Perhaps the preceding detail belongs more properly to the political history of the commercial City of New York than to that of the purely agricultural County of Westchester ; yet it would be impossible to present any narrative of the events of the Revolution which occurred within that portion of the Colony, which should pretend to completeness, or precision, or accuracy, without having previously explained the precise nature of those influences which were brought, from beyond the limits of the County, to undermine the fundamental and rigid conservatism of those staid, well-to-do, and contented farmers who occupied that County, and to draw any portion of them from the quiet of their rural homes into the seething vortex of partisan excitement, concerning measures of the Home Government which did not Mffect them nor their interests, in the slightest degree --a departure from the ways of their fathers, which, before many months had elapsed, transformed that quiet, and neighborly, and law-abiding community into one of entire unrest and disorder, of the most intense partisan bitterness, and of the most complete disregard of all law, human and divine; converting what had been a quiet, and well-cultivated, and productive agricultural region into one over which were spread the evidences of partisan lawlessness, of vigilant suspicion and distrust, of sullen neglect, and, too often, of hopeless and lamentable ruin.
The purposes, apparent or concealed, of those who created the. Committee of Correspondence in the City of New
1 Letter of the Committee of Correspotidence of New York to the Committee in Charleston, " New York, July 26th, 1774," Postscript, dated "July " 28th ;" the same to the CommiUeein Philadelphia, "New York, July28th, " 1774 ; " the tame to Matthew Tilghmtw, Chairman of the Maryland Committee, " New York, July 28th, 1774; " Lkmtmmt-govemor Colden to the Earl of Dartmouth, "New York 2 August 1774;" the same to Governor Tryon, " Sprinh Hill 2 August 1774 ; " the same to the Earl of Dartmouth, " New York 7th Septr 1774 ; " the same to Governor Tryon, " Septr 7th "1774;" Jones's History of New York during the Bemhttionary II ~ar, i , 34, 35 ; Bancroft's History of the United States, original edition, vii , 83 ; the same, centenary edition, iv„ 358.