' such persons, whose going at large, at thi8 critical " time, they shall deem dangerous to the Liberties of " this State;" l and the measure of its zeal was filled by asking a loan from General Washington, for the payment of what it had undertaken to do, promising to " take the earliest care to replace what nothing " but urgent necessity would have induced it to bor- " row ;" by requesting him to send an immediate supply of Ammunition for the troops who were already in motion and " but ill-supplied " with that very necessary article; by expressing a fear to him that the enemy would attempt " to cut off the communication " between the City and country, by landing above " Kingsbridge," and its desire to " have some force " ready to hang on his rear, in case such a step should " be taken ;" and by suggesting to the General, also, that if Governor Trumbull would form a Camp of six thousand men, at Byram-river, the westernmost limit of Connecticut, any designs which the enemy might have, to land above Kingsbridge, would become " ex- " tremely hazardous." 2

While the Convention was thus bravely and, generally, with excellent judgment, employed in making preparations for a vigorous and effective resistance, whatever the purposes of the enemy may have been, General Clinton, then at Fort Montgomery, as we have already seen, not only welcomed one of the enemy's tenders, which was beating up the river, taking soundings as she went, with a thirty-two pound shot, which caused her to put about and run down the river, to the place where the ships had anchored ; but he also made preparations for the removal of all the goods, from the storehouses, and all the Cattle, Sheep, etc., from the farms which were contiguous to the river, to places of safety ; and, on the following day, [July 17, 1776,] he went down with a force sufficiently strong to do what he had proposed ; successfully removed what had not yet been removed by others ; and left one hundred and eighty Militia, under the command of a prudent officer, to oppose any attempt which might be made to effect a landing or to open a communication with the shore. 3