The Old Town of New Castle , Delaware 
their families and furniture were to be trans¬ 
ported to the new land. They were to be 
provided with a school-master, one year’s 
clothing, food, and garden seeds. The lands 
about the new settlement were to be divided 
into fields for cultivation and every farmer 
was to have as many “ morgens ” of land as 
he could improve for grazing. The choice 
of locations was to be determined by drawing 
lots. The colonists were to have the privi¬ 
lege of chartering private ships, but the car¬ 
goes were to be consigned to the city oi 
Amsterdam. There the products were to be 
sold and the proceeds less two per cent were 
to be returned. In 1657 the company of 
several hundred persons embarked in five 
ships. One was stranded on Long Island, 
but it afterward reached the South River and 
added its quota to the prosperous colony. 
Thereafter the galliot “New Amstel” and 
the ship “ De Waegh ’’ made regular trips to 
Amsterdam taking over tobacco and returning 
with merchandise. 
Charles II. coveting the valuable Hudson, 
sent over Richard Nichols in 1664 with a 
fleet to seize New Amsterdam. Peter Stuy- 
vesant, taken by surprise, was unable to pre¬ 
vent the colony from passing into the hands 
of the English. To make the transfer com¬ 
plete, Nichols sent Sir Robert Carr into the 
South River to deprive the Dutch of their 
possessions there. And so to satisfy the 
Swedes the frigate “ Guinea ” first sailed up 
the river past New Amstel, but soon came 
back and coolly insisted that the town should 
take oath of allegiance to England. This 
modest request was graced by the promise 
that all the liberties which had been enjoyed 
12 
