"I am sorry to tell you (for the credit of this State) that the Committee I belong to make daily fresh discoveries of the infernal Practices of our Enemies to excite Insurrections amongst the inhabitants of the State. To-morrow one Company, actually enlisted in the enemy's service, will be marched to Philadelphia, there to be confined in jail, till the establishment of our Courts enables us to hang the Ringleaders."
And on the following day Robert R. Livingston added on this subject:
"Tho' we are constantly employed in the detection of treasons, yet plots multiply upon us daily, and we have reason every moment to dread an open rebellion. We have ordered troops to be raised but fear they will be too slow in coming, and that we shall be under the disagreeable necessity of asking a small and temporary aid from the Genl; but we shall defer this till reduced to the last extremity."
When the ships went up the river on the 9th, it was feared they had troops on board who might make an attempt on the Highlands, whereupon Duer wrote on the 10th:
"In this [attempt] they will undoubtedly be joined by the villains in Westchester and Duchess County; it is therefore of the utmost consequence that a Force should be immediately detached from the main body of our army to occupy these posts.... By the Influence and Artifices of the capital tories of this State the majority of Inhabitants in those counties are ripe for a revolt."
But with a stout heart Duer continues:
"It is our Duty, however, to struggle against the tide of adversity, and to exert ourselves with vigour adequate to our circumstances. This, as an Individual, I am determined to do in the Capacity in which I am at present acting, and I have no doubt those friends I have in the military line will do the same. We are not to expect to purchase our Liberties at a cheaper rate than other nations have done, or that our soldiers should be Heaven born more than those of other nations. Experience will make us both have and win; and in the end teach Great Britain that in attempting to enslave us she is aiming a dagger at her own vitals."
On the 12th, before he heard of the landing at Throg's Neck, he wrote to Tilghman:
"Notwithstanding the enemy had, agreeable to your last advices, sent no vessels up the Sound, depend upon it, they will endeavor to make an attack upon your Flanks by means of Hudson's and the East River.... If General Lee is returned from the Southward and arrived at your camp (which I suppose to be the case) I beg my affectionate compliments to him. I wish to Heaven I could come and see you, but I am so embarrassed with the Committee I am engaged in that I have not hardly an hour, much less a few days to spare. This morning we marched off a Company of men, who had been enlisted to join the Battalion to be raised by Major Rogers, to the City of Philadelphia. We have an admirable clue of their abominable conspiracies, and (however late this undertaking has been) I hope by spirit and perseverance we may baffle their wretched Plots of occasioning a revolt in this State."[209]