General Howe commanded and controlled all the waters which were near him ; and Gravesend-bay need not have been regarded as the only base which he could have occupied -- he could have turned the tiauk of any or of all the lines, either of hills or of armed rebels, and have landed his command either in front or on the rear of either of the latter, as he should have determined ; and he could have led his abundantly supplied, admirably disciplined, and thoroughly willing command to an immediate and effectual success, had not his willing ears listened to those who inclined to Peace, and had not his sympathies controlled his judgment and overcome his sense of duty witli the hope that tlie day of reconciliation -- of reconciliation to be secured through himself -- was not yet passed. He hesitated ; and the golden opportunity passed away, never to be returned.
On the same second of July, and while the Royal Army was thus occupying Staten Island, the Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, was considering the subject of Independence.
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It will be remembered by the reader that, in 1774, when the County of Westchester was invited, by the Committee of Fifty-one, in the City of New York, to
1 Conmiodore Hotham did not reach New York until the twelfth of August, as will be seen, hereafter.
^General Uoice to Lord George Germain, "Staten Island, "th July, " 177C."
See, also, [Captain Hall's] Hinlnnj of the Civil War in America, i., 174 ; Stednian's History <>/ the Americutt ]r«r, i., luO, I'Jl.