to the practice of the Dutch
churches, his Mennonite baptism was to be regarded as
sufficient.

(2) Michael Ziperius and his wife came from Curacao in 1659,
hoping to receive a call in New Netherland. The classis
warned Drisius against him.

The Rev. Samuel Drisius to the Classis of Amsterdam (September 15,
1664).(1)

To the Reverend, Learned and Pious Brethren of the Rev. Classis of
Amsterdam:

I cannot refrain from informing you of our present situation, namely,
that we have been brought under the government of the King of England.
On the 26th of August there arrived in the Bay of the North River, near
Staten Island, four great men-of-war, or frigates, well manned with
sailors and soldiers. They were provided with a patent or commission
from the King of Great Britain to demand and take possession of this
province, in the name of His Majesty. If this could not be done in an
amicable way, they were to attack the place, and everything was to be
thrown open for the English soldiers to plunder, rob and pillage. We
were not a little troubled by the arrival of these frigates.

(1) There is another translation of this letter in _N.Y.
Col. Doc._, XIII. 393-394.

Our Director-General and Council, with the municipal authorities of the
city, took the matter much to heart and zealously sought, by messages
between them and General Richard Nicolls, to delay the decision. They
asked that the whole business should be referred to His Majesty of
England, and the Lords States General of the Netherlands; but every
effort was fruitless. They landed their soldiers about two leagues from
here, at Gravezandt, and marched them over Long Island to the Ferry
opposite this place. The frigates came up under full sail on the 4th of
September with guns trained to one side. They had orders, and intended,
if any resistance was shown to them, to give a full broadside on this
open place, then take it by assault, and make it a scene of pillage and
bloodshed.

Our Hon. Rulers of the Company, and the municipal authorities of
the city, were inclined to defend the place, but found that it was
impossible, for the city was not in a defensible condition.(1) And even
if fortified, it could not have been defended, because every man
posted on the circuit of it would have been four rods distant from his
neighbor. Besides, the store of powder in the fort, as well as in the
city, was small. No relief or assistance cou