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A MARTYR TO LIBERTY

We must interrupt our narrative here to give the history of a man who may rightly be called the first martyr to liberty on American soil. His memory should be preserved and he deserves a place in this history, not so much because he was a German, but because it seems to have been for gotten that he died in a righteous cause. Even in the text-books used in American schools he is often called a rebel, and the impression prevails that his execution was the natural consequence of disloyal acts. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Jacob Leisler was born in the neighborhood of Frankfurt-on-the-Main as the son of poor peas ants. He was hardly more than a boy when he emigrated to the Netherlands and entered the service of a merchant as apprentice. In 1660 he came to New Amsterdam to engage in the fur trade on his own account. Shrewd, frugal, careful and yet enterprising, he soon prospered. His business became very large and compelled him to make frequent trips to Europe. On one of these journeys he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery but regained his liberty by paying a large ransom. In the meantime England had taken possession of the colony and changed its name to New York. During the reign of Charles II and of James II the governors and other high officials sent from England joined hands with the landed proprietors in the hope of founding an aristocracy, that could rule the other inhabitants after the manner of the feudal system existing in Europe. The favorites of the King who had received grants of large tracts of land did not sell any of it but rented it to those wishing to cultivate the soil. The population became divided into two parts, the aristocrats and the common citizens who were preyed upon in every conceivable manner. The merchants naturally became the leaders of the people and Leisler was foremost among the defenders of equal rights and justice for all. He was kind of heart and possessed unlimited courage. When Governor Sir Edward Andros at tempted to deprive the colonists of the privileges granted to them, Leisler protested and was thrown into prison. His friends desired to give bail to release him, but he would not permit it. He said that by furnishing bail he would recognize the authority of the governor to arrest him, and this he did not want to do. He remained in jail until Andros had to set him free. This action increased his prestige with the people immensely. From his many charitable deeds one may be selected. Many of the Huguenots who came to America had been compelled to flee from France without money or other means of subsistence. They were as a rule sold to the highest bidder who had to pay their passage and in this way acquired the right to work these serfs for that is what they were in fact until he considered that they had repaid his outlay. Leisler happened to be at the wharf when one of these ships arrived. He felt deep pity for the unfortunate passengers who were well educated and had evidently been brought up in comparative luxury. Before the usual auction began, he paid the passage money for all of them and sent them to a tract of land he owned on Long Island Sound. There they founded a village and called it New Rochelle.

When William of Orange became King of England the Governor of New York and his aristocratic friends tried to suppress the news. The people, however, soon heard of the change and naturally hailed it with delight. As the officials continued their rule of oppression a riot broke out on June 2, 1689. Jacob Leisler as the commander of the militia was forced to take charge. He compelled Governor Nicholson to deliver into his hands the fort and the treasury. A Committee of Safety was organized with Leisler at the head. On June 22 the inhabitants formally took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Later on Leisler was appointed Governor of New York. But his administration was not successful because the aristocracy did not recognize his authority and tried to place obstacles in his way. When the war with France broke out he was unable to defend the colony, partly because the English generals did not consider themselves bound to act in harmony with him, partly because he did not possess the knowledge required for operations of this kind. The reverses he suffered made it easy for his enemies to gain the ear of the King, and Leisler was deposed two years after he had taken office.

In Leisler's place General Sloughter had been appointed, a man of loose habits and addicted to drinking. Sloughter was in no hurry to come to New York because he liked the hospitality extended to him by the landed proprietors whose plantations he passed on his way from the South. He sent a Captain Ingoldsby ahead to take pos session of the colony, but Leisler declined to deliver the fort and the treasury because Ingoldsby could not produce any written order or authority from Sloughter. This was the opportunity for which Leisler's enemies had been waiting. In spite of the fact that the former governor treated Ingoldsby with great courtesy and immediately gave up everything to Sloughter when the latter finally arrived, they complained that Leisler had willfully resisted the commands of the King. Sloughter appointed a special court consisting of four of his own officers and four civilians, all enemies of Leisler, to sit in judgment upon the late Governor and his son-in-law. The composition of the court was so manifestly unfair that the accused and practically the whole population, with the exception of the aristocratic element, protested, but Sloughter would not listen to them. As was to be expected, Leisler and his son-in-law, Milbourne, were found guilty of high treason and were condemned to death by hanging. But even Sloughter hesitated to sign this severe decree, and Leisler's enemies had to arrange a banquet in order to make the Governor drunk, in which condition it was an easy matter to make him sign anything. They did not want to run the risk of a mitigation of the sentence after Sloughter had become sober and consequently their victims were executed on the morning of the following day while Sloughter was still asleep. The scene was dramatic in the highest degree. On the scaffold Milbourne faced the instigator of this brutal act, the same Robert Livingston who, in later years, became the op pressor of the Palatines, and called out to him: "Robert Livingston, for this deed you will have to answer before the judgment throne of Almighty God." Leisler remained quiet and composed; in a few words he stated that he had done nothing but his duty, and then said to the sheriff: "I am ready." At this moment dark clouds hid the sun, a terrific storm arose and the rain came down in torrents. The immense crowd that had assembled around the gallows began to cry and to pray, and loud condemnations against the Governor and the aristocracy were heard from all sides. As soon as Leisler was dead the people fairly stormed the gallows and cut off his hair and his clothes; they were divided into bits and these preserved as relics of the first martyr to liberty on American soil. Four years later the English Parliament reversed the judgment pronounced by Sloughter's court. Lord Bellamount, later Governor of New York, stated, after a careful examination of the papers: "These men were murdered, cruelly murdered." Leisler's son received an indemnity of one thousand pounds from the crown. But it was too late, two of the no blest men that ever lived in the colony had been killed and could not be brought back to life. Justice requires it, however, to keep in mind that Jacob Leisler was not a rebel, but a patriot and hero, and wherever we find a statement that does not agree with these facts it should be corrected. It may be mentioned here that it was a German, too, who first defended the right to a free press. Johann Peter Zenger had come to New York in 1710 as a boy and had been apprenticed to William Bradford, a printer. He was a very intelligent and ambitious young man and won his employer's confidence to such a degree that he became his partner. But Bradford was a champion of the aristocracy and defended it in his paper, the New York Gazette, while Zenger took the side of the common people. They parted, and Zenger founded the Weekly Journal. He did not hesitate to attack Governor Cosby when he, in order to strengthen his party, went beyond the limits of his authority. As repeated warnings could not swerve Zenger from doing what he considered his right and duty, Cosby had him arrested and kept him in prison for nearly nine months. All efforts of Zenger's friends to procure a regular trial for him seemed to be in vain, but finally the Governor yielded to the determined stand taken by the people's party. Zenger was brought to trial in 1735 and his friends secured for him the services of one of the most brilliant advocates of the day, A. Hamilton of Philadelphia. The defense proved that every statement made by the Weekly Journal had been true, and the prosecution attempted to show that the press had no right to criticize the government under any circumstances. In a grand speech that has become a classic and was widely and with great effect quoted when fifty years later the fight for a free press was successfully waged in England, Hamilton plucked this claim to pieces, and the jury acquitted Zenger immediately after the court had made its charge. He was taken home by a throng that was wild with delight, and a few days later the aldermen of the city presented him with a golden snuffbox. The bold attempt to muzzle the press had been successfully baffled by a citizen of German birth. These two incidents indicate, what can be shown with the help of many facts beyond confutation, that all through the colonial days the Germans were always arrayed on the side of the people and liberty, and that it must be ascribed to them to a large extent if all attempts to transplant the European feudal system to America and to perpetuate a class with special privileges and the right to govern the masses, were frustrated. From the earliest days they have stood firmly against oppression and never faltered when the liberties of the people had to be defended. It will be shown how they were among the first to take up arms during the war of the revolution. They knew from bitter experience what oppression meant, and they were not willing to allow themselves to be robbed of the choicest fruit of all their sacrifices, liberty.