government house in the fort was discovered to be on fire, at midday, and was burnt, together with the king's chapel, the secretary's office, the barracks, and the stable. The fire was satisfactorily enough accounted for, but other fires occurring in quick succession, on different days, and some of them being undoubtedly the work of incendiaries, great alarm was excited.

"It happened that a Spanish vessel, partly manned with negroes, had previously been brought into New York as a prize, and all the men had been condemned as slaves in the court of admiralty, and were sold at vendue; now these men had the impudence to say, notwithstanding they were black, that they were freemen in their own country, and to grumble at their hard usage in being sold for slaves.' One of them had been bought by the owner of a house in which fire was discovered, and a cry was raised among the people, the Spanish negroes! the Spanish! take up the Spanish negroes!' They were immediately incarcerated, and a fire occurring in the afternoon of the same day, the rumor became general, that the slaves in a body were concerned in these wicked attempts to burn the city.

"The military were turned out, and sentries were posted in every part of the city, while there was a general search of the houses, and an examination of suspicious persons. The lieutenant governor, at the request of the city authorities, offered a reward of one hundred pounds and a full pardon to any free white person who should discover the persons concerned in these incendiary acts, and freedom with a reward of twenty pounds to any slave who should make the same discovery. The offer was tempting, and, at the ensuing session of the superior court, Mary Burton, the servant of Hughson, made a statement before the grand jury, to the effect, that three negroes, Cæsar, Prince, and Cuffee, were accustomed to meet at her master's, and had made a plan to burn the whole city and massacre the inhabitants. She had seen a large number of negroes at the same place, who were all in the conspiracy, and there were in her master's house a quantity of fire arms. The only white persons concerned were her master, his wife, and Peggy Carey. The former was to be king, and

Cæsar was to be governor. At one of the meetings she heard Cuffee say, 'that a great many people had too much, and others too little; and he intimated that such an unequal state of things should not long continue.

"When this statement was made known to the court, they immediately summoned all the lawyers in the city to consult upon the measures most proper to be adopted in this emergency. By a law of the colony, negroes might be tried for any offence in a summary way; but, as this was a plot in which white people were confederated with them, and most probably were the first movers and seducers of the slaves, there was reason to apprehend a deeper design than the slaves themselves were capable of; and it was judged most advisable that it should be taken under the care of the supreme court.' Accordingly, application was made to the lieutenant governor for an ordinance to enlarge the term of the supreme court; and the bar unanimously offered their assistance on every trial, in their turn, as this was conceived to be a matter that not only affected the city, but the whole province.'

6

"Meanwhile the examinations and confessions were increasing every day. Peggy Carey, the wretched prostitute, being implicated, was examined by the judges in prison. She was promised pardon and reward if she would confess and expose the rest; but she said, 'that if she should accuse any body of any such thing, she must accuse innocent persons, and wrong her own soul;' and she denied all knowledge of the fires. But upon being convicted as a receiver of stolen goods, she seemed to think it high time to do something to recommend herself to mercy,' and made a voluntary confession, in which she changed the scene of the plot from Hughson's to John Romme's, a shoemaker, and the keeper of a low tavern, where she said several negroes used to meet, to whom Romme administered an oath; and they were to attempt to burn the city, but if they did not succeed, they were to steal all they could, and he was to carry them to a strange country and give them their liberty. All the slaves mentioned by her were immediately arrested. Romme absconded, but was afterwards taken in New Jersey.

"On the twenty-ninth of May, 1741, the negro slaves, Quack and Cuffee, were brought to trial before the supreme court, on a charge of a conspiracy to murder the inhabitants of the city of New York. The principal evidence against them came from Mary Burton. There was also some evidence against them from negroes. The prisoners had no counsel, while the attorney general, assisted by two members of the bar, appeared against them. The evidence had little consistency, and was extremely loose and general. The arguments of the lawyers were chiefly declamatory respecting the horrible plot, of the existence of which, however, no sufficient evidence was introduced."

The prisoners were convicted and ordered to execution. When they were chained to the stake, being much terrified and persuaded to confess, they admitted all that was required; whereupon an attempt was made to procure a reprieve; but a great multitude had assembled to witness the executions, and the excitement was so great, that it was considered impossible to return the prisoners to prison. They were accordingly burned at the stake. Soon after three other persons were brought to trial. "The prisoners had no counsel and almost every member of the bar appeared against them." The excitement continued to increase from day to day, convictions and executions followed each other in quick succession; every new accusation produced a harvest of new confessions, implicating others, "until at length the prison became so full that there was danger of disease, and the court again called in the assistance of the members of the bar, who agreed to bear their respective shares in the fatigue of the several prosecutions." The terrible cry of popery was now raised, and led to the sacrifice of an amiable and accomplished clergyman, John Ury, whose trial is reported in full. "He had no counsel, while there were arrayed against him the attorney general and four eminent lawyers of the New York bar." Mr. Chandler states that the whole number of persons taken into custody

on suspicion of being engaged in the conspiracy was over one hundred and fifty, of whom four white persons were hanged, eleven negroes were burnt, eighteen were hanged, and fifty were transported and sold; and, upon a review of the whole evidence, he pronounces "the whole thing to have been a complete delusion."

Now we venture to say-expecting the concurrence of every professional reader in that opinion that if a single member of the New York bar had known and performed his professional duty, the delusion would have been dispersed as easily as the mist by the rays of the sun. A single bold advocate, opposing himself to an excited populace; opposing himself to the court too, if need be; subjecting the witnesses to rigid cross-examination; examining them apart from each other; pointing out their gross inconsistencies; disclosing the weakness of the evidence; his courage mounting with the occasion

would have arrested the

At any rate, we are con

progress of this delusion at once. fident that all our readers will agree, that it never could have reached the height of frenzy which it at last attained. Such was the conduct of the New York bar. If, instead of confederating to assist in the prosecutions, they had combined to aid the accused, they would have evinced a better knowledge of their professional obligations.

But the volume before us enables us to present a striking and noble contrast to this infamous confederacy and gross delinquency, under circumstances far more difficult, by the members of another bar.

On the evening of the fifth of March, 1770, the town of Boston was thrown into a state of dreadful agitation by the murder of five citizens in the streets, by a party of British soldiers.

"As might be expected, this tragedy wrought the whole people of Massachusetts, and above all, the inhabitants of Boston, to

the highest pitch of rage and indignation. The populace breathed only vengeance. Even minds better instructed, and of higher principles than the multitude, in the excitement of the moment, could not endure the doctrine, that it was possible for an armed soldiery to fire upon and kill unarmed citizens, and commit a crime less than murder. Political animosity, and the natural antipathy to troops stationed in the metropolis, sharpened this vindictive spirit. The friends of the government were either silent, or only expressed regret and lamentation at the event. The friends of freedom were loud in their indignation, and clamorous for that justice which declares that blood shall be the penalty of blood. . . . Under such circumstances, the British soldiers were to be tried for their lives, and serious fears were entertained, not only by their friends but by the candid and moderate of all parties, that they would not be dealt with by even-handed justice.

"But among the friends of freedom there were men who viewed this matter in the calm and rational light of truth and justice. Anxious for the honor of the town, doubly anxious for the cause of humanity, they felt an earnest desire that justice should not fall a sacrifice in her own temple. Of these John Adams and Josiah Quincy, junior, deserve most honorable mention. Sympathizing most deeply with the mass of their fellow citizens in their hatred of the instruments of their oppressors, and in their detestation of the principles they had been sent hither to maintain, no men had more openly or pathetically appealed to their fellow citizens, or had more studiously excited their resentment, both in the gazettes and in Faneuil hall, against the troops and their employers. What, then, must have been their surprise, when captain Preston solicited their professional services in his own behalf, and in that of the soldiers! To understand the difficulty of their situation, it is necessary to realize the exasperated state of public feeling. The spirit of revenge glowed with a fervor almost universal. On the one hand, were the obligations of humanity, official duty, and the strong desire that justice should be done; on the other, the confidence of their political friends, popularity, and that general affection which their public course had attained for them, in so re