much better acquainted than I am or can possibly be at this distance. It is probable your presence may be necessary and wanted at the negotiation with the Indians, which will be one cause to prevent your going.

I am, &c.,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

To General Schuyler.

ROBERT H. HARRISON TO GENERAL WARD.

New-York, June 7, 1776.

SIR: By his Excellency’s command, I enclose you a resolve of Congress for the dismission of Lieutenant-Colonel Burbeck from the Continental service, of which you will be pleased to give him proper notice.

As Congress (from the great variety of important matters before them) had not, when his Excellency came from Philadelphia, determined how the troops at Boston are to be paid, whether by the Paymaster-General here, or a Deputy to be appointed for that purpose, his Excellency thinks, if the troops are turbulent and very importunate for their pay, that you had better borrow money from the General Court, for the purpose of making them easy and quieting their minds, to be repaid when money is sent. This expedient he only means to advise in case you find it necessary.

I am, &c.,

ROBERT H. HARRISON.

To Major-General Ward, Boston.

JOHN SCHUYLER TO NEW-YORK DELEGATES IN CONGRESS.

New-York, June 7, 1776.

GENTLEMEN: My misfortune in having a brig of mine seized the 3d of November last by one of Lord Dunmore’s cruisers, and carried to Norfolk, in Virginia, loaded with rum, sugar, molasses, and salt; his Lordship ordered a Court to be held for the trial of the vessel and cargo, and has condemned part of the cargo; the rest of the cargo that was not condemned, he ordered the supercargo to sell at auction to the fleet, which was done to a very great loss; the vessel was cleared by the Court, she being registered in Jamaica.

A few days ago Captain Wright, of the above vessel, arrived here by land from Virginia; he now accompanies my brother Philip. The Captain gives me great hopes of recovering the money of that part of the cargo sold in the fleet by the supercargo, which still lies in his hands.

The favour that I would now beg leave to ask is, to procure a pass from the honourable Continental Congress for my brother, Philip Schuyler, and Captain Jacob Wright, to the commanding officer at Norfolk, to procure a flag for them to pass through the lines, so as to get to the supercargo on board the brig in Dunmore’s fleet.

Your interest in this matter will be of service to, gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant,

JOHN SCHUYLER.

To Francis Lewis, John Alsop, and Philip Livingston.-

NEW-YORK COMMITTEE.

Committee-Chamber, New-York, June 7, 1776.

Whereas doubts have arisen in the Provincial Congress, “Whether the present Members are invested with sufficient power and authority to deliberate and determine on so important a subject as the necessity of erecting and constituting a new form of Government and internal police, to the exclusion of all foreign jurisdiction, dominion, and control whatever, agreeable to a late resolve of the honourable the Continental Congress: ”

And whereas it was by them, in their resolve of the 31st of May last, recommended to the Electors in the several Counties in this Colony, by election, in the manner and form prescribed for the election of the present Congress, either to authorize, in addition to the powers vested in their present Deputies, or others in the stead of the present Deputies, or either of them, with full and sufficient power to take into consideration the necessity and propriety of instituting such new Government as in and by the resolution of the Continental Congress is described and recommended; and that if the majority of the Counties, by their Deputies in Provincial Congress, shall be of opinion that such new Government ought to be instituted and established, then to institute and establish such a Government as they shall deem best calculated to secure the rights, liberties, and happiness of the good people of this Colony, and to continue in force until a future peace with Great Britain shall render the same unnecessary:

The General Committee of the City and County of New-York, agreeable to the above recommendation, earnestly request and entreat all the freeholders and freemen, and also all the other inhabitants of the said City and County possessed of goods and chattels in their own right to the amount of forty pounds, to attend at the City-Hall of said City, at ten o’clock in the forenoon, on Monday, the 17th day of this instant June, then and there to invest their present Members of Provincial Congress with the power aforesaid, or to elect by ballot others in their stead, or in the stead of any of then, with such power to continue to represent the said City and County in Congress, until the second Tuesday in May next, or until a reconciliation with Great Britain, or the establishment of a new form of Government shall render the same unnecessary. The Chairman or Deputy Chairman, and six Members, with the Secretary, will attend said election. It is not doubted but every true friend to this Colony, entitled to vote here, will cheerfully come up to declare, by their voting, that they join in opinion with their Congress and Committee, viz: That the measure recommended as aforesaid is of the highest importance to the good people of this Colony, and to the liberties of America in general.

Extract from the Minutes. Published by order of the

Committee:

JOSEPH WINTER, secretary.

To His Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esquire, Captain-General over all the Forces of the United Colonies.

The Address of the Committees of Safety and Inspection for several Towns in the County of BERKSHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, bordering on the Colony of NEW-YORK, and with the approbation of KING’S District in said Colony:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: We beg leave to lay before your Excellency the distresses of our minds with all humility. Fear of injuring our common cause by writing as well as speaking on the one hand, or by silence on the other, has filled us with peculiar concern. The purport of this epistle is so delicate, we write with fear and trembling, lest, when we mean to serve our country, we do it an irreparable injury. Purity of intention will not always secure us against wrong steps. We beg leave to assure your Excellency that it is our hearty intention to support your Excellency in the defence of America against the tyranny and usurpation of Great Britain, and if that is the pleasure of the honourable Continental Congress, to the building up a distinct republick, or American empire, to the last extremity. But what has filled our minds with a peculiar sense of danger to cur common cause are the following things, which we take to be facts, though we may be deceived as to some of them:

That his Honour General Schuyler has had the superintending oversight of our Canadian Army.

That, after the glorious defeat of December 31, 1775, at Quebeck, in an attempt to take it by storm, recruits were forwarded in the slowest and most dilatory manner.

That our Army before the walls of Quebeck, during a long and tedious winter, underwent every kind of hardship, and their spirits were broken by being neglected.

That about the 4th of May so inconsiderable was the Army, so miserably provided with provisions and ammunition—in a word, so greatly neglected, that it was obliged precipitately to raise the siege, and disgracefully to retreat, so as not only to leave those five hundred valiant sons of America, taken within the walls of Quebeck, to the mercy of our enemies, but an additional number of sick to be disposed of at their pleasure.

That his Honour General Schuyler, some time last winter, went on an expedition to subdue the internal enemies of this country, collected in arms against the country at Johnstown; and after the suppression of the said rebellion, the king leader, Sir John Johnson, was not so much as put under moderate confinement.

That the said Sir John Johnson hath since collected a number of said enemies, as we suppose, and joined some of the King’s forces in the upper forts, and raised a number of