THUS fell New Sweden, and thus ended the Swedish dominion in America. It took the sword, and perished with the sword. Notwithstanding the paucity of matter for history left us by Dutch and Swedish writers, yet sufficient authentic evidence, though in small and scattered fragments, is left for forming a judgment of the colonial government of the Swedes, from the accession of Printz, to the downfall of Rising; a period embracing three-fourths of the whole term of its existence. Printz was bold, active, and persevering, but passionate and rash, as his treatment of Boyer, Hudde, and others indicates. His activity is the more wonderful, as De Vries tells us, he weighed four hundred pounds! One would suppose such an enormous weight of flesh, too oppressive to comport with much intellectual or physical energy. He was provokingly overbearing to his Dutch neighbours, giving them unnecessary cause of offence.* He took violent possession of their lands on the Delaware and Schuylkill, almost under the guns of their fort. When they attempted to carry on their commerce with the Indians at their usual trading places, he drove them away, destroyed their trading-houses, and, in offensive language, threatened to seize and confiscate their vessels. He ridiculed the Dutch claim to the country on the Delaware, scouted the idea of title by original occupancy, and declared to Commissary Hudde, that the company vainly relied on their "uninterrupted possession, that the devil was the oldest possessor of hell, but sometimes admitted a younger one ;"t using "many other vulgar expressions." He not only treated the company and its officers with contumely, * "It must be allowed," says Acrelius, "that the Swedes behaved, in some respects, haughtily towards the Dutch." Acrel., p. 418. † Hudde's Report, p. 436. but their authority, with contempt; shutting up the river, "so that no vessel could enter it, on any account, except with his previous consent; notwithstanding they had been provided with the most respectable commissions ;" and, adding injury to insult, he forced them to pay toll for the privilege of passing to a territory originally discovered and settled by themselves. In fine, although Printz was an enterprising, vigilant officer, faithfully executing the orders of his government, he wanted that prudent forbearance, and conciliating temper, that would avoid collisions or allay irritation.* When Printz returned to Sweden in 1652, or 1653, he left his son-in-law, John Pappegoia, as deputy governor in his place. Of his administration nothing can be said, for nothing has been transmitted to us from his cotemporaries, by which to form a judgment of his character or government. But negative evidence is good in such cases, for if he had done much mischief, we should, most probably, have heard of it. He returned to Sweden after governing the colony about eighteen months. Rising was a soldier, and probably well instructed in the duties of his profession; but he manifested more of the military character, than that of the statesman, relying more on physical force, than on a wise and prudent policy. The habit of command with the expectation of implicit obedience, may comport with the station of a military officer; but it is apt to beget an imperious temper illy suited to the nature of civil government, and an impatience under trying circumstances, often dangerous to the country. It was, perhaps, one of the most fruitful sources of unhappiness to the Swedish emigrants, that their colonial rulers were always military characters; relying more on coercive power, than on the omnipotent influence of justice, candour, benevolence and truth. There are perhaps few instances in the history of the human family, where the disparity, between the character of a people and their rulers, was more apparent than in the case before us. * Rudman says of Printz : cise of a too rigid authority." "He had become unpopular by the exer. Clay, p. 25. Sweden, by her military prowess, had risen to great eminence as a war-like nation. Her rulers, confident of her power, had taken possession of a country claimed by the Dutch, without their consent or any attempt to gain it by an amicable arrangement. Their first step was aggressive, and they did not avail themselves of subsequent events, most favourable for the purpose, to acquire a just and satisfactory title to the territory. At the time when Printz was sent over, if the government had authorized a negociation upon equitable principles, there can be little doubt that the commanding position of Sweden, and the respect felt for her as the champion of the Protestant cause, would have ensured a favourable result. But unhappily for the people, and the success of her first and only experiment at colonization in the new world, she felt power and forgot right. The colonial governors, in carrying out their instructions, were necessarily the instruments of repeated aggression on the rights of the Dutch, and they did not care to execute their commission in the most gracious manner. Printz, more especially, was arbitrary in his conduct, and offensive in his language. The people, on the other hand, during all the vicissitudes of their colonial state, were remarkable for their quiet inoffensive demeanour. After the subjugation of their colony, the Dutch were uneasy lest the Swedes, tempted by their numbers, should attempt to recover the government; but the fear was groundless. They never manifested any disposition to revolt, but quietly submitted to their conquerors. They were industrious and peaceable, with strong religious feelings, warm domestic attachments, and great veneration for the "father-land," the manners and customs of which they retained for more than a century. Widely differing from the restless, unsettled Anglo-Saxon race, the Swedes had strong local attachments. Once comfortably settled, they aspired to no change but the improvement of their possessions. Fond of home and its quiet enjoyments, they manifested little ambition either of wealth or distinction.* They sought the comforts rather * "They desired rather to have enough than plenty, or for traffick.”— Penn's letter. Proud, vol. 1, p. 260. than the luxuries of life, its essentials more than its superfluities. Some of their humble dwellings in the vicinity of Wilmington are yet standing, in which generation after generation contentedly resided, until, by mixture with other races, their national character was lost. It is remarkable that, during the whole period of the Swedish dominion on the Delaware, there is no evidence that a single human being lost his life in hostile contest, either between the Swedes and their European neighbours, or between them and the Indians! Rarely has a population composed of three distinct nations, so unlike in their customs, habits, and language, with so many conflicting interests, lived so long together without bloodshed. The conduct of the Swedish colonists towards the Indians bordering on their settlements, was not only consonant with the requirements of truth and justice, but with the dictates of a sound and enlightened policy, as was found by happy experience. Their honesty, their kindness, their friendly deportment, disposed the Indians to peace, and on one occasion, at least, prevented a war, when war would probably have been fatal to the colony. The maintenance of such an intercourse so won their affections, that they used to call the Swedes their "own people." Campanius, speaking of the natives, says, "they are very courteous in their behaviour, and fond of obliging the Swedes. They take great pains to help them, and to prevent any harm happening to them." In this happy state, the colonists found a rich reward for their kind and noble conduct towards the poor unlettered natives. Instead of a life of terror and alarm; of war and all its horrors; the honest Swede could eat his bread in peace, and after the toils of the day, lay down his head in quietness, fearless of a midnight attack-undisturbed by dreams of the tomahawk and scalping knife. How different was the lot of the New England colonies! Long and bloody wars, fearful loss of life, anxiety and bitter suffering on the one hand, and whole nations of people exterminated on the other. The just and liberal conduct of the "pil grim fathers" of our State, is more honourable to their memory, than all the triumphs of the diplomatist over a simple unlettered people; or all the laurels of the warrior, won in a contest with the original and rightful owners of the land, in order to wrest from them their country and their homes. An interesting proof of the affectionate attachment of the Indians for their old friends, the Swedes, subsequent to the conquest of their colony, is related by Campanius. In the spring of 1656, six months after that event, a Swedish ship, called the Mercurius, which had been sent out, before the news of their loss had been received at Stockholm, arrived in the Delaware with a fresh supply of colonists. The commander at Fort Cassimir forbid the ship to pass. Whereupon a party of Indians, probably assured that the Dutch would not venture to fire at the vessel while they were on board, joined the Swedish crew, and conducted the ship by the fort, and into the Christina. The natives were not deceived in their calculations; the commander permitted them to pass without firing a gun, or in any way molesting them. The subjugation of the Swedes to Dutch authority, although represented by Rising as afflictive and grevious, was not, perhaps, attended by any consequences more serious than the privation of a frequent intercourse with the "father-land,” by which the nation so, completely lost sight of its offspring, that after a few years, when it became known at Gottenburg and Stockholm that a branch of the family, speaking the language, retaining the customs, and professing the religion of Sweden, dwelt on the banks of the Delaware, the fact was hailed with enthusiasm, and regarded as the recovery of a long lost child. Rising, who was mortified at the loss of the colony, was 'anxious to induce the government at Stockholm to attempt a re-conquest of the country; he therefore laboured to make the impression in Sweden that their countrymen were maltreated and oppressed. But time is a great friend to truth, and seldom fails to lift up the veil that malice or error may throw over it. In a letter from the Swedes on the Delaware, dated 1693, signed by thirty-six of their principal men, every one of whom, perhaps, knew the truth of what |