INTRODUCTION. 59 



The inhabitants of Queens county, on Long Island, had refused to appoint 

 delegates to the provincial congress, and the subject arrested the attention of the 

 general congress. Mr. Jay, from a committee, submitted a report, with a bold 

 and denunciatory preamble, " Whereas, a majority of the inhabitants of Queens 

 county, in the colony of New- York, being incapable of resolving to live and die 

 freemen, and being more disposed to quit their liberties than to part with a little 

 proportion of their property, necessary to defend them, have deserted the Ame- 

 rican cause by refusing to send deputies as usual to the convention of that colony, 

 and evinced by a public declaration an unmanly design of remaining inactive 

 spectators of the present contest, vainly flattering themselves, perhaps, that should 

 Providence declare for our enemies, they may purchase their favor and mercy 

 at an easy rate ; and, on the other hand, if the war should terminate in favor of 

 America, that then they may enjoy, without expense of blood or treasure, all the 

 blessings resulting from that liberty, which they in the day of trial had abandoned, 

 and in the defence of which many of their more virtuous neighbors and country- 

 men had nobly died ; and it being reasonable that those who refuse to defend 

 their country should be excluded from its protection, and be prevented from 

 . doing it an injury," &c. The committee, therefore, recommended measures 

 for putting the inhabitants of Queens county, who had voted against sending 

 deputies to the provincial congress, out of the protection of the united colonies, and 

 to disarm and subject the disaffected. The paper is a happy illustration of the 

 spirit of the times, and of the talents of its author. At the close of the year 

 1775, when all of the southern portion of New- York was in the hands of the 

 enemy, the American army had retired from Westchester, baffled in its attempt 

 in Canada, and general Washington was retreating through New-Jersey, the 

 proclamation of the British commander offering protection and rewards to the 

 timid and irresolute, the pen of Mr. Jay was again called into requisition by the 

 congress of the United States, and was effectually exercised in a glowing address 

 to their constituents ; a document of such extraordinary power, that, if it stood 

 alone, it would be an ample vindication of the firmness and patriotism of congress. 



