will be remembered that by that instrument more than by any subsequent Constitution the governor was in fact, as well as in name, the chief executive of the state. The Council of Appointment, of which he was a member, and in which, for the first few years of its existence, he exercised the exclusive power of nomination, possessed the power of appointment and removal of all public officers except the state treasurer and a few local officers who were elected by the people. The phrase "supreme executive power and authority" was significant under that Constitution, for the governor was the real executive head of the state, and the Constitution specifically charged him "to take care that the laws were faithfully executed, to the best of his ability." This made him responsible for the execution of all the laws unless excused from such responsibility by the law itself. That clause has been continued in subsequent Constitutions, and will be considered in a note to § 4.

By the first Constitution the governor's term was fixed at three years; by the second and third at two years; it was again fixed at three years by the amendments of 1874, and once more reduced to two years by the Constitution of 1894.

The governor of New York holds a very exalted position, second only to that of president of the United States. No state has gone farther than New York in vesting in the governor large and sometimes extraordinary powers. He is not only the executive head of the state, but he is an essential element of our legislative system, and by an exercise of executive authority he may wield an extensive and sometimes a dominating influence in respect to the judiciary, manifested by appointments to the highest courts to fill vacancies, by the designation of judges to constitute appellate divisions of the supreme court, and by the appointment of extraordinary trial, special, and

appellate terms, and where, as in many cases, he does not possess the power of removal, he may initiate proceedings for that purpose by recommendations to the senate. Besides these functions he is charged with the direct power of appointment in some of the principal state departments, sometimes on his own responsibility, and sometimes subject to confirmation by the senate, and must, in many cases, exercise a like power to fill vacancies in local offices. The office is one of great influence, and has been so from the beginning. A former governor, speaking on this subject, recently said to me that "a governor can do almost anything that is reasonable." He is not only at the center of executive power, but he is also at the center of executive influence and knowledge. All sources of information are available to him and all storehouses of experience are open for his use. He touches, or may touch, not only all aspects of public affairs, but he must often consider and determine questions relating to the details of municipal administration; and political, commercial, educational, religious, and even personal matters frequently come under his observation and are subject to executive action. The early Dutch governors possessed very broad powers. They were called "directors;" and while there was nominally a governor's council, quite often, as shown in former volumes, these councils exercised little authority, and the director's power was practically supreme. He possessed not only the executive authority, but also judicial, military, and legislative power. Some of the early English governors were even more autocratic, and while they contended against the growth of the spirit of republicanism which constantly asserted itself in the declaration that the people ought to have a share in the government, they were unable to stem the tide, and a popular assembly was reluctantly established to aid the governor in administering colonial

affairs. Even this was not independence, for the governor continued to be the royal representative in the colony, and the laws enacted by the colonial legislature were subject to approval by the governor and also by the Crown. The governor's transmission of the laws to England for consideration by the Crown was accompanied by explanatory reasons and recommendations relating to such laws, and not only on this subject, but on other subjects concerning colonial affairs, if information was needed by the home government it was sought from the colonial governor.

I suppose the official reports made by the colonial governors are not now often read, and perhaps are not accessible to the general reader, but a perusal of these reports will convince any student of our history that the colonial governors brought to their tasks and displayed in their administrations a wide and accurate knowledge of public affairs, a devoted loyalty to the interests of the mother country and of the colony, a keen sense of the relations which ought to exist between the several colonies, a careful study of questions relating to Indian tribes and Indian lands, an unremitting watchfulness of the encroachments by other nations, particularly by the French on the north, the commercial importance of New York, and a great faith in the destiny of the colony. This need not surprise us when we remember that many of the colonial governors were selected from the higher ranks of the English aristocracy, and brought to their duties qualities, capacities, and experience which would have fitted them to become members of the government at home. This inheritance of power and influence, developing through a century and a half of colonial experience, has become the possession of our chief magistrate, largely augmented in all directions by the growth and expansion of the interests which have been committed to the state as a

member of a great nation. The governorship is a legitimate object of the aspiration of any citizen, and he may feel a just pride in being chosen to this high office, to take his place in a long line of distinguished statesmen who have done so much to establish and maintain the greatness of New York, many of whom have exerted an influence far beyond the boundaries of the state, in national and even international affairs.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.

The office of lieutenant governor existed in the colonial period, but it was not a necessary part of the executive branch of the government, and did not possess the permanent character which has been given to it under the Constitution. During the colonial period a lieutenant governor was sometimes appointed during the interregnum following the death of a governor, and in these cases the appointment of the lieutenant governor terminated on the accession of a regular governor. The appointment of George Clarke as lieutenant governor in 1736 is an instance of this class. Mr. Clarke was president of the council, and the duties of the executive devolved on him on the death of Governor Cosby. Mr. Clarke received a commission as lieutenant governor. A lieutenant governor was also sometimes appointed while a regular governor was in office, and as his subordinate or assistant. Thus, in 1697, John Nanfan was appointed lieutenant governor during the administration of Governor Bellomont, and the lieutenant governor was expressly commissioned to perform the duties of governor in case of the death or absence of that officer, and at other times to be under the direction and obey the orders of the governor.

There was not at all times a lieutenant governor during

the colonial period, but there were numerous instances of the appointment of a lieutenant governor, either to fill an interregnum caused by the death of a governor, or as a subordinate to or substitute for that officer. In the latter case the lieutenant governor sustained to the administration substantially the relations which the same officer sustains under the Constitution. His powers were dormant while the governor was in the colony and able to perform his duties, but, like his constitutional successor, he assumed the duties of the office upon the death or absence of the governor. The practice in this respect is indicated in the communication from Governor Tryon to the home government in April, 1774, where he says that, in consequence of his expected temporary absence from the colony, he had delivered the great seal of the province to Lieutenant Governor Colden.

Without giving more details concerning this office, suffice it to say that when American independence was declared and a provincial congress was chosen in New York in the summer of 1776, to organize a state government, William Tryon was governor and Cadwallader Colden was lieutenant governor; the framers of the Constitution, therefore, simply continued the executive organization with which the colony had long been familiar. I have already referred to Lieutenant Governor Colden's long official service in the colony, which I think far exceeded that of any other person. He died September 21, 1776, near the end of his 89th year. He had been forty years surveyor general of the colony, fifty-four years a member of the council, and sixteen years lieutenant governor. His reports and letters furnish an abundance of valuable information concerning the details of colonial affairs.

In the chapter on the first Constitution I have given a brief account of the organization of the state government, and have there referred to the fact that, at the first