New York City.

THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS

IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO CONDITIONS IN THE ROYAL COLONY OF NEW YORK.

CHAPTER IV (Concluded)
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN NEW YORK

In the fall of 1767 a pamphlet of which a few copies were reprinted from a London edition, appeared in New York and created considerable excitement. It was entitled “The Conduct of Cadwallader Colden, Esq. Lieutenant-Governor of New York, relating to the judges’ commissions:—Appeals to the King; and Stamp Duty.” It had been presented by the grand jury in October as a libellous reflection on the Council, the Assembly and the Courts of Justice in the province of New York, and, as its sub-title would indicate, was a defense of Colden’s conduct, when acting as Governor. In the course of the argument reference was made to the action of the two branches of the Assembly in these matters, and both bodies took umbrage and appointed a joint committee to investigate, and if possible discover, the author and the person responsible for the republication in New York.[[3]]

The committee carried on its work with vigor, summoning among others the printers of the province and also Colden’s son and son-in-law,[[4]] and the matter finally ended in a report by the committee to the General Assembly and the adoption of the following resolutions.[[5]]

“Resolved, ... That the said pamphlet highly reflects upon the honor, justice and dignity of his Majesty’s Council, the General Assembly, and the Judges of the Supreme Court; and contains the most malignant aspersions, upon the inhabitants of this colony in general.

Resolved, That the said pamphlet tends to destroy the confidence of the people, in two of the branches of the legislature, and the officers concerned in the due administration of justice; to render the government odious and contemptible, to abate that due respect to authority, so necessary to peace and good order, to excite disadvantageous suspicions and jealousies in the minds of the people of Great Britain, against his Majesty’s subjects in this colony, and to expose the colony in general, to the resentments of the crown and both houses of Parliament.

Resolved, That as the House has not been able to discover the author of the said pamphlet, a dissolution of the general assembly is speedily expected; his Excellency the Governor be humbly requested, in case the author should hereafter be discovered, to order a prosecution to be issued against him, that such punishment may be inflicted on so great an offender as the law directs.”