militia officers, was not without its propriety, bad my meaning extended no further than as to their rank. You, my Lord, sometimes affect so much to despise any rank derived from Conventions, that courtesy itself cannot induce you, even in the common forms of address, to admit those appellations which they have fixed to particular characters. Circumstances, however, at other times, have so far an influence upon your Lordship as to prevail upon you, not only to admit that rank, but to endeavour to carry it higher than even the Convention intended.

A Colonel in the Minute service ranks only with a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regulars; a Colonel of Militia, only with a Lieutenant-Colonel of Minute-Men. This must make it plain, that a Militia Lieutenant, though your Lordship had taken him in battle, cannot be deemed an equitable exchange for a Lieutenant of Regulars, much less, my Lord, if a man should have been torn from his farm, and arbitrarily deprived of his liberty, because a Convention had nominated him an officer, without his having done any one act that could warrant his seizure, or continue his confinement longer than despotism prevails over rights and privileges. In this case I might, indeed, compassionate his fate, but should betray the confidence reposed in me by my country, should I attempt to release him by a prisoner of equal rank taken in battle, who it would be my duty to consider as a pledge in my hands, for the redemption of some brave men, that by the chance of war may happen to be captivated.

The Convention, in order to establish a Militia, have appointed Captains in particular districts to train and exercise, in arms, all persons from sixteen to sixty years of age, without instructing or directing them to act against Government; these may meet and go through the manual exercise, and then return home, surely without, the least guilt. Six months after, should some or all of these people be taken from their ploughs, made prisoners, and offered in exchange for those that are prisoners of war, could an officer be justified, who admitted of such an exchange? of would you, my Lord, should We seize upon the persons of the peasants, who come into this town every day, and who attend to your Proclamation, and subscribed your Test, admit of them in exchage for our officers and men, who you assert, we're taken in arms? Information had given me to think, and till your last letter, I had no reason to doubt, that some of these officers and men you offered us, were such, as I have described; and it was to that I alluded when I said, that I could not put those prisoners, taken in battle, upon a footing with the militia officers and peasants, whom you, my Lord, had thought proper to deprive of their liberty. I was explicit, I thought, when I told your Lordship, that I looked upon those officers, who, under your appointment, fought at the Great-Bridge, though taken since the action, as prisoners, who would be equitably offered in exchange for those of ours of the same rank taken by you; and when I desired an exact list of the men in your custody, the rank they bore, und the manner In which they were taken, I imagined it would be granted me; I wish now to obtain such a list, my Lord; and if I do, you will find that I shall not degrade those commissions issued by Conventions, the rank of which you seem so desirous I should maintain, but join you heartily, if you choose it, in one measure at least, that of returning to their friends such prisoners as we have of yours, and restoring to the bosom of their country those that you have torn from it.

I have not had it in my power, till within this hour, to answer your favour of last night; the delay you will please to excuse.

I am, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,

ROBERT HOWE.

To His Excellency Lord Dunmore.

TORIES IN SUSSEX COUNTY NEW-JERSEY.

New town, Sussex County, New-Jersey,

December 28, 1775

Last Tuesday, the 26th instant, about four hundred of the militia of this County, under the command of Colonel Ephraim Martin add Mark Thompson, assembled and proceeded in good order and regularity, in quest of Tories, a considerable number of whom (inhabitants of this County) had entered into a combination and agreement not to comply with any Congress measures; about forty, we hear, are taken, most of whom have recanted, signed the Association, and profess themselves true Sons of Liberty, being fully convinced of their error: and that two or three who remain incorrigible are to be sent to the Congress to be dealt with.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER RECEIVED AT HULL, IN ENGLAND, FROM A GENTLEMAN IN NORTH-CAROLINA, DATED DECEMBER 29, 1775.

Our Provincial Convention, at their last meeting, appointed Committees of Safety, consisting of thirteen members for each of the six districts of the Province; and these Committees, by authority of the Convention, elected a Provincial Council, consisting likewise of thirteen. The Legislative, Judicial, and Executive powers of Government, are now entirely in the hands of the said Council and Governour Martin is still on board the Cruiser, sloop-of-war, from which he issued a proclamation, forbidding a meeting of the Convention, which they resolved was a falser scandalous, scurrilous, and malicious libel, tending to stir up tumults and insurrections, dangerous to the peace of His Majesty's Government, &c, and ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, which was accordingly done. They appointed two Treasurers, and ordered them to draw on the Continental Congress at Philadelphia for one hundred thousand dollars, for the pay and maintenance of three thousand Minute-Men; and to replace that sum, they have issued paper bills of credit for one hundred and twenty-five thousand, dollars, and laid penalties on those who should speak disrespectfully of the bills, or offer them at less than eight shillings for a dollar. The Minute-Men are to be trained every day, Sundays not excepted; the uniform is a hunting-shirt, leggings, or spatterdashes, with garters. To encourage the supplying ourselves with what we used to import from Great Britain, they have voted large premiums to any person or persons who shall erect furnaces for refining iron, slitting mills, steel furnaces, and also, for the making of cotton cards, needles and pins; the refining of sulphur, and making saltpetre and gunpowder in this Colony.

The following is a copy of a Test drawn up by the Convention, signed by themselves, the Provincial Council, Committees of Safety, &c. Sic, viz:

"We, the subscribers, professing our allegiance to the King, and acknowledging the Constitutional Executive power of Government, do solemnly profess, testify, arid declare, that we do absolutely believe that neither the Parliament of Great Britain, nor any constituent member thereof, have a right to impose taxes on these Colonies to regulate the internal policy thereof; and that all attempts, by fraud or force, to establish and exercise such claims and powers, are violations of the peace and security of the people, and ought to be resisted to the utmost. And, that the people of this Province, singly and collectively, are bound by the acts and resolutions of the Continental and Provincial Congresses; because, in both, they are freely represented by persons chosen by themselves.

"And we do solemnly and sincerely prormise and engage, under the sanction of virtue, honour, and The sacred love of liberty and our country, to maintain and support all and every the acts, resolutions, and regulations of the said Continental and Provincial Congresses, to the utmost of oar power and abilities.

"In testimony whereof," &c.

The former Convention voted fifty thousand pounds for raising and embodying one thousand men, to be employed in the common cause, which were accordingly raised. A body of five hundred of them are now encamped near Wilmington. It is reported that many of them desert.

We have but little communication with the neighbouring Provinces, owing to the distracted state of the whole Continent; and what we hear is not always to be depended upon. The last accounts from Virginia say, that Lord Dunmore does not lose ground and since his proclamation, offering freedom to indented servants and slaves, many; people have joined him to save their property. He seized a printing press at Norfolk, which he employs for his own purposes; and, by the means of Negroes and others,