CHAPTEE   XII

THE PERIOD  OF  THE LEISLER  TROUBLES

1688-1692
 

nJTj^ N the midst of the actiYities of his excellent administration,
il^^ GrOYernor Dongan receiYcd notice that he had been super-
aI^?1 seded. The man who had submitted to his master the
M^^l charter which gaYC New-York legislation by the people,
and who before it had passed the seals had already pnt into operation
this important concession, was not one to be depended on to carry
into effect the despotic measnre which King James had in mind. This
was the consolidation of the United Colonies of New England with
the Provinces of New-York and New Jersey, to be placed under one
Governor-General with viceregal authority. In July, 1688, Governor
Dongan received a letter from the royal hand, announcing that Sir
Edmund Andros had been appointed               .

to this exalted position, and requiring      ^^K/ho ^ J^\^r/^Cn'»^-'^
him to resign the administration of   ^f^  '    ^'    ♦^^^^^^^-^^^^^^
New-York.   Almost at the same time                               ^

Andros received his new commission at Boston, where he ruled as
Governor of New England. On August 11th he was in New-York,
to take the government of that province from the hands of Dongan,
and on August 15th his commission was proclaimed at Elizabeth-
town, the capital of the New Jersey colony.

To the people of New-York the change of governors was more ac¬
ceptable than the change in provincial government. They were not
^' pleased that their province should lose its individuality and be
consolidated with New England," says Brodhead. " Geographically,
politically, and socially. New-York was unlike any British possession
in North America. Her eclectic people never wished to be ruled by
incorporated oligarchies similar to those in New England. The
people of New-York felt themselves in an ^ unmerited state of degra¬
dation.' Their metropolitan city especially lamented ' that unhappy
annexation to New England.'" ^

1 Brodhead, '' History of the State of New-York," 2: 513, 514.

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