It has been shown that Governor Clinton might order the detention of tories as exchanges. In such cases they were held subject to his order, or were taken down to Poughkeepsie, from thence to be sent under a flag to New York or elsewhere, as he might determine 5 . When a tory civilian asked for the exchange of himself and family, the board answered that it had no authority to arrange exchanges, and referred him to the governor. On the other hand, a captured lieutenant was granted a pass to Poughkeepsie, to solicit from the governor his own exchange with a patriot

July 29, 1778. 'October 1, 1778. •September 7, 1778; January 13, 21, 1779. November 2, 1778. 5 September 3, 22; November 20, 1778.

Introduction 59

officer of equal rank.* On occasion, Governor Clinton requested the Albany board, in conjunction with General Schuyler and General Clinton, to arrange for the exchange of inhabitants of Cherry Valley, who were in captivity in Canada. During the course of the war, and particularly after 1778, petitions were presented to the legislature by the inhabitants of various sections on behalf of persons who had been sent within the British lines. In these memorials the petitioners begged that these particular deported persons be allowed to return to their original domiciles. They were usually rejected by both houses or, what was the same thing, ordered to lie on the table. 3 Treason -- In an act of March 30, 1778, the operation of the English law, so far as it related to the manner of putting offenders to death, was characterized as " marked by Circumstances of Savage Cruelty, unnecessary for the Purposes of public Justice, and manifestly repugnant to that Spirit of Humanity, which should ever distinguish, a free, a civilized, and Christian People." Instead thereof, the judgment was to be hanging by the neck until death.