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

2 Vide page 141, post.

a The notice of the raid which was published in The Connecticut Journal, already copied into this narrative, clearly indicated that Isaac Sears was only a temporary sojourner at New Haven, when he made that raid.

* Governor Trumbull to the President of the Provincial Congress of New York, "Hartford, June luth, 1776."

5 The Provincial Congress evidently called the attention of the Delegation in the Continental Congress to the subject, as it promised to do, in its letter to Governor Trumbull ; and on the eleventh of January, 1776, the Delegation wrote, in reply : "We highly applaud the spirit, " and, at the same time, respectful manner in which you have supported "the dignity and independence of our Culony, and demanded, reparation "on the subject of the Connecticut inroad. An interposition, so rash, "officious, and violent gave us great anxiety, as it was not only a high "insult to ynur authority, but had a direct tendency to coufirm that fatal "spirit of jealousy and distrust of our eastern brethren which lias done "so much injury to our cause, and which every wise and virtuous patriot "should Btudy to suppress.