It was a matter of deep concern, therefore, both in the Colonial Government and among the Colonists, generally, when, on the tenth of January, 1775, that body was permitted to assemble, in an Adjourned Session ; - and, iu the absence of more exciting occurrences and in view of many anxious hopes that that Assembly, which had not been concerned iu any of the extraordinary occurrences of the preceding twelve months, might, possibly, become instrumental in restoring harmony between the Mother Country and the Colonies -- " most ardently "desired by all good men"-' -- the eyes of all careful observers, in Europe and America, were directed, wistfully, toward the little chamber, in the old City- Hall, in Wall-street, in the City of New York, in which that General Assembly was assembled.

The members of that Assembly, as was well-known, like the body of the Colonists whom they respectively represented, were of the confederated party of the Opposition, and, to a man, antagonistic to the Colonial policy of the Home Government ; but, also like their constituents, they were divided -- in some instances, they were radically divided -- in their views and in their inclinations, concerning the manner in which that opposition should be presented and through what instrumentality it should be exercised. A portion of those members, respectable in character and ability, but a minority in numbers, led by George Clinton, Philip Schuyler, and Peter R. Livingston, asserting its continued loyalty to the Sovereign, its desire to eflect a redress of the grievances under which the Colonies were laboring, and its hope that a reconciliation between the Colonies and the Mother Country might be secured, nevertheless, fell back on the Congress and on the line of action on which the Congress had determined, notwithstanding the wellknown tendency toward Revolution of all which that Congress had done, and notwithstanding, also, the equally well-known efliects of that action, because of its ill-concealed encouragement of Insurrection if not of Rebellion, on a large portion of the Colonists, throughout the Continent, and ou the Home Government.