134. Life of Count Rumfjrd. 



On a given signal the whole regiment, with all the numerous 

 spectators, gave three shouts, the music played l God save the 

 King ! ' the artillery fired a royal salute, and the ceremony was 

 ended." 



The scion of royalty who officiated on this rather de- 

 monstrative than brilliant occasion was his Royal High- 

 ness Prince William Henry, the King's third son, aged 

 nearly seventeen, afterwards King William IV. He 

 had sailed on board the Prince George, under Admiral 

 Digby, to qualify himself for rank in the Royal Navy. 



An ox was roasted whole, to grace this occasion. 

 "He was spitted on a hickory sapling, twelve feet long, 

 supported on crotches, and turned by handspikes. An 

 attendant dipped .a swab in a tub of salt and water to 

 baste the ox and moderate the fire." Each soldier then 

 sliced off for himself a piece of the ill-cooked beef. 



The same local annals contain several specifications 

 of grievances, which may be set forth in the terms that 

 the writers have chosen for expressing them. 



The first printed charge and complaint brought 

 against the conduct of Colonel Thompson while in 

 command at Huntington are found as given by Hon. 

 Silas Wood, the first historian of Long Island.* 



Mr. Wood lived in Huntington, and represented 

 the temper and the remembered grievances of the in- 

 habitants. His account, which is interesting, as well 

 as sharply pointed, is as follows : 



" From 1776 to 1783 the island was occupied by British 

 troops. They traversed it from one end to the other, and were 

 stationed at different places during the war. 



A Sketch of the First Settlement of the Several Towns on Long Island ; with 

 their Political Condition to the End of the American Revolution. By Silas Wood. 

 Revised Edition. Brooklyn, N. Y., i8z6. pj>. 85-90. 



