USA > New York > History of the state of New York, for the use of common schools, academies, normal and high schools, and other seminaries of instruction > Part 7
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5. The Council in November, 1734, ordered these papers to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, and a few day
Controversy with Van Dam. - Proceedings in court. - Arbitrary meas- ures of Cosby. - Popular discontent. - John Peter Zenger.
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ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.
afterwards Zenger was arrested and imprisoned on a criminal charge for publishing a seditious libel against the government. The grand jury having refused to find a bill of indictment for this offence, an information was, in January, 1735, filed against the prisoner by the Attorney-General, and after a protracted confinement he was brought up for trial on the 4th of August, 1735. His friends in the mean time, and an association 1735. known as the "Sons of Liberty " for the protection and advocacy of popular rights, had secured the services of the vener- able Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, then eighty years of age, but in full possession of all his faculties, as counsel for the defence.
6. This remarkable trial took place in the City Hall, before the judges of the Supreme Court, James De Lancey presiding as Chief Justice, Philipse as Judge, and Bradley as Attorney- General. The court-room was crowded to excess by an anxious and excited auditory, and the unexpected appearance of the venerable and eloquent counsel for the prisoner added intense interest to the scene. The plea of "Not guilty " having been interposed, and a jury impanelled, the publication of the alleged libel was boldly admitted, and full proof of its justification offered. The Attorney-General, however, resisted the introduc- tion of this proof, on the ground that in a criminal proceeding for the publication of libellous matter the truth of the facts alleged was inadmissible in evidence. This objection was sus- tained by the Court.
7. Hamilton then proceeded to address the jury, and in an eloquent and brilliant speech confuted the assumption of the Court that "the greater the truth, the greater was the libel "; insisted that the jury were themselves the judges, not only of the facts, but of the law ; that it was their peculiar province to pass upon all the circumstances and bearings of the alleged offence, and to determine for themselves its innocence or guilt ; that they were the sworn protectors of the rights, liberties, and privileges of their fellow-citizens, violated in this instance by a most outrageous and vindictive series of persecutions ; that it was for them to interpose between the tyrannical and arbitrary viola- tions of law and justice and their intended victim ; to assert
Prosecution for libel. - Trial of Zenger.
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THIRD PERIOD.
and uphold the freedom of speech and of the press, and to vin- dicate by their verdict the supremacy of the people over their wanton and powerful oppressors.
8. Notwithstanding the reiterated charge of the Court that they were judges of the facts only put in issue, and not of the conclusions of law upon those facts ; that the truth of the alleged libel was a matter wholly beyond their jurisdiction ; and that its publication having been admitted, and all evidence of the facts excluded, it was their imperative duty to convict the prisoner, the jury, after a brief deliberation, unanimously returned a verdict of " Not guilty." Amid the irrepressible ap- plause of the vast crowd of spectators Hamilton was borne in triumph from the hall, and conducted to a splendid entertain- ment prepared for his reception. A public dinner was next day given him by the citizens, the freedom of the city presented by the corporation, and his departure signalized by the highest and most distinguished honors.
9. Thus terminated this exciting and important trial by the complete triumph of the popular cause, - the vindication of the right of the public press to pass upon the conduct of the public authorities, and to criticise, with entire freedom, their official proceedings, - and the assertion of the unalterable determination of the people to protect their champions and the defenders of their rights against all the assaults of power, and the machina- tions of tyranny and oppression. The organization effected for the successful accomplishment of these great objects was per- petuated and strengthened for the attainment at no distant period of a still more signal and important triumph.
10. Cosby, however, notwithstanding the severe repulse 1736. he had received through the acquittal of Zenger, still persisted with unyielding pertinacity in his arbitrary and rapa- cious proceedings. He directed a resurvey of the grants and patents of land in the province with the view of adding to his revennes by the fees, and destroyed several important documents intrusted to him for this purpose. His death on the 10th of March, 1736, put an end to his further proceedings ; not, how- ever, until he had once more signalized his inveterate hostility
· Acquittal of Zenger. - Oppressive proceedings of Cosby.
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CLARKE, CLINTON, OSBORNE, ETC.
to the people by the suspension, through his Council, of his former antagonist, Rip Van Dam, who, as the oldest member of the Council, would have been entitled to the administration on his decease.
CHAPTER VII.
ADMINISTRATION OF GEORGE CLARKE. - NEGRO PLOT. - ADMIRAL CLINTON. - SIR DANVERS OSBORNE. - JAMES DE LANCEY. - SIR CHARLES HARDY.
1. GEORGE CLARKE, the next in succession, was in- 1737. ducted into office by the Council, and on the 14th of October subsequently received a commission from England em- powering him to act as Lieutenant-Governor until the arrival of Cosby's successor. He endeavored to ingratiate himself with both the aristocratic and the popular party. The Assembly was dissolved, and a new one called, which met in the ensuing sum- mer, but could not be prevailed upon to grant a revenue for a longer period than one year. This precedent was thereafter steadily acted upon by the assemblies subsequently convened. The only act of importance passed during the session was one disfranchising the Jews residing in the province.
2. At this period New York City contained about 1741. ten thousand inhabitants, nearly one fifth of whom were negro slaves. Both the Dutch and English governments had sys- tematically encouraged their importation into the colony, and the principal merchants of the city had engaged in the traffic as a prominent branch of trade and source of profit. The most stringent regulations for their control and subordination were enacted, and every transgression was severely punished ; but their great number, thievish propensities, and occasional acts of insubordination, rendered the community sensitively alive to the possible dangers which might arise from their presence. This pervading feeling of insecurity required only a slight provocation to ripen into a general panic.
Cosby's death. - Exclusion of Van Dam. - George Clarke, Lieutenant- Governor. - Dissolution of Assembly. - Disfranchisement of the Jews. - Slavery in New York.
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THIRD PERIOD.
3. A trifling robbery which occurred in March, 1741, in the house of a merchant, and which was traced to some of the ne- groes, followed soon after by a series of incendiary fires in dif- ferent quarters of the city, created a general alarm, and so in- flamed the public mind, that numerous arrests were made, and a searching investigation instituted by the authorities, which, however, failed in discovering any reliable traces of the guilty perpetrators. Heavy rewards were offered by the Common Coun- cil for their arrest and conviction, together with a full pardon to any of their number who would reveal his knowledge of the conspiracy and denounce his associates. Many , of the inhabi- tants removed their goods from the city, and every effort was made to obtain the faintest clew to the guilty authors of the outrages.
4. The Supreme Court of the province was specially con- vened for the investigation of the matter, and a grand-jury con- sisting of the principal inhabitants of the city charged with its consideration. Great numbers of witnesses were examined, and on the testimony of a negro girl, Mary Burton, who had been promised a full pardon, several of the negroes implicated by her were arrested, and, notwithstanding their terrified efforts to se- cure safety by criminating their innocent associates, were con- victed and executed.
5. Other informers speedily appeared, and fresh victims to the popular fury were immolated in great numbers and in quick succession. The populace, maddened by excitement and thirst- ing for revenge, stimulated the authorities in the prosecution of their hasty inquiries, and even refused to permit any interfer- ence on their part with the fate of the condemned, even when, by a compliance with the terms of pardon, they had entitled themselves to immunity.
6. The general fury and panic, unappeased by the wholesale sacrifice of the negroes, soon extended to the white population. John Ury, a reputed Catholic priest and schoolmaster, was de- nounced by the girl Mary Burton, and notwithstanding his pro- testations of innocence, and the absence of all rational proof of guilt, was summarily condemned and executed. His arrest was
Origin of the negro plot. - Investigation by the authorities. - Public inforiners.
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ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.
the signal for the implication of others of the whites ; and the reign of terror was fearfully inaugurated throughout the city. The prisons were rapidly filled with the miserable victims of the popular delusion ; and so great was their number that infection was averted only by the frequency of executions when pardons could not be effected.
7. From the 11th of May to the 29th of August, the day of the execution of Ury, one hundred and fifty-four negroes were committed to prisen, fourteen of whom were burnt at the stake, eighteen hanged, and seventy-one transported. During the same period twenty-four whites were imprisoned, four of whom were executed. The implication by Burton of some of the principal inhabitants who were known to be innocent served to sober down the popular excitement, and restore the community to its wonted composure. The prisons were cleared, a day of general thanksgiving proclaimed, and the ordinary channels of business again resumed.
S. Upon the most candid and impartial survey of all the facts, no substantial justification seems to be afforded for the merciless persecution of the hapless victims of this terrible period. Both informers and witnesses were of the lowest and vilest character, their testimony vague and contradictory, and their inducements to falsehood strong and powerful. Nothing but the irrational panic pervading all classes could have attached any serious weight to the incredible and inconsistent statements of these frightened wretches, driven to perjury by the imminent fear of death, and encouraged in their successful devices by the applause of the terrified multitude. The whole fearful drama seems but a repetition, on a somewhat smaller scale and hum- bler surrounding, of the celebrated Titus Oates Plot ; and the sole excuse for the harsh proceedings of the public authorities consists in their inability in the midst of the prevailing pame to discover the real authors of the crimes originally perpetrated.
9. In September, 1743, Lieutenant-Governor Clarke 1743. was superseded by Admiral GEORGE CLINTON, father of the Sir Henry Clinton who commanded the British troops during the subsequent Revolution. He met with a favorable reception,
Reign of terror. - Number of the victims. - End of the excitement Summary of the evidence. - Admiral George Clinton.
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THIRD PERIOD.
received the usual vote of supplies, coincided with the Assembly in all its measures, -among which was one limiting its term and that of its successors to a period of seven years, - and co- operated with that body in fitting out an expedition for the con- quest of Canada, in the war then pending between France and England. He soon, however, became involved in a collision be- tween the two leading political factions headed by De Lancey and Colden, which occasioned him no little vexation and embar- rassment during the remainder of his term.
1748. 10. In 1748 he ineffectually urged upon the Assem- bly an appropriation for the support of the government for five years, with the view of again rendering the executive independent of that body. Soon afterwards he made himself obnoxious to the popular party by refusing to surrender for trial the captain of an English war-vessel which had fired upon a colonial vessel, killing one of its passengers, for omission to lower its flag in passing, as required by the regulations of the home government. The persistent refusal of the Assembly to comply with his reiterated demands for a permanent revenue, and the powerful opposition he encountered from all classes of the people, finally induced him, after proroguing the refractory Chamber, to tender his resignation and abandon the govern- ment.
11. He was succeeded on the 7th of September, 1753, 1753. by Sir DANVERS OSBORNE, with instructions for the main- tenance of the royal prerogative, and the demand of a per- manent revenue, to be disbursed solely by himself and his Council. On assuming the government, the corporation of the city presented him with an address of congratulation, at the same time expressing the hope that he would be as averse to countenanceing, as they should be to permitting, any infringe- . ment upon their civil or religious liberties. A magnificent entertainment was given him by the city, accompanied with the strongest manifestations of popular regard.
12. A few days afterwards the Council was convened and the Governor's instructions were laid before them. On being informed by them that the Assembly would unquestionably refuse obedi-
Dissensions with the Assembly. - Popular discontent. - Resignation. - Sir Danvers Osborne. - His reception. - Proceedings of the Council.
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DE LANCEY AND HARDY.
ence to the royal commands, he appeared deeply dejected ; and on the ensuing morning his body was found suspended by a handkerchief from the garden-wall of his lodgings. He had previously been subject to derangement, owing to domestic losses, and had once before attempted his life. By his death the government devolved upon Lieutenant-Governor JAMES DE LANCEY, who, by his recent persistent and successful opposition to the demands of the Crown, had rendered himself highly popular.
13. A striking change had occurred in the relative position of parties. The aristocratic faction, headed by De Lancey, Col- den, Van Rensselaer, Philipse, Heathcote, and others, had now become the popular leaders, while their former opponents had ranged themselves under the royal banner. Hence the position of the new Governor was one of peculiar difficulty. Compelled by the instructions of his predecessor to carry out the policy of the Crown, he found himself at the same time pledged, as the leader of the popular party, to a policy diametrically opposite. While, therefore, he fulfilled the letter of his instructions by lay- ing them before the Assembly, he at the same time urged upon the home government the propriety and necessity of concessions to the popular will.
14. In September, 1755, Sir CHARLES HARDY arrived at 1,53. New York as Governor, and was received with the usual honors. De Lancey resumed his seat as Chief-Justice ; but Hardy, fully conscious of his own deficiencies in the new and un- accustomed field of action which had been assigned him, aban- doned all but its nominal duties to his predecessor, and by his return to England and resumption of his post in the navy, left the government again in his charge.
Suicide. - Accession of Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey. - His policy and its results. - Sir Charles Hardy. - His abandonment of the government and return to England.
Ruins of Fort Ticonderoga.
FOURTH PERIOD.
FROM THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR TO THE REVOLUTION.
CHAPTER I.
ADMINISTRATION OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR DE LANCEY. - CAMPAIGNS OF 1754, 1755, AND 1756.
1. AFTER the capture of the Fortress of Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, then (1745) in possession of the French,
1753. by the English fleet under Commodore Warren, and the combined colonial forces under William Pepperell, - a blow rendered the more severe by the vast expense and great strength of the works, - the French entered upon a course of vigorous operations to concentrate and extend their power in America, in opposition to the efforts of their hereditary enemies, the English,
Preparations of the French for opposing the extension of the British power in America.
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65
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
who had already obtained so firm a footing. Having estab- lished a number of trading-posts and missionary stations among the Indian tribes occupying the depth of the wilderness along the entire valley of the Mississippi most remote from the white settlements, they prepared to assert their possessory claims by such efficient measures as seemed best adapted to the accon- plishment of this object.
2. They built a strong fleet of vessels at Kingston, on the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario ; strengthened Fort Niagara, at the confluence of the Niagara River with that lake; entered into friendly negotiations with the Delaware tribe of Indians on the east, and the Shawnees on the west of the Alleghany Mountains ; and erected a formidable chain of fortifications, commanding the entire valley of the Mississippi and its tribu- taries from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
3. The collision between the Ohio Company, claiming 1753. an extensive tract of land on the Ohio River . under the English Government, and the French, who were engaged in the erection of forts south of Lake Eric, caused the first mili- tary services of GEORGE WASHINGTON to be put in requisition by Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia. St. Pierre, the con- mander of the fort to which Washington was despatched, re- fused to withdraw his troops from its occupation ; and in 1754. an unsuccessful effort was made by the Ohio Company to 1754.
erect a fort on the present site of Pittsburg, at the june- tion of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. The workmen were driven from the ground by the French, who completed the fort and gave it the name of Fort du Quesne.
4. Washington, at the head of a body of provincial troops from Virginia, marched into the disputed territory, surprised and rout- ed an advance party of French sent to intercept his approach, and after erecting a small fort, which he named Fort Necessity, and being reinforced by additional troops from New York and the Carolinas, proceeded with four hundred men on his route to Fort du Quesne. Hearing, however, of the advance of a large body of French and Indians, he returned to Fort Necessity, where he
Washington's mission to St. Pierre. - Its result. - Establishment by the French of Fort du Quesne.
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FOURTH PERIOD.
was soon after attacked by a superior force, and compelled to capitulate after a severe and obstinate resistance, with permis- sion to retire unmolested to Virginia.
5. The English Ministry, in the mean time, aware of the importance of the crisis, had forwarded instructions to their colonies to secure, if possible, the continued friendship and alliance of the Iroquois Indians, and to unite their efforts in the common defence. In accordance with this recommendation a convention of delegates from the respective colonies was held in Albany in the summer of this year, Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey presiding, a treaty with the Six Nations renewed, and a plan of confederation, similar to that subsequently adopted by the Continental Congress, submitted by the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, and adopted on the fourth day of July. The colonial assemblies and the representatives of the British Government refused, however, to ratify the ordi- nance of the Convention ; and the conduct of the war was con- fided to the English Parliament, with such aid as the colonies might find themselves able to furnish.
6. In 1755, General Braddock was sent over as Com- 1755. mander-in-Chief ; and at a convention of the colonial governors three expeditions were resolved upon : one against Fort du Quesne, under Braddock himself; one against Niagara ; and a third against Crown Point, on the western shore of Lake Champlain. The first was disastrous in the extreme, and the troops engaged in it were saved from total destruction only by the coolness and bravery of Washington. That against Crown Point was intrusted to General Johnson, afterwards Sir Wil- liam Johnson, a member of the Council of New York.
7. In July, 1755, about six thousand troops from New Eng- land, New York, and New Jersey assembled, under the com- mand of General Lyman, of Connecticut, at the head of boat navigation on the Hudson, fifty miles north of Albany, where a strong fortification, afterwards known as Fort Edward, was erected. General Johnson, immediately on his arrival in August,
Attack on Fort Necessity, by the French and Indians, and its capitulation by Washington. - Renewal of treaties with the Iroquois. - Convention at Albany, and plan of confederation of Dr. Franklin. - Events of 1755. - General Johnson's campaign. - Fort Edward.
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. OPERATIONS ON LAKE GEORGE.
with the main body of the troops, marched to the head of Lake George, where he established a camp preparatory to an attack upon Crown Point, situated on a tongue of land on the southern shore of Lake Champlain.
8. Baron Dieskau, the French commander, in the mean time, with two thousand men, chiefly Canadians and Indians, was ap- proaching from Montreal by way of Lake Champlain ; and, aban- doning his first intention of attacking Fort Edward, marched directly to the English camp on Lake George. Colonel Wil- liams was immediately despatched by Johnson, with a thousand Massachusetts troops and two hundred Mohawks, under their famous Sachem Hendricks, to intercept the French. After pro- ceeding a few miles, however, the detachment fell into an am- buscade ; both Williams and Hendricks were slain, and their comrades fell back in good order upon the camp, hotly pur- sued by the enemy.
9. Early in September, Dieskau advanced with his forces to the English camp, where, intrenchments having been hastily thrown up, he was received with a spirited fire of musketry and artillery. The Canadian militia and Indians fled to the shelter of the surrounding forests, and the approach of reinforcements under General Lyman from Fort Edward, together with the loss of their leader, Baron Dieskau, who was severely wounded, com- pelled them to withdraw to the fortifications of Crown Point. Johnson, after having erected a fort called William Henry on the site of his camp, and strengthened Fort Edward, dispersed the residue of his troops, and returned in October to Albany. For his services in this campaign the King bestowed upon him the order of knighthood, and presented him with a large sum of money.
10. The expedition of Shirley against Niagara and Frontenac was unsuccessful. The prevalence of heavy storms, sickness in the camp, desertion of the Indians, and other casualties, pre- vented any efficient action until the lateness of the season ren- dered it advisable to relinquish the enterprise. Leaving a suffi-
Camp on Lake George. - Attack by Dieskau. - Williams and Hendricks slain. - Dieskau's attack upon the English camp. - Its repulse. - Forts Edward and William Henry. - JJohnson's promotion. - Failure of the ex- pedition against Niagara by Shirley.
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FOURTH PERIOD.
cient garrison at Oswego under Colonel Mercer, the remainder of the troops were reconducted to Albany, and their commander returned to Massachusetts.
1756. 11. The campaign of 1756, planned by a meeting of the several colonial governors at New York in December preceding, comprised an attack upon Crown Point with ten thousand men, Niagara with six thousand, Fort du Quesne with three thousand, and Quebec and the other French settle- ments in Canada with two thousand. Shirley was superseded in his command, in the spring of 1756, by Lord Loudoun, Gov- ernor of Virginia, with General Abercrombie as his lieutenant.
12. Early in June the latter arrived with General Webb and several regiments of British troops. General Winslow, of Mas- sachusetts, was assigned to the command of the expedition against Crown Point, and with a force of seven thousand men awaited the arrival of Loudoun at Albany, where Abercrombie was engaged in settling vexatious questions of rank between the officers of the regular and provincial troops, and contro- versies with the citizens growing out of the billeting of the sol- diers upon them. Loudoun did not make his appearance until the latter part of July ; and before preparations for the com- mencement of the campaign could be completed, the advance of the season and the successes of the French had rendered them nugatory.
13. In the mean time an attack was made upon Oswego by a body of French troops under De Lery, who penetrated to the fort at the Oneida portage, gained possession of it, and, destroy- ing its stores, returned to Montreal with thirty prisoners. De Villiers, also, with eight hundred men, established a camp in May near the mouth of Sandy Creek, from whence he was en- abled to intercept all supplies and reinforcements for the town. Four of the Six Nations-the Onondagas, Oncidas, Cayugas, and Mohawks - sent an embassy to Montreal with a declaration of neutrality and a petition for protection, which met with a favor- able response.
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