During the long controversy and agitation which preceded it, the people had familiarized themselves with the doctrine of resistance to tyrants. " If all governors are to be reverenced," said one of the writers in Zenger's Journal, " why not the Turk and old Muley, or Nero?" It became decidedly the fashion to exalt the people above their rulers, and to make pungent retorts to those who urged the old ideas of obedience to authority. In the spirit of political independence nurtured and matured during that period, reflective historical writers have recognized one of the earliest foundations of the American Revolution. That spirit, as an active force, underwent a suspension after the realization of its immediate object, only to be revived, however, with increased energy, wiien the issues antecedent to the Revolution began to take shape. From that October day, when the people of Westchester County gathered in front of the old Eastchester church to rebuke the presumption of the royal governor, the ultimate attitude of New York concerning any question of popular right never could have been in doubt. The sentiment so emphatically expressed by Westchester County wras most heartily sustained by the people of New York City whenever the citizens of that municipality had opportunity to make their attitude felt. The public bodies of the city were uniformly opposed to Cosby's attempts. In September, 1731, when the agitation arising out of the Van Dam matter, Morris's dismissal, and the course of the Weekly Journal was at its height, an election for aldermen and assistants was held, at which only one of the government candidates was successful. As we have seen, the grand jury from first to last refused to indict Zenger; and the common council was equally refractory when demands were made upon it by the governor, and at the happy termination of the Zenger prosecution celebrated the grand popular victory by awarding the highest public honors to