sible, the English, should they
attempt a landing. The governor still cherished a faint hope that some
accommodation could yet be agreed upon.

The Directors in Holland subsequently, with great severity and, as we
think, with great injustice, censured Governor Stuyvesant for his
conduct on this occasion. The whole population of the little city was
but fifteen hundred. Of them not more than two hundred and fifty were
able to bear arms, in addition to the one hundred and fifty regular
troops in garrison. And yet the Directors in Holland wrote, in the
following cruel terms, to the heroic governor:

"It is an act which can never be justified, that a Director
General should stand between the gabions, while the hostile
frigates pass the fort, and the mouths of twenty pieces of
cannon, and yet give no orders to prevent it. It is
unpardonable that he should lend his ear to preachers, and
other chicken-hearted persons, demeaning himself as if he
were willing to fire, and yet to allow himself to be led in
from the bulwark between the preachers. When the frigates
had sailed past, he became so troubled that he must then
first go out to prevent their landing. The excuse, that it
was resolved not to begin hostilities, is very poor, for the
English had committed every hostile act."

The governor immediately sent to Colonel Nicholls a flag of truce
conveyed by four of the most distinguished officers of State. Through
them he said:

"I feel obliged to defend the city, in obedience to orders.
It is inevitable that much blood will be shed on the
occurrence of the assault. Cannot some accommodation yet be
agreed upon? Friends will be welcome if they come in a
friendly manner."

The laconic, decisive and insulting response of Colonel Nicholls was:

"I have nothing to do but to execute my mission. To
accomplish that I hope to have further conversation with you
on the morrow, at the Manhattans. You say that friends will
be welcome, if they come in a friendly manner. I shall come
with ships and soldiers. And he will be bold indeed who will
dare to come on board my ships, to demand an answer or to
solicit terms. What then is to be done? Hoist the white flag
of surrender, and then something may be considered."

When this imperious message became known it created the greatest
consternation throughout the city. Men