1(542.] HISTORY OF pelaware county. 29 



Tlic English Colony on Salem creek was also got rid of. In 

 effecting its removal, the Swedes have the credit of lending a 

 helping hand to the Dutch. ^ The only measures, in which the 

 Dutch and Swedes could unite harmoniously in carrying out, 

 were such as would keep the English from gaining a footing on 

 the river. 



Our narrative has now reached a period in which the citizens 

 of Delaware County will feel a local and more direct interest. 

 The government of New Sweden, and substantially that of the 

 whole river, now passed into the hands of John Printz, who 

 estahlishcd his seat of government within the limits of our County. 

 This was the first settlement made by civilized man within its 

 limits, and the fiv^t j)en)iaueiif settJc/ticiit Avithin the bounds of 

 the CommonAvealth of Pennsylvania of which any record exists. 



The new Governor was a military man, and held a commission 

 as lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. His instructions," which are 

 dated at Stockholm, on the 15th of August, 1642, are very care- 

 fully prepared, with a full knowledge both of the geography and 

 the condition of the country. They enjoin upon him to see that 

 neither violence nor injustice was done nor permitted to be done 

 to the Indians, and that in order to secure their trade and good- 

 will, he should " furnish them with the things they require at lower 

 prices than those they receive from the Dutch of Fort Nassau, 

 or from the English their neighbors." If he felt able to protect 

 himself in Fort Christina, he was to engage the people to give 

 themselves to agriculture with zeal, " especially sowing enough 

 grain, to support the people under his orders ;" after which his 

 attention was to be given " to the culture of tobacco." Besides 

 the cattle and sheep sent out, he was at liberty to purchase 

 others from his English neighbours, and, "■ before all," he was 

 to direct his attention to the sheep, " in order to have a good 

 species," so that a considerable portion of good wool might in 

 future be sent to the mother country. The trade in peltries was 

 to be supported in a good condition, and the manufacture of salt, 

 the culture of the grape, and the raising of silk-worms suggested. 

 Metals and minerals were to be sought after, and how fisheries 

 may be established "with profit," was to be inquired into, " as 

 according to report they may, at certain times of the year, 

 establish the whale fisheries in (todyn's bay and its neighborhood." 

 Whatever regarded police, government, and the administration 

 of justice, was to be done, '' in the name of her Majesty and of 



• AcrcHus. 413 ; Hist. New Nethcrland, i. 253. Unfounded charges were made by 

 the Dutch agent and Swedish governor against the English, that they had plotted with 

 the Indians •• to cut them off." They needed some excuse for their conduct, see N 

 Y. Hist. Col. i. 225. 



2 For the instructions at length from the MSS. in possession of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, see Haz. Reg. iv. 219, and for a good abstract, Haz. Ann. G3. 



