K C'ununitlce has been chosen in every "County, whose business it is to carry the Aiisttcuitiint tii the Congress " into execution ; which C'oiuniittee assumes an authority to inspect the "books, invoices, and all other secrets of the trade and correspondence " of Merchants; to watch the coniiuct of every Inhabitant, without dis- " tiuction ; and to send for all such as come under their suspicion, into "their presence, to interrogate tluui respecting all matters which, at "their pleasure, they think fit objects of their in(piiry, and to 'stig- " 'niatize,' as they term it, such as they find transgressing what they " are now hardy enough to call ' the Laws of the Congress,' which ' stig- " ' matiziug ' is no other than inviting the vengeance of an outrageous "and lawless mob, to be exorcised upon the uuhajipy victims."-- ( T/ic E'irl Tiiuimiire I" till- Emi nf D<(ilimiiilli, "Vi'u.i.ixmskvkg," IVinjiiiui,] " December 24, 1774," laid before the House of Commons, February 1.., 1775.-- Almon's Piit Hiniienkn ii lleijMei; House of C'onunons, First Session, Fourteenth Parliament, i., 185, It-C.)

TH?: AMF]]IICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

being disturbed, by any one; and James De I^ancey, who had been the Shcrifr of tiie County, since June, 177(1, and David Dayton, who had been tlie Surrogate, since June, 17li(), and Jolin Bartow, who had been the Clerk of the County, since April, 17()0, each in his appointed official place, continued to discharge the official duties which were incumbent on them, and to receive and to enjoy the emoluments which those several offices secured to them -- the Courts of tlie County continued their several Sessions, at the appointed times; and, as we have said, with occasional individual or neighborhood exceptions, a general (jniet prevailed, a quiet which preceded a terrible convulsion, as the reader will shortly see.