door, was called in, and informed that it was the sense of this Committee to have a conference with the Commissioners and the Engineer, who is expected from Philadelphia, previous to the giving them any instructions.

The Committee having sent for the persons belonging to and taken on board the North River Sloop last Sunday, proceeded to their examination. After some time spent therein,

Ordered, That they be taken back to Jail, and there confined until farther orders.

Ordered, That the people called Quakers, residing in the City and County of New-York, be requested to deliver in to this Committee, without delay, a list of all the males belonging to their society, from the age of sixteen to sixty.

Ordered, That a copy of the foregoing Order be served on one or more of the most respectable of the society of people called Quakers.

A draught of a Commission to be given to the Officers of the Militia, Independent Companies, and Minute-Men, of this Colony, was read and approved, viz:

“In Committee of Safety for the Colony of New-York, the . . . . day of . . . . ., in the year of our Lord 1775.

“To . . . . . ., Gentleman, greeting:

By virtue of the authority reposed in us by the Provincial Congress of the said Colony, we do hereby nominate authorize, constitute, and appoint you . . . . . . . of the . . . . ., hereby requiring you, before you enter into the exercise of your said office, to make in writing, and subscribe, in the presence of the Chairman of the Committee of the City, Town, District, or Precinct, wherein you reside, the declaration appointed and directed by the ninth section of the seventh resolve contained in the rules and orders for regulating the Militia of the Colony of New-York, recommended by the Provincial Congress the 22d day of August, 1775: and authorizing you fully to execute all the powers belonging to your said office, by virtue of the said rules and orders and the said declaration; and we do hereby require all persons under your command to pay due obedience to you, according to the said rules and orders, and such farther rules and orders as shall be made and recommended for the Militia of this Colony, by the present or any future Continental Congress, or Provincial Congress of this Colony."

Ordered, That one thousand copies thereof be immediately printed, for the use of this Committee.

The Committee then adjourned until four o’clock, this afternoon.

Thursday, four o’clock, P. M., September 7, 1775.

The Committee met pursuant to adjournment. Present:

John Haring, Esquire, Chairman, and Commissioner for Orange County.

For NEW-YORK, Mr. Isaac Roosevelt, Col. McDougall, Mr. Hallett, Mr. Brasher, Mr. Isaac Sears, Mr. Scott.

For WESTCHESTER, Mr. William Paulding.
For QUEEN’S, Mr. Jonathan Lawrence.
For RICHMOND, Mr. Richard Lawrence.
For KING’S, Mr. Polhemus.
For SUFFOLK, Mr. Abraham Brasher.
For CUMBERLAND, Major John Williams.
For TRYON, Mr. Isaac Scars.
For DUTCHESS, Mr. Gilbert Livingston.
For ULSTER, Mr. Isaac Roosevelt.

Mr. Isaac Sears informed the Committee that, by an order from the General Committee, he had been, with several others, in quest of Captain Isaac L. Winn, who sailed in a Sloop bound to the eastward, and was suspected of a design of furnishing the Army and Navy with necessaries. That they overtook the said Sloop above Hellgate, and that Captain Winn requested to be examined by this Committee. Whereupon, Mr. Scott and Mr. Livingston were appointed to examine Captain Winn, who reported that Captain Winn had given them such sufficient satisfaction of his friendly disposition to the liberties of America, as induced them to believe the suspicions against him to be entirely groundless.

Captain Winn informed the Committee that a paragraph had appeared in Mr. Holt’s Journal of this day,* to his prejudice, and requested that a certificate be given to him, certifying the sense of this Committee with respect to his conduct. Thereupon, a certificate was prepared, read, and approved of, and ordered to be signed by the Chairman, and delivered to Captain Winn.†

Mr. Sears having brought into the Committee a number of Letters, taken from Captain Winn, and directed to Gentlemen of the Army, and others in Boston,

Ordered, That Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Sears be a Committee for opening and examining the said Letters, and that they report immediately.

Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Sears reported that they had examined the said Letters, and that they were all on private business; but that an anonymous Letter, directed to Major Moncrief, at Boston, which, from the handwriting and other circumstances, they believe to be wrote by Mr. Theophilact Bache, of this City, Merchant, which Letter being read and filed, is in the words following, to wit:

"New-York, September 3, 1775.

“DEAR MAJOR: I wrote to you a few days ago, by the transport which sailed from hence. I hope you have received it. It is now decreed by the Congress criminal to speak, and as it would be equally so to write, not knowing into whose hands this may fall before it reaches you, I am determined not to transgress, as I wish to remain in the Country as long as I can, and not to do any thing that may cause a banishment, or the punishment of being sent to the mines of Simsbury, which are punishments daily inflicted on those poor culprits who are found or even supposed to be inimical. Don’t think of returning here while this unhappy contest continues; you will be ferreted and exposed to insults I would wish you to avoid. I will lake care of your wife as much as a brother or friend can do. She is well, and as happy as can be expected. I expect that she will lie in at Flatbush, as I think it would be dangerous to bring her to Town. The late firing of the Asia has been fatal to many women in her situation. The family join me in love to you; and believe me to be, dear Moncrief, yours.

“To Major Thomas Moncrief, Boston."

Mr. Beekman moved, seconded by Mr. Sears, that Mr. Bache be ordered to attend this Committee, to be examined respecting the said Letter. On which debates arose; and the question being put thereon, it was carried in the affirmative, in manner following, to wit:

*Yesterday afternoon, two Sloops, Captains Hollay and Hazard, from New-Fields or Pequanock, loaded with grain, flour, provisions, and live stock, came down the Sound to this City, and having no clearance or other necessary papers to produce, were taken into custody, on suspicion of being intended for Boston, or to fall into the bands of the men of war. In their defence they said, that the Committee of Fair-field knew of and did not disapprove their design; and that the reason of their want of a clearance, &c., was that they could not obtain them in Connecticut, by reason of an embargo there upon all vessels; and that they came to New-York to clear out.

The same evening, information was given by two sailors, that the Sloop Hannah, Captain Winn, lying here some time, but not entered, lately from the West-Indies, via Philadelphia, where it is said he was not allowed to enter, had just sailed with a West-India cargo for Boston. The Committee was immediately called, but we have not yet heard the result of their deliberations.

Whereas the necessities of the times have rendered it prudent to detain Captain Isaac L. Winn and his vessel for examination, and whereas an article has been inserted in Mr. Holt’s New-York Journal of this day, that may be prejudicial to Captain Winn’s reputation,* it is hereby certified that, after full examination, this Committee is entirely satisfied that he still maintains his former well known friendly sentiments to the liberties of America; and that he is therefore fully and freely permitted to prosecute his intended voyage, without any interruption or molestation whatsoever; of which all the friends of America are requested to take due notice, and govern themselves towards him accordingly.

* As by the manner of expression in the above certificate, it may possibly be thought, by strangers to the transaction, that the article inserted by the printer in his paper was the ground of the suspicion raised against Captain Winn, and occasioned the pursuit, detention, and examination of him and hit vessel; the printer, therefore, who thinks his reputation of as much importance, both publick and private, as Captain Winn’s, finds it necessary to inform the publick that the information against Captain Winn was given by one or two sailors who had belonged to the vessel; and the circumstance of his risking a vessel, loaded with a West-India cargo, to Philadelphia, New-York, and Newport, when she was bound to London, and especially when it was notorious that the men of war in America usually detained all the vessels they met with loaded with West-India goods, gave credibility to the information, and strengthended the suspicion against Capt. Winn, Measures were taken to bring him and his vessel back, and they were actually in custody long before the printer I had published the article above referred to, which was a simple short account of the affairs, as it was publickly reported at the time; and surely he could not be blameable for mentioning in his paper report which the Committee thought sufficiently credible to authourize their proceeding upon it; and as, after examination, it appeared to them that Captain Winn’s character had received no blemish by the facts that had caused him to be suspected, neither could it be injured by mentioning those facts in a publick paper.— Halt.