HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 123

tions and his threats, merely asked to see his commission, which he promised to produce on his return, in April. The next day the farce was repeated at Amersfoort and New Utrecht, where those who refused to salute the English flag were set upon and maltreated, to the engendering of much confusion and mutual enmity.

Learning of these transactions, Stuyvesant sent a commission to Long Island, to seek some settlement of these troubles. A meeting occurred (January 14) between the two parties at Jamaica, where a basis of agreement was agreed uponÐalthough Scott had informed the Dutchmen that the King of England had granted Long Island to his brother, the Duke of York, who was determined, if it was not peaceably surrendered, to possess himself of it, and also of the whole province of Nieuw Netherland. Collisions and disturbances, however, continuing between the English and Dutch, induced the Director, in February, to call a meeting of delegates from the Dutch settlements on the island, for the purpose of making a proper representation to the States-General and W.I. Company, of their trials and dangers. This Convention, wherein Breuckelen was represented by Messrs. Willem Bredenbent, Albert Cornelis Wantenaer, and Joris Gysberts Bogert, voted a remonstrance and detailed statement of affairs, which was forwarded to the Fatherland.

In the succeeding month, the provisional arrangement agreed upon by the Dutch authorities and Captain Scott at Jamaica, in the preceding January, were formally ratified by commissioners from either side. It was the best the Dutch could do, in the unfortunate circumstances under which they were placed; but it was a virtual concession of their own weakness and inability to cope with their English neighbors. The valley of the Connecticut River, the fertile lands of Westchester, and now, last of all, the five English towns of Long Island, had slipped from their nerveless grasp. In this critical state of affairs, the principle of popular representation was, for the first time, fully recognized in the province. At the special request of the Burgomasters and Schepens, the Director convened a General Assembly of delegates from the several towns, to discuss and consider the affairs of Nieuw Netherland. This Convention, in which Breuckelen was represented by Willem Bredenbent and Albert Cornelis Wantenaer, assembled at the “Stadt Huys” (or City