It recited that, while the extraordinary powers with which they were invested might have been justified and permissible at an early period of the war, when a constitutional form of government did not exist, they were now but " a dead Cost to the Public and entirely unnecessary." The petitioners believed that through the vigilance of that county's whig population and the zeal of its civil and military officers, toryism would be repressed more effectively. They conceived the existence of commissioners for conspiracies to be contrary to the intent of the constitution of the State, which " declares the civil and military Authority sufficient to govern the People, where each Subject may have a fair and impartial Trial by Jury; That grand Bulwark is here taken away by that Assembly Journal, 1781 (Albany, 1820), p. 50. 7 Senate Votes (fifth session), p. 39; Assembly Votes (fifth session), p. 52.

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Board of Commissioners or otherwise may be deem'd a Tribunal with absolute and despotic Power." Seven copies of this petition, 1 signed by about 215 persons, were received in the assembly on March 19, 1782, and, after being read, the joint petition was referred to a special committee, which reported the next day as its opinion, that the act of June 14, 1780, relative to the commissioners, should be repealed. This committee stated that it had prepared the draft of a bill for that purpose and requested leave to present it to the house. The title of the bill was " An Act to authorise any two Justices of the Peace, to enlarge Persons who shall desert from the Enemy, and to repeal the Law appointing Commissioners for detecting and defeating Conspiracies." It was ordered to a second reading. Meanwhile, on March 21, the assembly received a petition from Ebenezer Purdy, Nathan Rockwell and Israel Honeywell, three of the commissioners in Westchester County, dated the 4th, which was referred to another committee.