During the year 1734 the quarrel between Governor Cosby and his enemies
went on, and then in December he learned that Lewis Morris had sailed
for England. Things were becoming more tense. The two factions had met
head-on in another election contest, that for the Common Council of New
York City, and again the Governor had suffered a humiliating defeat.
Smarting with resentment, and goaded by mounting fury, he had promptly
turned around and thrown himself on the one man who was vulnerable: he
had jailed Peter Zenger on the charge of “seditious libel.” If the
printer should be convicted, that alone would justify Cosby, and
compromise his opponents, in the eyes of the authorities. The leaders of
the Zenger faction might join their printer in the city prison. At best,
the opposition press would be muzzled, in which case the anti-Cosbyites
would have to go outside New York to have their pamphlets printed, while
their newspaper must be destroyed.
There was no time to lose. The plan to send a personal representative to
London should be implemented, Lewis Morris being a satisfactory choice
since he was already known in the British capital. Everything was done
as secretly as possible, and Morris embarked clandestinely to prevent
the Governor’s taking any countermeasures.
The strategy for him to follow had been worked out in consultations with
his colleagues. We know the generalities of the case he was to make
against the Cosby administration, and they are of special interest as
indicating how the Popular party thought London should be approached.
Here we find no trivialities such as those in the _Articles of
Complaint_. Morris was to adhere strictly to criticisms that told:
At a consultation between James Alexander, William Smith, and Lewis
Morris Jun., as to the matters to be entrusted to Col. M—, it was
determined that he should exert himself to procure among other things:
The removal of the Governor if possible—his own restoration [to the
Supreme Court]—the dissolution of the then existing Assembly—the
removal of Francis Harison and Daniel Horsmanden from the Council of
New York—instructions to Gov. Cosby to pass such laws as a new
Assembly should conceive conducive to the welfare of the people, and
particularly an act for an annual or triennial Assembly, and some
others of a special character—to allow the Council to sit without him,
and that their advice and consent should be required in conformity
with his instructions—that the Governor should also be instructed not
to set himself above the law—to grant new charters to the cities of
New York and Albany—and that only by adhering to these directions
could he hope to be retained in office.[32]
Morris followed his instructions as well, apparently, as he could during
almost two years in England. He was quickly disillusioned about the
possibility of getting what he wanted. Being of a choleric and impetuous
nature, he may have pressed his demands too warmly and eagerly; he may
have been too obviously the partisan. But one reason why the recall of
Cosby could not be achieved was that too many interests in London wanted
him to stay where he was. In a letter to Alexander, Morris wrote:
Everybody here agrees in a contemptible opinion of Cosby, and nobody
knows him better, or has a worse opinion of him, than the friends he
relies on; and it may be you will be surprised to hear that the most
nefarious crime a Governor can commit is not by some counted so bad as
the crime of complaining of it—the last is an arraigning of the
Ministry that advised the sending of him.[33]
In order to placate Morris, it was suggested to him that he withdraw his
indictment of Cosby in return for a promise that he himself should be
appointed the first governor of New Jersey under a separate
jurisdiction. He announced publicly his refusal of the offer (although
some murmuring about his candor was heard when he received that office
in 1738). On one point he was partially successful, that of his removal
from the Supreme Court: a royal decree declared the reasons for it
insufficient. But even so he was not reinstated. His mission to London
was not a success. Perhaps the authorities, not at all enthusiastic
about removing a governor to begin with, were swayed by Cosby’s
accusations against Morris, such as:
Cabals were formed against the government, and a meeting of their
factious men is still held several nights in the week at a private
lodging which I have discovered, Alexander always present, and Morris,
till he lately fled privately for England, in great fear as ’tis
publicly reported lest the printer of their seditious libels should
discover him.[34]
The Governor certainly had some success with his London defense. He was,
after all, the crown’s executive on the spot, and that alone would have
given his pronouncements an authority denied to the greatest magnates of
the Popular party. The burden of proof lay with them. That they thought
they could meet the test is proved by the commission given to Lewis
Morris. But, if the Board of Trade went so far as to censure Cosby, they
obviously felt inclined to accept his version of what was going on in
New York. To the Queen they reported:
Colonel Cosby acquaints us in his letter that the said Alexander and
his party have set up a printing press at New York, where the most
virulent libels and most abusive pamphlets published against the
Ministry and other persons of honor in England have been reprinted,
with such alterations as served to inflame the people against the
several branches of the legislature and the administration in that
Province.
That factious cabals are secretly held several times a week in New
York, at which Alexander is always present, as Morris was before his
coming privately to England....
Colonel Cosby further acquaints us that Rip Van Dam, Morris,
Alexander, and others of their party, appear by their behavior to be
disaffected to his Majesty’s government, and are daily exciting the
people to sedition and riot.[35]
This passage, written while Lewis Morris was there to agitate for the
contrary, comes close to a real endorsement of Governor Cosby.