any right of possession on the Atlantic coast.  They maintained their right to the whole American coast, from the Spanish possessions in Florida, to the French posts in Canada.  The English government founded its claim upon the ground of first discovery, occupation and possession.  Various companies, in England, had, by charters and letters patent from their sovereigns, been entrusted with these vast territories.  It was quite evident that these conflicting claims between England and Holland must eventually lead to collision.

The Dutch merchants continued to push their commercial enterprises in New Netherland with great energy.  They were preparing to send quite a large fleet of merchant vessels to the extensive line of coast which they claimed, when the British merchants composing what was called the Plymouth Company, took the alarm, and presented a petition to James I., remonstrating against such proceedings.  The British government promptly sent an ambassador to Holland to urge the States-General to prohibit the departure of the fleet, and to forbid the establishment of a Dutch colony in those regions.  The diplomacy which ensued led to no decisive results.

In the year 1623, the Dutch sent a ship, under captain May, and established a small colony upon the eastern banks of the Delaware, about fifty miles from its mouth.  The settlement, which consisted of about thirty families, was in the vicinity of the present town of Gloucester.  A fortress was erected, called Fort Nassau.  This was the first European settlement upon the Delaware, which stream was then called Prince Hendrick’s, or South River.  Another fortified post, called Fort Orange, was established upon the western banks of the Hudson River about thirty-six miles from the island of Manhattan.

Very slowly the tide of emigration began to flow towards the Hudson.  A few families settled on Staten Island.  Not pleased with their isolated location, they soon removed to the northern shore of Long Island, and reared their log cabins upon the banks of a beautiful bay, which they called Wahle-Bocht, or “the Bay of the Foreigners.”  The name has since been corrupted into Wallabout.  The western extremity of Long Island was then called Breukelen, which has since been Anglicised into Brooklyn.

The government of these feeble communities was committed to a Governor, called Director, and a Council of five men.  One of the first Governors was Peter Minuit, who was appointed in the year 1624.  The English still claimed the territory which the Dutch were so quietly and efficiently settling.  In the year 1626, the Dutch decided to make a permanent settlement upon Manhattan island, which was then estimated to contain about twenty-two thousand acres of land.  The island was purchased of the natives for twenty-four dollars.  It was all that, at that time, the savage wilderness was worth.  In that year the export of furs amounted to nineteen thousand dollars.