2 " While this immaculate General " [Cliarles Lee,] " had the command " in New York, about 200 pieces of heavy cannon which were mounted "in Fort George and upon the Battery, were forcibly taken away by " his orders, and lodged upon the Common," [the Parh,\ "facing his " Quarters. But, lost upon the arrival of the British Army, they " should be retaken, he ordered them to be carried up to King' s Bridge, "about 14 miles from New York. The persons employed in this service " wanting horses, applied to the General to supply the defect. An hon- " est, a virtuous man, and a Christian, will shudder at the answer : " ' Chain 20 damned Tories to each gun, and let them draw them out " ' and be cursed. It is a proper employment for such villains, and a " ' punishment they deserve for their eternal loyalty they so much " ' b'oast of,'" (Jones's History of New York, during the Revolutionary War, i., 82, 83.)

" I counted two hundred and eighty pieces of Cannon, from twenty- " four to three poundera, at Kingsbridge, which the Committee had se- " cured for the use of the Colonies," {Doctor Benjamin Church's treasonable letter, intercepted in July, 1775.)

^Stephen Ward to the Provincial Congress, " March 6, 1776."

* Journal of the Committee of Safety, " Die Mercurii, 10 ho., A.M., "Jany. .11,1776."

soon made known, however ; and, as may be reasonably supposed, not ooly Westchester-county, but the Committee of Safety, in the City of New York, the Provincial Congress having taken a recess on the twenty-second of December preceding, was thrown into the greatest excitement.