ivate dwellings
clustered around, and was commanded, within a pistol-shot, by hills on
the north, over which ran the "Heereweg" or Broadway.

Upon the faith of Nicolls' promise to deliver back the city and fort
"in case the difference of the limits of this province be agreed upon
betwixt his majesty of England and the high and mighty States-General,"
Stuyvesant now commissioned Counsellor John de Decker, Captain
Nicholas Varlett, Dr. Samuel Megapolensis, Burgomaster Cornelius
Steenwyck, old Burgomaster Oloff Stevenson van Cortlandt, and old
Schepen Jacques Cousseau to agree upon articles with the English
commander or his representatives. Nicolls, on his part, appointed Sir
Robert Carr and Colonel George Cartwright, John Winthrop, and Samuel
Willys, of Connecticut, and Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon, of
Massachusetts. "The reason why those of Boston and Connecticut were
joined," afterward explained the royal commander, "was because those
two colonies should hold themselves the more engaged with us if the
Dutch had been overconfident of their strength."

At eight o'clock the next morning, which was Saturday, the
commissioners on both sides met at Stuyvesant's "bouwery" and arranged
the terms of capitulation. The only difference which arose was
respecting the Dutch soldiers, whom the English refused to convey back
to Holland. The articles of capitulation promised the Dutch security
in their property, customs of inheritance, liberty of conscience and
church discipline. The municipal officers of Manhattan were to
continue for the present unchanged, and the town was to be allowed to
chose deputies, with "free voices in all public affairs." Owners of
property in Fort Orange might, if they pleased, "slight the
fortifications there," and enjoy their houses "as people do where
there is no fort."

For six months there was to be free intercourse with Holland. Public
records were to be respected. The articles, consented to by Nicolls,
were to be ratified by Stuyvesant the next Monday morning at eight
o'clock, and within two hours afterward, the "fort and town called New
Amsterdam, upon the Isle of Manhatoes," were to be delivered up, and
the military officers and soldiers were to "march out with their arms,
drums beating, and colors flying, and lighted matches."

On the following Monday morning at eight o'clock Stuyvesant, at the
head of the garrison, marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the
honors of war, and led his soldier