What was thus called a Provincial Congress, elected Colonel Nathaniel Woodhull, of the County of Suffolk, to be its President ; and John McKesson and Robert Benson, the Secretaries of the former Provincial Congress, were elected Secretaries of that.^ It assembled, day by day, until the twenty-second of December, when it took a recess, leaving a Committee of Safety to discharge some of the duties which it had undertaken to perform.^ That Committee, of which Colonel Pierre Van Cortlundt, of Westchestercounty, was the Chairman, continued in session, until the twelfth of February, 1776, when the Provincial Congress was again assembled ; * and that Congress continued in session, until the sixteenth of March, in that year, when it took another recess, leaving, as before, a Committee of Safety, to discharge some portions of its self-imposed duties, during its absence.* That Committee, of which Joseph Hallett, of the City of New York, was theChairnian, continued in session, uutiUhe 8th of May, 1776, when the Provincial Congress was again assembled -- it is written that " several matters of the utmost importance,

1 John Leflertse appeared in the Congress, nominally from Kings-county ; but he did uot pretend to offer a Cri;d<.-iitial, uor any other, even the slightest, evidence that lie had been appointed, by any one, to appear as a repiesenfative from Kings-county or in any other capacity, in the Provincial Congress or elsewhere.

Peter Clowes wns said to have represented " Goshen Precinct in Orange- "county;" but the ('redentiuls which were filed from Orange-county declared that <«'" Delegates should bo required to represent that County; and that only when one such Delegate should appear in the Congress from "the North side of the Mountains" [(Ac Uighlundu] and one from the " South side " of those Highlands -- Orange county, at that time, including what, now, is Rocklaud-county - should that Delegation be complete and authorized to represent the County.