" Our representatives," says Smith, "agreeable to the general sense of their constituents, are tenacious in their opinions that the inhabitants of this colony are entitled to all the privileges of Englishmen ; that they have a right to participate in the legislative power, and that the session of Assemblies here is wisely substituted, instead of a representation in Parliament.'" And yet this same historian is inconsistent enough to charge " that the views of these representatives seldom extend further than to the regulation of highways, the destraction of wolves, wild-cats and foxes, and the advancement of the other little interests of the particular counties which they were chosen to represent."* How much more correct the first statement is, if not seen from what has already been oft'ered, will be abundantly manifest, as we now turn to record the excitements and troubles which commenced with the second third of the eighteenth century.

Upon the death of Governor ^Montgomery, Mr. Rip Van Dam, the i)resident of the Council, assumed the duties of the position until a successor should be appointed, which was immediately done upon the receipt of the news in England. Colonel William Cosby, formerly Governor of ilinorca, was commissioned for New York, but remained in England nearly a year before embarking for his position, under the declared motive of preventing the [)assage of a bill, called the Sugar Bill, which was disastrous to the interests of the New York colony. Very early after his arrival a pecuniary disagreement sprang up between the Governor and Van Dam, growing out of this delay, which it was found necessary to otfer to the courts for settlement.