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. The sufferers under their government, stated their oppressions to the assembly, who unanimously resolved on the 17th April, 1691, that their services were tumultuous and illegal, and against the rights of the new king and queen; that they had illegally and arbitrarily thrown divers protestant subjects into doleful nauseous prisons; proscribed and forced others out of the colony; that the depredation upon Schenectady was imputable to their usurpations. That they had ruined merchants and others by seizures of their effects; levied money and rebelliously raised forces; and that their refusal to surrender the fort was rebellion. The council concurred with the resolves on the next day. The assembly at first waved an answer to the governor's question, respecting the propriety of reprisoning the convicts; he urged them again for an explicit answer three weeks after (11th May) whether they ought, or ought not to be executed; and within eight days after this the council consented to the execution and the assembly declared their approbation. Sloughter, who had no inclination to favour them in this request, chose rather to delay such a violent step, being fearful of cutting off two men, who had vigorously appeared for the king, and so signally contributed to the revolution." Nothing could be more disagreeable to their enemies, whose interest was deeply concerned in their 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 entrea

ties of the company prevailed with him to sign the death-warrant, and before he recovered his senses, the prisoners were executed Leisler's son afterwards carried home a complaint to king William, against the governor. His petition was referred, according to the common course of plantation affairs, to the lords commissioners of trade, who, after hearing the whole matter, reported on the 11th of March, 1692, "That they were humbly of opinion, that Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, deceased, were condemned, and had suffered according to law." Their lordships, however, interceded for their families, as fit objects of mercy, and this induced queen Mary, who approved the report on the 17th of March, to declare, "That upon the humble application of the relations of the said Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, deceased, her majesty will order the estates of Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milborne, to be restored to their families, as objects of her majesty's mercy." 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 children, in the public estimation, are rather dignified, than disgraced, by the fall of their ancestor.

The

These distractions in the province, so entirely engrossed the public attention, that our Indian allies, who had been left solely to contend with the common enemy, grew extremely disaffected Mohawks, in particular, highly resented this conduct, and, at the instance of the Caghnuagas, sent a messenger to Canada, to confer with count Frontenac about a peace. To prevent this, colonel Sloughter had an interview at Albany, in June, with the other four Nations, who expressed their joy at seeing a governor again in that place. They told him, that their ancestors, as they had been informed, were greatly surprised at the arrival of the first ship in

that country, and were curious to know what was in its huge belly. That they found Christians in it, and one Jacques, with whom they made a chain of friendship, which they had preserved to this day. All the Indians, except the Mohawks, assured the governor at this meeting, of their resolution to prosecute the war. The Mohawks confessed their negociations with the French, that they had received a belt from Canada, and prayed the advice of the governor, and afterwards renewed their league with all our colonies.

Sloughter soon after returned to New-York, and ended a short, weak, and turbulent administration, for he died suddenly on the 23d of July, 1691. Some were not without suspicions that he came unfairly to his end, but the certificate of the physician and surgeons, who opened his body by an order of council, confuted these conjectures, and his remains were interred in Stuyvesant's vault, next to those of the old Dutch governor.

At the time of Sloughter's decease, the government devolved, according to the late act for declaring the rights of the people of this province, on the council, in which Joseph Dudley had a right to preside; but they committed the chief command to Richard Ingolsby, a captain of an independent company, who was sworn into the office of president on the 26th of July, 1698. Dudley, soon afterwards, returned to this province from Boston, but did not think proper to dispute Ingolby's authority, though the latter had no title nor the greatest abilities for government, and was besides obnoxious to the party who had joined Leisler, having been an agent in the measures which accomplished his ruin. To the late troubles, which were then recent, and the agreement subsisting between the council and assembly, we must ascribe it that the former tacitly acknowledged Ingolsby's right to the president's chair; for they concurred with him in passing

several laws, in autumn and the spring following, the validity of which have never yet been disputed.

This summer major Schuyler,* with a party of Mohawks, passed through the Lake Champlain, and made a bold irruption upon the French settlements at the north end of it.† De Callieres, the governor of Montreal, to oppose him, collected a small army of eight hundred men, and encamped at La Prairie. Schuyler had several conflicts with the enemy, and slew about three hundred of them, which exceeded in number his whole party. The French, ashamed of their ill success, attribute it to the want of order, too many desiring to have the command; but the true cause was the ignorance of their officers in the Indian manner of fighting. They kept their men in a body, while ours posted themselves behind trees, hidden from the enemy. Major Schuyler's design, in this descent, was to animate the Indians, and preserve their enmity against the French. They, accordingly, continued their hostilities, and, by frequent incursions, kept the country in constant alarm.

In the midst of these distresses, the French governor preserved his sprightliness and vigour, animating every body about him. After he had served himself of the Utawawas, who came to trade at Montreal, he sent them home under the care of a captain and one hundred and ten men; and to secure their attachment to the French interest, gave them two Indian prisoners, and, besides, sent very considerable presents to the Western Indians in their alliance. The captives were afterwards burnt. The Five Nations, in the meantime, grew more and more incensed, and continually harassed the

*The French, from his great influence at Albany and activity among the Indians, concluded that he was governor of that city; and hence, their historians honour him with that title, though he was then only mayor of the corporation. "Pitre Schuyler (says Charlevoix) etoit un forte honnête homme."

+ Dr. Colden relates it as a transaction of the year 1691, which is true; but he supposes it was before Sir William Phips's attack upon Quebec, and thus falls into an anachronism of one whole year, as I have already observed.

French borders. Mr. Beaucour, a young gentleman, in the following winter, marched a body of about three hundred men, to attack them at the isthmus at Niagara. Incredible were the fatigues they underwent in this long march over the snow, bearing their provisions on their backs. Eighty men of the Five Nations opposed the French party, and bravely maintained their ground, till most of them were cut off. In return for which, the confederates, in small parties, obstructed the passage of the French through Lake Ontario and the river issuing out of it, and cut off their communication with the Western Indians. An Indian, called Black Kettle, commanded in these incursions of the Five Nations, and his successes, which continued the whole summer, so exasperated the count, that he ordered an Indian prisoner to be burnt alive. The bravery of this savage was as extraordinary, as the torments inflicted on him were cruel. He sung his military achievements without interruption, even while his bloody executioners practised all possible barbarities. They broiled his feet, thrust his fingers into red-hot pipes, cut his joints, and twisted the sinews with bars of iron. After this his scalp was ripped off, and hot sand poured on the wound.

In June, 1692, captain Ingolsby met the Five Nations at Albany, and encouraged them to persevere in the war. The Indians declared their enmity to the French in the strongest terms, and as heartily professed their friendship to us. "Brother Corlear," said the sachem, "we are all the subjects of one great king and queen; we have one head, one heart, one interest, and are all engaged in the same war." The Indians at the same time did not forget, at this interview, to condemn the inactivity of the English, telling them that the destruction of Canada would not make one summer's work against their united strength, if vigorously exerted.

Colonel Benjamin Fletcher arrived, with a com