On the contrary, what it did was done honorably, and openly, and in conformity with the requirements of parliamentary, as well as of constitutional, Law ; not by unanimous Votes, actual or fictitious, but by a majority of its members, duly and courteously exercising the authority with which that majority was duly and legally vested. It was not done by the action of the minority of that Assembly, which represented the revolutionary element of the Inhabitants of the City of New York more completely and with greater zeal lhan itrepresented those several constituencies who had given seats, in that body, to it ; but it was done in the face of that factious minority, and notwithstanding its open, persistent, and resolute opposition. It was not done by reason of any prompting or influence of either the Colonial or the Home Government ; but in well-known opposition to the wishes and the expectations of both. It was not done because of any popular influence, present or prospective ; but only from the personal knowledge of its members, concerning the great wrongs to which, it was said, the Colonies had been subjected, concerning the rights and the interests of the Colonists which had been invaded, and concerning the measures which were necessary for the protection of those invaded rights and interests, for securing a redress of those great wrongs, and for the restoration of harmony and peace. In fact, that General Assembly, in all the proceedings of which mention has been made, more clearly and more faithfully represented the interests and the opinions and the inclinations, concerning governmental matters, of the aggregate body of the