THE ZENGER TRIAL 197

should receive the larger share of government
moneys, but that it involved the much larger
question of whether citizens were to be denied
recourse to impartial courts in the defense of their
rights.

The only paper published in the province, the
New York Weekly Gazette, established in 1725,
was entirely in Cosby's interest, and the Van Dam
party seemed powerless. They determined, how-
ever, to strike at least one blow for freedom, and
as a first step they established in 1733 a paper
known as the New York Weekly Journal, to be
published by John Peter Zenger, but to be under
the control of far abler men. Morris, Alexander,
Smith, and Golden were the principal contributors
to the new paper, and in a series of articles they
vigorously criticized the Governor's administra-
tion, particularly his treatment of Van Dam. The
Governor and Council in high dudgeon at once
demanded the punishment of the publisher. They
asked the Assembly to join them in prosecuting
Zenger, but the request was laid upon the table.
The Council then ordered the hangman to make
a public bonfire of four numbers of the Weekly
Journal; but the mayor and the aldermen de-
clared the order illegal and refused to allow it to