4 It is proper to remind the reader, in this place, of two well-known facts, each of which had an important bearing on the political events of the period now under consideration.

The first of these facts is, the '■ friends of the Government " took no part whatever, in the formation of the Committee of Correspondence nor in its doings. That body was denounced by the Colonial Government, from the beginning, as '• illegal " -- "it is allowed by the Intelligent among them, that these assemblies of the People without au- " thority of Government are illegal and maybe dangerous," (Lieutenantgovernor Colden to the Earl of Dartmouth, " New York 1st June 1774.") "These transactions " [the nomination of Deputies to the Congress and the proposed ratification of the ticket by the body of the people] " are dangerous, "my Lord, and illegal, but by what means shall Government prevent "them? An attempt by the power of the Civil Magistrate would only "show their weakness, and it is not easy to say upon what foundation a " military aid should be called in. Such a Measure would involve us in " Troubles which it is thought much more prudent to avoid ; and to shun " all Extreams while it is yet possible Things may take a favourable " turn."-- (The same to the same, " New York, 6th July, 1774.")

The party of the Government-- subsequently called "Tories" -- included only the members of the Colonial Government, in its various departments, and its dependents ; it was, unwillingly, only a passive spectator of what, then, took place, in the political doings of that period ; and it was wholly powerless to Buppress the rising spirit of Revolution, which it would have gladly done. The party of the Opposition to the Government-- subsequently called " Whigs "--included the great body of the Inhabitants, aristocratic as well as democratic, the patricians as well as the plebeians.