Of the fifty-one members of the Committee, a very great majority were of the aristocratic, conservative, an ti- revolutionary portions of the inhabitants. On the fourth of July, when a test question was before it, thirtyeight members being present, only thirteen votes were cast by those who assumed to represent the unfranchised inhabitants ; and in the greater contest, three days afterwards, on Mr. Thurber's Resolution, disavowing the proceedings of the great popular "Meeting in the Fields," over which Alexander McDougal had presided, only nine votes were cast in opposition to the vote of disavowal.
It may also be stated, in this place, that, notwithstanding none of the fifty-one, at that time, were of the Governmental party, but, on the contrary, that every one was earnestly opposed to the Colonial policy of the Home Government, twenty-one of the number, at a subsequent period, became acknowledged Loyalists ; that a considerable number took no active part in the proceedings of the Committee, but could have been relied on, by the aristocratic, conservative leaders, had their presence and their votes been, at any time, needed ; and that a greater number than there were of the last-named class -- a working majority of the Committee, indeed -- included such as John Alsop, Gabriel H. Ludlow, John Jay, and James Duane, who invariably acted and voted with the aristocratic, anti-revolutionary portion of the Committee, and, until thoy became candidates for the Congress, always in opposition to the revolutionary leaders and the revolutionary purposes.