■The Doctor reasoned, above, on the ground that the Order of the Committee was an isolated act, disconnected with any other of the class ; and he reasoned well, on that premise ; but the fact was, another Order had just been made, in- secret, to seize the persons and properties of those who were obnoxious to the Committee and its subordinates ; and it was considered necessary, for the safety of the marauders, to deprive the secretly proposed victims of that earlier enactment, of their means for defence, before it commenced, openly, its work of lawlessness and outrage, on the persons and properties of those who had been or who should, thenceforth, be designated as its victims.

* Letter from Major William Williams to the Committee of Safely, " Jamaica, September 25th, 10 o'clock, P.M."

Major Williams appears to have been a resident- of QueeiiE-county.

in other connections, that the men of that County, like those of Queens-county, armed themselves, and patroled the County, in large parties, to guard against surprises ; declaring their determination to defend themselves, and saying "that if any body came to " their houses to take away their Arms, they would " Are upon them." 3 It appears, also, that the declaration was fully sustained ; that the united farmers proved more than a match for the local Militia and the other troops which the Chairman of the County Committee had been authorized to call for his support; and that, for the more effectual accomplishment of his purposes, that Chairman had assumed still further authority, by calling on the floating population of the neighboring Towns, in Connecticut, for reinforcements 4 -- as the Chairman of the County Committee was authorized by the Committee of Safety, to call for the entire Militia of the County, already seem to have been sufficient to fill three Regiments, 5 and as many of General Wooster's command of Connecticut troops, then encamped below Harlem, 6 and numbering " about 400 men," ' as should be required, that opposition must have been wide-spread and resolutely maintained, in Westchester-county, which had required, in addition to all these, for its suppression, an additional force, drawn from what may be properly called the Swiss Guards of Colonial America, mercenaries, who, while they professed to have been ardent friends ot Freedom, were, nevertheless, whenever they could see any possible advantage to their individual interests, constantly ready to enlist in any service, outside of Connecticut, ~ and to become, in their new associations, the most devoted of all supporters of despotism and the most relentless of all persecutors of those, no matter of what country, who dared to question the sanctity of the assumed authority of those who employed them.