The English, it was said, had always been forbidden to trade in the Dutch colonies.
The Dutch ought therefore to find no fault with the recent Navigation Act, from which measure the Council did not "deem it fitting to recede." As to the colonial boundary, the ungracious reply was returned, "The English were the first settlers in North America, from Virginia to Newfoundland.

We know nothing of any Dutch plantations there, excepting a few settlers up the Hudson.
We do not think it necessary at present, to settle the boundaries.

It can be done hereafter, at any convenient time." A naval war soon broke out.

England, without warning, seized the ships of Holland in English ports, and impressed their crews.

The Dutch war fleet was entrusted to Admiral Tromp.