liberties of our country and who wickedly attempts to open the flood-gates of civil discord. . . .
By thus determining and thus acting you will persue the plain and direct road to the attainment of your wishes . . . you will by the dignity of your conduct afford occasion to posterity to say when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, 'Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.'"
Crossing the river by the ferry sloop to
Fishkill one finds in this Revolutionary centre
of military supplies much of interest. Here
were Baron Steuben's headquarters in the
Verplanck house, where the Nicola letter was
written and the Society of Cincinnatus in part
was formed; here at Swartwoutville the headquarters
of Washington; here on the Wicopee,
in the James Van Wyck house, the residence
of John Jay, and at Brinkerhoff, in the home
of Matthew Brinkerhoff, the roof which
sheltered Lafayette when he lay ill of a fever.
The Dutch Church in Fishkill has been made
famous by Cooper's Spy. Trinity Church was
a hospital, and on the banks of the Hudson at
Presqu' Ile one rests under the oak which
shaded Washington when he waited for his
letters to be brought to him from Newburgh.
