a battery of four twelve-pounders, six six-pounders, and two three-pounders, which did great execution. They weighed anchor with all possible expedition, and proceeded farther up the river, where they lie peaceably at present. Their rigging and hulls were very much damaged, so that they are obliged to keep continually pumping. One of the tenders was so much damaged, that the people all went on board of the large ships, and took her in tow; and by deserters from the Phœnix, of forty-four guns, the largest ship that went by, it appears that they lost, from that ship alone, twenty-four men killed and thirteen wounded, and that she had sprung a leak which they could not discover, that kept them continually pumping. We lost six men killed, and three or four wounded, by not spunging a gun. Mr. Conant, the bearer of this, is one of the wounded, who behaved with courage and activity. I expect we shall, in a few days, prevent those ships from returning, and any more getting to them. Which concludes me, after proper respect to all friends, your dutiful son.

New-York, Monday, July 15, 1776.

Last Friday morning, it was reported in town that Lord Howe was arrived at Sandy-Hook, with a large fleet from England. Between one and two o'clock, P. M., two ships hove in sight, and joined the fleet at the Watering-Place. About an hour after, a ship, supposed to be the Phœnix, of forty-four guns, a frigate of twenty-eight, and three tenders, got under way at Staten-Island, and stood up for this city. The Army soon took the alarm, and in a few minutes every man was at his station, well provided with all necessaries for a vigorous defence; but as soon as the ships came near Bedlow's Island, they inclined towards the Jersey shore, to avoid our batteries, that then began to play upon them from every quarter, on both sides of the river; and, notwithstanding they must have received considerable damage, they stood their course up Hudson's River, firing several broadsides as they went along, without either killing or wounding any of our people, who, on the occasion, behaved with uncommon bravery. A strong southerly wind, and the tide of flood, facilitated the ships getting above the batteries near the town; but we hear they were roughly handled about twelve miles up the river, from whence they have not yet attempted to return, but we hear laid at Tarrytown, about thirty miles up the river, on Saturday evening.

Several shot went through different houses in the town; two into the house of Mr. Verdict Elsworth, at Paulus-Hook; three into Captain Clarke's house, at Greenwich—one of them went through the front, and lodged in a brick wall, at the head of Miss Clarke's bed, in her chamber; a second went through the house, and the third destroyed several trees before the door, and took its course into the woods. A ball also struck the house of Mr. Daniel Phœnix, and from that took its course to the new dwelling of Mr. Christopher Smith, in the opposite side of the street. Soon after these ships passed the town, a great number of salutation guns were heard in the fleet below, which, we are since told, was on the arrival of Lord Howe, with a few more ships.

On Sunday afternoon, a barge from the fleet appeared in our bay, with a white flag, which was there met by the General's barge, with several gentlemen of the Army on board. The flag was sent by Lord Howe, with a letter to his Excellency General Washington; but as the letter was improperly directed, it was not received.

Lord Howe came over possessed of unlimited power, and was much concerned he had not arrived a few days sooner, which would have effected a reconciliation, &c. However, it seems his unlimited power did not extend to the necessary preliminaries of a negotiation—an acknowledgment of the right of the persons, to whom he came, to treat with him. Indeed, the idea of coming over to propose a plan of reconciliation is, in every view, absurd and ridiculous. For, as the Colonies never invaded the rights of Britain, and only defended their own, there was no occasion at all for negotiation. The moment Great Britain receded from her unjust claims, the war was at an end. The very proposition, therefore, of a negotiation was a proof that Great Britain persisted in her encroachments on the rights of the Colonies, and was in itself an act of a hostile nature.

On Tuesday, another Bag from the fleet appeared, and was met as before, when a letter was again offered, but, for the same reason as the former, rejected.

GENERAL SCHUYLER TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Albany, July 12, 1776.

DEAR SIR: I am just returned from Crown-Point, to which place I accompanied General Gates. On our way to that place we stopped at Ticonderoga, and left Colonel Trumbull to take a view of the grounds opposite to it, and on the east side of Lake Champlain. In the evening of the 5th we arrived at Crown-Point, and on the 6th Colonel Trumbull arrived, who made so favourable a report of the ground he had been to view, that, in a Council of all the General Officers, held on the 7th, it was unanimously resolved to take post there, as your Excellency will see by the enclosed paper, (No. 1.) On the 8th we returned to Ticonderoga, and on the 9th we went over the ground for the intended post on the east side, which we found so remarkably strong as to require little labour to make it tenable against a vast superiority of force, and fully to answer the purpose of preventing the enemy from penetrating into the country to the south of it. On the evening of the same day, I received a remonstrance by the hands of General Sullivan, copy whereof, (No. 2,) with copy of my answer, (No. 3,) I also enclose.

The most descriptive pen cannot describe the condition of our Army: sickness, disorder, and discord, reign triumphant—the latter occasioned by an illiberal and destructive jealousy, which unhappily subsists between the troops raised in different Colonies.

General Sullivan is on his way down, the occasion of it your Excellency will see in his letter to me, copy of which (No. 4) is enclosed, together with copy of my answer, (No. 5;) the former General Gates saw soon after I received it, and the latter (of which he approved) before it was sent.

By the advice of the General Officers, I have ordered all the sick to Fort George. Two houses, capable of containing about three hundred and fifty, are ready for their reception, and a sufficient quantity of boards is collected, under which to shelter the remainder comfortably until hospitals can be erected.

The waste that has been made of provision is incredible. Flour we have in plenty; but of pork not more than six hundred barrels, and fresh beef extremely difficult to be procured. 1 hope the Commissary-General will send up pork.

Intrenching tools of every kind are wanted; no one can tell what is become of them, nor can we find above fifty of the vast number of axes that have been sent up. I expected to find a scarcity of both, and before I left this gave orders for collecting all that could be got. In procuring the former, we have had no success; of the latter, something better than three hundred are to be forwarded to-morrow. Perhaps the scarcity of intrenching tools at New-York no longer subsists; if so, be pleased to order all that can be spared. Axes I am in hopes to procure.

Your Excellency will please to press Congress for their pleasure on the resolution (No. 6) for raising six companies to guard the frontiers, which we conceived could be much better done by the inhabitants themselves than by others. None of the Militia from the eastern Colonies are yet arrived; they are extremely apprehensive of being infected with the small-pox, and not without reason, as it proves fatal to many of them.

The excessive high price which the troops are to pay for the clothing bought for them will give great disgust, and be attended with the most disagreeable consequences. I wish Congress could see fit to order an abatement on the first cost so considerable as that the soldiers might see the attention paid them.

I am informed that there is a resolution of Congress that no officer should hold double commissions. There are several such appointed in Canada by the Generals that commanded there. I have made one here, by giving my Aid-de-Camp, Captain Van Rensselaer, a company in Van Schaick's, that became vacant by the death of Captain Mills. If such a resolution exists, I wish to know it, with your orders for my conduct in regard to those already appointed.

We have reason to believe that the Indians will be very numerous at the ensuing treaty. I set out to-morrow to meet them. We have had no intelligence from Canada since that contained in General Sullivan's letters, which passed me on my way to Crown-Point.

No carpenters are yet arrived from New-England. Those from Connecticut were to leave Hartford some day this week,