April, 1775, to September, 1776 117 



the hazard of our lives and properties, to support the King 

 and Constitution, and that we acknowledge no represen- 

 tatives but the General Assembly, to whose wisdom and 

 integrity we submit the guardianship of our rights and 

 privileges." 



The protest was published in Rivington's Gazetteer, the lead- 

 ing loyalist organ, which commented as follows: 



"The Committee that was chosen, may, with some kind of 

 propriety, be said to represent those particular persons who 

 chose them. But how can they be denominated representa- 

 tives of the County of Westchester, who, in general, abhor 

 Committees and Committeemen, and are determined to take 

 no steps that may have the least tendency to lead them into 

 Rebellion, we cannot conceive. . . . And we doubt not but 

 the impartial public will consider the matter in this light, and 

 not esteem the act of a few individuals, unlawfully assembled, 

 as the act (which it most assuredly is not) of the very respec- 

 table, populous, and loyal county of Westchester." 



The author of the protest, and the one who communicated 

 it and the report of the proceedings to the Gazetteer was Isaac 

 Wilkins, brother-in-law of Colonel Lewis Morris, who was also 

 reputed to be the author of loyalist articles signed A. W. F. 

 (A Westchester Farmer). The news of Concord and Lexing- 

 ton came a few days after the publication of the protest; 

 and Mr. Wilkins, in view of the excitement of the populace 

 over the news and their indignation at his blatant Toryism, 

 believed that his life was in danger, and so fled the country 

 to England; he was probably the first of the expatriated 

 Tories, who, before the war was over, numbered tens of 

 thousands. 



The news from Lexington greatly strengthened the patriot 

 party. On the eighth of May, a Committee for Westchester 



