would not be passed, if they were sitting as voting members. The Legislature did pass an act directing that £2,000 should be raised by a tax upon the inhabitants, to pay the salaries of the Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor and the expenses of the Colonial Government. Some other statutes were enacted at the bidding of the Governor which legislation would not have been possible if Gardiner, Lambert and Wright had been seated.

The Governor's action was a clear infringement upon the rights not only of the three members, but also of their constituents and of the Legislature itself, and the consequence was that a great excitement was aroused in the province and that the opposition to the Governor, which had been slumbering, became more and more violent.

There was some other legislation at this session which can hardly be accounted for, when its subservience to the Governor as manifested by its action and the views of Cornbury, himself, are considered. An act was introduced and passed by which the qualification of the voters and of the representatives were entirely changed from those required by the "Instructions" and which also provided that the House should be the sole judge of the right of the members to seats. This act received the assent of the Council and was approved by the Governor, but was disallowed by the Queen.

In 1709, a statute was enacted which required that voters should possess one hundred acres of land or be worth £50, and that representatives must own a thousand acres or have £500 worth of real or personal property. This last act was simply a repetition of the requirements of the "Instructions." Its preamble refers to "the present constitution granted and allowed by our Sovereign Lady the Queen to the Freeholders, Inhabitants of this province, concerning the Qualifications of Representatives to serve in the General Assembly." This "the present Constitution" must refer to the "Instructions" to Cornbury by the Queen, when he was appointed. By the act of 1709, it was provided that the House of Representatives "when met in General Assembly, are, and shall be, Judges of the Qualifications of their own members."

The servility of the Legislature of 1704 to the Governor, is manifested by their answer to his address. They say this: "We her Ma'ties most Loyal & Dutiful Subjects, the Representatives of her Ma'tys Province of N. Jersey met in Genl. Assembly do with ye Deepest Sincerity & Gratitude, acknowledge Her Ma'ties Royal Goodness & favour towards

us, in taking and keeping us under ye wings of her Ma'ties protection and Govern't & more particularly in placing us under ye Excell'cys care & Conduct, whose great diligence & Exquisit Management is ye Admiration of y'r Friends & Envy of y'r Enemies, & tends wholly to ye safty of those whom kind providence has placed under your Excell's Govern't in Subordina'on to ye Crown & direction of ye Laws of England, whose Govern't is infinitely the most mild & Laws ye most wholesome in ye world."

The Legislature was adjourned by the Governor from 1704 to April 24, 1705, but did not meet on that day. It was then adjourned until the succeeding May and again, until October 15th, of the same year, when it met at Burlington. No record can be found of these adjourn ments, but there is a reference to them in the opening speech of the Governor made to the Assembly on the 17th of October.

This Assembly was not so obsequious to the Governor as it had been; a strong spirit of opposition had been aroused against him which was decidedly manifested at this session, not so much by what was done as by what was not done. Cornbury, in his opening address particularly recommended the introduction and passage of certain acts, not one of which, however, was passed or even introduced. Among them, of course, was that which provided for the revenue of the Queen for the expenses of the government of the province. Cornbury was interested in this, because from it came his own salary. The Legislature refused to do anything until the status of the three members who had been refused their seats in the first session, was determined. They brought this question at once to the attention of the Governor, waited upon him with Gardiner and his associates and requested a decision. The Governor dallied with them-postponed-required to know the reasons. which induced the Assembly to declare that they were entirely satisfied that the three gentlemen were qualified to take their seats. These were given, and then, the Governor again postponed his decision, but, finally announced that he was satisfied that the Assembly was correct and permitted the rejected representatives to take the oath. This illegal action of the Governor, thinly veiled under a pretended objection of two of his council, deprived the Assembly of the benefit of the advice and presence of two of its best members and the constituents of those members, of representation in the popular branch of the Legislature, for eleven months. The question as to the qualifications of the rejected members could have been settled in an hour's time, but even

after full evidence had been furnished, he took ten days to render his decision. On the 31st of October it was resolved by the Legislature that the house now being full, it should forthwith proceed to the transaction of business. A speech was prepared by a committee appointed by the Assembly, in answer to the address of the Governor. It was very short and plainly showed that the Legislature was determined to submit to no further encroachments upon its privileges. On the 3d of December it was ordered that the consideration of that part of the Governor's speech which related to the providing of a fund for defraying the expenses of the government should be referred to a special committee, who should report their opinion to the House, and then, it was directed, that the same committee should prepare a bill for payment of the fees of the representatives for attendance in the General Assembly. On the 9th of December, the Governor prorogued the Legislature until the first day of May, 1706. During the vacation, the discontent became more and more pronounced; it pervaded all classes. The proprietors of both Provinces were aroused and the opposition to the Governor assumed a most formidable aspect.

The prior Legislature, when it was deprived of the presence of Gardiner and his associates, with a majority favorable to the Governor, had passed an act directing that £2000 should be raised for the expenses of the government for two years. The two years were rapidly passing away and it became necessary that some means should be provided for the future. The Assembly stood firm and refused to accede to Cornbury's demand. The Legislature did not meet on the first of May, the day to which it was prorogued, but it did meet on the 25th of October, 1706, at Amboy. Nothing was done at this session; it adjourned from day to day until the 1st of December, without accomplishing anything and then, suddenly discontinued its session, for what reason cannot be ascertained. Nothing appears upon the Journal from that date until the 5th day of April, 1707, when the Third Assembly met at Burlington. At this meeting the opposition to the Governor manifested itself in a definite shape. The first day of the meeting was Saturday, when Samuel Jennings, one of the foremost citizens in the western province-a man of excellent judgment and good ability, was chosen Speaker. There was a significance in this choice; Jennings and Lewis Morris had been two of the most active opponents of the Governor and had incurred his decided displeasure. On Monday, the 7th of April, the Governor made his opening address, in which his first

recommendation was the passage of an act settling a revenue upon the Queen" as may be sufficient to support ye Dignity & Supply all ye necessary Charges of ye Governor." The amount limited by the address was £1500, which, it was stated, the Queen was willing to accept instead of the £2000, which had already been granted but only for two years. The Governor also made recommendations as to the passage of other acts. In the afternoon of the same day, the Assembly resolved itself into a committee of the whole House to consider of the Governor's speech and continued this action for three days, the Chairman of the committee reporting progress from day to day and requesting leave to sit again. On the afternoon of the 8th of April, a question arose as to the power of the committee to choose its own clerk, objection being made to the Secretary of the Legislature using his official position to be present at the debates before the committee. The Secretary, William Anderson, was appointed by the Governor, but the Legislature claimed the right to select another person in his stead, when the House was sitting in a committee of the whole. Anderson violently disputed this demand and insisted that, by virtue of his official position, he was entitled to be present when the House was sitting as a committee of the whole. This led to considerable discussion and the matter was finally referred to the Assembly itself, which unanimously decided that the Legislature had the right to ap point the Secretary for the committee. The Assembly objected to Anderson's presence because they had good reason to believe that he was acting as a spy on their actions, for the Governor.

While this contention between the Legislature and their Secretary was in progress, the Governor sent for the Assembly and made them another speech, in which he charged them with irregularity of action and made the special complaint that they had turned out Mr. Anderson, who was a sworn officer and had elected in his stead a representative who was a member of the Assembly, and recommended them to return to their House and proceed "Calmly upon the Weighty matters before you, like men determined to do their Countrey service." Notwithstanding this advice of the Governor, the Assembly persisted in their action and ordered Anderson to withdraw from the committee, which he refused to do. The subsequent action of the Legislature is thus given in the Journal, in the report made by Lewis Morris when the committee rose: "sd comittee did draw up a paper wch they directed him to Report, wch was rec'd & is as follows, viz. Upon De

bate Comittee of ye whole House, by ye Choice of a Clerk for yt comittee, Mr. Wm. Anderson, Clerk of ye House Insisted to be present at ye Debates of that Com'ee, to Offer as a reason for his being present, yt he was Sworn to discover Debates yt were dangrous to ye Governm't, & yt he did not know but ye Comittee, were going to have said Debates, & yrfore to turn him out, upon wch ye Chairman Replied, 'to suppose we were going to have such Debates,' & Mr. Anderson Answered: 'It looks like It."" The House did not suffer Anderson's conduct to remain unrebuked and passed a resolution that his refusal to withdraw from a committee of the whole House "when he was thereunto Required, is a high Contempt, & a great Interruption of ye public Affairs. of this Province, on which this House has met."

They also resolved that his words spoken in the committee were misdemeanor and a scandalous reflection upon the Members of this House.

The Legislature at last brought the subject of the Clerk to the attention of the Governor in a decided manner and desired him to appoint another clerk who was a resident in the province, giving as a reason that it was a great injury to the country that all the records should be carried off into another government. They also charged Anderson with having misbehaved himself and having made scandalous reflections on the Assembly and therefore they declared that he would be no longer useful to the Queen and the country.

To this address, the Governor returned a reply in which he requested a specification of "the Misbehaviour of ye Clerk & the Scandalous Reflections" said to be made by him. The result was that a few days afterwards the Governor discharged Anderson and appointed Captain John Pinhorn in his place.

The Legislature continued from day to day sitting as a committee of the whole and discussing the grievances which they had suffered by the action of the Governor. The issue of their investigations and discussions was the preparation of a remonstrance in which they stated their complaints against the Governor in a direct and forcible manner. On the 5th of May, the House resolved itself into a "grand" committee, which, after discussing the general subject, rose and reported, through Lewis Morris, a statement of the several grievances of which they complained; they were thirteen in number, and it was further resolved that the Legislature would lay these grievances "and the Arbitrary and Corrupt Practices of his Excell The lord Cornbury at her