In February, 1685, the Duke of York became king of England, under the title of James II. The colonists expected much from him, and hailed with joy his accession to the throne. But they were doomed to be dis appointed. James determined to carry out the most arbitrary policy at home and abroad. Orders were sent to the governor to call no more assemblies. In 1688, Sir Edmund Andros was appointed governor of New York and New England. This union was peculiarly odious to the people of New York, in whose eyes the New England colonists were objects of aversion, as being too strict and bigoted in their religious views. Andros committed the government of New York to Colonel Nicholson, as his deputy.

HE discontent of the people of New York greatly increased under Nicholson's rule; and the news of the accession of William and Mary and the insurrection in Boston, served to heighten it. Upon the refusal of Nicholson to proclaim the new sovereigns, the multitude rose in arms, under the lead of Jacob Leisler, a merchant of an ardent and daring character, already distinguished for his resistance to tyrannical measures. At the head of about 600 men, Leisler took possession of the fort, and announced his

determination to maintain it until the decision of the sovereigns should be known. Nicholson fled to England; and the insurgents, being left in full possession of power, called an assembly of the people. A committee of safety was appointed, having Leisler at their head.

In the meantime, William, before being apprised of these proceedings, sent orders to Nicholson to continue to administer affairs. But these orders did not arrive until Nicholson had left the province; and Leisler, finding them addressed to the absent officer, "or such as for the time execute the law," considered them as applying to himself, and assumed the title and duties of governor. He held two assemblies, and concluded a treaty with New England, agreeing to raise 900 men for their mutual defence. But though supported by a majority, there was a powerful party which entirely disowned his authority, and were only subdued by violent measures.

On the 18th of February, 1690, a party of French and Indians, who had been sent against the frontier settlements of New York by Count de Frontignac, after much suffering, reached the village of Schenectady. It was night, no guard was kept, and the inhabitants were resting in fancied

security. The village was burned, sixty persons killed, and thirty taken into captivity. After this event, the northern part of the province yielded to the sway of Leisler.

The northern colonies, roused by the cruelties of the French and Indians, at the beginning of King William's War, resolved to attack the enemy in turn. New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, united for the purpose of reducing Quebec and Montreal. The expedition, however, effected nothing except the reduction of Port Royal.

In February, 1699, Henry Sloughter was appointed governor by King William. The intelligence of this appointment was brought by Captain Richard Ingoldsby, who, without producing any order from the king, demanded the surrender of the fort. Leisler refused to comply, but declared his readiness to yield his authority to Sloughter, upon his arrival. Sloughter himself reached the province on the 29th of March. But Leisler still refused to surrender the fort, asserting that the commission of Sloughter was defective. A large party was now organized against the rebel governor, and his adherents gradually diminished in numbers. At length, he tendered his submission. The new governor refused it, seized his person, and issued a special commission to try him. He and his associates were condemned to suffer death for treason, and the sentence was actually executed upon Leisler, and Milbourne, his son-in-law and principal adviser. The sentence was disproportionate to the offence, and was so regarded in England; for the attainder was reversed, and the estates of Leisler restored to his family.

N June, Governor Sloughter met a council of the Five Nations at Albany, and renewed the treaty of friendship and alliance formerly concluded. To test their fidelity, Major Schuyler with about 300 Indians set out on an expedition against Montreal. No decisive action took place, but the Indians' spirit was aroused, and the French in Canada suffered terribly from their attacks. These were sometimes revenged by the ability of Count de Frontignac; but generally, the Indians were superior.

Sloughter ended a short and turbulent administration, by his death on the 2d of August. He was succeeded by Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, a man of fierce passions, and but narrow capacity. He committed the Indian affairs to the management of Major Schuyler, who succeeded in securing the constant friendship of the red men, and thus placed a barrier between the French of Canada, and the frontier settlements of New York. Fletcher was ordered to take command of the militia of Connecticut, and he proceeded to Hartford to execute his commission; but the people

resisted, and the firmness of Captain Wadsworth forced him to return without effecting his object.

The peace of Ryswick relieved the colonists from the apprehension of attack, but left the Five Nations exposed to the vengeance of the French. In 1698, the Earl of Bellemont became governor of New York, and in the following year, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were brought under his efficient rule. At this period, piracy had increased to a fearful extent, infecting every sea, from America to China. Bellemont was instructed to strive to put an end to this evil on the American coast. For this purpose, he fitted out a vessel, and gave the command of it to Captain William Kidd. Kidd, however, turned pirate himself, and became the terror of the seas. But at length appearing in Boston, he was arrested, sent to England, and executed. Bellemont was charged with abetting Kidd; but after an examination in England, he was acquitted.

Bellemont died in 1701, and was succeeded by Lord Cornbury, a degenerate descendant of the Earl of Clarendon. Entirely opposite to his predecessor, he showed an embittered enmity to the popular party, accom

panied by a bigoted attachment to episcopacy, and hatred of all other forms of religion. He seconded also the attempts made by Dudley to subvert the charter of Connecticut. Indulging in extravagant habits, he squandered large sums of the public money, and contracted debts, the payment of which his official situation enabled him to evade. He thus rendered himself odious and contemptible to all parties, who united in a firm remonstrance to Queen Anne, and induced her to revoke his commission. No longer protected by the privileges of office, he was thrown into prison, and obtained liberation only when the death of his father raised him to the peerage.

Lord Lovelace succeeded, who, on his arrival, made a demand, destined to cause much dissension, for a permanent salary to the governor. Yet his general deportment was popular and satisfactory; but he lived only a few months. The reins were then held for a short time by Ingoldsby, who also made himself very acceptable; and in 1710, the office was filled by Sir Robert Hunter, a man of wit and talent, by which he had raised himself from a low rank in society. He went out, however, strongly imbued with the monarchical principle, and determined to resist the claims. of the assembly. In advancing the demand for a fixed income, he made use of very offensive expressions, insinuating doubts of their right to appropriate the public money, and suspicions that it was the government, not the governor, whom they disliked. In the council also, the doctrine was advanced, that the assembly existed only "by the mere grace of the crown." The latter body strenuously vindicated their rights, and refused to grant more than a temporary provision. They remonstrated strongly also against the establishment of a court of chancery, suspected to be with a view of increasing Hunter's emoluments. On this ground there seemed great hazard of a collision; but Hunter, being a sensible man, and seeing their very strong determination, deemed it expedient to yield; and, during his latter years, he studied with success to maintain harmony among the different branches of the administration.

He was succeeded by Burnet, a son of the celebrated bishop and historian, and an accomplished and amiable man. He appears to have zealously studied the welfare of the colony; he became very generally popular ; and was particularly successful in gaining over the Indian tribes. His attempt, however, to maintain the obnoxious court of chancery, involved him in violent disputes with the assembly. On the advice of a few patriotic but indiscreet individuals, he adopted the injurious measure of prohibiting all commercial intercourse between New York and Canada. The pretext was, that the French merchants bought up the furs brought to Albany and other markets in the interior. This, if true, must have

arisen from the fact that they dealt on more liberal terms than the English; yet the latter were so far from demanding this monopoly, that they exclaimed against it as ruinous to them, making such loud complaints, that in 1720 Burnet was removed, though compensated with the government of Massachusetts.

After a short interval, the direction of affairs was assumed in 1732 by Colonel Cosby, a man of such a violent character as created general aversion to him. Strong interest was excited by the trial of Zenger,' editor of a journal which had attacked his administration; but through the exertions of Hamilton, an eminent advocate, he was triumphantly acquitted. Cosby died in 1736, and was followed by Clarke, who, having given scarcely more satisfaction, yielded the place in 1741 to Clinton, who ruled upwards of ten years with considerable success and popularity. His successor, Sir Danvers Osborne, suffered severely by the discovery, in 1754, of very arbitrary instructions transmitted to him from home. A great ferment was thus kindled, but gradually subsided; and we shall find New York by no means forward in the cause of independence.

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