Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution
" That all such of the said persons as shall be " found by the said Committee to be innocent of the '' said offences be immediately discharged ; and that a " Certificate of such acquittal and of the true light " in which they may respectively appear to the said •' Committee, under the hands of the said Committee, " be given to them, the said several persons so acquit- " ted ; and that they also report to this Congress, the " names of the persons so acquitted, that the same " may be entered on their Journals and published, to " the end that the reputation of such innocent persons " may not suffer or be injured by their having been so " arrested. Provided, nevertheless, that if the " said persons so to be acquitted should appear in a " suspicious light to the said Committee, that the said "Committee proceed against them, in the manner " hereinafter prescribed for their conduct against " persons of a suspicious and equivocal character.
" And with respect to all such of the said persons " as the Committee shall find guilty of all or any of " the said offences, the said Committee are hereby " authorized and required to commit to safe custody, " all such of them whose going at large would, in " their opinion, endanger the safety of the Colony or " the Liberties of America; and that they discharge " the remainder of them, on their giving Bond, with " good security, to the President of the Provincial " Congress, for the time being, by name, to cease and "' forbear all opposition to the Resolutions and meas- " ures of the Continental Congress or Provincial Con- " gress or Committee of Safety of this Colony, for the " defence of the United Colonies against the unjust " claims and hostile operations of the British Minis- " try to enforce them.