550 Sheet – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Search for:

Reading Time: 2 minutes [298 words]

Here is the translated text as follows:

THE TRIAL OF NICHOLAS BAYARD FOR HIGH TREASON, NEW YORK CITY, 1702

THE NARRATIVE

Jacob Leisler fell victim to the malignant feelings engendered by political contentions in the Provinces in 1691. The passions excited in his adherents by his melancholy fate continued to distract the public councils and embitter the social intercourse of the inhabitants of the province for a long time. His son, Jacob, unmindful of his father's dying request made upon the gallows, could never forget or forgive his father's melancholy death. He lost no opportunity to vindicate his father's name and to cast odium upon those who had been instrumental in the wrongs he suffered; nor was he unsuccessful.

The aristocratic party maintained their influence with those in power until the arrival of Lord Bellamont in 1698, as governor of the province. The sympathies of that nobleman had been excited in England by young Leisler, in favor of his adherents, who were thus favored by the governor's countenance and support. At the death of this nobleman in 1701, the ancient animosities of the rival factions were revived with the utmost zeal and fury. Information was received that Lord Cornbury* was to succeed the Earl of Bellamont.

*Cornbury, Edward Hyde (1661-1724), Third Earl of Clarendon, Second Lord Cornbury, was born in England, the son of Henry Hyde, Second Earl of Clarendon. He served as M.P. for Wiltshire from 1685 to 1695 and for Christchurch from 1695 to 1701. He was appointed Captain General and Governor-in-Chief of New York and New Jersey from 1701 to 1708. He was removed from his position in 1708 and thrown into prison for debt before returning to England. In 1711, he was made a Privy Councillor and served as Envoy Extraordinary to Hanover in 1714. He died in London.