I fear we, too, shall experience a like fate; whether we have safeguards from their High Mightinesses or not, 'tis all alike; the Directors have written not to pay any attention to their High Mightinesses' safeguards or letters, but to theirs; and every one can see how prejudicial that is to us. We are turned out and dare scarcely speak a word, etc. In fine, matters are so situated, that God's help only will avail; there is no trust to be placed in man. That infernal swaggerer (hlasegeest) Tienhoven, has returned here and put the country in a blaze. Things prosper, they report, according to their wishes, to which I know not what to answer, etc. The baskelmaker's daughter of Amsterdam, whom he seduced in Holland, on a promise of marriage, coming here and finding he was already married, hath exposed his conduct even in the public court, &c. Your private estate, is going all to ruin, for our enemies know how to fix all this and to attain their object. There is no use in complaining; we must suffer injustice for justice. At present, that is our wages and thanks for our devotion to the public interests. Yet we still trust in God, etc.

;

454 NEW- YORK COLONIAL MANUSCRIPTS.

Extract of a letter from Dirck van Schelluyne, dated 11"" October, 1G51, sent by way of the Caribbean Islands.

I have written you per Joost Michielsen's ship and communicated to you my experience here, which is that I am forced, contrary to my oath, to divulge what I have written, or what has been executed in my presence, against public or private persons generally and individually ; also, in what a painful position I find myself, on account of another's act, &a. Relying on you, I shall expect, on the first opportunity, your favorable diligence to avert my ruin.