History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
We ap- " ' prehend that such Provisions will be wanted for "'the use of the Continental Army in this Colony, " 'and that the service may possibly suffer if all the "'barrelled Provisions are taken out of the Colony. " ' We therefore request you to take the most effectual "' measures to carry the enclosed Resolution into exe- " ' cutiou.
" ' We are, respectfully, Gentlemen, " 'Your very humble servts.,
" ' By order of the Committee of Safety. " ' To the Onnmittee of the Coirnfy of We^lc/wster.' "
It will be seen that the farmers of Wcstchestercounty, at the time of which we write, were prohibited from finding a market for the surplus of their products, beyond the limits of the Colony or, at their own doors, to those who were not of New York, and that, in consequence of that prohibition, they were limited to those local purchasers, forestallers, or speculators, who should incline to purchase, and at prices which were not regulated by competition. At the same time, as has been seen, the surplus products of the farms in Connecticut were brought into the Colony, in open disregard of the provisions of that Resoludon of the Continental Congress which was used as the warrant for the prohibition of the reciprocal trade of Westchester-county with Connecticut ; and the market of New York, for nothing else than the products of the Colony of New York, which the Resolution would have guaranteed, if it ha<l been impartially enforced, was recklessly destroyed, in favor of the greed of New England. Need there be any wonder that the Committee of Bedford objected, and embargoed those who had come into the Colony, from Connecticut, in violation of the Resolution of the Continental Congress and in derogation of the interests, if not of the Rights, of the farmers of that Town ?