Leisler's Rebellion - Aftermath

Aftermath

The execution made martyrs of Leisler and Milborne, and did nothing to lessen the deep divisions between pro- and anti-Leislerian factions. His supporters sent agents to London, eventually joined by his son Jacob, to petition the government for redress. In January 1692 their petition was heard by the king, and in April the Lords of Trade recommended pardons for the convicted. On May 13, 1692 Queen Mary instructed the new incoming governor, Benjamin Fletcher, to pardon the six remaining prisoners.

Governor Sloughter's sudden death on July 23, 1691 was viewed with suspicion in some circles that he had been poisoned, although the autopsy indicated the cause was pneumonia. He left behind a letter in which he claimed to be "constrained" by the forces around him to order the execution. Other acts during his tenure also sparked comment. He was accused by Ingoldesby, who took the reins of government after his death, of pocketing £1,100 intended to pay the troops, and he was said to have seized a prize ship that had been captured and sold at auction during his time in office, and then sold it a second time.

One of Leisler's supporters had stopped in Boston while en route to England, and was offered support by the new governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Sir William Phips. Massachusetts agents in London then worked on behalf of Leisler's heirs to have the attainder reversed and the family properties restored. In 1695, with the assistance of Massachusetts supporters Henry Ashurst and Sir Constantine Henry Phipps, a bill was introduced into Parliament to do so. Although the bill quickly passed in the House of Lords, anti-Leislerian agents succeeded in having it sent to committee in the lower chamber. After extensive hearings, in which Joseph Dudley defended his actions by, among other things, accusing Leisler of improperly seizing power because he was a foreigner, the bill was finally passed on May 2, 1695. It received the royal assent the next day.

However, it would not be until 1698 that Leisler's heirs would finally receive their due. The Earl of Bellomont, commissioned as New York's governor in 1695 and an outspoken supporter of Leisler in the parliamentary debate, arrived in that year. During his tenure (he died in office in 1701) he placed pro-Leislerians in key positions in his government. He oversaw the restoration of the family estate, and had the bodies of Leisler and Milborne properly reburied in the yard of the Dutch Reform Church.

Pro and anti-Leisler factions would remain in contention at the provincial level until the arrival of Governor Robert Hunter in 1710. Over time the Leislerians tended to associate with the British Whig faction, and the anti-Leislerians with the Tories. Hunter, a Whig who generally favoured the Leislerians, was able to calm the bitterness that existed between the factions.