" LIBRARY OF THE University of California, GIF^T OF^ Class A Phases of Royal Government in New York 1691-1719 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY By CHARLES WORTHEN SPENCER SOMETIME UNIVERSITY FELLOW IN AMERICAN HISTORY, IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, COLGATE UNIVERSITY COLUMBUS, OHIO Press of Fred. J. Heer 1905 v^^^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter I. Introduction 5 Chapter II. The Executive Official System 12 Chapter III. The Legislature 58 Chapter IV. Financial Affairs before 1701) 97 Chapter V. The Revenue Controversy, 1709-1717 129 Bibliographical Note . .. 156 (3) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. As a royal province in the British empire in the eighteenth century, New York weU iUustrates the duahty of poHtical exist- ence characteristic of such a community. It was, on the one hand, a province with its own local interests to be respected and developed, its peculiar history, and its own local consciousness of these as features of identity. It was, equally, on the other hand, a part of the British empire, with its share of the benefits and burdens attaching to that relation. The ideal of empire, probably only vaguely before the mind of the British government at that time, provided for co-operation and interaction between these two aspects of provincial existence, which, while always emphasizing imperial welfare, yet sought to achieve that welfare by development of the peculiar situation of the province. For example, provincial policy in the matter of Indian relations illus- trates v/ith peculiar felicity this duality of existence. Upon main- tenance of the friendly relations with the Iroquois, inherited from the Dutch, depended, not alone the fur-trade, but the very existence of the province. Experience developed the fact that, owing to the peculiar position of the Five Nations among the native races of the continent, this Iroquois alliance was the key to the Indian policy of all the continental English communities taken together. Successful administration of this problem re- quired recognition of both local and general aspects and the elab- oration of a line of conduct which should make the two aspects serve each other. It was the unique task of the governor of such a province to blend, in his actual conduct of public affairs, these two aspects of provincial existence. In theory, he was the governmental head of the community, and, at the same time, the crown's agent in this particular unit of the administrative system of a general imperial policy. In theory, also, the organization of the legis- lature provided simply for assistance to the governor in the execution of his dual function by representatives of the com- munity at large. Actually, however, as described in Chapter II., the organization and relations of the executive official system (5) 6 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT made it far more easily and characteristically the exponent of the policy of the imperial government than of the local interests of the province. Similarly, the legislature became, in practice, the exponent of local-provincial feeling and policy, rather than of any attempt to embody this with general imperial interest in the conduct of public affairs. It is obvious that the realization of the ideal of co-operation and supplementation of these two aspects of provincial existence would be difficult. As in the case of the Holy Roman Empire successful working required mutual confidence on the part of the two elements, Vv^hich was seldom realized ; so, in this case, the relation between executive and legislature vv^as seldom for any long period one of mutual understanding and intelligent co- operation. There were certain circumstances in particular, act- ing as obstructions in the path of the realization of the ideal, which may be mentioned. The imperial administration, on the one hand, awkward and lumbering under the best of circum- stances, failed to exercise the requisite care in the delicate matter of appointment to the governorship. Court influences resulted in the appointment of adventurers like Fletcher and Cornbury. Even when pains were taken to select a man on the basis of the particular needs of the situation from the government point of view, the result might not be the choice of a man with the right sort of skill. This was true in the case of the Bellomont appoint- ment. Even in the case of what was, in its results, the nearest to an ideal appointment — that of Hunter — efficient support from home could not be relied upon by the appointee. Circum- stances of local character in the province, on the other hand, wer< equally an obstruction to the attainment of the ideal. In the first place, the heat of factious passion, coming over from tin. Leisler affair, caused popular attention and interest to center more on measures bringing triumph to one or other of the local factions than on issues of truly public policy. Then, too, outside the realm of Leislerian or Anti-Leislerian politics, the men of leading calibre were, as a class, characterized more by selfish ambition for the interests of a group of local magnates and their dependents, than by intelligent appreciation of the true relations of local-provincial and general-imperial interests. The actual interworking of all these features, during the first twenty years after 1691, was such that we may say that IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 7 during all this time there was no effective opportunity for the realization of the possibilities contained in the theory of the Royal Province. Not until experience had brought the province through a period of developing education, and fortune had brought to. the governorship a man having both an intelligent conception of the ideal, and — what was equally important — the personal temperament and political skill capable of making an impression on the actual conduct of affairs, was a sound basis of political development reached. The four months of Sloughter's administration served merely to commit the newly established government to the policy of perse- cuting the leaders of the Leislerian regime. Whatever may be the degree of truth in Smith's violently hostile characterization of Sloughter, he certainly was not a person of the strength of character required to settle the government in a community torn with faction as was New York. Ingoldsby's administration of fourteen months was, in main outline, a continuation of the regime inaugurated under Sloughter's auspices' by those who had played the part of victims during Leisler's rule. Ingoldsby's administration illustrated the characteristics of periods happen- ing with unfortunate frequency during New York's early exist- ence as a royal province, viz., the intervals between the death, removal or long absence of a governor, and his return or the arrival of the next incumbent. Under such circumstances, there was likely to be either a suspension of the more active and aggressive features of provincial development, with surreptitious exploitation of opportunities for private gain, such as corrupt dealings in land grants, or a violent use of governmental ma- chinery, made unscrupulous by a consciousness of desperation such as is illustrated in the last weeks of Nanfan's power. In- oldsby's term, in 1691-1692, illustrates the former group of activ ities, which served almost as well as the other type of proceedings to hinder the normal development of the possibilities of interac- tion between the two aspects of provincial existence. The administration of Fletcher, from 1692 to 1698, did little to improve the situation. Important elements of the imperial system were perverted for corrupt purposes. The system of connivance at violations of the imperial trade system enriched a few New Yorkers at the expense of the ideal of the empire. Extravagant grants of land to a few favorites endangered Indian 8 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT relations and retarded the development and peopling of the prov- ince for many years to come. The circumstances of war on the frontiers necessitated activity in those departments of the imperial and provincial systems which bore on military matters, but the actual conduct of these affairs did little to promote the spirit of co-operation. Fletcher's conduct of hostilities was energetic, but unskilful and wasteful. The heavy burdens of taxation and detachments of militia for frontier service were not rendered lighter by the conviction on the part of many that the governor's arrogance and lack of tact were responsible for the disobedience of the neighboring provinces to the direction from England that they should be aiding and assisting to New York. The home government itself was hard pressed and could render little effect- ive aid. Then, Fletcher's attitude in matters of local partisan- ship was practically a continuation of the Anti-Leislerian course pursued by the government since Sloughter's arrival. This com- plicated the relations between governor and assembly in the mat- ter of raising supplies for military purposes. Altogether, these were not favorable circumstances for the development of the ideal of co-operation between the local and imperial aspects of provincial life. Bellomont's arrival inaugurated a veritable revolution in the course of affairs. He threw himself vigorously into the task of the suppression of piracy, in so far as New York was con- cerned therewith. He put into practice, as it was intended to be used, the system of penalties for violations of the acts of trade and navigation. In other words, the imperial trade system, with all the machinery that that involved, began to have eft'ective operation in New York for the first time. Bellomont was very active in attempts at development of the positive aspect of the imperial trade system, and expended much energy in devising ways and means for inaugurating the naval stores policy in New York. It was impossible for him to develop the crown's landed estate on account of Fletcher's misconduct, but all his efforts went towards correcting and undoing as far as possible that official's mischief. But in all this, as in other matters, the complication of local partisan politics exercised a baleful influ- ence. Fletcher and Cornbury went through the motions of a zeal for the empire, which, practically, as events worked out, meant a zeal for the personal welfare of themselves and a IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 9 favored group of magnates whose provincial interests made po- litical influence with the government necessary to them. In the case of Bellomont we have a genuine zeal for imperial interests, intelligently conceived and impartially administered, as far as "graft" is concerned. But the circumstances of his accession and the circumstances of the province combined to make the spirit of partisanship in the assembly and in the subordinate executive ser- vice too much for him to control. Long before he came to the province it was known that he was enthusiastically of the opinion that the Leislerian cause and party had been shamefully treated. So much of his activity on arriving in the province was of the neg- ative kind — undoing mischief and punishing wrong-doers — and he made it such a personal affair with Fletcher that, with a people of provincial character, he could hardly avoid presenting the appearance of being chief of the Leislerian faction. This, of course, awakened into well-nigh' ungovernable activity the revengeful zeal of the friends of Leisler. Bellomont had his hands full, even when he was in the province, in keeping a decent peace. When, then, death removed the only member of the gov- ernment whose authority and personality was sufficient to hold passions in leash, the violence of the long-repressed Leislerians knew no bounds. The debauch of vindictive passion under the administration of Nanfan, of which the Bayard and Hutchins trial and the confiscation of Robert Livingston's estate are the most conspicuous manifestations, is a measure for us of Bello- mont's real service. From some points of view it seems as if Bellomont's administration was too short to amount to anything as an object-lesson of what royal provincial government might be. But the odds against success in this attempt were heavy. The division of his attention between three governments, lack of the most efficient support from home, the excessive rage of passions, for a part of which he was, for personal reasons, unwittingly and inevitably responsible, militated strongly against the success of his administration. Hard-won progress was made towards giving the theory of the empire a chance. But the province needed more experience to make this beginning fruitful. Up to the time of Bellomont's death, it may be said that the exponents of the general-imperial aspect of provincial life had been more conspicuous, had been more bold in grasp and initia- lO PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT tive. This was natural. The assembly was new to its work. The circumstances of war complicated development. Nanfan's administration from 1701 to 1702, taken as the outspoken and unrestrained expression of what was present but suppressed under Belloihont, is the time when local provincial forces get gthe upper hand. This period, discouraging in its revelation of possibilities, is not to be taken as fairly representing what was truly characteristic of provincial life, any more than Fletcher's administration is to be taken as an exemplification of the im- perial theory. In fact, the features of excessive violence may be regarded as the consequences of the exasperation resulting from the Sloughter and Fletcher regimes, and the escape from utter wrecking of the imperial machinery, v^hich even the most violent Leislerians recognized as out of the question as a matter of expediency, may be regarded as due to Bellomont. The promise of better things, vaguely felt as expressed in the appointment of Cornbury, came to nothing. His relationship to the queen and his ''interest'' at court flattered the New Yorkers' sense of imiportance. But experience soon developed to the eyes of the knot of magnates, who were the real springs of power in the province, that for their purposes he was worse than Fletcher and Bellomont. We may indeed suppose that 'this group of leading individuals, standing, really, midway between popular feeling in general and the particular designs of the em- pire for the province, had themselves grown into slightly larger- minded conceptions of the interest of the province. Still they looked upon public policy with a view in which their personal interests bulked most conspicuously. For their purpose, a gov- ernor must manage to keep just enough in favor with the home government to keep his place, and must equally escape alienating popular provincial favor so as to avoid frittering away his energy in fruitless quarrels with the popular element — fruitless, that is, to their schemes. The great service rendered by Cornbury 's administration to the development of New York as a royal prov- ince Avas the fact that he lost estimation both with the people of the province and with the local magnates, and thus compelled a measure of union among all elements for a common public end. This union against Cornbury's aim to make both imperial and provincial interests serve his personal ends was finally successful. But another short term of office — that of Lovelace for six IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. II months — and another interval of government by a figure-head — Ingoldsby, again, for thirteen months — intervened before the arrival of a governor adequate to the task before him. In Hunter we have the first governor whose administration displayed not only intelligent zeal for the empire and sympa- thetic appreciation of the situation of the provincials, but also the ability to relate these two features in the actual conduct of affairs. Full description of these successive administrations and of Hunter's career, in New York would be an extensive task, requir- ing for its satisfactory achievement materials not at present accessible. It would practically constitute a political history of the province during its first stage of royal provincial existence. It is one of the purposes of this sketch rather to describe as carefully as may be the two elements of the governmental system, representing respectively the general-imperial and the local-pro- vincial aspects of New York, as they actually developed during the period from 1691 to the close of Hunter's administration. Chapters II. and III. are concerned with this description. These chronological limits are chosen because this was the period during which were elaborated the main outlines of the system and the more or less permanent methods of control, of that which has always been fundamental in English political development, viz., the power of the purse. Throughout all the manifestations of social and public life in the province, there was, to an extent, a general contest between provincial and imperial ideals. The essentially fundamental relation of financial, to all other ques- tions, gives particular importance to the development of the contest between these ideals in the matter of control over raising and spending public money. In chapters IV. and V. an endeavor is made to trace the story of this development. The elaboration of this financial system and the application of the results of the controversy over the matter to the general conduct of provincial affairs, in a way, make up the first stage of the existence of New York as a royal province. CHAPTER II. THE EXECUTIVE OFFICIAL SYSTEM. hi the original constitution of government in the province 'of New York, after its organization by the government of Wil- liam and Mary, the executive held a position of especial advan- tage and, at first, at any rate, of power. The newly established as- sembly took some time in learning its position and possible power, and a struggle for vantage ground preceded its engage- ment in the struggle for the dominating position in the provincial government which it afterward attained. And in the executive department the governor was easily the dominating figure. There were other executive officials, holding office by patent from the crown and having functions important in provincial and impe- rial life. The executive aspect of the functions of the council was also of great importance. Nevertheless the relations between the governor and these officials and the council were such that, in the last analysis, it was the character and aims of the individ- ual who held the office of governor that determined the com- plexion of the administration of public affairs in the province. With this view of the importance of the governor, the cir- cumstances surrounding appointment to an office of so great possibilities come to be of interest. The appointment was made by the King in Council, the name of the appointee v/as then sig- nified by the Principal Secretary of State, who was at the time in charge of colonial affairs, to the Board of Trade, and at the same tim.e the latter were desired to prepare a commission and a set of instructions. The influences actually having weight in the selection of individuals for this important office are not easy to determine. Authoritative information on the subject is scanty and fragmentary and yields only negative results to the search for light on the workings of the imperial system at this period. It v/ould appear that, whether solicited or not, the crown did not lack for intimations from interested parties, at any rate as to the qualities desired in an appointee. Thus, in 1689 we find a petition to the king from twenty-one merchants trading to and in New York, expressing to the king satisfaction in the appoint- ment of Sloughter, calling attention to the strategic position of (12) IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I3 New York and desiring that some military force and equipment be sent out with the new governor.^ In 1701, after the death of Bellomont, we find Robert Livingston in a long communication to the Board of Trade mentioning as among the things necessary at that time for the preservation of the province, "that a governor be appointed who is a soldier, a man fearing God and hating covetousness and who will administer impartially without sid- ing with any faction."- Again, in 1708, we find Lewis Morris writing to the Secretary of State in terms of the greatest freedom as to the "impudent conduct of the Governors, to call it no worse, that has been the great prejudice of her Majesty's service in America ;" adding, "We are told Sir Gilbert Heathcote has made some interest for his brother. Coll. Caleb Heathcote; he will be a man to the general satisfaction of ye people, and at this juncture to obteine a resetlement of her Ma j -ties revenue no man fitter. I know no man understands the Province or People better, or is more capable of doing her Majestic reall service. He is an honest man and the reverse of my Lord Cornbury."* Whether either of these latter communications, or their substance, ever came to the knowledge of the sovereign is of course impos- sible to determine. Certainly Cornbury was as far as it is possi- ble to conceive from the ideal figure sketched by Livingston and the appointment of Lovelace would at best indicate that military qualities at that junctur^ were considered more important than thorouTli understanding of the province and people. The appointment of Bellomont, an appointment as to. which we h^ve more than the usual amount of evidence concei^ning the crown's specific purpose, and upon which, apparently, unusual care was expended in consideration of the quaj-rties ol,Hi-e appoin- tee, reflected the disposition to consider more the ifterests of the trading empire at large than the exceedingly peculiar local situ- ation in New York. At tliait time t?he quality of impartiality men- tioned in Livingston's requirements was quite as necessary as in 1 70 1, and in this particular^Bellomont was deficient, at any rate in any efifective degree, and his predilection for the cause of one ' Col. Doc. III. 651. . * ^'Ibid. IV. 878. ' Ibid. V. 37-8. 14 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT of the factions in the province had been matter of pubUc knowl- edge before his appointment..^ In the case of Fletcher, (1692-1698), we have his own asser- tion in his defence against charges of corruption, that "in the §Irish Warr" and in his thirty years of service preceding he was "so far from making gaine by the misfortunes of our friends that I never did it from the ruine of our enemies and it was I presume the report of this behaviour that sent me into New York for I had never thought of the place till the moment it was proposed to me and my answer required."^ We have no more than his own assertion for these points, however, and in the reply made to this defence of Fletcher's, we have a hint as to forces that were reputed to have great weight in the making of all these appointments. It was asserted that, so far as misfortunes in Ireland were concerned, Bellomont had suffered more in this par- ticular "from that power that preferred and advanced Col. Fletcher," and that, too, at a time when Fletcher was not disturbed in his patrimony." As to Fletcher's need for the exercise of favor from some quarter, we have the testimony of William Penn to the fact of his being "a necessitous man," of whom it was to be feared that he would "more consider the advancement of his own private fortunes than the public benefit of the Province."* The disposition to explain the influences determining ap- pointments in terms of other things than personal fitness is re- flected all through William Smith's "History of New York." Thus in the case of Sloughter's appointment he remarks that a governor never was more necessary for reconciling a divided people as well as for defending them; "But either through the hurry of the King's affairs or the powerful interest of a favorite a man was sent over utterly destitute of every qualification for government."^ In like manner, Smith describes Cornbury's early ^ "The King did him the honor to say that he thought him a man of resolution and integrity, and with these qualities more likely than any other he could think of, to put a stop to the. growth of piracy." Smith, History of New York, p. 150. "" Col. Doc. IV. 445. 'Ibid. IV. 458. *Ibid. IV. 221. ^ Smith, p. 122. Colden's estimate of the reliabilit> of Smith's char- acterizations of governors was very low. Smith's defects in this regard being ascribed to "force of early prejudice — a narrow education, a weak IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I5 desertion of James II. for William, and adds, "King William in gratitude for his services gave him a commission for this gov- ernment."^ The appointment of Hunter is the most interesting of all, for, though he proved to be the best governor New York ever had, there seems to be no evidence that there was anything more in this case than the bestowal of a place on a favorite, this time happening to be a man well qualified for his post. Smith men- tions his acquaintance with Addison and others and hazards the suggestion that it was "by their interest that he was advanced to this profitable place. "^ Colden in his Letters on Smith's "His- tory" mentions Hunter's membership in the guard of honor of the Princess Anne when she retired from her father's court, his ser- vice in William's and Anne's army till after Ramillies, his com- mission as governor of Virginia, obtained through "friends in Queen Anne's Court," and, further, names Dr. Arbuthnot, the queen's favorite physician, as the court influence behind Hunter. "The Duke of Marlborough's influence over the Queen began about this time to lessen, and Dr. Arbuthnot prevailed with the Queen to name Mr. Hunter for the government of Jamaica which happened to be vacant without consulting her Ministry who had designed that government for another, but Mr. Hunter being apprehensive that if he went to Jamaica against the inclinations of the ministry he would be made uneasy in his government and the government of New York becoming vacant at this time by the death of Lord Lovelace, the Ministers were willing that he should have the Government of New York, therefor Mr. Hunter desired his friends to inform the Queen that he would rather have the government of New York than Jamaica, and it was accordingly granted him."^ An undoubted instance in eighteenth century English politics of "something equally as good" ! judgement and a stubborn temper of mind" (N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls., 1869, p. 207). It is not necessary to agree with Colden in this opinion of Smith, but, apart from the general tiuestion, it is to be observed that upon the point of reasons leading to the appointment Smith would probably be simply recording what was matter of general impression in N. Y. at the time and. so far as this goes, his serviceability is hardly to be impeached. 'Smith, p. 169. 'Ibid. 199. ' N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls. 1868, p. 196. l6 Pi i ASKS OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT During the period under consideration, three of the gov- ernol-s were members of the nobihty — Richard, Earl of Bello- mont, Edward, Viscount Cornbury, and John, Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley ; three were soldiers — Colonels Sloughter and ^Fletcher, and Brigadier Hunter. None were natives of New York or persons with previous experience in any practical way with the affairs of the dependencies. All but one, Sloughter, were governors of other provinces at the same time with their incumbency in New York; Fletcher, of Pennsylvania, from 26 October, 1692, to 20 August, 1694; Bellomont, throughout his incumbency, of Massachusetts and New Hampshire: Cornbury, Lovelace and Hunter, of New^ Jersey. It does not appear that this circumstance of a double government was regarded in New York as of very serious importance except in the case of Bellomont, who was absent from New York for nearly a year out of his three years of residence in America. At this time a petition of thirty- three New York merchants was preferred to the king, alleging that the strictness of Bellomont's instructions to the lieutenant governor during his (Bellomont's) absence acted as a great hind- rance to justice, trade and industry without any advantage to other subjects or to the king, and praying that the province be restored to "its former manner of administration unconcerned with the Governor of any other place. "^ This should probably be interpreted, however, as a part of the general mercantile hos- tility to Bellomont rather than as a serious complaint on this point as a specific grievance. As to the connection with New Jersey, no complaint appears from any quarter in New York, and there would seem to be little reason for any, for the gov- ernor's absences in that province were only for the purpose of meeting the assembly there and the sessions rarely consumed more than seven or eight weeks out of the year. In 1709 the point was raised, whether orders concerning New York given by the governor when he himself was in New Jersey were not void. The Board of Trade gave opinion that this was "groundless and unreasonable the contrary being practised every Day here by the Lords Lieutenants of Counties and particularly by the Lords Lieutenants of Ireland who frequently send orders into Ireland whilst they are Resident in the Kingdom."^ ^Col. Doc. IV. 624. 'Col. Doc. V. 155. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. IJ The tenure of office by the governor was during the pleas- ure of the crown and the powers granted by the commission were to be exercised immediately upon arrival within the province, which arrival, followed immediately by the publication of the commission, worked the determination of the effectiveness of the commission of the preceding incumbent.^ It might, and fre- quently did, happen that some time elapsed between the appoint- ment of a governor and the exercise by him of the powers con- veyed by his commission. Thus : Sloughter — 'Commission dated 14 November, 1689; arrived in New York 19 March, 1691. Fletcher — Commission dated 17 March, 1692; arrived in New York 28 August, 1692. Bellomont- — Appointed 16 March, 1697 ; arrived 2 April, 1698. Cornbury — Appointed 13 June, 1701 ; arrived 3 May, 1702. Lovelace — Appointed 28 March, 1708; arrived 18 Decem- ber, 1708. Hunter — Appointed 9 September, 1709; arrived 14 June, 1710. During the period from 1691 to 1720 the frequency with which the office of governor changed hands undoubtedly consti- tuted a feature of weakness in the imperial system of colonial admisintration.^ Eleven different persons administered the pow- ers of the governor's commission during the above-mentioned period, of whom six held commissions as governor and six acted ad interim ; one, Ingoldsby, as commander-in-chief, from 27 July, 1691, to 30 August, 1692, and as lieutenant governor from 6 May, 1709, to 10 April, 1710; one, Nanfan, as lieutenant governor from 20 May, 1701, to 3 May, 1702; and two, as pres- ident of the council, Beekman, from to April, 17 10, to 16 June, 1710, and Schuyler, from July, 1719, to September, 1720. There was one period of interregnum, as it were. On the death of Bel- lomont, 5 March, 1701, the lieutenant governor, Nanfan, was 'Col. Doc. IV. 272. " Smith (p. 149) says that Bellomont was appointed in 1695 but the appointment was signified to the Board of Trade on the above date. Col. Doc. IV. 261. ^ Egerton : A Short History of British Colonial Policy, pp. 156-8. l8 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT on leave of absence in Barbadoes. Dispute immediately arose as to whether powers of administration devolved upon the president of the council or upon the council acting by a majority of votes under the presidency of the eldest councilor. The violence of the spirit of faction then raging in the province caused the eldest ^councilor, William Smith, to proceed with so great caution that no precedent could be said to have been created by the case, the details of which will be related in another connection. Fortun- ately no outbreak occurred^ and the arrival of Nanfan. 20 May, 1 701, put an end to an extremely awkward situation. Making no distinction between governors holding ofiice by commission and persons administering the povv'-ers of the commission ad in- terim, the office changed hands ten times between 1691 and 1720, and the average term was, approximately, two years and a half. It is to be noted with respect to this average, that it does not by any means tell the story. The terms of two governors, Sloughter and Lovelace, were cut very short by death, in the case of Slough- ter, after four months, and in the case of Lovelace, after six months, of office. As we shall see, the powers of a lieutenant governor or a president of the council, particularly the latter, were of a somewhat curtailed character, compared with those of a .crovernor ; so that as material for the study of the working of the imperial system under normal circumstances, we have during this period only the administrations of Fletcher, of five years and a half, Bellomont, nearly three years, Cornbury, five years and a half, and Hunter, a little over nine years. During the period considered two governors were displaced, Fletcher and Cornbury. It is difficult to find any very reliable material for judgment upon the standard of efficiency required of governors in their tenure of office, in the circumstances of these displacements. Fletcher made a great deal of Shrewsbury's letter recalling him, in which Fletcher was informed that *'it was not for any dissatisfaction but in favor of the Earl of Bello- mont," and that the king would take care of him and employ him otherwise for the future.^ It does not appear that Fletcher ever was given another post, and his administration was certainly subjected to very close and suspicious examination, and, in sev- eral items, described as "not for your Majesty's service," by the ' Cal. Treas. Papers, vol. 1697-1701-2, p. 542 ; Col. Doc. IV. 443. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I9 Board of Trade. ^ This was after a series of hearings by the Board upon charges against Fletcher covering a variety of sub- jects. Complaints had been made against him to the Board in August and September, 1695, by Robert Livingston, charging him with refusal to account to the assembly for disposal of pub- lic money and with undue influence over elections.^ Further complaints were entered in September, 1696, by Leisler and Gouverneur, for partisanship in the internal factions in the prov- ince, undue influence over elections, misapplications of money raised by the assembly and of money sent by other colonies for defence, defrauding of the soldiers of the independent com- panies.^ Later in the year, in December, Penn submitted a letter from New York, dated 13 June, 1695, which he said he had kept by him for eight months, "being unwilling to concern himself in the matters — chiefly complaints against Colonel Fletcher. But however he thought fit in the end to discharge his hands of it." This letter, the signature of which was cancelled, was from Peter de la Noy, a prominent Leislerian, and covered the same subjects mentioned above and, in addition, mentioned the matter of Fletcher's complicity in the operations of New York pirates.* These complaints, with Bellomont's voluminous correspondence upon the subject of Fletcher's misdeeds, formed the basis of the formal charges, which covered a great variety of subjects — pro- tection of pirates, exorbitant grants of land, connivance at illegal trade, neglect of the military forces and of fortifications, illegal grant of letters of denization, discourtesy to the governor of Can- ada."'' Whether these evidences, of inefficiency or improper pro- cedure would of themselves have been sufficient to secure his dis- missal, it is hard to say. Both Fletcher and Livingston seem each to have thought himself in favor with the Duke of Shrewsbury, and the letter from de la Noy before referred to speaks of the people's "apprehension of his (Fletcher's) great power at court." That skilful use of complaints from the province, coupled with manipulation of court influences, was considered to be a possible method of getting rid of an obnoxious governor, we have ample 'Col. Doc. IV. 481. 'Ibid. IV. 127-30, 143-5. ''Ibid. IV. 212-16. *Ibid. IV. 221-4. " Ibid. IV. 443. 20 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT evidence. Perhaps the best example is the case of Bellomont himself, whose activity in enforcing the acts of trade and in discountenancing piracy so angered the merchants of New York that within a year of his arrival they "raised a sum of money by contribution, which they have sent for England, therewith to apply privately at Court to get the Earl removed."^ Apparently an equally important part of the scheme was to influence elec- tions to the assembly, so that the latter would refuse to renew the revenue, which would be a ''sure means to ruin the Earl's interest at Court and get him quickly called home."^ This plot was fomented from England by Fletcher after his return, who wrote to his New York friends just before these elections that "his affairs were in a very prosperous condition at the Court of England and that he made no manner of question to baffle all the accusations sent home against him."^ And later, in 1700, we find London merchants who traded to New York representing to the Board that Bellomont was discouraging lawful trade by his mismanagement, and in February, 1701, petitioning parliament for redress in the same matter.* The question whether Fletcher should be recalled actually for the misconduct indicated in the charges was probably never squarely faced by the imperial ad- ministration. The materials for the charges had been coming to the knowledge of the "Lords of the Committee" for nearly a year before the establishment of the "Board of Trade," in May, 1696. This Board, composed for the most part of men without official experience, was made acquainted in a still more compre- hensive way with the complaints against Fletcher in August and September, 1696, and in their representation on the northern colonies to the Lord Justices, 30 September, 1696, suggested, for military reasons,^ the appointment of a captain-general for the war, to command all regular forces and the militia of all the colonies on the continent, this captain-general to have the power ' Col. Doc. IV. 462. ^bid. IV. 508. * Ibid. *Ibid. IV. 604. '^ Possibly on the basis of the suggestion of Nelson, a Bostonian who had been taken prisoner by the French and who was at that time in England on parole. Brooke and Nicolls recommended him to the Board as able to inform them very particularly on the strength of the French in Canada. Col. Doc. IV. 186. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 21 of governor of any of the plantations immediately depending on the crown while present in it.^ It was after this, ii December, 1696, that the information concerning Fletcher's complicity with pirates seems to have been brought to the attention of the Board, who notified Fletcher in a letter of i February, 1697, that infor- mation had reached them from recent trials of pirates that his government was reputed to offer protections to pirates.^ In their representation to the king, 27 February, 1697, the Board pre- sented the matured results of their consideration of their sugges- tion to the Lords Justices for the military union of all the colonies. Their proposition now took the form of a governor for Mas- sachusetts, New York and New Hampshire, with chief residence at New York and with power of captain-general in those prov- inces and in Connecticut, Rhode Island and the Jersies.^ This was followed in less than a month by the appointment of Bello- mont to the position whose powers had thus been indicated. It seems probable that this appointment was made for the reasons which had had weight in the determination to carry out the above-mentioned recommendation of the Board, the importance of the position requiring a man of greater consequence than Fletcher could possibly be, and perhaps in view also of the king's high opinion of Bellomont, which was expressed at the time of his appointment. There are some circumstances about the recall of Fletcher and the appointment of Bellomont which suggest that it was an early case of securing the recall of an obnoxious governor through the medium of an agency, in this case informally con- stituted. It was noted above that complaints against Fletcher were brought to the Board in August and September, 1696, by Leisler and Gouverneur at just about the time that Brooke and Nicolls as agents of the province were making representations on the condition of the province with reference to the question of defence. Leisler and Gouverneur were the natural leaders of the Leislerian party in New York, which outnumbered their oppo- nents three to one,* and which had undoubtedly been discrim- inated against ever since Sloughter's arrival. They found no 'Col. Doc. IV. 228-9. ' Ibid. IV. 255. ' 'Ibid. IV. 259. *Ibid. IV. 524. 22 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT Opportunity of expressing themselves in the governmental organ- ization of the province, and the visit of Leisler and Gouverneur to England was naturally used by the party to improve its gen- eral situation in every possible way. Their success with parlia- ment in getting the attainder of the elder Leisler reversed natur- ally gave them the greatest encouragement and they bitterly resented the appointment of Brooke and Nicolls as agents, as- serting that it was a packed assembly that voted the money for the agency, that the agents were inveterate Anti-Leislerians sent .over ostensibly to represent the state of the province, but actually to secure the ''interest" of Fletcher and the Anti-Leislerians at court, etc. Peter de la Noy's letter to Penn, already referred to, shows plainly one object which the y\nti-Leislerians hoped for, viz., ''the removall of this man and we are not sollicitous whether he is gently recalled or falls into disgrace, so we are rid of him."^ But in view of all the circumstances — Fletcher's well-known "interest" at court, the equally obvious fact of the success of the Leislerian campaign in other high official quarters, the inaction of the administration in reference to the serious matters proved at the hearings of the charges against Fletcher, the opportunity to ascribe the supersession of Fletcher by Bello- mont to military exigencies of undoubtedly pressing character — in view of all these circumstances — it seems probable that the expressions used in Shrewsbury's letter to Fletcher — "not for dissatisfaction with him but in favor of the Earl of Bellomont" — were a very fair description of the situation. - In the case of Cornbury, we find complaints previous to his recall, from the collector and receiver-general in the province as to obstruction from the governor in the performance of his duties;^ from the lieutenant governor, that the governor gave him no instructions and prevented him from exercising any power either in New York or New Jersey;* and from Lewis Morris of New Jersey, giving a detailed account of partisanship ' Col. Doc. IV. 224. ^ Chalmers says, "he was soon after recalled partly owing to com- plaints made against him, but more with design to make room for a new plan of union of the Northern Colonies, on which the safety of the whole was supposed to depend." N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls. 1868, p. 149. * Col. Doc. V. 28. *Ibid. IV. 1162-3. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 23 and corruption in New Jersey and plainly stating Cornbury's conduct in New York to be as bad or worse. ^ These complaints came by way of incident after a considerable number of experi- ences by the Board of his neglect and inefficiency in attending to their requirements. It seems likely, too, that the administra- tion was moved partly by a negative aspect of the news com- municated by Morris, viz., that it was useless to expect the province under present conditions to renew the revenue which was shortly to expire; and partly by the possibility of a use for extraordinary military qualities in a ^.^overnor of New York in view of the intended expedition to Canada. At all events, Love- lace's appointment would seem to tally with these conditions. Smith bluntly says, "We never had a governor so universally detested, nor any who so richly deserved the publick abhorrence. Her Majesty graciously listened to the cries of her in- jured subjects, divested him of his power and appointed Lord Lovelace in his stead ; declaring that she would not countenance her nearest relations in oppressing her people."^ He mentions Cornbury's impotency with the assembly, particularly in the matter of the revenue, and ascribes it to his partisanship against the Leislerians, his persecution of the Presbyterians, the fear of his bigotry entertained by the Dutch, his avarice, embezzlement of the public money and his sordid refusal to pay his private debts. ^ It would seem to be a plain case of personal unfitness, finally exhausting the long-suffering patience of all concerned. Of the actual forces efficient with the home government in bringing about his removal we have, however, in the material at present accessible no reliable evidence. From the circumstances thus brought out concerning the displacement of these two governors it appears that inefficiency and even corruption in the office could run rather a long course before meeting with decided action by the authorities at home. It also appears that, among the influences practically determining the duration and security of a governor's lease of power, faithful and efficient discharge of the office did not play the leading part. The governor was supported by the salary or allowance, and perquisites. The former was allotted by the crown from the ^Col. Doc. V. 33. ' Smith, p. 188. 'Smith, p. 185. 24 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT revenue granted by the assembly for the support of government, and the amount was specified in the instructions. This allotted salary tended to increase during the period under consideration. His instructions directed Sloughter to take i6oo sterling, and the same amount was allotted to Fletcher. In the case of Bello- mont, who was governor of three colonies at once, the £600 was divided, and £400 allotted to Bellomont as governor of New York, and £200 to the lieutenant governor resident at New York.^ The theory was that Bellomont could afford to lose a portion of the customary New York salary because of his receipt of salaries in his other governments. And, on the other hand, considering the likelihood of frequent and prolonged absences of the governor from New York, the lieutenant governor here would require more than the usual compensation for that office, viz., one half the salary and perquisites of the governor during the time of the latter's absence. In the case of these first three governors, the allotted salary had been supplemented by the "presents," i. e., sums of money granted by the assembly "for the use of" the governor, gen- erally immediately after his arrival.- These presents seem to have been officially recognized by the crown as a part of the system of recompense for the governor, for a clause in the in- structions particularly required that no money or value thereof be granted "by any Act or Order of Assembly to any Governor or Lieutenant Governor or Commander-in-Chief . . . which shall not according to the Stile of Acts of Parliament in England be mentioned to be given and granted to us with the humble desire of such Assembly that the same be applyed to the use and behoof of such Governor . . . if we shall think fit or if we shall not approve of such gift or application" the money should be appropriated to other uses mentioned in the Act and to remain in the hands of the Collector till the royal pleasure be known. ^ Nevertheless Sloughter's first assembly granted the money that came in to the receiver-general on account of duties, etc., "accus- tomed to be taken but not Warrantable by the Law" between ^Col. Doc. IV. 290. The reverse of the arrangement in the case of Andros in 1688. ^ Peter de la Noy, referring to the present to Fletcher, calls it "the usual compliment made to a new Governor." Col. Doc. IV. 221. ' Ibid III. 686. IN NEW YORK^ 169I-I719. 2$ 29 January, 1691, the date of Ingoldsby's arrival, and 18 May, 1691, the date of pubhcation of the act granting a revenue for the support of government, to "his said Excellency to enable (him) to defray his extraordinary expence."^ The first assembly called by Fletcher made him a present, partially complying with the requirements of the instructions. By this act "the Rate of one Penny in the Pound upon all the Reall and Personal Estates within the Province" was granted to their Majesties "to be allowed unto his Excellency the Gov- ernor for his care 'of the Province;" but no provision was made for complying with the other requirements of the instructions for such a case.^ This rate, according to his own account, brought in to Fletcher actually about £600. His enemies asserted that it should have amounted to i20oo, but that Fletcher, by his greediness, mismanaged tne collection so that he lost the greater part, that he accused the assessors of partiality and threatened to commit them to jail for not assessing the inhabitants heavily enough. Fletcher himself ascribed his misfortune to a merchant of the city to whom he entrusted the collection and by whom he ^ Colonial Laws of N. Y., 253-4. It is to be observed that this was the first assembly legally held in the province, since it came under the direct government of the crown. This assembly evidently took the ground that the new plan of government contained in the commission and instructions to Sloughter went into operation with the arrival of a royal officer commissioned to obey the king's "Governor of N. Y. now and for the time being." In that case, taxes of any sort could only be collected on the authority of the assembly which was directed to be summoned by the governor. A collector, then, who had continued to receive taxes dependent for their authority on the former regime, would need to be indemnified for such proceeding for the period between the determination of the old regime and actual granting of taxes by the proper authority of the new government. This indemnification was another feature of the act, which granted the proceeds of such collection to the governor. It is further to be observed that according to that which later became the custom of the province, the administration of a new governor did not begin till he had actually arrived and published his commission. From this technical point of view, then, the new Constitu- tion could not be regarded as actually in operation till the arrival of Sloughter, 19 March, nearly two months after the arrival of Ingoldsby, and in this act the assembly was granting what did not belong to it, and that to the amount of the proceeds of these two months. It does not appear, however, that this view of the matter was ever publicly mentioned. ' Col. Laws I. 308. 26 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT was deceived — this according to Bellomont's report.^ Fletcher was also accused of trying to enforce the "present" device upon the smaller units of government, procuring, through his tools, an Address and a golden cup of the value of £20 from the city of New York, and, by the use of blackmailing methods upon the Indian fur-trade at Albany, a present of fifty or sixty of the best skins. ^ The first assembly of Bellomont's administration did no public business. But at the first session of his second assembly, elected after changes in the lists of the returning officers and under circumstances of great excitement, an act was passed, granting to the king £2000, "£1500 whereof to be allowed to his Excellency. . . . and £500 to . . . the Lieutenant Governor." The provisions of this act seem even more at vari- ance with the letter of the requirements of the instructions, for, though the language of the introductory sentences conveys une- quivocally the meaning of a direct gift to the crown in the most humble terms, the enacting clause provides that the said sum be "raised to the uses aforesaid and to no other use . . . what- ever."^ It is uncertain whether the governor and lieutenant governor ever had any benefit from this act. As late as 29 July, 1700, Bellomont complained of ill usage from the home govern- ment in "not allowing me to make use of the £1500 given by this province in almost a year and a half's time."* And in Octo- ber, 1700, he complained most bitterly that the long suspension of this act was being used by his opponents in New York as an undeniable token of his disgrace at home.^ It would seem that the delay was occasioned by the solicitor general's office in London and that the whole matter of salaries was under con- sideration by the crown as late as 21 June, 1700. But the terms used in the letter of the Board, 19 September, 1700, make it entirely uncertain whether this act is or is not one of those which they mention as having declined to give an opinion upon.® A part, at any rate, of the £2000 was collected, but no full account 'Col. Doc. IV. 221, 611-2. ' Ibid. IV. 222-3. ' Col. Laws I. 397. *Col. Doc. IV. 698. Mbid. 714. ''Ibid. 667, 699, 840. IN NEW YORK, 169I-1719. 2/ was ever obtained. Apparently what accounts there ever were on the subject disappeared when Weaver, collector and receiver general under Bellomont, was suspended by Cornbury.^ Apparently the home government had not reached any con- clusion in the matter of an increase of the allotted salary of the governor, when, in the summer of 1701, a commission and a set of instructions were drawn up for Cornbury; for none of the few alterations made in the instructions of Bellomont concerned the matter of the governor's salary.^ Cornbury's first assembly passed an act for a present of £2000 to the gov- ernor, which act conformed fully to the letter of the require- ments, appropriating the sum so raised to the defense of the country in the absence of the king's permission for its original application.^ This act was confirmed by the queen."* But in April, 1703, a letter from the queen, alleging the inconveniency arising from the custom, forbade a governor to give his consent to any law or act for a gift or present from the assembly to any governor or lieutenant governor or commander-in-chief, and also forbade such persons to accept any present from the assembly or any one else in any manner under penalty of high- est displeasure and recall from office. By the same letter, which, incidentally, was incorporated in all succeeding instructions, the governor was directed to take from the revenue £1200 instead of £600 as his salary, and the assembly, in consideration of light- ening the "customary burthen of presents," was to be informed of the queen's expectation "that they would contribute in a more ample and effectuall manner to their own safety and pres- ervation."^ No further change was made by the crown in the amount of the governor's allotted salary during the period under consideration. No resistance seems to have been actually put forth against this allotment by the crown out of the revenue raised by the assembly till 1710, when, at the beginning of Hunter's adminis- tration, the assembly entered upon a long contest with the gov- ' Minutes of the Executive Council, VIII. 144, 152, 183-4, 259, 270, 328. Colonial Mss. XLIV. 51, XLVII. 110. ^Col. Doc. IV. 885. ' Col. Laws I. 508. *Col. Doc. IV. 1038. Mbid. IV. 1040-1. 28 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT ernor and council upon the whole issue of support of govern- ment, a contest which, as its development showed, was waged upon the abstract question of the political consequences of the previous method of support, unconnected with complications of personal animosity against the governor. This contest was of signal importance for the constitutional development of the prov- ince, and the story of it will be related in another connection. On this particular point of the amount of the governor's salary and the crown's allotment of it from the revenue, it is to be observed that one feature of the contest was the proposition of the assembly in 1710 to vote 2500 ounces of silver — about one half the value of the appointed salary — ''towards defraying the Governor's necessary expense for one year." Hunter reported that in doing this the assembly was acting definitely on the notion that the crown had no right to appoint a governor's salary out of the revenue raised by them. He exhibited to the assembly the clause of his instructions fixing his salary, but all to no pur- pose. The matter went so far that the Board of Trade prepared bills for parliament enacting "a Revenue of what has usually been allowed . . . for the support of the Governor and the necessary expenses of government."^ In the final settlement, by compromise, of the whole dispute, in 171 5, the assembly by resolve fixed the governor's salary at the figure named in the instructions.^ The perquisites were described by Bellomont at the begin- ning of his administration as consisting of fees — for passes for ships, marriage licenses, probate business and other things re- quiring the province seal, — fines and forfeitures, one third of the proceeds from seizures of vessels and goods for unlawful trade, and presents from the Indians.^ The governor's share in the proceeds from seizures was secured to him by act of par- liament.* His income from fees became increasingly liable to attack on the part of the assembly as time went on, but during the period under consideration no act regulating fees escaped disallowance in England. Besides, the dispute over fees, which was a feature of the great struggle between the governor and ' Col. Doc. V. 191-3, 197, 285, 287, 330, 333, 359-60, 367, 452. ^Journal of the Assembly I. 375. 'Col. Doc. IV. 316, 522-3. nbid. IV. 316. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 29 council and assembly, 1709- 171 5, seems to have been rather over fees of court officers and attorneys than those taken by the governor and secretary.^ In the Table of Fees proposed by the assembly in 1709 there appear in addition to the fees for purposes already mentioned, fees taken at different stages in the process of getting a patent for land.^ From Bellomont, more than any one else, we get information concerning both the amount of salary and perquisites together, and the amount of different items of perquisites. He complains early in his residence in New York that he does not see how he can make above £800 salary and perquisites, and somewhat later reports that in thirteen months, outside of salary and pro- ceeds of seizures, he has received only £83 : 6, New York money, for passes for ships, marriage licenses, probate business and all things requiring the province seal,^ and £88:9: 10 from the sale of skins received as presents from the Indians. According to the accounts of Weaver, collector and receiver general under Bellomont, the seizures for the period from 8 June, 1698, to 25 November, 1700, amounted to £375:13:72.* So that Bello- mont's fears, expressed above, as to his yearly income from his New York government not reaching £800 seem entirely justified. Bellomont was not at all backward in representing the matter to the Board of Trade, asserting that he was worse off in fortune than when he came, though if he were willing to use the corrup- tion of Fletcher he could make the government more valuable than that of Ireland, ''reckoned the best government in His Maj- estie's gift ;" calling their attention to the fact that the intendant of Canada gets as much as he himself gets from all three of his governments, while the emoluments of the governor of Can- ada are reckoned anywhere from six to ten thousand pistoles. He admits that Virginia and Maryland, whose governorships are worth respectively £4000 and £2500, yield a great revenue to the crown, but contends that that very revenue in those prov- inces depends upon his own right management of the Indians in 'Col. Doc. IV. 157, 170, 177, 184, 947. Col. Laws I. 639. 'Ibid. 638. ^ The governor received twelve shillings for every use of the Pro- vince seal. Col. Doc- IV. 378, 522-3, 687. *Col. Mss. XLVIII. 110. 30 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT New York.^ We have seen that early in Cornbury's term the allotted salary was doubled, but whether this was in direct re- sponse to Bellomont's representations, we have no means of knowing. Fletcher was accused of having, by the use of all possible devices, cleared from £30,000 to £40,000 in his six years of residence. He himself said that if he should get all that was due to him his net gains would not amount to more than £3000.^ Fletcher certainly must have cleared more than that, by all ac- counts but his own, but whatever the figure, his is not a typical case, for no subsequent governor was allowed the opportunities which he so richly exploited. A travelling allowance seems to have been made in some cases out of the revenue in England. Bellomont accused Fletcher of having obtained the consent of the council in New York to the issue of a warrant to himself for £130, to reimburse him for his expenses on the voyage from England ("notwithstanding his Majesty's Allowance of i6oo on that account in England.")^ The minutes of the council show the passage of such a warrant, but as yet no indications have been found of the payment of such sum in England. In the case of Cornbury, we have his request to the Board of Trade for "such allowance of tunnage as is usual" for transporting his servants and goods to New York.* And on a date suspiciously close to that of his request we have the follow- ing: "His Majesty directs that in order to avoid making prece- dents there be paid to Lord Cornbury Governor of New York iiooo out of the secret service money as of His Majesty's bounty to enable him to proceed on his voyage."^ From this it is natural to infer that such an allowance at any rate was not usual. And it is of interest to note that Cornbury succeeded in the first few days of his residence in New York in persuading the council to give him a warrant for one half his salary for the period between the date of his commission and his arrival in the province, a period of eight months.^ No evidence of a travelling allowance appears in the cases of the other governors, and as both of those ' Col. Doc. IV. 378, 676, 724. ' Ibid. IV. 451. 'Ibid. IV. 422. Mbid. IV. 913. »Cal. Treas. Papers Vol. 1701-1707, 2/13 Sept. 1701. 'Minutes of Exec. Council IX. 27. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719; 3I who succeeded in obtaining it had an unsavory reputation for greed, we must consider that it was not a regular feature of the governor's support. The powers to be exercised by the governor were conveyed through, and described by, the commission and instructions. The relation between these two documents has been well indi- cated by Greene, who describes the commission as containing the grant of power and the instructions as containing directions for the use of that power, frequently limiting its scope.^ Here it will be convenient to consider the commission and instructions together, and inquire to what degree they partook of that comparative fixity of character and publicity which we asso- ciate with the idea of a written constitution and note some partic- ulars of the form in which this quasi constitution appears. The changes in the commission were made gradually and in the period under consideration were, though rather numerous in the aggregate, not very extensive in character. Sloughter's commission, which was modelled on Dongan's rather than on Andros', was expressed in forty clauses and covered twelve dif- ferent subjects. Hunter's commission, which was shorter and covered fewer general subjects, showed twenty-two changes in all from that of Sloughter, of which some were purely formal, two consisted of slight and insignificant changes in verbal ex- pression, some were omissions because of changes in the imperial system, such as the power to "erect, nominate and appoint Cus- tom houses and officers pertaining," and some were the result of local development within the province, such as the direction in Hunter's commission for summoning assemblies according to the usage of the province of New York instead of according to the usage of other plantations in America.- Of these changes more than one-half were made between the issue of a commission to Bellomont and that to Hunter. The commission was published immediately upon a governor's arrival, that is to say, it was pub- licly read under conditions of some ceremony. Sometimes it was read twice, once at the fort in the presence of the council, after which the governor and council took the oaths and then pro- ceeded to the City Hall, where the commission was read again.^ * Greene : Provincial Governor, p. 94. ' Col. Doc. III. 623 ; V. 62-8. ' Minutes of Exec. Council IX. 16-18. 32 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT In form the commission consisted chiefly of conveyances of power from the king, the terms used being *'we do hereby give and grant full power and authority;" of requirements or direc- tions, the terms used being, "our Will and Pleasure is," "we will and require you," and of appointment or declaration, using such phrase as "we do ordain, constitute and appoint." The form of direct grant of power is used in two-thirds of the instances and though there seems to be a slight preponderance of the use of the phrases of requirement and direction in the case of restrictions on popular power, this is not at all certain. The instructions showed a very much greater tendency to increase in length and to go into more and more specific detail and complexity. Sloughter's instructions contained sixty-two clauses, which number had increased by Hunter's time to one hundred and twelve, and three-fourths of the increase was made in the latter's instructions. Sloughter's instructions, like his commission, were based on Dongan's, the chief differences being due to the presence of an assembly, the encouragement of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of London instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the exclusion of Papists from the privileges of toleration, the limitation of the appointing powers of the governor and the specific inclusion of the matter of ap- peals to the privy council. Of the sixty-two clauses in Slough- ter's instructions, nine concerned the governor and his relation to other officials, six concerned legislation, seven administration of justice, twelve guardianship of morals and ecclesiastical admin- istration, six administration of military affairs, eight fiscal admin- istration, three diplomatic affairs, meaning by that relations with other colonies, with the Indians and with European powers in treaty relation with Great Britain, and two concerned the trans- mission of statistical matter by the governor. Of the forty-five changes between Slou3T The customs, for the first twelve years after 169 1 averaged about two-thirds of the revenue.^ The system continued till 1709 to be practically that established in 1683 by the Dongan assembly. It consisted of duties on imports of distilled liquors, wines, and merchandise and duties on exports of fur. The export duties were specific, and were accompanied by schedules of valuation; and duties and valuations remained practically unchanged until 1709. In connection with the duty on exported furs the act of 1683 provided for what amounted to a Hcense of ten per cent, on transaction in furs within the province. This appears in the revenue act of 1691, but after that was dropped. The duties on imported liquors were specific and remained fixed, except for a reduction of the duty on rum sent up the river for the Indian trade. There was more development in the system of duties on imported merchandise. The act of 1683 and the explanatory act of 1684 imposed a duty of two per cent, on merchandise, with a list of exemptions which included farm products of the neigh- boring colonies on the mainland and a number of semi-tropical products from the island colonies, as well as certain building materials. An additional duty of ten per cent, was laid on "In- dian goods," and specific duties on arms and ammunition and rum, when sent up the river. A schedule of valuations for each variety of Indian goods was provided. This system was con- tinued by the act of 1691. But in 1692 the duty of ten per cent, on Indian goods sent up the river, in addition to the two per cent, on general merchandise on importation, was changed to a system which laid a five per cent, duty on all Indian goods on importation, in addition to the two per cent, duty which the same goods had already paid as general merchandise. The ten per cent, tax on transactions in furs also disappeared at this time. The specific duties on arms and ammunition and rum sent up the river remained till 1700, when the four pence per gallon on rum, thus designed for the Indian trade, was dropped.^ The productiveness of this item of the revenue would evi- dently be dependent not only on the character of the collector, but also upon the character of the mercantile population and the opportunities for smuggling aflforded by the topography of the 'Doc. Hist. I. 701-2. Col. Mss. XLVII. 110. 'Col. Laws I. 116, 170, 248, 287, 325, 419. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. lOI region. Bellomont considered that he had found a combination of unfavorable tendencies in all these directions at once — ''the Acts of Trade being no otherwise put in execution than in the voice of the people." Even at the close of an administration full of an active, and, on the whole, successful, crusade against viola- tions of all acts of trade, imperial and colonial, Bellomont was obliged to report that probably one-third of the trade of the prov- ince was against law. Imperfection in the machinery of collec- tion was evidently a contributing feature, and even parliamentary interference for its improvement was suggested and threatened. There seems, further, to have been an actual decay in the volume of trade, beginning with the opening of the eighteenth century. Its causes were at the time, variously ascribed to losses by war, shifting in the habits of the commercial community occasioned by Bellomont's attack on the New York system of illegal and piratical trade, and the dissolution of the New York City monop- oly of bolting flour, an important export item. It may not un- reasonably be assumed that all of the features, the separate exist- ence of which is fully attested, combined to account for the decay in the volume of trade, which seems to have been unques- tioned.^ The excise, levied on liquors sold at retail within the prov- ince, was throughout the period, granted in the same act with the customs. In proportionate amount of the whole revenue for the period for which figures are accessible, it averaged a little under one-fifth. The act of 1691 abolished the distinction between New York City and the rest of the province, previously existing in this matter, and provided for an excise on the sale of distilled liquors in quantity under fifteen gallons ; the same rate, viz., twelve pence per gallon, on the sale of wine in quantity under five gallons, and continued the former rate of six shillings per barrel on the sale of beer or cider. The act of 1692 abolished the distinction between distilled liquors and wines in the matter of the quantity constituting retail sale, making it five gallons for both. These were all the changes in the rates of excise during this period.^ The management of this item of the revenue, like that of the customs, seems to have been in the hands of the collector 'Col. Doc. IV. 324-5, 417, 590-1, 515-6, 634, 603, 721, 778, 1012, 1083-4, 1150, V. 57-9. ^ Col. Laws I. 116, 248, 287. I02 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT and receiver general under the more or less active superintend- ence of the governor and council. It was usually farmed by counties, and the resulting opportunities for "graft" were appar- ently improved. Thus Bellomont reports the corrupt dealing of Fletcher's collector, Brooke, in the awarding of the contract for Long Island for £52 to his friend, the sheriff of New York, whose company was reported to be making £500. Accusations of the same nature, however, were made against Weaver, Bello- mont's own collector, and on the arrival of Cornbury all Weaver's arrangements on this matter were annulled. Bellomont thought that the excise on the province should amount to £12,000, and was informed by those who had experience that it ought to yield at least £2,000; but he found difficulty in bringing it to i 1,200, though he estimated the population as four times and the num- ber of public houses as ten times as great as before the Leisler episode. Apparently the only alternatives to the award of the farming contracts to friends of the collector were, award by the council itself, selling the contracts at auction to the highest bidder, the process of "agreeing with" the public house keepers for at least the highest sum they had ever before paid, and a combina- tion of all these methods, varying the arrangement to suit the peculiarities of the counties. The last method seems to have been that which prevailed, for the most part, with what results on the productiveness of the excise as an item of revenue, figures are lacking to show.^ As these two items together constituted the largest part of the revenue and were always, till 1709, granted in one act, the circumstances connected with the passage of these acts are of some importance. The passage of the act of 1691 presents no features of special interest beyond the fact that the desire of the New York City merchants that the importation of European goods from neighboring colonies be restrained by a ten per cent, duty was denied, such restraint being resolved by the assembly to be "at this juncture a grievance to the inhabitants."^ This assembly granted the revenue for a period of two years from pub- lication, viz., 18 May, 1691. In the autumn preceding the expi- ration of this revenue, the newly arrived governor, Fletcher, en- 'Exec. Council Minutes 8:39, 105-6, 183-4, 194, 9:49-50, 235. Col. Doc. IV. 418, 617. 'Ass. Journal I. 16-7. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. IO3 deavored to make the point of having the revenue granted for the Hfe of the sovereign. The records of this assembly are incom- plete, and those which are accessible reveal the council demand- ing a grant for five years instead of two. In the conferences on the subject the assembly defended itself against the charge of disrespect or ingratitude to the crown by pleading the heavy burdens on the province, particularly in consideration of the free- dom from such burdens enjoyed by their neighbors. They further announced that they were considering a new method of support- ing the government, with the hope of making it more easy for the merchant ; but, till the wished-for annexation of the neighboring colonies, they thought it best not to discourage the merchants by grants of the present revenue for too long a period. How seri- ously this announcement is to be taken we have no information to shew. At all events, the governor and council did not push the matter any further and the grant was made again for two years.' At the next session in the spring of 1693, the revenue for life was again proposed in the governor's speech but the house took no action. The same subject was warmly urged on the newly elected assembly in the fall of 1693, and an animated debate took place in the conference. The council urged the example of Vir- ginia and Maryland and the previous grant in New York to James II., represented that giving it for life was no more than for a succession of periods and suggested that the compliment to the sovereign would enable the governor with greater boldness to ask for aid from home, and would lighten the burden of the militia detachments and taxes to support them. The assembly in reply repeated the announcement made by the previous assem- bly, of a design to support the government on a new basis, the present method being but a makeshift till conditions of war should be ended and their neighbours annexed. They protested that they did not intend to settle any less sum, but to settle it for life would be "presidentall," and "would be expected by the next Successour." And despite the council's enthusiastic laudation of the customs and excise as the "easiest" method of supporting the government, the assembly remained firm, and the governor and council, though with exceeding bad grace, were compelled to Ass. J. I. 26-28. Council J. I. 30-32, 35. I04 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT submit. It may be significant that it was at this session that the act for settHng a ministry in certain parts of the province, an act on which the governor had set his heart, was passed.^ The next grant, in 1699, for a period of six years from 1700, was made by an assembly elected on this issue of granting a revenue, as it stood related to the whole question of the policy of Bellomont, the new governor. The opponents of his policy of enforcement of the imperial trade system had not scrupled to use their whole endeavor to arouse popular prejudice against him. On account of his vigorous attack on the "system" countenanced by Fletcher, he had not been able to avoid the appearance of patronizing the Leislerian faction. The scheme of his oppon- ents was to get an assembly elected which would refuse to con- tinue the revenue and thus involve the governor in such disgrace at home as would inevitably lead to his recall. On his part the governor did not scruple to use executive patronage to procure a "tractable" assembly, one which would continue the revenue for five years, "which is what I Chieftly stickle for." In this he was entirely successful and the revenue was continued for six years, this time without effort on the governor's part to secure a grant for life. But the governor's "management" of the as- sembly for this purpose also involved his co-operation in acts of legislation which had a decided bearing an partisan interests. Here is a plain case of barter between governor and assembly, with continuation of revenue legislation on the one side and com- plaisance in partisan legislation on the other.^ The same is true to even greater degree of the next grant of revenue, which occurred under peculiar circumstances, four years before the expiration of the current revenue, i. e., in 1702. Bellomont had experienced the greatest difficulty in restraining the vengeful passions of the Leislerians, who, as we have seen, were willing to buy legislative measures of redress with a longer grant of revenue than had been usual. Nanfan, the lieutenant governor, who succeeded on the death of Bellomont, was quite unable to restrain this fury ; and among the acts rushed through the assembly just before the arrival of Cornbury was one con- tinuing the revenue for two years after 1706, and at the same time requiring immediate payment of salaries to certain favorites ' Ass. J. I. 32-3. Council J. I. 43-8. 'Ass. J. 92-105. Col. Doc. IV. 327, 379, 507-8, 524, 821. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 10$ of the Leislerian party. This latter feature was an innovation in an act granting the revenue, and was probably, as Cornbury reported, the reason for passing the act. The whole legislative output of this session was subsequently annulled, but Cornbury, in the first session of the assembly elected after his arrival, ex- acted a real continuation of the revenue for three years after 1706, in return for legislation repealing certain important statutes of Bellomont's time which had frustrated schemes of the Anti- Leislerian leaders.^ The point of importance to be noted in con- nection with all these grants of revenue is, that in the reckless excitement of factional conflict both parties for the sake of cor- rupt advantage put it beyond the power of an opposition to bring the pressure of a denial of supply for the ordinary support of government to, bear upon the administration till after 1709. As the customs and the excise together constituted about eighty-five per cent, of the revenue, the remaining items were comparatively unimportant in point of productiveness. The only one that was dependent on the vote of the assembly was that de- rived from the "Weigh house Duties," which averaged about two and one half per cent, of the total revenue. This was granted by the assembly in 1692, having been collected prior to that time by virtue of the prerogative. The assembly attempted to make the grant for two years only, but were told by the council that, since it was only out of the condescension of the governor that they were allowed to ascertain the rates, nothing less than an unlimited grant could be considered. A subsequent request from the assembly, that the proceeds from the "King's Beam" be appropriated to the fortifications of New York City, "that the imposition may be the more willingly paid by the inhabitants," was ignored.^ The income derived from seizures and forfeitures was from the nature of the case variable — "casual and accidental" was the term contemporaneously employed in description. During the first eleven years after 1691 it averaged about two and one-half per cent, of the total revenue. During Cornbury's administra- tion the collector would not make any payments from this source of income without special orders from home. ' Col. Laws I. 487, 517. Col. Doc. IV. 999, 1004. ' Col. Laws I. 322. Ass. J. L 30. Council J. L 38-9. I06 i'llA^ii.S Of xiUY.vL GOVERNMENT The quit rents constituted an item which, from its nature, might have been supposed to be an important feature of the rev- enue. The territorial revenue of the crown being beyond the direct influence of the assembly might have been the nucleus of an independent resource. That it was not thus available in any im- portant degree was due to the negligence of some, and the cor- rupt activity of other governors. In 1710 the attorney general reported that by reason of the small reservations of quit-rents, the non-enrollment of patents or their loss if made, the presence of illegal features in many of the grants and the non-fulfillment of conditions, the income from "the greatest part of the conti- nent" would not average iioo a year. Whatever the fault of the early governors (and the proceedings of Fletcher in granting three-fourths of the province to less than a dozen people for quit rents amounting to less than £5 per annum shows that this w^s not inconsiderable), a wide-spread spirit of lawlessness con- cerning these matters in the rural regions is equally an element of the situation. Bellomont's opponents, in the election on the rev- enue issue already referred to, placed great reliance on their trick in getting him to essay the collection of the quit rents on a whole- sale plan during the progress of the campaign. He himself sug- gested the necessity of an act of parliament for the regulation of land-granting in the province, being sure that no dependence could be placed on the assembly. He estimated that at a proper rate the income from this source should amount to £3000. Noth- ing in the line of improvement of the situation was achieved, however, during the currency of the revenue, though effort was made in this direction by the council in Cornbury's time, and though it was the government's only available resource in una- voidable exigencies.^ The subject of fees was one upon which there was strong popular feeling and much determined effort on the part of the assembly. The commission and instructions of the early part of the period seemed to commit the regulation of them to the governor and council, although in terms which did not entirely exclude the possibility of participation by the assembly. The subject had importance for the question of control of the finances by the popular body, because to the degree that the support of ' Col. Doc. IV. 419, 519-20, 514, 555, V. 161-2. Council T. I. 212, 218-9. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 10/ such officers was withdrawn from dependence on the legislature was control of them by that body rendered difficult. In their offi- cial expressions, however, it was always the burden on the ordin- ary conduct of aftairs which was entailed by the extravagant charges, that was emphasized. In connection with the grants of revenue prior to Cornbury, tables or catalogues of fees were sent up to the council by the assembly. A regulation seems to have been provided by the council, after the receipt of a table from the assembly in 1693; but it seems never to have passed in regular form as an ordinance. Bellomont was of opinion that power in this matter was in the hands of the governor and council whose action must be especially approved by the home government ; and he so informed the assembly, who thereupon withdrew their table which they had intended to form part of the revenue act in 1699. It does not appear that any action from home was secured, and the regulation of 1693 continued in form. The general movement for reform of financial method by the as- sembly under Cornbury included repeated attacks on the fee system, which was represented as a form of taking away the property of the subject without consent in general assembly. These attempts culminated in 1709 in an act establishing fees, passed by both houses, and assented to by the lieutenant gov- ernor in the fear of stirring up trouble with the assembly at a time when so much was expected of it in the way of military supplies for the Canada expedition. In his correspondence with the home government Ingoldsby hinted that reform in some par- ticulars would be entirely in order; but that the assembly had gone much too far in the other direction, reducing the fees so low that officers could not live. The act was disallowed and the con- tinuance of this contest formed a part of the general revenue controversy under Hunter.^ Levies of direct taxes comprised an item of public income which at any rate, for the first twenty years, after 1691, consid- erably exceeded the revenue in productiveness. The purposes for which these levies were made were, in theory, the "extraordinary uses" of the province, as distinguished from the "ordinary support of government." Naturally then, they were not necessarily mat- ' Col. Laws I. 638. Ass. J. I. 12-13, 17, 28, 30, 223-4. Council J. I. 32, 132-4. Col. Doc. IV. 287, V. 82, 603. I08 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT ters of annual or regular grant, but in fact, as the acts levying them were chiefly for purposes of defense, and as there were only four years of formal peace during this period, such acts came to be quite regular in their recurrence till the movement for the creation of the office of the country treasurer began in 1703. During this period there were only two years in which an act for the levy of direct taxes was not passed by the legis- lature. By governors' administrations, the levies of direct taxes ran as follows : Sloughter and Ingolds- by i5ooo Defense Fletcher £20,477 ^ 6 : 8 Defense ii,ooo Agency £750 Present to governor Bellomont and Nanfan i 1,000 Defense i2,ooo Present to governor and lieutenant-governor. ii,ooo Payment of debts Cornbury £8,483 : 10 Defense i2,ooo Present to governor £143:10:10 Room for assembly ii,oio Payment of debts Practically all these levies were of the nature of a general property tax ; that is, a lump sum was granted, which was vari- ously called a "sum," "supply," "levy," "fund," quotas of which were by the terms of the act assigned among the several counties, to be "levied, assessed and raised upon the inhabitants, residents and freeholders." There was only one instance of the use of the "penny in the pound rate," viz. in 1692, for a present to Fletcher. There was one instance of the use of a poll-tax, in 1703, by which nine pence was imposed on freemen of sixteen years and over, three shillings on bachelors of twenty-five years, five shil- lings and six pence on persons wearing a periwig, twenty shil- lings on practising lawyers, twenty shillings on members of the assembly, and forty shillings on members of the council. With these exceptions the levies were of the nature indicated. For assessment and collection of these taxes, the machinery used by the counties for their local rates was employed, and penalties were provided for failure by the justices of the peace of the IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. IO9 counties or the mayors or aldermen oi the cities to enforce the powers of the act. Considerable difficulty was experienced in keeping the county officers to their duty, and for the first ten or fifteen years the records of the executive council contain many instances of pressure from that body on the justices. Most of the development in the system was concerned with strengthening here and there the penalties for the non-enforcs- ment of the acts. At first, payment in produce was allowed, and schedules of rates at which it was to be received formed part of the acts. By 1695, this practice seems to have been dis- continued. A number of the early tax acts provide for taking up a proportional part of the sum to be raised at interest, on the credit of the act, with special appropriation clauses for the repay- ment of the persons who should thus advance ready money. Attempt was made early in the period to arrange for a system of commissioners in each county, to be appointed by the as- sembly and commissioned by the governor, for estimating es- tates ; and an establishment for such estimation "to prevent un- certainties in the Proportioning of all Subsidies ;" was included in the plan. But the device was rejected in council. Unfortunately the records of the assembly give no information concerning any debates over the assignment of quotas to the counties. The quotas bear a proportionate relation, not strictly maintained, to the population of the counties.^ It was matter of complaint by the Anti-Leislerians that what was praised as public spirit in their adversaries in reality cost them little, for their whole number paid scarcely one-fifth of the public assessments and scarcely one-fiftieth of the customs reve- nue. During Fletcher's administration, the taxes for defense, — and most of them were for that purpose, — omitted Albany from the quotas, in consideration of that county furnishing quarters, ' Col. Laws I. 239, 258, 272, 282, 315, 344, 352, 354, 358, 3G4, 369, 381. Ass-y J. I. 36-8. In the period 1691-1711, the quota of the City and County of N. Y. averaged roughly from 20% to 30% of the total levy, beginning at the lower figure during the first two acts after Sloughter's arrival, and hold- ing at nearly 30% during Fletcher's and Bellomont's administrations and falling to 21% during the period from 1702 to 1711. The higher pro- portion corresponds pretty closely with New York's population if reck- oned by totals, the lower, if reckoned on the basis of the number of white males. no PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT fire and candle for the detachments there stationed. This prac- tice was abandoned in the second intercolonial war. No convinc- ing explanation appears at present for several departures from the principle of population as a basis for reckoning quotas.^ In comparing the reliance placed upon the productiveness of the revenue and upon the levies, as sources of income, we are embarrassed by the absence of figures for receipts of revenue during the first twenty years of the eighteenth century. For the period, 1691-1695, the average revenue amounted to i3,550, while the taxes voted for the corresponding period averaged £4,892 per annum. The figures for the administration of Bellomont and Nanfan seem to show a disposition on the part of the Leislerians, during their brief day of power, to take advantage of the greater accessibility of their enemies' mercantile investments for public purposes. Both the periods 1698- 1702 and 1721-1728 were times of formal peace upon the frontiers ; yet in the former period direct taxes are in a ratio to the revenue of one to five, while in the latter the ratio is one to two. This feature appears particularly in connection with their use of the additional duty, which, as a nearly constant feature of the finance of the early period, may properly be described here.^ Partly as a result of loosenesss in the system of expenditure, partly as the result of the severe and long continued frontier struggles of the first intercolonial war, the province was con- tinually running in debt. Aside from all attempts to saddle upon the government, as constituted in 1691, the respon- sibilities incurred by the government of the Leisler interregnum, the actual expenses of the government continually exceeded its income. To meet these ''anticipations of the revenue," — for so they were regarded — the practice was begun as early as 1692, of laying a duty upon the importation of certain goods, over and above the duties laid by all other acts. The act of November, 1692, imposed an additional specific duty on distilled liquors, wine and molasses, an additional duty of two per cent, on European goods, and of six per cent, in addition to this, upon such goods when im- ported from anywhere but England, Wales and Berwick. It was 'Council J. I. 53. Col. Doc. IV. 621. Col. Mss. XLVII. 110. Doc. Hist. I. 687-702. ' Ibid. IN NEW YORK^ 169I-I719. Ill granted for two years and continued till 1698, by successive acts, mainly for the same purpose, viz., payment of public debts. In 1699, a schedule of additional duties, in which the principle of discriminating between imports from England or place of manu- facture and elsewhere is still further carried out, was enacted for two years. It was during the period of this act that the assembly grudgingly co-operated with the governor in the project of erect- ing a fort in the Onondaga country. To provide i 1,000 for this purpose, for which they had no real enthusiasm, they granted what might be called an additional additional duty. If, for the sake of keeping in touch with the governor, they must at least appear to assist him in this object, it should be in the manner least burden- some to their special following. B'ellomont called it a "foolish money bill," and commented on the injurious efifect it would have upon the regular revenue by putting an excessive clog upon trade. But for the sake of appearances before the Indians, he thought best to consent to it. It was, shortly afterwards, repealed, and a property tax was levied to meet the cost of the fort. The dis- position of the Leislerian leaders to bear with special weight on the trading interest as a source of public income is also displayed in an act that was passed on the expiration of the additional duty voted in 1699. The varieties of imports newly taxed by this schedule had a wide range, and some at a later period be- came a permanent element in provincial finance. But the speedy annullment of most of the legislation of this assembly deprives this of permanent significance.^ New York did not begin the practice of issuing bills of credit till 1709, when, owing to the urgent necessity of military supplies for the Canada Expedition of that year, such bills were authorized to issue, under elaborate directions as to currency, re- demption and retirement. They were regarded as anticipations of the proceeds of the taxes, provision for whose levy in at least equal amount was coincidently made. The issue was provided for by act, not by resolve, and, during the period now considered seems not to have been questioned at home.^ ' Col. Laws 312, 325, 331, 342, 403, 444, 467. Col. Doc. IV. 713. Ass. J. I. ' Col. Laws I. 666, 669, 689, 693, 695. 112 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT In all these different methods of raising money for public purposes, the assembly, as a matter of fact, took the mitiative; but the claim of an exclusive power of framing such legislation, leaving to the council only the right to accept or reject entire, does not appear until the general revolt against prerogative con- trol of expenditure was undertaken. Prior to 1703, when the assembly resolved, "that it is inconvenient to admit of amend- ments by the Council to a money bill," such amendments had re- peatedly been made' by the council, both in the case of grants of the revenue and of tax levies. The council was not slow to resent this assumption, and was entirely supported in its claim to the right of making such amendments, by the Lords of Trade. Nev- ertheless, the struggle for the right to appoint its treasurer for funds raised for extraordinary uses, which was the struggle in which it found this claim a useful weapon, resulted in a victory for the assembly; and the council, as a matter of fact, did not offend again till the occasion of the controversy over the grant- ing the revenue in Hunter's time. Undeterred by the previous rebuke of the Lords of Trade, the assembly persisted in its refusal to consider council amendments to money bills. And even in the settlement of the controversy, which involved the practical necessity of admitting council amendments to the bill for paying the debts of the colony, the assembly saved its face by formally resolving that this was not a money bill ! The same course of action, in practical consequence, was taken with regard to con- ferences concerning money bills. ^ As has been indicated, the chief struggle was that over control of expenditure. The commission required that ''all public moneys . . . raised by an act . . . be issued out by Warrant from you by and with the advice and consent of the Council and Dis- posed of by you for the support of the government and not other- wise." The instructions required the governor not to "suffer anv public money to be issued or disposed of other than by Warrant" from himself by and with advice and consent of the council, and also required that, in all acts or orders for levying money express mention should be made that the same was granted to the crown for the public uses of the province and the support of the govern- ment, "as by the said Act or Order shall be directed." The 'Ass. J. I. 189, 202. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. II3 governor was further required to take care that books of ac- counts of receipts and payments of pubHc money in which the particular sums raised and disposed of should be mentioned, be kept and transmitted to theTreasury at home and to the Board of Trade, "to the end we may be satisfied of the right and due application of the Revenue." The practical result is plain. It was evidently the intention that the money should be disposed of as directed in general terms ]:y the money-granting power; provision was made for satisfying the crown that this had been done; but it is to be observed that in case of deviation from the ideal working of the machinery of expenditure, only remedial action, and that after the injury had been accom- plished, could be taken by the dissatisfied home government ; that, considering the means of communication and the imperfections of the system of imperial control generally, great harm might be wrought to the provincial finances before any remedy could be applied ; and finally, that there was no provision for the effective satisfaction of the body which had made the grant, that its pur- poses had been regarded. The experience of the first three ad- ministrations immediately demonstrated these possibilities, and they seem to be partially recognized in the new feature in Corn- bury's instructions of 1702, in which it was stated that "the as- sembly may nevertheless be permitted from time to time to view and exaniine the accounts of money . . . disposed of by virtue of lav/s made by them."^ Control of expenditure of money granted for purposes out- side the range of the usual necessary and constant charges of gov- ernment was the first thing aimed at by the assembly. As we have seen, the raising of money for these purposes was accom- plished by levies of direct taxes ; and from the very first we find the acts stating the object of the grant in general terms, some- times in the title alone, sometimes more fully in the preamble. Usually both features were present, and were generally followed by some such phrase as this, "and for no other use whatsoever,'* or, "and not otherwise," or a provision that the money granted be "only appropriated or applied to," etc. The preamble was likely to contain, besides a recital of the facts setting forth the reasons for the grant, a more detailed statement of its object than 'Ass. J. I. 188. Col. Doc. IV. 266, 284, 884-5. 114 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT was contained in the title. In the case of acts providing for pay- ing and maintaining detachments of militia, or for bounty money for enlistments to increase the force of the "Independent Com- panies," the practice came to be to state with much minuteness the number of men, the days they were to serve, the places where they were to be posted, etc., and a pay establishment was included in the act. By 1696, the differentiation of objects for which the money was granted and the allotment of definite sums to each pur- pose had gone so far, as practically to deprive the expending power of all discretion.^ For the assembly thus to manifest its intention was one thing ; to enforce action in conformity with this intention upon a power beyond its direct control was quite another. In the absence of a positive requirement of accountability of the expending power to the tax-granting power, the latter could only work indirectly upon the situation, by exacting what satisfaction the former could be persuaded to grant, as a condition precedent to further supply. This, in time of public danger, would be an awkward thing to do, and in any case would be pretty certain to be associated with a complete breach with the governor and council. If the governor and council did not choose, or were unable, to compel the collector and receiver-general to give complete satisfaction to the assem- bly, it would depend upon the flagrancy of the proved departure from, the assembly's wishes, or upon the degree of urgency of military supply, whether the assembly would go so far as actually to deny further supplies till satisfaction were obtained. One de- vice was made use of at an early stage of proceedings, viz., through the agency of a committee of accounts, frequently much hindered by the dilatoriness of the collector, to ascertain a bal- ance from funds previously raised, by means of objections to items in the collector's accounts, and to include this balance in a new bill for supply, thus diminishing, by the amount of the balance found, the sum to be raised by the new bill. During Fletcher's administration, obstructions of many kinds were placed in the path of this process, the assembly never being given satis- factory access to muster-rolls or accounts of expenditure of taxes for military purposes. In enforcing its program the assembly "■ Col. Laws I. 239, 258, 272, 282, 315, 344-52, 354, 358, 364, 369, 381. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. II5 was pressed to its weapon of last resort — a denial of supply — and, on dissolution and the election of a new assembly, provision for defence was made on a different basis.^ Apparently in recognition of the futility of attempts to control expenditure of taxes by any such indirect process as the foregoing, a further step in advance was taken, when, in 1700, the additional additional duty was granted for the erection of a fort in the On- ondaga country. Apparently with the encouragement of Bello- mont, managers named in the act, were appointed on whose ad- vice the governor was to issue warrants for the payment of bills connected with the fort, the collector and receiver-general being by the act required to 'transmit every three months to the man- agers, accounts of his receipts from the additonal duty.^ Other acts passed by this assembly, while still under Leislerian influence but without the restraining hand of Bellomont, acts providing for even more rigid control of expenditure by representatives of the tax-granting power, are deprived of permanent significance by the fact that Weaver, the collector for the time, was a prominent leader of the Leislerian faction, for whose benefit these acts were passed. According to these acts, the collector was to pay the pro- ceeds of the tax thus raised to persons to be named by commis- sioners appointed for each county by the assembly. The acts were repealed by the Cornbury government with all speed, but the significance of the system provided for the enforcement of the assembly's intention is important and apparent. In previous acts for the payment of the debts, the assembly had ascertained the debts for itself, then had granted the additional duty for their payment, and finally had provided for the progressive division of the proceeds of the duty among the claimants, v/hose names and acknowledged accounts were stated in the act. The loose method of ascertainment which was provided in the act of 1 701 bears witness to the suspicious atmosphere clinging to the whole output of this assembly. The same taint of extreme and offensive partisanship vitiates the significance of the revenue act passed at this same session, which provided for immediate pay- ment of allotted salaries out of the proceeds of the duties imposed ^Ass. J. I. 47-53. Council J. I. 67-77. 'Col. Laws I. 367. Council J. I. 146. Il6 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT — a Step beyond the boldest dreams of the past, and only to be resorted to again after the province had been through the fiery trials of the Cornbury administration/ It was through the developing activity of the committees of accounts that the suggestion of the next important step was made. These committees were chiefly active in the attempt to ascertain the amount of the public debt, and in the rightful location of claims of accounts to be parts of this debt. Nearly every session of the assembly saw a committee of its own membership ap- pointed to inspect the accounts of the taxes and revenue, and to arrive at a statement of the debts of the government. Both Fletcher and Bellomont appear to have had but slight regard for the abilities of these committees to make use of accounts when they got hold of them. It was by joint committee of council and as- sembly that the information vs^as obtained, which resulted in the passage of both acts for granting the additional duty for payment of debts in 1692 and 1696. By 1698, the assembly committee found that the original lists of debts for which the additional duty had been granted had been paid; but, according to Bello- mont, the indebtedness of the province was still great and its credit very low.^ The activity of the assembly committee on ac- counts, whose members were shortly made commissioners of accounts together with one outsider, the merchant Van Dam, and whose powers of investigation were at the same time made efl^ec- tive, was apparently colored by the ambition to find their late antagonists sufficiently in debt to the government to make resti- tution by them answer for many claims and for the expenses of fortifications which the governor was pressing on the assembly. The commissioners found the accounts in a scandalous state of confusion, the claims of Livingston and Schuyler, against whom their wrath seemed to be especially kindled, filled with objection- able items which were not according to the acts or according to any principle of good management. But the excessive rigor and severity pursued in relation to these accounts, and the reck- lessness with which claims of their fellow partisans at the time of the Leisler episode were allowed and the leaders in their recent ' Col. Laws I. 467-79, 479-88. "Col. Doc. IV. 522, 721. Ass. J. I. 69, 90. Council J. I. 27, 76. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 117 time of prosperity were rewarded, enveloped the whole subject of provincial debt-paying in an atmosphere of corruption which clung to it throughout the whole period.^ The commissioners of accounts appointed by the assembly called by Cornbury were, with the exception of Van Dam, now a member of council, Anti-Leislerians ; and they were directed to inquire only into the accounts from the time of Bellomont's arrival. This is significant of the spirit of their principals ; but their inquiry within these limits seems to have been conducted with greater efficiency than has been observable before. Their findings in- cluded discovery of negligence equal to that of Brooke, on the part of Weaver, Bellomont's collector, while many objections to items of discharge in which partisan animus is evident, appear. Their objections, however, display a continuity in principle with objections made by the Leislerian commissioners in the matter of the use of the ordinary revenue for the support of the "Inde- pendent Companies." The commissioners also severely criti- cised the deputy of the Auditor-General of the Plantations for passing accounts so full of errors. Particularly important is their final observation: "This Board are of Opinion, That it v^ill be very difficult to come to the satisfactory knowledge of the Uses and distributions of the Revenue and public Sub- sidies and of the Debts of the Gov't (forasmuch as the Charges do take their arise from the Council Board) not knowing that there is any Accountant Established or Books kept wherein the Accounts are fairly entered by way of Journal, as they are past in Council ; and the Collectors or Commissioners of the Customs take up no more warrants than what they pay, which for the most part bear only some General Hint of the Use. Neither can we know where the Arrears of Taxes are standing out, nor have any distinct account of the distribution of them, some of the Collectors having Charged themselves in Gross with all the monies they receive and the Deputy Auditor having allowed the Discharge promiscuously: We are therefore of opinion it would be very necessary the Country would appoint a Receiver for all Subsidies and Taxes Except the Revenue, who should be 'Col. Laws I. 441, 459, 469, 479. Col. Doc. IV. Ass. J. I. 112-14, 119-38. Exec. Council Min. VIII. 204-10, 225, 276, 339, 340. Col. Mss. XLIV. 81, 156, 276, XLV. 85. Il8 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT accountable to the Assembly for the Same and the disposition thereof, to the uses for which they are Granted."^ This report was presented at the spring session of 1703, and the suggestion was immediately acted upon. In a bill for raising £1,500 towards the construction of batteries to guard the Narrows, provision was made for a treasurer for receiving and paying the money which was now intended to be raised. Being inforrfied in the series of conferences which ensued upon the council's attempt to amend the bill, that such proceeding was contrary to the in- structions, the assembly presented an address to the governor, desiring him to represent to the queen its purpose, viz., the pre- vention of misapplications in the future, and to desire an instruc- tion to himself to commissionate some fit person to be treasurer, the same to give sufficient security by freeholders and inhabitants, for the due execution of his office.^ In the meantime, the assem- bly incorporated in the £1,500 bill a clause reciting the abuse and misapplication of the public money as a matter of notoriety, and requiring the collector to keep a separate account of the money received by virtue of this act and exhibit the same to the assem- bly when required.^ This was the beginning of a struggle in which, for the first time, the assembly used its whole power for the attainment of a truly political end uncomplicated, or comparatively so, by any partisan aspects. In the course of this struggle, an ac- count of which in detail is forbidden by space limitations, the assembly attempted to force the council into a subordinate po- sition in the matter of legislation involving money-raising, by denying the council's right to amend such bills, and did not hesitate to enforce its demand, by refusing a supply even at the risk of danger to the province in time of war. On retreating from its original demand for a treasurer who should be account- able to itself, it revived the practice of former times, by inserting minute directions as to appropriations and ascertainments of of balances from former supplies, which had not been expended in accordance with the directions of the acts. In opposition to Combury's interpretation of the instruction which permitted ' Col. Mss. XLVII. 110. " Ass. J. I. 170. 'Col. Laws I. 550. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 1 19 them to view the accounts as not extending to their "meddhng with them," they held that the whole intent of that instruction was that the assembly might be satisfied that the money raised by them was applied to the uses appointed. In reply to the council's objection to their device of making a certifi- cate from the commanding officer a discharge to the treasurer, that it was in violation of the instruction forbidding the issue of public money in any other way than by warrant from the gov- ernor and council, they held that their desire in this connection was no more than the requirement of the approval of the coun- cil to the governor's warrants for the ordinary support of government. This they described as equally a kind of voucher for the due disposition of that money according to the necessities of the colony. Throughout the controversy, they based their policy on the report of the commissioners of accounts, already referred to, which recited the impossibility of a certain knowledge of the state of the revenue under the existing system, and on the fact of misapplications in the past and at the time, which were being progressively brought to light through the agency of the com- missioners. Dissolution only brought upon the scene an as- sembly more determined upon the original project. The gover- nor represented the matter to the Lords of Trade as another evi- dence of the spirit of independency everywhere rife — "as the country increases they grow more sawcy." Nevertheless, in 1706, the Lords of Trade directed the governor to permit the assembly "to name their own Treasurer when they raise extra- ordinary Supplies for particular Uses," to be accountable to governor, council and assembly. Warrants might be issued by the colonels, captains or other persons according to the direction of the act, but the governor must always be informed of the occasion of issuing such warrants, and all persons con- cerned in issuing and disposing of such money must be made accountable to the governor, council and assembly. The course of the assembly in pretending to the privileges of the House of Commons was definitely rebuked. The money must be granted expressly to the crown "which need not hinder the Assembly of New York from appropriating the money so granted to such particular uses as are found requisite." This last point was a valuable feature of the message for the assembly's pur- pose, practically confirming its previous use of the power of I20 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT appropriation and forming a basis for the extension of the usage at a later period.^ One dangerous feature of the situation had thus been rem- edied for the future, and thereafter all acts levying taxes contained clauses providing for the custody of the funds thus raised by the treasurer appointed by the act. The payment of such money was to be performed by the treasurer, either upon warrants addressed to him by commissioners or managers named in the act, which also carefully limited the purposes for which the warrants were to be drawn ; or directly to persons named in the act, whose receipts were pronounced a sufficient discharge to the treasurer. One part at least of the public income was now under the effective control of the power that had raised and granted it. Expenditure of money raised for the ordinary support of government was still beyond control, and the methods and consequences of preroga- tive control of this portion of the public income must now be examined. There w^as one circumstance peculiar to the expenditure of this portion of provincial income, viz., the fact that certain items were assigned or allotted by forces entirely outside the province. The governor's salary, for example, was fixed by? a clause in the instructions empowering him to take to himself such and such a sum as his salary. The collector and receiver-general was assigned his salary by the Lords of the Treasury out of the quit-rents. Such manifestations of control over resources it was entirely out of the power of the province to prevent during the continuance of a revenue already granted. Only when the assembly had gotten a leverage by reason of the expiration of the revenue of 1709, do we hear anything of an opinion that her Majesty might not allot salaries out of the revenue. The power given to the governor by the commission and instructions to reg- ulate all salaries and fees might be influenced in its effectual working in the long run by the size of the funds established by the money-granting power at intervals for the support of gov- ernment, and by the unwillingness of the assembly to regard an- ticipations of the revenue, in so far as they were caused by such salary-regulation by the governor, as truly public debts. But only 'J. I. 157-215 esp. 203, 205-7. Council J. I. 189-245. Col. Doc. IV. 1121-2, 1145-47, 1156, 1165-66, 1171-2, 1181-5. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 121 thus indirectly could the assembly do its work. Ordinary support of government would naturally include, in addition to salaries of officers, incidental expenses of government, and the meeting of unexpected emergencies. The latter in time of war would be likely to be heavy, as would the former during the periods in which the government was especially active in enforcing its program upon an unwilling people. Both of these conditions were present during the administrations of the first four governors till 1709, but particularly so during the period from 1691 to 1702. The salary list varied considerably during the period, but ex- hibited a general tendency to increase. In 1693 it amounted to £1,738, in 1702 to £2,855, i" 1704 to £3,097, in 1708 to £3,542. The governor and council had from the first established the rule that warrants should be paid in course following the dates of issue, with the exception that salary warrants should be paid quarterly.^ "Contingent charges of government," which it is impossible to estimate or report in even approximate figures, including such items as expresses on Indian diplomatic service, the cost of maintaining good relations with the Indians in general, expenses of legislative sessions, and the like, constituted an important item in the support of the government. The presence of troops in the king's pay also involved a burden on the revenue, for, owing to the high prices prevailing in America, their pay, even when transmitted at sterling value, was not sufficient to defray their "incidents" in addition to their subsistence. These "incidents," together with support of staff officers, and main- tenance of barracks and fortifications were supposed to be pro- vided for by the stoppage of ten per cent, from the pay; but for the reasons indicated, the provision was utterly inadequate even for one of the objects. It is to be observed that these items are of comparatively regular recurrence, even though difficult to calculate in amount. Add to these items those con- nected with sudden and unavoidable emergencies, to be expected in time of war; and the necessity for an intelligent system, and scrupulous adherence to at least the outline of such system be- comes apparent. The commission and instructions placed in the hands of the governor and council exclusively, the issuing of war- 'Doc. Hist. I. 313. Ass. J. I. 243. Col. Mss. XLIX. 142. Exec. Council Min. VI. 139. 122 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT rants upon the collector and receiver-general for payment of all monies raised for the ordinary support of government. The actual conduct of the matter is perhaps best portrayed by George Clarke, secretary of the province, deputy to, and kinsman of, Blaith- waite, the auditor-general, in a letter written in 1706, after three years of residence in the province had familiarized him with the conditions. "The Governor being judge of whatever is necessary to be done for Her Majesty's service in the province whenever he thinks it convenient directs the performance thereof accord- ingly. The service completed, the persons employed or furnishing materials bring in accounts to the Governor and Council. Where- upon a committee of three at least is appointed to examine the accounts and they report according to the nature and circum- stance of the affair, 'though Generally and indeed almost always the Substance of their Report is that they have Examined the account and believe it to be true and are of opinion that his Ex- cellency may safely Issue Warrants for payment of the same out of the Revenue.' The preparatory steps being taken the Gov- ernor in Council Issues his Warrant (under) his hand and Scale to the Receiver-Generall ... In obedience to these warrants the Receiver-General pays the sums for which they are drawn so farr as the Revenue will Extend (after the Sallarys of the Governor and other officers are paid these being by order of the Governor and Council made preferrable to all payments) yett sometimes and indeed frequently Sallary warrants are not paid when others are, and at other times The Receiver-General makes distinctions of persons when their warrants make none. . . . Hereupon arise this Generall observation That there seems to be Little or no hopes of having the Revenue applied to the necessary uses only for which it was Intended For the 10 per cent, falling Short (as I am informed) of what is Sufficient to pay the Staff officers, consequently the Incidents of fire Candles, Nursing Sick Soldiers etc. being unavoidable and what the Garrisons cannot Subsist without these Expenses must be paid out of another fund and there being no other but the Revenue and the Governor hav- ing the disposall thereof in the manner aforesaid he orders the payments thereout of those and all other expences by Warrants as aforesaid to the Receiver General."^ ' Col. Mss. LI. 170. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I23 The partiality in the recognition of claims upon the govern- ment, thus indicated, is one of the many features of the system of exclusive control of expenditure for support of government by governor and council which, in the first eleven years of the period, had excited a deep-rooted distrust on the part of the people, and which went under the general label of "mismanagement" or "mis- applications." This "mismanagement" is exceedingly difficult to analyze and to account for in any systematic way. Only a few features, samples as it were, can be given. Perhaps its most seri- ous feature was the heavy accumulation of indebtedness actually incurred under the operation of the system, which, with the par- tiality in the treatment of creditors above indicated, would be enough to ruin the government's credit. That the latter result was accomplished, there is abundant evidence to show. Estimates of the amount of indebtedness at different times are necessarily vague, and the reasons assigned for its existence conflicting. Colonel Quary reported, in 1703, that at the end of Fletcher's administration, the debt of the provice was no more than could be discharged by the arrears of revenue and taxes. Bellomont reported, in 1699, that the debt amounted to i5,ooo; while, in 1702, at the beginning of Cornbury's administration it was re- ported at i 10,000, and ascribed to mismanagement in Bellomont's time. Livingston reported, in 1707, that ten years' revenue, if settled, would not clear the debts. The two acts in Hunter's time for payment of debts recognized an indebtedness amount- ing to over i42,ooo, but a respectable fraction of this was for debts incurred subsequent to the expiration of the revenue in 1709. In any case the seriousness of the burden is manifest.^ The objections of the deputy auditor general to the collec- tor's accounts in Cornbury's administration shows that another feature of mismanagement was profuse extravagance in provid- ing for certain objects, which were entirely legitimate in them- selves. One of the most notorious of these instances of extrava- gance was Cornbury's first journey to Albany to meet the Indians. The trip cost more than twice as much as any previous one, and the excess can not be charged to unusual liberality in regard to the presents to the Indians. Another illustration is to be found in the extravagant expenditure for candles, and for many 'Col. Doc. IV. 513, 829. Cal. Treas-y Papers Vol. 1702-7, 511-12. 124 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT Other items which should have gone to the governor's house- hold account. From the same source we learn of the greatest carelessness in using the revenue for purposes for which the pay of the "Independent Companies" was established. Laxness in control of subordinate officers by the governor was another feature of mismanagemnt. The charging to the revenue of a double salary, one to the commissioner for executing the office of collector during the time of Byerley's suspension, and one to Byerley himself for the same period, a result which was made necessary by the disapproval at home of Byerley's suspension, still further swelled the burden of debt. Another feature which con- tributed to mismanagement was the uncertainty in regard to the state of the revenue at any given time. The frequent changes in personnel in the office of collector, with the disputes and obstruc- tions concerning the settlement of accounts on each transfer, and animosity existing between Cornbury and Byerley and extend- ing through nearly the whole of the former's administration made it practically impossible that the authentic information should be attained, had there been any determined official dispo- sition to make such information accessible.^ The same uncer- tainty, it will be observed, had already been noted by the com- missioner of accounts in the matter of the state of the taxes. The letters of the executive council during the latter part of Cornbury's administration are full of quarrelsome charges and recriminations on the part of all officers who had to do with ex- penditure as well as complaints of the various claimants on the public purse. Out of all the tangled swirl a few chief currents or eddies seem to be distinguishable — the dissipation of public funds by profuse expenditure for the governor's personal ends; the activity of Fauconnier, who was naval officer and com- missioner for executing the office of collector whenever Byerley was under suspension, as chief manager of Cornbury's schemes ; the opposition of Byerley to these schemes, many of which were for the purpose of assisting those to whom Cornbury was under corrupt obligation ; the helplessness or indifference of the coun- cil in making its function of advice to the governor in the matter of warrant-issue effective in checking such practices ; the con- ' Col. Mss. LII. 24, 26, 81. Exec. Council Min. X. 120. Cal. Treas-y Papers vol. 1702-7 :535. Col. Doc. V. 405, 408. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I25 sequently difficult position of Clarke, the deputy auditor general, who objected to the proceedings of both parties; and the atti- tude of the assembly, which was becoming more and more dis- gusted with the working of the system as developed by Corn- bury.^ The excessively bad reputation of the Cornbury administra- tion, as that of a plundering pro-consul, seems partly to be ac- counted for by the man's low personal character, partly by the impudently open use of certain public monies for ends of purely personal gratification, and partly by the unusual opportuni- ties presented to a governor of such a character. For the first time in the history of the province we have the combination of a governor using his power with a faction largely for personal ends, and a collector at odds with the governor in the latter's devices for exploiting provincial resources and for saving his subordinates and accomplices, and using the due execution of his office as his protection against compliance with the governor's irregular courses. Under these circumstances, whatever injury was inflicted on the provincial finances would be peculiarly exasperating; and the fact that after at least eighteen months' confinement in New York, Cornbury was only able to get away from his creditors by the good nature of Hunter, would seem to indicate that, however great his "pickings," they had not permanently bettered his for- tune very much. Complaints of the bad possibilities of the system of prerogative expenditure and of the partial exploitation of these possibilities had been made with reference to Bellomont's admin- istration, but without slur on Bellomont's personal reputation. It was Cornbury's peculiarly sordid use of the opportunity that earned for his administration the especial degree of obloquy which is associated with it. The fact that Byerley, though not himself entirely free from irregularities, was able to work harmoniously with Hunter inclines one to the view that in his controversies with Cornbury, it was Byerley's that was, comparatively speak- ing, official righteousness. Specific instances of Cornbury's em- bezzlements of public money given for public uses are, in the pres- ent state of the records, well-nigh impossible to prove. Colden refers to his applying the proceeds of the i 1,500 tax designed for ' Col. Mss. LII. 87. Gal. Treas-y Papers vol. 1702-7 :557. Ass. J. L 224, 236-8. i I 126 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT the fortification of the Narrows, to the erection of a pleasure- house on Nutten's, now Governor's, Island, as though it were mat- ter of common knowledge. Cornbury himself referred to these rumors in his speech to the assembly in its session of 1706, and, declaring that the tax had not been collected, asked for an inves-i tigation. He complained at the end of the session of their lack' of thoroughness in this investigation, the results of which seemed- to be the finding that only £356:6:5^ had been collected. In connection with the £ 1,800 voted for defense in the same year with the £1,500, the assembly found that £793:6: of the ii,8oo were in the hands of the commissioners for executing the office of collector, not applied to the uses intended by the act.^ The inadequacy for such a situation, of the check upon gov- ernmental expenditure supposed to be exerted by the presence of a deputy of the auditor-general and the transmission of the col- lector's accounts to the Lords of the Treasury, is plainly pointed out by Clarke in the letter from which quotation has already been made. The respective duties of the governor and council and of the deputy auditor in relation to the collector's accounts seem to have been practically undetermined at this time. The collec- tor's accounts were supposed to be examined and approved by the council after having been sworn to by the collector. Byerley, however, held that if the deputy auditor allowed his accounts, that was sufficient, and examination by the governor and council was not necessary. This was, however, only when it was the gov- ernor and council that he was disputing with. Clarke thus repre- sents the practical difficulties of the situation to his principal, the auditor-general. "And allowing that the Receiver-General (as he alledges it to be) is by his Instructions Sufficiently discharged by Warrants past by the Governor in the manner above said he may notwithstanding your observations or objections pay what warrants he pleases because they are his discharge ; and indeed he does accordingly for he pays warants of the like nature with those you have objected to and gives what I have just said for his Reason though nobody will persuade me he does it without a Con- sideration. ... To prevent future misapplications 'twould be very proper I should think to send hither orders in Relation to the applying and Issuing the Revenue, or Else the money must be N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls. 1868, 204. Ass. J. I. 208-212, 227. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I27 appropriated from home (vizt.) so much for firewood and so on with all the particular Expenses : But if the latter be not thought proper 'twill be very necessary that a way be found to Submitt all accounts (before the Governor's Warrant Issues for payment of the Sume) to the Auditor Generall or his Deputy and that no more nor other Expences should be allowed than what he thinks reasonable and herein the Deputy Auditor should be fully and par- ticularly instructed, that he may not be in the Dark nor do what may not be approved of at home afterwards. For as it is now he can only allow or disallow of Warrants after they are paid and that the Receiver Generall does not in the least regard but says the very warrants he pays are Sufficient discharges to him for so much. Though this (is) proposed as the properest method I can think of at present yett I hope a better way may be found : for by this there is vast trouble like to attend the Deputy Auditor in the Examination and allowance of all accounts which before was done by a Committee of Council (who 'tis true favor their friends and are themselves often concerned) and besides this Great trouble the Deputy Auditor will be continually Subjected to the frowns and resentment of the Governor to whom there will be constant applications and thereupon Commands or orders which may bring the Deputy-Auditor under this Dilemma either that he must disobey the Governor or betray the Trust reposed in him."^ Comment on the foregoing as a revelation of conditions prevailing in Cornbury's time is hardly necessary. The difficul- ties, thus described, disappeared with a change of personnel in the governor's office. The net result of this whole period would appear to be about as follows : during the first eleven years, the assembly was find- ing itself, as it were, and acquiring experience. The conditions of the financial problem were in the mean time accumulating, and that, at a time when public attention was occupied with a partisan conflict under Sloughter, Fletcher and Bellomont, and with the results which might follow the enforcement of the im- perial trade system under Bellomont. From the beginning of Cornbury's administration, after experience had been gained under the domination of each of the local factions in turn, a move- ment begins to be visible amid the dust of partisan strife, working Col. Mss. LI. 170. 128 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT in the direction of practical control over the expenditure of at least one element of provincial income. After success had been attained in this direction, however, by the winning of the right to appoint a Country Treasurer, the expenditure of money raised for support of government was still beyond the control of any element which effectively represented popular interest. Effective action on this point could only become possible when the expira- tion of the revenue act in 1709 should once more give the assem- bly leverage. The exhibition, to greater and more exasperating degree, of the working of the prerogative system of expendi- ture, together with the decreasing volume of trade already noted, was establishing more firmly every day the well grounded objec- tion to the whole system by which the government was supported. This opposition found adequate, but under the circumstances alarming, expression, in the resolve of the assembly of the elev- enth of September, 1708 — ''That the raising of any Monies, for the Support of Government or other necessary Charge, by any Tax, Impost or Burthen on Goods imported or ex- ported, or any clog or Hindrance on Traffick or Commerce, is found by sad Experience, to be the Expulsion of many and the Impoverishing of the rest of the Planters, Freeholders and Inhabitants of this Colony, of most pernicious consequence, which if continued will unavoidably prove the Destruction of the Colony." CHAPTER V. THE REVExNUE CONTROVERSY, 1709-1717. The dispute over the method of supporting the government constituted the main action of the period, 1 709-1 717. The con- troversy itself is only to be understood in the long perspective of the period described in the preceding chapter, as well as in the light of the period between the administrations of Cornbury and Hunter. The resolve quoted at the close of the last chapter indicates the general character of the assembly's sentiments concerning the working of the revenue system in the past. The general con- dition of the province and the plans of the opponents of a con- tinuation of the former system are set forth in the communica- tions of prominent residents and officials. Livingston and Morris agreed in reviling the Cornbury administration, the latter liken- ing it to that of Gessius Florus in Judaea. Livingston described the province as appearing to be ''under a visible judgment . . . since this gent, came among us . . . trade decayed, house rent fell . . . everything behindhand," — "a poor dispirited people, a mixture of English French and Dutch ... if never so much oppressed dared not complain because they were not unanimous and did not stick to one another. So that if a governor were not a man of honor and probity he could oppress the people when he pleased. He had but to strike in with one party and they assisted him to destroy the other." The province was evidently not prosperous and many of its inhabitants were in bad temper. As to the intentions of the assembly in regard to the revenue, Colonel Quary describes the intention never to renew it as ''the discourse in every man's mouth, but some of the most consider- ing men say that perhaps they will give money for the support of government but it shall be only from year to year and disposed of as they think fit, so that the governor and all the officers shall depend on them for bread. "^ The conduct of the assembly itself, as soon as, under ordinary circumstances, action for a continuance of the revenue would ' Col. Doc. V. 19, 37. Cal. Treas-y Papers, Vol. 1708-14, pp. 511-13. 9 (129) 130 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT have been in order, certainly bears out much of this descrip- tion. Since the assembly had received permission to name their own treasurer, they had raised no funds except for extraordinary uses, and these acts had contained extremely detailed appropria- tions.^ When action in the direction of continuing the excise, which seems to have been taken as a matter of course, became necessary, the disposition of the assembly toward innovation upon former methods became evident. The same rates were continued but they were granted only for one year. Practically the same system of management was employed, but now the system was established by law, and the mayors and aldermen and the justices of the peace were made the assembly's agents in the matter ; and the country treasurer was designated as the receiver of the pro- ceeds, instead of the collector and receiver-general. "In the same act, notice was taken of the fact that, though the weighhouse duties had been granted to King William and Queen Mary, never- theless, since the demise of the crown these duties had been col- lected without grant. It was now formally provided that the duties should be paid to the treasurer instead of to the collector and receiver general, and the latter official was furthermore re- quired to account with the treasurer for what he had received on that account. It was provided also that the treasurer should pay out the money raised by this act, "in Such Manner and to Such uses only as by Act of General Assembly hereafter to be made for that purpose, shall be Limitted appointed and Expressed and not otherwise."^ The necessity of supporting the government in the manner usual in the past, as well as the restoration of the government's credit by the ascertainment and settlement of the numerous pul)- lic debts, had been urged on this assembly by Lovelace, the new governor. The assembly replied with chill politeness that it was their desire that people should be attracted hither and then kept here, and that the contrast between the "wrong Methods too long taken and the Severities practiced here" and the conditions in the neighboring colonies had kept people away. They then called for the accounts of the revenue, the salary list and the claims upon the government; and on the day of Lovelace's death, 5 May, 1709,* had resolved to raise £2,500, of which £1,600 was to be paid to 'Col. Laws I. 593, 598, 628, 062. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I3I the governor and the rest for "incidents" of the garrisons and small salaries for a few of the officers.^ Almost immediately after Lovelace's death came the news of the intended expedition against Canada, and in the rush of preparation for this enter- prise, the assembly got no further in support of government than the passage of the excise act already referred to ; and this as was observed, made no provision for payment of any of the expenses of government. Resolves, however, were passed, look- ing to the provision of a tonnage duty, a duty on importation of slaves, a chimney tax and a poll tax on slaves in the colony, and to payments to Lady Lovelace, the lieutenant governor and the chief justice. At the autumn session in 1709, these resolves found expression in legislation, the payment of the "allowances" referred to, except that for Lady Lovelace, being provided for in a separate "Act for the Treasurer's paying certain sums of money." Items relating to the maintenance of the "Independent Companies," such as had previously formed part of the ordinary expenses of government, together with a few small salaries, prin- cipally those of legislative officers, were also provided for in another separate appropriation bill. At the spring session they had taken the opportunity to embody their long-cherished ideas concerning fees in a bill, which, for reasons of the moment, was allowed to be passed into an act.- Thus they were showing them- selves true to the intentions ascribed to them at the close of the Cornbury administration, tliough as yet on a small scale and under {:»€culiar circumstances. The Canada expedition, now on foot, though it was made as attractive as possible by the imperial authorities, and though it met with enthusiastically responsive sen- timents in the province, required very considerable exertions in the way of financial and military support. Even in reference to matters that were not deemed important for the expedition by the council, that body showed itself anxious to avoid exasperat- ing the assembly; and objections which under other circum- stances would undoubtedly have been insisted on, were yielded, among them, these innovations in the matter of the ordinary sup- port of government.^ 'Ass. Journal I. 240, 242, 246. ' Ass. J. I. 253-6. Col. Laws I. 675, 682, 684, 698, 638. ' Ass. J. I. 252-3, 267. Col. Laws I. 654, 669, 693, 698, 675, 682, 684. Col. Doc. V. 82-3. Smith, 194-5. 132 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT The acts which provided money by direct taxation for the ex- penses of the expedition included precautions expressed with even greater detail than in previous acts, for the management of the expedition by the commissioners appointed by the assembly. Al- together some £14,000 was raised ; and for accounting for it and for management of its expenditure, the assembly laid down strict rules which appear to have been followed, to its own satisfac- tion, at least. It was probably due to a combination of circum- stances, that the assembly in New York was enabled at this criti- cal moment to make such a hopeful beginning in the realization of its designs. These circumstances were the fear of stirring up the opposition of the body from which much was expected in the way of financial assistance; the wielding, even though for a brief time, of the powders of the governor's commission by a locum-tenens under the influence of Cornbury ; and the existence of a determined spirit in the assembly to make use of the precedent set, perhaps inadvertently, by Lovelace in the Jersies. The assembly had succeeded in making the offi- cers of government entirely dependent on its votes by grant- ing a continuation of the most certain item of revenue for but one year, and then had made them feel that dependence by doling out to but few of the officers what it chose by way of salary. It had even succeeded in its favorite aim of participating in the regulation of fees, upon which some officers were entirely depend- ent and others dependent in an uncomfortable degree for their support. In this last feature the assembly was, however, imme- diately checked by the disallowance of the Fee Act and by the instruction specifically committing that matter to the governor and council.^ In the nature of the case, however, the real struggle was bound to come when the assembly should attempt to continue its program, with a newly-apponted governor in the possession of the executive power. Enough has been said about the designs of the assembly to show that what it was really aiming at, and what was resisted, later, so vigorously by governor and council, was a shifting of the balance of the political forces of the prov- ince. Should the assembly succeed in its aim of controlling the expenditure for the ordinary support of government in what seemed to it the only effective manner of preventing "misman- Col. Doc. V. 116, 157. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I33 agement," it would inevitably mean a greater dependence of the executive officers on the legislature which provided their remu- neration, than on the governor, whose policy they were supposed to assist in executing. If successful, the assembly, would, in other words, make its position in the working constitution of the province at least co-ordinate with that of the governor. The policy actually pursued by the government would then be a real compromise between the aims of the assembly on the one hand, and the governor in his double capacity on the other, rather than, as heretofore, when things had not been colored by partisan fac- tion, the policy of the executive, tempered and checked by the ob- struction of the assembly. It is impossible to say how fully the assembly realized what was essentially at stake. There was un- doubtedly much of simply stubborn and unintelligent obstruction. Our sources are meagre, and only the outline of policy and hints at what the leaders were actually doing are possible. Light on the inner working of forces and on the real aims that were con- cealed beneath the formal actions taken is at present wanting. We have no hint as to any prepossessions or as to any infor- mation in regard to the situation, which may have been brought by Hunter the new governor, in 1710. The assembly, which was apparently elected after his arrival, contained a majority of members who had served in the previous assembly, and, of the nev/ members, the larger part were persons who had been promi- nent in the affairs of the assembly during the Cornbury admin- istration. A very important place among the new members was held by Lewis Morris, who represented the borough of Westches- ter. Smith represents him as "always busy in matters of a political nature, and no man in the colony equalled him in the knowledge of the law and the arts of intrigue." He had till recently been a resident of New Jersey, where he had had a most active career in opposition to the Cornbury system of exploiting the governor's office; and Smith apparently applauds Hunter's shrewdness in making a confidant of him, "his talents and advantages rendering him either a useful friend or formidable foe."^ The two were a congenial pair in more than one relation, but Morris' chief func- tion was to act as Hunter's legislative "manager ;" and his services in bringing the revenue controversy to a settlement were after- ^ Smith, p. 203. Col. Doc. V. 429. 134 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT wards rewarded by appointment to the chief justiceship and the appointment was cordially approved from home on this very ground. The first meeting of the governor with the assembly partook of the nature of a preliminary skirmish. In his opening speech, I September, 1710, Hunter communicated the 'Very particular" recommendation of her Majesty that the assembly settle such a revenue and for such a term as they themselves, "the most com- petent judges, should think sufficient to answer the End." Pay- ment of the public debts was also recommended. In the course of considering ways and means for support of government, the assembly passed bills continuing the excise and the tonnage and slave duties, the former for one, the latter for three years ; both of which bills unamended by the council, became laws.^ They had then resolved to allow certain sums for military "incidents," and 2,500 ounces of plate, "towards defraying His Excellency's necessary expense for one year." At this point the governor, hearing of this proceeding, sent a communication to be entered on the journal, containing the instruction allowing his salary of £1,200 sterling. He afterwards reported to the Lords of Trade that the only effect this had was, that they struck out some items that had been usually allowed and reduced others, and that finally, because of "warm expressions" which he used in urging the assembly to take the governor's message into consideration, Lewis Morris had been expelled.^ In drder to raise a revenue in addition to the excise and the totiriage and slave duties, the assembly now began upon a series of bills which were intended to provide a duty on chimneys and hearths, and upon goods sold at auction, and also entered upon a bill fof payment of certain accounts by the treasurer. The council attempted to amend all of these. Its objection to the chimney tax had reference to the Accountability of the treas- urer. By the assembly bill he was made accountable only to the assembly, whereas the council insisted that, according to the practice of the province since 1706, and also according to the practice of England, the treasurer in such a case should ac- count with the legislature as a whole. The assembly, however, ^Col. Laws I. 708-714. "^ Ass. J. I. 280-3. Col. Doc. V. 177. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I35 remained constant in itvS announced determination not to agree to amendments by the council to a money bill. The same was the case with the act for laying a duty on goods sold at auction, though we are not informed as to the reasons for its objection or for the insistence of both sides on their original propositions. In the case of the bill for the treasurer's paying sundry sums of money, the council's amendment was in the line of having the treasurer pay a sum not exceeding that mentioned in the assembly bill, to such persons and uses as the governor by regular warrant should direct. As reasons for insisting on its amendments, it invoked the instruction not to suffer public money to issue otherwise than by such warrant, the former practice of the prov- ince, the practice of other provitices, and of the English parlia- ment, which did not appropriate what was given for support of government, but gave what was thought necessary in such man- ner as left it entirely in the power of the crown "to Dispose of as they thought most proper for the support of government and for rewarding their servants as they judged they deserved." The assembly replied, that what were called amendments would de- stroy the very essence and intent of the bill, which was to be regarded as consonant with the instructions, since an act of governor, council and assembly was a good warrant ; that appro- priating acts were no novelty; that if the council intended that the money mentioned in the bill be disposed of according to the direction of the bill, there would be no difficulty in consenting to it, — "if they do not, plain dealing is best." And finally, the object of the bill was declared to be to prevent misapplications, "such as have been too apparent in the past." This object they deemed "much preferable to any posterior remedy." To this the council replied, that the amendments were not destructive of the intent of the bill if the intent were to support the govern- ment ; denied the equivalency of an act of assembly to a warrant of governor and council, and emphasized the distinction pre- viously made between acts appropriating money which was voted for extraordinary uses and for the ordinary support of goveni- ment. No acts of the latter description had ever passed the parliament of England, and only once in the province ; that was in Ingoldsby's administration, when the council were not acquainted with the governor's instructions. They affirmed their intention of having the money expended for the purposes 136 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT mentioned in the bill ; "but they think the Queen has the sole right of applying money given for the support of the government, and the only judge of the merits of her officers, and therefore they made those amendments, for plain dealing is best." Finally, they deprecated the idea of misapplications under present circum- stances, and pointed out that the bill, as amended, sufficiently pro- vided against drawing out any more money, than that expressed in the bill/ The thoroughgoing character of the difference be- tween the two houses and the spirit in which the discussion was carried on are sufficiently indicated by these rather full extracts. As the season was far advanced, and the hope of reaching a settle- ment on these measures was slight, the assembly was prorogued without the passage of these acts into laws. By the failure of the bills for the chimney and auction duties, the expected revenue was reduced far below even what the act for the treasurer's pay- ing sundry sums, had appropriated, viz., £2,307; and by the failure of the last-named act the public officers were left without support. From now till 17 13, they were maintained largely on the personal credit of the governor. - Hunter's correspondence with the home government shows that he had not been idle during the session. He asserts that he had privately suggested to several members that the receiver general might be made accountable to the assembly as well as to the crown, and that he had worked out a somewhat elaborate system designed to prevent any governor and council from again loading the country with debt through warrants. This was in- tended to meet one of the reasons given by assembly members themselves in explanation of their backwardness in supporting the government. The othe "pretended" reason was the burden on the country which was involved in the taxes for the ill-starred Canada expedition. The true reasons, so far as he could make them out "from private discourse with the most considerable amongst them," were the exemption of the neighboring govern- ments from such heavy expense in supporting the government, and an opinion which was opposed to the right of the crown to allot salaries, on the ground that if £1,200 were appointed, £12,000 might be. The third reason he held to be, the fact, that, by reason of the per diem allowance to each assemblyman, a Ass. J. I. 284-7. Col. Mss. LIV. 121, 124. Col. Doc. V. 178. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I37 number of them practically supported themselves, by acquiring a reputation among their constituents of saving the country's money, and thus getting an almost permanent hold on office. As a remedy for the situation he could only suggest the passage of an act of parliament providing for payment by all lands granted or to be granted, of a quit rent of two shillingfs six oence per one hundred acres, which he believed would go a long ways towards supporting the government ; or the passage of another act of parliament levying duties on imports and exports, and laying an excise — but he supposed that in that case it would be made of general application throughout the colonies. The only com- munication from the Lords of Trade in reply to these repre- sentations that could have reached the governor before meet- ing the assembly again in April, 171 1, was to the effect that the information had been communicated to the queen ; so that the governor's vigorous speech at the opening of the session could hardly be described as made only after be had learned the senti- ments of the ministry, as Smith intimates. The sting of this speech consisted principally in the suggestion that rumors might gain credit at last, "that however your Resentment has fallen upon Governors, it is the Government that you dislike ;" and in the as- sertion that "giving Money for Support of Government and dis- posing of it at your Pleasure is the same with giving none at all." Because of its resentment at this speech, in which the governor plainly took up the cause of the council in the recent disputes, the assembly chose to find a scruple in the fact that the proclama- tion proroguing them from the original date of summons had been dated at Burlington, New Jersey. The governor found himself obliged to follow the advice of the council, that, since the assembly was resolved not to act, in spite of the opinion of the Lords of Trade quieting their pretended scruple, it would be necessary to dissolve them, "which they would otherwise doe themselves."^ Hunter now represented himself to the home government as at a loss what to do till action might be taken from home. He had no expectations that a new assembly would be any more tractable, "the Resolutions of putting themselves on the same foote with the Charter Governments being too general to be allayed by any measures that can be taken on this 'Col. Doc. V. 179-80, 186. Ass. J. I. 287-8. Council J. I. 311. Smith, p. 204. 138 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT side." His desires with regard to action by the home govern- ment seem to have been justified by the proceedings of the Lords of Trade, who with unusual celerity had recommended that the governor be directed to intimate to the assembly the queen's displeasure, and the likelihood of the passage of an act of par- liament granting a revenue for them. And within a month they had, as ordered by the privy council, prepared a draft of a bill for that purpose, which, however, was not perfected before the adjournment of parliament.^ In the meantime a new assembly had been elected, and proved indeed to be practically the same in membership as the pre- ceding body. Its first session, in July, 171 1, was taken up wholly with action relative to the Canada expedition of that year. Bills of credit to the amount of iio,ooo were ordered to be issued and provision was made for their redemption by a direct tax, due to be paid in five annual installments, beginning in 1714. Six hundred men were raised and commissioners were appointed for purchas- ing, transporting and caring for provisions for the troops, having the same relation to the treasurer as in the case of the preceding expedition. In all these proceedings, as in the act for continuing the excise for two years, no difficulty in the relations between the assembly and council developed — that is, on the surface. The pains taken to avoid the slightest opportunity for trouble of that sort is indicated by the governor's procedure on finding certain mistakes in the bills as they came from the assembly. He re- turned the bills privately, after their first reading in council, as though they had not been read at all, and with the request that the mistakes be amended in their own house. "This conduct . . . I was obliged to follow or baulk the Expedition."^ In a most interesting disquisition to the Lords of Trade upon the design of the assemblies on the continent, by claiming all the privileges of a House of Commons and stretching them even beyond what they were ever imagined to be there, to attain a condition which would result in a federative empire, Hunter suggests as a temporary measure, that a royal letter from the queen be dispatched, reminding the assembly that ''all such privileges as they clayme as bodyes politick they hold of her 'Col. Doc. V. 192, 197, 209, 285. ' Col. Laws I. 723, 727. 735, 737. Col. Doc. V. 263. IN NEW YORK^ 169I-I719. I39 especiall grace and noe longer than they shall use them for her interest and for the support of her government." This he sug- gested not with the expectation that it would contribute to the settling of a revenue, but in the hope that it would help to keep them in bounds in other matters.^ It was apparently, then, not without ofBcial inspiration that the dispute between the council and assembly at the fall session of 171 1 turned largely on the discussion of the status of the two houses in the matter of financial legislation. The occasion of the dispute was furnished by two bills sent up by the assembly, one providing for an increase of the tonnage duty, and the other for a duty on chimnies and for a poll-tax. The council's objection to both bills was that the duties were to be paid to the colony treasurer instead of to the receiver general. By the latter bill, the treasurer was made accountable to no one, and by the former to the governor and assembly. The amendments were directed toward making the monies payable to the receiver general, who, as a concession, was made accountable to governor, council and assembly, as well as to the queen. The proceeds of the tonnage duty were further directed to be issued in a manner pursuant to the instructions. To all of this the assembly replied by merely returning the bills, with notification of its resolve not to admit such amendments. The same old issue was thus joined again. In the exchange of reasons in support of their respective positions, the council upbraided the assembly by citation of previous in- stances of their allowing such amendments. It then went on to justify its right by asserting the equality of the position of the two houses in the legislature, both being constituted by the same power, viz., "the mere grace of the Crown signified in the Governor's Commission," and by the opinion of the Lords of Trade obtained in the course of the struggle for the treasurer. The bulk of the assembly's reply is sufficiently remarkable to justify quotation entire : "'Tis true the Share the Council have (if any) in the Legislation does not flow from any Title they have, from the Nature of that Board, which is only to advise, or from their being another distinct State or Rank of People, in the Con- stitution which they are not, being all Commons, but only from the meer Pleasure of the Prince signified in the Commission. Col. Doc. V. 255-6. 140 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT "On the contrary, the inherent Right the Assembly have to dispose of the Money of the Freemen of this Colony, does not proceed from any Commission, Letters Patent, or other Grant from the Crown, but from the free Choice and Election of the People ; who ought not to be divested of their Property (nor justly can) without their Consent. "Any former Condescensions of other Assemblies, will not prescribe to the Council, a Privilege to make any of those Amend- ments and therefore they have it not. "If the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, did conceive no Reason, why the Council should not have Right to amend Money Bills, is far from concluding there are none; the Assembly understand them very well, and are sufficiently con- vinced of the Necessity they are in, not to admit of any Incroach- ment so much to their Prejudice."^ Bills directing the treasurer to pay certain sums of money for some of the usual purposes of government and for certain sal- aries, appropriating a definite sum for each purpose and for each salary, were also sent up, and on the repeated attempt of the council to amend them, met with the sam.e fate. The temper of the assembly towards the governor personally is indicated by its passage of acts for repair of fortifications and for support of troops on winter service on the frontier, by which the sums w^ere directed to be paid to the governor with only general directions as to their use. The general temper of the assembly on the issue imder discussion was, however, alarmingly indicated, in the opinion expressed by the council in its representation to the crown, by the resolves into which they entered at the close of the session, to the effect that establishing fees without consent in general assembly was contrary to law ; and that erecting a court of chancery without consent in general assembly was contrary to law, without precedent and of dangerous consequence to the liberty and property of the subject. The opinion of both gover- nor and council on these proceedings is well reflected in Hun- ter's words : — "now the mask is thrown off ; they have called in question the Council's share in legislation, trumpt up an in- herent right, declared powers granted by her Majesty's letters patent to be against law and have but one short step to make Ass. J. I. 307. Col. Doc. V. 293. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I4I towards what I am unwilling to name. The Connecticut scheme is what they have in their heads. "^ The ambitions of the assembly were further displayed in their attempted acts of legislation. After the disallowance of the fee act of 1709, Hunter had been instructed specifically to regu- late and establish fees with the assistance of the council, and of this the assembly had been informed. In making a Table of Fees the council's opinion, that they had been too high, prevailed against the governor's judgment, and the resulting ordinance was a grievance to some of the officers. The assembly had never- theless persisted in the attempt to attain a share in control of this matter by establishing the precedent of enacting the ordinance as established by the council in the form of a statute ; but as the Lords of Trade had manifested a certain hesitation in regard to certain items as just established, the council let the assembly bill lie on the table. The assembly's resolve on the subject was later declared by the Lords of Trade to be "very presumptuous," though in the same sentence they disclaimed objection to the enact- ment of the ordinance into law." The ambition of the assembly to venture upon regions of power hitherto untrodden is further indicated by the act for the assigning of sheriffs, an attempted invasion of the governor's prerogative of appointment, according to Hunter ; and by the act for an agency, which, by the same person, was described as an attempt to make the agent a representative exclusively of the assembly, by making his appointment, instruction and support a matter in that body's entire control. According to Hunter's in- formation, the assembly's choice, in case of success, would have fallen on Colonel Lodwick, of London, whose letters to DePeyster had been extensively used to obstruct the settlement of a revenue. The assembly had also used its legislative powers in obstructing the attempt of the governor and council to develop the crown's territorial revenue, by pigeon-holing a bill for the more effectual discovery and payment of quit-rents.^ The situation of the governor was now becoming more and more difficult. The retirement from office in England of the min- ' Col. Laws I. 746, 750. Col. Doc. V. 296. Ass. J. 3, 309. ' Ass. J. I. 274. Col. Doc. V. 184, 216, 230-1, 238, 298, 333, 359. ' Col. Doc. V. 299, 300. 142 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT istry which was responsible for the Palatine enterprise suspended the payment of bills which had been contracted by Hunter for their subsistence. Probably from the same cause, his bills in- curred in connection w4th his duties in provisioning the Canada expedition met with obstruction. These, and the like circum- stances connected with the refusal of the assembly to proceed in the required manner in the support of the provincial government, put him in the greatest financial embarrassment. His situation also gave opportunity to his enemies to play the familiar game of discrediting him in the province by tales of his lack of "in- terest" at court; at the same time that, by obstructive tactics, they prevented a settlement of the revenue in the hope of getting him actually recalled on that score. The most active force in this lobby at court seems to have been Cornbury, now Earl of Clarendon ; while in the province the Anglican clergy, led by Vesey, of New York, by the most ingenious attempts to get themselves persecuted, labored hard to raise the cry of "The Church in danger," with the purpose of getting Nicholson, the zealous Churchman, appointed to Hunter's place. We have the testimony of Colden to the effect that the clouds of disfavor sur- rounding Hunter on all these accounts were gradually but very effectively dispelled by a real personal popularity, which before long became a definite force in the political situation.^ Under these circumstances, the two sessions of 1712 did little to advance the controversy. At the autumn session the gov- ernor in his speech proposed the scheme which he had mentioned privately to members of the previous assembly. The scheme provided elaborately and, it would seem, effectively, against the issue at any given time of warrants for more money than was in the hands of the collector, chiefly by precautions for keeping the governor and council informed, and against partiality on the part of the collector in making payments of warrants. The assembly could not be brought to pay any attention to this scheme, and in general continued their policy of "bantering the government by proposing bills they know cannot pass, or, if passed, would raise no money ;" though bills for the payment of a few items of gov- enmient support were grudgingly allowed to slip through without ' Col. Doc. V. 400, 402-3, 420, 447-453, 310-329, 336-8, 356-7. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls. 1808, pp. 200-202. IN NEW. YORK, 169I-I719. I43 the objectionable features, and every hint v/as given to the gover- nor of a wilHngness to make him, personally, "easy." The climax of the assembly's "undutiful conduct" was reached, when after being informed of the council's representation to the crown con- cerning their proceedings the year before, they composed an ad- dress to the queen, complaining of being misrepresented and de- siring permission to maintain an agent. For this "disrespectful behaviour" the governor thought it necessary to dissolve them, though he had no hope of a new assembly.^ The home government in the meantime supported the posi- tion taken by the council, specifically rebuked the assembly for its claims and revived the plan of proceeding by act of parlia- ment. The sincerity of their maneuvering with the weapon of parliamentary interference is, however, seriously impugned by a passage in one of Hunter's letters, which strongly intimates that the bill prepared and introduced was never intended to be passed ; as well as by the opinion of some of Hunter's friends that the set- tling of a revenue, even by act of parliament, would mean his removal, to make way for a ministerial favorite, now that the place had been made "easy."^ More efficacious in the improvement of the position of the executive officers was the activity of the Lords of Trade and of the attorney-general in support of Hunter's ef- forts, through the issue of chancery writs, to collect quit rents and their arrears. After several years during which payments of this kind had wholly ceased, this practice had the effect of soon bringing the total produce of this item to some £300 or £400, and finally even to £600. An effort was also begun at this time to realize effectually on such regalian rights as the licensing of the whale-fishery, and the escheat of real property. These efforts could not, however, be expected to bear fruit for some time yet, and in the meantime the issue between the governor and council and the assembly was as pressing and significant as ever.^ In the elections for a new assembly, held in the spring of 1713, the governor seems to have made every effort short of interference with the personnel of county officers having to do ' Ass. J. I. 321. Col. Doc. V. 339-40, 348, 350, 356. 'Col. Doc. V. 330. 333, 356, 359, 367, 389, 543. ' Col. Doc. V. 357. 362-3. 368-70, 378, 555-61, 498-9. 144 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT with elections. Smith describes the elections as "very hot." Six changes in membership appeared, and one constituency was added — Dutchess County being separated from Ulster and given one member. With a possible change of seven votes, the majority was, however, still "in the interest of the late Assembly." The governor himself was exceedingly skeptical, and expected a speedy dissolution, after which be warned the Lords of Trade to "expect to hear of alterations in the commissions of peace and of the militia, that ill men may no longer use her Majesty's author- ity against her."^ Nevertheless he met this assembly with a stout front, and in his speech at the opening of the session informed them that they were called to settle a revenue for the support of the government and not to settle the government itself; re-affirmed his course of conduct with reference to method of support ; inti- mated his intention not to pass any important act of legislation without efficient procedure in providing for a support of gov- ernment; and hinted again at the threat of parliamentary inter- ference. He suggested more frequent consultation with the council in framing bills, to avoid the necessity of amendments and the disputes over the right of making them.^ With this session began the slow, hesitating process, at all stages uncertain of ultimate success, which actually served to remove the political confusion of the province. It is impos- sible to know to what extent the settlement w'as conceived of as a systematic affair. In its actual achievement the piece- meal method appears, and at no time did Hunter appear in any degree confident of its efficacy. It seems likely, from the tone of his references at all stages of the affair, that the enterprise grew on the hands of all concerned, till a point was reached when the possible significance of what had already been attained became evident, and then the governor bent all his energies to the preser- vation of a system which was designed to protect what had al- ready been reached. The first line of policy looking towards any- thing permanent in its nature into which the assembly entered, was that of the payment of the public debts. Rehabilitation of the public credit in some way had been made at first a matter of equal importance, in the governor's recommendations, with the support of government; but the contest seems almost immedi- Col. Doc. V. 364. Smith, 223. Ass. J. I. 333. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 145 ately to have centered on the latter feature. This assembly seemed ready to begin at the other end of the problem, and spent much time during its first session in May and June of 17 1 3, in considering the report of its committee on claims, the appointment of which had been one of the few achievements of the previous assembly. As the fruit of these deliberations, a bill was presented to the governor at the close of the session granting the excise as then managed for twenty years, and appropriating the proceeds to the payment of the public debts in such manner as future legislation should determine. The governor was evidently unwilling to commit himself to a meas- ure which put such great sums into the hands of the treasurer, without assurance that the proposal to pay the debts was made in good faith ; and did not give his assent till the reassembling of the legislature in the fall of the same year.^ In the meantime a duty on goods sold at auction had been granted without specific application, and, for the first time since 1709, a "Supply towards supporting the government." It was only for one year, and was inadequate, viz. £2,800, to be raised by duties on imported rum and wines and European goods from the plantations, with discriminations in the rates in favor of local shipping. But the objectionable features of previous acts were omitted, and the . act provided that, if these duties should not amount to £2,800, the treasurer, on certificate to that effect by the receiver general, should make up the deficiency out of any public money in his hands. The receiver general was made accountable for the proceeds of the duties to the governor, council and as- sembly." The governor was not satisfied with this as a support of gov- ernment, but the fact that both sides should have cooperated at all in an arrangement involving so many departures from the ideals for which they had striven seems to argue that this was only a part of a more complex affair. That this was so, seems to be borne out in part by the character of the act for the payment of the debts, which was only passed after a long session in 17 14 which was exclusively devoted to that subject. The act provided for the payment of accounts amounting to £27,684, the payment ' Ass. J. I. 342-5. Col Doc. V. 365-7. Col. Laws I. 785. ' Col. Laws I. 779. *10 146 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT including what the governor had expended on his personal credit in the course of maintaining the government during the years of controversy; accounts presented by a number of prominent Anti- Leislerians for disbursements in connection with the conduct of government for a number of years past ; an account of over £2,000 due to the Leisler family ; payments to military and civil officers covering nearly the whole period since Leisler ; and the per diem allowance to members of the assembly for the time of the long session which was occupied with this subject. Golden charged the assembly in this proceeding with partiality for the Leislerians, and asserted that the misapplications of previous gov- ernors were not to be compared v/ith the profuseness of this body. But a dispassionate view of the matter will credit the preamble of the act with more sincerity than Golden would allow to it. This preamble recited the great misapplications, the resulting destruc- tion of public credit, the suffering that would ensue upon repudi- ation of the claims involved in the unpaid warrants, which were circulating in a way like bills of credit ; and stated the object of their proceedings to be the restoration of credit by the discharge of these claims and the fixing it on such a foundation as would conduce to the good of the queen's service and to the settling the minds of the inhabitants and burying strifes and animosities. For such a purpose it is not surprising that some of the claims discharged should have a bearing upon matters erstwhile of par- tisan significance. But if the analysis of the payments authorized by the act be correct, the proportion of such payments cannot be called excessive, while, in its effects, the act, according to Hunter, made a fundamental contribution towards the object mentioned in the preamble. The act further provided for the issue of bills of credit for the amount which was ordered to be paid as the province's indebtedness, and for the redemption of the bills at periodic intervals as the proceeds of the excise came into the hands of the treasurer. The act included a form of oath to be taken by the treasurer and by the auditors appointed for the pur- poses of the act ; made the treasurer accountable to governor, council and assembly ; and provided in set terms for the disposi- tion of all the money to be raised in the future by act of assembly and lodged in the treasurer's hands, only in accordance with acts of assembly ; and for the disposition of all money raised by act of assembly for support of government and lodged in the hands of IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. 147 the receiver general, by warrant from the governor and council with the consent of the majority of the council present.^ In defense of the bill against the attacks made upon it by the obstructive lobby at court, Hunter described it as practically a bill for the support of government, since it provided for expenses incurred in past support. He pointed with pride to the reviving prosperity of the province, resulting from the superior credit of the bills issued by the act, and intimated that a formidable part of the opposition to this and associated measures was carried on by those who, in the previously distressful condition of public credit, had had what amounted to a monopoly of the control of availa- ble capital. The council and assembly joined in an address to the Lords of Trade in further defence of the act, commenting with fine scorn on the spectacle of Cornbury's complaint of unjust treatment, "seeing the money given for the Support of this gov- ernment Dureing the hole Course of his administration was Suf- ficient with any tolerable good Management to have Defrayed the proper necessary Expences of it." Whether due to the vig- orous character of these representations or to the precaution taken by the assembly to appropriate by resolve £310 out of the next year's excise towards getting the royal assent to the act, it was promptly confirmed at home and a long step was thereby taken toward the removal of the previous confusion. Not the least important feature of the act was the clause making declaration of the future policy of the assembly in pro- viding for the custody of public money. On careful inspection of this clause it will be observed that only in case money granted for support of government was directed by the terms of the act to be lodged in the hands of the receiver general, was it to be issued out by warrant from the governor and council. How much deliberate guile there was in the careful wording of this clause we have no means of knowing. It was afterwards de- scribed by the auditor general of the plantations as a "quirk" by means of which the assembly "gott the entire Receipt and dis- position of His Majesty's Revenue into their own power." And as a matter of fact practically no money thereafter granted for the support of government was directed to be lodged in the hands of the receiver general, and his duties were thus reduced almost Col. Laws I. 815. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Colls. 1868, p. 202. 148 PPIASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT solely to the receipt of the quit rents and administration of the imperial trade system.^ During the process of adjusting the matter of public debts, a certain provision already referred to, had been made for the support of government for one year ; and at the expiration of this period the same arrangement, with some slight modification, was made for another year. At the same time a tonnage duty and an import duty on slaves, to be collected by an officer appointed by the assembly and to be paid to the treasurer, was granted for two years. No object was mentioned to which this duty was to be applied, the disposition being referred to future legislation. But the absence of clauses making specific appropriation of money given for support of government, which had been a feature of this bill in previous sessions, brought it within the limits of the governor's competency of assent. Once the money was actually available for public purposes, it would depend on the effectiveness of the governor's "interest" in the assembly how much of it could be directed by legislative act to the support of government. At this session also, the proceeds from peddlers' licenses were granted for four years towards the support of government with- out any appropriating clauses, and were to be paid to the receiver general — one of a very few such instances. The management of the excise was also changed, by taking it from the hands of the justices of the peace in the counties and the mayors and aldermen of the cities, and giving it to commissioners appointed in the body of the act, who were required to give security and were allowed an assigned per cent, of the proceeds.^ We have no means of knowing how well justified was Hun- ter's stubborn skepticism, even after the passage of the debt bill . — the "first long bill," as it was called — as to the assembly's in- tentions concerning the support of government; for the demise of the crown worked the dissolution of this body. The body which came together in May, 171 5, contained a majority of mem- bers of the previous assembly. There were six changes in mem- bership, the delegation of three from Albany County and of two from Westchester County and the representative from Rensse- laerwick being entirely new. There was also an enlargement of ' Ass. J. I. 366. Col. Doc. V. 380, 494, 405-6, 412. * Col. Laws I. 801, 805, 812. Col. Doc. V. 377-80. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I49 membership due to the return of two representatives from Dutch- ess County, instead of one. Nevertheless, according to Hunter's "plain and true history" of the affair, related to the Lords of Trade, it was only after the expulsion of Mulford, a turbulent member from Suffolk County, that "that part of the house that was in earnest" about the revenue "got the majority." Appar- ently, then, even under the circumstances about to be related, it was only by a tour de force that effective action in the matter of a relatively permanent support of government could be attained. Hunter frankly sets forth in his letter to the Lords of Trade, which is our only source of information, that an act for settling a revenue for the support of government during five years, and an act for a general naturalization were deliberately exchanged the one for the other by the parties to the controversy. Through- out his whole communication there runs a flavor of semi-defiant apology. His experience on the spot convinces him that the price paid for a settlement is not too high, but he is evidently not so sure that the Lords of Trade will view it in that light.^ The "Revenue Act" granted, for five years, "for the better defraying the publick and necessary charges ... of this gov- ernment," duties on imported wines and distilled Hquors, cocoa, European goods, and slaves ; and also tonnage duties, making distinctions in the rates between goods imported from the place of growth or manufacture and from other places, and excepting from the tonnage duty coasting sloops from the neighboring colo- nies, ships directly from Great Britain and vessels colony-owned or built. Provision was made for weighing at the King's beam all exports of bread and flour, as well as both exports and imports of the goods on which duties were granted by the act. Practi- cally the same machinery for collection was provided as had pre- viously existed, but in addition importers were required to give to the treasurer copies of entries of goods with the collector and receiver general, and on payment of the duties, the treasurer was to issue a certificate of such payment, upon which the col- lector was to permit the landing of the goods. This extra elab- oration of procedure, necessitated by the obtrusion of the treas- erer into a realm formerly monopolized by the collector, was later made subject of complaint. The proceeds of the duties were Col. Doc. V. 378-80, 416. Ass. J. I. 332. Council J. I. 381. 150 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT req^uired to be paid to the treasurer. Bills of credit to the value of £6,000 were authorized to be issued, with the usual arrange- ments for redemption. The treasurer was required to pay out the bills of credit, and all sums accruing from the act over and above the bills of credit, to such persons and in such manner as should be directed by warrants passed in council by the governor. The v/arrants w-ere to be numbered and paid in course according to number, and the clerk of the council was to signify, immediately after passing the same, the warrants, their numbers and the persons to whom they were payable.^ Without going into a description of the naturalization act, for which this revenue act was exchanged, it may be sufficient to remark, in Hunter's words, that, if approved, it would have the efifect of uniting the minds of the majority of the considerable people of the province, and that, if not approved, it would do no harm if it lay for some time without action. It was one of those measures which, during the stormy years of controversy, the as- sembly had shown itself ''fond" of ; and it had passed through all the stages of legislation except the assent of the governor. Thus, as the act for payment of public debts had prepared the way for the revenue by rehabilitating credit, so this act, by con- tributing to the quieting of apprehensions concerning the possi- bility of the strict enforcement of all the legal consequences of the anomalous mixture of national elements in the population, ac- complished its share in "a lasting settlement on this hitherto un- settled and ungovernable Province." Hunter was evidently doubtful about the reception of this act at home and tried to obtain the insertion of a suspending clause, but he had to yield on this point. The opinion of the attorney general in reference to the act was decidedly dubious, and there is at present no evi- dence that it was either confirmed or disallowed.^ There are several noteworthy features about this revenue act which bear testimony to its character as a compromise settle- ment. In the first place, it is to be observed that the treasurer, not the receiver general, was made the custodian of the funds arising from the act. This was evidently regarded as an objection by the governor, but he observed that, as the bills of credit au- thorized by the act were perforce lodged in the treasurer's hands, ' Col. Laws I. 847. ' Col. Laws I. 858. Col. Doc. V. 416, 495. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I5I it was necessary that the funds for sinking them should be in the same custody. Further, he asserted that it was done with the consent of the receiver general himself, who gave the casting vote in the council against amendments designed to defeat the bill. Thus one feature of the assembly's policy had been gained. In the method of disposition of the funds compromise is equally conspicuous. It will be remembered that a cardinal feature of objection to the assembly's bills for the support of government had been the clauses making appropriations for the payment of salaries, thus depriving the crown of its power of rewarding its servants according to its own judgment. The terms of the act provided merely for the issue of the money by the treasurer, in accordance with warrants from the governor and council. On the surface, then, the directions of the instructions were technically complied with. But in connection with this act, (and here Hun- ter's candor deserts him, for he fails to mention this circumstance in his official correspondence) resolves were passed, appropriating salaries and regularly recurring incidental expenses for support of government. And we have Hunter's own testimony before the Lords of Trade at a later time, to the fact that he gave his word that he would issue the warrants in accordance with these re- solves, and that he regularly did so during the rest of his admin- istration. This was a compromise in which, as to essentials of financial management, the assembly had certainly the weight of advantage. They had, it is true, yielded the point of annual grant ; but the feature just described, together with the precau- tionary processes suggested by the governor and finally adopted, would certainly overbalance the five year term and the preser- vation of the form of disposition by warrant.^ There is another compromise feature in the act, which has not yet been mentioned. It was from the first a theory with Hunter that the system of compensation of assemblymen by the counties which they represented contributed to their obstructive attitude. So long as the per diem allowance was regularly forth- coming from their counties, an attitude on legislative propositions which enabled them to pose before their constituents as careful husbands of the colony resources, and at the same time multiplied the necessity for sessions of many days, enabled the assembly- *Ass. J. I. 375. Col. Doc. V. 559. 152 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT man to make his office more profitable than his regular occupa- tion. Hunter had from the first endeavored to get the system changed, and had succeeded in having the allowance for the session which passed the debt bill charged to the funds appro- priated for the payment of the debts. This was defended at the time on the ground that the long session had been devoted almost exclusively to that subject, and that it was equitable that the funds from which those who benefited by the act were to be paid should bear the expense of the session. He labored to have this allowance also changed to the revenue for the whole period for which it was granted, believing that the saving in the local levies of the constituencies would be approved there and that the arrangement might be made permanent. He failed in this; but succeeded in having the arrangement tried for one year, and as a matter of fact, this was the method followed thereafter in the compensation of members of the assembly.^ Still another compromise feature appears in the settlement of the dispute over the matter of an agency, which had been run- ning for nearly as long as the revenue controversy. It will be remembered that the assembly's bills had provided for an exclu- sive control by that body of the appointment, instruction and sup- port of an agent. At the session which granted the revenue, an act was passed, appointing John Champante, a person much ap- proved by the governor, as agent, providing for his instruction either by the governor and council or by the assemblv. and direct- ing the treasurer to pay the agent five hundred ounces of plate on the order of the assembly, signed by the speaker.^ Enough has been said to show how extensive were the ramifi- cations of the settlement of the dispute between the prerogative and popular bodies, of which the matter of the revenue was the nucleus. As a method of support of government, this settlement proved to be comparatively permanent in its nature. After a grant for one year, in 1720, the revenue was continued with cer- tain modifications, for successive periods of three or five years till 1737, when a new contest over annual appropriating acts arose under a different set of conditions. In a review of the financial methods of the province the pro- gress and development of the power of the assembly over ex- 'Col. Doc. V. 180, 404, 416. 'Col. Laws I. 881. Col. Doc. V. 420. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I53. penditure, as well as provision, of public income, is marked. Be- ginning with a condition of affairs in which even a knowledge of the disposition of funds voted for extraordinary uses was prac- tically unattainable, the assembly used its power of the purse as a weapon to induce the avoidance by the expending body of a just suspicion of misuse. Then, on the findings of its committee of accounts, it proceeded to establish control over funds for extra- ordinary uses by providing for the separate custody and disposi- tion of such funds by its own agent, the colony treasurer. As we have seen, this was not attained without a struggle. Becoming further convinced of the inadequacy of the system of expenditure of funds for the support of government by the experience under Cornbury, at the earliest practicable moment it attempted reform by a project far too radical in its form to be practicable under any conscientious royal governor. By aiming so high, and by stubborn persistence in denial of supply in the face of threats of parliamentary interference, it was enabled, in the resulting com- promise to attain an arrangement which secured to it substantial control of the main items of governmental support which it rec- ognized as regular and necessary. In view of the original cir- cumstances of New York as a conquered province, proceeding under the Revolution settlement on the theory that "England, having granted ... a representative Assembly was bound to abide by the logic of that grant as . . . illustrated and enforced in the history of her own Commons," this constitutes certainly a remarkable achievement.^ The controversy over the method of support of government and the character of its settlement as just related, constitute from the purely financial aspect an important feature of provin- cial development. Any account of this development, however, would be incomplete without at least a hint as to the general effect of the struggle upon the balance of political forces in the con- stitution of the province. Reference has already been made to the share in the settlement of the revenue matter contributed by Hunter's personal popularity, aided by the skill of Morris as legislative manager in working up a "Governor's interest" in the assembly. The passage of the revenue act, even under the hard conditions referred to, is the best evidence as to the substantial S. N. D. North in Mag. Am. Hist. III. 161. 154 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT character of this "interest." We have also noticed how widely extended were the elements of compromise associated with the passage of this act. From that time Hunter's chief policy seems to have been directed to the task of defending at home the meas- ures already accomplished, and equally to the perfection of the working relation between himself and the assembly, already so fruitful, for the purpose of preserving what had been gained. In the former purpose he was finally successful against the efforts of a determined opposition, in having all the main features of the settlement either actually confirmed or laid on the table. This opposition drew strength both from provincial and from English sources, was so formidable as to give the governor great anxiety, and finally formed one of the strong reasons for his return to England in 1719.^ In order to the continuation of the work begun by the revenue act, a number of things remained to be done. There were still outstanding many claims against the government, of equal justice with those already satisfied, and the quieting and settling work must be completed by attention to them. The rev- enue act left unprovided for, a number of items not likely to ap- pear regularly in the provincial budget, such as repairs made necessary by the long denial of supply, expenses of running a boundary line, compensation for slaves executed at the time of the negro plot. For these, as well as other purposes, a more numer- ous, as well as more reliable, majority in the assembly was re- quired, if the governor was to be able to carry out his policy. Accordingly we find Hunter availing himself of the arrival of his new commission as an excuse for a dissolution and the summons of a new assembly. In the elections, his "interest" must have been perniciously active, for he later took pride in his success in hav- ing had "the luck or art to get the better" of his opponents, par- ticularly in New York City, which returned an entirely new dele- gation. Several changes occurred in the rural delegations, and the number of the house was increased by the addition of one new constituency — the Manor of Livingston, — and by an addi- tional member from Orange County. This brought the total number to twenty-six, and established an equality of representa- tion from the counties, except in the case of New York and Al- bany. It is not without significance that this very rapid increase Col. Doc. V. 493-4, 512, 514-5, 521-6. IN NEW YORK, 169I-I719. I55 of total membership from twenty-two to twenty-six was made entirely in the time of Hunters administration.^. It is presum- ably at this time, too, that the custom developed of making the governor's use of his patronage in the counties a matter of bar- gain with the assemblymen representing the counties, which Burnet, Clarke, and Morris later refer to as fully established.^ In this reciprocal relation as to county patronage and good behavior during the sessions, as well as in the mutual benefits derivable from the barter of grants of revenue for favorite meas- ures of doubtful reception at home, is to be found the basis of the ''System" of political relations which obtained for the next twenty years. Its immediate fruit is to be found in a second bill for the payment of debts, which, including many items of necessity for the welfare of the government as well as for payment of purely Leislerian claims, was deemed by Hunter to be an essential part of the settlement already partially realized. But the main purpose of the "System" was the assurance thereby afforded to the gov- ernor of a continued support of government, a question, which, if unsettled, made orderly development of any policy impossible. The price paid for this assurance was seriously formidable. The "System" not only involved the "undue" influence of the governor over the composition of the assembly, and the elections to it, as well as the patronage relations already referred to. It involved also the placation of important family "interests," like those of Livingston and Morris, by gifts of office. It involved the con- tinuation of the assembly elected in 1716 over a period of more than ten years ; this circumstance, though mitigated by numerous bye-elections, finally attaining serious proportions as a popular grievance. The preservation of the life of this assembly v/as considered so important for government purposes that the aliena- tion of the Schuyler "interest" was not considered too high a price to pay for its attainment. All this concentration upon the relation between the governor and the assembly had the inevita- ble effect of reducing the council to a position of comparative insignificance ; and it is not until the practice of the governor's presiding over, and sometimes voting in, the council is broken 'Council J. I. 396. Ass. J. I. 381, 395. Col. Doc.'V. 514-5. ' Col. Doc. V. 764, 768-771. 156 PHASES OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT Up, that anything like the old balance of elements in the Consti- tution was restored.^ Enough has perhaps been said to indicate how important were the possibilities for provincial development contained in the system of relations between the executive and legislature to which the revenue controversy actually led up. The workings of the "System" were complex and elaborate and make up a story by themselves. These operations are significant not merely as making up a structure of political relations in the province, based on a self-conscious movement for something more than a partisan or factional end. They constitute as well the perspective of the struggle for the general advance in provincial autonomy carried on under Clarke. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. In preparing the foregoing, the original sources have throughout been exclusively consulted. Of these sources the following is a list. Colonial Manuscripts. In the State Library, Albany, N. Y. Re- ferred to as Col. Mss. Council Minutes (Executive). State Library. Referred to as E. C. M. Journal of the Legislative Council. O'Callaghan, Editor. Published Albany, 1861. Referred to as J. of L. C Journal of the General Assembly. Abraham Lott, Jr., Editor. Pub- lished New York, 1764. Referred to as Ass. J. Colonial Laws. Commissioners of Statutory Revision. Published Albany, 1896. Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York. O'Callaghan, Editor. Published Albany, 1854. Referred to as Col. Doc. Documentary History of the State of New York. O'Callaghan, Ed- itor. Published Albany, 1849. Referred to as Doc. Hist. Calendar of Treasury Papers. London. The New York State Library has produced an excellent bibliography of New York Colonial History, under that title, as Bulletin 56, February, 1901, by Charles A. Flagg and Judson T. Jennings. ' Col. Doc. V. 577-9, 580, 585, 805, 882-8. VITA. The author was prepared for college at the Coburn Classical In- stitute, Waterville, Maine; received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Colby College in 1890; from 1892 to 1894 was Honorary Fellow in Social Science at the University of Chicago; and was a student in the School of Political Sci- ence, Columbia University, during the academic year, 1894- 1895. At the end of that year he received an appointment to a Town^shend Scholarship at Harvard University, which he resigned in order to take the chair of History at Colgate University. While on leave of absence from that institu- tion in the academic year, 1 900-1 901, he was University Fellow in American History at Columbia University. He is at present Professor of History at Colgate University. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLY— TEL. NO. 642-3405 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. *^^ nc 29 196 9 IN STACKS P EC 29*69 APR 5|97n IK^ .vua U?r29 IN STACK* JWUIQ RE C' DIP ■T 570 ■3 PM 14 Doe end of "WIHTER Quarter subisct to ng-nf!' i^iter- FEBl8'?3 «*-^- LD21A-60m-6,'69 (J90968l0)476-A-32 General Library University of California Berkeley f k -\M\3a ^ ♦ -r- 'Vfv-f VV; *^'