Em- ■ merick's command upon the taking of Peter and Cornelius van Tassell ; I have, however, candor enough to assure you, as much as I abhor every principle of inhumanity or ungenerous conduct, I should, were I in more authority, burn every committee man's house within my reach, as I deem those agents the wicked instruments of the continued calamities of this country ; and in order sooner to purge the country of them, I am willing to give twenty-five dollars for every acting committee man, who shall be delivered up to the king's troops : I guess, before the end of next campaign, they will be torn in pieces by their own countrymen, whom they have forcibly dragged in opposition to their principles and duty (after fining them to the extent of their property) to

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take up arms against their lawful sovereign, and compelling them to exchange their happy constitution for paper, rags, anarchy and distress.

" The ruins from the conflagration of New York, hy the emissaries of your party last year, remain a memorial of their tender regard for their fellow beings exposed to the ' severity of a cold night.'

"This is the first correspondence I have held with the king's enemies, on my part in America, and as I am immediately under the command of Sir Henjy Clinton, your future letters, dictated with decency, would be more properly directed to his Excellency.

" I am, sir, your most obedient servant,