2 Illustrative of the statement made in the text, is the following, taken from tho' L'pi'"ll Clippinris. iv.,2!)7, in the Library of the New York Historical Society: "It is said that at least tliiee-fourths of the people "in Cortlandt's Manor, New York, have declared their unwillingness to "enter into the Congressional measures : that a great number of the " people in general in Westchester County are preparing to do the like ; "and that the AsKuriation against the Continental Congress has been "signed by three hundred persons in the neighborhood of Poughkeepsie "only. Many lists are sent about Dutchess County, on which also "many hundreds have subscribed."

As far as it related to Westchester-county, the above was copied from Gaine'a -Veif-l </)■/,■ Gazelle: itiiil the Weckli/ Mercurij, Xo. 1220, New- Y'oRK, Monday, February 27, 1775.

It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers in Westchestercounty supported the Home Government, in its Colonial policy : on the contraiy, neither in the well-known DecUmilion and Prole^l, nor elsewhere, as far as we have knowledge, was there the slightest leaning in that direction -- they did no more, at any time, than to prefer and accept that opposition to the Home Government which had been made by the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, instead of that which was made by the Continental Congress of 1774 ; and, at no time, as the reader will hereafter learn, was the great body of them inclined to sup. port the Royal Cause, witli their persons and their properties. There were some w ho were smarting under the outrages which had been inflicted on them or on their friends, by local and other despots, of high or low degree ; and these were, sometimes, compelled to find refuge and protection w ithin the lines of the lioyal Army : and there was a float ing, vicious class, within the County, which the lawlessness of the revolutionary faction and the succeeding War had produced-- ready to enlist on that side which offered the greater inducements-- but the great body of the farmers was patient, law-abiding, peacefully inclined, stayers at home, industrious, and severely conservative.