7£ DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Slichtenhorst to appear before him, which the
agent refused to do.

In 165£ Stuyvesant ordered Dyckman, then in
command at Fort Orange, not to allow any one to
build a house near the fort or to remain in any
house already built. In spite of proclamations
and other bluster this order proved fruitless and
on April 1, 1653, Stuyvesant came in person to
Fort Orange and sent a sergeant to lower the
patroon's flag. The agent refusing to strike the
patroon's colors, the soldiers entered, lowered
the flag, and discharged their guns. Stuyvesant
declared that the region staked out by posts should
be known as Beverwyck and instituted a court
there. Van Slichtenhorst tore down the procla-
mation, whereupon Stuyvesant ordered him to be
imprisoned in the fort. Later the Director trans-
ported the agent under guard to New Amsterdam.

Stuyvesant's arbitrary character also appears in
his overriding of the measure of local self-govern-
ment decreed by the States-General in 1653. Van
der Donck and his fellows had asked three things
of their High Mightinesses, the States-General:
first, that they take over the government of New
Netherland; second, that they establish a better
city government in New Amsterdam; and