a gentleman, faithfully to abide within the limits of said town of Middletown until further orders shall be had from his Honour Governour Trumbull thereon; and in the meantime I engage and promise not to correspond, either directly or indirectly, in any shape whatever, with any person or persons unfriendly to these American States, and will abide such orders and directions as shall be given from time to time by the Committee of Inspection for said town, where I shall reside as aforesaid, as witness my hand. Dated at Hartford, August 28th, 1776.

N. B. Said party is granted to go to Wethersfield and Durham, as occasion may be.

FREDERICK PHILIPS.

During Colonel Philipse's absence, his wife complained to Washington about the taking of cattle for the use of the American army. Washington's consideration for the family at the Manor Hall in its unfortunate situation is shown in the following letter to "Mrs. Philips of Philipsboro:"

Madam:

HEADQUARTERS AT MR. VALENTINE'S,

22 October, 1776.

The misfortunes of War and the unhappy circumstances frequently attendant thereon to Individuals are more to be lamented than avoided, but it is the duty of everyone to alleviate these as much as possible. Far be it from me, then, to add to the distresses of a Lady who, I am but too sensible, must already have suffered much uneasiness if not inconvenience on account of Colonel Philip's absence.

No special order has gone forth from me for removal of stock of the Inhabitants; but from the nature of the case and in consequence of some resolutions of the Convention and State the measure has been adopted. However, as I am satisfied it is not meant to deprive families of their necessary support, I shall not withhold my consent to your retaining such parts of your stock as may be essential to this purpose, relying on your assurances and promise that no more will be detained.

With great Respect, I am, Madam, etc.

Go. WASHINGTON.

After three months' detention in Connecticut under his parole, Colonel Philipse found restraint so irksome that on November 26th he addressed a memorial to the Convention of Representatives and Committee of Safety of the State of New York praying that he be restored to his liberty; or, if that could not be granted, that he be permitted to return to the Manor House and reside there under a parole similar to that already given. In his memorial he said:

"Your memorialist has already suffered great hardships and inconveniences, and if not permitted to return home before the severity of the winter sets in, must still suffer many more, which, in his advanced stage of life and infirm state of health, he is ill calculated to undergo. But that all the personal inconveniences he has felt and is likely further to feel if not relieved are far from making so deep an impression on his mind as the circumstances of being separated from wife and numerous family, and thereby prevented from superintending his own affairs, particularly the education of his children, whose tender years require the most watchful attention of a parent's care."

This memorial, with others of like nature, was referred by the New York Convention to a committee which reported on December 13, 1776;

"That with respect to Frederick Philips, your Committee are well informed that he had exerted himself in promoting an association in West Chester County highly injurious to the American cause; that his great estate in that county has necessarily created a vast number of dependents on his pleasure, and that your Committee verily believe that the shameful defection of the inhabitants of that county is in a great measure owing to his influence."

The committee advised that the indulgence of Philipse," who requests liberty to return to his family at Philipsburgh, would put it in the power of a professed enemy of the American cause not only further to disaffect the inhabitants of West Chester

County, but to put many of them in arms against the United States of America."

Notwithstanding this advice of the New York Committee, on December 20, 1776, the Governor and Council of Safety of Connecticut at Middletown voted that Colonel Philipse and others be permitted to return home upon giving their parole not to give any intelligence to the enemy; not to take up arms; not to do or say anything against the United States of America; and to return to Connecticut when requested. On December 23d Colonel Philipse and six others signed a parole to that effect and he returned home. In 1777, he left the Manor House in charge of his steward, Williams, and went to New York City, then in possession of the British. Thence he was summoned to return to Connecticut; but it is said in his defense that he never received the summons. However that may be, he was adjudged to have broken his parole. On October 22, 1779, the Legislature at Kingston passed an act (chapter 24) attainting fifty-eight persons of " adhering to the King with intent to subvert the government and liberties of this State and the said other United States, and to bring the same into subjection to the Crown of Great Britain." The act also confiscated their real and personal estates, proscribed themselves, and declared that "each and every of them who shall at any time hereafter be found in any part of the State shall be and are hereby adjudged, and declared guilty of felony, and shall suffer Death as in cases of felony without Benefit of Clergy."

Under this terrible ban fell Frederick Philipse; his sister Susannah and her husband, Beverly Robinson; his sister Mary and her husband, Roger Morris;* and fifty-three others. And

* The attainting of Mrs. Morris, as explained in Sabine's “ Loyalists in America," was due to the fact that Colonel Morris possessed a part of the Philipse estate in right of his wife, and she was attainted in order that the whole interest should pass under the act. The British government valued the

by this stroke, the great Philipse Manor, as a Manor, vanished. When the treaty of peace confirmed the Independence of the United States he who was lately lord of the Manor, deprived of his title, deprived of his great estate, humiliated in spirit, blind of sight and broken in health, betook himself and family to England where they passed the remainder of their days.

An idea of the value of Philipse's individual loss may be gathered from the fact that he applied to the British government for compensation and was allowed 62,075 pounds sterling or about $300,000 - a neat little sum to add to the war burden of Great Britain, while the proceeds of the sale of the confiscated estate went to help pay the expenses of winning American Independence. Philipse's estate, by reason of gifts and sales from time to time during his tenure, did not comprise the whole of the original Manor. The value of the latter was estimated by an English work in 1809 to have been between 600,000 and 700,000 pounds, or from $3,000,000 to $3,500,000.

Colonel Philipse survived his misfortunes in America less than two years, and died at Chester, England, on April 30, 1785. He lies buried in Chester Cathedral where the visitor may read upon a monument to his memory this inscription.

Sacred to the Memory of

FREDERICK PHILIPSE, ESQ.

late of the Province of New York; a Gentleman, in whom the various Social, Domestic and Religious virtues are eminently united.

fee simple of the estate at £20,000 and Colonel and Mrs. Morris' life interest at £12,605. For the latter sum they received compensation. In 1787, the Attorney-General of England decided that the reversionary interest of the children in the property on the death of the parents was not included in the attainder and was recoverable. In 1809, Capt. Henry Gage Morris, R. N., and two sisters sold this reversionary interest to John Jacob Astor of New York for £20,000, and in 1828 Astor made a compromise with the State of New York by which he was paid $500,000 for the rights thus purchased by

him.

The Uniform Rectitude of His Conduct commanded the Esteem of others; whilst the Benevolence of His Heart and Gentleness of his Manners, secured their Love.

Firmly attached to his Sovereign and the British Constitution he opposed to the Hazard of his Life the late Rebellion in North America, and for this faithful Discharge of his Duty to his King and Country, he was proscribed, and his estate, one of the largest in New York, was Confiscated by the usurped Legislature of that Province.

When the British Troops were withdrawn from New York in 1783 he quitted a Province to which he had always been an Ornament and a Benefactor and came to England, leaving all his Possessions behind him, which Reverse of Fortune he bore with that Calmness, Fortitude, and Dignity which had distinguished him through every Stage of his Life.

He was Born in New York the 8th day of September in the year 1720, and died in this Place the 30th day of April in the year 1785 aged 65 years.

The tablet is surmounted by an heraldic device, representing a lion rampant upon a crown.

For over a century the guides who show visitors through Chester Cathedral have pointed to this tomb and told the story of the old Manor Hall on the Hudson, 3,000 miles away.

Chapter X. The Heart of the Neutral Ground.

Events conspired to the enactment of many events around, but few within the Manor Hall during the Revolution. By the removal of its master in August, 1776, Washington prevented the Hall from being a nursery of toryism. During the next few months, when both armies began operations in Westchester county, a chivalric consideration for the headless Philipse family seems to have prevented any occupation of the house by either side for military purposes. After Colonel Philipse broke his parole in 1777 and the house was abandoned by the family to the care of