George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition.

[224] yielded to the persuasions of Hutchinson, and

chap. X.} 1764. Oct.

consented to plead for the liberties and privileges long enjoyed without making the claim of right; and invited England to be content with the advantages of confining their trade. So strong was the desire to put aside, if it were possible, the approaching conflict. Connecticut, in a methodical statement, with divisions and subdivisions, and a just enumeration of its services in the war, demonstrated, that charging stamp duties, or other internal duties, by authority of parliament, would be such an infringement of the rights, privileges, and authorities of the colonies, that it might be humbly and firmly trusted, and even relied upon, that the supreme guardians of the liberties of the subject would not suffer the same to be done.” In the midst of the strife about taxation, Colden planned the prostration of the influence of the lawyers, and great landholders, by insisting that in all cases, even in the common law courts, from the verdict of a jury and without a writ of error, there lay the right to appeal to the king. The judges refused to admit of such appeals. ‘I stand singly,’ said Colden, ‘in support of the king's prerogative. All that the owners of the great patents can do will only serve to irritate the ministry; for the king's prerogative will be zealously supported, whatever they may foolishly think of intimidating ministers.’ To the Earl of Halifax, he signalized the lawyer, John Morin Scott, as an incendiary; and entreated the removal of Justice Robert R. Livingston, who had firmly maintained the validity of the verdict of juries. In this way the liberal party in New-York acquired its strength. The merchants opposed the government from hostility to restrictions on trade; the lawyers, from respect