claims between England and Holland must eventually lead to collision.

The Dutch merchants continued to push their commercial enterprises in
New Netherland with great energy. They were preparing to send quite a
large fleet of merchant vessels to the extensive line of coast which
they claimed, when the British merchants composing what was called the
Plymouth Company, took the alarm, and presented a petition to James
I., remonstrating against such proceedings. The British government
promptly sent an ambassador to Holland to urge the States-General to
prohibit the departure of the fleet, and to forbid the establishment
of a Dutch colony in those regions. The diplomacy which ensued led to
no decisive results.

In the year 1623, the Dutch sent a ship, under captain May, and
established a small colony upon the eastern banks of the Delaware,
about fifty miles from its mouth. The settlement, which consisted of
about thirty families, was in the vicinity of the present town of
Gloucester. A fortress was erected, called Fort Nassau. This was the
first European settlement upon the Delaware, which stream was then
called Prince Hendrick's, or South River. Another fortified post,
called Fort Orange, was established upon the western banks of the
Hudson River about thirty-six miles from the island of Manhattan.

Very slowly the tide of emigration began to flow towards the Hudson. A
few families settled on Staten Island. Not pleased with their isolated
location, they soon removed to the northern shore of Long Island, and
reared their log cabins upon the banks of a beautiful bay, which they
called Wahle-Bocht, or "the Bay of the Foreigners." The name has since
been corrupted into Wallabout. The western extremity of Long Island
was then called Breukelen, which has since been Anglicised into