The explanation of that apparent contradiction may be found in the fact that that short lived third Provincial Congress was dissolved before Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt took his seat in it or was qualified to do so 1 , by his taking the oaths of the office of Deputy.

8 George Clinton, Henry Wisner, John Alsop, WiUtam Floyd, and Francis Lewis, to the Provincial Congress, •' Philadelphia, July 2, 1776."

Journal of the Provincial Congress " Tuesday, 9th July, 1776." 1" Ibid.

WESTCHESTEK COUNTY.

war and those who were, also, confined in the Jail, in the City of New York, for debt, 1 was received from General Washington, and referred to a special Committee ; 2 and after the transaction of some other business, the Congress adjourned until the afternoon.

On the afternoon of the same day, [Tuesday July 9, 1776,] the Committee to whom had been referred the letter from the Delegation from the Colony in the Continental Congress and the Declaration which that letter had covered, made a Eeport, thereon, in the following words :

"In Convention of the Representa- "tives of the State of New Yoke, 3 " White Plains, July 9th, 1776.

"Resolved, unanimously, That the reasons " assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring " the United Colonies free and independent States " are cogent and conclusive ; and that, while we "lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that " measure unavoidable, we approve the same and " will, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, join with " the other Colonies in supporting it.