The result of this dissatisfaction was an open rupture on the occasion of the election of a member of the General Assembly, in 1697, in which the sherift''s authority was disputed and an armed force from Connecticut interposed to prevent tiie accomplishment of the election. The course of these towns and the government of Connecticut received a practical rebuke when, in 1700, King William confirmed the agreement of 1683 and the action of the surveying party of the next year. The Assembly of Connecticut thereupon ordered that information of the fact be sent to the inhabitants of Rye and Bedford, and that they are freed from duty to that government, but are henceforth under the government of New York.*

In the management of the affairs of the Province Dongan seems to have displayed the greatest energy and ability amid difficulties and disadvantages which sorely taxed his powers. One of his troubles, because it gives us a chance to look into Westchester, we recall : The Duke of York's Collector (Santen) seems to have been so lax with his deputies that several of them were defaulters. Among these was one Collins, receiver of the revenue in Westchester County, from

'"Bonndarics of tlie State of New York." Keport of the Regents of the Vnivcrsity, pp. iBaird's Kye, p. 118. Public Records of Connecticut, vol. iv. p. :i,35.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

whom no returns having been made, Santen was compelled to be satisfied with two bonds, payable in the succeeding March. These Governor Dongan looked upon to be of no value and all the revenue of that county lost, " the man having hardly bread to put into his mouth."