[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] patched to Holland by the commonalty to lay the whole subject be-fore the States-General. In this mission he had the moral support of the vice-director under Stuyvesant, Van Dincklagen, who wrote a letter to the States-General promotive of his objects. But upon arriv-ing in the mother country he found himself opposed by the powerful influences of the company, which not only succeeded in defeating the 108 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY principal reforms that he sought to secure, but eventually directed against him the persecution of the government, and prevented him, to his great inconvenience and loss, from returning to New Netherland for fully four years. Yet Van der Donck's earnest and commendable efforts for the public weal wore not wholly without result. An act was passed separating the local functions of the principal settlement on Manhattan Island from the general affairs of the province. By this measure the settlement formerly known as Fort Amsterdam be-came an incorporated Dutch city, with the name of New Amsterdam; and thus to the labors of Van der Donck the first municipal organiza-tion of what is now the City of New York is directly traceable. In addition, a final modification of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemp-tions was effected (May 24, 1G50), introducing various improvements in its detailed pro visions.