But in this chapter the condition of New York during the British occupation is the subject of consideration; and perhaps it cannot be better realized than by imagining oneself in the company of the gallant General, as he went his daily rounds. Hanging about in the vicinity of his house are orderlies, in different costume; the gunner, in full dress, with his gold-laced cocked-hat, with _black_ feather, as was the custom then in the 4th Battalion, his hair clubbed and powdered, white stock, white breeches, and white stockings, and armed with a carbine and a bayonet; or, perhaps, in the marvellous undress invented for the Battalion by Colonel Cleaveland—a blue jacket and brown trousers. Among the others is also to be seen an occasional negro, in no particular uniform at all, one of a company of Virginian blacks enrolled for duty with the Artillery and in the Ordnance Yard. In the recent American Civil War many hard things were said of the Northerners for declaring the slaves of the rebels to be free, at a time when the women and children of the South were in their homes alone and unprotected. It is but fair to say that the example followed was our own. During the War of Independence the same course towards the rebels was taken by the British, and an influx of runaway slaves in New York was the result. This, coupled with the decided immigration of Loyalists from other districts, accounts for the great rise in the population of New York during the British occupation, which increased from 17,000 to 30,000. The newspapers of the time teem with advertisements announcing the sale of slaves, but from the fact above mentioned it is evident that they can only apply to the slaves of Loyalists. Some of them are so grotesque as to be worthy of reproduction: "To be sold, a strong, healthy mulatto girl, about fifteen years of age. Has been used to household work and the care of children. She has both had the small-pox and the measles. For further particulars, apply to Mr. Stevens, _Livery Stable Keeper_, Little Queen-street." "To be sold, a young negro wench, who has had the small-pox, can cook very well, nineteen years old, and sold for no fault. Lowest price, 70_l._" And—"For sale, a fine negro boy and a billiard-table." Doubtless, if one looked in at the places of auction, the poor girl "who is accustomed to the care of children" would be found crying her heart out, while thinking of the charge from which she has been torn, and dreading the unknown future before her; while poor little Sambo would be seen showing his white teeth over the table which has been the dusky marker's little world, and from which he has found that he is not to be separated.