In Committee of Safety for the Colony of New York,
appointed by the Provincial Congress to act in their recess ー

Sir,

New York January 3d 1776.

As it is an object of great Moment with us as well as the continental Congress to have the Important pass on Hudsons River properly secured & fortified, we think it our Duty to furnish them with all possible Information on the Subject. For this purpose we send Mr [Bernard] Romans the Engineer employed in that Department, who is prepared to lay before the Congress his Drafts with the necessary Information ー

We beg Leave to Mention that the place at which the works are erected was fixed before Mr Romans was employed in the Service, and from his Ideas of the Matter that place cannot be rendered sufficiently Secure for a Lodgment of Troops, and to answer the End of a Fortified pass without more Expence than our Commissioners appointed to superintend that Business think prudent; besides which they observe, that his Scheme cannot be compleatly executed with that dispatch the Service may require.

Mr [Thomas] Palmer in Conjunction with the rest of the Committee appointed by our Congress to remove the Difficulties occasioned by a Difference of Opinion between the Commissioners and Engineer, has doubtless pointed out to Congress certain places on the River which would better answer the purpose of a Temporary Defence, and at much less Expence than will necessarily attend the Execution of Mr Romans Scheme ー We are fully of Opinion that the places in Mr Palmers proposal ought by all Means to be covered with Fortifications that will cost but little; and command two considerable Reaches of the River. We at the same Time submit it to the Consideration of Congress how far the Completion of the Fortifications already begun ought to be carried on either upon Mr Romans plan or that which has doubtless been proposed by Mr Palmer, as the Sense of our Committee who were Sent to view the works ー ²

We hope that this Application while Mr Palmer is attending on the Congress will not be construed to his disadvantage. Had we been possessed of Mr Romans plan in its present compleat State, and had he been in Town at the Time of Mr Palmer's Departure, we should have required his accompanying that Gentleman. And as there is some prospect that Mr Romans may reach Philadia before the plan of Fortification is finally determined by Congress, we should think ourselves inexcusable in withholding from them any Means for enabling them to determine so important a Matter, on the best Lights in our power to furnish ー

We are Sir [&c.]
By order of the Committee.

To the Honble the President of
the Continental Congress
Philadelphia ー