THOMAS] NEW York's policy toward the Indians 577 



or misbt do with liis (ithcr and own I/ands iiiid domains ac(|uired by jjood and law- 

 ful title, witbimt tbo grantors tUorein retaining, reserving or holding any, the 

 smallest part, right, action or authority whether of jiroperty, command or jurisdic- 

 tion, lint rather, hereby, desisting, retiring and renouncing therefrom forever, for 

 the behoof aforesaid.' 



Ill the undated "New Projector Freedoms and Exemptions,"- but 

 probably drawn uj) in 162!), the i)atroon.s are required by article 27 to 

 l)urcbase the lands from the Indians: " The Patroons of New Nether- 

 hmd, shall be bound to purchase from the Lords Sachems iu New Neth- 

 erland, the soil where they propose to plant their colonies, and shall 

 acquire such right thereunto as they will agree for with the said 

 Sachems." By article 33 "All private and poor [unauthorized] people 

 (onrcrmof/oi persoiieu) are excluded from these Exemptions Privileges 

 and Freedoms, and are not allowed to purchase any lands or grounds 

 from the Sachems or Indians in New Netherland, but must repair 

 under the Jurisdiction of the respective Lords Patroons." This, how- 

 ever, was moditied in 1C40 so that "In the selections of lands, those 

 ■who shall have first notified and presented themselves to the Company, 

 whether Patroons or private colonists, shall be preferred to others who 

 may follow." ' 



It would seem from these facts that the colony commenced its deal- 

 ings with the Indians on the just policy of ])urchasing from them the 

 laud they wished to settle. It was the boast of one of the early gov- 

 ernors, iu his correspondence with the New England authorities, that 

 the Dutch had not planted a colony with a desire to seize the land of 

 the natives or grasp their territory unjustly, but that whatever land 

 they obtained was and would be fairly and lionorably purchased to the 

 satisfaction of both parties. Nor does this boast appear to have been 

 without justification. Their dealings with and treatment of the Indians 

 in other respects may have been in some, possibly many, instances far 

 from proper or honorable, yet their method of extinguishing the Indian 

 title to lands appears, as a rule, to have been just. 



In their attempts to plant colonies on the banks of Connecticut 

 river and on Delaware bay they iiurchased the desired sites from the 

 Indians. 



The patroons, in their communication to the States General, refer more 

 than once to the fact that they obtained their lauds from the Indians 

 by purchase. For example, in that of June, 1034, they say, "The 

 Patroons proceeding on daily, notwithstanding, bought and jiaid for, 

 not only the grounds belonging to the chiefs and natives of the lands in 

 New Netherland, but also their rights of sovereignty and such others 

 as they exercised within the limits of the Patroons" purchased territor- 

 ies." And again, October 25, IG.U, that they have purchased not only 

 lauds on " the said river" but likewise on "the South river aud others 

 lying to the east of the aforesaid North river." And again, in 1651, 



' New York Colonial Documents, vol. i, p. 44. ' Ibid., vol. il, pp. 96-lUO. 



