CHAPTER VIII.
ANOTHER INDIAN WAR.
Conflict Between the Governor and the Citizens .-- Energy of the Governor .-- His Measures of Defence .-- Action of the English Colonies .-- Claims of the Government of Sweden .-- Fort Casimir captured by the Swedes .-- Retaliation .-- Measures for the recapture of Fort Casimir .-- Shooting a Squaw .-- Its Consequences .-- The Ransom of Prisoners .-- Complaints of the Swedish Governor .-- Expedition from Sweden .-- Its Fate.
There was a brief but bitter controversy between the governor and the convention, when the governor ordered the body to disperse, "on pain of our highest displeasure." "We derive our authority," said he, "from God, and from the Company, not from a few ignorant subjects.

And we alone can call the inhabitants together." These decisive measures did not stifle the popular voice.

Petitions were sent to the Company in Holland, full of complaints against the administration of Stuyvesant, and imploring its intervention to secure the redress of the grievances which were enumerated.
An able man, Francois le Bleuw, was sent to Holland with these documents, with instructions to do everything in his power to procure the reforms they urged.

Though the citizens of New Amsterdam had, for a year, enjoyed a limited municipal government, they were by no means satisfied with what they had thus far attained.

What they claimed, and reasonably claimed, were the larger franchises enjoyed by the cities in the fatherland.
The condition of New Netherland, at the commencement of the year 1654, was very precarious.