Congress twice appointed commissioners to proceed towards Canada. In Nov., 1775, Robert R. Livingston, John Langdon, and Robert Treat Paine were sent, with instructions dated Nov. 8th,[654] to examine the fortifications of Ticonderoga and the highlands, and "to use their endeavors to procure an accession of the Canadians to a union with these colonies;" and their report (Nov. 17th), with a letter to Montgomery (Nov. 30th), is in the _Sparks MSS._ (lii. vol. ii.). In March, 1776, Benj. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll were instructed (_Journals of Congress_, i. 289; Force, v. 411) to proceed to Canada to influence, if possible, the sympathies of the Canadians. Carroll was a Roman Catholic, and he was accompanied by his brother, John Carroll, a priest.[655] Much was expected of the mission on this account (Adams's _Familiar Letters_, 135). Franklin, delayed at Saratoga (April), began to feel that the exposures of the expedition were too much for one of his years, and sat down to write "to a few friends by way of farewell."[656] Carroll kept a diary, which has been since printed.[657] There are papers appertaining to the mission in Force's _Archives_, 4th, iv., v.; Sparks's _Washington_ (iii. 390), and his _Corresp. of the Rev._ (i. 572), and Lossing's _Schuyler_ (vol. ii.).[658] On Jan. 31, 1850, Mr. William Duane delivered an address on _Canada and the Continental Congress_ before the Penna. Hist. Soc., which is printed among their occasional publications. [Illustration: SULLIVAN'S ISLAND. A part of a view published in London, August 10, 1776, and made by Lieut.-Col. Thomas James, of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. June 30, 1776. It represents the position of the fleet during "the attack on the 28th of June, which lasted nine hours and forty minutes." The position of the ships is designated by A, "Active", 28 guns; B, "Bristol", flag-ship, 50 guns; C, "Experiment", 50 guns; D, "Solebay", 28 guns. The "Syren", 28 guns, and "Acteon", 28 guns, and the "Thunder", bomb-ketch, were nearer the spectator as was the "Friendship", of 28 guns. L is Sullivan's Island; M, a narrow isthmus, defended by an armed hulk, N; the mainland is O; myrtle-grove, P. Faden also issued at the same time, as made by Col. James, a long panoramic view of Sullivan's and Long islands, showing the American and British camps on the opposite sides of the dividing inlet.] Mr. Brantz Mayer's introduction to the Centennial ed. of Carroll's journal is largely concerned with the question of the Catholic pacification of Canada. Cf. Brent's _Life of Archbishop Carroll_; and B. W. Campbell's "Life and Times of Archbishop Carroll" in _U. S. Cath. Mag._, iii. The unfortunate comments (Oct. 21, 1774) of the Continental Congress on the Quebec Act was much against the persuasions of the commissioners, and it was soon evident that all their efforts, on this side at least, were futile. (Cf. Force's _Am. Archives_, ii. 231.)