Document: Answer to the burgomasters as to what measures have been adopted by the director and council to suppress robberies by English privateers

Reply to the preceding petition:

The director-general reported to the council the verbal proposals made in his presence by the mayors and schepens: to enlist, for the purpose of suppressing the robberies by English pirates, forty men at the expense of the respective colonies, villages and settlements, costing about 1600 guilders per month; and if the money can be raised with the consent of the respective villages, the director-general and council will by virtue of their commissions proceed with the recruiting. Thus done by the director-general and council in Amsterdam, New Netherland, 23 February 1654; and was signed: P. Stuyvesant, Nicasius de Sille, C. van Werckhoven, La Montagne, Cornelis van Thienhoven.