under the leadership of Thomas Smith, one of the distinguished body of political acrobats of that name 2 -- made no reply whatever to its letter, until the following June, when he adroitly turned the scale against the complaining Provincial Congress, by reminding it that the leader of the banditti was a resident of the City of New York, 3 doing business in that City, and, also/ a member of the complaining Provincial Congress ; that he was, therefore, amenable, directly, to the Congress itself, for what he had done ; and that it was not expedient, then, to call the rest of the banditti to account* -- a conclusion which was perfectly reasonable while the complaining Congress complacently permitted the leader of the party, who was the principal offender, to go at large, within its own jurisdiction, without question concerning it. The long process of intercolonial diplomacy, on what, in this instance, would have been an interesting topic, had the parties in that diplomatic correspondence been honest and consistent, might have been productive of useful results ; but they were neither consistent nor honest; and, like the greater part of other diplomacy, it consisted of little else than empty words, really meaning nothing and, really, producing nothing. 5

"While that feeble demonstration of her "independ- " ence and dignity " was being presented by the revolutionary authorities in New York, and there was no other demonstration, by either the Colonial Government or the armed force which occupied the harbor and commanded the-City, the Rector of the Parish of Westchester, as has been already stated, remained in captivity, in the hands of the banditti who had seized