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 *ple by his presumption. The common people favored Leisler. They "blessed the great God of Heaven and Earth for deliverance from Tyranny, Popery, and Slavery." The aristocracy opposed him, and complained that "Fort James was seized by the rabble, that hardly one person of sense and estate does countenance." Their wisest leader, Van Curler, had long been dead; and the people of Schenectady became hopelessly divided. Warnings were frequent, but vigilance was relaxed, and at last the blow fell upon a defenceless people.

On the night of the 8th of February, 1690, one hundred and fourteen Frenchmen and ninety-six Indians, sent by Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, after a twenty-two days' march from Montreal, through the snow and the wilderness, stole in through the open gates of the stockade, massacred sixty of the inhabitants, plundered and burned about sixty houses—leaving only six—and carried away thirty captives. The survivors, who were fortunate enough in the confusion to escape either