Document: Petition of Brant van Slechtenhorst to be released from confinement

The Petition of Brant van Slechtenhorst.

With all due reverence, Brant van Slectenhorst, director of the colony of Rennselaerswyck, lets it be known how he and his associates in the aforesaid Colony have repeatedly and urgently requested that the petitioner be released from the arrest in which he has been held since last April 18th, and that he may receive permission to return to the Colony in order to attend to the patroon's urgent business in the Colony, which until now has not been granted; and whereas in the meantime, with the arrival of the ships from the fatherland, the situation has changed in so far that the lords patroons have approved the petitioner's request to be discharged from the Colony's service and to appoint someone as his successor, whom it is necessary to inform of the situation and state of the Colony, and because this can only be done by the petitioner and because, furthermore, the Colony has been deprived of the service of its director for such a length of time, and nothing can be done without the director, which tends to the great disadvantage and loss of the Colony and of the lords patroons. Therefore, in order to prevent further loss and damage, he has resolved to address your honors once again very respectfully, and to request, in consideration of the foregoing, and so that, with all due respect, the serious charges of private parties ought not obstruct the service and welfare of the Colony, that your honors be pleased [ to allow the petitioner to proceed to the Colony for the aforesaid purposes, while he promises to return here immediately ] upon your honor's orders and offers as security his own person and property. Awaiting a favorable reply to his petition he remains,2 September 1652Your honors' willing servant, B. van Slechtenhorst