We acknowledgc a paternal government which God and Nature have XV., iM. established in the world for the maintenance and preservation of peace, and the good of mankind, not only agreeably to Nature's laws, but in accordance with the rules and precepts of God, towhich we consider ourselves bound by His word, whereunto we submit. God, the Lord, having intrusted the States General as His Ministers, with the High and Mighty power, which we gratefully acknowledge, to promote the welfare of their subjects, both

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of those within the United Provinces and in the foreign settlements thereunto belonging, and these having by their power and authority, commissioned, for the same purpose, some subaltern magistrates, such as the Directors of the Incorporated West India Company, whom we acknowledge as Lords Patroons of this place, with you as their representatives. We therefore humbly conceive our privileges to be the same, harmonizing in every respect with those of Netherland, being a Member dependent on that state and not a conquered or subjugated people, but settled here on a mutual covenant and contract entered into with the Lords Patroons, with the consent of the Natives, the original proprietors of these lands, from whom we purchased the soil with our own money. A portion thereof which we now possess, have we with immense labor and trouble and at our particular cost, transformed from a wilderness of woods and erected into a few small villages [with several bouweries], by a strict observance of the Freedoms and Privileges already granted. Expecting every enlargement and amplification, but no abridgement thereof, and deeply honoring and respecting the government of the Netherlands, made up of various Nations from divers quarters of the globe, leaving at our own expense our country and countrymen, we voluntarily repaired under its protection or shelter, being now incorporated, as it were in one