He first marched upon Brooklyn.  Summoning the citizens, he told them that the soil they occupied belonged to the king of England, and that he now claimed it as his own, and that they were consequently absolved from all further allegiance to the Dutch government and were required to take the oath of submission to the new government, now about to be established over them.

Scott was accompanied by so powerful an armed force that the magistrates could not arrest him.  One of them, however, Secretary Van Ruyven, invited him to cross the river to New Amsterdam and confer with the governor there.  Scott replied, “Let Stuyvesant come here with a hundred men; I will wait for him and run my sword through his body.”

There was no disposition manifested whatever, on the part of the people, to renounce the government of their fathers and accept of that of Scott in its stead.  There was a little boy standing by, whose proud and defiant bearing arrested the attention of Scott.  He was a son of the heroic Crygier, of whom we have before spoken.  Scott ordered him to take off his hat and bow to the flag of England.  The boy refused.  Scott struck him.  A bystander scornfully said, “If you have blows to give, you should strike men, not boys.”

Four of Scott’s soldiers fiercely assailed the man, and though for a moment he defended himself with an axe, he was soon compelled to fly.  Scott demanded his surrender and threatened to lay the town in ashes unless he were given up.  He was not surrendered, and Scott did not venture to execute his barbarous threat.

From Brooklyn Scott went to Flatbush.  He there unfurled the flag of England in front of the house of the sheriff.  Curiosity assembled a large concourse to witness what was transpiring.  Scott addressed them at much length.  “He jabbered away,” writes a Dutch historian, “in English, like a mountebank.”

“This land,” said he,

“which you now occupy, belongs to his Majesty, king Charles.  He is the right and lawful lord of all America, from Virginia to Boston.  Under his government you will enjoy more freedom than you ever before possessed.

“Hereafter you shall pay no more taxes to the Dutch government, neither shall you obey Peter Stuyvesant.  He is no longer your governor, and you are not to acknowledge his authority.  If you refuse to submit to the king of England, you know what to expect.”

His harangue produced no effect.  The Dutch remained unshaken in their loyalty.  Some of the magistrates ventured to tell him that these were matters which he ought to settle with Governor Stuyvesant.  He replied,