Document: Letter from Baron van der Capelle Cornelis van Werckhoven

[1] [ Copy of a letter from Baron van der Capelle to the honorable Werkhoven. ]

[ I learned from the directors of the West India Company, when I passed through ] Amsterdam [ on the 17/27 of this month ] that your honor had selected two colonies in the country of the Nevesinck and Raritans Indians, the native proprietors of that district, near Staten Island; as I have bought from the same natives and proprietors some land near Staten Island on the mainland a long time ago, to add to the safety of that island, I informed the lords directors thereof, as soon as I heard the above and wish to communicate it also to your honor that no trespass may be committed on my territory, bought from and paid for to the lawful proprietors.

I know that your honor will not do anything to my prejudice, for the sake of our long and intimate friendship, and therefore trust that your honor will, upon receipt of this information, select two other colonies not on the land, bought by me, but at another place, for the extent of New Netherland is very great and just as good soil may be found at other places, as in the aforesaid Nevesinck or Raritans country near Staten Island.

Therefore our correspondence about this matter ought to contribute to a better and more useful promotion of the colonies, which we both intend to establish, and to the advancement of the cultivation of the soil and population the country for the benefit of the Company and the [ service of our common country: I expect for these reasons a definitive answer and advice, whether your honor will undertake the journey in the spring notwithstanding the present warlike preparations and reprisals of the English ] Republic.

Henr. [ van der Capelle toe Ryssel ]

Rights: This translation is provided for education and research purposes, courtesy of the  New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections, Mutual Cultural Heritage Project. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rest with the user. For additional information see our Copyright and Use Statement Source:New York State Archives. New York (Colony). Council. Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, 1646-1664. Series A1810-78. Volume 11, document 47, side 1.