Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/403

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
370
The Green Bag.

branch of the Legislature were in progress, when he became governor afterward, was denounced in as unmeasured terms as ever Lord Cornbury received. Pinhorne remained in commission during the whole of Cornbury's administration, and continued after his removal to be a member of the Council. The Assembly, however, insisted that he should be removed from of fice, and at last was successful, but not until Robert Hunter became Governor. Pinhorne at one time was President of the Council, and by virtue of his holding that position, was Governor of the colony for a short time, in the interregnum between the removal of Ingoldsby and the appointment of Robert Hunter. He died probably in 1720. His will is dated May io, 17 19, and was probated April 12, 1720. He was a man of ample means, and was enabled to draw around him at " Pinhorne Mount " a goodly company of cultured and educated men. He seems to have retired to private life after his dismissal from the Council. The successor of Mompesson was Thomas Gordon, formerly speaker of the Assembly. His term of office as Chief-Justice was very short, but he had filled a very large space in the political history of the colony. He was a Scotchman, and claimed to be connected with the family of the Duke of Gordon. He became complicated with some of the politi cal troubles in Scotland, and immigrated to New Jersey in 1684, bringing his family and servants with him. Becoming a large landed proprietor near Scotch Plains, which place undoubtedly was named from the great num ber of Scotch colonists who settled in that vicinity, he located there, and soon made himself felt as a man of ability and force. He held several offices under the Proprietors and the Colonial Government. He was Deputy Secretary for the Proprietors, Clerk of the Court of Common Right, Register of the Court of Chancery, Judge of Probate, and Collector of Customs at Amboy. He was also, late in the seventeenth century, AttorneyGeneral of the State, and subsequently be

came Speaker of the Assembly. He adopted the popular side in the quarrels between Cornbury and the representatives of the people, and was firm and outspoken in his opposition to the Governor, but was not vio lent, either in speech or conduct. On the resignation of Mompesson, Governor Love lace, who succeeded Lord Cornbury, ap pointed Gordon Chief-Justice. His appoint ment was dated April 28, 1709. He took his seat on the bench in the May Term of that year. He does not seem to have been educated as a lawyer, although licensed as an attorney, and soon became conscious of his inability to perform the duties of the office. He resigned in a very few months after his appointment, and then became Re ceiver-General and Treasurer of the Province. He died in 1722, and was buried at Amboy. After the resignation of Gordon, Roger Mompesson again appears. He was re appointed Chief-Justice by LieutenantGovernor Ingoldsby, who became acting Governor upon the death of Lord Lovelace. Robert Hunter arrived in the colony in 1710 with a commission as its Governor; and Mompesson again withdrew, and David Jamison was appointed to the position thus vacated. His name would indicate that he was a Scotchman. He had been a lawyer of some eminence in New York, and had been counsel for McKernie, a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church who had been in dicted in 1707 for preaching without a license at Newtown, Long Island. He was tried and acquitted, but was detained in prison, not withstanding the acquittal, until he paid the costs of the prosecution. For his defence of Mr. McKernie, Gordon had acquired great favor with the citizens of New York, but he did not escape the popular fury in New Jersey. Governor Lovelace's adminis tration was one which had won almost uni versal favor; but at one time there was a serious break of the excellent relations which had existed between the Governor and the Assembly. The Chief-Justice became in volved in the quarrel, and an indictment was