THE DIRECTORS 79

few ignorant subjects, and we alone can call the
inhabitants together/*

With popular support thus alienated and with
appeals for financial and military aid from the
States-General and the West India Company de-
nied or ignored, the end of New Netherland was
clearly in sight. In 1663 Stuyvesant wrote to the
Company begging them to send him reinforce-
ments. "Otherwise," he said, "it is wholly out
of our power to keep the sinking ship afloat any
longer/'

This year was full of omens. The valley of the
Hudson was shaken by an earthquake followed by
an overflow of the river, which ruined the crops.
Smallpox visited the colony, and on top of all these
calamities came the appalling Indian massacre at
Esopus. The following year, 1664, brought the
arrival of the English fleet, the declaration of war,
and the surrender of the Dutch Province. For
many years the English had protested against the
Dutch claims to the territory on the North and
South rivers. Their navigators had tried to contest
the trade in furs, and their Government at home
had interfered with vessels sailing to and from New
Amsterdam. Now at length Charles II was ready
to appropriate the Dutch possessions. He did not