or too factious to appreciate the importance of preserving so able a head to the colonial government, was enabled to do nothing more for the protection of the Indians than to erect a small military defense at Oswego; and even this work of necessity he was obliged to perform at his own private expense. Meantime the French completed and secured their works at Niagara without molestation.

In the course of the same year, having been thwarted in his enlarged and patriotic views, by several successive assemblies, Mr. Burnet, the ablest and wisest of the colonial administrators, retired from the government of New York, and accepted that of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His departure, personally, was universally regretted. He was not only a man of letters, but of wit—a believer in the Christian religion, yet not a serious professor. A variety of amusing anecdotes has been related of him. When on his way from New York to assume the government at Boston, one of the committee who went from that town to meet him on the borders of Rhode Island, was the facetious Colonel Tailer. Burnet complained of the long graces that were said before meals by clergymen on the road, and asked when they would shorten. Tailer answered: "The graces will increase in length till you come to Boston; after that they will shorten till you come to your government of New Hampshire, where your excellency will find no grace at all."

Colonel John Montgomery succeeded Mr. Burnet in the government of the colonies of New York and New Jersey in the month of April, 1728. He was a Scotchman and bred a soldier. But quitting the profession of arms, he went into parliament, serving, also, for a time, as groom of the bed-chamber to his majesty George II, before his accession to the throne. He was a man of moderate abilities and slender literary attainments. He was too good-natured a man to excite enmities; and his administration' was one of tranquil inaction. He was an indolent man, and had not character enough to inspire opposition.

The French perceiving this, and enraged at the erection of a fort at Oswego, were now menacing that post. The new governor thereupon met the Six Nations in council at Albany, to renew the covenant chain, and engage them in the defense of that important station. Large presents were distributed among them, and they declared their willingness to join the reinforcements detached from the independent companies for that service. Being apprised of these preparations, the French desisted from their threatened invasion.

Much of the opposition to the administration of Governor Burnet had been fomented and kept alive by the Albanians, who, by the shrewdness of his Indian policy, and the vigorous measures by which he had enforced it, had been interrupted in their illicit trade in Indian goods with Montreal, and also by the importers of those goods residing in the City

of New York. Sustained, however, by his council-board, and by the very able memoir of Doctor Colden upon that subject, Mr. Burnet, as the reader has already been apprised, had succeeded in giving a new and more advantageous character to the inland trade, while the Indian relations of the colony had been placed upon a better footing, in so far, at least, as the opportunities of the French to tamper with them had been measurably cut off. But in December of the succeeding year, owing to some intrigues that were never clearly understood, all these advantages were suddenly relinquished by an act of the Crown repealing the measures of Mr. Burnet; reviving, in effect, the execrable trade of the Albanians, and thus at once reopening the door of intrigue between the French and the Six Nations, which had been so wisely closed.

The three principal events, however, of Montgomery's administration affecting the city itself, were the grant of an amended city charter in 1730, by which the jurisdiction of the city was fixed to begin at King's Bridge, the establishment of a line of stages to run between New York and Philadelphia once a fortnight during the winter months, and the founding of the first public library.

For more than a century there had been no public library in the city, but in the year 1729 some sixteen hundred and twenty-two volumes were bequeathed by the Rev. John Millington, rector of Newington, England, to the "Venerable Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," by whom the books were in turn immediately presented to the city. To this number also was added another collection, the gift of the Rev. John Sharp, chaplain to Lord Bellamont, when both collections, now one, was opened to the public as the "Corporation Library." The librarian dying soon after, the books were neglected until 1754, when a few public-spirited citizens founded the Society Library, at the same time adding the Corporation collection and depositing the whole in the City Hall. The undertaking prospered and in 1772 George III granted it a charter. During the Revolutionary struggle the library was neglected; but when peace was restored in 1783, the society revived their charter and again set themselves to work collecting those volumes that had been scattered and replacing those irretrievably lost by new ones. Their efforts were so far successful as to warrant them in erecting a library building on Nassau street, opposite the Dutch church, a building that for a long time was considered one of the finest specimens of architecture of which the city could boast. Thence it was removed to the Mechanics' Society building on Chambers street, where it remained until the completion of their new and fine edifice in 1840 on the corner of Broadway and Leonard street. This spot was next vacated and quarters were obtained for it in the new Bible House, Astor Place, whence, in 1857, it once more removed to its beautiful edifice in University Place, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. Such is a bird's-eye view of the first public library of New York, commenced one hundred and thirty-nine years ago.

On the decease of Colonel Montgomery, in 1731, the duties of the colonial executive were for a brief period exercised by Mr. Rip Van Dam, as President of the Douncil.* His administration was signalized by the memorable infraction of the treaty of Utrecht by the French, who then invaded the clearly-defined territory of New York, and built the fortress of St. Frederick, at Crown Point, a work which gave them the command of Lake Champlain-the highway between the English and French colonies. The pusillanimity evinced by the government of New York on the occasion of that flagrant encroachment upon its domains, excites the amazement of the retrospective reviewer. Massachusetts, alarmed at this advance of the rivals, if not natural enemies, of the English upon the settlement of the latter, first called the attention of the authorities of New York to the subject; but the information was received with the most provoking indifference. There was a regular military force in the colony abundantly sufficient, by a prompt movement, to repel the aggression, yet not even a remonstrance was uttered against it. With the exception of this infringement upon the territory of New York, nothing worthy of special mention occurred during the administration of Mr. Van Dam. In August, 1732, Colonel William Cosby arrived in New York as his successor.

The first act of the new Governor was one, which, having its rise at first in a mere personal quarrel, was destined to establish, for all time in America, the question of the liberty of the press. The act of the Governor here alluded to, was the institution of proceedings against Rip Van Dam to recover half of the salary which the latter had received during his occupation of the Governor's chair. The suit was decided. against Van Dam, who was consequently suspended from the exercise of his functions as President of the Council. This unfair decision naturally aroused the indignation of the people, who gave vent to their feelings in squibs and lampoons hurled without mercy at the Governor and his party. These were, in turn, answered by the New York Gazette, a paper published by William Bradford in the interest of the Government; and the controversy finally grew so bitter that John Peter Zenger, a printer by trade, was induced, under the patronage, as was supposed, of Rip Van Dam, to start a new paper, the New York Weekly Journalthe columns of which were to be devoted to opposing the colonial administration of Governor Cosby. The columns of the new paper teemed with able and spicy articles assailing the acts of the Governorwritten, probably, by William Smith and James Alexander, the two prominent lawyers of New York. The Governor, and those members of his council who were his satellites, were not long in bringing themselves

*Mr. Van Dam was an eminent merchant in the City of New York, "of a fair estate," says Smith, the historian, "though distinguished more for the integrity of his heart, than his capacity to hold the reins of government."

into the belief that these articles were actionable; and thus it happened that the first great libel suit tried in this city was instituted by the Government, in 1734, against Zenger. The latter, in a pamphlet which he wrote afterward upon his trial, quaintly says:* "As there was but one Printer in the Province of New York that printed a public News Paper, I was in Hopes, if I undertook to publish another, I might make it worth my while, and I soon found that my Hopes were not groundless. My first paper was printed November 15th, 1733, and I continued printing and publishing of them (I thought to the satisfaction of every body) till the January following, when the Chief Justice was pleased to animadvert upon the Doctrine of Libels in a long charge given in that term to the Grand Jury."

Zenger was thereupon imprisoned on Sunday, the 17th of November, 1734, by virtue of a warrant from the Governor and Council; and a concurrence of the House of Representatives in the prosecution was requested. The House, however, declined by laying the request of the Council upon the table. The Governor and Council then ordered the libelous papers to be burned by the common hangman or whipper, near the pillory. But both the common whipper and the common hangman were officers of the Corporation, not of the Crown, and they declined officiating at the illumination. The papers were therefore burned by the Sheriff's negro servant at the order of the Governor.† An ineffectual attempt was next made to procure an indictment against Zenger, but the

*This pamphlet, which is exceedingly rare, is a large 8vo. (51⁄2 x 91⁄2 inches) of 39 pages. It is entitled: A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger, Printer of the New York Weekly Journal:- New York Printed: Lancaster re-printed, and sold by W. Dunlap, at the New Printing Offices, Queen Street, 1736.

In the pamphlet before alluded to, Zenger gives the following account of this proceeding:

"At a council held at Fort George in New York the 2d of November, 1734, present, His Excellency William Cosby, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief, &c., Mr. Clark, Mr. Harrison, Dr. Colden" [a note says Dr. Colden was that day at Esopus, ninety miles away], "Mr. Livingston, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Cortlandt, Mr. Lane, Mr. Horsmanden :

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Whereas, By an order of the Board of this day, some of John Peter Zenger's journals, entitled the New York Weekly Journal, Nos. 7, 47, 48, 49, were ordered to be burned by the hands of the common hangman or whipper, near the pillory of this city, on Wednesday, the 6th inst., between the hours of eleven and twelve, It is therefore ordered that the Mayor and Magistrates of this city do attend at the burning of the several papers or journals aforesaid, numbered as above-mentioned. "FRED. MORRIS, D. Cl. Con.

"TO ROBERT LURTING, Esq., Mayor of the City of New York, &c.” (The Aldermen protested vigorously against the execution of this order, and refused to instruct the Sheriff to execute it. The Sheriff burned the papers, however, or "delivered them into the hands of his own negro and ordered him to put them into the fire, which he did."

Grand Jury refused to find a bill. The Attorney-General was then directed to file no information against him for printing the libels, and he was consequently kept in prison until another term. His counsel offered exceptions to the commissions of the judges, which the latter not only refused to hear, but excluded his counsel, Messrs. Smith and Alexander, from the bar. Zenger then obtained other counsel-John Chambers of New York, and Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia. The trial at length came on and excited great interest. The truth, under the old English law of libel, could never be given in evidence, and was of course excluded on the present trial. Hamilton, nevertheless, tried the case with consummate ability. He showed the jury that they were the judges as well of the law as the fact, and Zenger was acquitted. "The jury," says Zenger in relating the result of the trial, " withdrew, and in a small time returned, and being asked by the clerk whether they were agreed upon their verdict and whether John Peter Zenger was guilty of printing and publishing the libels in the information mentioned, they answered by Thomas Hunt, their foreman, NOT GUILTY, upon which there were three huzzas in the hall, which was crowded with people, and the next day I was discharged from imprisonment."

Immediately after the trial the Corporation voted the freedom of the city in a magnificent gold box* to Andrew Hamilton "for the remarkable service done to this city and colony, by his defense of the rights of mankind and the liberty of the press."

Twenty years afterward, however, the Government organ itself fell under the displeasure of the reigning powers. Upon the relinquishment of his paper in 1743, it was resumed by James Parker under the double title of the New York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. In 1753, ten years afterward, Parker took a partner by the name of William Wayman. But neither of the partners, nor both of them together, possessed the indomitable spirit of John Peter Zenger. Having in March in 1756, published an article reflecting upon the people of Ulster and Orange Counties, the Assembly, entertaining a high regard for the majesty of the people, took offense thereat, and both the editors were taken into custody by the sergeant-at-arms. What the precise nature of the insult upon the sovereign people of those counties was, does not appear. But the editors behaved in a craven manner. They acknowledged their fault begged

* This gold box was five ounces and a half in weight and inclosed the seal of the said Freedom. On its lid was engraved the arms of the City of New York and these mottoes: On the outer part of the lid, DEMERSA LEGES LIMEFACTA LIBERTAS-HOC TANDEM EMERGUNT. On the inner side of the lid, NON NUMMISVIRTUTE PARATUR. On the front of the rim, ITA CUIQUE EVENIAT,UT DE REPUBLICA MERUIT. "Which freedom and box," naively adds Zenger, "was presented in the manner that had been directed, and gratefully accepted by the said Andrew Hamilton, Esquire."