has deferred it until Monday, when there is no doubt he will come in. If this had been under the management of the County Committee, there would not have been a disap­pointment, as they preside over the whole. I hope you will find the men able and willing, and the officers capable of filling their several places. Colonel Ward I think a modest man, at least, and willing to do his duty as far as he knows, and to be taught what he is ignorant of.

I am, my Lord, in great haste, but with much esteem, your Lordship’s most humble and obedient servant,

W. BURNET.

To the Right Honourable William Earl of Stirling.

LORD STIRLING TO PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

New-York, March 16, 1776.

DEAR SIR: Since writing to you by express on Thursday last, I have not received any further intelligence from the eastward. The inhabitants of this city and King’s County (on Long-Island) have very cheerfully turned out to work on the fortifications. Everything is going on as well as the badness of the weather will permit. Two companies of the Militia of Newark, in New-Jersey, are coming in this morn­ing, and I hope they will soon be followed by others. I have not yet heard from Colonel Dayton, although I have written twice to him. The five companies of Colonel Sin­clair’s Regiment will be very little detained by coming to this place, as they will now be able to go by water all the way to Albany, and they must, at any rate, be too late to pass the lakes on the ice, and too early in the year to cross by water.

March 17, ten o’clock, P. M.—I have this evening re­ceived your letter of the 15th by express. One company of Colonel Sinclair’s arrived this day at Hoboken, opposite to this city. They will embark to-morrow for Albany. The others will, as they arrive, embark at Dobbs’s ferry for the same place. I have forwarded the packet for Governour Trumbull, with a letter to him, of which the enclosed is a copy.

The four regiments raising in this Colony are still very incomplete. It will, I fear, be some time before the batta­lions in the Continental service from Pennsylvania and New-Jersey do arrive, and have therefore called in some Militia from New-Jersey and this Province, to serve in the mean time. They will be dismissed as soon as the others arrive.

The Convention of this Province adjourned yesterday evening sine die. They have left a Committee of Safety to sit every day, with whom I have no doubt I shall go on with in the utmost confidence and harmony. I am to meet them to-morrow morning, in order to concert many mea­sures left unfinished by the Convention. The inhabitants of this city have these two days turned out with great cheer­fulness, and go on with the works very well at Bayard’s Hill, the Hospital, and two new batteries fronting Hudson’s River. All the other works on this Island go on briskly. The work first begun on Long-Island, opposite to this city, is almost completed, and the cannon carried over. The grand citadel there will be marked out to-morrow, and will be begun by the inhabitants of King’s County and Colonel Ward’s Regiment. It will be impossible to give you a de­tail of every particular, while I have so many things on hand. I shall, therefore, take the liberty of enclosing you copies of any consequential papers that may occur, and of the daily orders as they are issued; and shall, in my letter, remark such things of consequence only as are not contained in them.

I have received no further intelligence from General Washington; but, by accounts from that quarter on Monday last, it appears that the Ministerial Troops were proceed­ing in their embarkation. One letter says that five thousand of them were actually embarked; another account says that twenty-odd ships were sailed out of the harbour, perhaps with stores; for I cannot believe they will divide their real force in the presence of our Army. However, if they do not interrupt us in ten or twelve days more, I hope we shall be in a situation to prevent their making a lodgment, unless it be at the west end of Long-Island, near the Narrows, about which I am very anxious, but defer doing anything there until the other works are complete, and more troops arrive. Bergen Neck may be so Improved as to preserve the communication with Jersey, and all the country west of this place, in spite of them. The people of New-Jersey are very uneasy about the defenceless situation of Elizabethtown and Amboy. A descent may easily be made at the latter, and is worthy of attention. The former might be secured by a small work on Bergen Neck, near the Kills, and a small fort and proper battery at or near Elizabethtown Point. The powder designed for Cambridge will all be shifted by to-morrow evening, and ready to proceed by Tuesday, if that be the determination of the Congress.

By some prisoners taken into custody, there is great rea­son to believe that Governour Tryon has his emissaries in several parts of the Province, engaging men to serve both by land and water. One tells that he is engaged, with fifty others, under a certain Vernon, who was to fit out an armed sloop to cruise in the rivers. A sloop was actually purchased lately by Vernon, and we have her along the wharf. I have referred some others to the Committee of Safety to be examined; and, I doubt not, we shall find out and defeat their machinations.

I am, with great respect, your most obedient, humble servant,

STRILING.

To the Honourable John Hancock.

COLONEL McDOUGALL TO LORD STIRLING.

New-York, March 16, 1776.

MY LORD: Captain Warner, of the Militia, informs me that he knows where there are a number of muskets and pistols belonging to the Crown, secreted in the hands of some creatures of Government in the city, which he can secure if he had orders. I therefore judge it necessary to give you this intelligence, that you may take such measures for securing those arms as you shall judge proper. Warner says it must be done to-night, as there is danger of their being removed. You may trust him with the execution. My orderly will wait your directions.

I am, my Lord, your very humble servant,

ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL.

To Lord Stirling.

MAYOR OF NEW-YORK TO HUGH GAINE.

New-York, March 16, 1776.

SIR: Enclosed I send you a copy of a letter I received from Governour Tryon, enclosing an Address to the Inhabi­tants of this Colony, which address he has desired me to get published. I have, therefore, sent you a copy of the letter and address, in order for your inserting them in your Gazette, if you think proper.

I am, sir, your humble servant,

DAVID MATTHEWS.

Ship Dutchess-of-Gordon, North-River, March 16, 1776.

SIR: I desire you will lay before the gentlemen of the Corporation the enclosed exhortation to the inhabitants of this Colony, and that you will communicate the same to the publick, and also have it inserted in the several Ga­zettes published in the city of New-York.

I am, sir, your most obedient servant,

WILLIAM TRYON.

To David Matthews, Esq., Mayor of the City of New-York.

Ship Dutchess-of-Gordon, North-River, March 16, 1776.

To the Inhabitants of the Colony of NEW-YORK:

Notwithstanding prejudice, delusion, and faction, have hitherto among too many usurped the seat of reason and reflection, and every exhortation I have offered to the inha­bitants of this Province (in whose affection I have been taught to be happy) has been reviled and treated with neglect; yet, as my wishes for their prosperity, and feelings for their calamities, cannot easily be suppressed, even towards the disobedient, I cannot but repeat my endeavours to recall those who have revolted from their allegiance to a sense of their duty, and to comfort those who have been the objects of oppression for their zealous attachment to our happy Constitution, and their steady obedience to the sovereignty of the British Empire.