Dawson, Henry B. Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution. Morrisania, NY: (privately printed by the author), 1886.

Theal and his son John Lobdin, and " Stephen Delance " [De Lancey f] " some of them "laid under £500. bonds and also the solemnity of an " oath -- but they regard not any thing the Commit- ■' tee does with them, so long as they have their lib- " erty. It is supposed numbers are concealed on " Long island. Please to take it into your wise con- " sideration, whether or no it …

Two days after that letter was written, [June 24, 1776,] the Sub-committees of Cortlandt and Salem united in the following letter, also addressed to the Provincial Congress ; and in order to expedite the consideration of the subject to which it was devoted, by that body, Ezekiel Hawley was formally directed to forward it, '• with all convenient speed." "Salem, 24th of June …

" Ezekiel Halley, " Joseph Benedict, " Chairmen. " To the Honourable the Provincial Congress." l These two letters were presented to the Provincial Congress, on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth of June; read before that body ; and ordered " to remain " for further consideration ; " '' and there, as far as we have knowledge, they have remained, from that day until this -- the …

One of these Tests, or Associations, adopted by a Provincial Committee of Safety, was proved to have been so entirely subversive of the personal Eights of those to whom it was offered, that numbers who had previously favored or acquiesced in the Rebellion, peremptorily declined to sign it, preferring rather to be considered as disaffected and to be disarmed, as such, 3 and to …

'KecUalin the Preamble of the new Association, adopted by the Provincial Congress, on the twentieth of June, 1776. those proportions which entitled it to respect, however, on the eighteenth of June, three days after the organization of "the Committee to detect Conspir- " acies," the Provincial Congress adopted the following Resolution, on the subject : " Whereas doubts have …

" Whereas, the Continental Congress, on the " fourteenth day of March last, did recommend to the " several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils or " Committees of Safety of the United Colonies, im- " mediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within " their respective Colonies, who were notoriously dis- •' affected to the cause of America, or had not associ- " ated, and …

'" in the County of and Colony " ' of New York, do voluntarily and solemnly engage, " ' under all the ties held sacred among mankind, at " ' the risk of our lives and fortunes, to defend, by " ' arms, the United American Colonies, against the " ' hostile attempts of the British Fleets and Armies, " ' until the present unhappy controversy between " ' the two Countries shall be …

"And whereas it hath been objected to the said " form of an Association, that, by obliging the subscribers or associators, in such general and express "terms, to defend the United Colonies, by arms, "against the hostile attempts of the British Fleets " and Armies, it deprived them of the Eights reserved " by the Militia Regulations, and imposed on them the " necessity of …

But, as some of the friends to the American " cause have been influenced, by this objection, to "' refuse signing the said Association, and, in conse- " quence thereof, been disarmed, it hath become expedient that the said Association should be so ex- " plained as to render it free from specious as well as "solid objections; and, therefore, " Resolved, unanimously, That …

" ' We, the subscribers, inhabitants of .... , " 'in the County of .... , and Colony of New " ' York, do most solemnly declare that the claims of " ' the British Parliament to bind, at their discretion, " ' the people of the United Colonies in America, in " ' all cases whatsoever, are, in our opinions, absurd, " ' unjust, and tyrannical ; and that the hostile at- " ' tempts of …

" And that all persons who have been disarmed for '" refusing to associate with their countrymen, for the " defense of the United Colonies, in the form pre- " scribed by the late Committee of Safety, as afore- " said, may have no pretence to complain of injus- " tice, and that they may have a fair opportunity of " convincing the public that their refusal to sign the " said …

" Resolved, further, That all such of the said " persons as shall subscribe the same, other than " notoriously disaffected persons, as aforesaid, ought " to be considered and treated as friends to their " country ; and that all arms taken from them and " not disposed of to the Continental troops, be re- " stored to them ; and that care be taken that they " respectively be paid …

It is said that the Report and Resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Provincial Congress, evidently without the slightest consideration of their characters and probable result, and certainly duriDg the latter portion of an afternoon session of the Congress, in which, both before and after the presentation of them, that body was crowded with other and very important …

clined to sign the Association which the Committee of Safety had prescribed, had been, they were such as had led the Provincial Congress to notice them, respectfully, and to lead that body to move for the removal of the objections which had been thus reasonably raised against that Association, by those whom the Provincial Congress's Committee was constrained to recognize as " …

Indeed, instead of relieving the Association which the Committee of Safety had recommended, from the uncertainties of its provisions, the only duty which had been assigned to John Jay and his two rustic associates, these astute partisans, in the bitterness of their animosities, did nothing else, in the way of the duty which had devolved on them, than to indulge in contemptuous …

to convince any honest man that, whatever he may have been after he had reached that place in the office-bearing ranks of his countrymen which he so greatly coveted and of which he was so exceeding fond, while John Jay was still struggling for place, it mattered little under what master, he was neither more nor less upright, in what he said and did for the advancement of his …

" That all persons, members of or owing allegiance " to any of the United Colonies, as before described, " who shall levy war against any of the said Colonies, " within the same, or be adherent to the King of Great " Britain or others, the enemies of the said Colonies, or " any of them, within the same, giving to him or them " aid or comfort, are guilty of treason against such …

" That it be recommended to the Legislatures of " the several United Colonies, to pass Laws for pun- " ishing, in such manner as they shall think fit, per-* " sons who shall counterfeit, or aid or abet in coun- " terfeiting, the Continental Bills of Credit, or who " shall pass any such Bill, in payment, knowing the " same to be couuterfeit. " By order of Congress, " John …

Livingston; 1 but the character of those who framed the Resolution only increases our surprise, and, more clearly than before, indicates the desperate straits into which, even at that early date, the Continental Congress had been crowded, unless the " spies " against whom the Committee fulminated its Report were those Commissioners whom the Ministry had authorized to treat for …

Whatever the purposes of the Continental Congress may have been, in the adoption and promulgation of these Resolutions, no one can attribute to the learned lawyers who reported them the slightest sincerity, since none knew better than they, that " allegiance," under any possible circumstances, was not and could not become due to what was nothing else than a mere "Law," and …

1 Journal of the Continental Congress, "Wednesday, June 5, 1776." 2 " According to the noble Lord's explanation, Lord Howe and his " brother are to be Bent as Spies, not as Commissioners ; that if they can- " not go on shore, they are to sound upon the coast, "-- (Speech of Cliarles Janus Fox, on the Motion for Lord Howe's Instructions, " House of Com- " mons, Wednesday, May …

been made; that no mere Colony, dependent on another and superior political power, could possibly have been said, sincerely, by such a Committee, to have possessed a political Sovereignty, nor that, in the absence of such a Sovereignty, there could possibly have been a respectable and competent charge of Treason against it, in any instance whatever; and, more than all, that …

" Allegiance " and " Treason " presupposed Sovereignty existing in the Colonies, without which Sovereignty there could not have possibly been any " Allegiance " due to either of them nor " Treason " committed against them or either of , them ; but it would require a bold man, possessed of a very vivid imagination, to maintain, seriously and honestly, that any such Sovereignty …

On the tenth of May, 1776, the Continental Congress, after a very severe and very protracted consideration of the subject, had adopted a Resolution; 4 and on the fifteenth of the same month, it had pre- 8 See, in the Address to the King, by the same Continental Congress and signed by each of its members, individually, (Journal of the Continental Congress, "Saturday, July 8 …

" And whereas it appears absolutely irreconcilable " to reason and good conscience for the people of these " Colonies, now, to take the Oaths and Affirmations " necessary for the support of any Government under " the Crown of Great Britain, and it is necessary that " the exercise of every kind of authority under the " said Crown should be totally suppressed, and all the …

" Resolved, That it be recommended to the re- " spective Assemblies and Conventions of the United "Colonies, where no Government sufficient to the "exigencies of their affairs hath been hitherto estab- " lished, to adopt such Government as shall, in the " opinion of the representatives of the people, best " conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents, in …

Confederation among ourselves or Alliances " with foreign nations are not necessary to a perfect separation from " Britain ; that is effected by extinguishing all authority under the " Crown, Parliament, and Nation, as the Resolution for instituting " Governments has done, to all intents and purposes. Confederation " will be necessary for our internal concord, and Alliances …

that, after they had been adopted, those of the Delegation from the Colony of New York who had been among those who had opposed that favorable action, very soon retired from their seats in the Continental Congress and occupied seats in the Provincial Congress of New York, 4 where, by means of a similar line of action, adverse to the adoption of a new form of local Government …

opponents of Independence, wore resolute opposers of this Preamble and Resolution, and declined to vote on it, "as far as was in their "power, withdrawing the Province, from this union of the Colonies, " both in council and action." -- {The Philadelphia Committee to the Committees of the rttral Comities of Pennsylvania, " Philadelphia, May 21, "1776.") The majority of the …

* John Alsop and Francis Lewis took seats in the Provincial Congress, on the twentieth of May ; John Jay appeared on the twenty-fifth of that month ; James Duane, who had some other place in the Continental service, showed himself on the second of June ; and Philip Livingston lingered until the eighth of June -- all of them were there in season to accomplish, as far as the …

It is not in " the nature of things to be otherwise ; for no man that entertains " a hope of seeing this dispute speedily and equitably adjusted by " Commissioners will go to the same expense and run the same hazards " to prepare for the worst event, as he who believes that he must " conquer, or submit to unconditional terms and the like concomitants, "such as confiscation …

The Provincial Congress having " considered " the Report, it also adopted it, evidently without debate or a division of the house, -- Westchester-county was unrepresented in that exceedingly important vote, owing to the absence of a quorum of its Deputation ; -- and, after the Congress had ordered the Resolutions to be published in all the newspapers in the Colony and in …

We are not insensible, also, that, notwithstanding the seeming eagermss of its authors, at that time, to remove the "many and great "inconveniences," as well as that power of despotic oppression and tyranny which " attended the mode of "Government by Congress and Committees," of some of which "inconveniences" and despotism the reader has been already made acquainted, they were …

Most of all, we are not insensible of the fact that, notwithstanding all the fine words, concerning the "People" and the "Inhabitants" and their unquestionable political authority, which were included in the Resolutions, the oligarchic authors of those Resolutions carefully reserved to themselves, the sole authority to determine whether a Constitution should or should not be …

The subject of a new form of Government was scarcely disposed of, when, on the fourth of June, the same "Society of Mechanics in Union," so called, whom the master-spirits of the Committee of Fiftyone had deceived and betrayed-- the same who was composed of the fragments of that phantom which had been known by the general title of "The Sons of » This peculiarity of the …

Whatever may have been their standing in the social scale of aristocracy, but for the co-operation of those who constituted the so called, " Society of Mechanics in "Union," there would have been no place for either James Dnane or John Jay in the Continental Congress of 1774 or in that similar Congress which succeeded it ; and without their assent and approval, corruptly …

The signers of that Address, the first movement concerning Independence in the Provincial Congress, stated that they were devoted friends to their bleeding country ; that they were afflicted by beholding her struggling under heavy loads of oppression and tyranny, and the more so, when they viewed the iron hand lifted up against her; that their Prince was deaf to Petitions for …

A snow-storm in Summer would not have been more unwelcome to the cultivators of the soil, than that Address was to the Provincial Congress, since Independence and the much coveted Reconciliation with Great Britain were wholly irreconcilable ; and, without even the usual courtesy of a consideration of either the Address or the very important subject to which it related, by a …

As the "oligarchy" which constituted that Congress had resorted to the extraordinary precaution of requiring the proposed Address to be delivered to it, for its "inspection," in order that that aristocratic body should " discover whether it is proper for this "Congress to receive the same" -- the bearers of it, meanwhile, dancing an attendance, outside, before a 1 Journal of …

"This Congress is, at all times, ready and willing "to attend to every request of their constituents, or "of any part of them: we are of opinion that the "Continental Congress, alone, have that enlarged "view of our political circumstances which will ena- "ble them to decide upon those measures which are "necessary for the general welfare: we cannot pre- "sume, by any …

The President of the Congress, General Woodhull, of Suffolk, was not handy with the pen ; and he possessed no such animosity againBt " the lower classes," asiBseeninthiB.d»wrtver. It remained, therefore, to the high toned, "well born" Deputy from Westchestercounty, Gouverneur MorriB --the same who had stood in the window of the Coffee-house, on the nineteenth of May, 1774 …

ment of a new form of Government, but in words and in terms which entitled the Artisan-author of it to the highest honors, the generally unfranchised Workingmen of the City of New York manfully declared their Eights, as a portion of that body of the People, throughout the Colony, in whom, they considered, were vested the original power and the source of all political …

On the following day, [June 5, 1776,] the Provincial Congress was pestered, again, with that obnoxious subject of Independence ; but, on that occasion, the aristocratic Colonial Convention of Virginia was the unwelcome claimant on its attention ; and, consequently, it was constrained to be more civil in its words and more respectful in its demeanor than it had been, on the day …

> This admirable Reply to the Answer of the Provincial Congress, which was more especially devoted to the proposal of that body to impose a new form of Government on the Colony or State, without having submitted it to the body of the People, for ratification or rejection, was in these words : ********** 2 Journal of a Convention of Delegates from the Counties and Corporations …

It simply acknowledged the receipt of the Resolutions and that of the letter which had covered them, saying, also, that they had been communicated to the Provincial Congress, by whom " they would be " considered with all the deliberation due to the im- " portance of the subject ; " that the Congress thanked the Convention of Virginia for its attention ; and that the latter was …

This was the moment "that showed the firmness and the purity of Jay ; the darker the hour, "the more he stood ready to cheer; the greater the danger, the more " promptly he stepped forward to guide. He had insisted on the doubt- " ful measure of a second Petition to the King with no latent weakness of "purpose or cowardice of heart. The hope of obtaining redress had " gone …

All which it contained, concerning Independence, was a formal acknowledgment of the receipt of the letter and of the Resolutions, " which were immediately communicated to the Con - "gre8s of this Colony, and will be considered by them with all the de- " liberation due to the importance of the subject." Nothing more than that wassaid or done, on the subject of Independence, in …

"Independence will, very shortly, be agitated in " Congress. Some of us consider ourselves as bound " by our instructions not to vote on that question > "and all of us wish to have your sentiments thereon. "The matter will admit of no delay; we have, "therefore, sent an express who will wait your " orders. "We are, Sir, with the greatest respect, " Your most obt. hum. servts …

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Lunge, 9 ho., A.M., June 10, "1770." * Ibid. 8 It was stated in the Credentials of the Deputies from Orange-county that the Resolutions of tin* second Provincial Congress, providing for the election of the third Provincial Congress and denning its authority, were adopted on the twelfth of March preceding ; but there is no mention of …

Again : we hare not found on that Journal, any definition of the authority of the third of those Congresses-- that authority which, in the text, the Secretary is said to have read, on the afternoon of tho tenth of June -- but the Credentials of the Deputies from Kings-county, compared with those of tbe Deputies from Orange-county, indicate that the authority sought to be …

Nothing whatever was done by the Provincial Congress, concerning the letter of the Delegates nor concerning Independence, on the following morning, [June 11, 1776 ;] 6 but, during the afternoon of that day, with that peculiar disregard for those with whom he was associated which invariably distinguished John Jay from all others, that Deputy presented "several Resolutions on …

" Resolved, unanimously, therefore, That it be " and it is hereby earnestly recommended to all the " Freeholders and other Electors in this Colony, at "the ensuing Election to be held in pursuance of a " Resolution of the Congress of the thirty-first day of " May last past, not only to vest their Representa- "tives or Deputies with the powers therein men- " tioned, but also …

WESTCHESTER COUNTY. " lished, in case that event shall sooner take place. " And it is further recommended to the said Free- " holders and Electors, by instructions or otherwise, " to inform their said Deputies of their sentiments " relative to the great question of Independency and " such other points as they may think proper." x It needs very little of knowledge in the …

There was an appendage to those Resolutions, which rendered the entire movement still more remarkable ; and the facts are not the less significant because those who have written of the Resolutions and of those who wrote them and promoted their passage through the Provincial Congress, have studiously concealed not only the license for a despotism which they contained, but …

The same writer describes these Resolutions, after the rhetorical flourish, concerning the author of them, which we have elsewhere quoted, as " calling upon the Freeholders and Electors of the Colony to confer " on the Deputies whom they were about to choose full powers of admin- " istering Government, framing a Constitution, and deciding the great 11 question of …

A reference to the Resolutions will show to the reader that, although the question of Independence formed the basis as well as the top-stone of the structure, they were so contrived that, notwithstanding that question seemed to have been submitted to the judgment of the Electors, at the Polls, that grave subject was really made dependent, among the various other matters of …

We say, all these were well enough, because they were open and intelligible ; and if the question of Independence had been, thereby, submitted, even indirectly and insufficiently, to the arbitrament of the Electors, there would have been an appearance, at least, of fairness and consistency ; but John Jay had no such intention -- he aimed, mainly, to hoodwink those, in the …

If the Provincial Congress possessed no authority, legal or revolutionary, " to declare this Colony to be " and continue independent of the Crown of Great " Britain," as both common sense and history, as well as the first of John Jay's series of enabling Resolutions, unquestionably determined, those enabling Resolutions, carefully concealed and rendered entirely inoperative by …

The reader will see, very soon, with what little respect the declaration which formed the basis of those Resolutions, as well as the Resolutions themselves, was regarded by the same John Jay and by nearly the same Provincial Congress -- then as deficient in authority " to declare " this Colony to be and continue independent of the "Crown of Great Britain," as it had been …

John Jay and all those with whom he was associated, in the great political questions of that period, were aiming at something else than Independence, at something which was directly antagonistic to Independence; and he and they felt at liberty, under the license of that unholy ambition which controlled them, to resort to and to employ whatever means, of whatever character …

" letter of the Delegates in the Continental Congress," which had been the basis of all the proceedings which are now under consideration ; and it is probable that such an answer, conveying a copy of the Resolutions^ but evidently not one of the Agreement, was sent to the Delegates, on the afternoon of the day on which the Resolutions were adopted, although no mention was made …

No further action, of any kind, concerning Inde- 1 pendence, was taken by the Provincial Congress ; and, guided by the restricted authority expressed on its Credentials and by the Resolutions which are now under consideration, without having been told of the treacherous Agreement, the Delegation in the Conti' nental Congress continued to withhold the assent of New York to the …

An instance of that class of special doings may be seen in the Order which was made by the Provincial Congress, on the twenty-first of May, in these words : " Ordered, That Colonel '• Ritzema send such prudent Officer as he shall think 'proper, to Westchester-county, to apply to the '• Chairman of the County Committee and to the re- " spective Sub-committees, in that County …

But, because the Third Regiment of the New York Line in the Continental Army, which was commanded by Colonel Ritzema, was one of those, under General Alexander McDougal, who were engaged with the Royal Army, on Chatterton's Hill, a few months afterwards, and because Colonel Ritzema's Regiment was undoubtedly supplied with Arms, as far as they went, from those which had been …

On the twenty-ninth of May, Colonel Thomas Thomas informed the Provincial Congress that Elijah Hunter, who had been Second Lieutenant in Captain Mills's Company, from Bedford, during the Campaign of 1775, 2 and who was a member of the County Committee of 1776-77, 3 representing that Town, was desirous of raising a Grenadier Company, to be attached to the Regiment of …

On the first of June 1776, the Continental Congress made a requisition for six thousand men from the Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, " to be employed to reinforce " the Army in Canada and to keep up the communi- " cation with that Province ; " ' on the third of June, a second requisition was made, by the same Congress, for thirteen …

Of these several requisitions, one Battalion of seven hundred and fifty men was called from the Colony of New York, for the Canadian service ; u and for the reinforcement of the Army at New York, that Colony was required to furnish three thousand men. 12 All were to be taken from the Militia of the respective Colonies ; all were to be "engaged " only " to the first " day of …

In addition to the Commission, referred to in the text, he managed, on the twenty-first of November, 1776, to obtain the command of the Sixth Company of the Second, or Van Cortlandt's, Regiment of the New York Line, in the Continental Army of 1776-77, (Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Military Committee, xxv., 761;) and he retired from the service, fifteen days afterwards …

H Journal of the Continental Congress, " Saturday, June 1 1776." " The same, "Monday, June 3, 1776." « Ibid. WESTCHESTER COUNTY. Of the nine Provincial Brigadier-generals which these requisitions would bring into the service, one was assigned to the Colony of New York ; * and, as will be seen, hereafter, a lively canvass for the place was immediately commenced by John Morin …

Although the Provincial Congress was " of opinion " that the several levies,'' apportioned on the different Counties, '' consisting of volunteers, would be most " advancive of the public service, yet " it evidently knew that volunteers could not be had, even under such a stress of circumstances as then existed and in so " glorious a cause ; " and drafts from the respective …

Information had no sooner been received by the Provincial Congress of New York, that a Brigadiergeneral was to be appointed by that body, for the command of the four Battalions which were to be raised in New York, than it was announced " the "Congress conceived it necessary towards carrying "the several Resolutions and requisitions of the "Continental Congress into execution …

Not a moment was lost, therefore-- the Congress was not even permitted to refer the letter from the President of the Continental Congress and the exceedingly important enclosures which it covered, to a Committee, for consideration and report -- when, with indecent haste, some ready made Certificates which had evidently been kept on hand, ready for immediate use, whenever they …

The record says, the Congress conceive it necessary towards carrying ' these Resolutions of the Continental Congress into ' execution, to appoint a Brigadier-general and a ' Major of Brigade of the Militia of Westchester- ' county ; and Lewis Morris, Esqr., being thought the 'most proper person for a Brigadier-general of the Militia of that County, 7 and having been recom- ' …

" despatch," ' although the Offices were only those of the Militia, not in active service and, with a'small exception, not likely to be so. The '' despatch " was " necessary," however, since a full-fledged Brigadiergeneral would be a more imposing candidate, when the election should be held for the Brigadier-general of the four Battalions who had been called into the service …

Penn, in May, 1774 -- was not even mentioned -- even Westchestercounty indicated that he was not a favorite, beyond a known limit; and its Deputation in the Provincial Congress did not pander to his inordinate ambition. The canvass was, indeed, confined to two candidates, John Morin Scott, of the. City of New York, one of that celebrated " triumvirate " of the earlier periods …

3 Nathaniel Woodhull appears to have been a Colonel of the Suffolk Militia, who was "recommended or nominated to our Deputies in Pro- "viucial Congress for a Brigadier-general," by the Committees of the western Towns in Suffolk, in a meeting held at Smithtown, on the seventh of September, 1775, (Historical Manuscripts, etc.: Military Returns, xxvi., 216 ;) but a very careful …

The canvass was evidently conducted, as we have already stated, with spirit; but the influence of the Counties of Westchester, New York, Tryon, Charlotte, and Albany, in behalf of Scott, was too great to be overcome by that of the Counties of Orange, Suffolk, Duchess, and Ulster, for Woodhull, the Counties of Bichmond, Kings, Queens, Cumberland, and Gloucester having been …

On the following day, [June 10, 1776,] the Provincial Congress elected the Field-officers of the Regiment in which the levies from Westchester-county were to be enrolled ; and Samuel Drake, who was then commanding the skeleton Regiment of Westchestercounty Minute-men, in the Continental Service, 5 was elected Colonel; John Hulbert, of Suffolk, 6 was elected Lieutenant-colonel …

Livingston to the Committee of Arrangement, "Fishkill, 24 Novr., 1776;") and he resigned, on the ninth of December, 1776, (John flutter* to the Committee of Arrangement, "Fish Km, December 9, 1776.") William Goforth, who had served honorably in Canada, was elected to the vacancy, (Minutes of Hie Committee of Arrangement, "Fishkill, "Jany 13, 1777;") but, in February, he …

of Flour, Beef, and Pork, with all the golden opportunities for personal profits which were thus afforded, were concentrated in his own hands ; that there were, consequently, rival purchasing Agent-, by whom and by the shrewd farmers, the prices of those articles were so greatly advanced that the Committee of Safety was constrained to interfere ; and that, after the various …

The subject was one of those which, by hook or by crook, the Secretaries of the Provincial Congress were apt to pass, without making an official record of them ; and we have found no mention of it, on the Journal of the Provincial Conyrexsi until a special Committee who had been previously appointed " to " take into consideration the case of Colonel Gilbert " Drake, relative …

1 Vide pages 157-159, ante. 2 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., Au- "gust 14,1776." 3 Gilbert Drake seemed to care very little for the respect of posterity ; and his ill-conduct in the management of his monetary dealings with others, after the establishment of the Peace, led the Grand Jury to indict him, on a charge of extortion, (Records of the …

As we have already stated, 5 the third Provincial Congress was alarmed by the entrance of General Howe into the harbor of New York, and precipitately disbanded, without a formal adjournment, although it had previously provided for a reassembling of the Deputies, at the Court House, in the White Plains, on the following Tuesday, {July 2, 1776.] As it did not thus resume its …

The latter half of the year 1776 was one of the most eventful periods in the history of America, if not in that of the entire civilized world ; and in the great drama of political and military events, teeming with immediate interest and with ultimate importance, and occupying only that snort half-year, Westchester-county, in New York, and those who were, then, within the …

On the second of July, 6 General Howe and the army which he commanded, whose entrance into the harbor of New York, a few days before, has been already noticed, 7 occupied Staten-Island -- Richmondcounty -- with the military and naval forces which he had brought from Halifax, say seven thousand, five hundred, and fifty-six, rank and file, including those ^Journal of the …

who were sick ; ' and, as has been already stated, the inhabitants of that beautiful island, remembering the sentence of outlawry which had been pronounced against them, by the Provincial Congress, and the multiplied outrages to which they had been subjected, on warrants of the same body, by those who claimed to be the special defenders of the Rights of Man ; and being, also …

For the prosecution of that purpose, two days after the arrival of the Fleet and the Army, at Sandy Hook, [July 1, 1776,] the former had been moved up to Gravesend-bay, now so universally known to New Yorkers as one of their Summer resorts, in order that the troops might be landed, at daybreak, on the following morning, [July 2, 1776,] and, thence, make the first movement in …

On the same day on which that intelligence was received by him General Washingion wrote to the Continental Congress : " I could wish " General Howe and his armament not to arrive yet, as not more than "a thousand Militia have come in, and our whole force, including the "troops at all the detached posts and on board the armed vessels, "which are comprehended in our Returns, is …

It is not now known, if it was ever known, what the result of that early movement of the Eoyal Army would have been, had General Howe's purposes been duly executed ; but there can be little doubt that, with no more than the small force which was then under his command and with the reinforcements which an early success would have surely brought to him, from Richmond, Kings, and …

Continental Congress, " New Toek, 27 June, 1776," postscript dated "June " 28th."] On the following day, General Washington wrote thus : "I suppose "the whole fleet will be in, within a day or two." [It aU arrived <m that day.'] " I am hopeful, before they are prepared to attack, that I " shall get some reinforcements. Be that as it may, I shall attempt "to make the best …

In this situ- " ation we are : every man in the Ar.ny, from the General to the Pri- "vate, acquainted with our true situation, is exceedingly discouraged. "Had I known the true posture of affairs, no consideration would have "tempted me to have taken an active part of this scene ; and this sen- "timent is universal," (Adjutant general Joseph Seed "to a Member of " Congress," …

With an abundant naval force under his command, General Howe commanded and controlled all the waters which were near him ; and Gravesend-bay need not have been regarded as the only base which he could have occupied -- he could have turned the flank of any or of all the lines, either of hills or of armed rebels, and have landed his command either in front or on the rear of …

On the same second of July, and while the Riyal Army was thus occupying Staten Island, the Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, was considering the subject of Independence. ****** It will be remembered by the reader that, in 1774, when the County of Westchester was invited, by the Committee of Fifty-one, in the City of New York, to iCommodure Hotham did not reach New York …

Stedman said, " the troops thus landed," [on Staten Island,\ " consisted "of two Battalions of Light Infantry; two of Grenadiers; the Fourth, " Fifth, Tenth, Seventeenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-sev- " enth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth, Forty-second, Forty-third, " Forty-fourth, Forty fifth, Forty-ninth, Fifty-second, Fifty-sixth, Sixty- " third, and …

unite with that Committee in sending a Delegation to the proposed Congress of the Continent which had been called for the purpose of securing a proper and united opposition to the measures of the Ministry and, as far as possible, a redress of the grievances of the Colonies, the great body of the farmers in that County disregarded that invitation ; and that the very few who …

In the conflicts of factions, in that body, it will be remembered that no more consistent and no more steadfast opponents of the Home and Colonial Governments were seen than the two Representatives of the County of Westchester and the other two, who represented, respectively, the Manor of Cortlandt and the Borough Town of Westchester, although Frederic Philipse, representing …

ed, because of his action in the General Assembly -- notwithstanding it was in an earnest opposition to the Ministry and in an equally earnest support of the demands of the Colony for a redress of grievances -- because of his Declaration and Protest at the White Plains, and, undoubtedly, because of his understood authorship of some political tracts which were obnoxious to the …

When the spirit of proscription was introduced into Westchester-county, destroying the peace which had previously prevailed among its rural inhabitants, Frederic Philipse was named among those who, without the slightest evidence of any wrong-doing, were to be arrested and dealt with. 2 He does not appear to have been disturbed, however, until the organization of the notorious …

The Minutes of the Committee also indicate that on the twenty-seventh of June, 1776, an Order was made by that body, " That Summonses issue against the "following persons as inimical to the Cause and "rights of America, returnable on Wednesday the " third day of July next at ten o'clock in the forenoon " of the same day, viz : Frederick Philipse and " Samuel Merritt, which …

5 Minutes of the Committee to Detect Conspiracies, " Thursday, A.M., "June 27, 1776:" Historical Manuscripts, etc., Miscellaneous Papers, xxxv., 485. "Philipsborough, July 2, 1776. '' Gentlemen : " I was served on Saturday evening last with a " paper signed by you, in which you suggest that " you are authorized by the Congress to summon cer- " tain persons to appear before …

D., President of Talecollege, writing of Yonkers, in the Autumn of 1811, said, " it is remark- " able for nothing, except having been the residence of the family of " Philipse, one of the mostdistinguiBed of those which came, as Colonists, " from the United Netherlands. Colonel Philipse, the last branch " resident in this country, I knew well. He was a worthy and re- " …

He had a. taste for gardening, planting, &c, and employed " much time and money in that way. * * * At the commencement " of our Revolution, he, Frederick Philipse, was inclined to the Whigs, " but was afterwards persuaded to favor the Tories.* He was removed " to Connecticut, on hiB parole. Nothing could have been more favor- " able to him, circumstanced as he then was, than …

Frederic Philipse continued to be a member of the Colonial party of the Opposition, in New York, until, by the advice of the Committee of which John Jay was one of the master spirits and the Chairman, he was seized by the military power and sent into exile ; and the scheme and trick by means of which those exiles who had been allowed to go into New York, did not receive the …

However, as they have been thought of " weight sufficient to attract the notice of the Congress, " I can only observe that, conscious of the upright- " ness of my intentions and the integrity of my con- " duct, I would most readily comply with your Sum- " mons, but the situation of my health is such as " would render it very unadvisable for me to take a "journey to New York …

This being my real situation, I must request "the favour of you to excuse my attendance, to- " morrow ; but you may rest assured, Gentlemen, that " I shall punctually attend, as soon as I can, con- " sistent with my health ; flattering myself, in the "meantime, that, upon further consideration, you " will think that my being a friend to the rights "and interests of my native …

As the Provincial Congress, as well as its Committee to Detect Conspiracies, had hurriedly left the City of New York before the day appointed for the hearing of Frederic Philipse and Samuel Merritt ; 2 and as only one of the members of the Committee had lingered, after the Congress and the Committee had retired ; s the proceedings against them, at that time, were evidently …

In view of Governeur Morris's great anxiety to go into the City of New York, then a military post of the Royal Troops, very soon afterwards, it will hardly be necessary for us to inquire why he was the only member of the Provincial Congress who voluntarily exposed himself to supposed danger from the approach of the Royal Army. 4 Journal of the (third) Provinciul Co egress, " …

After a letter from the Delegation of the Colony in the Continental Congress, bearing date the second of July, " on the subject of Independence, and request- " ing instructions from this Congress," 8 had been read, a second letter from the Delegation, of a subsequent date, " enclosing the Declaration of Independence," was also read, and referred to a Committee consisting of …

Warren Tompkins, Bolton, (History of Westcliester-county, original edition, ii., 359 ; tile same, second edition, ii., 664,) considered the Congress which was assembled, at the White Plains, on the ninth of July* 1776, as the same body as that which had been in session, in the City of New York, from the eighteenth of May until the thirtieth of June, preceding. In other words …

The explanation of that apparent contradiction may be found in the fact that that short lived third Provincial Congress was dissolved before Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt took his seat in it or was qualified to do so 1 , by his taking the oaths of the office of Deputy. 8 George Clinton, Henry Wisner, John Alsop, WiUtam Floyd, and Francis Lewis, to the Provincial Congress, •' …

"In Convention of the Representa- "tives of the State of New Yoke, 3 " White Plains, July 9th, 1776. "Resolved, unanimously, That the reasons " assigned by the Continental Congress for declaring " the United Colonies free and independent States " are cogent and conclusive ; and that, while we "lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that " measure unavoidable, we approve …

" Resolved, That a copy of the said Declaration "' and the aforegoing Resolution be sent to the Chair- " man of the Committee of the County of Westcb.es- '' ter, with order to publish the same, with beat of " drum, at this place, on Thursday next," [July 11, 1775] ; " and to give directions that it be published, " with all convenient speed, in the several Districts " within …

8 In view of the fact that the body of which that Committee was a part and by whom it had been appointed and to whom it was to report, was, specifically, "a Provincial Congress for the Province of New " York ; " and because, at that time, there had been no change in the status of the Deputations composing the Congress, who represented nothing else than certain specified …

" Resolved, That the Delegates of this State, in " Continental Congress, be and they are hereby " authorized to consent to and adopt all such mea- " sures as they may deem conducive to the happiness "and welfare of the United States of America." It is said that the Report which was thus made by the Committee was unanimously adopted by the Congress ; and, further, that an Order …

The reader need only to be reminded that the evident author and the known supporters of this series of Resolutions were the same author who, twentyeight days previously, had written, 'and almost entirely the same individual Deputies who, at the same time, had voted, that the authority of "the good "people of this Colony" was, then, necessary to enable the Provincial Congress …

If it had been an act of usurpation to have declared the Independence of the C'lony, without the "consent" of the Colony, previously given, on the former occasion, how much less flagrant was the act, also without having obtained that "consent," on the later occasion, which is now under consideration ? Were John Jay and those whom 1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " …

If so, what possible ground is there for consistently regarding them as either honest or sincere, when, on the ninth of July, the occasion which is now under notice, while they were yet without that " consent" of their principals and constituents which had been previously regarded as essential to ensure validity to any such action, they actually, on their own motion, made such …

We shall see, hereafter, how much of honesty and integrity there were, in either of these, when the series of Resolutions, on the subject of the Colony's independence, which is now under consideration, was written and adopted ; how little the writer of them honestly and sincerely regarded those Resolutions as being, really, what they appeared to have been ; and how little …

1 Bolton stated, in his Mutory of Westchester-county, (original edition, ii., 359, 360; the same, second edition, ii., 564,) that, on the occasion referred to, "the Declaration was read by John Thomas, Esq., and ** seconded by Michael Varian and Samuel Crawford, two prominent '■"Whigs of Scarsdale." But he has given no authority for the statement ; and unless by " John Thomas …

A general Jail-delivery, in the City of New York, signalized the "new departure" -- where there was no longer any Law, there could not be any breaches of the Law, either in the matter of pecuniary obligations or in that of any other obligation -- and as every civil Commission was cancelled by that Resolution of Independence from the Crown of Great Britain, on the authority of …

It was not so in the other Colonies; and had not the master-spirits of the revolutionary faction, in New York, in the interest of Reconciliation, obstructed the work of creating a new form of Government, quite ac effectively as, at the same time, they were creating a necessity for such a new system -- at least for a Provisional Government, if not for a permanent one -- New …

A usurped kind "of Government took place: a medley of Military " Law, Convention Ordinances, Congress Recommen- " dations, and Committee Resolutions." 2 It is proper that we shall say, however, that, notwithstanding the Declaration of Independence was thus nominally accepted and approved, and notwithstanding New York was thus formally obligated to stand or fall with her sister …

the Opposition, in New York, had desired and aimed for; nor, since it had been crowded through the Continental Congress without the approval of the masterspirits of that revolutionary faction of the party and in the face of the determined opposition of those who represented or who, in other Colonies, were affiliated with that faction, although the Declaration and Independence …

On the afternoon of the ninth of July, immediately after the Provincial Congress had adopted the Report of the Committee to whom the Declaration of Independence had been referred, and, thereby, as far as it could do so, had abrogated every Law and every Commission which had rested on the sovereignty of the King of Great Britain, with singular coolness but entirely consistent …

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Tuesday, P.M., White Plains, "July 9th, 1776." 2 It is very evident that James De Lancey , the Sheriff of Westchestercounty, or the Deputy who represented him, obeyed the Resolution of the Provincial Congress by holding in confinement, in the County Jail, those "Prisoners of State" who, for political reasons, had beeu or who Immediately …

Immediately after the provision of depositaries for the victims of its absolutism, as stated in the Resolu* tion above referred to, the Provincial Congress revived the notorious Committee to detect Conspiracies, which had ceased to exist by reason of the dissolution of the Congress who had created it; 3 united it to the Committee on Prisoners of War, which had been appointed …

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 …

« 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 …

The fourth Provincial Congress, notwithstanding the momentous events which were evidently rapidly approaching, was immediately zealous in continuing the remarkable policy which had distinguished the preceding three of the series and which had served to keep alive and to intensify the feuds of former days, separating the Colonists into factions, bitterly antagonistic in …

But the revival, with largely increased authority and without any diminution of malignancy, of the notorious political Inquisition -- the Committee to detect Conspiracies -- afforded abundant evidence of the purpose of the master-spirits of the new-formed Convention to keep apart those who might have been united, had a redress of grievances been the only purpose of the …

nothing else than a continued and a more than ever before besotted haughtiness, utterly unmindful of the Rights of those who were assumed to be subject to their authority, and a continued and more than ever before mulish stubbornness, in their continued determination to reduce every one who opposed them, no matter how slightly, to an unconditional and absolute submission of …

In the prosecution of that ill-advised and injudicious, as well as barbarous, policy, it continued to make arrests of individuals whom somebody had denounced as " suspected ; 3 and even individual members of the Convention, on their individual motions, without the slightest charge against their victims, ordered individuals into imprisonment. 4 1 Journal of the Provincial …

bleeding from every pore, from outrages inflicted on tbem by authority or with the permission of the Provincial Congress, and rejoicing that protection had been extended to them and to their property, by strangers, in such words as these : " The unprincipled and unfeeling and un- " natural inhabitants of Staten-Island are cordially receiving the enemy ; " and, deserters say …

b See the instances of Christopher Templer, (Journal of the Convention, "Die Luna;, 4 ho., P.M., July 22, 1776 ; ") that of Robert Sutton, (the same, " Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., July 24th, 1776 ; ") that of Nicholas Couwenhoven, (Journal of the Committee of Safety, " Tuesday afternoon " Augt. 27, 1776 ; ") and many others. 4 See the instance of Henry Chase, " committed to the …

" Gentlemen : My confinement is the Reason of my Petitioning to "yon the Honorable Provential Congress, hopeing your Honours will be " Pleas d to Take my Case into Consideration for the Comete of Safety " [the Committee of Westchester- county] ' Says that they have no Right to "try me So I leave my Case to your Honnours and Begg that your "Honnours would Concider me for I have …

(Historical Manuscripts, etc.: Petitions: xxxiii., 100.) The County Committee had officially informed Chase, nine days previously, that it had no jurisdiction of his case, and directed him to the Convention, (Westcliester-county Committee to Henry Clime, "In Com- "mittee of Safety for the County of Westchbster, White Plains, "Aug. 21, 1776"-- Historical Manuscripts, etc …

" This my Humble Petition to Beg of your Honnours to send for me " that I may have my tryal for the County Commete and the Commete " of Safety says that they have no Right to try me and I have desird " them to send me to the Honnourahle Provenshall Congress and they " tell me they Dare Not send me without orders from your Honnours " Gentlemen so I shall be very Glad if your …

Those who shall desire to know who and what kind of a man it was who had thus possessed and "exercised power enough to point his dirty finger at a man and cause him to be thus outrag d, without any remedy, may be gratified by turning to a Petition addressed to the Provincial Congress, on the fourth of May, 1776, by William Duer, subsequently well known, (Historical …

refused to be made tools for their inquisitorial practices, were ordered to be imprisoned "until they "should make discovery or declaration aforesaid." 2 Arrests were made by military officers, even for alleged civil offences ; 3 and, of course, the arbitrary arrests of those who were obnoxious to members of the several County Committees were continued, without abatement* …

2 See the instance of Elizabeth Hicks, of Rockaway, (Journal of the Convention, "Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., August 14, 1776.") 8 See the instances of George Davy and William Tucker, arrested by Major Graham, (Journal of the Convention, "Thursday morning, July "18, 1776 ;") those arrestedby Lieutenant Brett, (thesame, "Die Veneris, " 4 ho., P.M., Septr. 27, 1776 ; ") etc. 4 The …

7 William Sutton was arrested and confined in the Jail at the Plains, furnishing his own food, as was usual ; but, soon after, he was banished to Philadelphia, and there confined, "subsisting himself," besides having been required to pay to Lieutenant Alexander Hunt, who conveyed him to Philadelphia, the expenses of his own journey, the expenses of Hunt while thus engaged in …

another kinsman were leading members, 1 was made the "Jud^e of the High Court of Admiralty of this "State/' only thirty-four days after he had been thus summoned to answer a charge of having been " sus- " pected," and before he had answered to that Summons ;* and a third instance, when a leading member of the Convention itself, because of his known inclinations and because of …

There have been some, from that time until this, who have seen that, in the hands of such as then controlled the affairs of New York, the scalesof justice were sadly tilted; that there was one kind of justice for one class of the inhabitants and another kind of justice for another class; that, in practice, the vaunted equality of all men was a fiction. It was a favorite …

5 The instances of Bloomer Nelson, Samuel Haines, Josiah Disberry, and Jacob Schureman, residents of Westchester-county, {Journal of the Convention, "Thursday morning, August 29, 1776;" Petition of John Bare, Bloomer Neelson, and others, " Kingston Goal, Feb*? 19">, 1777 "-- Historical Manuscripts: Petitions, xxxiii., 638 ; Petition of Bloomer Nelson and tliree others, " …

During the first three months of the existence of the Convention, there were thus lawlessly seized, of the residents of Westchester-county, William and John Sutton, of Mamaroneck ; n John Rogers, a servant of Lewis Morris, of Morrisania ; 12 Joseph Reade, of Westchester; 13 Isaac Underhill, of Yonkers, 1 * and Philip Palmer 15 and James Horton, Junior, 16 besides a number of …

Peyster, being sworn, depos- "eth and saith that, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the fourth, "fifth, and sixth days of September instant, he was at New-Rocholle, in " the County of Westchester ; that on one of the above-named days, he " heard, (as far as ho can at present recollect,) either Theodosius Bartow, "of New-liochelle aforesaid, or Anthony Abrahams, of the Town …

"(This Deponent cannot now recollect which of the two numbers was "mentioned, but rather thinks fourteen.) This Deponent further says, "that the amount of all he heard at New-Rochelle, at the time aforesaid, respecting Joseph Reade, was, that the said Joseph Reade was a "great Tory and very unfriendly to the American cause, and further " this Deponent saith not. "A. W. D …

w " Resolved : That General Morris be ordered immediately to appre* "hend and secure the persons ordered to be apprehended by this Con- "vention, yesterday, and that he be furnished with a list of those persons "names," (Journal of the Convention, "Die Sabbati, 4 ho.,- P.M., Augt: '■10, 1776." J As no such Order for the arrest of any one as is recited in the above Resolution …

Those whom the Committees and the Congresses had persecuted and outraged and all whom their sufferings could influence, very naturally and very reasonably, were " disaffected," as the inhabitants of Staten-Island had been: many, great numbers, of those who had honestly and earnestly opposed the Home Government and who had boldly demanded a redress of the Colonial grievances …

The greater number of those who had held places of honor and emolument, in the Colonial Government, notwithstanding it was politic to keep quiet, was also, more or less '' disaf- "fected;" and the multitude, whose timidity would not permit them to entertain a thought that Independence would be worth what it would evidently cost to secure it, was not very loud-toned in its …