CHAPTER VII

THE NEIGHBORS OF NEW NETHERLAND

MACHIAVELLI observed that to the wise ruler only
two courses were open — to conciliate or to crush.
The history of the Dutch in America illustrates by
application the truth of this view. The settlers at
Fort Orange conciliated the Indians and by this
means not only lived in peace with the native
tribes but established a bulwark between them-
selves and the French. Under Stuyvesant the
settlers at Fort Amsterdam took a determined
stand against the Swedes and crushed their power
in America. Toward the English, however, the
Dutch adopted a course of feeble aggression un-
backed by force. Because they met English en-
croachments with that most fatal of all policies,
protest without action, the Empire of the United
Netherlands in America was blotted from the map.

The neighbors of the Dutch in America were the
Indians, the French, the Swedes, and the English.

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