“ From 1771 nominally until the 22nd of March 1780 he was governor of New York. While he was on a visit to England the War of Independence broke out, and on the 19th of October 1775, several months after his return, he was compelled to seek refuge on the sloop of war “Halifax” in New York Harbour, but was restored to power when the British took possession of New York City in September 1776, though his actual authority did not extend beyond the British lines. ”

“ In 1764 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of North Carolina, upon Arthur Dobbs’s death in 1765 became governor pro tem., and in December of the same year received his commission as governor. Like many other pre-Revolutionary officials in America, he has generally been pictured by American writers as a tyrant. ”