Volume I Part 12 (1/2)
Baltimore adopted vigorous measures. By his orders Stone made a forcible attempt to regain control of the province, but was defeated at Providence and taken prisoner. His life was spared, but four of his men were condemned and executed. Baltimore again invoked the powerful intervention of Cromwell, and again were the enemies of Maryland sternly rebuked for their interference in the affairs of that province, and told in plain language to leave matters as they had found them. In 1656, after an inquiry by the Commissioners of Trade, the claims of Baltimore were admitted to be just, and he promptly sent his brother Philip to be a member of the council and secretary of the province. The legislation of the usurping Puritans was set aside, religious toleration once more had full sway, and a general pardon was proclaimed to those who had taken part in the late disturbances.
In the meantime, Fendall, who had been appointed governor by Baltimore, plotted to make himself independent of his master, and, with the connivance of the a.s.sembly, proceeded to usurp the authority which was lawfully vested in the proprietary. But the attempt was a miserable failure. Philip Calvert was immediately made governor by the now all-powerful proprietary, who had the favor and support of Charles II., just coming to the throne. Peace and prosperity came back to the colony so sorely and frequently vexed by civil dissensions. The laws were just and liberal, encouraging the advent of settlers of whatever creed, while the rule of the Calverts was wise and benign, such as to merit the respect and admiration of posterity. In 1643 Virginia and Maryland together had less than twenty thousand inhabitants. In 1660 Maryland alone, according to Fuller, had eight thousand. Chalmers thinks there were no fewer than twelve thousand at this date.
CHAPTER VII.
NEW NETHERLAND
[1609]
While the French explorer, Champlain, was sailing along the sh.o.r.es of the lake which bears his name, another equally adventurous spirit, Henry Hudson, was on his way to the western world. Hoping to open a pa.s.sage to India by a voyage to the north, Hudson, an English navigator, offered in 1609 to sail under the authority of the Dutch East India Company. Driven back by ice and fog from a northeast course, he turned northwest.
Searching up and down near the parallel of 40 degrees, he entered the mouth of the great river which perpetuates his name. He found the country inviting to the eye, and occupied by natives friendly in disposition. The subsequent career of this bold mariner has a mournful interest. He never returned to Holland, but, touching at Dartmouth, was restrained by the English authorities, and forbidden longer to employ his skill and experience for the benefit of the Dutch. Again entering the English service and sent once more to discover the northwest pa.s.sage, he sailed into the waters of the bay which still bears his name, where cold and hunger transformed the silent discontent of his crew into open mutiny, and they left the fearless navigator to perish amid the icebergs of the frozen north.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Seal of New Amsterdam.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Peter Stuyvesant.]
[1614-1618]
Hudson had sent to Holland a report of the Great River and the country bordering it, rich in fur-bearing animals, and it had excited eager interest. Private individuals sent expeditions thither and carried on a profitable trade with the natives. A few Dutch were here when, in 1613, Captain Argall sailed from Virginia against the French at Port Royal, Acadia, now Annapolis in Nova Scotia, who were encroaching upon the English possessions on the coast of Maine. He compelled them to surrender. On his return, he visited the Dutch traders of Manhattan Island, and forced them also, as it had been discovered by Cabot in 1497, to acknowledge the sovereignty of England over this entire region.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Seal of New Netherland.]
It was in 1614 that the Dutch States-General, in the charter given to a company of merchants, named the Hudson Valley New Netherland. To facilitate trade this company made a treaty with the Five Nations and subordinate tribes, memorable as the first compact formed between the whites and the savages. In it the Indians were regarded as possessing equal rights and privileges with their white brethren. The treaty was renewed in 1645, and continued in force till the English occupation, 1664. In 1618, the charter of the New Netherland Company having expired, the Dutch West India Company was offered a limited incorporation, but it was not until 1621 that it received its charter, and it was two years later that it was completely organized and approved by the States-General. By this company were sent out Mey, as Director, to the Delaware or South River, and Tienpont to the Hudson or North River. Four miles below Philadelphia Fort Na.s.sau was erected, and where Albany now stands was begun the trading-post called Fort Orange.
[1626]
In 1626 Tienpont's successor, Peter Minuit, a German, born at Wesel, was appointed Director-General of New Netherland. He bought of the Indians, for the sum of twenty-four dollars, the entire island of Manhattan, and a fort called New Amsterdam was built. The State of New York dates its beginning from this transaction.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Earliest Picture of New Amsterdam.]
By their usually honest dealing with the natives the Dutch settlers gained the friends.h.i.+p of the Five Nations, whose good-will was partly on this account transferred to the English colonists later. The Dutch were not only friendly to the red men, but tried to open social and commercial relations with the Plymouth colonists as well. Governor Bradford replied, mildly urging the Dutch to ”clear their t.i.tle” to a territory which the English claimed by right of discovery.
[1630-1633]
[Ill.u.s.tration: De Vries.]
The present State of Delaware soon became the scene of attempts at settlement. De Vries began, in 1632, a colony on the banks of the Delaware, but it was quickly laid waste by the savages, who had been needlessly provoked by the insolence of the commander left in charge of the colony. In 1633 Minuit was succeeded by Van Twiller, and a fort was erected at Hartford, though the English claimed this country as theirs.
Emigrants from the Plymouth colony began the settlement of Windsor, in spite of the protests of the Dutch. Long Island was invaded by enterprising New Englanders, regardless of the claim of New Netherland thereto.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Costumes of Swedes.]
This ”irrepressible conflict” between two races was by no means abated by the introduction of a third. As early as 1626, Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden and the hero of the Thirty Years' War, had entertained the idea of establis.h.i.+ng colonies in America, and in pursuance of that object had encouraged the formation of a company, not only for trading purposes but also to secure a refuge for the ”oppressed of all Christendom.” To Usselinx, an Antwerp merchant, the originator of the Dutch West India Company, belongs the honor of first suggesting to the king this enterprise. The glorious death of Gustavus on the victorious field of Lutzen in 1632 deferred the execution of a purpose which had not been forgotten even in the midst of that long and arduous campaign.
But a few days before he fell, the Protestant hero had spoken of the colonial prospect as ”the jewel of his kingdom.”
[1638]
In 1638 Minuit, who had already figured as governor of New Netherland, having offered his services to Sweden, was intrusted with the leaders.h.i.+p of the first Swedish colony to America. After a few days' stay at Jamestown the new-comers finally reached their wished-for destination on the west sh.o.r.e of the Delaware Bay and River. Proceeding up the latter, one of their first acts was to build a fort on a little stream about two miles from its junction with the Delaware, which they named Fort Christina, in honor of the young queen of Sweden. Near this spot stands the present city of Wilmington. The country from Cape Henlopen to the falls at Trenton received the t.i.tle of New Sweden.
[1650]