Document: Resolution to send letters of friendship to New England and Virginia

[ The honorable director-general produced at the meeting of the council in Fort Amsterdam letters dated ] 16 August and 13 September[1] from the directors of the Chartered West India Company, chamber of Amsterdam, in which the director-general and council are informed at length of the present state of affairs in Europe between the Netherlands and England, together with some amplifications of orders in the aforesaid letters; therefore, after having duly weighed and considered the aforesaid letters and orders, the director-general and council firmly resolve, deeming it best for this province of New Netherland and its inhabitants, to send letters to our neighbors of New England and Virginia, assuring them of our and our superiors' good disposition toward them with an offer of neighborly correspondence, trade, and other friendly contact as we have heretofore practiced Done as above.