person which distinguished them, at a glance, among the individuals of other tribes. They were as brave as they were strong; but ferocious and cruel when excited in savage warfare; crafty, treacherous, and overreaching, when these qualities best suited their purposes. The proceedings of their grand council were marked with great decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and profound policy, their speakers might well bear comparison with the statesmen of civilized assemblies. By an early alliance with the Dutch on the Hudson, they secured the use of firearms, and were thus enabled, not only to repel the encroachments of the French, but also to exterminate, or reduce to a state of vassalage, many Indian nations. From these they exacted an annual tribute, or acknowledgment of fealty; permitting them, however, on that condition, to occupy their former hunting-grounds. "The humiliation of tributary nations was, however, tempered with a paternal regard for their interests in all negotiations with the whites, and care was taken that no trespasses should be committed on their rights, and that they should be justly dealt with." To this condition of vassalage the Lenni Lenapé, or Delaware nation, had been reduced by the Iroquois, as the latter asserted, by conquest. The Lenapes, however, smarting under the humiliation, invented for the whites a cunning tale in explanation, which they succeeded in imposing upon the worthy and venerable Mr. Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary. Their story was, that by treaty, and by voluntary consent, they had agreed to act as mediators and peacemakers among the other great nations, and to this end they had consented to lay aside entirely the implements of war, and to hold and to keep bright the chain of peace. This, among individual tribes, was the usual province of women. The Delawares, therefore, alleged that they were figuratively termed women on this account; but the Iroquois evidently called them women in quite another sense. "They always alleged that the Delawares were conquered by their arms, and were compelled to this humiliating concession as the only means of averting impending destruction."* In the course of time, however, the Delawares were enabled to throw off the galling yoke, and at Tioga, in the year 1756, Teedyuscung extorted from the Iroquois chiefs an acknowledgment of their independence.†

This peculiar relation between the Indian nation that occupied, and that which claimed a paramount jurisdiction over, the soil of Pennsylvania, tended greatly to embarrass and complicate the negotiations of the proprietary government for the purchase of lands; and its influence was seen and felt both in the civil and military history of Pennsylvania until

*"But even if Mr. Heckewelder had succeeded in making his readers believe that the Delawares, when they submitted to the degradation proposed to them by their enemies, were influenced, not by fear, but by the benevolent desire to put a stop to the calamities of war, he has established for them the reputation of being the most egregious dupes and fools that the world has ever seen. This is not often the case with Indian sachems. They are rarely cowards, but still more rarely are they deficient in sagacity or discernment to detect any attempt to impose upon them. I sincerely wish I could unite with the worthy German in removing this stigma upon the Delawares. A long and intimate knowledge of them in peace and war, as enemies and friends, has left upon my mind the most favorable impressions of their character for bravery, generosity, and fidelity to their engagements."-Discourse of Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison on the Aborigines of the Valley of the Ohio.

+ See "Inquiry into the causes of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawaneese Indians from the British interest," &c., page 91: written in Pennsylvania, and published in London in

1759

after the close of the revolution. As the details are fully given in the subsequent pages, it is not necessary to enlarge upon the subject here. The term savage, applied to the aborigines, is naturally associated with the ideas of barbarism and cruelty-to some extent perhaps justly; yet a closer acquaintance often discloses in them traits that exalt the human character and claim the admiration or sympathy of civilized man. The Indian considers himself created by an almighty, wise, and benevolent Spirit, to whom he looks for guidance and protection; whom he believes it to be his duty to adore and worship, and whose overruling providence he acknowledges in all his actions. Many Indians were in the habit of seeking out some high mountain from whose lonely summit they might commune with the "Great Spirit," and pray to him. But while they worshipped the Creator, they were not unmindful of their duties to their fellow-creatures. They looked upon the good things of the earth as a common stock, bestowed by the Great Spirit for the benefit of all. They held that the game of the forest, the fish of the rivers, and the grass or other articles of spontaneous growth, were free to all who chose to take them. They ridiculed the idea of fencing in a meadow or a pasture. This principle repressed selfishness and fostered generosity. Their hospitality was proverbial. The Indian considers it a duty to share his last morsel with a stranger.

When the early settlers of Pennsylvania first landed, the Indians received them with open-hearted kindness, cheerfully supplied their wants, and shared with them the comforts of their rude and humble dwellings. They considered the persons of their new guests as sacred, and readily opened with them a traffic for useful or ornamental articles in exchange for land and furs. Wm. Penn says of them, in his letter to the Society of Free Traders, "In liberality they excel; nothing is too good for their friend give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, it may pass twenty hands before it sticks: light of heart, strong affections, but soon spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance perpetually; they never have much, nor want much; wealth circulateth like the blood; all parts partake; and though none shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of property. Some kings have sold, others presented me with several parcels of land; the pay, or presents I made them, were not hoarded by the particular owners; but the neighboring kings and their clans being present when the goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned consulted what, and to whom, they should give them. To every king then, by the hands of a person for that work appointed, is a proportion sent, so sorted and folded, and with that gravity, that is admirable. Then that king subdivideth it, in like manner, among his dependants, they hardly leaving themselves an equal share with one of their subjects and be it on such occasions as festivals, or at their common meals, the kings distribute, and to themselves last. They care for little, because they want but little; and the reason is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free from our pains. They are not disquieted with bills of lading and exchange, nor perplexed with chancery suits and exchequer reckonings. We sweat and toil to live; their pleasure feeds them; I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling; and this table is spread everywhere. They eat twice a day, morning and evening; their seats

and table are the ground. Since the Europeans came into these parts, they are grown great lovers of strong liquors, rum especially, and for it exchange the richest of their skins and furs. If they are heated with liquors, they are restless till they have enough to sleep; that is their cry, some more, and I will go to sleep; but, when drunk, one of the most wretched spectacles in the world."

THE DUTCH AND SWEDES.

SEVERAL colonies had already been planted by Europeans on the North American coast, before any permanent settlement was made on the shores of the Delaware.* In the year 1609, Capt. Henry Hudson, then under the patronage of the Dutch East India Company, touched at the mouth of what is now known as Delaware bay; but finding shoal water, and suspecting danger, he retired and a few days after entered the bay of New York, and gave name to its noble river. Availing themselves of his discoveries, the Dutch renewed their voyages, and kept up a small tradingpost on Manhattan island for several years, until the year 1621, when a larger company was formed, with great privileges and comprehensive powers, called the West India Company of the United Netherlands. This company, in 1623, took possession of the country discovered by Hudson, including the South or Delaware river, and named it New Netherlands; built the city of New Amsterdam, and despatched Capt. Cornelius Jacobus May, with a number of adventurers, to the South River, to colonize and make further discoveries. This commander gave to Cape May the name it still bears, and to the southern cape that of Cornelius, by which it was known during the dynasty of the Dutch. He erected Fort Nassau, near where Gloucester, N. J., now stands, a few miles below Philadelphia. This was the first European settlement on the shores of the bay, but was not permanent, being only used as an occasional tradingpost by the Dutch. In 1631, Capt. David Pietersen De Vries arrived in the Delaware, with two ships and about thirty colonists. He was associated with Godyn, Bloemart, and Van Rensselaer, wealthy Dutch patroons, in the enterprise of establishing a colony on South River, for the purpose of cultivating tobacco and grain, and prosecuting the whale and seal fishery, in or near the bay. He built Fort Oplandt, near where Lewistown, Del., now stands, about three miles within Cape Cornelius; and extended around it his little settlement of Swanendael, or Valley of Swans. The fisheries were unsuccessful. De Vries returned to Holland, leaving his colony in charge of Gillis Osset. He returned again in 1632, and found the fields of his new colony strewed with the bones of his countrymen. The arms of Holland, emblazoned upon a piece of glittering tin, had been elevated upon a pillar. An Indian stole it, to make a tobacco-box. The com

*The name of this bay was given in honor of Lord Delaware, who was governor of the Virginia colony about the years 1610 to 1618. The Indian name of the river was Mack-er-iskiskan; and it was also called Lenape-Wihittuck, or river of the Lenapes. The Dutch and Swedes knew it only as South River, in contradistinction to the North River of New York.

mander took offence; they quarrelled; and the colonists were all butchered, while at work in the field. De Vries made peace with the Indians— learned the melancholy tale-passed up the river above Fort Nassau, which he found also desolate and left the bay in discouragement.

"The voyage of De Vries," says Bancroft, "was the cradling of a state. That Delaware exists as a separate commonwealth is due to the colony of De Vries. According to English rule, occupancy was necessary to complete a title to the wilderness. The Dutch now occupied Delaware, and Harvey, the governor of Virginia, in a grant of commercial privileges to Claiborne, recognised the adjoining plantations of the Dutch."

The results of the successful enterprise of the Dutch at New Amsterdam, had not escaped the observation of Gustavus Adolphus, the illustrious monarch of Sweden, who had long cherished the design of founding a colony in the new world. A great trading and colonizing company had been formed under his auspices, at the suggestion of William Usselinx, a Hollander, who had become a distinguished merchant of Stockholm, as early as 1624. Subscriptions to the stock were made by all ranks, from the monarch to the plain farmer; and great anticipations were formed of the gain and glory to result from the enterprise. But a German war suspended further operations, and the death of Gustavus Adolphus, in 1632, proved fatal to the main project. It was revived, however, on a smaller scale, under the minority of Queen Christina, by her excellent minister, Oxenstiern.

Peter Minuit, a former governor of New Amsterdam, who had become dissatisfied with that company, offered his services to the Swedes, and was appointed to command the expedition. Two vessels, with the Swedish colonists, and with provisions, ammunition, and merchandise for traffic, arrived in the Delaware, from Gottenburg, in the year 1638. Charmed with the beauty and fertility of the spot near Cape Henlopen, where they first landed, they called it Paradise. They conciliated the natives, and purchased from them the land on the west side of the bay, from Cape Henlopen to Sanhickan, or the falls at Trenton. This they called New Sweden. A clergyman, Rev. Reorius Torkillus, accompanied the expedition. The Swedes never left their religion behind them. The Swedes proceeded up the river and built a town and fort, which they named Christina, on the north side of Minquaas, or Mingoes creek, now Christina creek, about three miles above its mouth. Minuit sedulously cultivated peace with the natives, as well as with the Dutch. The latter, however, did not regard the Swedes without great jealousy, as appears by a strong protest of Gov. Kieft, still on record; but he confined himself, in the absence of orders, to a protest. Other intruders were not regarded by Kieft with the same leniency. A small band from Maryland, who had settled near Schuylkill, and a colony of New Haven traders, who obtained a foothold on the Jersey side, were promptly expelled, both by Dutch and Swedes. Minuit died after three years' administration, and his successor, Peter Hollendare, after ruling eighteen months, returned home. In 1643, Gov. John Printz, with the Rev. John Campanius Holm, chaplain, arrived from Stockholm, with the ships Swan, Fame, and Charitas. Gov. Printz selected Tinicum island for his residence, where he erected a fort called New Gottenburg, and a splendid mansion for himself. In 1646, a church, of wood, was erected there, and consecrated by the chaplain.

"Emigrants continued to arrive from Sweden, and the dwellings of the enterprising colonists sprung up in all the little favorite spots from Christina creek to the mouth of Schuylkill, and even as far up as Coaquennack, where is now the city of Philadelphia. These little hamlets were occasionally protected by a log fort, or blockhouse. Such a one was built at Manaiung, at the mouth of Schuylkill. At Mocoponaca arose the Swedish village of Upland, which afterwards became the respectable town of Chester." "Kingsessing," says Campanius, "was called the new fort. It was not properly a fort, but substantial log houses, of good, strong, hard hickory, sufficient to secure people from the Indians; but what signifies a fort without God's assistance? In that settlement there dwelt five freemen, who cultivated the land and lived very well."

Many other settlements were made, and the old maps of Campanius and Lindstrohm are crowded with Dutch and Swedish names of places, on both sides of the Delaware. "Towards the close of Gov. Printz's administration, about the year 1651, the Dutch, still determined to maintain their footing on the Delaware, erected Fort Kasimir, on the south side of Minquaas creek, near the mouth, now the site of Newcastle. Against this act of defiance Printz contented himself with timidly protesting. To check further encroachments of the Dutch, Printz erected Fort Elsinberg, further down the river, on the Jersey side, at or near Salem creek. This, it was thought, would compel the Dutch, in passing up, to succumb to the flag of Sweden; but no opportunity offered to test its efficacy. The garrison, at the first occupation, encountered a foe more active than the Dutch, and more bloodthirsty than the Indians. The fort was stormed on all sides; the Swedes were put to flight; and the name of Muschetosburg, which the fort thereafter took, sufficiently indicates the character and success of the conquerors."

Printz returned to Sweden in 1652, and was succeeded by John Claudius Rising. Mr. Lindstrohm, the engineer, and several military and civil officers, accompanied Gov. Rising. The dissatisfaction of the Swedes with the building of Fort Kasimir had not abated, and Gov. Rising, finding remonstrance with the Dutch ineffectual, took the fort, in 1654, either by storm or stratagem, repaired and strengthened it, and hoisted upon it the Swedish flag, calling it Trefaldigheet, or Trinity fort. Sven Schute, a valiant Swede, was appointed to the command of the garrison. It was easy to take the fort; not so easy to appease the wrath of the redoubtable governor of New Amsterdam. Gov. Peter Stuyvesant, in the next year, 1655, came up the Delaware, with seven ships, and six or seven hundred men, and took, one after another, all the Swedish forts, laid waste New Gottenburg, and assumed the jurisdiction of the colony. The Swedes, however, obtained honorable terms of capitulation. The principal officers were compelled to return to Europe; but private citizens were encouraged to remain on their lands, and were protected in their rights, on yielding allegiance to the powers of New Amsterdam. Thus, although the governing power was held by the Dutch, the colony itself continued to be Swedish. They looked to Sweden for their ministers of religion and their public teachers: Swedish manners and language prevailed, and were preserved and transmitted for many generations.

Another Swedish ship, the Mercurius, arrived in 1656, with colonists, which the Dutch would gladly have prevented from ascending the river;