Source: Observation of the
American Colonies, Peter Kalm, 1751
The governor of the province
of New York resides in this city and has a palace in the fort. Among those who
have been entrusted with this post, William Burnet deserves to be had in
perpetual memory. His great diligence in promoting the welfare of this province
is what makes the principal merit of his character. The people of New York
therefore still reckon him the best governor they ever had, and think that they
cannot praise his services too much.
An assembly of deputies,
from all the particular districts of the province of New York, is held at New
York once or twice every year. It may be looked upon as a parliament in
miniature. Everything relating to the good of the province is here debated. The
governor calls the assembly and dissolves it at his pleasure.
The king appoints the
governor according to his royal pleasure; but the inhabitants of the province
make up the governor's salary. Therefore, a man entrusted with this job has
greater or lesser income, according as he knows how to gain the confidence of
the inhabitants. There are examples of governors, in this and other provinces
of North America, who, by their disagreements with the inhabitants of their
respective governments, have lost their whole salary, his Majesty having no
power to make them pay it.
At the assembly, the old
laws are reviewed and amended, and new ones were made, and the regulation and
circulation of currency, together with all other affairs of that kind, are
determined. For each English colony in North America is independent of the
other, and has its proper laws and currency, and may be looked upon in several
lights as a state by itself. Consequently, in time of war, things go on very
slowly and irregularly here; for not only the sense of one province is
sometimes directly opposite to that of another; but frequently the views of the
governor, and those of the assembly of the same
province are quite different. So that it is easy to see, that while the people
are quarreling about the best and cheapest manner of carrying on the war, an
enemy has it in his power to take one place after another.
It is of great advantage to
the crown of England that the North American colonies are near a country under
the government of the French, like Canada. For the English
colonies in this part of the world have increased so much in their number of
inhabitants, and in their riches, that they almost compete with Old England.
Now in order to keep up the authority and trade of their mother country, and to
answer several other purposes, they are forbidden to establish new
manufactures, which would turn to the disadvantage of the British commerce.
They are not allowed to dig for gold or silver, unless they send them to
England immediately; they have not the liberty of trading to any parts that do
not belong to the British dominions. These and some other restrictions cause
the inhabitants of the English colonies to grow less tender for their mother
country. This coldness is kept up by the many foreigners, such as Germans,
Dutch, and French, settled here, and living among the English, who commonly
have no particular attachment to Old England.
I have been told by Englishmen, and not only by such as were born in America, but even by such as carne from Europe, that the English colonies in North America, in the space of thirty or fifty years, would be able to form a state by themselves, entirely independent of Old England. But as the whole country which lies along the seashore is unguarded, and on the land side is harassed by the French in times of war, these dangerous neighbors are sufficient to prevent the connection of the colonies with their mother country from being quite broken off. The English government has therefore sufficient reason to consider the French in North America as the best means of keeping the colonies in their due submission.