w up a remonstrance to the
Director and council."

CHAPTER VIII.

ANOTHER INDIAN WAR.

Conflict Between the Governor and the Citizens.--Energy of
the Governor.--His Measures of Defence.--Action of the
English Colonies.--Claims of the Government of Sweden.--Fort
Casimir captured by the Swedes.--Retaliation.--Measures for
the recapture of Fort Casimir.--Shooting a Squaw.--Its
Consequences.--The Ransom of Prisoners.--Complaints of the
Swedish Governor.--Expedition from Sweden.--Its Fate.

There was a brief but bitter controversy between the governor and the
convention, when the governor ordered the body to disperse, "on pain
of our highest displeasure." "We derive our authority," said he, "from
God, and from the Company, not from a few ignorant subjects. And we
alone can call the inhabitants together." These decisive measures did
not stifle the popular voice. Petitions were sent to the Company in
Holland, full of complaints against the administration of Stuyvesant,
and imploring its intervention to secure the redress of the grievances
which were enumerated.

An able man, Francois le Bleuw, was sent to Holland with these
documents, with instructions to do everything in his power to procure
the reforms they urged. Though the citizens of New Amsterdam had, for
a year, enjoyed a limited municipal government, they were by no means
satisfied with what they had thus far attained. What they claimed, and
reasonably claimed, were the larger franchises enjoyed by the cities
in the fatherland.

The condition of New Netherland, at the commencement of the year 1654,
was very precarious. The troubled times, as is ever the case, had
called out swarms of pirates and robbers, who infested the shores of
Long Island, inflicting the most cruel excesses upon the unprotected
inhabitants. The English residents in the Dutch colonies were
numerous, and they were ripe for revolt. The Dutch themselves were
uttering loud murmurs. The governor acted with his accustomed energy.
Several vessels were fitted out to act against the pirates. Many of
these pirates professed to be privateersmen, serving the Commonwealth
of England. It was suspected that the English residents were
communicating with the freebooters, who were chiefly their own
countrymen.

A proclamation was issued prohibiting all persons, under penalty of
banishment and the confiscation of goods, from harboring the outlaws.
E