In June 1778, Peter Van Schaack received permission from Governor Clinton to visit England to obtain medical attention for his failing eye sight. Shortly thereafter, the Legislature of New York passed the Banishing Act. It required that “all such persons of neutral and equivocal characters in this State” take an oath acknowledging New York to be a free and independent state. If they refused, they were to be sent behind enemy lines, their names recorded in the office of the Secretary of State, their property assessed double taxes in perpetuity, and their return to the State punished by a conviction for “misprision of treason.” Peter was summoned before commissioners of conspiracies at Albany, and on 18 July 1778 refused to take the oath. The Commissioners ordered his banishment pursuant to the Act. On his way to New York City to depart for England, he met Governor Clinton who gave him assurances that the Banishing Act did not apply to him and presented Peter a certificate explaining that the Governor had given Peter permission to travel to England to have a cataract treated. Peter Van Schaack travelled to England and remained there for seven years.