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The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12 by Unknown
page 50 of 493 (10%)

Nicolls now addressed a letter to Winthrop, who with other commissioners
from New England had joined the squadron, authorizing him to assure
Stuyvesant that, if Manhattan should be delivered up to the King, "any
people from the Netherlands may freely come and plant there or thereabouts;
and such vessels of their own country may freely come thither, and any of
them may as freely return home in vessels of their own country." Visiting
the city under a flag of truce Winthrop delivered this to Stuyvesant
outside the fort and urged him to surrender. The director declined; and,
returning to the fort, he opened Nicolls' letter before the council and the
burgomasters, who desired that it should be communicated, as "all which
regarded the public welfare ought to be made public." Against this
Stuyvesant earnestly remonstrated, and, finding that the burgomasters
continued firm, in a fit of passion he "tore the letter in pieces." The
citizens, suddenly ceasing their work at the palisades, hurried to the
Stadt-Huys, and sent three of their numbers to the fort to demand the
letter.

In vain the director hastened to pacify the burghers and urge them to go on
with the fortifications. "Complaints and curses" were uttered on all sides
against the company's misgovernment; resistance was declared to be idle;
"The letter! the letter!" was the general cry. To avoid a mutiny Stuyvesant
yielded, and a copy, made out from the collected fragments, was handed to
the burgomasters. In answer, however, to Nicolls' summons he submitted a
long justification of the Dutch title; yet while protesting against any
breach of the peace between the King and the States-General, "for the
hinderance and prevention of all differences and the spilling of innocent
blood, not only in these parts, but also in Europe," he offered to treat.
"Long Island is gone and lost;" the capital "cannot hold out long," was the
last despatch to the "Lord Majors" of New Netherlands, which its director
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