Document: Letter from William Beeckman to director Stuyvesant

Noble, Honorable, highly Esteemed, Wise and very Prudent Lords:

My Lords, since my last letter dated the 9th of this month,[1] little has occurred worth writing about. On the 13th Mr. d'Hinojosse sent Pieter Alrichs and two chiefs of this river to the governor of Maryland to negotiate a peace. He intends to affront us by doing this without informing us.

On the 13th of this month, I was back in New Amstel representing Cornelis van Gezel before the 2 magistrates; however, again I was not allowed to see Mr. d'Hinojosse, but once more we played hide-and-go-seek. I do not know why the man is so predisposed against me. I am anxious to hear from you why he has been so quarrelsome. The bearer will report to you on what has further transpired in the case of Mr. van Gezel.

My Lords, before closing this I wanted to remind you of the needs of the garrison here, which I mentioned in my previous letter. We also need a quantity of salt to preserve the provisions and some salt for buying bread-grain, because presently we can obtain one skipple of grain for one skipple of salt.