Before this the department had consisted
of a few leather buckets and a few fire-hooks.
In 1731 Governor Montgomery died, and for thirteen months after, Rip Van
Dam, oldest member of the council, and a wealthy merchant, looked after
the province until the coming of William Cosby.
CHAPTER XVI
THE TRIAL of ZENGER, the PRINTER
Cosby arrived; a testy, disagreeable man who loved money above
everything else. The colonists received him with favor, because they did
not know these things about him. The Assembly granted him a revenue for
six years, and gave him a present of L750 besides. The Governor thought
this a very small sum and said so. He presented an order from the King
which said that he was to have half the salary that Rip Van Dam had
received for acting as Governor.
[Illustration: Dinner at Rip Van Dam's.]
But Van Dam would not part with his money, and the people sided with
him, for they had long been weary of governors who looked upon the
colony simply as a means to repair their fortunes. Cosby was determined
to get the money, so he sued Van Dam. This suit was conducted in a court
where there were three judges, and two of them were friends of Cosby.
One of them was James De Lancey, a son of that Stephen De Lancey who had
given the clock to the city.
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