I have the honour to be, with the highest esteem and respect, your Excellency’s most obedient servant,

WHITEHEAD HICKS.

His Excellency William Tryon, Esq.

NEW-YORK COMMITTEE TO WHITEHEAD HICKS.

Committee Chamber, New-York, October 13, 1775.

SIR: The Committee have taken into consideration the letter your Worship received from his Excellency Governour Tryon, of this date. From unquestionable authority, they are assured that the Provincial Congress have received no order or recommendation to seize his Excellency’s person, or the persons of any of the other officers of this Government.

It is with pleasure, Sir, we can assure you, as far as we can judge, that his Excellency’s conduct has given general satisfaction to our fellow-citizens; and, confiding in his friendly disposition towards the inhabitants of this Colony, it is our earnest wish that he will continue to reside among us.

I am, with much respect, your Worship’s obedient and very humble servant.

By order of the General Committee:

HENRY REMSEN, Deputy Chairman.

Whitehead Hicks, Esq., Mayor of the City of New-York.

GOVERNOUR TRYON TO WHITEHEAD HICKS.

New-York, October 14, 1775.

SIR: I have received your letter in answer to my application to the Corporation and citizens, of yesterday, to obtain their assurances, either of protection while among them, or security to remove on board the King’s ship. But as they have not authorized you to pledge to me their assurances of security in either case, my duty in this hour of alarm will not justify me to my Sovereign in staying longer on shore, without positive declarations of their full protection, under every circumstance.

I beg you will present my best thanks to the Corporation and citizens, for their affectionate and friendly wishes towards me.

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

WILLIAM TRYON.

Whitehead Hicks, Esq., Mayor of the City of New-York.

MAYOR OF NEW-YORK TO GOVERNOUR TRYON.

New-York, October 18, 1775.

SIR: When your Excellency’s letter of Saturday came to hand, the day was so far spent that I had no prospect of an opportunity to take the sense of the citizens upon it till Monday, and then, unfortunately, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Committee I mentioned in my last letter, and many of the members, were out of Town.

On Tuesday morning, they met and deliberated upon it, and had a second convention for that purpose in the evening; and the result of their counsels appears in the written answer they sent me, and which I now have the honour to transmit to your Excellency.

Permit me to add, Sir, that the friendly and respectful terms in which people of all ranks express themselves concerning your Excellency on this occasion, and their anxiety at the thought of your retiring from the Capital, are very satisfactory to the Corporation, and in particular to your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant,

WHITEHEAD HICKS.

To His Excellency William Tryon, Esq.

NEW-YORK COMMITTEE TO WHITEHEAD HICKS.

Committee Chamber, October 17, 1775.

SIR: His Excellency Governour Tryon’s second letter to your Worship, of the 14th instant, has been laid before the Committee. We flattered ourselves that the sentiments of respect expressed in answer to his Excellency’s first letter to your Worship, and the assurances that his information from Philadelphia was ill-grounded, would have removed every suspicion of injury intended to his person or property.

We can, with great truth, assure his Excellency that we are not apprehensive of the least danger to his person or property; and that he may rest assured of all that protection from us and our fellow-citizens, which will be consistent with the great principle of our safety and preservation; declaring, at the same time, that we have the utmost confidence in his Excellency’s disposition to serve the true interest of this Colony, and that he will, by his wise and prudent mediation, use his best offices to restore that harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies, so ardently wished for by us. The Committee, therefore, cannot but again express their most earnest desire that his Excellency would continue his residence among a people who have the most grateful sense of his upright and disinterested administration.

We have the pleasure to acquaint your Worship, that the above letter was unanimously approved of in a full Committee, and are, Sir, your very humble servant.

By order of the Committee:

ISAAC LOW, Chairman.

The Worshipful Whitehead Hicks, Esq.

GOVERNOUR TRYON TO THE MAYOR OF NEW-YORK.

On board the Halifax Packet, October 19, 1775.

SIR: Finding your letter of yesterday insufficient for that security I requested from the Corporation and citizens, and objectionable for the mode in which you obtained the sense of the inhabitants, my duty directed me, for the present instant, to remove on board this ship, where I shall be ready to do such business of the Country as the situation of the times will permit.

The citizens, as well as the inhabitants of the Province, may be assured of my inclination to embrace every means in my power to restore the peace, good order, and authority of Government.

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

WILLIAM TRYON.

Whitehead Hicks, Esq., Mayor of the City of New-York.

GENERAL SCHUYLER TO GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL.

Ticonderoga, October 13, 1775.

SIR: Since writing you yesterday, Colonel Hinman has shown me a copy of his letter to your Honour. I perceive the Colonel says he only believes it was General Montgomery whom he informed of his willingness to muster. I must set this matter right.

On Sunday evening, the 13th of August, General Montgomery and the Muster-Master arrived here. My conversation with Colonel Hinman was on Tuesday, the 15th. That very evening I received an express from Crown Point. Early next morning I went there; returned after sunset. At daybreak next day set out for Albany; returned on the 30th; and I am as confident as I exist, that Colonel Hinman never spoke a word to me on the subject, until since my last return to this place.

The Colonel says, the sick have, at most, only six days’ provisions. I assure you they have what they like. Those that go by Fort George have only four days’, where they can get more. That they have not the least help by wagons, is not my fault, as the enclosed copy of my order will evince. But I believe the Colonel is misinformed.

The Colonel is mistaken, that he knows nothing about the men who were furloughed. I can take my oath that I never gave a furlough to one man, without the Colonel’s request, or Doctor’s certificate; and I have many of the scraps of paper now lying by me, requesting furloughs by the Colonel himself.

I am, Sir, your Honour’s most obedient humble servant,

PHILIP SCHUYLER.

To Governour Trumbull.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON.

Camp at Cambridge, October 13, 1775.

DEAR BROTHER: Your favour of the 12th ultimo came to hand a few days ago. By it I gladly learned that your family were recovered of the two complaints which had seized many of them, and confined my sister. I am very glad to hear, also, that the Convention had come to resolutions for arming the people, and preparing vigorously for