The sorrowful and utterly prostrate condition of this country and its poor inhabitants, have we been obliged to make known, in their name, to your illustrious High Mightinesses, last year, 1C49, by our committee and delegates, truly and plainly, according to our ability. Your High Mightinesses' condescension in listening to our sad and truthful complaints was a source of exceeding great joy to us and the people, for which we cannot sufficiently thank you but, ;

notwithstanding we fully believe and are assured that your High Mightinesses are again preoccupied with highly important affairs, we make and our universal imperious bold, necessity presses us humbly to approach your High Mightinesses once more, being forced to complain principally of great scarcity, excessively onerous duties, exactions and such like, and the grievous inconvenient government over us in these parts. The annexed protest of the

HOLLAND DOCUMENTS: VL 441

Vice Director and Aiivocate Fiscal (wlio alone with the Director constitute the government here) can assure your High Mightinesses thereof and how it fares here at present. What further occurs here touching the decay of the country and the ruin of the inhabitants, would be too great a tax on your High Mightinesses' patience. Adriaen van der Donck, the delegate on behalf of the Commonalty from our Assembly, to your High Mightinesses at the Hague, will more ample information on every point. We furnish your High Mightinesses with fuller and most humbly pray and implore your High Mightinesses to be pleased to reform and to redress the sorrowful and utterly prostrate condition of this country, according to the plan of your High Mightinesses' Deputies, or as you will please and determine to be proper for our relief, so that we and our neighbors may live. We shall expect with great confidence to receive next year from your High Mightinesses, the effect of our tendered duties, as our service for the Commonalty expires according to our commission and instruction on next New year's day, and the Director, not obeying your High Mightinesses' order, gives out that he will not act on our nomination of other Select men to be elected in place of the six who retire, so that we can, or would, not dare to attempt to meet as a Board and continue in the transaction of the public affairs of this country any longer.