At that time, there was no lu-wspaper-press in the Colonies which was conducted with greater ability than Rivingtou's ^'ew-y'ork (iazefteer ; or Coiiiin fimt, Hudson's River, New-Jerfeii, find Quehcrk WreL-lij Adrertixer, which was published, weekly, by James Rivington, in the (]!ity of New York. It was a news- ])aper, in the proper sense of the word ; and it published the news of the day, from every (juarter of the world, regardless of their political character, with rare industry and the most liberal impartiality. Ft did not accord with the interests of some nor with the passions of others, however, that such a faithful recorder of the sayings and (h)ings of every faction and of every i)arty should be continued in the Colonies; and there were times, also, when the exposure of the double dealings of particular individuals, of high as well as of low degree, in wcll-{)rinted columns, in a widely circulated newspaper, as .James Rivington had done, in his (lazrttirr, were distasteful to those who were thus ex[>osed and unwelcome to those whom the culprit was serving. It was evidently determined, therefore, that James Rivington should be silenced; and that his only means for inflicting pain on the persons of those who favored the Rebellion should be taken from him.
There was, also, at that time, no one, in the Colony of New York, who possessed greater intellectual and executive abilities combined with superior scholastic attainments, than Samuel Seabury, a Missionary of the Society tor the Propagatiim of the CJospel in Foreign Parts, ordinarily known as "The Venerable "Society," Rector of the Established Church in the