Although no mention was subseipiently nnide of the establislij ment of such a Mill within the limits of Westchester-

! county, the fact that such an otler was nuide affords another testimony to what has been already adduced concerning the i)eaceful disposition of the farmers, throughout that County, even in the face of the greatest

* Joiinml of llie CommiUee of Sufetij, " Die Lunse, 9 ho., A.M., April 1, •'1776."

^Juiinial of the CommiUee of Safelij, " Die Uercurii, 4 lio., P.M., \\<n\ " 17, 1776."

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

aggravations, since the want of the Anns of which they had been robbed would not have been a hindrance to any one who had desired to destroy a Powder-mill; and it shows, also, how unwise that revolutionary policy had been, which had tended not only to impair the industrial usefulness of such a community, at a time when the results of its agricultural and other industrial labors were most needed, but to make that element, in the Colony, permanently antagonistic, which, under a peaceful and conciliatory policy, might have been made jiassive and useful, if not friendly and co-operative.

After the autocratic General Lee was ordered to the South, in March, 1776, the military command of the Continental forces in the City of New York was vested in Cieneral Lord Stirling ; and, on the thirteenth ol' that month, that comnuinding Geneial requested the Provincial Congress to appoint a Committee, to confer with him on various subjects connected with the defense of the City and Colony.'