dressed his defense, declaring that "his press had always been open and free to all parties."
He stated that, while an Englishman by birth, he was an American by choice, and that it was his wish and ambition to be a useful member of society. He also stated that he employed sixteen people, costing him nearly £1,000 annually. This reply was dated May 20, 1775. On the 7th of June the Provincial Congress granted him permission to return to his house, and recommended to the inhabitants of the colony that he be unmolested, as he had apologized for his previous remarks and attitude.
Washington, on June 5th, 1775, passed through New York on his way from Mount Vernon to Cambridge; following this visit. New York was ordered by the Continental Congress to raise her quota of 3,000 men. The city presented the curious spectacle of being the seat of two governments, each denouncing the other as illegal. On August 23rd Captain Lamb and a party of "Liberty Boys "removed the twenty-one guns at the Battery, during which operation shots were exchanged. The royal Governor, Tryon, fled aboard the frigate "Asia," but continued to direct violent attacks on the Sons of Liberty through Rivington's Gazetteer, which now became the representative of the royalists.
Among the men whom Rivington had sharply attacked was Isaac Sears,—conspicuous for his zeal in the earlier patriotic movements,—who had recently moved to New Haven and there raised a company of cavalry. Rivington having become bolder and bolder. Sears took it upon himself to put an end to his activities. Arranging with McDougall and other patriots the details of the raid, he rode into the city with his men and, armed to the teeth, entered Rivington's house, demolishing his plant and
