ere arose an unfriendly controversy between the governor
and the assembly which was fatal to any harmonious or efficient
action. The assembly refused to grant the governor the supplies, in
money or in men, which he called for, and adjourned for a week. In the
meantime Governor Stuyvesant had received dispatches from Holland. The
West India Company had acted energetically upon the subject urged in
his memorial. They had presented to the States-General a very earnest
petition.

In this memorial they laid before that August body, a detailed account
of the aggressions committed by the English, and of the repulse with
which the Dutch overtures for an amicable settlement had been met at
Boston and Hartford.

"Out of respect," said they,

"to the alliance recently entered into with England, they
had hitherto abstained from hostilities. But, as it now
seemed absolutely necessary to repel aggression by force,
they implored such military and pecuniary aid as the
occasion required. They also urged that, in conformity with
Governor Stuyvesant's request, an act should be passed under
the great seal, confirming their original charter; and that
letters might be sent to the revolted towns on Long Island,
requiring them, under the severest penalties, to return to
their allegiance. In conclusion they asked that the whole of
the aggressions of which they complained might be
communicated to the king of England, with the request that
he would order his English subjects to restore, on the
instant, the places they had seized, and to abstain from all
further innovations, pending the negotiations for a boundary
line."

These requests were complied with by the States-General. They sent
sixty soldiers to New Amsterdam, with orders to Governor Stuyvesant to
resist any further encroachments of the English, and to reduce the
revolted villages to allegiance. It was easy for the States-General to
issue such an order, but it was not so easy for Governor Stuyvesant to
execute it. The Assembly was immediately called together again, and
the documents from Holland presented to them. After much deliberation
it was decided to be impossible, with the force at the governor's
command, to subdue the English villages. In those villages it was said
that the Dutch were outnumbered six to one; and that upon the outbreak
of hostilities, the flourishing settlements on the Connecticut