Early in January, 1776, while the conservatism ot the inhabitants of Queens-county was occupying the attention of the leaders of the Rebellion ; while the inhabitants of that County, because of their decided and outspoken opposition to the Rebellion and to the various Conunittees and Congresses which the Rebellion had called into existence, were subjected, by the Provincial Congress, to a sentence of outlawry ; and while, in consequence of that savage enactment and the unapcountable negligence of its duty to do something for their protection, by the naval force which then occupied the harbor of New York and commanded all the neighboring waters, that populous and thickly-settled County was overrun and pillaged and the inhabitants subjected to all classes of barbarities, by inroads from Connecticut

^ Jnurnal of the Committee of Stifili/, "Die Mcrciirii, AM., Murcli 2(1, '■ ITTIi."

i Jfivrnal of the I'rovhicinl CotiyrefK, "Die .lovis, 3 lio., P.M., Dccrnir. " 21, 1775 ; " Jones's JUalorij o/AVio York during the Uevnlnlionanj Wur, i., l(J7-nO.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

and Nev' Jersey, the latter accompanied by amateur banditti from New York City, the leaders of the Rebellion in Westchester-county, aldo, were anxious to join in the crusade of " patriotism," against their neighbors on the other side of the Sound -- they had had practise in such a service as that, in the work of harrying their conservative neighbors, in Westchestercounty ; they knew that it was a profitable occupation ; and they were anxious to participate in a similar service, elsewhere, where even greater profits were promised. To secure that much-desidered employment, on the eighth of January, 1776, the Committee of the County addressed the following note to the Committee of Safety, in the City of New York: " White Plains, 8'" Janry, 1776.