The De Lanceys--close friends of his--lost their lands outright.

But Elliott, like the canny Scotchman that he was, was determined that he would not be served the same way.
To quote Mr.J.H.Henry, who now handles that huge property: "He must have had friends! Apparently they liked him, if they didn't like his politics." This is how they managed it: He transferred his entire estate to a Quaker friend of his in Philadelphia--this was before the situation had become too critical; then a little group of friendly New Yorkers, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, bought it in; next it passed into the hands of one Friedrich Charles Hans Bruno, Baron Poelnitz, who appears to have been not much more than a figurehead.

However, it was legally his property at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and so it was not confiscated.

It probably is safe to assume that Mr.Andrew Elliott still remained the power behind the throne, and benefited by the subsequent sale of the land to Capt.
Robert Richard Randall.
Which brings us to a most picturesque page of New York history.
I wonder what there is about privateering that attracts even the most law-abiding imagination.

This ancient, more than half dishonourable, profession has an unholy glamour about it and there are few respectable callings that so appeal to the colour-loving fancy.