THE DIRECTORS 71

in any quarrel when he was met with blustering
comparable to his own.

In support of the last indictment let us take his
conduct in a conflict with the authorities at Rens-
selaerswyck. In 1646 Stuyvesant had ordered
that no building should be erected within cannon-
shot of Fort Orange. The superintendent of the
settlement denied Stuyvesant's right to give such
an order and pointed to the fact that his trading-
house had been for a long time on the border of the
fort. To the claim that a clear space was necessary
to the fort's efficiency. Van Slichtenhorst, Van
Rensselaer's agent, replied that he had spent more
than six months in the colony and had never seen
a single person carrying a sword, musket, or pike,
nor had he heard a drum-beat except on the occa-
sion of a visit from the Director and his soldiers
,in the summer. Stuyvesant rejoined by sending
soldiers and sailors to tear down the house which
Van Slichtenhorst was building near Fort Orange,
and the commissary was ordered to arrest the
builder if he resisted; but the commissary wrote
.that it would be impossible to carry out the or-
der, as the settlers at Rensselaerswyck, reenforced
by the Indians, outnumbered his troops. Stuy-
vesant then recalled his soldiers and ordered Van