Jacob Leisler and his Career

The Dutch inhabitants of New York, as well as the Protestant republicans, were disappointed by the royal birth, for they had looked forward with hope for the accession of Mary, the wife of their own Prince of Orange, to the throne of England. This event intensified the general discontent because of the consolidation of New York with New England and the abridgment of their rights, and the people were on the verge of open rebellion when a revolution in England changed the whole aspect of affairs there and in America, and satisfied the aspirations of the Dutch at New York by seating William and Mary on the throne. The general result of that revolution has been recorded at near the close of the Second Chapter of the Third Book.

The effect of the accession of William and Mary, in New England, will be noticed hereafter. Andros and his political associates were seized at Boston, and sent to England. This act was followed in New York by the seizure of Fort James. In this movement Jacob Leisler, an influential merchant and commander of militia, took a leading part. He was a German colonist; a Presbyterian in church-fellowship; an enthusiastic admirer of William of Orange, but with democratic tendencies. About five hundred men in arms rallied around him at the fort, whence he issued this declaration: "As soon as the bearer of orders from the Prince of Orange shall have let us see his power, then, without delay, we do intend to obey, not the orders only, but also the bearer thereof."

Leisler refused to proclaim the accession of William and Mary, until he should be officially certified of the fact. At his request, delegates from a few towns assembled in convention, formed a Committee of Safety of ten, and proceeded to organize a provisional government. They commissioned Leisler commander of the province, when Nicholson, whose time-serving policy had alienated from him-self the confidence of the people, fearing the populace, fled on board a vessel and sailed for London. This flight gave Leisler and his adherents an unexpected advantage. The people consented that he should act as governor in the absence of regularly constituted authority. The aristocracy were offended because an "insolent foreigner and plebeian" was in the high seat of power. They bitterly opposed him, but he managed public affairs so well that his enemies were compelled to praise him. Van Cortlandt, Bayard and other leaders of the aristocracy retired to Albany, where a convention of the people acknowledged allegiance to William and Mary, defied the power of Leisler, and denounced him as a treasonable usurper. Their influence in the province was great, and the communities on the Hudson generally disapproved of the mutinous proceedings in New York.