14 The Story of the New England Whalers 



East Hampton says he was "an original genius of 

 good judgment but of an odd turn." It is re- 

 lated that while he was a member of the legis- 

 lature he got into trouble by saying that the 

 House was governed by the devil. When brought 

 to the bar by the speaker, he explained that what 

 he had intended to say was that the House was 

 ruled by the Albany members, they by Colonel 

 Schuyler, he by the Mohawk Indians, and they 

 by the devil; whereat everybody laughed so 

 heartily that the old man was forgiven for his 

 plain speech. That he should have made such a 

 decided stand against the governor was evidence 

 in the minds of average citizens that he was what 

 would now be called a "crank." But if his mo- 

 tives and ambitions be now examined, it is seen 

 that he was not only the ablest citizen of Long 

 Island, but a far-seeing statesman, one worthy of 

 being ranked with the patriots of the Revolution. 

 For he had come to be animated, not by a fool- 

 ishly stubborn determination to oppose a tyran- 

 nical governor, but by a lofty spirit of patriotism. 

 The fight as he made it was not to escape the 

 payment of a fine of 50 that had been im- 



