Easton, at the Forks of Delaware River, in the
State of Pennsylvania, 24 January, 1777.
We have at last crossed the Delaware and are agreeably lodged at Easton,
a little town situated on a point of land formed by the Delaware on one
side, and the river Lehigh on the other. There is an elegant stone
Church here, built by the Dutch people, by whom the town is chiefly
inhabited, and what is remarkable, because uncommon, the Lutherans and
Calvinists united to build this Church, and the Lutheran and Calvinist
ministers alternately officiate in it. There is also a handsome Court
House. The buildings, public and private, are all of limestone. Here are
some Dutch Jews.
Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing the Moravian mills in New
Jersey. These mills belong to the society of Moravians in Bethlehem in
Pennsylvania. They are a great curiosity. The building is of limestone,
four stories high. It is not in my power to give a particular
description of this piece of mechanism. A vast quantity of grain of all
sorts is collected here.
We have passed through the famous county of Sussex in New Jersey, where
the Sussex Court House stands, and where, we have so often been told,
the Tories are so numerous and dangerous. We met with no molestation nor
insult. We stopped at some of the most noted Tory houses, and were
treated everywhere with the utmost respect. Upon the strictest inquiry I
could make, I was assured that a great majority of the inhabitants are
stanch Whigs. Sussex, they say, can take care of Sussex. And yet all
agree that there are more Tories in that county than in any other. If
the British army should get into that county in sufficient numbers to
protect the Tories, there is no doubt to be made, they would be insolent
enough, and malicious and revengeful. But there is no danger, at
present, and will be none until that event takes place. The weather has
been sometimes bitterly cold, sometimes warm, sometimes rainy, and
sometimes snowy, and the roads abominably hard and rough, so that this
journey has been the most tedious I ever attempted. Our accommodations
have been often very bad, but much better and cheaper than they would
have been if we had taken the road from Peekskill to Morristown, where
the army lies.