out hostility or any act of
violence," a collision was bound to come. The Dutch, who in their turn
were not abating a jot of their claims, had already destroyed a New
Haven settlement on the Delaware, and had asserted rights of
jurisdiction even in New Haven harbor, by seizing there one of their own
ships charged with evading the laws of New Amsterdam. Peter Stuyvesant,
the Dutch Governor, famous for his short temper and mythical silver leg,
visited Hartford in 1650, and negotiated with the commissioners of the
United Colonies a treaty drawing the boundary line from the west side of
Greenwich Bay northward twenty miles. But this treaty, though ratified
by the States General of Holland, was never ratified by England, and,
when two years later war between the two countries broke out overseas,
the question of an attack on New Amsterdam was taken up and debated with
such heat as nearly to disrupt the Confederation. The absolute refusal
of Massachusetts to enter on such an undertaking so prolonged the
discussion that the war was over before a decision was reached; but
Connecticut seized the Dutch lands at Hartford, and Roger Ludlow, who
had moved to Fairfield from Windsor after 1640, began an abortive
military campaign of his own. The situation remained unchanged as long
as the Dutch held New Netherland, and the region between Greenwich and
the Bronx continued to be what it had been from the beginning of
settlement, a territory occupied only by Indians and a few straggling
emigrants. There the unfortunate Anne Hutchinson with her family was
massacred by the Indians in 1643.

The New England Confederation performed the most important part of its
work during the first twenty years of its existence, for although it
lasted nominally till 1684, it ceased to be effective after 1664, and
was of little weight in New England history after the restoration of the
Stuarts. Owing to the fact that it had been formed without any authority
from England, the Confederation was never recognized by the Government
there, and with the return of the monarchy it survived chiefly as an
occasional committee meeting for debate and advice.

CHAPTER VI

WINNING THE CHARTERS

The accession of Charles II to the throne of England provoked a crisis
in the affairs of the Puritans and gave rise to many problems that the
New Englanders had not anticipated and did not know how to solve. With a
Stuart again in control, there were many questions that