_Philadelphia, March 3, 1783._
Joseph Ellis, a Colonel of Militia, in the county of
Gloucester, and State of New Jersey, doth hereby certify, that
upon the retreat of a body of militia from before Count Donop,
in the neighborhood of Mount Holly, in Burlington county, in
the month of December, 1776, he met with Charles Pettit, Esq.,
_then Secretary of the said State_, that a conversation ensued
between them respecting the situation of the public dispute at
that period; that Mr. Pettit, in said conversation,
representing that our affairs were desperate, Col. Ellis
endeavoured to dissuade him from such an opinion, when Mr.
Pettit replied, "What hurts me more than all is, my
brother-in-law, General Reed, has, (or I believe he has,)
given up the contest." That a good deal more passed between
Mr. Pettit and Col. Ellis, during the said cnnversation[TN], but
omitted here, as being thought unnecessary.