SOME PROMINENT NAMES 261 



Franklin took occasion to propose a union of all the 

 colonies by act of Parliament, a proposal which it is 

 hardly necessary to state was not adopted. In October 

 of the siime year, Governor De Lancey granted a charter 

 to King's College (now Columbia University). He died 

 on the 30th of July, 1760. As a jurist he was possessed 

 of great learning ; the wise and enlightened use of his 

 vast wealth earned for him a position of almost bound- 

 less influence and power ; and he will always be remem- 

 bered as one of the best and ablest provincial rulers of 

 New York. 



James, eldest son of Governor De Lancey, was born in james 

 New York in 1732. He was educated at Eton and Cam- 

 bridge, and returned home at the beginning of the French 

 War. He immediately turned soldier and went through soidier 

 the Niagara campaign of 1755. He was in command of 

 the detachment which prevented the relief of Fort Niagara, 

 and it was through his efforts that that strong position 

 was finally taken. In the expedition against Ticonderoga 

 in 1758 he acted as aide-de-camp to General Abercrombie. 

 In 1760, when he succeeded to his father's estate he was Richest Man 

 the richest man in America, and for several years he ° '^ ^^ 

 devoted his time to the care of his property. But the 

 active Huguenot blood which flowed in his veins would 

 not permit him to live the life of a merely selfish rich 

 man, and in the year 1768 he became a member of the 

 assembly and engaged actively in public affairs. He 

 soon became recognized as the leader of the conservative 

 party in the province, bending all his energies towards a 

 peaceful solution of the differences between the colonies 

 and the mother country. Perhaps his most notable 

 service was in introducing and putting through a resolu- 

 tion which ordered a petition sent to the king, a memorial 

 to the lords and a remonstrance to the commons, demand- 

 ing redress for the grievances of the colonists. He him- 

 self drafted the remonstrance to the commons, producing 

 an able document which was presented to parliament by 



