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AN EARLY JEWISH COLONY IN WESTERN GUIANA, 
 
 1658-1666: 
 
 AND ITS RELATION TO THE JEWS IN SXJRJtNAM, 
 
 CAYENNE AND TOBAGO. 
 
 By Samuel Oppenheim. j£'' 
 
 Reprint from 
 
 PtJBLICATIONa_ OF THE 
 
 American Jewish Historical Socijbtt, 
 No. 16 (1907), pp. 95-186.. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
^-S547U 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
^)r^.«/<i^a5^^ 
 
 AN EAELY JEWISH COLONY IN WESTERN GUIANA, 
 
 1658-1666: 
 
 .AND ITS RELATION TO THE JEWS IN SURINAM, 
 CAYENNE AND TOBAGO. 
 
 By Samuel Oppenheim, of New York. 
 
 The Jewish colony, of which this paper treats, settled in 
 1658 on the Pomeroon river, in the region of the Essequibo, 
 in what is now British G-uiana, then in the possession of the 
 Dutch. It flourished until 1666 when it was dispersed. No 
 reference to it appears in any account of the Jews in America. 
 Even the celebrated Essai historique^ which is our principal 
 source of information in regard to the Jews of Guiana, but is 
 not full or exact in regard to their early history there, makes 
 no mention of it. 
 
 A Dutch work published in 1888, treating of the history of 
 Western Guiana," gives some facts about this colony, as also 
 an English publication of the same year, based partly on this 
 Dutch work and partly on other sources." Some interesting 
 details in regard to it are also to be found in the volumes re- 
 lating to the boundary dispute between Venezuela and Great 
 
 ^ Essai historique stir la colonie de Surinam. . . . avec Vhistoire 
 de la nation Juive Portugaise et Allemande y etablie, etc., Para- 
 maribo, 1788; in Dutch, Geschiedenis der kolonie van Suriname, 
 etc., Amsterdam, 1791; prepared by a society of learned Jews of 
 Surinam. A copy of this rare work is to be found in the New 
 York State Library, at Albany. 
 
 Teter Marinus Netscher, Geschiedenis van de Kolonien Esse- 
 gueho, Demerary en Bertice, 's Gravenhage, 1888. 
 
 = James Rodway and Thomas Watt, Chronological History of the 
 Discovery and Settlement of Quiana, Georgetown, Demerara, 
 1888, usually referred to under its cover-title, Annals of Guiana, 
 by which it will be designated herein. 
 
 8 95 
 
 A 
 
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96 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Britain. But the most reliable data on the subject are to be 
 found in the Dutch archives in Holland, extracts from which 
 are printed in the Appendix hereto.'* 
 
 The history of this colony is important to us in connection 
 with the history of the Jews in Brazil, Cayenne and Surinam, 
 with which it was closely connected, and probably also with 
 that of the Jews in what has since become part of the tTnited 
 States. Before giving an account of it, a brief sketch of sur- 
 rounding conditions up to the beginning of its establishment 
 and for a few years afterwards will first be given. Closely 
 related to our colony and existing during the same period, as 
 shown by the extracts from the Dutch archives, was a sister 
 colony at Tobago, in the immediate neighborhood, north of 
 
 'a Thanks are due to Jongheer Dr. Th. H. F. van Rlemsdijk, the 
 archivist In chief at the Rljksarchief at The Hague, for his cour- 
 tesy In examining the original records and furnishing extracts, 
 and to Mr. W. O. Swaving, the archivist of the Oud-archief at 
 Middelburg, for like courtesy, and also to Mr. P. V. Dommlsse, 
 the archivist of the municipality of Flushing, for examining his 
 records, though with negative results. Many of the Flushing 
 records, which contained much data about our colony, were 
 destroyed by the British in the bombardment of 1809. 
 
 Some data from Vere appearing in printed publications are 
 incorporated here. A special further search there, through Mr. J. 
 W. Perrels, the archivist, yielded no results. From Leghorn, 
 whence a numjaer of Jews went to the Wild Coast, as Indubitably 
 appears by the Dutch extracts, word has been received from Prof. 
 Pietro Vigo, the Director of the Archlvio Storico Clttadino, of Leg- 
 horn, to whom thanks are due for his painstaking labors, that a 
 most careful search of the archives of that city and of the neigh- 
 boring cities, Pisa and Florence, and of the communal records of 
 the proper Hebrew organizations of the two first named cities, falls 
 to reveal any mention of the emigration. Some of the records, 
 however, are stated to be missing. It is, of course, possible that 
 the Leghorn Jews went by way of Flushing, and this may account 
 for the lack of data showing an emigration from Leghorn to 
 America. The kindly assistance of our Consul at Leghorn, Mr. 
 James A. Smith, should also be remembered. For courtesies 
 extended by Mr. Wllberforce Eames and Mr. V. H. Paltsits, of the 
 Lenox Library, thanks are also due. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 97 
 
 Trinidad, to which some of our colonists went, and to which 
 reference will also be made. 
 
 Prior to 1633, Jews had settled in Brazil while that coun- 
 try was under Portuguese control, but until the Dutch cap- 
 tured a portion of it in that year they had not been permitted 
 openly to practice their religion there. This permission, to- 
 gether with certain civil rights, having been accorded them 
 by the conquerors, many Jews were attracted thither from 
 HoUand, Portugal, Italy, and other parts of Brazil. They 
 became engaged in the cultivation of the soil and carried 
 on also business as merchants and traders. In 1642 a large 
 contingent under Rabbi Isaac Aboab and Eabbi Moses Raphael 
 de Aguilar arrived from Holland. In the various internal 
 wars and revolutions and in the events leading to the final 
 reconquest by Portugal in 1654, the Jews suffered hardships in 
 common with their fellow men of other faiths, and with them 
 helped to resist the enemy. Though some Jews remained in 
 Brazil after 1654, many are said to have left before that date, 
 and on the capitulation of Recife, its Dutch capital, many re- 
 turned to Holland, including Aboab and de Aguilar.* Many 
 of the Dutch also returned to HoUand at the same time. 
 
 During their occupation of Brazil the Dutch also had a set- 
 tlement in Surinam, which is not far from the colony treated 
 of herein. We have evidence from a Jewish record, dated at 
 Surinam in 1643, that Jews resided there in that year and 
 possibly earlier, but the length of their stay cannot be de- 
 termined.' 
 
 'Jewish Encyclopedia, title Brazil, III, pp. 360-361, and author- 
 ities cited. 
 
 'Puis., Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 13, pp. 127-128, The Jews in 
 Surinam, by Rev. J. J. Roos, Rabbi of tlie Jewisli Congregation at 
 Paramaribo. In support, he gives a copy of a marriage contract in 
 Hebrew, dated at Surinam in 1643, which he found among the 
 archives of the old Portuguese congregation there and which he 
 is of opinion shows that the Jews were probably in Surinam 
 before that date. 
 
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98 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The statement has appeared in various publications that 
 after the departure of Count Maurice of Nassau from Brazil 
 in 1644 a band of Jews, led by David Nassy, with a large 
 number of slaves, left that country in that year and settled m 
 Surinam on what is known as the Jews' Savannah, some dis- 
 tance up the river from where Paramaribo now is, but this 
 has been denied, and no authority therefor can be found.' 
 
 Jews are mentioned as at the Savannah in 1650 when Suri- 
 nam was taken from the Dutch by the English. The change 
 in the government, it is said, did not affect them, but that they 
 experienced some diflSculties about 1652 consequent upon the 
 
 "This sEatement appeared in Koenen's Geschiedenis der Joden 
 in Nederland, in Van Sljpesteijn's Beschryving van Suriname, in 
 Teenstra's De Landhouw in de Kolonie Suriname, in Netscher's 
 Les Hollandais au Bresil, in Annals of Guiana, supra, and in other 
 works. The Essai historique was cited as the ultimate authority, 
 but it fails to support the statement. Netscher, in his later work, 
 Geschiedenis van de Kolonien Essegueio, etc., supra, says (p. 356) 
 that the statement in his earlier work on Brazil with regard to such 
 a settlement by Nassy in 1644 rests upon an error (berust op eene 
 vergissing). The Essai (pp. 11-12) refers to the departure of 
 Count Maurice of Nassau in 1644, and adds that then (which 
 here means some time afterwards) the Jews under Aboab, the 
 Nassys, and others, left Brazil with the 2000 troops who had been 
 under the command of the Count, and that it was at this time 
 (evidently meaning at the time of or after Aboab's departure, which 
 we know was in 1654) that Nassy and his companions, accustomed 
 to the climate of Brazil and agricultural work, decided to estab- 
 lish themselves in America, as the mania or furore for forming 
 colonies in the New World was then general. It then gives an 
 account of Nassy's colony at Cayenne, under the charter to him, 
 dated September 12, 1659, the development of that colony and Its 
 final expulsion by the French in 1664, and his then going with 
 his followers presumably to Surinam, but it nowhere refers to 
 any settlement by him in Surinam in 1644. The error probably 
 arose through a misapprehension in regard to the facts stated in 
 that part of the Essai and through a confusion of the date of 
 1664 with that of 1644. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 99 
 
 enforcement of the Navigation Act of 1651 and the war then 
 raging between Great Britain and the Netherlands. Those 
 who were there had been accustomed to ship their produce in 
 Dutch vessels, and when these occasionally arrived at the 
 Surinam river, the British commander, Eawson, in carrying 
 out the provisions of the Act, caused considerable dissatisfac- 
 tion.' There were probably not many Jews there then.' 
 
 We also hear of some Jews in Cayenne, not far from Suri- 
 nam, about this time. A Jewish colony is said to have settled 
 there in 1650,° though the authority for this statement does 
 not appear. It is possible that some Jews from Surinam then 
 went there when the French for a short time had been driven 
 
 ''Annals of Guiana, supra, Vol. I, pp. 124, 131. 
 
 ' It is said that Jews came from England with Lord Willoughby 
 to Surinam in 1652. In a late Dutch annual (Surinaamsche 
 Almanak, Paramaribo, 1899,) we read under date of April 12, 
 1652, that Lord Willoughby, of Parham, came to Surinam with 
 eight well-manned ships and a considerable number of Jewish 
 colonists from England and the islands in the Caribbean Sea, and 
 took possession of the place which he had visited in 1650, and 
 kept it for fifteen years, when it was recovered from him by the 
 Zeelanders under Crynssen. This statement, in so far as the Jews 
 are concerned, is given here as possibly having some basis, being 
 a local account. The Essai historigue, I, p. 12, also makes refer- 
 ence to Willoughby's arrival in 1652, with Jews, but cites no 
 authority. Jews are said to have come from Europe to Surinam 
 in 1662, when Willoughby received with Laurence Hyde a grant of 
 that country from Charles II. No confirmation has been found of 
 the statement in regard to Jewish arrivals with Willoughby, 
 though it seems probable from what appears herein that 
 a few English Jews went to Surinam before 1665. The 
 charter to Willoughby and Hyde recites that Lord Wil- 
 loughby sent several ship loads of colonists to Surinam in 1650 
 and subsequently, but does not speak of any Jews among them or 
 whence they came. See copy in Jan Jacob Hartsinck's Beschry- 
 ving van Guiana of de Wilde Kust van Zuid America, Amsterdam, 
 1770, Part 2, pp. 522-523. 
 
 'Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 494. 
 
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100 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 out of Cayenne by the Indians or had abandoned the place, 
 or when the English arrived in Surinam. The French were 
 then not friendly to the Jews in the colonies, du Tertre 
 speaks of the establishment of a French colony in Cayenne 
 under Bretigny in 1643 and its dispersal by the Indians 
 because of the cruel treatment of the savage tribes, and also 
 of another French colony sought to be established there ia 
 1653 and its abandonment, and adds : 
 
 A short time after the island of Cayenne was abandoned by the 
 French, some Dutch and Jews, who had been driven out of Brazil 
 by the Portuguese, arrived in Cayenne, and having found the 
 gardens there all prepared, and a good fort, provided with cannon, 
 they had no difficulty in establishing themselves there, and 
 requested a charter from the Dutch West India Company. This 
 was accorded to some of them, and in particular to Guerin 
 Spranger, under whom the island soon obtained a very high 
 reputation. 
 
 The date of the charter to Spranger was 1656." 
 du Tertre's statement, with the addition that the Dutch 
 introduced there the cultivation of the sugar cane and indigo, 
 is quoted by a later writer," who supplements it as follows : 
 
 This repntation attracted the attention of a great number of 
 Jews who had Just been driven out of Brazil, where they had 
 been established during the dominion of the Dutch in that country, 
 and one of them named David Nassy, high in favor with the 
 Company formed at Amsterdam, obtained the title of Patroon- 
 Master, and in 1659 went with a large number of his compatriots 
 to Cayenne. In the following year these were joined by 152 
 persons of the same religion who had quitted Leghorn, and these 
 likewise devoted themselves to the cultivation of the earth. The 
 prosperity which this colony enjoyed during its short existence 
 
 "Jean Baptiste du Tertre, Histoire generale des Ant-Isles, 
 haUtees par les frangois (Paris, 1671), Vol. Ill, p. 12. 
 
 "Netscher, OescMedenis, supra, p. 356. 
 
 " H. Ternaux-Compans, Notice Historique sur la Chiayana Fran- 
 saise, Paris, 1843, p. 66. 
 
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Eascly Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 101 
 
 Is proof that the Jews are not so unfitted, as has been believed, 
 for agricultural enterprises." 
 
 The relation of the Cayenne colony to the one now about to 
 be treated of will be shown further on. The fact in regard to 
 the presence of Jews there between 1656, when the charter to 
 Spranger was made, and 1659, when Kassy received his char- 
 ter, has not heretofore appeared. 
 
 In 1655 the Dutch, recognizing the hopelessness of attempt- 
 ing to recover Brazil, decided to throw open again the whole 
 of Guiana to colonization. They had established many years 
 before a post on the Essequibo river, at Port Kykoveral, but 
 had not been actively engaged in development work, their en- 
 ergies being devoted to the protection of their interests in 
 Brazil. It is claimed that a large Jewish colony was formed 
 on the Pomeroon and adjoining river Monica in 1651. Eef- 
 erence to this claim will be made further on. 
 
 In 1656, the Zealand Chamber of the Dutch West India 
 Company, which had charge of the administration of this 
 part of the Dutch colonies, as the Amsterdam Chamber had 
 of the "Sew Netherlands and Curagao, drew up a prospectus 
 inviting colonists, under tempting conditions, to go to the 
 " Vaste Wilde Kust," or the Continental Wild Coast, of Gui- 
 ana, or, as it was called in short, the "Wilde Cust," or the 
 " Vaste Cust," which they described as lying between the Ori- 
 noco and the Amazon and the equator and ten degrees north. 
 Some difficulty was encountered in inducing colonists to emi- 
 grate, and in 1657 the prospectus was followed up by a new 
 body of liberties and ftxemptions for patroons and colonists. 
 
 " See also Annals of Quiana, supra, Vol. I, p. 132. The ship in 
 which these 152 Jews sailed was the Monte del Cisne, which left 
 Leghorn for Cayenne in July, 1660, according to the account of 
 Daniel Levi de Barrios. See Essai historique, supra. Vol. I, p. 13. 
 Pit&s., Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 3, p. 18, gives the month as 
 August, 1660. 
 
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102 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 On March 22 of that year the first free colonists, to the num- 
 ber of twelve persons, some with and some without family, 
 wife and children, and slaves, arrived at the newly organized 
 colony in Essequibo, but of these, none, so far as can be 
 judged from the names, were Jews." 
 
 The colonization was then taken charge of by the three 
 Walcheren cities, Middelburg, Flushing and Vere, acting 
 through a Committee, composed of official representatives 
 from each, in conjunction with a Committee of the Zeeland 
 Chamber of the West India Company, and during the next 
 year and in the few years following, further locations were 
 established in the Essequibo and on the neighboring river 
 Pomeroon, to which Jewish colonists came. An account of 
 these will now be given. 
 
 At various meetings of the Colonization Committee, held 
 between November, 1657. and March, 1658, plans for the 
 establishment of the new colony on a firm basis were con- 
 sidered. The general name Nova Zeelandia was then given 
 to the region aroxmd the Essequibo, the Dutch form of which 
 is Essequebo, and the spelling of which was then Isekepe or 
 Ysekepe, and is also sometimes found as Disekeebe and 
 d'Esekebe. 
 
 It was decided to send out two ships, fully equipped, one to 
 bring the colonists to Essequibo, and the other to purchase 
 slaves in Africa to be brought to the new colony, and it was 
 also resolved not to restrict the colonists to trading with the 
 Indians for logwood, but also to grow sugar, for which negroes 
 
 "Report of U. 8. Commission on Venezuela-British Guiana 
 Boundary, Vol. I, p. 194; Vol. II, pp. 113-126; printed also as 
 Senate Document No. 91, 55th Congress, 2d Session (1898). Cited 
 herein as Report, V. S. Com. Vol. II of the Report is made up 
 almost wholly of extracts from the Dutch archives, with a few 
 from other sources, but contains none of those given in the 
 Appendix hereto. The latter have not heretofore appeared in 
 print. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 103 
 
 would be necessary.'' To provide for these, says the Dutch 
 historian/" an offer was made by David Nassy, "an enter- 
 prising Jewish merchant, who, after the loss of Brazil, had 
 left that country with hundreds of his coreligionists in order 
 to seek freedom of religion under the Netherland flag," in pur- 
 sxianee of which an agreement was made with him on January 
 25, 1658, regarding the delivery of several hundred slaves in 
 Nova Zeelandia, under certain conditions the substance of 
 which will be referred to later. 
 
 The new colonists went thither in February, 1658. " Many 
 were the applications," adds our authority, " made by Paulo 
 Jacomo Pinto, Philipp de Puentes and others, of the Hebrew 
 or Jewish nation, who had fled from Brazil, to be permitted 
 to go to Essequibo, and in 1658 and 1659, under like arrange- 
 ments, four or five ships, with many Jews, went thither, and 
 also several ships with slaves." 
 
 These statements are confirmed in the Extracts from the 
 Dutch archives given in the Appendix. Pinto, however, does 
 not seem to have gone to N"ova Zeelandia, but to have acted in 
 Holland as the representative of the Jews in making the nec- 
 essary arrangements to enable them to emigrate and also as 
 bondsman for them when required. The Pintos are noted as 
 millionaire financiers of Holland. They had also been prom- 
 inent in Brazil. The first name of Paulo Jacomo Pinto does 
 not appear in biographical sketches of the family and was 
 probably an alias for that of Abraham or David Pinto noted 
 as active about this time in the Jewish community of Eotter- 
 dam and Amsterdam." de Puentes, as will be seen later, 
 actually went to the new colony, and was prominent there. 
 According to the extracts from the archives he went in his 
 
 "Netscher, Geschiedenis, supra, p. 72; Report, U. S. Com., supra, 
 Vol. II, pp. 125-129. 
 "Netscher, supra, p. 72. 
 "nid., p. 73. 
 ^'Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, p. 53. 
 
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104 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 own ship with colonists, but at a later date, and his letters to 
 the Company after his arrival are printed herein. He is 
 referred to several times in the Extracts. A further name 
 given in the Extracts but not by Netscher is that of Francisco 
 Medina, who appears as an applicant for passports for his 
 friends of the Jewish nation. The Medina family is also 
 noted as a very wealthy one." 
 
 The ship sailing in February, 1658, was called the Joannes, 
 and left Flushing on the second of that month for Nova Zee- 
 landia." The first Jewish colonists were undoubtedly on this 
 vessel."^ Though de Fuentes is spoken of by one writer as hav- 
 ing gone on that ship,'' the archives do not bear out that state- 
 ment. As already mentioned, he is noted as having gone to 
 the colony later, in 1660. The Extracts also show that in 
 April, 1658, another ship called d'Eendracht was about to 
 sail for Essequibo with many Jews." About September 5, 1658, 
 a ship called Prins Willem is noted as about to sail from 
 Flushing for the Wild Coast, with colonists, and to bring 
 some home from the islands, probably meaning Tobago among 
 these." That that ship also carried Jewish passengers may be 
 gathered from the Extracts in the Appendix under date of 
 September 18, 1658. These show that information was then 
 requested by some Jews of the conditions under which they 
 could go to the new colony and that they expressed themselves 
 as satisfied therewith, and a ship is spoken of as being ready 
 to sail thither. This was no doubt the Prins Willem. On the 
 same day there is a reference to a ship from Salee to carry 
 
 "Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 424. 
 
 "Report, U. 8. Com., supra, Vol. II, p. 128. 
 
 ^ See Extracts, in Appendix I, under date of January, 1658. 
 
 ''Annals of Guiana, supra. Vol. I, p. 137. It Is there errone- 
 ously stated that Pinto was on board. The Extracts show him 
 then and later to have been in Holland. 
 
 ^See Appendix I. 
 
 "Report, supra. Vol. II, p. 130. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — OppenJieim. 105 
 
 Jews to the new colony. Salee is in Morocco and had a large 
 Jewish population. It is celebrated shortly after this time in 
 connection with Sabbathi Zevi, the pseudo Messiah of the 
 Jews." In March and April, 1659, the Jews are again noted 
 as asking for ships to carry some of their nation to the new 
 colony." de Fuentes sailed in 1660, his ship apparently being 
 the Argyn. 
 
 The opening up of the Essequibo is summed up by the his- 
 torian of British Guiana,"" who says that every inducement was 
 offered to intending settlers; that pamphlets were published, 
 some of them being translated into German, giving exagger- 
 ated accounts of the wonderful fortunes ta be made by the 
 growing of sugar in Nova Zeelandia, and promising slaves on 
 credit, and also depicting the advantages of Guiana over the 
 New Netherlands; that many of the new settlers were Jews 
 who had been in Brazil, and that under their tuition a number 
 of small plantations were cleared and planted with canes, and 
 that sugar from the colony soon appeared in Middelburg, in 
 Zeeland." 
 
 " See Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, p. 22. 
 
 "■ See Appendix I. 
 
 " James Rodway, History of British Guiana, London, 1891, Vol. 
 I, p. 5. 
 
 ""Mr. N. Darnell Davis, in Timehri, an agricultural magazine 
 of Demerara, Vol. 7, p. 138 (1893), in an article entitled "The 
 Beginnings of British Guiana," reviewing Rodway's History of 
 British Guiana, said : " It would appear that it was to the Jews 
 that Essequibo owed the introduction of cane cultivation. After 
 the Zeeland Company had leased Guiana from the West India 
 Company they took steps to Induce private persons to come and 
 settle in B}ssequibo on their own account. Many of the newcomers 
 were Jews who had been in Brazil. It was owing to these that 
 small plantations were cleared and planted with canes." 
 
 Regarding the reference to German pamphlets, it is quite prob- 
 able that some Jews from Hamburg, where a large Portuguese 
 Jewish congregation existed, accompanied the Jews from Flush- 
 
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106 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Complementary to the story of the beginning of this coloni- 
 zation and as a part of it, we find a contemporary English 
 reference in a letter written by Charles Longland, the English 
 agent at Leghorn, Italy, to John Thurloe, the Secretary of 
 State under Cromwell, under date of March 8, 1657 (N. S.)." 
 1658 is the year in which the letter was written, as shown by 
 the context and its place among other letters arranged in 
 
 ing. Dr. M. Grunwald, in his Portuguesengraier auf deutscher 
 Erde, Hamburg, 1902, pp. 124-125, gives extracts from the Ham- 
 iurger Oemeindebuch of the old Portuguese synagogue of Ham- 
 burg, under date of Nisan 25 (circa April 10), 1658, which makes 
 a reference to a proposed emigration of Jews from Hamburg to a 
 place called " Serepique," described as newly discovered by the 
 Dutch, and gives the following names of some of the would-be 
 colonists: Imanuel de Campos, Daniel f. de Abraham de Campos, 
 David o'Liveria, David Nunes, and Jacob Senior. His suggestion 
 that Sergipe in Brazil was meant is negatived by the fact 
 that the Dutch in 1658 were no longer in Brazil, and, besides, that 
 Sergipe, or Seregipe as it was then also spelled, had been settled by 
 the Dutch in 1637 and had shortly afterwards been abandoned. See 
 NeuhofE's Brazil, in Pinkerton's Collection of Voyages, Vol. 14, pp. 
 704-706. It could not, therefore, have been newly discovered by 
 the Dutch in 1658. Probably the reference should have been to a 
 newly-opened Dutch settlement. The name Isekepe or Essequibo 
 was spelled in a variety of ways, and could easily have been con- 
 verted through misspelling into Serepique. It is often met with 
 as Esequipe, Isequipe, Isequibe, Bsquivo, and even distorted as 
 Essequake and Sequiebes. But a close approximation to Sere- 
 pique, in pronunciation, is to be found in the spelling of Esse- 
 quibo as " Essebecke," met with in Lewes Roberts' The Merchants' 
 Map of Commerce, London, 1671, containing a map of America 
 made in 1668, facing page 49. A similar spelling, " Esebecke," 
 is found In Louis Hennepin's map of America, dated 1698, to be 
 seen in his Nieuwe Ontdekking van America, Amsterdam, 1702. 
 The spelling " Essebeke " is also found, as early as 1626, in 
 Speed's map. See Report, U. S. Com., supra (atlas), IV, p. 22. 
 
 The writer is indebted to Mr. Max J. Kohler for this reference 
 to Dr. Grunwald's work. 
 
 " State Papers of John Thurloe, London, 1742, Vol. VI, p. 825. 
 
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EaHy Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 107 
 
 chronological order, and the parenthetical note of " N. S./' 
 for new style, inserted hy the editor. 
 
 The part of the letter relating to the Jews reads as follows : 
 
 " It seems the States of Holland are making a plantation betwixt 
 Surinam and Cartagena in the West Indyes, wherin they go very 
 wysly and pollltickly to work aiming chiefly at a trade there with 
 the Spanyard; for which purpose they hav sent hether to Invyt 
 many families of Jews and granted them many priviledges and 
 immunitys, which they hav printed and sent hether. I intend 
 your Honour a eoppy thereof enclosed if I can get it translated 
 in tym. Spainish is become now the Jews mother-tongue not only 
 in thes parts but throhout al the Turks dominions; in which 
 respect they wil be very usful to the Duch in theyr plantation; 
 and many opportunityes may present for them to converse with 
 the Spanyard by reason of their civility. If our planters at 
 Surinam took the sam course it would be much to their advantage. 
 About 25 famillyes of Jews go hence for the Holland plantation; 
 som of them told me they nothing dout but to introduce a trade 
 very speedily with the Spanyard there who ar in most extream 
 want of all European commoditys." ^ 
 
 In other letters written by Longland about this time refer- 
 ence is made to the Dutch being in Leghorn and to their con- 
 trolling the commerce in the Levant, and also to some Spanish 
 Jews being in Leghorn, who had been in the West Indies and 
 to some as being ready to be sent to Buenos Ayres and ac- 
 quainted with the country around Potosi." 
 
 ^° See, for a reference to this letter, Adam Anderson, Historical 
 and Chronological Deduction of tfie Origin of Commerce, London, 
 1790, Vol. II, p. 585, and David Macpherson's Annals of Com- 
 Tnerce, London, 1805, "Vol. II, p. 472, suggesting Curagao as the pos- 
 sible location. The language of the Longland letter, however, 
 does not indicate that island. Curasao then had a Jewish colony 
 under a grant to David Nassy, dated in 1652, for which see Pubs., 
 Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 10, p. 148. Jews had been already 
 there in 1650, and in 1656 are mentioned as active on that island. 
 See Rev. Joseph Corcos, A Synopsis of the History of the Jews of 
 Curasao, Curacao, 1891, pp. 7-10. 
 
 ^Thurloe State Papers, supra. Vol. I, p. 376; Vol. VI, pp. 285, 
 846. 
 
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108 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Eeferences to Jews from Leghorn in connection with the 
 Esseqnibo colony appear in the Extracts in the Appendix. 
 One of these, under date of May 21, 1660, indicates a settle- 
 ment or location of some Jews at Tobago, north of Trinidad 
 which was then in possession of the Spanish. This may 
 explain the reference in the Longland letter to a trade with 
 the Spanish. The Jews of Leghorn are also mentioned in the 
 Extracts as destined for Essequibo or Nova Zeelandia. 
 
 A copy of the grant of privileges and immunities, referred 
 to in the letter quoted from as to be enclosed, does not appear 
 among the papers in the printed volimie, and inquiry of the 
 Bodleian Library, where the original letters of Longland to 
 Thurloe are to be found, fails to discover it. It is believed, 
 however, that its provisions can be identified in a grant whose 
 origin has not heretofore been positively established, but which 
 the present writer thinks he shows herein is a Dutch grant 
 for the Jews going to the Nova Zeelandia colony, and possibly 
 also for those in the colony at Tobago with which it had 
 relations. 
 
 This grant, heretofore unidentified, is important to us as 
 bearing upon the question of the connection of the American 
 elements in the resettlement of the Jews in England, which 
 has been raised by an English writer who will now be 
 referred to. It contains important clauses relating to the 
 granting of civil rights to the Jews, and being shown herein 
 to be a Dutch grant disposes of the claim that to the English 
 belongs the honor of first practicing Jewish emancipation in 
 America. 
 
 We find in this grant of privileges, claimed to be dated 
 about 1654, and running "To the People of the Hebrew 
 nation that are to goe to the Wilde Oust," — apparently, from 
 that designation and other data, in or near Guiana, — a pro- 
 vision, among others, for sugar plantations. This is confirma- 
 tory of what is mentioned by Netscher and Eodway ia refer- 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — OppenJieim. 109 
 
 enee to the sugar industry to be established at Nova Zeelandia. 
 Other clauses provide for the free and untaxed mining for 
 gold and silver and the precious stones; for hunting and fish- 
 ing in certain woods, mountains, and waters; for the trans- 
 portation of slaves from the coast of Guiny ; " for allotments 
 of land to the colonists, with all rights of ownership; for 
 admission to rights of citizenship, and particularly for the 
 election of representatives to advise in meetings concerning 
 the welfare and commerce of the colony, and for various privi- 
 leges and exemptions independently of those specially appli- 
 cable to Jews. The Jews are granted the right to exercise 
 their religion freely and to act judicially in disputes among 
 themselves. 
 
 This grant appears in the Egerton MSS., in the British 
 Museum, in a volume numbered 2,395, at f. 46, and was dis- 
 covered by Mr. Lucien Wolf, of London, who gave a copy of 
 it, with his views as to its origin." That copy, with Mr. 
 Wolf's views, was reprinted in an article by Mr. Max J. Koh- 
 ler." It is unsigned, undated, and of most curious orthogra- 
 phy. Mr. Wolf thought it might be a British grant for a 
 settlement in Surinam of Jewish refugees from Brazil in 
 1654, and assigned that date to it because it was found 
 between documents dated in 1648 and 1653 and its contents 
 indicated a later date than 1653. He was of the opinion that 
 it was probably a draft of proposed privileges prepared for 
 Cromwell by Martinez Dormido, alias David Abarbanel, a 
 brother-in-law of Menasseh ben Israel, and also urged reasons 
 
 "By which Guinea in Africa is meant and which conforms to 
 the reference, already given, to the sending of a ship to Africa to 
 procure slaves. 
 
 ^'American Elements in the Resettlement, by Lucien Wolf. 
 Transactions, Jewish Hist. 8oc. of Eng. (1899), III, pp. 82-84. 
 
 "Some Early American Zionist Projects, by Max J. Kohler, 
 Pubs., Am. Jewish Hist. 8oc., No. 8, pp. 91-97. A copy of the 
 grant is reprinted as Appendix II hereto. 
 
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110 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 to explain away several of its provisions which appeared to be 
 inconsistent with the view of its being an English grant." 
 
 Mr. Kohler very properly considered it more likely to be a 
 Dutch grant because of the references in it to the enjoyment 
 of rights commensurate with those enjoyed by the Jews in 
 Zeeland and Amsterdam. 
 
 Other references to indicate a Dutch origin are the mention 
 in it of " States ships," to carry the colonists, and the use 
 of the words " Provinces," " Gust," and " guilders." " States " 
 no doubt referred to the States of the Netherlands. The 
 States or Estates of Zeeland, represented by the three Wal- 
 cheren cities, were interested in the colonization of 1658, and 
 probably also the States of Holland which then or before also 
 had relations to the colonization of the Guiana coast. " Prov- 
 inces" referred to the provinces of the Netherlands. The 
 grant speaks of Amsterdam and the Province of Zeeland, and 
 of freedom from law-suits " except for debts incurred iu said 
 Provinces or on the said Gust," — indicating an emigration 
 from abroad and particularly from the Provinces of the Neth- 
 erlands. " Gust " was then peculiarly the Dutch spelling for 
 Coast, the present form being " Kust." " An English docu- 
 ment would not have used that spelling. The reference also 
 
 ^ In the Introduction to his Menasseh hen Israel's Mission to 
 Oliver Cromwell, London, 1901, p. xxxvii, Mr. Wolf expresses his 
 opinion more positively on this point, and assumes that the grant 
 was made by Cromwell in 1654 to colonize Surinam, but does not 
 explain why it is that we have no reference to any actual Jewish 
 colonization there about that time. Under such privileges the 
 Jews would have flocked there in 1654. In Pubs., Am. Jewish 
 Hist. Soc., No. 10, p. 142, also, Mr. Wolf's view is assumed as 
 correct. 
 
 ''Report, V. S. Com., supra. Vol. II, pp. 112, 113, 126-130. The 
 expression " Lords Commissioners " in paragraph 6, is also indi- 
 cative of a translation of the Dutch form " Heeren Commissaris- 
 sen," appearing in the Appendix, though there translated simply 
 as " Committee." 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. Ill 
 
 to the payment for slaves in guilders indicates a Dutch grant. 
 The third provision that the Hebrews shall be admitted as 
 Burgesses in the same way as the People of the Province of 
 Zeeland living in the Coast and that they shall enjoy with 
 them the same privileges the latter enjoy is suggestive of a 
 document emanating from Zeeland, though the first provision 
 referring to the enjoyment by the Jews of the same religious 
 freedom as is possessed by the Jews in Amsterdam may indi- 
 cate privileges to Jews from that city and that these shall 
 enjoy the civil rights possessed by Zeelanders on the coast, the 
 latter being the principal Dutch inhabitants. Provisions anal- 
 ogous to those contained in this grant, except as to the mention 
 of Jews, are contained in the grants to the colonists of 1657, 
 already referred to." There is nothing on the face of the 
 grant to indicate an English origin or connection. Everything 
 in it is suggestive of the Dutch. 
 
 The document reads more like a translation than an original 
 composition, and in that Adew may be regarded as probably 
 the one mentioned in the Thurloe letter which speaks of a 
 translation to be made of the grant. The grammar and spell- 
 ing are also such as might be used by a foreign translator 
 possessing an imperfect knowledge of English and its or- 
 thography. 
 
 Its liberal provisions also indicate a Dutch origin. Other 
 Dutch grants to intending colonists about this time also con- 
 tain provisions offering freedom of conscience and liberty of 
 religion in the manner customary in the States of the Nether- 
 lands, though not mentioning Jews.^ Privileges like those 
 mentioned in the grant under consideration were not being 
 conferred by England on the Jews in the American colonies 
 or elsewhere in 1654, although about ten years later, or in 
 1665, somewhat similar privileges, written in better English, 
 
 '^ Ibid, and Counter Case for Great Britain, Appendix, p. 27. 
 "Hid. 
 
 9 
 
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112 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 but not of so liberal a character in regard to some details, 
 were granted by the British authorities in Surinam to the Jews 
 already there and to those who might thereafter go thither," 
 due no doubt to the standard of liberal treatment in the col- 
 onies set by the Dutch to the Jews, and to the fact that Eng- 
 land recognized in 1665, as it had not in 1654, the Jews as 
 part of its population and as desirable colonists. How the 
 privileges of 1665 came to be granted will appear later. 
 
 The English grant of 1665 did not contain all the provisions 
 of the grant discovered by Mr. Wolf. Of the later, the sixth 
 and tenth clauses were in substance added to the English 
 grant by the Dutch in 1669, two years after the surrender of 
 Surinam in 1667. These additions were made on the petition 
 of the leading Jews in the colony, many of whom had been 
 under the protection of the Dutch in Guiana and had no doubt 
 enjoyed the privileges asked for, and related to their right to 
 cause the banishment of members of their race who had fallen 
 into evil ways or were guilty of acts which might cause a scan- 
 dal to the nation, and also to a special exemption from the con- 
 sequences of the non-payment of debts due to losses through 
 the inquisition or otherwise. In place of Brazil, as in the old 
 grant, the inquisition was mentioned. The latter was then 
 active at Cartagena, and confiscated the goods of Dutch traders 
 on Spanish territory." 
 
 "Puis., Am. Jewish Hist. Sac, No. 9, p. 144. A copy is 
 reprinted here as Appendix III. 
 
 " See H. J. Koenen, GescMedenis der Joden in Nederland, 
 Utrecht, 1843, p. 468, which gives a copy of the four clauses of the 
 supplement to the British grant. These are referred to in Puis., 
 No. 3, p. 147, and Pubs., No. 13, p. 136. A copy of the request of 
 the Jews for its granting is to be found in Dutch in the Essai 
 historigue. Vol. II, pp. 131-134, and in translated form is printed as 
 Appendix IV hereto. There are some variations in the verbiage 
 of the supplemental clauses between the copy in the Essai and that 
 in Koenen. As to the inquisition, see Case for Oreat Britain, In 
 Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary Arbitration, Appendix 1, ppi 
 153, etc. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 113 
 
 If the grant discovered by Mr. Wolf had been in existence 
 as an English grant prior to 1665, it would no doubt have 
 appeared officially, but no such record has been found. If it 
 was merely a proposed grant prepared by Dormido for Crom- 
 well, as suggested by Mr. Wolf, that fact does not explain how 
 similar provisions were incorporated by the authorities in far 
 off Surinam in the grant of 1665, after the Kestoration, when 
 Cromwell's favorites and grants were tabooed, l^o reference is 
 made in the grant of 1665 to the existence of a previous grant 
 or to the Jews having been governed in Surinam under a like 
 previous grant, and the absence of such a reference in the 
 grant, among the reasons given in it for its issue, indicates 
 that no such prior grant existed in Surinam. 
 
 The more reasonable explanation of the similarity of the 
 two grants is that the English copied from a Dutch grant then 
 in existence, under which Jews were living in Guiana, and 
 that many of the liberal provisions of the English grant were 
 inserted, as stated in it, to "encourage" the Jews already 
 there to " continue their residence " in Surinam, and " to in- 
 vite others to come there," and that the grant discovered by 
 Mr. Wolf was a Dutch grant. That the English grant was 
 practically forced from the authorities by the Jews will be 
 indicated further on. 
 
 Certainly the Dutch grant to Jews in Guiana was not copied 
 from an English grant of the period. The Dutch haJ their 
 own forms and it was not necessary for them to consult an 
 English model. The Jews in Holland had many of the privi- 
 leges appearing in the British grant, and, as shown herein, 
 had been offered special immunities and exemptions to go to 
 Guiana. The English during Cromwell's time, except in 1650 
 and 1652,"* and until after the grant of Charles II to Lord 
 Willoughby of Surinam in 1663, were not making diligent 
 
 "a See Hartsinck's Beschryving van Ouiana, supra, Part 2, pp. 
 522-52'3, and British Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 
 Am. and W. I., 1574-1660; pp. 372-374. 
 
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114 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 efforts to colonize Guiana, and are not known to have solicited 
 or encouraged Jewish colonists to go to that region, ihe 
 Thurloe letter shows that the colony mentioned m it m lb5» 
 was not to be at Surinam, but at some place west of it, as Sur- 
 inam is spoken of as already having a colony which is not 
 stated to be Jewish or as having Jews in it, and would no 
 doubt have been so referred to in connection with the proposed 
 Jewish emigration from Leghorn if the fact had been that 
 Jews were noticeably then in Surinam; nor was it to be at 
 Curagao, as that place was well known and is not mentioned. 
 Writers on Curagao make no allusion to this colony, and we 
 know that David Nassy already had a grant for a colony there 
 in 1653." 
 
 The grant discovered by Mr. Wolf gives, as an addendum, a 
 provision for the delivery of slaves, on certain conditions, to 
 the Wild Coast. For comparison this is copied here. It reads 
 as follows : 
 
 " A RuUe In What Manner and Condition That the Negroes Shall 
 Bee Delivered In the Wilde Gust. 
 
 1. That there shall be delivered in the said Oust see many 
 negroes as each shall have occasion for. The which shall be paide 
 heere shewing the Receipt, in ready money at one hundred and 
 fifty guilders for each man or whoman. 
 
 2. Children from eight to twelve years thei shall counte two 
 for one piece, under the eight years three for one the breeding 
 goeth with the mothers. 
 
 3. hee that shall advance the Paiment beefore the Receipt 
 comes shall enjoy the discounte of Tenn fCent. 
 
 4. To all them that shall Paye and buy for Ready mony if thei 
 will thei shall have sutch number of negroes. Trusted to Pay 
 within five years and after them shall Pay for each man, whoman 
 or child as above the sume of two hundred and fifty and he that 
 shall advanse the Paiment shall have discount of Tean Per Cent 
 a yeare and them that shall buy for ready money shall bee ingaged 
 lor the Paiment of the others." 
 
 " The Jews in Curasao, Pubs., No. 10, pp. 141-157; Joseph Corco^ 
 A Synopsis of the History of Curagao, supra. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenlieim. 115 
 
 This corresponds with the reference by JSTetscher to the con- 
 ditions of the ISTassy contract with regard to slaves. Netscher's 
 statement, translated from the Dutch, is as follows :" 
 
 " On January 25, 1658, an agreement was concluded with 
 him" (Nassy), "in pursuance of which he was to deliver iii 
 Nova Zeelandia several hundred slaves, under the conditions 
 prescribed by the directors." 
 
 " In pursuance of the resolution of the directors of Novem- 
 ber 36, 1657, as many slaves were to be brought to Nova Zee- 
 landia as the colonists should desire and were willing to pay 
 for. Payment was to be regulated as follows : For each man 
 or woman 150 guilders; children from eight to twelve years 
 two for one should be reckoned; younger children three for 
 one; unweaned children should follow the mother. On pre- 
 payment, a rebate of ten per cent, and those who should pay 
 in ready money could have a like number of them (slaves) 
 upon receipt, on a credit of five years but at 350 guilders per 
 head." 
 
 These terms are also given elsewhere in English," with the 
 
 ^^Netscher, supra, p. 73. 
 
 " The statement that Nassy was to deliver the slaves is not 
 home out by the Extracts from the archives, which also do not 
 mention the number of slaves. Netscher's language following 
 that statement contradicts his interpretation of the agreement. 
 He there speaks of the resolution of the directors of November 26, 
 1657, or two months before the Nassy agreement, as fixing the 
 conditions for delivery. The Extracts also show that in February 
 and March, 1659, the committee in charge of the colonization were 
 asked to accommodate the Jews with slaves, indicating that they 
 and not Nassy supplied them. A similar agreement regarding the 
 delivery of slaves seems, according to the Extracts, to have been 
 made with other Netherlanders, on the same day that the agree- 
 ment with the Jews was made, January 25, 1658. Under date of 
 February 27, 1659, the city of Middelburg is shown to have con- 
 sidered the question of agreeing to the delivery of slaves to the 
 Jews by the Colonization Committee, and to have asked to be 
 relieved from connection with the trade. 
 
 "Annals of Guiana, supra, Vol. I, p. 135. 
 
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116 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 addition, as stated in the Wolf grant, that if any portion of the 
 debt should be paid before the five years the discount should 
 be allowed on the payment. 
 
 But probably the best proof, in the absence of a copy of the 
 Nassy grant, that the grant found by Mr. Wolf was the 1658 
 grant to Nassy is to be found by a comparison of the terms of 
 its addendum with the text of the conditions synopsized by 
 Ketscher, which text is found in the work of another writer 
 of whom Netscher speaks as expatiating in. 1659 on these 
 very terms, which seem to have been the standard terms for 
 the colony. A reference to that other writer discloses the text 
 of the terms, in Dutch, and an examination of that text shows 
 that the language of the addendum in the grant discovered by 
 Mr. Wolf is a literal translation of the terms given in the 
 Dutch work referred to." 
 
 A copy of these terms in the Dutch, taken from that work, 
 is given below, with a prefatory sentence." 
 
 " 0. K. (Otthoe Keye) Het waere ondersheyt tusschen Koude en 
 Warme Landen, &c. 's Gravenhage, 1659, p. 166. To be found in 
 the library of the N. Y. Historical Society. Other editions, to be 
 found in the Lenox Library, are Otto Keye, Beschryvinge van 
 het .... Landt Chiajana, waer inne gelegen is .... de Land- 
 streke genaemt Serrenamme, &c., 's Gravenhage (1659), p. 166; 
 and Otto Keyen, Kurtzer Entwurff von Neu Nederland und Ouor 
 jana .... aus dem Hollandischen ins Hochteutsche versetzt, 
 Leipzig, 1672, p. 134. 
 
 " This work," says G. M. Asher, In his Bibliographical and Bis- 
 torical Essay on Dutch Books and Pamphlets relating to New 
 Netherlands, Amsterdam, &c., 1854-1867, p. 12, " possesses an Inter, 
 est connected with the New Netherlands, as It contributed Its 
 share to preventing the colonization of that colony, being written 
 with that view, and with much ability." 
 
 "By het naeder Project dan over de Culture en populatle van 
 de Wilde vaste Kuste door d'Heern Patroonen van de Colonije 
 van Zeelandt Voornoemt ghemaekt op den 26. Novemb. 1657. Be- 
 loven die selve. 
 
 1. Dat op die selve kuste, onder die van haer Ed. Colonije, sullen 
 worden Ghelevert, soo veele Negros als yeder van doen sal hebben. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 117 
 
 We have, however, the exact terms of the contract with the 
 Jews regarding the price and delivery of slaves. These are 
 set out in the Extracts from the Dutch archives in the Ap- 
 pendix, under date of January 34, 1658, when they were 
 spread upon the minutes, and are precisely the same as those 
 quoted from the Dutch work just referred to. An agreement 
 with Nassy seems by these same Extracts to have been exe- 
 cuted on January 25, 1658, as stated by Ketscher. Only a 
 reference to it in connection with slaves appears in the pro- 
 ceedings of the Committee. Some grant prior in date to Jan- 
 uary 25, 1658, or at that time, is implied in the reference in 
 those proceedings to the conditions under which the Jews were 
 permitted to go to the new colony. These conditions, accord- 
 ing to the Extracts, were regarded as satisfactory to the appli- 
 cants and were probably the privileges offered to the Jews to 
 induce them to go. The agreement relating to the slaves was 
 no doubt the addendum thereto. The Zeeland Chamber 
 Extracts, under date of June 24, 1660, also refer to conditions 
 under which de Fuentes was to go to the colony, with a ship 
 load of colonists. 
 
 ende die alhier op't vertoonen van Recepisse, door yemant daer 
 toe gecommitteert, alsdan in contant voldaen worden ter somma 
 van een hondert vijftigh guldens voor een Man ofte Vrouwe. 
 
 II. Twee Kinderen van aclit tot twaelf Jaren voor een Man ofte 
 Vrouwe te rekenen: beneden d'acht laeren drie voor een, mids 
 sullen de Suygelingen de Moeders volgen. 
 
 III. Die by anticipatie willen betaelen, sullen rabat ghenieten 
 van thien ten hondert. 
 
 IV. Aen een yeder die contant ghekocht heeft, sal, des begeer- 
 ende, gelijk getal gecrediteert worden; ende sal dit credit dueren 
 voor den tijd van vijf Jaeren, ende sal binnen de selve moeten 
 betaelt worden, yeder Man, Vrouw, ofte Kinderen, als boven: te 
 reeckenen ter somma van twee-hondert-vijfticli guldens. 
 
 V. Des eerder betaelende, sal voor rabat yeder Jaer ghenieten 
 tien ten hondert. 
 
 VI. Maer die voor contant gelevert sullen sijn, benefCens de 
 gecre diteerde sullen te saemen voor dese betaelinghe verbonden 
 blljven. 
 
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118 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Having identified as of Dutch origin one important section 
 of the " Privileges to the People of the Hebrew Nation that 
 are to goe to the Wilde Cnst" in the grant discovered by Mr. 
 Wolf, namely, the part relating to the terms under which 
 slaves could be acquired, we may, for the reasons given, and 
 with all due respect, dismiss Mr. Wolf's theory that the grant 
 discovered by him was an English grant, or even a proposed 
 English grant, or that it had to do with a settlement of Jews 
 in the English colony of Surinam in 1654 immediately after 
 the close of the war for Brazil, or within a few years there- 
 after, and we are justified in concluding it to be of a date in 
 or before 1658, at about which time the Dutch were actively 
 engaged in forming colonies to settle in Guiana, or on the 
 Wild Coast, and as a Dutch form used in different localities 
 to induce Jewish emigration. A copy furnished to Thurloe's 
 correspondent would very likely have been unsigned. The 
 letter speaks of printed copies, which would naturally give 
 merely the form of the grant, without signatures." 
 
 *' That the grant discovered by Mr. Wolf was probably the trans- 
 lation sent by Longland to Thurloe may be gathered from an 
 endorsement on it which seems to have been overlooked or not 
 noted by Mr. Wolf in his examination of the Bgerton MS. The 
 Keeper of MSS. in the British Museum has informed the present 
 writer, in answer to an inquiry whether there was not some iden- 
 tifying mark on the document to indicate that it came from Italy, 
 that the MS. in question contains an endorsement of the words 
 " Snr. Fernando." Now, Thurloe was accustomed to have letters 
 of intelligence sent to him under a pseudonym. The Calendar of 
 Clarendon State Papers, III, p. 121, mentions a letter from Thurloe 
 to Longland, dated January, 1657, requesting the latter in writing 
 to him to address his letters to " Mr. Peyen, attending on the 
 Dutch Ambassador in England," or to " Jacob Hemsted, in the 
 Strand, London." Other pseudonyms may have been used at other 
 dates. All of Longland and Thurloe's letters have not been pre- 
 served. Changes of names as pseudonyms in communications to 
 and from the same persons, in the Thurloe correspondence, are 
 noted in the Calendar of Clarendon Papers. One pseudonym used 
 by Thurloe with other correspondents was Ferdinando Carnevall. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 119 
 
 Netscher also refers to Nassy as not taking so much interest 
 in the new colony of 1658, but directing his energies a little 
 later to obtaining a grant for a new colony at Cayenne." This 
 is a mere opinion. The administration of the colony was not 
 in Nassy's hands, but in that of the Dutch Committee and 
 the officers appointed by them. 
 
 It may be here remarked that the grant for the Cayenne 
 colony was made by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch 
 
 Mr. Wolf, in his Cromwell's Jewisli, Intelligencers, originally- 
 appearing in the Jewish Chronicle, London, for February 18, 1891, 
 and later in the Jewish Literary Annual, London, 1904, was of the 
 opinion that certain letters found among the Thurloe Papers, 
 addressed to Ferdinando Carnevall and noted in the Calendar of 
 Clarendon Papers as a pseudonym of Thurloe, were really written 
 as original communications by some one to Antonio Fernandez 
 Carvajal, a prominent Jew of London during Cromwell's time, 
 and that the information was transmitted by Carvajal to Crom- 
 well. This is merely an opinion founded upon the similarity of 
 the two names and the fact that Carvajal is said to have had 
 relations with Cromwell, Thurloe's chief. There was about this 
 time also in London a Don Antonio Ferdinando. See British Cal. 
 fit State Papers, Domestic Series, 1649-1650, p. 255; and Thomas 
 Violet's Petition against the Jews, London, 1661, p. 4, cited in 
 Wolf and Jacobs, Bihliotheca Anglo-Judaica, London, 1887, pp. 
 39, 45. The fact that we find, as shown above, that Thurloe 
 directed letters for him to be sent under a false name, militates 
 against the presumption that the letters addressed to Carnevall 
 were originally intended for Carvajal, though, of course, it is pos- 
 sible that the latter acted as an intermediary to receive letters for 
 Thurloe. The endorsement on the Egerton MS. of " Snr. Fer- 
 nando" was probably made under the direction of Thurloe, to 
 whom the letter enclosing it was no doubt sent under that 
 pseudonym. Fernando is close enough to Ferdinando to indicate, 
 in this case, a connection or identity with Don Antonio Ferdi- 
 nando [Carnevall] and an enclosure for Thurloe, the name Carne- 
 vall, for some reason, being omitted in the endorsement of the 
 document, though possibly being on the envelope or not always 
 being used in correspondence. 
 " Netscher, supra, p. 74. 
 
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120 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 West India Company, which in 1658 and 1659 also claimed 
 the right to send colonists to Guiana. This claim was dis- 
 puted by the Zeeland Chamber and some friction ensued 
 between the two on that account, which was adjusted on Sep- 
 tember 3, 1659, by permitting aU the Chambers of the Com- 
 pany to send colonists to Guiana at places not preempted by 
 the others." Immediately afterwards, on September 12, 1659, 
 we find that the grant to David Nassy for the Cayenne Colony 
 was made by the Amsterdam Chamber." 
 
 In the Thurloe letter, it will be noticed, reference is made 
 to the colonists being sent out by the States of Holland in 
 1658, being another form of designating the Amsterdam 
 Chamber of the West India Company. The Zeeland Chamber 
 was the representative of the States or Estates of Zeeland. 
 The form of grant used by one was readily obtainable and 
 
 "Report, U. 8. Com., supra. Vol. II, pp. 130-131; Vol. I, p. 358. 
 In the minutes of the Zeeland Chamber for September 23, 1658, 
 printed in the Report, supra. Vol. II, p. 130, the statement appears 
 that certain private individuals had addressed themselves to the 
 Amsterdam Chamber for permission to erect a colony on the Wild 
 Coast, without having asked the consent or authority of the 
 Zeeland Chamber. Though these are not mentioned as Jews, the 
 form of the statement, and surrounding considerations, indicate 
 that they were members of that race. 
 
 "> In Jost's Oescliicnte der Israeliten, Vol. VIII, p. 265, the Cay- 
 enne grant is referred to as made by the French West India Com- 
 pany. This error in designating the company was followed in 
 Puhs., Am. Jeunsh Hist. Soc, No. 3, pp. 104, 136, upon which the 
 like statement was based in Pubs., No. 8, p. 77. The grant itself 
 gives the place of execution as at Amsterdam. In addition to the 
 copies in Dutch, noted in the Jewish Encyclopedia article on 
 Cayenne, Vol. Ill, p. 634, an earlier Dutch copy appears in Jan 
 Jacob Hartsinck's Beschryping van Ouiana, Amsterdam, 1770, 
 part 2, p. 940. A copy in English, not heretofore noted, appears 
 in the Annals of Ouiana, supra, Vol. I, pp. 145 et seq., and is set 
 out as Appendix V hereto. The terms of the Cayenne grant are 
 more elaborate than those of the one set out by Mr. Wolf, and 
 contain many analogous provisions. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 121 
 
 used, so far as necessary, by the other. That this was the case 
 can be seen from the following reference to the Zeeland Cham- 
 ber's Essequibo colony appearing in the Cayenne grant made 
 by the Amsterdam Chamber : 
 
 " Sixteenth. The aforenamed colonists shall be allowed all 
 the privileges of trading for slaves as may hereafter be decided 
 by the Council of Nineteen. This accommodation to be the 
 same as that allowed to the colony of Essequibo, under the 
 Chamber of Zeeland." 
 
 We also find, according to the Extracts in the Appendix, 
 that the Zeeland Chamber later made references to the con- 
 ditions allowed by the Amsterdam Chamber. 
 
 The two sets of colonists in 1658, though possibly sent out 
 under grants from different Chambers, probably went under 
 the authority of grants to David Nassy, though the tenor of 
 the grant discovered by Mr. Wolf would seem to indicate a 
 grant to the Hebrews as colonists not dwelling apart from the 
 rest of the community, but with special privileges because they 
 were Hebrews, and it does not seem to have been to a patroon 
 as head of a colony as in the case of the Cayenne grant under 
 the authority of the Board of Nineteen at Amsterdam, under 
 which the Jews were to establish themselves at a location apart 
 from the Christians. 
 
 The use of the phrase " States ships," in the grant discov- 
 ered by Mr. Wolf, where it speaks of the means of transpor- 
 tation to the Wilde Cust, is possibly an indication of a grant 
 by the Board of Nineteen, the Supreme Council of the West 
 India Company, which is said to have been engaged, in con- 
 junction with the States-General, in promoting colonization 
 in G-uiana at about the same time that the Zeeland Chamber 
 took hold of the matter. A body of liberties for founders is 
 mentioned as having been made by this Board under date of 
 August 30, 1655, in which colonists were forbidden to 
 approach the colonists of the Zeeland Chamber nearer than 
 fifteen Dutch miles along the coast or in the interior. The 
 
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123 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 miniites of the Board covering the period of colonization in 
 question and for some years before are missing, as are also 
 those of the Zeeland Chamber prior to 1657, when the three 
 Walcheren cities took control, and hence much data on the 
 subject of our colony is not available." 
 
 In view of the suggested connection of the Board of Nine- 
 teen with the colonization it is possible that the grant discov- 
 ered by Mr. Wolf was issued by the Amsterdam Chamber. This 
 idea has already been indicated in referring to the first and 
 third provisions of the grant. The form of the grant for the 
 Jews was probably not changed from its first draft. The pro- 
 vision about slaves we know was in use as early as November, 
 1657, and was probably adopted by both Chambers some time 
 before. According to the 17th clause of the Cayenne grant, 
 the Board of Nineteen made the order and regulations for 
 the supply of slaves. 
 
 Of the small colony at Essequibo, already mentioned, sent 
 out in 1657, we have only a meagre account. It is said to 
 have proved unsuccessful, but the principal place, Fort Kyko- 
 veral, was not abandoned. The statement is made in the 
 argument on behalf of Venezuela, in the boundary dispute 
 with Great Britain, that then the Dutch, disregarding Spanish 
 rights, planned to make a settlement on the Pomeroon river, 
 which is not far from the mouth of the Essequibo, and which 
 is described as part of the Essequibo district. 
 
 On this Pomeroon river, it is added, "a few Portuguese 
 Jew planters, driven from Brazil for their religion, were in-, 
 duced to settle." °^ This evidently refers to the colonists who 
 went out from Flushing on February 3, 1658. 
 
 There are no data to show whether all the colonists leaving 
 Flushing in February, 1658, for Nova Zeelandia, settled on 
 the Essequibo river, or whether some started the colony further 
 
 " See Report, U. 8. Com., I, pp. 124, 194. 
 
 "Case for Venezuela, in Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary 
 Arbitration, Vol. I, p. 77. Citing Netscher, supra, pp. 74-75. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 133 
 
 north on the Pomeroon. That Dutch colonists settled at both 
 places is shown by references to later events. No data appear 
 as to the actual settlement of the colonists on their arrival. A 
 report as to the Pomeroon colony, dated in June, 1658, was 
 first received by the Colonization Committee in August of 
 that year." The name Isekepe or Ysekepe (Essequibo) is used 
 in the records as a general name and as including the various 
 locations on the Guiana Coast in the neighborhood of the 
 Essequibo river. 
 
 The Extracts in the Appendix, under date of February and 
 March, 1659, indicate that some of the Leghorn Jews went 
 to Essequibo, as they speak of a report to tha Board of Alder- 
 men and Council of Middelburg in regard to their proposed 
 departure for that place, and Pinto is seen later asking for 
 passports for them from the Zeeland Committee. This 
 implies that possibly the Leghorn Jews went under the aus- 
 pices of another Chamber and that it was necessary for them 
 to obtain from the Zeeland Chamber or the Colonization Com- 
 mittee passports to go to Essequibo if they first went to or 
 were at Tobago, where they seem to have first stopped. The 
 colonists of 1659 from Leghorn apparently had no relation to 
 those from the same place leaving in the previous year. 
 
 There seems, according to the Extracts, to be some question 
 whether all the Jews of Leghorn went to Essequibo or 
 remained at Tobago. Some Jews of Antwerp are also noted 
 as being interested in the colony, but whether in Antwerp or 
 at Nova Zeelandia is not clear, though the latter is indicated. 
 They are mentioned in the Extracts as willing to take away 
 the slaves which were destined for the Jews of Leghorn for 
 delivery at Essequibo, and which apparently the Leghorn 
 Jews were not willing to accept, for some reason, not stated, 
 but probably because they concluded not to go to Essequibo 
 but to Cayenne where we know other Leghorn Jews went 
 later. 
 
 'Report, V. S. Com., supra. Vol. II, p. 128. 
 
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134 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The mimites do not show what became of the twenty-five 
 families mentioned in the Longland letter as leaving Leghorn 
 in the early part of 1658. It is quite possible that some of these 
 on their arrival at Tobago departed or were compelled to leave 
 the place, which was also occupied by Courlanders, as will be 
 shown, and sought pastures new. There were then Jews in 
 Curagao, as already mentioned, and probably some few at 
 Surinam, but more as a recognized body in Barbados and 
 Jamaica."* It is very probable that some of the twenty-five 
 families went to Curagao and that others drifted to other 
 islands of the West Indies." 
 
 It has been claimed that a Jewish colony was formed in the 
 Essequibo in 1651. Major John Scott, who had command of 
 the English forces from Barbados that captured the Dutch 
 possessions in Pomeroon and Essequibo in the winter of 1665-6, 
 writing about 1669 an account of the various colonies in 
 Guiana and describing them chronologically by number, said : " 
 
 " The twelfth Collonie was of Dutch settled by the Zealanders 
 in the Rivers Borowma [Pomeroon] Wacopow and Moroca, have- 
 ing heen drawn of from Tobago, anno. 1650, and ye years follow- 
 ing a great Collonie of Dutch and Jewes, draw of from Prazile, by 
 the Portugaize settled there, and, being experienced planters, that 
 scone grew a flourishing Collonie." " 
 
 "a. Pubs., Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 9, p. 82. 
 
 " In a further paper submitted to the American Jewish Histori- 
 cal Society, the present writer shows, as he believes, that some 
 of these colonists went to Newport, R. I., via Jamaica, in 1658, 
 and were the first Jewish settlers there. 
 
 "An Account of CHiiana, believed to be by Major John Scott: 
 British Museum, Sloane MSS., No. 3662, fol. 37 verso, not dated, 
 but believed to be about 1669. Printed in Case for Great Britain, 
 in Venezuela-British Guiana Boundary Case, Appendix I, p. 170. 
 Referred to and quoted in Report, V. S. Com., supra. Vol. II, p. 
 137. 
 
 " The word " drawn " in " drawn of from Tobago " is given as 
 " drave," in the Report of the U. S. Com., Vol. II, p. 137. Pome- 
 roon was spelled in a variety of ways, among others Borowma, 
 Bourome, Baumeronne, Paroma, Pauroone, Pontmaron, Pouma- 
 ron, etc. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Ouiana — Oppenheim. 135 
 
 This colony is referred to in a recent article in an his- 
 torical magazine," in which an ingenious argument is made in 
 support of Scott's statement, in so far as the date is concerned, 
 on the hasis that it is entitled to consideration as being a con- 
 temporary account, though written about twenty years after 
 the date claimed, and that nearly aU of the Jews who were 
 planters had left Brazil long before the capitulation of Eecife 
 in 1654, and had settled in Surinam and the neighboring 
 country; that the Dutch were in Tobago in 1650 and had been 
 driven off from there about that time, and that in other details 
 the quoted statement apparently accords with known historical 
 facts. 
 
 Scotf s accuracy, however, has been questioned by General 
 Netscher, and also by Prof. George L. Burr and Prof. J. 
 Franklin Jameson, both of whom, in the Venezuela boundary 
 case, made a painstaking and thorough examination, on behalf 
 of the United States, of the history of colonization in ,the 
 Essequibo, Pomeroon, and other parts of Western Guiana, and 
 found no mention or trace of colonies of 1650 and 1651 such 
 as Scott describes. Netseher states that Scott was in error in 
 many of the details of his account of Guiana. Prof. Burr says 
 Scotfs reputation for accuracy of statement is not unim- 
 peached," whUe Prof. Jameson says he has not the highest 
 reputation, and he is also referred to in a letter from Lord 
 Willoughby, who knew him well, as telling some truth but not 
 all Gospel."' 
 
 Scott mentioned as authority for many of his statements a 
 Captain Gromweagle, who he says was Commandeur in Esse- 
 quibo for forty-eight years, and who has been identified by 
 Netscher and Prof. Burr as Aert Adrienszoon Groenewegel, or 
 
 •"English Historical Review (1901), Vol. XVI, p. 640, The Dutch 
 in Western Guiana, by Rev. George Edmundson. 
 
 To Mr. Max J. Kohler thanks are due for calling attention to 
 this article. 
 
 ''Report, supra, I, p. 175. 
 
 "IBitf., p. 64. 
 
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126 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Groenewegen, and as Commandeur on the Essequibo from 
 1657 to 1664, though elsewhere " it is stated that he was Com- 
 mandeur from 1650 to 1664 when he died. 
 
 Scott made no mention of the colonies of 1657, 1658, and 
 1659, referred to in this paper, the settlements of which cor- 
 respond in their main respects with those detailed by him, of, 
 first, a Dutch Colony of Zeelanders and then a great colony 
 of Dutch and Jews who had been experienced planters in 
 Brazil and who had been compelled to leave there by the 
 Portuguese, and which colony became a flourishing one. No 
 other writer that we know of makes reference to new settle- 
 ments on the Pomeroon and surrounding country in 1650 and 
 1651, though it is known that some Dutch were in the Esse- 
 quibo at that time and before. The first Dutch settlement on 
 the Pomeroon is noted as in 1658.°* That the colony became a 
 flourishing one, and the most flourishing one the Dutch had 
 had in America, appears herein. The writer of the magazine 
 article does not produce any evidence to show any flourishing 
 colony of Dutch and Jews in Pomeroon or its neighborhood 
 in 1651 or within a few years afterwards, or any actual set- 
 tlement of Dutch and Jews there about 1651. He contents 
 himself by referring, in support of Scoffs date, to the Jewish 
 colony supposed to have gone with Nassy from Brazil to Suri- 
 nam in 1644, speaking of it as settling there in 1644 and 
 1645, and to a like supposed departure of Jews from Brazil to 
 Surinam after 1649 and some years before the final close of 
 the war in 1654, but offers no proof on these points, citing only 
 facts and authorities referring to earlier dates. That the Jews 
 who went to Essequibo and Pomeroon in 1658 and subse- 
 quently, had been in Brazil, is apparent from their familiarity 
 in the new colony with sugar growing, an industry practiced 
 by them in Brazil. 
 
 His claim that the Dutch were driven from Tobago in 1650 
 
 "Report, supra, I, pp. 174-177; II, pp. 139-140. 
 "Report, V. S. Com., supra, I, p. 214. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 127 
 
 is not supported by him by any satisfactory authority. No 
 proof appears that these Dutch or Zeelanders so claimed to 
 have been dxiven out went to the Pomeroon, though the writer 
 of the magazine article referred to attempted to show this 
 inferentially, but is not convincing or persuasive on that 
 point."^ 
 
 The reading of the word given in the quotation as " drawn " 
 differs among those who have been considering it. The writer 
 of the magazine article bases considerable of his argument 
 upon the reading that the Dutch were " drove " off from 
 Tobago about 1650, while in the case presented on behalf of 
 Great Britain in the boundary dispute, the reading is that 
 they were " drawn " off from Tobago. Some of the Dutch 
 may have gone from Tobago with the first twelve families 
 from Zeeland that went, as mentioned, to Guiana in 1657. 
 These latter probably stopped at Tobago on their way to Esse- 
 quibo, whence may have arisen the reference by Scott to Zee- 
 landers drawn from Tobago. The facts appearing in the 
 Extracts from the archives in the Appendix would support the 
 theory that they were drawn from Tobago. We have an in- 
 stance of a stoppage at Tobago, quite close to 1658 and 1659, 
 
 '' J. Davis, History of Barbados, St. Christophers, &c., London, 
 1666, p. 6, whicli may have been Scott's authority for the state- 
 ment about Tobago, for It speaks in 1666 of Zeelanders being 
 driven out of Tobago " sixteen years since," is merely a translation 
 from C. de ROchefort's Histoire Naturelle et Morale des Isles An- 
 tilles de VAmerique, Rotterdam, 1658, p. 8, of an account which 
 makes the " sixteen years since " refer to the time when the 
 French work was published. This would put the date back to 1642, 
 which Scott also refers to as that when a colony of Zeelanders 
 were driven out of Tobago. Rochefort's silence with regard to 
 a driving out of Zeelanders from Tobago in 1650, writing, as he 
 did, quite close to that period, is significant, especially as he also 
 refers to the next Tobago settlement after the 1642 driving out 
 as taking place about 1655 or three years before he wrote. He 
 says that after 1642 the island was for a long time without 
 inhabitants. 
 10 
 
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128 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 by Jews in 1660 who left Leghorn in that year, under Dutch 
 auspices, for Cayenne. The wife of one of them, Daniel Levi 
 de Barrios, who wrote about his voyage, died at Tobago before 
 the party came to Cayenne,"" indicating that a Dutch settle- 
 ment was there then and for some time before. That such a 
 settlement then existed at Tobago and that there was some 
 travel between there and Essequibo is indicated in the 
 Extracts in the Appendix. We have also the deposition of 
 one Clement Gunter, a Pomeroon colonist and a native of 
 Hamburg, who had been arrested while on a trading expedi- 
 tion on the Orinoco, and imprisoned in Cartagena by the 
 Spaniards in 1665, who testified at his trial in 1666 that To- 
 bago was divided into two parts and in possession partly of 
 the Dutch and partly of Courlanders." Such an occupation is 
 shown by the writer of the magazine article as being known 
 of in 1654 and subsequently, and he also shows that when 
 occasion presented one sought to oust the other. The Zeeland 
 colonists could thus have been driven out from Tobago in 
 1658. Scott, who is corroborated by another writer," refers 
 to the Dutch being there in 1665 when he captured the place." 
 It seems most remarkable, if Scott, as he himself says, de- 
 rived some of his information about the various colonies ia 
 Guiana from the Commandeur of Essequibo, who acted in that 
 capacity, at least between 1657 and 1664, that the well-known 
 larger emigrations of 1658 and 1659 should not also have been 
 mentioned by the latter who knew all about them and have 
 been noted by Scott. Scott's omission to refer by date to the 
 later Dutch and Jewish emigrations and the emigration of the 
 Zeelanders of 1657, can very well be accounted for by con- 
 struing the reference to the "yeare following," as being in- 
 tended to read " the years following," which would allow for 
 
 "^ Puis., Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 3, p. 18. 
 " Case for Qreat Britain, Appendix I, p. 163; Case for Yeneeuela, 
 App. 3, pp. 9-13. 
 '^ Byam, post. 
 ''Report, V. 8. Com., II, pp. 135, 137. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Ouiana — Oppenheim. 139 
 
 a reference by him to the colony of 1658 ; otherwise, a fair 
 presumption arises, on the facts as known to us, that he has 
 confounded his facts with his dates. Prof. Burr thought 1650 
 was clearly an error for 1658." The facts outlined by Scott 
 are peculiarly applicable to the colonists of 1657 and 1658. 
 An instance of Scotf s inexactness in regard to dates close to 
 the period when he wrote appears in his reference to the grant 
 of Charles II to Willoughby and Hyde, of the Surinam coun- 
 try. He speaks of this grant in connection with the year 
 1660 and as though it had been made in that year. The date 
 of the grant was June 2, 1662.°* 
 
 Passing to the further history of our colony we find, accord- 
 ing to the Extracts from the archives, references to the unsat- 
 isfactory conditions there in May, 1660, when a Jew named 
 Latorre, who had returned from the colony, appeared before the 
 Committee and asked that forty of his coreligionists there, in- 
 cluding women and children, be permitted to depart, and to 
 return to the director the slaves they had contracted for, with 
 a remission of one-half of the amount still due for them, the 
 balance to be paid later, Pinto appearing willing to guarantee 
 the payment of this balance. The question was also consid- 
 ered with regard to the possibility of the Jews at Tobago, who 
 had come from Leghorn, refusing to receive the slaves they 
 had contracted for. This implies that these Jews were also 
 dissatisfied with conditions there and were preparing to leave. 
 
 The Extracts from the archives also show that in Septem- 
 ber, 1660, a Moses Fetto appeared before the Committee in 
 charge of the colonization, saying he had received a letter from 
 his brother-in-law, whose name is not given, who asked in the 
 name of the Jewish nation in the Nova Zeelandia colony, 
 whether the Committee proposed to keep up the colony, threat- 
 
 •" Report, supra, Vol. II, p. 137; Vol. II, p. 176. 
 ^ See copy in Hartsmck's Beschryving van Chiiana, supra, Part 
 2, p. 522. 
 
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130 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 ening, if otherwise, to depart and abandon it." The Com- 
 mittee, according to the Extracts, seem to have considered the 
 request. That the Jews did not abandon the place appears 
 from certain letters which will now be given, showing their 
 activity there, de Fuentes in the meantime, as already 
 appears, had fitted out his own ship and had gone with colo- 
 nists and goods to relieve the situation. The complaint from 
 Netto's brother-in-law must have been sent out before his 
 arrival. Netto is again mentioned in June, 1660, in connec- 
 tion with de Fuentes' departure and with indications of 
 French- Jewish colonists. 
 
 The name Fieuw Middelburg was given to the principal 
 location on the Pomeroon, indicating that most of the colonists 
 had come from Middelburg, in Zeeland, where many Jews 
 resided. The meetings of the Colonization Committee and 
 Zeeland Chamber were held in that city. 
 
 The following letter from de Fuentes, in which he patheti- 
 cally refers to his inability to dispose of some of the goods he 
 took along with him, was printed among the documents pro- 
 duced by Great Britain in the Venezuela boundary case. In 
 the general index he is designated as " a Jew planter in the 
 Pomeroon." He is further on spoken of in 1663 as the lead- 
 ing Jew there." 
 
 NiETJW Mn)DELBIIE6H, NOVEMBEB 29, 1660. 
 
 I consider this land better than Brazil, but In order to become 
 acquainted with its virtue one has need of a quantity of negroes 
 and particularly a Governor with twenty-five soldiers in order to 
 keep the land quiet, etc. 
 
 The country yields abundance of all kinds of fish, so that I 
 having brought hsre about 2,000 pounds of provisions have been 
 compelled to send the same to the islands, regarding that as fairly 
 lost. 
 
 ™ Appendix I. Netscher, supra, p. 74, also refers to this and 
 erroneously speaks of Netto as himself writing from the colony. 
 
 " Counter case for Great Britain, Appendix, pp. 32-33. Original 
 letter in StadsarcTiief in Teere. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 18J. 
 
 The crops are getting on very well, but the smith here is a 
 drunkard, so that it is very necessary that a good smith and car- 
 penter be sent hither in order to repair the aforesaid mills and 
 to make others, for without them no sugar can be made. My 
 vessel drawing ten feet of water was the first that came up to the 
 factory here with its full cargo, so that a vessel of 300 tons made 
 in Dutch fashion will be able to come into the river without 
 unloading. It is believed that there are hereabouts some gold and 
 silver mines, but I have not yet had an opportunity of ascertaining 
 the truth of this. 
 
 Philippe de Fuentes. 
 
 A further letter in the following year from de Fuentes and 
 a Willem Sommermans, who has not been identified as a Jew 
 and may have been a German Jew, is also printed following 
 the one just quoted. It shows the progress of the colony and 
 refers to the unfulfilled request for a Governor, and also 
 throws an interesting light on the situation of the colonists 
 at this time. This letter reads as follows : " 
 
 NrETTw MroDELBUBGH, April 25, 1661. 
 
 At present everything is in very good condition. Everything is 
 progressing favorably; provisions are in abundance; the grounds 
 not only promise but yield richly; there is also very much fish here 
 and meat as well, but meat and fish have mostly to be obtained 
 through trading wares. The country is at present full of sugar 
 cane, so that we have very great need of sugar boilers. Negroes 
 are required here. Cattle are received daily from the Orinoco, 
 but one thing is highly necessary, and that is that you be pleased 
 to send us or to appoint a Regent as we have frequently requested. 
 Do not regard this otherwise than it is wrlten or as anything but 
 the honest truth, without exaggeration or hypocrisy and upon 
 which you may rely. 
 
 WlLUlM SOMMEBMANS, 
 
 Philippe de Fuentes. 
 We have no record of conditions during the succeeding two 
 years, but the following extract from a letter from J. de Fijn, 
 
 "IMd., p. 33, and Yeere Stadsar chief. In the copy the name 
 Ffalloo appears before the name of Philippe de Fuentes. This is, 
 no doubt, the signature of another colonist, whose name appears 
 elsewhere as Jannes Falloo. It is omitted in the copy given here. 
 
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American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Gommandeur in Pameroon, to the West India Company, dated 
 at Meuw Middelburg March 3, 1663, shows that the request 
 for an executive had been complied with ia the shape of a 
 King Stork, and also gives us an idea of what was going on 
 in the colony at the time." 
 
 The boilers of the Jew Isaac Nanes Netto, alias Corsocrie, have 
 been put down, but he is still in want of some ironwork for 
 the mill; this he is expecting very soon, when he will also begin. 
 We are therefore beginning to get some sugar, and please God 
 things will in the future do well and more produce is to be 
 expected 
 
 I am here in the midst of a heap of unruly, wanton and reck- 
 less people, excepting always the pious who are very few in 
 number, both among the Christians and Jews, and I am impor- 
 tuned by them all from morning until night so that I cannot 
 remain at table in peace. 
 
 The step-father of a Jew named Isaac de Fonseca came to me 
 weeping and complaining that he had been beaten by him and 
 that he had called his mother a whore, which I could not allow 
 to pass before God and the law, wherefore I had the aforemen- 
 tioned Jew Fonseca summoned to render an account of what he 
 had done and if the mother were guilty to duly punish her and 
 to deal with him as a Godless man who had despised his parents. 
 
 The fellow being wanton and insolent and unwilling to admit 
 his fault, I had him placed in irons. The Jews took this amiss, 
 and Isaac Henriques Morao, alias Spijcker Veth, putting himself 
 somewhat forward I had him placed with the other because he 
 wished to leave the country at once, and by this means I was 
 obliged to make sure of his person and the debt he owed your 
 honors, since I was compelled to quiet the people here. 
 
 The somewhat tumultuous Hebrew nation having become aware 
 that the two Jews would be kept in prison until my return from 
 Moruka began to cast sour looks at me again, and the principal 
 one among them, Philippe de Fuentes, began to say that the 
 planters would rise, thinking, perhaps, to feel my pulse and to 
 intimidate me by such threats. But as he had to deal with one 
 who would rather die than allow himself to be threatened by a 
 crowd of giddy birds, I called the soldiers to arms in order to 
 have the prisoner executed, not only for the crime of having 
 beaten his father and called his mother opprobious names, but 
 
 'lUd., pp. 32 et seq., and Veere Stadsarchief. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Quiana — Oppenheim. 133 
 
 partly by reason of two charges that had been brought against 
 him sometime ago, and wholly proved, but concerning which I 
 had deferred sentence until then, and principally because the 
 others were beginning to treat me with menaces, and I wished 
 to show them that their threats only made me more resolute 
 than timid in meting out punishment. They immediately began 
 to beg for mercy, and the threateners were in such despair that 
 I pardoned him and set off for Moruka. On my return from 
 thence I examined the matter and being influenced by much 
 entreaty and prayer I liberated him, together with the other, out 
 of regard for the following reasons: 
 
 Here the Commandeur gives reasons which are inconclusive. 
 
 Further on he writes : 
 
 Through the want of provisions, for the cassava is rotting in 
 the ground through the heavy rain which has now been falling 
 for some time and through the want of salt, I cannot send for 
 either meat or fish, for the small quantity that there is still 
 amongst the Jews and which the one has let the other have 
 through friendship has had to be paid for at the rate of lOd per 
 pint. 
 
 In the same letter the following references occur, apparently 
 relating to Jews : 
 
 A negro belonging to Moses Petaete For instance, by 
 
 making narrow inquiries I got out of David Attia £100, for the 
 piece of land that had been conveyed to him underhand; from 
 Cardoso Lead and Abraham da Costa I also managed to get £70, 
 less 2 shillings. . . . Received from Jacob Rodriges de Veth 
 £133, 6s, 8d, Flemish." 
 
 '^ Referring to the name David Attia, the translator in a note 
 states that this is really a wrong transcription for Nassy. Car- 
 doso Lead he thought meant Cornells Goliath. To this it may 
 be said that there was a family of the name of Atias, noted in 
 Puis., No. 10, p. 157, as residing In Curagao in 1705, and one 
 named Arias, who was a member of the Jewish community In 
 Surinam in 1669. See Puis., No. 4, p. 3. Essai historique, II, 
 p. 132. Goliath was the commissary general and engineer, 
 and was probably not a Jew. In the same letter he is mentioned 
 as being dead. Isaac Henriques Morao can be identified with 
 Isaac Henriquez Morao, buried in Curagao in 1673. See Pubs., 
 No. 10, p. 156. Isaac Nanes Netto was probably the Isaac Netto 
 
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134 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Information as to the population of Pomeroon and the 
 neighboring colony at Moruca or Moruka, derived from Span- 
 ish sources, shows that about the year 1663 there were more 
 than 1000 Dutch colonists and 400 wealthy Indians who had 
 been expelled from Brazil, and also a greater number of negro 
 slaves, " founding a new Brazil." Essequibo is referred to as 
 having a fort. Among the Dutch in this estimate, which is 
 probably below the true figures, must have been included many 
 Jews who came from the Netherlands and Italy." 
 
 until lately supposed to have been the first Rabhi in Surinam, 
 about 1674 (see Jemsh Encyclopedia, 1, p. 494; Puis., No. 3, p. 18, 
 No. 7, p. 132), but who is said to have been preceded by one 
 Meatob in 1643. Cf. Pubs., No. 13, p. 128. Nanes was no doubt 
 intended for Nunes. An Isaac da Costa and a Bento da Costa 
 appear as members of the Surinam community in 1669, as also 
 David Nassy and an Alans de Fonseca, Nassy being also known 
 as Joseph Nunes de Fonseca. These last two may be the same 
 as the David Nassy and Alonzo de Fonseca noted as Dutch with 
 English connections. See Mr. Lucien Wolf's Cromwell's Jewish 
 Intelligencers, in The Jewish Literary Annual, London, 1904, pp. 
 99, 100. Bento de Costa is also noted as an English Jew, in British 
 Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 8er., 1655, p. 47. Puis., No. 5, p. 132 
 mentions an Abraham da Costa as an owner of a plantation in 
 Surinam. The Isaac de Fonseca mentioned in de Fijn's letter may 
 have been the one of that name appearing in Barbados and 
 Curagao in 1656. See Puis., No. 10, pp. 153 et seq. Moses Petaete 
 is probably an error for Moses Peraira or Pereira. 
 
 '" Case for Great Britain, Appendix I, p. 159, 152. See also The 
 Guiana Boundary, by Prof. George L. Burr, 6 Am. Hist. Rev. 
 (October, 1900), p. 57. 
 
 In the report as to this estimate appears a statement that the 
 Spanish scout sent to reconnoitre the territory occupied by the 
 Dutch reported that on his return he met a small vessel, apparently 
 from the settlement on the Pomeroon, with two men in it as 
 prisoners, who spoke Spanish, one of whom gave him to under- 
 stand that he had been born in Madrid and had been an Augustin- 
 ian Priest and had gone to Amsterdam where he had allowed 
 himself to be circumcised, and on that account was sent to the 
 inquisition at Cartagena. Case for Great Britain, App. 1, p. 159. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 135 
 
 We find no mention of our colony until the following year. 
 Apparently from a reference to it under the date of 1664, 
 some of the Jews had left previously and gone to Cayenne," to 
 which additional colonists from Amsterdam had been sent in 
 1663." The reference to these new settlers in Cayenne from 
 Amsterdam is made just after speaking of the Jewish col- 
 onists of 1659 from Amsterdam, and of 1660 from Leghorn. 
 Though not mentioning Jews, these were no doubt among the 
 new arrivals. After the capture of Cayenne by the French 
 under de la Barre, in 1664, it seems that the captors, who came 
 from Eochelle, did not comply with the conditions under which 
 the fort there was surrendered by Guerin Spranger, which in- 
 cluded several provisions for the benefit of the Jews." They 
 seized a number of Dutch vessels which had come to trade, 
 plundered the inhabitants, and finally shipped both Jews and 
 Christians to Eochelle, leaving them to find their way to Hol- 
 land as best they could." 
 
 ^'Annals of Guiana, supra, I, p. 166. 
 
 "Netscher, supra, p. 356. 
 
 ''''Annals, supra, I, p. 164; Jewish Encyclopedia, title Cayenne, 
 III, p. 634. 
 
 "Hartsinck, BesoJiryving van Guiana (1770), p. 163; Essai his- 
 torique (1788), p. 13, and Annals, supra (1888), I, p. 164. The 
 Essai, citing Hartsinck who supports the text, apparently misreads 
 Its authority and states that the French brought a great number 
 of Jews and Christians from Eochelle. 
 
 Hartsinck cites a contemporary authority which fully supports 
 his statements. This is deemed important and is given in the 
 original Dutch and in translated form: 
 
 Hollandtze Mercurius, July, 1664, p. 127 (Haerlem, 1665). 
 " In America hadden de Neerlanders Cajane/ een Provintie aen 
 de Reviere d'Amasones/ en daer wat Catoen/ Indigo/ en Suycker 
 valt/ langhen tljt deugdelijk beseten/ en door 't af-senden van 
 veele Huysgesinnen/ daer onder oock Joden/ een tamelijcke 
 Colonie ofte Inwooninge/ gehouden als met d'Indianen daer wel 
 over een komende/ benijt: De Pransen sonden een Vloot 
 onder Sr. Barre derwaert/ die den 20 Maert van Madera/ daerse 
 
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136 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Some of the Dutch settlers, say the English historians," 
 " returned to Bssequibo and the Pomeroon. Havtag been ac- 
 customed to sugar planting they were unfitted for any other 
 business and therefore most of them came back to Guiana in 
 the first Dutch vessels." 
 
 In 1665, continue our authorities,"" " the Pomeroon colony 
 was far more important than that of Essequibo. Prom the 
 time of the accession of the Portuguese Jews who were well 
 acquainted with the sugar manufacture, a number of planta- 
 tions were laid out and sugar buildings erected, so that the 
 settlement was apparently in a fair way to become prosperous. 
 Sugar from Nova Zeelandia was already being sold at Mid- 
 
 hun ververst hadden van water/ dat in Vranckrijk op lange 
 reysen niet en deugt/ af staken/ hebbende sich cock voorslen van 
 partije Cabriclen/ om Cajane/ dat sy gemackelijk overvielen/ te 
 populeren: Zy namen met gewelt 't Fortje Ceperoux, en noemden 
 't St. Louljs. De Frangosen kregen noch 6 Schepen daer toe, en 
 ruyneerden d'Ingeseten. Zy voerden de Joden en Christenen van 
 hnn welvaren berooft en seer pover gestelt na Rochel/ om van 
 daer te mogen voeteeren nae hun Vaderlandt." 
 
 " In America the Dutch, possessed and had for a long time 
 worthily occupied Cayenne, a province on the Amazon river where 
 cotten, indigo, and sugar grows, and by sending out many families, 
 among them also Jews, had established there a fair colony or 
 abode, and had also come to a satisfactory understanding with 
 the Indians. The French sent thither a fleet under Sieur Barre. 
 On March 22d they left Madeira where they had refreshed them- 
 selves with water of good quality which they could not stock 
 themselves with In France for the purposes of a long journey, 
 having also provided themselves with a party of Cabrlclans In 
 order to populate Cayenne which they easily captured. They 
 took by force Fort Ceperou which they called St. Louis, and in 
 addition seized six ships and ruined the Inhabitants. They 
 carried the Jews and Christians, bereft of their property and In 
 deep poverty, to Rochelle whence they were permitted to go afoot 
 to their Fatherland." 
 
 '•'Annals, supra. Vol. I, pp. 164, 166. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 188. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Quiana — Oppenheim. 13'i 
 
 delburg, and there was every probability of a large increase in 
 cane cultivation, as the soil in Pomeroon was more suitable 
 than any of the upper districts where the other colonies were 
 situated." 
 
 The colony at this time was described by a contemporary 
 writer qualified to judge, as the most flourishing one the 
 Dutch ever had in America.""* 
 
 The prospects of the colonists, however, were suddenly 
 brought to an end by the invasion, in the winter of 1665-6, of 
 the English from Barbados, under the command of Major John 
 Scott, acting under orders from Lord Willoughby who, taking 
 advantage of the war then in progress between England, 
 Prance and Holland, planned the expedition. Scott, after first 
 seizing Tobago in October, 1665, then occupied by the Dutch, 
 captured all the Dutch establishments in Guiana west of Ber- 
 biee, and after destroying the plantations in Pomeroon which 
 he had taken in January, 1665-6, and leaving a garrison there 
 and also at the fort in Bssequibo, returned to Barbados in 
 
 April, leee."" 
 
 Speaking of the situation of the Dutch colonies in Guiana 
 at this time and the effect of the English invasion which he 
 describes, William Byam, then Governor of Surinam, writing 
 afterwards, about 1669, says : ^ 
 
 "Many [of] the Dutch, French and Jews were soone upon ye 
 
 *'a Gov. Byam's Journal, cited below, quoted in Report, V. 8. 
 Com., II, p. 137. "But there greatest of all they ever had in 
 America was Bowroom [Pomeroon] and Moroco [Moruka] alias 
 New Zeeland, a most flourishing coloney 16 Leagues Leeward of 
 Discecabe [Essequibo]." 
 
 '^Report, V. 8. Com., supra, I, p. 197; II, p. 135, and note, p. 137; 
 Rodway, Hist, of British Chiiana, I, p. 6; Scott, in 8loane MS., 
 No. 2662, f. 37 verso supra; Case for Great Britain, Appendix I, p. 
 171. 
 
 "' Lieut. -Gen. Byam's Journal of Guiana, from 1665 to 1667: 
 " An Exact Narrative of the State of Guiana, as it stood Anno. 
 1665, particularly of ye English Collony in Surynam,," &c., British 
 
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138 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Wing to the French islands Martinico and St. Christophers, &c., 
 and those that remained grew discontent." 
 
 Not all the colonists, apparently from the foregoing passage, 
 departed. But soon the few that remained were plundered by 
 the French who originally were allies of the Dutch in the 
 fight against the English. The English troops were almost 
 starved out by the Indians refusing them supplies, and later 
 were glad to surrender to a Dutch force sent against them." 
 
 We shall now consider what became of the Jews in Pomeroon 
 and Tobago, and also, as related to that subject, the state of 
 the Jews in Surinam about this time, and how the British 
 grant to them of 1665 came to be made. 
 
 We have seen that the Jews in Pomeroon and neighboring 
 settlements, in what was known as Nova Zeelandia, had been 
 accorded full religious liberty under the Dutch and a certain 
 amount of civil rights. How many of them, after the destruc- 
 tion of their plantations went to Surinam we can only sur- 
 mise, but, from various considerations, we may conclude that 
 most of them went thither. Before the destruction of Pom- 
 eroon in January, 1666, the colony must have received acces- 
 sions from Cayenne after that place had been captured by the 
 French in 1664. This seems more likely than that all the 
 Jews from Cayenne immediately went to Surinam for a perma- 
 nent location, as the Dutch were then in Pomeroon and in 
 Tobago and Essequibo. The Dutch in Cayenne would natur- 
 ally have gravitated thither and with the privileges and 
 immunities enjoyed by the Jews in these Dutch locations and 
 not yet in Surinam, the probabilities point to the Jews accom- 
 
 Museum, Sloane MS., No. 3,662, fol. 27. Printed in full in 
 Bijdragen en Mededeelingen van de Historisch Genootschap^ 
 gevestigd te Utrecht, 's-Gravenhage, 1898, Vol. 19, pp. 232, etc., and 
 edited by Rev. George E^undson; and in part in Report, U. S. 
 Com., supra, II, pp. 137, et seq., and Case for Great Britain, 
 Appendix I, pp. 167 et seg. 
 '"Ibid. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana— Oppenheim. 139 
 
 panying them and hastening to the Pomeroon which was then 
 a growing colony, or to Tobago, and to their not going in 
 nnnjbers to Surinam which was an English possession and 
 not then offering them the freedom granted by the Dutch. 
 This will be referred to again further on. It is, however, 
 likely that those who had previously left Surinam to ]oin 
 their Cayenne brethren returned to Surinam after the expul- 
 sion and that these were accompanied by a few others. The 
 reason why past accounts have spoken of the Cayenne colo- 
 nists as going after the expulsion to Surinam is no doubt 
 because that was the nearest place known to us, until recently, 
 where Jews settled shortly after that time and also for a fur- 
 ther reason shortly to be stated. The existence of a Jewish 
 colony at Pomeroon between 1658 and 1666 has not heretofore 
 been noted, nor one at Tobago, and the probability that the 
 Jews went to these two places has not been considered. The 
 writers of the Essai liisiorique, one hundred and thirty years 
 after the event, and without access to some of the data men- 
 tioned in this account, do not seem to have been aware of the 
 Pomeroon colony as containing Jews or even as in existence 
 at the time, and do not mention Tobago. Shortly before they 
 wrote in 1788, there had been considerable discussion as to 
 whether Jews should be permitted, under the Dutch, to reside 
 and trade in Essequibo and Demerara, and their book is said 
 to have been written as an answer to another work which 
 devoted a chapter to a protest against such permission." Even 
 the occupation of Surinam by the Dutch before 1650 seems to 
 have been unknown to them. They may have thought Jews 
 had not been in Essequibo before their time. Netseher, seem- 
 
 "Brieven over het Bestuur van Essequeto en Demerary, gewis- 
 seld tusschen Aristodemus en Sincerus, Amsterdam, 1785-1788, 
 in, bijiage G, pp. 70-83. A copy is to be found in Harvard 
 University Library. Cf. Netscher, GescMedenis van de KoJonien 
 Esseqiiebo, etc., supra, p. 386, and Essai historique, supra, Vol. I, 
 pp. 141-142. 
 
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140 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 ingly following the Essai historiqwe, makes the statement" 
 that the Jews took the road to Surinam, and there established 
 themselves on the Savannah. He adds that with their knowl- 
 edge of agriculture they gave an impetus to the sugar industry 
 in Surinam where forty to fifty plantations were to be found 
 flourishing by 1665. The number of these belonging to the 
 Jews are, however, not distinguished.""* The state of the Suri- 
 nam colony in 1665 will be given further on. 
 
 Other writers speak of the Jews as going to Jamaica and 
 Barbados, as well as to Surinam," while the historian of the 
 Jews in Curagao speaks of them as going to Curagao." 
 
 The Essai liistorique, though stating that in 1653 
 Willoughby sent three vessels to Surinam with several families 
 of English and Jews, together with ammunition, merchandise 
 and everything necessary for a settlement, does not seem to 
 
 "Netscher, supra, p. 356. 
 
 ""a In 1668, two years after the Pomeroon plantations were 
 destroyed, it seems the Jews had a number of plantations at a 
 distance from Paramaribo where they were not likely to be affected 
 by an attack on that city which was planned by the English in 
 Europe after Byam's surrender of Surinam in 1667. This is 
 mentioned in the British Gal. of State Papers, Col. Ser., Am. and 
 W. I., 1661-1668, p. 552. 
 
 "Pubs., No. 2, p. 95. 
 
 ='Rev. Joseph Corcos, Synopsis of the History of the Jews in 
 Curagao, Curagao, 1897, pp. 18, 19. He refers to them as Italian 
 Jews, and adds, thai in 1693 some left Curagao for Tucacas, 
 Venezuela, which is a small island nearly opposite and southeast 
 of Curagao, and also for Newport, R. I., with, among others, Judah 
 Touro's father, Abraham de Touro, who became their Hazan 
 there. He cites no authority, and follows his statement with a 
 reference to the Tucacas congregation in 1720, leaving the infer- 
 ence that his previous remark about the Cayenne Jews going 
 finally to Tucacas was a mere opinion derived from the existence 
 of a Jewish congregation at that place in 1720, with Italian mem- 
 bers, and the fact, as also mentioned by him, that Italian Jews 
 went to Cayenne under the grant to David Nassy of 1659. Jost, 
 in his Oeschichte der Israeliten, VIII, p. 242, speaks of a colony 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 141 
 
 regard tHat settlement, so far as the Jews are concerned, as 
 of importance in their history there, but speaks of numbers 
 arriving there after the capture of Cayenne by the French in 
 1664, saying that this made a considerable increase in the 
 population of Surinam, composed principally of Jews, and 
 that the new arrivals of Jews united with the Jews who bad 
 come from England with AVilloughby in 1663." There is some 
 probability that the reference in the Essai to the year 1653 
 was an error for 1663 when the charter to Willoughby and 
 Hyde was made. As already mentioned, that charter refers 
 to Willoughby's sending colonists to Surinam in 1650 and 
 afterwards, but does not mention Jews. In 1650 and 1653 
 Jews are not known as being openly in England while in 1663 
 when the charter was granted they had become recognized as 
 part of the population of that country. Many who had been 
 in Brazil had gone to England from Holland after their 
 return to the latter country and their suffered permission 
 to reside in England. The Essai does not, as already 
 mentioned, refer in any way to the Pomeroon or Essequibo 
 settlements, though speaking of the mania or furore iu Hol- 
 land for forming colonies in the New World, probably having 
 in mind, as among these, only the Jewish colony that went to 
 Cayenne. 
 
 In support of the opinion that the Jews from Cayenne 
 went to Surinam it cites a work published in 1767.°°* This 
 
 of Jews from Brazil settling in 1639 at Lucayo. This may be an 
 error for Tucoyo, in "Venezuela, in the immediate vicinity of 
 Tucacas, or Tobago may have been meant, though one of the 
 Bahama islands was then known as Lucayo. The date 1639 is 
 probably an error for 1659, as Jost makes a similar error in date 
 in regard to the Cayenne colony, which he speaks of as of 1639, 
 instead of 1659. He cites Robertson's History of America with- 
 out giving the page, and his reference cannot be found. 
 
 ''Essai, pp. 12, 20, 22. 
 
 ^'a. Hedendaagsche Historic of Tegenwoordige Stoat van Ameri- 
 fca, Tweede Deel (Amsterdam, 1767), p. 450. 
 
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143 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 states, referring to the settlement in Cayenne, that "many 
 Jews had settled there, but when the ISTetherlanders were 
 driven from Cayenne they went with them to Surinam.'"^ 
 No authority, however, is given in that work in support. It 
 is unlikely that the Dutch in 1664 would have gone to Suri- 
 nam, seeing that the English then were in possession and the 
 Dutch had flourishing colonies at Essequibo and Pomeroon 
 and also at Curagao and Tobago. The Jews went with the 
 Dutch, and if the latter did not settle in Surinam in 1664 
 after being driven out of Cayenne, the Cayenne Jews also did 
 not then settle there. Writers of the seventeenth century do 
 not mention Surinam as the destination of the Jews or Dutch 
 after the capture of Cayenne in 1664. du Tertre, in particu- 
 lar, who has already been cited herein and who wrote in 1671 
 about the Jews and Dutch being in Cayenne, and about the 
 capture of that place by the French in 1664, fails to make any 
 reference to either of them going to Surinam after the cap- 
 ture, or to Martinique, a French possession where some Jews 
 already were. 
 
 The Hollandtze Mercurims, of July, 1664, p. 127, already 
 cited, which gives a contemporary account of the capture, also 
 does not mention Surinam in this connection. 
 
 Hartsinck, who, as stated, describes the capture of Cayenne 
 by the French, likewise makes no mention of Dutch or Jews 
 going then to Surinam. This he would naturally have done 
 if such were the case, writing as he did, the best account of 
 the Dutch in Guiana. 
 
 A possible further explanation of why the Jews are men- 
 tioned as going from Cayenne to Surinam in 1664 and why 
 Pomeroon is not designated by name, even if known, may be 
 found in the fact that after the capture by the English, under 
 
 *=b " Veele Jooden hadden sig aldaar nedergezet, doch toen de 
 Nederlanders van Cayenne verdreeven werden, gingen zy mede 
 over naar Suriname." 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 143 
 
 Willoughby's orders, of the Pomeroon and surrounding col- 
 onies, the new territory became known as part of Willoughby 
 Land or Surinam and lost its identity as an independent ter- 
 ritory, being all then under one government, and also because 
 in later years when the Dutch occupied the greater part of 
 Guiana, including the Essequibo and neighboring settlements, 
 the whole of their possessions was generally known as Surinam, 
 and writers on the subject of the Jews there made no distinc- 
 tion as to what part of Surinam the Jews from Cayenne first 
 went to. An English map of 1733 shows Surinam as includ- 
 ing the Essequibo and Pomeroon/' Even the Dutch work 
 already referred to in a note, by Otto Keye, published in 1659 
 and which has been described as a larger prospectus to induce 
 colonization in Guiana, speaks in its title page of the land to 
 be colonized as the "Landstrekke Serrinamme," or the Suri- 
 nam country, although at that very time what is now known 
 as Surinam was occupied by the English. 
 
 To this it may be added that after the destruction of Pom- 
 eroon many of the Jews who had probably gone there from 
 Cayenne no doubt went with other Jews from Pomeroon to the 
 Savannah at Surinam, and the designation of Cayenne Jews 
 remained with them when they settled at the Savannah. They 
 were all found at Surinam at the time of the treaty of Breda 
 in 1667 and none as a colony in Pomeroon whence they had 
 fled after the invasion of the English early in 1666. Hence 
 the Jews were considered all as of Surinam when Crynssen 
 recovered that place from the English in 1667 and when the 
 treaty of Breda was made in that year. Thus the Jews from 
 Cayenne who had gone to Pomeroon or Tobago and then after- 
 wards to Surinam were, by later writers, considered as having 
 come froin Cayenne to Surinam and not from Pomeroon or 
 Tobago. 
 
 That there were not many Jews in Surinam at the time 
 
 »»See Report, U. 8. Com., Vol. IV (.Atlas), p. 34, Popple's Map. 
 11 
 
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144 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 when the grant of that country was made by Charles II to 
 Willoughby and Hyde on June 2, 1663, may be gathered from 
 the petition of Benjamin and Henry de Caseres and Jacob 
 Fraso, Jews, to the King of England, in April, 1661, for per- 
 mission to reside and trade in Surinam and Barbados, and 
 from the recommendation of the Council for Foreign Planta- 
 tions on June 5, 1662, to grant such permission, from which 
 it appears that at this time Jews were not permitted to trade 
 in the English colonies without a special licenBe." One of 
 these men can be identified as a Jew in Surinam in 1669, 
 under the name of Henriques de Caseres." 
 
 The English records show no further applications of Jews 
 for permission to go to Surinam about the time of the 
 Willoughby grant, and, notwithstanding the unsupported 
 statement in the Essai and in the Survnaamsche Almanak for 
 1899, it may be doubted whether many English Jews went to 
 Surinam before 1665. 
 
 In a work published in 1671, but apparently limited to 
 events up to between 1660 and 1665, we find a significant 
 reference to the small number of Jews in Surinam under the 
 English. The statement there reads : " Some few Jews live 
 here and trade also as merchants, they having obtained a 
 license from the King so to do." "* 
 
 "Puis., Am. Jewish Hist. Sac, No. 5, pp. 63-64. 
 
 '"Pm&s.,No.4,p.3; Essai Jiistorique, II, p. 134. Also Appendix IV. 
 
 ■"a Lewes Roberts, The Merchants' Map of Commerce, London, 
 1671, p. 60, 2nd Edition. See p. 62 for reference to date of 1660. 
 The same statement appears in the 3d Edition, 1677, p. 60; and 
 in the 4th Edition, 1700, p. 58, when the English no longer were 
 in Surinam. The 1st Edition, 1638, contains no reference to 
 Surinam. All these Editions are at Lenox Library. 
 
 On the subject of religion we read in the same work, p. 61, 
 that no power is given to priest or prelate " to exercise authority 
 over the conscience of others though different in opinion: So 
 that the Jews and others of different judgments (they yielding 
 obedience to the civil laws) are protected and live peaceably and 
 quietly in this place." 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 145 
 
 Elsewhere also we can find even before 1663 allusions indi- 
 cating that there were very few Jews in Surinam. In a work 
 published in that year " we find a reference to disputes in the 
 latter part of 1661 between some of the English colonists and 
 the authorities with reference to the disregard of the rights of 
 the former under Magna Charta. To test the right of Wil- 
 liam Byam to act as Governor, a shallop belonging to one 
 Cryn Jacobson, described as a Dutchman who had been in 
 Surinam ia 1650 when the place was taken by the English and 
 had been allowed to continue to reside there since, was seized 
 as a prize under the l^Tavigation Act of 1660. It was expected 
 that Byam, on a trial before the Admiralty Court at Jamaica, 
 would thus be compelled to define his authority to act as Gov- 
 ernor. Speaking of the contention between him and the mal- 
 contents, the statement is made by the writer of the work 
 referred to, who was one of the colonists disciplined for his 
 recalcitrancy, that Byam and another official were "wrought 
 upon by the tears of a Jew who had great prevalencies on 
 them" (possibly referring to Jacobson's prayers for relief), 
 and also that a certain Captain Crook, a coadjutor of our 
 informant, had made the declaration that " neither Dutch or 
 Jew should live here" (in Surinam)."' 
 
 Early in 1665 we find also, a reference to two Jews sailing 
 from Eotterdam in February, 1664-5, for Surinam being held 
 up on their way on the Thames. That they reached Surinam 
 may be judged from the fact that the name of the family of 
 one of them, Meza, appears as Mora as a member of the Jew- 
 ish community in Surinam in 1669, and that of Mera and 
 Baruh as among the Jews claiming to be English subjects in 
 1677." 
 
 ■"Robert Sanford, Surinam Justice, London, 1662, At Lenox 
 Library. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 34, 37. 
 
 ''Pubs., No. 4, p. 3; Pubs., No. 6, pp. 17-19; Essai historique, II, 
 p. 134; Appendix IV; See Britisb Calendar of State Papers, Domes- 
 
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146 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The reference in Byam's Journal, quoted above, to the J 
 French and Dutch being, after Scott's invasion, soon on 
 wing for the Trench Islands of Martinico and St. Chr 
 phers, etc., did not specifically mention by name the desi 
 tion of the Jews and Dutch but indicated only that of 
 French, du Tertre refers to the capture of Tobago and sp 
 of the English, after garrisoning the island, removing 
 French to Martinique, but does not mention the Jewi 
 Dutch."'' The Jews at that time would not have gone in 
 
 tic Series, 1664-1665, p. 229: "Petition of Abraham Meza 
 David Baruh and their families to the King for permissio 
 come on shore, being all in perfect health. Came from Rottei 
 and are on their way to Surinam, but were stopped at Tollh 
 in the Thames by his order." 
 
 We also find a reference, under date of June 22, 1663, to a D 
 de Mercato, as the inventor of a sugar mill and as one who 
 his long residence in the West Indies, with much study, cb 
 and expense hath attained to the perfection of making 
 framing of sugar mills after a new manner." This referem 
 in connection with a warrant to Francis, Lord Willoughby, 
 Lawrence Hyde, of the sole right to use this invention in 
 Barbadoes and Caribby Islands. Willoughby and Hyde were 
 joint proprietors of Surinam and not of Barbados, and 
 presumption is that this invention was primarily intendec 
 use in Surinam. David de Meroato was no doubt the sam 
 David Raphael de Mercado, a Hebrew, noted as having receive 
 1655, a pass from Cromwell to go to the Barbadoes, -w 
 Willoughby was then Governor. Puis., No. 6, p. 160. The i 
 also appears among the list of Jews in Barbados in 1680 as I 
 Ealph deMereado. Puts., No. 1, p. 105. He was probablj 
 a time in Surinam. A further reference to this invention ap] 
 under date of January 2, 1664, where the statement is thai 
 warrant is issued for a grant to Willoughby and Hyde, " o: 
 sole making and framing of sugar mills after the new ma 
 invented by David de Mercato, who is desirous for the said ! 
 to be made to them, they giving hini all due encouragem 
 See British Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, Am 
 and West Indies, 1661-1668, p. 144; Calendar of State Pc 
 Domestic Series, 1663-1664, p. 427. 
 
 °*a du Tertre, Histoire generale des Ant-Isles, supra. III, p 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 147 
 
 numbers to Martinique or to St. Christopher, as those islands 
 then belonged to the French who were not friendly to Jews. 
 At Martinique those already there were only tolerated, and 
 restricted in their occupations, and any new accessions would 
 not have been likely to be received."'' The only refuge of the 
 Jews eastward of Pomeroon was at Surinam or at Jamaica 
 or Barbados. Westward they might have gone to the Dutch 
 island of Curagao, but as that was about a thousand miles 
 away they probably did not go there in numbers, though a few 
 must have found their way thither, judging from the refer- 
 ences noted to some being there some years later. We have 
 no indication, in the literature of Curagao, of any accession of 
 Jews from Pomeroon or Essequibo at this time or at any time. 
 Conditions at Barbados, as will be indicated, were not then 
 conducive to attracting them thither, while if they had gone 
 to Jamaica to stay they would have had some difficulty in 
 being received there, as they were not English denizens. Suri- 
 nam was only about one hundred miles away, and was then on 
 the lookout for Jewish colonists and had not long before made 
 a special invitation to Jews in the grant of August, 1665. 
 This invitation, before the Pomeroon plantations were de- 
 stroyed and Tobago captured, they had not had occasion to 
 avail themselves of. There was then no reason why they 
 should leave for a colony under a different form of govern- 
 ment. The one of which they formed an important part ap- 
 pears, as already stated, as then the most flourishiag the 
 Dutch ever had in America. 
 
 The probabilities all point to their having gone after the 
 loss of their plantations to Surinam. The occurrence of the 
 family names of deEonseca, daCosta, Nunes, and Attias or 
 Arrias in both places is significant on this point. Beiug with- 
 out a home the locality in which they could have religious 
 freedom and civil rights such as they enjoyed in Pomeroon or 
 
 "blbid.. Ill, pp. 71, 313, 315. Jewish Encyclopedia, title Mar- 
 tinique, Vol. VIII, p. 353. 
 
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148 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Tobago, would naturally have attracted them."" Whatev 
 Jewish colony may have been in Surinam early in 1665 h 
 not, according to the English historians of Guiana, been in 
 flourishing condition." The Jews that may have gone the 
 in 1664 from Cayenne to join the few already there had pre 
 ably located temporarily on the Savannah, where the few w 
 may have settled there resided, and remained there until de 
 nite arrangements could be made for a permanent settleme] 
 It is not likely that all the Jews in Cayenne went there. Soi 
 must have gravitated elsewhere. If we can credit the sta 
 ment in Hartsinck's Besdh-ryving van Guiana, already cit« 
 and he is considered a good authority, most of the Cayen 
 
 "c The attack on the Pomeroon colony was made by the Engli 
 from Barbados, who do not appear, according to Byam's Joun 
 and Scott's account, to have been assisted by the English fr( 
 Surinam, though after the capture of Pomeroon, Byam sent soj 
 of his men, on Willoughby's orders, to take a Dutch colony n( 
 Cayenne. The English in Surinam cannot be regarded as havi 
 been so inimical to the Jews of Pomeroon as to preclude 1 
 latter flying to Surinam in order to re-establish themselves th( 
 after the destruction of their plantations, particularly in view 
 the grant of privileges made in the preceding year and the fi 
 that there were a few Jews already there and the Engl; 
 apparently had obtained control of nearly all the Dutch sett 
 ments in Guiana. That Byam's Journal does not speak of 1 
 Jews from Pomeroon going to Surinam does not militate agaii 
 the probabilities of their having gone thither in 1666. He a 
 makes no specific mention of the grant of 1665 to the Jews, i 
 of any accession of Jews from Cayenne in 1664 and afterwards, i 
 even of any Jews as among the population except in 1667 wt 
 speaking of a visit made by him with some of them to Crynss 
 in regard to the terms of his surrender to the Dutch in that ye 
 A reference to this visit will be made further on. His accoi 
 being intended as a defence of his conduct in surrendering Si 
 nam to the Dutch is devoted mainly to detailing the circumstan 
 leading to and justifying his surrender, and nothing in it 
 inconsistent with the conclusions drawn herein regarding i 
 accession from Pomeroon. 
 
 "Annals of Ouiana, supra, Vol. I, p. 174. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 149 
 
 Jews were transported by the Frencli to Eochelle, and from 
 there found their way to Holland, but this being so, it is prob- 
 able that some few had escaped from Cayenne and these may 
 have been considered as the nucleus of the Cayenne Jews set- 
 tling in Surinam. Until the grant of 1665 the refugees had 
 no assurance of safety in Surinam. They were aliens and sub- 
 ject to being treated as such. A special license, as already 
 indicated, was necessary for Jews going thither from Europe, 
 and the Navigation Act of 1660 afEected Jews trading or doing 
 business in Surinam, if aliens, or not made denizens. The 
 Cayenne Jews came under the prohibition of the Act. The 
 grant of 1665 makes no reference to any late accession of Jews 
 from Cayenne, but speaks only of Jews who were already resi- 
 dent there. 
 
 What led to the grant of 1665 we may gather from a knowl- 
 edge of the state of the colony of Surinam at that time, and 
 from a consideration of how far the authorities were influ- 
 enced to make the grant by the conditions then existing. 
 
 Wnioughby Land became the official designation of Surinam 
 after the charter of Charles II to Willoughby and Hyde of 
 June 2, 1663. William Byam, its Governor, makes the state- 
 ment in his Journal of the state of the colony between 1665 
 and 1667," that in May, 1665, the colony of Willoughby Land 
 was " in its meridian, and after this month had its declination 
 and went ever retrograde." Lord Willoughby, one of the pro- 
 prietors, he adds, was then there on a visit, and on the 9th 
 of that month sailed for Barbados of which he was Governor. 
 Shortly afterwards, about 300 able men departed from the 
 colony and left it insufficiently armed. A sickness broke out 
 at the town of Tarorica, the old capital of British Guiana, 
 and spread itself to the plantations adjoining and swept many 
 away. 
 
 "Bijdragen van de Historisch GenootsGhap, te Utrecht, supra. 
 Vol. 19, p. 233. 
 
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150 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Upon WilloTighby's departure, says Byam, " some jealousies 
 possessed the inhabitants, which broke out into great discon- 
 tent. The colony employed one Captain John Parker to 
 Barbados to his Excellency, whose so prudent and judicious 
 management returned him with a satisfactory declaration 
 which stopped many then upon ye wing ready to desert the 
 colony to some place where they might not be tenants at will." " 
 
 This "satisfactory declaration," we may judge, related to 
 the Jews as well as to the Christians in Surinam, and as to 
 the Jews was probably none other than authority for the grant 
 of privileges to them. They had probably met with difficul- 
 ties in Surinam at the time, and demanded protection or 
 threatened to leave for the colony on the Pomeroon, being 
 probably treated as in Surinam merely on sufferance. As 
 tenants at will they were liable to lose their lands at any time 
 the authorities chose to demand possession. If from Cayenne 
 they were not long enough in Surinam to be regarded as 
 other than temporarily located there, and felt themselves at 
 liberty to threaten to move. Governor Byam must have had 
 reference to them, among others, in speaking of the great dis- 
 content of some of the inhabitants and their threatening to 
 leave for a place where they might not be treated as tenants 
 at will. Even a few Jews there with their plantations for 
 sugar were of importance to the colony. A threat to leave 
 would be most likely to be made by people who were not there 
 long, or who were not satisfactorily treated. Such other place, 
 so far as the Jews were concerned, undoubtedly meant Pom- 
 eroon, Tobago, and the surrounding Dutch possessions. We 
 have seen, under other conditions, how that the Jews on 
 the Pomeroon, in 1660, had threatened to leave that place on 
 the failure of the Dutch authorities abroad to give them proper 
 consideration." They would not have then gone to Barbados 
 
 "lUd. See also Sloane, MSS., 3662, fol. 37 verso, by Major 
 John Scott, supra, Case for Great Britain, Appendix I, p. 171. 
 ** See Extracts in the Appendix. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 151 
 
 of which Lord Willoughby, one of the Surinam proprietors, 
 was then Governor, for the reason that similar complaints of 
 being tenants at will had been made about that time by plant- 
 ers in Barbados and discontent had arisen there from that 
 cause.™ The Surinam authorities must have felt the desira- 
 bility of having the Jews as residents, in view of the loss of a 
 considerable number of their able-bodied men and the com- 
 mencing decline of the colony's prosperity. The Jews had 
 means and were acquainted with the cultivation of the sugar 
 cane, and were apparently desirable colonists. Wealth was 
 then largely reckoned in sugar. 
 
 The grant of 1665, through its recitals and liberal terms, 
 indicates the anxiety of the authorities to retain the Jews al- 
 ready in Surinam and to induce others to go there. It speaks 
 of the desire to " encourage " the Jews who had " proved them- 
 selves useful and beneficial " to the colony, " to continue their 
 residence and trade " in Surinam, and offers liberties to them 
 or " members of the Hebrew nation now resident here or who 
 may hereafter come to reside and trade here," and speaks of 
 it being " good and sound policy " to " invite persons of 
 whatsoever country and religion to come and reside here and 
 trafBc with us." These recitals imply that such of the Jews 
 as were at Surinam needed encouragement to remain and that 
 they had felt discouraged at conditions there and had thought 
 of leaving and also that a bid was thereby made to induce 
 emigration from Pomeroon and the other Dutch possessions. 
 The various provisions of the grant were made liberal enough 
 to accomplish the object of the authorities. The reference in 
 it to the Jews to " receiving them under the protection and 
 safeguard of our government, with all the property they now 
 hold or shall hereafter possess and import from any foreign 
 place or kingdom abroad," indicates a people that were or had 
 been subjects of another power, and a desire to induce others 
 
 "I John Poyer, History of Barbados, London, 1808, p. 78. 
 
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153 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 under a foreign jurisdiction to take up their residence under 
 the English flag. It also implies that a doubt had existed in 
 the minds of the old or intending colonists with regard to the 
 security of their possessions while in Surinam. The promise 
 also made that " nothing of what they now possess or shall 
 hereafter acquire shall be taken from them or be appropriated 
 among ourselves by any person of whatever rank," and that 
 they shall have " full liberty to plant and trade and do what- 
 ever they might consider to their advantage and profit " indi- 
 cates also that the Jews were foreigners in Surinam and had 
 not definitely settled there and that their property had been 
 or was likely to be subject to seizure as such foreigners, and 
 as coming within the prohibition of the Navigation Act of 
 1660 directed against aliens trading in the colonies, under 
 which their goods were subject to forfeiture, one-third going 
 to the Governor, one-third to the informer, and one-third to 
 the crown.™ That prohibition alone would have been suffic- 
 ient, as being enforceable against them at any time, to have 
 caused the Jews as a body to refrain from then settling in 
 Surinam. The reference to their property not being " taken 
 or appropriated among ourselves by any person of whatever 
 rank," apparently refers to a seizure which had been made 
 under the Navigation Act, on the complaint of some officer of 
 rank, — possibly to a repetition of the Cryn Jacobson case, 
 already referred to, or to that case. Without the exemption of 
 the forfeiture of their goods for trading as aliens there, or for 
 carrying on the business of merchant or factor, as stated in 
 the Act, and without the assurance from the authorities that 
 their goods would not be seized, the Cayenne Jews or those 
 looking about for a new location certainly would not have 
 taken up a permanent residence under the English in Suri- 
 nam. This assurance and exemption they could only get, 
 under the Act, by being made free denizens or citizens. The 
 grant therefore declared that they should be regarded as Bng- 
 
 ™ 12 Carl c. 18, sec. 2, Statutes of the Realm, V, 246-250. 
 
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Barly Jewish Colony in Western Ouiana — Oppenheim. 153 
 
 lish born and entitled to all the rights of other English citi- 
 zens in the colony. The requirement that they should be 
 "true subjects to the King of England and obey all orders 
 already issued by him " was immediately qualified by the fol- 
 lowing sentence that " none of these orders shall be contrary 
 to what is herein contained." This, with the provisions of 
 the grant, relieved them from the operation of the provision 
 of the Navigation Act alluded to. 
 
 The lapse of time between the expulsion of the Jews from 
 Cayenne in 1664 and the issuing of the grant is, in view of the 
 Navigation Act, significant of the fact that the Jews of 
 Cayenne were not, during that interval, engaged in business 
 in Surinam if they were in numbers there at all. If there in 
 the interval, the issuing of the grant indicates that at the date 
 of its execution some necessity or demand for it arose, and 
 that similar privileges had not theretofore been enjoyed by 
 the Jews in Surinam. 
 
 A reference in the petition of 1669 to the Dutch Governor 
 for additional privileges indicates that the Jews desired to be 
 protected in their rights. The copy in the Appendix shows 
 that information was asked of the Jews in Surinam by their 
 brethren in various quarters, who desired to settle in the col- 
 ony, as to the condition of affairs there and how the Jews were 
 treated. It may also be pointed out that this petition refers 
 to the English grant of 1665 as that under which privileges 
 had been granted to the Jews, and makes no mention of a 
 prior English grant to them. Had such a prior grant existed 
 it would undoubtedly have been mentioned in connection with 
 their application for additional privileges, which was made to 
 the Dutch and not to the English, any reason for avoiding a 
 reference to the Cromwellian government, as suggested by 
 Mr. Lucien Wolf, not being then applicable. Some of the 
 additional privileges asked for were, as already stated, among 
 those in the grant discovered by Mr. Wolf and claimed by him 
 to be an English grant but shown herein to be of Dutch 
 origin. 
 
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154 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The grant of 1665 was an extraordinarily sweeping one to 
 have been made, and, so far as we know, is the first of its kind 
 granted by the English to Jews anywhere. Its terms read 
 almost, in view of the situation at the time and its liberality, 
 as if it were forced from the authorities who feared for the life 
 of their colony. The Dutch, however, as indicated herein, had 
 preceded the English some years before in even more liberal 
 treatment of the Jews, in the grant of religious freedom and 
 civil rights to them in the neighboring colonies on their emi- 
 gration from the ISTetherlands. The tolerance of the Dutch 
 may be said to have reacted upon the English in Surinam, 
 for without the Dutch in the neighborhood and the example 
 of the effect of their liberal treatment in the growiag pros- 
 perity of the Pomeroon colony, it is exceedingly doubtful 
 whether the English would have made the grant of 1665 to 
 induce the Jews to reside and trade in Surinam. The copying 
 of many of the provisions of the Dutch grant indicates that 
 the Jews required these similar provisions before consenting 
 to settle permanently under the English, or at least that the 
 English felt that the Jews would not settle or remain with 
 them unless they were granted privileges similar to those their 
 coreligionists were enjoying under the Dutch. 
 
 That the Jews were powerful enough to dictate terms is also 
 indicated by the fact that shortly after the Dutch regained 
 possession of Surinam in 1667 the latter yielded to the petition 
 of the Jews in 1669 for the additional privileges already re- 
 ferred to, which they had intended to ask immediately after 
 the English had surrendered in 1667, but which the troubles 
 in the following two years prevented. This petition was 
 signed by the leading members of the Jewish community, and 
 set out a copy of the grant of 1665 and added the further pro- 
 visions which they desired. The signers stated that their co- 
 religionists in various quarters awaited a confirmation of the 
 old privileges and the granting of the proposed additions be- 
 fore deciding to settle in Surinam. The terms of two of 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 155 
 
 these further provisions have already been indicated. The 
 two others related to the control of church matters by the 
 Jews themselves, with recourse to the Governor for enforce- 
 ment if necessary, and permission to labor with their slaves 
 on Sunday .^°°^ Surinam having been taken from the English 
 by the Dutch, the Jewish inhabitants there, though many of 
 them from Holland and under the Dutch in Pomeroon having 
 enjoyed similar privileges, naturally could not be regarded by 
 the conquerors as entitled, as a matter of course, and without 
 governmental action, having been English subjects, to the 
 identical privileges which they had enjoyed in Pomeroon, and 
 it was therefore necessary for them to have the English grant 
 confirmed by the Dutch. It was also expedient for the Dutch 
 then to grant the petition because of the large number of Jews 
 in Surinam and their usefulness as colonists acquainted with 
 the cultivation of the sugar cane and other agricultural 
 products. 
 
 The grant of 1665 is often spoken of as having been made 
 by Charles II or by the British Government. It does not seem 
 to have emanated from England. On its face it is a grant 
 from the Governor, his Council and Assembly, and is signed 
 by John Parry, as secretary. Parry, according to tables in the 
 Essai historique was Secretary in Surinam from 1663 to 1665. 
 The proprietors, under their charter, had the right, through 
 the form of government established by them, to pass such laws 
 as they thought proper for the administration of their colony. 
 The date of the grant was August 17, 1665, and not August 7, 
 as heretofore noted in the Publications!''^ This correction 
 has been made in the recent article on The Jews in Surinam, 
 by Eev. J. S. Eoos."' 
 
 The dominion of the English in Surinam after this grant 
 was, however, quite shortlived. It ceased in about a year after 
 
 »™a See Appendix IV. 
 
 "'Pm6s., No. 3, p. 147; No. 9, p. 146. 
 
 ^°'Pubs., No. 13, p. 130. See also copy in Essai historique, II. 
 
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156 Americcm Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 the Pomeroon colony was destroyed. Byam, in his Journal, 
 describes the deplorable condition of his colony for defence at 
 the time of its surrender to the Dutch Admiral Crynssen in 
 1667, and shows why he was compelled to yield. He also 
 mentions a visit he made to the Dutch Admiral with the view 
 of treating for terms, and says he advanced towards the Ad- 
 miral's ship with a fleet of small vessels containing Christians 
 and Jews, 168 in number, and that he was well received. 
 Probably Jews predominated, and many of them having come 
 from Holland and the Dutch colony of Pomeroon, Cayenne, 
 and possibly Tobago, the Dutch were inclined to lend a willing 
 ear to their request for favorable terms. Under the capitula- 
 tion dated March 6, 1667, provision was made for the benefit 
 of the Jews resident in Surinam. A list of the Jewish and 
 Christian inhabitants was also agreed, by the sixteenth clause, 
 to be furnished to the Dutch commander."" A copy of this 
 list in all probability exists in the archives at Surinam. In 
 the archives at The Hague it cannot be found. The names of 
 the Jewish inhabitants then in Surinam would probably be 
 substantially the names of the colonists in Pomeroon and 
 Cayenne.^" 
 
 "" See Byam's Journal in Bijdragen, supra. 
 
 >" As many of the Jewish planters of Surinam were no doubt 
 partly from the Pomeroon it may be well here to note a map, not 
 dated, discovered by the present writer, containing the name of 
 Jewish owners of plantations in Surinam before 1718. With a 
 few exceptions all the names on this map appear also on two 
 maps of 1750, and later, made by other designers and engravers, 
 a copy of which has been reproduced in the article by Prof. Rich- 
 ard Gottheil, in Puis., Am. Jewish Hist. Soc, No. 9, pp. 128-133. The 
 map in question is probably a reproduction of a map much earlier 
 in date than 1718, and is to be found in the Lenox Library in a 
 work entitled Beschryvinge van de Tolk-Plantinge Zuriname, by 
 J. D. HL., Leeuwarden, 1718, XX, 263 pp. It is entitled Land 
 Eaart van de Land Streelcen Cottioa, Comowini en Suriname, 
 Alles nauJcerig afgetekent Door A. Maars. Starting from the 
 mouth of the Surinam and going south, we find the following 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 157 
 
 The subsequent changes in the government of Surinam 
 under the treaty of Breda are matters of history and need not 
 be dilated upon here. Surinam became again a recognized 
 Dutch possession, and New York, captured by the English in 
 1664, -was relinquished to England. 
 
 Eeturning again to the colonies in Nova Zeelandia we find 
 that the colony at Essequibo was, after some years, re-estab- 
 lished but that few Jews are known to have gone there or to 
 their former location on the Pomeroon. There is, however, 
 a reference to a Jew as travelling in Pomeroon and as having 
 died some months before March, 1684, and as the only one 
 then knowing how to prepare the vanilla bean for trade. This 
 appears in a letter of Abraham Beekman, the Commandeur 
 at Essequibo, addressed to the West India Company, under 
 date of March 31, 1684, reading as follows : ^"° 
 
 names in the order given. On the right bank, looking south, 
 occur the names of dePina, d'Ariab, deFonseca, David, Drago, 
 Duivelaar, Marik de Britta, Serfatyn, Nunes de Costa, Parade, 
 Barug de Costa, Joods Doorp en Sinagoge, Nansa, deSilva, 
 Abraham de Pina, Jacques da Costa, Benjamin daCosta, Joseph 
 Nassy, Samuel Nassy. Opposite the Joods Doorp en Sinagoge 
 we find the names Nunes, and Moses I. de Pona. On the Cottica 
 river is found the name of Abraham de Jood. On a branch of 
 the Comowini appears the name of Aron de Silva. 
 
 Of these names we find that in the list of some of the members 
 of the Jewish community in Surinam in 1669, mentioned in the 
 Essai historique, in the petition for the additional privileges in 
 that year, and in Appendix IV hereto, the following appear in 
 the surname, Nassy, da Costa, deFonseca, Nunes, deSilva, Parada 
 under the name of Pardo and Ariab under the name of Arias. 
 Duivelaar appears later, in 1735, as Davilar. See Pubs., No. 13, 
 p. 132. The appearance of the name " Joods Doorp en Sinagoge " 
 indicates a date after 1685, when the synagogue was built, but 
 the plantations were undoubtedly there before that time. 
 
 ^'^Gase for Great Britain, supra, Appendix I, p. 186; Report, 
 U. 8. Com., supra. Vol. II, pp. 161-162. 
 
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158 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The Jew Salomon de la Roche having died some 8 or 9 moiitlis 
 ago, the trade in vanilla has come to an end, since no one here 
 knows how to prepare it so as to develop the proper aroma and 
 keep it from spoiling. I have not heard of any this whole year. 
 Little is found here; the most of it is to be had in Pomeroon and 
 Barima, whither this Jew frequently traveled, and he used some- 
 times to make me a present of a little. In navigating along the 
 river, too, I have sometimes seen some on the trees and picked 
 it with my own hands, and it was prepared by the Jew, although 
 I was never before acquainted with the virtues and value of 
 this fruit, which grows wild and after the fashion of the banana. 
 I have, indeed, sometimes used it in chocolate. The Jew has 
 without my knowledge secretly sent a deal home; however, I 
 shall do my best to obtain for the Company, in Pomeroon or else- 
 where, as much as shall be feasible, but I am afraid it will spoil, 
 since I do not know how to prepare it. I shall take care that no 
 private business be carried on it. 
 
 To this, a letter of reproof was sent by the West India Com- 
 pany. Under date of August 34, 1684, they wrote : "° 
 
 Concerning the trade to Orinoco, we find it advisable that you 
 stop it, and neither trade thither yourself, nor permit trade 
 thither, directly or indirectly, until further orders; since we are 
 of opinion that the Company bears all the expenses and burdens, 
 and that others help themselves to the profits. 
 
 And we hold the same opinion as to the Berblce trade,"" 
 which we recommended you to carry on for the Company, where- 
 upon you answer us, saying, that this trade has come to an end 
 through the death, 8 months ago, of a Jew named Salomon 
 la Roche, and that he had sent a great deal home, but without 
 your knowledge — truly a meagre and poor excuse. How is it 
 possible that such a thing can occur without your knowledge, 
 and likewise without the knowledge of skipper Isaac Keuvel? 
 That won't do: we are astonished, not only that you venture 
 to write such transparent excuses to your lords and masters, but 
 even more that you are not ashamed of wheedling them with 
 lies, in order quietly to keep this trade for your own private 
 profit — your own and that of the said skipper Steven Keuvel. 
 
 '°° Report, supra, Vol. II, p. 168. 
 
 "' Note by Editor : Apparently a clerical error for " the vanilla 
 trade." 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 159 
 
 Of this we think we are reliably informed; as also that this 
 Jew (whose name is used only as a pretext to mislead) has not 
 monopolized the vanilla, but that the Indians have furnished you 
 with a goodly quantity."" 
 
 M= In 1744 we find a further reference to a Jew in Essequibo 
 named Moses Isaac de Vries. This was in connection with the 
 desertion of a number of slaves, which threatened great danger 
 to the colony. The Commandeur writing about this time to the 
 West India Company, under date of April 3, 1744,"" spoke of 
 "the Jew Moses I^aacke de Vries" as being in successful com- 
 mand of the Indisin forces proceeding against the deserters, and 
 in a further letter dated December 7, 1746,"" announces the death 
 of de Vries and refers to his good qualities, as follows : 
 
 " I have frequently felt the want of a good sworn interpreter of 
 the Indian languages, such as there is in Surinam, and this 
 want has ofteh been to our loss. I have frequently been assisted 
 by the Jew Moses Isackse deVrles, but he being now dead there 
 is not a good faithful one to be got, and I am afraid to trust 
 to the negroes or Creoles, who say or conceal whatever they wish." 
 
 DeVries is also mentioned as having, in the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, attempted a sugar plantation on the Essequibo 
 as far up as the first great rapid, the Aretaka."* The statement 
 in regard to this was made in 1764, and is as follows : 
 
 "Above thd first fall in Essequibo, a Jew named Moses Isaac 
 deVries, who is now dead, some years ago commenced a sugar 
 plantation, and the cane which was grown there called forth the 
 admiration ahd astonishment of all the inhabitants." "' 
 
 It may be well also to preserve here another name in connec- 
 tion with thel Jews in Guiana. Although appearing in connection 
 with Surinam it relates to the region around Essequibo. In the 
 Report of the V. 8. Commission, supra, pp. 210, 212, are given 
 extracts from a document dated in 1707 relating to a secret expedi- 
 tion from Surinam to the Orinoco in search of a certain treasure. 
 All connected with the expedition were sworn to secrecy, and 
 Instructions were issued to give no one any knowledge of it except 
 " Isak Israel Lorenzo, otherwise Isaac the Jew," who was in the 
 service of the Society of Surinam as an interpreter and under- 
 stood the Carib language. 
 
 A further reference to Jews In this region appears in a Spanish 
 document in which the suggestion is made to the Spanish authori- 
 ties in 1743 to keep in check "the Jews who were swarming 
 
 12 
 
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1G(J American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The following is a summary of what has been principally 
 shown herein, not heretofore appearing ia relation to the Jews 
 in South America : 
 
 1. The establishment in 1658 by the Dutch, probably under 
 an agreement with David ISTassy, dated January 25, 1658, of 
 a colony of Jews on the Pomeroon river, in the region of the 
 Essequibo, in British Guiana, then in the possession of the 
 Dutch, and known as Nova Zeelandia, and the development 
 of that colony until January, 1666, when their plantations 
 were destroyed during an incursion by the English from Bar- 
 bados under Major John Scott. Extracts from the Dutch 
 archives indicatiug the activity of the Jews in the colony, and 
 appearing here for the first time in print, are appended. 
 
 2. An emigration of twenty-five families of Jews from Leg- 
 horn, Italy, in the spring of 1658, sent out by Holland under 
 a grant of privileges and immunities to them, to form a colony 
 in the region between Surinam and Cartagena, identified 
 herein as at Pomeroon in the Essequibo district, and the 
 probability of part of them having become dispersed to the 
 islands in the neighborhood; and also further emigrations of 
 Jews from Leghorn to ISTova Zeelandia in 1659 and 1660. 
 
 3. The identity of the grant of privileges discovered by Mr. 
 Lucien Wolf in the British Museum, in the Egerton MSS., 
 No. 2,395, set out by him in the Transactions of the Jewish 
 Historical Society of England, Volume 3, and reprinted m an 
 article by Mr. Max J. Kohler in Publications of the American 
 Jewish Historical Society, No. 8, and claimed by Mr. Wolf 
 to be an English grant of 1654 for a Jewish colony in Surinam, 
 
 between the banks of the Amazon and those of the River Oro 
 [noquo]." See Case for Venezuela, Reply to British Blue Book 
 Documents and Correspondence, p. 59. 
 
 "» Case for Oeat Britain, supra, Appendix II, p. 42. 
 
 ""Jftit?., p. 48. 
 
 '^^^ Report, supra. Vol. I, p. 202. 
 
 '" Case for Great Britain, Appendix III, p. 111. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana— Oppenheim. 161 
 
 with the Dutch grant to David Nassy, dated January 35, 1658, 
 above referred to, for a Jewish colony in the Bssequibo, which 
 settled on the Pomeroon, in what is now British Guiana, then 
 belonging to the Dutch, and for the benefit also of the colo- 
 nists, from Leghorn who probably first went to Tobago before 
 proceeding to the Essequibo region. 
 
 4. The genesis of the British grant of privileges to the Jews 
 of Surinam, of August 17, 1665, and that it was modelled, 
 probably at the instance of the Jews, upon the grant discovered 
 by Mr. Wolf, but as a Dutch grant and not as an English grant 
 or draft English grant, as claimed by him, and that in 1669, 
 two years after the capture of Surinam by the Dutch, two of 
 the four further provisions that were added to the British 
 grant of 1665 by the Dutch, at the request of the Jews, were 
 taken from the very grant discovered by Mr. Wolf, indicating 
 that that grant was then known to the Jews of Surinam of 
 whom many had been iu the colony at Pomeroon and at 
 Tobago from which they had undoubtedly gone after the cap- 
 ture and destruction of their plantations in 1665-6. 
 
 5. Some additional data as to the Jewish colony in Cayenne 
 under the Dutch grant to David IsTassy, of September 13, 1659, 
 of which a copy in English is given, and the relation of that 
 colony to the colonies at Pomeroon, Essequibo and Surinam, 
 and reasons for believing that after the capture of Cayenne 
 by the French in 1664 the Jews did not at once go to Suri- 
 nam, as is generally supposed, but that they went to Pomeroon 
 and Essequibo, and that it was only after their plantations 
 in Pomeroon had been destroyed by the English from Bar- 
 bados in 1666 that they went to Surinam, which had just pre- 
 viously issued a special invitation to Jews to settle there, 
 granting for the first time in English history full religious 
 liberty and citizenship to them. 
 
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162 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 I. 
 FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE GOVERN- 
 ING FOR THE THREE WALCHEREN CITIES, MIDDEL- 
 BURG, FLUSHING, AND VERE, THE COLONY OF NOVA- 
 ZEELANDIA, 1658-1663. 
 (Hague, Rljksarchief, West India Papers, cover-title, Resolutien 
 rakende de nieuwe Collonie in Isekepe [Esseauibo], 1 Nov, 1657 
 [-19 Nov. 1663].) 
 
 Thuesdat, Janttaey 3, 1658. 
 There appeared various people of the Hebrevir nation requesting 
 to be allowed to ship their baggage to Esseauibo. Whereupon it 
 was resolved to answer them that this would be allowed; that every 
 family or individual should hand in a detailed list of their bag- 
 gage and necessities for agriculture, and according to this to give 
 them passports which would describe the baggage they are 
 allowed to take. This to serve as a memorandum for the skipper 
 and to facilitate the keeping of an account of the costs. 
 
 Monday, Januaby 21, 1658. 
 Read several proposals from members of the Jewish nation. 
 After deliberation, it was resolved to request the members for 
 Flushing to order that the goods and baggage of the emigrating 
 colonists be shipped and also that Jews, as well as Christians, be 
 properly accommodated. 
 
 Thtjesday, January 24, 1658. 
 
 contract made with the jews regarding the supplying and the 
 
 price of slaves. 
 
 That on the aforesaid coast there shall be delivered as many 
 negroes as every one shall need, which shall be paid for on the 
 production of the receipts, through some one thereunto commis- 
 sioned, the sum of 150 guilders in ready money for a man or 
 woman; two children from eight to twelve years to be counted as a 
 man or woman; below eight years three for one; un weaned chil- 
 dren to follow the mother. 
 
 Those paying in advance shall enjoy a discount of ten per cent. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 163 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 (Hague, Rijksarcliief, West India Papers, cover-title, Resolutien 
 rakende de Nieuwe Collonie in Isekepe, 1 Nov. 1657 [-19 Nov. 
 1663].) 
 
 Jovis DEN 3n. Janitaeig 1658. 
 Sijn binnen gestaen diveerse vande liebreeuse natie versoeck- 
 ende te mogen hare bagagie te scheepen naer Isekepe, Waerop 
 goet gevonden Is haer te gemoet te voeren om dit met ordere toe 
 te laten dat yder huysgesin offte een ygellijk int partlculier sijn 
 bagaige ende behouften tot den landtbouw bij een lljste sal 
 opgeven omme dienvolgende aen haer passeporten te verleennen 
 met insertie vande geconsenteerde bagagie tot der schippers 
 memorie ende naerrichtinge int houden van de rekeninge der 
 costgelden. 
 
 Luna den 21n. Ditto. 
 Gehoort eennige voorstellingen van die van de Joodtsche natie. 
 Is nae deliberatie goet gevonden, d'heeren van Vlissingen te ver- 
 soecken dat se ordre willen stellen dat de goederen ende bagaige 
 van de overgaende Coloniers worden ingescheept als mede de 
 Jooden benefCens de Christenen wel werden geaccommodeert. 
 
 Jovis 24 Januaeio 1658. 
 
 Contract met de Jooden gemaect 
 over de leverantie ende prijs der slaven. 
 Dat op de voors. cust sullen gelevert werden, soo veel negros 
 als yeder een sal van doenne hebben, ende die alhier op het ver- 
 toogh van de recepisse, door iemant daertoe gecommitteert, als 
 dan in contant voldoen werden ter somme van 150 guldens voor 
 een man ofte vrouwe. twee kinderen van 8 tot 12 jaren voor 
 een man ofte vrouwe te rekenen. Beneden de 8 jaren dry voor 
 een, mits sullen de suygelingen de moeder volgen. 
 
 Die bij anticipatie willen betalen sullen rabat genieten van 
 10 p. cto. 
 
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164 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 To all who have bought for ready money an equal number, if 
 wanted, shall be credited, which credit shall be for the period of 
 five years, within which there shall be paid for each man and 
 woman, or children to be reckoned as above, the sum of f250, but 
 those paying before that period will be given a discount for each 
 year at the rate of ten per cent, but those that have been delivered 
 for ready money shall, with those on credit, be together liable for 
 payment. 
 
 FRIDAY, Janttaey 25, 1658. 
 Engaged to-day in passing ordinances regarding slaves. This 
 relates to the Jews under the contract made with them as well 
 as to other Netherlanders. Among others, closed the contract 
 made between the committee and David Nassy, and one on his 
 order upon the surety of Dr. Paulo Jacomo Pinto, as may be seen 
 in the dispatch book of ordinances relating to slaves. 
 
 Apeh. 8, 1658. 
 
 Paulo Jacomo Pinto delivers a memorandum or list of persons 
 who wish to depart for Essequibo and go on the ship d'EendraeJit, 
 which list is received to be properly booked. 
 
 Francisco Medina appears requesting passports for various per- 
 sons of the Hebrew nation who wish to go to Bssequibo with the 
 above-named ship d'EendraoM. After consultation he was told 
 to come to-morrow and that he would be accommodated and the 
 required passports given to him. 
 
 Tuesday, September 16, 1658. 
 
 There also appeared three of the Jewish nation requesting to 
 know the conditions under which they could go to Nova Zee- 
 landia, which were laid before them, and with which they 
 expressed themselves satisfied. 
 
 A request of the Jewish nation was read, regarding which Dr. 
 Paulo Jacomo Pinto, together with two others of his nation, 
 appeared. They were told that a ship is at present lying here 
 and if there are any people who feel like departing in it they can 
 do so, and as relates to sending a ship from Salee with folk and 
 provisions they are at liberty to do so, but we are not disposed 
 to restitute anything, and concerning the request the Committee 
 will decide the matter. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 165 
 
 Aen een yder die voor contant gecocht heeft, sal des begeerende 
 gelijk getal gecrediteert werden ende sal dat credit duuren voor 
 den tijt van 5. jaren ende Hnnen deselve tijt letaelt moeten werdr 
 den yder man ende vrouwe ofte kinderen, als vooren te rekenen 
 ter somme van 250 guldens doch eerder betalende sal voor rabat 
 van yder jaer genieten. 10. ten hondert, maer die voor contant 
 gelevert sullen sijn blyven neffens de gecredlteerde t samen voor de 
 betalinge verbonden. 
 
 Veneris 25 Jantjario 1658. 
 Gevaceert desen dach met het uytgeven van ordonnanteln van 
 slaven. Soo aen de jooden op de contracten met haer gemaeckt 
 als andere nederlanders, onder anderen voltrocken het contract tus- 
 schen commlssarissen ende Dauld Nassy gemaect ende dat op 
 sijn ordere ende onder borchtochte van dr. Paulo Jacomo Pinto, 
 als te sien is in het depesche boeck van ordonnantle der slaven. 
 
 DEN Sen. Apbh. 1658. 
 
 Paulo Jacomo Pinto levert eene memorie ofte lijste der per- 
 soonen die geernne souden vertrecken ende naer Isekepe over- 
 varen met het schip d'eendracht, welcke lijste aengenomen is 
 omme naer behoooren te boecken. 
 
 Francisco Medina binnen staende versockt paspoorten voor 
 diverrse persoonen van de hebreeusche natie die gerrnne naer 
 Isekepe souden varen met het bovengenoemde schip d'eendracht, 
 naer omvrage is hen aengeseght dat sij morgen soude commen 
 ende dat men hen accommodeeren ende de versochte passeporten 
 geven sal. 
 
 Adi 19 Septembeb 1658. 
 
 Staen mede binnen drie van de Jootse natie versouckende te 
 weten de conditie om naer Nova Zeelandia te gaen, het welcke 
 haer voorgedragen is, waer in sij contentement nemen. 
 
 Is gelesen een req'ste van de Jootse natie waerop is binnen 
 gestaen dr. Paulo Jacommo Pinto mitsgaders twee van hare natie 
 ende is haer voorgedraegen, als dat men hier tegenwoordich een 
 schip is aen leggende ende sooder eennige sijn die nu daermede 
 gelieuen te vertrecken dat se het selue connen doen ende wat 
 aengaet een schip van Salee met volck ende viures te senden, 
 connen het selue vrydoen, maer en sijnnen niet genegen om iets te 
 restitueeren ende belangende de requeste sullen commlssarissen 
 daer naer resolueren. 
 
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166 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 TuESDAT, Mabch 5, 1659. 
 There appeared Dr. Paulo Jacommo Pinto with five of his 
 nation from Amsterdam and requested to be accommodated with 
 slaves, and that an executive be sent, and thirdly, that a ship 
 may be made ready to transport folk, also with regard to those 
 from Leghorn. Whereupon, after consultation, it was resolved 
 to give the following answer, — that the Committee will notify 
 them in writing later. 
 
 Mabh 31. 1659. 
 The minutes were submitted, and the Committee was also 
 authorized to provide Pinto with passports for those from Leg- 
 horn, and also regarding slaves. 
 
 Apeil 21, 1659. 
 Paul Jacommo Pinto appeared with several of his nation and 
 requested that the Committee allow a ship to be chartered to 
 carry passengers paying their fare and the freight for their 
 goods. 
 
 Thdbsdat, Mat 21, 1660. 
 
 It is considered by those present whether the Jew named 
 Latorre, who has come from the colony, leaving his wife and 
 children there, shall, together with others of his nation, consisting 
 of 40 souls, including women and children, be permitted to depart 
 from there and return to the Director the slaves received by them, 
 and that they be not required to take more and further that of 
 what they remain indebted one-half be remitted to them and the 
 other half be paid here, for which said Pinto agrees to become 
 surety. With regard to this, a decision was postponed until the 
 arrival of the first letters. 
 
 Likewise considered what shall be done in case the Jews 
 arriving at Tobago from Leghorn remain there and refuse the 
 .... slaves contracted to be received from us in our colony, to 
 be used there for agricultural purposes. It was resolved If those 
 people do not readily receive the slaves contracted for, that, 
 through Director Goliath, a bill be presented and in case of non- 
 acceptance the same be protested for non-payment Instead of 
 making delivery. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 167 
 
 Asi 5 Meebte 1659. 
 
 Is binnen gestaen dr. Paulo Jacommo Pinto neuens TijfE van 
 haere natie van Amsterdam ende versoucken accommodatle van 
 slaven als mede datter een hoofd sonde mogen gesonden werden, 
 ten derden datter een schip sonde mogen aengelecht werden om 
 volck te transporteren, als mede die van Livorne. 
 
 Waerop naer omvrage goet gevonden is haer tot antwoorde te 
 geven het naervolgende dat commissarlssen haer naerder per bil- 
 letten sullen bekent maecken. 
 
 31 Maebt anko 1659. 
 De notulen geresummt. ende' wert commissarlssen geauthorisst. 
 omme Pinto mede paspoorten te geven aen die van Livorne als 
 mede wegens de slaven. 
 
 DEN 21 Apbh, anno 1659. 
 
 Paul Jacommo Pinto staet binnen met eenige van haere natie 
 ende versouckt dat d'heeren commissarlssen souden gelieven een 
 schip aen te leggen om passagiers over te voeren mits betaelende 
 passagie gelt als mede vracht van haere goederen. 
 
 DONDEEDAO 21 MAY 1660. 
 
 Wesende in deliberatie gelecht of men den Jode Latorre 
 genaempt uit de colonye afgecomen sijn vrouw met kinderen daer 
 gelaeten, sal op sijn versouch, nevens noch andere van de Natie, 
 bestaende in 40 zielen so als vrouwen ende kinderen van daer 
 laeten vertrecken mitsgaders dat sij hunne ontfangene slaven 
 souden aen der directeur restituteeren ende voorts vant gene 
 bevonden worden als dan schuldich te blijven de helft hun werde 
 geremitteert ende de weder helft hier te lande betaelt, waer voors. 
 Pinto presenteert borge te blyven waerover de resolutie is uit 
 gestelt tot de compste van de eerste brieven. 
 
 Van gelijcke wat middel behoorde blj d hant te nemen in cas de 
 joden van Livorne op tobago aengecommen haer daer blyven 
 onthouden hebbende met ons .... slaven gecontracteert om in 
 onse colonic te ontfangen, ooch daer tot den bouw vant lant te 
 gebruicken, is geresolveert indien syluyden de contracteerde 
 slaven niet quaemen ontfangen dat door den directeur Goliat sal 
 werden des voorschreve presentatie gedaen ende bij non acceptatie 
 te protesteren van de te houden betalinge gedaen in plaetse van de 
 leveringe. 
 
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1G8 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Thtjbsday, May 27, 1660. 
 By Mr. Morthamer were read certain articles, drawn up by don 
 Philipe de Fuentes, for the peopling of the colony of Nova Zee- 
 landia. Their examination was committed to Messrs. Morthamer 
 and Van der Heyden, together with the examination of the articles 
 presented by .... in the French language. 
 
 Thuesday, June 10, 1660. 
 
 Regarding the articles submitted to the Committee last Thurs- 
 day by don Philippe de Fuentes, which articles and the answer 
 are here inserted verbatim, it was, after the same were considered, 
 resolved to communicate further with don Philipe de Fuentes 
 regarding the said answer and clauses and to review them with 
 him. Whereupon the said don Philipe de Fuentes appeared and 
 the said considerations and answers being proposed to him in 
 substance, he expressed himself satisfied therewith, and it was 
 ordered to draw up the same and that of Netto and to give said 
 Fuentes a copy, translated, so as to be signed by both sides. 
 
 It was also resolved to use this opportunity to send in the ship 
 which Philipe de Fuentes is getting ready, 3000 lbs meat, 3000 
 lbs lard, with some flour, and 3 vats of oil and a chest of old 
 linnen and some medicines, for the use of the new colony. 
 
 August 20, 1660. 
 Mr. Nicholas Clement reports that the two deputies from Nova 
 Zeelandia are sent to their principals and are ready to depart 
 with don Philipe de Fuentes' ship. Also that for account of the 
 said colony there are laden in the said ship, 4 hogsheads of oil, 1 
 firkin lard, 1 ditto meat. With them also are given to the di- 
 rector Aert Adriensen, such letters, as are to be found in the copy 
 book. Besides there is delivered a list by the departing committee 
 mentioning what provisions are greatly needed for a whole year. 
 Wherupon it was resolved to examine the same In order to deter- 
 mine what shall be necessary in order to send along with the 
 ship Argyn going thither. 
 
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Marly Jewish Colony iri Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 169 
 
 DONDKRDACH DEN 27 MEIJ. 
 
 Blj dheer Morthamer gelesen seeckere artlculea, ingestelt door 
 don Philipe de Fuentes om de Colonie van N(ov)a Zeelandia le 
 gaen bewoonen, tot examinatie desselfs sijn gecommittert dheeren 
 Morthamer ende vander Heijden, als mede tot de exSmlnatie 
 vande articulen overhandicht blj .... in de fransche taele. 
 
 DONDERDACH DEN 10 JUNI 1660. 
 
 Op darticulen bij don Philippe dJTuentes aen Commissarissen 
 voorleden donderdach overgelevert, welcke articulen ende ant- 
 woorde hler van woorde tot woorde geinserreert, waerop gedeli- 
 breert sijnde is geresolveert de voors. antwoorde ende clausulen 
 met don Philipe de Fuentes naerder te comunlceeren ende met 
 hem toverslen. Waerop den voors. don Philipe de Fuentes is 
 binnen gestaen ende hem de voors. consideratien ende de ant- 
 woorde hem In substantie voorgehouden sijnde, heeft bethoont 
 contentement daer mede te nemen ende is geordonneert deselve 
 ende het netto .... (sic!) te doen stellen ende om dito Fuentes 
 een copije te geven om die, getranslatteert sijnde, van wedersijden 
 geteekent te worden. 
 
 Is bij dese gelegentheit geresolveert, dat in het schip, dat 
 Philipe dFuentes gereet maeckt, ten behoeve vande nieuwe colonie 
 te senden ontrent 3000 lbs. vlees, 3000 lbs. speck met eenige 
 meelen ende 3 vatiens olije met een kiste ouds linwaet ende 
 eenige medlcamenten. 
 
 August 20, 1660. 
 Be hr. Nicholaes Clem(en)t doet rapp(or)t, dat de 2 geputt'e 
 (?) van Nova Z(eelandl)a sijn gedespecheert naer hun principae- 
 len ende staen te vertrecken met het schip van don Philipe de 
 Fuentes, item dat voor rek(enlng)e vande voorschreve Colonie is 
 geladen Int gemelte schip: 4 amen olije. 1 verken speck. 1 
 ditto vlees. Alsmede dat hun sijn mede gegeven aen den directeur 
 Aert Adriensen soodaeninge brieven als inde copiebouck te vin- 
 den sijn. Levert bovendien eene lijste bij de vertrockene com- 
 missaerissen, gewaecht wat voor provisie slj voor een geheel jaer 
 hooch noodich van doen hebben, waerop is geresolv(eer)t deselve 
 te examineeren om als dan te resolveren wat men dienstich sal 
 oirdeelen om met het schip Argijn dewaerts te vertrecken hun 
 toetesenden. 
 
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170 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Setteubeb 9, 1660. 
 
 There appeared Moses Netto, saying he had received letters 
 from his brother-in-law who, in the name of the Jewish nation, 
 asks whether the Committee is willing to keep up the colony, 
 otherwise they are inclined to depart from there and abandon it. 
 
 The burgomaster, in the name and for account of the members 
 from Vere states that through the Committee the work of the 
 colony will be more closely examined from the letters and ac- 
 counts and written memoranda of matters requiring decision. 
 This work to be undertaken by Mr. de Hase, Van der Poorte, in 
 conjunction with Mr. Mortamer. 
 
 Thubsdat, Jantjaet 23, 1661. 
 Report being made that 60,000 to 70,000 pounds of sugar have 
 arrived at Amsterdam for account of ... . from Nova Zeelandia, 
 considering that Noteboom's owners, not having the freight paid, 
 might go and have the said sugar attached, it was resolved to 
 confer with the said owners and also with the Jews regarding 
 their claims, and to see about agreeing with them and the others 
 as to how much each shall get of the said sugar. This is 
 referred to Mess, van der Heyden and Duvelaer. 
 
 Thtjesday, Fbbeuaey 3, 1661. 
 By Mr. van der Heyden it is reported that skipper Noteboom has 
 taken along, in his Brazilian ship d'EendracM, various goods 
 belonging to the Committee. It is resolved to make no absolute 
 payment to his owners before all here receive satisfaction. 
 
 Monday, Maech 3, 1663. 
 
 There appeared Abraham Levy showing that he received orders 
 and advice from a Jewish broker In Amsterdam named .... 
 offering to contract for the furnishing of 500 slaves every six 
 months in the river Essequibo for 100 pieces of eight each, or as 
 many more as may be engaged, payment to be made here and 
 for such number and such period as may be agreed with the 
 others in an offer to be made later on, provided that there are 
 proper vessels ready for convenient transportation of the said 
 slaves to Cartagena or Cape Debero [de Verd], it being understood 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Quiana — Oppenheim. 171 
 
 DEaj 9 Septembee anno 1660. 
 
 Is binnen gestaen Moses Netto seggende schryven te hebben van 
 sijn swager die uit den naem van de Jootsche Natie versocht op 
 eninge of de commissarissen genegen sljn de hant aende Colonle 
 te houden ofte niet ofte dat andersints genegen sijn van daer te 
 vertrecken ende de Colonie te abandonneren. 
 
 d'hr. borgemeester uit den naem ende van wegen de heeren 
 van der Vene * dat door Commissarissen t vsrerck van de Colonie 
 naerder werde geexamineert uit de brieven ende documenten, 
 eennige agenda opt pampier te stellen om naerder te connen 
 resolveren, t welck door de heeren de Hase, van der Poorte, neuens 
 d'heer Mortamer aen nemen te doen. 
 
 DONDEEDACH DEN 27 JANUABIJ 1661. 
 
 Gerapporteert werdende datter tot amsterdam 60 a 70,000 lb. 
 wegens suycker gearrveert is voor [requireeren] van nova Zee- 
 landia ende geconsider[eer]t dat de reeders van nooteboom van 
 hare vrachte noch niet voldoen sijnde lichtelljk ditto suyker soude 
 doen arresteren, is gersolveert met de voors. reeders te sprecken, 
 als mede met de joden wegens haere pretencien, ende te sien met 
 deen end'andere t'accorderen hoe voel dat een ider uyt de voors. 
 suycker sullen trecken, daer toe gecommitteert de heeren van der 
 Heyden en Duvelaer. 
 
 DONDEBDACH DEN 3 PEBEUAEY 1661. 
 
 Door dhr. van der Heyden sijnde gerapporteert dat schlpr. 
 noteboom met sijn schip den brasilschen Bendracht dyversche 
 goedem commissarissen toecomende heef t mede genomen, is goet 
 gevonden aen sijne Reeders geen absoluyte betalinge te doen voer 
 aleer hier over contentement ontfangen. 
 
 Maendach 12 Meebt 1663. 
 
 Is binnen gestaen Abraham Levy, vertoonende advies en last te 
 hebben van een joots maeckelaer van Amsterdam met name .... 
 presenteert te contracteeren over de leverantie van 500 slaven alle 
 6 maenden in de river van Isekepe ende dat voor 100 stuck en van 
 achten bet stuck, of te soo veel meer als men sal connen bedingen, 
 de betalinge alhier te lande te doen ende dat voor soodanighen 
 getal en soo lang het tijt als men met den anderen overeen sal 
 
 * Should be Vere. See Report, V. 8. Com., supra, II, p. 179, 
 line 1. 
 
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172 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 that for each head there shall be paid on the clearance four to five 
 pieces of eight or as much more as shall be stipulated. Request 
 was made by all the Committee to confer with his aforesaid princi- 
 pal, whereupon it was resolved to request Messrs. van der Hecke, 
 van der Heyden and Morthamer to act as a Committee therefor, to 
 which Mr. Levy is asked to summon his principal. 
 
 FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ZEBLAND CHAMBER 
 OF THE WEST INDIA COMPANY, 1660-1661. 
 
 (Hague, Rijksarehlef, West India papers, cover-title, Resolutien 
 van de Gamer van Zeelandt, 3 Jan., 1658-31 May, 1663.) 
 
 Thtjesdat, Januajst 15, 1660. 
 Messrs. Morthamer and van der Heyden were designated to 
 confer with a certain Jew regarding a private trade In slaves, on 
 the same terms as those made in Amsterdam. 
 
 Thdbsday, Maech 18, 1660. 
 
 Whereas, Mr. Morthamer reports that some Jews of Antwerp 
 are ready to take away the slaves contracted for, and now at 
 Tobago, which Dingman Cats agreed to bring to Essequibo for the 
 Jews of Leghorn, and as the Director has no provisions for them, 
 and, has, in order to carry out the contract for account of the 
 aforesaid Jews of Leghorn, offered fl2,000 to the crew of another 
 slave carrying ship, if [transportation is made] from Tobago to 
 Essequibo, Resolved to provisionally authorize the members of 
 the Committee to draft a contract with the said Jews expressive 
 of the intent and approval of this meeting. 
 
 April 22, 1660. 
 
 Neeltie de Corte, with two soldiers who have come from the 
 islands of New Zeelandia, asks payment for services rendered to 
 the new colony, as per three accounts handed in, amounting 
 together to £103, 13: 10. Whereupon it was resolved to have 
 the accounts audited and in order to balance the same with what 
 is still to be received from Pinto and others for the said colony 
 the Committee of the city of Middelburg are requested to do their 
 utmost to raise money, either through a bank draft or, upon 
 refusal, to solicit the same from the members for Middelburg. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 173 
 
 connen comen met een naerder presentacle soo aldaer bequaem 
 vaerthuygh tot transport van deselve slaven nar Cartagena ofte 
 Caep Debero soude connen werden verstaen dat voor yder hooft op 
 de uitclaeringe soude werden betaelt voor 4 a 5 stuck en van 
 achten ofte soo veel meer als men soude connen bedyngen. Ver- 
 soeckende op aller commissarissen om met sijn voorn.-meester 
 daer over naerder te confereren, waer op goet gevonden is te ver- 
 soecken d'heeren van Hecke, van de Heyden, ende Noortamer daer 
 toe te committeren twelck hem Levy alsoo is aengeseght ende 
 versocht sijn meester doer op te ontbieden. 
 
 (Hague, Rijksarchief, West India papers, cover-title, Resolutien 
 van de Gamer van Zeelandt 3 Jan. 1658-31 May 1663.) 
 
 DONDEBDAGH DEN 15 JANUAET 1660. 
 
 De heeren Morthamer en van der Heyden worden gecommitteert 
 om met seecker jode In conferentie te coomen over particuliere 
 handelinge van slaven, in conformitie op gelijcke conditio als die 
 van Amsterdam gedaen hebben. 
 
 DONDEBDAGH DEN 18 MEEKT 1660. 
 
 Alsoo d'Hr. Moorthamer rapporteert, dat eenige jooden van Ant- 
 werpen wel genegen souden zijn aff'e te haelen de slaeven, die 
 Dingman Cats op Ysekebe staet te brengen voor de jooden van 
 Lyvorne — nu op Tobago sijnde, gecontracteert, ende wijle de 
 directeur voor deselve geen vijvres en heeft, presenteerende tot 
 d'equipagie van een ander schip om slaven te haelen f 12 000 om 
 het contract van de boven voors.-jooden van Livorne, indien van 
 Tobago naer Ysekebe . . . te connen voldoen, is goet gevonden 
 d'H'ren Commissarissen bij provysie te authoriseeren met deselve 
 jooden een contract te consipieren ter intentie ende approbatie van 
 dese vergaderinge. 
 
 Apeil 27, 1660. 
 
 Neeltie de Corte met 2 soldaeten gecoomen over d'eylenden van 
 Nova Zeelandia versoeckende over gedaene dienst aen de nieuwe 
 colonic volgens drij overgeleeverde reeckeningen saemen mon- 
 teerende £103, 13: 10, ende haer betaelinge, waerop is geresolveert 
 de reeckeningen te laeten opmaecken ende tgene de gemelde 
 colonic noch te buijten staet van Pinto en andre te ontvangen, 
 werden de commissarissen wegens der stadt Mlddelburg versocht 
 devoir te doen penninghen machtich te werden, tsij door een 
 bankbriefhen ofte bij refues aen de heeren van Middelburg tselve 
 te soliciteren. 
 
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174 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 JtTNE 17, 1660. 
 The Nova Zeelandia Committee communicate to this meeting 
 the conditions made with Don Philippe de Fuentes and those also 
 concerning the license for his departure with his own ship and 
 goods and colonists for Nova Zeelandia; which, on behalf of this 
 meeting, are approved and the Committee is authorized to sign 
 the same and are thanked therefor. 
 
 Thubsdat, January 27, 1661. 
 Mr. van der Heyden reports that he has spoken with Sr. Pinto 
 and other Jews and Sr. Schonck with regard to the care and 
 benefit of the Nova Zeelandia colony and the purchase of a number 
 of slaves upon compliance with certain conditions. He and Mr. 
 Morthamer were authorized to approve a provisional contract 
 with them and to have the same, after having been examined 
 in the meeting, either approved or changed, and that provisionally 
 the presidial chambers be notified in order to receive their 
 approval. • 
 
 FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF AXiDBRMEN 
 AND COUNCIL, WET EN RAD, OF MIDDBLBTJRG. 
 
 (Stadsnotulen of tesluiten van Wet en Bad van MiddeVburg, in 
 Oud-Archief, Gemeente Mlddelburg.) 
 
 Febeuaet 27, 1659. 
 
 By Mr. Burgomaster Westdorp report was made how that Paulo 
 Jacomo Pinto had informed His Honor that several Jewish families 
 were ready to go from Leghorn to Essequibo, if opportunity 
 offered, and that they therefore wish to contract with the Com- 
 mittee in regard to their transportation as well as in regard to 
 the slaves which are to be brought from Guinea and sold in 
 Essequibo to the Jews. 
 
 It was decided and resolved not to oppose the slave trade, but 
 yet not to engage the city in it, and on that account to ask the 
 committee to think of another expedient. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Ouiana — Oppenheim. 175 
 
 June 17, 1660. 
 Commissarissen van Nova Zeelandia communlceeren dese ver- 
 gaderinge de conditien met don Phllippo de Fuentes gemaeckt, 
 ende dat over de llcentie van sijn vertreck met sijn eljgen schlp 
 en goed en coloniers naar Nova Zeelandia die van wegen dese 
 vergaderinge werden geapprobeert ende commissarissen geautho- 
 rijseert deselve te teljckenen en werden daerover bedanct. 
 
 BONDEEDACH 27 Jantjabi 1661. 
 De hr. van der Heyden doende rapport dat by gesproken heeft 
 met Sr. Pinto en andere joden ende Sr. Schonck wegen bet 
 bezorgen ende benefi'cieeren van de colonie van Nova Zeel'a ende 
 handelen van eenige slaven waer van eenige van conditien gedaen 
 sijnde, wert bij nefCens d'br Moortamer geautboriseert een provi- 
 sioneele contract met haer te maken om bet tselve in de ver- 
 gaderinge geexamineert synde dat te approbeeren of te veran- 
 deringe daer in te maken en dat bij provisie sulen aen de presi- 
 diale cameren sal genotificeert werden om baere approbatie te 
 becomen. 
 
 (Stadsnotulen of hesluiten van Wet en Rad van Middelburg, in 
 
 Oud-Arcbief, Gemeente Middelburg.) 
 
 27 Peer. 1659. 
 
 Door de Heer Burgem'r Westdorp voorgedragen sijnde. Hoe dat 
 
 Paulo jacomo pinto syn E. badde bekent gemaeckt dat eenige 
 
 Joodscbe Famillien, wel genegen souden sijn indien daer gelegent- 
 
 beit waere, baer van Livorne te transporteeren naer Ysiquebe, 
 
 derhalven wel sonde begeeren met de Heeren Commissarissen 
 
 over het transporteeren der selfde, alsmede over slaven die uijt 
 
 Guinea souden werden gebaelt en tot Ysiquebe aen de Joden ver- 
 
 coght, te contracteeren is goetgevonden ende geresolveert den 
 
 slavenbandel niet tegen te gaen, maer nogbtans de Stadt daerinne 
 
 niet te engageren, ende dienbalven d'Heeren Commissarissen te 
 
 versoucken op een ander expedient te willen dencken. 
 
 13 
 
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176 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 II. 
 GRANT OF PRIVILEGES TO THE JEWS. IN EGERTON MS., 
 
 No. 2,395, FOL. 46, IN BRITISH MUSEUM.* 
 
 PitrvrLEQEs Granted To the People of the Hebrew Nation That 
 
 Are to Goe to the Wilde Gust. 
 
 1. That thei shall have Libertle of Conscience with exercise of 
 their laws and writes and ceremonies according to the doctrine of 
 their Ancients without anny Prohibition, and that they shall 
 have a place apointed for the Building of their Sinagoga or 
 Sinagogas and Schooles, as allso sutch ground as thei shall make 
 choice for their Burring in a separattes places according to their 
 fashion, all according to the use and Fashion thei doe Possesse in 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 2. That on the day of their Sabbath and the Rest of their 
 festivicall dayes thei shall not be obliged to apeare in the court 
 upon anny sutte at lawe or cause, and that what deligence or 
 Acts that shall bee made against them or Past, on the said dayes 
 shall bee given voide, and without force, and thei shall be ex- 
 cused of going to the Garde, except if (which God forbid) should 
 bee urgent necessitie. 
 
 3. That all The Hebrews shall bee admitted for Burgezes as 
 The People of the Province of Zeeland that shall live in the said 
 Corte and that they shall with them enjoy, all the Previledges 
 which thei shall enjoy. 
 
 4. That thei may make choice among themselves of sutch num- 
 ber of Persons as thei shall think convenient to Governe their 
 Sinagogues, and to Administave the Causes of their nation, butt 
 it is to bee understood that the execution shall be made of the 
 ofiacers of the Justice. 
 
 5. An whereas the intension of the said Hebrews is to Pre- 
 serve themselves Peasibly, it shall be granted to them that if 
 their should be among them anny Person or Persons of badd 
 Proceedings and that should give them anny scandall, giving his 
 or their names to the governour or to the justice whom it shall 
 apartaine, with knowledgement of the cause, shall imburgue sutch 
 Person or Persons for those Provinces, or for sutch Place as the 
 Deputies of the said nation shall apointe. 
 
 * This grant was discovered by Mr. Lucien Wolf, of London, and 
 is reprinted from the copy first published by him in Transactions 
 of the Jewish Historical Society of England, III, pp. 82-84. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 177 
 
 6. That at all the generall meetings concerning the generall 
 and comerse the said Lords commisslones shall be pleased to 
 order that 2 of the Hebrews be called to Represent the body of 
 their Nation that with the rest of the Burges, thei may allsoe 
 serve the Rublick with their advise. 
 
 7. Granting to anny Persons of anny Nation anny Previlledges 
 the Hebrews shall enjoy them allsoe 
 
 8. That what constitutions and Customes that the Hebrew 
 nation shall make among themselves, them that shall goe to live 
 there, of their nation, shall be oblidged to observe them. 
 
 9. That not one may be opressed nor putt to Lawe for debts 
 caused in Brazil or in other Kingdomes and States, except for 
 them that shall bee caused in the said Provinces or on the said 
 Oust. 
 
 10. That sutch as shall bee willing to goe shall have free Pas- 
 sage, as well in the States ships as In them that shall be fraighted 
 for the Purpose, with their Bagage and their Provisions, as allsoe 
 of their matterialls for their- land and building of a house for 
 his famillie and thei all shall carrie sword and moskett. 
 
 11. That as soone as anny bee aRived at the said Oust shall 
 appeare beefore the Governour or Commissioner, whome shall 
 apoint each one soe mutch Land as thei cann Command and 
 Purchase. 
 
 12. That each one shall Possesse as their owne the lands which 
 shall bee appointed and given to them, and that thei may dispose 
 of them that shall succede them, for ever, as well by will as by 
 contract, or obligation, or other wayes, in the same manner as 
 each one may dispose of their owne goods in those Parts. 
 
 13. That every one shall have Libertie to goe hunting and fish- 
 ing each one in their Lands and Rivers, for even as allsoe in the 
 Mountains that are not subjected and in woods and open sea. 
 
 14. That every one shall bee, for the time of Seaven yeares, 
 free from all taxes, and customes, and duties, or anny other 
 charges that cann bee named, hee that shall make a Plantation 
 of Sugar with 50 negroes shall enjoy 12 years of the same 
 Libertie, hee that shall make a Plantation of Oxen, with 30 
 negroes, 9 yeares, and if it be less — accordingly, butt after the 
 said time thei shall Pay the tenth of thei fruttes. 
 
 15. Each one shall injoy for th&, time of five years the same 
 Liberties of the Mines of Gould and Silver and Precious Stones 
 allsoe of the fishing of perles and Corall, butt after the 3rd yeares 
 — thei shall Pay the fift Parte of what thei shall gett, or the 
 
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178 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Fallen of it, at allsoe it shall bee Lawful! to Trade with the 
 Indians. 
 
 16. That each one may freely goe with anny ships as well Their 
 owne as fraighted from those Parts with sutch goods as thei 
 shall thinke good, as allso to the Gust of Guiny to Transport 
 negroes to the said Coste, and transport them where thei shall 
 think fit. 
 
 17. That each one shall be provided of the wherehouse (which 
 shall bee lett at the said Gust) in the first six months of all 
 Provisions, Clothes and instruments for their lands, at a Rascon- 
 able Ratte and thei shall make the Paiment of the first fruttes 
 of the Coutrii. — 
 
 18. Also it is Granted to anny Person to have there in their 
 service all kinds of shipping which thei shall neede. 
 
 A Rtillb In What Mannee and Condition That the Negroes 
 Shall Bee Delivebed in the Wilde Gust. 
 
 1. That there shall bee delivered in the said Oust soe many 
 negroes as each shall have occasion for. The which shall be Paide 
 heere shewing the Receipt, in ready money at one hundred and 
 fifty guilders for each man or whoman. 
 
 2. Children from eight to twelve years thei shall counte, two 
 for one piece, under the eight yeares three for one the breeding 
 goeth with the mothers. 
 
 3. Hee that shall advance the Paiment before the Reeceipt 
 comes shall enjoy the discounnte of Tenn £Gent. 
 
 4. To all them that shall Paye and buy for Ready mony if thei 
 will thei shall have sutch number of negroes. Trusted to pay 
 within five years and after them shall Pay for each man, whoman 
 or child as above the sume of two hundred and fifty and he that 
 shall advanse the Paiment shall have discount of Tean Per Cent a 
 yeare and them that shall buy for ready money shall bee ingaged 
 for the Paiment of the others. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 179 
 
 III. 
 
 GRANT OF PRIVILEGES BY THE GOVERNOR, COUNCIL, 
 AND ASSEMBLY OP SURINAM, TO THE JEWS IN 
 SURINAM, DATED AUGUST 17, 1665.* 
 
 Whereas it is good and sound policy to encourage as much as 
 possible whatever may tend to the increase of a new colony, and 
 to invite persons of whatsoever country and religion, to come 
 and reside here and traffic with us: and whereas we have found 
 that the Hebrew nation, now already resident here, have, with 
 their persons and property, proved themselves useful and bene- 
 ficial to this colony; and being desirous further to encourage them 
 to continue their residence and trade here: we have, with the 
 authority of the governor, his council, and assembly, passed the 
 following act: — 
 
 Every person belonging to the Hebrew nation now resident 
 here, or who may hereafter come to reside and trade here, or in 
 any place or district within the limits of this colony, shall possess 
 and enjoy every privilege and liberty possessed by and granted 
 to the citizens and inhabitants of this colony, and shall be 
 considered as English-born; and they and their heirs shall in this 
 manner possess their property, whether real or personal. 
 
 It is also hereby declared, that they shall not be compelled 
 to serve any public office in this colony, and that we receive 
 them under the protection and safeguard of our government, 
 with all the property they now hold, or shall hereafter possess 
 or import from any foreign place or kingdom abroad. We also 
 grant them every privilege and liberty which we ourselves enjoy, 
 whether derived from laws, acts, or customs, either regarding 
 our lands, our persons, or other property, promising them that 
 nothing of what they now possess, or shall hereafter acquire, shall 
 be taken from them or be appropriated among ourselves, by any 
 person of whatsoever rank: but that, on the contrary, they shall 
 have full liberty to plant, trade, and do whatsoever they may 
 consider conducive to their advantage, and profit, on condition 
 that they shall be true subjects of our Sovereign Lord the King 
 
 * Reprinted from B. H. Llndo's History of the Jews in Spain 
 and Portugal, London, 1848, pp. 381-383. The date of the grant is 
 corrected according to the copy in Dutch In the Essai Mstorique 
 sur la Oolonie de Surinam, etc., Paramaribo, 1788, and Puis., Am. 
 Jewish Hist. 8oc., No. 13, p. 130. 
 
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180 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 of England, and shall obey all orders already issued by him, or 
 which he may hereafter promulgate. It is, however, to be well 
 understood, that none of these orders shall be contrary to what 
 is herein contained. 
 
 It is also hereby granted and permitted, in the most ample 
 manner possible, to the Hebrew nation, to practice and perform 
 all ceremonies and customs of their religion, according to their 
 usages; also those relating to their marriages and last wills or 
 testaments; and that the acts of marriage made according to their 
 rites and customs shall be held valid in every respect. It is also 
 hereby declared that they shall not suffer any let or hindrance 
 in the observance of their sabbath or festivals, and those who 
 shall trouble them on that account shall be considered disturbers 
 of the public peace, and shall be punished accordingly. Also that 
 they shall not be bound to appear, on the said days, before any 
 court or magistrate; and that all summonses and citations for 
 the said days shall be null and void. Neither shall their refusal 
 of payment of any claim made against them on these days 
 prejudice them in any way, or diminish any right they may have. 
 
 The possession of ten acres of land at Thoxarica is also hereby 
 granted to them, that they may build thereon places of worship 
 and schools; also for the burial of their dead. They shall, more- 
 over, not be compelled to do personal duty, but shall be permitted 
 to send a substitute, except in case of war, when they also shall be 
 bound to come forward with the other inhabitants. Permission 
 is also hereby granted them to have a tribunal of their own; and 
 that in cases so litigated, the deputies of their nation may 
 pronounce sentence in all cases not exceeding the value of ten 
 thousand pounds of sugar. Upon which sentence, pronounced by 
 the said deputies, the judge of our court shall grant execution to 
 issue; and they shall keep registers and records of the same 
 according to custom. When an oath shall be required, it shall 
 be administered in conformity with the customs of the Hebrew 
 nation, and such oath shall be deemed valid, and have all the 
 force and effect of a judicial oath, notwithstanding any law to 
 the contrary. 
 
 That all this may be fully known, I have, by order of his 
 excellency the governor, his council and assembly, signed the 
 present on the seventeenth of August, 1665. 
 
 (Signed) John Pakrt, Secretary. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 181 
 
 IV. 
 
 PETITION FOR AND GRANT OF ADDITIONAL PRIVILEGES 
 TO THE JEWS OF SURINAM, DATED PARAMARIBO, 
 OCTOBER 1, 1669.* 
 
 To His Excellency, Philippe Julius Lichtenberq, Soveeeiqn or 
 THE Provinces, Rivebs, and Districts of Subinam. 
 
 With due reverence, the Jewish nation residing here in Surinam 
 show how that at the time of the English government, by a 
 special Act in our favor granted by the Governor, his Council and 
 Assembly on August 17th, 1665, we enjoyed, without molestation, 
 certain privileges, more fully specified and mentioned in the 
 Act set out below, by virtue of which and without the least 
 infraction thereof we resided continuously under the aforesaid 
 government, secure in our persons and possessions, and also how 
 that owing to the manifold troubles that occurred during the 
 last two years we have hitherto had no opportunity to petition the 
 Governor for the time being about the same, and that we are 
 being daily requested in letters received from various quarters 
 from many of our nation who are inclined to come to settle 
 here to inform them of our status here and how we are treated 
 here; and desiring moreover for ourselves and our descendants, 
 our people and our property, further favorable privileges which 
 we look forward to have secured to us through your Lordship by 
 a special Act of the Noble and Mighty Lords of the States of 
 Zeeland, as was heretofore done by the English government; 
 
 We therefore humbly request your Excellency to take Into con- 
 sideration this our petition of the .... and several other small 
 points tending to nobody's prejudice but only to the maintenance 
 of peace and quiet, and to propose the same, with your Lordship's 
 favorable intercession, to Their Noble and Mighty Lordships, and 
 to explain the same to them in a detailed document relating 
 thereto and confirmed with your hand and seal, and that in the 
 meantime, while you are awaiting the decision of Their Noble 
 and Mighty Lordships, we may be provisionally allowed, by a 
 gracious note, under your hand and seal, to enjoy the benefit of 
 the said privileges hereunder specified: 
 
 This done, we remain dutifully Their Noble Lordships obedient 
 subjects and your Excellency's humble servants. 
 
 * Translated from the Dutch in Essai Mstorique sur la Colonie 
 de Surinam, &c., Paramaribo, 1788, II, pp. 131 et seq. 
 
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182 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 (Here follows a copy of the Surinam Grant of August 17, 
 1665.*) 
 Additional points that we ask: 
 
 1. That all church matters which shall be ordered by persons 
 elected from among them for the preservation of unity among 
 them shall be effective, and that those who fail to obey the same 
 shall be complained of to the Governor in order to be punished. 
 
 2. In case it should happen that among them there shall be 
 found a person or persons leading an evil life, from which it may 
 be feared that at some time or another, they may fall into the 
 hands of justice and thus cause a scandal to the nation, then the 
 Governor, on complaint being made to him against such person 
 or perons by the deputies of the nation giving sufficient reasons, 
 shall, in order that there may be no difficulty in preventing a 
 scandal to the nation, require the said person or persons to leave 
 the colony. 
 
 3. In case some of the nation should come to settle here, whose 
 property has been confiscated, perhaps through the inquisition 
 or otherwise, so that they have thereby fallen into debt, they 
 shall not be unexpectedly seized for the debt but shall be con- 
 venienced by the department of justice, according to the custom 
 in all the colonies, and only obliged to pay something now and 
 then so that they may be able to exist in the meantime. 
 
 4. That we may be permitted on Sunday, on which we as well 
 as our slaves are allowed to work, to have the privilege to visit 
 each other, and that the Marshall meeting us while on the river 
 for that purpose and finding us laden with goods which would 
 lead to the presumption that work was being done, shall be 
 obliged to let us pass and repass unmolested. 
 
 That all the above mentioned may in good faith be confirmed 
 to the nation. And if in the future it should appear desirable, 
 for the benefit and advantage of the nation, that the same be 
 annulled, that a request therefor in due form, with good 
 reasons, be granted. 
 
 (Subscribed) 
 
 David Nassy, Isaak Pareyra, Isaac Arrias, Henrique de Caseres, 
 Raphael Aboab, Samuel Nassy, Isaac R. de Prado, Aron de Silva, 
 Alans d'Fonseca, Isaak Mezo, Daniel Messiach, Jacob Nunes, Isaac 
 Gabay Cid, Isaak da Costa, Isaac Drago, Bento da Costa. 
 
 * See Appendix III. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 183 
 
 In view of the request of the Jewish nation, I provisionally 
 accord to them by this the enjoyment of all that they ask therein 
 and I will on the first occasion, so far as lies in my power, try to 
 persuade Their Noble and Mighty Lordships to pass an Act to 
 that effect, confirmed by their hands and seals, so that the same 
 may thus be assured. 
 
 Done at Paramaribo, October 1, 1669. 
 
 (Signed) J. Lichtenbkbg, with his seal afiBxed. 
 
 Conformed, after collation, with the authentic copy shown me, 
 and registered May 28, 1734. 
 
 To which I certify, 
 
 (Signed) Abbaham Bols, Secretary. 
 
 GRANT BY THE DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY (AMSTER- 
 DAM CHAMBER) TO DAVID NASSY AND PARTNERS 
 FOR A JEWISH COLONY AT CAYENNE, DATED SEP- 
 TEMBER 12, 1659.* 
 
 Liberty and Exemptions by which the Council of Nineteen and 
 the Shareholders of the Chartered West India Company agree and 
 settle with David Nassy and his Partners, as Patroon and Patroons 
 of a Colony to be established by them on the Island of Cayenne, or 
 other Places on the Wild Coast of the West Indies: 
 
 1. The aforesaid David Nassy and his Partners are permitted to 
 establish a Colony to the extent of four or five miles of land on the 
 Island or Rivers of Cayenne, consisting of so much land as can 
 be cultivated by the Colonists, provided they do not extend so 
 far from the Colony of Cayenne as to interfere with the other 
 settlers; and they shall be bound to settle in the aforesaid colony 
 within the period of four years, commencing not later than the 
 first of September, 1660, on pain that if after the said period they 
 
 * Reprinted from Annals of Guiana, by James Rodway and 
 Thomas Watt, Georgetown, Demerara, 1888, I, pp. 145 et seq. 
 Translated from the Dutch in Jan Jacob Hartsinck's Beschryving 
 van Quiana, Amsterdam, 1770, Part 2, pp. 940 et seq.; Essai his- 
 torique sur la Colonic de Surinam, Paramaribo, 1788, II, pp. 113- 
 122; H. J. Koenen, Gesohiedenis der Joden in Nederland, Utrecht, 
 1843, pp. 460-466, and other works. 
 
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184 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 should fail to do so, all the uncultivated, uninhahited, or unoc- 
 cupied lands shall revert to the Company, to he disposed of as they 
 shall think fit. 
 
 2. The said David Nassy and his Partners shall be allowed 
 Jurisdiction over the Bays which may be found in the Colony 
 which is to be established and to half of the rivers situated at 
 either side of the said Colony, of which assignation will be made 
 hereafter, always provided that the Company reserve to them- 
 selves or their assigns, the right of free navigation and trade in 
 those Bays and up and down tne said rivers. 
 
 3. The said David Nassy and his Partners shall be granted free 
 and assured possession of that part of the aforesaid Colony, with 
 it belongings and dependencies, that may be colonized, governed, 
 worked, assigned, and cultivated within the period of four years, 
 of which they may dispose by testament, contract, engagement or 
 otherwise, so that they may be free to dispose of their property 
 at their own pleasure, provided that nothing in the testament or 
 contract shall be held binding if the Colony should be cut off 
 from these States and this Company and captured by another 
 nation. 
 
 4. The said Colony shall be allowed to establish high, middle 
 and low jurisdiction, which shall be carried out in accordance 
 with Article XIV. 
 
 5. The aforesaid Colony shall be held by the said David Nassy 
 in manner of a fief, and to provide for the security thereof, one 
 or more responsible persons shall be provided, on whom the fief 
 may be conferred, on payment of certain manorial fees to the 
 amount of 60 guilders. 
 
 6. The Sovereignty and Supreme Control, and everything con- 
 nected therewith, are reserved to their High Mightinesses and the 
 Company as far as the Company are qualified thereto under 
 their Charter. 
 
 7. It shall be permitted to the Jews to have freedom of con- 
 science with public worship, and a synagogue and school, in the 
 same manner as is allowed in the City of Amsterdam, in accord- 
 ance with the doctrines of their elders, without hindrance as well 
 in the district of this Colony, as in other places of our Dominions, 
 and that they shall enjoy all Liberties and Exemptions of our 
 other colonists as long as they remain there; but the aforesaid 
 Patroon and his partners shall be bound to preserve the said 
 freedom of conscience to all the other colonists of any nation 
 whatever, and that with the worship and public rites of the 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — OppenJieim. 185 
 
 Reformed Religion, or any other that may happen to he in the 
 country. 
 
 8. The Company grants to the before-named David Nassy and 
 his partners, freedom of tithes (tenths) for the period of twenty 
 years, in which privileges he may allow his Colonists to partici- 
 pate for as many years as he shall consider advisable, also free- 
 dom of head tax and other duties, any of which may be received 
 from the expiration of the tenth year until the twentieth, shall he 
 applied to defray the expenses of public works and fortifications, 
 and at the expiration of the twentieth year this and all other 
 tenths and head taxes shall devolve on the Company. 
 
 9. If any of these Colonists, or any other persons shall dis- 
 cover any mines of gold, silver, precious stones, marble, saltpetre, 
 or pearl fisheries of any nature whatever, they shall be considered 
 as the property of the Colonists for the period of ten years without 
 charge, after which time a tax of a tenth part of the net proceeds 
 shall be paid to the Company. 
 
 10. The Colonists shall be exempted for the period of ten suc- 
 cessive years from all the Company's taxes on materials exported 
 for agricultural purposes, working of minerals and provisions, 
 for the erection of houses, logics, fisheries, and the like articles 
 of necessity appertaining thereto. 
 
 11. During the term of five years these persons shall be free 
 from the Company's taxes on gums, dyes, balsams, plants, and 
 other merchandize found in the Colony, or raised by their in- 
 dustry, which shall be imported into this Country from that land, 
 after which time the same duties shall be claimed as are 
 paid by the other settlers on the possessions of the Company. 
 
 12. The Colonists will be permitted to transport their goods 
 from this land by their own ships, as well as by the Company's 
 vessels if any should be available, but they shall be bound to give 
 an exact account of the size, number of men, equipment, and 
 lading of these vessels, either here or at any place where there is 
 a Chamber of the Company, also before sailing to provide them- 
 selves with a Commission from the Company, in conformity with 
 the custom of all others within the limits of the Company's 
 charter. Permission is fully granted that they may keep for their 
 own trade what vessels they shall consider necessary. 
 
 13. The Colonists shall be permitted for the benefit of the 
 Colony, all the rights of establishing fisheries for the drying and 
 salting of fish of all descriptions, and shall be allowed for the 
 period of twenty years to transport the same to the "West India 
 
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186 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Islands, Spain, the Straits and elsewhere, provided they do not 
 under that pretense carry away any minerals, plants or anything 
 prohibited, on pain of the exporters forfeiting for the benefit 
 of the Company whatever goods may be found besides those that 
 are prohibited. 
 
 14. The Company shall appoint in the aforesaid Colony a 
 " Schout," for the maintenance of Justice and Police, provided the 
 state of the Colony be such as shall justify the appointment of 
 a Governing Council in which case the patroon or patroons shall 
 nominate two of the most able persons living in the Colony being 
 Dutch Christians of the Reformed Religion, through whom the 
 Schout, as representative of the Company, may have supreme 
 control in the country. 
 
 15. All the affairs, differences and litigations shall be decided by 
 the aforesaid rulers and the sentences executed, provided the 
 sentence shall not exceed the sum of five hundred guilders. In 
 case this sum should be exceeded appeal may be made to such 
 Courts as their High Mightinesses and the Company may commis- 
 sion for the purpose. 
 
 16. The aforenamed Colonists shall be allowed all the privi- 
 leges of trading for slaves as may be hereafter decided by the 
 Council of Nineteen. This accommodation to be the same as that 
 allowed to the Colony of Essequibo under the Chamber of Zeeland. 
 
 17. They shall also be provided by the Company with such num- 
 bers of slaves as may be required from time to time, in accordance 
 with the orders and regulations made or to be made by the 
 Council of Nineteen, but all the slaves which may be captured at 
 sea by the Colonists shall be allowed to be brought to the Colony 
 for further transportation on payment of a tax to the Company 
 at the rate of ten guilders for each slave, with the understanding 
 that a fourth part of the slaves thus captured shall remain in 
 that country for the benefit of the Colony on the Wild Coast. 
 
 18. After the expiration of the first ten years the Company 
 shall be entitled to there appoint a receiver of the Company's 
 taxes which the chiefs and rulers of the Colony shall help in 
 maintaining to the furtherance of the Company's authority. 
 
 This done and enacted by the Shareholders of the Chamber of 
 Amsterdam on the 12th of September, 1659. 
 
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INDEX. 
 
 Abarbanel, David, pseu., see 
 Dormido, Martinez. 
 
 Abbot, Rev. Henry, Intolerance 
 of, 43 (and note). 
 
 Abbott, Mr., 27. 
 
 Aboab, Rabbi Isaac, 97. 
 
 Abrahams, Edmund H., 187. 
 
 Adams, Prof. Herbert B., 3. 
 
 Advertisement of Jacob Phila- 
 
 Augusta Sentinel, quoted, 67 
 
 (note). 
 Authors, Jewish, 8. 
 
 Bamberger, Arnold, 78. 
 Barnett, Dr. George E., 3. 
 Barlow, Joel, 26. 
 Barre, Sieur, 136 (note). 
 Baruh, David, petition of, 146 
 
 This Index covers the whole of Volume 16 of the Publications 
 of the American Jewish Historical Society. For the index to th€ 
 foregoing paper, consult references to titles bearing numbers 
 between 95 and 186. 
 
 Samuel Oppbnheim, 
 
 141 East 111th St., 
 
 New York 
 
 "Andre" (Sargent), 27. 
 Annals of Guiana (Rodway and 
 
 Watt), 95 (note), 98 (note). 
 Anti-Semitic question, 33. 
 Archives, Dutch-Portuguese, 9- 
 
 11, 12. 
 Arnold, Benedict, 26. 
 Argyn (ship), 105, 168. 
 Asher, G. M., quoted, 116 
 
 (note). 
 Attia, David, 133 (and note). 
 
 Bissell, Gov. W. H., 198. ^ 
 Brentano, Lorenz, 198. 
 Brentano, Judge Theodore, 198. 
 Brewster, Benjamin Harris, 
 
 193. 
 Burning the Ships (Phillips), 
 
 197. 
 Board of Nineteen, West India 
 
 Co., 121-122. 
 Bock, C. W. (artist), 73. 
 Bodleian Library, 108. 
 Boesch, Dr. Hans, 74. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
186 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Islands, Spain, the Straits and elsewhere, provided they do not 
 under that pretense carry away any minerals, plants or anything 
 prohibited, on pain of the exporters forfeiting for the benefit 
 of the Company whatever goods may be found besides those that 
 are prohibited. 
 
 14. The Company shall appoint in the aforesaid Colony a 
 " Schout," for the maintenance of Justice and Police, provided the 
 state of the Colony be such as shall justify the appointment of 
 a Governing Council in which case the patroon or patroons shall 
 nominate two of the most able persons living In the Colony being 
 Dutch Christians of the Reformed Religion^ through whom the 
 Schout, as representative of the Company, may have supreme 
 control In the country. 
 
 15. All the affairs, differences and litigations shall be decided by 
 thfi aforesaid xuleES_and_ the sentences ,esgSMtefl» provided the 
 
 that country for the benefit of the Colony on the Wild Coast. 
 
 18. After the expiration of the first ten years the Company 
 shall be entitled to there appoint a receiver of the Company's 
 taxes which the chiefs and rulers of the Colony shall help in 
 maintaining to the furtherance of the Company's authority. 
 
 This done and enacted by the Shareholders of the Chamber of 
 Amsterdam on the 12th of September, 1659. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abarbanel, David, pseu., see 
 Dormido, Martinez. 
 
 Abbot, Rev. Henry, intolerance 
 of, 43 (and note). 
 
 Abbott, Mr., 27. 
 
 Aboab, Rabbi Isaac, 97. 
 
 Abrahams, Edmund H., 187. 
 
 Adams, Prof. Herbert B., 3. 
 
 Advertisement of Jacob Phila- 
 delphia, 80-83. 
 
 Aguilar, Rabbi Moses Raphael 
 de, 97. 
 
 American Jewish Historical 
 Society, collections of, 5. 
 executive committee, 4. 
 executive council, 3. 
 foundation of, 5. 
 future usefulness, 5-6. 
 
 American Jewish History, foun- 
 dation of, 5. 
 
 American Jewish Year-Book 
 (5663), 3. 
 
 " American Orator," 49. 
 
 Amsterdam Chamber, West 
 India Co., 119-122. 
 
 "Andre" (Sargent), 27. 
 
 Annals of Guiana (Rodway and 
 Watt), 95 (note), 98 (note). 
 
 Anti-Semitic question, 33. 
 
 Archives, Dutch-Portuguese, 9- 
 11, 12. 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 26. 
 
 Argyn (ship), 105, 168. 
 
 Asher, G. M., quoted, 116 
 (note). 
 
 Attia, David, 133 (and note). 
 
 Augusta Sentinel, quoted, 67 
 
 (note). 
 Authors, Jewish, 8. 
 
 Bamberger, Arnold, 78. 
 Barnett, Dr. George E., 3. 
 Barlow, Joel, 26. 
 Barre, Sieur, 136 (note). 
 Baruh, David, petition of, 146 
 
 (note). 
 B'eekman, Abraham, 157, 
 
 quoted, 158, 159 (note). 
 Beginnings of British Guiana 
 
 (Davis), 105 (note). 
 Berkeley, Lord, 38. 
 Bernard (English actor), 
 
 quoted, 25. 
 Beschryvinge van de TolJc-Plan- 
 
 tinge Zuriname, 156 (note) , 
 
 157 (note). 
 Beschryving van Guiana (Hart- 
 
 sinck), 148. 
 Bibaz, S. B., 8. 
 Biggs, Asa, amendment offered, 
 
 66 (and note). 
 Bissell, Gov. W. H., 198. 
 Brentano, Lorenz, 198. 
 Brentano, Judge Theodore, 198. 
 Brewster, Benjamin Harris, 
 
 193. 
 Burning the Ships (Phillips), 
 
 197. 
 Board of Nineteen, West India 
 
 Co., 121-122. 
 Bock, C. W. (artist), 73. 
 Bodleian Library, 108. 
 Boesch, Dr. Hans, 74. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
310 
 
 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Brackenridge, Hon. H. M., 
 speech of, 51, 52. 
 
 Branch, Gov., 59. 
 plea for the jews, 60-61. 
 
 Brazil (NeuhofC), 106 (note). 
 
 Brazil, immigration to, 97. 
 
 Brief Narrative of the Proceed- 
 ings of William Penn 
 (Quarry), 78-79. 
 
 Byam, Wm., quoted, 137 (and 
 note), 145, 149, quoted, 150. 
 
 Cabhala, the, 75. 
 
 Caldwell, Rev. David, 40, 41 
 
 (note), quoted, 45. 
 Calendar of Clarendon Pavers, 
 
 118 (note). 
 
 Campos, Daniel f. de Abraham 
 
 de, 106 (note). 
 Campos, Imanuel de, 106 
 
 (note). 
 Carnevall, Ferdinando, pseu., 
 
 see Thurloe, John. 
 Carson, Mr., quoted, 61. 
 Carvajal, Antonio Fernandez, 
 
 119 (note). 
 
 Cayenne, colony of, 99-101, 135 
 (and note). 
 
 Century Magazine (1882), 32. 
 
 Charles II, grant of North 
 Carolina, 38 (note), 
 of Surinam, 99 (note). 
 
 Chicago Inter-Ocean (1899), 25, 
 33. 
 
 Christopher Columlus and the 
 participation of the Jews 
 in the Spanish and Portu- 
 guese Discoveries (Kayser- 
 ling), 206-207. 
 
 " Chronostichon," 80. 
 
 Cincinnati Historical and Phil- 
 osophical Society, collec- 
 tions at, 27. 
 
 Clark, George Rodgers, 35. 
 
 Clay, Henry, 31, 32. 
 
 Clay, Mrs. Henry, 30, 31. 
 
 Clement, Nicholas, 168. 
 
 Clinton, British Gen., 191. 
 
 Cohen family, 2. 
 
 Cohen, Mendes, 2-3. 
 
 Collection of Voyages (Pinker- 
 ton), 106 (note). 
 
 Colonization Committee, 102, 
 123, 129-130, 170. 
 
 Committee for the three Wal- 
 cheren cities, Middelburg, 
 Flushing, and Vere, 102. 
 proceedings of, 162-172. 
 
 Congress of North Carolina, 39. 
 
 Conscience, liberty of, 27-28. 
 
 Cooper, Jesse, 57 (and note). 
 
 Corcos, Rev. Joseph, 140 (note). 
 
 Corte, Neeltie de, 172. 
 
 Cromwell's Jewish Intelligen- 
 cers (Wolf), 119 (note). 
 
 Crynssen, Admiral, 156. 
 
 Daniel, Judge, 60 (and note). 
 
 Davis, N. Darnell, quoted, 105 
 (note). 
 
 de Agullar, Rabbi Moses Raph- 
 ael, 97. 
 
 de Campos, Daniel f. de Abra- 
 ham, 106 (note). 
 
 de Campos, Imanuel, 106 
 (note). 
 
 de Corte, Neeltie, 172. 
 
 d'Endracht (ship), 104, 164, 
 170. 
 
 de Fijn, J. (commander in Po- 
 meron), letter to the West 
 India Co., 131, 132-133. 
 
 de Fonseca, Isaac, 132. 
 
 Deform Judaism and the Study 
 of the He'brew (Dropsie), 
 194. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Index. 
 
 211 
 
 de Puentes, Philippe, 103-105, 
 117, 130-131, 132, 168. 
 
 de Hase, Mr., 170. 
 
 de la Foirey, Mons., 190. 
 
 de la Luzern, Chevalier, 190. 
 
 de la Parra, S. H., 8 (note). 
 
 de la Roche, Salomon, 158. 
 
 de Marbols, Barbie, 190. 
 
 Dembitz, Lewis N., 30. 
 
 de Mercato, David, 146 (note). 
 
 de Mesquita, Bueno, 8. 
 
 de Rendon, don Franciscos, 190. 
 
 de Sola, Clarence, 27. 
 
 de Veth, Jacob Rodrlges, 133. 
 
 de Vries, Moses Isaac, 159 
 (note). 
 
 Diploma, oldest American med- 
 ical, 75-76. 
 
 Dissenters in North Carolina, 
 38-39, 44 (note). 
 
 Dormido, Martinez, 109. 
 
 Dropsie, Moses Aaron, 5. 
 sketch of life, 193-195. 
 
 Duer manuscripts, 27. 
 
 Duer, Col. Wm., 26. 
 
 Duke of Cumberland, see Fred- 
 erick, Lord Henry. 
 
 Dutch New York, Jewish set- 
 tlers in, 24. 
 
 Dutch-Portuguese congregation, 
 catalogue, 12-22. 
 
 du Tertre, Jean Baptiste, 100, 
 146. 
 
 Early Chicago and Illinois (Ma- 
 son), 29. 
 
 Barnes, Wilberforce, 96 (note). 
 
 Edwards, Gov., 29. 
 
 Edwards Papers (Washburne, 
 editor), 29. 
 
 Edwards, Weldon N., quoted, 56 
 (and note), 
 amendment offered, 59. 
 
 Egerton MS., 118 (note), 119 
 (note), 160, 176. 
 
 "Elliot's Debates," 42. 
 
 Elzas, Dr. Barnett A., 5. 
 
 Emden, E. v., 8. 
 
 Emigrants, French, in Ohio, 26. 
 
 Essai Historique sur la Golonie 
 de Surinam, 7, 8 (and 
 note), 95 (and note), 98 
 (note), 99 (note), 135 
 (note), 139-140, 141, 155, 
 179. 
 
 Etting, Solomon, 2. 
 
 Evening Journal, 65. 
 
 Expulsion Edict of Louis XIII, 
 33-35. 
 
 Fijn, J. de (commander in Po- 
 meron), letter to the "West 
 India Co., 131, 132-133. 
 
 Flushing Records, 96 (note). 
 
 Foirey, Mons. de la, 190. 
 
 Fonseca, Isaac de, 132. 
 
 Fort Ceperon, 135 (note). 
 
 Fort Kykoveral, 101. 
 
 Fort Pitt, 26. 
 
 Franks, David, 25-26. 
 will of, 189. 
 
 Franks, David S., 25-27. 
 
 Franks, Jacob, father of David, 
 25. 
 
 Frankstown, 26. 
 
 Frederick II, 93. 
 
 Frederick the Great, 85-94. 
 
 Frederick, Lord Henry, 76. 
 
 French Code Noir, violation of, 
 25. 
 
 Fuentes, Philippe de, 103-105, 
 117, 130-131 (and note), 
 132, 168. 
 
 Gaston, Wm., quoted, 39 (note), 
 48 (and note), 49, quoted, 
 58. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
313 
 
 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 interpretation of constitu- 
 tion, 53 (and note), 54 
 (and note), 
 speech of, 59, 63 (and note). 
 
 GedenKbldtter (Kayserllng), 
 205. 
 
 "General Committee" (demo- 
 cratic), 191. 
 
 Georgia Gazette, 187. 
 
 German pietists, 75. 
 
 Germanic National Museum, 
 74. 
 
 GescMchte der Israelitin 
 (Jost), 120 (note), 140 
 (note). 
 
 Oeschiedenis van de Kolonien 
 Essequeho (Netscher), 98. 
 
 GescMedenis van Surinam 
 (Wolbers), 7. 
 
 Gist, Maria Cecil, wife of Ben- 
 jamin Gratz, 32. 
 
 Glazer, Rabbi Simon, 5. 
 
 Goliath, Cornelis, 133 (note). 
 
 Gotha, Herzog Ernst von, 91. 
 
 Gotthell, Prof. Richard, 156 
 (note). 
 
 Grant by Dutch West India Co. 
 to David Nassy for a Jew- 
 ish Colony at Cayenne, 120 
 (note), 121-122, 161, 183- 
 186. 
 
 Grant of privileges by the Gov- 
 ernor, Council and As- 
 sembly to the Jews in 
 Surinam, August 17, 1665, 
 179-180. 
 
 Grant of privileges to the Jews 
 (Egerton MS.), 108-110 
 (and note), 111-114, 116, 
 118 (and note), 121-122, 
 176, 178. 
 
 Gratz, Benjamin, 31, 32. 
 
 Gratz, Bernard, 2. 
 
 Gratz, Jacob, see Henry, Jacob. 
 
 Gratz, Michael, father of Re- 
 becca, 32, 47. 
 
 Gratz, Rebecca, 31-32. 
 
 Groenewegel (orGroenewegen), 
 Aert Adrienszoon, 125-126. 
 
 Grunwald, Dr. Max, quoted, 93, 
 106 (note), 188. 
 
 Guiana, immigration to,101- 103. 
 data relating to early Jewish 
 
 colony, 95-96 (and note), 
 first Jewish colonists, 104. 
 
 Gunter, Clement, 128. 
 
 Hamburger GemeindetucJi, 106 
 
 (note). 
 Hart, Lucretia, see Clay, Mrs. 
 
 Henry. 
 Hart, Nathaniel, G. S., 30-31. 
 Hart, Col. Thomas, father of 
 
 Lucretia, 31. 
 Hartsinck, Jan Jacob, 142. 
 Hase, Mr. de, 170. 
 Hays, B'aruch, father of John, 
 
 27. 
 Hays, John, settler in Illinois, 
 
 27-29, 30. 
 Hemstead, Jacob, pseu. see 
 
 Thurloe, John, 118. 
 Hennepin, Louis, 106 (note). 
 Henry, Jacob, contest for seat 
 
 in Legislature, 46, 47 (and 
 
 note), 48-49. 
 speech of, 49-51, 68-71. 
 Heyden, Van der, 168, 170, 172, 
 
 174. 
 Hirsch, Dr. Emil G., 200, 203. 
 Historical Proeve, see Essai 
 
 Historique. 
 Historical STcetcJi of Kentucky 
 
 (Collin), 31. 
 Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
 vania, 73. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Index. 
 
 213 
 
 History of New Jersey (Smith), 
 
 187. 
 Hollander, Prof. Jacob H., 3. 
 EoUandtze Mercurius (1664), 
 
 142. 
 Holmes, Mr., resolution offered, 
 
 60 (and note), 61 (note). 
 Hopkins, Wm. A., 198. 
 Hiihner, Leon, 5. 
 Hunt, Randall, 201. 
 Hyde, Laurence, 99 (note). 
 
 Immigration, Jewish, to the 
 West, 23. 
 
 Invasion, English, from Barba- 
 dos, 137-138. 
 
 Iredell, James, champion of 
 religious liberty, 41 (and 
 note), 42 (note), 
 address of, 43-44 (and note). 
 
 Israel, Menasses ben, 205. 
 
 Jacoeks, Mr., 60. 
 Jahresberichte (Kayserling), 
 
 206. 
 Jewish Chronicle, 187. 
 Jewish Beginnings in Kentucky 
 
 Dembitz), 30. 
 Jewish Beginnings in Michi- 
 gan, (Heineman), 27 
 
 (note). 
 Jewish Pioneers of the Ohio 
 
 T alley, (Philipson), 30: 
 Jewish Population of Maryland 
 
 (Barnett), 3. 
 Jewish population, study of, in 
 
 Maryland, 3. 
 Jews, attitude of the colonies 
 
 towards, 37. 
 as traders, 24, 33-34, 93. 
 massacre of, 34. 
 Jews in England, re-settlement 
 
 of, 108-109. 
 
 Jews in the Diplomatic Corre- 
 spondence of the United 
 States (Adler), 6. 
 
 Jews of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella's Court, 206. 
 
 Jews of Georgia, 187. 
 
 Jews of Iowa (Glazer), 5. 
 
 Jews of Philadelphia (Morals), 
 32. 
 
 Jews of Soiith Carolina (Elzas) , 
 5. 
 
 Jews of the Confederacy, 67 
 (note). 
 
 Jews' Savannah, 98. 
 
 Joannes, the (ship), 104. 
 
 John Marshall Centennial, 202. 
 
 Johns Hopkins University, 3. 
 
 Johnston, Gov. Samuel, revolu- 
 tionary patriot, 41 (and 
 note), quoted, 45 (and 
 note). 
 
 Journal of Guiana (Byam), 137 
 (note), 148 (note), quoted, 
 149, 156. 
 
 Kayserling, Dr. Meyer, 5. 
 sketch of life, 205-207. 
 Kennedy, Henry H., 202. 
 Kerr, John, 65 (note). 
 Kohler, Max J., 9, 106 (note), 
 
 110, 125, 160. 
 Kuh, Ephraim, 205. 
 
 Lancaster, Mr., quoted, 42 
 
 (note), 45 (note). 
 Latorre, 129, 166. 
 Lead, Cardoso, 133 (and note). 
 Leeser, Isaac, 63, 64 (and note), 
 
 65, quoted, 66 (note), 68. 
 Lettre Politico-Theologico-Mor- 
 
 ale sur les Juifs (Soulage), 
 
 8. 
 Levy, Abraham, 170. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
214 
 
 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Levy, Benjamin, 187. 
 
 Liohtenberg, Georg Christoph, 
 80. 
 
 Life and Times of Henry Clay 
 (Colton), 31. 
 
 Life of Jesus (Dropsle), 194. 
 
 Locke, John, 38 (and note). 
 
 Longland letter, 106, 107 (and 
 note), 108, 118 (note). 
 
 London Society for the Propa- 
 gation of the Gospel in 
 Foreign Parts, 78. 
 
 Louis XIII, edict of, 33-35. 
 
 Louis XV, treatment of Jews In 
 French territory, 34-35. 
 attitude on slavery, 35. 
 
 Lumhrozo, Dr. Jacob, 1-2. 
 
 Luzern, Chevalier de la, 190. 
 
 Macoo, Nathaniel, defense of 
 
 religious liberty, 57 (and 
 
 note), 58 (and note). 
 Madison, President James, 30, 
 
 190. 
 "Mammoth Cave" (Kentucky), 
 
 32. 
 Marbois, Barbie de, 190. 
 Maryland Jew Bill, 51. 
 Maryland, religious toleration 
 
 in, 1-2. 
 Mason, Edward G., 29. 
 Matthai, Conrad, Rosicrucian 
 
 mystic, 75. 
 Maurice of Nassau, Count, 98 
 
 (and note). 
 McCaleb, Judge, 201. 
 Medina, Francisco, 104, 164. 
 Melon Schooner, The (Phillips), 
 
 197. 
 Mennasseh ten Israel's Mission 
 
 to Oliver Cromwell (yjolt), 
 
 110 (note). 
 
 Mercato, David de, 146 (note). 
 
 Merchants' Map of Commerce 
 (Roberts), 144 (note). 
 
 Mesquita, Bueno de; 8. 
 
 Messiah of the Jews, see Zevl, 
 Sabbathi. 
 
 Method of Determining Jewish 
 Population of Large Cities 
 of the United States (Bar- 
 nett), 3. 
 
 Meza, Abraham, 146 (note). 
 
 Minutes of the supreme execu- 
 tive council of Pennsyl- 
 vania (1790), 26. 
 
 Mitchell, Dr. S. Weir, 196. 
 
 Moller, George, 80. 
 
 Monte del CIsne (ship), 101 
 (note). 
 
 Morals, Henry S., 5, 32. 
 
 Morao, Isaac Henriques, 132, 
 133 (note).* 
 
 Morpurgo, J., 8. 
 
 Morthamer, Mr., 168, 170, 172, 
 174. 
 
 Moses, Adolph, 5. 
 sketch of life, 200-203. 
 
 Moses and Newman, 202. 
 
 Moses, Hamilton, 202, 203. 
 
 Moses, Irma, daughter of 
 Adolph, 200. 
 
 Moses, Mrs. J. W., daughter of 
 Adolph, 203. 
 
 Moses, Joseph M., 197. 
 
 Moses, Joseph W., son of 
 Adolph, 200, 202, 203. 
 
 Moses, Julius, 202, 203. 
 
 Moses, Paul A., son of Adolph, 
 200. 
 
 Moses, Rosenthal and Kennedy, 
 202. 
 
 Moss, John, 195. 
 
 Myers, Josephine, 196. 
 
 Mystics, Rosicrucian, 75. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Index. 
 
 215 
 
 Nassy, David J. C, 8 (and 
 note), 9, 98 (and note), 
 100, 101, 103, 114, 116 (and 
 note), 117, 119, 160, 161. 
 
 J^ational Corporation Reporter, 
 202. 
 
 Navigation Act of 1660, 149, 
 152, 153. 
 of 1651, 99. 
 
 Netscher (historian), 98(note), 
 108, quoted, 115 (and note), 
 116, 119, 139, 140. 
 
 Netto, Moses, 128, 170. 
 
 Neuhoff (historian), 106 (note). 
 
 New Amsterdam, early Jewish 
 immigration to, 23. 
 
 New Hampshire, religious big- 
 otry in, 37 (and note), 65 
 (and note). 
 
 New Jersey Archives, 187. 
 
 Newman, Jacob, 202. 
 
 New York Historical Society, 
 collections, 27. 
 
 New Zeeland Chamber, West 
 India Co., 120 (and note), 
 121, 123. 
 proceedings of, 172-175. 
 
 Nones, Joseph B., 32. 
 
 North Carolina, struggle for re- 
 ligious liberty, 37-71. 
 Church of England, 38 (and 
 
 note), 
 constitution, 39-40 (and note), 
 
 41. 
 constitutional convention, 65- 
 
 67. 
 declaration of rights, 40 
 
 (note), 45. 
 dissenters, 38-39. 
 federal constitution, 42. 
 
 Noteboom (skipper), 170. 
 
 Nunes, David, 106 (note). 
 
 Nourse, Mr., 191. 
 
 Objects of the American Jewish 
 Historical Society, v. 
 
 Occident, the, 64, 65 (and note), 
 quoted, 67. 
 
 o'Liveria, David, 106 (note). 
 
 Original of Reiecea in Ivanhoe 
 (Van Rensselaer), 32. 
 
 Palpa, Abraham della, 188. 
 Paltsits, V. H., 96 (note). 
 Panegyric on the life of Isaac 
 
 Leeser (Dropsle), 194. 
 Parra, S. H. de la, 8 (note). 
 Parry, John, 155. 
 Peale, Charles W., 27. 
 Pence, A. M., 198, 199, 202. 
 Penn, Wm., 78-79. 
 Pennypacker, Samuel W., 75. 
 Perrels, J. W., 96 (note). 
 Perry's Historical Collections, 
 
 79. 
 Petaete, Moses, 133. 
 Peyen, Mr., pseu., see Thurloe, 
 
 John. 
 Philadelphia, Jacob, 73-84. 
 advertisement of, 80-83. 
 as lecturer, 76-77. 
 portrait of, 73-74. 
 preceptor, 74-75. 
 and Frederick the Great, 85- 
 94. 
 Philippson, Ludwig, 205. 
 Phillips, Barnet, 5. 
 
 sketch of life, 195-197. 
 Phillips, Barnet, Jr., 197. 
 Phillips, Frank, son of Barnet, 
 
 197. 
 Phillips, Henry, son of Barnet, 
 
 197. 
 Phillips, Isaac, father of Barnet, 
 
 195. 
 Phillips, Sallie, wife of Barnet, 
 197. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
216 
 
 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Phillips, Sarah, wife of Isaac, 
 195. 
 
 Philipson, Dr. David, 30-31. 
 
 Pilgrims of Mass., 39 (and 
 note) . 
 
 Pinto, Paul Jacomo, 103, 104 
 (note), 164, 166, 172, 174. 
 
 Pintos, the, 103. 
 
 Pioneer History of Illinois 
 (Reynolds), quoted, 28. 
 
 Pioneer settlers, Jewish, in the 
 West, 23-32. 
 
 Pomeroon colony, attack upon, 
 148 (note). 
 
 Poorte, Van der, 170. 
 
 Portugiesen Qraier auf deut- 
 scher Erde (Grunwald), 
 quoted, 93, 94, 106. 
 
 Praag, Gebrs. v., 8. 
 
 Prins Willem (ship), 104. 
 
 Prisoners, Spanish, 134 (note). 
 
 Proceedings of Board of Alder- 
 men and Council, West en 
 Rad, of Middelburg, 174- 
 175. 
 
 Proceedings of the Committee 
 governing for the three 
 Walcheren cities, Middel- 
 burg, Flushing, and Vere, 
 162-172. 
 
 Proceedings of the Zeeland 
 Chamber, West India Co., 
 172-174. 
 
 Quarry, Col. Robert, 78-79. 
 
 Randolph, John, 57 (note), 58 
 
 (note). 
 Ranke, Leopold von, 206. 
 Rawson, British commander, 
 
 99. 
 Rayner, Kenneth. 58 (and 
 
 note). 
 
 "Real Citizen," a, 187. 
 
 Religious toleration in Mary- 
 land, 1-2. 
 
 Rendon, don Pranciscos de, 190. 
 
 Rensselaer, Gratz Van, 32. 
 
 Report of V. 8. Commission on 
 Venesuela-British Guiana 
 Boundary, 102 (note), 159. 
 
 Retrospections of America 
 (Bernard), 25. 
 
 Reynolds, Gov. John, quoted, 28. 
 
 Rochambaud, 191. 
 
 Roche, Salomon de la, 158. 
 
 Rodway, James, 95 (note), 
 quoted, 105 (note), 108. 
 
 Roman Catholics, political ex- 
 clusion of. In North Caro- 
 lina, 39, 41 (and note), 42 
 (note), 43 (and note), 46, 
 52-63. 
 
 Roos, Rabbi J. S., 97 (note), 
 155, 188. 
 
 Roselius, Christian, 201. 
 
 Rosenthal, Julius, 5, 202. 
 sketch of life, 198-200. 
 
 Rosenthal, Moritz, 202. 
 
 Rosenthal, Lessing, son of 
 Julius, 199. 
 
 Rosenthal, Pence and Moses, 
 202. 
 
 Ruffin, Thomas, 66 (and note). 
 
 Riemsdljk, Dr., Th. H. F. van, 
 96 (note). 
 
 Salomon, Haym, revolutionary 
 
 patriot, 190-192. 
 Salomon, Haym M., letters to 
 
 President Madison, 190-192. 
 Scherphuisen, Gov. V., 188-189. 
 Schulpforte, records of, 77. 
 Scioto Co., 26-27. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
Index. 
 
 317 
 
 Scott, Major John, quoted, 124, 
 
 125-127 (note), 128-129, 
 
 137, 146, 148 (note), 160. 
 Seelig, Joliann Gottfried, Ro- 
 
 sicrucian mystic, 75. 
 Senior, Jacob, 106 (note). 
 "Serepique," 106 (note). 
 Settlement of Jews in the U. 
 
 S., celebration of, 4. 
 Shaftesbury, Earl of, 38. 
 Sheftall, Mordecai, 187. 
 Shelby, Anna Maria, second 
 
 wife of Benjamin Gratz, 32. 
 Shober, Mr., 56 (note). 
 Smith, James A., U. S. consul 
 
 at Leghorn, 96 (note). 
 Smith, James S., 57 (and note). 
 Sola, Clarence de, 27. 
 Sommermans, Willem, 131. 
 Speeches on the Jew Bill 
 
 (Brackenridge), 48 (note). 
 Spranger, Guerin, charter to, 
 
 100, 101, 135. 
 " States ships," 121. 
 St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, 30. 
 Stern, David, 203. 
 Stern, Edward, 203. 
 Stern, Harry, 203. 
 Stern, Rabbi J. L., 3. 
 Stern, Simon Adler, 5. 
 
 sketch of life, 203-205. 
 Stiles, Capt. Joseph, 26. 
 Stone, Dr. Frederick D., 73-74. 
 Struggle, The (Phillips), 198. 
 Stuyvesant, Gov. Peter, 23. 
 Sulzberger, Hon. Mayer, 47 
 
 (and note). 
 Surinaamsche AlmanakTcen, see 
 
 Surinam Calendars. 
 Surinam Calendars, 8. 
 Surinam, Jews in, 7-22, 138-145, 
 147-157. 
 historical sources, 8-9. 
 
 government archives, 9-12. 
 
 grant of privileges, 108-112, 
 179-183. 
 Swaving, W. O., 96 (note). 
 " Sweet singer of Israel," 79. 
 Swift, quoted, 59. 
 Swift, R. K., 198. 
 
 Taylor, Judge John Louis, 48 
 
 (and note), 49. 
 Tertre, Jean Baptiste du, 100, 
 
 146. 
 Thompson, Prof. Robert Ellis, 
 
 204. 
 Thurloe, John, secretary of 
 
 state under Cromwell, 106, 
 
 118 (note), 119 (note). 
 Thurloe letter, 107, 114, 120. 
 "Timehri," 105 (note). 
 Toomer, Judge, 46 (note), 
 
 quoted, 61 (note). 
 " TyrofCschen," 73. 
 Tryon, Gov., quoted, 39. 
 
 University of Gottinger, 80. 
 
 Van der Poorte, 170. 
 
 Van der Hyden, 168, 170, 172, 
 
 174. 
 Van Rensselaer, Gratz, 32. 
 Van Riemsdijk, Dr. Th. H. F., 
 
 96 (note). 
 Veth, Jacob Rodrlges de, 133. 
 Vigo, Pietro, 96 (note). 
 Vries, Moses Isaac de, 159 
 
 (note). 
 
 Watt, Thomas, 95 (note). 
 Weeks, Stephen Beauregard, 
 
 quoted, 38 (note). 
 Wescott, quoted, 78. 
 Westdorp, Burgomaster, 174. 
 
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218 
 
 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 " Western convention," 52. 
 " Western exchange," the, 25. 
 West India Co., 132. 
 Amsterdam Chamber, 119- 
 
 122. 
 vanilla trade, 157-159. 
 Wheeler, Gen. " Joe," 196. 
 Wheeler, John H., 46 (note'), 
 
 47. 
 Wieland, quoted, 188. 
 " Wild Coast," delivery of 
 
 slaves, 114-115 (and note), 
 
 117, 162, 164. 
 Williams, Roger, 59. 
 Willoughby land, 149. 
 Willoughby, Lord, 99 (note), 
 
 113, 137, 140-141, 143, 146 
 
 (note), 149-150. 
 Wilmington Journal, quoted, 
 
 64, 65. 
 Wilson, Gen. Louis Dicken, 61- 
 
 63 (and notes). 
 
 Winnemore, Mrs. A. E., daugh- 
 ter of Barnet Philips, 197. 
 
 Witt, Dr. Christopher, Rosicru- 
 cian mystic, 75-76. 
 
 Wolf, Lucien, grant discovered 
 by, 109-110 (note), 113, 114, 
 116, 118 (and note), 153, 
 160-161. 
 
 Wolf, Mathilda, wife of Adolph 
 Moses, 203. 
 
 " Woman in the Wilderness," 
 75. 
 
 Worthington, Col. J. W. D., 52. 
 
 Yancy, Mr., 52-53. 
 
 Zeeland Chamber, Dutch West 
 India Co., prospectus, 101- 
 102, 105. 
 proceedings, 172-174. 
 
 Zeeland Chamber Extracts, 117. 
 
 Zevi, Sabbathi, 105. 
 
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SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE. 
 
 Since the final proof of this paper was returned, additional 
 data relating to the colony described in it have been obtained 
 from the archives at The Hague, and are to appear in a later 
 volume of the Publications. Among these is the Dutch ver- 
 sion of the grant of privileges to the Jews going to the Wild 
 Coast, corresponding with the English copy of the uniden- 
 tified grant discovered among the Egerton MSS. in the Brit- 
 ish Museum, and set out here as Appendix II. See pp. 108- 
 122, and p. 176. 
 
 According to the additional extracts from the minutes of 
 the colonization committee, the grant was issued to the Jews 
 in the latter part of 1657 or early in 1658, and is spoken of in 
 those minutes as being printed and sent out for the informa- 
 tion of those interested. This agrees with the statement in 
 the letter of Longland to Thurloe, which makes reference to a 
 printed copy and that the same is to be translated. See p. 107. 
 There is no doubt, therefore, that the copy in the British 
 Museum is the one mentioned by Longland. See p. 111. 
 
 The conclusion arrived at also in this paper that the later 
 English grant of privileges of 1665 to the Jews of Surinam 
 was founded on this Dutch grant and was practically forced 
 from the authorities in Surinam, appears to be strengthened, 
 in addition to the reasons already given, by the positive deter- 
 mination of the origin and time of issue of the grant in the 
 British Museum. See pp. 149-157. 
 
 Eegardiug also the twelfth colony mentioned by John Scott 
 as settling on the Pomeroon in 1650 and 1651, it may further 
 be said, in addition to what has already been urged, pp. 134- 
 129, and in view of the fixing of the time of issue of the grant 
 to the Jews, that the colony is unlikely to have been estab- 
 
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Supplemental Note. 
 
 lished in those years, because the emigration of a great colony 
 of Dutch and Jews from BrazU that he speaks of, would not 
 have taken place without grants of privileges, and if such 
 grants had then been made there would have been no occasion 
 to make new grants to induce a later emigration between 1656 
 and 1658, to the same place, of a like large colony of Dutch 
 and Jews who had been in Brazil. The Jews certainly would 
 not have gone in 1651 without a grant, and if then in Pom- 
 eroon there would have been no occasion later, in 1657 or 1658, 
 to make a new grant to them to go to the same region. The 
 year 1650 may easily have been miswritten or misread in the 
 Scott MS. for 1656, which would approximate the date of the 
 beginning of the emigration as known to us from the extant 
 records. 
 
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AN BAELY JEWISH COLONY IN WESTEEN ©UIANA : 
 
 SUPPL.EMENTAL. DATA. 
 
 By Samtjel Oppenheim:. 
 
 Residence, 811 Dawson St., Bronx, N. Y. 
 
 Formerly at 141 E. 111th St., N. Y. 
 
 Reprint from 
 
 Publications or xhb 
 
 American Jewish Histoeical Society, 
 
 No. 17 (1908), pp. 53-70. 
 
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AN EAELY JEWISH COLONY IN WESTBEN OUIAN 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL. DATA. 
 
 By Samuei. Oppbnheim. 
 
 Residence, 811 Dawson St., Bronx, N. Y. 
 
 Formerly at 141 E. 111th St., N. Y. 
 
 Reprint from 
 
 Publications of the 
 
 American Jewish Histobical Society, 
 
 No. 17 (1908), pp. 53-70. 
 
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AN EAELY JEWISH COLONY IN WBSTEEN 
 
 GUIANA: 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL DATA. 
 
 By Samtjkl Oppenhexm. 
 
 After the final proof of the article by the writer in No. 16 
 of the Publications, entitled "An Early Jewish Colony in 
 Western Guiana, 1658-1666 : And its Eelation to the Jews in 
 Surinam, Cayenne and Tobago," was returned, a full copy 
 of the extant minutes of the committee governing for the 
 three Walcheren cities, Middelburg, Flushing and Vere, the 
 colony in Essequibo, covering the period from November 1, 
 1657, to November 19, 1663, and also of the minutes of the 
 Zeeland Chamber of the Dutch West India Company, and of 
 the Estates of Zeeland, so far as these relate to the colony 
 during the same period and until its dispersal in 1666, was 
 obtained from The Hague ReijTcsar chief. 
 
 The extracts from these minutes, printed as Appendix I to 
 the article referred to, had been excerpted under the direction 
 of the ReijTcsarchivaris, and were received and printed in the 
 belief that they were all that were to be found in the records 
 relating to the Jews. While going through the press, how- 
 ever, the writer concluded that something more would be 
 found on the subject in the minutes, and sent for the full 
 record which came, as remarked, after the final proof had 
 been returned. 
 
 The complete record discloses data relating to the Jews not 
 contained in the extracts already printed, and the new matter 
 is published as an appendix hereto. With what has pre- 
 viously been published, all that is to be found at The Hague 
 relating to the Jews iu this colony now appears in print. 
 
 53 
 
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54 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 The additional extracts show the original of the English 
 copy of the grant of privileges to the Jews, discovered by Mr. 
 Lucien Wolf, of London, among the Egerton MSS. in the 
 British Museum, a copy of which was reprinted as Appendix 
 II in the article in No. 16 of the Publications. The Dutch 
 of the first nine sections of that grant, relating to the religious 
 affairs of the Jews, is here given in connection with a trans- 
 lation of the whole of the additional extracts. The original 
 Dutch text of the new matter is not now given, as was done 
 with the earlier extracts, as the whole record has been filed 
 with the American Jewish Historical Society, and it has been 
 deemed sufiieient to give simply an accurate translation. This 
 translation, made by the writer, has been revised by Mr. Ding- 
 man Versteeg, the official translator for the Holland Society 
 of New York. The earlier extracts were revised by another 
 Dutch linguist and their translation is substantially correct. 
 
 The new matter proves that the grant in the Egerton MSS. 
 was a translation from the printed Dutch copy mentioned by 
 Charles Longland in his letter from Leghorn to Cromwell's 
 Secretary, John Thurloe, reporting the emigration of twenty- 
 five families of Jews from Leghorn early in 1658 to a locality 
 between Surinam and Carthagena, shown to have been at 
 Essequibo (see Publications of the American Jewish His- 
 torical Society, No. 16, pp. 107, 111), and absolutely disposes 
 of any claim made by Mr. Wolf or others that that grant was 
 drafted by Dormido, a brother-in-law of Menasseh ben Israel, 
 for Cromwell for a settlement of Jews in Surinam. It appar- 
 ently was drafted by Jews in Holland in the middle or latter 
 part of 1657, and was approved of by the colonization com- 
 mittee in its final form on November 13, 1657, though some 
 amendments were probably, according to the minutes, made a 
 little later. It had been provisionally agreed upon on Octo- 
 ber 19 of the same year by the representatives of the three 
 cities at a meeting, the minutes of which are not extant. 
 
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Ea/rly Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 55 
 
 The grant seems to have been a general grant to all the 
 Jews, and is not noted as having been made to a patroon as 
 was the case with the grant to David Nassy for the colony in 
 Cayenne in 1659, a copy of which was given as Appendix V 
 in the previous article. The reference in the earlier extracts 
 to a contract with David Nassy on January 35, 1658, would 
 seem to relate only to the delivery of slaves on the WUd 
 Coast by the colonization committee. It is not positively 
 established, however, that he did not act as patroon for the 
 Essequibo colony. We have only the form of the grant, and 
 not as it was finally signed by the committee and given to the 
 Jews as their credential. The form seems to have been used 
 in different localities for the purpose of soliciting colonists 
 and inducing emigration. That Nassy continued to be inter- 
 ested in the colony appears from a reference to him in 1663 
 in connection with an attempt on his part to make an arrange- 
 ment for a contractor to sell to other places some of the slaves 
 sent to the colony, which arrangement the committee refused 
 to consent to. 
 
 The positive determination of the origin of the grant and 
 the facts showing its negotiation in Holland with a friendly 
 body, strengthen the conclusion already arrived at in regard 
 to the later grant of 1665 made by the English authorities in 
 Surinam to the Jews {Publications of the Americam, Jewish 
 Historical Society, No. 16, p. 179, Appendix III), which, it 
 was maintained, was practically forced from those authorities, 
 and was founded on the existing Dutch grant of 1657. It can 
 hardly be very weU denied that the Dutch Jews, whether 
 coming to Surinam from Cayenne or Pomeroon, would be 
 most unlikely in 1665 to have gone to a colony under a differ- 
 ent form of government, with the view of settling there, 
 without having first made arrangements with the authorities 
 in the new location for their protection and the enjoyment of 
 civil and religious liberty such as they had been enjoying at 
 Pomeroon and Cayenne. The same reason would be true aa 
 
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56 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 to intending colonists from other regions. The reference in 
 the previous article, in Appendix IV, to the request of certain 
 Jews in other quarters for information as to the status of their 
 coreligionists in Surinam in 1669 confirms the opinion as to 
 arrangements prior to settlement. The reasons already ad- 
 vanced showing the influences at work to induce the Surinam 
 authorities to make the grant of 1665 to the Jews are also 
 strengthened by the fact appearing in the new extracts that 
 before emigrating from abroad demands were made by the 
 Jews of the Dutch authorities who were friendly to them, and 
 that it is much more probable that with people with whom 
 they were not on such friendly terms written assurances of 
 protection in the new location would have been required. The 
 act of the Surinam authorities cannot, therefore, be considered 
 as voluntary, or as the first example of liberal treatment of 
 the Jews by a ruling nation, but as one influenced by the prior 
 liberal action of the Dutch in a neighboring colony with which 
 the English colony was in competition and whose growing 
 importance was a menace to their own existence, the Jews 
 being skilled in the growing of the sugar cane and the in- 
 dustry connected therewith. 
 
 The new matter also confirms the opinion already expressed 
 that the twelfth colony in Guiana, mentioned by Major John 
 Scott as settling in Pomeroon in 1650 and in the following 
 year (id., pp. 134-129), is unlikely to have been established 
 in those years, because the emigration of a great colony of 
 Dutch and Jews from Brazil to Pomeroon that he speaks of 
 would not have taken place without grants of privileges both 
 to the Dutch and Jews, as were made later ; and if such grants 
 had been made in 1650 and 1651 there would have been no 
 occasion to make new grants to induce a later emigration be- 
 tween 1656 and 1658 to the same place of a like large colony 
 of Dutch and Jews who had been in Brazil. The Jews cer- 
 tainly would not have gone to Pomeroon, as he says they did, 
 in 1651 without a grant, and if they had then gone thither, 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Quicma — Oppenheim. 57 
 
 there would have been no occasion later, in 1657, to make a 
 new grant to them to go to the same region. It is suggested 
 that the year 1650 in the Scott MS. may have been miswritten 
 or misread for 1656, which would approximate the date of the 
 beginning of the Dutch emigration as shown in the extant 
 records {id., p. 101). 
 
 In the additional data, the discussion leading to the grant- 
 ing of the liberties and exemptions to the Jewish colonists 
 and the liberal terms offered to induce them to emigrate show 
 the influence wielded by the Jews in 1657 and later with the 
 Dutch West India Company and the esteem in which they 
 were held by the company. They also emphasize the standing 
 of the Jews in the commercial world at that period. 
 
 Paulo Jacomo Pinto appears as representing the Leghorn 
 Jews in the negotiation for their transportation to the new 
 colony in 1658 and also in 1659. The earlier extracts indi- 
 cate a departure of Jews from Leghorn in 1658, and, with the 
 new matter, furnish corroboration of the statements in the 
 Longland letter referred to. The later extracts speak of a 
 further emigration of 120 Jews in 1659 from Leghorn. These 
 were required to go first to Zeeland before leaving for the new 
 colony. They seem to have met with misfortune at Tobago 
 and were reduced to great extremities. The earlier emigrants 
 from Leghorn in 1658 probably also went by way of Zeeland. 
 but no mention appears of them later. Both of these sets oi 
 colonists are distinct from the 152 Leghorn Jews going to 
 Cayenne under the grant to David Nassy of September 12. 
 1659 (id., p. 183, Appendix V, and p. 101). 
 
 The demand for slaves for the colony seems to have beer 
 quite brisk. They were regarded as necessary for its sup- 
 port, its sole salvation, as the committee said, as valuable as 
 burnished silver, and were not allowed to be made the subjecl 
 of sale to other localities. They are noted as being employed 
 in the operation of mills, — no doubt sugar mills, — which art 
 spoken of as to be built by the Jews and for the constructioi 
 
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58 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 of which the latter took along the necessary wood work in the 
 shape of planks, hogsheads and cellars. 
 
 The extracts also show that the Jews were allowed to go 
 free on the first ship, and to take with them their own food, 
 thus enabling them to observe their dietary laws. Beer seems 
 also to have been a beverage required for their consumption 
 in the colony, as evidenced by a request of Moses Netto in Sep- 
 tember, 1658, to be permitted to send several tuns of that 
 article to his coreligionists in Nova Zeelandia. 
 
 The additional Jewish names of David Casteel, Abraham 
 Israel Orta, Eodrigo Lopes Toores, Albertus Chinne and 
 Jacomo Nunes Pereira appear in connection with the coloniza- 
 tion. 
 
 The Jewish colony on the Pomeroon between 1658, when 
 they are first noted in the extracts as being there, and 1666 
 when they were dispersed, was probably the most important 
 one in the early history of the Jews in America after Brazil, 
 and undoubtedly influenced the permission of their settlement 
 in other localities by other authorities. Its existence as an 
 agricultural community at that early date indicates that the 
 Jews were not then disinclined to occupy themselves with 
 manual labor when given the opportunity, as has often been 
 charged against them, but that they were willing to join with 
 the rest of the community in developing the country where 
 thej settled. It is curious that no mention has heretofore 
 appeared of this colony, and the absence of any reference to 
 it can only be explained by the oblivion into which the records 
 had fallen until unearthed through the investigations caused 
 by the dispute regarding the boundary lines between Venez- 
 uela and British Guiana and the publication of the extracts 
 in this and the previous volume of these Publications* 
 
 *A copy of the Egerton MSS., No. 2395, made by a copyist 
 familiar with old English writing is now in the Library of Con- 
 gress. A comparison, by the writer, of the Grant to the Jews with 
 the copy printed by Mr. Wolf in Transactions of the Jewish His- 
 
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Early Jewish Colony m Western Quiana — Oppenheim. 59 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ADDITIONAL, EXTRACTS FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF 
 THE COMMITTEE GOVERNING FOR THE THREE 
 WALCHEREN CITIES, MIDDELBURG, FLUSHING AND 
 VERE, THE COLONY OP NOVA-ZEELANDIA, 1657-1663. 
 
 (Hague, ReijTcsarchief, West India Papers, cover-title, iJesoZMMew 
 rakende de nieuwe Collonie in Isekepe [Bssequlbo], 1 November, 
 1657 [-19 Nov. 1663].) 
 
 (For the remaining Extracts relating to the Jews see PulUca- 
 tions of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 16, pp. 162- 
 175, and also pp. 107, 130-138, and 157-160.) 
 
 Thtjbsday, Novembeb 1, 1657. 
 
 Read the drafted conditions, publicly posted, which are hereby 
 formally approved, and it is ordered that they be sent, as usual, 
 to the respective chambers, and to other places where it Is 
 customary to post them. 
 
 Having considered what ought first to be done, it was resolved 
 to freight as soon as possible two suitable ships, one to transport 
 the colonists first presenting themselves and upon the condition 
 that the owners shall provide the ship for Essequibo with people 
 and provisions, as well as ammunition, and transport the col- 
 onists, with food, at the least possible cost, excepting some Jews 
 who shall be allowed to take along their own food. The other 
 
 torical Society of England, III, pp. 82-84, and reprinted in the 
 article in No. 16 of the Publications, pp. 176-178, shows that the 
 following words principally require to be corrected in the printed 
 copy, and make clearer the reading of the grant. The references 
 here are to the numbered sections. 
 
 In No. 1, " separattes places " should be " separratte place." In 
 No. 3, " Corte " should be " Coste." In No. 5, " imburgue " should 
 be " imbarque." In No. 6, " Rublick " should be " Publick." No. 
 9, " not one " should be " noe one." No. 13, " for, even " should 
 be " for ever." No. 14, " tenth of thei f ruttes " should be " tenth 
 parte of the fruttes." No. 15, " or the Pallen of it " should be 
 " or the Vallew of it." No. 17, " which shall be lett " should be 
 "which shall be sett"; " Rasconable Ratte " should be "Reizon- 
 able Ratte," and "of the Coutrii " should be "of the cuntri." 
 In Rule 3, " Tenn £ Cent " should be " Tenn Pr Cent." 
 
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60 American Jewish Historical Sodety. 
 
 to have an open hold, properly caulked and provided with every- 
 thing necessary to be placed thereon on behalf of the company. 
 Regarding this the members from Middelburg and Flushing are 
 appointed a committee to examine into the same and to make a 
 report of their findings. 
 
 Monday, November 12, 1657. 
 Further entered into negotiations with a committee of the 
 Jewish nation who presented the following articles. Whereupon, 
 after the foregoing deliberation, the answer was given to them as 
 noted in the margin of each article, and they were further noti- 
 fied that on all they must await our further resolution on Thurs- 
 day next coming. 
 
 BEQUEST FOE THE ENLABQEMENT OF THE FEINTED AND PUBLISHED CON- 
 DITIONS EELATING TO THE COLONIZATION OF THE 
 CONTINENTAL WILD COAST. 
 
 The time of four years fixed in the contract for payment for the 
 negroes to be extended to six years. 
 
 Commissioners insist upon the time fixed of four years, but 
 in special cases of failure of crops commissioners promise 
 moderation and discretion. 
 The time of five years fixed for exemption is requested to be made 
 ten years, and for a royal Engenho twenty years, together with 
 perpetual [rent or tax] exemption of the ground on which their 
 houses may be built. 
 
 Commissioners are of opinion that the exemption of five years 
 is reasonable for all fruits and roses, yet they may grant 
 exemption of twelve years to those building a water mill 
 requiring fifty negroes to operate it, and eight years for an 
 ox mill requiring thirty negroes, and six years for a smaller 
 mill. 
 For the special exemptions heretofore proposed by the Jews they 
 request a binding resolution, in such form that the said exemp- 
 tions may be made subject to the laws of this country. 
 
 Commissioners grant this. 
 It is requested that every one may carry along his necessary 
 materials for house building and agriculture. 
 
 Commissioners here take occasion to make regulations where- 
 by every one shall be considered according to his social 
 position. 
 
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Ewrly Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 61 
 
 Request that in place of six months to procure prorislons from 
 the warehouse eight months be given. 
 
 Commissioners are of opinion that six months are sufficient 
 Request perpetual liberty of fishery and fowling. 
 
 Commissioners are of opinion that this liberty follows the 
 
 land, namely, each on his land and each on his piece of land 
 
 bordering on the river and sea shore. Elsewhere to be at 
 
 the disposition of the [director] general, in conformity with 
 
 the rules and regulations to be made regarding the same, 
 
 The open sea, however, remaining free to all. 
 
 Likewise as to discovering minerals, pearls and coral fisheries, 
 
 and other marbles and precious stones, and after that the ten 
 
 per cent. 
 
 Commissioners are of opinion that five years is sufficient, 
 and after that a twentieth penny or five per cent. 
 It is requested that there be not only free trade from these lands 
 but also liberty to transport to other places beyond the sea the 
 merchandise brought to the Wild Coast and not sold there. Like- 
 wise as to the negroes, at least after the lapse of two years, and 
 upon a just toll or tax. 
 
 Commissioners are of opinion that this request is of great 
 consequence, as their intention particularly is to keep the 
 wild coast well provided with merchandise and negroes so 
 as to promote their local sale and use. Yet they will consider 
 this later, and when the country is developed and provided 
 with everything they will then make regulations to let 
 merchandise and negroes go out from there upon a certain 
 toll. 
 For the protection and security of the inhabitants they request 
 fifty soldiers in place of twenty five. 
 
 Commissioners express to this their inclination, and undertake 
 in this matter to go as far as their means shall permit them. 
 It is also requested to know the tax to be paid on goods to be 
 exported after the fixed free years. 
 
 Commissioners promise to express themselves more fully as 
 to this later, yet now positively state that they will not tax 
 any one more than those who traffic to the neighboring 
 islands, and that they will treat the Jews as their own 
 burghers, and all this by a provision as to the amount of 
 the tax already fixed or to be fixed by an order of the Board 
 of Nineteen. 
 
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68 Americcm Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Not to be liable for debts except those incurred in Netherland 
 and in the country there. 
 
 Commissioners agree to this article. 
 Request also that where lands that lie between a river and a 
 sugar mill are granted, and it is thereafter found that the mill 
 needs more water and it can obtain no nearer and more con- 
 venient water than through said lands, that such lands may be 
 charged with the burden and servitude. 
 
 Commissioners decide that every one must take care of his 
 own Interest, and if it happens that any one needs another 
 man's land for a certain purpose, he must arrange regarding 
 the same by purchase or otherwise, as in this country. 
 Request that whenever 100 persons offer themselves and get 
 ready, a ship may then be hired for them and prepared. 
 Commissioners agree to comply with this request. 
 
 Thursday, November 15, 1657. 
 The aforesaid minutes were submitted and confirmed. At the 
 same time the articles of exemptions for the Hebrew nation are 
 read, as below, and their Deputies are promised also that the 
 same shall be carried out. 
 
 LIBERTIES WHICH ABB REQUESTED OF THEIR LORDSHIPS BT THE REPRE- 
 SENTATIVES OF THE HEBREW NATION FOR THE 
 COLONIZATION OF THE WILD COAST.* 
 
 1. That they shall be granted liberty of conscience, as also the 
 exercise of their religious customs and ceremonies according to 
 the doctrines of their Ancients, without interference, and that 
 there shall be designated and given to them land and appurte- 
 nances for the building of their synagogue or synagogues, and of 
 
 * 1. Dat haer vergunt werdt liberteijt van conscientie als oock 
 exercitie van hare religie gebruycken ende ceremonien volgens de 
 leere van hare voorouders sonder verhinderinge ende haer aenge- 
 wesen ende gegeven werden gront ende erve tot het bouwen van 
 hare sinagoge ofte sinagogen, van hare scholen, als oock een 
 afgesonderde plaetse die sij uijtkiesen sullen tot het begraven van 
 hare dooden op haer maniere alles op de voet ende maniere als 
 sij tot Amsterdam genieten. 
 
 2. Dat sij op hare sabbathen ende andere hare paesch ende 
 feestdagen niet sullen gehouden sljn te compareren in rechten 
 over wat gerechtsake het soude mogen wesen ende dat alle 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — OppenJieim. 63 
 
 their schools, and also a separate place, to be selected by them, 
 for the burial of their dead, in their own manner, all according 
 to the manner and fashion they enjoy in Amsterdam. 
 
 2. That on their Sabbath days and their holidays and Passover 
 they shall not be required to appear in court in any suits at law, 
 and that all writs or actions against them which may be return- 
 able on or adjourned to the aforesaid days shall be held as void 
 and without force. Also that they shall not be required to go to 
 the guard or to take up arms on the aforesaid days, except in 
 case of very urgent necessity, which God forbid. 
 
 3. That all Jews shall be accepted as burghers, even as the 
 natives of the Province of Zeeland who take up their residence 
 in the aforesaid places, and that with them they shall enjoy all 
 liberties. 
 
 4. That from among their own people they may select those to 
 govern their synagogues and administer the general affairs of 
 their nation, it being understood that execution shall be enforced 
 through the ministers of justice. 
 
 5. That there shall be granted to the said nation, whose inten- 
 tions are only to promote the common welfare and peace, the 
 right to deliver to the Governor, or whoever is in authority, the 
 name of the person or persons who leads or lead a scandalous life 
 among them, in order to be sent away by the said Governor, on 
 knowledge of the matter, to this Province or to any other place 
 which may be designated by the above named deputies of the 
 aforesaid nation. 
 
 6. That the aforenamed Lordships shall also be pleased to order 
 that in all general meetings for the common welfare and com- 
 merce there shall also be called two persons of the Hebrew nation 
 
 explolten off acten die tegens haer op de voorschreven dagen 
 souden mogen werden verleent ofte gepasseert sullen gehouden 
 werden voor nul ende van onwaerden. Oock dat slj niet gehouden 
 sullen sijn ter wacht te trecken ofte die waer te nemen op de voors. 
 dagen ten ware In cas van hooch dringenden noodt dat Godt 
 verhoede. 
 
 3. Dat alle joden tot burgeren sullen werden aengenomen 
 evenselfs als de naturallen van de provintie van Zeelant die haer 
 ten voorschrevene plaetse metter woon begeven ende met deselve 
 alle vrijickeijt genieten. 
 
 4. Dat sij onder ende uijt haer persoonen sullen vermogen te 
 
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64 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 to represent their whole body, and together with the other 
 burghers to give their advice for the common weal of the 
 country. 
 
 7. That the people of the Jewish nation shall also enjoy all the 
 privileges which shall be granted to the people of other nations. 
 
 8. That the customs and constitutions which the Jewish Portu- 
 guese nation shall ordain among themselves shall be required to 
 be observed and followed by all Jews who shall come to live 
 upon the aforesaid coast. 
 
 9. That of no one shall demand be made for any debts incurred 
 in Brazil or other cities or kingdoms, except in these Provinces 
 or there in the colony. 
 
 kiesen om hare sinagogen te gouverneren ende administreren de 
 generaele saecken van hare natie, welverstaende dat de executie 
 sal werden gedaen door de ministers van de justitie. 
 
 5. Dat aen de gemelte natie welckers insicht niet anders is dan 
 om de gemeene ruste ende vrede te betrachten sal werden toe- 
 gestaen dat sij aen den gouverneur off wien sulex hoort sullen 
 vermogen op te geven den naem van den persoon ofte persoonen 
 die onder haer van een ergerlijck quaet leven is, off sijn, om bij 
 den voorseijde gouverneur met kennisse van saken versonden to 
 werden naer dese provintie off eenige andere plaetsen die bij 
 de voornoemde gedeputeerdens van voorschreven natie sal aenge- 
 wesen werden. 
 
 6. Dat de voornoemde Heeren oock sullen gelieven te ordon- 
 neeren dat in alle generale vergaderingen van gemeennen noot 
 ende commertie oock sullen geroepen werden twee persoonen uijt 
 de Joodsche natie die haer geheel lickaem alien representeeren en 
 nevens de andere burgeren mede hare advijsen in te brengen ten 
 gemeennen dienst van den lande. 
 
 7. Alle de privilegien die aen andere natien worden vergunt, 
 sullen die van de joodsche natie oock genieten. 
 
 8. De constumen ende constitutie die de Joodtsche portugeesche 
 natie tusschen haer sullen ordonneeren, sullen gehouden sijn 
 alle de Jooden die op de voorschreven cust sullen commen 
 woonnen, te observeren, ende volgen. 
 
 9. Dat niennant sal mogen gemaent werden voor eenige ge- 
 maeckte schulden in Brazil ofte andere steden ofte coninckrijcken, 
 uijtgesondert in dese provintien ofte aldaer in de populatie. 
 
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Ewrly Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 65 
 
 PBOJECT rOK THE BENEFIT OF THE WILD COAST AND THE FUBTHEEANCE 
 OF THE COLONIES AND CULTDBB. 
 
 1st. That on the aforesaid coast there shall be delivered to the 
 people of the Jewish nation 100 negroes, and to those here upon 
 the production of the receipt through some one henceforth thereto 
 commissioned by the Jewish nation, paying for the same in ready 
 money, the sum of 150 guilders for a man or woman, two children 
 from eight to twelve years to count for a man or woman, below 
 eight years three for one, unweaned children to follow the 
 mother. 
 
 2nd. Those paying in advance shall enjoy a rebate of ten per 
 cent. 
 
 3rd. To all who have bought for ready money an equal number, 
 if wanted, shall be credited, which credit shall be for the period 
 of four years within which there shall be paid for each man or 
 woman, or children reckoned as above, the sum of 250 guilders. 
 Those paying before that period shall be given a discount for 
 each year at the rate of 10 per cent, but those that shall have 
 been delivered for ready money shall, with those on credit, re- 
 main together liable for payment. 
 
 4th. For the re-enforcement of the soldiers on the aforesaid 
 coast for the defence of the colonists there shall be sent twenty- 
 five additional men with the first ship. 
 
 5th. Those who are transported with the first ship to the afore- 
 said coast shall go for seven stuyvers for deck and eleven stuyvers 
 for cabin passage per day. They shall receive from the ware- 
 house there at a reasonable price their necessaries for the period 
 of six months, each paying for the same out of the first fruits, 
 and before these payments are made nothing shall be alienated 
 or sent away. 
 
 6th. Implements and materials taken along shall as much as 
 possible be accommodated in the ship on paying the proper 
 freight. 
 
 7th. Those who are willing to go without partaking of the 
 ship's food, may have passage for themselves for nothing. 
 
 8th. Those who support themselves there by agriculture shall 
 enjoy freedom from tithes and head money for the period oJ 
 five years. 
 
 9th. For debts incurred in Brazil demand shall not be made by 
 the company or by individuals, much less shall execution issue 
 against any one therefor. 
 
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66 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 And all this provisionally and with the expectation of amend- 
 ment was resolved upon on the 19th of October, 1657, by the 
 representatives of the respective cities here in Walcheren thereto 
 commissioned for the furtherance and culture of the above named 
 coast. 
 
 Whereupon it was resolved for the benefit of all those favoring 
 the colonization and culture of the aforesaid Wild Coast, to dis- 
 tribute copies, signed by two commissioners, which shall serve to 
 all as amplification of the published conditions and also for their 
 further information. 
 
 Monday, November 19, 1657. 
 The minutes were again submitted and confirmed. After a 
 further conference held with some Jews, it was resolved to draw 
 up further provisional conditions, to be printed, extending greatly 
 the foregoing, which, after conference, shall be acted upon and 
 through print be made generally known for the information of 
 every one. 
 
 Thursday, November 22, 1657. 
 Engaged with representatives of the Hebrew nation, and passed 
 upon the further articles as printed, and resolved to send them 
 thus to the respective chambers, in order to be posted, as 
 customary. 
 
 Monday, November 26, 1657. 
 Came to a closer understanding with representatives of the 
 Hebrew nation, and contracted with them regarding the delivery 
 of slaves on the Wild Coast, according to the agreement relating 
 thereto entered separately in the agreement book, yet to be in- 
 serted in these minutes under date of January 24, 1658. 
 
 March 22, 1658. 
 Read a request from the Hebrew nation at Leghorn, asking to 
 be i)ermitted to go from there to Essequibo. Whereupon, after 
 deliberation, it was resolved to speak with Paulo Jacomo Pinto 
 and to sound him as to what sum he should like to be paid by 
 each person for transportation. Whereupon he has undertaken 
 to write regarding this, and on receipt of answer to notify this 
 meeting. The above named Pinto asks for 140 slaves to be 
 paid for in ready money and a like number of 140 on time. 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Guiana — Oppenheim. 67 
 
 Mabch 25, 1658. 
 The request of the Hebrew nation being again read, no other 
 resolution can be passed than the one of the 22nd of this month, 
 namely, to await the letter which Mr. Pinto expects. 
 
 Apeil 1, 1658. 
 
 There appeared Adrien van BuUestrate de Jonge and represents 
 that he is ready to hire out his ship called the Eendracht, skipper 
 Leendert Stratman, 126 feet long, 25% feet broad, 11% feet 
 hold, 5% feet deck, mounted with 20 pieces and manned with 
 a crew of 20, to go from here to Essequibo. Whereupon, delibera- 
 tion having been had, an agreement was finally made as follows, 
 to wit: that he for himself shall lade therein 1,000 planks, 600 
 half hogsheads, and 100 cellars, etc., etc 
 
 On this occasion Paulo Jacomo Pinto requests that each of the 
 emigrating passengers shall not only be allowed to take along a 
 chest and a hogshead but also 2,000 planks, and all that may be 
 necessary for the construction of a number of houses, mills or 
 what may be necessary for the cultivation of the land, together 
 with some provisions for their supiwrt, all of which is accorded 
 to him and consented to. 
 
 Thuksdat, Septembee 19, 1658. 
 There appeared Moses Netto and requests for some of his nation 
 to send several tuns of beer to Nova Zeelandia, provided the 
 freight charge and some excise be paid. With him also appeared 
 the individual called William Sonneman making the same re- 
 quest. Whereupon, after consultation, it was resolved to answer 
 them that we must first see whether all our goods can be laden 
 in said ship, and if so we shall try to accommodate them. 
 
 Septembee 26, 1658. 
 There appeared Sr. Paulo Jacomo Pinto, together with other 
 representatives of the Jewish nation, asking that as soon as pos- 
 sible a ship may be got ready in order to be able to depart before 
 the winter, and also that an executive may be sent in order to 
 deal out justice, and they ask the commissioners to confer with 
 them. Whereto were designated Messrs. Rouberger, SijpersteijD 
 and Vander Heyden, with Mr. Jan Van der Marct. 
 
 Ttjesday, Febeuaey 24, 1659. 
 Paulo Jacomo Pinto appears and requests to arrange with the 
 commissioners regarding the transportation of the people from 
 
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68 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 Leghorn, who are to provide their own food, for 120 persons; 
 secondly, he asks for 200 slaves for ready money and 200 on 
 receipt. Whereupon, after consultation, it was resolved to answer 
 that the commissioners propose to deliver to him 200 slaves to 
 be paid for in ready money and 200 slaves on time, and, if he 
 wishes, 100 on receipt shall be at his option. The commissioners 
 propose to him for each person from Leghorn over 20 years 
 £2: 10, and of 12 years two for one, and of eight years three for 
 one, under 8 years nothing. Conditioned also, if he wishes, to 
 receive £2. Flemish, with exemption from tax. Whereupon, he 
 accepted the same, one or the other, whereupon he was wished 
 good luck, with the understanding that the ships must come here 
 in Zeeland. 
 
 Apkil 29, 1659. 
 Mr. Paulo Jacomo Pinto appears and again requests that a ship 
 be got ready to transport passengers to Essequibo, paying the 
 freight of the goods, also their board and passage money. Where- 
 upon, after consultation it was resolved to answer him that the 
 members cannot as yet treat with him, and persist in the former 
 resolution adopted on the 21st inst. 
 
 Thxtesday, Novembeb 20, 1659. 
 There were presented to the meeting by Paulo Jacomo Pinto a 
 certain bill of exchange for fl764 drawn by Cornelius Goliath at 
 fourteen days sight on the commissioners for Nova Zeelandla to 
 pay to ... . for certain provisions purchased. It was resolved 
 to order payment to be made of the said bill of exchange, the 
 order to be signed by Mr. Moens. 
 
 Mat 14, 1660. 
 
 Read a certain translation from the Portuguese language writ- 
 ten from Pomeroon, dated January 4th last past, being accepted 
 as a notice read and to be preserved in the letter book, to wait for 
 conference and advices from Director Goliath. Also a certain 
 draft agreement with David Nassy in regard to the procuring by 
 Albertus Chinne at his own risk of 200 slaves from Nova Zee- 
 landia and to transport them where he wills, except to Tobago or 
 the nearest colonies, paying f200 for the adults, conditioned that 
 they may be allowed by the commissioners to go free, as is more 
 fully therein set out, which being seriously deliberated upon it 
 was understood that the slaves there must be considered as the 
 
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Early Jewish Colony in Western Ouiana — OppenJieim. 69 
 
 sole salvation of the colony, and In all cases of trouble, &c., re- 
 garded as burnished silver; and because of this the said request 
 was refused. Of this Mr. Pinto shall be notified. 
 
 Thursday, July 15, 1660. 
 
 There was read a request of David Casteel. To this the answer 
 was made that the same will be referred to Commandeur Goliath 
 to do the needful or to give his opinion why the contrary should 
 be done. 
 
 There was also read a request of Rodrlgo Lopes Toores. To it 
 answer is made, nothing can be done about this except at a meet- 
 ing of the whole body. 
 
 Thursday, Januaby 6, 1661. 
 There appeared Mr. Paulo Jacomo Pinto showing how that be- 
 tween him and the company a contract was heretofore made re- 
 garding the sale of a number of slaves for certain colonists from 
 Leghorn, for which a considerable sum of money was heretofore 
 paid to the commissioners for Nova Zeelandia, which colonists, 
 through an accident, were deviated to the island of Tobago and 
 reduced to the utmost poverty, and since it was not possible to 
 transport these people to Pomeroon because there was great mor- 
 tality and weakness in Nova Zeelandia he requests that the money 
 paid by them [for the slaves] may be returned. Whereupon, it 
 was resolved to commission Mr. Moorthamer and the members 
 from Flushing and Vere and Mr. Van der Heyden to examine into 
 the matter and report thereon to the meeting. 
 
 Thursday, July 21, 1661. 
 There appeared Abraham Israel Orta asking restitution of pay- 
 ment made by him here through Pinto in March, 1659 for 12 
 slaves, which slaves were not delivered to him because he was 
 deviated to Tobago instead of Pomeroon. Thereupon, after con- 
 sultation it was resolved to answer him that in Nova Zeelandia 
 an order will be given to deliver the same there, if possible^ 
 according to the receipt, and that the commissioners shall in the 
 meantime determine upon a better method. 
 
 Monday, Maech 12, 1663. 
 There also appeared Paulo Jacomo Pinto requesting delivery oJ 
 205 slaves heretofore contracted for on behalf of the people from 
 Leghorn or those empowered by them; if not all at once, then at 
 
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70 American Jewish Historical Society. 
 
 least a part, and so successively until the full delivery. Where- 
 upon it was resolved to inform him that at Pomeroon about 60 
 slaves have already been delivered under said contract, through 
 skipper Jan Doens, and that the commissioners deem that they 
 have carried out their contract with the completed voyage of 
 Leendert van der Strate and Dingman Cats, and that the mis- 
 fortune occurring to the friends from Leghorn is without their 
 fault and negligence, and they are therefore not liable for the get- 
 ting ready of another equipment. It being also expressly under- 
 stood that for the £517: 15 handed over to said Pinto, according to 
 the bill book, for account of the people from Leghorn, there shall 
 be transferred to them as many orders for the delivery of slaves 
 for ready money as were sold some time ago at 30 to 40 £ Fl. each, 
 like those heretofore offered to the commissioners, numbering 
 altogether about 70 slaves. And with regard to the remaining 
 orders that each holder of the same shall have to transfer [the 
 slaves] for such price as the same shall have been purchased for 
 after having been examined by the commissioners, who shall 
 thereupon give their decision saying whether or not they will 
 take them. 
 
 FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ZEELAND CHAMBER 
 OF THE WEST INDIA COMPANY. 
 
 (Hague, Beijksarchief, West India papers, cover title, Besolu- 
 tien van de Gamer van Zeelandt, 3 Jan., 1658-31 May, 1663.) 
 
 NOVEMBEE 23, 1662. 
 There appeared Paulo Jacomo Pinto with Jacomo Nunes 
 Perelra, with commissioners for Nova Zeelandia, in order to con- 
 tract for the receiving of 12 slaves at Pomeroon, and also at the 
 same time to receive 12 more slaves against an old receipt. 
 Whereupon the answer was given to him that regarding the first 
 request he will be treated as to price like others who have con- 
 tracts, and regarding the last request the answer is given him 
 that in case of a sale the commissioners shall be the next ones to 
 have the receipt drawn in. 
 
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