48 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. Dutch commander of New York, till the year 1664, when, together with New York, it was taken by the British. Smith has preserved, in his "History of New York," an extract from the Commission of Alrick, one of the first Dutch Directors, dated April, 1657. He was appointed " Director General of the Colony of the South River of the Netherlands, and the fortress of Casimir, now called Niewer Amstel, with all the lands depending thereon, according to the first purchase and deed of release of the natives, dated July 19th, 1651, begin- ning at the west side of the Minquaa or Christina Kill, in the Indian language named Suspeungh, to the mouth of the bay or river called Bompt Hook, in the Indian language Cannaresse, and so far inland as the bounds and limits of the Minquaas' land, with all the streams, and appurtenances, and dependen- cies."* This appears to be the first purchase made from the Minquas ; and it may be inferred from all that precedes, that the final subjugation of the Delawares took place about the year 1750. The Europeans were then too weak to have had much, if any, agency in that event. At a preparatory conference held at Burlington, in August) 1758, prior to the ensuing treaty of Easton, John Hudson, the Cayuga chief, who attended in behalf of the Six Nations, in his speech to the Governor of New Jersey, said, " the Mun- seys are women and cannot hold treaties for themselves ; but the invitation you gave them is agreeable to us, and we will attend, but not here ; the council-fire must be held, as hereto- fore, in Pennsylvania." f The treaty was accordingly held at Easton in October following, and was most numerously attended by deputies from the Six Nations, the Chihokies or Dela- wares, the Minsis, Wappings, Mohicans, Nanticokes, &c. The result has already been stated. The deeds of release to New Jersey by the Delawares and the Minsis w T ere approved by the Six Nations, through three of their chiefs, who signed them. But, in the course of the conferences, they declared, through their speaker, Thomas King, that they had no claim to the lands of the Minsis or of their other nephews (the Delawares) on the east side of Delaware River. Nor is there any
- Smith's History of New York, p. 25. Chalmers (p. 632) mentions
the purchase, and that it was effected by Hudde, a Dutch officer. f Smith's History of New Jersey.
