u. After a
"solemn conference" these chiefs ceded to the West India Company all
the lands on both sides of the river to a point called by them
Neuwsings, near the mouth of the bay.

The Swedes were left in possession only of a small territory
surrounding their fort, called Christina. As Stuyvesant thought fort
Nassau too far up the river and inconvenient of access, he demolished
it. In its seclusion in the wilderness it had stood for twenty-eight
years. A new fort called Casimir was erected, on the west side of the
river near the present site of New Castle, four miles below the
Swedish fort Christina. Having thus triumphantly accomplished his
object, Stuyvesant returned to Manhattan.

CHAPTER VII.

WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HOLLAND.

Action of the Patroons.--Settlements on the Hudson.--Alarm
of the Home Government.--Recall of Stuyvesant.--His Escape
from Humiliation.--Difficulties between England and
Holland.--The Breaking out of War.--Directions to
Stuyvesant.--The Relations of the Colonies.--Charges against
the Dutch Governor.--Their Refutation.--Efforts of
Stuyvesant for Peace.--Noble Conduct of the Massachusetts
Government.--The Advocates for War.

Governor Stuyvesant having removed the obnoxious vice-director, had
another, Johannes Dyckman, who he thought would be more subservient to
his wishes, appointed in his stead. The commissary of the patroons,
whom he had imprisoned at Manhattan, secreted himself on board a sloop
and escaped up the river to Beaverwyck. The enraged governor seized
the skipper of the sloop on his return, and inflicted upon him a heavy
fine.

The patroons were now fearful that the governor would fulfill his
threat of extending his authority over the extensive territory whose
jurisdiction the Charter of Privileges had entrusted exclusively to
the patroons. They therefore, on an appointed day assembled the
freemen and householders who bound themselves, by an oath, "to
maintain and support offensively and defensively the right and
jurisdiction of the colony against every one."

Among the persons who took this oath we find the name of John Baptist
Van Rensselaer. He was the younger half-brother of the patroon, and
probably the first of the name who came to New Netherland. It was now
reported that Governor Stuyvesant himself was about to visit fort
Orange, and that a new gallows was being prepared for those who should
attempt to thwa