The Morning herald., 1875-10-19
The Swedish Fathers"
CIR n Y. Times.

t Delaware by original settlement Is
E Swedish, as all the world knows, and
. lust now there is revival of interest IN
the earliest of its records. 1t is earnestly
proposed to erect in this city monument
commemorating the landing of the sweed-
ish Fathers, on the spot where they found
) their first permanent settlement in Amerl-
} ca. This place is at "The Rocks on the
very margin of the Christiana, near the
venerable "Old Swede's' Church. 1t is a
natural landing place, and has been used
as wharf, to a greater or less extent
since the time the Swedes first set foot upon
it.
At 'The Rocks" then, Peter Mnuit,
having anchored his ship, the Key Of
Calmar, in the stream, landed his Swedish
company in April, 1858. This was, it is
true, thirty years after the settlement at
jamestown, but only eighteen later than
the landing of the Mayhower party, and
but four after Lord Baltimore's Maryland
ers had come ashore at St. Mary's, and
while it thus ranks, in point OF time,
among the earliest European settlement on
the Atlantic coast, it was in other respects
unique. 1t was the first permanent colony
on the waters of the Delaware, and it was
the one spot secured by the Scandinavian
people in the midst of the migratory
movements of the English, French, Span
ish, and Dutch. Here alone did the
Swedes, who now compose a large and
valuable element in the population
of our great Northwest, ac-
quire a foothold. They were good
colonists thrifty, persevering, courageous,
treating the aborigines well, and keeping
the peace with everybody except the Durch,
with whom peace was impossible while
both parties claimed the same land. Hence
the idea of a monument to these Swedish
Fathers.
The movement has already made some
progress. The exact spot where the land
ing took place and where the Swedish fort
was erected, which, in 1855, old Peter
Stuyvesant ,ptured, reducing by that one
bloodless but bold achievement, "the whole
Swedish power in America. as the histor-
les tell us, is now occupied by two rolling
mills recently erected. A committee of
the Delaware Historical Society, after ex
amining the place, decided that access to
the Rocks would be difficult through
the iron works. and that site near by, in
the grounds of the Old Swedes Church,
Itself built-the present identical edifce
in lG93,j would be in every way prefer
able. The spot is within gunshot Of the
landing-placc, and in fact exactly where
Stuyvesant planted some of his artillery
when he summoned the English to surren-
der. 1t is more elevated more Conspicuous,
and more accessible, and any memorial in
the shape of a monument placed there will
be,of course, much more secure from injury
than in the grounds occupied, by the iron
works. The church authorities have Of
fered lot for the purpose, 80 Y 2l feet, in
their precious grounds, and it wilno doubt
be gladly accepted.
At this point the enterprise is waiting
for some high and dignifed diplomatic
proceedings. 1t was thought proper to
confer with the Government Of Sweden, to
ascertain whether it felt an interest and
desired participation in any steps taken
toward the monument. The Swedish Min
lister having been absent from Washington,
it is intended that Senator Bayard shall
consult with him when the latter shall 20
to Washington in December, at the assem-.
bling Of Congress. Meanwhile the Swed.
ish Fathers repose in expectancy of their
memorial stone.
All due consideration is being paid, in
deed, to the monarch who rules over the
land that was once Queen Christmas. Va
rious remembrances are about to be sent to
King Oscar by our antiquarian folk. He
is to have photographs, extraordinary in
size and perfection, of the Old Church, and
Of the quaint old communion service Of
silver which the Fahlun Silver Mining
COmDany. of Dalecarlia in Sweden oava
to the church in l7ls. These will be ac-
companied by letter, very courteous and
complimentary, and bv handsomely en-
crossed parchment scroll giving in brief
an account of the proceedings by which
our peo lie celebrated in May, 1873, the
One Humid ed and Seventy-ffth anniver-
sary ofthe completion Of the Old Church.
Thev will he forwa od ANN %L-.-I Al