Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). New York. 1906.
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| nobler type than the average colonial governor. He belonged to that limited class in the English aristocracy which combined intense pride and exclusiveness in social matters with a genuine belief in popular liberty and political equality, and a dislike of privilege and privileged castes. He seems to have clearly seen that the establishment in New York of an oligarchy such as Fletcher and the wealthy citizens in general dreamed of, meant injustice to the mass of the people for the time being, and therefore in the end an uprising, and the destruction of the iniquitous system by violence. His duty appeared to him plain; and he attacked the intrenched evils with the utmost resolution. It was an uphill struggle, for the most powerful interests of the colony were banded against him; and, moreover, in dealing with men his tact was not equal to his courage and probity. |
| Bellomont at once espoused the cause of the Leislerians, the champions of the common people; and during his three years’ rule in New York the popular party was uppermost. He even had the bodies of Leisler and Milborne disinterred and buried again with all honor. From the outset he was forced into an unrelenting war on many of the public officials, who were given over to financial dishonesty and bribe-taking, being in corrupt collusion with the merchants, pirates, and smugglers; for the whole governmental service had become |