General Howe, on the coiitnirv, had been strengthened, on the twelfth of July, by the arrival of his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, with the long expected reinforcements for the Royal Army and he brought, also, a Commission from the King, appointing his brother. General Howe, and himself '^ to be Commissioners for granting pardons to those of the Americans who should ask for the clemency of the Sovereign.' On the twelfth of August, the two fleets, under the convoy, respectively, of Commodore Hotham and the Repulse, met ofl" Sandy-hook, and entered

" any Juration ; and that the Continentiil Congress will dense means of " affording the niodt exiwditious and effectnal a^istance to preserve a '• .State, the loss of wliich, from its geographical situation and the politi- "cal character of too many of its inhabitants, would be almost fatal to '• the cause of .American liberty." (The Contention of Sew York to Gentni? Wasliintjlon, " Harlem, Augt. 9, 1776.")

" 1 am e.vtremely concerned that the quotas of men to be furnished by '*the ueigliboring States have proved so deficient. The busy season "and harvest, to whicli it has been ascribed, being now over, in a great "degree, I Hatter mjself, from the zeal they have heretofore manifested, " they will alford every possible assistance, They are well apprised of "the importance of this State, in the present contest, and the necessity " of maintaining it against the attempts of the enemy." (General lf<w/iimjton to the Comention, " New-Yokk, .\ugust 11, 1776.")