28 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1642. 



ceeded to the Delaware in a barque fitted out by a Mr. Lamber- 

 ton and pbiced under the command of Robert Cogswell. Not- 

 withstanding the purchases of land made the previous year, 

 these emigrants made others, and located themselves on Varken^ 

 kill near the present town of Salem, N. J., in direct violation 

 of a promise made by the captain of their vessel to Director 

 Kieft. New England history and records establish the fact that 

 such a settlement had been commenced on the Delaware ; but 

 the actual existence of English settlers, at the locality mentioned, 

 is first officially noticed in the instructions of John Printz, the 

 third Governor of New Sweden. The instructions, which are 

 drawn up with ability and with a very correct knowledge of the 

 river, are dated at Stockholm on the loth of August, 1642. 

 They left it to the discretion of the Governor, either to attract 

 these English families (numbering about 60 persons) under the 

 authority of the crown of Sweden, or what the government 

 thought better, to secure their removal. To efiect the latter 

 alternative, the Governor had the sanction of his sovereign, " to 

 u'ork U7iderhand as much as possible, with good manners and 

 with success.''^ 



In another attempt by the English to make a settlement on 

 the Delaware, they did not even keep at a respectful distance 

 from other settlements, " but had the audacity to land in the 

 South river' opposite Fort Nassau, "where they made a begin- 

 ning of settling on the Schuylkill, without any commission of 

 a potentate.'"" This intrusion, in the estimation of the Dutch, was 

 an aflfiiir of " ominous consequence," that might eventually result 

 in the ruin of their trade on the South river. 



No time w\as to be lost in getting rid of these dangerous rivals ; 

 and in consequence of a resolution of the authorities of New 

 Amsterdam, that this was to be done, " in the best manner possi- 

 ble," two yachts were placed under the charge of Jan Jansen 

 Van Ilpendam, with particular instructions for that object.'' 

 These instructions were promptly carried out in respect to those 

 located on the Schuylkill, who, it appears, were only a company 

 of traders, and their whole establishment a single trading house. 

 This house was burnt, and those in charge of it subjected to in- 

 dignities and losses, by the attacking party. Smith, in his 

 history of New York,'* supposes these English intruders to have 

 come from Maryland, but this is not credited by Bozman the 

 historian of that province, because " no Maryland records have 

 been found that mention any such an attempt from that (j[uarter."'^ 



1 For a translation of these instructions entire, see Haz. Reg. iv. 219, Ac. 

 '^ These purchases were made by the agents of the Commissioners of New llavcn, 

 N. Y. Hist. Col. i. 224. 

 3 Acrelius, 413. * Page 6. ^ Hist. Maryland, ed. 18.37, 206. 



