John Halsted of the City of Perth Amboy in the State of New Jersey being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, That he was well acquainted with John Dyer Mercer in the Town of Quebec in Canada in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, and for some years proceeding, That the said John Dyer Mercer was at that time, and had been during his residence in that Country, a Merchant in full credit and extensive business, in said Town of Quebec, That in the latter part of October, or beginning of November one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, the said John Dyer Mercer was by order of Government arrested and put on board a British Vessel of War in the Harbour of Quebec, for reasons then unknown. On the Arrival of the American Army at the River St. Lawrence at Quebec, this deponent informed Col. Benedict Arnold the Commandant, of the said John Dyer Mercer's arrest and confinement, whereupon the said Col. Arnold replied, that on his arrival in the first settlement in Canada he had written to the said John Dyer Mercer, advising him of his arrival, and requested him to send to Point Levy sundry articles of Clothing of which the troops under his command where in want, that he sent his letter by an Indian and found that it had fallen into the hands of Government, and had been the occasion of the said John Dyer Mercer's arrest and confinement, which was afterwards ascertained to have been the case; That some time in the beginning of December the said John Dyer Mercer was set on shore at Point Levy, where he joined the American Army and remained with them untill their retreat from before Quebec, on the fifth of May one thousand seven hundred and seventy six, when he was obliged to abandon his settlement and property in that Country, and came with this deponent and family, for some time on their way to New York. That this deponent saw the said John Dyer Mercer in New York in the month of July one thousand seven hundred and seventy five, and frequently afterwards in the United States, during the the Revolutionary War against Great Britain, and to this deponents knowledge he continued in the United States during the said war, and did not return to reside in the dominions of the King of Great Britain, prior to the twenty fifth of November one thousand seven hundred and eighty three. Subscribed and Sworn to John Halsted. in the County of Middlesex in the State of New Jersey this first day of April 1800 Before Jer^h Manning First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in the County of Middlesex in the State of New Jersey