was devoted to the arbitrary measures of kin James, by his tyranny in New England, had drawn upon himself he universal odium of a people animated with the love of libert ; and therefore, when they could no longer endure his desp ic rule, they seized and imprisoned him, and afterward sent hir to England. Upon the news of these events, several captains of militia convened, to concert measures in favor of the Prince of Orange. Among these, Jacob Leisler was the most active. He was a man in esteem among the people, and of a moderate fortune; but destitute of every qualification necessary for conducting the grand enterprise which he undertook. Milborne, his son-in-law, an Englishman, directed all his councils.

Their first object was the seizure of the garrison in New York. Leisler entered it with forty-nine men, and having got possession, determined to hold it till the whole militia should join him. Being in complete possession of the fort, he sent an address to king William and queen Mary. This was followed by a private letter from Leisler to king William, which informed his majesty of the state of the garrison, and the temper of the people; and concluded with strong protestations of sincerity, loyalty and zeal.

Leisler's sudden investiture with supreme power over the province, and the probable prospects of king William's approbation of his conduct, excited the envy and jealousy of the late council and magistrates, who had refused to join in the glorious work of the revolution. Leisler, on the other hand, fearful of their influence, and wishing to extinguish the jealousy of the people, admitted several trusty persons to a participation of that power, which the militia had committed solely to himself. In conjunction with these, he exercised the government, assuming to himself only the honor of being president in their councils. This model continued, till a packet arrived with a letter from the lords Carmarthen, Halifax and others, directed to "Francis Nicholson Esq., or, in his absence, to such as, for the time being, take care for preserving the peace and administering the laws in their majesties' province of New York, in America."

Nicholson, who had acted as lieutenant-governor, under king James, having absconded when this packet came to hand, Leisler considered the letter as directed to himself; and from that time. executed all kinds of commissions in his own name, assuming the title, as well as the authority of lieutenant-governor. Except the eastern inhabitants of Long Island, all the southern part of the coiony cheerfully submitted to Leisler's commands. The people of Albany, in the meantime, were determined to hold the garrison

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and city fong William, independent of Leisler, and formed themselves into a convention for that purpose.

Taking for granted, that Leisler at New York, and the convention at Abany were equally well affected toward the revolution, nothing could be more unwise than the conduct of both parties, who, by their uncompromising temper, threw the province into convulsions, and sowed the seeds of mutual hatred and animosity. When Albany declared for the prince of Orange, there was nothing more that Leisler could properly require. Rather than sacrifice the public peace of the province to the trifling honor of resisting a man, who had no evil designs, the people of Albany ought, in prudence, to have delivered the garrison into his hands, till the king's definitive order should arrive; but while Leisler, on the one hand, was inebriated with his newly-gotten power, so, on the other, Bayard, Cortlandt, Schuyler, and their associates, could not brook a submission to the authority of a man, mean in his abilities, and inferior in his degree.

Jacob Milborne was commissioned for the reduction of Albany. Upon his arrival there, a great number of the inhabitants armed themselves. In these circumstances, Milborne thought proper to retreat, and soon afterwards departed from Albany. In the spring, he commanded another party upon the same errand; and the distress of the country, occasioned by an Indian irruption, gave him all the desired success. No sooner was he possessed of the garrison, than most of the principal members of the convention absconded; upon which, their effects were arbitrarily seized and confiscated. Colonel Henry Sloughter, who had a commission from king William to be governor of the province, arrived and published it on the 19th of March, 1691. Never was a governor more necessary to the province than at this critical conjuncture; but either through the hurry of the king's affairs, or the powerful interest of a favorite, a man was sent over, utterly destitute of every qualification for government; licentious in his morals, avaricious and poor. If Leisler had delivered the garrison to Colonel Sloughter, as he ought to have done, upon his first landing, he would doubtless have attracted the favorable notice both of the governor and the crown; but, being a weak man, he was so intoxicated with the love of power, that, though he had been well informed of Sloughter's appointment, he not only shut himself up in the fort with Bayard and Nichols, whom he had imprisoned, but refused to deliver them up or to surrender the garrison. From this moment, he lost all credit with the governor, who joined the party against him. On the second demand of the fort, Milborne and Delanoy, came out, under pretence of conferring with his excel

lency; but in reality, to discover his designs. Sloughter, who considered them as rebels, threw them both into jail. Leisier, upon this event, thought proper to abandon the fort, which Colonel Sloughter immediately entered. Bayard and Nichols were now released from their confinement, and sworn as members of the privy council. Leisler, having thus ruined his cause, was apprehended, with many of his adherents, and a commission of oyer and terminer issued for their trials.

In vain did they plead the merit of their zeal for king William, since they had so lately opposed his governor. Leisler endeavored to justify his conduct, insisting that Lord Nottingham's letter entitled him to act in the quality of lieutenant-governor. Leisler and his son were condemned to death for high treason. These violent measures drove many of the inhabitants, who were fearful of being apprehended, into the neighboring colonies. Tranquillity was not completely restored, till an act of general indemnity was passed.

Colonel Sloughter proposed, about this time, to set out for Albany; but, as Leisler's party were enraged at his imprisonment and the late sentence against him, his enemies were afraid new troubles would spring up, in the absence of the governor; for this reason, both the assembly and council advised that the prisoners should be immediately executed. Sloughter chose rather to delay such a violent step; being fearful of cutting off two men, who had vigorously abetted the cause of the king, and so signally contributed to the revolution. Nothing could be more disagreeable to Leisler's enemies, whose interest was deeply concerned in his destruction; and, therefore, when no other measures could prevail with the governor, tradition informs us that a sumptuous feast was prepared, to which Colonel Sloughter was invited. When his excellency's reason was drowned in his cups, the entreaties of the company prevailed with him to sign the death-warrant. Before he recovered his senses, the prisoners were executed. The bodies of these unhappy sufferers were afterwards taken up, and interred with great pomp in the old Dutch church, in the city of New York. Their estates were restored to their families; and Leisler's descendants in the public estimation were rather dignified than disgraced by the fall of their ancestor. The severity on both sides irritated one half the people against the other. Leislerians and anti-Leislerians, became the names of two parties, who, for many years, hated and opposed each other, to the great disturbance of the colony.

The revolution being established, governors were appointed by the new order of British sovereigns. As they were good or bad,

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the people were happy or otherwise. About this time, the French schemes of joining Canada and Louisiana, and limiting the English colonies to the Atlantic coast, began to be unfolded. The governor of Canada built forts, and otherwise encroached on the limits of New York. He also began to make and extend a communication from the St. Lawrence to the lakes of Canada; and gradually to approach the head waters of the Ohio. The friendship of the confederacy of Indians known by the name of the Six Nations, was courted by both. Roman Catholic missionaries from Canada were sent among them, ostensibly to convert them to Christianity; but really to secure their attachment to France. Severe laws were passed in New York, to punish them as intruders. A great trade was carried on between Albany and Canada, for goods saleable among the Indians. Burnet, governor of New York, with the view of keeping the Six Nations dependent on the English for their supplies, procured acts of the legislature for restraining this trade; but in this he was thwarted by the selfishness of the merchants. To secure the friendship of the Indians, to obtain the command of the lakes, and of the country between New York and Canada, were the objects pursued by both, from an early period of the eighteenth century, or rather from the year 1692. Governor Burnet, who commenced his administration in 1720, was the first who sounded a general alarm. and stirred up the colonists to be on their guard; but reciprocal schemes of counteraction had been previously projected by the Canadians and New Yorkers, against each other; by the latter for security; by the former, in subserviency to their grand scheme of uniting Canada with Louisiana.

CHAPTER XLIV.

NEW JERSEY settled.-Berkeley and Carteret.-William Penn.--Foundation of PENNSYLVANIA.-Government of the colony.-Philadelphia founded.-Pennsylvania united to New York.-Revolutions of the government.-Settlement of DELAWARE by the Swedes.-Conquest by the Dutch.-Final transition to the English.-Colonization of MARYLAND.-Lord Baltimore.-Tranquillity of the province.-Religious liberty.-Loyalty of the inhabitants.-Party violence.General state of the colony.-Settlement of NORTH and SOUTH CAROLINA.Locke's constitution,-its anomalous and impracticable character.-Settlement of GEORGIA.

NEW JERSEY was a portion of the New Netherlands when that territory came into possession of the English. A trading station of the Dutch seems to have existed at Bergen, as early as 1618, but the country was for a long time neglected. In 1664, some Quakers settled near Raritan Bay, and in the same year a number of New England puritans, dwelling on Long Island, obtained of the Indians a deed of a large tract on Newark Bay, having previously enjoyed the permission of the Dutch to settle in New Jersey. This was called the "Elizabethtown purchase," and led the way to interminable suits of law. The Duke of York sold, in 1664, the New Jersey portion of his patent to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Emigrants were brought over from England by the new proprietors, and the foundation of a capital was laid,