Inhabitants from molestation, was equally politic & humane & will I doubt not, when the Commander in Chief shall judge proper to carry his operations into that Country, be found to have made Impressions upon the minds of the people very favorable to His Majesty's Government.

Every measure that has a tendency to restore the civil Authority to it's former dignity, will be very pleasing to the King, & the placing the management of the Police of New York in the hands of the Civil Governor is certainly a judicious step, and I have no doubt that the people will find themselves happy, and the King's service be greatly promoted by your prudent conduct.

I am &c*

Geo: Germain

Governor Robertson to Secretary Knox.

[New-York, CLXXI.]

New York 21 Sepf 1780.

Dear Sir,

Let me in the first place thank you for the obliging notice you have taken of my family; I next own myself much your debtor for the information and satisfaction I received from your letter by the July pacquet—we have nothing later from England. Inclosed I send you a Copy of my Commission to your Deputy; you will observe that I have paid a cautious attention to what you said and Henry White advised.—It is only in the Prerogative Court that Mr Bayard's Office has hitherto been beneficial—The people have at least found one advantage in military Government, they pay nothing at my Office, tho' it is sufficiently crowded; If Civil Government is restored, the Governor and the Officers of the Crown will resume their fees & functions; while I act as Lieu' General superintending the police of the Province, I do the people all the good in my power, gratis.

You will be well informed of the very handsome things Lord Cornwallis has done; and have better access, than I, to know what great things Sir George and Sir Henry are meditating; So I will only say in general that since the year 1777, I have not seen so fair a prospect for the return of the revolted provinces to their duty.

I found means to have a conference with a man versant in the rebels Councils, I give you what he related—as I think it will explain the state of the Country and convey you information that might not be preserved in an extract.

A privateer took some papers out of a Spanish despatch boat; tho' the mails were thrown overboard, I had the papers found in a chest examined, and extracts taken from them, you have this; and as I thought you might make discoveries from circumstances, that escaped us, I send such letters as are thought most important.

I only by this occasion presume to trouble Lord George Germain, with a duplicate of my former letter, knowing that if this contains anything worth his attention, that you will present it and me favorably to his notice.

I ever am with much regard Dear Sir,

Your most obedient and

most humble servant.

JAMES ROBERTSON

Brigad Skinner who commands the New Jersey Volunteers has at my desire endeavored but cannot find Nils Myrin in the three Battalions of that corps within reach—a fourth is at Carolina, he writes to have him discharged if found there.—agreeable to Lord Germain's desire.

I took no notice of the publication said to be a letter to His Lordship-No person here took it to be from Sir Henry Clinton-no more than you will suspect the enclosed to come from the hand of Gates

William Knox Esq.1

1 WILLIAM KNOX was born in Ireland in 1732, and received the first rudiments of his political education from Sir Richard Cox, one of the ablest statesmen that Island ever produced. In 1756 he was appointed by the Earl of Halifax one of his Majesty's Council and Provost Marshal of Georgia, and accompanied Governor Ellis accordingly, to that Colony, lo assist in promoting its settlement and forming its civil Constitution. He returned to England in 1761, and in 1763 visited Paris with his friend and patron, Lord Grosvenor. Immediately after the peace with France he drew up a paper, which Lord Grosvenor put into the Earl of Bute's hands, recommending such provisions in the Constitutions of the Colonies and such improvements in the system by which they had been governed, as would produce a desire in them to continue united with Great Britain and render their union beneficial to the whole Empire. This was to create a Colonial aristocracy and to give the Colonies representation in the British Parliament. But he acknowledges that the then haughty spirit of the House of Commons would render it impossible to carry through Parliament the measures he proposed; to have asserted Rights in the assemblies of the Colonies would have excited general indignation. He was soon after appointed agent for Georgia and East Florida, and was thus brought into communication with Mr. Grenville, then Chancellor of the Exchequer; and when that gentleman procured the passage of the American Stamp Act, Mr. Knox published, in 1765, two pamphlets in defence of the measure; one entitled, "A Letter to a Member of Parliament, wherein the Power of the British Legislature and the Case of the Colonists are briefly and impartially considered;" the other, "The Claims of the Colonies to an exemption from Internal taxes imposed by authority of Parliament, examined, in a Letter from a Gentleman to his friend in America;" and sent almost the whole edition of the latter Tract to such of the Colonies as he had any correspondents in. The consequence was, that the General Assembly of Georgia passed a resolution on the 19th of November, 1765, dispensing with his services as Agent of that Colony. He was examined that year before a committee of the House of Commons on the state of the American Colonies, and being afterwards asked his opinion of the effects of the repeal of the stamp act, answered: "Addresses of thanks and measures of rebellion." "By G—d, I thought so," exclaimed one of the opposition. He became now an active supporter of the Grenville party, and published, in 1768, his principal political work, "The Present State of the Nation: particularly with respect to its Trade, Finances, <tc ,Ac, addressed to the King and both Houses of Parliament." This defence of the Grenville administration was ascribed, at the time, to the head of that party, and was answered, under that supposition, by the celebrated Edmund Burke, then a protege of the Rockingham ministry, in a tract entitled, "Observations on a late State of the Nation;" in reply to which Mr. Knox published "An Appendix to The Present State of the Nation containing a Reply to The Observations on that Pamphlet. London, 1769." At the same time he brought out a volume entitled, "The Controversy between Great Britain and her Colonies reviewed; the several pleas of the Colonies, in support of their right to all the liberties and privileges of British Subjects, and to exemption from the legislative authority of Parliament, stated and considered; and the Nature of their Connection with, and dependance on Great Britain, shewn, upon the evidence of historical facts and authentic records." After his arrival in Georgia it was his first care to make himself acquainted with the Constitutions of the several Colonies; he soon perceived that the seeds of disunion were sown in the first plantation in every one of them, and that a general disposition to Independence prevailed throughout the whole. It was this knowledge which enabled him (he says) to tear off their masque of loyalty to the King and attachment to Great Britain, and to expose and confute, in the above Review, all their arguments in support of their claim of exemption from the authority of Parliament whilst they enjoyed the privileges of British subjects. Extra Official Fapert, II., 11. But this reasoning was sharply and successfully attacked by Dr. Edward Bancroft, of Massachusetts, then one of the editors of the London Monthly Review, who, it is said, however, had the benefit of Dr. Franklin's advice and suggestions. As a reward for those efforts in support of British supremacy, Mr. Knox was appointed, in 1770, Joint Under Secretary of State with Mr. Pownall. In 1774 he published a pamphlet in defence of the Quebec Act, entitled "The Justice and Policy of the late act of Parliament for making more effectual provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec asserted and proved; and the conduct of the administration respecting that Province, stated and vindicated;" and soon after drew up a Project of a permanent Union and Settlement with the Colonies" (Extra Official Papert, II., 30), which seems to have served as a basis for Lord North's conciliatory proposition of 1775. In 1779, whilst the people of Maine were occupied in forming a State Constitution, a portion of their territory w.s taken possession of by a party of British troops from Nova Scotia, In the following year Mr. Knox drew up a plan to erect it into a Colony to be bounded by the River Penobscott on the west, and the St. Croix on the east, and to be called New Ireland, of which Thomas Oliver was to be Governor and Daniel Leonard Chief Justice. It received the

Mr Heron's Information in a Conversation at New York Monday 4: Sep' 1780.

[New-York, CLXXI. ]

He lives at Reading in Connecticut, came in with a Flag-returns this Afternoon He has had every opportunity he could desire to be acquainted with the public affairs, & especially of that colony. Till April last he was in Assembly, & a member for the County Correspondence is now in office respecting the public accounts. He ever was an Enemy to the Declaration of Independency, but he said little, except to the most trusty Loyalists. He stands well with the Officers of the Continental Army—with General Parsons he is intimate, & is not suspected.

He was at the Interview between General Parsons and Mr Izard, who arrived in Ternay's Fleet, and went on to Philadelphia. Izard has held a language that fills the Country with jealousies—That the American Agents were duped by the Cabinet of France, Dr Franklin superannuated, and all their Agents unfaithful and despised, except the Lees. That they had given to France the Newfoundland Fishery, & to Spain the Floridas, & he thinks Georgia too. Whatever else of the Continent might be conquered, is to belong to the United States. He assured Parsons that France neither could nor would give the help requisite to establish the countenance of the Ministry and the approval of the King, but was knocked in the head by the Attorney General, Wedderburn (afterwards Lord Loghborough), who refused his concurrence, on the ground that the lands had been included in the Charter of Massachusetts bay. Ibid, 1L, 61; Appendix, 83. Mr. Knox served as Under Secretary of State for the American department until the accession of the Earl of Shelburne, in 1782, when the office was suppressed. He continued, however, to be consulted on measures connected with the remaining Colonies and their Trade, and drew up the Order in Council of 2d July, 1783, utterly excluding American shipping from the West India Islands. He had such a high opinion of this remnant of crude barbarism that he wished it to be engraved on bis tombstone, as having saved the navigation of England. I b., 53, 56, 57. He submitted a plan, the same year, for a new Province between the River St. Croix on the west and the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the east, and from the centre of the Isthmus at Bay Verte on the south to the Canada line on the north. This territory was erected into the Province of New Brunswick in 1784 for the accommodation of the Loyalists from the Korthern States, whilst the Bahamas were laid aside for these from East Florida and the Southern States. lb.; Appendix, 52, 54. After the death of Sir James Wright, Mr. Knox was joint agent with Graham for prosecuting the claims of the Georgia Loyalists to compensation for losses, and had a pension of £600 a year settled on himself and a like sum for his wife, as American sufferers. lb., I.. 82, 35. In 1789 he published two valuable though very immethodical volumes, entitled, "Extra Official State Papers. Addressed to the Right Honorable Lord Rawdon, and the other Members of the two Houses of Parliament, associated for the preservation of the Constitution and promoting the prosperity of the British Empire. By a late Under Secretary of State," and a second edition of his Tract on the Quebec Bill. Among his other distinct publications were: Three Tracts respecting the Conversion and Instruction of Negroe Slaves and Free Indians. 1768.

Helps to a Right understanding the Merits of the Commercial Treaty with France, addressed to the Members of both Houses of Parliament. 1787.

Observations upon the Liturgy, with a proposal for its Reform. 1789.

Considerations on the Universality and Uniformity of the Theocracy. 1796.

The Revealed Will of God, the sufficient Rule of Man : 2v. 1801.

After a life of much activity he died at Great Ealing on the 25th of August, 1810, aged 78 years. Oentleman't Magazine, LXXX., 197; British Almanack, 1765; Extra Official State Papers, I., pt. ii.; 1 Appendix, 8; II., 26-31; White's Historical Collections of Georgia, 188; Grenville Papers, III., 109, 110. — .Ed.

1 Ralph Izard was born in South Carolina, in 1742,; was educated at Cambridge College, England, and in 1767 married Alice, daughter of Teter Oe Lancey, of Westchester. He visited England in 1771, and went on the continent of Europe in 1774. In 1775, after returning to England, he went again to France, and was afterwards appointed by Congress Commissioner at the Court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He returned to America 10th July, 1780, and was next chosen one of the delegates from South Carolina to Congress, and so remained until 1783; after which he returned home. He was chosen United States Senator on the formation of the Federal Government, and retired from public life in 1795. He died 30th May, 1804, in the 62d year of his age, and was buried at the parish church of Goose creek. Memoir prefixed to Itard't Correspondence.

Independence of America. No further aid than what Ternay1 brought was coming. Whoever said there was deceived them. The British Navy in real strength was superior to the Fleets both of France & Spain, & doubtless would continue so during the war. He did not believe they would be able to join this year, & the French would in that case be blocked up. That Ternay brought about 5000 land forces, and from what he had heard of the American Army, that aid would do little.

General Parsons was so much affected by this conversation, that immediately after Mr Izard was gone, he wrote to General Green at the Camp in Jersey, beseeching him if possible to check Mr Izard, from the dangerous tendency of his Information upon the People at large.

General Parsons' lives at Reading, & his particular charge is to forward on the Eastern Recruits to Washington's Camp. He is greatly discouraged, under the prevailing disinclination of the People to the prolongation of the War. Very lately he told Mr Heron that but 800 men of the 2500 drafted in Connecticut had gone on. They either refuse absolutely to go, or set out and leave the party, and sculk about in other places, than the towns from which they are levied. These draftings are made at a rate excessively distressing to the people. They are classed, some to find a man for 6 months, and others for three months. Thirty & forty pounds is raised by the class for him that goes. They give him bonds for the money. The 6 months men, will be releasable on the 1 of Jan* but the three months men the 14,h of next month; and as there is scarcely any hard money in the Country, but what goes to Long Island for English goods, there will be horrible dissentions, when the militia return and put their bonds in suit.

He had not heard what precise numbers have gone from Massachusets and New Hampshire, but the comp1" are as loud ag' them as ag' Connecticut. The people every where are tired of the war, are become beggarly and distressed, & suspicious of private views in all who are for continuing it.

Washington's Army including the Highland Garison all the 3 & 6 months militia, was between 10 & 11 thousand, when he crossed the Hudson last month lo Croton's River. They gave out that they were fifteen thousand, but Mr Heron had his information from Officers of Rank in a confidential way. It is certainly an Army, on which there can be no dependance. The Continentals are less than half of it, & half of them Europeans, & notoriously determined to desert, under very strong disgusts as appears from the impossibility of getting any man whose time is out to reinlist,—And as to the Militia—Part of it, they will seek the first opportunity to get home, from a service they detest. Many are loyalists, drafted thro' Pique.

There was a general talk of raising men enough before the French arrived, who with them were to take New York.-It died away upon the smallness of the French Force, and the difficulty of bringing up the drafted militia.—Lately Washington conceived hopes from his project for procuring Militia Volunteers. He recommended subscriptions from house to house, to raise bounties of hard money, to be paid out to such as would take the field for the campaigne in the reduction of New York. General Parsons imployed many instruments to give it success, but it was abortive, not a single town would come into it, some went so far as to say, they 'Admiral Chevalier Charles Louis de Ternat, Knight of the Order of St, John of Jerusalem, had already served in the French war, and commanded the squadron sent against St. John, Newfoundland in 1762, where he landed on the 2d June, and reduced the place and captured several vessels. He arrived in America on the 10th July, 1780, in command of the French fleet, which had brought out Count de Rochambeau and his army, and died at Newport, R. L., 18th December following, greatly regretted. He was interred next day with all the honors due to his worth and station. Beatson't Naval and Military Memoirs, 11L, 416; VL, 210; Allen's American Revolution, II., 858. —ED.

would serve provided they were not to be subject to Military Discipline, but might come away as suited their attention to their Families, or in other words at their own pleasures. Of such persons there was ground for suspicion.

Mr Heron was in the High lands among the Officers very lately, and had much conversation with them. They have had no pay for ten months past. Some of them have had their pay reduced, and especially all the Surgeons and Hospital Attendants. The Surgeons have sent in their resignations to Washington, who said he could not blame them. He forwarded them to Congress, and they were waiting for the answer. There is much discontent in the Army. Lately they were 5 days without meat. The whole Highland Garison is now at half allowance. Many of the Officers especially of Massachusetts, wish the acceptance of their Resignations, and yet said they dreaded it, as they had not many to carry them home. He dined with General Arnold, who commands at Col Beverly Robinson's1 House, and parted from him last Wednesday.

On the day be/ore, certain Officers came from the Northward with accounts that the British had cross'd the Lake, and were erecting works at Teononderage. That Sir John Johnson was still on the Mohawk, since the burning of the barns and harvests at Cannajohare and Schohare, and there was a call of the Militia to come up. He does not believe any Force went up from the Highlands, but General Starke2 was sent off, to conduct such militia as could be raised. He believes no men could be spared from the Highlands.-They had but 400 men at West point, with 2 Companies of Artillery, and a thin Regiment or two of 6 months men on the Eastern Bide.

He can't be very positive concerning the Brigades of the Continental Army.—Connecticut has two, Parsons's & Huntington's.—New Hampshire one Poor's, which last spring had but 300 men as he well knew.—New York one, James Clinton's.3—Massachusets three, Glover's, Nixon's & he thinks Learned's. - Rhode Island one, Green's.—Jersey one, Dayton's,

1 Colonel Beverly Robinson was born in Virginia, of which Colony his father had been president. He came to New-York and married Susanna Phillips, an heiress, and resided on his estate, opposite West Point, on the banks of the Hudson river. On the breaking out of the Revolution he adhered to the side of the Crown, whereby he lost all his splendid property; was appointed Colonel of the loyal American regiment, and is suspected of having been privy to Arnold's treason. He retired to England at the peace and resided at Thornbury, near Bath, where he died. — Ed.

Major-General John Starke was born at Londonderry, N. H., 28th August, 1728, and in 1752 was a captive among the Indians of St. Francis. He served as Captain of rangers in the French war (Knox, I., 322), and at the opening of the Involution received a commission as Colonel and fought at Bunker Hill in June, 1775; went, in 1776, to Canada, and at Trenton commanded the van of the right wing of the American army. He was also in the battle of Princeton, but being omitted in the promotions, threw up his commission in March, 1777. He raised a body of troops in New Hampshire, and in August, following, defeated Colonel Baum at Wallumschack. After this he was reinstated in the Continen al army as BrigadierGeneral. He served in Rhode Island in 1778 '9, and in 1780 in New Jersey; in 1781 had the command of the Northern department, and was one of the members of the court-martial on Major Andre. He died, full of years and honors, May 8th, 1822, aged 93 years, and was buried on a small hill on the banks of the Merrimack river. Allen.

'Major-General James Clinton, fourth son of Charles Clinton, was born 18th August, 1736, in Orange county, New-Tork. In 1756 he received a commission of Ensign in the militia, and held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1774 of the Ulster county militia. He was appointed, June, 1775, Colonel of the 3d New-York regiment; was made Brigadier General 9th August, 1776, and distinguished himself during the war by his gallant conduct at the storming of Fort Clinton, in 1777. In 1779 he accompanied Sullivan against the Indians of Western New-York, and was afterwards present at the siege of Yorktown and surrender of Cornwallis. His last appearance in arms was at the evacuation of New-York, by the British, November, 1783. After that, he returned to his native county, where he died, 22d September, 1812, aged 76 years. General Clinton was the father of De Witt Clinton, for many years Governor of the State of New-York. Eager't History of Orange County, 629.

Brigadier-General Ebenkzeb Larned commanded one of the Massachusetts regiments, and was, in 1777, commissioned to command a brigade.