into our own time was
found on charts marking one of the minor channels of the bay along the
Jersey shore. They continued coming to the river in ships to trade in
spite of restrictions by the Dutch; and some of them in later years, as
has been pointed out, secured a foothold on the Cohansey and in the Cape
May region, where their descendants are still to be found.

Chapter XIII. The English Conquest

It is a curious fact that the ancestor of the numerous Beekman family in
New York, after whom Beekman Street is named, was for a time one of the
Dutch governors on the Delaware who afterwards became the sheriff of
Esopus, New York. His successor on the Delaware had some thoughts of
removing the capital down to Odessa on the Appoquinimink, when an
event long dreaded happened. In 1664, war broke out between England
and Holland, long rivals in trade and commerce, and all the Dutch
possessions in the New World fell an easy prey to English conquerors.
A British fleet took possession of New Amsterdam, which surrendered
without a struggle. But when two British men of war under Sir Robert
Carr appeared before New Amstel on the Delaware, Governor D'Hinoyossa
unwisely resisted; and his untenable fort was quickly subdued by a few
broadsides and a storming party. This opposition gave the conquering
party, according to the custom of the times, the right to plunder; and
it must be confessed that the English soldiers made full use of their
opportunity. They plundered the town and confiscated the land of
prominent citizens for the benefit of the officers of the expedition.

After the English conquest on the Delaware, not a few of the Dutch
migrated to Maryland, where their descendants, it is said, are still
to be found. Some in later years returned to the Delaware, where on the
whole, notwithstanding the early confiscations, English rule seemed to
promise well. The very first documents, the terms of surrender both on
the Delaware and on the Hudson, breathed an air of Anglo-Saxon freedom.
Everybody was at liberty to come and go at will. Hollanders could
migrate to the Delaware or to New York as much as before. The Dutch
soldiers in the country, if they wished to remain, were to have fifty
acres of land apiece. This generous settlement seemed in striking
contrast to the pinching, narrow interference with trade and individual
rights, the seizures and confiscations for private gain, all under
pretense of punishment, bad enough on the De