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. 
