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murder by which he fell; and the principles which he
upheld, though his opponents might rail at equality of
suffrage, and demand for the man of wealth as many votes as he held estates, necessarily became the principles of the colony.
There existed in the province no party which would
sacrifice colonial freedom.
Even the legislature, composed of the deadly enemies of
Leisler, asserted the right to a representative government, and to English liberties, to be inherent in the people, and not a consequence of the royal favor.
This act received the veto of King William. ‘No tax whatever shall be levied on his majestie's subjects in the province, or on their estates, on any pretence whatsoever, but by the act and consent of the representatives of the people in general assembly convened:’—‘supreme legislative power belongs to the governor and council, and to the people by their representatives:’—such was the voice of the most royalist assembly that could ever be convened in New York.
What though the enactment was annulled by the
English sovereign?
The spirit lived, and was openly displayed.
It was soon said by a royal governor to the mixed races of legislators in the province, ‘There are none of you but what are big with the privileges of Englishmen and
Magna Charta.’
In the administration of the covetous and passionate
Fletcher, a man of great mobility and feeble judgment, the people of New York were soon disciplined into more decided resistance.
As to territory, the old hope of extending from
Connecticut River to
Delaware Bay revived; and, for the security of the central province, the command of the militia of
New Jersey and
Connecticut was, by a royal commission, conferred on
Fletcher.
