"Though we hope that you have so agreed with the colonists of New England about boundaries that we have nothing to fear from them, still we consider it an imperious duty to recommend you to arm and discipline all freemen, soldiers and sailors; to appoint officers and places of rendezvous; to supply them with ammunition; and to inspect the fortifications at New Amsterdam, fort Orange and fort Casimir. To this end we send you a fresh supply of ammunition. "If it should happen, which we will not suppose, that New Englanders incline to take part in these broils, then we should advise your honor to engage the Indians in your cause, who, we are informed, are not partial to the English. You will also employ all such means of defence as prudence may require for your security, taking care that the merchants and inhabitants convey their property within the forts. "Treat them kindly, so that they may be encouraged to remain there, and to give up the thought of returning to Holland, which would depopulate the country. It is therefore advisable to inclose the villages, at least the principal and most opulent, with breastworks and palisades to prevent surprise." Looking into the future with prophetic eyes, which discerned the future glories of the rising republic, the Directors added, "When these colonies once become permanently established, when the ships of New Netherland ride on every part of the ocean, then numbers, now looking to that coast with eager eyes, shall be allured to embark for your island." This prophecy is now emphatically fulfilled when often one or two thousand emigrants, from the old world, land at the Battery in a day. When the prophecy was uttered, New Amsterdam was a small straggling village of one story huts, containing about seven hundred inhabitants. The whole island of Manhattan belonged in fee to the West India Company. A municipal government was soon organized, which about the year 1653, gave birth to the city of New Amsterdam. Holland and England were now in open and deadly warfare. It will hardly be denied by any one, that England was responsible for the conflict. The New England colonies wished to avail themselves of the opportunity to wrest New Netherland from the Dutch, and to extend their sway from Stamford to the Chesapeake. Governor Stuyvesant perceived his danger. He could be easily overpowered by the New England colonies. He wrote very friendly letters to the governors, urging that, notwithstanding the hostilities between the mother-countries, commercial intercourse between the colonies should continue on its former peaceful footing. At the same time he adopted very vigorous measures to be prepared for defence should he be assailed.