen, ais haer mogelijck wesen sal, op de ordre daer van
te maken; sonder nochtans daer in gehouden of verbonden te zijn, verder of
langher als haer sulcks soude moghen ghelieven.
31. De Compagnie belooft 'tFort op 'tEylandt van de Manhattes, op het
spoedighste te doen voltrecken in behoorlijcke defensie. Ende dese Vryheden
ende Exemptien by hare Hoogh-Mogh. de Heeren Staten Generael te doen approberen
ende confirmeren. 12
Hier door sijn vele personen ghenegen gheworden, om sich derwaerts te be gheven, ende hare Colonien aldaer te planten, sulcks datmen verhoopte, alsoo het Landt van sich selven Vruchtbaer is, ende bequaem om R ogghe, Tarwe, ende andere Granen wel ghecultiveert zijnde, voort te brenghen, ghelijck nu al op verscheyden reysen was gheexperimenteert, ende oock goede negotien van alder leye Pelterijen, die daer seer veel ende schoon zijn, konden ghedreven werden, datmen goede profijten voor de Compagnie ende Coloniers van daer soude te verwachten hebben. DA25 CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS, Colonial Series, 1574-1660 preserved C29 in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public record v .1 Office. Volume I. London, 1860 p. 154 Vol. VI. 1652 June 62. Warrant to Sir James Bagg for release of a Dutch
i ■ ship, the Endraught . of Amsterdam, belonging to the West
India Company of Holland, which coming from the river Man
hattan in New England, was stayed at Plymouth in February last. The King, at the earnest request of the Ambassador
from the United Provinces, is pleased to release all the
goods and merchandise in the ship, notwithstanding His
Majesty’s right to the territories whence they came; but
declares that if the Dutch remain there without his licence,
they shall impute it to themselves if hereafter they suffer. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Seri es 1574-1660/ Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty’s Public Record office. London: 1860. Vol. I.
March IQ Bristol 44. Sir Ferdinando Gorges to Capt. John Mason. Ap (1632) proves of the course he has taken, for stay of a ship, lately arrived at Plymouth from the Dutch plantation
p. 142 in New England. (see p . 154, No. 62.) // They must stand upon the just title of the King to those parts, in respect of the first discovery and actual possession, by
virtue of several patents. He may remember that King
James’ Ambassador to the United Provinces had orders to
question the authority of the Dutch in those limits, (see
ante, p. 26, No. 56) whan it was answered if any such were
there, it was by their private adventure alone. Cannot be in London before Easter, when he will put the business in
the way it ought to be. Wishes him to keep the party who has lived so long with the Dutch, and to inform himself of
their strength, where they live, how they are fortified and
provided for, and what other commodities they find besides their trade of furs; what cattle, horses, and carriages they use, and where are their friends and enemies. Requests him
to do his best to prolong the stay of the ship at Plymouth,
until the Lords (of the Privy Council) are fully informed
of the consequence of the business; that the Dutch may be
prohibited trading in those parts, and from presuming to
settle without licence from the Council (of New England) -2
Leaves to his own judgment what is best to be done for the present; nothing shall be wanting in the power of
Gorges for making good their undertakings. Will send the horses promised by Lord Gorges and himself, when he knows the fit time for their dispatch thence. Has lately written his resolution to Mr. Eyre. Hopes he will not despair, although he finds a coldness in those who under stand not the business aright. Hears that my lord of Warwick has promised to further their purpose. Will put more life into it than heretofore, having every day more and more reason to do so.
ri DA W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq., Ed. 25 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660. C29 London, 1860. v.l i p. 141 (Bristol. March 18, 1632.) 44. Sir Ferdinando Gorges to Capt. John Mason. Approves of the course he has taken
for stay of a ship, lately arrived at Plymouth from the
Dutch plantation in New England (see p. 154, No. 62). / p. 142 They must stand upon the just title of the King to those partes, in respect of the first discovery and actual possess
ion, by virtue of several patents. He may remember that King. James' Ambassador to the United Provinces had orders
to question the authority of the Dutch in those limits,
(see ante, p. 26, No. 56) when it was answered if any
such were there, it was by their private adventure alone.
Cannot be in London before Easter, when he will put the
business in the way it ought to be. Wishes him to keep the party who has lived so long with the Dutch, and to inform himself of their strength, where they live, how
they are fortified and provided for, and what other com
modities they find besides their trade of furs; what
cattle, horses, and carriages they use, and where are
their friends and enemies. Requests him to do his best
to prolong the stay of the ship at Plymouth, until the
Lords (of the Privy Council) are fully informed of the
consequence of the business; that the Dutch may be
prohibited trading in those parts, and from presuming to
settle without licence from the Council (of New England). 2
Leaves to his own judgment what is best to be done for the present; nothing shall be wanting in the power of
Gorges for making good their undertakings ......
p. 143 (April 2, 1632.) 51. Capt. John Mason to (Sec. Coke.) Certain Hollanders began a trade, about 1621, upon the
coast of New England, between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay, in 40 degrees N.L., granted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, and afterwards confirmed and divided by agreement by King James in 1606. The plantations in Virginia have been settled about 40 years, in New England about 25
years. The Hollanders came as interlopers between the
two, and have published a map of the coast between Virginia
and Cape Cod, with the title of New Netherlands, calling
the river upon which they are planted Manhatan, and giving
Dutch names to other places discovered by the English.
Sir Sam. Argoll, with many English planters, were about
to settle in those parts, and the English Ambassador at the / p. 144 Hague was ordered to complain against the proceedings of
the Hollanders. (1621, Dec. 15 see ante, p. 26, No. 56.)
Nevertheless the following year, under a pretended authority
from the Dutch West India Company, they made a plantation upon Manhatan; have since fortified themselves in two places
and built ships there, one of 600 tons sent into Holland.
They were warned by the English plantation at New Plymouth
neither to trade nor make any settlement in those parts, but with proud and contumacious answers say "They had commission to fight against such as should disturb their
settlement," and persisted in planting, vilifying the
English to the Indians, and extolling their own nation.
It is reported that they have exported from thence to
Holland this year 15,000 beaver skins, besides other commodities. p. 154 (June 1632.) 62. Warrant to Sir James Bagg for release
of a Dutch ship, the Endraught, of Amsterdam, belonging to the West India Company of Holland, which coming from
the river Manhattan in New England, was stayed at Plymouth
in February last. The King, at the earnest request of the
Ambassador from the United Provinces, is pleased to release
all the goods and merchandise in the ship, nothwithstanding
His Majesty's right to the territories whence they came; but declares that if the Dutch remain there without his
licence, they shall impute it to themselves if hereafter they suffer. p. 171 (Aug. 16, 1633.) 81. Sir John Wolstenholme to Sir William
Beecher. Concerning propositions presented to the Council
by Capt. Tucker for restraining the Dutch from trading to
Virginia. Bequests that letters may be sent by a ship
presently to depart for Virginia, that the Dutch may not be admitted to trade nor lade any goods in their ships. 4
p. 171 (Fort Amsterdam, New Netherlands. Sept. 24,/Oct. 4, 1633.)
83. Gualter of Twilley, Governor of the Dutch plantation,
to Governor (John Winthrop) of Massachusetts Bay. Concerning
the right of the Dutch to the (Hudson?) river. Has taken
possession of it in the name of the States General and set up a house on the north side with intent to plant. Desires
he will defer his claim until their superior magistrates
are agreed. (Translation of part of a letter from the Governor of the Dutch. Endorsed by Sec. Coke.) p. 250 (Westminster. April 22, 1637.) 47. The King to the Governor
and Council of Virginia. Considerations which led to former
letters for increase and regulation of trade. Tobacco almost
the only commodity returned from Virginia. Cannot but take notice how little advance has been made in staple commodities.
Comparison with the Caribbee Islands. The colony brought to
great straights in consequence. Is informed that they are not only supplied by the Indians, but by the Dutch, who make
a prey of the tobacco and crop of the plantations to the
prejudice of the King!s just duties and profits. All
this proceeds from irregular government, want of providence,
and covetous and griping dispositions, and endangers the
common good of the whole plantation. Has resolved, with advice of the Privy Council, upon better ordering and
regulating the plantations. Desires them to consider what quantity of good and merchantable tobacco they will undertake
yearly to send to the port of London, having relation to more
staple and honourable commodities; what price and value they 5
will peremptorily set thereon; and the places most conveni p. 251 ent to bring it to, as to one or more appointed ware
houses, from whence it may be carefully shipped, and "a
particular” sent in every ship. Jerome Hawley is appointed
Treasurer of Virginia, "being a business much concerning
our revenue there.” Strictly forbids trade with the Dutch.
Requires them to examine every planter, to take an account how far each one has engaged his stock and crop, upon what
debts and to whom, and to make a return to the Lord Treasurer,
that some just course may be taken ”to redeem these our poor
subjects.” Commands them to inform every planter and owner of the King’s resolutions; to show them what helps they have
received to the loss of His Majesty’s revenue, by lessening the ordinary duties almost one half, taking off the charge
of garbling their tobacco, and now lately the impost of
that taken from London to foreign parts. If they are
resolved to be the authors of their own misery, and refuse
with fitting alacrity and obedience to answer the King’s
expectation, His Majesty will advise with the Privy Council
to punish the refractory, and repair the loss which he
sustains for their good. Expects their speedy answer. (Copy.) p. 143. Calendar of Stat e P apers, C olonial Series 1574-1660/ Pre served in the State Paper Department of her Majesty's Public Record Office. London: 18 6 0 . Vol. 1.
April 2. (1632) 51. Capt. John Mason to (Sec. Coke ). Certain Hol landers began a trade, about 1621, upon the coast of New England, between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay, in 40 degrees
N.L. granted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, and after
wards confirmed and divided by agreement by King James in 1606. The plantations in Virginia have been settled
about 40 years, in New England about 25 years. The Hol
landers came as interlopers between the two, and have published a map of the coast between Virginia and CapeCod, with the
title ofNew Netherlands, calling the riverupon which
they are planted Manhatan, and giving Dutch names to
other places discovered by the English. Sir Sam. Argoll,
w ith many English planters, were about to settle in those
p. 144 parts, and the English Ambassador at the // Hague was or
dered to complain against the proceedings of the Hollanders. (1621, Dec. 15, see ante, p. 26, No. 56.) Nevertheless the
following year, under a pretended authority from the Dutch
West India Company, they made a plantation upon Manhatan;
have since fortified themselves in two places and built
ships there; one of 600 tons sent into Holland. They were
warned by the English plantation at New Plymouth neither
to trade nor make any settlement in those parts, but with
proud and contumacious answers say "They had commission to fight against such as should disturb their settlement," - 2 - and persisted in planting, vilifying the English to the Indians, and extolling their own nation. It is reported
that they have exported from thence to Holland this year
15,000 heaver skins, besides other commodities. Datum 5, Receptum 7 Aprilis 1632.
Hooge ende Mogende Heeren:
De Bewinthebberen van de West-Indische Compagnia hebben ons
te kennen gegeven, hoe dat seker van hunne scheepen, genamt
de Eendracht, uyt Nieu Nederlant komende ende tot Pleimut in
Engelant inloopende, aldaer gearresteert is. Eerst als of de
bevrachting van ’t schip solde sijn verhandelt inde colonien
der Engelsen, daer nae als of de Compagnia eenige landen van
de Engelsen solden geincorporeert hebben, daer nochtans deselve
verstandeling geschiet is, op soodanige plaetsen in Nieu Neder
lant, te weeten, tuschen de noort ende suidt revier, die altijt
in vreetsaem besit, ende sonder contradictie van de Compagnie
geweest sijn, ook die van de gemelte Compagnie noit eenige in
dracht an de Engelsgen hebben gedaen, dan het is wel te ver
moeden dat dese meneer van de Spaensen Ambassadeur in Engelant
alsoo gedreven werden, door dien de Compagnia lofweerdich be
richt is, dat gemelte Ambassadeur op alle haer schepen, daer
arriverende, sal soeken pretensie te maken met alle mogelicke
middelen om alsoo deselve alle handelinge te verdueren, het
welke alle niet als tot groten ondienst vande Compagnia ende
consequentelick oock van Uwe Hoog Mogende kan uytvallen. Soo
ist dat wij niet hebben kunnen onderlaten Uwe Hoog Mogende mits desen ootmoedich te versoeken, dat derselver goede ge
liefte sij dese ende diergelicke saken die in Engelant mochten
voorvallen, an de Heeren Uwe Hoog Mogende Ambassadeur ende 2
Gedeputeerde aldaer alsoo te recommenderen,dat se de Compagnie hier in alle favorabele assistentie willen bewijsen, ende specialick, mede ingevalle de Graf van Carlille (gelijck hij sig laet verluiden) pretension mochte moveren op des gemelte Compagnie schepen nopende seker eilant St. Martyn, sustinerende hetselve hem van de Coninck gegeven te sijn, dar nochtans de voornoemte graef noitt enig volck derwaerts heeft gehadt, maer bij de Compagnie is gebruckt, Ende hier met endigende, sullen
Godt bidden, Uwe Hoog Mogende regering te willen segenen ende blijven, Hooge ende Moogende Heeren, Uwe Hoog Mogende oot moedie dienaer, G. van Arnhem
Uyt Amsterdam desen 5 April 1632
Door dien de Heer Olckan niet bij de hant is als desen gesloten moet werden is deselve bij Sijn Excellentie niet onderteeckent.
(*s-Gravenhage, Algemeen Rijksarchief, Staten Generaal 5771.) - .* •” •, « $ 1 y r s v* * ' • < ^ , /C. ' ‘ *'; * & NJSW NETHERLAND r t* y / ó 3 ?- VV. X -nd lb#° ^ "l'3® • •: ! ■ • b94ö
i ^ r> | I* V S' ^ > > 3l > JK ’\ T ' - { 4 5 t I r* ■ Sx M . > 4 * T * > 1 r ' 5; ï >s SI V x . I. ~ ,.>" v ï £ n ! t
O ?! t * . N l ' f * *A “ > s. * S 1. "=> V ■ = ^ v * ? K L ^ > /£ I T ? ?v* $ ^S Si >N ^ I * $ * T» S- JTN * -> '-'‘f ' f t ? * ^ P v~ i r*-» -v-*s ■?1 * V . £ f f yi ^ fs ' ? ^ *\ ' 3 >\ ?*-r^ ^ 5 ? ^ <5^ =n < 5 n, s r , ff rt *-r H H < rhf*"5* JL n ^ - fi >n i 4 j ^ J N; ' ? ^ ? > v ? I ^ ^ ^ 1^ r -i -, ••:> k frr^ Ü Y5 ^ ^ . 2 -. n n ^ ° Hï r ï ' ^-v*? U * * r V v 5 ^ P l *5 * t ? sI | * *■ * * > 5 * f“ > ï f> Nf v i ' i ' > = pf' u . r r ' 1^ f» - r '; : J.&P 4; * ' NT | g< f f ' > J t^Si f *?& f ' *4 M* r r iX | i-rj; r , f f i*f» .« fc< I ■ rT^ */* i ƒ- p. 144 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660, Preserved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public Record Office. London: 1860. Vol. I.
April 6. Bristol 52. Sir Ferdinando Gorges to Gapt. John Mason. Is (1632 ) glad to find by his letter of 30 March, that the business against those of the Dutch plantation is before the Privy
Council. Hopes they will not be over hasty in concluding a business of that important nature. Cannot come up (to London) having "taken a fa11” from his horse at a race,
and is unable to move. Hopes he wi11 make some shift to
send away the horses, as no shipping leaves again until the winter quarter; knows they will be of great service at the
islands; KORTE HISTORIAEL EN DE JOURNAELS AENTEYCKENINGE VAN VERSCHEYDEN VOYAGIENS IN DE VIER DEELEN DES WERELDT-RONDE, ALS EUROPA, AFRICA, ASIA, ENDE AMERIKA GEDAEN DOOR D.DAVID PIETERSZ. DE VRIES.... Ed. by Dr.H.T.Colenbrander (Werken uitg. door de Linschoten Vereeniging, v.III, 's-Gravenhage, 1911)
i
[Fifth voyage, to the West Indies, the South river [Delaware], and New Netherland, May 24, 1632 to July 24, 1633. Two months after his return from the East Indies De Vries at Amsterdam met the director of the WIC, Samuel Godijn, who takes him into a syndicate for the founding of a colony on the Delaware River [Zuid Rivier] in New Netherland. •
"The desire for the establishment of such 'patroonships' was initially, after the granting of the 'Vrijheden en Exemptiön' of June 7, 1629, especially great. The Company, which itself had little success with the colonization of its holdings, had turned to the radical expedient of granting to anyone,who aassisted in the responsibility of bringing in within four years at his own expense 50 adult colonists, extensive proprietary and administrative rights over a piece of land granted by it to such person, on the condition that during the first ten years no taxes were to be levied on the colonists, Already on Jan.13, 1629 the directors Samuel Godijn, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, and Samuel Blommaert had v 2 .
already given notice that they, intending to plant colonies there, would send Gilles Houset [Oset, p.251], navigator, and Jacob Jansz., cooper, to New Netherland in order to report about their experiences [n.3: De Roever, KILIAEN VAR RENSSELAER, in OUD-HOLLARD, 1890 (translation of the original documents used by De Roever are now published under the title of VAN RENSSELAER BOWIER MANUSCRIPTS, Albany 1908, and the "Vrijheden en ExeMptien" published there aLso, p.l36.]. Successively there now came to apply as patroons the directors p.26 Michiel Pauw van Achttienhoven For the area on the Sickenames River (June 7 , 1629)[Now the Thames R., east of the Fresh or Connecticut R.], Samuel Godijn for the right bank of the South River (June 29), Pauw again for the island of Fernando Noronha (Oct.15), Albert Coenraetsz. Burgh for the island St.Vincent (Cct.22), Burgh once again fOr the left bank of the South River (Nov.1), Samuel Blommaert for the Fresh River, or Connecticut (Nov.16), Kiliaen van Rensselaer for both banks of the North River (Hudson) above and below Fort Orange (Nov.19), Pauw for the third time for the right bank of the Hudson across from Manhattan (Jan.10, 1630), Blommaert once again for one of the islands of St.Martin or Barbados (April 17), Godijn once again for the island of Tortuga to the north of Haiti on Aug.28, 1630»
2. In the note below (p.148) wrongly confused by me with Tortuga to the north of Venezuela (the one meant on p.211). Cf. Bijlage A follow ing DeRoover's article("Kiliaen van R e n n s e l a e r " OUD-HOLLNRD, 1890).
van Rensselaer once again for Ile de Sable (some distance east of Halifax on the coast of Nova Scotia), abandoned by the French, requested by him on Nov.7, 1630. T o the Zeeland Chamber some years earlier had applied as patroons: Jan de Moor (for Tabago and the Amazon area), Abraham Pere for Berbice, Claude Prevost for Cayenne, Jan van Ryen for Oyapoc, while the Chamber itself had sent Jan van der Goes to Essequibo as post-holder [See Netscher, GESCHIED. V. DE KOLONIEN ESSEQUIBO, DEMERARY EN BERBICE, 53ff., and for Essequibo especiaily Harris and Villiers, STORM VAN 'S- GRAVENSANDE (London, 1911), I, 146.]. Four out of the five Amsterdam patroons, namely Burgh, Godijn, Blommaert, and Van Rensselaer, had, before they had applied to the Company, made an agreement to exploit the projected colonies for common account , each one under the direction of one of their number. Three gentl e men were to hold one-fifth in each colony, while the fourth (the director) was to retain the remaining two-fifths and exercise the patroonship. It appears that some of these share were again sub-divided [De Roever, op.cit, reprint, p.15, and below p.l47]; thus Godijn must have surrendered some share of the colony on the South River and on Tortuga to De Vries. "Concerning the expedition which now was outfitted in Dec. 1630, one can consult (in addition to pp.147-148 below ) a memorandum submitted by Van Rensselaer to the WIC [Bijlage A, following De Roever's artiele]. He writes: "In December 1630 hebben sy remonstranten een schip van omtrent 150 lasten genaempt de Walvis geequipeert, tselve ge ballast met alderley materialen van calck, steen en pannen, voegende daerby vier groote peerden, twaelf kalfdragende koyen, 3.
voorts verscheyden sloupen totte walvisvangerye, alderley ammonitie, victualie ende cargasoenen, ende over de 80 personen, costende te samen met het jacht DE SALM, daer hier naer van sal gesproocken worden, over de vyftich duysent gulden.... Met dit schip ende volck hebben sy in possessie genomen, beset ende gepopuleert het vruchtbare ende houtrijcke eyland van Tortuga gelegen aen de noordwestzyde van Hispaniola, daerop stellende over de 25 weerbare mannen wel gemonteert, behalven het volck van de Fransman Francoys Roulant ende verscheyde negros, deselve met victualie, wapenen, ammunitie ende ander behoeften neffens behoorlijkck instructie versien, alles vollegens het consent van de Camer van Amsterdam de dato 28 Augusti 1630, ende dat maer alleen voor eene reyse. Ende also de remonstranten zeer geerne naderhandt by haer versoeck van den 15 Martij 1632 hetselve werck hadden gesecundeert ende vervolght ofte dat de Compaignie hetselve selver soud doen, hebben bij resolutie van den 25 dito niet anders connen obtineren dan dat haerluyden deselve voyagie is affgeslagen, sonder dat het de Compaignie by handt gecomen heeft, waerover dit schoone eylant in handen van de Engelssen is vervallen [n.3: Who in 1635 were again driven o ut by the Spaniards (see p .213 below)], alle hare gedane oncosten verlooren, het volck ten deele verstroyt ende ten deele omgecomen sijn.... Met dit voorsz. schip DE WALVIS hebben sy oock int jaer 1631 de baye van de Zuytreviere in Nieu-Nederlandt in possessie genomen, de plaetze van hare colonie met 28 personen beset, de walvisvangst ende bouwerije by de handen genomen, bequame fortificatien gemaeckt, sulx dat in Julio van tselver jaer [n.4: When the WALVIS started her return voyage (see below p.l43)] haer koyen gecalft, haere landerijen besayt ende met een schoon gewas verciert stonden, tot dat eyntelijck, door misverstandt van haren commies [Gilles Houset. See below pp.148, 156, and 251] alle het volck ende bestialen jammerlijek sijn vermoort, daerby syluyden on-estimeerlijcke schade hebben geleden, welcke schade p.XXVIII sy remonstranten int / jaer 1632 met het vorige schip DE WALVIS oock gesocht hebben te repareren [n.l: With De Vries as captain, see p.148 below], ende versocht dat haer de Compaignie de handt soude bieden, die haer daertoe met raedt noch daet hebben willen assisteren, maar by resolutie van den 26 April 1632 haer hebben geconstringeert niet meer als voor dryehundert guldens aen carga soen mede te nemen, waer voor sy omtrent 200 bevers- ende 4
ottersvellen hebben gecregen, ende veele meer souden becomen hebben van natien, die noyt met de Compaignie hadden gehandelt,
2. According to the "Vryheden en Exemptiën" of 1629» the patroons in New Netherland were required to acknowledge the staple right of the Company on Manhattan Island, and the fur trade was prohibited to them in places where the Company had their factors. ELsewhere it was free, provided that the Company was paid one florin for each skin.
indien sy meer cargasoenen hadden gehadt, waervan de Compaignie de recognitie van een gulden vant vel soude getrocken hebben, dat sy beyde nu moeten missen. Ende dat noch het onlydelijckste is, naer dat sy remonstranten dese 205 vellen [n.3: Thus not the "two to four", as De Vries says on p.l83] alhier comende in handen van de Camer van Amsterdam hadden gestelt om haere recognitie daeraen te vinden, hebben deselve die onder hare vellen geworpen ende gemenght, ende alsoo tegen wil ende danck van de remonstranten onder haer goet vercoft, even oft alle het goet der Patroonen vryen buyt waere..." "Further, in December 1630
4. Erom the rest of Van Rensselaer's me m o it appears that a l s o t h e Company used to buy skins on the South River, But Van Rensselaer says from other nations than did the men of Godijn. the remonstrant sent the yacht DE SALM in company of the said ship DE WALVIS to his designated colony, the Island of sable, the said yacht equipped with men, provisions, and all sorts of necessities, in order to take possession and to colonize the said island, since the same was empty and abandoned by the French, which yacht unfortunately was captured and brought into Dunkirk.” From this text it appears that De Vries is not entirely accurate as to the voyage of l631 (in which he did not personally participate). From his account one would assume that the WALVIS did not put ashore the people destined for Tortuga, because the French located there, with whom relations had earlier been established when the ship arrived there, had already been killed by the Spaniards. Van Rensselaer says expressly that men were put ashore, which also appears from the petition of 1632, to which he refers [See p.148 below]. It must be from this voyage of 1631 that the map I reproduce across from p.154 (no.518 of Leupe's inventory) originated. It depicts the mouth of the South River, and shows where the 'Swanendael' mentioned by De Vries was located. The bay is here called Godijn's bay, and the South River is calied Willem's R., (after the son of Frederik Hendrik), while the names of the Frisian Nassaus, count Ernst and Count Henry, are given to other streams disemboguing into the bay, and another channel [kil], 5.
which runs along the settlement of Swanendael, bears the name of another patroon, Bloemaert's kil, the same as the one which in De Vries' account is repeatedly called Hoere-kil [n.2: A name which has persisted: now Whorekil1-Road near Lewes]. Although the general form of the bay is faithfully reproduced, it appears that the exploration of 1631 did not extend far inland. The name Delaware, as the South River is now known, is derived from the first governor of Virginia under the charter of 1609, Lord de la Warr (Delaware(, who however never visited the bay into which the South River flows. Its discoverer was Hudson on his voyage with the HALVE MAEN in 1609; Lord Delaware reached Virginia in 1610 from the West Indies, and landed not to the north but to the south of Chesapeake Bay. The origin of the name is to be found in the fact that precisely one year after Hudson an English captain, Samuel Argall, enroute to Bermuda, landed in the bay, and gave the name Cape Delaware(to a point somewhat to the north of Cape Hinlopen), which name continued in use in Virginia for the bay and the river flowing into it B rodhead, 754]. Now that their first voyage to the South River had ended disadvantageously, the company of Godijn decided to make another under the command of De Vries, but before it could get under way the news came that the entire colony had been massacred by the Indians. The voyage nonetheless went through. A re-establish p.XXX ment of the colony was not envisaged, but rather the fishing for whale and the fur trade, in the hope of recovering the losses of the first voyage. The two ships which De Vries commands (the WALVIS besides a yacht the EECKHOOR N ), sail from Texel on May 24, 1632, and set course first for the W.Indian islands, where De Vries in the port of St.Martin loads salt, in order not to return home with empty hands if the whaling fails off New Netherlands. On Dec.6 he arrives at the ruins of the colony on the South River, where the bones of the slain people and animals still are lying around. Revenge against the natives is given up, since "they live in no set places." Higher up, where in 1623 the Company had built a now abandoned post, Fort Nassau (a little below where Philadelphia now lies), the natives had attacked an English pinnace; they were still wearing the clothes of their victims. De Vries manages to keep peace with the natives, trades his cargo for peltry and 'Turkish shells' [wampum? ES ], and kills some whales. Grain [maize] does not seem to be available; the natives have destroyed it in their internecine wars. Since provisions cannot be obtained in the South River, De Vries decides to seek these with one of his two ships (the yacht) in "English Virginia", on Chesapeake Bay, to which place he thought no Dutchman had ever traveled. He completes
1. He was wrong about this; Jamestown had already been visited by Dutchmen in 1620 and 1632 (Brodhead, 226 , note).
this voyage in unfamiliar waters without difficulty, and arrives before Jamestown on March 10, 1633. The governor Sir John Harvey clears up for him the matter of the English pinnace, ruined by the Indians, in the South River, which at Harvey's command had been sent there to explore; the latter now learns from De Vries - for the first time what the fate aboard had been. The reception received from the English was not unfriendly; the governor gives De Vries the desired provisions, and even gives him some goats and a ram for his counterpart at New Amsterdam, "since he had 6.
understood that at Ft. Amsterdam there were no goats." De Vries gets a lively impression of the prosperity of the English colony, which already attracts 30 to 40 ships to load tobacco. Higher up the English are also beginning to colonize the mouths of the p.XXXI rivers running into Chesapeake Bay. Shortly before Oe Vries' visit, the governor had issued a commission to William Clayborne (De Vries calls him 'Klaver'), who had occupied the Isle of Kent (across from modern Annapolis) and the mouth of the Susquehanna, and there drove a great trade in furs [Brodhead, 2 5 0 ].... While De Vries was off to Virginia, he had left his other ship in tne South River, which he now again rejoins there; during his absence she had kept busy in whaling, but this brought no brilliant results, so that it was only the salt loaded by De Vries cheaply in the West Indies that prevented the over-all loss on the voyage from being greater than it was. How he heads for home via New Amsterdam, where he finds a new commandant, Wouter van Twiller, formerly a clerk in the West India House at Amsterdam [n.2: He was a neef(cousin, nephew) of van Rensse laer. See de Roever, op.cit. ], with whom he got along badly. A couple of days after De Vries there arrived before the fort a ship from England, commanded by Jacob Eelkens, earlier (in the time of the Company of Hew Netherland) in charge at Ft.Orange on the Hudson River, but who in 1623 was released by the WIC because of bad treatment of the Indians. Hereupon he h ad gone to England, where some London merchants now sought to take advantage of his experience in the fur trade [Brodhead, 229]. They sent him with a ship to New Netherland in order, passing by the fort, to sail up the Hudson R. wh ere he had previously worked. Towards Van Twiller, Eelkens assumed an arrogant air, and the commander, to De Vries' chagrin, let him sail unhindered up the river. It is very peculiar that De Vries, who relates the start of this affair, does not tell about its sequel: how a few days later Van Twiller sends a force after him, thus forcing him to return [Brodhead, 230; Bijlage H following De Roever's article]. De Vries thus tells only what was to Van Twiller's disadvantage. Between him and the commandant it came to open bitter disagreement: De Vries is refused permission to send his yacht, as he had wanted to, "around by the north" in order to pay a visit to New England and Canada, and when he pays no attention to this prohibition but permits the yacht to set out, Van Twiller sends a WIC yacht after her [n.2: What the yacht did on the New England coast is not told, but De Vries returns with one, the large ship, to the Neth.]. Also De Vries refuses to have his other ship, the WALVIS, inspected by WIC officials before he returns to the Netherlands. Involved were the beaver and otter skins which he, however, did not bring home safely in this way; indeed these were confiscated upon arrival by the Chamber of Amsterdam. When De Vries called at the South River there had been no factor for the WIC, but Van Twiller now hastens to send one there again; soon he again built another fort there too. When De Vries got back to Amsterdam, the patroons there seemed to be quarreling with the other directors of the Chamber; our man has had enough, and withdraws entirely from the game. He seems to have complained bitterly about Van Twiller, but he himself scarcely pleased his employers. Van Rensselaer writes on April 23, 1634, to Van Twiller: "David Pietersz., against whom you warned me, who here criticizes you here briskly, has turned out even worse than you warned." 7.
P.147 "Volgen noch Andere Voyagien"[Still other Voyages Follow]. "After I had been home two months from the [East]Indies, I met at Amsterdam a merchant Samuel Godijn, who greeted me, since we were old acquaintances; he asked me where I came from, and I said the East Indies. And in what quality, and I answered as chief factor [opper koopman]. He asked me whether I intended to stay home; I said yes, but he said, would I like to be commander to New Netherland; they wanted to plant a colony there, and would use me as assistant patroon, as specified by the privileges of the Lords States and of the XIX of the WIC and granted to all patroons. I answered him that the job appealed to me, but that I too had to be a patroon, entirely equal. He said that would be all right. So we with the five of us first began to organize this patroonship, namely, Samuel Godijn, Kiliae n van Rensselaer, Bloamaert, Jan de Laet, and I David Pietersz de Vries. But later we obtained other partners, such as Mathijs van Ceulen, Nicolaes van Sittorigh, and Harinck Koeck as well as Heyndrlck Hamel, and we made a contract putting us all as equals. Thereupon we outfitted a ship and a yacht to pursue the voyage, both for whaling there and to plant a colony for the growing of all sorts of grains, for which the land is very suited, and tobacco. This ship with her 1630 yacht sailed from Texel on Dec.12 with a complement of people in order to found our colony in the South River [Delaware R.] at 38 1/2 degrees; also with a goodly number of livestock, and in order to engage in whaling there, since Godijn had been in formed that there were many whales in front of the bay, and whale oil was priced at 60 gulden per hogshead[ocx-hooft], from which they hoped for a good profit, and with so fertile a land nearby to cultivate. "On the 20th we understood that our yacht on the day after she ran out of Texel was captured by the Dunkirkers, through carelessness of the big ship, which had outdistanced the yacht, .148 about which was a great cargo for investigating the coast of New France, and so the big sh ip continued her voyage. They also had people along to place on Tortuga Island [n.l: Tortuga, a little to the north of Venezuela] in the West Indies, where we, with 60 Frenchmen, had contracted to hold the said island for us as a colony under the St.Gen. and the WIC. Anno 1631 "In September our ship again returned from New Netherland and the West Indies; they were to have landed a number of people on Tortugas, but found that the French had been killed by the Spanish; took the rest to the South River in New Netherlands, and brought back a sample of whale oil from a dead whale which he had found on the shore, saying that he had arrived too late in the season. This was a losing voyage, for the shipper Pieter Heyes van Edam, whom we had put aboard, did not dare with a ship of 18 cannon to sail through the West Indies, where he might still have made this voyage profitable, because he was a person who knew only to sail to Greenland [Spitsbergen], where the voyage lasts only three or four months before arriving home. Anno 1632 "On Feb.12 we again concluded an agreement in order with a ship and a yacht to outfit for whaling, against which there were many arguments.... But Samuel Godijn, who encouraged us to try again, said that the Greenland Company had made two profitless voyages with Willem van Muyen [1612 and 1612, Muller, NOORDSCHE COMPAGNIE, 72-73], and thereafter became such a successful company So it was resolved again to adventure a whaling voyage, and I myself was to go along as patroon and commander on the ship and yacht, and were to be there in December, in order to whale during 8
the winter, for they come there in the winter and stay until March. "Before we left Texel we learned that our Fort had been destroyed by the natives, the people killed— 32 men— who were outside the Fort working on the land, p .1 4 9 On May 24 sailed from Texel with the ship and yacht.... "On July 10 we sailed from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight under the Cowes. "On the 12th instant there arrived here from Texel the ship NIEUW NEDERLANDT of the WIC, a great ship which was built in New Netherland, which was enrcoute for the West Indies, which provided me with good company.... p .1 5 0 On the 13th saw Madeira to leeward of us, and there a Turk came towards us; as soon as he noticed that we were strong ships, he veered over, and we followed him... and the Nieuw Nederlandt still followed the Turk into the night.... and we then separated from the ship Nieuw-Nederlandt. "On the 14th towards evening we saw the Island of Palma to lee of us, and from there set our course for Barbados. "on Sept.4 we sighted Barbados, and the next day towards 5P.M. we arrived at St.Vincent Is. The savages came in with their canoes.... here we got refreshment of Bananas, pineapples, and various Indian fruits.... "On the 3th the ship Nieuw Nederland, which had wandered from us at Madeira, also arrived here. "On the 8th we weighed anchor, and passed the islands of Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Redonda, and Nevis, and on the 10th arrived at St.Kitts, where we found a few English ships and took on some water. "On the 11th we weighed anchor in order to sail to St.Martin; halfway between St.Kitts and St.Martin we were met by a French ship with a great pinnace, which hailed us loudly, as if she wanted to commit some hostility, but I stuck to my course and did not reply.... Towards evening we arrived in the road of p .1 5 1 St.Martin and anchored. In front of the Fort we found three flutes [fluyten], Dirck Femmesz. van Hoorn, two from Waterland, with one Englishman. "On Sept.11, as I had anchored before the Fort with my yacht, the said skippers of the flutes immediately came aboard me, asking whether I had seen a French ship. I said yes. They asked whether she had not attacked me; I said no; if we had been a weak ship they might well have done it, for he said that he had sworn the make the first Dutchman he met pay, for they had killed two of his men..., which was not well done by them. For he told me that a few days before a French ship had arrived in the port, and the captain was a Knight of Malta, and she was a royal yacht of the French King that sought Spaniards.....[French man sails ashore, and asks for a keg of tar, but is refused with impoliteness; Dutch finally fire on her and kill two men; but on the return voyage the French ship was lost] P .1 5 2 "On Sept.12 I had my ship cleared, in case the whaling was poor in flew Netherland, and since salt sold for a good price at home. On the same day there arrived the ship New Netherland, which I had left behind at St. Vincent to refresh; 9.
also there arrived the ship GELDRIA, also a Company ship plus two flutes from Hoorn, Cornells Jansz. Niels, skipper; the other flute the VALCK, spipper Gerrit Jansz. "On the 27th we had aboard the cargo of salt we wanted, and prepared to sail to Nevis, in order there to get firewood and water, since w o o d was easier to get there than on St.Kitts and water too.... So these skippers of the flutes which had shown such hostility to the Frenchman, requested whether they might sail w ith me as far as Nevis, in order to get wood and water, and so to sail to Holland, since they feared the Frenchman.. I answered that if they wanted to sail with me, since they were fellow townsmen.... "On the 29th we weighed anchor with my yacht; went under sail but they stayed there. Towards evening I arrived before Nevis Is., sailed ashore to Governor, and Englishman named Luttelton; he asked that I take aboard some Portuguese prisoners, P .1 5 3 and put then enroute on St.Kitts on board of an English ship called Capt. Stoons, which I could not refuse him, or I would have them in three or four hours on my ship. These Portuguese Maerten Thijsz. from Zeeland had landed there. On Nov.l, having taken farewell of the Gov. of Nevis and weighing anchor, we came towards noon to the great Road where the English are , where there was a Governor called Mr. Warner. Here I immediately unloaded the captive Portuguese, gave them to the Englishman, who wanted to sail with me to St.Martin. On the 2nd, having weighed anchor with my yacht with the Englishman from London who had the captive Portuguese aboard which he was to take to Puerto Rico, he left his pinnace behind, which was to follow him with some merchandise to St.Martin. In the evening we arrived at the port of St.Martin, where we still found the entire fleet we had left there. Then I asked the skippers of the flutes why they had not followed me when I weighted anchor. They answered, thanking me for my services, but had agreed to stay together and to wait till all were ready, and that GELDERLANDT would go with them.... p.134 "On the 14th [Nov.1632] we were in the latitude of 32 degrees , the Bermudas to the east of us.... "On the 3rd [Dec.j we saw the opening of South Bay or South River.... "On the 5th the wind S.W. weighted anchor and sailed into South Bay, and at noon anchored with our yacht in four fathoms, and immediately saw a whale near the ship; at once thought this work would be royal, an abundance of whales, and in addition such a fertile land nearby to cultivate. "On the 6th we sailed into the creek with the boat, well armed in order to see if any savages would come out to talk, but, arriving at our house which had been destroyed, found it surrounded with stockade instead of parapets, but it was mostly P .1 5 5 burned; found here and there skull and bones of our people killed there, also here and there a horse’s or cow's head.... [ establish contact with the Indians, and try to reestablish peace]. p .1 5 7 "On the 2nd [Jan.1633] we saw two big whales near our yacht; we wished indeed that we had with us the pinnaces with the harpooniers who were at Swanendaal [name of the settlement on the W. shore of the Delaware]. [p.159-163: much detail on Dutch activities on Delaware, and Indian relations]. 10. p. 165 "On March 5 [1633] we decided to voyage to English Virginia, since we had failed to get cereals in the South River.... and we thought that in the Great River [Hudson] at Ft. Amsterdam we could also not very well find it for our returm voyage, so we found it advisable to sail to English Virginia, even though no one from these provinces had been there [sic].... [De Vries's stay in Virginia, then back to Delaware Bay, to New Amsterdam, and home— much detail; use directly. P-133 July 24, 16 3 3 : De Vries back at Amsterdam. A real hater of WIC ., and leaves same. CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS, Colonial Series, 1574-1660, DA25 preserved in the State Paper Department of Her M ajesty's C29 v. 1 Public Record Office. Volume I. London, 1860. Vol. VI.
83, Gualter of Twilley, Governor of the Dutch planta
tion, to Governor (John Winthrop) of Massachusetts Bay. C oncerning the right of the Dutch to the (Hudson?) River.
Has taken possession of it in the name of the States Gen
eral and set up a house on the north side with intent to
plant. Desires he will defer his claim until their super
ior magistrates are agreed. (Translation of part of a let
ter from the Governor of the Dutch. Endorsed by Sed. Coke.) 450 r XVII en A ugustij 1634 Confrater Louissen Becker enae Bisscop worden ge
authoriseert om op den cleenen voet to tracteren d'hr.
Thobias Iddekinge bewinthebber van Groeningen.
D 'heer Liens wort geauthoriseert neffene d 'hr. Witten Leeu Lampsens arrest te doen o p 't schip den Witten Leeu, geweest
zijnde in Virgine.// 45 3 r IIII en September 1634
Is geresolveert vier cabeltouwen met het schip de Cabeltouwen Leeuwinne naer Brasiji te senden.
Is geresolveert dat men Gerart Luyz// sal betalen Gerard LuyS de capitale somm die hij trect om aen Jan de Dorper te
betalen sonder de interresten die worden gedifficulteert/
D 'heeren Droochbroot ende Bisscop doen rapport van
hun geb esoigneerde bij ae magistraten te Zierczee ende
Goes nopende de subsidie bij de comp.ie versocht om favo
rabel rapport in de vergaderinge van heeren Staten van
Zeelant in te brengen die alle s goets belooft hebben zijn
de voorsz. heeren van haere moijte bedanct.
D ’heeren Bullestrate Godijn end e Elfsdijck hebben
versocht te mogen ontfangen vercoopen ende leveren sooda-
nige cattoenen ala ingebracht zijn voor haere gemeene reed
ers mette schepen van willeboort Dane ende Jacob de Brune
mits caverende van te betalen ae gerechtigheijt van de
compagnie soo't bij de vergaaeringe van de negentiene sal 327
453 v worden besloten welcke cattoenen sullen gewogen worden in Cattoen in tegenwoordicheijt van Abram de Bruijman die 't ge wichte bij Villette sal overbrengen.
De saecke van Niew Neerlandt bij de handt genomen Nieu Neerlant zijnde is goet gevonden die te laten berusten tot dat
een point van beschrijvinge daervan zal wesen gemaect. Typed p.6 At the March 27, 1634 meeting of the WIC Dlrectors, they took the followin g action on New Netherland :
”6e poinct. Nopende de differentie geresen van de coloniers
van Nieuw Nederland, is goet gevonden het selffde te stellen
ter dessisie van haere H.M., ofte alsulcke gedeligeerde als H.E. sullen believen te ordonneren.”
Typed p.27 At the Aug.15. 1634 meeting they merely say: ”Naer omvraege is geresolveert dat... de voordere saecken van Nieuw Nederlant voor alsnoch in staete.”
P.34-35 At the Aug.22, 1634 meeting:
"D'Heer Coenradij Burch heeft gedaen rapport aengaende de geschillen ende dofferenten tusschen de Compaingnie ende de patroonen van Nijeuw Nederlant, ende sijn gecommitteert neffens d'Heeren Coenradij, Raij, de Voocht, Dolphijn, Serooskerck, ende Isbrandij om"de stucken noch eenmael te oversien. "Sijn binnen gestaen d 'Heer Mijchlel Pauew ende Samuel Blommaert met noch twee andere patroonen van Nieuw Nederlant, versouckende ft sij metten minne bij de commissarijssen haer geschillen afgedaen te mogen werden.” p .36 At the Aug. 24, 1634 meeting:
" I s gelesen de missive geschreven aen de Heer Joachemij tot antwoorde raeckende de gepre(te)ndeerde schaede van Jacob Elekens in Nieuw Nederland. "D'Heeren van Groeningen sijn geauthorijseert met de capiteijn Cloppenburch over sijn gepretendeerde maentgelden te overcomen. ”Is mede rapport gedaen over de naerder besoingne nopende de questie tussen de patroonen van Nieu Nederlant.” p.42 At the Sept.1, 1634 (Friday) meeting:
"De vrouwen van de matroosen van Nieuw Nederlant binnen gestaen om te hebben vergoedinge van haer mans geconsigneerde pelterle, is 't selffde haer affgeslaegen.” p.45 At the Sept.5, 1634 meeting:
”De commissarijssen, met die van Nieuw Nederlant in besoingne geweest, doen rapport hoe sij in communicatie geweest hebben met de pratroonen, ende is de saecke noch uitgestelt tot veerthien daegen naer 't scheijden van dese Vergaederinge, opdat een ijder in sijn camer sal rapport doen ende dan beschreven te werden om naer Amsterdam te comen.” II
CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek,v19('s-Gravenhage,1935) LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE NAAR BOSTON (NOORD-AMERIKA) IN 1635, MEDEGEDEELD
DOOR A. MERENS *
Sedert de oprichting van de Oost-lndische Compagnie van Engeland in 1599 en van de Vereenigde Oost-lndische Compagnie in Nederland in 1602 rezen al spoedig verschillende moeilijkheden tusschen beiden betreffende de plaatsen van vestiging, de gebieden, waarin invloed op de inboorlingen I uitgeoefend en de producten, waarin handel gedreven mocht worden. Van tijd tot tijd vonden er dan ook tusschen afgezanten van de beide Compagnieën onderhandelingen plaats, die tot het sluiten van tractaten leidden, welke daarna door de Staten-Generaal der Republiek der Ver eenigde Nederlanden en door den Koning van Groot-Brittannië werden goedgekeurd en geratificeerd. Tusschen 1613 en 1623 werden zulke tractaten gesloten en bleven de be trekkingen tusschen de beide, elkaar beconcurreerende, Compagnieën op een vrij vriendschappelijken voet, totdat het doodvonnis, op 9 Maart 1623 te Amboina tegen Gabriel Towerson en negen andere Engelschen — be schuldigd van het omverwerpen van het gezag der V. O. C. op dat eiland — uitgesproken en op dien zelfden dag voltrokken, in 1624 in Engeland bekend werd en deze stemming geheel deed" omslaan. De Engelsche Regeering nam den handschoen voor hare onderzaten en voor de Oost-lndische Compagnie van Engeland onverwijld op en protesteerde tegen vonnis en uitvoering te ’s-Gravenhage, hetgeen ten slotte leidde tot het instellen van een gedele geerde rechtbank door de Staten-Generaal op 26 Juli 1627.
De Republiek en de V. O. C., die zich de sterkeren achtten in Indië, ge I voelden er blijkbaar weinig voor het eenmaal uitgesproken en ten uitvoer gebrachte vonnis te herroepen en hare gemachtigden in het ongelijk te stellen, zoodat zij deze onderhandelingen op sleeptouw hielden en aan den door Engeland gestelden eisch tot herstel van grieven geen volledige ge noegdoening wilden geven. Engeland, dat deze langdurige onderhandelingen begon te vervelen, be . sloot ten slotte door een daad van openlijke vijandschap zijne tegenpartij tot meerderen spoed en grootere tegemoetkoming aan te zetten en nam in 1627 drie Oost-Indievaarders. „De Goude Leuw”. „Walcheren” ende „Orag- i nien”, die met volle lading van Suratte naar Nederland terugkeerden, in beslag en besloot die te houden onder bescherming van het geschut der forten, eerst van Portmouth en daarna van Wight. Doch de uitwerking dezer daad viel geheel anders uit dan de Engelsche
e--~---- - “ * 98 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE
Regeering en de Oost-Indische Cie. van Engeland hadden gehoopt en ge~ dacht; de Staten-Generaal en de V. 0. C. waren thans minder dan ooit bereid aan de eischen der Engelschen tegeinoet te komen en wilden slechts nieuwe onderhandelingen openen, nadat eerst de schepen waren vrijgelaten en verder ongehinderd hunne reis naar het Vaderland konden vervolgen. Ten slotte gaf Engeland toe en liet bij acte van 12 Augustus 1628 de schepen vrij, waarna de Kamer van Amsterdam der V. 0. C., die met de afhandeling van het geschil door Heeren XVII was belast, een gezantschap naar Engeland benoemde, dat, begeleid door den gezant Joachini, den lldcn Februari 1629 van den Haag over Delft, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Klundert, Willemstad, Arnemuiden, Middclburg en Vlissingen met het schip van Capiteyn Cornells Joostes Calis van Veere naar Greenwich vertrok en op 1 Maart te Londen voet aan wal zette, waarna de onderhandelingen met een commissie van de Oost-Indische Compagnie van Engeland vrij spoedig begonnen. Het ligt geenszins in de bedoeling van dit opstel diep in te gaan op deze onderhandelingen — ik hoop gelegenheid te vinden daarover later nog eens uitvoerig te schrijven — maar ik moet loch naar voren brengen, dat zij tot geen resultaat voerden en eerst tot een einde kwamen in October 1634, toen dc gedelegcerden naar Nederland terugkeerden. Het gezantschap bestond uit Pieter de Carpentier (geb. te Antwerpen 19 Febr. 1586, overl. te Amsterdam 5 Sept. 1659), oud-Gouverneur-Gene- raal in Indie en juist als Admiraal van een rijkbcladen retourvloot op 3 Juni 1628 hier te lande teruggekeerd. Kort na aanvaarding van het Gouverneur-Generaalschap op 31 Januari 1623 werd dus — maar buiten zijn medeweten — het vonnis te Amboina geveld, doch hij was vanzelf- sprekend geheel op do hoogte van alle verwikkelingen, die daardoor tus- schen de Engelsche Regeering en de Republiek waren ontstaan. Verder was de deputatie samengesteld uit Hans de Hase (over wien ik tot hedcn nog geen genealogische gegevens kon bemachtigen), oud-Raad van Indie en oud-Gouverneur van het Fort te Paleacatte en oud-Directeur op de Kust van Choromandel. en uit den voorzaat van schrijver dezes Jan Martsz. Merens, oud-burgemeester van Hoorn en oud-bewindhebber der Kamer Hoorn van de V. 0. C. (geb. te Hoorn 14 Jan. 1574, overl. op de Vuursche in het Sticht van Utrecht 22 Nov. 1642), terwijl dr. Johan van Heemskerck (geb. te Amsterdam in 1597, overl. aldaar 27 Febr. 1656 en over wien ik verder verwijs naar het proefschrift (1933) van dr. D. H. Smit) als medelid en advocaat aan hen was toegevoegd. Verder ging nog als Secretaris mede Abraham Booth, lid van het Dordt- sche geslacht, die. in het midden van 1630 tot secretaris van Wijk bij Duurstede benoemd, op 28 Juni 1630 van Londen naar Nederland vertrok1). F.erlang hoop ik in een Engelsche vertaling een dagboek van hem uit te geven, dat hij aanhield vanaf zijn vertrek uit Holland in 1629 tot aan zijn tertigkeer te Utrecht op 9 Juli 1630, een dagboek, dat in zijn details een
’) Na zijn huwelijk met Johanna van Hagensmoer overleed hij te Wijk bij Duurstede, zonder kinderen na te laten, in 1636. LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE 99 belangwekkend en aardig licht werpt op al hetgeen het gezantschap ver richtte en beleefde, want al moge er geen nieuw tractaat door zijne be- iriiddeling tot stand zijn gekomen, toch behartigde de gedelegeerden op velerlei wijzen de belangen van de V. 0. C. Aanteekeningen in het „Familicarchief Merens” wezen wel op een ver- blijf van Jan Martsz. en van leden van zijn gezin in Engeland en op een tweetal reizen daarheen gemaakt, m aar gaven geen licht om welke redenen hij zich van zijn woonplaats Hoorn voor zoo’n langen tijd verwijderd had. Grooten dank ben ik daarom aan mijn neef A. Merens Dz. verschuldigd voor de onderzoekingen, die hij tijdens zijn vice-consulaatschap te Londen gedurende 1929/1930 in het archief van de Ned. Herv. Kerk, Austin Friars, iristelde en door wiens work ik in staat ben gesteld de aan dit opstel toegevoegde documenten openbaar te maken en hun verband met de be- moeiingen van het gezantschap aan te toonen. Het verloop van de onderhandelingen was n.l. zoodanig, dat het ge- zanlschap besloot secretaris Booth den 26sten Juni 1629 naar Amsterdam te zenden, teneinde met de Kamer aldaar mondeling overleg te plegen; van dit bezoek keerde hij op 27 Juli te Londen terug. Evenwel, een resultaat werd niet bereikt en de onderhandelingen worden heropend en slecpten zich nog maanden en maanden voort. Sedert medio 1629 gingen de gedelegeerden om beurten naar Holland terug, evenwel steeds zorg dragende, dat tenminste een hunner te Londen achterbleef om er de belangen der V. 0. G. te behartigcn. Pieter de Carpentier vertrok op 11 Februari om op 3 April 1630 te Middelburg in het huwelijk te treden met Maria Ravenel en keerde eerst op 9 Mei met haar te Londen terug. Hans de Haze arriveerde wederom te Londen op 28 Januari 1630, na een verblijf van meer dan vijf maanden in Zeeland. Merens zelf moet van Londen vertrokken zijn na Juli 1630, datum van het einde van het journaal van Booth, waarin van Merens’ reis niet wordt gerept, maar volgens de familie-aanteekeningen keerde hij 26 Maart 1631 weer te Londen terug. In het volgende jaar liet hij zijn oudste zoon Jan (geb. 20 Dec. 1617) overkomen, die aldaar tot 14 December 1632 verbleef. Vervolgens kwam zijn vrouw Maria van Segwaert hem blijkbaar in 1634 voor de terugreis halen en nam hun dochtertje Antonette (geb. 2 Juni 1623) mede. Ik kan niet nalaten de passage aan te halen, die Johan van Heemskerck daaraan wijdt in zijn brief van Londen d.d. 17 Juni 1634 aan Johan van Foreest te Hoorn (zie „Eenige brieven van Johan van Heems kerck in het Archief der Familie van Foreest”, door dr. D. H. Smit, Tijdschrift voor Ned. Taal- en Letterkunde, deel LIII, afl. 4), omdat ze tevens zulk een juist beeld geeft van den stand der moeizame onderhande lingen met de Engelschen:
„Nicht Meerens quam alhier seer voorspoedelijck op den laetsten Mey, ende is met haer man en soete dochterken, God Ioff, heel welvarende, verwachtende nevens ons met verlanghen de gewenschte ure van onse langh verhoopte verlossinghe. Daer nu schijnt groten moet toe te sijn, also
NED. ECOX.-HIST. ARCHIEF JAARBOEK XIX 7 100 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE
onse hantlelinghe op do heff lopende, binuen korten buyghen off bar- sten moet.”
Hoe staat clit nu alles in verband met het contract aangaande de leve ring van West-Friesch vee naar Boston, waarvan in de bijgaande docu- rnenten gewag wordt gemaakt? Jan Martsz. Mercns was koopman; welke zaken hij na zijn terugkeer in October 1600 van een (waarschijnlijk) zakenreis door Frankrijk, Jlalie en Duitschland te Hoorn dreef, is mij niet bekend, maar wel blijkt uit het familie-archief, dat hij voordien te Amsterdam en te Lissabon in den lakenhandel was. Als bewindhebber van de V. 0. C. van de Kamer Hoorn zal hij stellig geinteressecrd zijn geweest bij don handel op Oost-Indie en daar Hoorn- sche kooplieden een werkzaam aandeel hebben genomen bij de oprichting van de West-Indische Compagnie, zoo meen ik ook wel aan te mogen nemen, dat hij bij den handel op de West betrokken zal zijn geweest. Tijdens zijn langdurig verblijf te Londen is hij, gedelegeerde van de V. 0. C., natuurlijk in contact gekomen met vooraanstaande handelslieden der City en zoo zullen' er tusschen hen plannen zijn beraamd om West- Friesch fokvee naar de Engelsche kolonie in Amerika te verschepen, een handelstransactie, waartoc hij ongetwijfeld bekvvaam en in staat moet zijn gew eest. Het is mij, helaas, niet mogen gelukken, ondanks ijverige nasporingen in de notarieele protocollen van Hoorn, uit te vinden, of deze transactie inderdaad heeft plaats gevonden. Gegeven het feit, dat vele dier protocollen sedert het einde der zestiende eeuw door brand of anderszins zijn verwoest of verloren gegaan, is dit negaticve resultaat niet zeer verwonderlijk. Ook een onderzoek door mr. Frank C. Ayres, executive secretary of the Business Historical Society te Boston, in Amerika ingesteld, heeft geen licht ge- bracht, doch daar te lande zijn archiefstukken uit die lang vervlogen jaren lioogst zeldzaam. Voor een onderzoek in andere archieven in Londen heeft mij de tijd ontbroken, doch onmogelijk is het niet, dat aldaar nog ge- gevens kunnen worden ontdekt, die in dezen opheldering zullen geven. Maar in elk geval geven de thans gcpubliceerde stukken een zeer duidelijk en nauwkeurig beeld van de condition, bij zulk een contract voor levering van vee naar overzee bedongen en van al hetgeen tusschen Merens en Hart, als begeleider van het vee en met de kapiteins van de schepen werd overeengekomen. De data der acten kloppen nauwkeurig met het tijdstip van het afbrekcn der onderhandelingen der delegatie. Het contract met de Engelsche kooplieden werd afgesloten op 16 Sep tember 1634, dus ongeveer een maand voordat de afgezanten voor goed naar Holland terugkeerden. Veranderingen en toevoegingen in het contract wijzen er op, dat be- taling moest geschieden op 10 December 1636, na levering van het vee, die geschieden moest tusschen 14 Februari en 30 April van dat zelfde jaar. Na zijn terugkeer in Oct./Nov. 1634 zal Merens dus te Hoorn maat- regelen genomen hebben voor de keuze van het vee, het charteren der LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE 101 schepen, de verzorging van het vee enz., waarna eind April 1635 te Hoorn de bcide contracten met den kapitein en Frederik Hart .e arden .gesloten voor verscheping „in Maert ofte in voorste van April!, ted ’taficLste”, hot* geen dus natuurlijk „gedurendc het jaar 1636” moot-beteekenon* Nu nog een enkel woord over de verschillende.personen in de ____* genoem d. Sir Richard Saltenstall of London, knight, is de bekende kolonist Ri chard Saltonstall (1586— 1658), oom-zegger van Sir Richard Saltonstall, lord-mayor van Londen in 1597. Eerstgenoemde Richard werd in 1605 in den adelstand verheven. In het jaar 1629 tot member of the Massachusetts Bay Company be noemd, werd hij nog in hetzelfde jaar tot ,.assistent” bij haar aangesteld. In April 1630 zeilde hij met zijn vijf kinderen in gezelschap van John Winthrop uit in het schip de „Arabella” en landde te Salem op 12 Juni d. a. v. Hij verliet de kolonie evenwel weer op 30 Maart 1631 en ging nadien nimmer meer naar Amerika terug; wel behield hij groote belangen in Nieuw-Engeland en kreeg tezamen met Lord Saye and Sele, Lord Brooke en eenige anderen een stuk land aan de Connecticut door den earl of W ar wick toegewezen, terwijl hij meer dan eens met de leidende personen in de nieuwe kolonie over zaken van staat in briefwisseling stond. Voor de bevordering van den veestapel op zijne bezittingen in Massa chusetts zal hij derhalve deze transactie met Merens hebben aangegaan. In het koopcontract wordt eerst later Adriaan Dircksz. Pool als mede- comparant bijgevoegd; over hem heb ik in de archieven der stad Hoorn niets kunnen ontdekken. Gelukkiger was ik aangaande den persoon van Frederick Hart, daarin eveneens genoemd. Ten tijde van de aankomst der gedelegeerden te Londen waren als bui- tengewone gezanten der Republiek aan het Engelsche Hof geplaatst Arnold van Randtwijck en Adriaen Pauw, heer van Heemstede, die evenwel reeds den 19den M aart 1629 naar Holland terugkeerden. Hierover schrijvende, voegt Booth daaraan nog toe:
„0ntrent dieselffen tijt alsoo Haer Ed. van meninge waren haei eygen mesnage te doen, wierden in derselve dienst aangenomen eenige officiers van de heeren extra-ordinaris ambassadeurs, als Pieter le Mel, cocq, Frederick t’Hart, bottelier, Jacob Leenderts, porthier ende staljongen, gelijck Haer Ed. oock van de gemelde heeren ambassadeurs overgenomen hebben vier van haer carospaerden tot 45 L. sterl.”
Merens, die gedurende de jaren van het verblijf van het gezantschap de qualiteiten van den bottelier zal hebben weten te waardeeren, zal hem in dienst hebben overgenomen voor de verzorging der lading vee op de overtocht naar Amerika. In het koopcontract heb ik onvermeld gelaten, dat later een paar ver- anderingen werden aangebracht, omdat die tot inhoud en strekking der transactie in geen verband stonden. 102 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE
In plants van Robbart Kayne, Birchin Lane, een der contracteerende kooplieden, .word-, ook do naain van John Wattson, Towerstreet, verraeld, terwij! novens, J ohn Luce of London ook Lucas & Nicholas Corselie worden g e noemdd , ... I k ncem aan .datt K ayne als gemachtigde aan de Engelsche zijde voor do afwikkeling van het contract zou zorg dragen en dat Merens en Pool hnnne belangen in handen van Jhon Luce legden, en dat partijen later hebben ingezien, dat eveneens plaatsvervangers dienden te worden aange w ezen. In het bijzonder vestig ik de aandacht op dezen Jhon Luce, omdat hij zeer waarschijnlijk een agent der V.O.C. te Londen is geweest; immers, Booth schrijft niet alleen aan de gedelegeerden tijdens zijn r#is naar Cornwall, doch ook aan Luce en vermeldt zulks bijzonderlijk in zijn journaal. Het komt mij dus zeer verklaarbaar voor, dat Merens, toen hij naar het vader- land terugkeerde, denzelfden persoon zal hebben aangesteld om zijne be langen te blijven behartigen bij de uitvoering van dit koopcontract. In Booth’s journaal worden verschillende dezer agenten op verschillende plaatsen in Engeland met name genoemd. De verhouding van de V. 0. C. tot hare agenten in dat land zou m. i. een belangrijk onderwerp voor een ditpgaande economisch-historische studio kunnen worden.
A. M.
1.— CONTRACT TUSSCHEN SIR RICHARD SALTENSTALL TE LONDEN E.A., EN JAN MARTSZ. MERENS, OUD-BURGEMEESTER VAN HOORN E.A., OVER DE LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE TE BOSTON. — 1634, SEPTEMBER 161)- This indenture made the sixteenth day of the month of Sep tember anno one thousand six hundred foure and thirty and in the tenth yeare of the reigne of our Soveraigne Lord Char les, by the grace of God Kinge of Englande, Scottlande, France and Irelande, Defender of the Faith etc., betweene Sir Richard Saltenstall of London, knight, Edmonde Whijte, George Ffox- croft, Robberte Keaijne, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Brow- ninge of London marchantes on the one parte, and Jhon Martsen Merens, old Burgumaster of the cittije of Hoorn, in Northolland, and Ffrederick Hart, Andries Dirckss.2), late ship master, on the other partije, witnisseth, that the said partije do aknowledge and confesse by these p(oi)nts for him and for his
‘) Aanwezig in het Archief der Nederlandsch Hervormde Kerk te Londen, Brieven, no. 2312. *) In het M.S. staat Dirckss. Andries, hetgeen wel een schrijffout zal zijn. LEVERING VAN WEST-FR1ESCH VEE 105 heires, executors and administrators, to have covenanted and agreed together in manner followinge. That is to saij the said burgumaster Merens and Adriaan Dircksz. Pool doth bij these p(oi)nts for him and for his heires, executors and administra tors, covenante, promise and undertake, that hee or some .of them shall and will buij and shippe in Northolland aforesaid, otherways callad West-Friesland, and send for the Mathachu- sets Baije in New Englande in America, in one or two shippos to a place, called Boston or Charles Towne, lijinge uppon the heijght of two and fortij and 1/2 degrees or there aboutes, at Jiis owne perill and adventure and propper coast and charges ffiue and twentij unringed mares, of a good height and of a good sorte for breeding, not of the best nor anye slight ones, and as fitt mares lor labour as ordinarilije in Ffriesland and Northolland are bougt and transported for other countries, betweene to jea r s tenne monthes and six monthes old and three score horsses of the like breede and fittnisse not under three ijeares and tenn monthes olde nor above six yeares and tenn monthes olde. To pav for the one and the other after dew delijvre, made at Boston or Charles Towne in New Englande aforesaid, ffowre and thirtije poundes starlinge for each. Fifftij heifors of a jeare old within fifteen daijes more or lesse, when theij shal be delyvered in New England aforsaid of the best and fittest for breedinge w(i)ch hee can get in Northolland or Westfriesland aforsaid. Three bulles, beeinge too jeares old and upwardes of the samè kinde, to be paijed for one w(i)th an other after deliverije made in New England as above twelve pounds strarlins for each. Seaventij ews of the best and ffittetse for breedinge, w(i)ch hee can get in Northolland aforsaide, to bee bought of the same age as the heiffers. F owre lammes also of the same age and kind, to be paijed for one w(i)th the other after dew deliverije made, three poundes starlings for each. And so manije more heiffers and ews of the same kind and breed w(i)th the former as acordinge to the opinion of the saide Merens or Adriaen Dircksz. Pool or anye boddij else on his behalfe can be fittlije ladenn and brought over in the shippe or shipps in w(i)ch the rest shal be transported, to paij for cvery one heiffer or sheepe the prijses before written. And the said Jhon Martsen Merens and the said Adriaen Dircksz. Pool 104 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE or some boddye on his behalfe, so soone as the shippe or shippes shal be arived at the place apointed, shall p(oi)ntelijo unlade and sett on shoare all the said cattell w(i)thout anij necglegt or losse of time, provided that it be not on the hordes daij. And the said knigte and marchantes do promise by these p(oi)nts to have somboddije readye there to receave p(oi)ntelij upon notice given at the places aforsaid all the said cattell, except those that are sicke or lame, soe as bij that lamenesse theij are made unserviceable, w(i)ch llike cattell shal be landed att a ffitt place and there helped and provided for by the said knight and marchantes or there assignes w(i)th grasse and that w(i)ch shal bee need full for the nessesarye maintenance and helth of the said cattell, so farr as the plantation cann aford and shal be left under the charge of the said Adriaen Dircksen Pool or som boddij of his behalfe the space of three daijes, and all the sicke cattell as well mares, horses, heiffers, bulls, sheepe and lamms, w (i)cjh after theij have binn three daies on shoare (beinge jet alijve) all the same muste bee there receaved and accepted of by the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond Whijte, George Ffoxkraft, Robert Keaine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge, there executors or assinges, and acordingelije paied for at London, as perfecte sound cattell, although the same were weake and sicke unto death. But those that shall have broken limbes or bee lame in manner as afor said shal bee and remaine at the costes and perill of the said Jhon Martsen Kerens and Adrian Dircksen Pool. All the beastes, wh(i)ch shall happen naturalije to dije of them selves within the said three daijes, as alsoo those wh(i)ch shall die duringe the voijage, the said knight and marchantes are not to make anije payment for, but those wh(i)ch shall happen to die on lande bij mischance, willfullnesse or necglecte of the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond Whijte, George Foxcraft, Robert (Kaine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge or anije of them or there assinge or assinges, the same shall come to the charge of them, the said knight and marchantes, and theij shal be dewlye and fullye paied for to the said Jhon Mart- sen Kerens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool, their executors or assinges by the said knight and marchantes, or some of there executors or assinges at the prises aforsaid. Provided alsoe
\ LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE 105 and it is expresselije promised, covenanted and conditioned, and agreed by and betweene the said parties, that they, the said undertakers, shall shippe and carrije awaije out of North- holland aforsaide all those several numbers of cattell, before mentioned, betweene the first daye of Januarije and the laste daij of Aprill next comminge after the date of these p(oi)nts and w(i)th them proceed in there aforsaid voijage so soone as winde and wether will permitt the aforenamed and specified cattell, amountinge together to the some of one thousande eight hundred and term poundes starlinges, the juste halfe wherof, being nine hundred and five pounds starlinge, shal be paied and delivered by the said knight and marchantes or som of them, thier assinges or executors, on the tenth daij of Decem ber next ensewi nge the date of these pointes into the handes of Jhon Luce of London, marchante, at his house in the parish of St. Benett Ffinck, London, ;hee giveinge an aquitance and discharge for so much in partie of this bargaine. Moreover the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond Whyte, George Foxcroft, Robert Kaine, Edward Hopkins and Henry Browneinge do joyntlije and severalije for them, thier severall heires, executors and administrators, provise to pave the re maining nine hundred pound and five starlinge and for all such heiffors and ews, wh(i)ch the said undertakers or anije of them shall bringe or deliver in New Englande at the place before named, above the numbers before specified, beinge alive and sound as is before expressed at the aforesaid prises w i t h out anije disputations or intanglinge to the contrary vr(i)thin twentije daijes after there shall be a dew certificate shewed to the said knight and marchantes there executors or assingnes or to som of them of the delivery of the sound cattell in New England as aforesaid, either from the govenour deputij or other credible persones in that plantation, w(i)ch the said knight and marchantes doe bij the p(oi)nts oblige themselves and everij of them shall not by there procurement be denijed them. And in case the same shippe or shippes should happen, to mi(s)carrije and be caste awaije, soe that none of the cattell be delivered in New England aforesaid, than the said under takers do promise and covenante joijntly and severalij, that 106 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE w(i)thin fortij daijes after tlhe same cloth clearlij apeare either by certificate from New England or other vvaies leaste at the new dwellinge house of Jhon Luce, to deliver and repaij unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Fox- croft, Robert Kaine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge or to some of them or there heires, executors or asingens, the aforesaid somme of nine hundred and five poundes starlinge at or w(i)thin the new dwellinge house of the said Robbert Kajne, scituate in Burching Laine in London. And if it should happen that there come noe newes of the arijval of the said ship or shippes and of the delivery of the said cattell before the twentish daij of the moneth of December, wh(i)ch shal be in anno one thousand six hundred thirtij five, then the said undertakers doe covenante and promise to repaij the said nine hundred and five poundes starlinge unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Foxcraft, Robert Keaine, Edward Hopkins, Henrij Browninge or unto som of them, their executors or assingnes, on the one and twenthith claij of the said month of December 1635 at the aforesaid house of the said Robert Kaeyne, excepte that the said knight and marchantes or annij of them should have advise of the landinglie and deliverije of the cattell and the undertakers none. Tn such case the said knight and marchants or some of them shal be bound to com- unicate there advice to the said undertakers or to either of them or to the said Jhon Luce for them. But havinge none on both sides, then the said paijmente shal be made as above said and lijck wijse if the said undertakers or Jhon Luce shall have notice of the lose of the said schippe or shippes or miscariage of the said cattell and the said knight and merchantes none in such case the said undertakers or Jhon Luce shal be bound to comunicate thier advice to the said knight and merchants or to some of them, but having none, then the said payment shal be made as above said provided. Neverthelese that if it schall after wardes apeare that the delverij of the said cattell is made in whole or in parte in the place and manner aforesaid, that then the said knight and marchants, their executors or assinges, shall, after notice given, pay into the said undertakers, thier execu tors or asinges for all the said cattell soe delivered at the prises aforesaid w(i)th intrest after the rate of seaven pounde per LEVERING VAN WEST-FR1ESCH VEE 107 centium per annum for the nine hundred and five poundes paied unto them from the time that it was soe repaired if th e ffull number of cattell beforenamed be delivered or for soe much as halfe the cattell under the before mentioned number at the prises aforsaid shall amounte unto. Moreover the said undertakers Jhon Martsen Kerens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool doe joijntlij and severalij promise and covenante to and with the said knight and marchants, thier executors and asinges, that if the shipe or shippes apoijnted to carrij over the cattell aforesaid, shall arive there and shall not deliver so mannij cattell alive and not in manner as aforesaid as shall amounte at the aforesaid prises to the somme of nine hundred and five poundes starlinge to be paied in December next as aforesaid, uppon certificate under the hand of the govenor deputij or other credele persons in New England afore said, the said undertakers shall w(i)thin fortij daijes after such notice, leste at the house of the said Jhon Luce, afore specified, pay back soe much of the said monnij as shal be receaved more then the said cattell soe delivered shall amounte unto at the aforesaid house of the said Robert Kaevne. And this indenture further wittnesseth that Jhon Luce of London, marchante, doth for him, his heres, executors and administrators, covenante, promise and graunte by these points to and w(i)th the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcrafte, Robert Kaeyne, Edward Hopkins and Hen rij Browninge, theier executors, administrators, that if the said some of ninehundred and five poundes agreed to be paied bij the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffox- craft, Robert Keayne, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge shal be paied to the said Jhon Luce, his executors or admini strators, acordinge to the true intente and meaninge of these p(oi)nts and that the said some of nine hundred and five pounds shall grow dew to be repaied bij the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool or either of them, their executors or asingens, for or by reason or by virtue of anij covenante or agreement in these points contained, unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond Whijte, George Ffoxcroft, Ro bert Kaine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge or to anije of them thier or to anije of thier executors, administrators or 108 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE assinges or to anije of them, in such case if the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool or either of them, thier heires, executors, administrators or assinges, shall not well and trulye repaij the said niene hundred and five pounds unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcraft, Robert Kaeyne, Edward Hopkins and Henry Brow- ninge or unto one of them their or unto one of their executors, administrators or asinges or unto some of them at such tijme as it shall soe grow dew to bee repaied and at such place as is in these points above specified, they, the said Jhon Luce, his heers, executors, administrators or asingnes ore some of them shall and will w(i)thin three dayes after the defalte of payment of the said nine hundred and five pounds, made by the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool or by either of their executors, administrators or asingnes, well and trulij repaij or cause to be repaied the said nine hundred and five pounds unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcroft, Robert Iveayne, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browningc or unto one of them their or unto of their executors, administrators or asingnes or unto some of at the new dweli nge house of the said Robber Kaine, scituate in Birchin Laine in London as abovesaid. And in case the said Jhon Luce, his executors or asingnes, shall not w(i)thin the said three daijes after default of paijment of the said nine hundred and five pounds, made by the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adriaen Dircks. Pool, their executors or asingnes as aforesaid, well and trulij repay or cause to be repaied the said nine hundred and five pounds unto the said Sir Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcroft, Robert Kaeyne, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge, their executors or asingnes as abovesaid, that then he, the said Jhon Luce, his heires, executors or asingnes, shall not only repaij the said nine hundred and five pounds after default of payment soe made by him, the said Jhon Luce, his executors or assingnes w(i)thin the said three daijes, but alsoo well and trulij pay or cause to be paied unto them the said Sr. Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcroft, Robert Kaeine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Brow ninge or unto one of them, their executors or asingnes, the somme of two hundred pounds more of lawfull monij of Eng LEVERING VAN WEST-FRIESCH VEE 109 land at or within the new dwellinge house of the said Robert Kaeine, scituate as abovesaid, and further to the performance of all and singular, the covenante, grauntes and agreements, wh(i)ch on the one parte and behalfe of the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adriaen Dircksen Pool and either of them, their several heires, executors and administrators, are and ought to be observed, performed, fullfilled and kept and by all thinges acordinge to the true intente and meaninge of the p(oi)nts the said Jhon Martsen Merens and Adrian Dercksen Pool and the said Jhon Luce binde them and avery of them and theire heires, executors and administrators, unto the said Sr. Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcroft, Robert Kaeine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge and unto every of them, there severall executors and administrators, in the afore said penalltij of two hundred poundes of licke monnij afore said over and above the nine hundred and five pounds airedij spe cified or such other some or somes as may grow dew by reason of this contract and lickwise to the performance of all and singular the covenante, grauntes, articles and agreemente, which on the parte and behalfe of the said Sr. Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Foxcraft, Robert Kaine, Edward Hop kins and Henry Browninge and every of them, their heires, executors and administrators are and ought to be observed, fullfilled and kept in and by all thinges, acordinge to the tenor, forme, efecte and true meaninge of the premisses, the said Sr. Richard Saltenstall, Edmond White, George Ffoxcroft, Robert Kaeine, Edward Hopkins and Henrij Browninge binde them selves and everij of them joijntly and severallij their severall heires, executors and administrators, unto the said Jhon Mart- sen Merens and Adriaen Dirckesen Pool and Jhon Luce, their executors and administrators, the licke some or penalty of two hundred pounds of lawfull monnij of England over and besides the severall somes dew to be paied by the contracte above spe cified. In witnes wheroff the said parties to these indentures inter changeable have sett their hands and seales ijeonder the daij and jeare first above written. 110 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE
* 2. — BEVRACHT1NGSVOORWA ARDEN VAN DE SCHEPEN DE WITTE
VALCK EN DE VIJGEBOOM. — 1655, APRIL 21').
Copie van de conditio van bewrachtinge soo die geacordeert sijn van de schepen De Witte Valck, daer schipper op is Geerit Janss. ende De Vijge boom, daer schipper op is Claes Meeusz.
De schippers sullen gehouden sijn soodrae doenlijck is hare schepen gereet te maken, dicht ende wel gecalfaet, versien van anckers, towen, cabels ende seylen, victualien ende andre toebe- hoorende nootsaecklijcheden geballast om in Maert ofte in voor- ste van Aprilt ten lanckste gereet te sijn, omme inne te mogen nemen soo vele leggers ende pijpen waeter, als de bevrachters gelioven sullen ende bequaernlijck twee hooch ingenomen kennen werden. Omme daerop bij de bevrachters gemaeckt te mogen werden soodaenige gernieringe, solders ende stallingen als haer noodich ende goet duncken sal ende de schipper daerop be quaemlijck sal balasten. Over t balasten is eenige swaericheyt gemoveert geweest ende alsoo verstaen half en half betaelt sal werden, om daerop te mogen schepen ende setten ?t getal van paerden, hocklingen, van omtrent een jaer out ende schaepen als men bequaernlijck sal kennen, die in ’t ruym niet mogen sullen op den overloop in afgeschoten hocken gesct werden tot welgevallen ende costen van bewrachters, mitsgaders waterva ten, hoy, haver, boonen, koeken, meel ende alles, dat tot onder hout ende gesontheyt van beesten noodich ende dienstich ge- vonden sal worden, mitsgaeders eenige coopmanschappen, die deselve gelieven sullen daerbeneffens te schepen. In sulker voegen dat de bevrachters tot haeren behoeve sullen gebruvken het voorss. schip ofte schepen, sonder te gedoogen, dat imant anders daerinne eenige coopmanschap buyten kennisse van be vrachter ofte sonder sijn consent sal mogen schepen ofte inge nomen werden, op pene deselve goederen te verbeuren. Alle welcke voorss. beesten ende coopmanschappen de schip per gehouden sal sijn te voeren ende te leveren in America, anders Nieu Englant genaemt, in de Baye van Mathacusetts op de hoochte van omtrent 42 1/2 graden, in de plaetse genaemt
*) Aldaar, Brievon, no. 2358. LEVERING VAN VVEST-FRIESCH VEE 1 1 1
Boston ofte Charelstowne, by den anderen gelegen ofte in beyde, plaetsen, sulckx als de schippers alsdan aengeseyt .sal werden, onder expresse conditie dat het scheepsvolck ofte eenige der- selven tot voile contentement van den coopman gehouden sullen sijn dagelijckx ende bij ontijden oock als den noot sulckx ver eyscht te assisterten ende te helpen in !t ruym als op den over loop de voorss. beesten te voeren ende van eten ende drincken te versorgen ende onreynicheyt van de beesten, telckens ofte ten lanckxten driemael sdaechs op te ruymen ende overboor t te helpen, ende vorders alles te helpen doen, dat bij den coopman tot gesontheyt van beesten noodich ende dienstich geoordelt sal werden geduyrende de voorss. uutreyse, de ledige watervaten binnen als buytenslants doenlijck sijnde met versch waeter te helpen vervullen tot onderhout van beesten, mitsgaeders de le dige leggers ende pijpen. in’t ruym op de reyse met zeewaeter te helpen vollen, om’t schip behoorlijck geballast te houden. Ende ter gedestineerde plaetse gecomen sijnde sal de schipper gehouden sijn sonder tijtversuym de voorss. beesten te lossen ende aen lant brengen, uutgesondert op Sondaegs. Naer welcken gedaene ende behoorlijcke leverantie de be vrachters gehouden sullen sijn aen den schipper ofte sijne ree- ders alhier tot Hoorn te betaelen 3.200 gulden voor ider schip met een niewe vlagh ende de schippers als de reyse wel geluckt ider een kleet ofte caplaeken. Alles ter goeder trouwe. Hiervan copije aen reeders te leveren. Aldus verstaen op den 21en Aprill 1635.
3. — CONTRACT TUSSCHEN JAN MARTSZ. MERENS EN FREDERICK HARTT BETREFFENDE DIENS TOEZICHT OP HET OVER TE VOEREN VEE. 1635, A P R I L 2 2 ‘).
Contracte tusschen den heer Merens ende Frederick Hartt.
Ick, Frederich Hart ondergesz., bekenne midts desen over eengecoomen en geaccordeert te sijn met den heer Jan Martss. Merens, oudt burgemeester der steede Hoorn, in manieren als volcht. Te weten, dat ick van hier sal gaen met het schip Den
*) Aldaar, Brieven, deel 15, no. 2359. 112 CONTRACTEN BETREFFENDE DE
Vygeboom, daer schipper op is Claes Mieusz., om opsicht ende goeden acht te neemen (met Taems Willemsz. van Swaechdijck) over de paerden, bockelingen ende schaepen, die in’t voorsz. schip gescheept sijn ende gescheept sullen werden, dat deselve daegelijckx en behoorlijck moegen werden gevoert en gerey- nicht, mitsgaders drincken gegeven te werden volgens de in structie, die ick daer van hebbe, geduerende tot in Nieu Enge lant toe, alles met hulp van’t scheepsvolck, die by de schippers daerop aenjgenomen ende gehuert sijn volgens de expresse con dition van bevrachtinge ende alsoo het beste te doen, dat de voorsz. beesten leevendich in Nieu Englant souden moegen werden gebracht ende, aldaer gecoomen sijnde, de beesten van beyde de seheepen te leeveren aen dengeenen, die daertoe gelast sullen sijn conform het contract, ende het cargasoen in beyde de seheepen van Gerrit Jansz. ende Claes. Mieusz. gescheept, daervan copie hebbe, bedragende ongevaerlijck met oncosten ende convoy ter somma van neegen enjde twintich hondert ende vijfftich gulden op den oorbaer te vercoopen, te verhandelen ende de penningen, daervan coomenide, per wissel op goede vaste luyden aldaer ende tot Londen over te maecken ofte aen goede beevers, swarte otters ofte diergelycke goede waeren te verruylen! ofte besteeden sooveel mijn doenlijek is ende over- brengen tetsij op Londen ofte op Neerlant, sulckx als best ge- legen sal sijn. In welck cargasoen ick sal herideeren ende vifi queeren een gerecht achtepaert, bedragenide omtrent drie hon- dert acht ende tsestich gulden 15 st., daermede ick sal verwach ten schade ende bate sulckx als Godt gelieven sal te verleenen, penn ingen ponts gelijek. Ende alsoo de voorsz. heer Merens mijn de penningen van mijn achtepaert verschiet ende debourseert, soo is expresselijck by mijn belooft ende geaccordeert, dat in cas van ongeluck van neemen, blyven ofte andersints de voorsz. gedebourseerde pen ningen by myn ofte myne erven deuchdelijck sullen werden be taelt ende gerestitueert, ende behouden vaeren ende ’t voorsz. cargasoen gebeneficeert sijnde, met den eersten ende besten geleegentheyt tsy met een Engels ofte Nederlants schip weder omme te keeren ende alsdan behoorlijck reeckeninge ende re- liqua te doen van’t voorsz. cargasoen, in vougen dat ick den voorsz. Merens alsdan de verschooten penningen van mijn LEVERING VAN WEST-FR1ESCH VEE 115 achtepaert te vollen sal laeten genieten ende betaelen. Soo sal ick naer goede gedane devooren op de ryse genieten ende t' myner wederomkoemst ontfangen veertich gulden ter maent. van de tijt aff dat ick van Hoorn tscheep gaen ende naer Texel vertrecke geduerende tot myne wederomkoemst in Engelant ofte Nederlant toe, daer ick eerst sal coomen te ariveeren. Alle ’tgeene voorsz. is beloove ick eerlijck ende getrouwelijck te achtervolgen, naer te koomen ende te voldoen onder verbant van alle myne teegenwoordiche ende toecoomende roerende ende onroerende goederen, geene uytgesondert, submitteerende alle deselve ende den keuze van dien alle heeren rechten ende rechteren. Des ten oorconde hebbe ick deesen: gesigneert ende geteyckent op den 22en April 1635 in Hoorn.
I n margine staat. Sr. Jan Luce aengenomen ende geacordeert hebbe de reyse te doen, te weten den 13en Maert 1635. In Londen *).
*) Deze aanteekening is m.i. onduidelijk, doch slaat wellicht op het feit, dat Luce ten behoeve van de Engelsche kooplieden de reis naar Boston medemaakte. 456 v XX en September 1634 Confrater van der Poorten wort gecommitteert neffens
d 'heeren commissarisen geweest zijnde te Ziericzee ende
Goes te begroeten d 'heeren gecommitteerde van ae voorsz.
steden ende hun de saecke van ae comp.ie ende subsidie van
dien op't hoochste te recommanderen mitsg.rs in ae staten
in te geven seker concept van place det van dat geen schuij Subsidie ten noch booten aen ae schepen van de comp.e uiter zee
commende vermogen aen te varen voor ende aleer de bewintheb
beren aen boort zijn op pene van verbeurte van selve booten
ofte schuijten te versoucken een placcaet in forma gemaect
ende in alle steaen in Zeelanat gepubliceert enae stric
telijck geobserveert te worden.//
Sijn gelesen de stuc ken enne bescheeden dij d 'hr.
Serooskercke uit de vergaadringe van de negentiene mede Nieu Neerlant gebracht raeckende niew Nederlant.
Is goet gevonden dat Mr. Pauwels sal opsoucken de lijs
te van de instrumenten mede gegeven aen de chirurgen thuijs 133
457 r gecomen zijnde met 't schip De Leeu ende die te confereren
mette instrumenten bij de versz. chirurgijn weder gebracht
ende een taxatie maecken an baschadichde enae achterge Commijs Segers bleven instrumenten, potten, ende glasen die verstaen zijn
dat men corten zal aen ae gagie van de commijs Segers
die een attestatie gegeven heeft dat de den chirurgijn
behoorlijck over gelevert heeft daerop hij betaelt ende
vertrocken is.
De finale resolutie over de saecke van Nieu Nederlandt Nieu Neerlant is uitgestelt tot mergen. Relacion de las poblaciones de ingleses en la Virginia y Tierra Firme de las Indias mas arriba de la Florida
Mas adelante de la Florida esta situada la Virgirna que
ingleses descubrieron y poblaron en tiempo de la Reyna Isabel despues desta caminando el norte arriba, estan la Nueua Ingla terra poblada de ingleses Nueua Escocia de escoceses, y Nueua
Francia de franceses, y estos entre otras cosas sacan vn prouecho grande del trato de pieles de castores pero dexando esto apartes solo se dira de la Virginia que oy haze mas ruydo entre las poblaciones inglesas.
En la parte que confina con la Florida, caminando desde el poniente hazia el norte tiene sus poblaciones vn justicia muy
Principal de Inglaterra que se llama Ju.o Heath, y es vn reparti miento de tierras q. le ha dado el Rey pres. te por su patente, para que las pueble y auite en la forma que le pareciere y se dize que por no auer en este repartimiento ningun puerto acomo dado trata es te justicia y las personas que el emplea en esta nauegacion de tornar vn puesto dentro de la Florida misma que tiene rio y puerto a p roposito.
despues deste justicia siguen los olandeses que tienen tornado vn gran pedazo de tierra a lo largo de la costa hazia el septentrion, donde trafican en castores y otros pieles y en madera , que tambien la ay para fabricar nauios y funden artilleria aug- mentandose cada dia en la poblacion y comercio. Relacion de las poblaciones de ingleses en la Virginia y Tierra Firme de las Indias mas arriba de la Florida
Mas adelante de la Florida esta situada la Virginia, que
ingleses descubrieron y poblaron en tiempo de la Reyna Isabel,
despues dest a caminando el norte arriba, estan la Nueua Ingla terra poblada de ingleses Nueua Escocia de escoceses, y Nueua
Francia de franceses, y estos entre otras cosas sacan vn prouecho
* grande del trato de pieles de castores, pero, dexando esto aparte, solo se dira de la Virginia, que oy haze mas ruydo entre las poblaciones inglesas.
En la parte que confina con la F lorida, caminando desde el poniente hazia el norte tiene sus poblaciones vn justicia muy principal de Inglaterra que se llama Ju.o Heath y es vn reparti miento de tierras q. le ha dado el Rey pres. te por su patente para que las pueble y auite en la forma que le pareciere y se dize que por no auer en este repartimiento ningún puerto acomo dado trata este justicia y las personas que el emplea en esta nauegacion de tomar vn puesto dentro d e la Florida misma que tiene rio y puerto aproposito.
despues deste justicia siguen los olandeses que tienen tomado vn gran pedazo de tierra a lo largo de la costa hazia el septentrion donde trafican en castores y otros pieles y en madera que también la ay para fabricar nauios y funden artilleria aug mentandose cada dia en la poblacion y comercio. 2 . A estos va siguiendo vna compañía de mercaderes de Londres que tienen tambien su repartimiento por patente deste Rey y van
embiando alla gente para su poblacion.
El quarto en vn repartimiento q. el Rey Jacobo dio al Baron de Baltamor que fue an S.rio de Estado y gran sujeto que despues
dexo el officio y se hizo catt.co y muerto el Rey Jacobo continuo
el Baron su pensam.to de poblar la parte que le auia dado y al canzo la confirmacion deste Rey para ello valiendose de la// f . 1 V. intercesion de la reyna y por esto como reconociendo el beneficio y em penarla mas en la protecion le puso su nombre Marilant que qui
ere dezir tierra de Maria. Trato el Baron de yr en persona a esta poblacion, pero murio
el an o passado y dexo estos disignios al Baron su hijo que tambien es catt.co el qual prosiguiendolos con calor embio habrá tres meses
vn nauio con todo genero de prouisiones para la poblacion y gente,
y fueron algunos que tambien emplean su din.o en ello y tres
quatro religiosos de la companía para conuertir a los barbaros
a la fee catt.ca. Dizen que es el mejor de todos estos repartimentos para el ayre, bastim. to y cosas de comercio. esta situado entre los grados
treinta y ocho y quarenta de latitud septentriona1,tiene sus puertos rios y bahias muy buenos segun dizen y pesquerías de
cauellao y otras de consideracio n e t c .
( on the carp e ta Relacion de las poblaciones de ingleses en la Virginia y Tierra FirmedelasIndiasmasarribalaFlorida.
K DA Acts of the Privy Council or England. Colonial Series. 25 Vol. I. A.D. 1613-1680 . Herefore 1908. B3 v.1 p. 206 (344.) Whitehall, 20 March: (1635.)
(New Am A Letter to the Erie of Portland. Whereas wee are informed sterdam . ) that there lyeth now a Ship of Holland of foure hundreth tuns
at the Cowes bound for the Hollanders Plantation in Hudsons
River, the Officers of which Ship seeke to drawe, as many of
his Majesties subiectes as they can to goe with them by
offring them large conditions, ffor the preuenting of so
preiudiciall a course, wee haue therefore thought fit hereby
to pray and require your lordships to take speedy and effect
uall order, that all the English as well in that Ship lying
there at this tyme as in any other that shall hereafter come
thither or into any of his Majesties Portes, within your
Jurisdiction may be stayed, and none of his Majesties Subiects
suffered to serue any foreine Prince or State without licence
from his Majesty or this board which wee earnestly recommende
to your lordships especiall care.
(p. 494. Paragraph 2.) KORTE HISTORIAEL ENDE JOURNAELS AENTEYCKN INGE VAN VERSCHEYDEN VOYAGIENS IN DE VIER DEELEN DES WERELDT-RONDE, ALS EUROPA, AFRICA, ASIA, ENDE AMERIKA GEDAEN DOOR D. DAVID PIETERSZ. DE VRIES, ...ED, by Dr.H.T.Colenbrander (Werken uitg. door de Linschoten Vereeniging, V.III, ' s-Gravenhage, 1911).
p.217 May 28, 1635: David Pietersz. de Vries sailed from Virginia to New HNetherland, where he arrived on May 30. June 1: De Vries went ashore to Ft. Amsterdam, where he still found Wouter van Twiller as Governor. "I asked him whether he would provide me with shipwrights for my money to repair my ship, which was very leaky, or was I to sail to New England, and so he promised me aid." p.218-219 June 1-5: Tells how he lost his boat,when she was enroute back to the ship from New Amsterdam, by reason of a storm— 5 men drowned, but one saved: a young man called Flips Jansz van Haerlem. p.219 Sept.l: When De Vries was ready to sail to Virginia, "in order to see whether we might recover what the salvaged Englishmen owed whom I had brought from Tortuga," and to see what returns there were from the cargo left behind in Virginia in May, there arrived at New Amsterdam aboard the WIC bark 14 to 15 Englishmen "who had occupied Ft.Nassau when our men had left it unoccupied." Van Twiller had sent bark and men to capture English, whom he now had brought to New Amsterdam. De Vries is now held up six days for Gov. Van Twiller wanted him to transport the captive English to Virginia, which he agreed to do. Sept.8: De Vries sailed from New Neth., on board the English under mr. George Holmes Sept.l0 : Arrive Point Comfort; landed the English; find another party of 20 English about to go to the South River to re-enforce the first group, but when they learned what had happened to the latter, they gave up the whole plan. "We sailed up river to Blank Point eight leagues, and found there at least 36 large ships, all English, with 20 to 24 guns, to load tobacco here, and of these fifteen skippers had already died because they had come too early during the unhealthy season and because they had never before been in the land. p.220 Oct.l: "On Oct.l I started sailing up and down the river to remind my debtors of their debts, but found that little tobacco was being made, and that this year there had been heavy mortality among the people, and that the English had this year brought much merchandise into the country; and there was also great deception among the English themselves, not paying each other the tobacco they owed, and not half of the ships even of their own nation loaded, so that I viewed this trade this way: that anyone engaging in it must keep a factory here continuously, 12
so that he may be at hand when the tobacco comes in from the fields, so that he can immediately accost them if he is to get any payment from them.for debts, and so the English do among themselves, so that for us there is nothing to trade unless there is a surplus of tobacco or if there are few English ships. (De Vries now spends the winter in Virginia) p .220 April 28, 1636: On April 28 I again came before Sicketan near (cont) the Fort, where I learned that my Colony, which I had set up on the Wild Coast, had been abandoned by the settlers, incited by some Englishmen and some sailors among them, so that anyone who wants to found a colony must not allow seafaring men among the colonists, unless the place was so located that it drove some trade by sea. The reason they abandoned the place was that a Span iard arrived with slaves to look for water. Then our people persuaded the savages to show the Spaniards where the water was, and in the meanwhile our people seized the barks and killed the Spaniards. And then the English among our people told the latter that when they came to the islands [Lesser Antilles] aboard the bark, the English should be the ones in charge, for they would arrive among their own nation, and then would divide the spoil, but they [Dutch settlers] had to sign as [indentured) servants. And thus we lost our fair colony, which if they had stayed there would within two months have guaranteed 150,000 gulden in cotton, annoto, and tobacco, but these scoundrels received their reward for abandoning p .221 such a fair maiden colony, for when they arrived in the[West Indian] Islands the Englishmen who had the title of captain sold the prize and her crew as [indentured] servant, so that the English are a roguish people and would sell their own fathers as servants in the Islands." May 6 : De Vries sails for New Netherland. Hay 8 : Arrives at New Amsterdam, actually at 2 A.M. the next morning; fired three guns as a salute, and got everyone out of bed. May 9-June 25: Busy in careening and repairing his leaky ship. June 25: "On June 25 I went via the Fort [Amst.] with the Comman dant and the Preacher to Pavonia, in the colony of Michiel Pauw, where the one in charge for Michiel Pauw p .222 was called Cornells van Vorst, who, having come with a small English bark from the North-English, brought good Bordeaux wine from there. And since the Commander much wanted to taste good wine, he had sailed there. While we were there, there were some words between the Commander and Preacher against Cornelis van Vorst con cerning a homicide committed there, but they parted later good friends. But when Cornelis van Vorst wanted to fire a salute for the Commandant with a piece that stood on a pole outside his house, an ember flew onto the house and it soon was entirely afire, and in half 13
an hour it was in ashes. We returned to the fort [Amst.], and gave orders to put everything back aboard [the now repaired] ship, and while we were busy loading our goods aboard, there arrived two prizes captured by the English. These, numbering 18 men, had first in a pinnace near Cartagena captured a fair new fast frigate of about 50 lasts loaded with tobacco and hides, and with her they next captured a bark, again loaded with hides, and with these came to New Netherland, wandering into South river, from where one of our trading pinnaces brought them to Ft Amsterdam. The mates had been set out by My Lord Warwick in order to colonize the island of Nombre de Dios [Old Providence], but owing to lack of re-enforcement and provisions they had to abandon it, and they carried a copy of a commission obtained from one of our privateers in co-operation with whom they had carried out this feat, and they sold their prizes here at the Ft, and their goods they embarked in the WIC ships, and they gave me ten Englishmen, about which the [Eng.]d Captain claimed that violence had been done to him, since he wanted his mates to go along with his goods, wanting to have his goods aboard my ship. And I would have transported all his people, but the Commandant Wouter van Twilier forced him to ship all the goods on the Company ship, and forced me to carry 10 Englishmen, which was a highhanded way to deal. Aug.8: The gunner of the Fort [Amst.] gave the farewell dinner, where at one point of the Fort a tent was raised, and there a table and benches set, and many people were invited. Now when the feast was at its height, the trumpeter began to blow, about which some words were exchanged, for the factor of the store Heyndrick Hudden and the factor of the storehouse Corelaer scolded the trumpeter. And the trumpeter gave each of them a cuff, whereupon they ran home and brought out a dagger and wanted to revenge themselves against the trumpeter. They came to the Commandant's house, and had many nasty words... but when they had slept on it their bravado was over.... Aug.15: "On the 15th I requested Wouter van Twilier to sign Staten Island for me, since I wanted to return and found another colony, which he granted me...." Aug.15: Set sail for home. Sept.25: Meets an English fleet coming from San Lucar; among them was a smuggler [Lorilng-drayer] from Hoorn. Oct.4: De Vries arrives at Hoorn; learns from hie stockholders that the red dyewood was worth only "een rycxdaelder en drie guldens 't hondert" in the market, which gave us a bad voyage, for we estimated upon departure 18 to 20 gulden per hundred, and at least 17 to 16 "Jaer gegouwen hadde," "soo that in place of having 15,000 to 16,000 guldens in wood, we had only 1500 to 1600, so that this made a bad voyage for us..., but this would not have been the case if our colony in Cayenne had continued, which would have given us 100,000 guldens per year in goods, had it not been abandoned as related... Says that stock holders of Amsterdam were willing to start over, but appar ently the rest not— -De Vries mentions case of Barbados, which "in my time" had no more than 100 men; first grew tobacco ■ ■ ■
14. which did not amount to much in quality, but then began to plant cotton, to make sugar, so now [note: this was published in 1655] we see the Carib Island full of thousands of people and great trade, both for the English and for our nation, and the French, who also plant many colonies, and we do nothing because there is much trick [Hoetelerije] with the WIC, which want the profits from the merchants before they are born. 42 BRIEVEN VAN SAMUEL BLOMMAERT AAN AXEL OXENSTIERNA, 1635 — 1641. 43
" Alsoo de navigatie veel conincrycken en
1) Reeds in zijn eersten brief aan Oxenstiern a, d.d. 3 Juni 1635, had Blommaert dit plan ter sprake gebracht, cu er op gewezen, dat Zweden in Guinea vooral koper en ijzer zou kunucn afzetteu. 2) Odhner t. a. p. biz. 206 inccnt, dat eerst in 1637 werd afgezien van bet plan eener uitrusting naar Guinea, omdat daarvoor te veel kapitaal noodig was; uit de rnemorie van Miunewit, d d. 15 Juni 1636, die ik in den tekst laat afdrukken, blijkt eehter, dat reeds toen een expeditie naar de Oostkust van Noord-Amerika in het oog was gevat. 3) Ik heb deze memorie gevonden in het R. A. te Stockholm, in de portefeuille: „Uandel och Sjofart. Kolonxer. Nga Sverige I". Zie miju Versing van Skandinavische archivalia biz. 111. 4 4 BRIEVEN VAN SAMUEL BLOMMAERT AAN
lande [doet] floreren en allenskens in Westindien door de Engelsche en Fransen en Nederlanders [velo plaatsen] geoccupeert worden, soo duncket my dat de croon Sweeden niet leedich en beho ert te staen om hunne naem mede in vremde landen te verbreyden; so hebbe ick, onderge- schreven, mynen dienst aen die croon Sweden willen presenteeren om met een cleyn by der hant te nehmen, dat in ’t korte tot een groot door Godts segen soude connen commen. Vooreerst hebbe an de heere Pieter Spiring voorgestelt om een voyage te doen naer de Vir gines, Nie-Neederland en andere plaetsen, daer- omtrent seekere plaetse my wel bekentelijk sien, van zeer goet climaet, dewelcke genoerat soude worden Nova Swwediae [sic]. Tot welcke equipaje van noden soude wesen een scbip van 60 k 70 5, 100 lasten, gemonteert met 17 stucken en amonitie naer advenant. Voor cargesoen soude nodich weesen 10 & 12000 guldens, bestaende in dissels, bijllen, kelels, duffels en andere cremerey. Tot equipage 20 & 25 man, gevictualeert voor 12 maenden, soude omtrent bedragen 3400 guldens. In gevael die croon Sweeden bet schip met d’ammonitie daertoe welde doen, met 12 soldaten tot besettinge van de plaetse om in possessie te houden, mitsgaders een barckjen ofte jachtjen om aff en aen te varen [en] te handelen, soude do gantse equipaje endo uytrccdingo gedaen worden voor omtrent 16000 ) gulden, daervoor ick selve 1
1) Er slaat 1G00; maar blijkens het voorgaaiiJc is dit ecu scliiijflout voor 1GOOO. AXEL OXENStlERXA, 1635 — 1641. 4 5
presentere voor de helft in te coemen, ende de heere Spiering ofto van wegen de croon Sweden voor d’ander helft straecks in contant daerby leggen. De bequaemste tijt om uyt te vaeren soude wesen hoe eerder hoe beter, hoewel dat den handel eerst op hot voorjaer geschiet, maer by tijts daerwesende, kan men die wilden be vrienden, datse in den winter sooveel vellen versamelen; en soude hoopen 4 , 5 ofte 6000 beversvellen te verhandelen, orn met diet clein beginsel groot capitael te vergaederen, om hier- naer wat meerder by der hant te nehmen. De croon Sweeden soude gelieven de beginners van deese niewe voyaje [te] begnadigen met ocktroi, stellende de limitten van Terra Neuft tot Florida, dat niemant voor den tijt van 70 jaeren uyt Sweden daerwaerts soude moegen vaeren, op verboerte van schip en goet; ende alsoo in ’t vaeren in zee dickwils gerescontreert worden eenige Spanse ofto Portugesche schepen, mosten een bestellinge mede hebben, dat men dieselvige soude moegen aentasten en voor goede prise in Sweeden brengen. Dat mede d’eerste tien jaeren alle goederen van deese Compagnie van uytgaen ende incoemen souden mogen tolvrey sein. En also dit lant bequam is om toback te planten en andere graenen, soude goet wesen eenige be quame persoenen mede te nemcn, die daer al[s] velwaerders ') mede souden connen diennen. Hierby conde mondelinge aengewesen worden, wat nuttichheeden de croon Sweden met der tijt 1
1) Versta: bewaarders van de vellen. 46 . BRIEVEN VAN SAMÜEfj ÖLOMMAERT AAN
daruyt soude connen trecken, tsy dat ick in Sweden ontboden worde om naerder contente ment van alles te geven, ofte sulcx als de hoeren van de regeeringe sullen goetvinden. Dit is soo coertelijck om UE. voor memory te dienen. UE. gelieven aen den bekende vrient1) ten eersten antwoort uyt Sweden te schryven off men het in ’t werck sal leggen, opdat geenen tijt versuymt mag worden en anderen ocuperen ’t geene tot groet voordeel van de croon Sweden soude strecken; waermede wensche UE. geluck op de reyse, en ick sal blijven UE. getrouwe dienaer, Amsterdam, 15 Junij 1636. Pieter Minuit.”
1) Hiermede zal Blommaert wel bedoeld worden. 2) Vermoedelijk wordt deze expeditie bedoeld in het Radsprolokoll van 27 September 1636. 3) Zijn volle titel was „Resident en Finantieraad"; tevens was bij in den adelstand verheven onder den naam Silfvcrcron till Norsholm; zijne brieven aan Oxenslicrna (gewoonlijk in ’t Duitsch geschreven) onderteekent hij: Peter Spicringk Silvercroen op Norsholm. Ax e L oiÊNSTtERKA, 1635— 1641 "47 G.W. Kernkamp, ed. , ZWEEDSCHE ARCHIVALIA. I. BRIEVEN VAN SAMUEL BLOMMAERT AAN DEN ZWEEDSCHEN RIJKSKANSELIER AXEL OXENSTIERNA, 1635-1641 (Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genoot schap, Utrecht, v.29), Amsterdam, 1908. pp, 1-196. pp.1-67 Kernkamp Introduces this edited correspondence betreen Samuel Blommaert and Oxenstierna by briefly tracing the history of the Blommaert family, of course stressing the life of Samuel. Re says he bases much of his account on a manuscript preserved in the Amsterdam municipal archive, entitled: "Memorieboeck van ons geslachten, beginnende van het jaar 1578 en eyndige(nde) met het jaer 1646.” This "Memory book” is a copy of original notes by Lodewijk Blommaert and his son Samuel; the copy was made by someone who could not decipher the original very well, so has many errors. Hlghlight in the famlly's history, its connections, and its actlvities are as follows;
P«3 Samuel Blommaert belonged to a famlly that originated in Brabant. His grandfather. Jan Blommaert, was b o m in 1501 in the vicinity of Bergen-op-Zoom; after he whad resided in foreign parts for a long time,” he settled down, presumably as a merchant, at Antwerp. All the chlldren of hls two marriages died young, except one son from his first marriage, named Lodewijk, or Louis. When Jan Blommaert died in 1547, ten-year old Lodewljk was left behind "almost without friends p.4 in Antwerp.” Leonora Frans, the wife of Hendrik Viens, a merchant trading to England, took pity on the orphan. Viens taught him trade and in 1557 sent him to England, where Lodewljk worked hlm for some time and flnally became hls partner. Apparently he prospered as a merchant for, after his return to Antwerp, he marrled the daughter of a prominent merchant, namely, with Margaretha Hoefnagel, daughter of Sr. Jacques Hoefnagel. A sister of his wife, Susanna Hoefnagel, married Christiaan Huygens, the later secretary of the Raad van State, the father of the poet-statesman Constantijn Huygens. That Lodewijk Blommaert belonged to the group of leading Antwerp merchants is also indicated by the offices he successively held: captain of the municipal guard (schutterij), representatlve (gecommitteerde) of Antwerp in the Raad van Brabant (1580), elected schepen (1581), and finally the city govemment of Antwerp made him superintendent and captain on Fort Lillo, a post he held for three months. After the fall of Antwerp ln 1585, Lodewijk Blommaert emigrated to England; he died at London on Sept.1, 1591. Out of the five P*5 children of his first marriage there was then only one alive, that is, the youngest son Samuel, b o m at Antwerp, Aug.21, 1583. After hls father's death continued to live in England for some time wlth his stepmother, who sent him abroad to school, flrst at Stade, then in The Hague and Haarlem. He was early apprentlced to trade, two years wlth a merchant in Hamburg, then at Amsterdam wlth the merchants Jan le Bruyn and Arnout Hoofman, flnally at Vienna wlth his uncle Daniel Hoefnagel. He then returned to Amsterdam, and signed up as assistent for an East Indian voyage. Samuel salled on the fleet of 12 shlps commanded by Admiral Steven van der Hagen for the Far East in December 1603, the expedi tion which ended with the capture of Amboina and Tidore. Samuel was promoted to ondercommles (assi stant factor) at Amboina. After the capture of Tidore hls ship sailed to Patane, on the east coast of Malacca (May 1605), and from there Samuel was sent on hls first / 2
pp.6-13 voyage to Borneo. Since Samuel's remaining time in the East Indies was to be spent in voyages and stays— four,in all— to and in Borneo (1605-1610), Kern kamp, utilizing not only the "Memorieboek" but also other sources and research, can reconstruct this phase of his life, which bolis down to the following. On his 1605-16 06 voyage to West Borneo, he spent some months at Banjermassin and in Succadana, and from the latter place a quantity of diamonds and bezoar stones were brought back (this voyage is evidence that the Dutch factory at Succadana already was established in 1606). On June 22, 1606, Jan Willemsz. Verschoor, who then was head of the Dutch factory at Bantam, sent Samuel with a sloop to Succadana, who returned by July 13, 1607. In the summer of 16O8 Samuel made his third trip to Suacadana, and he and the Dutcth factor at Succadana (Pieter Aertsz. returned to Bantam with 633 diamonds, weighing 275 carats, plus two bezoar stones. On Nov.19, 1608, Samuel goes back to Succadana, this time under OIC contract to stay two years, and to open trade and make treaties with the rulers of Banjermassin, Landak, Sambas, and Broenei. Blommaert ascertains that Sambas would be the best place to draw out the diamonds of Borneo, and on Oct.l, 1609, makes a treaty with the ruler of Sambas (who also claimed Landak) for the OIC, the first by the Dutch with any ruler of Borneo. The Dutch promised to protect the ruler of Sambas, against enemies, namely the Spanish and Portuguese, in return for a monopoly of the diamond trade, and if the natives would carry their diamonds only to Sambas, the Dutch would close their Succadana factory. This enraged the queen of Succadana, created some danger for Dutch personnel in Borneo, and so on Aug.5, 1610, Blommaert suddenly decided to leave Borneo— some months before the end of his contract— ; on Aug.13, 1610 he was back at Bantam, asked to return home after his seven years of service, sai1ed on the ship Hoorn and arrived at Texel on June 1 , 1611. p.14 Kemkamp adduces rather convincing evidence that Blommaert during his stay at Succadana traded diamonds for his own account. In fact, on Sept.11, 1610, the OIC Directors (XVII) at home instructed Gov.Gen. Pieter Both in the East Indies "to closely investigate the deportment of Samuel Blommaert at Succadana, and if everything is not in order to send him, after an accounting, to the Netherlands on the first ships, since we understand that that trade at Succadana is important, and that the Company can be greatly defrauded there by disloyal factors." Kernkamp admits this cannot be checked out, but does not doubt that Blommaert lined his pockets a bit, something not at all uncommon among not too well paid personnel of a huge, mono polistic, and avaricious Company. P.l 5 Back in the Netherlands, Blommaert established himself as a merchant in Amsterdam. On June 5, 1612, he married Catharina reynst, a daughter of Gerrit Reynst. His father-in-law was one of the most prominent merchants and shippers of Amsterdam, and one of the first directors of the OIC; on Feb.19, 1613, he was named Governor General for the East Indies, and sailed on July 2 following to take up his post. 3
p.16 In the well known Instruction which Isaac le Maire sent along with his son (Bakhuizen van den PBrink, STUDIEN EN SCHETSEN. IV. ths name of Samuel Bloammaert is also mentioned. For ths success of the expedition (i.e ., around C .Horn in 1615—6) Lemaire counted on the vanity and avarice of Reynst; therefore he instructed his son first to praise "the good form and manner of his government” and then to offer his services in transporting to the Netherlands goods which Reynst had acquired dishonestly, "and especially, in case he has some gems, that you will gladly transnort them freight free, and deliver them to his son-in-law Blommaert or anyone he may designate.” Perhpas Le Maire was not ignorant of the fact that Blommaert had some exp erien ce in d isp osing o f Diamonds acquired Surreptitiously. But also in another respect that is a connection between the expedition of Le Maire and Blommaert. The latter, at the same time as Le Maire, was involved in the outfitting of an expedition which also was designed to give competition to the Dutch E. India Company, Two letter from the Directors both dated Feb4 , l6l6, the first addressed to Governor General and Council, tne second to Reynst privately,shed light on this (P.A.Tiele. DE OPKOMST VAN HET NEDER LANDL. GEZAG IN OOSTI NDIE, Tweede Reeks, Eerste deel, p.LVIIT-LX). In the first letter they speak of the expedition of Le Maire, and subsequently about "still another ship [outfitted] by Samuel Blommaert, Jacques Nicquet and Co., called Mauritius de Nassau, being scheduled to go first to Angola.” Also wlth regard to this shipthey gave the same orders as for those of Le Maire, i.e,, that upon arrival in the Fast Indies she was to be arrested, to be used for Company service in the orient, and the crew distributed over Company ships. In the second letter, addressed to Reynst personally, the Directors instructed him to proceed against the above ships with all rigor, without sparing anyone whoever he might be; not only his oath to the states and the Company demanded this, but his own position and reputation were at stake, for his son-in-law Samuel Blommaert and his brother-in-law Jacques Nicquet (NOTE: Gerrit Reynst was married to Margaretha Nicquet, a daughter of Jan Nicquet, merchant at Antwerp, who later— sometime after 1581— settled at Amsterdam. See Elias, DE VROEDSCHAP V. AMST., I, 307-8, 373. Jacques Nicquet was a brother of Margaretha) were involved in one of these expeditions. The Directors express the hope that as a result of his energetic actions in this matter they may be confirmed in their confidence of his innocence and ignorance in this matter. When these letters arrived in the East Indies, Reynst was already deceased; to what extent he had knowledge of the enterprise undertaken by his son-in-law and brother-in-law cannot be determined. The only additional detail we possess about this expedition we know through an interrogation to which Samuel Blommaert was subjected by several Directors on Jan.30, 1616 (An extract from this Inter rogator in Tiele, op.cit . p.LIX). From this it appears that the ship MAURITIUS DE NASSAU had instructions to sail to Angola, and 4 .
then "to the Strait of Magellan along the entire coast of Terra Australis to see if there is an opening by which to enter the South Sea and, finding one, to run into it in order to see whether they could thus get into the South Sea and. getting into it, immediately to return, but in case of necessity and not being able to return, then to run to the East Indies, not with the plan of trading there KK but in order to obtain refreshments from the East India Company.” The question whether the ship carried letters addressed to Reynst or others in the East Indies was answered in the negative by Blommaert from this hearing it appears that the purpose of the expedition Blommaert and Nicquet was virtually the same as that envisaged by the Australian Company of Le Maire and associates. Whether the MAURITIUS DE NASSAU actually made an effort to find a new passage into t he Pacific, P.A. Tiele— to whom we owe knowledge of this expedition—has not been able to discover. In any event, it may be assumed that the goal was not achieved: if it had been# then the voyage of the MAURITIUS DE NASSAU would not have remained unknown. As to Blommaert's further fortunes we are temporarily dependent on his Memorieboek's disclosures. Chiefly family matters are noted down, Mention of the witnesses present at the baptism of his children at least throws some light on his circle of relatives and friends. Blommaert himself had few close relatives: his uncle Christiaan P.19 Huygens, the secretary of the Council of State, is the only male relative on Blommaert's side mentioned as a witness: however, he did not appear in person, but was represented by "our Cousin Caspar de Vogelaer." On the wife's side the baptismal witnesses mentioned are numerous, both of Reynsts and Nicquets. The foreign, especially the South Netherlands element, is well represented: Marla Nicquet, a sister of the mother of Blomraaert's wife, was married with Bartholoroeus Moor, an Antwerper by birth who later settled as a merchant in Amsterdam; Suzanna Nicquet, likewise a sister of the mother of Blommaert's wife, was married to Hans Rombouts, a merchant first at Antwerp and later at Amsterdam; Constancia Reynst, a sister of Bommaert's wife, was married to Joan Carlo Smissaert, merchant at Amsterdam but a son of an Antwerper; Weyntje Reynst, another sister of Blommaert's wife, was married to Isaac Coymans, born at Antwerp but later a broker (makelaar) at Amsterdam. To Blommaert's family circle further belonged Mr. Dominicus van Heemskerck, married to Sara Nicquet, a sister of the mother of Blommaert's wife; Adam Bessels, merchant to Italy and the Levant, married with Margaretha Reynst, a sister of Bommaert's wife; and Dr. Laurens Reael, the P* 20 Governor General designate, married to Suzanna Moor, a daughter of the abovenamed Bartholomeus Moor. About his business affairs the Memorieboeck mentions only the following: that in 1624, after four years of partnership with one Salomon Goensses,h e escaped being duped by that partner and his two brothers, Jan and Passchier Goensses; that also (he alleges) his brothers-in-law Adam Bessels, Isaac Coymans, and Jan Carlo Smitsaert, and also his uncle Bartholomeus Moor, had tried to bankrupt him, but failed. When the first directors were chosen for the West India Company In Oct. 1622, he was selected by the burgomasters from a threesome of chief stockholders (hoofdparticipanten). He served as director from 1622-28, again from 1636-42, and again 1645-51. In 1646 he was one of the two representatives of the Amsterdam Chamber in the Generale Rekenkamer of the WIC set up in l643. 5
p .22 In mentioning (In his "Memorieboeck van ons geslachten, begin- ende van het Jeer 1578 an eyndigende met het jaer 1646,") his stepping down as WIC Director In 1642, Blommaert notes the following: "Alsoo mynen tljt van 6 Jaeren ale bewintbebber van de West- indische Compagnle te dienen geexpireert is, ben ick den... Augusti 1642 neffens andere vijf afgegaen, sijnde tevooren door de vergaderi nge van de XIX, alwaer ick gepresideert hdbbe en voorgestelt om de kuste Chili te ontdecken, veseocht om tselve aen Syne Hoocheyt den heere Prince van Orangien voor te dragen, die doenmaels met het leger van desen Staet tot Botbergen, tusschen Rijnberck en 0rsoy, lach, en hebbe hem twerck voorgedragen, die 't raetsaem vont ten dienst vant landt en de Compagnie (het)selve by der handt te nemen, gelijck geschiet (is) onder bet beleyt van Hendrik Brower als Generael.”
Samuel Blommaert died at Amsterdam in 1654 (J.E.Elias, BE VROED- SCHAP VAN AMSTERDAM, I, 373)
Blommaert's "Memorieboeck" mentions nothing about connections with Sweden during one period of his life. Kemkamp in visits to Swedish archives uncovered Blommaert' s letters to Axel Oxenstiema, Sweden's Chancellor, copied these, and now publishes them here.
During the first half of the 17th c. the copper trade was one of the chief sources of income of the Swedish crown. The copper was marketed especially at Amsterdam; also loans were often made in Holland, for which the copper served as security. In the years 1628-1633 the Swedish commissioners Conrad von Falkenberch and Erik Larsson van der Linde were successively charged with the sale of the copper, and with other financial operations of the Swedish Government, in Holland (See: BIKSKANSLEREN AXEL OXENSTIERNAS SKBIFTEB 0 C B RFFVEXLING, UTGIFNA AF KONGL. VITTESHETS-, HISTORIE- OCH ANTIQUITETS-AKADEMIEN, Senare Afdelningen, Elfte Bandet, Stockholm. In this volume also letters by Falkenberch and Larsson in the years 1628-33 written from Amst. to Oxenstiema). In their letters to the chancellor Oxenstiema there is occasional reference to Samuel Blommaert as factor or commercial agent of Erik Larsson; in the years 1631-33 he served in disposing of the copper and in various exchange operations (See pp.436, 437. 451, 470, 594, 595. 633, 641). P.25 That Blommaert was interested in the copper trade in other ways than as a factor of Erik Larsson became clear to me from a letter Blommaert wrote from Amsterdam on Dec.2, 1632 to the Count Palatine Johan Casimir, the brother-in-law of Gustavus Adolohus, who during the king's absence in Germany had chief supervision of military affairs in Sweden, and after 1631 also over the revenues of the realm; after the death of Gustavus Adolphus (Nov.l6, 1632) he continued in this temporarily at the request of the Council of the Realm. In this letter, which Kemkamp gives verbatim and I shall merely summarize, Blommaert, writing in German, first of all thanks Johan Casimir for favoring the brass factory at Nacka which he and his partners apparently were operating ("die Werken auf Nacken." In a 6
note Kemkamp says that from the Upsala Univ. librarian he ascer tained that Nacka still exists as a rural community and parish south of Stockholm, in Stockhoim's Lan, in the province of Soldermanland, and that formerly a brass factory had existed there). Blommaert then goes on to say: "During the first six years we operated with very heavy losses in order to bring the brass works into good repute, but owing to the great decline in the prices of copperwork and the very great expenses involved, we had very heavy losses," but adds that the extension of their privilege for another six years by the late King (l.e., Gustavus Adolphus) has encouraged them to continue. Asks for continued government support, which would be best for both Sweden and the brassworks. Says the main problem is to keep up the market price of copper, and suggests that a company be formed by himself and others at Amsterdam to which the Swedish Crown would really give a monopoly of the sale of copper, annually supplying it with a set amount of copper at a set price He has discussed this with Falckenberch,the Swedish agent in the Netherlands, but the latter claims he cannot go ahead without Crown approval. Blommaert offers to take as a starter 2,000 schiffpfundt ( ) of copper at 58 florins cash per hundert pfundt, which is a high price so large an amount, but to lay the groundwork at Aachen ("umb das fondament zu Acken zu macherf), "where most of the copper is consumed, and to have the master workmen on hand this winter so that they do not accept German copper (das sie kein teusche Kupffem solten nemen) I found it advisable to offer him this, but it seems that without express order from his Royal Majesty he does not dare to do this." Blommaert points out that in this way Sweden would get substantial cash advances (secured by this copper) for use in the expensive war. Blommaert had persuaded some of his chief friends in Aachen to go in on this with him, but Falckenberch would not assent. Now, he continues. King Gustavus is dead, and the above deal is also delayed. Blommaert no offers to come for a personal interview with Johan Casimir to explain his business proposals. Kemkamp does not think Blommaert made this trip to Sweden, nor did he get the copper monopoly for his projected Dutch company.
Kemkamp now edits a letter written by Michel le Blon (employed by Swedish Govt in Neth.; his Job to pick up political and diplomatic news, and forward it to Sweden) on July 18, 1634 to the later Swedish resident in the Netherlands, Spiering, who was to forward the letter to Oxenstiema, in which the following things are said about Samuel Blommaert: 1) that he had indeed helped the Swedish agent Erik Larsson with exchange operations, subsidies (from Dutch Govt, I think), sale of Swedish copper, stimulation of Swedish trade, and generally making his credit, money, and means available; 7) that he was an "honorable and an affluent man, who when he was younger spent some years in the East Indies as chief factor and merchant, performing distinguished service, obtaining therefore (Gov.)General Reynst's daughter as a wife"; 3)that he was "further one of the first and chief initiators of the West India Company, and from the start for seven years served and advanced it as a Director. He is a chief stockholder (hooftparticipant) in both the East and the West India Companies"; 4) that he argues persuasively "how some 400,000 schippont of copper could be worked (verarbeyden). and almost that much in France by making a contract with Cardinal Richelieu that only Swedish copper be shipped there, supplying the royal cannon foundries and magazines with it annually, besides the mints, of which one has now seems to have been authorized at Bordeaux for coining duyten (sou, or farthings); the surplus for the year could be shipped to Eastland (in Oost) and in the Netherlands"; 5) that he is willing to work; 7
for Sweden, but on a regular basis for a salary or commission.
p.32 In May 1635, Oxenstie m rna stopped at Amsterdam enroute from South Germany to France to Netherlands and home, and had an Inter view also with Blommaert. After that Blommaert begins to write Oxenstierna regularly, his first letter being dated June 3» 1635 and the last June 22, 1641, 38 of all being known. P.3* In Nov. 1636 Swedish Govt, gave Blommaert an official appoint ment: as a commissioner with an annual salary of 1,000 rijksdaalders. His service terminated In 1642; the Royal Council on July 22, l642 voted that he be replaced at Amsterdam by Harald Appelboom and Pieter Trotzig, who would split his salary.
P.35 Blommaert also corresponded with, that is wrote to, others in Sweden besides Oxenstierna, that is, to the Councillors of the Realm, to the members of the KammarCollegium, to Conrad von Falckenberch, and especially often to Vice-Admiral Claes Fleming, who headed the Swedish Department of Marine. With Fleming he corre sponded especially about the voyage of Peter Minuit to America.
P.37 In his letters to Oxenstierna, Blommaert in the first place reports everything involving the copper trade and the copper industry, but once he is made commissioner this subject gradually becomes secondary. In this period Sweden is not only important militarily but is also trying to rise economically. Her natural resources no longer lie unexploited; the Government favors the enterprises of immigrants such as Gerard and Willem Gillisz. de Besche and Louis P . 3 8 de Geer, who bring the metal Industries to great prosperity. Usseli ncx finds a sympathetic reception for his plans for overseas trade and colonization, but lack of Swedish capital makes only a small beginning at colonization possible. To advance navigation, a shipping company was established, which built and outfitted ships, ships that sailed in the service of the crown of Sweden, in peacetime to trade, and as warships in war time. Blommaert gives much advice, but especially on commercial matters of the kind with which he as Director of the WIC had become familiar. From Blommaert's letters it appears that he was an important man in the WIC. When in 1636, early In the year, the negotiations with Spain made the WIC fearful for the preservation of its conquests in Brazil, Blommaert goes as representative of the chief stockholders to The Hague in order to plead for the Company's interests before the Prince of Orange and the St.Gen. In August, 1637, the Directors XIX sent him to the Prince's military headquarters,in order to Inform him about Brazilian affairs. When in 1637 and 1638 the Company is negotiating with Richelieu about a subsidy in order "to undertake some notable exploits to the damage of Spain," again BlommaW^t seems to be playing an important role, for he writes; "I have been engaged in this matter now for almost an entire year with the knowledge of His Highness." Blommaert assures us that the expedition of Cornells Cornellsz. Jol, alias Houtebeen, which in 1638 sought to capture the Spanish silver fleet, was largely planned and prepared by him; the news of the failure if this exploit therefore "grelved him greatly." A summary of the chief military operations of the WIC he concludes, not without pride, with the words: "all of the said projects and attacks were mainly undertaken at my initiative and suggestion, p.40 . and the instructions I myself drew up, since I exert myself to have ready knowledge of what is going on within the entire charter limits, since I glean information continually from everyone returning from 8.
those quarters, which is not done by others.” Even if Blommaert did somewhat exaggerate to Oxenstierna his role In running the WIC, he was certainly one of the most active directors. p.40 About the efforts which Usselincx made In I637 and 1638 to draw the Netherlands into the Swedish South Company, the letters of Blommaert also contain some detail. Blommaert affirms that Usselincx ”has neither reputation nor credit enough to execute so great a work”; if the Swedish Government is really serious with regard to the plan, then they m ust summon the aid not of Usselincx but of her ministers stationed in the Netherlands. Blommaert even makes the suggestion in one of his letters that Sweden should join the Dutch WIC, and that a Chamber of the Company be established at Gotenburg. But the difficulty here was again the same that stood in Usselincx's way; Sweden lacked the necessary capital to start great commercial undertakings.
p.4l Nonetheless Blommaert was able to execute on a modest scale an undertaking which led to the founding of the first Swedish c'' overseas colony. When in his letter of Dec.1635, he informs Oxen stierna about persons who can help Sweden get a share of colonial trade, he also mentions Peter Minuit, who had been born in Wesel (Fr.Kapp, "Peter Minnewit aus Wesel,” HISTOR. ZEITSCHRIFT, XV (1866), 225-250; Van Rees, Gesch. der Staathuishoudkunde, II, 139 and 336), had entered WIC service, and from 1626 to I632 governed New Netherlands (In Aug.I631 the Directors XIX voted to release him, and in early 1632 he left New Amsterdam, Kapp, p.235). Although Minnewit had p.k 2 shown himself to be an able man in New Netherland, he became the victim of discord within the WIC about the patroonships established in New Netherland (Blommaert also in I63O and 1631 gets a patroon ship on Delaware Bay: Hazard, ANNALS OF PENNSYLVANIA, Phila., 1850): the victorious faction accused Minnewit of favoring the patroons at the expense of the Company and therefore recalled him from his post; he returned to Holland and then to his homeland, Wesel. On Nov.26, 1636, Blommaert writes to Oxenstierna, mentioning Minnewit by name, reports that the Swedish resident Spiering had come to see him in Amsterdam, and that they had considered it advis able to summon Minnewit to Amsterdam in order to discuss "a certain voyage”, and then to send him to Sweden to confer with the Swedish Government. From other sources (C.T.Odhner, "Kolonien Nya Sveriges Grund- laggning.” HISTORISKT BIBLIOTEK, Ny foljd, I, 199-235) we know what happened between Dec.1635 and Nov. 1636 in the matter of the voyage Minnewit was to undertake. In the spring of 1636 Axel Oxenstiern a, who was then at Wismar, received a visit from Peter Spiering, a Netherlander by birth, who had been in charge of customs adminis tration in the Prussian harbors occupied by Sweden: when these ports were evacuated in 1635, his job was done, but he remained in Swedish P.^3 service. Oxenstierna now sent him to the Netherlands with the charge of persuading the St.Gen. to extend subsidies to Sweden; at the same time he was to watch over Swedish interests in matters of trade. Upon arriving in the Netherlands, Spiering soon made contact with Blommaert, who called his attention to Minnewit, who thereupon is called to Holland. Initially an expedition to Guinea was considered (as early as June 3t 1635, Blommaert in writing Oxenstierna had called attention to Guinea as an area where Sweden could especially market copper and iron), but then the Delaware area with which Minnewit was already familiar came to the fore. 9 When Spiering in the summer of 1636 made a trip to Sweden, Minnewit was to have gone along but when he was prevented from doing so he drew up a memorandum for Spiering to take to Sweden, Kemkamp discovered this memo in the Royal Archives at Stockholm, in the bundle: "Handel och Sjofart. Kolonier. Nya Sverige I , and edits the piece here (pp.43-46: see my Xermx copy) in full. In brief, Spiering makes these points: English, French, and Dutch are already occupying places in the Western Indies; Sweden should get into the game; he suggests a voyage to "the Virginias, New Netherland and other places near by which are well known to me", and that this area be called New Sweden; suggests one ship of 60 to 100 lasts in burden, with 17 guns, a cargo costing 10,000 to 12,000 gulden con sisting of adzes, axes, kettles, duffels (coarse woollen fabric), and other small wares; wants a crew of 20 to 25 men, provisioned for 12 months, total cost for crew 3,400 gulden; if the crown of Sweden will pay for 12 soldiers and munitions to occupy the place permanently, the entire business could be done for 16,000 gulden; Minnewit offers to pay for half, if Spiering or the Swedish Crown will invest the other half; suggests arriving (he writes on June 15, 1636) on the ground as soon as possible, in order to get the Indians to gather furs during the winter, although trading is in the spring; he thinks 4,000 to 6,000 beaverskins can be traded; he suggests that Sweden grant these colonial pioneers a monopoly charter from Newfoundland to Florida for 70 years: that the Swedish ship be provided with letters of marque to use in case Spanish or Portuguese ships are encountered at sea; he suggests that the new Company be given customs exemption on what they export and import for ten years; he points out that the area to be occupied is good for raising tobacco. Minnewit wrote this memo from Amsterdam on June 15, 1636. p.46 During his stay in Sweden in the summer of 1636, Spiering dis cussed the Minnewit project with the Swedish Government. When Spiering in the fall of 1636 returned to the Netherlands, he settled down as permanent Swedish resident agent. Minnewit and Blommaert now renew negotiations, the latter now having received his official appointment P*47 as Swedish commissioner. In the first half of Jan.1637, there was a meeting at The Hague of Spiering, Blommaert, and Minnewit; there it was decided (Odhner, p.206) to found a Company to trade and found colonies on the American coast, from Florida to Newfoundland insofar as the coast had not been occupied by Dutch and English. Half of the capital, which was estimated at 24,000 florins, was to be subscribed by Blommaert, Minnewit, and associates; the other half was to be brought together in Sweden. Minnewit was to go to Sweden with the necessary maps and papers to brief the Swedish Government; in Feb. 1637 he set out on the trip. In Sweden the leading men in Government were not only prepared to advance the project but also personally to invest. The three Oxenstiernas and Admiral Fleming together with Spiering subscribe the 12,000 florins needed to meet the Swedish half. Especially Fleming was interested, and saw to it that two vessels, belonging to the (since 1630) united South and Shipping Companies (Zuider- en Scheepscompagnie), were outfitted, one large armed ship the Kalmar Sleutel, and a Jacht, the Vogel Grijp or the Griffioen (The Swedish names were: KALMAR NYCKEL and the GRIPEN). Meanwhile Blommaert was busy in Holland making all preparations for the voyage; he took care of the purchase of provisions and of the cargo (broad duffels or fabrics made especially at Kampen and Leiden, and kettles), and for recruiting officers and crew (At Blommaert's urging, Spiering petitioned the St.Gen.for permission to recruit 25 to 30 skippers, pilots, and seamen for the crown of Sweden; see Resol.St.Gen. for May 26, 1637. Blommaert's June 6, 1637 letter indicates that the 10
St.Gen. granted this request). Men and supplies were to be shipped to Gotenburg, from which the expedition was to sail. Blommaert had to handle all of this by himself, for Minnewit was delayed in Sweden by illness, and did not return to Holland until the summer of 1637. From all this it appears that Blommaert was the soul of the enter prise; he drew up the instruction for Minnewit on the expedition, and he had a one fourth interest, whereas Minnewit had one eighth. In the enterprise, and he even advanced money when Swedish share holders failed to come through on time.* *In his memo of June 15, 1636 (summarized above) Minnewit had proposed that he personally supply half of the costs of the expedition, and that the other half be met by the Swedes. But In His May 6, 1637 letter Blommaert says "(Minuit will) for his own account participate for one-eighth share. I shall furnish the rest, but will let it be inscribed under the name of Minuit, for reasons.” Since In Holland half of the capital was to be found. It follows that Blommaert took 3/8. But in his letter of Sept.9 , 1637, he reports that he had taken part in the enterprise for a one-fourth share. This seeming contra diction is explicable: in various letters Blommaert speaks of ”the shareholders” (de participanten) in Holland, by which, given the arrangement, other persons than Minnewit and himself must be meant. Kernkamp surmises that Blommaert actually had a one fourth share, and that various other persons in Holland held the other one eighth. The words in Blommaert, Jan.28, 1640 letter also point to this: "Minuit arriving (i.e.. in 1637) here (In Holland) sought shareholders.” in his letter of Nov.18, 1637, Blommaert writes that to his request that he be repaid the advances he had made, Spiering "now answers that I must still be patient; this would be proper to say on other circumstances, but not in a partner ship company, where each should supply his capital promptly, in order to await profit or loss through the blessing of God."
Despite the urging of Blommaert, who in letter after letter explained why the expedition should sail early in the year, the departure was delayed, not only because of Minnewit's illness but also because of dawdling in Sweden; and meanwhile the wages of the crew had begun to be paid. Not until late fall of 1637 did the ships get out to sea, but were buffeted in the North Sea by a violent storm, and had to run into Texel and Medembilk to repair damage and to supplement provisions. As a result the expense rose to 36,000 florins, and all shareholders had to add capital propor tionally. This displeased Blommaert, but even more the fact that the Swedish Government refused to pay for the arming and outfitting of the ships, something the Dutch shareholders had counted on, but he consoled himself with the hope that a rich Spanish prize would pay for everything. On Dec.31, 1637, the Kalmar Key and the Griffin again sailed out. Minuit from the start aimed to taking possession of the right bank of the Delaware River for Sweden. Already earlier the WIC had occupied the banks of the Delaware. In 1623 an expedition sent out under Cornells Mey had sailed up the river and had built Ft. Nassau on the left bank. In 1631 a group of Holland merchants (includ ing Blommaert) had outfitted an expedition under De Vries, which landed in the vicinity of Cape Hinlopen, at the mouth of the Delaware, and on the right bank founded the colony of Zwanendal. Land was bought from the Indians on both shores of the river. But two years 11
later the Indians destroyed both Zwanendal and Ft.Nassau; the latter however was soon reestablished. When the expedition of Minnewit arrived at the mouth of the Delaware, the situation was that the Dutch had no colony on the right bank, but on the left bank, some distance up the river, lay Ft.Nassau (Carl Sprinchorn, "Kolonlen Nya Sveriges Historia," HISTORISKT BIBLIOTEK, l878, p.171). Also the English claimed both banks of the mouth of the Delaware, and in 1635 from Virginia had made an attack on Ft.Nassau, but this was repulsed. But the Ehglish held nothing on the Delaware when Minuit arrived. M inuit expected little trouble from the English, and he was of the view that the Dutch WIC was almost entirely absorbed in their Brazilian enterprise. In Farch 1638 Minnewit arrived with his two ships at the mouth of the Delaware (Sprinchorn, p.172, and his Bijlage I, 252-4 , or as the Dutch called it, the South River. He sailed up a right-bank tributary or creek, called Minquas-kil, made a contract with the Indian chiefs under which they sold him a piece of land on the right bank of the Delaware, hoisted the Swedish flag, and named the land New Sweden. On the Minquas-kil, now rechristened the Elbe, Mineewit began to build a fort where the city of Wilmington is located today, and called it Ft.Christina after the Swedish queen, and he also built a couple of houses. The Jacht Griffin was sent to Virginia to try to sell its cargo. The longboat went up the South River to seek trade, but when it arrived before Ft.Nassau the garrison stopped her from proceeding farther. The incumbent governor of New Nether land, Willem Kieft, learning from the men at Ft.Nassau about the arrival of Minuit, sent the latter a letter of protest (see this protest in Kapp, op.cit.. p.246-7 ) against this occupation of the South River, but Minuit ignored it. 1 1. In Blommaert’s letters there is no mention of the fact that the garrison of Ft.Nassau blocked the passage of the long boat, and no mention of Kieft’s letter of protest. Perhaps he had found nothing on these subjects In the reports from Minuit, upon which he relied for what he relays about the expedition In his letters of Nov.13, I638 and Jan.28, 1640. In view of his contradictory statements as to whether the WIC had previous knowledge of the expedition of Minuit, the possibility is not excluded that Blommaert intentionally suppressed what he knew about this protest.
Meanwhile the jacht had returned from Virginia, where she had p.53 not been able to trade because the English governor refused permission. Minuit therefore unloaded her, and sent her to the West Indies to St.Kitts for water and salt, and then to "run around to the west to take a fat Spaniard,” which would pay for the expenses of the expedition. When Ft.Christina was finished, Minuit himself prepared to sail away. He had been able to trade for some furs on the South River with the natives, and left the remaining trading goods behind from his own ship, but loaded those on the GRIFFIN into his own ship. He left the fort In command of Mans Kling, who had 23 men under him; Hendrik Huyghen was left in charge of trade, and the longboat was left there for use in trade on the river. Around mid-June (1638) Minnewit sailed with the Kalmar Key for St.Kitts, and there traded his cargo for tobacco. He was all ready to leave for Sweden, when he went aboard,as a guest, a ship from Rotterdam, the VLIEGENDE HERT. While there a hurricane arose, which drove all ships from the road, and some sank, Including the VLIEGENDE 1 2
I ERT. When the crew of the KALMAR KEY had verified Minuit's death, they sailed for Sweden, but a storm in the North Sea forced the ship to run, with her mast cut, into Holland, and from there she p.5*» returned to Gotenburg. The Jacht GRIFFIN also returned there; In the West Indies she had failed to take a Spanish prize, so had returned to New Sweden, from where she now brought a cargo of furs. Thus ended the first expedition to New Sweden. The Dutch inves tors were not happy with the result; from the start they had com plained that the enterprise had been set up in Sweden on far too ambitious a scale, and that the expenses were too great. They were not interested in founding a Swedish colony, merely in profit from trade and perhaps in catching a "fat Spaniard.” But the Swedish Governnent felt very differently. Especially Fleming, who since Nov.1637 was president of the newly established Commerical College, exerted every effort to bring the new colony to prosperity, and immediately took steps for a new expedition thither. The Crown of Sweden henceforth contributed financially to the outfitting, and advanced the expedition in every way, including acts of violence or duress in getting colonists; not being able to get volunteers, the government took farm boys who had run away from service, or others with some criminal record, and forced them to sail out as colonists with their families. P.55 The subsequent history of New Sweden does not concern us since Blommaert's letters are silent about it. The claims of the Dutch shareholders were bought out by the Swedish Government In 1641 for 18,000 florins; after that the entire enterprise partook of a Swedish character, and both civil and military personnel were henceforth almost entirely Swedish. Nonetheless also Dutchmen emigrated as colonists to New Sweden (see Blommaert's letter of Jan.28, 1640, and supplement; also Odhner, pp.216-217). In 1639 a number of residents in the province of Utrecht, "seeing that the taxes on lands become ever heavier, and that the householder can hardly make a living from it” (siende dat de lasten op de landen hoe langer hoe swaerder vallen en dat den huysman quailjck den cost daerop can crygen), had turned to the directors of the WIC with the idea of emigrating as colonists to New Netherlands Since they were unable to agree on terms, they turned to the Swedish Government, and sent some representatives to Stockholm to negotiate about settling in New Sweden. On Jan.24, 1640, Old Style, the Swedish Government granted them a charter for p .56 the founding of a colony in New Sweden, the content of which is almost identical in terms with those of the patroonships of the Dutch WIC. Joost van den Boogaerdt was the leader of the Utrecht emigrants, who arrived at New Sweden in Nov.l640, and settled near Ft.Christina. Blomaaert's relations with Sweden ended in the very time that the outfittings to New Sweden ceased to be done for Dutch-Swedish account. Blommaert had advanced substantial sums for both the first and second outfittings, and it appears from the silence in the Swedish documents that Blommaert was never repaid for these advances (which were separate from the 18,000 florins for which Sweden bought out the Dutch shareholders in l64l--see above). So Blommaert and Sweden broke on this account: Blommaert did not contribute to the third expedition to New Sweden; and in 1642 Harald Appe boom and Peter Trotzig replace Blommaert as Swedish commissioner in Amsterdam. P-57 But another explanation for Blommaert's leaving the service of Sweden suggests itself. It is not hard to see that there was a conflict of interest and responsibility between Blommaert as a Director (and a leading one) in the WIC, and Blommaert as Swedish 13. commissioner in Amsterdam. As paid adviser of Sweden on commercial matters, he provided that government with information about the trade of America and Africa he had gained as WIC Director, and furthermore encouraged Sweden to undertaken enterprises which would bring the Netherlands in general and the WIC in particular harmful, or potentially harmful competition/. The New Sweden expedition came about chiefly through Blommaert's efforts, and he was personally involved for a substantial sum. Could this be reconciled with his oath as Director, in which he had sworn in all things to strive for the greatest profit of the Company, and to shield it against all possible harm? To pose the question is to answer it. And we now recall that Michel le Blon, when he recommended Blommaert to Spiering, had ironically promised that Blommaert, if he were taken into Swedish salaried service, "will clearly exhibit his loyalty towards companies in everything he has ever been involved in"(zijnne getrouwicheyt tegens compagnien en alles, dat hij oyt by der handt gehat heeft, claerlycken (zou) laeten blycken), "the more so because he is piqued by it and has some of its officials, who are dissatisfied, on his hands." When Le Blon wrote that (see p. P.59 34 above), in July l634, Blommaert was no longer a Director, merely a chief stockholder of the WIC, and thus was less intimately tied to it. But in 1636 he was again made a Director, and the years in which he served the Swedish Government with his advice coincided with those when he was very prominent as a Director of the Company. Blommaert' s letters to Oxenstierna provide the evidence that he was conscious of his ambiguous position, and of the impropriety hisofdealings.alreadyinveryfirstletterhedeclaresthat
his disclosures have to be made with circumspection ("met scruple moet geschieden"), and he expresses the fear that his letters may fall into the wrong hands. When he calls Oxenstierna's attention to Peter Minuit, he does not mention him by name. It is true that when he is sure of his Swedish appointment as commissioner, his conscience begins to stir: "in case something is to be undertaken which might be against the Company, I could not do it in good conscience as long as I am in their service, but would have to leave it." But this show of conscience was intended merely to get some money out of the Swedish treasury: in other words, Blommaert has a good salary as WIC Director; if his tender conscience forces him to give this up, then the Swedish Government should compensate him over and above his salary as commissioner. But when the Swedes were more generous with words than with money, Blommaert kept on collecting his Director's salary, even though the expedition to New Sweden would seem to be something "against the Company." Precisely on the point of Blommaert's "loyalty" to the VIC his own statments, crucial in determining this, are conflicting. On "May 6, I637 he writes Oxenstierna that he will inscribe his share in the expedition to New Sweden under the name of Ninnewit "for reasons"; mainly, as he continues, because he is still in WIC service. It follows, then, that he kept his participation in the expedition p.6l a secret from the VIC. But how to reconcile that with what he wrote on Jan.28, 1640: that he had from the start taken a share in the enterprise, and since he knew something big would grow out of it, and understood that the WIC would blame him, as a Director, for his participation, he "took part with their knowledge, for which purpose an instrument, relieving me of blame, was given to me." In this instrument he is supposed to have promised to conduct the matter so that M inuit would stay outside the limits of New Netherland; and this, he continues, Minuit indeed did, for he sailed into the South River and "settled down southwards between the English and New Neth." 14
One might reconcile the conflict between the declaration of May 6, 1637, and the one of Jan.28, 1640 by assuming that Blommaert first planned to keep his share in the expedition a secret from the WIC, but later reversed this and dealt openly. But this assumption immediately becomes untenable, because Blommaert in a letter of Sept.4, I638 (after he has received news of the arrival of M inuit on the South River) expresses the fear that the WIC, as soon as it learns that "the Swedes have entered their pretended limits”, will complain about this before the St.Gen; he is afraid that he "will have to suffer for that” and asks that the Swedish Government through its ministers in Holland will defend what had been done. There would have been no reason for all of this if Blommaert, as he states in his letter of Jan.28, 1640, had dealt openly with the WIC before the sailing of the expedition. I am therefore inclined to accept that in the last-named letter he spoke an untruth, even though I can find no acceptable explanation why he wanted to dish up this lie to Qxenstierna. There is still another reason for rejecting the assertion that M n u i t 's expedition occurred with knowledge of the WIC. If that were the case, Blommaert surely would have seen to it that Minuit had along a written declaration to that effect, which he could show to the officials of the Company in New Netherland; but in that case the protest of Willem Kieft, the governor of New Netherland, would not have been made against M innewit's settling on the South River. Finally this. In his letter of Jan.28, 1640, Blommaert writes, as we saw, that M inuit kept his promise of not settling in the limits of the wIC, O r he sailed into the South River and settled between New Netherland and the English in Virginia. One would have to deduce from that that Blommaert considered that part of the coast where Ft.Christina was built as outside the limits of the p *63 Company. On its face this is already not acceptable; the right bank of the South River, where M inuit established the colony of New Sweden, was, it is true, at that moment not occupied by the Dutch, but they had earlier had a colony there, and moreover possessed nearby, on the left bank, a stronghold, Ft. Nassau. Blommaert must have known that the place where New Sweden was established was considered by the WIC as within its limits. And he did know this, as shown by his letter of Sept.4, 1638, where he expresses the fear that the WIC will complain to the St.Gen.about this intrusion. The result of this argumentation, then, is that Blommaert made himself guilty of engaging in an unauthorized business as far as the WIC was concerned when he launched the expedition of Minnewlt. Anyone else might justifiably have argued that the WIC almost completely neglected the development of the Hudson and Delaware, and that there consequently was room for others in America, but a Director of the VIC could hardly use that as an excuse. p.64 Blommaert's share in founding New Sweden naturally regained no secret from the WIC's other directors, and we know from other sources(Odhner, p.214, who cites letters from Oxenstierna to Spiering) that he had to hear criticism and much of it. I suspect that this also helps to explain why Blommaert left Swedish service. But Blommaert did not ruin his reputation in the WIC; his term as director did end in 1642, but in 1645 he was again elected. Finally, a word about the attitude of the WIC toward the New Sweden colony. The protest which Willem Kieft made against the settling of Minnewit on the South river was at first not followed by deeds; presumably Kieft waited for instructions from home. But the directors of the WIC in this period worried little about New Netherland; they were too busy with Brazil. Moreover, when the Swedish Govt. promptly took over the government of the colony of New Sweden, the VIC (assuming that it actually intended to assert its rights by force of arms) must have thought twice before under taking hostilities against Sweden. The St.Gen. had a much greater influence on the polities of the WIC than it had on those of the OIC; and precisely in these years the Dutch Government sought the friendship of Sweden, since the chronic conflicts with Denmark raised the fear that a war with the latter kingdom would not long be delayed. In Sept. 1640 a treaty was concluded between Sweden and the Republic, "for assuring the safety and freedom of naviga tion and trade in the Baltic and North Seas." Reasons of general policy thus already sufficiently explain why no effort was made to drive the Swedes by force from their fort on the South River. Thus temporarily peace between Dutch and Swedes in North America remained undisturbed, even though the former viewed askance that the Swedes continually enlarged their area and trade relations and that it was common jealousy of the English that kept them from starting a quarrel between them. In 1644 the Governor of New Sweden Johan Printz, wrote to the governors of the Swedish West India Com pany that, "although the Hollanders hate to see us here and always protest, and now and then relieve themselves by reviling us roundly, yet since I have come here they have always maintained good friend ship with us, especially their commandant in Manhattan, called Willem Kieft, who very often, when occasion offers, sends me letters and keeps me abreast of what goes on in Sweden, Holland, and other lands in Europe; at first he informed me in his letters that the WIC claimed this entire river, but since I answered him with such good arguments as I could muster, he has now spared me this reproach for some time." Only after 1646 were friendly relations between Dutch and Swedes broken; from that year chronic dispute rose over the sphere into which both wanted to spread their trade. Finally in Sept. 1655 Pieter Stuyvesant captured the entire colony of New Sweden. DA25 CALENDAR OP STATE PAPERS, Colonial Series, 1570-1660, preser C29 ved in the State Paper Department of Her Majesty's Public v. 1 Record Office. Volume I. London, I860.
p. 273 104. Jerome Hawley to Sec. Windebank. Arrival of a Dutch
Mav 8 ship with commission from the young Queen of Sweden, which with 1638 another vessel, was bound for Delaware Bay, where they pretend p. 274 to / make a plantation and plant tobacco as the Dutch have al
ready done in Hudson's River. Thinks they should be removed
prevented from seating upon the King's territories, and
suggests that it might be done b y means of some English trad
ing vessels. The King's revenue from the colony will serve to
defray the Governor's pension of 1,000L per annum. Complains
that he has not yet made the value of 5L towards his charges.
Endorsed, "Rec. 26 July" . Incloses, DA' W. Noel Sainsbury, Esq.., Ed. 25 Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1S60. C29 London, 1860. V.I p. 273 (James Town, Virginia. May 8, 1638.) 104. Jerome Hawley
to Sec. Windebank. Arrival of a Dutch ship with commission
from the young Queen of Sweden, which with another vessel,
was bound for Delaware Bay, where they pretend to make a / p. 274 plantation and plant tobacco as the Dutch have already done in Hudson’s River. Thinks they should be removed and prevented from seating upon the King’s territories, and
suggests that it might be done by means of some English trading vessels...... Articulen ende conditien door de Camer van Amsterdam bij approbatie van haere Hoog Mog ende den Staeten Generael der Vereenichde Nederlanden ingestelt ende uytgegeven in conformite vande authorisatie vande XIXen , op de welcke van nu voortaen behandelt, ge frequenteert ende bewoont sullen werden de respective landen ende plaetsen in Nieu Nederlant ende circumjacentien vandien ende dat bij alsulcke forme van regieringe ende politie als iegenwoordich aldaer soude mo gen gestelt wesen ofte hier naer door de Compagnie ofte hare gemaghtichde gestelt sall werden.
Sij gestelt in handen 1. De Compagnia behout bij desen van den Heeren Aersen, Noortwyn, Vosbergh, aen haerselve ende soodanige ministers Weede, Prinsen, Dunkel G. Coenders om te visit als sij de executie vandien sal be eeren, examineeren ende hiervan rapport te doen } velen, alle hoge ende laege juris des sullen de gemelten heeren Hare Hoog Mog dictie, mitsgaders de exercitie van ende gedeputeerden met de presente memorien be dien ende andere appendentien van sogneren: Actum 30 Augusti 1638. publyque saecken, omme alle deselve
Cornelis Musch onder de gehoorsaemheijt van hare
Hoog Mogende, volgens de instructie derover van tijt tot tijt te geven door hare bevelhebberen, of ficieren ende alle andere eenige ampt ofte dienst becledende, te doen bedienen, berechten, handhaven ende executeren, sonder dat iemant hem daertegens sal mogen opposeren, directelijk ofte indirectelijk, op pene van daer over gecorrigeert te worden, naer gelegentheyt van saecken als verbreeckers ende verstoorders vande gemeijne ruste. 2
2. Ende alsoo ten hooghsten vereijscht wert, dat inde eerste beginselen ende aenqueeckinge van dese populatie, bequame ordre werde gestelt op de Goodsdienst, volgens de practijcke, bij de regieringe deser landen aengenomen, sal deselve religie aldaer geleert ende gepredickt worden, volgens de confessie ende form ulieren van eenicheyt alhier publyckelijk inde respective kercken aengenomen, waermede sich ydereen sal moeten te vreden houden ende gerust wesen. Sonder nochtans hier mede te verstaen, dat men iemant hierdoor in sijne conscientie eenige dwangh ofte beswaerins wil bijbrengen maer sal vrijstaen, ieder 't sijne in stillich heijt ende alle bequaemheijt te bevelen, mits hem waght ende eenige verboden vergaderingen, ofte eonventiculen te fre quenteren, veel min deselve te doen vergaderen ofte aente stellen ende voorts sich onthouden van alle openbare schandalen ende ergernissen, denwelcken de m agistraet gelat wort met alle fatsoenelijcke waerschouwingen ende bestraffingen te weeren: ende, bij aldien het nodich mochte wesen, de Compagnia van tijt tot tijt te waerschuwen wat hier in soude mogen aldaer passeren, op dat alle confusie ende misverstanden tijd tlijck voorgecomen ende geweert moghten werden.
5. De Compagnia sal door hare gemaghtichde ordre stellen, dat alle forten ende sterckten ende publycke plaetsen, die meede aldaer geleght sijn, ofte hier naer geleght ende opgerecht souden mogen werden, behoorlijck werden onderhoudeh, bewaert ende te besten vande gemeijnte gebenificeert ende dat de ge meijne contributie tot het leggen ofte maecken van dien opte 5
brengen, met de minste quetsinge vande respective ingesetenen geheven ende gepractiseert sal werden; sonder dat inde maght vanden Directeur ofte sijnen raet staen sal eenige van dien te practiseren, ten sij daervan alvoren berichtinge sij gedaen aende Compagnia ende haer consent daertoe verkregen. Welcke contribution specialijcken sullen geaffecteert blijven aen soodanige wercken ende lasten, tot weaker onderhout die vanden beginne aen ingewillight ende toegestaen sijn.
4. Ende gemerckt bij culture ende populatie vande selve landen meer en meer dient gelet, dat niemant bij particuliere possessie ofte occupatie en werde verhindert int gebruyck van de publicque wateren, kreecken, bayen ende rivieren, mitsgaders in het appro prieren van eenige eijlanden, drooghten en waerden daerin ge legen, sullen voor eerst alle deselve blijven aen de Compagnia, de welcke belooft, door den directeur ende Raedt aldaer, soo danige ordre te sullen stellen op het gebruyck derselver, dat alle ingesetene van die quartieren daeruyt de meeste nut ende profijt bequamelijk sullen connen trecken, ten waere, bij onder vindinge van saecke, die Compagnia hier naer te raede moghte werden, anders daer in te disponeren: Welckes goetvinden ende dispositie een yder een gehouden sal sijn te achtervolgen, sonder eenige bekreun ofte tegenseggen ende indien echter iemant hem daer tegen quame te opposeren, sal deselve bij de publycke maght gecorrigeert ende tot sijn devir gebraght werden.
5. Alle ingesetene ende andere, die de landen aldaer frequenteren,
sal geadministreert worden eenparige justitie in alle civile ofte criminele saecken, volgens de forme van procederen, mits gaders de wetten ende costuymen, reede gemaect ofte nochte 4
maecken; belastende wel expresselijk yder officier inden sijnen, hier toe de favorable ende stercke handt soo veel als noodich soude mogen wesen te contribueren ende dat sonder eenigh aensien van parsoon ofte parsonen, alwaert ook sulcx, dat de saecke ten principalen de Compagnia selffs moghte raecken, waerinne de rechters specialijck gehouden sullen sijn bij eede te ver claren geen andere ordre, ofte voet te gebruycken, als soo danige die alle particuliere gehouden sijn naer te comen ende gedoogen. 6. Ende alsoo de populatien alle niet op een plaetse en sullen connen geleijt werden, maer daer inne gedisponeert sal moeten werden, volgens de inclinatie vande personen, darwaerts gaende ende soo de constitutien van saecken sich aldaer gedragen, sal een yder inwoonder verbonden ende gehouden sijn., alle publycke chargen ende officieren, als van magistraets bedieningen ende die van eere ofte gesach sijn, ook die eenige oieuse saecken moghten angaen, als van Godshuysen, gewillichlijk ter plaetse van hare residentie gehouden sijn aen te nemen ende vromelijk ende getrouwelijk volgens haer eedt ende plicht, mitsgaders de instructie daer over verleent, ten besten van 't gemeijn te bedienen, sonder eenige recognitie ofte beloningen daer over te pretenderen. Doch soodanige chargen ende officieren, die dienstbaer sijn ofte vacatie van een gants persoon voor alle sijn tijt verseijsschen, sullen beloont werden ter discretie van den directeur ende sijn raedt, mits daervan notificatie doende aende Compagnie ende hare aoprobatie daer van verkregen. 7. Alle publique ministers, directeur, raden, hoofden van
militie, commisen, schippers ende voorts alle andere in ordin
aris gagie vande Compagnia wesende, sullen niet vermogen, als met kennisse derselvers, eenige coophandel te drijven voor
haer, ofte in facturie, ofte commissie voor andere, veel min
eenige landen ofte bowerijen an te nemen, maer hun te vreden te houden met hare ordinaris gagie ende soo sij buyten dat,
haer hier in quamen te verlopen, sullen datelijk vervallen
wesen van soodanige ampten ofte qualiteijten, als sij bededen, mitsgaders verbeuren ten behouve vande Compagnia hare verdiende maentgelden ende ingecochte landen ofte goederen, die men con trari desen artikel bij haer soude mogen bevinden, ofte de waerde van dien, bij aldien sij deselve verhandelt ofte over
geset moghten hebben: ende werden de respective officieren ende
justicieeren belast d ' executie van desen sonder eenige conniventie
te beneerstigen. 8. Tot onderhout vande predicanten, sieckentroosters, school meesters ende diergelijcke noodige officien sal yder huysgesin ende inwoonder soodanige contributie ende publyaue lasten moeten dragen, alsmen hier naer bevinden sall lijdelijck te wesen ende sal op de forme van dien aenden directeur ende rae- den aldaer geschreven worden, om 't selve naerder onderricht
sijnde, met de minste beswaringe ende quetsinge te doen.
9. De inwoonders sullen voor haerselven ofte soodanigen andere die heur daertoe lasten ende bevel sullen geven, aldaer ver mogen allerhande vaertuycj, soo groot als kleijn te timmer en ende met hetselve vaertuych ende anders geen, ale rivieren 6
op ende af te varen ende haer geoorloofde handel ende coopman
schap te drijven, alsmede daer mede te behandelen de gantsche
custe van Florida tot Terra Neuf. Ende in cas sij in deselve
bevaringe eenige prinsen vande vijant quamen te veroveren
sullen deselven brengen ter residentie plaetse vande directeur aldaer, om bij hem, ofte aldaer gebeneficeert,ofte herwaerts
over gesonden te worden, het eene derde part ten behouve vande
Compagnia ende de twee parten voor de nemer, mits dat deselve
herwaerts overcommnende, de behoorlijcken vrachte alvoren door
de Compagnia gededuceert sal werden.
10. Einde bij aldien eenige waren ofte coopmanschappen uyt eenige naburige plaetsen aldaer, ofte wel van andere rijcken ende ge westen, in eenige vremde schepen op de custe van Nieuw Nederlant
ende circumjacentien van dien, voor soo veel de limiten van
onse octroyen strecken ende de Compagnia in possessie heeft, mochten aenlanden, sullen deselve goederen niet gerept ofte ontladen mogen worden, voor all eer dat denselve behoorlijck aen gegeven ende de recognitie daervan betaelt sal wesen, die ten
aensien vande groote oncosten ende lasten, die de Compagnia heeft te dragen ende groote beswaringe de ingesetenen van desen
staet opgeleijt, gereeckent sullen werden tegen vijftien ten hondert van ’t gene deselve goederen sullen geschatt werden, daer waerdich te sijn ende dertich ten hondert van 't gene, met deselve vremde scheeen uyt gevoert sal werden. 11. De Compagnia sal alle de gene, die deselve landen frequent eeren ofte bewonen order de gehoorsaemheyt vande Hoog Mogende
Heeren Staeten Generael in hare sauvegarde ende protextie nemen, deselve defenderen de tegens alle gewelt ende overlast die hun van binnen ofte buyten mochte aengedaen werden, met soo danige maght als sij daer tegenwoordich is hebbende, ofte naer mael seijnden moghte, mits dat een ider, die sich daer bevint,
't sij coopman ofte inwoonder, in diergelijcke voorvallen hun gewillichlijk laten employeren ende neffens ahdere op ’t bevel vande respective officieren te weerstellen ende sullen tot dien eijnde alle overgaende mans personen, op haer eijgen kosten, een vierroer ende sijdtgeweer mede nemen: oock in cas van eenige apparentie swaricheden in bequame vaendels ofte rotten verdeijlt worden.
12. Bij aldien door iemant ontdeckt ofte uytgevonden wierde eenige minerael, 't sij van gout, silver ofte andere slechter metalen, oock van gesteenten, cristallen, marmoren oft diergelijcke sullen de selve bij aldien die gevonden wroden inde eijgen landen vanden vinder selffs denselven eijgen blijven, mits naer vijff jaren, 't vijffde part vande provenue uytkerende, sonder eenige deductie van one osten ende dat voor ende alleer soodanige mineralen ofte voorgemelte specien sullen mogen benificeren ofte vande plaetse te vervoeren daer se gevonden sijn, maer deselve vindende op andere mans gront ofte eenige landen de Compagnia toebehoorende ofte noch onbeheert sijnde, sal de vinder daer voor ter discretie vanden directeur ende raeden aldaer beloont worden, ten waer sij onder den anderen int minnelijek conden daerover verdragen, welcke conventie alsoo naergecomen ende onderhouden sal worden. 8
15. Neffens dese generaele articulen sal een ieder inden sijnen gehouden wesen naer te commen ende achtervolgen soo danige instructien, manifesten ende bevelen, als over het be sitten van de landen ende den handel aldaer vallende reede gestelt sijn ofte alsnoch bij approbatie van Haere Hoog M o gende gestelt mochten werden.
Westindische Compagnie.
Also Bewinthebberen vande Geoctroyeerde Westindische Com pagnie ter Camere tot Amsterdam, bij resolutie vande XIXen geauthoriseert sijn tot voortsettinge ende beneficeringe van de populatie ende handelinge van Nieu Nederlant, soo ist, dat deselve, met approbatie van Haer Hoog Mogende, door desen al len ende een ieder ingesetenen van desen staet, ofte gealli eerde ende vrunden, die eenige landen sullen gesint sijn al daer aen te veerde ende bebouwen ende tot dies eijnde de havenen van dese landen te gebruycken, laten weten, dat sij lieden voortaen sullen vermogen inde schepen vande Compagnia derwaerts af te seijnden soodanige bestialen, coopmanschappen ende goederen, als sij geraden sullen vinden: mitsgaders te ontfangen de retouren, die sij ofte haer gemachtichden, daer voor in die quartieren soude mogen becommen, onder con ditien dat alle de goederen eerst sullen gebraght werden inde packhuysen vande Compagnia, om. soo gelijckelijck met de meeste bequaemheyt t' scheep gebraght te werden betaelende de volgende recognition ende vraghten: (ende sullen bewinthebberen sorge 9
dragen, dat die met de beste gelegentheyt derwaerts gesonden worden) van alle coopmanschappen, derwaerts gaende, sullen alhier aende Compagnia voor recognitie betaelt werden thien van ’t hondert in gelde, naer advenant vanden waerdije. Ende die van daer herwaert commende vijftien van ’t hondert aldaer in specie ofte gelde tot keure vande Compagnia ofte haere ge- authoriseerden, blijvende vijff en tachtich voor den eijgenaer ende indien iemant inde waerderinge sijnder goederen sich quame te vergrijpen, sal de Compagnia vrijstaen, de goederen te aen vaerden, mits een seste part meer gevende als aengegeven sijn, doch alle verswegen ende gesloken goederen, soo hier te lande als aldaer, die bij heijmelijcke aenslagen ofte andere loose vonden binnen boort vande schepen vande Compagnia mochten gecommen wesen, sullen datelijck verbeurt end© vervallen wesen ten besten vande gemelte Compagnia, sonder dat men daerover eenige recht- spleiginge sal behouven ter hant te nemen. Over de vraghten vande bestialen en goederen, die van hier gerwaerts ofte van daer herwaerts gaen, sullen de eijgenaers ofte facteurs inde respective ladinghplaetsen met de Compagnia ofte hare ge machtichde accorderen naer de waerdije ende gelgentheijt vande selven ter tijt en wijlen daer over een vaste voet ende reglemont sal beraemt wesen ende sullen de vraghten in gelde betaelt moeten werden ter plaetse van hare ontladinge, sonder dat yemant deselve sal mogen reppen ofte roeren, voor al eer hij blijck gedaen heeft, dat soo wel de recognitien als de vraghten volcomentlijck betaelt sijn ende daer en boven een per cento maendtlijck als deselve 10
meer als veertien dagen naer de ontladinge inde packhuysen van de Compagnia gelaten werden, voor alle 't welcke de voorseijde be stialen ende goederen paratelijk geexecuteert ofte de eijgen aeren in haere parsonen aengesproocken sullen worden, alles tot keur van Bewinthebberen ofte haere gemaghtichde. Ende alsoo de intentie vande Compagnia is, de landen aldaer meer ende meer te doen populeren ende tot behoorlijcke culture te brengen, sal den directeur ende raet aldaer bij instructie werden gelast, ieder naer sijn gelegentheijt ende constitutie van saecken aldaer met soo veel lants te accommoderen, als hij bequamelijck bij hemselven ofte sijne familie sal konnen bebouwen: Welcke landen, alsoo uyt den naeme vande Compagnia aen iemant over gedaen, denselven, sijne erven ofte actu hebbende volcomentlijck eijgen sullen blijven, mits aende Compagnia, naer dat die vier jaren beweijt ofte bebouwet sullen wesen, de gerechte thiende van alle vruchten, granen, saden, tabac, cottoen ende diergelijcke, oock van aenteelinge van alderhande bestialen sullen betalen, van welcke eijgendom haer behoorlijcke acte salwerden verleent, mits dat sij inderdaet de culture ofte beweijdinge ter hand nemen. Ende sulcx niet doende, sullen boven 't verlies vande aengewesen landen, vervalien in soodanige peenen ende breucken, als men ten tijde vande aenwijsinge met den anderen sal accord eren, in welcke peenen ofte breucken haere successeurs ofte actu verkrijgende mede sullen gehouden wesen. Ende sal voor- 11
taen niemant vrijstaen inde quartieren aldaer te possideren offe te hebben eenige landen ofte huysen die niet alvoren uyt handen vande Compagnia gecommen sijn, tot voorcomminge van alle confusien ende interest, die daer door voormaels soude mogen sijn gebeurt ende hier naer noch swaerder te verwaghten staen.
De Compagnia sal onder de gehoorsaemheyt vande Hoog Mogende
Heeren Staeten Generael sorge dragen dat de plaetsen en landen aldaer in behoorlijcke politie ende justitie onder haere ministers ofte derselve. gedeligeerde rustelijk ende vredelijck werde onderhouden, volgens de reglementen ende instructie daer van alrede gemaeckt ende gegeven ofte hiernaer met kennisse ende bevindinge van saecken te maecken en te geven. Alle die gene die derwaerts sullen willen gaen om de landen te bewonen ofte hare coopmanschappen te doen, sullen hooft voor hooft bij hare onderteekeninge verklaren, dat sij haer vrijwillich dese re glementen mitsgaders de bevelen vande Compagnia sullen onder werpen ende alle questien ende verschillen aldaer vallende, door de ordinarie justitie, die int selve lant gestelt sal wesen, sullen laten dicideren ende goetwillich de executie vande sententie ende goetvinden aldaer gedogen, sonder eenige verdere provocatie. Ende sullen voort overvoeren van hare personen ende montcosten betalen inde cajuite een gulden, inde hutte twaelf ende onder ’t verdeck acht stuyvers daeghs.
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I ~ . / * T * K S ^ * 1 0 1 7 yO KORTE HISTORIAEL ENDE JOURNAELS AENTEYCKENINGE VAN VERSCHEYDEN VOYAGIERS IN DE VIER DEELEN DES WERELDT-RORNE , ALS EUROPA, AFRICA, ASIA, ENDE AMERIKA GEDAEN DOOR D.DAVID PIETERSZ. DE VRIES, Ed. By Dr.H.T.Colenbrander (Werken uitg. door de Linschoten Vereeniging, v.III, 's-Graveniiage, 1911) p.XXXV-XLIII::SEVENTH VOYAGE: to New Netherland, Sept.23, 1638-June 21, 1644 (Introduction)) Between De Vries' return from his preceding voyage and the execution of his plan to settle in New Neth. considerable time seems to have elapsed. He goes aboard a WIC ship, and will found the colony on Staten Island not alone for his own account but also for that of his namesake Frederik de Vries, secretary of the city of Amsterdam and director of the WIC. He goes aboard with a number of "servants" ["dienaers"]; how many there are he does not say. The itinerary is via the West Indies. On Dec.27, 1638, they arrive at Ft. Amsterdam, where there is now a new Commandant: Willem Kieft. On Jan.3, 1639, the "planting" of the colony begins; details are not given. In June 1639, De Vries makes a voyage with a yacht to the Fresh River (the Connecticut), where the WIC had a small fort, 't Huys de Hoope, but where now English competitörs from Massa chusetts begin to establish themselves in great numbers. At the place where now Rew Haven lies, De Vries already finds 300 English houses built, "with a fine church"; the entire place is only one year old! At the mouth of the Fresh River the English even build a fort. Higher up, where the Company's little fort is still garri soned with 13 Dutch soldiers, an English village of over 100 houses has also arisen (Hartford). It appears from De Vries' account that the purpose of this trip was (on instructions of Kieft) to protest against this occupation of WIC land, but the English governor (John Haynes) replied, "that the land lay empty, and that we had been there for years and did nothing with it; that it was a sin that such precious land should be left unculti vated, which produces such fine grain." De Vries adds an obser vation of his own: "these English live soberly, and whoever drinks himself drunk they confine to a post and flog him, as is done to thieves in Holland." In New Amsterdam, he must have thought, there would be a lot of flogging necessary. The Puritans , about whose strict morals De Vries tells curious tales on pp. 233-234 below, won out on American soil socially over the loose and free hodgepodge comprising the population of New Amsterdam. What New Netherland lacked was a nucleus of good colonizers, who came out of New England society by the hundreds. When De Vries then, upon his return to New Amsterdam, sees a private ship arrive from home with cattle and a few immigrants, he heaves a sigh: would that it were 300 families! His own colony on Staten Island also suffers from lack of people, who are not send in his wake from Holland, "as was promised in the contract." He now rents the colony on Staten Island to others, and begins a new farm "Vriesendael" on the right bank of the Hudson River, a couple of miles above Ft.Amsterdam. In April 1640 he sails with a pinnace up the Hudson to Ft. Orange, where the patroonship of Kiliaen van Rensselaer is located, the only one of the 1629 enterprises which achieved true success. 2 . He gives a detailed description (below p.236-245) of land, natives, flora and fauna in this area, which he, without mentioning his sources, takes over largely from a little work, printed at Alkmaar in 1644, by Johannes Megapolensis, who in 1642 was recruited by Kiliaen van Rensselaer as the first minister in his colony: EEN KORT ONTWERP VAN DE MAHAKVASE INDIAEREN, HAER LARNT, TALE, STATUERE, DRACHT, GODES-DIENST ENDE MAGISTRATUE, ALDUS BESCHREVEN ENDE NU KORTELIJCK DER 26 AUGUSTI 1644 OPGESORDEN UYT NIEUWE NEDER-LANT, DOOR JOHANNEM MEGAPOLENSEM JURIOREM, PREDIKART ALDAER [Note: An English translation in Franklin Jameson's NARRATIVES OF NEW NETHERLARD, p.l68ff.]. The only known copy of it occurs in the University Library at Ghent, but the booklet is reprinted in Joost Hartgers, BESCRHIJVINGE VAN VIRGINIA, NIEUW NEDERLANDT, NIEUW ENGELARD etc.(Amsterdam, 1651), a compilation which consists exclusively of reprinted parts of older books (except 000 Mega polensis also De Laet, Van der Donck's VERTOOGH).... [The Editor then shows the insertions and additions and changes made by De Vries in the above, which I omit]. p.229-280 "HIER GAEN ICK MIJN DERDE VOYAGIE NAER AMERICA ENDE NIEUW-NEDER- LANDT, OM EEN COLONIE TE PLANTER OP HET STATEN EYLANDT, VOOR MY ENDE FREDERICK DE VRIES, SECRETARIS DER STADT AMSTERDAM, ENDE BEWINDHEBBER DER WEST-INDISCHE COMPANIE, ENDE HEM OP SIJR VER SOECK AENGEROMEN . p.229 Sept.25, 1638: De Vries and some of his "servants" [colonists] sail on a WIC ship for America. Oct.9: Saw Madeira to the East. Rov.10: Arrived at Nevis Is.; went ashore to see the Governor, "who treated me well, and had to stay over with him that evening. But he had the skipper detained, who refused him anchorage [fees], for it was a fat farmer who was not used to that route, so that I agreed with the governor p.230 as to what he should be given for anchorage, whereupon he again released him. Rov.13: Weighed anchor and went to St. Kitts, where we anchored at Sand Point, and stayed there three days. Rov.16: Continue voyage for New Neth., and go directly thither. Dec.26: Arrive at Staten Island. Dec.27: Arrive before Ft.Amsterdam; found there a "Commandant named Willem Kieft," who had arrived there in the spring after wintering in Bermuda. Jan.5, 1639: De Vries' colonists are sent to Staten Island to start founding the colony. June 4: De Vries goes north with a yacht to the Fresh River 1^3> [Connecticut], where the WIC had a small fort called Fort Hope ['t Huys de Hoope]. June 6: arrived in the Roode-berghs [Rew Haven, an English settle ment begun in 1638], which is a fair haven, and found that the English had begun to build on the mainland there a town; had already built 300 houses and a fine Church. June 7: Came to the Fresh R., where the English were making a fort at the mouth, "and it had a Governor [Lion Gardiner, after whom Gardiner's Is. is named] who had a wife from Woerden, and in Holland earlier he had been an engineer and a work-boss...." 3. p.233 June 9: De Vries arrives with his yacht at 't Huys de Hoope, where one Gijsbert van Dijkck was commandant with 14 to 15 soldiers. Lies on the flat on the river bank, Nearby the English have started building a village [Hartford, begun in 1635], built a nice church, and already had 100 houses. The Commandant had ordered me to make a protest against them, since they were using the very land we had bought from the savages, and several of our soldiers had forbidden them to put a plough into it, but they had gone against this, and had beaten up several of our soldiers. Arriving there, I was invited by the English governor [John Haynes] to be a guest, to whom, sitting across the table, I said that it was a bad thing to take the Company's land by force, land they had bought and paid for. He answered that these lands lay fallow, and that we had been there many years and had done nothing; that it was a sin to leave such rich land, which could produce such fine grain, unculti vated, and they had already built three towns on this river.... Here were many salmon on this river. These English live soberly, drink only three times during a meal, and whoever drinks himself drunk they put on a pole and flog him, as is done with thieves in Holland. June 12: "Among other things while I was here it happened that an English ketch arrived from the north with 30 pipes of Canary wine, having aboard a merchant who came from the same town in England as the Preacher's servant in this village, and they were good acquaintances. So the said merchant had invited this servant aboard ship to drink with him, and it seems that this preacher's servant became intoxicated with the wine, or became very drunk, and, this being noticed by the preacher, he wanted also to put this servant before the pole and to flog him. The merchant then comes to De Vries and says it was his fault that his landsman had become drunk. So De Vries went with the commander of the Dutch fort, and invited the preacher and mayor plus other important people and all their wives, who were very desirous of eating cherries, since there were 40 to 50 cherry trees around the fort full of cherries. De Vries, at the dinner, tries to persuade the preacher to pardon his servant, arguing that "perhaps for a year he had poured him no wine, and that such sweet Canary wine could intoxicate a person, and it took a long time before we could persuade him, but the women spoke for him, whereby the servant thus was freed. While I was here there happened another farce. There was a young man who had been married two months, and his brother tattled to the consistory that he had earlier slept with someone else before marriage, for which reason both were apprehended and flogged, and had to be separated from each other for six weeks. This people [the Puritans] claimed that they were Israelites, and that we in our colony were Egyptians, and the English in Virginia were also Egyptians. I often told the Governor that it would be impossible to keep the people down so strictly inas much as they came from so luxurious a land as England. June 14: De Vries leaves the 't Huis de Hoop. June 15: Arrive at mouth of the river, and sailed past the Roode-bergh [New Haven], came into a river where the English had started to build a town, having started to 4-. build a town, where there were already over 50 houses, and a number already completed[Stratford]. June 16: Sailed past two places the English were building [Norwalk and Stamford]; one Englishman was called Capt.Patrick, who had a Dutch wife from The Hague. P.235 Arrive back at Ft.Amsterdam, where we found that two ships had arrived from home; the one was a WIC ship the HARINCK, the other a private ship the BRAND VAN TROYEN from Hoorn, which was loaded with livestock, on which Joachim Pietersz, who had earlier been commander in the East Indies for the King of Denmark, was commander. It was to be wished that 100 to 300 familes of farmers had arrived; it would soon have made a good land. Feb.10: De Vries began to make his plantation a couple of leagues above Ft. Amst; rented out his plantation of Staten Is., since the people from Holland required by the contract had not been sent to him, a contract made with Frederick de Vries, director of the WIC. April 13: De Vries navigated with is pinnace to Ft.Orange, since he wanted to see the natives on that river, and towards evening arrived at Tapaen [Orange township], where under the hills lies a great valley of ca. 200 to 300 morgen clay land. This valley I bought from the savages, since it lay only three leagues above my plantation, and five leagues from the Fort.... p.236 April 28: Arrives at the Island of Brand-pijlen [Brant Peelen, now Castle Is.],"which lies a little below Ft.Orange, belonging to the patroons, namely Godijn, Rensselaer, Jan de Laet, and Bloemaert." Had three additional farms, "which they have made fair at the Company's cost, since the Company had shipped the livestock from the fatherland at great cost, and these individuals, being the commissioners for New Netherland, had made a good distribution among themselves, and, while the Company had nothing but the bare fort, they had the farms and trade around it, and every boor was a merchant." NOTE: WHAT FOLLOWS— pp.237-271, is found in translation in Jameson's NARRATIVES OF NEW NETHERLAND, of which I have a copy, but Jameson does not carry the story farther than the date of De Vries' departure from New Netherland (Oct. 11, 1643), so I give the rest. P-271 Oct.8, 1643: De Vries says farewell to Commandant William Kieft, "and I left with this Rotterdam buss for English Virginia." He told Kieft that killing which he had incited (of Indians, followed by Indian killing of settlers) would some day be revenged upon him. Oct.11: Sails for Virginia. Oct.12: Bad weather brings them to South River, "and this land is called Swanendael, and these savages ruined for me p .272 the beginnings of a colony in the year 1630; if you [i.e., the skipper of the vessel] had been able to speak with them, they would have taken you up the river to the Swedes or to our people." 5. Oct.13, 1643: "...and arrived near Verckens-Kil, and there the Swedes were making a small fort with three points. They shot at us to get us to strike our flag." The skipper asked he Vries whether he should strike; he answered that as a patroon of New Neth., and given the fact that the Swedes had intruded into WIC territory, he would not, but since the skipper came here with contrary wind and to trade (or negotiate) with them, he had better strike. So he struck. Then a small boat came from the Swedish fort with some Swedes aboard, and asked their cargo. The shipper said Madeira wines. Upon being asked where the Swedish governor was, they said at the "third fort" up the river, so Dutch sail up there and meet him— his name was Capt.Prins, "a man of stout posture, who weighed over 400 lbs. Prins asked the skipper whether he had ever been there before, who said he had not; Prins then wanted to know how he had found his way through all the sandbanks, whereupon the skipper pointed to De Vries. "Then the factor of the Governor, who had been at Ft.Amsterdam and knew me, said that I was a patroon of Swanendael at the entrance of the Bay which in 1630 had been destroyed by the savages, at a time that no Swedes were known on this river. Then he had a silver stein [kan] brought, with which he toasted the skipper; it had to be with Lubeck beer. And he brought out a great glass with Rhine wine to me, and the skipper traded some wines and con serves with him for peltry, such as Beaver skins, and lay here for five days owing to contrary wind. P-273 And I went once to Ft..Nassau, which lies a league farther up the river, where the WIC's garrison was stationed, where I tarried a half day..." Oct.19: "I sailed along with the Governor down the river to Minckquas-Kil, where the first Fort was, with some houses in it, where they trade with the Minckquas savages; our ship also came down the river. In this fort lay some castiron pieces. Here I stayed that night with the Governor, who treated me well..." Then sail down to first fort, which was not yet completed; shows three points facing the river to fool the English. Had 6 to 8 brass cannon, shooting 12 lb. iron ball. Here the skipper also traded some wines for beaver skins. Oct.20: Said farewell at "the last fort, or the first in sailing up the river, called Elsenburg [Helsingborg](their second fort of the Swedes is called Ft.Christian, the third New Gottenburg)..." Oct.21: Arrive in Virginia, anchor beyond fort, skipper contacts his factor (to whom he was consigned), who told him to sail to Jamestown with his wines. Oct.22: Arrive Jamestown; De Vries goes with the skipper to the Eng.Governor, who asked where they came from and with what cargo; the skipper answered he came consigned to a factor, his wines sold ahead of time. Some Englishmen who remembered De Vries from previous visits tell the Governor that this was the Dutchman who in 1633 saved 6 . 50 Englishmen from the Tortuga Is. debacle (Spanish drove them out to E. of Espanola) and brought them to Virginia; also tell Gov. that De Vries can speak English. Governor then asks De Vries why he had returned to Virginia; he said that he had started a colony in New Neth., but owing to Dutch Governor's desire for war with the Indians, his colony had been destroyed, and he was enroute home. Sir William Berkeley then asks De Vries to stay over for the winter, but he declines (does visit him during next 4-5 days).DShip then gets ready to sail, and takes on a cargo of tobacco. P-275 22): There were over 30 Eng. ships then present, with "24 to 28, to 18 pieces, plus four Dutch ships, which here annually makes a big trade." De Vries says the Dutch in New Netherland could develop the same way, grow tobacco in the South River and have 20 ships trading in it per year, and in time grain, flax, and hemp ships would be needed for trade. "And orders need to be given that leaf tobacco which the English bring here [i.e., into U.Neth.] be pro hibited; then New Neth. would soon flourish. For that they now navigate to New Neth., that from there 100,000 to 200,000 florins' worth of peltry now comes from there annually, or hardly that much and about which there always has been jealousy among those in the Company, this does not make it worthwhile to be under a [monopoly] company" De Vries argues that it should be a free land [non-WIC] like Eng. Virginia, then with agricultural development millions will be drawn out and the land will be colonized. Then the Dutch will not • have to import everything— grain, hemp, flax, etc.— from the Baltic as now, but will have raw materials from their American colony. And in case of another war with Spain— remember De Vries published this 1655— the Dutch would be based nearby for attack of Spanish in West Indies. Ships can be careened, refitted, and provisioned in New Netherland in such a war. P -2 7 6 April 10, 1644: De Vries says his farewell to Eng.Gov., who recommends him to a fine English ship of 28 guns; her captain offers him a cabin and space for all his effects. April 13: Sail down the river; at Blank Point lay a great flute with 12 guns from Bristol. Then two London ships came down the river, and wanted to capture the Bristol ship, since Bristol held for the cavaliers and London for the roundheads and parliament. A fight follows, some Eng. killed on both sides, but the Bristol ship can hide in shallow water so avoids capture. The London ships cannot now go ashore with men, for Gov.Berkeley and the Virginians held for the cavaliers. So these two London ships have to return to Eng. without tobacco. P-277 De Vries says that, although Virginia was so unhealthful, there were 10,000 to 11,000 men and women in the land. De Vries says the English will cheat you if they can: fine for hospitality but not for trade("...want als sy yemand bedriegen konnen, houden 't voor een Romeyn-stuck onder haer, seggen in haer spraeck, hy pleyde hem een Engels strick, dan hebbense haer wel gehad." 7. p. 279 April 18, 1644 : Entire fleet weighed anchor— 11 ships in all. May 2: Sight England, and met 14 English Parliament ships. May 31: Arrive Downs. June 15: De Vries sails from Downs for the Maas, June 16: Arrives in Goeree, took a wagon for den Briel, and June 17: At Rotterdam. June 21: Finally at Hoorn, his home town. DA25 CALENDAR OF STATE PAPERS, Colonial Series, 1570-1660. pre- C29 served in the State Papar Department of Her Majesty's Public v. 1 Record Office. Volume I. London, 1860. p. 28Z Mem. A Dutch ship arrives at James City with commission 1638 from the Queen of Sweden. The Capt. refuses to permit the Treasurer of Virginia, Jerome Hawley, to take a copy, unless free trade for tobacco is allowed him, which is refused, as contrary to the King's instructions. The Capt, said that his own and another ship were bound for Delaware Bay, where they intended to plant tobacco, as the Dutch were already doing in " Hudson's Bay, (Minute. Colonial Corresp, 1609, p, 3.) f.69r. 1638: A Dutch ship arrives at James City w.th a commission from ye young Queen of Sweden & signed by 8 of ye chiefe Lordes. The captaine refused to permitt Jerome Hawley Esq.r (treasurer of Virginia) to take any copy of it, except he might have free trade for tobacco to carry to Sweden, w.ch being contrary to his Ma.tys instructions the governeur excused himselfe thereof. The captaine said that both himselfe & another ship of his C o m p a n y were bound for de la Ware Bay w.ch is ye confines of Virginia & New England, & there they intend to plant tobacco as the Dutch doe already in Hudson's Bay, w.ch is ye very next river northward from de la Ware’s Bav. A History of Swedish Colonial Expansion De Lannoy 1638 - 1938 Engel Sluiter A HISTORY OF SWEDISH COLONIAL EXPANSION By CHARLES DE LANNOY Professor in the University of Ghent Translated from the French DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY and POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE Newark 1938 Copyright, 1938 By George E. Brinton and H. Clay Reed TRANSLATORS’ NOTE This work is a translation of the third volume of the Histoire de l’expansion coloniale des peuples euro- peens, by Charles De Lannoy, of the University of Ghent, and Herman Vander Linden, of the University of Liege. The first two volumes, on Portugal and Spain (454 pages) and the Netherlands and Denmark (485 pages) were published in Brussels in 1907 and 1911. The third, published in the same place in 1921, was to have included both France and Sweden, but, for reasons explained in the preface to the present volume, was confined to the monograph on the latter country. No part of this scholarly Belgian work has hitherto been translated into English. It seems especially ap propriate that the volume on Sweden should be offered to the English-reading public on the eve of the official Tercentenary celebration of Sweden’s greatest coloniz ing achievement—the founding of New Sweden, on the banks of the Delaware River, in 1638. George E. B rinton Department of Modern Languages H. C lay R eed Department of History and Political Science University of Delaware Newark 15 June 1938 iii ______CONTENTS Page Translators’ N ote...... iii Contents...... v Preface...... 7 Chapter 1. The Background of Swedish Colonial Expansion 9 Chapter 2. Expansion in the 17th Century...... 15 Chapter 3. Colonial Expansion in the 18th and 19th Centuries 37 Chapter 4. Results...... 43 Bibliography ...... 45 v ■ m I PREFACE The colonial enterprises of Sweden have never been of great magnitude or of lasting effect. The greater part have ended in failure. Yet they should not be omitted in a history of European colonial expansion. Enterprises which fail are often no less in teresting or instructive than those which succeed. Those of Sweden furnish a new confirmation of the principle that a nation cannot colonize with prospects of success unless its geographical position allows it to devote an important part of its resources to its overseas domains, and unless its economic condition corresponds to the na ture, needs, and development of the dependencies it acquires. It is for these reasons that a place has been reserved for Sweden in The History of the Expansion of European Peoples, publication of which H. Vander Linden, professor in the Univer sity of Liege, and I began in 1907. According to the plan which we agreed upon, the monograph on this nation was to be placed in the third volume, devoted for the most part to tracing the col onial expansion of France from its origins down to the Revolution of 1789. The manuscript of volume three was about to be de livered to the printer when the Germans invaded Belgium. The part concerning France, written by Mr. Vander Linden, was unfortu nately at his home in Louvain. It was lost in the fire which de stroyed the most beautiful part of that unfortunate town. Since Mr. Vander Linden lost in the disaster his entire library and the notes on colonial history which he had been accumulating for twenty-five years, it is difficult to predict when the publication of the third volume and of the subsequent volumes can be resumed. Under these conditions, it has seemed expedient to us to publish without further delay the monograph on Swedish colonial ex pansion. . I - CHAPTER 1 The Background of Swedish Colonial Expansion The first attempts of Sweden to acquire overseas possessions go back to the reign of Gustavus Adolphus (1611-1632). At that time she already held the greater part of the lands included between the central plateau of Dovrefjeld, the Gulf of Bothnia, and the Baltic Sea. But she lacked, in order to attain her natural boun daries in the Scandinavian Peninsula, several provinces in the south and southwest ( Scania, Halland, Gotland, Blekinge, Bohuslan, Herjedal, Jemtland) which belonged to the Danish-Norwegian realm. She was not to acquire them until after the death of Gus tavus Adolphus, by the treaties of Bromsebro (1645) and Roes- kilde (1658). Long before this time, Sweden had extended her dominion abroad. At the accession of Gustavus Adolphus (1611) she pos sessed Finland, where she had had a foothold since the thirteenth century. But as this province was constantly menaced by the Russians, Gustavus Adolphus undertook the task of driving them from the Gulf of Finland. Success having crowned his efforts, he enlarged his foreign policy and endeavored to make the Baltic Sea a Swedish lake. His successors continued his work and when the peace of Oliva (1660) closed the series of wars of conquest which he had commenced, Sweden comprised, in addition to its present provinces in the Scandinavian peninsula, Finland, Esthonia, Li vonia, part of Ingria between the Neva and Lake Peipus, western Pomerania, Wismar, Breme, and Verden. Far from being what she eventually became in the nineteenth century, an almost insular power, free to devote to maritime expansion such forces as her own internal development left unutilized, Sweden was, in the sec ond quarter of the seventeenth century—the time of her first colonial attempts—a half-continental, half-maritime power, still in process of formation, her provinces scattered around the Baltic Sea. This geographical configuration increased the dangers of war for Sweden, giving her as neighbors turbulent Poland and two other states which were also expanding territorially at that time— Russia 10 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion and Prussia; and it obliged her to devote the better part, or even the whole of her maritime forces, to maintaining control of the Baltic, the sole avenue of communication among the various parts of her domains. Sweden’s aspirations to colonial power were hindered by the fact that nearly all her ports were ice-bound for several months in the year, and, further, that they had access to the ocean only through narrow straits which a hostile power could easily block. Only Gothenburg and a few little ports were free from this double drawback; these ports did have open access to the ocean, and, thanks to a milder climate and the influence of certain ocean cur rents, they were rarely obstructed by ice. The natural resources of Sweden proper are little varied. Agriculture is poor. Good land is relatively scarce, and the grow ing season is short. Nevertheless, the raising of wheat in the south ern provinces, and of barley and rye in the central provinces, met the needs of domestic consumption, and sometimes even allowed a small surplus for export. The principal wealth of the nation, then as now, was its forests and its iron and copper mines. The beech and oak forests of the southern provinces, and those of pine which covered the greater part of the land, furnished varieties of timber in great demand for naval construction. Thanks to her timber, Sweden was in a favorable position to exploit the beds of mag netite of high metallic content and the deposits of copper beneath her soil, for she could procure unlimited quantities of the charcoal used in metallurgy at that time. In spite of these advantages, the exploitation of this natural wealth was but little developed at the beginning of the seventeenth century. As late as about 1604, the Swedes were content to smelt by crude methods iron which they sold to foreigners, especially to the people of L ubeck, without manufacturing it themselves. It became necessary for the Riksdag to forbid the exportation of crude iron, in order to encourage the establishment of forges in Sweden. From this time on, considerable progress was made in the production and manufacture of iron and copper. This was due to the craftsmen and the capitalists whom Charles IX and Gustavus Adolphus called in from the Low Countries, and especially to Louis de Geer, originally of Liege, but who had settled in Dord recht not later than 1611. In 1619 he introduced better methods History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 11 for the treatments of iron and copper ores, methods which he fur ther perfected with the assistance of workmen from Liege.3 He began the manufacture of weapons and in 1625 obtained for him self the monopoly of that industry, one of enormous importance for a warlike monarchy such as Sweden. Many other artisans, capitalists and merchants came from Holland during the first half of the seventeenth century, bringing to Sweden the benefit of their labor, their capital, and their knowl edge. They became the founders of industries and commercial organizations up to then unknown in the country. Slowly they awakened the nation to new activities, which however did not attain very great importance until after 1660, when, through the initiative of Gustavus Bondhe, “the Swedish Colbert,” Sweden began to free herself from foreign dominance in economic matters.4 The continental provinces of Sweden added but little to the wealth of the kingdom and from an economic point of view in no way complemented the peninsular provinces. Finland counted for little except in the lumber trade. Lithuania and Courland, poor countries in themselves, and wasted by recurrent wars of which they were the theatre, exported principally, in addition to timber, grain harvested from their own soil or coming from their hinter lands. Their industrial development was still inferior to that of Sweden. Their ports were the seat of a commercial movement of some importance,5 but whose sole raison d’etre was the exchange of products native to the country for salt and spices from the Iberian Peninsula or the manufactured products of the industrial regions of western Europe. Sweden was, therefore, at the time of her first attempts at colonial expansion, a producer of raw mate rials. Her commerce was in the hands of foreigners—Dutch, Han- seatics, and English. In consequence, she was unable to provide her colonies with the things they needed most: she could not fur nish manufactured goods, because she had but few industries; nor free capital, because she was neither industrial nor commercial and therefore lacked the means of creating ready capital. 3Hundreds of Walloon workmen settled in Sweden between the years 1600 and 1633. (Pehr Pehrsson, deputy in the Riksdag, has published studies of this immi gration .) 4Carlson, IV, 407ff. 5 The duties collected by Sweden in Pillau, Memel, Dantzig, Libau, and Windau amounted in 1629 to more than half a million rixdalers. [Jameson (p. 94n.) values the rixdaler at $1.00 and the daler at $.67, and Johnson (I, 41) at $1.20 or $1.25 and $.80 respectively, in American currency—prior, of course, to the 1933 devalua tion.— T r.] 12 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion From the standpoint of governmental organization, Sweden was in advance of most other states. The constitution of 1634, which codified a series of reforms, reconciled, in a fashion remark able for that time, regard for public liberties with the requirements of a strong and energetic central power. The absolute authority of the king was tempered by that of the “Riksdag” or legislative as sembly and of the “Riksrad,” or Council of State. The Riksdag, made up of representatives of the four orders— nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie, and peasantry—was consulted by the king on most important questions, and its consent was required for the levying of taxes and the raising of troops. The Riksrad, composed of several high officials and of members of the great families, shared in the exercise of all governmental powers. It advised on declara tions of war and negotiations of treaties, on the interests of domes tic and foreign commerce, and on conflicts among local authorities; and it reviewed judicial decrees. Through these two institutions, the Riksdag and the Riksrad, the nation made its will known in the affairs of government, and possessed a legal means of acquainting the throne with its desires and grievances. However, the royal authority was very great, and certain kings reduced the influence of the assemblies almost to a nullity. Sweden had been erected into an independent state in the sixteenth century under Gustavus Vasa, at the cost of secular strife. With her frontiers constantly exposed to invasion, she naturally had to give first thought to national defense, and when the king was a general of ability such as Gustavus Adolphus, and later Christian XI, she readily let him assume in all matters the authority which he enjoyed on the field of battle. In addition, Sweden was unlike most other European countries in that the ma jority of the orders in the Riksdag were seldom in opposition to the king. Since the triumph of the Reformation in the sixteenth century the clergy, subjected to the direct control of the govern ment, had found it difficult to oppose the sovereign. The bour geoisie, small in numbers and of little wealth, it is true, and the peasant order, closely knit, ordinarily supported the king, in whom they saw a protector against the pretensions of the aristocracy. The bureaucratic administrative organization necessary for the conduct of a centralized government soon developed. Gustavus Adolphus, in augmenting the functions dependent upon the chan- History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 13 cellery, in separating civil and military powers, and in watching over the management of the public finances, made of the Swedish administration an agency of government more flexible, more effec tive, and more reliable than that of the other European states of his time. In colonial matters, this cohesive governmental and adminis trative organization to some extent made up for the advantages which other peoples derived from their geographical location and their industrial activity. But the poverty of the public treasury, chronically depleted by war loans, deprived the government of the financial resources indispensable to great overseas enterprises, and obliged it to restrict its projects of expansion to those for which foreign financial aid could be enlisted. Although the aristocracy enjoyed numerous privileges and filled most of the public offices, the lower classes were not op pressed. A great majority of the peasants were free men; they constituted in the heart of the nation an order recognized by the constitution, which, as was not the case in Denmark, always main tained its real powers. The existence of this class of freehold far mers contributed immensely to the preservation in Sweden of a sense of individual independence, which decisively influences every phase of social development.6 The complete triumph of the Refor mation in the sixteenth century saved Sweden in the seventeenth from religious quarrels, the sources of so much suffering in almost every other country. Even in the upper classes life was simple and unpretentious. It was not until after the return from Germany of the troops which had campaigned with Gustavus Adolphus, that any degree of lux ury appeared in Swedish life. Good sailors were not lacking among the people living on the coast, who retained in their char acter something of their ancestors, the vikings. Education, not widespread until the opening of the seventeenth century, then made great progress. The Reformation aided in this by accustoming the people to read the Bible in the vernacular. Three universities founded or reorganized during the first half of the seventeenth century, Upsala, Abo, and Dorpat, were centers of higher learning. Interest in science developed, but was far from having the extent of the movement which was in evidence then in the United Pro- 6 O scar II, 25ff. 14 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion vinces of the Netherlands, where it contributed so effectively to the progress of navigation. The population was sparse in comparison to the extent of the country. In 1645 it did not exceed a million inhabitants for Swed en and Finland together, representing less than one to a square kilometer.7 There existed then in seventeenth century Sweden no eco nomic, political, or social cause for the acquisition of colonies for settlement. In fact it seemed preferable for a country so thinly populated to employ all its energies in exploiting its own natural resources, rather than to encourage the emigration overseas of its own inhabitants, particularly the Finns, who, of an adventurous nature, readily enough abandoned their native land. As for colonies of commerce or of exploitation, they did not fulfill any Swedish need; but they might direct national energies into a new channel, and, by stimulating commerce and industry, place the nation in circumstances favorable to a profitable and lasting maritime ex pansion. 7 C arlson, I, 16ff. CHAPTER 2 Expansion in the Seventeenth Century The first colonial enterprises of Sweden are related still more closely than those of Denmark1 to the powerful expansionist move ment of Holland in the seventeenth century. Emigrants from the southern Low Countries who had taken refuge in Holland were ordinarily the promoters, the organizers, and even the principal investors in these projects in Sweden, under the shelter of whose flag they hoped to conduct enterprises which Holland’s system of monopolistic companies prohibited them from prosecuting in that country. They were not innovators, but rather jealous rivals of or discontented former collaborators in the Dutch companies. From a geographical and economic standpoint, Sweden did not offer them a very propitious field of action, but what they prin cipally sought was official patronage. Now this patronage was freely accorded them by the governments of Gustavus Adolphus (1611-1632) and of Christina (1632-1654). To be sure, they were most frequently indebted for this official support to the inter vention of Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, who, during the greater part of these two reigns, was the head of the government; but the sovereigns personally seconded their Chancellor’s policy. Gustavus Adolphus especially, in the short truces when, free from the cares of war, he could occupy himself with the internal affairs of the kingdom, manifested a lively interest in enterprises in which he saw a means of augmenting the revenues of his subjects, and of his poorly-furnished treasury as well. The promoter of the first Swedish colonial company was an Antwerper, Willem Usselincx, who had previously played an im portant role in the founding of the Dutch West India Company. Dissatisfied with the organization of this company, and weary of claiming in vain the reward which he deemed due for his services, he left the Low Countries about the end of the year 1623 to go to Danzig as a representative of various Dutch commercial houses. Meanwhile he did not abandon all hope of setting on foot the enter- i See De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 402ff. 16 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion prise which for a quarter-century had formed the chief object of his attention. It was probably with the secret intention of solicit ing support from the Danish King for his projects of colonization in the West Indies that, in place of going directly to Danzig, his new post, he stopped at Copenhagen. Introduced at court by a Dutch intermediary, he began negotiations with the King. Chris tian IV, who then held the throne of Denmark, was an active and energetic man, and open-minded on economic subjects. In 1616, with the aid of Dutch collaborators, he had created an East India Company. But at the time when he was informed of Usselincx’s projects, he was preparing to embark on the campaign in Germany which opened the Danish period of the Thirty Years’ War. Al though desirous of retaining the services of Usselincx, it was hard ly possible to give him the support which he solicited.2 The summer of 1624 came. Usselincx had nothing more to do in Copenhagen. But Danzig, the goal of his journey, was rav aged by an epidemic. However, the Swedish town of Gothenburg was not far from the Danish capital, and it contained a numerous group of Netherlanders, Calvinists like himself, among whom he was sure to find a welcome. Among them were Abraham Cabeliau, mayor of the town, and Jacob van Dyck, a native of Haarlem, who held the position of castellan. Reasons were not lacking to decide Usselincx, something of a gypsy by nature, upon an excursion to Gothenburg. The friends whom he made there, Cabeliau, van Dyck, and a certain Hoeffnagel, strongly urged him not to leave Sweden before seeing King Gustavus Adolphus, who would soon visit Gothenburg. Usselincx heeded their advice, and through their good offices obtained an audience with the King, to whom he ex plained his plan of founding a company to establish colonies over seas, spread the Protestant faith abroad, and attack the King of Spain in America, that is, at the very source of his power. This meeting probably took place about the middle of October, 1624. Gustavus Adolphus, won over by the arguments which were made to him verbally as well as in writing, invited Usselincx to enter his service. The terms being advantageous, Usselincx ac cepted and busied himself at once with great zeal in drawing up articles of association for the Company. This was easy for him, for he had planned them long before. By November 4th he had a 2 Jameson, 89-90. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 17 rough draft prepared, and December 21, 1624, the King charged Usselincx with establishing a general company for trade with Asia, Africa, America, and Magellanica. This company was often called the Austral or Southern Company. This promptness in governmental decisions in Sweden was in contrast with the dilatoriness of the supreme colleges of Hol land, and increased the confidence of Usselincx in the success of his new enterprise. The superiority of a monarchy over a federal republic in the conduct of distant enterprises was manifest from the start. However, it is important to point out that two circum sances added much to the advantages of the form of government in this instance. One was that the king was Gustavus Adolphus; the other was that some Hollanders had previously proposed to the King the creation of commercial companies, which, more mod est than that projected by Usselincx, and though lacking the col onial feature, had none the less prepared the way in pointing the Swedish kingdom toward extensive foreign trade. Two of these companies had been founded at Gothenburg, one in 1607, the other in 1615. The latter had as director-general the same Abra ham Cabeliau who introduced Usselincx to Gustavus Adolphus. Neither of these two companies had been able to function for lack of sufficient financial resources; it was this obstacle there fore that Usselincx encountered from the first. The government, however, co-operated as fully as possible, and called upon the local authorities of Sweden and the continental provinces to aid him. The King himself subscribed 400,000 rixdalers, in return for one- fifth of the gold, silver, and mercury which might be collected, and one-tenth of the lands which might be occupied. But the sub jects of Gustavus Adolphus were too poor to risk their money willingly in an enterprise which seemed to them so novel and un certain. Appeals for subscribers brought no response. Usselincx, still active in spite of his fifty-seven years, was desirous of making a tour of the kingdom himself, in order to explain the project more fully to prospective investors. He planned to send an agent to Germany to collect subscriptions there and prepared a prospectus designed for France. But he lacked the financial means necessary for widespread publicity, and the Swedish government, then at war with Poland, could not furnish him these means. On the first of April, 1625, the date originally stipulated for the inauguration of the Company, the capital subscribed was still 18 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion insufficient, and the time for closing subscriptions had to be ex tended. Finally the Riksdag intervened. At their meeting of January 31, 1627, one of the councillors explained to the deputies the advantages which private individuals and the nation would de rive from the company projected by the King, and urged members of the several estates to subscribe. The appeal was heard: the names of thirty-five members of the Council figured among the fifty-one signatures secured at Stockholm,3 while the clergy con tributed apparently about 100,000 dalers. The subscription was officially closed March 1, 1627, for subjects of the realm, and on May 1 following for foreigners. The exact total of the sums sub scribed has never been determined. It amounted at the most to 1,100,000 dalers, including the shares subscribed by the King (400,000 or 450,000 dalers). It was scarcely one-fifteenth of the capital considered indispensable by Usselincx when he negotiated establishment of the Dutch West India Company. And even this amount was not actually at the Swedish company’s disposal be cause many subscribers failed to meet their obligations punctually. They had agreed to pay in full in four annual installments, but before the end of the first year, in September, 1627, so many were in default that the Company sought the aid of the Council of State to collect the sums due. Financial difficulties of this kind were not at all surprising. They had delayed the establishment of a West India Company in Holland, at that time the richest nation in the world in liquid capi tal. In the poor Baltic countries it was natural that even greater difficulties of this kind should be encountered. The charter of the South Company resembles in its broader outlines that of the Dutch West India Company. Usselincx de viated from his first proposals only in matters of detail. The Com pany was chartered for twelve years (from May 1, 1627 to May 1, 1639), during which time it was to enjoy a monopoly of trade with Africa, Asia, and America, and the Austral or Lands of Magellan, lying south of thirty-six degrees north latitude. It should, Usselincx conceived, base its commerce upon colonies and to that end should have permission to construct fortifications, towns and castles, to conclude treaties with republics, principalities, and 3 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna took one share of 12,000 dalers; three other members of his family were shareholders—one for 1,500, another for 4,000 the third for 2,000 dalers. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 19 kingdoms included within the bounds of its grant, and to defend itself in case of attack, but not to begin hostilities. The administration of the Company was entrusted to direc tors chosen for six years by the principal stockholders—that is, by those who had subscribed at least 1000 dalers. Towns or in dividuals who invested 100,000 dalers were to have the right to choose one director, and towns or regions which took 300,000 dalers of stock constituted a special department, entitled to fit out vessels in proportion to the amount of their share in the capital. Twelve of the directors, designated in rotation, were to transact the ordinary business of the company. Their authority in colonial matters was restricted to the development of the coun try. Conformably to the idea upheld previously by Usselincx in Holland, the exercise of legislative, judicial, and executive powers in the colonies was reserved to a committee of stockholders named by the King. The head office of the Company was fixed at Gothenburg, the port of entry and departure for all its ships. Usselincx took no part in the management of the Company. About the middle of the year 1627 he was directed by the higher council of the Company to collect subscriptions in Livonia, Cour- land, and Finland. First he had to wait upon the King, absorbed at that time in the war against Poland, to ask him either to pay the sum which he had subscribed, or by some other means to assist the Company in organizing an overseas expedition. In spite of the official recommendations with which he was supplied, Us selincx could not collect much in the poor and war-torn provinces of the continent. Nevertheless he spared no pains in furthering the project, holding numerous conferences and making many ad dresses. His activity would have been much more fruitful in Sweden, for, in his absence, the directors were little concerned about trade with the West Indies. When Usselincx returned to Stockholm in April, 1628, he found that affairs were not much more advanced than when he had left. The directors had be come interested in plans for a glass factory at Gothenburg, and in a concession for a cordage manufactory granted to the wealthy Louis de Geer, and they were getting ready to establish a shipyard. Usselincx complained vigorously to the Chancellor about the preoccupation of the directors with such trifles, diverting the Com pany from its appointed goal. Through repeated efforts he finally 20 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion obtained the fitting out of a small expedition, consisting of a small government ship and a pinnace chartered by the Company. He engaged a Dutch sailor as pilot. But he was short of money. The sums subscribed were not forthcoming, despite the interven tion of the government. The citizens of Stockholm even declared themselves unable to pay what they owed. The King, though well disposed toward the Company, constantly put off paying his contribution. In the end the projected expedition could not get under way. Discouraged by this new miscarriage of his plans, Usselincx asked for his dismissal and early in 1629 left Sweden to return to Holland. After his departure the directors of the South Company still attempted to carry out the plans which he had explained to them, by uniting with a maritime company which had been established in 1629, at the instigation of Gustavus Adolphus, with the object of promoting the maritime industries of Sweden. But the two companies were equally weak financially, and combining them was of slight advantage. In spite of governmental support they suc ceeded in raising, in all the provinces under the sway of Gus tavus Adolphus, only about 500,000 dalers, of which only a part was actually paid. The colleges of directors, although including several foreigners, notably Abraham Cabeliau, lacked the ability needed to carry the project through, and even proposed to turn the whole enterprise over to Dutch capitalists. The entire activity of the combined companies was limited to the fitting out of a few small fleets which called at the ports of Holland, Spain, the Baltic, and the White Sea. In 1640 the South Company was put into liquidation, before it had attempted either to establish any colo nies or to engage in trade with the West Indies. The system of great trading companies, which produced such brilliant results in Holland, met with nothing but disaster, then, in Sweden. Both resources and men were lacking. Furthermore, the military campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany turned the activities of the country in a direction quite different from that dreamed of by Usselincx. A new organization, less ambitious in scope but, as before, organized with Dutch assistance, was fated to set up the first Swedish overseas colony. The inception of this organization was closely connected with Sweden’s efforts to enlarge the sale of its History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 21 mineral products, particularly copper, which was the principal resource of the treasury. Several statesmen, among them Con rad von Falkenberg, late royal commissioner in Holland, con ceived the project of seeking an outlet for the red metal in the Indies. As early as 1628 Falkenberg attracted the attention of Chancellor Oxenstierna to this subject. The question had an extraordinary importance at the time, because a new regulation of the copper trade (1629) reserved to the administration all the metal produced, whereas heretofore the greater part had been sold to a privileged company.4 To acquire the information necessary for the organization of overseas trade, Falkenberg applied about 1632 to Dutch mer chants, and, in particular, to Samuel Blommaert of Amsterdam, who had served as agent in Holland for the Swedish government for the sale of copper, and who, moreover, had interests in the Dutch West India Company, in which he was a director. Blom maert, who was at odds with the directorate of that company over a fief or patroonship which he had acquired in the colony of New Netherland, was entirely willing to serve the commercial purposes of the Swedish government, if it were to his advantage.5 Hence he welcomed Falkenberg’s overtures. But, at war with the Holy Roman Empire, the Swedish government had to face too many difficulties, both domestic and foreign, to follow up energetically the negotiations begun with Blommaert and his partners, which dragged on for several years. No decision was reached until after an interview which Blommaert had with Axel Oxenstierna at the Hague in April 1635. While returning from Paris, where he had negotiated an alliance with Richelieu, the Swedish Chancellor took the opportunity to come to terms with the principal Dutch mer chants on the means of promoting Dutch trade with Sweden, above all in copper and iron, the sale of which was to finance the Swedish war with Germany. Among Blommaert’s suggestions to the Chancellor for facilitating the sale of copper was the creation of a company analogous to the Dutch West India Company which would trade with the coast of Guinea, where this metal was in great demand. Oxenstierna probably approved of Blommaert’s project, for the latter continued to allude to it in the various messages which 4 G eijer, 227. 5 For Blommaert’s activities in Holland, see De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 290. 22 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion he addressed to the Chancellor in the course of the year 1635. But the Swedish government apparently did not try to carry it out, perhaps for lack of men capable of directing the enterprise. It is highly probable that the negotiations would have ended with out result, if, about the end of the year 1635, Blommaert had not got in touch with a former director of the colony of New Nether- land, Peter Minnewit or Minuit, recalled in 1631 on the pretext that he had served his own interests better than the Company’s.6 In search of employment, Minuit applied to Blommaert, with the hope perchance that the latter might entrust to him the develop ment of his patroonship on the Delaware River. Blommaert, im pressed by Minuit’s arguments in favor of colonial enterprises in the new world, consulted the Swedish chancellery. The latter inclined rather toward opening markets in Guinea, as Blommaert had proposed at first, than toward the establishment of a colony in North America. However, after another year passed in cor respondence and conferences, Oxenstierna’s representative, Spir ing, son of a wealthy Dutch merchant, accepted the propositions of Blommaert and Minuit (January 1637). It was agreed to create a company to carry on trade and establish colonies on the coast of North America, “from Florida to Newfoundland.” The company, commonly called the New Sweden Company, was to receive a charter from the government guaranteeing it a monopoly of trade and colonization in certain specified regions. This charter was granted, but its exact text is not known. It probably included a monopoly of trade on the Delaware River for twenty years, and the right to import into Sweden, free of duty, merchandise bought in Holland for trade with the savages. Profits and losses were to be shared equally by the Dutch and the Swedish participants. The headquarters of the Company were to be at Stockholm, but the expeditions were to leave from Gothenberg.7 1 he director of the Company was the Swedish admiral, Flem ing, the reorganizer of the Swedish navy; but Blommaert was in charge of the numerous commercial transactions which had to be conducted in Holland, as Sweden could supply but a small number of the articles necessary for overseas traffic. It does not appear that the Company had a fixed capital; the 6 De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 234. 7 Joh n son , I, 103, 107, 108. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 23 cost of each expedition was prorated among the shareholders. Contributions for the first expedition were determined as follows: three-eights of the expense fell upon Blommaert and his group, one-eighth upon Minuit, and four-eighths upon a Swedish group including Chancellor Oxenstierna and various members of his family, Director Fleming, and Spiring, who had negotiated the business in the name of the Chancellor. On the Swedish side, the undertaking was wholly the work of the Chancellor, since all the Swedish participants were relations or subordinates of his. By the advice of Minuit, the purpose of the first expedition was above all to discover suitable locations for the founding of colonies. This expedition comprised two small vessels of from 160 to 200 tons, provided by the Riksrad, and placed under the command of Minuit. The preparations, begun about May, 1637, were not completed until the following October. The staff and crew for the ship were recruited in Holland, for men experienced in overseas navigation were unobtainable in Sweden. The Swedish personnel consisted merely of a few seamen and a handful of soldiers. Likewise it was in Holland that most of the merchan dise was bought which made up the cargo. In spite of the flag which it hoisted, the expedition was all in all more Dutch than Swedish. Minuit was commissioned to explore Sable Island, near Halifax, and to take possession of it in the name of Sweden, with the idea of subjecting the fishermen on the Newfoundland Banks to Swedish taxation. Minuit was further instructed to build a fort on the Delaware River without delay, and, finally, to skirt the coast of Florida to seek places favorable for establishing colonies. Of these three assignments, Minuit appears to have per formed only the second. He anchored in the Delaware in March, 1638, and bought from the natives the right bank of this river, extending from the Schuylkill River upstream, down as far as Duck Creek, a distance of about 70 miles. The country was called New Sweden. The commander of the Dutch Fort Nassau, situ ated on the left bank of the river, not far from where the Schuyl kill empties into the Delaware, protested in the name of the West India Company against the landing of the Swedes and called upon them to leave. Minuit disregarded these protests, but did not venture to go up the river beyond the Dutch fort. From its very beginning therefore the Swedish settlement foreshadowed a con- 24 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion flict with the Dutch company. As a further complication, the English raised pretensions to the valley of the Delaware, which they considered an integral part of Virginia. According to cer tain writers, Charles I of England had, between 1630 and 1634, granted Oxenstierna authority to settle in the unoccupied parts of North America. Charles’ alleged authorization, incapable of docu mentary proof and antedating the actual Swedish settlement by several years, cannot be considered a renunciation by England of the territories occupied by Sweden. Such a renunciation cannot be assumed, but must be evidenced by authentic documents, espe cially if it runs counter to the known policies of the renouncing nation. But England claimed title to all the eastern littoral of North America, from New England to Virginia. She had pro tested against the occupation of New Netherland by the Dutch, although, at the time when they settled on the Hudson, there was still no trace of English occupation in the neighboring region. England certainly had a better title to New Sweden, for when the Swedes arrived English colonists were already trading with the Indians in the valley of the Delaware 8 and had thus strengthened the English claim by beginning actual occupation. The governors of the English colonies never recognized the legitimacy of the New Sweden settlement, and in the quarrels which arose as early as 1641 between their compatriots on the Delaware and the Swedish authorities, they upheld the former and affirmed the rights of their sovereign over the whole American continent and over Delaware Bay in particular.9 Caught between the Dutch and the English settlements, without a recognized right to the terri tory, the Swedes had no chance of resistance, unless their colony could count upon a large number of colonists— or, in other words, unless they backed up their claims with a substantial settlement. This they could not do. After taking possession of the territory and constructing a fort, named Christina in honor of the Queen of Sweden, Minuit left America to return to Europe. In obedience to his instruc tions, he proceeded first to the Antilles to buy goods there and if occasion arose to fight the Spaniards, but he perished accidentally on the shores of the Island of Saint Christopher. The two vessels Kill, or MemCiSekT bUiU 3 Sma11 fort on the left bank of the river> at Varkens nor o i Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, to the Gover nor of New Sweden, Prmtz, September 18, 1643, printed in Johnson, I, 389. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 25 of the expedition, the Kalmar Nyckel and the Grip, separated. The first arrived in Holland in October, 1638, and was held there for some time by order of the West India Company; the second did not arrive in Gothenberg until June, 1639. The two together brought back a cargo of tobacco and furs insufificient by far to cover the expense of fitting out the expedition.10 Fleming, Director of the New Sweden Company, confident of the ultimate success of the enterprise, busied himself with getting up a new expedition. He encountered difficulties. The Dutch stockholders were reluctant to participate. They were dissatisfied with the financial result of the first expedition, and for many of them who were members of the West India Company it was risky to give their financial support to a foreign rival. However, they consented to share in the expenditures which would be made in the purchase of merchandise in Holland. Short of funds, Fleming, through the Chancellor, obtained part of the capital of the moribund South Company. In this way he secured an additional 60,000 or 70,000 dalers. He was anxious to eliminate private stockholders from the New Sweden Company, and make it henceforth exclusively a public enterprise, but the government, although manifesting the keenest interest in the un dertaking, declined to enter upon the course proposed by Fleming. The expedition, which he wished to be an important one, actually comprised but one vessel, the Kalmar Nyckel. It was placed under the command of a Dutch captain and numbered in its crew a rather large proportion of Netherlanders. It had on board Peter Ridder, Flemish or Low-German in birth, who had been appointed Governor of New Sweden; a score of deserters from the Swedish army, impressed to furnish a garrison for Fort Christina; and a few colonists. The ship did not reach its destination till the spring of 1640, at a time when the occupants of the fort, left without news of the mother country for two years, were prepar ing to abandon it. In the course of the year 1640, an arrangement concluded with the Swedish and Dutch stockholders allowed the latter to withdraw from the Company. In 1641 the royal treasury reim bursed the foreigners for what they had put in. The Company 10 The furs brought 14,590 Dutch florins, and the tobacco delivered to the Swedish stockholders was worth almost as much. The cost of chartering and fitting out the ships amounted to about 42,800 florins. 26 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion became exclusively Swedish and was to depend still more than before upon the government. Carrying out a scheme previously formed by Minuit, Admiral Fleming sought in Holland the colonists whom he failed to recruit in Sweden. Some of the inhabitants of the province of Utrecht were desirous of emigrating, because life seemed to them too hard in Europe. They had wished to go to New Netherland, but, dis couraged by the conditions which the proprietary company of the colony wished to impose upon them,11 they entered into relations with the New Sweden Company through the agency of Blommaert, who, although he was not a stockholder of that company, con tinued to lend his good offices to the Swedish government. In fluential Dutchmen interested in the affairs of the Dutch West India Company, notably Godard van Reede, lord of Nederhorst, and Henry Hooghkamer, sponsored the project, and at one time it was proposed to send three vessels loaded with colonists from Utrecht, to New Sweden. But the Dutch company intervened to defend its privileges and opposed the departure of the colonists; in the end only about fifty of them embarked for the Swedish colony, where they settled near the end of the year 1640, above Fort Christina. It is probable that the Estates General would not have permitted them to leave, if, for political reasons, they had not feared to offend Sweden. The Swedish Council of State was displeased with this appeal to foreign assistance. It saw danger therein, and not without reason, for the future of the colony. With a view to enlisting colonists in Sweden, it had propaganda circulated through the local authorities. Finnish workmen were appealed to, and the vagabonds who were caught ravaging the royal forests were given the alternative of undergoing the penalties which might be imposed upon them, or going to New Sweden. Despite these efforts the two vessels sent to the colony in 1641 carried from Sweden only about thirty-five colonists and soldiers. This time too they had to icly upon the Dutch for the officers and some of the seamen who manned the vessels. The greater part of the cargoes had been bought in Holland. The two expeditions which were subsequently sent to New Sweden, one comprised of two vessels in 1642, the other of one, the Farm, in 1643, were organized like the expedition of 1641, 11 De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 293. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 27 with the difference that they strove to obtain the soldiers intended for the colony from Sweden exclusively, as the presence of soldiers from Holland had been a source of numerous quarrels. The num ber of colonists who went on these vessels must have been small, for in June, 1644, the colony still numbered only 120 male inhab itants. However meagre the results, they were obtained only at the cost of considerable effort. Admiral Fleming had devoted him self without stint to the service of the Company. Fortunately he found among the foreigners settled in Sweden, Low-Germans, Flemish, and Dutch, experienced collaborators that he could not have found among his compatriots.12 But financial resources re mained insufficient. The cargoes of the vessels returning from America were composed of furs and tobacco. The former were disposed of with difficulty in a nation as poor as Sweden. The latter, however, sold readily enough, for between 1630 and 1640 the use of tobacco had spread in the kingdom. In a monopoly of tobacco importation Fleming hoped to find a means of saving the Company. In January, 1641, he obtained from the government the monopoly he desired. In a richer country, with a more con centrated population, this concession would have sufficed to enrich the holder. But, even though the sale of the goods imported by the Company had been entrusted to a very able man, Benjamin Bonnell, an Englishman, who had had commercial experience in Holland, Spain, and Portugal, small profits accrued. On the one hand, the Company, compelled to buy most of its tobacco in Hol land, made a smaller profit on its sales than if it had bought in the places of production; on the other hand, the extent of its coasts and the dispersion of the population rendered impossible the maintenance of the monopoly. Contraband trade was carried on on a large scale everywhere. Therefore, in spite of its privileges, the Company continued to lose ground. A balance-sheet drawn up at the beginning of 1643 showed that thus far it had a deficit of 32,472 dalers. After the withdrawal of the Dutch stockholders Fleming saw that a reorganization of the Company was needed. In the course of the year he brought the matter before the Riksrad, where it 12 Among them were Beier, a native of Berlin, attached to the administra tion of trade and posts; Hans Kramer, also a German, a clerk of the Company; van Schotting, a Flemish merchant, a factor of the Company; Spiring, a Dutchman, intermediary between Oxenstiema and Blommaert at the time the company was constituted. 28 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion was debated in the presence of representatives of the cities of Stockholm and Gothenberg and of the old South Company. In con formity with his suggestions the Council recommended to the gov ernment the following plan, which was adopted in August 1642: 1. The capital of the Company was to be brought to 36,000 dalers. 2. The Crown was to subscribe 6,000 dalers, the South Com pany 18,000 dalers, other stockholders 12,000 dalers. 3. The governor and the other officers were to be paid from the tobacco excise. Contrary to Fleming’s advice the chief office of the Company was continued at Stockholm. There was nothing at Gothenberg but an agent. Before this reorganization the Crown had had no formal right to interfere in the affairs of the Company. On various oc casions it had provided financial relief, but this was pure gener osity on its part. In the beginning of 1642 the Crown became a member of the Company, thus transforming it into a kind of public undertaking. As all the private stockholders save one were members of the Riksrad or Council of State,13 it was at sessions of this Council that questions of interest to the Company were discussed. Upon the death of Fleming the Chancellor of the King dom became, without being named to the post, the real director of the Company. In financial affairs some confusion arose between the budget of the State and that of the Company. Officers of the latter, paid by it, were in the service of the State, and, on the other hand, public functionaries were occupied with the affairs of the Company without receiving remuneration therefrom. It does not appear that the government granted a charter to the Company, although it accorded favors to it in fiscal matters, and it did not control its management. Fleming, being Vice Ad miral of Sweden and also Governor of Stockholm, intermingled Company business with his official duties of state. After his death in 1644 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna unwisely continued in the same habit. The stockholders were no longer consulted. The Company was not strengthened by this reorganization. It continued to lack money to pay the salaries of its employees and 13 T here w ere five stockholders: three members of the Oxenstiema family, Fleming and Spiring. The last was not a member of the Riksrad, but was a State official. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 29 to buy goods. The war which began in 1643 between Sweden and Denmark was disastrous to the Company. For two years this war absorbed all the maritime resources of the monarchy and distracted its attention from colonial affairs, already so long neglected. The suppression of the Sound dues, which was the stake in the contest, had more importance for Sweden than the acquisition of a North American domain. Moreover Fleming, the protector, one might even say the soul, of the Company, had been killed by a bullet in 1644, and no one after him had the interests of New Sweden so much at heart as he had had. After a fruitless attempt made in 1644 to send provisions to the colony from Holland, the government succeeded in equipping a ship which left in 1646, laden with cloth, tools, and household implements, but it did not carry more than a few colonists. Sup plies, but few colonists, were likewise sent over in 1647. This was the last aid which the colony received up to 1653. In 1649 a new ship was equipped by the government. This time a respec table number of persons volunteered to go to New Sweden. In fact the Court seemed to take alarm at this eagerness, and rejected the greater part of the requests. None the less the ship bore seventy colonists, a number relatively large, besides several deserters sent as a punishment. Unfortunately the vessel was shipwrecked near Porto Rico where the crew and the passengers were held by the Spaniards. From 1650 to 1653 preparations were again made in Sweden to help the colony, but they failed. When insistent demands for aid arrived from America, the Court and the government resolved to act. The Riksrad decided to fit out a vessel, but, for want of organization, their measures remained unexecuted. In the ab sence of an appointed director, the Chancellor should have at tended to these matters. But he was old,14 absorbed in a mul tiplicity of affairs, and unable to instill the needful activity into the administration of the society. Furthermore, the treasury had to meet the expenses of the expedition and it was habitually short of funds during the reign of the frivolous Queen Christina. Forsaken by the mother country, New Sweden could not prosper. Peter Hollander Ridder, governor from 1640 to 1643, extended its area considerably. He bought from the Indians the part of the left bank of the river lying between Raccoon Creek 14 Oxenstiema was bom June 16, 1583. 30 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion and Cape May, and the right bank from Duck Creek to Cape Hen- lopen, regions where the patroonship of Swanendael had formerly been established but had been retroceded in 163715 to the Dutch West India Company by Samuel Blommaert. Ridder bought in addition the territory comprised between the Schuylkill and the Falls of Trenton, which extended the bounds of the colony some forty miles above the Dutch Fort Nassau, but these vast spaces were not occupied. The commissioner, a Dutchman named Joost van Langdonk, did not get along with the governor, despite their common nationality, and soon a goodly number of the Dutch col onists brought over by the Swedish vessels went to rejoin their compatriots at Fort Nassau or New Amsterdam. The situation improved a little in 1643. The Swedish colonel, John Printz, who became governor of New Sweden in that year, applied himself immediately, as his instructions charged him, to securing the defense of the colony by erecting a number of block houses. He strove likewise to develop agriculture as much as the small number of colonists at his command permitted. But from 1645 on, the incessant disputes with the agents of the New Nether- land paralyzed his efforts. The trade with the Indians was the principal resource of the country at that time, and Dutch and Swedes quarreled over it. The Dutch, considering themselves masters of the river, insisted upon setting up trading posts wher ever they chose. For some years Printz, displaying the greatest activity, successfully opposed the encroachments of the Dutch, who could not command a sufficient force to attack the little Swedish forts. Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland (1647), an ener getic man and an uncompromising champion of the rights of the company which he served, had wished at the close of the year 1647 to put an end by decisive action to the Swedish competition, but his chiefs bade him have patience, telling him that the disputes would be settled in Europe. Probably they desired to avoid disturbing the good relations of the United Provinces, and especially of Am sterdam, with Sweden, by a colonial dispute. For several years more the conflict smouldered, confined to minor acts of hostility between the colonists of the two nations; but in 1651 Stuyvesant, weary of receiving continual complaints from the colonists on the Delaware, decided, without asking the advice of his superiors, on a 15 This was done not later than 1635, according to a letter in Van Laer, 314-Tr. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 31 coup de force. The moment was favorably chosen, for the vessel Katt, sent from Sweden in 1649, had been shipwrecked near Porto Rico, so that for about four years Printz had received no more aid from the mother country. Without encountering resist ance Stuyvesant erected at the mouth of the river a substantial fort, armed with twelve cannons, which closed to the Swedes their outlet to the ocean (August, 1651). At this place (Fort Casimir) he concentrated the Netherlanders settled up the river, towards Fort Nassau. Knowing the pacific sentiments of the directors at Amsterdam, he did not attack the Swedes, who were already at his mercy. When the Swedish government learned of the danger to which the colony was exposed, it strove to atone for its past negli gence. The management of the company was entrusted to the Commercial College, a kind of ministry of commerce, of which Eric Oxenstierna, son of the chancellor, was director-general. The admiralty and the war department received orders to prepare two vessels. The administration busied itself with the recruiting of colonists and soldiers. Governor Printz, who had returned to Sweden in December, 1653, aroused the activity of all. None the less, in January, 1654, one lone vessel was ready to put to sea. It carried 260 colonists and the secretary of the Commercial College, Rising, charged with governing the colony in the quality of com missioner till the return of Printz. The voyage was long and hard. The ship did not arrive in Delaware bay till May 16, 1654. With more than 300 men at his disposal, colonists and sailors, and con fident that a ship would shortly bring re-enforcements and provi sions, Rising was in a position to reorganize the colony and call back the Swedish colonists who, in consequence of the events of the preceding years, had emigrated into Dutch territory—in short, to put Swedish colonization in America on a firm basis. But, con fronted with the menace of Fort Casimir as he sailed up the Dela ware, Rising saw fit to seize it forthwith, in place of first conduct ing negotiations with the Dutch. This was playing into their hands. Having been attacked, they had the right of defense. In addition, fortune favored them. The Swedish re-enforcement vessel, leav ing Sweden in April, touched at New Amsterdam, in consequence it seems of a mistake on part of the captain. Naturally the Dutch authorities seized it, thus depriving Rising of assistance on which 32 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion he had counted. On the other hand the directors, strong in the righteousness of their position, sent their Governor, Stuyvesant, re-enforcements of 200 men and commanded him to re-establish the company’s authority on the banks of the Delaware. Stuyvesant met with little resistance there and in September, 1655, Fort Casi- mir and Fort Christina surrendered to him. Rising surrendered and returned to Europe with his officers and some of the colonists. The remaining Swedish population, which passed under the au thority of the Dutch, was augmented in March, 1656, by about eighty colonists, who had left Sweden before they were informed of the loss of the colony. These unfortunate events took place in America at a time when Sweden was preparing to attempt, un der much better auspices than before, a new effort to develop her American colony. In 1654 Queen Christina abdicated, leaving the treasury empty and the administration of the country in disorder.16 The throne was occupied by Christian X, an energetic and intelligent man, who was to render himself illustrious as well by his military successes as by his qualities as an administrator. A treaty of amity with England (April 11, 1654) guaranteed New Sweden against aggression by the neighboring English colonies. The people of the mother country began to be interested in overseas enterprises, and when the last ship left en route to America it was necessary to refuse more than a hundred emigrants desirous of settling in the colony. The New Sweden Company had finally been reorgan ized in 1655: its administration had been strengthened, its capital increased,17 its relations with the government defined, and new financial favors granted. As soon as he learned of the capture of New Sweden, Christian X made representations to the estates gen eral of the United Provinces, and in 1658 he granted to the New Sweden Company, which had now become the “American Com pany,” privileges which give proof of his hope of regaining the colony. But the wars which he was waging with his neighbors prevented him from undertaking military steps, the sole means of obtaining from the Estates General the restitution of New Sweden.18 The colony was irrevocably lost. 1 r. Hildebrand, V, 468. In 1653 the expenses of the Court absorbed 12 per cent of the total receipts of the state, or 520,000 dalers. 17 In February 1655 the subscriptions rose to 63,459 dalers. 1658 Sweden had on the sea four squadrons manned by 6649 men and carry ing 1838 guns. She had two vessels of 74 guns and one of 66. The United Provinces could oppose them with but three squadrons carrying 1170 pieces. Zettersten II, 414. ’ History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 33 It was originally to find an outlet for the copper of the royal mines that the acquisition of territories in North America had been projected. The Dutch merchant Samuel Blommaert, adviser of the Swedes at the beginning of their undertakings, had pointed out as another outlet the coast of Guinea. But nothing was attempted in this direction until 1647. Then Louis de Geer, a citizen of Liege, who had settled in Holland, and had later become the prin cipal figure in the Swedish iron industry, undertook, at the request of the Council of State, to establish a company for trade with Guinea. He succeeded in getting the enterprise going. The com pany, though Swedish in name, included but a few stockholders of that nationality, for the most part officials of the court who were interested in the New Sweden Company. The capital in vested was Dutch. In 1649 the company received a charter which gave it, for twenty-four years, besides certain fiscal favors, a monopoly of the overseas trade which was not already included in the grant of the New Sweden Company. Under the direction of Laurent de Geer, son of Louis, the Guinea Company entered into competition with the Dutch West India Company and endeavored to establish fac tories in the vicinity of the Dutch company’s stations on the coast of Guinea. It took into its service an employe dismissed by the Dutch company, Henrick Caerloff, of Danish origin, whom it sent to Guinea with the ship Christina and a yacht. Caerloff occupied a position at Cabo Cors which was highly embarrassing to the Dutch, as it lay between their two principal forts, Elmina and Nassau, less than two hours’ march from either of them. Citing treaties which it had made with the natives, the Dutch company protested against these aggressions by the Swedes, but it did not try to expel them forcibly from its possessions. Perhaps, in the difficult financial situation in which it found itself, it did not have the means of taking effective action;19 perhaps too it was un willing to stir up trouble for the Estates General, which, menaced by a war with England, had need of Sweden’s friendship. Caerloff profited by Dutch inaction to occupy other places on the coast, and in 1653 he had acquired for his employers seven or eight stations, of which the principal was Fort Carlsborg at Cabo Cors. These successes of the Swedish company were destined to be ephemeral. Caerloff became embroiled with his chiefs and for revenge on 10 See De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 349, 350. 34 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion them entered the service of Denmark. In 1658, taking advantage of the war which had broken out between that country and Sweden, he descended upon the Guinea coast with a vessel, flying the Dan ish flag although manned by Dutch, and captured most of the Swedish establishments.20 In 1661 a Swedish vessel which some agents of the Swedish company had succeeded in recovering from the Danes arrived at Cabo Cors. But the Dutch were determined to make an end of these rivals. They seized the Swedish ship and occupied Carlsborg. By this time Charles X had died (1660) and the government was in the hands of the Riksrad, the new king, Charles X I, being a minor, a circumstance unpropitious for national expansion. The Dutch Estates General, having acquired evidence that the Swedish company was for the most part composed of Dutch who sought to infringe upon the privileges granted to the West India Com pany, refused to make restitution for the factories taken.21 How ever they agreed in 1667 to allow the Swedish company an in demnity of 100,000 rixdalers.22 The policy of the late King Charles X had been to further the economic emancipation of the kingdom, and above all to free it from the tutelage of Holland. The heads of the government dur ing the minority of Charles XI adhered to the same program. Be ginning in 1660 the treasurer, Gustave Bondhe, who was called, with some exaggeration, the Colbert of Sweden, ably strengthened the Swedish commercial organization. He created a central fac tory at Stockholm, which was to co-ordinate mercantile activities, concluded treaties of commerce with England and France, and, at tacking the enemy in their own territory, established a branch of the central factory at Amsterdam (1663).23 Doubtless these efforts to awaken the economic activity of Sweden were not without influence on the project formed in 1667 or 1668 to create an East India Company, an undertaking which , A Grandlund, 27 and 28. For the losses sustained by the Company, Sweden en tered a claim to an indemnity of 400,000 dalers, which she later abandoned. H istory of Swedish Colonial Expansion 3 5 naturally was opposed by the United Provinces. The promoters, as was fitting in a nation so poor as Sweden, wished to commence modestly, and fixed the capital at 30,000 dalers. They easily got this sum together and even found subscriptions for 33,587 dalers. But when their company was established they did not dare to oper ate. They fitted out two vessels but refrained from sending them out because of the dangers to which the war between France and Holland would have exposed them. In 1674 the company was finally dissolved without having attempted anything. Perhaps its leaders, who were probably state officials, realized that they lacked experience for the proper conduct of an under taking of this kind. In fact, one of the men who co-operated with them in the equipment of the vessels, the agent of the Commercial college, S. Borgh, entered the service of the Dutch East India Com pany, and went to Batavia. In 1683 he offered the Swedish gov ernment the benefit of his experience in the service of a new com pany which was to be established in Sweden, but it is not known what came of this proposition.24 24 Nystrom. CHAPTER 3 Colonial Expansion in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries More than half a century elapsed before the project formed in 1667 or 1668 of establishing an East India company was revived in Sweden. The initiative came not from a Swede but from an Englishman, a stockholder in the Ostend Company, which had been founded in 1722 to traffic with the East Indies, and included among its investors Englishmen and Dutchmen shut out of this trade in their own countries by the monopolies granted to the Eng lish and Dutch companies. The emperor Charles VI, yielding to the solicitations of the governments at London and The Hague, in 1727 suspended the Ostend Company for seven years. Its final dissolution, thus portended, came in 1731, and the stockhold ers had to find other employment for their capital.1 In 1728 one of these stockholders, of English nationality, ap proached Baron Sparre, Swedish minister to London, and asked him if it would be possible to found an East India company in Sweden. The overture was submitted by the minister to the ap propriate colleges, which rejected it, and likewise refused an offer from Denmark to participate in the creation of an India company at Altona.2 In the course of the year 1729 a Swedish merchant, Henrik Konig, on his own account revived the plan formed in England and, with the assistance of foreign capitalists, established a com pany. The moment was favorable. Sweden had repaired the losses caused by the foolish wars of Charles X II (1697-1718).3 Maritime enterprise was making notable progress under the en couragement of the produktplakaten of 1724 and 1726, legislation analogous to the famous navigation laws of England.4 From the lSee Huisman. 2Nystrom, Svenska, 5, and De Lannoy and Vander Linden, 422. 3lt was stated in 1741 that when the King died Sweden possessed not more than three ocean-going vessels. Arnould, 192. 4ln 1736 the ports of Sweden registered 1758 entering and 1844 departing Swed ish vessels. The total tonnage of these vessels exceeded that of foreign ships in the ports of the kingdom. Hildebrand, VII, 78. It should not be inferred from these figures that Sweden had become a great trading nation, with abundant capital at her command. She could not get along without foreign assistance. An Englishman wrote (1694): “The Management of the Trade of Sueden has always in the main been in the Hands of Strangers, most of the Natives wanting either Capacity or Application, and all of them Stocks to drive it; for without Credit from abroad, they are not able to keep their Iron-works going” (Robinson, 148). All branches of economic activity were rigorously regulated and subjected to the supervision of the public authorities. See on this point Nystrom, Bidrag. 38 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion standpoint of internal policy, Sweden was in the period which his torians have called “the era of liberty.” The royal authority was greatly impaired after the death of Charles X II in 1718. But party struggles did not trouble the country then as they were to later, and under the direction of Arvid Horn (1721-1739) gov ernmental action preserved all its vigor. Despite the opposition of foreign powers, Konig in 1731 obtained the charter he desired. The company received a fifteen-year monopoly of trade with the coun tries lying east of the Cape of Good Hope. It enjoyed fiscal fa vors, in return for paying the Crown a royalty of 100 dalers per ton on vessels returned from the Indies. Konig’s intention was probably to imitate the other India com panies and to acquire colonies in Asiatic waters. In fact, the first ships which he sent to the Indies were commissioned to set up a fortified factory at Porto Novo on the coast of Coromandel (1733). But the agents of the foreign companies were on the watch. The English governor of Madras and the French governor of Pon dicherry got together and sent 200 men to Porto Novo, who took possession of the Swedish factory.5 The Swedish company made no further attempt to establish bases overseas. It confined its activities to trade with China and with a few Indian ports, particularly Surat, where its adversaries enjoyed no monopoly.6 In this traffic it reaped considerable prof it, by reason of which it may be considered Sweden’s principal commercial undertaking in the eighteenth century. It continued until the beginning of the nineteenth century.7 The success of the company founded by Konig led a Swedish house to ask for the privilege of creating a West India Company (1746), but in the face of opposition by the Spanish government its request was withdrawn. * * * * New schemes for expansion in the direction of America were proposed under the reign of Gustave III (1771-1792). The small fiNystrom, Svenska, 9-14; Cordier. 6The company had a warehouse at Surat. See Toreen, 446. TThe company had no fixed capital until 1753. Till then the necessary capital was contributed for each expedition. Profits reached thirty, forty, at times a hun dred per cent. The company imported from twelve to sixteen millions of francs worth of goods into Gothenberg. But it sold only a few hundred thousands of francs worth within the country, and reexported the rest. It sent very little mer chandise to the Indies and to China. As was the case with its rivals, its main export to these countries was coin, especially that of Spain, which was secured at Cadiz. See Stavenow, 289; Nystrom, Svenska, 69ff. . . On the conduct of the trade, see Peuchet, article "Sweden.” Osbeck gives an interesting description of the situation of Europeans in Canton. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 39 Dutch and Danish colonies of the Antilles, Saint Eustatius and Saint Thomas, during the maritime war which attended the re volt of the English colonies in North America (1775) had reaped very large profits.8 Thanks to their status as neutrals, these islands had become middlemen for almost all the trade between Europe and North America. These profits of neutrality could not fail to allure Gustave III, an intelligent man, who, after having by a coup d’etat (August 19, 1772) restored the royal authority in Sweden, undermined by the encroachments of the nobility, used his power to increase the prestige and the prosperity of his king dom. Various desirable reforms had been carried out, of a com mercial and industrial nature, and the acquisition of an overseas base would have been a valuable stimulus to trade and navigation. Gustave III had received an education wholly French, and was highly esteemed at Versailles. His policy in Russia and in Prussia was in perfect accord with that of the French govern ment. Everything combined, therefore, political interests and court relations, to make him one of the firmest allies of France. He evidently set a high price upon the services which he was in a position to render, for, not satisfied with the subsidies which he received from Versailles for the expenses of his court and army, he further asked the French to cede to him one of their islands in the Antilles. Negotiations on this subject were begun in 1779, but Vergennes, minister of foreign affairs under Louis XVI, while pledging Creutz, the Swedish ambassador, his good offices in giv ing satisfaction to Gustave III, declined to bind his country by a formal promise. He offered to ask Spain, an ally of France, to give Sweden one of her numerous colonies, Trinidad or Crab Island, but in vain. At the conclusion of the Peace of Versailles (September 3, 1783) he tried to induce England to make some concession in favor of Sweden, but he was disappointed on this score also. During these five years Creutz, constantly obliged to nego tiate conventions for subsidies, had not been able to put much pressure on Vergennes in the Antilles affair. After he had been recalled to Sweden as Minister-President, circumstances were more favorable to the realization of the King’s desire. As successor to sin time of peace these Dutch and Danish colonies drove a trade in contraband in the colonies of the great powers, particularly those of Spain. According to a contemporary, Saint Bartholomew probably served equally well as a center of Swedish smuggling (Amould, 195). 40 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion Creutz at the head of the embassy at Versailles he had appointed de Stael-Holstein, who had been sent there in 1776 and was in high favor at the French court. Louis XV I and Marie Antoinette were personally interested in him and supported his suit for the hand of Germaine Necker, daughter of the banker Necker, Di rector-General of Finance of France from 1777. But M. Necker was unwilling to bestow his daughter upon anyone not permanently resident in Paris, and required, in accepting de Stael as a son-in law, that he obtain the Swedish embassy for life. Gustave III, despite the solicitation of the French sovereign, was loth to enter into an engagement of this kind, unless he were compensated for it. After rather long discussions, de Stael was promised his de sired life tenure, if the cession of Tobago, which France had just acquired by the Peace of Versailles, were obtained from Ver gennes. De Stael, it may be presumed, left no stone unturned in achieving the result on which his marriage depended. Yet he had difficulty in moving Vergennes. In May, 1784, he at last obtained the long-desired promise of an island. However, it turned out to be neither Tobago nor any other island of importance, but the tiny islet Saint Bartholomew, which was of no use to France because of its location. In return, Gustave III had to give commercial privileges at Gothenberg to France, in lieu of those she formerly had had at Wismar. Gustave III resented the pettiness of the French in demand ing commercial favors in return for one small island. Neverthe less, he accepted the proposal, but he instructed his ambassador to couch the treaty in terms of generous condescension, and not to represent the respective concessions as equivalent in value. In a trip to Paris in 1784 Gustave cleared up the last difficulties, in such a way that the treaty could be signed by Vergennes and de Stael July first. It bore the title “Convention explanatory and pre liminary to the Convention of 1741”, for the King intended to de velop the commercial relations of the two countries and to con clude a treaty of commerce with France. Perhaps he would not have been satisfied with so mediocre an acquisition as Saint Bar tholomew, had he not at that time had so pressing a need of French subsidies.9 Ratification of the treaty was delayed so that Gustave III could obtain the advice of his Council after his return to Stock- oGeffroy, chaps. VI, VII; Odhner, II, 328 and 329. History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 41 holm. For this reason the cession was not formally made till March 7, 1785.10 The new Swedish colony, eight square miles in area,11 had at the time it was acquired 759 inhabitants, of which 458 were white. Composed of calcareous rock, and without a supply of fresh water, it was of value only as a fairly safe harbor. Gustave III, by an order of September 7, 1785, made it a free port. Although the system of companies was falling into disrepute among the great colonizing powers, the King entrusted the economic development of the isle to a company, constituted October 31, 1786, for trading with the West Indies, Saint Bartholomew, and North America. The administration of the island was in the hands of a governor appointed by the King, but the Company’s representative, called an intendant, possessed certain powers. The King paid the gov ernor’s salary and was obligated to maintain a garrison of fifty men, in return for the surrender by the Company of one-fourth of the taxes which it was authorized to levy. This regime came to a close in 1801; the charter of the Com pany expired then, and it was not renewed. In 1813 Sweden had an opportunity to acquire Guadeloupe. By the treaty of March 3 of that year, England gave the island to King Charles-Jean Bernadotte as indemnity for the loss of his French estates. But by the peace of Paris (May 13, 1814) Guade loupe was restored to France. England tried, also vainly, to give Sweden several of the old Dutch colonies, apparently with the in tention of buying them later from Sweden.12 But Sweden had lost all desire for new acquisitions overseas. As early as 1818 voices were raised in the Riksdag for the abandonment of Saint Bar tholomew, which constituted at that time the whole colonial domain of the kingdom. They were disregarded as long as the island was self-supporting. But from 1831 on, suffering from the de pression which affected all the Antilles, the island had to call upon the mother country for help in balancing its budget. In 1844 1845 members of the legislature protested anew against the ex pense incurred for this useless colony and insisted that it be ceded to another power. This time the government acted, but not one of the countries to which it applied (Belgium among them) showed loOdhner, 382. n See rfogstrom. i 2Vanderkemp. 42 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion any desire to make an acquisition of so little advantage, and new attempts made in 1868 had no better success. Finally in a treaty of August 10, 1877, France agreed to buy back her former colony for the sum of 320,000 francs. She made the purchase conditional upon the consent of the inhabitants, which was easily obtained. The colonists, having everything to gain by a change of regime, took care not to oppose it. Moreover, they still spoke French and really had remained French, even though for almost a century the islet had been under Swedish rule. CHAPTER 4 Results As we have seen, none of Sweden’s efforts to acquire over seas possessions brought about the establishment of flourishing or lasting settlements. In North America, in Guinea, in India, every where they attempted to set foot, the Swedes yielded before the hostility of their rivals. These failures were the result not of accidental circumstances, but of economic and political conditions within the mother country itself. Partially cut off from the ocean by its geographical posi tion, Sweden further lacked the material resources necessary to bring colonial enterprises to rapid fruition. Preoccupied besides, as she had been till the opening of the nineteenth century, with defending or extending her possessions on the eastern and south ern shores of the Baltic Sea, she could not give transoceanic un dertakings more than intermittent attention and ineffective pro tection. Her war fleet, which for a time was among the most power ful in Europe, confined its action almost exclusively to the Baltic Sea. It did not cut much of a figure on the ocean and the sole colony where one or the other of its small naval units showed it self occasionally was the isle of Saint Bartholomew. From Swed ish shipowners little help was obtained in the beginnings of her colonial undertakings, which were almost entirely the work of foreigners, principally the Dutch. Not until the eighteenth cen tury do we find in Sweden the beginnings of a fleet of ocean going ships capable of serving distant enterprises. Sweden’s attempts at colonization brought disappointment, but no real injury, to the nation. The few colonists of Swedish origin who went to New Sweden could not be considered a drain on the population of the mother country. Sweden suffered lit tle financially, for the capital tied up in these ventures was small, and a good part of it came from foreign investors. Then too it should be remembered that the East Indian enterprise, though it miscarried from the colonial point of view, brought about the creation of a trading company which for more than three-quarters 44 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion of a century, from 1731 till the first years of the nineteenth cen tury, was the most profitable of Sweden’s commercial enterprises. Everything considered, colonization brought Sweden appreciably more of wealth than it took from her. Engel Sluiter History of Swedish Colonial Expansion 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY Translators’ note.— Whenever available, English versions are given below, instead of those in French or German cited by the author. Arnold, A. M. Le systeme maritime et politique des Europeens pendant le XVIIIe siecle. Paris, 1797. Carlson, F. F. Geschichte Schwedens (1655-1706). Translated from the Swedish. 3 vols. 1855, 1875, 1887. Cordier, H. “Les debuts de la Compagnie royale de Suede en E x treme Orient au XVIIIe siecle,” in the Recueil de textes et de traduc tions, published by the professors of L’Ecole des Langues Vivantes. Paris, 1889. Elias, J. E. “Contract tot oprichting van een Zweedsche factorie- comptoir te Amsterdam in 1663,” in Bijdragen en mededeelingen van het historisch genootschap te Utrecht, 1 9 0 3 . G e e r, d e. Lodewijk de Geer. Geffroy, A. Gustave III et la Cour de Frcmce. 2 vols. Paris, 1 8 6 7 . Geijer, E. G. The History of the Swedes (to 1654). Translated from the Swedish by J. H. Turner. London, n. d. Grandlund, V. En svensk koloni i Afrika eller svenska Afrikam ska kompaniets historia. Stockholm, 1879. Hildebrand, E., and others. Sveriges historia intill tjugonde sek- let. 11 vols. Stockholm, 1903-1910. Hogstrom, E. O. E. Saint Barthelemy under Svenkt Vdlde. U p - sala, 1888. Huisman, M. La Belgique commercial sous Vetmpereur Charles VI. La Compagnie d’Ostende. Brussels, 1902. Jameson, J. F. Willem Usselincx (Papers of the American His torical Association, Vol. II, No. 3). New York, 1887. Johnson, A. The Swedish settlements on the Delaware. 2 V o ls. New York, 1911. Kemp, P. H. van der. Articles in the Revue d’histoire diplo m a tiq u e, 1901 and 1902. Kernkamp, G. W. Letters of Samuel Blommaert and of Louis de G e e r, in Bijdragen en mededeelingen van het historisch genootschaap te Utrecht, Vol. XXIX, 1908. Kolkert, W. J. Nederland en het Zweedsche imperialisms ( 1 6 0 9 1640). Deventer, 1908. Laer, A. J. V. van. Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts (N e w York State Library, 90th Annual Report— Albany, 1908). Lannoy, C. De, and H. Vander Linden. Histoire de Vexpansion des peuples europeens. Neerlande et Danemark. Brussels, 1911. Nystrom, J. F. Bidrag till svenska handelns och ndringarnas his to ria (1700-1776). Upsala, 1884. ------. De svenska ostindiska kompanierna historisk-statis- tisk framstallning. N . d. Odhner, C. T. Sveriges politiska historia under konung Gustaf III:s regering. 2 vols. Stockholm, 1896. Osbeck, P. Reise nach Ostindien und China. Translated from the Swedish by J. G. Georgi. Rostock, 1765. Oscar II (King of Sweden). Charles XII. Translated from the Swedish. Paris, 1906. 46 History of Swedish Colonial Expansion Peuchet, G. Dictionnaire universel de geographic commergante. 6 vols. Paris, years VII and VIII. Robinson, J. An account of Sueden. London, 1694. Roever, N. de. “Twee concurrenten van de eerste Westindische CompagTiie,” in the review, Oud Holland, 1 8 8 9 . Stavenow, L. Geschichte Schwedens (1718-1772). Translated from the Swedish. Gotha, 1908. Toreen, O. Eine ostindische reise. In the work by Osbeck noted a b o v e . Zettersten, A. Svenska flottans historia. 2 vols. Norrtelie, 1890, 1903.