As the defensive works, on the high grounds to the southward of the Harlem plains, with the moderate detachment which he could leave, for the purpose of occupying them and the other portions of the City of New York, and with the further protection which was afforded by the Fleet and the increased safety which had been afforded by the capture of the American works at Powle's-hook, appeared to afford all the protection which would be neeessary, there seemed to have been little probability that General Washington would make any attempt to recover, or even to raid, that Oity ; and the determination of General Howe was, therefore, a reasonable one, and, with such a force and with such appointments as he, then, controlled, there was a reasonable probability that it would be attended with an entire success.

On Sunday, the fifteenth of September, in order to draw the attention of the Americans from the preparations which were being made, on Long Island, for

"the cause of Borne unavoidable delay, in our movements. I must, here, " add that I found the Americans not so well-disposed to join us, and to "serve, as I had been taught to expect ; that I thought our farther " progress, for the present, precarious ; and that I saw no prospect of " finishing the War, that Campaign. These sentiments I communicated "to the Secretary of State, in the letters last mentioned." -- (General Howe's Speech before a Committee of the House of Commons, April 29, 1779.)