But those who were anxiously seeking places and influence were not ignorant of the well-known fact that a sparrow in the hand is worth more than a dove on the roof; and, consequently, they were not willing to postpone the immediate action which would surely secure those desirable advantages to themselves ; and they acted accordingly, marshaling their irregular allies, posting their handbills bearing unfounded accusations against their adversaries (accusations which were promptly contradicted in other handbills) accomplishing, or seeming to accomplish, by noise, what, at that time, they could not have accomplished, and did not accomplish, regularly, by the votes of those Freeholders and Freemen who were, then, present. 1 The result of that hasty and violent action has been noticed, and need not be repeated ; but, notwithstanding it was subsequently disregarded by the Committee which had previously hastened to receive and accept it, it served to draw the lines of faction with more distinctness and to array neighbor against neighbor, in greater animosity and bitterness than had previously been witnessed.
On the sixteenth of March, 1775, in conformity with the Resolution adopted by the Committee, and under its authority, Isaac Low, the permanent Chairman of the Committee of Inspection, prepared the following Circular Letter ; and, very soon afterwards, copies of it were sent to the several County Committees, where such Committees could be found, throughout the Colony :
" New- York, 16th March, 1775. " Gentlemen :
"The late Congress having deemed it expedient, "that, in the present critical State of American " Affairs, another should be held at Philadelphia, the