Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. III
And I know^ not any Wrong I have done the Governor. It may be remembred, T lat tie Speec'.i was made t'le ^d Buy oi' Jlpril, 1714, which was in tlie ]a!e Administration ; thereibre could not be against his pres.^nt Myjesii.s Administrsi'jon ; neither is it a Crime for any Me.uber of the House in the same, to mention Matters of Fact, which are the Aggrievances of tlie People they represent ; but their Duty to endeavour to have them relieved. Although the Governor might be tlie Occasion of the Aggrievances, and if I have dene tiie Governor any ¥/rong, lie might liave brought h's Peismal Action against me, and not prosecute in t';e King's Name, except he is to be InJallible and do what he pleaseth, and nothing to be said by any, lest they in the King's Name be proSLcated from Court to Court. I ;d\vays thought. That the Government ought to have been carried on for their Majesties Benefit and good of the Subjects, according to the Constitution of Ei.giis'i Government : But it is so now with us, that I desire to know, Wiiether t]ie Subjects in Mcw-Yirk Colony are to be governed by Prei-ogative and deprived of Property, or wlietlier they are to be governed by tlie Constitution of English Government 1 If the formiT, then there is not any need of a General Assembly, nor any Oc-asion for t1iat Act of Parliament made in the Riign of King Wi'limn III. For punishing Governors or Commanders in C'.iief, for Crimes by them committed in tlie Plantations : But let the Governors for the time being demand of the People what they please, and th.e People take Care to help them to it, lest they be subpenaVl to the Court of C'loncery at JSTew-Ycrk, wliere the Governor is Judge whetlier he shall have his Demands, and pay Court Charges into V\e Bargain : But if according to the Constitution of English Government, then by the Common Law, what Estate every Subject possesseth, is deemed to be his Property, and is not to be taken from him by due Course of Law, which is by his own Consent, the Lawful Judgment of his Peers, or the Penalty for the Breach of some Law : And I