History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
"Whereas I.Jonathan Fowler, Esq., one of His Majesty's Judges of "the Inferior Court for the County of Westchester, in the Province of " New- York, did, some time ago, sign a Protest against the Honourable "Continental Congress, which inconsiderate conduct I am heartily sorry " for, and do hereby promise for the future not to transgress in the view "of the people of this Continent, nor in any sense to oppose the lueae- " ures taken by the Continental Congress.
" I do also certify that, some time past, being at Court at the Whitc- " Plains, T heard a person say, whom several peojile present believed to "be a Lieutenant or Midshipman of the Asi<i, man-of-war, that the Cap- "tain of the Asin intended to take Captain .Sears up, and that there "would soon be delivered, gratis, from on board the man-of-war, great "quantities of Paper Money, in imitation of Continental Currency,
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.
and he was " prevented from enjoying a free inter- " course with his friends ; forbidden the visits of "some of thoni, thoiigli in company witli his guard ; " prohibited from reading prayers in the Church, and "in performing any part of Divine Service, thougli "invited so to do; interdicted tlie use of pen, inic, " and paper, except for the purpose of writing to his "family, and tlien it was required that his letters "should be examined and licensed" the leaders of the banditti,^ " before they were sent off; though " Captain Sears condescended that he should be in- " dulged in writing a Memorial to the Honourab/e "Assembly. He received only one letter from his " family, and that was delivered to him open, though " brought by the post." Indeed, with characteristic bravado, and entirely conscious of his influence among those, in Connecticut, who were then controlling the Rebellion, Sears told his only remaining victim -- the others having ransomed themselves from the hands of their captors with cowardly-made recantations -- " that they did not intend to release him, nor to "make such a compromise with him as had been "made with Judge Fowler and Mr.