70 The Story of The Bronx 



William, and Mary, with Major Richard Ingoldsby as deputy 

 for New York. Ingoldsby arrived first; but as he was unable 

 to show proper credentials, Leisler refused to turn over to him 

 the fort and government. Sloughter arrived in March, 1691, 

 and Leisler immediately submitted ; but he was at once arres- 

 ted, tried, and convicted of treason and condemned to death. 

 He and his son-in-law, Jacob Milbourne, were both hanged. 

 The attainder of treason against the two unfortunate victims 

 of political jealousy was afterwards removed by the home 

 government and their innocence declared. There are two 

 acts of Leisler's which stand out pre-eminently: first, the 

 reconvening of the Provincial Assembly; and second, the 

 purchase of a part of the manor of Pelham for the Huguenots, 

 a transaction out of which he came with clean hands, not a 

 penny going to his profit. 



The first Assembly under Sloughter met upon April 9, 1691 ; 

 and, as the acts of the Assembly of 1683 had never been 

 approved, either by the king or by the proprietor, they were 

 all re-enacted and sent to England for approval. On July 

 26th, Governor Sloughter died in a fit of drunkenness, having 

 been in the Province a little over four months. 



His successor was Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, who did not 

 arrive in New York till August, 1692, thirteen months after 

 Sloughter 's death. Fletcher was an arrogant man like Andros, 

 but not possessing his abilities, of aristocratic tendencies 

 and opposed to popular concessions. He was an intolerant 

 member of the Church of England, and through an intentional 

 misconstruction of an act of Assembly, he made it the Estab- 

 lished Church of the Province. He also fought for the intro- 

 duction of the English tongue; for, strange as it may seem, the 

 majority of the inhabitants spoke Dutch. 



In 1683, when the counties were formed, the town of West- 



