On the fitli of March, 105(5, he and his Council instructed Captain Frederick de Conninck with Captain Lieutenant Brian Nuton and the Fiscal, Van Tienhoven, to proceed to Westchester or Ostdorp by night with a detachment of soldiers and take possession of the houses of the Englishmen, and direct them to remove with all their movable property and cattle ; they were to proceed against them by force, if necessary, and the houses were to be demolished. A lieutenant -- Wheller or Wheeler -- seems to have been the principal man at the settlement, which, according

1 to Van Tienhoven's account of the population, consisted principally of fugitives, vagabonds and thieves, who, on account of their bad behavior in New England, had fled to Westchester. The expedition ordered on the fith reached Westchester on the 14th of March, and were met there by the people, who had drawn up in line under arms, and showed themselves unwilling to remove, saying that the land belonged to them. Captain-General Conninck deprived them of their arms and took twenty-three of them prisoners, and brought them to New Amsterdam on the ship " de Waagh." Only a few, with the women and children, were left behind to take care of the goods. The wives of the captives, however, plead for their husbands' release, and the soft-hearted Governor and Council finally resolved to release the prisoners after they promised, under oath and over their signatures, to remove from

I Vredelandt and out of the province within six weeks, and not to come back without the consent of the