wrote to the English ministry, for directions how to dispose of them. Their enemies, thirsting for their blood, were determined not to be thus foiled, and, persuasions having failed, they availed themselves of the known intemperate habits of the governor, invited him to a banquet, and when he was completely intoxicated, induced him to sign the death warrant. Ere he was recovered from his debauch, the unfortunate prisoners were executed. They met death with heroic fortitude, and Leisler exhibited a martyr's spirit.

Their estates were confiscated, but their adherents were soon after pardoned, by an act of general indemnity. The circumstances of Leisler's execution, roused the indignation of those who had attached themselves to his party, and for many years after, the citizens of the state were divided into Leislerians and AntiLeislerians.*

In June, 1691, Colonel Sloughter went to Albany, to hold a conference with the Indians. On his return he died, very suddenly, in July, 1691; and, until the English government could appoint a successor, Ingoldsby, the lieutenant governor, assumed the government. The only event of importance, during his administration, was a conference with the Indians, with whom he concluded a treaty.

In August, 1692, he was superseded by Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, who soon exhibited the unamiable traits of his character. In his intercouse with the Indians, he fortunately suffered himself to be advised by Major Peter Schuyler, a man, whose influence over them was unbounded, and who, in his interviews with them, gave them a favorable impression of the English.

During most of Fletcher's administration, he was engaged in controversies with the assembly, principally in regard to appropriations for his expenses. He was empowered, by his commission, to take command of the militia of New England, as well as of New York; but proceeding to Hartford for this purpose, he found himself thwarted, by the stubborn resistance of the people of Connecticut. Richard, Earl of Bellomont, appointed in 1695, arrived as his successor in April, 1698. He was a man of great dignity, resolution and moral worth; and was sent out by the king to take measures for the suppression of piracy, which had at that period reached a fearful height. For this purpose the earl, before leaving England, at the recommendation of Mr. Livingston, commissioned Captain William Kidd, to sail in pursuit of the pirates, and endeavor to rid the seas of them.

* Historians have differed materially in their estimate of the character of Leisler. By some he has been denounced as weak and vain; by others extolled for his firmness and integrity. It is apparent from a careful examination of his administration, that he was a man of honesty and integrity of purpose, but strongly prejudiced against the Roman Catholic faith, and not possessed of those traits of character, which would qualify him for a successful governor, in the troublous times in which he lived.

Milborne was a man of considerable education, and undoubtedly possessed greater abilities, and perhaps less integrity, than his father-in-law. It is alleged that Leisler was very much influenced by him in his measures.

Captain Kidd accordingly sailed for New York in April, 1696, but after cruising for a while, himself turned pirate, and became the most ferocious and daring of all the ocean marauders. Returning to America, in 1701, he sold his ship, and boldly appeared in Boston, where he was arrested, and sent to England for trial and execution.

Lord Bellomont died in 1701, and John Nanfan, who had been his lieutenant governor in New York, succeeded him in the government.

The administration of Lord Bellomont is stained by the enactment of one law, which, for its bigotry and intolerance, is deserving of notice. In 1700, a law was passed, directing that every Catholic priest who came into the colony, should be hanged. The design of this law was alleged to be, to prevent the Catholic priests from exerting an influence upon the Indians, hostile to the English.

The earl, as well as Nanfan, who was his kinsman, had espoused the cause of the friends of Leisler, and already two distinct parties had been arrayed against each other.

In 1701, on the petition of the family of Leisler, to the queen, the attainder was reversed, and £1000 granted his heirs, as a compensation for their losses.

Nicholas Bayard, one of the most active of those who had procured the death of Leisler, having attacked Governor Nanfan, and his measures in public, and exhibited insubordination to the government, was arrested, in 1702, tried, convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death. But his prosecutors did not urge his immediate execution; and on the accession of Lord Cornbury, he was liberated from prison, and the attainder reversed.

On the 3d of May, 1702, Lord Cornbury, grandson of the Earl of Clarendon, and first cousin to the queen, arrived as governor.

Of all the Governors of the colony under the English crown, Lord Cornbury received the unenviable distinction, of being the worst. Rapacious without a parallel, he hesitated not to apply the public money to his own private purposes; and though notoriously vicious, yet he was so intolerant, that he sought to establish the Episcopacy at all hazards, imprisoning and prohibiting ministers of other denominations, from exercising their functions, without his special license. He was, moreover, as destitute of gratitude, as of courtesy, injuring those most, from whom he had received the greatest benefits. His manners were as ignoble and undignified, as his conduct was base, and when this hopeful scion of royalty wandered about the streets clothed as a woman, [which was a common practice with him] the people felt that he had taken Caligula for a model.

So urgent were the complaints against him, that the queen, in December, 1708, felt herself compelled to revoke his commission. No sooner was he deposed from office, than his creditors put him in jail, where he remained, till the death of his father, by elevating him to the peerage, procured his liberation. He had attached himself to the Anti-Leislerian party.

He was succeeded, in December, 1708, by John, Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley. The cheering hopes, to which the appointment of this excellent man gave rise, were doomed to sudden disappointment, as he died on the 5th of May, 1709.

He was succeeded by the lieutenant governor, Ingoldsby, whose administration, of eleven months, is only remarkable for

another unsuccessful attempt upon the French possessions in Canada, under the direction of Colonel Nicholson. This occurred in 1709.

After the failure of this attempt, Colonel Schuyler visited England with five of the Iroquois sachems, in order to rouse the people to greater exertions, in defending the colonies.

In April, 1710, Lieutenant Governor Ingoldsby was removed from office, and Gerardus Beekman, the senior councillor, officiated as governor, till the arrival of General Hunter, in June, 1710. Three thousand Palatines, from Germany, flying from religious persecution in their own country, came over with Governor Hunter.

The ensuing year, another expedition was commenced against Canada, by land and water. The squadron destined for its reduction was under the command of Sir Hoveden Walker, and the troops under Brigadier General Hill. Owing to mismanagement, they did not enter the St. Lawrence sufficiently early in the season, and having unskilful pilots, several of the ships were wrecked in that river, and 800 soldiers lost. The whole expedition proved a failure.

As was to be expected, the assembly did not feel inclined in all cases to pay implicit deference to the governor's mandates; and, in the earlier years of his administration, Governor Hunter had several unpleasant collisions with that body. After a time, however, both parties exercised a spirit of mutual forbearance, which made their intercourse pleasant and advantageous to the colony.

Measures were adopted, during his administration, to adjust the boundaries between the colony and the adjacent colonies of New Jersey and Connecticut; but no definite settlement was made.

Few of the colonial governors resigned their office more generally beloved, or more ardently attached to the interests of the colony, than Governor Hunter. The address of the assembly to him, at his departure, in 1719, in its tone of affection and regard, stands forth alone, in these times of distraction, like a green and fertile oasis, amid the shifting and arid sands of Sahara.

During the period (a little more than a year) which elapsed between the departure of Governor Hunter, and the arrival of his successor, Colonel Schuyler, as senior member of the council, officiated in the place of the governor. Under his administration, a treaty, offensive and defensive, was again concluded with the Iroquois.

Governor Burnet arrived in September, 1720, and continued in office till his death, in April, 1723.

One of the first acts of his administration, was one prohibiting the sale of goods, suitable for the Indian trade, to the French from Quebec and Montreal.

This, though a very just and necessary measure, excited great bitterness of feeling on the part of the merchants who were engaged in this traffic, and of course in the minds of their adherents. They petitioned Parliament for its repeal; but were foiled, by the able manner in which their false statements were exposed, by Dr. Colden, then a member of the council.

During this excitement, another transaction affected Governor Burnet's popularity. He interfered, at the request of one of the parties concerned, in an ecclesiastical difficulty, in the French church in New York city, and of course drew upon himself the opposition of the other party.

The French in Canada, under the vigorous government of the aged, but ambitious Count Frontenac, had formed the design of erecting a chain of military posts to the Ohio river, and along its banks; thus confining the English to the coast east of the Alleganies. In pursuance of this design, they proceeded, in 1725, though not without the most strenuous opposition, on the part of Governor Burnet and Colonel Schuyler, to erect a fort on Niagara river, which they called Fort Niagara.

The next year, with equally violent opposition on the part of the French, Governor Burnet erected Fort Oswego, at the present site of the village of Oswego.

The new assembly convened in 1727, were of a different political complexion from their predecessors; and between them and the governor, there were frequent and unpleasant contentions. These contentions continued till the period of his death. His fine talents, profound learning, and unaffected kindness of heart, caused him to be esteemed even by his enemies, and his faults were entombed with him.

Colonel Montgomery succeeded Governor Burnet, in 1728, and remained in office till his death, which occurred in 1731. During his government, viz., in October, 1728, the good will of the Iroquois was secured, and they were engaged to aid in the defence of Fort Oswego. In December, 1729, the king, contrary to the wishes and representations of the best citizens in the colony, repealed the law, prohibiting the sale of Indian goods to the French. The boundary between Connecticut and New York was fully settled, and the line run, in May, 1731.

In July of the same year, Colonel Montgomery having deceased, Rip Van Dam, the senior councillor, administered the government, till August, 1732. During his administration, the French erected a fort at Crown Point, without any resistance on the part of the feeble and inefficient acting governor.

On the first of August, 1732, Rip Van Dam was superseded by the arrival of Colonel Cosby, who remained in office till March, 1736, the period of his death.

Historians have been much divided in their views of Governor Cosby. Some represent him as an arbitrary, tyrannical and unjust ruler. Others regard him as a man of mild manners, but necessarily driven to harsh measures, by the turbulent spirits with whom he had to deal.

The act which caused the most serious difficulties in his administration, was his demand that Rip Van Dam, who had officiated as lieutenant governor, previous to his arrival, should divide with him, the emoluments of his office. Mr. Van Dam offered to do this, provided Governor Cosby would also divide what he had received from the colonies, before coming to this country. Governor Cosby, who appears to have been somewhat avaricious, refused to do this, and commenced a suit against Van Dam, for the half of his salary. Mr. Van Dam attempted to bring a counter suit, but the judges, who were in the governor's interest, declined entertaining it.

The newspapers took up the controversy, and one, conducted by a man named Zenger, defended Van Dam. The attacks of this journal against the governor. provoked the latter and his council, to such a degree, that they directed copies of the paper to be burned by the hangman, and indicted Zenger for libel. At the

trial, his counsel, Messrs. Alexander and Smith, disputed the jurisdiction of the court, and were stricken from the roll of attorneys in consequence.

Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, was employed to defend Zenger, and the jury, without leaving their seats, gave a verdict of acquital. Hamilton was presented with the freedom of the city, in a gold box, as an acknowledgement of his services, in upholding the liberties of the people, against a governor appointed by the crown. During Governor Cosby's administration, a Latin grammar school was founded in New York, by the assembly.

But a few days previous to his decease, Governor Cosby suspended Rip Van Dam from the council, thereby preventing his acting as lieutenant governor, in the event of his death. This act had well nigh produced serious troubles in the colony; for Mr. Clarke, who was next in order of seniority, having assumed the government, Van Dam opposed him, and himself appointed various officers.

The two parties soon came into collision, and a civil war seemed inevitable. Each party prepared for such a result, when, on the very eve of a conflict, a commission arrived from England, confirming Mr. Clarke, in the office of lieutenant governor, and president of the council.

This, of course, left the other party no alternative but submission. Governor Clarke exerted himself, to remove all just ground of complaint, from the people. He sought every occasion to conciliate those who were hostile to him; and during the seven years he was in power, rendered himself highly popular.

In 1737, a company of Highlanders offered to settle on the shores of Lakes Champlain and George, if they could be countenanced and aided by the assembly. As the colony would prove an effectual barrier to the French, on the northern frontier, the proposition was cheerfully met, by many of the citizens; but the assembly withheld the necessary aid, and the poor colonists were obliged to leave their lands, almost in a state of starvation.

In 1741, occurred the Negro plot, so famous in the annals of New York.

The evidence of the existence of such a plot seems to be meagre and insufficient. It is not improbable that a few profligate wretches, whites as well as blacks, had meditated arson; but the only proof of a plot to burn the city, was the testimony of a single abandoned woman, whose statements often contradicted each other, and were not corroborated by any of her associates. Yet such was the alarm and infatuation of the citizens, that on this woman's testimony, 154 Negroes and twenty Whites were imprisoned, thirteen Negroes were burned at the stake, eighteen or twenty persons hanged, seventy transported to foreign countries, and fifty discharged.

The people, always suspicious of the Roman Catholics, arrested and executed several Irishmen, who professed that faith, and who happened to arrive in the colony about this time. Among others who were hanged, was one Ury, a Catholic priest, who was condemned on two charges; one, that he was concerned in the conspiracy, and the other, that he was a Catholic priest. The charge of conspiracy, he protested was untrue, nor was it proved against him.

In September, 1743, George Clinton, son of the Earl of Lincoln, arrived in the colony, with a commission as governor.