After the battle of Long Island, Howe thought it an opportune time to offer favorable terms to the colonists if they were willing to lay down their arms. Accordingly he dispatched General Sullivan (then a prisoner) to Congress requesting them to send a committee to negotiate. This committee, composed of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams, met Howe at the Billop house. “Along the sloping lawn in front of the house, long lines of troops that formed the very flower of the British army were drawn up between which the distinguished commander escorted his no less distinguished guests.”[64] The conference was held in the northwest room on the ground floor. It resulted in nothing, the colonists refusing to accede to any terms not involving their independence. About 1783–84 Billop withdrew to New Brunswick, and joined that army of estimable persons who, despoiled of their possessions, were driven from the land for their loyalty to their king. There for years he held prominent offices in the Assembly and in the Council and died at St. John, March 23, 1827, at the age of ninety-two. At his funeral the highest honors of the town were paid to his memory.
Billop was evidently a complete type of the country gentleman and tory squire. According to Mr. Morris, in his “Memorial History of Staten Island,” the following description of him was given by a friend: “Christopher Billop was a very tall, soldierly looking man in his prime. He was exceedingly proud and his pride led him at times to the verge of haughtiness. Yet he was kind-hearted, not only to those he considered his equals, but to his slaves as well as to the poor people of the island. No one went from his door at the old manor hungry. It was his custom to gather the people of the island once a year on the lawn in front of his house and hold a ‘harvest home.’... Passionately fond of horses, his stable was filled with the finest bred animals in the land. He was a magnificent rider and was very fond of the saddle. He was an expert shot with the pistol, which once saved his life when he was attacked by robbers. Christopher Billop was not a man to take advice unless it instantly met with his favor.... Lifelong friends pleaded with him to join the cause of independence at the commencement of the Revolution, but he chose to follow the fortunes of royalty. He was a good citizen, a noble man!”