[454]. In 1631. J. Winthrop, History, vol. I, p. 62.
[455]. Bradford, Plymouth, pp. 312 f.; J. Winthrop (History, vol. I, p. 125) gives as reasons for refusal that the place was not fit for habitation on account of the Indians, the bar across the river, and the closing of navigation in winter. Even his admiring editor, Savage, was “constrained to remark” that these “look to me more like pretexts, than real motives,” and that the Pilgrims' subsequent complaints of their treatment by Massachusetts “appear very natural, if not unanswerable” (p. 125 n.).
[456]. J. Winthrop, History, vol. I, p. 132. Doyle (Puritan Colonies, vol. I, p. 151), by a slip, wrongly dates the negotiations in 1634, making it appear that they followed the Massachusetts expeditions instead of preceding them.
[457]. Bradford, Letter-book, pp. 51 ff. The Dutch territorial claims were noted (supra, Chap. III). The English grant of this territory preceded Dutch discovery by three years, but the question was one of time between discovery and settlement, and of extension of territory from points discovered. There was no established international law by which this particular dispute could be settled. Individual opinion may differ as to the ethics of the case. To me, with no desire to make out a case either way, the legal points seem to be impossible of dogmatic answer.
[458]. Bradford, Plymouth, p. 313; Acts of the United Colonies, vol. II, p. 65 (Plymouth Records, X). These Acts, vols. I and II, form vols. IX and X of the Plymouth Records, and are hereafter cited as Acts United Colonies. J. R. Brodhead, History State of New York, vol. I, p. 204, gives the month as June; but the Records say January. Various Dutch documents, all of a later period, state that a settlement was contemplated, and possession taken, in 1623. Cf. Documentary History State of New York, vol. III, p. 50; N. Y. Colonial Docts., vols. I, pp. 286, 360, and II, p. 133. There is, however, no contemporary documentary evidence of it; and it is certain, at least, that there was no settlement actually made until that designed to forestall the English in 1633.
[459]. Bradford, Plymouth, pp. 313 f. The Dutch side of the case is given in Acts United Colonies, ubi supra.
[460]. J. Winthrop, History, vol. I, p. 104.
[461]. Ibid., vol. I, p. 167.
[462]. Ibid., vol. I, p. 168; Massachusetts Records, vol. I, p. 129.
[463]. Massachusetts Records, vol. I, pp. 146, 148, 167.