unanimous voice of the representatives of the whole body of settlers upon the described premises, in whose name and behalf we humbly pray, that the said declaration may be received and the district described therein be ranked by your Honours among the Free and Independent States, and delegates then admitted to seats in the Grand Continental Congress; and your petitioners, as in duty bound, &c. New Hampshire Grants, Westminster,

15th January 1777.

Signed by order and in behalf of the General Convention

Extract from the Minutes of the Committee of Safety for State of New York.

[P. 57.] In Committee of Safety for the State of New York, Fishkill, January 20th, 1777.

Whereas, until the commencement of the present contest with Great Britain, the inhabitants of Cumberland and Gloucester counties in general submitted to the jurisdiction of this State; many of them obtained grants and confirmations of Title from the late government, and justice was administered by magistrates of its appointment:

And whereas a Spirit of Defection and revolt has lately been extended to those Counties through the arts and misrepresentations of certain people inhabiting the County of Charlotte, distinguishing themselves by the name of the Green mountain boys, and their emissaries :

And whereas the Congresses and Conventions of this State have hitherto contemplated the effects of this dangerous Insurrection with silent concern, being restrained from giving it a suitable opposition by the apprehension that it might at so critical a juncture, weaken our exertions in the

common cause:

And whereas the said Insurgents and their Emissaries, taking advantage of the patient forbearance of this State, and flattered by the countenance and strength which they have acquired by being embodied into a regiment under the immediate authority of the Continental Congress, and with

out the consent or co-operation of this state have lately incited divers of the Inhabitants of Towns within the said Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester to unite with them in assuming a total independence of this State, chusing a [P. 58.] separate Convention, and framing a petition to the Honourable Congress for its sanction and approbation of this unprovoked revolt :

And whereas the loss of so valuable a territory as is now attempted to be wrested from this State by the violence of an inconsiderable part of its members, who have, during the present war, received liberal allowances out of the publick Treasury for their more immediate protection, will not only oppress the remainder with the payment of the enormous debts which have accrued in the common cause, but must, at every future period, expose this State to be intruded into and overrun, its jurisdiction to be denied, and its authority contemned and set at Defiance:

And whereas, divers ill-disposed persons have, with wicked and sinister purposes, reported that members of the Honourable, the Continental Congress, and other men of Influence and Authority in the neighbouring States do favour and support the Insurrection aforesaid:

And whereas the said ill-disposed persons have also insinuated that the Honourable the Congress do countenance a design of dismembering this State by appointing Seth Warner who hath heretofore been and still continues a principal agent and abettor of the riot and revolt aforesaid, to command the before mentioned regiment:

And whereas the appointment of the said Seth Warner is utterly inconsistent with the usual mode adopted in Congress and approved of in this and the neighbouring States, [P. 59.] and contrary to the express representation in similar case made to the Hon'ble Congress on the II day of July last by the Convention of this State:

And whereas such reports and insinuations not only tend to justify the turbulent and disaffected inhabitants of the said Counties, but divers of the good subjects of this State are discouraged from risquing their Lives and Fortunes in the defence of America, while there is reason for apprehending that after all their vigorous efforts and all they have suffered and must continue to suffer for the common cause, and even after a successful period to the present conflict shall have restored Happiness and Security to their

sister States, this State alone may remain exposed to havock, devastation and anarchy, and be deprived of great and valuable Territories to gratify the ambitious, unjust and selfish projects of its disorderly subjects:

And whereas the inveterate foes to the Liberties of America, from the earliest commencement of the present glorious contest have endeavoured to alienate the minds of the good people of this State from the common cause by representing that nothing less than the power of Great Britain can guard their territorial rights and protect their jurisdiction against usurpation and Encroachment; and it is a Truth to be lamented that such representations have proved but too successful, and have now acquired additional Force by reason of the Premises:

And whereas it has become absolutely necessary not only [P. 60.] for the preservation of the authority of this Convention and the confidence and respect of its Constituents; but for the success of the United States, so far as they depend upon or are connected with this Branch of the grand American Confederacy, that proper and vigorous means should be forthwith exerted for vindicating its rights and asserting and securing its jurisdiction; and as a preliminary step to quieting the aforesaid disturbances, removing the jealousies and apprehensions of the good people of this State, and depriving the wicked emissaries of Great Britain of the principal argument by which they hitherto have, and still continue to debauch their minds, and seduce them from their allegiance to this State, and their attachment to the common cause; a suitable application to the Hon'ble the Congress of the United States may be attended with the most salutary effects, and that, in the mean time coercive measures be suspended:

Resolved therefore,

That a proper application be immediately made to the Hon'ble the Congress, to whose justice the said insurgents have appealed, and on whose advice they pretend to rely, requesting them to interpose their authority, and recommend to the said insurgents a peaceable submission to the jurisdiction of this State, and also to disband the said regiment directed to be raised by Col° Warner, as this Convention hath chearfully and voluntarily undertaken to raise a Regiment in addition to the quota designed for this State by Congress; have opened their utmost resources to the wants

and necessities of the American army; have a very great [P. 61.] proportion of their militia now in the field, and are heartily disposed to contribute to the publick service in every respect as far as the circumstances and abilities of the State will permit.

Extract from the minutes

ROBERT BENSON, Sec'ry,

Letter of the Committee of Safety of New York, signed Abraham Tenbroeck, to John Hancock, President of Congress.

SIR

Fishkill, 20 January, 1777.

I am directed by the Committee of Safety of New York to inform Congress that by the arts and Influence of certain designing men, a part of this State hath been prevailed on to revolt and disavow the authority of its Legislature.

It is our misfortune to be wounded so sensibly, while we are making our utmost exertions in the common cause.

The various evidences and informations we have received would lead us to believe, that persons of great influence in some of our sister-states have fostered and fomented these divisions, in order to dismember this State at a time when by the inroads of our common Enemy we were supposed to be incapacitated from defending our just claims. But as these informations tend to accuse some members of your Hon'ble Body of being concerned in this scheme, decency obliges us to suspend our belief.

The Congress will doubtless remember that so long ago [P. 62.] as in the month of July last, we complained of the great injury done us by appointing officers within this State without our consent or approbation. We could not then, nor can we now perceive the reason of such disadvantageous discrimination between this State and its neighbours. We have been taught to believe that each of the United States is entitled to equal rights: In what manner the rights of New York have been forfeited we are at a loss to discover and although we have never received an answer to our last letter on this subject, yet we did hope that no fresh ground of complaint would have been offered us.

The Convention are sorry to observe that by conferring a Commission upon Colo Warner, with authority to name the

officers of a regiment to be raised independent of the legislature of this State, and within that part which hath lately declared an Independence upon it, Congress hath given but too much weight to the Insinuations of those who pretend that your hon'ble Body are determined to support these insurgents; especially as this Colo Warner hath been constantly and invariably opposed to the legislature of this State, and hath been, on that very account, proclaimed an outlaw, by the late government thereof. However, confiding in the honour and justice of the great Council of America, we hope that you have been surprised into this measure.

By order of the House, Sir, I inclose you the Resolution upon the important subject of this letter, and am further to observe that it is absolutely necessary to recall the Commissions given to Col° Warner and the officers under him, [P. 63.] as nothing else will do justice to us and convince those deluded people that Congress have not been prevailed on to assist in dismembering a State, which, of all others, has suffered most in the common cause.

The King of Great Britain hath, by force of arms, taken from us five Counties, and an attempt is made in the midst of our distresses, to purloin from us three other Counties. We must consider the persons concerned in such designs as open Enemies of this State, and, in consequence, of all America.

To maintain our jurisdictions over our own subjects is become indispensably necessary to the authority of the Convention; nor will any thing less silence the plausible arguments by which the disaffected delude our constituents and alienate them from the common cause. On the success of our efforts in this respect depends, too probably even the power of Convention to be longer serviceable in this glorious contest. It is become a common remark in the mouths of our most zealous friends, that if the State is to be rent asunder, and its jurisdiction subverted to gratify its deluded and disorderly subjects, it is a folly to hazard their Lives and fortunes in a Contest, which, in every event, must terminate in their ruin.

I have the honour to be

with great respect, Sir,

your most obedt and hhыl Servt.

By order, ABRAHAM TENBROECK, Presdt.

Hon'ble JOHN HANCOCK, Esq.