known, and require neither comment nor eulogium. The precise share taken by Mr. Hart in these proceedings is not known-the sittings having been secret and no record preserved which indicates the particular conduct of each member. He is entitled to the praise, however, of having contributed with a zeal that cannot be doubted to the magnanimous and dignified efforts made by that truly patriotic assembly— in the maintenance of the rights, liberties and peace of their country.

He returned, after the adjournment of Congress, to the unvaried occupations of his farm; and waited, with anxious hope, the effect of the appeal that had been made to the generosity of the king and British people.

In January, 1775, the general assembly of New Jersey re-appointed him a representative in the congress which was to meet in the ensuing spring. He took his seat in this illustrious council on the tenth of May; and attended assiduously until the adjournment in the following August.

The battle at Lexington, in the preceding April, had given a more serious aspect to the dispute, and it was the business of this congress to make the first preparations for war.

Mr. Hart was one of the oldest members, being at that time about sixty years of age, and his cool and ripened judgment, aided to temper the impetuous zeal of the youthful delegates from some of the south

ern states:

During the recess, he devoted himself to his agricultural concerns; and finding that the farm required his almost constant care, and having seen the important measures of defence adopted, he did not resume his seat in fongress when they re-assembled in September. ie thought that younger men, and such as were less encumbered with families, might very properly take the labour on themselves, of the public business; and having no ambition of distinction for himself, he requested the colonial assembly to excuse him from serving any longer as their delegate, setting forth at the same time the peculiar situation of his family, and private affairs, as an excuse for thus seeking to withdraw from their public service. The assembly considered his apology satisfactory, and in November of the same year accepted his resignation.

He was not, however, entirely freed from public duties; as a member, and vice president of the colonial assembly, much of his time and attention was still occupied. In those days of difficulty and alarm, his wisdom and integrity, his benevolence and generosity, were too conspicuous and too useful, to remain in seclusion.

At this time, however, the royal authority ceased in New Jersey, and the general Assembly was superceded by a convention of deputies from the several counties, attended of course only by confirmed and decided whigs. This convention, on the fourteenth of February, 1776, elected Mr. Hart one of their

delegates to Congress, and he did not refuse the appointment.

His colleagues were William Livingston, Richard Smith, John Cooper and Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant; and they were vested with ful powers to consent and agree to all measures whic Congress might deem necessary; and the province of New Jersey was pledged by the resolution appointing these delegates, to execute to the utmost all resolutions which Congress might adopt.

The instructions implied by the terms of this appointment did not seem to contemplate so bold a measure as a declaration of independence; indeed little had yet been said on such a subject, and the hope of a happy reconciliation with the royal government, was not yet extinct.

But the lapse of a few months brought a very different aspect of public affairs. The intelligence received from England of the total failure of every proposal offered in the House of Commons, tending towards a pacific policy, the treaty with the duke of Brunswick and the elector of Hesse Cassel, stipulating for the employment of foreign mercenaries in the reduction of the colonies to unconditional submission, and the indifference shown by the British people, who it had been hoped, would have felt the wrongs attempted to be done to the Americans as outrages on their own liberties-all conspired to show a gloomy and a warlike prospect. *.

At home too, the feelings of the people had become exasperated, and New Jersey, which had been second to no one of the colonies in loyalty and love of peace, became thoroughly and rapidly changed.

The machinations said to be detected early in the year 1776, which had been directed against the fidelity and spirit of the army and the safety of the commander-in-chief, excited the indignant patriotism of the people of this province perhaps more than even the proofs of determined and violent hostility on the part of the British government.

In this state of sentiment the provincial Congress, in whose hands the representation of the people now resided, determined to make such changes in their delegation to the general Congress as would evince the decision of their own minds, and secure the vote of New Jersey from being given in favour of temporizing or timorous measures.

Accordingly, on the twenty-first of June, a new appointment was made, in which John Hart was retained as being of accord with the people in their determination to risk all, and suffer all, that might be necessarily risked or suffered in the effort to gain independence; but some of his colleagues were not continued, because their zeal or their firmness could not so safely be trusted.

This new appointment, made after the proposition to declare independence had been brought forward in Congress, and with a knowledge of Mr. Hart's opinions on the question, was accompanied with instruc

tions "to join with the delegates of the other colonies in continental Congress, in the most vigorous measures for supporting the just rights and liberties of America, and if you shall judge it necessary or expedient for this purpose, to join with them in declaring the United Colonies independent of Great Britian, entering into a confederation for union and common defence, making treaties with foreign nations for commerce and assistance, and to take such other measures as may appear to them and you necessary for those great ends, promising to support them with the whole force of this province, always observing that whatsoever plan of confederacy you enter into, the regulating the internal police of this province is to be reserved to the colonial legislature."

Although the life of John Hart was now drawing towards its close, and he was already full of years, the act most important to his future fame was yet to be performed.

A few days after this decisive step of the Jersey provincial Congress, the British general, Howe, arrived at New York and was soon followed by his army.

The approximation of the scene of bloodshed to his own quiet home could not be regarded by him without the most anxious forebodings. That Jersey would soon witness the march and suffer the ravages of the hostile army, with their outlandish auxiliaries -strangers to the tie of common language and similar habits, which yet held the British and Ameri