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Mar

19.

CHAP. was shed. The bitterest party spirit prevailed; the enemies of Leisler resolved on revenge; and when he came 1691 forward to resign his trust to the regularly appointed governor, he was arrested, and with Milbourne taken to prison. The charge against them was the convenient one of treason; their enemies knew that they were as loyal as themselves, but it answered their purpose. Immediately a special court was called to try the prisoners. They denied the right of a court thus constituted to try them, and refused to plead, but appealed to the king. They were, however, condemned, and sentenced to death by the degenerate Dudley, who, driven away by the indignant people of Massachusetts, now appeared as Chief Justice of New York.

16.

Sloughter was unwilling to order their execution, and he determined to leave the matter to the king. But their blood, and it alone, could satisfy the intense hatred of their enemies. To accomplish their end they took advantage of one of the numerous failings of the governor. They gave him a dinner-party; when overcome by a free indulgence in wine, they induced him to sign the deathwarrant of the unfortunate men. About daylight. the next morning, lest Sloughter should recover from his stupor and recall the warrant, Leisler and Milbourne were hurried from their weeping families to the gallows. It was whispered abroad, and although the rain poured in torrents, the sympathizing people hastened in multitudes to the place of execution. Said Milbourne, when he saw in the crowd one of their enemies, "Robert Livingston, I will implead thee for this at the bar of God." The last words of Leisler were: "Weep not for us, who are departing to our God." Said Milbourne, "I die for the king and queen, and for the Protestant religion; Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." When the execution was over, the people rushed forward to obtain some memorial of their friends-a lock of hair, or a piece of their

BENJAMIN FLETCHER AT HARTFORD.

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clothing. This judicial murder increased the bitterness CHAP of party animosity. The friends of the victims were the advocates of popular rights, in opposition to the royalists. 1691. All that could be was done in time to remedy the wrong. Their estates were restored to their families, and Parliament reversed the attainder under the charge of treason. Dudley even opposed this act of justice. Three months after this tragedy, delirium tremens ended the life of the weak and dissolute Sloughter. It was about this time that the "ancient Dutch usages" gave place to the complete introduction of English laws.

A year had elapsed, when Benjamin Fletcher came as 1692. successor to Sloughter. He was a military officer, arbitrary and avaricious. His sympathies were with the enemies of Leisler. As New York was on the frontiers of 1693. Canada, all the colonies were expected to contribute to her defence. To make this more effective, an effort was made to put the militia of New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as that of New York, under the command of Fletcher. Accordingly, he went into Connecticut to enforce his authority. To give the command of their militia to the governor of another colony, was to sacrifice the rights of the people under the charter. The Assembly was in session at Hartford, and the militia engaged in training when Fletcher arrived. He had boasted that he "would not set foot out of the colony until he was obeyed." When the militia were drawn up, he ordered his secretary to read in their hearing his commission. When he commenced to read, the drummers began to beat. "Silence,' commanded Fletcher. For a moment there was silence, and the reading was renewed. "Drum! drum !" ordered Wadsworth, the same who, some years before, hid the charter. Fletcher once more ordered silence. The sturdy captain, stepping up to him, significantly remarked, "If I am interrupted again I will make daylight shine through you." Fletcher thought it best to overlook the insult,

CHAP and return to New York, without accomplishing his

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1693.

threat.

More than half a century before, the Rev. John Davenport proposed to found a college in the colony of Connecticut, but as Harvard would be affected by the establishment of a similar institution, the project was postponed. Now, the ministers of the colony met at Branford, where each one laid upon the table his gift of books, accompanied by the declaration, "I give these books for the founding a college in this colony." Forty volumes were thus contributed. How little did these good men, as they made their humble offerings, anticipate the importance and influence of the college of which they 1701. thus laid the foundation.

The following year the General Court granted a charter. The professed object of the college was to promote theological studies in particular, but afterward so modified as to admit of "instructing youth in the arts and sciences, who may be fitted for public employments, both in church and civil state." For sixteen years, its sessions were held at different places; then it was permanently located at New Haven. A native of the town, Elihu Yale, who had acquired wealth in the East Indies, became its benefactor, and in return he has been immortalized in its name.

For forty years succeeding the rule of Fletcher the annals of New York are comparatively barren of incident; during that time the province enjoyed the doubtful privilege of having ten governors, nearly all of whom took special care of their own interests and those of their friends. The last of this number was the "violent and mercenary" William Cosby, who complained to the Board of Trade that he could not manage the "delegates" to the Assembly;" the example of Boston people" had so much infected them.

The city of New York, at this timé, contained nearly

THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

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nine thousand inhabitants. The Weekly Journal, a paper CHAP. recently established by John Peter Zenger, contained articles condemning the arbitrary acts of the governor 1732. and Assembly, in imposing illegal taxes. This was the first time in the colonies the newspapers had dared to criticize political measures. This new enemy of arbitrary power must be crushed. Governor Cosby, with the approbation of the council, ordered the paper to be burned by the sheriff, imprisoned the editor, and prosecuted him for libel. Zenger employed as counsel two lawyers, and they denied the authority of the court, because of the illegal appointment of the Chief Justice, Delancy, by Cosby, without the consent of the Council. For presenting this objection their names were promptly struck from the roll of practitioners. This high-handed measure intimidated the other lawyers, and deterred them from acting as counsel for the fearless editor.

On the day of trial a venerable man, a stranger to nearly all present, took his seat at the bar. The trial commenced, and much to the surprise of the court, the stranger announced himself as counsel for the defendant. It was Andrew Hamilton, the famous Quaker lawyer of Philadelphia, and speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania. Hamilton proposed to prove the truth of the alleged libel, but Delancy, the judge, in accordance with English precedents, refused to admit the plea. Then Hamilton with great force appealed to the personal knowledge of the jury;-the statements in the paper were notoriously true. He showed that the cause was not limited to this editor alone; a principle was involved, that affected the liberty of speech and a free press through

out the colonies.

In spite of the charge of the judge to the contrary, the jury brought in a verdict of acquittal, which was received with rapturous shouts by the people. Thus, for the first time, had the press assumed to discuss, and even

1733.

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1733.

CHAP condemn political measures, and its liberty to do so was amply vindicated. This was thirty-seven years before the same principle was established in England by the decision in the trial for libel brought against the publisher of the famous letters of Junius.

1684.

We have now to relate the story of that sad delusion so identified with the early history of the quiet and respectable town of Salem, in Massachusetts. The belief in witchcraft appears to have been almost universal in the age of which we write. As Christians were in covenant with God, so, it was believed, witches were in covenant with the devil; that he gave them power to torment those whom they hated, by pinching them, pricking them with invisible pins, pulling their hair, causing their cattle and chickens to die, upsetting their carts, and by many other annoyances, equally undignified and disagreeable. As Christians had a sacrament or communion, witches had a communion, also, at which the devil himself officiated in the form of a "small black man." He had a book in which his disciples signed their names, after which they renounced their Christian baptism, and were rebaptized, or "dipped". by himself. To their places of meeting the witches usually rode through the air on broomsticks.

This delusion, absurd as it seems to us, was in that age believed by learned and good men, such as Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England; Richard Baxter, author of the "Saints' Rest;" and Dr. Isaac Watts, whose devotional "Psalms and Hymns" are so familiar to the religious world. For this supposed crime many had, at different times, been executed in Sweden, England, France, and other countries of Europe. Before the excitement at Salem, a few cases in the colony of Massachusetts had been punished with death.

As the Bible made mention of witches and sorcerers,to disbelieve in their existence was counted infidelity. To disprove such infidelity, Increase Mather, a celebrated