were, subsequently, sent to him, (Petition of Joshua Purdy and fourteen others, " White Plains Goal, August the 18th, 1776 ; " Petition of Jonathan Purdy, Junior, " White Plains Goal, August 30th, 1776 ; " Petition of Henry Clime, " Wight Plains Goal, August 30, 1776 ; " etc.) as well as those Prisoners of War who, also, were sent to him, for safe-keeping, (Examinations of John Simpson, James Auchmuty, and seven others, Prisoners of War, " White Plains in Westchestek Oountt, July 6th, 1776, compared with the Petition of William McDermot, one of the number ; with the Paroles of Jamee Auchmuty and John Simpson and WUliam McDermot, dated October 20, 1776 ; and with the Petition of John Simpson, William McDermot, William Elder, and Joseph WoUcomb, "Octr., 1776 ;") the latter of which Petitions is also interesting because of the information which it brings of the treatment of Prisoners of War, at the White Plains, by those who were in authority, under the " OonvenUou of the Representa- " tives of the State of New York ; " etc.

8 Vide page 171, ante.

* Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Sunday Afternoon, June 30th, 1776."

6 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Tuesday, P.M., White Plains, "July 9th, 1776."

« Although the Provincial Congress was seated at a distance from the City of New York, this Committee preferred to hold its meetings in that City ; and, with the unlimited authority with which it was vested, with nothing to control its own estimate of a "necessity," and with the strong arm of the military power to support, that estimate, that Committee was, in fact, an oligarchy of absolute power, possessing greater means for oppression and outrage than was held by the Provincial Congress which had created it and by whose warrant it acted.