r, was a German by
birth, a palatine, and something of a scholar; a man of enlarged
liberality, patriotic, and an advocate of popular rights. He attacked the
measures of the provincial Governor and Council, was subjected to a
prosecution by the officers of the crown, and was brought to trial in
1735, when Andrew Hamilton, the Recorder of Philadelphia, came to this
city and successfully defended him. I have before stated that the late
illustrious Governor Morris considered the decision of that case in behalf
of the press as the dawn of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized
America. To the ladies now present, the lovers of sweet sounds, it may not
be uninteresting to know that the first piano forte (harpsichord) imported
into America, arrived in this city for the musical gratification of the
family of the noble Zenger.

But I can say at this time little concerning newspapers. Our worthy
associate in good works, Edwin Williams, has lately issued a memoir of
much value on the subject, to which I must refer you. I regret that his
catalogue of early journals is somewhat defective. As he justly observes,
our Historical Society is wonderfully rich in these interesting documents.
Our most precious treasures in that way are, unquestionably, the Rivington
_Royal Gazette_, the old _New-York Daily Advertiser_, containing debates
on the State Constitution, the _American Citizen and Republican Watch
Tower_, the _New-York Evening Post_, and the _Commercial Advertiser_,
through a long series, the _New-York American_, the _Independent
Reflector_, containing the patriotic Essays on Toleration, by William
Livingston, of New Jersey, and the _Time-Piece of New-York_, replete with
invective against the Washington Administration--whose editor, Philip
Freneau, verbally assured me that its most vituperative features were from
suggestions of Jefferson, during the crisis in our public affairs provoked
by Citizen Genet. But I must hasten to other topics.

Among the most conspicuous editors and publishers of gazettes whom I have
personally known was Noah Webster, now so famous for his Dictionary. At
the time I knew him, some forty years ago, he was in person somewhat above
the ordinary height, slender, with gray eyes, and a keen aspect;
remarkable for neatness in dress, and characterized by an erect walk, a
broad hat, and a long cue, much after the manner of Albert Gallatin, as
depicted in the engraving in Callender's _Prospect Before Us_.