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from
Leisler was received by that prince, if not with fa-
vor, yet with respect, and without rebuke.
Nicholson, the deputy-governor, had been heard to say, what was
afterwards often repeated, that the people of New York were a conquered people, without claim to the rights of Englishmen; that the prince might lawfully govern them by his own will, and appoint what laws he pleased.
The dread of this doctrine sunk deeply into the public mind, and afterwards attracted the notice of the assemblies of New York.
At that period of disorder, the committee of safety reassembled; and
‘
Leisler, an insolent alien, assisted,’ say ‘the principal men’ of New York, ‘by those who formerly were
thought unfit to be in the meanest offices,’ was constituted the temporary governor of the province.
The appointment was, in its form, open to censure Courtland, the mayor of the city, Bayard, and others of the council, after fruitless opposition, retired to Albany, where the magistrates, in convention, proclaimed their allegiance to William and Mary, and their resolution to disregard the authority of Leisler.
When Milborne, the son-in-law of Leisler, first came to demand the fort, he was successfully resisted.
In December, letters were received addressed to Nicholson, or, in his absence, to ‘such as, for the time being, take care for preserving the peace and administering the law’ in New York.
A commission to Nicholson accompanied them.
The commission proved the royal favor to be with the tory party, the friends of the late government; but, as Nicholson was absent, Leisler esteemed his own authority to have received the royal sanction.
A warrant was soon issued for the apprehension of
Bayard; and
Albany, in the spring, terrified by the
