CHAPTER X

THE   PART   OF   NEW-YORK   IN   THE   STAMP   ACT   TROUBLES

1761-1768

IR CHARLES HARDY having resigned the post of
governor, the king on March 20, 1761, on the recommen¬
dation of the Earl of Halifax and the Board of Trade, ap¬
pointed Robert Monckton governor and captain-general,
and Cadwallader Colden lieutenant-governor. The vexed question
of the office of chief justice was also finally disposed of by the ap¬
pointment of Benjamin Pratt to this important vacancy. ^ The officer
now appointed as governor was a favorite in the colonies. A son of
Viscount Galway, he was entitled to the social distinction which he re¬
ceived in the intimacy of the high families of the province, Mr. John
Watts being one of his warmest personal friends. He began his career
in Flanders, and was transferred in 1753 to the American station,
where he successively commanded the posts of Halifax, Annapolis
Royal, and Nova Scotia, of which he had been lieutenant-governor
since 1756, during which period he also commanded the Royal Ameri¬
cans in Loudoun's army, was engaged at the siege of Louisburg, and
later was second in command to General Wolfe at the capture of
Quebec. Severely wounded in this action, he was promoted colonel,
and in 1761 major-general. It may here be added that, although
offered a command later in the war of the Revolution, he declined to
draw his sword against the colonists who had fought under his com¬
mand in the French war.

General Monckton's commission reached New-York by the Alcide
man-of-war on October 20, 1761, and on the 26th he was sworn in as
governor. He was received with great enthusiasm by the people; the
corporation of the city waited upon him with an address, and presented
him with the freedom of the city in a gold box, at a cost of twenty-
four pounds four shillings, as the minutes show. With his patent he
received permission to quit the province and take command of the
expedition fitting out against Martinique.    He therefore abstained

1 This gentleman was also named and appointed     ander for this place not having apparently met
to  the vacancy in the council, completing the     with much consideration,
twelve;  Mr. Colden's suggestion of his son Alex-

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