What was thus called a Provincial Congress, elected Colonel Nathaniel Woodhull, of the County of Suffolk, to be its President ; and John McKesson and Robert Benson, the Secretaries of the former Provincial Congress, were elected Secretaries of that. 2 It assembled, day by day, until the twenty-second of December, when it took a recess, leaving a Committee of Safety to discharge some of the duties which it had undertaken to perform. 3 That Committee, of which Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, of Westchestercouuty, was the Chairman, continued in session, until the twelfth of February, 1776, when the Provincial Congress was again assembled ; i and that Congress continued in session, until the sixteenth of March-, in that year, when it took another recess, leaving, as before, a Committee of Safety, to discharge some portions of its self-imposed duties, during its absence. 5 That Committee, of which Joseph Hallett, of the City of New York, was the Chairman, continued in session, until the 8th of May, 1776, when the Provincial Congress was again assembled -- it is written that " several matters of the utmost importance,

1 John Leffertse appeared in the Congress, nominally from Kings-county ; but he did not pretend to offer a Credential, nor any other, even the slightest, evidence that he had been appointed, by any one, to appear as a representative from KingB-county or in any other capacity, in the Provincial Congress or elsewhere.

Peter Clowes was said to have represented "Goshen Precinct in Orange- " county ; " but the Credentials which were filed from Orange-county declared that two Delegates should be required to represent that County ; and that only when one such Delegate should appear in the Congress from "the North side of the Mountains" [the Highlands] and one from the " South side " of those Highlands -- Orange -county, at that time, including what, now, is Rockland-county- should that Delegation be complete and authorized to represent the County.