muggling and many other things, and which the times have taught them,
in order to give color to their acts, are of no force or consideration.
They however are not now to be refuted, as it would take too long;
though we stand ready to do so if there be any necessity for it. These
and innumerable other difficulties, which we have not time to express,
exist, tending to the damage, injury and ruin of the country. If the
inhabitants or we ourselves go to the Director or other officers of the
Company, and speak of the flourishing condition of our neighbors, and
complain of our own desolate and ruinous state, we get no other answer
from them than that they see and observe it, but cannot remedy it, as
they follow the Company's orders, which they are compelled to do, and
that if we have any thing to say, we must petition their masters, the
Managers, or Their High Mightinesses, which in truth we have judged to
be necessary. It is now more than a year since the commons-men deemed
it expedient, and proposed, to send a deputation to Their High
Mightinesses. The Director commended the project and not only assented
to it but urged it strongly. It was put well in the mill, so that we had
already spoken of a person to go, but it fell through for these reasons:
When it was proposed, the Director desired that we should consult and
act according to his wishes; which some who perceived the object would
not consent to, and the matter therefore fell asleep. Besides, the
English, who had been depended upon and who were associated in the
affair, withdrew till the necessity of action became greater, and the
Nine Men were changed the next year,(1) when Herr Stuyvesant again urged
the matter strongly, and declared that he had already written to the
Company that such persons would come. After the election of the Nine
Men, and before the new incumbents were sworn in, it was determined and
resolved verbally, that they would proceed with the deputation, whatever
should be the consequences; but it remained some time before the oath
was renewed, on account of some amplification of the commission being
necessary, which was finally given and recorded and signed; but we have
never been able to obtain an authentic copy of it, although the Director
has frequently promised and we have frequently applied for it.

(1) December, 1648.

As the Company had now been waited upon a long while in vain, promising
amendment from time to time but going on worse, a d