Great Britain ought to be preferred." That was clear and to the point.
In politics, Governor Bernard was no less explicit, suggesting that the council in each province should resemble as nearly as possible the House of Lords and be composed of persons of wealth enjoying some such title as baron or baronet, all bound to look to the British Crown for honors and appreciation. This happy system was to be perfected by establishing a permanent revenue with which to pay the provincial governors, councilors, judges, and other officers civil and military—a permanent revenue furnished by the colonial legislatures as ordered by act of Parliament. Under this grand design, places and jobs in the imperial government were to become parts of the general royal patronage. Perhaps not many governors saw the goal as clearly as did Bernard, but no doubt the prevailing administrative opinion supported his views. Certainly, as the hour of the American Revolution drew near, British policy was moving in the direction indicated by that indefatigable governor.
§
Naturally, the salaries, emoluments, land grants, and other perquisites of colonial politics, so highly prized by royal governors, were not trifles unconsidered by members of American legislatures. Permanent residents with life estates in the country, the assemblymen could hardly fail to regard the governor from over the ocean as an interloper entitled to small esteem. It cost them no little grief to see lucrative offices filled by henchmen engaged in gainful employments at their expense, and still more anguish to see a royal governor and his train, after a season of suppressed desires in the stuffy atmosphere of the province, depart for the metropolis, laden with spoils, to enjoy a term of pleasing luxury in London.
These observant assemblymen were not, however, without resources. Holding the purse strings, they could be
