Skip to main content

Full text of "The memorial history of the City of New-York, from its first settlement to the year 1892"

See other formats


Google 


This  is  a  digital  copy  of  a  book  that  was  preserved  for  generations  on  library  shelves  before  it  was  carefully  scanned  by  Google  as  part  of  a  project 

to  make  the  world's  books  discoverable  online. 

It  has  survived  long  enough  for  the  copyright  to  expire  and  the  book  to  enter  the  public  domain.  A  public  domain  book  is  one  that  was  never  subject 

to  copyright  or  whose  legal  copyright  term  has  expired.  Whether  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  may  vary  country  to  country.  Public  domain  books 

are  our  gateways  to  the  past,  representing  a  wealth  of  history,  culture  and  knowledge  that's  often  difficult  to  discover. 

Marks,  notations  and  other  maiginalia  present  in  the  original  volume  will  appear  in  this  file  -  a  reminder  of  this  book's  long  journey  from  the 

publisher  to  a  library  and  finally  to  you. 

Usage  guidelines 

Google  is  proud  to  partner  with  libraries  to  digitize  public  domain  materials  and  make  them  widely  accessible.  Public  domain  books  belong  to  the 
public  and  we  are  merely  their  custodians.  Nevertheless,  this  work  is  expensive,  so  in  order  to  keep  providing  tliis  resource,  we  liave  taken  steps  to 
prevent  abuse  by  commercial  parties,  including  placing  technical  restrictions  on  automated  querying. 
We  also  ask  that  you: 

+  Make  non-commercial  use  of  the  files  We  designed  Google  Book  Search  for  use  by  individuals,  and  we  request  that  you  use  these  files  for 
personal,  non-commercial  purposes. 

+  Refrain  fivm  automated  querying  Do  not  send  automated  queries  of  any  sort  to  Google's  system:  If  you  are  conducting  research  on  machine 
translation,  optical  character  recognition  or  other  areas  where  access  to  a  large  amount  of  text  is  helpful,  please  contact  us.  We  encourage  the 
use  of  public  domain  materials  for  these  purposes  and  may  be  able  to  help. 

+  Maintain  attributionTht  GoogXt  "watermark"  you  see  on  each  file  is  essential  for  in  forming  people  about  this  project  and  helping  them  find 
additional  materials  through  Google  Book  Search.  Please  do  not  remove  it. 

+  Keep  it  legal  Whatever  your  use,  remember  that  you  are  responsible  for  ensuring  that  what  you  are  doing  is  legal.  Do  not  assume  that  just 
because  we  believe  a  book  is  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  the  United  States,  that  the  work  is  also  in  the  public  domain  for  users  in  other 
countries.  Whether  a  book  is  still  in  copyright  varies  from  country  to  country,  and  we  can't  offer  guidance  on  whether  any  specific  use  of 
any  specific  book  is  allowed.  Please  do  not  assume  that  a  book's  appearance  in  Google  Book  Search  means  it  can  be  used  in  any  manner 
anywhere  in  the  world.  Copyright  infringement  liabili^  can  be  quite  severe. 

About  Google  Book  Search 

Google's  mission  is  to  organize  the  world's  information  and  to  make  it  universally  accessible  and  useful.   Google  Book  Search  helps  readers 
discover  the  world's  books  while  helping  authors  and  publishers  reach  new  audiences.  You  can  search  through  the  full  text  of  this  book  on  the  web 

at|http: //books  .google  .com/I 


THE  MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW-YORK 


THE 

MEMORIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE 
CITY  OF   NEW-YORK 

FROM  ITS  FIRST  SETTLEMENT  TO  THE  YEAR  1892 


EDITED  BY 

JAMES  GKANT  WILSON 


VOLUME  ni 


NEW-TOBK  HISTORY  COMPANY 

132  NASSAU  STREET 

1893 


483174 


Copyright,  1893,  by  the 
New- York  History  Company 


•  • .    •     -•••■• 
.  •  •    -•    •  •  .   - 

.  •  -    •  • 


'*  • 


•  •  • 


•    • 


•    • 


PRINTED  AT  THE  DE  VINNE  PRESS. 


THIS  THIRD  VOLUME 
OP  THE  HISTORY  OP  HIS  NATIVE  CITY  IS  DEDICATED 

BY  THE  EDITOR  TO  THE  ABLE  GOVERNOR, 
UNITED  STATES  SENATOR,  AND  SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

HAMILTON    FISH 


•  ,•  - 


NOTE  TO  Vrl  }LCEi 
FR-\ZI 


THE  P\Pt-:  ^ '- i    ■-.•■E£5^""; 

PLEASE  R\.N':*_z'r:z:^ 


Manna-hata,  the  handsomest  and  most  pleasant  country  that  man  can 
behold.  Henry  Hudson. 

The  Island  of  New- York  is  the  most  beautiful  island  that  I  have  ever 
seen.         Hessian  Officer,  in  '*  Stone's  Revolutionary  Letters,"  1891. 

She  is  a  Mart  of  Nations.  .  .  .  The  crowning  city,  whose  merchants  are 
princes,  whose  traffickers  are  the  honorable  of  the  earth.     Isaiah,  xxiii. 

History  maketh  a  young  man  to  be  old,  without  either  wrinkles  or  gray 
hairs,  privileging  him  with  the  experience  of  age  without  either  the  infirmi- 
ties or  inconveniences  thereof.  Thohas  Fuller. 

This  is  a  great  fault  in  a  chronicler,  to  turn  parasite :  an  absolute  history 
should  be  in  fear  of  none ;  neither  should  he  write  anything  more  than 
truth,  for  friendship,  or  else  for  hate,  but  keep  himself  equal  and  constant 
in  all  his  discourses.  Simon  N.  H.  Linguet. 

Industrious  persons,  by  an  exact  and  scrupidous  diligence  and  obser- 
vation, out  of  the  monuments,  names,  words,  proverbs,  traditions,  private 
recordes  and  evidences,  fragments  of  stories,  passages  of  bookes  that 
concern  not  story,  and  the  Uke,  we  doe  save  and  recover  somewhat  from 
the  deluge  of  Time.  Francis  Bacon. 

They  who  make  researches  into  Antiquity  may  be  said  to  passe  often 
through  many  dark  lobbies  and  dusky  places  before  they  come  to  the  Aula 
luciSf  the  great  hall  of  light ;  they  must  repair  to  old  Archives  and  peruse 
many  molded  and  moth-eaten  records,  and  so  bring  to  light,  as  it  were, 
out  of  darkness,  to  inform  the  present  world  what  the  former  did,  and 
make  us  see  truth  through  our  Ancestor's  eyes.  James  Howell. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  how  few,  if  any,  of  my  fellow-citizens  were  aware 
that  New- York  had  ever  been  called  New  Amsterdam,  or  had  heard  of  the 
names  of  its  early  Dutch  governors,  or  cared  a  straw  about  their  ancient 
Dutch  progenitors.  .  .  .  A  lustory  to  serve  as  a  foundation,  on  which  other 
historians  may  hereafter  raise  a  noble  superstructure,  swelling  in  process 
of  time,  until  Knickerbocker's  New- York  may  be  equally  voluminous  with 
Gibbon's  Rome,  or  Hume  and  Smollett's  England.  Washington  Irving. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

New- York  City  under  American  Control — From  the  Confedera- 
tion TO  the  Constitution,  1783-1789. 

Professor  Henry  Phelps  Johnston^  Ph,  2>.      1 

Changes  in  the  Population  Before  and  After  the  Evacuation — Less  Eng- 
lish and  Dutch  since  1783 — Domestic  and  Foreign  Immigration — Reestab- 
Ushment  of  the  City  Government — Temporary  Council  in  Control  until 
February,  1784 — First  City  Corporation  Officers  of  the  American  Period — 
Their  Character — Rights  and  Privileges  of  the  Citizens  as  Freeholders  and 
Freemen — Interior  Life  of  the  City — Industries,  Societies,  Amusements, 
Luxuries — Exterior  Appearance  of  the  Town — Streets,  Public  Buildiugs, 
Coffee-Houses,  Means  of  Protection — Local  Politics,  or  the  Treatment  of 
Tories  by  the  Whigs — Hamilton's  Position — John  Jay  and  the  Governor- 
ship— National  Politics,  or  the  Constitutional  Period — Attitude  of  the  City 
on  the  Question  of  Enlarging  Federal  Powers — Action  of  the  Merchants — 
Hamilton  and  the  Conventions — The  **  Federalist" — The  City  Delegates  at 
the  State  Convention,  Poughkeepsie — Their  Speeches,  Influeuce,  and  Final 
Victory  for  the  New  National  Constitution — Rejoicings  and  the  Federal 
Procession  in  the  City — Dutch  Medals  on  the  American  Revolution. 


CHAPTER  II 

New- York  as  the  Federal  Capital,  and  during  Washington's  First 
Term,  1789-1793 Moncure  2>.  Conway.    45 

The  City  in  a  Poor  Condition  at  Washington's  Inauguration — The  City 
Hall  Converted  into  a  Federal  HaU — Members  of  Cong^ress  Disparage  their 
Accommodations — Washington  Arrives  in  New- York  Amid  Enthusiastic 
Greetings — The  Inaug^iration  and  Attending  Ceremonies — Mrs.  Washing- 
ton's Estimate  of  Life  in  New-York — The  President  and  his  Social  Obliga- 
tions—Caricatures and  Party  Spirit — Cincinnati  and  Tammany,  and  Other 
Societies — Newspapers — ^Washington's  Mode  of  Opening  Congress — The 
President's  Residence  and  the  Mansion  on  the  Site  of  Fort  George — The 
Slavery  Question— The  Site  of  a  Federal  Capital  Determined — Indian  Chiefs 
visit  New-York — Congress  and  Government  Remove  to  Philadelphia — The 
''American  Museum" — The  Bank  of  New- York  Incorporated — A  Columbia 
College  Commencement — Tontine  Association  and  CofPee-House— The  Third 
Centenary  of  the  Disciovery  of  America  Celebrated  in  1792 — Jay  Counted 
Out  at  the  Election  for  Governor —Virtuous  Ordinances  by  the  City  Council 
—The  Walter  Franklin  Family. 


VI  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

CHAPTER  m 

Society  in  New- York  in  the  Early  Days  of  the  Republic. 

The  Editor.     87 

A  "Dinner  and  Supper  List  for  1787 and  '88"— Character  of  New-York 
Society  in  those  Years — The  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  under  Congress— 
Mrs.  John  Jay — The  French  Court  and  the  French  Capital  — The  Representa- 
tives of  the  New- York  Bar — ^Hamilton  and  Burr  in  Society — Mrs.  Hamilton — 
Chancellor  Livingston — Prominent  Clergymen  of  Various  Denominations — 
Bishop  David  Provoost — Some  Members  of  the  Medical  Prof ession  —  Old 
Knickerbocker  Families— Revolutionary  Officers  and  Members  of  Congress 
— The  Leading  Ladies  of  the  Day —President  of  Congress — The  Carps  Dip- 
hmaMque — Foreign  Travelers:  Brissot  de  Warville — The  President  of  the 
United  States:  His  Title  and  Lifluence  upon  Social  Circles — His  Recep- 
tions called  *' Levees" — The  "Three  Hundred" — Dress  Worn  by  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen — A  Memorable  Ball  at  the  French  Minister's — A  Last  Glimpse 
at  the  Society  of  that  Day. 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Closing  Years  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  1793-1800. 

The  Rev,  Daniel  Van  Felt,  A.  M.  113 

Changes  in  Material  Conditions  Within  a  Single  Lifetime  —  The  Eigh- 
teenth Century  in  the  American  Colonies  —  Mayor  Richard  Varick  and  Muni- 
cipal Affairs  During  the  Closing  Period  —  The  City's  Budget  in  1800 —  The 
French  Revolution  and  its  Sympathizers  Here — New- York  Ceases  to  be  the 
Capital  of  the  State  —  The  City  Turns  the  Scales  in  the  Presidential  Election 
of  1800  — Death  of  Washington,  and  Funeral  Ceremonies  in  New- York  —  The 
Appearance  of  the  City  at  this  Time  as  Described  by  Foreign  Observers  — 
Th6  Yellow  Fever  Visitations  of  1791, 1795,  and  1798  —  Experiment  in  Steam 
Navigation  on  the  Collect  — ^Associations  for  Literary,  Benevolent,  and  other 
Purposes  —  New-York  Society  and  Popular  Amusements  —  Races  on  the 
Bowery —  Behavior  at  the  Theater  —  Commercial  Advantages  and  Prosper- 
ity —  No  "  Down-town  "  a  Hundred  Years  Ago  —  "  London  in  Miniature  " 
— List  of  Houses  and  Lots  valued  at  £2000  and  over  in  1799. 


CHAPTER  V 
The  Opening  op  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1801-1807.     The  Editor.   153 

A  Glance  Backward  —  Great  Cities  of  the  World  at  the  Beginning  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  —  The  Presidential  Election  Excitement  Early  in  1801 
—  The  Tie  Between  Jefferson  and  Burr  —  The  Duel  Between  Hamilton  and 
Burr — Consequences  to  Burr — The  Founding  of  the  Public-school  Sys- 
tem of  New- York — Generous  Support  by  the  State  Legislature  and  the 
Corporation  —  Churches  Enlarged,  Altered,  and  Newly  Built  —  The  Disap- 
pearance of  Worship  in  the  Dutch  Language  —  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's  the 
only  Relics  of  this  Period  —  Mayors  Edward  Livingrston,  De  Witt  Clinton, 
and  Marinus  Willett  — War  with  and  Defeat  of  the  "Barbary  Powers" 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  vii 

—  Items  of  Local  Interest:  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  News- 
papers, Huguenot  Church,  Insurance  Companies  —  Market-places  Visited 
by  the  Country  People  —  Strange  Street  Cries  of  Venders  —  The  Change  in 
the  Conditions  of  Society — Class  Prestige  Disappears — Weehawken  Duel- 
ing-Ground. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Beginning  op  Steam  Navigation,  1807-1812. 

Charles  Burr  Todd.    184 

Earliest  Attempts  at  Steam  Navigation — Robert  Fulton:  His  Birth  and 
Youthful  Experiments — Goes  to  England  to  Study  Art  under  Benjamin 
West  —  His  Attention  is  Turned  to  Steam  Navigation—  His  Book  on  Canals 
— Fulton  Meets  Joel  Barlow  in  Paris — Fulton  Returns  to  America — Ameri- 
can Inventors  who  Preceded  Fulton  Failed  in  Practical  Application  — John 
Stevens  and  his  Screw  Propeller  —  Connection  of  Chancellor  Livingston 
with  Fulton  —  Experiments  on  the  Seine  at  Paris — The  Clermont  Goes  Up 
the  Hudson  to  Albany  and  Back  —  Steam  Ferry-boats  —  Parties  in  New- 
York  and  the  Embargo  —  Threats  of  War,  and  Fortification  of  the  City  — 
The  New-York  Historical  Society  Celebrates  the  Two-hundredth  Anni- 
versary of  the  Discovery  of  the  Hudson — City  Hall  in  the  Park  Completed 
— New  Churches  Built  —  The  Laying  Out  of  Streets  —  State  Election  of 
1811  —  Early  Steps  to  Build  the  Erie  Canal  —  Public  School  No.  2  —  New- 
York  Orphan  Asylum  Founded — The  Chartering  of  a  Bank — **  Salmagundi" 
and  *^  Knickerbocker's  New-York  "—  Cockloft  Hall. 


CHAPTER  VII 

New- York  in  the  Second  War  of  Independence,  1812-1815. 

John  Austin  Stevens,    219 

England's  Hope  of  Reconciliation  with  the  Colonies  —  Political  Situation 
and  Progress  of  Negotiations  with  England  —  Growth  of  American  Ton- 
nage —  Impressment  of  American  Sailors  by  Great  Britain —  British  Frigate 
Fires  on  American  Ship,  1806  —  The  Famous  Orders  in  Council  —  Ruinous 
Elffects  of  the  Embargo  Act  of  1807 — Ambition  of  Clay  and  Calhoun — Madi- 
son's Message  to  Congress  —  New- York  Merchants'  Memorial  —  Death  of 
Governor  George  Clinton — War  Declared  Against  Great  Britain,  1812 — Or- 
ganization and  Preparations  of  the  Committee  of  Defense  —  Enthusiasm  of  ■ 
Seafaring  Men  for  the  War  —  Naval  Engagement  of  Captain  David  Porter 

—  The  Constitution  Defeats  the  Guerri^re  —  Decatur  Captures  the  Macedo- 
nian—  Great  Britain's  Mortification—  The  Wasp  Defeats  the  Frolic  —  Mili- 
tary Organizations,  Arsenals,  and  Forts  —  American  Reverses  in  Canada  — 
Battle  of  Queenstown  —  New-York  Merchants'  Grievances  —Lake  Defenses 

—  Capture  of  Toronto  and  Fort  George— Perry's  Victory,  1813  — British 
Successes  on  Land  —  The  Chesapeake  Defeated  by  the  Shannon  —  Blockade 
of  the  Port  —  Reception  of  General  Harrison  —  Canadian  Campaign  under 
Scott—  Second  Invasion  of  New- York  State— Public  Action  for  Improving 
Defenses  of  the  City  —  Treaty  of  Ghent  —  Lawrence  and  Ludlow. 


•  •  • 


Vlll  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

CHAPTER  Vra 

TiiK  Rkturn  of  Peace,  and  the  Completion  op  the  Erie  Canal, 
1815-1825 William  L.  Stone.    295 

The  Effect  of  the  Announcement  of  Peace  —  Packet  Lines  Established  — 
Hevitro  Weather — Removal  of  General  Richard  Montgomery's  Remains 
from  Quebec  to  New- York — Ball  to  General  Andrew  Jackson  —  Burning  of 
the  Old  Park  Theater— New- York  Bay  Frozen  Over  in  1820— Yellow  Fever 
in  the  (yity  —  Visit  of  Lafayette  to  the  United  States,  and  His  Reception  in 
Now- York  —  Erie  Canal  Celebration  —  History  of  the  Enterprise — First 
Canal-boaty  the  Heneca  Chief,  leaves  Buffalo  —  Description  of  the  Celebra- 
tion —  Land  and  Naval  Processions  —  Magnificent  Appearance  of  the  Fleet 
—  The  ( JriH^k  RobollioTi  —  Large  Amounts  of  Money  Subscribed  in  New- 
York  for  the  Relief  of  the  Greek  Patriots  —  First  Gas-pipes  Laid. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  BEQiNNiNa  op  New- York's  Commercial  Greatness,  1825  - 1837. 

John  Austin  Stevens.    334 

The  Tontine  Coffw  House  and  Chamber  of  Commerce — Increase  of  Trade 
owing  to  Opening  of  Erie  Canal — Commerce  of  New- York  —  Larger  Build- 
ings Kn»otod — Mayors  Philip  Hone,  Walter  Bowne,  and  Gideon  Lee — First 
Appiuiranoe  in  the  City  of  Asiatic  Cholera,  1832  —  The  Election  and  Aboli- 
tion Hiot8,  18IM:  —  Procession  and  Ceremonies  in  Memory  of  Lafayette  — 
Stone-cutters'  and  Five  Points  Riots,  1834-35  —  Croton  River  Aqueduct 
IWidiKi  Upon  -On^t  Fire  of  1835— Flour  Riot,  ia37— The  Banks  of  New- 
York,  includinir  Savinirs-banks  —  The  Farmers'  Fire  Insurance  Company  — 
InHuence  of  Fret*  Trade  on  the  National  Election  —  Albert  Gallatin's  Policy 
->The  National  Hank  of  New- York  Established  —  The  Bank  of  the  United 
StAtt^  AectH>ts  a  Charter  from  Pennsylvania  —  Enormous  Licrease  in  the 
Issue  of  Paper  Oirrenoy— Sharp  Reaction — The  New- York  Banks  Suspend, 
May,  18^)7  —  Oimeral  Suspension  of  United  States  Banks — Convention  of 
Bank  IX4e|rate«  from  Seventeen  States  Meets  in  New-Tork — Favorable 
I  V>speet»  ^  -  Resumption  of  Specie  Payments  by  the  New- York  Banks,  May, 
IS38  -The  Hank  of  Commerce  Established -~ The  New- York  University 
Founder)  —  Literary  Si>eiety :  •*  The  Oub  ^  Organiied  —  Polish  Exiles  Arrive 
in  New- York  —  Fashionable  Localities  and  Walks — Favorite  Caf^ — Cele- 
bratiHl  Schoob  and  Institutes  ~  Death  of  Chariotte  Canda— The  Freedom  of 
Uie  City. 

CHAPTER  X 

Trs  YraR8  or  Ml^XU^PAL  Vuk)R,  1S37'-  1S*7*  J.  Eiifmpdem  Ihmghertf.    364 

PiMiwtl  WelvrtxMT  Vi^fits  New-York  —  AppeMnne^  <rf  the  Stivets  —  Notable 
llou!ii<>«  —  Iwpnnxmienls^  in  RebuikUnij;  Following  th^^  Fire  <if  1S35 —  Parks 
Mhl  S«)iuure«  INiblk"  Hall^  lieltti>^|9illerie«k  Hotels^  and  Tbeattti« — Ball 
in  lUuHvr  tvf  CiiarW  l>k»k»iis  —  Intr(>duetk\ii  of  l«»s  —  Oioivlwis  —  Chibs  — 
liAttt^mtxirv  of  iKk*  Db^  — N«i'W«|«i|>t>i^-- lY«!Kk«t  HamsiMiV  IV«ili  a3»d 
I\i«K4rad^^lajgx«axid  llor$vHwr«  laut^doced — OMidlrttiAMtt  of  t^FVcMuth 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  IX 

Avenue  Tunnel  —  Immig^tion  and  its  Factors  —  Its  Effect  on  Local  Poli- 
tics —  The  Native  American  Movement — First  Elected  Mayor,  Cornelius  W. 
Lawrence  —  The  Council  of  Appointment  —  Suffrage  Restrictions — All 
Property  Qualifications  for  City  Voters  Abolished  in  1842  —  City  Conven- 
tion Amends  City  Charter,  1829  —  Charter  Elections  —  High  Character  of 
Municipal  and  Judicial  Officers  — Charter  of  1830  Provides  for  Departments 
in  City  Government  —  Early  Police  Systems  —  Municipal  PoUce  Act  Passed, 
1844  —  Jacob  Hays,  the  Last  High  Constable  —  Origin  and  Establishment 
of  the  Public-school  System  —  Conflict  between  Protestants  and  Romanists 
over  State  Funds — City  Pumps,  Springs,  and  Water  Supply — Croton  Aque- 
duct Commissioners  Appointed  —  Major  Douglass's  Plans  Approved,  and 
Work  Begun  —  Water  Admitted  into  Aqueduct,  June,  1842  —  Grand  Cele- 
bration upon  Completion  of  Aqueduct  —  Fashionable  New- York  Moving 
Up-town  —  Luxurious  Living  Indulged  in — Distinguished  Foreigners  Ar- 
rive in  the  City  —  The  Presidential  Canvass  of  1844  —  Invention  of  the  Tele- 
graph Perfected  —  Morse's  Efforts  to  Obtain  Patents  in  Europe  —  Election 
of  Polk — War  with  Mexico  —  Great  Fire  of  July,  1845  —  Gotham  as  Ap- 
pUed  to  New- York. 

CHAPTER  XI 

Telegraphs  and  Railroads,  and  their  Impulse  to  Commerce,  1847  - 
1855 Charles  Burr  Todd.    413 

Commercial  Development — First  Telegraph  Line  Opened  —  Succeeding 
Lines  Established — The  Erie  Railroad  —  Preliminary  Survey  —  First  Sec- 
tion Opened  —  Ceremonies  on  Completion  of  Entire  Line,  1851  —  Receiver 
Appointed  and  Reorganization  Effected  —  Second  Receivership,  and  Sub- 
sequent Reorganization  —  The  New- York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road: Its  Charter  and  Construction  —  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad — The 
Delaware,  Lackawanna,  and  Western  Railroad — The  West  Shore  Railroad 
—  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  —  Discovery  of  Gold  in  California  — 
The  Chpper  Ships  and  their  Remarkable  Voyages  —  The  Yacht  America 
and  her  Famous  Race  —  The  Great  Ship-building  Yards — The  Century 
Club,  and  Gkdlery  of  Fine  Arts  —  Passage  of  the  New  City  Charter — The 
Astor  Place  Riot  —  Asiatic  Cholera  Again  Visits  the  City  —  The  Astor 
Library  Opened  —  Philanthropic  Societies  Organized —  The  New- York  Free 
Academy  Opened  —  The  Children's  Aid  Society  Begins  its  Work  — St. 
Luke's  and  the  Demilt  Hospitals  Built  —  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
Formed  —  Arrival  of  Jenny  Lind —  The  Grinnell  Expeditions  under  De  Ha- 
ven and  Kane  —  The  Central  Park  Decided  Upon  —  The  Crystal  Palace 
Built  —  The  Clearing  House  Association  —  The  City  Markets. 


CHAPTER  Xn 

Premonitions  op  the  Civil  War,  1855  - 1860  ....  Eugene  Laivrence.  447 

Condition  and  Progress  of  New- York  City  in  1856  —  The  City  Prosperous 
—  Severe  Cold  all  over  the  Country  —  Central  Park  Progressing  —  Original 
Plans  for  Parks  in  the  City — MetropoUtan  Museum  of  Art  and  Other  Build- 
ings Added  to  the  Park — Battery  Park  Neglected  —  Incidents  in  the  City 
—The  Chief  Newspapers  of  the  Day  — The  Burdell  Murder  — The  "  Five 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Points" —  Creation  of  the  Metropolitan  Police  —  Mayor  Wood's  Opposition 
and  Resistance  —  A  Riot  Averted  —  The  Advent  of  the  Metropolitan  Police 
to  Power  Causes  Numerous  Riots — The  Commercial  Panic  of  1857 — Gradual 
Recovery  from  Financial  Depression — Resumption  of  Specie  Payments  — 
Crime  and  Disorder  —  The  "  Dead  Rabbit"  Riot — The  Astor  Library  and 
Cooper  Institute  —  Readings  and  Lectures  by  Noted  Speakers  —  Proposed 
Introduction  of  Slavery  into  Kansas  Creates  Political  Excitement  in  New- 
York  —  Aspect  of  Broadway  in  1858  —  Laying  of  the  Atlantic  Cable,  and 
Grand  Celebration  in  the  City  —  Burning  of  the  Quarantine  Buildings  on 
Staten  Island  —  Revival  of  the  Slave  Trade  —  General  Condition  of  Affairs 
in  1859  —  Visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  —  Peril  of  Free  Institutions,  1860  — 
Lincoln's  Election  —  Plans  of  Disunionists  —  Southern  Preparations  for 
Civil  War — Vacillation  of  Buchanan  —  Evacuation  of  Fort  Moultrie. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

New- York  in  the  War  for  the  Union,1861  - 1865. 

Gen.  T.  F.  Rodenhough,  U.  S.  A.  (Retired).   478 

The  Empire  City  Furnishes  Sinews  of  War  —  The  Pine  Street  Meeting 

—  General  Dix  Appointed  Secretary  of  War  —  His  Famous  Despatch — 
General  Scott  and  President  Buchanan  —  President  Lincoln  Assumes 
the  Presidency  —  The  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  Passes  Through  the 
City  —  Great  Meeting  in  Union  Square  —  Patriotism  of  the  Citizens — Large 
Sums  of  Money  Raised —  Thurlow  Weed  Assists  the  President  —  Union  De- 
fense Conmiittee  Organized  —  Departure  of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  April 
19, 1861  —  Other  New- York  City  Regiments  Leave  for  Washington  —  Com- 
modore Vanderbilt  Presents  a  Steamer  to  the  Government —  Patriotic  Ac- 
tion of  New- York  Women  —  Organization  of  the  United  States  Sanitary 
Commission  —  Southern  Disappointment  at  New- York's  Loyalty  —  Foreign 
Correspondents  in  the  City — The  Government  Arrests  Disloyal  Persons 

—  Lieutenant-Colonel  Martin  Burke  in  Command  of  Fort  Lafayette  — 
President  Lincoln  Invites  Three  Eminent  Citizens  to  Represent  the  Govern- 
ment Abroad  —  Call  for  Volunteers  —  The  Enrolment  Act  —  The  Draft 
Riots,  1863  —  The  Seventh  and  other  Regiments  Ordered  to  Return  to  New- 
York  —  A  Forged  Proclamation  by  the  President  Published  —  Arrest  of  the 
Author  —  Metropolitan  Fair  in  Aid  of  Sanitary  Commission,  April,  1864  — 
Assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  and  Mass  Meeting  in  New- York  —  No- 
table New-Yorkers  who  Died  for  their  Country  —  Gallant  Leaders  of  Both 
the  Army  and  Navy  —  MiUtary  Organizations  Recruited  Wholly,  or  in  Part, 
in  the  City  and  County  of  New-York  —  Compilation  from  Colonel  Phis- 
terer's  "  New  York  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion." 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Recovery  from  War — Tweed  Ring — Speculation  and  Reaction, 
1865-1878 Arthur  E.  Bosticick,  Ph.  D,    518 

New- York  at  the  End  of  the  Civil  War — Activity  in  Building,  and  Local 
Improvements  —  Rapid  Growth  of  the  City  —  New  Streets  and  Avenues 
Opened  —  Introduction  of  the  Passenger  Elevator  —  First  Apartment-houses 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  xi 

Erected  —  Blast  River  Bridge  Begun  —  Underground  Roads  Projected 
—The  Elevated  Railroads  —  The  Raihroad  Viaduct  on  Fourth  Avenue  — 
The  Atlantic  Cable  Successfully  Laid,  1866  —  Admiral  Farragut  Leaves 
New- York  with  a  Squadron  —  Volunteer  Fire  Department  Abolished,  1865 
—  Steam  Fire-engines  Introduced — Board  of  Health  Established,  1866  — 
Cholera  Again  Visits  the  City  — Dock  Department  Created,  1870  —  The 
Orange  Riot,  July  12, 1871 ;  Many  Killed  and  Wounded  on  Eighth  Ave- 
nue—  John  T.  Hoffman  —  Formation  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention 
of  Cruelty  to  Animals  —  Societies  Formed  for  the  Suppression  of  Vice,  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  and  for  the  Prevention  of  Crime  — 
Visits  of  Prince  Arthur  and  Grand  Duke  Alexis  —  The  Chicago  Fire  and 
New- York's  Contribution  —  Concentration  of  State  Power  at  Albany  Works 
Injury  to  New- York  —  Best  Elements  of  the  Democratic  Party  Not  Repre- 
sented in  its  Councils  —  The  Tammany  Society  Controls  the  Politics  of  Emi- 
grants —  William  M.  Tweed  and  his  Methods  —  Origin  of  the  Tweed  Ring 
— Peter  B.  Sweeny  —  Richard  D.  Connolly  —  The  Ring  Judges  —  Demoral- 
ization of  the  Press  —  Fraudulent  Naturalization  —  A.  Oakey  Hall  —  The 
Ring  in  Control  —  The  County  Court-house  Fniuds  —  The  Tweed-Frear 
Charter  —  The  Rochester  Convention,  1870  —  Increase  of  City  Debt  —  At- 
tacks on  the  Ring  by  the  Press — James  O'Brien  Secures  Information  — 
Watson's  Death  —  The  *'  Times  "  Publishes  the  City's  Accounts  —  The  Com- 
mittee  of  Seventy  —  Disposition  of  the  Plunder — Ci\41  Actions  Begun 
Against  Members  of  the  Ring  —  Tweed  Imprisoned  —  His  Escape  and  Sub- 
sequent Capture  —  The  New  City  Charter  —  The  Panic  of  1873  —  Failure  of 
Prominent  Houses — Stock  Exchange  Closed — The  One-hundredth  Anni- 
versary of  American  Independence  —  Emperor  of  Brazil  Visits  New- York. 


CHAPTER  XV 

New-York  During  the  Last  Fourteen  Years,  1879-1892. 

The  Rev.  Ashhel  G,  Vermilye,  D.  D.   570 

Retrospective  Review — The  Genesis  of  the  East  River  Bridge — Roebling's 
Engineering  Triumph  —  Difficulties  to  be  Overcome  —  Completion  of  the 
Great  Work — Magnitude  of  its  Passenger  Traffic  —  Description  of  Hell 
Gate  — Attempts  at  Removing  its  Obstructions  —  The  Hallett's  Point  Reef : 
Its  Destruction  September  24, 1876  —  The  Harlem  River  Improvements  — 
Catting  through  Dyckman's  Meadows  —  Revival  of  Architecture :  its  Pro- 
gress—  High  Office-buildings  —  Passenger  Elevators — Apartment-houses 
—  Up-town  Movement  of  Large  Institutions  —  The  New- York  University  : 
Its  Associations  and  Contemplated  Removal — Source  of  Columbia  Col- 
legers Wealth  —  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine  —  The  Methodist  Book 
Concern — Rapid  Transit  Discussed  —  The  Streets  ReHeved  of  Telegraph 
Poles — The  Electric-subway  System  —  The  Blizzard  —  Death  of  Roscoe 
Conkling  —  Overworked  Switchmen  —  The  Statue  of  Liberty  —  The  Cen- 
tennial of  Washington's  Inauguration  —  The  Columbus  Celebration  —  The 
Presence  of  Tramx>s  in  the  PubUc  Squares  —  Schools  and  Schoolmasters — 
Nelson  the  "  Blind  Teacher  "  —  Professor  Anthon  and  His  Characteristics : 
His  Original  Mode  of  Punishment — Requirements  of  the  Education  of  To- 
day—  Methods  of  Columbia  and  Barnard  Colleges  —  The  Condition  of,  and 
Attendance  at,  the  Public  Schools  —  Women  on  the  Board  of  Education 
— ^The  Public  Schools  Intended  to  Reach  the  Poorest,  and  all  Nationalities  — 


•  • 


XU  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

Charitable  Societies — Lodging-houses  and  Industrial  Schools  for  Girls  and 
Boys  —  The  Children's  Aid  Society's  Work  —  The  New  "  Charity  Exchange" 
on  Fourth  Avenue  —  Changes  in  Length  of  Summer  Vacations  —  The  Un- 
rest which  Characterizes  the  People  —  The  Cholera  Scare — Strikes  of  the 
Laboring  Classes  — Bdsum^  of  the  Period. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Constitutional  and  Legal  History  op  New- York  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century Robert  Ludlow  Fowler.    615 

The  Constitutional  Conventions  of  1821  and  1S46  —  The  Convention  of 
1801  —  Opposition  to  the  Convention  of  1821  —  Final  Decision  in  its  Favor 
—  The  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature — Chancellors  Kent  and  Lansing,  and 
Their  Administrations  —  Kent's  Aims  and  Work  —  The  Courts  of  Errors 
and  Probates — Condition  of  New-Tork  State  in  1821  —  New  England  In- 
fluence Perceptible  in  Politics  —  Names  of  Prominent  Delegates  to  the  Con- 
vention of  1821  —  Debates  in  the  Convention — The  Basis  of  the  Franchise 
Enlarged  —  Changes  in  the  Judicial  Establishment — The  BiD  of  Bights 
Sections^The  Act  of  1823  Authorizes  Courts  of  Equity  —  The  Bevised 
Statutes  ~  The  Bevision  of  1821  ~  The  Act  of  1825  — The  Bevisers'  Work 
Considered  and  Described  —  Definition  of  the  Term  "  Common  Law  " — Fur- 
ther Changes  Made  in  the  Ancient  Courts  —  Effect  of  Foreign  Immigration 
upon  the  Bixly  Politic  —  Disturbances  Connected  with  the  Great  Grants  of 
iMd  —  The  Convention  of  1846  —  Provisions  of  the  New  Constitution  — 
Court  of  Appeals  ideated  —  Many  Minor  Changes  Adopted  —  Jurisdiction 
of  the  Various  Courts — Determination  of  the  Private  Jural  Belations  of  all 
Citiieiis  of  the  State  —  Status  of  a  Citiien  of  New-Tork  City  —  Conchision. 


Table  op  Dat^  in  New-York  History 661 


LIST  OP  STEEL-ENGRAVINGS. 

ABTI8T.  PAOB. 

Alexander  Hamilton  ...  ...  Trumbull Frontispiece. 

Mrs.  John  Jay Unknown Pace    87 

Robert  R.  Livingston .  Stuart "     219 

De  Witt  Clinton Inman *'     834 

John  Jacob  Astob Stuart **     447 

John  Adams  Dix Brady "     518 


LIST  OP  PULL-PAGE  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Address  op  Returned  Exiles,  and  Washington's  Reply 4,  5,  6 

Map  of  Livingston  Manor,  1714 Pace    19 

Washington's  Reply  upon  Receiving  Preedom  of  the  City  ...  23,  24 

Fac-simile  of  Last  Page  of  the  Federal  Constitution 36 

Map  of  New-York,  1789 53 

Fao-simile  of  Roll  for  Attorneys,  with  Autographs 60 

Fac-simile  of  the  De  Lancey  Proclamation Face   69 

Chiefs  of  the  Creek  Indians 74 

Fac-simile  of  a  Letter  by  Marinus  Willett 77 

Eighteenth-Century  Coins  and  Currency 112 

St.  Memin's  View  op  New- York  in  1798 127 

Map  op  New- York,  1797 Pace  130 

Fac-simile  op  Order  op  Washington's  Funeral  Procession  .  .  .  132 
Fac-simile  of  Page  of  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser,"  1797  ....  149 
Fac-simile  Page  of  Minutes  of  New-York  Historical  SociETy  .  .  178 
Plan  op  New-York,  Showing  the  Made  and  Swamp  Land    ....    197 

Map  of  the  City  of  New-York  in  1808 Pace  208 

Map  op  Harlem  Heights  and  Plain,  1814 281 

Interior  of  Park  Theater,  November  7,  1822 Face  306 

Illumination  of  the  City  Hall  upon  Completion  op  Erie  Canal  .    325 

St.  Paul's  Church  and  Broadway  in  1831 358 

Pine  Street  Meeting  Signatures Pace  480 

Two  Great  Questions.    (The  Tweed  Ring) 549 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  t "    (The  Tweed  Ring)     Face  556 

Centennial  Souvenir  issued  in  April,  1889 591 

New-York  City  and  Harbor  in  1892 611 


ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  TEXT. 

Great  Seal  of  New-York 2 

Portrait  op  Red  Jacket 3 

The  RoTAii  Savage 7 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Rev.  Charles  Inglis 8 

xill 


XIV  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

PAGE. 

Autograph  op  Robert  Lenox 10 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Pierre  Van  Cortlandt 11 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Marinus  Willett 13 

Pao-simile  op  a  Freeman's  Certipicate 14 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  John  Pintard 16 

The  Lispenard  Meadows 17 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Lady  Catharine  Duer 20 

New-York  Sleigh  op  1788 25 

Portrait  asd  Autograph  op  Noah  Webster 26 

Prom  a  Contemporary  Broadside 29 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  George  Clinton 31 

Colonel  Lamb's  Mansion 32 

Autograph  op  John  Watts  (Sr.) 34 

Autograph  op  Anne  Watts .   .  35 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Gouverneur  Morris 39 

Procession  in  Honor  op  the  Federal  Constitution 40 

Grand  Federal  Banquet 41 

Dutch  Medals  on  the  American  Revolution,  1 43 

NOS.   n.  AND  III.   OP  THE  SaME 44 

The  Franklin  House 47 

President  Washington's  Reception  at  New-York 50 

Washington  Taking  the  Oath 55 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  Washington 57 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  William  Dunlap 65 

*^  Gazette  op  the  United  States''  (Fac-simile  op  Part  op  a  Page)  66 

City  and  Manhattan  Banks  and  the  McEvers  House 71 

The  Government  House 79 

Fao^simile  op  Certipicate  op  Election 81 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Joseph  Brant 83 

Mile-stones  op  the  Eighteenth  Century 84 

Fac-simile  op  Washington's  Note  to  Mrs.  Jay 88 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  Rupus  King 91 

Liberty  Hall,  Birthplace  op  Mrs.  John  Jay 92 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  John  Livingston 93 

Portrait  op  James  Kent  in  Youth 95 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  Alexander  Hamilton 96 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Egbert  Benson 97 

Fac-simile  Autograph  Order  op  Mrs.  James  Alexander 98 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rodgers 99 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Bishop  Samuel  Provoost 100 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  .   .   .  101 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Euas  Boudenot 102 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Colonel  John  Bayard 103 

Portrait  op  Mrs.  James  Beekman 104 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Sir  John  Temple 106 

Portrait  and  Aittograph  op  Lady  Temple 107 

Portrait  op  Philip  Livingston 109 

The  Temple  Arms 110 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  XV 

PAGE. 

Residence  op  Lord  Stirling Ill 

Autograph  of  Mrs.  John  Jay Ill 

New-York  Near  the  Close  op  the  Eighteenth  Century 113 

View  Across  the  North  River  in  1796 115 

Pao-simile  op  Order  Signed  by  Mayor  Varick 117 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  James  Pairlie     118 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Edmond  C.  GenSt 121 

Portrait  op  Mme.  Edmond  C.  GenIit 122 

The  Temple  Monument 124 

Stone  Pound  in  City  Hall  Park 125 

Portrait  op  Mrs.  William  Jackson 131 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mary  Philipse  Morris 134 

Autograph  op  James  De  Lancey 135 

Cato's  House  on  the  Boston  Road 137 

Fao-simile  Notice  op  Meeting  op  Society  Library  Trustees  .   .   .  140 

New- York  Society  Library,  1795 143 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  General  Matthew  Clarkson  ....  144 

Corner-stone  op  Park  Theater 147 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  John  Adams 153 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  John  Adams 154 

View  op  Bedpord  House 156 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  James  A.  Bayard 157 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  General  Morgan  Lewis 158 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Aaron  Burr 159 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Theodosia  Burr 160 

Hamilton's  Residence,  "  The  Grange  " 161 

The  Hamilton-Burr  Duel 163 

Richmond  Hill  Mansion 164 

Hamilton's  Tomb  in  Trinity  Churchyard 165 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Governor  Daniel  D.  Tompkins    .   .   .  167 

New- York  at  the  Beginning  op  the  Nineteenth  Century    ....  169 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston  ....  170 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  Dr.  William  Linn 172 

The  Bayard  Country  House  in  Harlem 173 

St.  John's  Church,  Varick  Street - 174 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Edward  Livingston 175 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Samuel  Bayard 179 

New- York  Stage-coach     180 

The  Hamilton  Monument 182 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Robert  Pulton 185 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Joel  Barlow 186 

The  Steamer  Clermont ^ 187 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill 189 

The  Clermont  *prom  an  Advertisement' 191 

Clermont  Manor-house        192 

Fao-similiE  op  Letter  Written  by  Robert  Pulton 194 

Brooklyn  Perry  Ticket 196 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Jacob  Radclipp 200 


XVI  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

PAGE. 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Dr.  David  Hosack 201 

St.  James  Church  in  Hamilton  Park,  1810 202 

Broadway  at  Canal  Street,  1812 204 

Map  op  the  "  Common  Lands  "  Belonging  to  the  City 205 

The  City  Hall  in  the  Park,  1812 207 

First  Free-school  Building     209 

The  Rutgers  Mansion 210 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Washington  Irving 211 

Cockloft  Hall  and  Summer-house .  212 

Fac-simile  op  Title-page  op  "  Knickerbocker's  New-York  ^   .   ,   .   .  213 

Fac-simile  of  Bill  for  Passage  on  River  Sloop 214 

New- York  County  Seal 214 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  James  K.  Paulding .  216 

De  Peyster,  Roosevelt,  and  Pell  Arms 218 

Escape  of  the  Frigate  Constitution 219 

Bible  upon  which  Washington  was  Sworn 220 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Robert  R.  Livingston 221 

Washington's  Writing-table 223 

The  Livingston  House 224 

Gold  Ring  Containing  Washington's  Hair 225 

Member  of  General  Assembly's  Order  for  Pay 227 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Albert  Gallatin 228 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Ebenezer  Hazard     230 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Richard  Bassett 232 

Forts  Fish  and  Clinton,  1814 234 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  General  Jacob  Morton 237 

The  Kissing  Bridge 239 

The  Smith  House,  Haverstraw 241 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Captain  Isaac  Hull 242 

The  Frigate  Constitution 243 

Billet-head  op  the  Constitution 244 

"  A  Wasp  on  a  Frolic  ^ 247 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Major  Wiujam  Jackson 248 

Tower  at  Hallett's  Point 250 

Washington  Hall,  Broadway 252 

Henry  EcKFORiys  Residence 253 

View  op  Spuyten  Duyvil 255 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Gen.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer    ....  256 

Fort  Gansevoort  — **  The  Old  White  Fort  ^ 259 

The  Clarkson  Arms 260 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Colonel  William  S.  Smith     • 261 

Portrait  op  Robert  Livingston  . 263 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Commodore  Stephen  Decatur 264 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  General  Alexander  Macosib 265 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Lieutenant  Wiluam  H.  Allen    ....  266 

Washington's  Inaugural  Chair 269 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Colonel  Henry  Rutgers 271 

Tomb  op  Captain  James  Lawrence 272 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  XVii 

PAGE. 

GK)LD  Snuff-box  Presented  to  John  Jay 274 

PREsroENT  Washington's  Desk 277 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  James  Madison 278 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  James  Madison 279 

Fulton  the  First,  Steam  War  Vessel 280 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Colonel  Tobias  Lear 282 

Fac-simile  of  Livingston  Deed 286 

Residence  of  the  American  Commssioners  in  Ghent 289 

New- York  and  Brooklyn  Perry  Commutation  Notice 290 

Seals  and  Signatlties  of  American  Peace  Commissioners 291 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Captain  James  Lawrence 293 

Morris,  Chauncey,  and  Lawrence  Arms 294 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  John  Stevens 295 

Medal  Commemorating  Peace 296 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  John  Morton 297 

Autograph  of  Mayor  John  Ferguson 298 

View  of  Mrs.  Murray's  House,  Murray  Hill 299 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Lindley  Murray 300 

The  Van  Cortlandt  SucIar-house 301 

The  Shakespeare  Ta\^rn 302 

Signature  of  Mrs.  E.  C.  Gen6t 303 

View  of  Jersey  City  in  1820 305 

Autograph  of  Mayor  Stephen  Allen 306 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  General  Jacob  Brown 307 

The  Lafayette  Medal 309 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  General  John  Armstrong 310 

Bayard  Punch-bowl 311 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  James  Tallmadge 312 

SnTTF-BOXES  3IADE  FROM  THE   OaK  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 314 

Provoost  and  Chapel  Streets,  1826 315 

Murray  Street  and  Dr.  Mason's  Church  in  1822 317 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  De  Witt  Clinton 318 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Samuel  Verplanck 320 

Autograph  of  Cadwallader  D.  Colden 321 

North  Esd  of  the  City  Hall  Park,  1825 323 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  N.  Abeel 327 

Manhattan  Reservoir,  Chambers  Street 328 

Bath  Ticket,  1819 330 

The  Leggett  House 331 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Captain  Paul  Jones 332 

St.  Peter's  Church 333 

Autographs  of  Invited  Guests,  Erie  Canal  Celebration 333 

The  Verplanck  House 335 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Gulian  C.  Verplanck 336 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Philip  Hone 337 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Walter  Bowne 338 

Autograph  of  Gideon  Lee 338 

The  New-Yobk  Hospital 339 


•  •  • 


XVIU  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

PAGE. 

The  Verplanck  Crest 340 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Dr.  John  W.  Prancts 341 

The  Provost  Jah. .  342 

Chateau  La  Grange 343 

Masonic  Hall,  1830 345 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Rev.  Dr.  William  Berrian 346 

The  Bridewell,  City  Hall  Park 349 

Pao-simile  of  Signatures  from  Order  op  the  Cincinnati 350 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Judge  William  Jay 351 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rt.  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore 353 

The  New- York  Society  Library 354 

City  Hotel,  Trinity  Church,  and  Grace  Church,  1831 355 

Residence  of  Bishop  Moore 357 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Christopher  Colles 359 

Contoit's  Garden,  Broadway,  1830 360 

The  Canda  Monument 361 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  General  William  J.  Worth    ....  364 

Bunker's  Mansion  House,  Broadway 365 

Dutch  Church  in  Garden  Street 366 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rt.  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart  ....  368 

The  Beverly  Robinson  House 369 

Autograph  of  John  Wilkes 370 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Samuel  Jones 371 

Autograph  of  Elizabeth  Izard 372 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Chancellor  Samuel  Jones 373 

Autograph  of  P.  G.  Stuyvesant 374 

The  Bleecker  Arms 375 

Broadway,  East  Side,  between  Grand  and  Howard  Streets    .   .   .  376 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Aaron  Clark 377 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Isaac  L.  Varian 378 

Autograph  of  Mayor  Robert  H.  Morris 378 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Jonathan  I.  Coddington 379 

Autograph  of  Mayor  William  P.  Havemeyer 380 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Andrew  H.  Mickle 380 

The  Poulke  Residence 381 

John  Pintard  Book-plate 382 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  Crosby 383 

Autograph  op  William  B.  Crosby 384 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  1815 385 

Autograph  of  Recorder  Richard  Riker 386 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Governor  William  C.  Bouck    ....  387 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Jacob  Hays 388 

Autograph  of  Robert  Benson 389 

UfioLisE  Du  St.  Esprit 390 

Portrait  op  Mrs.  Harriet  Bayard  Van  Rensselaer 391 

St.  John's  College,  Pordham 392 

Autograph  of  Archibald  Gracie 393 

Autograph  of  Charles  Wilkes 394 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  XIX 

PAGE. 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Laura  Keene 395 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Robert  L.  Stevens 396 

The  Gardiner  Arms 397 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton    ....  398 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  David  Gardiner 399 

Teu:  Sturgis  Arms 400 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Mrs.  De  Witt  Clinton 401 

Croton  Water  Procession,  1842 402 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Henry  C.  Murphy 403 

Opening  op  the  Fountain,  City  Hall  Park,  1842 404 

Manhattan  Reservoir,  1846 405 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Samuel  P.  B.  Morse 406 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Andrew  Jackson 407 

General  Worth's  Residence 408 

Proposed  Washington  Monument 409 

Castle  Garden  as  it  Appeared  in  1850 413 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  James  H.  Hackett 414 

The  Kip  Arms 415 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Matilda  Heron 417 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Caleb  S.  Woodhull 418 

Burnham's  Hotel 419 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Ambrose  C.  Kingsland 420 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Governor  John  Young 421 

The  Jay  Arms 422 

The  Clipper  Ship  Dreadnaught 423 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  John  C.  Stevens 424 

The  Yacht  America,  Winner  op  the  Queen's  Cup     425 

The  America's  Cup 426 

The  American  Youth  and  Master  Johnny 427 

Sl'NNYSIDE,  IrVING'S  RESIDENCE 428 

Autograph  op  Mayor  James  Harper 429 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  John  J.  Audubon 430 

AuDi^BON's  Residence 431 

St.  James  Lutheran  Church 432 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Jacob  A.  Westervelt 433 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Anna  Cora  Mowatt 434 

Autograph  op  John  Jacob  Astor 435 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Charles  Astor  Bristed 436 

Pont  Hill,  Forrest's  Castle 437 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  Dr.  William  A.  Muhlenberg  .   .  439 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Jenny  Lind 440 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Kossuth 441 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Henry  Grinnell 443 

The  New-York  Crystal  Palace 444 

Soldiers'  Monument  in  Trinity  Churchyard 445 

La  Grange  Terrace,  or  Colonnade  Row,  in  Lafayette  Place  .   .  446 

Pobtrait  and  Autograph  op  James  W.  Beekman 448 

The  Madison  Square  Cottage 449 


XX  mSTOKY    OF    NEW-YORK 

PAOB. 

Payette  Street  Baptist  Church .  451 

Elias  Boudinot  Book-plate 453 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  John  Jay 454 

The  Old  Park  Theater 457 

Autograph  of  Mayor  Fernando  Wood 458 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Edgar  A.  Poe 459 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Charles  Penno  Hoffman 460 

Autograph  of  Mayor  Daniel  P.  Tiemann 462 

The  Washington  Chair 463 

The  Pierrepont  Arms 465 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Cyrus  W.  Pield 466 

Second  John  Street  Methodist  Church 468 

The  Rutherford  Arms 469 

The  Steamship  Great  Eastern 471 

Castle  Point,  the  Residence  op  Mrs.  Stevens 472 

Entrance  to  Castle  Point 473 

The  Schieffelin  Arms 474 

View  near  Porty-second  street 475 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  William  H.  Seward 476 

The  Gallatin  Arms 477 

Autograph  of  Wm.  P.  Brady 477 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Charles  O'Conor 479 

Pac-simile  of  General  Dix's  Celebrated  Despatch    .......  481 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  General  Winfield  Scott 482 

Pac-simile  of  Major  Anderson's  Despatch 485 

Alexander  T.  Stewart's  Residence 486 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  John  Tyler 489 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Admiral  John  L.  Worden 492 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  Botta 495 

View  of  Port  Lafayette,  1861-65 498 

Autograph  of  Mayor  George  Opdyke 503 

The  Old  Brick  Church 505 

Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Memorial  Arch 508 

Autograph  op  Ulysses  Hiram  Grant 509 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Preston  King 510 

Autograph  of  Mayor  C.Godfrey  Gunther 511 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Kirkland     ....  512 

Sheridan  at  Winchester 513 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Dr.  Peter  Wilson 519 

Vauxhall  Garden 520 

The  Tontine  Coffee  House 522 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Daniel  Embury 523 

The  National  Academy  of  Design 525 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Mrs.  Daniel  Webster 526 

Terrace  and  Lake,  Central  Park 529 

Chltrch  of  the  New  Jerusalem 530 

Portrait  and  Autograph  of  Horace  Greeley 531 

The  Pemale  Normal  College 532 


LIST    OF    IliLUSTRATIONS  XXI 

PAOB. 

AiTOGRAPH  OP. John  T.  Hoffman 535 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Henry  Bergh 536 

Autograph  op  Thomas  Coman 537 

Collegiate  Reformed  Church 538 

Bridge  and  Lake,  Central  Park 539 

Autograph  op  Mayor  A.  Oakiy  Hall 541 

Arsenal  and  Menagerie,  Central  Park 542 

Broadway,  North  prom  Post-Opfice 545 

New- York  County  Court-House 546 

The  Mall,  Central  Park 547 

Broadway,  North  prom  Leonard  Street 551 

The  Lovers'  Walk,  Central  Park 552 

The  New- York  Post-Opfice 555 

**What  are  You  Laughing  at?"  (The  Tweed  Ring) 558 

"To  Whom  it  may  Concern''  (The  Tweed  Ring) 563 

Autograph  op  Mayor  William  H.  Wickham 565 

Liberty  Enlightening  the  World 566 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Smith  Ely,  Jr 567 

New-York  Docks,  East  River 569 

The  East  River  Bridge 571 

The  East  River  and  New-York  Bay,  prom  the  Bridge 572 

The  Verplanck  House,  1892 574 

Hell  Gate. — ^Excavations  at  Hallett's  Point 575 

Hell  Gate. — Blowing  up  Hallett's  Point  Rocks 576 

The  Harlem  River  Improvements,  Northwest  prom  Kingsbridge 

Road 577 

The  Harlem  River  Improvements,  West  prom  Kingsbridge  Road  .  578 

The  Vanderbilt  Residences 579 

New-York  Bay,  Battery  Park,  and  Governor's  Island 580 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Edward  Cooper 580 

High  Bridge  and  Washington  Bridge 581 

Cathedral  op  St.  John  the  Divine 583 

Autograph  op  Mayor  William  R.  Grace 584 

The  Bowery,  North  prom  Grand  Street 585 

Electric  Subway  Man-hole 586 

Washington  Building  and  Produce  Exchange 587 

Washington  Memorial  Arch 588 

Columbus  Monument 590 

The  Columbian  Celebration  Medal 593 

St.  James  Church 594 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Abram  S.  Hewitt 595 

Fourteenth  Street,  West  prom  Unipn  Square 596 

Madison  Square  Garden 597 

**  Times,^  "  Tribune,"  "  Sun,"  and  "  World"  Buildings,  Park  Row  .   .  598 

The  Terrace,  Central  Park 599 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Vermilye 600 

Park  Avenue,  North  prom  Thirty-fourth  Street 601 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Franklin  Edson 602 


XXU  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

PAGE. 

United  States  Cruiser  New- York 603 

The  Battery,  1892 604 

The  Bowling  Green,  1892 605 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Hugh  J.  Grant 606 

Wall  Street  in  1892 607 

The  Post-Ofpice  and  Park % 608 

The  Audubon  Monument 609 

Autograph  op  Mayor  Thomas  P.  Gilroy 610 

Tomb  op  General  Grant 613 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Smith  Thompson 617 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Andrew  Kirkpatrick 622 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  William  Paterson 627 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Benjamin  F.  Butler 630 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Josla^h  Ogden  Hoppman 633 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Samuel  J.  Tilden 642 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  William  M.  Evarts 647 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  Roscoe  Conkung 651 

Portrait  op  Thomas  J.  Oakley 654 

Portrait  and  Autograph  op  David  Dudley  Field 657 


CHAPTER    I 

NEW-YOBK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL: 
PROM    THE    CONFEDEBATION  TO    THE    CONSTITUTION 

1783-1789 

PON  the  evacuation  of  New- York  by  the  British  forces, 
November  25,  1783,  the  city  entered  upon  the  third  and 
modern  period  of  its  history.  Successively  Dutch  and 
English,  it  was  now  to  put  on  its  distinctively  American 
exterior,  and  shape  its  course  along  new  lines  defined  by  new  condi- 
tions. Not  all  the  original  features,  however,  were  to  disappear.  Ele- 
ments of  the  old  stock  survived,  and  fundamental  characteristics  left 
their  traces.  If,  politically,  the  transitions  from  one  power  to  another 
have  been  violent,  socially,  and  to  a  greater  extent  institutionally,  a 
certain  continuity  has  been  preserved.  Derived  from  a  common  Teu- 
tonic ancestry,  each  group  of  inhabitants  has  perpetuated  its  predeces- 
sor in  whole  or  in  part,  while  each  change  has  effected  little  more 
than  to  introduce  or  evolve  a  new  phase  of  Teutonic  life.  The  quiet  in- 
vasion of  the  city  in  later  days,  under  the  guise  of  a  vast  immigration 
from  the  Old  World,  encouraged  by  the  opportunity  and  responding  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  has  fastened  a  cosmopolitan  character  upon  us ; 
but  the  family  identity  is  retained.  Cosmopolitan  New- York  con- 
tinues, by  absorption,  to  be  essentially  American.  It  is  marked,  un- 
mistakably, by  the  inherited  brand. 

In  the  development  of  events  interest  attaches  to  what  appear  to 
be  beginnings  —  to  the  new  order  of  things.  One  may  sometimes  see 
inspiration  at  work  here.  As  against  the  hardships,  struggles,  distrac- 
tions, and  quarrels  inevitable  in  the  changes  and  movements  of  com- 
munities, tlie  underlying  resolution  and  confidence  are  bound  to  assert 
themselves ;  and  these  attract  The  first  years  of  the  city's  American 
career  are  an  iUustration ;  discouragement  and  comparatively  slow 
advance  will  be  succeeded  by  great  strides  forward.  In  1784  the 
**  plant "  consisted  of  a  partially  ruined  town,  straitened  resources,  an 
unsettled  foreign  trade,  debts,  and  hampered  enterprises.  In  1789  the 
city  was  on  its  feet  and  conscious  of  future  unlimited  expansion. 
vouin.— 1.  1 


2  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

The  work  in  hand  for  this  initial  period  was  not  so  much  a  work  of 
reconstruction  as  one  of  restoration — restoration  under  a  new  impulse. 
We  can  follow  the  process  and  appreciate  the  results.  First  of  all,  the 
population, —  who  were  the  first  American  New-Yorkers,  what  their 
numbers,  affiliations,  quality,  sympathies  I  Then  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment— its  reestablishnaent,  the  extent  and  source  of  its  powers,  its 
new  personnel,  its  agency  in  lifting  the  city 
out  of  the  depths.  Then  all  the  activities — 
the  revival  of  trade  and  manufactures,  the 
growth  of  industries,  the  status  of  the  pro- 
fessions, education,  religion,  societies,  and 
the  general  life  of  the  city.  And  finally,  the 
looal  politics  of  the  time,  and  the  larger  ques- 
tion of  a  national  constitution,  with  the  influ- 
ence which  the  metropolis  will  have  in  secur- 
ing the  adoption  of  that  famous  instrument. 

OEEAT    BEAL    OF   KEW-TOEK,        „.„         .  ,,  ,.  ,  ,,. 

By  foUowmg  out  these  bnes,  the  old  city  of  a 
century  ago  wiU  come  into  view,  in  perspective  at  least,  as  the  new 
growth  of  that  day  and  the  true  foundation  of  modem  New- York.  It 
was  the  latest  prototype  of  what  is,  and  so  far  its  history  becomes  a 
piece  of  domestic  reminiscence. 

How  far  did  the  Revolutionary  war  affect  the  number  and  composi- 
tion of  the  city's  population  t  That  it  suffered  a  material  loss,  and  a 
loss  mainly  on  the  side  of  the  original  patrician  stock,  is  a  well-known 
fact.  The  population  of  1784  and  after  was  less  old  English  and 
Dutch  than  it  had  been  in  1775.  While  the  middle,  industrial  classes 
changed  to  a  certain  extent,  the  decrease  was  felt  most  sensibly  among 
the  conservative,  loyalist,  highly  respectable,  and  what  may  be  called 
the  churchly  families  of  the  city.  In  the  rush  of  the  new  life  that 
set  in  after  the  first  interval  of  depression,  the  population  assumed 
more  of  the  "  young  American  "  character,  with  its  nervous  activity 
and  practical  bent,  and  rapidly  pushed  the  city  along  tow(ird  its 
destined  preeminence. 

The  change  dates  from  the  summer  of  1776,  when  military  opera- 
tions opened  in  this  vicinity.  New- York  then  contained  a  population 
of  some  twenty-five  thousand  souls  —  the  streets  lined  wili  about 
thirty-five  hundred  houses.  The  exodus  began  with  the  arrival  of  the 
enemy  in  June.  Those  who  had  homes  or  friends  in  other  places,  and 
the  more  timid  element  generally,  left  before  the  battle  of  Long  Island 
in  August.  That  disaster  rendered  New- York  untenable,  and  by  the 
time  of  the  American  retreat,  on  September  15,  more  than  seven 
eighths  of  the  residents  had  abandoned  the  city.  The  number  ac- 
knowledging allegiance  to  Great  Britain  in  October  following  was 
about  nine  hundred,  which  presumably  included  Ihe  greater  portion 


NEW-TOEK    cm    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  3 

of  the  male  inhabitaute  who  Temained  with  the  enemy.  From  thiB 
date  the  successes  of  the  latter,  followed  by  reaction  of  sentiment  in 
this  neighborhood,  and  the  constant  expulsion  of  disaffected  persons 
from  the  American  lines,  gradually  set  the  flow  of  population  back 
again  to  the  city.  Of  the  old  population,  however,  it  is  improbable 
that  a  large  proportion  returned.  The  new  element  was  conspicuously 
a  refugee  element — loyalists  of  all  classes,  the  wealthy  especially,  who 
had  been  forced  from  all  parts  of  the  country  to  seek  British  military 
protection  in  New- York.  They  came  from  New  England,  from  the 
towns  on  the  Hudson,  from  the  Middle  States,  and  from  the  South. 
There  were  "Jersey  refugees,"  and 
"Maryland  refugees,"  and  "CaroUna 
refugees,"  occupying  vacant  Whig 
houses  or  living  like  squatters  in 
and  about  the  town.  In  February, 
1777,  Governor  Tryon  could  report 
that  the  number  of  men  subscribing 
to  the  oath  of  allegiance  had  risen 
to  three  thousand,  with  scarcely  a 
hundred  remaining  who  had  not 
taken  it.  The  evacuation  of  Phila^ 
delphia  in  the  following  year,  and 
repeated  accessions,  swelled  the  list 
until,  in  1780,  the  number  of  volun- 
teers between  seventeen  and  sixty 
years  of  age,  enroUed  in  the  city 
eompani^  during  the  alarm  of  that 
winter,  was  five  thousand  five  hundred.     The  increase  continued,  and 

■  at  the  cessation  of  hostilities  in  1782  the  British  were  burdened  in 
New- York  with  a  sympathetic  and  largely  dependent  population  of 
about  thirty  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  one  quarter  of 
whom  niay  have  been  residents  in  1775.  Among  these  were  many 
British  merchants  and  sutlers  who  had  come  from  England  and 
settled  in  the  city  in  the  expectation  of  realizing  large  profits  and 
monopolizing  the  import  trade  on  the  return  of  peace. 

The  transformation  thus  produced  during  the  war  was  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  another  at  its  close.    The  passions  excited  by  the  protracted 

■  struggle  became  responsible  for  the  loss  to  America  of  a  large  and 
valuable  element  among  her  people.  Neighbors  who  had  sought  to 
dratroy  each  other  for  seven  years  could  not  remain  neighbors.  The 
victorious  party  was  bound  to  indulge  its  triumph  in  a  demand  for 
justice  or  retribution  upon  those  who  had  so  long  been  the  "unnat- 
ural" enemies  of  the  country,  and  the  latter  dared  not  remain.  Thou- 
sands of  loyalists,  as  stated  in  the  previous  volume,  exaggerating 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


(P'T^C^^U^Cy    y^^^^    A^:*^^^^^^^!.     G,U€UA.€.^    ^^^iS€^^ 


e^L^Svc^*^ «     ^X^l^^fcrlf'rr. 


*fc^  .«r» 


Z^^ 


t^iO^X^"^^  ^i^i^^f^ZiyA^n^  ^^>t7e£^^Cy  ^y^%85^«.«*w 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL 


</^9im    :      ^,^ 


c — » 


sM^%M  sA^g^:  ys^ 


6  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


HIS    EXCELLENOT'S    ANSWER. 


^^^^j^^ 


^.../t^^  ^  ^Sr2^/<e^ 


^^»*f-^-*    i^TiCt'     fiit^,     Xmx/^'   -•^•^X  ^rx^/y  ^.^rr^  4M^U4»^   /iL-    Z*" 


AUc    s-21«*-«-»-^***^-^   ^y^**^  ^t^^     ^^ 


7  —  —7—7^7. 


<«*-fc^^fe^*<-^     ^^-^ 


^,.«<^..«OU.^  2^^M& 


; 


7 


/^  -^L..*!^;-..*^       ^ 


NEW-YORK  orrr  under  American  cohtbol  7 

their  alarms  and  fears,  left  their  old  homes  or  their  refuge  Id  New- 
York  and  went  "beyond  sea,"  wherever  they  could  find  shelter,  pro- 
tection, and  the  promise  of  an  opportunity  to  recover  themselves. 
They  dispersed  in  families  and  companies,  and  were  furnished  with 
transportation  by  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  the  last  British  commander-in- 
chief  in  New- York,  who  assured  them  of  lands  and  temporary  support 
by  the  home  government.  They  settled  at  Annapolis  Royal,  Nova 
Scotia,  at  St  John's,  Halifax,  Montreal,  Quebec,  and  other  points  in 
the  Dominion.     Some  went  to  the  Ber-  ^^  — ^ 

mudas  and  Bahamas,  some  to  the  "West  ./   ^  ^^. 

Indies,  and  many  more  to  the  mother-  / ^■t^'v.  t-  \ 
country.  Numerous  descendants  of  these  f  •^5L=^^t\*'  \ 
old  colonial  Americans,  who  opposed  the  /  .^Bfir  wmWa  \ 
Revolution  and  went  into  exile,  may  be  ,  JjpT''*-  Jifflft^N^^ 
found  to-day  at  these  distant  points.  In  l=^^^^'  ^!|^"^,',  1^^^/ 
Nova  Scotia  they  appeared  in  the  r61e  of  ^^^^^^SS^^^M^^^ 
settlers,  building  up  new  communities  for  ^E^S^^jfTiaj^i-^-^T^ 
that  province,  which  so  impressed  Carle-  .  ..-?~~=-    - 

ton  that  in  an  unpublished  letter  to  Lord  ~" — -^^ 

North,  dated   at  New-York,  October  5, 

1783,  he  trusts  that  "liberal  measures  of  sound  pohey  will  be  im- 
mediately adopted  and  steadily  pursued"  in  their  interest.  Above 
all,  he  believed  that  they  should  be  granted  an  "expUcit  exemption 
.  from  all  taxation,  except  by  their  own  legislature" — a  clear  recogni- 
tion on  his  part  of  the  effect  our  Revolution  would  inevitably  work 
on  England's  restrictive  colonial  system. 

As  the  Tories  withdrew  from  New- York,  the  newly  baptized  Amer- 
ican, the  man  of  the  Revolution,  who  had  been  patiently  anticipating 
the  occasion,  proudly  marched  in  to  reoccupy  and  possess  the  old 
city.  In  reality  the  transfer  had  been  going  on  by  mutual  agreement 
for  some  months  before  the  formal  evacuation  of  November  25. 
Permission  was  granted  by  the  British  authorities  to  Americans  to 
enter  the  place  for  business  purposes,  or  to  prove  title  to  property 
belonging  to  them  before  the  war.  There  was  accordingly  much 
going  back  and  forth  during  1783.  But  not  aU  the  old  American 
population  could  return.  It  had  suffered  from  the  experiences  of  the 
war  no  less  than  the  loyalists.  With  the  abandonment  of  the  city  in 
1776,  the  "rebel"  inhabitants  had  dispersed  in  every  direction.  Many 
retired  to  the  upper  counties  of  New- York,  and  scattered  through  the 
towns  and  villages.  The  families  of  the  men  who  entered  the  service 
were  cared  for  by  local  committees,  while  others  attempted  self-sup- 

■  Among  the  paparm  of  General  PhllJp  Schuyler  Bpeoting  Uie  deTtce  of  the  coDttneDtal  flag  ndsed 

there  waa  preaerTad  a  mter-oolor  eketoh  of  the  at  the  samp  opposite  Boston,  In  January,  1776, 

Ameriaaa  aloop-of  wkt  of  ths  abore  ubiub.     It  ia  while  the  American  forcee  yivn  besieging  that 

«ttling  the  mooted  qnaEtton  re-  city.  Editob. 


8  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

port  as  they  could.  Not  a  few  found  their  way  into  New  England, 
especially  into  western  and  central  Connecticut,  or  into  New  Jersey 
among  the  hills.  The  exodus  entailed  ruin  of  fortunes,  loss  of  occu- 
pation, separation  of  families,  and  seven  years  of  distress.  "  You  can 
have  no  idea,"  writes  an  elderly  lady,  in  1782,  "of  the  sufferings  of 
many  who  from  affluence  are  reduced  to  the  most  abject  poverty,  and 
others  who  die  in  obscurity."  Obviously,  now  that  New- York  was 
again  open  to  them,  comparatively  few  could  return  immediately,  if 
at  all.  The  limited  number  who  owned  lands  and  houses  in  the  city 
went  back,  and  others  who  possessed  the  i-eady  means  followed ;  but 
the  mass  of  those  who  had  formerly 
paid  rents  and  carried  on  the  minor 
trades  found  it  impossible  to  change 
their  situation  again.  Their  places 
were  eventually  taien  by  strangers. 
When  New- York,  accordingly,  passed 
ioto  American  hands,  toward  the  close 
of  1783,  we  find  its  population  greatly 
diminished  and  changed  as  compared 
with  that  of  1775.  For  the  six  months 
following  it  could  not  have  exceeded 
twelve  thousand.  Three  years  later 
it  had  risen  to  twenty-four  thousand. 
The  twelve  thousand  represented  that 
portion  of  the  Tory,  British,  mercan- 
tile, and  lukewarm  element  that  had 
resolved  to  remaiD,  and  the  incoming 
Americans.  At  first  the  former  out- 
numbered the  latter.  "The  loyalists  are  more  numerous  and  much 
wealthier  than  the  poor,  despicable  Whigs,"  says  a  Tory  writer  in 
December,  1783,  not  a  month  after  the  evacuation.  But  the  Whigs 
were  masters.  Altogether  it  was  a  changed  and  sorry  representa- 
tion of  ante-war  New-York.  Old  and  well-known  families  were 
missing  and  missed  on  both  sides.  "Ah!"  wrote  Jay  to  bis  former 
friend,  Van  Scbaack,  at  this  time,  "  if  I  ever  see  New  York  again 
I  expect  to  meet  with  the  shade  of  many  a  departed  joy ;  my  heart 
bleeds  to  think  of  it."  Among  prominent  expatriated  royalists,  for- 
mer residents  of  the  city,  were  such  men  as  William  Smith,  the  his- 
torian and  chief  justice  of  the  province ;    Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Inglis, 

1  The  Rey.  Owrles  IngUi  was  a  native  of  Iiv  persiBted  in  retajniog  the  cbosea  In  the  prftyere 

l&ad.   He  come  to  America  as  a  mlBsloDary  In  1759,  which  mentioned  the  Idngsnd  rofol  family.    Be 

and  In  1T65  he  became  assistant  mlniater  of  Trinity  left  New- York  in  1776,  but  was  rector  of  Trinity 

Cbuivh,  this  eitf.    He  was  In  violent  opposition  during  the  British  occupation.   At  the  evacuation 

to  the  revolutionary  BentlmentB  of  the  colonists.  he  retired  to  Halifax,  became  Bisbop  of  Nova  Seo' 

and  a  pampblet  written  ag^natPalne's  "Common  tiain  IT8T.  and  died  in  1816.    Hewi 

Senae  "  was  burned  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty.    He  bishop  by  his  son  John. 


NEW-YOKK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  9 

rector  of  Trinity  Church;  Thomas  Barclay  and  William  Axtell,  mer- 
chants ;  Colonel  Edmimd  Fanning,  and  others,  who  found  new  homes 
in  Nova  Scotia.  The  Hon.  Andrew  Elliot,  Judge  Thomas  Jones, 
William  Bayard,  George  Ludlow,  Colonel  Eoger  Morris,  and  the  Hon. 
James  De  Lancey  were  among  those  whose  estates  were  confiscated 
by  the  legislature  of  New- York  during  the  war,  and  who  ended  their 
days  in  the  mother-country.  Bayard,  on  leaving  New-York,  com- 
plained bitterly  that  "the  rebels"  had  confiscated  every  shilling  of  his 
valuable  property.^  The  immense  De  Lancey  estate,  lying  on  the  east 
side  of  the  city  along  the  general  line  of  Grand  street,  and  which  was 
sold  under  forfeiture  after  the  war,  accommodates  to-day  three  hun- 
dred thousand  inhabitants  of  the  city  with  homes.  Among  the  Whigs 
whom  New- York  was  not  to  see  again  the  most  distinguished  was 
Philip  Livingston,  member  of  Congress  and  a  signer  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  who  died  at  York,  Pennsylvania,  in  1778.  Gen- 
eral John  Morin  Scott,  secretary  of  state  for  New-York,  one  of  the 
active  patriots  representing  the  city  both  in  the  field  and  in  the 
legislature  during  the  memorable  contest,  died  about  three  months 
after  the  evacuation. 

Bereft  of  more  than  half  its  original  inhabitants,  the  remaining 
half  divided  into  two  distinct  elements,  in  part  bitterly  hostile,  and 
with  trade  relations  and  present  resources  precarious  and  meager, — 
the  old  town  for  the  time  being  little  resembled  its  former  prosperous 
and  hospitable  self.  As  the  immediate  result  of  the  war,  we  have  a 
sifting  process  and  a  lull.  Six  years  more,  and  the  population  will  be 
thirty  thousand.  Apart  from  the  natural  increase,  there  will  be  in- 
crease by  immigration  both  home  and  foreign.  The  home  immigrant 
will  be  principally  the  rural  New-Yorker,  the  New-Englander,  and  the 
Jerseyman.  It  was  in  those  early  years  that  the  city  began  to  attract 
and  absorb  that  native  American  material  which  has  continued  to 
flow  from  other  places  ever  since.  It  was  then,  in  1783,  that  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  and  Aaron  Burr,  among  the  first,  settled  here  in  the 
practice  of  the  law ;  a  little  later,  James  Kent,  the  future  chancellor ; 
Rufus  King,  of  Massachusetts,  and  James  Watson,  of  Connecticut, 
two  of  the  city's  early  United  States  senators ;  William  Samuel  John- 
son, president  of  Columbia ;  Francis  Childs  and  Thomas  Greenleaf , 
editors  and  printers ;  Drs,  McKnight  and  Cogswell,  and  many  others, 
including  Revolutionary  officers,  whose  numerous  descendants  are 
counted  to-day  among  our  old  New-Yorkers.  As  to  the  foreign  im- 
migrant, he  was  always  with  us.    Before  the  Revolution,  the  Scotch,^ 

1  His  New- York  and  Hoboken  estates  were  sold  aware  branch  of  the  Bayard  family,  and  at  his 

under  the  eonllBeation  aet    The  latter  was  par-  death,  in  1868,  left  her  the  estate,  worth  many 

ehased  in  18M  by  Cmptain.  John  Stevens,  and  in  dne  millions.  Editor. 

time  paMsd  to  l&ia  son,  Edwin  A.  Stevens.    He         2  Deserving  of  conspicuous  notice  among  the 

married  for  hia  aeeond  wife  a  member  of  the  Del-  Scotch  immigrants  is  Robert  Lenox.    He  was  bom 


10 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW- YORK 


Irish,  French,  and  German  elements  were  broadly  recognized.  After 
the  war  the  immigration  appears  to  have  been  mainly  Irish,  and  a 
considerable  number  arrived  during  this  period,  though  more  went 
to  Pennsylvania.  Two  hundred  foreigners  were  naturalized  in  this 
city  as  early  as  May,  1784.  A  letter  from  Belfast  of  this  date  says : 
"The  passengers  now  going,  and  who  have  since  the  conclusion  of  the 
r^j^^^  jy^  American  War  sailed  from  this  port  in  such  pro- 
Ul/ril ' IA/I^^<li^  digious  numbers,  are  not  the  refuse  of  the  country. 
No,  they  are  those  that  form  the  yeomanry  of  the  land.''  From  Ger- 
many came,  in  1783,  young  John  Jacob  Astor,  who  was  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  that  enormous  private  wealth  with  which  the  family 
name  is  associated. 

Passing  to  the  municipal  government  of  New-York  for  this  period, 
we  shall  find  the  old  colonial  forms  preserved  and  continued.  There 
was  simply  a  transfer  of  authority  from  English  to  American  hands ; 
and  this  was  effected  without  friction  or  disorder.  The  original 
charter  under  which  the  city  had  been  governed  since  1686,  or,  in  its 
amended  form,  since  1730,  had  been  disturbed  by  neither  party  during 
the  war,  except  so  far  as  British  military  rule  prevailed,  and  it  was 
still  operative  in  all  its  parts.  Its  revision  upon  the  basis  of  the 
advanced  political  theories  of  the  colonists  was  yet  to  be  agitated, 
and  upon  the  entry  of  the  Americans  it  only  remained  to  rehabilitate 
the  corporation  through  some  authorized  agency.  The  occasion  had 
been  provided  for.  As  early  as  October  23, 1779,  by  act  of  the  State 
legislature,  a  body  was  created,  known  as  the  council  for  the  southern 
district  of  New-York,  which  was  charged  with  the  duty  of  assuming 
control  of  the  city  and  neighboring  counties  immediately  upon  the 
withdrawal  of  the  enemy.  It  was  empowered  to  preserve  order ;  to 
prevent  the  monopoly  of  the  necessaries  of  life;  to  impress  fuel, 
forage,  horses,  teams,  and  drivers  into  its  service;  to  supply  the 
markets  with  provisions  and  regulate  prices ;  and  to  superintend  the 
election  of  members  of  the  l^islature  and  city  officers,  at  which  dis- 
affected persons  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  vote  or  stand  as  candidates. 
The  members  consisted  of  the  governor,  G^eorge  Clinton;  the  lieuten- 


in  Kirkcudltriicbt,  a  fc«porl  town  on  iht  KNitb> 
wtMit  bonWr  of  Scotland.  4n  1739,  and  donnir  the 
H«vol\itlon  vas  placed  in  the  charge  of  an  nnekiy 
a  <K4iiniiMianr  in  the  British  svrrice.  vho  came  to 
lhi«  tHHintrr  in  177CL  At  the  ckwe  of  the  war. 
RoWn  lA^n€lS  nettled  in  New- York  and  en^iafred 
in  the  £a«t  India  trade.  Mxm  amawTOur  a  laree  for- 
t^ii«»  f\«r  Ihuae  da3r«.  Hi«  hanneas  trans»rtiofis 
MMTi^MiM^  fvur  nuoiT  Tears  those  of  any  merchant 
ilk  thi*  iMly  uf  that  period.  In  ms  he 
aKmi  thirty  acrr*  Wtwren  Fourth  and  Fifth 
iA\MGfc  and  Sixty-«ighth  and  Serentr-foorth 
whWh  ti«<4Mu«>  what  wm»  known  as  the  Lcaox  farm. 
irW  Y^h^  paid  was  |«KNL     For  a  portion  oi  this 


property  his  only  son  James,  who  inherited  it  when 
his  father  died  in  1^39.  receiTed  some  three  mil- 
lions <rf  d<dlars  between  1870  and  1880,  and  at  his 
denth  in  the  latter  year  posaeeaed  sereral  acres  of 
the  old  farm,  the  raloe  of  which,  together  with 
what  he  had  gi^en  to  the  Lorax  Library  and 
the  Preebyterian  HospltaL  was  folly  four  mil- 
lions^ Mr.  Robert  Lmmx  was,  like  his  son,  a  fnneat 
benefactor  to  the  Piesbyterian  Chorrh,  and  for 
fifteen  years  was  president  of  the  St.  AiHtrew  So- 
ciety.—  lus  immediate  ptedecessuiA  bdnir  Chan- 
cellor LiriniESton  and  Waller  Kn&erford. 
portrait  is  preserred  in  the 


NEW-YOBK    Ciry    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL 


11 


anfc^overnor,  Pierre  Van  Cortlandt;  the  chancellor,  Robert  R.  Living- 
ston ;  Judges  Robert  Yates  and  John  Sloss  Hobart,  of  the  State  Supreme 
Court;  John  Morin  Scott,  secretary  of  state;  Egbert  Benson,  attorney- 
general;  the  State  senators  of  the  southern  counties,  Stapheu  Ward, 
Isaac  Stoutenburgh,  James  Duane,  and  William  Smith,  and  the 
assemblymen  of  the  same  district.  The  judges  of  the  district  were 
also  to  serve,  but  none  had  been  appointed.  Seven  members  of  the 
council,  of  whom  the  governor  was  always  to  be  one,  constituted  a 
quorum.  For  the  city's  guardianship,  temporary  or  permanent,  the 
most  punctilious  community  could 
not  have  made  a  more  noteworthy 
selection.  On  Evacuation  Day  they 
rode  into  the  city  four  abreast,  and 
next  in  order  after  Washington  and 
the  governor  at  the  head  of  the 
procession. 

Occupying  the  council-chamber  in 
the  old  City  Hall  in  Wall  street,  this 
provisional  body,  with  James  M. 
Hughes  as  secretary,  entered  at 
once  upon  its  duties.  The  original 
records  of  its  proceedings  have  dis- 
appeared, but  from  certain  of  its 
published  ordinances,  and  from  ref- 
erences in  the  papers  of  the  day, 
the  features  of  its  administration 
can  be  outlined.  Protection  and  re- 
lief for  the  daily  increasing  population  were  the  first  care.  With  the 
^d  of  the  light  infantry  battalion  of  the  continental  army,  which  re- 
mained in  the  city  under  General  Knox  and  Major  Sumner  for  some 
weeks  after  the  evacuation,  oi-der  was  maintained  and  the  necessary 
regnlations  enforced.  The  first  ordinance,  issued  November  27,  re- 
lated to  great  abuses  "  in  the  sale  of  bread."  Thereafter  a  loaf  was 
to  weigh  two  pounds,  eight  ounces,  avoirdupois,  made  of  good  mer- 
chantable flour,  and  each  loaf  marked  with  the  initial  letters  of  the 
baker,  price  "  eight  coppers."  All  new-comers  were  to  register  their 
names  and  places  of  abode,  be  they  housekeepers  or  boarders.  Li- 
censes were  granted,  weighers,  measurers,  firemen,  and  watchmen  ap- 
pointed, thieves  and  robbers  confined,  and  all  the  hundred  other 
requirements  of  city  oversight  fulfilled. 

The  first  steps  toward  the  restoration  of  the  regular  city  govern- 
ment were  taken  early  in  December,  when  the  council  authorized  an 
election  of  ward  oflScers  or  board  of  aldermen.  The  election  occurred 
on  the  15th  of  the  month,  xmder  the  old  viva  voce  method, —  the  ballot 


^^^^^ 


12  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

not  being  introduced  until  1804, —  and  seven  aldermen,  one  from  each 
ward,  were  chosen,  whose  names,  with  those  of  the  assistant  alder- 
men, who  were  doubtless  elected  at  the  same  time,  appear  in  the  list 
of  corporation  officers  given  below.  This  incomplete  body  —  incom- 
plete so  far  as  no  mayor  had  been  appointed  —  organized  with  John 
Broome  as  president,  and  assumed  the  government  of  the  city  under 
the  title  of  the  aldermen  and  common  council.  The  provisional  council 
still  continued  its  functions,  as,  by  the  terms  of  the  act  of  1779,  it 
was  required  to  do  for  sixty  days  after  the  evacuation,  but  the  details 
of  city  management  were  clearly  left  to  the  new  body.  Seven  weeks 
later  the  organization  of  the  government  was  completed.  The  com- 
mon council  and  many  citizens  petitioned  the  governor  to  appoint 
James  Duane  mayor  of  the  city,  and  on  February  7  the  appointment 
was  made  —  the  governor  and  board  of  appointment,  authorized  by 
the  State  constitution,  exercising  in  this  case  the  right  of  nomination 
vested  in  the  colonial  governors  and  their  councils.  On  February  9 
Duane  was  formally  installed  as  mayor,  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
city  council  held  at  the  house  of  "Mr.  Simmons,^ — John  Simmons, 
innkeeper,  in  Wall  street,  near  the  City  Hall — where  he  took  the  oath 
of  office  in  the  presence  of  that  body,  and  of  the  governor  and  Ueu- 
tenant-govemor  of  the  State,  representing  the  State  provisional  coun- 
cil, whose  duties  now  ceased.  The  city  corporation  was  thus  restored 
in  all  its  forms  and  offices,  as  follows : 

First  American  city  government  of  New- York,  1784 :  Mayor,  James 
Duane;  Recorder,  Richard  Varick;  Chamberlain  or  City  Treasurer, 
Daniel  Phoenix ;  SheriflE,  Marinus  Willett ;  Coroner,  Jeremiah  Wool ; 
Clerk  of  the  Common  Council,  Robert  Benson. 

Aldermen :  Benjamin  Blagge,  Thomas  Randall,  John  Broome,  Wil- 
liam W.  Gilbert,  William  Neilson,  Thomas  I  vers,  Abraham  P.  Lott. 

Assistants:  Daniel  Phoenix,  Abraham  Van  Gelden,  Thomas  Ten 
Eyck,  Henry  Shute,  Samuel  Johnson,  Jeremiah  Wool. 

These  first  "city  fathers"  of  the  new  regime  were  representative 
citizens.  James  Duane,  the  mayor,  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  high 
social  and  political  standing.  During  the  Revolutionary  war  he  served 
as  a  member  of  the  New-York  provincial  congress,  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  of  the  State  senate,  and  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the 
New-York  constitutional  convention  of  1788.  He  served  as  mayor 
until  1789,  and  was  soon  after  appointed  by  Washington  the  first 
United  States  judge  of  the  district  of  New-York.  His  city  residence 
in  Pine  street  had  been  practically  destroyed  during  the  British  occu- 
pation, while  his  farm  establishment  on  the  general  line  of  Twentieth 
street,  east  of  Broadway,  escaped  injury.  The  latter  was  known  as 
"Gramercy  Seat^  and  included  the  present  park  of  that  name,  this 
being  a  corruption  of  the  Dutch  name  "  Krom  messie  "  (crooked  little 


NEW-YORK    CITT    UNDEK    AMERICAN    CONTROL 


13 


knife),  given  to  a  creek  running  through  the  land.  In  his  letter  of 
acceptance  of  the  mayoralty,  Duane  requested  that  in  view  of  the 
severity  of  the  season  and  prevailing  distress,  the  public  entertain- 
ment usually  given  on  the  investiture  of  the  office  be  dispensed  with. 
He  also  presented  twenty  guineas  for  the  relief  of  his  "  suffering  fel- 
low-citizens." The  recorder,  Rich- 
ard Varick,  who  succeeded  Duane 
as  mayor,  had  been  Washington's 
private  secretary  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  war,  and  in  later  life 
was  for  many  years  president  of 
the  American  Bible  Society.  The 
sheriff.  Colonel  Willett,  had  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  various  ac- 
tions at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
New-York  continental  regiments, 
while  Phoenix,  "Wool,  Broome, 
Neilson,  Lott,  Ivers,  and  others 
of  the  common  council,  were  old 
merchants  and  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  common 
council,  as  completely  oi^anized, 
was  held  on  February  10,  1784. 
On  March  16  it  was  voted  to 
change  the  city  seal  by  erasing  the  imperial  crown  and  substituting 
the  crest  of  the  arms  of  the  State  of  New- York,  that  is,  "  a  repre- 
sentation of  a  semi-globe  with  a  soaring  eagle  thereon." 

In  its  outward  forms  the  city  government  reflected  its  English 
derivation.  The  conditions  of  citizenship  also  remained  the  same  for 
many  years,  and  so  far  presented  a  contradiction.  The  citizen  of  the 
State  of  New- York  was  politically  a  freer  man  than  the  citizen  of  the 
city  of  New- York.  Suffrage  rights  were  not  the  same  for  each.  Under 
the  new  State  constitution  of  1777,  while  the  property  qualification 
required  of  voters  for  State  officers  varied,  for  assemblymen  it  was 
moderate.  The  voter  must  pay  assessments  and  a  nominal  house 
rent  of  five  dollars.  To  enjoy  municipal  privileges,  to  be  able  to  vote 
and  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  alderman,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  be  either  a  "freeholder"  or  a  "freeman"  in  the  ancient  English 
sense.  The  ^'freeholder"  was  a  real-estate  owner;  he  must  possess 
land  of  the  annual  value  of  at  least  forty  shillings.  Ordinary  tenants, 
rent-payers,  (!onld  not  vote ;  and  these  restrictions  limited  the  voters 
ctf  this  class  to  a  small  number.  The  census  of  1790  shows  that  out 
at  a  popnlation  of  thirty  thousand  there  were  but  1209  freeholders  of 


14  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

£100  valuation  or  over;  1221  of  £20,  and  2661  "forty-shilling^  hold- 
ers. Property  interests — something  like  a  landed  aristocracy — con- 
trolled municipal  elections.  The  inconsistency  of  this  system  with  the 
general  leveling  principles  on  which  the  Revolution  had  been  fought 
out,  was  occasionally  referred  to.  As  early  as  March  31, 1785,  some 
one  writes  to  the  "  New-York  Packet '^ :  "  K  you  look  into  the  corpora- 
tion you  will  find  men  whom  you  both  feed  and  clothe,  that  you  have 

James  Duane,  Efquire, 


N«w.Yo«,p*  MAYOR, 

Andthe  ALDERMEN  of  the  Qtyof  NEW-YORK. 

10  alito  whom  the/kPrefenUjhattcpmetfind  Greeting  : 

N  O  W    Y  E.    That  ^e^ifHC^cU^^e^^  /^-^i..*;^^^ 

is  admitted^ieceiredand  allowed  aP  R  EEMANandCITIZE  Nof  tfaeiajd  City; 
lDHave»  Hold,  Uie  and  Enjoy  all  the  Beaefit8»  Privileget»  Franchiies  and  Immunities  whatibcver» 
granted  or  bdongihg  to  tlie  fiid  City*  In  TssTiMomr  wfaeieof.  the  laid  Mayor  and  Aldermen 
fcarecauied  the  Seal  of  the  laid  City  to  be  bereonto  affixed.      WITNESS  JAMES  DUANE, 

E%iiire,  Mi^or*  ^isr4c^iZ!^^t^f^    Dty  of  ./it^^     in  tfacTear  of  onr  Lord 

^i/^  and  oftbeSoYeitignty  tad  Ind^cndenceof  the  State  the 


V 


FAC-8IMILE    OF    A    FREEMAN'S    OERTIFIOATE. 

no  power  to  elect.  Is  this  right  or  wrong  t  Common  sense  gives  the 
answer."  The  agitation  will  wax  warm  about  1800,  and  in  1804  the 
charter  will  be  so  amended  that  all  New-Yorkers  paying  twenty-five 
dollars  rent  per  year  and  taxes  may  vote  for  aldermen ;  but  it  will 
not  be  until  1833  that  they  secure  the  right  to  elect  their  own  mayor. 
The  "freemen,'*  who  were  not  so  numerous  as  the  "freeholders," 
were  likewise  a  relic  of  the  Old  World  municipal  system.  They  repre- 
sented residents  not  owning  real  property,  who,  nevertheless,  as  mer- 
chants, traders,  artisans,  and  workmen,  contributed  to  the  wealth  of 
the  city,  and  on  whom  the  city  corporation  conferred  the  rights  of 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  15 

citizenship  on  the  payment  of  fixed  fees.  Such  persons  were  made 
"free  of  the  city.^  Among  the  Dutch  they  had  been  called  " burghers '^ 
of  the  lesser  right.  During  Mayor  Duane's  term  a  considerable 
number  of  "freemen"  were  admitted  to  the  suffrage,  including  la- 
borers, bakers,  shoemakers,  carpenters,  tailors,  weavers,  tanners, 
blacksmiths,  butchers,  grocers,  cabinet-makers,  cartmen,  ironmongers, 
and  tradesmen  generally.  When  admitted  to  this  privilege,  mer- 
chants paid  five  pounds,  and  others  twenty  shillings,  to  the  corpora- 
tion, and  fees  ranging  from  one  to  eight  shillings  to  the  mayor, 
recorder,  clerk  and  bell-ringer  of  the  mayor's  court.  They  also  took 
oath  that  they  would  be  "  obeisant  and  obedient''  to  the  city  officials, 
"  maintain  and  keep  the  said  city  harmless,"  and  report  and  hinder  all 
"unlawful  gatherings,  assemblies  and  conspiracies"  against  the  peace 
of  the  good  people  of  the  State. 

This  custom  of  creating  "freemen"  died  out  early  in  the  present 
century,  and  was  formally  abolished  in  1815,  except  so  far  as  the 
honorary  right  was  conferred.  Distinguished  persons  were  pre- 
sented with  the  freedom  of  the  city  down  to  a  recent  date,  the  roll 
being  adorned  with  the  names  of  Washington,  Lafayette,  Jay,  Clin- 
ton, Steuben,  Gates,  Hamilton,  the  naval  heroes  of  the  1812  war,  and 
representatives  of  the  war  for  the  Union.  The  "freedom"  in  such 
cases  was  presented  in  the  form  of  an  address  from  the  corporation 
inclosed  in  an  elegant  gold  box.  In  Washington's  reply  to  the  address 
transmitted  to  him  in  December,  1784,  it  is  possible  that  we  have  the 
origin  of  the  title  New- York  enjoys  as  the  "Empire  State."  His  words 
were  sympathetic  and  hopeful :  "  I  pray  that  Heaven  may  bestow  its 
choicest  blessings  on  your  City;  that  the  devastations  of  war  in 
which  you  found  it  may  soon  be  without  a  trace ;  that  a  well  regu- 
lated and  beneficial  commence  may  enrich  your  citizens ;  and  that 
your  Stdte  (at  present  the  seat  of  the  Empire)  may  set  such  examples 
of  wisdom  and  liberality  as  shall  have  a  tendency  to  strengthen  and 
give  permanency  to  the  Union  at  home,  and  credit  and  respectability 
to  it  abroad."  ^ 

The  interior  life  of  the  new  city  had  its  interesting  phases.  In  the 
general  activities  an  earnest  start  was  made,  although  fortune  failed 
to  smile  on  every  initial  effort.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  organ- 
ized in  1768,  and  kept  up  by  the  British  and  resident  merchants  dur- 
ing the  war,  was  incorporated  by  the  New-York  legislature,  April 
13, 1784.  Its  first  president  under  the  new  charter  was  John  Alsop; 
vice-president,  Isaac  Sears;  treasurer,  John  Broome;  secretary,  John 
Blagge;  and  its  first  members  were  Samuel  Broome,  George  Embree, 
Thomas  Hazard,  Cornelius  Ray,  Abraham  Duryee,  Thomas  Randall, 
Thomas  Tucker,  Daniel  Phoenix,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  James  Beekman, 

1  See  ftw-oiiiiile  of  this  letter  on  pages  23  and  24. 


16 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


Eliphalet  Brush,  John  B.  Kip,  Comfort  Sands,  Nathaniel  Hazard, 
Jeremiah  Piatt,  Gerardus  Duyckinck,  Abraham  P.  Lett,  Benjamin 
Ledyard,  Anthony  Griffiths,  William  Malcolm,  Robert  Bowen,  John 
Berriaa,  Jacob  Morris,  John  Franklin,  Abraham  Lott,  James  Jarvis, 
Henry  H.  Kip,  Archibald  Cnrrie,  Stephen  Sayre,  Jonathan  Lawrence, 
Joseph  Blaekwell,  Joshua  Sands,  Viner  Van  Zandt,  David  Currie, 
Lawrence  Embree,  and  Jacobus  Van 
Zandt.  The  influence  which  this  body, 
with  its  growing  membership,  exerted 
upon  the  affairs  of  the  city,  and  espe- 
cially in  shaping  its  policy  during  the 
constitutional  period,  will  be  seen  to 
have  been  quite  marked.  Most  of  the 
mercantile  houses  and  offices,  with  the 
docks  and  shipping,  were  to  be  found 
on  the  east  side  of  the  town,  near  and 
along  the  East  River.  About  1788,  as 
many  as  one  hundred  vessels  might  be 
seen  at  any  one  time  discharging  or 
taking  in  cargoes,  but  not  all  flying 
the  American  flag.  The  first  Ameri- 
^  ^       /^  can  merchantman  bound  for  Canton 

t^/^^  d^i^'V^Cu^C^     was  the  Empress  of  China,  Captain 
Green,  which  left  port  February  22, 

1784,  and  reached  her  destination  August  30.    She  returned  May  11, 

1785,  after  having  made  a  paying  venture.  Congress  passed  a  resolu- 
tion expressing  satisfaction  at  this  successful  attempt  to  establish 
a  direct  trade  with  China.  The  ship  Betsy  sailed  about  the  same 
time  for  Madras.  Packet-ships,  American,  British,  and  French,  kept 
up  communication  between  New- York  and  European  ports.  There 
was  but  one  bank  in  the  city  during  this  period —  the  Bank  of  New- 
York,  established  early  in  1784,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  William 
Duer  and  General  Alexander  McDougall,  who  was  its  first  president 
until  his  death  on  June  8,  1786.  Isaac  Roosevelt  became  its  presi- 
dent in  1789.  In  April,  1787,  a  Mutual  Fire  Assurance  Company 
made  its  appearance,  which  John  Pintard,  afterward  prominent  in 
many  enterprises,  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  organizing;  he 
was  its  first  secretary.  The  General  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Trades- 
men was  established  August  4,  1785,  with  the  object  of  promoting 
mutual  fellowship  and  confidence  among  all  mechanics,  preventing 
litigation  between  them,  extending  mechanical  knowledge,  and  afford- 
ing relief  to  distressed  members.  Anthony  Post  was  chairman.  There 
were  societies  for  promoting  useful  knowledge,  for  the  relief  of 
distressed  debtors,  and  for  manufacturing  pmposes.     The  social  or- 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  17 

gauizations,  or  the  societies  of  St.  Andrew,  St.  George,  and  St.  Pat- 
rick, with  a  German  and  musical  society  and  masonic  lodges,  all  had 
an  txisteuoe  or  their  beginning  in  those  early  years.  The  New- York 
branch  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Revolutionary  Officers  maintained 
an  active  life,  and  regularly  celebrated  Independence  Day  with  an 
oration,  a  dinner,  and  toasts.  General  McDougall  and  Baron  Steuben 
were  its  first  two  presidents.  The  Society  foi"  the  Manumission  of 
Slaves,  organized  in  1785,  held  its  fii-st  quarterly  meeting  on  May  12 
of  that  year  at  the  Coffee  House,  when  John  Jay  was  elected  presi- 
dent; Samuel  Franklin,  vice-presidont;  John  Murray,  Jr.,  treasurer; 
and  John  Keese,  secretary.  Its  members  advocated  the  gradual 
emancipation  of  slaves,  and  their  protection  as  freedmen.     Some  set 


their  slaves  free  "  at  proper  ages,"  and  denounctd  the  separatmu  of 
families  by  exportation  of  individuals  for  sale  m  the  Southern  States. 
In  June,  1788,  Jay  wrote  to  Granville  Sharp,  the  English  philanthro- 
pist: "By  the  laws  of  this  State,  masters  may  now  liberate  healthy 
slaves  of  a  proper  age  without  giving  security  that  they  shall  not 
become  a  parish  charge ;  and  the  exportation  as  well  as  importation 
of  them  is  prohibited.  The  State  has  also  manumitted  such  as  be- 
came its  property  by  confiscation;  and  we  have  reason  to  expect  that 
the  maxim  that  every  man,  of  whatever  color,  is  to  be  presumed  to 
be  free  until  the  contrary  be  shown,  will  prevail  in  our  Courts  of  jus- 
tice. Manumissions  daily  become  more  common  among  us,  and  the 
treatment  which  slaves  in  general  meet  with  in  this  State  is  very  little 
different  from  that  of  other  servants." 

The  professions  were  revived  under  the  new  auspices,  but  without 
material  change  in  practice  and  methods.  Lawyers  were  numerous, 
aod  the  deranged  state  of  things  after  the  war  made  litigation  lucra- 

1  ThU  representation  of  Iilspenard's  Headows 
wan  drawn  by  Dr.  Alexander  Andersen  in  1TS5, 
and  ma  taken  from  the  rite  of  ibe  St.  Niebolu 


18  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

tive.  The  names  of  forty-two  are  given  in  the  City  Directory  for 
1786.  Hamilton's  office  was  at  58  Wall  street;  Burr's  at  10  Little 
Queen  street;  Morgan  Lewis,  59  Maiden  Lane;  Eobert  Troup,  18 
Smith  street ;  Richard  Varick,  46  Dock  street ;  Edward  Livingston, 
51  Queen  (now  Pearl)  street.  Among  the  few  masters  in  Chancery 
were  John  Jay,  8  Broad  street ;  John  Broome,  6  Hanover  Square ; 
William  M.  Hughes,  20  Golden  Hill,  or  John  street ;  and  Edward 
Dunscomb,  examiner,  83  Wall  street.  The  chancellor,  Robert  R.  Liv- 
ingston, conducted  the  limited  business  of  his  court  at  his  residence, 
No.  3  Broadway.  The  Hons.  Richard  Morris  and  John  Sloss  Hobart 
were  two  of  three  judges  of  the  State  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature, 
who  resided  in  New- York  or  its  immediate  vicinity.  For  local  cases 
the  mayor's  court,  the  oldest  in  the  city,  was  the  only  resort,  and  it 
became  the  nm^sery  of  all  the  legal  talent  that  distinguished  the  bar 
of  New-York  of  that  day.  "  Ignorant  pretenders,"  we  are  told,  found 
little  chance  of  making  their  way  at  law  on  account  of  the  number 
of  critical  examinations  required  of  candidates  for  the  higher  courts 
and  the  time  of  study  called  for  by  the  rules  of  admission  to  the  bar. 
The  New-York  Medical  Society,  of  which  the  well-known  Dr.  John 
Bard  was  president,  was  exceptionally  strong  in  the  character  of  its 
membership.  Several  of  the  surgeons  and  physicians  had  lately  served 
in  the  army.  Dr.  John  Cochrane  having  been  medical  director  of  the 
continental  line,  and  Drs.  Charles  McKnight,  James  Cogswell,  and 
others,  regimental  or  hospital  surgeons.  Dr.  George  Christian  Authon 
had  long  been  identified  with  the  British  army,  and  during  the  Revo- 
lution was  stationed  for  a  time  as  post  surgeon  at  Detroit.  He  settled 
with  his  family  in  New- York  in  1784,  and  died  here  at  an  advanced 
age.  Among  his  sons  was  the  late  Professor  Charles  Anthon,  the  clas- 
sical scholar.  Among  others  were  Drs.  Benjamin  Kissam,  William  P. 
Smith,  Nicholas  Romaine,  James  Tillary,  Samuel  Bradhurst,  "  physi- 
cian and  apothecary,"  Samuel  Bard,  and  J.  R.  B.  Rodgers.  Dr.  Mason 
Pitch  Cogswell,  subsequently  the  eminent  Hartford  physician,  prac- 
tised in  New- York  at  this  period,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Medical 
Society.  Still  another  member  was  the  distinguished  Samuel  Latham 
Mitchill,  who,  as  physician,  scientist,  professor,  and  United  States 
senator,  became  one  of  the  ornaments  of  the  city  and  the  nation.^ 
With  the  doctors  we  also  have  the  quacks,  one  of  whom  offers  to  heal 
almost  every  ailment,  from  palsy  to  bums  and  toothache,  with  elec- 
tricity— "no  cure  no  pay." 

1  One  of  Mitchill*8  ewrliwt  scientific  papers  was  shores  of  Long  Island  west  of  Whitestone,  he 

published  in  New-York  in  1787.  with  the  title,  «*  Ob-  says :   **  There  is  a  tradition  among  that  race  of 

servations,  Anatomical,  Physiological  and  Patho-  men  who,  previous  to  the  Europeans,  possessed 

logical,  on  the  Absorbent  Tubes  of  Animal  Bodies,  this  tract  of  country,  that  at  some  distant  period 

to  which  are  added  Geological  Remarks  on  the  in  former  times,  their  ancestors  could  step  from 

Maritime  Parts  of  the  State  of  New-York.''  Treat-  rock  to  rock  and  cross  this  arm  of  the  sea  at  Hell 

ing  briefly  on  the  latter  pointy  espedally  of  the  Ckkte.** 


liii 


1  k  1 : 

Hi 


I  51    1  III 

ii  I  ^^^« 


^i!  H  !  ill  i 

4   ifllll 


HAP   OP   LITIHaBTOK   XAMOB,  ITU. 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  19 

As  to  educational  institutions,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  steps 
were  taken,  very  soon  after  the  evacuation,  to  put  King's  College,  now 
Columbia — the  only  college  in  the  State — on  a  good  working  basis 
again.  During  the  war  the  building  had  been  used  as  a  hospital  by  the 
British,  who  had  rifled  its  library.  The  president,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Benja- 
min Moore,  had  given  instructions  in  a  private  house,  and  a  nominal 
faculty  was  continued,  but  little  appears  to  have  been  accomplished. 
On  May  1, 1784,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  altering  the  charter  of  the 
institution  and  placing  it  under  the  State  Board  of  Regents  provided 
for  at  the  same  time.  The  last  provision  of  the  act  reads:  "That  the 
College  within  the  City  of  New- York,  heretofore  called  King's  College, 
be  forever  hereafter  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  Columbia 
College."  Yoimg  De  Witt  Clinton  was  the  first  student  who  entered 
under  its  new  name.  A  faculty  of  professors  carried  out  the  cur- 
riculum until  1787,  when  William  Samuel  Johnson,  son  of  the  first 
president,  was  elected  to  the  presidency.  The  first  commencement 
was  held  April  11,  1786,  after  "a  lamented  intei-val  of  many  years"; 
and  on  this  occasion  Congress  and  both  houses  of  the  State  legisla- 
ture adjourned  to  attend  the  exercises.  College  Place  of  to-day — 
Barclay,  Church,  and  Murray  streets — marks  the  site  of  the  original 
structure,  which  was  long  and  wide,  three  stories  high,  built  of  free- 
stone, with  a  very  high  fence  around  it.  Private  schools  also  ap- 
peare<l,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  any  special  interest  was  taken  by 
the  public  in  the  cause  of  education  at  this  date. 

The  religious  denominations  remained  of  nearly  the  same  relative 
strength  as  before  the  war.  There  were  the  three  Dutch  Reformed 
churches,  which  had  been  turned  into  hospitals,  storehouses,  and 
riding-schools  by  the  enemy  during  the  Revolution,  and  shamefully 
abused.  The  Middle  Church  required  extensive  repairs,  and  was  not 
reopened  until  1790.  The  pastors  during  this  period  were  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Henry  Livingston  and  Rev.  Dr.  William  Linn.  The  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church  was  represented  by  three  parishes — Trinity, 
St.  PauPs,  and  St.  George's.  Trinity  Church  was  destroyed  by  the 
great  fire  of  September,  1776,  and  it  was  not  until  August  21,  1788, 
that  the  corner-stone  for  a  new  building  was  laid.  Some  excitement 
was  ocxiasioned  at  the  time  of  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the 
action  of  the  Tory  element  in  the  parish  in  electing  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Moore  rector,  to  succeed  Dr.  Inglis,  who  had  left  with  the  refu- 
gees for  Nova  Scotia.  When  the  Whigs  took  possession  of  the  town, 
the  Trinity  members  among  them  appealed  to  the  legislature  and 
succeeded  in  obtaining  full  possession  and  reversing  the  election. 
Their  choice  fell  on  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Provoost.  The  four  Presby- 
terian churches,  one  of  them  built  in  1787,  had  for  pastors  such  men 
as  Eev.  Dr.  John  Rodgers,  Rev.  John  McKnight,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Mason, 


20 


mSTOEY    or    NEW-TORK 


and  others  not  permanMitly  settled.  Of  Dr.  Eodgers,  Rev.  Manasseh 
Cutler,  visiting  New- York  in  the  interest  of  the  Ohio  Company,  wrote 
in  1787:  "He  is  certainly  the  most  accomplished  gentleman  for  a 
clergyman,  not  to  except  even  Dr.  Cooper,  that  I  have  ever  been 
acquainted  with.  He  lives  in  elegant  style,  and  entertains  company 
as  genteelly  as  the  first  gentlemen  in  the  City.  This  he  may  well  do, 
for  his  salary  is  750  pounds,  and  his  per- 
quisites upwards  of  200  more."  There 
were,  m  addition,  two  German  Luther- 
an churches,  one  Moravian  church,  one 
Methodist,  one  Baptist,  one  Roman  Cath- 
olic church,  one  Friends'  meeting-house, 
and  one  Jewish  synagogue. 

On  its  strictly  social  side,  New- York 
life  had  always  been  attractive.  Less 
provincialism  existed  here  than  at  any 
other  center  in  the  colonies.  Strangers 
and  foreigners  alike  remarked  on  the  hos- 
pitality of  the  people.  What  with  the 
State  legislature  meeting  in  the  city,  and 
Congress  following  early  in  1785,  with 
foreign  miuistei-s,  consuls,  and  merchants 
entertaining,  handsomely,  society  estab- 
lished itself  in  full  feather.  Distin- 
guished men  and  old  families  gave  tone 
to  it.  More  than  one  member  of  Congress 
from  other  States  found  their  future  part- 
ners within  the  charmed  circle.  James  Monroe,  the  future  president, 
married  the  daughter  of  Lawrence  Kortwright ;  Rufus  King,  of  Boston, 
the  daughter  of  John  Alsop;  and  Elbridge  Gerry,  the  daughter  of  James 
Thompson,  who  is  flatteringly  referred  to  as  "the  most  beautiful 
woman  in  the  United  States."  A  visitor  at  Colonel  William  Duer'H 
house  states  that  he  hved  in  the  style  of  a  nobleman,  and  had  fifteen 
different  sorts  of  wine  at  dinner.  His  wife,  Lady  Kitty,  daughter  of 
General  Lord  Stirling,  late  of  the  continental  army,  and  a  person  of 
most  accomplished  manners,  was  observed  to  wait  upon  the  table  from 
her  end  of  it,  with  two  servants  in  lively  at  her  back'.  But  it  hap 
been  estimated  that  less  than  three  hundred  families  affected  society 
life  at  this  time,  and  these  were  of  different  grades. 

This  sumptuous  tendency  did  not  escape  criticism.  As  a  whole,  the 
town  was  hard  pushed  for  a  living  during  these  early  years.  The  item 
of  house-rent  alone  was  claimed  to  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  con- 
dition of  business  and  the  average  of  incomes.  Before  the  war  the 
highest  rental  was  one  hundred  pounds ;  now  nearly  double  that  sum 


(^aT^M 


'«/^«- 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  21 

was  demanded.  Seventy  pounds  and  taxes  was  the  figure  for  a  mod- 
ei*ate  house  in  Wall  sti'eet  in  1786.  House-owners,  then  as  now,  held  on 
for  a  rise,  and  declined  to  let  houses  at  lower  rates  even  when  assured 
that  they  would  stand  empty  a  good  part  of  the  year.  Rent-day  proved 
distressing  beyond  its  proverbial  reputation.  Money  was  scarce. 
"Cash!  Cash!  O,  Cash!"  exclaims  a  writer  to  the  press,  "why  hast 
thou  deserted  the  Standard  of  Liberty !  and  made  poverty  and  dissi- 
pation our  distinguishing  characteristic  I  ^  The  inability  of  the  con- 
gross  of  the  confederation  to  regulate  commerce  accounted  largely  for 
the  slow  financial  recovery  which  marked  the  period. 

These  straitened  lines  presented  a  contrast  to  society  drift,  and 
rebuked  it.  Luxuries,  pleasures,  and  amusements  were  coming  into 
favor  more  and  more,  distm'bing  the  peace  of  mind  of  sensitive, 
frugal,  hard- worked  people,  and  shocking  church  society.  The  ten- 
dency was  unmistakable,  but  hardly  unnatural  or  extravagant.  It 
had  developed  alarmingly  in  Philadelphia  during  the  later  years  of  the 
war,  and  New- York  was  now  feeling  something  of  the  same  reaction 
without  faring  worse.  Society  and  fashion,  like  everything  else,  were 
simply  reinstating  themselves  after  the  wreck  of  the  war.  John  Jay, 
who  had  seen  enough  of  high  life  abroad  for  four  years,  was  not  espe- 
cially depressed  by  the  signs  at  home,  when  he  could  discourage  La- 
fayette's wife  from  coming  to  America  in  1785,  as  she  proposed,  by 
infoiming  her  that  we  had  few  amusements  here  to  relieve  trav- 
elers of  the  monotony  of  a  visit.  "  Our  men  for  the  most  part,"  he 
assures  her,  "  mind  their  business  and  our  women  their  families ;  and 
if  our  wives  succeed  (as  most  of  them  do)  in  *  making  home  man's  best 
delight,'  gallantry  seldom  draws  their  husbands  from  them.  Our  cus- 
toms, in  many  Respects,  differ  from  yours,  and  you  know  that  whether 
with  or  without  reason,  we  usually  prefer  those  which  education  and 
habit  recommend.  The  pleasures  of  Paris  and  the  pomp  of  Versailles 
are  unknown  in  this  country."  No  doubt  of  this ;  but  people,  never- 
theless, said,  and  printed  it  in  the  papers,  that  the  ton  of  New- York 
ou^ht  to  set  simpler  habits  and  fashions  to  the  public. 

The  taste  for  luxuries  was  increased  by  the  varied  importations  of 
the  foreign  merchants.  The  assortment  was  attractive.  Wines  and 
liquors  of  many  bj'ands  were  advertised  freely.  At  the  "  Universal 
Store  "in  Hanover  Square,  kept  by  Randall,  Son  &  Stewart,  one  could 
buy  almost  everything,  from  broadcloths  and  carpets  to  nails  and 
cheeses.  Leonard  Kip's  line  of  dry-goods  included  "shalloons,  durants, 
tammies,  antaloons,  moreens,  dorsetseens,  satins,  persians,  taflfities 
and  the  like."  At  No.  11  Queen  street,  Patrick  Hart  &  Company 
announce  **  London  consignments  of  taboreens,  rattinets,  black  and 
colored  callimancoes,  checks,  jeans,  thread  and  silk  hose,  Irish  linens 
of  all  prices,  shoes  with  common  and  French  heels,"  and  much  more. 


22  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

The  expansive  dresses  of  the  women  also  came  in  for  censure.  "  The 
article  I  mean  to  take  notice  of,'*  writes  a  critic,  in  1784,  "is  the  hoop, 
which  is  now  so  universally  worn,  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  person  to 
walk  the  streets  without  being  frequently  turned  out  of  the  way  and 
exposed  to  the  annoyance  of  carts  and  coaches.''  A  father  adds  that 
he  cannot  afford  it  for  his  daughters.  With  the  varieties  of  head-gear, 
silk  stockings,  powdered  wigs,  and  lessons  in  dancing  and  etiquette, 
such  life  proved  more  or  less  expensive  —  unduly  so  for  the  times, 
complained  the  wage-earners. 

The  question  of  extravagance  and  amusements  seems  to  have  stirred 
public  feeling  very  generally  when,  in  the  fall  of  1785,  it  was  proposed 
to  revive  the  theater  in  the  city.  The  theater  building  of  colonial 
times  still  stood  on  John  street,  a  short  distance  east  of  Broadway, 
where  before  the  war  Lewis  Hallam,  a  popular  actor  of  the  old 
American  company,  who  afterward  was  also  its  manager,  drew  re- 
spectable audiences.  It  was  a  quaint  wooden  affair,  with  a  gallery 
and  a  double  row  of  boxes  in  addition  to  the  pit.  As  Congress  had 
recommended  the  closing  of  places  of  amusement  during  the  contest, 
and  Washington  had  issued  orders  threatening  dismissal  upon  all 
officers  who  engaged  in  theatrical  .entertainments,  Hallam  and  his 
troupe  went  to  the  island  of  Jamaica,  and  amused  its  inhabitants  un- 
til the  peace  opened  the  door  for  his  return  to  America.  His  return, 
however,  was  far  from  welcomed  by  the  element  which  had  been 
harboring  anxiety  over  the  moral  health  of  New-York.  It  protested 
against  the  revival  of  the  drama,  and  succeeded  in  giving  the  city  a  tem- 
porary sensation.  The  controversy  entered  the  newspapers,  and  the 
theater  became  the  talk  of  the  town.  What  was  said  on  both  sides 
can  be  readily  imagined,  but  what  is  of  special  interes*t  to  the  modem 
reader  are  the  glimpses  afforded  here  and  there  in  the  discussion  of 
certain  phases  in  the  social  status.  Thus  an  appeal  against  the  revival, 
published  by  some  reformer  through  the  ** Packet,''  is  quite  in  point: 
"Are  the  families  in  this  city,''  he  asks,  "  of  whatever  rank,  as  rich 
now  as  they  were  before  the  war  t  Are  there  not  many  who  have 
advanced  a  great  part  of  their  estates  to  their  bleeding  country  during 
the  contest,  who  are  not  yet  repaid  t  Have  not  many  of  our  most 
respectable  families,  to  maintain  the  credit  of  our  continental  money, 
which  was  then  supporting  our  army  against  the  Britons,  received  all 
their  outstanding  debt«  in  that  money,  and  thereby  become  nearly 
ruined?  And  do  not  many  of  them,  besides  their  losses,  owe  large 
sums  upon  debts  they  contracted  before  the  war  t  Have  not  repairs 
and  entering  anew  into  some  line  of  business  exhausted  their  de- 
ranged finances,  and  proved  an  exertion  almost  beyond  their  strength? 
And  are  gentlemen  in  such  a  situation  fit  to  indulge  themselves,  their 
wives  or  children,  in  expensive  amusements?    Have  not  some  hun- 


24 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


dreds  of  citizens  had  their  houses  burned  down  while  the  British 
army  lay  in  New  York!  Are  not  multitudes  obliged  to  take  up  money 
upon  interest  to  build  a  little  hut  or  else  pay  rent  superior  to  their 
earnings?  Is  there  not  a  general  complaint  of  the  unhappy  situa- 
tion of  our  merchants,  of  the  distress  attending  our  commerce,  and 


NEW-YOBK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  25 

of  the  balance  of  trade  being  heavily  against  us — heavily  in  impor- 
tations not  only  of  necessaries,  but  also  of  articles  of  luxury,  and 
scarce  anything  to  make  a  remittance  with  f  And  is  a  play-house 
proper  for  a  city  in  such  a  situation?  Are 
our  taxes  paid  upt  Are  uot  the  wheels  of 
goverumeut  clogged  for  want  of  money  I 
Have  you  a  single  ship  of  war  to  guard  your 
coasts  or  even  defend  your  city  from  the  in- 
sults of  one  armed  vessel!"  And  in  all  this 
there  is  much  to  read  between  the  Hnes.  The 
theater,  nevertheless,  was  reestablished.  Of 
course  there  were  the  usual  jugglers,  mountebanks,  waxworks,  and 
harlequin  farces  about  town  to  amuse  shilling  sight-seers. 

As  to  recreations  and  resorts,  nothing  irresistibly  inviting  offered. 
The  beats  of  summer  found  most  New-Yorkers  at  home;  but  there 
were  pleasant  excursions  on  the  island.  A  small  party  could  ride  out 
to  Murray  Hill  in  a  hired  carriage,  and  be  gone  half  a  day,  for  four- 
teen shillings;  two  shillings  more  if  they  kept  on  to  Grade's  Point, 
opposite  Hell  Gate.  Sixteen  shillings  to  go  up  the  west  side  to 
Apthorpe's,  at  Ninety-second  street,  lately  Elm  Park.  From  that 
point  one  could  walk  a  mile  beyond,  along  the  old  Bloomingdale  road, 
and  find  himself  on  "Harlem  Heights  battle-field,"  about  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fifteenth  to  One  Hundred  and  Twentieth  street,  just  west 
of  present  Morningside  Park.  The  fine  orchard  through  which 
Knowlton's  rangers,  and  Leitch's  Virginians,  and  other  troops  under 
Greene,  Clinton,  and  Putnam,  chased  the  choicest  of  the  redcoats  on 
September  16,  1776,  was  still  standing;  so  also  was  Jones's  stone 
house  at  One  Hundred  and  Seventh  street,  near  Riverside  drive, 
where  the  British  Adjutant-General  Kendall  tells  us  the  fighting  first 
began,  and  near  where  we  know  it  ended.  To  go  to  Harlem,  a  day's 
excursion,  would  cost  thirty-eight  shillings;  to  Kingsbridge,  forty. 
As  to  Long  Branch  and  Saratoga,  their  attractions  were  known  and 
were  beginning  to  draw.  In  1789,  about  a  dozen  respectable  persons, 
including  two  or  three  New-Yorkers,  were  stopping  at  a  wretched 
tavern  at  Saratoga.  "  There  is  no  convenience  for  bathing,"  writes 
Elkanah  Watson,  the  traveler,  "except  an  open  log  hut,  with  a  large 
trough,  similar  to  those  in  use  for  feeding  swine,  which  receives  the 
water  from  the  spring.  Into  this  you  roU  from  off  a  bench."  About 
the  same  time  an  advertisement  appeared  in  one  of  the  New- York 
papers,  offering  an  elegant  farm  for  sale  "at  the  place  called  Long 
Branch,  near  Shrewsbury,  in  Monmouth  County,  in  the  State  of  New 
Jersey.**  It  was  described  as  most  charmingly  situated  for  a  gentle- 
man^ country-seat,  or  for  a  house  of  entertainment  for  "the  gi-eat 
cooconrse  of  people  that  every  year  fly  to  this  sweet  spot  from  the 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-TOBK 


fatigues  of  business  and  the  want  of  health  to  inhale  pare  air  and 
taste  trae  delight." 

In  ite  exteTior  appearance  the  city  steadily  improved  upon  the  con- 
dition in  which  the  British  left  it  in  1783.  The  burned  districts,  the 
ruined  churches  and  public  buildings,  the  dilapidated  residences, 
stores,  and  docks,  and  the  wretched  streets,  were  for  months  a  con- 
stant eye-sore.  By  1786  much  had  been  done  in  the  way  of  clearing 
up,  repairing,  and  building ;  much  more  by  1789.  The  greater  portion 
of  the  town  still  lay  east  of 
Broadway  and  stretched  out 
to  Grand  street.  As  the  houses 
were  not  very  high,  and  garden 
fronts  and  open  spaces  inter- 
vened, Broadway  commanded 
a  delightful  prospect  of  the 
Hudson.  There  were  as  yet 
few  stately  residences  on  it. 
"In  this  street,"  says  Rev.  Dr. 
Manasseh  Cutler,  in  1787,  "the 
gentry  ride  every  morning  and 
afternoon  in  their  carriages, 
which  are  generally  very  grand 
and  are  principally  coaches, 
chariots,  and  phaetons.  The 
common  people  ride  in  open 
chairs."  Wall  street  was  much 
more  "elegant."  William  was 
the  dry-goods  street.  Pearl  street,  then  Queen,  surpassed  any  in  the 
city,  being  wide,  and  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half  long.  "The  build- 
ings are  grand,  from  four  to  sis  stories  high,  and  the  sides  of  the 
street  within  the  posts  are  laid  principally  with  free-stone  sufficiently 
wide  for  three  persons  to  walk  abreast."  Noah  Webster  t«lls  us  that 
in  1786  not  many  houses  remained  "built  after  the  old  Dutch  style." 
The  new  bouses  going  up  were  frame  or  brick;  or,  as  the  insurance 
statements  represent,  most  of  them  were  "framed  buildings,  with 
brick  or  stone  fronts  and  the  sides  filled  in  with  brick."  Water 
privileges  were  limited.  "Most  of  the  people,"  says  Webster,  "are 
supplied  every  day  with  fresh  water  conveyed  to  their  doors  in  casks 
from  a  pump  near  the  head  of  Queen  street,  which  receives  it  from  a 
pond  almost  a  mile  from  the  city."  This  pond  was  the  "Collect,"  long 
snce  filled  in,  and  on  the  site  of  which  now  stands  the  Tombs. 

Public  buildings  were  few.  The  City  Hall  stood  on  the  northeast 
comer  of  Wall  and  Nassau  streets,  having  been  erected  in  1700. 
When  Congress  assembled  in  New- York  in  1785,  the  city  authorities 


^y^tp-£uA^ /7&^^^€e^ 


NEW- YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  27 

gave  up  the  use  of  the  greater  part  of  it  to  that  body.  The  main  hall, 
or  "  Congress  chamber,"  was  at  the  east  end  of  the  second  floor.  On 
an  elevated  platform  on  the  southern  side  stood  the  president's  chair, 
lined  with  red  damask  silk,  and  over  it  a  curious  canopy  fringed  with 
8ilk,  with  damask  curtains  falling  to  the  floor  and  gathered  with 
silken  cords.  The  chaii'S  for  the  members  were  mahogany,  richly 
carved,  and  trimmed  with  red  morocco  leather.  In  front  of  each  chair 
stood  "a  small  bureau  table.''  The  walls  were  hung  with  the  portraits 
of  Washington  and  the  king  and  queen  of  France.  The  mayor's  office 
was  on  the  first  floor ;  the  common-council  chamber  at  the  west  end 
of  the  second  floor.  Upon  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution 
by  the  several  States,  or  in* the  fall  of  1788,  the  "city  fathers"  resolved 
to  appropriate  the  entire  building  to  the  use  of  the  new  government, 
and  Major  L'Enfant,  a  French  engineer,  was  intrusted  with  the  work 
of  remodeling  it.  Thereafter  it  was  known  as  the  "New  Federal 
Hall,"  and  passed  criticism  as  the  most  imposing  structure  in  the 
country.  It  cost  about  $65,000.  At  the  other  end  of  the  city,  or  on 
the  common,  stood  the  jail,  now  the  Hall  of  Registry ;  the  almshouse, 
on  the  site  of  the  present  court-house ;  and  west  of  it,  on  Broadway, 
the  bridewell,  or  main  prison  for  criminals.  Near  the  jail  had  been 
erected,  apparently  in  1784,  a  gallows  tastily  inclosed  in  a  kiosk-like 
structure,  which  a  stranger  took  to  be  a  summer-house.  Six  persons 
could  be  executed  in  it  at  a  time  without  exposure  to  the  public  gaze. 
In  1785  the  death  sentence  was  passed  on  a  negro  horse-thief,  a  noted 
burglar,  and  a  city  watchman  found  guilty  of  robbery  while  on  duty 
at  night.  Mentioning  the  first  execution,  without  giving  details,  the 
editor  of  the  "  Packet "  observed  that  the  criminal,  in  his  taking  oflf, 
"had  relieved  many  worthy  inhabitants  from  unremitted  apprehen- 
sions of  occult  danger." 

Inns,  taverns,  coflfee-houses,  were  scattered  about  the  city,  some  of 
them  associated  with  stirring  local  events,  as  the  headquarters  of  the 
"Sons  of  Liberty  "  and  political  societies.  The  City  Tavern,  Fraunces' 
or  Francis'  Tavern,  Cape's,  the  Bull's  Head,  Loggett's  and  Day's,  near 
Harlem,  were  all  well  patronized.  At  Fraunces',  at  Pearl  and  Broad 
streets,  o<^curred  the  parting  scene  between  Washington  and  his  offi- 
cers, as  he  was  leaving  New- York  on  December  4,  1783,  to  surrender 
his  commission  to  CongresiS  at  Annapolis.  Since  Evacuation  Day  he 
had  been  the  guest  of  Chancellor  Livingston.  One  of  his  favorite 
officers,  Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  as  already  cited  in  the  preced- 
ing volume,  describes  the  farewell  moment  in  a  feeling  manner. 

The  first  American  post-office  in  the  city  opened  November  28, 
1783,  at  No.  38  Smith  street,  in  the  house  fonnerly  occupied  by  Judge 
Horsmanden.  William  Bedlow  was  postmaster,  being  a  deputy 
under  Postmaster-Gteneral  Ebenezer  Hazard,  then  at  Philadelphia. 


28  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

The  first  American  newspapers  were  the  New- York  "Weekly  Journal,'' 
published  by  John  Holt,  who  returned  with  his  paper  to  the  city  in 
the  fall  of  1783,  and  was  succeeded  by  Thomas  Greenleaf ;  the  semi- 
weekly  "  Packet,"  published  by  Thomas  Loudon,  January,  1784 ;  the 
"  Daily  Advertiser,"  by  Francis  Childs,  begun  in  the  spring  of  1785. 
In  January,  1788,  Noah  Webster  established  his  monthly  "  American 
Magazine,"  devoted  to  essays  on  all  subjects,  "  particularly  such  as 
relate  to  this  country." 

From  fires,  crime,  and  the  negligence  of  officials  the  city  was  only 
passably  protected.  There  were  some  fourteen  or  fifteen  old-style 
fire-engines,  each  pumped  by  about  a  dozen  men,  while  citizens  with 
buckets  supplied  the  water  from  wells.  •  Watchmen  patrolled  the 
streets  at  night,  but  robberies  and  knock-downs  were  not  uncommon, 
and,  in  the  absence  also  of  good  lamps,  there  was  not  much  passing 
at  late  hours.  The  ordinary  city  force  was  inadequate  to  cope  with 
a  mob,  as  appeared  in  the  case  of  the  "  Doctors'  Riot,"  which  suddenly 
broke  out  on  April  13, 1788,  when  the  militia  and  citizens  alone  could 
restore  quiet.  The  mob  had  been  excited  to  violence  by  a  boy's  re- 
port that  he  had  seen  physicians  or  medical  students  dissecting  dead 
bodies  in  the  hospital,  a  practice  which  stirred  up  a  general  revulsion. 
Several  persons  were  killed  or  wounded  during  the  riotf  among  the 
latter  John  Jay,  who  with  others  endeavored  to  quell  the  disturbance. 

Our  earliest  local  political  disputes  in  the  American  period  were  the 
immediate  outgrowth  of  the  war.  It  was  a  case  where  feelings  and 
sensibilities  were  keenly  touched,  and  as  time  sooner  or  later  softens 
human  nature  in  this  regard,  the  issue  did  not  long  continue.  Plainly 
stated,  it  was  a  question  whether  the  Tories  who  remained  in  the  city 
had  any  rights  the  Whigs  were  bound  to  respect.  Chancellor  Living- 
ston clearly  defined  the  parties  as  they  stood  in  January,  1784.  First, 
the  Tories  themselves,  who  "  still  hope  for  power  under  the  idea  that 
the  remembrance  of  the  past  should  be  lost,  though  they  daily  keep  it 
up  by  their  avowed  attachment  to  Great  Britain."  Second,  the  violent 
Whigs,  who  were  for  "expelling  all  Tories  from  the  State,  in  hopes  by 
that  means  to  preserve  the  power  in  their  own  hands."  Third,  those 
who  wish  "  to  suppress  all  violences,  to  soften  the  rigour  of  the  laws 
against  the  loyalists,  and  not  to  banish  them  from  that  social  inter- 
course which  may,  by  degrees,  obliterate  the  remembrance  of  past 
misdeeds ;  but  who,  at  the  same  time,  are  not  willing  to  shock  the 
feelings  of  the  virtuous  citizens  that  have  at  every  expense  and  hazard 
fulfilled  their  duty  "  to  the  country  in  the  recent  struggle.  The  more 
determined  Whigs  organized  a  "  Whig  Society,"  whose  object  was  to 
urge  the  removal  of  certain  influential,  ojffensive  Tories  from  the 
State.  The  society's  president  was  Lewis  Morris,  and  its  secretary, 
John  Pintard.  Outspoken  views,  public  meetings,  and  petitions  to  the 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  29 

legislature  followed,  but  the  status  of  the  Tories  was  not  eventually 
disturbed.  The  measure  which  aflfected  them  most  seriously  was  the 
trespass  act,  by  which  all  Whigs  who  had  been  obliged  to  fly  from 
their  homes  in  consequence  of  the  enemy's  invasion  could  bring  an 
action  of  trespass  against  those  who  may  have  entered  and  occupied 
their  houses  under  the  enemy's  protection.    Many  Tories  had  done 

At  a  very  numerous  and  re/pectable  Meetings 
held  at  Corres  Hotel,  on  Monday  Evening  the 


23^  April, 


JOSEPH  HALLETT,  Efq.  Chairman, 


'n  ESOLVED,  unanifnouny.  That  this  meeting  do  concur  in  the  followinjnomi- 
^*^  nation  of  GOVERNOR,  LIEUT  GOV  SENATORS  for  the  fou them  dif- 
trifl,  and  ASSEMBLY. MEN,  for  the  city  and  county  of  New- York,  to  be  fup- 
ported  at  the  enfuing  ele^ion. 

G£ORG£  CLi;VTOM  Efq.  Gov.   PIERRE  VAA^CORTLANDT,  Efq,  Lieut.  Gov. 

SENATORS. 
EZRA  L'HOMMEDIEU,  PAUL  MICHEAU,   JOHN  SCHENCK. 

ASSEMBLY^MEN. 
JOHN  WATTS,  WILLIAM  DENNING, 

WILLIAM  W.  GILBERT,  MELANCTOJV  SMITH, 

WILLIAM  S,  LIVINGSTON,      MORGAN  LEWIS- 
SAMUEL  OSGOOD, 

By  Order  of  the  Meeting, 

JOSEPH    H  A  L  L  ETZ  Chairman. 

FROM    A    CONTElfPORART    BROADSn>E. 

this,  and  were  held  to  be  liable.  In  one  case,  however,  that  of  Eliza- 
beth Batgers  against  Joshua  Waddington,  a  wealthy  Tory,  a  decision 
was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  latter  in  the  mayor's  court,  on  the  gen- 
eral ground  that  the  State  act  was  in  violation  of  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty  of  peace,  under  which  Tories  were  protected  in  property 
rights.  This  caused  great  excitement,  especially  as  Waddington's 
counsel  was  none  other  than  Alexander  Hamilton,  who,  as  a  distin- 
guished officer  in  the  continental  army,  could  be  supposed  to  have 
none  but  the  most  pronounced  Whig  sympathies.  But  with  Hamilton 
the  war  was  over,  and  he  discountenanced  harsh  measures  toward 


30  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

those  who  would  in  time  assimilate  with  and  be  lost  in  the  mass 
of  the  people.  This  position  he  maintained  in  some  able  articles 
contributed  by  him  to  the  press,  over  the  signature  of  "Phocion," 
and  to  which  Isaac  Ledyard  replied  over  the  signature  of  "  Mentor.** 
Hamilton's  broad,  statesmanlike  views  left  their  impression,  though 
his  professional  course  excited  the  anger  of  his  opponents.  So  bitter 
were  the  feelings  of  some  of  the  more  violent  among  them,  that  they 
secretly  determined  to  challenge  him  one  by  one  to  a  duel  until  he 
fell.  When  Ledyard  heard  of  this,  he  immediately  prevented  the  exe- 
cution of  the  scheme.  This  extreme  hostility  to  the  Tories  died  out 
in  the  course  of  a  year  or  two,  and  soon  disappeared  in  the  greater 
question  of  the  national  constitution  which  was  beginning  to  engage 
public  attention. 

State  issues  or  politics  were  yet  to  become  prominent.  The  war 
governor,  Clinton,  had  held  ofl&ce  for  eight  years,  and  opposition  in- 
terests were  bound  to  show  their  strength  in  time.  The  first  attempt 
was  quietly  made  in  1785,  when  General  Schuyler  sounded  John  Jay 
as  to  his  willingness  to  run  against  Clinton  for  the  governorship  at 
the  next  election.  The  general  charged  that  Clinton  was  striving  to 
maintain  his  popularity  "at  the  expense  of  good  government,'^  and 
that  reform  demanded  a  change  in  the  office.  "But  who,"  he  asks, 
"is  to  be  the  person?  It  is  agi'eed  that  none  have  a  chance  of  suc- 
ceeding but  you,  the  chancellor  or  myself.  The  second,  on  account  of 
the  prejudices  against  his  family  name,  it  is  believed,  would  fail.  .  .  . 
I  am  so  little  known  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  that  I  should 
fail  there."  Jay  was  accordingly  the  only  available  candidate,  and 
Schuyler  believed  he  would  seciu-e  the  election  by  "a  great  majority." 
But  Jay  declined.  That  he  was  then  the  most  distinguished  citizen  in 
New- York  would  have  been  conceded.  The  many  services  he  had 
rendered  the  State  as  a  member  of  conventions  and  committees;  in 
the  wider  sphere  of  the  Continental  Congress,  of  which  he  was  once 
president;  his  diplomatic  labors  abroad  as  minister  to  Spain  and  as 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  conclude  the  treaty  of  peace  in  1783 ;  his 
present  position  as  the  secretary  for  foreign  ajffairs  of  Congress; — all 
combined  to  put  the  State  under  a  special  obligation  to  him  as  a  public 
character.  At  this  juncture,  however,  he  stood  aloof  from  local  or  State 
controversies,  and  thereby  rendered  another  service  in  not  precipitat- 
ing a  party  issue  which  would  have  worked  unfavorably  upon  the 
constitutional  problem  of  the  near  future.  "  If  the  circumstances  of 
the  State  were  pressing,"  he  replied  to  Schuyler,  "  if  real  disgust  and 
discontent  had  spread  through  the  country,  if  a  change  had  in  the 
general  opinion  become  not  only  advisable  but  necessary,  and  the 
good  expected  from  that  change  depended  on  me,  then  my  present 
objections  would  immediately  yield."    He  was  not  impressed  with  the 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDEB    AMERICAM    CONTEOL 


31 


aecessity  in  the  case,  and  furthermore  felt  that  it  was  hie  duty  to  con- 
tinue ID  the  service  of  Congress  at  that  time.  At  a  later  date  the  gov- 
ernorship will  be  his. 

In  the  larger  field  of  national  politics  or  of  national  reorganization, 
the  city  played  a  conspicuous  part  and  exercised  a  decisive  influence. 
It  will  ever  be  to  her  honor  that  in  the  emergency  through  which  our 
federal  constitution  passed  at  its  adoption,  New- York  kept  the  State 
true  to  its  best  interests  by  powerfully 
assisting  in  bringing  its  unwiUing  con- 
vention to  ratify  that  instrument  and 
insure  the  formation  of  our  "more  per- 
fect" Union. 

The  issue  in  New- York,  at  its  cul- 
mination in  1788,  took  a  sectional  turn 
The  city  and  its  environs  favored  con- 
centration of  authoiity  in  a  strong  iia- 
tioual  government;  the  State  at  large 
preferred  the  Confederation,  with  such 
amendments  or  revision  as  immediate 
exigencies  demanded.  In  the  contest 
for  the  new  constitution  as  finally  pie 
sented,  the  city  triumphed  by  tonvert- 
ing  the  State;  she  triumphed  through 
the  wise  and  well-directed  action  of  lier 
merchants,  through  the  superior  ability, 
persistence,  and  unremitting  zeal  of  her 
del^ates,  and  through  the  moral  sup- 
port of  both  on  the  part  of  a  large  ma^ 
jority  of  her  eitizens.  One  of  the  toasts  offered  at  the  first  public 
dinner  in  the  city  after  the  war — that  given  by  Governor  Clinton  on 
Evacuation  Day — seemed  to  serve  as  the  key-note  of  local  sentiment 
throi^h  the  following  years :  "May  a  close  Union  of  the  States  guard 
the  tomple  they  have  erected  to  Liberty." 

The  history  of  the  national  movement  in  this  State  may  be  traced 
to  the  action  of  the  legislature  on  July  21,  1782,  when,  in  response  to 
a  resolution  of  Congress  of  May  22  preceding,  ik  gave  expression  to 
certain  decided  views  and  convictions  on  "the  state  of  the  nation." 
It  resolved  that  the  general  situation  respecting  foreign  and  financial 
matters  was  "  in  a  peculiar  manner"  critical,  threatening  the  subver- 
sion of  public  credit  and  exposing  the  common  cause  to  "a  precarious 
issue.*  It  resolved  further  that "  the  radical  source  of  most  of  our 
embarrassments  is  th^  want  of  sufficient  power  iu  Congress  to  effec- 
tuate that  ready  and  perfect  cooperation  of  the  different  States,  on 
which  their  immediate  safety  and  future  happiness  depend";  and  it 


HISTORY    OP    NEW-TfOBK 


proposed  to  Cougress  "  to  recommeDd,  and  to  each  State  to  adopt  the 
measure  of  assembling  a  general  convention  of  the  States,  specially 
authorized  to  revise  and  amend  the  Confederation,  reserving  a  right 
to  the  respective  legislatures  to  ratify  their  determinations."  Con- 
gress postponed  action  upon  this  recommendation,  which  operated 
unfortunately  in  New- York ;  for  duiing  the  next  five  years  delega- 
tions and  opinions  underwent  a  change  throughout  the  State,  and  it 
was  only  by  the  most  strenuous  efforts  that  it  was  kept  true  to  its 
first  professions.  Those  were  the  gloomy,  distracting  years  after  the 
war,  when  the  weakness  of  the  Confederation  made  it  impossible  to 
regulate  trade  and  commerce,  and  its 
defects  opened  up  the  question  of  the 
reconstruction  of  the  Union  under  cir- 
cumstances which  made  it  difficult  to 
discuss  it  dispassionately.  The  situa- 
tion was  not  an  unnatural  one.  It  was 
a  transitional  period.  The  States  had 
been  living  together  for  seven  years  on 
a  war  basis ;  peace,  with  its  new  require- 
ments, now  called  for  a  readjustment  of 
the  supports,  and  this  could  not  be  done 
without  a  disturbing  effort.  In  New- 
York  a  variety  of  influences  combined 
to  complicate  the  difficulties  in  the  case. 
A  strong  State  pride  developed  as  the  question  of  surrendering  furthei 
powers  to  the  Uuion  was  agitated ;  jealousy  and  fear  of  such  a  Union 
increased;  jHsrsons  and  parties  in  power  held  tenaciously  to  the  sov- 
ereignty which  they  were  enjoying  in  a  practically  independent  State; 
and  the  State's  legislation  looked  toward  autonomy.  All  this  was 
more  or  less  true  of  every  State.  In  New-York  it  was  marked.  Not 
that  any  such  thing  as  a  disunion  sentiment  found  expression;  but,  in 
the  absence  of  a  binding  national  tie,  local  predilections  governed. 

For  this  state  of  feeling  the  governor,  George  Clinton,  and  his  large 
body  of  friends  and  supporters  were  mainly  responsible.  The  gov- 
ernor himself  was  a  strong  character.  A  partizau  in  one  seuse,  he 
was  eminently  public-spirited  in  another.  He  was  loyal  to  the  Union 
and  the  Confederation,  but  his  hopes  and  his  pride  centered  on  his 
State.  To  make  that  great  and  prosperous  was  his  first  ambition; 
and  his  policy  and  wishes  were  reflected  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
State  legislature.  By  the  year  1788  New-Yoi'k  was  exercising  all  but 
national  sovereignty.  She  had  a  well-organized  militia;  she  ap- 
pointed boundary  commissions ;  she  issued  a  paper  currency ;  she 
levied  duties;  she  maintained  custom-houses.  Under  the  act  of  No- 
vember 18, 1784,  one  custom-house  was  established  at  the  port  of  New- 


COLOKEL    LAMB' 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  33 

York  and  another  at  Sag  Harbor,  on  Long  Island.  Collectors, 
surveyors,  gangers,  weighers,  and  tide-waiters  were  appointed.  The 
first  collector  for  New-York  was  Colonel  John  Lamb,  who  com- 
manded the  first  regiment  of  continental  artillery  during  the  war; 
and  the  surveyor  was  Colonel  John  Lasher,  of  one  of  the  early  city 
regiments  of  levies.  Under  the  impost  act  of  the  same,  date,  many 
articles  were  made  dutiable.  Sixpence  duty  was  levied  on  every 
gallon  of  Madeira  wine  brought  into  the  State,  and  threepence  on 
other  wines;  twopence  on  every  gallon  of  rum,  brandy,  or  other 
spirits,  if  imported  in  vessels  owned  by  citizens  of  any  of  the  United 
States,  but  a  double  duty  for  vessels  with  British  registers.  There 
were  duties  on  carriages,  chariots,  sulkies,  gold  and  silver  watches, 
scythes,  saddles,  hollow  ironware,  women's  leather  or  stujff  shoes, 
starch,  hair-powder,  cocoa,  teas,  coals,  bricks,  wools,  furs,  and  similar 
importations. 

But  this  system  had  serious  defects — defects  that  were  the  most 
sensibly  felt  by  the  commercial  element  throughout  the  country.  A 
prosperous  trade  was  wanting.  There  was  no  power  to  regulate  it. 
Congress  might  propose  treaties  of  commerce  with  foreign  powers, 
but  lacked  ability  to  enforce  them.  No  uniform  system  of  duties  could 
be  imposed  when  each  Stato  was  devising  a  tariff  of  its  own.  New- 
York  might  draw  up  an  elaborate  schedule,  but  this  did  not  establish 
the  New- York  merchant's  credit  in  London;  it  failed  to  open  the 
West  India  ports  to  his  vessels.  The  one  remedy  in  the  case  was  to 
confer  the  necessary  powers  upon  Congress — "let  Congress,  and  Con- 
gress alone,  regulate  foreign  trade  and  commerce." 

It  is  here  that  New- York  city  followed  the  course  that  reflects  so 
creditably  upon  her.  As  between  the  policy  which  the  State  as  such 
was  pursuing  and  the  policy  which  the  general  government  should 
be  empowered  to  pursue,  she  set  herself  in  line  with  the  latter.  Her 
merchants  and  her  distinguished  lawyers  and  statesmen  were  the 
salvation  of  both  city  and  State.  The  merchants  agitated  trade  re- 
quirements. There  was  an  abundance,  indeed  a  surplus,  of  foreign 
goods  in  town  during  those  early  years  from  1784  to  1787,  but  they 
were  largely  the  importation  or  consignments  of  British  merchants 
of  ample  means,  who  could  wait  for  a  market.  The  American  Whig 
merchant,  entering  mercantile  life  anew,  found  himself  at  a  disad- 
vantage, and  he  saw  little  relief  under  the  existing  system.  The 
merchants  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Charleston  were 
in  the  same  predicament,  and  all  expressed  themselves  alike.  By  the 
spring  of  1785  the  situation  had  become  all  but  unendurable.  On 
March  7  a  memorial  was  published,  to  be  signed  by  residents  of 
New- York,  praying  the  legislature  to  pass  the  impost  act  of  Congress 
and  to  recommend  the  regulation  of  commerce  by  that  body.    Under 

Vol.  m.— 3. 


34  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  former  act,  which  had  been  hanging  fire  since  its  passage  in 
April,  1783,  Congress  would  hkve  been  able  to  pay  the  interest  on  the 
public  debt.  New- York  alone  of  all  the  States  refused  to  approve 
it.  Sentiment  in  the  city  favored  the  measure.  On  March  14  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  came  forward  with  another  and  a  more  for- 
mal petition  to  the  legislature,  signed  by  its  president,  John  Alsop, 

calling  attention  to  the  failure  of  the  individual 
1  States  to  regulate  trade  for  the  common  benefit. 
They  could  not  possibly  so  regulate  it,  because, 
in  the  words  of  the  petition  or  memorial, — "Ist, 
not  being  enabled  to  form  treaties,  trade  cannot  in  their  hands  be 
made  the  basis  of  commercial  compacts ;  2d,  because  no  regular  sys- 
tem can  be  adopted  by  thirteen  different  Legislatures  pursuing  differ- 
ent objects,  and  seeing  the  same  object  in  different  lights ;  and  3d,  be- 
cause if  it  even  were  to  be  presumed  that  they  would  at  all  times  and 
in  every  circumstance  sacrifice  partial  interests  to  the  general  good, 
yet  the  want  of  harmony  in  their  measures  and  a  common  force,  would 
forever  defeat  their  best  intentions."  In  consequence  of  this  loose 
system,  the  merchants  observed  with  concern  that  trade,  "the  gi*eat 
spring  of  agriculture  and  manufactures,"  was  languishing  "under 
fatal  obstructions"  and  daily  on  the  decline.  The  legislature  made  no 
recommendations  on  these  petitions ;  but  public  opinion  continued  to 
assert  itself.  In  the  following  May,  Boston  voted,  in  town  meeting, 
that,  as  peace  had  not  brought  plenty,  and  foreign  merchants  were 
monopolizing  commerce  by  crushing  out  the  American  carrying- 
trade.  Congress  should  be  invested  with  power  competent  to  the  wants 
of  the  country.  In  Philadelphia  a  committee  of  thirteen  merchants 
was  appointed  to  stir  up  the  State  authorities  to  the  same  end.  The 
Boston  people  went  further,  as  in  early  war  days,  and  invited  the 
cooperation  of  the  New- York  merchants ;  whereupon  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  "many  other  citizens,"  following  up  their  March 
memorials,  called  a  meeting  of  merchants  and  "other  inhabitants"  at 
the  Exchange,  June  15,  at  which  Alderman  John  Broome  presided. 
Their  former  sentiments  and  views  were  reiterated  in  a  body  of  res- 
olutions, and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  sev- 
eral counties  in  the  State  and  with  committees  in  other  States,  in  the 
hope  that  "  a  free  and  reciprocal  communication  of  opinions  "  would 
rouse  the  country  to  action.  The  committee  was  composed  of  the 
most  prominent  merchants  in  the  city.  To  the  committees  in  other 
States  it  was  proposed  that  they  should  severally  take  measures  to 
induce  their  respective  legislatures  to  confer  the  necessary  powers 

1  The  autogrrephs  of  John  Watts,  Sr.;  and  Anne  sented  by  their  great-grandson.  General  John' 
Watts,  his  wife,  are  exceedingly  rare.  They  were  Watts  De  Peyster,  to  the  New-York  Historical  So- 
only  to  be  obtained  by  tracing  their  signatures  as  ciety.  By  his  courtesy  permission  was  granted  to 
found  on  the  valuable  documents  recently  pre-  trace  them.  Editob. 


NEW- YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  35 

on  Congress.  "  Our  Un\pn,"  said  the  New- York  committee,  "  is  the 
basis  of  our  grandeur  and  our  power."  To  the  counties  of  the  State 
the  committee  represented  that  if  commerce  languished,  agriculture 
would  feel  a  corresponding  effect.  "  By  the  Union  of  the  farmer,  the 
merchant  and  mechanic,"  they  wrote,  "  we  have,  in  the  most  danger- 
ous crisis,  been  able  to  withstand  the  open  force  of  our  enemies ;  and 
if  this  spirit  still  actuates  us,  we  shall  soon  convince  them  that  their 
insidious  politics  in  peace  are  of  as  little  effect."  The  farmer  was 
accordingly  urged  to  send  assemblymen  with  federal  views  to  the 
next  legislature. 

What  effect  these  appeals  produced  at  large  it  would  be  difl&cult 
to  determine,  but  they  kept  the  subject  uppermost  in  popular  discus- 
sions and  clearly  strengthened  sentiment  in  New- York.  The  papers 
in  the  city,  notably  the  "Packet"  and  the  "Journal,"  published  the 
effusions  of  correspondents  at  intervals,  which  indicated  the  inter- 
est felt.  "What  is  to  be  done!"  inquires  "  Consideration"  in  March, 
1785 ;  and  answers,  "  All  the  States  must  give  Congress  ample  powers 
to  regulate  trade,  .  .  .  likewise  all  other  powers  necessary  for  an 
active  and  firm  Continental  government."  But  "Rough  Hewer,  Jr.," 
who  was  known  to  be  Abraham  Yates,  a  pithy  writer  on  the  other 
side,  declared  that  histoiy  had  established  the  fact  that  republicanism 
can  flourish  in  small  states  only,  and  expressed  a  dread  of  "  a  mighty 
Continental  Legislature,"  which  in  time  would  merge  and  swallow  up 
the  rights  of  the  States.  "Unitas"  called  for  assemblymen  who  could 
discern  with  precision  "  in  what  particular  a  ^  *  H  jT) 
local  must  give  way  to  a  more  general  advan-  //^^^^Tx^/x^W^ 
tage,"and  could  appreciate  the  benefits  of  a  gen- 
eral union.  "  The  chain,"  he  exclaims,  "  should  be  of  adamant,  indis- 
soluble, eternal !  Should  this  chain  ever  be  broken,  good  God !  what 
scenes  of  death  and  misery  lurk  under  the  dreadful  event."  "  Sydney," 
on  the  other  hand,  saw  nothing  but  despotism  and  an  oligarchy  in  a 
congress  which  could  control  a  revenue  exacted  from  the  States  by  its 
own  agents :  "  K  you  put  the  sword  and  the  purse  into  the  hands  of 
the  supreme  power,  be  the  Constitution  of  that  power  what  it  may, 
you  render  it  absolute.  Congress  already  have  the  sword  vested  in 
them;  the  single  power  wanting  to  make  them  absolute  is  that  of 
levying  money  themselves.  When  this  is  compassed.  Adieu  to  Lib- 
erty ! "  Such  contributions  to  the  press,  however,  appeared  too  infre- 
quently to  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  strength  of  parties  at  this  date. 
The  discussion  went  on  in  the  coffee-houses  and  clubs,  and  two  years 
later  the  fruits  will  be  seen  in  test  elections. 

In  the  following  year  (1786)  the  situation  improved  so  far  as  agita- 
tion led  to  action.  Virginia  came  forward  with  her  proposition  for  a 
convention  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  "  to  consider  how  far  a  uniform 


L      3      ji 

The  fenators  and  reprefentatives  beforementioned,  and  tbe  membcrt  of  the  fereral  fUle  Itgrf. 
htures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers,  both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  feveralStuet; 
fhall  be  bound  by  oath  or  aflirmaCion,  to  fupport  this  conflitntion;  but  no  religious  tefl  fliall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualincation  to  any  o(Hce  or  public  trud  under  tbe  United  States* 

VII. 

The  ratification  of  tbe  conventions  of  nine  States,  ihall  be  fufficteoi  for  tbe  eflabliihment  of 
this  conflitution  between  tbe  States  fo  ratifying  the  lame; 


Done  in  Convention,  by  the  unanimous  confent  of  the 

Slates  prcfent,  the  fcventecnih  day  of  September,  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thoufand  fcved 
hundred  and  cightv-feven,«nd  of  the  Independence  of  tbe  United  States  of  America  (be  twelfth. 
In  witnefs  whereot  we  have  hereunto  lubfcribed  our  Names. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  Prefidenr. 

And  Deputy  from  V  i  r  g  i  n  i  a.' 

George  Read^ 
D^LAWARS. 


New.Hampshue.  Jfc^c5w 


Massachusetts. 

Connecticut 
New-York. 

New-Jerset. 


Pennsylvania. 


C  Nathaniel  Gorbanti 

X^Rufus  King. 

r  William  Samuel  Johnforif 

J  Roger  Sherman, 
Alexander  Hamijton* 
William  Living/i^n, 
David  Brearle/^ 
William  Paterfin^ 
Jonathan  Dayton* 

[^Benjamin  Franklin, 
Thomas  M'Jlin^ 
Robert  Morris^ 
George  Chmer^ 
Thomas  titx/imonsp 
ared  Inter  foil ^ 
ames  Wil/on, 
uverneur  "Morris. 


Martlahd. 


ViROINIA* 


Gunning  Bedford^  Juni^t 

John  Dkkinjffn^ 

Rubard  Bafett, 

Jacob  Broom. 
C  James  Mr  Henry ^ 
^Daniel  of  St,  Tbo  Jemfer. 
Q  Daniel  tarroL 


C  John  Blair ^ 

i 


James  Madtion^  Jwiivr. 
tWilliam  Blount^ 
North-Caeolina  <  Richard  Debbs  Spatgbt, 

(Hugh  Williamson, 
r  John  Rulledge, ' 

Q  Pierce  Butler, 
C  WilUam  Few^ 
iMrabam  BoldwiM, 


Georgia. 


Attcit;  William  Jacison,  Seceeta-rt* 

In  CONVENTION,  Monday  September  1 7th,  1 787. 

PRESENT 
The  State?  of  New-Hampfliire,  MafTachufetts,  Connefticut,  Mr. 
jF/iiw/7/<?«  from  New- York,  New- Jerfey,  Pennfylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,    Virginia^    North-Carolina,    South-Carolina   and 
Georgia : 

RESOLVED. 

tfHAT  the  preceding  Conjlitution  he  laid  be/ire  the  United  States  in  Congrefs  afembled^  and  that  it  it 
tbe  opinion  of  this  Convention^  that  itjhould  afterwards  befubmitted  to  a  Convention  of  Delegates f 
thofen  in  each  Stati  by  tbe  People  thereof  under  tbe  recommendation  of  its  Legiflature^  for  tbetr  ajfent 
and  ratification ;  and  that  each  Convention  affenting  to,  and  ratifying  the  fame,  fbcutdgivt  Notice  tSerc' 
of  to  tb(  United  States  in  Congrefs  affembled, 

Rcrolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention^  that  as  Joan  as  the  Conventitntt  of  nine  States  fhall 
have  ratified  ibis  Con/iitvtion,  the  United  Statet  in  Congrefs  ajjembled  fbouUk^ix  a  day  oji  vtbicb 
ElcOors  Jhould  be  appointed  by  the  States  which  Jhall  bavf  ratified  tbefame^  and  a  da^  on  which  the 
EU^ors  fljould  affemhle  to  vote  for  tbe  Pcefident^  and  tbe  time  and  place  for  commencing  proceedings 
under  this  Conjlitution.  That  after  fucb  publication  tbe  Eleflort  Jbould  be  appointed ^  and  the  Senators 
and  Reprefentatives  eleOed :  That  the  Electors Jfyould  meet  on  tbe  day  fixed  for  the  EUdion  of  the  Ptefi" 
dent,  andfhould  tranfr.it  tbetr  votes  certified,  figned^  fealed  and  direded^  as  tbe  Con/Htu(ton  requires, 
to  tbe  Secretary  of  the  United  States  in  Congrefs  affembledf  that  the  Senators  and  Reprefentatives  Jhonid 


convene 


e  at  tbe  time  and  place  aj/igned;  that  the  Senators  Jbould  appoint  a  PrefidsAt  ^  the  Senate^  for  tbe 
fole  purpofe  of  receiving,  opening  and  tounting  tbe  votes  for  Prefident ;  and,  J  bat  afttr  he  fhall  be  chofen, 
the  Congrefs,  togetbet  with  tbe  prefident,  flmld,  without  diloy,  proceed  to  execute  this  Confiitution, 

By  the  unanimous  .Order  of  the  Convention, 

George  ,Washington,  Prefident. 

PVf/liam  y^fif/5;»,  Secretary 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL  37 

• 

system  in  their  commercial  regulations  may  be  necessary  to  the  com- 
mon interest  and  permanent  harmony  "  of  the  States.  The  convention 
met  on  September  11,  with  commissioners  present  from  but  five 
States  — Virginia,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  New-York. 
Their  action  resulted  in  the  assemblage  of  the  famous  constitutional 
convention  at  Philadelphia  in  the  following  year.  In  each  of  these 
bodies  New- York  city  found  its  representation  in  the  person  of  Alex- 
ander Hamilton ;  or,  while  being  a  representative  of  the  State,  he 
more  nearly  reflected  the  sentiment  of  the  city,  which  was  largely 
coincident  with,  and  influenced  by,  his  own.  The  possibilities  that  lay 
in  the  Virginia  call  immediately  absorbed  his  attention.  His  own 
proposition  for  a  convention,  broached  as  early  as  1780,  was  a  sufficient 
assurance  that  all  his  sympathies  would  be  aroused  by  any  movement 
that  might  be  utilized  for  national  ends ;  and  the  present  opportunity 
was  not  to  be  lost.  The  Annapolis  proposition  came  in  January, 
1786.  Hamilton  then  determined  to  make  one  more  effort  to  induce 
the  State  to  accede  to  the  impost  act  of  Congress,  which  would  be  an 
entering  wedge  toward  granting  general  powers  to  the  government ; 
or  failing  in  this  he  hoped  to  secure  the  appointment  of  commissioners 
to  the  Annapolis  convention.  One  of  his  intimate  friends  was  Colonel 
Robert  Troup,  formerly  aid  to  General  Gates,  at  this  date  a  rising 
lawyer  in  the  city,  and  later  judge  of  the  United  States  district  court 
of  New- York.  He  seconded  Hamilton's  efforts.  "  In  pursuance  of  the 
latter^s  plan,"  says  Troup  at  a  subsequent  date,  "  the  late  Mr.  Du^r, 
the  late  Colonel  Malcolm  and  myself  were  sent  to  the  State  Legislature 
as  part  of  the  City  delegation,  and  we  were  to  make  every  possible 
effort  to  accomplish  Hamilton's  objects.  Duer  was  a  man  of  com- 
manding eloquence.  We  went  to  the  Legislature  and  pressed  totis 
viribus  the  grant  of  the  impost  agreeably  to  the  requisition  of  Con- 
gress. We  failed  in  obtaining  it.  The  resolutions  of  Virginia  were 
communicated  by  Governor  Clinton  the  14th  of  March.  We  went  all 
our  strength  in  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to  attend  the  Com- 
mercial Convention,  in  which  we  were  successful.  The  commissioners 
were  instructed  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the  next  Legislature. 
Hamilton  was  appointed  one  of  them.  Thus  it  was  that  he  was  the 
principal  instrument  to  turn  this  State  to  a  course  of  policy  that  saved 
our  Country  from  incalculable  mischiefs,  if  not  from  total  ruin."^  The 
other  commissioner  was  Egbert  Benson,  then  attorney-general  of  the 
State,  who  was  in  perfect  sympathy  with  the  objects  of  the  proposed 
convention,  and  who  turned  his  business  before  the  Supreme  Court 
at  Albany  over  to  a  friend,  to  hurry  on  with  Hamilton  to  Annapolis. 
The  outcome  of  the  brief  convention  at  Annapolis  was  an  urgent 
recommendation  for  the  meeting  of  a  more  representative  body  at 

I  John  C.  Hamilton's  "  Life  of  Hamilton." 


38  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Philadelphia  in  the  following  spring.  Hamilton^  as  Benson  tells  us, 
was  the  author  of  the  address  to  this  effect  sent  to  Congress  and  the 
individual  States.  The  work  of  the  Philadelphia  convention  is  a 
matter  of  history.  The  delegates  to  that  body  from  New- York  State 
were  Judge  Eobert  Yates,  John  Lansing,  Jr.,  and,  again,  Hamilton. 
By  the  withdrawal  of  the  two  former  from  the  convention,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  proposed  to  formulate  a  new  constitution  instead 
of  revising  the  existing  one,  Hamilton  remained  alone  as  the  State's 
representative.  The  measure  of  his  influence  in  the  convention  may 
be  seen  in  the  national  character  of  the  constitution. 

There  yet  remained  the  problem  of  the  adoption  of  the  new  instru- 
ment by  the  States;  and  here,  so  far  as  New- York  is  concerned,  the 
value  of  the  labors  of  distinguished  men  of  the  city  appears  to  highest 
advantage.  The  struggle  for  the  constitution  in  the  State  convention 
was  not  less  earnest  and  critical  than  the  effort  at  its  framing.  What- 
ever the  situation  might  have  been  elsewhere,  it  was  well  known  that 
in  New- York  ratification  could  not  be  secured  without  a  close  and 
determined  contest.  "  True  it  is,"  wrote  Gouvemeur  Morris  to  Jay, 
October  30, 1786,  "that  this  city  and  its  neighborhood  are  enthusiastic 
in  the  [federal]  cause,  but  I  dread  the  cold  and  sour  temper  of  the 
back  counties."  This  sour  temper  was  in  reality  the  Clintonian  dis- 
position to  resist  centralization  in  the  general  government.  There 
still  survived  what  Morris  called  the  old  "Colonial  oppositions  of 
opinion,"  the  strong,  inherited  local  feeling,  which  it  was  necessary 
to  overcome;  and  the  men  of  the  new  order  of  things  set  to  work  to 
overcome  it.  The  first  work  in  hand  was  to  parry  the  adverse  criti- 
cisms upon  the  proposed  constitution,  which  appeared  soon  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Philadelphia  convention.  The  anti-federalist 
"Journal "  for  a  while  abounded  with  them,  over  the  signatures  of 
. "  Cato,"  "  Brutus,"  "  Old  Whig,"  "  Centinel,"  "  Cincinnatus,"  and  the 
like.  A  "  Son  of  Liberty,"  writing  from  Orange  County,  denounced 
the  Philadelphia  outcome  as  "  a  preposterous  and  new  fangled  sys- 
tem." Some  saw  in  it  the  loss  of  State  independence,  others  the 
ascendancy  and  control  of  a  government  class,  others  a  menace  to 
privileges  and  personal  liberty  in  the  absence  of  a  bill  of  rights. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Hamilton  and  his  associates  appeared 
in  the  field  with  their  great  defense  and  exposition  of  the  constitution 
in  the  "  Federalist "  papers.  It  is  to  the  local  controversy  in  the  city 
and  State  that  we  owe  that  lucid  and  authoritative  commentary  on 
our  fundamental  law.  Of  the  eighty-five  numbers  of  the  work  that 
were  published,  all  of  them  over  the  signature  "  Publius,"  Hamilton 
wi'ote  sixty-three,  Jay  five,  Madison  (then  a  member  of  Congress  in 
New- York)  thirteen,  and  three  were  the  joint  production  of  Hamilton 
and  Madison.    The  first  number  was  printed  in  the  "  Independent 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UFDEB    AMERICAN    CONTROL  39 

Journal,  or  Weekly  Advertiser "  on  October  27, 1787,  and  thereafter 
the  articles  appeared,  soraetimes  two  iu  the  same  issue,  in  the 
**  Packet"  and  other  papers,  continuing  through  the  summer  of  1788.' 
The  New- York  State  convention  had  been  called  to  meet  at  Pough- 
keepsie  on  June  17,  1788.  Delegates  were  nominated  in  the  counties 
early  in  April,  and  repi*esentative  men 
were  put  forward.  All  felt  the  im- 
portance of  the  discussion  and  the 
decision.  It  was  at  about  this  time 
that  John  Jay  reinforced  the  "Feder- 
alist" papers  with  "An  Address  to 
the  People  of  the  State  of  New- 
York,"  which  he  issued  anonymously 
in  pamphlet  form.  It  had  its  effect 
in  strengthening  federal  views,  and, 
according  to  a  eontemporaiy  letter, 
would  doubtless  have  couverted  many 
an  lionest  anti-federalist  in  the  upper 
counties  had  it  appeared  earlier.  "  The 
proposed  government  is  to  be  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  people," he  wrote;  and 
iu  1793  he  reiterated  this  sentiment  as 
chief  justice  of  th»  United  States,  in  his  opinion  on  the  suability  of 
the  State:  "The  people,  in  their  collective  and  national  capacity, 
established  the  present  Constitution."  Two  sets  of  delegates  for  the 
State  convention  were  nominated  for  the  city  and  county  of  New- 
York.  Jay  and  Hamilton  appeared  on  both  tickets.  Who  the  candi- 
dates were,  how  they  were  put  in  nomination,  and  on  what  platform, 
appears  from  the  announcement  of  the  ticket  itself,  issued  in  the  city 
papers,  in  the  following  form : 

THE  FEDERAL  TICKET. 

TO  THE  CITIZENS  OP  NEW  YORK, 

A  number  of  your  Fellow  Citizens,  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the 
Crtas,  and  convinced  that  it  is  your  and  their  interest  at  the  present  jnnotore,  by  men 
nnequivocaUy  attached  to  the  establishment  of  a  firm  national  Goverument,  beg  leave 
Teq>ectfally  to  recommend  to  your  support  and  choice,  the  following  persons  as  dele- 
gates to  the  Convention. 

John  Jay,  Richabd  Mobbis,  Robert  R.  Liv-tngston, 

John  Sloss  Hobabt,  James  Ddane,  Alexander  HAiin.TON, 

Richabd  Harrison,  Isaac  Roosevelt,  Nicholas  Low. 

1  The  heading  of  the  ttrat  number  read  aa  follows : 

For  the  "Independent  JoumaL" 

Thb    federalist,     No.     1. 

H>  tMt  iVopto  of  Iht  Slatt  of  jVew  York. 


40 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


We  flatter  ourselves  the  characters  proposed  will  uaite  the  suffrages  of  all  those  who 
sincerely  have  at  heart  "That  which  appears  to  be  the  greatest  interest  of  every  troe 
AmericaD — the  consolidation  of  oar  Union,  in  which  is  involved  our  prosperity,  feli- 
city, safety,  perhaps  our  national  e«iatence."  .  .  .  Those  who  have  in  view  the 
same  object  with  ourselves,  cannot  but  be  sensible  of  the  great  importance  of  una- 
nimity on  the  present  occasion,  and  will  consequently  be  on  their  guard  against  the 
artifices  which  already  begin  to  be  practised  for  the  purpose  of  dividing  them.  In 
supporting  the  present  nomination  let  One  and  All  he  onr  Motto,  It  is  not  only  of 
consequence  that  men  of  proper  characters  and  sentiments  should  be  chosen,  but  that 
the  sense  of  the  citizens  should  also  appear  in  the  choice.     This  will  give  weight  to 


FBDERAI,    CONSTITDTION. 


the  exertions  of  your  representatives,  and  manifest  to  the  world  that  n 

of  State  influence  and  State  interest  can  induce  the  Patriotic  and  Independent  Electors 

of  the  City  to  betray  the  cause  of  the  Union. 

By  Order  of  Ike  Meeting, 

Thoiias  Raxdaiaj,  Chairman. 
New  York,  April  8, 1788. 


This  ticket  was  elected  with  a  clean  sweep.  Jay  received  the  high- 
est number  of  votes,  or  only  one  hundred  and  one  less  than  the  total 
cast, —  2735  out  of  2836.  Hamilton,  Morris,  Hobart,  and  Livingston 
were  less  than  thirty  votes  behind.  The  highest  anti-federal  vote  was 
but  134.  But  the  upper  counties  were  overwhelmingly  anti-federalist; 
and  when  the  convention  met,  their  majority  out  of  fifty-seven  mem- 
bers was  found  to  range  from  twenty-five  to  thirty.  When  the  con- 
vention adjourned,  July  26,  after  deliberating  forty  days,  this  majority 


NEW-YORK    CITY    UNDER    AMEKICAN    CONTROL 


41 


had  been  reduced  to  a  minority.  The  convention  adopted  the  consti- 
tution by  a  majority  of  three  votes  —  a  result  due  almost  wholly  to 
the  abilities,  character,  personal  force,  and  effective  appeal  of  the  dele- 
gates from  New- York  city.  Hamilton,  Jay,  and  Livingston  bore  the 
honors  of  the  debate.^  In  dealing  with  this  whole  question  of  a 
stronger  government,  from  the  Annapolis  to  the  Poughkeepsie  con- 
vention, Hamilton's  services  were  the  most  conspicuous. 

Although  the  Poughkeepsie  convention  had  adopted  the  constitu- 
tion in  a  certain  sense  provisionally,  and  called  for  its  amendment  by 
a  new  national  convention,  the  final  ratification  was  binding,  and  the 
State  joined  the  circle  as 
the  "eleventh  pillar"  of 
the  Union.  This  result 
was  in  itself  a  triumph 
for  the  federalists,  and 
when  the  news  reached 
the  city,  on  Saturday 
evening,  July  26,  great 
was  the  rejoicing.  Men 
cheered,  bells  were  rung, 
and  impromptu  proces- 
sions were  formed  which 
marched  to  the  bouses 
of  the  several  delegates  "^""^  federal  banquet." 

to  dieer  again.  When  the  delegates  themselves  returned  to  town, 
they  were  personally  complimented  in  the  same  way,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  a  salute  of  eleven  guns  for  each  member.  "  In  short,"  says 
the  *'  Packet,"  "  a  general  joy  ran  through  the  whole  City,  and  sev- 
eral of  those  who  were  of  different  sentiments  drank  freely  of  the 
Federal  Bowl  and  declared  that  they  were  now  perfectly  reconciled 
to  the  new  Constitution."  The  result  was  received  in  Philadelphia 
with  "  a  glorious  peal  from  Christ  Church  bells." 

A  feature  and  expression  of  the  intense  interest  felt  throughout  the 
country  in  the  fate  of  the  constitution  were  the  popular  federal  pro- 


ljlfei®C_- 


1  RvpoTtliiK  tl>e  proceedtDgB  at  Poughkeepsie 
thf  Packet"  of  July  13,  1TB8,  nyg:  "We  are  in 
formed  that  on  Satorday  last  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ja;, 
Clianiwllor  LivingMou  and  Colonel  Hamilton, 
mllf  addmaed  themaelTes  to  our  State  cod' 
tioninamatfterly,  animated  and  pathetic  mani 
which.  It  1*  said,  made  aenalUe  impresHlonH  on 
Ibr  mindfl  of  nieh  anti-federal  members  who  hare 
not  fet  rmdered  their  eonception  entirely  ulloiin 
by  preconorived  prejiidie«i  ta  the  voice  of  truth." 

*  One  feature  of  the  eelebratioa,  as  mentioned 
Id  the  text,  was  a  irrand  banctnet,  at  the  Bayard 
eoontry^ioiue.  in  the  Tldnity  of  Orand  street  and 
the  Bowery.  Ccora  were  laid  for  no  lean  than  Ave 
thMuaod  peraona.     At  a  laUe  aomewhat  raised 


above  the  oUierB.  sat  the  Preaideat  and  members 
of  Congtess.  The  pavilion  under  which  this  great 
company  were  seated  terminated  Id  a  dome  over 
this  table,  and  here  stood  Fame  Boundinti  upon 
her  trumpet  the  beginning  of  a  new  era.  Around 
the  daU  upon  which  theiie  Heetti  of  honor  were 
placed,  ten  tablei  were  arranged  like  radii  of  a 
semicircle,  represenling  the  ten  States  which  had 
aiiopted  thp  Constitution,  Each  table  bore  an 
OMUtcheoD  inscribed  with  the  armn  and  names  of 
a  State ;  while  the  colors  of  the  French  Monarchy 
and  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  and  of  whatever  other 
nations  had  aided  or  flyrapathiied  with  the  Ameri- 
can cBuse,were  liberally  blended  with  the  brilliant 
"Stars  and  Stripes."  Editor. 


42  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

cessions  held  at  different  placog,  notably  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Charles- 
ton, and  New- York.  The  New- York  procession  was  the  last  and 
grandest.  It  was  held  July  23,  in  honor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
constitution  by  ten  States,  and  exceeded  all  previous  demonstrations 
in  the  country.  There  were  over  six  thousand  men  in  the  line,  repre- 
senting all  degrees,  professions,  trades,  and  interests.  Each  one  of 
the  ten  divisions  included  representations,  flags,  designs,  and  emblems 
of  commerce  and  labor.  There  were  foresters,  plowmen,  farmers, 
gardeners,  millers,  bakers,  brewers,  distillers;  coopers,  butchers,  tan- 
ners, cordwainers;  carpenters,  farriers,  peruke-makers  and  hair-dress- 
ers; whitesmiths,  blacksmiths,  cutlers,  masons,  bricklayers,  painters, 
glaziers,  cabinet-makers,  upholsterers,  civil  engineers;  shipwrights, 
joiners,  boat-builders,  sailmakers,  riggers ;  printers,  binders,  cartmen, 
coachmakers,  pewterers,  goldsmiths  and  silversmiths,  tobacconists, 
chocolate-makers ;  saddlers,  harness-makers,  founders ;  lawyers,  phy- 
sicians, professors,  students,  societies,  the  Cincinnati,  merchants  and 
clergymen.  Near  the  center  of  the  procession  the  fuU-rigged  man-of- 
war  or  "federal  ship"  Hamilton,  carrying  thirty-two  guns,  with  a  crew 
of  thirty  men,  complete  in  all  its  appointments,  and  drawn  by  twelve 
horses,  attracted  a  continuous  gaze  of  admiration  from  the  throngs 
along  the  streets.  Commodore  Nicholson  commanded.  The  costumes, 
dress,  implements,  and  general  paraphernalia  of  the  exhibitors  and 
participants  made  the  whole  immensely  pleasing  and  imposing.  The 
entire  day  was  given  up  to  the  festivities ;  for,  after  the  parade  had 
passed  from  the  common  down  Broadway  and  around  through  the 
streets  on  the  east  side,  it  moved  out  into  the  Bowery  to  Bayard's 
grounds,  where  a  temporary  building,  consisting  of  three  grand  pavil- 
ions, had  been  erected  for  a  civic  and  popular  feast.  Tables  were  set 
for  five  thousand  persons.  We  are  told,  in  the  carefully  prepared 
account  of  the  procession  published  later,  that,  "as  this  splendid, 
novel  and  interesting  exhibition  moved  along,  an  unexpected  silence 
reigned  throughout  the  City,  which  gave  a  solemnity  to  the  whole 
transaction  suited  to  the  singular  importance  of  the  cause.  No  noise 
was  heard  but  the  deep  rumbling  of  carriage-wheels,  with  the  neces- 
sary salutes  and  signals.  A  glad  serenity  enlivened  every  counte- 
nance, while  the  joyous  expectation  of  national  prosperity  triumphed 
in  every  bosom." 

Yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  while  the  citizens  of  New -York 
were  thus  celebrating  the  forming  of  the  nation,  their  own  State  was 
not  yet  a  part  thereof ;  it  was  three  days  after  this  ere  they  knew 
that  the  constitution  had  been  adopted  at  Poughkeepsie.  An  elabor- 
ate ode  published  at  the  time,  in  commemoration  of  the  services  and 
in  recognition  of  the  personal  greatness  of  Washington,  Franklin, 
and  Hamilton,  expressed  the  prevailing  sentiment  and  hopes  of 


NEW-YOEK    CITY    UNDER    AMERICAN    CONTROL 

the  people  of  New-York.    To  Hamiltoii.it  addressed  itself  with  t 

Hoes : 

And  thou, 

Out  City's  boast,  to  whom  so  much  we  owe. 
In  whom,  the  last  and  yoougest  of  the  three, 
No  common  share  of  excellence  we  see, 
In  every  grateful  heart  thou  hast  a  place, 
Nor  time  nor  circumstance  can  e'er  erase  I 
All  hail,  ye  champions  in  your  country's  Cause! 
Boon  shall  that  country  ring  with  your  applause. 


Discord  shall  cease  and  perfect  Union  reign, 
And  all  confess  that  sweetly  powerful  chain, 
The  FetPral  system,  which  at  once  unites 
The  Thirteen  States  and  all  the  people's  rigbtft. 

Under  this  inspiration,  with  its  union  feeling  deepened  by  the 
course  of  events,  the  city  now  entered,  in  the  year  1789,  into  the 
constitutional  period  of  its  history — the  period  of  nationality  and 
of  commercial  prosperity. 


DUTCH  MEDALS  ON  THE  AMERICAN  EEVOLUTION. 

The  medals  of  which  representations  appear  on  this  and  tbe  next  pa^  are  preserved 
in  the  Boyal  Mnaeum  at  The  Hague,  Holland.  By  reason  of  their  interest  to  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  our  Minister  Plenipotentiary  there,  Samuel  R.  Thayer,  Esq.,  re- 
quested and  was  courteously  granted  permission  to  have  copies  of  each  medal  struck 
off  in  zinc.  These  he  sent  to  the  Department  of  State  at  Washington,  D.  C,  accom- 
panied with  A  despatch  to  Secretary  Blaine,  giving  an  historical  and  descriptive  ac- 
count of  each  medal,  and  asking  the  privilege  of  presenting  one  set  to  the  department, 
and  one  to  each  of  several  historical  societies  of  tbe  country.  During  his  recent  visit 
to  the  United  States,  Ur.  Thayer  presented  the  editor  of  this  work  with  a  set  of  tbe 
medals.  The  description  of  them, 
as  cited  from  tbe  despatch  to  the 
State  Department,  b  as  follows: 

I.  "The  first  medal  in  thi 
series  referred  to  was  de«gned  to  I 
commemorate  tbe  reoc^nitioa  of  ' 
American  Independence  by  tbe 
Province  of  FUesland  on  the  26th 
of  February,  1782,  a  description 
of  which  is  as  follows:  On  the  obverse  side  is  a  male  figure  personating  a  Fririan 
in  ancient  costume,  joining  right  hands  with  an  American,  represented  by  a  maiden 
in  aboriginal  dress,  standing  on  a  scepter  with  her  left  band  resting  on  a  shield 
bearing  the  inscription  [in  Dutch];  'The  United  States  of  North  America';  while 
with  his  left  band  the  Frisian  signals  his  rejection  of  an  ohve  branch  offered  by  a 
Bnton,  represented  by  a  muden  accompanied  by  a  tiger,  tbe  left  band  of  the  maiden 
resting  on  a  ahield  having  the  inscription;  'Great  Britain.*  On  the  reverse  side 
is  tbe  figure  of  an  arm  projecting  from  tbe  clouds  holding  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 


44  mSTOEY    OF    ITEW-YOBE 

province  of  FrieBland,  under  which  is  the  inBoiiption  [in  DntchJ;  *To  the  States  of 
Friesl&nd  ia  grateful  reeo^nition  of  the  Acts  of  the  Asaembly,  in  Febrnary  and 
ApiH,  1782,  by  the  Citizens' Club  of  Leea  warden.  Liberty  oMd  Zeol,'"  II.  "The  second 
medal  in  the  series  was  struak  off  by  order  of  the  States  General  in  commemoration  of 

its  rect^nition  of  the  Indepen- 
dence of  the  United  States.  On 
the  obverse  side  of  the  medal 
will  be  found  the  United 
States  and  the  Netherlands, 
represented  by  two  maidens 
equipped  for  war,  with  right 
hands  joined  over  a  burning 
altar.  The  Dutch  maiden  is 
placing  an  emblem  of  freedom  on  the  head  of  the  American,  whose  right  foot,  at- 
tached to  a  broken  chain,  rests  on  England,  represented  by  a  tiger.  In  the  field  of 
the  medal  are  the  words :  '  Libera  Soror.  Solemni  Deer.  Agn.  19  Apr.  MDCCT.XXXTL' 
On  the  reverse  side  is  the  figure  of  a  tmicom  lying  prostrate  before  a  &te«p  rock 
against  which  he  has  broken  his  horn;  over  the  figure  are  the  words:  'Tyrannis 
virtute  repulsa,'  and  underneath  the  same  the  words:  *Sab  Qalliie  aDspiciis.'"  m. 
"  The  third  medal  in  the  series  was  made  to  conunemorate  the  Treaty  of  Commerce 
and  Navigation  entered  into  between  the  United  States  and  the  Netherlands  the  7th 
of  October,  1782.  On  its  obverse  side  stands  in  relief  a  monumental  needle  bearing 
the  Amsterdam  Coat  of  Arms, 
upon  which  a  wreath  is  being 
placed  by  a  figure  representing 
Mercury;  underneath  the  coat 
of  arms  is  a  parchment  bearing 
the  inscription:  'Pro.Dro.Mvs.' 
France,  symbolized  by  a  crowing 
cock,  stands  beride  the  needle 
pointing  with  a  conjurer's  wand 
to  a  horn  of  plenty  aud  an  an- 
chor. Over  all  are  the  words:  '  Justitiam  et  non  tenmere  divos.'  On  the  reverse  side 
b  an  image  of  Fame  riding  on  a  cloud  and  carrying  the  arms  of  the  Netherlands  and 
the  United  States,  surmounted  by  a  naval  crown ;  the  figures  are  covered  by  the  fol- 
lowii^  words:  'Faustissimo  foedere  jimctae  JMe  VII.  Ootob  MDCCLXXXII.' " 


CHAPTER  II 

NEW--SORK  THE  FEDERAL  CAPITAL,  AND  WASHINGTON'S  FIRST  TERM 

1789-1793 

i  HE  fourth  day  of  March,  1789, — the  day  set  for  the  assem- 
liling  of  the  first  Congress, — found  the  city  of  New-York 
rith  about  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  aUve  to 
tlie  honor  and  advantages  of  being  the  first  national  cap- 
ital, but  had  not  been  given  sufBcient  notice  of  the  approaching  dig- 
nity to  make  itself  at  once  perfectly  presentable  for  the  inauguration. 
At  this  distance  of  time  there  is,  for  the  historic  imagination,  a  certain 
picturesqueness  in  the  contrast  between  the  splendor  of  the  presiden- 
tial pageant  and  the  antiquaiian  frame  in  which  it  was  set.  The 
streets,  poorly  paved  and  sparsely  lighted;  the  uncleanly  wharves;  the 
freedom  of  the  city  enjoyed  by  pigs  and  dogs ;  the  ragged  rows  of 
wooden  or  brick-faced  houses ;  the  blackened  ruins  lingering  from 
the  great  fire  of,  1778 ;  dilapidated  Fort  George,  used  for  stables,  and 
its  filthy  earthwork,  the  Battery:  these  and  other  dismal  features 
suddenly  became  conscious  of  themselves  on  the  eve  of  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  republic.  A  sardonic  bit  of  gaiety  was  visible  in  the 
Chinese  pagoda  enshrining  the  gallows,  which  stood  between  the 
jail  and  the  almshouse,  with  stocks  and  whipping-post  adjacent,  in  a 
beautiful  grove,  where  now  stands  the  City  Hall.  It  was  to  be  a  good 
many  years  before  the  laws  could  become  conscious  of  their  barbarism. 
John  Shelvey,  the  public  whipper,  had  enough  lashing  to  do  for  his 
$87.50  per  annum ;  ten  different  offenses  were  punished  with  death ; 
the  slave-market  was  active.  There  were  more  than  two  thousand 
slaves  in  the  city.  "  The  sewerage  system  of  the  City,"  says  Mr. 
Thomas  E.  V.  Smith,  "  consisted  of  the  negro  slaves,  a  long  line  of 
whom  might  be  seen  late  at  night  wending  their  way  to  the  river, 
each  with  a  tub  on  his  head."'  The  inevitable  accompaniment  of  sla- 
very, a  large  pauper  population,  was  represented  in  crowded  quarters 
with  many  pallid  and  barefoot  women. 

Amid  these  somber  things  stood  a  few  mansions,  familiar  to  us  in 
old  pictures,  with  a  dignity  and  charm  of  their  own.    In  them  dwelt 

1  ■-  The  City  of  New  To*  In  the  jeai  of  Washington's  Inaaguration,  1789,"  p.  9. 


46  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  gentlemen  who  did  their  best  to  improve  the  city,  and  among 
other  things  generously  raised  thirty-two  thousand  dollars  to  turn 
the  old  City  Hall  into  a  capitol.  This  edifice  (where  the  subtrea- 
sury  now  stands)  was  a  monument  of  both  British  vandalism  and 
British  benevolence.  In  it  had  been  the  public  library  whose  nucleus 
was  (as  has  been  related  on  a  previous  page)  of  English  origin  (1700), 
and  which  during  the  British  occupation  was  plundered  and  scattered. 
In  1789  the  charter  was  confirmed,  and  the  Society  Library,  now 
located  in  University  Place,  founded  anew.  The  State  and  municipal 
authorities  were  unwearied  in  their  services  for  the  emergency.  The 
city  records  —  carefully  kept,  and  now  politely  shown  to  the  investi- 
gator —  should  be  printed  as  an  instruction  to  modem  councils  in  the 
amount  of  good  work  that  may  be  achieved  in  a  brief  time.  It  is  not 
quite  pleasant,  indeed,  to  find  that  these  extraordinary  expenses  were 
met  by  lotteries,  even  though  the  highest  prize  of  the  first  (three 
thousand  pounds,  a  pound  then  being  equal  to  $2.50)  was  won  by  two 
poor  girls.  And  it  is  sad  to  know  that  although  the  public-spirited 
gentlemen  who  advanced  thirty-two  thousand  dollars  were  repaid,  the 
artist  who  planned  and  superintended  the  work  was  never  paid  at  all, 
though  mainly  by  his  own  fault.  This  was  Major  Pierre  L'Enfant,  a 
French  engineer,  who  in  the  American  Revolution  had  been  an  aide 
of  Baron  Steuben.  On  October  12,  1789,  the  common  council,  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  major's  architectural  and  decorative  services, 
conferred  on  him  the  freedom  of  the  city,  and  ten  acres  near  the  city, 
in  the  region  where  now  Third  Avenue  crosses  Sixty-eighth  street. 
It  was  a  remote  territory,  and  Major  L'Enfant  declined  such  poor 
compensation.  He  desired  money,  but  scorned  the  $750  offered  him, 
and  in  the  end  got  nothing;  which  was  a  pity,  for  few  foreign 
names  stand  so  well  in  our  national  history  as  that  of  Major  L'Enfant. 
He  came  to  America  in  1777,  fought  gallantly  throughout  the  war, 
was  severely  wounded  in  1779  at  Savannah,  and  received  the  rank  of 
major  in  1783.  He  is  credited  with  having  designed  the  steeple  of 
St.  Paul's  (New-York) ;  he  did  design  the  medal  of  the  Cincinnati ; 
and  assisted  in  planning  Washington  city.  He  died  June  14, 1825,  in 
Prince  George's  County,  Maryland. 

Federal  Hall  possessed  considerable  beauty.  It  had  a  grand  ves- 
tibule, paved  with  marble,  with  arches  and  pillars  in  front;  the 
senate  chamber  had  an  azure  ceiling  resplendent  with  the  sun  and 
thirteen  stars  (though  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island  had  not  yet 
entered  the  Union) ;  the  vice-president's  chair  was  under  a  canopy  of 
crimson  damask,  above  it  the  United  States  arms.  From  this  chamber 
three  windows  opened  on  a  balcony  overlooking  Wall  street.  The 
hall  of  representatives  was  larger,  and  had  symbolic  decorations; 
but  the  plainness  of  the  speaker's  chair,  compared  with  the  canopied 


NEW-YOKK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  47 

seat  of  the  vice-president,  and  other  items,  were  enough  to  make 
the  building  symbolical  to  the  anti-federalists  of  aristocracy.  One 
party  declared  it  the  finest  building  in  the  world,  the  other  described 
it  as  a  mongrel  affair  paid  for  by  lottery.  On  May  15, 1812,  Mr,  Jin- 
niogs  bought  for  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  the  materials 
of  the  edifice  which,  twenty-two  years  before,  had  been  repaired  at  a 
cost  of  over  sixty-five  thousand  dollars. 

On  February  2  the  corporation  was  authorized  to  raise  by  taxation 
six  thousand  pounds  for  the  poor,  the  street  improvements,  and  the 
bridewell ;  also  four  thousand  pounds  for  watchmen  and  street-lamps. 
On  February  28  regulations  for 
ferries  were  formed  and  passed 
by  the  legislature.    There  were 
to  be  boats  always  ready  on 
both  sides  of  the  rivers,  each 
passenger  to   pay  two   pence, 
infants  free.     Women  were  al- 
lowed to  carry  as  much  as  their 
aprons  could  hold  of  the  articles 
scheduled,  as  nearly  all  articles 
were.     Meantime  the  common 

councU  attempted  to  clear  the  ^^  ^^^„^^„  ^ouse. 

streets  of  pigs  by  their  forfeit- 
ure if  found  therein ;  grappled  with  footpads ;  repaired  the  fire- 
engines,  attended  to  the  markets,  ordering  that  they  should  be 
opened  daily  except  on  Sundays;  increased  penalties  on  unwhole- 
some provisions;  in  fact,  did  all  that  such  public-spirited  and  com- 
petent men  as  Mayor  James  Duane,  Recorder  Richard  Varick,  SherifE 
Robert  Boyd,  and  Chamberlain  Daniel  Phoenix  were  expected  to  do 
in  view  of  the  great  emergency. 

Edmund  Randolph,  the  first  attorney-general,  having  come  on  from 
Williamsbui^,  Virginia,  in  advance  of  his  family,  writes  to  bis  wife ; 
*'  I  have  a  house  at  a  mile  and  a  half  or  thereabouts  from  the  Federal 
Hall ;  that  is,  from  the  most  public  part  of  the  city.  It  is,  in  fact,  in 
the  country,  is  airy,  has  seven  rooms,  is  well  finished  and  gentleman- 
like. The  rent,  £75  our  money  {$250).  Good  water  is  difllcult  to  be 
found  in  this  place,  and  the  inhabitants  are  obliged  to  receive  water 
for  tea,  and  other  purposes  which  do  not  admit  brackish  water,  from 
hogsheads  brought  about  every  day  in  drays.  At  our  house  there  is 
an  excellent  pump  of  fresh  water.  I  am  resolved  against  any  com- 
pany of  form,  and  to  live  merely  a  private  life.  I  confess  I  [torn]  our 
hoose  in  Williamsburg  [torn]  pleasing  to  me  than  [torn]."  This  defi- 
ciency in  the  water-supply  was  formidable.  The  city  depended  chiefiy 
on  a  pamp  in  Chatham  street  fed  from  a  pond  (the  "Collect")  where 


48  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  Tombs  prison  now  stands — a  pond  of  uncanny  reputation  in  New- 
York  folk-lore.  Early  in  the  year  1789  a  correspondence  took  place 
between  the  common  council  and  the  State  legislature  concerning 
the  invention  of  Rumsey  for  supplying  towns  with  water.  It  was 
proposed  by  the  Rumseyan  Society  of  Philadelphia  to  apply  the 
invention  to  New- York.  The  steamboat  which  Washington  saw 
launched  by  James  Rumsey  on  the  Potomac  was  little  thought  of 
compared  with  his  steam-pump;  but  the  city  could  not  afford  the 
expense  of  it,  and  the  "  tea-water''  carts  continued  their  rounds. 

The  ambition  of  men  in  1789  was  provincial.  They  looked  upon  a 
migration  to  New- York  as  expatriation.  Remote  congressmen  came 
reluctantly,  and  their  complaints  after  arrival  savor  of  homesickness. 
"  This  town,"  grumbles  Governor  Page,  "is  not  half  as  large  as  Phila- 
delphia, nor  in  any  manner  to  be  compared  to  it  for  beauty  and 
elegance.  Philadelphia,  I  am  well  assured,  has  more  inhabitants  than 
Boston  and  New  York  together.  The  streets  are  badly  paved,  dirty 
and  narrow,  as  well  as  crooked  and  filled  up  with  a  strange  variety  of 
wooden,  stone,  and  brick  buildings,  and  full  of  hogs  and  mud.  The 
College,  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  the  Hospital  are  elegant  buildings. 
The  Federal  Hall  in  Wall  street  is  also  elegant."  Senator  Maclay,  of 
Pennsylvania,  finds  the  streets  ripped  up,  the  climate  variable,  the 
wealthy  citizens  inhospitable,  the  people  vile;  but  he  wrot^  very  dif- 
ferently when  he  was  going  away  next  year. 

March  4,  the  day  appointed  for  the  opening  of  Congress,  had 
brought  to  New- York  eight  senators  and  thirteen  representatives. 
From  day  to  day  the  two  chambers  met  only  to  adjourn.  The  pro- 
longed failure  to  obtain  a  quorum  was  disheartening  to  Washington. 
"  The  delay,"  he  writes  to  Knox,  "  is  inauspicious,  to  say  the  least  of 
it,  and  the  world  must  condemn  it."  On  April  1  the  house  had  a 
quorum  of  thirty,  and  elected  Frederick  Augustus  Muhlenberg,  of 
Pennsylvania,  speaker.  On  April  4  twelve  senators  appeared,  and 
John  Laugdon,  of  New  Hampshire,  was  chosen  presiding  officer. 
Washington  received  the  whole  sixty-nine  electoral  votes  for  presi- 
dent, and  John  Adams  thirty-four  for  vice-president.  Charles  Thom- 
son was  sent  to  inform  Washington,  and  Sylvanus  Bourne  to  inform 
Adams,  of  the  result.  Three  daj-^  lat^r  a  noisy  conflict  took  place  in 
New- York  city  and  Westchester  County,  which  made  one  congres- 
sional district,  for  this  seat,  in  which  the  federalist,  John  Lawrance 
(lawyer),  was  elected  over  John  Broome  (merchant).  The  city  vote 
for  Lawrance  was  2255  against  280;  in  Westchester  County  163 
against  92.  Tlio  anti-federalists,  as  they  were  called,  could  have 
shown  larger  niunbers  against  a  less  popular  man.  For  this  first 
congressman  of  New- York  city  had  been  on  Washington's  staff  as 
judge-advocate  in  the  Revolution;   had  ser\'ed  in  the  Continental 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  49 

Congress  (1785-87),  and  was  a  State  senator  at  the  time  of  his  election 
to  Congress  in  1789.  John  Lawrance,  a  native  of  England,  who  came 
to  this  country  at  seventeen,  was  subsequently  United  States  circuit 
judge  and  United  States  senator  (1796-1800).  He  died  in  New- York, 
November  7,  1810. 

John  Adams  left  Boston,  April  13,  and  was  met  on  the  20th  at 
Kingsbridge  by  members  of  Congress  and  a  civic  escort  of  Light 
Horse  (Captain  Stakes),  his  arrival  being  announced  by  guns  at  the 
Battery.  He  was  escorted  to  the  residence  of  John  Jay,  133  Broad- 
way, where  he  was  for  some  time  a  guest.  On  the  21st,  Senators 
Caleb  Strong,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Ealph  Izard,  of  South  Carolina, 
conducted  Adams  to  Federal  Hall.  Adams's  coachman  assumed  ma- 
jestic airs  toward  the  common  folk,  and  unluckily  affronted  some 
youths  of  Columbia  College,  who  happened  to  be  Southerners — John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke,  and  his  brother  Richard.  Adams  was  met  at 
the  senate  door  by  Langdon,  and  conducted  to  the  chair,  where  he 
made  an  unprepared  address.  The  constitution  having  only  pro- 
vided a  presidential  oath,  neither  the  vice-president  nor  the  senators 
took  any  oath  until  June  3. 

On  March  30  Washington  wrote  to  Madison,  in  New-York,  that  he 
had  declined  an  invitation  to  stay  with  Governor  Clinton, — "As  I 
mean  to  avoid  private  families  on  the  one  hand,  so  on  the  other  I  am 
not  anxious  to  be  placed  early  in  a  situation  for  entertaining."  The 
president  was  already  beset  by  oflSce-seekers,  all  politely  put  off,  and 
was  anxious  to  incur  no  personal  obligations.  As  he  declined  Gov- 
ernor Clinton's  in\dtation,  so  he  declined  that  of  John  Jay.  Congress 
requested  Mr.  Osgood  to  prepare  the  Franklin  House,  which  had  been 
used  by  presidents  of  Congress,  for  Washington's  reception. 

On  April  16  the  president  left  Mount  Vernon, — "with  feelings," 
as  he  wrote  General  Knox,  "  not  unlike  those  of  a  culprit  who  is  go- 
ing to  his  place  of  execution,"  —  and,  retarded  by  ovations,  a  week 
later  entered  New-York.  Among  those  who  crowded  around  Wash- 
ington, on  his  triumphal  progress  through  Philadelphia,  was  a  newly 
naturalized  mechanician  from  England,  John  Hall.  In  a  letter  of  his, 
now  before  me,  to  a  friend  in  England,  Hall  says :  "  The  General,  now 
our  King  by  the  name  of  George  the  First,  has  passed  through  this 
City  to  New  York  in  the  most  popular  manner.  I  hope  your  King 
will  never  m6re  cry  out  on  the  distraction  of  these  colonies.  It  has 
come  home  to  him  with  a  vengeance.  And  the  Bishop  of  Canterbury 
says  the  Lord  has  smitten  him  for  the  sins  of  the  people !  I  hope 
neither  thee  nor  thine  are  concerned  in  the  affair:  if  you  are, the  Lord 
mend  you !  The  prayer  from  the  synagogue  is  more  sublime  than 
the  above  Canterbury  tale."  This  young  radical  could  little  imagine 
the  historic  coincidence  marking  that  St.  George's  Day,  April  23,  in 

Vol.  nL—  4. 


50 


mSTOEY    OP    NEW-TTORK 


England  and  America.  While  George  in.  was  moving  in  grand  pro- 
cession to  St.  Paul's,  London,  to  offer  thanksgiving  for  the  restoration 
of  his  sanity,  the  American  George  was  moving  toward  a  St.  Paul's 
in  New-York,  where  thanksgivings  were  also  to  be  offered.     The 


PBEBIDIMT    WASHINOTOK' 


widely  parted  processions  moved  to  the  same  anthem,  so  far  as  the 
music  was  concerned.  Beside  the  decorated  barge  on  which  Wash- 
ington crossed  to  the  city  sailed  a  sloop  on  which  a  large  choir  of  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies  sang  the  ode  prepared  by  Mr.  Low,  contaihing  the 
much-admired  lines : 

Par  be  the  din  of  anns, 

Henceforth  the  Olive's  chamu 

Shan  War  preclude : 

These  shores  a  head  shall  ovd, 

Unsullied  by  a  throne, — 

Oar  much  loved  Washington, 

The  Great,  the  Oood! 

If  in  the  spectators  witnessing  the  London  procession  there  were  mis- 
givings that  the  king's  recovery  might  be  followed  by  the  nation's 
relapse,  similar  misgivings  were  not  absent  from  many  who  witnessed 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  51 

the  entrance  of  the  unanimously  elected  president.  But  they  were 
strongest  in  his  own  breast.  In  his  diary  he  wrote:  "The  display 
of  boats  which  attended  and  joined  us  on  this  occasion,  some  with 
vocal  and  some  with  instrumental  music  on  board ;  the  decorations  of 
the  ships,  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  loud  acclamations  of  the  people 
which  rent  the  skies,  as  I  passed  along  the  wharves,  filled  my  mind 
with  sensations  as  painful  (considering  the  reverse  of  the  scene,  which 
may  be  the  case  after  all  my  labors  to  do  good)  as  they  are  pleasing.'' 

The  president  had  been  received  on  the  Jersey  shore  by  a  com- 
mittee of  Congress  and  representatives  of  the  State  and  city.  These 
were  distributed  on  six  barges,  the  gay  fleet  being  under  command 
of  Commodore  Nicholson.  The  president's  barge,  fifty  feet  long,  hung 
with  red  curtains,  festooned,  was  rowed  by  thirteen  pilots  in  white. 
The  display  of  decorated  ships,  their  yards  manned,  the  salutes  from 
foreign  flags,  the  thunder  of  guns,  the  Spanish  man-of-war  Galveston 
saddenly  displaying  the  twenty-eight  colors  of  all  nations,  the  shores 
crowded  with  gaily  dressed  people,  the  companies  with  their  banners, 
made  this  the  most  memorable  pageant  in  the  early  history  of  New- 
Yoilc  Washington  was  at  times  overcome  with  emotion,  especially 
when  he  stepped  on  the  carpeted  wharf  (Murray's)  near  the  foot  of 
Wall  street;  for  there  he  was  met  by  old  comrades,  who  had  struggled 
in  **  the  times  that  tried  men's  souls,"  and  who  could  share  with  him 
the  joy  of  this  consummation  of  their  sufferings  and  courage.  The 
president  was  dressed  in  the  same  "  blue-and-buff  "  which  John  Adams 
remarked  when  the  Virginia  colonel  appeared  in  Congress,  before  he 
was  made  commander.  It  had  then  no  martial  signiflcance,  such  as 
some  historians  have  ascribed  to  it ;  it  was  the  uniform  in  which  he 
had  served  his  king,  and  was  still  ready  to  serve  him  if  he  were  faith- 
ful to  freedom  and  justice.  But  time  had  given  the  costume  historic 
meaning :  for  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  lovers  of  liberty  in  England 
were  called  "  the  Blue-and-Buffs." 

The  president  was  welcomed  at  the  wharf  by  the  governor  and 
State  and  municipal  officers,  the  whole  military  and  civic  resources  of 
the  city  being  drawn  on  for  the  grand  procession  which  accompanied 
the  president.  The  French  and  Spanish  ambassadors  rode  in  their 
carriages,  in  homage  to  the  president,  who  was  on  foot:  weary  of  riding, 
he  declined  the  carriage  awaiting  him.  The  procession  escorted  him 
to  the  Franklin  House  (3  Cherry  street),  where  the  president  found 
but  brief  repose,  for  he  presently  went  off  to  dine  with  the  governor.* 

A  letter  from  Sarah  Robinson  to  Kitty  F.  Wistar,-  dated  "New-York, 
30th  of  the  fourth  month  1789,"  gives  an  account  of  the  arrange- 

i  In  the  De  Peyster  House,  Queen  street,  nearly  lin  House,  married  to  Rowland  Robinson,  a  mer- 

opposito  Cedar.  chant  of  New-York.   The  Kitty  F.  Wistar  to  whom 

3  The  Sarah  Bobinsofn  mentioned  in  the  text  was  the  letter  was  addressed  was  a  daughter  of  Mary 

adaughterof  a  brother  of  the  owner  of  the  Frank-  Franklin  and  Caspar  Wistar,  of  Pennsylvania. 


52 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


ments  made  in  the  Franklin  mansion  for  the  president  and  his  family: 
"Great  rejoiceing  in  New- York  on  the  arrival  of  General  Washington; 
an  elegant  barge  decorated  with  an  awning  of  satin,  twelve  oarsmen 
dressed  in  white  frocks  and  blue  ribbons,  went  down  to  E.  Town 
[Elizabeth  Point]  last  fourth  day  [Wednesday]  to  bring  him  up. . . . 
Previous  to  his  coming,  Uncle  Walter's  house  in  Cherry  street  was 
taken  for  him,  and  every  room  furnished  in  the  most  elegant  manner. 
Aunt  Osgood  and  Lady  Kitty  Duer  had  the  whole  management  of  it. 
I  went  the  morning  before  the  General's  arrival  to  look  at  it.  The  best 
of  furniture  in  every  room,  and  the  greatest  quantity  of  plate  and 
china  I  ever  saw;  the  whole  of  the  first  and  second  stories  is  papered 
and  the  floors  covered  with  the  richest  kind  of  Turkey  and  Wilton 
carpets.  The  house  did  honor  to  my  Aunts  and  Lady  Kitty,  they 
spared  no  pains  nor  expense  on  it.  Thou  must  know  that  Uncle  Os- 
good and  Duer  were  appointed  to  procure  a  house  and  furnish  it, 
accordingly  they  pitched  on  their  wives  as  being  likely  to  do  it  better. 
I  have  not  yet  done,  my  dear.  Is  thee  not  almost  tired  T  The  evening 
after  His  Excellency  arrived,  there  was  a  general  illumination  took 
place,  except  among  friends  [Quakers]  and  those  styled  Anti-Feder- 
aliste.  The  latter's  windows  suffered  some,  thou  may  imagine.  As 
soon  as  the  General  has  sworn  in,  a  grand  exhibition  of  fireworks  is 
to  be  displayed,  which,  it  is  expected,  is  to  be  to-morrow.  There  is 
scarcely  anything  talked  about  now  but  General  Washington  and  the 
Palace.'*  *    The  latter  term  was  no  doubt  a  republican  sarcasm. 

From  the  time  of  the  president's  arrival  until  his  oath  of  oflSce,  his 
time  was  occupied  with  receptions.  Meanwhile  Congress  had  been 
torn  with  dissensions  as  to  how  he  should  be  received,  and  with  what 
title,  the  disputes  being  continued  to  the  very  moment  of  the  presi- 
dent's appearance  at  their  door.  Old  Fort  George  had  thundered  its 
salute  —  nearly  its  last  —  to  the  sunrise  of  April  30,  the  church  bells 
had  rung,  prayers  had  been  offered.  At  noon  the  oflScial  escort  had 
gathered  at  the  president's  door.  Congressmen,  cavalry,  artillery, 
grenadiers,  light  infantry,  Scot<3h  Highlanders,  German  companies, 
gentlemen  in  carriages,  people  on  foot,  made  a  vast  procession,  which 
at  one  o'clock  formed  an  avenue  up  to  the  Federal  Hall,  through 
which  Washington  passed  in  his  carriage,  in  which  also  sat  Colonel 
Humphreys   and  Tobias  Lear.     Arriving  in   the  senate  chamber. 


The  Franklin  House  became  the  property  of  Sam- 
uel Osgood^  the  postmaster-general,  through  his 
marriage  with  the  widow  of  the  owner.  Walter 
Franklin.  Hence  arises  the  **Aunt  Osgood"  re- 
ferred to  in  the  letter.  This  lady  was  a  daughter 
of  the  Quaker  Daniel  Bowne,  of  Long  Island. 

Editor. 
1  The  original  is  in  possession  of  Admiral  Frank- 
lin, U.  S.  N.y  who  favored  the  editor  with  a  copy. 
The  barge,  so  beautiful  in  New-York,  was  seen 


in  distant  re^ons  as  a  dark  corsair,  being  identi- 
fied by  rumor  as  the  '' Federal  Ship  Hamilton'' 
carried  through  the  streets  in  the  previous  year, 
on  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  when  the 
riots  occurred.  That  the  anti-federalists  in  the 
city  had  not  quite  recovered  their  good  humor 
was  shown  by  their  dark  windows.  The  common 
council  had  (April  22)  especially  recommended 
illuminations  between  7  and  9  p.  m..  and  ordered  all 
bells  to  be  rung. 


^siassiissijfe^i*' 


f  II  W  i 


54  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Washington  passed  up,  bowing  to  the  members,  to  a  seat  between 
the  vice-president  (right)  and  the  speaker  (left). 

The  statue  of  Washington  at  the  subtreasury  has  for  its  pedestal 
a  stone  said  to  be  that  on  which  he  stood  while  taking  the  oath.  This 
is  all  that  remains  of  the  edifice  from  whose  balcony  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  read  in  1776,  where  the  Continental  Congress 
had  last  sat,  and  the  new  United  States  government  began.  There  is 
a  legend  that  just  before  the  oath  was  administered,  it  was  discovered 
that  there  was  no  Bible  in  Federal  Hall,  and  that  Chancellor  Eobert 
R.  Livingston,  grand  master  of  freemasons,  despatched  a  messenger 
to  bring  one  from  St.  John's  Lodge.  Washington  wore  his  sword^ 
and  was  dressed  in  clothing  of  American  manufacture;  his  matal 
buttons  bore  eagles,  each  cuff-button  thirteen  stars.  It  was  not  his 
fault  that  he  had  to  kiss  a  London  Bible  (1767)  containing  a  por- 
trait of  George  II.  On  the  balcony  many  of  the  chief  men  of  the 
nation  stood  beside  him.  Hamilton  observed  the  scene  from  the 
window  of  his  house,  nearly  opposite.  The  streets  and  the  roofs 
were  thronged.  The  president  was  overcome  at  the  enthusiasm,  and 
laid  his  hand  upon  his  breast  in  token  of  helplessness  to  address  the 
multitude.  When  he  had  kissed  the  book,  the  chancellor  proclaimed 
to  the  pectple,  "  It  is  done  I  ^  then  cried,  "  Long  live  George  Washing- 
ton, President  of  the  United  States  I "  A  flag  raised  to  the  cupola  of 
Federal  Hall  signaled  the  battery ;  its  thunder  of  guns  was  followed 
by  bells  throughout  the  city,  and  universal  shouts.  After  the  presi- 
dent had  returned  to  the  senate  chamber,  and  his  inaugural  address 
been  there  delivered, —  with  an  awkwardness  not  unbecoming  a  man 
of  deeds, —  all  repaired  to  St.  Paul's  Chm'ch,  where  services  were  con- 
ducted by  Bishop  Samuel  Provoost,  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  New- 
York.  Earlier  in  the  day  services  were  also  held  in  the  churches  of 
some  of  the  other  denominations. 

A  profound  impression  was  made  by  the  passage  in  Washington's 
inaugural  address  which  declared  his  intention  to  continue  the  course 
he  had  adopted  while  in  military  service,  of  receiving  no  payment. 
This  is  the  more  remarkable  as  Washington  was  at  the  time  in  pecu- 
niary straits.  He  was  compelled  to  borrow  of  Captain  Richard  Con- 
way six  hundred  pounds  to  pay  his  debts  in  Virginia  and  go  on  to 
his  inauguration.  He  receded  from  this  resolution,  but  his  declara- 
tion flew  over  the  world.  Thomas  Paine  proudly  proclaimed  it  in 
London,  and  remarks  in  his  "Rights  of  Man":  "The  character  and 
services  of  this  gentleman  are  suflicient  to  put  all  those  men  called 
kings  to  shame.  While  they  are  receiving  from  the  sweat  and  labors 
of  mankind  a  prodigality  of  pay,  to  which  neither  their  abilities  nor 
their  services  can  entitle  them,  he  is  rendering  every  service  in  his 
power,  and  refusing  every  pecuniary  reward."    This,  written  nearly 


NEW-TOBK    THE    FEDEBAL    CAPITAL 


55 


three  years  after  the  inauguration  in  New- York,  shows  that  the  recon- 
sideration was  not  known. 

Samuel  Fraunces,  keeper  of  the  inn  which  had  been  Washington's 
headquarters  in  former  years,  was  made  his  household  steward.  The 
president's  private  secretary  was  Robert  Lewis,  a  younger  son  of 
Washington's  only  sister, —  a  handsome  youth,  whose  diary  (in  pos- 
session of  his  descendant  Mrs.  Ella  Bassett  Washington)  showed  that 
he   ver>'   much   enjoyed 


the  fashion  and  gaieties 
of  New- York.  The  presi- 
dent had  to  diill  him 
iQ  punctuality.  On  one 
occasion  when  Robert 
laid  the  blame  on  his 
watch,  his  uncle  said: 
"You  will  have  to  get 
a  new  watch,  or  I  a  new 
seoretarj-."  The  presi- 
dent had,  indeed,  to  drill 
New- York  society  in 
punctuality.  In  Fenno's 
"Gazette"  of  May  30  the 
following  hint  appeared : 
*'The  President's  Levee  yesterday  was  attended  by  a  numerous  and 
most  respectable  company.  The  circumstance  of  the  President's 
entering  the  Drawing  Room  at  3  o'clock  not  being  universally  known 
occasioned  some  inaccuracies  as  to  the  time  of  attendance." 

From  April  23  to  May  14,  Congress  was  mainly  occupied  with  the 
subject  of  titles.  On  the  latter  date  the  senate  concurred  with  the 
determined  stand  taken  by  the  house  against  titles.  The  vice-presi- 
dent was  compelled  to  call  Washington  "President,"  when  reading  the 
senate's  answer  to  his  speech,  and  to  describe  the  speech  as  "excellent" 
instead  of  "most  gracious."  But  he  (Adams)  on  this  occasion  refused 
to  sit  in  the  president's  presence,  though  twice  requested  by  Wash- 
ington to  do  so,  and  although  the  senators  with  him  did  so,  or  as 
many  as  could  find  chairs.  This  occurred  on  May  18.  The  president 
would  probably  have  regarded  it  as  unconstitutional  for  him  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  on  titles  while  the  question  was  pending,  but  his 
silence  and  the  course  of  Lee  gave  an  impression  that  he  was  favor- 
able to  titles.  Fenno's  "Gazette  of  the  United  States,"  regarded  as 
the  government  organ,  assumed  the  style  of  the  English  "Court  Ga- 
zette," Its  court  news  included  (May  30)  the  following :  "  The  principal 
ladies  of  the  City  have,  with  the  earliest  attention  and  respect,  paid 
their  devoirs  to  the  amiable  consort  of  the  President,  viz.,  the  Lady 


56  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

of  his  Excellency  the  Governor,  Lady  Sterling,  Lady  Mary  Watts, 
Lady  Kitty  Duer,  La  Marchioness  [sic]  de  Brehan,  the  Ladies  of  the 
Most  Hon.  Mr.  Langdon,  and  the  Most  Hon.  Mr.  Dalton,  the  Mayoress, 
Mrs.  Livingston  of  Clermont,  Mrs.  Chancellor  Livingston,  the  Miss 
Livingston's  [sic]^  Lady  Temple,  Madame  de  la  Forest,  Mrs.  Mont- 
gomery, Mrs.  Knox,  Mrs.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Gerry,  Mrs.  Edgar,  Mrs. 
McComb,  Mrs.  Lynch,  Mrs.  Houston,  Mrs.  Griffin,  Mrs.  Provost, 
the  Miss  Bayards,  and  a  great  number  of  other  respectable  charac- 
ters.'' Lady  Kitty's  title  was  understood,  and  seemed  a  defiance  of 
the  House  of  Peers,  which  had  refused  her  father's  claim  to  be  Lord 
Stirling ;  but  why  some  of  the  others  should  be  "  Ladies,"  while  the 
wife  of  the  secretary  of  war  was  plain  "  Mrs.  Knox,"  or  why  not "  Mbs. 
Senator "  as  well  as  "  Mrs.  Chancellor,"  and  so  on,  seemed  to  be  court 
mysteries.  Child's  "  Daily  Advertiser "  reprinted  from  the  "  Albany 
Register  "  a  clever  article  which  declared  "  La  Marchioness  "  the  only 
title  properly  given,  and  proceeded  with  amusing  quotations  from  a 
court  journal  of  1800. 

Mrs.  Washington  did  not  reach  New- York  until  May  28.  The  inau- 
guration ball  had  been  postponed  a  week  in  hope  of  her  arrival,  but 
she  could  not  make  her  arrangements  for  it.  After  she  had  started, 
with  her  two  grandchildren,  and  under  charge  of  the  president's 
nephew,  Robert  Lewis,  they  were  delayed  by  a  carriage  accident. 
She  was  received  with  demonstrations  of  respect  along  her  route.  At 
Elizabeth  Point  she  was  met  by  the  president,  Hon.  Robert  Morris, 
and  other  eminent  men,  and  entered  the  same  barge  which  had  con- 
veyed her  husband  to  New- York.  Their  approach  was  greeted  by 
guns,  and  an  enthusiastic  crowd. 

The  subject  of  etiquette  gave  the  president  much  anxiety.  At  heart 
he  was  a  plain  Virginia  farmer,  and  formalities  were  irksome  to  him. 
But  he  was  impressed  by  the  necessity  of  presenting  to  the  world  an 
elegant  republican  regime  and  submitted  questions  on  the  subject  to 
Adams,  Madison,  and  Hamilton.  Their  diverse  opinions  were  con- 
fusing, and  the  president  and  his  wife  were  compelled  to  solve  the 
problems  as  best  they  could.  They  held  "  drawing-rooms  "  between 
eight  and  nine  every  Friday  evening.  Wild  reports  of  the  "  court "  at 
New- York  were  spread  throughout  the  country.  In  reply  to  a  letter 
from  his  old  friend  David  Stuart,  of  Virginia,  mentioning  some  of 
these,  the  president  (July  14,  1789)  says  that  public  business  had  ne- 
cessitated a  rule  that  he  should  return  no  visits,  and  that  his  enter- 
tainments should  be  confined  to  oflScial  characters,  and  strangers  of 
distinction.  "  So  strongly  had  the  citizens  of  this  place  imbibed  an 
idea  of  the  impropriety  of  my  accepting  invitations  to  dinner,  that  I 
have  not  received  one  from  any  family  (though  they  are  remarkable 
for  hospitality,  and  though  I  have  received  every  civility  and  atten- 


NEW-TOEK    THE    FEDERiL    CAPITAL  57 

tiou  possible  from  them)  since  I  came  to  the  City,  except  dining  with 
the  Governor  on  the  day  of  my  arrival.  It  is  to  be  lamented  that  he 
(Adams)  and  some  others  have  stirred  a  question  [titles]  which  has 
given  rise  to  so  much  animadversion,  and  which  I  confess  has  given 
me  much  \ineasiness  lest  it  should  be  supposed  by  some  (unacquainted 
with  facts)  that  the  object  they  had  in  view  was  not  displeasing  to  me." 
The  president  occasionally  made  calls  on  the  vice-president,  or  very 
eminent  official  people,  but  had  to  be  careful  about  public  appear- 
ances. "  Received,"  says  his  diary,  "  an  in\'itation  to  attend  the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  Roosevelt  (the  wife  of  a  senator  of  this  State)  but  de- 
clined complying  with  it — first,  because  the  propriety  of  accepting 
an  invitation  of  this  sort  appeared  very  questionable,  and  secondly, 
(though  to  do  it  in  this  instance  might 
not  be  improper)  because  it  might  be 
difficult  to  discriminate  in  cases  which 
might  thereafter  happen."  Mrs.Wash- 
ingtou  for  some  time  called  on  none. 
The  first  year  of  this  lady's  term  as 
president's  wife  was  a  sort  of  martyr- 
dom. She  made  a  good  impression 
on  those  who  met  her,  but  she  was  in 
no  sense  a  woman  of  the  world,  and 
was  shy  amid  the  circle  of  remark- 
ably brilliant  ladies  in  political  so- 
ciety. Of  her  personal  appearance  a 
mistaken  impression  prevails,  through 
the  error  of  Sparks  in  giving  out  a 
portrait  of  Washington's  sister  as  that  . 

of  his  wife.    This  has  been  reproduced     ^^      'Pya/^'^y^iA^  J^^^-^ 
by  Griswold    and   others.     Of   Mrs.  ^  f^ 

Washington  many  portraits  exist.  She  was  small  in  stature,  her  pro- 
file clear-cut,  and  her  expression  amiable.  She  dressed  richly,  and 
her  manners  were  of  well-bred  simplicity.  It  is  plain  from  the  let- 
ters both  of  herself  and  the  president  that  they  were  for  a  time 
grievously  homesick  in  New- York,  and  suffered  from  the  unneces-  . 
sary  restraints  of  an  ill-advised  etiquette.  Writing  to  a  friend  in 
Virginia  (Stuart)  who  had  alluded  to  rumors  of  presidential  pomp, 
the  president  says  that  his  Tuesday  callers  do  not  sit  down  because, 
first,  it  is  unusual,  and  secondly,  the  room  would  not  hold  enough 
chairs.  The  dignity  of  office,  he  says,  "  God  knows  has  no  charms 
for  me.  I  had  rather  be  at  Mount  Vernon  with  a  friend  or  two 
about  me,  than  to  be  attended  at  the  seat  of  government  by  the 
officers  of  state  and  the  representatives  of  every  power  in  Europe." 
Yet  he  was  often  denounced  for  his  monarchical  proclivities. 


58  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

The  following  pathetic  letter  from  Mrs.  Washington  was  wi'itten  to 
Mrs.  Fanny  Washington,  then  keeping  house  at  Mount  Vernon : 

"  New  York,  Oct.  the  22d,  1789. 

"  My  dear  Fanny, —  I  have  by  Mrs.  Sims  sent  you  a  watch ;  it  is  one  of  the  cargoe 
that  I  have  so  long  mentioned  to  you,  that  was  expected,  I  hope  it  is  such  a  one  as  will 
please  3'ou  —  it  is  of  the  newest  fashion ,  if  that  has  any  influence  on  your  taste,  the 
chain  is  of  Mr.  Lear's  choosing  and  such  as  Mrs.  Adams  the  Vice  president's  lady  and 
those  in  the  poUte  circle  wear. 

"  Mrs.  Sims  will  give  you  a  better  account  of  the  fashions  than  I  can  —  I  Hve  a  very 
aull  life  hear  and  know  nothing  that  passes  in  the  town  —  I  never  goe  to  any  public 
place  —  indeed  I  think  I  am  more  like  a  State  prisoner  than  anything  else ;  there  is 
certain  bounds  set  for  me  which  I  must  not  depart  from  —  and  as  I  cannot  doe  as  I 
like,  I  am  obstinate  and  stay  at  home  a  great  deal. 

"  The  President  set  out  this  day  week  on  a  tour  to  the  eastward ;  Mr.  Lear  and  Major 
Jackson  attended  him — my  dear  children  has  had  very  bad  colds  but  thank  God  they 
are  getting  better.  My  love  and  good  wishes  attend  you  and  all  with  3'ou — remember 
me  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  Wn.  [Lund  Washington]  how  is  the  poor  child  — kiss  Marie,  I 
send  her  two  little  handkerchiefs  to  wipe  her  nose.    Adue." 

To  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren,  whom  she  had  met  at  Cambridge  thirteen 
years  before,  she  writes:  "I  sometimes  think  the  arrangement  is  not 
as  it  ought  to  have  been,  that  I,  who  had  much  rather  be  at  home, 
should  occupy  a  place  with  which  a  great  many  younger  and  gayer 
women  would  be  extremely  pleased.''  One  may  speculate  as  to  what 
might  have  been  the  effect  on  the  political  aspirations  of  the  American 
women,  had  one  so  imbued  with  them  as  Mercy  Warren,  or,  still  more, 
Abigail  Adams,  been  wife  of  the  first  president.  Meanwhile  Mrs. 
Adams,  who  in  1776  wrote  to  her  husband  of  the  rights  of  women  to 
representation,  was  enjoying  "  The  Mansion  ^  on  Richmond  Hill,  and 
the  freedom  of  New- York.  Of  her  new  home  she  writes :  "  In  natural 
beauty  it  might  vie  with  the  most  delicious  spot  I  ever  saw.  It  is  a 
mile  and  a  half  distant  from  the  city  of  New  York.  The  house  stands 
upon  an  eminence ;  at  an  agreeable  distance  flows  the  noble  Hudson, 
bearing  upon  its  bosom  innumerable  small  vessels  laden  with  the 
fruitful  productions  of  the  adjacent  country.  Upon  my  right  hand 
are  fields  beautifully  variegated  with  grass  and  grain,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent like  the  valley  of  Honiton  in  Devonshire.  Upon  my  left  the  city 
opens  to  view,  intercepted  here  and  there  by  a  rising  ground  and  an 
ancient  oak.  In  front,  beyond  the  Hudson,  the  Jersey  Shores  present 
the  exuberance  of  a  rich,  well-cultivated  soil.  In  the  background  is  a 
large  flower-garden,  enclosed  with  a  hedge  and  some  very  handsome 
trees.  Venerable  oaks  and  broken  ground  covered  with  wild  shrubs 
surround  me,  giving  a  natural  beauty  to  the  spot  which  is  truly  en- 
chanting. A  lovely  variety  of  birds  serenade  me  morning  and  even- 
ing, rejoicing  in  their  liberty  and  security.'*  From  which  one  may 
gather  not  only  that  the  corner  of  Charlton  and  Varick  streets  was 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  59 

different  a  hundred  years  ago,  but  that  the  lady,  like  the  serenading 
birds,  was  also  rejoicing  in  her  liberty  and  security.^  The  ladies  were 
accustomed  to  present  themselves  in  large  numbers  in  the  gallery  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  In  a  letter  to  David  Stuart  the  presi- 
dent says :  "  Why  they  (the  Senate)  keep  their  doors  shut,  when  act- 
ing in  a  legislative  capacity,  I  am  unable  to  inform  you,  unless  it  is 
because  they  think  there  is  too  much  speaking  to  the  gallery  in  the 
other  House,  and  business  thereby  retarded." 

The  sequelae  of  royalism  having  been  cleared,  so  far  as  it  could 
be  done,  by  Congress,  the  fateful  question  of  human  rights,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  negro  slaves,  confronted  it.  The  first  challenge  of 
slavery,  in  the  new  government,  came  from  Virginia.  During  the 
first  tariff  discussion,  eai-ly  in  May,  the  Hon.  Josiah  Parker  of  that 
Stat«  moved  an  amendment  imposing  a  duty  of  ten  dollars  on  every 
slave  imported.  He  expressed  the  hope  that  "Congress  would  do  all 
in  their  power  to  restore  to  human  nature  its  ancient  privileges;  to 
wipe  off,  if  possible,  the  stigma  under  which  America  labored ;  to  do 
away  with  the  inconsistency  in  our  principles  justly  charged  upon  us, 
and  to  show  by  our  actions  the  purer  beneficence  of  the  doctrine  held 
out  to  the  world  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence.''  Parker's  mo- 
tion— made  within  a  few  steps  of  a  slave-market  —  was  seconded  by- 
Theodoric  Bland,  and  supported  by  James  Madison,  both  of  Virginia. 
It  was  bitterly  opposed  by  Jackson  of  Georgia,  who  declared  the  negroes 
better  off  in  the  South  than  they  were  in  Africa.  "Virginia,"  he  said, 
**  an  old  and  settled  State,  has  her  complement  of  slaves,  and,  the 
natural  increase  being  sufficient  for  her  purposes,  she  is  careless  of 
recruiting  her  numbers  by  importation."  But  he  asked  if  Virginia 
would  free  her  slaves,  and  said  that  "  when  the  practice  comes  to  be 
tried,  then  the  sound  of  liberty  wiU  lose  those  charms  which  make  it 
grateful  to  the  ravished  ear."  Had  the  ten  dollars  import  duty  on 
negroes  been  adopted,  American  history  might  have  been  less  tragical. 
But  this  proposal  of  Virginia  was  defeated  by  two  Northern  men  dis- 
tinguished for  anti-slavery  sentiment.  Roger  Sherman,  of  Connec- 
ticut, approved  of  the  object  of  Parker's  motion,  but  "  could  not 
reconcile  himself  to  the  insertion  of  human  beings  as  a  subject  of 
import  among  goods,  wares  and  merchandize."  Fisher  Ames,  of 
Massachusetts,  "  detested  slavery  from  his  soul,  but  had  some  doubts 
whether  imposing  a  duty  on  such  importation  would  not  have  an 
appearance  of  countenancing  the  practice."  By  these  sentimental 
objections  the  practical  measure  was  defeated. 

The  inaugural  address  of  the  president  made  a  profound  impres- 
sion on  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country.  Some  jealousy  may 
have  been  felt  at  the  official  recognition  by  Congress  of  the  Episcopal 

1  Mrs.  Lamb*8  •'ffistory  of  the  City  of  New-York."    See  also  Dr.  Francis's  **OId  New-York,"  p.  17. 


60 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


'79^ 


^4""4/y^t^/^ 


■•■  ^:i/i^  zji.  j^fio  /^ 


4. 


c^^i'.rv,  '"•y,^.  -^r**^  •*«'■  y^^. 


'/. 


777-^ 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  61 

Church,  in  the  selection  of  St.  Paul's  for  the  services  on  the  day  of 
inauguration ;  that,  however,  was  not  ascribed  to  the  president,  and 
all  denominations  were  moved  by  the  solemn  religious  utterance  in 
his  address.  The  first  response  came  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  In  the  old  John  street  church,  their  only  one  in  the  city,  of 
which  Rev.  John  Dickens  was  minister,  services  tfad  been  held  at  nine 
on  the  morning  of  the  inauguration.  On  May  28  the  New- York  con- 
ference began  a  session  in  that  church.  There  were  only  twenty 
ministers  in  it,  but  among  these  were  men  of  weight.  The  bishops 
present  were  Asbury  and  Coke,  who  had  visited  Washington  at  Mount 
Vernon,  and  received  from  him  a  pledge  that  he  would  use  his  in- 
fluence with  the  Virginia  assembly  to  "  secure  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves."  With  another  present,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Morrell,  of  Eliza- 
l>eth,  N.  J.,  Washington  had  special  associations.  Morrell,  a  young 
major  in  the  Revolution,  had  been  wounded  in  leading  the  advance 
at  Flatbush,  and  Washington  had  detailed  six  soldiers  to  carry  him 
to  his  father's  home  in  Elizabeth.  On  May  29,  in  pursuance  of  a 
resolution  of  the  conference  and  an  arrangement  with  the  president, 
]tf  orrell  introduced  the  two  bishops,  and  cordial  addresses  were  inter- 
changed. A  sharp  controversy  followed  this  action  of  the  Methodist 
Conference  relative  to  Dr.  Coke's  opposition  to  the  American  cause 
in  England.  Bishop  Coke  had  sailed  (June  5)  for  England,  where  he 
was  assailed  for  disloyalty,  while  Morrell  was  maintaining  (in  the 
"Daily  Advertiser")  that  he  (Coke)  had  accepted  the  new  order  of 
things.  But  it  was  not  so  easy  to  defend  the  anti-American  mani- 
festos of  John  Wesley. 

The  mayor  was  annually  appointed  by  the  governor.  In  the  earlier 
part  of  1789  the  mayor  was  James  Duane,  who  had  held  the  office 
since  1783 ;  but  in  September  he  was  appointed  the  first  judge  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  of  New- York,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Richard  Varick  (who  held  the  office  until  1801).  Varick,  who  resided 
at  11  Pearl  street,  had  previously  been  recorder.  He  enjoyed  the  per- 
sonal friendship  of  Washington.  His  successor  as  recorder  was 
Samuel  Jones,  an  eminent  lawyer,  a  trustee  of  the  Society  Library, 
and  active  in  city  affairs.  Aaron  Burr,  whose  private  office  was  10 
Cedar  street,  was  elected  attorney-general.  Twenty-eight  attorneys 
were  admitted  to-the  bar  in  1789,  making  the  total  number  of  lawyers 
in  the  city  one  hundted  and  twenty-two. 

On  Saturday,  May  9,  the  mayor  and  corporation  exchanged  formal 
addresses  with  the  president.  On  the  same  evening  the  Black  Friars 
Society  enjoyed  their  annual  banquet,  among  the  toasts  being  "  Our 
noble  order  of  honesty,''  "Virtuous  nuns  to  honest  friars,"  and  "  The 
mother  friary  of  Europe."  On  June  24  the  Knights  Templar  cele- 
brated the  "Festival  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,"  a  sermon  being  preached 


62 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


at  12.30  p.  M.  The  lodges  represented  were  seven  in  number,  and 
were  styled  respectively  Jamaica,  Holland,  Hiram,  St.  John's,  St.  Pat- 
rick's, St.  Andrew's,  and  Independent  Royal  Arch. 

Mr.  Thomas  E.  V.  Smith  seems  to  give  some  credit  to  an  English 
report  that  on  the  birthday  of  George  III.,  June  4, 1789,  the  president 
celebrated  that  monarch's  recovery,  A  letter  dated  June  6,  after- 
ward printed  in  a  London  paper,  says:  "His  Excellency  General 
Washington  our  new  Congressional  President,  and  perhaps  I  might 
add  Dictator  of  America  for  hfe,  gave  a  very  sumptuous  entertain- 
ment on  Thursday  the  4th,  on  account  of  the  recovery  of  his  Majesty 
the  King  of  Great  Britain ;  the  Envoys  of  England,  France,  Holland, 
and  Portugal,  and  persons  of  the  first  distinction  were  present.  This 
very  handsome  respect  to  the  British  Monarch  will  doubtless  be  re- 
ceived as  it  deserves."  The  English  government  had  no  envoy  in 
America,  but  only  a  consul-general  (Sir  John  Temple).  It  is  diflScult 
to  believe  that  Washington  gave  such  an  entertainment,  or  that  it 
would  or  could  have  been  kept  secret.  The  foreign  representatives 
in  1789  were  Don  Gardoqui  (Spanish),  the  Count  de  Moustier 
(French)  and  Louis  Otto  (Cbarg6  d'Aflfaires),  Francis  Van  Berckel 
(Holland),  and  Richard  Sonderstrom  (Sweden).  Sir  John  Temple  was 
popular  in  New- York,  and  entertained  handsomely.  The  entertain- 
ment given  in  the  president's  honor,  May  14,  1789,  by  Count  de 
Moustier  (whose  house  was  kept  by  his  sister,  Madame  de  Brehan), 
has  become  historic  through  the  description  given  in  Griswold's 
"Republican  Court." 

According  to  a  masonic  tradition,  Washington  kissed  the  open 
Bible  on  a  page,  now  carefully  marked,  adorned  with  a  picture  of 
Issachar  as  "  a  strong  ass,  couching  down  between  two  burdens."  * 
There  is  no  doubt  that  America  and  its  president  were  between  two 
burdens,  and  that  they  were  formidably  displayed  from  the  first  in 
New- York.  One  of  these  burdens  was  anti-federalism,  the  other  a 
federalism  which  seemed  eager  to  invest  the  republic  with  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  royalty.  In  an  unpublished  historical  fragment 
Edmund  Randolph  says : . "  It  was  expected,  at  the  commencement  of 
our  revolutionary  government,  that  these  gaudy  trappings  would  be 
abandoned.    They  were  retained  indeed  by  usage,  not  by  any  authori- 


1  Genesis  xlix.  14.  One  must  almost  suspect  in 
this  legend  the  invention  of  some  political  philos- 
opher of  the  time  who  had  remarked  the  profane 
caricature  representing  Washingrton's  "Entry** 
seated  on  an  ass  led  by  David  Humphreys.  In 
"The  Century  Magazine''  for  April,  1889,  there  is 
an  admirable  engraving  of  the  open  Bible,  and  a 
full  description  of  it,  with  its  inscriptions  as  added 
by  St  John's  Lodge.  A  letter  of  John  Armstrong 
to  General  Gates,  dated  New-York,  April  7,  1789, 
says:  "A  caricature  has  already  appeal^  called 


*  The  Entry/  full  of  very  disloyal  and  profane 
allusions.  It  represents  the  General  mounted  on 
an  ass,  and  in  the  arms  of  his  man  Billy  Humph- 
reys [Colonel  David  Humphreys,  aide^e-camp, 
who  accompanied  Washingrton  from  Mount  Ver- 
non to  New-Tork]  leading  the  jack,  and  chanting 
hosannas  and  birthday  odes.  The  following  coup- 
let proceeds  from  the  mouth  of  the  devil : 

*  The  glorious  time  has  come  to  paj«s 
When  David  shall  conduct  an  ass.* " 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  63 

tative  recognition,  nor  yet  from  any  admiration  of  the  empty  baubles 
in  the  country  of  our  origin,  or  an  anti-republican  tendency  in  the 
p>eople ;  but  they  may  be  ascribed  to  a  degree  of  pride  which  would 
not  suffer  the  new  government  to  carry  with  it  fewer  testimonies  of 
public  devotion  than  the  old."  But  democratic  sentiment  was  exas- 
perated by  the  proposal  (already  mentioned)  to  institute  titles,  sprung 
upon  Congress  immediately  after  its  organization.  The  vice-presi- 
dent's warm  demand  for  titles  had  been  seconded  by  Senator  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia,  who  moved  that  a  resolution  on  the  subject 
should  be  transmitted  to  "the  Lower  House" — a  phrase  not  soon  for- 
gotten. A  committee  of  the  Senate  reported  that  the  executive  should 
be  styled  "  His  Highness  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  Pro- 
tector of  their  Liberties."  Among  the  titles  suggested  were  "  His 
Majesty,"  "  His  Elective  Majesty,"  "  High  Mightiness."  It  is  said  that 
the  president  asked  Speaker  Muhlenberg  what  he  thought  of  the  title 
"  High  Mightiness,"  and  that  Muhlenberg  said  it  might  do  for  a  tall 
man  like  himself,  but  if  a  little  president  should  be  elected  it  would 
sound  rather  ridiculous.  Lee's  supercilious  phrase,  "the  Lower 
House";  the  vice-president's  proposal  to  thank  the  president  for 
"  his  most  gracious  speech,"  and  his  remark,  when  this  was  ridiculed, 
that  "  could  he  have  thought  of  this  he  never  would  have  drawn  his 
sword" — the  whole  discussion,  threw  the  country  into  agitation.  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke,  then  a  student  in  Columbia  College,  was  pre- 
cocious enough  in  radicalism  to  fill  Virginia  with  alarm.  The  vice- 
president's  speeches  about  titles  made  him  feel  in  the  "spurning"  of 
his  brother  Richard  by  Adams's  coachman  (April  22)  something  sym- 
bolical. The  royalist  whip  was  cracked  over  the  head  of  the  citizen. 
He  detected  "  the  poison  under  the  eagle's  wings."  "  I  saw  the  coro- 
nation (such  in  fact  it  was)  of  General  Washington."  Soon  after  young 
Randolph  was  in  Richmond,  and  Edmund  Randolph,  in  a  letter  to 
Madison  (July  23, 1789),  mentions  a  report  of  the  president's  "  total 
alienation  (in  point  of  dinners)  from  the  representatives."  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  said  by  the  same  statesman,  in  a  letter  of  September 
26 :  "  The  President  is  supposed  to  have  written  to  Mr.  Adams,  while 
titles  were  in  debate,  that  if  any  were  given  he  would  resign." 

The  two  burdens  between  which  the  new  government,  like  Issachar, 
was  beginning  to  couch  found  some  representation  in  the  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati  and  that  of  Tammany.  It  is  true  that  men  of  all  par- 
ties belonged  to  these  societies;  nevertheless,  the  Cincinnati,  making 
membership  hereditary,  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  aristocratic,  and 
Tammany  had  been  evolved  to  counteract  it.  Washington  had  been 
induced  to  remain  president  of  the  Cincinnati  only  on  its  promise 
(never  fulfilled)  of  abolishing  the  hereditary  feature.  This  society 
bad  a  large  influence  in  New-York,  where  it  had  about  one  hundred 


64  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

and  eighty  members.  •  Senator  Maclay  not^s  in  his  diary  (May  1, 1789) 
the  continuance  of  a  party  which,  in  the  Eevolution,  "cared  for  noth- 
ing else  but  a  translation  of  the  diadem  and  sceptre  from  London  to 
Boston,  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,''  and  adds :  "  This  spirit  they  de- 
veloped in  the  Order  of  Cincinnati,  where  I  trust  it  will  spend  itself 
in  a  harmless  flame  and  soon  become  extinguished."  But  on  July  4 
the  New-York  branch  of  the  society  elected  Baron  Steuben  president, 
Alexander  Hamilton  vice-president.  Major  John  Stagg  secretary, 
and  Colonel  Richard  Piatt  treasurer.  These  were  strong  men.  John 
Stagg  had  served  in  the  Continental  army,  also  in  the  New -York 
assembly  (1784  and  1786),  and  was  now  major  of  the  City  Legion  and 
city  surveyor.  Colonel  Piatt  had  also  a  Eevolutionary  record.  The 
society  sent  a  committee  with  Fourth -of -July  congratulations  to 
the  president,  vice-president,  and  speaker,  aft^r  which  it  attended  St. 
Paul's,  where  Hamilton  pronounced  a  eulogium  on  General  Nathaniel 
Greene  to  an  audience  including  magnates  of  the  government  and 
their  families.  Washington  was  ill,  but  his  wife  was  present.  A 
grand  banquet  with  thirteen  toasts  followed  at  the  City  Tavern. 

The  St.  Tammany  Society  had  hitherto  been  a  rather  feeble  survival 
from  the  Revolution.  The  name  of  the  pacific  chief  of  the  Delawares 
(who  signed  the  treaty  with  Penn,  and  had  been  largely  invested 
with  mythology),  Tammany,  —  canonized,  as  an  offset  to  the  foreign 
saints  Andrew,  Patrick,  and  George,— was  adopted  for  a  patriotic 
society  that  latterly  had  little  purpose.*  But  in  May,  1789,  the  organ- 
ization in  New -York  city  was  strengthened,  and  the  "Columbian 
Order  ^  added  to  its  name*  Its  officers  were  to  consist  of  native-bom 
Ame^cans,  while  adopted  citizens  were  eligible  to  the  honorary  posts 
of  "warrior''  and  "himter.''  The  officers  were  one  grand  sachem,  twelve 
sachems,  one  treasurer,  one  secretary,  and  one  doorkeeper,  the  society 
being  divided  into  thirteen  tribes,  each  representing  a  State  and  being 
governed  by  a  sachem,  and  containing  one  honorary  warrior  and  one 
hunter.  The  society  at  the  outset  included  men  of  all  parties,  and  did 
not  take  a  prominent  part  in  politics.  In  1789  its  meetings  were  held 
at  Fraunces'  Tavern,  but  it  celebrated  May  12  (old  May-day)  in  tents 
erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,  about  two  miles  from  the 
city,  where  a  large  number  of  members  partook  of  an  elegant  enter- 
tainment, served  precisely  at  three  o'clock,  after  which  there  were 
singing  and  smoking  and  universal  expressions  of  brotherly  love. 

The  society  also  had  a  curator  of  property  ("sagamore").  John 
Pintard,  one  of  the  few  fashionable  gentlemen  among  them,  was  the 

1  An  interesting  history  of  the  Tammany  So-  nated  as  Blossoms,  Fruits,  Snows,  Hunting:.    The 

ciety,  by  R.  G.  Horton.  is  given  in  the  Manual  of  months  were  ''moons.**  A  Tammany  letter  might 

the  Common  Council  of  New -York,  1865.    It  is  be  dated:  ''Manhattan,  Season  of  Fruits,  17th  day 

curious  that  this  society  should  have  anticipated  of  the  7th  moon,  year  of  discovery  300th,  of  inde- 

the  French  revolutionists  in  their  wish  to  alter  pendence  16th,  of  the  institution  3d." 
the  names  of  the  seasons,  which  Tammany  desig- 


NEW-TORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL 


65 


tirst  Bagamoi*e.  Although  no  partizanship  was  at  first  tnanlfeBt,  there 
are  few  indications  of  federalist  or  fashionable  patronage.  "  Fashion- 
able Society,"  says  Smith,  "in  New- York  in  1789  seems  to  have  con- 
sisted of  about  three  hundred  persons,  as  that  number  attended  a  ball 
on  the  7th  May  at  "whieh  Washington  was  present."  The  common 
folk  had  to  form  their  own  social  circles,  and  their  own  organizations, 
which  must  naturally  pass  into  a 
democratic  evolution.  Tammany 
was  the  American  positive  pole  to 
the  Cincinnati's  negative  pole;  and 
in  their  relative  importance  to-day 
our  national  history  may  be  studied. 

During  the  first  year  of  Congress 
three  hundred  and  thirty  tavern 
licenses  were  granted  {30s.  each), 
and  gambling  (Pharaoh)  was  pretty 
general  Prices  ran  high,  and  trade 
societies  were  refurbished.  The 
foreign  societies  —  St.  Andrew's,^ 
St.  George's,  St.  Patrick's  —  shared 
the  national  enthusiasm.  There 
was  one  social  club  —  the  Black 
Friars.  There  were  twenty-two 
church  edifices.  The  gi'eat  institu- 
tion was  Columbia  College.  At  the 
commencement  on  May  6,  1789, 
the  President  of  the  United  States 
att«ndedf  and  the  chief  members 
of  both  National  and  State  governments.  The  number  of  students 
was  between  thirty  and  forty.  There  were  more  than  fifty  schools 
in  the  city.  Literature  appears  to  have  been  represented  by  Philip 
Freneau,  captain  of  a  merchant  vessel;  Samuel  Low,  bank  clerk; 
and  William  Dunlap,  playwright.  There  were,  however,  twelve  pub- 
lishing-houses, one  of  which  {Robert  Hodge's)  announced  on  February 
4, 1789,  the  "  First  American  Novel,"  which  was  entitled,  *'  The  Power 
of  Sympathy,  or  the  Triumph  of  Nature." 

The  newspapers  pubhshed  in  New-York  in  1789  were :  The  "  New- 
York  Packet,"  published  three  times  a  week,  at  two  dollars  a  year, 
by  Samuel  Loudon,  5  Water  street;  the  "New- York  Journal," 
weekly,  two  dollars,  by  Thomas  Greenleaf,  25  Water  street ;  the  "  Daily 

■  Among  the  (artieBt  chuiteble  o^anlzntioiu  Barclay,  fourth;  and  the  Earl  of  Stirling,  fifth. 

of  New-Tork  dty  1b  St.  AndreVs  Society,  oi^  It  la  still  an  influential  and  useful  orgamiBtion. 

ganlieif  in  1T56,  of  which  Philip  LlvlngRton,  the  and  tbe  oldeHt  among  eiistiog  societleB  of  its 

Rgner.  waa   tint   preeideiit;  Dr.  Adam   Thomp-  character.  EtilTOB. 

•on.  second  ;  John  Horln  Soott,  third ;  Anthony 

Voi-  HL — 5. 


^i^^^^c^ 


66  HISTOEY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Advertiser,"  six  dollars,  by  Francis  Childs,  190  Water  street;  the 
"  Daily  Gazette,"  by  McLean,  41  Hanover  street,  at  the  sign  of  "Frank- 
lin's Head";  the  "Gazette  of  the  United  States,"  biweekly,  three  dol- 
lars, by  John  Fenno,  9  Maiden  Lane,  These  publishers  were  also 
considered  editors  of  their  papers.  The  laws  of  the  United  States 
were  printed  by  Francis  Childs  and  sold  at  one  dollar  per  one  hun- 
dred pages.    Greeoleaf  was  printer  for  the  State. 

On  May  11  and  12,  1789,  the  Bank  of  New-York  (established  in 
1784)  elected  the  following  officers :  President,  Isaac  Roosevelt ;  vice- 
president,  William  Maxwell;  cashier,  William  Seton ;  directors,  Nich- 


le-ta/lnt  —  ITi/^Vv  • 


fAC-8IHILX   OF   PART   OP   A    PAQE. 


olas  Low,  Joshua  Waddington,  Daniel  McCormick,  Thomas  Bandall, 
Comfort  Sands,  Robert  Bowne,  Samuel  Franklin,  Thomas  B.  Stough- 
ten,  William  Constable,  William  Edgar,  and  John  Murray.  This  bank, 
the  only  one  in  the  city,  prayed  for  incorporation  on  July  3,  but  was 
not  chartered  until  two  years  later.  The  money  was  pounds,  shil- 
lings, and  pence;  the  dollar  being  worth  eight  shillings. 

One  of  the  events  of  1789  was  the  composition  of  the  air  "  Hail 
Columbia,"  by  a  German  named  Fayles,  leader  of  the  orchestra  in 
John  street  theater.  It  was  called  "Washington's  March,"  and  was  firat 
played  November  24,  while  the  president  and  his  wife  (persistently 
styled  Lady  Washington)  were  passiog  to  their  box.  The  air  was  re- 
peatedly encored,  and  the  well-known  song  afterward  adapted  to  it. 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  67 

The  illness  which  had  prevented  the  president  from  making  his 
appearance  at  the  celebration  of  Independence  Day,  1789,  was  a  dan- 
gerous carbuncle.  His  mother,  whom  he  had  visited  at  Fredericks- 
burg before  leaving  Virginia,  was  suffering  from  a  tumor,  and  was  in 
great  anxiety  about  him.  In  July  the  Rev.  Mr.  Urquhart  of  that  re- 
gion came  to  New- York,  bringing  a  letter  from  the  president's  sister, 
Betty  Lewis,  in  which  (July  24)  she  says  that  although  they  had  heard 
that  he  was  recovering,  and  "  would  shortly  be  able  to  ride  out,''  his 
mother  must  hear  from  him.  "  She  will  not  believe  you  are  well  until 
she  has  it  from  under  your  own  hand."  News  of  his  mother's  death 
reached  him  September  1,  when  he  was  entertaining  Governor  St. 
Clair  and  Baron  Steuben  at  dinner.  Parson  Ryan  brought  a  letter 
from  Fredericksburg  stating  that  Mary  Washington  had  died  on 
August  25.  The  president  retired  from  the  table,  and  remained  for 
some  time  in  his  room  alone.  He  wrote  a  touching  letter  about  his 
mother  to  his  sister.  On  October  18  the  president  left  New- York 
for  his  tour  in  the  Eastern  States,  returning  November  13.  Con- 
gress had  adjourned  on  September  29,  1789,  after  passing  twenty- 
seven  acts.  The  discussions  had  been  heated,  the  city  excited,  and 
the  residents  enjoyed  the  repose  following  the  adjournment.  The 
president's  appointments  to  office  included  some  of  the  strongest 
New-York  men.  Alexander  Hamilton  was  made  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  and  William  Duer  assistant  secretary.  John  Jay  was  ap- 
pointed chief  justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  Samuel  Os- 
good postmaster-general,  and  Gouverneur  Morris  (already  in  Europe) 
was  intrusted  with  a  sort  of  undefined  mission  to  negotiate  with  the 
British  government  on  various  issues.  John  Lamb  was  made  collector 
of  the  port,  Benjamin  Walker  naval  officer,  and  John  Lasher  sur- 
veyor. These  local  appointments  were  popular,  the  three  gentlemen 
being  eminent  for  their  public  spirit. 

The  closing  event  of  the  year  for  the  populace  was  the  arrival  of  the 
president's  coach  from  England.  It  was  globular,  canary-colored,  gay 
with  Cupids  and  nymphs  of  the  seasons,  and  emblazoned  also  with  the 
Washington  arms.  On  December  12  the  president's  diary  says: 
**  Exercise  in  the  coach  with  Mrs.  Washington  and  the  two  children 
(Master  and  Miss  Custis)  between  breakfast  and  dinner — went  the 
fourteen  miles  round "  (the  old  Bloomingdale  Boad,  nearly  as  far  as 
where  Grant's  tomb  now  stands;  then  to  Kingsbridge,  returning  by 
the  Boston  Boad).  Probably  the  event  so  briefly  entered  in  Washing- 
ton's diary  was  graphically  described  in  many  letters.  With  his  four 
(or  sometimes  six)  bays,  his  liveried  driver,  postilion,  and  outriders, 
the  president  seemed  to  defy  both  the  puritanism  and  the  anti-feder- 
alism of  the  country,  even  more  than  with  his  velvet  and  purple 
satin  costumes.    This  celebrated  coach,  after  the  president's  death. 


68  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

remained  an  archaic  curiosity  at  Mount  Venion,  for  it  could  not 
move  on  Virginia  roads.  Ultimately  it  was  given  to  the  late  Bishop 
Meade  to  be  cut  up  into  little  boxes  and  other  relics  for  sale  at  church 
fairs.  The  seat  and  steps  were  made  into  an  ornamental  retreat  in 
the  garden  of  the  bishop's  sister,  in  Clarke  County,  Virginia,  where 
it  remained  until  the  day  of  desolation. 

Three  entries  from  Washington's  diary  may  be  given  in  closing  our 
account  of  1789:  "Friday,  Dec.  25,  Christmas  Day.  Went  to  St. 
Paul's  Chapel  in  the  forenoon.  The  visitors  to  Mrs.  Washington  this 
afternoon  were  not  numerous  but  respectable.  Monday,  Dec.  28.  Sat 
all  the  forenoon  for  Mr.  Savage,  who  was  taking  my  portrait.  Tues- 
day, Dec.  29.  Being  very  snowing  not  a  single  person  appeared  at 
the  Levee."    The  days  of  rubber  shoes  had  not  yet  come. 

On  January  8  the  president  opened  Congress  in  state,  proceeding 
thither  in  his  new  English  coach,  with  six  horses,  preceded  by  Colonel 
Humphreys  and  Major  Jackson,  in  uniform,  mounted  on  white  horses, 
the  cavalcade  being  followed  by  Lear  and  Nelson  in  a  chariot,  and 
Robert  Lewis  on  horseback.  The  president  was  conducted  by  door- 
keepers to  the  Senate,  where  the  representatives  were  also  present. 
All  arose  as  he  entered,  and  stood  while  he  read  his  speech.  The  an- 
swers to  his  speech  were  received  at  the  president's  house  on  January 
14,  to  which  the  members  proceeded  in  coaches.  After  the  ceremony 
the  president  entertained  a  number  of  the  members  at  dinner. 

Congress  had  paid  eight  thousand  dollars  for  the  expenses  of  Mr. 
Osgood  in  repairing  and  furnishing  his  house  for  the  president's  resi- 
dence ;  but  early  in  the  following  year  the  owner,  who  had  been  living 
three  miles  away,  desired  to  resume  his  city  mansion.  The  president 
paid  rent  to  Osgood  up  to  May  1,  though  on  February  23  the  presi- 
dent had  finally  removed  to  the  McComb  mansion  on  Broadway,  a 
little  below  Trinity  Church.  This  house  had  been  occupied  by  Louis 
Otto,  the  French  Charg6  d'Aflfaires.  It  was  one  story  higher  than 
Osgood's  house,  and  in  every  way  more  commodious.  Washington 
purchased  some  of  Otto's  furniture.  This  was  the  finest  private  build- 
ing in  New-York;  diuing  Washington's  residence  it  was  called  the 
Mansion  House,  and  it  was  subsequently  known  as  Bunker's  Hotel. 
It  is  said  that  Andre  and  Benedict  Arnold  once  met  there. 

The  slavery  question  again  arose  in  Congress.  On  February  11, 
1790,  a  petition  of  Quakers  was  submitted  to  the  house,  praying  that 
it  would  exert  its  endeavors  to  the  full  extent  of  its  powers  against 
slavery,  and  especially  against  the  slave-trade.  On  the  following  day 
a  similar  memorial  was  presented  from  the  "Pennsylvania  Society 
for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,"  signed  by  Franklin,  and  sup- 
posed to  be  written  by  him, —  the  last  thing  he  ever  wrote.  He  died 
April  17.    Tucker  of  South  Carolina  and  Jackson  of  Georgia  were 


His  Majefty 
over  the  Provincp 
w  America. 


A 


By  the  Honourable 
JAM^S    DE   LANCEr,    Efq; 

Governor  and  Commanc  r  in  Chiefs  in  a 
?/"  New-York,  and  the  Territor  ts  depending  tber^n 


Proclamation. 


Wbvtu  Tkiin  One  tf  fuch 
ud  dsuallr  t&aU«l  DihbUi 
-  -     ■  Ifil    -        " 


hifti  bf  wkidiincgi]  Fmndiiim  fopiMrud  wUh  «K,   ibc  CMufe  of  .'y£ce 

hi>  MajtAVi  Subj^  Ml,  and  jviviic  PiDpeiij  ii  bci.  uul  si'*''r  i^'"'-  • 

1  Pitlaiit,  In  M^  to  pnreciiic  ilicir  uriuA  Diliini,  Sibe  Tih  Dtt  a<  "^  !*&•  *i 

UahI,  uibe  Haifa  <.(>MMUZ>.fl.>' which  Ain>  S  ths  DUbna  of  mh  Dm 


-.._     --  llie  lid  7M«*m  ZWto, 

'"     '  by  iht  DqiuB  Shfriff  of   '    " 
■t  Tttkm  vho  cine  Ihiidi 

.-, , ,      jtion mm sff,  Ibt odien Oiutiini i) 

LnBUn,  bad  AraKh  tba    bc,  vid  bdon  Ibcr  di(ptrfal,  r»cnl  i 
bwOawAM-fUJuatetlbi     Tlnolufierih*  Wgondi  ihtfihen 


the  EaflcTii  Borden  of 

ngJliM,  jun.  Efq;  Propriflor  of  (he 


in  which  tkj  b  fu 

<i(ihcMUKi<uiaf 
[   .'y£ce  hiik 


JiliniarAaPcKt,  l>si 


M|«MWn*Maanillfinl((a  *  i  u4  w  tfiHA  ud  Imp  in  Puce  ind  i  Kood  Ur 

■Hi  ■«anCMM*Bfr  lUI  bi  I  «)■  ■  hnl  CMnft  :  I  HAVE  ibouEtii  lit,  >lil>  the 

MwahrrtrlmiiriMi,  Hmbriii  yytf-iNhBn,  Briaif  BijoininE  .ifHIi  Mijcfl^'i  £< 

•TAiLn.  Aas  dMIkiOfeid.  btfon niowil  uj  ba  biviiitit  lo  JuAki,  Ibe  Shiiiir.  ol 


■fha  OCcoi  dwiciii,  ireh  tt  cammuided  ind  Kquiml  to  ippHbiiHl  the  fud  Vvimtu  kctir.  ?ii* 
M^  f«y,Ur.  b—rf  r.  ',  £iw»r  r«k',  Ud  jh^ijy.  flm,  >rd  .ll''u.d  c.  r  of  •)>"'  Al 
lobinbfa  lidiH  or  ih«ii     tbc  bidOtleiidcn  ibUk  Rwc  ibrrikid  i  ind  ihcminil  c<i    :  o<  tbem  to 


CulMr,  Jnll 


id  >»  Ri>  MiicCj'!  SubjiOi 
n^editrtCaumici,  vhg  vs  hcfcbr 
pMdii(ibtPnBiiluUIEuniUDii. 

GIVEN   -rndtrmjaM 

June,  Ojm  nmfaJ 

Ltri  GEORGE  iht 

tf  lit  Ftilb,  iwififi 

Bf  Hb  Honour*!  Comnund, 


r,  lira  7^  fti  HMfi,  HnJntt  Brtfi,  7^ 
r  Ttjl^,  Ik.JiJri't  y.Srf/iiUii  Vani  fo 
«.  in  iheHn^na  of  dm  of  Hii  MiJcIIt'' 


bi<H|ht  to  Ju 

|uilHfl0.pp« 


mn  Gc 

L'ccwi 


tttlAOmfU^DUil^,,  1 


iJ  Stti  41  Ana,  at  Fott-Kjwnc,  in  lit  Cilj  if 
)  HatdttJ  nd  Fifty  SnUm,  u  «fa  Tbiriiilt  Tiar 
mi,  Ij  Iht  Crtti  if  GOD,  </Grul-B(iuln,  iiix 


JAMES 


GOD  Save  the  KING. 


OBiulbed  oith  ibe  ulmoS  Kinu< 
Counilt)  of  AOm  ind  Dwi^ 


i-Voik,  tir  Eighlk  Dt/  tf 
ihi  Kdi;n  >/  —r  Smtrift 
Hi  lielind,  K'tt  Defniir 

lELANCEV. 


Fao-fttnile  of  proolammtloD  warning  i1 
Uvlngiton  Huior ;   lamed   If  ^ ' 
(mor  de  I^ooe;.   From &ti 


blBnMkliolitLlvillg«toii,Eaq.,otLoB- 

—  flf  "The  UrtnintoiM  of  CalleniUr.wtd 

^Cvleti,'*  London,  1890.    Bditob. 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  69 

acrimonious  in  opposition,  the  latter  going  into  the  Biblical  argument 
in  support  of  slavery  which  became  so  familiar  at  a  later  day.  Scott 
of  Pennsylvania  said  that  if  he  were  a  federal  judge  in  the  South  he 
would  go  as  far  as  he  could  to  emancipate  them.  Jackson  retorted 
that  "perhaps  even  the  existence  of  such  a  judge  would  be  of  short 
duration.'^  This  memorable  debate  ended,  on  March  23,  in  the  asser- 
tion of  congressional  power  over  the  subject,  but  postponing  action, — 
the  ultimate  action  being  little  foreseen  by  the  first  Congress. 

New- York  was  anxious  to  remain  the  national  capital.  On  March 
25,  1790,  Trinity  Church,  rebuilt,  was  consecrated,  and  a  canopied 
pew  set  apart  for  the  president.  On  March  10  the  State  assembly 
provided  for  greater  cleanliness  and  sanitary  care  about  the  city 
wharves.  On  March  16  it  was  enacted  "that  all  that  part  of  Fort 
George,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  lands  adjoining  there- 
abouts, belonging  to  the  people  of  this  State  [limits  here  defined], 
shall  be  and  hereby  are  declared  to  be  forever  reserved  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  public  buildings,  and  such  works  of  defence  as  the 
Legislature  shall  from  time  to  time  direct;  and  further,  that  the  same 
shall  not  at  any  time  or  times  hereafter  be  sold  or  appropriated  to 
or  for  any  private  use  or  purpose  whatever.^  It  was  further  ordered 
that  the  mayor  and  corporation  demolish  Fort  George  and  level  the 
grounds,  and  erect  a  new  bulkhead  at  the  Battery.  It  is  then  in- 
trusted to  Gerard  Bancker,  Eichard  Varick,  and  John  Watts  (the  last 
royal  mayor  of  New- York)  to  cause  new  buildings  to  be  erected  for 
the  State  government,  "and  to  be  applied  to  the  temporary  use  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  during  such  time  as  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  hold  their  session  in  the  City  of 
New- York.''  For  these  purposes  the  commission  may  draw  on  the 
State  treasurer  for  eight  thousand  pounds.  Further  provisions  were 
made  for  improving  the  road  to  Harlem,  where  Lewis  Morris  is 
authorized  (March  31)  to  bridge  Harlem  Eiver,  without  suffering  any 
competition  from  ferries. 

The  work  of  clearing  away  Fort  George  was  begun,  and  the  presi- 
dential mansion  was  rapidly  rising,  when  New- York's  famous  citizen, 
Alexander  Hamilton,  was  bargaining  away  for  a  national  object  the 
city's  chances  of  remaining  the  capital.  There  had  been  from  the  first 
a  keen  competition  among  variout  sections  for  this  advantage,  and 
the  contest  had  graduaUy  become  one  between  New- York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  The  Southern  States  were 
vehement  for  the  Potomac  location,  and  the  name  of  the  president 
was  freely  used  in  promoting  this  project.  Hamilton,  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  regarded  it  as  a  financial  necessity  that  the  national  govern- 
ment should  assume  the  debts  of  the  several  States  to  England.  This, 
however,  was  naturally  opposed  by  the  States  which  had  paid  a  por- 


70  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

tion  of  their  debts,  but  which,  by  •^assumption,''  would  be  compelled 
to  share  the  burden  of  States  that  had  not  so  paid.  The  quarrel  in 
Congress  on  these  two  points — assumption,  and  the  location  of  the 
national  capital — became  extreme,  and  menaces  of  disunion  had 
already  become  familiar  in  Federal  Hall.  When  the  discord  was  at 
its  height,  Hamilton  met  Jefferson  on  his  way  to  the  president's 
house,  and  the  two  walked  up  and  down  before  that  house  for  a  half- 
hour  conversing  about  the  situation.  This  talk  ended  with  the  arrange- 
ment of  a  small  dinner  company  at  Jefferson's  house  on  the  following 
day,  at  which  Alexander  White,  of  North  Carolina,  and  Eichard  Bland 
Lee,  of  Virginia,  agreed  to  vote  for  assumption,  though  before  they 
had  voted  against  it,  on  condition  that  Hamilton  would  secure  votes 
enough  to  locate  the  capital  where  it  now  stands.  At  one  time 
(June  28)  the  senatorial  vote  had  gone  in  favor  of  New-York  as  the 
permanent  residence  by  13  to  12.  On  July  16,  the  act  for  the  re- 
moval to  Philadelphia,  and  afterward  to  the  Potomac,  was  signed 
by  the  president.  But  the  woric  on  the  mansion  in  New- York 
continued  with  unabated  vigor.' 

An  act  of  assembly  of  March  31,  "for  the  further  encouragement 
of  literature,"  set  apart  Governor's  Island,  and  some  lands  in  Clinton 
County,  for  the  benefit  of  Columbia  College,  and  one  thousand 
pounds  in  money.  The  general  paving  of  streets,  ordered  in  the 
spring  of  1789,  was  coming  to  something  like  completeness.  Little 
"Oister  Pasty  Street"  was  altered  (Exchange  Alley,  now  called  Tin- 
pot  Alley);  Barclay,  Little  Dock,  Front,  William,  Gteorge,  Water, 
Chatham,  Greenwich,  Murray,  Beekman  streets,  began  to  be  paved  in 
whole  or  in  part.  The  Bowling  Green,  which  had  been  a  sort  of 
lumber  place,  and  had  held  the  wrecked  federal  ship  "Hamilton," 
had  been  cleared  away  and  fenced  in  July  of  the  previous  year.  The 
common  lands  had  been  industriously  sold,  and  new  houses  and 
gardens  appeared  in  the  suburbs. 

On  June  2, 1790,  occurred  the  first  funeral  of  a  member  of  Con- 
gress —  the  Hon.  Theodoric  Bland,  of  Virginia,  who  died  June  1,  in 
his  forty-ninth  year.  It  was  attended  by  Congress  and  by  the  State 
and  city  authorities,  also  by  the  Cincinnati.  The  occasion  was  espe- 
cially memorable  for  the  manifestation  of  friendliness  between  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  and  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches.  After 
Trinity  Church  was  burned  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  invited  the 
congregation  to  use  its  edifice.  At  the  funeral  of  Theodoric  Bland, 
which  was  held  in  Trinity  Church,  Bishop  Provoost  conducted  the 

1  *' We  then  walked  to  view  the  demolition  of  vaults  in  a  chapel  which  once  stood  in  the  fort. 

Fort  George ;  the  leaden  coffin  and  remains  of  The  chapel  was  bnmed  down  about  fifty  years  ago 

Lord  and  Lady  Bellamont,  now  exposed  to  the  and  never   re-built.     The  leveling  of  the  fort 

sun  after  an  interment  of  about  ninety  years,  and  digging  away  the  foundations  have  uncovered 

They  and  many  more  have  been  deposited   in  the  vaults."    Maclay's  Diary,  June  19,  1790. 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL 


71 


services,  the  sermon  being  delivered  by  the  pastor  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Linn,  who  enjoyed  celebrity 
as  an  orator. 

Independence  Day,  1790,  was  celebrated  on  Monday,  July  5.  Con- 
gress, the  Cincinnati,  and  the  State  and  municipal  authorities  waited 
on  the  president,  after  they  had  all  listened  to  an  oration  in  St.  Paul's 
Church  by  Brockholst  Livingston.  "The  Grand  Sachem,"  says  a 
paper,  "and  Fathers  of  the  St  Tammany  Society  were  honored  with 
an  invitation  to 
dinner  by  the 
members  of  the 
Cincinnati,  and 
the  evening  was 
spent  with  that 
mutual  goofl 
humor  and  joy 
which  it  is  hoped 
will  ever  be  the 
concomitants  of 
a  day  so  remark- 
able in  the  an- 
nals of  America." 
be  reckoned  with. 


CITS    AH1>   MAKHATTAM    BANKS  AMD    THE 


Tammany  had  thus  rapidly  become  a  power  to 
Probably  Jefferson,  who  had  assumed  his  duties 
as  secretary  of  state  on  March  21,  had  something  to  do  with  the 
rapid  development  of  the  society.  The  sagamore  was  a  vigorous 
Jeffersonian.  This  was  John  Piiltard,  the  Tammanyite  of  highest 
social  position;  also  a  scholar.  Pintard  was  editor  of  the  "Daily 
Advertiser,"  assistant  assessor  of  the  city  council,  and  assemblyman. 
Under  his  leadership  the  society  could  lose  no  opportunity,  and  one 
presently  offered,  for  making  a  fine  impression  on  the  public  mind. 
Colonel  Marinus  Willett  had  gone  in  March,  1790,  on  a  mission  to  the 
Creek  Indians  in  the  South,  and  early  in  July  news  came  that  he  was 
on  his  way  to  New- York  with  the  chief  (McGillvray)  of  the  hostile 
tribe,  and  twenty-eight  warriors,  who  would  make  a  treaty  of  peace. 
This  important  company  traveled  northward  at  the  public  expense, 
greeted  at  every  stage  by  vast  crowds,  and  were  met  by  the  Sons  of 
St.  Tammany  dressed  in  aboriginal  style.  The  Sons  of  St.  Tammany 
had  charge  of  them,  conducted  them  to  the  houses  of  the  president 
and  secretary  of  war,  and  showed  them  the  sights  of  New-York.  At 
a  grand  entertainment  (August  3)  Grand  Sachem  Hoffman  addressed 
the  Indians  in  glowing  terms,  which  were  duly  translated  for  them. 
"  The  Spirits,"  he  said,  "  of  two  great  Chiefs  are  supposed  to  walk 
backwards  and  forwards  in  this  Great  Wigwam, —  Tammany  and 
Columbus.    Tradition  has  brought  us  the  memory  of  the  first.    He 


72  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

was  a  great  and  good  Indian  Chief,  a  strong  warrior,  a  swift  hunter, 
but,  what  is  greater  than  all,  he  loved  his  country.  We  call  ourselves 
his  Sons."  The  sagamore  Pintard  produced  the  richly  ornamented 
calumet,  which  was  smoked  by  all  in  turns.  The  Indian  chief. con- 
ferred on  the  grand  sachem  of  Tammany  a  title  which  did  not  seem 
to  be  included  in  the  society's  general  hatred  of  titles — "  Taliva  Mico'^ 
(Chief  of  the  White  Town).  The  President  of  the  United  States  was 
toasted  as  "  The  Beloved  Chieftain  of  the  Thirteen  Fires.'' 

The  president  was  deeply  interested  in  all  this ;  for  the  Indians  in 
the  Carolinas,  Florida,  and  Georgia,  instigated,  it  was  thought,  by 
the  Spaniards,  had  given  much  trouble  to  the  whites,  and  probably 
received  as  much.  Chief  McGillvray  was  made  a  member  of  the  St. 
Andrew  Society.  On  July  27  the  chiefs  were  present  with  Washing- 
ton at  a  grand  military  review,  and  on  another  occasion  he  gave 
them  a  dinner.  The  president's  last  visit  to  Federal  Hall  was  to  sign 
a  treaty  with  these  Indians.  He  rode  in  his  coach-and-six,  with  all 
pomp — even  the  horses'  hoofs  painted.  Addresses  were  interchanged 
between  the  president  and  Chief  McGillvray,  who  received  a  present 
of  wampum  and  a  symbolical  package  of  tobacco — Washington's 
substitute  for  the  calumet.  The  ceremony  ended  with  a  song  of 
peace,  in  which  all,  including  the  president,  joined.  The  Sons  of 
St.  Tammany,  in  costume,  managed  the  business,  and  the  society  had 
made  its  mark. 

In  November,  1789,  Colonel  John  Trumbull,  who  had  been  study- 
ing with  Benjamin  West  in  Europe,  returned  to  America,  and  soon 
after  became  the  artistic  "lion"  in  New- York.  On  February  10, 
1790,  he  began  his  studies  of  Washington  for  his  battle-pieces  of 
Trenton  and  Princeton.  On  March  1  the  president's  diary  says:. 
"Exercised  on  horseback  this  afternoon,  attended  by  Mr.  John 
Trumbull,  who  wanted  to  see  me  mounted."  The  sittings  ended  on 
March  4.  In  November,  1789,  and  January,  1790,  Washington  also 
sat  to  Edward  Savage  for  the  portrait  now  at  Harvard  College.  On 
July  19,  1790,  the  common  council  requested  the  president  to  per- 
mit Trumbull  to  paint  his  portrait,  "  to  be  placed  in  the  City  Hall  as 
a  Monument  of  the  Respect  which  the  inhabitants  of  this  City  bear 
towards  him."  To  this  the  president  responded  favorably,  and  the 
work  is  now  in  the  City  Hall.  A  similar  request  was  made  of  Gov- 
ernor Clinton,  August  16,  and  consented  to.  For  the  president's 
portrait  Trumbull  was  paid,  in  September,  1790,  £186  13^.  4rf.,  and  in 
May  of  the  following  year  the  same  amount  for  Governor  Clinton's 
portrait — thought  by  some  his  finest  work.  While  Trumbull  was 
engaged  on  the  president's  portrait,  Washington  brought  some  of  the 
Creek  chiefs  to  see  it.  One  of  them  looked  behind,  and  was  amazed 
to  find  the  surface  flat.    "  I  had  been  desirous,"  says  Trumbull,  "  of 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  73 

9 

obtaining  portraits  of  some  of  their  principal  men,  who  possessed  a 
dignity  of  manner,  form,  countenance,  and  expression  worthy  of  the 
Roman  senators ;  but  after  this  I  found  it  impracticable ;  they  had 
received  the  impression  that  there  must  be  magic  in  an  art  which 
could  render  a  smooth  flat  surface  so  like  to  a  real  man.  I,  however, 
succeeded  in  obtaining  drawings  of  several  by  stealth.''  These  draw- 
ings are  given  in  Trumbull's  autobiography,  with  the  various  signifi- 
cant names  of  the  chieftains. 

Congress  adjourned  August  12,  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  for  a  ten 
years'  residence.  Senator  Maclay  writes  in  his  diary :  "  The  citizens 
of  Philadelphia  (such  is  the  strange  infatuation  of  seK-love)  believe 
that  ten  years  is  eternity  to  them  with  respect  to  the  residence,  and 
that  Congress  will  in  that  time  be  so  enamored  of  them  as  never  to 
leave  them ;  and  all  this  with  the  recent  example  of  New- York  before 
their  eyes,  whose  allurements  are  more  than  ten  to  two  compared 
with  Philadelphia."  There  is  no  doubt  that,  when  it  came  to  the 
pointy  the  members  of  Congress  felt  rather  gloomy  in  leaving  the 
only  large  city  which  at  that  time  had  a  good  theater  or  anything  in 
the  way  of  fashionable  life. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  their  residence  in  New- York  the  presi- 
dent and  his  family  had  enjoyed  life  more  freely  than  before.  The 
president  had  a  pleasant  outing  of  a  week  on  Long  Island,  revisiting 
the  old  battle-field,  and  Mrs.  Washington  made  a  pleasant  excursion 
with  her  grandchildren,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Jay,  to  Morrisania, 
where  they  breakfasted  with  General  Lewis  Morris.  On  another 
occasion,  in  July,  there  was  a  sort  of  picnic  to  Fort  Washington. 
The  party  consisted  of  the  president  and  his  wife,  the  vice-president 
and  his  wife,  their  son,  and  Mrs.  Smith,  Secretaries  Hamilton  and 
Knox  and  their  wives.  Secretary  Jefferson,  Tobias  Lear,  Robert 
Lewis,  and  one  or  two  others.  Washington  surveyed  the  old  grounds 
with  keen  interest.  A  dinner  was  prepared  and  brought  out  to  them 
by  Mr.  Mariner,  a  farmer  occupying  the  Roger  Morris  mansion  (now 
better  known  as  Jumel  House,  near  161st  street),  where  they  alighted 
on  their  return  drive.    The  repast  was  enjoyed  in  the  open  air. 

On  August  28  the  president  gave  his  last  state  dinner,  the  guests 
being  Governor  Clinton  and  the  mayor  and  corporation.  On  this 
occasion  he  expressed  his  great  reluctance  at  leaving  New- York,  and 
Mrs.  Washington  uttered  expressions  of  the  same  kind.  They  told 
their  guests  that  they  would  leave  on  the  30th,  but  desired  that  it 
should  not  be  made  known.  Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  traditional 
explanation  of  the  comparative  smallness  of  the  crowd  that  witnessed 
his  departure.  A  procession  of  the  State  and  municipal  officers  con- 
ducted the  president  and  his  family  to  McComb's  Wharf',  North 
River.    They  stepped  on  the  same  barge  that  had  brought  them ;  a 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-TOBE 


OHIEre  or  TBE   CBXXK  DISUKB. 


NEW- YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL  75 

salute  of  thirteen  guns  was  fired.  The  president,  in  response  to  the 
cheers  of  the  people,  waved  his  hat,  and  said,  "  Farewell.''  He  never 
saw  New- York  again. 

On  August  12  Mayor  Varick  presented  to  the  city  council  a  letter 
from  Vice-President  Adams  conveying  an  order  of  the  Senate  that 
the  furniture  of  their  chamber  should  remain  for  the  use  of  the  cor- 
poration, with  an  expression  of  their  thanks  "for  the  elegant  and 
convenient  accommodation  provided  for  Congress."  An  exactly  sim- 
ilar note  from  Speaker  Muhlenberg  was  presented  on  behalf  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  The  letters  seem  to  have  been  received 
in  silence.  Possibly  the  coimcil  expected  more  substantial  reward, 
which,  however,  the  youngest  of  them  did  not  live  to  see.  On  Octo- 
ber 5  the  mayor  informed  the  council  that  the  gentlemen  who  pro- 
vided the  president's  barge  proposed  to  present  it  to  the  corporation. 
The  mayor  was  "requested  to  thank  the  gentlemen  for  their  inten- 
tion, and  to  inform  them  that  as  this  Board  can  have  no  use  for  the 
said  Barge,  they  decline  the  acceptance  of  her."  The  vacated  rooms 
of  the  City  Hall  were  eagerly  sought  for.  On  September  10,  1790, 
St  Tammany  petitioned  for  and  obtained  the  use  of  a  room  for  an 
American  museum.  On  October  14  the  Medical  Society  was  allowed 
to  use  the  council-chamber;  Dr.  Nicholas  Romaine  gave  medical 
lectures  there  a  year  or  so  later.  The  St.  Caecilia  Society,  and  the 
Uranian  Society  were  assigned  certain  evenings.  The  city  clerk's 
oflSce  was  eventually  removed  to  the  building,  for  the  better  preser- 
vation of  the  public  records,  to  which  the  common  council  was  for- 
tunately wise  enough  to  pay  special  attention. 

On  December  11,  1790,  the  aldermen  and  assessors  who  had  charge 
of  the  census  of  "Electors  and  Inhabitants"  were  paid  at  the  rate  of 
145.  per  one  hundred  inhabitants  in  Harlem,  12^.  in  the  Bowery,  10^^ 
in  other  wards.  The  number  of  inhabitants  given  were :  South  ward, 
1756;  Dock  ward,  1854;  East  ward,  3622;  West  ward,  6054;  North 
ward,  4596 ;  Montgomerie  ward,  6702 ;  Bowery  ward,  4819 ;  Harlem 
division,  503.  The  year  1790  had  proved  prosperous  for  the  city. 
There  had  been  410  tavern  licenses,  bringing  in  £779,  and  the  market 
fees  had  largely  increased.  So  Mayor  Varick,  in  addition  to  his 
modest  salary  (six  hundred  pounds,  diminished  by  his  consent  from 
Duane's  eight  hundred  pounds),  had  seven  hundred  pounds  in  fees. 

The  ball  was  over,  the  prince  vanished ;  for  a  time  it  had  seemed  as 
if  the  city,  like  Cinderella,  would  return  to  its  ashes.  But  this  was 
not  to  be  the  case.  For  the  remainder  of  the  year  1790  it  enjoyed  the 
blessing  of  having  no  history;  but  early  in  January  there  were  indica- 
tions that  New- York  was  to  be  a  center  of  political  excitement.  The 
State  assembly  met  here  on  January  3.  John  Watts  was  elected 
speaker.    The  governor  addressed  the  assembly  in  person.    Straight- 


76  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

way  a  keen  contest  for  the  senatorship  took  place  between  Aaron 
Burr  and  Philip  Schuyler.  Burr  was  chosen  by  a  majority  of  ten  in 
the  senate,  and  five  in  the  house.  General  Schuyler's  loss  of  the  seat 
he  had  held  in  the  first  Congress  was  felt  as  a  terrible  blow  to  the 
federal  party,  the  result  having  been  partly  brought  about  by  the 
defection  from  that  party  of  Chancellor  Livingston  and  his  brother- 
in-law  Morgan  Lewis.  Morgan  Lewis  was  elected  State  attorney- 
general  in  Burr's  place.  It  very  soon  appeared  that  John  Pintard, 
the  Tammanyite  radical,  had  become  a  popular  leader  in  the  legis- 
lature. Melancthon  Smith,  a  Tammanyite  of  the  same  type,  was 
also  in  the  assembly.  There  are  indications  in  the  public  press  that 
in  1791  there  was  a  good  deal  of  agitation  on  the  slavery  question. 
Greenleaf  s  paper  published  several  letters  against  emancipation,  and 
one  of  these  complains  of  the  free  negroes, — "the  vices  and  promis- 
cuous number  of  these  black  republicans.''  On  Washington's  birth- 
day there  was  again  cordiality  between  the  Sons  of  Tammany  (Grand 
Sachem  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman)  and  the  Cincinnati,  which  had  sent 
conmiittees  to  congratulate  each  other.  Nevertheless,  this  politeness 
preceded  a  duel  between  the  federal  and  the  democratic  parties, — 
the  latter  name  having  come  into  use  as  a  kind  of  epithet  for  enthu- 
siasts of  the  rising  revolution  in  France.  The  newspaper  combat, 
which  had  lasting  effects,  was  caused  by  the  publication  of  Thomas 
Paine's  "Rights  of  Man."  This  work  was  printed  in  London,  with  a 
dedication  to  Washington.  It  was  published  in  America  with  a  pre- 
liminary note  of  high  approval  written  by  the  secretary  of  state.  Its 
publication  raised  a  storm  of  replies  from  the  federalists,  in  which 
Jefferson  was  severely  handled.  John  Pintard  published  the  whole 
of  Paine's  work  in  the  "Daily  Advertiser"  (May  6-27),  and  also  the 
celebrated  letters  in  reply  ♦by  "Publicola."  These  letters,  written  by 
young  John  Quincy  Adams,  were  attributed  to  the  vice-president. 

It  is  pleasant  to  find  that  amid  this  raging  controversy  Tammany 
had  time  to  establish  an  American  museum,  the  basis  of  our  Histori- 
cal Society.  In  the  "  Daily  Advertiser  "  for  May  25, 1791,  a  full  state- 
ment of  the  project,  begun  in  September,  was  given.  "The  intention 
of  the  Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian  Order,  in  establishing  an 
American  Museum  being  for  the  sole  purpose  of  collecting  and  pre- 
serving whatever  may  relate  to  the  history  of  our  country,  and  serve 
to  perpetuate  the  same,  as  also  all  American  curiosities  of  nature  and 
art."  It  is  stated  that  the  corporation  had  granted  a  room  in  the  City 
Hall,  which  would  be  open  at  all  times  to  the  Sons  of  Tammany,  and 
to  the  public  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays.  Any  article  for  exhibition 
sent  there,  or  to  John  Pintard,  57  King  street,  will  be  taken  care  of. 
The  trustees  are:  William  Pitt  Smith,  chairman ;  James  Tylee,  John 
R.  B.  Rodgers,  Jacob  Morton,  EflBngham  Embree ;  William  W.  Gil- 


NEW-YORK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL 


77 


^A^ 


^<^ 


^^^>/^^ 


/-^ 


^'  ^i2^^^^ 


78  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

bert,  treasurer ;  Gardner  Baker,  keeper.  It  seems  that  Pintard  had 
moved  eminent  personages  in  Boston  in  the  same  direction,  the  result 
being  the  establishment  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  some- 
what earlier  in  1791.  "To  Pintard  is  due  the  honor  of  originating 
both ;  indeed,  he  may  with  justice  be  pronounced  the  Father  of  His- 
torical Societies  in  this  country.''  ^ 

A  number  of  acts  interesting  to  the  city  were  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature in  1791.  March  21,  1791,  the  Bank  of  New- York  was  incor- 
porated, under  the  temporary  directors:  Isaac  Roosevelt,  William 
Maxwell,  Thomas  Randall,  Daniel  McCormick,  Nicholas  Low,  William 
Constable,  Joshua  Waddington,  Samuel  Franklin,  Comfort  Sands, 
Robert  Bo wne,  Gulian  Verplanck,  John  Murray,  and  William  Edgar. 
There  was  to  be  a  ballot  for  directors  on  the  second  Monday  in  May. 
The  total  amount  of  the  debts  of  the  said  corporation  must  not  exceed 
thrive  times  the  sum  of  the  capital  stock  subscribed, —  for  this  the 
directors  being  held  responsible  in  "  their  natural  and  private  capaci- 
ties.'' On  May  18  Verplanck  was  elected  president,  Rufus  King  being 
added  to  the  directors,  who  were  elected  as  previously  appointed. 
Oil  March  24  the  regents  of  Columbia  College  were  empowered  to 
OHtablish  a  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  This  new  college 
was  never  to  hold  property  of  more  than  sixty  thousand  pounds 
value  (New- York  currency).  The  regents  were  to  appoint  professors 
and  (uniter  degrees.  An  act  was  passed  for  erecting  a  building  for 
tJie  preservation  of  the  records  and  public  papers'of  the  State. 

Despite  severe  newspaper  attacks  on  the  lottery  system,  the  city 
(Miutinued  to  raise  money  in  this  way.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
severe  on  private  citizens  who  engaged  in  similar  enterprises.  At 
the  April  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature  for  the  State, 
William  Thompson  (city)  was  fined  £94  14^.  and  costs,  and  Gabriel 
Leggett  £510  and  costs,  for  attempting  to  dispose  of  goods  and  wares 
by  lottery.  The  common  council  also  sometimes  made  mistakes. 
On  May  20  it  ordered  all  bow-windows,  displays  of  goods,  and  trees, 
ill  front  of  houses,  which  impeded  the  view  of  the  streets,  to  be  re- 
moved ;  one  week  later,  after  an  outcry  from  the  city,  the  order  was 
repealed  as  regarded  trees. 

The  corporation  had  to  deal  with  a  riotous  element.  On  February 
17,  1791,  Robert  J.  Livingston  reported  for  the  grand  jury  that  they 
hud  inquired  into  a  recent  mob.  Thirty  foreign  sailors  had  with 
l»ludgeous  attacked  Captain  Culbertson  and  eight  other  watchmen, 
who,  "though  scarcely  one-fourth  of  the  number  of  the  armed  mob, 
not  only  faced  them  with  intrepidity,  but  gallantly  conducted  six  of 
the  rioters  to  confinement  and  put  the  rest  to  flight.^  On  February 
25  tho  city  council  conferred  the  freedom  of  the  city  on  the  "  Honor- 

i  Mm.  Larab'H  ••  HiJitory  of  the  City  of  New-York/  2: 508. 


NEW-TOBK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAL 


79 


THB    aOVEBHMENT    1 


able  Horatio  GJates,  Esq.,"  who  had  just  become  a  resident,  for  which, 
May  2,  General  Gates  returned  thanks.  On  October  4  the  seven  city 
wards  were  more  equally  divided,  and  numbered.  The  winter  was 
severe,  and  firewood  was  generously  given  to  the  poor.  The  year  1791 
was  prosperous.  The 
exports  of  New- York 
amounted  to  $2,505,465. 
The  city  had  raised 
seven  thousand  five 
hundred  pounds  by  a 
lottery,  and  was  starts 
log  another.  Bedlow's 
Island  was  let  for 
twenty-three  years  at 
ten  pounds  per  annum. 
One  hundred  lots  on 
and  near  Broadway, 
each  one  hundred  feet 
by  twenty-five,  sold  for  twenty-five  pounds  each.  The  council 
ordered  disbursement  for  the  poor,  the  bridewell,  and  criminals, 
repairing  roads  and  improving  and  cleaning  streets,  eight  thousand 
pounds ;  for  improvements  at  the  Battery  and  in  front  of  the  Gov- 
ernment House,  three  thousand  pounds;  for  the  watch  and  lamp 
departments,  four  thousand  pounds.  In  A^^fust  the  Bowery  was 
taken  in  hand,  and  an  order  issued  for  its  "regulation"  from  the 
head  of  Catherine  street  to  St.  Nicholas  street. 

The  conservatism  of  the  corporation  was  illustrated  in  October, 
1791.    At  the  aldermanic  elections  of  September  29,  William  S.  Liv- 
ingston,  chosen    an    assistant  assessor,  was   said  to  be  neither  a 
freeman  nor  a  freeholder.    Summoned  before  the  board  (October  12), 
Livingston  urged  that  though  he  was  not  a  freeman  he  ought  to  be, 
as  his  father  and  grandfather  were ;  and  that  he  had  served  a  regular 
vlorkship  in  the  city  as  attorney-at-law.    He  also  expressed  the  opin- 
ion "that  this  Board  could  not  legally  enter  into  the  consideration  or 
iletennination  of  any  question  with  respect  to  the  qualification  of  a 
member  elect  whose  time  of  service  did  not  commence  until  the  four- 
twuth  inst.,  when  he  supposed  the  present  Board  would  die  a  politi- 
cal death."    The  board  overruling  these  pleas,  Livingston  declared 
that  he  was  a  freeholder,  but  could  not  prove  it  except  by  his  oath. 
Tlie  board  unanimously  declared  that  the  unsupported  oath  was 
"isuffif'ient,  and   Livingston's  name  was  dropped.      The  scat  was 
si^anied  to  John  Van  Dyke,  who  had  the  largest  number  of  votes 
1*^1  fo  Livingston.     Colonel  Livingston  was  a  municipal  reformer, 
*'"'  introduced  into  the  legislature  a  bill  for  making  the  office  of 


80  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

mayor  elective.  In  the  same  month  (March  14, 1792)  he  secured  the 
incorporation  of  the  '*GI-eneral  Society  of  Mechanics  and  Tradesmen 
of  the  City  of  New- York'' — the  delay  of  which,  since  the  foundation 
of  the  society  in  1785,  had  angered  its  members. 

The  commencement  of  Columbia  College  took  place  on  May  7, 1791, 
and  there  is  found  among  the  speeches  of  the  young  graduates  some 
reflection  of  public  issues.  Pierre  E.  Fleming  speaks  on  "  Arbitrary 
Power  ^ ;  William  T.  Broome  on  "  The  Late  Revolution  in  France  " ; 
John  W.  Milligan  on  "  Faction  ^ ;  Thomas  L.  Ogden  on  "  The  Rising 
Glory  of  America."  All  of  these  were  of  New- York  city.  The  pro- 
vincial youth  seem  to  have  maintained  the  old  commencement 
themes,  among  which  are  found  on  this  occasion,  "The  Improve- 
ment of  Time,"  "Sympathy,"  "The  Beauties  of  Nature,"  "On  the 
Importance  of  the  Fair  Sex." 

Among  the  notable  institutions  of  this  period  was  the  Tontine 
Association — a  sort  of  mutual  insurance  and  loan  company  formed 
by  the  merchants.  On  March  12  John  Watts  and  others  petitioned 
for  the  privilege  of  adding  to  the  Tontine  Coffee  House  (comer  of 
Wall  and  Water  streets)  a  piazza,  which  must  extend  over  the  side- 
walk. This  was  refused,  but  on  May  11  permission  was  given  for  a 
piazza  to  extend  six  feet  over  Wall  street  sidewalk.  The  leading 
citizens  appear  to  have  been  generous.  Abijah  Hammond  presented 
the  council  with  a  well-boring  machine,  which  he  had  imported  from 
Boston.  The  council  was  much  concerned  about  wells,  and  had  an- 
nounced that  it  would  contribute  for  every  well  sunk  by  its  consent 
at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  per  foot.  It  accepted  Hammond's  gift,  and 
ordered  that  sixty  pounds  should  be  advanced  to  try  the  apparatus  in 
sinking  a  well  near  the  City  Hall.  The  Hon.  John  Jay  presented  the 
city  council  with  the  free  right  to  regulate  streets  through  his  land  on 
Great  Q-eorge  street,  and  offered  to  release  any  part  of  his  land  that 
might  be  encroached  on  in  cutting  a  canal  from  Fresh  Wat^r  Pond  to 
the  North  River. 

Washington's  Birthday,  1792,  witnessed  a  revolution  in  a  branch  of 
Columbia  College,  which  now  had  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  students, 
besides  fifty-six  medical  students.  The  medical  students  offered 
their  resignation  in  a  body,  because  they  were  not  "  protected  and 
cherished  in  the  prosecution  of  their  studies."  The  trustees  refused 
to  accept  their  resignation,  but  were  notified  by  the  students  that  they 
no  longer  considered  themselves  connected  with  the  college,  and  if  in- 
terfered with  would  appeal  to  the  justice  of  their  country.  Dr.  Samuel 
Bard  was  dean  of  the  medical  college,  of  which,  indeed,  he  was  the 
founder.  The  trouble  may  have  been  due  to  some  enthusiasm  for 
Dr.  Nicholas  Romaine,  who,  for  some  reason  (perhaps  his  religious 
liberalism),  had  been  left  out  of  the  faculty.    This  physician  appears 


NEW- YORK  THE  FEDERAL  CAPITAL 


81 


to  have  founded  a  school  of  his  own.  On  April  30  the  city  council 
granted  the  use  of  a  room  in  the  City  HaU  to  Dr.  Eomaine  for 
medical  lectures,  though  a  similar  request  of  Dr.  Micheau  (May  16) 
was  refused.  Of  Micheau,  a  French  refugee  who  came  to  New- York 
in  1791,  a  lively  account  is  given  in  Dr.  Francis's  "  Old  New- York.'' 


Hi^UUi 


He  seems  to  have  been  unpopular  among  the  doctors,  one  of  whom 
persuaded  Dunlap  to  have  him  caricatured  on  the  stage,  for  which  that 
ih-amatist  received  a  severe  personal  assault. 

The  great  event  of  the  city  in  1792  was  the  celebration  of  the  third 
centenary  of  the  discovery  of  America.  The  following  is  from  a  con- 
temporary report: 

The  12th  inst.  (October,  1792),  beinp:  the  commencement  of  the  IVth  Columbian 
(^entuaiy ,  was  observed  as  a  Centuary  Festival  by  the  Tammany  Society,  and  celebrated 
in  that  style  of  sentiment  which  distinguishes  this  social  and  patriotic  institution.  .  .  . 
An  elegant  oration  was  delivered  by  Mr.  J.  B.  Johnson,  in  which  several  of  the  prin- 
cipal events  of  the  life  of  this  remarkable  man  were  pathetically  described,  and  the 


The  above  fac-siraile  is  that  of  a  part  of  the  cer- 
tificate' of  election  of  George  Clinton  as  governor, 
Herre  Van  f 'ortlandt  as  lieiitenant-govemor,  and 
of  the  variouH  State  senators  in  1780.    The  gentle- 

VoL.  III.— 6. 


men  whose  names  are  appended  were  a  joint  com- 
mittee of  the  senate  and  assembly  to  canvass  and 
count  the  votes.  The  original  is  in  the  possessi(m 
of  General  J.  Watts  De  Peyster.  Editor. 


82  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

ioterestang  consequenoes  to  which  his  great  achievement  had  abeady  and  must  still 
conduct  the  affairs  of  mankind,  were  pointed  out  in  a  manner  extremely  satisfactory. 
During  the  evening's  entertainment,  a  variety  of  national  amusement  was  enjoyed. 
The  following  toasts  were  drank : 

1.  The  memory  of  Christopher  Columbus,  the  discoverer  of  the  new  world.  2. 
May  the  new  world  never  experience  the  vices  and  miseries  of  the  old ;  and  be  a  happy 
asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  and  of  all  religions.  3.  May  peace  and  liberty 
ever  pervade  the  United  Columbian  States.  4.  May  this  be  the  last  Centuary  Festival 
of  the  Columbian  Order  that  finds  a  slave  on  this  globe.  5.  Thomas  Paine.  6.  The 
Rights  of  Man.  7.  May  the  IVth  Centuary  be  as  remarkable  for  the  improvement  and 
knowledge  of  the  rights  of  man  as  the  first  was  for  discovery  and  the  improvement 
of  nautic  science.  8.  Lafayette  and  the  French  nation.  9.  May  the  liberty  of  the 
French  rise  superior  to  all  the  efforts  of  Austrian  despotism.  10.  A  Burgoyning  to 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick.  11.  May  the  deliverers  of  America  never  experience  that  in- 
gratitude from  their  Country  which  Columbus  experienced  from  his  King,  12.  May 
the  Genius  of  Liberty,  as  she  has  conducted  the  sons  of  Columbia  with  glory  to  the 
commencement  of  the  IVth  Centuary,  guard  their  fame  to  the  end  of  time.  13.  The 
Day.    14.  Washington,  the  deliverer  of  the  new  world. 

Among  the  patriotic  songs  was  an  ode  composed  for  the  occasion, 
— beginning : 

Ye  sons  of  freedom,  hail  the  day 
That  brought  a  second  world  to  view; 

To  Great  Columbus'  mem'ry  pay 
The  praise  and  honor  justly  due. 

Chorus — Let  the  important  theme  inspire 
Each  breast  with  patriotic  fire. 

There  was  set  up  in  the  hall  an  illuminated  obelisk.  At  the  base 
a  globe,  emerging  from  clouds  and  chaos,  presented  a  rude  sketch  of 
America  as  a  wilderness.  At  the  top  stood  History  drawing  up  a 
curtain  and  revealing:  1.  A  commercial  port,  and  Columbus  instructed 
by  Science,  who  presents  him  with  a  compass  and  points  to  the  set- 
ting sun.  2.  The  landing  of  Columbus,  the  natives  prostrate  around 
him.  3.  Columbus  at  the  court  of  Spain,  pointing  out  on  a  map  his 
discovery  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  4.  Columbus  in  chains;  Liberty 
appears  to  him,  the  emblems  of  despotism  and  superstition  crushed 
under  her  feet.  She  intimates  the  gratitude  of  posterity  by  pointing 
out  the  monument  set  up  by  the  Sons  of  Tammany,  or  the  Columbian 
Order.  On  its  pedestal  Nature  is  seen  caressing  her  various  progeny. 
The  Indians  are  seen  mourning  over  the  urn  of  Columbus.  Near  the 
chained  Columbus  is  seen  the  inscription,  **The  Ingratitude  of  Kings.** 
On  two  sides  the  eagle  is  seen  prone,  supporting  the  arms  of  Isabella 
and  the  arms  of  Genoa.  But  above  the  eagle  soars,  grasping  in  its 
talons  a  scroll  inscribed  "The  Rights  of  Man."  A  year  later  this 
transparency  was  announced  for  display  in  Bowen's  Museum  and 
Wax  Works,  at  the  Exchange,  where  it  was  "  surrounded  with  four 
beautiful  female  figures.*'  ^ 

1  Dr.  George  H.  Moore,  in  the  **  Magadne  of  American  History,"  October,  1889i 


NEW-YOBK    THE    FEDEBAL    CAPITAL 


83 


It  will  be  observed  by  the  large  place  given  in  the  Columbian 
"Centuary"  toasts  to  Paine  and  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  that  Tammany 
had  become  enthusiastic  for  democracy.  The  radicalism  of  Jeffer- 
son —  afterward  entitled  Great  Grand  Sachem  —  was  represented  by 
Governor  George  Clinton.  In  the  year  1792  occurred  the  famous 
contest  for  the  governorship  between  Clinton  and  Chief  Justice  Jay. 
One  of  the  principal  polling-places  was  Trinity  Church,  and  it  is 
probable  that  the  sacred  edifice  was  never  before  or  since  surrounded 
by  so  many  raging  citizens  as  in  that  conflict.  Although  the  "democ- 
racy," as  the  republicans  were  called  by  enemies,  said  much  about  the 
rights  of  man,  one  of  the  points  urged  against  Jay  was  his  anti- 
slavery  sentiments;  his  adherents  had  to  protest  against  the  slander 
that  he  wished  to  liberate  the  slaves  in  New-York.  It  was  also  circu- 
lated that  he  had  said  there  ought 
to  be  two  classes  —  the  rich  and  the 
poor.  Another  point  against  Jay 
was  that  he  still  held  on  to  bis  place 
on  the  supreme  bench  while  run- 
ning for  governor.  The  acrimonious 
character  of  the  contest  was  inten- 
sified by  its  result  in  a  disputed 
election.  It  turned  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  an  annually  appointed 
sheriff  could  continue  to  fulfil  his 
functions  as  protector  and  doUverer 
of  the  ballot-box  and  votes  after  his 
term  of  office  had  ended,  his  suc- 
cessor having  not  yet  qualified.  It 
was   agreed   to    refer    tlie  question 

to   the  New- York   senators,  Aaron  -      ^  ^ 

Burr  and  Rufus  King,  who  were  to  f^if,  ^ ^^^'^^^^ 

choose   a    third   if    they  could   not  ^  ) 

agree.     They  selected  the  attomey- 

neneral  of  the  United  States,  Edmund  Randolph,  who  decided  that, 
as  the  office  of  sheriff  was  governed  by  English  law,  it  would  have 
to  be  determined  by  English  precedents.  These  were  against  Jay. 
The  canvassers  were  thus  compelled  to  throw  out  the  votes  of 
Otsego  County,  and  Clinton  was  declared  the  governor.  The  fed- 
eralists were  furious,  and  New- York  city  was  on  the  verge  of  civil 
war.  Public  meetings  were  held  in  the  City  Hall,  —  where  they 
were  allowed  between  twelve  and  four  in  the  afternoons  only, —  but 


I  .Tmcpb  Bnnt'a  Indisn  name  was  ThnyeDda- 
neKiv.  He  tought  vigorously  ftgainst  the  Amert- 
eajifl  duriDK  Ihe  RcTolntion,  but  Bfterward  waa 
Itrp^ljr    iDstrumental    in    pacifyiog    hia    (ndlan 


;e  to  etTect  a  treaty  witli 


84 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


they  overflowed  into  the  streets.  A  great  dinner  was  given  to  Jay. 
It  was  generally  felt  that  Jay^s  presidential  aspirations  depended  on 
the  result  of  this  election,  and  a  determined  effort  to  unseat  Clinton 
was  made  by  his  opponents  in  the  legislature.  But  Clinton  was  be- 
lieved to  have  been  ill  used,  and  carried  the  entire  vote  of  the  State 
for  the  vice-presidency,  which  he  nearly  gained.  Hamilton  had 
during  the  summer  of  1792  written  in  Fenno's  paper  (the  "  Gazette  ^ 
terribly  severe  attacks  on  Jefferson  and  Madison.  They  were  anony- 
mous, but  their  authorship  was  well  known.  They  were  replied  to  by 
(as  is  now  known)  Edmund  Eandolph.  At  the  center  of  this  excit- 
ing controversy  was  the  struggle  between  France  and  England  to 
gain  the  support  of  the  United  States  administration.  New- York 
was  in  ferment.  Secret  political  clubs  were  formed  by  the  republi- 
cans (called  ''Jacobin''  by  the  federalists),  and  the  democratic  party 
reached  an  organization  it  has  never  lost. 

But  meanwhile  the  city  council  seemed  to  incline  to  intrench  itself 
anew  in  virtue  and  piety.  It  ordered  in  the  beginning  of  1793  that 
the  current  expenses,  fifteen  thousand  pounds,  should  be  raised  by 
taxation  (not  lottery),  and  that  the  law  of  Sabbath  observance  should 
be  published  in  the  papers,  and  the  police  admonished  to  take  care 
that  it  should  be  more  strictly  enforced.  This  may  have  been  partly 
due  to  the  large  number  of  Frenchmen  who  had  come  to  New -York 
since  the  disturbances  in  their  country,  and  brought  with  them  new 
customs.  These  new  inhabitants  greatly  influenced  the  politics  of 
the  city.  But  it  is  due  to  the  corporation  to  say  that  during  this  agi- 
tated period  of  the  city's  history,  which  reached  a  frantic  pitch  with 
the  triumphal  reception  of  the  French  ambassador.  Citizen  Gtenfit, 
the  mayor  and  council  maintained  their  creditable  traditions  for 
industry  and  justice. 


Mile 

FROM, 

Cth»Ha]I 
NewYork 

I  ■ 


v^ 


FROH     1 

City  Hail 


5.^ 


MILE-STONES    OP    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTUEY.^ 


1  These  mile-stones  remind  us  of  a  past  century, 
when  the  Bowery  and  Third  Avenue  were  the 
Boston  Post  Road.  Strange  to  say.  these  relics 
of  an  earlier  period  still  remain.  The  one-mile 
stone  is  in  the  Bowery  opposite  Rivington  street ; 


the  two-mile  stone  stands  near  Sixteenth  street; 
the  four-mile  stone,  near  Fifty-seventh  street;  and 
the  five-mile  stone,  near  Seventy-seventh  street 
They  are  all  of  granite,  and  the  inscriptions  are 
faint  on  some,  hut  still  legihle.  Edxtob. 


NEW-YOBK    THE    FEDERAL    CAPITAIi  85 


THE  FRANKLIN  FAMHiY. 

The  interest  that  attaches  to  the  Franklin  House;  the  first  official  residence  of 
President  Washington,  and  which  was  thus  the  earliest  executive  mansion,  justifies 
some  curiosity  as  to  its  inmates  or  owners,  before  it  was  honored  by  this  distinguished 
occux>ancy.  We  quote,  therefore,  an  extract  from  the  personal  reminiscences  recorded 
by  ^Irs.  Mary  Robinson  Hunter,  the  wife  of  the  United  States  minister  to  Brazil, 
written  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1845.  Mrs.  Hunter  was  the  daughter  of  Sarah  FVanklin 
(who  married  William  T.  Robinson),  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Franklin,  one  of  the  brothers 
of  Walter  Franklin,  who  built  the  house  named  after  him : 

''  My  mother's  grandfather  on  her  father's  side  [the  father  of  Walter  Frankhn]  was 
a  wealthy  farmer  of  the  State  of  New- York,  bom  of  an  English  father  and  a  Dutch 
mother.  They  had  a  large  family  of  sons  of  whom  my  grandfather  [Samuel]  was  the 
youngest,  and  two  daughters.  Of  five  sons  I  can  speak,  having  known  them  all  as  a 
child,  and  all  treating  me  with  overweening  love  and  indulgence.  James,  the  eldest, 
followed  the  occupation  of  his  father,  and  inherited  the  homestead.  He  married  a 
lady  of  high  breeding,  who  used  to  come  down  from  the  country  once  a  year  to  visit 
the  families  of  her  husband's  brothers,  who  were  settled  as  merchants,  three  in  New- 
York,  and  one  in  Philadelphia.  I  well  remember  the  awe  her  presence  inspired  among 
us  children ;  the  rustling  of  her  silk,  and  her  high -heeled  shoes  making  her  figure  more 
eommanding,  and  the  reproach  her  never-ending  knitting  cast  upon  us  idle  and  in- 
dulged children. 

**  Walter,  John,  and  Samuel  resided  in  New- York.    They  inherited  large  fortunes 
from  their  parents,  which  they  put  into  trade,  and  the  produce  of  China  and  other 
countries  was  wafted  to  our  shores  in  their  ships.     Walter  retired  with  an  immense 
fortune  from  the  firm,  lived  in  the  style  of  a  nobleman,  and  drove  an  elegant  chariot. 
On  an  excursion  to  Long  Island,  driving  by  a  country  house,  he  saw,  milking  in  the 
barnyard,  where  thirty  cows  had  just  been  driven  in  at  sunset,  a  beautiful  young 
Quaker  girl.     He  stopped,  beckoned  her,  and  asked  who  occupied  the  house.    With 
frreat  simplicity,  and  without  embarrassment,  she  replied,  '  My  father,  Daniel  Bowne. 
Wilt  thou  not  alight  and  take  tea  with  him  ?'    My  uncle  accepted  the  invitation,  intro- 
duced himself,  was  well  known  by  reputation.     He  conversed  with  the  farmer  on  the 
appearance  of  the  farm,  on  his  fine  cows,  etc.,  but  not  a  word  about  the  fair  milkmaid. 
Pref^ently  the  door  opened,  and  she  came  in  to  make  tea  for  the  *  city  friend,'  when  her 
father  said,  *  Hannah,  this  is  friend  Walter  Franklin,  from  New-York.'     She  blushed 
def^ply,  finding  he  made  no  allusion  to  having  seen  her  before.     The  blush  heightened 
her  loveliness.    She  had  smoothed  her  hair,  and  a  fine  lawn  kerchief  covered  her  neck 
and  bosom.     After  three  visits  he  asked  her  in  marriage,  and  the  fair  milkmaid  was 
seated  by  his  side  in  the  chariot  on  her  way  to  take  possession  as  mistress  of  the  most 
eVj^nt  house  in  the  city,  in  Cherry  street,  near  the  comer  of  Pearl.     She  had  a  nu- 
merfjiis  family  of  beautiful  daughters.     They  swerved  from  the  simplicity  of  Quaker- 
Wu\,  and  became  worldly  and  fashionable  belles.     The  eldest,  Sally,  married  a  very 
wealthy  man  of  the  name  of  Norton,  I  believe  of  English  birth,  who  was  heir  to  an 
vmraense  fortune,  left  him  by  a  Mr.  Lake,  who  lived  near  New-York.     The  second, 
^laria,  was  the  wife  of  De  Witt  Clinton.     The  third,  Hannah,  married  his  brother, 
^eor^e  Clinton.     They  all  had  children.     Their  mother  was  left  a  widow  just  before 
the  third  daughter  was  bom, — my  uiicle  Walter  dying  and  leaving  a  rich  young  widow 
and  twmty  thousand  pounds  to  each  of  his  daughters.   His  widow  afterwards  married 
a  very  respectable  Presbyterian  named  [Samuel]  Osgood,  who  held  some  post  under 
govemmont  [postmaster-general] — commissary  of  the  army  in  Washington's  time, 
1  ^ Ave.    She  had  a  number  of  children  by  Osgood.     The  eldest,  Martha,  married  a 


1 


86  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

brother  of  the  famous  Genet  [miniBter  from  the  French  Republic].    My  uncle  Walter's 
house  is  now  [1845]  the  Franklin  Bank,  named  after  its  builder  and  owner.?^ 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  there  is  no  vestige  of  the  house  left  to-day.  The  only 
Unk  to  connect  this  historic  mansion  with  the  present  is  the  name  of  the  triangular 
space  formed  by  the  junction  of  Pearl  and  Cherry  streets.  This  is  the  well-known 
'^  Franklin  Square,^  made  famous  by  Harper  and  Brothers'  publishing  house,  and  is 
overshadowed  by  the  lofty  and  vast  structure  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge. 

Editor. 


CHAPTER   in 

SOCIETY  IN  THE  EABLY  DATS  OF  THE  BEPUBLIC 

\  HE  choice  of  New- York  for  the  sittings  of  Congress  gave 
to  that  old  home  of  the  Dutch  and  Huguenots,  hardly  re- 
covered from  the  war,  a  new  dignity,  and  enlarged  oppor- 
tunities for  social  intercourse  with  senators,  members,  and 
high  officials  coming  from  the  various  States  of  the  American  Union, 
whose  differing  colonial  antecedents  were  associated  with  the  best 
blood  and  the  eventful  history  of  Europe. 

There  is  within  reach  an  opportunity  of  gaining  an  exact  and  mi- 
nute acquaintance  with  social  events,  and  the  personages  who  made 
them  what  they  were,  in  the  early  days  of  our  republic.  By  a  happy 
chance  there  has  been  preserved  Mrs.  John  Jay's  "  Dinner  and  Supper 
List  for  1787  and  '8" — a  period  when  her  husband  was  secretary  for 
foreign  affairs  for  the  Continental  Congress.  The  names  which  the  list 
furnishes,  together  with  the  memoranda  afforded  by  occasional  private 
correspondence,  and  the  published  notes  of  European  travelers  touch- 
ing that  interesting  period,  contribute  to  give  a  picture,  that  already 
possesses  an  historic  interest,  of  the  social  circles  of  New-York  during 
its  brief  existence  as  the  national  capital  under  the  articles  of  confed- 
eration, and  for  two  sessions  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  constitu- 
tion. Armed  with  this  list,  and  some  concomitant  documentary  or 
printed  aids,  we  can  look  in  upon  the  banquet-halls  of  the  substantial, 
spacious  mansions  of  that  day, — owned  or  occupied  by  magnates  of 
the  repuWic,  of  the  State,  of  the  city,  of  the  diplomatic  circles,  and  of 
society  itself, — and  people  them  again  with  those  who  were  accustomed 
to  gather  there.  "We  can  glance  along  the  festive  boards,  and  observe 
who  of  note  at  home  or  abroad  met  in  those  days  around  them. 

The  society  of  New- York  at  that  time,  despite  the  comparative 
insignificance  of  the  city  in  extent  and  population,  and  all  that  it  had 
Buffered  during  the  war,  presented  more  strikingly  than  in  after  years, 
when  domestic  and  foreign  immigration  had  made  it  a  common  center, 
those  distinguished  characteristics,  derived  from  its  blended  ancestry 


88 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


and  colonial  history,  that  are  still  discernible  in  the  circles  of  the 
Knickerbockers,  and  which  recall  alike  to  Americans  and  to  Euro- 
peans the  earlier  traditions  of  the  national  metropolis.  While  here  and 
there  might  be  found  members  of  a  family  which,  misled  by  mistaken 
convictions,  had  during  the  war  sided  with  the  mother-country,  or 


^. 


'.^^: 


■2/^ 


r 


•^.CoiaA^v 


'ftKl»   A 


„,  '^^f 


WASHINGTON'S    NOTE    TO    MRS.   JAY    ON    HER    DEPARTXTRE    FOR    SPAIN. 


had  timidly  endeavored  to  preserve  an  inglorious  neutrality,  the  tone 
of  society  was  eminently  patriotic,  and  worthy  of  the  antecedents  of 
an  ancestry  representing,  in  the  words  of  an  English  historian,  "the 
best  stock  of  Europe  who  had  sought  homes  in  the  Westei'n  world, 
and  in  whose  forms  of  government,  chai-ter,  provincial  and  even  pro- 
prietary, may  be  discerned  the  germ^  of  a  national  liberty.^  With  the 
culture  and  refinement  of  a  class  thus  happily  descended  and  fortu- 
nately situated  was  blended  that  love  of  country  which  lends  dignity 
to  wealth,  and  respectability  to  fashion. 


SOCIETY  m    THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC     89 

As  host  and  hostess  at  the  dinners  and  suppers  for  which  the  list 
before  mentioned  was  composed,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Jay  would  de- 
serve to  be  singled  out  for  notice  before  we  devote  attention  to  the 
other  social  liuninaries.  But  there  was  another  reason  why  they 
figured  so  centrally  in  the  social  events  of  that  day.  John  Jay  was 
now  secretary  for  foreign  affairs.  To  relate  his  pre\dous  services  as 
patriot,  chief  justice  of  the  State,  minister  to  Spain,  and  commis- 
sioner for  peace,  would  be  supei-fluous  in  this  chapter.  But  it  is 
worth  while  to  emphasize  the  significance  of  his  position  as  foreign 
secretary.  In  the  inchoate  condition  of  continental  government,  when 
Congress  was  at  the  head,  but  was  itself  without  very  clearly  defined 
powers;  when  there  was  not  any  one  person  endowed  with  the  chief 
executive  functions — the  secretary  for  foreign  affairs  was  really  the 
only  concrete  expression  of  the  government  by,  of,  and  for  the  people, 
which  had  just. been  wrested  from  Great  Britain,  to  which  other 
nations  could  at  all  clearly  address  themselves.  He,  too,  was  the 
person  to  whom  the  several  States  must  look  as  the  link  for  communi- 
cation between  themselves  and  that  delusive  thing — the  general  gov- 
ernment. Hence,  John  Jay's  position  made  him  in  effect  the  chief  of 
state.  It  was  not  very  unlike  that  of  John  of  Banieveld  or  John 
De  Witt  in  the  days  of  the  Dutch  republic,  whose  various  members 
would  not  resign  their  sovereignty  to  a  chief  or  president,  whose 
stad-holder  mainly  led  the  national  armies,  but  whose  land's  advo- 
cate or  grand  pensionary  —  i.  e.,  the  principal  civil  functionary— was 
the  man  who  received  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  princes  and  in- 
structed the  republic's  ministers  at  foreign  courts,  and  thus  to  all  the 
world  abroad  was  conspicuously  first  among  all  her  citizens.  Being 
thus  similarly  placed,  it  became  John  Jay's  duty  to  do  the  honors  for 
his  country,  and  his  wife  was  eminently  fitted  to  assist  him  in  the  per- 
formance of  that  duty.  As  there  has  been  no  occasion  in  previous 
chapters  to  give  an  account  of  her,  it  will  be  proper  to  do  so  here. 

Her  maiden  name  was  Sarah  Van  Brugh  Livingston,  her  father 
being  William  Livingston,  governor  of  New  Jersey,  and  he  the  grand- 
son of  Robert  Livingston,  the  founder  of  the  family  in  America.  Her 
mother  was  Susanna  French,  the  granddaughter  of  Philip  French, 
mayor  of  New- York  in  1702,  and  who  joined  Colonel  Nicholas  Bayard 
in  that  address  which  caused  the  latter's  conviction  of  high  treason. 
Sarah  was  the  fourth  daughter,  bom  in  August,  1757.  She  inherited 
some  of  her  father's  finest  traits,  intellectual  and  moral,  which  were 
developed  by  a  very  careful  education.  But  with  the  father's  stern 
patriotism  and  resolution  she  blended  features  of  gentleness,  grace, 
and  beauty  peculiarly  her  own.  The  delicate  sensibility  occasionally 
exhibited  in  her  letters  seems  to  have  come  from  her  mother.  Her 
marriage  to  John  Jay  took  place  on  April  28,  1774,  in  the  midst  of 


90  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  agitations  that  foreboded  the  shock  of  the  Bevolution,  and  abnost 
exactly  one  year  before  the  battle  of  Lexington,  She  was  then  not 
quite  eighteen  years  old,  while  Mr.  Jay  was  twenty-eight.  Up  to  this 
time  he  had  held  no  public  oflBce,  excepting  that  of  secretary  to  the 
royal  commission  for  settling  the  boundary  between  New- York  and 
New  Jersey.  But  now,  before  the  honeymoon  was  complete,  in  May, 
1774,  Jay  was  called  to  take  part  in  the  first  movements  of  the  Revo- 
lution. His  public  duties  as  member  of  the  New-York  provincial 
congress,  of  the  New-York  conmiittee  of  safety,  and  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  kept  him  constantly  separated  from  his  young  wife. 
But  finally  a  post  of  honor,  yet  of  difficxdty  and  danger,  was  given 
him,  which  enabled  the  youthful  pair  to  be  more  constantly  together, 
although  far  distant  from  friends  and  country,  and  which  at  the  same 
time  was  to  furnish  Mrs.  Jay  with  excellent  opportunities  for  training 
to  successfully  occupy  the  position  of  first  lady  in  the  land  during 
the  decade  following  the  declaration  of  peace. 

On  October  10,  1779,  Mr.  Jay,  having  been  appointed  minister  to 
Spain,  sailed  in  the  congressional  frigate,  the  Confederacy,  accom- 
panied by  Mrs.  Jay,  by  her  brother,  Colonel  Brockholst  Livingston, 
afterward  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  as  his 
private  secretary,  and  by  Mr.  William  Carmichael,  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, as  his  public  secretary.  After  a  rather  quiet  life  in  Spain 
came  a  residence  of  several  years  at  or  in  the  vicinity  of  Paris,  while 
her  husband  was  engaged  with  Franklin  and  Adams  in  negotiating 
the  peace  which  confirmed  American  independence.  Did  space  or 
scope  here  permit,  we  should  be  tempted  to  blend  with  this  sketch 
something  more  than  a  mere  glance  at  the  historic  memories  of  the 
period  connected  with  the  peace  negotiations,  in  which  Mrs.  Jay  was 
almost  a  participant,  from  her  intimate  association  with  the  nego- 
tiators,  who  frequently  met  at  her  apartments.  There  is  no  page 
certainly  in  our  foreign  diplomacy  to  which  the  intelligent  American 
reader  will  ever  recur  with  more  national  pride  and  interest  than  that 
which  records  the  progress  and  resxdt  of  these  negotiations.  Mean- 
while, the  scenes  and  the  society  amid  which  Mrs.  Jay  lived  for  nearly 
two  years  presented  a  brilliant  contrast  to  the  trials  and  hardships  to 
which  she  had  been  subjected  by  the  war  at  home,  as  well  as  to  her 
more  retired  life  during  their  residence  at  Madrid.  As  Mr.  Jay  de- 
clined to  accept  the  courtesies  of  the  Spanish  court  except  as  the 
minister  of  an  independent  nation,  and  as  Spain  would  not  recognize 
him  as  such,  it  is  probable  that  Mrs.  Jay  never  appeared  at  the  royal 
assemblies.  At  Paris  everything  was  different.  History  has  made  us 
familiar  with  the  Paris  of  that  period,  so  interesting  as  presenting 
the  last  pictures  of  the  pride  and  splendor  that  were  still  unconscious 
of  the  impending  revolution. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EAfiLX    DAYS    OF    THE    BEPUBLIC 


91 


Marie  Antoinette,  now  in  her  twenty-ninth  year,  but  four  years  the 
senior  of  Mrs.  Jay,  still  justified  by  her  grace  and  beauty  the  enthusi- 
astic encomiums  of  her  contemporaries.  Mrs.  Jay  wrote  of  her :  "  She 
is  so  handsome,  and  her  manners  are  so  engaging,  that  almost  forget- 
ful of  Republican  principles,  I  was  ready,  while  in  her  presence,  to 
declare  her  bom  to  be  a  queen." 
The  fantasies  of  fashion,  says  a 
court  historian,  revealed  the  spirit 
of  France  as  capricious  and  change- 
able. The  queen  and  her  intimate 
friends,  especially  the  Gomtesse 
Diane  de  Polignac  and  the  Mar- 
quise de  Vaudrienne,  changed  the 
mode  day  by  day.  The  women 
wore  the  hair  most  fantastically 
raised  in  a  pyramid,  and  this  high 
edifice  was  crowned  with  flowers, 
as  if  it  were  a  garden.  It  is  both 
apt  and  important,  in  this  connec- 
tion, to  get  a  view  of  the  Parisian 
mode  from  Mrs.  Jay's  own  band: 
"At  present  the  prevailing  fash- 
ions are  very  decent  and  very 
plain;  the  gowns  most  worn  are 
the  robes  k  I'Anglaise,  which  are  /^ 
exactly  like  the  Italian  habits  that 
were  in  fashion  in  America  when 
I  left  it ;  the  Sultana  is  also  &  la 
mode,  but  it  is  not  expected  that 
it  will  long  remain  so.  Every  lady  makes  them  of  slight  silk.  There 
is  so  great  a  variety  of  hats,  caps,  cuffs,  that  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe them.  I  forgot  that  the  robe  h  I'Anglaise,  if  trimmed  either 
with  the  same  or  gauze,  is  dress;  but  if  untrimmed  must  be  worn 
with  an  apron  and  is  undress." 

The  two  circles  of  society  where  Mrs.  Jay  was  entirely  at  home  in 
Paris  were  those  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  hotels  of  La  Fayette 
and  Franklin.  Among  the  first  to  congratulate  her  on  her  arrival 
there  were  the  Marquis  and  Marquise.  If  the  circle  she  met  at  the 
Hotel  de  Noailles  was  marked  by  its  aristocracy  of  rank,  that  which 
surrounded  the  venerable  philosopher  at  Passy  was  no  less  celebrated 
for  happily  blending  the  choicest  and  the  most  opposite  elements  of 
the  world  of  learning,  wit,  and  fashion.    Among  the  more  intimate 

I  Un.  King  ma  Om  oulj  danghtar  of  John  tbe  ^raee  of  ber  maniiera;  her  mtnd,  too.  was 
AlMp.  a  promloent  New-ToA  morobant.  She  highly  cDlUvatod,  and  she  was  among  thoae  who 
vaa  remarkable  for  her  beaatj,  gentlenen,  and     adorned  American  Bociety.  EniTOit. 


-^tfy^ta-t-Jt. 


92  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOEK 

friends  of  Franklin  were  Turgot,  the  Abb6  Raynal,  Rochefoucauld, 
Cabanis,  Le  Boy,  Mably,  Mirabeau,  D'Holbach,  Marmontel,  Neckar, 
Malesherbes,  Watelet,  and  Mesdames*  de  Genlis,  Denis,  Helvetius, 
Brillon,  and  La  Reillard.  Thus  among  men  and  women  of  wit,  wis- 
dom, and  beauty,  amid  the  smiles  of  royalty  and  the  ceremonious 
conventionalities  of  the  court  and  courtly  circles,  Mrs.  Jay  was  being 
prepared  at  the  capital  of  the  world  of  fashion  for  her  prominent  part 
in  the  capital  of  the  nascent  republic.  On  July  24,  1784,  after  an 
absence  of  more  than  four  years  and  a  half,  she  arrived  in  New- York 
with  her  husband  and  children.  Before  their  arrival  Jay  had  already 
been  appointed  secretary  for 
foreign  affairs.  As  was  stated 
on  a  preceding  page,  there  be- 
ing then  no  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  secre- 
tary having  charge  of  the  whole 
foreign  correspondence,  as  well 
as  of  that  between  the  general 
and  the  State  governments,  his 
position  has  been  well  described 
by  some  one  as  "unquestion- 
ably the  most  prominent  and 
responsible  civil  office  under  the  Confederation."  The  entertaining  of 
the  foreign  ministers,  officers  of  government,  members  of  Congress, 
and  persons  of  distinction,  was  an  important  incident,  and  Mrs.  Jay's 
domestic  duties  assumed  something  of  an  official  character.  But  her 
long  residence  near  European  courts,  and  her  recent  association  with 
the  brilliant  circles  of  the  French  capital,  assisted  her  to  fill  with  ease 
the  place  she  was  now  to  occupy,  and  to  perform  its  graceful  duties 
in  a  manner  becoming  the  dignity  of  the  republic,  to  whose  fortunes 
she  had  been  so  devoted. 

The  house  which  was  thus  made  the  center  of  the  social  world  in 
New- York  deserves  a  moment's  attention.  The  home  of  the  Jays  for 
one  or  two  generations  had  been  in  Westchester  County.  At  the 
age  of  forty  the  father  of  John  Jay,  having  already  acquired  a  com- 
petency in  mercantile  pursuits,  retired  from  business  and  from  New- 
York  to  settle  in  comfort  at  a  country  house  and  farm  at  Rye.  Jay's 
mother  was  a  Van  Cortlandt,  through  whom  the  estate  at  Bedford  fell 
into  his  possession.  At  Rye  he  was  bom  and  brought  up.  On  bis 
marriage  the  occupations  and  duties  to  which  the  troubled  times 
called  him,  as  has  been  noted,  prevented  the  youthful  pair  from  estab- 
lishing a  home  of  their  own.  Mrs.  Jay,  during  the  almost  continuous 
separation  from  her  husband,  passed  the  greater  part  of  the  time  at 
the  residence  of  her  father,  the  governor,  at  Liberty  Hall,  Elizabeth- 


BOCIETY    IN    THE    EARLY    DAYS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC  93 

towu.  New  Jersey.  But  occasional  visits  were  made  also  to  her  hus- 
band's parents  at  Rye,  in  Westchester  County,  New- York.  There 
was  no  opportunity  for  setting  up  a  permanent  establishment  until 
the  return  from  Europe  in  1784,  when  Jay's  official  duties  required 
bis  presence  in  New-York  city.  He  then  built  or  rented  a  house  in 
Broadway,  which  in  the  directory  for  1789  is  marked  No.  133;  but  it 
is  somewhat  difficult  to  identify  the 
esact  location,  since  there  was  then 
no  regularity  about  the  numbers  of 
houses.  "Thus  No.  33  was  at  one  of 
the  comers  of  Cortlandt  Street ;  No. 
29  was  near  Maiden  Lane ;  and  No. 
58  was  nearly  opposite  to  it ;  No.  62 
was  at  the  comer  of  Liberty  Street ; 
No.  76  was  nearly  opposite  the  City 
Tavem,which  was  between  the  pres- 
ent numbers  113  and  119;  and  No. 
85  was  nearly  opposite  to  Trinity 
Church.  Odd  and  even  numbers  were 
given  to  houses  without  regard  to  the 
side  of  the  street  upon  which  they 
stood,  and  in  some  cases  two  houses 
bore  the  same  number."'  The  present 
location  of  No.  133  Broadway,  if 
there  were  such  a  number,*  should 
be  between  Cedar  and  Liberty  streets,  then  respectively  known  as 
Little  Queen  and  Crown  streets.  The  only  Jay  house  in  Broadway 
which  I  know  of  was  of  granite — I  think  a  double  house  with  plain 
exterior  on  the  east  side  of  Broadway,  below  Wall  street,  which  by 
Jay's  will  (he  died  in  1829)  was  left  to  his  son  Peter  Augustus  Jay, 
who  sold  it.  The  purchaser  erected  upon  the  premises  three  or  four 
stores,  which  were  used  for  the  storage  of  government  supplies. 

The  names  that  are  preserved  in  so  interesting  a  manner  upon  Mrs. 
Jay's  lists  fall  naturally  into  groups,  and  are  to  be  studied  to  the  best 
advantage  as  thus  arranged.  The  bar  of  New- York  shall  be  noticed 
first.  It  gave  to  the  salons  of  the  day  an  array  of  names  never  since 
surpassed  in  our  juridical  history:  James  Duane,  Richard  Harrison, 
Aaron  Burr,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Morgan  Lewis,  Robert  Troup, 
Robert  E.  Livingston,  Egbert  Benson,  John  Watts,  Gouverneur 
Morris,  Richard  Varick,  John  Lansing,  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman,  and 

I  ThomMB.V.Siiimii"Ilew-YoA City  In  1789."  Botterdsro.    He  was  the  lather  o(  Bobert  LiTing- 

I  John  Lirtngitoii,  a  ScOttUb  Preabrterlan  dl-  Bton,  founder  of  the  American  family.     The  <rtg- 

Tinet  WM  «  member  of  the  General  AmemblieB,  nette  in  from  a  painting  in  the  posBesaion  of  Mre. 

and  tD  leSO,  one  ot  tbe  eommlarioiien  from  the  Bobert  Kaliiton  Oosbjr  of  New-York,  a  daughter  of 

Chnieli  of  SeoUaod  to  Charia  IL,  then  at  Breda.  Col.  Henry  Llvingslon  of  Po'keepsie.       Editor. 

Bauiltbed  In  168S  Cor  non-eonfivmltjr.he  dlM  at        'The  number  next  to  n9iD  Broadway  la  135. 


94  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

James  Kent.  At  various  times  they  appeared  onder  the  hospitable 
roof  of  the  Jays,  and  in  turn  met  at  the  tables  of  other  dignitaries  of 
their  own  or  other  professions;  and  it  will  be  proper  to  take  a  more 
particular  glance  at  each  of  those  named  in  the  group  above.  James 
Duane  was  at  this  time  fifty-six  years  old,  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his 
powers.  He  had  been  mayor  of  the  city  since  1784,  a  position  which 
he  yielded  in  the  year  1789  to  his  colleague  in  the  profession,  Richard 
Varick,  now  city  recorder.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Robert 
Livingston.  He  had  been  diligent  in  the  cause  of  the  republic,  but 
withal  conservative  in  his  temperament,  of  exactly  the  position  in  all 
the  Revolutionary  movements  that  John  Jay,  his  frequent  host,  occu- 
pied throughout.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress 
when  it  first  met,  and  remained  a  member  of  it  all  through  its  ex- 
istence. He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  senate  of  the  State  for  the 
terms  1782  to  1785,  and  again  in  1789  to  1790.  He  was  appointed 
United  States  judge  for  the  district  of  New-York  in  1789,  serving  till 
1794,  and  in  1797  he  died.  His  residence  was  at  No.  17  Nassau  street, 
and  therefore  within  a  short  distance  of  Mr.  Jay's.  His  presence  lent 
dignity  to  every  gathering  of  celebrity  of  that  day,  either  as  mayor. 
United  States  judge,  or  State  senator,  which  honors  were  all  upon 
him  in  the  year  1789,  and  some  of  them  in  1788,  the  period  to  which 
the  list  has  reference.  Richard  Harrison  was  not  quite  forty  years 
of  age  when  he  was  wont  to  meet  his  friends  at  Secretary  Jay's  table, 
and  he  remained  a  prominent  figure  in  the  government,  which  was 
then  yet  to  be  initiated,  until  far  into  the  present  century.  He  was 
made  auditor  of  the  treasury  by  Washington  in  1791,  held  that  posi- 
tion until  1836,  and  died  in  Washington  in  July,  1841,  at  the  age 
of  ninety-one.  He  owned  an  estate  in  New-York  which  was  then  far 
from  the  heart  of  the  city,  but  which  can  be  roughly  described  as 
corresponding  to-day  to  the  block  between  Eighth  and  Ninth  avenues 
and  Thirtieth  and  Thirty-first  streets.  His  residence  in  1789  was  at 
11  Queen  (or  Pearl)  street,  above  Hanover  Square.  In  the  profession 
of  the  law  he  greatly  distinguished  himself,  and  on  the  strength  of 
that  distinction  he  was  invited  to  prominent  houses  in  1788  and  1789, 
as  his  official  life  had  not  then  begun. 

The  two  names  that  next  claim  attention  naturally  fill  one  with  a 
mingled  sensation  of  pleased  and  painful  surprise — pleased  to  observe 
that  these  two  brilliant  minds  could  meet  together  in  friendship  and 
brighten  a  gay  company  with  their  undoubted  talents;  painful  because 
of  that  future  fatal  day,  which  was  mercifully  veiled  from  their  view, 
but  which  posterity  can  never  forget  when  their  names  are  mentioned. 
They  were  the  leading  lawyers  of  their  day,  often  opposed,  sometimes 
united,  on  cases;  but  with  a  generous  rivalry  between  them,  we  may 
be  sure.    It  was  not  on  professional  grounds  that  antagonism  arose. 


SOCIETY  IN  THE  EABLT  DATS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC     95 

It  was  the  baneful  influence  of  politics,  and  the  lines  that  Anally 
divided  them  had  not  yet  begun  to  be  drawn,  or  not  very  distinctly 
at  least,  when  they  met  in  Jay's  drawing-rooms,  for  the  federal  gov- 
ernment had  then  not  yet  started  upon  its 
career.  We  are  concerned,  therefore,  with 
their  social  qualities  just  here.  Burr's  were 
eminent:  bis  engaging  manners  made  him  a 
power  when  his  legitimate  political  life  bad 
suffered  a  hopeless  shipwreck.  And  M. 
Brissot  de  Warville,  who  met  him  frequently 
in  the  salons  of  the  day,  records  with  enthu- 
siasm his  favorable  impressions.  The  wife 
of  Burr,  ten  years  his  senior,  whom  he  called 
*'  the  best  woman  and  the  finest  lady  I  have 
ever  known,"  does  not  appear  upon  the 
dinner-list.  It  is  not  likely  either  that  she 
received  at  her  own  house,  as  the  dread  '""='  '"'"'  ""  ^"^=- 
disease  (cancer)  that  carried  her  off  five  or  sis  years  later  may  have 
been  already  at  work.  The  more  celebrated  daughter,  Theodosia, 
whose  brilliant  gifts  made  her  a  "queen  of  American  society"  later, 
was  then  but  a  child. 

Of  Hamilton  little  need  here  be  said.  The  vivacity  of  his  French 
blood  would  make  him  a  welcome  guest  at  every  sociid  gathering,  and 
the  wit  and  wisdom  of  his  conversation  would  flow  with  equal  readi- 
ness there,  as  on  the  more  serious  occasions  of  the  public  debate 
before  popular  assemblies  or  in  senatorial  halls.  As  a  bit  of  gossip,  no 
doubt  picked  up  in  just  such  drawing-room  circles,  M.  de  Rochefou- 
cauld Liancourt  (afterward  the  Due  de  Rochefoucauld)  mentions 
the  following  concerning  Hamilton:  "Disinterestedness  in  regard  to 
money,  rare  everywhere,  very  rare  in  America,  is  one  of  the  most 
generally  recognized  traits  of  Mr.  Hamilton;  and  although  his  actual 
practice  might  be  very  lucrative,  I  learn  from  his  clients  that  their 
sole  complaint  against  him  is  the  smallness  of  the  fees  which  be  asks 
of  tbem."  ^  It  is  also  well  known  that  Mrs.  Hamilton  was  a  daughter 
of  General  Philip  Schuyler,  of  Albany,  and  thus  in  her  veins  flowed 
the  blood  of  one  of  the  noblest  colonial  families,  distinguished  in  the 
history  of  the  province  for  more  than  a  century.  From  a  letter  of 
one  lady  to  another — from  Miss  Kitty  Livingston  to  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Jay,  while  the  latter  was  in  Madrid — we  obtain  a  pleasant  glance  into 
the  incipiency  of  this  happy  nnion.'  It  is  dated  at  Trenton,  May  23, 
1780,  and  contains  this  passage:  "Oeneral  and  Mrs.  Schuyler  are  at 
Morristown.  The  general  is  one  of  three  that  compose  a  Committee 
from  CongreBS.    They  expect  to  be  with  the  army  all  summer.    Mrs. 

1  "VoTBca  dau  let  BtBta'Vnli  d'AmMqae,  1T9G,  1798, 1T9T  "  (S  vola.,  PstIbI,  T  :  160. 


96 


mSTOBI    OF    XEW-XOBE 


Schuyler  returns  to  Albany  when  the  campaign  opens.  Apropos, 
Betsey  Schuyler  is  engaged  to  oar  friend  Colonel  Hamilton.  She  has 
been  at  Morristown,  at  Dr.  Cochrane's,  since  last  February."  A  con- 
temporary aceonnt  of  Mrs.  Hamilton,  at  the  very  time  when  her  name 
was  put  down  on  the  dinner-list,  occurs  in  the  pages  of  M.  BriBsot  de 
Warville:  "A  charming  woman, who  joins  to  the  graces  all  the  candor 
and  simplicity  of  an  American  wife."  Her  own  hospitalities  were  dis- 
pensed at  her  house,  located  on  the  comer  of  Broad  and  Wall  streets. 
Burr's  residence  at  this  time  was  scarce 
a  stone's  throw  distant,  at  10  Nassau 
street.  Bichmond  Hill  had  either  not 
as  yet  come  into  his  possession,  or  was 
nsed  only  in  snmmer  as  a  country- 
seat.  In  1789  it  was  occupied  by  Vice- 
President  John  Adams. 

Continuing  to  east  the  eye  along  the 
list  of  legal  celebrities  given  above, 
we  are  reminded  that  then  the  city  of 
New-York,  besides  being  the  federal 
capital,  was  also  the  capital  of  the 
State.  Here,  therefore,  resided  the 
chancellor,  Robert  E.  Livingston,  of 
the  Clermont  branch  of  that  numer- 
E'j  ous  family.  His  residence  was  No.  3 
Broadway.  It  fell  to  his  share  to  ad- 
minister the  oath  of  office  to  President 
Washington;  and  after  he  bad  repre- 
sented our  nation  at  the  court  of  the 
great  Napoleon,  winning  the  latter^s 
admiration,  and  doing  signal  service  to 
bis  native  land  In  negotiating  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  be  immor- 
talized his  name  above  all  these  other  causes  by  actively  pushing 
to  success  Fulton's  invention  for  navigating  vessels  by  steam,  the 
Clermont  bearing  the  name  of  his  estate  on  the  Hudson.  Egbert 
Benson,  another  member  of  the  group  of  lawyers,  was  the  first  attor- 
ney-general of  the  State,  holding  the  office  from  1777  to  1789.  Aft«r 
that  he  was  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New- York,  and,  living  to 
a  good  old  age,  became  the  first  president  of  the  New- York  Historical 
Society.  Another  name  high  in  the  annals  of  the  State  government 
is  that  of  Morgan  Lewis.  After  an  honorable  career  as  soldier,  no 
sooner  were  actual  hostilities  over  than  he  resigned  from  the  army 
and  began  his  civil  career.  "He  was  so  impatient,"  observes  his 
granddaughter,  Mrs.  Delafield,  "to  resume  the  study  of  the  law  that 
ho  returned  to  New- York  before  the  British  troops  had  vacated  the 


■&.  ^'*«/*>»*'^^»'T_^ 


SOCIETr    IN    THE    EARLY    DAYS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC  97 

town."  There  was  some  risk  in  this  proceeding,  for  on  the  eve  of  the 
departure  of  the  British  there  appeared  good  veaaon  to  expect  a  con- 
flagration. But  the  danger  blew  over,  and  Lewis,  as  well  as  Hamil- 
ton and  other  young  lawyers,  soon  had  his  hands  full  of  business. 
Moi^au  Lewis  was  married  to  a  sister  of  Chancellor  Livingston.  He 
became  attorney-general  of  the  State  in  1791,  then  chief  justice,  and 
in  1804  defeated  Burr  as  candidate 
for  governor.  Though  Lewis  was 
no  longer  of  Hamilton's  pai-ty,  it 
was  through  Hamilton's  efforts  that 
no  part  of  the  broken  federalist 
ranks  went  over  to  Burr;  and  out  of 
this  gubernatorial  contest  grew  the 
({uarrel  that  terminated  so  disas- 
trously to  both  men. 

An  honored  place  in  the  circles  of 
N'ew-York  society  was  due  also  to 
John  Lansing,  who  had  been  mayor 
of  Albany,  and  was  still  a  resident 
of  that  town,  but  who  was  in  New- 
York  as  speaker  of  the  State  assem- 
bly. He  succeeded  Livingston  as 
chancellor,  and  was  in  turn  suc- 
ceeded by  James  Kent.  Gouvemeur 
Morris,  too,  a  lawyer,  but  preeminently  a  financier,  the  colaborer 
in  the  difficult  and  desperate  days  of  republican  finances  with  his 
namesake  (but  not  kinsman)  Robert  Monris,  would  ride  into  town 
from  Morrisania,  which  he  had  just  purchased,  and  be  welcomed  for 
his  patriotic  services,  as  well  as  for  his  descent  from  some  of  the 
oldest  colonial  families — from  Gouverneur,  the  sou-in-law  of  Jacob 
Leisler,  and  from  the  chief  justice  of  the  province  when  it  was  still  a 
royal  possession.  In  December,  1788,  however,  he  went  t^  England ; 
and  while  there  was  appointed  minister  to  France,  serving  in  that 
post  at  the  beginning  of  the  Reign  of  Terror.  It  was  also  something 
deeper  than  the  amenities  of  social  life  which  brought  Gouvemeur 
Morris  under  the  roof  of  Secretary  Jay.  Once,  while  the  latter  was 
in  Europe,  Morris  hastily  despatched  this  note,  speaking  volumes 
for  the  affection  which  prompted  it :  "  Dear  Sir, — It  is  now  within  a 
few  minutes  of  the  time  when  the  mail  is  made  up  and  sent  off.  I 
can  not,  therefore,  do  more  than  just  to  assure  you  of  the  continu- 
ance of  my  love.  Adieu."  Of  the  remaining  names  we  need  only 
note  that  Robert  Troup  was  a  lifelong  friend,  from  college  days,  of 
Hamilton,  and  born  in  the  same  year ;  that  John  Watts  had  received 
back  the  estate  which  his  father's  "loyalty"  had  forfeited;  and  that 

VoL-HL— 7. 


£t^^K^ 


98  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Richard  Varick,  at  first  recorder,  succeeded  James  Duane  as  mayor  of 
the  city.  Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman  and  James  Kent  were  both  in  their 
youthful  vigor ;  the  latter  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1785,  and  thus  just 
commencing  the  career  that  gave  him,  while  yet  living,  a  world-wide 
reputation  as  advocate  and  jurist. 

Pursuing  our  review  of  the  contributions  from  professional  life  to 
dinner-tables  and  social  circles,  a  glance  may  be  taken  at  the  minis- 
ters and  physicians  eminent  in  those  days.    Of  the  Reformed  (Dutch) 


•"'^sen^raatai^frt  ^^  &^^^^=>w»^^PZ8^ 


<^a^^^  ^^ /^.e^.  .^^ 


/ 


^ 


Church  the  pastors  were  Dr.  John  Henry  Livingston  and  Dr.  William 
Linn;  these  preached  exclusively  in  English,  and  were  themselves 
not  even  of  Dutch  extraction.  But  in  the  old  Garden  Street  Church 
there  worshiped  a  remnant  who  still  loved  to  hear  the  mother- 
tongue,  and  Dr.  Gerardus  Kuypers  ministered  to  them ;  but  he  made 
no  practice  of  mingling  with  high  society.  Dr.  Livingston,  however, 
was  intimately  connected,  as  his  name  indicates,  with  the  most  promi- 
nent official  and  social  circles,  Mrs.  Jay  herself  being  a  Livingston. 
He  had  also  married  a  Livingston,  the  daughter  of  Philip,  the  "  signer  ** 
of  the  Declaration,  who  had  a  house  on  Brooklyn  Heights  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  The  doctor's  tall  and  dignified  figure  and  high 
breeding  would  make  him  a  notable  addition  to  any  company ;  his 
colleague.  Dr.  Linn,  too,  was  a  man  of  note,  having  the  reputation  of 
being  by  far  the  most  eloquent  preacher  in  New- York  and  even  in 

The  above  is  a  fac-simile  of  an  order  written  by  Mary  Alexander,  wife  of  James  Alexander,  and 
mother  of  Lord  Stirling.    The  original  is  in  the  possession  of  Miss  Jay. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EABLY    DAYS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC  99 

the  Uuited  States.    In  1789  he  was  elected  chaplain  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  first  to  occupy  that  office. 

Both  the  Presbyterian  ministers,  Drs.  John  Bodgers  and  John 
Mason,  appear  on  the  dinner-list.  Dr.  Eodgers  was  pastor  of  the  Wall 
Street  and  "Brick  Meeting"  churches,  which  were  united  under  one 
government.  The  latter  church  stood 
on  the  site  of  the  "  New-York  Times  " 
and  the  Potter  buildings,  or  the  tri- 
angular block  bounded  by  Beekman 
and  Nassau  streets  and  Park  Bow. 
Dr.  Eodgers  was  a  native  of  Boston, 
au  ardent  patriot  during  the  war,  and 
having  served  as  brigade  chaplain, 
he  must  have  been  on  terms  of  famil- 
iar acquaintance  with  most  of  the 
officers  of  the  Revolutionary  army 
who  were  now  prominent  in  civil  life. 
He  would  be  welcomed  in  society, 
therefore,  and  also  for  the  reason 
that  he  felt  entirely  at  home  in  such 
surroundings.  "He  was  elegant  in 
manners  but  formal  to  such  a  degree 
that  there  is  a  tradition  that  the  last  thing  which  be  and  his  wife 
always  did  before  retiring  for  the  night  was  to  salute  each  other  with 
a  bow  and  a  courtesy."  As  to  his  personal  appearance,  "  he  is  de- 
scribed as  a  stout  man  of  medium  height  who  wore  a  white  wig,  was 
extremely  careful  in  his  dress,  and  walked  with  the  most  majestic 
dignity."  Dr.  Mason  was  pastor  of  the  Scotch  or  Covenanter  Presby- 
terian Church,  located  on  the  south  side  of  Cedar  street,  between 
Nassau  and  Broadway,  now  represented  by  the  church  on  Fourteenth 
street,  near  Sixth  avenue.  He,  too,  had  been  a  zealous  patriot,  and 
served  for  some  years  as  chaplain  at  "West  Point.  He  was  a  near  neigh- 
bor of  Dr.Linn's,  living  at  63  Cortlandt  street,  while  the  lattei-'s  number 
was  66.  He  was  of  medium  stature,  earnest  and  solid  in  his  pulpit 
efforts  rather  than  eloquent,  born  and  educated  in  Scotland,  and  a 
stout  opponent  there  of  state  interference  with  the  choice  of  ministers 
by  congregations.  His  manners  were  polished,  as  of  a  man  who  had 
mingled  much  with  people  of  distinction  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean. 

Of  the  Episcopal  clergy  we  find  on  the  list  the  name  of  Dr.  Benja- 
min Moore,  who  was  now  rector  of  Trinity,  but  had  at  one  time  been 
removed  from  the  position  because  Tory  votes  had  put  him  into  it. 
He  lived  not  far  from  the  church,  at  46  Broadway.  But  chief  among 
them  as  a  social  figure,  by  reason  of  his  office  as  well  as  because  of 
his  social  qualities  and  undoubted  patriotic  sympathies,  was  the  "easy, 


100 


HIBTOBY    OF    NEW-YOEK 


good-tempered,  geutlemanly,  and  scholarly  Dr.  Provoost-,  Bishop  of 
New- York, —  a  chaplaiu  of  Congi-ess,  and  a  welcome  guest  at  the  din- 
ner table  of  his  friends."  The  doctor  had  been  devoted  to  the  Ameri- 
can cause,  was  a  native  of  the  city,  and  of  Dutch  or  combined  Dutch 
and  Huguenot  descent  For  even  then  the  city  presented  the  curious 
"  contradiction  in  circumstances,"  so  often  repeated  since  and  seen 
to-day,  that  in  the  Dutch  pulpits  stood  men  without  a  particle  of 
Dutch  blood  in  their  veins,  while  in  the  Episcopal  churches  the  purest 
Knickerbockers  led  the  devotions  of  the  people.  The  bishop  was  in 
every  respect  a  most  estimable  and  agreeable  person ;  and,  in  addi- 
tion to  liis  Hebrew,  classic,  and  ecclesiastical  lore,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  familiar  with  French,  Qerman,  and  Italian.  It  is  even  affirmed 
that  as  a  literary  recreation  —  and  the  circumstance  seems  more  sig- 
nificant In  view  alike  of  his  Epis- 
copal duties  and  the  times — he 
had  made  a  new  poetical  transla- 
tion of  Tasso.  He  was  in  a  posi- 
tion, therefore,  to  flavor  his  con- 
versation at  social  gatherings  with 
the  elegancies  of  modem  literature, 
as  well  as  to  edify  men  with  "the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law."  He 
was  a  neighbor  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Eodgers,  who  lived  at  7  Nassau 
street,  while  the  bishop  resided  at 
No.  2.  In  person  it  is  recorded  of 
him  that  he  had  a  round,  full  face, 
was  rather  above  the  medium  in 
stature,  of  portly  figure,  and  very 
dignified  in  demeanor."  He  was  a 
public-spirited  man,  hospitable,  and  so  liberal  to  the  poor  as  to  in- 
fringe rather  too  deeply  upon  his  moderate  salary  of  seven  himdred 
pounds  per  annum,  with  house  rent-free;  the  pound  in  America  then 
being  of  the  value  of  but  about  two  and  a  half  dollars. 

The  medical  profession  was  represented  at  that  day  by  Dr.  John 
(.'litu'ltuu,  Drs.  John  and  Samuel  Bard  (father  and  son,  who  operated 
at  tho  lauciug  of  a  cai-buncle  from  which  Washington  suffered  during 
liis  rt'sideuce  in  the  Franklin  house).  Dr.  Wright  Post,  Dr.  Richard 
lliiiley,  Dr.  Benjamin  Kissam,  Dr.  Johnson,  Dr.  Jones,  Dr.  Nicholas 
Roiimino,  Dr.  Charles  McKnight,  Dr.  James  Tillery,  and  several 
ntliers.  The  whole  membership  of  the  Medical  Society  in  1789 
uinouLited  to  twenty-eight.  On  the  dinner-list  appear  only  the  names 
of  Ura.  </harlton,  Kissam,  and  Johnson.     Dr.  Charlton  lived  at  100 

t  Wilaon's  "Centennial  HlHtoiy  of  the  Diocese  of  New- York,"  p.  127. 


CL^^n  "^  JWtTWs'^ 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EARLY    DAYS    OF    THfe    EtPUBLIC  101 

Broadway,  and  thus  within  easy  call  of  Jay's  house,  aii4')ie  may  have 
been  the  family  physician.'  Under  one  date  on  the  iist;-.the  only 
guests  for  dinner  are  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Charlton,  and  this  little  repast, 
almost  en  fam'dle,  would 
lend  support  to  the  theory. 
But  the  name  most  fre- 
quently occurring  is  that 
of  Dr.  Johnson.  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Kissam  may  have 

been    the   father  of   the  ■  aj*      -— xap^'' 

more  celebrated  Dr.  Rich-  ^     i^^^i^  -^ 

ard  Sharpe  Kissam,  who 
graduated  at  Edinburgh 
ia  1789  and  began  prac- 
tice in  New- York  in  1791. 
The  former  resided  at  156 
Queen  (now  Pearl)  street ; 
to  judge  from  the  num- 
ber —  counting  above 
Hanover  Square  —  the 
doctor's  house  must  have  ^.^^^^-^t^ff^^Si.  ^w-^*-  ^Ss'^^.^-.^;^^ 
been  a  few  blocks  above 

Franklin  Square.  It  is  surprising  that  some  of  the  greater  lights  of 
the  profession  —  so  eminent  a  surgegn  as  Dr.  Wright  Post,  for  one — 
were  not  found  more  frequently  at  the  social  gatherings  of  the  day. 
It  would  be  singular  if  they  appeared  elsewhere  and  were  not  among 
the  houored  guests  at  Secretary  Jay's. 

Prominent  upon  Mrs.  Jay's  list  are,  of  course,  the  names  of  the  old 
New- York  families  — the  Bayards,  the  Beekmans,  the  Crugers,  the  De 
Peysters,  the  Livingstons,  the  Morrises,  the  Schuylers,  the  Van  Homes, 
the  Van  Corilandts,  the  Van  Eensselaers,  the  Verplancks,  the  Wattses. 
^Tiile  some  of  these  furnished  men  for  high  positions  in  the  service 
of  the  nation,  the  State,  or  the  city,  their  position  in  society  was 
assured,  independently  of  that,  by  the  descent  from  those  who  bore 
these  names  with  honor  from  the  earliest  colonial  times,  as  well  as  by 
the  possession  of  ample  wealth  and  the  refinement  which  several  gen- 
erations of  affluence  will  naturally  bestow.  Hence  the  majority  of 
the  names  just  mentioned  owed  their  prominence  solely  to  social  dis- 
tinction. But  now  that  New- York  was  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy, 
the  social  sphere  comprised  names  of  honor  and  fame  from  other 
parts  of  the  country.  By  the  presence  of  the  Congress  in  the  city 
some  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  statesmen  and  generals  of  "  the  old 


102  .■'.,_'■•■      mSTOBY    OF    NEW- YORK 

thirteen  "  whQ'-Lad  helped  to  vindicate  the  independence  and  lay  deep 
the  fouDdi^^^n  of  the  republic,  mingled  with  her  sons  and  daughters. 
Among"t^e  names  of  Mrs.  Jay's  list,  therefore,  may  be  found  those  of 
John'tfljigdon  and  Paine  Wingate,  from  New  Hampshire :  the  former 
to  bg'the  first  president  of  the  United  States  Senate  in  1789,  biding 
^e  amval  of  John  Adams ;  the  latter  destined  to  reach  the  extraor- 
..'•^inary  age  of  ninety-nine  years,  having  been  bom  in  1739  and  dying 
-.''in  1838; — Boger  Sherman  and  Benjamin  Huntington,  of  Connecticut; 
■  EUas  Boudinot  and  John  Cadwallader,  of  New  Jersey ;  Robert  Morris 
and  George  Bead,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Charles  CarroU,  of  Maryland ; 
William  Grayson,  Theodoric  Bland,  and  James  Madison,  of  Virginia ; 
Pierce  Butler,  Ralph  Izard,  Daniel  Huger,  and  Thomas  Tudor  Tucker, 
of  South  Carolina ;  and  William  Few,  of  Georgia.     Truly  a  brilliant 
galaxy  of  names,  well  known,  just  fresh  from  the  political  and  military 
fields  of  contest,  and  adding  now, 
or  soon  to  add,  new  laurels  to  their 
fame  in  the  more  subtle  conflicts 
which  were  to  construct  and  per- 
petuate a  strong  federal  republic 
out  of  the  feeble  and  incoherent 
materials  of  the  Confederation.' 

These  gentlemen  were,  in  many 
cases,  accompanied  by  their  fami- 
lies, representing  in  part  the  higher 
circles  of  New  England,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  and  the  south. 
The  letters  of  the  day  which  have 
been  preserved,  both  of  Americans 
and  Frenchmen,  allude  frequently 
to  the  grace,  beauty,  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  many  women  then  in 
society.  Among  them  were  Lady 
Mary  Watts  and  Lady  Kitty  Duer — 
in  reality,  and  according  to  a  more 
republican  nomenclature,  Mrs.  John  Watts  and  Mrs.  William  Duer. 
They  were  the  daughters  of  William  Alexander,  real,  or  at  least 
titular,  Earl  of  Stirling;  and  there  was  enough  of  old-time  courtli- 
ness left  in  the  States  to  defer  to  English  usage  and  apply  to  them 
the  title  of  "Lady,"  as  above.  So  there  was  also  Lady  Christiana 
Griffin,  the  wife  of  Cyrus  Griffin  of  Virginia,  the  president  of  the 

1  Among  the  prominent  memben  of  the  Conti-  Isder,  Joha  Cleve  Sfnunea.  and  Jodnh   Hom- 

nenUl  CongreM  of  this  period  who  were  well  blower,  of  New  Jersey;    Colonel  John  BsyKni, 

known  in  New-Tort  Bodety  were  John  H»neock.  WllUam  Henry,  Genend  Arthur  St.    Clair,  and 

Theodore  Sedfnriok,  and  Rufus  KlDg,  of  Hassachu-  Jamec  Wilson,  of  PennsylvAla  ;  James  Monroe 

setta ;  John  L.  Lawrene^,  Helancthon  Smith,  and  and  Richard  Henry  Iiee.  of  Virginia,  and  Charles 

Pvter  W.  YatM.  of  Naw-York ;  Lambert  Cadwal-  t^nokney,  of  South  Carolina.  Editob. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EARLY    DAYS    OF    THE    EEPUBLIC 


103 


Contineutal  Congress ;  she  belonged  to  a  noble  Scottish  family.  Mrs. 
Ralph  Izard,  though  from  South  Carolina,  was  at  home  in  New- 
York  society,  where  she  had  many  relatives,  for  her  maiden  name 
was  Alice  De  Lancey,  and  she  was  the  niece  of  the  whilom  chief  jus- 
tice and  lieutenantrgovernor.  Soon  after  her  marriage  her  husband 
took  her  to  Europe,  where  he  was 
engaged  to  some  extent  in  the 
diplomatic  service  of  the  Confed- 
eration. 3Irs.  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton has  already  been  referred  to. 
We  may  mention  briefly  Mrs. 
James  Beekman,  who  was  Miss 
Janet  Keteltas;  Mrs.  Theodore 
Sedgwick,  formerly  Miss  Pamela 
Dwight;  and  Miss  Wolcott  of 
Connecticut,  who  afterward  be- 
came Mrs.  Chauncey  Ooodrich. 

To  the  groups  already  pre- 
sented there  must  be  added  one 
that  formed  a  very  essential  ele- 
ment of  social  life  in  that  day, 
namely,  the  small  circle  of  diplo- 
mats accredited  to  the  United 
States,  among  whom  may  be 
logically  counted  also  the  occa- 
sional European  travelera  who  were  attracted  by  the  rising  greatness 
of  the  young  republic,  and  from  whose  memoirs  may  be  gathered  so 
vivid  a  picture  of  the  social  events  at  which  they  assisted  and  the 
"society  people"  whom  they  met.  We  are  enabled  to  look  in  upon 
one  of  these  events  by  means  of  the  dinner-list  and  of  a  letter  writ- 
ten by  a  lady  who  was  a  participant.  Mrs.  WilHam  S.  Smith,  the 
daughter  of  John  Adams,  writes  to  her  mother  and  tells  her  that 
Mrs.  Jay  gives  a  dinner  to  the  diplomatic  corps  on  Tuesday  evening 
of  every  week.  On  May  20,  1788,  this  lady  attended  one  of  these 
dinners,  and  on  the  next  day  discourses  of  it  in  the  following  style; 
"Yesterday  we  dined  at  Mrs.  Jay's  in  company  with  the  whole  corps 
diplomatique.  Mr.  Jay  is  a  most  pleasing  man,  plain  in  his  manners, 
but  kind,  affectionate,  and  attentive;  benevolence  is  stamped  in  every 
feature.  Mrs.  Jay  dresses  showily,  but  is  very  pleasing  on  a  first 
acquaintance.  The  dinner  was  a  la  Fran^aise,  and  exhibited  more 
of  European  taste  than  I  expected  to  find." 


1  Colonel  John  ttjvri  wm  bom  In  1738,  uid      of  tlie  Continental  CongreBs.     He 
dl«d  in  IWT.    He  dlstiiipulslied  himself  dnrioR      from  StUTveBsnt's  sister,  and  w&b  the  repreaenta- 
the  BeTolDtlaii,  and  In  ITS3  itm  elected  b  nembeT     tive  of  th«  oldest  branch  of  the  Bayaid  famllr. 


104 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-rOEK 


Now  let  us  observe  who  were  actually  present  at  this  dinner. 
Attention  is  due  first  of  all  to  the  president  of  Congress,  Cyrus  Grif- 
fin. On  the  list  he  is  often  merely  referred  to  as  President,  or 
Mr.  President,  so  that,  if  dates  are  not  watched  closely,  we  are  apt  to 
think  of  the  great  Washington.  His  position  in  the  country,  as  well 
as  in  society,  deserves  a  moment's  consideration.  He  was  undoubt- 
edly the  first  citizen.  Brissot  de  Warville,  the  stanch  French  repub- 
lican, happy  to  be  in  a  country  where  his  fond  ideals  were  in  actual 
operation,  says  of  the  office:  "A  presi- 
dent of  Congress  is  far  from  being  sur- 
rounded with  the  splendor  of  European 
monarchs;  and  so  much  the  better.  He 
is  not  durable  in  his  station;  and  so 
much  the  better.  He  never  forgets  that 
he  is  a  simple  citizen,  and  will  soon 
return  to  the  station  of  one.  He  does 
not  give  pompous  dinners;  and  so 
much  the  better.  He  has  fewer  para- 
sites, and  less  means  of  eoiTuption." 
The  vivacious  Frenchman  might  have 
added  another  tant  mieitx  to  the  last 
item.  But  although  one  of  these 
characteristic  comments  was  attached 
to  the  lack  of  pompous  dinners,  still 
Mr.  Griffin  felt  called  upon  to  give 
dinners  of  some  kind.  At  one  of 
these  Brissot  was  present,  and  he 
has  recorded  that  fact  with  some 
circumstantiality.  "I  should  still  be  wanting  in  gratitude,"  he  says, 
"should  I  neglect  to  mention  the  politeness  and  attention  showed  me 
by  the  President  of  Congress,  Mr.  Griffin.  He  is  a  Virginian,  of  very 
good  abilities,  of  an  agreeable  figure,  arable  and  polite.  ...  I  re- 
marked that  his  table  was  freed  from  many  usages  observed  else- 
where; no  fatiguing  presentations,  no  toasts,  so  despairing  in  a 
numerous  society.  Little  wine  was  drank  after  the  women  had  re- 
tired. These  traits  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the  temperance  of  this 
country :  temperance,  the  leading  virtue  of  republicans." 

The  president  was,  of  course,  accompanied  by  his  lady,  sometimes 
playfully  called  the  "  presidentess"  in  the  correspondence  of  those 
days.  Passing  now  to  the  American  guests  before  we  single  out  the 
diplomats,  we  notice  that,  besides  Mrs.  Colonel  Smith  and  her  hus- 
band, there  are  General  James  Armstrong,  the  defender  of  German- 
town  in  1777;  Mr.  Arthur  Lee,  active  in  diplomatic  work  abroad 
during  the  Revolution;  Mr.  and  Lady  Mary  Watts;  their  son  and 


MBS.  JAWn   BECCMAM. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EARLY    DAYS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC         105 

daughter-in-law;  Mr.  William  BiDgham,  of  Philadelphia,  reputed  the 
richest  man  in  Pennsylvania,  and  celebrated  for  the  magnificent 
hospitality  dispensed  by  him  and  his  beautiful  wife  at  their  own 
home;  Mr.  Daniel  McCormick;  and  Mr.  John  Kean,  delegate  to  the 
Continental  Congress  since  1785  from  South  Carolina,  yet  voting 
against  the  extension  of  slavery  to  the  northwestern  territory. 

First  among  the  diplomats  on  the  list,  and  presumably  at  the  din- 
ner on  this  20th  of  May,  appears  the  minister  of  France,  the  Marquis 
de  Moustier.  Eleonore  Francois  Elie,  Marquis  de  Moustier,  was  sent 
to  America  in  1787.  Throughout  his  career  he  was  a  devoted  and 
self-sacrificing  adherent  of  the  Bourbons,  and  suffered  greatly  on  that 
account.  But  it  led  him  into  the  mistake  of  making  himself  disa- 
greeable in  his  official  capacity  here,  inasmuch  as  he  gave  too  much 
evidence  of  despising  the  republic  which  his  own  master  had  helped 
to  establish.  Yet,  whether  a  welcome  guest  or  not,  as  a  member  of  the 
diplomatic  corps  he  could  not  well  be  left  out  of  the  invitations. 
Quite  diflferent  was  the  case  with  Don  Diego  de  Gardoqui.  '*  In  the 
summer  of  1785  the  Court  of  Spain  appointed  practically  a  resident 
minister  to  the  United  States,  though  under  the  modest  title  of 
encargado  de  negocios^  with  a  view  to  settle  the  controversy  about  the 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  which  had  been  guaranteed  to  the 
United  States  by  the  treaty  of  peace;  also  to  arrange  a  commercial 
treaty."*  Though  representing  a  more  intense  despotism,  and  a 
government  which  had  diligently  shunned  all  intercourse  with  our 
country  during  the  war,  De  Gardoqui  became  exceedingly  popular  in 
Now- York,  and  his  departure  in  1789  was  greatly  regretted.  He  re- 
sided at  No.  1  Broadway,  and  De  Moustier  was  a  near  neighbor,  his 
house  also  facing  the  Bowling  Green. 

The  Spanish  diplomat  seems  to  have  been  unaccompanied  by  a 
lady,  but  with  the  French  minister  came  his  sister,  the  Marquise 
de  Brehan ;  a  near  relative  of  hers  must  have  been  the  Comte  de  Bre- 
han,  who  also  appears  on  the  list  for  this  date,  unless  it  is  in  error 
about  the  title ;  perhaps  the  "  comte  "  was  really  the  Marquis  de  Bre- 
han and  the  brother-in-law  of  De  Moustier;  or  the  marquise  was 
only  a  comtesse.  Besides  the  minister,  France  had  a  charge  d'affaires 
to  represent  her,  M.  Louis  G.  Otto.  He  had  come  to  America  in  1779, 
and  evidently  liked  republican  ways  and  people,  for  he  married  a 
Miss  Livingston,  a  relative  of  Mrs.  Jay's.  He  afterward  be<5ame 
Count  de  Mosloy.  A  sister  republic  was  among  the  first  to  recognize 
the  American  commonwealth,  and  the  ink  was  hardly  diy  upon  the 
treaty  of  1783  when  Francis  P.  Van  Berckel  presented  his  credentials 
as  minister  plenipotentiary  from  the  United  Netherlands  to  the 
United  States.    He  was  a  widower,  but  the  honors  of  his  domestic 

1  George  Pellew's  **  John  Jay."  p.  232. 


106 


HiaTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


establishment  were  borne  by  his  daughter,  Miss  Van  Berekel.  There 
was  as  yet  no  minister  from  England,  but  the  nearest  in  rank  and. 
functions  to  that  position  was  that  of  consul-general,  and  Sir  John 
Temple  held  that  office  at  this  time.  He  had  been  lieutenant-governor 
of  New  Hampshire  from  1761  to  1774,  and,  strangely  enough,  in  view 
of  hia  present  post,  was  removed  for  too  gi-eat  an  "inclination  toward 
the  American  cause."  He  was  a  native 
of  this  country,  and  had  married  a 
daughter  of  Governor  James  Bow- 
doiu,  of  Massachusetts.  They  were 
both  at  the  dinner  of  May  20. 

Among  the  distinguished  foreigners 
on  Mrs.  Jay's  list  is  found  the  name 
of  M.  Brissot  de  "WarviUe,  from  whose 
well-known  work  on  America  we  have 
already  quoted  more  than  once.  It 
was  written  on  his  return  to  Europe; 
and  while  the  first  volume  (in  the 
English  translation)  is  devoted  to  an 
interesting  account  of  his  voyage  to 
and  experiences  in  this  country,  the 
second  treats  almost  exclusively  of 
commercial  matters.  He  had  come 
over  especially  to  make  a  study  of 
these,  in  order  to  establish,  if  possible,  improved  mercantile  rela- 
tions between  France  and  America.  Brissot  had  been  bred  to  the 
profession  of  the  law,  but  in  the  stirring  times  preceding  the  Revolu- 
tion had  drifted  into  journalism.  When  the  outbreak  finally  occurred 
he  was  on  the  side  of  conservative  patriotism,  and  of  the  party  of 
the  Girondists.  He  opposed  the  execution  of  the  king,  and  in  con- 
sequence he,  together  with  several  other  Girondists,  was  arrested  on 
October  3, 1793,  and  guillotined  on  the  31st.  Brissot  had  brought  to 
Mr.  Jay  from  La  Fayette  a  letter  commending  him  as  a  writer  on  the 
side  of  liberty,  and  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  society  in  behalf  of 
the  blacks;  for  Jay  was  well  known  to  be  an  autislavery  man.  On 
September  2,  1788,  he  dined  at  the  secretary's  table. 

A  marked  influence  was  wrought  upon  the  social  world  in  New- 
York  by  the  inauguration  of  the  federal  government,  and  the  resi- 
dence here  of  the  president  of  the  United  States.  With  the  latter^ 
advent,  the  prominence  of  Jay,  especially  as  regards  diplomatic  eon- 

ITheportnit  of  sir  JdhDhu  been  copied  from  her  grsndsoD,  the  late   Grenville  Temple  Wln- 

ft  photograph,  made  In  1890,  of  the  origliud  paliit-  tbrop,  now  in  the  keeping  of  Hon.  Robert  C. 

ing  In  the  posseaaion  of  his  gmidsoii,  Oie  Hod.  Wlothrop.    These  pointing*  &re  from  the  huid 

Bobert  C.  WiDthrop,  of  Boston,  Hus.    Th»t  of  of  the  celebrmted  p(>^trai^pftlnM^,  Qllbert  Stuart. 

hadj  Temple  wu  made  in  like  manner  from  a  The  death  of  Sir  John  occurred  In  1798.    Ladf 

photoicraph  of  Che  original  Id  Che  poaaeulon  of  Templedied  in  1809.    See  alaanote  on  p.  124 


^(/h^^^^A^. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EABLY    DATS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC 


107 


Dectious,  gave  way  to  the  distinctive,  as  well  as  distinguished,  head 
of  the  republic  And  from  the  social  standpoint  it  is  interesting  to 
consider,  first  of  all,  the  discussion  which  took  place  about  the  title,  or 
mode  of  address,  proper  to  the  president.  Some  suggested  "Most 
Serene  Highness,"  or  "  Serene  Highness,"  thinking  it  a  safe  appella- 
tion inasmuch  as  none  of  the  rulers  in  Europe  bore  it.  Madison 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  chief  magistrate  should  he  spoken  of 
simply  as  the  president.  General  Muhlenberg,  with  an  eye  to  the 
high-sounding  title  assumed  by  the 
States  General  of  the  Dutch  repub- 
lic, suggested  "High  Mightiness"; 
but  "Washington  was  never  quite  cer- 
tain whether  Muhlenberg  was  in  jest 
or  in  earnest.  Speaking  on  the  sub- 
ject at  the  president's  table,  Muhlen- 
Ijerg  remarked  aptly:  "If  the  office 
could  always  be  held  by  men  as 
large  as  yourself,  it  would  be  appro- 
priate; but  if  by  chance  a  president 
as  small  as  my  opposite  neighbor 
were  elected  [he  might  have  referred 
to  Hamilton]  it  would  be  ridicu- 
lous." Bancroft  informs  us  that 
wheu  the  style,  "The  President  of 
the  United  States  of  America,"  was 
determined  on,  "  the  clause  that  his 
title  should  be  '  His  Excellency'  was 
still  suffered  to  linger  in  the  draft."' 
This  unwritten  and  therefore  extra-constitutional  title,  however,  was 
the  one  finally  fixed  upon.  In  the  furor  of  French  sympathy  excited 
by  the  first  outburst  of  the  Revolution,  the  adherents  of  the  demo- 
cratic clubs  inveighed  against  this  title. 

Their  republican  wrath  rose  also  to  a  high  pitch  of  fervor  against 
the  president's  receptions,  which  society,  at  his  own  instance,  called 
"  levees,"  smacking  thus  most  unsavorily  of  monarchical  institutions 
in  Europe.  The  stately  and  majestic  president  loved  these  courtly 
manners.  When  he  had  a  message  to  dehver  to  Congress,  he  did  not 
intrust  it  to  a  page  or  a  messenger,  but  rode  to  Federal  Hall  in  a 
coach  and  six,  with  outriders  besides.  Yet  he  could  be  plain  in  his 
own  house,  as  befitting  the  American  Cincinnatus.  Mr.  Paine  Win- 
gat*  teUs  of  a  dinner  the  day  after  Mrs.  Washington  had  arrived  in 
New- York:  "The  chief  said  grace,  and  dined  on  boiled  leg  of  mutton. 
After  dessert,  one  glass  of  wine  was  offered  to  each  guest,  and  when 


^■^//^. 


"Hiitory  of  tlie  United  States," 


:  312  (ed.  1883). 


108  HISTORY    or    NEW-YOKK 

it  had  been  drunk,  the  President  rose  and  led  the  way  to  the  drav- 
ing-room."  The  president's  "levees"  were  held  on  Tuesday  after- 
noon ;  Mrs.  Washington  received  on  Friday  evening,  from  eight  to  ten 
o'clock.  At  the  levees,  we  are  told,  "there  were  no  places  for  the 
intrusion  of  the  rabble  in  crowds,  or  for  the  mere  coarse  and  boister- 
ous partisan,  the  vulgar  electioneerer,  or  the  impudent  place-hunter, 
with  boots,  frock-coats,  or  ronndabouta,  or  with  patched  knees  and 
holes  at  both  elbows.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  select  and  more 
courtly  than  have  been  given  by  any  of  the  President's  successors. 
None  were  admitted  to  the  levees  but  those  who  had  either  a  right  by 
official  station,  or  by  established  merit  and  character ;  and  full  dress 
was  required  of  all." 

It  need  not  be  said  here  that  President  Washington  resided  at  first 
in  the  Franklin  house,  on  the  present  Franklin  Square,  corner  of 
Cherry  street.  The  huge  bridge  now  has  one  of  its  piei-s  standing  on 
or  near  the  spot,  and  the  house  has  disappeared.  Later,  he  occupied 
the  Macomb  house,  at  39  Broadway,  because  the  other  was  inconve- 
niently "  far  out  of  town."  In  the  appropriate  place  both  of  these 
houses  have  been  described.  And  we  are  fortunate  in  having  a 
minute  account  of  the  house  of  one  of  the  cabinet  officers,  the  secre- 
tary of  war,  Major-General  Henry  Knos,  situated  at  No.  4  Broadway. 
It  was  advertised  for  sale  in  1789,  "a  four-story  brick  house  on  the 
west  side  of  Broadway  [No.  4  at  present  is  on  the  east  side],  314  feet 
wide  by  60  feet  deep,  containing  two  rooms  of  thirty  feet  in  length, 
one  of  twenty-six,  three  of  twenty-three  feet."  Ample  opportunity, 
therefore,  in  this  generous  mansion  for  the  gatherings  of  the  society  of 
a  capital ;  for  "  fashionable  society  in  New-York  in  1789,"  says  Thomas 
E.  V.  Smith,  "  seems  to  have  consisted  of  about  three  hundred  pei-sons, 
as  that  number  attended  a  ball  on  the  7th  of  May,  at  which  Washing- 
ton was  present."  This  nmnber  bore  a  fair  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city  at  that  period,  and  at  the  same  time  represented,  not 
simply  the  society  of  the  State  of  New-York,  but  that  of  her  sister 
States,  in  the  presence  of  distinguished  statesmen  and  diplomats, 
whose  names,  already  conspicuous  in  the  republic,  are  now  identified 
with  its  important  history. 

At  these  gay  assemblies  the  dress  worn  by  ladies  and  gentlemen 
was  modeled  then,  as  now,  after  the  fashions  prevailing  in  London 
and  Paris.  Brissot  de  Warville  observes:  "If  there  is  a  town  on  the 
American  continent  where  the  English  luxury  displays  its  follies,  it  is 
New- York.  You  will  find  here  the  English  fashions.  In  the  dress  of 
the  women  you  will  see  the  most  brilliant  silks,  gauzes,  hats,  and  bor- 
rowed hair.  The  men  have  more  simplicity  in  their  dress."  But  that 
France  also  contributed  to  set  the  fashion  of  that  day  in  New- York 
we  may  gather  from  the  "  New- York  Gazette  "  of  May  15, 1789,  de- 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EAELT    DAYS    OF    THE    BEPDBLIC  109 

scribing  several  costumes  imported  from  Paris.  "One  was  a  plain 
celestial  blue  satin  gown  with  a  white  satin  petticoat.  There  was 
worn  with  it,  on  the  neck,  a  very  large  Italian  gauze  handkerchief  with 
satin  border  stripes.  The  head- 
dress with  this  costume  was  a  pouf 
of  gauze  in  the  form  of  a  globe,  the 
ereneanx  or  head-piece  of  which 
was  made  of  white  satin  having  a 
double  wing,  in  large  plaits,  aud 
trimmed  with  a  large  wreath  of 
artificial  roses  which  fell  from  the 
left  at  the  top  to  the  right  at  the 
bottom  in  front,  and  the  reverse 
behind.  The  hair  was  dressed  all 
over  in  detached  curls,  four  of 
which  fell  on  each  side  of  the  neck 
and  were  relieved  behind  by  a  float- 
ing chignon.  .  .  .  The  newest  cos- 
tume consisted  of  a  perriot  and 
j)etticoat  of  gray  striped  silk  trim- 
med with  gauze  cut  in  points.  A 
large  gauze  liandkerehief  bordered  with  four  satin  stripes  was  worn 
with  it  on  the  neck,  and  the  head-dress  was  a  plain  gauze  cap  such 
as  was  worn  by  nuns.  Shoes  were  made  of  celestial  blue  satin  with 
rose  colored  rosettes."* 

As  for  the  gentlemen,  they  wore  very  long  blue  riding-coats,  the 
buttons  of  which  were  of  steel,  the  vest,  or  waistcoat,  being  at  the 
same  time  of  scarlet  color,  and  the  knee-breeches  yellow.  The  shoes 
were  tied  with  strings,  and  low;  but  gaiters  were  fastened  above  them, 
running  up  nearly  to  the  knee,  and  made  of  polished  leather.  But  for 
evening  dress  the  gaiters  were  omitted,  and  the  legs  (more  or  less 
genuine  as  to  shape)  were  incased  in  silk  stockings.  It  was  not  until 
toward  the  end  of  the  century  that  material  modifications  in  the  dress 
of  gentlemen  occurred.  The  hair  was  no  longer  powdered,  nor  worn 
long  and  tied  in  a  queue  at  the  back.  The  locks  were  worn  short,  or  at 
a  length  considered  proper  to-day.  For  the  close-fitting  knee-breeches 
and  stockings  or  gaiters  upon  the  legs,  loose  pantaloons  reaching  to 
the  shoe  were  substituted.  "The  women  in  1800  wore  hoops,  high- 
heeled  shoes  of  black  stuffs,  with  silk  or  thread  stockings,  and  had 
their  hair  tortured  for  hours  at  a  sitting  to  get  the  curls  properly 

1  Philip   LlvingBon.   Uie    secimd   Lord    of  the  in  1721-49.     He  mwried  Catherine  Van  Bnigh  of 

Huior,  «M  bom  >t  Albuiy,  July  9,  1888.    Was  Albany,  and  during   the  later  years  of  hU  life 

dcputjr  wcTetary  of  Indian  affairs,  and  afterward  entertained  with  ^reat  matcnlflcence.     He  died  in 

(in  1722)  secretary.    Was  a  memljerof  the  prorln-  New- York  city.  Febmary  4,  1749.  EoiTOii. 

dal  SMemblj  from  Albany  In  1709,  and  county  clerk         I  Smith's  ■■  New-Yorii  in  1789, "  p.  95. 


110  HI8TOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

crisped.  The  hoops  were  succeeded  by  '  bishops'  stufiFed  with  horse- 
hair. In  the  early  days  hidies  who  kept  their  coaches  often  went  to 
church  in  check  aprons ;  and  Watson  mentions  a  lady  in  PbUadelphia 
who  went  to  a  baU,  in  full  dress,  on  horseback."  ^  About  the  same 
time,  dark  or  black  cloth  took  the  place  of  colored 
staffs  for  the  dress  of  gentlemen. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  of  interest  to  conclude  this  re- 
view of  New- York  society  with  two  brief  glimpses 
into  the  actual  doings  of  people  in  high  life,  one  of 
a  private  and  familiar  nature,  the  other  a  celebrated 
public  occasion.  While  Mr.  Jay  was  absent  in  Eng- 
land on  the  special  mission,  Mrs.  Jay  wrote  to  him 
as  follows:  "Last  Monday  the  President  went  to 
Long  Island  to  pass  a  week  there.  On  Wednesday, 
Mrs.  Washington  called  upon  me  to  go  with  her  to 
wait  upon  Miss  Van  Berckel,  and  on  Thursday  morning,  agreeable  to 
invitation,  myself  and  the  little  girls  took  an  early  breakfast  with 
her,  and  then  went  with  her  and  her  little  grandchildren  to  breakfast 
at  General  Morris's,  Morrisania.  We  passed  together  a  very  agreeable 
day,  and  on  our  return  dined  with  her,  as  she  would  not  take  a  re- 
fusal. After  which  I  came  home  to  dress,  and  she  was  so  polite  as 
to  take  coffee  with  me  in  the  evening."  The  other  picture  presents 
a  fashionable  ball  given  by  the  French  ambassador,  the  Marquis  de 
Moustier,  at  his  residence  opposite  the  Bowling  Green,  on  May  14, 
1789.  Although  a  despiser  of  republics  in  theory,  he  could  not  very 
well  avoid  doing  the  honors  of  his  nation  to  the  great  chief  of  the 
American  commonwealth,  who  had  been  inaugurated  two  weeks  be- 
fore, and  his  manner  of  doing  it  was  altogether  worthy  of  France. 
Elias  Boudinoit,  of  New  Jersey,  writing  of  it  to  a  friend,  spoke  en- 
thusiastically of  his  experiences  there ;  and  as  his  description  has  all 
the  flavor  of  a  contemporary  and  an  eye-witness,  we  give  it  as  it 
appeared  in  Griswold's  "Republican  Court": 

"After  the  President  came,  a  company  of  eight  couple  formed  in  the 
other  room  and  entered,  two  by  two,  and  began  a  most  curious  dance 
called  En  Ballet.  Four  of  the  gentlemen  were  dressed  in  French  r^- 
mentals  and  four  in  American  uniforms ;  four  of  the  ladies  with  blue 
ribbons  round  their  heads  and  American  flowers,  and  four  with  red 
roses  and  flowers  of  France.  These  danced  in  a  very  curious  manner, 
sometimes  two  and  two,  sometimes  four  couple  and  four  couple,  and 
then  in  a  moment  altogether,  which  formed  great  entertainment  for 
the  spectators,  to  show  the  happy  union  between  the  two  nations. 
Three  rooms  were  filled,  and  the  fourth  was  most  elegantly  set  o£F  as  a 
place  for  refreshment.     A  long  table  crossed  this  room  from  wall  to 

1  Mrs.  EHet.  "  Qneeiu  of  Americsit  Sotdetj,"  p.  149. 


SOCIETY    IN    THE    EABLY    DAYS    OF    THE    REPUBLIC 


111 


He  stands  in  the  midst 


wall.  The  whole  wall  inside  was  covered  with  shelves  filled  with  cakes, 
oranges,  apples,  wines  of  all  sorts,  ice-creams,  etc^  and  highly  lighted 
up.  A  number  of  servants  from  behind  the  table  supplied  the  guesta 
with  everything  they  wanted,  from  time  to  time,  as  they  came  in  to 
refresh  themselves,  which  they  did  as  often  as  a  party  had  done 
dancing,  and  made  way  for  another.  We  retired  about  ten  o'clock,  in 
the  height  of  the  jollity." 

We  may  properly  take  leave  bf  New- York  society  at  a  reception,  or 
levee,  at  the  president's  house  in  Broadway.  " 
of  a  brilliant  circle  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen. 
As  guests  are  pre- 
sented, he  does  not 
shake  hands,  but  re- 
ceives them  with  a 
dignified  bow.  He  is 
attired  in  black  velvet 
coat  and  knee-breeches, 
a  white  or  pearl-colored 
waistcoat  showing  fine- 
ly underneath  the  dark 
and  flowing  outer  gar- 
ment. Silver  buckles 
glitter  at  the  knees  and 
upon  the  shoes.  A  long 
sword  hangs  by  his  side, 
bright,  with  a  finely 
wrought  steel  hUt.  It  is  the  mark  of  the  gentleman  of  the  day,  and 
need  not  recall  the  soldier  amid  these  peaceful  surroundings.  Yellow 
gloves  adorn  the  hands  that  struck  so  bravely  for  liberty.  With  a 
hngering  look  of  affection  and  admiration  upon  the  noblest  Ameri- 
can that  ever  breathed,  we  pass  out  of  the  assembly-room,  and  the 
shadowy  forms  of  the  past  dissolve.  The  plain  present  is  upon  us, 
a  city  huge  and  magnificent,  a  society  possessing  a  wealth  then  never 
^  dreamed  of,  and  exhibiting  more  than  princely 

y^^CL  \.^^CL*^  Uberality  in  its  contributions  to  philanthropy, 
^'y  art,  science,  and  learning, — a  society  in  whose  ex- 
^-^  tending  circles  are  still  conspicuous  many  of  the 
Dutch,  English,  and  Huguenot  names  that  lent  luster  to  the  early  days 
of  the  repuhhc,  when  New- York,  as  the  seat  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, witnessed  the  inauguration  of  Washington  and  welcomed  the 
illustrious  membeVs  of  the  first  Congress. 


U2 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-TORK 


ZIQHTEEKTH-CBSTtlBT   COINB 


THR    CITV    OP    NBW- 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  CL08IN0  YEARS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 
1793-1800 


I  HE  period  in  the  history  of  the  city  that  now  opens  is  one 
that  may  be  designated  as  "within  the  memory  of  men 
still  living."  It  was  the  writer's  privilege  to  be  on  terms 
of  intimate  friendship  for  a  number  of  yeai-s  with  an  aged 
lady  who  was  born  more  than  a  year  before  the  close  of  Washington's 
first  term ;  she  died  during  Mr,  Cleveland's  presidency.  Again,  on  the 
Sunday  preceding  the  centennial  celebration  of  Washington's  inaugu- 
ration in  New- York  city,  the  writer  was  introduced  to  a  lady  who  on 
that  day  attained  her  one  hundredth  year.  Within  the  compass  of  one 
such  lifetime  what  vast  changes  have  occurred  in  the  condition  of  our 
city,  as  in  the  aspects  of  the  civilized  world  !  Though  apparently  so 
near  in  the  number  of  the  years,  at  what  a  great  distance  in  time  do  men 
seem  to  be  this  day  from  that  closing  period  of  the  eighteenth  century !  " 

These  aged  persons  in  their  infancy  were  actually  nearer  to  a  date 
even  centuries  before  their  birth  than  they  were  to  their  dying  hour, 
so  far  as  concerns  the  mechanical,  industrial,  and  scientific  progress 
of  society.  When  they  were  yet  children  they  would  have  had  to 
travel  the  sea  by  ships  under  sail,  or  the  land  by  the  lumbering  stage 


1  Thin  Hew  wMdmm  by  an  officer  of  tbePreoch 

'  dpet.  which  took  refuge  Id  New-Tork  Harbor  when 

pursued  by  an  Engllah  fleet.     The  bouse  whose 

roof  ia  bftrdy  seen  to  rise  above  the  hill  on  the 

Vol.  UL— 8.  ' 


left  U  the  Rutgers  Mansion,  owned  by  Colonel 
Henry  Rutgers,  and  bequeathed  to  William  B. 
Crosby,  prandsoQ  of  his  siater,  Catherine  Bedlow. 
and  tlie  father  of  Dr.  Howard  Crosby. 


114  HLSTOBY    OF    5£W'TOKK 

or  private  carriage  drawn  by  horses,  jnat  as  men  did  at  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth,  and  sixteenth,  and  fifteenth  centuries.  Their  honses 
were  heated,  their  homes  and  the  streets  of  the  cities  where  they  and 
their  contemporaries  lived  were  lighted  (if  at  all),  in  much  the  same 
way  as  people  had  done  in  the  middle  ages  or  in  the  days  of  the 
Roman  republic.  It  is  superflnons  to  expatiate  on  the  advances  in 
these  simple  matters  of  every-day  necessity,  made  ere  these  venerable 
women  had  attained  their  half-centory,  their  threescore  and  ten,  their 
fourscore  years.  Yet  how  great  an  alteration  in  the  very  face  of  the 
worid,  in  the  intercourse  of  nations,  in  the  conduct  of  business,  in  the 
comforts  of  existence,  have  the  advances  in  these  matter-of-fact  affairs 
brought  about !  Measured  by  circumstances  and  not  by  years,  how 
vast  the  distance,  as  was  said,  between  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
one  such  human  lifetime;  between  the  New -York  of  1892  and  that  of 
1793 !  It  will  be  our  task  in  this  chapter  to  span  that  formidable  gap, 
and  seek  to  reproduce  to  the  imagination  conditions  in  our  city  of 
just  a  century  ago. 

The  history  of  the  eighteenth  century,  for  the  American  colonies, 
divides  itself  into  five  clearly  marked  periods.  The  first  may  be  called 
that  of  legislative  controversy,  of  the  struggle  between  royal  gov- 
ernors and  provincial  assemblies,  which  served  to  deepen  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  colonists  not  only  that  they  were  possessed  of  rights, 
but  that  they  had  it  within  their  power  to  assert  those  rights.  The 
misconduct  of  one  governor  of  New-York  led  to  a  practice  on  the  part 
of  the  assembly  of  that  province  which  had  in  it  the  germ  of  self- 
government.  Too  late  was  it  seen  by  the  English  ministry  what  was 
the  significance  of  granting  supplies  from  year  to  year  and  for  spe- 
cific objects.  When  they  saw  it  and  wished  to  remedy  their  mistake, 
the  representatives  of  the  i)eople,  equally  alive  to  its  advantages  for 
themselves,  would  not  abandon  it.  Then  the  great  English  piinciple 
of  the  power  of  precedent,  which  is  quite  as  potent  as  a  written  con- 
stitution, riveted  the  practice  upon  the  province,  and  it  remained 
intact  in  the  face  of  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  overthrow  it  by 
the  governors,  spurred  on  by  peremptory  instructions  from  king  and 
ministry.  It  was  but  a  step  from  these  annual  grants  for  specific 
I)urposes  to  the  naming  (if  it  were  a  salary)  of  the  men  who  were 
to  receive  the  money,  and  hence  the  legislature  even  learned  to 
encroach  upon  the  executive  branch  of  the  government.  This  contest, 
which,  as  Bancroft  remarks,  led  ultimately  to  independence,  is  dated 
by  him  from  the  first  assembly  that  met  Lord  Lovelace,  Combury's 
immediate  successor,  in  1709. 

It  lasted  with  varying  success,  and  with  varying  degrees  of  acri- 
mony, through  all  the  later  colonial  administrations.  It  had  taught 
the  people  of  this  colony  (and  under  similar  circumstances  the  same 


THE    CLOSING    YEABS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTUBT       115 

lesson  bad  been  learned  by  the  colonists  generally)  to  have  some  very 
decided  feelings  about  taxation.  Whether  they  must  be  accused  of 
niggardliness,  or  may  be  credited  with  generosity,  in  the  matter  of 
grants  for  the  support  of  the  French  and  Indian  or  other  wars, — one 
thing  is  certain,  the  money  given  in  taxes 
was  jealously  awarded  only  at  the  call 
of  the  proper  mode  of  taxation ;  it 
was  to  be  only  by  the  vote,  and 


after  due  deliberation,  of  their 
representatives.  When,  therefore 
the  stamp  act  was  passed,  and  it 
was  attempted  to  enforce  it,  a  stoim 
of  indignation  was  aroused,  and  an  m 
surmountable  opposition  eucountered. 
This  is  the  next  marked  period  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Legislative  con- 
troversies between  governors  and  assemblies  were  now  succeeded  by 
popular  agitation.  The  one  period  or  the  one  movement  was  but 
the  logical  outcome  of  the  other.  From  the  confined  space  and  the 
limited  numbers  of  the  assembly-room,  the  controversy  between 
popular  rights  and  royal  prerogative  was  carried  into  the  streets, 
into  public  halls  crowded  by  eager  citizens  of  all  claHses.  It  was 
dangerous  to  brave  such  a  tide  of  antagonism  to  the  ministerial  pol- 
icy. It  would  have  been  wiser  to  heed  the  steady  remonstrances  of 
a  people  who  had  long  studied  political  principles,  and  who  had  an 
intelligent  conception  of  the  correctness  of  their  political  standpoint 
in  opposing  the  attempt  to  tax  them  without  representation.  The  tax 
itself  was  nothing  to  them,  no  more  than  Hampden's  ship-money  was 


116  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-TOBK 

to  him.  But  they  had  not  so  scrapnloiisly  guarded  their  grants  of 
money  through  nearly  two  generations  without  having  acquired  a 
keen  sense  of  the  principles  at  stake  now.  The  British  ministry,  how- 
ever, persisted  with  obstinacy  in  their  course,  no  doubt  equally  con- 
vinced that  they  were  right ;  the  tide  of  indignation  and  agitation  was 
resisted,  with  the  inevitable  result  of  adding  to  its  force,  and  precipi- 
tating a  rupture. 

Thus  the  stamj>act  agitation  led  on  to  the  Revolutionary  period. 
Political  controversy,  confined  first  to  legislative  chambers,  and  then 
conducted  in  the  presence  of  the  masses  or  by  organized  actions  of  a 
civil  nature  for  brief  moments  and  on  sx)ecial  occasions  (as  in  the  case 
of  non-importation  agreements  and  the  boarding  of  tea-ships),  had 
now  brought  both  parties  to  such  a  heat  in  their  friction  against  each 
other  that  the  flames  of  war  necessarily  broke  forth.  The  Revolu- 
tionary period  occupied  but  a  few  years  of  the  century's  history,  but 
they  were  momentous  years.  Distress  deep  and  depressing  often  hung 
like  a  low  cloud  over  all  the  land,  but  there  was  discipline  in  the 
affliction : 

In  such  a  forge  and  such  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  her  hope. 

And  there  were  hours  of  glory  and  of  pride,  which  witnessed  to  the 
strength  and  solidity  bom  of  the  days  of  darkness.  Despair  could  not 
possess  the  heart  of  a  people  who  could  thus  suffer  and  thus  triumph, 
and  victory  was  theirs  at  last.  The  independence  which  was  prophe- 
sied in  1709,  which  was  shaping  itself  unconsciously  and  gradually 
through  many  colonial  administrations,  which  began  to  acquire  con- 
sciousness, albeit  even  yet  with  hesitancy  and  awe,  during  the  stamp- 
act  agitation,  was  now  declared,  fought  for,  won,  and  acknowledged. 
Out  of  the  brief  but  fierce  struggle  the  thirteen  British  colonies  came 
forth  free  and  independent  States. 

But  they  were  not  as  yet  a  nation;  and  thus  there  opened  another 
period  in  this  eventful  eighteenth  century  which,  in  the  estimation  of 
thoughtful  students  of  our  history,  has  been  denominated  "the  critical 
period"  by  preeminence.  It  covered  but  one  year  less  than  that  re- 
quired for  the  conduct  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  The  task  of  yield- 
ing to  one  another  was  a  hard  one;  the  sacrifice  of  certain  individual 
rights  long  enjoyed  and  exercised  while  stiQ  in  the  tutelary  condition 
of  colonies,  was  difficult  to  make  now  that  they  had  just  attained  the 
condition  of  emancipated  manhood.  So  for  six  years  the  trial  lasted, 
and  the  future  remained  uncertain  amjd  the  perils  of  the  present — 
perils  growing  out  of  disunion,  jealousies  between  States,  actual 
infringements  by  the  stronger  upon  the  rights  of  the  weaker.  But  at 
last  light  came;  the  constitution  was  framed — "the  most  wonderful 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTUKY   117 


work," as  Gladstone  has  said,  "ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by  the 
brain  and  purpose  of  man."  It  was  also  the  most  conspicuous  appli- 
cation— which  the  continuance  of  our  repubhc  has  made  but  the  more 
emphatic  and  illustrious — of  the  Golden  Rule  to  human  government. 
It  was  one  State  doing  to  another  State  what  it  would  have  the 
other  do  unto  itself.    Without  this  mutual  sacrifice  of  rights  and  prop- 


.31. — ■':. 


erty  for  the  common  good,  without  this  political  loving  of  one's 
neighbor  as  one's  self,  federal  union,  and  the  strong  nation  which  it 
oreated  and  still  perpetuates,  would  have  been  impossible.  It  is  at 
the  exceedingly  interesting  juncture  when  this  great  feat  had  been 
accomplished  not  only,  but  when  one  complete  teim  of  its  actual 
working  under  all  the  appointed  forms  of  its  administration — execu- 
tive, legislative,  and  judicial — had  been  concluded,  confirming  the 
excellence  and  wisdom  of  its  plan,  that  this  chapter  takes  up  the 
current  of  our  city's  history.  It  had  been  privileg^  to  see  take  place 
within  its  borders  the  inauguration  of  President  Washington.  In  the 
old  City  Hall — convOTted  into  a  Federal  Hall — the  Congress  had  be- 
gun its  sessions ;  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  had 
not  only  erected  its  august  bench  here,  but  upon  it  had  been  placed 
John  Jay,  one  of  New-York's  noblest  sons. 

In  the  same  year  that  Washington  was  inaugurated,  Richard  Varick 
received  the  appointment  as  mayor  of  New- York  from  the  governor 
of  the  State,  He  held  the  position  till  1801,  and  thus  his  mayoralty 
extended  throughout  the  whole  of  the  period  now  under  considera- 
tion. He  succeeded  James  Duane,  and  was  therefore  the  second 
mayor  under  the  new  order  of  affairs.  As  eiurly  as  1685  we  find 
the  Rev.  Rudolphus  Van  Variok  ministering  to  the  five  Dutch  con- 
gregations of  King's  County,  on  Long  Island,  who  then  and  for  many 
years  after  could  only  unitedly  support  a  preacher.    In  the  course 


118 


mSTOBI    OF    NEW-YOEK 


of  time,  and  as  a  result  of  the  Anglicizing  influences  necessarily  pre- 
domiuant  in  the  colony,  the  unmistakahle  Dutch  prefix,  Van,  had  been 
dropped,  and  the  mayor  was  content  with  a  plain  Varick.  For  some 
yeai-s  he  had  occupied  the  office  of  recorder,  so  that  he  was  well 
equipped  by  experience  as  well  as  legal  knowledge  for  the  place  to 
which  he  had  been  promoted.  In  the  war  of  the  Eevolation  he  had 
risen  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  had  formed  part  of  Washington's 
official  family,  as  his  private  secretary,  after  Hamilton  had  somewhat 
hastily  resigned.  He  had  doubtless  shared  in  the  increase  of  legal 
business  since  the  evacuation,  Tory 
lawyers  having  been  disbarred  in 
New- York,  so  that  he  had  accumu- 
lated a  comfortable  fortune.  At 
least  his  house  in  Broadway,  where 
he  resided,  is  put  down  on  the  tax-het 
for  1799  as  valued  at  three  thousand 
pounds,  or  nearly  eight  thousand  dol- 
lars, as  the  pound  then  counted. 

When  his  administration  began 
(1789),  the  population  of  the  city 
reached  twenty-three  thousand;  it 
had  doubled  before  the  end  of  his 
term.  The  City  Hall,  for  a  short- 
season  devoted  to  federal  uses  and 
subjected  to  important  alterations 
and  embellishments,  in  order  to  fit 
it  for  the  occupancy  of  Congress, 
had  now  once  more  reverted  to  its  ori^nal  purposes.  Yet,  while 
ceasing  to  be  the  capital  of  the  republic  in  the  autumn  of  1790,  New. 
York  continued  to  be  the  capital  of  the  State  till  January,  1798,  and 
the  legislature  must  have  utilized  the  halls  set  apart  for  the  upper  and 
lower  houses  of  the  national  parhament.  But  it  was  not  antil  early 
in  the  nest  century  that  the  third  (and  present)  City  HaU  was  erected ; 
so  that  here,  on  the  spot  opposite  Brodd  street,  in  Wall,  still  cen- 
tered the  direction  of  the  municipal  government.  And,  fortunately, 
there  can  be  gained  an  accurate  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  respon- 
sibilities that  rested  on  the  shoulders  of  the  city  officials  at  this  time, 
from  an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  funds  necessary  for  the  support 
of  the  city's  institutions  for  the  year  1800.     For  the  almshouse  the 

1  MrJot  James  FalrHe  was  the  tioii  ol  *  'Saw-  sitlaiiB,  and  was  a   ddJE)'''"!   eompanloD :    hit 

York  mercbant.  and  the  (prandson  of  a  Scotch  aalllea  of  wit  oft«D  cuised  outbursts  of  langh- 

mldshipniBii  who  BetHed  In  America  early  In  the  tcr  from  General  Washlnyton  himself.     He  mar- 

eightoentl)  century.     He  became  aide  to  Baron  ried  a  danRhter  of  Chief  JuBtice  Yates.     Tht-iz 

Stenlwn,  served  wltli  that  offleer  thraivh  the  daughter  Mary  waa  a  favorite  with  Halleck  and 

war,  and  shared  hta  home  on  the  land  grant  In  Irving,  and,  like  her  father,  noted  for  her  wit. 
western  New-Tort    He  held  various  pnbUc  po-  EDrrem. 


THE    CLOSING    YEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY      119 

sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  required,  while  for  the  bridewell 
or  workhouse  five  thousand  were  needed,  and  for  the  support  —  pre- 
sumably the  subsistence  —  of  the  prisoners  the  amount  of  three  thou- 
sand was  set  apart.  The  maintenance  of  a  watch,  the  foreranner  of 
the  metropolitan  police  force,  cost  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  For 
streets  occurs  the  item  five  thousand  dollars ;  but  this  is  independent 
of  several  other  items  that  would  seem  to  belong  properly  under  this 
heading — such  as  lamps,  to  cost  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for  being 
kept  in  order  and  lighted  on  nights  when  there  was  no  "  light  moon," 
and  wells  and  pumps  for  fire  and  domestic  uses,  which  required  only 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  The  roads  about  the  city  demanded  an 
outlay  of  over  seventy-five  hundred  dollars. 

Amid  these  clearly  defined  particulars,  some  of  them  obviously 
useful,  yet  requiring  only  moderate  sums,  it  is  somewhat  surprising 
to  observe  two  very  vague  items,  yet  with  large  sums  opposite  to 
them:  these  are  "contingencies,''  twenty-nine  thousand  four  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars,  and  "city  contingencies,"  seventy-five  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  question  naturally  arises.  What  could  these  large  contin- 
gencies have  been?  Tammany  was  then  in  existence;  was  already 
eleven  years  old,  in  fact.  But  it  had  not  developed  into  the  Tam- 
many of  these  later  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century.  If  it  had,  we 
should  not  be  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  thirty-seven  thousand  dol- 
lars should  have  been  voted  for  purposes  so  curiously  unexpressed. 
Still,  this  sum  cannot  alarm  the  New- York  mind  of  the  present  day. 
The  whole  city  budget,  as  just  enumerated,  reached  only  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  dollars.  With  an  addition  of  but  ten  or  fifteen 
thousand  to  this  amount  the  city  to-day  maintains  one  institution — 
its  pride  and  boast — the  College  of  the  City  of  New- York. 

At  the  time  that  is  now  under  notice  events  of  the  most  exciting 
nature  had  been  and  were  transpiring  abroad, —  across  the  Atlantic 
Ocean, —  which  had  an  influence  upon  opinions  and  passions  within 
our  republic  so  great  and  powerful  as  to  shake  our  government  to  its 
very  foundations.  New- York  city  shared  in  these  agitations,  and 
became  the  scene  of  many  outbreaks  of  sympathy  with  or  antagonism 
against  the  European  nations  with  whom  the  republic  came  most 
closely  into  contact.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  year  of  the 
inauguration  of  Washington  was  that  also  of  the  beginning  of  the 
French  Revolution.  In  adopting  the  policy  of  aiding  the  American 
colonies,  the  French  king  and  ministry  had,  figuratively  speaking, 
unwittingly  seized  hold  of  that  curious  Australasian  implement,  the 
boomerang.  Popular  rights  could  not  be  sustained  in  America  with- 
out awaking  attention  to  their  reality  in  principle;  and  this  would 
emphasize  the  glaring  lack  of  their  application  to  the  population  of 
France.    No  remedy  could  finally  suggest  itself  to  French  statesmen 


120  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

to  allay  the  distress  of  their  nation  but  the  calling  of  the  States 
General  of  the  kingdom,  a  body  which  it  had  not  been  thought  neces- 
sary to  call  together  for  nearly  two  hundred  years.  Less  than  a  week 
after  Washington's  inauguration,  or  on  May  4,  1789,  this  body  met  at 
Versailles.  After  this  first  step  events  moved  with  great  rapidity; 
the  Bastille  fell  on  July  14  of  this  same  year,  and  in  the  next  month 
were  abolished  the  unjust  exemptions  and  privileges  by  which  the 
nobility  and  clergy,  holding  most  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation,  escaped 
the  burdens  of  taxation  and  cast  their  crushing  weight  upon  the  poor 
and  the  untitled  classes.  An  avalanche  had  been  set  in  motion  which 
no  power  could  stop.  Soon  came  the  Reign  of  TeiTor,  and,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1793,  or  about  six  weeks  before  the  end  of  Washington's  first 
tenn,  Louis  XVI.  was  led,  like  a  common  felon,  to  the  guillotine. 

The  republic  of  France  was  now  a  fact,  and  this  filled  with  ex- 
treme delight  many  people  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  who  only 
remembered  that  the  French  armies  had  aided  to  establish  our  own, 
and  who  did  not  regard  what  were  the  fundamental  principles  of  this 
new  republic  as  compared  with  that  of  the  United  States.  It  was 
forgotten  that  license  and  cruelty  and  ferocious  tyranny  of  the  worst 
kind  had  established  the  French  republic;  it  was  enough  that  it  was 
a  republic  at  all.  But  many  here  were  wiser  than  this.  Washington 
and  Hamilton  and  Jay,  and  men  of  that  stamp,  with  just  as  much 
gratitude  for  what  France  had  done  for  the  United  States  in  the 
past,  could  only  look  with  abhorrence  upon  the  wrong  she  was  do- 
ing to  herself  and  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty  at  present.  Unhap- 
pily, these  sentiments,  so  diametrically  opposed,  were  now  made  to 
enforce  diflferences  bitter  and  radical  upon  questions  of  home  gov- 
ernment. The  federalists,  the  supporters  of  the  administration,  being 
known  to  be  out  of  sympathy  with  the  movements  in  France,  the 
anti-federalists,  or  republicans,  with  the  greater  zest  threw  their 
sympathies  headlong  and  recklessly  on  the  side  of  the  most  violent 
red-republicanism. 

After  the  death  of  the  king  it  became  a  serious  diplomatic  question 
what  should  be  done  about  recognizing  a  minister  sent  out  by  the 
new  government.  But,  almost  while  Washington  and  his  cabinet 
were  considering  how  to  act,  Edmond  Charles  GenSt,  the  new  French 
minister,  was  landing  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  If  the  presi- 
dent and  his  party  were  hesitating,  their  opponents  had  fully  made 
up  their  minds.  They  hailed  "Citizen^  Gen§t,  scorning  to  employ 
any  other  title,  with  demonstrations  of  extravagant  joy;  his  progress 
from  his  place  of  arrival  to  Philadelphia  was  that  of  a  conquering 
hero.  Cavalcades  of  gentlemen  went  forth  for  miles  out  of  the  towns 
through  which  he  was  expected  to  pass,  to  escort  him.  As  the  min- 
ister representing  the  monarchical  regime  was  duly  recalled,  and  as 


THE    CL08INO    TEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTDBY      121 


>-N 


there  was  no  government  in  France  except  that  represented  by 
GeuSt,  there  was  no  objection  to  receiving  his  credentials.  But  the 
citizen  seemed  to  look  upon  this  simple  and  entirely  non-committal 
act  of  intei*national  comity  as  a  complete  siuTender  of  the  Ameri- 
can republic  to  the  cause  of  her  sister  across  the  sea;  as  if  a  league 
offensive  and  defensive  was  thereby  concluded  against  all  the  lafter*s 
enemies,  which  then  meant  a  large 
portion  of  the  European  world. 
Genet  proceeded  to  issue  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal  for  privateers, 
and  undertook  not  only  to  convert 
American  vessels  with  their  Ameri- 
can crews  into  French  vessels  of  war, 
but  he  forthwith  encour^ed  attacks 
on  British  vessels  actually  within 
our  waters,  and  claimed  them  as 
prizes  of  war.  When  Washington 
indignantly  objected,  the  French 
minister  insolently  rephed  to  his 
strictures,  and  continued  his  out- 
rageous work.  He  dared  to  appeal 
to  the  people  against  their  presi- 
dent. But  now  came  a  reaction. 
Misled  by  the  senseless  adulation  of 
himself  as  the  representative  of  the  bleeding  republic  of  France, 
Genet  had  allowed  himself  to  go  to  the  extent  of  defying  Washing- 
ton. GenSt's  most  violent  admirers  then  began  to  open  their  eyes 
to  the  falsity  of  their  position.  Washington  demanded  his  recall,  and 
the  request  was  acceded  to.  But,  while  Genet  the  minister  was  no 
more,  GenSt  the  man  remained,  and  settled  in  New- York.  He  had 
married  a  daughter  of  Governor  Clinton,  who,  as  a  republican,  was 
of  course  one  of  his  partizans.  As  he  had  been  sent  out  by  the 
Girondist  faction,  who  in  1794  were  exterminated  by  the  Jacobins  of 
the  Mountain,  it  was  not  quite  safe  for  him  to  return  to  France.  In 
retirement  and  obscurity,  he  passed  his  days  in  his  adopted  country, 
residing  in  this  city,  and  dying  here  in  1836. 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  amid  this  ferment  of  feeling,  preva- 
lent throughout  the  country,  in  regard  to  events  in  France  and  the 
actions  of  the  French  minister  in  America,  some  striking  episodes 
would  occur  in  New- York  city,  the  principal  harbor  of  the  Union. 
The  ship  that  had  conveyed  Genfit  to  these  shores,  the  frigate 
L'Ambuscade,  left  Charleston  soon  after  landing  him  there,  and 
proceeded  northward.  She  varied  the  monotony  of  her  coastwise 
passage  by  chasing  British  merchant  vessels.    Entering  the  Dela- 


122 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOEK 


ware,  she  found  a  British  ship,  the  Grange,  lying  far  up  the  bay, 
waiting  for  a  favoi-able  wind  to  put  to  sea.  The  Frenchman  sent  a 
solid  shot  into  her  rig^ng,  which  induced  the  English  captain  to 
strike  his  colors,  and  the  Grange  was  taken  as  a  prize  to  Phila- 
delphia. The  government  promptly  ordered  her  to  be  restored. 
L'Ambuseade,  after  spending  some  weeks  at  Philadelphia,  went  to 
New- York,  arriving  there  in  June,  1794.  The  citizens  here  had  had 
no  opportunity  as  yet  of  manifesting  their  esteem  for  Minister 
Genet;  but  now  all  their  pent-up  enthusiasm  for  the  French  republic 
was  devoted  to  a  warm  reception  of  Citizen  Bompard,  the  captain 
of  L'Ambuseade,  and  hia  officers  and  crew.  At  the  same  time  it 
fanned  into  fresh  flames  the  antagonism 
between  the  political  parties.  As  the  one 
became  ultra-French  in  the  presence  of 
the  Frenchmen,  the  other  became  more 
than  reasonably  excited  against  the  li- 
cense of  republicanism.  "The  peace  of 
the  coffee-houses  was  destroyed,"  is  the 
sententious  and  significant  observation 
of  a  recent  historian. 

At  the  Tontine  Coffee-house  in  Wall 
street,  near  Water,  a  liberty-cap  made  of 
crimson  silk  was  displayed,  bearing  the 
inscription  "  Sacred  to  Liberty."  This  in 
itself  was  a  sufficiently  innocent  action ; 
but  there  went  a  defiance  with  it.  The 
"democrats,"  as  the  French  party  called 
themselves,  dared  the  "aristocrats"  to 
take  it  down ;  the  aristocrats,  by  the  way, 
being  such  no  further  than  that  they  upheld  the  administration,  and 
wished  it  continued  under  the  guidance  of  the  "best  men,"  instead 
of  a  Jacobin  rabble.  This  party  were  not  slow  to  respond  with  a 
declaration  that  down  the  cap  would  have  to  come.  The  threat  and 
the  defiance  produced  no  actual  altei-cations;  but  the  two  parties 
closely  watched  each  other,  and  crowds  of  men,  hundreds  at  a 
time,  kept  constantly  near  or  in  front  of  the  building.  Doubtless  it 
wotdd  have  taken  but  a  slight  spark  to  ignite  the  magazine.'  In 
fact,  though  violence  was  avoided  in  the  present  instance,  the  news- 
papers of  the  day  record  frequent  brawls  at  other  occasions  and 
times.  The  sailor  element  of  New- York  had  always  been  a  turbu- 
lent one,  from  the  good  old  days  of  the  "protected"  pirates  down; 
and  amid  these  stirring  times  they  were  not  likely  to  be  more  quiet 
than  usual.    One  day,  at  the  Tontine,  a  British  naval  officer,  who 

1  "HUtory  o(  the  Peoi^e  of  the  United  Sutes,"  John  B.  McHaster,  2: 105, 10«, 


HUE.  EDMOND    C.  OEHfrr. 


THE    CLOSING    YEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY      123 

had  doubtless  taken  something  stronger  than  coffee,  launched  out 
into  a  tirade  against  the  French  and  their  republic.  The  dignified 
merchants,  who  most  did  congregate  there,  took  decided  umbrage, 
and  the  offending  Englishman  was  "hustled  into  the  street."  A 
little  later,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  a  company  of  British  tars,  off  on 
furlough,  encountered  a  number  of  French  man-of-war's-men,  also  on 
recreation  bent.  A  conflict  was  inevitable,  and  there  might  have  been 
some  fatalities  had  not  the  bystanders  interfered. 

The  French  frigate  L' Ambuscade  figures  once  more  in  an  episode 
k  that  has  a  great  deal  of  the  chivalrous  and  dashing  about  it,  such  as 
we  naturally  associate  with  men  who  follow  the  sea.  While  she  lay 
at  anchor  in  the  bay,  a  report  came  that  a  man-of-war  had  come  to 
an  anchorage  off  Sandy  Hook.  Ere  long  the  bulletin-boards  of  the 
Tontine  Coffee-house  bore  words  of  warlike  import.  The  French 
republicans,  as  is  well  known,  then  scorned  all  titles  of  distinction. 
The  royal  family  were  now  merely  Capets.  Even  "  monsieur  "  or  "  ma- 
dame  "  was  an  insult  to  the  perfect  equality  now  established  among  all 
men.  The  absurdity  was  canied  even  into  the  aimy  and  navy. 
Minister  Genet  was  only  Citizen  Genet,  and  Captain  Bompard  re- 
pudiated that  distinctive  epithet,  which  one  would  think  almost 
indispensable  on  board  ship,  and  called  himself  Citizen  Bompard. 
The  practice  had  been  caught  up  by  the  enthusiasts  of  the  republi- 
can party  in  the  United  States,  and  there  were  serious  discussions  as 
to  what  should  constitute  the  feminine  counterpart  to  citizen,  as  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  were  no  longer  to  be  tolerated.  With  fine  irony  the  captain 
of  the  English  frigate  lying  at  Sandy  Hook,  adopting  the  mode  of 
address  now  in  vogue,  announced  that  he — neither  Captain  nor 
Citizen,  but  Subject  Courtney — would  be  glad  to  meet  Citizen  Bom- 
pard outside  the  legal  limit  of  three  leagues  at  sea  within  ten  days. 
The  challenge  was,  of  course,  accepted.  People  flocked  to  the  shores 
of  Long  Island,  Staten  Island,  and  New  Jersey  to  observe  the  com- 
bat, which  took  place  beyond  the  range  of  vision,  but  not  beyond 
that  of  hearing.  The  French  frigate  remained  the  victor ;  Courtney 
was  killed,  but  his  vessel,  outsailing  L' Ambuscade,  escaped  capture. 
It  may  be  imagined  that  the  result  highly  excited  the  friends  of 
France  in  the  city.  To  add  to  tlieir  enthusiasm,  a  French  fleet  of  fif- 
teen sail  entered  the  harbor  while  L' Ambuscade  was  still  in  pursuit 
of  her  defeated  antagonist.  Thereupon  for  many  days  there  were 
fSting  and  the  singing  of  the  many  stirring  patriotic  songs  of  republi- 
can France,  some  of  which  were  now  sung  also  to  English  words. 

International  relations  at  this  period  furnished  another  cause  for 
excitement,  agitation,  and  partizan  bitterness.  The  love  of  France 
involved  the  hatred  of  England.  That  antipathy  to  the  old  mother- 
country  was,  of  course,  a  legacy  also  of  the  Eevolution ;  and  it  was 


124 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


not  strange  that  friction  growing  out  of  mutual  misunderstanding  or 
partial  violation  of  treaty  obligations  should  have  kept  alive  hostile 
feelings.  Yet  it  is  obvious  that,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  success 
for  the  government  and  prosperity  for  the  people  lay  in  the  direction 
of  English  methods  and  English  commerce  far  more  than  in  the 
direction  of  those  of  France.  At  heart,  essentially,  the  daughter 
could  not  repudiate  her  origin  and  expect  to  live  as  a  nation.  The 
friends  of  strong  government,  the 
federalists,  knew  this  very  well; 
and  whatever  dislike  of  England 
may  have  possessed  them,  they 
were  not  blind  to  the  advantages 
of  her  political  principles,  or  of  a 
well-established  commercial  con- 
nection with  her.  This  entirely 
consistent  position  afforded  a  fine 
field  for  the  demagogues,  and  to 
call  the  federalists  the  friends  of 
England  was  their  common  cus- 
tom, and  the  easiest  as  well  as 
surest  way  of  exciting  the  anger 
of  an  unthinking  multitude  against 
them.  This  charge  would  be  espe- 
cially calculated  to  arouse  popular 
fury  in  the  midst  of  the  excite- 
ments produced  by  the  actions  of 
Minister  Gen&t. 

Just  at  this  juncture,  in  the 
spring  of  1794,  President  Wash- 
ington sent  Chief  Justice  John  Jay 
as  special  envoy  to  England,  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce.  A 
special  mission  was  a  necessary  expedient,  as  complete  diplomatic 
relations  with  our  republic  had  not  yet  been  assumed  on  the  part 
of  England.  Her  official  representative  in  America  was  still  Sir 
John  Temple,  consul-general  at  New- York.' 


iSir  John  djed  In  ITSS,  uid  \ns  bnried  in  St. 
Paal'B  Church  on  BmaAvnj,  where  was  tlrnt 
erected  the  monumeDt  of  vhlch  *n  illniitrstioii 
appcATfi  In  the  text.  Bis  father  was  Captain 
Robert  Temple,  of  the  English  anny,  who  came 
to  New  England  in  171T.  mairled  Mehltobel  Vel- 
Bon,  of  Boston,  and  at  hli  death  In  1754  left  three 
fu>nft.  of  whom  John  was  the  second.  The  latter 
was  bom  in  BoBton  in  1732.  became  surreyor- 
general  ot  the  cuatoma  and  lientenant-KOveraor 
of  New  HampHhlre,  and  jnut  before  the  breaUnft 


out  of  the  Revolntionary  War  was  recalled  be- 
cause of  his  sympathy  with  the  colonists.  His 
marriage  with  Governor  Bowdoin's  daughter  has 
been  noticed  in  the  previous  cbapter.  In  1TS6  he 
succeeded  a  distant  kinsman  in  the  ancient  bai^ 
onetcy  of  his  family.  Sir  Johh  left  fonr  cliildrvn. 
of  whom  the  second.  Elisabeth  Bowdoin.  married 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Lindall  Wlnthrop.  Of  her  nn- 
merona  children,  the  only  survivor  at  present  la 
the  well-known  patriot  and  statesman,  Hon.  Robert 
C.  Wtntbrop,  of  Boston. 


THE    CLOSING    YEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY       125 

The  task  before  Jay  was  a  difficult  and  delicate  one ;  it  would  have 
been  so  under  any  circumstances,  but  knowing  what  was  the  state 
of  feeling  in  his  own  country,  the  work  intrusted  to  him  was 
peculiarly  trying.  But  perhaps  no  better  man  could  have  been 
chosen  to  do  it  than  he;  his  purity  of  motive  so  transparent,  his 
patriotism  so  lofty  and  unselfish,  his 
judgment  so  clear  and  just,  his  desire 
to  promote  the  good  of  his  country  so 
completely  absorbing  any  meaner  or 
narrower  ambitions  of  a  personal  na- 
ture, that  these  qualities  irresistibly 
impressed  even  English  statesmen  with 
the  con\iction  that  what  he  felt  to  be 
just  and  advantageous  for  both  coun- 
tries must  in  reality  be  so.  Indeed,  the  marvel  was  that  Jay  ob- 
tained so  many  concessions,  which  were  really  of  more  immediate 
advantage  to  the  United  States,  although,  in  the  end,  the  profit  of  them 
to  both  countries  would  become  apparent.  But  the  mortal  oflEense 
had  been  committed  of  retaining  the  friendship  of  England,  of  having 
conciliated  instead  of  exasperating  her  by  a  useless  display  of  impo- 
tent anger.  France,  the  ancient  ally,  had  been  deserted;  and  England, 
the  oppressor  and  foe,  had  been  courted. 

A  storm  of  indignant  abuse  rewarded  the  distinguished  and  high- 
minded  negotiator  for  his  pains,  and  met  him  on  his  arrival  in  New- 
York  in  the  summer  of  1795.  He  was  accused — it  was  hardly  possible 
to  conceive  a  man  more  incorruptible  by  gold  than  he — of  having  sold 
his  country.  He  was  represented  in  caricatures,  and  burned  in  effigy 
at  Philadelphia  and  New- York.  In  New- York  and  Boston  mass-meet- 
ings were  held  and  resolutions  passed  condemning  the  treaty  before 
those  presuming  to  sit  in  judgment  had  even  had  an  opportunity  to 
read  it.  The  mass-meeting  in  New- York  was  held  in  front  of  the 
City  Hall,  and  both  Mayor  Varick  and  Secretary  Hamilton  attempted 
to  control  it,  or  bring  it  to  reason.  Edward  Livingston,  afterward 
mayor,  was  caUed  to  preside.  When  there  was  offered  a  motion  for 
adjournment,  the  wildest  confusion  prevailed.  Hamilton,  who  had 
never  failed  to  command  attention  or  to  sway  a  crowd  by  his  elo- 
quence, attempted  to  address  the  people  from  the  front  steps  of  his 
own  house,  on  the  comer  of  Wall  and  Broad  streets.  But  the  popu- 
lace was  too  greatly  excited  to  listen  to  him ;  stones  began  to  fly,  and 


The  above  is  an  illustration  of  a  stone  found 
in  di^^n^  a  trench  alonfc  the  north  wall  of  the 
City  Hall,  on  July  19.  1892.  It  is  about  two  feet 
lonft:.  eighteen  inches  wide,  and  about  one  foot 
deep.  Its  sin^ificance  is  doubtful.  The  inscrip- 
tion *•  R.  Varick,  Esqr..  Mayor.  1796.**  cannot  l)e 


meant  for  a  tombstone,  as  he  did  not  die  till  1831. 
Nor  was  this  site  even  thought  of  for  a  City  Hall 
till  after  1801,  when  he  yielded  the  chair  to  a  suc- 
cessor. It  may  have  formed  part  of  a  wall  of  one 
of  the  buildinf^  near  this  spot,  such  as  the  Bride- 
well, which  was  taken  down  later. 


126  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

as  one  struck  the  immovable  secretary  on  the  forehead,  he  quietly 
observed:  *'If  you  use  such  striking  arguments,  I  must  retire."  And 
retire  he  did,  the  mob  also  soon  hastening  away  from  the  spot  to  the 
Bowling  Green,  where  they  burned  copies  of  the  treaty  and  unfurled 
the  French  flag.  But  Hamilton  was  not  so  easily  overcome;  in  a 
characteristic  manner  he  set  himself  to  the  task  of  arguing  down 
this  senseless  opposition.  "Publius,"  once  of  the  "Federalist,''  was 
transformed  into  "Camillus"  four  days  after  the  unruly  mass-meet- 
ing; and  the  essays  that  came  from  his  powerful  brain  soon  brought 
the  nation  back  to  reason. 

The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  senate.  Then  the  president  was  as- 
sailed by  petitions  from  all  parts  of  the  land  not  to  sign  it.  Wash- 
ington, however,  was  not  to  be  confused  by  the  noise,  nor  to  be 
moved  by  the  violence  of  this  storm  of  thoughtless  opposition,  any 
more  than  he  was  wont  to  be  by  the  noise  and  fury  of  a  battle.  He 
saw  the  country's  good  clearly  before  him;  he  knew  that  this  treaty, 
with  whatever  imperfections  it  might  be  burdened,  would  certainly 
secure  that  good,  and  his  duty  thus  standing  out  undimmed  before 
him,  he  was  not  the  man  to  swerve  from  it.  And  reason,  too,  began 
to  reassert  herself  among  the  people.  The  merchants  of  the  country, 
laying  aside  political  prejudice  and  perceiving  the  great  advantages 
to  American  commerce  which  the  terms  of  the  treaty  secured,  every- 
where expressed  their  approval,  and  their  petitions,  sent  in  to  the 
president,  served  to  oflEset  the  previous  condemnation.  The  New- 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  among  the  first  to  place  itself  on 
record  in  favor  of  the  measure.  A  special  meeting  was  called  for 
July  21, 1795,  to  consider  that  "which  particularly  agitated  the  public 
mind,  the  Treaty  of  Amity,  Commerce  and  Navigation  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain."  In  the  minute-book  the  meeting  is 
described  as  "the  most  respectable  ever  held  in  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce (upwards  of  seventy  members  being  present).  After  the  treaty 
was  read,  resolutions  approving  thereof  were  adopted  with  only  ten 
dissenting  voices."  The  president,  as  is  well  known,  finally  signed 
the  treaty,  and  its  provisions  became  law,  with  some  important 
modifications,  and  the  omission  of  the  article  on  West  India  trade. 

In  the  midst  of  the  violent  discussions  about  the  treaty,  Jay  was 
nominated  and  elected  governor  of  the  State;  this  important  event 
taking  place  before  his  return  from  England.  On  May  28,  1795,  he 
arrived  in  the  city,  and  on  July  1  he  was  duly  inaugurated.  On  July 
2,  by  a  breach  of  senatorial  etiquette,  or  the  violation  of  his  oath  of 
secrecy  by  one  of  the  senators  of  the  United  States,  the  text  of  the 
treaty  was  published  in  the  newspapers.  But  Jay  was  now  secure  in 
his  seat  of  honor ;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  knowledge  of  the 
actual  text  would  have  injured  him  more  than  the  misrepresentations 


IffiMI  • 

IMF 

''''J!& 

IB^:": 

Ift- 

1 1:  M^ 

\  >i^^^gi^  ^ .. 

1 

ll^g. 

!;,;.'  ^"         ■{ 

K^ 

i  ■  1 ' 

mm' 

.'". '  J 

[^^b|^ 

'i' ' ' '  ■ 

M. 

r 

w    ■  ^ 

i, '' 

B  ... 

IM  '■■■' 

Pii^*' 

i 

i " 

: 

iiii 

/:■■ 

■■: 

m 

^■' 

• 

^ffl 

"'■  >.-'' 

'. ' 

dl 

',    -■■*!     ' 

fi^f 

jiiff 

1   'i':  '' 

■■ 

I 

1 

IS' 

m 

'''if 

1 

128  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

based  on  mere  rumors  in  regard  to  its  provisions.  Perhaps  one  reason 
why  the  election  went  against  Governor  Clinton  was  the  shameful 
counting  out  of  Jay  in  1792.  It  is  a  trite  saying  that  history  repeats 
itself.  Is  it  of  the  fall  of  1891,  or  the  spring  of  1792,  that  we  read : 
"  At  the  election  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  votes  for  Jay  outnum- 
bered those  for  Clinton.  But  a  returning  board,  a  joint  committee  of 
the  legislature  of  whom  the  majority  were  Clintonians,  found  the  re- 
turns from  three  counties,  which  notoriously  had  gone  Federalist, 
were  technically  defective''!^  The  majority  thus  secured  for  Clinton 
showed  but  a  paltry  figure  of  one  hundred  and  eight  votes.  In  1795 
Jay's  majority  over  Robert  Yates  was  nearly  sixteen  hundred;  and  on 
his  reelection  in  1798  he  was  victorious  over  Robert  R.  Livingston  by 
nearly  twenty-four  hundred. 

These  gubernatorial  contests  and  their  results  were  of  much  more 
consequence  to  New- York  city  as  a  part  of  its  history  then  than  now, 
because  it  was  still  the  State  capital.  It  involved  no  change  of  resi- 
dence to  the  governor  now  elected,  therefore,  except  from  one  end  of 
the  same  street  to  another.  In  the  directory  for  1789,  Jay's  house  is 
placed  at  133  Broadway,  the  last  or  highest  number  on  that  thorough- 
fare then.  As  governor  he  would  be  obliged  to  transfer  his  house- 
hold gods  to  the  government  mansion  opposite  the  Bowling  Green, 
whose  noble  proportions  closed  the  pleasing  vista  as  one  looked  down 
Broadway  toward  the  bay,  and  from  whose  windows  in  turn  a  view 
would  be  gained  up  that  street,  terminated  by  the  green  fields  and 
spreading  shade-trees  of  the  common  or  the  park.  During  the  whole 
of  Jay's  first  term  he  occupied  this  mansion.  The  headquarters  of 
the  federal  government  had  been  removed  to  Philadelphia  toward  the 
close  of  1790,  even  before  this  building  intended  for  the  use  of  the 
chief  of  the  nation  was  completed.  Therefore  the  governor  and  Mrs. 
Jay  reassumed  the  leading  position  in  the  social  life  of  New-York 
which  had  been  theirs  while  Jay  was  secretary  for  foreign  affairs  under 
the  Continental  Congress,  which  made  him  the  chief  entertainer  of 
the  diplomatic  corps.  But  even  the  subordinate  glory —  if  it  were  a 
glory  —  of  being  the  capital  city  of  a  State  was  taken  away  from 
New-York,  and  in  January,  1798,  the  seat  of  government  was  re- 
moved to  the  more  centrally  located  city  of  Albany. 

Some  matters  enacted  by  the  governor  and  legislature  during  this 
period  are  of  such  profound  interest  or  vital  importance  that  no 
apology  will  be  needed  for  a  brief  reference  to  them  in  this  history. 
Treating  them  cumulatively  from  less  to  greater,  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  the  proclamation  of  a  Thanksgiving  Day  was  initiated  for  this 
State  by  Governor  Jay.  It  was  announced  as  an  expression  of  grati- 
tude for  the  cessation  of  the  yellow-fever  plague  of  1795,  of  which 

I  "John  Jay,"  by  Georfre  Pellew,  p.  276. 


THE    CLOSING    YEABS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTUBY      129 

more  anon,  and  appointed  for  Thursday,  November  26.  Political 
opponents,  on  the  alert  for  faultfinding,  bitterly  censured  this  act  of 
Jay's.  It  was  deemed  of  a  piece  with  his  aristocratic  or  federalist 
notions  of  government — much  in  excess  of  his  prerogatives  as  an 
executive  officer.  Perhaps  it  was ;  perhaps  it  is  such  on  the  part  of 
the  president  from  year  to  year.  It  may  be  an  infringement  upon 
the  rights  of  conscience  of  those  who  believe  in  no  God.  But  as  long 
as  we  are  not  a  nation  of  atheists,  public  sentiment  will  sustain  the 
proclamation,  though  it  be  extra-constitutional.  There  is  no  record 
that  the  political  cavil  of  1795  interfered  with  its  hearty  observance 
by  the  people. 

Another  singular  instance  of  the  repetition  of  history,  even  in  our 
own  city,  is  furnished  by  the  following  citation :  "  The  governor  in- 
curred still  further  odium  by  refusing  to  order  the  flags  to  be  hoisted 
on  Governor's  Island  and  the  Battery  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Tam- 
many Society ;  the  reason  he  gave  was,  that '  if  such  a  compliment  be 
paid  to  the  Tammany,  it  ought  not  to  be  refused  to  any  other  of  the 
numerous  societies  in  this  city  and  State.' "  *  Yet  Tammany  was  then 
still  an  American  society,  insisting  upon  the  display  of  no  foreign 
flag.  In  spite  of  the  federalist  governor  of  1796,  and  a  Democratic 
mayor  nearly  a  hundred  years  later,  the  very  last  St.  Patrick's  Day 
proved  the  futility  of  common  sense  and  fairness  in  the  face  of  influ- 
ences that  govern  votes  to-day.  In  this  same  year  (1796)  was  built  a 
penitentiary  in  this  city,  on  the  model  of  that  in  Philadelphia ;  while, 
equally  under  the  directing  thoughtfulness  of  the  governor,  the  idea 
was  given  shape  of  establishing  a  safe  retreat  for  sufferers  from  con- 
tagious disease.  Bedlow's  Island  was  deemed  a  favorable  spot  for 
establishing  a  hospital  for  such.  But  what  was  of  a  more  permanent 
influence  upon  morals  and  manners — a  change  was  made  in  the 
penal  code.  Governor  Clinton  had  suggested  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  offenses  that  were  to  have  the  punishment  of  death  at- 
tached to  them.  Jay  took  up  this  good  work  and  pushed  it  to  final 
action,  so  that  a  revision  of  the  code  was  accomplished. 

In  the  governor's  message  to  the  legislature  in  January,  1796,  in 
which  the  building  of  the  penitentiary  was  recommended,  there  was 
no  recommendation  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Jay  was  known, 
however,  to  be  in  favor  of  that  cause,  was  identified  with  men  in 
France  who  were  agitating  abolition,  and  M.  Brissot  de  WarvUle,  the 
French  patriot  and  journalist,  who  was  guillotined  with  a  number  of 
fellow-Girondists  in  1793,  came  to  America  in  1789,  specially  com- 
mended to  Jay  as  a  friend  of  the  blacks  (awe  des  noirs).  In  the  ses- 
sion of  January,  1796,  a  bill  was  introduced  by  a  near  friend  of  the 
governor's  which  called  for  abolition.    It  is  a  remarkable  circum- 

1  Pellew's  **  Jay,**  p.  325. 
Vol.  in.— 9. 


130  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

stance  that  it  obtained  a  tie  vote  in  committee  of  the  whole.  The 
chairman's  casting-vote  was  against  it,  and  hence  it  was  lost.  But  in 
1799  the  subject  was  revived,  and  the  cause  of  emancipation  in  New- 
York  was  carried  to  success.  In  April  a  bill  was  brought  before  the 
legislature  providing  that  all  negro  children  bom  after  July  4  ensuing 
should  be  free.  They  must  serve  an  apprenticeship  till  a  certain  age 
— twenty-eight  in  the  case  of  males,  and  twenty-five  in  that  of  females. 
Meantime  the  exportation  of  slaves  from  the  State  was  prohibited. 
The  rock  upon  which  all  former  efforts  of  this  kind  had  suffered  ship- 
wreck had  been  the  difficult  and  delicate  question  of  compensation 
for  the  dissolution  of  human  chattels  with  a  price  into  human  beings 
representing  no  price.  But  the  scheme  of  gradual  emancipation 
avoided  this  peril  and  secured  the  great  and  noble  end. 

Washington's  first  term  ended  in  March,  1793;  the  close  of  his 
second  falls  within  the  limit  of  this  chapter.  The  election  of  candi- 
dates took  place  in  1796,  and  the  removal  of  the  great  name  of  Wash- 
ington at  once  wi'ought  confusion.  The  federalist  candidates,  John 
Adams  and  Thomas  Pinckney,  failed  together  to  exceed  the  votes  of 
the  republicans.  Adams  received  only  three  more  votes  than  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  Pinckney  was  left  out.  Thus  John  Adams,  the  fed- 
eralist, became  president,  and  Jefferson,  the  republican,  vice-presi- 
dent. But  in  all  this  New- York  city  bore  no  part  of  special  signifi- 
cance. It  was  different  with  the  next  presidential  election;  then 
some  of  her  most  brilliant  citizens  wrought  mightily  to  turn  the  scale 
of  events  within  her  borders,  and  city  and  State  became  the  pivot  on 
which  the  results  for  the  nation  turned.  Now,  too,  rises  itito  national 
prominence  for  the  first  time  the  name  of  Aaron  Burr.  His  father 
was  the  Rev.  Aaron  Burr,  president  of  Princeton  College ;  his  mother 
was  a  daughter  of  the  famous  divine.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards.  But 
when  scarce  three  years  old  death  had  deprived  him  of  both  parents. 
Somewhere  and  somehow  a  wrong  moral  twist  was  given  to  his  edu- 
cation. Yet  he  was  a  man  of  brilliant  parts  and  fascinating  manners. 
He  had  served  with  distinction  in  the  Revolution,  was  for  a  brief 
period  a  member  of  Washington's  official  family,  but  resigned  from 
the  army  in  1779,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  law.  He  was  sent  to 
the  State  legislature;  he  was  United  States  senator  from  1791  to  1796; 
now  in  1800  he  comes  forward  as  a  presidential  candidate. 

Jay,  the  federalist,  had  secured  the  election  of  governor  twice,  in 
1795  and  in  1798.  But  in  the  latter  year  the  republicans  gained  largely 
in  the  elections  for  the  legislature,  there  being  a  majority  of  twenty- 
eight  for  their  side  in  the  assembly,  and  having  reduced  the  federalist 
majority  in  the  senate  to  eight.  This  result  was  attributed  to  the 
skill  and  astuteness  of  Burr.  By  means  of  a  wide  personal  acquain- 
tance and  a  shrewd  estimate  of  men,  he  knew  how  to  use  their  veiy 


THE    CLOSINa    YEAB8    OP    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTDBY       131 


peculiarities  and  temperaments  for  his  purposes.  The  indifferent  he 
succeeded  iu  placing  at  work;  to  the  zealous  he  gave  direction  in 
their  euthusiasm.  The  republican  victory  in  the  spring  foreshad- 
owed a  republican  victory  on  national  issues  in  the  autumn,  and 
if  New- York  were  gained  for 
the  anti-federalists,  the  federal- 
ist candidates  were  doomed  to 
failure.  Hence  Burr  was  re- 
warded for  his  energetic  con- 
duet  of  the  State  campaign  by 
being  placed  in  nomination  for 
the  national  ofBce  of  president 
or  \iee-president.  It  was  at 
this  time  never  quite  certain 
who  would  become  president 
and  who  vice-president.  The 
intention  might  be  to  relegate 
a  man  only  to  the  lower  dig- 
nity; but  if  a  few  more  of  the 
electors  had  another  purpose 
in  mind,  or  even  another  man 
for  president,  the  intended  vice- 
president  would  be  returned 
finally  as  chief  magistrate.  So  real  was  this  danger  that  Hamilton 
was  at  one  time  afraid  that  Adams  might  be  elected  in  place  of 
Washington,  and  his  advice  to  divert  a  few  votes  from  Adams  to 
prevent  this  false  step  was  the  ground  for  the  subsequent  unhappy 
differences  between  these  two  great  men,  involving  the  final  over- 
throw of  the  federalist  power. 

Burr  had  his  mind  set  on  securing  the  presidency  himself,  and  to 
beat  Jefferson,  and  largely  to  his  efforts,  questionable  and  otherwise, 
the  success  of  the  republican  party  was  due.  Hamilton  exerted  him- 
self to  the  utmost  to  counteract  these  efforts ;  but  in  Burr's  line  of 
action  he  was  more  than  a  match  for  Hamilton.  He  was  a  master  of 
intrigue  and  qtiite  unscrupulous.  Ward  politics  were  bound  to  play 
an  important  part  in  an  election  which  was  to  turn  upon  the  vote  of 
the  State  or  city  of  New-York;  and  in  ward  politics  Hamilton  was 
helpless  and  Burr  a  giant.  "Hamilton  was  no  match  for  his  an- 
tagonist. .  .  .  With  voice  and  pen  Hamilton  maintained  the  conflict. 


WILLIAM   JACKSOH.l 


1  Hra.  WlUUm  Jackson,  h^  EJizkbeUi  WUUhk. 
wu  a  sister  of  Mrv.  Bingham,  of  Philadelphia. 
Both  ladies  were  distingulahed  for  their  beaut; 
and  accompliihnienli.  The  above  picture  U 
copied  from  the  porti^t  by  Ollbert  Stuart. 
Her  huflbuid,  Uajor  Jackson,  was  born  in  Edi^ 
land  in  17S9,  came  to  Amarioa ;  wu  educated  in 


Charleston,  S.  C,  appointed  aide  to  Oeneral  Ben- 
jamin Lincoln,  and  fought  on  the  patriot  side  in 
the  Revolution.  He  wag  one  of  Washington's 
aides  while  president,  in  New-York ;  and  Surveyor 
of  the  Port  in  Philadelphia  in  1796.  From  1800 
till  his  death  he  was  secretary  of  the  Societr  of 


132 


mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


OR  D   E   R 

OF    THE 

FUNERAL  PROCESSION 

The  31ft  of  Decembbr,  1^9* 
By  diredUoa  of  the  .Commitee  oF.  Arrang^nlttt 


Officer  and 

Eight  Dragoont* 

Sixth  Regiment,   in  PUtooni,  by 
the  left. 

Eight  pieces  of  Field  Artillery; 

CaYaIr/* 

Rifle  Com'psuiy. 

Militia  Officers. 

Officers  of  the  Navy  of  the  Unked 
Sutet. 

Officers  of  the  Army  pf  the  United 
iStates. 

Major  Gen«.  Hamilton  and  Suite* 

Citizens* 

St,  Stephen^a  Societf* 

Tammany  Society. 

Mechanic  Society* 

Malbnic  jLodges. 

Grand  Lodge; 

Manhattail  Company* 

New.  York  (nfurance  Company. 

United  Infurance  Company* 

Branch  Bank. 

Bank  of  Mcw-Toik. 

Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Marine  Sooicty. 

Regents  of  the  Univerfi^. 

Truftees  of  Columbia  College* 

Prefident  and  Profeflbrs  of  ditto. 
Phy(ician8  and  Surgeons, 
Gentlemen  of  the  Bar. 


Civil  Officers  of  the  Gty. 

Civil  Officers  of  the  State. 

Lieutenant  •  Governor. 

Civil  Officers  of  the  United  Statee 

Gov^ntnent. 

His  Catholic  Majefty's  Cooful  and 
Gentlemen  of  that  Nation. 

His  Britannic  Majefty's  Conful  and 
Gentlemen  of  that  Nation. 

Mafic. 
Anacreontic  and  PhilharmoniCySo* 
cieties.   - 
Clergy. 

Twenty.fbar  Girls,  in  Whit^  Robes. 

Committee  of  Arrangement. 

The  Horfe  m  Moumix^. 

Cincinnati  as  Chief  Mourners, 
and  other  Officers  of  the  late  var. 

Gorpordition  of  the  Gty. 

fight  Dragoons. 
Offltcr. 
ALL  the  Proceffion  to  man:h 
four  deep,  jezcept  the  IV^ilitary. 

General.  HUGHES^  Is  charged 
With  the  execution  of  the  above  or- 
der, fubjed  to  fuch  .further  difpo* 
fition  as  he  0ial1  judge  expedient. 

Jas,  M.  Huffiesy  QulrmaP;!  ^ 

Ehenexer  Sstvensy  ]  ^ 

facob  Morten^  ^'g 

famei  Furlie^  ]   | 

fobn  Sia^^y  j'ttmr,  J  U 


If^tO'Ter^,  Decfmker  i<t    1709. 


^■'U'>t:f^f:^^ 


THE  CLOSING  YEABS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY   133 

His  eloquence  was  unrivaled ;  his  arguments,  written  and  spoken, 
were  unanswerable;  but  Burr  had  the  votes.  New- York  was  lost 
to  the  federalists,  and  ruin  stared  them  in  the  face."^ 

But  there  was  one  special  circumstance,  of  which  Burr  rightly  or 
wrongly  took  advantage,  whereby  Hamilton  was  made  to  stultify  his 
own  best  eloquence  and  argument.  As  a  culmination  of  many  years  of 
personal  embitterment  between  President  Adams  and  General  Hamil- 
ton, the  latter  imprudently  allowed  himself  to  be  goaded  into  writing 
a  letter  to  Adams  in  which -he  severely  arraigned  the  president's 
public  conduct.  It  was  intended  to  be  privately  printed  and  judi- 
ciously circulated,  so  that  the  other  federalist  candidate,  Charles  C. 
Pinckney,  might  have  votes  in  excess  of  Adams  and  thus  be  made 
president.  Burr  resided  at  11  Nassau  street,  and  there  three  gentle- 
men met  with  him  one  day  to  read  over  together  the  proof-sheets  of  a 
remarkable  production.  It  had  been  procured  from  the  printer,  so  it 
is  charged,  by  one  of  these  three,  Matthew  L.  Davis,  the  friend  and  con- 
fidant and  later  the  biographer  of  Burr.  These  four  friends  carefully 
noted  the  contents,  and  made  extracts  from  it  for  the  press ;  indeed, 
according  to  some  authorities,  reprinted  the  whole  and  sowed  it  broad- 
cast over  the  land.  It  was  the  most  effective  campaign  document  in 
favor  of  the  republicans  that  could  have  been  desired.  Jeflferson 
and  Bun*  came  out  of  the  contest  far  in  advance  of  the  federalist 
candidates.  They  each  had  73  votes  in  the  electoral  college;  Adams 
had  65,  Pinckney  64,  and  Jay  1.  There  was  thus  a  tie  between  Jeffer- 
son and  Burr,  throwing  the  election  upon  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. How  this  was  conducted,  and  how  it  resulted  in  Jefferson  being 
made  president  and  Burr  vice-president,  belongs  to  the  story  of  the 
next  century. 

The  only  other  matter  of  national  import  which  specially  involved 
New-York  city,  was  the  brief  cloud  of  impending  war  with  France. 
After  bearing  with  commendable  patience  numberless  indignities, 
after  making  every  effort  to  preserve  the  peace,  the  crisis  at  last 
came,  when  no  more  could  be  borne  with  honor,  and  when  all  parties 
agreed  that  arms  must  be  taken  up  against  the  former  ally.  Then 
Washington  was  called  from  retirement,  made  lieutenant-general  and 
commander-in-chief;  and  his  first  thought  was  to  make  as  a  con- 
dition of  his  acceptance  that  Hamilton  be  his  next  in  command.  Ham- 
ilton's genius  had  already  created  the  treasury  of  the  United  States; 
he  now  laid  the  lines  along  which  must  be  constructed  the  navy  and 
army,  the  militia  system  of  the  country,  and  their  mobilization  in  the 
event  of  a  war.  And  among  the  first  things  which  this  illustrious  citi- 
zen of  New- York  wished  to  provide  for  was  the  fortification  of  that 
seaport.    There  seemed  to  be  nothing  of  which  his  fellow-citizens  did 

1  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  "Alexander  Hamilton,"  p.  227. 


134 


HISTOBY    or    NEW-YOBK 


not  deem  him  capable.  Although  not  quite  within  his  province  in  the 
poBition  to  which  Washington  had  called  him,  Hamilton  was  requested 
to  draft  a  plan  for  these  defenses  and  to  superintend  their  construction. 
But  the  war-cloud  blew  over ;  except  for  some  brilliant  achievements 
by  a  few  of  our  men-of-war,  no  actual  hostilities  were  reached. 

Ere  the  peace  was  formally  restored,  the  great  figure  which  this 
warlike  episode  had  once  more  bidden  to  the  forefront  passed  away 
from  the  midst  of  his  fond  and  admiring  countrymen.  On  December 
14,  1799,  Washington  expired  at  his 
own  home,  Mount  Vernon.  The  news 
of  the  sudden  and  unlooked-for  de- 
mise reached  New- York  on  the  19th, 
and  everywhere  the  signs  of  mourn- 
ing became  evident.  On  the  day 
after  Christmas  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce met  in  special  session  "to  con- 
sider of  some  appropriate  mode  of 
testifying  regret  for  the  irreparable 
loss  sustained  by  the  nation."  A 
committee  of  three  was  appointed 
to  confer  with  comraitteea  of  other 
organizations  and  arrange  for  a  pub- 
lic demonstration.  This  took  place 
on  the  last  day  of  the  year.  An  im- 
posing procession,  the  order  and 
composition  of  which  are  indicated 
upon  the  preceding  fac-simile  of  a 
broadside  of  that  very  day,  marched 
to  the  chapel  of  St.  Paul's.  The 
funeral  urn  was  carried  by  eight  soldiers  upon  a  bier  in  the  form  of 
a  palanquin  six  feet  long  by  four  wide.  Bishop  Provoost  read  appro- 
priate prayers,  and  the  oration  was  delivered  by  Gouvemeur  Morris- 
It  was  in  St.  PanPs  that  the  religious  exercises  of  the  inauguration  had 
been  held,  and  here  Washington  had  taken  a  pew  and  regularly  wor- 
shiped during  his  stay  in  the  Franklin  House.  While  living  in  the 
Macomb  House,  near  Trinity  Church,  he  attended  divine  service  in 
the  latter  edifice.  In  February,  when  President  Adams  had  appointed 
a  day  of  devotion  and  prayer  in  commemoration  of  the  great  life 


^^a/f^    '^^7-r-2^' 


1  Hary  Phillpie  Honis  wu  the  vlfe  of  Bofcer 
Morris,  who  served  oDder  Generala  Braddock  md 
Loudoun  dming  the  French  uid  Indiui  War. 
She  tnuried  him  in  1758,  aod  shortly  after  they 
occupied  the  well-knomn  Morria  or  Jumel  man- 
nion,  WiuhlDgtoii'B  headqaarten  In  ITTA.  Ab 
her  husband  was  a  loyalist,  this  property  was 
eonflscated.  She  went  irlth  ber  busbuid  to 
England,  and  died  there  in  182S,  at  the  age  of 


nlnety-flre.  She  was  the  daughter  of  ("reder- 
iek  Fhillpse,  the  seoond  lord  of  the  manor. 
Mrs.  Horris  was  possessed  of  great  force  of 
character,  aa  well  as  of  remarkable  beanty  of 
perwm.  Tt  haa  been  said,  without  much  foun- 
dation, that  Wasbln^on  himself  was  at  one 
time  greatly  impressed  with  her  charms.  U  he 
had  married  her.  some  think  she  would  hara 
made  him  a  loyalist.  Bditob. 


THE    CLOSING    YEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY      135 

begun  in  that  month  in  1732,  all  business  was  suspended  in  the  city. 
The  corporation  and  the  members  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  attended 
the  Dutch  Church,  and  one  of  the  pastors,  Dr.  William  Linn,  said  to 
be  the  most  eloquent  preacher  in  the  United  States  at  that  time,  de- 
livered a  eulogy  on  Washington. 

And  now  we  are  prepared  to  take  a  closer  look  at  the  city  itself. 
Having  glanced  at  the  world  and  its  agitations  during  this  period — 
and  it  was  one  of  the  epoch-making  periods  of  the  world's  history; 
having  seen  what  effects  these  agitations  abroad,  and  the  events 
which  affected  more  particularly  the  republic  and  the  State  of  which 
our  city  formed  a  part,  produced  upon  the  denizens  of  the  commercial 
metropolis;  the  task  must  now  be  to  regard  the  city  strictly  per  se^ 
and  see  what  were  its  appearance,  its  population,  its  trials,  its  tri- 
umphs, and  what  its  people  were  doing  in  their  local  sphere  of  action. 
In  September,  1796,  one  possessed  of  the  keen  sensitiveness  of  the 
artist  —  not  of  the  pencil,  but  in  music  —  traveling  through  the 
United   States,  recorded  his  impres-        ^ 

sions  at  the  first  view  of  the  city  in        Ui/^ni>A  ^yfo    ^ 
this  enthusiastic  wise:  "The  city,  as    ^^;;/^^^^^'^ 
you  approach  it  from  the  Jersey  shore,  ^^ 

seems  like  Venice,  gradually  rising  from  the  sea.  The  evening  was 
uncommonly  pleasant;  the  sky  perfectly  clear  and  serene,  and  the 
sun  in  setting  with  all  that  vivid  warmth  of  coloring  peculiar  to 
southern  latitudes,  illuminated  some  of  the  most  beautiful  scenery  in 
nature,  on  the  North  River,  and  adjacent  country.  For  some  min- 
utes all  my  faculties  were  absorbed  in  admiration  of  the  surround- 
ing objects!  I  never  enjoyed  a  prospect  more  enchanting.''^  How- 
ever true  may  have  been  the  comparison  of  New- York  to  Venice  as 
one  approaches  the  city  from  the  bay,  the  resemblance,  of  course, 
would  have  ceased  as  the  traveler  landed. 

The  record  of  another  traveler  (the  Rev.  W.  Winterbotham)  of  that 
period  remains  to  us,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  look  upon  the  appearance 
of  things  then  through  these  contemporary  eyes.  Landing  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  island,  the  view  at  once  would  follow 
Whitehall  street  and  Broadway,  "  the  most  agreeable  and  convenient 
part  of  the  city."  Ere  long  the  pedestrian  would  behold  on  his  left, 
where  in  former  days  frowned  the  fort,  an  elegant  brick  building,  the 
governor's  house.  Beyond  it  the  walk  from  the  Battery  led  into  the 
broad  thoroughfare,  seventy  feet  wide,  and  rising  gently  to  the 
north.  Besides  Trinity  Church  and  Grace  Chapel,  standing  near  each 
other,  this  street  possessed  "  a  number  of  elegant  private  buildings." 
Here  dwelt  cabinet  oflScers  in  the  days  of  Washington,  and  foreign 
embassies  had  their  homes  opposite  the  Bowling  Green.    In  1794  the 

1  *<  Tnveli  in  the  United  States  of  America,''  William  Priest  (London,  1802),  p.  150. 


136  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

• 

City  Hotel  was  in  process  of  building,  on  the  site  of  the  house  of 
Lieutenant-Governor  De  Lancey,  and  it  was  remarked  that  the  slate 
roof  upon  it  was  the  first  in  the  country.  The  roofs  were  in  general 
tiled,  as  in  the  mother-country;  but  otherwise  the  Dutch  custom  of 
presenting  the  gable  to  the  street  had  given  way  pretty  universally  to 
the  more  modern,  or  the  English,  mode  of  construction.  The  upper 
extremity  of  Broadway  was  then  soon  reached.  "It  terminates,  to 
the  northward,  in  a  triangular  area,  fronting  the  bridewell  and  alms- 
house, and  commands  from  any  point  a  view  of  the  bay  and  narrows." 
Beyond  the  termination  of  Broadway,  possibly  beginning  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  common,  or  about  the  present  Chambers  street,  a  street  ex- 
tended for  a  few  blocks,  to  near  the  present  Duane  or  Worth  street, 
which  then  was  called  Great  George  street.  Here  on  the  west  side 
stood  the  hospital.  Broadway  impressed  not  only  the  English  writer  we 
have  cited;  but  Rochefoucauld,  fresh  from  the  elegant  Paris,  is  also  very 
enthusiastic  in  its  praise :  "  There  is  perhaps  in  no  city  of  the  world 
a  handsomer  street  than  Broadway.  By  far  the  greater  number  of 
houses  are  of  brick,  and  many  extremely  fine.  Its  elevated  posi- 
tion, and  its  situation  near  the  river,  and  the  beauty  of  its  propor- 
tions, render  it  a  choice  dwelling-place  for  the  richest  citizens '';  and 
of  the  Battery  he  says :  "  This  promenade  might  indeed  be  kept  in 
better  order,  and  made  more  agreeable  for  the  purposes  for  which  it 
is  set  aside,  by  the  planting  of  some  trees ;  but  even  such  as  it  is,  its 
situation  places  it  above  all  comparison  with  any  other  promenade 
whatsoever.''  ^ 

With  almost  equal  commendation  Winterbotham  mentions  Wall 
street,  Hanover  Square,  Dock  street  (now  Pearl),  and  William  street. 
This  was  then  the  center  of  the  dry-goods  trade.  Water  street  and 
Pearl  (only  lately  Queen)  street  are  complained  of  as  narrow  and  low 
in  situation ;  and  that  which  even  now  lends  a  flavor  of  the  quaint 
and  antique  to  this  part  of  the  town,  was  noted  by  this  writer, — the 
irregularity  of  most  of  the  streets.  Yet  soon  after  the  peace  of  1783 
the  corporation  had  begun  to  plan  the  system  of  parallel  streets,  cross- 
ing each  other  at  right  angles,  which  now  covers  the  whole  of  Manhat- 
tan Island.  At  this  period,  too,  the  ravages  of  the  fires  of  1776  and 
1778  had  nearly  disappeared  from  view,  those  parts  of  the  city  being 
"almost  wholly  covered  with  elegant  brick  houses."  And  care  had 
been  taken  in  grading  and  paving  the  streets  far  beyond  previous 
days ;  they  were  "  raised  in  the  middle  under  an  angle  sufficient  to 
carry  oflf  the  water  to  the  side  gutters,  and  footways  of  brick  made  on 
each  side."  Pearl  street,  however,  was  too  narrow  in  some  places  to 
permit  this  convenience.^ 

1  Vojrage  dans  les  E.  U.  d'A.,  7:  132.      «  W.  Winterbotham,  "Historical,  Geographical,  etc.,  View 

of  the  United  States  of  America  "*  (New-Tork,  1796),  2:  314-320. 


THE    CLOSING    TEABS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTUBY       137 

As  for  the  buildings  which  then  adorned  these  streets,  niost  of  them 
are  familiar  to  the  reader  of  the  previous  pages.  Trinity's  tower 
lifted  its  tall  spire  above  the  rest,  and  the  modest  Grace  Chapel  was 
almost  beneath  its  shadow.  In  Garden  street  the  old  Dutch  Church 
still  stood,  and  here  the  mother-tougue  was  still  employed  in  the  ser- 
vices, Dr.  GerarduB  Kuy-  

pars  preaching  to  a  stead- 
ily decreasing  number  of 
those  who  clung  to  the  be- 
loved tongue.  In  1803  even 
this  arrangement  was  aban- 
doned, the  audiences  being 
too  small,  and  Dr.  Kuypers 
preached  in  English  there- 
after until  his  death  in 
1833.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
remind  the  reader  of  the 
other  Dutch  churches — the 

New  (then  called  the  Middle)  on  Nassau  street,  and  the  North  Church 
on  the  comer  of  William  and  Tultou  streets.  Long  before  this,  too,  the 
Scotch  Covenanters  had  built  a  church  on  the  south  side  of  Cedar 
street,  near  Broadway,  almost  in  a  line,  therefore,  with  the  earliest 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Wall  street.  As  an  outgrowth  of  the  latter 
society  a  new  organization  was  formed  which  built  a  church  opposite 
the  common,  on  the  spot  occupied  now  by  the  "New-York  Times" 
building.  At  the  lower  end  this  same  open  ground  was  graced  by  the 
close  proximity  of  St.  Paul's,  which,  with  St.  George's  in  Beekman 
street,  completed  the  group  of  "up-town  churches"  of  those  days.'' 

The  population  of  the  city  toward  the  close  of  this  century  was 
between  fifty  and  sixty  thousand.  At  the  close  of  the  previous  cen- 
tury the  number  was  scarcely  forty-five  hundred.'  In  the  year  1756 
the  number  of  inhabitants  had  reached  over  ten  thousand;  just 
before  the  Revolution  {1771)  the  number  was  nearly  twenty-two 
thousand;  three  years  after  the  evacuation  it  had  increased  by  only 
about  two  thousand.    But  then  began  a  rapid  increase,  so  that  in 

1  For  n«siir  half  >  oentory  Ckto  Alexander  kept  wbttsb. 

a  hooae  of  entertainment  on  the  old  BogUin  post     Men M6 

road,  about  four  mllM  from  the  City  HaU.  It  was     Women 1,018 

the  faahionablB  out-of-town  resort  for  tbe  young      Tonng  men  and  boya S64 

men  of  the  day.  Editob.  Touog  women  and  ^rU. 899 

1  Tbe  paaton  of  theae  ehnrehee  are  mentioned  3,737 

with  M>me  parUcnlarity  In  the  preceding  chapter. 

1  Valentine.  In  the  Manual  for  1863,  plaoea  the      „ 

Bgnre  in  1700  at  1,200 ;  bat  it  waa  more  than  that,      womeii 

Wlnterbotham,  op.  dt.,  p.  320,  lays:  It  la  found     Bots  and  sirta 
by  a  memorandum  in  one  of  the  old  regiatera  that 
the  number  of  inhabitants  in  the  city,  taken  by 
order  of  the  king  in  tbe  year  leeC,  wai  as  toDowa : 


138  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

1790  there  were  over  thirty-three  thousand;  and  only  ten  years  later 
the  figures  began  to  approach  sixty  thousand.  This  population  was 
compacted  together  into  a  space  not  very  extensive.  The  street 
farthest  up-town  was  still  below  Canal  street  on  the  west  side,  and 
equally  so  on  the  east. 

The  maintenance  of  sanitary  conditions  among  so  many  people 
within  so  limited  a  space  was  ill  understood  at  this  time,  both  in 
Europe  and  in  America.  The  better  air  and  less  confined  conditions 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  may  have  prevented,  to  some  extent, 
the  encroachments  of  a  general  epidemic.  Yet,  throughout  the 
eighteenth  century,  during  almost  every  decade,  there  was  a  visita- 
tion from  that  dreadful  scourge,  the  smallpox.  If  possible,  a  worse 
and  more  fatal  plague  was  that  of  the  yellow  fever;  and  during 
the  last  decade  of  the  century  New- York  was  more  than  once  vis- 
ited by  it.  It  was  first  present  within  the  city  in  the  year  1791, 
and  carried  oflE  General  Malcolm  and  some  other  prominent  citi- 
zens; and  when  Dr.  Jame's  Tillary  described  its  symptoms  to  a 
number  of  physicians,  they  declared  that  they  had  never  heard  of 
it  or  seen  anything  like  it.  Yet,  while  it  did  not  cause  much  loss 
of  life,  it  created  sufficient  alarm.  For  when,  in  1793,  Philadelphia 
was  visited  by  the  fever,  the  authorities  adopted  strenuous  mea- 
sures of  quarantine  against  that  city.  Ships  coming  thence  were 
forbidden  to  approach  nearer  than  Bedlow's  Island.  A  day  of  fast- 
ing and  prayer  was  appointed ;  the  proprietors  of  the  stage-coaches 
were  requested  to  cease  running.  People  were  warned  against  en- 
tertaining strangers,  or  buying  bedding  at  auction. 

In  the  year  1795  the  scourge  came  upon  the  city,  with  alarming 
results.  On  July  19  the  first  victim  died;  he  was  a  cabin-boy 
aboard  a  ship  coming  from  Port  au  Prince,  West  Indies.  The 
surgeon  who  attended  him  died;  neit  the  crew  of  another  vessel 
was  attacked,  and  then  a  family  living  on  Water  street.  There 
arose  some  doubt  afterward  as  to  whether  the  origin  of  the  infec- 
tion was  to  be  traced  thus;  but  the  fact  of  its  presence  was 
not  to  be  doubted.  By  October  6  five  hundred  and  twenty-five 
people  had  died  of  the  dread  disease.  In  November  the  appear- 
ance of  frost  caused  it  to  cease;  and  in  gratitude  for  this  Gov- 
ernor Jay  appointed  Thursday  the  26th  for  a  Thanksgiving  Day, 
as  already  noticed.  It  would  seem  that  the  city  was  not  quite 
free  from  the  plague,  even  in  the  next  year,  for  the  musician  Wil- 
liam Priest,  in  the  book  cited  above,  tells  us  that,  in  passing 
through  New  Jersey  on  his  way  to  New- York,  he  was  warned 
about  the  yellow  fever.  "But,''  he  added,  "the  disease  is  chiefly 
confined  to  one  part  of  the  city,  and  is  effectually  prevented  from 
spreading  at  present  by  the  North  West  wind,  which  is  set  in  this 


THE    CLOSING    YEARS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY       139 

morning  (September  18th)  with  uncommon  severity.''  As  to  the 
eflScacy  of  this  wind,  he  relates  a  remarkable  circumstance  occur- 
ring while  he  was  at  Baltimore  during  the  raging  of  the  same 
fever.  Under  date  of  October  2,  1794,  he  writes:  "A  violent  cold 
and  penetrating  North  West  wind  set  in,  with  uncommon  sever- 
ity, which  has  entirely  stopped  the  infection."  And  on  October 
14:  "The  inhabitants  are  returned,  and  trade  is  restored  to  its 
usual  course.''  It  is  to  be  presumed,  however,  that  frost  accom- 
panied Ihe  wind. 

But  the  climax  of  calamity  from  yellow  fever  was  reached  in  1798. 
This  was  true  not  only  because  it  raged  worse  than  at  any  time  before 
in  our  own  city,  but  because  it  simultaneously  visited  Philadelphia, 
Boston,  New  London,  and  seventeen  other  cities  along  the  Atlantic 
border,  entered  Vermont,  and  infected  even  the  Grand  Isles  in  Lake 
Champlain.  Philadelphia  was  called  upon  to  mourn  over  thirty-five 
hundred  victims.  It  began  in  New  York  on  July  28  or  29,  and  the 
fli'st  to  succumb  was  no  less  a  person  than  the  eminent  citizen  and 
politician  Melancthon  Smith,  who  led  the  forces  of  the  anti-constitu- 
tional party  at  the  ratification  convention  at  Poughkeepsie  just  ten 
years  before,  and  who  had  nobly  acknowledged  that  he  was  convinced 
by  the  arguments  of  Hamilton.  He  lived  in  Front  street,  near  Coen- 
ties  Slip,  on  the  low  made  ground  which  had  been  rescued  from  the 
river.  This  was,  therefore,  an  unheal thful  region  generally,  and  it  was 
no  wonder  that  the  fever  commenced  here.  Every  one  that  could 
fled  from  the  city.  Many  business  men  transferred  their  residences 
or  shops  to  higher  ground,  in  William  street  or  Broadway,  and  even 
this  slight  change  proved  of  benefit.  But  as  people  began  to  die  by 
the  dozen,  and  two  and  three  dozen,  per  day,  the  alarm  became  wild. 
The  deaths  during  August  amounted  to  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine.  On  September  1  twenty-three  persons  died ;  on  the  19th,  sixty- 
three  funerals  were  counted ;  for  the  whole  month  the  death-list  ran 
up  to  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four.  When  it  was  all  over,  about  the 
middle  of  November,  fifteen  hundred  and  twenty-four  people,  out  of 
a  population  of  about  fifty  thousand,  had  died  of  the  fever ;  and  this 
did  not  include  those  who  died  after  they  fled  and  were  attacked  out- 
side the  borders  of  city  or  island. 

Out  of  these  evils,  however,  grew  a  good :  as  a  result  of  the  scourge 
in  1795  a  system  of  underground  sewerage  was  at  once  proposed  and 
speedily  carried  out.  Yet  the  plague  of  1798  was  worse  than  the 
other,  and  a  yet  more  frightful  visitation  was  that  of  1822.  The 
causes  were  hard  to  determine  with  exactness.  No  doubt  a  bilious 
condition,  superinduced  by  a  malarial  state  of  the  atmosphere  in  low 
places,  favored  the  yellow  fever.  Hot  days,  with  cool  nights  and 
mornings,  were  thought  to  favor  the  spread  of  the  disease.     Sudden 


140  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

changes  of  temperature  were  deleterious,  and  these  were  apt  to  occur 
then  as  well  as  in  these  days.  Mr.  Priest  quotes  a  statement  of  Jef- 
ferson's: "Our  changes  from  heat  to  cold  are  sudden  and  great.  The 
mercury  in  Fahrenheit's  thermometer  has  been  known  to  descend 
from  92  to  47  in  thirteen  hours.''  And  from  a  New-York  newspaper 
in  June,  1796,  he  made  this  extract :  **  Wednesday,  the  14th  of  May, 
the  mercury  in  Fahrenheit  rose  to  91  degrees.  The  Saturday  night 
following  there  was  a  severe  frost.  The  next  Tuesday  and  Wednes- 
day the  mercury  rose  to  85  degrees ;  from  the  20th  to  the  26tli  it  has 
been  nearly  stationary,  varying  only  from  60  to  64."*  Professor  Mac- 
Master,  after  a  minute  study  of  contemporary  accounts,  has  pre- 
sented a  most  vivid  picture  of  the  effect  of  the  prevalence  of  this 


epidemic  upon  the  popular  mind.  Speaking  of  what  was  thought  a 
sovereign  remedy  or  preventive  against  the  fever,  a  certain  "vinegar," 
he  remarks :  "  If  the  purchaser  of  the  vinegar  were  a  nervous  man 
and  tormented  with  hourly  fear  of  being  stricken  with  the  fever,  the 
spectacle  he  presented  as  he  sallied  forth  to  buy  was  most  pitiable. 
As  he  shut  his  house  door  he  was  careful  to  have  a  piece  of  tarred 
rope  in  either  hand,  a  sponge  wet  with  camphor  at  the  nose,  and  in 
his  pocket  a  handkerchief  well  soaked  with  the  last  preventive  of 
which  he  had  heard.  As  he  hastened  along  the  street  he  shunned 
the  foot  walk,  kept  in  the  middle  of  the  horseway,  fled  down  the 
nearest  alley  at  the  sight  of  a  carriage,  and  thought  nothing  of  going 
six  blocks  to  avoid  passing  a  house  whence  a  dead  body  had  been 
taken  the  week  before.  If  he  were  so  unhappy  as  to  meet  a  friend 
on  the  way,  neither  shook  hands,  but,  exchanging  a  few  words  at  a 
distance,  each  sought,  bowing  and  scraping,  to  get  to  the  windward 
of  the  other  as  he  passed.     When  at  last  the  shop  was  reached, 

1  Willism  Priest,  "Tratvels."  etc,  pp.  137, 138. 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY   141 

nothing  could  induce  him  to  enter  while  another  stood  at  the  counter, 
or  was  seen  approaching  on  the  streef^ 

In  a  former  chapter  mention  has  been  made  of  the  connection  be- 
tween that  famous  pond  or  lake,  the  Collect,  and  the  sanitary  condi- 
tion of  the  city.  Surely  the  picture  drawn  by  Captain  Rutgers  in  his 
petition  to  the  king  was  a  dreary  one ;  and  when,  in  1733,  the  grant 
of  it  and  its  adjoining  lands  was  conferred  upon  him,  he  doubtless 
proceeded  to  improve  its  character  as  a  health  resort  by  the  proper 
drainage,  the  system  of  which  he  had  so  carefully  explained.^  In 
1 791  the  city  purchased  whatever  title  his  heirs  still  claimed  to  its 
possession  for  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  which  does 
not  seem  a  large  amount  after  improving  the  property  and  holding  it 
for  nearly  sixty  years.  Possibly  its  reputation  for  healthfulness  had 
not  improved,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Captain  Rutgers.  Indeed,  one 
pitiless  historian,  mentioning  this  purchase  in  1791,  goes  on  to  say : 
"After  becoming  an  unmitigated  nuisance,  it  was  filled  up  between 
the  years  1800  and  1810."  Thus  its  life  would  seem  to  be  nearly  con- 
terminous with  that  of  the  century  whose  close  is  under  consideration 
just  now.  And  this  now  vanished  water,  made  historic  by  that  wan- 
ton tragedy  which  led  to  the  Indian  wars,  claims  in  this  last  decade 
of  the  eighteenth  century  a  more  than  passing  notice ;  for  upon  its 
quiet  bosom  were  performed  some  of  the  earliest  experiments  in 
steam  navigation. 

William  Alexander  Duer,  the  grandson  on  the  mother's  side  of 
William  Alexander,  Lord  Stirling,  and  through  her  related  also  to 
Chancellor  Livingston,  destined  to  figure  so  prominently  in  a  later 
event  of  a  similar  nature,  in  an  address  before  the  St.  Nicholas  Society 
on  December  1,  1848,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  these  experi- 
ments, gathered  from  conversations  with  eye-witnesses  of  them.  Gen- 
eral John  Lamb  informed  him  that  he  saw  a  trial  of  a  steamboat^ 
with  a  screw  propeller  at  the  stem,  in  the  year  1795.  This  must  have 
been  an  early  construction  of  a  model  carried  to  greater  perfection  by 
John  Stevens  in  1804.  Strange  to  say,  that  splendid  invention,  which 
has  made  ocean  navigation  by  steam  possible  to  a  degree  so  astonish- 
ing even  to-day,  was  buried  in  oblivion  until  1837,  when  the  idea  was 
once  more  revived,  and  then  later  developed  into  complete  prac- 
tical eflSciency  by  John  Ericsson.  In  the  years  1796  and  1797,  Mr. 
Duer  learned  that  John  Fitch  also  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  navi- 
gated the  Collect.  He  had  this  information  from  an  old  mechanical 
engineer  residing  in  Williamsburg  (Brooklyn).  This  person  was 
present  in  the  boat  and  assisted  in  working  the  machinery.  He 
recollected  that  Chancellor  Livingston  as  well  as  Mr.  Stevens  were 
present  at  the  experiments;  and  also  mentioned  another  gentleman 

1  '*  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,''  2 :  128.       a  See  pa^  189  of  the  previous  volume. 


142  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

whom  he  supposed  to  be  Robert  Fulton ;  but,  as  Mr.  Duer  properly 
observes,  this  could  hardly  have  been  possible,  as  Fulton  at  this  period 
was  studying  art  under  Benjamin  West  in  England.  Another  state- 
ment may  be  received  with  caution :  namely,  that  Fitch  propelled  his 
boat  by  means  of  paddle-wheels  at  the  sides.  In  some  illustrations  of 
this  incident  such  a  device  appears  in  the  picture  of  the  little  steamer. 
But  Fitch  did  not  utilize  this  means  of  propulsion.  His  paddles  were 
huge  oars,  six  on  each  side,  hung  upon  a  cumbersome  and  lofty  frame- 
work. At  least  this  was  the  kind  of  construction  which  characterized 
the  boat  in  which  he  made  a  trial  upon  the  Delaware,  opposite  Phila- 
delphia, at  about  this  same  time.  Nevertheless,  whatever  other  uncer- 
tainties there  may  be  surrounding  this  subject,  the  fact  seems  plain 
and  indisputable  that  early  essays  in  steam  navigation  were  made  on 
our  ancient  Collect.  It  was  truly  a  sufficient  distinction  that  it  should 
have  been  the  scene  of  such  events.  First  noted  in  the  city's  history 
by  a  tale  of  murder,  portending  greater  woes  to  come,  it  was  a  kind 
fate  which  associated  its  closing  years  with  an  experiment  fraught 
with  such  incalculable  blessings  to  humanity,  and  the  final  results  of 
which  have  led  more  than  aught  else  alone  to  place  this  city  at  the 
pinnacle  of  commercial  prosperity, — to  raise  it  into  the  magnificent 
proportions  wherein  it  now  glories. 

In  the  midst  of  this  material  prosperity,  already  beginning,  and  in 
spite  of  the  rise  of  that  commercial  spirit  of  which  we  sometimes 
complain  in  these  days,  it  is  pleasant  to  observe  that  the  citizens  of 
New- York  toward  the  close  of  the  preceding  centuiy  found  time  for 
thinking  of  the  higher  needs  of  man.  The  countenance  given  to  the 
invention  just  noticed  is  proof  of  this.  It  is  manifest  also,  in  another 
way,  from  the  number  of  societies  that  were  formed  at  this  period 
for  the  purpose  of  advancing  the  culture  of  the  mind,  or  the  good  of 
unfortunate  fellow-men,  as  well  as  for  mutual  aid  and  encouragement 
in  the  pursuit  of  any  particular  trade.  Thus,  besides  the  Tammany 
Society,  intended  to  offset  the  rather  aristocratic  tendencies  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  and  originally  embracing  men  of  opposite 
parties,  there  were  the  Marine  Society,  the  General  Society  of  Me- 
chanics and  Tradesmen,  the  Manufacturing  Society :  whose  designa- 
tions at  once  explain  their  scope  and  purpose.  These  were,  indeed, 
closely  allied  with  commerce  and  trade  or  the  outgrowth  of  them, 
yet  they  marked  a  disposition  toward  neighborly  helpfulness  which 
kept  men  from  too  selfish  a  pursuit  of  individual  gain,  and  by  so  far 
benefited  and  ennobled  the  higher  nature.  More  distinct,  however, 
was  the  elevation  of  tone  in  the  creation  of  such  societies  as  that 
"  for  promoting  useful  knowledge."  The  members  met  once  a  month, 
and  under  their  auspices  numerous  lectures  were  provided  on  a 
great  variety  of  subjects, — scientific,  historical,  literary, — ^which  were 


THE  CLOSING  lEABS  OF  THE  EIOHTEENTH  CENTUBT   143 

largely  attended,  and,  it  was  noted,  particularly  so  by  ladies.  Signif- 
icant is  also  the  fact  that  thus  early  there  existed  a  "  Society  for  the 
Manumission  of  Slaves  and  protecting  such  as  have  been  or  may  be 
liberated."  It  was  organized  in  1780,  and  a  few  years  later  added  to 
its  benevolent  operations  the  establishment  of  a  school  for  the  chil- 
dren of  negroes  still  slaves  who  had  reached  the  age  of  nine  years. 
John  Jay,  to  whose  heart  the  subject 
of  abolition  was  very  near,  was  at  one 
time  president  of  this  society.' 

Another  benevolent  object  found 
numerous  supporters,  with  which, 
however,  were  mingled  again  con- 
siderations aflEecting  the  material 
progress  of  the  city.  In  1794  a  so- 
ciety was  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
*'  affording  information  and  assistance 
to  persons  emigrating  from  foreign 
countries."  From  this  circumstance 
it  appears  that  a  considerable  tide  of 
emigration  had  already  begun  to  set 
in  toward  our  shores.    Young  as  was 

the  republic,  the  oppressed  multitudes  of  overcrowded  and  agitated 
Europe  had  already  learned  to  direct  their  eyes  hither  as  the  haven 
of  their  hopes,  as  an  asylum  of  escape  from  unhappy  conditions,  and 
as  an  arena  for  the  unfettered  exercise  of  noble  faculties  and  useful 
capacities  held  in  check  where 

Chill  penury  repressed  their  noble  rage, 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  bouL 


Among  these  emigrants  is  to  be  numbered  one  whose  name  now  is  as 
widely  known  as  the  city  to  which  he  came,  and  whose  fortunes 
indicate  the  liberal  possibilities  that  lay  before  these  early  adven- 
turers. In  1784  John  Jacob  Astor  had  come  from  his  little  village 
in  Germany,  a  young  man  with  the  world  quite  shut  up  against 
him  in  his  native  land,  but  with  the  world  all  before  him,  with 
its  *'  open  sesame"  to  pluck  and  push  and  skill,  in  the  republic  which 
had  but  enjoyed  its  peace  for  one  year.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  or  the  period  of  which  we  now  write,  he  occupied 
a  store  or  shop  at  81  Queen  street.  This  was  about  midway  between 
Cherry  and  Monroe,  on  the  east  side  of  Pearl  street.  Here  he  sold 
pianofortes,  made  by  his  brother  in  London,  and  paid  cash  for  skins 
of  racoons  and  muskrats.    He  also  sold  furs.    Not  despising  the 

nT,"oU.,  2i339;  T.  E.  V.  Smith,  "New-York  In  1789,"  p.  123. 


144 


mSTOBY    OF    KEW-YOEK 


day  of  small  things,  greater  came  to  him,  and  his  bosiness  and  the 
city  grew  together. 

Amid  the  general  interest  in  intellectual  cnlture,  it  was  to  be 
expected  that  the  ancient  Society  Library  would  find  a  promising 
field  for  the  revival  of  its 
operations.  Sadly  crippled  by 
the  ruthless  treatment  and 
shameless  purloining  of  its 
volumes  by  the  British  sol- 
diery, it  resumed  its  life  after 
the  war  by  occupying  once 
more  its  room  in  Federal  Hall, 
serving  then,  indeed,  as  a  con- 
gressional library  also.  But 
in  1795  the  association  was 
enabled  to  erect  a  neat  and 
handsome  building  of  its  own 
on  the  comer  of  Nassau  and 
Cedar  streets.  Columbia  Col- 
lege, showing  by  its  name  the 
transition  in  affairs  which  had 
occurred  since  it  was  founded 
as  King's  College,  was  now  in 
a  flourishing  condition.  One 
hundred  students  attended  its 
classical  curriculum,  and  there 
were  fifty  medical  students  about  this  time.  The  college  faculty  con- 
sisted of  a  president  and  three  professors.  As  a  central  luminary  this 
chief  educational  institution  was  attended  by  several  schools,  the  best 
among  them  being  the  Columbia  Grammar  School.  The  Old  Dutch 
Collegiate  Church  School  was  in  active  operation,  and  over  sixty 
names  of  teachers  appear  in  the  directories  of  those  years. 

In  this  connection  it  is  of  great  importance  to  observe  that  New- 
York  enjoys  the  honor  of  having  been  the  place  where  was  published 
the  first  novel  of  America's  earliest  romance-writer.  In  1796  Charles 
Brockden  Brown  came  from  his  native  city  of  Philadelphia  and 
settled  in  New- York.  He  was  perhaps  the  first  American  who  ven- 
tured to  adopt  literature  distinctly  as  a  profession.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Linn,  of  the  Collegiate  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  and  in  1798  published  "Wieland;  or,  the  Trans- 

I  Matthew  Cbtrkson  wu  identUed  with  many  Bnrfcoyne  eumpaigu ;  and,  after  the  wax,  beeune 

notable  enterprises  of  >  benevolent  oredueationU  msJoT-KeDeral  of  the  State  militia.    At  the  period 

charHCter,  as  appesra  in  the  course  ot  the  present  under  consideration  he  waa  a  member  of  the  State 

Tolume.    He  enlinted  as  a  private  In  the  war  of  legislature  sitting  in  New-Tork.  EnrrOB. 

the  Revolution,  and  served  as  aide-de-camp  In  the 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY   145 

formation.''  It  is  well  to  remember  this  fact,  in  view  of  the  cir- 
cmnstance  that  the  commercial  metropolis  is  fast  becoming  also  the 
literary,  as  it  is  already  the  publishing,  center  of  the  country.  A 
list  of  the  newspapers  issued  at  this  time  includes  the  "New- York 
Journal,''  the  "Daily  Advertiser"  (the  first  daily  published  in  the 
city),  and  the  "Daily  Gazette,"  also  a  daily  paper,  as  its  name  indi- 
cates. A  few  more  had  been  established  in  former  years,  but  were 
unsuccessful  Those  that  remained  did  not  furnish  their  limited  circle 
of  readers  with  more  than  a  series  of  advertisements  of  goods  in  the 
shops,  or  of  auction-sales.  In  the  political  controversies  of  the  day 
letters  or  treatises  would  be  sent  in  signed  by  such  fanciful  names  as 
"Publius,"  "Camillus"  (Hamilton's  noma  deplume)^  or  "William  Tell"; 
but  the  editors  themselves  would  rarely  indulge  in  leading  articles. 

Just  before  the  beginning  of  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  Brissot  de  Warville,  the  French  journalist  and  traveler,  ex- 
pressed his  view  of  New- York  society  and  manners  in  these  terms : 
"The  presence  of  Congress  with  the  diplomatic  body,  and  the  con- 
course of  strangers,  contribute  much  to  extend  here  the  ravages  of 
luxuiy.  The  inhabitants  are  far  from  complaining  at  it;  they  prefer 
the  splendor  of  wealth  and  the  show  of  enjoyment  to  the  simplicity  of 
manners  and  the  pure  pleasures  resulting  from  it."^  Another  chapter 
deals  with  the  higher  movements  of  society,  in  consequence  of  the 
attendance  of  Congress  and  the  establishment  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  this  city.  But  it  will  be  of  interest  to  glance  at  the  more 
popular  amusements  of  the  day.  Among  these  the  racing  of  horses 
was  a  great  favorite;  and  we  learn  that  the  place  where  this  pleasure 
was  indulged  was  on  the  Bowery.  The  "speedway"  began  at  Chat- 
ham Square.  Unless  four  horses  could  be  entered,  a  race  would  not 
be  held.  Sixteen  shillings  was  the  amount  of  the  entrance-money. 
The  prizes  were  not  in  purses,  but  at  one  time  an  elegant  saddle  and 
bridle  would  be  offered,  at  another  some  equally  useful  article  appro- 
priate to  the  horse.  It  is  not  likely  that  any  other  mode  of  speeding 
the  horse  was  then  thought  of  but  that  of  running,  the  finer  and  more 
difficult  qualities  of  trotting  being  reserved  for  a  later  day. 

The  hour  for  the  races  was  invariably  one  o'clock.  When  they  were 
over  there  would  be  ample  time,  before  sunset  of  a  summer's  day,  for 
the  more  Select  portion  of  the  spectators  to  pursue  a  road  leading 
to  the  right  from  Chatham  Square  toward  the  East  River,  parallel  to 
the  present  East  Broadway,  until  they  reached  the  comfortable  Bel- 
vedere House.  This  pleasure  resort,  or  club-house,  stood  on  an  emi- 
nence at  about  the  comer  of  Montgomery  and  Cherry  streets,  or  per- 
haps in  the  center  of  the  block  bounded  by  these  and  Clinton  and 
Monroe  streets.    The  garden  would  lead  down  to  the  river  across  the 

1  "  New  Travels,'*  etc.,  1 :  127. 
Vol.  m.— 10. 


146  HISTORY    OP    NEW-YORK 

space  where  Water  and  Front  streets  have  since  encroached  upon  thd 
stream.  It  was  owned  by  several  gentlemen  (to  the  number  of  thirty- 
three  in  1794),  and  formed  a  rural  retreat  and  convenience  for  small 
parties.  From  its  broad  veranda  the  view  would  sweep  over  the 
Brooklyn  Heights,  over  Governor's  to  Staten  Island,  and  the  glancing 
waters  of  river  and  bay  between;  or  from  the  rear  the  still  rural 
aspects  of  Manhattan  Island  would  form  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
river  view.  In  the  northern  direction  from  the  race-course,  along  the 
Bowery  road,  there  would  be  reached  a  more  popular  country  resort, 
the  Vauxhall  Garden.  Earlier  in  the  century  this  was  near  the  comer 
of  the  present  Warren  and  Greenwich  streets.  But  at  this  time  it 
occupied  a  spot  near  where  the  Astor  Library  stands,  between  Lafay- 
ette Place  and  Fourth  avenue.  This  had  been  a  part  of  the  property 
of  Colonel  Nicholas  Bayard.  Indeed,  the  old  Bayard  mansion  itself 
had  been  utilized,  and  with  some  slight  changes  had  been  converted 
into  a  house  of  entertainment  by  a  Frenchman  named  Delacroix  in 
1798.^    It  doubtless  failed  to  equal  its  London  namesake. 

Theatrical  performances  had  become  a  fixed  feature  of  the  city's 
life  in  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating.  For  a  long  time  they 
had  been  steadily  opposed  and  denounced  by  official  action  and 
newspaper  criticism.  After  1766  and  until  1798  the  old  John  street 
theater  was  the  only  theater  in  the  city.  But  in  the  latter  year  the 
Park  Theater  was  opened,  standing  opposite  the  common,  in  the 
present  Park  Row.  So  far  as  records  industriously  compiled  show, 
there  seldom  or  never  was  rendered  a  play  by  Shakespeare.  Sheri- 
dan's "Rivals''  and  "School  for  Scandal"  were  more  than  once  placed 
upon  the  boards ;  for  the  rest,  most  of  the  plays  were  by  contempor 
rary  English  playwrights,  with  an  occasional  one  by  an  American. 
Among  these  early  dramatic  authors  was  William  Dunlap,  historian 
of  the  American  theater  as  well  as  of  New-York  city.  We  have,  alas  I 
no  very  favorable  account  of  the  behavior  of  our  forefathers  at  the 
theater.  "  In  the  theatres  at  the  North  it  often  happened  that  the 
moment  a  well-dressed  man  entered  the  pit,  he  at  once  became  a 
mark  for  the  wit  and  insolence  of  the  men  in  the  gallery.  They 
would  begin  by  calling  on  him  to  doff  his  hat  in  mark  of  inferiority, 
for  the  custom  of  wearing  hats  in  the  theater  was  universal.  If  he 
obeyed,  he  was  loudly  hissed,  and  troubled  no  more.  If  he  refused, 
abuse,  oaths,  and  indecent  remarks  were  poured  out  upon  him."* 
Surely  it  could  not  be  a  very  refined  audience  where  such  actions 
were  habitual.  Yet,  as  the  admittance  was  quite  costly  for  those 
days,  it  could  only  have  been  persons  of  the  better  class  who  were 
enabled  to  attend.    The  common  people  sought  their  amusements  in 

>  "  Appletons'  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biog^raphy,"  1 :  198. 
2  MacMaster's  '*  History  People  U.  S. ,**  2 :  549. 


THE    CLOSEHa    YEABS    OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTUBY       147 

different  quarters.  Thus,  traveling  acrobats  would  give  exhibitions 
on  the  streets  or  the  common.  "  Philosophers "  would  perform 
chemical  and  electrical  experiments,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the 
unsophisticated.  At  one  time  such  a  show  was  advertised  at  Harlem 
village,  so  that  a  drive  thither,  or  a  long  healthful  walk  of  seven  or 
eight  miles,  would  be  enhanced  by  this  additional  entertainment. 

Steadily,  slowly  as  yet,  but  surely,  New-York  was  meantiine — 
amid  all  the  gaieties  of  society,  amid  the  more  solid  enjoyments  of 
her  literary  circles,  with  a  nascent  literatm-e  and  the  noble  activities 
of  philanthropy — advancing  toward  her  destiny.  She  was  to  fulfil 
the  prophecy  of  her  ancient  name.  She  was 
to  be  the  new  Amsterdam  of  a  new  republic, 
based  on  Uberty  of  government  and  of  con- 
science, and  enriched  by  commerce.  Like  her 
namesake  and  prototype,  deprived  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  being  the  civil  capital  of  the 
Federal  Union,  she  was  still  destined  to  be  the 
commercial  capital  and  the  metropolis.  In 
spite  of  three  or  more  visitations  of  the  yellow 
fever,  which  discouraged  trade  and  scattered 
abroad  its  residents,  many  for  a  permanent 
separation,  besides  carrying  thousands  to  their 
gi'aves,  yet  did  this  little  town  thrive  aid  grow  apace,  till  it  ceased  to 
l>e  a  town  and  approached  the  condition  of  a  metropolis.  The  un- 
rivaled advantages  of  its  geographical  and  topographical  situation 
necessarily  made  it  a  commercial  center.  Such  was  the  conviction 
of  observers  who  saw  it  then,  before  the  astonishing  results  of  later 
years  had  arrived  to  justify  their  opinion.  "This  city,"  says  Winter- 
botham, "  is  esteemed  the  most  eligible  situation  for  commerce  in  the 
United  States.  It  almost  necessarily  commands  the  trade  of  one- 
half  of  New  Jersey,  most  of  that  of  Connecticut,  and  part  of  that  of 
Massachusetts,  and  almost  the  whole  of  Vermont,  besides  the  whole 
fertile  interior  country,  which  is  penetrated  by  one  of  the  largest 
rivers  in  America.  This  city  imports  most  of  the  goods  consumed 
between  a  line  of  thirty  miles  east  of  Connecticut  river  and  twenty 
miles  west  of  the  Hudson,  which  is  130  miles,  and  between  the  ocean 
and  the  confines  of  Canada,  about  four  hundred  miles;  a  considerable 
portion  of  which  is  the  best  peopled  of  any  part  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  whole  territory  contains  at  least  eight  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple, or  one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Union.  Besides,  some  of  the 
other  States  are  jmrtially  supplied  with  goods  from  New- York.  .  .  . 
In  time  of  peace  New- York  will  command  more  commercial  business 
than  any  town  in  the  Unit«d  States."' 

1  "View of  V.  S.," etc, 2 : 318,  319. 


148  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  streets  of  New- York  presented  a  lively 
appearance.  There  were  then  no  "down-town^  and  "up-town,'*  as 
we  have  since  learned  to  understand  these  terms.  The  attorney,  the 
merchant,  the  shopkeeper,  carried  on  their  business  in  the  house 
that  was  also  their  dwelling,  and  the  daily  exile  from  home  and  fam- 
ily in  order  to  attend  to  business  was  unnecessary.  The  parts  now 
devoted  to  business  only,  where  homes,  except  the  humblest,  are  im- 
known,  were  then  also  the  haunts  of  business,  but  at  the  same  time 
presented  the  more  cheery  aspect  of  ordinary  habitation,  and  betrayed 
the  dainty  and  tidy  touch  of  the  housewife.  While  there  were  not 
many  shops  on  Broadway,  in  William,  in  Broad,  in  Wall  street,  and 
others,  oflBices  and  stores  and  counting-houses  were  mingled  in  busy 
array.  There  was  then  as  yet  no  South  street.  But  Water  and  Front 
streets  had  advanced  into  the  river  since  the  century  began,  and  had 
left  Pearl  street  quite  an  interior  thoroughfare.  And  here  along 
Front  street  the  great  ships  lay  at  their  wharves.  The  North  River 
shore  was  still  comparatively  deserted ;  the  wide  stretch  of  the  bay 
seemed  too  much  like  the  open  sea.  So  between  the  Battery  and 
Peck  Slip  was  all  the  wharfage ;  above  this  were  the  ship-yards.  In 
the  year  1794  twenty-three  hundred  and  eighty-nine  ships  and  craft 
of  various  kinds  and  sizes  are  recorded  as  having  cleared  the  port  of 
New- York.  Common  sailors  commanded  good  wages — twenty-four 
dollars  a  month  at  least.  Indeed,  the  business  brought  into  town 
by  this  increasing  trade  raised  all  kinds  of  wages  to  a  comfortable 
amount.  House-servants,  male  and  female,  received  from  eight  to 
ten  dollars  a  month.  "  Hatters,  two  dollars  a  day.  Carpenters,  ten- 
pence  an  hour.  Masons,  for  laying  a  wall  one  perch  long,  one  brick 
high,  and  eighteen  inches  thick,  were  paid  fourpence.'^  Rents,  too, 
increased  as  people  came  crowding  into  the  busy  town,  and  board  at 
seven  dollars  a  week  was  considered  expensive. 

Even  then  Wall  street  was  the  home  of  the  banks.  Where  now 
rises  the  somewhat  antiquated  building  of  the  Bank  of  New- York, 
on  the  corner  of  Wall  and  William  streets,  its  humbler  predecessor 
stood,  built  in  1798.  Before  this  its  business  was  conducted  at  11 
Hanover  Square,  and  in  1784  it  occupied  the  famous  Walton  House. 
Even  speculation  was  a  thing  not  then  unknown.  In  1796  La  Roche- 
foucauld writes :  "  I  have  learned  here  that  the  speculations  in  grain 
and  in  flour  have  disturbed  many  mercantile  houses,  have  ruined  one 
of  the  principal  ones,  and  will  probably  ruin  some  others.**^  Yet 
there  was  enough  solid  business  done  to  secure  the  continuance  of 
prosperity ;  and  in  1799  the  Manhattan  Company,  with  its  ingenious 
charter,  secured  by  Aaron  Burr,  began  it«  career  of  banking,  with 
but  a  very  secondary  attention  to  a  water-supply.    As  is  well  known, 

!<•  Voyage."  etc.,  5:128. 


MMDAT  zwmma,  ocrom  t,  .nr- 


^S- 


ST'^  -it:^- 


J^^z.^X-rO^^'r^'^^^'^::^ 


-^^x-a^sr-jt" 


Anlri^i«ljt^ 


s^^siiztr" 


HrE^-^- 


l^ir; 


SKs-^rs 


r^rrr: 


l^nEii,  luR  InnriEd,         , 


SSBZ 


aKi^T^J?!?^'.-'-;:.'? 


Tt-'itiT"'' 


aS5-= 


..^:5T.""'*~'    sr^i.-jirfs'JF;"^ 


SS&- 


"€~?iE" 


.■J5*s>,-..^ 


C.Dcla<lpt.iidQi. 


-■K^^jV'-^^^^^  „. 


150 


mSTORT    OF    NEW-YOBK 


the  latter  purpose  was  ostensibly  the  main  one,  put  forward  because 
it  was  feared  the  federalists  would  not  give  banking  privileges  into 
the  hands  of  republicans.  The  increasing  commercial  transactions 
demanded  the  operation  of  these  banks.  Their  hours  were  from  ten 
to  one,  and  from  three  to  five,  and  discounts  were  made  on  certain 
days  in  the  week.  As  for  the  money  in  use,  the  federal  government 
had  properly  done  away  with  the  English  currency,  and  had  estab- 
lished a  national  system  of  its  own.  But  although  the  dollars  and 
cents  were  much  more  easily  calculated  than  the  pounds,  shillings, 
and  pence,  the  curious  persistence  of  habit  is  illustrated  by  the  tena- 
city wherewith  people  clung  to  the  older  system — "and  nothing  can 
be  more  complex,  as  they  have  not  a  single  coin  in  circulation  of  the 
real  or  nominal  value  of  any  of  them.''* 

It  wo^ild  seem,  therefore,  as  if  mercantile  affairs  involving  the 
handling  of  large  sums,  or  even  the  more  ordinary  interchanges  of 
every-day  life,  would  need  to  be  facilitated  by  the  paper  of  the  banks, 
or  checks  drawn  upon  them.  Some  of  these  present  a  very  primitive 
appearance,  and  may  have  been  safe  enough  for  the  rightful  transfer 
of  funds  in  that  unsophisticated  age,  but  would  not  be  trusted  for  a 
single  moment  to-day.  But  matters  were  sure  to  mend  as  the  years 
advanced.  New-York  was  not  yet  the  money-center  of  the  western 
world,  nor  yet  the  queen  of  American  commerce.  Nevertheless, 
William  Priest  said  of  her  in  1796:  "New- York  is  a  London  in  minia- 
ture— populous  streets,  hum  of  business,  busy  faces,  shops  in  style.** 
Let  London  look  to  her  laurels !  Centuries  of  undisputed  supremacy 
have  been  hers  hitherto.  Before  the  nineteenth  century  shall  be  quite 
over,  the  little  provincial,  lately  colonial,  town  across  the  seas  will 
be  in  dangerous  proximity  to  London's  greatness,  herself  vastly  in- 
creased since  the  eighteenth  century's  close. 

1  William  Priest,  '*  Tnveli,''  ete.,  p.  66. 


LIST  OP  HOUSES  AND  LOTS  VALUED  AT  £2000  AND  OVER  IN  1799. 


Oerard  BaDcker,  taonse  and  two  lots.  Pearl  st. . . 

£2,aoo 

Daniel  Penfleld,  house  and  lot,  State  street  . . 

..  £2,900 

Robert  Watte,  hoase  and  lot, 

*        •  •  • 

2,000 

Archibald  Kennedy, 

<4 

Broadway 

..      2,500 

Robert  Watte. 

•< 

2,500 

John  Watts, 

•  • 

..     2,900 

Matthew  Clarkeon,      " 

4t 

•    •    K 

2,000 

Chancellor  Livingston, 

t« 

..      9,000 

Robert  Wilson,  house  and  three  lots,  Broad  st. . 

2.800 

John  Stevens, 

tl 

..      2,000 

John  Bnchanan,  house  and  lot. 

t< 

2,000 

Mary  Ellison, 

•  • 

.      9,500 

Nicholas  Olive, 

tl 

•     •    •    • 

2,000 

Henry  White, 

«t 

.      9,600 

Benjamin  Seixas,            * 

4< 

2.200 

Dominiok  Lynch, 

tt 

..      9,000 

Nicholas  Cmger.             * 

•  •  •  * 

8,000 

Brockholst  Livingston, 

•• 

..      9,000 

Peter  Delabigarre,          * 

WhltehaUst... 

3,200 

William  Edgar, 

•  t 

.      4.000 

Onlian  Ludlow, 

•< 

2,000 

Alexander  McComb, 

•  t 

..      2,000 

John  Shaw,                      ' 

Pearl  street.... 

2.600 

Alexander  McComb, 

•  t 

..      9,000 

Cary  Ludlow,                  • 

State  street 

2,800 

Ann  MoAdam, 

«« 

..    s;ooo 

James  Watson,                * 

•• 

4,000 

Jacob  Morton, 

t« 

..      8.0W 

James  Watson,               ' 

•• 

2,200 

Isaac  Clason, 

•« 

M 

..      IJ60 

THE    CLOBINO    YEABS 

,  UTingium,  tuBW  and  tM,  BTDadwa; 


OF    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY       151 


£4.001       Junes  DunUp,  bonte  MUl  lot.  Water  itnct .. 
2.MI       WUUam  H— 


Thomu  T«i  Erck. 

JilCiWilH  LOV. 

KicMcThoaiaaRmKOI 


nnuid  Bnunaa . 
mnbcUiGlaAHa. 

J«hD  JOBM. 

AugBunuVwi  CorOui 
JahB  B.  CbIm, 

ItMT  (lnilOD, 

Wiiluw  LawroiCf 
Thoma*  a.  BHdmn, 
SM.  il.C.  IjTilMnKID. 

Tficlnla*  Diper*trr. 


OorneUu*  Ray. 
Xilale  Dr.  Van  Zjii 


IilelianI  Yat'a. 


ThDiDM  MarsioD. 

Thoina.Man.Wii. 

1.M0 

Hob..rtJ!ri.«e. 

iSW 

J..11Q  Kee.r. 

tM" 

JnuiBBBIvintiton, 

t.M» 

KobMtJImilrt, 

National  Bank. 

J...1iu»-Waddln)|Wn 

Anlhunr  L.  BlMck«r 

J<>luti>nit<r.Jr.. 

Jolin  UcKi'««>n. 

S^KO 

Entato  N.  fowenhoT 

MW 

E.la>«w.niol«. 

'WlUUiD  lUualeg. 
Jnho  Taylor. 
EstatD  Hvorv  Kip. 
Andre »  Ulttliell, 


John  Thnnii 
liDbvn  Uuii 
John  Hanti 


UUH  (]lllH'rtWi>.>.l!.ull. 

3.000  Julin  Jni'kMMi, 

1.000  Ealate  Pettir  Bogert, 

%00O  EHalfl  PBier  Bagerl. 


una       Biilwrt\t 


VllUam  atnet.     tM)       Bobert  W 


KLbtie,BU«ReAf'a. 


Water  itreet ..     2.M0 


WUIIani  a 
Ubortj:  at 


152 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


Robert  Hunter,  taoote  and  lot, 

Pearl  street.... 

£a.700 

Robert  L.  Bowue, 

•< 

It 

3,100 

Est.  Lawrence  Embree, 

1 

It 

.... 

2,aoo 

Robert  Bowne, 

tt 

It 

3,000 

Robert  Buwne, 

•t 

tt 

3,aoo 

Widow  Sears, 

<• 

ti 

8,500 

John  Rogers, 

ti 

It 

•  •  -  • 

2,100 

Tredwell  Jackson, 

<• 

Front  street ... 

2.200 

Joshua  Underbill, 

•• 

Crane  wharf... 

3.500 

Dr.  Browor, 

•< 

Water  street... 

2,680 

Peter  Bogert, 

<• 

Front  street . . . 

2,000 

Elisha  and  William  Colt, 

1 

Crane  wharf ... 

2,000 

Daniel  Cotton, 

t< 

It 

2,200 

Robert  Hunter, 

t« 

Water  street... 

2,000 

WiUett  Seaman, 

<t 

tt 

2,000 

Ebenezer  Stevens, 

t< 

«t 

... 

2,000 

Peter  Schennerhom, 

tt 

It 

... 

2,400 

Margaret  Livingston, 

tt 

It 

2,600 

Jonathan  Lawrence, 

tt 

It 

... 

2,200 

Thomas  Pearsall, 

tt 

Pearl  street.... 

2,000 

John  King, 

tt 

It 

.... 

2,000 

Moses  Rogers, 

It 

It 

.... 

3,500 

Moses  Rogers, 

tt 

It 

.... 

8,000 

Caleb  Frost, 

tt 

11 

2,500 

Thomas  Franklin, 

tt 

It 

.... 

2,500 

Margaret  Livingston, 

•  t 

tt 

a    .   .    . 

4,000 

Estate  Cromeline, 

tt 

tt 

.... 

4,000 

Willett  Seaman, 

tt 

tt 

.... 

2.800 

Jordan  Wright, 

tt 

II 

2,150 

WiUiam  Mintnrn, 

tt 

11 

2,300 

Estate  Peter  Byvanck, 

It 

II 

2,500 

Thomas  Leggett, 

tt 

II 

.... 

2,000 

John  Franklin, 

tt 

it 

2,000 

Daniel  Dnnscomb,  Jr., 

t> 

«l 

.... 

2,500 

James  W.  Depeyster, 

It 

tt 

2,000 

James  Uallet,  Jr., 

II 

Beekman  street 

2.000 

William  Kenyon, 

It 

II 

• . .  • 

2,000 

Peter  Schennerhom, 

•  1 

II 

.... 

2,500 

Cornelius  Schermcrhorn  " 

It 

«... 

2,500 

Thomas  Burling, 

II 

It 

.... 

2,800 

Peter  Middlcmans, 

II 

It 

2,000 

Cornelius  J.  IJogert, 

II 

tt 

.... 

3.000 

Johnson  Patten, 

•  1 

It 

2.800 

Leffert  I^effcrts, 

It 

tt 

2.000 

Robert  Carter, 

It 

Nassau  street.. 

2,000 

Mrs.  Samuel  Hay, 

It 

Fair  [Fulton]  St 

2,400 

Robert  Robinson, 

It 

WiUiam  street. 

2.200 

Samuel  Silford, 

It 

II 

.... 

2,500 

Samuel  Silford, 

tt 

It 

2,000 

Estate  Jane  Moncrief, 

tt 

It 

.... 

2,200 

Medcalf  Eden, 

tt 

Gold  street 

8,800 

Daniel  Dunbar, 

If 

Beekman  street 

3,000 

Eben  Haviland, 

tt 

Pearl  street 

2,200 

Benjamin  Ha\ilHnd, 

tt 

It 

2,200 

Samuel  Franklin, 

It 

It 

2,800 

Thomas  Eddy, 

If 

It 

2,200 

Effingham  Embree, 

It 

••       • 

.... 

2,500 

WiUiam  Robinson, 

tt 

tt 

.... 

4.500 

Samuel  Bowne, 

41 

It 

.... 

3,000 

WiUiam  Bowne, 

It 

«i 

2,800 

Widow  Pell, 

II 

It 

2,800 

Edmund  Prior, 

It 

It 

.... 

8.800 

James  Parsons, 

•  t 

It 

.... 

2,000 

Anthony  Franklin 

tt 

It 

2,200 

Caleb  Lawrence, 

tt 

It 

.... 

2,500 

Henry  Haydock,  8r.,  honae 
Widow  Bleeoker, 
WillUun  Laight, 
Widow  Batler, 
Thomas  Pearsall, 
Ttaomaa  Pearsall, 
Thomas  Ash, 
John  Blagge, 
John  Seemon, 
Jndge  Benson, 
Judge  Tenbrook, 
Alexander  Hosack, 
Robert  Benson, 
Doick  Leiterts, 
Thomaa  Skinner, 
WiUiam  Grigg, 
Venline  Elsworth, 
Est.  SMnuel  Beekman, 
WiUiam  RuUedge, 
WUliam  Rutledge, 
Lott  Merkle, 
James  Bradley, 
James  Mallaby, 
James  Bradley, 
Col.  Henry  Rutgers, 
John  F.  Roorback, 
James  Murray, 
John  De  Wint, 
Capt.  James  Nicholson, 
William  TnrnbnU, 
Widow  Roberts, 
Thomas  Brasher, 
Thomas  Gardner, 
John  McLaren, 
Moses  Rogers, 
WiUiam  Delaplaine, 
John  I.  Glover, 
Joseph  Hopkins, 
Lewis  Pintard, 
WUUam  Mintnrn, 
Junes  R.  Smith, 
Thomas  Pearsall, 
John  Thompson, 
Abraham  Duryea, 
Peter  Clopper, 
Nicholas  Carmer, 
James  Walker, 
Thomas  PhilUps^ 
David  Masterson, 
Morgan  Lewis, 
John  A.  Wolfe, 
Rnfus  King, 
Richard  Harrison, 
Abijah  Hammond, 
WUliam  S.  Smith, 
John  FrankUn, 
James  Roosevelt, 
J.  M.  Haydock, 
WiUiam  Rhinelander, 
Samuel  Osgood, 
WUliam  Walton, 
WUUam  Thompson, 

WUUam  Beekman*s  est, 
WUUam  Bedlow, 


•Dd  lot,  Pearl  street  £4,oa 

2.O0I 

4,0» 

2,80 

tt  ..  2^ 

4,00 

"     John  street 2.00 

....  2.00 

'*    William  street.  2,40 

«<  4i  ^  Jfl 

•  •  •  .  ^  W 

....  2.50 

"    Maiden  lane....  2.30 

....  4.O0 

....  2,6fl 

....  2,00 

....  2,00 

....  3,00 

....  2,00 

**    Gold  street 2,50 

2,68 

•*  "  2^ 

"  "  2,00 

'*    Maiden  lane....  8,00 

••  "  ]^ 

...  i;00 

....  8,00 

....  8,00 

....  2^ 

"     WUliam  sOttet.  8^ 

....  2,00 

....  i;io 

....  2.» 

....  2J0 

"    Gold  street 23 

"     Pearl  street....  2,70 

....  8,50 

....  4,00 

....  2,00 

....  2,00 

....  8.00 

....  8,0C 

....  8,50 

•«  «•  j^ 

....  8,00 

....  2,4e 

"    Maiden  lane....  2ju 

....  2^ 

....  2.C 

••  ••  2,( 

It  It  * 

II  tl  O 

•*    Broadway 8 

l<  tt  (T 

«t  <l  • 

......  « 

"    Cortlandt  Street 

"    Pearl  street.... 
tt  It 

It  It 

"    WUliam  street. 

•*    Cherry  street.. 

"    Pearl  street 

"    Chatham    (Tea 

Water  Pnmp) 

"    Cherry  street . . 
It  tt 


SUBURBAN  RESIDENCES. 


Henry  Rutgers £2,500 

John  R.  Livingston 4.500 

WUliam  Lalght 3,000 

Belvidere  House 2.500 

Nicholas  Gon  vemeur 2.000 

WUlism  Bancker 2.500 

Samuel  Jones 2,000 

Peter  Stny  vesant 13.000 

Robert  Randal 3,000 

HoratioGates 4,000 


Francis  B.  Wlntlirop.. 

James  Beekman 

Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman 

James  Depeyster 

Harman  Le  Roy 

Charles  W.  Apthorp. . . 

William  Constable 

Rem  Rapelje 

George  Clinton 

Aaron  Burr 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  OPSmjO  OF  THE  NINETEENTH   CENTUEY 
1801-1807 

Jj|C  S  we  contemplate  the  condition  of  our  city  in  the  opening 
days  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  cannot  fail  to  impress 
us  that  great  and  striking  contrasts  appear  as  we  look 
either  backward  or  forward, —  to  the  not  very  distant  be- 
ginning of  the  city's  history,  or  to  the  still  nearer  period  of  its  present 
grandeur.  Two  hundred  years  before,  in  1601,  Manhattan  Island  was 
still  lying  upon  the  bosom  of 
its  beautiful  bay,  a  pristine 
verdure  adorning  its  fields 
and  forests,  and  its  atten- 
dant islets  dotting  the  sur- 
rounding waters.  The  foot 
of  civilized  man  had  not  yet 
trodden  its  virgin  soil;  and 
if  bis  eye  had  lighted  upon 
its  charms  and  had  admired 
them  for  a  brief  moment,  it 
was  three  quarters  of  a  een- 
turj'  since  even  such  tran- 
sient observation  bad  taken 
place,  and  the  civilized  world 
had  foi^tten  all  about  it. 
Thus  here  lay  in  quiet  re- 
pose, unmolested,  but  also 
unimproved,  possibilities  for 
human  industry,  commerce, 
habitation,  that  only  the  mar- 
velous realization  of  the  present  day  can  adequately  set  forth  as  then 
present.  Only  the  event  has  proved  the  matchless  prophecy  that  lay 
hid  in  contour  of  shores,  in  depth  of  channel,  in  facility  of  access,  in 
safety  of  shelter,  in  beauty  of  situation,  even  then  of  course  apparent, 
and  which  have  since  made  the  city  and  port  of  New- York  the  throne 


^amtyJTU^tmS 


154 


HIBTOBY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


of  American  commerce,  the  metropolis  of  a  hemiBphere.  In  1601 
these  were  still  waiting  to  be  seen  and  appreciated.  And  fortn- 
nately,  eight  years  later,  they  were  thus  seen  by  the  reprMientatives 
of  a  nation  (in  fact,  of  the  two  nations)  that  knew  far  better  than 
all  others  how  to  make  use  of  these  excellent  advantages. 

Taking  our  stand  in  the  New- York  of  1801,  and  casting  onr  0ance 
about  the  world  for  its  great  cities,  we  shall  probably  find  as  vast  a 
population  in  Peldn  then  as  now; 
certainly  it  had  its  millions,  if 
not  so  many  as  to-day,  and  its 
origin  is  lost  in  the  dim  past  of 
Chinese  history.  Then  London 
was  already  great,  covering  forty 
square  miles  of  habitation,  and 
counting  a  population  of  nearly 
nine  hundred  thousand,  with  a 
history  dating  anterior  to  the 
birth  of  Christ.  Paris,  the  Em- 
peror Julian's  favorite  residence 
when  he  was  governor  of  Gaul 
from  A.  D.  355  to  361,  was  a  large 
city  in  1801 ;  Berlin,  now  with 
over  a  million  inhabitants,  was 
then  an  important  place,  and  had 
been  a  capital  since  1163.  Am- 
sterdam in  1801  far  outnumbered 
its  former  namesake  in  popula- 
tion, but  it  had  grown  to  its 
greatness  since  the  year  1203. 
Here  then  was  a  city  whose  very 
site  was  unknown  two  hundred  years  before  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  but  destined  ere  its  close  to  distance  beyond 
all  comparison  the  greater  part  of  the  cities  then  most  important, 
to  surpass  Berlin  and  Paris,  and  to  become  a  rival  to  London  itself 
for  supremacy  among  the  cities  of  the  world. 

At  the  very  opening  of  the  century  which  has  witnessed  such  won- 
drous advances  in  every  direction  as  well  as  in  the  condition  of  our 
city,  the  country  was  at  the  height  of  a  most  intense  political  excite- 
ment. The  fourth  presidential  election  had  just  taken  place  in  the 
regular  way  then  provided  by  the  constitution.  The  persons  receiv- 
ing the  highest  number  of  votes,  without  reference  to  the  intentions 
of  the  voters  as  to  who  should  be  president  and  who  vicerpresident, 
were  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Virginia,  and  Aaron  Burr,  of  New- York. 
This  method  at  the  preceding  election  had  resulted  in  giving  the 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTUBY  155 

nation  a  president  of  one  party  and  a  vice-president  of  another. 
Now  it  had  led  to  a  tie  between  two  men  of  one  party,  and  no  elec- 
tion of  a  vice-president  at  all,  as  that  office  would  fall  to  the  man 
who  should  be  second  in  the  constitutional  expedient  to  relieve  the 
tie  vote.  This  would  seem  a  very  simple  matter,  since  both  the  men 
having  the  highest  number  of  votes  were  Republicans,  or  Anti-Fed- 
eralists. But  complication  arose  and  excitement  ran  high,  because 
throughout  the  whole  nation  those  of  that  party  had  a  most  decided 
preference  for  one  as  president,  and  would  not  tolerate  the  other 
except  as  vice-president.  And  yet,  by  the  provisions  of  the  con- 
stitution, that  judgment  or  preference  might  easily  be  reversed. 
Again,  the  person  who  was  relegated  to  the  secondaiy  position  in 
the  wishes  of  his  fellow  Republicans  had  quite  as  strong  a  deter- 
mination to  obtain  the  chief  place ;  he  was  not  esteemed  to  be  proof 
against  sacrificing  his  party  for  the  sake  of  the  place,  and  in  this  cir- 
cumstance lay  the  opportunity  for  the  Federalists  to  defeat  the  desires 
of  their  opponents  and  deprive  Jefferson  of  the  presidency. 

This  was  the  situation  of  affairs^  on  January  1, 1801,  the  first  day 
of  the  portentous  nineteenth  century.  On  December  4  the  electoral 
colleges  had  met  in  their  several  States,  and  on  or  before  Christmas 
the  returns  of  their  votes  were  known  throughout  the  country.  Jef- 
ferson and  Burr  each  had  seventy-three ;  Adams  had  received  sixty- 
five,  and  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  sixty-four;  John  Jay,  one.  It 
now  remained  for  the  House  of  Representatives  to  decide  whether 
Jefferson  or  Burr  should  be  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  republic,  and 
the  decision  was  to  be  had  on  February  11,  or  the  second  Wednesday 
of  that  month.  This  interval  of  six  or  seven  weeks  was  a  period  of 
great  anxiety  to  the  serious,  and  one  of  great  clamor  and  agitation 
on  the  part  of  partizans  and  demagogues.  It  was  the  first  severe 
strain  upon  the  constitution  of  the  republic.  Threats  were  heard  of 
armed  resistance  in  case  of  disappointed  hopes,  even  when  the 
disappointment  should  be  effected  along  the  regular  legal  lines  pre- 
scribed by  the  fundamental  law  of  the  United  States.  "Federal- 
ists were  plainly  told,"  observes  Professor  MacMaster,-^  and  he  bases 
his  statement  upon  a  thorough  search  of  contemporary  newspapers, — 
"that  if  Aaron  Burr  were  made  President,  the  Republicans  would 
arm,  march  to  Washington,  depose  the  usurper,  and  put  Jefferson 
in  his  place.**  ^  It  was  deliberately  calculated  what  would  be  the 
chances  in  such  a  confiict — how  far  the  rather  ridiculously  insuffi- 
cient equipment  of  the  Virginia  militia^  would  go  toward  enabling 
them  to  cope  with  the  trained  State  troops  of  Massachusetts.    There 

i<<  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,''     the  VirginiA  militiameii*  for  lack  of  muflkets, 
2 :  517.  went  through  the  exercises  of  the  manual  with 

2  It  was  stated  In  the  Northern  newspapers  that     corn-stalks. 


156  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-IOEK 

was  some  cause  for  alarm  when  such  discussions  were  put  into  print. 
But  not  only  hot-headed  men  in  the  ranks  were  aflEected  with  wild 
schemes ;  the  great  leaders  of  the  Republican  party,  such  as  Madi- 
son, who  had  done  noble  work  in  constructing  the  constitution, 
broached  devices  for  gaining  the  mastery  of  the  present  situation 
which  would  have  been  subversive  of  all  that  this  glorious  document 
had  secured. 

In  this  frame  of  mind  were  the  people  of  these  United  States 
during  the  first  six  weeks  of  the  century.  Then  another  week  or  so 
of  culminating  intensity  of  anxiety  followed.  On  February  11  the 
electoral  votes  were  counted  in  the  Senate,  and  Jefferson  formally 

announced  the  distress- 
ing tie  vote,  of  which  the 
whole  country  had  long 
been  aware.  Then  came 
the  pai-t  for  the  House 
of  Representatives  to 
play.  Sixteen  States 
were  at  that  period  rep- 
resented there.  Each 
State  had  one  ballot  in 
the  general  vote,  and 
that  ballot  was  deter- 
mined by  the  majority 
in  each  delegation  for 
one  or  the  other  candi- 
date. Nine  States — a 
majority — were  neces- 
sary to  constitute  a  decision.  "The  political  composition  of  the 
house  was  such  that  the  Republicans  could  not  control  the  choice; 
and  the  Federalists,  though  of  course  still  more  unable  to  do  so,  yet 
had  the  power,  by  holding  steadily  together,  to  prevent  any  election 
whatever.  Momentous  as  such  a  political  crime  would  be,  neverthe- 
less many  influential  Federalists  soon  showed  themselves  sufficiently 
embittered  and  vindictive  to  contemplate  it."^ 

The  unusual  excitement  brought  a  vast  concourse  of  people  to  the 
capital,  which  was  HI  prepared  to  accommodate  such  a  sudden  access 
of  population.  But  since  the  difficulties  of  travel  were  bravely  under- 
taken, these  interested  travelers  were  not  to  be  frightened  by  the  in- 

'  Id  1B01  OoTernor  Jay's  Becood  term  ended,  yraa  a  part  of  the  original  Van  Corllandt  maoor. 

He  declined  a  renomlnatlon,  and  carried  ont  reso-  Although  Mrs.  Jay  wan  permitted  the  eDJoyment 

lutelythe  purpose  he  hadlouKformeiJ.to  spend  the  of  this  rural  retreat  for  but  one  year  (dting  in 

remainder  of  hia  lite  in  retirement    Aatictpaling  1802),  the  governor  apeot  a  happy  aud  rcKtful  old 

this,  be  had  built  a  comfortable  country-seat  at  age  here,  until  1829,  when  hia  death  occurred,  at 


THE    OPENINQ    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 


157 


conTeniences  of  hotel  or  tavern  life.  Floors  were  good  enough  for 
beds,  and  one's  own  greatcoat  was  the  only  bedding  to  be  enjoyed; 
hut  happy  he  who  could  find  even  a  floor  to  lie  upon,  wrapped  in  his 
overcoat,  traveling-blanket,  or  shawL 

The  eventful  day  having  arrived,  and  the  Senate  having  done  its 
work,  the  voting  by  States  began  in  due  form  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. On  the  first  ballot,  eight 
States  gave  their  voice  to  Jefferson, 
six  to  Burr,  while  Vermont  and  Mary- 
land reported  themselves  "divided"; 
that  is,  there  was  a  tie  vote  in  their 
delegations.  There  was,  therefore,  no 
election.  Six  more  ballots  within  a 
brief  space  brought  the  house  no 
nearer  to  a  result.  After  a  respite 
of  scarcely  an  hour,  eight  more  bal- 
lots were  taken^  but  without  an  elec- 
tion. Thus  the  suspense  lasted  until 
Monday,  February  16,  and  after  the 
thirty-sixth  ballot  the  announcement 
could  at  last  be  made  that  constitu- 
tional methods  had  been  sustained, 
and  had  sufficed  to  give  the  country 
a  president  who  was  the  choice  of  the 
majority  of  the  people.  In  the  Mary- 
land and  Vermont  delegations  those 
who  had  hitherto  voted  for  Burr  so  as  to  make  a  tie  and  thus  to 
divide  and  lose  their  vote  in  the  roll  of  States,  now  had  cast  blank 
ballots,  leaving  a  majority  in  each  case  for  Jefferson,  and  the  count 
of  two  more  States  for  him.  The  one  delegate  from  Delaware,  James 
Ashton  Bayard,  a  Federalist,  but  above  partizanship,  thereupon  gave 
his  vote  for  Jefferson,  adding  one  more  State  for  him,  and  the  eleven 
States  together  constituted  a  sufficient  vote  to  give  him  the  presi- 
dency. Burr,  the  New- York  politician,  whose  skill  in  manipulating 
political  forces  in  his  own  city  had  brought  him  so  dangerously  near 
thwarting  the  wishes  of  his  party,  became  vice-president.  But  his 
doom  was  forecast  in  the  moment  that  this  exalted  place  reached 
him.  Distrust  was  now  no  longer  based  on  the  suspicion,  but  on  the 
certainty,  of  his  untmstworthiness.  From  the  presidential  possibil- 
ity he  rapidly  descended  to  political  nonentity,  and  to  a  worse  fame 
than  even  this  reverse  would  have  fastened  upon  him. 

The  account  of  the  presidential  election  of  1800  and  1801  might 
with  some  reason  be  suppressed  from  these  pages,  although  the 
connection  of  New-York  with  the  occurrences  at  Washington  was 


158 


mSTOBI    OF    NEW-YORK 


too  intimate  to  make  the  omission  altogether  permissible.  But  the 
events  and  the  act  growing  oat  of  these  occurrences,  directly  and 
logically,  which  caused  the  final  political  extinction  of  Aaron  Bnrr, 
confront  us  whenever  we  turn  the  pages  of  the  records  of  this  period, 
and  we  cannot  avoid  them.  It  began  to  appear  how  little  credit  Burr 
had  left  in  his  own  party  when,  at  the  end  of  four  years,  it  became 
time  to  nominate  candidates  for  the  ofQces  of  president  and  vice- 
president.  Jefferson  was  renominated  for  the  former,  but  Burr  was 
not  even  mentioned  for  vice-presi- 
dent, Governor  George  Clinton's 
name  being  substituted.  At  the 
same  time,  in  the  spring  of  1804, 
a  contest  for  the  governorship  of 
New- York  was  at  hand,  and  in  this 
Burr  saw  an  opportunity  to  redeem 
his  political  standing,  or  to  test  his 
power.  There  being  nothing  left 
for  bim  in  national  politics,  he  set 
about  to  secure  a  nomination  for 
governor  of  New- York.  His  own 
party,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Clinton  and  Livingston  families, 
failed  to  give  him  this,  but  nomi- 
nated Chief  Justice  Morgan  Lewis, 
a  brother-in-law  of  the  former  chan- 
cellor, Bobert  R.  Livingston.  He  then  hoped  to  obtain  the  Federalist 
nomination,  but  was  again  disappointed,  Chancellor  Lansing  being 
named  by  this  party.  Burr  then'posed  as  an  independent,  or  self- 
nominated  candidate,  and  when  Chancellor  Lansing  declined  to  run, 
felt  certain  of  having  a  part  of  the  Republican  or  Democratic  vote, 
and  the  bulk  of  the  Federalist,  diverted  to  himself.  The  result  of  the 
election  showed  that  he  had  miscalculated.  A  colossus  had  risen  in 
the  way  of  the  governorship :  the  same  who  had  blocked  his  dubious 
progress  toward  the  presidency.  James  Ashton  Bayard,  of  Delaware, 
acting  on  Hamilton's  advice,  had  ceased  to  vote  for  Burr  (his  one  vote 
standing  for  his  State)  in  the  House  of  Representatives ;  and,  giving 
it  to  Jefferson,  had  turned  the  tide  and  made  bis  elevation  to  the 
presidency  possible.  Hamilton  now  again  raised  his  warning  voice 
against  Burr  amid  the  ranks  of  the  Federalists,  and  their  votes  fell  off 
to  Lewis,  in  whose  personal  integrity  they  trusted,  however  bitterly 
opposed  on  party  lines. 

Burr  was  thus  left  without  any  ground  to  stand  on,  either  in  the 
nation  or  in  his  own  State.  He  was  desperate,  and  his  unscrupulous, 
unbridled  temperament   easily  turned  to  thoughts   of  vengeance. 


C-^''^l^-rffct>9t.i^<4rtd. 


THE    OPEHINO    OP    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTTJEY 


159 


Hamilton  must  be  taken  out  of  his  way;  if  he  were  not,  his  own 
career  was  a  wreck.  The  dael  was  his  only  resort.  Should  Hamilton 
fall.  Burr  might  hope  to  rise  again  in  the  political  world.  His  own 
case  could  scarce  be  worse  than  it  was  now  if  Hamilton's  bullet 
should  destroy  him.  Occasion  for  a  quarrel  was  readily  found  after  a 
heated  election  contest.  Words  unworthOy  overheard  by  two  eaves- 
dropping adherents  of  Burr;  an  account  in  the  newspapers  of  a  re- 
ported conversation  at  a  private  table  among  trusted  aesociatee :  such 
were  the  materials  for  a  charge  by  Burr  against  Hamilton  of  im- 
proper language,  requiring  explanation  or  denial.  The  groundlessneBS 
or  irrelevance  of  such  a  charge,  and  such  a  demand  based  upon  it,  was 
indicated  by  Hamilton ;  but  Burr  wished  to  quarrel,  not  to  argue, 
and  bis  peremptory  demands  left  no 
opening  to  avoid  the  quarrel.  The 
point  of  a  challenge,  aimed  at  by 
Burr,  was  therefore  reached.  It  was 
sent,  and  could  not  but  be  accepted, 
as  men  then  thought  and  felt.  As 
a  recent  authority  remarks,  speak- 
ing of  Burr's  pai-t  in  this  unhappy 
transaction:  "With  cool  delibera- 
tion he  set  about  forcing  a  quarrel. 
He  showed  his  purpose  plainly 
enough  by  selecting  a  remark  at- 
tributed to  Hamilton  at  the  time  of 
the  caucuses  [in  a  sense,  confidential  ' 
gatherings,  not  to  be  compared  with 
the  public  hustings]  held  to  nomi- 
nate candidates  for  the  governor- 
ship, which  was  really  applicable  to 
his  general  public  character,  was  not 
peculiarly  severe,  and  was  perfectly 
inoffensive  compared  with  many  of 
the  denunciations  launched  at  him  by  Hamilton  only  a  few  years  be- 
fore. Hamilton  had  no  desire  to  fight,  but  it  was  impossible  to  avoid 
it,  if  he  admitted  the  force  of  the  code  of  honor,  when  Burr  was  deter- 
mined to  fix  a  quarrel  upon  him."'  Upon  Hamilton  we  can  fasten  no 
such  stigma  of  a  desire  to  do  harm.  He  towered  too  far  above  Burr 
in  professional  ability  and  success  to  entertain  any  jealousy  of  him 
on  that  score.  He  did  not  oppose  Burr's  endeavors  to  secure  office 
because  he  himself  wished  to  attain  one ;  for,  with  everything  within 
his  reach,  Hamilton  had  deliberately  turned  aside  from  public  life  in 
order  to  improve  his  fortune,  too  long  neglected  while  he  was  serving 

t  "AlexudcrHuiillton,"  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  p.  247. 


..y^^^Mn^. 


160 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-yoBK 


bis  country.  He  antagonized  Burr,  both  in  1801  and  in  1804,  in  the 
arena  of  national  politics,  as  in  those  of  the  State,  purely  on  grounds 
of  a  public  nature.  Secession  was  in  the  air  then,  as  it  was  nearly 
sixty  yeara  later,  only  its  latitude  was  then  further  north.  It  was  in 
the  thoughts  of  the  men  of  New  England,  and  hence  we  do  not  find 
the  matter  emphasized  much  in  the  history  of  that  time.  Hunilton 
foresaw  or  suspected  that  Burr  was  entirely  capable  of  disrupting  the 
Union  for  the  sake  of  personal  ambition ;  that  he  would  lead  a  seces- 
sion much  rather  than  shed  his  last  drop  of  life-blood  (as  Hamilton 
would  have  done)  to  prevent  it. 
The  sequel  of  events  has  justified 
that  suspicion.  Hence  Hamilton, 
in  1801,  preferred  to  see  Jeffer- 
son, the  demigod  of  the  Demo- 
crats, in  the  presidential  chair, 
rather  than  Burr,  pledged  to  the 
Federalists.  In  1804  he  preferred 
Lewis  as  governor  to  Burr,  even 
as  a  nominee  of  his  (Hamilton's) 
own  party.  In  social  life  he  was 
Burr's  friend.  In  a  moment  of 
distress  he  came  to  his  aid  with 
a  loan  of  ten  thousand  dollars, 
raised  with  his  characteristic  en- 
ergy among  bis  own  friends  and 
relatives.  It  is  not  clear  that  this 
indebtedness  of  Burr's  was  liqui- 
dated at  the  time  of  the  duel,  and 
it  casts  a  darker  shadow  upon  the 
latter's  vindictive  course.  It  was  on  political  grounds  solely  that 
the  two  men  were  ever  opposed ;  but  Burr  allowed  this  opposition  to 
awaken  within  him  a  personal  resentment.  "  If  he  could  have  stifled 
his  political  aspirations,"  says  one  who  writes  of  Burr  in  a  friendly 
spirit,  "  and  returned  to  the  bar,  as  Hamilton  had  done,  a  brilliant 
and  honorable  career  might  still  have  been  his;  but  unfortunately 
he  could  not  endure  defeat  with  patience."" 
The  day  set  for  the  duel  was  July  11, 1804,  over  a  fortnight  after 


1  Tbeododa  Burr  vaa  the  Tice-preBident'H  only 
child.  She  wu  bom  In  1TS3,  and  wu  carefully 
eduoted  under  her  father's  superrliion,  her  ac- 
qniremeuts  even  embracing  a  knowledge  of  the 
claiNilcs.  Her  native  wit  and  eminent  social  a(- 
t^nments  nude  her  a  remarkable  figure  in  the 
society  of  that  day.  In  all  of  Bdit'h  unhappy 
rareer,  the  matnal  devotion  and  sincere  admira- 
tion of  father  and  daughter  the  one  for  the  other 
afford  a  pleasant  and  pathetic  relief  t«  so  much 


HaA  Is  disagreeable.  On  Burr's  return  fmm  his 
long-ontinued  wanderings  in  Europe  In  1SI3,  his 
daughter  left  Charleston  in  a  small  sailing-vessel 
to  meet  him  In  New-York.  The  ship  was  never 
beard  of  afterward,  and  either  foundered  or  fell 
into  the  bands  of  pirates.  Theodoaia  bad  married 
Joseph  Alston,  wbo  became  governor  of  Sontb 
Carolina. 
'  "The  Story  of  New-Tork,"  by  Charles  Burr 

Todd,  p.  am. 


THE    OPENINa    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTDEY 


161 


HAIULTON'S    RESIDEKCE,  "  THE    OBAHOE."  1 


the  challeoge  had  been  accepted.  Attentiou  is  directed  by  some 
writers  to  the  contrast  between  the  respective  actions  of  the  antag- 
onists during  the  interval.  Barr  busied  himself  in  destroying  evi- 
dences of  several  amours ;  Hamilton  in  setting  in  order  his  affairs,  so 
that  his  wife  and  children  and  his  creditors  might  suffer  as  little  as 
possible  from  his  de- 
mise. Burr  diligent>- 
ly  spent  hours  each 
day  practising  with 
a  pistol  in  shooting 
at  a  target.  Hamil- 
ton was  at  his  of- 
fice, attending  to  the 
business  of  his  cli- 
ents. The  time  of 
waiting  was  an  anx- 
ious one  for  Hamil- 
ton, not  because  he 
was  a  coward  —  un- 
less, indeed,  in  so  far  as  he  was  properly  made  so  by  those  con- 
siderations of  home  and  loved  ones  which  do  "  make  cowards  of  us 
all."  The  prolongeld  interval  had  no  effect  upon  Burr's  cool  delibera- 
tion to  put  his  antagonist  out  of  the  way,  or  perish  in  the  attempt 
Hamilton,  in  his  dying  moments,  solemnly  protested  that  he  bad  no 
intention  of  even  shooting  at  all  at  the  first  fire,  and  that  he  was  in 
doubt  about  the  second  fire,  should  Burr's  murderous  intent  call  for 
that.  For  mere  self-defense  in  that  case  would  have  demanded  of 
Hamilton  to  protect  himself  against  what  would  then  have  too  plainly 
showed  itself  to  be  assassination.  With  our  best  endeavors  and 
strongest  desire  to  remain  impartial,  it  is  impossible  that  these  sig- 
nificant contrasts  before  the  fatal  event  should  not  prejudice  us  in 
favor  of  Hamilton,  and  make  us  feel  that  the  imputations  of  sinister 
motives,  whether  just  to  Burr  or  not,  would  entirely  comport  with 
these  exhibitions  of  character  on  his  side. 

On  the  morning  of  July  11,  shortly  after  dawn,  two  boats  might 
have  been  seen  crossing  the  Hudson.  For  either,  the  angle  of  cross- 
ing had  need  to  be  very  oblique.  Weehawken,  about  opposite  Forty- 
second  street,  was  the  objective  point  of  both  of  them.    Burr's  party, 


1  The  cliuteT  of  trees  in  tlio  ligbt-huid  comer 
of  the  illastratlDD  repreaeiits  the  tbirteeD  ^oin- 
trees  (Duned  after  the  thlrMeu  ori^tiul  States) 
plknted  by  Hunlltou's  tnrii  huids  on  the  Uwn  a 
few  rods  from  the  honse.  about  *  jetr  before  his 
death.  TheaetreoB  areBtUlrtandlng.andbftvere- 
eentlj  been  purehaaed  with  a  small  plot  of  ground 
by  the  Hon.  Orluido  B.  Potter,  of  New- York,  with 
a  rlew  to  their  preset  t  atlon.  In  a  note  to  the 
Vol.  m.— 11. 


Editor,  he  sa^B :  "  I  am  hopeful  that  the  elt;  will 
set  apart  the  whole  square,  of  which  my  purchase 
Is  bat  part,  as  Hamilton  Park,  as  a  Just  memorial 
of  the  greateat  dttien  whom  New-Tork  has  yet 

jriren  to  the  oonntry.  1  am  also  hopeful  that 
Hamilton's  dwelling,  which  Is  at  present  removed 
and  connected  with  St.  Luke's  Church  near  by  as 
its  rector;,  may  be  returned  to  the  place  where 
Hamilton  built  and  occupied  It." 


162  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  first  to  take  the  journey,  left  the  east  shore  of  the  river  near  the 
foot  of  Charlton  street.  Hamilton  came  down  from  about  One  Hun- 
dred and  Forty-first  street,  where  stood  his  country  house  of  "  The 
Grange,"  still  to  be  seen  at  the  corner  of  One  Hundred  and  Fortj^- 
first  street  and  Convent  avenue,  and  now  temporarily  occupied  by 
St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church.  The  details  of  the  meeting  are  too  well 
known  to  be  dwelt  on  here.  It  need  only  be  mentioned  that  the 
statement  has  recently  been  made,  in  refutation  of  the  claim  that 
Hamilton  had  no  intention  of  shooting  Burr,  that,  just  before  firing, 
Hamilton  complained  of  the  light,  and  took  time  to  adjust  his  glasses 
or  spectacles,  in  order  to  see  better.  But  there  has  come  to  notice 
no  documentary  or  printed  evidence  to  corroborate  this  rather  new 
version  of  a  familiar  story.  Be  this  as  it  may,  at  the  first  fire  Hamil- 
ton fell,  mortally  wounded,  and  Burr  stood  over  the  prostrate  form 
of  his  victim,  unhurt. 

A  hurried  departure  from  the  fatal  spot  followed.  Burr's  party 
went  first.  Arrived  at  Richmond  Hill,  near  the  comer  of  the  present 
Charlton  and  Varick  streets,  he  quietly  settled  himself  to  reading  in 
his  library.  A  relative  arrived  from  Connecticut,  after  an  all-night 
journey,  about  seven  o'clock.  At  eight  breakfast  was  served,  and 
later  the  guest  left  to  saunter  into  the  city.  Until  he  saw  the  com- 
motion in  the  streets,  and  was  aecosted  by  an  acquaintance  and  told 
of  the  tragedy,  which  has  made  it  a  never-to-be-forgotten  day  in 
New-York  history.  Burr's  companion,  at  his  own  breakfast-table, 
knew  nothing  of  the  dark  deed  whose  shadow  never  left  this  man's 
long  subsequent  career.^  A  few  words  will  suffice  to  dismiss  that 
career  from  these  pages;  for  its  incidents — thrilling  and  sad  some; 
evil,  or  suspicious  of  evil,  others — took  place  at  too  remote  a  distance 
from  this  city  to  warrant  minute  mention.  When  an  indignant  pub- 
lic sentiment  took  shape  in  an  indictment  for  murder.  Burr  escaped 
from  the  city.  When  his  term  as  vice-president  was  at  an  end,  he 
entered  upon  those  mysterious  but  not  clearly  traitorous  schemes, 
involving  the  suggestion  of  a  Mexican  or  Central  American  empire, 
which  finally  brought  on  the  trial  at  Richmond  in  1807.  A  verdict 
of  "not  proven"  left  Burr  his  liberty,  but  little  else.  Then  came 
years  of  wandering  and  penury  in  Europe.  On  his  return  the  blow 
struck  him  of  the  loss  of  Theodosia,  shipwrecked  or  slain  by  pirates 
on  her  way  from  Charleston  to  New-York  to  join  him.  Many  years 
of  life,  "unknown,  unhonored,  and  unloved,"  were  yet  reserved  for 
him  ;  near  the  close,  a  little  more  unpleasant  notoriety  connected  with 
his  marriage  of  a  few  months  (followed  by  separation  or  divorce)  with 
Madame  Jumel ;  and  then  finally,  in  1836,  came  "  the  last  scene  of 
aU,"  ending  this  eminently  "  strange,  eventful  history." 

1  "Life  of  Avron  Burr.'*  by  Jamee  Parton  (New-York,  1864),  2:  13, 14. 


THE    OPENDia    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTUKY 


163 


But  it  is  time  to  follow  also  the  other  boat  leaving  Weehawken. 
It  did  not  return  up  the  river,  but  crossed  obliquely  downward.  It 
landed  at  the  foot  of  the  present  Horatio  street,  then  a  part  of  the 
village  of  Greenwich.  William  Bayard,  a  friend  of  Hamilton,  stood 
awaiting  its  arrival.  Tlie  wounded  man,  who  had  recovered  con- 
sciousness on  the  way  over,  was  tenderly  carried  to  Bayard's  house. 
Hither  were  hastily  summoned  the  devoted  wife  and  the  seven  yonng 
chUdren.'  All  that  loving  care,  all  that  the  best  medical  science  of 
that  day,  could  do,  was  done  to  save  his  life.  But  it  was  all  in  vain : 
the  tai^t  practice  in  the  Richmond  Hill  garden  had  been  but  too 


HAUIL-TON-BURB 


successful.  The  adversary's  aim  had  been  at  the  seat  of  life,  and  the 
bullet  had  struck  fatally  near  it.  All  the  remainder  of  that  day  and 
through  the  night  Hamilton  suffered  greatly ;  but  on  the  next  morn- 
ing the  pain  abated,  while  the  exhaustion  premonitory  of  death  set  in. 
At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  July  12,  Hamilton  died. 

And  then  there  was  a  burst  of  spontaneous  grief  from  every  part 
of  the  young  republic,  whose  strength,  and  credit,  and  incipient  glory 
were  largely  due  to  him  whose  head  was  now  laid  low.  Federalist 
and  Republican  forgot  their  political  antagonism  in  the  patriotic 
sentiment  of  regret  and  sorrow  at  the  country's  loss.  Not  only  the 
Cincinnati,  his  former  companions  in  arms,  and  generally  of  the  Fed- 
eralist faith,  but  even  the  members  of  the  bar,  of  various  political 
opinions,  took  special  measures  to  indicate  their  feelings.    The  latter 


164 


HISTOEX    OF    NEW-YOBK 


resolved  to  wear  mourning  badges  for  several  weeks.'  On  Saturday, 
July  14,  the  funeral  took  place  in  Trinity  Church.  Gouvemeur  Mor- 
rifi,  always  Hamilton's  friend  and  admirer,  pronounced  a  funeral  ora- 
tion worthy  of  the  occasion,  simple,  eloquent,  just.  Indeed,  a  mere 
recital  of  the  acts  of  the  man's  brief  life  was  the  grandest  enlogium 
that  friendship  or  admiration  could  possibly  have  conceived.  "Thus 
tragically  passed  from  the  scene  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  great  men 
of  the  Revolutionary  era.  '  The  Patriot  of  Incorruptible  Integrity, 
the  Soldier  of  Approved  Valor,  the  Statesman  of  Consummate  "Wis- 
..  .--.■—_^-      -,-.--  --—  .  dom.'    One  reads  it  on 

his  modest  tombstone 
in  Trinity  church- 
yard —  a  truer  pane- 
gyric than  most."* 

Yet,  even  in  the  fla- 
grant "manner  of  his 
taking  off,"  Hamilton 
did  his  country  a  ser- 
vice. In  those  anxious 
days  when  a  presenti- 
ment of  disaster  made 
him  fear  that  he  would 
be  torn  from  his  fam- 
ily, Hamilton  put  in 
writing  his  opinion 
of  dueling:  "My  reli- 
gious and  moral  princi- 
ples are  strongly  opposed  to  the  practice  of  duelling,  and  it  would 
ever  give  me  pain  ^  to  be  obliged  to  shed  the  blood  of  a  fellow- 
creature  in  a  private  combat  forbidden  by  the  laws."*  When  men 
read  the  record  of  this  sentiment  against  a  practice  which  yet  the 
writer  of  it  felt  bound  by  public  opinion  to  engage  in,  that  public 
opinion  received  a  shock  which  awakened  it  to  a  due  sense  of  its 
enormity,  and  the  code  of  honor  henceforth  became  one  of  dishonor. 
Dueling  was  doomed  in  New-Tork  and  in  Northern  society. 
The  glory  of  New- York  city  is  her  public-school  system,  unrivaled 


•odetj')  uid  Burr  wvre  both  picaeDt  Hamilton 
mi  ukpd  to  ling  hli  favorite  ballad  of  "The 
Dmm  ~  1  he  hesitated,  but.  In  order  to  create  no 
■nsplcionaa  to  the  coming  event,  oonsented.  Burr 
looked  him  intentiv  In  the  face  irhile  he  n>ng;  it 
la  hard  to  tell  with  what  reelings. 

;  Charief  Burr  Todd.  ■■  Story  of  Kew-ToA." 
p.  390.  The  pall  bearer*  were  General  Matthew 
Oarkson,  OliTet  Wolcoll.  Rjehard  Harrtion.  Abl- 


On  the  coffin  were  placed  Hamilton's 
and  Bword:  his  boots  and  iipurs  hung  rerereed 
acrom  the  general's  gray  horse,  which  was  led  di- 
rectly In  front  of  the  coffin  by  two  black  servants 
dressed  in  while,  with  while  turbana  trimmed 
with  hiack  crape. 
>  -'LifeofAleiander  Hamilton."  John  T.Morse, 


THE    OPENIMO    OF    THE    NINETEEMTH    CENTUEY 


165 


for  the  excellence  and  the  extent  of  education  placed  witliin  the 
reach  of  the  poorest  of  her  citizens.  The  opening  of  the  nineteenth 
century  saw  the  beginning  of  this  good  work,  the  fouudatiou  of  that 
organized,  systematic  enterprise  in  this  direction,  which  has  ever 
since  characterized  it.  The  history  of  the  school  in  New-York  dates 
l>ack,  as  has  been  shown  in  a 
previous  volume,  to  the  year 
1633 ;  and  the  school  then 
founded,  that  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  was  in  a 
flourishing  condition  at  the 
period  now  under  discussion, 
and  is  in  existence  to-day. 
Under  Lord  Combury,  much 
against  that  nobleman's  wishes, 
the  assembly  legislated  on  the 
subject  of  schools,  and  the 
matter  necessarily  attracted 
the  attention  of  men  awake 
to  the  real  interests  of  city  or 
province.  But  the  development  of  this  institution  was  always  on  a 
narrow  line.  Instruction  in  secular  knowledge  must  go  hand  in  hand 
with  that  in  religious  things;  and  in  consequence  of  this,  while  the 
schools  were  so  largely  an  appendix  of  the  churches,  only  the  chil- 
dren of  the  churehly  families  received  the  benefit  of  them.  There 
were  many  of  the  "  outlying  "  masses — ehurchless  even  then,  as  they 
are  now — whose  children  grew  up  debarred  from  the  advantages  of 
education.  "  By  that  social  gravitation  which  seems  to  have  always 
been  inseparable  from  compacted  communities,"  says  the  historian 
of  the  Public  School  Society,  "  the  metroiwlis  was  not  exempt  from 
the  characteristic  feature  of  a  substratum  of  wretched,  ignorant,  and 
friendless  children,  who,  even  though  they  had  parents,  grew  up  in  a 
condition  of  moral  and  religious  orphanage,  alike  fatal  to  their  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  advancement  and  elevation."-  This  sad  picture  is 
drawn  of  the  city  when  it  numbered  but  little  over  sixty  thousand  souls. 
Benevolent  and  far-seeing  persons  of  both  sexes  perceived  the 
wrong  and  the  peril  of  this  condition  of  things,  and  set  about  the 
methods  of  remedying  it.     In  the  second  year  of  the  century  an 


IN    TBIMTT    ( 


1  iDHsription  on  Hamilton's  tomb : 

On  the  Mmth  fBC« :  To  the  Hemorj  of  |  Alei- 
■nd«  Hamilton,  |  who  died  Jnly  12th,  1S04,  | 
AKed*7. 

On  the  north  side :  To  the  Memory  of  |  Aleisn- 
der  Hamilton  |  The  Corporattoii  of  Trinity  Church 


StAMsman  of  Consummate  Wisdom  |  Whote  Tal- 
ents and  Virtues  will  be  Admired  |  By  Grateful 
Posterity  |  Long  after  thin  Harlde  shall  have 
Mouldered  Into  |  Dust  |  He  died  July  12, 1S04, 
Atted  *7. 

"     HUtory  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  the 


has  erected  this  |  Honument  |  In  Testimony  of     City  of  New- York,"  Williun  Oland  Bourne,  p.  1 
their  reapect  |  for  1  The  Patriot  of  Intormpttble      (New-York,  1870). 
Intefrity  |  The  Soldier  of  Approved  Valour  |  The 


166  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

association  of  ladies  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  Quakers, 
had  contributed  of  their  private  means,  and  established  a  free  school 
for  the  education  of  gu*ls.  This  humble  but  noble  endeavor  was  the 
genu  of  the  great  metropolitan  system  of  public  schools  to-day.  Con- 
fined to  one  sex  only,  yet  its  beneficent  effects  were  clearly  apparent, 
and  the  success  within  its  one-sided  and  necessarily  limited  sphere 
so  pronounced  that  it  led  naturally  to  undertakings  on  a  larger  and 
wider  scale.  The  free  school  for  girls  had  been  three  years  in  opera- 
tion when  the  idea  of  extending  the  principle  at  its  foundation  took 
practical  shape.  No  doubt,  as  in  all  such  cases,  men  had  talked  and 
deliberated.  The  necessity  was  so  pressing,  the  calamity  of  ignorance 
so  appalling,  that  the  problem  of  removing  the  crying  shame  could 
not  be  set  aside  or  postponed.  Yet  all  honor  to  those  who  began  the 
movement.  Two  gentlemen — let  their  names  be  held  in  bright 
remembrance — Thomas  Eddy  and  John  Murray,  early  in  the  year 
1805,  issued  a  call  for  a  meeting  of  all  such  as  would  unite  in  an 
undertaking  to  provide  the  means  of  education  for  the  youth  hitherto 
neglected.  On  the  day  appointed,  February  19, 1805,  twelve  gentle- 
men met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Murray,  situated  in  Pearl  street. 
It  will  need  no  apology  to  mention  their  names,  and  among  them  will 
be  noticed  some  already  familiar  in  local  history.  They  were,  besides 
Messrs.  Eddy  and  Murray,  who  called  them  together,  Samuel  Osgood, 
Brockholst  LiWngston,  Samuel  Miller,  Joseph  Constant,  Thomas 
Pearsall,  Thomas  Franklin,  Matthew  Clarkson,  Leonard  Bleecker, 
Samuel  Russell,  and  William  Edgar.  Besides  the  passing  of  a  reso- 
lution expressive  of  their  conviction  of  the  need  and  importance  of 
the  work  they  had  at  heart,  nothing  of  a  practical  nature  was  done, 
except  to  appoint  a  committ<?e  to  devise  plans  for  the  execution  of 
their  noble  design.  Less  than  a  week  after  the  first  meeting,  a  second 
was  called  by  this  committee,  who  had  thus  promptly  prepared  their 
report.  The  main  recommendation  of  this  report  was  that  application 
be  made  to  the  legislature  of  the  State  for  an  act  regularly  incorpo- 
rating a  society  to  be  charged  with  educational  interests  in  the  city. 
A  memorial  to  that  effect  was  drawn  up,  signed  by  one  hundred 
prominent  citizens,  and  sent  to  the  legislature  on  February  25.  One 
passage  read  as  follows:  "The  enlightened  and  excellent  Government 
under  which  we  live  is  favorable  to  the  general  diffusion  of  know- 
ledge ;  but  the  blessings  of  such  a  Government  can  be  expected  to  be 
enjoyed  no  longer  than  while  its  citizens  continue  nrtnous^  and  while 
the  majority  of  the  people,  through  the  advantage  of  a  proper  early 
education,  possess  sufficient  knowledge  to  enable  them  to  understand 
and  pursue  their  best  interests.  This  sentiment,  which  must  meet 
with  universal  assent,  was  emphatically  urged  to  his  countrymen  by 
Washington,  and  has  been  recently  enforced  by  our  present  Chief 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 


167 


Magistrate  in  his  address  on  the  necessity  of  supporting  schools,  and 
promoting  useful  knowledge  through  the  State." 

The  measure  commended  itself  so  strongly,  and  was  so  entirely 
removed  above  and  beyond  the  plane  of  party  measures,  that  action 
was  promptly  and  energetically  taken ;  and  on  April  9,  1805,  the 
legislature  passed  "An  Act  to  incorporate  the  Society  instituted  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  Establishment  of  a  Free  School  for 
the  Education  of  Poor  Children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  pro- 
Wded  for  by,  any  religious  society."  Thirty-seven  incorporators  were 
named  iu  the  bill,  the  head  of 
the  list  being  graced  with  the 
name  of  the  mayor,  De  Witt 
Clinton — among  the  many  other 
names  of  note  appearing  those 
of  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  and  Dr. 
Samuel  Latham  Mitchill.  The 
provisions  of  the  act,  briefly  sum- 
marized, were:  that  the  yearly 
income  of  the  society  should 
not  exceed  ten  thousand  dol- 
lai-s;  that  on  the  first  Monday 
of  May  annually  thirteen  trus- 
tees should  be  elected  from 
among  the  members  of  the  so- 
ciety, who  should  also  be  resi- 
dents of  the  city ;  that  the  trus- 
tees should  meet  on  the  second 
Monday  of  every  month,  seven 
or  more  to  constitute  a  quorum  ; 
that  any  person  contributing 
eight  dollars  might  become  a 
member  of  the  society  ■  that  a  contribution  of  twenty-five  dollars 
should  entitle  to  membership  and  the  privilege  of  sending  one  child 
to  any  school  of  the  society;  and  one  of  forty  dollars,  the  privilege 
of  membership  and  the  sending  of  two  children.  The  act  at  the  same 
time  constituted  De  Witt  Clinton  and  the  twelve  gentlemen  present  at 
the  original  meeting  at  Mr.  Murray's  house  the  first  board  of  trustees.' 

On  May  6  these  thirteen  trustees  met  for  the  election  of  their 
ofiScers,  when  De  Witt  Clinton  was  chosen  president;  John  Murray, 
vice-president;  Leonard  Bleecker,  treasurer;  and  Benjamin  D.  Perkins, 
secretary.  The  next  step  in  the  movement  was  an  elaborate  appeal 
to  the  public  to  aid  the  enterprise  by  the  contribution  of  the  funds  re- 
quired for  the  securing  of  suitable  quarters  for  the  school  and  for  the 

I  Bonrae'i  "  HiBtorr  Public  School  Sodcty,"  p.  5. 


168  HIBTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

payment  of  teachers.  The  funds  did  not  rapidly  accumulate,  owing 
to  various  serious  impediments,  so  that  fully  a  year  elapsed  ere  the 
work  of  the  school  could  finally  begin.  It  is  of  interest  to  observe 
that  the  subscription  list  is  still  preserved  among  the  archives  of  the 
society,  and  shows  the  name  of  De  Witt  Clinton  leading,  with  the  sum 
of  two  hundred  dollars  opposite  to  it.  As  a  result  of  such  liberality, 
th<5  trustees  felt  justified  in  appointing  a  teacher  and  renting  apart- 
ments. The  pioneer  teacher  was  William  Smith,  and  the  place  where 
his  labors  began  a  house  in  Madison  street,  which  was  then  called 
Bancker.  On  May  19,  1806,  teacher  and  scholars  met  under  these 
humble  auspices.  But  few  were  there  that  first  day.  After  some 
days,  however,  the  number  had  risen  to  forty-two,  and  the  increase 
kept  on  till  larger  accommodations  became  imperative.  Even  before 
the  school  had  initiated  its  exercises,  in  April,  1806,  Colonel  Henry 
Rutgers*  had  given  a  lot  on  Henry  street  for  a  school  building,  and 
soon  after  gave  the  adjoining  lot  besides,  the  whole  of  the  property 
being  valued  at  $2500.  Still,  as  the  work  increased,  the  society  felt 
cramped  for  means.  An  appeal  to  the  legislature  was  again  made  in 
January,  1807,  resulting  in  an  act  which  set  aside  a  certain  portion  of 
the  excise  duties  for  the  support  of  the  school.  Nor  was  the  corpora- 
tion of  the  city  itself  slow  in  coming  to  its  aid.  The  quarters  in 
Madisou  street  having  become  inadequate,  and  no  funds  being  as  yet 
in  hand  for  building  a  house  on  the  Henry  street  lots,  the  "city 
fathers'*  presented  a  building  adjoining  the  almshouse,  together  with 
five  hundred  dollars  for  putting  it  into  proper  shape  for  this  new 
purpose.  Thus  came  into  existence  school  No.  1,  standing  on  Chat- 
ham street ;  it  was  provided  not  only  with  rooms  for  classes,  but  also 
with  dwelling  apartments  for  the  teacher's  family.  On  April  28, 1807, 
Mr.  Smith  and  his  pupils  began  their  sessions  here,  and  before  the 
year  closed  the  number  of  children  in  attendance  had  risen  to  one 
hundreil  and  fifty.  The  further  account  of  this  interesting  movement 
must  now  be  left  to  a  subsequent  chapter,  and  in  its  more  minute 
details  to  another  volume. 

The  first  ten  or  more  years  of  the  present  century  were  character- 
ized by  a  noticeable  extension  in  the  number  of  church  buildings,  or 
the  improvement  and  enlargement  of  those  already  built.  Some  of 
these  events  took  place  within  the  seven  years  belonging  to  the  scope 
of  this  chapter.  The  first  church  that  claims  attention  is  none  other 
than  that  in  Ganlen  street  (now  Exchange  Place),  the  third  edifice  of 
this  kind  in  the  order  of  erection  on  this  island,  but  really  the  earli- 
est that  can  l>e  called  worthy  of  the  name  in  point  of  architecture  or 

I  This  «iime  irenercms  loT^r  of  iMucmtion  Uter  known  by  his*  nune.  Tb<?  Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Crwby. 
gave  #5000  to  QueenV  OoUegee  at  Now  Brunswick.  for  i«everal  yvarsi  a  profesaor  in  the  college,  was 
K.  J.,  whence  that  college  has  ever  since  been      hi*  grandnephew. 


THE    OPENINa    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 


proportions.  De  Vries,  the  voyager,  could  find  no  more  exalted  term 
for  the  building  at  33  Pearl  street,  erected  iu  1633,  than  that  of 
"barn,"  as  compared  with  the  neat  New  England  meeting-houees; 
and  the  church  in  the  fort,  while  of  brick  or  stone,  and  superior  to 
the  former,  was  not  such  as  to  impress  the  beholder.  Hence  the 
"old"  church  in  Garden  street,  built  of  brick  trimmed  with  stone, 
when  it  was  opened  for  service  in  1693,  was  a  conspicuous  feature  of 
the  little  town,  and  quite  outstripped  the  earlier  structures  that  occu- 


KEW-rOKK    AT    THI    BEOIMNIKa 


pied  Trinity's  site.  After  undergoing  extensive  repairs,  with  some 
remodeling,  in  1766,  and  again  after  the  Revolution,  the  church  was 
taken  down  completely,  and  an  entirely  new  and  much  finer  building 
erected  on  the  spot  in  1807.  This  stood  until  it  was  swept  away  by 
the  great  fire  in  1835 ;  and  with  a  little  care  in  the  tracing  we  may 
look  upon  its  ecclesiastical  descendants  to-day.  After  the  fire  the 
congregation  determined  to  separate  into  two  societies.  One  part 
built  a  church  iu  Murray  street;  the  other  went  to  the  corner  of 
Washington  Place,  on  the  east  side  of  Washington  Square,  adjoining 
the  New-York  University.  Its  noble  proportions,  double  towers,  and 
walls  cut  into  embrasures  at  the  top,  as  if  it  were  a  eastle  or  a  fort, 
are  still  to  be  seen.  But  denominationally  it  no  longer  represents 
the  ori^nal  congregation,  as  it  was  sold  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
people.  For  its  denominational  representative  one  has  to  look  to  the 
church  on  the  comer  of  Madison  Avenue  and  Thirty-eighth  street, 
the  successor  of  the  Murray  street  church.  Crowded  out  by  the 
march  of  business,  this  society  moved  to  the  comer  of  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Twenty-first  street;  but,  again  pursued  by  that  church-devouring 
demon,  their  handsome  edifice  there  was  sold,  and  the  building  at 
Thirty-seventh  street,  formerly  occupied  by  a  Protestant  Episcopal 
congregation,  purchased. 


170 


mSTOET    OF    NEW-YORK 


Iq  the  year  1803  there  was  held  in  this  church  the  last  regular  or 
stated  service  in  the  Dutch  language.  The  Holland  tongue  had  been 
the  first  to  convey  to  heaven  the  worship  of  pioiis  hearts  in  prayer 
and  praise.  In  it  had  been  sounded  forth  the  gospel  in  the  ears  of 
men  from  the  very  beginning  of  colonization  in  1626.  Even  after  the 
English  conquest  in  1664,  a  whole  century  elapsed  before  the  Dutch 
congregation  called  an  English-speaking  pastor.    But  after  the  Eevo- 

lutiou  the  disappearance 
of  the  Dutch  from  ver- 
nacular usage  was  very 
rapid.  Yet  in  1789,  when 
the  old  Dutch  pastors 
were  too  aged  to  continue 
their  services,  and  when 
Drs.  Livingston  and  Linn 
were  preaching  eloquent- 
ly in  the  national  tongue, 
to  the  delight  of  auditors 
of  their  own  and  other 
comnianions,  it  was  still 
thought  expedient,  for 
the  benefit  of  a  certain 
portion  of  the  communi- 
cants, to  caU  a  pastor  who 
should  dispense  the  ordi- 
nances in  Dutch.  For 
this  purpose  the  Rev. 
Gerardus  Kuypers  (after- 
ward D.  D.)  was  called  from  Paramus,  New  Jersey,  and  the  ancient 
Garden  street  church  set  apart  for  these  services.  In  1803,  however, 
the  audiences  attending  them  had  grown  so  small  that  Dutch  preach- 
ing was  abolished,  and  Dr.  Kuypers  thenceforth,  until  his  death  in 
1833,  preached  in  English.  Thus  ceased  public  divine  worship  in  a 
language  which  had  conveyed  pious  emotions  to  the  throne  of  grace 
for  an  unbroken  period  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  years. 
But  in  1866  the  generosity  of  the  collegiate  church  enabled  a  Dutch 
church  to  be  organized  for  the  modern  emigrants  from  Holland  who 
had  made  New- York  their  abode,  and  hence  at  this  very  time  regular 
worship  in  the  ancient  mother-tongue  is  still  conducted  upon  this 
island,  whose  shores  it  was  the  earliest  to  bless  with  the  beneficent 
message  of  salvation. 

As  has  been  already  intimated,  one  of  the  most  striking  indications 
of  local  changes  induced  by  the  growth  of  our  city,  of  the  invasion  of 
business  houses  into  the  regions  of  homes,  is  horded  by  the  history 


S.  tM  j^<Ajvrtp<f^tm 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  171 

of  many  of  our  church  societies.  Who  would  connect  the  stately  tem- 
ple, graceful  in  exterior,  beautiful  and  rich  in  interior,  and  thronged 
with  hearers  under  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abbot  E.  Kittredge 
— standing  on  the  corner  of  Madison  Avenue  and  that  broad  trans- 
verse avenue,  Fifty-seventh  street  —  with  the  locality  of  Franklin 
street,  near  West  Broadway  t  Yet  if  we  take  two  steps  back  in  its 
annals — first  to  a  period  of  seventeen  years  of  existence  (1854-1871) 
in  Twenty- third  street,  and  then  to  its  origin — we  shall  reach  that 
down-town  region.  And  the  founding  of  that  church  in  1807,  it  must 
not  be  forgotten,  marked  an  era  in  church  development  for  the  Re- 
formed (Dutch)  denomination  in  this  city.  Hitherto  there  had  been 
no  congregation  of  this  order,  except  under  the  care  of  that  collegiate 
organization  whose  history  dated  from  1628.  The  "North  West 
Church,''  as  it  was  called,  in  Franklin  street,  was  the  first  congre- 
gation that  was  independent  and  separate.  Its  first  pastor  was  the 
Rev.  Christian  Bork,  a  unique  character.  He  had  come  over  among 
the  Geiman  mercenary  troops  hired  by  England  to  subdue  her  colo- 
nies. He  had  concluded  to  cast  in  his  fortunes  with  the  liberated 
country  after  the  war.  The  rough  soldier  was  converted,  entered  the 
ministry,  and  became  a  preacher  of  great  spiritual  force,  whose  labors, 
continued  through  fifteen  years,  were  eminently  successful. 

Embracing  within  our  view  a  territory  which  then  seemed  entirely 
unwarranted  to  be  entitled  to  consideration  as  a  part  of  the  city,  an 
account  of  local  events  during  this  period  must  include  the  foimding 
of  two  more  Reformed  churches,  one  in  Greenwich  village,  the  other 
at  Bloomingdale.  In  1803  the  dwellers  at  Greenwich  began  to  think 
the  journey  to  the  church  in  Garden  street,  or  to  that  in  Nassau 
street,  or  even  to  that  in  Fulton  street,  rather  too  long,  and  accord- 
ingly they  established  a  church  of  their  own.  The  yellow  fever  panic, 
which  sent  the  people  by  scores  into  this  neighborhood,  no  doubt 
stimulated  the  enterprise,  and  may  have  been  the  real  occasion  for  it. 
But  after  the  panic  subsided  the  church  remained,  and  the  curious 
observer  may  look  upon  its  lineal  descendant  to-day  on  the  comer  of 
Bleecker  and  West  Tenth  streets,  now  in  possession  of  a  colored  Bap- 
tist congregation.  Bloomingdale  church^  may  also  have  owed  its 
origin,  in  1805,  to  the  exodus  from  the  city  caused  by  the  fear  of  the 
yellow  fever,  which  prevailed  in  that  year  and  in  1803.  A  large  piece 
of  ground  given  for  a  parsonage  by  a  devoted  elder  finally  became 
the  means  of  preserving  this  society  from  extinction,  when  this  part 
of  the  city  began  to  assume  the  attractive  appearance  it  now  pre- 

1  Bloomingdale  in  the  onoxnatopoetio  change  from  lem  was  named  after  the  city  of  Haarlem  (its  name 

the  Dutch  Bloemendaal.    The  lower  point  of  the  was  New  Harlem,  or  Nieuw  Haerlem,  originally), 

island  being  called  after  Amsterdam,  other  poiats  A  beautiful  village  near  Haarlem,  noted  for  its 

in  the  vicinity  received  names  to  correspond  with  horticultural  nurseries,  gave  the  name  to  Bloe- 

the  vicinity  of  the  ancient  Dutch  dty.    Thus  Har-  mendaal,  or  Bloomingdale. 


172 


HISTORY    OF    HEW-TOBK 


sente.  The  tayiog  out  of  the  Boulevard  demanded  the  destruction  of 
the  old  church ;  but  the  immense  value  which  the  elder's  gift  attained 
a  few  years  since  has  enabled  this  people  to  place  in  the  view  of  New- 
York  denizens,  on  the  corner  of  the  Boulevard  and  Sixty-eighth 
street,  a  fine  example  of  church 
architecture  as  the  successor  of 
the  humble  viUage  church  of 
the  fifth  year  of  the  century. 

During  the  period  now  under 
consideration  the  activity  in  the 
way  of  church-building  of  de- 
nominations other  than  the 
Duteh  Reformed  and  the  Epis- 
copalian was  in  abeyance  or 
suspense— to  be  revived,  how- 
ever, almost  immediately  sub- 
sequent to  it  by  the  Presbyte- 
rians. Notable  among  Episcopal 
churches  erected  about  this  time 
are  St.  Stephen's,  on  the  corner 
of  Broome  and  Chrystie  streets, 
built  in  1805,  following  in  the 
wake  of  population  which  went 
northward  more  rapidly  on  the 
east  side  than  on  the  west ;  and 
Grace  Church,  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Eector  street,  built  in 
1806,  on  the  site  formerly  occupied  by  the  Lutheran  church.  ludeed, 
it  seems  rather  surprising  that  a  church  of  the  same  order  should 
thus  have  been  placed  beneath  the  very  shadow  of  Trinity. 

Far  away  from  all  these  churches,  clustered  and  almost  crowded 
together  within  so  limited  an  area  below  Vesey  and  Beekman  streets, 
there  was  erected  in  1807  a  church  which  has  thus  far  escaped  that 
"march  of  improvement"  to  which  the  others  have  all  succumbed. 
Grace  Church  (down-town),  St  George's  in  Beekman  street,  Christ 
Church  in  Ann  sti-eet,  St.  Stephen's  in  Broome  street,  are  no  more 
to  be  found  upon  the  sites  that  knew  them  once.  Even  Trinity  is  not 
what  then  it  was,  though  it  occupies  the  same  historic  spot;  but, 
together  with  St.  Paul's,  St  John's  on  Vaiick  street  stands  unim- 
paired and  unchanged,  a  monument  of  earlier  times.  To  a  dweller 
at  Colt^iie,  whose  unequaled  cathedral  reared  its  walls  skyward  six 
hundred  years  ago,  a  building  eighty-five  or  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  years  old  (the  ages  of  St.  John's  and  St.  Paul's  respectively)  may 
seem  a  very  recent  product.  We  of  New- York,  however,  are  fain  to 
congratulate  ourselves  that  these  edifices  still  abide,  when  every 


' '    CO-Crz.'-rt^. 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  173 

Other  church  built  so  loog  ago,  and  many  of  those  erected  much 
more  recently,  have  disappeared. 

Trinity  Church  farm,  once,  as  is  known,  that  of  thrifty  Anneke 
Jans,  stretched  along  the  North  River  nearly  to  Thirteenth  street. 
About  half-way  between  the  parent  church  and  the  extremity  of  this 
extensive  property  a  site  was  selected  for  a  new  church  in  1807.  It 
seemfd  a  very  unwise  selection  to  many.  It  added  to  the  surprise 
occasioned  by  placing  a  structure  which  it  was  reported  would  cost 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  so  far  out  of  town,  that  so  unwhole- 
some a  location  shoxild  have  been  fixed  upon.  For  there  was  nothing 
but  a  marsh  to  cover  the  space 
now  occupied  by  that  "  palace 
of  industry,"  the  freight  depot 
of  the  New- York  Central  Eail- 
road, — to  be  thus  named,  not 
indeed  for  the  beauty  or  re- 
finement of  its  structure  or 
contents,  but  for  the  ceaseless 
stir  of  business  and  the  re- 
markable concentration  of  a 
vast  traffic.  As  the  beautiful 
edifice  of  the  church,  with  its 

pillared  portico,  rose  on   the       ^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  ^^^^^_ 
one  hand,  the  resoi-t  of  snakes 

and  frogs,  and  possibly  mosquitos,  was  gradually  made  to  assume 
the  attractive  appearance  of  a  carefully  laid  out  park,  dimly  recalled 
now  by  the  generation  of  middle-aged  men  and  women.  In  the  course 
of  years  the  wisdom  of  the  choice  of  location  was  vindicated,  as  the 
handsomest  residences  of  the  towu  crowded  around  the  park.  Dingy 
and  dilapidated  as  these  are  in  their  fallen  state  to-day,  they  still 
have  enough  about  them  to  attest  their  earlier  elegance.  And  far 
above  the  changed  surroundings  the  noble  steeple  of  8t.  John's  rears 
its  graceful,  tapering  form,  showing  the  flight  of  time,  and  sounding 
the  hours  amid  the  noisy  din,  as  in  the  past  amid  the  rural  quiet. 

To  enlarge  on  the  frequent  visitations  of  the  yellow  fever  scourge 
would  constitute  a  very  dreary  duty  for  the  historian  of  the  metropo- 
lis. In  the  previous  chapter,  those  of  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century  have  been  duly  noticed.  The  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
saw  their  recurrence  in  many  a  summer.  But  that  of  1803  deserves 
especial  mention,  because  it  afforded  the  gratifying  spectacle  of  the 
courage  and  devotion  of  the  city's  chief  magistrate,  Edward  Living- 
ston. In  1801,  after  twelve  years  of  able  service,  Richard  Varick  was 
removed  from  the  mayor's  office  as  a  result  of  the  complete  overthrow 
of  the  Federalist  forces.    The  council  of  appointment  placed  Edward 


174 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


Livingston  in  the  chair,  the  youngest  brother  of  Chancellor  Living- 
ston, who  had  begun  the  practice  of  the  law  in  New- York  city  in 
1785.  The  Livingstons  had  cast  in  their  sympathies  with  the  Repub- 
licans, or  Democrats,  hence  upon  a  member  of  that  family  the  choice 

of  the  party  in  power 
naturally  fell.  Fortu- 
nately, while  polities 
often  ruled  the  hour 
then,  as  now,  in  such 
selections,  they  were 
then,  as  not  now,  al- 
most always  worthily 
made.  In  personal 
character,  in  legal  and 
executive  ability,  in 
social  standing  and  so- 
cial fitness, — no  small 
consideration  in  those 
days, — a  better  choice 
could  hardly  have  been 
made.  The  first  event 
of  note  in  Mayor  Liv- 
ingston's term  was  the 
laying  of  the  founda- 
tion-stone of  the  pres- 
ent City  Hall,  in  the 
park,  the  historic  com- 
mon of  Revolutionary 
times,  a  more  careful 
description  of  which 
belongs  to  a  subse- 
quent chapter,  which 
shall  record  its  com- 
pletion. In  1803,  in 
the  month  of  July,  the  yellow  fever  struck  the  city,  so  very  small  in 
population  as  compared  with  that  of  to-day,  but  so  much  less  pre- 
pared to  prevent  the  spread  of  an  epidemic.  Mayor  Livingston 
conceived  it  to  be  his  duty  to  remain  at  his  post,  superintending  the 
methods  of  relief,  and  ministering  to  the  poor  or  iU-provided  of  his 
private  means.  His  visits  to  hospitals  and  infected  homes  at  last 
brought  him  down  as  one  of  the  victims.  Daily  crowds  surged 
toward  the  door  of  his  house,  at  No.  1  Broadway,  to  inquire  the 
progress  of  the  dread  malady,  to  offer  assistance,  to  repay  in  some 
manner  the  kindness  and  the  courage  which  had  caused  him  to  faU 


CHURCH,  VABICK   STBEET. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUBY 


175 


before  the  scourge.  His  life  was  spared,  and  a  long  career  of  useful- 
ness and  distinction  followed,  the  threshold  to  which,  however,  was 
another  severe  adversity.  Duality  in  office  was  not  forbidden  in 
those  times,  and  Mayor  Livingston  was  also  United  States  district 
attorney.  While  he  was  ill  a  dishonest  clerk  had  made  away  with 
large  government  funds  under  his  care  as  attorney.  He  at  ouce  sold 
all  his  property  to  make  good  the  loss ;  boldly  started  out  on  a  new 
search  after  fortune  in  the  territory  recently  purchased  from  France 
under  the  advice  and  by  the 
negotiation  of  bis  brother,  the 
former  chancellor,  then  min- 
ister to  France;  gained  fame 
and  wealth  in  New  Orleans  by 
his  distinguished  legal  talent ; 
was  sent  to  Congress,  and  un- 
der President  Jackson  rose  to 
be  secretary  of  state. 

On  the  resignation  of  Mayor 
Livingston  in  1803,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Clinton  family 
(who,  with  the  Livingstons, 
divided  the  patronage  of  the 
Democratic  party)  secured  the 
appointment  of  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton as  his  successor.  He  was 
the  son  of  General  James  Clin- 
ton, and  thus  the  nephew  of 
Governor  Clinton.  He  had 
begun  public  life  as  private 
secretary  to  the  latter,  and,  although  educated  for  the  legal  profes- 
sion, he  preferred  politics.  He  was  at  the  present  juncture  United 
States  senator,  but  resigned  his  seat,  as  the  office  of  mayor  of  New- 
York  was  both  more  important  aud  vastly  more  lucrative  than  that 
of  senator.  The  man  has  made  such  a  mark  in  the  history  of  the 
city  and  the  State  that  it  is  needless  to  make  more  extended  bio- 
graphical mention  of  him.  Every  great  enterprise  for  the  public 
good  brings  his  name  to  the  foreground.  We  have  already  indicated 
his  connection  with  the  founding  of  the  public-school  system  of  the 
city.  At  a  brief  accessioti  of  power  by  the  Federalists  in  1807,  De 
Witt  Clinton  was  removed  from  office.  Then  the  well-known  uame 
of  Marinus  Willett  for  a  year  figures  at  the  head  of  the  municipal 
government.  It  was  most  interesting  that  the  descendant  of  the 
earliest  mayor  of  New- York  should  thus  have  been  invested  with  the 
office  exactly  one  hundred  and  forty  years  after  the  other's  retirement. 


<^^Ji^4^if^J^f^ 


176  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

In  the  year  1804  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  State 
which  instituted  some  important  changes  in  the  chartered  privileges 
of  the  city.  The  agitations  for  such  changes  had  been  started  two 
years  before,  when  letters  began  to  appear  in  the  public  prints,  calling 
attention  to  some  of  the  defects  of  the  old  charter,  dating  back  to 
Montgomerie's  time,  or  1730.  It  was  complained  that  suffrage  was 
not  suflSciently  distributed,  that  freeholders  were  allowed  to  vote,  but 
without  restricting  them  to  any  one  ward,  so  that  a  man  owning 
small  pieces  of  property  in  every  ward  was  entitled  to  vote  in  each. 
From  letters  in  the  newspapers,  the  agitation  went  on  to  the  calling 
of  public  meetings,  several  of  which  were  held  at  Adams's  (later 
Union)  Hotel,  or  Assembly  Rooms,  at  68  William  street.  At  these, 
other  modifications  besides  the  removal  of  the  above  grievances  were 
proposed,  the  principal  (although  rejected)  being  that  the  mayor's 
oflBce  be  made  elective,  and  salaried,  instead  of  subject  to  payment 
by  indefinite  fees.  As  usual,  party  and  faction  played  their  part  in 
these  discussions,  and  the  motives  of  both  promoters  and  opponents 
of  the  measure  were  impugned.  A  committee  of  citizens  waited  on 
the  common  council,  on  January  17, 1803,  asking  that  body  to  join 
in  a  petition  to  the  legislature  to  pass  a  law  effecting  the  desired 
changes ;  but  the  council  not  only  rejected  the  proposal,  but  sent  a 
petition  asking  that  the  charter  be  left  intact.  The  citizens  then  sent 
an  independent  request  directly  to  Albany.  A  bill  was  drawn  up  in 
accordance  therewith,  and  passed  the  assembly  on  March  16,  1803. 
The  next  year  it  was  taken  up  again,  and  now  became  a  law  on  April 
5,  1804.  Among  its  provisions  were  the  following :  that  the  annual 
charter  election  should  take  place  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  November; 
that  the  voting  should  be  by  ballot,  instead  of  viva  voce  as  hereto- 
fore; that  the  election  might  continue  for  more  than  one  day,  if  neces- 
sary; that  polling-places  should  be  appointed  in  each  ward;  and 
that  no  person  could  vote  in  any  other  ward  than  the  one  in  which  he 
resided.  The  election  of  a  mayor  by  the  people  was  still  distant  full 
thirty  years. 

As  having  a  very  pertinent  bearing  upon  the  development  of  the 
commerce  of  New-York  city,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  during  the 
very  years  now  under  notice  the  nation's  relations  with  the  pirati- 
cal Barbary  powers  of  the  Mediterranean  were  being  adjusted,  and 
were  finally  put  into  a  condition  more  honorable  than  that  in  which 
they  had  been  left  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  century.  It  was  time 
that  something  should  be  done  to  teach  these  barbaric  peoples  a 
wholesome  lesson  regarding  our  power,  when  it  had  come  to  such  a 
pass  that  one  of  these  despots  sent  word  to  the  president  that  oiu- 
payment  of  tribute  meant  as  much  as  that  we  were  his  servants.  On 
the  strength  of  this  unpalatable  but  not  very  unreasonable  theory,  he 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTUBY  177 

had  peremptorily  sent  one  of  our  vessels  of  war  to  Constantinople  to 
bear  his  country's  quota  of  revenue  to  the  Sublime  Porte.  In  May, 
1801,  Tripoli's  ruler  cut  down  the  flag-staff  of  the  United  States  con- 
sulate,— an  act  equivalent  to  a  declaration  of  war.  Immediately  a 
squadron  of  four  vessels  was  despatched  to  the  scene,  under  the 
command  of  Commodore  Richard  Dale.  A  second  squadron  followed 
in  February,  1802,  composed  of  six  vessels,  under  Commodore  Richard 
V.  Morris.  But  neither  of  these  armaments  accomplished  anything 
very  decisive.  As  events  progressed  the  government  and  the  people 
became  more  and  more  enthusiastic  and  energetic,  and  determined  to 
push  hostilities  to  the  point  of  the  complete  and  final  humiliation  of 
these  insolent  sea-robber  states.  In  these  endeavors  many  a  name 
came  into  prominence,  and  many  a  deed  was  done  by  our  navy  of 
which  our  nation  was  proud.  The  war  gave  rise  practically  to  the 
American  navy.  It  showed  what  great  possibilities  were  in  existence 
for  the  future  of  this  branch  of  our  service.  Another  war,  close  at 
hand,  and  on  a  more  worthy  and  dignified  scale,  raised  the  navy  to 
the  height  of  fame ;  but  this  little  war  on  pirates  was  its  stepping- 
stone  and  preparation.  In  1805  a  force  of  no  less  than  twenty-four 
vessels,  under  Commodore  John  Rodgers,  was  present  in  the  Medi- 
terranean. Tripoli  succumbed,  the  other  "  powers  "  were  thoroughly 
alarmed,  and  on  June  4,  1805,  a  treaty  was  effected  which  gave  secu- 
rity to  our  shipping  in  these  waters,  and  allowed  commerce  to  repair 
the  cost  of  the  war  and  the  previous  losses  by  piracy.^ 

Brief  mention  may  be  made  of  several  items  which  belong  to  the 
local  history  of  this  period,  and  which  are  of  interest,  but  which  will 
naturally  obtain  more  extended  treatment  under  appropriate  mono- 
graphs in  another  portion  of  this  work.  Columbia  College  continued 
to  flourish  under  its  republican  name  and  in  the  republican  atmo- 
sphere of  its  present  surroundings.  In  1801  the  Rev.  Charles  Wharton 
was  its  president,  but  was  succeeded  ere  its  close  in  this  position  by 
Bishop  Moore.  In  1807  was  organized  its  now  famous  adjunct,  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Originally,  however,  this  insti- 
tution was  not  connected  with  Columbia,  being  established  as  a  rival 
to  its  "  medical  faculty.''  Later  the  two  schools  were  combined  into 
one ;  but  again,  subsequently,  a  separation  took  place,  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  remaining  with  Columbia.  As  an  out- 
growth of  the  benevolent  enterprise  which  had  founded  the  New- 
York  Hospital  several  years  before,  there  was  added  to  its  buildings, 
in  1807,  one  for  lunatics.  Fourteen  years  later  the  fine  structure  for 
such  patients  at  Bloomingdale,  still  under  the  management  of  the 
hospital,  was  completed,  situated  on  the  ridge  overlooking  the  Hud- 
son on  one  side,  and  Harlem  Plains  and  the  East  River  on  the  other. 

1 ''  Narratiye  and  Critical  History  of  the  United  States/'  7:36Sjet8eq, 

Vol.  ra.— 12. 


178  HI8TOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


^t/u/ 


y^(^Ji?r^  Juf^i^rtc^ 


y^^^  ^r^ccc»>€ii;9/^  /^^^9^f^rv<f  ^  ircx^  ^    Scr^s^'  ^c^t^^rty^   f/^e^u/i^ 


cu  ^am/p7ti:tC£e/^c'  Ar^^vM^f^  a^?^>^   T^L^r^ €0  ^a^€^^ ^^  -^^t*^^- 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NTNETEEarTH    CENTUBY  179 

The  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  City  Hall,  in  1803, 
has  already  been  alluded  to.  In  1804  was  founded  the  Kew-York 
Historical  Society,  through  the  enlightened  enthusiasm  for  historical 
research  ent^riaioed  by  Judge  Egbert  Benson  and  the  merchant  John 
Pintard,  whose  name  stands  also  honorably  associated  with  the  pro- 
gress of  the  New- York  Society  Library.  It  was  not,  however,  till  the 
celebration  on  an  elaborate  scale  of  the  two-hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  discovery  of  the  Hudson  (to  be  duly  noticed  in  the  nest  chapter), 
that  the  society  attracted  any  very  general  attention.  Its  timely 
erection  and  intelligent  work  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit  in  the 
preservation  of  the  earliest  records  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  State  aud  city.  Indeed,  its  design 
embraced  even  a  wider  scope,  being,  as  ex- 
pressed by  the  founders,  "to  collect  and  pre- 
serve whatever  may  relate  to  the  natural,  civil 
or  ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United  States 
in  genera!  and  of  this  State  in  particular."  It 
may  be  worth  while  to  call  attention  also  to 
the  fact  that  in  1803  the  ancient  Huguenot 
Church — "the  Eeformed  Church  of  Prance" — 
changed  its  ecclesiastical  order  (to  comply  with  if/r/rit/^a. 
a  condition  attached  to  a  generous  benevolence) 
to  that  of  the  "  Reformed  Church  of  England,"  becoming  a  part  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  communion;  but  it  assumed  a  French 
name, — "L'Eglise  du  Saint  Esprit," — and  has  continued  to  worship 
in  that  tongue  to  this  day. 

Again,  among  this  medley  of  items  may  be  inserted  that  in  1801 
was  added  to  the  banks  and  other  financial  institutions  already  con- 
gregating in  Wall  street,  the  Washington  Fire  Insurance  Company. 
It  was  the  third  organization  of  this  nature,  having  been  preceded  by 
the  Marine  Insurance  Company  and  the  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany, organized  just  before  the  close  of  the  previous  century.  Of  the 
seven  newspapers  that  gloried  at  this  time  in  a  daily  issue,  we  notice 
two  whose  names,  if  not  their  management,  have  continued  till  now — 
the  "Evening  Post"  and  the  "Commercial  Advertiser."  The  "Even- 
ing Post,"  in  fact,  dates  (so  far  as  its  designation  goes)  back  to  1746 ; 
being  the  third  in  order  of  establishment  after  Bradford's  "Gazette" 
(1725)  and  Zenger's  "Journal"  (1733).  But  it  was  discontinued  for 
lack  of  patronage  before  the  Revolution.  On  November  16,  1801, 
came  forth  the  first  issue  of  its  present  namesake. 

A  glimpse  at  the  social  aspect  or  condition  of  the  city  may  serve  as 
a  proper  conclusion  to  this  chapter.  The  Dutch  city  was  now  enter- 
ing upon  its  third  century  of  Ufe,  yet  more  than  a  few  vestiges  of  its 
foreign  origin  remained.    The  domestic  architecture  still  bore  faint 


180  HisrroBY  of  new-yobk 

witiiaw  to  it  here  and  there.  Until  1803,  as  was  noted,  ererj  Sab- 
butli  day  found  worshipers  in  the  Garden  street  chnrch  listening  to 
Uuttfh  pntui^hing,  and  singing  heartily  the  Gregorian  chant  of  Dntch 
pttalmody.  But  after  this  sign  of  the  past  had  been  done  away,  still 
uiKin  the  market-places,'  where  congregated  the  countrymen  from 


thoir  furmti  on  Long  Island,  in  New  Jersey,  in  Westchester  Coontj-, 
oiu»  Imd  great  nt»e(l  of  a  kuowltnige  of  Dutch  to  be  quite  safe  in 
a  biti^:aiu.  Thither  came  the  Vanden'eers,  and  Byders,  and  Ra- 
paljes ;  the  fiogerta,  and  Hoppers,  and  Van  Embm^ ;  the  BlauTclts 
and  Vftu  Houtens, — just  as  the  obserrant  New-Yorker  of  to-day  may 
still  see  thos«>  names  upon  the  huge  farm-wagons  crossing  by  the 
ferries  in  the  (>arly  hours  of  morning,  or  standing  all  night  along 
Greeuwioh  strt>et,  between  Washington  and  Clinton  markets.  This 
"persistenw"  of  the  Dut4'h  "type"*  also  brought  about  a  unique  and 

■  Tlwnu>rt^v«»lnlHM«w»tlwtan<>«lMC:  U  lb*  cunm  looda  bj  (^^Kain  R  HalL  B.N..~  i>  ki» 

RiTtwncr  BurkM.  toot  at  Ito«Ml  MtcM  :  ^  tW  "  Ponr   Skcttkn  in  North  Amcrin.-  ~ 

BM>r  ukrkM.  fwX  at  Vmvt  ■tn>M.  and  ea  tii«n-  IOJSl    !■  iU«  o 

<H»k.    twIvwB    VtM?   ud    PniMB  t(Wa    PMirl  that.  tmUn  il 

idww:  3,  1bi-0<>««««M>ikM.«i)b>UiW  Lur.  Jthtr  fWtj  w 

Mm  P»adn>T :  4.  th*  Ftr  Mwt^at,  ooasiMi^c  tt  wd.  thct*  ■« 

(kw*  ni>ukvl-bo«w«  Ml  MaMM  Luc  ttvtn  F<Mri  fr>«  Oraavirh  V 

«U*<rt  to  t^  KhI  RiTvr:  ud  3^  Ihr  (^kariav  tiB*.    TW  star*  •» Oiwnwicb  sttmd  bm  Bkk- 

Mwkrt.  wilh  tvo  markM-bouwu.  ai  *h*  taut  of  *r'>  TsTtn  tm  Will  aim.  hmuw  of  Nrw:  tkr 

(iMkHtB*  Mnwt.  stkvr  m>  Tnn  Ibt  BnlFi  B«^  ia  tba  Bowvrr. 

:  TW   ■burr  UhBInti«    tvpnwato  •    «M#<^  anrt*  onnohv  Ik*  Banrr  TWMur -rf  hwv  itan. 

wwk  is  OM  to  tW  (vIt  Twn  at  tW  fvalur.  TW  GiwnwiA  fix  wm  eke  Om  w  abpt  niii  i 

II  to  twtiwwd  ftwM  a  itlBvl^  aad*  "  «ilk  A*  vMnoi  ¥t  a  dour  to  ibt  iw. 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  181 

curious  feature — the  street  cries  of  venders.  Any  one  who  has  been 
in  Holland,  and  has  given  any  attention  to  the  cries  —  rich  in  variety 
of  pitch  and  volume,  if  not  in  melody — heard  upon  the  streets  of  its 
larger  cities,  may  gain  some  idea  of  what  the  long-suffering  ears 
of  the  earlier  dwellers  in  New- York  had  to  endure,  when,  in  addition 
to  the  scope  in  shrieks  and  calls  afforded  by  the  mother-tongue,  com- 
binations with  the  imperfectly  possessed  English  furnished  a  wider 
range  for  this  emission  of  strange  sounds. 

Passing  from  such  "genre''  or  familiar  aspects  of  society  to  its 
more  dignified  conditions,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  perhaps 
no  more  concise  summary  of  these  can  be  presented  than  in  the 
words  of  another:  "The  divisions  between  the  upper,  middle,  and 
lower  classes  were  sharply  marked.  The  old  families  formed  a  rather 
exclusive  circle,  and  among  them  the  large  land-owners  still  claimed 
the  lead,  though  the  rich  merchants,  who  were  of  similar  ancestry, 
much  outnumbered  them,  and  stood  practically  on  the  same  plane. 
But  the  days  of  this  social  and  political  aristocracy  were  numbered. 
They  lost  their  political  power  first.  .  .  .  The  fall  of  this  class,  as  a 
class,  was  not  to  be  regretted;  for  its  individual  members  did  not 
share  the  general  fate  unless  they  themselves  deserved  to  fall.  The 
descendant  of  any  old  family  who  was  worth  his  salt  still  had  as  fair 
a  chance  as  any  one  else  to  make  his  way  in  the  world  of  politics,  of 
business,  or  of  literature ;  and  according  to  our  code  and  standard, 
the  man  who  asks  more  is  a  craven.''  ^ 


THE  WEEHAWKEN  DUELING-GROUND. 

Few  Btrangers  came  to  New- York  fifty  years  ago  without  visitmg  the  celebrated 
dueling-ground  on  the  romantic  bank  of  the  Hudson,  about  two  miles  above  the 
Hoboken  Ferry.  It  was  a  grassy  ledge,  or  shelf,  about  twenty  feet  above  the  water, 
and  only  sufficiently  large  for  the  fatal  encounters  that  frequently  occurred  there  in 
the  old  dueling  days,  being  about  two  yards  wide,  by  twelve  in  length.  From  this 
celebrated  spot  there  was  a  natural  and  almost  regular  flight  of  steps  to  the  edge  of 
the  rocky  shore  where  a  landing  was  effected.  This  singularly  isolated  and  secluded 
spot  was  reached  by  small  boats,  being  inaccessible  to  foot-passengers  along  the  shore, 
except  at  very  low  tide.  No  path  led  to  it  from  the  picturesque  heights  of  Wee- 
hawken,  whose  beauties  have  been  sweetly  sung  by  Halleck,  and  are  familiar  to  all,  or 
nearly  all,  New-Yorkers ;  but  the  ground  was  sometimes  reached  from  above  by  ad- 
venturous persons  who  descended  the  steep,  rough,  and  wooaed  declivity. 

1  Theodore  Roosevelfs  "New-York,"  pp.  166,  of  an  old  New- York  family,  "who  is  worth  his 
167.  Mr.  Booeevelt  is  himself  an  illustration  of  salt,''  in  the  estimation  not  only  of  his  native  city 
how  far  ability  and  worth  may  carry  a  descendant     or  State,  but  also  in  that  of  the  nation. 


182 


HIBTOBY    or    NEW-YOBK 


It  wu  to  this  spot  that  the  Aery  Tybalts  resorted  for  the  uettlement  of  difficulties 
aooording  to  the  "  code  cA  honor"  prevailiag  at  tlie  begioning  of  the  nineteenth  oen- 
tniy.  These  angh  combats  were,  chiefly  by  reason  of  the  inflamed  state  of  political 
feeling,  of  frequent  oeonrrenoe,  and  very  seldom  ending  withoat  bloodshed.  Here 
oocnrred  the  meetings  referred  to  by  Byroa,  when  he  says : 

It  !■  ft  atrftnge  quick  Jar  npon  the  ear. 
Thkt  cocking  of  a  pistol,  when  joa  know 
A  moment  more  will  bring  tbe  light  to  bear 
Upon  yonr  pemn,  twelve  yards  off,  or  so: 
A  geDtlemuily  distance,  not  too  aon, 
If  you  have  got  a  former  Wend  or  foe ; 
But,  >fter  being  llred  Kt  onoe  or  twice, 
The  ear  becomes  more  Irish  and  leas  nice. 


HAMILTON  MOMtniKirr. 


It  iras  at  the  Weebawken  dneling-ground  that  Philip  Hamilton,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  vas  killed,  Kovember  23, 1801,  in  an  "  affair  of  honor,"  by  Geoi^  J.  Eaoker, 
like  his  viotim,  a  promising  young  lawyer  of  New- York ;  it  was  liere,  in  the  year  fol- 
lowing, tliat  a  Mr.  Bird  was  shot  throogh  the  heart,  and, 
springing  up  several  feet  from  the  gronnd,  fell  dead ;  here 
Benjamin  Price  was  killed  by  Captain  Green,  of  the  British 
army ;  and  it  was  in  this  justly  celebrated  place  tliat  Alexf 
ander  Hamilton  fell,  at  seven  o'clock  on  Wednesday  morn- 
ing, July  11,  1801,  on  the  very  spot  where  his  eldest  son 
had  been  killed.  Several  months  after  the  duel,  the  St. 
Andrew's  Society  of  New- York,  of  which  the  lamented 
patriot  had  been  the  preudent,  erected  npon  the  ground 
a  marble  monument,  and  surrounded  it  with  an  iron  rail- 
ing. Every  summer  thonaauds  of  strangers  visited  the 
spot.  As  the  years  glided  past,  the  railing  was  torn  down 
by  vandal  bands,  and  the  wb(de  structure  gradually  re- 
moved, piece  by  piece,  as  souvenirs,  till  at  length  no  ves- 
tige of  it  remained  on  the  ground  which  it  commemorated.  Two  granite  blocks, 
inscribed  with  the  names  of  Burr  and  Hamilton,  deeply  cut  in  the  stone,  and  tbe 
former  dated  1804,  marked  the  positions  where  they  stood  face  to  face  on  that  bright 
but  fatal  July  morning,  sixty-five  years  aigo. 

President  Nott  of  Union  Collie,  in  an  address  on  the  death  of  Hamilton,  delivered 
at  the  time,  thus  referred  to  the  dneling-ground :  "  Ah  I  ye  tia^c  shores  of  Hoboken, 
crimsoned  with  the  richest  blood,  I  tremble  at  the  crimes  you  reoord  agunst  us,  tbe 
annual  regitilet  of  murders  which  you  keep  and  send  np  to  God!  Place  of  inhuman 
cruelty  1  beyond  the  limits  of  reason,  of  duty,  and  of  religion,  where  man  a 
more  barbarous  nature,  and  ceases  to  be  man.  What  poignant,  lingering  a 
thy  lawless  combats  oooadon  to  surviving  relatives  I  Ye  who  have  hearts  of  pity,  ye 
who  have  experienced  the  anguish  of  dissolving  friendship,  who  have  wept,  and  still 
weep,  over  the  mouldering  ruins  of  departed  kindred,  ye  can  enter  into  this  reflection." 
A  few  summers  since,  the  writer  Tinted  the  romantic  and  secluded  spot,  in  com- 
pany with  the  poet  Halleok,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  all  the  actors  in  the 
tr^edy  exc^t  General  Hamilton,  and  who  pointed  out  the  positions  of  the  principals, 
and  the  old  cedar-tree  under  which  Hamilton  stood  while  the  seconds,  Judge  Na- 
thaniel Pendleton  and  mlliam  P.  Van  Ness,  a  young  lawj-er,  were  arranging  the  pre- 
liminaries, and  Dr.  David  Hosaok.  Matthew  L.  Davis,  and  the  boatmen  sal  in  the 
two  boats,  awaiting  the  result  of  the  duel  which  ended  so  tragicaQy.  Periiaps,  ance 
the  world  b^an,  no  hostile  meeting  in  an  "  affair  of  honor "  ever  created  greater 


THE    OPENING    OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  183 

excitement — certainly  none  that  have  occurred  in  this  country — than  the  deadly  en- 
coonter  between  Aaron  Burr  and  Alexander  Hamilton. 

On  a  bright  May  morning  of  the  present  year  we  revisited  the  ancient  dueling- 
ground;  but,  alas,  it  had  been  swept  out  of  existence  by  that  ^'  villainous  alteration 
miscalled  improvement,''^  Nothing  remains  to  mark  the  spot  but  a  weather-beaten 
stone  on  which  the  name  Hamilton  has  been  almost  obliterated  by  the  winds  and 
rains  of  heaven.  In  place  of  the  narrow  ledge,  there  is  now  a  broad  track,  over 
which  the  trains  of  the  West  Shore  railroad  will  soon  be  thundering  northward  to  Fort 
Lee  and  farther  on  to  Albany,  awakening  the  echoes  from  the  picturesque  Wee- 
hawken  heights  and  the  lofty  Highlands  of  the  Hudson. 

*'  Let  me  hope,  I  pray  you,^  wrote  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  to  a  lady  friend  at  Fort 
Lee,  a  few  years  ag^,  ^'  that,  while  I  live,  you  will  not  allow  any  person,  whom  I 
refrain  from  naming  (the  same  person  who  entered,  of  old,  the  only  paradise  on  earth 
to  be  compared  to  Fort  Lee,  in  the  shape  of  a  rattlesnake,  and  played  the  very  devil 
there),  to  come,  in  the  shape  of  a  railroad  locomotive,  screaming  his  way  through 
your  garden,  up  to  a  crystal  palace  on  the  top  of  the  Palisades,  at  the  rate  of  forty 
miles  an  hour.^  The  i>oet's  prayer  was  realized ;  he  did  not  live  to  witness  this  much- 
needed  modem  improvement,  and  to  have  his  heart  saddened  by  what  he  would  have 
deemed  a  desecration  of  the  fondly  cherished  scene  so  indelibly  impressed  upon  his 
memory. 

The  venerable  cedar-tree  against  which  Hamilton  leaned,  as  he  gazed  sadly  for 
the  last  time  on  the  distant  city  which  held  all  that  was  dear  to  him  in  this  world,  has 
been  cut  down  and  thrown  into  the  river,  and  the  place  changed  beyond  all  recog^tion. 
Looking  around  for  the  memorials  of  past  days,  we  at  length  discovered  the  granite 
block  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Hamilton ;  but  the  other  was  not  to  be  found,  nor 
the  numerous  rocks,  which  we  had  seen  on  our  former  visit,  decorated*  with  the 
names  or  initials  of  persons  who  had  made  pilgrimages  to  the  place. 

A  gang  of  laborers  were  at  work  near  the  spot,  and  to  their  foreman  we  addressed 
an  inquiry  about  the  granite  block  inscribed  '^  Burr,  1804."  The  conversation  ran  as 
follows: 

Writer. —  Have  you  seen  a  large  stone  here  similar  to  this  one  marked  Hamilton  f 

Foreman. — Yes. 

Writer. — Was  it  marked  with  the  name  of  Burr,  and  dated  1804  f 

Foreman. — It  was. 

Writer. — Do  you  know  where  it  ist 

Foreman. — Yes. 

Writer. — Can  you  point  it  out  to  met 

Foreman. — Well,  I  guess  not,  seeing  it 's  underground.  It 's  been  used  as  a  corer- 
ing-stone  in  a  culvert  just  above  here. 

Writer. — Could  you  not  have  made  use  of  another  stone,  and  allowed  the  interest- 
ing memorial  to  remain? 

Foreman. — Why,  yes;  and  I  told  the  boss  he  'd  better  lay  it  alongside  of  t'other 
granite  block;  but  he  said  that  Burr  was  a  mean  cuss,  anyhow,  and  not  of  much 
account,  and  he  guessed  it  would  be  more  useful  doing  duty  as  a  covering-stone  than 
perpetuating  his  memory. — The  Editor,  in  '^Appleton's  Journal,"  June,  1869. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BEOINNINO    OF    STEAM    NAVIQATION 

1807-1812 

j  HE  great  event  of  the  first  decade  of  the  century  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  interests  of  New- York  was  the  success- 
ful application  of  steam  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels. 
Indeed,  so  great  an  influence  did  this  exert  upon  the 
city's  subsequent  growth  tliat  we  feel  justified  in  giving  in  detail 
the  sueeessive  steps  of  its  development.  The  problem  had  engaged 
the  attention  of  mechanicians  for  centuries.  Papin,  as  early  as  1690, 
in  a  printed  book,  had  advocated  steam  as  a  universal  motive-power, 
and  had  given  a  rough  draft  of  a  paddle-wheel  steamer.  He  even  went 
so  far  as  to  construct  a  model  steamboat,  which  was  tried  in  1707 
upon  the  river  Fulda,  near  Cassel,  but  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
successful,  as  nothing  farther  was  heard  of  it. 

The  next  attempt  of  the  kind  was  the  "marine  engine"  of  Jona- 
than Hulls,  1736,  intended  for  towing  ships.  This  craft  was  notice- 
able for  its  use  of  the  stem-wheel,  still  conmion  on  Western  steam- 
boats, power  being  conveyed  to  it  by  means  of  bands.  William 
Henry,  a  native  of  CJhester  County,  Pennsylvania,  moved  a  model 
boat  by  steam  on  Conestoga  Creek,  near  its  entrance  into  the  Susque- 
hanna River,  in  1763. 

Two  years  later,  in  1765,  there  was  bom  of  humble  parents  at  Ful- 
ton, Pennsylvania,  near  the  scene  of  this  experiment,  a  boy,  Bobert 
Fulton,  who,  combining  and  improving  upon  the  efforts  of  all  who 
had  gone  before  him,  invented  the  first  successful  steamboat,  and 
inaugurated  a  new  era  of  commercial  development  and  prosperity. 
Fulton  was,  no  doubt,  familiar  with  the  model  built  and  tried  by 
Henry  near  his  home  in  1763.  In  1779,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he 
began  his  experiments  with  boats  by  aflSsing  a  paddle-wheel  to 
his  fishing-boat,  the  latter  being  moved  by  man-power.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen,  having  exhibited  fine  powers  as  an  artist,  he  removed 
to  Philadelphia  to'  study  art,  and  there  gained  the  friendship  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  and  other  important  persons,  by  whom  he  was  en- 
couraged to  proceed  to  London  and  pursue  his  art  studies  under  the 


BEGINNING.  OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  185 

patroaage  of  BeDJamin  West^  the  famous  American  painter.  By 
West  he  was  introduced  to  two  noblemen — the  Duke  of  Bridgewater 
and  the  Earl  of  Stanhope;  the  former  owner  of  extensive  coal-mines 
at  Worstey,  to  which  he  had  constructed  a  canal  from  Manchester; 
the  latter  inventor  of  the  Stanhope  printing-press  and  greatly  inter- 
ested in  mechanics  and  engineering. 

Stanhope'  had  invented  several  improvements  in  canal-locks,  and 
with  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater  turned  Pulton's  attention  at  this  time 
to  the  subject  of  canals  and  steam  navi- 
gation. The  latter  published  during  this 
period  a  treatise  on  canals,  and  frequent 
reference  is  made  in  his  manuscript  to 
the  subject  of  steam  navigation.  Copies 
of  the  treatise  were  sent  to  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  the  Seere 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  0overnoi 
of  New- York,  with  a  letter  calling  the 
attention  of  those  oflBcials  to  the  advan 
tages  that  canals  would  confer  on  the 
United  States.  In  his  letter  to  the  gov 
ernor  he  pointed  out  the  superiority  of 
canals  over  turnpike-roads,  then  rapidly 
being  constructed,  for  the  transportation 
of  freight  It  was  claimed  by  his  bio- 
grapher, Mr.  Reigart,  that  Fulton  first 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  canal  connecting 
the  head  waters  of  the  Hudson  with  the  great  lakes,  and  published  it 
in  a  letter  to  the  American  government  on  the  subject  of  a  projected 
canal  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  Lake  Fontchartrain. 

In  1797  Fulton  went  to  Paris,  and  there  meeting  Joel  Barlow,  the 
American  poet,  philosopher,  and  diplomat,  was  invited  by  him  to  take 
up  his  residence  in  the  latter's  mansion.  Barlow  was  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  development  of  the  steamboat  and  the  canal  as  Fulton.  He 
had  the  acumen  early  to  discern  how  both,  by  facilitating  speedy  and 
cheap  communication  between  distant  ports,  would  prove  of  vital  im- 
portance to  his  country,  and  now  entered  heartily  into  Fulton's  experi- 
ments with  the  steamboat,  advancing  the  necessary  funds.  A  model 
boat  was  constructed,  and  soon  after  Barlow,  visiting  the  national 
depot  of  machines,  saw  there  an  exact  model  of  this  trial  boat,  as  he 
wrote,  the  Iatt«r,  "in  all  its  parts  and  principles,  a  very  elegant  model. 
It  contains  your  wheel  oars  precisely  as  you  have  placed  them  except 
that  it  has  four  wheels  on  each  side  to  guide  round  the  endless  chain 
instead  of  two.  The  two  upper  wheels  seem  to  be  only  to  support  the 
chain ;  perhaps  it  is  an  improvement.    The  model  of  the  steam-engine 


186 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YOBK 


is  iu  its  place,  with  a  wooden  boiler,  cylinder  placed  horizontal,  every 
thing  complete.  I  never  saw  a  neater  model.  It  belongs  to  a  com- 
pany at  Lyons  who  got  out  a  patent  about  three  months  ago."  Mont- 
golfier,  whom  he  encountered  in  the  depot,  told  him  that  the  company 
had  issued  stock  to  the  amouut  of  two  million  francs  for  bailding 
boats  and  navigating  the  Rhone,  and  had  already  spent  six  hundred 
thousand  francs  in  establish- 
ing their  works  at  Lyons.  The 
enterprise,  however,  proved  a 
failure. 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Bar- 
low, written  during  this  time, 
Fulton  predicted  a  speed  of 
sixteen  miles  an  hour  for  his 
steamboat,  to  which  Barlow 
replied,  "I  see  without  con- 
sulting Parker  that  you  are 
mad."  In  1805,  Mr.  Barlow 
returned  to  America  and  took 
up  his  rosidence  at  Kalorama, 
a  beautiful  country-seat  in 
Georgetown,  on  the  outskirts 
of  Washington.  Here  Fulton 
joined  him  early  in  1807,  and 
set  himself  to  preparing  a 
steamboat  which  should  be 
successful  commercially  as 
well  as  mechanically.  In  pre> 
paring  this  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  made  use  of  the  ideas  and 
mistakes  of  other  inventors  who  had  been  at  work  for  years  on  the 
same  idea.  Bumsey,  an  American  inventor,  in  1784  had  propelled  a 
boat  by  a  jet  of  water  forced  out  of  the  stem  by  pumps  worked  by 
steam-power.  John  Fitch,  of  Philadelphia,  had  constructed  a  steam- 
boat in  1787  which  made  several  passages  between  Philadelphia  and 
Burlington,  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour.  But  he  could  find 
no  capitalists  willing  to  furnish  the  capital  necessary  to  build  the 
pioneer  boats,  and  the  inventor  died  at  last  in  the  depths  of  penury. 
Nathan  Bead  constructed  in  1789  a  steamboat  with  which  he  crossed 
an  arm  of  the  sea  at  Danvers,  Massachusetts.  Elijah  Ormsbee,  a 
native  of  Connecticut,  constructed  a  rude  steamboat  in  1792,  that 
plied  on  the  Pawtucket  River  for  several  weeks,  at  a  rate  of  three 
or  four  mites  an  hour.  But  he  could  secure  no  funds  to  construct  a 
larger  craft,  and,  abandoning  his  idea,  went  back  to  his  carpenter's 
bench.    Samuel  Morey,  of  Connecticut,  is  said  to  have  buUt  a  steam- 


BEonnnNa  of  steam  navigation 


187 


;  cu:ruokt. 


boat  which  made  the  voyage  from  Hartford  to  New- York,  and  was 
examined  there  by  Chancellor  Livingstou,  Judge  Livingston,  John 
St«vens,  and  others.  In  1797  Morey  built  a  steamboat  at  BoMen- 
town,  New  Jersey,  and  ran  it 
to  Philadelphia.  It  had  two 
wheels,  one  on  each  side,  with 
a  shaft  running  across  the 
deck,  turned  by  a  crank  in 
the  center.  Morey,  who  died 
in  1843,  never  ceased  to  claim 
that  Fulton  stole  the  idea  of 
the  Clermont's  propelling  ma- 
chinery from  bim.  Nicholas 
J.  Koosevelt,  in  a  petition  to 
the  legislature  of  New  Jersey, 
claimed  to  be  the  true  and 
original  inventor  and  discoverer  of  steamboats  with  vertical  wheels. 
He  declared,  supporting  his  statement  with  an  affidavit,  that  about 
1781  or  1782  he  constructed  a  wooden  model  of  a  steamboat,  the 
vertical  wheels  of  which  were  propelled  by  springs  of  hickory  or 
whalebone  acting  upon  the  wheels  by  a  band.' 

One  other  inventor  preceding  Fulton  claims  our  attention,  from 
the  fact  that  he  proposed  to  drive  his  boat  by  twin  screws  pro- 
pelled by  a  high-pressure  engine;  thus  inventing  the  screw  forty 
years  before  it  came  into  general  use  and  before  the  principle  of  the 
paddle  had  been  demonstrated  to  be  successful.  This  inventor  was 
Captain  John  Stevens,  of  Hoboken ;  his  boat  was  fourteen  feet  wide 
by  sixty-eight  long;  its  machinery  is  still  preserved  in  the  Stevens 
Institute  at  Hoboken,  where  the  curious  reader  may  study  it  at  leisure. 
Many  experiments  were  also  made,  as  we  have  seen,  in  England  and 
on  the  Continent.  That  Fulton  was  familiar  with  all  these  devices 
is  doubtful.  How  much  he  borrowed  from  others  is  a  vexed  question; 
but  this  much  is  certain :  he  built  the  first  steamboat  to  make  regu- 
lar trips,  carrying  passengers  and  freight,  and  proving  commercially 
so  profitable  to  her  owners  that  fleets  of  successors  and  rivals  soon 
sprang  into  being.  He  is,  therefore,  fairly  entitled  to  be  considered, 
as  he  has  been  called,  the  father  of  the  steamboat. 

Fulton's  first  successful  boat  was  the  Clermont.  While  in  France 
he  had  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  Robert  R.  Livingston,  then 
American  minister  to  the  Fi-ench  court.  This  gentleman  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  Livingston  family  many  times  referred  to  in  these  pages, 
a  jurist  and  statesman  of  high  reputation.  Born  in  the  city  of  New- 
York  in  1746,  he  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  the  second  Continental 

1  "Appletona' CydopwdU  of  American  Biognphy/'S:  317. 


188  HUflOKT    OF    SEW'TOBX 

(Umffr^rsm  nat  in  Philadfrlphia,  and  as  a  member  of  that  body  was  one 
(d  the  rfomrnittee  r>f  five  to  draft  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
He  wan  anavoidahly  a(j«ent,  however,  on  the  Fonrth  of  July,  1776, 
n(f  that  h'm  name  (htisf^  not  appear  among  the  signers  of  that  immortal 
iriKtniment;  but  he  wa8  active  in  support  of  the  patriot  cause,  having 
nt^rv^A  an  a  raemb^jr  of  Congress  in  1780,  and  as  secretary  for  foreign 
afTairs  from  17H1  t/>  178^}.  His  services  to  bis  State  were  as  great  as 
thoM^9  t^i  his  iifmniry.  Ue  was  a  member  of  the  convention  that,  in 
1777,  fram^j^J  the  first  State  constitution  of  New-York;  and  he  was 
the  first  chanr^ellor  of  New-Tork,  holding  the  office  until  1801,  from 
whi^^h  cauH«;  he  is  gf5nerally  called  in  history  Chancellor  Livingston. 
In  this  capa^^ity  he  will  >>e  remembered  as  having  administered  the 
oath  of  ofHr^5  to  Washington  at  his  first  inauguration  in  1789,  the 
only  Statue  official  to  whom  this  honor  has  fallen.  He  was  appointed 
Unit49d  Stftf^5S  minister  to  Prance  in  1801,  and  retained  the  posi^on 
until  1H04,  when  he  resigned  and  returned  to  New-York,  having 
negotiaUxl,  in  18(K{,  the  [lurchase  of  the  territory  of  Louisiana  from 
the  French  goveniment. 

But  (Jhancellor  Livingston's  services  as  statesman  and  jurist  were 
not  more  valuable,  perhaps,  to  his  country  than  the  results  attained 
by  his  interest  in  its  material  development,  especially  in  the  steam- 
t><)at  and  (;unaL  '4Te  applied  himself  with  uncommon  energy  and 
persnveran(?e,  and  at  great  expense,  to  constructing  vessels  and 
mai^hiiiery  for  that  kind  of  navigation,'^  says  his  biographer,  Cad- 
wallader  I).  Coldon.  "As  early  as  1798  he  believed  that  he  had 
ac(H)mplished  his  object,  and  represented  to  the  Legislature  of 
N(^w-York  that  ho  was  possessed  of  a  mode  of  applying  the  steam- 
engine  to  propel  a  boat  on  new  and  advantageous  principles:  but 
that  ho  was  (h?t<^rrod  from  carrying  it  into  effect  by  the  uncer- 
tainty and  hassard  of  a  very  expensive  experiment  unless  he  could 
bo  assuro<l  of  an  exclusive  advantage  from  it  should  it  be  found 
BU(UM»HHful.  The  Legislature,  in  March,  1798,  passed  an  act  vesting 
Mr.  Livingston  with  the  exclusive  right  and  privilege  of  navigat- 
ing all  kinds  of  botits  which  might  be  propelled  by  the  force  of 
fire  or  sUmm  on  all  the  waters  within  the  territory  or  jurisdiction 
of  tht^  HtaU^  of  New- York  for  the  term  of  twenty  years  from  the 
passing  of  the  act :  upon  condition  that  he  should,  within  a  twelve- 
month, build  such  a  lK>at>i  the  mean  of  whose  progress  lAould  not  be 
less  than  four  miles  an  hour.** 

The  bill,  introduced  by  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  of  New-York,  was 
reeeiviHl  as  a  j<>ko  by  l>oth  houses,  scarcely  a  member  of  which  be- 
lieveii  that  stonm  could  ever  l>e  made  to  supersede  sails ;  and  after  it 
had  Ihhmi  ridiculiHi  and  made  the  subjei*t  of  numei'ous  witticisms,  it 
was  i>ass(Hl,  as  it  would  have  Ih^u  probably  had  the  monopoly  been 


BEQINNINO    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  189 

for  a  thousand  yeai's, — the  franchise,  in  the  opinion  of  the  legislature, 
being  without  value. 

Livingston  at  once  built  a  steamboat  of  thirty  tons  burden,  but  on 
her  trial  trip  she  failed  to  develop  the  necessary  speed,  and  did  not 
therefore  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law ;  the  projector's  departure 
for  France  about  this  time  led  to  the  temporary  abandonment  of  the 
enterprise.  In  France,  however,  Livingston  met  Fulton  and  Barlow, 
as  we  have  seen,  and  his  interest 
iu  steam  navigation  was  revived. 
After  many  conferences  and  ex- 
periments, the  two  former  deter- 
mined to  build  a  pioneer  boat  at 
their  joint  expense,  Mr.  Barlow 
finding  the  necessary  funds  for 
Fulton.  In  April,  1802,  the  lat- 
ter accompanied  Mrs.  Barlow  to 
the  famous  baths  at  Plombi^res 
as  her  escort,  and  there  busied 
himself  by  constructing  with  his 
own  hands  several  models  of 
steamboats.  Ou  his  return  to 
Paris,  in  the  autumn,  the  con- 
struction of  a  steamboat  was 
begun  on  the  Seine,  which  was 
finished  in  the  spring  of  1803. 

A  day  had  been  fixed  for  the  trial,  ^^^  J^^^i^^^^i^^^ 
and  a  party  of  friends  and  scien- 
tists was  invited  to  witness  it;  but,  unfortunately,  the  night  before 
a  gale  swept  down  the  Seine  where  the  boat  lay  moored  to  the  bank, 
and  the  machinery  being  too  heavy  for  the  frame,  the  boat  capsized 
and  sank,  to  the  disappointment  of  her  constructor. 

Fulton,  undismayed,  at  once  began  the  work  of  raising  her,  and 
within  twenty-four  hours  had  the  machinery  upon  the  bank  very 
little  injured ;  the  hull,  however,  was  entirely  ruined,  so  that  it  had  to 
be  replaced  by  a  new  one.  Summer  was  well  advanced  when  this  was 
accomplished ;  but,  early  in  August,  Mr.  Fulton  had  the  pleasure  of 
inviting  the  oflScers  of  the  French  National  Institute,  with  other  dis- 
tinguished citizens  of  Paris,  to  witness  her  trial  trip  ou  the  Seine. 
The  boat  was  sixty-six  feet  in  length  and  eight  feet  in  width,  and  was 
moved  by  paddle-wheels  on  the  sides.  The  trial  proved  satisfactory 
in  every  respect,  except  that  she  did  not  develop  as  much  speed  as  her 
builders  expected.  This  Fulton  attributed  in  part  to  lack  of  power  in 
the  engines,  and  in  part  to  a  faulty  construction  of  the  hull;  but  with 
characteristic  energy  he  at  once  set  about  remedying  the  defects. 


190  •HIOTOBY    OP    NEW-YOEK 

The  two,  Fulton  and  Livingston,  now  decided  to  build  a  larger  and 
much  stronger  boat  for  the  navigation  of  the  Hudson  River.  The 
former  at  once  ordered  a  larger  and  more  powerful  engine  from 
Messrs.  Boulton  and  Watt,  the  famous  engine-builders  of  Birming- 
ham, England,  his  contract  stipulating  that  it  should  be  delivered 
in  America  by  1805,  although  it  did  not  arrive  until  after  Fulton's 
return  in  1806.  The  hull  they  decided  to  build  in  New- York.  Mr. 
Livingston  also  secured,  through  the  aid  of  his  friends,  a  renewal  of 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  navigating  the  waters  of  the  State  by  steam 
— ^Fulton's  name  being  associated  with  his  in  the  new  grant,  the  two 
being  joint  grantees.  The  condition  was  that  they  should,  within  two 
years,  produce  a  steamboat  of  at  least  twenty  tons  burden,  capable  of 
moving  against  the  current  of  the  Hudson  at  a  rate  of  at  least  four 
miles  per  hour.    A  lat^r  act  extended  the  time  to  April,  1807. 

Mr.  Livingston  is  said  by  several  authorities  to  have  furnished  the 
funds  for  building  the  boat,  and  Colonel  Thomas  W.  Knox,  in  his  re- 
cent excellent  life  of  Fulton,  repeats  the  statement.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  funds  for  the  model  of  the  Clermont  were  contrib- 
uted in  part  by  Joel  Barlow,  and  for  the  large  boat  by  several  part- 
ners. While  Fulton  was  at  Plombi^res  in  1802,  Joel  Barlow  wrote 
him :  "  My  project  would  be  that  you  should  pass  directly  over  to 
England,  silent  and  steady,  make  Chapman  construct  an  engine  of 
twelve  inches  while  you  are  building  a  boat  of  proportionate  size. 
Make  the  experiments  on  that  scale  all  quiet  and  quick.  If  it  answers, 
put  the  machinery  on  board  a  vessel  and  go  directly  to  New-York 
(ordering  another  engine,  as  large  as  you  please,  to  follow  you),  then 
secure  your  patent  and  begin  your  operation,  first  small,  and  then 
large.  I  think  I  will  find  you  the  funds  without  any  noise  for  the 
first  operation  in  England,  and  if  it  promises  well  you  will  get  as 
many  funds  and  friends  in  America  as  you  want.  I  should  suggest  a 
small  operation  first  for  several  reasons:  it  can  be  made  without 
noise;  there  must  be  imperfections  in  the  first  trial  which  you  can 
remedy  without  disgrace  if  done  without  noise ;  you  can  easier  find 
funds  for  a  small  experiment."  Livingston  returned  to  America 
in  1805,  Joel  Barlow  in  July  of  the  same  year,  Fulton  in  November, 
1806.  The  latter  was  then  in  funds,  having  from  vested  funds,  as  he 
wrote  Mr.  Barlow,  **five  hundred  pounds  sterling  a  year,  with  a  steam- 
engine  and  pictures  worth  two  thousand  pounds.** 

Fulton,  heeding  Barlow's  advice,  bad  brought  with  him  a  miniature 
engine,  and  hastening  to  the  latter^  country-s^Mit,  near  Washington, 
constructed  there  a  model  of  the  larger  Clermont*  which  the  two 
friends  tried  on  the  quiet  watei^  of  Rook  Creek,  which  flowed  through 
the  grounds.  The  trial  proving  satisfactory,  Fulton  and  Livingston 
next  began  building,  at  the  ship-yaixl  of  Charles  Brown,  on  the  East 


BEannnNO  of  steam  navigation  191 

River,  a  la^e  full-powered  steamboat,  130  feet  long,  16i  feet  wide, 
4  feet  deep,  and  of  160  tone  burden  by  the  custom-houBe  regula- 
tions then  in  force.  The  wheels  were  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  with 
paddles  four  feet  in  lei^h  and  two  feet  in  dip.  The  boiler  was  twenty 
feet  long,  seven  feet  deep,  and  eight  feet  wide.  The  steam-cylinder 
was  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter,  and  bad  a  stroke  of  four  feet. 
It  was  not  until  August,  1807,  that 
she  was  ready  for  her  preliminary 
trip,  which  was  made  at  an  early 
hour,  from  the  ship-yard  to  the  Jer- 
sey shore.  Pew  people,  except  the 
crews  of  vessels  at  anchor  in  the  ; 
harbor,  witnessed  it;  and  these, 
seeing  a  vessel  moving  through  the  '^""^  *"  "'™"«^"'='™- 

water  without  the  aid  of  sails,  and,  indeed,  without  masts  on  which 
to  spread  them,  regarded  the  strange  craft  with  superstitious  awe,  aa 
something  uncanny.  A  few  days  later  her  trial  trip  was  made  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  company  of  invited  guests,  including  several 
members  of  the  legislature :  among  them  Dr.  Mitchill,  the  gentleman 
who  had  secured  the  first  concession  for  Mr.  Li\ing8ton  in  1798. 

Of  this  trial  trip  Mr.  Golden  has  given  the  following  description : 
'*  Nothing  could  exceed  the  surprise  and  admiration  of  all  who  wit- 
nessed the  experiment.  The  minds  of  the  most  incredulous  were 
changed  in  a  few  minutes.  Before  the  boat  had  made  the  progress 
of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the  greatest  unbeliever  must  have  been  con- 
verted. The  man  who,  while  he  looked  on  the  expensive  machine, 
thanked  his  stars  that  be  had  more  wisdom  than  to  waste  his  money 
on  such  idle  schemes,  changed  the  expression  of  his  features  as  the 
boat  moved  from  the  wharf  and  gained  her  speed ;  his  complacent 
smile  gradually  stiffened  into  an  expression  of  wonder.  The  jeers  of 
the  ignorant,  who  had  neither  sense  nor  feeling  enough  to  suppress 
their  contemptuous  ridicule  and  rude  jokes,  were  silenced  for  a  mo- 
ment by  a  vulgar  astonishment,  which  deprived  them  of  the  power  of 
utterance,  till  the  triumph  of  genius  extorted  from  the  incredulous 
multitude,  which  crowded  the  shores,. shouts  and  acclamations  of 
congratulation  and  applause." 

The  trial  showed  to  Fulton  a  defect  in  the  paddle-wheels,  the  buck- 
ets of  which  dipped  too  deeply  in  the  water.  This  having  been  reme- 
died, a  second  trial  showed  great  improvement  in  the  speed.  The 
boat  was  then  advertised  to  run  between  New- York  and  Albany,  for 
the  conveyance  of  passengers  and  freight.  She  was  named  the  Cler- 
mont, after  Chancellor  Livingston's  beautiful  country-seat  on  the 
Hudson.  The  day  of  the  first  sailing  of  the  Clermont  has  been  vari- 
ously given,  but  it  was  probably  on  Monday,  August  11, 1807.    On 


192  ■  mSTOBY    OP    NEW-YORK 

his  return  from  Albany,  Mr.  Pulton  gave,  in  the  "American  Citizen" 
of  New- York,  the  following  official  account  of  the  trip : 

I  arriTed  this  afternoon,  at  four  o'clock,  in  the  steamboat  from  Albany.  Aa  the 
aaooess  of  my  experiment  ^vea  me  fpreat  hopes  that  saoh  boats  may  be  rendered  of 
f^reat  importance  to  my  country,  to  prevent  erroneous  opinions,  aod  give  Bome  satis- 
faction  to  the  friends  of  useful  improvements,  yon  will  have  the  goodness  to  publish 
the  following  facts : 

I  left  New- York  on  Monday  at  one  o'clock,  and  arrived  at  Clermont,  the  seat  of 
Chancellor  Livingston,  at  one  o'clock  on  Tuesday :  time,  twenty-four  hoois ;  distance, 
one  hundred  and  ten  miles.  On  Wednesday  I  departed  from  the  Chancellor's  at  nine 
in  the  morning,  and  arrived  at  Albany  at  five  in  the  afternoon :  distance,  forty  miles ; 
time,  eight  hours.  The  sum  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  thirty-two  hours — 
equal  to  near  five  miles  an  hour.  On  Thursday,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  left 
Albany,  and  arrived  at  the  Chancellor's  at  six  in  the  evening.  I  started  from  thence 
at  seven,  and  arrived  at  New-York  at  four  in  the  afternoon :  time,  thirty  hours;  space 
run  through,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles — equal  to  five  miles  an  hour.  Throughout 
my  whole  way,  both  going  and  returning,  the  wind  was  ahead ;  no  advantage  could 
be  derived  from  my  sails.  The  whole  has,  therefore,  been  performed  by  the  power  of 
the  steam-engine. 

To  his  friend  Mr.  Bartow  he  wrote  with  more  freedom  and  ani- 
mation: "My  steamboat  voyage  to  Albany  and  back  has  tamed  out 
rather  more  favorable  than  I  had  calculated.  ...  I  overtook  many 

sloops  and  schoouers 
beating  to  windward, 
and  parted  with  them 
as  if  they  had  been  at 
anchor.  .  .  .  The  morn- 
ing I  left  New  York 
there  were  not  perhaps 
thirty  persons  in  the 
city  who  believed  that 
the  boat  would  ever 
move  one  mile  an  hour, 
c«aMo«T  MAKoa-HoraE.  ^^  ^e  of  the  least  util- 

ity! While  we  were 
putting  off  from  the  wharf;  which  was  crowded  with  spectators, 
I  heard  a  number  of  sarcastic  remarks.  This  is  the  way  in  which 
ignorant  men  compliment  what  they  call  philosophers  and  projectors. 
...  It  will  give  a  cheap  and  quick  conveyance  to  the  merchandise 
on  the  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  other  great  rivers  which  are  now 
laying  open  their  treasures  to  the  enterprise  of  our  countrymen;  and 
although  the  prospect  of  personal  emolument  has  been  some  induce- 
ment to  me,  yet  I  feel  iofinitely  more  pleasure  in  reflecting  on  the 
immense  advantage  my  country  will  derive  from  the  invention."' 

■  C.  B.Todd."Ufeof  J«f4Butow.''p.333:  J.  F.  RdcHt.  "Ufvof  Robert  FnlUD."  p.  174. 


BEGINNING    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  193 

An  eye-witness  of  the  progress  of  the  Clermont  up  the  Hudson  has 
given  this  account  of  it: 

In  the  early  autumn  of  the  year  1807,  a  knot  of  villagers  was  gathered  on  a  high 
bluff  just  opposite  Poughkeepsie  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson,  attracted  by  the 
appearance  of  a  strange  dark-looking  craft  which  was  slowly  making  its  way  up  the 
river.  Some  imagined  it  to  be  a  sea-monster,  while  others  did  not  hesitate  to  express 
their  opinion  that  it  was  a  sign  of  the  approaching  judgment.  What  seemed  strange 
in  the  vessel  was  the  substitution  of  lofty  and  strange  black  smoke-pipes  rising  from 
the  deck  instead  of  the  gracefully  tapered  masts  that  commonly  stood  on  the  vessels 
navigating  the  stream,  and,  in  place  of  the  spars  and  rigging,  the  curious  play  of  the 
walking-beam  and  pistons,  and  the  slow  turning  and  splashing  of  the  huge  and  naked 
paddle-wheels,  met  the  astonished  gaze.  The  dense  clouds  of  smoke,  as  they  rose  wave 
upon  wave,  added  still  more  to  the  wonder  of  the  rustics. 

This  strange-looking  craft  was  the  Clermont  on  her  trial  trip  to  Albany;  and  of 
the  little  knot  of  villagers  above  mentioned,  the  writer,  then  a  boy  in  his  eighth  year, 
with  his  parents,  formed  a  part:  I  well  remember  the  scene,  one  so  Well  fitted  to 
impress  a  lasting  picture  upon  the  mind  of  a  child  accustomed  to  watch  the  vessels 
that  passed  up  and  down  the  river.  The  forms  of  four  persons  were  distinctly  visible 
on  the  deck  as  she  passed  the  bluff — one  of  whom  doubtless  was  Robert  Pulton,  who 
had  on  board  with  him  all  the  cherished  hopes  of  years,  the  most  precious  cargo  the 
wonderful  boat  could  carry.  On  her  return  trip  the  curiosity  she  excited  was  scarcely 
less  intense — the  whole  country  talked  of  nothing  but  the  sea -monster  belching  forth 
fire  and  smoke.  The  fishermen  became  terrified  and  rowed  homewards;  for  they  saw 
nothing  but  destruction  devastating  their  fishing  grounds;  while  the  wreaths  of  black 
\Tipor  and  rushing  noise  of  the  paddle-wheels  foaming  with  the  stirred  up  waters  pro- 
duced great  excitement  among  the  boatmen  until  the  character  of  that  curious  boat, 
and  the  nature  of  the  enterprise  she  was  pioneering,  had  been  ascertained.^ 

Some  few  alterations  and  repairs  were  suggested  to  Fulton  by  this 
experimental  passagfe,  such  as  boarding  up  the  sides,  decking  over  the 
boiler  and  works,  furnishing  each  cabin  with  twelve  berths,  and 
strengthening  many  parts  of  the  ironwork.  All  through  the  autumn 
the  Clermont  continued  to  run  as  a  packet,  her  quick  and  regular 
passages  and  the  novelty  of  the  trip  usually  attracting  a  full  com- 
plement of  passengers.  This  awakened  the  jealousy  of  the  owners  of 
sailing  vessels,  who  sued  out  an  injunction  restraining  Fulton  from 
making  use  of  the  steamboat,  on  the  ground  that  the  navigation  of 
the  river  from  use  immemorial  belonged  to  them.  This  case,  absurd 
as  it  seems,  was  one  of  the  causes  ceUhr^es  of  the  day,  Daniel  Webster 
being  retained  as  counsel  for  the  defendants,  who  won  their  case,  as 
they  deserved.  Wilful  attempts  to  destroy  the  vessel  by  running 
afoul  of  her  and  in  other  ways  were  also  made.  At  last  the  legisla- 
ture was  appealed  to,  and  at  its  session  of  1807-8  passed  a  law  add- 
ing five  years  to  the  exclusive  privilege  of  Fulton  and  Livingston 
for  every  new  boat  added,  provided  the  whole  term  did  not  exceed 
thirty  years,  and  appending  a  clause  declaring  that  all  combinations 
to  destroy  the  Clermont  or  any  other  steamboat,  and  all  wilful 

I  Reigaifs  "Fulton,'*  pp.  175, 176;  extract  from  letter  of  H.  Freeland,  dated  January  4, 1856. 
Vol.  m.— 13. 


194  HlffTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

attetnpto  to  injure  them,  were  public  crimes,  punishable  by  fine  and 
impriftoiiment. 

The  patentoeB  were  also  exposed  to  untold  annoyance  and  loss  bj 
attaeltH  upon  their  patent  rights,  and  npon  the  exclusive  privilege  of 

X>/f/i^  P^tU-t-L,  A^O^  AV^i«-V  A-  **t^-r*<^£.tL^i^^^^Zj^,,^/t.,^^ 


C^ta'^ft--*-^*'*-^^ 


'^"^^^^-''feit^^***  (/•'ie**-*^ 


^^ 


FA<^*nm,«  or  lrtu  wwmx  »t  M»nn-  mTox. 

navigation  that  had  been  given  them.  Men  who  had  lai^^bed  at  the 
)we)v>8terv>us  littie  craft  on  the  stocks  now  hastened  to  secnre  pat^its 
on  the  most  obvious  ii'i-r^v,  m,  tits,  many  of  them  added  by  Fnlton 
himself,  and  sn^me  of  them  already  covered  by  his  patents.'  Finan- 
<qers  wh«^  had  scoffed  at  the  {dan  of  moving  boats  by  st««in,  and  had 


BEGINNING    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  195 

refused  it  financial  aid,  now  scented  a  golden  shower,  and  suddenly 
discovered  that  Fulton's  exclusive  privilege  was  a  monopoly,  resolved 
that  monopolies  were  dangerous  and  illegal,  and  proceeded  to  break 
this  one  by  establishing  rival  lines  of  boats.  The  two  inventors,  in- 
stead of  sitting  down  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  hard-earned  victory, 
were  engaged  in  constant  lawsuits  to  preserve  what  had  been  won, 
precisely  as  was  the  case  with  Morse  half  a  century  later. 

Fulton's  first  patent  for  improvements  in  moving  boats  by  steam 
was  dated  February  11,  1809.  Two  years  later  he  secured  a  second 
patent,  covering  boats  and  machinery.  Others,  however,  had  pre- 
ceded him  in  taking  out  patents  on  his  own  inventions.  One  of  the 
most  notable  of  these  was  a  "  pendulum-boat,"  constructed  by  an 
ingenious  gentleman  of  New-York,  with  paddle-wheels  intended  to  be 
moved  by  the  oscillations  of  a  pendulum.  While  the  boat  was  on  the 
stocks,  and  the  wheels  met  only  the  resistance  of  the  air,  this  motor 
worked  to  perfection ;  but  when  in  the  water  it  was  found  that  the 
pendulum  could  not  move  the  wheels,  except  by  the  application  to  it 
of  a  great  power ;  and  steam  being  the  only  thing  available,  a  steam- 
engine  was  introduced,  and  employed  to  move  the  pendulum,  which, 
in  turn,  moved  the  paddle-wheels.  For  this  contrivance  the  genius 
obtained  a  patent ;  and  as  Fulton  had  proven  the  commercial  future 
of  the  steamboat,  he  had  no  diflSculty  in  organizing  a  company  to 
place  boats  of  this  design  in  commission.  Fulton  and  Livingston 
sued  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  an  injunction,  but  the 
judge  decided  that  he  was  without  jurisdiction,  and  the  case  was  car- 
ried to  the  State  Court  of  Chancery.  The  chancellor,  however,  after 
hearing  arguments  on  both  sides,  refused  to  grant  an  injunction. 
The  plaintiffs  then  appealed  to  the  Court  of  Errors,  which,  for  this 
case,  was  composed  of  the  State  Senate  and  the  five  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court ;  and  that  body,  in  the  winter  of  1812,  unanimously 
reversed  the  decision  of  the  lower  court,  and  ordered  a  perpetual  in- 
junction. To  prevent  further  violation  of  the  laws  of  this  character, 
the  legislature  of  1811  enacted  a  law  providing  more  stringent  penal- 
ties for  their  infringement ;  but  this  could  not  wholly  restrain  eager 
rivals,  and  Fulton's  last  days  were  embittered,  and  his  end  no  doubt 
hastened,  by  the  struggle  to  secure  for  himself  a  part,  at  least,  of  the 
fruit  of  his  long  years  of  labor  and  experiment. 

Meantime  the  Clermont  had  been  improved,  and  had  begun  run- 
ning as  a  regular  packet  between  New- York  and  Albany,  making  the 
round  trip  in  seventy-two  hours.  As  the  sloops  and  schooners,  here- 
tofore the  only  packets,  were  from  four  to  seven  days  in  making  the 
distance  between  New- York  and  Albany,  her  superiority  was  mani- 
fest^ and  the  traveling  public  hastened  to  patronize  her.  When  one 
reflects  that  for  one  dollar  the  passenger  may  now  be  transported  on 


196  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YOEK 

palatial  steamerE  iu  a  single  day  or  night  from  one  city  to  the  other, 
the  fares  seem  high  enough  to  have  proved  remunerative.' 

The  great  achievement  was  almost  unheralded  by  the  press.  In  the 
"Commercial  Advertiser,"  the  leading  newspaper  of  New -York  at  that 
time,  we  do  not  find  a  single  reference  to  it,  except  that  PiUton's  letter 
to  the  "American  Citizen"  is  reprinted.  In  the  "Gazette"  of  August 
22  is  this  simple  announcement: 
"  Mr.  Fulton's  new  invented  steam- 
boat yesterday  returned  to  this  city 
from  Albany,  having  performed  the 
passage  to  and  from  that  place  iti 
little  more  than  four  days."  On 
October  5,  the  "Albany  Gazette" 
said:  "Mr.  Fulton's  new  steam- 
boat left  New- York  on  the  2d,  at 
10  A.  H.,  against  a  very  strong  tide, 
FiBKY  TicKKT.  ^^^  rough  watcr,  and  a  violent 

gale  from  the  north.  She  made  a 
headway  against  the  most  sanguine  expectations,  and  without  being 
rocked  by  the  waves."  The  editors  of  that  day  seem  to  have  con- 
sidered the  project  too  chimerical  to  be  worthy  of  attention,  or  per- 
haps they  thought  their  readers  more  interested  in  the  trial  of  Aaron 
Burr,  then  taking  place  at  Richmond,  and  in  the  exciting  moves  on 
the  European  chessboard  then  in  progress. 

Other  boats  were  soon  built — the  Car  of  Neptune,  a  boat  of  two 
hundred  and  ninety-five  tons  measurement,  in  1808 ;  the  Paragon  in 
1811;  and  others  the  dates  of  whose  construction  have  not  been  pre- 
served. The  later  development  of  the  steamboat,  and  the  fierce  com- 
petitions to  which  it  gave  rise,  will  be  narrated  in  another  chapter. 
The  history  of  the  invention  of  the  steam  ferry-boat,  however,  prop- 
erly belongs  to  this  period. 

Up  to  1812  the  only  means  of  ferriage  across  the  North  and  East 
rivers  were  "  horse-boats,"  small  craft  moved  by  paddle-wheels  which 
were  turned  by  four  horses  walking  around  a  shaft  on  board  the  boat. 
The  fare,  we  read,  was  four  cents.  Pulton,  in  1811,  began  the  con- 
struction of  two  steam  ferry-boats  for  the  North  River,  and  completed 
both  in  1812.  Others  soon  followed  for  the  East  River.  Cadwallader 
D.  Golden,  in  his  life  of  Fulton,  describes  them  as  having  been  twin 

ITheTVWvu  foOoirm:  Pinm  yew-Tort  t«V«^  u)f  Ot  linw.  •«  foDoin;  Npwbnn:  (It  honnl.  13; 

pluMk'*  Point,  ta;  VtM  PeinX.  C50:  Kewtarc.  PaoKUuvpiite  (IT  hooral.  M;  Empiu  |3D  hoan). 

•3:  Pgoxliktvpil*.  13.50 :  Hndaon.  IS :  Albuy.«7.  tS;  BiMboo  iW  honrsl.  IS.SO:  AlbuT  |36  faonn). 

Paeaaigm  otliFr  thui  tliofF  hound  to  lb«  nfmbr  |7.    Tbls  aehrdnir  is  pnfanci  by  tlw  f<dloiriiiK 

l>iidiiMr*«vracluiivtdoi!*doll*rprrtimityml)nL  annoanraiwiit:  "ThvN'ortb  Kth  nMmlKttt  will 

An  BdTTrtisnnnt  In  (hp  "Altany  f)uFttF''(thr  Imtt  Panta*  Rook  on  PndaT.  4lh  of  Sefitember. 

mij  one  we  bkn>  bMO  kblr  to  flnd  in  N««-Tork  •:<>«.  v..  uid  tnivr  ml  Albaoy  at  9  in  t]ip  mt\rr- 

«r  Albany  Joomabl.  dated   SeptHnhrr  I.  1i«>7.  noun.    Prnvinonii.  pMid  btttks.  and  aMaauaod*- 

(In*  a  dlfcuat  tMp  of  fU*.  and  aho  the  schcd-  tion*  are  pntrtdfd." 


BEOINNINO    0F    STEAM    NAVIGATION 


FJ.A^  of  tlie  IITT  of  NEl^  YORK 


198  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

boats,  each  being  two  complete  hulls  united  by  a  deck  or  bridge, 
sharp  at  both  ends,  so  that  they  could  move  with  equal  facility  back- 
ward or  forward,  or  retrace  their  course  without  turning.  Fulton 
also  invented  for  them  the  floating  or  movable  dock,  and  the  method 
by  which  the  boats  were  brought  to  them  without  shock. 

In  the  "American  Medical  and  Philosophical  Register"  for  Octo- 
ber, 1812,  Fulton  gave  a  description  of  these  boats,  from  which  we 
cite  the  following :  "  The  boat  which  I  am  now  constructing  will 
have  some  important  improvements,  particularly  in  the  power  of  the 
engine  to  overcome  strong  ebb  tides:  from  which  again  other  im- 
provements will  be  made  as  in  all  new  inventions.  The  present  boat 
crosses  the  river — ^which  is  a  mile  and  a  half  broad — when  it  is  calm, 
in  fifteen  minutes.  The  average  time  is  twenty  minutes.  She  has 
had  in  her,  at  one  time,  eight  four-wheel  carriages,  twenty-nine  horses, 
and  one  hundred  passengers,  and  could  have  taken  three  hundred 
persons  more."  Except  in  the  increased  power  of  her  engines,  the 
modern  ferry-boat  shows  little  improvement  over  the  pioneers  of  1812. 

Fulton's  great  invention  would  probably  have  attracted  more  atten- 
tion but  for  the  unrest  and  upheavals  in  the  political  and  business 
affairs  of  the  city.  The  embargo  act  of  December  22,  1807,  passed 
by  Congress,  on  Jefferson's  recommendation,  to  force  the  repeal  of 
the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees  of  Napoleon,  and  of  the  British  orders 
in  council,  had  the  same  effect  as  a  blockading  of  American  ports. 
New- York,  being  the  chief  commercial  city  of  the  Union,  was  most 
severely  crippled  by  the  act.  Her  immense  trade  with  South  and 
Central  America,  and  the  East  and  West  Indies,  was  practically  inter- 
dicted, as  well  as  that  with  France  and  England,  since  any  vessel 
trading  with  either  was  exposed  to  capture  and  condemnation.  Ware- 
houses were  closed,  clerks  discharged,  grass  grew  upon  the  silent 
docks,  costly  ships  that  had  been  the  pride  of  the  seas  chafed  at  the 
piers,  or  went  to  decay  in  the  harbor ;  while  incomes  that  had  been 
sufficient  to  maintain  their  possessors  in  lavish  style  dwindled  to 
almost  nothing.  Farmer  and  artisan  alike  were  debarred  from  the 
markets  of  the  world. 

The  Federalists  and  Republicans  were  the  two  chief  parties  in  the 
city  at  this  time,  although  there  were  many  warring  factions  com- 
posed of  partizans  of  the  leading  families.  The  Federalists  de- 
nounced the  embargo  act  without  stint,  both  from  self-interest  and 
because  it  was  a  measure  of  the  opposite  party.  They  said  it  would 
not  effect  the  desired  end,  the  purpose  of  both  belligerents  being  to 
force  the  United  States  to  declare  war  against  one  or  the  other;  that 
neither  nation  would  suffer  seriously  from  the  interdiction;  and  that 
it  was  therefore  as  useless  as  it  was  mischievous.  The  Republicans, 
on  the  other  hand,  maintained  that  the  embargo  policy  prevented  the 


B£aiNNING    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  199 

capture  of  our  vessels,  and  kept  us  from  being  embroiled  in  the  war 
then  raging  between  the  two  nations. 

The  "American  Citizen,'^  the  organ  of  the  Clintonians,  bitterly  op- 
posed the  measure.  A  public  meeting  was  held  in  New-York  in  1808, 
at  which  speeches  were  made  denouncing  the  policy  of  the  party  then 
in  power,  and  resolutions  calling  for  the  repeal  of  the  embargo  were 
passed.  The  Clintonian  faction  triumphed  in  the  local  election  of 
February,  1808,  and  De  Witt  Clinton  was  restored  to  the  mayoralty 
of  the  city.  He  had  been  removed  in  1807  by  the  council  of  appoint- 
ment, and  Marinus  Willett  appointed  in  his  place.  Pierre  Cortlandt 
Van  Wyck,  the  former  recorder,  was  also  restored  to  his  ofl&ce,  the 
incumbent,  Maturin  Livingston,  being  removed. 

In  1809  Jefferson,  as  one  of  the  last  acts  of  his  administration,  con- 
sented to  a  repeal  of  the  embargo  act  except  in  the  case  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  and  the  substitution  of  non-intercourse  instead, 
and  the  city's  business  and  prospects  improved.  Domestic  manu- 
factures revived,  especially  the  woolen  manufacture.  There  was  also 
great  activity  in  erecting  new  fortifications  and  strengthening  old 
ones  designed  for  the  defense  of  the  city;  for  England,  by  her  orders 
in  council  leveled  against  our  commerce,  and  by  insisting  on  her  right 
to  search  American  vessels  and  impress  all  seamen  of  her  nationality, 
whether  naturalized  or  not,  found  on  board  of  them,  was  becoming 
so  aggressive  that  war  seemed  imminent.  In  1807,  we  read,  govern- 
ment decided  "to  enlarge  the  works  on  Governor's  Island,  to  erect  a 
powerful  marine  battery  on  the  north-west  point  of  that  island,  ex- 
tend the  works  on  Ellis  Island,  and  erect  a  strong  fort  with  two  or 
three  tiers  of  guns  on  the  battery." 

Madison  succeeded  Jeflferson  as  president  on  March  4,  1809,  and 
the  strife  of  parties  grew  less  intense,  although  the  war-cloud  still 
loomed  portentous.  In  the  election  of  1809  the  Federalists  carried  the 
State  of  New- York,  and  the  new  council  of  appointment  chose  Jacob 
Badcliff  mayor  in  place  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  and  Josiah  Ogden  Hoff- 
man recorder  instead  of  Pierre  Cortlandt  Van  Wyck.  At  the  next 
election,  however,  by  a  combination  of  the  Clinton  and  Livingston 
factions,  the  Republican  ticket  was  elected,  and  Clinton  and  Van 
Wyck  were  restored  to  their  oflBces. 

One  of  the  events  of  this  summer  of  1809  was  the  celebration,  by 
the  New- York  Historical  Society,  of  the  two-hundredth  anniversary 
of  the  discovery  of  the  island  of  Manhattan  by  Henry  Hudson.  This 
society  had  been  organized  so  recently  as  1804  by  men  of  the  highest 
standing  in  letters,  art,  and  scholarship  in  New-York,  and  was  already 
beginning  to  make  its  influence  felt  by  inculcating  a  love  for  histori- 
cal research,  and  by  its  efforts  to  preserve  the  annals  of  the  city  and 
colony.    For  the  anniversary  celebration  the  city  fathers  tendered  the 


200 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


use  of  the  large  "front  court-room"  of  the  City  Hall,  where  the  liter- 
ary exercises  were  held  on  September  4, 1809,  Governor  Tompkius,  the 
mayor  and  corporation,  and  a  large  company  of  distinguished  citi- 
zens being  present.  The  chief  feature 
of  the  day  was  a  "learned  and  in- 
teresting discourse"  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  Miller,  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  society. 

After  the  address  the  members  of 
the  society  and  invited  guests  pro- 
ceeded to  the  City  Tavern  on  Broad- 
way, and  "at  4  p.  M.  sat  down  to  an 
elegant  dinner  prepared  by  Messrs. 
Fay  and  Gibson,  consisting  of  a  vari- 
ety of  shell  and  other  fish  with  which 
our  waters  abound,  wild  pigeons  and 
succotash  (Indian  com  and  beans), 
the  favorite  dish  of  the  season,  with 
the  different  meats  introduced  into 
this  country  by  the  European  settlers.^ 
The  toasts  proposed  at  this  dinner,  pre- 
served in  the  records  of  the  society,  are  interesting,  some  as  showing 
the  mode  of  thought  of  our  forefathers,  others  as  illustrating  the 
trend  of  public  sentiment  at  that  time.    They  were: 


"ChristopherColiunbus,  the  discoverer  of  America.  Hia  monament  is  not  inscribed 
with  his  name,  yet  all  nations  recognize  it.  Hia  fame  covers  half  the  globe  and  its 
summit  reaches  beyond  the  clouds."  "Qaeen  Isabella  of  Spain — The  magnanimous 
and  munificent  friend  and  patron  of  Columbus."  "John  and  Sebastian  Cabot  —The 
contemporaries  of  Columbus  and  the  discoverers  of  North  America."  "John.  Vena- 
sano — HiH  enterprising  genius,  and  his  visit  to  this  part  of  the  country  deserve  to  be 
better  known."  "Henry  Hudson — The  enterprising  and  intrepid  navigator.  Though 
disastrous  his  end  yet  fortunate  his  renown,  for  the  majestic  river  which  bears  hb 
name  shall  render  it  immortal."  "The  Fourth  of  September,  1609^  The  day  on  which 
Hudson  landed  on  our  shores."  "  Wonter  Van  Twiller—  The  first  Governor  of  New 
Netberland."  "  Peter  StnyveBaat — The  last  Dutch  Governor,  an  intrepid  soldier  and 
faithful  officer."  "Bichard  Nicolls — The  First  English  Qovemor  of  the  Provinoe  of 
New- York."  "George  Clinton  — The  first  Governor  of  the  State  of  New- York." 
"William  Smith — The  historian  of  New-York."  "Richard  Haklnyt  and  Samuel 
Pnrcfaas — May  future  compilers  of  historical  doooments  emulate  their  diligence  and 
fidelity."    "William  Smith,  Cadwallader Colden,  Samuel  Smith,  Jeremy  Belknap, and 

I  Mlnntes  of  tbe  New-Tork  Hlstorlckl  Sodety.  vhile  Rtill  ■  y ountt  man  wiu  raised  to  tbe  bench  of 

1 :  23.  Qie  Supreme  Court.    Therenpon  he  took  up  hi« 

:  Mayor  Badeliff  wts  the  bod  of  William  Rad-  resldeDce  Id  New-Tork  City ;  but  eventually  re- 

cliff,  >  oaptain  of  militls  at  the  beginning  of  tbe  signed  from  tbe  beneb  and  Temmed  practice 


le  to  the  rank  of  brigadier 


U  appointed  mayn-,  holding  tbe  poaition 


,  studied  law.  and  began  practice  * 


h  was  the  oldeet  of     one  year;  and  again  in  t^e  years  ISIG,  1S16,  ■ 


Poughkeepvle.   He  ms  eminently  m««e«aful,  and     during  hia  mayoralty. 


181T.    Tbe  population  of  tbe  dty  reached  IW.OOO 


BEQINNINO    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION 


201 


George  itichards  Mmot— American  historians.  They  have  merited  the  gratitude  of 
their  coantry."  "The  United  States  of  America— May  our  prosperity  ever  confirm 
the  belief  that  the  discovery  of  onr  country  was  a  blessing  to  mankind."  "  The  State 
of  New-Yoi^ — May  it  ever  be  the  pleasing  task  of  the  historian  to  record  events  that 
shall  evince  the  wisdom  of  her  Legislature,  and  display  the  virtue  of  her  people." 
*'  The  Masaachnsetts  Historical  Society,  which  set  the  honorable  example  of  collect- 
ing and  preserving  what  relates  to  the  history  of  oar  country."  "Our  Forefathers — 
To  whose  enterprise  and  fortitude  uader  Providence  we  owe  the  blessings  we  enjoy." 

After  the  governor  and  mayor  had  retired, 
certain  volunteer  toasts  were  offered,  as  fol- 
lows: By  William  Johnson  (the  chairman)  — 
"  The  Governor  of  the  Stato  of  New- York." 
By  John  Kntard— "The  Mayor  and  Corpora- 
tion of  the  City  of  New- York."  By  Dr.  Sam- 
uel L.  Hitohill — "A  speedy  termination  of  our 
foreign  relatdons."  By  Simeon  De  Witt— "May 
our  successors  a  century  hence  celebrate  the 
same  event  which  we  this  day  commemorate." 
By  Dr.  David  Hosack — "  The  memory  of  Saint 
Nicholas.  May  the  virtuous  habits  and  simple 
manners  of  onr  Dutch  ancestors  be  not  lost  in 
the  luxuries  and  reflnetnents  of  the  present 
time."  By  Ju<^e  Pendleton —"  May  the  same 
virtues  and  the  same  industry  combine  in  our 
land  which  have  converted  an  Indian  cornfield 
into  a  Botanic  Garden."  By  Josiah  Ogden 
Hoffman- "Egbert  Benson,  onr  absent  and 
respected  president."  By  Colonel  Curtonius — 
"  Pierre  Van  Cortlandt, 
Governor  of  the  State  o: 

Galen,  Swedish  Consul — "  The  mouth  of  the  Hudson.  May  it  soon  have  a  sharp  set 
of  teeth  to  show  in  its  defense."  By  the  recordi:^  secretary  (Mr.  Pintard)— "  The 
American  Fair,  without  whose  endearing  society  this  western  world,  the  rich  inheri- 
tance from  our  enterprising  ancestors,  would  still  be  a  wilderness  indeed." 

The  occasioD  proved  of  great  benefit  to  the  infant  society,  as  it 
directed  public  attention  to  it  and  greatly  increased  its  prestige. 
Among  the  notable  men  proposed  for  membership  at  this  time  were 
Oliver  Wolcott,  David  B.  Ogden,  William  Paulding,  Jr.,  Washington 
Irving,  and  Richard  Riker,  later  recorder.  At  the  same  time  Lind- 
ley  Murray,  Noah  Webster,  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  George  Gibbs, 
Timothy  Alden,  Rev.  Dr.  Jedediah  Morse,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Elliott,  Rev. 
Dr.  William  Samuel  Johnson,  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  Trumbull,  Dr.  Tim- 
othy Dwight  (president  of  Yale  College),  Rev.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith 
(president  of  Princeton  College),  Josiah  Quincy,  and  Vice-President 
CJeorge  Clinton  were  elected  honorary  members. 

Dming  this  period  the  present  City  Hall  was  built,  the  corner-stone 
having  been  laid  by  Edward  Livingston  in  1803.  The  front  and  side 
walls  were  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  marble,  and  when  finished, 
in  lftl2,  it  was  pronounced  the  finest  public  edifice  in  the  United 


By  Colonel  Curtonius —          , — - 
idt,  the  first  Lieutenant-        (^^c<.<^-t,jrC    .^^'tt****^ 
e  of  New- York."    By  Mr.  ^ 


202 


UUnOB¥    OF    NEW-TORK 


Htates.  The  City  Hall  Park  during  this  period  is  described  as  hav- 
ing been  a  Iteautifut  place,  the  walks  and  grass-plots  being  trimly 
kept,  and  ahatled  by  groves  of  elm,  poplar,  willows,  and  catalpas. 
Fronting  upon  it  were  some  notable  edifices — the  Park  Theater,  Dr. 
Hpring'H  Brick  Church,  Tammany  Hall,  the  Xew-York  Gardens,  Me- 
chanioB'  Hall,  and  the  London  HoteL  There  were  also  a  Shakespeare 
gallery  and  an  English  and  French  reading-room.  The  Park  Theater 
was  then  the  fasliionable  place  of  amusement  Here,  in  November, 
1810,  the  English  actor  George  Frederic  Cooke  appeared  in  "King 
Richard  III.,"  and  attracted  large  audiences,  the  crush  being  so  great 
that  many  ladies  and  gentlemen  gained  their  boxes  by  entering  an 
alley  in  the  rear  of  the  theater. 

It  was  a  period  of  church-building,  changes,  and  removals.  The 
UpiscopalianB  at  this  time  led  in  the  number  of  church  edifices, 

having  foiuteen,  includ- 
ing chapels.  St.  James 
Church  was  erected 
some  two  miles  east  of 
St  Michael's,  in  1810. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  F. 
Jarvis  served  as  rector 
of  both  until  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of 
Biblical  Learning  in  the 
New  General  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  in  1818. 
Calvary  Church  was 
founded  the  same  yeai- 
as  St  Michael's— 1810— 
through  the  devoted  la- 
bors of  the  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin P.  Aydelott  The  church  edifice  stood  near  Corlaer's  Hook. 
The  most  notable  church  in  the  city  in  1810  was  Dr.  Gardiner 
Spring's  Brick  (Presbyterian)  Church,  which  stood  on  or  near  the 
present  site  of  the  "Times^  building.  Dr.  Spring  was  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  pulpit  orators  of  his  day,  and  served  as  pastor  of 
the  Brick  Church  for  fifty  years,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  dur- 
ing this  period  he  received  invitations  to  become  president  of  Hamil- 
ton and  Dartmouth  colleges  in  turn.  The  Wall  Street  Presbyterian 
Church  was  rebuilt  in  1810,  and  greatly  enlarged.  The  Orange  Street 
Chnrefa  was  fonnded  in  1809,  and  in  1810  the  congregation  began 

1  It  nood  on  the  dt»  «f  th»  Nerraml  OciU««k^  on  l>44  on  Lrnoz  HilL  ronm  at  Madisoo  ATennp 
DlZtj^nlnlh  MnM.  itMir  Puk  Avroina.  Tbr  ptm-  mid  SeTrntT-Ant  HH'MI.  Bfar  thr  Lraoi  Utmry. 
*at  aad  Ab<  St.  Juar*  Chnrph  mM  rrrrtvd  in  EDimB. 


ST.  JAMES  CBUROa,    IN 


BEGINNING    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION  203 

building  a  church  edifice  in  Spring  street,  near  Varick.  At  the  same 
time  the  Third  Associate  Church  began  building  an  imposing  stone 
structure  on  Murray  street,  nearly  opposite  Columbia  College.  The 
latter  was  completed  in  1812,  the  able  and  eloquent  Dr.  John  M. 
Mason  becoming  its  first  pastor.  The  Methodists  and  Baptists  were 
not  idle  during  this  period.  The  former  built  two  new  church  edi- 
fices— the  Allen  street  and  the  Bedford  street  churched.  The  Bap- 
tists built  the  Mulberry  Street  Church  and  the  North  Beriah  Church. 

Although  the  embargo  act  and  the  rumors  of  war  led  to  the  stagna- 
tion of  trade,  the  city  continued  to  grow  during  this  period  at  a  pace 
which  nothing  could  retard.  Old  streets  were  "regulated,"  widened, 
and  paved.  New  streets  were  laid  out;  large  tracts  of  outlying  lands 
came  into  the  market,  were  sold,  surveyed,  divided  into  city  lots,  and 
covered  with  shops  and  residences.  The  lands  of  Trinity  Church  on 
the  west  side  were  the  first  to  be  taken  up  and  settled,  that  corpora- 
tion having  generously  presented  to  the  city  all  the  lands  required  for 
streets  through  its  property.  In  1808  alone  it  ceded  to  the  city  for 
this  purpose  land  for  Greenwich  street  from  Spring  street  north  to 
the  limit  of  its  property,  for  Hudson  street  from  North  Moore  street 
to  Vestry  street,  for  Washington  street  from  Christopher  street  to  the 
Hudson  River,  for  Varick  street  from  North  Moore  street  to  Vestry 
street,  for  Beach  street  from  Hudson  to  the  eastern  limit  of  its  prop- 
erty, for  Laight  street  from  Hudson  to  its  eastern  boundary,  for 
Vestry  street  from  Greenwich  street  to  its  eastern  boundary,  for  Des- 
brosses  street  from  Greenwich  street  to  the  Hudson  River,  for  Le 
Roy  street  from  Hudson  street  to  the  Hudson  River,  for  King,  Charl- 
ton, Van  Dam,  Clarkson,  Hamersley,  Barrow,  and  Morton  streets,  as 
far  east  and  west  as  the  church  lands  extended,  for  an  alley  twenty- 
five  feet  wide  in  the  rear  of  St.  John's  Church,  and  for  another  of  the 
same  width  from  Beach  street  to  Laight. 

At  Canal  street  the  engineers  were  confronted  with  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  encountered  in  the  laying  out  of  the  city,  and  few 
urban  sites  have  presented  greater  obstacles  to  engineers  than  the 
hills,  crags,  and  swamps  of  Manhattan  Island.  The  whole  course  of 
the  modem  Canal  street  was  then  low,  marshy  ground  partially  over- 
flowed in  the  wet  season, — so  low  indeed  that  during  high  tides  it  was 
asserted  that  the  waters  of  the  East  River  and  the  Hudson  met  in  the 
center  of  the  island.  Small  brooks,  rising  at  about  the  present  inter- 
section of  Broadway  and  Canal,  flowed  sluggishly,  the  one  east  into 
the  East  River,  the  other  west  into  the  Hudson.  By  1808  the  line  of 
houses  along  the  Bowery  had  crept  up  as  far  as  Bond  street.  Canal 
street  had  been  laid  out  by  various  boards  of  engineers,  and  as  many 
plans  for  opening  it  had  been  suggested  and  discussed,  without  the 
city  and  the  landowners  being  able  to  agree  upon  any.    The  plan 


204 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


that  met  with  most  favor  was  a  canal,  one  foot  below  low-water  mark, 
passing  from  the  East  River  to  the  Hudson,  which  could  be  made  to 
drain  so  much  of  the  Collect  as  had  not  been  filled  in,  and  would  also 
carry  off  the  waterflow  from  the  slopes  on  the  north  and  south.  Wide 
streets  were  proposed  on  both  sides  of  the  caual. 

A  petition  was  at  length  presented  to  the  legislature,  asking  that 
commissioners  might  be  appointed  to  regulate  and  open  the  street. 
Gouvemeur  Morris,  Simeon  De  Witt,  and  John  Rutherford,  who  had 

been  appointed 
by  the  a«t  of 
legislature  of 
April  3,  1807, 
"  Commissioners 
of  streets  and 
roads  in  the  City 
of  New- York," 
refused  to  serve 
on  this  commis- 
sion, and  a  spe- 
cial commission 
was  appointed 
by  the  legisla- 
ture for  the  pur- 
pose. This  body 
adopted  the  plan 
of  the  canal  be- 
fore proposed,  and  the  street  when  finally  opened  showed  an  open 
canal  in  its  center,  its  banks  set  with  shade-trees,  and  with  a  broad 
thoroughfare  on  either  side,  the  whole  having  a  width  of  one  hun- 
dred feet.  As  the  city  grew  this  canal  was  arched  over  with  brick 
and  became  a  sewer,  the  trees  were  cut  down,  and  the  present  wide 
and  busy  street  was  the  result.  About  the  same  time  the  Collect, 
into  which  all  the  surplus  material  from  the  grading  of  streets  and 
lots  had  been  dumped,  was  filled  up  and  erased  forever  from  the  map 
of  the  city.  The  region  around  it,  however,  remained  unsettled  and 
comparatively  valueless  for  several  years. 

The  commission  of  1807,  before  referred  to,  did  so  great  a  work  for 
the  city  that  its  labors  and  their  results  should  be  described  at  length. 
In  its  province  its  powers  were  practically  unlimited,  and  could  have 
been  safely  conferred  only  on  men  of  the  utmost  probity  and  judicial 
integrity.  The  commissioners  had  "exclusive  power  to  lay  out  streets, 
roads,  and  public  squares  of  such  width,  extent,  and  direction,  as  to 
them  shall  seem  most  conducive  to  the  public  good,  and  to  shut  up 
streets  not  accepted  by  the  Common  Council  within  that  part  of  said 


BBOADWAT    AT    CAKAL    BTKBET,    ISIS. 


BEGHraiNa    OP    STEAM    NATIOATION 


city    of    New- 
York     to     the 
northward  of  a 
line  comTDenc- 
ing  at  the  wharf 
of  George  Clin- 
ton     on      the 
Hudson  River, 
thence  running 
throughFitzroy 
Road,     Green- 
wich Lane  and 
Art    Street    to 
the        Bowery    > 
Road,      thence    o 
down     Bowery    ^ 
Road  to  North    " 
Street,    thence    n 
through  North    | 
Street     in     its   i 
present     diree-    t 
tion  to  the  East    | 
Biver." '  ' 


between  tlie  three-  and 
the  Bli-Qiile  atone  be- 
loniclDg  t4>  the  corpora- 
tioQ  ot  the  dtjc.  The 
"Uiddle  Rowl"  WH 
Intended  to  be  one 
hundred  feet  wide,  the 
othen  Biity  feet  SBch. 
EnrTOB. 
-  PitMoy  Road  ran 
from  Fonrtepnth  street. 
between  Seventh  and 
Eighth  BTenuea,  north 
and  north  west,  nntil 
it  entered  Portr-eee- 
ond  street,  between 
Eighth  and  Ninth  ave- 
nues. Oreetiwloh  I^ne 
ran  from  Hndaon  Btver 
northeast  and  eaM 
along  the  preaent  lines 
oT  OanaevooTt  Mreet 
and  Greenwich  Avenoe 
to   AirtOT    Place.      Art 


206  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

The  leading  streets  and  avenues  were  to  be  at  least  sixty  feet  wide. 
They  could  take  land  needed  for  streets  and  squares  by  right  of  emi- 
nent domain,  leaving  the  question  of  damages  to  be  settled  by  com- 
missioners, from  whose  decisions  there  could  be  no  appeal  to  the 
courts ;  and  could  enter  upon  lands,  cut  trees,  and  do  other  damage 
when  necessary  in  performing  their  functions.  They  were  to  cause 
surveys  and  accurate  maps  to  be  made  of  all  lands  seized  by  them, 
and  provide  three  copies — one  for  the  secretary  of  state,  to  be  of 
record;  one  for  the  clerk  of  the  city  and  county  of  New- York;  and 
one  for  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city.  They  were  to  be  sworn 
to  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties.  The  commissioners,  in  lay- 
ing out  the  city,  after  much  discussion  decided  to  adopt  the  rectangu- 
lar system,  chiefly  because  of  "the  greater  economy  and  convenience 
in  building,"  so  that  New- York  owes  her  tame  and  ugly  lay-out  into 
square  blocks  chiefly  to  questions  of  economy  and  convenience.  The 
avenues  were  made  one  hundred  feet  wide ;  such  of  them  as  could  be 
extended  to  the  village  of  Harlem  were  numbered  west  from  First 
Avenue,  which  passed  "from  the  west  of  Belle vue  Hospital  to  the  east 
of  Harlem  Church.''  Twelfth  avenue,  the  last,  "ran  from  the  wharf 
at  Manhattanville  along  the  shore  of  the  Hudson  River,  in  which  it 
was  lost."  From  First  to  Second  Avenue  was  650  feet;  from  Second 
to  Third,  610  feet;  up  to  Sixth  Avenue  the  space  between  each  was 
920  feet;  west  of  Sixth  Avenue,  800  feet.  Fifth  Avenue  was  called 
Manhattan  Avenue  or  Middle  Road.  East  of  First  Avenue  were  four 
short  avenues,  designated  A,  B,  C,  and  D  respectively. 

The  cross  streets  were  laid  out  up  to  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth, 
First  street  running  from  Avenue  B  to  the  Bowery,  and  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fifty-fifth  street  from  Bussing's  Point  to  the  Hudson 
River.  These  streets  were  laid  out  sixty  feet  wide,  except  Four- 
teenth, Twenty-third,  Thirty-fourth,  Forty-second,  Fifty-seventh, 
Seventy -second.  Seventy- ninth.  Eighty-sixth,  Ninety-sixth,  One 
Hundred  and  Sixth,  One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth,  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-fifth,  One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fifth,  One  Hundred 
and  Forty-fifth,  and  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fifth,  which  were 
one  hundred  feet  wide.  They  reserved  ground  for  a  public  mar- 
ket, 3000  feet  long  by  800  wide,  lying  between  Tenth  and  Sev- 
enth streets.  First  Avenue,  and  the  East  River;  for  a  reservoir 
between  Eighty-ninth  and  Ninety-fourth  streets,  Fourth  and  Fifth 
avenues;  for  a  parade  between  Twenty-third  and  Thirty-second 
streets,  Third  and  Seventh  avenues  (1350  yards  long  by  1000 
wide);  and  four  public  squares  or  parks — Bloomingdale,  Man- 
hattan, Reservoir  (which  was  to  be  used  for  a  park  until  needed 
for  its  special  use),  and  Harlem — modest  forerunners  of  the  noble 
Central  Park  which  was  to  follow  fifty  years  later. 


BEQINNINO    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION 


207 


Accompanying  the  maps  were  certain  remarks  and  explanations 
by  the  commissioners,  some  extracts  from  which  will  be  interesting 
to  the  reader  of  to-day:  "To  some  it  may  seem  a  matter  of  suiprise 
that  the  whole  island  of  Manhattan  has  not  been  laid  out  as  a  city. 
To  others  it  may  be  a  subject  of  merriment  that  the  Commissioners 
have  provided  space  for  a  greater  population  than  is  collected  at  any 
spot  on  this  side  of  China,  They  have  in  this  been  governed  by  the 
shape  of  the  ground.  It  is  not  improbable  that  considerable  numbers 
may  be  collected  at  Harlem  before  the  high  hills  to  the  southward  of 
it  shall  be  built  upon  as  a  city,  and  it  is  improbable  that  for  centuries 


to  come  the  ground  north  of  Harlem  flats  will  be  covered  by  houses. 
To  have  come  short  of  the  extent  laid  out  might  therefore  have  de- 
feated just  expectations,  while  to  have  gone  further  might  have  fur- 
nished materials  to  the  pernicious  spirit  of  speculation."  But  the 
commissioners  builded  better  than  they  knew.  Barely  eighty  years 
have  passed  since  these  words  were  written,  yet  Harlem  flats  is  a 
compact  mass  of  houses,  and  the  city  limits  have  been  extended 
nearly  ten  miles  beyond  —  fact  thus  again  distancing  the  utmost 
stretch  of  fancy. 

The  State  election  of  April,  1811,  was  notable  for  the  open  revolt  of 
the  Tammany  Society  against  the  regular  candidate  of  its  party  for 
lieutenant-governor — De  Witt  Clinton.  On  learning  of  the  nomination 
of  Clinton,  the  Tammany  Society  met  at  once  and  passed  resolutions 
with  a  preamble  setting  forth  that  they  believed  Mr.  Clinton  to  have 


208  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

personal  and  private  interests  aside  from  those  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  that  he  was  bent  upon  ^^establishing  in  his  person  a  ptiriii- 
cious  family  aristocracy.''  They  therefore  nominated  Colonel  Mari- 
nus  Willett  for  lieutenant-governor  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Clinton,  and 
appointed  Dr.  Mitchill,  Matthew  L.  Davis  (the  biographer  of  Aaron 
Burr),  John  Ferguson,  and  others  a  committee  to  secure  his  election. 
Colonel  Nicholas  Fish  was  the  nominee  of  the  Federalists.  When  the 
result  of  the  voting  was  announced,  the  extent  of  their  labors  became 
apparent.  Fish  received  in  the  city  two  thousand  and  forty-four 
votes,  Willett  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  and  Clinton  but  five 
hundred  and  ninety.  Had  the  result  depended  on  the  city's  vote 
alone,  Clinton  would  have  been  defeated;  but  his  great  talents  and 
eminent  services  gained  him  suflScient  votes  throughout  the  State 
to  counterbalance  the  loss  in  the  city,  and  he  was  elected. 

A  fire  occuiTcd  in  New- York  in  May,  1811,  which  for  years  was 
spoken  of  as  "the  Great  Fire."  Between  eighty  and  one  hundred 
large  buildings  were  burned,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  though  the 
whole  city  would  be  destroyed.  It  began  on  Chatham  street,  near 
Duane,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  and  was  fanned  by  a  high  wind  blow-  | 
ing  at  the  time.  While  it  was  raging  the  spire  of  the  Brick  Church 
caught  fire  from  flying  embers,  and  for  some  moments  it  seemed  to 
the  spectators  that  the  famous  structure  was  doomed.  No  ladders  or 
fire-engines  could  reach  the  spot,  yet  a  single  hand  could  have  dashed 
down  the  brand  and  extinguished  the  flame.  A  sailor  in  the  crowd, 
quick  to  perceive  the  situation,  gained  access  to  the  roof,  climbed  the 
tall  steeple  by  the  aid  of  the  lightning-rod,  and  extinguished  tlie 
brand  by  beating  it  with  his  hat;  while  the  multitude  below  cheered 
the  act  lustily  as  being  that  of  a  hero.  This  done,  ho  descended  to 
the  gi'ound,  and  was  lost  in  the  crowd;  nor  could  he  be  induced  to 
come  forward  and  disclose  his  identity,  although  a  reward  was  voted 
by  the  oflScers  of  the  church  in  gratitude  for  the  timely  act. 

The  project  of  water  communication  between  the  Hudson  and  the 
great  lakes  divided  public  interest  with  the  growing  certainty  of  war 
with  England  during  the  years  1811  and  1812;  or,  more  properly 
speaking,  the  prospect  of  war  with  England  turned  men's  attention 
more  and  more  to  our  inland  commerce  and  to  its  possibilities  and 
necessities.  Christopher  Colles,  soon  after  the  Revolution,  set  on  foot 
certain  experiments  intended  to  make  the  Mohawk  a  navigable  water- 
way. General  Philip  Schuyler  had  proposed  a  system  of  locks  to 
surmount  the  cataracts  of  the  Mohawk  at  Little  Falls,  and  a  canal 
about  two  and  three-fourth  miles  long,  having  five  locks,  had  been 
built  as  early  as  1796  to  demonstrate  the  feasibility  of  the  plan.  In 
1791  the  legislature  of  New- York  had  appointed  commissioners  to 
survey  the  region  between  Wood  Creek,  which  falls  into  Lake  On- 


BEODnONa    OF    8TEAH    NATIOATIOM 


209 


tario,  and  the  Hudson,  and  to  report  as  to  the  cost  of  making  canals 
between  the  two  streams.  In  1792  the  le^slature  incorporated  the 
"Inland  Navigation  Company,"  of  which  General  Schuyler  was  the 
first  president,  and  which  in  1797  had  connected  Wood  Creek  with 
the  Mohawk,  and  a  few  years  later  had  carried  its  improvements  so 
far  that  boats  could  pass  from  Schenectady  into  Oneida  Lake. 

Gouverneur  Morris,  so  far  as  we  find,  was  the  first  to  put  upon 
paper  the  project  of  a  canal  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie.    After  a 
journey  down  the  St.  Lawrence  through  Lake  Ontario,  and  by  land 
to  Lake  Erie,  he  wrote 
in  1801  to  John  Parish  ^     ~ 

that  a  large  commerce 
would  at  no  distant 
period  whiten  those 
inland  seas,  and  that 
one  tenth  of  the  cost 
to  Britain  of  the  last 
campaigu  would  have 
enabled  ships  to  sail 
from  Loudon  through 
the  Hudson  River  to 
Lake  Erie.  This  gen- 
tleman, in  company 
with  Jesse  Hawley  and  James  Geddes,  published  mauy  essays  and 
communications  on  the  general  subject  in  the  State  press.  The 
latter,  in  1810,  gave  the  surveyor-general,  Simeon  De  Witt,  an  ex- 
haustive report  of  a  survey  he  had  made  on  his  own  responsibility, 
which  was  laid  before  the  legislature,  and  that  body  appointed  a  com- 
mission, of  which  Gouverneur  Monis  was  chairman,  "  to  explore  the 
whole  route  for  inland  navigation  from  the  Hudson  Eiver  to  Lake 
Ontario  and  to  Lake  Erie." 

This  commission  reported  in  the  spring  of  1811  that  the  survey 
had  been  performed,  and  that  the  project  was  entirely  feasible; 
whereupon  the  le^slature  passed  an  act  investing  the  commission- 
ers with  "power  to  manage  all  matters  relating  to  the  navigation 
between  the  Hudson  and  the  lakes,"  and  added  Chancellor  Livingston 
and  Robert  Fulton  to  the  commission.  The  body  was  authorized  to 
apply  for  aid  to  Congress  and  to  other  States,  to  negotiate  with  the 
Inland  Lock  Navigation  Company  for  the  purchase  of  its  charter  and 
property,  and  to  ascertain  if  a  loan  of  five  millions  of  dollars  could 
be  negotiated.  The  commission  applied  to  Congress  for  aid,  but  met 
with  a  cool  reception,  although  Gouverneur  Morris  and  De  Witt 
Clinton  appeared  for  it  in  person.  It  was  admitted  that  the  project 
was  of  national  interest  and  importance,  but  it  was  said  that  nothing 

Vol.  III.— U. 


PIBST    FREE  SCHOOL    BLILDINU 


210  HIKTOEY    OF    SET-XOBK 

<v>ulfl  be  douft  for  Xew-York  that  was  not  done  for  the  other  States, 
and  thft  application,  without  being  rejected,  was  never  acted  upon. 
Thift  lukewannnetMi  on  the  part  of  Congress,  and  the  breaking  out  of 
tlifc  war  of  1812,  with  the  opposition  of  many  in  the  State,  who  re- 
gardful the  tmtt'Timse  as  chimerical  in  the  extreme,  deferred  the  com- 
pletion of  the  mighty  project  until  another  generation  of  men  had 
trtiuus  ujMjn  the  sfteiie. 

On  Docetiiber  11, 1809,  the  first  free-school  building  in  Xew-Tort 
was  d()dicate<l.  The  corporation  l)y  which  it  was  erected — known  as 
tho  "Free  School  Society  of  the  City  of  Xew-Tork" — had  been 
f<ninded  in  lfi05,  as  was  shown  in  the  previous  chapter.  In  1808  the 
dmrter  was  altt-red,  the  cor[K>ration  taking  the  name  of  the  **Free 

School  Society  of  the 
City  of  New-Tork." 
The  same  year,  the 
school  having  out- 
grown its  quarters  in 
the  building  near  the 
almshouse,  the  edifice 
before  mentioned  was 
built  on  a  large  lot  in 
Chatham  street,  also 
given  by  the  city. 
This  first  public-school 
building  in  Xew-York 
was  of  brick,  and 
rm  RiTaKHs  MAxsioK.  contained    one    lar^ 

Bchool-room  proper, 
cajtablo  of  accommodating  five  hundred  pupils,  a  trustees'  room, 
Hjiartmt'nts  for  the  teacher,  and  a  second  and  smaller  school-room 
that  would  accommodate  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  The  feature 
of  the  dwiicatory  exercises  was  an  address  by  De  Witt  Clinton,  in 
which  he  statwl  the  iibjwt  of  the  society  to  be,  not  the  founding  of  a 
single  Hcaileniy,  but  the  establishment  of  schools.  Colonel  Rutgers's 
gift  (»f  two  K»t8  on  Henrj-  street  was  coupled  with  the  condition  "that  a 
KchiHtl  building  should  be  erected  on  the  site  donated  before  June, 
1811.  Thirteen  thousHud  dollars  were  promptly  subscribed  by  the 
citizi'us  of  Kew-York,  and  the  comer-stone  of  the  second  structure 
was  hiid  by  Colonel  Rutg\'r»  on  N'ovember  11. 1810,  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  ci>nii>aiiy.  In  1811  the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  gave  two 
largt>  lots  on  the  comer  of  Hudson  and  Grove  streets  for  a  thirl 
whtHtl  buiUliug.  There  were  sis  of  these  public-school  buildings  in 
the  city  by  It^iTi.  and  that  year  the  legislature  changed  the  name  of 
the  society  f ixmu  '*  Kr<v  Scho*.>l  Society  "  to  "  Public  School  Socieiy." 


BEGINinNO    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION 


211 


At  the  same  time  that  the  public  schools  were  slowly  growing  into 
form,  one  of  those  noble  charities  which  have  been  the  pride  and 
boast  of  New- York  was  foimded,  the  New- York  Orphan  Asylum 
Society.  This  was  the  work 
of  several  cultivated  and 
benevolent  ladies, —  Mrs. 
Isabella  Qraham  and  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  Joanna  Be- 
thuue,  Mrs.  Sarah  Hoff- 
man, Mrs.  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton, and  others, — ^who  called 
a  public  meeting  on  the 
15th  of  March,  1806,  for 
the  organizing  of  the  so- 
ciety. Its  first  asylum  stood 
on  an  acre  of  ground  in 
Bank  street,  a  plain  sub- 
stantial structure  fifty  feet 
square,  erected  at  a  cost  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  society  was  not 
able  to  meet  the  entire 
amount  at  the  time  of 
building,  but  the  debt  was  soon  discharged  by  the  donations  and 
gifts  of  philanthropic  persons.  In  1840  the  society,  by  selling  its 
down-town  property  at  a  greatly  increased  price,  and  aided  by  a 
generous  public,  was  able  to  build  the  noble  *nd  well-appointed 
edifice  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  at  Seventy-fourth  street. 

Early  in  the  year  1812  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  legislature 
which  convulsed  the  State,  and  so  stimulated  partizan  feeling  as  to 
threaten,  in  the  minds  of  some,  the  stability  of  government  itself. 
The  disturbing  cause  was  nothing  more  terrible  than  a  bill  to  charter 
a  Bank  of  North  America  in  New- York  city,  with  a  capital  of  six 
millions  of  dollars,  four  hundred  thousand  of  which  were  to  be  devoted 
to  the  common-school  fund ;  one  hundred  thousand  for  the  support 
of  acadcTnies  and  colleges;  a  hundred  thousand  more  to  be  paid  into 
the  State  treasury  after  tWenty  years,  provided  the  corporation  should 
be  given  a  monopoly  of  banking  in  the  State  during  that  time;  one 
million  to  be  loaned  to  the  State,  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of 
canals;  and  an  equal  sum  to  manufacturers  and  farmers  throughout 
the  State  for  the  promotion  of  manufactures  and  agriculture — in  some 
of  its  features  much  like  the  subtreasury  scheme  of  modern  enthusi- 
asts. The  bill  was  made  a  party  issue  at  once — the  Federalists  sup- 
porting it  with  great  unanimity,  the  Republicans  as  a  party  opposing 


'V'^*''*^*'*'^'^*'^—  -'^^^■■2-''»-*t-^_^ 


205 


uiaroBi   uF  SEW-yoBK 


it,  altliouglj  tUwi-e  wbiv  mtiuy  of  tlie  wealthi«'  uud  luort  influential 
leaduri>  wliu  wwif  opeuly  ur  Be<;i'«tly  iu  I'uvui-  of  it. 

Tli*;  Kojjublicttufc,  led  liy  (ja<veruui-  JJauiel  1).  Tomjtkiiifc.  }njint«l 
tc  tLe  ixtwei*  witjUled  iu  politiuif  by  tlif  old  I'uit^d  Btetet  £aiik. 
wbubt:-  tibattei-  hud  L»ut  junt  bvuu  ubi-u^;«d  uft«r  u  bitter  strug^ 
gle,  aud  to  tbe  Maubattau  Bauk.  created  l»y  Aaron  Burr  in  179f» 
uudttr  the  gvas^  of  a  water  wnupauy.  aud  deiioiineed  Be^-atal  of  tbe 
j>i-opy«itiou>;  of  tbe  prebeut  bobuuie  ae  Uaug  worse  tiiau  either.    At 

an  early  stage  of 
tbe  «oiite«t  it  be- 
uaiue  erideut  tiiut 
tbe  bil]  w<iiild  jiaB& 
many  interest*-  l>e- 
htp  martiiiided  in 
favor  of  it.  aod 
Governor  Tomi»- 
fciiis  resort*"!  tti 
an  eiptedieDT  of 
doabtful  utility, 
and  withont  p.K- 
cedent,  to  defeat 
■Tf-wo"!^    :  it.     He  used  the 

power  '.-oiifeiTed  oq  him  by 
tli«  eouwtitutioii  of  Xew-York,  and 
pror-^tKHcd  tbB  lujcinlature  for  sixty  days, 
itlli^fiini;  in  deferiw  of  bis  aetioD  that  many 
of  I  ltd  tiiftmljorH  bad  been  bribed.  The 
grim(i?»it  (ixr;it(tiin>iit  utt'snded  the  reading  of 
ift  govftnior'H  mi^Hwifci-  diBmissiDg  the  legis- 
l*i|i>rb  for  eixty  il»yn.  Orators  in  favor  of  the 
bauk  i;liarg<jd  timl  TotiipkiiiB  hod  an  nyo  on  the  presidency,  and 
was  uoekiiig  to  iiiaka  tsapital  for  hirasolf  by  his  heretofore  unheard-of 
action,  tiud  to  dufeat  the  uniniiiution  of  Cliutoii,  whose  canal  schemes 
it  wati  believed  doiumitted  hint  to  the  support  of  the  bauk.  For  a 
tiuiis  the  upiHiaiiig  iiartitia  were  at  the  point  of  blows;  but  the  legis- 
lature was  dinsolved,  ami  on  ro»*oiivening  on  May  21  did  what  might 
have  been  exjtected — at  ontie  jtasHed  the  bill  ohartering  the  Bank  of 
Ameriea.  Oliver  Wol«(ttt,  late  neeivtary  of  the  treasury,  became  its 
first  pretiident. 

I  Oiiring  tbe  Srot  deuule  u(  theceulury  It  icu  IMTS,  u^y*:  "Tbe  old  plxv  n«*r  Newark,  in  New 

thit  )iru]H;rty  u(  QuuVBrneur  KfUitik.  aud  WK«  a  Juney.  rhritleued  'O^kktft  Hall'  br  Str-  Irriiifc. 

(STiiritK  n-soTt  with  its  yuuD)(  uwuer.  Ihu  IrviogK.  wax  («ll«l  Mouui  Pl«uu>t.    Thv  faoius  ns  loilt 

Paulding,  Caplaln  Porlur.  tatliur  <il  Ihn  lalt>  Ad-  by  Slpholu  Oouveraeur.  tcmidsoti  of  Atvaham 

■nlral.  Henry  Breyuort.  itud  othnrii,  whonudu  iho  lIouTvrDtnir,  who  married  the  da<^dit«r  «r  Jacob 

aarlent  laaiuluD  gajr  with  their  fun  aud  (ruUc  LviHler."  EvnoK. 

Kemble,  In  a  note  to  the  Editor  datvd  IVbruary. 


BEGINNING    OF    STEAM    NAVIGATION 


213 


OF 


NEW    YORK, 

FaOM  THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE  WORLD  TO  TBC 
END  OF  THE  DUTCH   DYNASTY. 

COHTAlNfKC 

Among  mtny  Surprising  and  Curious  Mauers«  the  Unutterable 
Ponderiiigs  of  Walter  tkb  Doubtsb*  the  Disastrous 
Projects  of  William  tbjc  TestYi  atid  the>  Chivatric 
Achievments  of  PfiTAft  tub  Hbadstronc,  the  three 
Dutch  Governors  of  New  Amsterdam  i  bemg  the  oKly 
Authentic  History  of  the  Times  that  ever  hath  heen«  or  ever 
wiU  be  Published. 


During  the  period  under  consideration,  literature  had  flourished  as 
never  before  in  the  history  of  the  city.    In  1807  a  young  man  named 
Washington  Irving  was  living  with  his  mother  on  William  street, 
writing  clever  articles  for  the  "Morning  Chronicle,'*  edited  by  his 
brother,   Dr.  Peter  Irv- 
ing, and  quite  unknown  A  HISTORY 
to  fame.    Boarding  with 
his    sister,   the   wife    of 
William  Irving,  brother 
of    Washington    Irving, 
was  a  young  clerk  in  the 
loan-office,  of  fine  liter- 
ary ability — James  Kirke 
Paulding.  The  two  young 
men  became  fast  friends, 
and  in  summer  were  in 
the  habit  of  leaving  the 
heated    city   and    going 
out  to  the  old  Gouvem- 
eiir  mansion  on  the  banks 
of   the   Passaic,  a  short 
distance  above  the  city 
of    Newark.      Here   the 
plan  of  a  rollicking,  half- 
humorous,    half-satirical 
publication,       mirroring 
the  fashions  and  follies 
of    the  town,   was   con- 
ceived, and  the  first  num- 
ber largely  written.    The 
new  publication  —  called 
"Salmagundi'* — was  is- 
sued on  January  24, 1807, 
and  at  once  took  the  city 
by  storm.     Its  purpose 
was  announced  to  be  "  to 
instruct  the  young,  reform  the  old,  correct  the  town,  and  castigate 
the  age'';  and  it  did  this  so  effectually,  yet  with  so  much  bonJiomie 
and  good  humor,  that  it  became  the  talk  of  polite  society,  and  much 
interest  was  aroused  as  to  the  identity  of  its  authors. 

The  same  year  Washington  Irving,  assisted  by  Dr.  Peter  Irving, 
commenced  his  immortal  work,  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New- 
York,"  in  reality  a  burlesque  on  the  "  Picture  of  New-York  "  recently 
published  by  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  but  written  with  so  much  veri- 


BV  DIEDRICH  KNICKERBOCRER. 


£^e  tiuaiteui  me  in  mitfier  (acp, 
XHe  ftomt  mtt  ktaartciD  sm  Den  Bdg« 

IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

VOL.  n. 


POBUSHEO  BY  IHSKBRP  CTflRADrORI*,  NEW  YORK  « 
BB/LOFORD  t^  IKSREBP,  FUILADELPHIA  ;  WM.  M*IL« 
JIBNNEYt  BOSTON  ;  COALE  ^  1'HOMASi  BALTIMORE; 
AKD  MORrOROf  WILUNOT0N»  IX  CX>.  CKARLP.iTON*. 


1809. 


214 


fUHTOBT    OF    SEV-TOBK 


nmilitnde  and  appearance  of  truth  as  to  be  accepted  tor  sober  fais- 
torj  by  many  intelligeiit  readers.  Knielerboeker^  History  first 
appeared  in  1809.  Its  charm  is  perenniaL  It  has  left  its  imi»«es 
npon  the  eariy  history  of  the  great  city.    Whatever  may  be  later 


FOR  PASSAGE  A.VD  PR^TISig^-S  FROM 
Sfirits, 


said  or  written,  the  term,'*Kmekerbocker''  wiU  still  cling  to  the  early 
Datch  settlers  of  Manhattan,  and  their  manners,  customs,  and  charac- 
teristics will,  in  the  popular  eye,  remain  snch  as  were  pictured  in  the 
pages  of  IHedricb  Elmckerboeker. 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK  215 


COCKLOFT    HALL. 

Sixty-six  years  ago  the  village  of  Newark — the  Newark  of  Arohy  Gifford's  day 
—  and  New- York  were  connected  by  a  quartette  of  stages,  drawn  by  four  horses; 
and  in  one  of  the  four  lumbering  vehicles  was  often  seen,  on  summer  Satiirday  after- 
noons, a  party  of  gay,  rollicking  young  New-Yorkers,  who  were  deposited  at  the  gate 
of  an  old  mansion  which,  with  its  surrounding  twenty  or  more  acres,  was  then  known 
as  the  '*  Gouvemeur  Place.'^  '*  The  place,"  says  James  K.  Paulding,  '^  was  pleasantly 
situated  on  the  banks  of  a  pastoral  stream ;  not  so  near  town  [New- York]  as  to  invite 
an  inundation  of  idle  acquaintances  who  came  to  lounge  away  an  afternoon,  nor  so 
distant  as  to  render  it  an  absolute  deed  of  charity  or  friendship  to  perform  the  jour- 
ney." In  the  year  1795  this  property,  situated  about  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Newark, 
on  the  Belleville  road,  was  inherited  by  Gouvemeur  Kemble  from  his  uncle  Isaac 
Gouvemeur,  whose  portrait,  painted  by  Stuart,  occupies  the  place  of  honor  in  the 
dining-hall  of  Mr.  Kemble's  residence  at  Cold  Spring,  variously  designated  by  his 
friend  Washington  Irving  as  "Bachelor's  Hall,"  "Bachelor's  Nest,"  "Bachelor's 
Elysium."  Mr.  Kemble,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer,  dated  February  6,  1872,  says :  "  The 
old  place  near  Newark,  in  New  Jersey,  christened  Cockloft  Hall  by  Mr.  Irving,  was 
caUed  Mount  Pleasant.  The  house  was  built  by  Nicholas  Gouvemeur,  grandson  of 
Abraham  Gouvemeur,  who  married  the  daughter  of  Governor  Jacob  Leisler.  At  the 
death  of  Nicholas  the  property  passed  into  the  possession  of  his  brother,  Isaac  Gou- 
vemeur, from  whom  I  inherited  it,  in  1795,  and  sold  it,  I  think,  in  1837  or  '38." 

The  interesting  old  country-house,  which  was  also  loiown  as  Mount  Pleasant,  was 
a  plain  two-story  building  of  wood,  with  wings  to  the  first  floor.  A  honeysuckle 
porch  met  the  view  from  the  road,  between  which  and  the  house  was  the  garden ;  on 
the  opposite  side  a  sloping  lawn,  studded  with  apple-trees,  extended  to  the  river. 
Entering  by  the  east  door  was  "  The  Chinese  Saloon,"  while  from  each  side  doors 
opened  into  the  wings,  forming  a  suite  of  rooms  some  sixty  feet  in  length.  Above 
were  several  quaint  chambers  respectively  known  as  the  "  Green  Moreen,"  the  "Red 
SUk,"  the  "  Pink  Chintz,"  and  the  "  Blue  Chintz  "—  all  filled  with  antique  fumiture, 
and  the  rooms  on  the  first  floor  were  adorned  with  family  portraits.  The  only  regular 
tenants  of  the  venerable  mansion  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing  were  two  old 
family  servants,  known  as  Daddy  and  Mammy  Jacobs,  and  a  negro  boy. 

The  merry  blades  who  made  the  old  mansion  gay  with  their  fun  and  frolic  were  the 
young  owner,  who  was  dignified  with  the  title  of  "  the  Patroon  " ;  James  K.  Paulding, 
known  as  "Billy  Taylor";  Henry  Brevoort,  Jr.,  as  "Nimcle";  Ebenezer  Irving,  as 
"  Captain  Great  Heart " ;  "  Sinbad  "  was  the  title  given  to  David  Porter,  father  of  the 
present  admiral;  Richard  McCall,  familiarly  known  as  Dick  McCall,  was  dubbed 
" Ooromdates " ;  Henry  Ogden  was  called  "the  Supercargo";  Peter  Irving,  "the 
Doctor  "  ;  and  his  brother,  Washington,  who,  having  no  secondary  title,  it  is  believed, 
had  furnished  his  companions  with  aliases.  This  roystering  coterie  of  jolly  young 
fellows  were  variously  designated  by  Peter  Irving  as  the  "  Nine  Worthies,"  by  Wash- 
ington as  the  "  Lads  of  Blilkenny,"  and  by  Paulding  as  the  "  Ancient  and  Honorable 
Order"  and  the  "Ancient  Club  of  New- York." 

In  Irving's  Life  it  is  stated  that  "the  house  was  full  of  antique  fumiture,  and  the 
walls  were  adorned  with  family  portraits.  The  place  was  in  charge  of  an  old  man 
and  woman,  and  a  negro  boy,  who  were  its  sole  occupants,  except  when  the  nine, 
under  the  lead  and  confident  in  the  hospitality  of  the  Patroon,  as  they  styled  its 
possessor,  would  saUy  forth  from  New- York  and  enliven  its  solitude  by  their  mad- 
cap pranks  and  juvenile  orgies."  Paulding's  biographer,  in  writing  of  the  old  man- 
sion, says:    "The  Green  Moreen  [chamber],  which  occupied  the  southwestern  angle 


216 


HISTOBY    or    NEW-YORK 


of  the  seoond  story,  seems  to  Iiave  been  the  favorite  bachelors'  quarters.  Fast  by 
its  western  window,  on  the  southerly  dde  of  the  stoop,  ^rew  an  immense  honey-cherry 
tree,  to  the  fruit  of  whioh  the  birds  were  extremely  partial ;  and  it  is  averred  that 
these  lazy  dogs  of  Salma^ndians  would  lie  in  bed  there  and  shoot  them.  Into  this 
tree  '  Billy  Taylor '  (Paulding)  onoe  incautiously  climbed,  and  the  rest  of  the  roaring 
boys,  having  detected  him  there,  pilfering,  pelted  him  bitterly  before  they  allowed  him 
to  descend ;  and,  doubtless,  it  was  a  reminiscence  of  it  that  suggested  one  of  the  finest 
papers  in  the  second  series  of  '  Salmagundi.'  .  .  .  Many  were  the  rare  doings  and  the 
absurd  pranks  in  and  about  the  house,  of  which  the  trials  at  jumping  and  the  games 
of  leap-frog  were  of  the  least."  On  one  ooeajdon  a  member  of  the  coterie,  for  some 
breach  of  club  law  or  other  social  offense,  was  arraigned  before  a  grand  court  of  in- 
quisition and  solemnly  adjudged  to  the  horse- 
pond,  the  judges  promptly  carrying  out  the 
sentence  in  person. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  Gouver- 
neur  Place  was  a  summer-house,  situat«d  in 
the  orcliard,  not  far  distant  from  the  river. 
The  author  of  a  pleasant  reminiscence '  gives 
an  agreeable  description  of  it:  "The  old 
man"  (who  serves  the  purpose  of  the  nar- 
rator) "  sighed,  and,  turning  away  bis  head, 
he  led  the  way  to  a  small  building  stand- 
ing not  far  from  the  river's  brink,  and  near 
an  artificial  basin  or  pond,  into  which,  as  the 
tide  was  full,  the  Passaic  was  pouring  some 
of  its  surplus  waters  through  a  narrow  sluice. 
It  was  octagonal  m  shape,  about  eighteen 
feet  in  diameter,  containing  only  one  apart- 
ment, with  a  door  facing  the  river  on  the 
east,  and  bavmg  windows  opening  toward 
each  of  the  other  three  cardinal  points.  It 
was  built  of  stone,  and  had  been  originally 
weatherboarded ;  althoi^h  most  of  the  boards 
had  fallen  off.  It  had  evidently  been  con- 
structed with  great  care,  being  fully  plastered 
within  and  papered,  having  an  ornamental 
cornice  and  chair-board,  an  arched  doorway,  and  out-stone  steps — all  indicating  a 
fastidiousness  of  finish  not  ordinarily  found  elsewhere  than  in  dwellings ;  but  it  was 
far  gone  toward  utter  ruin,  the  window-sashes  being  all  out,  the  door  gone,  and  the 
mutilated  woodwork  showing  it  to  be  a  resort  only  of  the  idle  and  the  vicious.  On 
looking  to  my  companion  for  an  explanation,  he  said :  '  This,  sr,  was  the  Cockloft 
summer-house,  and  this  the  fish-pond,  which  Irving  mentions  when  giving  the  por- 
trait of  the  old  proprietor.  You  may  remember  the  passage :  "  An  odd  notion  of  the 
old  gentleman  was  to  blow  up  a  large  bed  of  rocks,  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  fish- 
pond, although  the  river  ran  at  about  one  hundred  yards  distance  from  the  house  and 
was  well  stored  with  fish ;  but  there  was  nothing,  he  said,  like  having  things  to  one's 
self.  And  he  would  have  a  summer-house  built  on  the  mat^^  of  the  fish-pond  ;  he 
would  have  it  surrounded  with  elms  and  willows ;  and  he  would  have  a  cellar  dug 
under  it,  for  some  incomprehensible  purpose,  which  remains  a  secret  to  this  day.'*  As 
I  remember  it,  in  the  days  of  my  youth,'  continued  my  aged  friend, '  with  its  window- 
seats  and  lockers,  I  think  it  requires  no  "  Will  Wizard "  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the 
cellar ;  but  that  there  the  bottles  were  kept  that  were  wont  to  surrender  their  exhilarat* 
1  WilUun  A.  Whitehrad,  Ewi-,  in  Kewuk  "AdvertiKr,"  NoTeDit>er  30. 1S39. 


218 


HI»rOBT    OP    NEW-IOBK 


Winfleld  Heoit  pronotmecd  tb«  glowing  enloginiii  on  Kemble  "  that  be  ma  the  most 
perfect  gentlemui  in  the  United  State*";  and  when  Washington  Irving  and  Eemble 
met  tirr  the  la«t  time,  at  Hnnnxnde,  in  the  mmmer  of  18SB,  on  tetnniing  to  the  parlor, 
after  partingat  the  honermckled  porch, "his  [Irring'B]  eyes  were  filled  with  tears,"  says 
hi*  Mographer,  "  and  he  bnnt  fortii  with  a  gnsh  of  feeling  : '  That  is  raj  friend  of  early 
life— always  unchanged,  always  like  a  brother;  one  of  the  noblest  beings  that  ever 
wera  created.    Hi*  heart  Is  pure  gold.'" — ThzEditob,  in  "  Independent,"  Uay,  1872. 


M   nrsTIB   ARMS. 


ROOSEVELT   ARMS. 


rCLL    ARMS. 


CHAPTER  VII 


NEW-TOBK  IN  THE  SECOND   WAE  WITH   GREAT  BRITAIN 
1812-1815 

yi  BEAT  BRITAIN,  driven  to  acknowledge  the  political  in- 
dependence of  the  United  States,  even  in  the  hour  of 
defeat  cherished  hopes  of  a  reconciliation,  if  not  a  re- 
iiion,  with  a  part  of  her  old  colonies.  In  the  negotiations 
for  peace  her  statesmen  had  naturally  seen  the  sectional  jealousies  of 
the  American  commissioners,  and  discerned  in  them  the  germs  of  dis- 
cord which  might  mature  to  a  disruption  of  the  new  western  empire — 


COKSTITCTION. 


a  disruption  from  which  she  hoped  to  profit.  The  British  ministry 
observed  the  antagonism  of  the  different  sections  of  the  new  nation 
to  each  other — an  antagonism  which  had  no  place  or  reason  under 
the  colonial  system,  but  was  a  consequence  of  their  new  condition. 


220 


HISTORY    OP    NEW-YOBK 


If  all  that  was  desired  could  not  be  wrested  from  Great  Britain,  each 
section  was  naturally  tenacious  of  what  it  held  to  be  vital  to  itself. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this,  the  dawn  of  the  republic,  the  slight 
dark  spot  on  the  horizon  which  developed  into  the  dark  cloud  of  civil 
war — the  political  struggle  between  theNortheast  and  the  Southwest; 
the  one  for  a  conservative  limitation,  the  other  for  an  unrestricted 
territorial  expansion.  In  the  negotiations  themselves  Adams  alone 
represented  an  immediate  vital  sectional  interest:  that  of  New  Eng- 
land in  the  fish- 
eries. The  com- 
munities from 
which  Franklin 
and  Jay  came 
were  not  direct- 
ly concerned 
except  in  the 
matter  of  the 
boundary  and 
frontiers.  Nei- 
ther of  these 
wise,  patriotic 
[  men  was  gov- 
erned by  any 
narrow  or  self- 
ish considera- 
tion. Henry- 
Laurens  at  the 

'     ~     "       ""  ■  '  '  close     gave     a 

discordant  note  in  a  demand  for  a  clause  prohibiting  the  carrying 
away  of  negroes  by  the  British  troops  on  their  evacuation.  The 
British  commissioners  were  ready  to  grant  the  "  liberty  "  of  the  fish- 
eries, but  hesitated  long  before  they  would  concede  the  "  right "  on 
which  Adams  insisted.  The  third  article  of  the  "provisional  treaty" 
secured  to  the  United  States  this  "  right "  of  fishery,  as  also  the  liberty 
of  the  coasts  of  the  English  banks;  the  eighth  established  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  to  be  forever  open  to  the  citizens  of  both  countries. 

In  the  course  of  the  negotiations  England  had  resisted!  any  inter- 
meddhng  of  France.  Lord  Sbelbume  held  it  to  be  the  true  policy  of 
Great  Britain  to  settle  her  differences  with  her  kinsmen  without  out- 
side interference.  Pride  dictated  that  such  concessions  as  must  be 
made  should  seem  voluntary  and  not  forced.  The  wisdom  of  this 
policy  in  the  removal  of  any  probable  cause  of  friction  in  her  i-elations 


NEW-YOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAE    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIS      221 


with  New  England  was  later  seen.  But  while  Great  Britain  tardily 
and  grudgingly  acknowledged  the  political  independence  of  her 
former  colonies,  her  policy  was  set  on  maintaining  her  own  commer- 
cial supremacy.  The  old  restrictions  on  the  trade  of  the  American 
continental  seaports  with  the  British  West  India  Islands  were  main- 
tained. Her  statesmen  little  dreamed  that  there  were  no  bounds  to 
the  horizon  of  American  commerce,  and  that  within  a  little  more  than 
a  year  from  the  day  when  the  treaty  was  signed  an  American  ship 
was  to  carry  the  flag  of  the  Union  to  the  China  seas.  The  right  of 
search  for  British  seamen  on  board 
of  .\meriean  vessels  is  not  men- 
tioned in  the  articles  of  peace. 

The  instant  need  of  Great  Bri- 
tain was  tranquillity  at  home  and 
abroad,  by  which  her  fioances  might 
be  reorganized  and  the  future  ex- 
pansion of  her  trade  determined. 
This  great  undertaking  had  fallen 
to  Pitt,  A  commercial  treaty  with 
France  and  a  convention  with  Spain 
settletl  all  standing  disputes  con- 
cerning settlements  on  the  coasts 
of  America  with  that  power;  this, 
followed  by  treaties  of  alliance  with 
the  United  Provinces  and  with  Prus- 
sia, secured  the  peace  of  Europe, 
and  left  the  western  powers  free  to 
oppose  the  ambitious  schemes  of 
Kussia  with  the  aid  or  connivance  of  Austria,  and  establish  fii-mly  a 
balance  of  power  for  the  mutual  security  of  European  states.  There 
were  elements  in  motion,  however,  the  forces  of  which  were  but  ill 
gauged  by  the  most  far-seeing  statesmen  and  philosophers — an  in- 
ternal convulsion  which,  in  its  upheaval,  was  to  destroy  the  strata 
and  change  the  face  of  modern  society.  The  torch  of  liberty  may 
be  said  to  have  been  lighted  in  America.  It  was  rekindled  in 
France  in  1789.  It  became  a  burning  brand  when  the  dissolution 
of  the  monarchy  was  decreed  by  the  national  convention  after  a 
scene  of  carnage  in  1792.  In  the  struggle  of  principles  which  fol- 
lowed, it  was  not  possible  for  any  of  the  great-  powers  of  the  Old 
World  either  to  maintain  neutrality  or  to  hold  itself  aloof.  One  after 
the  other  they  were  actively  involved.     The  breaking  out  of  the 

1  Mn.  Llviogstoa  wm  ilargaxvt,  daughMr  of  She  was  the  mother  of  ChaDcellor  LirlDgston. 
Colonel  Henrr  Beekmui  of  DnehesB  Couaty.  *iiil  The  vignette  is  copied  from  a  well-preserved  por- 
resided  on  BnMdwsy  Dear  the  BovUnK  Green,      trait  by  Qilbert  Stuart.  Editob. 


UBB.  BOBEBT    B.  LtVINQGTOH.l 


222  mSTOBY   OF   new-york 

French  Eevolution  instantly  divided  England.  Fox  warmly  espoused 
the  cause  of  liberty;  Burke  denounced  the  summary  reversal  of  the 
established  orders  of  government  and  society.  With  these  great 
leaders  at  variance,  there  was  an  irreconcilable  schism  in  the  Whig 
ranks.  Pitt  profited  by  their  dissensions,  but  kept  a  discreet  silence 
on  the  merits  of  the  Eevolution — a  cautious  reserve  in  which  he  was 
imitated  by  his  ministers.  But  when  a  powerful  society  sprang  up, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Friends  of  the  People  ^  (a  significant  adapta- 
tion of  the  name  of  the  famous  French  organ  ^^DAmi  du  Peuple% 
which  included  men  high  in  political  and  literary  ranks  as  well  as 
members  of  Parliament,  and  which  organized  a  movement  for  reform 
in  representation;  and  when  still  another,  the  London  Corresponding 
Society,  composed  chiefly  of  tradesmen,  demanded  universal  suffrage 
and  annual  parliaments,  Pitt  showed  his  hand  by  a  royal  proclama- 
tion against  the  distribution  of  seditious  writings  and  illegal  corre- 
spondence. In  his  defense  of  the  proclamation  he  took  occasion  to 
denounce  the  "  daring  and  seditious  principles  which  had  been  so  in- 
sidiously propagated  amongst  the  people  under  the  plausible  and 
delusive  appellation  of  the  Rights  of  Man.'' 

The  decree  of  the  French  government  opening  the  navigation  of 
the  Scheldt,  in  contravention  of  former  agreement,  touched  England 
at  her  most  sensitive  point;  and  although  the  French  ambassadors 
sought  to  convince  Pitt  that  while  the  decree  was  irrevocable,  it  was 
not  intended  to  apply  to  England,  the  act  itself  was  sufficient.  War- 
like measures  were  adopted.  The  execution  of  Louis  XVI.  ended  all 
hesitation,  and  the  French  ambassador  was  at  once  ordered  to  leave 
the  British  dominions.  The  French  replied  with  a  formal  declaration 
of  war.  In  the  long  contests  of  the  eighteenth  century,  France  had 
always  the  aid  of  Spain  under  the  family  compact  of  the  house  of 
Bourbon :  an  aid  of  incalculable  value  on  the  sea.  Now  she  was  to 
encounter  single-handed  the  vastly  superior  naval  force  of  Great 
Britain.  Yet  the  great  discrepancy  of  force  by  no  means  secured 
England  and  her  possessions  from  the  depredations  of  an  innxmier- 
able  fleet  of  French  privateers. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs  the  United  States  saw  her  opportunity. 
The  adoption  of  the  constitution  had  consolidated  the  States  into  a 
nation,  and  there  was  a  universal  desire  to  profit  by  the  advantages 
which  the  change  promised.  The  chain  of  causes  which  was  to  divert 
the  carrying-trade  into  the  hands  of  her  young  marine  was  complete. 
The  vast  naval  superiority  of  Great  Britain  compelled  France  to  resort 
to  privateers.  The  success  of  the  privateers  determined  the  change 
of  traffic  to  a  neutral  flag.  The  United  States  was  the  only  maritime 
nation  to  which  neutrality  was  possible.  The  change  was  immediate. 
From  a  total  of  twenty  million  dollars  value  in  1789,  the  exports  from 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAE    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      223 


the  United  States  to  England  and  France  had  reached  in  1800  the 
amount  of  seventy  millions,  of  which  nearly  forty-seven  millions  were 
of  articles  of  foreign  product.  American  tonnage  was  already  over 
nine  hundred  thousand  tons,  and  second  only  to  that  of  Great  Britain; 
and  of  this  nearly  seven  hundred  thousand  tons  were  eng^ed  in  the 
foreign  or  oceanic  trade.  In  this  department  New- York  had  already 
far  outstripped  all  her  American  rivals,  having  one  sixth  of  the  whole, 
and  much  more  thaa  Pennsylvania,  which  was  second  on  the  roll. 

Neither  of  the  belligerent  powers  looked  with  complacency  on  this 
rapid  development  of  the  maritime  resources  of  the  United  States. 
France  chafed  because  of  what  she  held  to  be  American  ingratitude 
in  standing  aloof  from 
her  in  her  struggle  for 
freedom  from  monarebi- 
cal  rule;  Great  Britain, 
alanned  at  the  growth  of 
a  new  naval  power  which 
threatened  her  suprem- 
acy, had  the  additional 
chagrin  of  seeing  her 
late  rebellious  colonies 
taking  profit  from  her 
own  distresses,  and  as- 
suming the  carrying-trade  of  the  world.  Lord  Nelson,  the  sailor  hero 
of  Great  Britain,  foresaw  the  maritime  struggle.  It  is  relate  of  him 
that,  after  seeing  the  evolutions  of  an  American  squadron  in  the  Bay 
of  Gibraltar  during  the  Tripoli  war,  he  said:  "There  was  in  those 
transatlantic  ships  a  nucleus  of  trouble  for  the  maritime  power  of 
Great  Britain.  We  have  nothing  to  fear  from  any  thing  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic;  but  the  manner  in  which  those  ships  are  handled 
makes  me  think  that  there  may  be  a  time  when  we  shall  have  trouble 
from  the  other." 

WhUe  the  United  States  was  profiting  by  her  mercantile  advantages 
as  a  neutral  in  a  material  sense,  she  was  forced  to  submit  to  many  morti- 
fications to  her  national  pride.  Chief  among  these  was  that  caused  by 
the  constant  impressment  of  sailors  from  on  board  her  ships  by  British 
commanders.  When  Great  Britain  entered  upon  the  struggle  with 
France  in  1793,  she  had  one  hundred  and  twenty  ships  of  the  line  and 
more  than  one  hundred  frigates.  When  Napoleon  controlled  the 
powers  of  the  Continent  the  war  assumed  colossal  dimensions,  and  the 
naval  armaments  of  Great  Britain  increased  until  it  is  estimated  that 
her  navy  reached  one  thousand  vessels.    To  maintain  the  crews  of  her 


WA8HIMGT0N' 


224  mSTOBT    OF    NEW-TOBK 

squadrons  she  had  never  hesitated  to  resort  to  the  press-gang  j  and 
desertions  were,  of  coarse,  constant  and  inevitable.  Daring  the 
American  war  British  admirals  on  the  Atlantic  stations  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  force  sufficient  to  handle  their  ships,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  personal  sacrifice  to  obtain  men.  Then  their  only  competition 
was  from  the  American  privateersmen  with  their  hazardous  and 
perilous  service;  but  now  the 
prosperous  American  merchant- 
men outbid  them  with  higher 
pay  and  a  more  generous  treat- 
ment. The  British  admiral  has 
never  owned  to  a  higher  law 
than  that  "might  makes  right." 
Necessity  no  less  than  conve- 
nience led  him  to  execute  the  law 
as  he  chose  to  understand  it, 
and  the  "  right  of  search "  was 
sedulously  practised.  This  was, 
of  course,  in  gross  violation  of 
American  sovereignty.  The  of- 
fense was  aggravated  when,  as 
often  happened,  an  American- 
bom  seaman  was  taken  from 
under  his  own  flag  on  the  asser- 
tion of  a  British  lieutenant  that  he  had  served  under  the  king. 
Further,  Great  Britain  claimed  that  no  subject  of  hers  could  shift 
his  allegiance,  or  take  military  or  naval  service  with  any  other 
power.  The  British  government,  moreover,  asserted  as  the  rule  of 
search  that  the  burden  of  proof  that  he  was  not  a  British  subject 
or  a  British  deserter  lay  upon  the  sailor  claimed  by  the  boarding 
officer.  Yet  the  goveroment  of  the  United  States  submitted  to  the 
practice,  and  confined  its  complaints  to  cases  of  gross  injustice. 

The  United  States  asked  only  to  be  let  atone.  Jefferson,  who  had 
no  desire  for  war,  formulated  this  request,  but  neither  of  the  belli- 
gerents was  inclined  to  this  rose-colored  view.  France  wanted  our 
assistance,  and,  failing  to  coax.  Napoleon  sought  to  drive  us  to  grant- 
ing it.  England  cared  nothing  for  our  alliance,  bat  was  jealous  of 
our  prosperity,  and  wanted  our  able  seamen.  France  began  her  dep- 
redations on  our  commerce  in  1799  and  1800.  Eogland  continued 
her  agressions  with  occasional  intermissions.    Jefferson,  in  his  mes- 

l  This  bonse  ■was  owiunI  by  Peter  Van  Bm^cb  ton  came  up  from  New-York  to  confer  with  h&n, 

LlTiugiton.     It  li  sitoated  Dear  Dobbs  Ferry,  on  and  with  George  Clinton,  then  go-vemor  of  the 

the  Hudson.     WaabinKton  extablisbed  bis  head-  State,  on  the  sabjeet  of  prisoneni  of  war.  the  dis- 

<iuarten  there  towaid  the  eloae  of  the  BeTotn-  pooal  or  treaboent  of  loyaliata,  and  the  eracoation 

tlon,  and  In  NoT«nber,  1783.  General  Qny  Carie-  of  the  city.  Editob. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      225 

sage  of  1804,  had  hopes  of  more  amicable  relations ;  but  his  message 
of  December,  1805,  made  sad  mention  of  his  disappointments :  "  Our 
coasts  have  been  infested  and  our  harbors  watched  by  private  armed 
vessels,  some  of  them  without  commissions,  others  with  those  of  legal 
form  but  committing  piratical  acts  far  beyond  the  authority  of  their 
commissions.  They  have  captm'ed  in  the  very  entrance  of  our  har- 
bors, as  well  as  on  the  high  seas,  not  only  the  vessels  of  our  friends 
coming  to  trade  with  us,  but  our  own  also.  They  have  carried  others 
off  under  pretence  of  legal  adjudication ;  but  not  daring  to  approach  a 
court  of  justice  they  have  plundered  and  sunk  theirs  by  the  way,  or 
in  obscure  places  where  no  evidence  could  arise  against 
them;  maltreated  the  crews  and  abandoned  them  in 
boats  in  the  open  sea,  or  on  desert  shores,  without 
foo<l  or  covering."  In  January,  1806,  he  sent  in  a 
further  message,  accompanied  by  "the  memorials  of  ^^^^  ring.i 
several  bodies  of  merchants  in  the  United  States."  In  accordance 
with  his  desire.  Congress  passed  a  non-importation  act,  to  apply  to 
certain  articles  of  British  manufacture,  whether  imported  directly 
from  Great  Britain  or  from  other  places. 

On  April  25,  1806,  less  than  a  month  from  the  passage  of  the  act,  a 
bolder  and  more  direct  outrage  was  committed  in  New-York  waters. 
The  British  frigate  Leander,  commanded  by  Captain  Whitby,  cruis- 
ing off  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  near  Sandy  Hook,  fired  into  the 
American  sloop  Richard,  a  coasting- vessel,  and  killed  one  of  her  crew. 
The  body  was  brought  up  to  the  city  of  New-York  and  buried  at 
public  expense.  The  citizens,  excited  by  this  uncalled-for  insult,  de- 
manded reparation.  The  Leander  was  ordered  from  our  waters,  and 
her  captain  threatened  with  arrest  should  he  presume  to  land  on  our 
shores.  So  also  was  the  British  sloop  of  war  Driver.  But  so  little 
was  Jefferson's  proclamation  regarded,  that  the  latter  vessel,  which 
carried  but  eighteen  guns,  returned  the  next  year  to  Charleston  Har- 
bor,- defied  the  civil  authorities,  and  denounced  the  president  in  an 
insolent  letter,  in  which  her  captain  demanded  water,  which  was 
ignominiously  supplied.  Captain  Whitby  was  called  home  to  Eng- 
land, tried  by  comi;  martial,  and  acquitted  without  even  a  reprimand. 

The  hollow  peace  of  Amiens  of  1802  was  of  short  duration.  Within 
a  few  months  of  its  signature  the  British  ambassador  left  Paris,  and 
orders  were  at  once  issued  by  the  English  cabinet  for  the  seizure  of 
the  ships  of  France  and  of  her  allies  in  British  ports.    The  conti- 

1  This  ring,  containing  Washington's  hair,  was  him,  the  captain  wrote  a  letter,  which  he  dated  at 
by  him  presented  to  Mrs.  James  Madison,  and  is  *' Rebellion  Roads,  Charleston."  Among  other 
now  the  property  of  Mrs.  Edwards  Pierrepont  of  things- he  said  that  **  the  proclamation  of  the  Presi- 
New-York.                                                  Editob.  dent  would  have  disgraced  even  the  sanguinary 

2  Charleston  Harbor  seems  to  have  been  denomi-  Robespierre,  or  the  most  miserable  petty  state  in 
nated  **  Rebellion  Roads '*  by  the  English.   In  an-  Barbary."  Editob. 
Bwer  to  the  proclamation,  when  it  was  served  upon 

Vol.  m.— 15. 


226  HISTORY    OF    NEW-TORK 

nental  struggle  assumed  vast  proportions,  and  in  the  duel  between 
France  and  England  the  rights  of  neutrals  were  wholly  disregarded. 
Great  Britain  again  asserted  the  rule  which  she  had  attempted  to 
establish  in  1756,  which  forbade  neutral  nations  to  trade  with  the 
colonies  of  a  belligerent  power  from  which  they  were  excluded  in 
time  of  peace.  In  this  Great  Britain  asserted  herself  to  be  the  arbiter 
of  international  maritime  law.  On  May  17, 1806,  the  ministry  issued 
the  first  of  the  famous  Orders  in  CounciL  This  declared  the  French 
coast  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade.  American  vessels  were  admitted 
to  carry  cargoes  to  certain  ports  only,  these  cargoes  to  be  only  of 
the  growth  of  the  United  States  or  of  British  manufacture.  Napo- 
leon, whose  career  of  conquest  was  at  its  height  after  the  battle  of 
Jena,  on  November  28, 1806,  issued  from  Berlin,  the  conquered  capital 
of  Prussia,  the  no  less  famous  "  Berlin  decree,"  which  declared  the 
British  isles  in  a  state  of  blockade,  and  forbade  all  trade  with  the  con- 
tinental ports.  Both  of  these  documents  were  to  all  intents  "  paper 
blockades,'*  and  by  all  just  conception  of  international  law  inoperative 
as  far  as  neutrals  were  concerned.  They  interfered  with  but  did  not 
whoUy  check  American  vessels  from  sailing  with  cargoes  both  from 
French  and  English  ports,  though  the  ocean  voyage  through  the 
British  squadrons  was  hazardous.  Gradually  American  trade  was 
being  narrowed  to  their  own  coasting  business.  Nor  was  this,  as  has 
been  stated,  unrestrained.  British  ships  prowled  on  our  coasts  and 
overhauled  the  peaceful  merchantmen  of  the  United  States  in  quest 
of  seamen.  The  United  States  bill  for  damages  increased  rapidly,  but 
the  day  of  demand  was  as  yet  postponed  to  a  more  convenient  season. 
The  United  States  hesitating  or  failing  to  resist  Napoleon's  Berlin 
decree,  a  further  and  more  restrictive  order  in  council  was  issued  by 
Great  Britain,  January  7,  1807,  forbidding  trade  between  any  two 
French  ports,  or  ports  of  allies  to  France,  which  struck  directly  at  the 
American  carrying-trade.  On  November  10, 1807,  a  further  order  in 
council  was  issued,  the  avowed  purpose  of  which  was  to  compel  all 
nations  to  give  up  their  maritime  trade,  or  accept  it  through  British, 
or  through  vessels  under  British,  license. 

In  the  interval  between  these  orders  British  insolence  went  a  step 
further.  On  June  22,  1807,  the  English  man-of-war  Leopard  over- 
hauled the  American  frigate  Chesapeake,  Captain  James  Barron 
commanding,  while  cruising  off  Hampton  Boads.  An  officer  of  the 
Leopard  was  received  on  board  the  Chesapeake,  who  delivered  an  order 
from  Vice- Admiral  Berkeley,  on  the  Halifax  station,  to  "  search  for 
deserters."  Captain  Barron  declining  to  allow  such  a  procedure, 
the  Leopard  opened  upon  the  Chesapeake  an  entire  broadside,  killing 
three  and  wounding  eighteen  men.  Captain  Barron,  totally  unpre- 
pared, was  only  able  to  fire  a  single  gun  in  reply.    The  captain  of 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      227 

the  Leopard  refused  to  accept  a  surrender  of  the  Chesapeake,  but  sent 
on  board  an  officer,  who  had  the  crew  mustered  and  took  away  four 
men  whom  he  claimed  as  deserters.  Three  of  these  men  were  native- 
bom  American  citizens.  The  fourth  had  run  away  from  a  sloop  of 
war,  and  was  forthwith  hanged  at  Halifax.  The  people  throughout 
the  United  States  were  greatly  enraged  by  this  high-handed  act. 
Jefferson  said  he  had  not  "  seen  the  country  in  such  a  state  of  exasper- 
ation since  the  battle  of  Lexington.''    Captain  Barron  was  tried  by 

P  H  I  L  AD  E  L?HlA,i^^^^^y^^iyjy. 
SIS, 

pAY  to^S^^^^^y^ — Efquirc,^^^^/^56^ 

i^^^y/^.u.^t^^:^ ^-^ 

for  his  Wages  for  cx^J^jt.^^  4^^#^^i$^Scrvicc  m  the  General 

Affcmbly,  and  /Cc/s^  f^yj^^^^J  /^^^^^!^^^^^^ 

_  for  his  travelling  Charges  for  £^^^^(„,<^^!!^ 


/^^ 


"y^  (J/^^/0a^arz^  P  E  A  K  E  R. 


To  DAVID  RITTENHOUSE,  Efq, 


rmxAsuRxiL^ 


court  martial,  convicted  of  neglect  of  duty  in  not  having  his  ship  pre- 
pared for  action,  and  deprived  of  rank  and  pay  for  five  years. 

The  British  followed  up  the  January  order  in  council  by  the  bom- 
bardment and  destruction  of  Copenhagen  and  the  seizure  of  the  Danish 
fleet  on  July  26,  without  even  the  formality  of  a  declaration  of  war. 
This  lawless  act  aroused  the  indignation  of  Eussia,  and  perhaps  more 
than  any  other  event  engaged  the  sympathy  of  the  lesser  powers  for 
the  United  States  as  the  only  nation  which  promised  relief  in  the 
future  from  the  maritime  despotism  of  the  Mistress  of  the  Seas. 

Reparation  for  the  Chesapeake  outrage  was  at  once  demanded,  and 
became  the  subject  of  dilatory  negotiation.  This  question,  and  infor- 
mation from  Mr.  John  Armstrong,  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  of 
the  strict  interpretation  of  the  French  and  British  decrees,  caused 
President  Jefferson  to  call  Congress  together  on  October  26.  Al- 
though the  order  in  council  of  January  had  proclaimed  a  general 
British  blockade  of  continental  ports  and  forbade  trade  in  neutral 

1  Beduoed  fae-Bimile  of  the  original,  in  the  possession  of  the  Editor. 


\ 


228 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-XOEK 


vessels  unless  they  first  went  into  British  ports  and  paid  duty  on 
their  cargoes,  Jefferson  awaited  the  answer  to  the  demand  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  Chesapeake  outrage  before  asking  any  special  legislation. 
^—  .  In  the  second  week  of  December, 

the  answer  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment arriving,  with  informa- 
tion that  a  special  envoy  would 
be  sent  over,  Jefferson  sent  in  a 
message  with  documents,  show- 
ing, as  he  stated,  "the  great  and 
increasing  dangers  with  which 
our  vessels,  our  seamen,  and 
merchandize  are  threatened  on 
the  high  seas  and  elsewhere  from 
the  belligerent  powers  of  Europe; 
and  it  being  of  great  importance 
to  keep  in  safety  these  essential 
resources,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to 
recommend  the  subject  to  the 
j^//  — *—  /^^  y^^T* — '  consideration  of  Congress,  who 
^^OOe^  ya^^CiU'^^  ^^ll  doubtless  perceive  aU  the  ad- 
vantages which  may  be  expected 
from  an  inhibition  of  the  depai'ture  of  our  vessels  from  the  ports  of 
the  United  States." 

In  response  to  this  direct  advice  an  embargo  act  was  immediately 
passed  by  the  Senate  and,  with  but  little  delay,  by  the  House  (Decem- 
ber 22,  1807), — in  both  by  large  majorities.  This  measure  is  now  con- 
fessed by  men  of  all  parties  to  have  been  inoperative  where  it  was 
intended  to  act  upon  foreign  nations,  and  suicidal  to  American  com- 
merce. Mr.  Armstrong  wrote  from  Paris  that  it  was  "not  felt," 
and  "  in  England  it  is  forgotten."  In  the  United  States  its  ruinous 
effect  was  instant.  Forbidding  the  export  of  American  products 
not  only  in  our  own  but  also  in  foreign  bottoms,  it  annihilated 
American  commerce  and  set  adrift  the  large  number  of  able  seamen 
who  were  needed  for  our  own  protection.  Beyond  this,  it  enhanced 
the  cost  of  living  by  cutting  off  the  supply  of  fish  which  entered 
largely  into  the  food  consumption  of  our  seaboard  population.  It  in- 
terfered directly  with  the  business  of  five  millions  of  people.  Amei^ 
ican  ships  abroad  remained  there  to  escape  the  embargo.  Some 
entered  into  a  contraband  trade  with  France,  carrying  over  British 
goods  under  false  papers;  but  such  subterfuge  did  not  long  escape 
the  vigilance  of  Napoleon,  who  in  the  spring  of  1808  issued  the 
Bayonne  decree  authorizing  the  seizure  and  confiscation  of  all  Amer- 
ican vessels.    It  mattered  not,  he  said,  whether  the  ships  were  English 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      229 

or  American.  If  English,  they  were  those  of  an  enemy;  if  American, 
they  had  no  business,  under  the  embargo  act,  out  of  American  waters. 
This  was  a  step  in  advance  of  the  decree  he  issued  from  Milan  on 
December  17,  1807,  which  had  forbidden  trading  with  Great  Britain 
by  any  nation,  and  declared  all  vessels  thus  engaged  and  all  submit- 
ting to  search  by  a  British  man-of-war  to  be  lawful  prizes. 

The  eflEect  of  the  legislative  blunder  of  the  embargo  act  was  soon 
apparent.  It  divided  the  United  States  into  two  hostile  camps,  and 
commerce  came  to  a  standstill.  From  one  hundred  and  eight  million 
dollars  value  in  1807,  the  exports  of  the  United  States  fell  to  twenty- 
two  millions  in  1808 — a  single  year.  Those  of  New-York  fell  to  less 
than  six  millions.  The  suflfering  caused  by  such  a  shrinkage  could 
not  be  other  than  intense.  In  the  commercial  cities  the  strain  was 
terrible.  Three  months  of  the  embargo  had  brought  numbers  of  the 
merchants  and  domestic  traders  to  bankruptcy,  and  more  than  five 
himdred  vessels  lay  idle  at  the  docks  of  New- York  alone.  Of  the 
triumvirate  who  ruled  the  Republican  party  and  controlled  the  legis- 
lation of  the  United  States  at  that  period.  President  Jeflferson,  James 
Madison,  aud  Albert  Gallatin,  the  latter,  then  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury, alone  from  the  beginning  opposed  a  permanent  embargo.  Jef- 
ferson, inclined  to  peaceful  measures,  justified  the  act  as  tending  to 
save  our  ships  and  seamen  from  capture  by  keeping  them  at  home. 
Madison,  holding  colonial  traditions,  had  faith  in  the  force  of  a  non- 
importation act,  prohibiting  the  introduction  of  the  produce  of  any 
nation  whose  acts  were  unfriendly  while  yet  at  peace  with  ourselves. 
Gallatin  held  a  permanent  embargo  to  be  a  useless  interference  with 
the  rights  of  individuals,  and  at  best  a  poor  response  to  that  "  war 
in  disguise,^  as  he  termed  it,  which  Great  Britain  was  unremittingly 
waging.  Gallatin  was  the  first  to  decide  for  war  as  the  only  remedy 
for  American  grievances,  the  only  restorative  for  American  honor. 

Madison's  policy  to  exclude  all  British  and  French  ships  from 
American  ports  and  to  prohibit  all  importation  except  in  American 
bottoms,  was  not  acceptable  to  Congress,  and  in  the  spring  of  1810 
an  act  was  passed  excluding  only  the  men-of-war  of  both  nations, 
but  suspending  the  non-importation  act  temporarily,  or  for  three 
months.  Power  was  given  to  the  president  to  reestablish  it  against 
either  nation  which  maintained  while  the  other  withdrew  its  obnox- 
ious decrees.  The  same  month  Napoleon  ordered  the  confiscation 
of  all  American  ships  either  detained  in  France  or  in  the  southern 
ports  of  the  Atlantic  and  Mediterranean  under  his  control,  which 
entailed  a  loss  to  American  merchants  in  ships  and  cargoes  estimated 
at  forty  millions  of  dollars.  In  December,  1810,  the  American  ship 
General  Eaton,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  from  London  and  the  Downs 
for  South  Carolina,  was  taken  by  two  French  privateers  and  carried 


230 


HI8T0BT    OF    NEW-YOBK 


into  Calais.  Diplomacy  grew  much  confused  in  tlie  passage  and  re- 
peal of  the  decrees  and'  counter-decrees  abroad,  non-importation  and 
non-intercourse  acts  at  home,  until  war  alone  sufficed  to  cut  the 
Gordian  knot.  The  non-ijitercourse,  act  with  England,  passed  by 
Congress  in  the  spring  of  1811,  was  the  last  act  of  the  diplomatic 
skinnish,  and  pointed  directly  to  war. 

Immediately  after  Congress  rose  in  May,  another  unpremeditated 
colUsion  between  an  American  and  an  English  man-of-war  raised 
the  pubUc  temper  to  "fighting  pitch." 
Since  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  the 
officers  of  the  young  navy  of  the  United 
States  had  kept  ceaseless  watch  for  an 
opportunity  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  to 
the  service  and  the  flag.  All  of  our 
vessels  were  held  at  home,  even  those 
in  the  Mediterranean  being  recalled. 
The  country  had  now  in  active  ser- 
vice twelve  vessels,  viz. :  three  forty- 
fours,  the  Constitution,  the  President, 
and  the  United  States;  the  Essex,  of 
thirty-two,  and  the  John  Adams,  of 
twenty-eight  guns ;  the  Wasp  and  the 
Hornet,  of  eighteen;  the  Argus  and 
the  Siren,  of  sixteen;  the  Nautilus,  the 
Enterprise,  and  the  Vixen,  of  twelve 
guns.  Since  the  reduction  of  the  naval 
force  in  1801,  not  a  single  frigate  had  been  added  to  the  navy ;  the 
ships  of  the  line  authorized  in  1799  having  been  entirely  aban- 
doned. Jefferson's  flotilla  of  gunboats,  never  of  any  use,  were  not 
called  into  service,  and  may  be  disregarded.  Their  only  possible 
use  might  have  been  to  prevent  blockades,  but  even  this  was  not 
resorted  to.  The  English  increased  then-  force  of  cruisers  on  the 
American  coast,  but  kept  at  a  respectful  distance  from  the  land,  no 
longer  impressing  men  or  detaining  ships.  The  British  government 
did  not  desire  open  war,  and  collisions  were  avoided,  their  purpose  of 
intercepting  American  commerce  being  served  by  a  constant  patrol 
of  the  seas  from  Halifax  to  the  Bermudas,  the  line  of  travel  of  even- 
trader  which  crossed  the  Atlantic. 

In  the  spring  of  1811,  Commodore  John  Rodgera,  the  senior  officer 
of  the  navy  afloat,  whose  pennant  was  then  flying  from  the  President, 
Captain  Charles  Ludlow,  which  lay  at  anchor  in  Annapolis  Bay,  was 

1  Thu  portrait  of  EbeoeKur  Haiftnl.  an  avcom-  pastel  hj  Dnrlvler.  now  in  the  posMssloti  of  hli 
plished  author.postiuBBl^rof  New-York,  andtator  son-in-law,  the  venenible  Rev.  nr.  Thomu  E. 
poMniMter-piDtral  of  the  United  States,  ts  from  a      Vermllfe  of  New-Torli.  Editos. 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      231 

informed  that  a  man  had  been  impressed  from  an  American  brig  close 
to  Sandy  Hook,  by  an  English  frigate  supposed  to  be  the  Gueni6re, 
of  thirty-eight  guns,  Captain  James  R.  Dacres.  The  commodore  at 
once  went  on  board  his  pwn  vessel  and  passed  the  capes  soon  after 
May  1,  to  inquire  into  this  now  unusual  procedure.  On  the  10th,  a 
man-of-war  was  sighted  about  six  leagues  from  land,  to  the  southward 
of  New-York.  On  nearing  each  other,  shots  were  exchanged;  a 
broadside  followed  from  the  stranger,  which  did  little  damage,  and 
was  answered  by  a  broadside  from  the  President  with  fatal  results. 
Satisfied  with  disabling  his  enemy,  Commodore  Rodgers  did  not  push 
his  conquest.  The  next  morning  the  vessel  was  found  to  be  his  Bri- 
tannic majesty's  ship  Little  Belt,  of  eighteen  guns.  There  was,  as 
usual  when  the  British  were  the  suflferers,  a  dispute  as  to  the  ag- 
gressor in  firing  the  first  shot.  A  formal  court  of  inquiry  justified 
Commodore  Rodgers  in  his  course. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  1811  the  demand  for  vigorous  measures 
grew  into  a  clamor  for  war  with  England.  The  young  spirits  in  Con- 
gress, Henry  Clay  and  John  C.  Calhoun,  were  eager  and  impatient. 
Clay  represented  the  assertive,  independent,  aggressive  element. 
The  control  of  the  Mississippi  from  its  source  to  its  mouth  did  not 
satisfy  their  ambitious  ideas ;  nothing  less  than  the  invasion  and  con- 
quest of  Canada  was  in  their  minds,  and  this  they  supposed  they 
could  achieve  by  their  own  militia.  The  delay  of  Great  Britain  in 
the  surrender  of  the  western  ports,  and  her  constant  intrigues  with 
the  Indian  tribes  on  the  frontier  and  covert  support  of  their  schemes, 
were  a  natural  and  constant  source  of  irritation.  Their  military 
ardor  and  confidence  had  been  heightened  by  the  signal  defeat  of 
the  Wabash  tribe  at  Tippecanoe  on  November  7,  1811,  by  General 
William  Henry  Harrison,  with  a  party  of  regulars  and  Kentucky 
militia.  Thus,  while  the  seaboard  communities  dreaded  an  open 
war  with  England,  the  whole  interior  population  were  eager,  even 
anxious,  for  a  struggle  which  they  believed  would  end  in  the  final 
establishment  of  the  rule  of  the  United  States  over  the  entire  terri- 
tory of  North  America.  The  germ  of  the  conflict  of  opinion  between 
the  New  England  States,  nearly  all  maritime,  and  the  West,  whose 
only  maritime  interest  was  for  the  freedom  of  the  lakes,  which  came 
to  the  surface  in  this  session  of  Congress,  grew  with  formidable 
rapidity,  and  later  nearly  rent  the  Union  in  twain. 

President  Madison,  in  his  message  of  November  5, 1811,  announced 
his  reasons  for  calling  Congress  together  (by  proclamation  of  July  24, 
1811)  before  the  usual  date  of  assemblage  to  be  "the  posture  of 
foreign  affairs,''  and  "  the  probability  of  further  developments  of  the 
policy  of  the  belligerent  powers  towards  this  country  which  might 
the  more  unite  the  national  councils  in  the  measures  to  be  pursued." 


.;,././! 


1    *rW!*tH.  Muil  "tl*"  -^rrh^p- 


\\u- 

i». 

'ttO)  ol 

^\\\w< 

>,(.. 

IV    U**.»« 

.»/.-i  r'ti..!i   rvUit  .!»■.-■•  i*.-^**!!   niT  iniimutr?*; 

(■/•^■isr-i/,.  v.?  *K  *  ,iv.mftnn  Tiwo.  iHsar  ^- 
p-^/-fM  ■'  "CM  '•*'1**T*^  IT*!**  pnz  iaw  oic-re 
t'li/tff'f^f*    *--i*miT.\<x.^      *Jmaz    EriEain.    in- 

fitii)  u<ifUtfitt/<^utf*  f4  ^'nfrsA  BritaiiL,  when 
imtii-'f  }ty  iit'.uiTti\h,  inw*  markeu  shnt 
nu_H'uiil  flx-ffi  Iry  \ti:T  i:Mi*imj,  and  the 
(''ffilMl  HUyU'n  wan  (fiven  to  understand 
l.lifH  III  Mif>  MKint)  t.iriio  "a  continuance  of 
lliolr  null  liitprirfiirtirtn  af^t  would  lead  to 
tHKiiniih-A  iif  rolitliiilioii.'*  The  president 
fiillt'il  Mtli>i)<inti  to  ivci'iit  -wrongs,  and  to 
llitt  "bi'i'iu'W  dt'iMKHlory  to  the  dearest  of 
ttiti'  iittlitiiiiil  ri)tltt>S  inid  vexatious  to  the 

y  I  ii»imlnc  »'»mi"«»o  »»f  our  tnuUs"  which  had 
W\A\  \\&\\\\  \vihnv«MHt  on  our  coasts  and 

UrtiK^i'*,  <^\\^.  ('*»iio»l»rl.v  k>  the  encounter  of 


A  \'^^w^^U*»^^^^  ^M'  ttxo  "r^'VTv»;w  »«d  unexpected 
»'  M>s^*^  »5^''  nv*.*.--  »■*  »V  l>.;ti(vi  i^ttiT*;.'    He  an- 

■  '►■s.«  t>w.  »v\vi»,s%«r.vi  T*.!*"?^-  V  .■\'wr,Ti>eT3.">T-:iiSl  a 
(M.  I.*,-  \\»-  ,v\V\v?  :rto  wsw*.  rhft!  rh:  lim?  rtf  wu 
->  vi  ■•>  -K-  ^.W'-vw  -v  A  ^^4r»l'v  late  "l"**!  -ffiL- 
,>.«v.  ^«  .V  .vvtvv  w"^  ■**«:  »-  »->--*a  j'fijisfccinr  -t 
"■  'vv'vv   ■"•   'K-  >x.ii.»i«>  Ti» — tijvr  \m!.  n»a7T*ii-c 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN     233 

dragged  since  1807.  Lord  Erskine's  agreement  to  settle  the  affair  in 
1810  had  been  repudiated  by  his  chief,  Mr.  George  Canning,  the  Eng- 
lish secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  and  Francis  James  Jackson,  who 
had  been  sent  out  to  take  his  place,  had  been  rejected  as  a  persona 
non  grata  by  Madison.  The  act  of  the  Leopard  was  now  disavowed 
by  the  British  government.^ 

In  the  debate  on  the  military  bill  which  ensued  on  the  message,  Mr. 
William  B.  Giles,  senator  from  Virginia,  declared  that  New- York  and 
New  Orleans  would  be  the  points  attacked  by  Great  Britain,  and 
called  on  the  Senate  to  defend  New- York  with  all  the  judgment  and 
skill  at  their  command,  fill  the  fortifications  with  the  full  complement 
of  troops  amply  provided,  call  on  the  local  militia,  "and  yet  he 
should  not  be  surprised  if  the  British  should  get  possession  of  that 
city."  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he  said  that  the  English  had  in 
Canada  seven  to  ten  thousand  regular  troops,  and  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  well-appointed,  well-furnished  militia,  di*awn  from  a  popu- 
lation of  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  souls,  a  force  which  it  would 
need  twenty  thousand  men  to  subdue.'-  He  pointed  out  that  in  1776 
we  had  46,691  regulars  in  the  field,  exclusive  of  militia. 

On  December  3,  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  reporting  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  that  there  were  but  three  alternatives  left  to 
the  United  States  by  the  belligerents, — viz.,  "embargo,  submission,  or 
wai*,'' — it  was  resolved,  by  a  vote  of  128  to  62,  "  that  the  United  States 
cannot,  without  a  sacrifice  of  their  rights,  honor  and  independence, 
submit  to  the  late  Edicts  of  Great  Britain  and  France."  On  the  2d, 
the  Senate  resolved  "  to  interdict  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  and  France  and  their  dependencies,'' 
which  carried  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal.  The  affirmative  vote,  in 
which  the  senators  from  New-York  joined,  was  21  to  12.  The  same 
bill  was  passed  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  74  to  33,  Nicholas,  Calhoun, 
and  Clay  voting  against  the  letters  of  marque.  In  the  course  of  the 
debate  Giles  charged  that  JeflEerson  had  intended  and  Madison  did  in- 
tend to  allow  the  English  to  take  New  Orleans,  and  trusted  to  the  West 
to  defend  it. 

The  country  now  began  to  pronounce  itself.  North  Carolina  was 
the  first  to  speak.  On  December  31,  1811,  the  general  assembly 
passed  resolutions  approving  the  sentiment  contained  in  the  message 
of  the  president,  and  unanimously  pledging  cooperation  in  the  eflfec- 
tual  enforcement  of  such  "measures  as  may  be  devised  and  calculated 
to  protect  the  interests  and  secure  the  union,  liberty,  and  independence 

1  The  president  also  communicated  a  memorial  advantages  have  an  intimate  connection  with  ar- 

ofOouvemeur  Morris  and  other  commissioners  on  rangements  and  exertions  for  the  general  secu- 

the   opening  of  canal  navigation  between    the  rity." 

great  lakes  and  the  Hudson  River,  a  project  of  *•!  The  population  of  the  United  States  was,  by 

which  he  expressed  approval  because  '*  some  of  the  the  census  of  1810,  7,239,903. 


234 


mSTOBY    OF-  NEW-YOHK 


of  the  United  States."  The  general  assembly  of  Virginia  adopted 
resolutions  on  January  25,  which  referred  only  to  the  wrongs  com- 
mitted by  Great  Britain  under  the  orders  in  council.  They  de- 
clared "that  however  we  value  the  blessings  of  peace  and  however  we 
deprecate  the  evils  of  war,  the  period  has  now  arrived  when  peace 
as  we  now  have  it  is  disgraceful  and  war  is  honorable." 

The  months  of  January  and  February,  1812,  passed  by,  and  Madi- 
son was  still  in  doubt,  hesitating  as  to  the  course  to  pursue.  He 
gradually  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  the  war  party,  and,  fortified  by  the 

_^ declaration  of  his  own 

State,  on  April  1  he 
sent  to  Congress  a  brief 
message  recommending 
the  immediate  passage 
of  an  act  to  impose  "  a 
general  embargo  on  all 
vessels  now  in  port  or 
hereafter  for  the  period 
of  sixty  days."  The 
measure,  passed  in  secret  session,  was  soon  known,  and  many  vessels 
got  to  sea  before  it  was  ofBcially  promulgated.  It  was  intended  as 
a  note  of  preparation  for  war,  was  so  acknowledged  to  be,  and  was 
so  understood.  The  period  was  extended  to  ninety  days.  The  first 
congressional  district  of  Pennsylvania  adopted  resolutions  in  May, 
"  approbating  the  measures  of  the  Government  in  the  preparation 
for  war."  The  citizens  of  Arundel  County,  Maryland,  on  June  9, 
1812,  adopted  resolutions  i-eeommending  "the  adoption  of  such 
measures  as  may  place  our  country  in  a  state  of  maritime  defence 
and  procure  a  redress  of  wrongs  from  the  belligerent  nations." 

There  was  a  different  feeling  in  New-York  and  the  New  England 
States.  On  June  9,  Mr.  Abraham  Smith  of  New-York  presented  a  pe- 
tition of  the  most  important  merchants '  of  the  eity,  praying  for  a 
"  continuation  of  the  embargo  and  non-importation  acts  as  a  substi- 
tute for  war  with  Great  Britain."'    On  June  12  a  memorial  was 


F0BT8   PISH   AKD   CLIKTOK,  1814. 


1  Xt'morlal  of  ^^fle■  York  Mfrekatilii.  June  9,  1813. 

The  Hemoriil  of  the  Bubseribing  HerchaEitii  and 
otbera  inhabltaDta  of  the  City  of  Nev-Tork  ru- 
speetfull;  ahoireth. 

That  your  memorialiatH  feel  In  common  with  the 
rest  of  their  fellow-citizens  >>n  anilous  solicitude 
tor  the  honor  and  interest  of  their  country  tind  an 
equal  determination  to  assert  and  maintain  ibem. 

That  your  niemorioiiuls  believe 


n  opera 


n  will 


a  it  prevents  the  calan 


be  renewed,  but  by  the  repeal  of  the  Orders  in 
Conneil,  the  dlatreBa  of  their  merphanta  and  man- 
nfaeturera,  &c,,  thatr  Inability  to  support  their 
armiesin  Spain  and  Portugal,  will  probably  compel 
them  to  that  measure.  Your  memorioliata  ieit 
leave  to  remark  that  Buch  effects  are  even  now 
vlsibli!,  and  It  may  bo  reasonably  hoped  that  a 
continuance  of  the  embargo  and  non-importation 
laws  a  tew  months  beyond  the  fourth  day  of  July 
next  win  effect  a  complete  and  bloodiest  triumph 
of  our  rights. 

Tout  memorialiatii,  therefore,  respectfully  soli- 
cit of  your  honorable  body  the  pasaa^  of  a  lav 
continuing  the  embargo  and  giving  to  the  Prasi- 
deut  of  the  United  States  power  to  dlaeontlnue 


NEW-YOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN     235 


presented,  together  with  a  resolution  of  the  commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, which  also  deprecated  war,  reading  as  follows:  ^^Besolvedj 
As  the  opinion  of  this  House,  that  an  oflEensive  war  against  Great 
Britain  under  the  present  circumstances  of  this  country  would  be  in 
the  highest  degree  impolitic,  unnecessary,  and  ruinous ;  that  the  great 
body  of  the  people  of  this  Commonwealth  are  decidedly  opposed  to 
this  measure,  which  they  do  not  believe  to  be  demanded  by  the  honor 
or  interests  of  our  nation.^ 

The  feeling  in  the  New  England  States  generally  was  opposed  to 
a  declaration  of  open  war,  and  certainly  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Madison  took  no  pains  to  change  its  current.^  A  memorial  of  five 
hundred  and  thirty-five  merchants  of  Boston,  praying  for  the  re- 
peal or  such  modification  of  the  non-importation  act  as  would  enable 
"them  to  receive  their  property  now  in  Great  Britain  or  her  de- 
pendencies,^ was  rejected  by  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  13  to  6,  the 
legislation  asked  being  judged  inexpedient.  Ehode  Island  was  more 
plain-spoken,  and  on  June  9  instructed  her  senators  "to  oppose  all 
measures  which  may  be  brought  forward  to  involve  the  country  in  war." 

It  would  be  difficult  at  this  distance  of  time  to  understand  this  in- 
difference of  the  maritime  section  of  the  countiy  to  measui*es  in  de- 
fense of  their  own  dearest  rights,  did  we  not  take  into  account  the 
violence  of  political  feeling  at  this  period.  The  overthrow  of  the  great 
Federalist  party — the  party  of  Washington,  and  Adams,  and  Hamilton 
— still  rankled  in  the  minds  of  their  followers.  This  resentment 
was  aggravated  by  the  radical  political  opinions  held  by  the  con- 
verts to  the  new  doctrines  of  equality  formulated  in  France  in  the 
declaration  of  the  rights  of  man  in  1789.      These  were  heartily 


the  whole  of  the  restrictive  system  on  the  rescind- 
ing of  the  British  Orders  in  CounciL 

The  conduct  of  France  in  burning  our  ships,  in 
sequestrating  our  property,  entering  her  ports, 
expecting  protection  in  consequence  of  the  prom- 
ised rep^  of  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  and 
the  delay  in  completing  a  treaty  with  the  Amer- 
iean  minister,  has  excited  great  sensation  and  we 
hope  and  trust  will  caU  forth  from  your  honorable 
body  such  retaliatory  measures  as  may  be  best 
calculated  to  procure  justice. 


John  Jacob  Astor, 
Samuel  Adams, 
Howland  &  Qrinnell, 
Edward  Slosson, 
Israel  Gibbs, 
Isaac  Clason, 
John  Slidell, 
John  K.  Townsend, 
Andrew  Ogden  &  Co., 
Thomas  Storm, 
Amos  Butler, 
Ebenezer  Burrill, 
Isaac  Heyer, 
Ralph  Bulkley, 


Samuel  Bell, 
John  F.  Delaplaine, 
Peter  Stagg, 
David  Taylor, 
William  Adee. 
John  T.  Lawrence, 
Joseph  W.  Totten, 
Isaac  Schermerhom, 
Alexander  Ruden, 
Joseph  Otis, 
Lewis  Hartman. 
Qarret  Storm, 
George  Bement, 
Stephen  A.  Rich, 


Abraham  Smith, 
Thomas  H.  Smith,  Jr., 
Andrew  Foster, 
Jacob  Barker, 
William  Lovett, 
William  Edgar,  Jr., 
Samuel  Stillwell, 
Jacob  P.  Giraud, 
John  Hone, 
John  Kane, 
Amasa  Jackson, 
William  J.  Robinson, 
Joseph  Strong, 
Abraham  S.  HaUett, 


Joshua  Jones, 
Frederick  Giraud,  Jr., 
Robert  Roberts, 
John  Crookes, 
Hugh  McCormick, 
John  Depeyster, 
Gilbert  Haight. 
James  Lovett, 
Leffert  Lefferts, 
Augustus  Wynkoop, 
John  W.  Gale, 
Thomas  Rich, 
Samuel  MarshaU, 
Elbert  Herring. 


1  Tyler,  in  his  "  Parties  and  Patronage  in  the 
United  States"  (New-York,  1891),  remarks: 
''Some  idea  of  the  national  demoralization  oc- 
casioned by  the  acts  of  the  Federalists  may  be 
gained  from  the  fact  that  the  capture  and  impris- 
onment by  the  English  of  six  thousand  of  our  citi- 
zens cost  the  New  England  States  (among  the 
first  to  resist  the  tyranny  of  the  British  in  1775) 
not  one  half  the  concern  that  the  restrictions  of 
the  embargo  did  for  a  single  year."        Editor. 


Axr^//i»MA/ji  K/y  A^^'^m^  mA  *^iuyjrt<^rf  fcy  ihik  <w«a«TaaiiT«-  admirers  of 
^■M  iWif.'i^h  f'/ff*k^^U*t^i^m^  ti^t:  nmu  fn^ntr^  ^4  viudbi  HaaiuhiQ«i  had 
fif^tU^}  ffff  t^f  ff^u^  ^t)0^f^.  iutert^titMi^  and  immrjctal  inistmmeiite, 
iU^fUali  i\^V  ^^^<  ^''///^AMdU^jflt^  fr<(^^  ri/>lt  tyjr  any  m^aos  amOar  either 

^UiUi  »->Mv  i¥^o  f^%ir4fff$iiu^  iA  xSiH  I'rjiwi  were  thus  rangiDg  them- 
^(jy^cii  M^^/^rr  Umy  t/^iiiMrfM  //f  |^5a/?^?  arid  </f  war^  the  great  eontroUing 
Us\M\^^  ¥^Sf%U^  I'^mmiHuSyM"^  </f  N^fW-York  and  Penn-sylvania  were  as  yet 
\\^<*i\\^\\u\i^  ^nSA'MwS^  M%i\  it%\H*A^itxx\i.  New- York  was  divided  in  sen- 
\\\\m\\i  S^/wliitrit  w^trM  IJmj  |K;litw;ttl  linf;«  as  strictly  drawn  as  in  New- 
VorJi  ^'JJyi  TImi  <II vinloriN  wiir<j  n<it  nK;«nt  The  adoption  of  the  eonsti- 
MHlnn  ImmI  only  Iwtitn  vwrvM  liy  tho  jMjrsistence  of  Jay,  the  magnetism 
mC  ll«Miilloii|  M\\\  IliM  iH^r^wmiil  lippoals  of  Washington  himself.  The 
mfiliM  nf  Ihn  KM(l(imliNU  hml  Immsii  hImco  recruited  from  those  who 
MppMttMil  IImi  oofiMiliiillon,  \w\{\  for  th<<  logical  reason  that  they  repre- 
mmkImiI  Him  MwiHlilUlMMl  c^nlnr,  Thn  luiided  proprietors  were  almost 
|m  h  iimii  I'^MdMrnllNlN  nnlil  ilu^  houHo  of  Livingston,  for  some  personal 
Hl1*hMi)|  WMiil  nvor  with  ItH  lioHt. of  followers  to  the  Republicans.  Able 
w^  llniuillon  WHN  UN  H  loudor,  ho  found  in  Governor  George  Clinton, 
WMwhiiiHlouV  ninluHlHy  in  oounoil  as  in  war,  an  opponent  of  towering 
ftlrohtflhi  (ounoloUM  nnd  Indopondont^us  was  natural  to  the  Scotch-Irish 
^\\\\\  U\>\\\  whloh  ho  HprunK*  ^^^^^  autonomy  of  the  State  he  had  failed 
\\\  woon^Hi  in  tho  jH^uOur  yt^u*ninir  for  a  nation;  its  independence  he  held 
ts\A  \\\  *rho  nmrrlt^t^^  of  hi?*  ila\i^htor  with  Oen^t,  the  French  minister, 
\\\\\  \\\\\\\^\\  U^  hi**  l^^nnor  tho  ontir^^  FnMioh  j^arty.  He  had  no  love 
l\vv  Now  IC^^IhiuI^  Uhhi\iw  \^  hor  t'^iionviohmeuts  on  what  was  claimed 
Now-  Yv^'>K  l^^i'i"U\^i\v  \\\  \\\^  Uwuj^shir^^  grants — a  bone  of  contention 
whiv^h  \VH3*  H  U>iJ^\v  v^f  tho  \HJ\nu<id  jH^rkHl*  To  him  must  be  ascribed 
ihvN  nM\^I  vNit  lU\^  lU^UUh  l^^u  U^  5i%>|>^niit^  Nte^w  England  from  the  rest 
sMf  <>\N^  ^'>HVs^^  ^>i  iW  HV*^^Wl4\UHmt  v>lf  <i  Uu^  of  mititanr  po6ts  ak>ng  the 
HvVi^^H  ^^si  iW  v^^l^*^  sslt  l^w  t>^>ir5e^  *ekI  Ohauoaplain.  While  the 
l^v^*  ^N^xNA  ssiT  ^NV\^^^^^is^k^  tW  ii*sU|vuvtiu^  w^'  wv'w  soandiBg;  George 

^x^  W^'MK  ^^s^  ll!^*^  (iU>!tl  v^JT  >|;Mfe^*t^  v&nL  ^bt^*?  yv(5  la  oi&i^  afi  hfe  hoase 
^>A  \\  ^xfc^iiV^fNvJi!^,  v^  - V^^«fit  AV  l^tiv  Hij^  vfeifcUiL  w;fc>  wpcrtied  K>  nhte  Sedale 
s\\  vvx  ^\vxisV,^u^  \^^^  \\USi*itt  Itwrm  Cbfcw$,>oJL  aji»i  T*o  tij*  Hoi^^i^  by 

v»,vvi^i^^\v  ^Vv^a^  vX^-'WcttviWk     ^^5v  >f«fttttis5^  wvw  ii/m/r-a  at  N^W'-Torfc 

v*ii;>i^4^\  .Ki^i.  s-aW,  v^ttiv  '^>^«tKAi  ;^f  ':iK^  ^*it>  rjrikt  «iit  in  •ii*  t^ot^  xosi 
H;xibJ\iKv  V  vi>/  '*^Hi  ^!>V5V3>>  •^^•rtii  .'UOf^ni  tt  Wur  >tr»i^a. -viiH!**  aa 
s,s*^^vs^  %«^x  ji,<i\vi^  >>  v^i^^?«**»vitr  M»>rf**^   >iiinru%?^  -vt^w  ±?^l  ir^m. 


NEW-YORK    IM    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      237 


Geoi^  Clinton  had  been  Madison's  most  formidable  competitor  for 
the  presidency  in  1808.  At  his  death  the  scepter  of  his  controlUng 
influence  passed  to  his  nephew,  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  was  at  the  time 
mayor  of  the  city.  That  gentleman's  leanings  were,  however,  toward 
the  Federal  opinions,  though, 
in  reviewing  his  independent 
career,  it  is  difficult  to  assign 
him  to  any  single  party  ex- 
cept that  which  in  the  fluctu- 
ating politics  of  New-York 
city  he  himself  founded.  He 
also  became  a  candidate  for 
the  presidential  succession;  so 
was  James  Monroe,  secretary 
of  state  at  this  period.  Both 
of  these  aspiring  men  were 
eager  for  war,  and  it  has  been 
said  that  their  rivalry  forced 
Madison's  hand  in  the  de- 
claration of  war.  In  the  in- 
terim between  April  1,  when 
he  transmitted  his  message 
recommending  an  embargo, 
and  June  1,  when  he  sent  in 
the  message  for  war,  Madison  received  his  second  nomination  from 
the  congressional  caucus  of  the  Republican  party.  The  period  of  elec- 
tion fell  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1812. 

Madison's  war  message  of  June  1  was  at  the  same  time  an  insult 
and  a  defiance  to  the  New  England  Federalists.  Among  the  causes 
for  an  appeal  to  arms  he  included  the  charge  of  "  a  cooperation  be- 
tween the  Eastern  Tenth  and  the  British  Cabinet"  He  intimated  that 
an  agent  had  been  sent  by  the  British  government  to  Massachusetts 
to  intrigue  "  with  the  disaffected  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about 
resistance  to  the  laws  and  eventually,  in  conceri,  with  a  British  force, 
of  destroying  the  Union  and  adding  the  Eastern  States  to  her  Canada 
provinces."  The  Federal  party  had  complete  control  in  the  five  States 
of  New  England.  New-York  and  New  Jersey  were  rapidly  drifting  in 
the  same  direction.  Under  the  sharp  stimt^us  of  Clay's  oratory,  the 
war  measures  were  hurried  through  Congress,  and  on  June  19  Madi- 
son issued  his  formal  proclamation  of  war  against  Great  Britain. 

The  news  of  the  declaration  of  war  reached  New- York  at  nine 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  June  20,  1812.  A  private  letter 
of  the  17th  brought  news  that  the  question  had  been  decided  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  by  a  vote  of  19  to  12.    The  same  mail 


diubt)- )/ltum 


'Ml 


'iU0JHi  ^m  ii*^.  tAUiftuff^Hi  ^A  itfai^  IMfa;  wirib  tlK-  aiu&iMmeieBDaBt.  and  an 
t^^ffMm  Mffir^i  $Kt  ti0r  ^tma^  tum^  witihi  oflfenl  iMjike  to  General 
4ff9f4^fU  HU^nufi^'^if  ^^ufusuiAer  fA  ibfi  trofjp^  and  defensa  in  and 
fM^f  ft^i^r  h/nfU/f  </f  ?ir^^«r-V^>rl^  irfarj«e  bieadqiiafters  were  at  the  fort 
off  Umt  tUiiUrry,  At  tuM-pou^  nine  this  cffic«r  issoed  Ids  general 
ifftUrfn^^  with  ih^?  ann/jtui^iii^^nkent  to  the  tror>p&  Mcflsengers  paaeed 
Uir//M((h  f^Mr  fMy  hUmi  Um  ffcAftcli  tor  the  northern  frontier  and  die 
^ttmi,  (h^wtrnl  HU^nntifsUl^  General  Ebenezer  Stevens,  Colonel  Jona- 
iUitii  WMIJMrrm,  (>/l//rieI  P#?t/5r  P,  Schuyler,  and  other  militarT  ofll- 
^<4trM  w^ffit  ou  Umrd  the  President,  Commodore  Bodgers's  flag-ship,  at 
UhoUf  Mu\  lUh  ArtftiH  WHH  at  once  put  under  way. 

**ThM  iUtlntuinau^  {(fiiiUA  by  Charles  Holt),  issaed  that  after- 
hnifti^  itxpri^M^t^l  the  (general  regret  that  Congress  had  procrasti- 
imUui  i\w  ihu'Jumtiori  until  the  New-York  legislature,  which  was  sit- 
iUttt  lit  Alhany,  Mlioiihl  have  mljoumed,  and  the  express  which  went 
out  in  I'hn  morning  <eould  hardly  reach  the  State  capital  in  time  to 
(irnvntit  lU  diNpdrNion.  Their  time  expired  on  July  1.  "  The  Colum- 
hhui/'  In  Ihn  Name  jmhuc^,  nia<h^  answer  to  the  slurs  cast  on  New- York 
for  **  want  of  pulillc?  npirit  and  ardor  in  the  general  defence'*:  "The 
Hiato  of  Nnw-Vork,  wo  venture  to  declare,  has  expended  more  money 
on  foi'l'liloallonHi  nannon,  anns,  ammunition,  and  military  stores  than 
all  tho  otiior  HtaioH  in  the  Union  in  their  individual  capacities  since 
tlio  adoption  of  Iho  fodoral  constitution;  and  can  furnish  more  of  the 
IniplonionlH  of  war  of  hi^r  own  property  at  an  hour's  notice  than  all 
thu  ot  lu»r  HUUt^K  togt^thtM*,**  Tlio  frigates  Congress  and  United  States, 
fiHMU  Ihuuptou  lioadH,  and  tlio  United  States  brig  Argus,  from  the 
holawHhs  uudor  i^inlorw  tvonx  the  government,  arrived  the  day  pre- 
vlouH,  Tho  Hrltinh  fingate  Holvidora  and  sloop  of  war  Tartarus,  which 
Wt^iH^  oruiMlug  iU4  tho  Fitihiug  Itanks,  stood  off  on  their  appearance. 

Th**  ut^xt  d^y  it  wa8  known  that  the  legislature  of  the  State  had 
mljouru^Hl  ou  tho  Kridav  i^rtHHHiiug,  June  li\  the  very  day  of  the  presi- 
d^^utV  ^v^^^^Uumtu^u  Tht^  *S^Kvang  jKHut  of  the  n^otiations"  was 
M^U'^\  \\\  \\\^  iu^WH|va|H^r^  tv>  U^  the  (Hv^ti\*e  and  official  declaration 
\vf  Mi\  l^\v»tvi\*  th^^  Uriti^i  iwiuiston  that  ^(Jreat  Britain  wiH  not 
v^'UhxI^^w  h\n'  vxr\Uvw  iu  wutunl  until  Prance  shall  release  the  whole 

m^  %^uu^  iXV  iKnunrt^l  St^wii^  ixf  ih**  militia^  communicated  to  the 


V  \^^.tMM«a  VV>JM>^  UV4NA»4^MWNNMNk  \^>lr\'V«^  ^       K^T^tNlt  «rf  %hi»  rMM&  J»lWt*0»  M  T<m  kftTV  a  light 


i 


KEW-TORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      239 

common  council  General  Bloomfield's  general  order,  and  added:  "I 
shall  be  happy  in  cooperating  with  the  honorable  corporation  in 
any  measnres  which  appear  advisable  for  the  more  complete  protec- 
tion of  the  city."  On  Monday,  the  22d,  the  common  council  en- 
larged their  committee  of  defense  by  adding  the  recorder,  Messrs. 
Augustine  H.  Lawrence,  Elisha  W.  King,  and  George  Wilson,  and 
Alderman  George  Buckmaster.  The  original  committee  of  defense, 
appointed  December  2,  1811,  consisted  of  Aldermen  Nicholas  Fish, 
John  Morse,  Peter  Mesier,  and  Thomas  Carpenter,  and  Assistant  Alder- 
men Samuel  Jones,  Jr.,  Peter  Hawes, 
and  John  Drake.  Their  term  of 
service  was  that  of  the  body  from 
which  they  were  drawn, — viz.,  for 
three  years, —  and  expired  in  Decem- 
ber, 1814.  There  was  a  strong  mili- 
tary party  in  New- York.  The  So- 
ciety of  the  Cincinnati  had  about 
fifty  members  of  the  New- York 
State  branch  resident  in  the  city. 
Its  oflScers  were  Colonel  Richard 
Varick,  president,  and  Colonel  Ebe- 
nezer  Stevens,  of  the  2d  New- York 
Continental  Artillery  (who  now  com- 
manded the  artillery  of  the  State 
with  the  commission  of  major-gen- 
eral), vice-president.  Among  the 
members  were  Colonel  Aaron  Burr; 
Matthew  Clarkson,  major  and  aide- 
de-camp  ;  General  Benjamin  Lincoln ;  Philip  Van  Cortlandt,  the  colo- 
nel of  the  2d  New- York  Continentals;  Major  Nicholas  Fish,  of  the 
Light  Infantry ;  Colonel  Morgan  Lewis ;  Lieutenant-Colonel  Brock- 
hoist  Livingston;  Lieutenant-Colonel  Marinus  Willett;  and  on  the  rolls 
the  well-known  New-York  names  of  Bleeeker,  BurraU,  Codwise,  Duns- 
combe,  Fowler,  Giles,  Graham,  Hammond,  Hutton,  Leggett,  Pendleton, 
Piatt,  Popham,  Steddiford,  Stewart,  Swartwout,  Troup,  and  Van  Dyck. 
The  feeling  in  New- York  had  been  general  in  opposition  to  the 
declaration  of  war.  The  newspapers  voiced  that  opinion,  but  the  die 
once  cast,  their  determination  to  support  the  administration  in- 
creased. The  RepubUcan  general  committee,  Jonathan  Thompson, 
chairman,  and  John  L.  Broome,  secretary,  issued  a  call  for  a  general 
meeting  in  the  park.     The  Federalists  in  the  city,  who  outnumbered 

I  The  Klnliig  BridftB  ma  dtnated  at  Flftlsth  It.  In  lB60it  flnallf  disappeared  from  among  the 
nraet  and  Seeond  ATenne,  croaalnK  ■  nnall  creek  old  landmarks.  Drake  aiid  Halleck  celebrated  it 
or  brook.    The  old  Boston  Poat  Boad  pasBod  over     In  vene.  Eonoa. 


Kissma  BBWOB.i 


240  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  Republicans,  naturally  held  aloof,  while  there  were  dissensions 
in  the  Republican  ranks,  the  Clintonian  branch  being  larger  than 
the  Madisonian.  The  meeting,  by  design  or  inadvertence,  was  only 
partially  advertised  in  the  newspapers.  The  gathering,  variously 
estimated  from  seven  to  fifteen  hundred,  was  small  when  the  gravity 
of  the  situation  is  considered.  It  was  held  in  the  park  at  noon  on 
Wednesday,  June  24.  Colonel  Henry  Rutgers  was  called  to  the  chair, 
and  Colonel  Marin  us  Willett  was  named  secretary.  The  act  of  Con- 
gress and  the  president's  proclamation  were  read,  and  a  preamble  and 
resolutions,  which  are  said  to  have  been  drawn  by  Colonel  Rutgers, 
W(»re  submitted  and  unanimously  adopted.  These  declared  the  neces- 
sity and  justice  of  the  war,  approved  the  course  of  the  government, 
and  pledged  in  support  "  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor.'*    They  read  as  follows : 

In  ono  of  tlioso  awful  and  interesting  moments  with  which  it  has  pleased  heaven 
tliat  StatoH  and  Kingdoms  should  at  times  be  visited,  we  consider  ourselves  now 
oonvokod  to  express  ou(  calm,  decided,  and  animated  opinion  on  the  conduct  of  our 
government. 

Peace  has  ever  been  considered  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  that  an  all  bountiful 
Cnuitor  has  vouclisafed  to  man  upon  earth,  while  war  has  ever  been  designated  as  the 
scourge  of  nations ;  but  the  same  All  wise  Providence  has  likewise  permitted  that  in 
the  events  of  time  such  circumstances  should  accrue  to  nations  as  would  render  it  not 
only  ntcfsmry^  but  an  absointe  dnfy  to  abandon  the  comforts  and  delights  of  x>eace  in 
order  that  by  a  solemn  appeal  to  arms  they  may  be  enabled  to  secure  to  themselves 
equally*  important  blessings:  that  by  encountering  for  a  time  the  disasters  and  vicis- 
situdes of  war  they  may  secure  to  thrmsei€>es  and  transmit  to  their  posterity  those  in- 
valuable advantages  to  which  by  the  laws  of  nature,  of  nations  and  of  Gk>d  they  as 
indo|Hmdent  governments  are  justly  entitled. 

When  a  retro8i>eot  is  taken  of  the  last  Twelve  years  of  our  history  we  find  reeorded 
there  the  violation  of  one  Sacred  right  after  another.  We  behold  one  continued 
serit^  of  insults  —  one  long  succession  of  oppressions ;  our  government  with  the  true 
spirit  of  a  republic,  patiently  sustaining  while  temporarily  remonstrating  nntO  indig- 
nity has  iH^n  heaped  on  indignity  and  injury  heaped  upon  injury.  With  a  rdnctance 
conmu>n  only  to  such  as  duly  appreciate  the  blessings  of  peace,  have  they  calmly 
endiut^d  and  pen»ev«ringiy  negotiated  under  a  pious  but  vain  e^>eetation  that  reastm 
and  expostulation  would  at  length  bring  the  nations  injuring  us  to  a  sense  of  equity, 
and  theivby  avert  the  necessity  of  a  resort  to  those  ulterior  measures  ahrmjra  direful 
in  their  operation  even  to  that  party  which  is  most  successfuL 

Our  governments  mild  and  peaceful  in  its  very  nature,  and  d^encdess  on  Hie  ocean, 
has  endeavored*  in  the  v»t  spirit  of  meekness,  by  eveiy  wise  and  at  the  same  time 
soothing  expedients  to  convince  \he  belligerent  nations  of  the  justice  of  our  councils: 
of  our  anient  wish  to  ccmduct  in  all  things  agreeaUy  to  the  cstabltsfacd  tisages  of 
nations*  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  them  no  jost  canse  of  off»iee;  but  knowing 
our  maritime  w^eakncss  in  comparison  with  their  strength*  they  have  tnmcd  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  equity  of  our  demands:  and  with  the  insolence  ccmmon  to  snpetiar  and 
artntnunr  power*  have  $«c^  accumulated  the  catalogne  of  our  vroi^rs*  that  kager  forbear- 
ance w\>uM  be  attended  with  the  ah»4utc  prMttation  of  oar  natioiial  chander:  an 
abandonment  of  the  rights  of  an  independent  repnb& :  and  would  reader  our  govenK 
ment  nnw\>rthy  of  the  con^dence  of  its  own  citiiens  and  of  die  reispcei  of  tke  wvrid. 


NEW-YOBK    IM    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      241 

Our  troveTTunent  therefore  with  all  cahn  deliberation  and  with  that  wiemn  ddaj/ 
that  ever  attends  those  who  are  forced  reluctantly  from  their  tranquil  and  beloved 
abodes  to  laonoh  on  a  perilous  and  tempestuous  ooeao  have  finally  resigned  the 
peace  of  the  count)?  into  the  hands  of  the  f^feat  Dbposer  of  all  events— ~ and  under 
His  banner  with  a  perfect  oonviction  of  the  equity  of  their  cause  they  have  declared 
this  country  to  be  at  war  with  Great  Britain. 

Therefore  Resoicei  That  we  have  viewed  with  pleasure  and  approbation  the  increasing 
efforts  of  our  government  to  preserve  to  our  country  the  blessings  of  peace;  that  we 
duty  appreciate  their  able  negotiations  and  admire  their  unwearied  patience  to  pro- 
mote so  important  an  end ;  and  that  we  consider  them  standing  justified  in  the  eyes 
of  their  fellow  citizens  in  all  the  restrictive 
measures  to  which  they  have  resorted  as 
temporary  expedients,  with  the  hope  of  pre- 
venting thereby  the  evils  of  War. 

BexolBed  That  while  solicitous  of  peace  and 
ardently  attached  to  its  blessings,  we  believe 
that  the  crisis  had  arrived  when  it  could 
be  no  longer  with  honor  retained ;  that  we 
therefore  hold  our  government  justified  in 
its  appeal  to  arms  against  Great  Britain  and 
yield  to  its  decision  our  unqualified  and  de- 
cided approbation. 

Resolred  That  as  our  government  has  now  ^^^  ^^^^^^  hq^se,  uavekstkaw.i 

appealed  to  the  world,  it  becomes  the  duty 

of  all  good  citizens  at  such  an  eventful  period  to  lay  aside  all  party  animosity  and 
private  bickering,  to  rally  as  becomes  brethren  equally  involved  in  the  welfare  of  their 
common  country  around  the  National  Standard  and  to  yield  to  their  government  an 
undivided  support. 

Besolvtd  That  in  placing  our  reliance  in  the  Most  High  and  soliciting  his  benediction 
on  our  just  cause  we  pledge  to  our  government  in  support  of  our  beloved  country  our 
lives,  our  fortunes  and  our  sacred  honor. 

Copies  of  these  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  president  and  both  houses 
of  Congress,  and  duly  published  in  the  press. 

However  reluetant  the  men  of  property  may  have  felt  to  undertake 
a  war  with  Great  Britain,  whose  enormous  resources  the  continental 
wars  had  developed,  and  whose  navy,  since  the  victory  of  Nelson  at 
Trafalgar  in  1805,  held  undisputed  sway  over  both  oceans,  the  war 
was  hailed  with  joy  by  thousands  of  adventurous  spirits  and  the  large 
class  of  seafaring  men  who  now  for  many  years  had  been  without 
congenial  or  profitable  occupation.  Money  and  ships  were  at  once 
forthcoming,  and  within  four  months  after  the  declaration  of  war 
twenty-six  privateers  were  fitted  out  from  the  port  of  New- York, 
armed  with  two  hundred  and  twelve  guns,  and  manned  by  twenty- 
two  thousand  and  thirty-nine  men,  experienced  and  daring.  From  its 
earliest  history,  as  these  pages  have  recited,  privateering  was  a  favorite 

1  At  tlie  hofue  of  Joshuft  Hett  Smith,  ton  of  on  the  momitig  of  Augaet  22,  1780.  nnd  ursnged 
WlUlam  Smith,  the  hlatorlui,  etudfnn;  on  what  the  plan  of  the  surrender  of  West  Point,  The 
is  DOW  called  Treason  Hill,  near  HaTeTBtnw,  on       house  can  be  Been  from  the  river.  BDitOB. 

the  Bndsoa,  Major  Andri  met  General  Arnold, 
Vol.  in.— 16. 


242 


HISTOKY    OF    NEW-YORK 


venture  of  New- York  citizens.  Their  seamen  were  especially  quali- 
fied for  the  management  of  the  fast  craft  which  this  service  demanded, 
and  for  the  handling  of  light  guns  usually  carried  by  this  class  of 
vessels.  The  Sandy  Hook  pilots  brought  their  seamanship,  and  the 
Long  Island  whale-boat  men  of  the  Revolution  retained  their  tradi- 
tions of  bold  enterpiise.  In  the  colonial  days  the  scions  of  the  best 
stock  not  only  fitted  out  but 
themselves  sailed  privateers 
on  the  Spanish  main,  and 
since  the  opening  of  the 
China  trade  a  sea  voyage  to 
the  distant  Orient  was  not 
an  unusual  preparation  for  a 
merchant  CM"eer, — sometimes 
maintained  for  years  in  their 
employment  as  supercargoes 
on  the  long  trading  voyages 
which  were  then  the  habit  of 
trade.  Moreover,  the  danger- 
ous commerce  with  the  West 
India  Islwids,  which  swarmed 
with  buccaneers  from  every 
clime,  had  familiarized  them 
with  the  very  kind  of  action 
which  was  needed.  They  conld 
"hunt  with  the  bounds  or  run 
with  the  hai'ea''  of  the  sea.  In  the  It«vo]ution  they  had  not  hesitated 
to  attack  men-of-war  on  the  station  at  Sandy  Hook,  and  to  ran  large 
packets  on  the  reefs  was  not  a  singular  feat  The  ardor  of  New- 
York  in  this  direction  was  kept  up  by  the  constant  repair  of  tlie  war- 
ships of  the  United  States  to  the  anchorage  in  the  lower  bay.  In  the 
very  first  days  of  the  war  of  1812,  a  notable  incident  enconraged  their 
belief  in  their  ability  to  cope  with  the  skilled  captains  and  the  trained 
tars  of  Admirals  Nelson  and  Collingwood. 

It  has  been  stated  already  that  the  young  leaders  of  the  war  party  in 
Congress  looked  to  successes  on  land  and  territorial  conqnest,  and  had 
an  indifference  to  the  field  which  the  ocean  afforded.  And  yet  the 
triumphs  of  our  young  fleet  in  the  Revolution,  the  alarm  whidi  John 
Paul  Jones  excited  in  English  homes,  and,  later,  the  briUifmt  achieve- 
ments in  the  Mediterranean,  the  heroes  of  which  were  stiU  in  the 
prime  of  their  service,  might  have  inspired  better  connaeL  Madison's 
cabinet  were  said  to  have  without  exception  opposed  the  increase  and 
use  of  our  navy;  indeed,  somewhat  after  Jefferson^  idea  in  imposing 
the  embaigo, — to  save  oar  vessels  by  laying  them  np.    The  advice 


^..uo 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      243 


of  Captains  Charles  Stewart  and  William  Bainbridge,  who  happened 
to  be  in  Washington  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  war,  deter- 
mined Madison  to  bring  the  navy  into  active  service.  One  of  the 
chief  causes  of  the  war  being  the  impressment  of  our  seamen,  it  seems 
to-day  surprising  that  their  ardor  in  defense  of  "Free  Trade  and 
Sailors*  Rights" — the  cry  under  which  our  greatest  triumphs  were 
won — should  have  been  either  passed  by  or  deprecated.' 

The  president's  proclamation  reached  Commodore  Eodgers  at  New- 
York  on  the  20th.  With  it  came  orders  to  sail  on  a  cruise  against  the 
enemy.  His  squadron  consisted  of  his  own  ship,  the  President,  44 ; 
the  United  States, 
44,Captain  Stephen 
Decatur;  the  Con- 
gress, 38,  Captain 
Joseph  Smith ;  the 
Hornet,  18,  Captain 
James  Lawrence ; 
and  the  Argus,  16, 
Captain  Arthur 
Sinclair — in  all  five 
ships,  carrying  160 
guus.  The  British 
force  cruising  off 
the  coast  consisted 
of  eight  men-of- 
war,  carrying  312  guns,  with  a  number  of  corvettes  and  sloops:  quite 
enough  to  watch  American  movements  and  make  any  concerted  ac- 
tion or  descent  either  on  the  Canadian  coast  or  the  West  India 
Islands  hazardous  if  not  impracticable.  The  United  States  could  ill 
afford  to  try  the  issue  of  a  single  naval  action  with  a  superior  force. 
Rodgers  was  aware  that  the  homeward-bound  plate  fleet  had  sailed 
from  Jamaica  on  May  20,  under  convoy  of  two  small  vessels  carrying 
together  44  guns,  which  he  might  strike  in  the  Gulf  Stream. 

Within  an  hour  from  the  time  that  he  received  his  instructions, 
Commodore  Rodgers,  who  was  in  entire  readiness,  put  to  sea.  He 
passed  Sandy  Hook  with  his  squadron  on  the  afternoon  of  June  21, 
and  ran  southeast.  An  American  sail,  spoken  that  night,  reported 
having  seen  the  Jamaica  ships.     The  squadron  crowded  sail.     Early 


ITbe  bewitlfiil  American  ship  of  war  AlUknce, 
whlcb  bad  been  pronounced  a  perfect  fiimte  by 
the  Ugh  aathority  of  the  Frencb  eonstruetian  and 
Ii»*al  men,  waa  the  last  of  tbn  BeTolntionary 
■laTy.  and  was  eold  In  1T85.  In  1T9i.  in  i-j>u- 
■eaiuenoe  of  the  Algerine  Bpoliadons,  CoDgress 
ordered  four  frigates  of  U  and  two  of  36  gam. 
Two  of  the  flrat  and  one  of  the  aecond  clan  were 
built.     In  1798,  the  United  States  had  but  three 


frigatea,  the  Constitution,  tlie  United  States,  and 
the  Canatellation.  After  the  affair  ot  the  Chesa- 
peake In  1807,  Pret^ent  Jefferson,  with  an  ap. 
parent  distroEt  of  our  ships,  asked  Congreaa  for 
no  more,  hut  recommended  the  building  ot  addi- 
tional ^nboata,  which  carried  the  number  up 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  It  waa  not  till 
1808  and  1809  that  a  number  of  ikew  frigates  were 
ordered  and  soon  after  oompleted. 


244  HISTOKY    OF    NEW-IOBK 

ill  thf!  iiioriiiiig  of  the  23d  an  enemy's  frigate  was  descried,  and  a 
gitnitral  ehase  was  made.  The  President,  a  fast  ship,  soon  distanced 
the  rest  of  the  squadron.  The  wind  failing,  Rodgers,  despairing  of 
overliaiiliiig  the  frigate,  opened  with  his  chase  guns.  He  discharged 
thoforooasth*  gun  himself.  This  was  the  first  shot  fired  in  the  war.  The 
fourtli  firo  nxi)loded  one  of  the  battery  guns,  killing  and  wounding 
sixteen  men,  and  throwing  into  the  air  the  forecastle 
de(ik,  on  which  Rodgers  was  standing.  One  of  the 
(ioniniodoro's  legs  was  broken  in  his  fall.  The  British 
commander  lightened  his  ship  by  throwing  overboard 
his  boats  and  his  water-tanks,  and  got  away.  It 
proved  lator  to  have  been  the  frigate  Belvidera,  36, 
Captain  Byron.  On  July  1  the  squadron  struck  the 
wak4^  of  the  Jamaica  vessels,  which  they  recognized 
by  tho  tropical  debris  (fruit,  etc.)  which  floated  on  the 
sea,  to  the  eastward  of  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland. 
jM^^r^  Oil  July  9  an  English  letter  of  marqne  was  taken  by 
^^^^^  tlie  Hornet,  Captaiu  Lawrence,  and  it  was  learned  that 
Bii.i.KT.iiKAit.i  jIj^,  Jftniaica  fleet,  eighty-five  sail,  was  seen  the  night 
iH'fiire,  mulor  convoy  of  a  frigate,  a  sloop  of  war,  and  a  brig.  The 
cIiHsc  was  aliaiidoncd  on  the  13th,  within  a  day's  sail  of  the  chops  of 
the  riitninel,  luut  Rcxlgers  returned  to  Boston  by  way  of  the  Western 
Islands  and  tho  Oraiul  Banks.  The  result  was  meager — seven  mer- 
chaiitnien  taken  and  one  American  recaptured.  The  cruise  lasted 
seventy  days. 

The  n'jKtrt  of  the  Belvidera  caused  Captain  Sir  Philip  Bowes  Vere 
Bn>ke,  of  the  Slianiion,  senior  officer  of  the  British  squadron,  to  con- 
eiMitnile  it  at  ouw.  in  the  hope  of  intercepting  Bodgers*s  return.  It 
hoveriHl  off  New- York  t>arly  in  July,  and  made  several  captures — 
among  others  of  the  Xautilus,  14,  which  left  the  harbor  soon  after 
K(Htg«.*rs  in  the  hoiH>  of  taking  some  English  ludiaman,  fell  in  with  the 
British  stiuadron  the  next  day,  and.  uoable  to  get  away,  struck  to  the 
i^hannon.  This  was  the  first  war  vessel  taken  ou  either  side  in  this 
»H^nt<'st>    The  Xautihis  had  made  a  proud  re^'ord  in  the  Tripoli  war. 

When  the  w»r  ojH>n*Hl.  the  Essex.  38.  was  in  Xew-York  harbor 
tindersx>ing  r»'i*«ir,  She  was  ordered  to  sea  with  an  armament  of 
e«m>«»d<'s  only,  in  spite  of  the  pn.*>sts  of  Captain  David  Porter,  her 
iHxniimndei',  and  put  out  of  harK«r  ou  July  ^  On  her  foretopgallant- 
niast  she  I'ame^l  a  white  flag  tetterv^l  iu  blue.  **  Free  Trade  and  Sailors' 
Kijrftts,'  !"»«  the  Uth  she  fell  in  with  the  Minerva.  32.  convoying 
s^'wn  tr*'H>j>-traus(M'>rts,  <\aoh  with  aK'vut  two  hundred  men  on  board. 

»«»  t.  yma  *tt  H<T«tttB-     TV"  «■»  »J»p»  ""V  *»''      1*'l—  MM  »  w^  w>wiT«rt  tm  »  pan  ai  ikr  head 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      245 

Ou  the  way  from  Barbadoes  to  Quebec,  Porter  cut  out  one  of  the 
transports,  took  out  her  men,  and  stood  back  for  a  fight.  The 
Minerva  declined  an  action.  Porter's  men  were  thoroughly  trained 
as  boarders,  but  the  short  range  of  his  guns  did  not  permit  of  his 
cutting  out  the  Minerva.  One  of  the  youngest  of  the  midshipmen  of 
the  Essex  on  this  cruise  was  David  Glasgow  Farragut,  whose  fam^ 
to-day  almost  rivals  that  of  England's  great  admiral.  On  August  13 
the  Essex  overtook  and  captured  the  British  sloop  of  war  Alert,  which 
she  disarmed  and  sent  in  as  a  cartel  to  St.  John's.  The  Essex  returned 
to  New-York  on  September  7,  having  made  ten  prizes  containing  four 
hundred  and  twenty-three  men. 

In  this  month  of  July,  also,  the  Constitution,  44,  Captain  Isaac  Hull, 
returned  from  a  run  to  Europe,  and  sailed  into  the  Chesapeake,  where 
a  new  crew  was  shipped,  many  of  whom  had  never  been  on  board  a 
vessel  of  war  before.  On  the  11th  she  left  Annapolis  and  stood  to 
the  northward.  On  the  17th  she  fell  in  with  the  Guerriere,  Captain 
Dacres,  which  had  joined  Broke's  squadron.  The  Nautilus  had  been 
taken  by  them  the  day  before,  and  was  now  manned  by  a  British 
crew  and  flying  British  colors.  Only  by  the  exercise  of  the  greatest 
ingenuity,  by  coolness  and  precision  and  the  steadiness  which  Hull 
had  already  obtained  from  his  fresh  men,  was  the  noble  frigate  ena- 
bled to  extricate  herself  from  the  formidable  net  into  which  she  had 
fallen.  The  three  days'  chase  and  the  escape  are  historic  in  the 
American  navy.  Hull  had  fairly  outmanoeuvered  Broke  and  Byron. 
Soon  after  the  chase  the  British  squadron  separated,  and  Hull  went 
into  Boston  on  July  26.  On  August  2  the  Constitution  sailed  in  an 
easterly  course,  but  met  no  enemy.  Cruising  along  the  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia  from  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  Newfoundland,  she  took  her  station 
off  Cape  Eace.  Here  she  captured  two  British  brigs  and  recaptured 
an  American  one,  but  a  British  sloop  of  war  escaped. 

On  the  19th,  cruising  south,  Captain  Hull  heard  from  a  Salem  priva- 
teer of  a  British  frigate  still  further  to  the  southward.  Standing  in 
that  direction,  he  found  the  stranger  to  be  the  frigate  Guerriere, 
Captain  Dacres,  this  time  alone.  The  Englishman  hauled  up  his 
courses  and  took  in  part  of  his  sail,  and  made  ready  to  engage. 
Hull  made  his  own  preparations  with  the  greatest  deliberation,  cleared 
for  action,  and  beat  to  quarters.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the 
Guerriere  hoisted  three  English  ensigns  and  opened  fire.  The  Con- 
stitution set  her  colors  one  at  each  masthead  and  one  at  the  miz- 
zen-peak.  Hull  answered  the  English  fire  with  a  few  guns  as  they 
bore.  The  Englishman  showing  a  disposition  for  a  hand-to-hand  fight, 
yard-arm  and  yard-arm,  the  Constitution  drew  closer,  and  in  a  few 
minutes,  as  the  ships  were  side  to  side,  the  Guerrifere's  mizzenmast 
came  down,  shot  away.    As  the  vessels  touched,  both  crews  prepared 


246 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


to  board,  but  the  fire  was  so  hot  and  the  sea  so  heavy  that  neither 
party  succeeded.  As  the  Constitution  shot  ahead  the  Guerri^re's 
foremast  fell,  and,  carrying  with  it  her  mainmast,  the  proud  ship  lay 
a  helpless  wreck.  As  the  Constitution  returned  to  deliver  a  raking 
fire,  the  enemy's  colors  were  lowered.  The  next  morning,  the  Guer- 
ri^re  having  four  feet  of  water  in  her  hold,  Hull  sent  on  board  and 
took  off  the  prisoners.  The  wreck  was  set  on  fire  and  soon  blew  up. 
Hull,  encumbered  with  his  prisoners,  returned  to  Boston,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  30th.  He  brought  in  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
prisoners,  among  whom  were  ten  Americans  who  had  refused  to  fight 
their  countrymen.  Hull  himself  brought  the  intelligence  of  his  vic- 
tory. He  announced  it  to  the  secretary  of  war  by  despatch  from 
"  United  States  frigate  Constitution,  off  Boston  Light.**  When  the 
frigate  arrived  in  the  harbor  she  was  met  by  a  flotilla  of  gaily  deco- 
rated boats,  and  Hull  was  greeted  on  his  landing  by  an  immense 
assemblage  and  welcomed  to  a  splendid  entertainment  by  the  prin- 
cipal citizens  of  both  parties. 

From  Boston  Hull  made  a  progress  almost  triumphal.  He  reached 
New- York  city  early  in  September,  where  he  was  received  with 
equal  enthusiasm.  Dacres's  desire  to  meet  an  American  frigate  was 
already  known  in  New- York.*  A  subscription  was  raised  and  swords 
purchased  by  the  citizens  of  New- York  and  presented  to  Hull  and  his 
ofiicers.  Hull  was  voted  the  freedom  of  the  city  by  the  common 
council  on  the  7th,  and  on  the  14th  he  was  requested  to  sit  for  his 
portrait  to  be  placed  in  the  picture-gallery  of  the  City  Hall,^  known 
as  the  Governors'  room,  where  the  portraits  of  the  several  governors 
of  the  State  are  preserved,  as  also  those  of  Washington  and  other 
distinguished  persons.      From  New- York  Captain  Hull   proceeded 


1  Three  days  l)efore  the  action^  the  John  Adams, 
Captain  Fash,  from  Liverpool,  was  spoken  by 
the  English  frigate.  Upon  Fash*8  register,  which 
he  deposited  in  the  New- York  custom-house,  the 
following  lines  were  found  written :  **  Captain 
Dacres,  commander  of  his  Britannic  Mi^esty-s 
frigate  Guerriftre,  of  44  guns,  presents  his  com- 
pliments to  Commodore  Rodgers,  of  the  United 
States  frigate  President,  and  will  be  very  happy 
to  meet  him  or  any  other  American  frigate  of 
equal  force  to  the  President,  off  Sandy  Hook,  for 
the  purpose  of  having  a  few  minutes*  tite-^He." 

-  *'  At  a  Common  CouncU,  held  the  7th  day  of 
September,  1812.  the  Common  Council  of  the  City 
of  New- York,  considering  a  naval  establishment 
all  important  to  the  protection  of  our  commerce 
and  to  the  defence  of  our  country  and  viewing  the 
recent  capture  of  the  British  Frigate  Guerriftre  by 
the  American  Frigate  Constitution  as  not  only  il- 
lustrating the  advantages  of  a  navy,  but  as  reflect- 
ing the  highest  honor  on  the  intrepidity  and  skill 
of  Captain  Hull,  his  officers  and  crew.  Esteem  it 
their  duty  as  the  Municipal  Government  of  this 
great  commereial  eity  to  express  their  sentiments 


on  this  occasion,  and  to  present  the  thanks  of  the 
Citizens  of  New- York  to  the  gallant  officers  and 
seamen  who  achieved  this  brilliant  victory,  and 
they 

**Bfwlve  That  the  Freedom  of  the  City  be  pre- 
sented to  Captain  Hull  in  a  golden  box  witli  an 
appropriate  inscription.  And  that  his  Honor,  the 
Mayor,  be  requested  to  forward  the  same  with  a 
copy  of  these  resolutions." 


"At  a  Common  Council  held  the  14th  day  of 
September,  1812,  Ifesolved  That  as  an  additional 
tribute  of  respect  from  this  Corporation  to  Cap- 
tain Hull,  he  be  requested  to  honor  them  with  a 
sitting  for  his  portrait  to  be  deposited  in  the  pic- 
ture-gallery of  the  City  Hall,  and  transmitted  to 
posterity  as  a  memorial  of  the  high  sense  enter- 
tained by  this  Corporation  of  the  brilliant  victory 
obtained  by  the  United  States  Frigate  Constita- 
tion.  under  his  command,  over  the  British  Frig- 
ate Guerri^re,  Captain  Dacres,  in  his  action  on 
the  19th  August.  1812."  **  Burghers  and  Freemen 
of  New-York,"  New-York  Historieal  Society  Col- 
lections, 1885.  pp.  366,  369. 


NEW-YORK    IK    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    RRITAIN      247 


to  Philadelphia,  where  the  citizens  in  general  meeting  voted  to  him 
"  a  piece  of  plate  of  the  most  elegant  workmanship,  with  appropriate 
emblems,  devices,  and  inscriptions,"  and  a  like  piece  of  plate  to  Lieu- 
tenant Charles  Morris,  in  the  name  of  the 
citizens  of  Philadelphia. 

On  bis  return  to  New- York  from  his  south- 
ern tour,  the  ceremony  of  presentation  of  the 
freedom  of  the  city  to  Captain  Hull  took 
place  in  the  mayor's  office  at  the  City  Hall, 
on  December  28.  A  committee,  consisting 
of  Aldermen  Fish  and  Mesier,  and  General 
Jacob  Morton,  introduced  the  commodore, 
when  Mayor  De  Witt  Clinton  rose  and  ad- 
dressed him.  The  mayor  then  presented  the 
certificate  of  election  to  the  freedom  of  the 
city,  and  a  gold  box  finely  embossed  and 
chased,  with  the  scene  of  the  battle  engraved  in  enamel.  Hull  replied 
briefly  in  a  modest  manner,  and  the  freeman's  oath  was  administered. 
The  Constitution,  from  her  wonderful  exemption  from  damage  by  the 
enemy's  guns,  was  already  familiarly  known  as  "Old  Ironsides."* 


I  A  Btlrring  song,  now  Klmost  forgotten,  com- 
memorstliig  tbe  victory  of  the  Wup  over  the 
Pmlie,  WM  mug  in  public  gatheringn  and  in  the 
streets',  one  vene  condudlng  vith  tho  linen: 

a  Fratic." 

Mr.  Chvte*.  k  Philadelphia  artial,  published  > 
colored  carloture,  of  which  tbe  above  is  a  re- 
dnced  f nc-gimlie.  Edjtob. 

A  t  a  CDnunon  CouDcU  held  the  SStb  day  ot  De- 
oen)ber,lS12.  The  Bokrd  assembled  In  tbe  Uayor's 
OAce.     De  Witt  ClintoD,  Mayor.  PreHident. 

Upon  metioti,  the  Common  Council  adjourned 
to  Uietr  Chunber,  for  tbe  purpose  of  conferring 
upon  Captain  IsaM  Hull  of  tbe  United  States 
Frigate  Constdtution  the  Freedom  of  the  CMty, 
ai^reeably  to  a  former  Resolution. 

It  being  announced  that  Captain  Hull  was  In 
waiting,  a  Committee,  consistiiig  of  Alderman  Pish, 
Mr.  Lawrence  and  the  Clerk  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, were  deputed  to  Introduce  Captain  Hnll  Into 
the  Common  Council  Chamber.  This  was  accord- 
ingly done,  when  bis  Honor  addressed  Captain 
Hull  as  follows; 

Id  bebalf  of  tbe  Common  CoancU  I  have  the 
Honor  of  presenting  you  with  the  Freedom  of  this 
City  and  oommunicaUng  their  high  sense  ot  the 
courage  and  skill  displayed  by  yonrself ,  your  o(B- 
cers,  and  crew  in  tbe  capture  of  the  British  Frigate 
Onerri^re. 

Deeds  of  valor  and  achievements  of  glory  are,  at 
all  times,  cherished  by  panriotism  and  rewarded  by 
tme  policy,  bnt  when  we  consider  that  our  recent 
victories  on  theooean  have  exhibited  the  American 
n  the  most  interesting  light,  have  cie- 
weharacterintbeannala  of  naval  warfare, 


and  have  been  the  principal  means  of  establishing 
our  navy  on  a  respectable  and  permanent  basis,  it 
mu^t  be  universally  admitted  Uiat  actors  In  these 
scenes  of  heroism  are  preeminently  entitled  to  the 
gratitude  ot  their  Country. 

That  Commerce  la  essential  t«  our  prosperity, 
that  it  cannot  flourish  without  protection,  and 
that  it  cannot  be  protected  without  a  navy,  are 
truths  too  evident  to  be  denied,  and  too  impor- 
tant not  to  be  appreciated  by  tbe  intelligence  and 
public  spirit  of  America. 

We  cannot  withhold  on  this  occasion  our  appro- 
bation of  your  generons  and  Iwaevolent  treatment 
of  tbe  vanquished.  It  demonstrates  the  natural 
alliance  between  courage  and  humanity,  and  in 
mitigating  the  calamities  of  war.  it  reflects  honor 
on  our  national  character. 

The  Freeman's  oath,  as  prescribed  by  Law,  was 
(hen  administered  to  Captain  Hull  by  the  Mayor, 
and  the  certlflcate  thereof,  enclosed  in  a  superb 
Oolden  Boi  prepared  with  suitable  Emblems,  were 
delivered  1«  him. 

Captain  Hull  expressed  the  deep  sense  he  felt 
St  tbe  honors  thus  conferred  upon  bim.  That  Boi 
and  its  highly  valued  contents,  be  pledged  himself 
to  preserve  as  an  incentive  to  his  lealous  and 
most  strenuous  eiertions  in  the  cause  of  bis  conn-' 
try  wherever  future  Bood  fortune  should  afford 
him  an  opportunity.  To  have  it  believed,  he  said, 
by  so  highly  respectable  a  body  as  the  Corporation 
ot  the  City  of  New-Tork,  that  an  action  ot  bis  had 
contributed  to  so  desirable  an  event  Be  Che  esub- 
llshment  ot  a  navy  on  a  perioanent  Basis,  was  a 
source  ot  pleasing  reflection  which  would  only 
cease  with  life. 

After  which  Captain  Hull  retii«d. — "Bnr|^ers 
and  Freemen  of  New-York,"  pp.  371-370. 


248 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-SORK 


The  effect  of  this  victory  was  startling  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlan- 
tic. In  the  twenty  years  during  which  Great  Britain  had  been  at  war 
with  almost  every  continental  power,  and  in  the  course  of  "about 
two  hnndred  single  conflicts,"  her  ships  had  been  defeated  but  five 
times.  American  ships  and  American  seamanship  were  spoken  of  in 
contempt.  The  Constitution  had  been  ridiculed  by  the  British  press 
as  a  "bunch  of  pine  boards  under  a  bit  of  striped  bunting."  She  had 
now  outsailed  England's  finest  ships  and  reduced  to  a  wreck  one  of 
her  choice  frigates.  Only  a  short  time  before  a  London  newspaper 
had  said:  "There  is  not  a  frigate  in  the 
American  navy  able  to  cope  with  the 
Guerri^re."  On  hearing  the  news  of  the 
action,  the  London  "Times"  said:  "It 
is  not  merely  that  a  British  frigate  has 
been  taken  after  what,  we  are  free  to 
confess,  may  be  called  a  brave  resist- 
ance, but  that  it  has  been  taken  by  a 
new  enemy,  an  enemy  unaccustomed 
to  such  triumphs  and  hkely  to  be  .ren- 
dered insolent  and  confident  by  them. 
He  must  be  a  weak  politician  who  does 
not  see  how  important  the  first  triumph 
is  in  giving  a  tone  and  character  to  the 
war.  Never  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world  did  an  English  frigate  strike  to 
an  American ;  and  though  we  cannot 
say  that  Captain  Dacres  under  all  cir- 
cumstances is  punishable  for  this  act^ 
yet  we  do  say  there  are  commanders  in  the  English  navy  who  would 
a  thousand  times  rather  have  gone  down  with  their  colors  flying  than 
have  set  their  brother  officers  so  fatal  an  example."  Stress  has  been 
here  laid  upon  this  memorable  contest  because  it  was  the  first  of  a 
glorious  series  of  naval  triumphs  which  together  forever  destroyed 
the  belief,  which  in  England  was  settled  as  a  religious  faith,  in  Brit- 
ish invincibility  at  sea. 

Hull,  immediately  after  his  two  exploits,  gave  up  his  command,  in 
order  that  others  might  reap  their  share  of  laurels.  At  this  time 
there  were  a  number  of  gallant  officers  without  a  ship  to  command. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  Constitution  by  Captain  William  Bainbridge, 
one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Tripoli  war.  Raised  to  the  rank  of  com- 
modore, Bainbridge  was  transferred  from  the  frigate  Constellation, 

1  Major  WiUiun  J  ^kwiD  wh  »idB  uid  AMretejy  *Mi«t«r;  of  the  Society  of  the  (^oclaiiatL   The 

to  Wuhtnfttoii  during  Ub  midenee.  u  pmident.  portrait  is  copied  from  ■  miuiMure  by  Chaiira 

Id  NeV'ToA.     Later  he  was  a«*iatant  Hcretary  WiUson  Pralt.     His  pietnre  was  alao  painted  by 

of  war,  and  for  more  than  a  aoartcr  of  a  eenbuy  TnunbuU.  ElMVOB. 


NEW- YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      249 

38  guns,  then  fitting  for  sea  at  Washington,  and  placed  in  command 
of  a  squadron  consisting  of  the  Constitution,  which  was  thoroughly 
refitted  at  Boston;  the  Essex,  32,  Captain  Porter;  and  the  Hornet, 
18,  Captain  Lawrence.  Bainbridge  hoisted  his  pennant  on  the  Con- 
stitution on  September  15  at  Boston  harbor,  where  the  Hornet  was 
also  lying.  The  two  ships  sailed  to  the  southward  on  October  26; 
Porter,  who  was  with  the  Essex  on  the  Delaware,  receiving  orders 
to  rendezvous  at  the  island  San  Jago. 

Before  Commodore  Bainbridge  was  ready  for  sea,  Commodore 
Rodgers,  whose  squadron  was  also  in  Boston,  left  that  port  on 
October  8  with  the  President,  United  States,  Congress,  and  Argus, 
On  October  12  the  frigate  United  States,  which,  like  the  President 
and  the  Constitution,  carried  forty-four  guns,  separated  from  the 
squadron, — Captain  Decatur,  who  commanded,  taking  an  eastward 
course.  On  October  25  she  fell  in  with  the  British  thirty-eight- 
gun  frigate  Macedonian,  Captain  John  S.  Carden.  The  English  ship 
was  in  admirable  order:  so  well  manned  and  armed  that  when  the 
news  of  the  capture  of  the  Guerri^re  was  known  in  England  she 
was  pronounced  to  be  the  one  British  frigate  of  a  force  to  cope 
with  the  American  forty-fours.  Captain  Carden,  among  the  brav- 
est and  ablest  of  English  seamen,  believed  in  her  superiority.  His 
men  were  in  high  discipline,  and  had  been  constantly  engaged  in 
action  before  this  cruise.  Though  rating  thirty-eight,  she  carried 
forty-nine  guns,  and  was  a  much  faster  vessel  than  the  United  States. 
Notwithstanding  these  advantages,  if  not  superiority,  in  an  action 
the  closing  incidents  of  which  did  not  take  more  than  seventeen 
minutes,  and  during  which  the  ships  were  never  close  enough  for 
the  effective  use  of  grape  or  musketry,  the  Macedonian,  by  the  better 
gunnery  of  the  United  States,  received  nearly  one  hundred  shots  in 
her  hull,  and,  being  reduced  to  a  complete  wreck,  struck  her  colors. 
Eight  American  seamen  were  found  on  her  rolls.  They  had  been 
compelled  to  fight,  and  three  were  killed.  The  others  joined  the 
American  service,  as  did  also  a  fine  French  band  which  had  been 
captured  from  a  French  frigate  and  had  been  duly  impressed  after 
English  fashion.  So  little  injury  was  done  the  United  States  that 
she  was  ready  for  action  again  in  half  an  hour.  The  Macedonian  was 
refitted  with  jury-masts,  was  safely  brought  in  through  the  fleets  which 
blockaded  our  coasts,  put  in  to  Newport,  but  soon  after  joined  the 
United  States,  which  Decatur  took  in  to  New  London  on  December  4. 

Following  so  closely  upon  the  triumph  of  the  Constitution,  the  joy  in 
America  and  the  mortification  in  Great  Britain  were  equally  intense. 
Canning  said  in  parliament  that  it  was  a  matter  "  that  could  not  be 
thought  too  deeply  of.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  our  [the  English]  seamen  had 
been  unconquerable,  and  any  diminution  of  the  popular  opinion  with 


250  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBE 

respect  to  that  glorious  and  triumphant  spirit  was  to  his  mind  a  dread- 
ful and  alarming  consideration."  The  State  legislatures  of  New- York 
aud  Massachusetts  passed  resolutions  of  compliment  to  Decatur  and 
his  officers.  Those  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  each  voted  liim  a 
sword,  as  did  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  The  city  of  New- York,  from 
whose  port  Decatur  had  sailed  and  where  fae 
was  daily  expected  to  arrive  with  his  prize, 
was  greatly  excited,  and  prepared  for  him 
triumphal  honors.  The  corporation  of  the 
city,  as  in  the  case  of  Hull,  tendered  him 
the  freedom  of  the  city  in  the  usual  gold 
box,  ordered  his  portrait  for  their  gallery, 
named  a  committee — Aldermen  Fish,  Peter 
H.  Wendover,  and  Lawrence  —  to  arrange  for 
a  dinner  to  all  the  naval  heroes,  directed  the 
display  of  the  national  flag  from  the  City 
Hall,  requested  General  Morton,  the  military 
commander,  to  order  a  national  salute,  the 
captains  of  vessels  in  the  harbor  to  hoist 
their  colors,  and  that  all  the  bells  in  the  city  be  rung  for  one  hour. 
Nor  were  the  warrant  officers  forgotten.  The  corporation  voted  to 
give  them  and  the  crew  of  the  United  States  a  dinner  on  board  the 
ship,  should  Commodore  Decatur  consent. 

While  the  senior  officers  with  the  large  ships  were  winning  glory, 
there  occurred  otie  lesser  affair  which  rivaled  either  of  the  more  im- 
portant actions  in  dash  and  seamanship.  On  October  13  Captain  Jacob 
Jones  sailed  from  the  Delaware  in  the  sloop  of  war  Wasp,  18  gons. 
Her  object  was  to  overhaul  a  fleet  of  fourteen  merchantmen  which 
left  the  bay  of  Honduras  in  September,  bound  for  England,  under 
convoy  of  the  British  sloop  Frolic,  19  guns.  On  the  18th  the  fleet  was 
in  sight.  A  sharp  action  ensued,  which  ended  in  the  vessels  coming 
together,  when  the  Wasp's  crew  boarded  the  Englishman  without  op- 
position. Of  the  Frolic's  crew  of  one  hundred  and  nineteen  men  not 
twenty  were  unhurt.  The  flag  was  lowered  by  Lieutenant  Biddle  of 
the  Wasp  with  his  own  hand.  This  was  an  even  contest,  and  the 
success  of  the  Americans  was  again  due  to  their  superior  gunnery. 
Unfortunately,  Captain  Jones  could  not  bring  his  prize  into  port. 
Fallen  in  with  a  few  hours  later  by  the  Poietiers,  a  British  seventy- 
foiu",  Captain  Jones,  with  the  Wasp  and  her  prize,  was  taken  into 
Bermuda.  The  merit  of  the  action  was  none  the  less.  The  officers 
were  promoted ;  Congress  voted  gold  and  silver  medals  to  the  captain 
and  officers,  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  prize-money.  The 
State  of  Delaware  voted  Captain  Jones  a  sword  and  a  piece  of  plate. 
The  corporation  of  the  city  of  New-York,  on  November  3,  on  the 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      251 

motion  of  Alderman  Lawrence,  voted  him  a  sword  and  the  freedom 
of  the  city. 

Lieutenant  Hamilton,  son  of  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  carried 
Decatur's  report  of  his  victory  to  Washington.  He  reached  there  on 
the  evening  of  a  grand  ball  to  the  officers  of  the  navy.  Commodore 
Hull  was  present,  and  Captain  Stewart  of  the  Constellation.  The 
ball-room  was  decorated  with  the  colors  of  the  Guerrifere  and  the 
Alert,  which  were  presented  to  Mrs.  Madison,  the  wife  of  the  presi- 
dent, by  Captains  Hull  and  Stewart.  The  president  sent  a  message 
to  Congress,  which  on  its  receipt  voted  gold  medals  to  Hull,  Decatur, 
and  Jones,  and,  in  more  effective  compliment  to  the  navy,  authorized 
the  construction  of  four  ships  of  the  line  and  six  frigates  like  the 
Constitution  and  United  States.  The  arrival  of  the  United  States 
and  Macedonian  in  New-York  was  delayed  by  the  difficult  passage  of 
Hell  Gate.  The  city  authorities,  impatient  of  the  delay,  while  the 
press  of  the  country  was  ringing  the  praises  of  the  victors,  induced 
Decatur  to  leave  his  vessels  in  Long  Island  Sound  and  come  up  to 
the  city  on  Tuesday,  December  29,  1812,  to  the  entertainment  pre- 
pared. This  banquet  was  given  at  the  City  Hotel,  which  stood  at 
the  comer  of  Broadway  and  Thames  street,  on  the  site  of  the  Old 
Province  and  State  Arms,  and  was  now  kept  by  Gibson.  Hull,  who 
had  received  the  freedom  of  the  city  the  day  before,  was  also  present. 

At  five  o'clock  five  hundred  gentlemen  sat  down.  The  mayor  pre- 
sided. The  room  was  decorated  as  a  "  marine  palace.''  It  was  "  col- 
onnaded round  with  the  masts  of  ships  entwined  with  laurels  and 
bearing  the  national  fiags  of  all  the  world.  Every  table  had  on  it  a 
ship  in  miniature  with  the  American  flag  displayed.  In  front,  where 
the  president  sat  with  the  officers  of  the  navy  and  other  guests,  and 
which  was  raised  about  three  feet,  there  appeared  an  area  of  about 
three  feet  by  ten  covered  with  green  sward,  and  in  the  midst  of  it 
was  a  lake  of  real  water  in  which  floated  a  miniature  frigate.  Back 
of  all  this  hung  the  main-sail  of  a  ship  twenty-three  feet  by  sixteen 
feet."  Decatur  and  Hull  sat  respectively  on  the  right  and  left  of  the 
president.  At  the  toast  "  To  our  Navy "  the  great  mainsail  was  un- 
furled, and  displayed  an  immense  transparency  representing  the 
three  recent  naval  victories  in  honor  of  which  the  magnificent 
dinner  was  given. 

The  Macedonian  was  brought  into  port  on  January  1,  1813,  where 
the  citizens  greeted  her  with  great  joy  as  a  New  Year's  gift.  New 
Year's  was  always  the  whitest  of  white  days  in  the  calendar  of  the 
New-Yorker  of  earlier  days.  On  Thursday,  January  7,  the  corpo- 
ration of  the  city  entertained  the  crew  of  the  United  States  in  the 
same  banquet-room,  the  decorations  of  which  had  been  retained. 
This  interesting  feast  was  directed  by  Aldermen  John  Vanderbilt, 


252 


HIHTOUY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


Buckmaster,  and  King.  Alderman  Vanderbilt  delivered  the  address 
of  wL'lcome  Ut  the  sailors,  of  whom  there  were  about  four  hundred 
present.  They  had  marched  to  the  hotel  in  a  sort  of  popular  tri- 
uiuph.  After  ilinner  Decatur  brought  in  an  invitation  to  attend  the 
theater.  The  drop-<>urtain  represented  the  fight  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Macedonian ;  the  orchestra  played  national  airs,  and  a  band 
of  (ihildren  bore  transparencies  with  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  which, 
grouped,  formi4  the  names  of  Hull,  Jones,  and  Decatur.' 

Yi't  another  was  to  be  added  to  the  glories  of  this  opening  of  what 
is  sometimes  called  the  second  war  of  American  independence. 
Commodore  Biiiubridge,  in  the  Constitution,  accompanied  by  Law- 
rence ill  the  Hornet,  sailed  from  Boston  on  October  20.  Leaving  the 
Hornet  ofF  Ban  Balvador  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  British  sloop  of  war 
Boune  Citoyoiine,  which  was  about  to  sail  for  England  with  a  large 
freight  of  specie, — one  half  million  pounds, — Commodore  Bainbridge, 
on  the  29th,  fell  in  with  the  British  frigate  Java,  .38  guns,  bound  for  the 
East  Indies  with  a  number  of 
officers.  A  hot  action  en- 
sued, which  lasted  nearly  two 
hours — an  action  of  manoeu- 
ver  within  musketry  range, 
in  which  the  Constitution, 
suffering  little  herself,  delib- 
erately silenced  all  of  the  en- 
emy's guns  by  her  own  su- 
perior handling  and  gunnery. 
At  the  end  of  the  action  the 
Java  was  "a  riddled  and  en- 
tirely dismasted  hulk."  Ow- 
ing to  his  loug  distance  from  port  and  the  badly  disabled  state  of 
the  prize,  Bainbridge  destroyed  the  Java  on  January  3,  and,  first 
making  San  Salvador,  where  he  landed  and  paroled  his  prisoners, 
sailed  ou  January  6, 1813,  and  reached  Boston  on  February  23.  At 
San  Salvador  he  left  Lawrence  in  the  Hornet  That  gallant  officer 
had  sent  a  I'halleuge  to  the  British  commander  of  the  Bonne  Cito- 
yenne,  pledging  non-interference,  with  the  fight  he  proposed,  by  the 
Constitution.    But  the  oombat  was  declined. 

Lawrence  continued  the  blockade  until  the  arrival  of  the  British 
man-of-war  Montagu  on  January  24  drove  him  into  port  As  night 
oame  on  he  wore  ship  and  stood  out  unmolested  into  the  open  sea, 
taking  prizes.  On  February  24,  off  the  mouth  of  the  Demerara  Kiver, 
he  fell  iu  with  two  British  brigs  of  war — the  Espi^e.  IS  guns,  at 


BKOADWAT. 


1  The  MbswIihumb  w 


I  pl>u«d  uwtw  the  sommaiut  ot  CkpWa  Jobm.  vhilB  Mall  muiiiT  t&s  ontm 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAS    WITH    GBEAT    BBTTAIN      253 

anchor;  the  Peacock,  24  guus.  Colors  were  hoisted  ou  both  sides, 
and  a  hot  fire  was  begun  by  broadsides  at  half  pistol-shot  and 
musketry  from  the  tops.  In  just  fourteen  minutes  the  Peacock 
surrendered,  hoisting  her  ensign  union  down  as  her  mainmast  went 
by  the  board.  Lieutenaut  WiUiam  B.  Shubrick,  sent  on  board,  re- 
ported her  sinking.  A  second  boat's  crew  from  the  Hornet  endea- 
vored to  save  the  vessel,  but 
she  suddenly  settled  and  sank, 
carrying  with  her  some  of  her 
hands  who  were  rummaging 
below.  The  Hornet's  victory 
again  was  due  to  the  superior 
handling  of  the  guns.  The 
Espi^gle  lay  in  sight,  but  did 
not  come  out,  and  Captain 
Lawrence,  crowded  with  his 
prisoners  and  short  of  water,  henby  eckfordb  house. 

stood  for  home,  and  anchored  in  Holmes'  Hole  at  Martha's  Vineyard 
on  March  19.  It  may  here  be  said  that  the  oflRcers  of  the  Peacock,  on 
their  arrival  in  New- York,  published  a  card  of  thanks  to  the  officers  of 
the  Hornet.  In  every  one  of  these  four  victories  the  conquered  Eng- 
lishmen bore  testimony  to  the  courteous  consideration  of  their  captors. 

The  same  honors  paid  to  their  predecessors  in  victory  were  voted 
to  Bainbridge  and  Lawrence.  On  the  arrival  of  the  Constitution, 
Captain  Bainbridge,  on  February  15,  was  received  with  tumultuous 
applause  by  the  citizens  of  Boston.  Rodgers  and  Hull  accompanied 
him  in  the  procession  to  the  Exchange  Coffee  House.  Thanks  were 
voted  by  the  legislature,  then  in  session,  and  a  grand  banquet  given 
on  March  2  at  the  Exchange  Coffee  House.  March  1, 1813,  the  com- 
mon council  of  New- York  presented  to  Commodore  Bainbridge  the 
freedom  of  the  city  and  ordered  his  portrait  for  their  gallery,  and  on 
March  29  paid  the  same  honors  to  Captain  Lawrence.  Other  States 
joined  in  these  demonstrations,  and  Congress  voted  thanks,  medals, 
and  prize-money  because  of  the  necessary  destruction  of  the  prizes. 

During  all  this  period  the  harbor  of  New- York  was  closely  block- 
aded by  the  British  men-of-war;  even  our  frigates  could  not  i-un  the 
gauntlet,  availing  themselves  of  the  narrow  and  dangerous  strait  of 
Hell  Gate  to  the  Sound.  Once  in  the  open  sea  beyond  Montauk,  they 
had  opportunities  to  find  or  force  an  offing.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Madison  that  these  naval  successes  occurred  at 
the  beginning  of  the  contest.    They  inspirited  the  war  party  in  the 

'Henrj  Elckford  was  u  eminent  ship-builder,  other  literary  men  were  freqaent  guests  during 
at  whose  house  In  Love  Lane,  near  the  present  the  second  dee*de  of  the  eentiuy.  Drake  married 
Twentr-flrst  street  I>e  Kay,  Drake,  Halleck.  and      Hr.  Ecltfont'a  daughter.  EDrron. 


254  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

very  places  which  Madison's  cabinet  and  the  Western  politicians  had 
ignored,  disregarded,  and  even  insulted  in  their  declarations.  The 
ships  they  proposed  to  shut  up  in  port  as  unable  to  defend  them- 
selves had  humbled  British  pride,  while  the  land  forces  had  made 
but  a  soiTy  beginning  in  the  proposed  conquest  of  Canada.  In  the 
first  six  months  of  the  war  there  had  been  as  many  encounters  with 
British  cruisers,  in  every  one  of  which  the  United  States  were  the 
victors.  Moreover,  over  three  hundred  British  merchantmen  had 
been  captured  and  brought  into  port,  including  those  taken  by 
New- York  and  other  American  privateei-s. 

The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  was  the  first  organization  to  volun- 
teer in  New- York.  They  were  commanded  by  John  Delamater,  who 
had  served  in  the  militia  during  the  Revolution.  They  were  invited 
by  notice  to  meet  at  the  new  arsenal  in  Hubert  street,  and  to  take 
their  station  at  the  North  Battery  at  the  foot  of  that  street.  They 
assembled  and  took  possession  of  the  fort,  by  permission  of  General 
Bloomfield.  The  uniformed  corps  of  militia,  in  April,  1812,  consisted 
of  ten  regiments  in  two  brigades,  one  battalion  of  riflemen,  three 
regiments  of  artillery,  one  squadron  of  cavalry,  one  company  of  fly- 
ing artillery,  and  the  company  of  veteran  artillery  already  mentioned 
— in  all  about  three  thousand  men.  The  population  of  the  city  was 
about  ninety-eight  thousand  persons,  of  whom  fifteen  hundred  were 
slaves.  The  number  subject  to  military  duty  was  about  twelve 
thousand  men.  The  two  brigades  were  commanded  by  General 
Peter  P.  Van  Zandt  and  Gteneral  Gerard  Steddiford;  the  artilleiy, 
by  General  Morton  —  all  three  veterans  of  the  Revolution.  Major 
James  Warner  commanded  the  city  cavalry,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Francis  McClure  the  riflemen.  On  April  21,  1812,  Gk)vemor  Tomp- 
kins issued  his  orders  for  the  State  military  formation  from  his 
headquarters  in  New- York  city. 

There  were  four  arsenals  in  the  city  in  1812 — the  State  arsenal, 
comer  of  Elm  and  Franklin  streets;  the  United  States  arsenal  on 
Bridge  street  near  the  South  Battery;  the  United  States  magazine 
and  arsenal  at  the  foot  of  West  Twelfth  street;  and  the  United 
States  arsenal  on  the  Parade,  now  Madison  Square,  at  the  jimction 
of  the  old  Boston  Road  and  the  Middle  Road.  These  buildings  were 
two  or  three  stories  high,  of  stone  and  brick,  well  constructed,  and 
inclosed  by  high  waUs.  There  were  two  forts,  one  about  one  him- 
dred  yards  in  front  of  the  Parade  at  the  Battery,  connected  with  it  by 
a  drawbridge.  OflScially  known  as  the  Southwest  Battery,  it  was 
called,  after  the  war.  Castle  Clinton.  It  was  built  about  the  year 
1811,  on  the  plans  of  Lieutenant  Joseph  G.  Totten,  of  the  United 
States  Engineers.  This  was  the  military  headquarters.  Off  Hu- 
bert street,  in  the  Hudson,  was  the  North  Battery,  about  two  hun- 


MEW-YOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      255 


dred  yards  from  the  shore,  to  which  there  was  a  drawbridge  thirty 
feet  wide.  It  could  carry  twenty  heavy  guns  in  one  tier.  Its  fire 
crossed  with  that  of  the  Southwest  Battery.  Later  it  was  called 
the  "Eed  Port" 

Outside  of  the  city  were  several  works — Castle  Williams,  on  Gov- 
ernor's Island  (on  its  westward  projection);  Fort  Columbus,  on  the 
middle  of  the  island;  Fort  Wood,  on  Bedlow's  Island  (a  mortar-bat- 
tery); on  Ellis  or  Oyster  Island,  a  circular  battery  mounting  four- 
teen heavy  guns.  On 
the  eastern  shore  of 
Staten  Island  there 
were  three  batteries 
ready  for  garrison  — 
Fort  Richmond,  Fort 
Morton,  and  Fort  Hud- 
son. All  three  would 
be  later  commanded 
by  Fort  Tompkins,  not 
yet  above  the  founda- 
tion. These  works  had 
all  been  built  by  Col- 
onel Jonathan  Wil- 
liams, of  the  Second 
United  States  Artil- 
lery, and  chief  engineer 
of  the  United  States. 
Together  they  carried  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  guns,  and  re- 
quired a  force  of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  gunners.  The  forts 
in  the  harbor  were  under  command  of  Colonel  Heni-y  Burbeck,  and 
the  navy-yard  and  flotilla  were  commanded  by  Captain  Isaac  Chaun- 
cey.  On  July  12,  1812,  the  common  council  received  a  report  from 
the  governor  of  the  State  and  the  secretary  of  war  favoring  further 
fortifications.  On  June  27  the  governor  directed  General  Stevens,  by 
division  orders,  to  require  General  Morton  to  order  out  such  part 
of  the  artillery  not  already  called  for  upon  the  requisition  of  Gen- 
eral Bloomfield.  In  this  order  the  governor  says:  "His  Excellency 
confidently  hopes  that  the  General  [Stevens]  will  exert  his  talents, 
his  influence,  and  his  official  authority  to  produce  a  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war." 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  celebrated  with  "  a  degree  of  splendor," 
says  the  "  Columbian,"  "  never  witnessed  at  any  former  period  on  the 
occasion."  There  was  a  review  before  noon  by  Generals  Bloomfield, 
Stevens,  and  Morton,  and  a  parade  on  the  Battery,  followed  by  an 
address  in  the  evening  by  John  Anthon,  before  the  Washington  and 


256 


HISTOEY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


Hamilton  societies  at  Washington  Hall.  On  July  8  arriTed  news  of 
Napoleon's  decree  from  St.  Cloud,  April  26, 1812,  declaring  '*  the  de- 
crees of  Berlin  and  Milan  are  definitely  (from  the  first  of  November 
last)  considered  as  no  longer  in  force  as  far  iis  regards  American 
vessels,"  destroying  the  last  cause  of 
complaint  against  France,  and  the 
one  strong  ailment  of  the  Federal- 
ists against  the  war  with  Great  Bri- 
tain as  one  of  the  aggressors  on 
American  rights. 

It  is  curious  to  read  in  the  "  Co- 
lumbian" of  July  9  a  proposal  by 
"one  of  16^  to  place  cannon  on 
every  wharf  within  a  covered  way 
protected  by  cotton-bales,  the  device , 
abandoned  by  Jackson  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  July  3  was  observed  as 
a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  by 
recommendation  of  Governor  Tomp- 
kins. In  August  the  first  double 
steamboat  was  put  on  the  Powles 
Hook  ferry,  and  excited  great  ad- 
miration. On  August  14  there  was 
artillery  practice  in  the  harbor,  the 
tai^t  being  a  hulk  provided  by  Governor  Tompkins.  The  practice 
showed  that  254  out  of  314  shot  took  effect,  the  hulk  being  fired  by 
hot  shot  from  one  of  the  militia  commands.  On  the  same  day  Gen- 
eral Bloomfield  was  relieved  from  the  command  at  New-York  by  the 
secretary  of  war,  and  General  John  Armstrong  appointed  to  the  post. 
Notwithstanding  the  blockade  of  New- York  by  a  British  squadron 
of  five  vessels  carrying  two  hundred  and  ten  guns,  besides  many 
smaller  armed  craft,  there  arrived  between  April  6  and  August  22, 
1812,  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty-two  ships,  eighty-four 
brigs,  and  forty  schooners,  some  with  British  licenses.  The  first 
privateer,  the  Bunker  Hill,  left  the  port  on  July  6,  1812.  Before  the 
middle  of  October,  twenty-six  privateers,  carrying  two  hundred  and 
twelve  guns  and  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  men, 
had  left  the  port,  taking  their  course  through  Long  Island  Sound 
towani  the  British  cruisers.  Of  these  the  lai^st  was  the  General 
Armstrong,  which  carrieti  eighteen  long  nines  and  a  twelve-pounder, 
and  was  manned  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  men.  These  vessels  were 
ohiefiy  built  in  New- York,  where  there  were  three  large  ship-yards : 
that  of  Adam  and  Noah  Brown,  on  the  East  River  at  Houston  street; 
that  of  Christian  Bergb,  on  the  East  River  near  Gonvemenr^  Slip, 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN     257 

where  the  President  was  built ;  and  that  of  Henry  Eckf ord,  on  the 
East  River  near  that  of  Bergh,  who  built  the  fleet  on  the  lakes. 
The  Oneida,  Commodore  Chauncey's  flag-ship,  was  also  built  by  him. 
Napoleon  greatly  assisted  the  privateers  by  an  order  that  all  prizes 
taken  by  Americans  should  be  received  in  French  ports  on  the  same 
terms  as  though  captured  by  French  vessels.  Soon  the  British 
Channel  swarmed  with  American  privateers,  who  had  a  close  shelter 
in  the  French  ports  near  by.  There  were  numerous  militia  reviews 
during  the  year,  the  most  notable  of  which  was  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  evacuation  of  the  city  by  the  British.  There  was  a  general 
parade,  and  in  the  evening  a  large  company,  including  Governor 
Tompkins,  Generals  Armstrong,  Morton,  and  Paulding,  dined  at 
Mechanics'  Hall,  comer  of  Park  Place  and  Broadway. 

When  Congress  met  on  November  2,  1812,  in  conformity  with  the 
act  passed  at  the  preceding  session  providing  the  time  for  the  next 
meeting.  President  Madison  sent  in  a  message  which  gave  but  sorry 
satisfaction  to  the  hopes  of  the  military  party.  He  announced  that 
prior  to  the  declaration  of  war  a  force  had  been  sent  to  the  Michigan 
territoiy  "  to  intercept  the  hostile  influences  of  Great  Britain  over  the 
savages  and  obtain  the  command  of  the  Lake  in  that  part  of  the 
Canada  borders.''  This  force,  under  command  of  William  Hull,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  who  had  been  made  a  brigadier- 
general,  consisted  of  regulars  and  volunteers,  in  number  about  two 
thousand  men.  By  some  blunder  in  the  war  department  the  decla- 
ration of  war  was  nearly  two  weeks  on  the  way  to  him,  and  was 
known  in  Canada  some  days  earlier.  His  orders  to.  take  possession 
of  Maiden,  fifteen  miles  below  Detroit  on  the  Canada  side  of  the 
river,  reached  him  at  Detroit  on  July  9.  He  crossed  on  the  12th 
and  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  Canadians,  which  was  of  no  effect. 
Being  without  artillery,  the  capture  was  decided  to  be  too  hazardous 
an  undertaking,  and  he  recrossed  the  river  on  August  7.  The  enemy 
had  already  anticipated  his  attempt  at  invasion  by  the  seizure  of  the 
American  post  at  Mackinaw,  commanding  the  strait  between  Lakes 
Huron  and  Michigan,  which  capitulated  on  July  10 :  an  aflfair  doubly 
important  because  of  its  influence  on  the  Indian  tribes.  The  British 
colonel,  Henry  A.  Proctor,  receiving  reinforcements,  and  joined  by 
the  savages,  defeated  Hull's  detachments,  and  Hull,  disheartened,  re- 
treated to  Detroit.  Meanwhile  Fort  Dearborn,  which  stood  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chicago  River,  on  ground  which  is  now  within  the 
limits  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  was  abandoned  by  Hull's  orders,  and 
the  captain  commanding  the  small  garrison  was  on  his  retreat  when 
his  force  was  ambushed  by  the  Indians  and  compelled  to  surrender, 
many  of  the  women  and  children  being  mercilessly  scalped,  and  the 

savage  trophies  carried  to  Colonel  Proctor,  who  had  offered  a  pre- 
voL.  m.— 17. 


258  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

mium  for  American  scalps.  On  August  15,  the  British  general,  Isaac 
Brock,  who  had  assumed  command  at  Fort  Maiden,  with  his  force, 
in  which  were  six  hundred  savages  under  the  lead  of  Tecumseh,  the 
famous  Indian  chieftain,  marched  on  Detroit.  On  Brock's  arrival 
before  the  fort  the  white  flag  was  hung  out,  and  Hull  surrendered 
the  fort  and  garrison  and  the  whole  Territory  of  Michigan,  of  which 
he  was  governor.  This  occurred  on  August  16,  and  terminated  the 
miserable  campaign.  Three  days  later  the  naval  commander  of  the 
Constitution  redeemed  the  honor  of  the  flag  and  the  name  of  Hull, 
which  had  otherwise  become  a  byword  in  American  history  for  in- 
competency or  cowardice. 

Tecumseh,  who  seems  to  have  followed  the  example  of  Pontiac 
in  an  endeavor  to  unite  all  the  neighboring  tribes  to  recover  their 
hunting-grounds  on  the  northwestern  territory,  flushed  with  the  suc- 
cesses before  the  forts  at  Mackinaw,  the  Chicago  River,  and  Detroit, 
planned  desultory  attacks  on  the  other  frontier  posts.  In  August  a 
force  of  Kentuckians,  raised  to  reinforce  Hull,  had  been  placed  under 
command  of  General  Hamson,  the  victor  of  Tippecanoe.  On  the  fall 
of  Detroit  it  was  marched  through  the  Ohio  wilderness  to  the  relief 
of  Fort  Wayne,  where  Captain  Aaron  Bhae  was  closely  beset  by  a  joint 
force  of  British  and  Indians.  This  was  the  scene  of  Josiah  Harmar^s 
defeat  in  the  Miami  campaign  of  1790.  On  the  approach  of  Harrison's 
relieving  force  the  besiegers  withdrew.  Fort  Harrison,  which  stood  on 
the  Wabash  River  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Terre  Haute,  was 
held  by  Captain  Zachary  Taylor  with  a  small  force.  Invested  by  the 
savages  and  the  blockhouse  set  on  fire,  the  post  was  stoutly  held,  and, 
after  a  hot  struggle,  the  attempt  to  capture  it  was  foiled.  This  oc- 
curred on  September  3.  Fort  Madison,  which  stood  on  the  bank  of  the 
Mississippi  near  the  site  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  was  attacked  on  Sep- 
tember 5  by  a  force  of  two  hundred  Winnebago  Indians.  It  was 
ably  defended  by  Lieutenant  Hamilton,  and  on  the  8th  the  savages 
withdrew.  Besides  these  concerted  attacks  there  were  sundry  skir- 
mishes with  the  Indians,  the  most  noted  of  which  was  that  of  Colonel 
Ball  with  a  mounted  command  on  the  bank  of  the  Sandusky,  in  which 
the  chiefs  f elL  This  chastisement  insured  the  quiet  of  the  settlements 
for  many  years. 

The  invasion  of  Canada  was  not  abandoned  because  of  HulPs  sur- 
render. On  the  night  of  September  20  Captain  Benjamin  Forsyth 
took  a  party  of  Americans  from  Cape  Vincent  by  water  to  the  village 
of  Gananoqui,  where,  after  a  skirmish  in  which  he  defeated  the  oppos- 
ing force,  he  burned  the  military  storehouse  and  returned  to  the 
American  shore.  On  October  2  the  Canadians  replied  with  a  much 
more  formidable  expedition  against  Ogdensburg.  They  crossed  the 
river  from  Prescott  opposite,  in  forty  boats,  under  the  escort  of  two 


GANSETOOBT  — "  THE    OLD   WHITE    TOKT." 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GKEAT    BRITAIN      259 

guuboatiS ;  the  movement  being  covered  by  the  fire  of  the  British  bat- 
teries at  Prescott.  General  Jacob  Brown,  who  commanded  at  Ogdens- 
burg,  with  the  American  battery  and  a  company  of  riflemen  received 
the  flotilla  so  warmly  that  it  returned  to  Prescott  without  having 
made  a  landing. 

The  force  with  which  General  Brock  took  Detroit  included  two 
British  war  vessels.  To  these  the  surrender  added  the  American 
brig  of  war  Adams,  which  the  British  named  the  Detroit.  This 
leaving  the  United  States  with- 
out any  force  on  the  upper 
lakes,  Lieutenant  Jesse  D.  El- 
liott of  the  navy  was  sent  to 
Buffalo  to  organize  a  flotilla, 
and  a  detachment  of  men  was 
ordered  up  from  New- York 
city,  where  seamen  were  abun- 
dant. In  October  the  Detroit  and  a  smaller  vessel,  the  Caledonia, 
which  had  done  service  at  the  capture  of  Mackinaw,  came  down  Lake 
Erie  and  anchored  off  Fort  Erie.  On  the  night  of  the  8th  they  were 
surprised  by  Lieutenant  Elliott.  The  Caledonia  was  run  ashore  and 
secured,  the  Detroit  captured.  Elliott  fought  the  British  batteries 
from  the  captured  vessel,  but  finding  he  could  not  tow  her  out  of 
their  reach,  and  the  vessel  drifting  ashore  on  Squam  Island,  he  aban- 
doned her,  carrying  off  his  prisoners.  Boarded  by  a  British  party, 
they  were  driven  off  by  the  American  batteries,  and  she  was  thus  the 
point  of  fire  for  both  sides.  In  the  night  she  was  again  boarded  by 
the  Americans  and  burned. 

After  the  capture  of  Detroit  the  British  force  employed  was  with- 
drawn to  the  Niagara  River,  which  became  the  scene  of  the  autumn 
campaign.  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  in  command  of  the 
American  forces,  planned  an  expedition  to  capture  Queenstown,  which 
commanded  the  end  of  the  portage  between  Ontario  and  the  upper 
lakes.  The  American  force  was  six  thousand  men — regulars,  militia, 
and  volunteers.  On  October  13,  after  some  previous  blunders  and 
one  unsuccessful  attempt,  a  crossing  was  made.  Two  hundred  regu- 
lars under  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Chrystie,  and  the  same  number 
of  militia  under  Colonel  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer,  were  to  cross  before 
daybreak  and  storm  the  heights.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Winfield  Scott 
placed  a  battery  on  Lewiston  Heights  to  protect  the  crossing.  The 
regulars  and  a  few  of  the  militia  had  crossed,  when  they  were  met  at 
the  landing  by  a  force  of  the  enemy.  Pushing  on,  line  was  formed 
by  Captain  John  E.  Wool  at  the  foot  of  the  heights,  when  they  were 
attocked  in  front  and  on  flank.  Though  without  artillery.  Wool  stood 
his  ground.   Van  Rensselaer's  militia  on  the  left  were  less  severely 


260  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

treated.  Both  Wool  and  Van  Rensselaer  were  badly  wounded.  The 
Americans  fell  back  to  the  river  to  reform,  and  were  reinforced.  By 
a  skilful  movement  Wool  turned  the  British  battery,  which  he  cap- 
tured so  suddenly  that  General  Brock,  who  was  standing  near,  had 
not  time  to  mount  his  horse,  and  at  sunrise  the  American  flag  was 
flying  over  the  works. 

Brock  ordered  up  reinforcements  from  Fort  George,  but  without 
waiting  their  aiTival  took  the  lead  of  the  defeated  troops  and  moved 
up  the  slope  to  recapture  the  works.  They  were  repulsed  by  a  charge 
of  bayonets.  As  Brock  rallied  his  men  for  a  second  assault,  he  fell, 
mortally  wouuded.  All  attempts  to  avenge  his  death  were  in  vain. 
Soon  after  Scott  and  General  William  Wadsworth  arrived  with  re- 
inforcements. Wool,  weak  with  loss  of  blood,  turned  over  the  com- 
mand to  Scott.  The  British  general  Roger  H. 
Sheaffe  brought  up  the  reinforcements  from  Fort 
George,  but  General  Van  Rensselaer  could  not 
persuade  the  militia  to  cross  the  river  to  Scott's 
support.  Scott  held  his  ground  against  a  flank 
attack  by  the  Indians,  who  were  under  command 
of  John  Brant,  son  of  the  famous  Mohawk  chief 
Thayendanegea  (or  Joseph  Brant),  which  he  re- 
c  LARKsoN  ARMS.        ^^^^  ^^  ^^^  bayouet.    General  Sheaffe  bringing 

up  his  whole  force,  Scott  was  compelled  to  retreat,  but  finding  escape  cut 
off,  all  the  boats  haying  been  allowed  to  float  down  the  river,  or  to  be 
taken  by  the  enemy,  he  surrendered  his  force,  carrying  the  flag  of  truce 
thi'ough  the  Indian  line  in  person.  Thus  ended  the  battle  of  Queens- 
town,  where,  as  with  Francis  the  First  at  Pavia,  "all  was  lost  but  honor.** 
The  stoppage  of  trade  was  not  the  only  grievance  to  the  merchants 
of  New- York.  This  was  imavoidable  in  a  state  of  war;  but  their 
property  was  seized  also  under  what  were  in  many  cases  wholly 
innocent  breaches  of  the  law.  Mr.  Madison,  in  his  message  of  No- 
vember 4, 1812,  called  attention  to  this  subject :  "A  number  of  Ameri- 
can vessels  which  were  in  England  when  the  revocation  of  the  orders 
in  council  took  place,  were  laden  with  British  manufactures,  under  an 
on'oneous  impression  that  the  non-importation  act  would  immediately 
cease  to  operate,  and  had  arrived  in  the  United  States.**  The  for- 
feitures incurred  under  the  act  were  not  remitted  by  the  officers  of 
the  government,  and  Mr.  Madison  asked  Congress  to  consider  the 
subject  in  the  light  of  equity  and  the  public  interest.  Madison  accom- 
panied his  message  with  petitions  for  remission  from  the  leading 
merchants  of  New- York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  New  Haven,  Rich- 
mond, and  Albany.  The  New-York  memorial  was  plain-spoken: 
"  Tlie  citizens  of  New-York  had  no  idea  that  under  the  hard  circum- 
stances of  their  case  their  own  government  would  either  forfeit  their 


HEW-YOEK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BKITAIN      261 


property  or  mulct  them  when  they  intended  no  violation  of  the  laws 
of  the  country."    The  memorial  was  accompanied  by  aflSdavits.' 

The  congressional  committee  reported  that  it  appeared  that  the 
orders  in  council  were  revoked  by  Great  Britain  June  23,  1812,  and 
that  the  declaration  of  war  only  reached  England  on  July  30.  There- 
upon a  tempwrary  embargo  had  been  laid  on  American  vessels,  but 
the  next  day  they  were  permitted  to  con- 
tinue to  take  cargoes  of  British  merchan- 
dise consigned  to  the  United  States,  being 
provided  for  that  purpose  with  "  licenses 
protecting  them,  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
isting hostilities,  against  capture  by  Brit- 
ish cruisers."  The  time  of  obtaining  li- 
censes was  limited  to  September  15, 1812. 
Congress  declined  to  legislate,  and  turned 
the  matter  over  to  Albert  Gallatin,  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury.  Gallatin,  in 
reply,  recommended  that  the  one  half  of 
the  forfeitures  that  would  fall  to  the 
share  of  the  collectors  should  be  re- 
mitted, but  that  the  United  States  should 
benefit  by  the  extra  profit  secured  on 
their  importations  and  retain  at  least  so 
much  of  its  half  of  the  fines.  Among 
the  New-York  merchants  examined  by 
the  congressional  committee  were  John  G.  Coster,  John  Mason,  Wil- 
liam Irving,  and  Abram  R.  Lawrence.  Mr.  Irving  testified  that 
for  some  of  the  English  goods  there  was  "a  ravenous  demand," 
army  contractors  bidding  one  over  another.  Mr.  Coster  had  imported 
to  the  amount  of  £20,000  sterling.  But  while,  notwithstanding  these 
grievances,  New- York  sustained  the  war  with  patriotic  enthusiasm, 
Mr.  Madison  bad  to  report  "that  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
refused  to  furnish  their  required  contingents  towards  the  defence  of 
the  maritime  frontier." 

It  is  a  question  whether  Great  Britain  ever  during  this  contest 
entertained  any  purpose  of  general  conquest  or  of  subjugating  any  of 
the  parts  of  the  United  States.    Her  designs  on  New  Orleans  were 


I  AfltdrnvltB  In  matter  at  forfeiture  before  com- 
mittee of  Congreaa,  November,  1S12 :  CbarleH  Os- 
borne, ComellDi  Beyer,  H.  Van  Wagenen,  John 
StoDlenbnrKh,  Willlun  Irring.  Nathaniel  Rleh- 
arda,  John  Dodgeon,  John  Howatt.  Jr..  Eljphalet 
WfIllaIn^  Bobert  C.  Cornell.  John  B.  Dash,  Ben- 
luDin  W.  Dwlgbt,  John  R.  WUlis.  Isaac  Car;, 
Jowpb  Cornell.  Wllliun  W.  Hott,  James  JeoklnB, 
Franola  B.  Wlnthrop.  Jr.,  Hoaes  Judah,  Garret 
B.  AbeeL  Edward  hji«,  Qeorge  Newbold,  Sea- 


buiy  Tredwell.  Leonard  Kip,  James  J.  Rooserelt, 
Cbarles  Smith,  Jr.,  Bobert  I>ee,  Ebeuezer  Irving, 
Jameg  S.  Bailey,  Joseph  Cortla,  Henry  King. 

2  Colonel  WlUUm  Stephens  Smith,  a  native  of 
New- York  city,  married  the  only  daughter  of 
John  Adams.  He  vas  ^de-de-camp  to  Washing* 
ton,  and  in  1813-15  waa  a  member  of  Congress. 
For  many  years  he  was  president  of  the  State 
Society  ot  the  Cincinnati.  The  portndt  is  copied 
from  die  painting  by  StnarU  Editob. 


262  HKfTOBY    OF    NEW-YQBK 

ev\fip(j)t  later,  and  there  was  no  donbt  a  v£^^e  bnt  nndfielared  hope 
that  by  a  starvation  proeess  she  might  isolate  New  F.ngJATiH  from  lie 
CTnion  and  perhapi9  attach  her  to  her  Canadian  dominiona.  To  the 
union  of  the  8tat;e«  New- York  was,  by  her  position^  irrevoeably  com- 
mitted, and  she  early  rer^ognized  the  vast  amount  of  terrilory  it  en- 
abled her  to  r»ommand  for  her  trade.  The  old  Anti-Federalist  idea  of 
autonomy  had  been  long  abandoned  by  her. 

The  faihire  of  the  two  Canadian  campaigns  of  1912  bron^t  New- 
York  far»e  to  face  with  the  problems  of  the  lake  defenses.  En^and 
precedf*d  uh  in  a  naval  force  on  these  great  inland  seas.  In  1808, 
nnfler  the  general  authority  to  construct  gnnboats,  the  president  had 
empowered  Lieutenant  Melanchton  T.  Woolsey  to  contract  for  two 
vf^HwelR  on  Lake  CTiamplain  and  one  on  Lake  Ontario.  The  latt^*,  a 
regular  brig  of  war,  was  armed  in  the  spring  of  1809  with  sixteen 
twf^nty-four  pounders.  A  temporary  arrangement  being  made  with 
Rngland,  however,  the  vessel,  which  was  named  the  Oneida,  was  not 
put  on  the  lake  till  the  next  year.  The  British  had  several  vessels, 
of  which  the  Royal  George,  of  twenty-two  guns,  was  the  largest.  In 
July,  1H12^  the  British  fleet  had  made  an  attempt  to  take  the  Oneida 
at  Hackett^s  Harbor,  but  Commander  Woolsey,  taking  position  with 
her  at  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  easily  drove  the  enemy  off.  In 
Oct/>^>er,  1812,  Captain  Isaac  Chauncey  took  up  from  New-York  a 
tfrroA  of  officers,  seamen,  and  ship-carpenters,  and  a  quantity  of  naval 
stoTf!S.  He  purchased  and  fitted  a  number  of  schooners,  which,  with 
the  Oneida,  carried  forty  guns  and  four  hundred  and  thirty  men. 
Before  winter  set  in  he  chased  the  Boyal  George  into  Kingston, 
attai^ked  the  batteries,  and  cut  out  two  small  prizes,  and  about  the 
same  time  an  expedition  crossed  from  Black  Bock,  and  assaulted  and 
mpUmu]  tho  batteries  at  the  head  of  Niagara  River. 

The  (^losing  of  the  harbors  by  the  ice  put  a  stop  to  all  active  oi)era- 
tions)  but  tmtnorous  vf^ssels  were  built,  and  when  navigation  opened 
in  the  spring  of  1813,  General  Henry  Dearborn,  commanding  the 
land  forcns,  and  Commodore  Chauncey  were  ready  for  fresh  oper- 
ations. A  joint  military  and  naval  expedition  undertook  the  capture 
Iff  York  (now  Toronto),  the  capital  of  Upper  Canada,  where  the  Brit- 
ish, iindor  (Hinunand  of  Oeneral  Shoaffe,  had  one  large  vessel,  the 
lioyal  (loorge,  and  wore  building  another.  It  sailed,  fourteen  vessels, 
on  April  ilR.  T\w  town  was  captured  on  the  27th,  after  an  action  in 
whh'h  Major  Benjamin  Forsyth,  with  the  American  riflemen,  distin- 
gulshotl  hltnsolf,  and  Oonoral  Zebulon  M.  Pike,  commanding  the 
foives,  WHS  mortally  wounded.  The  British  military  stores  were  de- 
stniyod,  and  tho  vossel  on  the  stocks  set  fire  to  by  Sheaffe.  The 
g\>vennnoni  bttiUlings  won>  burnoii  by  the  Americans — an  unfor- 
tutrnlo  priHHHlonU     Tho  Uoyal  Gei>rge  had  sailed  two  days  before. 


MEW-YOEK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      263 

The  capture  of  Fort  George,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Niagara 
River,  two  miles  from  its  mouth,  was  theu  undertakeu  by  Dearborn. 
The  American  troops  were  commanded  by  General  John  P.  Boyd, 
who  succeeded  General  Pike.  Major  Forsyth  commanded  the  rifle- 
men, Colonel  Alexander  Macomb  the  artillery,  Colonel  Moses  Porter 
the  light  artillery,  Commodore  Chauncey,  who  had  brought  down 
supplies  and  a  reinforcement  from  Sackett's  Harbor,  directed  the 
fleet,  and  Captain  Oliver  Hazard  Perry  had  hurried  to  the  scene 
from  Lake  Erie  to  take  part  in  the 
action.  The  troops  were  landed 
on  the  27th.  Colonel  Scott,  sup- 
ported by  the  light  artillery,  car- 
ried the  heights,  and,  the  first 
man  to  enter  Fort  George,  he 
hauled  down  the  colors  with  his 
own  hand.  In  the  absence  of  the 
American  force  at  the  western  end 

of  Lake  Ontario,  the  British  gen-    ^^^^^^   _  .^^^^ 
eral  Proctor  and  Sir  James  Yeo,    ^^^^^^B^a^^^^^  .  '^ 

who  commanded  the  fleet   (four 
war  vessels,  a  brig,  two  schooners, 
and  two  gunboats),  attempted  a 
surprise  of    Sackett's  Harbor  at 
the  eastern  end.    The  enemy  ap- 
peared off  the  harbor  on  May  28, 
1813,  captured  twelve  of  nineteen 
boats  which  were  bringing  up  re- 
inforcements to  the  Americans  from  Oswego,  and  landed  on  the  29th. 
The  day  was  nearly  lost  when  General  Brown  retrieved  its  fortunes, 
and  the  British  took  to  their  boats.     Fortunately  the  Americans  had 
themselves  set  fire  to  their  stores  and  vessels. 

Other  minor  actions  followed  in  the  course  of  the  summer:  A  night 
aflfair  at  Stony  Creek,  where,  in  an  indescribable  confusion,  both  the 
American  brigade  commanders  were  made  prisoners,  and  the  British 
general  lost  his  way  in  the  woods.  The  American  troops,  however, 
made  a  safe  retreat  to  Fort  George.  An  attempt  to  surprise  the  British 
depot  of  supplies  at  Beaver  Dam,  seven  miles  from  Queenstown,  re- 
sulted in  an  ambush  from  which  the  lieutenant-colonel  commanding 
extricated  himself  with  skill,  only  to  fall  into  a  ridiculous  snare.  Duped 
by  a  trick,  he  surrendered  to  an  insignificant  force,  and  had  the  mor- 
tification to  see  his  men,  in  spite  of  the  terms  of  capitulation,  stripped 
of  their  clothing  by  the  savages.    The  country  was  indignant  at  this 


261 


mSTOEY    OF    NEW-YORK 


disgrace,  and  General  Dearborn,  who  commanded  the  northern  de- 
partment, was  removed.' 

The  third  affair  was  an  attack  on  Black  Rock,  near  Buffalo,  where 
the  Americans  had  a  dockyard  and  storehouses.  The  surprise,  led  by 
the  British  lieutenant-colonel  Bisshop,  was  complete;  the  buildings 
were  fired,  guns  spiked,  and  the  spoliation  nearly  complete  when  an 
American  force,  hastily  gathered  by  General  Robert  B.  Porter,  put 
an  end  to  their  operations  and  drove  them  in  disorder  to  their  boats. 
Commodore  Chauncey,  during  this  summer,  repeatedly  tried,  in  vain, 
to  bring  Sir  James  Yeo  to  a  decisive  naval  encounter.  This  officer 
declined  invariably,  seeking  refuge  under  the  guns  of  the  British  fort 
On  October  8,  Chauncey  caught  a  squadron  of  seven  gunboats  used 
by  the  enemy  as  transports,  of  which  he  took  and  brought  in  five 
with  their  cargoes  of  troops.  The  cam- 
paign closed  with  Lake  Ontario  essentially 
in  American  possession. 

Meanwhile  a  memorable  naval  en- 
counter had  given  the  United  States 
similar  command  of  Lake  Erie.  In  the 
winter  of  1812-13,  two  large  brigs,  to 
mount  twenty  guns  each  were  laid  down 
at  Presque  Isle  (now  Erie,  Pennsylvania), 
where  there  is  a  fine  harbor;  a  force  of 
ship-carpenters  was  sent  up  from  New- 
York  city,  and  several  schooners  and 
gunboats  were  there  constructed.  The 
timber  was  felled  from  neighboring  woods 
and  used  green.  All  the  other  material, 
.  iron  and  naval  stores,  was  transported  by 

i^^,^A^*\^»ctKZZZ^  land,  chiefly  from  New- York,  on  wagons. 
A  low-wat«r  bar  protected  the  harbor,  and 
prevented  the  entrance  of  the  British  cruisers  which  held  the  Lake 
and  hung  off  the  port.  Captain  Perry,  who  was  then  in  command  of 
the  flotilla  of  gunboats  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  seeing  no  chance 
of  getting  to  sea  in  a  sloop  of  war,  volunteered  for  the  lake  service, 
and  was  ordered  to  take  command  on  Lake  Erie.  He  arrived  at 
Buffalo  in  March,  1813,  with  a  nimiber  of  officers  and  a  few  men.  He 
aided  Commodore  Chauncey  in  the  disembarkation  which  captured 
Fort  George.  The  fall  of  this  post  brought  ou  that  of  Fort  Erie, 
and  left  the  Niagara  frontier  in  control  of  the  American  army. 
Perry  now  repaired  to  his  own  command,  and  by  June  12  had  gotten 

I  Heuy  Dearborn  «u  a  dlstingruiahed  oSoer  ot  decided  tbe  bkttle  of  Stillwater  (or  Santo^).  He 
the  Bevolntlon,  It  was  the  rorps  o(  bayonets  on-  wu  Jeffereon'a  seeretuy  of  war  through  his  two 
der  hla  commaiid  which,  with  Morxaii'i  rlllemeD,      admiiilstratkms. 


KEW-TORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GBEAT    BRITAIN      265 

the  vessels  detained  on  the  Niagara  River  past  the  enemy's  batteries. 
These  vessels  consisted  of  four  schooners  (cue  a  prize)  and  a  sloop.  A 
few  days  after,  he  sailed  from  the  outlet  of  the  lake  for  the  harbor  of 
Presque  Isle,  sUpping  by  the  British  fleet,  which  were  in  the  offing, 
unobserved  uutil  it  was  too  late  to  intercept  him.  The  two  brigs  laid 
down  at  Presque  Isle  in  the  winter  and  launched  in  May  were  now 
nearly  ready  for  sea.  They  were 
the  Lawrence,  on  which  Perry 
hoisted  his  flag,  and  the  Ni^ara. 
The  schooners  also  were  in  the 
water.  The  bar,  hitherto  a  pro- 
tection, was  now  a  serious  ob- 
stacle to  getting  out  the  brigs. 
It  had  but  seven  feet  of  water, 
and  was  half  a  mile  outside  the 
harbor.  The  Lawrence,  lifted 
over  by  an  ingenious  contriv- 
ance, received  her  armament  out- 
side, and  her  guns  were  instantly 
trained  broadside  on  the  enemy. 
The  Niagara  was  taken  over 
with  less  difficulty,  the  schooners 
passed  easily,  and  when  the  Brit- 
ish fleet  appeared  on  the  morning 
of  Monday,  August  5,  Perry  had  nine  vessels,  carrying  fifty-five  guns 
and  four  hundred  men.  Hardly  was  his  squadron  in  the  water  when 
Captain  Robert  H.  Barclay,  who  commanded  the  British  fleet, — six 
vessels,  carrying  sixty-five  guns  and  about  the  same  number  of  men 
as  the  Americans,  his  flag-ship  being  the  Detroit,  of  19  guns, — sailed 
up  the  lake.  Perry  followed  in  pursuit,  and  after  cruising  several 
days,  went  into  Put-in  Bay,  where  he  drilled  his  men  with  muffied 
oars  for  a  boat  attack. 

On  September  10,  the  British  squadron  was  seen  and  signals  given 
by  Perry  to  get  under  way.  This  time  the  enemy  formed  into  line. 
Perry  did  the  same,  and,  as  he  approached,  displayed  a  blue  flt^  on 
which  was  the  legend, "  Dont  give  up  the  ship."  Action  having  begun, 
the  enemy's  heaviest  ships  concentrated  their  fire  on  the  Lawrence,  dis- 
abling her,  and  killing  so  many  of  her  men  that  she  dropped  out  of  the 
fight,  and  Perry  transferred  his  flag  to  the  Niagara  —  Captain  Elliott, 
her  commander,  passing  down  the  line  of  the  American  vessels  in  a 
small  boat  with  Perry's  order  to  close  up  to  half  pistol-range,  and 
taking  command  himself  of  one  of  the  last  vessels.  A  confusion  in  a 
manoeuver  of  the  English  vessels  gave  Perry  the  opportunity  to  sail 
through  the  enemy's  line,  delivering  broadsides  from  both  sides.    A 


266 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


close  action  ensued,  and  the  British  colors  were  shortly  struck.  Perry 
at  ouue  seut  to  G-oneral  Harrison,  who  commanded  the  noriihwestem 
army,  a  despatch  announcing  his  victory :  "  We  have  met  the  enemy, 
atid  they  are  ours :  two  ships,  two  brigs,  one  schooner,  and  one  sloop." 
In  this  sanguinary  encounter,  a  number  of  Perry's  men  were  negroes. 
Congress  voted  gold  medals  to  both  Perry  and  Elliott,  whose  great 
aorvices  P(>rry  generously  acknowledged  in  his  official  report. 

On  October  23,  Perry's  squadron  trans- 
ported General  Harrison's  army  to  Buf- 
falo, and  on  the  25th  Perry  resigned  the 
command  of  the  upper  lakes  to  Captain 
Elliott  and  returned  to  the  seaboard, 
where  he  was  commissioned  captain,  his 
commission  dating  the  day  of  his  vic- 
tory, and  soon  after  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  Java,  a  new  frigate  fit- 
ting out  at  Baltimore.  By  the  capture 
of  the  British  fleet  the  waters  of  the 
lakes  on  the  New- York  border  were  en- 
tirely cleared  of  the  enemy,  and  the  re- 
joicings in  the  city  were  great.  The 
common  council,  on  October  4,  tendered 
Commodore  Perry  the  freedom  of  the 
city  in  a  gold  box,  and  requested  him  to 
sit  for  his  portrait    Mayor  Clinton,  in 


<^^. 


T^^n.^^  _-.-^%i*^  transmitting  the  resolutions  to  the  com- 
^  modore  at  Newport,  alluded  to  the  battle 

of  Lake  Erie  as  "an  event  without  parallel  in  the  annals  of  our 
country,  which  gives  you  distinguished  rank  among  the  celebrated 
lueu  that  reflect  lustre  on  the  American  uame,  and  which  has  dis- 
{tensed  the  blessings  of  security  and  tranquillity  to  a  most  important 
and  e:ctensive  portion  of  the  United  States." 

At  the  time  of  Perrj-'s  victory  General  Harrison  had  completed  his 
plan  of  eam{taigu.  Governor  Isaac  Shelby,  the  old  hero  of  the  Revo- 
lution, was  on  the  march  in  person  with  eleven  regiments  of  Kentacky 
luouutetl  volunte^^rs,  who  had  flocked  to  his  standard  when  they  heaid 
of  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie.  Pressing  on.  he  reached  the  lake  on 
SeptemWr  14,  in  time  to  meet  a  part  of  Perry's  squadron ;  the  re- 


1  Anoay  ik*  atmmvr*  of  A*  jrw  IMS  nay  b*  U  ikiitr  dars  be  had  dgalnj^"*  tvi 

WMtlk«*<llW>aaaf  tbr  Arirwk.Bwitbrd(uks(  Mwvbwitwn.    ^t  the  «*d  o<  ihst  tii 

UnttWMBI  WitSaM  H.  AUnl  ntMMMifiBC  her.  bM  the  Prtku  of  Uw  Briiitk  narr 

TW  Arvw  W«  X»w-Y«*  ua  Jita*  IS.  nuT^iiMe  1*M-     U  >»>»  »>"»•  mmIm  <luck  . 

M  Ptukw.    Kh»iKa(  Briuik  nntisH-f.  ihr  saRwiv-  Hr  «»•  h«ui«<]  M  Ptvasvik  vith  wOitarr  boBon. 


dADra 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN     267 

mainder  of  the  army  arriving  on  the  15th  and  16th.  The  embar- 
kation began  on  the  20th.  On  the  25th  five  thousand  men  were 
encamped  upon  the  Middle  Sister  Island.  On  the  27th  Harrison's 
address  to  the  men  was  read  on  each  vessel,  and  the  fleet  of  sixteen 
armed  men-of-war  and  one  hundred  boats  moved  up  into  the  Detroit 
River.  Perry  commanded  the  water  movements,  Harrison  those  of 
the  army.  Landing  a  few  miles  below  Maiden,  the  army  marched  on 
that  town,  Governor  Shelby  in  advance.  The  town  was  evacuated, 
and  the  public  buildings  were  in  flames.  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson 
with  his  mounted  regiment  reached  Detroit  shortly  after,  and  crossed 
to  Sandwich.  A  land  march  in  chase  of  the  flying  British  was  agreed 
upon,  while  Perry  sent  a  part  of  his  squadron  in  pursuit  of  the 
vessels  which  had  taken  the  artillery  and  baggage  up  Lake  St.  Clair. 
Perry  followed  in  person  to  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and,  landing, 
found  General  Harrison.  General  Proctor,  constantly  flying,  to  the 
disgust  of  Tecumseh,  at  last  made  a  stand  on  the  river  Thames,  and 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  Americans  in  battle  order  on  the  morn- 
ing of  October  5.  Harrison,  accompanied  by  Commodore  Perry  and 
Colonel  Lewis  Cass,  took  a  post  on  the  right  of  the  American  army 
near  the  river.  At  the  call  of  a  bugle  the  advance  moved  forward. 
The  cavalry  dashed  into  and  broke  the  first  and  second  British  lines, 
and,  wheeling  right  and  left,  attacked  the  rear.  Proctor's  army  sur- 
rendered as  fast  as  they  could  throw  down  their  arms.  Proctor  him- 
self fled  in  his  carriage.  The  bugle  ordering  the  attack  on  the  right 
was  answered  by  a  bugle  on  the  left,  and  Colonel  Johnson  led  his 
mounted  men  against  Tecumseh's  savages.  There  was  a  hand-to-hand 
fight,  but,  reinforcements  coming  up,  the  Indians  broke  for  the  forest. 
Tecumseh,  the  last  great  Indian  chief,  was  slain — tradition  says  by 
Johnson's  own  hand. 

This  total  annihilation  of  the  British  army  west  of  Ontario,  added  to 
the  victory  on  Lake  Erie,  by  which  all  that  Hull  surrendered  was  recov- 
ered and  the  honor  of  the  flag  restored,  was  hailed  with  delight  every- 
where. Not  the  least  of  its  consequences  was  the  total  breaking  up 
of  the  Indiati  confederacy  of  the  Northwest,  desertion  of  their  British 
allies,  and  kinder  feelings  to  the  Americans  because  of  their  humane 
treatment  by  Harrison.  In  New- York,  on  October  23,  the  new  City 
Hall  was  splendidly  illuminated,  as  also  Tammany,  Washington,  and 
Mechanics'  Halls,  the  theater,  and  numerous  private  residences.  On 
one  of  the  windows  of  the  City  Hall  was  a  transparency  with  "  Don't 
give  up  the  Ship.''  In  front  of  Tammany  were  a  portrait  of  Harrison 
receiving  hostages  from  the  Indians  aifd  a  representation  of  the  battle 
of  Lake  Erie.  The  expedition  for  which  Harrison's  troops  were  em- 
barked on  their  return  by  Commodore  Perry  was  intended  against 
the  British  at  Burlington  Heights,  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  Ontario, 


268  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

but  the  purposes  of  the  war  department  changing,  they  were  moved 
in  November  to  Sackett's  Harbor,  after  which  General  Harrison  joined 
his  family  at  Cincinnati. 

The  military  operations  of  1813  were  not  to  close  without  a  bitter 
disappointment  to  the  country  and  fresh  alarm  to  the  State  of  New- 
York.  General  Armstrong,  a  veteran  of  the  Revolution  and  at  the 
time  secretary  of  war,  planned  in  February,  1813,  a  campaign  for 
the  conquest  of  Lower  Canada  by  the  capture  of  Montreal  The 
northern  army  was  in  two  wings:  the  left  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  under 
command  of  General  James  Wilkinson,  a  Revolutionary  officer  who  had 
seen  much  service ;  the  right  at  Plattsburg,  under  command  of  Gen- 
eral Wade  Hampton.  Wilkinson,  an  old  personal  friend  and  compan- 
ion in  arms  of  Secretary  Armstrong,  was  to  lead  the  invading  force, 
and  Hampton  was  expected  to  support  the  movement.  Unfortunately 
there  was  no  good  feeling  between  the  commanders,  Hampton  main- 
taining that  his  was  an  independent  command.  The  consequences 
were  naturally  disastrous. 

Wilkinson,  assembling  the  troops  from  Fort  George  on  the  Nia- 
gara, gathered  his  forces  at  Grenadier  Island,  near  the  outlet  of  the 
lake  into  the  St.  Lawrence.  Hampton  was  to  march  to  the  north- 
ward and  join  forces  with  him  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chateaugay,  when 
together  they  were  to  move  on  Montreal.  On  October  5  Wilkinson 
moved  his  force  down  the  St.  Lawrence.  The  line  of  boats  was  five 
miles  long.  The  British  batteries  at  Prescott  were  run  by  night,  but 
others  being  met  with  posted  along  the  bank.  Colonel  Ma<K>mb, 
with  a  picked  corps,  supported  by  Forsyth's  riflemen,  the  cavalry, 
and  General  Brown's  brigade,  crossed  the  river  to  clear  the  bank. 
They  were  constantly  engaged.  Soon  the  Americans'  rear  was  dis- 
turbed by  a  force  from  Kingston  which  Commodore  Chaunoey  had 
failed  to  prevent  leaving  that  harbor.  On  the  10th  the  expedition 
reached  the  Long  Rapid,  where  it  was  disembarked.  The  British  con- 
centration was  now  complete  in  the  rear,  and  was  supported  by  gun- 
boats. A  battle  was  inevitable.  General  Wilkinson  being  too  ill  to 
leave  his  bed.  General  Boyd  took  command.  The  British  advance 
was  attacked  and  routed  by  General  Robert  Swartwout's  brigade, 
which  then  fell  on  the  British  right,  and  General  Leonard  Covington 
on  the  British  left.  The  day  was  raw;  the  ground,  rough  and  heavy, 
was  fought  over  back  and  forth.  General  Covington  fell,  mortally 
wounded.  After  an  engagement  of  two  hours  the  American  reserves 
were  brought  up,  and  the  British  making  no  further  demonstration, 
the  Americans  retired  to  their  t)oats. 

Although  not  a  defeat,  this  affair,  which  is  called  the  battle  of  Wil- 
liamsburg or  Chrystler's  Field,  was  not  a  victory.  On  this  field  Lieu- 
tenant William  J.  Worth,  later  a  hero  of  the  Mexican  war,  was 


NEW-TOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN 


distinguished  Without  further  regard  to  the  danger  to  his  rear,  Wil- 
kinson resumed  his  movements  and  passed  down  the  Grand  Rapids. 
At  Cornwall  he  received  despatches  from  General  Hampton  with 
word  from  that  officer  that  he  would  not  join  the  expedition  or  take 
any  farther  part  in  the  invasion  of  Canada.  Hampton  had  heen 
ignominiously  repulsed  in  a  forward  movement  down  the  Chateaa- 
gay.  Ou  receipt  of  these  despatches,  it  was  decided  by  Wilkinson 
in  a  council  of  war  to  ascend  Salmon  River  and  go  into  winter  quar- 
ters.   This  ended  the  elaborate  but  ill-judged  campaign. 

The  British  general  Gordon  Drummond  took  immediate  advantage 
of  the  situation  which  the  weakening  of  the  force  in  Fort  George 
and  in  the  Niagara  River  afforded 
him.  Recalling  the  troops  which 
Wilkinson's  stoppage  of  opera- 
tions released,  he  moved  on  Fort 
George,  which  the  American  gen- 
eral MeClure  immediately  aban- 
doned, firing  the  village  of  New- 
ark on  his  retreat.  The  term  of 
the  militia  had  expired  on  Decem 
ber  9,  and  MeClure's  force  was 
reduced  to  sixty  men.  Drum 
mend,  taking  possession  of  the 
but  partially  destroyed  village, 
where  he  found  tents,  artillery, 
and  abundant  ammunition  uu 
injured,  on  the  night  of  Decem 
ber  18  crossed  the  Niagara  River, 
surprised  Fort  Niagara,  marching 
in  through  the  open  gate,  and  bayoneted  the  gamson  in  their  sleep. 
The  same  day  the  British  general  Phineas  Riall  came  from  Queens- 
town  to  Lewiston,  which  he  sacked  and  burned;  the  savages  commit- 
ting their  usual  atrocities.  Prom  Lewiston  Riall  marched  through 
the  villages  of  Youngstown,  Tusearora,  and  Manchester  {now  Niagara 
Falls),  all  of  which  be  destroyed,  driving  the  inhabitants  houseless 
into  the  woods  in  the  cold,  inclement  season.  Checked,  however,  by 
the  destruction  of  the  bridge  over  Tonawanda  Creek,  Riall  retraced 
his  march  and  crossed  back  to  Canada. 

General  Amos  Hall,  of  the  New-York  militia,  hurried  to  Buffalo, 
which  was  in  wild  alarm.  A  force  gathered  of  about  two  thousand 
men,  but  partly  armed  and  almost  undisciplined.  On  December  29 
General  Riall,  sent  over  by  Drummond,  attacked  the  American  camp 


WABHINOTOK  S   CHAIB.1 


270  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

with  a  body  of  regulars  and  Indians.  General  Hall's  militia  fought 
well,  but,  their  center  being  broken,  became  disheartened  and  could 
not  be  rallied  even  to  defend  the  village  and  bring  away  the  women 
and  children.  Lieutenant  David  Riddle,  of  the  United  States  r^u- 
lars,  with  eighty  men,  being  refused  aid  by  Hall,  redeemed  the  honor 
of  the  United  States  army  by  going  in  unsupported  and  saving  the 
arsenal  stores.  Buffalo  and  Black  Bock  were  sacked  and  burned,  and 
the  inhabitants  massacred  without  mercy.  The  gains  of  the  year 
were  all  lost  save  the  Territory  of  Michigan,  which  Harrison  had 
retrieved  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames.  The  cost  of  these  northern 
campaigns  was  enormous.  "It  was  estimated  that  the  conveyance 
of  each  cannon  to  Sackett's  Harbor  had  cost  a  thousand  dollars. 
The  flour  for  Harrison's  army,  by  the  time  it  reached  the  troops, 
had  cost  a  hundred  dollars  a  barrel."  This  is  not  surprising  when 
it  is  remembered  that  through  the  vast  unsettled  country  of  New- 
York  and  Ohio  the  supplies  were  all  carried  on  packhorses,  while 
the  forage  to  feed  them  was  carried  on  other  horses. 

The  year  1813  was,  in  its  history,  as  checkered  on  the  ocean  as  on 
the  land.  It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  the  career  of  triumph  of 
1812  would  be  continued  without  interruption.  One  of  its  disasters 
came  home  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  New- York.  Captain  Law- 
rence, on  his  return  from  his  dashing  cruise  in  the  Hornet,  which 
he  made  by  Holmes'  Hole  and  through  Long  Island  Sound  to  New- 
York  without  meeting  an  enemy,  was  transferred  to  the  frigate  Ches- 
apeake. This  vessel  had  just  returned  from  a  long  cruise,  and  was 
lying  in  Boston  harbor,  where  the  blockade  was  but  loosely  main- 
tained, the  President  and  Congress  having  both  gotten  an  offing 
without  interference;  and  it  seemed  as  though  the  officers  of  the 
British  frigates  Shannon,  38,  and  Tenedos,  38,  which  were  on  the 
station,  did  not  desire  a  meeting.  When  the  Chesapeake  was  ready 
to  sail,  however,  the  Shannon,  Captain  Broke,  appeared  in  the  off- 
ing. He  had  that  day  sent  a  challenge  to  Captain  Lawrence  to 
meet  him  at  some  latitude  and  longitude  to  be  agreed  upon, — a  mes- 
sage which  Lawrence  did  not  receive,  else  he  might  have  fought  un- 
der other  conditions.  On  the  forenoon  of  June  1,  1813,  the  Shannon 
appeared  in  the  bay.  The  Chesapeake  was  then  lying  in  President 
Boads.  Her  crew  was  somewhat  disaffected  because  of  unpaid  prize- 
money.  At  noon  she  lifted  anchor  and  stood  out.  Lawrence,  be- 
cause of  the  state  of  his  crew,  to  whom  he  was  a  stranger,  having 
joined  his  ship  only  a  few  days  before,  reluctantly  ordered  his  decks 
cleared  for  action.  As  the  first  gun  was  fired  the  excitement  in  Boston 
was  intense,  the  population  of  the  city  thronging  to  the  housetops.* 

1  The  mother  of  the  writer  of  these  iMges,  then  a  girl  of  fourteen,  related  to  him  that  from  the 
roof  of  her  father's  hoose  on  Fort  Hill  she  heard  the  guns  and  saw  the  smoke  of  the  action. 


HEW-YOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      271 


After  a  short  and  sangaiuary  conflict,  which  closed  with  the  boarders 
of  the  SbanDOD  passing  through  the  Chesapeake  from  stem  to  fore- 
castle without  serious  resistance, —  Lawrence  having  fallen  mortally 
wounded  at  the  critical  moment  when  the  ships  fouled,  and  all  his 
officers  being  incapacitated, — the  Chesapeake  surrendered.  The  last 
orders  of  Lawrence  as  he  was  carried  below,  shot  a  second  time  and 
through  the  body,  were  "Tell  the  men  to  fire  faster  and  not  give  up 
the  ship.  Fight  her  till  she  sinks."  As  soon  as  the  action  was  over 
both  ships  made  sail  for  Halifax.  Cap- 
tain Lawrence  died  of  his  wounds  on  June 
6.  His  lieutenant,  Ludlow,  also  died  of  his 
wounds,  a  few  days  later. 

The  withdrawtd  of  the  British  cruisers 
from  the  blockade  of  Boston  harbor,  whOe 
New- York  and  the  Chesapeake  were  so 
effectually  closed  that  it  was  impossible 
even  for  the  frigates  to  get  out,  excited 
an  uneasy  and  Jealous  feeling  in  these 
ports.  In  December,  1813,  President 
Madison  informing  Congress  that  a  con- 
traband trade  was  carried  on  at  Boston 
and  that  the  British  frigates  when  off  the 
coast  had  been  supplied  from  the  shore,  a     ^^  ^y 

fresh  embargo  was  laid  on  the  exportation  /Z^-^^-t^  .^i*^^,,,^-*^ 
of  goods  of  any  character,  produce,  live-  /y 

stock,  and  specie.  The  balance  of  the  naval  account  for  the  year  1813 
was,  however,  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the  United  States.  The  Ameri- 
cans had  taken  twenty-sis  British  men-of-war  of  five  hundred  and 
sixty  guns.  The  British  had  taken  seven  American  men-of-war  of 
one  hundred  and  nineteen  guns. 

But  few  British  ships  of  war  were  on  the  northern  Atlantic  coast 
in  1812,  but  in  January,  1813,  an  English  squadron,  under  Admiral 
Sir  John  Borlase  Warren,  was  reported  off  Sandy  Hook.  The  United 
States  flotilla  of  gunboats,  under  command  of  Commodore  Jacob 
Lewis,  was  unable  to  get  from  the  station  on  the  East  Biver  to  the 
lower  bay  because  of  the  ice.  On  January  22  the  enemy's  ships  were 
seen  off  the  lighthouse  at  Sandy  Hook,  and  the  city  was  in  alarm. 
The  forts  were  ready,  except  the  new  construction  not  yet  finished. 
The  volunteer  regiments  accepted  by  the  government  for  defense  of 
the  harbor  and  city  were  enlisted  for  one  year  for  that  service  only. 
There  were  several  independent  companies:  one  of  infantry,  the 
"  Iron  Grays," '  of  seventy  men,  commanded  by  Captain  Samuel  Swart^ 


I  AmonK  the  iMt  torvlTon  of  i 
mired  uid  f MhloDsble  corps  ireie  Plti-are<me  Hal- 
leek,— who  edebnted  It  In  am 


Blbby,  Stephen  Cembrelltig.  Dr.  Edwvd  DelaAf  Id, 
HickeoD  W.  Field,  James  W.  Oenrd,  and  Ocneral 
Charles  W.  Saodford.  Editob. 


272  HI8TOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

wout ;  one  of  cavalry,  the  New- York  Hussars,  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain William  Craig.  In  these  companies  were  enrolled  many  promi- 
nent citizens.  On  March  13  a  veteran  corps  of  artillery  was  organized 
under  Captain  John  McLean.  A  marine  corps  was  formed  by  the 
shipmasters  and  mariners.  On  March  15,  by  Governor  Tompkins's 
report,  there  were  about  thirty-five  thousand  troops  in  actual  service. 
He  stated  that  twelve  thousand  men  were  needed  for  a  defense  of  the 
city  and  harbor. 

On  March  20  signals  announced  the  approach  of  a  fleet  of  ships. 
The  batteries  were  manned,  the  flotilla  ready  for  sailing,  and  the  new 
fort  at  Saudy  Hook,  with  some  heavy  guns  mounted,  was  in  charge 
of  five  hundred  Jersey  Blues 
who  encamped  near  by.  The 
vessels  proved  to  be  merchant- 
men. The  Sea  Fencibles,  com- 
posed of  mariners,  sailors  and 
boatmen,  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Lewis,  with  the  nominal 
title  of  commodore,  by  the  spring 
of  1813  had  increased  to  one 
thousand  men.  General  Arm- 
strong, who  from  August,  1812, 
had  commanded  in  New- York, 
was  appointed  secretary  of  war 
TOMB  OP  CAPTAIN  LAWH«,cK.  JauoaTy  13,  1813.     The   com- 

mand then  fell  to  Colonel  Bur- 
beck  of  the  United  States  Artillery.  He  was  an  able  officer  of  the 
Revolution  from  the  beginning  to  the  close,  and  had  later  seen  service 
on  the  western  frontier.  In  February  the  recruiting  service  of  the 
United  States  in  New- York  city  was  placed  under  the  direction  of  Col- 
onel Jonas  Simonds  and  Colonel  Macomb,  who  was  later  transferred  to 
frontier  service  in  the  Niagara  district.  Colonel  Simonds  commanded 
the  Sixth  United  States  Infantry,  Colonel  Macomb  the  Third  Unit«d 
States  Artillery.  Many  of  their  officers  were  of  New- York.  On 
March  20,  General  George  Izard  of  South  Carolina  was  assigned  by 
President  Madison  to  the  command  of  New- York  city,  and  made  his 
headquarters  at  Castle  Clinton,  later  Castle  Garden.  Breastworks 
were  erected  on  the  water-line  about  the  Battery  Parade.  There  was 
at  this  time  a  public  garden  in  the  Battery  Park.  State  street  and 
the  lower  end  of  Broadway  were  the  site  of  fine  private  residences. 
In  February,  1813,  De  Witt  Clinton  was  reappointed  mayor  of  the 
city  by  the  council  of  appointment,  which  was  then  Federalist.  Clin- 
ton's leanings  were  in  that  direction,  but  both  parties,  Federalists  and 
Republicans,  were  content  with  his  management  of  public  afiEairs. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GBEAT    BBTTAIN     273 

The  disastrous  result  of  the  Bussian  campaign  freeing  a  large 
number  of  British  ships  from  the  continental  service,  the  enforcement 
of  the  blockade  of  the  United  States  became  closer,  and  fears  of  in- 
vasion were  entertained  at  all  of  the  large  seaports.  The  fortifica- 
tions about  New- York  were  strengthened  in  May.  At  the  close  of 
the  month  the  British  blockading  vessels  were  ordered  to  admit  no 
more  neutral  or  licensed  trading  vessels  by  the  passage  of  Long 
Island  Sound.  On  May  24,  Alderman  Fish,  from  the  committee  on 
defense,  presented  a  draft  of  a  memorial  to  the  general  government 
inviting  their  attention  to  the  inadequate  number  of  United  States 
troops  in  the  forts.  The  memorial  was  adopted,  and  Alderman 
Mesier  and  Assistant  Alderman  King  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
present  it  to  the  president  and  Congress.    It  read  as  follows  : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Bepresentativea  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

The  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New-York,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  city, 
most  respectfully  represent  that  having  made  application  to  different  constituted 
authorities  for  the  protection  of  this  city,  and  still  finding  it  in  a  very  critical  and 
exx>osed  situation,  they  consider  it  their  solemn  and  indispensable  duty  to  make  this 
representation  as  the  last  resort  to  the  constitutional  guardians  of  the  common 
defence  and  general  welfare.  When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  guarantees 
each  State  against  invasion  it  undoubtedly  declares  that  all  the  means  or  the  . 
powers  of  the  National  Government  shall  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  defence.  In 
calling  upon  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  to  perform  the  guarantee  en- 
joined by  the  federal  compact  we  wish  to  be  explicitly  understood  that  we  solicit  no 
X>artial  indulgence  or  particular  favor. 

The  great  portion  of  the  revenue  which  is  collected  in  this  city;  the  valuable  com- 
merce which  is  here  carried  on ;  the  immense  wealth  which  is  here  accumulated,  and 
the  extensive  and  severe  distress  which  might  be  produced  in  this  part  of  the  Union, 
must  render  it  an  object  of  the  first  importance  to  the  policy  as  well  as  the  cupidity 
of  the  enemy  to  make  a  successful  attack  upon  this  place,  and  when  it  is  consid- 
ered that  hostile  ships  of  war  are  at  this  moment  cruising  within  twenty-five  miles  of 
this  city  and  that  with  a  favorable  wind  ships  of  the  line  can  come  up  to  our  wharves 
in  two  hours  from  the  ocean,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  as  great  if  not  greater 
reason  to  apprehend  danger  here  than  at  those  places  on  the  waters  of  the  Delaware 
and  Chesapeake  which  have  been  menaced  by  the  approach  of  the  enemy. 

With  full  confidence  in  the  commanding  officer  assigned  to  this  place,  and  without 
the  most  distant  intention  of  criminating  any  branch  of  the  government,  we  still  deem 
it  our  duty  to  state  in  the  most  explicit  manner  that  we  are  now  in  a  more  dangerous 
situation  than  we  have  been  in  for  a  number  of  years.  The  number  of  men  stationed 
in  the  different  forts  is  wholly  inadequate,  and  no  call  has  been  made  on  the  Militia  to 
supply  the  deficiency.  In  this  last  respect  we  are  peculiarly  situated,  for  while  less 
exposed  places  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  are  garrisoned  at  the  expense  of 
the  United  States,  we  are  deprived  of  this  mode  of  defence ;  and  while  we  readily 
admit  that  larg^  expenditures  have  been  made  for  the  erection  of  fortifications  in  this 
port,  yet  we  are  at  the  same  time  constrained  to  state  that  the  important  works  at 
Hendrick's  Reef,  on  the  adjoining  heights  of  Long  Island,  at  Sandy  Hook,  at  the 
Battery  on  this  island,  and  at  Fort  Gansevoort  are  in  a  very  imperfect  state ;  and  the 
pass  to  this  City  by  the  Sound  is  entirely  undefended,  and  it  is  well  understood  that  a 
Vol.  ra.— 18. 


274  mSTOEY   OF   new-yobk 

ship  of  the  line  oan  approach  us  in  diat  direction  with  very  inconsideTable  risk  as  to 
the  navigation. 

To  enter  into  a  more  detailed  account  of  our  sitnation  would  be  unnecessary  aud 
perhaps  improper,  but  as  we  consider  the  object  of  this  memorial  of  the  highest  im- 
portanc«  to  the  prosperity  of  this  City  and  the  extensive  Country  with  which  it  is  con- 
nected by  commerce  and  the  ties  of  mutual  interests,  we  have  authorized  a  committee 
of  this  board  to  repair  with  it  to  the  seat  of  government,  and  to  make  such  other  re- 
spectful representations  as  the  emei^enoy  of  the  case  and  our  very  critical  situation 
imperiously  require,  and  they  will  be  specially  chargeable  to  state  to  your  honorable 
body  that  every  measure  in  the  power  of  your  memorialists  will  be  promptly  adopted 
to  promote  the  means  of  defence  presented  by  the  General  Government,  and  we  are 
fully  persuaded  that  our  fellow  citizens  will  also  cheerfully  and  unanimously  cooperate. 

The  new  Congress  met  on  this  day  (May  24).  New- York  was 
represented  by  Egbert  Benson  and  Jotham  Post,  Jr.,  both  Federal- 
ists.   The  platform  on  which  they  were  elected  was  "  Liberty,  Peace 

and   Commerce." 
The    State    was 


the  Senate  by 
Bufus  King  and 
Obadiah  German. 
Governor  Tomp- 
kins was  reelect- 
ed for  three  years 
in  April,  and  on 
May  31,  without 
waiting  for  action 
by  Congress,  he, 
by  general  orders, 

directed  all  commanders  of  brigades  to  fix  places  of  rendezvous  in 
ease  of  invasion,  and  report  to  General  Stewart,  whose  orders  were 
to  be  "  implicitly  obeyed  by  all  militia  officers  within  the  southeni 
district."  In  consequence  there  was  an  immediate  thorough  oi-gan- 
ization  of  the  several  commands,  and  regulations  were  devised  and 
published  to  meet  all  probable  contingencies. 

All  parties  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July,  but  there  was  little  har- 
mony on  the  occasion.  The  4th  falling  on  Sunday,  the  celebration 
was  held  on  Monday,  the  5th.  General  Morton's  brigade,  and  Major 
James  Homer's  squadron  of  cavalry  paraded  early  in  the  day,  inde- 
pendently. Marching  to  the  Parade  on  the  Battery,  they  were  there 
dismissed.  The  Tammany  Society,  or  Columbian  Order,  was  active  in 
its  demonstration,  but  the  numbers  were  reported  as  small.  They 
had  abandoned  their  old  badges  and  wore  no  buck-tails  on  their  hats. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      275 

The  atrocities  of  the  Indians  on  the  frontier  made  it  politic  for  them  to 
discard  the  Indian  costume  which  they  usually  wore  on  this  day.  The 
Federalist  organizations,  the  Washington,  Benevolent,  and  Hamilton 
societies,  were  in  full  force.  The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  wore 
V)adges  of  mourning  on  their  swords  in  respect  to  the  memory  of 
General  Pike  and  Captain  Lawrence,  the  latest  victims  of  the  war. 
This  was  the  only  military  body  which  took  part  in  either  of  the 
civic  processions.  It  marched  with  Tammany  at  the  call  of  Captain 
McLean.  Both  celebrations  ended  with  a  grand  dinner.  The  Federals 
dined  at  Washington  Hall,  where  about  three  thousand  people  were 
assembled.  The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Mason  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
opened  the  proceedings  with  prayer,  and  the  address  was  by  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  Federalist  in  tone  but  thoroughly  patriotic  in  spirit. 

The  first  notice  of  the  declaration  of  blockade  came  from  Thomas 
Barclay,  late  British  consul,  now  British  agent  for  the  exchange  of 
prisoners.  On  July  2  he  notified  John  G.  Bogert,  the  Russian  vice- 
consul,  of  the  proclamation  of  Admiral  Warren,  in  accordance  with 
the  Regent's  orders  of  May  26,  declaring  the  "  ports  of  New- York, 
Charleston,  Port  Royal,  Savannah  and  the  River  Mississippi  to  be  in 
a  state  of  strict  and  vigorous  blockade ;  and  that  the  blockade  will 
be  enforced  by  his  Majesty's  ships  of  war  in  Long  Island  Sound,  off 
Sandy  Hook,  and  elsewhere."  At  the  end  of  July  the  British  had  on 
our  coast  eighty  vessels  of  war.  Robert  Fulton  had  invented  tor- 
pedoes for  the  destruction  of  vessels,  and  Congress  had  in  March 
authorized  the  payment  of  the  value  of  any  English  vessel  thus  de- 
stroyed by  individuals  not  in  the  United  States  service.  In  June  a 
schooner,  the  Eagle,  was  fitted  out  with  explosives  of  another  char- 
acter. Sailing  up  the  Soimd,  she  was  designedly  allowed  to  fall  iuto 
the  hands  of  the  boats  of  the  British  frigate  Ramillies,  and  being 
brought  alongside  the  man-of-war,  blew  up,  killing  an  officer  and  ten 
men.  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  commander  of  the  Ramillies,  was  indig- 
nant, and  threatened  dire  vengeance  against  every  American  vessel 
that  should  fall  into  his  hands.  Repeated  attempts  to  destroy  the 
Ramillies  kept  the  Commodore  in  constant  motion,  and  in  August  he 
threatened  to  fire  the  towns  on  the  coast  of  the  Sound.  There  was 
a  constant  petty  trade  going  on  with  the  British  ships  off  Gardiner's 
Bay  blockading  New  London,  by  which  they  were  supplied  with  fresh 
provisions:  an  abuse  which  caused  the  secretary  of  the  navy  to  issue 
a  stringent  order  on  July  20. 

In  view  of  the  many  disasters  of  the  campaign.  President  Madison, 
in  August,  designated  September  9  as  a  day  of  "humiliation,  fasting 
and  prayer."  In  accordance  with  the  proclamation,  the  common 
council  requested  the  citizens  to  desist  from  labor  and  business  on 
that  day.    The  day  precedifag,  the  mayor  and  common  council  went 


276  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

in  a  small  boat  to  review  the  flotilla  of  gunboats  under  Commodore 
William  Lewis,  stationed  at  Spermaceti  Cove,  below  Sandy  Hook,  and 
to  inspect  the  fortifications.  While  the  review  was  in  progress  news 
came  that  the  British  ships  were  approaching  New-York  by  way  of 
the  Sound,  and  a  frigate  and  sloop  of  war  had  anchored  off  Eye 
Neck,  ten  miles  east  of  New  Rochelle.  The  flotilla  instantly  em- 
barked their  field-pieces  and,  twenty-six  in  number,  stood  up  the  bay. 
Passing  through  Hell  Gate  in  the  night,  they  came  within  range  of 
the  nearest  British  frigate  about  noon.  The  man-of-war  sailed  toward 
the  flotilla  and  fired  a  number  of  shots.  The  range  was  too  long  for 
the  artillery  of  the  gimboats  to  do  any  execution.  The  British  then 
stood  away  to  the  eastward,  and  the  flotilla  returned  to  Sandy  Hook. 

On  the  morning  of  September  13,  the  bodies  of  Lawrence  and  Lud- 
low arrived  at  Harlem  overland  from  Salem.  They  were  taken  by 
water  and  placed  on  board  the  Alert,  lying  off  the  navy-yard.  The 
colors  in  the  harbor  were  all  displayed  at  half-mast.  The  common 
council,  on  the  14th,  ordered  a  funeral  procession,  the  details  of  which 
were  announced  in  the  newspapers  in  black-bordered  columns.  The 
original  route  was  designated  to  be  from  the  Battery  through  State, 
Whitehall,  Pearl,  and  Wall  streets  to  Trinity  Church;  but  in  view  of 
the  great  number  of  societies  who  applied  for  place  in  line,  the  route 
was  changed  to  be  from  the  Battery  through  Greenwich  street  to 
Chambers  street  and  Broadway  to  Trinity  Church.  The  line  was 
formed  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  but,  says  the  "  Columbian''  (the 
evening  paper),  "so  unusual  was  the  concourse  which  assembled  to 
pay  the  last  public  tribute  of  respect  to  our  gallant  countrymen  and 
follow  their  remains  to  their  final  repose,  that  the  solemn  duties  were 
not  yet  performed  nor  the  line  of  march  completed  when  our  paper 
went  to  press."  Twenty  to  thirty  thousand  people  are  said  to  have 
gathered  along  the  line  of  march,  the  weather  being  exceptionally 
fine.  The  burial  services  were  conducted  by  Bishop  John  Henry 
Hobart.  Among  the  marines  in  the  procession  were  part  of  the  crew 
of  the  Hornet  when  the  Peacock  struck  to  Lawrence.  The  proces- 
sion was  estimated  to  have  included  six  thousand  persons  marching 
four  abreast.  On  this  sad  occasion  the  rival  Federalist  and  Republican 
societies  hushed  their  discords. 

On  October  20  General  Dearborn  superseded  General  Lsard  in 
command  of  the  military  district  of  New-York.  That  day  the  British 
ships  again  appeared  in  the  Sound,  near  the  city,  and  committed  some 
petty  depredations,  and  again  Commodore  Lewis  took  up  his  flotilla 
from  the  bay.  The  British  had  already  withdrawn  on  his  arrival. 
Evacuation  Day  was  celebrated  this  year  with  unusual  animation, 
the  veterans  taking  a  leading  part.  They  dined,  after  performing 
the  duties  of  the  day,  at  the  old  Revolutionary  hostelry,  Fraunces' 


NEW-IOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BBITAIN      277 

Tavern,  This  was  the  last  military  parade  of  the  year.  General 
Morton's  brigade  and  Major  Warner's  squadron  were  reviewed  ou  the 
Battery  by  Generals  Dearborn,  Stevens,  and  Morton.  There  was  a 
public  dinner  by  the  common  council,  and  subscription  dinners  at 
Tammany  Hall  and  Washington  Hall. 

General  Harrison  arrived  in  the  city  after  his  successful  campaign 
ou  November  28.  When,  in  October,  resolutions  were  introduced  in 
the  common  council  for  the  gift  of  a  sword  and  the  presentation 
of  the  freedom  of 
the  city  to  Gene- 
ral Harrisou,  they 
were  defeated  by 
the  Federalists,  by 
a  vote  of  twelve 
to  five,  for  some 
political  reason 
not  now  easy  to 
understand.  An 
election  had  since 
taken  place,  which 
had  resulted  in  an 
equal  division  of 
the  board  of  alder- 
men and  assist- 
ants between  the  Federalists  and  RepubUcans.  Mayor  Clinton  had  a 
casting-vote,  and,  as  has  been  stated,  was  a  Federalist.  So  was  Re- 
corder Josiah  Ogden  Hoffman.  Governor  Tompkins  received  General 
Harrison  with  great  distinction.  The  State  Eepublieau  committee  en- 
tertained him  with  a  grand  dinner  at  Tammany  Hall.  Colonel  Rutgers 
presided.  The  military  dignitaries  were  present,  but  the  mayor  was 
not.  The  FederaUsts,  not  to  be  outdone,  gave  a  dinner  to  Commodore 
Bainbridge,  in  honor  of  his  victory  in  the  Constitution  over  the 
Java.  General  Stevens  gave  the  first  volunteer  toast,  "  The  President 
and  Congress  at  sea.  May  the  message  and  reports  from  them  be  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Constitution."-  The  Republicans  retorted  with  a 
dinner  to  Commodore  Perry  on  January  14,  1814.  The  board  was 
not,  however,  graced  by  high  officials,  civil  or  military.  Governor 
Tompkins  was  busy  at  Albany,  and  the  army  officers  were  convened 
there  also  for  the  court  martial  of  General  Hull, 

In  December,  1813,  Don  Thomas  Stoughton,  Spanish  consul  at  New- 

1  Used  by  Oeneral  WuhiogtoD  tn  Federal  Hsil,  petrBt«d  a  pun,  the  point  o(  which  lay  in  the  fact 
Wall  street,  and  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Governors  that  the  Prraident  and  Congress  were  the  re- 
Room,  City  Hall,  New-York.                   Editor.  spectire  nunee  of  two   United   States  frigate* 

-It  nuiy  be  aa  well  to  note  hurt  that  Qenenl  which  had  mcceeded  in  miming  the  blockade, 

Stevens,  In  offering  this  toast,  intentionally  per-  See  page  2T0.  Editob. 


PBEBIDENT    WASHINGTON'S 


278  HISTORY    OF    SEW-YOEK 

York,  received  official  notice  that  Admiral  Warren  had,  on  December 
2,  declared  that  after  the  6tb  no  vessels  should  be  pennitted  to  leave 
Long  Island  Sound.  The  bays  and  ports  on  the  Long  Island  shore 
of  the  Sound  were  all  occupied,  but  no  molestation  was  given  to  the 
inhabitants.  This  ended  the  career  of  the  New- York  privateers.  As 
New- York  depended  on  this  coastwise  trade  for  supplies  in  food  and 
clothing,  the  close  blockade,  at  a  time  of  year  when  land  transportation 
was  difficult,  was  excessively  annoying. 

Governor  Tompkins,  who  had  presided  over  the  affairs  of  New-York 
since  1807,  arranged  at  Albany,  during  the  winter  of  1813-1814,  with 
Colonel  Winfield  Scott  the  plans  of  a  campaign  for  the  relief  of  the 
border  in  the  spring  of  1814.  Scott  was 
made  brigadier-general  in  the  United 
States  army.  Taking  command  of  the 
troops  at  Plattsburg,  Scott  moved  to  the 
Niagara,  while  General  Brown  went  to 
Sackett's  Harbor.  Western  New- York 
was  then  a  wilderness.  Arrived  at  Buf- 
falo, Scott  formed  a  eamp  of  instruction. 
Toward  the  end  of  June,  General  Brown 
arrived  at  Buffalo,  and  a  plan  being  con- 
certed, the  troops  crossed  the  Niagara 
River  from  Black  Bock  on  July  3,  and, 
landing  in  two  columns,  one  below  and 
one  above  Fort  Erie,  invested  the  place, 
which  at  once  surrendered.  On  the  4th 
^/z/'CA,^  c-^  ,..*?C^  '  Scott  marched  on  Chippewa.  General 
"^"^^  Eiall  did  not  await  his  arrival,  but,  tak- 
ing the  initiative,  moved  his  army  forward  and  attacked  the  Ameri- 
cans on  the  plain  of  Chippewa  early  in  the  morning  of  July  5.  By 
able  generalship  and  a  skilful  tactical  movement  at  the  critical 
moment,  Scott  gained  a  complete  victory,  the  British  retreating  across 
the  river. 

On  the  7th  the  American  army  crossed  Chippewa  Creek  and  marched 
on  Fort  George.  This  place  General  Brown  found  too  strong  for  re- 
duction, except  by  siege-guns,  and  marched  his  forces  back  to  Queens- 
town.  On  the  25th,  learning  that  the  enemy  had  sent  a  force  across  to 
LewistoD,  Scott  was  sent  forward  on  the  road  to  the  falls  to  threaten 
the  forts  and  force  their  return.  Not  far  from  Table  Rock,  British 
officers  were  seen  on  horseback,  and  soon  after  the  enemy  was  met 
in  Lundy's  Lane  in  superior  force.  Scott  held  his  ground,  capturing 
General  Riall  and  his  staff,  until  he  was  reinforced  at  dusk  by  General 
Brown.  Notwithstanding  the  darkness,  the  action  continued  hotly. 
Generals  Brown  and  Scott  both  being  wounded,  Gleneral  Eleazar  W. 


NEW-XOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BEITAIN      279 


Ripley  took  the  command,  repulsing  every  assault  until  the  British 
with(h«w,  and  an  hour  later  he  was  at  Chippewa  with  the  entire 
American  force  and  all  the  wounded.  Soon  after  he  withdrew  to 
Buffalo,  and  the  troops  were  posted  at  Fort  Erie.  General  Drummond 
now  took  command  of  the  British  troops,  and,  after  busy  preparation, 
marched  on  Fort  Erie,  which  he  attempted  to  storm.  The  assaulting 
columns  were  all  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  A  siege  was  then  begun 
by  regular  approaches,  but  the  works  were  surprised  by  a  sortie  of 
the  Americans,  the  guns  dismounted, 
and  the  magazine  exploded  after  a 
sanguinary  struggle.  On  September 
21,  General  Drummond  raised  the 
siege  and  withdrew  beyond  the  line 
of  the  Chippewa.  In  October  Fort 
Erie  was  dismantled,  and  the  Ameri- 
cans recrossed  the  Niagara  to  the 
United  States  side. 

Meanwhile,  interesting  events  had 
occurred  at  the  eastern  end  of  the 
American  line.  In  February,  Gen- 
eral James  "Wilkinson,  whose  army 
lay  at  French  Mills,  moved  it  to 
Plattsburg  on  Lake  Champlain, 
whence,  on  March  3,  he  marched  into 
Canada  with  four  thousand  men.  Ho 
found  his  progress  blocked  by  a  small  force  strongly  posted  on  the 
Sorel  in  a  stone  mill  and  blockhouse.  Finding  it  impossible  to  dis- 
lodge them  except  by  heavy  guns,  which  the  condition  of  the  roads 
prevented  his  bringing  up,  General  Wilkinson  abandoned  the  expe- 
dition and  returned  to  Plattsburg.  This  aggressive  movement  was 
replied  to  by  a  series  of  petty  attacks.  InMay  Sir  James  Yeo,  with  his 
fleet,  and  General  Drummond  made  a  concerted  movement  on  the 
dilapidated  works  at  Oswego.  The  fort  was  gallantly  defended,  but 
at  last  abandoned.  The  British,  finding  that  the  strength  of  the 
village  of  Oswego  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  river  was  not  what 
they  had  expected,  withdrew.  A  few  days  after  a  British  squadron 
threatened  Charlotte,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Genesee  Eiver.  General 
Porter  removed  the  women  and  children  and  called  in  the  militia, 
whereupon  the  ships  bombarded  the  town,  after  which  they  withdrew. 
In  May  also  two  British  gunboats,  attempting  to  capture  a  flotilla 
oL  which  were  the  guns  destined  for  a  new  war  vessel  building  in 
Sackett's  Harbor,  fell  into  a  snare  and  were  captured,  and  the  guns 
safely  taken  in.  They  were  for  the  Mohawk,  which,  launched  on 
June  11,  1814,  brought  up  the  number  of  Chauncey's  squadron  to 


^^A-<-i,i*.-^ 


280 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


nine  vessels,  carrying  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  guns.  In  August 
General  Izard,  who  had  succeeded  Wilkinson  in  command,  marched 
from  Plattsburg  to  the  Niagara  River,  which  he  crossed  with  about 

eight  thousand  men  to 
attack  General  Dnun- 
mond  on  the  Chippewa. 
After  a  skirmish  Drum- 
mond  withdrew  to  Fort 
Geoi^e  and  Burlington 
Heights,  and  Izard,  un- 
enterprising, retired  on 
Black  Rock. 

The  British  govern- 
ment inNovember,  1813, 
driven  to  the  wall  by 
the  second  offer  of  me- 
diation by  their  great 
ally,  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  made  proposals 
to  James  Monroe,  then 
secretary  of  state,  to 
treat  directly  with  the  United  States,  and  commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed to  meet  the  American  commissioners  at  Ghent.  There  seems 
little  doubt  that  these  negotiations  were  retarded  on  the  British  side, 
while  one  great  effort  was  made  to  rectify  their  Canadian  frontier 
by  the  conquest  of  that  strip  of  land  which  Clinton  had  secured  for 
the  State  of  New- York,  and  which  lay  along  the  waters  of  Champlain. 
The  British  plan  of  operations  was  essentially  that  pursued  by  Bur- 
goyne  in  1777  (then  known  as  the  king's  plan).  The  British  army  in 
Canada  was  reinforced  by  veterans  of  the  Peninsular  war,  and  Sir 
George  Prevost  was  ordered  to  pursue  Burgoyne's  route.  Taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  absence  of  Izard  on  his  Niagara  exi)edition,  Prevost 
issued  a  proclamation  to  the  American  settlers  near  Lake  Champlain, 
calling  on  them  to  renounce  allegiance  to  the  United  States;  and  on 
September  1  he  crossed  the  border  on  what  has  been  called  the  sec- 
ond invasion  of  New- York.  Like  Burgoyne,  he  found  his  march  im- 
peded by  felled  trees,  choked  streams,  and  broken  bridges.    Moving 


rULTON   THE    FlBST.l 


I  Notable  among  the  defenseB  proTided  for  the 
city  WM  >  Btoam  wfti^vaasel,  planned  by  Hohert 
Fulton,  *Dd  called  Pulton  the  Finit.  Her  keel  was 
bdd  In  June,  ISU,  and  she  was  lannched  irith 
gnM,  public  reJolelDga  on  October  29.  Her  ma- 
cblneiy  was  then  put  aboard,  under  Pnlton's  peiv 
sonal  dlreetioDS,  and  It  was  aa  a  result  of  over- 
nertion  in  oonneotion  with  this  labor  that  tlie 
Inventor  died  in  February,  ISIS.  In  Hay  the 
mMhiiiery  was  tested,  and  on  July  i  a  snceeas- 


(ul  trip  was  made  to  the  ocean  and  back.  Not  tJD 
Septomber.  however,  was  her  armament  oom- 
pleted,  and  then  war  had  long  ceased.  She  was  a 
structure  reatluK  upon  two  boats  and  keels,  sepa- 
rated from  end  to  end  by  a  channel  fifteen  feet  wide 
and  siity-aii  feet  lan)r-  One  of  these  boata  eoo- 
t^ned  the  boiler,  the  other  the  machinery.  The 
paddle-wiieel  was  placed  In  the  space  between. 
With  her  full  armament  on  board,  ahe  attained  • 
speed  of  Bve  and  a  half  miles  in  bonr.    KtttWM. 


£>ii{'liift:;.-,-i-' 


NEW-YORK    IK    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN     281 


1  '' 


282 


mSTORT    OF    NEW- YORK 


slowly,  while  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  on  Lake  Champlain, 
under  Commodore  George  Downie,  he  reached  Platt8hm*g  on  the  6th. 
Plattsburg  was  held  by  General  Macomb  with  a  force  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred men.  The  fleet  arrived  on  the  11th  at  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and 
eight  thousand  men  advanced  to  the  assault.  The  attempt  to  ford 
was  made  at  three  places,  but  repulsed  at  each.  The  success  of  the 
American  resistance  was,  however,  determined  by  a  naval  battle,  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  in  our  history,  and  curious  in  the  annals  of 
marine  encounters  from  its  peculiar  features. 

The  fleet  which  Commodore  Downie  brought  to  enter  the  bay  was 
materially  greater  than  that  of  Captain  Thomas  McDonough,  who 
*-^,  ^  commanded  the  American  squad- 
ron. Downie's  chief  reliance  was 
on  bis  flag-ship,  the  Confiance, 
which  carried  a  frigate  armament 
of  thirty  long  twenty-fours  on  a 
heavy-gun  deck.  The  British  flo- 
tilla consisted  of  sixteen  vessels, 
with  ninety-five  guns,  and  one 
thousand  and  fifty  men ;  the 
American,  of  fourteen  vessels,  with 
eighty-six  guns,  and  eight  hundi"ed 
and  fifty  men.  McDonough  had 
determined  to  fight  at  anchor,  and 
so  placed  his  ships  that  the  British 
could  only  win  a  passage  by  forcing 
it  under  a  broadside  fire.  His  flag- 
ship, the  Saratoga,  he  ingeniously 
arranged  so  that,  by  a  kedge-anchor 
and  hawsers  on  the  quarters,  he 
could  bring  her  broadside  to  bear 
in  any  desired  direction  while  her 
bow  remained  stationary.  The  English  advanced  in  steady  line,  and 
a  terrible  broadside  fire  was  opened  on  either  side,  that  of  the  Con- 
fiance  sweeping  the  Saratoga's  deck,  and  for  a  moment  checking  her 
response  till  the  dead  and  wounded  were  sent  below.  McDonough's 
ingenious  arrangement  enabled  him  to  cripple  his  heavier  antagonist, 
the  Confiance,  who  clung  closely  to  him  until,  after  a  fight  of  over  two 
hours,  the  British  colors  came  down.  Commodore  Downie  bad  fallen 
early  in  the  action.  The  victory  was  complete.  General  Prevost  gave 
up  his  plan  of  campaign,  and  returned  hastily  to  Canada.   Thus  ended 

I  Colonel  Tobias  Lear,  who  died  In  1816.  waa  for  matic  podtlons.  Bis  portrait  is  copied  (rom  a 
■erenl  years  private  secretary  to  Waahinf^D  in  miniature  in  (lie  pOHSeBrian  ot  a  ^TanddaDgbter. 
New-Yorlc  and  elsevhere.  and  filled  various  diplo-     He  was  related  to  Mrs.  Wasbiogtoo.      Edftob. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      283 

the  second  invasion  of  New- York  State.  Her  northern  frontier  was 
once  more  secure,  nor  was  it  again  disturbed  during  this  war. 

The  city  of  New- York,  which  had  been  anxious  since  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  began  to  breathe  again  more  freely.  The  common 
council  tendered  to  Captain  McDonough  the  usual  honors  of  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  and  the  addition  of  his  portrait  to  their  gallery ;  on 
September  26,  and  on  October  10,  complimented  General  Brown  in 
the  same  manner  for  his  victory  on  the  Chippewa;  and  on  November 
21  extended  similar  honors  to  General  Macomb  for  his  services  on 
the  frontier  in  command  "  of  a  small  army  acting  in  concert  with  a 
body  of  militia  hastily  assembled  from  the  State  and  Vermont.'' 

Privateering,  as  has  been  stated,  was  always  a  favorite  profession 
in  the  city  of  New- York.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  commis- 
sions in  the  entire  war.  New- York  sent  out  fifty-five, — a  number  only, 
and  that  but  slightly,  exceeded  by  Baltimore.  They  were  similar  if 
not  alike  in  size  and  armament,  fast  sailers,  and  earned  an  eighteen- 
pound  gun  mounted  in  swivel  on  deck.  The  most  celebrated  of  those 
which  sailed  from  New- York  were  the  Governor  Tompkins,  which 
took  the  Mary  Ann  off  the  Madeira  Islands  with  a  cargo  valued  at 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  Soon  after  this  capture  she  chased  a  large 
vessel,  which  proved  to  be  a  British  frigate.  The  little  vessel  was 
severely  handled,  but  by  the  use  of  her  sweeps  got  away.  A  still 
more  notable  affair  was  the  capture,  by  the  General  Armstrong  of 
New- York,  of  the  Queen,  armed  with  sixteen  guns,  and  carrying  a 
cargo  valued  at  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  On  an- 
other occasion  the  Armstrong  engaged,  off  Surinam,  what  she  sup- 
posed to  be  an  English  privateer,  but  turned  out  to  be  an  English 
frigate  carrying  twenty  guns.  After  an  action  of  three  quarters  of  an 
hour,  the  Armstrong  got  away.  In  July,  the  Yankee,  a  fishing-smack, 
was  fitted  out  in  New- York  harbor  to  capture  the  British  sloop  of 
war  Eagle.  A  calf,  a  sheep,  a  goose,  and  three  fishermen  were  placed 
on  deck,  while  below  lay  forty  men  with  muskets.  Overhauled  by 
the  Eagle,  and  ordered  to  report  to  the  commodore,  at  the  signal- 
word  ^^  Lawrence!^  the  men  concealed  rose  together,  fired,  and  at  one 
volley  killed  three  of  the  enemy,  and  drove  the  rest  below.  The  sloop 
of  war  struck  without  firing  a  gun,  and  was  taken  up  to  New- York, 
where  the  people  were  crowded  on  the  Battery  celebrating  inde- 
pendence. Little  wonder  that  the  British  people,  exasperated  to 
madness,  demanded  the  annihilation  of  the  American  navy,  and  that 
English  newspapers  urged  that  American  merchantmen  should  be 
compelled  to  exhibit  in  large  letters  on  their  mainsails :  "  Licensed 
to  carry  guns  pursuant  to  a  British  act  of  Parliament " ;  and  this  only 
to  protect  them  against  the  pirates  of  the  Mediterranean  or  the  la- 
drones  of  China. 


284 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


The  declaration  of  war  found  the  city  of  New- York  in  a  poor  state 
of  defense,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  general  government. 
In  the  year  1798,  when  war  was  daily  expected  with  France,  the  sub- 
ject of  the  fortifications  received  careful  study.  The  opinions  of  the 
old  officers  were  obtained  and  compared.  Aaron  Burr  favored  a  system 
of  martello  towers,  but  Mangin's  plans  were  essentially  adopted.  A 
military  command  was  appointed,  with  Hamilton  at  its  head.  G-ov- 
emor  Jay  called  a  special  meeting  of  the  legislature  at  Albany,  which 
provided  the  means,  and  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  New- York  aided  in 
the  raising  of  funds  in  accordance  with  the  provisions.  The  war 
scare  over,  the  same  apathy  prevailed  imtil  the  affair  of  the  Leander 
caused  a  temporary  alarm.  In  1807  the  city  was  defenseless,  the 
Narrows  and  the  Hell  Gate  passage  being  without  a  fortification.  In 
the  spring  of  that  year  the  general  government,  alarmed  at  the  drift  of 
our  foreign  relations,  began  a  systematic  work  of  harbor  fortification, 
but  it  had  dragged  slowly.  As  the  blockade  which  the  British  now 
established  became  more  rigid,  the  citizens  took  alarm.  In  May,  1813, 
Senator  Ruf us  King  presented  a  memorial  from  the  New- York  com- 
mon council  praying  that  measures  might  be  adopted  for  their  greater 
security  and  protection.  This  petition  was  referred  to  the  secretary 
of  war.  General  Armstrong.  The  common  council,  in  the  summer  of 
1814,  issued  a  public  call  to  a  general  public  meeting  to  concert  mea- 
sures of  defense. 

In  pursuance  of  this  call,  the  citizens  gathered  in  the  park  in  front  of 
the  City  Hall  on  August  11, 1814.  Colonel  Eutgers  was  chosen  chair- 
man, and  Oliver  Wolcott,  Adams's  secretary  of  the  treasury,  secretary. 
A  committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Drs.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill  and 
William  J.  McNevin,  with  Messrs.  Wolcott,  Eichard  Eiker,  Anthony 
Bleecker,  and  William  Sampson,  to  draft  resolutions.  Colonel  Willett 
made  a  spirited  address,  at  the  close  of  which  Eiker  presented  the 
resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  agreed  to.  They  pledged  union 
in  arms,  a  defense  to  the  last  extremity,  and  urged  all  classes  to  en-, 
roll  in  the  militia  or  the  naval  service,  and  to  aid  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  public  works.* 


1  New-Tork  ResolnHons,  Aagost  11, 1814 : 
BeMlvedy  That  the  dtisens  here  assembled  will, 
to  the  last  extremity,  defend  their  city.  Resolvedy 
That  we  will  unite  ourselves  in  arms  with  our 
brethren  of  the  coimtry,  and  on  the  first  approach 
of  the  enemy,  make  it  a  common  oausb.  Mesolvedt 
That  humbly  confiding  in  the  favor  of  the  Almighty, 
we  hope  to  prove  ourselves  not  unworthy  of  that 
freedom  won  by  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution ;  and 
trust  that  the  enemy  they  vanquished  will  receive 
from  us  a  similar  defeat.  Resolved^  That  we  highly 
approve  of  the  measures  for  pubUe  defence  which 
have  been  devised  by  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  by  his  excellency  the  governor  of  the 
State,  and  by  the  corporation  of  this  City ;  and  that 


we  will  cooperate  in  carrying  the  same  into  eifec- 
tual  execution.  Resolved^  That  it  be  recommended 
to  the  dtisens  generally,  to  meet,  as  soon  as  may 
be  practicable  with  convenience,  in  their  respec- 
tive wards,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  discreet 
and  efficient  committees  to  promote  the  execution 
of  the  following  objects.  1.  To  complete  the  vol- 
untary enrollment  of  persons  exempted  by  law 
from  military  service.  2.  To  encourage  the  en- 
rollment of  seafaring  citizens  for  service  in  the 
harbor  or  as  artillerists ;  and  3.  The  enrollment 
of  citisens  for  voluntary  labor  on  the  public  works. 
B^Mlved,  That  it  be  the  special  duties  of  the  ward 
committees  to  provide,  under  the  direction  of  the 
corporation  of  the  City,  for  the  relief  and  protec- 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      285 

• 

In  August,  1814,  a  committee  of  young  gentlemen  issued  an  address 
to  the  spirited  and  patriotic  young  men  for  the  organization  of  the 
militia.  It  was  signed  by  Isaac  Merrick,  David  Ludlow,  Stephen 
Keen,  John  M.  Elliott,  George  Lovejoy,  and  S.  B.  Brega.  The  purpose 
was  to  raise  a  battalion  of  volunteer  infantry.  A  part  of  the  plan  is 
curious.  "A  cheap,  neat  and  becoming  uniform  is  fixed  upon,  calcu- 
lated rather  to  give  a  soldierly  appearance  than  to  attract  and  please 
the  eye  of  childhood.  It  is  simply  as  follows:  A  blue  broadcloth  round- 
about, narrow  rolling  collar,  single-breasted,  buttoned  in  front  with 
bell  buttons,  a  row  on  each  side  the  collar — will  cost  about  fifteen 
dollars.  Beaver  of  a  straight  crown,  about  nine  inches  high,  helmet 
front,  diminishing  gradually  towards  the  back,  leaving  there  only  half 
an  inch  brim ;  a  waving  red  plume,  the  staff  of  which  is  supported  by  a 
stripe  of  broad  gold  lace  running  from  the  base  or  rim  of  the  hat 
and  forming  a  cockade  near  the  top  with  a  narrow  band  of  lace — 
will  cost  at  the  utmost  not  more  than  ten  dollars.  Cartouch  box 
covered  with  red  morocco,  secured  round  the  waist  by  a  belt  of  the 
same  to  which  the  bayonet's  scabbard  will  be  affixed — will  cost  five 
dollars''; — the  total  cost  of  the  outfit  so  far  being  thirty  dollars.  Yel- 
low nankeen  pantaloons,  black  handkerchief,  boots,  together  with  a 
musket,  completed  the  equipment.  The  roll  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
George  Asbridge  at  No.  9  William  street,  corner  of  Beaver  street. 
A  reference  to  Longworth's  directory  shows  that  this  Asbridge  was 
a  printer. 

The  resolution  adopted  for  the  enrolment  of  voluntary  labor  to 
complete  the  defenses  was  responded  to  with  enthusiasm.  The  me- 
chanics, who  from  the  days  of  the  Stamp  Act  had  been  ardently 
patriotic,  turned  out  in  organized  bodies  to  aid  in  digging  and  con- 
structing the  fortifications.  Militia  companies  were  raised,  and  offices 
for  the  enlistment  of  sailors  opened.  Castle  Clinton — later  well  known 
as  Castle  Garden,  because  applied  to  purposes  of  popular  amuse- 
ment— was  built  at  the  southwest  point  of  the  island.  A  battery, 
which  was  named  the  North  Battery,  was  thrown  up  at  the  foot  of 
Hubert  street,  and  Fort  Gansevoort  at  the  foot  of  Gansevoort  street. 
Fort  Columbus  was  built  on  Governor's  Island,  where  General  Stevens 
had  erected  the  earthwork  and  barracks  in  1798 ;  and  Castle  Williams 
on  the  same  island.  On  Bedlow's  Island  a  strong  star  fort  was 
erected  (now  the  site  of  Bartholdi's  noble  and  gigantic  statue  of 
Liberty),  and  on  Ellis  Island  a  circular  battery.     The  Staten  Island 

tion  of  the  families  of  such  persons  as  may  be  mote  concord,  and  will  discoantenance  all  attempts 

absent  on  public  daty,  and  also,  to  provide  in  the  to  weaken  the  patriotic  eif orts  of  good  citisens. 

best  manner  practicable,  for  the  protection  of  Hesdved,  That  we  will  endeavor  to  discover  and 

such  helpless  persons  and  their  property,  as  in  subject  to  the  animadversion  of  the  laws,  all  per- 

case  of  alarm  may  be  desirous  of  moving  into  the  sons  who  shall  be  concerned  in  any  illicit  com- 

country.    Hesolvedf  That  we  will  endeavor  to  pro-  merce  or  improper  intercourse  with  the  enemy. 


HI8T0BY    OP    NEW-YOBK 


IM 


« 


■^^ 

# 


shore  was  commanded  by  Fort  Eichmond, 
a  strong  construction  of  stone  on  the  high 
ground ;  Fort  Tompkins,  on  a  still  greater 
elevation  in  the  rear;  and  Fort  Hudson, 
nearly  on  the  shore-line  below.  As  the 
passage  at  the  Narrows  is  very  short,  as 
the  name  implies,  and  the  channel  draws 
close  under  the  Staten  Island  highland, 
these  afforded  an  almost  sure  defense. 
On  the  opposite  side,  in  the  upper  bay, 
was  Fort  Diamond,  later  Fort  Lafayette,  a 
still  stronger  work  built  on  made  ground 
and  commanding  the  water-line.  To- 
gether these  mounted  five  hundred  guns, 
and  amply  protected  the  entrance  against 
any  floating  armament  of  the  period. 

The  entrance  from  the  East  River  to  the 
Sound  just  west  of  Hell  Gate  was  com- 
manded by  Fort  Stevens  on  the  Long 
Island  shore  at  Hallett's  Point,  named 
after  General  Stevens,  who  superintended 
its  construction,  and  whose  country-seat 
was  at  Mount  Bonaparte,  the  old  Hallett 
farm  being  at  Hallett's  Cove  near  by. 
This  low  stone  battery  was  again  com- 
manded by  a  round  tower  on  high  ground 
in  the  rear;  opposite,  across  the  stream, 
whose  rapid  waters,  surging  around  numer- 
ous rocks,  rendered  passage  dangerous  ex- 
cept to  skilled  pilots,  was  a  similar  work 
at  Benson's  Point.  Strong  works  guarded 
McGowan's  Pass  on  the  Harlem  road  and 
the  pass  on  the  western  side  of  the  island 
on  the  Bloomingdale  road,  a  Une  of  block- 
houses being  thrown  up  between. 

In  August  a  requisition  was  made  by 
Congress  for  twenty  thousand  men  to  be 
stationed  in  and  about  the  city.  The  cor- 
poration of  New-York  raised  the  neces- 
sary funds,  under  pledge  of  reimbursement 

Fao-simlle  of  ft  portion  ot  an  origlnkl  deed  In  the  hand- 

wrltinfc  at  the  Rev.  John  Livingiton  of  AnomiD.  at  Luutrk. 
June  27,  1624.  Be  was  the  father  of  Bobert  LiiTioggtan. 
founder  of  the  famous  New-York  family.  This  ancient  and 
Interetiting  document  la  among  tbe  archlvei  of  Coliinm  House. 
SttrlingBhire,  Scotland.  Editob. 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GREAT    BRITAIN      287 


by  the  United  States.  Enlistment  proceeded  with  such  speed  that  by- 
September  1  all  the  artillery  and  infantry  of  the  city  and  county 
were  consolidated  and  mustered  into  the  United  States  service,  under 
their  own  oflScers,  their  pay,  rations,  and  regulations  being  those  of 
the  regulars.  Governor  Tompkins  and  General  Morgan  Lewis  were 
the  post  commanders.  The  entire  detachgd  division  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  General  Stevens.^  The  seamen  enrolled  were 
placed  under  command  of  Commodore  Decatur,  who,  on  the  transfer 
of  Commodore  Rodgers  to  the  Guerri^re  in  the  spring  of  1814,  had 
been  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  President, — the  United  States 
(his  old  ship),  and  the  Macedonian,  his  prize,  having  been  removed  up 
the  Thames  above  New  London  in  April  of  that  year  and  dismantled. 
Here  he  had  been  joined  by  Captain  James  Biddle,  who  brought 
down  the  Hornet  from  New  London,  passing  the  close  blockade  with 
consummate  skill  and  safety. 

The  idea  was  general  that  New- York  would  soon  be  attacked  by  a 
powerful  expedition  of  land  and  sea  forces,  and  a  descent  was  daily 
expected.  The  cruise  of  the  President  was  therefore  countermanded, 
and  Decatur  was  ordered  to  remain  in  the  city  and  take  entire  charge 
of  the  naval  defense.  Advantage  was  taken  of  Decatur's  presence  in 
the  city  to  confer  on  him  the  municipal  honors  voted  to  him  by  the 
common  council.  On  November  14  a  committee,  consisting  of  Alder- 
men Peter  Mesier  and  John  Munson,  introduced  him  to  the  common 
council  at  the  City  Hall.  Mayor  Clinton,  in  his  address  to  him,  said  that 
"  the  city  looked  to  him  as  one  of  her  most  efficient  protectors  in  the 
hour  of  peril  ^ ;  and,  alluding  to  the  many  successes  at  sea,  said :  "  Sir, 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  our  contest  with  France  and  the  Bar- 
bary  powers,  and  in  the  present  war  with  Great  Britain,  the  gallantry 
and  skill  of  our  seamen  have  been  constantly  gaining  upon  the  admira- 
tion of  mankind.  Wherever  they  have  approached  an  Enemy  victory 
has  almost  invariably  attended  the  American  flag.  The  Great  Lakes, 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  the  British  Channel,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Oceans,  bear  witness  to  their  illustrious  exploits,  and  they  have  ele- 
vated America  to  the  pinnacle  of  naval  glory.''  When  Decatur  left 
the  hall  he  was  saluted  by  the  citizens  who  had  "  assembled  to  wit- 
ness the  honors  paid  to  their  gallant  countryman."  The  number  of 
men  enrolled  for  the  force  under  his  orders,  including  man-of-war's- 
men  on  the  ships  and  gunboats,  and  the  Sea  Fencibles, — a  kind  of 
naval  militia, — exceeded  five  thousand.    These  Decatur  thoroughly 


1  This  officer  had  served  in  the  Continental  army 
from  Banker  Hill  to  Torktown.  He  entered  New- 
Tork  on  the  day  the  British  evacaated  the  city, 
as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second  Continental 
Artillery,  which  was  essentially  a  New-Tork  re- 
giment. Entering  into  hnxiness,  he  was  at  this 
time  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of  the  city. 


After  the  death  of  Hamilton,  he  was  the  acknow- 
ledged head  of  the  veteran  Revolutionary  element 
of  the  city.  While  not  partisan,  his  sympathies 
were  with  the  Republican  party.  He  had  been 
Lafayette's  chief  of  artillery,  and  his  house  was 
the  rendezvous  of  many  French  officers  and  gen- 
tlemen who  visited  New-York. 


(  I  I 


.       V-'.  iJilJi 

..1!  'j:  •Li»e  erew  of  the  President 

-.  .-'     :'?u  in  person.    His  squadron 

.. -:--Mj.n.    'yl  guns;  the  new  sluop 

.  -  •  \:»i:i?.    Destined  tor  the  East 

.   ...•  •»  r  J    :i»v  bay,  closely  blo(.*kaded  by 

..  ...i.-;.rp'  irilled  several  hours  a  day, 

rw,    tuf  regiments  onee  a  week,  the 

-ii»-i  if  t  '^:evens,  who  was  a  strict  disci- 

.,     -vMf -Sired  them  in  parade  three  or 

-ii     iipre  months'  serv^ice.    In  a  grand 

...iviii>  at  the  close  of  the  cami^aign, 

Miiv-riiree  thousand  men, — all,  exccjit 

;;.LiicU>,  being  volunteers.     The  army  of 

I    tie  frontier  of  the  State,  but  New- 

.  ^i>k:ii  and  amply  able  to  defend  her 

•  iiu  war  De  Witt  Clinton  held  the  office 

m*  war  in  the  beginning,  and  in  fact  the 

,,  .  i    iie  Republican  party  in  1812,  against 

>  -     u>  • « »r«  iial  and  patriotic  in  his  supi)ort  of  all 

'. .       fit   Ivepublican  party  was  divided  into  two 

.  .^,  viiv>  had  their  headquarters  in  Tammany 

.-^IlI:  and  the  Clintonians,  or  Martling-men, 

;'uUi  ..»i:  meeting  at  Martling's  Long  Room." 

.^  llni^iuud  as  to  the  propriety  and  policy  of 

.  vi  -ciii,  caused  distrust  in  AVashington  as  to 

•iv'ii,  which  in  its  turn  caused  apprehension  in 

iv    -i  'iie  conditions  of  peace  they  might  be  left 

•  .i>    Britain.    A  committee  of  the  Massachusetts 

..     .    iic  sttite  of  public  affairs,  suggested  that  the 

.     -iost'cution  of  the  war  should  be  retained  for 

.     oi  expended  elsewhere.     A  (convention  from 

..   >    vii.>  recommended,  to  provide  "some  mode  of 

ir«*umstanc(*s  and  exigencies  of  those  States.'* 

.  :•:  at 'U^irates  from  every  New  England  State  met 

. .. .  'Ai'K'V  \.\  1S14.    The  sessions  were  held  with  closed 

..    ..arm  throughout  the  country.     The  convention 

:,   'iiaiiary  5,  and  made  a  report  which,  ill-judged 

ua.-s,  wont   no  further  than  to   propose  amend- 

. ..     i.uiiioIh  Hiid  tho      in  ISIO.  and  thou  only  by  ont»  stTrion  of  the  «lonii- 
^jud  thf  mayor-      imnt  oriranizatiou.     The  FtiltTalists  .>»tfailily  tlf- 

olintMl  aftrr  x\w  iva***.*.  their  Wst  oU'mt*nt  !*up|»orT- 
I-  ;uIoj«IihI  l>y  the  ill;:  Do  Witt  Clinton  in  the  >*iilise4Uent  polirioal 
iw  .  h:uler  eUvtion      stnijnrles  in  the  city  ami  State. 


NEW-rOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAR    WITH    GKEAT    BRITAIN      289 

ments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  restricting  the  powers 
of  Congress  and  of  the  executive  to  declare  and  make  war,  etc.  The 
evils  which  this  separatist  movement  might  have  caused  were  hap- 
pily averted  by  the  signing  of  the  peace.  New- York,  thoroughly 
loyal  to  the  Union  although  the  greatest  sufferer  by  the  war,  cut  off 
as  she  was  from  the  contraband  trade,  was  profoundly  disturbed  by 
this  agitation  on  her  eastern  border. 


BESIDEKCE    OF    THE    AMESICAK    COMHIBSIONEItS 


From  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  support  of  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States  came  chiefly  from  the  Middle  States.  Of  the  loan  of 
sixteen  millions  authorized  by  Congress  in  December,  1812,  New- York 
took  $5,720,000,  Pennsylvania  $6,a')8,400,  Maryland  $2,393,300,  while 
New  England  subscribed  for  but  $486,700,  and  the  Southern  States 
$541,000,  together  but  little  over  one  million  dollars.  The  extremely 
small  subscription  in  New  England  (Boston  taking  but  $75,300)  can 
only  be  explained  by  a  fixed  detei-mination  not  to  support  the  war, 
based  on  a  belief  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Union.  The  influence  of 
Mr.  Ghtllatin  saved  the  loan,  David  Parish  and  Stephen  Girard  in 

Vol.  m.— 19. 


ilL-jTuKl"    wf    yEW-rOHK 


i  jnd  Brooklyn  Ferry. 


■  ill!  .im:.'>i>  A^t'.r  ill  Xew-York,  all  personal  friends 
XV.    ;Lkiuu;  '<v._t  ten  millions  for  themselves  and 
:ir';f  <>L  i]ini>^.  mou  were  foreign-boru.     Tliis  was 
iiiitui:iui  miasactiou.     Between  June  1,  1811,  and 
if-i-*  in  -Ik'  Massacliusietts  banks  increased  from 
..HHi  iu  til:.'  lutter  year.    Of  the  $41,010,000  sui»- 
i!i'-in  in  various  ways  from  the  beginning  of  the 
;;,.  ..[L'i  ■■!  the  year  1814, — the  Eastern  States  con- 
■-.:•■  Middle  States  :fa5,790,000,  the  Southwesteni 
ii.i.  ^:i'>p*'iVfi-.  four  fifths  of  the  floating  debt  on 
i>  '.if\<\  ^'^^  the  eilies  of  New- York,  Philadeljihia, 
;  |;>;irii*t  111'  (.\»himbia.     An  application  of  the  text, 
"Where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  Iieart  be  also,"  seems  not  inap- 
propriate ill  a  review  of  this  selfish 
public  policy.     The  capture  of  Wash- 
ington by  the  British  in  August,  1814, 
[irwipitated  a  generaV  suspeusiim  cif 
the  banks  of  the  United  States,  in- 
I'luding  those  of  New- York  city.    Tlie 
depression  of  the  currency  in  New- 
,-  y.  :hB  swm  F«Tr)L-BoK,    York  was  from  seven  to  ten  per  cent. 
K  ,-b.knbm,  -iM  «e  luihori-    (much  less  than  the  average  of  that 
"yRtjE  Hicits,  BnwkijB,      i"  otfaer  cities).    The  price  of  couimod- 
L.HN  MNrARD.s2wdt-«.    jties  increased  one  half.     The  banks 
Vvia^u!"       $10  00    of  New    England,    continuing    their 
*"*"''*      6iD.  *"   policy,  within  a  little  over  a  year  drew 
to  their  vaults  over  eight  millions  of 
.'lu-  hidf  the  entire  stock  of  the  United  States. 
.s  undertaken  in  England  for  peace  had  not  ))eeii 
iluiuks  to  the  vigorous  defense  of  New- York  ten-itory, 
LU'sts  wliivh'(ii"eat  Britain  might  pretend  to  claim  under 
'  .'i'  tlif  nil  possidetis  (hold  what  you  possess) — a  claim 
:idviiiiceil  by  Loi-d  Batlmrst,  the  American  commission- 
vniiipunily  ivfused  to  admit.     Upon  this  Lord  Liverpool 
(I  «'U  ;i  vijjorous  prosecution  of  the  war  with  the  ti-oops  now 
ill    Kurope,  when  "Wellington  frankly  told  him   that  the 
■M  ii.>  u-iritory  in  the  United  States  in  other  than  temporary 
I.     'I'lu'  news  of  the  burning  of  Washington  did  not  diseour- 
sinii^ilii-ni'd  the  American  commissiouei-s  in  their  deter- 
I.'  -.unviiiler  nothing.     The  treaty  of  Ghent  was  signed  on 
,  il;i_\.  1S14,  on  the  Imsis  of  the  American  instructions,  viz., 
'fiio  iiiilc  bclliun.     Neither  eountiy  gained  or  gave  up  any- 
;<.>il)in){  was  said  of  the  employment  of  the  savages,  nothing 


•s).^' 


■ipl. 


»EW-YOBK    IN    THE    SECOND    WAB    WITH    GBEAT    BRITAIN      291 


conceded  as  to  the 
impressment  of  sea- 
men; no  concession 
CD  the  other  hand  as 
to  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi,  or 
the  fisheries.  Yet  the 
United  States  had 
received  another  les- 
son as  to  the  impor- 
tance of  union,  and 
England  had  learned 
to  respect  the  flag 
which  now  floated 
over  her  conquered 
frigates.  The  lesson 
taught  her  regulars 
at  the  battle  of  the 
Chippewa  was  re- 
peated at  New  Orle- 
ans by  General  An- 
drew Jackson  sev- 
eral days  after  the 
peace  was  signed.  It 
was  fortunate,  as  it 
completed  the  asser- 
tion of  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  United 
States  over  every 
inch  of  its  territory, 
not  by  agreement 
in  articles,  but  by 
the  supreme  arbitra- 
ment of  arms. 

The  glorious  news 
of  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans  reached 
New- York  city  on 
February  6, 1815.  In 
the  midst  of  the 
rejoicings  for  this 
satisfaction  for  the 
burning  of  "Washing- 
ton, the  still  more 


292  HIBTOBY    OP    NEW-YORK 

satisfactory  news  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  was  received 
in  the  city  on  the  night  of  Saturday,  February  14, 1815.  The  treaty 
itself  reached  the  city  by  express  in  twenty-six  hours  from  Washing- 
ton on  the  25th.  There  were  universal  rejoicings.  There  were  din- 
ners by  all  the  societies  and  a  grand  public  dinner  on  Washington's 
birthday,  the  committee  upon  which  comprised  such  men  as  Au- 
gustus M.  Lawrence,  John  A.  Bang,  Jonathan  Goodhue,  Philip  Hone, 
Dominick  Lynch,  George  BrinckerhoflE  and  William  Neilson,  Jr.  And 
on  the  same  appropriate  day  a  general  illumination  was  ordered  by 
the  common  council  and  universally  obeyed  by  the  citizens.  The  war 
wafi  over.  Discord  was  hushed,  and  an  era  of  peace  and  good  will 
was  entered  upon. 


LAWRENCE  AND  LUDLOW. 

So  far  as  known,  the  last  survivor  of  the  famous  engagement  between  the  Shannon 
and  Chesapeake  in  Boston  Harbor,  seventy-eight  years  ago,  is  Sir  Provo  William 
Parry  WalHs,  G.  C.  B.,  who,  since  the  death  of  Sir  Q^orge  Sartorius  in  1885,  has  been 
the  senior  admiral  of  the  British  navy.  He  has  just  completed  a  century  of  existence, 
having  been  bom  in  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  April  12, 1791.  As  he  was  entered  on  the 
books  of  the  navy  in  May  1, 1795,  he  has  been  in  the  naval  service  for  ninety-six  years! 
Sir  Provo  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  actual  captor  of  the  always  unfortunate  Chesa- 
peake, the  first  lieutenant  of  the  Shannon  having  been  killed  and  Captain  Broke  seri- 
ously wounded,  so  that  the  command  devolved  upon  WaUis,  the  second  lieutenant,  who 
carried  his  own  frigate  and  her  prize,  the  Chesapeake,  into  Halifax,  where,  among  the 
thousands  awaiting  their  arrival,  was  his  own  father,  then  chief  clerk  in  the  navy-yard. 
For  young  Ludlow,  the  second  officer  of  the  American  frigate,  who  was  mortally 
wounded  in  the  engagement,  Wallis  did  everything  in  his  power,  and  he  was  among 
tlic*  chiol!  mourners  at  his  funeral  in  Halifax. 

lu  a  letter  addressed  to  the  writer,  dated  February  18, 1890,  from  his  estate  in  the 
south  of  Kngland,  Sir  Provo  says :  '^  I  regret  to  state  that  I  cannot  give  you  any  ac- 
count of  C'ttptaiu  James  Lawrence  more  than  to  say  that  we  on  the  Shannon  thought 
him  a  galiaut  fellow,  who  brought  the  Chesapeake  into  action  in  first-rate  style,  who 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  I  never  saw  him  alive.  Lieutenant  Ludlow  lived  for  about 
ten  days  after  our  arrival  at  Halifax,  but  died,  to  the  great  regret  of  all  of  us.  He 
was  a  fine,  gentleman-like  fellow,  and  they  are  both  deserving  of  being  kept  in  mem- 
ory by  their  countrymen.'' 

WaUis  was  a  midshipman  on  the  Cleopatra  when  captured  after  a  long  action,  in 
ItiOo,  by  the  French  frigate  ViUe  de  Milan.  For  his  gallantry  and  good  conduct  in  the 
affair  in  Huston  Harbor,  June  1, 1813,  although  only  twenty-two,  he  was  made  a  com- 
maiitit^r,  recHilviHl  the  thanks  of  the  British  government,  and  was  soon  after  given  the 
ciiuiUiHud  of  a  Mtnall  ship  of  war,  the  youngest  officer  of  the  British  navy  then  enjoy- 
ing tiiat  (iistluotion*  All  this,  it  should  be  remembered,  happened  before  the  battle  of 
Wuturlud  was  fought,  and  but  a  few  yeiurs  later  than  the  death  of  Lord  Nelson  at  Tra- 
falgar* lu  IH47  Wallis  was  appointed  aide-de-camp  to  the  queen.  Four  years  later 
bu  wa^  mailti  an  admiral,  and  in  1857  was  sent  out  as  commander-in-chief  on  the  At- 
li^utic  aof^si  ot  AmoiioAf  hoisting  his  flag  on  board  the  line-of-battle-ship  Cumberland. 


NEW-XORE:    in    the    second    WAB    with    great    BRITAIN      293 

In  1860  the  admiral  wu  created  a  K.  C.  B.,  soon  afterward  a  0.  C.  B.,  and  in  1863  ar- 
rived at  toll  flag  rank  as  admiral  of  the  fleet.  As  already  mentioned,  Sir  Provo  has 
been  for  the  last  six  years  the  father  of  the  British  navy.  Until  a  very  recent  date 
he  was  one  of  the  dock  commissioners  of  Southampton,  and  the  venerable  sailor  is 
still  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fair  measure  of  health  and  strength  for  a  man  who  is  almost 
as  old  as  the  Constitntion  of  the  United  States,  and  who  was  a  sturdy  lad  of  nearly 
nine  when  Oeoige  Washington  died  in  the  last  month  of  the  year  1799. 

Among  the  many  souvenirs  of  his  long  life  of  a  century  there  is,  perh^s,  none 
that  Sir  Provo  appreciates  and  values  so  highly  as  a  beautiful  sword  presented  to  him 
fay  the  commander  of  the  Shannon  for  his  gallantry  in 
the  action  with  the  Chesapeake.  A  few  lines  concerning 
this  gallant  officer  and  good  friend  of  Sir  Provo's  will 
perhaps  form  a  snitable  pendant  to  this  brief  notice  of 
the  aged  admiral. 

Philip  Bowes  Vere  Broke  was  bom  at  Broke  Hall, 
near  Ipswich,  September  9,  1776.  He  was  bred  to  the 
sea,  from  the  age  of  twelve,  and,  after  passii^  through 
all  the  intermediate  grades,  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy 
in  1801.  He  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Shannon  six 
years  later,  and  sailed  for  Halifax  in  August,  1811.  On 
the  flrst  day  of  June,  1813,  after  having  sent  a  challenge 
to  Captain  Lawrence,  which  he  never  received,  and  while  ^         - 

cruising  off  Boston,  he  fell  in  with  the  Chesapeake.  A  ,-*^o<ie^fc. 
severe  engagement  ensued,  during  which  Lawrence  was  ^ 
twice  wounded.  Broke,  at  the  head  of  fifty  or  sixty  men,  boarded  the  American 
frigate,  and  sncceoded  in  driving  the  survivors  of  the  crew  below,  but  was  himself 
disabled  for  life  by  a  blow  on  the  head  from  the  butt-end  of  a  musket.  For  this  vic- 
tory, which  greatly  elated  the  enemy,  several  of  whose  frigates  we  had  recently  cap- 
tured, Broke  was  knighted,  and  the  Tower  of  London  guns  were  fired.  Sir  Philip 
never  went  to  sea  again,  but  hved  for  nearly  three  decades  the  life  of  an  English 
country  gentleman  at  Broke  Hall,  and  died  in  Loudon,  January  2, 1841. 

James  Lawrence,  who  possessed  what  old  Fuller  quaintly  calls  "  a  handsome  man 
case,"  and  was  one  of  the  most  gallant  ofQcers  of  the  war  of  1812,  was  bom  at 
Burlington,  N.  J.,  October  1,  1781,  being  five  years  younger  than  Broke.  He  entered 
the  navy  in  1798,  and  in  1811  attained  to  the  rank  of  captain.  Early  in  the  second 
war  with  England,  when  in  command  of  the  Hornet,  he  won  a  great  victory  over  the 
Peacock.  After  this  success,  Lawrence  was  given  command  of  the  frigate  Chesa- 
peake. A  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  Boston  the  Shannon  appeared  in  the  offlng, 
and  the  Chesapeake  immediately  went  out  to  meet  her.  After  exchanging  a  few 
broadsides,  the  Chesapeake  fouled  the  Shannon;  Lawrence  fell  mortally  wounded, 
and  was  carried  below,  saying,  "Don't  give  up  the  ship."  Captain  Broke  saw  his 
opportunity  and  boarded  the  Chesapeake,  whose  flag  was  soon  after  hauled  down. 
Several  incidents  of  the  action  show  that  the  crew  of  the  Chesapeake  were  lacking  in 
discipline.  They  were  for  the  most  part  newly  shipped  and  imperfectly  tromed,  while 
the  Shannon  was  noted  for  excellent  gunnery  practice,  and  her  oapt^n  had  supplied 
sights  for  the  guns  at  his  own  expense.  In  size  and  armament  there  was  not  much 
disparity  between  the  ships.  Neither  was  seriously  injured  during  the  action,  but  the 
loss  of  the  Chesapeake  was  forty-four  killed  and  ninety-nine  wounded,  while  the 
Shannon's  total  loss  was  only  eighty-five.  The  remains  of  Lawrence  and  Ludlow 
were  restored  to  their  conntty,  by  whom  they  were  received  with  public  honors  and 
buried  in  state  in  Trinity  churchyard.  New- York  city.  The  bitter  disappointment 
that  was  oanaed  by  the  loss  of  the  Chesapeake  might  have  led  the  public  to  criticize 
the  eonduot  of  Lawrence  in  accepting  a  contest  for  wliich  he  was  so  poorly  prepared, 


294 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


had  it  not  been  for  his  trag^o  fate  and  his  dying  injnnctioni  ''Don't  give  np  the 
ship.''  K  he  erred  in  admitting  chivabrio  traditions  into  modem  warfare,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  he  associated  with  them  both  courtesy  and  humanity  in  the  very 
highest  degree. 

When  Lawrence  fell,  there  being  no  first  officer  on  board  the  Chesapeake,  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Augustus  C.  Ludlow,  the  second  lieutenant,  who  was  almost 
immediately  mortally  wounded,  as  were  also  Lieutenant  James  Broome,  U.  S.  M.  C,  and 
Courtlandt  Livingston,  a  midshipman.  Ludlow,  after  the  surrender  of  the  frigate, 
was  removed  to  the  Shannon,  where  he  became  an  object  of  solicitude  to  Second 
Lieutenant  Wallis,  who  left  nothing  undone  to  save  the  life  of  the  young  sailor  of  only 
twenty-one,  Ludlow  being  but  a  few  months  his  junior.  He  was  bom  in  Orange 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  came  of  a  fighting  family,  being  the  youngest  of  four  brothers, 
all  holding  commissions  in  the  United  States  navy.  He  was  with  Lawrence  in  the 
Hornet  when  the  great  victory  was  gained  over  the  Peacock,  and  he  now  shares  the 
same  grave  with  the  hero  in  Trinity  churchyard.  Justice  Story,  in  his  glowing 
eulogy  on  Lawrence  and  Ludlow,  well  says:  ''Nor  can  we  forget  the  gay,  the  gallant, 
and  nobJe-hearted  Ludlow.  Though  the  history  of  his  life  be  short,  yet  it  can  never 
be  uninteresting  to  those  whose  hearts  beat  high  with  the  love  of  their  country. 
Scarcely  was  he  twenty-one  years  of  age,  when,  like  the  blooming  Euryalus,  he  accom- 
panied his  beloved  commander  to  battle.    Never  could  it  have  been  more  truly  said: 

**  His  amor  unus  erat,  pariterque  in  bella  raebant. 

"  He  was,  indeed,  worthy  of  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  Lawrence.  His  soul 
was  formed  for  deeds  of  active  valor  and  martial  enterprise.  .  .  .  The  bodies  of 
these  heroes  may  molder  away  and  become  indistinguishable  from  the  common  mass 
of  mortality,  but  their  spirits,  we  trust,  shall  repose  in  the  bosom  of  heaven,  and  their 
fame,  their  spotless  fame,  shall  perish  but  with  the  country  of  their  birth." —  The 
Editor,  in  "Illustrated  American,"  June,  1891. 


MOBBIS   ARMS. 


CHAUKCEY   ARMS. 


LAWRENCE    ARMS. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  RETUBN  OF  PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION   OF   THE  ERIE    CANAL 
1815-1825 

J  HE  conduct  of  New -York  city  during  the  war  of  1812,  in 
^'iew  of  the  severe  blow  she  had  received  to  her  com- 
mercial prosperity,  was  no  shght  proof  of  patriotism ;  for 
many  of  her  citizens  who,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
were  rich,  found  themselves,  when  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  on 
December  24, 1814,  ruined.  The  condition  in  which  New -York  was 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  as  well  as  the 
extravagant  demonstrations  of  joy 
with  which  the  news  of  the  termina- 
tion of  hostilities  was  received,  is 
thus  graphically  described  by  the  lat« 
Francis  Wayland,  president  of  Brown 
University,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of 
the  scene : 

"  It  so  chanced  that,  at  the  close  of 
the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  I  was 
temporarily  a  resident  of  the  city  of 
New- York.  The  prospects  of  the  na- 
tion were  shrouded  in  gloom.  We  had 
been,  for  two  or  three  years,  at  war 
with  the  mightiest  nation  on  earth, 
and  as  she  had  now  concluded  a  peace 
with  the  continent  of  Europe,  we  were 
obliged  to  cope  with  her  single-handed. 
Our  harbors  were  blockaded ;  communications  coastwise  between  our 
ports  were  cut  off ;  our  ships  were  rotting  in  every  creek  and  cove 
where  they  could  find  a  place  of  security ;  our  immense  annual  pro- 
ducts were  mouldering  in  our  warehouses ;  the  sources  of  profitable 
labor  were  dried  up;  our  currency  was  reduced  to  irredeemable 
paper ;  the  extreme  portions  of  our  country  were  becoming  hostile 
to  each  other;  and  differences  of  political  opinion  were  embittering 
the  peace  of  every  household ;  the  credit  of  the  Government  was 


296 


mSTOBT    OF    NEW-yORK 


exhaoBted ;  do  one  could  predict  when  the  contest  would  tenninate, 
or  discern  the  means  by  which  it  conld  much  longer  be  protracted. ' 
"  It  happened  that,  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  in  February,  1815,  a 
ship  was  discerned  in  the  offing,  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  cartel, 
bringing  home  our  Commissioners  at  Ghent  from  their  nnsnccessful 
mission.  The  sun  had  set  gloomily  before  any  intelligence  had 
reached  the  city.  Expectation  became  painfully  intense,  as  the 
hours  of  darkness  drew  on.  At  length,  a  boat  reached  the  wharf, 
announcing  the  fact  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed,  and  was 
waiting  for  -nothing  but  the  action  of  our  Government  to  become  a 
law.  The  men  on  whose  ears  these  words  first  fell,  rushed  in  breath- 
less hast«  into  the  city, 
to  repeat  them  to  their 
friends,  shouting,  as 
they  ran  through  the 
streets,  '  Peace !  Peace ! 
Peace!'  Every  one  who 
heard  the  sound  re- 
peated it.  From  house 
to  house,  from  street  to 
street,  the  news  spread 
with  electric  rapidity. 
The  whole  city  was  in  commotion.  Men,  bearing  lighted  torches, 
were  flying  to  and  fro,  shouting  like  madmen, 'Peace!  Peace!'  When 
the  rapture  had  partially  subsided,  one  idea  occupied  every  mind. 
But  few  men  slept  that  night.  In  groups  they  were  gathered  in 
the  streets,  and  by  the  fireside,  beguiling  the  hours  of  midnight  by 
reminding  each  other  that  the  agony  of  war  was  over,  and  that  a 
worn  out  and  distracted  country  was  about  to  enter  again  upon  its 
wonted  career  of  prosperity." 

At  the  time  that  the  news  of  peace  was  received,  Samuel  G.  GK)od- 
rich  happened  also  to  be  in  the  city.  Speaking  of  the  joyful  effect 
produced,  he  adds  similar  testimony  to  that  of  President  Wayland. 
"  I  had  gone  in  the  eveniug,"  he  writes,  "  to  a  concert  at  the  City 
Hotel.    While  listening  to  the  music,  the  door  of  the  concert-room 


HEDAL    COUMXHOBATINO    PEACK. 


1  The  following  lines,  entitled  "Hard  Tiroea."  *re 
quoted  fnun  >  Neir-Tork  nempaper.  pabliahed  In 
New-York  dtj  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  1S12 : 

"No  buBlneaa  stirring,  all  things  at  a  stand, 
People  complain  they  have  no  cuh  in  hand. 
'Dull  times'  re-ecboea  now  from  every  quarter, 
Even  from  father  to  the  son  and  danghleT. 
Herchanta  ciy  out.  ■  No  mone;  to  he  had,' 
OrocKTS  say  tiie  '  times  are  very  bad ' ; 
Mechanics  work,  but  they  can  get  no  pay, 
Beaux  dress  genteel,  and  ladies,  too,  are  gay. 
Cash  very  scarce,  dancing  twice  a  week — 
Buslneu  dull — amusemeuts  still  we  seek. 


Some  live  ifwhlle,  and  then,  perhaps,  dieyfail, 
While  many  run  in  debt  and  go  to  Jail. 
The  females  must  have  ribbons,  gause.  and  lare. 
And  paint  besides,  to  smooth  a  wrinkled  &»: 
The  beaux  will  dress,  go  to  the  ball  and  play, 
Sit  up  all  night,  and  Uy  in  bed  all  day. 
Bmsh  np  an  empty  pato,  look  smart  and  prim. 
Follow  each  trifling  fashion  or  odd  whim. 
Five  shillings  will  buy  a  good  fat  gooae. 
While  turkeys,  too,  are  offered  Bt  for  ass. 
Are  those  bad  times,  when  persons  will  profess 
To  follow  fashions,  and  delight  In  dren  t 
No !  times  are  good,  bat  people  are  to  blame. 
Who  spend  toomuch,Bnd}nitIy  merit  shame.' 


BETDBN  OF  PEACE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL  297 

was  thrown  open,  and  in  rashed  a  man  breathless  with  escitement. 
He  mounted  on  a  table,  and  swinging  a  white  handkerchief  aloft, 
cried  out,  '  Peace  I  Peace !  Peace  I '  The  music  ceased ;  the  hall 
was  speedily  vacated.  I  rushed  into  the  street,  and  oh,  what  a 
scene !  In  a  few  minutes,  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  people  were  march- 
ing about  with  candles,  lamps,  torches, 
making  the  jubilant  street  appear  like  a 
gay  and  gorgeoxis  procession.  The  whole 
night  Broadway  sang  its  song  of  peace. 
We  were  all  Democrats,  all  FederaUsts! 
Old  enemies  rushed  into  eaeh  other's  arms; 
every  house  was  in  a  revel;  every  heart 
seemed  melted  by  a  joy  which  banished 
all  evil  thought  and  feeling.  On  Monday 
morning  I  set  out  for  Connecticut.  All 
along  the  road  the  people  saluted  us  with 
swinginif  hats  and  cries  of  rejoicing.     At 

",      °     .  ,,  ,  "  .     ,  MSB.  JOHN    MOBTOK.l 

one  place,  m  rather  a  lonesome  part  of  the 

road,  a  schoolmaster  came  out  with  the  whole  school  at  his  heels  to 
ask  us  if  the  news  were  true.  "We  told  him  it  was;  whereupon  he 
tied  his  bandanna  handkerchief  to  a  broom,  swung  it  aloft,  and  the 
entire  school  hosannaed,  '  Peace !  Peace ! ' " 

Nor  were  the  effects  of  the  peace  confined  merely  to  natural  oul^ 
bursts  of  delirious  delight  or  to  sentimental  gushes  of  feeling.  An 
increased  material  prosperity  was  at  once  apparent.  Under  the 
changed  condition  of  affairs  every  industry,  as  if  touched  by  the  wand 
of  an  enchanter,  awoke  to  new  life  and  vigor.  Instead  of  "ships 
rotting  in  every  creek  and  cove,"  as  so  graphically  described  by  Dr. 
Wayland,  the  different  ship-yards  of  the  city  resounded  from  morning 
till  night  with  the  blow  of  the  hammer,  as  keel  after  keel  of  new 
vessels  was  daily  laid;  in  place  of  our  "immense  annual  products 
mouldering  in  our  warehouses,"  vessels  could  not  be  built  or  chartered 
fast  enough  to  convey  these  products  to  foreign  consumers;  and  in 
lieu  of  the  "sources  of  profitable  industry  being  dried  up,"  the  streets 
were  filled  with  artisans  plying  their  several  vocations,  and  with 
laborers  going  to  and  from  their  daily  toil.  In  the  counting-houses, 
where  a  short  time  previous  a  few  clerks  yawned  languidly  over  their 
desks,  all  was  bustle  and  animation,  as,  briskly  engaged  with  foreign 
correspondence,  their  faces  beamed  with  satisfaction  at  the  prospect 
of  services  being  well  requited.    New  buildings,  public  and  private, 

1  Mrs.  Harla  Sophia  Horton,  motber  of  Qeoeral  aged  ninety-four  years.  Prom  a  pih-tnit  made  by 
Horton.  who  died  ■!  the  hou*e  of  her  soD-iD-law,  Cliarlea  Balthazar  Julien  F^rre  de  St.  H6mlD  in 
Preddent  Qulney  ot  Harvard  Universlt;,  In  1832,      New-Tork  in  IT97.  Editos. 


298 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


sprang  up  in  different  sections  of  the  city  with  marvelous  celerity; 
and  the  wharves,  no  longer  green  with  mold,  and  tenanted  solely  by 
the  water-rat,  were  lined  with  ships  waiting  only  for  favoring  gales  to 
whiten  the  ocean  with  their  sails,  and  bear  the  flag  of  the  United 
States  into  ports  where  for  so  long  it  had  been  unseen  and  almost 

totally  forgotten.  The  city,  no  longer  a  "de- 
rJ^  ""  Je^^cc-*/  ^  serted  village,"  presented  the  appearance  of  an 
ex     '  ^""^^    immense  hive   teeming  with  human  bees,  in 

which  no  drones  were  either  known  or  allowed.  Squalor  had  given 
place  to  splendor,  poverty  to  affluence;  a  full  tide  of  prosperity  had 
set  in,  and  shrewd  speculators,  who  knew  how  to  take  advantage  of 
its  flood,  were  making  rapid  fortunes. 

In  short,  notwithstanding  the  terrible  drain  upon  the  financial 
resources  to  which  she  had  been  subjected  during  the  war,  and  the 
crippling  of  her  commerce.  New- York  bore  the  strain  nobly.  In  this 
same  year  (1815)  Mr.  Isaac  Bronson,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  "An 
Appeal  to  the  Public,"  stated  the  active  capital  of  the  banks  of  the 
city  to  be  $13,515,000.  It  may  also  be  truly  said  of  the  New-York 
banks  at  this  period,  as  well  as  in  1839,  1857,  and  the  late  civil  war, 
that  they  spared  no  effort  to  keep  the  country  on  a  specie  basis,  and 
to  avert  the  calamities  which  have  fallen  upon  it  from  excessive  issues 
of  paper — a  disaster  to  which  the  old  quotation  may  fitly  be  applied: 

.    f aoilis  descensus  Avemi ; 


Sed  revocare  gradmn, 
Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est. 


No  sooner  was  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  than  the  great  continental 
powers  hastened  to  stretch  forth  a  helping  hand  to  the  republic;  and 
every  nation  in  Europe  was  anxious  to  solicit  her  trade.  Great  Britain 
alone,  chafing  under  her  defeat,  remained  for  a  long  time  sullen,  and 
by  unfriendly  legislation  endeavored  to  cripple  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  in  general,  and  that  of  New -York  city  in  particular. 

Indeed,  almost  ruined  as  the  city  had  been  by  the  war,  such  were 
her  internal  resources  that  she  recovered  rapidly.    On  March  26, 1819, 


1  The  influential  political  opponents  of  De  Witt 
Clinton  succeeded,  in  1815,  in  displacing  him  as 
mayor  and  haying  John  Ferguson,  who  was  grand 
sachem  of  the  Tammany  Society,  appointed  in  his 
place.  This  was  done  with  the  understanding  that 
Ferguson  was  shortly  to  resign,  be  made  surveyor 
of  the  port,  and  that  Jacob  Radcliff  was  to  be 
named  as  mayor.  Accordingly  Ferguson  occu- 
pied the  position  only  from  March  to  June.  Rad- 
cliff, who  had  been  mayor  in  1810,  continued  in 
the  office  till  1818,  when  Cadwallader  David  Golden 
reeeived  the  aopointment.  He  was  the  grandson 
of  the  lieutenant-governor,  and  was  bom  at  the 
family  seat  near  Flushing,  L.  I.  The  grandfather, 
and  David  Golden,  the  father,  were  lojralists,  the 


latter  removing  to  Ehigland  in  1784.  The  grrand- 
son,  however,  returned,  practising  law  in  New- 
Tork  city,  and  about  1796  was  appointed  district 
attorney.  In  the  war  of  1812  he  served  actively 
as  a  colonel  of  volunteers.  Upon  relinquishing 
the  mayoralty  he  was  elected  a  member  of  Con- 
gress. He  cordially  encouraged  all  movements 
for  the  promotion  of  educational  or  industrial  ob- 
jects, published  a  memoir  of  the  Erie  Canal,  was 
superintendent  of  the  Morris  Canal,  and  wrote  the 
life  of  Robert  Fulton,  to  whom  he  had  given  sub- 
stantial support  when  so  many  ridiculed  his  great 
invention.  Mr.  Golden  married  Maria,  youngest 
daughter  of  Bishop  Provoost,  and  died  in  1834. 

Editor. 


BETURN    OF    PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL     299 


the  first  savings-bank  was  incorporated.  Its  name  was  the  "Bank 
for  Savings  of  the  City  of  New-Tork,"  and  its  plan  was  devised  by 
John  Pintard,  to  whose  sagacity  New- York  owes  so  many  of  its  most 
useful  and  thriving  institutions.  The  deposits  of  this  savings-bank 
from  July  3  to  December  27,  1819,  reached  the  sum  of  $153,378, 
representing  1527  depositors.  Three  years  after  (1822)  the  first  life 
insurance  was  also  es- 
tablished in  the  city,  ^^HH^I^HJ^HHHB^CV^  \ 
under  the  name  of  the  ^^^^^^^^HBBS^^V^  ^^  .-i'-^] 
"Mechanics' Life  Insur- 
ance and  Coal  Com- 
pany." Its  act  of  incor- 
poration, which  bears 
date  February  28  of 
that  year,  carried  with 
it  the  "power  to  make 
insurance  upon  lives,  to 
grant  annuities,  and  to 
open,  find  out,  discover, 
and  work  coal  beds 
within  this  State."  A 
further  example,  moreover,  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  city,  as 
well  as  the  United  States  generally,  recovered  from  the  baneful  effects 
of  the  war  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  revenue 
collected  by  the  United  States  government  rose  from  $4,415,362  in 
1814,  to  $37,695,625  in  1815,  of  which  $16,000,000  was  derived  from 
the  port  of  New- York  alone.*  In  1816,  also,  the  famous  "Blaek-Ball 
Line"  of  packets  to  Liverpool  was  established,  and  in  1824  the  line 
to  Havre,  the  latter  employing  twelve  ships;  in  addition  to  which 
there  were  weekly  lines  to  Savannah,  Charleston,  Mobile,  and  New 
Orleans.  The  average  time  tfdien  by  the  "Black-Ball"  packets  out- 
ward was  twenty-two  days,  and  the  homeward  voyage  twenty-nine 
days.  Steam,  however,  was  in  a  very  short  time  to  change  the  en- 
tire mode  of  ocean  navigation,  as  well  as  that  of  land  travel. 

The  winter  of  1817  was  unusually  severe.    As  late  as  February  15 
the  Hudson  River  was  frozen  over  from  the  city  to  the  New  Jersey 


I  Hn.  Murray  was  the  wife  of  Robert  Hnrrsy, 
and  mother  of  Lindlef  Huiray,  tbe  srammarlan. 
Her  husband  wu  one  of  the  toremost  Quakers  in 
eommercla]  circles  in  the  city.  His  conntry-seat 
(reprtaeuted  above)  was  Dear  Fourth  Arenue  and 
Thirty-seventh  street,  amid  spacious  ftround*. — 
the  present  Grand  Cential  Station  oocupyinft 
what  was  then  one  of  his  oom-flelds.  It  waa  here 
that  the  chief  British  offlcers  were  so  charmingly 
entertained  by  Hra.  Hurray  for  two  hours,  while 
General  Putnam  with  a  large  detachment  of  the 


Continental  army.  reD'eating  in  fcreat  haute  be- 
fore a  superior  force,  successfully  reached  the 
main  bod;  at  Harlem  Heights.  The  section  of  the 
city  from  Thirty-fourth  to  Forty-second  streets 
and  from  Leiin^n  to  Sixth  avenues  is  generally 
known  as  Murray  Hill.  Editob. 

2  In  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1875,  the 
total  amount  of  the  revenue  from  cnitoms  for  the 
United  States  was  n5T.I6T,722,  of  which  (IM.SOT,- 
786  was  received  from  the  port  of  New-York  — 
more  than  two  thirds  of  the  total  amount 


300 


HI8T0BT    OF    NEW-YOBK 


side,  SO  that  people  crossed  on  the  ice  from  shore  to  shore.  "Several 
gentlemen,"  records  the  "Evening  Post"  for  February,  "set  out  for  a 
sieigh-ride  on  the  ice  from  Flushing  to  Riker's  Island,  where  they 
arrived  in  safety.  This  was  the  first 
^j  ^--.,^Mfc  sleigh  that  was  ever  known  to  visit 

i*''*-*x.73^  the  island,  and,  as  it  passed  down 

the  bay,  it  di-ew  forth  numbers  of 
i  Hj^'"  TliiMML  people    on    the    shore    to   view   so 

r  ™        a^P^  singular  an  event." '    The  succeed- 

ing year  (1818)  also  witnessed  the 
same  intensity  of  cold.  Long  Island 
Sound  being  entirely  closed  by  ice 
between  Cold  Spring  and  the  Con- 
necticut shore.  The  Hudson  like- 
wise was  again  frozen  so  firmly  that 
heavy  teams  crossed  to  the  Jersey 
side.  Many  persons,  like  the  Cana- 
'^f^^^W^~~        T  dians  when  the  ice-pont  forms  on 

the  St.  Lawrence  between  Quebec 
and  Point  Levi,  sought  to  make  gain 
'  .^^MtTT-^t^  **"*"  **^  ^^^  unusual  circumstance. 
^"  Accordingly,  they  erected  tents  on  the 
ice,  and  sold  in  them  liquor,  roasted  clams  and  oysters.  An  attempt 
was  also  made  to  roast  an  ox,  but  the  experiment  failed,  on  account  of 
the  ice  becoming  weak  near  the  furnaces  where  the  cooking  was  done.* 
In  the  same  year  (1818)  the  legislature  of  New-York — De  Witt 
Qinton,  Governor — ordered  the  remains  of  General  Montgomery  to 
be  removed  from  Canada  to  New-York  city.*    This  was  in  accordance 

I  Id  this  oODDectton  H  will  be  reooUed  that  in  would  be  eoodder«d  reni&rlubl;  ehekp.    The  tol- 

the  winter  of  1780-81  Qie  cold  wks  ao  IntaiuM  u  lowing  are  quotations  taken  by  the  wiitar  ftom 

to  freece  the  b*y  solid  from  New-Tork  city  lo  the  "  Colnmbiui "  of  December  S,  ISIB : 

Staten  Island— thnj  enkbUng  Sir  Senry  Clinton  Beat  beef,  per  lb 134e. 

to  bring  up  heavy  artillery  from  Staten  Island  to  "       "       "   ewt tTtofli 

New-York.  Pork,  per  lb lOe. 

*  An  smurfng  aneodoto  was  told  at  this  time  of  "        "      owt (8 

a  certain  Jeremlali  Batman,  aroimd  whose  t«nt  the  Veal,  per  lb 10c 

Ice  bad  become  quite  tbln  from  the  effects  of  the  Mutton,  "    8e. 

stove  and  several  days  of  mild  weather.     One  of  Turkeys  (good),  apiece $1.56 

bis  customers,   happening  to  Bt«p  apon  a  weak  Fowls,  perp^r ,  .Sfe 

spot  ontidde  the  tent,  broke  through,  and  was  Qeese,  apieee 90c  to  S6c 

struggling  In  the  water,  whAi  a  friend  pat  bis  Butter,  fresh 33c 

head  tndde  of  Batman's  tent,   saying;   "Jerry,  "       In Brkins 23cta26c 

there  is  a  man  gone  down  yonr  »llar1"    "Is  It  Potatoes,  per  bbl SGc 

sol"  asked  Jerry.     "  Then  it  is  about  time  for  me  Turnips,     ■'      ■'  31& 

to  leave  these  premises. "    The  man,  however,  was  CabbMjee,  per  1000 W  to<T 

finally  extrleatod,  the  tent  struck,  and  all  were  Wood,  oak,  per  load tS.2i 

safely  taken  to  the  New-Tork  shore  on  a  sled.  •'        walnut,  " aSO 

On  account  of  this  severe  winter  provtsions  "        pine,        "       1.G2U 

were  considered  very  dear.    At  the  present  day.  >  A  correspondent  of  the  New-Tork  ■'  Conuner- 

however,— and  let  the  reader  notice  in  any  news-  clal   Advertiser  "  of  July  7,  1818,  writing  from 

paper  the  daily  prices  ohtalning  In  Waahlikgton  Quebec,  and  referring  to  this  event,  says;  "Aftw 

Market,  for  instance, — the  prices  that  then  ruled  resting  In  peace  for  forty-two  years  within  the 


BETDKN  OF  PEA.OE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  EEIE  CANAL  301 

with  the  wishes  of  the  Continental  Congress,  which,  in  1776,  had 
voted  the  beautiful  cenotaph  to  his  memory  that  now  stands  in  the 
front  (or  rather  the  rear ' )  wall  of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  Broadway. 
When  the  funeral  cortege  reached  Whitehall,  N,  Y.,  the  fleet  stationed 
there  received  it  with  appropriate  honors;  and  on  Saturday,  July  4, 
they  arrived  in  Albany.  After  lying  in  state  in  that  city  over  Sun- 
day, the  remains  were  taken  to  New- York,  and  on  Wednesday,  July 
8,  deposited,  with  military  honors,  in  their  final  resting-place  at  St 
Paul's.  Governor  Clinton,  with  that  deUcaey  for  which  he  was 
always  remarkable,  had  informed  Mrs.  Montgomery  when  the  steam- 
boat Eichmond,  with  the  body  of  her 
husband,  would  pass  her  mansion  on  the 
North  River.  At  her  own  request,  she 
stood  alone  on  the  portico  at  the  mo- 
ment that  the  boat  passed.  It  was  now 
more  than  forty  years  since  she  had 
parted  from  her  husband,  and  they  had 
been  married  only  two  years;  yet  she 
had  remained  as  faithful  to  the  memory 
of  her  "soldier"  (as  she  always  called 
him)  as  if  alive.  The  steamboat  halted  before  the  mansion,  the  band 
played  the  "  Dead  March,"  a  salute  was  fired,  and  the  ashes  of  the 
venerated  hero  and  the  departed  husband  passed  on.  The  attendants 
of  the  Spartan  widow  now  appeared,  but,  overcome  by  the  tender 
emotions  of  the  moment,  she  had  swooned  and  fallen  to  the  fioor.* 
The  gallant  dead,  though  surrounded  by  the  turmoil  of  a  busy  city, 


TAN    COBTLAJIDT    BUOAB-HOUBB.a 


walls  uid  ooder  the  sod  of  this  gurlson,  the 
akeleton  of  Oecenl  MoD^:oiiieT7  wu  on  Saturday 
Ikit  raised  from  its  place  of  depoait,  and  took  Its 
departure  for  New- York,  where  it  ia  desCiiied  to 
a  more  distlD^ished  place  of  intermeDt  in  tlie 
Church  of  St.  Paul  of  that  city." 

t  It  is  really  the  rrar  wall  of  St.  Paul's,  dnee 
the  church  waa  intended  when  built  to  /nm/  on 
the  HudBon  River. 

I  The  Van  Cortlandt  suiw-house  waa  used  aa 
m  prison  durlot;  the  KeTolution.  It  stood  adjoin. 
Ing  the  northweat  vmer  of  Trinity  churchyard. 
Of  the  three  snf^ar-houses  which  became  historic 
by  reaaon  of  this  usatce,  Livingston's,  on  Liberty 
street,  was  destroyed  in  1840 ;  Van  Cortlandt's  was 
demoliahed  in  1852;  and  Rhinelander's,  aa  noted 
in  the  preceding  Tolnme,  waa  not  torn  down  dll 
the  present  year  — 1892.  EDITOR. 

)  Janet  Livingston,  the  sister  of  the  distin- 
guished Chancellor  Llvingaton,  and  the  wife  of 
General  Montgomery,  met  the  latter  when  he  waa 
a  captain  In  the  Britisb  army,  on  his  way  to  a  dis- 
tant fronder  post.  The  meeting  left  mutual 
tender  ImpresaliHis.  Returning  to  England  soon 
after.  Montgomery  disposed  of  bis  commisHlon, 
and,  emigrating  to  New-York,  married  the  object 
of  hll  attachment.  But  their  vlslona  of  an  tldpated 
happlnesa.  upon  a  farm   at   IQilnebeck-on-the- 


HudsoQ,  were  soon  ended.  He  waa  caUed  npon  to 
serve  as  one  of  the  eight  brigadier-generals  In  the 
Continental  army.  He  accepted  sadly  and  with 
misgivings,  declaring  that  "the  wiU  of  an  op- 
preMed  people,  compelled  to  choose  between  lib- 
erty  and  slavery,  must  be  obeyed."  His  eicellent 
wife  made  no  opposition;  and.  accompanying  him 
as  far  as  Saratoga  (now  Schuylerville,  N.  Y.),  re- 
ceived hla  last  asHnrance.  "You  shall  never  liave 
cause  to  blush  for  your  Montgomery."  Nor  did 
she ;  for  he  (ell  brevely  at  Quebec.  In  person 
General  Montgomery  was  tall,  graceful,  and  of 
manly  address.  At  the  time  of  bis  death  be  was 
only  thirty-nine  years  of  age.  Shortly  after  the 
occnrrence  narrmled  in  the  teit  Mrs.  Montgomery 
wrote  to  a  niece  as  follows  r  "  However  gratUylng 
to  my  feelings,  every  pang  I  felt  was  renewed. 
Tbe  pomp  with  whkb  the  funeral  was  conducted 
added  to  my  woe.  When  the  steamboat  passed 
with  slow  and  solemn  movement,  stopping  before 
my  house,  the  troops  under  arms,  the  dead  march 
from  the  muJBed  drum,  the  mournful  music,  the 
splendid  coffin  canopied  with  crape  and  crowned 
with  plumes — you  may  conceive  my  anguish,  I 
cannot  describe  it.  Such  voluntary  honors  were 
never  before  paid  to  an  individual  by  a  Republic, 
and  to  Governor  Clinton's  monlfleence  much  la 
owing." 


302 


HI8T0RT    OF    NEW-YORK 


is  still  (1892)  permitted  to  rest  beneath  the  turf  made  radiant  by  the 
unsullied  blossoms  of  early  spring.  The  brave  Wolfe,  who  fell  on 
nearly  the  same  spot  sixteen  years  previons,  sleeps  within  the  splen- 
did mausoleum  of  Westminster  Abbey.  Bat  as  we  stand  over  the 
unpretentious  grave  of  Montgomery,  we  recall  the  quaint  and  beau- 

tiful  language  of   Ob- 

/^  ~~\      borne    "He  that  lieth 

under  the  herse  of 
heavenne  is  convert- 
ible into  sweet  herbs 
and  flowers,  that  maye 
rest  m  bosoms  that 
wolde  shrink  from  the 
ugly  bugs  which  may 
be  found  crawling  in 
the  magnificent  tomb 
of  Henry  the  VII." 

On  February  22, 
1819,  a  grand  ball  was 
given  by  theFourteenth 
Regiment,  in  honor 
of  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  at  the  City 
Hotel.*  The  ball  was  attended  by  tlie  general  in  person,  and  was 
far  ahead,  in  elegance  and  brilliancy,  of  anything  of  the  kind  before 
known  in  the  city.  The  large  dining-room  of  the  hotel  was  crowded, 
and  the  toast  "To  General  Jackson;  so  long  as  the  Mississippi  rolls 
its  waters  to  the  ocean,  so  long  may  his  great  name  and  glorious 


I  The  Shkkespeue  TsTem  stood  on  the  comer  ot 
Fulton  ind  Naswu  streela,  where,  until  lately,  wu 
■Ituated  the  "  CommerclAl  Advertlaer "  buildlDg. 
recently  deBtro;ed  b;  fire.  "It  WKS  origizuJlf  a 
low.  old-faahioned,  niaaslve  edifice,  built  of  smMl. 
yellow  biick«,  two  etoriea  high,  with  dormer-wln- 
dowa  on  the  roof.  .  .  .  The  building  wns  erected 
mmny  years  before  fbe  BerolutloD,  but  in  1822  a 
modern  extensloa  on  FnlloD  street,  three  stories 
Ugh,  was  added.  Thomas  Hadgldnwin,  whose 
brother  John  was  at  one  time  manager  of  the  Old 
Park  Theater,  bonght  the  boose  In  1808,  and 
under  >i<'"  It  soon  became  and  long  continued  a 
great  reeort  tor  the  wits  of  the  day.  .  .  .  The 
'  Shakespeare  Tavern.'  in  fact,  wss  to  New-York 
what  the  'Hermald'  was  to  London  in  the  days 
of  Shakespeare,  or  later  the  '  St.  James  Ck>(ree- 
honae,'  and  the  'Turk's  Head,'  in  the  time  of 
Reynolds,  Qanick,  and  Goldsmith.  .  .  .  Here 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  wont  to  discuss  his  pet  pro- 
ject, the  Erie  Canal-,  here  PItitOreene  Halleck, 
and  Sands,  and  Pendval,  and  Paulding,  and 
Willis  Gaylord  Clark  met  in  soolal  conTerse,  and 
pMMd  many  a  merry  Jest  and  brilliant  repartee. 


,  .  .  Henceforth  let  no  one  say  that  New- York  has 
DO  memories  save  those  of  the  temples  of  the 
money-changer."  (History  of  New-York  City,  by 
William  L.  Stone,  Jr.,  pp.  4SS-490.)  The  Shake- 
speare TaTem,  upon  (the  death  of  Hodgklnaon. 
passed  Into  the  hands  of  his  relatlTe,  James  C. 
Stoneall,  "by  whom  the  Interior  was  remodeled 
and  modernized,  and  It  couttnued  to  maintain  its 
wonderful  reputation  and  popularity  until  the 
building  was  demolished  in  1836.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  ■  centory  the  Shakespeare  Tavern 
was  a  favorite  place  of  resort  of  the  flrM  dUzens 
of  the  dtf ,  and  was  dlstlngulBhed  for  the  superior 
character  of  ita  refreshments  and  the  quiet  com- 
fort which  pervaded  the  entire  estAbliahment. 
Merohants,  politicians,  and  artlBta  of  distinction 
gathered,  by  day  and  by  night,  beneath  its  hospi- 
table roof,  and  it  was  ttie  acknowledged  mtlitaj? 
headqaartcrs  ot  all  the  leading  organiaatlotu  in 
the  city"  (History  of  Che  Seventh  Begiment  of 
Naw-York,  by  Colonel  Emmons  Clark).     £]>noB. 

1  The  City  Hotel,  the  principal  pnblle  hovse  in 
the  city,  and  called  before  and  during  the  Bevo- 
lutlon  the  City  Tavon,  belonged  to  the  De  I^n- 


RETURN    OF    PEACE,    AND    CX)MPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL     303 

deeds  be  remembered,''  was  replied  to  by  the  general,  who  proposed 
^  De  Witt  Clinton,  Governor  of  the  great  and  patriotic  State  of  New- 
York,'' to  the  utter  confusion  of  the  "  Buckt&ils,"  who  regarded  Clin- 
ton as  their  bit-  jf         n  ^ 
terest  foe.    Gen-           ^^y^^  ^  (f  -^x^-e^^  ^ut^^^^pth  Ajr^ 
eralJackson,per-    ^           ^  ^               ^           ^ 
fectly  independ-   V^^^-^^^-^^^^x^b^/l^^  ;^  (jy^fy^ ^^^t^C^ 
ent  of  all  parties,                                                   > 
had  conceived  a  great  admiration  for  Mr.  Clinton,  although  he  was 
at  that  time  personally  unacquainted   with  him — hence  the  toast. 
Upon  this  toast  being  given,  the  greatest  confusion  ensued,  amid 
which  the  general  left  the  room.* 

Nor  was  this  ball  the  only  compliment  paid  to  Jackson.  On  his 
first  arrival  in  the  city  he  was  received  with  great  6clat  by  the  muni- 
cipal authorities,  and  with  well-deserved  honors  at  the  hands  of  the 
people.  A  military  review  was  given  him  on  the  Battery,  and  the 
freedom  of  the  city  in  a  gold  box  in  the  park.  He  was  afterward 
escorted  by  a  regiment  of  cavalry  to  visit  the  venerable  General  Ebe- 
nezer  Stevens,  then  living,  at  an  advanced  age,  on  Long  Island,  near 
Hell  Gate.  Stevens  had  commanded  the  American  artillery  during 
the  battles  preceding  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  and 
Jackson  had  defeated  Sir  Edward  Packenham  and  a  greatly  superior 
force  at  New  Orleans.  More  than  half  a  century  had  elapsed  between 
the  two  great  events,  and  the  visit  of  the  young  and  popular  general 
was  a  graceful  compliment  paid  to  the  venerable  warrior  of  another  age. 

eey  estate,  and  was  Bitnatod  on  the  west  side  of  (the  editor  of  which  was  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  the 

Broadway,  occupying  the  present  site  between  celebrated  "quix"  and  satirist  of  that  day).    In 

Cedar  and  Thames  streets.    It  is  said  that  John  •  the  first  number  of  the  '*  Croaker  "  appeared  the 

Adams,  when  a  delegate  to  the  first  Continental  following  lines  by  Drake: 

Conpe.^  stopped  here  on  W«  way  through  New-  „  j  ,^  ^j^  „,  q^^^^  J«jk»on'8  toast; 

l!^  ^^^^^         »^S!.°  ^r  4     ^  CmuU«  "« """'Kht  to  me ; 

"  The  Bmich  of  Grapes"   During  the  Berolution-  ^„,  ^^  j  ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^ 

«y  war  it  wa«  also  known  by  the  name  ofj'  Buba-  ^^^^  ^,  j^^^  ^          „ 
let  8,"  and  was  a  great  and  favorite  resort  of  the 

military.    In  1784  It  passed  into  the  hands  of  Halleck,  also,  took  his  full  share  in  the  fun.    One 

John  Cape,  and  was  called  in  his  advertisements  ^f  j^jg  earliest  contributions  to  the  "  Croaker,"  en- 

the  "  State  Arms  of  New-York."    The  house  had  titled  "  The  Freedom  of  the  City  in  a  gold  box  to 

a  large  ball-room  where  dancing  assemblies  were  ^  gj^nt  General,"  is  in  his  happiest  vein.    One 

held,  as  were  also  subscription  balls  under  the  gtama  from  another  of  his  productions  on  the 

direotion  of  managers.    The  assemblies  were  re-  ^am^  topic  is  here  given.    The  poem  is  entitled 

newed  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  the  first  *«The  Secret  Mine,  sprung  at  a  late  supper." 
being  held  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  December 

18,  1783.     The  celebrated  loyalist  editor,  James  "  The  songs  were  good,  for  Mead  and  Hawkins 

Bivington,  in  announcing  this  ball,  stated  that  he  sung  'em, 

bad  "for  sale  a  supply  of  white  dancing  ^oves  The  wine  went  round, 'twas  laughter  all  and  joke; 

for  gentlemen,  sUk  stockings,  dress  swords  and  When  crack !  the  General  sprung  a  mine  among 

elegant  London  cocked  hate."     It  was  sarcasti-  'em, 

cally  remarked  at  the  time  that  these  "  were  prob-  And  beat  a  safe  retreat  amid  the  smoke, 

ably  the  stock  of  the  outgoing  officers  of  the  As  fall  the  sticks  of  rockets  when  you  fire  'em, 

British  army."  So  fell  the  Bucktails  at  that  toast  accurst, 

1  Conversations   by  the  writer  with  the  late  Looking  like  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram, 

General  Prosper  M.  Wetmore.    This  ball  called  When  the  firm  earth   beneath   their   footsteps 

forth  several  squibs  andcritidsms  from  '*  Croaker"  burst." 


304  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

The  following  year  (1820)  witnessed  the  burning  of  the  old  Park 
Theater  (on  Park  Row,  near  Ann  Street)/  which  occurred  on  May  25 
of  that  year ;  and  such  was  the  fierceness  of  the  fire  that  scarcely  an 
article  of  the  wardrobe  or  the  scenery  was  saved.  The  flames  were 
so  brilliant  as  to  illuminate  the  entire  city,  causing  the  tall  spires  of 
Trinity  and  St.  Paulas  to  stand  out  in  bold  relief  against  the  sky.  In 
a  very  few  minutes  after  the  alarm  was  first  given,  thousands  of  the 
citizens  had  gathered  4ipon  the  housetops  gazing  mournfully  upon 
the  scene.  The  fire  department,  conscious  of  the  numerous  witnesses 
of  its  efforts,  exerted  itself  nobly,  but  to  no  avail,  and  the  following 
morning  showed  nothing  but  charred  ruins.  Nor  was  the  sadness 
with  which  this  calamity  was  received  unreasonable.  No  spot  at 
that  time  was  surrounded  by  such  hallowed  associations,  nor  cpnse- 
crated  by  so  many  endeared  recollections,  as  the  old  Park  Theater. 
Here  had  Prospero  and  Caliban,  summoned  by  the  wild  fancy  of 
Shakespeare,  hushed  the  assembled  multitude  to  silence;  or,  again, 
Dogberry  convulsed  them  with  laughter.  It  was  at  this  place  that 
that  curious  scheme  of  a  "Beefsteak  Society" — modeled  after  its 
celebrated  prototype  in  London  —  was  first  devised  by  the  witty 
harlequin  Rich.  Here  were  held  the  adjourned  meetings  of  the 
"Shakespeare  Tavern,"  and  the  "Belvedere  Club,"^  and,  in  "ye  olden 
tyme,"  were  seen  on  its  boards,  Kemble,  Babcock,  Ludlow,  Seton, 
Hoffman,  Kean,  Mathews,  and  the  elder  Booth.  Upon  its  stage, 
also,  were  performed  for  the  first  time  in  America  many  of  the  plays 
of  the  most  distinguished  writers  whose  names  were  then,  as  they 
are  now,  household  words.  Sheridan's  "  School  for  Scandal,"  Gold- 
smith's "  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,"  and  Charles  Lamb's  most  witty 
productions  were  here  first  introduced  to  an  American  audience. 
Within  its  walls,  also,  diplomatists,  authors,  scholars,  and  men  cele- 
brated in  every  department  of  life  had  come  to  pass  away  a  leisure 
hour,  and  while  doing  so  had  gleaned  many  hints  that  have  contrib- 
uted greatly  to  their  success.  That  its  loss  was  greatly  deplored  is 
evident  from  the  tone  of  the  newspaper  press  after  the  event.  "  But 
why,"  said  a  New- York  newspaper  in  commenting  upon  and  apos- 
trophizing its  loss  the  day  after,  "dwell  longer  upon  the  event t 
Thy  shrine,  around  which  poets,  statesmen  and  philosophers  have 
loved  to  linger  —  the  home  of  the  muses,  the  delight  of  the  gay — no 
longer  meets  and  cheers  our  vision.  Thy  sacred  walls,  within  which 
have  so  often  been  gathered  the  choicest  spirits  of  the  time,  have 
crumbled  beneath  the  hand  of  the  destroyer.    No  longer  shall  our 

1  Opened  on  January  29,  1798.  which  there  was  a  beautifal  view  of  the  East 

2  Erected  in  1792.  at  the  comer  of  Cherry  River  and  Long  Island.  Attached  to  the  house 
and  Montgomery  streets.  The  club  building  com-  were  bowling-alleys  with  gravel  walks  and  shrub- 
prised  a  ball-room  with  a  music-gallery,  bar-room  bery  elegantly  laid  out  and  cared  for.  It  was  a 
and  bedrooms,  and  had  a  large  balcony  from  fashionable  and  popular  resort. 


EETUBN    OF    PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL     305 

citizens  be  permitted  to  drink  from  thy  classic  fountains  the  sparkling 
intellectual  draughts  which  thou,  a  second  Ganymede,  wast  wont  to 
serve;  nor  shall  they  ever  again  gaze  upon  thy  Ionic  portals.  Yet, 
it  was  something  noble ;  it  was  in  harmony  with  thy  character  to 
perish  thus  gloriously.  Time,  with  his  mouldering  fingers,  was  not 
allowed  to  pollute  thee  with  his  touch,  nor  yet  to  wither  thy  unfad 
ing  laurels  Think  not  that  thou  shalt  be  forgotten !  Thy  site  i"* 
clas'dc  ginuud  '  Everj  stone  of  thee  is  im 
mortal  Like  the  Dragon's  teeth  of  old, 
V  th>  ruins  t>hall  n  o  instinct  wath  life, 

proclaiming    thy    und\  ing 
=T-*^,A^^^  fame      Thou  shalt  be 

~  ^    -5:?^  ^  fl.     household 


"word  which  children  "^hall  lisp  around 

the    health    and    fireside      and    as    sue 

ceeding    ages    shall    roll    awiiv     and   the 

ivy    clings    to    th\     mouldeiing    toweis     m 

shall  the  ramd'*  of  mm  clm^  t*)  th\  iuemor\      "iS(^ 

and  embalm  thee  in  their  heart  of  hearts " 

The  writer's  prophecy  was  not,  however,  destined  to  be  fulfilled,  for 
the  ivy  of  which  he  so  feelingly  speaks  had  not  even  time  to  take 
root — much  less  to  cling  to  its  "mouldering  towers" — before  a  new 
theater  arose,  the  succeeding  year,  upon  its  site,  the  builders  of 
which  were  John  Jacob  Astor  and  John  K.  Beekman.'  On  account, 
however,  of  the  yellow  fever,  it  was  soon  afterward  closed,  and  so 
remained  until  the  autumn  of  1822,  when  it  was  again  opened  by  the 
appearance  of  the  justly  distinguished  actor  Mathews.  In  com- 
menting upon  this  event,  the  New-Tork  "Commercial  Advertiser"  of 
November  8, 1822,  says :  "  We  last  night  paid  our  dollar  to  witness 
this  gentleman's  far-famed  exhibitions,  and  confess  that  we  do  not 
regret  the  time  or  the  money  spent.    The  house  was  so  crowded  that 

1  Mr.  Beekman  and  Mr,  Astar  were  joint  proprletora  of  the  Park  Theater.    The  former,  from 
Ub  lore  of  theatricalB,  wa«  famillariy  known  as  "  Theater  Jack."    EnrroK. 
Vol.  m.—  20. 


306 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


it  was  with  great  difficulty  we  could  procure  a  seat,  and  amidst  so 
large  an  audience  we  could  not  discover  even  a  whisper  of  disappro- 
bation. Mr.  Mathews  played  *  Goldfinch^  in  the  ^Road  to  Ruin.'  The 
popular  farce  of  *  Monsieur  Tonson '  was  performed  for  the  first  time, 
^^  and  Mr.  Mathews  supported  the 

--Z^^S^  /^J^^^Tz.  ..y^k^s^  principal  Character  with  great 
jf  ^c-c-^^i.-^  eclat.     His   comic   songs   and 

^  imitations   were    the    best   we 

ever  heard ;  and  in  consequence  of  his  variations,  on  being  encored, 
the  audience  seemed  disposed  to  sit  all  night  and  enjoy  this  species 
of  entertainment."  ^    See  picture  on  the  opposite  page. 

The  winter  of  1820-21,  like  that  of  1817-18,  was  one  of  excep- 
tional severity.  Indeed,  for  many  years  previous  such  intense  and 
steady  cold  weather  had  not  been  known — even  within  the  memory 
of  that  mythical  individual,  "the  oldest  inhabitant  A  New-York 
newspaper  of  that  day, — the  "American''  for  January  22,  1821, — 
speaking  of  this,  says :  "  The  weather,  after  twenty-one  days  of  steady 
cold,  began  to  moderate  on  Saturday  afternoon  (the  20th).  On  Satur- 
day morning^  Long  Island  Sound  was  crossed  upon  the  ice  from 
Sands'  Point  to  the  opposite  shore,  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  The 
price  of  oak  wood  was  up  to  five  dollars  a  load,  Saturday."  •  Three 
days  afterward  the  same  paper  states :  "  The  cold  still  continues  in- 
tense: both  the  North  and  East  Rivers  were  crossed  on  the  ice;  and 
the  bay  is  nearly  filled  with  floating  ice,  which  will  probably  be  closed 
by  another  cold  night,  and  our  harbor  shut  up  for  the  first  time  in 
forty  years,"  *  On  the  next  day :  "  The  North  River  continues  to  be 
crossed  with  safety  on  the  ice ;  the  distance  between  the  two  shores 
has  been  measured  and  found  to  be  a  mile  from  [the  foot  of]  Cort- 
landt  street  to  Bowie's  Hook  [Paulus  Hook,  Jersey  City].*    The  Ho- 


1  The  mayor  at  this  time  was  Stephen  Allen, 
who  held  the  place  in  1821  and  1822.  He  began 
life  as  a  sailmaker,  engaged  later  in  mercantile 
pursuits,  and  having  acquired  considerable  wealth, 
was  thenceforth  identifted  with  financial  enter- 
prises. After  he  ceased  to  be  mayor  he  was 
elected  State  senator,  serying  many  years,  and 
making  himself  especially  useful  as  a  member 
of  the  Court  of  Errors,  although  without  profes- 
sional legal  training.  "The  natural  talent  of 
Mr.  Allen  was  such  as  at  once  to  give  him  clear 
and  distinct  views  of  the  most  subtle  questions 
brought  before  the  court.''  At  the  age  of  eighty 
years  he  died,  in  1852,  having  enjoyed  for  some 
years  retirement  from  both  business  and  political 
life,  years  chiefly  spent  at  his  beautiful  country- 
seat  at  Hyde  Park  on  the  Hudson.  Editob. 

s  There  is  at  the  present  time  (1892)  a  water- 
color  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  New- York 
Historical  Society  which  is  of  local  historical 
value.  The  reproduction  on  the  opposite  page  is 
accompanied  by  a  key.  All  of  the  audience  are  in- 
tended for  likenesses ;  and  among  them  are  Dr. 


and  Mrs.  Samuel  L.  Mitdhill,  WUUam  Baymrd, 
Henry  Brevoort,  James  Eirke  Paulding,  and  other 
prominent  New-Torkers.  Fits-Greene  Halleck«  a 
great  lover  of  the  theater,  is  omitted  from  the 
picture,  owing  to  his  absence  in  Europe  at  the 
time  it  was  taken.  Editob. 

s  Compare  this  with  previous  note  (p.  900), where 
oak  wood  is  quoted  at  12.25  a  load. 

4  Referring  to  the  last  time  (1781)  when,  as  men- 
tioned in  a  previous  note,  the  bay  was  fhwen  from 
the  Battery  to  Staten  Island,  allowing  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  to  bring  up  on  the  ioe  from  that  Island  to 
the  city  his  heavy  artillery.  Still,  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  often  since  then  our  harbor  and 
river  would  have  been  closed  were  it  not  for  our 
ferry-boats  day  and  night  constantly  passing  from 
shore  to  shore,  and  thus  breaking  up  the  ice. 

^  Since  then,  Jersey  City  has  been  filled  in  for  two 
blocks  from  the  original  Paulus  Hook  to  the  pres- 
ent Hudson  street.  Hence  the  width  of  the  river, 
from  ferry  to  ferry,  is,  perhaps,  five  hundred  feet 
less  than  a  mile. 


BETDBN    OF    PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL     307 

boken  ferry-boat,  with  fifty-seven  peraons  and  twenty-three  horses  on 
board,  drifted,  on  Wednesday  evening,  below  Governor's  Island,  and 
was  enclosed  in  the  ice,  where  she  now  remains.  The  people  suffered 
mach  from  the  cold  during  the  night,  although  none  were  frozen." 
The  same  paper,  also,  on  January  27  says :  "  More  than  a  thousand 
persons  crossed  the  North  River  on  the  ice ;  produce  of  every  kind 
was  taken  over  in  sleds ;  and  hun- 
dreds were  seen  skating  in  the 
middle  of  the  river.  There  came 
up,  also,  yesterday,  from  Staten 
Island,  on  the  ice,  a  boat  and 
seven  men,  viz. :  John  Vanderbilt,' 
A.  Laurence,William  Drake,  Lewis 
Farnham,  Robert  Davis,  and  Mr. 
Wainwright.  The  mail  for  Staten 
Island  was  yesterday  taken  down 
over  the  ice  by  Daniel  Simonson 
and  Joseph  Seguine.  Many  per- 
sons at  the  same  time  walked  from 
Long  Island  to  Staten  Island, — 
such  a  circumstance  has  not  been 
witnessed  before  since  the  winter 
of  1780-81,  when  heavy  ordnance 
were  conveyed  on  the  ice  from 
Staten  Island  to  New- York."  This  protracted  cold  weather  caused 
much  suffering  among  the  poor,  and  led  to  the  establishment  of  soup- 
houses,  through  the  generosity  of  many  of  the  butchers.  Collections 
were  also  taken  up  in  the  churches  for  the  benefit  of  the  suffering, 
one  of  which  is  noticed  in  a  newspaper  as  amounting  to  the  very 
handsome  sum  of  $2106.46.'' 

In  the  successive  years  of  its  existence,  the  city  of  New- York  had 
been  visited  by  war,  and  fire,  and  famine ;  and  now  the  scourge  of 
pestilence  was  to  be  added.  In  1819  the  city  was  visited  by  yellow 
fever,  which  shortly  disappeared,  only  to  return  with  increased  vio- 
lence in  the  fall  of  1822.  J.  Hardie,  in  his  account  of  the  fever  at 
this  time,  writes:  "Saturday,  the  24th  of  August,  our  city  presented 
the  appearance  of  a  town  besieged.  From  daybreak  till  night  one 
line  of  carts,  containing  boxes,  merchandise,  and  effects,  were  seen 
moving  towards  'Greenwich  Village'  and  the  upper  parts  of  the  city. 
Carriages  and  hacks,  wagons  and  horsemen,  were  scouring  the  streets 
and  filling  the  roads;  persons,  with  anxiety  marked  on  their  coun- 
tenances, and  with  hurried  gait,  were  hustling  through  the  'streets. 
Temporary  stores  and  offices  were  erecting,  and  even  on  the  ensuing 

I  The  tMher  of  the  l>t«  Cornelioa  VuiderUh.       i  "The  Hutet  Book,"  by  ThoniH  P.  Devoe. 


308 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


day  (Sunday)  carts  were  in  motion,  and  the  saw  and  hammer  busily 
at  work.  Within  a  few  days  thereafter,  the  custom-house,  the  post- 
office,  the  banks,  the  insurance  offices,  and  the  printers  of  news- 
papers located  themselves  in  the  village,  or  in  the  upper  part  of 
Broadway,  where  they  were  free  from  the  impending  danger ;  and 
these  places  almost  instantaneously  became  the  seat  of  the  immense 
business  usually  carried  on  in  the  great  metropolis."^  "You  cannot 
conceive,"  writes  Colonel  William  L,  Stone,  at  that  time  editor  of  the 
New-York  "Commercial  Advertiser,"  under  date  of  September  26, 
1822,  to  his  wife,  then  at  Saratoga  Springs,  "  the  distressing  situation 
we  are  in,  and  also  the  whole  town.  The  fever  is  worse  every  hour. 
I  saw  the  hearse  pass  the  office  an  hour  ago  with  seven  sick  in  it. 
Thus  the  dead  are  carried  to  the  grave,  and  the  sick  out  of  town — to 
die — on  the  same  melancholy  carriages."  And  again,  about  a  month 
after,  he  writes,  under  date  of  October  10,  to  his  wife  as  follows: 
"As  to  the  fever,  my  dear  Susan,  I  cannot  say  that  it  is  any  better. 
On  the  contrary,  it  rages  sadly,  and  grows  worse  every  hour.  There 
are  many  sick  and  dying,  especially  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  who 
would  not  move,  and  the  physicians  will  not  visit  them.  I  know 
several  who  have  died  without  a  physician.  Old  Mr.  Taylor,  for  in- 
stance (soap  and  candles.  Maiden  Lane),  would  not  move,  and  is  now 
in  his  grave."  On  the  nineteenth  of  the  same  month,  he  writes 
again  to  his  wife :  "  I  believe  I  told  you  in  my  last  letter  that  I  did 
not  think  the  fever  was  any  better.  The  result  has  proved  the  cor- 
rectness of  what  I  wrote.  The  disease  rages  with  fresh  violence,  as 
you  will  perceive  by  the  reports  in  the  *  Commercial'  which  I  send  to 
you  by  this  same  mail.  When  it  will  please  heaven  to  cause  it  to 
abate,  is  more  than  mortal  can  tell.  A  severe,  nipping  frost,  I  have 
no  doubt,  will  check  it,  and  yet  I  hope  that  we  shall  be  able  to  re- 
move back  [i.  e.j  from  Greenwich  Village]  by  the  first  of  next  month." 
The  cold  weather  of  1822  and  1823,  however,  did  not,  as  the  writer 
hoped,  check  the  disease ;  and  during  the  succeeding  summer  its  rav- 
ages became  so  frightful  that  all  who  could  fled  the  city.  Colonel 
Stone,  however,  remained  at  his  post,  and  fortunately  escaped  the 
disease.  During  this  dread  time,  however,  business  was  entirely  sus- 
pended ;  and,  like  the  time  of  the  plague  in  London  (so  graphically 
described  by  De  Foe),  the  city  presented  the  appearance  literally  of  a 
deserted  city — with  no  sounds  save  the  rumbling  of  the  hearses,  as. 


1  The  visits  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1798,  1799, 
mad  1805  tended  much  to  increase  the  formation 
of  a  village  near  the  Spring  street  market  and 
one,  also,  near  the  State  prison;  hut  the  fever 
of  1822  built  up  many  streets  with  numerous 
wooden  buildings,  for  the  use  of  the  merchants, 
banks  (from  which  Bank  street  took  its  name), 
offices,  etc ;  and  the  celerity  of  putting  up  those 


buildings  is  better  told  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marcellos, 
who  informed  me  that  ''he  saw  com  growing 
on  the  present  comer  of  Hammond  and  Fourth 
streets,  on  a  Saturday  morning,  and  on  the  follow- 
ing Monday  '  Sykes  &  Niblo*  had  a  house  erected 
capable  of  accommodating  three  hundred  board- 
ers." Even  the  Brooklyn  ferry-boats  ran  up  here 
daily.    *'  The  Market  Book,"  by  Thomas  F.  Devoe. 


BETUBN  OF  PEACE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL  309 

at  the  dead  of  night,  they  passed  through  the  empty  streets  to  collect 
the  tribute  of  the  grave.  By  November  2,  1823,  however,  the  fever 
had  disappeared ;  the  inhabitants  again  returned  to  their  homes ;  the 
banks  and  the  custom-house,  which  had  been  removed  during  the 
fever  to  Greenwich  Village, '  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  moved  back 
to  their  customary  places ;  and  businesB  and  social  intercourse  once 
more  flowed  in  their  accustomed  channels. 

The  two  following  years  (1824, 1825)  were  to  witness  two  august 
celebrations  in  New-Tork  city.    The  first  was  in  the  summer  of  1824,  ■ 


on  the  occasion  of  the  second  visit  of  General  Lafayette  to  the  United 
States,  in  his  sixty-eighth  year;  and  the  second  was  in  honor  of  the 
completion  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825,  by  which  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  were  connected  with  those  of  the  Atlantic. 

On  Sunday,  August  15,  General  Lafayette,  accompanied  by  his  sou, 
George  Washington  Lafayette,  and  his  secretary,  Auguste  Le  Vas- 
seur,  arrived  in  New-Tork  bay  in  the  ship  Cadmus.  As  the  ship 
passed  through  the  Narrows  a  salute  was  fired  from  Port  Lafayette, 
and  the  national  flag  was  immediately  hoisted  and  displayed  during 
the  day  on  all  the  public  buildings  in  the  city.  On  landing  at  Staten 
Island,  the  august  guest  was  conducted  to  the  country  residence  of 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  where  he 
spent  the  day  receiving  calls. 

Lafayette  had  no  idea,  not  even  a  suspicion,  of  the  welcome  which 
awaited  him  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  At  least,  such  is  the  infer- 
ence, not  only  from  the  statement  of  Lafayette  to  my  father,  the  late 
William  L.  Stone,  but  from  an  incident  told  by  one  of  the  actors  in  it 
to  Mayne  Reid,  by  whom,  in  turn,  it  was  narrated  to  the  writer. 
Lafayette  had  left  France  after  nearly  half  a  century's  absence  from 
the  United  States,  and  without  any  intimation  that  he  was  to  have  a 


310 


HraTOBY    OP    HEW-YOEK 


public  reception  in  America.  The  gentleman  who  gave  the  narration 
to  Captain  Eeid — a  well-known  Boston  merchant — chanced  to  be  a 
fellow-passenger  on  the  voyage,  which  was  made  in  a  packet-ship 
sailing  from  the  port  of  Havre.' 

While  crossing  the  Atlantic,  this  gentleman  had  many  opportuni- 
ties of  conversing  with  the  French  marquis  and  his  son  Washington. 
AH  on  board  know  that  our  old  ally,  though  a  nobleman,  was  not 
rich;  and,  in  his  conversations  with 
his  fellow-passengers,  he  showed  him- 
self very  solicitous  as  to  his  pecuniary 
means,  making  many  inquiries  about 
the  prices  of  living  and  traveling  in 
America,  and  seemed  very  anxious  on 
this  account,  as  if  fearing  that  his 
purse  might  not  be  sufficient  for  a 
very  extended  tour  of  travel  through 
the  Unit«d  States.  Indeed,  the  Ameri- 
cans who  were  on  board  the  packet, 
having  been  long  absent  from  their 
country,  had  themselves  no  idea  of 
the  grand  honors  in  store  for  their 
.  distinguished    fellow-passenger.     The 

A/h^f^^^^^*^  gQii^l^^^Dt '°  tis  subsequent  conversa- 

tion with  Captain  Eeid,  admitted  that 
he  himself  had  no  conception  of  what  was  to  happen,  and  did  occur, 
on  this  side.  Feeling  an  interest  in  Lafayette,  he  had  invited  him 
and  his  son,  in  the  eveut  of  their  visiting  Boston,  to  make  his  house 
their  home.  In  due  time  the  French  packet  came  in  sight  of  the 
American  coast,  and  lay  to  at  Sandy  Hook,  waiting  for  a  favorable 
wind  to  enter  the  bay  of  New- York.  Near  the  Narrows  she  was  ap- 
proached by  a  rowboat,  in  which  were  two  gentlemen  in  plain  civil- 
ian dress,  who,  after  holding  a  private  conference  with  the  captain, 
reentered  their  small  boat  and  put  off.  No  one  on  board  the  packet, 
except  the  skipper  himself,  knew  to  what  the  conference  related. 

After  passing  through  the  Narrows  and  coming  alongside  of  Staten 
Island,  the  French  ship  cast  anchor.  This  was  a  surprise  to  the  pas- 
sengers, who  supposed  they  were  going  directly  to  the  city.  They 
were  consequently  chagrined  at  being  thus  delayed  after  their  long 
sea  voyage,  and  many  were  heard  to  murmur  at  it.  While  in  this 
mood  they  observed  a  long  line  of  vessels  coming  down  the  bay. 

1  The  CoD^reM  of   the  UnfMd   States,  some  should  be  held  In  r«)Mlinesa  for  his  conTcjaiicc 

monthK  bpfore.  upon  leuninK  that  it  was  the  in-  vhenoTer  it  Hfaoiild  suit  his  conTenleDce  to  em- 

tention  of  Lafayette  to  visit  this  country,  had  baric     This   honon   however,   the  marqoii  ia- 

onanimonsly  passed  a  resolatloD  tovltinfi  blm  to  alined,  and   took  passage  from  Havre  to   Knr- 

onr  sbOTM,  and  direoting  that  a  national  ship  York  on  July  13, 1B21. 


RETURN  OF  PEACE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL  311 


BAYARD    PUNCH-BOWL.  A 


There  were  steamboats  and  sailing  craft  of  all  kinds,  forming  a 
considerable  fleet.  They  were  following  one  another,  with  manned 
yards,  and  flags  flying,  and  bands  of  music  (entirely  impromptu),  as 
if  upon  some  gala  procession.  The  passengers  on  board  the  French 
packet  were  surprised  —  Lafayette  not  the 
least.  "What  does  it  meanf^  asked  the  mar- 
quis. No  one  could  make  answer.  "Some 
grand  anniversary  of  your  Republic,  mes- 
sieurs^^ was  the  conjecture  of  Lafayette.  Fi- 
nally, about  noon,  the  gaily  decked  vessels  ap- 
proached; and  it  was  seen  that  they  were  all  making  for  the  French 
ship,  around  which  they  soon  gathered.  Presently  one  of  the  steam- 
boats came  alongside,  and  a  number  of  gentlemen  dressed  in  official 
costume  stepped  on  board  the  Cadmus.  Among  them  were  General 
Jacob  Morton,  William  Paulding,  the  mayor  of  the  city,^  and  several 
members  of  the  common  council.  Not  until  they  had  been  some 
time  on  the  deck  of  the  packet  and  her  captain  had  introduced  them 
to  Lafayette,  did  the  modest  old  soldier  know  that  a  grand  ceremo- 
nial was  preparing  for  himself.  The  tears  fell  fast  from  his  eyes  as 
he  received  their  congratulations;  and,  on  shaking  hands  with  his 
fellow-passenger — the  Boston  merchant  and  the  narrator  of  this  to 
Mayne  Reid  —  at  parting,  he  said:  ^^ Monsieur:  I  shall  love  New- 
York  so  well  that  I  may  never  be  able  to  get  away  from  it  to 
pay  you  a  visit  in  Boston.  Pardieu!  This  grand  B^piiblique — this 
great  people  I '*' 

.  The  object  of  this  early  call  upon  the  marquis — before  he  had 
landed — was  to  exchange  greetings,  and  to  communicate  to  him  in- 
formally the  plan  that  had  been  made  for  his  reception  on  the  next 
day.  The  following  arrangements  were  published  in  the  New- York 
morning  papers  of  Monday:  "Arrangements  of  the  Corporation  for 
the  Reception  of  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette:  The  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements of  the  Corporation  have  the  pleasure  to  announce  to  their 
fellow-citizens  the  arrival  of  the  distinguished  guest  of  their  country, 


i  This  beautiful  punch-bowl,  belonging  to  CoL 
John  Bayard,  and  now  in  the  posseesion  of  his 
descendant,  Mrs.  Jas,  Grant  Wilson,  was  fre- 
quently used  in  entertaining  Washington,  Lafay- 
ette, and  other  Revolutionary  worthies.  It  is  in 
perfect  preservation.  Editor. 

2  William  Paulding  received  his  first  appoint- 
ment as  mayor  in  the  year  1823.  He  ser\'ed  also 
during  1824,  and  again  in  the  years  1826  and  1827. 
He  was  a  nephew  of  that  John  Paulding  of  Tarry- 
town  who  made  himself  famous  by  the  capture  of 
Major  Andr^,  and  the  refusal  of  the  great  bribe 
which  the  latter  offered  for  his  release.  Mayor 
Paulding  was  bom  at  Tarrjrtown,  came  to  New- 
Tork  about  1796,  engaging  in  the  profession  of  the 
law,  and  soon  established  a  lucrative  practice. 


Early  in  the  present  century  he  married  a  daugh- 
ter of  Philip  Rhinelander.  During  the  war  of 
1812,  Mr.  Paulding  was  earnest  in  his  efforts  to 
awaken  a  military  spirit  among  the  citizens,  and 
he  rose  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  of  militia. 
He  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1811,  but  his  mili- 
tary duties  prevented  him  from  attending  the  last 
session.  He  resided  in  one  of  the  finest  blocks  in 
the  city,  known  as  Paulding's  row,  in  Jay  street, 
on  the  comer  of  Greenwich.  In  his  old  age  he  re- 
tired to  his  country-seat  on  the  Hudson,  near  Tar- 
rytown.  where  he  died  in  1854.  EnrroR. 

3  It  is  pleasant  to  know,  as  a  sequel  to  this, 
that  when  Lafayette  visited  Boston,  he  was  a 
guest  at  dinner  with  his  old  friend  the  *' Boa- 
ton  merchant." 


312 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


the  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  The  following  are  the  arrangements  made 
for  his  reception  in  the  City.  The  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the 
Corporation,  the  GJenerals,  and  other  officers  of  the  United  States 
Army,  the  officers  of  the  Navy,  the  Major-Generals  and  the  Briga- 
dier-Generals of  the  Militia,  the  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  the  committee  from  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  will 
proceed,  at  nine  o'clock  this 
mommg,  the  16th,  to  Staten 
Island,  where  the  Marquis  is 
lodged,  and  escort  him  to  the 
City.  They  wiU  be  accompanied 
to  the  Battery  by  the  steam- 
boats, all  with  decorations ;  ex- 
cept that  in  which  the  Marquis 
is  embarked,  which  will  only 
have  the  flag  of  the  United  States 
and  the  State  flag  of  New- York, 
bands  of  music  being  on  each. 
The  embarkation  of  the  Mar- 
quis will  be  annoanced  by  a 
saluto  from  Fort  Lafayette  and 
the  steam-ship  Robert  Fulton. 
The  forts  in  the  harbor  will 
also  s^ute  as  the  boats  pass. 
The  masters  of  vessels  are  re- 
Sc^Jy\^  quested  to  hoist  their  flags  at 
mast-head,  and,  when  conve- 
nient^ to  dress  their  vessels.  The  bells  of  the  city  will  be  rung  from 
twelve  to  one  o'clock.  The  committee  request  that  no  carriages  or 
horses,  excepting  those  attached  to  the  military  and  the  procession, 
appear  south  of  Chambers  on  Broadway,  Marketfleld  Street  or  White- 
ball  Street,  between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  two.  The  portrait-rooin 
in  the  City  Hall  is  appolDted  to  the  use  of  the  Marquis,  where,  dur- 
ing his  stay,  he  will,  after  this  day,  between  the  hours  of  twelve  and 
two,  receive  the  visits  of  such  of  the  citizens  as  are  desirous  of  pay- 
ing their  respects  to  him." 

In  accordance  with  this  programme,  about  half-past  twelve  o'clock, 
the  entire  naval  procession  got  under  way,  and  proceeded  to  the  city. 
The  embarkation  at  Staten  Island  was  annoanced  by  a  salute  from 
the  shore,  which  was  responded  to  by  Fort  Lafayette,  and  by  the 
steamship  Robert  Fulton.  The  beauty  and  interest  of  the  scene 
which  the  vessels  afforded  to  the  thousands  of  spectators,  who  were 
viewing  it  from  the  Battery,  can  be  bettei;  imagined  than  described. 
The    steamboat    Chancellor  Livingston,    with   her   venerable    and 


J  ot,.i-^»--vT,  6^3^:* 


RETURN  OF  PEACE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL  313 

honored  passenger,  was  escorted  up  the  bay  by  the  splendid  steam- 
ship Robert  Fulton,  manned  by  two  hundred  United  States  sailors 
from  the  Navy-yard,  and  the  steamboats  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Connecti- 
eut,  Olive  Branch,  and  Nautilus,  each  haying  on  board  a  large  party 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen  and  a  band  of  music — the  whole  forming,  as 
they  approached  the  city,  one  of  the  most  imposing  and  splendid  of 
aquatic  spectacles.  The  lofty  appearance  of  the  steamship  Robert 
Pulton,  as  she  proudly  "  walked  the  waters,"  leading  the  van  of  the 
procession, — her  yards  manned  by  sailors,  and  elegantly  dressed  from 
the  water  to  the  tops  of  her  masts  with  the  flags  and  signals  of  all 
nations, — presented  a  sight  which  not  only  was  never  forgotten  by 
those  who  witnessed  it,  but  which  has  never  been  excelled  nor  even 
approached  (with  the  single  exception  of  that  of  the  Erie  Canal)  by 
any  aquatic  procession  since.*  The  ship  Cadmus,  towed  by  the 
steamboats,  brought  up  the  rear,  her  towering  spars  decorated  in  the 
most  elegant  and  fanciful  manner  with  flags  and  signals.  She  moved 
majestically,  as  if  conscious  of  the  veneration  which  was  being  testi- 
fied for  the  noble  patriot  she  had  conveyed  to  our  shores.  As  the  pro- 
cession passed  Governor's  Island  an  appropriate  salute  was  fired  from 
the  guns  of  Castle  Williams. 

On  arriving  in  the  city,  the  marquis  landed  at  Castle  Garden  on 
carpeted  stairs  prepared  for  the  occasion,  and  under  an  arch  richly 
decorated  with  flags  and  wreaths  of  laurel.  On  stepping  ashore, 
a  major-general's  salute  was  fired  from  a  battery  of  field  artillery,  a 
national  salute  from  the  revenue-cutter  and  from  the  United  States 
brig  Shark,  at  anchor  ofif  the  Battery,  and  one  from  Fort  Columbus. 
Upon  entering  Castle  Garden,  the  marquis  was  greeted  with  loud  and 
prolonged  cheers  from  the  assembled  thousands,  and  salutations  from 
a  large  number  of  the  friends  of  his  youth;  thence  he  proceeded 
with  the  committee  and  the  military  and  naval  oflScers  to  review  the 
troops  drawn  up  in  line  under  the  command  of  Major-General  James 
Benedict.  The  muster  was,  on  this  occasion,  unusually  full  and  splen- 
did, the  corps  vjdng  with  one  another  in  paying  a  tribute  of  respect  to 
the  soldier  of  the  Revolution — the  friend  and  companion  of  Washing- 
ton. After  the  review  the  marquis  entered  a  barouche,  drawn  by  four 
horses,  and  was  driven  up  Broadway  to  the  City  Hall.  The  houses  to 
the  roofs  all  along  the  line,  on  both  sides  of  that  street,  were  filled 
with  spectators,  and  the  sidewalks  were  also  occupied  by  a  dense 
crowd ;  and  to  the  incessant  huzzas  of  the  multitude,  graceful  females 
signified  their  welcome  by  the  silent,  but  not  less  grateful  and  affect- 
ing testimony  of  the  waving  of  handkerchiefs.  Never  on  any  pre- 
vious occasion  had  there  been  witnessed  such  a  spontaneous  outburst 

>  This  statement  is  entirely  within  bcmnds — the  spectacle  on  the  occasion  of  the  centennial  of 
Washington's  inauguration,  and  the  Columhus  eelehration  of  1892,  not  excepted. 


314  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

of  respect  and  affection,  nor  such  a  universal  assemblage  of  the 
heanty,  fashion,  and  splendor  of  the  city.' 

Upon  arriving  at  the  City  Hall,  the  marquis  was  conducted  to  the 
common-council  chamber,  where  the  corporation  of  the  city  were 
assembled.    The  members  rose  at  hie  entrance,  and  their  chairman. 
Alderman  George  Zabriskie,  introduced  him  to  the  mayor,  who  weU 
comed  the  city's  guest  in  an  appro- 
priate speech.    At  its  conclusion  La- 
fayette responded  as  follows: 

8ib:  While  I  am  ho  affectionately  recraved 
by  the  citizens  of  New- York  and  their  worthy 
repreaentativea,  I  feel  myeelt  orerbni-dened 
with  inexpressible  emotions.  The  si^t  of  the 
American  shore,  after  so  long  an  absence ;  the 
recollection  of  the  m&ny  respected  friends  and 
dear  companions  no  more  to  be  fonnd  on  this 
..>,..■.»  r.«-™»  «  land;  the  pleasure  to  reoognize  those  who  sor- 

Vive;  this  immense  conoonrse  of  a  free  Bepab- 
lioau  population  who  so  kindly  welcome  me;  the  admirable  appearaaoe  of  the  tvoops; 
the  presence  of  a  corps  of  the  national  navy, — have  excited  sentiments  to  irtdeh  no 
human  language  can  be  adequate.  You  have  been  pleased,  sir,  to  allnde  to  the  hap- 
piest times,  to  the  unalloyed  enjoyments  of  my  public  life;  it  is  the  pride  of  my  life  to 
have  been  one  of  the  eorUest  adopted  sons  of  America.  I  am  proud,  also,  to  odd  that, 
upward  of  forty  years  ago,  I  have  been  particulaiiy  honored  with  the  freedom  of  this 
city.  I  beg  you,  Ur.  Mayor,  I  b^  yon,  gentiemen,  to  aooept  yourselves,  and  to  tana- 
mtt  to  the  citizens  of  New-Tork,  the  homage  of  my  everiastin^r  gratitude,  devotion, 
and  respect. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  which  was  received  with  the  most 
enthusiastic  demonstrations,  the  marquis,  attended  by  the  mayor  and 
common  council,  retired  from  the  council-chamber  to  a  platform  in 
front  of  the  City  Hall,  where  they  received  a  marching  salute  fipom  the 
troops.  The  common  council  then  accompanied  their  guest  to  the 
City  Hotel  (where  rooms  had  been  fitted  up  for  his  reception),  and 
partook  of  a  sumptuous  dinner.  What  must  have  been  the  feelings 
which  warmed  the  bosoms  of  his  entertainers  when  they  reflected  to 
whom  these  honors  were  given  !  —  that  it  was  to  a  man  who,  in  his 
youth,  had  devoted  his  life  and  fortune  to  the  cause  of  their  country ; 
who  willingly  and  most  cheerfully  had  shed  his  blood  in  the  acquire- 
ment of  its  independence,  and,  through  all  the  desponding  scenes  of 
the  Revolution,  never  forsook  the  side  of  his  and  their  country's 
father,  the  beloved  Washington ! 

I  The  only  other  occBaioDB  vhen  this  demon-  >  The  two  BUiff-lloiw  representAd  above  were 

Btrmtion  was  nearl; — though  oot  qnite — equaled  made  (Tom  the  oak  of  the  frigate  CouBtitnlkni. 

In  the  dty  of  New-York,  were  those  of  the  cele-  when  she  was  flrst  rebuilt,  after  the  war  of  1SI2. 

bration  of  the  opening  of  the  Croton  aqaeduct.  They  were  formerly  the  property  of   tlie  hero 

■nd  the  fonernls  of  Presldeat  WilliBm  Henry  Commodore  Hull,  and  are  now  in  the  poiiiiiiiiiiliiii 

Harrison  and  of  Vloe-Prealdent  Henry  Wilaon.  of  the  Editor  of  tbla  work. 


RETURN    OF    PEACE,   AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      315 

In  the  evening,  the  fronts  of  the  City  Hall,  the  City  Hotel,  and  other 
public  and  private  buildings  were  brilliantly  illuminated;  the  theaters 
and  public  gardens  displayed  transparencies  and  fireworks;  rockets 
blazed  from  the  different  housetops;  and  an  immense  balloon  was 
sent  up  from  Castle  Garden,  representing  the  famous  horee  Eclipse 
mounted  by  an  ancient  knight  in  armor.  Hilarity  reigned  supreme. 
On  the  afternoon  of  Wednesday,  the  18th,  General  Lafayette,  accom- 
panied by  his  son,  visited  the  Navy-yard — dining  with  the  comman- 
dant and  a  few  invited  guests;  and,  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day, 
went  to  the  rooms  of  the  New- York  Historical  Society.     A  large 


number  of  distinguished  citizens  had  collected  at  the  latter  place  to 
meet  him,  and,  on  his  entrance  into  the  room,  he  was  conducted  by 
Doctor  David  Hosack  and  General  Philip  Van  Cortlandt  to  the  chair 
that  had  once  been  the  seat  of  the  unfortunate  Louis  XVI-  Over  the 
chair,  and  decorated  with  Revolutionary  emblems,  was  hung  the  por- 
trait of  Lafayette,  painted  for  General  Stevens  in  1784.  Thus  was  an 
opportunity  afforded  the  audience  of  gazing  at  the  same  time  upon  the 
young  and  chivalrous  warrior  of  the  Revolution,  and  upon  the  same 
man  who,  by  forty  years'  hard  service  since,  had  ripened  into  an  old 
age  full  of  wisdom  and  honors,  without  having  tarnished  the  blight 
escutcheon  of  his  justly  deserved  fame  by  a  single  act. 
As  soon  as  Lafayette  had  taken  his  seat.  Doctor  Hosack,  in  a  grace- 


l  Tlw  UlnstntioD  in  the  text  1b  kfler  one  of  tbe 
view*  KiTenin  J.  Hllborf  ■  "  PleturewiDe  Sketches 
tn  AmeiicK,"  published  In  Pftrls  In  1826.  There 
is  Uttle  donbt  that  intereat  Id  Fnnoe  In  such 
iketehM  WM  (timnlAWd  by  the  MVDunts  ot  the 


reception  which  had  been  recenll;  uxorded  to 
LsfBTBtte,  Provoost  utreet  Is  now  Frankbn  street, 
■nd  Chapel  street  is  named  Church.        Editoii. 

2  Presented  to  the  New-York  Historical  Sodetr 
by  QoDvemeor  Morris. 


316 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


ful  address,  tendered  him  his  election  as  an  honorary  member  of  the 
society ;  to  which  the  general  responded  in  the  following  words : 

Sir:  With  the  most  lively  gratitude,  I  receive  the  honor  which  the  Historical 
Society  of  New- York  has  conferred  in  electing  me  one  of  its  members.  Permit  me, 
also,  thankfully  to  acknowledge  the  flattering  manner  in  which  you  are  pleased  to 
announce  this  mark  of  their  benevolence.  The  United  States,  Sir,  are  the  first  nation 
in  the  records  of  history  who  have  founded  their  Constitution  upon  an  honest  investi- 
gation and  clear  definition  of  their  national  and  social  rights.  Nor  can  we  doubt 
that,  notwithstanding  the  combinations  made  elsewhere  by  despotism  and  aristocracy 
against  those  sacred  rights  of  mankind,  immense  majorities  in  other  countries  shall 
not  in  vain  observe  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  a  free,  virtuous,  and  enlightened 
people. 

The  next  day  was  spent  in  visiting  the  Academy,  of  Arts,  and  in 
receiving  the  calls  of  the  members  of  the  bar,  the  French  residents  of 
the  city,  and  all  citizens  who  desired  to  pay  their  respects. 

At  an  early  hour  on  the  following  morning,  the  city  again  presented 
a  scene  of  bustle  and  activity,  preparatory  to  the  departure  of  La- 
fayette and  suite  for  Boston.  At  seven  o'clock,  the  horse-artillery, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Arcularius,  paraded  in  Broadway  in  front  of 
Washington  Hall,  and,  at  eight  o'clock,  took  up  their  line  of  march  to 
Harlem,  in  order  to  precede  the  escort  which  was  to  accompany  the 
marquis  to  that  village.  This  escort  consisted  of  a  squadron  of  cavalry, 
the  corporation  in  carriages,  and  a  number  of  citizens  mounted.  The 
general  breakfasted  with  Mayor  Paulding,  at  half-past  seven,  and 
repaired  immediately  after  to  the  City  Hotel,  whence  the  entire  cav- 
alcade, under  the  command  of  General  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  as  bri- 
gade-major, moved  up  Broadway  to  Bond  street,  and  thence  up  Third 
Avenue.^  The  streets  were  thronged  with  people,  and  the  general 
rode  uncovered,  and  repeatedly  returned  their  expressions  of  kindness 
and  attachment  by  bowing.  "  Thus,  for  the  present,''  said  the  "  Com- 
mercial Advertiser,"  "  have  closed  the  attentions  of  our  citizens  to 
this  excellent  man.  The  arrangements  of  our  civil  and  military 
officers  were  judicious  and  well  executed;  and  we  are  told  that  the 
General  has  not  only  been  highly  gratified,  but  happily  disappointed, 
in  the  reception  with  which  he  has  met.  The  General's  journey  will 
be  rapid,  as  he  intends  being  at  Harvard  Commencement  on  Tuesday 
next.  His  stay  at  the  eastward  must  also  be  short,  as  he  has  engaged 
to  be  in  Baltimore  on  the  15th  proximo."^    On  his  passage  through  the 


^  Conversations  of  the  writer  with  the  late  Gen- 
eral Wetmore. 

2  At  this  time  there  was  a  great  rivalry  between 
Philadelphia  and  New- York  as  to  which  city 
should  receive  the  marquis  more  splendidly.  A 
correspondent,  writing  to  the  "Commercial  Adver- 
tiser "  at  this  time,  says :  "  The  great  object  here 
seems  to  be  to  rival  the  reception  given  to  the 
General  in  New-Tork ;  and,  so  far  as  it  respects 


the  military  parade,  the  display  of  paintings,  ban- 
ners, arches,  Ac,  they  will  succeed ;  for  the  very 
good  reason  that  we  had  but 'twenty-four  hours  to 
make  our  preparations,  and  they  have  had  more 
than  thirty-four  days.  But  nothing  that  can  be  got 
up  here  can  equal,  or  come  anywhere  near,  die 
naval  fits  in  the  harbor  of  New-Tork. 

'*  There  are  many  splendid  triumphal  and  civic 
arches  erected  here,  and  the  streets  through  which 


RETUBN    OF    PEACE,   AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      317 

city  on  September  10,  on  his  way  south,  he  was  given  a  grand  con- 
cert of  sacred  music  at  St.  Paul's. 

"  Such,"  writes  Colonel  Stone,  in  closing  an  account  of  the  ovation, 
"is  a  faint  outline  of  the  proceedings  of  the  last  few  days,  which  shine 
proudly  in  the  annals  of  our  country, — proceedings  which  were  more 
brilliant  than  any  that  had  ever  been  witneBsed 
in  America,  and  which  will  rarely,  if  ever,  he 
equaled.  They  were  proud  days  for  the  cause 
of  enlightened  and  liberal  principles.    No  ful- 


some adulation  was  here  extorted  by  the  power  or  splendor  of  royalty, 
but  every  feeling  and  every  movement  were  the  spontaneous  bursts 
of  admiration  and  gratitude  for  the  character  and  eervices  of  a  great 
benefactor  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  come  among  us  in  a  private 
capacity,  and  in  the  unaffected  -attire  of  republican  simplicity."' 


Uie  Qeneral  ta  to  pass  »re  lined  witfa  apectktora. 
The  wtndoiTR  of  the  hcnuea  are  tilled,  anil  there  are 
UiDiuBDda  of  speetatora  Id  the  boiea,  or  Mmponry 
atagea.  which  have  been  erected  for  the  purposen 
of  private  ■eeommodatioQ  and  priTate  (tain-  There 
■eate  are  let  at  from  twenty -five  to  fifty  cents  each, 
and  not  for  three  or  four  dollars  as  haa  been  re- 
ported in  Nev-York.  And  they  are  not  weU  filled, 
notwilhetaiidliig  the  trifling  expense.  There  are 
many  soeietiea  out  to-day,  handaomely  dreBsed. 
aod  the  proceaaian  will  be  much  lai^er  than  haa 
erer  been  vltDeeiied  In  America. 

"  It  is  nippoeed  that  the  Qeneral  will  arrlTO  at 
tiie  Ball  of  the  Declantton  of  Independence  [In- 
dependence Sail]  at  about  four  o'elook.  Here  he 
win  be  rMeived  by  the  Corporation,  and  presented 
(o  the  principal  citiiens,  who  have  the  good  for- 
tone  to  he  gueeta.  AlW  which  he  will  return  to 
hU  lodginga  at  IlK  Handon  House.     To-morrow 


the  General  dines  with  the  Corporation.  On  Sat- 
urday he  attends  a  Hasonio  festival.  On  Monday 
eveninif  he  attends  a  Grand  Civic  Ball,  and  departs 
for  the  South  on  Tuesday." 

1  Colonel  Stone  here  speaks  feellnBly,  havinft  be- 
come a  great  personal  admirer  of  the  marquis  dur- 
ing his  visit  to  the  United  States.  Together  with 
Thnrlow  Weed,  he  aoeompanled  Lafayette  on  bis 
tour  through  New- York  State;  and  It  was  while 
Lafayette  was  stopping  at  Saratoga  Springs  that 
the  following  Incident  occurred.  It  chanced  that 
the  day  before  the  marqaia's  depsrtare  from  Sar- 
atoga, be  was  on  the  piaua  of  the  United  States 
Hotel,  surrounded  by  a  group  eonslBtlng  of  Mrs. 
Bush,  of  Pblladelpbla;  Mrs.  Harrison  OrayOUs, 
of  Boston ;  Madame  Jumel,  of  New- York ;  Thur- 
low  Weed,  and  Colonel  Stone,  As  the  company 
was  about  to  break  up,  l>afayette,  shaking  bands 
with  Colonel  Stone  and  Mr.  Weed,  aaked  them  if 


318 


HISTOBy    OF    NEW-YOBK 


The  project  of  a  gi-and  canal  conDecting  the  great  lakes  of  the  in- 
terior with  tide-water  was  the  first  thought  of  the  eity  after  the  peace. 
General  Washington  and  Governor  George  Clinton,  as  early  as  the 
summer  of  1783,  on  their  trip  to  Saratoga  Springs  and  through  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  had  considered  the  feasibility  of  a  canal  from  Os- 
wego, by  way  of  Wood  Creek,  to  Albany.  Two  years  later  (1785) 
Christopher  Colles,  an  ingenious  mechanician,  had  memorialized  the 
legislature  of  New- York  for  the  establishment  of  a  canal  to  connect 
the  Mohawk  with  the  Hudson;  and,  in  1792,  a  company  was  char- 
tered which  in  five  years  opened  the  passage  from  Schenectady  to 
Oneida,  intending  to  continue  it 
to  Lake  Ontario,  for  which  exten- 
sion the  route  had  been  surveyed 
in  1791.  But  it  was  not  until  1810 
that  the  canal  project  fonnd  its 
great  advocate  in  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton, whose  memorial  on  the  sub- 
ject, signed  by  many  prominent 
men  of  the  city,  gave  a  fresh  im- 
petus to  the  movement 

It  was,  accordingly,  most  fitting 
that  the  city  which  had  not  only 
originated  but  had  so  nobly  sup- 
ported the  project  of  the  Erie 
Canal  from  its  beginning,  should 
take  the  chief  part  in  the  cere- 
monies attending  its  realization. 
Probahly  no  project  of  internal 
rt'tk.  C^^^^n.  C^'n^^  improvement  ever  met  with  such 
bitter  and  malignant  opposition  as 
that  of  the  Erie  Canal ;  and,  great  as  was  the  assistance  given  to  the 
canal  project  by  the  act  of  the  New- York  legislature  of  April,  1811,  the 
ohstacles  in  the  way  of  its  successful  completion  were  by  no  means 
removed.  The  same  incredulity  as  to  the  practicability  of  the  canal, 
and  the  same  apprehensions  as  to  the  capacity  of  the  State  to  famish 
the  means  to  complete  it,  continued  to  raise  a  fierce  opposition  in  the 
legislature  against  any  appropriation  for  carrying  out  the  work  which 


fStc 


he  could  be  of  sorrico  to  diem  In  return  for  th^ 
■ttention  to  him. 

"  All  that  Mr.  Weed  and  myself  dealrB,"  repUed 
Crionel  Stone,  "is  s  lock  of  yoor  hair." 

"You  shall  hftve  it.  gentlemen,"  answered  the 
fteneral;  "but  aa  I  have  made  a  vow  that  man 
Shalt  never  cot  m;  hair  more,  I  Burrender  myself, 
my  dear  madame,  Into  your  hands." 

As  he  said  Oila  he  took  the  edssors  from  Colonel 
Stone  and  gnwefnllyBaTe  them  to  Mn.  Rush. 


He  then  ndsed  his  wig,  and  Hrn.  Bnali,  cnttlnc 

off  three  locks  of  the  anowy-whlta  hair,  kept  Ona 
herself  and  handed  the  other  two  to  Colonel  Stone 
and  Mr.  Weed.  The  scene  made  ■  lastln{[  impres- 
sion on  all  who  witnessed  It  This  lock  nA  hair  I 
still  have,  and  treasure  it  as  a  most  predons  idle. 
>  From  a  painting  in  the  poeaesslon  of  her 
grandson  De  Witt  Clinton  Jones,  Esq. .  to  whom  I 
am  indebted  for  several  other  family  portraits. 


RETURN    OF    PEACE,   AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      319 

it  had  itself  authorized.  Mauy  attempts  were  accordingly  made  to 
arrest,  or  at  least  to  curtail,  the  project ;  and  often,  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  undertaking,  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  be  completely  aban- 
doned. Party  spirit  at  that  time  ran  high,  and  the  greatest  effort  on 
the  part  of  its  supporters  was  required  to  persuade  the  people  of  the 
State  to  give  it  their  support  at  the  polls.  In  accomplishing  this  re- 
sult, the  New- York  "Commercial  Advertiser,^  the  oldest  newspaper 
of  New- York  city,^  gave  powerful  aid.  That  paper,  which  had  al- 
ways been  the  organ  of  the  Federalists,  became,  upon  Colonel  Stone 
assuming  its  managemeuit  in  1820,  a  stanch  advoisate  of  the  Clinton- 
ians.  A  strong  personal  friendship  for  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton  on 
the  part  of  its  editor,  together  with  a  firm  conviction  of  the  necessity 
for  a  canal  through  the  interior  of  New- York  State,  led  to  the  posi- 
tion thus  assumed.  The  trials  and  rebuffs  experienced  by  Clinton  and 
his  supporters  in  pushing  the  canal  project,  and  the  energy  which 
fought  it  through  to  a  triumphant  end,  are  matters  of  history. 

The  Erie  Canal  was  completed  in  the  fall  of  1825.  At  ten  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  October  26  of  that  year  the  first  canal-boat,  the 
Seneca  Chief,  left  Buffalo,  having  on  board  Governor  Clinton,  Joshua 
Foreman,  Colonel  Stone,  Chancellor  Livingston,  Thurlow  Weed,  and 
General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer ;  and  the  booming  of  cannon,  placed 
at  intervals  of  a  few  miles — within  hearing  distance — along  the  en- 
tire line  of  the  canal  from  Buffalo  to  Albany,  and  thence  along  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson  to  Sandy  Hook,  announced  the  successful  ter- 
mination of  the  enterprise — the  final  union  of  the  great  lakes  with 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  presage  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  New- York 
city  as  the  great  gateway  of  the  western  hemisphere.^ 

In  New- York  city,  especially,  this  event  was  celebrated  by  extra- 
ordinary civic  and  military  ceremonies ;  and  the  citizens  gave  them- 
selves up  to  the  wildest  demonstrations  of  joy.  Nor  was  this  joy 
ill-timed  or  excessive.  "  For  a  single  State  to  achieve  such  a  victory, 
not  only  over  the  doubts  and  fears  of  the  wary,  but  over  the  obstacles 
of  nature,  causing  miles  of  massive  rocks  at  the  mountain-ridge  to 
yield  to  its  power,  turning  the  current  of  error  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Tonawanda,  piling  up  the  waters  of  the  mighty  Niagara  as  well  as 
those  of  the  beautiful  Hudson; — in  short,  causing  a  navigable  river 
to  flow  with  gentle  current  down  the  steepy  mount  of  Lockport ;  to 
leap  the  river  of  Genesee ;  to  encircle  the  brow  of  Irondequoit  as  with 
the  laurePs  wreath ;  to  march  through  the  rich  fields  of  Palmyra  and 
of  Lyons ;  to  wend  its  way  through  the  quicksands  of  the  morass  at 
the  Cayuga;  to  pass  unheeded  the  delicious  licks  at  Onondja;  to 
smile  through  Oneida's  verdant  landscape ;  to  hang  upon  the  arm  of 

1  The  oldest,  that  is,  then  in  existence. 
2  The  time  taken  for  the  sound  to  come  from  Buffalo  to  Sandy  Hook  was  one  hour  and  a  half. 


mSTOBY    OP    NEW- YORK 


the  ancient  Mohawk,  and,  with  her,  after  gayly, stepping  down  the 
cadence  of  the  Little  Falls  and  the  Cohoee,  to  rush  to  the  embrace  of 
the  sparkling  Hudson — and  all  in  the  space  of  eight  short  years — 
was  a  work  of  which  the  oldest  and  richest  nations  of  Christendom 
might  be  proud."  Colonel  Stone,  as  one  of  the  most  zealous  cham- 
pions of  the  Erie  Canal,  was  appointed  to  write  the  "Narrative  of  the 
Erie  Canal  Celebration,"  receiving  a 
silver  medal  and  a  box  (made  out  of 
the  timber  of  the  Seneca  Chief)  from 
the  common  council  of  New-York 
cit^,  together  with  the  thanks  of  that 
body.' 

The  naval  and  land  processions  in 
the  city  on  this  occasion  were  unique, 
and,  withal,  were  projected  and  car- 
ried out  on  a  truly  magnificent  scale. 
The  grand  fleet  arrived  by  a  precon- 
certed plan  in  the  waters  of  New- 
York  bay  before  daylight  on  Novem- 
ber 4,  1825;  and  the  roar  of  cannon 
from  different  points  and  the  peals  of 
numerous  church  bells  greeted  the 
y  ushering  in  of  sunrise.  Shortly  aft«r- 
"^^^  ward  signals  were  hoisted  by  the  flag- 
ship of  the  squadron,  in  response  to  which  the  new  and  superb  steam- 
boat Washington  bore  proudly  down  to  welcome  the  fleet.  She  tbd 
alongside  the  Chancellor,  and  a  committee  of  the  corporation  of  the 
city,  with  the  officers  of  the  governor's  guard,  came  on  board  to 
tender  his  Excellency  Governor  Clinton  their  congratulations  on  his 
arrival  in  New- York  waters  from  those  of  Lake  Erie.  At  half-past 
eight  the  corporation  and  their  guests  proceeded  to  the  steamboats 
Washington,  Fulton,  and  Providence,  stationed  at  the  foot  of  White- 
hall street.    At  the  same  place  was  also  stationed  the  Commerce,  with 


Sis/aymy^  u'iy^^<^ 


<  Colonel  Stone's  narrative  of  tfae  celebration, 
from  which  the  above  citation  is  rasde.  wae  pub- 
lished by  the  cominoD  muncll  ander  the  title 
of  the  "Grand  Erie  Caoal  Celebration, "  aecom- 
panied  by  a  memoir  of  the  ureal  work  by  Cad- 
wallBder  D.  Golden.  In  connection  with  the  Erie 
Canal,  and  ite  Influence  in  building  up  the  Interior 
towns  of  the  State,  Colonel  Stone  waa  wont  to 
relate  the  following  anecdote :  In  1820  he  visited 
Syraciue  witb  Joshua  ForMnan,  the  founder  of 
that  city,  and  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  lealous 
friends  of  the  Erie  Canal.  "I  lodged  for  the 
ntebt."  says  Colonel  Stone,  "at  a  miserable  tav- 
ern, thronged  by  a  company  of  salt-boilers  (Tom 
Salina,  forming  a  group  of  about  as  rough-look- 
ing specimens  of  humanity  as  I  had  ever  seen. 
Thdr  wild  visages,  beards  thick  and  long,  and 


matted  hair,  even  now  rise  np  In  dark,  distant, 
and  pietnreaque  effect  before  me.  It  was  in  Oe- 
tober,  and  a  flnrry  of  snow  dorlng  the  night  had 
rendered  tbe  morning  aspect  of  the  country  more 
dreary  than  the  evening  Ijetore.  The  few  hoium, 
standing  npon  low  and  nkarshy  ground,  and  mr- 
rounded  by  trees  and  tangled  thickets,  presented 
a  very  uninvltiiig  scene.  'Hr.  Foreman.'  said  L 
'  do  yon  call  this  a  village  t  It  would  make  an  owl 
weep  to  fly  over  itP  'Never  mind,'  said  he,  bi 
reply, 'you  will  live  to  see  It  a  city  yetl"*  Colooel 
Stone  did,  indeed,  live  to  see  It  a  city,  when  he 
wrote  the  above  in  1B40,  with  a  mayor  and  aldel^ 
men,  and  a  population  of  more  than  twelve  tboo- 
sand  souls,  Editok. 

t  From  a  painting  In  the  possession  of  bis  de- 
scendant William  E.  Ver  Pbook,  E^.,  of  fiahkilL 


BETUBN    OF    PEACE,   AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      321 

the  elegant  safety-barge  Lady  Clinton.  This  barge,  with  the  Lady 
Van  Rensselaer,  had  been  set  apart  by  the  corporation  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  invited  ladies  and  their  attendants.  The  Lady  Clinton 
was  decorated  with  a  degree  of  taste  and  elegance  that  was  equally 
delightful  and  surprising.    From  stem    ^^  d     jl,      Cl^^a^ 

to  stern  she  was  ornamented  with  ever-    ^^'^^^^  ^b 

greens  hung  in  festoons  and  intertwined  with  roses  of  various  hues, 
China  asters,  and  many  other  flowers  alike  beautiful.  In  one  of  the 
niches  below  the  upper  deck  was  the  bust  of  Clinton,  the  brow  being 
encircled  with  a  wreath  of  laurel  and  roses.  Mrs.  Clinton  and  many 
other  distinguished  ladies  were  on  board  of  the  barge,  which,  though 
the  party  was  select,  was  crowded.  Captain  Seymour,  however,  paid 
every  attention  to  his  beautiful  charge;  every  countenance  beamed 
with  satisfaction,  and  every  eye  sparkled  with  delight. 

Meanwhile,  as  if  ^olus  and  Neptune  had  entered  into  a  compact  to 
make  this  occasion  as  joyous  as  possible,  the  sea  was  as  tranquil  and 
smooth  as  a  summer  lake;  and  the  mist  which  came  on  between 
seven  and  eight  in  the  morning  having  partially  floated  away,  the 
sun  shone  bright  and  beautiful.  As  the  naval  procession  filed  past 
the  Battery  it  was  saluted  by  the  military,  the  revenue  cutter,  and 
Castle  Williams  on  Governor's  Island;  and,  on  passing  the  Narrows,  it 
was  also  saluted  by  Forts  Lafayette  and  Tompkins.^  It  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  United  States  schooner  Porpoise,  Captain  John  P.  Zant- 
zinger,  moored  within  Sandy  Hook,  at  the  point  where  the  grand 
ceremony  was  to  be  performed.  A  deputation,  composed  of  Aldermen 
Elisha  W.  King,  Davis,  and  Jacob  B.  Taylor,  was  then  sent  on  board 
the  steamboat  Chancellor  Livingston,  to  accompany  his  Excellency 
the  Governor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  the  several  committees 
from  Buffalo,  Utica,  Albany,  and  other  places,  on  board  the  steam- 
boat Washington. 

The  boats  were  thereupon  formed  in  a  circle  around  the  schooner, 
preparatory  to  the  ceremony;  when  Charles  Ehind,  addressing  the 
governor,  remarked  "  that  he  had  a  request  to  make  which  he  was 
confident  it  would  afford  his  Excellency  gi-eat  pleasure  to  grant.  He 
was  desirous  of  preserving  a  portion  of  the  water  used  on  this  memo- 
rable occasion,  in  order  to  send  it  to  our  distinguished  friend  and  late 
illustrious  visitor,  Major-General  Lafayette;  and  for  that  purpose 
Dummer  and  Co.  had  prepared  some  bottles  of  American  fabric  for 
the  occasion,  and  they  were  to  be  conveyed  to  the  general  in  a  box 
made  by  D.  Phybe  from  a  log  of  cedar  brought  from  Erie  in  the  canal- 
boat  Seneca  Chief."  The  governor  replied  that  a  more  pleasing  task 
could  not  have  been  imposed  upon  him,  and  expressed  his  acknow- 
ledgment to  Mr.  Rhind  for  having  suggested  the  measure. 

1  Since  changed  to  Fort  Wadsworth. 
Vol.  III.— 21. 


322  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

His  Excellency  De  Witt  Clinton  then  proceeded  to  perform  the 
ceremony  of  commingling  the  waters  of  the  lake  with  the  ocean,  by 
pouring  a  keg  of  those  of  Lake  Erie  into  the  Atlantic;  upon  which  he 
delivered  the  following  address:  "  This  solemnity,  at  this  place,  on  the 
first  arrival  of  vessels  from  Lake  Erie,  is  intended  to  indicate  and 
commemorate  the  navigable  communication  which  has  been  accom- 
plished between  our  Mediterranean  Seas  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in 
about  eight  years,  to  the  extent  of  more  than  four  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles,  by  the  wisdom,  public  spirit,  and  energy  of  the 
people  of  the  State  of  New  York;  and  may  the  God  of  the  Heavens 
and  the  Earth  smile  most  propitiously  on  this  work,  and  render  it  sub- 
servient to  the  best  interests  of  the  human  race !  ^ 

Dr.  Mitchill,  whose  extensive  correspondence  with  every  part  of 
the  world  enabled  him  to  fill  his  cabinet  with  articles  rare  and 
curious,  then  completed  the  ceremony  by  pouring  into  the  briny 
deep  bottles  of  water  from  the  Ganges  and  Indus  of  Asia ;  the  Nile 
and  the  Gambia  of  Africa;  the  Thames,  the  Seine,  the  Rhine,  and 
the  Danube  of  Europe ;  the  Mississippi  and  Columbia  of  North,  and 
the  Orinoco,  La  Plata,  and  Amazon  of  South  America.  Cadwallader 
D.  Golden  then  came  forward  and  presented  to  the  mayor  an  able  me- 
moir upon  the  subject  of  canals  and  inland  navigation  in  general 

Indeed,  as  Stone,  in  his  narrative,  says :  "  Never  before  was  there 
such  a  fleet  collected,  and  so  superbly  decorated ;  and  it  is  very  pos- 
sible that  a  display  so  grand,  so  beautiful,  and  we  even  add  so  sub- 
lime, will  never  be  witnessed  again.*  We  know  of  nothing  with  which 
it  can  be  compared.  The  naval  fete  given  by  the  Prince  Eegent  of 
England,  upon  the  Thames,  during  the  visit  of  the  allied  sovereigns 
of  Europe  to  London,  after  the  dethronement  of  Napoleon,  has  been 
spoken  of  as  exceeding  everything  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  in 
Europe.  But  gentlemen  who  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  both, 
have  declared  that  the  spectacle  in  the  waters  of  New-York  so  far 
transcended  that  in  the  metropolis  of  England  as  scarcely  to  admit  of 
a  comparison.  The  day,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  was  uncom- 
monly fine.  No  winds  agitated  the  surface  of  the  mighty  deep ;  and 
during  the  performance  of  the  ceremonies,  the  boats,  with  their  gay 
decorations,  lay  motionless  in  beauty.  The  orb  of  day  darted  his 
genial  rays  upon  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  where  they  played  as  tran- 
quilly ^as  upon  the  natural  mirror  of  a  secluded  lake.  Indeed,  the 
elements  seemed  to  repose,  as  if  to  gaze  upon  each  other,  and  par- 
ticipate in  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  sublime  spectacle.  Every 
object  appeared  to  pause,  as  if  to  invite  reflection  and  prepare  the 
mind  for  deep  impressions  —  impressions  which,  while  we  feel  them 
stealing  upon  the  soul,  impart  a  consciousness  of  their  durability. 

1  Up  to  the  present  time  the  writer's  conjecture  has  been  proved  correct. 


BETtTBN    OF    PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      323 

It  was  one  of  those  few  bright  visions  whose  evanescent  glory  is 
allowed  to  light  ap  the  path  of  human  life  —  which,  as  they  are  pass- 
ing, we  feel  can  never  return ;  and  which,  in  diffusing  a  sensation  of 
pleasing  melancholy,  consecrate,  as  it  were,  all  smrounding  objects, 
even  to  the  atmosphere  we  inhale." 

Another  circumstance  connected  with  these  demonstrations  of  good 
feeling  must  not  be  omitted :  On  boai*d  of  the  Swallow  an  elegant 
breakfast  was  given,  in  honor  of  the  occasion,  by  her  commander, 
Lieutenant  Baldock,  to  a  numerous  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
on  which  occasion  was  tastefully  displayed  a  series  of  elegant  and 


appropiiate  drawings  in  water 
colors,  representing  Britannia,  Columbia,  the  Eagle,  the  Lion,  and  an 
English  and  an  American  sailor,  Neptune,  Liberty,  and  the  flags  and 
shields  of  both  nations,  all  classically  arranged,  denoting  good  feeling, 
fellowship,  and  union  of  sentiment.  There  were  also  round  one  of 
the  devices  for  a  tower  two  designs  of  canal-basins,  with  double 
locks — one  as  coming  through  Welsh  mountains,  the  other  as 
through  American  mountains  of  granite;  and  on  their  basements 
were  conspicuously  inscribed  "  Clinton  and  Bridgewater,"  in  honor  of 
men  whose  pursuits  in  each  country  were  so  similar.  The  whole  was 
designed  by  John  R.  Smith,  and  executed  by  him  and  an  assistant.' 

Meanwhile,  the  head  of  the  land  procession,  under  General  Augustus 
Fleming,  marshal  of  the  day,  assisted  by  Colonels  King  and  'Jones, 
Major  John  Low,'  and  Mr.  Van  Winkle,  had  already  arrived  on  the  Bat^ 
tery,  where  it  was  designed  the  whole  should  pass  in  review  before 

I  It  wcmld  be  eitrenielj  Interesting  if  one  could  venir— to  be  preSBTTed  h>  long  u  New- York  dty 

know  where  tbcH  wrtor^olor  paintings  »re  now  Bhall  endnra  u  »  city  —  they  wonld   be  simply 

to  be  found :  for  tbey  most,  of  coniwi,  bave  been  prieeless. 

d<>poritcd  In  K>me  public  inBtitntioQ.     I  have,  i  Tbe  bwiker,  and  father  of  Hr.  Able!  A.  Low, 

bowcver,  ssArohed  for  tbem  iji  yaln.     As  a  son-  the  eminent  Eaat  India  merehftnt. 


324  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOEK 

the  corporation  and  their  guests,  and  the  spectators  on  board  of  the 
other  boats,  which  lay  to  near  the  shore  to  afiford  an  opportunity  of 
witnessing  the  cars,  and  banners,  and  other  decorations  of  the  several 
societies,  professions,  and  callings  which  had  turned  out  in  the  city  in 
honor  of  the  event  commemorated.  The  Washington  and  Chancellor 
Livingston  touched  at  Pier  No.  1,  in  the  East  Eiver,  disembarking  the 
corporation  and  their  friends  at  the  proper  time  for  them  to  fall  into 
line  in  the  rear  of  the  procession.  The  fleet  then  dispersed,  each  vessel 
repairing  to  its  own  moorings;  and  thus,  without  a  single  accident  to 
alloy  the  festivities  of  the  day,  ended  an  agreeable  fete^  unrivaled  in 
beauty  and  magnificence  in  the  annals  of  the  United  States,  and 
perhaps  of  the  world.  Indeed,  the  magnificence  of  this  naval  pageant 
is  worth  dwelling  upon,  since,  in  all  of  the  different  land  and  aquatic 
processions  of  recent  years,  the  palm,  by  universal  consent,  has  in- 
variably been  awarded  to  those  upon  the  land. 

The  civic  procession  was  composed  of  the  several  benevolent  and 
mechanical  societies  of  New- York  city,  the  fire  department,  the  offi- 
cers of  the  State  artillery  and  infantry  in  uniform,  the  literary  and 
scientific  institutions,  the  members  of  the  bar,  the  members  of  many 
occupations  and  callings  not  formally  organized  into  societies,  ac- 
companied by  fine  bands  of  music,  exclusive  of  the  corporation,  their 
associate  committees  and  distinguished  guests,  who  fell  into  line  in 
the  rear  of  the  procession,  as  before  mentioned,  at  the  Battery,  This 
procession,  the  largest  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  in  America,  began 
forming,  six  abreast,  in  Greenwich  street,  near  the  Battery,  and  ex- 
tended to  the  distance  of  more  than  a  mile  and  a  half.  The  line 
of  march  was  taken  up  at  half-past  ten.  Its  first  movement  was 
a  countermarch  of  the  whole  column  upon  the  right  wing.  By  this 
manoeuver  every  society  and  division  was  brought  into  such  close 
proximity  to  each  other  as  to  afford  every  individual  a  distinct  view 
of  the  whole.  The  procession  moved  from  Greenwich  street  through 
Canal  street  into  Broadway,  up  Broadway  to  Broome  street,  across 
Broome  street  to  the  Bowery,  down  the  Bowery  to  Pearl  street, 
down  Pearl  street  to  the  Battery,  over  the  Battery  to  Broadway, 
and  thence  to  the  City  Hall.  Along  the  whole  extensive  line  of 
march  the  spectacle  was  of  a  most  imposing  and  animating  de- 
scription. The  various  societies  and  occupations  seemed  to  have  been 
engaged  in  a  laudable  strife,  regardless  of  expense,  to  excel  each  other 
in  the  richness  of  their  banners  and  the  beauty  and  taste  exhibited 
in  their  badges  and  other  decorations.  Nor  had  the  money  of  the 
societies  been  expended,  or  the  skill  of  the  artists  of  our  city  exer- 
cised, in  vain.  For  never  did  a  more  imposing  array  of  banners  of 
exquisite  design  and  magnificent  appearance  stream  and  flutter  in  the 
breeze.     Many  of  the  societies,  likewise,  had  furnished  themselves 


BETUBM  OF  PEACE,  AND  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL   325 


326  mSTOBY   OF   new-york 

with  cars  of  gigantic  structure,  upon  which  their  respective  artisans 
were  busily  engaged  in  their  several  occupations.  The  ornaments 
of  many  of  these  cars  were  curiously  wrought,  and  they  were  other- 
wise beautifully  and  splendidly  decorated.  The  richest  Turkey  or 
Brussels  carpets  covered  the  floors  of  some,  whilst  the  costly  gild- 
ing of  others  reflected  the  golden  rays  of  the  sun  with  dazzling  eflful- 
gence.  The  eye  of  beauty,  too,  gazed  with  delight  upon  the  passing 
scene;  for  every  window  was  thronged,  and  the  myriads  of  hand- 
kerchiefs which  fluttered  in  the  air  were  only  rivaled  in  whiteness 
by  the  delicate  hands  which  suspended  them;  while  the  glowing 
cheeks,  the  ingenuous  smiles  of  loveliness  and  innocence,  and  the 
intelligence  which  beamed  brightly  from  many  a  sparkling  eye,  pro- 
claimed their  possessors  worthy  of  being  the  wives,  mothers,  and 
daughters  of  free  men. 

The  festivities  of  the  day  were  closed  in  the  evening  by  illumina- 
tions of  the  public  buildings  and  the  principal  hotels,  upon  many  of 
which  appropriate  transparencies  were  exhibited.  The  illumination 
of  the  City  Hotel  contributed  largely  to  the  brilliant  appearance  of 
Broadway.  Great  taste  was  also  displayed  in  the  illumination  of  the 
New-York  Coffee  House.  The  front  in  Sloat  Lane  presented  a  bril- 
liant wreath  encircling  the  letter  "C."  The  front  in  William  street 
displayed  the  words  "Grand  Canal"  in  large  and  glowing  capitals. 
We  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  a  more  original  and  beautiful 
method  of  illuminating  than  that  adopted  at  this  establishment. 
Peale's  Museum  presented  a  beautiful  transparency — rays  of  glory, 
containing  a  motto  illustrative  of  the  dependence  of  the  fine  arts 
upon  the  success  of  commerce.  Scudder's  Museum,  Ukewise,  was 
brilliantly  illuminated,  and  a  very  large  and  beautiful  transparency 
was  exhibited  in  front.  The  Park  Theater  was  illuminated,  and  also 
exhibited  appropriate  transparencies  without;  while  within  an  inter- 
lude, composed  for  the  occasion  by  Mr.  Noah,^  with  scenery  specially 
prepared  for  the  occasion,  was  received  with  great  applause.  A  simi- 
lar production,  from  the  pen  of  Samuel  Woodworth,^  was  played  at  the 
Chatham  Theater,  and  was  likewise  well  received.  The  house  of  Moses 
B.  Seixas,  in  Broadway,  was  illuminated,  and  an  appropriate  transpar- 
ency, representing  Fortune  embarking  on  board  of  a  canal-boat 
loaded  with  bags  of  money,  and  several  appropriate  emblematical 
devices  were  exhibited.  At  "The  Lunch''  a  transparency  was  shown, 
representing  the  canal-boat  Seneca  Chief  receiving  on  board  his  Ex- 
cellency the  Governor,  the  Buffalo  deputation,  Indian  chiefs,  etc., 
preparatory  to  her  passage  from  Lake  Erie  into  the  canal.  But  the 
City  Hall  was  the  grand  point  of  attraction,  and  too  much  praise 
cannot  be  given  to  our  corporation  for  the  great  exertions  which 

1  Mordecai  M.  Noah,  tho  author  and  journalist.        2  The  author  of  ''  The  Old  Oaken  Bucket/' 


RETDBN  OF  PEACE,  AMD  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL   327 

it  made  to  contribute  to  the  enjoyment  and  festivities  of  the  day. 
The  City  Hall,  under  its  direction,  was  superbly  illuminated,  the 
front  presenting  a  very  magnificent  transparency,  on  which  were 
painted  interesting  views  of  the  canal,  columns  with  the  names  of 
worthies,  figures  emblematical  of  the  occasion,  etc.'  The  fireworks, 
prepared  by  Mr.  Wilcox,  far  exceeded  the  public  expectation,  and 
were  unrivaled  of  the  kind.  Such 
rockets  were  never  before  seen  in 
New- York.  They  were  uncommon- 
ly large.  Now  they  shot  forth  al- 
ternately showers  of  fiery  serpents 
and  dragons,  gorgous  and  hydras, 
and  chimeras  dire;  and  now  they 
burst  forth  and  rained  down  show- 
ers of  stars,  floating  in  the  atmo- 
sphere like  balls  of  liquid  silver.^ 
The  volcanic  eruption  of  fire-balls 
and  rockets,  with  which  this  exhi- 
bition was  concluded,  afforded  a 
spectacle  of  vast  beauty  and  sub- 
limity. They  were  sent  up  appar- 
ently from  the  rear  of  the  hall  to 
a  great  height,  diverged  like  rays 
from  a  common  center,  then,  float- 
ing like  meteors  of  the  brightest 
light,  they  fell  in  graceful  curves, 
presenting  a  scene  magnificent  and 
enchanting.  The  park  was  filled  to  overflowing;  not  less  than  ten 
thousand  admiring  spectators  having  collected  in  it  to  view  the 
splendid  display. 

"  Thus  passed,"  says  Stone,  "  a  day  so  glorious  to  the  State  and 
city,  and  so  deeply  interesting  to  the  countless  thousands  who  were 
permitted  to  behold  and  mingle  in  its  exhibitions.  We  have  before 
said  that  aH  attempts  at  description  must  be  utterly  in  vain.  Others 
can  comprehend  the  greatness  of  the  occasion.    The  Grand  Canal  is 


^^^y^fce^" 


I  The  aty  HaD  waa  iUuminated  with  1542  wu 
ondlM.  4M  lamps,  and  310  variegated  lamps, 
total  2306.  To  eelipae  tbia  great  effusion  of  liftbt 
was  not  within  the  power  of  ordinary  flreworks. 
hmee  eitraordlnaiy  means  were  employed,  con- 
slstlDg  of  13  eompoanded  verbea,  each  contaiDlDg 
5B  pounds  of  brUllant  Chinese  and.  diamond  flres, 
which  changed  »lt«rnately.  These  flres  were  sup- 
ported by  a  background  of  spur  Are,  which  pro- 
jected 1500  brllUaat  start,  InterKctloe  each  other 
la  fanciful  directions.  During  the  evening  were 
projected  320  foor-pound  rockets,  30  nine-pound 
and  21  twenty-poand  roekela,  total  374;  supple- 


mented by  a  great  variety  of  minor  amusing 
pieces,     I'hI«  page  32B.  Editob. 

3  It  would  seem  as  If  our  pteMut  Areworks, 
splendid  as  they  are,  are  in  no  wise  superior  to 
those  of  seventy  years  since. 

)  Dr.  John  Nellson  Abecl,  D.  D..  was  bom  in 
the  city  of  New- York  in  1T69,  and  was  the  son  of 
Colonel  James  Abeel,  who  served  throuch  the 
Revolutionary  war  on  Waahlngton'n  staff.  He 
was  appointed  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  Col- 
legiate Church  in  1795,  remaining  in  that  office 
until  his  death  ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  New-Tork  Historical  Society.       Editor. 


das  HISTORY    OP    NEW-YORK 

completed ;  and  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  have  been  borne  upon  its 
surface,  and  mingled  with  the  ocean.  But  it  is  only  those  who  were 
present  and  beheld  the  brilliant  scenes  of  the  day,  that  can  form  any 
adequate  idea  of  their  grandeur,  and  of  the  joyous  feelings  which 
pervaded  all  ranks  of  the  community.  Never  before  had  been  pre- 
sented to  the  sight  a  fleet  so  beautiful  as  that  which  then  graced  our 
waters.  The  numerous  array  of  steamboats  and  barges  proudly 
breasting  the  billows,  and  dashing  on  their  way  regardless  ot  oppos- 
ing winds  and  tides;  the  flags  of  all  nations,  and  banners  of  every 
hue,  streaming  splendidly  in  the  breeze;  the  dense  columns  of  black 
smoke  ever  and  anon  sent  up  from  the  boats,  now  partially  obscuring 
the  view,  and  now  spreading  widely  over  the  sky  and  softening  down 
the  glare  of  light  and  color ;  the 
roar  of  cannon  from  the  various 
forts,  accompanied  by  heavy  vol- 
umes of  white  smoke,  contrast- 
ing finely  with  the  dark  smoke 
of  the  steamboats;  the  crowds 
of  happy  beings  who  thronged 
the  decks,  and  the  voice  of 
whose  joy  was  mingled  with  the 
sound  of  music,  and  not  unfre- 
quentiy  drowned  by  the  hissing 
of  the  steam :  all  these,  and  a  thousand  other  circumstances,  awak- 
ened an  interest  so  intense  that  the  eye  could  not  be  satisfied  with 
seeing,  nor  the  ear  with  hearing.  We  rejoiced,  and  all  who  were 
there  rejoiced;  although,  as  we  looked  upon  the  countless  throng, 
we  could  not  but  remember  the  exclamation  of  Xerxes,  and  feel  that 
'a  hundred  years  hence  not  one  of  all  that  vast  multitude  will  be 
alive.'  The  splendor  of  beauty  and  the  triumph  of  art  serve  to  ex- 
cite, to  dazzle,  and  often  to  improve  the  condition  and  promote  the 
welfare  of  mankind;  but  the  'fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away'; 
beauty  and  art,  with  all  their  triumphs  and  splendors,  endure  but 
for  a  season;  and  earth  itself,  with  all  its  lakes  and  oceans,  is  only 
as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance  in  the  sight  of  Him  who  dwells 
beyond  the  everlasting  hills."' 

On  Monday  evening,  November  7,  the  festivities  of  the  city  were 
appropriately  concluded  by  a  ball,  which  was  given  in  the  Lafayette 
Amphitheater,  in  Laurens  street,  by  the  officers  of  the  militia,  asso- 

iThU  remark  Is  brought  home  to  ufl  continually  our  ferry-boBta  snd  see  the  cniwda  ranraing  to 

In  oar  own  eiperipnoe.    Ag  the  writer  mys,  prob-  Bud  fro,  give  t,  tbonsbt  to  the  fact  that  of  aO 

ably  no  one  who  witnessed  this  celebration  — an-  these  human  beings  a  few  short  years  will   see 

lees  it   was  tlie  babo  in  arms  carried  by   some  them  in  their  Rraves,     Indeed,  as  Grmy  has  well 

mother  who  herself  wished  to  view  the  procea-  said  in  Ms  Immortal  elegy,  neither  "storied  nm" 

^n  — now  lives.     It  is,  of  coarse,  a  melanehoiy  nor  "animated  bust"  can  call  back  the   fleeting 

thought;  and  yet  how  many  who  d^y  cross  on  bnath,  nor  the  flattery  of  inseripttons,  deMrrcd 


1LAKHA.TTAH    RESERVOIR,    CHAMBERS    STREET. 


RETURN    OF    PEACE,    AND    COMPLETION    OF    ERIE    CANAL      329 


eiated  with  a  committee  of  citizens.  The  circus  building,  compris- 
ing a  spacious  stage  used  for  dramatic  representations,  was  enlarged 
by  the  addition  of  an  edifice  in  the  rear,  which  had  been  used  for  a 
riding-school.  These  were  connected  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  an 
area  of  much  greater  extent  than  that  of  any  other  ball-room  in  the 
United  States,  being  nearly  two  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  varying 
from  sixty  to  about  one  hundred  feet  in  width.  The  usual  entrance  to 
the  circus  from  Laurens  street  was  closed  up,  and  new  entrances  opened 
from  Thompson  street,  in  the  rear,  through  the  riding-school.  The 
front  was  brilliantly  illuminated,  presenting  in  large  letters,  formed 
by  bright  lamps  extending  over  the  doors  across  the  building,  the 
words  "  The  Grand  Canal."  The  whole  area  within  was  newly  floored 
for  the  occasion,  and  arranged  in  three  compartments  by  the  original 
divisions  of  the  audience  part  of  the  circus,  the  stage,  and  the  addi- 
tional building  on  Thompson  street.  Of  these  we  shall  speak  in 
order,  but  briefly.  The  two  tiers  of  boxes  were  reserved,  and  deco- 
rated for  the  accommodation  of  that  part  of  the  company  which  chose 
to  retire  and  be  spectators  of  the  busy  assemblage  below.  Access 
was  obtained  to  them  through  a  flight  of  steps  in  the  middle  of  the 
boxes,  of  which  the  center  one  had  been  removed.  The  dome  in  this 
part  of  the  hall  was  ornamented  with  green  wreaths,  which  were 
appropriately  festooned  with  beautiful  and  various  flowers,  sweeping 
gracefully  to  the  pillars  which  supported  the  boxes,  terminating  at 
and  around  them.  Above  the  proscenium  were  the  names  of  the 
engineers  who  had  been  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  canal, 
viz.:  Briggs,  White,  James  Geddes,  Benjamin  Wright,  David  Thomas. 
Opposite  these,  and  in  the  center  of  the  circle  of  boxes,  was  a  bust  of 
Washington,  surrounded  with  evergreens,  and  around  were  inscribed 
the  names  of  the  canal  commissioners :  Eli  Hart,  William  C.  Bouck,* 
Myron  Holley,  Simeon  De  Witt,  William  North,  Robert  R.  Livingston, 
Robert  Fulton,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  Gouverneur 
Morris,  Thomas  Eddy,  Samuel  Young,  Henry  Seymour,  Peter  B. 
Porter,  and  Joseph  EUicott. 

**  From  the  roof,"  says  Stone,  "splendid  chandeliers  added  their  blaze 
of  light  to  the  numberless  lamps  which  hung  nearly  parallel  to  the 
upper  boxes.  Passing  into  the  upper  apartment,  the  eye  was  met  by 
a  scene  of  equal  splendor.  One  side  of  this  room,  which  is  the  stage 
of  the  theater,  was  formed  by  a  beautiful  piece  of  scenery  represent- 


or undeserved,  '^soothe  the  dull,  cold  ear  of 
death  *" ;  and  it  is  also  a  sad,  a  melancholy  reflec- 
tion, how  very  short  a  period  do  nearly  all  the 
memorials  reared  to  the  memory  of  the  dead  by 
the  hand  of  surviving  friendship  and  affection 
endure !  A  few,  a  very  few  brief  years,  and  the 
heiMistone  has  sunk,  the  slab  is  broken,  the  short 
column  or  pyramid  overturned;  and  yet,  while 


they  do  remain,  they  are  often  mementos  of 
interesting  incidents  or  endearing  recollections. 
For  a  letter  from  Colonel  Stone  to  Dr.  Hosack 
upon  the  legislative  proceedings  of  1816-17,  in 
regard  to  the  Erie  Canal,  see  Hosack^s  '*  Memoir 
of  De  Witt  Clinton." 

1  Afterward  governor  of  New- York  State,  hav- 
ing been  elected  in  1843. 


*>0  mSTOKT    OF    NEW-TOBK 

iiig  the  interior  of  an  elegant  chamber,  with  proper  doors,  hand- 
somely ornamented.  The  other  side  was  occupied  by  a  band  of  music, 
placed  behind  a  species  of  turret,  od  the  face  of  which  arches  were 
skillfully  painted,  and  in  the  distance  of  which  landscapes  were  repre- 
sented. Here  was  also  hung  the  painting,  spoken  of  near  the  b^in- 
ning  of  this  narrative,  from  the  cabin 
of  the  canal-boat,  faithfully  represent- 
ing the  whole  arrangement  in  that 
f~^^----^^^ifif^.^;z-.i  place.    The  music  of  the  band,  which 

SJ^d^^^a/Tj^^r-^  was  placed  here,  was  excellent,  and  we 

i-i>,' luTi^jju  ,  ■■' a^l/h..,,.  discovered  that  the  bugle-notes  were 
those  of  "WiUis  of  West-Pomt  Our 
national  stripes  were  suspended  from 
the  center  and  tastefnlly  looped  up 
from  the  extremities  of  the  ceiling,  forming  a  complete  circumference 
of  regular  semicircles,  meeting  in  a  common  center.  Here,  also,  were 
lamps  and  chandeliers,  and  wreaths  of  flowers,  and  garlands  of  roses. 
But  it  was  to  the  third  apartment  that  the  exertions  of  the  committee 
were  directed.  Imagine  in  a  large  hall,  collected  and  displayed  in  one 
grand  view,  the  flags  and  emblems  and  costly  decorations,  which,  in 
a  continued  procession,  called  forth  such  enthusiasm  of  admiration. 
Imagine  them  presented  in  one  overwhelmiug  view  blazing  with  light, 
and  bright  with  reflected  beauty;  and  when  a  proper  idea  is  formed 
of  the  complete  enchantment  of  the  scene,  add  to  this,  in  one  pro- 
digious mirror,  the  whole  reflected  back  in  trebled  brilliancy,  doubling 
the  immense  area,  including  the  thousand  lights  in  tenfold  greater 
^lendor.  Floods  of  light  were  poured  forth  from  every  point,  which 
were  glanced  back  by  the  glittering  array  of  the  military,  and  a 
thousand  other  objects  of  brilliant  reflection. 

"  But  entrancing,  above  all  other  enchantments  of  the  scene,  was 
the  living  enchantment  of  beauty — the  trance  which  wraps  the  senses 
in  the  presence  of  loveliness,  when  woman  walks  the  halls  of  fancy — 
magnificence  herself — the  brightest  object  in  the  midst  of  brightness 
and  beauty.  A  thousand  faces  were  there,  bright  in  intelligence  and 
radiant  with  beauty,  looking  joy  and  cougratulation  to  each  other,  and 
spreading  around  the  spells  which  the  Loves  and  the  Graces  bind  on 
the  heart  of  the  sterner  sex. 

"It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the  ladies'  supper-room,  which  was 
separated  from  the  large  apartment  by  flags  elegantly  festooned,  and 
raised  at  the  given  signal.  Mirrors,  and  splendid  lights,  and  emblems, 
and  statues,  and  devices,  beyond  the  writer's  abilities  to  describe,  or- 
namented this  part  of  the  house  in  common  with  the  rest.  Upon  the 
supper-table  was  placed,  floating  in  its  proper  element  (the  waters  of 
Lake  Erie),  a  miniature  canal-boat,  made  entirely  of  maple-sugar,  and 


betuhn  of  peace,  and   completion  of  ebie  canal  331 

presented  to  Governor  Clinton  by  Coloael  Hinman  of  Utica.  The  re- 
freshments were  excellent;  and,  considering  the  vast  number  who 
were  to  partake  of  them,  very  plentifully  provided.  At  a  seasonable 
hour  the  company  retired,  with  memories  --— ^^  ._ 

stored  with  the  events,  and  decorations,  and 
splendors  of  the  Grand  Canal  Ball." 

That  this  joyous  and  amazing  demonstra- 
tion was  commensurate  to,  and  fully  war- 
ranted by,  the  occasion  which  had  called  it 
forth,  the  steady  increase  of  the  productive- 
ness of  the  State  affords  conclusive  proof. 
Many  of  the  supporters  of  the  "Big  Ditch," 
who  at  the  time  were  regarded  aa  enthusi- 
astic and  visionary,  have  lived  to  see  their 
most  sanguine  predictions  more  than  real- 
ized, as  well  as  the  complete  refutation  of 
the  opinion  which  one  of  our  greatest 
,  statesmen,  whose  zeal  for  internal  improve- 
ments could  not  be  questioned,  was  known 
to  have  expressed,  that  this  enterprise  had 
been  undertaken  a  hundred  years  too  soon, 
and  that,  until  the  lapse  of  another  century,  the  strength  of  our  popula- 
tion and  of  our  resources  would  be  inadequate  to  snch  a  gigantic  work. 
While,  however.  New- York  city  was  thus  vindicating  her  claim  to 
a  place  in  the  van  of  internal  improvements,  she  did  not  hesitate  to 
take  the  lead,  also,  in  extending  aid  to  a  nation  at  that  time  strug- 
gling for  its  release  from  the  thraldom  of  an  oppressor.  Greece  was 
at  this  period  writhing  under  the  heel  of  the  sultan.  In  the  first 
three  years  of  the  war  that  nation  had  received  no  material  aid,  either 
in  men  or  money.  This  arose,  probably,  from  the  fact  that  at  this 
time  the  Greeks  were  in  no  need  of  assistance.  Fighting  with  en- 
thusiasm and  upon  their  own  soil,  they  had  beaten  off  the  Turkish 
hordes,  and  cleared  most  of  the  country  of  their  oppressors.  In  this 
year,  however,  affairs  wore  a  different  aspect.  Byron,  their  great 
friend  and  champion,  had  died  the  year  before,  and  the  dark  days  of 
the  revolution  had  begun.  The  Egyptian  vizier  had  responded  to 
the  appeals  of  the  sultan,  and  his  son,  Ibrahim  Pasha,  landing  an 
organized  and  regular  army  on  the  Peloponnesus,  swept  everything 
before  him.  In  less  than  two  years  the  Greeks  were  driven  from  the 
plains  and  all  the  open  country  to  the  caves  and  recesses  of  the  moun- 
tains, retaining  only  here  and  there  a  fortress.  As  it  was  a  war  with- 
out quarter,  every  one  fled;  for  surrender  was  death  to  every  man 


LEGOETT    H0DSE.1 


332  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOEK 

and  dishonor  to  every  woman.  Two  seasons  brought  them  to  the 
point  of  starvation.  Their  vines  had  been  pulled  up,  their  olive-trees 
burned,  their  fields  desolated,  their  flocks  slain  and  eaten.  Snails  and 
sorrel  were  their  only  food;  and  the  only  alternative  left,  on  the  part 
of  the  Greeks,  was  starvation  or  submission.  Guerrilla  bands  alone 
hovered  around  the  flanks  and  rear  of  the  invading  hosts.  At  this 
point  Dr.  Samuel  Or.  Howe,  urged  by  a  pure  philanthropy,  set  out  for 
Greece.  After  experiencing  many  vicissitudes  and  languishing  for 
several  months  in  a  Prussian  dungeon,  he  at  length  landed  upon  the 
Peloponnesus  alone,  from  an  Austrian  vessel  going  to  Smyrna.  As 
there  was,  however,  no  organization 
among  the  Greeks,  he  could  do  no- 
thing; and  he  accordingly  returned 
to  the  United  States  to  obtain  aid. 
On  his  arrival  at  Boston,  he  found 
that  Greek  committees,  under  the 
lead  of  Edward  Everett  and  Daniel 
Webster,  were  already  formed ;  and^ 
after  doing  what  he  could  to  organ- 
ize efforts  for  raising  supplies,  be 
.  came  to  New- York,  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  Colonel  Stone,  with  whom  he 
had  been  for  a  long  time  in  corre- 
spondence, with  a  view  to  this  end. 
Colonel  Stone  now  threw  himself 
heartily  into  the  good  work.  He 
roused  his  fellow-citizens  through 
his  paper,  the  "  Commercial  Advertifler,"  issued  stirring  appeals  for 
aid,  depicted  in  vivid  colore  the  sufferings  of  the  Greeks,  and  got  up 
private  meetings  composed  of  the  wealthy  men  of  New-Tork  city,  at 
which  large  amounts  of  money  were  obtained.  After  doing  all  that 
could  be  done  in  the  city,  he  accompanied  Dr.  Howe  upon  a  tour  up 
the  Hudson  River  and  through  the  western  towns  of  the  State, 
preaching  a  sort  of  crusade  for  the  relief  of  the  Greeks. 

The  general  results  are  well  known.  Through  the  efforts  of  those 
persons  who  have  been  mentioned,  the  citizens  of  New-Tork  city  and 
State  contributed  most  liberally;  ships  were  purchased,  and  large 
amounts  of  grain,  flour,  clothing,  and  money  were  obtained,  for- 
warded, and  distributed  among  the  starving  people  of  Greece,  which, 
by  the  immediate  relief  thus  brought,  and  by  the  moral  support  thus 
given  at  the  most  critical  period  of  the  Greek  revolution,  helped 
materially  to  aid  their  cause. 

In  closing  the  history  of  this  year,  it  only  remains  to  say  that  in 
May  the  first  gas-pipes  were  laid  by  the  New-York  Gas-light  Company, 


RETUBN  OF  PEACE,  AKD  COMPLETION  OF  ERIE  CANAL   333 

which  had  been  incorporated  in  1823.  No  system  for  lighting  the 
streets  was  introduced  until  1697,  when  the  aldermen  were  charged 
with  enforcing  the  duty  that  "every 
seventh  householder,  in  the  dark  time 
of  the  moon,  should  cause  a  lauthorn 
and  candle  to  be  hung  out  of  his 
window  on  a  pole — the  expense  of 
which  to  be  divided  among  the  seven 
families."  At  a  later  period  the  prin- 
cipal streets  of  the  city  were  lighted 
with  oil-lamps.  The  firat  gas-pipe  in- 
novation extended  on  either  side  of 
Broadway,  from  Canal  street  to  the 
Battery,  and  soon  grew  into  public 
favor,  so  that,  in  1830,  the  Manhattan 
GJas-light  Company  was  incorporated 
with  a  capital  of  $500,000— an  im- 
mense sum  in  those  times — to  supply 
the  upper  part  of  the  island.* 


Ughta,  one  of  the  audleooe,  a  prominent  Democnt, 
strucli  one  of  tbe  new  nilpbuT  locofoco  matcliea 
■nd  lighted  the  gas.  A  wag.  irho  had  observed  the 
oecurrence,  aftemard  called  the  paHy  Lotofoeo — 
which  name  adhered,  (or  many  years,  to  the 
Demoeratlo  party,  eepeelally  in  New-York  State. 
t  The  BiBt  Roman  Catholic  church  built  in 
New-York  dty,  situated  in  Barclaj'  Htreet.  on 
tbe  comer  of  Church.  Editok. 


It  la  perhaps  worth  while 
calling  attention  to  the  origin  of  the  name  Loeafoat 
■aappliedtothsDenacratlcparty.  InHammond's 
'■Politieal  History  of  New-York"  It  will  be  seen 
tliat  the  loeofooo  matehea  gave  the  name  to  the 
Demoeratie  party.  The  ease  was  this :  Upon  the 
introduction  of  gas  into  the  city,  tbe  old  Park 
Theater  being  lighted  for  the  flrat  time,  and  a  dif- 
ficulty experienced   in  lighting  the  stage  (gas) 


•plAn.  SuuKjUc  UcUMft.  /xmi^  Mtjti^t^ 


AUTOQBAPHB   OP    1 


!    CANAL    CELEBRATION, 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  NEW- YORK'S  COMMERCIAL  GREATNESS 

1825-1837 

HE  meeting-place  of  the  merchants  had  been,  since  1792, 
the  Tontine  Coffee  House,  erected  under  their  auspices  in 
that  year.  In  1825  the  corner-stone  of  a  new  edifice  was 
laid  in  Wall  street.  It  was  opened  for  business  in  May, 
1827,  having  cost  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  post- 
oflSce  was  in  this  building.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  had  its 
rooms  here,  and  there  were  numerous  offices  for  brokers  on  the  base- 
ment floor.  The  merchants  occupied  offices  in  the  galleries.  The  prin- 
cipal room  or  exchange  was  of  oval  form,  in  the  center  of  the  building. 
Here  were  posted  the  various  notices  which  interested  the  merchants 
generally :  such  as  the  arrival  and  departure  of  vessels,  signaled  by 
a  telegraph  which  received  and  replied  to  signals  from  the  station  at 
the  Narrows. 

At  this,  the  beginning  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  century,  New- 
York  was  the  principal  mart  for  the  products  and  manufactures  of  a 
large  part  of  the  Eastern  States,  of  New- York  State,  and  New  Jersey, 
and  of  the  Southern  section  of  the  Union.  The  city  soon  began  to 
feel  the  enormous  stimulus  to  her  trade  caused  by  the  operation  of 
the  Erie  Canal.  This  great  work  of  internal  improvement  was  for- 
mally opened,  as  noticed  in  the  preceding  chapter,  on  October  26, 
1825.  It  brought  to  her  the  control  of  the  trade  of  the  great  lakes, 
and  the  vast  and  prolific  regions  which  bordered  upon  them,  as  well 
as  that  of  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
Champlain  Canal,  finished  in  1823,  was  the  outlet  for  the  produce  of 
a  large  section  of  country  bordering  on  Lake  Champlain.  It  began 
at  Whitehall,  at  the  head  of  sloop  navigation  on  that  large  body  of 
water.  These  two  waterways,  connecting  with  the  Hudson,  consti- 
tuted an  extent  of  navigation  of  seven  hundred  and  eight  miles  (Hud- 
son and  Champlain,  345  miles ;  Erie,  363  miles).  Besides,  there  was  the 
great  chain  of  lakes,  with  which  communication  was  now  established, 
affording  a  navigation  of  sixteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  of 
which  over  eleven  hundred  miles  were  within  the  limits  of  the  State 

334 


THE    BEGINNINO    OF    NEW-YOBK'S    COMMEBOIAL    GBEATNESS  335 


of  whicli  New- York  city  was  the  only  ocean  outlet.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  uudci-stand  the  exultant  joy  of  the  citizens  of  New- York  at  the  final 
completion  of  these  magnificent  monuments  to  the  genius  of  the  states- 
men and  the  enterprise  of  the  people  of  the  great  commonwealth.  It 
definitely    assured    the         ^^^y_...__..^„_.  -  ^ 

supremacy  of  the  city    ^^CHH^^P^^  ^  -^ 

as  the  commercial  em-   J^H^^^SIfc  .^  B  "^ 

porium  of  the  western 
continent.  Becoming 
the  outlet  of  a  vast  ter- 
ritory, it  followed  nat- 
urally that  New- York 
should  become  also  the 
point  at  which  the  sup- 
plies for  that  territory 
would  be  obtained,  as 
well  as  the  financial  cen- 
ter of  exchange  for  do- 
mestic as  well  as  foreign 

commcTce.  The  amount  of  tonnage  wliich  the  Erie  was  capable  of 
transporting  with  locks  all  double  was  estimated  at  3,024,000,  iuclnd- 
iug  botli  descending  and  ascending  trips.  In  1826  the  toll  on  imports 
on  the  Erie  and  Champlain  canals  was  $762,000;  in  1827,  $859,000. 

The  value  of  the  merchandise  laden  and  unladen  at  the  port  of 
New- York  at  this  period  (1825-28)  was  seventy  to  one  hxmdred  mil- 
lions of  <lollars,  and  the  number  of  merchant  vessels  in  port  varied 
from  five  to  seven  hundred  in  busy  seasons,  besides  fifty  steamboats. 
The  number  of  arrivals  from  foreign  ports  averaged  fourteen  hun- 
dred, and  of  coasting  vessels  four  thousand,  per  annum.  Goodrich, 
in  his  "  Picture  of  New- York  "  (1828),  estimated  '*  the  anivals  at  and 
departures  of  steamboats  from  this  port  during  the  year,  or  season 
of  about  forty  weeks,  supposing  each  boat  to  make  but  two  trips  a 
week  both  ways,  to  amount  to  six  thousand  four  hundred ;  and  if  an 
average  of  fifty  passengers  is  allowed  per  trip,  the  number  will  be 
320,000."  He  considered  this  to  be  a  low  estimate,  as  during  the  sum- 
mer travel  the  Hudson  River  steamboats  frequently  carried  from 
two  hundred  to  three  hundred  passengers.  Great  numbers  were  con- 
stantly arriving  also  by  coasting  vessels  and  from  foreign  ports ;  "  the 
aggregate  of  the  latter  description  during  the  last  twelve  months  is 
22,00();  those  by  ships,  sloops  and  coasters,  generally  from  southern 
aud  eastern  ports,  and  the  river  craft,  amount  to  an  immense  number." 
The  port  was  admirably  adapted  to  this  mode  of  communication. 
There  was  an  ample  depth  of  water  at  every  wharf.  The  line  of  ship- 
ping ran  from  the  Battery  to  Corla«r's  Hook  on  the  East  River,  and 


mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


to  the  North  Battery  (foot  of  Hubert  street)  on  the  Hudson,  an  extent 
on  the  two  water-frontB  of  three  miles.  The  principal  slips  were  Coen- 
ties,  Old  Coffee  House  (at  the  foot  of  Wall  street),  Beekman,  and  Peck 
slips.  South  street  was  the  site  of  the  wharves  for  the  large  shipping. 
The  provision-boats  from  Long  Island  lay  off  Pulton,  and  those  from 
New  Jersey  off  Washington,  Market. 

Not  till  1825  did  New- York  recover  from  the  depression  of  the  em- 
bargo period  and  the  war  of  1812-15.  In  the  decade  from  1796  to  1806, 
the  most  prosperous  years,  nearly  one  quarter  of  the  total  exports  of 
the  United  States  were  from  this  port.  The  exports  of  1806  were  not 
again  equaled  in  amount  until  1825.  In 
1827  fourteen  hundred  and  fourteen  ves- 
sels arrived  from  foreign  ports,  of  which 
three  hundred  and  eighty-six  were  ships, 
six  hundred  and  nine  brigs,  and  three 
hundred  and  eighty-one  schooners.  In 
1827  the  tonnage  of  vessels  built  in  New- 
York  amounted  to  twenty-nine  thousand 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  divided 
among  twenty-three  ships,  three  brigs, 
and  twelve  steamboats.  The  cotton  trade 
of  the  South  for  Europe,  and  that  of 
the  New  England  manufacturing  States, 
passed  through  this  city.  In  1827  there 
were  received  215,705  bales,  of  which 
191,626  were  exported,  and  24,000  taken 
by  manufacturers.  The  value  of  the  im- 
ports for  New- York  in  the  year  1825  was 
$50,024,973,  of  which  over  $48,000,000  came  in  American  vessels;  that 
of  the  exports  was  $34,032,279,  of  which  over  $19,000,000  in  American 
vessels, — in  all  a  total  foreign  trade  of  $84,057,252,  of  which  over 
$67,000,000  in  American  vessels.  Goodrich  gives  an  interesting  his- 
torical comparison  of  the  trade  at  this  period :  "  In  the  three  years 
preceding  the  celebrated  embargo  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration 
the  exports  of  New- York  averaged  $23,869,250  per  annum ;  and  in 
those  years  preceding  the  last  war,  $14,030,035 ;  and  during  the  years 
1825-6-7  the  average  has  been  $26,000,000." 

The  most  striking  changes  in  the  physical  features  of  the  lower  part 
of  New- York  city — that  below  the  park — date  from  the  beginning  of 
the  second  quarter  of  the  century.  Gulian  C.  Verplanek,  to  whom 
New- York  is  indebted  for  many  curious  and  interesting  reminiscences, 
returning  from  a  long  absence  in  1829,  noted  the  changes  which  had 
taken  place  in  his  time,  in  two  letters  published  in  the  "  TaUsman " 
(1829-30),  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  Francis  Herbert : 


^X-viv^c*,^^JU 


THE    BEGDJHIHG    OF    NEW-YORK'S    COMMERCIAL    QBEATNESS  337 


Pine  street  [he  writoe]  is  sow  full  of  blockx  of  tall  maaBive  buildings  which  over- 
shadow the  narrow  passage  between  and  make  it  one  of  the  gloomiest  streets  ia  New- 
York.  The  very  brieks  there  look  of  a  darker  hue  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  city. 
The  rays  of  the  sun  seem  to  come  through  a  yellower  and  thicker  atmosphere  ;  and  the 
shadows  thrown  there  by  moonlight  seem  of  a  blacker  and  more  solid  darkness  than 
olaewhere  .  .  .  Itwaanotthusthirtyorfortyyearsago.  Shops  were  on  each  side  of  the 
way — low  oheerfol-lookii^  two-story  buildings  of  light  colored  brick  or  wood  painted 
white  or  yellow,  and  which  scarcely  seemed  a  hindrance  to  the  air  and  sunshine. 

There  were  maDy  and  important  changes  in  the  municipal  economy 
of  the  city  at  this  period.  Besides  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  the 
foundations  of  which  were  laid  in  Wall  street  in  1825,  a  new 
Presbyterian  church  waa 
the  same  year  built  in 
Bleecker  street,  which 
sufficiently  shows  the 
rapid  trend  of  the  popu- 
lation upward  on  the 
island.  A  new  building 
was  also  erected  for  the 
savings-bank  in  Cham- 
bers street.  The  city  was 
this  year  divided  into 
twelve  wards.  The  free- 
school  system  was  altered 
to  that  of  public  schools 
which  took  pay  from 
scholars  at  the  rate  of 
twenty-five  cents  to  one 
dollar  each  quarter.  In  ■ 
January,  1825,  Philip 
Hone  was  appointed 
mayor.  This  gentleman,  well  known  in  public  life  as  a  Whig  leader, 
the  companion  of  Daniel  Webster,  and  in  private  intercourse  as  an 
elegant  host  and  leader  of  fashion,  has  left  a  charming  diary  of  his  life 
and  times.  Mayor  Hone  was  a  native  of  this  city,  his  father  having  a 
mercantile  business  in  John  street.  Early  in  life  he  engaged  in  the 
auctioneer  business,  in  partnership  with  his  brother  John.  They  each 
amassed  a  considerable  fortune,  which  was  employed  by  Philip  Hone 
in  the  encouragement  of  many  enterprises  of  a  benevolent  or  educa- 
tional character.  The  Mercantile  Library,  founded  in  1820,  owed 
much  to  his  liberality  in  the  erection  of  its  building  on  Astor  Place,  in 
the  year  1830.  He  held  the  office  of  mayor  for  only  one  year.  Under 
Pivsident  Zachary  Taylor,  Mr.  Hone  was  appointed  naval  officer  of 
the  port  of  New- York,  a  post  in  which  he  continued  till  his  death,  in 
1851,  at  his  house,  comer  of  Broadway  and  Great  Jones  street. 

Voi_III.— 22. 


mSTOEY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


The  immediate  successor  of  Mr.  Hone  in  the  mayoralty  was  William 
Paulding,  who  had  already  been  mayor  in  the  years  1823  and  1824,  as 
before  noticed,  aad  who  now  occupied  the  position  for  the  years  1826 
and  1827.  In  1828,  Walter  Bowne  was  appointed,  and  he  was  annually 
reappointed  until  1833.  He  was  a  descendant  of  the  well-known  and 
highly  estimable  Quaker  family  of  tbe  Bownes,  of  Flushing,  Long 
Island.  At  the  age  of  maturity  he  left 
the  paternal  farm  and  engaged  in  the 
hardware  business  in  New- York,  meet- 
ing with  great  success.  His  store  was 
located  at  the  comer  of  Burling  Slip 
and  Water  street.  In  politics  Mr. 
Bowne  was  a  Democrat,  and  before  his 
appointment  as  mayor  had  represented 
the  city  as  State  senator  for  three  suc- 
cessive terms.  He  died  in  1846,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-six.  During  his  term 
the  population  of  New-York  reached 
the  figure  of  two  hundred  thousand. 

The  last  mayor  to  be  appointed  to 
the  position  was  Gideon  Lee,  who 
served  only  during  the  year  1833.  He 
was  bom  at  Amherst,  Massachusetts, 
in  1778.  Left  an  orphan,  he  began  life  on  an  uncle's  farm,  and  after 
a  checkered  career  with  greatly  varying  fortunes,  he  at  last  estab- 
lished a  profitable  leather  business  in  New- York.  In  1822  he  entered 
upon  public  life  as  a  member  of  the  State  legislature.  Retiring  from 
business  in  1836,  he  was  soon  after  elected  to  Congress,  and  died  in 
1841,  at  Geneva,  New- York,  where  he  had  purchased  a  country-seat, 
which  continued  in  the  possession  of  his  family  till  a  recent  period. 
His  business  is  still  carried  on  in  the  "Swamp"  by  his  youngest  son, 
who  succeeded  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  M.  Leupp. 

In  1832  New- York  was  visited  for  tbe  first  time  by  the  Asiatic 
cholera.  It  made  its  appearance  in  a  house  in  Cherry  street,  near 
James  street,  on  June  25,  1832.  By  July  3  public  alarm  was  excited 
to  such  a  degree  that  the  Board  of  Health 
appointed  a  special  medical  council  to  de- 
vise proper  measures  in  the  emergency. 
This  council  consisted  of  Dr.  Alexander 
H.  Stevens,  president ;  Drs.  Joseph  Bayley, 
Gilbert  Smith,  John  Neilson,  William  J.  McNeven,  Hugh  McLean, 
Richard  K.  Hoffman,  to  whom  after  a  few  days  was  added  Dr.  Anthony 
L.  Anderson.  Their  acknowledged  skill  quieted  public  apprehension, 
and  they  continued  to  superintend  the  public  medical  arrangements 


i^a-^^d^i^ti^e 


THE    BEGINNINa    OF    N£W-lCOBK*B    COHMEBCIAL    aBEATNESS  339 


THE   NBW-TORK    HOSPITAL. 


until  the  decline  of  the  epidemic.  Within  a  week  four  large  public 
hospitals  were  organized,  to  which  a  fifth  was  later  added.  Duriog 
the  nine  weeks  from  July  1  to  September  1,  there  were  treated  iu  these 
2030  patients,  of  which  852  died,  fiesides  these,  there  was  a  medical 
station  established  in  each  ward,  where  prompt  attention  was  assured 
to  every  applicant.  The  total  number  of  cases  in  the  city,  including 
those  in  the  hospitals  as  well  as  those  reported  to  the  Board  of  Health, 
was  5835,  aud  of  deaths  2996.  It  was  at  its  height  on  Jidy  21,  three 
weeks  after  its  appearance.  This  is  a  much  greater  mortality  than 
appears,  as  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  was  the  summer  season, 
when  a  lai^e  number  of  the 
penuanent  population  left  the 
city  for  the  seaside  or  the  vil- 
lages of  the  interior  above  the 
Highlands.  The  condutit  of 
the  gentlemen  of  the  city  iu 
this  time  of  distress  was  be- 
yond all  praise.  The  New- 
York  Hospital,  which  then  oc- 
cupied its  beautiful  grounds 
on  Broadway  between  Keade  and  Duane  streets,  opposite  the  opening 
of  Pearl  street,  was  under  the  management  of  a  board  of  goi'emors, 
to  belong  to  which  was  one  of  the  most  esteemed  honors  of  a  New- 
Yorker.  Daily  throughout  this  ^ason  they  attended  personally  to 
their  voluntary  duties,  and  by  their  steadfastness  greatly  encouraged 
the  suffering  citizens. 

In  1834  the  city  was  visited  by  a  calamity  of  another  character. 
So  many  were  the  disturbances  of  the  peace  that  this  has  received 
the  name  of  the  "  year  of  riots."  It  was  the  first  year  in  which  the 
election  of  mayor  was  effected  by  the  popular  vote.  The  candidates 
were  Guhan  C.  Verplanck  on  an  independent  ticket,  and  Cornelius 
W.  Lawrence  on  that  of  Tammany.  There  was  a  serious  split  in  the 
Democratic  ranks,  a  large  number  of  whose  members  supported  the 
independent  ticket.  The  elections  in  that  day  were  conducted  after 
the  old  fashion,  the  polls  being  held  open  for  three  successive  days. 
This,  at  a  period  of  great  popular  excitement,  gave  ample  opportunity 
for  the  development  of  street  brawls  and  organized  attacks  by  the 
more  violent  partizans.  Toward  noon  of  April  10, 1834,  the  distur- 
bances in  the  Sixth  Ward,  always  the  home  of  a  motley  population, 
took  an  alarming  form.  There  being  no  registration  of  votes,  the 
polls  were  at  the  mercy  of  an  audacious  mob.  Party  feeling  ran 
exceedingly  h^h  at  this  period,  because  of  the  opposition  to  Jack- 
son's financial  policy,  which  had  little  favor  with  the  conservative 
element  of  New- York,  but  was  ardently  supported  by  the  Tammany 


340 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


party.  In  the  Sixth  Ward  the  tumult  rose  to  the  wildest  pitch ;  a  num- 
ber of  the  Jackson  Democrats  seized  the  polls,  destroyed  the  ballots, 
and  sacked  the  room  where  the  polling  was  held.  During  the  day 
raids  were  made  on  the  gun-shops  in  Broadway.  An  alarm  spread- 
ing that  the  mob  was  about  to  attack  the  State  arsenal,  which  stood 

on  the  block  between  Centre,  Elm,  Franklin,  and  White 
streets,  the  better  class,  fearful  of  the  inefficiency  of  the 
police,  rallied  for  its  protection,  and  prevailed  upon 
the  mayor  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  military. 

In  the  evening  the  Whigs,  determined  to  maintain 
their  rights,  gathered  in  large  and  resolute  force  (esti- 
mated at  from  four  to  five  thousand  men)  at  Masonic* 
Hall,  and  voted  to  meet  early  the  next  day  "and  re- 
pair to  the  Sixth  Ward  poll  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
it  open  to  all  voters  until  such  time  as  the  official  au- 
thorities may  procure  a  sufficient  number  of  special  con- 
stables to  keep  the  peace.^  Other  meetings  were  held  in 
the  fourteen  wards,  and  the  next  morning  all  the  polls 
were  guarded  by  large  bodies  of  well-disposed  citizens. 
The  morning  of  the  third  day  displayed  the  determina- 
tion of  the  rough  element  of  the  city  to  do  mischief. 
Some  sailors,  in  the  Whig  interest,  parading  the  city 
with  a  miniature  of  the  frigate  Constitution  in  full  rig,  were  fallen 
upon  and  beaten  in  Broadway  opposite  Masonic  Hall.  The  mayor, 
intervening,  was  personally  injured,  several  of  the  city  watch  were 
badly  hurt,  and  the  hall  was  forced.  Hearing  of  this  outrage,  the 
Whig  inhabitants  issued  from  their  quarters,  and  as  crowds  kept 
gathering,  the  mayor  held  a  consultation,  and  it  was  resolved  to 
declare  the  city  in  a  state  of  insurrection  and  to  call  on  the  military 
for  aid.  The  United  States  authorities  in  the  forts  and  on  the  station 
declining  to  interfere.  General  Jacob  Morton  directed  General  Charles 
W.  Sandford  to  call  out  the  city  militia. 

Order  being  established,  the  election  proceeded,  resulting  in  the 
choice  of  Mr.  Lawrence  *  by  a  small  majority.  Later  it  was  an- 
nounced that  the  Whigs  had  elected  the  common  council.  Says  the 
historian  of  the  great  riots  of  New- York:  "As  the  news  passed 
through  the  immense  concourse,  a  shout  went  up  that  shook  Wall 
street  from  Broadway  to  the  East  River.  It  rolled  back  and  forth 
like  redoubled  thunder."  The  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,^  under 
Colonel  John  Stevens,  had  early  taken  possession  of  the  arsenal,  and 


VERPLANCK 
CREST. 


1  The  mayor's  full  name  was  Cornelius  Van 
Wyck  Lawrence.  He  was  bom  in  1791,  and  at- 
tained the  ag^  of  seventy  years.  Previous  to  his 
election  as  mayor,  he  was  a  member  of  Cons^ss, 
and  under  President  Polk  was  appointed  collector 
of  this  port.     For  twenty  years  he  was  president 


of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  New- York.  He  mar- 
ried Lydia  A.,  his  cousin,  daughter  of  Judge 
Ef&ngham  Lawrence.  Editor. 

2  Now  the  famouK  Seventh  Regiment,  its  nu- 
merical designation  having  been  changed  in  1847. 

Editor. 


THE  BEaismNO  OF  new-yobk'h  cuhmekcial  okbatness  341 


relieved  the  independent  collection  of  citizens.  This  is  said  to  have 
estahlished  the  confidence  of  the  good  people  of  New- York  in  the 
power  and  wiUingneBS  of  the  National  Guard  to  protect  the  property 
and  lives  of  the  citizens  and  to  secure  the  public  peace.  The  com- 
mon council  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  "the  individuals  who  thus 
nobly  sustained  their  reputation  as  citizen  soldiers,  and  proved  the 
importance  and  the  necessity  to  the  city  of  a  well-disciplined  militia 
in  time  of  peace,  as  well  as  in  time  of  war."  General  Morton,  in 
his  general  orders,  added:  "The  Major-general  doubts  not  that  the 
corps  will  still  continue  to  perform 
their  duties ;  they  will  be  sustained 
by  their  fellow-citizens,  who  will  see 
in  them,  not  the  array  of  an  uncon- 
trolled force,  but  a  power  directed 
by  the  venerable  majesty  of  the 
laws  in  the  persons  of  the  magis- 
trates." This  riot,  for  many  reasons 
famous,  is  generally  known  as  the 
"election  riot." 

The  Abolitionists,  a  small  and  in- 
considerable body,  were  beginning, 
in  the  agitation  of  poUtics,  to  attract 
public  attention  to  their  opinions 
and  purposes.  Attempts  had  been 
made  by  the  friends  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  in  the  autumn  of 
1833,  to  promote  an  antislavery 
i^tation  by  public  meetings  and 
addresses.  There  was  a  large  business  class  in  New- York  city  di- 
rectly concerned  in  trade  with  the  Southern  States,  and  naturally 
opposed  to  any  exciting  discussion  of  this  subject;  and,  moreover, 
the  sympathies  of  the  great  body  of  Democrats  were  with  the  strict 
constructionists  of  the  constitution,  who  held  slavery  to  be  beyond 
the  pale  of  any  jurisdiction,  except  that  of  State  sovereignty.  In  the 
unruly  element  of  this,  as  of  all  large  cities,  there  were  always  men  to 
be  found  ready  for  violent  measures,  especially  in  any  cause  that  had 
the  support  of  popular  favor.  An  attempt  to  break  up  an  abolition 
meeting  in  October,  1833,  had  resulted  in  the  summary  dispersal  of 
the  small  attendance.  In  July,  1834,  an  assemblage  of  colored  per- 
sons gathered  at  Chatham  street  chapel  to  listen  to  a  sermon  from  a 
negro  preacher.    They  were  ordered  from  the  building,  but,  having 


o^^-^'^ 


1  Dr.  PrmsciB  wu  k  celebTkted  phf  dcl&n,  and 
nun  of  wide  ealtara.  His  "  Old  New-York."  > 
jlome  of  cbknniDK  nmlnlNeDces  of  the  lint 


itlity  yearn  of  tlie  < 
and  containa  a  mei 


T.  Tuckermaii 


fflSTOBY    OF    NEW-TOEK 


paid  their  rent,  refased,  and,  resisting  ejectment,  the  church  was 
cleared  by  an  excited  crowd.  Lewis  Tappan,  who  was  present  at  the 
chapel,  was  followed  to  his  home  in  Rose  street  with  hooting  and 
threats,  and  bis  house  was  stoned.  His  name  had  been  attached  to 
the  call  for  the  meeting  in  the  autumn  preceding.  The  blacks, 
alarmed  for  their  personal  safety,  dispersed. 

.  The  next  evening  the  mob  broke  open 

^  the  chapel  door,  held  an  extempore  meet- 

ing, and  on  its  breaking  up  proceeded 
with  shouts  to  the  Bowery  Theater,  whose 
stage  manager  was  obnoxious  to  them 
because  an  Englishman  and  accused  of 
remarks  uncomplimentary  to  America  on 
THB  PROVOST  JAIL  I  ^^^  subjoct  of  sUivery, — Great  Britain  be- 

ing the  headquarters  of  the  antislaverj' 
movement.  Forcing  the  dooi"s,  the  excited  mob  took -possession  of 
the  theater.  Interfered  with  by  the  arrival  of  the  police,  and  eager 
for  some  object  on  which  to  vent  tbeir  excitement,  they  rushed  to  the 
house  of  Nathan  Tappan,  a  brother  of  Lewis,  in  Rose  street,  which 
they  broke  into  and  sacked.  After  a  fight  with  the  city  watchmen, 
they  made  a  bonfire  of  the  dilapidated  furniture.  Other  petty  riots 
followed,  with  similar  scenes  of  destniction  of  the  property  of  Abo- 
litionists, until  Mayor  Lawrence  issued  a  proclamation  calling  on  all 
good  citizens  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  peace.  Large  bodies  of  troops 
were  gathered  at  the  arsenal,  City  Hall,  and  other  public  buildings. 

On  the  night  of  July  11,  the  mounted  patrol  having  failed  to  disperse 
the  roving  mob  which  had  attacked  the  churches  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  H.,Cox,  in  Laight  street,  and  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Q.  Ludlow,  io 
Spriog  street,  the  military  were  called  upon,  and  the  Twenty-seventh 
Regiment  of  the  National  Guard,  under  Colonel  Stevens  (the  same 
which  had  been  called  upon  in  the  election  riots),  marched  upon  the 
tioters.  The  latter  bad  thrown  up  double  barricades,  which  were 
stormed  and  carried,  the  obstructions  scattered,  and  as  the  militia 
moved  to  the  word  "Forward"  in  solid  column,  the  mob  broke  in  every 
direction.  Meanwhile  there  was  another  great  gathering  at  the  Five 
Points,  where  the  mob  committed  depredations  and  burned  buildings 
indiscriminately.  During  the  night  the  rioters  were  reported  to  have 
concerted  risings,  and  in  the  morning  the  mayor  issued  a  second 


1  The  ProvoBt  Jail  is  now  the  Hmll  o(  Reconim 
IM  wkIIs  reidftinlDS  kh  the;  were,  but  ita  front 
and  rear  haTing  been  adorned  with  cnloniiBdea  in 
the  Btyl^  of  a  Qreek  lemple.  It  wax  built  In 
ITBS.  Deton-  sod  after  the  Revolution  it  was 
oied  H4  a  debtoni'  prison.  I>urlDK  the  Revolu- 
tion prlsonom  of  war  were  conflned  here,  and  ral>- 
Jeeted  to  the  erueme<i  of  ProvoHt  Haishal  WilUam 


CunninKham.  In  1S30  it  Oeased  to  be  oiied  aa  a 
ptiaon.  the  procera  oF  rveonBtruction  beioK  then 
begriD.  but  not  tilt  1835  was  It  ready  tor  Its  new 
purpoKS.  At  the  time  of  the  RerolutioD.  "it 
had  two  lobblpa.  with  strong  burteadea  between 
the  external  and  internal  one.  A  ffr^ted  door  was 
at  the  bottom  of  the  M&lr*  leading  to  the  aenmd 
and  third  floora."  EbtlOH. 


THE    BEaiNNINO    OF    NEW-YOBK'S    COMMERCIAL    GREATNESS  343 

proclamation  to  the  citizens  to  report  to  him  for  organizatioii  into 
companies  to  aid  the  police.  The  volunteer  military  companies  and 
the  fire  companies  tendering  their  assistance,  the  backbone  of  the 
riot  was  broken,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  ringleaders  were 
lodged  In  jail. 

One  of  the  most  Interesting  public  events  of  this  year  was  the  pro- 
cession on  Jnne  26,  in  respect  to  the  memory  of  .General  Lafayette, 
the  last  general  officer  of  the  Revolution.  General  Lafayette  was  no 
stranger  to  the  people 
of  New- York.  There 
were  some  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms  still 
living,  who  had  wel- 
comed his  arrival  here 
in  1784,  when  he  re- 
ceived the  freedom  of 
the  city;  and  it  was 
just  ten  years  since  his 
last  visit,  when  he  was 
again  the  guest  of  the 
city.  His  death  in 
France,  on  May  20,  was 
announced  by  General 
Morton  in  division  orders  on  June  21.  The  common  council  ordered 
the  ceremonial  proceedings.  The  city  buildings  and  numerous  public 
and  private  houses  were  draped  with  mourning  insignia.  A  proces- 
sion, in  which  the  military  was  specially  distinguished  for  its  admir- 
able tenue,  moved  from  the  City  Hall  to  the  Castle  Garden;  in  it  were 
carried  the  urn  and  the  eagle  which  formed  a  part  of  the  decorations 
at  the  funeral  of  Washington.  At  Castle  Garden  an  address  was 
delivered  by  Frederick  A.  Tallmadge,  and  in  the  evening  the  urn 
was  remov^  by  torch-light,  attended  by  a  solemn  civic  and  military 
procession. 

Still  another  riot  disturbed  the  peace  6f  the  city.    This,known  as  the 


CHATEAU    I>A 


I  From  u  orfgilMl  diBwing  In  the  pouendon  of 
th«  Editor,  who  la  Indebted  to  Mrs.  Jnlla  Clinton 
Jonea  fot  the  following  nnpnbliahed  letter  ad- 
dressed to  her  nnde  Cbariea  Clinton.  eiprewtDg 
sympathr  (or  the  death  of  his  father,  De  Witt 
Clinton: 

"  Pabib,  Uareh  30,  183R. 

"Ut  Dkab  Sib:  Tour  partlcQlM'  and  friendl; 
attentions  to  me,  make  70U  the  natural  orj^n  of 
the  melancholj  and  adecUonate  feelings,  which  I 
wish  to  be  conveyed  to  the  family  of  your  la- 
mented father.  I  re^cret  the  mournful  and  un- 
expected event,  as  an  immeose  }o»»  to  the  public 
and  a  ^rsat  personaJ  eaoae  of  grief  to  me.  Bound 
as  I  was  to   the  memory  of  roy  two  b^oreai 


Revolutionary  eompanions.  your  grandtatber  and 

granduncle,  I  had  found  a  peculiar  gratiflcatioD 
in  the  eminent  lalenia  and  services  of  their  son 
and  nephew,  and  in  his  bind  and  liberal  corre- 
spondence, until  personal  and  grateful  acquain- 
tance bad  impressed  me  with  all  the  feelings  of  a 
more  intimate  frieodahip.  I  beg  you  to  be  to  your 
afflicted  family  the  interpreter  of  my  deep  sym- 
pathies, and  to  believe  me  forever, 

"  Your  most  sincere  friend, 

"Lafavmtb. 

"  Colonel  CHABI.KS  Cijnton, 

"p.  S.— My  son  and  1*  Vassaur  beg  to  be 
moomfully  remembered." 


344  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

**  Five  Points  riot,''  broke  out  in  the  summer  of  1835.  It  was  an.  out- 
come of  the  election  brawls  of  the  two  sections  of  the  Democratic  party 
and  the  fierce  antagonism  between  the  Irish  and  Americans.  The  an- 
nouncement that  an  Irish  regiment,  under  the  name  of  the  O'Connell 
Guards,  was  to  be  organized  in  the  city,  aroused  the  native  American 
spirit  to  indignation.  On  Sunday,  June  21,  rioting  began  simultane- 
ously in  several  parts  of  the  city,  the  principal  scene  of  action  being 
the  Sixth  Ward,  in  Pearl  street,  near  Chatham.  Many  prominent 
citizens  were  badly  injured  in  their  attempts  to  keep  the  peace,  but 
order  was  at  last  restored  by  the  police  without  the  aid  of  the  military, 
to  which  there  had  been  more  recourse  latterly  than  augured  well 
for  civil  government.  The  "stone-cutters'  riot,"  which  happened  in 
August,  1834,  was  caused  by  the  employment  of  the  State  prisoners 
at  Sing  Sing  to  hew  marble  with  which  to  construct  buildings  in  this 
city  by  the  contractors  for  the  University  building.  The  mob  was 
dispersed  by  the  Twenty-seventh  Regiment,  which  for  four  days  and 
nights  lay  under  arms  in  Washington  parade-ground. 

At  the  spring  election  of  1835  a  most  serious  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  decision  of  the  people.  New- York  had  never  enjoyed 
any  proper  and  reasonably  assured  water-supply  for  a  population  of 
her  extent  and  promise.  The  tea-water  works,  which  were  put  up  in 
1786  at  the  Collect  pond,  or  Fresh  Water,  had  supplied  the  city  by 
casks  until  1799,  when  the  Manhattan  Company  was  chartered  to  bring 
a  supply  from  the  Bronx  River.  A  pump  was  built  near  the  Collect  and 
wooden  pipes  laid  through  the  streets,  but  the  Manhattan  Company 
never  tapped  the  waters  of  the  Bronx,  and  the  city  was  forced  to  con- 
tent itself  with  the  old  Collect  supply,  with  the  additional  convenience 
of  the  wooden  pipes  and  the  street  pumps,  which  were  not  infrequent. 
It  was  now  decided  by  popular  vote,  by  a  large  majority,  to  construct 
an  aqueduct  from  the  Croton  River,  an  undertaking  of  great  magni- 
tude in  those  days,  considering  that  the  distance  the  water  had  to  be 
conveyed  was  forty  miles.  This  project  had  been  carried  through  the 
common  council  by  the  persistent  energy  of  Samuel  Stevens,  for 
many  years  a  representative  of  the  Second  Ward  as  alderman  and 
assistant  alderman.  His  name  appears  first  among  those  of  the  com- 
missioners on  the  tablet  set  up  at  the  Forty-second  street  reservoir 
in  1842,  on  the  completion  of  that  colossal  enterprise. 

In  1835  the  city  was  visited  by  one  of  the  most  terrible  calamities 
in  her  history.  A  fire  broke  out  on  the  night  of  December  16  of 
that  year,  which  raged  fiercely  for  two  nights,  and  was  not  extin- 
guished till  the  third  day.  In  its  course  along  Wall  street,  the  line 
of  the  East  River,  and  returning  to  William  and  Wall  streets,  it  em- 
braced a  large  irregular  triangle  of  ground,  an  area  of  thirteen  acres, 
covered  by  six  hundred  and  ninety-three  houses  and  stores,  with 


THE    BEOHnnNG    OF    NEW-YORK's    COMMEBCIAIi    GREATNESS   345 


property  valued  at  eighteen  millioas  of  dollars.'  Among  the  huild- 
ings  was  the  fine  marble  Exchange  in  Wall  street,  and  the  South 
Dutch  Church  in  Garden  street.  The  stores  were  mostly  wholesale. 
The  fire-insurance  companies  of  the  city,  al- 
most without  exception,  went  down  under 
the  blow.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold; 
the  insufficient  supply  of  water  froze  in  the 
pipes  and  hose,  thus  paralyzing  the  labors 
of  the  citizens.  The  horrors  and  sufferings 
of  this  night  exceed  description.  The  gen- 
tlemen of  the  city  were  all  on  the  ground, 
and  the  properties  of  the  Wall  street  insti- 
tutions were  moved  and  moved  again  before 
final  safety  was  secured.  Yet,  as  in  previ- 
ous periods  of  distress,  the  energy  of  the 
citizens  was  equal  to  the  emergency ;  and 
New-Tork,  within  an  incredibly  short  period,  rose  from  its  ashes 
i-ttbuilt  and  vastly  improved.  The  buildings  erected  were  of  a  supe- 
rior character,  and  the  streets  themselves  were  somewhat  changed 
for  the  better. 

In  1837  the  city  added  another  to  its  series  of  riots.  Various 
causes  had  occasioned  a  short  supply  and  high  prices  for  flour  and 
wheat  at  this  period.  A  short  crop,  followed  by  a  speculation  in  part 
occasioned  by  the  abnormal  condition  of  the  currency,  had  brought 
up  the  price  of  flour  from  seven  to  twelve  dollars  per  barrel.  News 
was  circulated  of  a  short  crop  in  Virginia,  and  of  an  immediate 
short  supply  in  New- York.  The  price  of  meat  went  up  next,  and 
t!oal  advanced  to  ten  dollars  a  ton.  A  public  meeting  was  called  to 
consider  the  situation,  but  it  was  one  of  those  problems  that  no 
public  meeting  can  solve.  The  news  that  the  commission-houses  in 
Washington  street  were  holding  back  and  increasing  their  stocks 
caused  a  bad  feeling  in  the  laboring  classes.  On  February  10,  1837, 
a  placard  reading,  "  Bread,  Meat,  Rent,  Fuel !  The  voice  of  the 
people  shall  be  heard  and  prevail,"  summoned  a  foeeting  at  the  City 
Hall  park  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.     The  placard  was  signed 


I  Mr.  Gabriel  P.  Diaosmy,  ku  eys-witneM  of  tbis 
terrible  evnit,  and  wbo  hu  left  on  record  an  ex- 
tended and  mhmte  deBciiptloa  of  It,  fumlahm  the 
following  statement  of  the  exact  number  of  houeee 
bomed  on  tbe  TarlonB  atreets: 

W»U  rtreet 38 

South     "    76 

l^ont    "    ...   BO 

Water   "    76 

Pearl     ■■    79 


BicbaDge  alley 31 

WilUam  street U 

Old  Slip 33 

Stone  street 40 

Hill  (now  S.  WilUam)  street 3H 

Beaver  street 23 

Hanover  "     16 

CoentleB  Slip 16 

Hanover  Square 3 

Curler's  alley 20 


If^-,JC 


■,..■.■/■•,  ■^rf.',-t''*\riv.  ''''  ^t^C^.txyt.  aiui  applicable  to  make  ^ood  any 
.'.>^:>Y  ■!•  'Iff  'rf  fM'ilnn:  Th^  oM»)*t  rmnk  in  rhe  city,  the  Bank  of 
'■.  f/  V'.rl'  fTHP  (»r"«fKl«l  '.v*-r  r-fjr  Comrfina  Heyer  as  president,  and 
^.(.n.'.f./  ('.  Mrtk^y  «« ''Wfhi*^.  Anwm(f  its  riireetora  were  Gardner  G. 
If',  '/l/.(('),  C'tT  K'-tp^trm'Th^-ni,  ClhArl**  M*TEver!>,  John  Oothont.  Hol>- 
( (t  Mnitlftri'l,  (l"itry  (t«'"k«mri,  ^>lw«rd  R-Jones,  and  Robert  Bensoo. 
It.  .ncKftl  //iirt  <ltfMt,m)U.  Tli'i  Bank  of  America  was  presidetl  over 
I.,'  Mciitf*"  Nc*)i(.l(l.  (U  Unipfl  C)f  clirfw^irs  were  George  Griswold. 
Illi'tilii'ti  Wliihii-v,  .lotinMifiri  (U>rn\hn(\,  Benjamin  L.  Swan,  Peter 
t ,,    t.iliti    \V     fi»nv)M,   hihI    Hiimii«-I    M.  Fox.      The   capital   was 

I  It.  >     tMIIUiil   IMililM 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    NEW-YOBX'S    COMMEBCIAL    GBEATNESS  347 

^1,000,000.  Mr.  Newbold  was  an  autocrat  among  the  bank  presidents, 
and  had  matters  much  his  own  way  until  the  establishment  of  the 
Bank  of  Commerce,  in  1839,  which  gi-adually  took  the  lead,  and  after 
his  death,  by  its  great  strength,  and  the  ready  availability  of  its  funds 
through  a  system  of  short  discounts,  served  as  a  kind  of  check  upon 
the  banking  system  of  the  city. 

The  Bank  of  the  State  of  New- York  was  under  the  management  of 
Cornelius  W.  Lawrence,  with  Eeuben  Withers  as  cashier,  and  in  the 
board  were  Isaac  Townsend,  John  Stewart,  Charles  A.  Davis,  Charles 
Deuison,  Henry  W.  Hicks,  and  Ferdinand  Suydam.   In  the  City  Bank 
were  Thomas  Bloodgood,  president,  and  among  the  directors  Richard 
M.  Lawrence,  Benjamin  Corlies,  Joseph  Foulke,  David  Parish,  Abra- 
ham  Bell,  Henry  Delafield,  and  John  P.  Stagg.      The  Manhattan 
Company  was  presided  over  by  Robert  Gelston,  and  in  the  board 
were  found  the  names  of  John  G.  Coster,  Jonathan  Thompson,  James 
McBride,  David  S.  Kennedy,  William  B.  Crosby,  William  Paulding, 
Thomas  Suffem,  James  Brown,  and  Recorder  Richard  Riker.    The 
Mechanics'  Bank  had  John  Fleming  for  president,  and  for  directors 
Jacob  Lorillard,  Gabriel  Furman,  Henry  C.  Dedham,  George  Arcula- 
rius,  and  Shepard  Enapp.    The  Merchants'  was  managed  by  John  T. 
Palmer,  president,  and  Walter  Mead,  cashier,  with  Henry  I.  Wyck- 
oflf,  James  Heard,  David  Lydig,  Peter  T.  Nevins,  Benjamin  Lyman, 
and  John  D.  Wolfe.     The  National  Bank  was  managed  by  Albert 
Gallatin,  Jefferson's  and  Madison's  secretary  of  the  treasury,  whose 
financial  ability  was  supreme,  and  of  world-wide  fame  from  his  mas- 
terly management  of  the  national  finances.    In  his  board  were  Wil- 
liam B.  Astor,  Seth  Grosvenor,  Dudley  Selden,  and  Elisha  Riggs.    The 
Phenix  Bank  had  Henry  Cary  for  president,  and  John  Delafield  as 
cashier.    Among  the  directors  were  Henry  Parish,  James  W.  Otis, 
Garrett  Storm,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  and  Robert  Ray.    The  Union  Bank 
had  Abraham  G.  Thompson  for  president,  and  Samuel  I.  Howland, 
Morris  Ketchum,  and  Mortimer  Livingston  in  the  management.    All 
of  these  banks  were  in  Wall  street.    The  names  here  given  are  those 
of  the  men  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  great  commercial  and  finan- 
cial enterprises  of  the  djy — every  one  representative,  and  familiar  as 
the  alphabet  to  every  New-Yorker  of  the  passing  generation.    The 
Chemical  Bank,  a  private  institution,  almost  a  family  strong  box,  was 
managed  by  John  Mason,  president,  in  person,  with  his  kinsman  Isaac 
Jones,  Gideon   Tucker,  and  Thomas  W.  Thome  at  the  green  table 
where  discounts  were  made  and  high  finance  discussed  by  a  select 
few.    Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  country  was  developing  its  material 
resources  in  great  measure  with  capital  borrowed  from  Eui-ope, —  the 
balance  of  trade  setting  against  the  United  States  at  this  period, 
yearly  increasing  our  indebtedness  abroad, —  New- York  Was  at  any 


348  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

time  liable  to  a  demand  for  gold  from  Europe.  The  value  of  the 
strong  institutions  was  then  seen,  as  well  as  the  wisdom  of  separat- 
ing the  earnings  of  the  laboring  class  from  the  general  fund. 

Mention,  therefore,  must  not  be  omitted  of  the  several  savings- 
banks  which,  with  their  conservative  management,  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  those  days  of  financial  fluctuations.  The  New-York 
Bank  for  Savings,  the  first  in  New- York  and  in  the  United  States, 
founded  in  1819,  was  still  directed  by  John  Pintard,  one  of  its  original 
projectors,  with  Peter  Augustus  Jay  and  Philip  Hone  as  first  and  sec- 
ond vice-presidents,  and  a  board  of  the  highest  ability,  experience,  and 
respectability.  There  were  in  this  year  (1837)  26,427  open  accounts, 
entitled  to  $3,533,716.88.  David  Cotheal  was  the  president  of  the 
Bowery  Savings  Bank,  George  Suckley  of  the  Greenwich,  Benjamin 
Strong  of  the  Seamen's,  with  Pelatiah  Perit  as  one  of  the  vice-presi- 
dents and  Caleb  Barstow  as  the  secretary.  The  fire-insurance  com- 
panies were  twenty-six  in  number,  most  of  them  badly  crippled  by 
the  losses  of  1835,  and  some  lately  reorganized  by  assessments  or 
contributions  to  stock.  The  Farmers'  Fire  Insurance  Company  was 
the  only  trust  company  in  the  city,  no  others  having  been  organized 
at  that  time.  It  is  now  better  kAown  as  the  Farmers'  Loan  and 
Trust  Company. 

The  national  election  of  1832  turned,  in  a  great  measure,  upon  the 
question  of  free  trade.  The  condition  of  the  national  finances  was 
favorable  to  a  dispassionate  discussion  of  the  principle.  The  national 
debt  was  nearly  extinguished.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  country  had 
so  increased  its  revenues  that  the  secretaries  of  the  treasury  who  fol- 
lowed Albert  Gallatin,  adhering  to  his  lines  of  policy  and  administra- 
tion, had  been  able  to  extinguish  the  last  remains  of  the  extraordinary 
expenditure  occasioned  by  the  war  of  1812.  Louis  McLane,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  in  his  report  of  December,  1832,  on  the  finances, 
announced  that  the  dividends  derived  from  the  bank  shares  held  by 
the  United  States  were  more  than  were  required  to  pay  the  interest, 
and  that  the  debt  of  the  United  States  might  therefore  be  considered 
as  substantially  extinguished  after  January  1,  1833.  Mr.  Gallatin, 
the  advocate  of  this  policy  of  extinction,  wljich  seems  to  have  been 
since  accepted  by  our  financial  ministers  irrespective  of  party,  was 
now  a  resident  of  New- York.  Soon  after  his  return  from  his  last 
mission  to  England  he  settled  permanently  in  the  city,  taking  a  house 
in  Bleecker  street  in  1829.  Here  he  became  one  of  the  leading  figures 
of  interest.  His  long  exi)erience  of  public  men  and  public  affairs  on 
the  two  continents  of  Europe  and  America  rendered  his  conversation 
instructive,  and  his  counsel  was  eagerly  sought  on  a  large  variety  of 
subjects, — financial,  scientific,  literary,  and  even  political,  though  he 
had  withdrawn  from  active  interest  in  this  direction. 


BEOINNINO    OF    NEW-TORK'S    COHMEKCIAL    GBEATNESS   . 


BRIDBWKLI,,  CITT   HALL   PASK. 


In  advocatlDg  the  policy  of  extiDctiou  of  the  national  debt  and  of 
a  corresponding  economy  in  the  national  expenditure,  Mr.  Gallatin's 
purpose  was  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  by  a  lowering  of  the  tariff. 
As  the  election  of  1832  approached,  and  parties  began  to  formulate 
their  platforms,  the  advocates  of  a  protective  tariff,  with  a  consequent 
national  expenditure  for  internal  improvements,  and  of  a  tariff  for 
revenue  only,  drew  their  lines  more  closely.  Ou  September  3, 1831,  a 
convention  of  the  advocates  of  free  trade,  without  distinction  of  party, 
met  in  Philadelphia.  Two  hundred  and  twelve  delegates  appeared. 
New- York  was  represented  by  Albert  Gallatin,  Preserved  Fish,  John 
Constable,  John  A.  Stevens,  Jonathan  Goodhue,  James  Boorman,  and 
Jacob  LoriUard.  GaUatin  was 
the  soul  of  the  convention, 
and  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee of  fourteen,  one  from 
each  State  represented,  which 

drafted  the  "Memorial  to  the  l^lHtlri^^l^l^yi^V'^'i^ 
People."  Its  conclusions  were 
that  a  tariff  of  twenty-live  per 
cent,  was  ample,  as  experience 
had  proved,  for  all  the  legiti- 
mate purposes  of  government.  The  nou-partizan  nature  of  this  con- 
vention appears  from  the  presence  of  Gw>dhue  and  Stevens,  of  New- 
York,  both  of  whom  were  faithful  adherents  to  the  great  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Whig  party.  The  recent  attempt  to  make  unbelief 
in  or  support  of  an  economic  doctrine  a  condition  of  party  fealty  had 
not  then  been  formulated. 

In  1832  Mr.  GaUatin  accepted  the  presidency  of  a  bank  in  New- 
York,  the  subscription  to  the  stock  of  which  (amounting  to  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars)  was  completed  by  Mr.  John  Jacob 
Astor  under  stipulation  that  Mr.  Gallatin  should  supervise  its  man- 
agement. This  was  the  National  Bank  of  New- York.  The  idea  of  this 
arrangement  was  to  secui'e  to  New- York  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Gallatin's 
great  experience  and  intimate  connection  with  financiers  abi-oad.  New- 
York  was  rapidly  becoming  the  financial  center  of  the  commercial 
system  of  the  United  States,  and  the  financial  system  of  the  republic 
was  now  about  to  imdergo  a  radical  change.  In  December,  1833, 
Roger  B.  Taney,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  reported  to  Congress  that 
he  had  directed  the  removal  of  the  deposits  of  the  government  from 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  placed  them  in  banks  designated 
by  himself.  In  his  annual  report,  Taney  named  as  one  of  the  reasons 
for  this  removal  that  the  bank  had  used  its  money  for  electioneering 
purposes,  and  that  he  "had  always  regarded  the  result  of  the  last 
election  of  President  of  the  United  States  as  the  declaration  of  a 


350  HISTORY    OF    NEW-XOBK 

majority  of  the  people  that  the  charter  ought  not  to  be  renewed.' 
That  election  had  reelected  Jackson  to  the  presidency.  Taney  said 
further  that  "a  corporation  of  that  description  was  not  necessary 
either  for  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  government  or  the  general  con- 
venience of  the  people."  Mr.  Gallatin,  on  the  other  hand,  had  always 
been  a  steadfast  friend  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  He  had 
only  recently,  in  a  masterly  paper  published  in  1830  in  the  "American 

■'  ' '  *  ^      -  ■  ^ 

A* 


y 


•-»-v  '^ 


ai  a  NATURES  I 


Quarterly  Review,"  shown  that  from  the  year  1791  the  operations  of 
the  treasury  had,  without  interruption,  been  carried  on  through  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  without  loss,  except  in  the  years  1811  to 
1814,  when  the  mismanagement  of  the  State  banks  had  brought  on 
the  financial  disaster  of  the  latter  year,  and  compelled  the  re-charter 
of  the  semi-governmental  institution.  There  was  no  such  thing,  how- 
ever, as  resistance  to  Jackson's  views.  In  December,  1835,  Levi 
Woodbury,  Taney's  successor  in  the  treasury  department,  reported 
"  an  unprecedented  spectacle  presented  to  the  world  of  a  government 
virtually  without  any  debts  and  without  any  direct  taxation."  But 
the  conservative  instrument  by  which  this  happy  condition  had  been 
attained  was  now  stripped  of  its  influence.    Moreover,  the  surplus 


THE  BEaunnNO  of  new-yobk's  commercial  obeatness  351 


revenues  of  the  United  States,  about  thirty-seven  millions  of  doUars, 
iiad  been  distributed  among  the  several  States. 

On  the  expiration  of  its  charter  in  March,  1836,  the  renewal  of 
which  Jackson  had  imperatively  refused,  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  accepted  a  charter  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  It  was  still 
the  one  great  financial  institution  of 
the  coantry,  but  its  management  was 
no  longer  the  same.  It  had  the  power 
for  evil,  and  no  longer  the  influence 
for  good,  in  general  affairs.  In  the 
same  manner  as  in  1811,  after  the 
withdrawal  of  the  control  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  the  State 
banks  ran  a  wild  career  of  specula- 
tion. Prom  1830  to  1837,  three  hun- 
dred new  banks  sprang  up,  with  an 
additional  capital  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  millions  of  dollars — doub- 
ling, as  twenty  years  before,  the 
banking  capital  of  the  country.  The 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, under  the  direction  of  Nich- 
olas Biddle,  was  swept  along  in  the 
resistless  tide.  As  one  scheme  after  another  of  industrial  or  laud 
speculation  was  floated,  this  institutiou  found  itself  compelled  to 
dangerous  financial  expedients.  Abandoning  its  le^timate  business 
of  discount  and  deposit,  it  sent  an  agent  to  New  Orleans  to  buy  up 
the  cotton  crop  of  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama  as  a  basis  for 
foreign  exchange.  The  Barings,  alarmed  for  the  supply  of  the  Eug- 
lish  cotton  manufacturers,  sent  to  New  Orleans  John  A.  Stevens  of 
New- York.  With  the  superior  facilities  of  their  great  credit,  Mr. 
Stevens  had  no  difficulty  in  securing  the  choice  of  the  market,  and, 
moreover,  righting  the  ratio  of  exchange  by  the  purchase  of  the  best 
Northern  and  Western  notes ;  the  difference  in  exchange  between  New 
York  and  New  Orleaas  ranging  as  high  as  twenty-seven  per  cent., — 
a  condition  of  things  impossible  in  the  days  of  the  old  Bank  of  the 
United  States  with  its  established  branches. 

The  volume  of  the  general  banking  circulation  of  the  country  was 
still  further  swelled  by  the  deposits  of  the  revenues  of  the  United 


lOxJUux^vy./a 


oc^^ 


1  Judge  ivj,  Bon  at  Chief  Juntlce  Jay.  bom  June 
16, 17R9 :  died  October  14.  1858.  He  vu  a  <Il«tln- 
gQiBhed  jurist  and  author,  and  took  active  part  in 
antislaTery  labon.  Horace  Qreeley  said  of  him: 
"To  Judge  William  Jay  the  future  wiU  (jlve  the 
credit  of  having  been  one  of  the  earliest  advooat«s 
of  the  modem  antislaveiy  movemcDta.  which  at 


this  moment  influence  k>  radlfally  the  religion 
and  the  philanthropy  o(  the  oountry,  and  of  hav- 
inu  guided  by  his  writinga.  In  a  large  meanure. 
Ihe  direotion  which  a  cause  so  Important  and  so 
conBervative  of  the  best  and  moat  precious  righta 
of  the  people  should  take."  Enrroit. 


352  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

States.  Secretary  Woodbury  became  alarmed  for  their  safety.  In 
December,  1836,  he  reported  the  paper  currency  of  the  country  to 
have  increased  since  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  from  eighty  millions  to  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  or  forty  millions  in  eighteen  months ;  and  the  bank 
capital  in  the  same  period  to  have  increased  from  two  hundred  to 
three  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  The  flush  times  were  at  the  flood. 
Importations  augmented.  Suddenly  a  check  came.  .  The  balance  of 
trade  turned  against  the  United  States  to  a  sum  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  millions,  and  coin  was  shipped  abroad  to  liquidate  the  account. 
But  as  the  entire  amount  of  specie  in  the  country  did  not  exceed  the 
sum  of  seventy-three  millions,  the  reaction  was  sharp.  The  contrac- 
tion which  set  in  was  still  further  heightened  by  the  withdrawal  by 
Mr.  Woodbury  of  the  government  deposits  from  the  selected  deposi- 
taries, or  "pet  banks,^  as  they  were  termed.  Had  there  been  any 
government  debt  to  attract  a  foreign  investment,  the  situation  might 

have  been  tempered.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  at 
^j^  this  period  the  United  States  was  not  a  specie-produc- 
ing country.  It  accumulated  only  as  the  result  of  a  sound  financial 
policy.  It  could  not  be  retained  when  demanded  by  Europe,  except 
by  a  general  suspension.    The  result  was  unavoidable. 

On  May  10, 1837,  the  New- York  banks  suspended.  Mr.  Gullatin's 
bank  went  down  with  the  rest.  It  is  idle  to  suppose  that  any  single 
bank  can  maintain  itself  against  a  general  suspension.  It  may  liqui- 
date, become  a  bank  of  deposit,  paying  out  in  the  currency  it  re- 
ceives, but  it  cannot  maintain  itself  on  a  specie  basis  when  gold  is  at 
a  premium,  or  hold  its  relations  with  its  sister  institutions  except  on 
a  basis  of  common  accord.  A  general  suspension  of  all  the  banks  of 
the  United  States  followed.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  and 
at  this  period  that  Mr.  Woodbury  devised  the  United  States  sub- 
treasury,  which  he  recommended  to  Congress  as  a  plan  of  "keeping 
the  public  money  under  new  legislative  provisions  without  using 
the  banks  at  all  as  fiscal  agents.''  This  has  been  described  as  "a 
new  departure  in  treasury  management  and  a  further  evolution  in 
American  finance."  Its  advantages  have  been  incalculable.  In  fact, 
it  was  the  only  alternative  to  a  national  bank  under  government 
control,  after  the  general  plan  of  the  great  European  government 
institutions. 

Mr.  Gallatin,  unable  to  prevent  the  suspension,  immediately  set 
himself  to  work  to  bring  about  a  partial  liquidation  and  an  early 
resumption.  He  had  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  able  men  who 
then  controlled  the  banks  of  the  city.  On  August  15,  1837,  the 
officers  of  the  New- York  banks,  in  general  meeting,  appointed  a 
committee  to  call  a  convention   of  the  principal  banks  to  agree 


THE    BEOINNINO    OP    SEW-XOEK'S    COMMERCIAL    GREATNESS  353 


upon  a  time  for  a  resumption  of  specie  payments.  This  commit- 
tee, on  August  18,  addressed  a  cii-cular  to  the  principal  banks  in 
the  United  States,  inviting  the  expression  of  theii'  wishes  as  to 
the  time  and  place  for  a  convention,  suggesting  New-Tork  as  the 
place,  and  October,  1837,  as  the  time.  The  law  of  the  State  of 
New- York  dissolving  any  bank  as  a  legal  corporation  in  ease  of 
its  suspension  for  one  year,  it  was  imperative  that  resumption  in 
New- York  must  take  place  before 
March  1,  1838.  In  the  circular  the 
New- York  banks  committed  them- 
selves to  no  definite  plan  nor  to 
any  specified  day,  but  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  fall  in  the  rate  of 
exchange  indicated  an  early  return 
of  specie  to  par,  when  resumption 
could  be  effected  without  danger. 
In  fact,  the  collapse  of  the  vast  pa- 
per fabric  had  been  so  sudden  that 
it  carried  with  it  in  its  fall  the  entire 
scheme  of  land  speculations,  which 
was  the  particular  craze  of  this 
exciting  period. 

The  banks  of  Philadelphia,  no 
doubt  infiuenced  by  the  tottering 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, whose  transactions  affected 
the  entire  State,  on  August  29  de- 
cided, in  general  meeting,  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  appoint  dele- 
gates to  the  New- York  convention.  Understanding  this  condition, 
the  New- York  committee  invited  a  meeting  of  delegates  on  Novem- 
ber 27,  1837,  in  New- York.  Delegates  from  banks  of  seventeen 
States  and  the  District  of  Columbia  appeared.  On  the  30th  a  reso- 
lution was  brought  in  recommending  a  general  resumption  on  July 
1,  1838,  with  privilege  to  any  banks  that  felt  it  to  be  necessary  to 
resume  earUer.  This  was  to  cover  the  New- York  condition.  The 
Pennsylvania  banks  rephed,  condemning  the  idea  of  immediate  rei 
sumption  as  impracticable  and,  in  the  absence  of  delegates  from 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Tennessee,  as  unwise.  It  has 
been  seen  that  the  entire  southwestern  system  of  banking  and  cur- 
rency had  descended  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, from  the  old  bank.  The  convention  met  again  on  December  2, 
when  an  adjouniment  was  carried  to  April  11, 1838,  when  delegates 

1  nahop  Benjamin  Hoore.  of  die  Protestant  Episcopal  Churrh,  mirceeded  Blahop  Provooat  in 
1801.    Ha  VMalM  president  of  Colnmbla  College  from  1801  to  1811.    Editok. 
Vol.  nL— 23. 


"r- 


354  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

from  the  banks  not  represented  were  invited  to  attend.  As  in  all 
cases  where  such  conventions  are  controlled  by  numbers,  the  weaker 
institutions  for  a  time  protracted  the  debate,  dreading  the  conse- 
quence of  a  resumption,  which  is  as 
severe  upon  the  weak  as  suspension 
is  upon  the  strong.  It  was  evident 
that  Mr.  Biddle  had  the  power  of 
postponement.  The  Boston  banks 
had  joined  forces  with  those  under 
Biddle's  influence.  Meanwhile  ex- 
change on  London,  the  true  par  of 
which  was  109J,  had  fallen  from 
'  ^"^^  "^'^^^  121   to  111,  a  rate  about  2J   per 

cent,  below  specie  par,  New- York  bank  paper  being  at  a  discount  of 
5  per  cent.     The  export  of  specie  had  ceased. 

High  authority  in  Pennsylvania  giving  the  opinion  that  the  banks 
of  that  State  were  in  a  condition  to  resume,  Mr.  Gallatin's  committee 
made  a  general  report  on  December  15.  On  February  28,  a  further 
report  from  the  same  source  showed  that  the  liabilities  of  the  New- 
York  banks  had  been  reduced  more  than  twelve  and  one  half  mil- 
lions, or  fifty  per  cent.,  and  that,  with  the  support  of  the  community 
and  the  State  authorities,  they  could  resume  on  May  10, 1838.  A 
general  meeting  of  citizens  joyfully  ratified  this  decision.  On  April 
11,  the  general  convention  again  met  in  New- York,  the  Philadelphia 
banks  once  more  declining  to  attend.  A  letter  from  Secretary  Wood- 
bury engaged  the  support  of  the  United  States  treasury.  A  com- 
mittee of  one  from  each  State  recommended  the  first  Monday  in 
October  as  the  earliest  day,  but  the  general  body  could  not  be 
brought  to  a  date  so  early,  and  finally  fixed  upon  January  1, 1839. 
The  New- York  banks  would  have  accepted  July  1,  1838,  as  a  day  for 
general  resumption,  and  would  have  postponed  it  till  then  if  that 
date  had  been  set;  but  this  being  refused  they  resumed  alone  on 
May  10,  1838.  The  banks  of  the  country  were  compelled,  by  the 
force  of  public  opinion,  to  resume  on  July  1.  The  terrible  contrac- 
tion was  fatal  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  of  Pennsylvania, 
which,  after  desperate  struggles  to  redeem  itself  from  the  meshes, 
closed  its  doors  in  October,  1839,  carrying  with  it  the  entire  banking 
system  of  the  southern  and  southwestern  States.  With  it  ended  the 
last  hope  of  the  friends  of  a  United  States  bank  as  a  fiscal  agent  of 
the  government. 

With  the  failure  of  this  hope  came  the  desire  for  a  powerful  insti- 
tution in  New- York  to  serve  as  a  check  on  the  banks, —  an  institution 
with  a  large  capital,  controlled  by  men  removed  somewhat  from  the 
temptations  of  active  business,  which  should  hold  a  large  reserve, 


THE    BEGINmNO    OF    NEW-YOBK's    COlfMEBCIAL    QKEATNESS  355 


confine  itself  to  short  discounts,  and  consider  absolute  safety  rather 

than  profit  as  the  purpose  of  the  bank.    Mr.  Samuel  B.  Enggles,  by 

his  active  exertions  at  Albany,  secured  the  passage  of  a  free  banking 

law  in  1838,  under  which  the  Bank  of  Commerce  went  into  opera^ 

tion  in  that  year.    The  presidency  of  this  bank  was  tendered  to  Mr. 

Gallatin,  but  he  declined.    He  had  already  resolved  to  withdraw  from 

active  business,  and  in  fact  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  National 

Bank    of   New- York   in  June,   1839.     Samuel   Ward  was  chosen 

president    of    the 

Bank  of  Commerce 

This       gentleman  ' 

died    in    the    first 

year  of  office,  and 

John    A.    Stevens 

■was  chosen  in  his 

place.    Mr.  Stevens 

conducted  the  bank 

with  eminent  sue 

cess  until  after  the 

close   of    the  civil 

war,      holdiag     m 

that  critical  period 

of     oar     national 

finances  the  most  intimate  relations  with  Salmon  P  Chase,  the  worthy 

successor  of  Hamilton  and  Gallatin  in  the  department  of  the  treasury 

of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Jefferson,  in  his  message  of  1806,  recommended  a  national 
university  for  education  in  the  higher  sciences,  but  Mr.  Gallatin,  then 
a  member  of  his  cabinet,  thought  the  time  little  propitious  and  the 
scheme  not  likely  to  find  popular  favor.  An  old  companion  of  Galla- 
tin in  Geneva  had  even  conceived  the  idea  of  transporting  the  entire 
University  of  Geneva  to  the  United  States,  and  had  broached  this 
in  letters  to  Jefferson  and  Adams.  But  as  the  country  developed 
Gallatin  thought  the  plan,  often  referred  to  in  his  conversation  and 
correspondence  with  the  "  Sage  of  Mouticello,"  not  impossible  of 
attainment.  This  was,  to  use  his  own  words,  *'  the  establishment  of 
a  general  system  of  rational  and  practical  education  fitted  for  all  and 
gratuitously  open  to  all."  New- York,  already  a  great  and  a  rapidly 
growing  city,  offered  the  most  promising  field  for  a  gi-and  national 
university  on  a  broad  and  liberal  scale.  There  was  much  difficulty 
in  obtaining  teachers  in  the  lowest  branches  of  education  in  the 
public  schools.  Great  learning  and  the  teaching  faculty  are  not 
always,  nor  indeed  often,  found  in  the  same  person.  Governor  Enos 
T.  Throop,  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New- York 


CITr    HOTEL     TRINITT    CBUBCH     AND 


356  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

in  1830,  called  attention  to  this  deficiency,  but  recommended  no 
remedy.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  if  such  an  institution  were  to 
be  formed,  it  must  be  by  private  enterprise.  From  the  colleges  eon- 
trolled  by  religious  prejudice  neither  aid  nor  sympathy  was  to  be 
expected.  The  colonial  jealousies  of  Church  of  England  men  and 
Presbyterians  were  still  strong,  and,  moreover,  there  was  a  distmst 
of  scientific  investigation  as  tending  to  undermine  belief  in  the 
accepted  letter  of  scriptural  faith. 

To  Mr.  Gallatin's  personal  appeals  for  support  abundant  subscrip- 
tions of  money  and  scientific  material  were  instantly  forthcoming. 
The  literary  societies  all  over  the  United  States  were  enthusiastic  at 
the  proposal.  In  October,  1830,  a  convention  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred literary  and  scientific  gentlemen  arrived  in  the  city,  delegates 
from  every  section  of  the  country.  The  result  of  their  conference, 
which  was  held  in  the  common-council  chamber  at  the  City  Hall, 
was  the  foundation  of  the  New-York  University.  Mr.  Gallatin  was 
the  president  of  the  first  council,  but  finding  that,  as  in  Columbia 
College,  the  clergy  had  obtained  control  of  the  new  institution,  be 
abandoned  the  idea  he  had  conceived  of  endowing  the  city  of  New- 
York  with  a  great  American  Sorbonne. 

The  upper  class  of  society  was  clustered  at  this  time  in  the  streets 
which  surrounded  the  academic  block,  on  which  old  King's  College 
was  first  built.  Barclay  and  Murray  streets.  Church  street  and  Col- 
lege Place  were  the  confines,  which  extended  as  high  as  Chambers  on 
the  north,  and  on  the  blocks  between  Greenwich  street  and  Broad- 
way as  far  as  the  Battery.  There  were  residences  outside  these  limits, 
but  this  was  the  best-inhabited  section.  There  was  a  charming  liter- 
ary coterie  at  this  time  in  New- York,  of  which  Columbia  College  was 
the  center.  The  fame  of  one  of  these  societies  or  gatherings,  '*Th^ 
Club,''  has  almost  disappeared.  An  account  of  it,  written  by  Dr.  John 
Augustine  Smith  in  the  letter  of  invitation  to  Mr.  Gallatin  to  join  the 
company,  November  2,  1829,  deserves  to  be  recorded  among  the 
memorials  of  this  city : 

Nearly  two  years  ago  some  of  the  literary  gentlemen  of  the  city,  feeling  severely 
the  almost  total  want  of  intercourse  among  themselves,  determined  to  establish  an 
association  which  should  bring  them  more  frequently  into  contact.  Accordingly  they 
founded  the  '^  Club/'  as  it  is  commonly  called,  and  which  I  believe  I  mentioned  to  you 
when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  Bond  street.  Into  this  "Club"  twelve 
persons  only  are  admitted,  and  there  are  at  present  three  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  Chan- 
cellor Kent,  Messrs.  Johnston  and  Jay ;  three  professors  of  Columbia  College,  Messrs. 
McVickar,  Moore,  and  Renwick;  the  Rev.  Drs.  Wainwright  and  Mathews,  the  former 
of  the  Episcopal,  the  latter  of  the  Presb3rterian  Church;  two  merchants,  Messrs. 
Bosworth  and  Goodhue ;  and  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  the  medical  faculty.  Our 
twelfth  associate  was  Mr.  Morse  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design,  of  which  he  was 
president,  and  his  departure  for  Europe  has  caused  a  vacancy.    For  agreeableness  of 


THE    BEOINNINa    OF    NEW-YORK's    COMMERCIAL    GREATNESS  357 


converaaitioii  there  is  nothing  in  New- York  at  all  comparable  to  our  institution.  We 
meet  once  a  week,  no  officers,  no  formalities ;  invitations  when  in  case  of  intfiUigent 
and  distingoiahed  strangers,  and  after  a  light  repast,  retire  aboat  eleven  o'clock. 

Cliaucellor  Kent  had  been  the  one  center  of  attraction  at  these 
meetings,  but  Mr.  dallatin  brought  in  a  more  varied  conversation. 
Indeed,  in  this  art  he  is  said  to  have  had  no  rival  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  Talleyrand  alone  on  the  other.  Naturally  the  member- 
ship of  the  elub  changed.  About  the  year  1837  it  numbered  Professor 
Henry  J.  Anderson,  John  A.  Stevens,  Gallatin's  countryman  Henry 
C.  De  Bham,  the  Swiss  consul,  John  Wells,  Samuel  Ward,  Gulian  C. 
Verplanck,  and  Charles  King.  New-York  has  not  seen  a  literary 
symposium  more  de- 
lightful, more  instruc- 
tive, more  dignified 
than  the  gathering  at 
these  meetings.  The 
old-time  simplicity 
was  maintained  in 
elegant  surroundings. 
The  elub  met  at  the 
housetf  of  the  mem- 
bers on  winter  even- 
ings. Supper  was  at 
nine  o'clock.  The  rule 
was  absolute  that  only 
one  hot  dish  should 
be  served;  but  the 
ladies  managed  to 
evade  the  regulation 
by  sundry  subter- 
fuges. Nor  did  they  alisolutely  submit  to  exclu- 
sion. On  one  occasion  Miss  Sarah  Moore,  the  sister 
of  Professor  J^athaniel  F,  Moore,  of  the  college,  surprised  the  com- 
pany with  an  impromptu  dish  sent  into  the  house  of  her  friend  with 
an  elaborate  effusion  on  the  matter  of  the  intruding  delicacy,  which 
was  found  sufficient  apology.  On  another  this  ingenious  and  admir- 
able lady  met  the  withdrawing  guests  with  an  impromptu  of  another 
character — this  time  in  the  form  of  four  Italian  trovatori,  with  their 
national  instruments,  posted  at  the  door. 

New- York  was  the  favorite  refuge  of  the  political  exiles  of  every 
laud.  In  1834  there  came  quite  a  number  of  Poles,  among  whom  was 
£tsko,  a  nephew  of  Kosciusko.  A  committee  was  formed  to  collect 
funds,  and  the  exiles  were  quartered  on  the  willing  inhabitants. 
Among  the  papers  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  who  was  the  chairman  of  the 


THE  BEOINNINa  OF  new-yokk's  commebcial   gbeatness  359 

committee,  preserved  in  the  New- York  Historioal  Society,  there  is  a 
list  of  names  ending  in  ski;  to  each  is  affixeil  a,  number  and  an  allot- 
ment No.  182,  one  Szelesegynski,  was  taken  by  Mr.  Gallatin  himself 
to  look  after  horses.  From  their  temporary  homes  these  uufortiuiatos 
were  sent  into  the  interior  as  fast  as  places  could  be  found  for  them. 
All  were  provided  for  in  this  manner  except  fourteen  boys,  for  whom 
a  subscription  was  taken  up,  Cougress  assigned  n  tract  of  land  in 
Qlinois  to  these  exiles  from  oppression. 

Warren  street  has  been  named  as  about  the  upper  limit  of  ultra- 
fashionable  residence  before  1837.  Two  houses  built  of  marble  on 
Chambers  street  about  this  period  were  considered  foolish  extrava- 
gances, because  too  high  up-town.  The 
Sunday  walk  of  the  ladies  was  from  the 
south  corner  of  Warren  street  down 
Broadway  to  Grace  Church,  below  Triu- 
ity,  and  return.  Children  were  taken 
each  morning  to  play  and  to  enjoy  the 
fresh  air  on  the  Battery,  then  as  lovely 
a  spot  as  heart  could  desire.  There  was 
a  colony  about  St.  John's  Park,  and  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Varick  and  Laight 
streets;  but  it  was  considered  remote. 
The  New-Yorker  of  that  day,  whether 
of  Holland  stock  or  not,  had  the  lethar- 
gic traits  of  that  old  race.  A  walk  from 
the  park  to  the  sycamoi"es  which  stood 
on  the  west  side  of  Broadway  at  about 
Twenty-sixth  street  was  considered  to  be  a  feat  of  pedestrianlsm 
suited  only  to  athletic  youths.  Hot  corn  and  ice-cream  were  carried 
about  the  streets  on  summer  evenings,  and  eagerly  purchased  by  the 
citizens,  who  not  infrequently  took  the  evening  breeze  on  their  front- 
door steps.  Nor  was  it  considered  below  the  diguity  of  a  gentleman 
to  drink  a  dranght,  or,  taking  off  his  hat,  to  cool  his  hea<l  of  a  seeth- 
ing day,  at  the  town  pumps.  Fires  were  numerous,  and  one  of  the  , 
chief  pleasures  of  the  New-Yorker  was  to  "run  with  the  engine."  It 
was  considered  a  privilege  to  bo  pennitted  to  take  a  hand  at  the 
hose  on  some  great "  washout "  between  rival  engines.  The  assemblies 
or  subscription  balls  were  dignified  affairs,  and  the  waltz  was  as  yet 
unknown ;  but  the  highest  in  name  and  fashion  did  not  disdain  to 
take  the  broidered  scarf  and  display  the  graces  of  her  motions  in  the 
dance  of  the  bayadere. 


'  Chrlntopher  Collc^  who  U  nienrioned  In  pre- 
rloiu  ehmpten  of  thin  Tulaint.  i1li>d  la  tblH  r.lty 
In  1821.    The  vignette  U  copied  from  a  painting 


the  piwsciwioii  of  tlir  Ncw-York  Gi>D.Ml..gical 
.1  Biojrrupliii^iil  S-H^lfty.  Hi-  i«  still  n-|.n.-wiited 
re  by  <lvsreuilaiitti.  Kuitiim. 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOKK 


The  Caf6  FranQais,  in  Warren  street,  was  the  resort  of  the  wits  of 
the  city.  Here  the  poets  Halleck  and  Hoffman  were  daily  visitors, 
and  many  are  the  legends  of  this  famous  spot.  It  was  here  also  that 
the  Siamese  twins  took  up  their  abode  on  their  first  visit  to  New- 
York.  This  quiet  room  was 
favored  only  by  the  chosen 
gentler  spirits.  The  gayer 
bloods,  who  loved  ^are  and 
glitter  and  the  noise  of  Broad- 
way, patronized  the  Cafe  de 
Mille  Colonnes,  where  music 
was  had  with  the  coffee  or 
juleps  or  ices  of  the  period- 
It  was  at  this  time  also  that 
Delmonieo  started  on  his  suc- 
cessful career.  He  had  the 
favor  of  Gallatin  at  once  as 
his  compatriot  and  as  a  lover 
of  good  cheer,  of  which  he 
had  shared  the  best,  if  not  an 
epicure  in  the  narrow  sense  of 
the  word.  Never  had  caterer 
such  a  field  for  his  art,  with 
the  product  of  every  zone 
cheap  and  in  bountiful  profusion  close  at  hand.  And  never  did  ca- 
terer better  improve  his  opportunities,  teaching  the  inhabitants  of 
this  new  world  the  culinary  habits  of  the  old,  and  revolutionizing 
the  processes  of  the  old  by  the  devices  suggested  by  the  various  and 
admirable  customs  of  hospitable  citizens  of  old  New-Tork. 

Among  the  schools  of  the  period  most  in  vogue  was  the  grammar- 
school  for  boys.  This  stood  in  Murray  street,  on  the  college  block, 
and  was  presided  over  by  Professor  Charles  Anthon,  of  Columbia  Col- 
lege, better  known  to  literary  fame  as  the  translator  of  Lempri^re's 
*'  Classical  Dictionary,"  which,  with  the  "  Gradus  ad  Pamassum,"  was 
a  favorite  study  of  lovers  of  Roman  and  Grecian  history  and  legend, 
and  of  easy  quotations  in  the  Latin  vernacular.  Professor  Anthon, 
with  his  pearl-colored,  tight-fitting  cloth  trousers,  and  his  light  cane, 
was  an  admired  and  dreaded  character.  To  reach  the  fit  of  the  one 
was  the  ambition  of  the  youthful  postulant,  as  much  as  the  descent 
of  the  other  was  his  dread.  There  was  a  legend  current  about  this 
schoolmaster,  that  he  breakfasted  daily  on  twelve  hMxi-boiled  eggs, 
and  that  his  morning  exercise  was  taken  on  the  bodies  of  the  gram- 
mar-school boys.  He  may  have  been  rough,  but  he  was  not  brutal, 
and  no  one  was  ever  seriously  damaged  in  these  morning  exercises. 


COHTOIT'8   garden,  BROADWAY,  1880. 


THE    BEOINNINQ    OF    NIIW-YOBE'S    COMMERCIAL    GREATNESS  361 


Befiides  this  there  was  the  French  Institate  in  Back  street,  kept  by 
the  brothers  Louis  and  Hyacinth  Peuquet  No  young  gentleman 
was  considered  to  have  completed  his  preliminary  education  until  he 
had  mastered  the  French  language.  The  Peuquets  were  well-bred 
gentlemen.  Louis,  the  elder,  carried  a  ball  received  at  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  which  made  him  an  unpleasant  master  of  a  wet  day. 
Hyacinth  was  an  excellent  mathematician,  and  no  youth  left  his 
school  without  a  thorough  traiuing  in  the  science  of  "fractions." 

There  were  two  equally  celebrated  schools  for  the  education  of 
young  ladies.  Before  1837  Mrs.  Mary  OkiU,  a  lady  of  refinement,  the 
daughter  of  Sir  James  Jay, 
had  her  institution  in  Bar- 
clay street.  Here  almost  every 
young  miss  of  distinction  in 
the  city  had  her  first  train- 
ing, and  many  completed  their 
education  under  her  guidance. 
But  there  were  other  families 
who  preferred  that  the  finish- 
ing touches  should  be  acquired 
by  attendance  at  a  French 
school.  Of  these  there  were 
two  of  social  renown,  that  of 
Madame  Fulgence  Chegaray, 
and  that  of  Mr.  Charles  Cauda. 
Mr.  Cauda  also  was  a  soldier 
of  the  empire,  and  was  fond 
of  relating  his  terrible  experi- 
ence on  the  return  from  Mos- 
cow. The  scions  of  this  fam- 
ily are  well-known  citizens  of 
New- York,  and  one  of  the 
beat-remembered  and  saddest  episodes  of  New-York  life  was  the 
death  and  funeral  of  the  accomphshed  daughter  of  Mr.  Canda,  killed 
by  Ijeiug  thrown  from  her  carriage  on  her  return  from  an  evening 
entertainment.  Both  sexes  were  taught  dancing  by  Monsieur  Charu- 
aud,  whose  method  was  thorough  in  the  training  of  the  body,  as 
well  as  in  grace  of  motion.  Traditions  of  his  amiability  and  skill 
remain  with  three  generations  of  New-Yorkers,  whom  the  veteran 
taught  up  to  the  age  of  fourscore.  Others  trod  in  the  footsteps  of 
these  admirable  instructors,  but  New- York  has  never  seen  institutions 
of  a  higher  character  than  those  which  marked  this  interesting  decade. 


CANDA    HUNUMENT.l 


362  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


THE  FREEDOM  OF  THE  CITY  AS  A  MARK  OF  HONOR. 

The  bestowal  of  this  mark  of  esteem  is  so  frequently  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapters,  that  it  seems  proper  to  collect  some  account  of  the  practice  and  its  signifi- 
cance, and  to  give  a  list  of  those  threescore  persons  who  have  thus  been  honored  from 
the  time  of  Lord  Combury,  the  first  to  whom  it  was  given,  to  the  present  time — 
January,  1893 — a  period  of  nearly  two  centuries. 

I.  Of  the  freedom  of  the  city,  Chancellor  James  Kent  says :  "  The  20th  and  21st 
sections  of  the  Montgomerie  Charter  gave  to  the  Mayor  and  four  or  more  Aldermen 
the  power  to  make  free  citizens  of  the  City,  on  payment  of  a  fee  not  exceeding  £5.  to  the 
use  of  the  corporation.  This  was  only  a  repetition  of  the  power  conferred  by  Governor 
Dongan's  charter.  .  .  .  This  chartered  power  has  ceased  [Kent  wrote  in  1836]  to  be 
of  any  importance,  and  is  used  only  as  a  testimonial  of  respect  or  gratitude,  on  the 
part  of  the  corporation,  towards  persons  in  high  station,  or  who  may  have  entitled 
themselves  to  the  honor  by  personal  merit,  or  some  distinguished  service.  There  are 
many  instances  in  the  annals  of  the  corporation  of  this  mode  of  reward.  But  the  ad- 
mission to  the  freedom  of  the  city  was,  at  the  date  of  the  charter,  not  only  a  token  of 
honor,  but  a  g^nt  of  substantial  benefit.  By  making  a  person  a  freeman  of  the  city, 
he  became  entitled  to  all  its  municipal  privileges ;  and,  among  others,  to  the  right  of 
voting  for,  and  of  being  voted  to,  corporate  offices,  which  right  belonged  only  to  corpo- 
rate freemen  and  to  freeholders,  until  the  Charter  was  altered  by  statute,  in  1804.^ 
("The  Charter  of  the  City  of  New- York,  with  notes,"  New- York,  1836,  pp.  152,  ei  seq.) 

II.  The  following  oath  was  required  of  those  who  acquired  the  privileges  of  free- 
men :     **  I, ,  do  swear.  That  I,  as  a  Freeman  of  the  city  of  New- York,  will  be 

obeisant  and  obedient  to  the  Mayor,  and  other  Ministers  or  Peace  Officers  of  the  said 
city ;  the  franchises  and  customs  thereof  I  will  maintain,  and  keep  the  said  city  harm- 
less as  much  as  in  me  lieth.  I  will  know  of  no  unlawful  gatherings,  assemblies,  or 
meetings,  or  of  any  conspiracies  against  the  peace  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  New- 
York,  but  I  will  warn  the  Mayor,  or  other  Magistrate  thereof,  or  hinder  it  to  the  ut- 
most of  my  power.  All  these  points  and  articles  I  will  well  and  truly  maintain,  and 
keep  according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  said  city.  So  help  me  God."  ("  New- 
York  Historical  Society  Collections,"  1885,  p.  240.) 

m.  On  pages  246,  247  of  this  volume  there  have  been  given  in  foot-notes  the  ad- 
dress and  proceedings  at  the  presentation  of  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  Captain  Isaac 
Hull,  of  the  Constitution,  in  recognition  of  his  victory  over  the  Guerri^re.  It  will  be  of 
interest,  also,  as  a  specimen  of  similar  documents  delivered  to  other  x>ersons,  to  present 
the  certificate  of  the  grant  to  George  Washington : 

'^  By  James  Duane  Esquire,  Mayor,  and  the  Recorder  and  Aldermen  of  the  City  of 
New-York.    To  all  to  whom  these  Presents  shall  come  or  may  concern.  Greeting. 

*^  Whereas  His  Excellency  George  Washington,  late  Commander  in  Chief  of  the 
Armies  of  the  United  States  of  America,  by  a  series  of  the  most  illustrious  Services  is 
entitled  to  the  Respect,  Gratitude,  and  Applause  of  every  Heart  which  is  truly  Ameri- 
can 'y  And  as  none  can  have  greater  Reason  to  cherish  the  most  honorable  and  affec- 
tionate Sentiments  towards  him  than  the  Citizens  of  the  State  of  New- York ;  So  we 
have  the  fullest  Confidence  that  there  is  no  State  in  which  they  are  more  generally 
and  emphatically  felt.  Flattering  ourselves  that,  convinced  of  this  Truth,  His  Excel- 
lency may  be  pleased  to  have  his  name  enrolled  among  the  Citizens  of  a  Metropolis  for  the 
Recovery  of  which  so  much  of  his  Care  and  Solicitude  have  been  employed :  Now  there- 
fore know  ye  that  we,  considering  that  Effusions  of  public  Esteem  are  the  most  welcome 
Tribute  to  a  patriot  mind,  have  admitted  and  received,  and  by  these  Presents  Do  ad- 
mit and  receive,  his  said  Excellency  to  be  a  Freeman  and  Citizen  of  the  said  City. 


THE 


:4MMiii 


iM    OF    THE    CITY    AS    A    MAKK    OF    HONOR     363 


''  To  hold,  exeroise,  and  enjoy  all  the  Rights,  Privileges  and  Immunities  to  the  Free- 
dom and  Citizenship  of  the  said  City  incident  and  appertaining  as  a  permanent  Proof 
of  the  admiration  we  feel  for  his  exalted  Virtues,  for  the  Wisdom,  Fortitude  and 
Magnanimity  which  he  has  so  gloriously  displayed  thro'  all  the  Vicissitudes  and  Em- 
barrassments, thro*  all  the  alternate  Scenes  of  prosperous  and  adverse  Fortune,  pro- 
duced in  the  Progress  of  an  arduous  and  difficult  War.    And  finally  for  that  patriotic 
Heroism  which,  after  having  been  an  essential  instrument  in  giving  by  the  Divine 
Blessing  Liberty  and  Independence  to  the  thirteen  Republicks,  hath  led  him  to  retire 
with  Chearf ulness  from  the  Head  of  a  victorious  Army  to  the  modest  Station  of  a 
private  Citizen. 

^'  In  Testimony  of  these  Truths  and  to  perpetuate  them  to  our  remotest  Posterity, 
we  the  said  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Aldermen  have  caused  these  Presents  to  be  entered 
on  our  pubhc  Records,  and  our  common  Seal  of  the  said  City,  enclosed  in  a  golden 
Box,  to  be  hereunto  affixed.  Witness  James  Duane  Esq'',  Mayor  of  the  said  City,  this 
2d  Day  of  December  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  1784,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the 
State  the  ninth."  ("  At  a  Common  Council  held  the  2d  Day  of  December,  1784,"  from 
the  Records  at  the  City  Hall.    N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  1885,  pp.  267,  268.) 

The  letter  which  Washington  wrote  in  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  this  certificate 
and  the  gold  box  containing  it,  appears  in  facsimile  on  pages  23  and  24  of  this  volume. 
IV.  A  list  of  the  names  of  those  upon  whom  the  freedom  of  the  city  has  been  be- 
stowed, together  with  the  dates,  is  here  given : 


Viacount  Combury Dec.  1, 

Earl  Lovelace March  1, 

Ctovemor  William  Hunter June  16, 

Governor  William  Burnet Sept.  26, 

Captain  Peter  Solgardi Aug.  6, 

Captain  Coril  MayneS Oct.  16, 

Governor  William  Coeby Aug.  9, 

Lord  Augustus  Fits  Boy Oct.  23, 

Mi^or  Alexander  Cosby s Aug.  27, 

Thomas  Freeman' ** 

Captain  Matthew  Norris Nov.  4, 

Captain  Robert  Long ** 

Andrew  Hamilton,  of  Philadelphia. .  Sept.  29, 

Daniel  Horsmanden Jan.  17, 

Governor  Gteorge  Clinton Sept  30, 

Captain  John  Burglss^ June  28, 

Honorable  William  Shirley Aug.  11, 

Sir  Danvers  Osbom Oct.  10, 

Sir  Charles  Hardy Sept.  10, 

General  Jeffrey  Amherst Nov.  27, 

Governor  Robert  Monckton Oct.  31, 

Governor  Henry  Moore Nov.  21, 

William  Davis5 June  10, 

The  Earl  of  Dunmore Nov.  13, 

Governor  WUliam  Tryon July  18, 

General  Thomas  Gage June  7, 

Marquis  de  La  Fayette Sept.  14, 

George  Clinton Sept.  22, 

John  Jay Oct,  4, 

Baron  Steuben Oct.  11, 


1702. 
1709. 
1710. 
1720. 
1723. 
1728. 
1732. 
1732. 
1733. 


t« 


1734. 

1735. 
1736. 
1743. 
1748. 
1748. 
1753. 
1755. 
1760. 
1761. 
1765. 
1766. 
1770. 
1771. 
1773. 
1784. 
1784. 
1784. 
1784. 


George  Washington Dec.  2,  1784. 

Pierre  Charles  I'Enfant « Oct.  12,  1789. 

Horatio  Gates Feb.  25,  1791. 

Alexander  Hamilton Mar.  16,  1795. 

Robert  Pulton Aug.  10,  1812. 

Isaac  Hull Sept.  7,  1812. 

Jacob  Jones Nov.  30,  1812. 

Stephen  Decatur Dec.  17,  1812. 

William  Bainbridge Mar.  1,  1813. 

James  Lawrence Mar.  29,  1813. 

OUver  H.  Perry Oct.  4,  1813. 

Thomas  McDonough Sept  26,  1814. 

Jacob  Brown Oct  10,  1814. 

Alexander  Macomb  Nov.  21,  1814. 

Charles  Stewart June  5,  1815. 

Andrew  Jackson Feb.  23, 1819. 

George  Washington  de  La  Fayette.  .Aug.  18,  1824. 

Martin  Van  Buren Mar.  23,  1829. 

Daniel  T.  Paterson June  27,  1832. 

Winfleld  Scott April  23,  1847. 

Zachary  Taylor '•  " 

Matthew  C.  Perry July  24,  1848. 

Frederick  Jerome  ^ Sept  18,  1848. 

David  Cook Jan.  4.  1850. 

Robert  Creightou Jan.  19,  1854. 

Edwin  J.  Low  8 ** 

Robert  Anderson April  22,  1861. 

Thurlow  Weed July  7,  1862. 

David  G.  Farragut Aug.  17,  1864. 

Andrew  Johnson Aug.  27,  1866. 

Editob. 


1  For  capturing  a  pirate  vessel. 
-  For  driving  away  pirates  from  New  England 
waters. 

3  Freeman  was  the  son-in-law  of  Governor  Cosby. 

4  For  capturing  a  privateer. 

5  For  having  presented  a  portrait  of  William 
Pitt  to  the  common  council. 

^  An  engineer  ofHoer  who  came  to  this  country 
with  Lafayette  and  served  with  distinction  in  the 


army,  afterward  drawing  the  plan  of  the  city  of 
Washington. 

7  A  common  seaman  who  had  displayed  great 
heroism  during  a  shipwreck,  and  had  saved  many 
lives. 

8  This  and  the  two  preceding  persons  were  cap- 
tains of  vessels,  who  had  been  the  means  of  res- 
cuing hundreds  of  shipwrecked  people  at  sea,  at 
great  risk  to  themselves. 


CHAPTER  X 


TEN  YEABS  OP  MimiCIPAL  YIGOR 

1837-1847 


^  N  Mareh  4, 1837,  beneath  a  cloudless  sky,  President  Van 
Buren  read  his  inaugural  address  to  the  thousands  assem- 
bled before  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  On  the  15th  of 
the  same  month,  Daniel  Webster  visited  the  city  of  New- 
Tork,  to  receive  an  ovation  from  the  Whigs  of  the  metropolis  for  his 
opposition  to  the  principles  which  had  again  tiiuniphed  in  Martin 
Van  Buren's  election.  Webster  traveled  from  Philadelphia  to  Perth 
Amboy  by  the  newly 
opened  Camden  and  Am- 
boy Railway.  A  commit- 
tee of  New- York's  most 
prominent  Whigs,  appoint- 
ed to  make  arrangementp 
for  his  reception,  met  him 
on  his  arrival  at  Perth  Am- 
boy, where  bo  was  taken 
on  board  the  steamer  ehar- 
^W  "^^  1  "^^I'^^^^'^w  -^-B-  tered  by  the  committee  and 
__^;^*^ -^  jV        ^rTtf^   conveyed  to  New- York  city. 

■•r^t^j  V  -^1  "^  ^lli'    -^^  immense  concourse  of 

.'^  /  /  'llljl       pfiopl*    assembled    at    the 

tM   ^'  ^  _^r     ~^\      iW^        Battery  to  greet  the  "De- 

\^    ^  ^f    ^         ''^  fender  of  the  Constitution." 

F  Upon  landing  he  was  placed 

"  in  a  barouche  with  DaWd 

B.  Ogden,  Philip  Hone,  and 
Peter  Sta^,  and  driven  to 
the  American  Hotel,  amid 
the  cheers  of  the  throngs  which  lined  his  route  from  the  Battery  to 
the  hotel.  In  the  evening  between  four  thousand  and  five  thousand 
persons,  chiefly  Whigs,  were  gathered  in  Niblo's  Saloon  to  hear  the 
great  orator  upon  the  issues  of  the  time — the  National  Bank  and  the 


W^'] 


TEN    YEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIOOB 


365 


methods  of  Jackson  and  of  hie  successor.     On  the  following  day  a 
public  reception  was  tendered  him  in  the  City  Hall. 

The  city  which  Webster  visited  in  1837  had  few  of  the  features  of 
the  metropolis  of  to-day.  It  had  then  a  population  of  about  300,000, 
the  census  taken  by  the  mayor's  marshals  in  1835  showing  upward 
of  270,000.  Near  the  Battery,  at  which  the  great  Whig  statesman 
disembarked,  stood  Castle  Garden,  then  situated  upon  an  insular 
moimd  of  earth,  ap- 
proached from  the  Bat^ 
tery  by  a  bridge.  This 
historic  structure,  on- 
ginaUy  Castle  Clinton, 
had  in  1822  been  ceded 
by  the  United  States  to 
the  city,  at  which  date 
it  received  its  present 
name.  For  years  after 
the  cession  it  was  rented 
as  a  place  of  amuse- 
ment, and  distinguished 
singers,  among  whom 
may  be  enumerated 
Madame  Malibran  and 
Madame  Grisi,  have  here 
delighted  thousands  of 
old  New-Yorkers.  As  he 
rode  up  Broadway,  the  visitor  may  have  had  pomted  out  to  him 
the  house,  long  since  razed,  where  Sir  Henry  Chnton  had  his 
headquarters  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  but  at  this  time  the 
home  of  Edward  Prime,  of  the  banking-house  of  Prime,  Ward  & 
King,  whom  Webster  doubtless  met,  and  whose  firm  was  destined  to 
play  an  important  part  in  the  impending  financial  crisis  of  1837. 
Nor  could  the  successful  advocate  in  the  great  case  of  Gibbons  v. 
Ogden  have  failed  to  notice  the  adjoining  house,  once  the  borne  of 
Robert  Fulton,  with  whose  invention  one  of  his  most  brilliant  legal 
triumphs  was  associated.  In  the  brick  row  then  fronting  Bowling 
Green  lived  Stephen  Whitney,  perhaps  the  wealthiest  man  of  the 
city,  and  Jacob  Hone,  who,  with  his  brother  Philip,  had  amassed  a 
fortune  as  an  auctioneer.     The  house  where  Washington  Ir\ing  once 

>  Bunker's  Mantdon  House,  a  famous  botel.  was 
situated  at  No.  39  Broadway,  aad  was  a  large 
double  'brick  house,  erected  In  ITSC  hy  O^iteral 
Alexander  Macomb  as  a  residence  for  himself.  It 
was  s  most  eonif ortaWe  and  weU-conducled  hotel, 
and  was  patronixed  lar^ly  by  Southern  families. 
Bunker,  who  was  noted  for  Us  affabillt;'  to  bis 


grew  rich  rapidly,  and  eventually  sold 
Ibe  property  and  retired  from  bijainess.  Moulton. 
In  his  ■■  History  of  New-York,"  nays,  according  to 
tradition,  that  thU  bouse  xtood  on  the  site  of  the 
first  erection  of  any  kind  by  the  Dutch  on  Man- 
hattan Island.  This  consisted  of  a  small  redoubt, 
built  In  16IS.  Editor. 


366 


HI8T0ET    OF    NEW- YORK 


resided  was  within  sight,  near  the  corner  of  State  and  Bridge  streete, 
while  No.  17  Whitehall  street  was  still  the  home  of  bis  brother-in-law, 
the  distinguished  author  of  "  The  Backwoodsman,"  James  K.  Paul- 
ding, soon  to  be  called  to  a  place  in  Van  Buren's  cabinet  as  secretary 
of  the  navy.  Numerous  private  residences  were  to  be  found  upon 
Broadway  below  and  above  Wall  street.  About  this  marvelous  thor- 
oughfare— for  such  Broadway  was  even  then — banks  were  not  more 
thickly  clustered  than  churches.  Grace  Church  stood  on  the  comer 
of  Rector  street  and  Broadway; 
and  at  No.  11  Wail  street,  the  old 
Presbyterian  church,  in  which  wor- 
shiped the  society  that,  in  1844, 
built  the  church  on  Fifth  Avenue, 
between  Eleventh  and  Twelfth 
streets.  Near  Grace  Church  stood 
Trinity,  but  not  the  Trinity  fa- 
miliar to  the  present  generation. 
The  Trinity  of  1837,  which  was  not 
the  oiiginal  edifice,  but  the  third 
church  upon  this  site,  was  com- 
pleted in  1788,  and  was  now  near- 
ing  its  end.  In  1839  it  was  taken 
down,  and  it  was  replaced  in  1846 
by  the  present  noble  structure.  As  the  mention  of  the  second  temple 
would  to  the  Jew  have  suggested  the  more  splendid  glory  of  the  de- 
parted temple  of  Solomon,  so  the  second  Trinity  recalls  the  former 
church,  built  in  1696,  as  the  old  historian  records  it,  "  very  pleasantly 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,"  for  the  beach  upon  which  the 
waters  of  the  river  once  broke  is  now  covered  by  gravestones.  In 
Wall  street,  upon  the  site  of  the  old  Federal  H^  were  reared  the 
outlines  of  an  unfinished  structure,  designed  for  the  custom-house, 
and  for  many  years  occupied  as  such,  but  now  the  subtreasnry.  The 
old  Merchants'  Exchange,  erected  between  1825  and  1827  by  the  Mer- 
chants' Exchange  Company,  which  was  incorporated  in  1823,  with  a 
capital  of  $1,000,000,  had  been  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  Decem- 
ber, 1835,  together  with  Ball  Hughes's  celebrated  statue  of  Hamilton, 
which  stood  in  the  rotunda,  and  to  save  which  most  heroic  efforts 
were  made.  The  present  Merchants'  Exchange  was  begun  in  1836,  but 
was  not  finished  until  1842.  Upon  a  later  visit,  in  1842,  Mr.  Webster 
found  it  still  incomplete.  On  the  east  side  of  Nassau  street,  between 
Cedar  and  Liberty,  stooil  the  Middle  Dutch  Church,  an  object  familiar 


1  The  Garden  Street  Cbnrch  (■Jterw*Td  called 
the  Sonth  Chiir«h)  waa  built  in  1693,  in  Garden 
atreet,  now  EzchftDfce  Place.    The  original  edifice 


was  of  wood,  and ' 
1TT6,  and  in  1807 
Id  the  aboTe 


TEN  YEABS  OF  MUNICIPAL  VIGOR  367 

until  1882.    Erected  in  1729,  it  was  for  many  years  consecrated  to  the 
service  of  the  Gkxi  for  the  privilege  of  worshiping  whom  the  Puritans 
of  Holland  so  long  and  triumphantly  withstood  the  armies  of  Alva 
and  his  son.    The  transfer  of  the  government  of  Peter  Stuyvesant's 
city  to  the  Duke  of  York  produced  no  change  in  its  sacred  character; 
bat,  during  the  Revolutionary  days,  it  was  used  by  the  British  as  a 
place  for  the  confinement  of  American  soldiers.*   Peace  being  restored, 
religious  worship  was  resumed  and  continued  until  1845,  when  the 
building  was  leased  to  the  United  States  and  convert6d  into  a  post- 
oflBce ;  for  the  merchants  of  that  day  had  successfully  objected  to  a 
post-office  as  far  up-town  as  the  City  Hall.    The  old  South  Dutch 
Church  had  been  consumed  in  the  great  fire  of  1835,  but  the  North 
Dutch  Church,  erected  upon  the  northwest  corner  of  Fulton  and  Wil- 
liam streets,  was,  like  St.  George's  Chapel  in  Beekman  street,  a  famil- 
iar object  until  within  a  few  years  past. 

The  city,  in  1837,  and  for  several  years  afterward,  was  in  a  state 
of  chaos,  owing  to  the  extent  of  building  operations.  New  structures 
of  brick  or  stone  were  replacing  the  old  wooden  architecture,  or 
rising  from  the  ruins  caused  by  the  fire  of  1835.  As  the  "  Mirror  ^ 
said,  it  reminded  the  observer  of  the  famous  city  of  Dido,  where  ^neas 
witnessed  the  incessant  activity  of  the  masons  and  architects  of  Tyre. 
The  exodus  of  the  wealthy  from  the  lower  parts  of  the  city,  within  a 
few  years  to  become  general,  had  hardly  yet  commenced.  Park 
Place,  Murray,  Warren,  Chambers,  Franklin,  and  White  streets,  and 
upon  the  east  side  East  Broadway,  were,  besides  Broadway,  the  chief 
abodes  of  fashion.  A  few  elegant  mansions  had  been  built  about 
University  Square,  or  in  lower  Fifth  Avenue.  The  City  Park  em- 
braced the  land  upon  which  the  post-office  now  stands,  and  was  cov- 
ered with  ample  shade-trees.  To  the  west  of  the  City  Hall,  then 
considered  one  of  the  finest  public  buildings  in  New-York,  was  the 
old  jail  or  bridewell.  The  new  City  Hall,  the  brown  stone  building 
to  the  east  of  the  present  county  court-house,  was  at  this  time,  and 
for  many  years  afterward,  occupied  by  the  justices  of  the  United 
States  District  and  Circuit  Courts,  and  by  the  justices  of  the  Marine 
Court  and  Common  Pleas.  The  Hall  of  Records  has  been  so  many 
times  altered  that  our  modem  busy  man  forgets  its  transformations, 
although  he  deplores  its  ugliness ;  but  the  old  building  merits  atten- 
tion, not  only  for  the  records  it  contains,  but  for  the  record  of  which 
it  is  the  witness.  At  one  time  the  headquarters  of  the  infamous  Cun- 
ningham, in  which  so  many  gallant  patriots  were  confined  during  the 
occupation  of  the  city  by  the  British,  the  building  in  1830  became  the 

1  It  was  in  this  church  that  the  semi-centennial  oc<;asion  was  the  venerable  John  Quincy  Adams, 

celebration  of  Washin^rton's  inaugniration  took  then  seventy-two  years  of  age.    The  ceremonies 

place  on  April  30,  1839,  under  the  auspices  of  the  at  the  church  were  followed  by  a  grand  dinner  at 

New-York  ffistorical  Society.    The  orator  of  the  the  City  Hotel. 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


depository  of  the  county  records,  and  in  the  year  1832  was  used  as 
a  cholera  hospital.  Later  again  it  was  renovated  and  remodeled,  a 
new  facade  with  Ionic  columns  erected,  and  in  the  days  of  which  we 
write  it  was  one  of  the  landmarks  of  the  city. 

New- York  was  at  this  time  deficient  in  public  parks.  Bowling 
Green  was  an  inclosure  sacred  to  the  aristocrats  who  dwelt  near  it; 
St  John's  Park,  or  Hudson  Square,  with  its  fiue  trees,  was  also  main- 
tained in  trim  state  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  occupants  of  the  sur- 
rounding mansions.  The  houses  about  this  park  were  English  in 
their  architecture,  usually  double,  and  of  two  stories  in  height,  with 
fronts  of  yellowish  brick,  contrasted  with  brownstone  porticos  antl 
trimmings.  An  air  of  elegant  uniformity  pervaded  this  neighbor- 
hood, and  **the  continuous  long 
lines  of  iron  palisades  both  ai'ound 
the  square  and  before  the  area  of 
every  house,  and  up  the  several 
door-steps,"  said  a  writer  of  the 
time,  "give  a  peculiar  aspect  of 
European  style  and  magnificence." 
With  the  exception  of  Vauxhall 
Park, .  the  Battery  was  the  only 
popular  pleasure-ground.  Vauxhall 
Gardens,  the  "  favorite  resort  of 
the  democratic  masses,"  occupied  a 
large  part  of  the  block  bounded  by 
Fourth  Avenue,  Fourth  street,  La- 
fayette Place,  and  Astor  Place,  in- 
cluding the  site  of  the  Astor  Li- 
braiy.  Washington  Square  was  then 
the  parade-ground,  upon  which  the 
militia  was  reviewed.  It  had  pre- 
viously been  used  as  the  Potter's  Field.  Union  Square  was  well  out 
of  town.  Gramerey  Park,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  munificence 
of  the  late  Samuel  B.  Buggies,  although  designed  before  1837,  was  not 
laid  out  or  improved  until  about  1840.  One  of  the  attractions  of  this 
square,  in  its  early  days,  was  a  fountain  erected  at  a  cost  of  $3000. 

Washiugton  Hall,  erected  by  the  Federalists  in  their  palmy  days, 
was  situated  where  the  Stewart  marble  building  now  stands.  Stew- 
art's Chambers-street  store  was  not  opened  until  1845.  On  the  east 
side  of  Broadway  was  the  Masonic  Hall,  long  deemed,  next  to  the 
Merchants'  Exchange,  the  finest  stmeture  in  the  city.  Columbia  Col- 
lege was  then  in  College  Place,  and  the  University  of  the  City  of  New- 
York  had  not  yet  removed  to  its  new  building  upon  Washington  Square. 
The  New- York  Society  Library  occupied  rooms  in  the  Mechanics' 


TEN    YEAKS    OP    MUNICIPAL    VIGOB 


Society  building  in  Chambers  street,  awaiting  the  completion  of  its 
new  home  on  the  comer  of  Broadway  and  Leonard  street.  The 
Mercantile  Library  was  at  Clinton  Hall,  which  was  then  situated  on 
the  southwest  comer  of  Nas- 
sau and  Beekman  streets,  the 
site  lately  occupied  by  the 
Nassau  Bank,  now  by  Temple 
Court,  In  this  hall  at  that 
day,  and  for  several  years 
later,  the  young  National 
Academy  of  Design  exhibited 
the  pictures  of  Allston,  log- 
ham,  Morse,  and  West,  while 
at  the  more  ample  galleries 
of  the  American  Art  Union, 
at  No.  497  Broadway,  might 
have  been  seen  about  this  period  "The  Passing  of  a  Summer 
Shower"  by  Durand,  or  Leutze's  "Landing  of  Columbus.* 

The  hotels  of  the  city  were  few  in  number,  and,  considering  its  size, 
the  accommodations  which  the  town  could  furnish  to  travelers  were 
far  from  adequate.  The  City  Hotel — according  to  Dayton,  "without 
an  equal  in  the  United  States" — held  the  first  place;  but  the  recently 
erected  Astor  House  soon  rose  to  a  position  of  primacy,  and  here  were 
given  many  great  dinners,  notably  those  to  the  Prince  de  Joinville  and 
Lord  Ashburton.  The  Irving  House  was  on  the  comer  of  Chambers 
street  and  Broadway;  the  American  House  at  135  Fulton  street;  in 
Broad  street  was  the  Exchange  Hotel ;  in  Park  Row,  Love  joy's;  inNas- 
sau  street,  Tammany  Hall,  although  then  the  headquarters  of  the  Loco- 
focos,  as  the  Whigs  of  the  time  were  fond  of  styling  all  Democrats, 
dispensed  hospitality  upon  the  European  plan.     The  elder  Delmonico 


THB    BETBRLT   BOBINSOH    HOUSE.! 


1  The  BeTeil;  Boblason  House  vim  Blta>t«d  on 
thv  east  bank  of  the  Hodaon,  nearly  opposite  West 
Pcdnt,  and  mu  erecled  about  1T50  b;  Colonel 
Beverly  Bobinaon,  whose  father,  John  Kobinson, 
waa  prealdeiit  of  the  colony  of  VirginiA  after  the 
retirement  of  Oovemor  Ooocb.  Itn  groundB, 
eomprialng  a  thonsand  acreB.  came  to  hiiu  thron^th 
his  Tnarrlam^th  Susanna,  daughter  of  Frederick 
PhlHpae,  the  seeoad  proprietor  of  the  manor,  and 
giiter  of  Mn.  Roger  Morris.  Colonel  Robinson 
■erred  with  dlatinctlon  as  a  m^or  In  the  British 
army,  nnder  Wolfe,  at  the  slorminft  of  QQehec. 
Opposed  to  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from 
Enftland,  he  removed  to  New-York,  raised  the 
Loyal  American  ReKlment.  and  hecamnitA  colonel- 
He  played  a  consplcaous  part  in  behalf  of  the 
royalists  in  many  important  matters,  and  his 
home  on  the  Hadson  wan  Arnold's  headqnarters 
while  planning  his  treachery  with  Andr*.  In  which 
Colonel  Bobintiou  was  concerned.  At  the  close 
of  the  war,  his  large  eatatea,  Including  ■'  Beverly," 

Vol.  m.— 24. 


were  conflscat«d  and  sold.  The  old  mansion  was 
replete  with  memories  of  colonial  days.  Wash- 
ington made  use  of  it  continually  ;  Piitnani  had 
hia  headquarters  there  also,  as  did  other  generals 
of  the  Ameriean  army.  It  was  for  a  long  time  in 
the  possession  of  the  Arden  family,  and  was  pur- 
chased about  1B73  by  Hamilton  Pish,  who  pre- 
served it  unaltered  until  its  destruction  by  flre, 
March  IT,  1S92.  For  many  years  the  old  mansion 
was  the  residence  of  a  member  of  his  family.  It 
was  pleasantly  situated  near  the  foot  of  Sngar- 
Loaf  Mountain,  named  by  the  first  Duteh  settlers 
Siiikfr  Urood  lirrg,  also  the  property  of  Mr.  Piab. 
who  writps  to  the  Editor,  under  date  of  August  2, 
1892:  "The  name  is  of  ancient  data,  derived,  as 
I  have  long  since  understood,  from  its  shape,  pre- 
senting on  approach  from  the  south  by  the  river 
the  point«d  shape  of  the  old-fashioned  loaves  of 
9uga.T.  more  familiar  to  those  who  (Hke  me)  num- 
ber their  years  at  eighty-four,  than  to  the  younger 
generation." 


370  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

and  his  rival,  Guerin, — now  but  a  name, — had  just  settled  in  the  city; 
but  the  famous  restaurant-keeper  was  Windust,  whose  basement  in 
Park  Row,  not  far  from  the  Park  Theater,  was  the  resort  of  literary 
and  theatrical  people,  among  whom  Thomas  A.  Cooper,  Edmund  Eean, 
Junius  Brutus  Booth,  the  Wallacks,  and  the  Eembles  were  the  most 
noted.  After  the  curtain  had  fallen  for  the  evening,  hosts  of  auditors 
visited  Windust's  to  catch  a  nearer  glimpse  of  the  celebrities  of  the 
stage.  Before  1837,  Windust,  having  become  rich  in  the  humble 
basement  where  wits  and  players  long  assembled,  moved  to  more  am- 
bitious quarters,  and  opened  the  famous  Athenaeum,  at  the  comer 

of  Broadway  and  Leonard  street,  in  the  very  heart  of 
fashion.  But  the  patronage  which  reminds  us  of  the 
London  coflfee-houses  in  the  days  of  Johnson  and  Goldsmith,  and 
which  had  made  Windust  rich  and  famous,  did  not  follow  him  in 
his  new  venture,  and  before  many  years  the  AthensBum  was  closed. 

"  Last  week,''  said  the  "  Mirror  "  in  September,  1837, "  was  a  memora- 
ble one,  for  it  was  the  first  occasion  in  Gotham  when  eight  theaters 
were  in  operation  at  the  same  time."  Among  the  theaters  of  the  day 
the  Park  easily  held  the  first  place,  and  was  the  **  old  Drury  ^  of  New- 
York.  Its  site  was  at  No.  21  Park  Row.  Here,  during  this  decade, 
could  have  been  heard  Ellen  Tree  (who  visited  America  in  1836),  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Keeley,  Charles  Kemble,  the  Keans,  Tyrone  Power,  Conway, 
Macready,  and  the  Ravel  family.  Here  was  first  publicly  sung 
Payne's  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  Fannie  Elssler,  who  visited  New- 
York  in  1840,  here  acquainted  the  staid  Knickerbockers  with  the 
ballet,  and  her  dancing  in  "  la  Tarentule  "  and  in  "  la  Sylphide  "  capti- 
vated audiences  little  accustomed  to  the  pas  seul.  Henry  Clay,  upon 
one  of  his  visits  to  the  city,  is  said  to  have  enjoyed  one  of  these  ballets. 
At  the  National,*  Charles  Kean  played  Hamlet,  Macbeth,  and  Claude 
Melnotte ;  and  Forrest,  Lear  and  Richelieu,  besides  whom  were  other 
histrionic  celebrities  at  the  Franklin,  the  Broadway,  or  Euterpeau 
Hall.  The  dramatic  taste  of  the  metropolis  was  never  purer,  nor 
the  acting  superior. 

One  of  the  most  famous  theaters  of  the  time  —  famous  not  so  much 
as  a  dramatic  success  as  because  of  its  site  —  was  Richmond  Hill, 
located  on  the  comer  of  Varick  and  Charlton  streets.  The  theater 
consisted  of  the  old  mansion-house  of  Aaron  Burr  with  the  addition 
of  a  building  constructed  in  its  rear,  and  at  its  opening  a  prize  was 
offered  for  the  best  dedicatory  poem.  The  judges  assembled  in  one 
of  the  old  rooms  where  in  Butt's  days  had  gathered  Talleyrand,  the 
philosopher  Volney,  and  other  celebrities  of  the  time.    Gulian  C. 

I  The  National,  ori^nally  desired  for  an  opera-  beinf?  in  September,  1839,  the  sooond  in  May.  1841. 
house,  was  at  Church  and  Leonard  Rtrcets.  It  *  Its  manaf^r.  Jamefl  W.  Wallack,  was  a  well-known 
was  twice  consumed   by  fire,  the  first  occasion      personage  in  the  society  of  that  day. 


TEN    XEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOE 


371 


Verplanck  read  the  Buceessf  ul  poem  and  broke  the  seal  of  the  envelope 
containing  the  name  of  the  Buceessfnl  competitor — Fitz-Greene  Eal- 
ieck.  But  Richmond  Hill  was  too  far  out  of  town  for  those  days ;  its 
fall  was  inevitable,  and  it  was  closed  in  1842. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  Park  Theater  it  never  held  a  wealthier 
or  more  fashionable  assemblage  than  on  the  evening  of  St.  Valentine's 
day^  in  1842,  when  the  leading  society  people  of  New- York  held  a 
ball  in  honor  of  Charles  Dickens. 
The  "Boz"  ball  was  the  talk  of  the 
town  during  January  and  February. 
On  the  evening  of  January  26,  at  a 
meeting  at  the  Astor  House,  resolu- 
tions to  arrange  for  a  public  ball  in 
the  novelist's  honor  were  passed,  and 
a  committee  appointed,  including 
among  its  members  Robert  H.  Mor- 
ris, Philip  Hone,  James  Watson 
Webb,  Justice  Thomas  J.  Oakley, 
John  W.  Edmonds,  Alexander  W. 
Bradford,  Charles  W.  Sandford,  and 
William  H.  Appleton,  who,  not  long 
previously,  fafid  opened  in  London, 
England,  a  branch  establishment  of 
the  firm  of  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Ex- 
Mayor  Hone  was  selected  to  address  the  letter  of  invitation  to  Mr. 
Dickens,  who  was  then  at  Boston.  The  committee  recommended  that 
the  ball  should  be  given  at  the  Park,  the  inside  of  which  should  be  so 
transformed  as  to  represent  a  magnificent  saloon  ;  the  auditorium  to 
be  decorated  with  flowers,  garlands,  draperies,  and  trophies  emblemati- 
cal of  the  different  States  of  the  Union ;  the  floor  to  extend  from  the 
front  of  the  boxes  to  the  rear  of  the  house,  where,  on  an  elevated 
stage,  were  to  be  represented  in  tableaux  various  interesting  scenes 
from  Dickens's  works.  The  programme  of  the  committee  was  strictly 
carried  out.  The  decorations  and  ornaments  were  all,  as  Mr.  Hone 
said,  "  Pickwickian."  Before  a  temporary  stage  was  hung  a  drop- 
curtain  upon  which  Pickwick  and  his  friends  and  Sam  Weller  were 
depicted.  Behind  this  curtain  were  represented  groups  of  persons 
illustrating  incidents  in  "  Pickwick,"  "  Nicholas  Nickleby,"  "  Oliver 


I  "  within  the  last  tew  years  the  obsf  rvance  of 
this  festlT&l  [SI.  V&leiitlii«' a  daj-]  has  been  eiteitil- 
Ing  In  New- York,  and  It  baa  now  become  quite 
■  nbowy  sifalr;  forty  thouwnd  valentlneB  pass 
tfaroucb  the  coarse  of  the  day.  To-night  [February 
14,  IftU]  aclub  o(  bachelors,  according  to  annual 
eaatom,  give  the  ladies  a  ball  at  the  Antor  House." 
Letters  from  Kew-York,  by  Lydia  Haria  Child. 


2  Samuel  Jones  was  bom  July  26.  IT^M.  He 
studied  law  wl  tb  Judfce  WliUaiu  Smith,  and  became 
recorder  of  New- York  In  ITS!).  Dr.  David  Hosaek 
sud  of  him;  "Common  consent  has  Indeed  as- 
signed him  the  bigfaeHt  attainments  In  jurispru- 
dence, and  the  appellation  of  father  of  (he  New- 
York  bar."  He  was  tlie  father  of  the  chancellor, 
and  died  November  21, 1819.  Eh>iTOB- 


372  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Twist,'^  "  The  Old  Curiosity  Shop/'  "  Barnaby  Rudge,''  and  others  of 
Dickens's  then  published  works.  The  intervals  of  the  dancing  were 
enlivened  with  the  tableaux  and  with  refreshments.  The  guests,  who 
numbered  nearly  twenty-five  hundred,  were  the  exponents  of  the 
wealth  and  aristocracy  of  the  town.  Had  it  been  possible  to  raise 
the  curtain  of  futurity  and  to  add  to  the  stage  tableaux  the  pictures 
of  New- York  life  shortly  to  be  presented  in  "Martin  Chuzzlewit," * 
there  would  have  been  a  speedy  end  to  the  honors  shown  the  guest 
of  the  evening.    A  few  days  later  a  dinner  to  the  novelist,  attended 

^^.  ^  CH——  ^^  niore  than  two  hundred  ladies  and  gentle- 
/^<kr;L.  t/^d^^ir'  men,  was  given  at  the  City  Hotel.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  Washington  Irving,  who  with  other  authors  of 
the  day  was  present  on  this  occasion,  was  almost  as  much  of  a  "  lion  ^ 
as  Dickens.  To  Irving's  aflBuent  literary  honors  had  recently  been 
added  his  appointment  as  minister  to  Spain,  upon  the  nomination  of 
President  Tyler.- 

At  few  of  the  many  brilliant  entertainments  for  which  these  years 
were  notable  was  gas,  which  was  a  recent  introduction,  used  to  illu- 
minate the  drawing-rooms.  The  New-York  Gas-light  Company  had 
been  incorporated  in  1823,  with  permission  to  lay  its  pipes  below 
Canal  and  Grand  streets,  at  which  time  the  business  and  residential 
parts  of  the  city  were  south  of  this  line.  In  1830  the  Manhattan  Gas- 
light Company  was  organized  to  supply  the  illuminant  to  the  upper 
wards,  but  for  many  years  lamps  supplied  with  sperm-oil,  or  candles, 
were  employed,  especially  in  the  more  democratic  households. 

It  was  estimated  that  New- York  then  had  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  churches,  of  which  not  more  than  six  were  Boman  Catholic. 
Before  1850  the  churches  had  increased  in  number  to  two  hundred 
and  thirty-nine,  and  the  number  of  Roman  Catholic  churches  had 
been  trebled.  In  the  early  part  of  this  decade  most  of  the  churches 
were  far  down-town.  Their  migration  up-town  at  this  period  is 
significant  of  the  change  then  occurring  in  the  center  of  popula- 
tion. Besides  those  already  enumerated,  the  chief  churches  were  St. 
George's  Chapel  in  Beekman  street,  St.  Paul's  and  St.  John's  chapels, 
Christ  Church  in  Ann  street,  and  the  old  Brick  Church,  which,  with 
its  adjoining  grounds,  occupied  the  site  upon  which  the  "Times "and 
the  Potter  buildings  now  stand. 

It  was  an  era  in  which  clubs  were  formed.  There  were  the  Hone 
Club,  which  held  its  weekly  feasts  at  the  homes  of  its  different  mem- 
bers, usually  Whigs,  and  at  which  both  Webster  and  Clay,  upon  dif- 

1  In  his  "American  Notes,"  Dickens  was  more  always  most  hospitable.    .    .    .    The   ladies  are 

just  to  New- York.     "  The  tone  of  the  best  society  sinnnilarly  beautiful." 

in  this  city  is  like  that  of  Boston ;  here  and  there.         2  This  appointment,  which  was  universally  ap- 

it  may  be,  with  a  greater  infusion  of  the  mercan-  proved,  was  made  at  the  instance  of  Webster/tfaoi 

tile  spirit,  but  generally  polished  and  refined,  and  secretary  of  state.  EJditob. 


TEN    YEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOB 


373 


ferent  occasions,  were  honored  guests ;  the  Kent  Club,  so  called  in 
honor  of  ex-Chaneellor  Kent,  comprising  some  of  the  most  eminent 
lawyers  of  the  city,  as  Samuel  Jones,  John  Duer  (afterward  a  judge 
of  the  Superior  Court,  and  brother  of  William  A.  Duer,  then  president 
of  Columbia  College),  John  Anthon,  Ogden  Hoffman,  Peter  A.  Jay, 
the  then  rising  Charles  O'Conor,  and  Francis  B.  Catting.  The 
Union  Club  was  formed  in  1836.  "  It  was,"  says  Lossing, "  the  repi-e- 
sentative  organization  of  members  of  old  families,  the  remnants  of 
the  Knickerbocker  race,  who  clung  with 
tenacity  to  the  idea  and  the  traditions 
of  family  aristocracy  they  had  so  long 
enjoyed."  "Their  names  appear  in  the 
list  of  Daembership,**  says  Fairfield,  whom 
Lossing  quotes,  "with  a  sort  of  aristo- 
cratic monotony  of  that  Knickerbocker- 
ism  which  earned  for  them  the  epithet  of 
the  Boorbons  of  New- York."  There  were 
still  extant  the  Sketch  Club,  formed  by 
Morse  and  other  artists  in  1827,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  used  to  meet  fortnightly 
at  the  old  Washington  Hotel,  comer  of 
Broadway  and  Chambers  street,  and  the 
famous  Bread  and  Cheese  Club,  whose 
membership  was  more  distinctively  liter- 
ary and  scientific,  and  at  whose  meetings 
might  be  seen  Dr.  Francis,  author  and  physician,  the  naturalist  De- 
Kay,  and  his  friend  the  author  of  "Alnwick  Castle"  and  "Marco 
Bozzaris,"  the  Duer  brothers,  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  the  legislator  and 
writer,  Professor  Renwick,  and  Charles  King,'  afterward  the  able 
president  of  Columbia  College. 

The  "Augustan  age  of  American  literature "  existed  here  in  the 
period  now  under  notice.  New  England  literature  was  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy. Emerson,  Longfellow,  and  Hawthorne  were  just  rising  into 
prominence.  Hawthorne's  "Twice-Told  Tales"  were  first  published 
in  New-York,  and  were  welcomed  by  Lewis  Gaylord  Clark  in  the 
"Knickerbocker  Magazine."  "Morton's  Hope"  was  brought  out 
anonymously  by  the  Harpers,  and  to  many  gave  little  promise  of 
such  splendid  compositions  as  "The  Dutch  Republic"  or  "The  United 
Ketherlands."  The  "Knickerbocker,"  like  the  "Mirror,"  was  in  the 
meridian  of  its  splendor,  with  a  roll  of  illustrious  contributors,  both 
foreign  and  American.     Southey,  Bulwer,  Guizot,  Longfellow,  Haw- 

I  CbarlM  and  jBme«  O.  KIdk  were  aons  of  tbe  vrith  Barr,  in  the  tatt«'  part  of  Ihe  past  ccntuiy. 
Ffil»!r»UBlRu(oiiKliig,wborepn'Benl*dNew-York  KIdk  also  served  in  the  «mie  body  between  the 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  contemponneoDBl]'      jrears  1813  and  1A23.  Editor. 


374  HISTORy    OF   new-yobk 

thorne,  Whittier,  Bryant,  Cooper,  Irving,  Percival,  Paulding,  William 
L.  Stone,  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman,  Halleck,  N.  P.  Willis,  Theodore  S. 
Pay,  John  Inman,  and  Park  Benjamin  contributed  to  its  columns. 
The  Harpers,  the  veteran  publishers  of  the  city,  were  then*  issuing 
Bulwer^s  tales,  Lockhart's  Life  of  the  lately  deceased  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  Mrs.  Shelley's  "  Faulkner,^  Matthew  Davis's  "  Life  of  Burr,"  and 
Sergeant  Talfourd's  "Life  and  Letters '^  of  the  inimitable  Charles 
Lamb.  In  the  same  era  came  Poe's  "  Narrative  of  A.  Gordon  Pym,'' 
peerless  of  its  kind  after  "Gulliver's  Travels '*;  Longfellow's  "Hy- 
perion"; "The  Pathfinder,"  "The  Water-Witch,"  and  "The  Deer- 

^        slayer,"  by  Cooper;  "The  Adventures  of  Cap- 

'-2Aty,,c^.^  tain  Bonneville"  and  "Astoria"  by  the  veteran 
Irving ;  Carlyle's  "  Sartor  Eesartus,"  and  the  works  of  Dumas,  I^Is- 
raeli,  Dickens,  and  Humboldt.'  There  was  indeed  admirable  read- 
ing to  be  had  in  those  days,  nor  was  the  lyceum  much  behind,  with 
lectures  by  Jared  Sparks,  Verplanck,  President  Duer,  and  the  author 
of  the  "  Yellowplush  Papers." 

The  pioneer  of  the  penny  press,  and  the  firat  newspaper  to  substi- 
tute steam-presses  for  the  old  machines  turned  by  crank,  was  the 
New- York  "  Sun,"  which  first  appeared  in  1835.  Steam-presses  and 
cheap  journalism  revolutionized  the  press  of  the  city.  The  "  Herald  " 
was  also  begun  in  1835,  but  the  "  Times,"  the  "  Tribune,"  and  the 
"  World  "  were  of  later  origin.  The  "  World  "  was  the  offspring  of  the 
"Courier  and  Enquirer,"  which,  edited  by  James  Watson  Webb, 
was  the  Whig  organ  of  this  period.  Before  the  days  of  ocean 
steamers  or  telegraphs,  Webb  initiated  the  "pony  express,"  main- 
taining a  fleet  of  small  vessels  outside  of  Sandy  Hook  to  hail  each 
incoming  packet  for  the  latest  news  from  abroad.  Webb's  transient 
monopoly  was  soon  contested  by  the  "Journal  of  Commerce"  and 
other  papers  of  the  day,  but  with  the  advent  of  the  steamships 
Sirius  and  Great  Western  this  method  of  preempting  the  latest 
information  speedily  became  obsolete.  In  1840,  Horace  Greeley,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  Thurlow  Weed,  started  a  campaign  sheet  known 
as  the  "Log  Cabin,"  the  embryo  from  which  the  "Tribune"  was  after- 
ward developed.  The  "Log  Cabin"  was  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Har- 
rison and  Tyler.  Log  cabins,  typical  of  the  early  home  of  the  Whig 
candidate,  were  erected  all  over  the  city,  and  hard  cider  flowed  in 
abundant  streams,  in  rhythmic  unison  with  the  cry  of  "  Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler  too."  Little  more  than  a  month  after  liis  inauguration  the 
log-eabin  hero  was  summoned  from  the  White  House  to  the  grave, 
when  the  people  of  New- York,  without  distinction  of  party,  united 
in  expressions  of  profound  grief.  It  was  the  flrst  time  that  such  a 
calamity  as  the  death  of  its  chief  magistrate  in  office  had  befallen 

1  "  Cosmos  "  was  written  in  1842  and  18i3.  when  Humboldt  was  upward  of  seventy-two  years  of  afce. 


376 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


remains),  one  of  the  notable 
suburban  resorts ;  and  Pros- 
pect Hall,  upon  its  summit, 
was  in  its  day  a  place  as 
attractive  as  the  Murray 
Hill  or  the  Park  Avenue  of 
to-day.  The  road  was  firat 
opened  through  the  tunnel 
on  October  26,  1837,  and 
like  all  the  new  enterprises 
its  completion  was  cele- 
brated with  6clat.  The 
"Mirror"  of  the  following 
week,  speaking  of  the 
work,  remarks:  "Philadel- 
phia and  Boston  are  both 
famous  for  their  lions,  their 
Pairmount  Water-works, 
and  their  Mount  Auburn 
Cemetery,  but  they  must 
~  now  hide  their  diminished 
i  heads  for  a  while  until  they 
^  can  get  up  something  to 
beat  the  tunnel  on  Fourth 
Avenue.  .  .  .  Certes,  we 
know  of  nothing  in  any  city 
of  the  Union  to  compare 
with  the  magnificent  view 
that  opens  upon  you,  when 
emerging  from  the  upper 
end  of  the  artificial  ravine 
that  has  been  cloven  down 
some  seventy  feet  through 
the  solid  i*ock6  of  Mount 
Prospect."  The  cars  at  this 
time  ran  at  intervals  of  fif- 
teen minutes;  the  fare  was 
twenty-five  cents.  Subse- 
quently the  road  was  ex- 
tended down  the  Bowery  to 
its  present  terminus  at  the 
City  Hall  Park. 

To  the  Dutch  of  New  Am- 
sterdam had  succeeded  the 


378 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


Whigs  in  nearly  all  the  city  and  State  elections,  and  this  led  to 
what  was  termed  the  ** Native  American^  movement.  Cornelius  W. 
Lawrence,  the  first  elected  mayor  of  the  city,  was  a  Democrat.  He 
was  elected  in  1834,  and  twice  reelected,  with  the  aid  of  the  Irish  vote. 

After  the  panic  of  1837,  owing  to  the  reaction 
^  against  Van  Buren  and  the  defection  of  the 
^^^^^^  Locofocos  from  Tammany  Hall,  the  Whigs 
experienced  a  temporary  success,  electing  their  candidate,  Aaron  Clark, 
for  two  successive  terms ;  but  in  1839  the  Democrats  regained  control, 
electing  Isaac  L.  Varian  mayor.  In  1841,  Eobert  H.  Morris,  the  Tam- 
many candidate,  was  reelected,  by  a  meager  ma-  J^^^t^^  ^y^ 
jority  (less  than  400  out  of  a  vote  of  over  36,000).  ^/^^/>7!^ 
He  was  reelected  in  1842  by  a  majority  of  2,000,  d^ 

In  April,  1843,  Morris,  who  was  again  the  Democratic  candidate, 
received  25,398  votes,  while  Smith,  the  Whig  candidate,  received  only 
19,517.  That  the  great  majority  of  the  Democrats  was  evidently  se- 
cured by  the  assistance  of  the  whole  foreign  vote  was  at  once  proven 
by  the  action  of  the  successful  party  in  giving  a  large  proportion  of 
the  local  offices  to  foreign-born  citizens.  This  date  emphatically  marks 
a  turning-point  in  the  city's  political  existence,  the  native  and  intelli- 


1  The  Democrats  were  suocessful  in  the  charter 
election  of  1839,  and  their  candidate,  Isaac  L. 
Varian,  became  mayor.  They  also  elected  a  ma- 
jority of  the  aldermen  and  assistant  aldermen. 
Varian  was  a  member  of  a  family  of  note  in  New- 
York  city.  The  Varian  farm,  well  known  to  all 
lawyers,  covered  several  acres,  fronting  on  the 
Bloomingdale  Road  between  Twenty-sixth  and 
Twenty-ninth  streets,  and  the  present  Qilsey 
House  standsupon  a  portion  of  the  farm.  In  the 
old  farm-house  both  the  mayor  and  his  brother 
George  W.  were  bom.  Varian  was  a  member  of 
the  Volunteer  Fire  Department  in  the  days  when 
the  companies  enrolled  some  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous personages  in  the  metropolis.  ''Seven 
mayors  of  the  dty — Walter  Bowne,  Cornelius 
W.  Lawrence,  Stephen  Allen,  Isaac  L.  Varian, 
Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  C.  Godfrey  Gunther.  and  Wil- 
liam H.  Wickham— were  'fire-laddies,'  and  prob- 
ably owed  their  election  to  that  circumstance,'' 
says  Sheldon,  in  bis  "History  of  the  Volunteer 
Fire  Department  of  New- York  City."  Varian  was 
twice  elected,  even  so  bitter  an  opponent  of  De- 
mocracy as  Hone  admitting  that  he  was  an  excel- 
lent man.  The  vote  for  mayor  was  as  follows: 
Varian.  21.030;  (Hark, 20,027 ;  scattering,  .36.  In  the 
spring  of  1840,  Varian  was  rejected,  and  the  Dem- 
ocrats again  obtained  a  majority  in  the  city 
council.  The  vote  was,  Varian.  21.242 ;  J.  Phillips 
Phirnix.  19,022 ;  scattering.  .^.  The  mayor's  salary 
was  three  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

2  Robert  Hunter  Morris  was  bom  in  New- York 
city,  February  15,  1802.  He  came  of  Revolution- 
ary ancestry,  his  family  having  been  long  settled 
in  Morrisania.  Westchester  County.  His  father, 
Robert  Morris,  a  New- York  merchant,  was  the 


son  of  Richard  Morris,  the  second  chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State.  Soon  after  his 
birth  his  father  retired  from  business,  and  removed 
to  a  farm  at  Claverack,  Columbia  County,  where 
young  Morris  was  educated.  He  subsequently 
entered  the  office  of  Elisha  Williams,  then  leader 
of  the  Columbia  County  bar.  He  commenced  the 
practice  of  law  at  Johnstown  in  that  county,  but 
in  1827  removed  to  New-York.  Shortly  after- 
ward he  held  the  post  of  assistant  to  James  A. 
Hamilton,  then  U.  S.  district  attorney  in  the 
southern  district  of  New  York,  and  he  also  served 
as  member  of  the  Assembly  in  1833  and  1834.  In 
1838  Governor  Marcy  appointed  him  recorder  of 
the  dty  of  New-York,  which  office  he  held  until 
his  removal  by  Governor  Seward  in  1841.  caused 
by  the  famous  Glentworth  conspiracy.  Just  prior 
to  the  presidential  election  of  1840,  Glentworth 
organised  a  plot  to  send  a  number  of  workmen 
from  Pennsylvaniik  to  New-York,  ostensibly  for 
the  purpose  of  laying  Croton  pipes  in  the  city,  but 
in  reality  to  vote  for  Harrison.  Tho  recorder  and 
the  district  attorney,  fearing  that  documentary 
evidence  of  the  plot  might  be  destroyed  before  it 
could  be  laid  before  the  grand  jury,  went  in  per- 
son, with  Mayor  Varian,  to  the  house  of  the  cus- 
todian of  the  documents,  and  demanded  their 
surrender,  when  they  were  given  up.  The  papers 
appeared  to  Implicate  many  prominent  Whigs,  but 
no  trial  was  ever  had.  Governor  Seward  removed 
the  recorder  for  his  participation  in  the  seizure, 
and  his  removal  undoubtedly  led  to  his  election  to 
the  mayoralty,  for  which  office  he  was  the  candi- 
date of  the  Democratic  partv  in  the  election  held 
April  13, 1841.  his  Whig  opponent  being  J.  PhUlips 
Phflpnlx.     The  Native  Americans  this  year  first 


380 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


abolitioDist  agitators  and  their  followers,  preferred  to  vote  for  their 
candidate,  James  G.  Birney.    In  consequence  of  their  defection,  the 
Whigs  deserted  the  Native  Americans  in  the  local  elections  held  in  the 
y —    ^  ensuing  spring.    Harper,  a  candidate  for  re- 

/y^^v^r^  election,  received  17,485  votes,  while  William  F. 

yf^^^^'"^'^^^^^  Havemeyer,^  the  Democratic  candidate,  polled 

O^  ^  24,307,  and  the  Whig  candidate,  Selden,  7032,  or 

nearly  2000  more  votes  than  the  Whigs  had  cast  for  their  mayoral  can- 
didate of  the  preceding  year.  Efforts  to  lengthen  the  term  of  naturali- 
zation proving  unsuccessful,  the  opposition  to  foreign-bom  citizens 
gradually  died  out.  The  riots  which  had  attended  the  development 
of  the  Native  American  sentiment  had  re- 
acted upon  their  followers,  and  in  a  few 
years  the  party  had  no  existence.  In  the  spring  of  1846  the  Demo- 
crats were  again  successful,  electing  their  candidate,  Andrew  H. 
Mickle ;  *  but  in  1847  the  Whigs  gained  the  ascendancy,  and  placed 
William  V.  Brady  in  the  mayor's  chair. 

As  we  have  just  seen,  the  mayor's  office  had  recently  been  made 
elective.  Under  the  Montgomerie  Charter  the  governor,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  the  provincial  council,  annually,  on  the  feast-day  of  St.  Michael, 
appointed  the  mayor,  the  sheriff,  and  the  coroner  of  the  corporation. 


1  William  F.  Havemeyer  was  thrice  elected 
mayor  of  the  city— in  1845, 1848,  and  1872.  He  was 
bom  of  German  parentage  in  New-York  city,  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1804,  exactly  five  years  before  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Charles  Darwin,  who  were  bom  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1809.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Columbia 
College,  as  was  also  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  one  of  his 
successors  in  the  mayor's  chair.  Mr.  Havemeyer 
entered  his  father's  sugar-refinery,  after  gradua- 
tion, but  severed  his  active  connection  with  the 
business  in  1842  and  became  interested  in  political 
affairs.  In  the  spring  of  1845,  there  were  five 
mayoral  candidates  in  the  field,  but  the  Democrats 
were  successful,  electing  their  candidate  and  fif- 
teen aldermen  and  assistants.  The  vote  was  as 
follows :  Havemeyer  (Democratic),  24,307 ;  James 
Harper  (Native  American),  17,485 ;  Dudley  Selden 
(Whig),  7032;  Ransom  Smith  (National  Reform), 
124 ;  Arthur  TapjMui  (Abolition),  74 ;  and  scatter- 
ing, 28. 

2  Andrew  Hutchins  Mickle  came  of  an  ancient 
Scotch  family,  the  name  as  formerly  spelled  being 
Muckle,  Meikle,  or,  in  its  Saxon  form,  Mucel  or 
Micel,  meaning  great,  powerful,  or  mighty.  The 
family  of  the  poet  William  Julius  Mickle,  whose 
ballad  "  Cumnor  Hall "  suggested  to  Scott  the  ro- 
mance of  **  Kenilworth,"  was  descended  from  the 
same  original  stock.  Andrew  H.  was  bom  October 
25, 1805,  being  the  second  son  of  James  Mickle  and 
Janet  Campbell  of  the  Campbells  of  Ardentenny, 
one  of  whose  immediate  kin  was  the  John  Camp- 
bell who  in  1704,  at  Boston,  founded  the  ''News 
Letter,"  the  first  newspaper  published  in  the  coun- 
try, and  who  was  also  postmaster  of  the  town  of 
Boston.    Elarly  in  life  he  associated  himself  with 


the  firm  of  George  B.  MiUer  &  Co.,  tobaooo-mer- 
chants,  well  known  in  this  city  half  b  century  aga 
Through  his  business  ability  he  eventually  became 
a  partner,  and  married  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Miller. 
While  in  the  midst  of  a  prosperous  business  career 
he  was  tendered  the  Democratie 'nomination  for 
mayor,  his  chief  opponents  being  Robert  Tftylor 
(Whig)  and  William  B.  Cosisens  (Reform).  Mr. 
Mickle' s  vote  was  nearly  as  large  as  the  combined 
votes  of  his  opponents,  the  total  ballots  cast  (April 
14,  1846)  being  46,719,  of  which  Mickle  received 
22,328;  Robert  Taylor  (Whig),  15,256;  William  B. 
Cozzens  (Native  American),  S372;  Ransom  Smith 
(National  Reform),  712;  scattering,  51.  The  Demo- 
crats carried  fifteen  *of  the  eighteen  wards,  and 
had  a  large  majority  in  the  city  council.  He  was 
offered  a  renomination,  which  he  declined.  He 
was  not  a  professional  politician;  to  him  public 
office  was  a  public  trust.  Retiring  from  the 
mayoralty,  he  again  assumed  charge  of  his  busi- 
ness, which  in  his  later  years  was  conducted  under 
the  firm  name  of  A.  H.  Mickle  &  Co.  His  position 
in  the  mercantile  world  was  very  high,  and  he 
possessed  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  mer- 
chants and  financial  men  of  the  city.  He  died 
January  25, 1863,  leaving  a  widow ;  one  son,  Oeorge 
B.  Mickle,  now  deceased;  three  daughters,  chil- 
dren of  his  first  wife,  and  three  daughters,  issue  of 
his  second  marriage.  One  of  his  g^ndsons,  a  son 
of  George  B.,  bears  his  grandfather's  name.  Mr. 
Mickle's  second  wife  was  Mary  N.,  daughter  of 
Judge  Effingham  Lawrence ;  she  was  a  cousin  and 
sister-in-law  of  (^melius  W.  Lawrence,  mayor  of 
the  dty  from  1834  to  1837.  Editor. 


TEN    YEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR  381 

The  "freemea  of  the  city"  and  freeholders  or  landholders  voted 
annually  for  aldermen,  assistant  aldermen,  assessors,  and  constables 
in  their  respective  wards.  When  the  State  government  was  formed 
in  1777,  the  powers  exercised  by  the  royal  governor,  in  conjunction 
with  the  provincial  council,  passed  to  the  eouDcil  of  appointment, 
which  consisted 
of  the  governor 
of  the  State  and 
four  senators 
selected  by  the 
assembly  from 
each  of  the  four 
great  senatorial 
districts  into 
which  the  State 
was  divided  un- 
derthe  first  con- 
stitution. This 
council  pos- 
sessed as  ample 
powers  of  re- 
moval as  of  ap- 
pointment. So  far  as  concerned  the  election  of  its  chief  municipal 
officer,  New- York  city,  from  1777  to  1822,  was  ruled  at  Albany.  In 
all  the  history  of  the  State  there  has  never  been  another  appointing 
body  possessed  of  such  vast  prerogatives,  and  this  small  junto  of 
pohticians  controlled  all  appointments  throughout  the  State. 

The  council  of  appointment  having  been  abolished  by  the  consti- 
tution of  1822,  a  part  of  its  functions  devolved  upon  the  governor 
and  senate;  but  instead  of  giving  to  the  executive  and  the  upper 
house  the  right  to  appoint  the  mayors  of  cities,  the  new  constitution 
provided  for  their  appointment  by  the  common  councils  of  their  re- 
spective cities.  From  1822  to  1834  the  board  of  aldermen  and  assis- 
tant aldermen  of  the  city  of  New-York  appointed  its  mayors.  In  the 
latter  year,  by  an  amendment  to  the  State  constitution,  limited  in  its 
operation  to  the  metropolis,  the  mayoralty  was  made  an  elective 
office.  But  while,  in  1826,  by  amendment  to  the  constitution,  the 
suffrage  had  been  extended  in  State  and  national  elections  so  as  to 
amount,  except  in  ease  of  colored  citizens,  to  manhood  suffrage,  only 
such  citizens  as  were  qualified  to  vote  for  other  charter  offices  at 

1  Joseph  FouIke'H  tormer  residPUW  i«  at  the  foot  Mr.  Foult* ,  who  wm  bom  in  1763,  wm  Bn  eit*nsive 

of  Etghty-nlath  (treet.  on  an  eminence  overlook-  ehip-owner ;    he  nisrried,  in   Our>i;os.  Ch»rlotle 

tnjc'the  E»»t  Biver.  adjoinint;  the  estate  of  John  Brion.  whose  brother  Admiral  Brion  wm  General 

Jacob  Astor.  Intfaeimmediato  neUhborhood  were  Bolirsr'n   chief    imval   commander  in   oljlaining 

the  nunmer  reaidenceB  of  the  BayBrds,  Rhine-  Colombia's  independence  in  1810-11.    Mr.  Foulke 

laikdeTS,  Schermerhonu,  and  other  old  familiea.  died  in  Nev-York  In  1853.  Ecitok. 


382  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

charter  elections  were  allowed  to  vote  for  mayor, — in  other  words,  a 
restriction  upon  the  suffrage  still  prevailed  at  city  elections.  This 
limitation  dates  back  to  colonial  times.  Under  the  Montgomerie 
Charter  only  persons  enjoying  the  freedom  of  tho  city  and  free- 
holders could  vote.  The  qualifications  of  voters  at  charter  elections 
were  not  changed  at  the  formation  of  the  State  government. 

In  1804  the  legislature  enlarged  the  suffrage,  in  accordance  mth 
the  demands  of  democracy.  Property  qualificatiouB  were  still  re- 
tained, but  all  male  citizens  of  full  age  who  had  resided  in  the  city 
for  the  space  of  six  months  before  election,  renting 
a  tenement  of  the  yearly  value  of  twenty-five  dol- 
lars, and  paying  taxes,  were  given  the  right  to  vote 
at  general  elections.  No  further  removal  of  reetrio- 
tione  was  made  until  1842,  when  all  property  quaU- 
fieations  for  city  voters  were  swept  away.  As  a 
consequence  of  this  change,  the  Whigs,  as  we  have 
seen,  united  with  the  Native  Americans  to  regain 
their  control  over  the  city.  With  the  modification 
as  to  suffrage  made  in  1804,  the  Montgomerie 
Charter  continued  unaltered  until  1830.  In  1S29 
a  city  convention  was  chosen  by  the  city  electors,  for  the  purpose  of 
revising  and  proposing  amendments  to  the  city  charter.  Five  dele- 
gates were  selected  in  each  of  the  thirteen  wards,  and  the  conven- 
tion, representing  the  intelligence  of  the  old  town,  met  in  June,  1829, 
The  convention  prepared  and  submitted  to  the  people  a  series  of 
amendments  to  the  charter,  all  of  which  were  duly  ratified  at  a 
popular  election.  The  legislature  approved  the  work  of  the  conven- 
tion and  of  the  people,  and  the  amendments  became  a  part  of  the 
city's  charter.  One  of  these  amendments  fixed  the  date  for  charter 
elections  as  the  second  Tuesday  of  ApriL  Charter  elections  con- 
tinued to  take  place  upon  this  and  succeeding  days  until  1840,  in 
which  year  the  legislature,  at  the  instance  of  the  Whigs,  passed  a 
registry  law  for  the  city.  Besides  providing  a  larger  number  of  elec- 
tion districts  in  each  ward,  the  act  required  the  enrolment  of  voters 
before  election  in  their  different  wards,  somewhat  as  do  our  modem 
registration  laws.  It  also  removed  the  last  property  restrictions  at 
charter  elections,  and  confined  an  election  to  one  day — the  second 
Tuesday  of  April — in  each  year.  When  the  bill  embodying  these  pro- 
visions was  bef or(?  Governor  Seward,  he  hesitated  at  approving  it  lest 
it  might  be  unconstitutional  in  providing  different  qualifications  for 
electors  in  the  city  from  those  which  prevailed  generally  throughout 
the  State.  But  at  the  instance  of  the  leading  Whigs  of  the  capital 
and  of  the  city,  he  concluded  to  sign  the  bill.  The  salutary  nature  of 
the  lepslation  was  evident.     Polling-places  had  previously  been  so 


TES    YBABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    YIOOB 


few  that  a  full  vote  could  not  be  polled  in  one  day,  and  as  a  conse- 
qaence  elections  extended  over  several  days,  and  were  sometimes 
accompanied  with  rioting,  repeating,  and  other  frauds.  Two  years 
later  the  wholesome  provisions  as  to  regis- 
tration were  repealed. 

No  change  was  made  in  the  date  for 
charter  elections  until  1849,  when,  in  pur- 
suance of  the  amended  charter  submitted 
to  the  people  by  the  city  convention  held 
in  the  summer  of  that  year,  it  was  en- 
acted that  charter  elections  should  there- 
after take  place  on  the  same  day  as  gen- 
era elections.  Of  late  years  reformers  of 
city  government  have  shown  a  marked 
disposition  to  separate  city  from  State 
and  national  elections.  It  is  at  least  in- 
teresting to  observe  that  the  argumentfi 
which  they  employ  in  advocacy  of  this 
change  are  similar  to  those  which  con- 
trolled the  city  convention  of  1830,  and  it 
is  likewise  interesting  to  observe  that  the  city  convention  of  1846  re- 
ported that  the  separation  had  not  accomplished  the  desired  end.  The 
best  citizens.were  found  apathetic  in  the  spring,  and  the  only  method 
of  securing  a  full  vote  upon  an  important  municipal  topic  was  by  hold- 
ing the  municipal  election  at  the  same  time  with  the  general  election. 

Under  the  second  constitution  of  the  State,  which  was  then  in 
operation,  the  commonwealth  was  divided  into  eight  senatorial  dis- 
trict's. New- York  city  contained  but  one  district.  Large  senatorial 
districts  have  ordinarily  been  found  certain  to  bring  into  the  service 
of  the  community,  in  the  State  senate,  men  of  prominence  and  char- 
acter; and  BO  great  of  late  years  has  been  seen  to  be  the  advantage 
which  former  legislatures  enjoyed  in  the  personnel  of  their  members, 
that  an  effort  was  made  by  the  State  convention  of  1867  to  return  to 
the  former  system.  Unhappily,  the  amendment  adopted  upon  this 
subject,  like  all  the  proposed  amendments  of  this  convention,  except 
that  to  the  judiciary  article,  was  defeated  at  the  polls.  County  rep- 
resentation then  prevailed  in  the  assembly,  and  it  brought  to  the 
front  men  recognized  throughout  the  city  for  their  equipment  for 
legislative  life.    Even  in  municipal  elections,  although  these  were 

■  Dr.  Ebeaezer  Crosby  wm  bom  September  30, 
1753,  and  th  Hie  aon  of  Jadge  Joseph  Crosby,  ot 
Brsfntree  (now  Quincj').  Mass.,  his  birthplace. 
Educated  at  Harrard  and  the  Univenity  of  Penn- 
•ylvaoia,  he  settled  iD  Nnw-York  cit;  after  the 
var.  and  was  plrct^d,  in  1T85,  Professor  of  Ob- 
Mettiea  in  Colombia  CoUsge,  and.  In  17ST,  one 


was  previously  surgeon  to 
GeDeral  Washington's  body-Kuard.  Dr.  Crosby 
died.rulylG.178S,Btthe  residence  of  Oolouel  Henry 
Rutfcers,  In  Wall  street,  whose  niece  he  had  mar- 
ried. He  was  the  father  of  WUliam  B,  Crosby  of 
this  city.  Editor. 


384  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

couducted  on  ward  lines,  the  spirit  which  regulated  State  nomina- 
tions also  prevailed,  at  least  until  the  period  when  the  suffrage  was 
enlarged.    Aldermen,  assistant  aldermen,  delegates  to  city  conven- 
tions, and  other  municipal  officers  were  men  of  distinction  in  mercan- 
tile or  professional  pursuits.    The  highest  type  of  judges  then  sat  in 
our  courts.    In  the  chancellorship  there  was  Reuben  H.  Walworth,  a 
worthy  successor  to  Robert  R.  Livingston  and  James  Kent ;  and  as 
vice-chancellors,  Murray  Hoffman,   Lewis  Sandford,  and  McCoun. 
Upon  the  Supreme  Court  bench  were  Samuel  Nelson,  afterward  one 
of  the  justices  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court,  Greene  C.  Bronson,  and 
Esek  Cowen,  and  in  the  Circuit  Court,  Ogden  Edwards.    In  the  re- 
cently created  Superior  Court  the  judges  in  the  thirties  and  forties  were 
Samuel  Jones,  Thomas  J.  Oakley,  and  John  Duer;  in  the  Common 
Pleas,  a  recent  outgrowth  of  the  old  mayor's  court,  John  T.  Irving,  a 
brother  of  Washington  Irving,  and  an  author  of  no  mean  pretensions, 
presided  up  to  his  death  in  1838.    The  standai*d  of  the  New-York^ 
judiciary  has  generally  been  high,  but  at  no  period  in  the  history  oP 
the  State  has  the  ermine  been  worn  by  abler  or  purer  men  than  those 
in  the  long  and  brilliant  roll  of  judges  who  were  appointed  to  the 
various  courts  from  1822  to  1847.    The  wisdom  of  the  change  wrought 

by  the  constitution  of  1847  in  providing  for  the  elec- 
^^^^Txnf^  tion  of  judges  for  specified  terms,  although  at  times 
^  since  debated,  haa  never  been  successfully  challenged 
at  the  polls;  but  it  has  been  observed  by  writers  upon  State  con- 
stitutions that  other  States  which,  after  New-York's  change  in  1847, 
were  induced  to  adopt  the  elective  system,  have  since  returned  to  the 
appointive  plan,  while  few,  if  any.  States  which  did  not  yield  to  the 
popvilar  impulse  of  that  time,  have  since  adopted  the  elective  system. 
In  recurring  to  the  annals  of  these  days,  one  cannot  but  lament  the 
deplorable  change  which  has  taken  place  in  respect  to  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  city  government.  To-day  the  city's  charter  is  amended, 
or  a  new  charter  is  enacted,  whenever  the  legislature  may  desire,  but 
in  the  olden  times  a  charter  amendment  without  the  people's  consent 
was  a  thing  unheard  of.  The  constitutions  of  1777  and  1822  expressly 
recognized  and  confirmed  the  ancient  Dongan  and  Montgomerie 
charters.  The  expediency  of  amending  the  city  charter  was  decided 
by  the  voters  of  the  city  in  1829.  They  elected  a  convention  of  their 
own  citizens  to  undertake  the  task  of  revision ;  the  work  of  that  con- 
vention was  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  city  at  the  polls,  and  was 
ratified  by  them  before  it  was  submitted  to  the  legislature.  The  city 
convention,  called  in  1846,  was  summoned  by  the  votes  of  the  people 
of  the  city,  and  the  act  of  the  legislature  providing  for  the  election  of 
delegates  to  the  convention  directed  that  its  work  should  be  sub- 
mitted for  approval  to  the  citizens.     The  charter  reported  by  the  con- 


/^^ 


TEN    TEAB8    OF    MUNICIPAL    TIGOR 


385 


vention  was  ratified  at  the  polls,  aud  tben,  by  legislative  enactment, 
in  1849,  became  the  new  charter  of  the  city.  Never  before  1857  was 
an  attempt  made  to  provide  a  charter  or  government  for  New- York 
without  tie  express  approbation  of  its  citizens  at  the  polls.  So  firmly 
was  the  city's  right  to  control 
its  own  aSairs  recognized,  that 
no  important  legislation  exclu- 
sively affecting  the  municipal- 
ity was  undertaken  without  its 
express  consent.  Twice  during 
this  decade  was  the  free-school 
question  submitted  to  popular 
vote;  the  act  establishing  the 
municipal  police  was  also  voted 
upon  by  the  people;  sanction 
of  citizens  at  the  polls  was  in 
like  manner  obtained  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  Croton  aque- 
duct*  and  the  question  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Free  Acad- 
emy was  submitted  to  the  elec- 
tors of  the  city,  who,  by  a  large 
vote,  declared  themselves  un- 
qualifiedly in  favor  of  free  higher  education  for  the  boys  erf  the  city 
schools.  The  benefits  which  have  already  resulted  from  the  establish- 
ment of  this  admirable  institution  have  been  very  great,  and  with  the 
creation  of  the  Normal  College  for  girls,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  free 
higher  education  in  New- York  has  been  permanently  guaranteed  to 
the  youth  of  the  metropolis. 

The  charter  of  1830  provided  that  the  executive  business  of  the 
corporation  should  be  performed  by  distinct  departments,  to  be  or- 
ganized and  appointed  by  the  common  council.  One  of  the  amend- 
ments made  in  1849  was  the  creation  of  executive  departments  alto- 
gether independent  of  the  common  council,  the  heads  of  which,  in 
accordance  with  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  time,  were,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Croton  aqueduct  board,  to  be  elected  by  the  people. 
Several  of  these  departments  had  their  origin  during  the  decade 
which  ended  with  1850.  The  police  department  and  the  Croton 
aqueduct  department  were  created  in  this  era,  which  marks  also  the 
organization  of  the  first  Board  of  Education. 

The  Knickerbockers  of  the  early  thirties,  in  matters  of  police,  had 

1  St.  Patrick's  Csthedrftl  wu  dedicated  May  4,  try."    It  wax  the  second  Roman  Catholic  cburcb 

1B15.     Biahop  PIcoeIs  of  Quebec,  who  was  in  New-  in  New-York,  and  atanda  at  the  comer  of  H ott  and 

York  in  that  year,  speaks  of  the  new  cathedral  as  Prince  BtreetB.    A  flra  destroyed  the  Bpire. 
"at  the  extremity  of  the  city  towardB  the  coun-  EorroB. 


8T,  PATRICK'S   CATHEDRAL.  1 


386  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

not  advanced  much,  if  any,  beyond  the  burgomasters  and  schepens 
of  New  Amsterdam.  There  was  no  day  police  force.  Civil  processes 
were  executed  by  the  marshals  attached  to  the  courts;  public  order 
was  maintained  by  the  constabulary,  except  upon  occasions  of  unu- 
sual public  excitement  or  during  riots,  actual  or  apprehended,  when, 
under  laws  for  the  time  in  vogue,  a  mayor  possessed  the  power  of 
appointing  special  constables.  As  in  the  Dutch  times,  the  city  watch 
began  shortly  after  sunset  and  continued  until  dawn.  In  the  early 
BLuickerbocker  days  the  watch  was  a  small  force,  but  before  1840  it 
had  increased  to  a  corps  of  nearly  one  thousand  men.  Watchmen 
were  drawn  from  all  avocations.  The  stevedore,  truckman,  or  car- 
/P  /P2  P^^ter  who  was  dissatisfied  with  his  wages,  or  anxious  for 
l^f  Ufit^  a  larger  income,  was  eligible  to  serve  as  watchman  by 
night.  There  were  divisions  of  the  watch,  with  hours  for  relief. 
Watchmen  wore  no  particular  uniform  except  the  old  varnished  fire- 
man's hat,  from  which  the  front  helmet-piece  was  removed,  and  the 
wearing  of  which  gave  rise  to  the  sobriquet  of  "  Leatherheads,'*  which 
long  continued  to  be  applied  to  these  public  servants.  The  old  round 
of  duties,  known  for  nearly  two  centuries,  was  still  maintained:  wat<?h- 
men  were  to  call  the  hours  of  the  night,  give  alarms  of  fire,  cry  out  the 
street  in  which  the  fire  was  raging,  ring  the  watchmen's  bell,  and  hang 
out  a  lantern  upon  a  pole  to  indicate  the  site  of  the  conflagration.* 

Legislation  and  city  ordinances  in  this  period  upon  the  subject  of 
watchmen  show  that  the  city  was  then  conscious  that  it  had  outgrown 
this  antiquated  system.  As  New- York  advanced  in  wealth  and  popu- 
lation her  criminal  classes  increased  also,  and  there  developed  a  baser 
and  more  reckless  order  of  wrong-doers,  requiring  a  curbing  power 
more  constantly  and  rationally  applied.  Crimes  were  committed  both 
by  day  and  night.  Gangs  of  hardened  felons  superseded  the  sportive 
young  bloods  whose  pranks  were  the  worst  evils  which  the  old  Bjiick- 
erbocker  watchmen  had  to  encounter. 

At  first  improvement  was  attempted  by  the  creation  of  additional 
police  justices,  the  mayor  and  the  recorder,  then  the  famous  Richard 
Riker,  celebrated  by  Halleck  in  the  "  Petition  ^  commencing. 

My  dear  Recorder,  you  and  I 

Have  floated  down  lifers  stream  together, 

having  previously  exercised  the  functions  of  these  officials ;  then  by 
the  enlargement  of  the  watch,  and  the  enactment  of  more  stringent 
penalties  for  neglect  of  duty;  afterward  by  the  creation  of  special 
marshals  or  constables  by  appointment  of  the  mayor,  to  be  sum- 

^  The  old  watchmen  were  notorious  for  sleeping  "And  every  song,  whose  dear,  delightful  theme 

on  their  posts.    In  "  Fanny,"  Halleck,  in  describ-  Is  '  Love  still  Love,'  had  oft  till  midnight  tried 

ing  his  heroine's  vocal  efforts,  thus  satirizes  the  Her  finest,  loftiest,  '  pigeon  wings '  of  sound, 

watchmen's  failing :  Waking  the  very  watchmen  far  around." 


TEN    YEARS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR 


387 


moned  to  aid  the  usual  constabulary  force  in  special  emergencies,  and 
by  the  formation  of  the  first  detective  squad  ever  known  in  the  city. 
The  continued  development  of  the  city,  the  accessions  to  its  crimi- 
nal classes,  the  numerous  election  riots,  the  Abolition  riot  in  July, 
1834,  the  Bread  and  Flour  riot  in  February,  1837,  and  other  dis- 
turbances, the  enlargement  of  the  city's  commerce  and  increasing 
complications  in  police  duties,  rendered  it  evident  that  the  old  watch 
system  was  an  obstacle  to  the  city's  progress.  In  1844  the  legislature 
enacted  the  Municipal  Police  Act,  but, 
with  the  commendable  humility  of  the 
legislators  of  those  times,  the  act  was  to 
be  left  unexecuted  until  the  city,  by  ap- 
propriate ordinances,  should  put  it  in 
operation.  The  common  council,  not  be- 
ing in  political  accord  with  the  legis- 
lature, was  xmwilling  to  give  the  act 
vitality,  and  it  therefore  by  ordinance 
established  a  municipal  police  of  its  own. 
By  the  new  ordinance,  the  force  was  of 
a  treble  character :  there  were  the  watch, 
the  municipal  police,  and  the  police 
proper,  each  owing  its  appointment  to  a 
different  source.  The  duties  of  the  sev- 
eral classes  were  ill  defined.  So  compli- 
cated a  system,  designed  evidently  to  preserve  to  each  appointing 
interest  its  share  of  patronage,  could  result  only  in  lack  of  disci- 
pline and  utility  on  the  part  of  the  force  and  conflicts  among  the 
appointive  powers.  Under  the  ordinance  the  mayor,  with  the  consent 
of  the  aldermen,  appointed  men  to  the  municipal  police,  and  pre- 
scribed their  dress.  Mayor  Harper  appointed  the  first  uniformed 
police  corps,  a  body  of  two  hundred  men.  This  force  was  indiscrimi- 
nately called  "  Harper's  Police  "  and  "  M.  Ps."  After  a  year's  trial  the 
ordinance  was  repealed,  and  the  act  of  1844  was  put  into  execution, 
terminating  the  old  watch  system.  It  swept  out  of  existence  a  variety 
of  sub-officers,  such  as  marshals,  street  inspectors,  health-wardens, 
fire-wardens,  dock-masters,  lamplighters,  inspectors  of  pawnbrokers 
and  junk-shops,  and  officers  specially  charged  to  attend  election  polls; 
and  it  provided  for  a  day  and  night  police  force  not  to  exceed  eight 
hundred  men,  under  the  control  of  police  captains  and  assistant  cap- 
tains in  the  several  district  headquarters.  The  act  established  also  a 
chief  of  police,  to  be  appointed  by  the  mayor  and  nominated  by  the 
common  council.  In  addition  to  their  other  functions,  policemen 
were  obliged  to  light  lamps,  ring  alarm-bells,  attend  fires,  report  sus- 
picious persons,  disorderly  houses,  receiving-shops,  gaming-houses. 


388  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

and  all  places  where  idlers,  tipplers,  gamblers,  and  other  disorderly  or 
suspicious  persons  might  congregate;  and  to  administer  proper  caution 
to  unwary  strangers,  to  whom  also  they  were,  if  necessarj',  to  act  ae 
guides.  The  municipal  police  continued  to  be  the  locally  constituted 
guardians  of  the  city  until,  in  1857,  the  legislature,  departing  from 
all  traditions  that  had  previously  governed  its  action  upon  city 
matters,  without  the  consent  of  the 
metropolis,  created  the  metropolitan 
police. 

Even  the  most  brief  account  of  the 
ante-police  era  seems  incomplete  with- 
out allusion  to  the  office  of  high  con- 
stable and  its  last  incumbent,  Jac^b 
Hays.  Edward  Livingston,  while 
mayor  of  the  city,  appointed  Hays  to 
this  office,  which  was  somewhat  anal- 
ogous to  that  of  chief  of  police ;  and 
so  well  did  Hays  dischai^e  his  duties 
that  he  was  reappointed  by  each  suc- 
ceeding mayor  up  to  the  time  of  his 
death  in  his  seventy-eighth  year.  As 
^  that  event  occurred  after  the  repeal  of 

^^^e^^.^^  the  watch  system,  the  office  of  high 

^  constable    terminated    with    his    life. 

Hays  seems  to  have  possessed  detective  qualities  of  a  high  order, 
and  he  was  certainly  able  to  inspire  a  wholesome  dread  of  punish- 
ment in  the  criminals  of  the  day.  Of  large  and  powerful  phy- 
sique, representing  admirably  the  majesty  of  the  law,  it  frequently 
needed  nothing  more  than  his  presence  to  disperse  street  brawlers 
or  stop  riotous  proceedings.  "  Whenever,"  says  Costello,'  "the  high 
constable  was  made  aware  that  a  street  brawl  was  assuming  threaten- 
ing proportions,  he  at  once  repaired  to  the  scene  of  disturbance,  and 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  mingled  in  the  throng  of  excited 
wranglers.  His  great  strength  was  then  exerted  towards  separating 
the  combatants  and  in  driving  back  the  crowd.  He  did  not  crack  the 
heads  of  the  brawlers;  he  usually  knocked  off  their  hats  with  his 
staff,  and  while  they  were  in  the  act  of  stooping  to  pick  them  up  he 
would  shove  them  forward  and  throw  them  down;  their  prostrate 
bodies  generally  served  as  s  barrier  to  keep  others  back.  He  would 
then  deal  with  the  principals,  and  by  the  time  be  was  reinforced  by 
his  men,  the  greater  part  of  the  trouble  was  generally  over."  His 
treatment  of  a  mob,  while  rough,  was  not  brutal,  and  he  rarely  inspired 
hatred,  but  was  uniformly  liked.     As  a  detective  he  was  singularly 

I  "Oiir  Police  Protectorti."  Ii;-  Aufnutiue  E,  Costello.    New-Tork,  1885. 


TEN    YEARS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOB  389 

successful,  and  it  was  the  common  opinion  of  the  time  that  no  offender 
could  long  remain  undiscovered  if  old  Hays  was  set  upon  him. 

In  a  recent  work  entitled  "  The  Pm-itan  in  Holland,  England  and 
America,"  Douglas  Campbell  has  admirably  shown  the  amplitude  of 
our  indebtedness  to  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  for  the  ideas  under- 
l}ing  our  system  of  government.    Holland  having,  in  the  midst  of  a 
struggle  for  self-preservation,  founded  the  cele- 
brated University  of  Leyden,  it  is  not  surprising  C^^t:^^'"^^^^-^^^ 
that  in  its  colonies  it  should  have  evinced  an  interest  in  popular 
education.     To  the  Dutch,  and  not  to  our  English  ancestors,  are  we 
indebted  for  the  germ  of  our  public-school  system.   The  cause  of  edu- 
43ation  languished  after  the  cession  of  New- York  to  the  English,  and  it 
"was  not  until  peace  was  made  with  Great  Britain  that  the  State  actively 
manifested  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  the  education  of  its  people. 

In  1784,  Governor  Clinton  invited  the  attention  of  the  legislature 
to  this  subject,  and  the  legislature,  in  response,  established  a  board  of 
regents  for  the  University  of  New-York,  and  changed  the  name  of 
King's  College  to  Columbia,  which  by  this  act  was  also  erected  into  a 
university.  The  members  of  the  board  of  regents  were  patrons  of 
learning,  and  they,  in  turn,  persistently  advocated  the  organization  of 
a  common-school  system.  In  1789  the  State  took  the  first  real  step 
toward  the  establishment  of  education  upon  a  substantial  founda- 
tion. The  legislation  of  that  year  was  followed,  in  1795,  by  an  act 
appropriating  annually  for  five  years,  out  of  the  public  revenues  of 
the  State,  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  to  encourage  and  main- 
tain common  schools  in  the  several  cities  and  towns  of  the  State,  and 
requiring  supervisors  to  raise  by  tax  in  each  town  a  sum  equal  to  one 
half  of  its  proportion  of  the  moneys  appropriated  by  the  State,  and 
commissioners  and  trustees  were  directed  to  be  appointed,  and  were 
required  to  make  annual  reports  to  the  secretary  of  state.  This  legis- 
lation expiring  in  1800,  Governor  Morgan  Lewis  again  brought  up  the 
subject  in  his  message  to  the  legislature  of  1805.  A  law  was  there- 
upon enacted  by  which  the  proceeds  of  500,000  acres  of  public  land 
were  to  be  erected  into  a  fund  to  be  accumulated  until  its  annual  in- 
come should  attain  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  when  the  income 
was  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  schools.  This  fund  was  en- 
larged by  various  appropriations,  and  in  1819  it  had  reached  the  sum 
of  $1,200,000.  By  the  constitution  of  1822  the  common-school  fund 
was  rendered  inviolable  and  directed  to  be  devoted  in  perpetuity  to 
the  advancement  of  common  schools.  By  degrees  the  productive 
capital  of  the  fund  was  augmented,  so  that  by  the  year  1842  it 
amounted  to  $10,000,000. 

It  was  incumbent  upon  the   State  superintendent  to  apportion 
among  the  school  districts  of  the  State  the  income  of  the  school  fund. 


390 


mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YOBE 


The  moneys  so  apportiooed  to  each  district  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
State  comptroller,  upon  the  superinteudent's  certificate,  to  the  proper 
fiscal  officer  of  each  county,  who,  in  turn,  was  charged  with  the  obliga- 
tion of  distributing  to  the  school  commissioners  of  each  town  the  pro- 
portion  of  the  fund  to  which  the  several  school  districts  in  the  town 
were  entitled.  The  town  commissioners  were  to  receive  the  fund  and, 
after  dividing  their  towns  into  districts,  to  subdivide  it  among  such 
of  the  districts  as  had  maintained  a  school  for  at  least  three  months 
of  the  year.  Inspectors  were 
elected  to  ascertain  the  quali- 
fications of  teachers.  School- 
district  meetings  were  to  be 
held  annually  by  tax-paying 
inhabitants  in  their  several 
districts,  for  the  election  of 
school  trustees  and  the  raising 
of  moneys  for  school  sites  and 
district  libraries.  All  funds 
I'equisite  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  schools  not  raised  by 
taxation  or  provided  from  the 
district's  share  of  the  school 
fund,  were  to  be  defrayed  by 
means  of  the  rate-bill,  which 
was  a  tuition  fee  charged  to 
parents  or  guardians  of  children  in  attendance  at  the  schools.  Thos 
three  sources  were  provided  for  the  maintenance  of  the  schools — the 
school  fund  of  the  State,  the  fund  raised  by  taxation,  and  the  rate-bilL 
From  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  school  fund,  a  share  of  it  was 
assigned  to  the  city  of  New- York.  But  the  public-school  systan 
which  prevailed  in  the  rest  of  the  State  did  not  extend  to  the  city. 
The  New-York  city  school  system  was  of  private  foundation.  In 
1805,  the  legislature  chartered  the  Public  School  Society,  a  private 
corporation,  organized  by  a  number  of  sagacious  and  far-seeing  resi- 
dents of  the  city,  prominent  among  whom  was  De  Witt  Clinton.  The 
society  was  by  law  allowed  a  share  of  the  State  fund.  The  supervi- 
sors were  required  to  raise  an  equivalent  sum  by  taxation,  but  the 
residue  of  its  moneys  the  society  obtained  from  voluntary  donations 
and  a  slight  tuition  fee,  analogous  to  the  rate-bill  in  the  country  dis- 
trict schools.     The  schools  of  the  society  rapidly  increased  in  number 


— -  -^ 


1  L'^kHh'  da  St.  Eaprit  the  flrst  ohunh  Id  the 
city  wh«re  the  Berrieei  were  conducted  in  French, 
w*H  built  by  the  Huiruenots  Id  ITU,  In  Pine  street. 
In  IfOl  they  Mild  this  building  and  erect«d  the 
white  Duu-ble  church,  shown  atwTe.  mt  the  comer 


of  Church  ftsd  FninUin  «treeta.  In  IBM  the  eon- 
KregmtloD  adopted  the  ritual  of  the  ProteMant 
Episcopal  Churcli ;  and  tbsJr  prpaeot  attractive 
church  building  Ib  situated  In  West  Twenty-second 
street,  near  Fifth  Avenne.  Editor. 


TEN    XEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR 


391 


and  in  importance.  Side  by  side  with  them  sectarian  schools  also 
furnished  instruction,  but  to  none  of  these  was  allotted  any  portion 
of  the  State  fund.  Not  being  under  the  supervision  of  the  State,  as 
were  the  district  schools  outside  of  the  city,  the  Public  School  Society 
had  supreme  control  of  its  share  of  the  public  fund.  During  the 
Knickerbocker  days  its  schools  imparted  practically  all  the  education 
furnished  to  city  children.  With  the  changes  in  urban  population 
which  came  with  increased  immi- 
gration between  1830  and  1840, 
parochial  schools  were  founded 
under  the  superintendence  of  the 
Koman  Catholic  clergy,  and  these 
demanded  a  share  of  the  com- 
mon-school fund.  They  were  met 
with  the  response  that  sectarian 
schools  were  not  allowed  to  par- 
ticipate in  it,  and  that  the  schools 
of  the  Public  School  Society  were 
open  to  all  the  children  of  the  me- 
tropolis. The  reply  of  the  Catho- 
lics was  that  these  schools  were 
in  reality  sectarian,  that  they  em- 
ployed a  Protestant  Bible,  and  in- 
culcated religious  tenets  not  ac- 
cordant with  Catholic  teaching, 
and  that  the  funds  of  the  State 
were  perverted  in  their  hands. 

The  Public  School  Society  refuted  these  charges,  and  remonstrated 
against  any  participation  in  the  fund  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic 
schools.  The  press,  the  public,  and  particularly  the  Protestant  clergy 
of  the  city  were  aroused  by  the  demands  of  the  Romanists.  The  a^ta- 
tion  was  contemporaneous  with  the  Native  American  movement,  which 
doubtless  intensified  the  general  opposition  to  the  Catholic  claims. 
The  controversy  was  carried  into  the  city  council,  where  able  advo- 
cates, both  lay  and  professional,  appeared  for  both  causes,  and  from 
the  city  chamber  to  the  State  capital.  Here,  much  to  the  surprise 
and  chagrin  of  the  Whig  and  Native  American  element,  G-ovemor 
Seward  was  discovered  to  be  an  advocate  of  the  justice  of  the  Ro- 
manists' view.  In  his  message  to  the  legislature  at  the  opening  of 
the  session  of  1840,  the  governor  recommended  the  establishment  of 
separate  schools  for  the  children  of  foreigners,  in  which  they  might 
"be  instructed  by  teachers  speaking  the  same  language  as  theraRelves, 
and  professing  the  same  faith."  He  renewed  his  arguments  at  the 
opening  of  the  ensuing  session.     "  There  are,"  he  said,  "  thirty  thou- 


lUtS.  HARRIET    BATASD    VAH    BENSSBLAEK. 


HISTORY    OF    SEW-YOBK 


sand  children  in  this  State  growing  up  in  ignorance.  By  their  reli- 
gious training  they  are  practically  escluded  from  the  excellent  scbook 
of  the  Public  School  Society."  The  legislature  still  remaining  inac- 
tive, he  renewed  the  subject  in  his  message  in  January,  1842.  "  It 
will,"  he  said,  "  be  shown  to  you,  in  the  proper  report,  that  twenty 
thousand  childi-en  in  the  city  of  New- York  of  suitable  age  are  not  in- 
structed in  the  public  schools,  while  the  whole  amount  in  the  residue 
of  the  State  not  taught  in  the  common  schools  does  not  exceed  nine 
thousand."  While  conceding  the  great  importance  of  the  work  per- 
formed by  the  Public  School  Society,  the  governor  nevertheless  ar- 
gued that  it  had  failed 
to  command  the  confi- 
dence "reposed  in  the 
general  system  of  the 
Stat«,  and  indispensable 
to  every  scheme  of  uni- 
versal education."  He 
therefore  suggested  "the 
expediency  of  restoring 
to  the  people  of  the  city 
of  New-York  —  what  I 
am  sure  the  people  of 
no  other  part  of  the 
State  would,  upon  any 
consideration,  relinquish — the  education  of  their  children.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  only  necessary  to  vest  the  control  of  the  common 
schools  in  a  board  to  be  composed  of  commissioners  elected  by  the 
people,  which  board  shall  apportion  the  school  moneys  among  all  the 
schools,  including  those  now  existing,  which  shall  be  organized  and 
conducted  in  conformity  to  its  general  regulations  and  the  laws  of 
the  State,  in  the  proportion  of  the  number  of  pupils  instructed." 

Under  the  influence  of  this  message,  the  legislature  passed  the  law 
of  1842,  and  it  met  with  the  governor's  approval.  This  act,  for  the 
first  time,  extended  the  common-school  system  of  the  State  to  the 
city  of  New- York.  Treating  each  ward  of  the  city  as  analogous  to  a 
town,  the  act  gave  each  ward  two  school  commissioners,  two  inspec- 
tors, and  five  trustees,  to  be  elected  by  ballot  at  a  special  election  to 
be  held  on  the  first  Monday  in  June  of  each  year.  The  commission- 
ers were  to  constitute  a  Board  of  Education  with  the  powers  and 
duties  of  commissioners  of  common  schools  throughout  the  State. 
Schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  were  permitted  to  continue  side 
by  side  with  the  new  ward  schools,  and  to  share  with  the  latt«r  in  the 


TEN    YEARS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR  *     393 

common-school  fund,  but  participation  in  this  fund  was  denied  to  any 
and  every  school  in  which  any  religious  or  sectarian  doctrine  was  in- 
culcated or  taught.  This  legislation  was  a  compromise  and  a  disap- 
IH)intment  to  both  of  the  contending  parties.  Neither  had  sought  for 
it,  and  neither  expected  it.  But  its  wisdom  is  palpable.  The  gover- 
nor's action  for  a  time  alienated  many  of  his  earnest  supporters. 

Great  as  was  this  innovation,  the  act  accomplished  an  even  greater 
boon.  It  rendered  the  schools  of  the  city  absolutely  free.  For  the 
future  no  rates  were  to  be  exacted  from  any  pa- 
rent or  guardian.  The  act  authorized  the  commis-  c^y/^y4,y^^/7y^ 
sioners  to  raise  by  tax  from  the  inhabitants  of  the 
county  a  sum  equal  to  its  share  of  the  State  school  fund,  and  also 
a  further  sum  equal  to  one  twentieth  of  the  value  of  the  real  and 
personal  property  within  the  city  subject  to  assessment.  In  terms  it 
expressly  forbade  the  imposition  of  any  tax  upon  parents  or  guar- 
dians for  school  privileges.  Subsequent  amendments  reduced  the 
number  of  commissioners,  inspectors,  and  trustees,  and  changed  their 
term  of  office,  but  no  substantial  departure  from  the  principle  of  this 
legislation  has  since  been  made.  The  schools  of  the  Public  School 
Society  and  the  new  ward  schools  existed  together  for  more  than  ten 
years.  Gradually  the  Romanist  opposition  to  the  ward  schools  sub- 
sided, and  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  soon  learned  to 
appreciate  the  advantages  of  the  new  system.  In  1853  the  society 
was  dissolved  by  act  of  the  legislature,  some  of  its  trustees  taking 
places  in  the  Board  of  Education,  and  its  schools  and  their  furniture 
and  apparatus  were  conveyed  to  the  city.  During  the  existence  of 
this  admirable  institution  it  had  educated  six  hundred  thousand  chil- 
dren, and  at  the  time  of  its  dissolution  and  consolidation  with  the 
ward  schools,  the  property  which  it  transferred  to  the  city  was  worth 
upward  of  $600,000. 

"There  is  not  perhaps  in  the  Union,^  says  a  book  published  in 
1837,  "  a  city  more  destitute  of  the  blessing  of  good  water  than  New- 
York.^  The  chief  sources  of  water  supply  at  this  time  were  the  old 
"  Tea-water  Pump  ^ ;  ^  the  town  pumps,  which  then  ganaished  nearly 
every  block ;  the  Manhattan  Company ;  and  Knapp's  Spring,  which 
furnished  the  supply  to  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  The  mains  of  the 
Manhattan  Company  were  distributed  through  the  lower  part  of  the 
island,  and  its  fluid,  like  the  gas  of  more  recent  days,  was  dispensed 
for  a  price.  The  water  from  Knapp's  Spring  was  carted  about  in 
hogsheads  and  sold  at  a  penny  a  gallon.     The  town  pumps  wore  ixi>K\ 

1  "The  famons  *  Tea-water  Pump/*'  8ay«  De-  **  I  found  the  once  celebrated 'Tea- watt^r  l*\um»* 

voe,  in  his  History  of  the  Markets  of  New- York,  a^in  in  use,  but  unknown,  in  the  liquor  Ht»»r*»  uf 

**wa8  a  line  flowing  spring  in  a  well,  which,  no  a  Mr.  Fa^n.  126  Chatham  street.     I  drank  tdf  it 

doubt  originaDy  assisted  in  forming  the  'Fresh-  to  revive  recollection."      Watson'H   ••  AniiuU  ulf 

water' or 'Kolch  Pond.'"    It  was  "  near  the  north-  New- York  "  (1846). 
east  comer  of  Orange  and  Chatham  streets." 


394 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


All  the  water  used  in  the  city  was,  and  had  always  been,  drawn  from 
the  island  itself.  The  earliest  projected  reservoir  was  to  have  been 
placed  on  Broadway,  between  Pearl  and  White  streets,  on  lands  pur. 
chased  from  the  Van  Cortlandts  in  1774;  but  the  Revolutionary 
struggle  prevented  its  construction.  For  a  number  of  years  after 
the  Revolution,  various  plans  for  increasing  the  city's  supply  were 
suggested,  but  no  unanimity  of  opinion  seems  to  have  prevailed,  ex- 
cept  upon  the  one  theme  of  the  impropriety  of  granting  any  exclusive 
water  franchise  to  individuals  or  private  companies.  Even  in  those 
early  days  the  purity  of  the  water  from  the  Collect  and  the  city's 
wells  was  questioned  by  eminent  physicians,  many  of  whom  thought 
that  the  Bronx  River  would  be  a  more  wholesome  source  of  supply 
than  springs  beneath  the  sands  of  the  city,  into  which  all  manner  of 
impurities  percolated.  The  objection  to  private  water  franchises 
seems  shortly  to  have  vanished,  for  in  1799  Burr  obtained  from  the 
legislature  the  charter  of  the  Manhattan  Company.    This  company 

was  incorporated  ostensibly  to  furnish  water,  but  in 
reality  to  do  a  banking  business.     The  only  banks 
previously    chartered    were    controlled    by    Federal- 
ists' capital,   and  Burr's   friends,  who  were  largely 
Republican  (i.  e.^  Democratic),  could  never  have  obtained  a  banking 
franchise  from  their  political  enemies  had  their  designs  been  plainly 
announced.     Under  a  clause  shrewdly  incorporated  in  its  charter, 
permitting  it  to  use  its  surplus  capital  in  any  enterprise  not  inconsis- 
tent with  the  laws  of  the  State  or  of  the  Union,  the  Manhattan  Com- 
pany obtained  full  warrant  for  engaging  in  banking.    But  for  many 
years  it  actually  furnished  the  city's  chief  water  supply,  pumping  its 
waters  from  the  Collect,^  or  from  its  well  at  Cross  and  Duane  streets, 
into  hollow  log  pipes  distributed  underground  through  the  lower 
portions  of  the  town.    The  monopoly  enjoyed  by  this  company  was 
not  seriously  disputed  until  after  the  close  of  the  second  war  with 
England,  when,  with  the  extension  of  the  city  and  the  increase  of  its 
population,  several  new  water  companies  were  organized.    The  pro- 
moters of  these  incorporations  were  fertile  in  schemes:  they  had 
plans  for  obtaining  water  from  the  Rye  Ponds,  from  the  Housatonic 
River  by  an  open  canal,  from  Sharon,  Connecticut,  by  the  same 
means,  and  from  artesian  wells,  which  it  was  proposed  to  bore  at  dif- 
ferent places  in  the  city.    Public  sentiment,  however,  still  insisted 


^y  was  i 


I  The  CoUect  was  filled  in  before  1838 ;  in  that 
year  the  Tombs,  erected  upon  its  site,  was  com- 
pleted. Dickens,  in  his  ^'American  Notes/'  styles 
the  architecture  of  this  building,  so  generally  ad- 
mired at  the  time,  *' bastard  Egyptian."  The 
cupola  of  the  Tombs  was  destroyed  by  fire  on  the 
day  set  for  the  execution  of  John  C.  Colt,  who  had 
murdered  the  printer  Samuel  Adams  in  his  office 
at  the  Irving  House.     Colt's  case  excited  great 


sympathy,  but  Gk>Yemor  Seward  refused  to  par^ 
don  him.  That  Colt  actually  committed  suicide 
during  the  fire  was  the  opinion  of  Lewis  Gaylord 
Clarke.  (See  ''Account  of  Colt's  Suicide,  by  L.  G. 
Clarke,"  in  note  to  "  Remarkable  TriAls.**  Diosij 
&  Co.,  1863.)  Although  Clarke  produced  conTine* 
ing  evidence  of  the  suicide,  the  popular  belief  tbtt 
Colt  escaped  from  prison  has  never  been  folly 
dispelled. 


TEN    YBABS    OF    MU»IOIFAL    VIOOB  395 

"that  water  should  be  furuifilied  by  the  city  corporatioD,  and  that  no 
■privilege  should  be  accorded  to  private  capital.  But  practical  ob- 
stacles, the  rivalries  of  these  companies,  and  the  apathy  of  the  people 
frustrated  all  efforts  to  increase 
the  city's  supply.  Circumstances 
irere  soon  to  happen  which  would 
rudely  awaken  the  city  to  the  ne- 
>essit^  of  prompt  and  energetic 

LCtioQ. 

In  1828  the  city  was  visited  by 
%  disastrous  fire,  which  consumed 
Dver  six  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  property,  and  this 
calamity  renewed  interest  in  the 
effoi-ts  to  give  the  city  purer  and 
more  abundant  water.  Besolu 
tions  were  presented  at  meetings 
of  the  common  council,  by  which 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  eon-  yp 

sider  and  report.  The  committee  i:;^;;^.:^  ^Jt- 
ni^^  the  construction  of  a  well 
and  reservoir  at  TLirteenth  street  and  the  Bowery,  the  laying  of  iron 
pipes  throughout  the  city,  the  erection  of  steam  pumps  to  force  the 
water  into  the  reservoir,  and  of  hydrants  at  the  various  street  cor- 
ners. One  reason  which  the  committee  sagaciously  advanced  for  the 
laying  of  the  pipes,  was  that  whenever  the  long-desired  object  of 
supplying  the  city  with  water  for  domestic  purposes  should  be  carried 
into  effect,  these  same  pipes  would  be  found  serviceable.  The  im- 
mediate purpose  of  their  introduction  was  to  furnish  water  for  use 
at  fires.  The  report  was  reluctantly  approved  by  the  city  council,  the 
well  and  reservoir  constructed,  and  the  pipes  laid. 

"  From  this  feeble  and  economical  beginning,"  says  Charles  King, 
in  his  "  Memoir  of  the  Aqueduct,"  "  sprang  our  noble  Croton  Aque- 
duct; for  the  immense  and  immediate  advantage  in  cases  of  fire  de- 
rived from  the  reservoir  impressed  more  vividly  upon  the  public 
mind  the  far  greater  advantages  that  would  result  from  having  a  river 
at  command,"  But  these  measures  neither  increased  nor  improved 
the  supply  for  domestic  and  commercial  uses,  although  from  time  to 
time  fresh  projects  were  broached — among  others,  for  bringing  the 
water  from  the  Croton  by  open  canal  or  pipes ;  for  taking  the  waters 

I  Lmn  Keene  wu  bom  In  Englud  In  1820,  aod  pealed  In  Boxton,  Philadelphia,  and  other  cltleB. 

■t  mn  early  Kge  STinced  a  tute  far  the  Bt»ge,  >p-  her    best    delineatlonB    beinjc  in    cooiedy.      She 

peving  flrnt  aoder  Madmme  Vestrls  at  the  L7-  openeil  a  theater  of  her  own  iu  New- York  shortlf 

eeum  Theater  in  London.  On  October  30, 1SS2,  she  after   her  return,    in   1S5d,    from   Australia;   or- 

made  her  flnt  appearance  in  this  country  at  Wal-  ganited  a  traveling  company,  and  died  In  Hont- 

IicIe'h  Theater,  acoriDg  a  gaoceag  which  waa  re-  olair,  N.  J.,  November  4,  1BT3,  Editor. 


396 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-TOBK 


\ 


of  the  Passaic  above  the  Paterson  Falls,  and  conveying  them  in  pipes 
under  the  Hudson  River.  In  all  these  progressive  measures  a  worthy 
champion  was  found  in  the  board  of  aldermen  in  Samuel  Stevens^ 
who  was  afterward  a  member  of  the  first  board  of  water  commission — 

ers.    In  January,  1831,  he  urged  that  a  memorial  should  be  presented. 

to  the  legislature  asking  a  repeal  of  the  privileges  of  the  Manhattan a 

Company,  the  vesting  of  all  power  for  supplying  water  in  the  corpo 

ration  of  the  city,  and  authority  to  the  corporation  to  raise  by  loan  a-^m 
sum  not  exceeding  two  millions  of  dollars  for  introducing  a  supply  of^BI 

pure,  wholesome  water.    Investigations  made  about  this  time  by  ami _- 

nent  chemists  and  physicians  em i> 

phasized  the  need  of  prompt  mea — _«- 
sures.  A  report  was  presented  toc^^o 
the  board  of  aldermen  from  the^>«e 
Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  pro— ajo- 
pared,  it  was  assumed,  by  Dr.  De — ^^ae- 
Kay.  This  report  set  forth  witbd-oh 
startling  clearness  the  menace  toc:>  Jto 
the  city's  health  from  the  eon — *:«• 
tiimed  use  of  water  impregnatedfc»"*^ 
with  the  discharges  entering  into*:*^^ 
the  soil.    In  the  most  populous^*** 

neighborhoods,  and  in  the  vicin ■*" 

ity  of  the  numerous  graveyards,  .-^ 
whichwere  then  scattered  through    -*^ 
the  town,  the  water  was  found  by     '^-^ 
test  to  be    dangerously   impure.       — 
The  graveyards  communicated  "  a 
ropy  appearance  to  the  water,"  and  in  warm  weather  the  water  itself 
was  found  to  become  offensive  in  a  few  hours.    The  noted  coolness 
of  the  pump  waters,  then  so  highly  prized  by  the  community,  might 
disguise  these  impurities,  but  could  not  eliminate  the  noxious  ele- 
ments.    Until  within  the  last  few  years  the  water  on  the  elevated 
ground  in  Broadway  was  considered  to  be  the  best  in  the  city,  but  in 
the  progress  of  improvement  this  had  become  more  and  more  un- 
palatable.   "  Indeed,"  continues  the  writer  of  the  report,  "  we  know 
of  families  living  above  Broome  street,  in  Broadway,  who  are  now 
supplied  throughout  the  year  by  water-carts  from  the  country ;  and 
in  the  direction  of  Laurens  street,  we  have  been  informed  that  this 
foreign  supply  is  required  still  further  to  the  north  of  Broome  street 

■  Robert   LlTJngsUn  Stevens,  a  M>n  of  John  wftlklng-beam.  sUll  in  use.  He  ioTented  the  T-nil, 

Stevens,  vbs  bom  in  New-Tork,  October  IS,  1787.  which  is  genenlly  need  in  ttiia  eountiy  and  in 

koil  died  April  20, 1S56.  ABaDen^naeer  lie  stood  at  Europe;  a  sneeeaafulpercaBSion-ahelljeiidlmllttbe 

the  head  of  his  profemion ;  and  he  invented  num-  famous  ironclMi  known  as  the  StevoDS  Battcrv. 
berless  improvementa  in  ateam-veBseU,  notably  the  ElHrok. 


TEN    TEABS    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIOOB  397 

Into  the  sand-baDk  underlying  the  city  are  daily  deposited  quantities 
of  excrementitious  matter  to  an  extent,  were  it  not  susceptible  of 
demonstration,  which  woidd  be  assumed  to  be  incredible."  ' 

"  If,"  contluues  this  report,  "  the  above  facts  be  well  founded,  we 
must  naturally  anticipate  a  deterioration  of  our  water  pari  passu  with 
the  increase  of  the  city."  The  report,  in  closing,  expressed  in  terse  but 
strong  language  the  conviction  that  no  adequate 
supply  of  good  or  wholesome  water  could  be 
obtained  on  the  island  for  the  wants  of  a  grow- 
ing commimity  like  New-York.  In  the  face  of 
such  startling  facts,  confirmed  by  various  other 
analyses,  the  subject  could  not  be  abandoned. 

These  analyses  demonstrated  the  futility  of 
all  efforts  to  secure  a  pure  or  copious  supply 
from  the  springs  of  the  island.  But  the  advo- 
cates of  economy  at  once  sought  less  expensive  oabdinee  abms 
sources  than  the  Croton  River.  Various  pro- 
jects were  discussed  both  within  and  outside  of  tbe  city  council,  and 
the  idea  of  utilizing  the  Bronx  Biver  was  again  urged  with  great 
persistency.  The  chief  argument  in  favor  of  the  waters  of  this  river 
was  their  cheapness  when  compared  with  the  gigantic  entei-prise 
contemplated  by  the  friends  of  tbe  Croton  plan.  The  waters  of  this 
stream,  in  point  of  purity,  matched  those  of  the  Croton,  but  it  is 
amusing  now  to  read  that  tbe  promoters  of  this  plan  could  not  hope 
for  a  greater  maximum  daily  supply  than  nine  millions  of  gallons. 
This,  they  argued,  would,  with  an  allowance  of  twenty  gallons  per 
head,  suffice  for  all  the  requirements  of  a  city  of  450,000  population. 
The  consumption  of  the  city  within  a  few  years  reached  18,000,000 
gallons,  and  before  its  population  had  much  more  than  doubled  the 
consumption  was  more  than  five  times  as  great.  But,  commended  by 
its  comparative  cheapness,  the  Bronx  Biver  scheme  found  friends  in 
the  city  council,  and  they  drafted  a  bill  empowering  the  council  to 
borrow  two  million  dollars  to  be  devoted  to  tbe  procurement  of 
these  waters ;  but  the  legislature  refused  to  pass  the  bill.  The  coun- 
cil then  decided  to  employ  Colonel  De  Witt  Clinton  to  report  his 
opinion  as  to  the  best  mode  of  bringing  the  waters  of  the  Croton 
to  the  city,  and  the  probable  expense  of  their  introduction,  if  he 


IS  1798: 

"The  Collect  behlod  the  '  Tea-water  Pump'  Is  a  nnusestiiig ;  and  the  larger  the  city  grows,  the 

ahockiDR  hole,  where  all  impure  thin^  centre  to-  worse  the  evil  will  be.     Already  It  has  been  whi«- 

irethei-  and  engender  the  worst  of  unwholesome  pered  by  some  Tifrtlant  travelers  throngh  onr  city 

produefioDS,  .  .  .  Some  affect  to  say  that  the  wa-  that  the  New-Yorkers  are  like  thedogln  theman- 

ler  is  very  cool  and  refreshing.  Everybody  known  ger  —  they  will  not  provide  aqueducts  themselves, 

trom  eiperieoee  the  water  gets  warm  Id  a  few  nor  let  others  do  it."  Public  sentiment  in  that  day 

hour«.  and,  Hometimea.  almost  before  it  is  drawn  was  hostile  to  grants  of  franchises  to  iudlviduals 

from  the  carter's  hogaheada.  Can  you  bear  to  drink  or  private  corporations. 


398  msTOBT  or  new-york 

should  conclude  that  the  city  should  look  for  its  supply  to  thi  ^ 
^urce.    This  distinguished  engineer  made  a  most  careful  examio^^ 
tion  of  the  various  proposed  sources  of  water  supply,  and  reportty:^^ 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  use  of  the  Croton.    The  waters  of  thia  riv^  .,.,^ 
he  declared  to  be  the  purest  and  most  copious,  and  amply  abunda^ 
for  any  possible  future  population 
the  city.    The  elevation  of  their  l"^^^ 
would  give  them  a  sufficient  head      7^ 
convey  them  to  the  distributing  re«t«,. 
voir  in  the  city  at  a  height  suffici-^^  * 
for  the  supply  of  the  loftiest  dwelli:jj^ 
and  the  extinguishment  of  fires,     ^jj 
plan  contemplated  an  open  canal  fti)ti3- 
which  could  be  excluded  the  wash  <t0^ 
the  soil  and  rains,  and  upon  which,  br"^ 
the  construction  of  a  narrow  and  deep  ■^' 
channel,  the  winter's  cold  could  have    * 
no  serious  eflEect    The  cost  of  the  whole 
work  would  not  exceed  two   milhoa 
dollars. 

Colonel  Clinton's  report  soon  bore 
^L^y  ^^  vi^*^'  ^^  fruit.  The  conflicting  plans  did  not 
Z/.*#^2^^y    e^:€^c*4.^-^i^r^  ^^^  jjf    ^  unanimous  expression  m 

favor  of  either,  but  as  all  parties  were  agreed  that  definite  action  was 
necessary,  the  common  council  requested  the  legislature  to  authorize 
the  appointment  of  five  commissioners,  with  ample  powers  to  examiiie 
all  plans,  make  actual  surveys,  estimate  the  probable  expense,  and 
generally  to  do  whatever  might  be  necessary.  This  led  to  the  enact- 
ment of  the  law  of  1833,  under  which  Governor  Marcy,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Senate,  appointed  Stephen  Allen,  Benjamin  M.  Brown, 
Samuel  Dusenbeny,  Saul  Alley,  and  "William  W.  Fox  commissioners. 
They  were  armed  with  plenary  powers,  and  were  to  hold  office  for 
one  year. 

Upon  one  of  the  heights  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  not  far  from  its 
entrance,  may  be  seen  an  imposing  monument  reared  in  memory  of 
the  engineer  who,  in  1838,  designed  and  laid  out  that  beautiful  city 
of  the  dead.  That  magnificent  achievement  was  the  work  of  David 
B.  Douglass,  and  he  it  was  whom  the  newly  appointed  water  com- 
missioners engaged  to  make  their  surveys  and  report  upon  the  differ- 
ent plans.  For  this  work  Major  Douglass  was  admirably  equipped 
by  long  preparation  and  experience  in  scientific  and  mathematical 
pursuits.  He  had  held  both  mathematical  and  philosophical  chairs  at 
West  Point,  and  had  been  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Morris  Canal. 
To  him  the  city  of  New- York  is  also  indebted  for  the  design  of  the 


400  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

voters  of  the  city  at  the  charter  election  of  1835,  and  upon  its  ratifica- 
tion by  the  people  the  council  were  authorized  to  issue  interest-bearinj 
water  stock  of  the  city  not  exceeding  two  and  a  half  millions  of  doUars^^ 
in  amount.     The  same  commissioners  were  appointed  as  before,  and 
they  retained  their  engineer.    Their  report  to  the  common  council  in 
February,  1835,  shows  how  profoundly  they  were  impressed  with  the 
magnitude  and  seriousness  of  their  task  and  the  importance  of  ener- 
getic but  conservative  action.    A  full  hearing  was  again  accord< 
to  the  friends  of  other  projects,  and  the  availability  of  the  domestic —z^-C 
supply  was  again  examined,  with  the  conclusion,  in  the  language  of3t^f 

the  report,  that  "  nothing  less  than  a  river  distributed  through  thou jmr 

sands  of  channels  and  brought  to  the  premises  of  every  householder-:^:  ^r 

will  be  commensurate  to  the  wants  of  a  popula -»- 

f  tion  such  as  the  city  of  New- York  contains  and 
will  contain.''  That  river  was  the  Croton.  Its 
waters  were  to  be  taken  near  its  mouth  and  con- 
veyed to  the  city  in  an  aqueduct  declining  fifteen 
inches  in  a  mile,  and  were  to  be  delivered  in  a 
reservoir  on  Murray  Hill.  In  the  dry  seasons 
this  river  could  supply  at  least  thirty  millions  of 
sTURGis  ARMS.  gallous  pcr  day,  and  ordinarily  more  than  fifty 

million  gallons.  Later  experience  has  demonstrated  that  this  was 
by  no  means  its  maximum  capacity.  The  expense  of  conveying  the 
water  in  a  close  aqueduct  of  masonry  was  estimated  at  $4,250,000, 
and  this  figure,  like  estimates  almost  contemporaneously  given  to 
the  legislature  for  improvements  in  the  Erie  Canal,  and  for  the  con- 
struction of  lateral  waterways  through  the  State,  fell  far  below  the 
actual  cost.  The  common  council  approved  the  report,  and  sub- 
mitted the  question  for  decision  at  the  polls.  As  no  provision  had 
been  made  by  law  for  the  distribution  of  ballots,  the  public  might 
have  been  deprived  of  an  opportunity  of  authorizing  this  noble  work 
but  for  the  munificence  of  several  large  property-holders  of  the  city, 
who,  sagaciously  appreciating  the  importance  of  abundant  water,  con- 
tributed the  necessary  funds  for  the  printing  and  distribution  of  bal- 
lots. The  vote,  which  was  held  on  the  14th,  15th,  and  16th  of  April, 
1835,  was  overwhelmingly  favorable,  being  17,330  for,  to  5963  against, 
the  prosecution  of  the  undertaking  upon  the  commissioners'  plan. 

The  work  was  at  once  begun  with  great  earnestness.  The  area  that 
was  to  comprise  the  Croton  Lake  was  first  staked  out,  and  afterward 
the  entire  land  from  the  dam  to  the  Harlem  River  was  determined. 
Difficulties  having  arisen  between  Major  Douglass  and  the  chairman 
of  the  board  of  commissioners,  the  chief  engineer  was  retired,  and 
John  B.  Jervis,  an  engineer  and  inventor  of  distinction,  who  had  as- 
sisted in  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  was  substituted  in  his 


TEN    YEAES    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR 


40X 


stead ;  bnt  no  sabstantial  departure  was  made  from  the  plans  adopted 
by  Major  Douglass.  Section  after  section  of  the  work  was  completed, 
ihe  legblature  meanwhile  authorizing  the  expenditure  of  additional 
;ums  to  defray  its  cost.  En^neeriug 
jbstacles  of  great  difficulty  were  en- 
Mjnntered  at  almost  every  step:  there 
were  deep  ravines  to  be  crossed  by  em- 
t>ankment  or  bridge,  and  lofty  hills  to 
be  pierced  by  tunnels.  To  these  for- 
midable natural  obstacles  were  added 
the  construction  of  the  dam  across  the 
Croton  River,  the  aqueduct  bridge  over 
the  valley  of  Sing  Sing,  and  finally  the 
problems  attendant  upon  the  crossing  of 
the  Harlem.  The  execution  of  this  part 
of  the  work  gave  rise  to  serious  contro- 
versy. Two  plans  had  been  advocated: 
one,  initiated  by  Douglass,  contemplated 
a  bridge  on  elevated 
piers  so  constructed  as  ■ 
aot  to  interfere  with  navigation ;  the  other,  involving  the  use  of  iron 
pipes,  requiring  less  expenditure  and  shorter  time  for  construction, 
was  approved  by  the  new  engineer  and  the  board.  Major  Douglass's 
plan  of  a  bridge  at  the  level  of  the  aqueduct  wfis  generally  popular, 
was  sustained  in  the  board  of  assistant  aldermen,  and  was  eventually 
enforced  by  the  State  legislature. 

In  1840  the  commissioners  who  had  so  admirably  conducted  the 
work  were  removed,  and  the  execution  of  their  trust  turned  over  to  a 
new  board,  the  president  of  which  was  Samuel  Stevens,  who,  while  a 


1  Catherine  Janes,  tlie  Becond  wife  of  De  Witt 
Clinton,  was  the  daughter  ol  Dr.  Thomu  Jones, 
•on  of  a  Welah  phyaiclui.  Dr.  Eran  Jodsb,  who 
aettled  in  Junaica.  L.  I.,  lnlT28,  aadwhoBofuully 
waa  made  known  to  New-Yorkers  of  fifty  years  ago 
Ihronmh  the  historical  addresBea  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Fran- 
ds  and  Dr.  William  A.  Duer.  Dr.  John  Jones, 
brother  of  Tbomaa.  attained  eminence  ua  surgeon, 
and  waa  one  of  the  two  original  founders  of  the 
Sew-York  Hospital  —  Dr.  Samuel  Bard  being  the 
othCT— in  1771.  He  was  honored  by  the  confldence 
and  frieiidship  of  both  Washington  and  Franklin. 
Mrs.  Thomas  Jones,  Mrs.  Clinton's  mother,  was 
ihe  daughter  of  Philip  Livingston,  one  of  the 
^ignersof  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  n  prom- 
inent merchant  of  New- York,  and  a  loyal  patriot 
St  the  epoch  of  Ihe  Revolntion.  Mrs.  Clinton  was 
a  woman  of  marked  character  and  energy,  and  was 
devotedly  attached  to  the  memory  of  her  husband. 
She  was  an  admirable  hostess  and  faithful  friend,  an 

her  itroDg  sense  of  mind  and  conversation.     In 
eaiiy  life  and  middle  age  handsome,  she  retained 
Vol.  ni.— 2«. 


her  dignified  appearance  and  presence  up  to  the 
time  of  her  death,  July  2.  IB55,  at  theageixf  seven- 
ty-two years.  The  following  letter,  written  flfteen 
years  after  Clinton's  death,  is  of  interest : 

■■  TivoLi,  Aug.  8,  1843. 
"Sib;  Icaimot  appreciate  your  motive  In  sending 
me  a  number  of  the  '  New  World '  conttdnlng  an 
article  o(  which  you  are  the  author,  purporting  to 
be  a  review  of  Hammond's  political  bistory  of  New- 
York,  Notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  Chancellor 
Kent  and  Mr.  Hone,  I  think  the  article  very  offen- 
sive. Charles  Clinton  has  spoken  to  me  several 
times  of  thes«  papers.  Tint  in  truth  I  never  took 
the  trouble  to  read  a  Une  of  fheni.  My  late  Illus- 
trious husband's  character  (thank  heaven)  stands 
on  too  Arm  a  basis  to  be  at  all  injured  by  the  po- 
litical writinzB  of  such  men  as  Hammond  or  his 
puerile  commentators.  Hay  I  beg  you  will  never 
take  the  trouble  of  sending  me  any  more  of  these 
papers,  and  should  you  t>e  at  a  loss  for  something 
to  Insert  lu  the  next,  pray  publish  this  letter  under 
its  proper  signature  of   Cathskikb  J.  Clinton." 


402 


mSTORT    OF    NEW-TOBK 


member  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  had  worked  long  and  ardently  for 
increased  water  facilities.  The  other  members  of  the  new  board  were 
Benjamin  Birdsall,  John  D.  Ward,  and  Samuel  B.  Childfi.  No  change 
was  made  in  the  staff  of  engineers.  Every  effort  was  made  to  finish 
the  aqueduct  by  the  summer  of  1842,  but  difficulties  in  obtaining  rock 
foundation  for  the  Harlem  bridge  prevented  its  completion  at  that 
time,  and  in  order  that  the  entrance  of  water  into  the  distributing 
reservoir  might  not  be  delayed  beyond  this  date,  resort  was  tempora- 
rily had  to  the  system  of  inverted  siphons  or  iron  pipes  for  carrying 
it  over  the  Harlem  Kiver.    In  June,  1842,  the  commissioners  and 


CROTOH    WATER    PROOGBSIOH 


their  engineers  made  a  journey  through  the  aqueduct  on  foot,  when 
examinations  were  made  to  test  the  perfection  of  the  structure.  On 
June  22  the  water  was  for  the  first  time  introduced,  when  the  Croton 
Maid,  a  little  craft  designed  especially  for  the  purpose,  and  capable  of 
accommodating  four  persons,  was  placed  in  the  aqueduct  to  begin  her 
novel  voyage  to  the  Harlem.  On  June  27,  the  water  was  admitted 
into  the  receiving  reservoir  at  Yorkville,  with  appropriate  ceremonies, 
in  the  presence  of  the  mayor,  common  council,  the  governor,  and  the 
members  of  the  court  for  the  correction  of  errors,  then  the  highest 
appellate  tribunal  in  the  State.  "With  similar  impressive  ceremonies 
it  was,  on  July  4,  introduced  into  the  distributing  reservoir  at  Fifth 
Avenue  and  Forty-second  street. 

On  October  14, 1842,  the  advent  of  the  water  was  duly  celebrated 
by  the  entire  populace.     The  fine  weather,  which  had  continued 


TEN    TEAES    OF    MUNICIPAL    VIGOR 


■uninterruptedly  for  more  than  three  weeks,  like  the  splendid  days 
of  the  Columbian  celebration  of  the  present  autumn  of  1892,  "  held 
oat,"  as  Mayor  Hone  said,  "  one  day  longer  to  smile  upon  the  great 
pageant"  The  city  was  justly  proud.  The  victim  but  a  few  years 
earlier  of  a  desolating  conflagration,  upon  which  closely  followed 
a  crisis  that,  for  a  time,  crippled  her  commercial  and  financial  in- 
terests, she  had,  nevertheless, 
unmded,  completed  a  work  of 
the  greatest  magnitude,  and  had 
voluntarily  incurred  in  its  exe- 
cution a  debt  of  twelve  mil- 
lions of  dollars;  and  this,  too, 
at  an  epoch  when  many  States 
and  communities  were  shame- 
lessly repudiating  their  obliga- 
tions. The  celebration  was 
worthy  of  the  city;  it  surpassed 
the  great  demonstration  which 
attended  the  opening  of  the 
Eiie  Canal  in  1825.  President 
Tyler  was  among  the  invited 
goests,  but,  to  the  intense  sat- 
isfaction of  the  Whigs  of  the 
metropolis,  he  responded  that 
ciroumstanees  would  deny  him 
the  pleasure  of  attending.  In 
June  of  the  following  year  he 
made  a  visit  to  the  city,  in  conjunction  with  his  son  and  several  cab- 
inet officers,  while  on  his  way  to  attend  the  great  Bunker  Hill  cele- 
bration and  to  hear  Webster's  magnificent  oration,  when  a  public 
reception,  chiefly  attended  by  the  Democrats,  was  held  in  his  honor. 
But  to  the  water  celebration  there  came  the  governor,  various  other 
State  officials,  members  of  Congress  and  of  the  State  legislature, 
foreign  consuls,  and  mayors  from  other  cities  of  the  State,  among 
whom  was  Henry  C.  Murphy,  then  mayor  of  the  recently  incorpo- 
rated city  of  Brooklyn.  In  the  morning  of  the  day,  there  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Fire  Department,'  which  was  now  to  receive  a  powerful 
auxiliary  in  the  Croton,  a  banner  covered  with  appropriate  deWces 
symbolizing  the  heroic  services  of  our  firemen,  and  old  Father  Nep- 
tune exulting  in  his  new  triumph  over  the  demon  of  fire.  Then 
followed  a  parade,  unrivaled  by  any  military  or  civic  demonstration 
ever  before  witnessed  in  the  city.  The  procession  contained  repre- 
sentatives of  all  the  leading  societies,  arts,  and  professions.    The  gov- 

1  This  w&i  the  Volunteer  Fire  Department,  irbich  wan  disbanded  in  1866. 


/^c^  CT.  ^i^c-c-j;Mp' 


404 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


ernor  and  other  invited  guests  of  distiaction,  the  water  commission- 
ers, and  members  of  the  Croton  aqueduct  board,  and  Mayor  Morris, 
rode  in  barouches,  followed  by  the  militaiy,  the  firemen  both  of  this 
city  and  of  Philadelphia,  the  representatives  of  various  literary,  sci- 
entific, and  benevolent  institutions,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
Board  of  Trade,  the  numerous  temperance  oi^anizations,  which  had 


CITY    BALL   PABK,  H 


found  a  new  ally  in  the  Croton,  and  mechanics  and  printers.  In  the 
midst  of  the  division  in  which  the  printers  marched  was  a  vehicle 
transporting  the  old  press  with  which  Benjamin  Franklin  had  once 
worked  in  London,  while  from  a  new  press  upon  the  same  cart  were 
printed  and  distributed  to  the  assembled  crowds  copies  of  the  com- 
memorative ode  written  by  George  P.  Morris,  then,  in  conjunction 
with  Theodore  S.  Fay  and  Nathaniel  P.  Willis,  editing  the  "  Mirror." 
Pipe,  symbolic  of  the  Croton  conduits,  and  the  implements  of  the 
workmen,  were  carried  or  drawn  by  others  in  the  procession. 

"  There  was,"  says  the  "  New-York  Express,"  "  a  multitude  pi-esent 
that  no  man  could  number,  and  the  devices  presented  an  idmost  end- 
less variety.  We  could  neither  number  the  one  nor  the  other.  The 
procession  was  two  hours  and  ten  minutes  in  passing  the  '  Express' 
office  on  Broadway.  The  ranks  were  from  two  to  ten  deep.  Every 
rank,  every  age,  and  every  profession  was  represented.  .  .  .  The 
church-bells  mingled  their  merriest  peals,  and  the  cannon  spoke  out 
morning,  noon  and  night  in  their  most  vociferous  tones  of  power." 

At  the  City  Hall,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  throng,  President  Stevens 
made  formal  transfer  of  the  water-works  to  the  city  authorities,  and  a 


TEN    TEABS    OF    MCNICIPAl    VIGOR 


405 


speech  of  acceptance  was  made  by  John  L.  Lawrence,  president  of  the 
Ooton  aqueduct  board.  The  Sacred  Music  Society  then  sang  Morris's 
ode.  The  collation,  which  was  dispensed  at  the  City  Hall,  was'  in 
admirable  keeping  with  the  other  festivities.  It  was  a  veritable  water 
day ;  no  wine  or  spirits  of  any  kind  were  served.  There  was  an  ad- 
dress by  the  mayor,  and  a  speech  by  the  governor,  in  which  he  urged 
the  comptetiou  by  the  State  of  the  enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal, 
which  had- been  recently  suspended  because  the  expense  of  its  execu- 
tion was  discovered  to  be  greater  than  had  at  first  been  anticipated. 
With  a  fair  at  Niblo's,  and  an  illumination  at  the  Astor  House,  a  day 
of  great  rejoicing  closed.  No  riot  or  disorder  marred  its  serenity. 
The  newly  erected  fountains  in  the 
City  Hall  Park  and  Union  Square, 
for  many  years  after  the  delight 
of  foreign  visitors,  had  all  day 
long  been  shooting  their  lofty  jets 
into  the  air,  to  the  joy  and  aston- 
ishment of  assembled  multitudes.' 
With  the  completion  of  the 
aqnednct,  with  the  private  im- 
provements which  could  be  wit- 
nessed on  every  hand^  with  the  in- 
crease and  decoration  of  public 
squares,  the  initiation  of  ndlroad 
enterprises,  the  construction  and 
equipment  of  steam  vessels  for 
use  upon  the  Sound  and  the  Hud- 
son, and  the  regular  arrival  and 
departure  of  ocean  packets  (which 
in  this  decade  first  came  to  the 
port),  with  the  increasing  wealth  of  the  merchants  and  the  growing 
diversity  and  magnitude  of  the  commercial  and  industrial  operations 
of  the  city,  it  was  evident  that  it  had  outgrown  the  old  lethargic 
methods  of  the  Knickerbockers  and  was  becoming  a  metropolis  in 
reality.  Nature  had  given  it  a  safe  and  capacious  harbor,  the  Erie 
Canal  and  the  railroads  were  opening  the  markets  of  the  West,  and 
ocean  packets  and  river  steamers  were  securing  outlets  and  inlets  for 
its  commerce.     The  sharp  contrasts  of  riches  and  poverty  now  began 

■  "If  I  most  live  in  a  city,  the  fountains  alone  mond*."    The  fountain  In  Ibis  park  "coniiists  of 

vould   determine  my  choice  in  favor  of  New-  a  larse  central  pipe  with  eighteen  subordlDBte  Jets 

York."  (Letten  from  New-York  by  LvdIaH.  Child.)  in  a  basin  one  hundred  feet  broad.    By  BhifttoB 

Tlie  same  aatboren  «ayR  that  the  Old  World  has  the  plate  ot  the  conduit  pipe,  the  Fonntains  can  be 

nothing  to  equal  the  ma^fleenee  otthe  fonntidn  made  toawunie  vaiioua  Bbapett:   The  Maid  of  the 

ia  City  HbH  Park.  "  There  in  such  a  head  of  water  Mist;  the  Croton  Plume;  tbe  Vase;  the  Dome; 

that  it  thrown  tbe  eolnniD  sixty  feet  into  the  air,  the  Bouquet;  tbe  Sheaf  of  Wheat;  the  Weeping 

■Dd  drops  It  into  the  basin  In  a  shower  of  dia-  Willow," 


HAXHATTAN    BBSBBVOIB,  ISU. 


406  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

to  assert  themselves,  but  these  were  partly  tempered  by  the  character 
of  our  institutions  and  by  the  active  and  growing  spirit  of  benevo- 
lence which  the  wealth  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people  is  sure  to 
evoke.  Nor  had  civic  spirit  begun  to  abate,  for  the  affairs  of  the  city 
still  occupied  the  attention  of  large  numbers  of  its  best  citizens,  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  devote  their  time  to  its  interests. 

Fashionable  New-York  was  rapidly  making  its  escape  from  its  old 
abodes.  The  erection  of  Grace  Church  on  Broadway  near  Tenth 
street,  and  the  new  Church  of  the  Messiah,  in  which  Dr.  Dewey  regu- 
larly officiated,  and  where  could  occasionally  have  been  heard  the  elo- 
quence of  Dr.  Chanoing,  exhibit  this  tendency.  Washington  Square, 
rWaverly  Place,  Astor  Place,  Bond 
^^^  street,  the  lower  part  of  Fifth  Ave- 

^^P^^^y,  Que,  and  East  Broadway  were  the 

■-■^■hfc      •^■-  neighborhoods  to  which  the  wealth 

of  the  day  aspii*ed.  Here  preten- 
tious mansions  were  built  at  a  cost 
which  would  have  shocked  the  old 
residents  about  Bowling  Green  or  in 
"Wall  street.  Says  Valentine,  in  his 
invaluable  "  Manual  of  the  Corpora- 
tion," a  few  years  later:  "The  dwell- 
ings now  generally  in  course  of  con- 
struction by  our  wealthy  inhabitants 
for  their  private  residences  are  among 
the  most  splendid  and  costly  city 
dwelling-houses  in  the  world.  .  .  . 
^^    /"^fClQ  ^^®  hundred  thousand  dollars  for 

^a,^Xry.>72^^^  the  cost  of  a  single  city  lot,  free- 

stone house  and  furniture,  is  not  an  infrequent  expenditure."  "  Rapid 
approximation  to  the  European  style  of  living,"  wrote  Lydia  Maria 
Child,  in  1842,  "  is  more  and  more  observable  in  this  city.  The  num- 
ber of  servants  in  livery  visibly  increases  every  season.  Foreign  ar- 
tistic upholsterers  assert  that  there  will  soon  be  more  houses  in  New- 
Tork  furnished  according  to  the  taste  and  fashion  of  noblemen,  than 
there  are  even  in  Paris  or  London " ;  and  she  adds  that  "  furniture 
for  a  single  room  is  often  ordered  at  a  cost  of  ten  thousand  dollars," 
These  luxuries  came  with  the  steam  packet,  which  first  made  ocean 
voydges  popular.  When  a  trip  to  Europe  could  be  made  in  sixteen 
days  in  the  Sinus,  the  Great  Western,  the  Britannia,  or  the  Arcadia, 
there  was  no  longer  a  bar  to  elegant  travel.  In  1839  James  W.  Wal- 
lack  made  the  round  trip  within  six  weeks  from  the  day  of  his  fare- 
well benefit  at  the  National.  Steam  navigation  brought  accessions  of 
noted  strangers,  some  to  be  fSted  and  honored,  as  Dickens,  Marryat, 


TEN    TEAKS    OF    MDHICIPAL    TIOOK 


407 


Lord  Morpeth^  or  the  Prince  de  JoinviUe;'  others,  like  Louis  Napoleon, 
or  the  ex-King  of  Spain,  to  escape  for  a  time  from  an  atmosphere  of 
insecurity.  The  Orontes  had  begun  to  flow  into  the  Tiber,  in  a  double 
sense :  not  only  was  America  becomii^  the  asylum  of  Europe,  but  the 
luxury  and  fashion  of  Paris  were 
also  commencing  to  pervade  New- 
York.  We  are  fast  approaching 
the  days  of  Mrs.  Crcesns  and 
Mrs.  Potiphar,  and  the  life  which 
Ik  Marvel  satirizes  in  the  "Lor- 
gnette." 

The  prraidential  campaign  of 
the  year  1844  may,  we  think, 
be  r^arded,  next  to  1860,  as 
the  most  important  canvass  in 
our  history.  Controversies  about 
banks  and  tariffs  were  fast  hur- 
ried to  the  bacl^TOund  before  the 
onset  of  the  slavery  question. 
Houston  at  San  Jacinto  in  1836 
had  made  Texas  independent  of 
Mexico,  bat  the  "  Lone  Star  "  was 
courted  by  the  South,  and  one  of 
the  last  acts  of  the  Tyler  adminis- 
tration was  the  proposed  treaty  with  the  republic  of  Texas  for 
its  annexation  to  the  Union.  The  resolution  of  Calhoun  and  the 
South  to  acquire  the  full  area  of  this  new  repubhc  for  additional 
slave  territory  prevented  Van  Buren's  renomination  at  Baltimore,  and 
secured  the  nomination  of  Polk  and  Silas  Wright ;  but  the  Kangaroo 
ticket,  as  it  was  immediately  dubbed,^  did  not  long  continue  in  the 
field.  Wright,  who  was  then  a  senator  from  New- York  at  Washing- 
ton, immediately  telegraphed  to  the  convention  his  refusal  to  accept 
the  proffered  honor.  History  records  that  the  convention  disdained 
to  believe  that  the  news  of  the  nomination  had  been  conveyed  to 
Washington,  and  that  a  veritable  declination  had  been  sent  from  that 
city,  within  an  hour  after  the  nomination.  The  explanation  of  this 
incredulity  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  proceedings  of  this  convention 
constituted  the  first  public  news  ever  transmitted  over  telegraphic 
wires.  The  skeptical  convention  adjourned  to  the  following  day  before 
acting  upon  Wright's  declination,  meanwhile  despatching  a  com- 

l  The  Prince  de  JoinviUe  c&me  to  tbis  port  in  Valentine  Hott  and  his  wife  fcuve  ■  ball,  at  ttaeir 

the  historic  frigate   La  Belle  PotUe,  which  had  residence    in    Bleecker   street.   In   honor  of  the 

neently  conveyed  Napoleon's  remains  from  St.  Prince.  t«  whom  on  the  following  day  the  city 

Belena  to  Prance,  and  which  In  the  fall  and  win-  fathers  gave  a  grand  dinner  at  the  Astor  House. 
erof  18*1  ctrald  have  been  seen  oB  the  Battery.  S  "The  ticket,"  said  a  leading  Democrat,  "is 

'with  her  tricolor  flying."  In  November,  1841, Dr.  like  a  kangaroo  — it  goes  upon  Its  hind  legs." 


<2-^7^»-a'^*-'=*^<=»^^^*^g^2f 


408 


HI8T0BY    OF    NEW-YORK 


mittee  to  "Washington,  to  ascertain  the  nominee's  decision.  When  it 
was  discovered  that  Morse's  invention  was  no  chimera,  but  a  veritable 
working  machine,  the  city  was  as  much  astonished  at  this  intelligence 
as  at  the  unexpected  nomination  of  Polk. 

After  years  of  disappointment  and  privation  Morse  had  at  lasfc. 
been  permitted  to  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  employing  electro^^ 
magnetism  for  the  instantaneous  transmission  of  news.    Although  b>^' 

profession    an     artist , 

this  pupil  of  Washing 

ton  Allston  had   froii 
his  college  days  at  Yal^r^ 

been  profoundly  inter 

ested    in    science,   an(^e=: 

had  patented  many  in 

ventions.    The  idea  o^Mt 

an  electromagnetic  re 

cording  telegraph  had^H 
first  si^igested  itself  toi^" 
him  while  he  was  on  a.  ^ 
voyage  from  Havre  to— 
New-York  in  1832.  Re— 
'  turning  to  bis  professional  work  in  the  university,  he  spent  years  in. 
perfecting  his  invention,  and  was  at  last  able  to  demonstrate  its  per- 
fect utility  to  a  company  of  gentlemen  assembled  in  the  Geological 
Cabinet  of  the  imiversity  in  1838.    Patents  were  granted  to  him  hy 
the  United  States,  but  for  many  years  no  means  of  enabling  him  to 
test  the  invention  were  put  at  his  disposal    England  refused  him  a 
patent.    Arago,  the  aged  Humboldt,  and  other  scientists  at  home 
and  abroad  were  convinced  of  the  value  of  the  Morse  system ;  but 
Congress,  busied  with  problems  of  polities  and  finance,  refused  any 
appropriation  for  testing  its  value  imtil  1843.    At  the  very  close  of 
the  session  (on  the  third  of  March)  of  this  year.  Congress  passed  a 
bill  authorizing  an  appropriation  for  a  trial  line  between  Baltimore 
and  Washington.    This  bill  was  not  passed  without  keen  and  scom* 
ful  opposition.     One  member  of  the  House  wished  an  amendment 
adding  a  provision  that  part  of  the  money  should  be  expended  in 
researches  upon  animal   magnetism,  a  subject  then   engaging  the 
scientific  and  popular  mind;   and  blunt  Sam  Houston,  conceiving 
Morse  to  be  a  visionary  enthusiast,  worthy  of  enrolment  with  "  Sec- 
ond Advent"  Miller,  suggested  that  "Millerism"*  should  receive  a 


flEHERAL   worth's   RESIDKNCB.l 


■Qeneral  William  J.  Wortli'H  residence  com  muids 
one  of  the  flnest  tIbwb  on  the  Hndson  River.  The 
hooBe  is  k  itrife  square  building,  with  a  hroad 
portico  and  loaic  columnB  eitendlne  ■ctobb  its 
entire  front,  while  the  ^ronnds  In  which  It  standa 
ue  shaded  with  nugiilfloent  old  trees.    Editor. 


-  "Mlllerism"  found  votaries  In  the  citj.  Miller 
Oied  Octol>er  22,  1844.  for  the  end  of  the  vrorld. 
Stones  and  brlckhats  were  thrown  at  the  speakers 
at  the  Hi1ierlt«  meetiuga,  and  eraoken  and  torpe- 
does were  exploded  onder  their  feet  Finallj-  Uie 
nutfor,  with  an  array  of  constables,  was  obHgpd 


410  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

our  soldiers  were  victorious.  Polk  at  once  addressed  Congress,  and 
the  famous  vote  was  taken  which  declared  that  war  already  existed 
"  by  act  of  Mexico.''  It  is  not  our  province  to  narrate  the  history  of 
that  war,  the  triumphs  of  Taylor,  or  our  own  Worth  and  Wool,  Scott's 
entry  into  the  city  of  Montezuma  in  1847,  or  the  resulting  contro- 
versy over  the  attempted  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  vast  territory 
purchased  from  Mexico  under  the  guise  of  a  treaty  of  peace ;  but  the 
part  which  New- York  took  in  the  conflict  merits  brief  notice. 

The  history  of  the  events  which  led  up  to  the  war,  of  the  war  itself, 
and  of  its  effects,  would  form  a  most  absorbing  book.  The  war  was 
waged  for  the  dismemberment  of  Mexico.  The  military  honors  are 
unquestionably  due  to  Taylor  and  Scott  and  their  brilliant  subor- 
dinates ;  but  the  policy  which  added  California,  Utah,  and  New  Mex- 
ico to  the  territory  of  the  United  States  had  its  origin  largely  in  the 
minds  of  Marcy  and  Bancroft,  and  they  found  men  capable  of  execut- 
ing their  bold  designs.  It  was  Commodore  John  Drake  Sloat,  a  na- 
tive of  this  city,  a  hero  of  the  war  of  1812,  who  stole,  under  cover  of 
darkness,  in  his  ship,  the  Savannah,  from  the  harbor  of  Mazatlan,  and, 
reaching  Monterey,  California,  in  advance  of  the  British  admiral,  com- 
pelled its  surrender,  and  raised  the  American  flag  in  the  old  Mexican 
capital.  Under  instructions  from  Marcy,  General  Stephen  Watts 
Kearny  led  a  force  of  sixteen  hundred  men  a  thousand  miles  through 
the  desert  to  seize  Santa  F6  and  hold  New  Mexico.  His  brilliant 
nephew,  Philip,  also  a  native  of  this  city,  was  the  flrst  soldier  to  enter 
the  gates  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  In  attempting  to  follow  the  Mexicans 
into  their  capital  after  their  defeat  at  Churubusco,  he  received  a  shot 
which  necessitated  the  amputation  of  his  left  arm.  Of  him  General 
Scott  said,  "  He  was  the  bravest  man  I  ever  knew,  and  the  most  per- 
fect soldier."  In  this  war  other  New-Yorkers  either  won  their  spurs 
or  gained  fresh  laurels.  General  Worth,  whose  statue  was  subse- 
quently erected  in  Madison  Square,  was  in  the  thick  of  the  fi^ht  at 
Monterey,  at  Vera  Cruz,  at  Cerro  Gordo,  at  Chapultepec,  and  at  the 
capture  of  Mexico.  The  energetic  and  indomitable  spirit  of  General 
Wool  enabled  him  to  raise  and  equip  a  volunteer  force  of  twelve 
thousand  men  in  less  than  six  weeks,  and  as  a  veteran  he  displayed 
equal  energy  during  our  late  civil  war  in  saving  Washington  from 
Confederate  troops.  Among  others  who  won  distinction  or  lost  their 
lives  in  this  struggle  were  descendants  of  the  Hamiltons,  the  Schuy- 
lers,  the  Morrises,  and  others  of  New- York's  leading  families. 

During  the  exciting  and  bloody  drama  of  the  last  years  of  this 
decade  New-York  city  steadily  continued  her  development.  No  seri- 
ous calamity  occurred  except  the  fire  of  July  19, 1845,  the  third  great 
conflagration  in  the  city's  history,  which  broke  out  about  dawn  of  a 
calm  midsummer  morning.    As  there  was  little  wind,  and  an  ample 


412  mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


GOTHAM  AS  APPLIED  TO  NEW-YORK. 

Gotham  derives  its  origin  from  Goth,  one  of  an  ancient  tribe  of  barbftriaxiB  who 
overran  the  Roman  Empire,  and  signifies  a  rude,  ignorant  person.  It  was  also  the 
name  of  a  parish  in  Nottinghamshire,  England,  where  x>eople  were  noted  for  their  sim- 
pUcity  and  stupidity,  which  gained  for  them  the  satirical  appellation  of  the  ^'  wise  men 
of  Gotham."  As  a  popular  name  for  the  city  of  New -York,  it  was  first  used  by  Irving 
and  Paulding  in  ^^  Salmagundi,"  because  the  inhabitants  were  such  wiseaores.  In.  that 
humorous  volume  is  quaintly  recited  the  ''  Chronicles  of  the  Renowned  and  Antient 
City  of  Gotham,"  and  its  invasion  and  final  capture  by  the  Hoppingtots,  a  race  noted 
for  ''  an  unaccountable  and  unparalleled  aptitude  for  huge  and  unmatchable  feats  of 
the  leg.  Led  by  two  chiefs,  Pirouet  and  Rigadoon,  who  ordered  each  man  *^  to  arm 
himself  with  a  certain  pestilent  little  weapon  called  a  fiddle ;  to  pack  up  in  his  knap- 
sack a  pair  of  silk  breeches,  the  like  of  ruffles,  a  cocked  hat  of  the  form  of  a  half -moon, 
a  bundle  of  catgut,"  and  '^  a  bunch  of  right  merchantable  onions,"  they  swooped  down 
upon  the  devoted  Gotham.  The  appearance  of  this  host,  capering  and  grimacing, 
filled  the  citizens  with  alarm,  followed  by  despondency,  as  fresh  onslaughts  to  the 
sound  of  screeching  fiddles  were  made  day  after  day  by  the  enemy.  And  the  wise 
men  of  the  town  implored  the  dancing  men  and  women  to  '^  make  heel  against  the  in- 
vaders, and  to  put  themselves  upon  such  gallant  defence,  such  glorious  array,  and 
such  sturdy  evolution,  elevation,  and  transposition  of  the  foot  as  might  incontinently 
impester  the  legs  of  the  Hoppingtots,  and  produce  their  complete  discomfiture.^  Finally 
the  two  chiefs,  marshaling  their  entire  force,  made  a  general  attack  on  the  whole  line 
of  fortifications  by  a  grand  ball.  The  garrison  had  previously  been  corrupted  "  by  a 
most  insidious  and  pestilent  dance  called  the  waltz.  ...  By  it  were  the  heads  of  the 
simple  Gothamites  most  seriously  turned";  the  ladies  of  the  city  had  been  already  cap- 
tivated by  the  besiegers,  and  the  defenders  themselves  were  wavering.  Rigadoon  made 
a  short  address  to  his  companions,  and  without  more  ado  ^'  leaped  into  the  air  about  a 
fiight-shot,  crossed  his  feet  six  times,  after  the  manner  of  the  Hoi^ingtots,  gave  a 
short  partridge-run,  and  with  mighty  vigor  and  swiftness  did  bolt  outright  over  the 
walls  with  a  somerset.  The  whole  army  of  Hoppingtots  danced  in  after  their  valiant 
chieftain  with  an  enormous  squeaking  of  fiddles,  and  a  horrific  blasting  and  brattling 
of  horns ;  insomuch  that  the  dogs  did  howl  in  the  streets,  so  hideously  were  their  ears 
assailed."  The  city  was  shortly  won,  and  the  captors  immediately  put  the  citizens  in 
charge  of  certain  professors  of  the  Hoppingtots,  '^  who  did  put  them  under  most  igno- 
minious durance  for  the  space  of  a  long  time,  until  they  had  learned  to  turn  out  their 
toes  and  fiourish  their  legs  after  the  manner  of  their  conquerors."  All  ages,  sexes, 
and  conditions  were  put  to  the  fiddle  and  the  dance  without  mercy,  so  that  **  in  pro- 
cess of  time  they  have  waxed  to  be  most  flagrant,  outrageous,  and  abandoned  dancers; 
they  do  ponder  on  naughte  but  how  to  gallantize  it  at  balls,  routs,  and  fandangoes ;  in- 
somuch that  the  like  was  in  no  time  or  place  ever  observed  before."  This  sad  ohronide 
closes  as  follows :  "  And  to  conclude,  their  young  folk,  who  whilome  did  bestow  a  mo- 
dicum of  leisure  upon  the  head,  have  of  late  utterly  abandoned  this  hopeful  task,  and 
have  quietly,  as  it  were,  settled  themselves  down  into  mere  machines,  wound  up  by  a 
tune,  and  set  in  motion  by  a  fiddlestick ! "  Gothamite  is  now  occasionally  used  to 
denote  an  inhabitant  of  New-York  city.  Edftob. 


CHAPTER  XI 

TELEGRAPHS  AND  RAILKOADS,  AMD    THEIR    IMPULSE  TO   COMMERCE 

1847-1855 

1  HIS  period  was  marked  by  a  wonderful  commercial 
development,  due  in  part  to  the  rapid  expansion  of  rail- 
way, steamboat,  and  telegraph  interests,  in  part  to  the 
C'hina  and  East  India  trade,  no  little  also  to  the  Cali- 
fornia trade  consequent  upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  that  State  in 
1848.  The  telegraph,  which  had  come  fairly  into  use  by  1847,  revolu- 
tionized the  methods  of  business.  Heretofore  it  had  been  the  custom 
of  the  merchants  of  Pittsburg,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  and  all 
the  larger  interior  towns  to  visit  New-York  once  a  year,  usually  in 
the  spring,  spend  a  month,  and  select  their  stock  of  goods  for  the 
coming  year.  Now  all  this  was  changed.  The  development  of  the 
railroad  and  telegraph  made  it  possible  for  merchants  in  the  interior 
to  order  any  particular  goods  wanted,  and  to  receive  them  within  a 
day  or  two,  so  that  the  great  wholesale  houses,  instead  of  carrying  a 
large  and  miscellaneous  stock  of  goods,  began  to  limit  themselves  to 
a  single  line,  and  their  customers  in  ordering  would  divide  their  orders 
among  perhaps  a  dozen  houses. 

Dealings  in  stocks,  bonds,  and  produce  between  the  exchanges  of 
the  various  cities  were  also  changed  by  the  advent  of  the  new  agent, 
for  now  the  brokers  could  know  the  state  of  the  market,  and  operate 


414 


mSTORT    OF    NEW-TOEK 


at  the  same  time  in  New -York,  Philadelphia,  Cineinnati,  Charleston, 
or  New  Orleans.  The  first  telegraph-line  in  practical  operation  was 
finished  in  1844,  as  has  been  narrated.  In  June,  1846,  the  line  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Washington  was  completed  and  opened  for 
business.  The  line  between  New-York  and  Philadelphia  had  been 
opened  on  January  26,  1846.  The 
receipts  of  the  new  line  from  Jan- 
uary 27,  1846,  to  June  30  of  the  same 
year,  as  appears  from  the  old  books 
of  the  company,  now  in  the  iHJsses- 
sion  of  the  "Western  Union  Company, 
were  for  January,  $108.75;  for  Feb- 
ruary (no  record) ;  for  March,  $202.58 ; 
for  April,  $120.97;  for  May,  $362.25; 
for  June,  after  the  opening  of  the 
through  line,  $731.32.  Total  for  the 
six  months,  $1525.87. 

From  this  time  on  telegraph-lines 
were  extended  throughout  the  United 
States  with  great  rapidity.  There  were 
the  New -York  and  Boston  Telegraph 
Company;  the  New -York,  Albany  and 
Buffalo  Company,  owned  by  the  great 
stage-line  proprietors,  Foxton  and  But- 
terfield;  the  New -York  and  Albany 
Company,  owned  by  Morse's  partners;  the  St.  Louis  Company,  owned 
by  Henry  O'Reilly,  to  which  Morse  and  his  partners  gave  a  license  so 
loosely  worded  as  to  locality  that  it  produced  later  much  contention 
and  some  lawsuits;  the  Washington  Company,  owned  by  Morse's  agent, 
Amos  Kendal;  the  New -York  and  Mississippi  Valley  Printing  Com- 
pany, which  operated  under  the  Key  printing  device  of  Eoyal  House; 
and  scores  of  others.  In  seven  years  there  were  over  fifty  separate 
telegraph  companies  doing  business  in  the  United  States,  nearly  all  of 
them  in  open  competition  and  rivalry.  This  rivalry  occasioned  many 
evils  and  imperfections.  It  necessitated  copying  and  retransmitting, 
with  the  attendant  loss  of  time ;  and  together  with  the  delays,  inac- 
curacies, and  various  tariffs,  the  result  was  such  that  in  1851  a  move- 
ment was  begun  to  effect  a  consolidation  of  the  various  interests.  On 
March  30,  1854,  the  New -York  and  Mississippi  Valley  Printing  Com- 


1  Jamea  Henry  Hackett,  actor,  vaa  bom  in  New- 
York  city.  March  IS,  IBOO.  He  studied  lav  at 
Columbia  College,  went  into  mercantile  life,  and 
Boon  married  Katherine  Lee-Sugg,  an  KtresB  and 
the  daughter  of  an  English  ventriloquist  Fail- 
ing In  busineas,  he  essayed  the  stage,  meeting 
with  great  aucoeaa.    Hb  Falstaff  was  for  years  the 


beat  on  the  Amertoui  stage.  In  1654  he  brongbt 
Qrisi  and  Mario  to  this  counliy,  and  made  a 
handsome  fortnne.  Hackett  numbered  among  bii 
personal  frlenda  Cooper,  Halleck,  Inlng,  Paul- 
ding, and  other  prominent  men.  He  died  Decem- 
ber 28, 1891.  BDirOB. 


416  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

property  or  persons  by  the  power  of  steam,  or  of  animals,  or  by  any 
other  power"  or  combination  of  the  above.  The  capital  stock  was 
limited  to  ten  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  charter  was  to  expire  after 
fifty  years.  In  the  list  of  oflBcers  and  incorporators  were  many  names 
powerful  "  on  'change  ^  fifty  years  ago.' 

During  this  summer  (1832)  a  preliminary  survey  was  made  by 
Colonel  De  Witt  Clinton,  Jr.,  mider  authority  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, and  his  report  was  so  favorable  that  a  complete  and  accurate 
instrumental  survey  was  decided  upon.  By  1833  one  million  dollars 
of  the  capital  stock  had  been  subscribed,  and  in  August  officers  and 
directors  were  appointed.  The  legislature  of  1834  made  an  appropria- 
tion for  a  survey  of  the  route  under  State  authority,  and  Governor 
Marcy  appointed  Judge  Benjamin  Wright  to  conduct  it.  He  began 
operations  May  23,  1834,  dividing  the  work  into  two  grand  divisions 
or  sections — the  eastern  extending  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Bing- 
hamton,  under  the  direction  of  James  Seymour,  and  the  western 
from  Binghamton  to  Lake  Erie,  conducted  by  Charles  EUet,  Jr. 
Judge  Wright  reported  on  January  20, 1835,  that  the  survey  had  been 
finished,  and  that  the  complete  maps,  profiles,  and  estimates  had  been 
deposited  with  the  secretary  of  state.  The  whole  route  from  Pier- 
mont  on  the  Hudson  to  Dunkirk  on  Lake  Erie  was  four  hundred  and 
eighty-three  miles  in  length  (subsequently  reduced  to  four  hundred 
and  forty-six).  In  his  report  the  engineer  spoke  of  the  vast  and 
acknowledged  benefits  of  the  Erie  Canal  to  its  commercial  emporium, 
and  that  in  selecting  the  route  of  the  railroad  he  had  considered 
economy  of  construction,  passenger  traffic,  cheapness  of  transporta- 
tion, connection  with  lateral  branches,  accommodation  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  development  of  resources.  The  report  aroused  much 
opposition  to  the  proposed  road  in  the  legislature.  The  project  was 
denounced  as  "chimerical,  impracticable,  and  useless.'^  It  was  said 
that  the  road  could  never  be  constructed,  and  if  it  could,  would  never 
be  used,  as  the  southern  counties  were  sterile,  mountainous,  and 
thinly  populated,  yielding  but  few  marketable  products,  which  could 

1  They  were:  President,  James  Q.King;  Vice-  James   Pnmpelly,    Charles   Pamx>ell7y  John   R. 

President,  Eleazar  Lord ;   Directors,  John  Duer,  Drake,  Jonathan  Piatt,  Luther  Qere,  Francis  A. 

Goold  Hoyt,  Michael  Bumham,  Peter  Q.  Stuy-  Bloodgood,  Jeremiah  S.  Beehe,  Ebeneser  Mack, 

vesant,  Elihu    Townsend,   Samuel    B.   Ruggles,  Ansel  St.  John,  Andrew  De  Witt  Bruyn,  Stephen 

James  Boorman,  Stephen  Whitney,  John  Rath-  Tuttlo,  Lyman  Covell,  Robert  CoTell,  John  Amett. 

bone,  Jr.,  J.  Green  Pearson,  John  G.  Coster,  J.  H.  John  Magee,  William  McKay,  William  S.  Hubbell, 

Pierson,  of  Rockland  County,  George  D.  Wick-  WilliamBonham,ArthurH.Erwin,  Henry  Brother, 

ham,   of   Orange    County,  Joshua   Whitney   of  Philip  Church,  Samuel  King,  Walter  Bowne,  Hot- 

Broome  County:   Incorporators,  Samuel  Swart-  gan  Lewis,  William  Paulding,  Peter  LoT^and,  Isaac 

wout,  Stephen  Wbitney,  Robert  White,  Cornelius  Lawrence,  Jeromus  Johnson,  John  Steward,  Jr., 

Harsen,  Eleazar  Lord,  Daniel  Le  Roy,  William  C.  Henry  I.  Wyckoff,  Richard  M.  Lawrence,  Gideon 

Redfleld,  Cornelius  J.  Blauvelt.  Jeremiah  H.  Pier-  Lee,  John  P.  Stagg,  Nathaniel  Weed,  Hubert  Van 

son,  William  Townsend,  Egbert  Jansen,  Charles  Wagenen,  David  Rodgers,  John  Hone,  John  G. 

Borland,  Abraham  M.  Smith,  Alpheus  Dimmick,  Coster,  Gk>old  Hoyt,  Peter  P.  Nevius,  Robert  Bu- 

Randal  S.  Street.  John  P.  Jones,  George  D.  Wick-  loid,  Thomas  A.  Ronalds,  John  Haggerty,  EUsha 

ham,  Joseph  Curtis,  John  L.   Gorham,  Joshua  Riggs,   Benjamin  L.   Swan,  Grant  B.   Baldwin, 

Whitney,  Christopher  Eldridge,  James  McKinney,  William  Maxwell,  and  Darius  Bentley. 


418  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

York  Tribune^  of  Friday,  April  25,  said  on  its  editorial  page,  "The 
iron  track  from  Piermont  to  Dunkirk  is  at  length  completed,  and  the 
first  train  passed  over  the  road  on  Tuesday.  The  directors  left  this 
city  on  Monday,  stopped  for  the  night  at  Elmira,  and  arrived  at 
Dunkirk  about  six  o'clock  on  Tuesday  evening,  amid  the  rejoicings  of 
thousands  who  had  gathered  to  witness  the  advent  of  the  first  train 
of  cars  from  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  The  company  remained  at 
Dunkirk  Tuesday  night,  and  on  Wednesday  afternoon  started  on 
their  return  to  this  city," — and  closed  its  account  with  the  query, 
"  Should  not  the  completion  of  this  mighty  undertaking  be  commemo- 
rated by  our  citizens  f  "  "Step  by  step,"  said  a  New -York  publication 
of  1855,  "  mile  by  mile,  over  mountains,  across  valleys,  on  airy  via- 
ducts, from  the  river  to  the  great  lakes  the  work  was  at  length  ac- 
complished, and  immediately,  as  if  a  magic  wand  had  touched  the 
great  West,  roads  connecting  with  it  sprang  into  existence,  leading  to 
y  ^^^^^./?  y  oi  ©very  State  in  the  Union  north  of  the  Ohio 

and  Mississippi,  and  the  wealth  of  the  great 
Northwest  was  poured  into  the  lap  of  New  -York.  St.  Louis  formerly 
bought  goods  at  New  Orleans,  now  it  comes  to  us.  Illinois  bought  at 
St.  Louis,  now  it  purchases  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  Ohio  went  bodily 
to  Cincinnati  for  its  supplies.  Cincinnati  itself  now  seeks  them  in 
the  metropolis  of  the  Empire  State.^ 

During  the  year  ending  September  30,  1854,  1,125,123  passengers 
were  transported,  with  743,250  tons  of  freight.  The  road  then  owned 
183  locomotives,  and  2935  cars.  The  cost  of  the  road  and  equipment 
was  $33,439,431.10,  and  its  earnings  for  that  year  $5,359,958.68,  or 
nearly  one  sixth  of  its  total  cost.  The  company  fell  into  evil  hands, 
however,  and  in  1859  its  road  and  property  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  receiver  for  non-payment  of  interest  on  its  funded  debt.  A  re- 
organization was  effected  under  the  name  of  the  Erie  Eailway  Com- 
pany in  June,*  1861.  In  May,  1875,  the  road  and  property  were  again 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver  in  default  of  payment  of  interest  on 
its  bonds,  and  its  affairs  were  by  him  administered  until  April  24, 
1878,  when  the  road,  franchise,  and  property  were  sold  under  a  fore- 
closure of  the  mortgage  bonds,  and  a  second  reorganization  was 
effected  under  the  title  of  the  New -York,  Lake  Erie,  and  Western 
Railroad  Company,  the  articles  of  association  being  filed  on  the 
27th  of  the  same  month.  Since  then  the  affairs  of  the  great  corpo« 
ration  have  been  in  a  much  more  prosperous  condition.^ 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  none  of  the  other  great  trunk-lines 

1  Caleb  S.  WoodhuU  was  elected  mayor  by  the  miles  of  line.  Its  total  earnings  for  that  year 
Whigs  in  1849,  and  served  one  term.  It  was  dur-  were  $30,090,699.51.  It  carried  I3,756»292  passen- 
ing  his  administration  that  the  Astor  Place  riot  gers,  and  24,911,699  tons  of  freight.  It  then  had 
occurred.                                                   Editob.  870  locomotives,  703  passenger-cars,  and  40y58<^ 

2  In  1891  it  was  operating  a  total  of  1696.59  freight^ars.    Its  capital  stock  is  $£^,951,100. 


420  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  city,  was  formed  by  the  consolidation,  in  June,  1871,  of  the  ori- 
ginal Pennsylvania  Railroad  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  (first 
opened  February  15,  1854)  with  the  United  Railroads  of  NeW  Jersey, 
which  had  at  that  date  absorbed  the  various  independent  railroad 
^^  companies  of  New  Jersey,  and  controlled  and 

(>:;^^:^^^yj.^^^;i^i^*  operated  a  through  line  £o  Philadelphia.  These 
^  independent  companies  were  the  Delaware  and 

Baritan  Canal  Company,  the  Camden  and  Amboy,  the  New  Jersey, 
and  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  railroad  companies. 

The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad,  by  the  ex- 
tension of  its  lines  to  Buffalo  and  to  Oswego  on  Lake  Ontario,  is  en- 
titled to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  trunk-lines  and  feeders  of  the 
metropolis.  It  was  organized  December  10,  1853,  by  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  Lackawanna  and  Western,  which  had  been  chartered 
March  14, 1849,  and  the  Delaware  and  Cobbs  Gap  Railroad  (chartered 
December  26,  1850).  In  1868,  by  its  lease  of  the  Morris  and  Essex 
Railroad  (chartered  1835),  it  gained  an  entrance  to  Jersey  City  and 
New -York,  and  made  connection  with  the  Hudson.  On  October  2, 
1882,  it  leased  the  New- York,  Delaware  and  Lackawanna  Sailroad, 
running  from  Binghamton  to  the  International  Bridge,  New -York, 
with  a  branch  line  to  the  city  of  Buffalo,  and  thus  became  a  trunk- 
line  and  a  rival  of  the  Erie.  The  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern was  originally  organized  as  a  coal  road,  its  line  extending  from 
Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  to  the  Delaware  River,  and  it  is  now  one  of 
the  greatest  coal-carrying  companies  entering  New-York.^ 

The  West  Shore  Railroad,  although  now  leased  by  the  New-York 
Central  and  Hudson  River  system,  was  built  for  a  through  line  be- 
tween New-York  and  the  West,  in  opposition  to  the  last-named  com- 
pany. It  extends  from  Weehawken,  New  Jersey,  opposite  New -York 
city,  to  Buffalo,  New-York,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  miles,  with  branches  to  Albany  and  Schenectady.  The  company 
was  formed  on  the  14th  of  June,  1881,  by  the  consolidation  of  the 
North  River  Railroad  Company  and  the  first  New-York,  West  Shore 
and  Buffalo  Railroad  Company,  which  had  been  organized  February 
18, 1880,  to  build  a  trunk-line  from  New -York  to  Buffalo.  The  road 
was  opened  to  Syracuse  on  October  1, 1883,  and  to  Buffalo  on  Janu- 
ary 1,  1884.  The  New -York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad, 
whose  line  it  paralleled,  at  once  reduced  rates  on  its  lines,  and  the 
West  Shore,  being  unable  to  compete,  was  thrown  into  the  hands  of 

1291  passenger-cars,  and  36,141  freight-cars.    It  2  The  total  number  of  miles  of  road  operated  on 

carried,  in  1891,  44,810,727  passengers,  and  moved  January  1,  1891,  was  788.29.    The  oompuiy  then 

66,500.209  tons  of  freight   Its  total  earnings  were  owned  564  locomotives,  386  passenger-ears,  and 

$67,026,666.63.    Its  capital  stock  is  $126,771,200.  34,065  freight-cars.    Its  capital  stock  was  |a6y200,- 

1  The  Whigs  were  again  successful  in  1851,  elect-  000.    It  carried  11,475,878  passengers,  and  moved 

ing  Ambrose  C.  Eingsland  to  the  office  of  mayor.  11,383,567  tons  of  freight    Its  total  *»M^««gt 

Editob.  $22,011,820.90. 


TELEOBAFHB  AITD  BAILBOAJ)S,   THEIB  IMPULSE  TO   COMUEBGE    421 

receivers  in  June,  1884,  and  sold  under  foreclosure  in  November,  1885. 
A  new  company  was  organized  December  5, 1885,  by  whom  the  road 
was  leased  to  the  New -York  Central  for  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  years,  dating  from  January  1, 1886. 

The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  the  last  of  the  great  trunk-lineB 
to  enter  New- York,  reaches  the  city  by  means  of  its  Philadelphia 
<31visioD  to  Philadelphia,  and  then  by  the  Philadelphia  and  Beading 
Sailroad,  and  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  to  New- York.  This  ar- 
Tangement  was  consummated  in  December, 
1886,  and  the  first  through  train  was  run  to 
New- York  on  December  15  of  that  year. 
The  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey  is  one 
of  the  great  coal  roads  centering  at  Jersey 
City,  with  extensive  coal  docks  at  Port 
Johnston  and  Elizabethport.  It  was  formed 
by  the  consolidation,  February  22,  1849,  of 
the  Elizabeth  and  Somerville,  and  Somer- 
ville  and  Eastern  Raih'oad  companies.  It 
was  opened  to  Phillipsburg  in  July,  1852, 
and  its  line  extended  to  Jersey  City  in  1864. 
It  was  leased  in  May,  188.%  with  all  its 
leased  and  branch  lines,  to  the  Philadelphia 
and  Reading  Railroad,  which  wished  to  use 
it  as  a  through  line  to  New- York;  but  the 
lease  was  declared  void  by  the  chaucellor  of  New  Jersey,  and  the 
road  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  receivers  on  January  1,  1887. 

In  his  annual  message  to  Coiigi-ess  in  December,  1848,  President 
Polk  announced  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  A  man  named 
Marshall,  while  digging  a  mill-race  for  a  Captain  Sutter  on  the  Amer- 
ican Pork  of  the  Sacramento  River,  hud  discovered  the  precious  metal 
in  large  quantities ;  other  rich  deposits  were  soon  discovered  by  eager 
adventurers.  The  news,  traveling  slowly  overland,  reached  New- York 
in  September,  1848,  and  stirred  the  pulses  of  men  to  fever-heat.  On 
'change,  in  the  streets,  in  the  drawing-rooms,  little  was  talked  of  but 
the  new  El  Dorado  and  the  fortunes  to  be  washed  from  its  golden 
sands.  Men  settled  their  affairs,  sold  their  property,  left  their  fami- 
lies, and  set  out  for  the  land  of  promise,  some  by  sea  around  Cape 
Horn,  some  overland,  some  by  water  to  Vera  Cruz,  and  thence  across 
Mexico  to  Acapulco,  or  Panama,  on  the  Pacific,  where  they  took 
ship  for  California.  During  the  year  1849  it  was  estimated  that 
twenty-seven  thousand  emigrants  went  by  water  to  California,  and 

IJohnVcniDKiru  born  June  13,1802.  He  studird  1H46,  anil  was  elMUd.     In  July,  1819.  he  waa  ap- 

l«ir,aiid  went  to  the  leglaUtura  Id  lN32;wBB  elected  pointed  asBistaot  tressiirerof  tbo  United  StatKeia 

loCon«TesslnIft3fl;aBalnlDlS40andlnl8U.    He  Now -York  city,  where  he  died,  April  23,  1S52. 
TeeidTed  tbe  Whig  tumlnation  for  govemor  In  Editob. 


422  mSTOBY   OF    new-yobe 

Dearly  as  many  more  by  land.  A  little  later  the  favorite  route  was  by 
the  fine  steamships  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Company  to  Aspinwall,  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama,  thence  by  rail  across  the  isthmus  to  Panama, 
where  the  company's  steamers  were  taken  for  San  FranciBCO.  In 
three  years  California  became  a  State  with  a  population  of  250,000 
souls.  Commodities  of  all  kinds  for  its  people  were  supplied  largely 
by  New- York  and  Boston.  A  short  time  before,  the  tea  porta  of  China 
had  been  thrown  open  to  American  commerce,  and  our  merchants 
now  sent  their  ships  full-laden  to  San  Francisco,  and 
then  despatched  them  in  ballast  to  Canton  for  tea, 
thus  obtaining  profitable  return  cargoes  for  at  least 
half  the  distance. 

The  demands  of  this  China  and  California  trade  for 
despatch  (tea  deteriorating  greatly  in  flavor  if  long  at 
sea)  ushered  in  the  era  of  the  clipper  ship,  by  far  the 
most  honorable  and  satisfactory  period  in  the  history 
of  American  shipping.  The  clippers  superseded  the 
packets,  which  were  first  built  in  1816  to  meet  the  demands  tji  the 
rapidly  increasing  trade  with  Europe,  as  well  as  to  give  Enropeui 
travelers  swifter  service  and  better  and  more  luxurious  acoommoda- 
tions.  The  clippers,  according  to  Frederick  C.  Sanford  of  Nantucket, 
an  authority  on  American  ships  and  shipping,  originated  in  Baltimore 
about  1840,  but  the  building  and  sailing  of  them  were  quickly  trana- 
ferred  to  New- York.  A  clipper  was  constructed  primarily  for  speed,  at 
whatever  sacrifice  of  her  carrying  capacity.  Her  lines  were  sharper 
and  she  was  longer  and  narrower  than  were  her  predecessors — the 
packets  and  cai^o-carriers.  The  first  clippers  {1843  to  1850)  were  com- 
paratively small  craft  of  from  750  to  940  tons.  The  Rainbow,  the  first 
clipper,  built  in  1843  by  Smith  and  Dimon  for  William  H.  Aspinwall, 
was  of  the  first-named  figure,  and  the  Samuel  Russell,  built  by  Brown 
and  Bell  for  A.  A.  Low  and  Brother,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  her 
class  for  speed  and  beauty,  was  of  the  latter  tonnage  (940  tons).  But 
it  was  soon  found  that  these  were  too  small  to  be  profitable ;  besides, 
they  were  liable  to  be  so  strained  in  rough  weather  that  the  cost  of 
repairs  became  a  serious  item.  The  California  trade  also  required 
lai^er  ships.  Accordingly,  in  1851,  William  H.  Webb,  one  of  the 
noted  ship-builders  of  that  day,  designed  four  vessels  of  this  class, 
with  special  reference  to  the  demands  of  the  merchaots  for  speed, 
strength,  and  capacity.  They  were  the  Challenge,  of  about  2000  tons; 
the  Invincible,  of  2150  tons;  the  Comet,  of  1209  tons;  and  the  Sword- 
Fish,  of  1150  tons — perhaps  the  swiftest,  most  beautiful  and  graceful 
sailing  craft  ever  produced,  or  that  ever  will  be  produced.  These, 
with  others  like  them,  carried  the  American  flag  and  the  fame  of  the 
American  genius  to  the  remotest  ports.    They  were  epistles  that  the 


TELEaRAPHS  AND  RAILBOAI^,   THEIB  IHPUI£E   TO   COHHEBCE    423 

most  illiterate  could  read.  New-Tork  was  proud  of  them.  One  may 
2Bave  ocular  proof  of  it  in  the  head-lines  of  the  newspapers  of  that 
■day.  "The  Contest  of  the  Clippers,"  "Race  Round  the  World," 
"**QnickeBt  Trip  on  Record,"  "  Shortest  Passage  to  San  Francisco," 
*'A  Clipper  as  is  a  Clipper,"  "  Extraordinary  Dispatch,"  "  The  Quickest 
Voyage  to  China,"  were  some  of  the  more  striking.  The  swiftness  of 
-some  of  these  sea-birds  was  almost  incredible.  The  Comet,  for  in- 
stance,  sailed  to  San  Francisco,  around  the  Horn, — 16,308  miles, — and 
returned  in  seven  months  and  nine  days,  her  homeward  voyage  hav- 
ing been  performed  in  seventy-six  days,  the  shortest  time  on  record. 


The  Sword-Fish  made  the  voyage  from  Shanghai  to  San  Francisco  iu 
thirty-one  days,  at  the  average  rate  of  240  miles  a  day — a  record 
which,  if  we  mistake  not,  has  never  been  broken.  The  Surprise,  built 
in  East  Boston  and  owned  by  A.  A.  Low  and  Brother  of  New- York, 
once  sailed  to  San  Francisco  in  ninety-six  days,  carrying  1800  tons 
of  cargo  of  an  estimated  value  of  $200,000.  Her  greatest  run  in  a 
day  of  twenty-four  hours  was  284  miles;  she  made  the  entire  distance 
of  16,308  miles  without  once  furling  her  topsails.  From  San  Fran- 
cisco she  sailed  to  Canton,  took  on  board  a  cargo  of  tea,  and  pi-o- 
ceeded  to  London,  her  freight-money  earned  since  leaving  New-Tork 


,  funmu  clipper  of 
^r  overtook  her  witb 
•  fatrvind.  SlM  VM  Wit  In  1863  for  Edwin  D. 
UOTgan,  Captain  Sanmela,  and  othera.  and  waa 
umcd  after  tbe  (Unoti*  veaael  in  Nelium'i  squad- 


ror.  On  her  ftrrt  retnrn  trip  froin  Liverpool  In 
Februar;,  1854.  ahe  beat  the  steamer  Canada. 
reaching  Sandy  Hook  before  the  Ciuiarder  aniyed 
at  Bofrton,  altboagh  the  latter  left  LiTerpool  one 
day  earlier.  EnnoB. 


424 


mSTOEY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


\ 


having  paid  her  cost  and  ruDuing  expenses,  and  cleared  her  owners  ^ 

net  profit  of  $50,000.    The  Surprise  was  paid  two  and  three  ponnd ^ 

sterling  more  a  ton  for  freights  at  Canton  than  were  the  clumsie-!^! 
English  vessels,  because  of  her  superior  sailing  quaUties.    In  185:^  m% 
there  entered  at  the  port  of  San  Francisco  157  vessels,  of  which  7^~"0 
were  clippers.    The  impetus  thus  given  to  commerce  is  shown  by  th»  .ae 
fact  that  in  1853  the  value  of  th»  _^e 
tea  imported  into  New- York  rir — iir 
ceeded  eight  millions  of  dollars.  ^=. 
The  regatta  of  the  RoyalTacli.«^znt 
Squadron  at  Cowes,  England,  iwr  -in 
1851,  attracted  extraordinary  at:*"  -t- 
tention,  owing  to  the  fact  that  i  S:    it 
was  the  year  of  the  first  grea-^^* 
exhibition,  or  World's  Fair,  an(^-*^" 
an  unusual  number  of   yacht«-:^** 
wei-e  expected  to  be  present  fot*^^^ 
the  races.    Early  in  the  year  ^^^"^^ 
famous  ship-builders  James  B-^^ 
and  George  Steers,  of  New-York,*  ^**r' 
launched  a  fine  schooner  yacht^  *^ 
of  170  tons,  which  was  named  ^'^ 
the  America.    She  was  designed  fc*** 
by  GJeorge  St«ers,  and  built  by    ^■^^ 
his  firm  from  a  model  made  by     "^^ 
him.    Her  owners  were  Commo-      ■ — * 
doreJohn  C.  Stevens  (founder      ~*^ 
of  the  New-York  Yacht  Club  in  1844),  Edwin  A.  Stevens,  Hamilton        * 
Wilkes,  J.  Beekman  Finlay,  and  George  L.  Schuyler,  and  tbeir  object        -- 
in  building  her  was  to  make  a  match  in  English  waters,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, defeat  any  boat  that  could  be  brought  against  her.     The 
America  proceeded  to  Havre,  France,  with  Commodore  Stevens  and 
his  party  and  the  designer  on  board.    Here  she  underwent  some  tri- 
fling alterations,  and  was  put  into  proper  racing  condition.     Leav- 
ing Havre,  she  soon  met  a  boat  which  proved  to  be  the  cutter 
Laverock,  sent  out  to  try  the  speed  of  the  stranger,  and  aft«r  some  j 

manoeuvering,  to  quote  Commodore  Stevens,  "  the  America  worked  1 

quickly  and  surely  ahead  and  to  windward  of  her  wake.    As  a  con-  I 

sequence,  not  many  hours  after  anchoring  at  Cowes,  it  was  well  uu-  I 

derstood,  from  the  known  capacity  of  the  Laverock,  that  certainly  ] 

no  schooner,  and  probably  no  cutter,  of  the  Royal  Yacht  Squadron 
could  beat  the  America  in  sailing  to  windward  in  a  moderate  breeze." 
■  Upon  arriving  in  Cowes,  Commodore  Stevens  posted  a  challenge 
offering  to  race  any  English  yacht,  for  any  sum  from  one  to  ten 


^.x$=^^=^. 


TBLEOKAFHS  AND   RAILBOADS,    THEIB  IMPULSE  TO   GOMMEBCE    425 

thousand  guineas,  the  only  Btipulation  being  that  there  should  be 
not  less  than  a  six-knot  breeze.  This  challenge  was  not  accepted, 
and  it  was  determined  to  return  to  New-Tork,  but,  yielding  to  pres- 
eare  from  friends  who  desired  to  see  the  America's  racing  qualities, 
the  commodore  decided  to  enter  in  the  regatta  of  the  Royal  Yacht 
Squadron,  which  was  open  to  all  nations.  The  day  set  for  the 
event  was  August  22,  and  the  conditions  were  as  follows :  "  No  allow- 
ance of  time  for  tonnage;  yachts  to  start  at  10  A.  M.  from  Oowes,  and 
sail  around  the  Isle  of  Wight;  no  time  prescribed  for  accomplishing 
the  distance,  so  that  the  Cup  might  be  won  in  a  tempest  or  a  drift  — 


with  entries  ranging  from  392  to  47  tons."'  An  immense  fleet  of 
steamers,  tugs,  and  sailing  boats  of  every  description  was  congre- 
gated in  the  harbor  to  see  the  race. 

There  were  fifteen  starters,  comprising  seven  schooners  (includ- 
ing the  three-master  Brilliant  of  392  tons)  and  eight  cutters.  The 
America,  though  slow  in  getting  off  upon  the  firing  of  the  starting- 
gun,  passed  her  competitors  rapidly  in  the  light  breeze  prevailing; 
and,  as  the  wind  freshened,  left  them  all  astern,  finishiug  the  course 
and  winning  the  cup  by  about  eight  miles.  In  passing  the  royal  steam- 
yacht  Victoria  and  Albert,  upon  which  were  the  queen  and  prince 
consort,  near  the  finish-line.  Commodore  Stevens,  although  still  ra- 


42C 


HISTOBY    OF    5EV-T(»K 


f-iDg,  iostantlT  lowered  his  ensign,  whUe  be  and  his  crew  remained 
with  ODfrovered  beads  for  some  minntes.    The  n^tt  day  the  America 
tmiled  from  Cowes  to  Osborne,  npon  invitation  of  the  queen,  who 
desired  to  inspect  tfae  wonderful  yacht.    She  was  received  by  Com- 
modore Stevens  and  his  friends,  and 
spent  half  an  hour  on  board,  express- 
ing great  admiration  for  the  general 
arrangements  of  the  famous  schooner' 
The  demands   of    the  packet  and 
clipper  service  created  in  New-York 
as  large   and  able  a  body  of  ship- 
boilders  as  the  annals  of  any  poit 
can  show.    The  years  1840-60  weW 
the  golden  days  of  the  craft    "Ne"*; 
York,"  said  a  newspaper  of  1852,  *'*'* 
one  of    the   great  shipyards  of   t-'^"' 
world.     Onr  clippers  astonish  dist^t-'*'' 
nations  with  their  neat  and  beaoti^^ 
appearance,  and  oof   steam^s  hfu  '^^ 
successfully  competed  with  the  swi^^*^ 
est-going  mail  packets  of  Great  BrrX^*^ 
ain.     In  the  farthest  comers  of  tf^''* 
earth  the  stars  and  stripes  wave  ov>^  '^ 
New-York  built  vessels."    The  com^^  ® 
of  Seammel  and  Water  streets,  nefc!^*' 
the  present  site  of  the  Grand  stret-^'" 
ferry-houses,  was  a  center  of  the  ic^^^^*"', 
dustry.     Christian  Bergh,  father  <*^^^ 
Henry  Bergh,  had  his  office  on  th»  -^^ 
northeast   comer    of    Seammel   anr^ 
"Water  streets.    "Below  him,"  says  ^^^  * 
recent  writer,*  "at  the  foot  of  Hont — "^' 

THE    AUBKICA'a    CCP.-  ,  .  j.!.  1.  •  J         ^1^  "t 

gomery  street,  was  the  shipyard  o^^- 
Thorii  and  Williams,  and  lower  still,  near  the  foot  of  Clinton  street,  ^^ 
the  shipyard  of  Carpenter  and  Bishop.     Ficket  and  Thoms's  yard     ^^ 

1  Mr.  Scbuyler,  the  lut  survivor  o(  the  yacht 
party,  who  died  on  boftrd  tbe  Electm  in  tfae  sum- 
mer of  IS91,  wu  fond  ot  relating  tbe  Inddent  of 
Her  Majesty  appearing  on  the  deck  of  the  Victoria 
ftnd  Albert  vh«n  It  ^as  annoiiDced  that  tbe  leader 
o(  the  race  was  In  eight,  and  saying  to  the  captain. 
"  Whifh  of  our  yachts  la  tfaatt "  To  whieb  he  re- 
pUed,  "Uadam,  that  Is  the  Amerisa."  "Which 
is  second!"  "  Your  Majesty.  thereiBnoseoond." 
answered  tbe  English  captain.  EtmoB. 

2  This  prize,  which  is  erroneously  deri)tnaled  as 
the  "  Queen's  Cup,"  should  properly  be  called  the 
*'AmeTl(m'sCnp,"  aslt  became  the  property  of  her 


owners  after  winning  It  in  the  regatta  of  the Bi^ai 
Yacht  Sqnadron.  As  this  event  waa  open  to  aU 
nations,  the  famous  cup  falHy  representa  tlie 
yachting  snpremacy  of  the  woiid.  Seven  un- 
successful attempto  have  been  made  since  by 
BrlliBh  yacht-owners  to  recover  the  cyiveted  prise, 
the  last  nee  for  the  cup  in  1S89  being  between  tbe 
Volunteer  and  the  Scotch  cutter  Thinle,  and  prov- 
ing an  easy  victory  for  the  American  boat.  An- 
o^er  contest  for  Uie  cup  is  expected  to  take  place 
In  the  Bummer  of  1893.  Editdb. 

a  Mr.  OeoTge  W.  Sbeldon,  in  "  Harper's  Kaga- 


TELEOBAPHS  AND  RAIIEOADS,   THEIR  IMPULSE  TO  COMMERCE    427 

(afterward  at  the  foot  of  Houston  street)  adjoined  it,  and,  farther 
south,  James  Morgan  and  Son  had  built  a  bark  at  the  foot  of  Rut- 
gers street,  and  Joseph  Martin  the  brig  Mary  Jane  at  the  foot  of 
Jefferson  street,  and  the  ship  General  Page  at  the  foot  of  Pike 
street.  Above  Mr.  Bergh  was  a  series  of  yards  extending  along  the 
East  Eiver  as  high  up  as  Thirteenth  street:  Sneden  and  Lawrence's 
yard,  near  the  foot  of  Oorlears  street ;  Samuel  Hamard's  yard,  near 
the  foot  of  Grand  street;  Brown  and  Bell's  yard,  from  Stanton  to 


THK    AUBBIOAM 


Houston  Streets,  which  was  formerly  occupied  partly  by  Henry  Eck- 
ford,  and  partly  by  Adam  and  Noah  Brown;  Smith  and  Dimon's 
yard,  from  iFourth  to  Fifth  streets;  Webb  and  Allen's  yard  (after- 
ward William  H.  Webb's),  from  Fifth  to  Seventh  streets;  Bishop  and 
Simonson's  yard  (afterward  Westervelt  and  Mackay's),  from  Seventh 
to  Eighth  streets;  James  R.  and  George  Steers'  yard,  William  H, 
Brown's  yard,  and  Thomas  Collyer's  yard,  higher  still.  Many  other 
builders  or  repairers  of  ships  occupied  the  same  interesting  shore  of 
the  East  River  at  about  the  same  time  or  later:  Mr.  George  Thor- 
bum,  a  well-known  spar-maker,  who  now  uses  a  part  of  the  old  yard 
of  Sneden  and  Lawrence,  counted,  the  other  day,  not  le^  than  thirty- 
three  of  them,  whose  yards  resounded  with  the  axes  and  hammers  of 

iTheabore  cartoon  appeiired  In  Landi>D"Piii]oh" 
tor  September.  ISSl,  irlth  the  legend  "  Look  en  '  * 
Sqiulli  I "  followed  bj  the  senteDce :  ' 


428 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW- YOKE 


8UKNY8IDE, 


busy  American  ship-carpenters,  calkers,  blacksmiths,  and  joiners.  .  .  __ 
Momiug,  noon,  and  evening  Lewis  street  was  almost  filled  with  the^3 
multitude  of  mechanics  going  to  work  in  the  shipyards  or  returning -35 
thence;  the  sidewalks  were  not  wide  enough  to  hold  them. 

"  The  stranger  sailing  down  the  East  Eiver  and  viewing  the  busy    "■ 
yards  that  lined  the  New- York  shore,  the  noble  vessels  on  the  stocks, 

the  thousands 
of  busy  work- 
men, and  the 
huge  collections 
of  timber  — 
white  oak,  hack- 
matack, and  lo- 
cust for  the  ribs 
of  the  ships, 
yellow  pine  for 
the  keelsons  and 
ceiling  timbers, 
white   pine   for 

the  floors,  live-oak  for  the  'aprons' — might  have  been  pardoned  for 
supposing  that  Manhattan  Island  was  the  headquarters  of  the  ship- 
building of  the  world ;  for  such  indeed  it  wag." 

Meantime  events  of  great  local  interest,  if  not  so  far-reaching  in 
character,  had  been  happening  which  require  notice  at  our  hands. 

Early  in  the  year  1847,  the  Century,  one  of  the  oldest  and  best- 
known  of  the  many  clubs  of  the  city,  was  organized.'  It  was  founded 
along  the  lines  of  the  Artists'  Sketch  Club,  which  had  been  reorgan- 
ized in  1844  by  the  leading  artists  and  literary  men  of  the  city.  At  a 
meeting  of  this  club  late  in  1846,  John  G.  Chapman,  a  well-known 
artist  of  the  city,  proposed  the  forming  of  a  society  of  artists  and 
authors,  the  membership  of  which  should  be  restricted  to  one  hun- 
dred. The  proposal  met  with  marked  favor,  and  a  circular  letter, 
bearing  the  signatures  of  John  G.  Chapman,  Aeher  B.  Durand, 
Charles  C.  Ingham,  Abram  M.  Cozzens,  Francis  W.  Edmonds,  and 
Henry  T.  Tuekerman,  was  sent  to  about  one  hundred  gentlemen  resi- 
dent in  the  city,  and  who  were  either  artists,  authors,  or  interested  in 
the  fine  arts,  inviting  them  to  meet  on  January  13,  1847,  in  the  ro- 
tunda in  the  New- York  Gallery  of  Fine  Arts,  in  the  City  Hall  Park. 

I  The  New-Yorli  Sketch  Clab  originated  In  1B27.  CTub  were  MIbb  Buds,  the  riBtar  of  RotMirt  C 

uid   was  often  known  as  "The  XXI.,"  being  Sands,  In  whose  honse  In  Haboken  they  often 

originaUr  limited  to  that  Dumber,  and  including  met,  and  the  onlj  lady  member;  and  the  artists 

Verplanck,   Bryant,   Morse,    Hilihousa,    Ingham,  Asher  B.  Durand,  Profeasor  Robert  W.  Writ,  and 

Hatleck,  and  Cole.     It  was  at  a  meeUng  of  thU  John  G.  Chapman.     The  last  meeting  of  its  mem- 

clab,  held  at  Charles  M.  Leupp'a  in  Amity  street,  ben  was  held  at  Bryant's  residence.  Ho.  24  West 

that  the  "Century"  was  orgauiied,  the  list  ot  Sixteenth  street,  in  IHGfl,  to  meet  hii  Mend  and 

names  being  headed  by  that  ol  Oulian  C.  Vei^  former  pastor.  Dr.  OrriUe  Dewey,  then  restdinf 

planck.   Among  the  latest  surriron  of  the  Sket^  at  ShefBeld,  Ua«s.  Boiros. 


TELEQBAPHS  AND  RAILROADS,   THEIR  IMPULSE  TO  COMMERCE    429 


Most  of  the  gentlemen  invited  responded.  David  C.  Golden  was 
elected  chairman.  Mr.  Chapman  presented  the  draft  of  a  constitntion, 
which  was  adopted.  The  society  was  organized,  and  was,  on  motion 
of  Edward  S.  Van  Winkle,  called  the  Century,  because  its  member- 
ship was  restricted  to  one  hundred  persons.  A  committee  of  manage- 
ment was  appointed,  composed  of  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  John  L. 
Stephens,  Asher  B.  Durand,  John  G.  Chapman,  David  C.  Colden,  and 
Charles  M.  Leupp.  Daniel  Seymour  was  appointed  secretary,  and 
Thomas  S.  Cummings  treasurer.^ 

The  managers  first  secured  rooms  at  No.  495  Broadway  for  the 
meetings  of  the  club.  These  were  well  attended.  A  journal  filled 
with  contributions  from  the  members  s  a 

was  read  once  a  month,  a  reading-room    ^^45»-#^»t--«^  uCola-^/u.^^^^ 
and  the  nucleus  of  a  library  were  es-  C/ 

tablished.  Receptions  were  also  given  to  men  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  in  art,  letters,  statesmanship,  and  science.  The  later  his- 
tory of  the  club  will  be  found  on  subsequent  pages. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  of  this  period  was  the  passage  by 
the  legislature,  on  April  2, 1849,  of  an  amended  charter  for  the  city, 
which  was  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  June  following.  The 
amended  instrument  provided  that  the  mayor  and  aldermen  should 
hold  offlice  for  two  years  instead  of  one,  and  that  the  charter  election 
should  be  held  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November,  the  same  date  as  the 
State  election.  Its  most  important  provision,  however,  was  the  estab- 
Ushment  of  nine  executive  departments,  the  heads  of  which  were  to 
act  as  the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  mayor,  after  the  federal  plan 
of  government.    The  nine  departments  thus  created  were : 

I.  The  Police  Department,  under  the  especial  care  of  the  mayor, 
with  a  bureau,  the  head  of  which  was  to  be  called  the  chief  of  police. 

II.  The  Department  of  Finance,  under  control  of  the  comptroller  of 


1  The  original  members  of  the  Century  were: 
WiniAm  G.  Bryant,  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows, 
Henry  K.  Brown,  John  G.  Chapman,  Abram  M. 
CoExens,  Dayid  G.  Golden,  John  D.  Campbell, 
Lewis  Gteylord  dark,  Thomas  S.  Cummings, 
Asher  B.  Durand,  Ber.  Orville  Dewey.  Francis 
W.  Edmonds,  Charles  L.  Elliott,  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  Dudley  B.  Fuller,  Thomas  H.  Faile, 
George  Folsom,  Alban  GK>ldsmith,  John  H.  Gour- 
lie,  Henry  Peters  Gray,  Daniel  Huntington, 
Ogden  Haggerty,  William  J.  Hoppin,  Charles  G. 
Ingham,  Gouvemeur  Eemble,  William  Kemble, 
Shepherd  E!napp,  Robert  EeUy,  Charles  M.  Leupp, 
Samuel  E.  Lyon,  Christian  Mayr,  Dr.  William  J. 
MaeNeven,  Eleazer  Parmly,  Thomas  P.  Rossiter, 
Daniel  Seymour,  Jonathan  Sturges,  John  L. 
Stephens,  Joseph  Trench,  Henry  T.  Tuckerman, 
Henry  P.  Tappan,  Gulian  G.  Verplanck,  and  Ed- 
gar S.  Van  Winkle.  Mr.  Cummings,  Mr.  Hoppin, 
and  Mr.  Huntington  are  believed  to  be  the  only 
imriyors.  Editor. 


2  James  Harper,  founder  of  the  firm  of  Harper 
and  Brothers,  publishers,  was  bom  April  13,  1795, 
and  was  the  son  of  Joseph  Harper,  a  farmer  at 
Newtown,  L.  I.  Haying,  with  his  three  brothers 
John,  Wesley,  and  Fletcher,  established  a  printing 
business  in  New-Tork,  they  soon  began  publish- 
ing, issuing  first  ''Locke  on  the  Human  Under- 
standing,'' in  1818.  The  present  firm  —  sons  and 
grandsons  of  the  four  brothers  —  continue  the 
business  in  Franklin  Square,  in  buildings  cover- 
ing half  an  acre  of  ground,  absolutely  fire-proof, 
having  all  the  operations  necessary  to  the  mechan- 
ical production  of  a  book  carried  on  under  one  roof, 
and  giving  employment  to  about  one  thousand 
persons.  Mr.  ELarper  was  elected  mayor  of  the 
city,  in  1844,  by  the  Native  American  party — the 
only  occasion  upon  which  that  organization  was 
successful;  he  was  thrown  from  his  carriage 
while  driving  in  Fifth  Avenue,  and  died  a  few 
days  afterward  at  St.  Luke's  Hospital,  New- York. 
March  27,  1869.  Edftob. 


^ih  HKTOET    OF    XEV-X<WX 

tf*f  ihr.    Ij*  tttTBe  defarmieiDE  w*rf  to  be  preaded  ovw  by  the  re 

««iv«r  <^  Ux&K,  «oOre<e«OT-  «f  tbe  city  rer^nneE,  and  oty  ebamberlain^Ki 

EIL    A  Street  iM^aattof^t,  i«  be  preaded  orer  bv  an  official  called    A 
the  eMomimoDer  fA  iftnetA.  and  to  hare  rvo  bareans,  die  heads  of  "^ 
vfaich  Tere  to  be  known  as  the  col-     — 
lertor  of  aeeessments  and  snpenn*       - 
tendent  of  wharveB. 

TV.  Department  (tf  Repair  iwd 
So^tiee,  jwedded  over  by  a  com- 
miseioner  of  rqiairs  and  supplies. 
Tbe  beads  of  its  fonr  bnreaus  were 
to  be  known  as  superintendents  of 
roads,  of  repairs  to  public  boildings, 
of  permits,  and  chief  engineer  of 
the  Fire  Department. 

V.     Department  of    Streets  and 

Lamps,,  nnder  a  commissioner  with 

three    bareaas,    presided    over    by 

superintendents,     respectively,    of 

s  ( — N.  lamps  and  gas,  of  streets,  and  of 

/^      /^      j^j^j'.ilL.     ™a^^ets. 

i>^s«-.  c/'    <L^jaf^*^t^^^^       Yi  The  Croton  Aqueduct  Board, 

under    a   president,    engineer,  and 

asBistant  commissioner,  with  one  bureau,  the  head  of  which  was  to 
be  known  as  the  water  roister. 

VII.  Department  of  the  City  Inspector,  to  be  presided  over  by  an 
officer  of  that  name. 

VTII.  Almshouse  Department,  the  chief  officials  to  be  known  as 
governors  of  the  almshouse. 

IX.  Law  Department,  its  chief  officer  to  be  called  the  counsel  for 
tbe  corporation,  with  one  bureau,  to  be  administered  by  the  corpora- 
tion attorney, 

The  heads  of  the  various  departments,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Aqueduct  Board,  were  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  and  were  to  hold 
office  for  the  term  of  three  years.  They  were  all  under  the  legislative 
authority  of  the  common  council. 

New-York  suffered  two  visitations  in  the  summer  and  autumn  of 
1849,  from  either  of  which  it  might  well  have  prayed  to  be  delivered — 
the  Astor  Place  riot  and  the  Asiatic  cholera.  The  riot  startled  the 
city  by  showing  what  dangerous  and  explosive  elements  were  shel- 
tered in  its  bosom.  It  was  caused  primarily  by  the  ill  feeling  existing 
between  two  well-known  and  talented  actors — Edwin  Forrest,  an 
American,  and  William  Charles  Macready,  an  Englishman  ;  but  later. 


TELEOBAFHS  AND   BAILBOADS,   TTTF.TR  IMPULSE  TO   C0MM3EBCE    431 

national  prejudices  were  invoked.  Forrest  had  made  the  tour  of  the 
English  play-houses  a  short  time  previously,  where  he  had  been  the 
rival  of  Macready  for  popular  favor.  The  latter,  Forrest  charged  and 
believed,  visited  the  theater  in  London  where  he  was  playing,  and 
publicly  hissed  him;  and  the  fact,  having  been  made  known  in 
America,  caused  great  indignation  among  the  friends  of  Forrest,  who 
were  numerous  and  influential.  Unaware  of  this  feeling,  Macready 
returned  to  New -York  in  September,  1848,  and  appeared  in  tragedy 
at  the  Astor  Place  opera-house,  which  had  been  erected  the  year  be- 
fore by  subscription,  with  John  Sefton  as  manager.  After  filling  his 
engagement  Macready  went  to  other 
cities,  but  returned  for  a  farewell  ap- 
pearance early  in  May,  1849.  Forrest 
was  then  playing  "Macbeth"  at  "Wal- 
lack's  Broadway  theater,  and  the  two 
rivals  were  soon  advertised  on  the 
bill-boards  to  appear  on  the  same 
night,  in  the  same  play,  "Macbeth." 
This  was  taken  as  a  gage  of  defiance 
thrown  down  by  Macready,  and  great- 
ly incensed  the  friends  of  the  Amer- 
ican actor.  They  determined  that 
Macready  should  not  play.  On  the 
night  in  question,  a  typical  New-York  crowd  gathered  before  the 
opera-house  in  Astor  Place  an  hour  before  the  doors  were  opened. 
There  were  laborers  from  the  streets  and  public  works,  hoodlums, 
respectable  mechanics,  and  fashionably  dressed  gentlemen  and  ladies. 
Some  were  in  tattered  garb,  some  in  their  shirtsleeves,  some  in 
evening  dress.  When  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  the  motley  crowd, 
which  had  been  supplied  with  tickets,  poured  in  and  quickly  filled  the 
pretty  interior.  Soon  the  curtain  rose  upon  a  weird  scene — the  three 
witches  on  the  blasted  heath  performing  their  incantations  in  "light- 
ning, thunder,  and  in  rain."  The  scene  awed  the  populace,  and  it  re- 
mained silent  until  Macbeth  appeared  and  entered  upon  his  role,  when 
it  at  once  drowned  his  voice  in  hisses,  cat-calls,  and  every  manner 
of  boisterous  disapproval.  Macready  became  angry,  but  continued 
through  the  act,  although  not  a  word  that  he  said  could  be  heard  amid 
the  tumult.  Lady  Macbeth  {Mrs.  Pope)  then  came  upon  the  stage,  but 
was  received  with  such  ribaldry  and  abuse  that  she  fied  to  her  dress- 
ing-room.   Macbeth  again  appeared,  and  was  met  by  such  a  shower  of 

1  John  James  Aadabon.  the  eminent  naturalist,  The  htniae  Is  now  Included  In  the  tract  knovo 

whoee  work  on  "The  Birds  ot  America"  forma  as  Aadubon  Park,  ttmugh  which  a  thoroughfare 

tach  B  noble  monDment  («  Its  anthor,  redded  in  to  be  known  as  Audabon  Avenue  will  soon  be 

tbe  mldat  of  a  beantitDl  grove  of  trees  sitaat«d  opened.    This  park  formed  a  part  of  the  sceue  ot 

Jut  above  One  Hundred  and  PUly-efth  street,  the  batUe  of  Harlem  Helghu.  EorroB. 


432 


HI8TOBY    OF    NEW-XOBK 


addled  eggs  and  still  more  dangerous  missiles  that,  belieTing  hii  m^ 
to  be  in  jeopardy,  he  fled  behind  the  curtain.    The  play  was  snapendei, 
whereupon  the  disturbers,  having  accomplished  their  task,  qoiet^l 
withdrew.    Macready  proposed  to  his  managers  to  throw  up  hig  ^-S^ 
gagement ;  but  on  this  becoming  known,  the  better  class  of  citiucf^^ 
feeling  that  the  city  had  been  disgraced  by  the  affair,  and  would '      ^ 
still  more  deeply  dishonored  were  the  actor  prevented  from  filling  "[^r" 
engagement,  addressed  to  the  latter  an  open  letter,'  regretting  the  ci  ^ 
cumstance,  promising  protection  if  he  woold  again  appear,  asking  hi^E-i 
not  to  yield  to  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  so  suddenly  and  unexpectedlX- 
developed,  and  begging  that  he  would  grant  the  city  an  oppcrtnnitTiS 
to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  inflicted  upon  its  character.    Macready  r^M* 
sponded  favorably,  and  name-^^ 
Thursday,  May  10,  as  the  datizj 
for  his  appearance  in  the  samv^ 
play.     When    the    announc^k 
ment  was  made,  placards  bilZ 
ing  Forrest  for  the  same  play 
on    the    same    night    at    tbe 
Broadway  were  posted  beside 
the    Macready    bills;     at   the 
same  time  a  handbill  appeared 
on  every  prominent  point  in 
the  city,  bearing  this  appeal : 
"  Workingmen  I    Shall  Ameri- 
cans or  Englishmen  rule  in  this  country  I    The  crews  of  the  British 
steamers  have  threatened  all  Americans  who  shall  dare  appear  this 
night  at  the  English  aristocratic  Opera  House.    Workingmen !  free- 


ST.  JAKIS  LUTHBBAN   CHtTBCH.^' 


I  Niw-TOKK,  Wednewlar,  Kxj  9, 1849. 
WitHam  C.  Xaerrady,  Etq.  .- 

Deu  Sir:  The  aDdersigned,  having  heud  that 
the  outrage  at  tha  Aator  Place  Opera  Uoiue  OD 
HoDdar  flveDlcg  la  likely  to  have  Uie  effect  of 
preventing  you  from  continuing  your  perform- 
ances  and  from  concluding  your  intended  faie- 


lU  Blage.  take  thia 
public  nietbod  of  requesting  yoa  to  t«coualder 
jonr  decision,  and  of  auorlng  you  that  the  good 
■eniie  and  respect  for  order  prei-alllog  in  this 
eommnnity  will  luitaln  you  on  the  mhaequent 
night*  of  your  performBnces. 
Ambrose  L.  Jordan.         Weuell  8.  Smith, 


EMward  Sandfofd, 
WilllaHaU, 
JameH  FoBter.  Jr., 
Duncan  C.  Pell. 
Ogden  Hoffman. 
Howard  Henderson, 
Samuel  B.  Buggies,  i 
Jamea  Collia. 
Edward  S.  Qonld. 
William  Kent, 
John  W.  Francis. 


William  M.  PrlBhard. 

Benjamin  D.  SiUlman. 
David  Austin, 
Mordeeai  M.  Noah, 
Francis  R.  TiUou, 
Henry  J.  Raymond, 
Charles  A.  Darla, 
Pierre  H.  Irving, 
Hosea  H.  Grlnnell, 
Henry  A.  Stone, 
Qeorge  Brace, 


Waahlngton  Irving, 

Frands  B.  Cutting, 

Joseph  L.  White, 

Uat^ew  Morgan, 

David  C.  C«lden, 

Ogden  P.  Bdvarda. 

John  K.  Bartlctt, 

Richard  Grant  White, 

Evert  A.  Duyekinck, 

J.  Prescott  Hall, 

Robert  J.  Dillon. 

Ralph  Liockwood, 

So  f  ar  aa  known,  Hr.  SilUmaa  Is  the  airfe  sac 
vivor  among  tbe  forty-eight  gentlemen  wbt 
signed  tbe  above  letter.  Edtio. 

:  The  flrst  Lutheran  church  in  New-Toik  wm 
buOt  in  1T0S,  at  Rvctor  Btivet  and  Broadvay.  and 
waa  destroyed  by  fir«  In  1TT6.  In  17B7  the  build 
Ing  reproduced  above  waa  erected  at  the  romrr 
of  Frankfort  and  William  streela,  and  was  knows 
as  the  Swamp  Chnreh.  The  praaent  St.  James 
Lutheran  Charch  is  a  handsome  stone  edifln 
erected  in  ISEIl  at  the  oomer  of  Hadlaon  Avmat 
and  East  Seventy-tblrd  street.  Bditob. 


William  C.  Barrett, 
David  Qraham. 
Edward  Curtla, 
James  Brooka, 
James  E.  De  Kay, 
Jacob  Little, 
Hlckson  W.  Field. 
J.  Beekman  F^lay, 
Denning  Duer. 
Simeon  Draper. 
Herman  Melville. 
Comelina  Hatliewi. 


TELEGRAPHS  AND  RAILBOADS,   THEIB  IMPULSE  TO  COMMEBCE    433 

men !  stand  up  to  your  lawful  rights  I  ^  This  incendiary  appeal  was 
taken  as  presaging  violence.  The  friends  of  Macready  appealed  to 
the  chief  of  police,  who  promised  to  detail  a  large  force  to  preserve 
order,  while  two  regiments  of  the  city  militia  were  ordered  to  be 
ready  to  march  at  the  word  of  command.  To  keep  out  the  adher- 
ents of  Forrest,  tickets  were  sold  only  to  those  known  to  be  in 
sympathy  with  Macready. 

Early  on  the  evening  of  the  10th,  three  hundred  policemen  were 
placed  inside  and  outside  the  opera-house,  while,  as  on  the  previous 
night,  a  large  and  niotley  crowd  gathered  outside.  When  the  doors 
were  opened  the  police  allowed  only  those  having  tickets  to  enter, 
and  as  soon  as  these  were  within,  the  doors  were  closed  and  barred, 
the  windows  having  previously  been  secured  by  nailing  planks  across 
them.  Doors  and  windows  were  assailed  by  the  mob  with  paving- 
stones  which  were  piled  in  heaps  along  the  street  preparatory  to 
being  laid,  and  with  chips  from  a 
neighboring  marble-yard;  but  the 
rioters  were  repulsed  by  the  police. 

The  curtain  rose,  and  Macready  appeared.  Notwithstanding  all 
precautions,  however,  many  lawless  persons  had  penetrated  the  play- 
house, and  were  about  to  rush  forward  by  preconcerted  action  and 
seize  Macready,  when,  at  a  signal,  the  police,  who  had  learned  their 
plans,  rushed  in  and  soon  overpowered  them.  The  ringleaders  were 
secured  inside,  and  the  others  were  ejected.  When  this  became 
known  without,  the  mob  attacked  the  police,  and  had  nearly  over- 
powered them  when  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment,  under  Colonel 
Abram  Duryee,  appeared,  having  marched  up  Broadway,  under  orders, 
from  its  armory  near  Centre  Market,  preceded  by  its  troop  of  horse. 
The  latter  was  ordered  to  charge  the  mob,  and  did  so,  spurring  down 
upon  them  from  Broadway,  but  was  met  with  such  a  shower  of  mis- 
siles, that  it  retreated  toward  Third  Avenue,  leaving  quite  a  number 
bleeding  on  the  street.  Evidently  the  mob  was  in  earnest,  and  re- 
quired to  be  met  in  the  same  spirit.  Colonel  Duryee  now  ordered  his 
men  to  load  with  ball-cartridge.  Finding  that  he  could  not  move  in 
column  because  of  the  density  of  the  crowd,  he  led  his  men  in  file  un- 
der shelter  of  the  rear  wall  of  the  opera-house,  and  thus  gained  the 
front.  They  were  met  with  stones,  yells,  and  execrations  from  the 
mob.  Many  of  the  soldiers  were  wounded,  and  nearly  forty  stand  of 
muskets  were  battered  in  their  hands. 

Recorder  Frederick  A.  Tallmadge,  who  represented  the  city  authori- 
ties in  the  absence  of  Mayor  WoodhuU,  was  told  that  unless  the  men 
were  allowed  to  fire  a  retreat  would  be  ordered.    He  addressed  the 

iJaeob  A.  Westervelt  was  chosen  mayor  by  the  Democratic  party  in  1853,  succeeding  Mayor  Eingsland. 
He  was  a  shipbuilder,  and  constructed  the  United  States  steam-frigate  Brooklyn.    Editor. 

Vol.  ra.—  28. 


434 


KKTOBT    OP    NEW-IOBK 


mob,  begging  it  to  retire,  but  without  result.    Finally,  after  coneiilt^ 
tion  with  the  division  couimander,  General  Charles  W.Sandford,  Sheriff 
John  J.  V.  Westervelt,  the  highest  civil  officer  present,  gave  the  or^ 
to  fire,  but  to  aim  at  the  dead  wall  of  a  house  opposite,  over  the  heg^ 
of  the  crowd.     This,  instead  of  it^. 
timidatiug  the  mob,  only  excited  it> 
contempt.    The  leaders  argued  th^^ 
the  authorities  were  afraid  to  fl,^^ 
upon  them,  and  defied  them  to  ^^^ 
so,  responding  to  the  harmless  fir^^ 
volley  with  a  shower  of  missile^^ 
By  order  of  General  Hall,  a  aeeont^* 
volley,  aimed  low,  immediately  fol-J-' 
lowed  the  first,  killiog  andwoundinfi^ 
many  of  the  rioters,  and  causing  th^ 
mob  to  retreat  in  haste.  The  soldiers^f 
pursuing,  soon  cleared  the  neighbor— - 
hood  of  the  opera-house  and  provi-j 
siou  was  made  against  a  return  o^ 

ments  at  each  end  of  Astor  Place. 
Another  attack  on  the  regiment  was  made  by  a  portion  of  the  rioter^ 
who  had  rallied  their  forces  in  Third  Avenue,  and  who,  advancing  from 
that  direction  toward  Astor  Place,  injured  several  of  the  members 
of  the  Seventh  by  throwing  stones  and  bricks.  This  assault  was  met 
by  a  third  volley,  which  proved  fatal  to  the  mob,  and  it  was  dispersed. 

One  hundred  and  forty-one  members  of  the  Seventh  were  wounded, 
including  Colonel  Duryee  and  Captains  Henry  C.  Shnmway  and  Wil- 
liam A.  Pond ;  Generals  Sandford  and  William  Hall  and  Lientenant- 
Colonel  Andrew  B.  BrinckerhofE  also  were  hurt.  Thirty-four  of  the 
mob  were  killed  and  many  wounded.  Meantime  all  was  excitement  and 
alarm  within  the  opera-house.  Until  the  troops  arrived  it  was  feared 
that  the  rioters  would  tear  the  building  to  pieces.  The  play,  however, 
was  performed,  with  the  exception  of  the  after-piece,  which  was  omitted. 
Macready  was  then  assisted  to  escape  by  oue  of  the  rear  exits,  and, 
after  being  secreted  in  a  private  house  for  two  days,  was  driven  in 
a  carriage  in  disguise  to  Boston,  whence  he  sailed  for  England. 

The  affair  caused  great  excitement  in  the  city  when,  next  morning; 
the  full  extent  of  the  occurrence  became  generally  known.     Early  in 

1  AniiBCDnHointtwmetheilaugbteTofSMinid  died  In  IgSl.  dtv  msTrted  WUlLna  P.  Ritchie  in 

GoDTenieur  Ogdea,  >  New-Tork  merchant.     In  IKii.     She  wbb  the  mnthor  of  "  Twin  Bobps."  "  The 

1S41  she  gave  readlngB  in  New-York  mi  BostoD  ;  Clergymui'a  Wife  uid  other  Sketche*,''  "Peiaro,* 

wrote  pUya  :  and  on  June  13,  184S,  appeared  aa  andaereralother  popular  •rorka;  freqnentl;ailn( 

Pauline  In  the   "Imdj  of  Lfons"  at  the  Puk  the  pen-name  of  "Helen  BerUe;."     Mra.  Ritehle 

Tliealer.    Her  huaband,  Jamei  Howatt,  having  died  In  1S70,  aged  Bftr^oe.  El>tT<w. 


TELEGRAPHS  AND  RAILBOADS,   THEIR  IMPULSE  TO   COMMERCE    435 

the  morning  posters  were  scattered  throughout  the  city,  calling  upon 
all  opposed  to  the  destruction  of  human  life  to  assemble  in  the  park 
at  six  o^clock  that  evening,  "  to  express  public  opinion  upon  the  lamen- 
table occurrence  of  last  night.''  A  great  multitude  assembled  at  the 
hour  appointed,  speeches  were  made  denouncing  the  city  authorities 
for  their  efforts  to  maintain  order,  although  no  word  of  condemnation 
was  uttered  against  those  who  had  broken  the  law  and  led  their 
fellows  to  riot  and  destruction.  Eesolu- 
tions  of  censure  having  been  passed,  the 
meeting  quietly  adjourned  without  at- 
tempting any  hostile  demonstration,  and 
although  the  Seventh  remained  on  guard  duty  during  the  11th  and 
12th,  no  further  call  was  made  upon  their  steadiness  and  bravery. 
The  mob  spirit  was  quelled  for  the  time. 

The  first  case  of  cholera  during  the  visitation  of  1849  appeared  on 
May  14  in  the  Five  Points,  then  one  of  the  pest-holes  of  the  city.  A 
sanitary  commission,  composed  of  James  Kelly,  Robert  T.  Hawes, 
Alexander  H.  Schultz,  Charles  Webb,  George  H.  Franklin,  Edwin 
D.  Morgan,  Robert  A.  Sands,  Jacob  F.  Oakley,  and  Oscar  W.  Stur- 
tevant,  was  at  once  appointed  by  the  Health  Department,  and  every 
effort  made  to  hold  the  dreaded  scourge  at  bay.  The  commission  was 
invested  with  the  full  powers  of  the  Board  of  Health,  and  had  the  ad- 
vice of  three  eminent  surgeons,  Drs.  John  B.  Beck,  Joseph  M.  Smith, 
and  Samuel  W.  Moore,  who  were  officially  connected  with  it  as  medi- 
cal counselorSo  A  large  three-story  building  on  the  corner  of  Monroe 
and  Pearl  streets  was  secured,  and  soon  transformed  into  a  hospital 
to  which  all  cholera  patients  were  transferred.  About  the  same  time 
the  board  published  in  all  the  city  papers  an  address  to  the  people 
stating  that  Asiatic  cholera  was  present  in  the  city  as  an  epidemic, 
and  warning  all  that  cleanliness  of  streets,  dwellings,  and  persons  was 
imperative  to  secure  immunity  from  it.  It  was  then  held  that  cholera 
was  not  contagious,  but  was  communicated  through  the  atmosphere. 

As  the  epidemic  spread,  the  Board  of  Health  proposed  using  the 
public-school  buildings  for  hospitals.  There  was  much  opposition 
from  the  Board  of  Education  and  from  the  citizens ;  public  meetings 
were  held  to  protest  against  taking  such  action ;  but  in  the  end  the 
buildings  were  thus  appropriated,  and  did  good  service.  To  these  hos- 
pitals 1901  patients  were  admitted,  of  whom  1021  died.  How  many 
perished  in  their  own  homes  was  never  known,  but  it  was  estimated 
that  three  thousand  persons  died  in  New-York  from  the  malady. 

While  the  city  was  thus  growing  in  wealth  and  population,  certain 
philanthropic  and  charitable  organizations  and  institutions  were 
founded,  whose  beneficent  influence  on  the  city's  life  and  character  can- 
not be  overestimated.    John  Jacob  Astor,  the  richest  merchant  of  the 


436 


mSTOBT    OF    SEW-XOBK 


city,  died  on  March  29, 1848,  and  by  will  left  tbe  sum  of  four  hoodred 
thonsand  dollars  for  the  establishment  of  a  free  paUie  library  is  the 
city  of  New- York.  The  library  was  incorporated  Juiiuuy  13, 1849, 
the  first  board  of  trustees  comprising  Washington  Irving,  Fitz-Greew 
Halleck,  James  G.  King,  Samuel  Ward^  Samuel  B.  Buggies,  Danid 
Lord,  Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  William  B.  Astor,  son  of  the  founder,  his 
grandson  Charles  Ajstor  Bristed,  and  the  chancellor  of  the  State  and 
the  mayor  of  the  city  ex  officiis.  Dr.  C<^weU,  then  editor  of  the 
"New- York  Beview,"  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  library,  aod 
visited  all  the  Utenuy  centers  of 
Europe,  selecting  books  for  the 
various  departments  of  the  nev 
library.  The  institntiou  was  first 
opened  to  the  public  early  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1854.' 

The  New -York  Association  for 
Improving  the  Condition  of  the 
Poor  was  incorporated  in  1848, 
having  been  organized  in  1843.  Its 
first  president  was  James  Brovn, 
the  banker.  Its  vice-presidents 
jwere  Horatio  Allen,  John  6.  GreeOi 
"  James  Lenox,  Apollos  R.  Wetmore, 
and  John  David  Wolfe;  the  record- 
ing secretary,  Joseph  B.  Collins ;  the  corresponding  secretary,  Kobert 
M.  Hartley;  the  treasurer,  Robert  B.  Mintum.  The  board  of  messt^ 
gers  comprised  Jonathan  Sturges,  Stewart  Brown,  George  Griswdi 
and  Erastus  C,  Benedict.  In  1851  the  New-York  Juvenile  Asylnto 
was  incorporated  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Robert  M.  Hartley, 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Luther  Bradish,  Horatio  Allen,  Apollos  R.  Wet- 
more,  Thomas  Denny,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  and  Dr.  John  Dennison 
Russ,  secretary  of  the  Prison  Association,  the  latter  becoming  its 
first  superintendent. 

The  Five  Points  Mission  was  founded  during  this  period  throi^ 
tbe  efforts  of  devoted  Methodist  women,  and  has  wholly  transformed 
the  appearance  and  character  of  a  locality  which  was  once  one  of  the 
city's  vilest  slums.     The  Five  Points  is  an  open  area  of  about  one 

t  The  Uter  and  more  oomplete  hUtoiy  at  tb«  with  Henry  Breroort's  dMigbter,  and  wrote  mas; 

Astor  Library  will  be  given  by  Frederick  Saunders  artinlea  for  the  magaiiiuiB,  over  the  pen-name  oF 

in  a  monograph  in  the  conoludlntc  volume.  "  Cni  Benson."    He  wm  one  of  the  original  tnw- 

Editob.  tees  of  the  Aator  Library,  and  the  snthor  of  "tV 

i  Cbsrlei  Astor  Brleted  was  bom  In  New-Tork.  Upper  Ten  Tbonsand,"  sketches  of  New-Tork  m- 

October  6, 1820,  and  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  John  '  olety  life, "  Five  Tears  In  >n  EngUsh  DnlTerrity," 

Bristed,  who  married  a  daughter  of  John  Jacob  and  other  works.    He  died  to  WsBhIngton,  D.  Ch 

Astor.    He  traveled  Id  Europe  after  his  muiiage  Juinuy  IS,  1S74.  Bmtob. 


^ 


^^%^. 


TGLEGRAFHS  AND   RAILBOADS,   THEEB  TUBXJLSE  lO   COHUERCE    437 

acre  of  ground  at  the  interseetioii  of  Mulberry,  Orange,  Anthony, 
Cross,  and  Little  Water  streets.  Charles  Dickens,  who  visited  it  in 
1841  under  protection  of  the  police,  has  given  a  vivid  description  of  it 
AS  it  then  existed  and  continued  to  be  up  to  1850-51: 

These  narrow  vays  diverging  to  the  right  and  left  and  reeking  everywhere  with 
<lirt  and  fllth.  .  .  .  Debaaohery  has  made  the  very  houses  prematurely  old,  .  ,  . 
Nearly  every  house  is  a  low  tavern.  .  .  .  Here  are  lanes  and  alleys  paved  with  mud 
^ee-deep ;  nndergroond  chambers  where  they  dance  and  game ;  .  .  .  ruined  houses 
open  to  the  street,  whence  through  wide  gaps  in  the  walls  other  ruins  loom  upon  the 
eye ;  .  .  .  hideous  tenements  which  take  their  name  from  robbery  and  murder :  all 
that  is  loathsome,  drooping,  and  decayed  is  here. 

This  place  the  New-York  Ladies'  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  began  in  1850  to  cleanse  and  reform. 
At  their  request  the  New-York  Con- 
ference detailed  the  Eev.  Lewis  M. 
Pease  as  a  missionary  to  the  Five 
Points,  and  a  mission  was  opened  in 
&  little  room,  about  twenty  by  forty 
feet  in  size,  at  the  coraer  of  Little 
Water  and  Cross  streets,  which  would 
accommodate  about  two  hundred  per- 
sons. The  ladies  began  their  efforts 
by  organizing  a  Sunday-school  of 
about  seventy  pupils.  Soon  after  a 
day-school  was  opened,  for  it  was 
quickly  found  that  the  children,  run- 
ning wild  during  the  week,  forgot  all 
the  lessons  of  self-restraint,  cleanli-  "^^'^  ""•'"  fobbest's  ca8tle.i 
ness,  and  moraUty  taught  them  on  the  Sabbath.  Next,  the  old  brew- 
ery, a  huge  dilapidated  structure  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  square, 
a  haunt  of  vice  for  generations,  was  purchased  and  fitted  up  as  a 
mission-house.  This  soon  became  the  stronghold  of  the  reformatory 
movement.  An  employment  bureau  was  established.  The  pledge 
was  circulated,  drunkenness  being  the  besetting  sin  of  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  on  each  recurring  Thanksgiving  Day  a  notable  dinner 
was  given  the  children  of  the  mission.  By  December,  1852,  the 
society  thought  itself  strong  enough  to  build  a  new  mission-house, 
and  the  old  brewery  was  demolished  to  make  room  for  it.  The  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  new  mission  was  laid  on  the  27th  of  January,  1853, 
the  address  of  the  day  being  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  De 

I  Font  Hill,  a  mtle  knd  >  hail  below  Tonken,  on  snd  trom  the  highest  of  ItB  six  towers  miperb 

the  banki  of  the  Hndson.  was  the  former  home  of  views  were  obtained.    It  wu  eventually  sold  to, 

EdwiD  Forrest,  tlie  Amerloan  tragedian.     From  and  is  now  otiinpied  by,  the  Convent  and  Academy 

iti  araliiteetuTe  it  was  known  a*  Forrest's  Caotle,  of  Mount  St.  Vincent.  Editob. 


^1h  wBTrmi  o¥  yxw-WMX.  I  zi 


Wivi  *A  xiMT  fS^i^/rtuM  l^m^  ^liis;*^  amid  a  %Darf  iuamiy  «rfiAfr4yg>- 

iMrt^  vf-  hunt  ^  Iei'ft-'!2iv>^Xi3x:i :  tbe  fiadTatftOiOi  «otf  imosKariaiD  iea&  s§  "Met  |  ai 
^(:t«(d  Ji^  rs^rr^  2iii4  tbfT^r  viH  be  a  ehapel  in  Iftie  «i£&«-;  ami  aft  S£B- 
yfjfiOLl  }A^h^.i4^  will  }>er  an  objer:!.  benr  will  be  acduamfiitekaiii  fer 
tb^  ^vrk  aii/i  utihAyS^  Tber  bniMing  was  dedieatel  on  tiit  l&tik«Qtf  Jik. 
t^/^ — a  larg^  bri/rk  edifkre,  fronting  Sfe^enrr-fire  f««i  cot  dbe-  sbM. 
f//rty-fivff  f^:!<(^t  in  d^b,  and  fire  stories  hi^li.  On  dit  srooDii  Amt 
w^r^  )!i^;b<^>br(X/mi^  and  in  the  upper  st««i€s  model  tenitf^wBtii  for  ■  A 
twenty  families,  who  paid  no  rent  on  condition  of  keefUMg  tfe  WU-  I  B 
ini^  ^rlean.  There  wa^  a  chapel  seating  fire  hnndivd  pcEsoifi,  and  |  ^ 
BAynniim;  it  a  dwelling-hoase  for  the  mifisionary.  Tbe  «o6t  of  die 
oriipnal  building,  which  has  been  largely  added  to  witiiin  rHcnt 
yearK,  wai«  $3f>,WXX  |  -^ 

The  efforts  of  these  ladies,  and  of  others  working  toward  a  sBoSm 
end^  r|uickly  transformed  the  character  of  the  Rve  P<Mnts  and  it^ 
neighlxirhorxL    As  a  leading  journal  remarked  at  flie  time  of  tbe 
demolition  of  the  old  brewery,  **  What  no  legal  ^laetment,  what  ^ 
mar.'hinery  of  municipal  government  could  effect.  Christian  wiOf^ 
have  brought  about  quietly,  but  thoroughly  and  triumphantly.  *    - 
The  gr^'at  problem  of  how  to  remove  the  Five  Points  had  engaged  ^ 
att'ention  of  both  the  legislative  and  executive  branches  of  the  €^^* 
government,  and  both  had  abandoned  the  task  in  despair.    It  i^ 
the  erc^Jit  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that  it  was  the  firstT 
entcir  the  then  unpromising  field,  and  it  will  be  an  imperishable  hoi^^^, 
to  the  Jjadies*  Home  Missionary  Society  of  that  chuit;h  that  "^^^^^^^ 
them  the  idea  originated,  and  by  them  has  been  so  successftL^^^^ 
carried  out.^  .^he 

The  Five  Points  House  of  Industry  is  an  institution  having  t:^^^^^ 
same  object  as  the  mission,  but  working  on  somewhat  different  lin^  ^pA 
It  was  founded  by  the  Rev.  L.  M.  Pease,  who  was,  as  we  have  state^^' ' 
the  first  missionary  appointed  to  the  Five  Points.    This  gentlem^^  ^^te 
differed  with  the  promoters  of  the  movement  as  to  the  best  method ^^^T 
of  gaining  the  desired  result,  and,  severing  his  connection  with  tl^^^^^*^^ 
LodioH'  Mission,  founded  an  institution  in  which  he  could  put  his  ovf^^"^ 
th(^ori(^H  into  practicie.    His  theory  was,  that  the  wretched  outcasts  ^ 
the  Five  Points  were  most  of  them  so  from  necessity,  and  not  fror^^^ 
choi(Hs  and  that  they  should  be  aided  to  help  themselves,  while,  at  Hc^-^^ 
same  time,  their  spiritual  and  moral  instiniction  should  not  be  neflpp-'^?' 
lected.    He  first  hired  two  houses  in  the  locality,  and  with  his  famil^^^ 


e 


>BAPHS  AND  BAILB0AD8,   THEIB  IMPULSE  0:0   GOHMEBGE 


□P  his  residence  ia  them.  He  opened  a  school;  he  became  a 
facturer,  and  gave  the  wretched  women  of  the  locality  work  and 
!  at  making  shirts.    In  a  short  time  both  school  and  mission  were 

under  the  patronage  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the 
ision.  By  May,  1851,  the  mission  comprised  eight  houses,  with 
imodations  for  one  hundred 
wenty  souls,  and  had  become 
rer  for  good  in  that  benighted 
borhood.  It  was  incorporated 
154,  the  first  trustees  being 
es  Ely,  Henry  E.  Gemsen, 
i^e  Bird,  Edward  G.  Bradbury, 
ibald  Russell,  Thomas  L. 
,  Charles  B.  Tatham,  William 
aruell,  and  George  C.  Waters. 
le  year  1856  a  building  well 
ied  to  the  purposes  of  a  mis- 
louse  was  erected  on  Worth 
;  near  Centre,  and  there  the 
icent  work  of  the  society  is 
carried  on. 
January,  1849,  the  New- York 

Academy,  which  was  later 
ided  into  tho  present  Univer- 
.f  the  City  of  New- York,  first 
td  its  doors  to  the  youth  of  the  city.  The  school  building  was  a 
JUS  structure  of  brick,  four  stories  high,  with  a  peaked  roof  and 
er-windows,  situated  on  the  comer  of  Lexington  Avenue  and 
ty-third  street.   To  enter  this  excellent  institution  the  candidate 

be  fourteen  years  of  age,  a  resident  of  the  city,  have  attended 
f  the  city  grammar-schools  for  at  least  twelve  months,  and  must 
an  examination  in  the  branches  taught  in  these  schools.  The 
Academy  had  its  inception  in  an  application  of  the  Board  of 
ition  to  the  legislature  of  1847  for  a  law  authorizing  the  estab- 
ent  of  a  free  college  or  academy  in  the  city  for  those  pupils  who 
een  educated  iu  the  common  schools.  The  act  was  passed  May 
7,  with  the  proviso  that  it  should  be  submitted  to  the  electors 
I  city  for  acceptance  or  rejection.  On  being  submitted  on  June 
7, 19,404  votes  were  recorded  in  favor  of,  to  3,409  against  the 
ire,  and  the  act  became  a  law. 


?jB-W<*<-^^ 


lam  Aii|ru)rtus  Mnhlenbenc,  D.  D..  waa 
PhiUdelphiB  in  1796,  and  wu  ordained  a 
■  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  1817,  preaeh- 
UladelphU  and  later  in  Lancaster,  Pa.  He 
St.P»]l'iSohoolat  Flushing,  Long  Island, 
u  its  head  nntU  18M,  wben  h? 


anaumed  the  rectorship  of  the  Chareh  of  the  Holy 

Communion  in  New-York.  Dr.  Muhlenberg  nroto 
a  number  of  Rell-known  hymns,  including  "1 
would  not  live  alway "  and  "Shout  the  glad 
tidings,"  and  was  the  author  of  many  books,  tracta, 
and  essays.    He  died  in  1877.  Editob. 


440 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


In  1853  the  Children's  Aid  Society,  an  organization  that  has  doj^-^DM 
great  work  for  the  homeless  and  friendless  street  children  of  New-Yoi — tV 
was  organized,  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Charles  L.  Brace,  wlM"^ho 
was  made  its  first  secretary  and  chief  executive  officer.  The  socier^stj- 
was  non-sectarian  in  "hnmrti — ■  rr 
both  in  patrons  and  beneficiari^^»«s. 
Its  first  effort  was  to  establish  .  a 
workshop  inWooster  street, whe~  -rre 
the  boys  could  earn  an  hone^^st 
penny  at  useful  work;  but  tb^M>~^ 
proved  a  failure,  owing  to  thrr:*^ 
competition  of  private  firms  ■^■-'* 
the  same  business.  It  next  tumt*-i' 
its  attention  to  the  newsboys  c  ^-^ 
the  city,  an  uncared-for,  home 
less,  reckless,  jolly  band  of  iittC 
Ishmaelites,  but  shrewd,  euer 
getic,  persevering,  and  not  de- 
void of  instincts  of  honor  anc 
manliness.  Mr.  Brace  first 
cured  a  loft  in  the  old  "  Sun  ^ 
building,  and  fitted  it  up  as  em^ 
dormitory  for  the  boys,  chai^n^ 
them  six  cents  for  a  bed,  six^ 
cents  for  breakfast,  and  five  cents  for  tea,  with  a  bath  gratis.  From 
this  small  beginning  in  March,  1854,  grew  the  present  Newsboys* 
Lodging-house,  one  of  the  institutions  of  the  city.  An  industrial 
school  for  girls,  evening  schools,  Sunday  meetings,  girls'  lodging- 
houses,  and  the  placing  of  children  in  good  homes  in  the  West,  are 
other  forms  of  labor  of  this  most  excellent  society. 

In  this  same  year  (1854)  the  corner-stone  of  the  present  St.  Luke's 
Hospital  was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  This  admirable  in- 
stitution, which  is  soon  to  be  removed  to  Westchester  County,  had 
been  projected  as  early  as  1846  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  William  A.  Muhlen- 
berg, rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  and  had  been 
incorporated  in  1850,  with  Dr.  Muhlenberg  as  its  pastor  and  superin- 
tendent. Another  excellent  charity  was  established  in  1851 — the 
Demilt  Dispensary,  whose  building  on  the  corner  of  Second  Avenue 
and  Twenty-third  street  is  one  of  the  charitable  landmarks  of  the  city. 
At  a  meeting  held  in  March,  1851,  and  attended  by  a  number  of 
benevolent  people,  it  was  resolved  to  provide  a  medical  dispensary  for 

1  Jenny  Lind,  from  whom  the  orininal  of  the  ception  given  in  London  to  Mr.  and  Urs.  S.  C. 

kbore  portreit  vu   received,    alwaya  cherished  Hall.thereDomiedringeFspakeof theenthuaiAgtic 

pleuant  recollecdons  of  her  visit  to  New-York,  welcome  eit«iided  to  her  in  out  dly,  ui4  she  re- 

WlMn  I  saw  her  for  the  last  time  &t  ■  funous  re-  called  man;  Amerioan  (rienda.  Editob. 


TELEOBAFHS  AND  RAHJtOADS,   THEIB  HIFULSE   TO   GOMMEBCE    441 


the  northeastern  section  of  the  city,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  carry  the  resolution  into  effect. 

Two  years  before  there  had  died  in  New- York  two  unmavried  sis- 
ters, named  Sarah  and  Elizabeth  Demilt,  who  had  bequeathed  $20,000 
to  the  three  dispensaries  then  existing  in  the  city.  The  residuary 
legatee  of  the  two  ladies,  George  T.  Trimble,  now  came  to  the  com- 
mittee and  offered  to  give  from  what  he  had  received  of  the  estate 
$5,000  to  the  proposed  dispensary,  provided  it  should  be  called  the 
Demilt  Dispensary.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  dispensary 
was  accordingly  established  and 
named.  The  substantial  build- 
ing was  finished  in  March,  1853. 
,  In  1852  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  was 
formed  in  New  York,  in  imita- 
tion of  that  already  existing  in 
London.  At  the  meeting  for 
organization,  the  Rev.  Gregory 
T.  Bedell,  then  rector  of  the 
Church  of  the  Ascension,  and 
later  Bishop  of  Ohio,  presided, 
and  the  Bev.  Isaac  Ferris, 
D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed Church  in  Market  street, 
delivered  an  address.  A  large 
number  of  members  were  at 
once  enrolled,  among  them  Hon.  Henry  Arnoux,  Dr.  Howard  Crosby, 
Alfred  S.  Barnes,  William  E.  Dodge,  Professor  Elie  Charlier,  Theodore 
Dwight,  Morris  K.  Jesup,  D.  Willis  James,  and  many  other  equally 
well-known  citizens. 

New- York  society  was  pleasantly  moved  in  September,  1850,  by  the 
arrival  of  Jenny  Lind,  the  Swedish  songstress,  who  appeared  in  Cas- 
tle Garden  under  the  management  of  Phineas  T.  Bamum.  .  A  large 
and  brilliant  audience  greeted  her  there,  and  sat  spellbound  under 
the  magic  of  her  voice.  Afterward  she  made  a  triumphal  progress 
through  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States.  Castle  Garden,  the 
fortress  of  Revolutionary  times,  had  been  some  years  before  turned 

1  Thta  portndt  repreaenU  tte  venerable  Hun- 
g>ri>ii  ot  pa«t  foaracore  and  ten.  an  ho  nppeared  at 
the  period  of  hiaviait  to  New-York;  for,  like  Irring, 
heprefera  to  be  represented  in  earl;  or  middle  life. 
Writing  under  date  of  October  17,  1B92,  KoBaiith 
uya;  "Aa  youmaj-  imagine,  1  have  no  particular 
wiiih  to  see  the  rulua  of  my  eartlily  frame  conveyed 
In  your  pages."  He  continueB:  "  I  am  sorry  to 
hear  that  Mayor  Kltigaland  and  Jtidge  HeCordy 


have  passed  away ;  we  are 

iJl  travelling  in  th 

aame  directiou,  and  my  wish 

Is  that  my  friend 

should  KMh  the  end  of  their 

journey  less  diaap. 

pointed  in  the  object  of  their 

when  my  hour  comes  and  I 

"hall  pass  away,  ai 

.  I  still  remembei 

vividly  William  11.  Seward. 

nd  everything  con 

l«resla  me." 

Editor. 

442  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

iiito  a  summer  gardeu  and  used  for  the  reception  of  distinguished 
visitors.    Lafayette  had  been  received  there  in  1824,  President  Jack — 
son  in  1832,  President  Tyler  in  1843,  and  Louis  Kossuth,  the  eloquent^ 
and  devoted  Hungarian  patriot,  there  met  in  December,  1851,  hisR 
first  generous  and  heartfelt  welcome  to  America.    A  public  receptiom. 
was  tendered  him  upon  his  arrival;  immense  throngs  cheered  hin^ 
again  and  again,  and  he  was  escorted  by  all  the  local  troops  to  th^ 
City  Hall,  where  they  passed  in  review  before  him.    A  few  days  af^ 
terward,  on  the  16th,  the  interior  of  Castle  Garden  witnessed  a  re- 
markable scene — that  of  the  great  Kossuth  meeting — when  the  EMrsfc 
Division  of  the  National  Guard,  in  full  uniform,  with  side-arms,  ap — 
peared  there,  together  with  an  excited  multitude  of  citizens.      Th^^ 
spacious  building  was  elaborately  decorated,  and  Kossuth's  appear — 
ance  on  the  stage  was  the  signal  for  a  wild  burst  of  enthusiasm ;  so^ 
deeply  did  the  American  people  sympathize  with  him  and  his  coun- 
try's wrongs.     Having  a  thorough  knowledge  of  American  history^ 
and  being  singularly  gifted  as  an  orator,  his  theme,  which  was  a  pleiu 
for  substantial  aid  for  Hungary,  and  a  picture  of  her  sufferings,  as 
well  as  an  appeal  for  the  interference  of  the  United  States  in  her  be- 
half, met  with  extravagant  applause.    Resolutions  of  sympathy  for 
Hungary  were  adopted  by  the  meeting,  and  a  committee  was  named 
to  solicit  subscriptions  for  the  relief  of  that  country.    Castle  Garden 
was  later  made  a  concert-hall,  and  in  1855  was  changed  into  a  depot 
for  the  reception  of  immigrants.    In  1891  the  depot  was  removed  to 
EUls  Island,  which  was  purchased  from  the  State  in  1808  for  $10,000. 

The  year  before  Jenny  Lind's  arrival,  the  old  Park  Theater,  one  of 
the  landmarks  of  the  American  stage,  took  fire  (December,  1848),  and 
was  totally  consumed.  Just  before  the  doors  were  opened  a  file  of 
play-bills  hanging  near  the  stage  was  blown  against  a  gas-jet,  and, 
taking  fire,  communicated  the  flames  to  the  stage  scenery;  and  in  a 
few  hours  the  leading  theater  of  New- York,  for  half  a  century  the 
pride  of  its  citizens  and  a  fountain  of  many  happy  memories,  was  a 
mass  of  smoking  ruins.  It  was  opened  in  January,  1798,  and  nearly 
all  the  prominent  actors  from  that  date  to  1848  had  appeared  upon  its 
boards.  George  Vandenhoff,  John  Brougham,  Mrs.  Brougham,  Ma- 
cready,  Forrest,  Ole  Bull,  the  Seguins,  Charles  Kean,  and  Anna  Cora 
Mowatt  were  among  those  who  had  made  the  old  Park  famous. 

In  May,  1850,  the  attention  of  the  citizens  was  directed  to  arctic 
exploration  by  the  fitting  out  of  an  exploring  expedition  by  a  New- 
York  merchant — Heniy  Grinnell — to  go  in  search  of  Sir  John 
Franklin  and  his  party.  Sir  John  had  left  England  in  May,  1845,  in 
two  vessels,  the  Erebus  and  the  Terror,  to  seek  a  northwest  passage  to 
the  Pacific;  and  after  having  been  spoken  in  Baffin's  Bay  some  two 
months  later,  had  never  been  heard  of  since.  The  British  government 


TELEORAI^S  AND  RAILBOADS,   THEIB  IMPULSE  TO    COMMERCE    443 

and  Lady  Franklin  had  seat  out  rescuiDg  expeditions  which  retarned 
without  tidings.    Mr.  G-rinnell  now  proposed  to  assume  the  quest, 
and  incidentally  to  prosecute  discoveries  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
north  pole.    He  offered  two  of  his  vessels,  hap- 
pily named  the  Advance  and  the  Eescue,  to 
the  government  for  the  search.    The  latter  ac- 
cepted the  gift,  and  the  Navy  Department  ap- 
pointed Lieutenant  Edwin  J.  De  Haven,  U.  S.  N^ 
to  the  command.      The  expedition  left  New- 
York  on  May  22, 1850,  and  returned  September 
30,  1851,  having  been  nearly  a  year  and  a  half 
in  the  frozen  soHtudes.    No  traces  of  Sir  John 
or  of  his  men  were  found,  but  important  ad- 
ditions to  the  world's  knowledge  of  the  arctic      /^^v^^^^^ — '~*^C_ 
regions  were  made;  Grinnell  Land,  the  large  "^^ 

body  of  land  separated  from  Greenland  by  Smith's  Sound,  having 
been  discovered,  named,  and  placed  on  the  chart. 

A  second  search  expedition  was  fitted  out  by  Mr.  Grinnell  and 
George  Peabody  in  1853  in  the  Advance,  under  Dr.  EHsha  Kent  Kane, 
which  did  not  succeed  in  its  main  object  {the  fate  of  the  unfortunate 
explorer  and  of  his  men  still  remaining  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
north),  but  it  accomplished  more  than  years  of  previous  arctic  explo- 
ration had  done  in  securing  the  first  trustworthy  evidence  that  an 
open  sea  existed  around  the  pole,  and  mapping  out  its  coast-line.  It 
also  explored  the  interior  of  many  unknown  lands.  These  discov- 
eries awakened  such  interest  in  the  pubUc  mind  that  the  American 
Geographical  Society  was  shortly  organized  in  New-York,  with 
the  object  of  "collecting  and  diffusing  geogi-aphical  and  statistical 
information."'     It  is  among  the  most  prosperous  societies  of  the  city. 

During  the  period  under  consideration  the  project  of  a  pleasure 
park  worthy  of  the  city  was  conceived  and  well  advanced  toward 
completion.  The  matter  was  first  broached  by  Andrew  Downing,  the 
celebrated  landscape-gardener,  in  a  letter  to  the  "Horticulturist,'* 
written  from  London  in  the  autumn  of  1850.  In  this  letter  Mr. 
Downing  described  the  extensive  parks  of  London,  enlarging  upon 
their  beauty  and  utility,  and  calling  the  attention  of  the  citizens  of 
New- York  to  the  fact  that  the  metropolis  could  not  then  boast  of  a 
single  park  worthy  of  the  name.  The  letter  provoked  a  great  deal  of 
quiet  discussion  among  all  classes  of  citizens,  and  at  length  Mayor 
Kingslaud,  on  May  5,  1851,  sent  a  message  to  the  common  council, 

1  This  nociety  wks  Incorporated  in  1RS4.  the  cor-  Dudley  Bean,  Hiram  Barney.  Alexander  I.  Cotbeal. 

pormtora  being  George  Buicroft,  Henry  Grinnell,  Luther    B.    Wyroan,    John    Jay,    Alexander  W. 

Prancis  L.  Hawks,  John  C.  Zimmerman.  Arcbl-  Bradford,  Edmund  Blunt,  Cambridge  LivlngBton, 

bald  HuaneU,  Joahna  Loavitt,  William  C.  H.  Wad-  Henry  V.  Poor,  and  J.  CalTln  Smith.     George 

dctl,  Ridley  Watts,  S.   De  Witt  Bloodgood,  M.  Bancroft  waa  elected  the  first  preiidont. 


444 


mSTOEI    OF    NEW-YORK 


ur^Dg  that  suitable  provision  for  the  health  and  pleasure  of  the  citi- 
zens should  be  made  by  establishing  a  spacious  public  park  in  the  up- 
per wards  of  the  city.  The  common  council  acted  promptly  on  the 
recommendatioD.  Securing  authority  from  the  State  l^islature,  it 
purchased  nearly  all  the  ground  now  included  in  the  Central  Park. 
Commissioners  to  purchase  the  land,  examine  titles,  and  adjust  con- 
flicting interests  were  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  autumn 
of  1853,  those  so  appointed  being  William  Kent,  Michael  Ulshoeffer, 
Luther  Bradieh,  Warren  Brady,  and  Jeremiah  Towle.  These  gentle- 
men were  engaged  on  their  delicate  task  for  nearly  two  years,  but 
early  in  1856  forwarded  their  completed  report  to  the  Supreme  Conrt, 
which  accepted  it.    The  comptroller  then  advised  the  common  coun- 


cil (February  5, 1856)  that  since  by  law  the  awards  to  the  owners  of 
the  land,  and  the  expenses  of  the  commissioners,  must  be  made  imme- 
diately on  the  acceptance  of  their  report,  it  was  necessary  for  the 
common  council  to  make  an  appropriation  to  meet  such  expenditure. 
The  sum  of  $5,028,844.10  was  accordingly  appropriated.  The  later 
history  of  the  park  will  be  given  in  subsequent  chapters. 

On  July  4, 1853,  the  first  World's  Fair  ever  held  in  America  was 
opened  in  New-York  by  President  Franklin  Pierce  with  imposing 
ceremonies.  The  exhibition  was  held  in  the  famous  Crystal  Palace, 
a  beautiful  edifice  constructed  wholly  of  iron  and  glass,  emciform  in 
shape,  and  with  a  lofty  translucent  dome  rising  from  its  center. 
Thirty-nine  thousand  square  feet  of  glass  and  1250  tons  of  iron  were 
used  in  its  construction.  It  stood  in  the  open  space  between  the  dis- 
tributing reservoir  and  Sixth  Avenue.  In  this  beautiful  gallery  the 
largest  and  most  notable  collection  of  paintings  and  sculpture  ever 


TELEGRAPHS  AND  RAILBOADS,   THEIR   lUPlILBE  TO   COMUEBCE    445 

seen  in  New- York  was  exhibited  in  connection  with  the  fair.  The 
exhibition  remained  open  for  several  months,  and  was  visited  daily 
by  throngs  of  interested  people  from  aU  parts  of  the  Union,  as  well 
as  from  foreign  countries.  The  palace  was  reopened  as  a  permanent 
exhibition  on  May  14, 1854,  but  the  exhibition  was  not  successful. 

In  1853,  the  Clearing  House  Association,  one  of  the  most  important 
financial  institutions  of  the  city,  was  formed,  and  on  October  11  of 
that  year  opened  its  doors  for  bnsiness 
at  No.  14  Wall  street.  It  had  a  mem- 
bership of  fifty-two  banks,  representing 
a  capital  of  $46,721,262. 

During  this  period,  the  growth  of 
New-York  city  in  population,  wealth, 
commerce,  and  territorial  expansion 
was  steady  and  rapid.  Her  population 
in  1840  was  312,700,  her  foreign  com- 
merce a  Httle  over  $100,000,000.  In 
1850  her  population  was  515,547,  an 
increase  of  202,847  daring  the  decade. 
By  1855  it  had  risen  to  nearly  630,000. 
Her  foreign  commerce  in  1850  was 
$260,000,000,  an  increase  of  $160,000,- 
000  over  1840.  By  1855  it  had  grown 
to  $323,000,000.  To  accommodate  the 
sbipping  engaged  in  this  vast  trade  and 
m  internal  commerce,  it  had  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  piers  stretched  along  a  water-front  of  some  thirteen 
miles,  fifty-five  on  the  Hudson  River  front,  and  fifty-eight  on  the  East 
River.    Sixteen  hundred  and  eighteen  buildings  were  erected  in  1849. 

Fifteen  public  markets  supplied  the  citizens  with  food  at  this  time, 
distributed  as  follows :  Catharine,  foot  of  Catharine  street,  founded  in 
1786 ;  Washington,  in  Washington  street,  between  Fulton  and  Vesey ; 
Gouvemeur,  corner  of  Gouvernear  and  Water  j  and  Greenwich,  cor- 
ner of  Christopher  and  West  streets, —  all  opened  in  1812 ;  Centre,  in 
Centre  street,  between  Grand  and  Broome,  opened  in  1817 ;  Essex,  in 
Grand,  between  Essex  and  Ludlow,  1818 ;  Fulton,  at  the  foot  of  Ful- 
ton street,  and  Franklin,  at  Old  Slip,  both  opened  in  1821 ;  Clinton, 
filling  the  square  between  Washington,  West,  Spring,  and  Canal 
streets,  and  Manhattan,  in  Houston,  corner  of  First,  both  opened  in 
1821 ;  Chelsea,  on  Ninth  Avenue  at  Eighteenth  street,  and  Tompkins, 
on  Third  Avenue  between  Sixth  and  Seventh,  founded  in  1828;  Jef- 

1  This  bandsome  monnmfiit  of  broim  freestone  Amerlcui  pstriotB  who  died  in  British  prisons  In 

was  erected  in  tbe  ebarcbyanl  by  the  veshy  of  New- York  eitydarini^  the  BevolutloDaTy  war.    It 

Trlnitr  pariah  in  1S52.  in  consoaaace  with  k  gen-  (aces  Broadway,  and  Is  placed  directly  opposite 

era)  desire  of  the  citliena  to  commemorate  the  Pine  street.                                              Editob. 


446 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


ferson,  on  Sixth  Avenue,  comer  of  Greenwich  Avenue,  1832 ;  Union, 
jonction  of  Houston  and  Second  streets,  1836;  and  Monroe,  juuction 
of  Monroe  and  Grand  sti-eets,  opened  in  1836.' 

New- York  at  this  period  had  also  become  a  great  manufacturing 
center,  the  census  of  1850  giving  her  a  total  of  3387  manufactori«>fi 


COI^ONNAOK   BOW,  IN   LAPATITTE    PLACE. 


employing  83,620  persons,  producing  manufactured  articles  to  the 
value  of  $105,218,308,  and  employing  a  capital  of  $34,232,822.  The 
city  at  this  date  extended  to  Thirty-fourth  street  on  the  north,  and 
from  river  to  river,  although  there  were  many  open  spaces.  Bloom- 
ingdale,  Manhattanville,  and  Torkville  were  then  isolated  villages  in 
a  rough,  sparsely  settled  quarter.  Bond  street,  Washington  Square, 
and  East  Broadway  constituted  the  fashionable  quarter  of  the  city. 

1  For  further  details  of  muketo,  the  reader  sboutd  conanlt  ThomM  F.  Devoe'n  ''Harkft  Book." 


CHAPTER    Xn 

FBEMONinONS  OF   THE  CTVIL  WAB 

1855-1860 

5  E\'ER  had  New-York  seemed  more  peaceful  or  more  pros- 
perous than  in  the  opening  of  the  year  1856.  It  had  not 
yot  attained  the  metropoUtan  greatness  of  the  present 
time :  it  was  still  a  provincial  city,  compared  to  the  chief 
European  capitals,  London  and  Paris.  Some  unseen  cause  weighed 
upon  its  progress  and  kept  it  in  a  kind  of  vassalage  to  Europe.  Yet 
its  growth  had  heen  comparatively  rapid ;  its  population  in  1856  was 
about  630,000  ;•  its  commerce  flourished  with  unusual  vigor ;  its  fine 
ships  and  able  seamen  contended  almost  equally  with  those  of  Eng- 
land for  the  mastery  of  the  seas.  The  city  had  grown  rapidly  from 
its  early  limits  below  Canal  street  to  the  once  rural  district  from 
Fourteenth  to  Twenty-third  and  Thirty-fourth  streets.  Some  fine 
houses  had  been  bidlt  on  Fifth  Avenue,  and  instead  of  the  red  brick 
and  the  London  style  that  had  been  used  until  now  on  Broadway  and 
around  St.  John's  Park  and  Washington  Square,  brownstone  was  in- 
troduced to  give  an  air  of  gloomy  dignity  to  the  streets  of  New- York. 
It  was  to  become  a  city  of  brownstone.  In  1856  we  should  miss 
many  of  the  conveniences  that  smround  us  to-day.  The  slow  stage 
still  traveled  its  weary  way  along  Wall  street  and  Broadway;  the 
street-cars  were  just  coming  into  use.  No  vision  of  rapid  transit,  no 
dream  of  an  elevated  railway,  had  yet  dawned  upon  our  patient  citi- 
zens :  a  trolley-road  in  those  happy  days  would  have  seemed  a  mira- 
cle, and  a  telephone  a  gift  from  above.  Who  could  have  fancied,  in 
1856,  that  he  Tnight  one  day  converse  at  ease  with  his  friends  in  Bos- 
ton, or  send  his  messages  by  telegraph  around  the  world ;  that  he 
could  speak  to  his  antipodes  in  China,  and  bargain  with  the  merchants 
of  Australia  from  his  ofl&ce  in  New- York ! 
In  1856  the  suburbs  of  the  city  still  retained  many  of  their  rare  at- 

■  The  following  curious  esUmate  of  the  popula-  elty  recently  pubUshed,  tlie  progress  of  popuIatlOD 

tion  of  NeW'Tork.  made  by  Hr.  John  Pintard  at  for  the  Unt  five  years  appears  to  be  at  the  rate  of 

(h«  opening  of  the  centiu?,  f  onrecore  and  [«n  26  per  cent.    Should  our  city  continue  to  Increase 

T«an>  ago.  Mnnot  fail  to  be  read  with  iuterest :  in  tlie  Mune  proportion  during  the  present  ceo- 

"  By  the  enumeration  of  the  Inliabltanta  of  this  tury,  the  aggregate  number,  at  ita  cloae,  will  far 


448 


HISTORT    OF    NEW-YORK 


tractions.    Bloomingdale  was  still  not  unworthy  of  its  name,  auf*^^^ 
where  now  great  blocks  of  houses  eover  the  lan<l,  gardens  bloomeM-.^ 
and  fair  landscapes  of  river  and  shore  opened  from  Bumham's  an*  ^^.  * 
Claremont.     Harlem  was  a  quiet  country  town,  shut  off  by  a  long  nd^L^  j^*' 
or  sail  from  its  ruling  center;  there  was  yet  no  city  beyond  the  HaJ"-^^ 
lem    River  —  only    country-seats,    ai^r^^j' 
scenery  of  rare  beauty."  In  those  ear"— ^ 
days   each    citizen   lived    in   his   oi^-^^^ 
home,  and  not  in  an  apartment ;  tei»(,_^^ 
ment -houses   had   begun    their    odioui    '^^., 
career,  but  the  great  blocks  of  apart-       "Zt 
ments  that  now  form  the  chief  trait  of 
New- York's  domestic  life  were  wholly 
unkno\Tn.    The  flat  or  apartment-house 
was  the  invention  of  the  Roman  com- 
mons :    it  was   revived    in    Edinbui^h 
and  Paris,  and  has  within  twenty  years 
covered  New- York  with  a  crowded  pop- 
-  ulation.    It  cannot  be  said  that  our  city 

ry^         j^  /S^^ifTK.^^^   ^^  l^^*"  ^"-^  ^  model  of  neatness;   in 

*- fact,  its  odors  and  its  malaria  might 

rival  those  of  a  medieval  capital.  Its  politicians  paid  little  attention 
to  the  comfort  and  health  of  the  people.  The  mayor  was  Fernando 
Wood;  the  aldermen  were  no  longer  reputable;  political  influence 
often  shielded  gi-eat  criminals  ;  bribery  was  common  ;  the  worst  class 
of  the  population  often  carried  the  elections  of  New- York.  Fortu- 
nately, the  State  was  in  the  hands  of  a  liigher  order  of  politicians ;  a 
King  or  a  Clark  was  governor.  A  metropolitan  police  was  provided 
for  New- York  and  Brooklyn,  and  Mayor  Wood,  who  had  garrisoned 
the  City  Hall  and  attempted  rebellion,  was  forced  to  obey  the  law. 

The  Central  Park  was  scarcely  begun ;  the  Battery  Park  was  neg- 
lected, and  lay  for  many  years  a  repulsive  waste.     Our  streets  were 


exceed  that  at  any  other  city  In  the  old  world, 
Pekin  DOt  excepted ;  as  will  appear  from  the  fol- 
lowing table, 

PrOgreM  of  Pooulation  In  the  Hty  of  New-York, 

computed  at  the  rsl«  of  2S  per  cent, 

every  flTe  years. 


180S 

75,770 

855 

705,650 

1810 

«,715 

860 

883,062 

1813 

110.390 

865 

1,102,577 

1820 

147.9S7 

870 

1,378.221 

1825 

184.003 

873 

1,722,776 

1830 

231.228 

880 

2,153.470 

1835 

289.035 

885 

2.691.837 

1840 

361,293 

890 

3,384.796 

1845 

451,616 

1893 

4,305.995 

1850 

564.530 

900 

5,257,493 

"  From  this  table  It  appears  that  the  population 
of  this  city,  silly  years  heooe.  will  considerably 


exceed  tlie  reputed  popnlatlan  of  the  cdtle*  of 
Paris  and  London.  Cities  and  DMioas.  hoire*er. 
like  individuals,  experience  their  rise,  progress. 
and  decUne.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  Kew-Tod 
will  be  so  highly  (avourei]  as  to  prove  an  eicep- 
tioD,  Wars,  pestilence,  and  political  convnlaions 
must  be  our  lot,  and  be  taken 
Willi  every  allowance,  however,  for  the ' 
Ills  which  life  Is  heir  lo,"  from 
maritime  sltnation,  and  the  Increase  of  agrlcn]- 
ture  and  commerce,  our  numbers  will  in  all  prob- 
ability, at  the  end  of  this  oentnry,  exc«ed  those  of 
anir  oilier  city  In  the  world.  Pekln  alone  excepted. 
"  Prom  the  data  here  furnished,  the  politician, 
tlosjicier,  and  above  all  the  speculator  In  town 
lots  (a  subject  to  our  shame  be  it  spoken,  which 
abMirbs  every  generous  passion),  may  dr«w  rarlous 


PBEMONrnONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAE  449 

noted  for  their  uneleanness  and  bad  pavement ;  our  public  buildings 
were  mean  and  poor ;  the  police  was  inefficient,  the  city  unhealthy, 
its  death-rate  high,  and  life  and  property  insecure.  But  already  New- 
York  was  assuming  the  position  of  a  metropolitan  city,  and  had 
drawn  in  nearly  all  the  commerce  of  the  Union.  The  California 
mines  contributed  to  its  prosperity;  the  decay  of  Charleston  and 
Norfolk  sent  their  ships  t»  its  harbor:  it  had  no  longer  a  rival.  Yet, 
more  than  ever,  as  it  rose  to  comparative  supremacy,  did  it  become 
dependent  upon  the  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  whole  Union.  It 
was  the  offspring  of  union,  the  seaport  of  a  united  nation,  the  center 
and  source  of  its  politi- 
cal life.  President  Pierce, 
in  his  messages,  had 
drawn  a  pleasing  picture 
of  the  general  advance 
of  the  country.  "It  is 
a  matter  of  congratula- 
tion,'' he  said  in  one, 
''that  the  republic  is  ad- 
vancing in  a  career  of 
prosperity  and  peace." 
New- York  reflected  the 
general  improvement. 
One  proof  of  its  blind- 
ness    to     any    political    

danger  at  this  time  was  ,„  ^„^  ^^^  cottaoe-i 

the  celebration  of  New 
Year's  day,  1856.  "Never,"  wo  are  assmred  by  a  contemporary,  "had 
the  venerable  custom  of  New  Year's  calls  been  so  generally  observed." 
The  streets  were  filled  with  visitors ;  the  houses  thrown  open  with  gen- 
erous hospitality;  in  whole  blocks  there  was  not  a  parlor  that  did  not 
blaze  with  light,  nor  a  family  that  did  not  receive  its  New  Year's 
guests.  The  city  was  all  mirth  and  rejoicing,  and  one  who,  in  our  less 
fortunate  time,  wanders  through  our  silent  streets  on  New  Year's  day, 
will  miss  the  graceful  hospitality  that  has  forever  passed  away. 

Yet  the  winter  of  1856  opened  cold  and  severe  upon  the  city.  The 
snow  lay  for  many  weeks  upon  the  ground,  until  the  people  grew 
weary  of  the  sleigh-bells  and  the  impassable  streets ;  the  rivers  were 
frozen  hard,  the  means  of  communication  with  the  interior  were  still 
imperfect,  and  many  suffered.  All  over  the  country  the  same  rigor- 
ous weather  prevailed.    Far  away  in  Kansas  the  chill  winter  opened 

1  HadisoD  Cottage  was  Bltaated  on  the  north-  It  woe  &  wayside  resort  kept  b;  Corporal  Thomp- 

Wert  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Br<»dwsy,  on  gon,  and  from  1850  to  1855  was  the  principal  bolld- 

tlie  ipot  now  oeeupied  by  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel.  Intc  In  that  immediate  nelgbborhood.     Editok. 
Vol.  m.— 29. 


450  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

upon. the  settlers  with  unexampled  severity;  the  boundless  prairies 
were  covered  with  a  thick  veil  of  snow,  the  thermometer  sank  to 
twenty  degrees  below  zero,  and  the  people  in  their  imperfect  cabins 
shivered  and  froze  in  the  unusual  cold,  New-York  gave  liberally  to 
their  aid.  From  Kansas  too  came  often  reports  of  the  violence  of  the 
opposing  factions  and  the  raids  from  Missouri;  yet  no  one  saw  the 
cloud  gathering  in  the  West,  or  fancied  that  anything  could  check 
the  rapid  progress  of  our  metropolitan  city. 

In  this  period  the  Central  Park,  the  origin  of  which  has  been  referred 
to  in  the  preceding  chapter,  was  gradually  transformed  from  a  wild  and 
rocky  tract  of  land  to  a  beautiful  pleasure-ground.  Its  accomplished  de- 
signers prepared  a  plan  that  was  carried  out  with  rare  taste  and  discre- 
tion. Over  the  bare  rocks  vines  were  cast  and  sheets  of  flowers ;  in  the 
valleys  the  lakes  were  formed,  and  swans  black  and  white  gUded  over 
them  in  stately  grace.  The  ramble,  one  of  the  earliest  of  its  attractions, 
soon  glittered  with  running  streams  and  was  covered  with  early  flowers. 
The  mall,  the  terrace  over  the  lake,  the  long  Une  of  trees,  the  fine 
walks  and  drives,  the  wild  scenery  of  the  upper  park,  completed  its 
early  charm.  And  since  then,  year  by  year,  the  Central  Park  has  added 
a  thousand  beauties  to  its  earlier  grace ;  its  walks,  once  nearly  bare, 
are  now  overshadowed  by  lofty  trees  and  a  fine  foliage ;  its  meadows 
are  green,  its  rocks  and  hills  clothed  in  flowers ;  the  admirable  taste 
of  its  landscape-gardeners  has  been  proved  in  the  gradual  perfection  of 
their  plans.  No  city  has  so  fair  a  park ;  none  a  more  valuable  and 
useful  ornament.  It  had  long  been  the  desire  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  New-York  to  provide  a  pubUc  park  for  the  use  of  all  the  people. 
Very  early  in  the  century  it  was  proposed  to  .encircle  with  a  fine  or- 
namental garden  the  lake  or  pond  that  then  covered  all  the  grounds 
where  now  stand  the  Tombs  and  its  uncleanly  neighbors.  The  lake  was 
then  known  as  the  "  Fresh-water  Pond,^  and  its  marshy  environs  were 
never  healthy,  and  often  covered  the  city  with  fogs  and  malaria.  It 
would  have  been  fortunate  if  the  plan  could  have  been  carried  out. 
We  should  then  have  had  a  fine  sheet  of  water  in  the  midst  of  the  city, 
where  now  are  some  of  its  least  reputable  districts,  and  should  have 
lost  the  "Five  Points,^  and  the  marshy  site  of  the  Tombs  and  the 
new  mimicipal  building.  But  the  design  was  never  perfected.  GFouver- 
neur  Morris,  as  Miss  Booth  tells  us,  when  he  laid  out  a  plan  for  the 
upper  part  of  the  city,  proposed  to  form  a  park  of  three  hundred  acres 
reaching  from  Twenty-third  to  Thirty-fourth  streets,  and  from  the  Thu-d 
to  the  Eighth  avenues.  This  too  was  almost  certain  to  be  rejected.  It 
would  have  made  the  center  of  the  city  a  scene  of  beauty,  and  given 
health  and  recreation  to  millions.  Possibly  Madison  Square  is  a 
poor  remnant  of  the  more  extensive  project.  We  lost  the  fine  im- 
provement of  the  Fresh  Pond,  the  park  above  Twenty-third  street,  and 


BAPTIST    CHUKCH.l 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAB  451 

had  left  in  1856  only  a  few  squares,  scattered  over  the  city,  little  at- 
tended to  and  of  less  use  to  the  people.  In  nothing  had  oiu"  rulers 
been  so  inattentive  to  the  wants  of  the  city  as  in  providing  for  it  a 
successioh  of  public  pleasure-grounds.  They  might  have  been  carried 
all  the  way  from  the  Battery  to  the  Harlem, 
and  given  New- York,  like  imperial  Eome,  or 
even  London  or  Paris,  a  breathing-spot  in  the 
midst  of  its  densest  quarters.  The  opportu- 
nity was  neglected,  and  our  city  will  not  in 
many  years  recover  its  loss.  Our  crowded 
quarters  are  still  our  disgrace.  But  a  succes- 
sion of  small  parks  may  yet  be  provided  on 
the  east  and  west  sides  of  Broadway,  by  eome 
future  friends  of  humanity. 

It  was  at  first  proposed  in  1851  to  purchase  Jones'  Wood,  a  fine  tract 
of  land  on  the  Elast  River  and  bounded  by  the  Third  Avenue  and  Sixty- 
sixth  and  Sixty-seventh  streets.  The  site  was  attractive ;  it  was  cov- 
ered with  trees,  and  the  views  over  the  water  were  fine  and  varied. 
Mayor  Kingsland  had  made  a  report  to  the  board  of  aldermen,  April 
5, 1851,  as  previously  stated,  recommending  the  purchase  of  some  land 
for  a  new  park.  A  committee  of  the  aldermen  decided  in  favor  of 
Jones'  Wood;  the  common  council  confirmed  their  report,  and  the 
legislature  authorized  the  purchase  of  the  land.  But  it  was  easily  seen 
that,  however  attractive  might  be  the  situation,  Jones'  Wood  was  too 
far  away  from  the  center  of  the  town  to  be  easily  reached  by  the 
majority  of  its  people.  Much  opposition  at  once  arose  to  the  pro- 
posed site.  The  board  of  aldermen  appointed  a  new  commission  to 
select  one  more  accessible;  they  carefully  studied  the  wants  of  the 
city,  and  decided  at  last  upon  the  present  site.  At  first  the  park  was 
to  reach  only  to  One  Hundred  and  Sixth  street,  and  was  bounded  by 
the  Fifth  and  Eighth  avenues ;  but  in  1859  it  was  extended  to  One 
Hundred  and  Tenth  street.  A  consulting  committee,  with  Washington 
Irving  and  George  Bancroft  at  its  head,  acted  in  concert  with  the 
commissioners.  On  the  finance  committee  were  Charles  H.  Russell 
and  Andrew  H.  Green ;  and  to  no  one  is  the  park  more  indebted  than 
to  Mr.  Green,  who  has  so  long  watched  over  its  interests.  Thirty-three 
plans  for  its  construction  and  decoration  were  sent  in  anonymously 
to  the  commissioners;  that  marked  "Greensward"  was  selected,  and 
proved  to  be  the  one  ofEered  by  Messrs.  Olmsted  and  Vaux,  whose  taste 
and  skill  have  since  never  ceased  to  add  to  the  attractions  of  the  park. 

I  The  engravliig  represents  tbe  building  known  Henry  streets ;  rebuilt  in  1800  and  I8I9 ;  and,  it 

u  the  Pajrette  Street  Bsptiat  Church,  where  wor-  having  been  Uestrojed  by  Are  in  1843,  a  bftndsome 

ship  began  in  1731;  the  name  waa  changed  to  the  hricit  edillcc  was  erected  the  tollowin?  year,   ThU 

Oliver  Street  Church  in  IS21.     In  1795  the  conicre-  church,  with  its  increasing  uumbera  and  larger 

gitioii  built  a  ohonli  at  the  oonter  of  Oliver  and  buildingi,  lierame  very  prosperoos.       Editok. 


452  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

An  ordinance  passed  by  the  common  council,  May  19,  1856,  ap- 
pointed the  mayor  and  the  street  commissioner  as  commissioners  of 
the  Central  Park.  A  number  of  private  citizens  of  known  taste  and 
literary  ability  were  invited  to  attend  the  meetings ;  they  wdire  known 
as  the  consulting  board.  They  met  for  the  first  time  May  29, 1856, 
and  chose  Washington  Irving  as  their  president.  As  yet  no  money 
had  been  appropriated  for  the  laying  out  and  decoration  of  the 
grounds ;  they  were  yet  a  bare  and  rocky  waste.  But,  fortunately, 
the  rare  abilities  and  artistic  taste  of  Messrs.  Olmsted  and  Vaux  were 
at  once  recognized,  and  the  plans  offered  by  them  were  approved, 
money  for  the  completion  of  the  park  was  liberally  provided  by  the 
issue  of  stock,  the  new  land  on  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  street  was 
purchased,  Manhattan  Square  was  added  in  1864,  and  the  Central  Park 
now  embraces  a  little  more  than  862  acres — a  public  garden  laid  out 
with  singular  beauty,  the  resort  of  the  people.  Here  they  come  in 
summer,  with  wives,  children,  nurses,  to  sit  under  the  cool  shade,  listen 
at  times  to  the  music  of  the  band,  or  walk  or  drive  through  the  endless 
paths  and  roads  that  invite  them  to  almost  rural  pleasures.  It  is,  and 
must  always  remain,  the  people's  park. 

But  one  excellent  trait  of  the  Central  Park  is  that  it  has  been  the 
example  and  the  model  to  many  cities.  It  has,  in  fact,  reformed  and 
improved  the  whole  system  of  building  and  caring  for  them.  No  one 
of  our  chief  towns  is  now  or  will  long  remain  without  its  series  of 
parks,  its  open  squares,  its  playgrounds  for  the  young  and  old. 
Brooklyn  soon  followed  its  sister  city,  and  laid  out  its  Prospect  Park, 
whose  wonderful  woodlands  and  boimdless  views  of  the  ocean  and 
the  harbor  are  unrivaled  of  their  kind.  Philadelphia  planned  its 
park  on  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill,  the  most  extensive  and,  in  rural 
scenery,  the  most  beautiful  of  all.  Chicago  is  a  city  of  parks ;  San 
Francisco  is  richly  adorned  with  them.  We  may  attribute  even  the 
Yellowstone  Park  to  the  early  suggestion  of  the  Central.  But  its 
success  and  its  rare  value  are  evidently  best  felt  in  our  own  city,  and 
here  the  new  parks  that  have  been  laid  out  for  future  generations  will 
always  own  as  their  true  parents  the  first  foimders  and  promoters  of 
the  Central  Park.  They  are,  in  fact,  the  natural  expansion  of  its  plan. 
Its  chief  fault  is  its  narrow  limit  between  the  two  avenues,  and  its 
division  into  two  parks  by  the  reservoirs  in  its  midst.  As  Clarence 
Cooke  has  suggested  in  "Johnson's  Cyclopedia,"  it  should  have  been 
extended  on  both  sides  and  made  less  formal  and  confined.  It  is  two 
and  one  haK  nules  long,  and  only  half  a  mile  wide.  The  reservoirs 
embrace  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  and  yet  one  would  hardly  wish 
them  away ;  they  form  cool  lakes  in  summer  that  are  always  pleasant 
to  see,  and  in  winter  sheets  of  ice  that  glitter  in  our  gay  simlight.  In 
spite  of  its  narrowness,  our  park  has  endless  scenes  of  beauty.    The 


KtEMONmONB    OF    THE    CTVIL    WAE  453 

finest  of  its  vieira  is  the  wild-wood  around  the  upper  pond.  The  walks 
through  the  woodland  shade  to  the  Harlem  Mere  ai-e  always  charm- 
ing. The  waterfalls,  the  cleai'  brooks,  the  yellow  leaves  of  autumn, 
the  birds,  the  quiet  shade,  lead  one  to  forget  the  city  and  all  its  toils 
and  splendor.  One  may  bo  as  much  lost  here  as  in  some  rural  soli- 
tude. The  lower  park  has  been  too  much  subjected  to  a  taste  for 
building  and  display.  The  terrace  is  well  done,  its  view  over  the  lake 
pleasing,  its  carved  stonework  of  American  birds,  flowers,  fruits,  and 
liarvests  instructive  and  entertaining;  one 
loay  spend  many  days  in  their  study.  The 
mail,  with  its  fine  row  of  elms,  its  green- 
sward, its  statues  and  busts,  its  graceful  out- 
line, and  its  closing  view  over  the  terrace,  is 
better  than  anything  in  London  or  Paris. 
The  ramble,  with  its  well-wooded  heights,  its 
cave,  its  streams,  its  walks  along  the  lake, 
its  belvedere  and  graceful  landscapes,  will  ■ 
always  please.  In  spring  tlie  lilac-clad  drives, 
the  rocks  covered  with  pink  and  gold,  the 
fresh  greeu  leaves,  and  the  waters  of  the 
lakes  gleaming  through  the  trees,  arc  all 
traits  of  rare  beauty.  But  the  park  has  yet  been  too  often  the  prey 
of  the  spoiler ;  corrupt  politicians  and  tasteless  rulers  have  inflicted 
upon  it  painful  wounds.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  people  of  New- York  to 
save  it  from  their  hands  and  greater  disaster.  In  the  future  it  is 
capable  of  endless  improvement ;  it  may  open  the  way  to  that  wide 
system  of  pleasure-grounds  and  places  of  ret^reation  for  the  people 
that  is  to  extend  over  the  Harlem  River  to  the  limits  of  the  city.  It 
should  be  left  chiefly  to  the  hand  of  nature  and  to  a  natural  growth. 
It  is  already  too  artificial.  Let  its  trees  grow  until  they  rival  the 
oaks  of  Kensington  G-ardens,  its  gi-eensward  bo  sown  with  violets 
and  pausies,  tike .  that  of  the  Bois :  its  wild  beauties  forming  a 
pleasing  contrast  with  the  angry  waves  of  life  without. 

The  later  additions  to  the  park  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  the 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  the  Menagerie,  and  the  skating-pond,  the 
restaurants,  and  the  cottages,  have  increased  its  attractions,  and  made 
it  the  joy  of  thousands.  Still,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  these  ex- 
tensive buildings  should  have  been  allowed  to  encroach  upon  its  al- 
ready narrow  limit.  They  might  have  been  placed  on  the  avenues  at 
its  side,  and  left  its  greensward  and  its  woodlands  in  their  natural 
state.  But  while  the  Central  Park  was  thus  advancing,  the  Battery 
Park,  the  finest  seaside  resort  possessed  by  any  city,  was  left  to  neg- 
lect and  decay.  It  was  to  have  been  filled  out  to  its  present  limit,  and 
properly  cared  for  and  enlarged.    Once  it  had  been  the  fairest  and 


454 


HISTORY    OP    NEW-YORK 


favorite  resort  of  all  our  citizens.  It  was  now,  in  1858,  become  a  foul 
and  noxious  waste,  where  the  filling  in  of  its  new  area  was  composed  of 
the  least  desirable  materials.  It  had  fallen  into  the  haads  of  corrupt 
officials.  Mayor  Daniel  M.  Tiemann,  in  his  message,  said  :  "  In  con- 
sequence of  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  the  work  is  done,  the  de- 
posits thrown  in  are  washed  away  by  the  tide,  and  the  East  River, 
between  Diamond  Eeef  and  the  Battery,  is  shoaling  rapidly."  The 
unfinished  work  he  thinks  "  a  disgrace  to  the  city."  It  was  long  be- 
fore the  Battery  was  tolerably  cared  for, 
and  it  is  still  a  neglected  spot  that  might 
easily  be  made  the  chief  attraction  of 
New- York.  Its  sea  view  and  sea  air  are 
unrivaled.  A  skilful  artist — an  Olmsted 
or  a  Vaux — woiild  convert  it  into  a 
scene  of  unsurpassed  beauty. 

Among  the  noted  events  of  the  year 
1856  were  the  removal  of  the  Brick 
Church  from  Beekman  street,  and  the 
erection  of  the  "Times"  building  on  its 
site.  The  church  had  long  been  famous 
as  the  scene  of  the  ministrations  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Gardiner  Spring,  an  eminent 
Presbyterian  clei^yman.  The  last  ser- 
vices were  held  iu  it  on  May  25, 1856.  In 
its  place  rose  the  scene  of  a  still  larger 
influence,  and  of  the  editorial  toils  of 
Henry  J.  Raymond,  one  of  the  leading  editors  of  the  day.  Soon  after 
the  city  was  aroused  to  an  unusual  excitement  by  the  assault  upon 
Charles  Sumner  in  the  senate-chamber  at  Washington.  An  immense 
meeting  was  gathered  in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle — the  largest,  it  is 
said,  ever  held  in  that  once  famous  hall.  George  Griswold  presided, 
and  many  noted  citizens  were  chosen  as  vice-presidents.  The  speak- 
ers denounced  the  brutal  act  with  proper  severity,  and  expressed 
their  sympathy  with  Mr.  Sumner.  At  this  time,  too,  the  first  statue 
was  erected  in  New- York  since  the  fall  of  that  of  George  m.  on 
the  Bowling  Green.  It  was  that  of  Washington  on  Union  Square. 
Since  then  the  niunber  has  grown  with  unprecedented  rapidity. 
Another  statue  and  monument  was  authorized  by  the  common 
council,  to  be  raised  to  the  memory  of  General  William  J.  Worth, 
a  hero  of  the  Mexican  war.  It  was  placed  farther  up-town,  on  the 
western  aide  of  Madison  Square.  Brooklyn  now  began  the  con- 
struction of  its  Ridgewood  waterworks.  As  the  year  passed  on, 
the  excitement  of  a  presidential  election  filled  the  city  with  anima- 
tion.   The  chief  newspapers  of  the  day  were  the  "  Tribune,"  "  Times," 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR  455 

^*  Herald,^  "  Courier    and    Enquirer,"  "  Sun,"  "  World,"  "  Express," 
^^  Commercial,"  and  "  Evening  Post."     As  the  editor  of  the  "  Tribune," 
.»nd  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  Horace  Greeley  showed  his  rare 
-%rersatility  and  mental  strength.    The  editors  formed  a  conspicuous 
^olass  of  our  citizens.    'Bryant,  poet  and  thinker,  gave  the  "  Evening 
iPost "  its  wide  renown.    Webb  of  the  "  Courier,"  the  Brooks  brothers 
-4Df  the  "  Express,"  Raymond,  Bennett,  Hale,  and  their  associates,  each 
^marked  by  his  individual  traits  of  intellect  the  journal  he  directed. 
^They  have  all  passed  away,  but  they  have  left  behind  them  influences 
that  never  pass  away.    The  printing-press  of  New- York  at  this  time 
was  giving  forth  some  of  the  fairest  fruits  of  American  genius.    Bry- 
ant, Whittier,  Longfellow,  Willis  were  the  poets  of  the  day;  Bancroft, 
Motley,  Prescott,  the  historians. 

An  extraordinary  prevalence  of  crime  marked  the  opening  of  the 
year  1857,  and  the  records  of  the  courts  show  a  startling  succession  of 
famous  causes.  One,  the  Cunningham  or  Bm*dell  case,  filled  the  pa- 
pers with  its  shocking  details.  On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  January 
31,  Dr.  Harvey  Burdell,  a  dentist,  was  found  murdered  in  his  room 
—  stabbed  in  fifteen  places  —  on  the  second  floor  of  his  residence  at 
-31  Bond  street.  In  the  house  with  him  lived  a  Mrs.  Cunningham,  her 
two  daughters,  and  two  young  sons,  a  man  named  Eckel,  a  young 
man  named  Snodgrass,  and  Daniel  Ullmann,  a  noted  politician.  Bur- 
dell seems  to  have  been  passionate,  violent  in  anger,  immoral ;  Mrs. 
Cunningham,  who  was  of  respectable  connections,  was  of  indifferent 
-character,  the  widow  of  a  distiller,  and  kept  the  house  for  boarders.  No 
Booner  had  the  news  of  the  murder  spread  over  the  city,  than  hun- 
-dreds  of  persons  crowded  into  Bond  street  to  look  at  the  fatal  house. 
A  coroner's  jury  sat  on  the  victim.  No  case  ever  in  New- York  at- 
Iracted  so  wide  an  interest.  The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  that  the 
murder  had  been  committed  by  Mrs.  Cunningham  and  Eckel,  with  the 
knowledge  of  Snodgrass  and  the  daughters.  To  add  to  the  interest  of 
the  case,  Mrs.  Cunningham  produced  a  certificate  showing  that  she  had 
been  married  to  Dr.  Burdell  on  October  28,  declared  her  innocence, 
and  claimed  her  share  in  the  estate.  The  case  now  came  up  in  the 
Surrogate's  court,  before  the  Hon.  Alexander  W.  Bradford.  It  was 
contested  with  rare  vigor.  Again  the  newspapers  were  filled  with 
the  details,  and  crowds  surrounded  the  court-room.  But  the  surro- 
gate evidently  did  not  believe  the  maniage  was  a  real  one,  and  the 
estate  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  public  administrator.  It  was 
beUeved  that  some  one  had  personated  Bm^dell  at  the  ceremony,  and 
that  it  formed  a  part  of  the  plot  to  obtain  his  estate.  The  grand 
jury  indicted  Mrs.  Cunningham  and  Eckel  for  murder,  and  held  Snod- 
grass, who  was  of  weak  intellect,  as  an  accessory.  The  daughters 
yiere  held  innocent.    One  is  reminded  in  this  fearful  tragedy  of  some 


456  mSTOBY   OF   new-yobk 

of  the  worst  crimes  of  imperial  Rome,  or  of  several  of  the  most  fa- 
mous trials  defended  by  Cicero.  New-York  watched  with  ceaseless 
interest  the  progress  of  the  case  as  it  passed  through  the  courts.  At 
the  final  trial  neither  of  the  accused  was  convicted^  and  the  mystery 
that  hung  over  the  famous  case  has  never  been  dissipated. 

The  diflBculty  of  governing  the  various  elements  that  now  made  up 
the  people  of  New-York  had  long  been  felt  by  its  wisest  citizens.  Yet 
in  a  great  measure  the  city  had  been  allowed  to  grow  up  under  its 
ancient  charters,  and  with  little  care  from  its  uncultivated  rulers.  It 
began  to  assimie  all  the  vices  and  all  the  least  creditable  traits  of  a  Euro- 
pean capital.  Many  of  its  districts,  chiefly  on  the  east  side,  were  the 
haunts  of  a  crowded  and  degraded  foreign  population.  Here  the  poor 
and  the  vicioiLs,  thieves,  beggars,  the  dissolute,  were  herded  together. 
The  "Five  Points"  and  its  neighborhood  was  one  of  the  most  noto- 
rious of  these  districts;  it  was  so  lawless  and  dangerous  that  few 
honest  citizens  cared  to  pass  through  it  even  in  midday.  Our  police 
was  held  in  check  by  the  thieves,  or  often  was  in  collusion  with  them; 
our  oflScials  were  sometimes  unscrupulous  politicians.  On  the  west 
side  of  the  city,  Church  street  had  almost  as  evil  a  reputation  as  the 
"Five  Points";  and  these  haunts  of  vice,  infamy,  and  lawlessness 
were  rapidly  overspreading  New- York.  It  had  long  been  api>arent 
that  some  change  in  our  police  system  was  necessary;  the  example  of 
the  improved  metropolitan  police  of  London  was  urged  on  our  legis- 
lators; and  in  1857  the  State  legislature  passed  several  bills  amend- 
ing the  charter  of  New- York.  Separate  days  were  provided  for  the 
State  and  municipal  elections.  The  controller  and  the  corporation 
counsel,  like  the  mayor,  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  people.  Seventeen 
aldermen  were  to  be  elected  from  as  many  districts,  to  hold  office  for 
two  years.  Twenty-four  coimcilmen  were  chosen  annually.  The 
management  of  Central  Park  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  conunis- 
sion  appointed  by  the  State.  But  the  chief  and  most  valuable  of 
these  reforms  was  the  creation  of  the  new  metropolitan  police.  A 
district  was  formed  composed  of  the  counties  of  New-York,  Kings, 
Westchester,  and  Richmond,  and  a  board  of  five  commissioners  was 
appointed  to  insure  the  peace  of  the  city,  and  provide  for  its  sanitary 
reform.  The  first  members  were  Simeon  Draper,  James  W.  Nye,  and 
Jacob  Caldwell  of  New- York,  James  S.  T.  Stranahan  of  Kings,  and 
James  Bowers  of  Westchester  County,  and  the  mayors  of  New- York 
and  Brooklyn  ex  officiis. 

The  new  police  commissioners  were  at  once  met  and  defied  by  the 
mayor,  Fernando  Wood.  He  had  opposed  the  new  system  in  the 
legislature;  he  now  pronoimced  it  imconstitutional,  and  refused  to 
obey  the  law.  He  gathered  around  him  the  old  police  force,  refused 
to  suri'ender  the  property  of  the  department,  and  threatened  with  vio- 


FBEHONinONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAB 


457 


t. 


ft 


a 


I  those  who  attempted  to  get  the  offices  in  their  control.  When 
nmor  John  Alsop  King  appointed  Daniel  D.  Conover  a  street 
nissioner,  Wood  drove  him  from  the  City  Hall.  A  strange  scene 
oocurred:  the  commissioner  obtained  one  warrant  for  the  arrest 
ayor  Wood  on  the  charge  of  inciting  a  riot,  and  another  for  vio- 
I  offered  to  his  person.  Armed  with  these,  and  followed  by  fifty 
le  new  metropolitan  police,  he  returned  to  the  City  Hall,  but 
d  it  closed  against  him.  It  was  filled  with  armed  policemen,  who 
iked  the  new-comers,  the 

without   aided  the  for 

and  an  affray  followed  in 
h  many  of  the  pohce  were 
rely  woimded.    The  worst 

of  the  population,  eagei 
plunder,  gathered  around 
or  Wood,  and  for  a  time 
city  seemed  about  to  fall 
their  hands.  Fortunately 
lis  moment,  the  Seventh 
ment  was  passing  down 
4way,  on  a  visit  to  Bos 
by  the  evening  boat,  it 
stopped  on  its  way  and 
d  upon  to  quiet  the  dis 
ftuee.  General  Sandford 
itened  to  use  force  unless  the  mayor  submitted  to  the  service 
le  writs;  the  mayor,  alai-med,  obeyed.    The  Seventh  Regiment 

proceeded  on  its  way  to  Boston,  but  so  great  was  the  exeite- 
t  in  the  city  that  nine  of  the  city  regiments  were  ordered  to 
an  under  arms.  Soon  the  Court  of  Appeals  decided  against 
ar  Wood's  plea,  and  the  metropolitan  police  took  the  place  of  the 
orce.  But  the  change  was  not  completed  before  a  succession  of 
irkable  riots  and  disorders  had  proved  the  dangerous  nature 
e  political  excitement  aroused  by  the  example  of  the  mayor.  A 
g  of  the  worst  class  of  the  populace  took  place,  that  had  neai'ly 
d  in  scenes  not  unlike  those  of  the  Paris  commune,  or  the  draft 

of  1863.    There  was,  in  fact,  a  strong  resemblance — an  anticipa^ 

of  these  later  crimes.  The  mob  rose  in  revolt  in  the  "Five 
ts"  district  on  July  3,  and  two  factions  began  a  fierce  fight*  One 
I  of  ruflSans  attacked  the  other  in  Bayard  street;  men,  women, 
children  were  hurt  in  the  fray;  the  few  pohce  were  beaten  off, 
ided,  or  perhaps  fled  not  unwillingly.  The  riotei-s  next  seized 
L  trucks,  drays,  and  various  articles  to  build  barricades,  and 
led  about  to  hold  complete  control  of  the  city.    The  police  were 


458  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

believed  to  be  in  lea-gue  with  them;  the  mayor  was  distrusted; 
panic  spread  among  the  citizens  such  as  bad  never  been  known  be?^ 
fore,  and  all  the  horroi-s  of  a  Parisian  rising  seemed  to  threaten  New^ 
York.  But  once  more  the  Seventh  Regiment,  summoned  from  Bostoi^^ 
appeared  on  the  scene,  and  several  other  regiments  joined  it.    J^^ 
mercy  was  shown  to  the  bands  of  thieves  and  ruffians  who  were  gatl|.  - 
ered  in  their  vile  haunts  to  defy  the  law;  they  either  fled  or  were 
shot  down.   Six  were  killed,  a  hundred  wounded,  and  the  riot  seemed 
suppressed.    It  broke  out  the  next  day  in  a  disturbance  in  Anthony 
and  Centre  streets,  but  the  militia  soon  checked  it.    The  rioters  are 

said  to  have  been  chiefly  Irish,  but  later,  on 
"P^i^f^^w^  July  13   and   14,  another  disturbance   arose 

'  among  the  Germans  of  the  Seventeenth  Ward, 

which  was  suppressed  by  the  new  police.  From  this  time  the  metro- 
politan police  has  ruled  over  its  extensive  domain,  and  has  proved 
itself  usually  capable  of  maintaining  good  order. 

Soon  after,  in  the  midst  of  apparent  prosperity,  a  commercial  panic 
fell  upon  the  city  and  country,  almost  wholly  unlooked  for.  In  the 
summer  of  1857,  business  was  active,  the  harvests  were  exceUent,  and 
every  one  looked  forward  to  a  long  period  of  active  progress.  Credit 
was  extended,  new  projects  of  speculation  were  formed,  every  one 
seemed  full  of  employment  and  hope,  when  suddenly  there  fell  upon 
the  country  an  almost  unprecedented  disaster.  Some  of  us  may  re* 
member  the  swiftness  of  the  fall  of  our  whole  commercial  system.  It 
began  with  the  failure  in  August  of  the  Ohio  Life  and  Trust  Company, 
long  supposed  to  be  one  of  our  wealthiest  and  most  trustworthy  insti- 
tutions. It  was  found  to  have  been  badly  managed,  was  wholly  bank- 
rupt, and  failed,  owing  seven  millions  of  dollars.  Soon  the  Philadelphia 
banks  suspended.  A  panic  ran  over  the  land.  Merchants  failed ;  per- 
sons of  high  reputation  were  found  to  be  insolvent.  A  run  upon  the 
banks  in  Wall  street  was  begun,  and  the  eager  crowds  who  pressed  for 
tlieir  money  in  that  once  busy  thoroughfare  were  in  marked  contrast 
to  its  usual  occupants;  men  and  women,  young  and  old,  filled 
the  narrow  street.  At  last  the  legislature  authorized  the  banks  to 
suspend  specie  payment  for  one  year.  The  Massachusetts  banks 
also  suspended,  and  Europe  and  America  were  plunged  in  a  common 
ruin.  Many  factories  were  closed,  work  ceased,  destitution  fell  upon 
the  laboring  classes;  unemployed  workmen  in  crowds  were  every- 
where clamoring  for  bread,  and  New -York,  as  the  winter  came  on,  was 
full  of  soiTOw  and  distress.  Families  who  had  once  been  wealthy 
were  reduced  to  want ;  homes  of  splendor  and  ease  were  abandoned 
for  privation  and  poverty;  many  of  the  strongest  business  houses, 
long  known  for  probity  and  good  faith,  yielded  to  the  financial  storm. 
The  peculiarity  of  this  commercial  panic  was  its  suddenness.   In  vain 


PKEM(WTnONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAE 


459 


the  newspapers  of  the  city  ui-ged  calmness  and  forbearance ;  all  con- 
fidence was  lost.  In  Philadelphia,  where  the  banks  first  suspended, 
the  wildest  excitement  prevailed;  the  streets  were  filled  with  eager 
crowds;  people  from  the  country 
flocked  into  the  city  to  save,  if 
possible,  something  of  their  lost 
fortunes.  The  New  -York  banks 
for  some  time  longer  main- 
twned  their  solvency.  "The 
city  banks,"  said  the  "  Tiibune," 
October  5,  "  have  no  thought  of 
suspending."  But  now  on  all 
sides  the  greatest  mercantile 
firms  fell  before  the  panic.  The 
Bowery  Bank  gave  way.  Then, 
on  Tuesday,  October  13,  the 
fiercest  excitement  ever  known 
in  Wall  street  began.  The 
crowds  who  filled  the  sidewalks 
and  pressed  into  the  banking- 
houses  for  their  money;  the 
varying  passions  that  filled  the 
multitude;  the  news  of  failure 
after  failure  of  the  largest 
houses,  the  gloom,  the  despair,  made  this  the  most  sorrowful  day  in 
the  annals  of  New  -York.  The  banks  paid  out  nearly  all  their  coin, 
and  were  at  last  obliged  to  suspend.  Boston  was  equaUy  unfortu- 
nate. "The  towering  fabric  of  our  mercantile  credit,"  wrote  the 
"  Tribune,"  "  lies  in  ruins." 

A  fearful  shipwreck  this  autumn  added  to  the  general  gloom.  The 
steamer  Central  America  (once  the  George  Law),  with  five  hundred 
and  seventy-five  passengers  and  $1,500,000  in  specie,  sank  in  a  hur- 
ricane on  her  way  from  Havana  to  New-Yoi'k.  The  newspapers  of 
the  time  are  filled  with  the  sad  tales  of  the  survivors.  More  than 
three  hundred  persons  went  down  with  the  wreck  ;  one  hundred  and 
seventy  were  saved  by  passing  ships.  It  is  said  that  the  vessel  was 
unseaworthy.  Meantime,  when  the  winter  came  on,  the  sufferings  of 
the  poor  deepened  as  the  cold  advanced.  Never  were  the  charitable 
feelings  of  the  people  of  New -York  more  deeply  stirred,  or  their  lib- 
erality more  conspicuous;  each  one  gave  as  he  was  able.  Soup- 
kitchens  were  established ;  work  was  given  by  the  corporation  to  the 
unemployed  workmen  on  the  Centi-al  Park  and  other  public  improve- 
ments; but  still  many  perished  slowly  of  cold  and  starvation;  others 
rose  in  riotous  assemblies,  threatening  to  break  open  the  flour  and  pro- 


Cc&jOAj  c/f-^e^ 


460  HISTORY    OF    NEW-TOBK 

vision  stores,  and  were  only  repressed  by  the  vigor  of  the  law.  The  har- 
vests had  been  abundant^  the  com  was  stored  in  the  granaries  of  the 
West;  but  the  want  of  money  and  of  confidence  prevented  it  from 
being  brought  to  New-York,  The  poor  starved  in  the  midst  of 
abundance  because  the  public  credit  was  gone. 

Thus,  in  various  fortunes,  through  "  sunlight  and  shade,"  our  city 
passed  on  with  unequal  step ;  but  it  still  advanced.  One  of  the  dis- 
appointments of  the  year  had  been  the  failure  of  the  Atlantic  cable. 
For  a  brief  period  the  connection  seemed 
ready  to  be  formed  between  the  Old  World 
and  the  New,  but  now  we  were  told  that 
the  current  had  ceased  to  flow;  the  cable 
was  broken.  "What  caused  the  break  of 
the  cablet"  asks  the  "Tribune"  on  Au- 
gust 29 ;  and  it  suggests  the  weakness  of 
the  coil  of  wire.  It  is  not  discouraged, 
and  the  promoters  of  the  undertaking  at 
once  set  themselves  to  renew  the  effort 
that  was  so  nearly  successful.  But  eight 
yeara  laden  with  strange  events  were  to 
pass  before  Cyrus  W.  Field  and  his  asso- 
ciates attained  their  end.  As  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  community  deepened,  religious 
^^^^^j^^^^S*— -*^  impulses  became  powerful :  the  Fulton 
^^*  street  prayer-meeting  in  the  Noi'th  Dutch 
Chur<:h  began  its  useful  career ;  crowds  filled  the  lecture-room,  and  a 
general  religious  interest  spread  over  the  city.  Various  changes  had 
meanwhile  taken  place  in  different  parts  of  the  town.  Columbia 
College  was  removed  to  Forty-ninth  street  and  Madison  Avenue,  and 
its  pleasant  grounds  in  College  Place  were  sold  for  business  purposes. 
The  public  cemetery,  or  Potter's  Field,  was  taken  to  Ward's  Island ;  its 
site  was  given  by  the  city  to  the  State  Woman's  Hospital.  The  Broad- 
way Tabernacle,  long  known  as  the  scene  of  religious  anniversaries 
and  various  public  meetings,  the  most  convenient  hall  in  the  city,  was 
now  sold,  and  its  congregation  removed  soon  after  to  their  new  biiild- 
ing  on  the  comer  of  Sixth  Avenue  and  Thirty-fourth  street.  In  1857 
was  laid  the  comer-stone  of  the  Roman  Catholic  cathedral  on  Fifth 
Avenue,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  by  Archbishop  Hughes.  All 
these  changes  show  the  gradual  advance  of  the  business  wants  of  the 
city,  and  the  activity  of  its  trade.  Fine  stores  were  built  on  the  site 
of  Columbia  College;  the  price  of  land  along  Broadway  and  in  its 
neighborhood  became  excessive ;  luxury  and  extravagance  marked 
the  new  mercantile  buildings,  and  the  plainer  habits  of  our  ancestors, 
who  often  hved  over  their  stores,  were  laid  aside  forever.    Slowly  the 


PBEMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR  461 

city  and  the  country  began  to  recover  from  their  alarm  and  depression, 
and  soon  again  prosperity  returned  to  New -York.  It  is  quite  remark- 
able how  swiftly  the  change  was  effected;  yet  the  country  still 
labored  under  many  disadvantages.  An  intolerable  cuiTency  com- 
posed of  bank-notes  of  every  variety  in  value;  a  system  of  banks 
whose  solvency  was  always  in  doubt ;  a  wide  use  of  credit,  and  an 
excessive  speculation,  gave  to  the  mercantile  transactions  of  the  period 
a  general  uncertainty.  The  money  used  in  1857-58  was  of  a  kind 
that  might  well  astonish  a  modern  broker.  It  came  often  from  the 
wildest  regions  of  the  West ;  it  bore  a  large  discount ;  it  was  never 
safe;  even  the  bank-bills  of  the  neighboring  States  were  often  dis- 
credited, and  no  one  but  an  experienced  hand  could  form  a  tolerable 
opinion  as  to  their  value.  New-York  was  filled  with  uncurrent 
money;  and  the  working-classes  chiefly  suffered  because  they  were 
not  able  to  complain.  We  who  have  a  currency  that  is  never  doubt- 
ful can  scarcely  conceive  of  the  perils  of  the  unlucky  holders  of  un- 
current bills.  Besides  this,  the  credit  system  prevailed  in  all  branches 
of  trade.  Prices  were  made  to  anticipate  losses,  and  scarcely  any  one 
paid  in  ready  money.  Few  mercantile  houses  knew  what  were  their 
real  profits  and  losses.  It  was  a  game  of  chance  for  every  merchant ; 
he  relied  on  the  solvency  of  his  customers.  But  such  were  the  vigor 
and  enterprise  of  the  trading-classes  that  the  panic  soon  passed  over. 
The  New -York  banks  suddenly,  to  the  surprise  of  the  community, 
resumed  specie  payment  on  December  14.  The  Boston  and  New 
Haven  banks  followed  their  example ;  and  so  complete  was  the  re- 
turn of  public  confidence  that  no  one  seemed  to  care  for  gold.  The 
wild  scene  of  excitement  that  had  only  two  months  before  filled  the 
city  with  a  strange  alarm  was  now  perfectly  subdued.  The  only  trace 
of  the  recent  calamity  was  the  sale  of  great  quantities  of  dry-goods  at 
retail,  at  low  prices,  by  the  largest  wholesale  houses ;  and  the  clam- 
orous meetings  of  the  unemployed  workmen  in  Tompkins  Square. 
They  were  evidently  not  in  want  of  food,  for  when  a  German  baker 
passed  by  with  a  tray  filled  with  loaves  of  bread,  they  threw  him  down 
and  pelted  one  another  with  the  loaves.  It  was  a  period  of  crime  and 
disorder.  In  one  day,  five  or  six  murders  and  deeds  of  violence  oc- 
curred ;  a  suicide,  a  mutiny  on  shipboard,  and  robberies  in  the  public 
streets.  On  one  occasion,  the  "Dead  Rabbits,''  as  they  were  called, 
took  possession  of  the  City  Hall  for  an  hour,  nearly  beat  to  death  one 
of  theu'  opponents  in  front  of  the  mayor's  oflSce,  and  filled  the  courts 
of  justice  with  their  shouts  and  execrations.  Mayor  Wood  was  obliged 
to  call  upon  the  police  to  protect  him  from  his  friends  and  drive  them 
ofl!.  It  was  plain  to  all  good  citizens  that  some  change  must  be  made 
in  the  government  of  the  city,  if  its  good  name  was  to  be  preserved. 
A  citizens'  party  was  formed ;  great  meetings  were  held  of  the  op- 


462  HISTORY    OF    NEW-TOBK 

ponents  of  Mayor  Wood  and  his  followers ;  the  growth  of  cidme  and 
disorder  brought  out  even  the  indifferent  and  the  impartial.  At  the 
immense  gathering  at  the  Merchants'  Exchange,  November  20,  we  read 
the  names  of  Havemeyer,  Sturges,  Barker,  Field,  Hunt,  Lee,  and  a 
long  list  of  persons  of  all  parties.  The  city  election  came  on  De- 
cember 1,  and  at  its  close  Daniel  F.  Tiemann,  "  a  worthy  man,'*  was 
found  to  have  a  majority  of  the  votes.  It  was  thought  an  enormous 
number  when  above  ninety  thousand  votes  in  all  were  polled ;  now, 
New -York  city  has  more  than  three  himdred  thousand  voters.  Mayor 
Wood,  it  was  asserted,  had  enlarged  his  constituency  by  unfair  prac- 
tices. He  passed  from  office,  soon  to  rettum  to 
it  again  in  the  year  of  civil  convulsion.  At 
this  time,  England  and  France  were  swept  by 
a  commercial  panic;  the  Bank  of  England's  charter  was  suspended; 
great  firms  and  banks  failed  in  both  countries ;  the  working-classes 
suffered,  and  the  sad  cry  of  the  unemployed  was  heard  in  many  lands. 
The  year  1858  began  with  a  rapid  revival  of  the  various  interests  of 
the  city.  One  of  its  most  pleasing  events  was  the  enlargement  of  the 
Astor  Library,  an  institution  founded  by  John  Jacob  Astor,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Washington  Irving  and  other  literary  men,  and  which 
had  already  proved  its  usefulness.  Scholars,  scientific  men,  and  me- 
chanics had  begun  to  profit  by  its  extensive  collections.  It  was  now 
nearly  doubled  in  size,  and  made  more  accessible  to  the  student.  The 
liberality  of  William  B.  Astor  enabled  the  trustees  to  complete  the 
earlier  plan  of  the  building.  It  has  since  been  still  further  enlarged. 
But  New- York  still  needs  a  library  equal  in  size  and  excellence  to 
those  of  the  European  capitals,  and  its  students  are  too  often  driven 
into  exile  to  London  or  Berlin  to  complete  their  researches.  We  want 
the  best  means  of  acquiring  knowledge.  Another  excellent  institution 
for  the  encoiu-agement  of  art  New-York  owed  at  this  time  to  Peter 
Cooper.  His  liberal  gift  and  prudent  management  founded  the 
Cooper  Institute,  a  school  of  art  and  science.  Here  free  lectures  were 
given,  classes  formed  for  yoxmg  men  and  women  to  study,  with  good 
models  and  careful  instruction.  Cooper  Institute  has  enabled  many 
to  earn  a  living  by  their  talents,  who,  but  for  its  free  tuition,  must 
have  lingered  in  poverty.  Its  plain  brownstone  building,  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Eighth  street  and  Fourth  Avenue,  has  long  been  a  noted  seat 
of  intelligence;  its  free  library  and  reading-room  have  benefited  thou- 
sands. New- York,  in  the  winter  of  1858,  was  full  of  intellectual  en- 
tertainments. At  the  New- York  Historical  Society  great  crowds  filled 
the  lecture-room  when  Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks,  Rembrandt  Peale,  and 
George  W.  Curtis  read  their  addresses ;  even  the  aisles  were  thronged? 
and  Dr.  Hawks  was  induced  to  recite  his  paper  on  Washington's  pe- 
riod a  second  time  to  an  equally  large  and  delighted  audience.    Ed- 


PBEMONinONB    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAB 


463 


ward  Everett,  the  most  refined  of  orators,  gave  his  address  on  "  Char- 
ity," at  the  request  of  many  of  the  noted  men  and  women  of  the  city, 
the  names  of  Mrs.  Bancroft  and  Mrs.  King,  Washington  Ix-ving,  and 
Charles  King  leading  the  list  of  those  who  invited  him ;  and  it  marks 
■the  good  taste  of  our  citizens  that  his  audiences  were  always  large, 
^nd  never  weary  of  listening.  Mrs.  Fanny  Kemble  read  "  Bomeo  and 
Juliet"  and  other  plays  to  lai-ge  assemblies  at  Dodworth's  Rooms  on 
Broadway,  where  she  was  re- 
ceived with  intense  interest 
and  applause.  At  Wallack's 
Theater  the  "Vicar  of  Wake- 
field" was  performed,  and  gen- 
erally the  plays  of  the  tmie 
were  not  without  literary 
merit.  At  the  Central  Park 
large  numbers  of  workmen 
■were  employed;  the  wintei 
■was  mild,  and  they  did  good 
■work.  Mr.  Olmsted  instituted 
among  them  a  sick  fund  so 
ciety  that  was  generallj  pop- 
ular, nearly  every  woikman 
giving  ten  cents  weekly  to  the 
cause.  The  religious  interest 
continued  to  spread  from  the 
city  to  the  country.  The 
papers  wore  filled  with  the 
accounts  of  meetings,  revivals, 
and  crowded  churches, — all  de- 
nominations joining  in  the  general  progress.  A  very  unfortunate  in- 
cident was  the  ■withdrawal  of  the  Collins  Line  of  steamers  from  the 
Liverpool  trade,  and  the  complete  success  of  theii-  rival,  the  Cunard 
Line.  Two  of  the  Collins  steamers  had  been  lost ;  the  others  proved 
unprofitable.  One  of  the  ti-aits  of  the  mild  winter  was  the  great 
number  of  charitable  entertainments,  which  were  attended  by  many 
prominent  people.  Mayor  Tiemaun  always  conspicuous  among  them. 
He  was  also  employed  in  many  less  pleasing  duties.  It  was  foimd  that 
peculation  and  public  robbeiy  had  invaded  nearly  all  the  civic  depart- 
ments; and  we  fear  the  "good  old  times"  were  not  quite  as  honest  as  our 
Q-wn.     Crime  and  public  robbery  still  flourished  vigorously  in  the  city. 

1  Oak  clialr  made  from  Qie  timbers  of  "  the  fint  Idence,  sod  was  much  compUiued  of  for  "  going 

pntstdential  msDElon"laFraoltUDSituare,BhouBe  so  far  oat  of  town."    The  chslr  was  made  for 

erected  in  1770  by  the  rich  Quaker  merchant  WbI-  Benjamin  R.  -Winthrop,  and  by  him  presented  to 

ter  Franklin.    Waablngton,  who  was  iwom  into  the  New-York  HlMorieal  Society,  Korember  3, 

«flloe  April  30, 1789,  aeleeted  thli  house  tor  hie  rea-  1867.  Editor. 


WASHINQTON    CHAIK.l 


464  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

A  cloud  in  the  West  still  hung  over  the  political  future  of  New- 
York,  but  no  one  seemed  to  think  it  of  any  real  importance.  The  dis- 
pute of  the  rival  factions  in  Kansas  had  already  produced  a  destruc- 
tion of  the  old  political  parties,  and  a  more  dangerous,  because  more 
radical,  difference  in  the  new.  The  question  was  whether  the  vast 
territory  extending  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  should  be  occu- 
pied by  slaves  and  their  masters,  or  whether  it  should  be  thrown  open 
freely  to  the  farmers  of  Em'ope  and  America.  But  slavery  had  al- 
ready reduced  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent  to  poverty  and  decay. 
Virginia  was  sunk  into  ruin ;  her  sister  States  were  fast  following  her ; 
when,  therefore,  the  effort  was  made  to  carry  slavery  into  Kansas, 
eveiy  reasonable  man  saw  that  the  success  of  the  movement  would  be 
fatal  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  and  of  mankind.  The  Republican 
party  arose  and  swaUowed  up  all  the  other  parties  in  opposition :  its  aun 
was  to  secure  the  whole  West  to  free  labor.  In  the  Democratic  party, 
both  in  the  South  and  North,  there  were  many  who  were  equally  op- 
posed to  the  spread  of  slavery.  It  would  be  impossible  here  to  review 
the  various  accounts  of  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  Kansas.  We 
may  merely  notice  that  the  violent  political  agitation  that  had  arisen 
in  the  West  was  now  fully  reflected  in  the  politics  of  New-York. 
Many  of  the  leading  citizens  were  engaged  to  support  the  Free-soil 
party;  large  meetings  were  held,  at  which  earnest  and  vigorous 
speeches  were  made,  and  resolutions  adopted ;  slavery,  always  odious 
and  repulsive  to  the  principles  of  democracy,  was  painted  in  severe 
colors ;  the  threats  of  the  violent  politicians  in  the  South  were  looked 
upon  as  idle  and  unmeaning,  and  no  one  in  New-York  in  1858  looked 
forward  to  civil  war.  Its  people,  as  a  new  prosperity  dawned  upon 
them,  were  engaged  in  other  thoughts.  To  them  the  wild  deeds  of 
the  border  ruflians  seemed  only  the  natural  results  of  an  uncultivated 
and  lawless  society;  they  fancied  that  the  cloud  would  soon  pass 
away.  Business  was  active ;  the  city  filled  with  new  hope.  The  mer- 
cantile class  cared  little  for  the  strife  of  politics  and  the  rage  of  fac- 
tions ;  yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  many  of  the  most  prominent 
merchants  of  New- York  were  the  strongest  opponents  of  slavery,  and 
made  great  sacrifices,  and  gave  largely  in  support  of  freedom  and  an 
entirely  free  West. 

A  contemporary  gives  an  interesting  picture  of  the  Broadway  of 
1858.  Once  the  seat  of  pleasant  residences,  shaded  with  trees  and 
famous  for  its  drives  and  walks,  it  was  now  become  a  street  of  shops, 
oflBces,  hotels,  and  theaters.  The  business  houses  in  the  retail  trade 
reached  far  up-town ;  the  finer  dwelling-houses  were  above  Fourteenth 
street  and  around  Union  and  Madison  squares.  "  Broadway  in  1858,'' 
says  the  "Crayon"  of  that  year,  "has  become  not  unlike  the  Strand  in 
London  and  a  Paris  boulevard.    Early  in  the  morning  the  street  be- 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR  465 

gins  to  fill  with  carts  and  vehicles  bringing  supplies  from  the  country 
to  the  market.  From  all  the  by-streets  which  connect  Broadway  with 
the  river  crowds  of  men,  women,  and  wagons  and  horses  emerge  from 

the  Brooklyn,  Hoboken,  Williamsbm'gh,  Staten  Island,  and  New  Jersey 

ferries.    It  is  still  very  eaily  in  the  morning;  the  shops  are  still  closed; 

only  here  and  there  an  omnibus  makes  its  reluctant  appearance,  its 

driver  and  horses  not  having  yet  shaken  off  the  sloth  of  the  night. 

There  are  also  some  carriages  stopping  before  the  Astor  House,  St. 

Nicholas,  Metropolitan  and  other  hotels,  with  a 

load  of  travelers  just  coming  in  from  the  east, 

west,  north,  or  from  European  and  California 

steamers.  At  this  early  hour  Broadway  looks 
thoroughly  respectable,  like  a  big  ball-room." 
The  wiiter  then  goes  on  to  paint  its  various 
changes:  "Soon  after  a  crowd  of  clerks  and 
business  men  rush  down  the  famous  thorough- 
fare.   Then  comes  later  the  stream  of  fair  women        pierrepont  arms. 

shoppers  from  the  upper  part  of  the  town,  filling  the  sidewalks;  next, 
in  the  afternoon,  the  tide  of  business  men  inishes  back  along  the  same 
thoroughfare ;  and  in  the  evening  the  street  is  again  crowded  with 
persons  going  to  theaters  and  the  various  amusements  of  the  night." 
In  the  later  hours  the  street  was  no  longer  "respectable":  it  was  filled 
with  disreputable  and  noisy  revelers;  now  the  police  and  watchmen 
were  on  the  alert,  and  the  noise  of  wild  songs  and  gi'oss  revelry  dis- 
turbed the  peace  of  Broadway.  Later  it  sank  into  dull  silence  as  the 
chimes  of  Trinity  told  the  early  hours  of  the  morning.  Such  was  our 
favorite  Broadway  thirty-five  years  ago.  How  different  now !  The 
theaters  are  gone;  the  retail  shops  are  moved  up-town;  a  stately 
range  of  oflSce  buildings  and  wholesale  stores  lines  the  street,  and  but 
a  few  of  the  old  hotels  stUl  linger  on  their  early  sites.  In  the  day  no 
market-carts,  no  omnibuses,  no  crowds  of  fair  women,  no  gallant 
pedestrians  fill  Broadway;  at  night  no  cries  of  revelry.  It  is  silent 
and  abandoned  after  eight  o'clock.  One  is  almost  startled  by  its  soli- 
tude. Broadway  has  become  the  business  center  of  the  continent — 
perhaps  of  the  world. 

As  the  summer  came  on  a  new  excitement  passed  over  the  city  and 
the  country,  but  seemed  chiefly  to  extend  over  the  North.  The  labors 
of  Cyrus  W.  Field  and  his  associates  had  apparently  ended  in  perfect 
success.  The  Atlantic  cable  fixed  the  attention  of  the  world.  In  June 
it  had  broken,  and  disappointment  and  doubt  seemed  to  follow  it. 
Eminent  engineers  declared  the  plan  impracticable;  no  current  of 
electricity,  they  said,  could  be  carried  to  so  long  a  distance ;  the  iron 
and  the  copper  were  certain  to  produce  corrosion  at  the  bed  of  the 

sea.    But  again  in  July  the  Niagara  and  the  Agamemnon  met  in  mid- 
VoL.  m.— 30. 


466  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

ocean,  joined  their  wires,  and  set  sail  over  the  uncertain  waves ;  and 
again  news  came  to  New- York  that  the  cable  was  broken.  Even  the 
most  ardent  in  favor  of  the  project  were  now  filled  with  doubt.  "Sup- 
pose,'' said  the  "Tribune,"  July  14,  "the  attempted  laying  of  the  At- 
lantic cable  should  prove  a  failure,  is  there  not  a  land  route? '^  and  the 
London  "Times"  advocated  one.  In  the  midst  of  these  fears  and  dis- 
appointments, on  August  6  came  a  despatch 
from  Mr.  Field  that  filled  the  country  with 
wonder  and  strange  joy.  The  ships  had  again 
met,  had  sailed  over  the  ocean,  and  the  cable 
was  already  in  use.  "The  electric  signals,"  said 
the  ardent  projector,  August  5, 1858,  "  sent  and 
received  through  the  whole  cable  are  perfect." 
To  President  Buchanan  he  said,  "Queen  Vic- 
toria will  send  you  a  message."  It  is  quite  im- 
%a^%j^aa  ^^i^r^tAM^*  possible  for  us  to  conceive  of  the  enthusiastic 

^  ^    joy  of  the  moment  —  we  who  have  been  so  long 

famiUar  with  the  cables  and  telegraphs  that 
encircle  the  globe.  It  was  an  electric  shock  that  seemed  to  promise 
peace  and  good  will  to  man.  From  cities  and  towns,  from  the  wild 
West  and  the  far  East,  from  Europe  and  the  Islands,  came  congratula- 
tions and  expressions  of  sincere  joy  that  the  New  World  and  the  Old 
could  now  speak  to  each  other,  though  far  away;  a  new  era  had 
come;  it  was  the  finest  thing  done  for  America  since  its  discovery. 
Salutes  of  a  hundred  guns  were  fired ;  towns  and  cities  were  illumi- 
nated; Rochester,  Syracuse, Newport,  and  Boston  replied  to  New- York; 
Newark  also  was  illuminated.  But  the  people  of  our  city  resolved  to 
wait  until  the  queen's  message  arrived  before  giving  its  grand  cele- 
bration of  the  wonderful  event.  In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Field  was  the 
hero  of  the  hour,  and  the  telegraph  drove  out  all  other  thoughts. 
Kansas  and  its  trials,  and  the  political  dangers  of  the  moment,  were 
forgotten.  The  City  Hall  was  illuminated,  and  fireworks  set  off  in  the 
park.  A  banquet  was  given  to  Mr.  Field;  a  Te  Deum  was  sung  in 
Trinity  Church;  a  salute  of  a  hundred  guns  was  fired;  and  Mr.  Field 
spoke  with  rare  eloquence.  Still  the  message  from  the  queen  was  mys- 
teriously delayed,  and  it  was  not  until  August  17  that  a  part  of  it 
aiTived.  "Her  Majesty,"  it  said,  "desires  to  congratulate  the  President 
on  the  successful  completion  of  this  great  international  work,  in  which 
the  Queen  has  taken  the  deepest  interest."  The  president  replied  Id 
suitable  terms;  and  the  success  of  the  great  undertaking  seemed 
assured.  Then  New-York  prepared  to  give  one  of  those  great  celebra- 
tions for  which  it  has  always  shown  a  hereditary  fondness — borrowed, 
perhaps,  from  its  Flemish  and  Dutch  ancestors  of  Ghent,  Bruges,  and 
Amsterdam.    It  could  not  hang  its  streets  with  cloth  of  gold,  or  rival 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR  467 

the  splendors  of  a  Flemish  cortege,  but  it  had  often  shone  with  ban- 
ners, crowds,  processions,  and  rare  illuminations.  In  1788,  at  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution;  in  1789,  at  the  reception  of  Washington;  in 
1815,  at  the  news  of  peace;  in  1825,  when  the  Erie  Canal  had  joined 
trhe  ocean  and  the  lakes — New- York  had  given  up  its  streets  to  rejoi- 
cing crowds  of  spectators  and  countless  visitors.  But,  according  to  a 
eontemporary,  this  last  was  "the  grandest  celebration  ever  seen  in  the 
eity  of  New- York.''  The  bells  rang,  cannon  were  fired,  the  Crystal 
Palace  was  crowded;  splendid  fireworks  and  an  illumination  followed 
in  the  evening;  the  vessels  in  the  harbor  were  covered  with  flags; 
speeches,  addi'esses  of  congratulation,  a  torch-light  procession,  and  fifty 
or  a  hundred  thousand  strangers  from  across  the  rivers  made  up  the 
unprecedented  display.  One  may  compare  the  number  of  visitors  in 
1858  with  the  millions  who  came  in  recently  to  assist  at  the  Columbus 
celebration.  All  over  the  country  the  rejoicings  continued.  Nashville 
answered  to  Syracuse,  Chicago  to  Boston.  The  Richmond  papers 
alone,  probably  occupied  with  deeper  thoughts,  scoffed  at  the  excite- 
ment of  the  North  and  West.  It  is  painful  to  remember  how  soon  the 
revulsion  came.  For  many  days  the  people  waited  to  hear  the  news 
from  abroad ;  within  three  weeks,  they  were  assured,  the  cable  would 
be  open  to  the  public.  But  days  and  weeks  passed  on,  and  the  promise 
was  not  fulfilled.  The  queen's  message  was  completed,  the  president's 
given  in  full;  but  a  strange  rumor  spread  that  they  had  not  been  carried 
by  the  cable.  The  telegi*aph  was  silent.  On  September  25  some  weak 
movements  were  felt ;  then  the  cun-ent  failed.  De  Sauty  telegraphed 
to  Peter  Cooper,  September  28,  from  Trinity  Bay:  "There  were  no  sig- 
nals from  Valentia  to-day";  and  soon  it  was  known  that  the  cable  was 
broken,  and  lay,  a  costly  and  apparently  useless  A\dre,  on  the  bed  of  the 
sea.  It  had  cost  £365,000  sterling, — about  $1,800,000, — and  was  a 
complete  loss  to  its  projectors.  All  the  opponents  of  the  plan,  all  who 
favored  other  routes,  now  joined  in  declaring  it  hopeless;  the  faUm^e 
of  the  cable  laid  in  the  Red  Sea,  about  the  same  time,  was  a  new  proof, 
they  thought,  of  the  impossibility  of  using  a  wire  two  thousand  miles 
long.  A  writer  in  Blackwood's  magazine  denied  the  existence  of  the 
telegraphic  plateau,  and  asserted  that  the  bed  of  the  ocean  was  no 
more  level  than  the  surface  of  England  and  Wales.  It  was  proposed 
to  carry  a  cable  from  the  Orkneys  to  Iceland,  to  Greenland,  and  thence 
to  Labrador.  Sir  Leopold  McClintock  lent  his  approval  to  the  plan. 
But,  in  the  mean  time,  Messrs.  Field,  Cooper,  and  their  English  and 
American  associates  never  faltered  in  resolution,  and  only  awaited  a 
favorable  time  for  once  more  testing  the  telegraphic  plateau. 

On  the  night  of  the  great  celebration,  while  New-York  was  lost  in 
festivity  and  rejoicing,  a  strange  scene  was  witnessed  across  the  bay, 
on  Staten  Island.    The  quarantine  station  had  long  been  an  object 


468  mSTOEY    OF   new-york 

of  dislike  aud  dread  to  its  murmuring  people.  They  fancied  that  it 
bi*ought  disease  and  death  among  them ;  they  knew  that  it  injured 
their  property,  and  kept  away  many  who  would  have  been  glad  to 
settle  upon  their  lands.  A  quarantine  is  always  an  unpleasant  neigh- 
bor, and  the  people  were,  no  doubt,  right.  After  many  vain  efforts  to 
remove  it  by  legal  means,  they  resolved  to  use  force.  A  party  esti- 
mated at  one  thousand  men  gathered  around  the  buildings  and  set 
them  on  fire ;  they  persisted  in  their  aim,  in  defiance  of  the  legal  offi- 
cials, and  the  military  who  were  sent  to  subdue  them,  and  at  last  suc- 
ceeded. The  quarantine  was  taken  to  the  lower  bay,  and  the  islanders 
became  once  more  orderly  and  obedient  citizens.  It  was  the  error  of 
the  State  government,  in  not  yielding  to  the  reasonable  demands  of 
the  people,  that  drove  them  to  des- 
perate measures.  At  once  Stateu 
Island  became  a  favorite  summer  re- 
treat for  our  citizens,  and  was  soon 
covered  with  cottages  and  villas.  Oae 
noted  event  of  the  late  autimin  was 
the  burning  of  the  Crystal  Palace 
while  occupied  by  the  fair  of  the 
American  Institute.  The  various  ar- 
ticles on  exhibition  represented  a  loss 
of  $2,000,000,  but  fortunately  the  two 
thousand  persons  who  were  in  the 
building  at  the  time  escaped  injurj'. 
The  palace  had  been  the  theater  of  many  notable  occurrences ;  it  wae 
here  the  banquet  to  Mr.  Field  was  given,  on  the  completion  of  the 
Atlantic  cable ;  it  was  the  scene  of  JuUen's  concerts,  of  balls  and 
dinners,  of  children's  Sunday-school  gatherings,  and  of  public  mee1> 
ings,  until  at  last  its  unfortunate  career  closed  with  a  disastrous  fire. 
A  strange  feature  of  these  not  very  distant  times  was  the  revival 
of  the  slave-trade.  Near  the  extremity  of  Long  Island,  off  Montauk, 
a  small  vessel  was  found  scuttled  and  sunk,  and  her  crew,  well  sup- 
plied with  Spanish  gold,  was  observed  wandering  from  town  to  town, 
in  separate  parties,  spending  their  doubloons  freely.  It  was  at  once 
suspected  that  these  men  had  belonged  to  a  slaver,  and  they  were  ar- 
rested. It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  sunken  vessel  was  the  "  Hai- 
dee,"  that  had  sailed  to  the  coast  of  Africa  from  the  port  of  New- York, 
apparently  with  the  connivance  of  the  custom-house  officials.  She 
had  brought  back  nine  hundred  slaves,  landed  them  at  Cardenas. 

1  The  Second  John  Street  Hethodist  Charcti.  suy  of  the  eBtabUahmeDt  of  Americu  Methodism 

erected  OD  the  site  o!  the  Fiiat  or  Old  John  Street  was  celebrated,  October  30,  1S92,  aevenl  bubopg 

balldlng.   wu  dedicated  January  4,    1S18.     The  taking  pMt  In  the  Bervices.     Nnmeroiu  memorial 

church  shown  in  the  enKTsvlng  was  taken  down  lablets  and  relies  of  early   HeUiodiam  are  pre- 

in  1841,  and  rebuilt  as  the  First  Hethodisi  Epis-  serred  in  the  present  church.  Bmiob. 

copal  Chnrcb,  and  in  this  edifice  the  last  annlTer- 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR  469 

Cuba,  aud  was  then  sunk  off  Montauk.    A  small,  sharp,  swift  schoo- 
ner, built  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  the  nature  6f  her  cargo  when 
she  set  sail  from  New-York,  and  the  provision  made  for  the  confine- 
ment of  her  unhappy  passengers,  might  easily  have  shown  to  the 
United  States  officials  of  the  port  the  object  of  her  voyage.    Two 
slavers,  the  Wanderer  and  the  Echo,  were  also 
known  to  have  landed  their  cargoes  on  the  coast 
of  Georgia  or  South  Carolina;  but  the  Southern 
jui-ymen  refused  to  convict  the  officers  and  crews. 
*'  The  revival  of  the  slave-trade,'^  said  the  "  New- 
York  Times,"  December  28, 1858,  "is  the  practical 
issue  for  1860,  if  these  men  have  their  way.''    It 
knew  little  of  the  real  meaning  of  these  leaders 
in  secession.     All  through  the  summer  of  1858      Rutherford  arms. 

the  building  of  the  Great  Eastern,  "Brunei's  Folly,"  the  largest  vessel 
ever  built  by  man,  had  constantly  engaged  the  attention  of  New- 
York.  The  great  ship  was  now  approaching  its  completion.  The 
illustrated  papers  of  the  time  are  filled  with  the  accounts  of  its  vast 
dimensions,  its  powerful  engines,  its  indestructible  covering  of  iron. 
Every  intelligent  intellect  was  interested  in  this  unusual  experiment, 
and  the  pictures  of  its  progi-ess  at  Mill  wall,  in  the  "  Illustrated  Lon- 
don News,"  were  eagerly  sought  for,  and  studied  in  eveiy  American 
town  and  city.  At  last  the  monster  steamship  was  nearly  ready  and 
was  about  to  sail  for  New- York. 

The  year  1859  opened  with  new  prospects  of  prosperity,  of  ease  and 
peace,  to  close  with  the  deep  shadows  of  political  strife.  Trade  was 
active,  population  increased,  and  the  city  was  full  of  energy  and 
hope.  Yet  the  New- York  of  1859  was  still  provincial  and  submissive 
to  foreign  fashions  and  opinions.  Its  government  was  still  imperfect, 
and  the  "Times,"  January  27,  complains  that  its  health  was  little 
eared  for,  and  its  death-rate  far  above  that  of  London.  Its  quaran- 
tine was  still  unsettled.  New  Jersey  refused  to  permit  its  shores  to 
become  a  lazaretto.  Coney  Island  and  Long  Island  were  equally  re- 
bellious; and  the  State  authorities  proposed  to  use  ships  anchored 
in  the  lower  bay.  "  Tinily,"  said  the  editors,  "  we  are  in  a  poor  way 
about  our  quarantine."  The  unpleasant  odors  of  factories,  sewers, 
gas,  and  slaughter-houses,  the  uncleanly  streets  and  careless  officials, 
are  often  complained  of.  There  were  peculation  and  bribery  abroad. 
The  manners  of  om*  working-classes  of  foreign  origin  were  still  rude, 
and  riots-  and  strife  were  frequent.  Among  the  wealthier  classes  there 
were  a  pleasant  grace  of  manner,  hospitality,  and  often  an  excess  of 
conviviality.  At  weddings  and  large  parties  wine  and  liquors  were 
used  more  freely  than  to-day.  High  prices  in  land  had  not  yet  been 
reached.     A  house  and  lot  on  the  Fifth  Avenue,  No.  102,  thirty-six 


470  mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YOBK 

feet  wide  and  eighty  deep,  brought  $31,200;   another  lot,  vacant,  ov^ 
Fifty-fourth  street,  uear  Sixth  avenue,  $1100.    The  chief  topics  ot 
conversation  at  the  time  were  the  poems  of  Tennyson,  the  histori^^« 
of  Prescott  and  Macaulay ;  in  poUtics,  the  struggle  in  Kansas,  or  tk:ae 
threatening  cloud  of  war  in  Em'ope.    Napoleon  was  about  to  invac^e 
Italy,  and  his  armies  drive  out  the  Austrians. 

Tlie  Great  Eastern,  still  unfinished,  was  watched  with  constant  L  — u- 
terest.    The  mail  from  California  came  slowly  over  the  plains  throuj^^l 

a  wilderness :  the  Pacific  Railway  was  only  talked  of  as  yet.  Of  eoui ^ 

the  Suez  Canal  was  unknown.    Our  people  were  fond  of  oratory  m     — ^ 
good  public  speaking.     Henry  Ward  Beecher,  George  W.  Curtis,  ai      _i( 
Dr.  Francis  L.  Hawks  were  always  sure  of  an  intelligent  audience.         4 
natm'al  orator.  Dr.  Hawks  was  the  popular  preacher  of  the  time.   Le^^k^ 
tures  on  various  subjects  were  always  well  attended;  and  Emerson  sm^d 
Beecher  were  heard  with  delight.    The  Sickles  trial  filled  the  new"^- 
papers ;  Morphy  came  back  from  Europe,  and  was  received  with  q^ 
much  attention  as  a  martial  conqueror.    A  banquet  was  given  him  in 
Boston,  a  supper  and  a  costly  testimonial  in  New- York.    At  last  the 
fearful  war  in  Europe  began  to  overshadow  all  other  subjects  of  in- 
terest.   The  news  came  of  dreadful  battles  and  heaps  of  slain.    At 
Magenta  twenty-seven  thousand  Austrians  were  killed  and  wounded ; 
Solf erino  added  to  the  frightful  news,  and  few  could  fancy  that  within 
two  years  Magenta  and  Solf  erino  would  be  surpassed  in  horrors  on  our 
own  soil.     "Harper's  Weekly,"  always  a  picture  of  the  times,  gave 
striking  illustrations  of  the  battle-scenes  in  Italy.    Napoleon,  the  con- 
queror, seemed  the  master  of  the  destinies  of  Europeans ;  he  fancied, 
of  America.    Peace  came  soon,  and  the  next  subject  of  conversation 
was  the  Great  Eastern.  Would  it  come  to  New- York?  Was  the  chan- 
nel deep  enough  to  admit  so  large  a  ship  f    The  "  New-York  Times  * 
argued  that  the  steamer  might  easily  enter  our  harbor ;  it  had  a  trial 
trip,  with  great  success,  on  the  Thames,  and  was  to  sail  for  New- York  on 
September  17.  "  The  coming,  whenever  it  may  take  place,''  it  was  said, 
"  will  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important  events  of  the  age.'* 
But  soon  news  came  that  a  frightful  explosion  had  occurred  on  the 
great  steamer,  twelve  persons  were  killed  and  wounded,  the  splendid 
saloon  was  torn  to  pieces,  and  the  day  of  sailing  was  postponed.     So 
calmly  and  prosperously  the  year  passed  on  that  it  afl!ords  few  events 
to  history.  The  movement  of  trade  had  continued  to  drive  the  homes 
of  the  citizens  before  it.    Fifth  Avenue  had  become  a  street  of  fine 
brownstone  houses,  and  was  already  invaded  by  several  shops.     The 
private  dwellings  of  the  people  had  grown  in  convenience,  if  not  in 
grace ;  Init  the  public  buildings  were  still  as  they  are  now — mean  and 
poor.    The  United  States  government  had  never  sought  to  decorate 
New- York  ^ith  fine  architectural  ornaments.    Its  buildings  were  in- 


PBEMONITIONS    OP    THE    CIVIL    WAE  471 

ferior  to  those  of  Washington  and  other  cities.  Its  post-office  was  a 
decayed  church ;  its  assay-office  a  low  Btructure  on  Wall  street ;  its 
custom-house  was  removed  at  last  to  the  former  Merchants'  Ex- 
change, a  building  dark,  damp,  unhealthy;  its  subtreasury  ia  a 
finer  but  even  less  convenient 
one.  No  one  seemed  to  care 
for  the  architectural  improve- 
ment of  New-York.  The  city 
government  had  left  its  only 
fine  building,  the  City  Hall,  in 
a  condition  of  ruinous  neglect 
since  the  cable  celebration,  when 
it  bad  suffered  from  fire.  Its 
front  was  blackened  with  smoke, 
its  windows  closed  up  with  boards,  its  whole  appearance  saddening 
and  repulsive.  The  Battery  was  unchanged;  the  Central  Park,  slowly 
advancing,  was  already  the  joy  of  the  city,  and  when  Dodworth's 
band  played  on  the  mall  in  the  summer  days,  crowds  filled  the 
walks,  and  rejoiced  in  their  new  possession. 

But  in  the  midst  of  its  ease  and  progress  came  suddenly  one  of  the 
premonitions  of  civil  war,  that  for  a  moment  roused  the  city  from  its 
delusion.  On  October  18  came  the  news  of  a  rising  of  the  negroes 
in  Vii^nia.  They  had  seized  upon  Harper's  Ferry,  with  all  its  muni- 
tions of  war;  they  had  visited  the  estate  of  a  Mr.  Washington,  in  its 
neighborhood,  set  free  his  slaves,  and  ill-treated  his  family.  Then  it 
was  said  that  a  Captain  Brown  was  at  the  head  of  the  insurrection; 
and  next  came  iutelhgence  of  his  defeat  and  capture,  and  of  the  ven- 
geance that  was  to  fall  upon  all  concerned  in  the  invasion.  The  stoi-y 
of  John  Brown  is  too  well  known  to  need  repetition.  Fanatic  and 
martyi',  his  trial  and  his  death  filled  the  columns  of  the  newspapers 
for  months,  and  touched  the  hearts  of  many  who  scarcely  shared  his 
peculiar  principles.  To  New- York  came  for  the  first  time  a  sense  of 
the  political  dangers  of  the  hour,  and  of  the  intensity  of  the  feeling 
that  separated  the  political  parties.  Yet  soon  again,  as  the  year  1860 
opened  upon  it,  the  city  sank  back  into  a  sense  of  perfect  security. 
Disunion  seemed  a  kind  of  madness  that  could  never  last  long.  No 
Southern  State,  it  was  asserted,  would  be  so  unwise  as  to  secede ;  and 
the  city,  prosperous  and  advancing  in  strength  and  greatness,  gave 
itself  up  to  its  delusions.  At  the  election  in  December,  1859,  Fer- 
nando Wood  had  been  chosen  mayor  through  the  di\'ision  of  his  op- 
ponents, and  the  reforms  they  hoped  for  were  laid  aside.  It  was  a 
summer  of  festivity  and  careless  prosperity  that  now  opened  upon 
New- York — the  last  for  many  years,  the  close  of  the  period  of  its  pro- 
vincialism, the  beginning  of  a  new  existence.   Its  first  excitement  was 


472  HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YOBS 

the  arrival  in  June  of  the  Japanese  Embassy,  the  first  of  that  pecoliu' 
and  yet  unknown  people  to  visit  New- York.  They  were  made  the 
gae^tii  of  the  4.-ity,  ami  entertained,  at  great  expense,  with  a  baD,  ilh- 
minatious,  and  a  serenade,  and  shown  alt  the  wonders  of  Western  civ- 
ilization.    <^ur  aldermen  were  the  hosts,  and  were  liberal  in  th«r 

outlay.  But  the 
occasion  wu 
one  of  real  im- 
portance, since 
it  tended  to 
open  commer- 
cial relations  be- 
tween Japffli 
and  New-Yoit 
Next  came  the 
Great  Eastern  in 
July,  after  long 
delay,  and  was 
received  with 
generous  hospi- 
tality. Crowds 
visited  the  great 
ship  as  it  lay  off 

the  dock  in  the  North  River,  and  were  amazed  at  its  vastness.  The 
high  piice  charged  for  admission  kept  many  from  visiting  it,  but 
thousands  sailed  around  the  steamer,  and  looked  at  it  from  a  distauca 
Some  mismanagement  always  followed  the  wonderful  vessel,  and 
when,  on  August  2,  it  made  an  excursion  to  Cape  May  and  back,  the 
passengers  complaiiied  that  they  could  find  no  place  to  sleep  in,  and 
were  starved  for  want  of  food.  A  remarkable  meteor,  that  passed 
over  New- York  and  seemed  to  fall  into  Long  Island  Sound  on  July  20, 
was  studied  with  attention  by  the  scientific,  and  startled  the  people 
Its  light  was  like  that  of  the  moon.  Among  the  guests  of  the  city 
were  Lady  FrankUn,  who  came  to  thank  its  people  for  their  liber^ 
aid  in  the  search  for  her  husband,  Sir  John,  and  for  the  sympathy 
they  showed  for  her  in  her  desire  to  know  his  fate.  She  was  received 
with  respect  and  many  attentions.  The  Prince  de  Joinville  was  an- 
other visitor  to  our  city,  and  Garibaldi  was  greeted  by  his  many  ad- 
mirers. But  to  none  did  our  people  give  so  generous  and  enthusiastic 
a  reception  as  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  Albert  Edward,  young,  fair, 
good-humored,  who  had  come  over  to  visit  America.  He  was  known  as 
Baron  Renfrew,  and  with  his  party  passed  through  Canada  and  some 
of  the  Western  and  Southern  States  before  he  reached  New- York. 
Little  could  he  have  foreseen  that  the  city  he  looked  upon,  anrayed 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAK  473 

in  all  its  fairest  colors,  eager  with  chUdish  expectation,  was  soon  to 
be  covered  with  mourning  and  almost  lost  in  despair.  Its  harbor  was 
filled  with  ships,  steamers,  boats,  all  gay  with  flags  and  banners,  to 
welcome  a  young  prince,  the  first  of  his  line  who  had  entered  New- 
York  since  the  Revolution.  At  Castle  Garden,  amidst  an  immense 
crowd,  he  was  introduced  to  the  city  magistrates.  He  passed  up 
Broadway  through  such  throngs  of  people,  such  an  array  of  flags, 
luuiners,  and  emblems  of  welcome  as  might  have  almost  persuaded 
him  that  he  was  about  to  assume  his  ancesti'al  sway  over  his  faithful 
subjects.  A  ball  was  given  him,  where  diamonds  glittered  on  every 
side,  and  fair  women  sought  his  attentions.  He  was  taken  to  see  the 
few  objects  of  interest  in 
the  city — its  university, 
Cooper  Institute,  the  City 
Hall,  and  Trinity  Church — 
and  then  passed  away.  It 
was  the  last  of  our  peace- 
ful spectacles.  Meantime 
the  fierce  excitement  of  a 
presidential  election,  the 
most  important  in  its  re- 
sults ever  held,  was  mov- 
ing over  the  land.  New- 
York  felt  the  impulse,  and 
night  after  night  its  peo- 
ple listened  to  the  speeches  on  either  side  in  great  assemblies.  As 
the  autumnal  months  came  on  the  contest  deepened,  and  something 
stem  and  earnest  in  the  style  of  its  oratory  might  have  warned  men 
of  the  great  events  that  were  near.  We  have  nothing  like  it  now. 
Our  political  discussions  are  tame  and  spiritless  compared  to  those 
rare  and  almost  matchless  speeches,  when  every  orator  seemed  to  bear 
in  his  soul  and  on  his  tongue  the  welfare  of  all  futurity.  Seward, 
Sumner,  Greeley,  Chase,  Doolittle,  and  Beecher  spoke  to  immense 
audiences  on  the  noblest  of  human  themes  —  the  story  of  humane 
progress.  On  the  other  side,  Wood,  Tilden,  Sejonour,  and  others  de- 
fended the  administration.  Few  who  heard  those  great  debates  can 
fail  to  remember  the  deep  awe  that  fell  upon  the  assembhes  as  they 
listened  to  the  story  of  Kansas,  or  heard  in  Cooper  Institute  the  low 
refrain  of  a  campaign  song,  "  For  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  we  '11  conquer 
or  die";  and  many  from  the  assembly,  still  all  unconscious,  went  out 
to  the  battle-field  to  fulfil  their  pledge.  Yet  the  perfect  confidence 
of  the  leaders  of  opinion  at  the  North  in  the  security  of  the  Union 
seems  now  almost  inexplicable.  In  July  the  "  Times  "  had  said :  "  11 
the  South  had  the  slightest  desire  for  dissension,  that  [John  Brown's 


474  HISTORY    OF    NEW-rOBK 

raid]  was  their  opportuuity — one  of  their  States  was  invaded;  . . . 
nothing  shows  more  clearly  that  the  Southern  people  are  utterij 
and  uufiouquei-ably  averse  to  disunion";  and  the  "Tribune,"  as  late 
as  October  11,  after  the  Republican  success  In  many  elections,  said: 
"  G^ladness  beams  from  a  million  eyes,  and  joy  glows  in  the  popular 
heart,  for  it  is  felt  that  our  peaceful  convnlsioii 
bodes  simply  the  replacement  of  the  bad  by 
the  better."    Meantime  drought  and  famine  liad 
brought  intense  suffering  to  the  people  of  E^- 
sas.     No  rain  had  fallen  for  mouths;  no  crops 
were  raised  in  many  districts;  the  people  on« 
more  appealed  to  the  generosity  of  the  East,  av^ 
New- York  gave  with  its  usual  liberality.    It   is 
computed  that  several  hundred  thousand  dolLfirs 
were  sent  to  the  famished  settlers.     The  city  was  well  able  to  l^^n^ 
aid  from  growing  resources.     Its  population  had  risen  from  630,*D(W 
in  1856,  to  814,000  in  1860.      This  may  seem  a  small  number       » 
us,  accustomed  to  reckon  by  millions.    It  is  even  less  than  the  p— — op- 
ulation  of  Brooklyn  to-day;  but  it  still  showed  a  great  incre^^^sf. 
The  wealth  of  New- York  was  proved  in  the  constant  growth  of        its 
mercantile  palaces,  and  in  the  extravagance  of  the  time.     It  was^  b 
period  of  singular  deference  to  the  fashions  and  manners  of  the  ^SIu- 
ropean  courts.     Our  fair  women  walked  abroad  in  the   enormc^^M 
skirts  of  steel  or  whalebone  that  were  enforced  at  the  imperial  ree^Sp- 
tions  of  Paris,  and  our  young  men  too  often  borrowed  the  vices  a-.JDrf 
the  crimes  of  their  foreign  models.    Despotism  and  reaction  ruled    in 
Europe,  and  republican  austerity  was  a  conception  that  seemed  f<w- 
ever  to  have  passed  away.    It  is  quite  impossible  for  us  who  live  in  a 
republican  era  to  conceive  of  the  extreme  peril  that  in  1860  hung  over 
all  free  institutions.    With  us  slavery  ruled  over  half  the  nation,  and 
was  about  to  seize  upon  the  Territories.    In  Europe,  France,  triumph- 
ant from  its  war  with  Austria,  with  its  apparently  invincible  ar- 
mies and  its  astute  ruler,  was  again  the  master  spirit  among  nations, 
the  center  of  European  politics.     The  influence  of  Paris  upon  New- 
York  in   1860  cannot  be  measured  by  any  modem  scale ;  it  was 
excessive;    the  corrupt  ambition  of  the  imperial  court  threatened 
everywhere  the  destruction  of  freedom.     It  was  at  this  moment  that 
the  power  of  American  literature  was  felt  in  its  new  strength,  and  the 
songs  of  the  poets,  and  the  labors  of  the  scholar,  awoke  again  republi- 
can virtue.     Whittier  sang  his  Tyrttean  odes,  and  called  men  back  to 
truth  and  honor ;  Longfellow  told  the  sorrows  of  the  hunted  slave  b 
musical  hues;   the  fine  speakei-s  of  the  time  painted  to  New- York 
audiences  the  horrors  of  despotism  and  slavery.    Never  had  the  iii- 
tellect  of  our  city  been  so  intensely  active.    In  November  the  election 


PREMONITIONS    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAB  475 

of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  was  not  at  first  supposed  to 
threaten  the  peace  of  the  nation.  It  was  received  with  general  joy 
hy  a  large  majority  at  the  North,  as  the  opening  of  a  new  period  of 
human  progress.  Bella  were  nmg,  cannon  were  fired,  and  congratu- 
lations exchanged.  The  city  was  still  full  of  business  prosperity,  its 
hotels  crowded  with  strangers,  and  the  factories  of  the  Noi-th  every- 
where employed.  Yet  many  indications  of  the  approaching  danger 
might  have  been  noticed  by  more  experienced  eyes.  On  October  26 
the  "  Times  "  had  printed  an  account  of  a  plot  that  had  been  prepared 
at  Washington  to  promote  disunion.  The  discontented  States,  it  was 
said,  would  refuse  to  submit  to  the  rule  of 
Lincoln,  would  seek  protection  from  France 
and  England,  and  submit  even  to  a  vassalage 
to  the  foreign  powers,  rather  than  yield.  The 
disunionists  wore  already  a  black  cockade. 
South  Carohna  would  lead  in  the  revolt.  Thi' 
rumor  of  a  plot  made  little  impression  on  our 
people.  It  was  thought  too  extravagant  for 
belief.  But,  when  the  election  was  decided, 
the  report  of  warlike  preparations  at  the 
South,  and  the  activity  of  the  disunionists, 
the  timidity  of  the  government,  and  the  trea- 
son of  its  officials,  spread  doubt  and  alarm,  "^^^'obty-skcomdotbeet-i 
It  was  found  that  large  quantities  of  arras  had  been  piirchased  by  the 
governors  of  Southern  States  in  the  Northern  cities,  and  that  the 
shops  of  New- York  were  almost  bare  of  guns  and  pistols.  A  report 
was  brought  of  a  large  body  of  cavalry  in  camp  near  Richmond,  that 
was  soon  to  seize  upon  Washington.  South  Carolina  began  its  prep- 
arations for  civil  war,  was  aiming,  and  had  called  together  its  con- 
vention to  declare  its  independence.  Other  States,  imitating  its 
leadership,  were  soon  to  follow  it.  A  new  nation  was  thus  about 
to  be  brought  to  life,  founded  upon  slavery.  At  once  the  certainty  of 
some  great  civil  convulsion  fell  upon  New- York,  and  a  commercial 
panic  spread  over  its  business  circles  with  unequaled  rapidity.  Gold 
disappeared,  credit  was  no  longer  given,  the  banks  came  forwai-d 
bravely  to  assist  the  merchants  and  each  other ;  but  the  eCEort  could 
not  long  be  successful.  South  Carolina  on  December  20  declared 
itself  out  of  the  Union.  Its  editors  spoke  of  the  Northern  States  as 
foreign  countries.  At  New  Orleans,  when  the  news  of  the  action  of 
South  Carolina  arrived,  a  hundred  guns  were  fired,  and  the  city  was 
given  up  to  rejoicing.      Mobile  followed  its  example.     The  cotton 

1  The  engnving  Indicates  the  incoDvenient  Bitu-  through  the  BoUd  rock.    The  ■hove  la  a  vleir  ot  & 

Ulon  Id  which  man;  homeholderB  were  left  la  houseoaSecond  Avenue,  near  Fortj-necood  street; 

TarlODs  parts  of  the  c)t7,  after  new  street*,  cod-  other  houses  siiDilarly  situated  are  still  to  be  seen. 
foradDgto  the  eMaUiahed  grade,  had  been  opened  EorKR. 


476 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


States  soon  showed  that  tliey  were  prepared  for  disunion,  and  every 
one  felt,  as  the  "New- York  Times"  had  said  already,  "If  we  have 
disunion,  we  shall  have  war."  Yet  the  people  of  the  North  and  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  seemed  equally  unprepared  to  meet  the  pressing  dan- 
ger, and  all  was  hesitation  and  doubt.  Compromises  were  talked  of, 
hopeless  projects  of  conciliation  offered.  The  president,  undecided, 
seemed  in  league  with  the  disunionists ;  the  members  of  his  cabinet 
were  open  traitors.  The  first  trait  of  energy  shown  by  the  people  of 
the  North  was  when  the  citizens  of 
Pittsburg  assembled  to  prevent  the 
transfer  of  seventy-eight  cannon  t« 
the  South,  where  they  must  have  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  disnniouists. 
They  were  ordered  by  Secretary  Floyd 
to  be  sent  to  Ship  Island,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  Heavily  the  month 
of  December,  1860,  passed  on,  laden 
with  the  fate  of  centuries.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  a  proper  decision  on  the 
part  of  the  administration  would  have 
( he<'ked  disunion,  and  given  courage 
to  its  opponents  in  the  South ;  but  the 
government  did  nothing.  Its  enemies 
were  active,  and  the  people  of  our  city 
looked  on  in  helpless  alarm,  while  the 
country  was  amused  with 
vain  attempts  at  com- 
promise, and  the  gun- 
shops  of  New- York  and  Hartford  were  freely  supplying  the  ar- 
senals and  mihtary  companies  of  disunion.  The  days  and  weeks 
passed  over  New- York  full  of  eager  interest  and  expectation.  Aii 
intense  sorrow  was  the  first  emotion  of  our  people  when  they  saw 
that  the  real  meaning  of  the  conspiracy  was  the  d^truction  of  tie 
nation.  They  watched  every  movement  at  the  South  with  hope  or 
fear ;  not  that  they  ever  thought  that  the  disunionists  could  be  suc- 
cessful.  They  felt  that  the  people  were  against  separation.  The  news, 
the  telegrams,  and  the  Washington  letters  of  the  close  of  1860  are  full 
of  intense  interest,  aud  even  to-day  no  one  can  read  them  without 
sharing  it.  At  last  came  the  startling  news  that  Fort  Moultrie  had 
been  evacuated  by  the  government  ti-oops,  the  guns  spiked,  the  stores 
removed,  and  the  small  garrison  of  less  than  sixty  men  transferred  to 
Fort  Sumter.  New- York  felt  the  sudden  shock;  the  business  of  the 
city  paused,  and  all  was  expectation.  "  This,"  cried  the  '*  Charleston 
Mercury  "  insolently,  "  is  war."    The  mad  infatuation  of  the  conspira- 


//^ 


PBEMONITIONS    OF    THE    dVIL    WAR 


477 


O 


tors  increased.  They  assailed  the  government  with  reproaches  be- 
cause it  had  feared  to  trust  to  the  Charleston  mob.  Floyd  resigned. 
Yet  the  sanguine  in  the  North  still  hoped  for  peace,  while  all  the 

Southern  States  were  drDling  their  young  men, 

and  gathering  munitions  of  war.  New- York,  \  Q  O 
meantime,  remained  still  incredulous,  still  hope- 
ful, stiU  amazed  at  the  madness  of  the  hour. 
Its  trade  had  received  what  seemed  a  fatal 
blow.  The  disorder  in  the  government  finances 
had  affected  the  credit  of  the  country;  its 
men  of  action  and  of  thought  felt  the  inde- 
cision of  the  administration,  and  condemned 
it ;  but  New-York,  confident  in  its  strength,  did  not  fear  the  result  of 
a  contest.    It  only  waited  for  events,  when  it  should  have  led  them. 

How  nobly  New-York  bore  itself  in  the  war  that  followed;  how  it 
lavished  its  wealth  and  its  youth  in  the  defense  of  the  nation ;  how 

its  ships  and  its  seamen  guarded  the  seas;  how 
j^^V^y^  ^^./^  ^^  soldiers  were  famous  on  every  battle-field; 


V — 

GALLATIN    ARMS. 


with  what  patriotic  liberality  its  bankers  and  its 
financiers  managed  the  immense  money  trans- 
actions of  the  country,  will  be  told  by  other  writers  in  the  succeeding 
chapters.  But  it  must  be  remarked  that  the  close  of  the  contest  made 
a  perfect  change  in  its  condition  and  destiny.  It  was  no  longer  a 
provincial  city ;  it  rose  at  once  to  be  the  metropolis  of  a  mighty  na- 
tion. It  has  advanced,  in  population,  wealth,  and  general  ease,  beyond 
any  other  city;  with  the  growth  of  knowledge  it  may  be  made  the 
happiest  and  most  peaceful  of  all. 


CHAPTER  Xni 

NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAB    FOR    THE    UNION 
1861-1865 

■  P  the  city  of  New- York  was  conspicuous  as  the  center  of 
operations  during  the  war  to  establish  the  unity  and  in* 
dependence  of  the  colonies,  it  was  no  less  prominent  as 
the  principal  base  of  supplies  in  the  struggle  to  preserve 
the  Union.  An  ancient  writer  has  said,  "It  sufBceth  not  to  the 
strength  of  the  armes  to  have  flesh,  blood  and  bones,  unless  they 
have  also  ainewes,  to  stretch  out  and  puU  in  for  the  defence  of  the 
body ;  so  it  suflBceth  not  in  an  army  to  have  Victuals,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  it ;  Armour  and  Weapons  for  the  defence  of  it ;  unless  it 
have  Money  also,  the  Sinewes  of  Warre."'  The  financial  records  of 
the  time  bear  convincing  testimony  to  the  effective  manner  in  which 
the  merchants  and  bankers  of  the  Empire  City  supplied  the  feder^ 
government  with  the  "  sinewes  "  needed  "  to  stretch  out  and  pull  in  for 
the  defence  of  the  body"  of  the  nation  in  its  great  peril.  Before  a 
shot  had  been  fired,  two  important  expeditions,  designed  to  succor  be- 
leaguered garrisons,  were  fitted  out  at  this  port ;  after  the  capture  of 
Sumter  a  movement  to  the  front  of  men  and  means  furnished  by  New- 
York  began,  and  did  not  end  until  the  suiTender  at  Appomattox.' 

It  19  a  notable  fact  that  whenever  the  country  has  been  threatened 
with  danger  to  its  form  of  govemment,  the  city  of  New- York  has  de- 
clared its  position  only  after  due  reflection  and  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  question  involved.  It  was  this  tendency  that  delayed  ite 
final  decision  to  take  up  arms  against  the  mother-country  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Revolution ;  it  was  this  feeling  that  induced  some  of  its 
leadiag  citizens  to  join  in  an  effort  to  dissuade  the  South  from  seces- 
sion. Some  of  the  most  conservative  men  of  the  community  even 
contemplated  the  possibility  that  New -York  might  become  a  free  city 

1  Ward's  "  AnlnuidTergiDns  ot  Wure,"  London,  among  moneyed  men,  Ineloding  niHiy  whoaesyn- 
163%  pathies  have  heretofore  been  with  the  South.    If 

2  "Upon  Xew-York  will  devolve  the  chief  burden  the  Goveroment  prove  true  to  thecooittry,  it  need 
of  providing  ivayB  and  means  for  the  war;  otir  not  feel  any  uneastnew  abont  money."  "Ntv- 
flnancial  commanity  accept  the  duty,  and  will  York  Herald,"  April  16, 186L 

perFonn  it.    This  view  we  find  to  be  universal 


480 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


days  after  the  new  cabinet  minister  had  entered  upon  his  duties,  he 
sent  a  special  agent  to  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  and  Galveston  to  save,  if 
possible,  the  revenue  cutters  stationed  at  these  ports.  On  January  29 
Secretary  Dix  was  advised  by  wire  that  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
McClelland  at  New  Orleans  refused  to  obey  his  orders.  Immediately 
on  receipt  of  this  information,  and  without  consultation  with  any 
one,  he  penned  the  order  which  has  become  historic,  and  which 
(through  the  courtesy  of  his  son,  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.  D.)  is  here 
published  in  fac-simile.  Although  the  secretary's  action  was  decided 
upon  without  a  moment's  hesitation  as  to  its  spirit,  the  language  re- 
ceived due  consideration,  as  we  are  told*  in  a  letter  from  General  Dix 
to  a  friend  long  after  the  occurrence : 

Not  a  word  was  altered ;  but  the  original  was  handed  to  the  clerk  charged  with 
the  custody  of  my  telegraphic  despatches,  copied  by  him,  and  the  copy  signed  by  me 
and  sent  to  its  destination.  Before  I  sent  it,  however,  a  question  of  military  etiquette 
arose  in  my  mind  in  regard  to  the  arrest  of  Captain  Breshwood,  and  I  took  a  carriage 
and  drove  to  the  lodgings  of  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  to  consult  him  in  regard  to  it. 
Mr.  Stanton  was  then  Attorney-General.  My  relations  with  him  were  of  the  most  in- 
timate character;  and  as  he  resided  near  General  Scott's  lodgings  I  drove  to  his  house 
ftrst,  and  showed  the  despatch  to  him.  He  approved  of  it,  and  made  some  remark 
expressing  his  gratification  at  the  tone  of  the  order.  General  Scott  said  I  was  right 
on  the  question  of  etiquette,  and  I  think  expressed  his  gratification  that  I  had  taken  a 
decided  stand  against  Southern  invasions  of  the  authority  of  the  government.  I  im- 
mediately returned  to  the  department  and  sent  the  despatch.  General  Seott,  Mr. 
Stanton,  and  the  clerk  who  copied  it  were  the  only  persons  who  saw  it.  .  .  . 

I  decided  when  I  wrote  the  order  to  say  nothing  to  the  President  about  it.    I  was 
satisfied  that,  if  he  was  consulted,  he  would  not  permit  it  to  be  sent.    Though  indig- 
nant at  the  course  of  the  Southern  States,  and  the  men  about  him  who  had  betrayed  his 
confidence, — Cobb,  Floyd,  and  others, — one  leading  idea  had  taken  possession  of  his 
mind, — that  in  the  civil  contest  which  threatened  to  break  out,  the  North  must  not  shed 
the  first  drop  of  blood.    This  idea  is  the  key  to  his  submission  to  much  which  should 
have  been  met  with  prompt  and  vigorous  resistance.    During  the  seven  weeks  I  was 
with  him  he  rarely  failed  to  come  to  my  room  about  ten  o'clock,  and  converse  with  me 
for  about  an  hour  on  the  great  questions  of  the  day  before  going  to  his  own  room.   I 
was  strongly  impressed  with  his  conscientiousness.    But  he  was  timid  and  credulous. 
His  confidence  was  easily  gained,  and  it  was  not  difficult  for  an  artful  man  to  deceive 
him.    But  I  remember  no  instance  in  my  unreserved  intercourse  with  him  in  which  I 
had  reason  to  doubt  his  uprightness. 

Tuesdays  and  Fridays  were  Cabinet  days.    The  members  met,  without  notice,  at 


or,  failing  in  this,  until  we  can  bring  the  majority 
of  our  fellow-citizens  in  the  North  to  co5perate 
with  us,  as  we  do  not  doubt  they  will,  in  the  proper 
measures  of  redress.  We  do  not  despair  of  secur- 
ing from  those  to  whose  hands  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment are  about  to  be  intrusted  a  recognition 
of  your  rights  in  reg^ard  to  the  surrender  of  fugi- 
tive slaves  and  equality  in  the  Territories.  We 
know  that  great  changes  of  opinion  have  already 
taken  place  among  their  most  intelligent  and  in- 
fluential men  —  that  a  reaction  has  commenced, . 
which  is  not  likely  to  be  stayed  —  that  errors  and 
prejudices  which  in  the  heat  of  the  canvass  were 
inaccessible  to  reason  and  persuasion  have  been 


on  cool  reflection  renounced:  nay,  more,  that 
many  whose  opinions  have  undergone  no  change 
are  willing,  in  a  praiseworthy  spirit  of  patriotism, 
to  make  on  questions  which  are  not  fundamental 
in  our  system  of  government,  but  merely  aooea- 
sory  to  our  social  condition,  the  conoessions  neces- 
sary to  preserve  the  Union  in  its  integrity,  and  to 
save  us  from  the  fatal  alternative  of  dismember- 
ment into  two  or  more  empires,  jealous  of  each 
other,  and  embittered  by  the  remembrance  of  dif- 
ferences which  we  had  not  the  justice  or  the  mag- 
nanimity to  compose.'* 

1  *'  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,**  by  Bev.  Morgan 
Dix,  D.  D.,  New-York,  1884. 


A:^ 


^(k/iJ^^i^ 


^^liUif'^tc44€^'4,,^ 


PINE   STREET    HBGTINO    SIONATlTREa.l 


1  The  hUtorlc  Pine  street  meeUugwaa  railed  b; 
■  prtTBte  letter  sddreBaed  to  prominent  men,  Irrn- 
Bpeetive  of  party,  throughout  the  State  of  Nev- 
York ;  and  the  lepUea  received  were  ao  numerouB 
and  taTOisble,  thai  It  was  found  neceasary  to  en- 
ga^  two  huildingB  in  Pine  street  to  accommodate 
the  large  representation  anticipated.  The  fac- 
aimile  Hbown  almve  glvee  the  «lgnatUTe<i  of  the 
chairman  and  Becrelarieir  of  the  meeting,  and  also 
ibose  of  the  iilgnera  of  the  address  or  letter  ac- 
companying the  reaolutloiiH  passed.     The  com- 


mittee appointed  to  visit  the  Sonth  a  bearers  of 
the  address  (part  of  which  is  given  on  the  oppo^te 
pagel  comprised  ei-FresideDt  Fillmore,  Greene 
C.  Bronaon,  and  Richard  Lathers.  Mr.  PUlmore 
warmly  Indorsed  the  objects  of  the  meeting, 
although  unable  to  attend  It,  and  was,  as  stated, 
made  chairman  of  the  committee  ti 
the  Southern  leaders  and  people  the 
the  city  and  State  of  New-York  at  this  great  crisis 
in  the  life  of  the  nation.  The  meeting  was  held 
December  15,  IB60.  EdiTob. 


NEW-YOBK    IK    THE    WAS    FOB    THE    UNION 


481 


,he  Presidents  house  in  the  morning.  My  order  was  given,  as  has  been  stated,  on 
ruesday  evening.  I  said  nothing  to  the  President  in  regard  to  it,  thongh  he  was  with 
ne  every  evening,  until  Friday,  when  the  members  of  the  Cabinet  were  all  assembled, 
ind  the  President  was  about  to  call  our  attention  to  the  business  of  the  day.  I  said 
to  him,  *^  Mr.  President,  I  fear 
we  have  lost  some  more  of 
our  revenue  cutters."  '*Ah !" 
said  he,  *^how  is  that?"  I 
then  told  him  what  had  oc- 
curred down  to  the  receipt  of 
the  despatch  from  Mr.  Jones 
informing  me  that  Captain 
Breshwood  refused  to  obey 
my  order.  "  Well,"  said  he, 
''what  did  you  dot"  I  then 
repeated  to  him,  slowly  and 
iistinctly,  the  order  I  had 
sent.  When  I  came  to  the 
words,  "shoot  him  on  the 
spot,"  he  started  up  sudden- 
ly, and  said,  with  a  good  deal 
of  emotion,  "Did  you  write 
that?"  " No,  sir,"  I  said ;  "I 
did  not  write  it,  but  I  tele- 
graphed it."  He  made  no  an- 
swer ;  nor  do  I  remember  that 
he  ever  referred  to  it  after- 
ward. It  was  manifest,  as  I 
have  presupposed,  that  the 
order  would  never  have  been 
given  if  I  had  consulted  him. 
It  only  remains  for  me  to 
say  that  the  order  was  not  the 
result  of  any  premeditation — 
scarcely  of  any  thought.  A 
conviction  of  the  right  course 
to  be  taken  was  as  instantane- 
ous as  a  flash  of  light;  and  I  did 
not  think,  when  I  seized  the 
nearest  pen  (a  very  bad  one,  as  the  fac-simile  shows)  and  wrote  the  order  in  as  little 
time  as  it  would  take  to  read  it,  that  I  was  doing  anything  specially  worthy  of  remem- 
brance. It  touched  the  public  mind  and  heart  strongly,  no  doubt,  because  the  blood  of 
all  patriotic  men  was  boiling  with  indignation  at  the  humiliation  which  we  were  en- 
during; and  I  claim  no  other  merit  than  that  of  having  thought  rightly,  and  of  having 
expressed  strongly  what  I  felt  in  common  with  the  great  body  of  my  countr3nnen. 

"  Such  is  the  history  of  the  famous  despatch.  In  concluding  it  I 
quote  my  father's  words  by  way  of  explanation  and  justification  of 
his  language.  He  says,  in  his  report  to  Congress :  '  It  may  be  proper 
to  add,  in  reference  to  the  closing  period  of  the  foregoing  despatch, 
that  as  the  flag  of  the  Union  since  1777,  when  it  was  devised  and 
adopted  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  had  never  until  a  recent  day 

Vol.  m.— 31. 


^4^>^i^  4^^J^UUf. 


</ 


R£DUGED    FAC-SDCILE   OF    THE    DESPATCH. 


482 


HISTOBX    OF    NEW-TOBK 


been  hauled  down,  except  by  honorable  hands  in  manly  conflict,  bo 
hesitation  was  felt  in  attempting  to  uphold  It  at  any  cost  against  an 
act  of  treachery,  as  the  ensign  of  the  public  authority  and  the  em. 
blem  of  unnumbered  victories  by  land  and  sea.'"' 

For  many  yeara  the  geueral-in-chief  of  the  army  had  his  personal 
residence  and  official  headquarters  in  the  city  of  New- York.  Althon^ 
increasing  infirmities  warned  General  Scott  that  his  days  of  active  set* 
vice  were  well  nigh  spent,  yet  ie 
failed  not,  before  relinquishing  hig 
office,  to  call  the  attention  of  Prea- 
dent  Buchanan,  as  early  as  October, 
1860,  to  the  unprotected  state  of 
certain  fortifications  on  the  souft— -^ 
em  coast,  expressing  his  "solenn^ 
conviction  that  there  is  some  dan-  " 
ger  of  au  early  act  of  rashness  pre-    ' 
liminary  to  secession,"  and  urging 
their  prompt  occupation  by  suitable 
garrisons.-      But    the    bewildered 
politician  hesitated,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity was  lost.    As  we  recur  in 
memory  to  that   dark    period  of!3 
national  histoi-y,  we  find  it  illn — 
mined  by  one  ray  of  light,  incpea»^ 
ing  in  brilliancy  as  the  years  roll 
on,     In  striking  contrast  to  the 
vacillation  and  timidity  of  the  ex. 
ecutive,  and   the    divided 
opinions   of    the   cabinet, 
,  appear  the  firmness,  sdm- 

ff  Jf    h   P     ^       /     J  plicity,  and  patriotism  of 

V  ^'AJ.C.      ^      "^    *^  Robert  Anderson.    Believ- 

/ing  that   the   South   had 
been  unjustly  treated,  hav- 
ing reason  to  think  that 
J/l^Lx^  X#  "'  govemmmt  had  aban- 

f  doned  him,  beset  with  temp- 

0  tations    of     kinship    and 

friendship,  surrounded  with  enemies  ready  to  destroy  him,  the  tem- 
pered steel  of  his  nature  was  equal  to  the  test.    His  duty,  according 


C^'.C^l/d< 


Lrll-h^ 


1  Memoirf  of  John  A.  Dii.  1 :  373. 

>  "From  a  knowledge  of  our  Southern  popult- 
tloD  ll  is  my  HOlemii  conTictloo  that  there  is  aome 
duifcer  ot  so  early  act  of  rashness  preliminary 
to  Heceaslon.  viz.,  the  seizure  of  some  or  all  of  the 
IoUowId^  poets;  .  ■  .  Forts  Pickens  md  McRea. 


Pensacola  Harbor;  Porta  Moultrip  and  Somter. 
Charleston  Harbor.  All  these  woib  should  be  tm- 
mptliately  so  inrrlsoned  as  to  make  any  attempt 
to  take  any  one  of  them,  by  mrprise  or  teup  it 
mn in,  ridiculous."  8oott'«"Slemoirs."  New-Yotk, 
1864. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION 


483 


to  his  simple  code  of  morals,  was  plain :  like  the  Roman  sentinel,  he 
might  be  forgotten,  but  he  would  never  voluntarily  abandon  his  post. 
How  unselfishly  and  gallantly  Major  Anderson  and  his  little  band  of 
regulars  acquitted  themselves  is  a  matter  of  ujidying  fame.  One  mem- 
ber of  the  Buchanan  cabinet  —  Secretary  Black  —  wrote  of  Ander- 
son's military  movement  from  Fort  Moultrie  to  Fort  Sumter,  that  "he 
has  saved  the  country,  I  solemnly  believe,  when  its  day  was  darkest 
and  its  peril  most  extreme.  He  has  done  everything  that  mortal  man 
could  do  to  repair  the  fatal  error  which  the  administration  has  com- 
mitted in  not  sending  down  troops  enough  to  hold  all  the  forts."  * 

With  the  change  of  administration  the  reins  of  government  slipped 
from  the  nerveless  hands  of  one  president  into  the  firmer  if  somewhat 
unskilful  grasp  of  another.  It  cannot  be  said  that  order  promptly 
emerged  from  chaos.  The  task  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was  too  colossal, 
and  the  means  at  his  disposal  too  crude,  to  cause  the  machinery  of 
government  to  work  effectively  at  once.  So,  in  the  early  attempt  to 
provision  Sumter  and  reinforce  Pickens,  the  functions  of  cabinet 
officers  and  captains  of  the  staff  were  curiously  intermingled.  The 
spectacle  of  a  military  engineer  and  a  military  secretary  to  the  com- 
manding general  working  in  haste  and  secrecy,  under  the  personal 
supervision  of  a  secretary  of  state,  to  arrange  the  details  of  an  im- 
portant movement  of  the  land  and  naval  forces,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  ministers  of  war  or  navy ;  the  perfunctory  reference  of 
their  work  to  the  general-in-chief  for  his  official  signature,  and  its 
final  transfer  by  the  president  to  the  juniors  aforesaid  with  carte 
blanche  as  to  its  execution,  were  hardly  calculated  to  produce  that 
"  good  order  and  military  discipline "  which  were  to  prove  essential 
factors  in  the  restoration  of  the  Union.  The  president,  however,  find- 
ing that  his  effort  to  execute  the  laws  by  ignoring  regulations  and 
"cutting  knots ^  resulted  in  confusion,  returned  to  the  system  of 
making  each  department  of  the  government  responsible  for  details 
pertaining  to  it ;  and,  thereafter,  he  generally  observed  this  rule. 

When  Anderson's  famous  telegram  announcing  the  fall  of  Sumter 
was  published,  the  effect  upon  the  people  of  New- York  was  instanta- 
neous. Politicians  were  silent  in  the  face  of  the  unanimity  with 
which  men  of  all  parties  were  roused  to  action.  As  was  well  said: 
"  The  incidents  of  the  last  two  days  will  live  in  histoiy.    Not  for  fifty 

1  A  New  Sono  of  Sixpence. 


Sing  a  song  of  Sumter, 
A  fort  in  Charleston  Bay ; 

Eigbt-and-sixty  brave  men 
Watch  there  night  and  day. 

Those  brave  men  to  succor 

Still  no  aid  is  sent ; 
Is  n*t  James  Buchanan 

A  pretty  President ! 


James  is  in  his  Cabinet 

Doubting  and  debating ; 
Anderson 's  in  Sumter, 

Very  tired  of  waiting. 

Pickens  is  in  Charleston, 

Blustering  of  blows ; 
Thank  goodness,  March  the  Fourth  is  near 

To  nip  Secession's  nose. 

"  Vanity  Pair." 


484 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


years  has  such  a  spectacle  been  seen  as  that  glorious  uprising  of 
American  loyalty  which  greeted  the  news  that  open  war  had  been 
commenced  upon  the  Constitution  and  Government  of  the  United 
States.  The  great  heart  of  the  American  people  beat  with  one  high 
pulsation  of  courage,  and  of  fervid  love  and  devotion  to  the  great 
Republic.  Party  dissensions  were  instantly  hushed ;  political  differ- 
ences disappeared  and  were  as  thoroughly  forgotten  as  if  they  had 
never  existed ;  men  ceased  to  think  of  themselves  or  their  parties  — 
they  thought  only  of  their  country  and  of  the  dangers  which  menace 
its  existence.  Nothing  for  years  has  brought  the  hearts  of  all  the 
people  so  close  together,  or  so  inspired  them  all  with  common  hopes, 
and  common  fears,  and  a  common  aim,  as  the  bombardment  and 
surrender  of  an  American  fortress.''^ 

President  Lincoln^s  first  call  for  aid  was  instantly  responded  to  by 
the  legislature  of  New-York  with  an  appropriation  of  $3,000,000; 
the  militia  regiments  of  the  city  and  vicinity  hastened  to  offer  their 
services ;  recruiting  rendezvous  were  opened  for  new  organizations ; 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  passed  resolutions  pledging  substantial 
aid  to  the  government,  and  urging  the  prompt  blockade  of  Southern 
ports  f  and  a  great  wave  of  popular  enthusiasm  swept  over  the  city. 

The  municipality  of  New-York,  in  close  sympathy  with  Tam- 
many Hall,  promptly  passed  the  following  resolutions,  drafted  by 
one  who  afterward  distinguished  himself  on  many  bloody  fields  — 
Daniel  E.  Sickles. 

Besolved,  That  we  invoke  in  this  crisis  the  unselfish  patriotism  and  the  unfaltering 
loyalty  which  have  been  uniformly  manifested  in  all  periods  of  national  peril  by  the 
population  of  the  City  of  New-York ;  and  while  we  reiterate  our  undiminished  affec- 
tion for  the  friends  of  the  Union  who  have  gallantly  and  faithfully  labored  in  the 
Southern  States  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  rela- 
tions among  the  people,  and  our  readiness  to  cooperate  with  them  in  all  honorable 
measures  of  reconciliation,  yet  we  only  give  expression  to  the  convictions  of  our  con- 
stituents when  we  declare  it  to  be  their  unalterable  purpose,  as  it  is  their  solemn  duty, 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  uphold  and  defend  the  integrity  of  the  Unions  and  to  vin(h- 
cate  the  honor  of  our  flag,  and  to  crush  the  power  of  those  who  are  enemies  in  war, 
as  in  peace  they  were  friends. 

Itesolr>€d,  That  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolutions  be  transmitted  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New- York. 

In  a  recent  address,  General  Sickles  said:  "I  well  remember  the 
words  of  President  Lincoln  when  he  referred  to  this  action  of  our 


1  "New-York  Times,"  April  16,  1861. 

2  Resolved :  That  this  Chamber,  alive  to  the 
perils  which  have  been  gathering  around  our 
cherished  form  of  government  and  menacing  its 
overthrow,  has  witnessed  with  lively  satisfaction 
the  determination  of  the  President  to  maintain 
the  Constitution  and  vindicate  the  supremacy  of 
government  and  law  at  every  hazard.  .  .  . 

That  the  United  States  Government  be  recom- 


mended and  urged  to  blockade  the  ports  of  such 
States,  or  any  other  State  that  shall  Join  them,  and 
that  this  measure  is  demanded  for  defence  in  war. 
as  also  for  the  protection  to  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  against  these  so-called  ''privateers'* 
invited  to  enroll  under  the  authority  of  such 
States.  Resolutions,  New-Tork  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, April  19,  1861. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAS    FOR    THE    UNION 


485 


I.y.BALTIC^OFF  lAHOr  HOOK  APK;EICHrrciiTM.TEN   nURTY  n.u.    «vi» 


rflftTitOimor  FAC'TNIKIT  mOlt  HOVMXUIirili  TMC  AUiMTERt  WCNC  tH 


rmCliY  PMMCD  TRS.  MMS  CAICt  OCSTVDVCO  VT  flRCiTflK  CORCE' »Aa.ft 


nariYomu  •  .HomtWmtmiMony smcr^fi/at*  wasnhi  HAvmcocFxtiocD 


5 


fmiOUSlT  IMIIIIICO^TNK  MACMCllfC  SURRQUMOCO  BY  FUUlIt  AND    iri 


OOOH  CUMIO  rUMTNC  CFFCCT*  .OT  MCA«   •FOU*  BARREWLt  AND^TMRC 


1 


cimiDcn  Of  roaoai  only  kinc  availapli  ami  no  pjtoviiiowst 
■ I 


INJHS  MT  Hamuli  ACCCfTtO  TCRMt  OP  CyACUATlOU  OfFCRCO  wf, 


I 


ccauAL 


:iN&ikON   SAMC  OFFCRCO  BT  ftlM  M  THC  CUV 


city  government,  a  few  days  afterward,  when  I  called  upon  him  for 
instructions  touching  the  command  I  had  undertaken  to  raise  on  the 
invitation  of  Governor  Morgan.  He  said :  '  Sickles,  I  have  here  on 
my  table  the  resolu- 
tions passed  by  your 
common  council  ap- 
propriating a  million 
of  dollars  toward  i*ais- 
ing  men  for  this  war, 
and  promising  to  do  all 
in  the  power  of  your 
authoriL  to  support 
the  government.  When 
these  resolutions  were 
brought  to  me  by  Alder- 
man Frank  Boole  and 
his  associates  of  the 
committee,  I  felt  my 
burden  lighter.  I  felt 
that  when  men  broke 
through  party  lines 
and  took  this  patriotic 
stand  for  the  govern- 
ment and  the  Union, 
all  must  come  out  well 
in  the  end.  When  you  see  them,  tell  them  for  me,  they  made  my 
heart  glad,  and  I  can  only  say,  God  bless  them.'  ^  r 

The  march  of  the  first  New  England  troops  through  the  city,  to  the 
defense  of  the  capital,  is  graphically  described  by  the  Eev.  Dr.  Dix.' 

They  came  in  at  night ;  and  it  was  understood  that,  after  breakfasting  at  the  Astor 
House,  the  march  would  be  resumed.  By  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  an  immense 
crowd  had  assembled  about  the  hotel :  Broadway,  from  Barclay  to  Pulton  street,  and 
the  lower  end  of  Park  Row,  were  occupied  by  a  dense  mass  of  human  beings,  all 
watching  the  front  entrance,  at  which  the  regiment  was  to  file  out.  From  side  to  side, 
from  wall  to  wall,  extended  that  innumerable  host,  silent  as  the  grave,  expectant, 
something  unspeakable  in  the  faces.  It  was  the  dead,  deep  hush  before  the  thunder- 
storm. At  last  a  low  murmur  was  heard  *,  it  sounded  somewhat  like  a  gasp  of  men  in 
suspense ;  and  the  cause  was,  that  the  soldiers  had  appeared,  their  leading  files  de- 


EM|B.llUT.PMiai  TQaTNI  Cn— iUBCMlNf  OT  NO«TIL|TU«  ANO  MARCKftO 

•»T  or  ?wr  ro«T  wnoav  ArntNooM  p«  rpwrnwHrn  iMftr^viTH 

eotjai«.riYi«c.Aao.anMs  «B«(rfM.,«RiNciNC  am^comfany  aro 

FNivAic  raorcfiTY  A«o  tAuvTiaunv  fuwC -vinr  rirtv  cmt*  romri! 

ARDortoff.iiAjpii  piRtriMniuti  .cowmnoinl*  ^ 

1  The  original  despatch  was  printed  by  Morse's 
telegraph,  and  the  ribbon-like  strips  were  pasted 
on  a  sheet  of  paper  in  order  to  be  more  convenient 
and  for  better  preservation.  The  above  illustra- 
tion is  made  from  a  photograph  of  the  original  in 
the  possession  of  Gfeneral  E.  D.  Townsend,  U.  S.  A. 

Editor. 

2  The  common  council  of  the  city  of  New- York 
**  do  ordain  that  the  sum  of  one  million  dollars  is 
hereby  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 


the  necessary  equipment  and  outfit  of  the  military 
force  of  the  City  of  New- York,  now  engaged,  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  engaged,  in  the  service  of 
the  State  of  New- York  in  pursuance  of  the  requisi- 
tion of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  to 
provide  for  the  aid  and  support  of  the  families  of 
such  of  the  officers  and  men  so  engaged  as  may 
require  the  same,"  to  be  disbursed  by  the  Union 
Defense  Committee. 
3  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,  II :  10. 


HISTOBY    OF    NEW-TORK 


scending  the  steps.  By  the  twisMe  of  their  bayoneta  above  the  heads  of  the  ami 
their  conrse  coold  be  traced  out  into  the  open  street  in  front.  Formed,  at  lut.ig 
oolunm,  they  stood,  the  band  at  the  head ;  and  the  word  was  g:iTeD,  "  March ! "  ^ 
dead  silenoe  prevailed..  Then  the  drums  rolled  out  the  time — the  regiment  wu  -^ 

motion.  And  then  the  bud 
buretiag  into  fnS  voliug, 
struck  up— whatothcTttta 
could  the  Massaohiuetta  tn 
have     chosen  t —  "  Tsuk^ 
Doodle."  loaughtabouihn 
bars  and  a  half  of  tlu  olA 
music,  not  more ;    for  iq. 
stantly  there  arose  a  loiuiA' 
such  as  many  a  man  nere^^ 
heard  in  all   his  lif«,  snc^V 
never  vill  hear ;  such  u  i^^ 
never  heard  more  than  onep^ 
in  a  lifetime.    Not  more  aw-  ' 
fol  is  the  thnnder  of  hesren  ■* 
as.witbsuddenpeal.itsmttes  * 
into  silence  all  lesaersoonds,    , 
and,  rolling  through  the  vaolt  • 
above  us,  fills  earth  and  sky  -- 
with  the  shock  of  its  terriUee 
voice.  One  terrific  roar  bonkL 
from  the  multitude,  leaving 
nothii^  audible  save  its  owq 
reverberation.    We  saw  the  heads  of  armed  men,  the  gleam  of  their  weapons,  the 
rejnmental  colors,  all  moving  on,  pageant-like ;  but  nanght  could  we  hear  save  thaf 
hoarse,  heavy  surge — one  general  acclaim,  one  wild  shout  of  joy  and  hope,  one  end- 
less cheer,  roUii^  up  and  down,  from  dde  to  side,  above,  below,  to  right,  to  left :  tba 
voice  of  approval,  of  consent,  of  unity  in  act  and  will.    No  one  who  saw  and  heard 
oonld  donbt  how  New- York  was  going. 

The  reaistance  to  the  passage  of  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  throogh 
Baltimore,  on  the  19th  of  April,  fanned  the  public  excitement  to  the 
verge  of  madness.  The  news  that  descendants  of  freemen  who  fell 
at  Lexington  had  been  slain,  on  the  anniversary  of  that  memorable 
fight,  while  marching  to  the  defense  of  the  capital,  sent  a  thrill  of  in- 
digoation  through  the  North.  The  following  call  had  already  re- 
ceived the  signatures  of  leading  men  without  regard  to  polities : 

Fellow-Citizens  :  The  darkest  period  in  our  nation's  history  has  arrived  ;  we  are 
passing  through  the  first  fearful  ordeal  to  which  our  experiment  of  popular  institutions 
has  ever  been  subjected.  Our  patriot  sires  struggled  through  a  long  and  bloody  con- 
flict to  secure  for  their  children  the  blessings  we  have  enjoyed,  and  labored  to  frame 


ALEXAMDEa   T.    STEWART'S   BESIDENCE.l 


1  This  miperb  muiBloii.  on  the  narthweBt  <wmer 
of  Fifth  Avenoe  and  Thirty-ronrlh  utroet,  M  the 
foot  of  Murrey  Hill,  was  erected  by  Aleiander  T. 
St«wart,  thP  mUHnnalre  Npw-Tork  merchant.  It 
|g  hullt  of  whitp  marble,  and  U  tnclOHed  by  a  heavy 


north  Bide  waa  used  ■■  a  pletnm-galleTy.  Tin 
stalrr«ees  are  also  of  luarble,  and  the  oriUogi  arc 
very  lofty.  At  the  time  of  ila  ereetion  it  wuttieail- 
est  private  reddence  in  the  country.  Mr.  j^t«war1 
lived  here  until  his  death,  April  10,  ISTfi,  and  the 


NEW-TOBK    IN    THE    WAE    FOB    THE    UNION 


487 


a  goyemment  that  would  protect  the  rights  and  foster  healthy  progress;  they  provided 
for  frequent  elections  and  a  legal  method  of  amending  the  Constitation,  thereby  ren- 
dering resistance  to  the  laws,  or  revolution  against  the  Government,  not  only  unne- 
cessary, but  morally  and  legally  criminal.  Notwithstanding  this  wise  and  equitable 
method  of  correcting  mistakes  in  policy,  improving  the  laws,  or  altering  the  compact 
by  peaceful  means,  misguided  men  have  fomented  passion  and  prejudice  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  it  has  ripened  into  treason  and  rebellion,  so  that  our  once  prosperous  nation 
trembles  to  its  center.  The  delusion,  dream,  and  empty  hope  that  the  war  clouds  that 
skirted  the  southern  horizon  might  pass  away  has  failed,  and  the  dreaded  catastrophe 
of  an  armed  conflict  is  upon  us.  The  time  has  come  when  political  differences  should 
give  way  to  a  jMttriotism  which  knows  no  i>arty  but  our  country,  recognizes  no  revolu- 
tion but  through  the  ballot-box,  and  acknowledges  no  man  as  brother  who  refuses 
allegiance  to  the  Gx>vemment.  All  good  citizens  who  prize  liberty  with  order,  over 
usurpation  and  anarchy,  are  invited  to  assemble  in  mass  convention,  to  give  expres- 
sion to  the  views  of  the  City  of  New- York  in  the  present  emergency. 

That  the  government  was  fully  altve  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation 
may  be  seen  from  the  language  of  Mr.  Stanton  in  a  letter  to  General 
Dix :  "  If  there  be  any  remedy, — any  shadow  of  hope  to  preserve  this 
government  from  utter  and  hopeless  extinction, — it  must  come  from 
New-York  without  delay.'' 

On  Saturday,  April  20,  at  three  o'clock  p.  m.,  with  the  peril  of 
the  nation  fresh  in  their  minds,  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
people  assembled  in  "mass  convention"  at  Union  Square.  The  meet- 
ing was  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  John  A.  Dix,  with  eighty-seven  vice- 
presidents  selected  from  the  solid  men  of  the  community.^  Burning 
words  by  great  orators  sank  deep  into  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The 
heroes  of  Sumter  appeared  for  a  moment  at  each  of  the  several  stands, 
and  were  received  with  shouts  of  welcome.  Among  those  who  exhorted 


1  Vic&i>re8ident3  of  the  mass  meeting y  April  20,  1861 : 


Peter  Cooper 
W.  M.  Evarts 
Oeorge  Bancroft 
Stewart  Brown 
Henry  Grinnell 
W.  E.  Dodge 
L.  G.  B.  Cannon 
Frederick  Bronson 
D.  H.  Arnold 
R.  H.  M'Curdy 
Wyllis  Blackstone 
Chaa.  H.  Bosaell 
John  C.  Jones 
Isaac  N.  Phelps 
James  A.  Briggs 
Henry  S.  VaU 
W.  Z.  Maday 
George  Folsom 
Isaac  Ferris 
D.  R.  Martin 
William  Bryce 
Peter  LioriUard 

J.  Smith  Homans 
George  A.  Vogel 


S.  Livingston 
W.  W.  DeForest 
Daniel  Leroy 
Charles  Christmas 
Charles  A.  Secor 
Luther  Bradish 
Morris  Ketchum 
Greene  C.  Bronson 
W.  C.  Bryant 
John  A.  King 
John  J.  Phelps 
Moses  Taylor 
Watts  Sherman 
John  D.  Wolfe 
P.  A.  Conkling 
Edwin  Dobbs 
Joseph  W.  Alsop 
Nathaniel  Hayden 
Robert  Ray 
David  Headley 
James  Low 
John  D.  Jones 


A.  B.  Baylis 
Frederick  Kapp 
Andrew  Carrigan 
J.  Auchincloss 
William  Chauncey 
A.  S.  Hewitt 
Erastus  Brooks 
W.  H.  Osbom 
Anson  Herrick 
S.  L.  Mitchill 
J.  B.  Vamum 
John  T.  Hoffman 
Fernando  Wood 
Jonathan  Sturgis 
William  B.  Astor 
Pelatiah  Perit 
James  Boorman 
R.  B.  Mintum 
O.  D.  F.  Grant 
Edwin  Croswell 
Seth  B.  Hunt 
A.  T.  Williamson 


Secretaries : 
Sheppard  Gaudy  Charles  B.  Norton 

J.  T.  Johnson  C.  H.  Marshall,  Jr. 

John  Bigelow  Fletcher  Westray 


Joseph  Stuart 
E.  D.  Morgan 
John  Lloyd 
Benjamin  L.  Swan 
Robert  J.  Taylor 
John  Ewen 
William  C.  Bryce 
Elnathan  Thome 
Alexander  Duncan 
A.  C.  Kingsland 
M.  Franklin 
H.  B.  Claflin 
S.  B.  Althause 
Joseph  Seligman 
A.  A.  Vanderpool 
Theodore  Fowler 
Augustus  ScheU 
William  HaU 
Hamilton  Fish 
A.  T.  Stewart 
John  J.  Astor 


James  G.  DeForest 
Daniel  D.  Lord 


488 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


the  people  to  gird  up  their  loins  for  the  coining  struggle  was  a  sena- 
tor from  the  Pacific  coast,  whose  eloquence  was  only  equaled  by  his 
fame  as  a  soldier.  The  gallant  Baker —  the  Patrick  Henry  of  his  day 
—  spoke  as  one  who  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions.  He  had  led 
a  New-York  regiment  to  the  gates  of  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  within 
a  few  weeks  was  destined  to  fall  in  action  upon  the  bloody  and  disas- 
trous field  of  Ball's  Bluflf.  But  in  1861  there  was  but  little  thought 
of  the  morrow.  Every  other  man  was  about  to  become  a  soldier,  with 
a  soldier's  light-heartedness,  satisfaction  with  the  present,  and  hope- 
fulness for  the  future.  And  so  the  "  darling  Seventh,"  the  "  steady 
Twelfth,"  the  "  gay  Seventy-first,"  "  the  Highlanders,"  and  "  the  rol- 
licking Sixty-ninth"  marched  down  Broadway,  amid  volleys  of 
applause  and  miles  of  waving  flags,  to  save  the  country. 

If  the  impending  calamity  of  civil  war  found  the  government  of  the 
United  States  in  a  state  of  transition  as  regarded  its  personnel,  it  was 
met  by  New- York  with  all  the  firmness  and  ability  of  a  substantial 
State  administration  and  the  strength  of  a  patriotic  majority  in  the 
city.  At  Albany  that  sterling  citizen.  Governor  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
stood  ready  to  second  the  new  president ;  he  was  aided  in  matters  of 
detail  by  an  efficient  staflf,  of  which  Chester  A.  Arthur — the  future 
chief  magistrate — was  an  excellent  type.  In  the  metropolis  municipal 
affairs  were  directed  partly  by  officials  who  could  not  grasp  great  na- 
tional issues,  but  contented  themselves  with  the  preservation  of  local 
order.^  The  men  of  power  and  influence  in  the  community,  with  true 
public  spirit  and  patriotic  impulse,  rose  en  masses  and,  exercising  a 
characteristic  American  talent  for  organization,  put  themselves  di- 
rectly in  touch  with  the  federal  executive.  Through  the  channels  of 
trade,  manufactures,  and  the  learned  professions,  popular  subscrip- 
tions were  made  to  a  fund  for  the  equipment  and  temporary  subsis- 
tence of  troops  hastening  to  the  defense  of  the  capital.  In  an  incon- 
ceivably short  time  an  immense  sum  of  money  was  placed  at  the 
government's  disposal,  and  the  tramp  of  the  Union  legions  was  heard 
from  Maine  to  California.-    Among  individuals  who  devoted  them- 


1  Mayor's  Offiob,  Nbw-York,  April  15,  1861. 

To  the  People  of  the  City  of  yew-  York  :  As  Chief 
Msg^istrate,  representing  the  whole  people,  I  feel 
compelled  at  this  crisis  to  call  upon  them  to 
avoid  excitement  and  turbulence.  Whatever  may 
be  or  may  have  been  individual  positions  or  opin- 
ion on  questions  of  public  policy,  let  us  remember 
thafc  our  country  now  trembles  upon  the  brink  of 
a  precipice,  and  that  it  requires  a  patriotic  and 
honest  effort  to  prevent  its  final  destruction.  Let 
us  igrnore  the  past,  rising  superior  to  partizan 
considerations,  and  rally  to  the  restoration  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union  as  they  existed  in  the 
days  and  in  the  spirit  of  our  fathers.  Whether 
this  is  to  be  accomplished  by  fratricidal  warfare 
or  by  concession,  conciliation,  and  sacrifice,  men 


may  differ,  but  all  will  admit  that  here  at  least 
harmony  and  peace  should  preraiL  Thus  may 
we,  under  the  guidance  of  Divine  Providenee, 
set  an  example  of  peace  and  good  will  throughout 
our  extended  country.  In  this  spirit  and  with 
this  view,  I  call  upon  the  people  of  New-York, 
irrespective  of  all  other  considerations  or  preju- 
dices, to  unite  in  obedience  to  the  laws,  in  sup- 
port of  the  public  peace,  in  the  preservation  of 
order,  and  in  the  protection  of  property. 

(Signed)  Fernando  Wood,  Mayor, 
2  The ''  New-York  Herald,'' April  29, 1861,  makes 
up  a  table  of  voluntary  contributions  by  cities, 
counties,  and  individuals  in  the  North,  *'all  $1000 
or  over,  which  sum  up  to  $11,230,000,  of  which 
New-York  city  gives  $2,155,000,  and  the  New-Yoik 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAB    FOE    THE    UNION 


selves  faithfully  to  the  Union  cause  was  the  well-known  Thurlow 
Weed.  Famous  as  a  political  leader,  he  now  came  to  the  front  as  a 
philanthropist  and  counselor.  He  has  left  behind  him  int-eresting 
memoirs  of  the  war  time,  which  show  how  important  were  the  ser- 
vices of  men  like  Weed,  Simeon  Draper,  and  Henry  W.  Bellows, 
who,  without  glittering  insignia  or  martial  title,  labored  early  and 
late  for  the  cause,  furnishing  "Vic- 
tuals," "Armour,"  and  the  "Sinewes 
of  Warre."  An  example  may  here 
be  related.  Mr.Weed  was  summoned 
to  the  White  House  from  New-York 
by  a  telegram  dated  February  18, 
1863.  On  the  following  day  he  called 
on  President  Lincoln,  who  said:  "Mr. 
Weed,  we  are  in  a  tight  place.  Money 
for  legitimate  purposes  is  needed  im- 
mediately; but  there  is  no  appropria- 
tion from  which  it  can  be  lawfully 
taken.  I  did  n't  know  how  to  raise 
it,  and  so  I  sent  for  you."  "How 
much  is  required  I "  asked  Mr.  Weed.  ^         ^  ^w    . 

"Fifteen  thousand  dollars," said  the         ^—^^it.^a'  "^ -^^^(Pt^ 
President.    "  Can  you  get  it  I "    "If         ^"^^  ^ 

you  must  have  it  at  once,  give  me  two  lines  to  that  effect."  Mr. 
Lincoln  turned  to  his  desk  and  wrote  a  few  lines  on  a  slip  of  paper. 
Handing  it  to  Mr.Weed,  he  said,  "Will  that  dof  "  "It  will,"  said  Mr. 
Weed;  "  the  money  will  be  at  your  disposal  to-morrow  morning."  On 
the  next  train  Mr.  Weed  left  Washington,  and  before  five  o'clock  that 


Stete  leKislstare  t3,DW,0OO  more.     And  all  this 
luB  'been  mbacribed  since  the  flf  teentli  of  April. 

"Of  nUDB  belowa  thoasuid  doUsrs  aubBcrlbedby 
private  indlTldiiRli,  and  of  whicb  no  mentloD  la 
made  In  this  statement,  it  Is  no  eiagKeration  to 
act  down  the  aggregate  at  #5,000,000.  If  we  take 
the  average  ezpenditare  of  each  volunteer  of  the 
SSO.OOO  men  who  are  now  drilling  and  under  arms 
in  the  free  States  at  tlO.  It  will  ttive  us  a  foitber 
BDHHintof  12,500,000.  Bealdea  these  suing  we  mftf 
pat  down  •5.000,000  more  for  the  contrlbutionB 
made  by  [amiliea  toward  the  more  comfortable 
outfit  and  equipment  of  such  of  their  members  as 
have  taken  up  anas  in  defense  of  the  natiotial 
ilag,  and  of  eaaoal  sums  given  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment  to  applicants  needing  aid,  in  rifles, 
monef.  or  clothing,  and  of  which  no  notice  baa 
been  taken,  tbe  total  la  probably  not  far  short  of 
another  (5,000.000.  These  different  sums  foot  np : 
Contributions  of  (lOOO  and  upward,  (11,230,000; 
raintributiona  below  (1000,  »5,000,000;  eipenditure 
of  voloDteere  (tlO  each).  (2,500,000;  coutributionB 
of  families  to  ontflt,  (5,000,000;  casual  contribu- 
tions in  money  and  clethhig,  (5,000,000;  total. 


(28,730,000,  making  an  aggregate  of  nearly  (39,- 
000,000  spontaneoualy  donated  to  the  govemment 
in  less  than  a  fortnight. 

"Thirteen  banks  of  the  city  of  New-Tork  con- 
tributed nearly  half  a  mlllioD  of  dollars  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  government.  Added  to  the  previons 
sabserlption  of  (250.000  by  the  Broadway  Bank, 
these  contributions  amount,  thus  far,  to  (715,000, 
divided  aa  follows ;  Bank  of  Commerce,  T.  A. 
Stevena,  president,  (100,000 ;  Xew-York  Exchange 
Bank,  S.  Van  Duzer,  president,  (10,000;  Mechan- 
ics' Bank,  8.  Enapp,  president.  (^,000;  National 
Bank,  J.  OallaUn,  president.  (25,000  ;  Merchants' 
Bank.  A.  E.  Silliman,  president.  (25.000;  Man- 
hattan Bank,  J.  M.  Morrison,  president,  K5,000 ; 
Bank  ol  tbe  Republic,  E.  H.  Lowry,  cashier. 
(60.000;  PhcBuii  Bank,  H.  P.  Bryson,  cashier, 
(25,000;  Bank  of  New-York.  A.  P.  Halsey,  presi- 
dent. (50,000;  Bank  of  North  America,  J.  Sey- 
mour, preaident.  (20,000 ;  Bank  of  America,  J. 
Punnell.  president,  (50,000;  Bank  of  the  Stete 
of  New-Tork,  R.  Withers,  president,  (25,000; 
Shoe  and  Leather  Bank,  A.  V.  Stone,  president, 
(25,000;  Broadway  Bank, (250,000;  total, (715,000." 


490 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


afternoon  the  slip  of  paper  which  he  carried  in  his  pocket  presented 
this  appearance : 

Washington,  February  19,  1863. 
Mr.  Weed — The  matters  I  spoke  to  you  about  are  important.    I  hope  you  wiD  not 
neglect  them.    Truly  yours,  A,  Lincoln. 


Charles  Knapp $1000. 

Marshall  0.  Roberts 1000. 

Alexander  T.  Stewart 1000. 

Isaac  BeU 1000. 

William  H.  AspinwaU 1000. 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt 1000. 

James  Mitchell 1000. 

H.  B.CromweU 1000. 


Novelty  Iron  Works,  Horace  Allen, 

Pres't 1000. 

James  I.  Sanf  ord 1000. 

Spofford  &  TUeston 1000. 

John  F.  Winslow 1000. 

Secor  &  Co 1000. 

P.  S.  Forbes 1000. 

RusseUSturgisandH.W.Hubbell.  1000. 


One  of  the  most  important  and  immediate  results  of  the  i)opular 
agitation  following  the  fall  of  Sumter  was  the  organization  of  the 
"Union  Defense  Committee  of  the  City  of  New-York."  It  comprised 
some  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  trade  and  the  learned  profes- 
sions.^ It  became  the  almoner  of  the  municipality  for  the  emergency, 
and  a  veritable  Aladdin's  lamp  through  which,  at  a  touch,  regiments 
were  armed,  equipped,  and  transported  to  the  nearest  rendezvous; 
steamers  of  the  largest  size  were  chartered  as  transports,  or,  in  some 
cases,  as  additions  to  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States.  The  local 
facilities,  the  business  training,  and  the  unlimited  credit  of  the  com- 
mittee, combined  with  a  loyal  enthusiasm,  accomplished  wonders.  Nor 
was  this  patriotic  zeal  without  its  embarrassments.  The  committee, 
having  turned  on  the  stream  of  aid  and  comfort,  undertook,  in  some 
cases,  to  direct  the  war  department  in  its  use,  to  urge  the  president 
to  greater  haste  in  crushing  the  rebellion,  and  inadvertently  to  usurp 
the  executive  functions  of  the  governor.  The  federal  authorities  de- 
clined to  move  with  undue  haste,  but  their  determination  was  con- 
veyed to  the  committee  in  a  way  to  strengthen  rather  than  to  impair 
the  good  feeling  which  it  was  important  to  maintain  between  the 
Union  people  and  the  government.  Thenceforward  their  relations 
were  mutually  satisfactory.^    The  Union  Defense  Committee  was  or- 


1  The  original  members  of  the  Union  Defense 
Committee  were :  John  A.  Dix,  chairman ;  Simeon 
Draper,  vice-chairman ;  William  M.  Eyarts,  secre- 
tary;  Theodore  Dehon,  treasurer;  Moses  Taylor, 
Richard  M.  Blatchf  ord,  Edwards  Pierrepont,  Alex- 
ander T.  Stewart,  Samuel  Sloan,  John  Jacob  As- 
tor,  John  J.  Cisco,  James  S.  Wadsworth,  Isaac 
Bell,  James  Boormao,  Charles  H.  Marshal],  Robert 
H.  M'Curdy,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  Rojtd  Phelps, 
William  E.  Dodge,  Greene  C«  Bronson,  Hamilton 
Fish,  William  P.  Havemeyer,  Charles  H.  Russell, 
James  T.  Brady,  Rudolph  A.  Witthaus,  Abiel  A. 
Low,  Prosper  M.  Wetmore,  A.  C.  Richards;  the 
Mayor,  the  Comptroller,  the  Presidents  of  the 
Boards  of  Aldermen  and  Councilmen. 


2  "With  a  generous  frankness,  which  confers 
honor  upon  the  stations  which  they  fill,  the  chief 
executive  officers  of  the  national  government  and 
the  distinguished  commanding  general  of  the 
army  have  been  pleased  to  say  that  the  safety  of 
the  national  capital  and  the  preservation  of  the 
archives  of  the  government  at  a  moment  when 
both  were  seriously  menaced,  may  f  aiiiy  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  prompt  and  efficient  action  of  the 
State  and  City  of  New-York,  united  with  the  vig- 
orous efforts  of  the  noble  Commonwealth  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, devoted  to  the  same  patriotic  objects.** 
Report  of  Simeon  Drai>er  to  Union  Defense  Com- 
mittee. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  491 

ganized  April  22, 1861,  and  adjourned  sine  die  April  30, 1862.  During 
that  period  it  disburscjd  more  than  a  million  dollars  for  the  benefit  of 
New- York  volunteers  and  the  support  of  soldiers^  widows  and  orphans. 

Soon  after  General  Scott's  retirement  from  active  service,  a  delega- 
tion from  the  Union  Defense  Committee,  headed  by  the  Hon.  Hamil- 
ton Fish,  called  upon  the  old  hero  at  the  Brevoort  House  to  present 
an  address  embodying  the  sentiments  of  love  and  respect  which  all 
Americans,  and  especially  the  citizens  of  New-York,  entertained  for 
Mm.  Judge  Edwards  Pierrepont  also  made  appropriate  remarks, 
comprising  this  extract :  "  The  advents  of  true  patriots  and  great 
men  are  always  separated  by  long  intervals  of  years ;  but  few  have 
ever  appeared ;  and  in  the  whole  circuit  of  the  sun,  scarce  one  who 
had  the  courage  to  resign  his  power  until  death  called  for  his  crown, 
his  scepter,  or  his  sword.  It  will  be  the  crowning  glory  of  your  hon- 
ored life,  that  after  remaining  at  the  soldier's  post  until  all  imminent 
danger  was  over,  .  .  .  you  had  the  wisdom  from  on  high  to  retire 
at  the  fitting  hour,  and  thus  to  make  the  glories  of  your  setting  sun 
ineflEably  more  bright  for  the  radiant  luster  which  they  shed  upon  the 
young  and  dawning  hope  of  your  beloved  land.  .  .  . '' 

On  the  seventeenth  of  April,  Major-General  Sandf  ord,  commanding 
the  First  Division  N.  G.  S.  N.  Y.,  received  orders  from  Albany  "to  de- 
tail one  regiment  of  eight  hundred  men,  or  two  regiments  amounting 
1k)  the  same  number,  for  immediate  service."  The  detail  fell  to  the 
Seventh  Regiment,  and  on  Friday,  the  nineteenth,  at  3  p.  m.,  it 
marched  down  Broadway  with  nine  hundred  and  ninety-one  men, 
bound  for  the  capital  of  the  nation.  More  than  three  months  pre- 
viously the  regimental  board  of  officers  had  "  resolved  that,  should 
the  exigency  arise,  we  feel  confident  in  having  the  Commandant  ex- 
press to  the  Governor  of  the  State  the  desire  of  this  regiment  to 
perform  such  duty  as  he  may  prescribe."  ^ 

The  march  to  Cortlandt  street  was  in  the  nature  of  a  triumphal 
pageant.  The  entire  city  was  present  to  wish  the  first  regiment  of 
the  first  city  in  the  land  God-speed.  One  who  marched  with  the 
Seventh  that  day-  afterward  wrote, "  Was  there  ever  such  an  ovation  f 
When  Trajan  returned  conqueror,  dragging  barbaric  kings  at  his 
chariot  wheels,  Eome  vomited  its  people  into  the  streets,  and  that 
glorious  column  that  will  ever  be  immortal  was  raised.  But  what 
greeted  the  Emperor  at  his  outset  f  The  marble  walls  of  Broadway 
were  never  before  rent  with  such  cheers  as  greeted  us  when  we 
passed.    The  facades  of  the  buildings  were  so  thick  with  people  that 

1  QenefnX  Scott  wrote  from  Washin^irton,  Jan-  cinity.    If  there  be  an  exception,  it  is  the  Seventh 

nary  19,  1861,  to  Major-General  Sandford,  with  Infantry  of  the  City  of  New- York,  which  has  be- 

regard  to  this  reeolutioD  :  **  Perhaps  no  regiment  come  somewhat  national,  and  is  held,  deservedly, 

or  company  can  be  brought  here  f^m  a  distance  in  the  highest  respect.*' 
without  producing  hurtful  jealousies  in  this  vi-         2  Fitz-James  O'Brien. 


492 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 


it  seemed  as  if  an  army  of  black  ants  were  marching,  after  their  re- 
sistless fashion,  through  the  city,  and  had  scaled  the  houses.  Hand- 
kerchiefs fluttered  in  the  air  like  myriads  of  white  butterflies.  An 
avenue  of  brave,  honest  faces  smiled  upon  us  as  we  passed,  and  sent 
a  sunshine  into  our  hearts  that  lives  there  still." 

If  in  these  days  of  militia  reform  the  Seventh  maintains  ite  su- 
premacy, in  those  times  of  local  train-bands,  when  mihtary  efficiency 
,--    -  -^  of  State  troops  was  the  exception, 

the  regiment  was,  indeed,  first  in 
war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the 
hearts  of  its  countrymen.  Ita  suc- 
cessful movement  to  the  defense 
of  Washington,  by  way  of  Anna- 
polis, under  the  wise  leadership  of 
Colonel  Lefferts,  is  a  matter  of 
history.  It  will,  perhaps,  never 
be  known  how  much  those  *'one 
thousand  of  the  flower  of  the  city 
of  New-Tork"  contributed  by  their 
presence  to  save  the  capital  from 
hostile  occupation.  It  was  suffi- 
cient that  President  Lincoln  could 
announce  that  "  the  Seventh  Regi- 
ment and  the  Massachusetts  Begi- 
There  was  great  need  of  re-enforce- 
ments, but  Washington  may  be  considered  safe  for  the  country  and 
the  Constitution." ' 

While  the  Seventh  was  setting  out  on  its  mission  of  succor,  other 
regiments  were  busily  engaged  in  preparation  for  the  march.  The 
next  day  th^  Sixth,  Twelfth,  and  Seventy-first  regiments  of  the  militia 
embarked  for  Fortress  Monroe,  and  on  April  23,  the  Eighth,  Thirteenth, 
Twenty-eighth,  and  Sixty-ninth*  took  up  the  route  for  Washington. 


ment  are  now  in  Washington. 


1  Wab  Dspabtusht,  a.  Q.  O.  , 
S.  O.  36:  Washinotoh,  Hb^  30.  1861. 

The  comniuidiQg  officer  of  tbe  Seventh  Regi- 
ment of  New-York  Mjlitiii  will  proceed  with 
his  regiment  to  the  rlty  of  New-Tork,  where  It 
will  be  mnatei-ed  out  of  the  service  of  the  United 
St&teR  by  Lieutenant  MlltoD  Cogswell,  Eigbtli 
Infuitiy.  It  is  the  desire  of  the  War  Departs 
ment,  in  relinquishing  the  services  of  this  gallant 
regiment,  to  make  known  the  BatlsfBcUaa  that  la 
felt  at  the  prompt  and  patriotic  manner  in  which 
it  responded  to  the  call  for  men  to  defend  the 
Capital  when  it  was  believed  to  have  been  in  peril, 
and  to  acknowledge  the  impoiisnt  service  it  ren- 
dered bf  appearing  here  in  an  honr  of  dark  and 
trying  necessity.  The  time  for  which  it  had  en- 
gaged to  serve  has  now  expired.  The  service  which 
it  was  expected  to  perform  has  been  handsomely 


BOcompUahed.  and  its  members  may  return  to  their 
native  dty  with  tbe  aasoranoe  that  lla  aerviceis  are 
gratefully  appreciated  by  all  good  and  lojat  ctti- 
lens.  while  the  Government  is  equally  eoofidenl 
that  when  the  country  again  calls  upon  them,  its 
appeal  will  not  be  made  in  vain  to  the  young  men 
of  Mew- York.    By  order,      L.  TROKas, 

AdjutantrOeneraL 
To  Couaynh  Lutebtb, 

Commanding  Ttb  Begt,  0un)>  Cameron. 

:  "  The  N.  Y.  Siitynjntta  (Irish)  regiment,  forre- 
fosing  to  turn  ont  on  the  occaston  of  tbe  visit  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  was  deprived  of  Its  coJon. 
Though  never  actually  disbanded,  it  bad  not  dnee 
been  doing  duty.  While  oeoupled  in  getting  other 
regiments  off.  Colonel  Michael  Corooran  bronght 
me  a  letter  of   intFOdnctioa   from   ArchUshop 


NEW-YORK    IN   THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION 


493 


All  were  escorted  to  the  transports  by  throngs  of  excited  citizens, 
many  of  whom  were  sending  their  sons  to  battle  for  the  right  as  they 
saw  it.  Everywhere  in  the  North  there  was  a  grim  determination  to 
uphold  "  the  old  flag  ^  and  support  the  president  to  that  end.  Never- 
theless, the  course  of  the  federal  authorities  in  not  at  once  opening 
the  usual  route,  by  way  of  Baltimore,  brought  out  an  indignant  re- 
monstrance from  certain  impatient  patriots.  Their  views  were  set 
forth  in  an  "  open  letter  ^  addressed  to  the  president  and  signed  by 
George  Law,  a  wealthy  contractor  and  ship-owner.    It  read  as  follows: 

The  public  mind  is  already  excited  to  the  highest  point  that  this  state  of  affairs 
has  been  so  long  tolerated;  and  the  x>eople  are  determined  that  free  and  nninter- 
rapted  communication  with  the  seat  of  government  shall  be  immediately  estab- 
lished, not  by  circuitous  routes,  but  by  the  direct  lines  of  commimication  that  they 
have  heretofore  traveled  over,  and  it  is  demanded  of  the  government  that  they  at 
once  take  measures  to  open  and  establish  those  lines  of  commimication,  and  that  they 
protect  and  preserve  them  from  any  further  interruption.  Unless  this  is  done,  the 
people  will  be  compelled  to  take  it  into  their  own  hands,  let  the  consequences  be  what 
they  may,  and  let  them  fall  where  they  will.  It  is  certainly  most  desirable  that  this 
be  done  through  the  regularly  constituted  authorities  at  Washington ;  and  the  gov- 
ernment is  earnestly  requested  to  act  without  delay. 


The  Union  Defense  Committee  also  advised  the  president  (April 
21)  that  — "  On  behaH  of  the  Committee  of  the  Citizens  charged  with 
the  due  attention  to  public  interests,  and  invested  with  this  power  by 
the  mass  meeting  of  Saturday,  we  take  leave  respectfully  to  represent 
to  the  Government  at  Washington  that  intense  solicitude  prevails 
here  for  the  safety  of  the  city  of  Washington,  and  that  there  is  an 
earnest  demand  that  a  safe  and  speedy  communication  should  be 
kept  open  between  the  seat  of  government  and  the  loyal  States. 
Whatever  force  of  men  or  supply  of  means  is  needed  to  occupy  and 
control  the  necessary  points  in  the  State  of  Maryland  can  be  fur- 
nished from  or  through  New- York.  The  energy,  the  enthusiasm,  the 
power  in  every  form  of  our  people  it  is  impossible  to  overrate.  But 
their  demands  upon  the  action  of  all  the  public  authorities  are  pro- 
portionate. The  absolute  obliteration  of  all  party  lines  among  our 
whole  population,  and  their  perfect  union  in  enthusiastic  patriotism, 
make  it  in  our  judgment  highly  expedient  that  there  should  be  pres- 
ent in  this  city  persons  who  can,  in  case  of  emergency,  represent  the 


Hughes.  The  Colonel  said  that  the  murder  of 
Massachusetts  men  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore  had 
greatly  excited  his  men,  and  if  the  colors  of  the 
Sixty-ninth  were  restored  and  the  services  of  the 
regiment  accepted,  he  would  he  ready  to  march, 
with  one  thousand  rank  and  file,  in  twenty-four 
hours.  I  informed  Governor  Morgan,  at  Albany, 
by  telegraph,  that  the  Sixty-ninth  regiment,  if  re- 
stored to  its  former  statuis,  would  immediately  take 
the  field.     A  few  hours  brought  me  a  despatch 


accepting  the  services  of  the  Sixty-ninth,  and 
warmly  thanking  Colonel  Corcoran,  his  officers 
and  meUf  for  their  promptitude  and  patriotism. 
The  Governor's  despatch  was  read  in  the  evening 
to  the  regiment,  and  received  with  great  enthu- 
siasm. True  to  his  promise.  Colonel  Corcoran 
marched  through  Broadway,  amid  enthusiastic 
acclamations,  on  the  following  day  to  embark  for 
Annapolis."  Thurlow  Weed,  in  "  The  GWaxy.'' 
IX.  834. 


494  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

War,  Navy,  and  Treasury  departments  in  giving  the  authority  of  the 
Government  to  movements  of  troops  and  vessels,  the  stoppage  of 
steamers,  the  provision  of  arms,  and  the  many  steps  which  may  need 
to  be  taken  without  an  opportunity  of  communicating  with  Washing- 
ton. We  feel  to-day  that  our  Government  and  the  city  of  Washing- 
ton are  in  a  hostile  country,  with  communication  embarrassed  and  in 
danger  of  being  wholly  cut  off.  If  disaster  happens  from  this  cause, 
the  excitement  of  our  people  may  lead  them  into  strong  expressions 
of  discontent,  and  the  present  happy  state  of  public  sentiment  in  uni- 
versal support  of  the  administration  may  be  succeeded  by  a  reaction 
of  feeling  greatly  to  be  deplored.'^ 

The  great  capitalist  and  steamship  proprietor,  Cornelius  Vander- 
bilt,  placed  some  of  his  finest  vessels  at  the  disposal  of  the  govern- 
ment. When  the  terrible  Merrimac  threatened  to  destroy  the  Union 
fleet  in  the  James  River,  the  commodore  fitted  out  his  largest  and 
strongest  steamer,  the  Vanderbilt,  to  operate  against  the  Confederate 
ram,  and  presented  her  to  the  government.  In  remembrance  of  this 
princely  gift,  Congress  subsequently  voted  a  gold  medal  to  the  donor. 

Closely  following  the  Union  Square  meeting  of  the  men  of  New- 
York  came  the  action  of  her  noble  women.  A  circular  addressed  "  to 
the  Women  of  New- York,  and  especially  to  those  already  engaged  in 
preparing  against  the  time  of  Wounds  and  Sickness  in  the  Army,'' 
was  published.  It  set  forth  the  importance  of  system  and  concentra- 
tion to  effect  the  best  results  in  that  field.^  It  was  the  germ  of  the 
most  important  auxiliary  to  the  medical  department  of  the  Union 
armies  which  the  war  created  —  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

Out  of  this  conference  grew  the  "  Woman's  Central  Association  of 

1  To  the  Women  ofNew-Tork,  and  especittUy  to  those  Committee,  with  power  to  organise  the  benevo- 
already  engaged  in  preparing  against  the  time  of  lent  purposes  of  all  into  a  common  movement 
Wounds  and  Sickness  in  the  Army :  (Signed)  Mesdames  J.  A.  Dix,  H.  Fish,  L.  C. 
The  importance  of  systematizing  and  concen-  Jones,  E.  Robinson,  W.  Eirkland,  W.  H.  Aspin- 
trating  the  spontaneous  and  earnest  efforts  now  wall,  B.  Mintum,  J.  B.  Johnson,  J.  J.  Roosevelt,  A. 
making  by  the  women  of  New-York  for  the  supply  Bininger,  W.  C.  Bryant,  R.  L.  Sttlart,  D.  D.  Fields 
of  richer  medical  aid  to  our  army  through  its  pres-  William  Astor,  Jr.,  M.  Grinnell,  H.  B.  Smith,  R. 
ent  campaign,  must  be  obvious  to  all  reflecting  Hitchcock,  F.  F.  Marbury,  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  C.  P. 
persons.  Numerous  societies,  working  without  Daly,  C.  Swords,  G.  Holbrooke,  D.  Adams,  H. 
concert,  organization,  or  head — without  any  direct  Baylis,  H.  W.  Bellows,  Stewart  Brown,  John  D. 
understanding  with  the  official  authorities — with-  Wolfe,  A.  Potter,  E.  Fish,  G.  A.  Seward,  S.  Osgood, 
out  any  positive  instructions  as  to  the  immediate  J.  Sherwood,  E.  Bayard,  J.  Jones,  J.  Betts,  W. 
or  future  wants  of  the  army —  are  liable  to  waste  Ward,  H.  E.  Eaton,  W.  M.  Evarts,  G.  L.  Schuyler, 
their  enthusiasm  in  disproportionate  efforts,  to  P.  Cooper,  T.  Tileston,  F.  S.  Wiley,  H.  Webster, 
overlook  some  claims  and  overdo  others,  while  S.  J.  Baker,  R.  Grade,  M.  C«tlin,  B.  R.  Winthrop, 
they  give  unnecessary  trouble  in  official  quarters,  G.  Stuyvesant,  G.  Curtis,  A.  R.  Eno,  W.  F.  Carey, 
by  the  variety  and  irregularity  of  their  proffers  of  A.  Hewitt,  R.  Campbell,  H.  E.  Bogart,  C.  Butler, 
help  or  their  inquiries  for  guidance.  As  no  exist-  C.  E.  Lane,  M.  D.  Swett,  R.  M.  Blatchf ord,  L.  W. 
ing  organization  has  a  right  to  claim  precedence  Bridgham,  A.  W.  Bradford,  W.  H.  Lee,  P.  Godwin, 
over  any  other,  or  could  properly  assume  to  lead  H.  J.  Raymond,  S.  L.  M.  Barlow,  J.  Auchindoss, 
in  this  noble  cause,  where  all  desire  to  be  first,  it  M.  Trimble,  S.  B.  Collins,  R.  H.  Bowne,  B.  R.  Moll- 
is proposed  by  the  undersigned,  members  of  the  vaine,  N.  Lawrence,  J.  Reid,  C.  Newbold,  J.  R 
various  circles  now  actively  engaged  in  this  work,  Collins,  J.  C.  Smith,  P.  Spofford,  Cjrrus  W.  Fidd, 
that  the  women  of  New- York  should  meet  in  the  P.  Townsend,  L.  Baker,  ^  Lewis  M.  Rutherfurd, 
Cooper  Institute  on  Monday  next,  at  11  o'clock  Charles  I^ing,  Miss  Marquand,  Miss  Mintum,  and 
A.  M.,  to  confer  together,  and  to  appoint  a  General  others. 


NEW-TORK    IN    THE    WAB    FOR    THE    XJNION  495 

Relief."  Upon  the  advice  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows,  a  committee  pro- 
ceeded to  Washington  to  confer  with  the  war  department  as  to  the 
needs  of  the  service,  and  the  best  method  of  supplying  them.  This 
committee  represented  the  Woman's  Central  Association  of  Relief  for 
the  Sick  and  Wounded  of  the  Army,  the  advisory  committee  of  the 
Boards  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Hospitals  of  New- York, 
and  the  New-York  Medical  Associa- 
tion for  furnishing  Hospital  Supplies 
in  aid  of  the  Army.  Out  of  their 
suggestions  arose  that  wonderful  in- 
stitution for  alleviating  the  horrors 
of  war,  known  as  the  "  United  States 
Sanitary  Commission." 

"  If  pure  benevolence  was  ever  or- 
ganized and  utilized  into  beneficence, 
the  name  of  the  institution  is  the 
Sanitary  Commission.  It  is  a  stand- 
ing answer  to  Samson's  riddle :  '  Out 
of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness.' 
Out  of  the  very  depths  of  the  agony 
of  this  cruel  and  bloody  war  springs 
this  beautiful  system,  built  of  the 
noblest  and  divinest  attributes  of  the  ^*.»t±^^  /^  /-^">^fr  ^ 
human  soul.     Amidst  all  the  daring  fe£:_- XL-' ^^5««=' 

and  enduring  which  this  war  has  developed,  amidst  all  the  magna- 
nimity of  which  it  has  shown  the  race  capable,  the  daring,  the  endur- 
ance, the  greatness  of  soul,  which  have  been  discovered  among  the  men 
and  women  who  have  given  their  lives  to  this  work,  shine  as  brightly 
as  any  on  the  battle-field — in  some  respects  even  more  brightly.  .  .  . 
Glimpses  of  this  agency  are  familiar  to  our  people:  but  not  till  the 
history  of  its  inception,  progress,  and  results  is  calmly  and  adequately 
written  out  and  spread  before  the  public,  will  any  idea  be  formed  of 
the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  work  which  it  has  done.  Nor 
even  then.  Never  until  every  soldier  whose  flickering  life  it  has  gen- 
tly steadied  into  continuance,  whose  waning  reason  it  has  softly 
lolled  into  quiet,  whose  chilled  blood  it  has  warmed  into  healthful 
play,  whose  failing  frame  it  has  nourished  into  strength,  whose  faints 
ing  heart  it  has  comforted  with  sympathy, — never,  until  every  full 
soul  has  poured  out  its  story  of  gratitude  and  thanksgiving,  will  the 
record  be  complete:  but  long  before  that  time  .  .  .  comes  the  Blessed 
Voice,  '  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.'  An  approximate  estimate 
has  been  made  from  which  it  can  be  stated  that  the  gifts  of  the 
women  of  the  country,  made  through  the  Sanitary  Commission,  ex- 


496 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


ceed  in  value  the  sum  of  $7,000,000,  and  the  total  cash  received  by 
its  treasurer  to  October  1, 1863,  was  $857,715.33." 

The  promptness  and  determination  with  which  New- York  took  her 
stand  in  the  great  trouble  surprised  and  disappointed  the  South 
which  had  counted  upon  at  least  a  negative  course  by  reason  of 
mutual  commercial  interests.  No  longer  resting  under  that  delusioiL 
the  Southern  press  poured  forth  vials  of  wrath  after  this  fashion: 
"  The  insane  fury  of  New-York  arises  from  purely  mercenary  motiveg. 
She  is  concerned  about  the  golden  eggs  which  are  laid  for  her  by  the 
Southern  goose  with  the  sword.  Let  us  assure  her  we  have  more  fear 
of  her  smiles  than  of  her  frowns.  New- York  will  be  remembered 
with  especial  hatred  by  the  South  to  the  end  of  time.  Boston  we 
have  always  known  where  to  find ;  but  this  New- York,  which  has 
never  turned  against  us  till  the  hour  of  trial,  and  is  now  monng 
heaven  and  earth  for  our  destruction,  shall  be  a  marked  city  to  the 
end  of  time. "  Even  before  the  great  clash  of  arms,  the  newspapers 
of  both  sections  had  opened  fire  with  the  most  bitter  word-weapons 
and  the  most  startling  war  inimors  conceivable.*  It  was  to  be  their 
harvest-time — to  reap  while  others  sowed. 


1  **  Wab  and  Rumors  of  War. — A  gentleman 
of  Richmond^  Va.,  was  in  New- York.  The  scenes 
which  he  witnessed  in  the  streets  reminded  him 
of  the  descriptions  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  in  Paris. 
Nothing  was  wanting  but  the  bloody  guillotine 
to  make  the  two  pictures  identical.  The  violent 
and  diabolical  temper  everywhere  conspicuous 
showed  but  too  clearly  whither  all  things  are 
tending  in  the  commercial  metropolis.  A  spirit 
is  cooked  which  can  only  be  laid  in  blood.  The 
desperadoes  of  that  great  city  are  now  in  the  as- 
cendant. At  present  they  are  animated  by  very 
bloody  designs  against  the  South.  They  have 
been  persuaded  or  urged  by  hunger  to  believe 
that  by  enlisting  for  the  war  they  will  win  bread 
and  honor  and  riches.  By-and-by  they  may  come 
to  reflect  there  is  an  abundance  of  meat  and  bread 
and  inexhaustible  supplies  of  money  all  around 
them — in  the  banks,  the  palatial  residences,  in 
the  flre-proof  safes  of  the  princely  merchants. 
They  may  consider  that  all  this  meat  and  bread 
and  money  may  be  won  with  fewer  risks  of 
cracked  pates  and  bloody  noses  than  the  meager, 
unsavory  food  of  the  poor  South.  That  they 
have  only  to  demand  to  have  it.  That  they  have 
as  much  right  as  men  and  Christians  to  call  for  it 
and  help  themselves  as  to  be  compelled  to  travel 
five  or  six  hundred  miles  to  plunder  a  poor  people 
who  never  did  them  any  harm.  .  .  .  We  do 
not  know  that  their  quick  wits  have  yet  compre- 
hended all  the  advantages  of  their  position.  But 
they  will  not  be  very  slow  in  finding  that  they 
are  masters  of  the  situation.  They  have  only,  in 
swaggering  along  Broadway  and  looking  into  some 
of  the  magnificent  stores  that  grace  that  vaunted 
street,  or  stepping  into  one  of  the  banks,  or  look- 
ing over  the  list  of  the  recipients  of  specie  by  the 
last  steamer  from  California,  or  the  names  of  the 
subscribers  to  the  last  Government  loan,  the  Grin- 
nells,  King's  Sons,  &c.,  to  be  convinced  that  a  mili- 


tary contribution  on  New- York  would  yield  a  huih 
dred-fold  more  than  they  could  hope  to  realise  io 
ten  bloody  and  desperate  campaigns  in  the  South  " 
"  Richmond  Whig,"  April  22,  1861. 

**  Washington,  April  27.— A  gentleman  fron 
Richmond  this  morning  gives  some  infonnatioo 
of  the  feeling  prevalent  there.    He  repreaenti  it 
as  a  perfect  reign  of  terror,  and  an  excitement 
that  he  never  saw  paralleled     The  troope  in  the 
city  he  thinks  a  fine,  hardy  body  of  men,  but  ig. 
norant  beyond  belief.     It  is  upon  the  ignorance 
of  these  men  that  the  leaders  play.    Some  of  the 
statements  he  heard  made  would  hardly  be  cred- 
ited as  the  assertions  of  sane  men.    He  listened 
to  one  man  who  publicly  stated  that  the  Seventh 
Regiment  had  been  cut  to  pieces  in  the  streets  of 
Annapolis,  and  th€U  he  hifntelf  saw  more  tban  one 
hundred  of  their  dead  bodies  lying  in  the  streets 
of  that  city.    Another  man  he  heard  assure  the 
crowd  that  the    Massachusetts  vagabonds  [\m 
glorious  volunteers)  had  been   quartered  in  the 
Capitol  at  Washington,  and  had  amused  them- 
selves by  running  their  bayonets   through  the 
pictures  which   adorned   it,  and  that  the   rich 
hangings  of  the  different  rooms  have  been  pulled 
down  and  made  into  blankets  and  wrappers  for 
the  use  of  the  troops.     Another  man,  who  waa 
organizing  a  corps  of  infantry,  told  them  they 
had  nothing  to  do  but  to  march  to  glory  and 
wealth.    *  What,*  said  he,  *  could  a  Northern  army 
do  on  our  sterile  hills  ?      They  would  starve  to 
death.      But  you,'  he  continued,   *have   but  to 
march  to  Washington,   and  lay   that   in   ashes; 
then  to  Philadelphia,  which  is  rich  in  all  kinds  at 
wealth ;  from  that  through  aU  the  North  ;  there 
is  a  village  every  five  miles,  and  every  viUaf^e 
has  a  bank,  and  every  bank  has  a  vault  of  specie, 
and  you  have  but  to  help  yoursAlves.' "     '*  N.  Y. 
Times,"  May  1,  1861. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  497 

The  severe  strain  to  which  republican  institutions  were  about  to  be 
exposed  in  America  became  the  subject  of  great  interest  to  our  Euro- 
pean neighbors,  and  the  leading  British  newspapers  did  not  fail  to 
appreciate  its  value.   Therefore  a  new  order  of  Bohemian  made  its  ap- 
pearance, simultaneously,  in  New-York,  Washington,  and  Eichmond. 
As  a  rule,  the  foreign  war  correspondent  wrote  with  comparative 
impartiality.     Now  and  then  a  superior  sort  of  person,  like  "Bull 
Run  Russell,^  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  essayed  to  make  his 
portfolio  carry  weight  with  the  credentials  of  an  envoy  extraordi- 
nary, but,  lacking  ordinary  tact,  contrived  to  have  himself  recalled 
early  in  the  strife.    A  more  discreet  ambassador  was,  apparently,  the 
representative  of  the  "  Illustrated  London  News.^    It  is  interesting, 
after  many  years,  to  see  ourselves  as  an  intelligent  stranger  saw  us 
then.    Writing  in  the  last  days  of  May,  1861,  he  says : 

I  could  easily  believe  myself  to  be  in  Paris,  or  some  other  city  devoted  to  military 
display,  instead  of  New- York,  the  commercial  emporium  of  the  North.    From  morn- 
ing to  night  nothing  is  heard  but  the  sound  of  the  drum  or  the  martial  strains  from 
trumpet  and  bugle,  as  regiment  after  regiment  passes  on  its  way  to  the  seat  of  war 
through  streets  crowded  with  a  maddened  population.     All  trade  is  at  a  standstill. 
Store  after  store  down  Broadway  has  been  turned  into  the   headquarters  of  An- 
derson's Zouaves,  Wilson's  Boys,  the  Empire  City  Guard,  and  hosts  of  corps  too 
numerous  or  too  eccentric  in  their  names  for  me  to  recollect.    Verily,  a  cosmopolitan 
army  is  assembled  here.    As  one  walks  he  is  jostled  by  soldiers  dressed  in  the  uni- 
forms of  the  Zouaves  de  la  Garde,  the  Chasseurs  k  Pied,  Infanterie  de  la  Ligne,  and 
other  French  regiments  —  so  g^reat  apparently  is  the  admiration  of  our  cousins  for 
everything  Gallic.     I  must  confess  I  should  like  to  see  more  nationality.    In  justice, 
however,  to  the  men,  I  cannot  do  otherwise  than  express  my  unqualified  approval  of  the 
material  out  of  which  the  North  is  to  make  her  patriot  army.    Many  of  those  I  have 
seen  marching  through  the  streets  appear  already  to  have  served  in  the  field,  so  ad- 
mirably do  they  bear  themselves  in  their  new  r61es.    The  very  children  have  become 
tainted  with  the  military  epidemic,  and  Httle,  toddling  Zouaves,  three  and  four  years 
old,  strut,  armed  to  the  teeth,  at  their  nurses'  apron  strings.   As  I  write  I  have  a  corps 
of  chasseurs,  composed  of  all  the  small  boys  in  the  hotel,  exercising  and  skirmishing 
in  the  corridor  outside  my  room.    .    .    .    There  is  not  a  house  that  does  not  display 
Union  colours  of  some  kind ;  there  is  not  a  steeple  ever  so  lofty  that  is  not  surmoimted 
by  a  star-spangled  banner ;  there  is  not  a  man  nor  woman  in  the  city  that  does  not 
wear  a  patriotic  badge  of  some  kind.     It  is  a  mighty  uprising  of  a  united  people 
determined  to  protect  their  flag  to  the  last.^ 

"  Early  in  the  summer  of  1861,  when  things  were  rapidly  developing 
toward  the  rebellion,  a  new  power,  not  hitherto  exercised  in  this  coun- 
try, was  exerted  for  the  public  safety.  Persons  were  arbitrarily  ar- 
rested and  confined  under  military  guard  on  evidence  satisfactory  to 
the  general  government  that  they  were  guilty  of  acts  of  a  disloyal  and 
dangerous  character.  It  devolved  upon  the  secretary  of  state  in  the 
first  instance  to  indicate  who  should  be  thus  put  in  confinement.  He 
made  the  arrests  through  his  marshals,  and  they  were  turned  over  to 

1  **  niustrated  London  News/'  June,  1861. 
Vol.  ra.— 32, 


498 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


JlljliiMiULlJ^Q^aL           ^ 

^n'Mt^ 

General  Scott,  who  held  them  at  Fort  Lafayette  in  New- York  harbor."' 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Martin  Burke,  U.  8.  army,  was  assigned,  July  jg 
1861,  to  command  Forts  Hamilton  and  Lafayette.  He  was  of  the  Ro- 
man centurion  type  of  soldier,  who  obeyed  orders  implicitly,  taking 
but  little  thought  as  to  their  legality,  and  serving  his  country  in  the 
clear  conviction  that  the  king  could  do  no  wrong.* 

One  of  the  earliest  duties  devolving  upon  the  president  ^as  to 
counteract,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  strong  influences  brought  to  bear 

by  the  South  upon 
the  governments  of 
Great  Britain  and 
France  to  recognize 
the  Confederacy,  or 
at  least  to  break 
oflf  the  friendly  re- 
lations with  the 
United  Stateswhich 
existed  at  the  out- 
break of  seces- 
sion. He  determined  to  ask  three  eminent  citizens — Archbishop  John 
Hughes  of  New- York,  Bishop  Charles  P.  McHvaine  of  Ohio,  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General Winfield  Scott,  then  abroad — to  represent  the  general 
government.  Archbishop  Hughes  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  pres- 
ident, with  the  condition  that  his  friend  Thurlow  Weed  should  be  in- 
cluded in  the  commission,  in  an  advisory  capacity.  Thus  the  powerful 
combination  of  church  and  state,  of  war  and  diplomacy,  made  it  an 
ideal  embassy.  These  wise  men  established  themselves  alternately  at 
London  and  Paris,  mingled  with  the  leaders  of  the  people,  and  culti- 
vated the  society  of  the  royal  and  imperial  premiers.  They  happened 
to  be  in  the  right  place  when  the  irritating  episode  of  the  Trent 
occun*ed,  and  war  between  England,  France,  and  America  seemed 
imminent.  It  was  averted  by  only  a  hair's-breadth,  and  in  the  light 
of  later  developments  as  to  the  inside  history  of  the  rebellion,  it  would 
seem  that  the  American  people  owe  President  Lincoln's  peace  com- 
mission a  heavy  debt  of  gratitude. 

The  third  year  of  the  civil  war  was  marked  in  the  city  of  New- 


PORT    LATAYETTE,   1861-60. 


1  *•  Aiiecdot€i8  of  the  Civil  War,'*  E.  D.  Towns- 
end,  New-York,  1884. 

2  *'  General  Scott,  when  ho  sought  to  enforce 
discipline  in  sport  or  seriousness,  seldom  failed  to 
cite  the  name  of  Martin  Burke  as  a  supreme  exem- 
plar of  obedience.  *  If,'  said  he,  *  I  were  to  order 
Captain  Burke  to  brini?  me  the  head  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  he  would  proceed  to 
execute  the  order  with  as  much  unconcern  as  he 
would  send  a  drunken  soldier  to  the  pruard-houstt.' 
The  ortler  of  his  commanding  officer  had  the  effect 
to  clear  the  mind  of  Captain  Martin  Burke  of  all 


fears  and  apprehenstonsy  and  if  directed  br  hli 
chief  to  lead  a  forlorn  hope,  or  to  kill  a  citizen,  not 
a  nerve  of  his  body  would  have  moved.  On  the 
other  hand,  his  dread  of  civil  tribunals  and  the 
mandates  of  courts  overwhelmed  him.  Once.whtn 
he  was  summoned  as  a  witness  in  a  simple  ctow 
which  affected  him  not,  ho  would  fain  have  fled 
the  jurisdiction.  When  outside  the  chain  of  mh- 
tinels  he  always  had  a  scared  look,  and  he  rogirded 
a  camp  or  fort  as  a  refuge  of  sweet  repose  and 
security."  "Fifty  Years'  Observationfl.  etc." 
Keyes.  New-York,  1884. 


NEW-YORK    m    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  499 

York  by  the  most  protracted  and  bloody  riot  in  her  history.  The 
Northern  States  had  responded  nobly  to  the  president's  various  calls 
for  volunteers,  but  as  the  great  straggle  continued,  voluntary  food 
for  powder  became  scarce,  and  the  government  was  forced  to  resort 
to  compulsory  enlistment.  In  most  of  the  States  there  was  little  diffi- 
culty in  enforcing  the  draft.  In  New-York  there  was  hesitation  on 
the  pdrt  of  Governor  Seymour  to  aid  in  a  measure  extremely  unpopu- 
lar among  a  certain  class  in  the  community.  His  reluctance  to  co- 
operate with  the  general  government  encouraged  the  worst  elements 
in  the  city  to  open  rebellion.  The  merits  of  the  question  are  clearly 
set  forth  in  a  work  by  the  (then)  provost-marshal-general  of  the 
United  States.^  From  this  and  other  reliable  sources,  it  appears  that 
on  July  2, 1862,  the  president  issued  a  call  for  300,000  volunteers  — 
his  final  effort  to  suppress  the  rebellion  by  voluntary  military  service. 
On  the  4th  of  August  following  he  called  for  300,000  nine-months 
militia.  In  September  the  war  department  issued  instructions  under 
which  some  of  the  governors  commenced  a  draft. 

In  a  letter  dated  August  4, 1862,  to  Count  de  Gasparin,  President 
Lincoln  said :  "  Our  great  army  has  dwindled  rapidly,  bringing  the 
necessity  for  a  new  call  earlier  than  was  anticipated.  We  shall  easily 
obtain  the  new  levy,  however.  Be  not  alarmed  if  you  shall  learn  that 
we  have  resorted  to  a  draft  for  part  of  this.  It  seems  strange  even  to 
me,  but  it  is  true,  that  the  Government  is  now  pressed  to  this  course 
by  a  popular  demand.^  Thousands  who  wish  not  to  personally  enter 
the  service  are  nevertheless  anxious  to  pay  and  send  substitutes,  pro- 
vided that  they  can  have  assurance  that  unwilling  persons  similarly 
situated  will  be  compelled  to  do  likewise.^ 

In  his  annual  report  dated  December  31,  1862,  Adjutant-General 
Hillhouse  said :  "  There  was  nothing  of  that  eagerness  to  enter  the 
service  which  had  been  manifested  at  various  periods,  and  it  appeared 
as  if  the  people  had  fallen  into  an  apathy  from  which  only  an  extra- 
ordinary effort  could  arouse  them.'^  He  further  said  that  the  State 
was  deficient  28,517  men  in  volunteers  furnished  since  July  2,  1862, 
and  of  these  18,523  belonged  to  the  city  of  New -York,  adding  that 
"  the  credit  to  the  city  and  county  of  New- York  is  based  on  the  actual 
returns  filed  in  this  office,  but  it  is  believed  that  it  is  less  than  the 
volunteers  furnished.^  The  necessity  for  a  general  conscription  was 
set  forth  in  the  public  utterances  of  War  Democrats  and  Eepublicans 

1  *•  New -York  and  the  Conscription,"  James  B.  add  anythinf<  to  our  e£9ciency  in  the  field,  the  raw 

Pry,  New -York,  1885.  recruits  ought  to  be  collected  at  camps  of  instruc- 

2 "There  is  only  one  way  to  remedy  our  fatal  tion,  in  healthy  localities  east  and  west,  where, 

error:  that  is  for  the  President  at  once  to  establish  under  the  direction  of  West  Point  graduates,  they 

a  system  of  conscription,  by  which,  instead  of  should  be  drilled  and  disciplined.     From  thence 

300,000,  iU  Ucist  500,000  men  should  be  called  under  as  they  are  fit  for  active  service  they  should  be 

arms.  .  .  .  Instead  of  levying  new  regiments  com-  furnished  to  the  army,  to  be  incorporated  into  the 

manded  by  inexperienced  officers  of  their  own  old  regiments.''      Augrust    Belmont  to  Thurlow 

choosing,  and  who,  for  a  year  to  come,  would  barely  Weed,  July  20,  1862. 


500  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

alike.  "  Senator  MeDougal  (Democrat)  said :  *  Now  in  regard  to  the 
conscription  question,  I  will  say  for  myself  that  I  regretted  much,  when 
this  war  was  first  organized,  that  the  conscription  rule  did  not  obtaiu. 
I  went  from  the  extreme  east  to  the  extreme  west  of  the  loyal  States. 
I  found  some  districts  where  some  bold  leaders  brought  out  all  the 
young  men,  and  sent  them  or  led  them  to  the  field.  In  other  districts, 
and  they  were  the  most  numerous,  the  people  made  no  movement 
toward  the  maintenance  of  the  war;  there  were  whole  towns  and 
cities,  I  may  say,  where  no  one  volunteered  to  shoulder  a  musket,  ami 
no  one  offered  to  lead  them  into  the  service.  The  whole  business  hag 
been  unequal  and  wrong  from  the  first.  The  rule  of  conscription 
should  have  been  the  rule  to  bring  out  men  of  all  classes,  and  make  it 
equal  throughout  the  country ;  and  therein  the  North  has  failed.'"' 

General  Fry,  the  provost-marshal-general,  said :  "  It  was  of  great 
importance  to  the  people  of  the  State  as  well  as  to  the  general  Gov- 
ernment  that  a  correct  enrolment  should  be  made.  The  Adjutant- 
General  of  New -York,  when  speaking,  in  his  rei)ort  of  December  31, 
1862,  of  the  principle  of  compulsory  service,  said  to  the  Governor: 
'  Nor  is  it  less  a  matter  of  interest  to  the  States.  Whatever  mav  be 
the  plan  adopted,  the  force  required  must  be  drawn  from  their  popu. 
lation  liable  to  military  duty,  on  which  the  1,000,000  of  volunteers 
hitherto  sent  to  the  field  has  already  made  serious  inroads.  They 
have,  moreover,  a  common  interest  with  the  general  Government  in 
such  an  application  of  their  military  resources  as  will  render  them 
most  effective  for  the  purposes  in  view  with  the  least  possible  waste, 
and  with  as  little  hardship  as  possible  to  the  community.* 

"  The  Enrolment  Act  was  approved  March  3,  1863.  Section  9  re- 
quired that  the  enrollers  ^immediately  proceed  to  enroP  and  report  the 
result  *on  or  before  the  first  day  of  April'  to  the  Board  of  Enrolment, 
and  the  Board  was  required  by  the  Act  to  consolidate  the  names  into 
one  list  and  transmit  the  same  to  the  Provost-Marshal-General  *  on 
or  before  the  first  day  of  May.*  There  was,  it  is  true,  a  proviso  that 
if  these  duties  could  not  be  done  in  the  time  specified,  they  should  be 
performed  as  soon  thereafter  as  practicable ;  but  neither  the  intention 
of  the  law,  nor  the  manifest  necessity  under  which  it  was  enacted, 
permitted  delay,  or,  as  President  Lincoln  expressed  it  in  his  letter  to 
Governor  Seymour,  dated  August  7, 1863,  *  We  could  not  waste  time 
to  reexperiment  with  the  volunteer  system,  already  deemed  by  Con- 
gress, and  palpably  in  fact,  so  far  exhausted  as  to  be  inadequate ;  and 
then  more  time  to  obtain  a  correct  decision  as  to  whether  a  law  is 
constitutional  which  requires  a  part  of  those  not  now  in  the  ser\ice 
to  go  to  the  aid  of  those  who  are  already  in  it ;  and  still  more  time  to 
determine  with  absolute  certainty  that  we  get  those  who  are  to  go 

1  *•  New- York  and  the  Conscription." 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  501 

in  the  precisely  legal  proportion  to  those  who  are  not  to  go.'  *My 
purpose,*  the  president  added,  *  is  to  be  in  my  actions  just  and  con- 
stitutional, and  yet  practical  in  performing  the  important  duty  with 
which  I  am  charged,  of  maintaining  the  unity  and  the  free  principles 
of  our  common  country.'  ^ 

The  political  campaign  of  1862  in  New -York  was  hardly  less  exciting 
than  the  military  operations  in  Virginia.  The  Republican  standard- 
bearer  was  that  gallant  soldier  and  unselfish  patriot,  James  S.  Wads- 
worth  ;  his  Democratic  opponent,  the  eminent  lawyer  Horatio  Sey- 
mour. The  first  stood  on  a  radical  platform — one  of  its  planks  being 
the  prosecution  of  the  war  by  "  all  the  means  that  the  God  of  Battles 
has  placed  in  the  power  of  the  Government."  The  other  candidate 
was  put  forth  by  a  more  conservative  constituency,  favoring  "  all  le- 
gitimate means  to  suppress  the  Rebellion,''  and  leaning  to  a  milder 
policy.  Seymour  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  10,752.  "  On  the  1st 
of  January,  1863,  the  outgoing  administration  of  Governor  Morgan 
turned  over  to  the  incoming  administration  of  Governor  Seymour  tlie 
revised  State  Enrolment,  the  Government's  order  to  draft  the  militia, 
and  the  deficiency  of  New- York  heretofore  mentioned."  * 

Preparations  for  the  proposed  draft  were  rapidly  pushed  forward 
by  the  war  department.  Those  affecting  the  city  comprised  the 
appointment  of  a  provost-marshal  for  each  congressional  district,^ 
and  an  .assistant  provost-marshal-general  to  supervise  their  work, 
for  the  cities  of  New -York  and  Brooklyn ;  this  officer  was  Colonel 
Robert  Nugent,  Sixty-ninth  New -York  Volunteers,  a  gallant  soldier, 
a  discreet  officer,  an  Irishman,  and  a  Democrat.  As  early  as  April  24, 
1862,  Governor  Seymour  and  Mayor  Opdyke  were  informed  of  this. 
The  first  order  for  making  a  draft  in  the  State  under  the  Enrolment 
Act  was  issued  July  1.  Notwithstanding  the  knowledge,  which  the 
municipal  authorities  possessed,  that  an  unpopular  public  measure 
was  about  to  be  put  into  execution  within  the  city  limits,  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  unusual  precaution  was  taken  to  preserve  the  peace. 
Indeed,  the  force  available  for  that  purpose,  outside  of  the  police, 
was  limited  to  a  handful  of  regulars  in  the  harbor  garrisons,  and  a  few 
disabled  men  of  the  Invalid  Corps.  The  local  militia  regiments  had 
been  summoned  to  repel  the  threatened  invasion  of  a  neighboring 
State  in  cooperation  with  the  armies  in  the  field,  leaving  their  own 
homes  open  to  an  enemy  in  the  rear  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the 
soldiers  of  Lee.  Nevertheless,  the  police  department  comprised 
numerous  resolute,  experienced,  and  able  officers,  especially  its  presi- 
dent, Thomas  Acton,  and  its  superintendent,  John  A.  Kennedy. 

1  •*  New -York  and  the  Conscription."  7th  Congressional  District,  Frederick  C.  Wagner ; 

2  Provost-Marshals :  4th  Congressional  District,  8th  Congressional  District,  Benjamin  F.  Manierre ; 
Joel  B.  Erhardt ;  5th  Congressional  District,  John  9th  Congressional  District,  Charles  E.  Jenkins. 
Duffy ;  6th  Congressional  District,  James B.  Fan*; 


502  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

The  morning  of  Saturday,  July  11,  had  been  selected  for  the  com- 
mencement  of  the  draft  in  the  city,  and  the  day  passed  without  much 
interference  with  the  officers  charged  with  its  supervision ;  and  the 
local  authorities  felt  encouraged  to  think  that  the  remainder  of  the 
work  would  be  completed  without  serious  opposition.  The  follow. 
ing  day,  being  Sunday,  was  undoubtedly  seized  by  those  intent  upon 
obstructing  the  provost-marshals  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  to 
foment  trouble  among  the  ignorant  or  reckless  element  that  abouudg 
in  every  large  city.  On  Monday  morning  a  few  policemen  were  sent 
to  the  enroUing-offices  at  677  Third  Avenue  and  at  1190  Broadway. 
At  the  last-named  place  the  mystic  wheel  was  set  in  motion,  and  the 
drawing  of  names  was  continued  without  interruption  until  noon, 
when  the  provost-marshals  suspended  operations  as  a  measure  of 
precaution.  Up  to  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  city  had  been  com- 
paratively quiet.  At  that  hour  Superintendent  Kennedy,  while  upon 
a  tour  of  inspection,  without  escort,  and  in  plain  clothes,  was  attacked 
by  a  mob  at  the  comer  of  Forty-sixth  street  and  Lexington  Avenue 
and,  after  being  severely  beaten,  barely  escaped  with  his  life  through 
the  intervention  of  an  influential  friend.  He  was  disabled  for  some 
days,  and  the  immediate  command  of  the  police  devolved  upon  Mr. 
Acton.  That  officer  established  himself  at  i)olice  headquarters  in 
Mulberry  street,  and,  with  the  advantage  of  a  complete  telegraphic 
system  centering  there,  practically  directed  the  operation^  of  the 
campaign  which  ensued.  The  entire  police  force  of  the  city  had  now 
been  assembled  at  its  respective  station-houses,  and  for  the  neit 
three  days  was  constantly  employed  in  stamping  out  the  sparks  of 
insurrection  which  were  flying  about  and  at  times  breaking  out  into 
sheets  of  flame  that  threatened  the  existence  of  the  city.  From  the 
Cooper  Institute  to  Forty-sixth  street.  Third  Avenue  was  black  with 
human  beings,  who  hung  over  the  eaves  of  the  buildings,  filled  the 
doors  and  windows,  and  packed  the  street  from  curb  to  curb.  Small 
bodies  of  police  were  driven  away  or  trampled  under  foot,  houses 
were  fired,  stores  looted,  and  a  very  carnival  of  crime  inaugurated. 
Negroes  became  especially  obnoxious,  and  neither  age  nor  sex  was 
regarded  by  the  white  brutes  in  slaking  their  thirst  for  blood :  from 
every  lamp-post  were  suspended  the  victims  of  their  blind  fury. 
With  one  accord  several  thousand  rioters  swooped  down  upon  the 
Colored  Orphan  Asylum,  then  occupying  the  space  from  Forty-third 
to  Forty-fourth  street  on  Fifth  Avenue.  The  two  hundred  helpless 
children  were  hurriedly  removed  by  a  rear  door  while  the  mob  rushed 
in  at  the  front ;  the  torch  was  applied  in  twenty  places  at  once,  and 
despite  the  heroic  efforts  of  Chief  Engineer  Decker  and  other  firemen 
to  save  the  structure,  it  was  burned  to  the  ground.  Emboldened  by 
the  progi'ess  they  had  made  in  lawlessness,  the  principal  body  of  the 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  503 

rioters,  numbering  some  five  thousand  men,  moved  upon  the  citadel 
of  the  oppressor,  as  they  considered  the  central  oflfice  of  the  police 
in  Mulberry  street. 

To  meet  this  threatening  demonstration  President  Acton  detailed 
Sergeant  (afterward  Inspector)  Daniel  Carpenter,  a  man  of  great 
courage  and  ability,  and  placed  under  his  command  about  two  hun- 
dred policemen  who  had  been  held  in  reserve  at  that  point.  It  was 
a  duty  of  supreme  importance,  and  well  was  it  executed.  Without 
unnecessary  delay.  Carpenter  moved  his  column  down  Bleecker  street 
to  Broadway,  at  the  same  time  sending  a  detachment  up  the  nearest 
parallel  streets  to  the  east  and  west,  to  strike 
the  flanks  of  the  infuriated  mass  bearing 
down  upon  his  front.  At  the  proper  moment 
a  combined  charge  utterly  demoralized  the  undisciplined  horde,  which, 
sinking  under  the  well-planted  blows  of  the  police,  fled  in  every  direc- 
tion. The  street  looked  like  a  battle-field,  broken  heads  were  count- 
less, and  the  spoils  of  war  included  the  stars  and  stripes  and  a  banner 
inscribed  "  No  Draft.'' 

As  the  night  closed  in,  it  became  evident  that  the  disturbance  was 
too  wide-spread  and  deep-seated  to  be  controlled  by  clubs,  and  that 
reinforcements  must  be  called  for.  To  this  end  Mayor  Opdyke  called 
for  troops  upon  General  Wool,  commanding  the  Department  of  the 
East,  and  General  Sandford,  commanding  the  National  Guard.  Gen- 
eral Wool  directed  Brevet  Brigadier-General  Harvey  Brown,  Colonel 
Fifth  U.  S.  Artillery,  commanding  the  troops  in  the  harbor,  to  report 
with  his  available  force  to  Major-General  Sandford  of  the  State  militia 
for  duty.  General  Brown  declined  to  obey  what  he  considered  an 
illegal  order,  but  finally  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  certain  promi- 
nent citizens,  and  agreed  to  waive  a  part  of  the  question  in  dispute, 
stipulating  that  he  should  personally  direct  the  operations  of  the 
troops  drawn  from  the  military  posts  under  his  command,  according 
to  his  previous  assignment  by  the  war  department.'^ 

General  Brown  established  his  headquarters  at  the  central  oflBce, 

1  George  Opdyke  waa  bom  in  Hunterdon  County,  1872-75,  of  the  New- York  Chamber  of  Commerce 

N.  J.,  in  1805.    When  a  young  man  he  went  West,  from  1858  to  1880,  and  it*  vice-president  in  1867-75. 

and  afterward  to  New  Oirleans,  returning  to  New-  Mr.  Opdyke  was  the  author  of  a  ''Treatise  on  Po- 

York  in  1832,  where  he  subsequently  established  litical  Economy,"  a  **  Report  on  the  Currency," 

the  banking-house  of  George  Opdyke  &  Co.     He  and  a  volume  of  '*  Official  Documents,  Addresses, 

served  in  the  legislature  in  1858,  faithfully  pro-  etc.'*    He  died  in  New- York  city,  June  12,  1880. 

tecting  the  franchises  of  New- York  city  from  Editor. 

spoliation.    In  1860  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Na-  -  Wab  Depabtment. 

tional  Republican  Convention,  and  was  instru-  (G.  O.  36.)        Adjutant-General's  Office, 

mental  in  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Washington,  April  7.  1863. 

He  was  mayor  of  New-York  in  1862-63,  was  a  pa-  6.  .  .  .  The  duties  of  military  commanders  above 

triotic  sustainer  of  the  national  government,  an  defined  will  devolve,  in  the  City  of  New- York  and 

energetic  worker  in  raising  and  equipping  troops,  the  military  posts  in  tliat  vicinity,  on  Brevet  Briga- 

and  exercised  a  strong  influence  in  preventing  dier-General  H.  Brown,  Colonel  Fifth  U.  S.  Artil- 

eommercial  panics.      He  was  a  member  of  the  lery.    By  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

New-York  Constitutional  Convention  in  1867-68,  (Signed) 

of  the  New-York  Constitutional  Commission  in  L.  Thomas,  Adjutant-GeneraL 


504  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

remaining  there,  in  active  cooperation  with  the  police  board,  during 
the  continuance  of  the  riot.  General  Sandford  did  not  attempt  to 
control  the  operations  of  the  regular  troops,  but,  at  the  head  of  some 
seven  hundred  men  of  the  militia,  temporarily  absent  from  their  regi. 
ments,  proceeded  to  occupy  the  State  Arsenal  at  Seventh  Avenue  and 
Thirty-fifth  street. 

The  second  and  third  days  were  marked  by  fresh  outbursts  and 
much  bloodshed:  bayonets  and  bullets  were  substituted  for  police, 
men's  billies.  The  territory  of  the  disturbance  had  extended  to 
Harlem,  and  westward  beyond  Sixth  Avenue.  Evidences  of  able 
leadership  among  the  bands  of  marauders  were  visible.  The  roofs  of 
houses  became  vantage-ground  from  which  stones  were  hurled  and 
shots  fired  at  the  police  and  troops  in  sight.  Detachments  composed 
of  mixed  civil  and  military  forces  were  sent  out  from  Mulberry  street 
to  disperse  the  more  formidable  bodies  of  law-breakers.  In  cue  of 
these  encounters  Colonel  O'Brien  of  the  11th  New -York  Volunteers 
(then  on  recruiting  service  in  the  city),  although  hot  assigned  to  duty 
with  the  troops,  was  conspicuous  in  opposing  the  mob  near  the  con 
ner  of  Second  Avenue  and  Thirty-second  street.  With  a  disregard 
of  ordinary  prudence,  he  ventured  shortly  after,  alone  and  in  imifonn, 
to  return  to  the  same  locality.  With  fiendish  glee  the  roughs  seized 
him,  and,  after  beating  him  unmercifully,  dragged  him  up  and  down 
the  street,  and  finally,  after  subjecting  him  to  every  conceivable  abuse, 
tossed  him,  covered  with  filth,  into  his  own  back  yard,  where  he  ex- 
pired  after  lingering  without  relief  for  several  hours.  Among  his  most 
cruel  persecutors  were  women  who  emulated  the  worst  deeds  of  the 
most  brutal  Indian  squaw.  Although  the  insurgents  received  some 
salutary  checks  during  the  second  day,  the  disorder  was  far  from  los- 
ing strength.  Driven  from  one  section,  it  quickly  made  its  appear- 
ance in  another.  It  gradually  crept  over  to  the  North  River.  Public 
buildings  were  threatened.  The  "  Tribune  "  building  received  a  large 
share  of  sinister  attention,  and  the  residences  of  the  mayor  and  other 
obnoxious  citizens  were  often  in  peril.  In  the  mean  time  the  general 
government  had  taken  precaution  in  the  way  of  placing  gunboats  at 
various  points  in  the  waters  surrounding  the  city,  and  at  the  Navy- 
yard,  to  cooperate  with  the  weak  land  force  available.  Orders  were 
issued  to  the  Seventh  and  other  city  regiments  to  return  home,  and 
quite  a  large  force  was  under  orders  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and 
at  Washington  to  move  on  New -York  at  a  moment's  notice.  But  the 
admirable  arrangements  of  General  Brown  and  President  Acton,  and 
the  excellent  discipline  of  the  force  under  their  direction,  finally  pre- 
vailed against  the  unorganized  army  of  anarchy  and  misrule,  and  by 
midnight  of  the  third  day  the  wires  reported  "  all  quiet.^  The  back- 
bone of  the  beast  was  broken,  but  nevertheless  all  good  citizens  drew 


MBW-yOBE    IN    THE    WAE    FOB    THE    UNION 


505 


ath  of  relief  when,  shortly  after,  it  was  known  that  the  Seventh 

etamed  to  aid  in  defending  home  and  fireside. 
the  fourth  day  proclamations  were  issued  by  the  governor  and 

<T — the  cue  setting  forth 

irevalenee  of  inaurreetion, 

ther  announcing  the  prac- 
close   of    hostilitiea.     It 

oe  necessary  during  the 

»  break  up  two  or  three 

erously    inclined    bands, 

succumbed  only  to  a  free 

t  canister.    In  these  affairs 

uns  Franklin  and  Putnam' 

Lieutenant  Wood  of  the 
distinguished  themselves, 
was   announced   by   the 

r  that  the  draft  had  been 

mded,  while  the  common 

al  appropriated  $2,500,000 

■d  paying  $600  each  for 

itutes  for  the  poor  who 

t  be  drafted.  In  the  after- 
the  65th  and  152d  New- 
Volunteers   arrived  and 

i  the  force  at  police  head- 
ers in  Mulberry  street. 

rlr  on  the  tDoruing  after  the  bftttle  of  Bull 
t>rt«d  TJth  wine,  fruit,  and  other  artlclea 
a  the  eondiHon  of  invkllda,  and  visited  the 
t  hoapitalB  about  WashiDgtoa.  rellevlDg  as 
eoold  the  wounded  of  our  own  State.  As 
KTing  the  hoB[iital  at  Georgetown,  the  aur- 
rited  me  to  see  a  patient  who  had  ahown 
linarj'  endurance.  I  found  a  young  man 
:ot.  The  Burgeon  T«inoved  some  lint  from 
it-ball  wound.  He  then  asked  the  young 
nitK  himself,  so  that,  while  reaClng  upon 
w,  I  saw  that  tbe  ball  bad  passed  througb 
%  avoiding  any  vital  spot.  The  patient,  tbe 
informed  me,  had,  after  being  tbe  last  to 
le  Beld,  reformed  the  thinned  ranks  of  bis 
y  and  marched  at  tbeir  bead  from  tbe 

gton,  and  then  reported  himself  as  a 
d  officer.  Notvithslanding  this  tearful 
hewas  calm  and  hopeful.  He  came,  as  he 
d  me,  from  HlnnesotA.  and  was  In  com- 
'  a  company  Id  a  Minnesota  regiment.  He 
)  his  name,  and  I  left,  strongly  impressed 
B  Idea  that,  if  his  life  was  spurd.  he  was 
I  tor  fntnre  usefulnesa.  I  went  direetly 
(eeretary  of  War,  who  directed  a  commis- 
be  iBsoed  for  my  protigi.    I  went  from 


Secretary  Cameron  to  President  Lincoln,  who  not 
only  cheerfully  approved  the  commission,  but  was 

only  prevented  by  pressing  duties  from  taking  it 

hours  after  I  left  him,  Captain  Putnam,  of  the 
Minnesota  Volunteers,  found  blmselt  designated 
as  Captain  Putnam  of  the  United  States  army. .  .  . 
During  the  sanguinary  riots  of  July.  1863, 1  was  in 
New- York.  ,  .  .  When  sitting  at  Police  Headquar- 
ters a  U.  S.  officer  came  in  who  had  been  directed 
to  disperse  tbe  rioters  who  hsd  murdered  Colonel 
O'Brien.  Onr  recognition  was  mntnal,  as  was  the 
surprise  and  the  gratiflcatiun.  .  .  .  Captain  Put- 
nam, as  I  learned  from  the  Commissioners,  con- 
tinued active  and  vigilant,  making  thorough  work 
wherever  he  went,  until  the  riots  were  over." 
Thurlow  Weed,  in  "  Qaluiy,"  IX.  837. 

a  The  old  Brick  Church  was  situated  on  the  cor- 
ner of  Nasun  and  Beekmon  streets,  where  it  was 
erected  in  1767.  The  present  Brick  Church, 
erected  In  185A  on  the  comer  of  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Thirty-seventh  street,  is  very  similar  in  gen- 
eral style  to  its  down-town  predecessor,  but  Is 
larger  and  more  imposing.  The  history  of  this 
church  is  notable  for  the  long  paatorate  of  Dr. 
Gardiner  Spring,  who.  called  to  the  position  in 
1810,  remained  in  oSce  sixty-two  years, 

Editob. 


506 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW- YORK 


One  of  the  most  satisfactory  features  of  the  terrible  experience 
through  which  the  city  passed  at  this  time  was  the  mutual  respect 
and  confidence  which  existed  between  the  regular  troops  and  the 
police  force  combined  to  preserve  law  and  order.  In  the  final  report 
of  the  police  commissioners,  a  grateful  tribute  was  paid  the  soldiei^i 
and  General  Brown,  in  relinquishing  his  command  to  General  Caubv 
said  that  "  having  during  the  present  insurrection  been  in  immediate 
and  constant  cooperation  with  the  Police  Department  of  this  city,  he 
desires  the  privilege  of  expressing  his  unbounded  admiration  of  it 
Never  in  civil  or  military  life  has  he  seen  such  untiring  devotion  and 
such  eflScient  service." 

Order  having  been  restored,  the  draft  was  resumed  and  completed 
without  further  interruption, —  Governor  Seymour  having  issued  a 
proclamation  warning  the  people  against  disorders,  and  saying:  **I 
again  repeat  to  you  the  warning  which  I  gave  to  you  during  the 
riotous  proceedings  of  last  month,  that  the  only  opposition  to  the  con- 
scription which  can  be  allowed  is  an  appeal  to  the  courts."  General 
Dix,  commanding  the  Department  of  the  East,  in  a  letter  to  the  gov- 
emor  at  this  time  said:  "  The  recent  riots  in  this  city,  coupled  as  they 
were  with  the  most  atrocious  and  revolting  crimes,  have  cast  a  shadow 
over  it  for  the  moment.  But  the  promptitude  with  which  the  majesty 
of  the  law  was  vindicated,  and  the  fearlessness  with  which  a  high 
judicial  functionary  is  pronouncing  judgment  upon  the  guilty,  have 
done  and  are  doing  much  to  efface  what,  under  a  different  course  of 
action,  might  have  been  an  indelible  stain  upon  the  reputation  of  the 
city.  It  remains  only  for  the  people  to  vindicate  themselves  from  re- 
proach in  the  eyes  of  the  country  and  the  world  by  a  cheerful  ac- 
quiescence in  the  law.  That  it  has  defects  is  generally  conceded. 
That  it  will  evolve  cases  of  personal  hardship  is  not  disputed.  War, 
when  waged  for  self-defence,  for  the  maintenance  of  great  principles, 
and  for  the  national  life,  is  not  exempt  from  the  sufferings  insep- 
arable from  all  conflicts  which  are  decided  by  the  shock  of  armies, 


1  '*The  military  forces  in  command  of  Brevet 
Brigadier-General  Harvey  Brown  reported  at  the 
Central  Department,  and  there  General  Brown 
estahlished  his  headquarters,  and  from  there  ex- 
peditions, combined  of  police  and  military  force, 
were  sent  out  that  in  all  cases  conquered,  defeated, 
or  dispersed  the  mob  force,  and  subjected  them  to 
severe  chastisement.  In  no  instance  did  these  de- 
tachments from  the  Central  Department,  whether 
of  police  alone  or  police  and  military  combined, 
meet  with  defeat  or  serious  check.  Durinf?  the 
whole  of  those  anxious  days  and  nif<hts,  Brigadier- 
General  Brown  remained  at  the  Central  Depart- 
ment, ordering  the  movements  of  the  military  in 
carefully  considered  combinations  with  the  police 
force,  and  throughout  the  strufrglo.  and  until  its 
clone,  commanded  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of 
tiie  Police  Department  and  all  who  witnessed  his 
firm  intelligence  and  soldierly  conduct.    It  is  un- 


derstood that  he  had  at  no  time  under  his  imme. 
diate  command  more  than  three  hundred  troopfl. 
but  they  were  of  the  highest  order,  and  were  Mm- 
manded  by  officers  of  courage  and  ability.   Thej 
cordially  acted  with,  supported,  and  were  rap- 
ported  by  the  police,  and  victory  in  every  conteK 
against  fearful  odds  was  the  result  of  brave  fight- 
ing and  intelligent  command.  In  the  judgment  of 
this  Board,  the  escape  of  the  city  from  the  power 
of  an  infuriated  mob  is  due  to  the  aid  fumislied 
the  police  by  Brigadier-General  Brown  and  tlM 
small  military  force  under  his  command.  No  oda 
can  doubt.,  who  saw  him,  as  we  did.  that  during 
those  anxious  and  eventful  days  and  nights  Brif> 
adier-General  Harvey  Brown  was  equal  to  tte 
situation,  and  was  the  right  man  in  the  rigbt 
place.    We  avail  ourselves  of  this  occasion  to  Vnr 
der  him,  in  the  most  earnest  and  pablic  maniMT, 
the  thanks  of  the  department  and  our  own.** 


NEW-YOBK    IN    THE    WAR    FOB    THE    UNION 


507 


and  it  is  by  our  firmness  and  our  patriotism  in  meeting  all  the  calls 
of  the  country  upon  us,  that  we  achieve  the  victory  and  prove  our- 
selves worthy  of  it  and  the  cause  in  which  we  toil  and  suffer.^  General 
Fry  thus  tersely  sums  up  the  situation :  "  The  real  cause  of  the  riot 
was  that  in  a  community  where  a  considerable  political  element  was 
active  in  opposition  to  the  way  the  war  was  conducted,  if  not  to  the 
war  itself,  and  where  there  was  a  strong  opinion  adverse  to  the 
principles  of  compulsory  service,  certain  lawless  men  preferred  fight- 
ing the  Government  at  home,  when  it  made  the  issue  of  forcing  them 
by  lot  to  fight  its  enemies  in  the  field." 

Among  the  sensational  incidents  of  the  spring  of  1864  may  here  be 
noted  the  despicable  attempt  to  use  the  misfortunes  of  the  country 
for  st/Ock-jobbing  purposes.  It  was  just  after  the  bloody  afifair  of 
Cold  Harbor,  when  Grant  and  Lee,  having  locked  horns  in  the  Wilder- 
ness, were  taking  a  breathing  spell,  and  the  public  suspense  was  at 
its  height.  It  was  very  early  in  the  morning  of  May  18,  1864,  and 
"  steamer-day  "  in  the  city,  when  an  unknown  messeuger  appeared  at 
the  door  of  the  press-room  of  the  "Journal  of  Commerce^  with  what 
purported  to  be  the  telegraphic  "copy"  of  a  proclamation  by  the 
president.^  A  similar  document  was  handed  in  to  the  men  in  charge 
of  the  offices  of  all  the  other  principal  papers.  It  was  an  hour  cal- 
culated to  favor  the  designs  of  the  reckless  promoter,  but  the  fraud 


lA  Day  of  Fastinq  Rkoomhended. — Call  fob 
FouB  Hundred  Thousand  Troops. 

ExxounvB  Mansion,  May  17,  1864. 

Ftttcw-^vsens  of  the  United  States : 

Id  aU  seasoiiB  of  exigency  it  becomes  a  nation 
carefully  to  scrutinize  its  line  of  conduct,  humbly 
to  approach  the  Throne  of  Grace,  and  meekly  to 
implore  forgiveness,  wisdom,  and  guidance. 

For  reasons  known  only  to  Him,  it  has  been 
decreed  that  this  country  should  be  the  scene  of  un- 
paralleled outrage,  and  this  nation  the  monumental 
sufferer  of  the  nineteenth  century.  With  a  heavy 
heart,  but  an  undiminished  confidence  in  our 
cause,  I  approach  the  performance  of  a  duty  ren- 
dered imperative  by  my  sense  of  weakness  before 
the  Almighty  and  of  justice  to  the  people.  It 
is  not  necessary  that  I  should  tell  you  that  the 
first  Virginia  campaign  under  Lieutenant-Oeneral 
Grant,  in  whom  I  have  every  confidence,  and 
whose  courage  and  fidelity  the  people  do  well  to 
honor,  is  virtually  closed.  He  has  conducted  his 
great  enterprise  with  discreet  ability.  He  has  crip- 
pled their  strength  and  defeated  their  plans.  In 
view,  however,  of  the  situation  in  Virginia,  the 
disasters  at  Red  Biver.  the  delay  at  Charleston, 
and  the  general  state  of  the  country,  I,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  do  hereby  recommend  that  Thursday,  the 
twenty-sixth  day  of  May,  A.  D.  1864,  be  solemnly 
set  aiMurt  throughout  these  United  States  as  a  day 
of  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer. 

Deeming,  furthermore,  that  the  present  condi- 
tion of  public  affairs  presents  an  extraordinary 


occasion,  and  in  view  of  the  pending  expiration  of 
the  service  of  (100,000)  one  hundred  thousand  of 
our  troops,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested  in  me 
by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  have  thought  fit 
to  call  forth,  and  hereby  do  call  forth,  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  between  the  ages  of  (18) 
eighteen  and  (45)  forty-five  years,  to  the  aggregate 
number  of  (400,000)  four  hundred  thousand,  in 
order  to  suppress  the  existing  rebellious  combina- 
tions, and  to  cause  the  due  execution  of  the  laws. 

And  furthermore,  in  case  any  State  or  number 
of  States  shall  fail  to  furnish  by  the  fifteenth  day 
of  June  next  their  assigned  quota,  it  is  hereby 
ordered  that  the  same  be  raised  by  an  immediate 
and  peremptory  draft. 

The  detidls  for  this  object  will  be  communicated 
to  the  State  authorities  through  the  War  Depart- 
ment. 

I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate, 
and  aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the  power,  the  in- 
tegprity,  and  the  existence  of  our  National  Union, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  Government. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to 
be  af^ed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  seven- 
teenth day  of  May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four,  and  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States  the  eighty- 
eighth. 

(Signed)        Abraham  Lincoln. 
By  the  President. 

Wm.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State. 


508  HIBTOEY    OF    NEW-YOEK 

was  discovered  iu  time  by  all  except  the  "Journal  of  Commerce  "and 
the  "  World."  Immediate  wid  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to  disooTw 
the  author  of  the  forgery.  The  war  department  ordered  the  arregt 
of  the  editors  of  the  two  newspapers  mentioued — although  upon  due 

representation  of  Uie 
facts  by  General  Dir 
commanding  the  Depart, 
meut  of  the  East,  the 
order  was  promptly  k- 
Toked.  The  final  dig. 
position  of  the  matter 
is  stated  in  a  report 
made  by  General  I^l 

HkAIXJUASTEBS,  DePART](E\i 

OF  THE  East, 
New-Y  OKK  City,  May  20,  IgJi. 

Hon.  E.  M.  Slanbm, 

SeereUtryofWar: 
I  have  BTTested  and  an 
Bending  to  Fort  Lafa^tttt 
Joseph  Howard,  the  authoi  of 
the  foiled  Proclamation.  He 
is  a  newspaper  reporter,  and 
is  known  as  *'  Howard,  of  tlte 
Times."  He  has  been  very  frank  in  bis  confessions — says  it  wss  a  stock-jobbing  oper- 
ation, and  that  no  person  connected  with  the  Press  had  any  agency  in  the  tranaanion 
exoept  another  reporter  who  manifolded  and  distributed  the  Proclamation  \o  ttu 
newspapers,  and  whose  arrest  I  have  ordered.  He  exonerates  the  Independent  Tele- 
graphio  Line,  and  says  that  the  pabhoation  on  a  steamer-day  was  aoeideatal.  Hii 
statement,  in  all  essential  partiouhirs,  is  corroboiated  by  other  t«stimODy. 

John  A.  Diz,  Major-Genend. 

An  event  of  great  local  importance  opened  the  year  1864.  It  ttbs 
the  Metropolitan  Fair  in  aid  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion. Like  the  fairs  in  other  latge  cities,  it  was  a  recognition  of  the 
labors  of  those  disinterested  men  and  women  who  had  already  sacri- 
ficed health  and  substance  iu  the  Union  cause  by  the  bedside  of  siek 
and  wounded  soldiers.  Large  buildings  iu  Fourteenth  street  and  on 
Union  Square  were  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  rich  treasures  of 
art,  science,  literature,  and  the  varied  industries  represented  in  the 
metropolis,  tastefully  arranged  and  classified,  and  offered  for  sale  to 

1  The  brautlful  mpmoriftl  >rcb  here  shoWD  wu  nf  that  ereiit  h&TlnB  lieett  net  k  fiw  lUyn  iMi 

dedicated  Id  Brooklyn,  October  21.  1893.  to  the  than  that  of  New-York,  Id  order  that  the  Impoilit 

Mldlen  and  sailow  who  foMRht  between  the  yearn  upectaele  pn-nented  by  each  rity  might  bt  Mfa 

1861  anil  IMGj.    The  ceremonies  were  held  tmmp-  The  arch  wu  denlitiieil  by  .Tohn  H.  Dancan.  tie 

diately  after  the  j»ra.le  In  honor  of  the  toor-huti-  architect  of  theOniitniODamentnowbehKemttd 

dredth  annlvemary  of  the  diwoverj  of  Amerlea  on  Rlvendde  drive.  Etoltoa. 

by  Columbus,  the  date  of  the  Brooklyn  eeleliratioD 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION  509 

those  who,  prevented  by  circumstances  from  serving  in  the  field, 
might  in  this  way  render  aid  and  comfort  to  the  great  cause.  The 
ceremonies  of  inauguration  were  impressive,  and  comprised  a  parade 
of  all  the  troops  in  the  city,  regular,  volunteer,  and  militia, —  more 
than  ten  thousand  men, — headed  by  Generals  Dix  and  Sandford.  The 
main    building    in    Fourteenth  ^^  ^  ^^ 

street  was  thrown  open  to  an  o^-^^u^-^  ^^tA^u^r^^  ^t^^^tyt^^ — '^ 
immense  throng  on  the  evening         ^^ 

of  April  4,  1864,  with  an  address  by  Joseph  H,  Choate,  and  an  "Army 
Hymn"  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  The  hymn  was  sung  by  a  chorus 
composed  of  the  members  of  the  principal  church  choirs  of  the  city, 

O  Lord  of  Hosts,  Almiglity  King/ 
Behold  the  sacrifice  we  bring : 
To  every  arm  Thy  strength  impart, 
Thy  spirit  shed  through  every  heart. 

Wake  in  our  breasts  the  hving  fires, 
The  holy  faith  that  warmed  our  sires ; 
Thy  power  has  made  our  nation  free  - 
To  die  for  her  is  serving  Thee. 

Be  Tbou  a  pillared  fiame  to  show 
The  midnight  snare,  the  silent  foe ; 
And  when  the  battle  thunders  loud. 
Still  guide  us  in  its  moving  cloud. 

God  of  all  nations.  Sovereign  Lord, 
In  Thy  dread  name  we  draw  the  sword, 
We  lift  the  starry  fiag  on  high 
That  fills  with  life  our  stormy  sky. 

No  more  its  flaming  emblems  wave 
To  bar  from  hope  the  trembling  slave ; 
No  more  its  radiant  glories  shine 
To  blast  with  woe  one  child  of  Thine ! 

From  treason's  rent,  from  murder's  stain. 
Guard  Thou  its  folds  till  peace  shall  reign ; 
Till  fort  and  field,  till  shore  and  sea 
Join  our  loud  anthem.  Praise  to  Thee. 

For  three  weeks  a  stream  of  humanity  poured  through  the  entrances 
to  the  fair,  leaving  the  rich  man's  gold  and  the  widow's  mite  to  swell 
the  generous  tribute  of  the  Empire  City  toward  the  restoration  of  the 
Union,    The  receipts  from  the  Sanitary  Fair  at  Chicago  were  $60,000 ; 

1  The  above  signature  is  taken  from  the  official  called  him  Ulysses  S.  Grant ;  and,  as  he  failed  to 

record  at  West  Point,  signed  by  all  the  cadets  who  obtain  a  correction  of  the  mistake,  Grant  accepted 

enter  the  United  States  Military  Academy.    The  the  new  designation.    An  abridged  signature  also 

representative  who  gave  Grant  the  appointment  appears  in  the  hotel  register.  Editor. 


510  BISTOKT    OF    NEW-TO:^ 

from  the  fair  at  Boston,  $140,000 ;  from  the  fair  at  Cincinnati,  $250,000- 
and  the  doors  of  the  Fourteenth  street  and  Union  Square  bazar  olosej 
upon  a  military  chest  of  more  than  a  million  dollars. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1865,  bright  with  the  promise  of  the  season 
and  the  achievements  of  our  arms,  came  that  terrible  shock,  like  a 
thunderbolt  out  of  a  clear  sky,  the  assassination  of  President  Liueok 
For  the  third  time  in  the  history  of  the  country,  a  day  in  April  had 
dawned  on  the  citizens  of  New-Tork  with  news  of  dread  import.  Lq. 
ington  —  Baltimore  —  Washington  I  On  the  morning  of  the  15th  tW 
people  swarmed  into  the  streets,  and  by  common  consent  sought  tbe 
government  business  center  in  WaB 
street.  An  immense  crowd  gath- 
ered  in  front  of  the  custom-house- 
the  greatest  agitation  prevailed: 
grief  at  the  national  loss  struggled 
with  indignation  at  tbe  assassiu. 
The  collector  of  the  port,  Simeon 
Draper,  with  much  forethought,  and 
in  the  interests  of  law  and  order 
organized  an  impromptu  mass  meet- 
ing, and  several  speakers  addressed 
the  people.  It  is  an  interesting  remi- 
niscence that  among  those  who  thug 
gave  expression  to  the  emotions  of 
the  hour  was  one  who  in  after  years, 

^^^^i^z:^        -p '^r^  '  ^^^  holding  the  same  great  office, 

C^-^^^^^i^^T-^^     ^^  ^^-n^c^'  ^^g  ^^  f^ll  ^  yi^jjj^  ^^  tjjg  assassin's 

bullet  — James  A.  Garfield.  "Well 
did  he  express  the  universal  feeling  of  his  auditors :  "  The  spirit  of 
rebellion,  goaded  to  its  last  madness,  has  recklessly  done  itself  a 
mortal  injury,  striking  down  with  treacherous  blow  the  kindest,  gen- 
tlest, tenderest  friend  tbe  people  of  the  South  could  find  among  the 
rulers  of  the  nation."  All  business  was  by  common  consent  sus- 
pended. The  newspaper  and  telegraph  offices  were  surrounded  by 
thousands  eager  for  details  of  the  tragedy  which  threatened  to  invoh-e 
the  lives  of  three  oflQcers  of  the  govemment.  The  governor  and  the 
mayor  issued  proclamations;  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  directed  special 

1  PrestoD  King  WM  born  October  14. 1606,  aod  was  nrnt  to  the  United  State*  Snute  In  ISK-O. 

waaKTW)uated*tUDionlDlS37,Kttcrw&ntBtudflnK  His  tprtn  end^d.  Mr.  King  renuined  tbe  pnclin 

law  uid  praetltdnK  In  St.  Lmrence  County.  N.  Y,  of  his  profesdon  in  New-York  eitj,  »nd  nt  ip. 

He  t<Dtei«d  poUticB  early  ta  life,  and  establiiibed  pointed  collector  of  the  port  hj  PnnAdtai  liiit 

the  "  St.  Lawrence  Republican  "  at  OsdeDNburgh  aon,  whose  Domination  to  the  viee-preiudeDFT  Ik 

in  1830  in  support  of  Andrew  JaokRon.     He  was  had  done  much  to  secure.     Responsibilltjea  of  et- 

pOHtmBHter,  and  afterward  a  member  of  the  lee-  Ice  and  Bnanelal  worrioB  unsettled  his  mind,  mi 

rved   for  eJicbt  years  as  a  repre-  be  ended hiH  lifebyJumplnBfrom  aHudHmRiia 
feiry-bost,  November  12,  ISK.  Eunoi. 


NEW-YORK    IN    THE    WAB    FOR    THE    UNION 


511 


services  to  be  held  in  the  Episcopal  churches.  The  day  (April  20) 
which  had  been  set  apart  by  the  executive  of  the  State  for  rejoicing 
over  recent  victories,  was  designated  as  a  time  "  to  acknowledge  our 
dependence  on  Him  who  has  brought  sudden  darkness  on  the  land  in 
the  very  hour  of  its  restoration  to  Union,  Peace,  and  Liberty." 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st  the  funeral  cortege  started  from  the 
Capitol  on  its  sorrowful  journey  of  nearly  two  thousand  miles  to  the 
tomb  of  our  countiy's  greatest  martyr.  After  lying  in  state  for  a  day 
in  historic  Independence  Hall,  the  body  of  the  late  president  was 
borne  to  New-York,  where  it  was  received  with  the  deepest  solemnity 
and  the  most  sincere  demonstration  of  love  and  grief.  The  arrange- 
ments for  the  lying  in  state  at  the  City  Hall  were  of  the  most  com- 
plete character,  and  for  twenty-four  hours  a  continuous  procession 
of  men  and  women,  gentle  and  humble,  side  by  side,  passed  sadly  by 
the  bier.  On  the  second  day  a  pageant  of 
enormous  extent  attended  the  transfer  of  ^^^ 
the  mortal  remains  of  the  "savior  of  his  O-^^^^^J^^^viSii^'X^^ 
country''  to  the  train  waiting  to  convey 
them  to  their  final  resting-place.  More  than  sixty  thousand  soldiers 
and  citizens  formed  the  escort,  and  more  than  a  million  people  lined 
the  route.  Nothing  before  or  since  transpiring  in  the  city  can  be 
compared  to  the  universal  and  personal  sorrow  manifested  by  every 
soul  of  that  mighty  host. 

One  of  the  brightest  pages  in  the  history  of  the  city  and  State  of 
New- York  is  that  on  which  are  inscribed  the  names  and  deeds  of  their 
sons  and  daughters  during  the  war  for  the  Union.  A  passing  refer- 
ence to  a  few  of  the  quarter  of  a  million  of  those  who  fought  for  their 
principles  is  all  that  is  possible  here.  First  of  all,  perhaps,  stood  the 
noble  Wadsworth.  His  patiiotism  was  unimpeachable ;  he  had  vast 
wealth,  high  social  position,  ripeness  of  yeai's,  and  gallant  sons  to  rep- 
resent him  in  the  field.  Yet  he  spared  not  of  his  abimdance,  used  his 
influence  to  raise  and  equip  troops,  led  them  to  battle,  and  at  the  head 
of  his  division  laid  down  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  country.    That 


1  Charles  Godfrey  Gunther  was  bom  in  New- 
York  city,  February  7, 1822.  His  father,  Chris- 
tLan  G.  Ganther.  was  a  furrier,  a  rival  of  John 
Jacob  Astor,  and  took  Charles  G.  into  the  firm 
upon  his  reaching  manhood,  under  the  name  of 
C.  G.  Gunther  &  Co.  As  a  Democrat  he  was  ac- 
tive in  politics,  and  in  1856  was  elected  a  sachem 
of  the  Tammany  Society.  In  1861  he  was  a  can- 
didate for  mayor,  but  was  defeated  by  George 
Opdyke,  Republican.  In  1863  he  was  again  a  can- 
didate for  mayor,  being  brought  forward  by  the 
Jefferson  Democracy,  an  independent  organiza- 
tion led  by  John  McKeon.  He  was  opposed  by 
F.  I.  A.  Boole,  then  city  inspector  and  the  local 
Democratic  leader,  who  received  the  nomination 
from  both  of  the  rival  Democratic  organizations — 


Tammany  and  Mozart  Hall.  Boole,  who  was  sup- 
posed to  have  an  assured  success,  was  beaten  by 
over  7000  votes,  became  insane,  and  died  shortly 
thereafter.  When  Mr.  Gunther's  term  expired,  he 
withdrew  from  politics,  not  being  in  sympathy 
with  the  Tweed  Ring,  which  then  controlled  po- 
litical preferment.  He  was  a  member  of  the  old 
Volunteer  Fire  Department,  and  for  several  years 
president  of  the  Veteran  Firemen's  Association. 
Foreseeing  that  Coney  Island  was  destined  to  be- 
come a  papular  summer  resort,  owing  to  its  nat- 
ural advantages  and  proximity  to  the  metroiwlis, 
he  built  the  Brooklyn,  Bath  and  Coney  Island 
Railroad,'known  as  "  Gunther*s  Road,"  and  a  hotel 
at  Locust  Grove  on  Gravesend  Bay.  He  died  in 
New-York  city,  January  22,  1885.  Editor. 


512  HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YOBK 

his  worth  was  appreciated  the  following  extract  from  resolutioug 
adopted  hy  the  Union  Defense  Committee  fully  testifies : 

That  when  we  connder  that,  from  the  very  banning  of  this  war,  General  Wtiu 
worth,  ft  wealthy,  cultured,  and  honored  gentleman,  impelled  by  a  high  sense  of  dqh 
and  of  right,  left  his  home  of  beauty,  of  luxury,  of  afFection,  and  of  love,  to  amitt 
every  pleasure,  to  devote  hia  every  hour,  to  spend  the  weary  winter  in  the  trtmott 
eamp,  to  soothe  and  cheer  the  homeeiok  dying  soldier,  to  waste  mach  of  his  piiriK 
fortune,  to  imperil  hia  own  he^th,  and  finally  to  offer  up  his  willing  life  in  hii  cou). 
try'B  oanse,  we  oaa  find  on  the  roll  of  history  no  record  of  a  braver,  tmer  man,  or  nf  ( 
more  devoted  patriot 

At  the  Buggostion  of  General  Dis,  the  secretary  of  war  was  asked  to 
have  one  of  the  forts  in  the  harhor  named  "  Wadsworth  "  in  honor  of 

«jfa^  "  one  eminently  endeared  to  the  people  of  this 

^f'  State."    The  fort  at  the  Narrows  called  Port 

■ft^  Tompkins  was  eventually  designated  hy  the 

W    >r'        war  depai'tment  as  Fort  Wadsworth. 
V     /s  Among  other  sacrifices  ou  the  altar  of  the 

Constitution  and  the  Union,  we  recall  the  gen- 
tle and  scholarly  Winthrop,  the  dashing  Cor- 
coran, the.  Highlander  Cameron,  the  youthful, 
fearless  Ellsworth,  and  Mrs.  Caroline  M.  Eirk- 
land.  This  charming  woman  and  gifted  writer, 
^.  At-.  •<Va-»^AtO  ty  her  tireless  and  sincere  devotion  to  the  woA 
of  the  Sanitary  Fair,  gave  up  her  life  to  the  cause  of  her  couDtrj-  ag 
completely  as  the  soldier  who  fell  at  the  cannon's  mouth. 

Another  great  New-Yorker,  worthy  of  a  place  by  the  side  of  "Wads- 
worth, has  been  frequently  mentioned  in  this  chapter.  None  during 
the  serious  time  of  the  civil  war  performed  his  part  with  greater 
resolution,  sterner  justice,  truer  dignity,  and  more  unblemished  honor 
than  John  Adams  Dix.  The  civic  robe  and  the  army  uniform  ahke 
became  him. 

Those  were  the  days  of  *'  diamonds  in  the  rough,"  of  unfledgi-d 
heroes,  of  soldiers  by  instinct.  Of  this  type  was  Thomas  Deviu,'  a 
modest  mechanic,  who  found  his  opportunity  and  his  true  sphere  iu 
"  war's  rude  alarm."    How  he  led  a  troop  of  volunteer  horse  to  the 

1  "I  wu  ucoBtod  on  the  iteps  of  the  Astor  od  hia  way  to  the  front.    Captain  Derln  imiiH. 

Houie  by  ■  stnnger,  wbo  Informed  ne  that  he  de-  dlately  attracted  the  attention  of  bin  aapRw 

Blrpd  to  raise  a  companj'  ot  cavalrf.  irhlrh.  If  he  olflFerB.  not  lew  bv  the  elBcienc;  and  diaeipUiuif 

could  obtain  the  authority,  should  be  organised  bla  men  than  by  fals  own  gallantry  In  bsHlc.    Rr 

■Dd  readf  to  marrli  in  three  days,     i  was  so  fa-  fouglit  bravely  through  the  whole  war,  ruin:  hy 

vorably  impresari  with  hlx  bearing  and  manner  merit,  flmt  to  the  eommand  of  a  reglmenl,  nd 

that  I  immedialelytelpgraphed  Governor  Morgan,  then   of  a   brigade:    and    obtained    the   nnk  ol 

Kamuatly  asking    his    authority  for  Thomas  C.  brevet  majofgeneral  at  the  ronclurion  of  then- 

Derin  to  organiio  a  cavalry  corps.  Captaiii  Devin  hellion.    On  the  reduction  of  the  army-myfrimi 

remained  at  my  roam  until  a  favorable  renponse  DevinwaHretainedaslleutenant-eolonelofaUnitrf 

from  the  governor,  two  hours  afterward,  wan  re-  StaUm  cavalry  regiment."  Tbnrlow  We«d.in  "Od- 

eeived ;  and  he  also  was  faithful  to  hia  promise,  for  aiy,"  IX.  834. 
tn  three  days,  with  a  fnll  eompany  of  men.  he  waa 


NEW-TOBK    Df    THE    WAB    FOB    THE    DKION  513 

field  in  1861,  and  how  he  returned  to  his  home  in  1865  with  two  stars 
glittering  upon  his  Bhoulder,  has  been  duly  attested.  Long  after 
Appomattox  he  lived  to  reap  the  substantial  fruit  of  his  achieve- 
ments as  the  "Old  War-horse.**  The  names  must  be  recalled  of 
Sickles,  the  leader  of  the  Third  Corps  at  Gettysburg;  of  Meagher,  of 
the  Irish  Brigade ;  of  Barlow,  scarred  with  wounds  received  in  "  the 
Wilderness";  of  Butterfield,  the  veteran  chief  of  staff;  of  Davies,  the 
beau-sabreur  who  was  with  Sheridan  at  Winchester;  of  Upton  and 
Webb,  ably  representing  the  regular  army;  of  hundreds  of  others 
who  served  as  faithfully,  if  less  conspicuously,  and  since  the  close  of 
the  war  have  won  distinction  in  the  paths  of  peace.  Nor  must  we 
omit  mention  of  some  of  the  gallant  spirits  of  the  sister  service  who 
reflected  equal  glory  upon  the  navy,  such  as  Gushing,  who  destroyed 
the  Albemarle;  the  gallant  Gorringe,  who  later  brought  over  the 
obelisk ;  the  courtly  Le  Roy,  the  brave  Livingston,  the  heroic  Nichol- 
son, and  modest  Worden  of  the  Monitor. 

From  the  brief  sketch  given  here  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Empire 
CSty  sent  forth  the  last  appeal  for  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  sectional 
problem  in  1861 ;  that  from  her  gates  was  sent  the  first  relief  for  be- 
leaguered federal  forts ;  that  at  the  first  alarm,  her  best  household 
regiment  marched,  with  her  neighbors  of  New  England,  to  defend 
the  national  capital;  and  that  to  those  troops,  exclusively,  was  as- 
signed the  duty  of  protecting  the  White  House  —  the  Ark  of  the  Cov- 
enant—  from  threatened  danger.  Her  money  was  lavishly  given,  her 
best  blood  freely  shed ;  her  noblest  women  hourly  strove  to  restore  the 
Union  to  its  original  strength  and  power ;  and  now,  after  many  years 
of  peace,  prosperity,  and  unity  throughout  the  land,  it  may  truly  be 
said  that  her  labor  was  not  in  vain. 


I   AT   W1KCHE8TEB. 


BI8T0BY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


CavtOry.-  regimente,  l£t,2d,4th,6tli,6th,8th,9th,  Uth,  12tb,  13tb,  I4th,  lAh,  ISti,, 
23d,  25tli,  iBt  Htd.  Bifles,  2d  Veteran. 

ArtiUenf :  regimente  (A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  I),  3d  j  battery  B  (new),  3d ;  4th,  5th.  ftl. 
11th,  13th,  ISth,  IGtii, Marine;  battaliona,  1^  and  2d ;  independent  batteries,  2*1.134,1 
4th,s  5th,a  eth,"  9th,a  lOth^  (new),  13th,2  20th,  28th. 

Engineers;  regiments,  1st  and  15th. 

Infantry:  regiments,  Ist,"  3d,  4th,a  5th,a  5th  Veteran,  6th,3  7th,  7th  Veteran,  8tL> 
9th,  10th,  nth,"  12th,  15th,  17tb,  17th  Vete«in,a  20th,  25th,'"  29th,''  31st,  33d,  Mth,  38i1l 
37th,  38th,  39th,'J40th,  list,  42d,''43d,  45th,  =  4atli,a  47th,  48th,  51»t,3  52d,>53d,  ^ft 
55th,a  57th,  58th,a  59th,  Slst,  63d,  65th,  66th,  68th,  89th,  70th,  Tlst,  72d,  73d,  74th,  78a] 
79th,2  82d,3  83d,  87th,  88th,  90th,  94th,  99th,  lOlat,  102d,  103d,  119th,  127th,  131gt,  133d, 
133d,  145th,  155th,  156th,  158tb,  162d,a  163d,  161th,  165th,  168th,  170th,  173d,  174th." 
175th,  176th,  178th,  162d,'>  166th,  190th,''  191st,  192d ;  independent  corps  Ugbt  infuti;.! 


B^^Tm- 

A 

c 

... 

1 

U, 
13. 

u. 

37. 

a>. 
i\. 

IB. 
M. 
4S. 
M 

IDS. 

u««.« 

,»™* 

^.«^- 

.™^~^ 

JaclEKOu       Hone 

LL-CoLT.  C.  DeTlii-, 
CapL  G.  W.  Bauer  .  . 

Capt  J.  M.  Varian... 
CoL  W.  D.  TeUer  . . .     . 
CoL  C.  Bohworzwolder 
CoL  J.  a  Plnckney     . 

CoL  M.  LeIIfertB 

CoL  Q.  Ljona 

CoL  J.  Maldhoff 

CoL  D.  Buttarflem  ... 
CoLJ.  Miuu™ 

CoLC.  Boome 

July  as 

June  18 
lata.. 

■"="■ 

Oct      3 
Not.    3 

11!*" 
"£" 

Jnno    8. 

Sept  IB, 

".&.'■ 

-a," 
'ft" 

Howwra 

WaBblOKtonRrayB 

AIM  vitb  nil  Ben. 

Inr-NiUftbiiML 

Heavy  Arttllary  . . 

JuneI9,Jnly 

MayM.Bept 

June  18,  July 
Jnn'e  S.  July 

Tune  m  July 

31.  IMS... 

Oovemor'B  Gvaid 
HaUDDalOuard... 
VaRUlugtoD  Greyt 
VaaUogton  BlOea 

... 
... 

luneu.Jnlyx^im 

Bee  taa  'Rent.  Ynli. 

June  30,  July  aiw. 
May  «,  June  e.im. 

CoL  M.  Corcoran    .  .. 

C0LA.8.  ToshuTKh... 

[fOY.     IB 

1§H.. 

May^^Bept. 

al»oJiilyfcO«.l.ti 
Iulyl7-M.l»3. 

SMSItthRegtVolL 

OoL  F.  A.  Conkllng     . 
CoLW.&W.Cbamliera 
CoLJo.  Ma&ouey        . 
CoLJ.N.WUwy     ,       . 

"X'- 

July  30 

Aim.    0 

Auk.    «. 
Nov.    i 

IBM.. 
Nov.  13 

July  11  Oct 

I  The  Bnrt  organization  to  leave  the  State  11 


The  approzfmRte  number  of  men  who  were  enUMd 


theTth  militia,  which  left  April  19,  IN61;  tbeflrHt      in  New-Tork  city  for  -nryiHK  lengths  or  M 


■o-yeara  orKsniiation  to 


e  Slate  wu  the     during  the  late  civil  war,  ia  eitlmated  by  ColoMl 


the  82d  and  84th  regiments,  which  left  May  18. 1861.         t  Entirely  recruited  In  New-Yoil  Oninty. 


HEW-YOBK    m    THE    WAR    FOB    THE    UNION  515 

VOLDl 


[TB  Harrl*  Cur- 


Beoond  Ira  Har- 

rJaOnaTd 
SootCB     Ktne 

BundrMl..   . 
Third  Ira  Han 

sermour    i.lglit 

Corolntf    iigbt. 

Mounted  Biflea 

Heavj  (Vel.)  -- 
laekooD  Heavy. 


CoL     T.     C. 


Iri«h  Brt^de . . . 
Gennan  Heavy . 
Blenker'BBatt.. 
Brrrell'B  Arlll- 
Plret  Excelsior . 


AntlioD'i    Bat- 
Anthouv  L  A. 


(Vtfteranl    . 
(VeteranJ    . 


N.    Y.    Bappera 
and  Mloera 


Julf-Aug., ' 
AOK.-Oat.,  ' 
Ailg.-Nov.. '61     . 

-Oft., '61  .. 

Sept.-Ofll..  '81 . . . 

Deo.,  ■81,  May,  'i: 
I.  Feb.,  -a 
I,  Mar,,  'a- 

July-Dtc.,  'et    . 

July, 'SI.  ee|it.,'G: 

■61,  Feb.. '63 
AprU.  'sa 
Oct -Deo, 

'(I1,Adb.,'S9 

Aag,-Hept,,  'Bl 


,    Jdue  71,  'B 

Inly  18,  ■«! 

Bopt.  SO.'d 
July  19, '« 


BepL  (W,  'SI 
July  IB.  -Bl 
Auk,  13, 'GO.. 


M%t-T.OT*BU 
Lt.-Col,     A, 

!apt.   T.   P. 

Mott  ,  - 
:a_pl.  J,    E. 

Bmlth 

^apt.  £.  D. 

■fan  

3apt.  T.  W. 

BnntiiMr . 

jMt.  J.    T, 

capt.     '  'i:. 

BtUDipteU 

tt^B.  J. 
HoMnlion 
apt.  B.    F. 

'    tf'c  ii 

^mard . . " 
iapt.  O.  Die- 

l&oh 

Capt.A.Voe- 

Cpiknleiiii 

CoL     E.    W. 

ol,     C.     G. 

Colgata . . . 
ol.   W.    H. 

Allen  ..  . 

ol,    A.    W. 


Oet.-l>ec„  -ei 


ConiwilldBted 

nitli  iGtb 

Regt, 


/  ftfterw'd 
1  Utb  and 

1l,a.''^' 


. .  Jbly  B, '«  . 

. ,  July  M,  ■( 

, .  Feh.  *,  ■« 
. .  July  31. '( 
. .  July  81,  'BB, , 


Aug.  13,  ;ei.. 


..  Oct.  Vi,''M  ■  ■ 
.   July  U  '" 


Oct.,  'SI,  Feb 
ApriUMay.  -l 


..  JuneSfi,  '63.. 
..  MayM.'ss, .. 
.    May  IE,  '83. 


516 


HI8T0BT    OF    SBW-TOBK 
VOLUSTEEBB  (Cettttmitd). 


Bleakei'8  RtBea. 
HawkiiiH-H   Zou- 

HcCbennpy 


Weiitfluwtiir 


UqIod  KangErs. 
Alitor  Blfles.. 


FlntCtilltonila 

Vols . 

WMblnffton 


Garibaldi  Gturd 


D«  Kolb  BcRl- 


Howe'B  BlfloH. . . 
Fl^ODt    Rifle 

WaabLnston 


Bhenurd  Rifle*. 
Slsel  KitlcB  ... 
lyElilneLillZoa- 


NatloDol  Ouard 

BlflM 

PDltfh    Legion, 


Re(ft 

saeodK 


CiiTDi'Tan  RlBeii. 
Pint  KeiCt 
Ir1»U  Brigade 

First  Eirptfilor. 


CoL  A.  Dnr- 
Colfc-Wint 

w.'  va- 

CoL     J.'    E.' 

Bendli 
CoL  Q.W.Van 

Col,  L.  Blon- 
ker 

CoL  R,  C. 
aawUi 

CoL  W.  ... 
HoOhMuer 

CoL    E.     E. 


Col.  M. Weber 
ol.  J.  E 
Kerrlgau 


C0LC.H.I11- 


■Hi) 


Oct.,  -M 

Aprll-MaT'  'c: 
ApriUSp'W.  . 
Hareli-Aag.,  '61. 

Mo?  t,  '«1  . 


MBf-Jane,  '1 
May  31,  'SI  . . .    . 
Jnnc-Jnlj',  'Bl . . 
Jane  -s,  'ei  


. .  June-July,  'SI  . 


CoL 


R.  Rom.  Ii 
Moore  St 


Col.  E.  For- 

Col.  F.  Primli 
-oi.  L.  J. 
d'EplDeall 
oL  Ir.  de 
Trobrland. 
Col.    a.    K. 


Col.  W.  Kry- 
UDOWaU. 
!ol.  W.  L 
TIdbaU  . . 
M.     S.    W. 

w.   J.    i., 

RIker 

tol.    B.    C. 

Col.     ' 


"f 


-_      R.    J. 

CoLXnu- 

S^"d      E 

BloUoB  ..'.. 
Gal.     n.     L. 


Ang.-Sov.,  ■*] 
Aug.  38,  '81 . , . 

AUg.-UOT.,  '61 

Sm..-ti 

Aug.-Oot.,  '81 

Bapt,-H0T.,  ■«: 

jDDO-JUl;.  "8] 

8eiit.-Nov.,  'fl 

Nov.  4, '61  .... 

Aug., '01  

9epl.-Nov..  '6 
.  Jnoe  to,  'Dl. .. 
Jane-July,  'b: 


April  13,  '63  . 
May  X,'ts. 


June  M.  'G3. . 
JnuB  W,  '6 
Jane  1,  'S3 

July  ^^  'as 
.  Jane  31,  'ea. . 


July  13 
Oot.8,'tl... 

July  38,  't 


Jaly-Oet.,'6 
Oct  1,  'at 

June  30,  '65  . 
.  July  14 


NEW-YOBK    IN    THE    WAE    FOB    THE    UNION  517 

TOLTTHTBEBB  (C»iMinitd}. 


— 

£^ 

B-it. 

X'ssr--  ■— — 

^.^^ 

^. 

i 

1 

\t 

.^ 

(Ittftmtn/.] 

Col.  J.  Falr- 



78 

CoL   c.'  k. 
(Irafaam.. 

Jnly-Oct., 'fll  .... 

jMiieM,-ls.   ajte. 

IM 

403 

76 

reorg.  "84 

FUth  BxceMor. 



7* 

Jnne-Ool.,  '«1 

Jun«>'AUK.'8«     -'    . 

136 

301 

cimeTonBlglf 

CoL  D.  UU- 

landertT^^   ,, 

Oft.'si,  Aprll,'e3 

Jnly  13,  ■*•  , 

«,191 

tmna.  '64 

CamerOD    Rifle 

Lleat-Col-a 

7» 

M(iE.EUlott 
COLG.W.B. 

M«-M,-61 

July  H,  -K 

" 

118977 

SI 

iiauinft 

SBPond  Militia.  J 

aa. 

'^^i."':. 

Mar-Jnne.'Sl.... 

Jnnesfi, -At  . 

■■ 

,78899 

93 

Xlnth  WUtla... 

Jiuiee,'ei 

IM8M 

nruiBw-t  Irian 

BrtjSSS. 

88 

Honmn  .  . 

8ept.,'81.J»n..'S9 

Jmieso,-(l5,       ■■      IIM3B6 

71 

reorg.  TO 

HuuxnkQuud 

iVet.) 

90 

8ept.-Dec.,  -61    . 

Feb.  9, -8.          ■'     -^s-m 

90 

.. 

WammBlflM... 

.< 

jB 

MoT.,'oi,Mar..'fla 

July  18, 'ss  .      •-    .  llfl»fll 

138 

'■        TO 

Onion       Cout 

Onard 

CoLT.B??™ 

June-Oct.. 'n... 

July  IB.  TO  .       -        39;  80 

VanBnrwi 

' 

UrttlnfanOT 

■' 

101 

Bnren  ... 
Col.F.W.Von 

NoT./ai.  April, '89 

July  Ul.  TO.       "        7.p« 

■6S 

Seward  InfantiT 

'■ 

NoT.,'fll,  Mar.,'M 

Deo.  7, 'U    ..      -■     .|  BBIllB 

.. 



ner 

S6pt.«.'8a 

JiiiieT,TO...     ■■     '  77184 

SatlonalVoluu-  ■ 

CoL  W.  GUI- 

tee™ 

Bept.8,-ea. 

Jnn880,'M...     ■' 

96108 

Flrat  MetropoU- 

Col.   c."a 

Timil>nl].. 

Beptll.'Ba 

July  38, -M 

B4iei 

118 

Sec'a  Itejft  iym- 

Col.     P.     J. 

plre  BiiKBde 
Sevaaa     Helro- 

laj 

cST^^u. 

Oot.4.'8» 

June  3B, TO.. 

" 

30 

pollUn  Guard 

133 

Cmrle...  .  Sept.  W, 'M 

JUn68.TO...;     " 

Col.    W.    A.  1 

Plan  ten  Legion. 

AHon Beptn.'Sa 

Deo.  ».TO    . 

SI) 

^tiniied'- 

FlfUi  W»hLe- 

Col.    W.   W. 

1 

fi«D 

MoETUy-..'Nov.lT,-W 

Jnnoia,  TO,, 

TliirdMetrtioll- 

CDLUBeno- 

ten 

dlot Ang.-Oct,  ■».... 

. 

139 

Thim     Emito 

CoL     F.    H.         * 

Brigade 

Branlloh..    OBttC'M 

Jan.  H.  TO.. 

38 

8 

trauB.  TO 

eeo-d  Batt.  Dm- 

Col.H.D.HiillAiiB.-Deo..'«t,.  . 

Sept.  1.  TO,. 

48 

81 

F^^       Iridi 

Col.  P,    Mo- 

Legion 

.... 

DertooU..  'Oct.7. 'M 

Jnly  18.  TO - 

130 

341 

Col.    C.     B.  1 

polltao  Guard. 

Morton..,.  Nor.  10. -aa 

Dot.  IB.  TO  , 

138 

^',ss  ^a*" 

Col.  T.  Par- 

( fiooaol- 

'nil 

melee    SOV.  18,  ■« 

1 

Feb.  9,-61,. 

" 

93 

SB 

eo 

{™ 

178 

Aprtl97,TO. 

■' 

33 

» 

148 

1 

coi:e.'w^ 

1 178 

ler 

June  30, '83 

April  30,  TO. 

a 

in 

MitT-nlnth    K.  , 

Col.  H.  Mnr- 

«"rt 1 |iM 

Petenon  .. 

KoT.n. -Ba 

July  IS,  TO - 

" 

§7 

KH 

u 

|A ,190.    ... 

AprtlT.-BS 

Mar4,TO    .- 

1 

' 

Col.   L.  von 

A&B191.,,.- 

UllHa  ... 

March  50, '85 

May  3,  TO. - 

... 

Iiidepen.  Corps  |             1 

Ll(£ht    Int. 1 

Confort..! 

April  18,  ■«» 

Jan.  30,  TO . 

'■    .|    > 

u 

ra 

U^.   Colored 

Col.     N.    B. 

Bartram . 

Feb.B,'M 

Oct.  7.  TO. - 

V.    a    Colored      1 

Col.  w.  Biin- 

Troope  .  .  .     '  as.... 

Feb.  «,■«<. 

AuB.aa.TO..!    "   ,  ao 

lis 

U.    8.  Colored  i            i 

Col.    H.     C. 

1 

Troop.    ...          1  SI 

Ward 

N0V.7.TO...      ■■    ,    ST 

lae 

CHAPTER  XIV 

BECOVERr  FBOM  WAB — TWEED  RING — SPECULATION  AND  REACTIOS 

1865-1878 

n  HE  civil  war  ended,  the  city  of  New-York,  in  common  with 
the  rest  of  the  country,  turned  to  the  arts  of  peace.  The 
iinmense  national  army,  no  inconsiderable  part  of  whicb 
it  bad  itself  furnished,  was  quietly  disbanded,  notwith- 
standing the  forebodings  of  prophets  from  abroad,  who  feared  lest 
the  men  wlio  had  swept  throT]^b  the  Shenandoah  with  Sheridan,  or 
foraged  across  Georgia  with  Sherman,  and  the  l^ons  led  by  Grant 
and  Meade  through  the  Wilderness,  would  never  take  kindly  again  to 
peaceful  trades.  New- York,  which  should  have  been  the  chief  suf- 
ferer, had  any  one  suffered  at  all  in  this  regard,  had  continued  evi- 
dence that  the  men  who  sacked  her  houses  in  1863,  and  not  those 
who  defended  them,  were  the  only  dangerous  element  in  the  city's 
population.  The  town,  which  Southern  authorities  were  fond  of  rep- 
resenting as  in  the  throes  of  dissolution,  with  idle  ships  rotting  at 
her  docks,  and  grass  growing  knee-deep  in  her  streets,  bad  never 
really  felt  the  burden  of  the  war,  or  at  any  rate  had  never  realized 
that  she  was  feeling  it. 

But  though  New-York  bad  not  gone  backward  during  the  war,  she 
had  failed  to  advance.  There  was  no  grass  in  her  streets,  but  the 
grass  and  trees  of  the  immediate  suburbs  had  not  given  place  to  pave 
ments  and  brick  walls  to  any  great  extent  Before  the  war  the  bet- 
ter class  of  dwellings  —  those  adapted  for  the  occupancy  of  well-to^o 
families — had  been  increasing  at  the  rate  of  500  to  800  a  year;  dur- 
ing 1861-1865  not  more  than  one  tenth  of  this  number  had  been  buitt 
annually,  on  an  average.  The  population  of  the  city  had  actually  de- 
creased, or  at  least  had  appeared  to  do  so.  The  demand  for  vacant 
lots  subsided  to  almost  nothing,  and  the  prices  charged  for  houses  in- 
creased proportionately — a  natural  result  of  the  high  price  of  labor. 
The  consequence  was  that  at  liie  close  of  the  war  there  was  a  direct 
inducement  to  building  enterprises;  and  as  soon  as  the  country  had 
finished  the  gigantic  task  which  it  had  for  four  years  been  struggling 
to  accomplish,  capital  was  not  slow  to  find  its  way  into  such  channels. 


BECOVEBY    FBOM    WAB  —  TWEED    STSQ 


519 


The  city  stretched  her  limbs  anew,  and  began  that  progress  which, 
in  a  quarter  of  a  century  more,  transformed  her  from  a  straggling 
provincial  town  into  a  metropolis.  Three  potent  factors  in  that 
transformation  were  the  introduction  of  the  electric  light,  the  use  of 
elevators,  and  the  achievement  of  rapid  transit,  or  rather  the  con- 
tinued struggles  toward  rapid  transit,  the  desired  end  receding  as  the 
means  for  attaining  it  proved  successively  intwiequate.  In  order  fully 
to  appreciate  the  power  of  these  factors,  all  of  which  made  their  full 
influence  felt  within  the  period  covered 
by  this  chapter,  we  have  first  to  remem- 
ber what  the  New-York  of  1865  was. 
Above  Forty-second  street  it  could 
scarcely  be  said  to  exist,  being  only  a 
dreary  waste  of  unpaved  and  ungraded 
streets,  diversified  by  rocky  eminences 
crowned  with  squatters'  shanties.  Rail- 
way passengers  from  the  north  still 
left  their  trains  at  Twenty-seventh  and 
Thirtieth  streets.  Street  I'ailways  were 
comparatively  few,  and  there  was  no 
speedy  and  comfortable  way  of  getting 
from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other. 
Below  Eighty-sixth  street  there  were,  in 
1865,  25,261  vacant  lots.  The  grading  of 
Madisou  Avenue  was  still  in  progress,  and  the  state  of  the  city  as 
regards  transit  facilities  is  set  forth  in  a  striking  way  by  the  hopefid 
language  in  which  a  pamphlet  of  that  day  speaks  of  the  new  street 
as  likely  to  "  prepare  the  way  for  an  extension  of  the  Fourth  Avenue 
railroad,"  and  thus  give  new  access  to  the  park.  Unable  to  get  any- 
where on  Manhattan  Island,  people  sought  the  suburbs,  and  rapidly 
built  up  southern  Connecticut  and  eastern  New  Jersey,  with  Long  Isl- 
and and  Staten  Island.  In  1866  Dr.  Samuel  Osgood,  in  an  address 
before  the  New- York  Historical  Society,  said :  "  The  city  is  distressed 
by  prosperity,  and  is  like  an  overgrown  boy  whose  clothes  are  too 
small  for  his  limbs,  and  who  waits  in  half-nakedness  for  his  fitting 
garments.  .  .  .  The  scarcity  of  houses,  and  the  costs  of  rent,  living, 
and  taxation,  are  grievous,  and  driving  a  large  portion  of  our  middling 
class  into  the  country." 

The  rapid  spread  of  the  city,  which  now  began,  was  in  some  in- 


I  Dr.  Peter  Wilson  was  1)orD  Id  Sootlnd,  No- 
vember 33.  1T46,  and  was  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Abenleen.  Removing  to  New- York  city  in 
1763.  he  1>ecanie  prloclpal  of  an  academy  at  Hack- 
ensack,  N.  J.,  where  his  house  Is  still  to  be  seen. 
In  1TT5,  he  entered  into  polities  with  great  interest, 
■erring  aix  years  in  the  legiBlHtnre  o(  New  Jersey, 


and  lieing  selected  to  revise  the  laws  of  that  State. 
Id  ITStl  he  became  professor  of  Greek  and  Latin  at 
Columbia  College,  remaining  until  1930.  when  he 
was  retired  with  a  pension.  He  was  the  author  ot 
several  teit-books  on  Qreelt  and  Latin  prosody, 
and  edited  Sallust.  Longinus.  and  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment. Hisdeath  occnrredAug- 1,  I8S5.   Editob. 


520  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

stances  attended  with  lack  of  judgment.  Early  in  1867  St.  John's 
Park,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  was  sold  to  the  Hudson  Riva 
Railroad,  which  buUt  thereon  a  huge  freight-station;  and,  by  the 
same  short-sighted  policy,  part  of  the  City  Hall  Park  was  given  up 
three  years  later  for  the  new  post-office.  After  that  time,  however, 
popular  feeling  against  blocking  up  the  city's  breathing-spaces — even 
now  lamentably  few — grew  so  strong  that  the  demolition  of  houses  to 
make  a  new  park  became  much  more  probable  than  the  occupation 
of  a  park  by  a  building.  St.  John's  Park,  with  its  noble  trees,  bad 
formed  a  part  of  the  celebrated  Anneke  Jans  estate,  and  but  a  few 
years  before  its  disappearance  was  a  fashionable  residence  quarter. 
Some  of  the  old  inhabitants,  notably  the  great  engineer  John  Erics- 
son, retained  their  homes  there  long  after  the  ramble  and  biistle  of 

countless  freight-trains 
had  replaced  green  grass 
and  gravel  walks.  An- 
other spot  of  greenery, 
the  yard  of  the  old  New- 
York  Hospital,  at  Broad- 
way and  Pearl  Street, 
whose  elms  had  stood 
since  the  place  was  far 
out  in  the  country,  not 
long  afterward  met  tbe 
same  fate.  But  the^e 
numerous  changes  were  only  instances  of  the  wonderful  mania  for 
buildingwhich  was  now  under  full  headway,  and  which  has  continued, 
with  now  and  then  a  short  pause,  ever  since,  making  fortunes  over 
and  over  again,  and  changing  the  character  of  whole  districts  more 
than  once  in  a  few  decades.  This  mania  was  doubtless  aided  by  the 
reckless  speculations  of  the  Tweed  Ring,  which  was  just  then  coming 
into  power,  and  the  story  of  whose  deeds  will  soon  follow  in  this 
chapter.  But  it  had  its  roots  deeper  than  this.  Its  cause  must  be 
sought  in  the  natural  growth  of  a  great  commercial  metropolis,  which, 
though  it  may  seem  almost  uncanny  in  its  rapidity,  yet  has  nothing 
of  the  mushroom  about  it,  but  is  most  solid  and  substantial. 

Accompanying  this  activity  in  real  estate,  there  was  a  like  activity 
in  all  kinds  of  speculation.  Swindling  became  rife,  and  the  exchanges 
raug  with  the  contests  of  rival  speculators  for  the  control  of  whole 

1  VauiUsIl  0»rden  wns  founded  in  1799  liy  a  Hummer  eveninga.  refresbment-tobles  were  rap- 
Frenchman  n»med  DelacroU,  and  waa  situated  just  plied,  and  buildinpi  in  which  dramatis  ent(T- 
eautotBTOadway.betwecnFourthstreetand  Astor  tainmenta  were  given.  Pireworka  and  bdlooD 
Place.  It  was  an  eiteoBivo  garden,  laid  out  with  Baoensians  were  added  to  the  attnetjona  of  tV 
much  taste  ;  handsoiDe  gravel  walks  abounded.  garden,  and  it  renvained  a  popular  summer  resort 
adorned  with  trees  and  shrubs,  buats  and  atatues.  until  1828,  when  Lafayette  Place,  Damed  after  Uw 
An  orchestra  furniabed  agreeable  music  In  the  French  marquis,  was  opened  through  tt.    Blinoi. 


TAUXHALL    OARDEH. 


EECOVEBY    FBOM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING  521 

railroad  systems,  to  obtain  possession  of  which  they  did  not  scruple 
to  use  as  their  tools  the  venal  politicians  and  corrupt  judges  who 
were  just  then  coming  into  prominence.  The  politicians,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  not  slow  to  turn  the  speculative  fever  to  account  for  their 
own  purposes.  The  corrupt  ring  which  then  controlled  the  city  gov- 
ernment planned  improvements  on  a  vast  scale,  that  increased  mu- 
nicipal expenditures  might  give  them  greater  opportunity  for  plun- 
der. In  many  cases  these  were  of  great  benefit  to  the  city,  though 
attained  at  a  huge  cost  not  only  in  money,  but  in  the  loss  of  munici- 
pal honor.  Among  other  public  works,  the  Boulevard  was  laid  out 
from  the  southwest  comer  of  Central  Park  to  Tubby  Hook,  St.  Nich- 
olas Avenue  was  created.  Seventh  Avenue  broadened,  and  Broadway 
widened  from  Thirty-fourth  street  to  the  park.  After  the  height  of 
the  speculative  fever,  which  was  reached  about  1869,  it  declined  till 
the  panic  of  1873,  which  must  be  treated  of  subsequently. 

The  new  streets  thus  added  monthly  to  the  city  were  in  general 
improperly  paved, — a  fault  which  has  been  rectified  slowly  where  it 
has  been  rectified  at  all, — and  they  were  also  inadequately  policed  and 
lighted.  Mention  has  been  made  of  the  electric  light  as  a  potent 
factor  in  changing  the  character  of  the  city.  It  was  not  introduced 
till  a  decade  later  than  the  period  of  which  we  write.  How  gi-eat  its 
influence  has  been,  however,  can  scarcely  be  realized.  Some  faint  idea 
of  how  much  the  city  owes  to  it  can  perhaps  be  obtained  by  reference 
to  the  following  extract  from  a  magazine  writer  of  this  period,  de- 
scribing "The  Bowery  at  Night."  ^  "One  night,  for  instance,  in  the 
merry  month  of  May  of  this  year,  a  gang  of  about  a  dozen  armed 
ruffians  boarded  a  Third  Avenue  horse-car  somewhere  in  these  lati- 
tudes, knocked  down  the  conductor  with  a  slung-shot,  robbed  and 
otherwise  maltreated  several  of  the  passengers,  and  got  clear  away 
before  the  first  policeman  had  made  his  appearance.  Such  incidents 
are  by  no  means  uncommon  in  the  Bowery  and  its  purlieus  at  night." 

When  one  realizes  that  such  a  crime  would  be  impossible  in  a  street 
with  an  electric  light  at  every  shop-front,  he  cannot  help  thinking  of 
Macaulay's  picture  of  the  changes  wrought  in  London  since  the  days 
of  the  link-boy,  and  wondering  what  will  be  the  next  advance  toward 
turning  night  into  day,  and  pursuing  crime  and  criminals  still  further 
into  outer  darkness.  ' 

Striking  as  the  spread  of  the  city  toward  all  sides  was  at  this  time, 
its  growth  upward  was  still  more  surprising.  The  New- York  of  1865 
was  a  low  city.  Houses  of  three  and  four  stories  were  spread  over 
square  miles  of  its  territory.  The  Astor  House  was  pointed  out  as  a 
mammoth  structure,  and  a  six-story  building  was  a  towering  wonder. 
Trinity  steeple,  as  viewed  from  the  water-front,  seemed  to  soar  above 

1  Charles  Dawson  Shanly,  "  The  Atlantic  Monthly,"  November,  1887. 


mSTOBY    OF    NEW'YOBK 


tile  vity,  where  now  it  is  almoat  uunoticeable  amid  vast  structures  of 
tHU,  twelve,  and  even  eighteen  stories.  The  overcrowding  in  the  lower 
«>t)d  of  Manhattan  Island  soon  made  land  so  expensive  that  it  became 
clieatwr  to  build  up  into  the  air  than  to  spread  over  the  ground.  The 
<>ti]Mj!jite  conditions  are  well  shown  in  Philadelphia,  where  the  exis- 
t4?uce  of  unlimited  room  for  growth  on  all  sides  has  made  growth  into 
the  air  uiineuessary.  On  Ihe  other  hand,  the  influence  of  even  a  slight 
barrier  in  this  direction  is  exemplified  in 
Chicago,  where  a  narrow  river  on  two  sides 
of  the  business  portion  of  the  town,  and 
Lake  Michigan  on  the  third,  have  caused  the 
erection  of  buildings  that  seem  almost  ab- 
surdly as  well  as  dangerously  high. 

This  growth  skyward,  however,  ine\'itable 
as  it  seems  to  have  been,  could  never  have 
taken  place  bad  it  not  been  for  the  invention 
and  development  of  the  elevator, — the  verti- 
cal railway,  as  it  has  been  called, — which  has 
made  the  tenth  story  as  accessible  as  the  sec- 
ond. One  of  the  first  elevators  in  the  city, 
that  in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel,  was  in  effect  a 
nut  on  a  liuge  screw,  whose  revolution  sent  it 
slowly  uj»  or  down.  From  this  to  the  modern  swift  service  was  a  long 
step,  but  it  was  quickly  made,  and  no  doubt  the  need  for  tall  buildings 
ill  the  overcrowded  city  acted  in  its  turn  as  a  stimulus  to  invention  in 
this  line.  To  the  same  causes  must  be  attributed  the  wide  adoption  iu 
New-York  of  the  continental  custom  of  living  in  apartments  or  flats, 
which  began  about  the  same  time.  In  1865,  the  author  of  an  anony- 
mous tMunphlet  on  the  advantages  of  New- York  as  a  place  of  resi- 
deuco  wrote  that  "the  Parisian  plan  of  dividing  a  large  building  into 
iiiiiny  suites  of  apartments  is  now  receiving  attention."  The  first  of 
those,  which  were  known  as  French  flats,  were  opened  on  the  west 
side  at  this  time;  but  the  first  large  apartment-houses  were  the  two 
Stuyvesant  buildings,  one  of  which,  on  Eighteenth  street,  was  opened 
in  the  autumn  of  1870,  and  the  other,  on  Thirteenth  street,  in  the 
spriug  of  1871.    The  plan  grew  rapidly  in  favor,  and  as  soon  after 


Ci)l*fBB    HOUBB.l 


1  111  1TU0  thv  Toutine  Association  was  orfcanlied 
t.j  ilu-  luuruhitnts  ot  New-York,  with  the  object  of 
intividiii^  Eiuitablo  qij&ri4?rs  for  a  coTumercial  center 
iir  i'M'h»iiKfc  Ab  an  outconio  of  this  action,  the 
't'liiir.Liii'  t,'ufftv  House,  situated  ou  the  comer  of 
v^'ull  uiul  Walt^  Hti'««ts.  was  begun  In  1792,  opened 
111  ITW,  aiid  Ini-orporafed  the  Banie  yenT.  The 
-luiiv«  were  (300  each :  and  the  privilege  wasjfiven 
ii>  iik-\k  ^ulnvrlber  to  name  a  person  for  each  sh&re 
Ill-Ill  1i>  hliu,  duriOK  whoHe  lifetime  he  or  she  was 
li>  in:  I'uUtlvd  to  receive  a  pro-rata  proportion  of 


the  net  proflts  from  the  inveatment  of  the  fund. 
It  was  also  atlpulateil  that  when  the  number  of 
nominees  should  be  reiiuced  to  scTeii  lij-  dt»i!i. 
the  property  was  (o  be  conveyed  to  the  surrlv.iM 
in  fee  simple.  In  accordance  with  this  aprvement 
the  property  was  divided  In  1H76,  the  siirvivinf 
nominees  lielnn  William  Bayard.  Goiiv^meur 
Komble,  Robert  Heiiaon.  Jr..  Daniel  HoffnuD. 
Eorstio  a.  Stevens.  Mis.  John  A.  Klnt;.  and  .Mr» 
William  P.  CampbelL  Editob. 


BECOVEET    FROM    WAB  —  TWEED    RING  523 

this  as  1873  the  building  bureau  issued  on  an  averi^e  fifteen  permits 
a  month  for  the  building  of  apartmeut-houses  or  the  remodeling  of 
old  houses  to  serve  their  purpose.  Qreat  piles  of  buildings  sprang 
up  on  every  side.  The  mania  for  living  in  suites  of  rooms  was  re- 
garded by  many  as  a  faehion  likely  to  be  short-lived,  and  financial 
ruin  was  predicted  for  those  who  had  invested  their  money  in  apart- 
meut-houses ;  but  the  event  showed  that  the  demand  was  founded  on 
&  real  need  springing  from  the  situation  and  surroundings  of  the  city, 
as  is  shown  again  by  the  almost  entire  absence  of  apartment-houses  in 
neighboring  towns,  or  by  the  failure  of  those  that  have  been  erected. 
But  this  growth  upward  could  not  take  the  place  of  a  growth  out- 
ward, tbough  it  could  modify  it  in  a  measure,  and  the  city  had  soon 
outstripped  its  primitive  means  of 
transportation.  That  the  citizens  of 
New- York  were  not  ignorant  of  lier 
needs  was  shown  by  the  great  number 
of  schemes  for  better  communication 
which  early  began  to  take  form.  The 
winter  of  1866-7  will  long  be  remem- 
bered as  one  of  the  coldest  in  the  his- 
tory of  New- York,  Ice  of  such  thick- 
ness formed  on  the  East  River  that 
hundreds  of  persons  crossed  between 
Brooklyn  and  New- York,  and  the  ob- 
struction to  ferry  traffic  was  so  marked 
that  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  pro- 
jects for  bridging  this  important  water- 
way. The  legislature  of  1866-7,  with 
a  view  of  having  enough,  passed  no  less  than  three  East  River  bridge 
bills ;  the  public  attention,  owing  in  part  no  doubt  to  the  fact  just 
mentioned,  being  fixed  at  first  rather  on  the  necessity  for  better  con- 
nection with  Long  Island  than  on  its  own  upper  districts.  Of  these 
bills,  the  one  incorporating  the  New- York  Bridge  Company  was  passed 
on  April  16, 1867,  and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  a  chief  engineer 
was  chosen  in  the  person  of  John  A.  Roebling,  who  bad  just  demon- 
strated anew  the  practicability  of  the  suspension-bridge  on  a  large 
scale  by  building  the  great  Cincinnati  and  Cohiugton  bridge,  and  who 
had  previously  built  the  Niagara  bridge — the  first  of  its  type  capable 
of  bearing  the  weight  of  railway  trains.  He  at  once  drew  plans  for 
the  largest  suspension-bridge  in  the  world,  which,  ou  March  3, 1869, 
was  declared  by  Congress  to  be  a  lawful  structure,  and  on  June  21 
was  approved  by  the  secretary  of  war.  The  first  caisson  to  be  used 
in  building  was  contracted  for  in  November  following,  launched  on 
March  19, 1870,  and  towed  to  Brooklyn  in  May.     The  engineer  did 


524  HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 

not  live  to  see  the  beginuing  of  his  work;  his  death — the  result  of  an 
accidental  injury  sustained  while  he  was  making  observations —oc- 
curring on  July  22, 1869.  The  work  was  continued  by  his  son,  Wash- 
ington A.  Boebling,  who  carried  it  forward  to  completion.  The  first 
stone  was  laid  on  June  15,  but  the  first  tower  was  not  completed  till 
five  years  later.  The  history  of  the  structure  belongs  to  a  later 
period,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  its  inception  was  the  first 
practical  step  toward  better  communication  between  New- York  and 
its  suburbs.  In  1875,  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  authorizing  the 
cities  of  New-York  and  Brooklyn  to  raise  $8,000,000  for  its  comple- 
tion, the  bridge  became  a  public  structui*e. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  elder  Boebling  had  suggested  a  plan  for 
an  East  Biver  bridge  as  early  as  1857,  on  the  general  lines  of  the  one 
finally  built,  and  that  nearly  half  a  century  before,  in  1811,  one 
Thomas  Pope,  an  architect,  proposed  to  build  between  the  two  cities 
what  he  called  a  "  flying  pendant  lever  bridge,^  with  a  single  span  of 
1800  feet,  which  was  pronounced  perfectly  feasible  by  seventeen 
leading  ship-builders  of  that  period. 

In  1867  a  curious  adjunct  to  rapid  transit  made  its  appearance,  in 
the  shape  of  the  once  celebrated  but  short-lived  Loew  bridge  across 
Broadway  at  Fulton  street, — so  named  from  its  sponsor.  Alderman 
Charles  E.  Loew.  It  was  hailed,  on  its  completion  in  May  of  that  year, 
as  the  first  step  toward  relief  for  the  crowded  lower  streets  of  the 
island;  but  pedestrians  preferred  to  struggle  on  the  ground  rather 
than  mount  to  the  air,  and  in  the  following  year  it  was  taken  down. 

Meanwhile  tentative  efforts  toward  rapid  transit  had  begun.  Be- 
tween 1868  and  1870  two  underground  roads  were  chartered,  but 
neither  was  built,  though  one  of  them,  the  so-called  Beach  pneu- 
matic road,  constructed  a  sample  section  which  was  opened  for  pub- 
lic exhibition  on  April  26, 1870.  The  tunnel,  which  extended  beneath 
Broadway  from  Warren  street  nearly  to  Murray  street,  had  been 
excavated  by  a  shield  forced  forward  by  hydraulic  rams,  on  a  prin- 
ciple similar  to  that  adopted  years  afterward  by  the  underground 
electric  lines  in  London.  It  was  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  the  car, 
which  fitted  in  it  as  a  piston  in  its  cylinder,  was  literally  blown  along 
by  the  action  of  powerful  fans.  The  trial  car  seated  eighteen  persons, 
but  the  company  promised,  on  the  completion  of  its  line,  which  was 
to  run  from  the  Battery  to  Harlem,  to  build  cars  one  himdred  feet  long. 
Crowds  of  people  visited  the  tunnel,  but  the  road  advanced  no  farther, 
and  was  finally  abandoned. 

Another  more  ambitious  scheme  was  the  arcade  railway,  to  run  in 
a  long  arcade,  forming  virtually  a  street  with  shops  and  sidewalks, 
just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  length  of  Broadway.  Thia 
seemed  at  one  time  very  likely  to  be  built,  but  it  succumbed  to  the 


RECOVEBY    FROM   WAB  —  TWEED    KINO  525 

two  enemies  which  every  rapid-transit  scheme  has  met — the  expense 
of  construction,  and  the  determined  opposition  of  property-holders 
along  the  proposed  route.  The  same  ohstacles  were  fatal  to  the  pro- 
jected viaduct  railway,  which  it  was  proposed  to  build  through  private 
property,  crossing  the  streets  on  maipsive  bridges. 

However,  the  germ  of  the  future  elevated-railway  system  had  been 
built,  and  was  modestly  demonstrating  the  feasibility  of  rapid  transit, 
though  the  lesson  it  taught  bore  uo  fruit  for  a  decade.  The  much- 
derided  Greenwich  street  elevated 
road  was  begun  in  1866,  and  put 
in  operation  on  July  2,  1867.  It 
had  but  one  track,  and  ran  from 
Battery  Place,  through  Greenwich 
street  and  Ninth  Avenue,  to  Thir- 
tieth street.  At  first  it  was  oper- 
ated by  a  cable,  which  was  soon 
abandoned  in  favor  of  steam  loco- 
motives. With  all  its  disadvan- 
tages, it  was  uo  wonder  that  it 
did  not  become  popular,  and  it 
remained  chiefly  a  curiosity  and 
the  butt  of  good-natured  ridicule  till  it  was  sold  out  by  the  sheriff  in 
1871.  Its  new  management  made  a  strong  effort  to  push  it  northward, 
but  legal  obstacles  beset  them  on  all  sides,  thrown  in  their  way  by  the 
strenuous  opposition  of  the  horse-railroads  and  of  property-owners. 

In  the  legislative  session  of  1871-2,  two  new  roads  were  chartered, 
one  of  which,  the  Gilbert  road  (named  from  its  projector,  Dr.  Eufus 
H.  Gilbert),  proposed  to  erect  a  pneumatic  tube  suspended  from  lofty 
arches,  to  be  operated  on  the  principle  of  the  Beach  road,  mentioned 
above,  and  thus  to  be  practically  noiseless  and  completely  out  of  sight. 
This  being  found  impracticable,  the  company  decided  to  build  their 
proposed  tube  without  a  top,  and  construct  a  steam  road  in  the  trough 
thus  left,  whose  sides  would  cut  off  the  trains  from  the  view  of  resi- 
dents and  passers-by.  Finally  the  trough  was  abandoned,  and  the 
plan  became  a  project  for  a  simple  elevated  steam  road  like  that  in 
Greenwich  street.  This  change  of  plan  was  the  cause  of  much  op- 
position and  renewed  litigation. 

Meanwhile,  in  1875,  the  legislature  passed  the  act  known  as  the 
Husted  Act,  for  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  decide  in  the  first 

1  The  Nktional  Autdemj  of  the  Arts  of  Deaifrn  186fi,  when  ita  present  edifice  at  the  comer  at 
ma  orgmnized  Januarr  18, 1826,  with  Samuel  F.  B.  Pounh  Avenue  ud  Twenty-third  street  wu  corn- 
Horse  M  its  preoident.  Its  flrat  eihibltian  was  in  plet«d.  The  architecture  is  Venetian  Gothic  ;  the 
May,  1836,  on  the  second  floor  of  a  building  at  the  material  j^ay  and  white  marble  and  hluestane,  and 
oorner  of  Reade  street  and  Broadway,  when  one  the  cost  of  the  site  and  building  (237,000.  It  was 
hnndred  and  eeTenty-sii  pictures  by  hving  artists  biiiltby  popular  subscription.  Two  exhibitions  are 
were  azMblted.    It  occupied  various  rooms  until  held  yearly,  and  instruction  is  free.       Editob. 


526  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

place  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  system  of  rapid  transit  for  New- York, 
and,  if  they  should  find  such  necessity  to  exist,  to  fix  upon  proper 
routes.  On  July  1  of  that  year  the  commission  was  formed  Ijy  ap. 
pointment  of  the  mayor,  consisting  of  Joseph  Seligman,  Lewis  B, 
Brown,  Cornelius  H.  Delamater,  Jordan  L.  Mott,  and  Charles  J.  Canda. 
Its  first  meeting  was  held  on  July  13,  and  after  deliberating  through 
the  summer,  it  decided  "  that  elevated  steam  railways  are  not  only  more 
likely  than  any  other  steam  railwaj-g 
to  be  actually  constructed  in  thii 
city,  but  are  the  best  for  the  pur. 
pose  in  view."  On  December  11  they 
reported  that  their  work  was  at  an 
end,  and  that  the  task  of  building  the 
roads  upon  the  assigned  streets— 
namely,  Ninth,  Sixth,  Third,  ami 
Second  avenues — had  been  assigned 
to  the  Gilbert  road  and  to  the  New. 
York  road,  the  corporation  then 
operating  the  little  elevated  road 
on  Greenwich  street.  Construction 
and  litigation  were  now  renewei 
J  j^  jkf  ^^---a>  y.  In  1876  the  New- York  company 
^^:^^ny?^yy^^^^^^^^—'  had  extended  its  road  to  Fifty-ninth 
/  street,  and,  in  the  words  of  its  pub- 

lished announcements,  was  running  "40  through  trains  each  day."  In 
the  spring  of  the  following  year  a  controlling  interest  in  it  was  par. 
chased  by  Cyrus  W.  Field,  who  thenceforward  showed  the  same  tire- 
less energy  and  zeal  in  pushing  it  to  completion  that  had  characteriz«i 
his  connection  with  the  Atlantic  telegraph-cable.  In  September, 
1877,  by  unanimous  decision  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  the  charters  of 
both  roads  were  declared  constitutional,  and  all  injunctions  dissolved. 
Work  was  at  once  pushed  on  both  lines,  and  on  June  5, 1878,  the  one 
on  Sixth  Avenue  was  opened  from  Rector  street  to  the  park.  It  had 
by  this  time  passed  out  of  Dr.  Gilbert's  control,  and  its  name  had  been 
changed  to  the  Metropolitan  Elevated  Road.  On  August  26  the  Third 
Avenue  route  was  opened  as  far  as  Forty-second  street,  and  in  1880 
the  Second  Avenue  road  was  opened  to  Sixty-seventh  street.  In  the 
same  year  the  lines  on  both  sides  of  the  city  had  reached  Harlem. 
The  two  companies  bad  been  consolidated  in  1879,  under  the  title  of 
the  Manhattan  Railway  Company,  and  thus  the  close  of  the  decade 

'  Caroline  I*  Boy,  daughter  of  Herman  T^e  Roy,  hia  correspondence,  and  her  good  judgment  wd 

was  bom  In  Neve- York  city,  where  her  father  re-  iliacretion  were  of  Invaluable  aid  lo  him  in  nuaj 

sided  Bt  No.  7  Broadway.    In  1«20  she  married  important  affairs,  notably  whan  he  was  seeieluT 

Daniel  Wtbster,  who  was  then  a  widower  with  o(  state  under  Tyler  aud  Fillmore.    The  Le  B<? 

children.     She  accompanied  him  on  hiH  various  family  have  been  residents  of  New- York  dty  tot 

tours  In  this  country  and  abroad,  awUled  him  in  nearly  two  hundred  years.  EIditdb, 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING  527 

saw  New-York  in  possession  of  as  full  a  share  of  rapid  transit  as  she 
was  destined  to  enjoy  for  many  years.  It  seemed  ample  at  first,  but 
the  growth  of  the  city  soon  overtook  the  capacity  of  the  roads,  and  at 
the  present  writing  it  is  conceded  by  all  that  the  problem  has  not  yet 
been  permanently  solved. 

In  this  brief  sketch  of  the  progress  toward  its  solution,  which  for 
tfee  sake  of  the  connected  narrative  has  necessarily  run  far  ahead  of 
the  general  history  of  the  city,  no  mention  has  yet  been  made  of 
what  was  really  the  first  practical  gain  in  the  way  of  rapid  transit. 
Until  1871  the  Hudson  River,  New- York  and  New  Haven,  and  Harlem 
railroads  had  their  termini  in  what  was  fast  growing  to  be  the  cen- 
tral district  of  the  city, — ^the  first-named  at  Thirtieth  street  and  Ninth 
Avenue,  the  two  others  at  Madison  and  Fourth  Avenues,  and  Twenty- 
sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  streets.  To  reach  these  points  trains  were 
obliged  to  run  slowly,  and  even  then  accidents  were  frequent.  On 
October  9,  1871,  the  Grand  Central  Station  at  Forty-second  street, 
forming  a  joint  terminus  for  all  three  of  these  roads,  was  opened,  and 
the  summer  of  1875  saw  the  completion  of  the  great  engineering  work 
that  separated  the  street  and  railroad  gi*ades  from  that  point  to  the 
Harlem  River.  For  four  miles  and  a  half  the  tracks  run  through 
tunnels  or  open  cuts,  or  over  a  stone  viaduct.  The  cost  was  $6,000,000, 
of  which  half  was  paid  by  the  roads  and  half  by  the  city.  This  im- 
provement saved  many  human  lives  annually,  and  added  to  the  avail- 
able space  of  the  city  by  opening  upper  Fourth  Avenue  for  residence 
sites,  but  it  also  made  rapid  transit  an  assured  fact  between  Forty- 
second  street  and  Harlem  by  making  possible  the  nmning  of  frequent 
trains,  with  stops  at  short  intervals,  at  a  reasonably  high  rate  of  speed. 

Before  the  realization  of  any  of  these  schemes,  however,  the  city  had 
already  grown  not  only  in  population,  but  in  area,  so  as  to  make  their 
ultimate  extension  imperative.  In  1873  part  of  Westchester  County, 
including  the  villages  of  Morrisania,  West  Farms,  and  Kingsbridge, 
were  incorporated  with  the  city,  pushing  its  northern  boundary  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Yonkers,  and  making  its  greatest  length  sixteen  miles. 
By  this  annexation  the  area  of  the  city  was  nearly  doubled,  being  in- 
creased from  14,000  acres  to  about  27,000  acres.  Transit  facilities  in 
this  district  were  provided  for  by  extensions  and  connections  of  the 
existing  roads  on  both  sides  of  the  city,  and  portions  of  its  territory 
were  reserved  for  public  parks,  which  bid  fair  to  rank  in  the  future 
among  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  city. 

An  event  which,  though  it  was  not  connected  with  the  internal 
growth  of  the  city,  profoundly  affected  its  relations  with  the  great 
world  across  the  sea,  may  fitly  be  noticed  here.  On  July  13,  1866,  the 
steamer  Great  Eastern  set  sail  in  a  final  effort  to  connect  this  country 
with  England  by  telegi-aph-cable.   She  had  renewed  her  efforts,  aban- 


528  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

doned  since  the  brief  triumph  of  1858,  on  July  23  of  the  previous 
year,  but  the  cable  had  snapped  1200  miles  from  shore.    This  time, 
however,  the  success  was  complete.     Not  only  was  the  new  cable 
laid,  but  the  lost  one  was  picked  up  and  spliced,  and  telegraphic  com. 
munication  between  the  two  continents  has  never  been  interrupted 
since  that  time.     The  event  was  celebrated  by  a  banquet  given  by  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  on  November  15,  and  Cyrus  W.  Field  wag 
again  the  hero  of  the  hour.    He  was  presented  by  Congress  with  a 
gold  medal,  and  the  prime  minister  of  England  declared  that  had  he 
been  a  citizen  of  Great  Britain,  he  would  have  received  the  highest 
honors  in  the  power  of  that  nation  to  bestow.    John  Bright  cr)^8tal. 
lized  the  feeling  of  the  time  in  the  saying  that  Field  was  "  the  Colum- 
bus of  modern  times,  who  by  his  cable  had  moored  the  new  world 
alongside  the  old.'*    In  the  following  year  he  received  the  grand 
medal  of  the  Paris  Exposition.    Though  these  events  belong  properly 
to  the  general  history  of  the  country,  they  were  of  peculiar  interest  to 
New-York,  not  only  because  of  the  unique  benefits  she  received  from 
the  establishment  of  cable  communication,  on  account  of  her  com- 
mercial preeminence,  but  also  because  the  success  of  the  enterprise 
was  due  to  the  energy,  and  the  refusal  to  succumb  under  defeat, 
shown  by  one  of  her  own  citizens.    A  grateful  memory  of  his  servioes 
to  the  two  nations  has  ever  been  cherished  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean, 
as  was  amply  proved  by  the  comments  of  the  press  at  his  death,  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  afterward. 

In  July,  1866,  Congress  passed  a  law  creating  the  grade  of  admiral, 
which  had  never  hitherto  existed  in  the  navy,  the  office  being  at  once 
conferred  upon  David  Glasgow  Farragut,  the  hero  of  so  many  naval 
battles;  and  in  1867  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  squadron  which 
was  to  sail  for  European  waters.    The  vessel  selected  for  the  admiral's 
flag-ship  was  the  Franklin,  39  guns,  a  noble  frigate  of  four  thousand 
tons,  carrying  a  complement  of  seven  himdred  and  fifty  men.    The 
date  set  for  the  departure  of  the  fleet  from  New- York  was  June  28; 
and  a  few  days  previously,  on  the  17th,  the  admiral  gave  a  grand 
reception  on  board  the  flag-ship,  which  was  attended  by  President 
Andrew  Johnson  and  his  cabinet,  and  many  of  the  most  distinguished 
people  in  the  city,  including  several  hundred  ladies.    The  president 
was  received  with  all  the  honors,  the  French  and  American  men-of- 
war  in  the  harbor  saluting  with  twenty-one  guns  and  manning  their 
yards.     After  a  most  successful  cruise  in  foreign  waters,  where  Far- 
ragut was  received  with  the  greatest  honor  and  attention  by  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe,  the  Franklin  returned  to  New-York,  No- 
vember 10,  1868.    An  interesting  journal  of  the  cruise  was  published 
in  1869  by  the  admiral's  secretary.^ 

1  **  The  Cruise  of  the  Franklin,"  by  James  E.  Montgomery.    New- York. 


BECOVERT    FEOM    WAB  —  TWEED    MNQ 


529 


Among  events  that  betokened  the  entry  of  the  city  on  a  broader 
life  were  the  reorganization  of  some  of  its  departments,  and  the  crea- 
tion of  new  ones.  First  of  all  came  the  organization  of  a  paid  fire 
iepartment.  On  May  2,  1865,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  passed  by  the 
egisLature  in  March  previous,  the  old  volunteer  department  gave  way 
o  the  present  system,  and  at  the  same  time  the  old  hand-engines 
vere  replaced  by  modern  steam  appliances.  The  old  volunteer  force  ' 
ffae  corrupt  and  unreliable.  Its  engine-houses  were  frequented  by 
nany  idle,  vicious  young  men,  and  citizens  were  aroused  at  all  hours 
)f  the  night  by  the  noisy  clatter  of  some  fire-company  running  to 


CENTEtAL    PARK. 


tnswer  what  was  as  likely  to  be  a  false  alarm  as  a  true  one.  The 
ihange  was  attended  with  friction  similar,  in  a  smaller  way,  to  that 
vbich  hindered  the  establishment  of  the  new  police  system  nearly  a 
leeade  before.  The  new  commissioners  were  loudly  denounced  as 
mconstitutional,  and  some  of  the  volunteers  refused  to  give  up  the 
)roperty  of  the  department;  but  an  affirmative  decision  from  the 
jourt  of  Appeals  soon  effected  the  change.  When  the  effort  to 
}revent  the  change  had  proved  vain,  there  was  an  attempt  to  punish 
be  citizens  by  disbanding  the  volunteer  department,  lea\-ing  the  city 
irithout  protection  against  fire;  but  many  of  the  volunteers  would  not 
loin  in  such  a  movement,  and  as  there  were  numerous  old  firemen 
imong  the  metropolitan  police  force,  vacancies  were  quickly  filled,  so 
ihat  from  July  to  November,  1865,  3810  volunteers  were  quietly  re- 


530  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

lieved.    The  department  thus  established  has  always  held  high  rank 
for  efficiency  among  the  world's  fire-brigades,  and  has  enjoyed  the 
distinction  among  the  city  departments  of  being  the  only  one  never 
interfered  with  by  politicians  to  its  detriment.    In  the  same  year  an 
act  of  the  legislature  authorized  the  organization  of  the  Fire-insur- 
ance Patrol,  which  has  rendered  very  efficient  aid  to  the  department, 
not  in  the  extinguishing  of  fires,  but  in  removing  goods  from  burning 
buildings  and  in  the  protection  of  their  contents  from  injury  by  water. 
Having  thus  provided  the  means  of  fighting  fire,  the  city  authori- 
ties were,  a  few  months  later,  obliged  to  cope  with  a  more  insidious 
adversary,  and  devise  means 
_'=-*%u- -,.:"^.Tj--..  for  keeping  it  at  bay.     In 

f-  J^'  '  '■'.  ,  November,  1865,  the  steam- 

.  ■  A  ship  Atlanta  arrived  in  port 

the     approach     of     winter. 

Fears  lest  an  outbreak  of 
cholera  should  take  place  in  the  following  spring,  however,  led  to 
the  passage  of  an  act  by  the  legislature  on  Februaiy  26, 1866,  creating 
a  metropolitan  sanitary  district  and  establishing  a  Board  of  Health, 
consisting  of  four  commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor,  together 
with  the  health-officer,  the  police  board,  and  other  ex-officio  members. 
The  first  commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor  were  Dr.  James 
Crane,  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  Dr.  John  O.  Stone,  and  Jackson  S. 
Schultz,  and  the  board  organized,  with  the  last-named  gentleman  as 
chairman.  It  immediately  began  to  clean  and  purify  the  territory 
under  its  jurisdiction,  which  included  the  counties  of  New- York, 
Kings,  Richmond,  and  a  portion  of  Westchester.  In  view  of  the  ar- 
rival of  infected  vessels  at  other  ports,  the  governor  granted  the 
board  extraordinary  powers,  but  its  efforts  to  provide  proper  quaran- 
tine facilities,  even,  if  necessary,  by  force,  failed  through  the  violeDt 
opposition  of  the  dwellers  near  all  available  points.  Meanwhile,  on 
April  18,  the  steamer  Virginia  from  Liverpool  arrived  in  the  harbor 
with  malignant  cholera  on  board,  and  on  May  1  the  disease  broke 
out  in  the  city  itself.  In  August  it  had  reached  its  height,  and  it 
then  declined  till  the  autumn,  when  it  had  practically  ceased.    The 


BECOVERT    FROM    WAK  — TWEED    RING 


531 


efforts  of  the  new  health  board,  hampered  as  it  was,  in  all  probability 
saved  the  city  from  a  scourge.  Though  the  cholera  was  eoufiued  to 
the  unsanitary  parts  of  the  town,  and  to  the  institations  on  the  isl- 
ands in  the  East  River,  there  were  1205  deaths,  of  which  460  were  in 
the  city  proper,  including  the  shipping  in  the  harbor.  Small  as  the 
number  of  deaths  was  in  comparison  with  that  in  other  parts  of  the 
country,  especially  in  western  cities,  it  has  never  been  exceeded 
since,  owing,  in  no  small  degree,  to 
the  efficiency  of  this  board  and  its 
competent  successors. 

During  this  same  summer  there  was 
a  determined  effort  to  resist  the  en- 
forcement of  a  recently  passed  excise 
law  whose  provisions  were  regarded 
as  unduly  severe  by  liquor-dealers. 
So  strong  was  the  feeling  that  the 
authorities  suspended  its  execution, 
and  in  July  the  governor  issued  a 
proclamation  calling  an  extra  session 
of  the  Supreme  Court  especially  to 
test  its  constitutionality.  The  court, 
in  an  important  decision,  sustained 
the  right  of  the  legislature  to  regidate 
the  traffic,  and  affirmed  that  in  doing 
so  it  did  not  "interfere  or  restrain 
any  one  of  his  liberty  or  property." 
The  claim  of  the  dealers  that  a  license  granted  previous  to  the  pas- 
sage of  the  law  was  a  contract  whose  obligation  could  not  be  impaired, 
was  also  expressly  denied  in  the  just  decision. 

In  1870  a  separate  department  was  organized  to  take  charge  of  the 
docks  of  the  city.  It  consisted  of  three  commissioners  nominated  by 
the  mayor  for  a  term  of  six  years.  They  at  once  began  to  carry  out 
a  system  which  contemplates  the  suiTOunding  of  the  city  with  a  stone 
bulkhead  wall,  at  a  uniform  depth  of  20  to  25  feet  of  water.  The  ac- 
quisition of  the  water-line,  however,  proceeded  very  slowly,  and  in- 
volved tedious  litigation;  and  the  water-front  of  New- York  is  not  yet 
in  keeping  with  her  unexampled  facilities,  and  her  position  as  a  great 
commercial  and  maritime  city. 

The  years  1870  and  1871  were  marked  by  disturbances  of  the  pub- 
lic peace,  which,  though  in  themselves  insignificant,  especially  when 
contrasted  with  the  days  of  mob  rule  in  1863,  involved  events  of 
much  importance.  The  right  of  a  peaceable  body  of  men  to  parade 
the  streets  quietly  was  then  officially  called  in  question,  and  practi- 
cally established  on  so  firm  a  basis  that  it  is  doubtful  if  a  second  at- 


fft^f-c^,^  Ct^u.-C^ 


532 


mSTOBI    OF    NEW-YORK 


tempt  will  ever  be  made  to  interfere  with  it.  On  July  12,  1870,  s 
party  of  Orangemen  held  a  picnic  at  Elm  Park,  on  Eighth  Avenue 
near  Ninety-second  street,  in  one  of  their  annual  celebrations  of  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne.  As  they  marched  up  the  avenue  the  band  that  led 
them  played  some  tunes  which  roused  the  anger  of  a  gang  of  ialwrerg 
— Roman  Catholic  Irishmen  —  on  the  new  Boulevard  near  by.  The 
laborers  promptly  attacked  the  procession  with  stones,  and  the 
Orangemen  resisted.  Shots  were  fired  on  both  sides,  killing  thi^ 
persons,  and  wounding  others,  some  of  whom  died  afterward,  x 
strong  police  force  restored  order  for  the  time,  but  the  recollectiou  of 

the  affray  remained, 

and  as  July  of  t]i« 
following  year  ap. 
proached,  it  became 
evident  that  notiiing 
short  of  the  severest 
measures  could  avert 
a  serious  riot. 

The  Orangfitien 
were  determined  to 
parade,  while  thiar 
rivals  were  just  as 
determined  to  break 
up  the  parade  should 
one  be  attempted.  In 
this  crisis  the  city  au- 
thorities took  what 
seemed  to  them  to  be 
the  simplest  course, 
which  in  this  case,  as 
in  so  many  others, 
was  both  weak  and  unjust.  On  the  day  before  that  appointed  for 
the  parade,  the  superintendent  of  police,  James  J.  Kelso,  issued  au 
order,  either  by  command  or  with  the  approval  of  the  mayor,  A.  Oakey 
Hall,  prohibiting  it.  But  public  opinion  was  well  on  the  side  of 
the  Orangemen.  Provoking  as  their  public  appearance  might  be  iu 
reminding  their  adversaries  of  an  ancient  defeat,  it  was  clearly  sceu 
that  this  constituted  no  reason  for  arraying  the  civil  authorities  on 
the  side  of  their  assailants  —  an  action  which  was  much  like  meetiug 
the  well-known  dislike  of  bulls  for  red  by  a  stiict  prohibition  of  red 
dresses,  instead  of  by  shutting  up  the  bulls. 

The  iK)lice  order  was  the  signal  for  a  general  outbreak  of  indigna* 
tiou.  Among  other  indications  of  public  sentiment,  there  was  a  mass 
meeting  at  the  Produce  Exchange,  which  denounced  the  course  of  the 


THE    FEUALE 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING  533 

city  authorities.  The  latter  were  quick  to  see  that  they  had  made 
a  blunder  in  transforming  the  Orangemen  from  an  inconspicuous 
faction  into  a  body  representative  of  the  whole  public.  Governor 
Hoffman  was  telegraphed  for,  and  on  his  arrival  from  Albany  a  con- 
sultation was  held,  resulting  in  the  revocation  of  the  objectionable 
order  and  the  issuance  of  a  proclamation  calling  on  all  citizens  to 
keep  the  peace,  and  declaring  that  the  full  power  of  the  State — civil 
and  military — would  be  used  to  protect  the  paraders  in  their  un- 
doubted rights.  This  act  of  the  governor  was  hailed  by  the  public  as 
a  sign  that  he  was  determined  to  have  his  own  way,  though  it  seems 
doubtful  whether  it  was  anything  more  than  a  tardy  acknowledgment 
of  the  sovereignty  of  public  opinion.  The  "Nation,''  in  an  editorial 
article,  gave  the  governor  a  somewhat  doubtful  compliment  by  calling 
the  act  "a  totally  unlooked-for  display  of  energy  and  independence." 
But  be  that  as  it  may,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  important  results.  Its 
wisdom  is  still  called  in  question  by  some,  but  however  unwise  it 
may  be  to  allow  factions  to  inflame  each  other's  passions  publicly,  it 
would  certainly  be  far  more  unwise  for  the  city  to  identify  itself 
wholly  with  one  faction.  The  fact  that  the  mayor,  wearing  the  in- 
signia of  the  Eibbonmeu,  had  headed  the  last  St.  Patrick's  day  pro- 
cession, could  not  fail  to  be  commented  upon  in  this  connection. 
Just  before  the  time  appointed  for  the  parade  to  start,  the  appear- 
ance of  police  headquarters  reminded  the  onlookers  forcibly  of  the 
days  of  the  draft  riots.  Information  was  constantly  being  received 
that  armed  bands  of  men  were  preparing  to  oppose  the  procession, 
and  bodies  of  police  were  massed  in  different  parts  of  the  city  to  re- 
ceive them.  About  noon  the  first  demonstration  was  made  in  the 
form  of  a  determined  attack  on  the  Fenian  armory  in  Avenue  A,  but 
the  assailants  were  beaten  off  by  the  police. 

On  hearing  of  the  order  forbidding  the  parade,  most  of  the  Orange 
lodges  had  arranged  to  spend  the  day  outside  the  city,  so  that  when 
the  procession  set  out  the  escort  of  military  and  police  almost  hid 
from  view  those  they  were  to  accompany  and  protect.  The  parade 
consisted  of  the  Eighty-fourth,  Twenty-second,  Sixth,  Seventh,  and 
Ninth  regiments,  and  the  Gideon  Lodge  of  Orangemen  (numbering 
less  than  100  men).  The  streets  were  lined  with  spectators,  but  there 
was  sign  of  neither  applause  nor  disapproval  till  the  parade  reached 
a  spot  on  Eighth  Avenue,  between  Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth 
streets.  Here  a  shot  was  fired  from  a  tenement-house,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment there  was  a  general  assault,  stones  and  other  missiles  being 
thrown  from  the  neighboring  buildings,  and  more  shots  being  fired 
from  the  crowd.  These  attacks  brought  several  volleys  from  the 
Ninth  and  Eighty-fourth  regiments,  which  created  deadly  havoc 
among  the  mob ;  and  although  the  firing  by  these  two  organizations 


534 


mSTORT    OF    NEW-YORK 


was  unauthorized,  it  was  felt  by  the  public  to  be  justifiable,  and  of 
inestimable  service,  as  tending  to  crush  the  outbreak  at  its  very  Ixj- 
ginning.    It  was  a  matter  of  regret  that  innocent  persons,  attracted 
by  the  excitement  of  the  hour,  lost  their  lives  by  being  among  the 
disturbers  of  the  peace  at  the  time  of  the  shooting,  but  this  was  an 
unavoidable  sequence  to  the  occasion.    The  total  number  of  killed 
and  mortally  wounded  in  this  brief  contest  was  fifty-four,  including 
three  members  of  the  Ninth  regiment,  while  many  of  the  soldiers  re- 
ceived sUght  injuries.    The  Orangemen  were  escorted  as  far  as  the 
Seventh  Regiment  armory,  then  situated  over  Tompkins  market,  and 
the  several  regiments  were  ordered  to  clear  the  adjacent  streets. 
This  being  done,  the  Orangemen  divested  themselves  of  their  regalia, 
and  slipped  away  quietly,  one  by  one,  to  their  homes,  and  the  trouble 
was  ended.    When  the  news  of  the  assault  and  its  repulse  had  spread 
through  the  city,  business  was  at  once  suspended,  and  the  citizens, 
with  a  shuddering  remembrance  of  the  atrocities  of  1863,  feared  that 
the  end  was  not  yet;  but  the  mob  had  received  a  severe  lesson,  and 
soon  disappeared.     Governor  Hoffman,  however,  summoned  addi- 
tional  regiments  from  Brooklyn  to  be  ready,  and  prepared  to  dh'ect 
their  movements  in  person. 

As  is  usual  in  such  cases,  public  opinion  on  the  contest  was  some- 
what divided,  and  there  was  much  condemnation  of  the  military  for 
precipitancy,  heightened  by  the  knowledge  that  they  had  fired  without 
specific  orders.  In  some  quarters  indignation  against  them  ran  high. 
On  the  whole,  however,  it  was  felt  that  the  soldiers  who  were  killed 
in  the  affair  had  lost  their  lives  not  only  in  defense  of  a  principle 
dear  to  all,  but  in  vindicating  the  right  of  the  decent  people  of  the 
city  not  to  be  dictated  to  by  ruflSans.  The  dead  men  were  buried  on 
the  following  Sunday,  with  elaborate  ceremony.  In  strong  contrast 
to  the  popular  sentiment  in  regard  to  them  was  the  feeling  of  mingled 
amusement  and  disgust  with  which  the  city  heard  of  the  desertion  of 
the  colonel  of  the  Ninth  Eegiment,  the  notorious  James  Fisk,  the 
partner  of  Gould,*  at  the  beginning  of  the  affray.  Fearing,  doubtless, 
lest  he  should  be  a  target  for  the  bullets  of  the  mob,  he  prudently 


1  "  To  treat  the  late  Jay  Gould,  as  some  of  our 
contemporaries  have  done,  as  a  man  who  achieved 
his  notoriety,  and  acquired  the  enormous  power 
which  he  wielded  in  the  financial  world,  under  or- 
dinary conditions,  is  to  do  our  civilization  great 
injustice  He  was  in  reality  as  much  the  product 
of  anarchy  as  Napoleon — to  whom  he  is  often 
compared  —  or  Rosas,  or  the  Greek  Had^-Stavros. 
He  saw  his  opportunities, and  made  his  beginning, 
in  a  state  of  things  in  which  all  the  institutions  of 
a  civilized  society —  the  Legislature,  the  Judiciary, 
the  Exchanges,  the  means  of  carrying  on  com- 
merce and  even  currency  —  were  made  to  take 
part  in  the  semi-military  contest  of  two  sx>ecula- 
tors  for  the  possession  of  a  railroad,  and  in  which 


a  Boss,  and  not  a  Buccaneer,  was  preparing  to 
take  possession  of  a  great  city  and  loot  the  tret- 
sury,  not  on  the  Spanish  Main,  but  in  a  Cliristian 
Protestant  Anglo-Saxon  State.      One  of  Goald't 
own  earliest  exploits  was  storming  with  an  armed 
force  a  tannery  which  was  defended  by  bis  ban- 
ness  rivals  with  another  armed  force,  in  refsrolsr 
twelfth-century  fashion.  In  short,  the  community 
was,  between  1865  and  1873,  in  that  revolutionary 
condition  in  which  Tweeds.Pisks,andGoulds  surely 
appear,  apparently  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  social 
development.     As  you  sow  so  shall  you  reap,  say 
the  Scriptures.    Thom-trees  produce  thorns  and 
fig-trees  figs,  and  to  stand  round  Gould's  grave 
now,  and  treat  his  career  as  something  wonderful, 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING 


535 


slipped  away,  and  perhaps  saved  his  life.  Two  years  later  he  was 
shot  dead  by  a  rival  in  a  quarrel  about  a  worthless  woman. 

A  word  should  be  said  here  of  John  T.  Hoflfman,  whose  determined 
action  was  the  cause  of  these  exciting  events.    He  had  already  been 
mayor  of  the  city  in  1866.    Mr.  Hoffman,  who  was  then  in  his  forty- 
second  year,  was  a  native  of  Sing  Sing,  a  grad-     ^-7-^ 
uate  of  Union  College,  and  active  in  politics  ^^^^^^^^jf^^^^^^ 
from  early  manhood.    At  the  time  of  his  elec-       ""^  ' 

tion  as  mayor,  he  was  best  known  for  the  severe  sentences  he  had 
delivered,  while  recorder  of  the  city,  against  persons  engaged  in  the 
draft  riots;  but  he  is  perhaps  chiefly  remembered  for  his  action  in  re- 
lation to  the  riot  just  described. 

In  April,  1866,  was  founded  the  first  of  the  societies  whicli — all 
arising  within  a  decade  —  have  for  their  object  the  aiding  of  the  city 
authorities  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  and  the  assumption  of 
responsibility  for  the  prosecution  of  law-breakers  in  those  thousands 
of  cases  where  investigation  is  the  business  of  everybody,  and  there- 
fore of  nobody.  This  first,  however,  differed  from  all  the  others  in 
that  it  had  first  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  laws  which  it  undertook 
to  enforce,  and  then  to  create  a  public  sentiment  favorable  to  their 
enforcement — all  in  the  face  of  indifference,  opposition,  and  ridicule. 
The  American  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals 
was  the  creation  of  a  single  man,  Henry  Bergh.  Mr.  Bergli  was  the 
son  of  Christian  Bergh,  a  ship-builder  of  German  descent,  from  whom 
he  inherited  a  competence.  In  1862  he  was  appointed  secretary  of 
legation  and  vice-consul  at  St.  Petersburg,  but  in  1864  he  resigned, 
and  devoted  himself  to  travel.  While  abroad,  the  cruelties  that  he 
saw  inflicted  upon  dumb  animals  determined  him  to  devote  the  rest  of 
his  life  to  bettering  theii*  condition.  On  his  return,  having  interested 
citizens  in  his  project,  he  procured  by  his  personal  exertions  a  charter 
for  his  proposed  society,  together  with  the  passage  of  a  law,  drawn  up 
by  himself,  for  the  proper  protection  of  animals.  From  that  time  till 
his  death  he  labored  incessantly — on  the  lecture  platform,  in  the 
court-room,  and  in  the  street — in  his  chosen  pursuit,  and  succeeded 


is  to  misunderstand  the  moral  goyemment  of  the 
world.  Every  great  modem  city  —  as  we  have 
said  in  speaiking  of  Tammany  —  swarms  with 
men  capable  of  making  very  good  Goulds,  Fisks, 
Tweeds,  Kellys,  and  Crokers,  under  favoring  so- 
cial conditions.  Create  the  needed  environment, 
and  you  can  have  them  anywhere  by  the  dozen  — 
keen,  alert,  courageous,  resourceful,  unscrupu- 
lous, ready  to  use,  for  either  rule  or  ruin,  every 
weapon  which  the  law  and  the  meanness  or  greed 
of  their  feUow-men  put  into  their  hands.  It  is  a 
sorrowful  thing  to  have  to  give  up  whole  pages  of 
a  newspaper  to  a  chronicle  of  the  exploits  of  such 
men.  They  ought  properly  to  be  recorded  only  in 
popular  medieval  ballads.    They  are  sad  anachro- 


nisms in  the  days  of  **  public  opinion  "  and  a  free 
press.  But  the  sorrow  they  cause  has  its  crown 
when  they  pass  their  later  years  in  tranquil  pros- 
perity, and  go  down  to  the  grave  with  more  or  less 
of  the  admiration  of  the  generation  which  comes 
after  them,  and  which  has  only  a  vague,  if  any, 
memory  of  the  way  in  which  they  began  their 
struggle,  and  sees  how  far  success  has  gone  to 
palliate  or  condone  their  enormous  offenses  against 
civil  society.  Their  type  is  to-day  the  worst  ene- 
my with  which  democracy  has  to  contend  —  the 
enemy  which,  if  the  great  experiment  fails,  will  be 
the  cause  of  the  failure."  **  The  Nation,"  Decem- 
ber 8,  1692. 


536  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

in  making  himself  respected  and  even  Loved  where  he  was  at  first 
derided  and  slandered.  The  fact  that  duly  appoint«d  special  ageuts 
of  the  society  are  peace  officers  throughout  the  State  gives  them  a 
power  that  no  one  can  afford  to  despise,  and  the  brute  who  would 
otherwise  overwork  or  torture  his  horse  has  been  taught  that  there  is 
a  practical  power  in  humanity  that  he  may  not  dare  to  oppose. 

The  efforts  of  Mr.  Bergh  to  put  a  stop  to 
scientific  observation  by  vivisection  brought 
down  on  him  the  wrath  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession, and  his  attempted  interference  with 
the  shooting  of  trapped  pigeons  made  him  uu- 
popular  with  many  sportsmen ;  but  before  he 
died  he  had  won  the  approval  of  the  entire 
respectable  portion  of  the  community,  and 
the  society  that  he  founded  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  most  beneficent  influences  in  the 
city.  It  has  become  the  parent  of  kindred 
organizations  throughout  the  country,  and 
has  also  powerfully  influenced  legislation  on 
the  subject  of  cruelty  to  animals.  At  the 
beginning  of  its  work  no  State  or  Territory  of  the  Union  had  among 
its  statutes  any  law  for  the  protection  of  dumb  animals;  in  1893 
almost  all  the  States  and  Territories  had  passed  such  laws,  based  iu 
most  oases  on  the  original  statute  framed  by  him. 

The  second  of  the  societies  above  mentioned — the  Society  for  the 
Suppression  of  Vice — had  its  origin  in  a  movement  of  the  Young  Men's  ^ 
Christian  Association  against  obscene  literature.    It  was  incorporated^ 
in  1873,  under  the  leadership  of  Anthony  Comstock,  who  oecupie<^^ 
in  relation  to  it  much  the  same  position  as  that  held  by  Mr,  Bergta^ 
toward  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  He  ha* 
already  secured  the  passage  of  State  and  national  laws  against  tl*^ 
dissemination  of  obscene  literature,  and  the  society  proceeded  di^^; 
gently  to  enforce  them,  seizing  tons  of  books,  stereotype  plates,  a^:^ 
photographs.    Soon  it  extended  its  province  and  attacked  swindl^^j^ 
of  all  kinds,  including  bogus  medical  institutions,  gambling-hous^ 
lotteries,  and  the  like.    In  one  year  the  society  seized  twenty-foiy. 
tons  of  obscene  matter  and  six  tons  of  gambling  implements,  Qnj 
added  $118,656  to  the  public  funds  throngh  the  imposition  of  fines 
and  the  forfeiture  of  bail  bonds. 

The  third  society,  that  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children, 
was  organized  in  1874,  and  incorporated  in  1875  under  a  general  State 
law  providing  for  the  formation  of  such  societies.  It  owes  its  origin 
to  the  first-mentioned  society,  the  attention  of  one  of  whose  members 
was  called  to  the  need  of  such  an  organization  by  the  rescue,  by  Mr. 


BECOYEBT    FBOM   WAB  —  TWEED    BING  537 

Bergh,  of  a  Uttle  girl  from  inhuman  treatment.  Mr.  Gerry,  a  grand- 
son  of  Vice-President  Elbridge  Gerry,  was  born  in  New -York  in  1837, 
and  has  won  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  placing  his  personal  services  at 
the  disposal  of  the  society  of  which  he  is  the  head.  This  society  has 
done  a  good  work  in  promoting  the  health  of  the  tenement-house 
children,  rescuing  and  caring  for  many  little  ones  cruelly  maltreated 
by  drunken  parents  or  guardians,  and  seeing  to  it  that  children  are 
not  employed,  as  on  the  stage,  to  make  money  for  others  at  the  ex- 
pense of  their  own  health  and  morals. 

The  list  of  these  associations  is  closed  by  the  Society  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Crime,  formed  in  1876,  with  objects  similar  to  those  of 
Mr.  Comstock's  society,  but  especially  with  a  view  to  the  enforcement 
of  the  excise  laws  and  the  suppression  of  disorderly  houses.  Its  head, 
from  its  foundation  to  his  death,  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Crosby. 
.  Dr.  Crosby,  who  was  born  in  New-York  in  1826,  was,  ^^  ^  ^ 
at  the  time  of  its  foundation,  chancellor  of  the  Uni-  /^^77Zie<Y^w^^n^ 
versity  of  New- York,  and  pastor  of  the  Fourth  Av-  ^ 

enue  Presbyterian  Church.  Throughout  his  connection  with  the 
society  he  was  prominent  as  an  advocate  of  temperance  as  dis- 
tinguished from  total  abstinence,  and  of  high  license  as  opposed  to 
prohibition,  and  did  much  to  influence  legislation  in  this  regard. 

All  these  four  societies  have  had  much  in  common,  both  in  method 
and  in  the  degree  of  popular  esteem  in  which  they  are  held.  They  have 
made  mistakes  occasionally,  and  have  often  carried  their  enthusiasm 
almost  to  the  verge  of  absurdity,  yet  no  one  of  them  could  be  spared, 
and  their  inception  marks  out  the  decade  just  following  the  civil  war 
as  something  more  than  an  era  of  financial  speculation  and  political 
corruption. 

About  this  time  New- York  had  occasion  to  show  her  hospitality  to 
two  foreign  princes.  In  1869  Prince  Arthur,  afterward  Duke  of  Con- 
naught,  the  youngest  son  of  Queen  Victoria,  visited  this  country,  and 
was  received  with  cordial  demonstrations  of  regard.  Two  years  later 
the  young  Grand  Duke  Alexis  of  Russia  was  the  recipient  of  even 
more  distinguished  attentions.  He  arrived  in  the  city  on  November 
19,  and  on  the  21st  was  given  a  public  reception.  On  his  retm^n  to 
New- York,  after  visiting  Washington  and  Annapolis,  he  was  given 
a  ball  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy-yard  on  the  28th,  and  another  at  the 
Academy  of  Music  on  the  29th.  On  December  2,  he  was  presented  at 
the  Academy  of  Design  with  Page's  picture  of  Admiral  Farragut  in 
the  battle  of  Mobile  Bay.  These  courtesies  did  much  to  strengthen 
the  feelings  of  friendship  which  have  always  existed  between  this 

1  Thomas  Coman,  who  was  a  printer  and  a  mem-  term  of  John  T.  Hoffman,  who  had  held  the  office, 
her  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  served  as  mayor  but  had  just  been  elected  governor  of  the  State, 
during  December,  1868,  to  finish  the  unexpired  Editor. 


538 


mSTOBX    OF    BEW-YOEK 


country  and  BuBsla,  and  they  were  rendered  a  pleasure  to  those  who 
extended  them  by  the  personality  of  the  young  Grand  Duke,  who 
won  many  friends  wherever  he  went. 

But  a  short  time  hefore  these  festivities  New- York  was  called  upon 
to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  a  sister  city  in  distress,  and  the  mention  of 

her  noble  response  may 
fittingly  close  this  recurd 
of  a  decade's  progress  in 
material  welfare.  On  Oc- 
tober 6,  the  great  fire  be- 
gan that  laid  half  of  the 
city  of  Chicago  in  ashes, 
destroyed  pi-operty  worth 
$200,000,000,  covered  five 
square  miles  with  ruiug, 
and  rendered  100, 000  p»}o. 
pie  homeless.  On  the  tvo 
days  while  the  fire  was 
raging  very  little  busi. 
ness  was  done  in  New- 
York,  and  immediately 
afterward  public  meet- 
ings were  held  in  aid  of 
the  sufferei-s,  and  citizeus 
vied  with  each  other  in 
liberality.  In  less  than 
two  weeks  nearly  $3,000,000  in  money  and  material  was  sent  to 
Chicago  as  the  contribution  of  New- York.  Not  all  the  iniquities  of 
the  Tweed  Ring,  which  must  be  now  unfolded  at  length,  can  cause 
such  a  philanthropic  deed  as  this  to  be  foi^tten. 

The  events  now  to  be  recorded  are  such  as  to  bring  a  blush  to  the 
cheek  of  every  honest  lover  of  his  country,  involving,  as  they  do,  the 
plundering  of  its  greatest  city  by  a  gang  of  thieves  in  the  guise  of 
municipal  oflieers,  while  the  citizens  looked  supinely  on.  The  causes 
which  conspired  to  bring  about  such  a  state  of  things  were  various. 
In  the  first  place,  the  concentration  of  Federal  and  State  power  at 
Washington  and  Albany  respectively  had  long  tended  to  make  New- 
York  the  tool  of  politicians  who  regarded  it  as  a  mine  to  be  worked 
for  their  own  benefit.  The  city,  instead  of  being  the  leader  of  the 
State,  was  only  its  creature.    It  was  governed  by  commissions  and 

Church  (1T69)  formed  one  pvlah,  all  undn-  Um 


COLLEOIATE    EEPOBMED   CHURCH.l 


1  The  CoUejdate  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
CbarPh  wm  the  tint  eceleaiaiitlcal  ormniution  Iji 
New- York  rity.  hnviiiR  betn  founded  in  IBSS.  The 
flrat  church  buildtng  vitB  erected  in  Broad  street  in 
1633.  The  Garden  street  fhurfh  (16931,  the  Old 
Middle  nuteh  Church  (1?29).  and  the  North  Dutch 


noHhweflt  comer  of  Fifth  Avenne  and  Fortr- 
eightli  Btraet,  la  a  handsome  utructmg  of  K«inrli 
sandstone,  and  was  designed  bj  W.  Wheeler  Smith. 
It  was  dedicated  in  1ST!.  EDtiok. 


BECOTEBY    FROM    WAB  —  TWEED    KING 


539 


■ds  appointed  at  Albany,  ostensibly  non-partizan,  but  often  really 

oly  in  the  sense  that  they  acknowledged  no  party  but  themselves. 

government  was  made  more  easy  by  the  existence  of  two  sets  of 

iala  —  one  for  the  city  and  one  for  the  county,  whose  limits  were 

game.     The  State  legislature,  too,  which  should  have  acted  as  a 

k  on  the  governing  bodies  it  had  created,  too  often  shut  its  eyes 

heir  misdeeds,  or  gave  good  reason  for  believing  that  it  was 

ally  in  collusion  with  them.^ 

le  war  had  withdrawn  from  the  city  and  from  the  State  many  of 

r  best  men,  and  those  who  were  left  were  so  occupied  with  the 

ing  events  of  the  national  struggle  that  they  had  no  eyes  for  the 

ily  growing  corruption  of  the  municipal  govemmeut.    New- York 

teeming  with  the 

■  worat  elements 

he  country,  and 

e  were  thrown  in- 

rominence  in  the 

icils  of  the  local 

Locratic        party 

ngh   the   feeling 

hopeless    apathy 

sh  kept  the  more 

;hy  leaders  iu  the 

:ground.  Through 

x>rt  of  New- York 

le  gateway  to  the 

irican    continent 

ad    poured     for 

s  thousands  upon 

.sands     of     emi- 

its    from    every 

•ter  of  the  globe,  no  small  proportion  of  whom  had  remained  in 

city — often  by  no  means  the  more  desirable  part. 

lis  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  causes  that  led  so  large  a  uum- 

df  these  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Democratic  party.     Suffice  it 

ay  that  the  Tammany  Society  had  long  served  as  the  means  by 

■h  the  local  leaders  had  accustomed  this  element  to  submit  to  the 

ipline  of  political  organization.    It  was  so  first  used  by  Aaron 

r,  and  had  attained  so  great  power  that,  once  in  the  control  of  the 

r  faction,  nothing  could  stay  the  progress  of  that  corruption  to 

ih  in  the  hands  of  the  better  element  it  would  have  been  an 

(■iteteof  thlDgSp  while  it  reached  iU  height  Halne;   "The  wu-  has  corrupted  everybody  uid 

■r-Torlc,  we  by  no  meaiis  confloed  to  this  everything  In  the  United  SUtes.  Tbftnic  God,  my 

Id  18S9  Senator  QrinieB,RepubIiun.  or  Iowa,  political  career  ended  with  the  beginning  of  this 

note  to  bll  friend  Senator  Fessenden  of  eormpt  political  era." 


LAXE,    CENTRAL    PASK. 


540  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

effectual  check.  The  government  of  the  city  by  a  mob  of  newly  im- 
ported emigrants,  in  f act,  was  the  cause  of  that  reaction  which  handed 
over  the  control  of  municipal  affairs  to  the  Albany  commissions. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  all  these  evil  influences  were  at  their  height. 
The  tremendous  national  issues  which  called  for  settlement  divided  the 
respectable  citizens  into  hostile  camps,  and  the  corruptionists,  who 
always  act  as  a  unit,  had  things  their  own  way.  The  increasing  demor- 
alization was  aided  not  a  little  by  the  resort  of  great  corporations  to 
bribery  to  carry  their  schemes  through  the  State  and  municipal  legis- 
lative bodies.  Stock-jobbing  began  to  grow  more  prevalent,  the  mania 
for  speculation,  already  described,  was  rife,  and  all  seemed  to  be  en- 
gaged in  one  great  game  of  grab. 

A  good  opportunity  for  the  plunder  of  the  city  by  its  officials  had 
existed  for  many  years ;  indeed,  it  had  long  been  taken  advantage  of 
on  a  small  scale,  and  had  the  plunderers  been  content  with  thousands 
instead  of  millions,  their  misdeeds  perhaps  had  never  been  heard 
of.  The  root  of  the  whole  trouble  lay  in  the  board  of  supervisors,  a 
body  created  in  embryo  as  early  as  1787.  In  that  year  the  mayor, 
recorder,  and  aldenuen  were  constituted  supervisors  of  the  city  and 
county,  with  power  to  apportion  and  raise  the  State  tax.  In  1857  this 
board  was  reorganized  by  the  legislature,  and  made  the  goveniiDg 
body  of  the  county,  consisting  of  twelve  members,  six  from  each  po- 
litical party.  This  non-partizan  provision  was  made  in  the  interest 
of  reform,  but  its  influence  was  in  the  other  direction,  for  by  its  means 
unscrupulous  members  of  both  parties  were  enabled  to  combine  into 
a  ring,  and  thus  hold  the  city  at  their  mercy. 

Here  was  the  germ  of  the  great  municipal  ring,  whose  future  leader, 
William  M.  Tweed,  was  one  of  the  Democratic  members  of  this  first 
"  reformed  ^  board  of  supervisors.  Tweed  was  then  thirty-four  years 
old,  having  been  born  in  New -York  in  1823.  After  receiving  an  ordi- 
nary common-school  education,  he  learned  his  father's  trade  of  chair- 
making  ;  but  from  an  early  age  he  seems  to  have  developed  a  liking 
for  anything  but  honest  labor,  and  devoted  most  of  his  time  to  the 
volunteer  fire  department,  becoming  foreman  of  the  "  Big  Six,"  or 
Americus  Engine  Company.  Here  he  utilized  the  popularity  which 
he  always  had  power  to  gain,  and  which  he  never  failed  to  make 
use  of,  by  organizing  voters  and  becoming  a  ward  "  boss.'*  In  1850 
he  was  elected  to  the  common  council,  then  popularly  known  as  "  The 
Forty  Thieves,"  where  he  was  not  outdone  by  his  associates  in  the 
furtherance  of  lucrative  jobs,  some  of  which  put  money  in  his  pocket, 
while  others  gained  him  new  friends  or  bound  old  ones  more  firmly  to 
him.  His  aldermanic  career  was  appropriately  closed  by  his  aiTest 
with  his  fellow-councilmen  for  contempt  of  court  in  ha\'ing  granted  a 
street-car  franchise  in  disobedience  to  an  injunction. 


RECOVERY    FROM    WAR  —  TWEED    RING  541 

Tweed  escaped  imprisonment,  and  by  this  time  had  gained  enough 
political  influence  to  send  him  to  Congress.  Here  he  made  no  im- 
pression, though,  by  that  faculty  which  he  retained  through  life,  he 
gained  hosts  of  friends, — generally,  it  is  true,  but  by  no  means  always, 
in  the  lower  strata  of  society.  After  a  single  term  of  service  he  re- 
turned to  New- York  a  poor  man,  and  we  next  find  him  a  member  of 
the  board  of  supervisors,  as  has  already  been  mentioned.  Of  this 
board  he  was  four  times  president,  and  here  he  built  up  his  infamous 
system  of  public  plunder.  But,  successful  as  he  was,  Tweed  seems 
irever  to  have  originated  a  great  scheme ;  he  only  elaborated  the  ideas 
of  others.  He  was  no  gi'eat  organizer  of  men,  had  no  financial  genius, 
and  was  remarkable  chiefly  for  his  enormous 
fund  of  self-confidence  and  self-assertion,  which  .^^yy'^C^^iJ^:^^^ 
easily  gave  him  the  lead  among  those  of  much 
greater  intellect.  His  power  had  been  enormously  increased  by 
his  election  as  grand  sachem  of  the  Tammany  Society — a  result 
made  possible  by  the  condition  into  which  that  organization  had  then 
fallen.  Badly  shaken  by  factional  fights,  its  control  had  been  allowed 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  lower  class  of  politicians  after  the  elec- 
tion of  Fernando  Wood  as  mavor.  In  1863  Tweed  was  raised  to  its 
head,  and  from  this  time  forward  he  began  to  cumulate  offices,  being 
immediately  made  deputy  street  commissioner  in  addition  to  the 
supervisorship. 

The  first  act  to  which  the  histoiy  of  the  ring  can  be  directly  traced 
was  when  Tweed  and  two  other  Democratic  supervisors  bribed  one  of 
their  Republican  colleagues  to  stay  away  on  a  day  when  the  board 
was  to  appoint  inspectors  of  elections.  This  corrupt  bargain  opened 
the  way  for  others,  and  soon  a  scheme  for  money-making  was  devised 
and  carried  out.  A  percentage  was  levied  on  all  bills  presented  to  the 
board  for  audit,  as  the  price  of  the  support  of  Tweed  and  his  two  col- 
leagues, who  were  usually  able  to  carry  affairs  as  they  wished.  In 
1864,  however,  another  supervisor  was  taken  into  the  ring,  and  from 
that  time  on  others  were  added  as  it  seemed  necessary  or  expedient. 

So  far  the  thievery  of  the  ring  was  of  an  old  and  hackneyed  char- 
acter— a  mere  adaptation  of  the  clumsy  methods  of  the  old  common 
council  But  now  brains  were  added  to  the  combination  by  the  acces- 
sion of  Peter  B.  Sweeny  —  already  a  power  in  Tammany,  and  one  of 
the  leaders  of  that  revolution  that  had  set  Tweed  at  the  head  of  the 
organization.  This  man  essayed  the  role  of  the  power  behind  the 
throne,  and  by  throwing  an  air  of  mystery  about  himself  and  keeping 
aloof  from  the  vulgar  crowd,  he  succeeded  in  impressing  every  one 
with  the  idea  that  he  possessed  great. intellectual  force,  as  is  shown 
by  his  nickname  of  "  Brains  "  Sweeny.  Yet  he  was  only  a  lawyer  of 
mediocre  ability,  the  son  of  an  Irish  liquor-dealer,  and  of  such  know- 


542 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 


ledge  of  men  as  a  considerable  experience  in  the  lobby  at  Albany 
could  give  him.  He  had  been  in  the  ofBce  of  James  T.  Brady,  and 
had  risen  by  his  own  exertions  to  the  post  of  district  attorney  iu 
1858,  but  broke  down  on  the  trial  of  his  first  ease  from  lack  of  self- 
possession.  He  was  invited  into  the  ring  for  his  known  abilities  as  a 
schemer,  and  seems  to  have  taken  a  malign  pleasure  in  cloaking  its 
doings,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  under  the  forms  of  law.  It  is  said  that 
he  had  a  profound  admiration  for  Louis  Napoleon,  and  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances might  have  carried  his  admiration  to  the  point  of  imita- 


tion ;  but  in  New-York  he  had  to  content  himself  with  his  share  of 
the  plunder,  and  with  his  wide  reputation  as  a  dark,  dangerous,  and 
most  consummate  schemer. 

To  complete  the  ring,  a  financier  was  required,  and  one  was  ready 
in  the  person  of  Richard  D.  Connolly,  popularly  called  "Slippery 
Dick."  Connolly  had  been  brought  in  his  youth  to  this  country  from 
Ireland  by  an  elder  brother,  and  soon  began  to  dabble  in  polities.  He 
was  elected  county  clerk  before  he  was  naturalized,  but,  justifying  bis 
pseudonym  by  breaking  the  promises  that  he  had  made  to  his  friends 
before  his  election,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  for  several  years  into  ob- 
scurity. Finally  lie  obtained  a  nomination  to  the  State  senate,  and 
secured  his  seat  by  dint  of  the  frauds  iu  which  he  was  an  adept.  Af- 
terward he  served  as  an  accountant  in  a  national  bank,  which  gave 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING  543 

him  considerable  knowledge  of  money  matters.  Connolly  seems  to 
have  had  neither  the  shrewdness  of  Sweeny  nor  the  impudence  of 
Tweed ;  but  he  was  smooth,  oily,  and  insinuating,  and  ready  enough 
to  follow  in  the  lead  of  his  bolder  associates. 

The  method  by  which  these  men  succeeded  in  their  scheme  of  plun- 
der was  by  forming  wheels  within  wheels — by  a  system  of  subordinate 
rings,  each  dependent  in  some  way  on  its  fellows,  so  that  the  whole 
municipal  government  was  tangled  up  in  a  network  of  corruption.  Of 
these  subordinate  rings  the  most  baneful  was  that  which  included 
part  of  the  State  judiciary.  The  justices  whose  names  will  go  down 
to  history  as  the  "  ring  judges  ^  were  George  G.  Barnard,  Albert  Car- 
dozo,  and  John  H.  McCunn.  Barnard  was  corrupt,  insolent,  and 
overbearing,  and  though  he  had  indomitable  will,  he  obeyed  the  be- 
hests of  his  masters  of  the  ring  implicitly.  Curiously  enough,  this 
man  had  posed  as  a  reformer  in  1866,  denouncing  the  corruption  of 
the  municipal  government  before  the  grand  jury,  and  issuing  injunc- 
tions against  fraudulent  acts  of  the  common  council.  For  a  time  his 
praise  was  sounded  on  all  sides  by  the  public  and  in  the  press.  The 
best  citizens  joined  with  him  in  urging  the  legislature  to  pass  a  bill 
giving  to  a  judge  of  the  first  department  of  the  Supreme  Court  (New- 
York  city)  the  exclusive  right  of  holding  special  term  in  chambers, 
and,  the  bill  having  become  law.  Governor  Reuben  E.  Fenton  was 
asked  to  designate  Barnard  as  such  judge.  The  governor,  however, 
on  private  information,  refused,  and  Barnard,  throwing  off  the  mask, 
dissolved  his  injunctions,  and  ordered  the  comptroller  to  pay  the 
money  for  all  the  contested  "  jobs.'' 

Cardozo,  the  second  ring  judge,  was  a  different  man  altogether. 
Hard-working,  learned  in  the  law,  perfect  in  his  demeanor  on  the 
bench,  and  controlling  his  temper  with  wonderful  equanimity,  he 
seemed  a  model  of  a  judge  and  of  a  gentleman ;  yet  his  career  was 
marked  by  an  utter  disregard  of  law  and  equity.  He  is  said  to  have 
sold  justice  "as  a  gi-ocer  might  have  sold  sugar."  He  is  reported  to 
have  had  in  view  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  his  abilities  would 
have  been  unequal  to  the  position,  for  he  undoubtedly  possessed  one 
of  the  best  legal  minds  on  the  bench  of  the  State. 

Of  the  third  ring  judge,  McCunn,  little  can  be  said,  save  that  he  was 
as  corrupt  as  his  associates,  and  had  less  legal  knowledge — employ- 
ing eleven  lawyers  to  write  his  opinions  for  him.  Besides  these  men, 
whose  corruption  was  demonstrated  by  their  impeachment  in  after 
years,  there  were  doubtless  others  as  venal,  who  succeeded  in  keeping 
their  evil  deeds  secret.  In  fact,  the  world  will  never  know  how  many 
men,  accounted  respectable,  were  connected,  directly  or  indirectly, 
with  the  great  system  of  rings  to  which  all  had  to  pay  tribute. 


544  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

The  demoralization  of  the  city  press  was  one  of  the  most  alarming 
features  of  ring  rule.    Many  of  its  editors  were  associates  of  the  eity 
oflScials,  some  reporters  were  given  lucrative  municipal  posts,  while 
others  were  bought  outright,  and  still  others  were  given  "tips'*  which 
enabled  them  to  make  money  by  speculating  in  Wall  street,  or  by 
investing  in  city  property  in  districts  soon  to  be  improved.    Finally, 
the  press  derived  a  large  income  from  advertising  contracts,  which  it 
was  in  the  power  of  the  ring  to  bestow.    Those  papers  that  were  not 
in  ring  pay,  abused  it  generally  on  political  principles,  and  the  pub- 
lie,  used  to  political  mud-throwing,  took  what  it  heard  from  tht^m 
with  more  than  a  grain  of  salt.    As  will  appear  later,  however,  though 
the  press  must  be  held  responsible  for  its  connivance  at  this  state  of 
things,  still  to  the  press  was  largely  due  the  deliverance  of  the  city 
from  it.    And  yet  the  "Times,"  which  successfully  led  the  opposition 
to  the  ring,  had  itself  narrowly  escaped  coming  under  its  control. 
Being  thrown  into  the  market  by  the  death  of  Henry  J.  Raymond,  it 
was  just  about  to  be  pm'chased  by  the  ring  for  $300,000,  when  friends 
of  the  reform  party,  bidding  $50,000  higher,  secured  it  in  the  nick  of 
time,  thereby  saving  its  valuable  services  to  the  cause  of  municipal 
honesty.    As  soon  as  this  one  voice  was  heard  clearly  in  behalf  of 
common  decency  and  honesty,  others  followed,  and  the  public  soon 
began  to  awaken  from  the  curious  lethargy  into  which  it  seemed  to 
have  fallen.    At  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  however, 
a  false  sense  of  satisfaction  and  security  obtained  everywhere.    If  a 
few  suspected  the  truth,  they  appear  to  have  been  overwhelmal  with 
a  sense  of  the  utter  hopelessness  of  their  position. 

The  mode  of  procedure  of  the  ring  cannot  be  better  shown  tliaii 
by  a  detailed  account  of  the  building  of  the  New- York  County  Court- 
house. The  original  law  authorizing  it  had  stipulated  that  it 
should  cost  not  more  than  $250,000.  When  work  was  begun  in  1862 
$1,000,000  was  appropriated,  and  in  1864  a  further  sum  of  $800,000 
was  authorized.  Similar  sums  were  authorized  year  by  year,  till  in 
1872  no  less  than  $6,000,000  had  been  expended  on  the  building,  which 
is  by  no  means  particularly  large  or  imposing.  Besides  this,  the 
ring,  as  will  be  shown,  took  without  legislative  permission  more  than 
as  much  again,  so  that,  with  interest,  the  building  cost  the  taxpayers 
of  the  city  more  than  $14,000,000. 

As  has  been  intimated,  while  Tweed  manipulated  these  robberies, 
the  plans  were  originated  and  matured  by  Sweeny.  In  the  spring  of 
1867  a  contractor  named  Andrew  H.  Garvey  was  ordered  by  the  board 
of  supervisors  to  furnish  the  new  court-house.  By  aiTangement  with 
Tweed  he  raised  the  amount  of  each  bill  fifteen  per  cent.,  and  paid  the 
extra  monev  first  to  Tweed,  and  afterward  to  the  clerk  of  the  board 
of  supervisors.   The  amount  by  which  the  bills  were  raised  was  in- 


BECOTERY    FROM    WAE  —  TWEED    BTKO 


545 


Bed  successively  to  forty,  forty-five,  fifty-five,  and  finally  to  sixty- 
per  cent.  This,  however,  became  possible  only  in  1868,  after 
eny  had  been  made  city  chamberlain  and  Connolly  comptroller, 
the  entire  finances  of  the  city  were  in  the  hands  of  Tweed  and 
lumerous  dependents  and  followers. 

I  this  same  year  John  T.  HofEman,  then  mayor,  was  elected  gover- 
of  the  State.  He  had  been  an  unsuccessful  candidate  in  1866,  but 
le  mean  time  the 

had    conquered     ,:• ,  \  ...  ,;.# 

imany  and  forti-     -,"..',. 

itself  in  power,  ■  ,- '  ■ ' 

was  ready  for  an  '  "  ■     ,    ■  ■ . 

ult  on  the  State 
Ifew-York.     The 

to  gain  control 

seemed  to  be  to 
;  Hoffman  gover- 
for  the  ring  as- 
ed,  from  its  ex- 
3nce  of  him  while 
or,  that,  while 
onally  honest,  he 
Id  not  interfere 
its  financial 
mes.  To  gain 
r  purpose,  Tweed 

his    associates 

mitted     hitherto 

aard-of     elective 

ds  in  New-York 

In    this    year 

12  aliens  were  naturalized — more  than  four  times  the  previous 
lal  average.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  this  enormous  increase 
largely  fraudulent.  The  ante-election  tactics  of  the  ring,  how- 
,  were  outdone  by  what  oceiurred  on  election  day.  Thousands  of 
fhs  who,  thanks  to  Tweed,  were  drawing  pay  from  the  city  in  one 
icity  or  another,  were  drilled  as  squads  of  repeaters,  and  carried 
d  and  falsification  to  a  science.  Judges  Barnard  and  McCunn, 
ng  till  late  at  night  to  consider  applications  for  citizenship,  out- 
the  record.  Barnard  packed  his  court-room  with  professional 
and  witnesses,  and  turned  out  reporters  and  spectators.  To  cap 
climax,  the  sheriff  appointed  two  thousand  special  deputies  to 
8t  any  one  who  might  attempt  to  hinder  voting.  By  these  means 
vote  of  New- York  city  was  made  to  exceed  the  number  of  the 
Vol.  IU.-36, 


546  mSTOEY    OF    new-yobk 

voting  population  by  about  eight  per  cent^  and  the  Democratic  can- 
didate was  elected. 

Immediately  on  Hoffman's  resignation  of  the  mayoralty  to  assume 
the  duties  of  his  higher  office,  opposition  to  the  ring  broke  out  into 
open  rebellion.   The  citizens  had  for  years  known,  or  at  least  strongly 

suspected,  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  city  govern- 
ment. Only  the  year 
before,  Judge  Barnard 
had  been  exposed  most 
savagely  in  a  pamphlet 
by  Thomas  G.  Shear- 
man, which  subaequeot 
Events  showed  to  have 
told  no  more  than  the 
truth.  Millions  had  al- 
ready been  spent  on  the 
unfinished  court-faouse. 
But  the  ring  was  strong 
in  its  position,  and,  as 
has  been  said,  had  al- 
ready succeeded  in  getting  control  of  the  metropolitan  press,  by 
wheedling,  bullying,  bribing,  deceit,  or  blackmail,  as  opportnnit; 
offered.  It  was  even  astute  enough  to  encourage  the  appearance  o! 
opposition,  that  it  might  seem  the  stronger.  All  the  revolts  from  its 
control,  whether  led  by  dissatisfied  politicians  or  by  highly  respect- 
able citizens  anxious  for  reform,  seemed  to  outsiders  mere  struggles 
between  the  "ins"  and  the  "outs,"  and  served  to  confuse  good  and 
substantial  citizens  of  both  parties. 

Thus  It  was  iu  the  present  instance.  The  opposition  to  the  ring 
nominated  John  Kelly  for  mayor,  and  Abraham  R.  Lawrence  for  eor. 
poration  counsel — both  clean  men ;  but  they  were  hopelessly  defeated 
by  A.  Oakey  Hall,  the  ring  candidate,  then  district  attorney.  Hall 
was  a  strange  man  to  find  in  such  company.  A  native  New-Yorker 
of  good  family,  and  a  man  of  remarkable  versatility,  he  essayed  dur- 
ing his  remarkable  career  the  parts  of  lawyer,  litterateur,  journalist, 
politician,  dramatist,  lecturer,  and  actor — all  with  a  certain  degree  of 
success.  He  had  been  successively  a  Republican  and  a  Know-no- 
thing, and  then  passed  through  various  wings  of  the  Democratic  party, 
ending  in  Tammany  Hall.  His  connection  with  the  Tweed  Ring  hat 
never  been  definitely  made  out.  He  was  acquitted  in  court  of  the 
charges  brought  against  liim  on  the  final  overthrow  of  the  ring,  and 
while  there  liave  not  been  wanting  those  who  class  him  as  a  coad- 
jutor with  Tweed,  Sweeny,  and  Connolly,  as  a  member  of  the  very 


RECOVEBY    FEOM    WAB  —  TWEED    BING  547 

innermost  circle,  even  his  enemies  have  acknowledged  that  he  was 
influenced  by  ambition,  not  by  greed. 

■  On  January  1,  1869,  the  ring  found  itself  in  complete  control  of  the 
city,  a  position  which,  in  spite  of  the  power  it  had  gained,  it  could 
not  before  be  certain  that  it  held.  Hoffman,  who  at  least  was  not  its 
enemy,  was  governor  of  the  Stata  Hall  was  mayor  of  New- York ; 
Sweeny,  city  chamberlain;  Tweed,  street  commissioner;  and  Con- 
nolly, comptroller.  Its  three  judges  were  secure  on  the  bench.  It 
might  be  supposed  that  it  would  now  rest  on  its  laurels,  yet  one  more 
thing  remained  to  be  accomplished ;  the  city  was  still  governed  largely 


from  Albany,  and  the  ring  was  certain  only  of  its  own  city.  Munici- 
pal autonomy  therefore  became  the  rallying  cry.  In  order  that  he 
might  direct  his  own  forces  on  the  field  of  battle,  Tweed  was  sent  to 
Albany  as  State  senator.  Here  he  found  himself  in  contact  with 
those  who  were  quite  as  well  versed  in  the  arts  of  corruption  as  him- 
self. The  speculators  who  had  plundered  the  Erie  Railway,  as  well  as 
the  engineers  of  countless  other  jobs,  had  found  bribery  necessary  for 
their  end,  and  their  efforts  had  raised  the  price  of  votes  so  that,  al- 
though they  gladly  received  Tweed  as  an  associate,  and  willingly 
joined  forces  with  him,  nothing  could  be  done  without  vast  sums  of 
money.  It  thus  became  necessary  to  devise  new  schemes  of  plunder 
in  New- York  city,  and  these  were  soon  put  into  operation. 

The  plea  by  which  the  conspirators  sought  to  justify  themselves 
may  be  learned  from  the  subsequent  testimony  of  their  subordinate, 


548  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Elbert  A.  Woodward.  "As  I  understood  it,"  said  he,  "Mr.  Tweed  had 
to  pay  the  money  [to  bribe  the  legislature],  and  I  thought  it  right 
and  proper  for  him  to  reimburse  himself."  In  Tweed^s  own  worck: 
"  I  found  it  was  impossible  to  do  anything  there  [in  the  State  senate] 
without  paying  for  it,  and  money  had  to  be  raised  for  the  passage  of 
bills  up  there.  That  was  the  way  the  ring  first  became  organized — to 
pay  for  bills  to  protect  ourselves  in  the  city." 

From  this  time  the  system  of  "  reimbursement "  was  carried  on  like 
clockwork,  an  exact  account  being  kept  of  all  transactions,  under  the 
title  "County  Liabilities,"  and  the  profits  divided  daily.  Much  of  the 
mythical  work  on  the  county  court-house  was  contracted  for  by  a 
friend  of  Tweed's  named  James  H.  Ingersoll,  who  sent  in  bills  for  la- 
bor done  by  himself  or  sublet  to  others.  He  obtained  for  carpeting 
alone  the  sum  of  $4,829,426.26, — enough  to  have  carpeted  Union 
Square  several  times  over, — and  in  the  name  of  George  S.  Miller  he 
drew  additional  waiTants  for  $1,404,307.99.  Garvey,  the  contractor 
already  mentioned,  sent  in  bills  for  acres  of  plastering,  for  which  he 
was  paid  $3,495,626.26,  and  to  a  plumber  named  John  H.  Keyser  was 
given  $1,508,410.89. 

The  ring  was  now  assailed  on  all  sides,  not  only  by  opponents 
who  were  clamorous  merely  for  their  share  of  the  spoils,  but  also  by 
leading  citizens  anxious  for  reform.  Among  other  acts  of  the  ring,  its 
espousal  of  the  cause  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  the  school  question, 
then  for  the  first  time  coming  to  the  front,  had  made  it  unpopular 
with  Protestants,  and  had  involved  it  in  a  struggle  with  the  Board  of 
Education.  By  the  aid  of  the  legislature,  and  especially  through  the 
efforts  of  Sweeny,  the  board  was  abolished,  an  act  which  increased 
opposition  to  the  schemers.  When,  after  the  election  of  1869,  the 
Democrats  obtained  majorities  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature, 
the  reform  branch  of  the  party,  which  called  itself  the  Young  Democ- 
racy, set  about  the  task  of  legislating  Tweed  and  his  associates  out  of 
oflSce ;  and  when  they  failed  in  this  they  tried  to  depose  Tweed  from 
the  general  committee  of  the  party ;  but  here  they  were  equally  un- 
successful, owing  to  the  fact  that  the  ring  controlled  the  use  of  Tam- 
many Hall,  and  hence  forced  their  opponents  to  appear  as  **  strikers'* 
and  "irregulars."  In  the  successful  efforts  of  the  ring  to  retain  their 
hold  on  the  regular  meeting-place  of  the  party,  they  were  seconded 
by  eight  hundred  of  the  metropolitan  police. 

On  the  very  night  of  this  barring  out,  Tweed  introduced  for  the 
second  time  the  celebrated  Tweed-Frear  city  charter,  which  had  al- 
ready been  unanimously  disapproved.  The  efforts  of  the  Young  De- 
mocracy to  pass  a  charter  of  their  own  had  been  defeated  by  Tweed 
in  his  committee  on  cities,  and  now  he  brought  up  his  discredited 
measure,  this  time  backed  by  a  huge  corruption  fund,  which  he  used 


RECOVEBY    FBOM    WAR  —  TWEED    RING  549 


"iWO  STOktTHi  ftoFLtSMqXiT'f-OO  TILL 


'TWAS  Hm. 


550  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

SO  well  that  the  charter  passed  the  senate  with  only  two  dissenting 
votes,  one  from  each  party.  This  charter  abolished  all  control  of  the 
city  from  Albany,  and  placed  its  government  in  the  hands  of  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  mayor,  and  holding  office  beyond  his  term. 
He  was  also  given  the  appointment  of  the  comptroller  and  corpora- 
tion counsel.  Finally,  the  salaries  of  all  the  officers  were  made  de- 
pendent on  his  will,  and  therefore,  in  the  end,  on  that  of  the  Tweed 
Ring.  As  the  "Times^  expressed  it,  the  change  was  "substantially 
one  from  the  intervention  of  Albany  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Tam- 
many.^ Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  charter^  intended  by  its  advocates 
only  as  a  means  of  concentrating  power  in  their  own  hands,  was 
really,  in  many  of  its  elements,  a  reform  measure.  After  being 
changed  and  amended  for  ten  years,  it  finally,  in  1884,  was  restored 
on  substantially  the  old  basis, — namely,  the  placing  of  responsibility 
for  the  government  of  the  city  in  the  hands  of  only  one  set  of  officials, 
instead  of  so  distributing  it  that  it  could  easily  be  shifted,  by  bestow- 
ing great  executive  power  on  the  mayor,  and  by  making  the  heads  of 
departments  responsible  to  him  alone.  Thus,  Tweed  and  his  fellows 
builded  better  than  they  knew,  but  to  them  it  seemed  only  that  they 
had  at  last  made  themselves  perfectly  secure  in  power. 

The  charter  became  a  law  on  April  5,  1870,  and  then  Tweed  took 
up  the  bills  abolishing  the  board  of  supervisors,  which  had  been 
drawn  up  by  his  enemies  and  pigeonholed  by  him  in  his  committee, 
and  allowed  them  to  pass.  Finally,  on  April  26,  the  last  county  tax 
levy  was  passed,  the  county  and  city  having  been  consolidated  by  the 
Tweed  charter.  By  the  charter,  all  liabilities  against  the  county  in- 
curred previous  to  its  passage  were  referred  for  audit  to  a  committee 
composed  of  Mayor  Hall,  Connolly,  and  Tweed.  It  may  readily  be 
imagined  that  the  opportunity  thus  obtained  was  not  lost  sight  of, 
and,  in  fact,  the  city  was  soon  $6,000,000  the  poorer  in  consequence. 
Much,  if  not  all,  of  this  money  went  to  meet  the  enormous  expendi- 
tures that  had  been  found  necessary  to  secure  by  wholesale  bribery 
the  passage  of  the  charter. 

The  ring  now  seemed  to  have  triumphed  over  all  its  enemies.  No 
one  had  access  to  Comptroller  Connolly's  books,  and  legislature, 
mayor,  and  governor  were  all  either  favorably  disposed  toward  the 
ring,  or  inclined  to  shut  their  eyes  to  its  peculations.  The  most  re- 
markable feature  of  the  affair  is  the  success  with  which  the  conspira- 
tors hoodwinked  even  those  citizens  who  were  really  opposed  to 
them.  Doubtless  this  was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  ever>^  one 
recognized  the  real  elements  of  reform  in  the  new  charter,  and  felt 
how  great  an  improvement  it  was  on  the  method  of  rule  by  iiTespon- 
sible  commissions.  Be  this  as  it  may,  a  remarkable  influence  seems  to 
have  blinded  the  eyes  of  the  reputable  element  in  the  city.    Samuel  J. 


BECOVERY    FROM    WAR  —  TWEED    RING 


551 


Tilden,  then  chairmaD  of  the  State  Democratic  Committee  and  the 
ring's  bitter  enemy,  thought  that  its  overthrow  could  be  accomplished 
only  through  the  success  of  the  opposing  or  so-called  "Apollo  Hall" 
faction  of  the  party;  but  the  citizens,  distrusting  this  as  well  as  the 
ring,  were  content  to  bear  the  ills  that  then  afflicted  them,  rather  than 
fly  to  those  that  were 
new  and  unknown.  Be- 
sides this,  it  was  well 
known  that  the  Tweed 
charter  had  been  passed 
through  the  legislature 
by  the  votes  of  both  par- 
ties ;  it  was  hence  re- 
garded as  a  Don-parti- 
zan  measure,  and  so  as 
worthy  of  public  confi- 
dence and  support. 

The  Young  Democracy 
endeavored  to  obtain  re- 
cognition at  the  Eoches- 
ter  Convention  of  1870  as 
the  regular  party  organi- 
zation; but  a  gang  of 
roughs,  furnished  with 
free  passes  by  Tweed's 
allies,  the  officials  of  the 
Erie  road,  intimidated 
the  convention  and  en- 
abled Tammany  to  control  it.  An  article  in  the  "New- York  Herald" 
(written  probably  by  either  Hall  or  Sweeny,  or  at  their  suggestion) 
said  of  this  convention  that  it  "was  the  greatest  success  ever  achieved 
by  the  'ins'  at  the  expense  of  the  'outs.'" 

The  interest  in  New- York  city  now  centered  in  the  mayoralty  con- 
test, in  which  Hall  was  again  the  Tammany  candidate,  and  Thomas  A. 
Ledwith  that  of  the  Young  Democracy.  As  the  election  approached, 
opposition  to  the  ring,  newly  aroused  by  the  charges  of  its  opponents, 
increased,  especially  when  demands  for  Connolly's  overdue  report  were 
disregarded.  Although  under  former  laws  the  comptroller  ought  to 
have  published  his  report  in  January,  Connolly  had  waited  till  Octo- 
ber, 1870,  before  issuing  that  for  1869,  aud  then  falsified  his  accounts 
for  the  preceding  twenty-one  months,  besides  gathering  together 
nine  out  of  the  twenty-one  millions  accounted  for  under  the  conve- 
nient heading  "for  general  purposes."  People  began  to  doubt  the 
solvency  of  the  city,  as  the  annual  assessment  for  taxes — less  than 


552  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

ten  millions  in  1860 — had  risen  to  over  twenty-three  millions  in  1870, 
while  the  valuation  for  taxation  had  barely  doubled  in  those  tcD 
years.  The  city  debt  had  before  the  war  amounted  to  but  nineteen 
millions;  at  the  close  of  1870  it  exceeded  seventy-three  millions,  of 
which  twenty-five  millions  had  been  added  in  that  year.  It  was  im- 
portant to  conceal  this  fact,  for  not  only  were  the  assessment  laws 
heaviest  on  the  landowners,  but  the  per-capita  valuation  of  1.800  Id 
1870  meant  a  heavier  burden  on  the  taxpayers  than  that  of  .700  iu 
1860,  on  account  of  the  increased  proletariat  which  voted  for  the 

Tweed  Iting,  and  were 
fed  by  it,  but  did  not 
payauytaxes.  In  1840 
the  annual  tax  levy 
averaged  less  than  one 
haK  of  one  per  cent, 
on  the  valuation,  while 
in  1846  it  had  reachwl 
one  per  cent.  This  rate 
was  doubled  in  1861, 
and  in  1872  the  rate 
equaled  2.25  per  cent. 
In  1840  the  annual  tax 
levy  averaged  only 
$4.33  to  an  inhabitant; 
in  1850  it  was  but 
$6.27;  in  1860  it  was 
$11.99,  while  in  1870  it 
was  $25.11.  Yet  in  spite 
of  this  enormous  in- 
crease, the  proportion 
of  debt  to  the  inhabi- 
tant had  during  these 
last  ten  years  grown 
from  $23.21  to  $77.87. 
It  may  bo  biiefly  said  that  during  the  years  1867-70  inclusive,  the 
average  taxation  of  New- York  city  had  amounted  to  twenty-flve  dol- 
lars annually  to  each  inhabitant,  while  the  city  debt  had  at  the  same 
time  annually  increased  at  the  rate  of  twelve  cents  to  each  inhabitant. 
In  other  words,  the  city  revenue  covered  only  about  two  thirds  of  the 
city's  expenses.  There  was  a  giowing  suspicion  that  something  was 
wrong  with  the  city's  finances,  and  this  hail  been  so  well  utilized  by 
the  Young  Democracy  that  Sweeny  felt  the  need  of  counteracting  in- 
fluences on  the  coming  election.  He  resorted  to  a  master-stroke  of 
strategy  by  haWug  Cpnnolly  invite  a  committee  of  most  substantial, 


RECOYERY    FBOM   WAR  — TWEED    RING  553 

respected,  and  shrewd  business  men  and  landowners  to  examine  his 
books.  These  gentlemen  spent  a  few  hours  in  Connolly's  office,  and 
on  November  5,  just  before  election,  when  it  was  impossible  to  con- 
tradict their  reports,  issued  the  following  card  over  their  names: 
"  We  have  come  to  the  conclusion  and  certify  that  the  financial  affairs 
of  the  city  under  the  charge  of  the  Comptroller  are  administered  in  a 
correct  and  faithful  manner.''  In  addition  it  was  stated  that  the  city's 
debt  amounted  to  only  $48,644,487,  and  that  by  Connolly's  arrange- 
ment it  would  be  extinguished  in  less  than  twelve  years. 

This  was  not  the  sole  example  of  the  complacence  with  which  many 
of  the  substantial  citizens  of  New-York  looked  upon,  or  rather  over- 
looked, the  doings  of  the  ring.  Tweed  had  become  one  of  the  largest 
landowners  in  the  city,  and  his  gains,  ill-gotten  as  they  were,  had 
begun  to  bring  him  recognition.  After  the  fashion  of  the  outlaws  of 
old,  who  restored  to  the  poor  a  fraction  of  what  they  had  taken  from 
the  rich,  Tweed  gave  freely  to  charity  and  good  works,  so  that  it  was 
actually  proposed  to  erect  his  statue  in  the  Plaza  as  a  public  bene- 
factor. At  the  wedding  of  his  daughter,  which  occurred  about  this 
time,  the  bride  received  many  costly  presents  from  citizens  of  wealth 
and  position,  and  gentlemen  not  without  standing  in  the  best  society 
invited  him  to  their  tables. 

At  the  election  the  ring,  as  usual,  triumphed.  Hall  and  Hoffman 
were  both  reelected,  and  the  thieves  seemed  finner  than  ever  in  their 
position;  yet  the  forces  that  were  shortly  to  overthrow  them  were 
steadily  at  work.  Public  distrust  had  by  no  means  been  allayed. 
The  opposition  press,  notably  the  ^'  Times  "  and  "  Harper's  Weekly," — 
the  latter  chiefly  by  means  of  Thomas  Nast's  telling  cartoons, — never 
ceased  to  attack  the  ring,  and  hold  up  its  members  to  public  scorn. 
The  power  of  such  caricatures  as  Nast's  at  this  time  can  scarcely  be 
overrated.  "I  don't  care  what  people  write,"  Tweed  is  reported  to 
have  said  in  regard  to  them,  "for  my  people  can't  read.  But  they 
have  eyes,  and  they  can  see  as  well  as  other  folks." 

It  was  not  long  before  the  public  had  something  tangible  to  justify 
their  suspicions.  W.  S.  Copeland,  a  henchman  of  Sheriff  James 
O'Brien,  had  been  given,  at  his  friend's  request,  a  position  in  the  office 
of  the  county  auditor.  His  suspicions  were  aroused  by  the  enor- 
mous amounts  of  the  vouchers  it  was  his  duty  to  pass.  He  took  the 
opportunity  to  investigate,  and  speedily  learned  the  truth,  which  he 
at  once  communicated  to  O'Brien.  This  information  O'Brien  kept  to 
himself  for  some  time,  intending  to  use  it  to  blackmail  the  ring  into 
paying  a  claim  of  his  own.  In  January,  1871,  he  threatened  to  make 
the  accounts  public  if  his  demands  were  not  complied  with  Tweed 
and  Sweeny,  feeling  that  nothing  could  now  dislodge  them,  and  that 
any  concession  made  to  O'Brien  would  lead  to  further  trouble  with 


554  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

him,  refused  point-blank,  and  the  sheriflE  left,  "  looking,''  as  a  bystander 
remarked,  "  like  a  man  who  meant  mischief.''  That  afternoon,  how- 
ever, appalled  by  the  possible  consequences  of  their  act,  the  ring 
decided  to  submit,  and  James  Watson,  one  of  the  inner  circle,  made 
an  appointment  to  meet  O'Brien  at  a  hotel  in  the  suburbs. 

Before  this  meeting  could  take  place,  Watson  was  thrown  from  his 
sleigh  and  seriously  injured.  The  wounded  man  was  helped  by  O'Brien 
to  his  house  in  Forty-second  street,  where  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
scenes  in  the  drama  of  the  ring  was  to  be  enacted,  Watson,  who  was 
one  of  the  few  men  that  the  leaders  felt  they  could  trust  implicitly, 
had  been  burdened  with  stolen  property,  transferred  to  him  for  safe 
keeping  from  all  sides.  The  ring,  fearful  lest  he  should  not  be  able  to 
transfer  this  back  into  the  hands  of  the  original  plunderers,  and  afraid 
also  of  damaging  confessions,  literally  took  possession  of  the  wounded 
man's  house,  not  allowing  any  of  his  family  to  approach  him,  and 
denying  him  even  the  ministrations  of  a  priest.  Watson  never  re- 
gained consciousness,  but  the  chagrin  of  his  companions  at  not  being 
able  to  get  back  their  plunder  was  more  than  oflEset  by  their  relief  to 
have  him  out  of  the  way,  for  Watson  had  acted  as  the  ring's  general 
go-between  and  confidential  agent,  and  probably  no  one  man  was  so 
thoroughly  familiar  with  all  their  doings.  No  one  was  more  relieved 
than  Connolly,  who,  the  day  after  the  imprisoned  Watson's  death, 
burned  the  dead  man's  account-books  and  papers,  thus  putting  out  of 
the  way  much  damaging  evidence. 

Meanwhile,  negotiations  between  O'Brien  and  the  ring  were  re- 
sumed, but  came  to  nothing,  owing  chiefly  to  Sweeny,  between  whom 
and  the  sheriff  there  was  bitter  enmity.  By  this  time,  however,  the 
opposition  to  the  ring  had  at  last  borne  tangible  fruit  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Association  of  the  Bar  of  New- York,  which  was  intended 
as  a  banding  together  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  city  to  oppose  ju- 
dicial corruption.  Though  it  was  not  successful  in  some  of  its  first 
efforts,  it  did  its  part  toward  the  formation  of  a  healthy  public  opin- 
ion, so  that  soon  the  ring  was  no  longer  apologized  for  by  respectable 
citizens,  but  only  tolerated,  and  the  time  was  not  far  distant  when 
even  toleration  was  to  be  no  longer  accorded  to  it.  This  progress 
continued  to  be  aided  by  the  editorials  in  the  "  Times,"  and  by  Nast's 
pitiless  cartoons.  The  attacked  party  tried  its  usual  tactics  in  vain. 
They  endeavored  to  buy  the  stock  of  the  papers  that  held  them  up  to 
public  scorn ;  then  the  ring  corporation  counsel,  at  his  master's  bid- 
ding, tried  to  dispossess  the  "Times"  on  a  flagrantly  insuflScient 
ground,  and  finally  Connolly  offered  $5,000,000  to  George  Jones,  the 
proprietor  of  the  "Times,"  and  free  trips  to  Europe  to  its  editor,  Louis 
J.  Jennings,  and  to  Mr.  Nast,  while  the  latter  was  promised  a  fine 
dwelling-house  and  all  his  expenses  paid  if  he  would  cease  his  attacks. 


BECOVEBI    FBOM    WAB  — TWEED    RING 


555 


Not  dismayed  by  defeat,  and  encouraged  by  signs  of  popular  approval 
which  began  to  appear,  the  Young  Democracy  returned  to  the  fight 
with  vigor  after  election,  and,  hearing  of  Copeland's  transcripts  of  the 
ring  accounts,  redoubled  their  efforts.  Isolated  attempts  in  the  same 
direction  now  began  to  be  made  on  this  hand  and  on  that.  Many  of 
these  were  failures,  yet  they  showed,  among  other  things,  that  the  fa- 
vorable report  of  the  committee  of  business  men  on  the  city's  finances 
was  not  justified 
by  facts,  and  that 
the  enormous  muni- 
cipal debt  was  still 
increasing.  Soon  af- 
terward, a  clerk  in 
the  comptroller's  of- 
fice, turning  traitor, 
published  an  ac- 
count of  the  armory 
frauds,  —  a  small 
chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  ring  rob- 
beries,— but  it  ap- 
peared theday  before 
the  Orange  riots,  and 
its  effect  was  there- 
fore lost. 

Only  a  few  days 
before  this,  Tweed 
had  delivered  a 
Fourth  of  July  ora^ 
tion,  which  would 
be  amusing  reading 
were  its  political 
platitudes  less  exas- 
perating, "We  propose,"  he  announced,  "if  possible,  to  wrest  the 
government  from  the  hands  of  those  who,  in  our  opinion,  are  be- 
traying it,  from  those  who  are  trying  to  crush  out  all  principles  of 
equality,  liberty,  and  toleration.  We  propose  to  recognize  the  right 
of  the  governed  to  choose  who  shall  be  their  governor."  Among  the 
other  principles  laid  down  by  this  champion  of  the  good,  the  true,  and 
the  beautiful,  was  the  recognition  of  "the  right  of  those  who  elect 
persons  to  high  official  stations,  to  call  them  to  personal  account  for 
the  manner  in  which  they  have  conducted  themselves  and  performed 
their  duties."  This  right  the  people  of  New- York  were  speedily  to 
exercise,  though  it  would  seem  that  they  had  forgotten  its  existence. 


NEW-YORK    POST-OFFICE. 


556  mSTOBY   OF   new-york 

The  Orange  riot,  which  has  abready  been  described,  did  its  part 
toward  exasperating  the  pubUc  against  the  ring,  showing,  as  it  did, 
how  completely  the  city  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  its  baser  ele- 
ments. On  July  18,  Sheriff  O'Brien,  while  the  excitement  about  the 
riot  was  still  at  fever-heat,  determined  to  strike  his  blow,  and,  after 
a  vain  attempt  to  find  Charles  A.  Dana  of  the  "  Sun,**  carried  the  ring 
accounts  to  Mr.  Jones  of  the  "  Times,''  and  with  the  words,  "  There 
are  all  the  figures  —  you  can  do  with  them  what  you  please,"  left  the 
oflBce  without  sitting  down.  Beginning  with  July  20,  a  batch  of 
the  accounts  was  published  by  the  "  Times "  every  morning,  and  on 
the  29th  it  was  made  clear  to  all  that  the  ring  had  actually  stolen 
more  than  six  million  dollars. 

These  facts,  in  effect  at  least,  were  already  known  to  everybody,  but 
their  formal  and  authoritative  publication  was  the  signal  for  a  imited 
effort  against  the  ring.  The  "  Staats-Zeitung,"  by  aiding  the  "  Times,** 
served  to  indicate  the  non-partizan  character  of  the  movement,  and 
the  fact  that  the  ringsters  were  for  the  first  time  driven  to  the  defen- 
sive shows  that  they  realized  their  position.  Mayor  Hall  talked 
freely,  protesting  that  though  he  had  signed  all  the  vouchei-s,  he  had 
done  so  only  "  ministerially,"  and  had  not  been  obliged  even  to  read 
them  over.  Tweed  kept  silence,  trusting  in  his  mob  of  voters  and  his 
stolen  millions  to  caiTy  him  through.  Connolly  inspired  disgust  by  his 
cowardice,  and  his  companions,  who  thought  every  one  as  mercenary 
as  themselves,  and  saw  nothing  in  the  reform  movement  but  a  black- 
mailing scheme,  were  afraid  that  he  would  go  over  to  the  enemy's 
camp.  Sweeny  was  brazenly  impudent,  posed  as  a  reformer,  and 
in  a  published  interview  said  of  his  associates  that  "they  had  a 
corpse  to  bury  with  which  he  had  no  concern."  Considering  that  hosts 
of  contractors  were  at  that  moment  regularly  paying  him  his  share  of 
the  plunder,  and  that  his  telltale  books  were  then  in  Connolly's  pos- 
session, his  effrontery  almost  evokes  admiration. 

The  doings  of  the  ring  had  now  been  fully  unmasked,  but  it  was 
one  thing  to  convince  the  public  of  their  true  character,  and  another 
to  dislodge  the  wrong-doers  from  their  position.  After  consultation 
a  mass  meeting  was  called  for  September  4  by  William  F.  Havemeyer, 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  Joseph  H.  Choate,  and  others;  and  meanwhile,  dur- 
ing August,  an  attempt  was  made  to  tie  the  public  purse-strings  by 
obtaining  an  injunction  against  Connolly,  which  the  ring  judge,  Bar- 
nard, after  consultation  with  Sweeny,  decided  to  grant.  In  the  inter- 
val before  the  mass  meeting,  rendered  necessary  by  the  summer 
absence  of  so  many  people  from  the  city,  the  ring  tried  its  old  tactics 
by  endeavoring  to  capture  or  control  the  reform  movement,  but  in 
this  it  was  unsuccessful.  The  meeting  was  held,  accompanied  by 
ovei-flow  meetings  in  the  parks,  and  was  attended  by  earnest  and  en- 


RECOVERY    FROM    WAR  —  TWEED    RING  557 

thusiastic  crowds  of  citizens.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the 
struggle  it  appointed  a  committee  of  seventy,  which  was  led  by  Tilden, 
Oswald  Ottendorfer,  and  Havemeyer,  and  was  made  up  of  influential 
merchants,  professional  men,  bankers,  and  journalists. 

The  members  of  the  ring,  seeing  that  at  last  a  storm  had  arisen 
that  might  not  blow  over  as  others  had  done,  began  to  look  about  to 
see  how  they  might  save  themselves.  It  was  first  proposed  to  sacri- 
fice Tweed  and  Connolly,  sending  the  former  to  Europe,  and  having  the 
latter  indicted  and  tried  as  a  scapegoat.  They  thus  hoped  to  pose  as 
friends  of  reform  and  keep  the  city  government  in  their  hands.  It 
was  soon  seen,  however,  that  Tweed's  personal  following  was  too  large 
for  this,  and  the  programme  was  amended  by  agreeing  to  sacrifice 
Connolly  alone.  The  press  was  therefore  turned  loose  on  the  unfor- 
tunate comptroller,  who  was  pilloried  as  if  he,  and  he  alone,  had 
robbed  the  city  and  received  the  plunder.  Connolly,  though  fright- 
ened, had  pluck  enough  to  cling  to  his  office.  Judge  Barnard,  in  fur- 
therance of  the  ring's  policy,  granted  the  injunction  that  has  already 
been  mentioned,  and  on  September  15  made  it  permanent,  though  it 
was  afterward  practically  dissolved  when  such  a  course  was  thought 
necessary.  On  the  10th  the  comptroller's  office  was  entered,  and  a 
large  number  of  vouchers  were  stolen.  This  act,  which  aroused  great 
public  indignation,  was  used  against  Connolly  by  his  former  asso- 
ciates, though  they  all  profited  equally  by  the  destruction  of  evidence 
against  them.  In  fact,  all  were  now  busy  destroying  bills,  receipts, 
and  public  records,  many  of  them  of  gi*eat  value. 

On  September  12  Mayor  Hall  wrote  to  Connolly  a  characteristic  let- 
ter, as  follows :  "  With  great  personal  reluctance,  I  officially  reach  the 
conclusion  that  the  emergency  requires  your  retirement  from  the  head 
of  the  Finance  Department.  I  cannot  suspend  any  head  of  a  depart- 
ment, not  even  pending  an  investigation.  I  can  only  prefer  charges 
to  the  Common  Pleas,  who  alone  can  remove  after  a  considerable  time 
for  trial.  I  am  compelled  to  throw  myself  therefore  as  Mayor  upon 
your  magnanimity,  and  ask  under  the  circumstances  for  your  resig- 
nation." Connolly  replied  that  he  was  unable  to  sacrifice  himself  to 
satisfy  "the  hungry  appetite  of  adversaries  for  a  victim."  Finally, 
on  the  15th  he  went  to  see  Mr.  Tilden,  and  asked  him  for  advice.  The 
latter,  having  found  a  provision  in  the  city  charter  by  which  the 
comptroller  could  appoint  a  deputy  with  full  powers  to  act  during  his 
absence,  saw  at  once  how  the  purposes  of  the  ring  could  be  foiled, 
and  having  secured  from  Connolly  the  necessary  papers,  sent  him 
abroad.  By  this  clever  move  Andrew  H.  Green  was  installed  as 
deputy  comptroller,  and  the  very  stronghold  of  the  ring  was  thus  oc- 
cupied. The  mayor  at  once  endeavored,  by  removing  Connolly,  to 
invalidate  Green's  title,  and  appointed  to  the  post  General  George  B. 


558 


mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


"what   ABE    YOU    LAUOHINO 


TO   THE   VICTOR    BELONG    TBE    BPOII.8.'' 


MeCIellan,  who  at  once  declined.  For  a  time  the  fear  of  violence  at 
the  hands  of  roughs  in  the  service  of  the  ring  led  to  the  placing 
of  armed  guards  in  the  comptroller's  office,  but  Charles  0*Conor  in  a 
published  opinion  upheld  Mr.  Green's  title,  and  it  was  concluded  that 
he  had  better  not  be  interfered  with.  Mr.  Green  at  once  stopped 
all  payments  to  public  officials,  who  had  overdrawn  their  salaries,  and 
nipped  in  the  bud  many  lucrative  jobs  then  just  developing.  Besides 
this,  he  enabled  Mr.  Tilden  to  expose  the  ling's  system  for  the  division 
of  plunder,  showing  that  Tweed  had  received  twenty-four  per  cent^ 
Connolly  twenty  per  cent.,  Sweeny  tea  per  cent.,  and  Watson  and 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  — TWEED    RING  559 

Woodward  five  per  cent,  each.  This  additional  proof  bore  particularly 
hard  upon  Sweeny,  who  had  hitherto  been  able  to  maintain  his  inno- 
cence with  some  show  of  justice.  Many  of  the  lesser  thieves  now  fol- 
lowed Connolly  to  Europe, — in  one  case  (that  of  Garvey)  after 
threats  of  murder  had  been  made  to  prevent  further  confessions. 

But  the  ring,  even  in  its  last  gasp,  was  yet  strong  enough  to  control 
a  political  convention,  and  the  reformers  met  their  first  defeat  on  Oc- 
tober 5,  at  Rochester,  where  the  Democrats,  while  refusing  admittance 
to  both  the  contesting  New- York  delegations,  favored  Tweed's  ticket. 
It  had  been  Mr.  Tilden's  ambition  to  kill  the  ring  by  having  it  dis- 
owned by  the  party,  but  this  hope,  as  he  afterward  confessed,  had 
been  somewhat  chimerical.  In  Mr.  Tilden's  own  words :  "  It  is  but 
fair  to  admit  that  what  I  asked  the  convention  to  do  was  more  than 
any  party  was  ever  found  able  to  venture  upon.  It  was  to  totally 
cut  oflE  and  cast  out  from  party  association  a  local  organization  which 
held  the  influence  growing  out  of  the  employment  of  twelve  thousand 
persons  and  the  disbursement  of  thirty  millions  a  year,  which  had 
XK>S8ession  of  all  the  machinery  of  local  government,  dominated  the 
judiciary  and  police,  and  swayed  the  officers  of  election." 

The  reformers  realized  that  they  had  received  a  stunning  blow. 
The  sway  of  the  ring,  in  the  words  of  the  "Nation,''  seemed  as  firmly 
established  as  that  of  a  European  dynasty.  Tweed  had  lost  none  of 
his  confidence  in  his  own  power,  and  in  November  gave  vent  to  the 
insolent  challenge,  "What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  which  has 
become  historical.  But  the  Germans  and  the  better  class  of  Irish, 
disgusted  by  the  recent  disclosures,  seemed  likely  to  desert  the  old 
party  organization,  and  the  reformers,  by  skilful  nominations,  suc- 
ceeded in  capturing  them  all.  The  election  was  felt  by  all  to  be  a 
crisis  in  the  history  of  the  city.  Although  Election  Day  was  then  not 
a  legal  holiday,  business  was  stopped,  while  several  regiments  were 
put  under  arms  to  forestall  a  possible  riot.  But  no  riot  was  at- 
tempted, for  the  ring  was  certain  of  victory.  Victory,  indeed,  perched 
on  its  banner  in  one  district,  where  Tweed,  by  his  old  tactics,  gained 
his  election  to  the  State  senate  by  a  majority  of  10,000,  but  every- 
where else  the  reformers  were  signally  successful,  gaining  23,000 
votes  in  the  city,  and  nearly  52,000  in  the  State.  The  change  was 
so  great  as  to  amount  to  a  political  revolution.  Sweeny  at  last  gave 
up  the  contest  and  fled  to  Canada,  and  Tweed  dared  not  take  the  seat 
in  the  legislature  to  which  he  had  been  fraudulently  chosen. 

In  October  civil  actions  had  been  begun  against  Tweed,  Woodward, 
IngersoU,  and  Garvey, — this  course  being  adopted,  in  the  words  of 
Charles  O'Conor,  because  "of  the  strictly  local  character  cf  criminal 
proceedings  and  the  servility  of  the  local  judiciary."  Tweed  was  re- 
leased on  a  bail  of  one  million  dollars.  Judge  Cardozo  allowing  the 


560  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

prisoner's  son,  to  whom  his  father  had  transferred  his  property,  to 
become  bail  for  him.  The  adherents  of  the  ring  now  brought  nomi- 
nal  suits  against  Hall,  Tweed,  and  Connolly  through  their  corjiora- 
tion  counsel,  and  tried  to  bring  their  cases  into  court  first,  but  were 
foiled  in  this  attempt.  There  were  numerous  delays,  however,  and  a 
year  had  passed  since  the  exciting  disclosures  of  1871  before  any  of 
the  thieves  whose  schemes  were  then  unveiled  seemed  likely  to  be 
punished.  Connolly  was  arrested  and  admitted  to  bail  in  Januarj^ 
1872,  but  the  district  attorney,  a  partizan  of  the  ring,  managed  to 
nol.  pros,  the  indictments  against  Sweeny  and  his  relatives.  Tweedy 
after  suffering  from  lack  of  money,  and  being  obliged  to  sell  houses 
and  lands,  was  arrested  on  December  16,  1871,  on  a  criminal  indict- 
ment, by  Sheriff  Owen  Brennan,  who  took  his  former  companion 
before  Judge  Gunning  S.  Bedford,  through  a  crowd  which  gi-eeted 
the  prisoner  with  both  hisses  and  cheers.  The  judge  refused  bail, 
and  committed  Tweed  to  the  Tombs,  but  he  was  at  once  released  on  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  by  Judge  Barnard,  and  brought  into  court  be- 
fore his  old  friend  and  creature,  where,  curiously  enough,  the  ex-boss 
sat  immediately  in  front  of  a  life-size  portrait  of  himself,  which  faced 
the  judge's  bench.  Barnard  promptly  released  him  on  the  absurdly 
small  bail  of  $5000.  On  December  29,  however,  Tweed  was  forced  by 
public  opinion  to  resign  his  office  of  commissioner  of  public  works, 
and  shortly  afterward  he  was  made  to  retire  from  the  grand  sachem- 
ship  of  the  Tammany  Society,  Augustus  Schell  being  chosen  in  his 
place  by  acclamation.  The  committee  of  seventy  petitioned  the 
State  senate  to  expel  Tweed  from  that  body,  but  no  action  was  taken, 
and  he  was  still  nominally  a  member  when  serving  as  a  convict  on 
Blackwell's  Island.  In  the  following  February  the  Bar  Association 
asked  the  legislature  to  investigate  the  New- York  bench,  which  was 
done  searchingly,  the  doings  of  the  ring  judges  being  thoroughly 
ventilated.  Barnard  appeared  before  the  committee  in  person,  and 
materially  injured  his  cause  by  demonstrating  the  truth  of  the 
charges  of  unseemly  behavior  on  the  bench,  and  by  showing  his 
hearers  how  low  an  opinion  of  his  functions  it  is  possible  for  a  magis- 
trate to  have.  "I  deserve  to  be  remembered,"  said  he,  "if  only  to 
show  to  what  consequences  the  words  of  Hammond  and  Marcy  led. 
.  .  .  The  judge  who  holds  the  chambers  owns  the  patronage ;  it  be- 
longs to  him,  and  he  selects  whom  he  pleases,  regardless  of  any  sug- 
gestion of  counsel  or  dictation  from  them.  ...  I  have  succeeded  in 
life  by  aiding  my  friends,  and  not  my  enemies.'*  As  a  result  of  this 
inquiry,  Barnard  and  McCunn  were  removed  from  office,  and  Cardozo 
came  near  the  same  fate ;  but  even  at  this  time  his  influence  was  feared 
sufficiently  to  cause  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation,  and  the  appeals 
of  his  friends,  added  to  his  own,  prevented  his  disbarment.    He  prom- 


RECOVERY    FROM   WAR  —  TWEED    RING  561 

ised  to  go  to  the  West,  but  broke  his  word,  and  resumed  practice  in 
New-York,  where  his  disgrace  soon  broke  him  down. 

Hall,  Sweeny,  Connolly,  and  Tweed  had  now  all  been  indicted,  but 
only  the  first  had  been  tried,  his  trial  resulting,  on  Christmas  Day, 
1872,  in  his  acquittal.  It  had  been  found  necessary  to  re-indict 
Tweed,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  legal  skirmishing  he  was  brought 
to  trial  in  January,  1873,  before  Judge  Noah  Davis,  on  two  hundred 
separate  counts,  in  the  very  court-house  whose  erection  had  served 
as  a  foil  for  his  vast  peculations.  The  trial  ended  in  a  disagreement 
of  the  jury,  but  after  more  vexatious  delay  another  was  begun  in 
November  following.  The  prisoner  and  his  friends  were  confident  of 
speedy  acquittal,  and  the  adherents  of  the  ring  had  exerted  them- 
selves to  the  utmost  to  this  end.  After  an  hour's  delay,  however,  the 
jury  returned  from  deliberation  to  ask  for  further  instructions,  and 
fourteen  hours  later  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  on  fifty  out  of 
fifty-five  charges,  two  hundred  and  four  counts  in  all.  Judge  Davis 
gave  the  prisoner  the  highest  cumulative  sentence  in  his  power — 
twelve  years'  imprisonment,  and  a  fine  of  $3000. 

On  November  22,  two  years  after  his  defeat  at  the  polls,  Tweed  put 
on  the  convict's  garb,  but  he  wore  it  little  more  than  a  year,  being  re- 
leased in  June,  1875,  by  the  Court  of  Appeals,  on  the  ground  that  the 
cumulative  sentence  imposed  was  illegal.  He  was  immediately  ar- 
rested again  on  civil  suits  for  more  than  $6,000,000,  and  held  to  bail 
in  the  sum  of  $3,000,000.  Being  unable  to  command  this  sum,  he 
was  confined  in  Ludlow  street  jail,  but  his  old  friends  still  had  power 
enough  to  see  that  he  was  lodged  comfortably,  and  on  December  4, 
1875,  while  taking  an  airing,  he  was  allowed  to  visit  his  home,  and 
there  to  eflEect  his  escape.  After  many  adventures  he  succeeded  in 
reaching  Cuba,  and  thence  went  to  Vigo,  Spain,  where  he  is  said  to 
h^ve  been  recognized  by  his  resemblance  to  Nast's  famous  carica- 
tures. His  oflEense  was  not  covered  by  the  extradition  treaty  be- 
tween Spain  and  the  United  States,  but  the  Spanish  government 
arrested  and  returned  him  as  an  act  of  courtesy.  November,  1876, 
saw  him  again  in  Ludlow  street  jail,  and  on  March  8  a  verdict  was 
rendered  against  him  for  $6,537,117.38.  He  lingered  in  prison  till 
April  12, 1878,  when  he  died.  In  1877  he  had  testified  on  ring  frauds 
before  a  committee  of  the  board  of  aldermen,  hoping  thereby  to  se- 
cure his  release,  and  his  disappointment  at  finding  that  this  result 
did  not  follow  is  said  to  have  hastened  his  death. 

Of  all  the  ring  thieves,  Tweed  was  the  only  one  who  suffered  actual 
punishment  at  the  hands  of  the  law.  Of  the  others,  many,  after 
spending  more  or  less  time  abroad,  were  allowed  to  return  unmolested 
and  to  live  at  home  in  obscurity.  Of  the  thirty  millions  which  were 
stolen  during  the  supremacy  of  the  ring,  the  city  recovered  only  a 

Vol.  m.— 36. 


562  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

little  more  than  one  million,  of  which  $558,000  was  regained  from  the 
estate  of  Watson,  $151,779  was  refunded  by  Woodward,  and  $406,562 
by  Sweeny,  nominally  from  the  estate  of  his  deceased  brother. 

The  revolt  against  the  ring  showed  plainly  that  though  the  citizens 
of  New- York  are  capable  of  bearing  a  great  deal  of  misgovemment, 
they  stop  short  at  open  peculation,  and  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the 
experience  of  these  disgraceful  years  will  ever  be  repeated.  Although 
the  victory  of  the  reformers  was  won  by  the  aid  of  an  element  not  far 
removed  from  the  one  that  had  been  robbing  the  city, — the  employ- 
ment of  Sheriff  O'Brien  against  his  former  associates  being  notably 
an  instance  of  "fighting  the  devil  with  fire,'' — yet  when  all  circum- 
stances are  taken  into  account,  history  cannot  but  acknowledge  that 
the  service  done  the  city  by  such  men  as  Tilden,  O'Conor,  Ottendor- 
fer,  and  Havemeyer  was  second  to  none.  So  long  as  New-York'g 
population  is  recruited  daily  from  the  slums  of  Europe,  and  so  long  as 
the  eyes  of  her  respectable  citizens  are  turned  ever  toward  commerce 
rather  than  politics,  it  is  perhaps  too  much  to  hope  that  her  mimici- 
pal  government  will  ever  be  ideally  perfect,  but  at  least  she  should 
never  suffer  from  another  Tweed  Ring.* 

Among  the  objects  which  the  committee  of  seventy  had  striven 
to  attain  was  the  amendment  of  the  Tweed  charter  of  1870.  As  has 
been  said,  though  this  was  in  itself  far  from  objectionable,  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  had  been  obtained,  and  the  uses  that  had  beeu 
made  of  it,  had  caused  the  citizens  of  New-York  to  regard  it  as  the 
corner-stone  of  ring  rule.  Every  one  looked  toward  the  creation  of  a 
new  charter  as  likely  to  be  one  of  the  most  beneficent  results  of  the 
reform  victory  of  1871.  The  object  of  its  framers,  according  to  the 
"Times,"  was  "so  to  reduce  the  profits  of  office-holding  that  the  pro- 
fessional politicians  and  place-hunters  will  be  forced  to  abandon 
their  corrupt  and  corrupting  avocation.  ...  So  far  as  possible,  all 
fees  should  be  abolished,  and  wherever  they  are  collected  they  should 
be  promptly  turned  over  to  the  city  treasury.  As  for  the  subordinate 
offices,  ...  it  would  be  well  if  they  could  be  made  permanent  and  in- 
dependent of  political  changes."  In  accordance  with  these  ideas,  the 
committee  framed  a  charter,  one  of  whose  features  was  a  board  of 
aldermen  of  forty-five  members,  who  should  be  elected  by  the  system 
of  cumulative  voting,  thus  insuring  minority  representation.  This 
part  of  the  reform,  however,  was  not  destined  to  be  adopted,  for  the 
charter  was  vetoed  by  the  governor.  In  1873,  however,  a  charter 
was  passed  which  embodied  many  of  the  features  of  the  first,  abolish- 
ing the  board  of  assistant  aldermen,  which  had  been  substituted  for 

1  The  author  of  this  chapter  is  much  indebted  to  **  The  Life  and  Letters  of  William  M.  Tweed."  by 
Dr.  John  M.  Gitterman,  of  this  city,  for  valuable  William  Edelsten,  of  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey,  will, 
data  connected  with  the  history  of  the  Tweed  Ring,      it  is  expected,  be  issued  daring  1893.      Editor. 


KECOVERY    FROM    WAR  —  TWEED    BING 


TO   WHOM    IT   MAT    CONCEBK. 


the  old  councilmen  by  the  Tweed  charter,  and  vesting  all  legislative 
powers  in  a  new  common  council  of  twenty-one  aldermen.  It  pro- 
vided also  that  the  State  and  charter  elections  should  take  place  on 


564  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

the  same  day.  They  had  hitherto  been  held  on  different  days,  and 
it  is  noticeable  that  the  change,  instead  of  proving  a  measure  of  re- 
form, has  generally  been  deplored,  serving  as  it  does  to  confuse 
national  and  municipal  issues,  and  give  opportunities  for  "deak^ 
and  the  trading  of  votes. 

The  first  election  luider  the  amended  charter  took  place  in  Novem- 
ber, 1874,  when  William  H.  Wickham  was  elected  to  the  mayoralty. 
His  predecessor,  William  F.  Havemeyer,  who  had  taken  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Tweed  Bing,  and  who  had  been  the  first 
mayor  chosen  after  its  downfall,  did  not  live  to  complete  his  term  of 
office,  being  stricken  down  with  apoplexy  on  November  30,  1874. 

No  sooner  had  the  city  begun  to  recover  from  the  excitement  due 
to  the  overthrow  of  the  ring,  than  the  years  of  extravagant  specula- 
tion and  inflated  values  which  are  described  in  this  chapter  bore 
their  fruit  in  one  of  the  gi'eatest  financial  panics  in  the  history  of 
New- York.  It  was  not  wholly  unexpected  by  thoughtful  men,  for 
there  had  been  indications  for  some  time  of  the  unsettled  financial 
condition  of  the  country.  Among  these  had  been  the  great  strike  of 
1872  in  New- York  city,  which,  beginning  among  the  house-painters  in 
an  effort  to  have  the  working-day  reduced  to  eight  hours,  spread  to 
the  carpenters  and  bricklayers,  and  finally  included  nearly  every  class 
of  workmen  in  the  city.  It  is  estimated  that  40,000  men  ceased  to 
work,  and  that  $5,760,000  was  lost  directly  or  indirectly  through  the 
strike.  It  was  unsuccessful,  all  the  men  ultimately  returning  to  work 
under  the  old  conditions. 

But  the  crisis  of  1873,  like  the  great  one  of  1857,  was  chiefly,  or 
at  any  rate  largely,  due  to  the  too  rapid  development  of  railways 
throughout  the  country.  For  several  years  previous  the  country  had 
been  spending  from  four  to  five  hundred  millions  in  railway  con- 
struction, of  which  sum  at  least  four  fifths  were  borrowed.  That  this 
state  of  affairs  could  not  go  on  forever  had  for  some  time  been  quite 
apparent  to  thoughtful  observers.  The  first  mutterings  of  the  com- 
ing storm  came  in  May,  1873,  in  an  utter  failure  to  place  an  issue  of 
bonds  on  the  European  market,  the  fact  being  that  there  was  no 
more  available  money  in  Europe  for  such  purposes.  It  now  became 
only  too  evident  that  the  great  unfinished  railways,  which  must  yet 
absorb  vast  sums  before  they  could  begin  to  yield  any  return,  must 
go  down,  can'ving  with  them,  as  is  inevitable  in  such  a  crash,  a  long 
train  of  dependent  concerns.  The  first  to  go  to  protest  was  the  Mid- 
land of  New- York,  but  its  bankers,  the  Messrs.  Opdyke,  kept  their 
heads  above  water,  and  the  general  public  had  as  yet  no  idea  of  what 
was  almost  immediately  coming. 

Early  in  September  the  Western  wheat  crop  began  its  usual  call 
for  Eastern  money;  stringency  began;  railroad  acceptances  became 


RECOYERY    FROM    WAR  —  TWEED    RING 


565 


unsalable;  and  on  the  ITth,  18th,  and  19th,  the  Canada  Southern,  the 
Northern  Pacific,  and  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  went  down,  carrying 
with  them  the  great  banking-houses  of  Eobinson,  Cox  &  Co.,  Jay 
Cooke  &  Co.,  and  Fisk  and  Hatch.  No  houses  had  stood  higher  in  the 
esteem  of  the  public,  who  had  rightly  trusted  them  as  conducted  with 
caution  and  sagacity.  It  was  at  once  realized, 
therefore,  that  a  great  crisis  was  at  hand.  The 
next  great  failure  was  that  of  the  Union  Trust  Company,  and  by  the 
20th  thirty-five  firms,  including  many  of  the  most  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Stock  Exchange,  had  suspended. 

Public  distrust  was  now  at  its  height.  No  one  dared  to  bid  for 
stocks,  and  the  governing  committee,  fearing  that  more  failures  might 
follow,  promptly  closed  the  exchange.  Meanwhile,  the  national  banks, 
which  had  been  accustomed  to  begin  the  autumn  with  $50,000,000  to 
$65,000,000  reserve,  had  found  themselves  with  only  $38,000,000,  owing 
to  the  growth  of  the  country  and  the  demand  in  the  South  and  West 
for  legal-tender  notes.  By  the  middle  of  September  this  had  been 
reduced  to  $25,000,000.  On  September  21,  President  Grant  met  a 
notable  assembly  of  bankers  in  New- York,  and  was  urged  to  place  at 
the  disposal  of  the  banks  the  legal-tender  reserve  of  the  national 
government,  amounting  to  $44,000,000.  This  he  declined  to  do,  owing 
to  legal  obstacles;  but  he  directed  the  assistant  treasurer  to  buy 
United  States  bonds,  when  offered,  till  $12,000,000  had  been  disbursed. 
This  sum  was  thus  paid  out  during  the  ensuing  week,  but  its  payment 
did  not  operate  to  relieve  the  banks,  whose  reserve  by  the  27th  had 
been  reduced  to  $12,000,000.  Greenbacks  began  to  be  hoarded ;  the 
banks  refused  to  pay  them  out,  and  soon  they  commanded  a  premium 
of  three  to  five  per  cent.  The  city  banks,  many  of  which  were  sus- 
pected of  lax  administration,  at  first  began  to  struggle  with  one  an- 
other, the  strong  ones  striving  to  shake  off  the  burden  of  the  weak, 
but  they  finally  combined  to  help  the  merchants.  There  was  a  gen- 
eral disposition  to  hold  the  stock  speculators  responsible  for  the 
panic,  and  it  was  thought  by  many  that  the  banks,  while  discounting 
legitimate  business  paper,  should  refuse  to  lend  to  stock-brokers. 

The  Stock  Exchange  remained  closed  for  more  than  a  week,  from 
September  22  to  September  30,  during  which  time  a  thriving  business 


*  William  H.  WieUiam  was  bom  in  Smithtown, 
L.  L,  and  at  the  beg^inning  of  this  century  his  an- 
cestors had  been  prominent  in  affairs  in  New-Tork 
dty  for  over  a  hundred  years.  Mr.  Wickham  was 
for  two  years  president  of  the  Volunteer  Fire 
Department  of  New-York,  was  director  and  vice- 
president  in  the  Mercantile  Library  Association, 
and  was  one  of  the  citizens*  committee  of  seventy 
that  ousted  the  Tweed  Ring  from  power.  He  served 
as  mayor  in  1875-77,  to  which  position  he  was 
elected  by  the  Democrats.   His  administration  was 


notable  for  the  high  class  of  the  appointments  to 
heads  of  departments  made  by  him,  including  such 
men  as  William  C.  Whitney,  Allan  Campbell,  Gen- 
eral Pitz-John  Porter,  General  William  F.  Smith, 
Joel  B.  Erhardt,  Stephen  A.  Walker,  Charles  J. 
Cauda,  and  Dr.  EdwaM  G.  Janeway.  At  the  close  of 
his  term  he  was  tendered  a  banquet  by  the  leading 
citizens,  regardless  of  party,  at  which  the  president 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  presided, — a  com- 
pliment never  before  or  since  paid  to  an  outgoing 
mayor  in  the  city  of  New- York.  Editor. 


566 


mSTORY    OP    NEW-TORK 


was  done  on  the  street  by  outside  brokers,  the  laws  of  the  exehauge 
prohibiting  its  members  from  buying  or  selling  elsewhere  than  on 
'change  or  in  their  own  offices.     The  determination  of  the  brokers  to 

keep  their  credit,  at 
whatever  cost,  threw 
a  large  quantity  of 
stock  on  the  market, 
and  it  was  eagerly 
snappetl  up  by  peo- 
ple who  thronged  to 
thecitytoseoure  bar- 
gains. A  short-lived 
" ludependeut  Ex- 
change"was  opened, 
and  though  it  was 
iu  existence  for  only 
a  week,  it  was  the 
scene  of  enormous 
transactions,  and  the 
foundations  of  large 
fortunes  were  laid 
in  it. 

The  regular  ex* 
change  opened  agaiu 
on  September  30. 
For  the  first  three 
days  the  rules  were 
suspended  so  that  no 
contracts  could  l>e 
enforced,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  commit- 
tee was  apiK)inted  to 
see  that  creditors 
should  be  made  se- 
cure by  money  or 
securities  depositee! 
witli  it.  The  ex- 
change was  crowdeil 
with  those  who  had 
come  to  buy  in  a 
cheap  market,  and 
they  found  manifold  opportunities.  When  the  rules  of  the  exchange 
were  once  more  enforced  at  the  close  of  the  three  days,  however, 
only  one  house — G.  Bird  Grinnell  and  Co. — was  unable  to  respond  to 


RECOVERY    FROM  WAR  —  TWEED    RING 


567 


its  contracts.  During  the  panic  it  is  probable  that  millions  of  securi- 
ties passed  out  of  Wall  street ;  for  when,  on  October  2,  the  banks  began 
to  call  in  their  loans,  thus  tending  to  increase  the  stringency  of  money, 
rates  declined,  notwithstanding,  from  one  quarter  of  one  per  cent,  a 
day  to  seven  per  cent,  per  annum,  so  rapidly  had  the  demand  for 
money  decreased.  The  demand  for  investments  continued  large, 
while  the  stocks  for  sale  were  few;  but  the  difficulty  of  yg  ^ 
obtaining  loans  checked  all  tendency  to  speculation,  and  -4  ^  ^^  i 
orders  to  buy  were  usually  declined  by  brokers,  unless  ^ 

accompanied  by  the  necessary  cash.  Thus,  business  began  again  in 
the  most  conservative  manner,  but  public  confidence  was  not  re- 
stored, and,  indeed,  the  stagnation  of  business  continued  largely  for 
several  years  following. 

The  celebration  of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  American  inde- 
pendence, which  occurred  during  this  period  of  depression,  came  at  an 
opportune  time  to  aid  in  restoring  business  to  its  proper  basis,  bring- 
ing, as  it  did,  into  the  country  new  ideas  of  all  kinds,  and  opening  up 
markets  in  all  directions.  At  first,  tlie  proposal  to  make  an  interna- 
tional exposition  at  Philadelphia  the  principal  feature  of  this  celebra- 
tion was  somewhat  belittled  by  New-Yorkers.  The  criticism  was 
freely  made  that  an  exhibition  of  the  world's  products  was  quite  un- 
suited  to  the  occasion.  These  carpings,  however,  soon  gave  way  to  a 
spirit  of  general  helpfulness,  and  New- York  did  her  part  toward  mak- 
ing the  celebration  a  success,  reaping  in  return  her  full  share  of  the 
benefits  which  accrued  thereby  to  the  country  at  large.  The  exhibi- 
tion was  a  great  educator,  and  from  it  dates  a  greater  improvement  in 
public  taste,  in  more  directions  than  one,  than  many  people  are  willing 
to  acknowledge.  Since  1876  the  architecture  of  New- York  has  been 
distinctly  of  a  higher  class ;  her  statues,  instead  of  being  disgraces  to 
the  city,  as  are  many  of  those  erected  previous  to  this  year,  have 
shown  a  higher  public  standard  of  art ;  new  industries  have  sprung 
up,  directly  traceable  to  the  influence  of  the  exposition — in  fact,  it 
was  an  era  to  be  remembered  in  many  ways.  Especially  should  it  be 
kept  in  mind  that  in  this  year  was  given  the  first  successful  demon- 
stration of  the  possibility  of  communication  by  telephone,  so  that 
from  this  time  dates  the  development  of  that  remarkable  instrument. 


1  Smith  Ely,  Jr.,  was  mayor  of  New-York  in 
1877-79.  As  a  youth  he  studied  law  in  the  office 
of  Frederic  de  Peyster,  but  did  not  practise  his 
profession,  early  embarking  in  the  leather  business 
in  the  "  Swamp/*  In  1857,  Mr.  Ely  was  elected  to 
the  State  senate,  where  he  made  an  excellent  rec- 
ord, and  in  1860  was  elected  one  of  the  county  su- 
pervisors. During  his  tenure  of  this  latter  office, 
the  Tweed  Ring  was  formed,  and  Mr.  Ely  was  one 
of  its  bitterest  foes  in  opposing  the  twelve-million- 
dollar  expenditure  for  the  new  court-house.  Upon 


the  expiration  of  his  term  he  was  reelected,  and, 
although  a  Democrat,  received  the  powerful  sup- 
port of  Horace  Greeley.  In  1870  and  1874,  he  was 
sent  to  Congress,  and  in  1876,  while  still  there, 
was  elected  mayor  of  the  city  over  General  John 
A.  Dix,  the  Republican  nominee.  Before  leaving 
the  mayor's  office,  where  he  had  made  an  enviable 
record,  Mr.  Ely  was  offered  the  congressional 
nomination,  and  was  also  tendered  the  comptroller- 
ship,  both  of  which  he  declined,  preferring  to  re- 
turn to  private  life.  Editor. 


568  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

That  the  French  people  were  fully  sensible  of  the  interest  that  they 
properly  had  in  the  anniversary  at  hand  was  shown  by  two  gifts  — 
one,  the  bronze  statue  of  Lafayette,  by  Bartholdi,  that  now  stands  at 
the  southern  border  of  Union  Square,  given  by  the  French  residents 
of  the  city ;  the  other,  the  noble  statue  of  Liberty  Enlightening  tlie 
World,  by  the  same  sculptor,  now  such  a  conspicuous  object  in  the 
harbor.  Though  the  latter  was  not  completed  and  set  in  place  till 
many  years  afterward,  the  gift  was  announced  at  this  time,  and  the 
arm  of  the  figure,  with  its  uplifted  torch,  was  set  up  in  the  exhibition 
grounds  at  Philadelphia,  and  afterward  in  Madison  Square,  New- 
York,  as  a  reminder  to  the  public  of  what  was  to  follow. 

During  this  same  year  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of  Brazil  visiteil 
New- York  —  the  first  reigning  sovereigns,  save  King  Kalakaua  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  who  came  in  1875,  to  set  foot  on  American  soil. 
The  emperor  soon  became  a  public  favorite  by  his  simple  and  demo- 
cratic demeanor,  and  by  the  evidence  he  gave  that  he  had  come  to  this 
country  to  see  for  himself,  and  to  learn  all  that  could  be  learned  by 
diligent  observation.  In  July,  before  returning  to  Brazil,  he  deliv- 
ered an  address  at  Chickering  Hall  before  the  Geographical  Society. 

In  the  November  election  of  the  centennial  year,  Smith  Ely  was 
chosen  mayor,  serving  the  city  acceptably  till  1878.  The  latter  year 
found  New- York  just  taking  breath  again  after  the  new  crises  through 
which  it  had  passed.  Tweed  had  just  died  in  jail,  such  of  his  com- 
panions as  were  known  in  their  true  characters  were  in  exile  or  in 
hiding,  and  the  memory  of  this  gang  of  municipal  bandits  was  fast 
fading  away.  The  period  of  depression  consequent  on  the  panic  of 
1873  was  almost  at  an  end,  and  the  next  year  (1879)  was  to  witness  a 
revival  of  trade.  Thus,  the  close  of  the  period  covered  by  this  chap- 
ter found  the  city  on  the  highroad  to  recovery  from  its  financial  and 
governmental  troubles,  even  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  period  it  was 
looking  forward  to  new  growth  after  the  stagnation  caused  by  the 
civil  war.  Of  the  two  periods,  that  of  the  Tweed  Ring,  with  its 
accompanying  excessive  speculation  and  the  subsequent  panic  and 
commercial  depression,  undoubtedly  was  more  injurious  in  its  effects 
than  the  former.  The  ravages  of  the  war  period  were  far  away  from 
the  city,  while  the  corruption  and  financial  disaster  of  the  Tweed 
period  were  within  its  very  doors.  Yet  even  as  the  brightest  feature 
of  a  great  war,  with  all  its  horrors  and  its  appeal  to  men's  baser  in- 
stincts, is  the  heroism  and  sacrifice  that  attend  it,  so,  too,  in  the  suc- 
ceeding struggle  with  coiTuption  and  fraud,  the  efforts  of  those  who 
successfully  opposed  it,  winning  the  victory  when  victory  seemed 
most  improbable,  and  when  the  plunderers  seemed  most  strongly  in- 
trenched, shine  out  all  the  more  brightly  for  the  sordidness  and 
public  apathy  that   surrounded  them.     There  was  no  waving  of 


RECOVERT    FROM   WAR:— TWEED    RING 


569 


plumes  and  blare  of  martial  mUBio  about  their  triumph,  yet  their 
struggles  in  the  dusty  law-courts  and  in  the  devious  paths  of  muni- 
cipal diplomacy  were  just  as  real  as  those  of  the  heroes  of  1861-65  on 
bloody  battle-fields,  and  they  saved  the  city  of  Kew-York  just  as 
truly  as  these  others  saved  the  Union. 


F 


i.  dAAi.^ 


CHAPTER  XV 

KEW-YOKK  DURING  THE  LAST  FOUKTEiat  TEABB 

1879-1892 

j  HIS  chapter  closes  the  eontimious  narrative'with  the  period 
from  1879  to  the  present  year,  1892,  inclusive.  FamiHar 
l^rouiul,  it  may  ho  thouglit,  to  residents  aurt  readers. 
What,  that  they  liave  not  known  or  seen  of  it  personally, 
have  the  newspaper  and  its  ubiquitous  reporter  left  untoKl  T  But  iu 
such  a  eity  of  bustle  and  movement,  where  one  day  scai-eely  quiets 
down  before  the  milkman  and  market-wagon  are  abroad  beginning 
another,  and  where  business  after  its  kind  is  so  absorbing,  what  ephe- 
mera are  events,  how  quickly  thrust  out  of  mind!  The  incomiiifr 
wave  leaves  as  much  of  writing  in  the  sand,  and  itself  soon  ebbs  ami 
is  swallowed  up  by  the  next.  Moreover,  in  thirty  years  and  to  a  new 
generation,  tliis  familiar  present,  if  it  is  such,  will  bo  history — as  is 
already  our  civil  war.  Characteristic  events  must,  therefore,  at  onee 
be  eaged  where  the  future  can  find  them,  before  they  take  wing  and 
are  lost.  And  what  writer — in  any  department — can  tell  precisely 
the  line,  the  sentence,  the  incident,  which  iu  the  future  may  have  in- 
terest  or  be  turned  to  account  1  In  166.1  there  occurred  in  the  north- 
em  parts  of  the  continent,  and  especially  in  Canada,  a  great  earthquake 
or  upheaval,  which  lasted  six  months.  It  probably  altered  the  whole 
geography  of  the  Saguenay,  and  was  accompanied  by  tei-rific  and 
extraordinary  meteoric  phenomena.  Yet  to  Domiiie  Selyns  alone 
among  the  colonists  are  wo  in<lebted  for  the  slightest  allusion  to  it ; 
and  that  iu  a  single  line  of  one  of  his  many  fugitive  pieces — a  poem 
on  "the  mai-riage  of  the  rector  of  the  Latin  school."'  To  the  writer 
and  tho  rect4>r  and  his  bride,  now  for  two  hundred  years  under  gn)uu<l, 
that  line  and  tliat  allusion,  perliaps,  seemed  of  less  valiu-  than  some 
others  in  the  poem,  which  are  no  longt-r  of  any  interest. 

It  is  to  bo  remem))ei-ed,  also,  that  the  present  of  the  city,  even  the 
short  period  with  which  we  are  busy,  is  itself  a  development,  merely 
the  point  we  have  i*eaehed;  that  already  since  it  began  changes  have 


NEW-YOBK    DUEING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEABS 


571 


appeared,  if  only  as  bubbles 
upon  the  surface,  which  yet 
indicate  intrinsic  movements 
or  some  stir  of  thought  by 
which  the  future  will  be  af- 
fected for  good  or  ill;  and 
that  to  note,  relate,  and  col- 
late, not  events  and  things 
alone,  but  these  in  their 
meaniug  and  connections,  is 
the  legitimate  work  of  his- 
tory. Standing  upon  the 
Brooklyn  bridge,  and  taking 
it  for  an  illustration,  how 
much  it  gives  us  to  think 
about,  past,  present,  and  fu- 
ture! Two  hundred  years 
ago,  a  small  wherry,  strug- 
gling slowly  across  at  the  g  I 
summons  of  a  horn,  was 
enough  for  the  existing  traf- 
fic. Even  a  rainbow  span- 
ning the  stream  from  shore 
to  shore  would  never  have 
suggested  such  a  thought  as  5  I 
that  a  bridge  might  some 
day  do  the  same.  It  was  an 
idea  too  colossal,  that  it  ever 
could  be  needed  or  possible. 
But  as  the  little  polyp  of  the 
south  builds  up  the  coral 
reef,  first  one  species  at  a 
depth  of  water  adapted  to 
its  nature,  and  then  another 
and  another  species  in  suc- 
cession till  the  whole  reef  is 
completed,  so  upon  the  op- 
posite shores,  and  by  the 
gradual  accretion  of  peoples 
and  wealth,  grew  the  cities 
which  are  the  real  founda- 
tion of  that  bridge.  In  1867, 
by  official  statement,  the 
Union  Ferry  Company  was 


MFI    1 

^ 

Wi'  > 

Ml 

f 

f 

W 

Imi 

M"  ■. 

572 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


transporting  upon  its  boats  (besides  wagons  and  teams),  forty  millions 
of  people  a  year  from  city  to  city.  Already,  however, — twenty-five 
years  ago, — tlie  rush  was  growing  too  great  to  be  handled  with  safety, 
and  to  business  men  delay,  even  of  minutes,  meant  money.  In  fact, 
as  still  the  question,  our  own  time  has  before  it  no  greater  physical 
need  or  line  of  development  than  that  of  locomotion,  of  movement 
from  place  to  place,  of  rapid  transit,  of  the  practical  reduction  of  time 
and  space,  of  distances.  Therefore  should  historj'  recognize  the  genius 
of  John  A.  Koebling,  who,  as  narrated  in  the  preceding  chapter,  de- 
signed the  Brooklyn  bridge, — who  showed  that  to  be  feasible  which 
thus  far  had  never  been  attempted.     When  completed,  it  would  be. 

he  declared,  "  the 
greatest  bridge  iu 
existence,  the  great 
engineering  work  of 
this  continent  and 
of  the  age."  He  did 
not  live  to  see  it 
completed,  or  even 
practically  com- 
menced. In  1869  his 
son,  Washington  A. 
Roebling,  took  up 
his  work  and  carried 
it  through.  Never- 
theless, the  plan  of 
this  vast  atrliieve- 
ment  was  in  his  head,  and  all  the  more  important  details  committal 
to  paper,  before  a  stone  was  laid.  And  what  immense  problems  con- 
fronted him  at  every  step  of  that  plan, — problems  as  to  the  liver-bed 
and  foundations  for  the  towers;  problems  relating  to  the  great  arch 
(1595  feet  6  inches  in  length,  135  feet  from  center  to  high  water) 
whicli  was  to  be  the  main  span  of  the  river;  problems  of  weight, 
and  strength,  and  material;  problems  of  oscillations  and  resistance  to 
storms,  gales,  hurricanes;  with  otlier  problems,  numerous  and  great, 
relating  to  the  supporting  cables,  to  anchorages,  approaches,  and  (by 
no  means  the  least)  to  probable  cost  and  utility  and  revenue!  Take 
but  the  one  item  of  those  four  giant  cables,  which,  cast  from  tower  to 
tower  and  anchored  upon  the  shore,  were  to  be  the  supporting  muscle 
of  the  bridge,  and  what  anxious  tliought  and  computations  they  re- 
quired, as  to  size,  weight,  length,  and  ultimate  enduring  power,  from 
the  first  wii-e  of  galvanized  steel,  weighing  a  pound  in  every  eleven 
feet,  up  to  a  total  burden-bearing  strength  of  12,200  tons  for  each 
cable!    Sforeover,  with  the  plan  perfected,  what  a  work  yet  remained. 


EAST    BIVER 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS  573 

was  yet  to  be  begun !  First,  to  sound  the  river's  bed,  obtain  a  foun- 
dation, and  locate  the  towers  which  were  to  be,  at  the  high-water 
line,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  by  fifty,  and  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two feet  in  height.  It  took  the  whole  summer  of  1869.  Whilst 
busy  at  this  work  on  the  Brooklyn  side,  the  elder  Roebling  lost  his  life, 
and  by  means  of  a  ferry-boat.  It  struck  the  float  on  which  he  was 
standing,  and  crushed  his  foot,  an  injury  resulting  in  lockjaw,  and  fol- 
lowed, after  sixteen  days  of  suffering,  by  his  death.  His  son,  how- 
ever, immediately  took  up  the  task  where  he  had  dropped  it — search- 
ing for  a  foundation.  It  was  found  at  forty-five  feet  below  high 
water  mark;  on  the  New-York  side  at  seventy-eight  feet.  But  from 
the  quality  of  the  formation  it  required  a  timber  base  to  the  ma- 
sonry; and  for  that  timber — indestructible  in  salt  water — there  was 
yet  a  danger,  small  but  insidious,  powerful,  and  not  to  be  neg- 
lected. What  would  the  most  consummate  labor  and  skill  above 
water  be  worth,  with  the  teredo  boring  and  paring  away  the  timbers 
below !  As  old  among  nature's  agencies  as  the  coral,  whilst  the  one 
builds,  it  is  the  mission  of  the  other  to  destroy.  The  shells  of  the 
teredo  which  were  taken  from  fossil  wood  about  Brussels,  it  was  re- 
marked, had  a  strong  scent  of  the  ocean;  but  that  ocean  belonged  to 
the  Eocene  era — the  dawn,  as  it  were,  of  existing  creatures,  and  to 
none  nearer.  This  little  bivalve  still  plies  its  trade,  making  up  by 
numbers  what  it  lacks  in  size.  One  pile  which  Mr.  Eoebling  took  out 
from  the  ferry  pier,  and  which  had  been  of  sixteen  inches  diameter, 
was  found  eaten  away  to  a  thin  stem  of  three  inches  between  the 
mud  and  the  low-water  line.  And  so  it  was  decided  that  the  timber, 
solidified  with  concrete,  was  safe  in  its  place  below  the  mud  surface 
for  all  time.  Yet  how  massive  the  structure  which  must  sustain  a 
tower  above  it  weighing  seventy  thousand  tons,  and  a  permanent 
pressure  of  five  tons  to  the  square  foot! 

One  more  primal  difficulty  remained  for  ingenuity  to  overcome  — 
the  caisson.  The  actual  construction  was  begun  January  3,  1870. 
We  cannot  describe  it,  or  Mr.  Roebling's  many  shifting  contrivances 
to  meet  emergencies.  To  get  it  down,  as  itself  the  main  part  of  that 
timber  foundation,  inch  by  inch  through  boulders  and  an  almost  im- 
penetrable soil ;  working  meanwhile  in  compressed  air,  where,  if  a 
candle  were  blown  out  it  would. relight  itself;  where  work  too  long 
continued  in  such  an  abnormal  increase  of  oxygen  created  danger  of 
paralysis ;  and  where  the  accident  of  fire  might  at  any  time  imperil 
the  whole  structure; — all  this  required  the  highest  qualities  of  patience 
and  skill.  Of  one  such  fire,  caused  by  an  empty  candle-box,  a  man's 
dinner,  and  a  candle  held  too  near  the  roof  of  the  lowermost  chamber, 
it  took  months  to  repair  the  damage.  Through  such  difficulties  have 
we  obtained  the  Brooklyn  bridge  !    It  was  finished,  and  opened  to  the 


574 


HJBTOET    OF    NEW-YORK 


public,  May  24, 1883,  at  a  total  cost  of  $15,000,000.  Has  it  fulfilled  its 
purpose  I  With  an  average  present  railway  transit  of  about  one  Iiuu- 
dred  and  thirty-five  thousand  passengers  a  day,  on  October  V2, 1892 
(the  Columbian  celebration  in  New- York),  the  cable-road  on  the  bridge 
carried  223,625;  and,  in  addition,  about  200,000  foot  passengers  crossed 
the  bridge !  There  were  2954  single-ear  round  trips  made  over  a 
distance  of  two  miles  and  an 
eighth.  But  have  we  even  yet 
reached  the  climax  of  achieve- 
ment in  this  direction  f  It  has 
merely  solved  problems  in  the 
way  of  progress  and  develi»p- 
ment.  Already  two  more  great 
bridges  are  in  contemplation 
for  other  localities  along  the 
East  River.  The  city  has 
passed  the  Harlem,  lias  pop- 
ulous streets  where  once  were 
outlying  manors,  and  demands  bridges;  and  perhaps  the  time  only 
lags  a  little  when  the  Hudson  will  be  spanned  to  the  Jersey  shore. 
Meanwhile,  another  scheme  awaits,  perhaps,  a  little  more  bridging  — 
to  expand  by  swallowing  Brooklyn,  and  making  of  the  two  a  single 
city.  So  does  the  snake  sometimes  take  a  frog  by  the  hind  legs,  with 
a  view  to  similar  self-expansion  and  unification.  Occasionally,  how- 
over,  a  large  and  lively  frog,  preferring  its  own  individuality  and  the 
management  of  its  own  concerns,  bolts  the  intended  absorption  oven 
in  mid  process.  In  the  case  of  the  cities  a  fine  thing  it  "would  be,  no 
doubt,  for  the  dominant  political  power —  the  undivided  sway  of  snch 
masses,  offices,  and  revenues ;  and  for  him  who,  though  neither  mayor 
nor  elected  by  the  people,  governs  with  greater  power  under  the  simple 
name  of  "  the  Boss."    But  herein,  what  a  danger  for  the  State ! 

One  more  engineering  feat  of  great  importance  to  the  cMy,  and 
connected  with  the  river  itself,  should  not  be  passed  by.  "We  refer 
to  the  opening  of  Hell  Gate,  or,  as  originally  written,  Hellegat, — the 
word  signifying  (according  to  Judge  Benson)  "beautiful  pass,"  but 
applied  to  the  whole  of  what  is  now  the  East  River.  As  the  Dutch 
soon  foxuid,  however,  what  looked  so  "  beautiful "  when  seen  from  the 
shore,  was  something  quite  different  when  they  undertook  to  navigate 
through  it.  Engineering  has  already  greatly  reduced  its  worst  fea- 
tures; but  as  portrayed  by  Cooper,  in  his  vivid  narrative  of  the  chase 
of  the  Water-witch,  the  reader  can  almost  replace  the  past.  Nor  is 
Irving's  humorous  description  at  all  out  of  the  way,  where  he  speaks 
of  the  compressed  current  as  shouldered  off  from  this  promontory 
and  that,  and  horribly  perplexed  by  rocks  and  shoals;  taking  these 


NEW-YOBK    DURIKG    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    TEAES 


575 


impedimeuts  iu  "mighty  dudgeon";  at  half-tide  roaring  with  might 
and  main,  "  like  a  bull  bellowing  for  more  drink,"  but  when  the  tide 
is  full  sleeping  "as  soundly  as  an  alderman  after  dinner";  in  fact, 
resembling  "  a  quarrelsome  toper,  who  is  a  peaceable  fellow  enough 
when  he  has  no  liquor  at  all  or  has  a  skinfull,  but  who,  when  half- 
seas  over,  plays  the  very  devil ! "  At  the  east,  in  mid-channel,  lay 
Pot  Rock,  broadside  to  the  current  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet, 
and  only  eight  feet  below  the  surface  at  low  water.  Next,  and  where 
the  stream  rounded  into  the  river,  Hallett's  Point  protruded  three 
hundred  feet,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  throw  the  stream  over  upon  the 
"Gridiron"  with  tremendous  violence;  to  escape  which,  vessels  had 
almost  to  shave  the  Point  if  they  would  get  round  into  the  eastern 
channel.  Or  if,  turning 
to  the  northern  side  of 
the  stream,  they  essayed 
the  middle  or  the  main 
ship-channel  over  to  the 
New- York  side,  there 
again  confronted  them, 
within  nine  feet  of  the 
surface,  the  dangerous 
Fryiiig-Pan  Ledge,  with 
other  rocks  and  ledges 
beyond  —  "  treacherous 
reefs,"  "  intricate  pas- 
sages," and  "  a  thousand 
dizzying  eddies  " !  The 
scene  of  this  great  aqueous  disturbance,  always  dreaded  by  seamen,  is 
the  narrow  strait  lying  between  Manhattan  and  Ward's  Islands  and 
the  Long  Island  shore ;  yet  within  it,  before  the  improvements  were 
made,  one  thousand  vessels  a  year  were  wi-ecked  or  seriously  damaged. 
Up  to  1845  Hell  Gate  had  not  even  been  sui-veyed.  In  that  year 
David  Hall  induced  other  merchants  to  join  with  him  iu  petitioning 
Congress  in  the  matter.  The  first  survey  was  made  for  the  Coast 
Survey  Office  by  Lieutenant  (since  Admiral)  Charles  H.  Davis,  in 
1848 ;  and  a  second,  the  same  year,  by  Lieutenant  (since  Admiral) 
David  D.  Porter.  Still,  nothing  was  done  to  the  purpose  beyond  the 
making  of  a  chart  in  1851.  So  far  the  only  plan  proposed  was  that  of 
Lieutenant  Davis  (reaffirmed  by  Porter)  to  blast  and  dock,  and  in  this 
way  get  rid  of  the  most  serious  dangers.  During  that  year  M.  Maille- 
fert,  a  French  engineer,  proposed  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  the 
plan  of  blowing  up  Pot  Rock,  the"  Frying-Pan,  and  "Way's  Reef  by 
gunpowder  discharged  upon  the  tops,  as  had  been  done  in  Nassau 
harbor  and  elsewhere.    He  offered  to  do  the  work  for  $15,000,  and 


AT    HALLETT'e    POINT 


576 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-TOBK 


this  was  subscribed  by  Henry  Griunell  ($5000)  and  others.  The  ex- 
periment lasted  a  year,  and  came  to  an  end  after  only  partial  success. 
Nor  was  work  resumed  until  1866,  when  General  John  Newton  took 
charge  of  operatious.  Meanwhile  commerce  was  suffering  to  tbt- 
amount  of  nearly  $2,500,000  a  year;  but  yet  Congress  was  chary  an<l 
slow  about  giving.  Not  until  1868  could  it  be  induced  to  make  its 
first  large  appropriation,  $85,000.  In  1869,  however,  it  was  $178,200. 
Then  General  Newton  really  began  his  great  and  successful  labor. 


The  removal  of  individual  rocks  from  mid-stream  he  determined  to 
leave  till  later,  and  to  commence  with  that  great  outcropping  bat- 
ter>-, —  720  feet  in  width,  and  projecting  300  feet  into  the  stream, — 
H^lett's  Point.  But  any  attack  from  the  water  side  was,  under  the 
conditions,  impracticable.  Therefore,  like  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  he 
went  inland,  threw  up  a  coffer-dam  between  himself  and  low  water, 
and  for  a  series  of  years  sat  down  "over  against"  his  stubborn  objec- 
tive, Hallett's  Point.  Henceforth  it  was  a  work  of  patient  under- 
mining, and  for  his  men  of  perpetual  night  and  day  drill,  gallery 
following  gallery  out  to  the  verge  of  the  reef,  and  under  a  roof  of 
rock  whose  old  seams  or  cracks  or  rottenness  might  at  any  tinie  pour 
down  upou  them  a  deluge.  Not  till  Sunday,  September  24, 1876,  was 
everything  ready  for  the  great  explosion,  which  was  to  be  the  end 
of  the  Hallett's  Point  obstructions.  The  supporting  piers  were  all 
charged  with  explosives  in  groups,  every  eighth  group  having  its  own 
battery,  all  of  thorn  connected  with  one  finger-key  on  shore.  The  gal- 
leries were  then  flooded,  and  at  high  tide  the  explosion  took  place. 
It  lasted  three  seconds.  A  column  of  water  was  thrown  up  more 
than  fifty  feet ;  yet,  though  fifty-two  thousand  pounds  of  explosives 
were  used,  no  damage  to  property  was  done.    In  Astoria,  a  pitcher  of 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS 


577 


water  standing  on  the  ground  close  to  the  same  strata  of  rock  was 
not  even  shaken.  The  cost  of  the  whole  work  was  $1,717,000 — not 
so  much  as  the  bridge,  nor  so  original  a  piece  of  engineering,  but  in 
its  way,  perhaps,  as  important. 

When,  during  the  progress  of  these  operations  at  Hell  Gate,  it  be- 
came evident  that  time  and  money  and  good  engineering  would  pre- 
vail over  the  obstructions,  the  East  Side  Association  especially  had 
charming  and  golden  visions  of  a  not  distant  time  when  Harlem,  the 
original  "  out  ward "  of  the  city,  would  be  the  center  of  its  foreign 
commerce.    That  day  is  not  yet,  but  it  may  come.    The  swift-footed 


THE    HjUtLBU   BITEB 


Grecian  nymph  Atalanta  (it  is  said)  promised  to  marry  whichever  one 
of  her  suitors  should  surpass  her  in  running;  but  a  certain  bright 
youth  threw  golden  apples  before  her,  which  she  stopped  to  pick  up, 
and  so  lost  the  race  I  Our  swift-footed  city  picks  up  and  pockets  all 
the  apples  without  stopping,  and  is  at  this  date  far  beyond  the  "  out 
ward."  This  rapid  advance  itself  gives  something  like  substance  to 
what  were  in  1874  mere  speculative  anticipations  as  to  the  future  of 
that  region.  But  a  forward  step  in  another  direction  has  been  taken, 
which  may  have  important  results.-  It  is  but  eight  miles  across  from 
the  Hudson  to  the  East  River  by  the  line  of  the  Harlem  River  and  the 
Spuyten  Duyvil  creek.  A  channel-way  through,  of  sufficient  depth, 
Vol.  m.— 37. 


578 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


would  shorten  the  usual  passage  round  by  way  of  the  Battery  to  the 
extent  of  twenty  miles,  and  avoid  the  delays,  expense,  and  dangers 
thereto  incident.  "With  this  in  view,  so  early  as  1874  Congress  passe-l 
an  act  for  deepening  the  Harlem  River,  with  General  Newton  in  chai^ 
as  engineer.  His  preliminary  surveys  were  made  during  that  year; 
but  for  years  thereafter  farther  progress  was  obstructed  by  legal  oV 
stacles.  Not  till  January,  1888,  was  the  work  recommeuced.  Nor  is 
it  a  simple  work  of  dredging  and  removing  obstructions.  Passing 
from  the  Hudson  through  Spnyten  Duyvil  creek,  it  contemplates  a 


Hk 

m 

;;^  -  - 

^M 

m 

[    mVEB    lUPROVEHEllTB, 


WEST    FBOH    KIKOSBRUiaE    BO  AD. 


cut  from  three  hundred  and  seventy-five  to  four  hundred  feet  wide 
through  Dyekman's  meadows,  involving  that  width  of  solid  rock. 
Already  three  quarters  of  a  million  have  been  spent  upon  it  by  Col- 
onel George  L.  Gillespie,  of  the  corps  of  engineers,  who  is  in  charge 
of  the  work.  ^Vhen  completed,  the  result  will  be  a  channel  for  ves- 
sels drawing  at  mean  low  water  eight  feet.  At  an  immense  sa\ing 
of  time,  it  will  place  the  traffic  of  the  Hudson  in  a  direct  line  witli 
Long  Island  Sound.  Such  progress  has  been  made,  during  our  period, 
upon  the  waterways  surrounding  the  eity. 

From  tho  bridge  and  engineering  as  a  feature  of  our  period,  we 
may  pass  to  house  and  city  building,  as  a  striking  illustration  of 


NEW-TOBK    DURING    THE    I.AST    POUBTEEN    TEABS  579 

the  general  development.  After  a  long  sleep  of  some  three  huudi-ed 
years,  architecture  has  had  a  gi'eat  revival  during  the  last  forty  or 
fifty  years.  Only  of  late,  however,  has  there  been  any  marked  ac- 
tivity or  progress  in  this  country.  "Ai-chitecture  and  eloquence," 
says  Emerson,  *'  are  mixed  arts,  whose  end  is  sometimes  beauty  and 
sometimes  use."  To  build  is  an  instinct  older  than  the  first  rude 
hut;  the  beginning  of  architecture  was  an  awakened  sense  of  pro- 
portion and  of  beauty  expressed  in  ornamentation.  Therefore  may 
the  progress  and  culture  of  a  people  or  an  era  be  measured,  in  some 
degree,  by  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  its  buildings.  These,  in  so  far 
as  they  can  claim  to  be  artistic,  always  express  something,  some  idea 
or  end  "of  beauty  or  of  use."    Eev.  Dr.  Eliphalet  Nott,  the  venerable 


THE   YANPERBILT    BESIDENCES. 


president  of  Union  College,  knew  something  of  architecture  when, 
having  been  invited  to  admire  a  quite  costly  new  church,  he  asked 
(pointing  to  the  wooden  corbels  overhead) :  "And  what  do  those  repre- 
sent I "  "  Oh,  nothing,"  was  the  answer.  "  Then,"  he  replied,  "  why 
are  they  there  T"  Artistically,  they  were  simply  a  permanent  and  un- 
sightly blot.  The  copious  ornamentation  by  Hiram  of  the  temple  in 
Jerusalem  was  beautiful, — lilies,  lions,  oxen,  pomegranates,  and  palm- 
trees,  with  cedar-wood  and  fir-wood  and  gold  of  Parvaim  and  Ophir, — 
because  it  all  meant  something,  and  was  in  place.    Our  own  later 


580 


mSTOBT    OF    KEW-YOBK 


BATTERT    PARK,  AND   GOVERNOE'S   ISLAHD. 


architects  have  profited  greatly  by  a  better  and  more  critical  study  of 
fine  old  models, — Norman,  Lombard,  aod  Italian, — of  the  principles  in- 
volved in  each,  and  the  reasons  for  this  and  that.  The  leading  ones  are 
compai-atively,  or  quite,  young  men.  And  with  their  own  progress  has 
been  connected  a  better  education  of  the  people  through  travel  and 

observation  abroad, 
a  greater  apprecia- 
tion of  and  demand 
for  the  beautiful 
This,  with  grow- 
ing wealth,  private 
and  corporate,  bae 
changed  our  city. 
The  massiveDess 
and  beauty  in  mold- 
ing and  tracery 
which  were  once 
confined  to  cathe- 
drals and  princely 
palaces,  may  now 
be  found  even  in  pri- 
vate  residences.  It  would  seem,  at  first,  as  if  to  design  a  dotnrway 
were  a  very  simple  thing,  without  much  scope  for  artistic  effect.  Yet 
it  is  part  of  one  larger  whole.  Let  any  one  trace  a  series  of  doorways 
from  Dutch  plainness,  the  half-door  and  stoop,  in  colonial  timee, 
through  periods  of  uniformity  and  general  ugliness,  down  to  the  finer 
specimens  of  these  latest  years,  and  the  difference  will  appear. 

Nevertheless,  as  usual,  necessity  has  principally  caused  the  recent 
great  change  in  our  city,  just  as  in  England  climate  required  the 
use  of  glass  in  her  cathedral  windows,  which 
her  architects  speedily  turned  into  a  means 
of  adoraraeut.  The  great  cost  of  land  in  the  ' 
lower  business  districts  sot  our  architects  to  work,  the  problem  being, 
in  general,  economy  of  space  in  favor  of  business  uses  and  a  good 
rental.  Hence  the  mauy-storied  office-buildings,  in  which  the  inge- 
nuity displayed  may  justly  be  called  American.  Strong  they  must  be, 
but  without  the  encroachment  of  masses  of  masonry  upon  valuable 
floor-space,  especially  in  the  lower  stories.  Hence  the  scientific  de\ice 
of  iron  and  steel  in  a  skeleton  framework  infolded  by  the  concealing 
and  protecting  masonry.     Of  what  avail,  however,  the  oflSces,  high  in 

1  Edward  Cooper  was  born  in  New-York  cily.  raeniber  was  his  father,  Peter  Cooper,  the  philan 

October  2li,  1H24.  attended  tbe  public  schoolu  and  throptirt.   He  hu  been  a  prominent  Democnu:.  and 

Colunibin  Collef-e,  and  tiiereaftf  r  spent  aoino  time  was  mayor  (rom  1879  to  1881.     At  the  time  of  the 

in  foreign  travel.    I'pon  his  returo,  he  became,  Tweed  Ring's  power,  he  wfts  one  of  the  committee 

with  hi"  brother-ia-law.  Ahram  S.  Hewitt,  apartner  of  Seventy  whose  efforts  completed  its  OTerthrow. 
in  llie  flnu  of  Cooper.  Hcwlll  &  Co..  whose  senior  Editor. 


NEW-YORK    DTTRINO    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS 


581 


the  wr,  without  that  other  truly  American  product,  the  "  passenger 
elevator" — that  rapid-transit  contrivance  indoors,  without  which 
much  of  the  present  life  of  the  city  would  come  to  a  standstill,  as  if 
stricken  with  heart-failure  I  It  has  made  possible  those  lofty  and 
elegant  apartment- houses  which,  during  the  decade,  have  become 
such  a  feature  up  town,  as  have  the  offlce-buildings  down-town. 
What  an  enrichment  in  the  way  of  living,  if  one  can  do  so,  to  have 
your  own  apartments  complete  and  ample  upon  a  single  fioor;  in  a 
building  really  fire-proof,  as  are  a  few  of  them,  with  stone  and  con- 
crete and  iron;  where  the  fifth  floor  or  the  tenth  is  as  accessible  as  the 
first,  and  vastly  more  desirable ;  where,  above  roofs  and  street  noises, 


HIOB    BBmOE    AKD   WASHIHOTON    BKIDOB. 


the  resident  can  loot  off  upon  distant  shores  or  the  bay,  and  down,  at 
evening,  upon  a  thousand  lights  of  the  city ;  where,  if  he  so  chooses, 
he  can  turn  the  key,  deposit  it  in  the  office,  and  go  to  Europe  without 
a  care; — in  a  word,  to  delegate  to  others  the  usual  annoyances  and 
cares  of  city  housekeeping, — the  cooperative  plan,  as  applied  to  living, 
in  its  perfection !  With  many  gradations,  it  is  true,  from  the  crowded 
and  unwholesome  tenement-house  of  three  or  four  stories,  and  an  in- 
tervening variety  of  apartment-houses  more  or  less  desirable,  yet  such 
is  the  nature  or  tendency  and  extent  of  the  present  and  most  recent 
development  in  building.  Not,  however,  that  change  has  confined 
itself  to  these  high  structures.  The  old  uniformity  in  residences, 
whole  blocks  alike, — the  "  brownstone  fronts,"  for  instance,  of  certain 


582  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

sections  and  a  somewhat  earlier  period, — has  given  place  to  an  opposite 
diversity  in  style.  If  at  times  sensational  or  excessive — an  advertise- 
ment (and  what  efforts  and  exhibitions  of  genius  are  advertisements 
nowadays ! ),  it  at  least  indicates  the  drift  of  thought  and  desire  in  the 
direction  of  supposed  beauty.  But,  given  a  lot  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
feet  front  in  a  block  more  or  less  complete,  to  build  thereon  the 
usual  three  or  four  stories  in  height ;  to  make  a  house  roomy,  attrac- 
tive, and  accoutred  with  conveniences  within,  whilst  without  it  is 
individual  in  style  and  yet  coherent  and  beautiful;  to  do  this  with 
the  windows  and  dooi'way  and  bow-windows  and  roof-line  as  the  ex- 
tent of  his  scope  in  the  way  of  diversity,  surely  it  is  a  problem  to  test 
an  architect !  "  Picturesque  "  he  may  make  it, — Egyptian,  eclectic,  or 
something  else, — but  probably  at  the  expense,  as  is  so  often  seen,  of 
distortion  somewhere.  Having  broken  the  shackles  of  uniformity^ 
and  in  such  a  period  of  rapid  city  development,  we  are  to  expect  ex- 
travaganzas from  freer  thought  in  architecture,  as  in  other  things. 

The  subject  is  too  large  to  admit  of  detail.  We  close  it  with  one 
more  reference.  It  is  to  the  present  up-town  movement  of  institu- 
tions which  might  have  been  expected  to  remain  located  for  at  least 
a  lifetime.  We  may  compare  it  to  the  flight  of  some  larger  birds 
northward  for  greater  facilities  in  nesting.  There  are  those  still  liv- 
ing who  have  seen  one  church  (Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall's)  remove  from 
Cedai'  street,  from  Duane  street,  and  from  Nineteenth  to  Fifty-fifth 
street,  and  another  cross  the  city  from  Rutgers  street  to  Madison 
Avenue,  and  again  recently  to  a  spot  far  up  the  Boulevard;  who 
have  trodden  the  classic  halls  of  old  Columbia  in  College  Place,  two 
miles  from  its  present  location  in  Forty-ninth  street ;  and  who  saw 
the  New -York  University  erected  on  Washington  Square.  In  that 
university  building,  as  a  part  of  its  history.  Professor  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse  painted,  and  experimented  upon  the  telegraph  till  by  his  al- 
phabet he  made  of  a  wire  a  new  highway  of  thought  and  mutual  com- 
munication. Tears  ago  the  writer  met  him  in  Paris.  Representatives 
of  European  governments  were  there  in  session  to  decide  upon  some 
suitable  acknowledgment  in  money  of  its  usefulness  to  them.  After 
several  propositions,  made  and  rejected,  he  himself  proposed — simply 
one  year's  saving  to  them  resulting  from  its  use !  They  took  a  fort- 
night to  investigate,  and  then  said  it  was  impossible ;  no  government 
could  do  it,  the  amount  was  so  large.  Finally,  they  decided  upon 
400,000  francs  ($80,000).  "  I  never  expect  to  die  rich,^  said  the  pro- 
fessor; "at  home  they  keep  me  so  constantly  in  law'';  nor,  in  fact,  as 
the  result  of  a  lawsuit  by  his  company,  was  he  permitted  to  retain 
the  whole  of  that  foreign  douceur.  Other  distinguished  men  have 
also  had  a  place  in  that  building,  such  as  Chancellor  Theodore  Fre- 
linghuyseii,  Chancellor  Howard  Crosby,  the  late  Professor  John  W. 


NEW-YORK    DTJBING    THE    I.A8T    rOtJBTEEN    TEARS  583 

Draper,  and  Professor  Tayler  Lewis' — the  latter  a  scholar  as  pro- 
found as  he  was  various  in  his  knowledge ;  an  expert  in  many  lan- 
guages; a  poet,  a  skilled  musician;  a  mathematician  capable  of 
original  problems ;  versed  in  jurisprudence  and  public  questions ;  a 
theologian,  an  eminent  Bible  student  and  commentator;  a  writer  keen. 


forceful,  versatile,  whose  pen  seldom  slept ;  in  short,  abler  than  a 
specialist,  a  foremost  product  of  American  scholarship. 

But,  forsaking  the  seat  of  an  honorable  history,  the  university,  and 
likewise  Columbia,  have  yielded  to  removal.  The  latter  comprehends 
in  too  scanty  quarters  its  growing  School  of  Mines.  As  showing 
the  trend  and  development  of  thought,  this  most  conservative  institu- 


1  At  the  time  of  hU  death,  M»7  11,  1877,  a  pro- 
tessor  in  Union  College,  Schenec^f .  N.  Y. 

!  The  eomer-etone  o(  the  e>thedi«l  wbb  laid  on 
December  27, 1SS2,  St  John  the  EvanpliBt'B  day, 
vith  solemn  ud  Impreeiive  oeremonies.  and  In 
the  pretence  of  tataj  notable  eccleaiaatical  and 
Other  dlgnltariea,  the  BUhop  of  Albany  deltv-ering 


the  BermOD  rai  the  occadon.    One  Hundred  and 

Tenth  street,  which  fonns  the  principal  approach 
to  the  cathedral,  la  under^ng  widening:,  and  will 
be  called  Cathedral  Parkway ;  it  will  unite  Cen- 
tral, HamingBide.  and  Blverslde  parks  in  one  con- 
tinuous and  nnonrpasaed  driveway.        EDirOB. 


584  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

tion  has  lately,  in  a  conservative  way,  opened  its  facilities  of  learning 
to  the  "higher  education"  of  woman.  It  contemplates  greater  ex- 
pansion und  advancement,  for  which  it  certainly  has  the  means.  The 
history  of  its  revenues  is  itself  an  illustration  of  the  march  of  build- 
ing and  its  results.  It  is  this :  Early  in  the  century  Union  College 
(Schenectady)  was  deriving  a  revenue  from  a  so-called  "literary 
fund,"  the  product  of  State  lotteries.  These  had  not  at  the  time  the 
ill  repute  which  time  and  experience  of  their  evil  have  fastened  upon 
them.  Dr.  Nott,  the  president,  an  inventor  (whose  hall  stove  was 
formerly  in  every  house),  contrived  a  scheme  intended  to  secure  the 
most  perfect  fairness — never  in  use,  since  one  model  was  burned  with 
^^^^  the  patent  office,  and  the  remaining  one  he  later  on 

,^^^^;f'^  destroyed.    But  these  lotteries  and  a  State  "fund" 

""^  were  jealously  regarded  as  giving  Union  an  unfair 

advantage  over  Columbia  (King's)  College.  Therefore  (1816),  Rev. 
Dr.  Mason,  its  provost,  was  sent  to  Albany  in  its  behalf.  Fortu- 
nately, the  Dr.Hosack  botanical  garden  in  New- York,  which  the  State 
had  bought,  was  not  proving  useful  property ;  and,  as  fortunately  in 
the  end,  this  piece  of  property  Dr.  Mason  was  induced  to  accept, 
leaving  to  Union  College  the  lotteries.  Comprising  about  twenty 
acres,  it  lay  between  the  present  Fifth  and  Sixth  avenues,  and  be- 
tween Forty-seventh  and  Fifty-first  streets, — for  Columbia  the  germ 
of  its  present  wealth. 

Our  city  may  almost  be  called  fluid.  Even  its  largest  buildings 
yield  to  waves  of  motion.  They  go  up  and  come  down,  and  are 
carried  to  great  distances.  Both  of  these  institutions  will  soon  be 
found  more  finely  located,  miles  away :  Columbia,  upon  Morningside 
Heights,  and  the  University  at  University  Heights.  The  New- York 
Historical  Society  has  secured  a  new  up-town  site ;  St.  Luke's  Hospi- 
tal is  going,  having  selected  a  Bloomingdale  location ;  the  Leake  and 
Watts  Asylum  (One  Hundred  and  Tenth  street)  has  already  gone. 
Elbow-room,  chest-expansion  room,  is  the  general  necessity  imposed 
upon  them  by  activity  and  the  pressure  from  behind.  Upon  the  site 
of  the  Leake  and  Watts  Asylum,  at  a  cost  of  $850,000  for  the  ground, 
has  already  been  begun  the  Episcopal  cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Di- 
vine,— to  be,  when  finished,  five  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length; 
to  cost,  it  is  estimated,  about  ten  millions,  and  requiring  a  great  in- 
come to  maintain.  The  bishop's  church,  it  is,  in  idea,  the  building 
of  a  reservoir  which  shall  concentrate  within  itself  the  energies  and 
purposes  of  the  Episcopal  system,  and  dispense  them  with  greater 

1  William  R.  Grace  was  bom  in  Ireland,  came  to  Grace  &  Co.,  which  is  engaged  in  the    South 

New-York  when  a  lad  of  fourteen,  became  a  mer-  American  trade.    Mr.  Grace,  who  is  a  Democrat, 

chant's  clerk,  and  later  started  in  the  commission  occupied  the  mayor's  chair  in  1881  -  82,  filling  the 

and  shipping  business  on  his  own  account.    He  position  with  judgment  and  discretion ;  in  1884  he 

has  been  a  successful  and  prosperous  merchant,  was  again  elected  to  the  same  office,  senring  for 

and  is  now  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Willilim  R.  the  years  1885  -  86.  EIditob. 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS 


585 


power.  It  is  au  advance  of  ideas  within  that  church,  for  which  do 
previous  decade  was  ready  or  could  control  the  means.  As  a  build- 
ing, it  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  what  our  architects  are  capable. 
Its  designers  (Heius  and  La  Farge)  are  young  men.  They  have  made 
it  the  round-arched  Gothic,  but  not  as  servile  copyists.  On  the  con- 
trary, whilst  obedient  to  the  laws  inherent  in  the  Gothic,  they  have 
exercised  a  freedom  required  by  the  purposes  of  its  interior;  and 
in  deference  to  cli- 
mate— our  own  icy 
and  variable  climate, 
which  disintegrates 
even  stone  —  they 
have  thrown  the 
protecting  shelter  of 
the  roof  over  the 
usually  exposed  fly- 
ing buttresses.  In 
addition  to  a  ground 
elevation  above  the 
river  of  about  one 
hundred  feet,  the 
dome  and  its  spire 
will  reach  a  height 
of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  feet. 

But  (passing  from 
the  cathedral  and  its  thus  far  undeveloped  purposes),  on  the  other 
hand,  the  great  Methodist  Book  Concern,  recently  built,  is  a  center 
of  widely  radiating  influences — perhaps  quite  the  denominational 
hub.  And,  in  token  of  present  progress,  the  old  system  of  a  single 
minister  in  each  church  is  yielding  to  newer  necessities  and  develop- 
ment. Each  church  is  becoming  more  of  a  center,  in  its  way,  whose 
outspreading  tentacles  are  mission  buildings,  and  efforts  direct  upon 
the  growing  and  needy  community.  Development,  expansion, — it  is 
everywhere;  seen  in  great  stores  and  multiplying  factories.  Even 
our  immense  post-office,  first  occupied  in  1877,  has  outgrown  itself 
and  is  querulous  for  more  room.  Will  the  time  ever  come,  in  a  near 
or  remote  future,  when  New- York  may  be  called  builtl  Or  will  it 
continue  to  pull  down,  in  order  to  enlarge  its  habitations  and  its 
places  of  industry  T 

With  greater  brevity  we  may  refer  to  what  has  been  and  is  both 
cause  and  eflEect  of  the  preceding, — viz.,  better  means  of  transit.  But 
one  lingering  relic  survives  of  the  old  omnipresent  omnibus.  It  is 
the  Fifth  Avenue  line  of  stages, — a  survivor,  but  without  the  dash, 


586 


HISTORT    OF    NEW-YORK 


the  wide-awake  pursuit  of  a  fare,  the  skill  in  meandering  tliroagh 
crowds,  which  characterized  the  old  keenly  competing  lines;  a  sur- 
vivor, not  as  a  "  moving  creature  that  hath  life,"  but  as  it  were  one 
of  the  "creeping  things"  mentioned  in  Genesis.  The  system  is  out 
of  date  for  our  hurrying  multitudes.  It  is  not  so,  thus  far,  however, 
with  the  horse  as  a  locomotive  for  the  street-car.    To  judge  of  big 

place  in  the  city,  one 
has  only  to  recall  the 
effects  of  a  "  tie-up,"  or 
the  seriouB  epizootic 
within  the  decade ;  dur- 
ing the  latter  of  which 
business  was  interrupt- 
ed and  sermons  were 
preached  on  the  reli- 
gious aspects  of  such  a 
visitation, — a  visitation 
more  widely  felt  in  its 
results  than  would  have 
been  cases  of  cholera  oc- 
curring here  and  there! 
And  what  an  industry 
the  horae  has  created— 
what  with  his  own  short 
life  in  service  (about 
four  years),  the  grain 
and  hay  consumed,  and 
the  army  of  men  depen- 
dent upon  him !  But 
horse-flesh  and  muscle 
must  now,  in  turn,  yield 
to  the  traction  company 
and  the  cable  as,  for  long  distances  and  speed,  a  better  competitor  with 
the  "elevated,"  which  also  belongs  to  this  period,  having  been  opened 
for  service  in  1878.'  The  quicker  the  transit,  the  larger  the  vohirae 
of  travel  for  both.  The  telephone  has  not  interfered  with  the  tele- 
graph, nor  that,  nor  both  of  them,  with  the  mail  service.  Each  creates 
a  new  necessity  for  the  other.  Certainly  all  this  is  progress,  and  to  be 
noted  as  a  feature  of  the  day.     The  very  removal  of  the  huge  horse- 


£LECTB10    SUBWAY    MAU-UOLE. 


I  Chm-les  T.  Hanrey,  now  of  Nyack,  N.  J.,  was 
unquentiouBbly  the  oriffinfttor  of  the  elevated 
mad.  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  world's  hUtory. 
Id  IBGT  he  eihihited  bis  models  and  plana  to  the 
State  Senate,  and  wan  authorized  to   complete 


Bovcral  times  smtained  his  elaimii,  the  last  tiioe 
by  hllJ  of  March  10.  1892.  Yet  after  tirenty-flTe 
years  o(  eBorte  to  obtain  justice,  whilst  othen 
have  been  rsAplne  the  rich  frulta  of  his  idesfi.  Mr. 
Harvey  has  received  no  remiineration  wbaleTer. 


NEW-TOBK    DUBISa    THE    loAST    FOUBTEEN    lEAKS  587 

car  stable,  with  its  malodorousnesB,  what  a  difference  it  will  make  to 
immense  parcels  of  property!  Nor,  since  it  relates  to  rapid  transit 
should  another  happy  change  be  omitted.  The  unsightly  poles  loaded 
with  telephone,  telegraph,  and  electric-light  wires  have  to  a  great 
extent  disappeared  from  the  streets — a  very  important  riddance,  es- 
pecially in  ease  of  fires.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  few  know  the 
amount  of  labor,  care,  and  cost  required  to  subway  city  wires;  begin- 
ning, first  of  all,  with  the  hard,  concrete  trench,  three  or  five  feet 


deep,  along  which  are  to  run,  from  man-hole  to  man-hole  (two  hundred 
and  fifty  feet),  a  series  of  prepared  iron  pipes  or  "ducts"  in  isolated 
tiers,  secured  in  concrete,  immovable,  and  topped  with  creosoted 
planks — this  whole  "conduit"  being  made  capable  of  withstanding, 
in  safety,  a  pressure  of  five  hundred  pounds  to  the  square  inch ;  and 
then,  to  complete  the  system,  must  be  added  the  roomy  and  conve- 
nient iron  or  brick  man-boles,  out  of  which  are  fed  into  the  different 
iron  ducts  the  many-wired  cables  which  are  to  traverse  the  conduit. 
A  cable  of  one  hundred  telephone  wires  can  pass  through  a  single 
duct,  which  may  be,  perhaps,  two  and  a  half  or  three  inches  in  diam- 
eter. The  capacity  of  all  the  ducts — say  twenty  in  number — may 
readily  be  seen :  surely  an  improvement  to  have  safely  underground, 
in  solitary  confinement  as  it  were,  those  dangerous  "volts"  which 
a  high  wind  or  an  accidental  crossing  of  the  wires  might  render  mur- 
derous,— has  made  so  indeed  to  more  than  one  unfortunate  lineman! 
In  1888  occurred  a  (happily)  rare  event  which,  for  a  few  days,  ren- 
dered locomotion  of  any  kind  almost  impossible.     Our  contrivances 


588 


HISTORY    or    NEW-YORK 


cannot  outwit  or  secure  us  against  nature  and  Providence.  It  was 
merely  a  fall  of  sdow  and  a  wind  —  the  so-called  "  blizzard."  But  with 
wires  down,  and  streets  blocked  against  traffic  and  travel,  there  were 
those  who  were  cut  off  from  even  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  was  a 
"  boycott "  on  a  great  scale,  which  perforce  deprived  dealers  of  their 
trade,  and  families  of  their  milk  and  coal  and  food,  Strangely 
enough,  there  was  a  child  boi-n  during  that  tremendous  night  of  the 
storm,  which  finished  its  little  career  during  the  most  fearful  electrical 


phenomena,  lasting  nearly  all  night,  in  August,  1892.  On  the  other 
hand  —  as  among  its  melancholy  results,  through  a  cold  then  caught 
—  the  blizzard  of  1888  caused  the  death  of  a  brilliant  man ;  one  who 
had  once  had  prominence  and  power  in  both  the  State  and  the  nation; 
one  to  whom  President  Grant  had  offered  the  chief-justiceship;  and 
who,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  had  a  great  law  practice  in  the  city  — 
ex-Senator  Roscoe  Conkling.  These  circumstances  give  him  a  place 
in  this  history.    A  distinguished  senator  of  the  after  war  times  has 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS  589 

said  that  in  the  Senate  of  that  day  there  were  a  dozen  who  might 
be  ranked  with  the  traditional  orators  of  England.  The  nnmber 
alone  is  striking.  America  has  had  not  a  few  such  orators  scattered 
along  her  history.  Mr.  Conkling  was  one  of  that  dozen ;  not  a  Web-' 
ster  nor  a  Clay,  but  in  the  debates  always  a  commanding  figure,  essen- 
tially an  orator ;  whose  great  memory  made  all  his  resources  at  once 
available;  whose  command  of  language,  strong,  striking,  and  pun- 
gent, was  something  marvelous ;  whose  voice,  form,  and  manner  were 
fine  and  imposing ;  yet  who  sometimes  spoiled  his  effect,  even  in  sar- 
casm, by  a  superabundant  rhetoric,  a  style  too  showy,  ornate,  and 
merely  oratorical  —  he  could  not  resist  it,  it  was  the  style  of  the  man. 
A  striking  and  conspicuous  personality  always  and  everywhere,  in 
the  law-courts  as  much  as  in  the  senate,  a  man  of  acknowledged  abil- 
ities, not  yet  old,  his  death,  owing  to  a  persistent  attempt  to  stem  the 
blizzard,  made  the  storm  notably  disastrous.^ 

Our  appliances  for  locomotion  are  not  yet  perfect,  not  beyond  the 
recurrence  of  "blocks^  and  other  accidents.  Put  together  the  accidents 
upon  the  elevated,  in  the  Fourth  Avenue  tunnel,  and  elsewhere  within 
the  city  limits  during  the  few  years  past,  and  they  are  many.  Iron 
and  steel  and  machinery  are  themselves  fallible ;  and,  then,  who  shall 
guarantee  the  switchman  or  the  engineer  I  How  long  can  a  switch- 
man's brain  endure  the  monotony  of  switching,  coupled  with  the  re- 
sponsibility and  strain  of  always  doing  it  right?  It  may  here  be 
mentioned  that  years  ago  President  Franklin  Pierce  was  passing  over 
the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad,  on  his  way  to  Washington  to  be  in- 
augurated. An  accident  occurred,  and  his  son  was  killed.  It  was  at 
a  switch  over  which  many  trains  passed,  and  tended  by  a  faithful  and 
experienced  man  who  had  been  there  for  years.  That  night  that  man 
went  to  bed  and  dreamed  that  he  had  set  the  switch  wrong ;  in  a  dazed 
condition  rushed  down  and  turned  it  wrong ;  and  in  five  minutes  the 
express-train  bearing  the  president  came  along !  In  his  fright  he  ran 
away,  and  of  course  was  held  responsible  and  ruined.  Some  time 
afterward,  the  writer  asked  a  night  switchman  on  the  New- York  Cen- 
tral how  long  he  had  been  at  that  switch — it  was  thirteen  years ;  how 
many  trains  passed  over  it  at  night  —  the  number  was  very  large ; 
and  then,  if  he  ever  dreamed  of  switches  f  His  answer  was  that  his 
wife  said  so  —  he  was  always  talking  in  his  sleep  of  trains  and 
switches.  In  a  word,  his  brain  was  telling  him  to  move  on  to  some 
other  switch.  Were  a  minister  to  repeat  the  ten  commandments 
thirty  or  forty  times  a  day  for  thirteen  years,  with  no  other  employ- 
ment and  a  penalty  for  doing  it  wrong,  his  mind  would  in  time 

1  President  Fillmore  once  said  that  if  Clay,  Cal-  Conkling:  and  some  other  statesmen,  could  they 

honn,  and  Webster  could  only  have  agreed  which  have  composed  their  antagonisms.     Such  things 

should  come  first,  th^y  might  all  have  been  presi-  may  pull  down  climbing  ambition  just  when  it 

dent.    Perhaps  it  might  have  been  so  with  Mr.  reaches  for  the  topmost  apple. 


590  HISTOBT    OF    NEW-TORK 

grow  confused,  his  memory  fail  to  giip  the  smooth-worn  phrase.    V 
is  not  always  careleesness  —  though  a  jury  may  say  so  —  that 
an  accident  (and  some  poor  man's  ruiu),  but  the  steady  strain  on  < 
hand  and  eye  and  braiu  too  long  continued.     Switchmen  hare 

vacations  to  break  the  circuit  of 
their  ideas,  and  keep  them  fro& 
mentally  muddling  the  switdwL 
Thus  far,  without    attemptia^ 
detail,  we  have  had  in  view 
material  side  of  New- York, 
would  be  impossible,  iu  the 
of  a  single  chapter,  to  give 
specifications  of  the  developnunl 
in   that  direction.     "We    pass  tO 
matters  and  things  representing 
not  the  actually  necessary  or  Um 
strictly  useful,  but  the  ideaL    "We 
refer  to  events  whose  object  wu 
commemorative,  and  to  things  in- 
teuded  to  express  ideas.    The  ad- 
vance in  such  things  over  the  past  ^ 
has  been  marked,  and  the  growtih  j 
and  expansion  not  all  one-sided. 
It  has  been  almost  a  new  era.   In  \ 
a  spectacular  form  we  have 
cultivating  ideas — cultivating  par- 
triotism  and  the  artistic.  We  have 
found  in  our  history  something  to 
celebrate,  and  worthy  of  celebTa»' 
tion,  besides  the  Fourth  of  JrOj. 
The  statue  of  Liberty,  erected  in 
1886,  stands  in  our  harbor,  the 
bodiment  of  an  idea  as  grand  as  the  statue  itself — that,  after 
trial  of  a  hundred  years,  here  is  indeed  liberty.    Its  broad  and  mi 
sive  foundations,  with  the  material  of  its  colossal  form,  indicate 
manency;  whilst,  to  all  who  come  honestly — come,  perhaps,  with  a 
sigh  of  relief— to  our  shores,  its  torch  is  an  invitation  and  a  wel- 
come; honestly  and  with  good  purpose,  for  liberty,  as  represented  .r 
in  that  grand  and  noble  fomi,  is  not  anarchy,  not  lawlessness,  not  * 
merely  the  individual  will  and  pleasure ;  it  is  draped  in  robes  of  d^  fc 
corum  and  law.     Will  it  ever  become  a  mere  memento  of  what  has  tt 
been?     It  represents,  it  cannot  defend  or  secure,  liberty.    Will  it    * 
ever  represent  a  failure  f     That  depends  upon  the  people,  who  mnst 
first  ostracize  the  virtues  which  make  it  not  an  ideal  in  bronze,  but 


UOLUHBUS    NOMVXBNT. 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS  593 

a  liviDg  reality.  Yet  history  has  some  disagreeable  lessons.  Nations 
are  not  cast  iu  bronze.  They  change  with  their  development,  and  are 
not  always  what  they  were. 

In  1889  was  celebrated  the  inauguration  of  Washington,  with  the 
scene,  to  a  certain  extent,  revived ;  that  is,  with  President  Benjamin 
Harrison  landing  at  the  same  spot  (the  foot  of  Wall  street)  and  in 
the  same  way,  by  boat,  and  passing  thence  with  the  great  procession 
to  the  place  indicated  by  history — the  present  location  of  the  statue  of 


Washington.  So  far  historical ;  but  what  a  representation  of  our  own 
day!  The  naval  parade,  the  great  procession  through  dense  mul- 
titudes compacted  into  one  citizenship  from  many  nations ;  a  pro- 
cession comprehending  governors  of  States,  an  immense  militarj' 
display,  scenes  typical  and  imposing,  a  tableau  holding  the  eye  for 
hours,  yet  which  found  its  culmination  of  interest  in  the  splendid 
marching  of  hundreds  of  children  from  the  public  schools  1  Fittingly 
the  occasion  has  itself  been  commemorated  in  more  lasting  form  by 
the  erection  of  the  fine  marble  arch  on  Washington  Square.  The 
same  magnitude  of  design,  the  same  allegory  and  pageant,  has  also 
characterized  the  late  celebration — October  12,  1892 — of  the  landing 
of  Columbus ;  duiing  which,  also,  a  statue  of  the  celebrated  navigator 
was  unveiled  at  the  southwestern  entrance  to  the  Central  Park,  and, 
in  the  absence  of  the  mayor,  accepted  by  the  editor  of  this  work  on 
behalf  of  the  city.  Moreover,  what  a  spectacle  was  the  funeral  of 
General  Grant,  in  1885,  at  which  the  two  ablest  living  generals  of  the 
war  (Sherman  and  Johnston),  once  well-matched  opponents,  rode 
peacefully  together  in  mutual  tribute  to  the  great  silent  soldier.  And 
we  are  building  his  monument  and  tomb,  to  be  always  before  the  eye 
of  the  future  and  to  recall  his  historic  deeds.  These  have  been  the 
grand  commemorations  of  the  period.  But  more  than  ever  before,  as 
Vol.  m.— 38. 


594 


HI8T0BT    OP    NEW-YORK 


an  indication  of  advanced  thought,  we  have  been  adorning  our  streets 
and  parks  with  works  of  art  representative  of  men  and  events  worthy 
to  be  remembered.  Above  all,  as  permanent  "  eye-teaching,"  and  a 
permanent  monument  of  the  period,  of  its  taste,  its  munificence  iu 
both  collecting  and  giving  for  public  uses,  we  have  the  admirable 
Metropolitan  Museum,  opened  in  1882. 

There  is  always  another  side.  Civilization  does  not  advance  equally 
all  along  the  line.  The  grand  army  has  its  ignoble  and  cowardly 
camp-followers.  It  must  be 
an  unusually  healthy  tree  in 
the  forest  that  has  no  with- 
ered leaves  to  shed,  no  dead 
branches,  no  parasitical  fun- 
gus at  the  root.  If  our  streets 
and  parks  show  growth  in  the 
direction  of  the  ideal,  in  statu- 
ary and  ornamentation,  there 
is  to  be  seen  in  them  statuarj- 
of  another  kind  far  from  or- 
namental. Especially  in  City 
Hall  Park,  the  very  focus  of 
city  life  and  activity,  close  by 
Printing  House  Square  with 
its  night  and  day  acti\ities, 
with  Franklin  and  Horace 
Greeley  in  full  view  to  set 
them  thinking,  and  many  a 
newsboy  earning  his  own 
decent  living,  there  they  sit 
upon  the  benches,  almost  as 
permanent  as  statues,  and  the 
more  remarkable  for  the  con- 
trast they  present!  From  the  park  to  the  poorhouse  in  winter; 
from  the  bench  to  the  saloon,  the  lodging-house,  or  to  beg ;  such  is 
their  life.  They  are  the  "  dead-beats "  of  the  community,  and  its 
parasites.  To  this  they  have  come,  illustrating  nature's  law  of  de- 
generation alongside  of  activity,  growth,  and  development.  To  this 
their  nature  is  now  limited.  Like  the  hermit-crab  in  its  shell,  they 
live  in  the  cast-off  clothes  of  other  people.  Tailors'  bills,  grocers' 
bills,  homes  of  their  own,  duties,  they  have  none  to  trouble  them. 
They  are  simply  parasites;  they  feed  on  others.  Begged  and  given 
a  ticket  for  a  lunch,  a  few  pennies  for  a  drink,  something  for  a  va- 
grants' lodging-house,  and  such  like,  and  the  day's  sum  total  is  made 
up.    Laziness  and  filth  have  become  their  normal  condition.   A  worn- 


NEW-YORK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEARS 


595 


out,  broken-down  horse  is  respectable ;  he  has  worked  for  his  living, 
and  borne  the  cuts  bad  fortune  has  bestowed  upon  him  with  patient 
endeavor.  When  he  dies  there  will  remain  something  useful  besides 
his  bones.  As  to  these  others,  nothing,  not  even  their  shoes.  It  is 
the  other  side  of  the  picture  of  progress,  not  ideal  but  actual. 

As  now  pertaining  to  actual  life  in  the  city,  and  its  development  on 
the  better  side,  during  the  period  before  us,  we  turn  to  the  subject  of 
schools  and  education.  There  has  been  a  noticeable  change  since 
1879.  It  will  probably  not  interfere  with  anything  written  in  previous 
chapters  to  refer  to  the  past  and  its  schooling.  There  are  some  yet 
remaining  who  went  to  school  in  Ex- 
change Place,  in  Pine  street,  in  Cedar,  /J^ 

or  in  Nassau,  where  now  stands  the  \^>y  vJTy^/^^^^^-^-^^a  ^ 
Equitable  building;    and,  later  on,  in  ^ 

Murray  street,  at  Anthon's  famous  gram-  ^ 

mar-school,  which  for  so  many  was  the  gateway  into  Columbia  College. 
No  private  schools  now  linger  in  those  lower  regions,  which  once 
were  to  school-boys  regions  of  pains  and  penalties.  In  the  younger 
days  of  the  century,  about  1815,  there  were  several  Irishmen  in  the 
city  who  had  been  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  had  been  con- 
cerned with  the  Emmets  in  the  proceedings  of  the  United  Irishmen, 
and  as  exiles  had  taken  up  teaching  for  a  living.  Their  vocation  was 
drill,  especially  in  the  classics,  at  the  time  the  essential  part  of  schol- 
arship. And,  certainly,  they  made  scholars  well  grounded  and  capable 
in  the  classics  and  such  other  branches  as  they  taught.  It  is  to  be  said, 
however,  that  they  did  not  confine  themselves  to  drill  as  a  means  of 
implanting*  solid  and  correct  knowledge.  They  kneaded  it  in  with 
their  hands,  and  faithfully  used  "  physical  culture  ^  by  means  of  the 
strap,  the  favorite  implement  of  that  day.  Nor  was  it  gentle  culture, 
as  of  tender  juvenile  vines ;  on  the  contrary,  and  frequently,  a  good 
top-dressing  at  their  hands  was  harrowing.  A  Philadelphia  lad,  who 
had  left  school  with  the  blood  running  down  his  back,  made  a  vow. 
Returning  forty  years  afterward,  a  man  of  wealth  and  standing,  he 
hunted  up  his  old  teacher.  Times  had  changed  with  him,  and  the 
vow  was  superfluous.  But  such  were — not  with  these  only,  but  in 
general — the  methods  of  teaching  early  in  the  century.  The  largest 
and  most  successful  of  these  schools,  we  may  add,  was  that  of  Joseph 


1  Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  born  July  31,  1822,  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Columbia  College,  practised 
law  in  New- York,  and  later  became  a  partner  in 
the  Arm  of  Cooper,  Hewitt  &  Co.  For  twenty-five 
years  he  has,  as  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
directed  the  educational  and  financial  affairs  of  the 
Cooper  Union.  In  politics  a  Democrat,  he  was  one 
of  the  orgaxdzers  of  the  County  Democracy  in 
1879.  Elected  to  Congress  in  1874,  he  served  con- 
tinuously, with  the  exception  of  one  term,  until 


1886,  when  he  was  elected  mayor,  receiving  90,552 
votes,  against  68,110  for  Henry  George,  and  60,435 
for  Theodore  Roosevelt  His  administration  was 
noted  for  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws.  In  1876 
he  was  chairman  of  the  Democratic  National  Com- 
mittee, and  the  same  year  was  elected  president 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers. 
His  report  on  "  Iron  and  Steel "  at  the  Paris  Ex- 
hibition in  1867  met  with  approval,  and  was  re- 
published at  home  and  abroad.  Editok. 


596 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


Nelson,  known  as  the  "  blind  teacher,"  and  on  that  account  worthy  of 
special  mention.  His  eyesight  had  failed  him  as  a  student  at  Co- 
lumbia College.  Nevertheless,  he  was  already  able  to  understand  any 
Latin  or  Greek  book  by  simply  bearing  it,  and  his  sisters  were  likewise 
classical  scholars,  who  could  read  to  him.  Therefore  he  determined 
to  teach.'  His  own  department  was  the  classical,  the  other  branches 
he  left  to  assistants  and  a  monitor.^  And  teacher  Nelson,  like  the 
rest,  was  wondrous  good  at  drill  and  flogging,  made  excellent  scholars, 

some  of  them  after- 
ward well-known 
men.  Blind  as  be 
was,  he  never  misBe<l 
the  right  one,  but 
would  spring  out, 
collar,  and  flog  hiin; 
flog  for  a  false  quan- 
tity— making  no  er- 
rorsof  his  own  in  tbe 
matter  of  quantity! 
His  rule  seemed  to 
be:  to  sharpen  the 
wits  of  a  boy,  strap 
him  on  the  legs !  Of 
course,  they  eagerly 
watched  his  finger  as  he  felt  along  for  the  hour-hand  on  his  silver 
watch — there  might  be  time  for  one  or  two  more  floggings !  But  he 
was  as  precise  about  the  hour  as  he  was  about  tbe  grammar.  After- 
ward appointed  a  professor  at  Rutgers  College,  New  Jersey,  his  por- 
trait is  there,  with  his  finger  stiU  on  the  watch. 

No  school  of  the  past,  however,  has  had  the  repute  of  Anthon's 
grammar-school.  It  was  what  its  name  imported — a  school  of  rudi- 
mentary drill,  but  one  of  a  higher  grade  and  more  comprehensive 
scope  than  any  of  the  preceding.  Although  educated  for  the  bar, 
Professor  Anthon  was  by  nature  and  aptness  of  mind  a  linguist  and 
teacher.  A  college  professor  at  twenty-three,  incessantly  at  work  on 
dictionaries,  grammars,  and  critical  editions  of  classical  works  (ulti- 
mately to  the  number  of  over  fifty  volumes),  in  1830  he  added  to  his 
labors  this  school,  in  which  he  was  both  rector  and  the  teacher  of  its 
highest  linguistic  department — the  first  Latin.    Our  review  concerns 

I  Bcpn  how  much  a  blind  man  might  do!  —  spparrati;. 

II  hod,  takioK  the   moon   by  his   teeth,  and  an   attempt 
regu-  more  til  Uie  purpose  if  nikde  on  level  gi^uiid ! 
avail-  2  Rev,  Dr,  Thomas  E.Vennilye,  the  still  bring 
.  and  senior  pa«lor  of  the  Colle^te  Reformed  Chnrcb, 
show  was  one  of  Nelson's  boy  mooitora. 


FOUETBESTH    STREET, 


FBOU    UNION    StltJARE. 


>  A  remarhably  ener^tic  blind  man  war 
by  the  writer  in  18«0.  Piloted  by  his  wife  an. 
he  wan  uoinic  over  a  Swiss  pass,  uot  by  the 
lar,  even  road,  but  by  short  cuts  wherever 
ahle.  His  object  wan  to  reach  Cliatnouny. 
moke  the  ascent  of  Mont  Blanc,  in  order  to 


NEW-YOBK    DmUNG    THE    LAST    FOUBTEEN    YEABS 


597 


principally  methods  and  advances  in  teaching.  But  Professor  Anthon 
was,  personally,  the  motive  lever  of  bis  school.  Up,  himself,  at  four  in 
the  morning,  and  busy  with  his  bcwks  and  exact  criticism,  he  insisted 
upon  industry  and  thoroughness  in  his  pupils.  He  gave  instruction, 
but  insisted  upon  education.  Nor  was  be  satisfied  with  a  grammar 
knowledge  of  words,  sentences,  and  their  construction,  but  in  transla^ 
tion  it  must  be  the  best  word  and  an  elegant  translation.  By  means 
of  Latin  and  Greek  he  thus  shaped  the  thought,  the  mental  habits, 
and  English  style  of  many  a  small  boy,  whose  individual  proficiency, 
moreover,  decided  his  daily  place  in  the  class,  up  or  down,  and  the 
weekly  report  to  his  parents.  Such  was  his  method,  and  his  eye  was 
everywhere.  That  itself  was  a 
stimulus.  Dr.  Anthon  greatly  ad- 
mired the  celebrated  Dr.  Rich- 
ard Busby,  of  England,  who  had 
educated  more  men  eminent  in 
church  and  state  than  any  teacher 
of  his  time,  who  refused  to  pay 
deference  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
in  the  presence  of  his  pupils  be- 
cause before  them  he  could  ac- 
knowledge no  superior,  and  whoso 
panacea  for  all  delinquencies  was 
the  rod  I'  And  assuredly,  in  his 
own  domain,  Dr.  Anthon  had  no 
superior.  There,  with  his  elegant 
and  athletic  form,  his  fine  head 
and  imperial  manner,  he  was  a 
veritable  Jupiter  on  his  mountain, 
or  a  Taurus  in  his  constellation — a 
teacher  whom  grown  men  recall 
with  a  certain  gratitude,  if  they 
feared  him  as  boys.  For  Dr.  Anthon,  like  the  others,  believed  in  the 
rod:  with  this  only  change,  from  the  crude  and  hard  ferule  and  strap  to 
the  more  genteel  and  limber  ratan !  He  had  his  favorites,  the  always 
diligent  and  good  boys,  who  escaped — like  the  present  distinguished 
dean  of  Columbia  College,  Dr.  Drisler.  But  for  the  dull,  the  careless, 
or  the  lazy  there  was  no  escape.  For  all  such  the  ratan  was  as  con- 
ducive to  education  as  pepsin  to  digestion.  Not  so  easy  or  pleasant  to 
take !  With  certain  figures  marked  upon  a  slip  of  paper,  which  the 
stalwart  and  jocose  professor  of  mathematics  down-stairs  well  under- 
stood, and  which  he  was  to  count  upon  the  fingers  of  the  boy;  to 
march  into  the  midst  of  thirty  other  boys  as  audience  and  spectators; 

1  nr.  Biubf'l  portrait  to  Included  in  the  BarTkrd  College  collection. 


a4)CASB    OABDEN. 


598  mSTOKY    OF   new-yobk 

to  be  grasped  by  the  wrist  and  stand  with  extended  palm ;  to  rise  on 
the  tiptoe  of  expectation,  whilst  the  professor  playfully  dallied;  to 
take  impi'omptu  steps  which  were  not  the  stately  minuet,  whilst  the 
mobile  countenance  bore  witness  to  the  correctness  of  the  professor^ 
advancing  coimt;  and  then  to  return  with  tingling  fingers  and  the 
receipt  for  a  flogging  1  There  was  but  one  of  the  parties  concerned 
who  enjoyed  it — the  stalwart  and  jocose  professor.  It  refreshed  him 
as  a  beautiful  piece  of  applied  mathematics ;  it  was  his  lunch  for  the 
day.  Such  were  the  educational  processes  of  the  largest  and  best 
grammar-school  of  the  city  fifty  years  ago. 

To  come  now  to  our  assigned  period.    Learning,  it  is  certain,  has 
dropped  from  her  list  of  stimulants  the  exhilarating  ratan.    Her  hook 


A 

is  baited,  the  rather,  with  glittering  prizes.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
curriculum  is  larger  and  more  ambitious.  The  modem  languages  and 
other  subjects  dispute  for  the  hours  and  the  place  once,  by  common 
consent,  assigned  to  Latin  and  Greek.  Moreover,  to  "fit  for  college" 
(male  or  female),  and  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  has  become  with 
schools  an  important  aim  ;  it  affects  their  grade  and  numbers.  And 
this  requires  more  books,  more  paf^es  to  be  read  at  a  lesson,  more 
huiTy,  with  less  time  to  he  devoted  to  drill  and  the  rudiments.  A  few 
questions  put  to  pnpils  of  different  schools  will  show  this.  Is  it  an 
advance  over  the  past  t  There  is,  indeed,  a  demand  for  "  higher  ednea- 


NEW-YOBK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    YEABS  599 

tion,"  But "  higher  education,"  like  a  house,  must  begin  at  the  bottom, 
with  the  fouDdations,  the  rudiments,  and  proceed  with  equal  care  to 
the  top.  Professor  Agassiz  was  wont  to  give  a  beginner  a  lobster, 
which  he  was  to  study  minutely,  with  glass  in  hand,  for  six  months. 
Chancellor  Kent  in 
his  old  age  said  to 
the  writer  that  what- 
ever reputation  he 
had  gained  in  life  he 
owed  to  the  fact  that 
when  he  studied  law 
he  had  but  one  book. 
That  book  wasBlack- 
atone's  Commenta^ 
ries ;  and  having  no 
other,  he  studied  it 
thoroughly  and  un- 
til he  had  mastered 
the  principles  of  law. 
It  was  in  1782,  when 
there  were  no  American  law  books  and  no  reports  of  American  deci- 
sions, and  when  law  itself,  as  applicable  to  American  institutions,  had 
not  been  shaped.  Those  first  studies,  afterward  buUt  upon,  enabled 
him  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion  in  the  State  Supreme  Court,  and 
later,  as  chancellor,  in  the  Court  of  Chancery ;  so  that  when,  after 
nine  years,  he  retired,  they  likened  him  to  Lord  Nottingham,  who  had 
founded  the  equity  system  of  England,  and  was  "enabled  in  the 
course  of  nine  years  to  build  a  system  of  jurisprudence  and  jurisdic- 
tion upon  wise  and  rational  foundations." ' 

"We  must  recognize  the  fact  that  the  day  and  its  conditions  are  dif- 
ferent; that  under  any  method  the  larger  part  will  only  make  fair 
progress ;  that  eminence  is  the  attainment  of  but  few ;  but  that  even 
a  peep  into  knowledge  may  be  helpful.  There  are  schools  and  schools 
in  the  city,  from  the  thorough  to  the  "  fashionable  " ;  the  latter,  or  at 
least  some  of  them,  as  like  to  the  former  as  is  the  bird  Taurus  (the 
"hollow-sounding  bittern"  of  Goldsmith),  all  legs  and  wings  and 
feathers,  to  the  noble  ox  whose  lowing  it  was  thought  to  imitate. 
Whatever  is  desired  can  be  had.  And  for  "  higher  education  "  there 
is  increased  provision.  For  instance,  Columbia  College  has  many  de- 
partments besides  (in  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years)  a  regular 
college  course.     Gradually  these  are  thrown  open  to  the  student  as 

t  The  chancellor  h*d  just  received  ■   bust  o(  JudtfS  William  Kent,  in  preceding  him  down  the 

UqiBelf.    He  did  notlilie  it.    "It  makes  me  look  loDg  etepa  into  tbe  yard,  took  a  leap  over  the  rail- 

HO  croas.  and  I  am  not  cross."  be  said.  In  Fact,  bia  lag.    "Ob,  I  can  da  that  too,"  odd  the  chancellor; 

old  age  was  genial,  acttve,  and  plAyfUL    His  son,  and  over  he  went  himjcif 


600  HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK 

"  elective  "  studies.  In  the  senior  year  everything  is  "  elective."  And 
thus  at  an  earlier  date  than  formerly  the  student  may  get  down  to  the 
specialty  he  may  wish  to  pursue,  with  every  advantage  of  apparatus 
and  instruction  at  hand.  He  is  not  marked  from  day  to  day  as  for- 
merly, but  must  study,  or  bear  the  penalties  incident  to  a  report  as 
"deficient."  Such  is  the  change 
of  method  at  Columbia — an  iu- 
stance  merely  of  tbe  changes 
through  which  the  university,  like 
Columbia  and  other  colleges,  is 
passing.  So  far  as  it  marks  an 
advance  in  study,  it  must  react 
•upon  the  schools.  On  tbe  femi- 
nine side,  Barnard  College,  char- 
tered in  1S89,  is  and  is  not  a  de- 
partment of  Columbia.  It  is  not 
supported  by  its  funds.  Its  reci- 
tations are  separate  but  on  paral- 
lel lines,  which,  upon  completion, 
entitle  the  graduate  to  a  Columbia 
diploma;  and  thereafter,  if  she  so 
chooses,  to  the  privilege  of  at- 
'^1   'y</f/^'         s  tendance  upon  certain  of  its"  elec- 

^ky^f/^^^-ri^'J^^  ^i^g„  studies.     The   number  of 

students  is  as  yet  not  large ;  and  still  smaller  the  number  of  those 
who  avail  themselves  of  what  may  be  called  an  educational  aftermath 
or  after-grass.  It  has  to  compete  with  such  popular  institutions  as 
Bryu  Mawr,  and  Smith,  and  Wellesley,  or  Vassar  and  Wells.  In  a 
city  whose  first  educational  impulses  came  from  Holland,  among 
whose  earliest  and  best  scholars  were  women,  it  is  but  still  following 
the  example  of  three  out  of  four  of  the  Dutch  universities — of  Leyden, 
Utrecht,  and  Amsterdam — to  throw  open  doors  of  learning  to  women, 
some  of  whom,  as  in  the  past,  may  prove  great  proficients. 

In  a  city  history  it  is  impossible  to  overlook  the  public  schools. 
They  reach  the  largest  numbers,  especially  the  poor,  in  all  parts  of  the 
city ;  and  if  the  present  compulsory  law  does  not  actually  secure  an 
education  to  all,  it  is  at  least  fairly  well  enforced.  Our  period,  from 
1879,  covers  the  incumbency  of  John  Jasper  as  city  superintendent 
of  schools,  and  has  certainly  been  one  of  advance.  Of  this  one  evi- 
dence is  patent  enough  in  the  gradual  consolidation  of  smaller  schools, 
till  lately  in  crowded  and  inconvenient  buildings,  and  placing  them 
in  those  newer  ones  planned  to  accommodate  from  two  thousand  to 
three  thousand  pupils,  and  provided  with  the  best  sanitation  and  con- 
veniences.    Even  with  this  consolidation,  and  with  whatever  ineffi- 


NEW-YORK    DDBING    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    TEARS  601 

ciency  iu  the  action  of  the  compulsory  law,  the  namber  of  grammar 
and  primary  schools,  or  separate  departments,  has  grown,  since  1879, 
so  as  to  require  seven  hundred  more  teachers,  or  3496  in  all,  for  an 
average  daily  attendance  of  137,819  pupils.  These  schools,  again,  have 
been  supplemented  by  evening  schools  having  two  grades  of  junior 
and  senior,  with  elective  studies  in  the  latter  for  pupils  not  under 
sixteen  years  of  age,  whilst  in  the  junior  or  regular  department  the 
ages  may  range  from  thirteen  to  eighteen  years.  These,  in  1892, 
had  28,537  registered  pupils,  and  a  nightly  average  of  9376 ;  and,  in 
addition,  are  four  evening  high  schools,  with  an  average  of  nearly 
3000.  Moreover,  whilst  it  is  evident  that  the  eflSciency  of  a  school 
must  depend  much 
upon  the  teaching 
or  executive  power 
of  both  principal 
and  teachers,  there 
has  been  steady  pro- 
gress in  school  work 
since  1879.  What- 
ever change  has 
been  fairly  tested 
and  proved  advan- 
tageous has  been 
adopted.  Of  espe- 
cial importance  has 
proved  the  introduc- 
tion, first  of  man- 
ual-training schools,  and  then,  in  1890,  the  introduction  into  all  the 
schools  of  the  course  of  study  therein  found  so  useful.  This  edu- 
cational course  begins  at  the  lowest  primary  grad'e,  and  goes  through 
to  the  highest  grammar  grade;  goes  from  the  kindergarten,  with  its 
"eye-teaching"  for  the  least,  up  to  the  high  school.  In  all  it  is  re- 
garded as  a  living  principle  of  education,  to  be  applied  wherever  prac- 
ticable. And,  indeed,  among  such  a  population,  so  circumstanced, 
what  can  be  more  efl&cient  than  a  course  of  instruction  which  includes 
the  body  as  well  as  the  mind!  How  excellent,  again,  the  law  of  the 
State  which  requires  iu  its  common  schools  attention  to  such  subjects 
as  physiology  and  hygiene !  For  this,  also,  provision  is  made,  through 
talks  by  the  principals,  outside  of  the  regular  studies.  That  the  stan- 
dard of  scholarship  among  the  teachers  must  be  good,  is  evident.  In- 
deed, to  secure  a  requisite  proficiency,  the  standard  of  licenses  has 
been  raised  in  1892  from  seventy-five  to  eighty-five  per  cent.  But 
with  a  Normal  School  of  2000  pupils  to  draw  upon,  to  secure  the  best 
for  the  purpose  should  be  no  difficulty. 


602  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

During  this  period  has  also  been  tried  the  experiment — an  experi- 
ment  in  this  city — of  having  female  members  upon  the  Board  of 
Education.  Since  of  the  three  chosen  to  the  ofl&ce  none  has  been  re- 
appointed by  the  mayor,  it  must,  for  the  present  at  least,  be  deemed 
a  failure.  The  number  suited  by  tact,  temperament,  and  training  to 
the  position  is  necessarily  small,  and,  whether  in  the  board  as  a  legis- 

lative  body  or  in  the  schools,  it  may  easily  become 
J^   >/?  X)       '    a  trying  and  unpleasant  one  in  view  of  the  many 

cauAyuJ^cKjd.^-u^  subjects  which  may  arise  and  distract  opinion.   It 

stands  an  experiment  discontinued  by  the  will  and  judgment  of  the 
appointing  power,  the  mayor,  although  it  brought  into  service  upon 
the  board  women  of  well-known  character  and  capacity,  and  experi- 
ence in  various  phases  of  city  work. 

How  well  approved,  upon  examination,  is  the  work  of  the  public 
schools,  a  late  incident  may  show.  Let  it  here  first  be  said  that  they  are 
intended  in  their  various  districts  to  reach  even  the  poorest  and  all 
nationalities.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  best  scholars  are  Jews,  both 
in  deportment  and  learning;  their  parents  require  of  them  profi- 
ciency in  such  matters.  The  next  are  Germans,  whilst  the  Irish,  with 
different  traits,  have  produced  from  these  schools  bright  specimens  of 
what,  with  education,  they  may  become.  Even  some  of  the  poorest 
among  them,  seeing  what  the  schools  have  done,  entertain  for  their 
children  this  greatest  desire — an  education!  The  incident  is,  that 
one  who  knows  this  work  and  has  attained  wealth  through  a  large 
clientage  among  the  poor,  and  desires  to  return  them  something  of 
what  he  has  received,  has  arranged  a  plan  by  which  twelve  pupils 
now  pass  yearly  from  the  public  schools  into  the  city  college,  and 
will  do  so  till  the  full  number  of  sixty  is  reached.  That  number  is 
to  be  maintained,  and  will  cost  him  the  sum  (for  which  he  has  al- 
ready provided)  of  $20,000  annually  in  perpetuity.  His  one  condi- 
tion is  that  they  shall  be  poor,  capable,  and  desirous  of  an  education. 
K  one  is  disposed  to  do  good,  even  a  penny  paper  may  furnish  the 
abundant  means. 

This  beneficent  act  brings  us  naturally  to  the  subject  of  charities. 
The  public  schools  are  not  charities.  They  are  a  tax  for  the  good  of 
the  whole,  by  which  the  state  seeks  to  protect  itself  against  the  dan- 
gers of  ignorance  and  vice.  It  recognizes  them  as  its  best  means  of 
self-preservation.    Charities,  on  the  other  hand,  are,  or  are  mainly, 

1  Franklin  Edson  was  bom  in  Chester,  Vt.,  April  and  devoted  much  attention  to  the  tran^portatioii 

5,  1832,  and  comes  of  Puritan  stock.   Mr.  Edson's  and  grading  of  grain,  and  labored  assiduoualv  to 

early  days  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  and  he  secure  the  reduction  and  abolishing  of  the  canal 

obtained  his  education  at  the  Chest^^r  Academy,  tolls,  a  result  finally  accomplished.  Always  a  Dem- 

Settling  in  Albany  in  1852.  he  entered  into  business  ocrat,  Mr.  Edson  served  as  mayor  of  New-York 

with  his  brother,  remaining  in  that  city  for  four-  in  1883-84,  and  infused  new  thought  and  life  into 

teen  years     In  1866  he  removed  to  New- York,  be-  all  branches  of  the  municipal  government.     He  if 

came  a  commission  merchant,  was  elect«»d  three  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  New- York,  and  has  oc- 

times  to  the  presidency  of  the  Produce  Exchange,  cupied  other  offices  of  importance.          Editor. 


NEW-YOBK    DURING    THE    lAST    FOURTEEN    TEARS  d03 

voluntary  organizations  for  different  humane  and  Christian  purposes. 
New- York  has  over  a  hundred  of  such.  They  represent  not  the 
riches  of  the  rich  alone,  but  vastly  more  that  cannot  be  computed  in 
money — the  time  and  devoted  labors  of  an  army  of  workers,  some  of 
whom  give,  in  proportion  to  means,  veritably  the  "widow's  mite." 
Churches,  Sunday-schools,  family  training,  and  a  diverse  multitude 
of  Christian  influences  all  contribute  to  this  charitable  work.  If  there 
is  evil  in  the  city,  there  is  also  immense  good  done.    More  than  fifty 


of  these  charities  are  devoted  to  children.  We  can  only  indicate  by  a 
few  examples  to  what  this  work  has  grown.  Some  are  temporary  and 
specific  in  their  object.  When,  eighteen  years  ago  Mr.  Bergh  aided 
in  establishing  a  society  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  children,  who 
would  have  supposed  that  its  scope  could  be  large  t  City  life,  how- 
ever, has  its  cruelties  as  well  as  its  misfortunes,  and  these  not  from 
strangers  or  guardians  alone,  but  from  parents.  During  that  period 
this  society  has  rescued  from  abuse  —  and  even,  in  instances,  from 
mutilation — and  placed  in  suitable  homes  or  in  institutions,  more  than 
25,000  children,  and  at  the  reception-rooms  (opened  twelve  years  ago) 
over  six  thousand  have  been  sheltered,  clothed,  and  fed !  Some,  again, 
are  asylums,  such  as  the  Leake  and  Watts  Orphan  Asylum  and  the  Ju- 
venile Asylum.  The  latter  can  accommodate  a  thousand  inmates.  It 
takes  truant  and  disobedient  children  of  from  seven  to  fourteen  years 
old,  or  such  as  have  parents  unfit  to  rear  them.  These  it  takes  in  and 
educates,  or  sends  to  permanent  homes  elsewhere.  Broader  yet  in  its 
sphere  of  action  is  the  Children's  Aid  Society.  It  comprehends  all 
children  of  the  poor.  Although  established  earlier,  its  particular  line 
of  usefulness  began  in  1861  with  William  A.  Booth  as  its  president, 
and  Charles  L.  Brace  as  its  superintendent — men  admirably  adapted 
to  work  together  in  such  a  field.  Mr.  Booth  has  just  retired,  in  his 
eighty-eighth  year,  with  the  abundant  and  increasing  fruits  of  the 
society  visible.  Mr.  Brace  died  three  years  since.  In  1861  there 
was  at  the  top  of  the  "Sun  "  building  a  large  room  used  for  homing 


604 


HISTORY    OP    NEW-YORK 


pigeoDs.  There  they  started  a  lodging  for  newsboys  and  other  such 
waifs  and  gamins  of  the  streets,  and  gathered  in  from  forty  to  sev- 
enty. It  witnessed  some  remarkable  scenes,  and  was  for  that  class 
truly  a  "  morning  san."  It  was  the  original  of  the  newsboys'  down- 
town lodging-house,  among  whom,  also,  a  Sunday  evening  meeting 
soon  became  an  institution,  conducted  for  seventeen  years  by  Mr. 
Booth  and  Mr.  Brace  alternately,  and  since,  in  other  houses,  by  sach 
actively  engaged  business  men  as  Howard  Potter,  D.  Willis  James, 
the  late  Judge  Van  Vorst,  and  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Of  these  lodging, 
houses,  which  are  also  industrial  schools,  the  society  to-day  has  sis  or 
seven.  A  bad  neighborhood — the  worst — is  selected,  some  liberal 
donor  is  found,  and  the  house  is  built.     One  for  girls  of  from  twelve 


to  twenty  was  opened  in  Twelfth  street  iu  September,  1892.  Its  cost 
was  a  donation  of  $70,000.  And  there  they  learn — the  girls,  cooking, 
laundering,  dressmaking,  type-writing,  and  other  piu^uits;  the  boys, 
printing,  wood-earving,  olay-molding,  drawing,  carpentering,  and 
similar  employments.  Epidemic  or  contagious  diseases  there  have 
been  none.  They  have  gymnasiums,  savings-banks,  night  schools, 
loan-societies,  a  shoe-fund,  drying-rooms.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at 
that  such  a  house,  established  iu  a  neighborhood,  should  have  its 
effect  upon  the  children  who  otherwise  would  grow  into  "gangs'* 
and  the  "dangerous  classes"?  Upon  one  evening  three  judges  of 
distinction  upon  the  bench  told  the  oliildren  their  youthfn!  experi- 
ences,—  not  entirely  different  from  their  own.  It  was  in  "Macker- 
elville,"  where  once  a  respectable  man  could  hardly  walk  by  day  in 


NEW-rOBK    DURING    THE    LAST    FOUBTEEN    TEABS 


605 


safety;  but  what  the  police  could  not  do  has  been  done  by  this  society. 
Moreover,  it  has  a  health  home  at  Coney  Island,  where,  in  1891,  7498 
children  were  cared  for ;  at  Bath,  Long  Island,  a  summer  home,  where 
were  4000  children  j  a  sick  children's  mission  from  which  are  supplied 
at  their  homes  nursing,  aud  medicines,  and  medical  advice  free ;  and  a 
flower  mission  of  importance  in  its  work.  In  its  lodging-houses  were 
6600  different  boys  and  girls  during  the  year ;  there  were  twenty-one 
day  schools  and  twelve  evening  schools,  and  11,638  regular  or  tran- 
sient pupils,  and  it  furnished  579,552  meals.  At  a  cost  of  twenty 
dollars  each,  it  last  year  sent  to  homes  in  Kansas  aud  Nebraska  2600 
children,  and  in  thirty-two  years  has  sent  to  such  homes  92,000.  And 
its  income,  which  in  1861  was  $20,000,  was  this  year  $376,324.    What 


does  not  the  city  owe  to  such  workers  in  such  charities  I  What  to 
Mr.  Brace,  the  energetic  superintendent  and  organizing  manager  of 
this  especial  charity ! 

Other  societies  and  agencies  are  doing  good  work  in  their  own  way. 
The  aggregate  of  their  efforts  is  enormous.  To  prevent  slipshod 
giving  aud  waste,  several  of  them  will  soon  be  located  together  in  a 
building  just  erected  on  Fourth  Avenue  between  Twenty-second  and 
Twenty-third  sti-eets,  a  sort  of  charity  exchange.  But  evidently  those 
that  reach  down  to  the  children,  that  break  in  upon  their  environ- 
ment— the  overcrowded  tenement-house  from  which  they  take  them, 
the  street,  the  saloon — and  replace  these  with  lifting  iafluences, — those 
are  doing  a  work  almost  beyond  computation,  A  few  years  since  the 
Prison  Association  published  a  chart  of  a  single  family  in  Ulster 


606  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

County.  Its  history  went  back  a  hundred  years,  to  a  Revolutionary 
soldier  and  a  vagrant  girl  of  sixteen,  since  known  as  "  Margaret  the 
mother  of  criminals,^  and  her  four  sisters.  In  six  generations  their 
descendants  have  numbered  twelve  hundred !  Living  among  some 
inland  lakes  of  the  county,  isolated,  poor,  ignorant,  and  vicious,  with 
lunacy,  idiocy,  and  epilepsy  among  them,  the  result  of  such  lives,— 
with  very  few  exceptions,  male  or  female,  they  have  shown  the  nat- 
ural effects  of  such  a  heredity  and  such  an  environment — they  have 

been  criminals  and  bad.  Heredity  alone  is  not 
omnipotent.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  those  removed 
%y  the  Children's  Aid  Society  have  had  intem- 
perate parents,  yet  have  not  become  intemperate 
themselves.  But  the  environment,  to  correct  it 
early,  in  that  is  hope;  and,  as  we  have  already 
indicated,  to  that  work  the  charities  of  our  day  are  very  largely  turn- 
ing their  faces ;  yet  not,  certainly,  to  the  neglect  of  the  older  poor. 
The  health  or  sickness  of  the  body  may  be  judged  by  the  tempera- 
ture, the  pulse,  or  some  eruptive  symptom ;  but  every  eruption  does 
not  imply  general  and  radical  impairment.  It  may  be  local  or  tem- 
porary. The  same  may  be  said  of  a  great  city.  A  case  of  cholera 
here  and  there,  or  typhus,  should  not  be  reported  as  an  epidemic.  It 
would  not  properly  describe  the  condition  of  the  city.  Walking 
through  our  streets  at  any  time  during  the  last  dozen  years,  one 
might  easily  imagine  them  in  a  perpetual  fever  and  unable  to  lie  still, 
throwing  off  their  cover  of  pavements  only  to  have  them  put  on  again. 
What  an  upturning  and  unearthing!  Contractors'  jobs,  certainly, 
some  of  them,  and  other  people's  money.  Nevertheless,  what  a  weight 
and  wear  of  traflSc  it  indicates,  the  supplies  and  business  of  a  great  city! 
How  many  of  the  conveniences  of  our  life  lie  underground — water, 
sewage,  gas — in  mains  that  must  be  kept  in  repair !  What  new  appli- 
ances for  motion,  heating,  living,  growth  itself  requires!  All  this 
means  progress,  but  progress  in  frequent  collision  with  public  conve- 
nience. Doubtless  the  "  cable-road "  means  progress ;  but  meanwhile 
a  great  avenue  remains  "  paved  with  good  intentions." 

Among  the  people,  also,  what  signs  of  fever  and  unrest!  Haste 
and  hurry  may  be  habit  or  temperament,  or  the  press  of  good  busi- 
ness. Multitudes  are  thus  in  motion,  with  a  daily  strain  that  requires 
shorter  hours  of  work,  or  (as  has  become  the  case)  more  frequent  breaks 
and  holidays.  Yet  do  people  seem  to  be  more  migratory.  Houses 
are  now  closed  for  months,  where  formerly  a  few  weeks'  absence  suf- 

i  Hugh  J.  Grant  was  bom  in  New-York  in  1852.  mayor   in  1888,  he  was  elected,   pollinj;  114,111 

He  was  graduated  from  Columbia  College  Law  votes,  af^nst  Joel  B.  Erhardt  73,037,  and  Abram 

School ;  was  elected  alderman  in  1882,  and  was  S.  Hewitt  71,979.    He  was  reelected  to  the  oiBce 

again  reelected.      In  1884,  he  was  nominated  by  in  1890,  defeating  Francis  M.  Scott  by  23,357  votes, 

Tammany  Hall  for  mayor,  but  was  defeated;  and  and  was  succeeded  in  1893  by  Thomas  P.  Gilroy. 
in  1885  he  was  elected  sheriff.    Renominated  for  Editor. 


NEW-YORK    DUEINO    THE    LAST    FOUBTEEN    YEABS  607 

fic«d;  due  in  part,  undoubtedly,  to  the  behests  of  fashion,  in  accor- 
dance with  which,  when  the  season  opens,  in  May  or  June,  multitudes 
flit  and  bustle  here  and  there,  all  together,  like  a  bevy  of  sparrows  in  the 
street.    Bnt  it  is  also  due,  undoubtedly,  to  the  opening  of  pleasurable 


routes,  to  increased  conveniences  of  travel,  and  to  the  fact  that  so  many 
are  able  to  maintain  for  themselves  a  home  in  the  country.  For  a  sear 
son  or  permanently  I'apid  transit  permits  multitudes  to  maintain  such 
homes ;  and  to  the  student  of  city  problems  the  hope  is  that  increased 
facilities  over  those  so  far  attained  may  enable  other  multitudes,  of 


608 


HISTOKT    OF    NEW-YOBK 


the  poorer  class,  to  cool  the  fever  of  city  living  with  the  fresh  air  df 
the  country.  What  we  have  said,  however,  does  not  cover  the  sub- 
ject.  There  are  a  fever  and  unrest  which  characterize  the  period. 
"Were  we  to  choose  an  image  of  a  condition,  it  might  be,  at  one  end 
of  the  city,  a  fashionable  woman  whose  unending  rounds  of  teas,  din- 
ners, visitings,  receptions,  cai-d-parties,  dances,  and  operas  indicate 
and  make  a  feverish  life ;  or,  at  the  other  end,  none  better  than  the 
wandering  "  fakir,"  the  personification  of  business  unrest,  prosperous 
to-day,  to-morrow  down ;  whose  life,  like  the  tape  of  the  "  ticker,"  is 
a  continuous  record  of  ups  and  down  and  fluctuations,  of  fever  and 

chills,  till  the  waste- 
basket  receives  the 
used-up  scroll.  We 
have  had  during  the 
period  one  notable 
failure  and  panic— 
the  failure,  in  1884, 
of  Grant  and  Ward; 
whereby  our  patriot 
soldier,  who  in  the 
morning  thought 
himself  worth  a  mil- 
lion, at  night  found 
himself  with  less 
than  nothing.  How 
wonderful  bis  spirit 
of  endurance,  so  great  that,  notwithstanding  this  influx  of  calamity, 
added  to  the  anguish  of  disease,  he  could  yet  begin  and  fini.sh  his  ad- 
mirable "Memoir"!  We  have  had  during  the  period  bank-wrecking 
aud  failures,  lunacy,  "corners"  and  dishonesty,  the  outcome  of  a 
feverish,  daring,  or  grasping  spirit,  with  results  bad  enough  or  de- 
served enough  to  those  concerned ;  but  as  incidents  involving  indi- 
viduals, not  the  generality,  not  tlie  majority,  and  not  even  peculiar 
to  the  period  in  review.  We  have  bad  in  this  year  a  cholera  scare, — 
a  healthy  scare,  in  so  far  as  it  led  to  a  stricter  quarantine,  and  to  in- 
creased efforts  at  sanitation  and  cleanliness.  Some  localities,  at  least, 
have  felt  the  chill  of  an  unusual  exposure  from  being  unusually  clean; 
a  cleanliness  remedied  on  some  streets  (it  is  said)  as  soon  as  the  Wsiou 
of  carts  and  sweepei-s  had  passed !  There  are  always  those  ignorant 
or  vicious  or  reckless  enough  to  defy  precaution  for  themselves  or 
others;  they  must  be  ruled  by  an  active  police  and  an  eflBcient, 
non-politieal  health  department.  In  1832,  during  the  first  cholera 
season,  in  a  house  from  which  fifteen  bad  already  been  carried,  an 
eye-witness   saw   the   two    remaining    inmates    eating    clams    from 


NEW-YORK    ODBma    THE    LAST    FOURTEEN    TEARS 


609 


a  pail,  aud  eating  them  raw,  and  using  language  not  to  be  re- 
peated! Such  classes  we  have  always,  awaiting  disease;  they  are 
themselves  a  permanent  disease.  But,  separate  from  all  these  things, 
the  decade  has  been  full  of  unrest,  restlessness,  even  fever.  No 
one  cause  can  be  claimed  for  it.  It  relates  to  no  one  special  sub- 
ject or  class  of  subjects.  It  is  mental 
unrest,- not  affecting  the  city  alone,  but 
the  country.  Just  as  at  certain  sea- 
sous  meteors  in  unusual  abundance 
enter  our  atmosphere,  and  burn  and 
blaze  across  the  horizon,  so  have  new 
ideas  entered, — new  ideas  to  be  tried 
or  old  ones  to  be  readjusted,  by  ex- 
periment, by  discussion,  by  friction, 
by  strife.  The  air  holds  them  in  com- 
bustion. Whether  ignorautly,  cmdely, 
or  intelligently,  people  are  thinking. 
Prom  the  kitchen  to  the  top  story  of 
life  there  is  friction  of  ideas.  Among 
the  laboring  classes  high  wages,  plenty 
of  work,  and  unusual  savings-bank  ac- 
counts as  indices  of  prosperity,  do  not 
affect  it.  They  have  their  ideas  to  be 
tried,  something  yet  to  be  changed  in 
ways  of  their  own.  During  this  dec- 
ade, as  at  other  epochs,  the  "labor 
question"  has  given  frequent  trouble. 
In  1889  there  was  a  great  strike  of 
horse-ear  drivers,  upon  a  questioD  of 
hours  or  wages;  whilst  in  several  later 
strikes  the  issue  has  been  the  employ- 
ment or  non-employment  of  non-union 
men  (even  down  to  one  man)  by  some 
concern  here  or  there,  or  the  discharge  t' 
of  a  union  man.  We  have  even  seen  ' 
regiments  during  this  year  called"  out 
upon  hard  and  unexpected  duty  at  Buffalo  by  a  strike  of  switchmen, 
few  in  number,  but  who  held  the  key  of  a  public  roadway,  and  could 
thus  interrupt  the  business  of  thousands.  Certainly,  a  crude  and  ig- 
norant way  of  solving  the  labor  problem.  A  costly,  but  good  result, 
if  repeated  trial  has  brought  us  nearer  to  something  else.    Even  with 

1  A  memarial  to  Audubon,  Che  natursUst,  will  Runic  croBB  embellished  with  birds  Bad  animsls 

be  unveiled  esrly  in  1993.      It  covere  Uh  gmve,  and  »ppropriftlely  inscribed.  The  cross  is  made  of 

aud  stands  at  the  bead  of  Audubon  Avenue.  In  North  River  limestone,  Is  twenty-five  feet  high. 

Trinity  cemetery.      It  is  in  the  form  of  a  Celto-  and  cost  about  410,000.  EDITOR. 

Vol.  m.— 39. 


610  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

real  grievances  to  be  redressed,  it  is  organizing  private  war  for  pri- 
vate ends,  and  making  the  many  suffer  for  the  sake  of  a  few ;  it  is  an 
attempt  of  parties  or  trades,  forming  themselves  into  unions,  to  obtain 
their  ends,  say  in  wages,  by  force  and  coercion, —  a  method  which,  if 
generally  adopted,  would  tear  business  to  pieces.  With  the  car-driv- 
ers, who  threatened  and  drove  others  away,  it  was  an  attempt  at  a 
monopoly  of  driving  upon  that  line,  at  their  own  prices,  and  with  the 
company's  horses  and  equipment  as  their  capitaL  It  is  monopoly 
and  tyranny  of  the  worst  kind  which  claims  exclusive  rights  in  a 
trade,  and  which,  to  prevent  a  fellow-craftsman,  or  even  an  appren- 
^j^  y*>      y^  '  ^^'^^>  from  pursuing  it,  stops  private 

J%^.  J^'   ^.oA.^^  ?w^i'^/''IwJ°'^'*'  and  all  fims 

^  /^   that  deal  with  the  concern  that  em- 

^  ploys  him.  It  is,  in  the  extreme,  de- 
moralizing to  the  workman,  who  finds  his  work  to  depend,  not  on 
its  merits,  but  on  the  mere  coercive  power  of  his  organization.  It  is 
a  method  of  force  which,  doubtless,  had  to  be  tried ;  but,  may  we 
not  hope,  only  as  a  rough  stepping-stone  to  some  better  outcome 
and  development! 

In  putting  the  outlook  of  the  period  together,  the  question  is.  What 
are  the  forces  at  work,  and  to  what  do  they  tend  T  They  are  good 
and  evil.  On  the  evil  side  we  have,  to  begin  with,  the  fact  of  num- 
bers— the  thousands  imported  every  year  to  swell  the  already  start- 
ling sum  total  of  ignorance,  vice,  degradation,  and  finally  crime. 
Their  environment  is  poverty,  the  overcrowded  tenement-house  with 
its  inevitable  degradation,  the  liquor-saloon,  the  street.  Separately, 
which  is  the  worst  f  But,  with  all  these  huddled  together,  what  a 
force  for  evil !  The  number  alone  of  homeless  and  vagrant  youths  in 
the  city  during  each  year  is  estimated  to  be  about  thirty  thousand; 
and  they  are  born  and  bred  in  just  such  neighborhoods  and  places. 
As  they  grow  they  constitute  the  "  dangerous  classes,'^  always  ripe 
and  ready  for  crime.  A  distinguished  writer,  Hon.  Andrew  D.  White, 
during  the  summer  delivered  an  address  at  Chautauqua  on  the  "miu*- 
der  problem " ;  as  if  murder  had  grown  (and  it  has)  to.  the  size  of  a 
problem,  something  to  be  studied  and  solved!  Vain  as  are  these 
youths,  quarrelsome,  ambitious  in  the  only  way  known  to  them,  viz., 
to  have  repute  among  their  fellows  as  ^'toughs,''  as  "nervy,''  as  "kill- 
ers''; still  more  than  this,  to  have  their  pictures  and  biographies  in 
the  newspapers  day  after  day, — to  achieve  such  glory  is  to  some  of 
them  well  worth  the  chance  of  a  hanging ;  for  chance  it  has  become, 
the  chance  which  a  soldier  takes  in  battle.  These  youths  are  the 
"  heelers"  and  "repeaters"  of  ward  politicians,  of  men  with  a  "pull." 
And  now  come  in  the  law  with  its  delays,  the  criminal  lawyer  with 
his  devices,  and  ultimately  the  chance  of  a  pardon,  a  commutation. 


NEW-rOBK    DUBING    THE    LAST    FOUBTEEN    YEABS  611 


612  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

or  an  escape.  Surely,  in  some  of  its  features,  a  condition  of  hopeless 
evil,  an  unchangeable  sore !  Add  to  all  this  a  coiTupt  politics,  the 
kind  of  men  chosen  to  govern,  the  firm  grip  of  the  liquor  interest,  and 
the  dependence  of  all  upon  these  classes,  together  with  the  many  of 
better  antecedents  who  do  not  care;  and  the  complexion  of  things, 
for  the  good  side,  is  painful  and  discouraging.  The  numbers  and 
the  governing  influences  are  against  it. 

On  the  other  hand  is  something  to  be  said.  There  are  houses  in 
the  city  so  apparently  ingrained  with  fever  that  to  remove  it  is  im- 
possible,— houses  that  cannot  be  reformed.  They  must  be  left  as  they 
are,  a  resort  for  the  vilest,  or  be  pulled  down.  Neither  can  the  health 
authorities,  nor  hospitals,  nor  physicians,  though  armed  with  the  best 
appliances  of  science,  cure  all  the  maladies  even  of  a  district.  They 
can  mitigate,  can  remove  some,  can  isolate  and  quarantine  others, 
and  in  cases  cure;  but  the  inevitable  result  must  come  to  many. 
The  same  must  be  said  of  moral  agencies — our  public  schools,  our 
grand  charities,  our  churches,  our  educating  and  reforming  organiza- 
tions :  they  cannot  remove  all  the  ignorance  and  other  evils  of  the 
city.  Nor  can  they,  like  the  bees  when  an  intruder  too  large  to  be 
removed  threatens  hann  to  the  hive,  seal  it  up  by  itself  in  a  dense 
coffin  of  propolis.  But  they  are  persistent  agencies,  and  we  may  rea- 
son from  what  they  have  already  done  to  a  broader  future  beyond. 
There  are  fires  where,  from  the  first,  the  only  hope  of  the  fireman  is 
to  save  adjoining  buildings  that  have  not  yet  caught.  These  agencies, 
as  we  have  seen,  venture  into  the  worst  to  save  what  they  can.  They 
have  planted  themselves,  as  engines  of  good,  in  some  of  the  worst 
districts  of  the  city ;  and  already  with  success  that  opens  a  future. 
Twelve  thousand  vagrant  children  come  yearly  under  the  influence 
of  the  Childi'en's  Aid  Society  alone.  Even  the  older  element,  as  they 
have  proved,  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of  influence.  There  are  "trea- 
sures hid  in  the  sand,"  like  Jeriy  McAuley  and  others  of  his  class, 
where  one  would  hardly  expect  to  find  them — men  and  women  whose 
only  schooling  has  been  that  of  ignorance  and  vice.  If,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  which  in  its  opening  is  a  flower  may  in  its  culmination 
prove  a  thistle;  on  the  other  hand,  the  lotus,  the  most  beautiful 
flower  of  India,  grows  in  the  mud! 

Certainly,  when  we  look  only  at  the  seething  mass  concentrated  in 
our  city  from  all  nations,  to  educate,  elevate,  and  assimilate  it  may 
seem  too  great  a  task.  Of  two  things,  however,  we  never  should  de- 
spair. They  are  education  and  the  Christian  religion  as  lifting  forces. 
Their  failure  in  this  country  would  mean  our  doom.  But  it  has  been 
proved  that  the  amount  of  electricity  which  would  charge  a  thunder- 
cloud is  not  enough  to  decompose — that  is,  to  t^ar  apart  the  two 
gases  that  compose — a  drop  of  water.     Such  restriction  has  God  laid 


NEW-YOBK    DUKIHa    THE    LAST    FOTJRTEEN    YEABS 


613 


upon  the  cloud.  Big  and  dangerous  as  it  may  sometimes  seem  or  be, 
it  cannot  destroy  the  blessing  which,  as  a  "wandering  cistern,"  it  was 
intended  to  convey.  Such  force  of  resistance  has  God  given  to  the 
raindrop,  in  its  accumulated  streams  the  life  of  nature  and  all  being. 
Like  the  two  gases  which  compose  the  raindrop,  education  and  reli- 
gion must  combine;  and,  combined,  they  are  in  the  world  a  permanent, 
ever  active,  and  efficient  power,  if  slow  yet  sure.  We  should  remem- 
ber that  in  the  twelfth  century  the  people  of  England  were  sunk  in 
brutal  ignorance;  that  what  little  knowledge  existed  was  possessed  by 
a  studious  few ;  that  they  were  Norman  and  Saxon,  victor  and  van- 


RtTERSIDE   DBIVB.l 


quished,  separated  by  caste  and  hatred ;  that  their  only  religion  was 
a  debasing  superstition ;  and  that  it  has  taken  seven  centuries  to  de- 
velop from  this  beginning  the  England  of  to-day.  It  needs  time.  But 
our  circumstances  are  different.  It  will  not  need  so  much  time  to 
work  up  the  dissimilar  and  perplexing  material.    As  this  appears  to- 

1  Ab  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Edinburgh  mortiiment  Seine,  nised  Co  the  memoiy  ot  the  hero  of  Ant- 
la  the  finest  yet  ndsed  anTwhere  on  earth  to  the  terllti  and  Harengo.  The  sltuatloD  of  the  poet'a 
memoir  of  a  man  ot  lettert.  BO  it  la  believed  that  or  the  emperor's  monnmeDt  cannot  (or  a  mo- 
the  tomb  ot  Ontnt,  now  bnllding  on  Huihatton  ment  be  compared  to  the  magnitlcent  site  of  the 
laland,  will  be  the  grandest  yet  erected  in  the  American  soldier's  tomb,  on  the  banks  of  the 
wide  world  to  a  soldier,  anrpaasing  even  that  Hudson,  among  the  (trandeat  rivers  In  the  world 
noble  one  which  stands  near  the  banks  of  the  — perhaps  the  very  grandest.                  EctTOB. 


614  mSTORT    OF    NEW-TOBK 

day,  crowding  so  much  of  our  city,  much  of  it  may  seem  but  rubbish 
and  refuse  fit  for  the  ash-barrel  or  the  dust-heap.  Bom  in  great  num- 
bers, these  people  pick  up  a  day's  living  without  a  thought  beyond, 
struggle,  suffer,  and  die.  Over  60,000  of  them  cannot  write  their  own 
names.  What  is  their  use  or  purpose  in  lifeT  Are  they  merely  a 
part  of  nature's  fecundity!  Undoubtedly,  many  of  them  may  die, 
must  die,  as  they  are ;  and  so  in  each  generation.  Yet  the  problem 
is  not,  after  all,  a  hopeless  one  for  the  city.  Crowded  already,  in 
parts  overcrowded,  with  more  than  can  find  work,  emigration  must 
take  a  turn.  Education  and  religion  are  pushing  upon  their  envir- 
onment ;  and,  in  time,  out  of  the  present  ignorance  and  degradation 
will  come  something  better.  The  races  will  mingle  and  Americanize. 
The  influences  at  work  all  look  to  something  better.  The  hybridizing 
bee  dips  its  legs  in  the  pollen  of  a  flower;  goes  to  another,  and,  behold, 
a  better  variety !  The  cosmos  is  but  a  weed  to  begin  with,  but  un- 
der cultivation  it  is  already  becoming  a  marketable  flower  of  the  fall ; 
whilst  the  chrysanthemum,  the  favorite  of  the  day,  and  which  is  a 
union  of  the  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  American  varieties,  has  this  year 
produced  a  Columbus  variety  in  color,  and  another  which  is  the  very 
perfection  of  form.  Such,  we  may  hope,  will  be  the  march  of  im- 
provement in  our  city  on  the  moral  and  human  side,  to  equal  that 
upon  the  material  side.  An  English  statesman,  at  the  close  of  a  long 
life  in  the  public  service,  was  asked  if  what  he  saw  and  had  seen  made 
him  gloomy.  He  had  seen  the  ups  and  down  of  parties;  had  seen 
his  country  prosperous,  and  again  apparently  the  reverse.  He  had 
seen  that  a  country  might  be  going  too  fast,  and  needed,  as  some- 
times in  the  spring  the  season  needs,  a  check.  There  was  much  at 
the  time  of  his  retirement  that  looked  discouraging,  but  his  reply 
was  that  he  did  not  feel  gloomy;  that  he  had  often  found  what  he 
thought  a  disastrous  retrogression  to  be  "merely  "the  ebb  of  the  advan- 
cing wave."  "No,"  he  said,  "I  do  not  feel  discouraged;  Hannibal 
peto  pacem  —  ^I,  Hannibal,  seek  peace';  that  is  all!"  Personally  he 
was  tired.  The  historian  of  the  future,  beginning  at  1893  where  this 
volume  closes,  may  have  much  to  tell  of  progress  and  fruitage  where 
we  see  only  germs;  to  tell  of  better  times,  when  the  heads  of  its 
present  writers  will  lie  among  the  "mournful  marbles." 


CHAPTER   XVI 

CONSTITUTIONAL    AMD    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK    IN    THE 
NINETEENTH    CENTURY 

IjlC  NY  outline  of  the  constitutional  history  of  New-York  in 
the  nineteenth  century  involves  primarily  the  considera- 
tion of  several  great  public  movements,  culminating  in 
tlie  constitutional  conventions  of  1821  and  1846.  Each 
of  the  constitutions  presented  by  these  several  conventions  led  to 
very  radical  changes  in  the  substantive  law  or  procedure  of  the 
State.  The  constitution  of  1821  was  followed  by  a  notable  revision 
of  the  fundamental  law  of  New- York,  which  exercised  much  influence 
also  on  the  laws  of  other  States ;  while  the  constitution  of  1846  was 
followed  by  the  overthrow  of  the  ancient  judicial  establishment  of 
New- York,  and  by  drastic  reforms  of  the  inherited  and  antiquated 
procedure  in  use  for  several  centuries  in  the  courts  of  justice  of  New- 
York.  Both  constitutions  were  in  the  direction  of  more  liberal  insti- 
tutions, and  were  intended  to  confer  upon  the  people  of  the  State 
greater  political  powers  and  privileges  than  had  ever  before  been 
granted  to  them. 

In  the  preceding  volume  some  of  the  defects  apparent  in  the  con- 
stitution of  1777  were  noticed ;  two  of  these  led  to  the  constitutional 
couvention  elected  in  the  year  1801.  The  constitution  of  1777  had 
omitted  all  directions  for  its  amendment;  but,  on  the  theory  that  all 
political  authority  emanated  from  the  people,  the  legislature  in  1801, 
by  a  referendum  act,  recommended  a  convention  to  consider  two 
changes.  One  of  these  was  made  necessary  by  the  embarrassing  ratio 
in  which  the  senate  and  assembly  were  augmenting  with  the  popula- 
tion, and  the  other  by  a  notorious  conflict  which  had  arisen  between 
the  governor  and  the  other  members  of  the  council  of  appointment 
concerning  the  governor's  exclusive  right  of  nominating  to  certain 
public  offices  under  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  of  1777. 

The  delegates  accordingly  elected  by  the  suffragists  met  at  Albany, 
October  13,  1801,  and  chose  Aaron  Burr,  a  delegate  for  Orange 
County,  chairman.  The  ultimate  number  of  members  of  assembly  was 
for  the  future  restricted  to  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  number  of 


616  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

senators  to  thirty-two.  The  right  to  nominate  to  office  under  the 
23d  section  of  the  constitution  of  1777  was  declared  to  be  vested 
concurrently  in  the  governor  and  in  each  of  the  members  of  the 
council  of  appointment.  The  change  made  in  the  appointing  power 
by  this  construction  of  the  constitution  deprived  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor  of  the  State  of  much  of  its  existing  influence,  and  led  to  a  per- 
petual struggle  of  the  politicians,  for  the  control  of  the  council  of 
appointment.  It  introduced  no  real  reform,  and  led  only  to  the  con- 
viction that  the  appointing  power  was  more  safely  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  executive  than  in  the  hands  of  a  council  or  committee. 

In  reading  the  accepted  version  of  the  political  history  of  the  State 
of  New- York,  one  might  infer  that  the  entire  period  between  1777 
and  1821,  the  date  of  the  second  constitution,  was  devoted  to  a  con- 
stant  and  petty  struggle  for  political  place,  and  that  no  lofty  pubhc 
measures  received  or  demanded  the  attention  of  the  leaders  of  the 
political  parties  of  the  State.  Yet  such  an  inference  is  not  wholly 
verifiable.  During  this  entire  period  there  was  great  popular  dissatis- 
faction with  those  provisions  of  the  State  constitution  of  1777  which 
related  to  the  property  qualifications  for  electors,  and  with  other  pro- 
visions which  vested  such  transcendent  political  powers  in  the  judges 
of  the  great  courts  of  record.  The  precise  nature  of  such  pro\"isioiis 
has  been  adverted  to  in  the  preceding  volume.*  The  popular  dissat- 
isfaction for  some  time  took  the  usual  form  of  protests  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  day.  But  in  August,  1820,  Tammany  Hall,  as  the 
organized  representative  of  the  dissatisfied  element  of  the  population, 
initiated  a  movement  for  a  convention  to  amend  the  State  constitu- 
tion. The  subsequent  legislative  bill  providing  for  the  convention 
promptly  met  with  the  disapprobation  of  a  majority  of  the  council  of 
revision,  who  vetoed  it.  Chancellor  Kent  writing  the  opinion  of  the 
council  with  all  the  conservatism  of  a  trained  lawyer.  No  veto  in 
the  history  of  the  State  has  met  with  greater  censure  than  this  action 
of  the  council  of  revision.  The  council  was  openly  accused  of  wish- 
ing to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  and  of  conspiring  to  retain  the 
State  in  the  hands  of  the  lawyers  and  landholders  who,  from  its 
foundation,  had  carefully  guided  its  political  fortunes.  The  report  of 
Michael  Ulshoeffer,  chairman  of  the  select  committee  of  the  assembly, 
combated  the  logic  of  the  veto  with  great  vigor,  and  is  regarded  as 
the  abler  State  paper  of  the  two.-  A  bill  was  finally  so  drawn  in 
March,  1821,  as  to  meet  the  main  objection  of  the  veto  by  the  council 
of  revision.  It  submitted  the  question  of  holding  a  constitutional 
convention  to  the  decision  of  the  electors  of  the  State.  The  electors 
having  decided  in  the  affirmative  by  a  vote  of  109,346  to  34,901,  dele- 
gates were  next  chosen,  who  met  at  Albany  in  August,  1821.     Before 

1  Chapter  XIV,  Vol.  II,  of  this  work.  2  See  this  paper  in  Street's  "N.  Y.  Council  of  Revision, "  455. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HI8T0BY    OF    NEW- YORK      617 


considering  the  changes  accomplished  by  the  convention,  it  will  be  in 
order  to  survey  the  forms  to  which  some  of  the  leading  institutions 
bad  then  attained. 

The  judicial  establishment  of  New- York  was  never  more  efficient 
than  in  the  first  twenty-one  years  of  the  present  century.  It  was 
still  substantially  the  provincial  establishment  erected  by  the  Eng- 
lish, and  continued  by  virtue  of  the  recognition  accorded  to  it  in 
the  first  State  constitution,  adopted  in  1777.  Under  this  constitu- 
tion the  Supreme  Court 
of  Judicature,  as  origi- 
nally established  in  1691, 
continued  on  its  ancient 
footing.  But  the  iuflu- 
ence  of  the  court  in- 
creased much  with  the 
growth  of  population  and 
affairs,  and  this  was  fol- 
lowed naturally  by  the 
publication  of  a  regular 
series  of  printed  law  re- 
ports. The  elevation  of 
James  Kent  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  bench  in 
1798,  and  his  interest  in 
the  law  reports,  did  much 
to  place  this  ancient 
court  on  a  more  influ- 
ential basis.  Under  the 
judgeships  of  three  great  judges  —  Kent,  Thompson,  and  Ambrose 
Spencer — the  court  was  very  excellently  administered,  and  many  legal 
principles  were  settled ;  while  fluctuating  theories  gave  place  to  deter- 
minate and  known  rules  of  law,  reported  in  the  famous  series  of  lead- 
ing eases  by  Caine  and  Johnson,  the  official  Supreme  Court  reporters 
The  Supreme  Court  justices  still  went  the  circuit  when  the  regular 
terms  of  the  court  in  banc  were  not  in  session  in  Albany,  Utica,  or 
New- York.  As  a  law  court  the  Supreme  Court  of  New-York  may 
have  been  surpassed  by  several  of  the  law  courts  of  other  States, 
whose  influence  on  American  law  has  been,  no  doubt,  more  profound. 
But  it  was  otherwise  in  respect  of  the  Court  of  Chancery. 


■^T^iaffn. 


I  Smith  ThompBOn  Wks  bom  In  Stanfard. 
Dnchpss  County,  N.Y.,Jftiiu>ry  IT,  1768.  erndUBted 
■t  Princeton,  and  vbb  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1792, 
praetiBing  in  Troy  and  Pouehkeepale.  He  went 
to  the  legUUtore  In  1800;  from  1W)2  to  1814  he 
was  aasoetate  juatlce  of  the  State  Supreme  Court, 
meaiiThile  declining  the  mayoralty  of  New-York 


city,  and  in  the  latter  year  he   wu  made  chief 

Justice,  an  ofBce  he  held  until  his  appointment  ■> 
secretary  of  the  navy  in  1818.  by  President  Manroe. 
He  wan  elevated  to  the  United  Slates  Supreme 
Court  bench  in  1823,  remaining  there  until  hia 
death,  December  18,  IS43.  The  portnit  U  from 
the  original  painting  by  Durand.  EpiraB. 


618  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK 

In  the  year  1814,  James  Kent  was  translated  from  the  chief-jus- 
ticeship  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  the  Court  of  Chancery.    From  a 
commonrlaw  judgeship  he  passed  to  the  "  throne  of  equity."    In  the 
same  year,  Johnson,  the  Supreme  Court  reporter,  was  directed  by  the 
legislature  to  report  the  decisions  of  the  chancellor.    With  this  event 
begins  the  most  brilliant  period  of  the  New- York  Court  of  Chancery. 
Livingston,  the  first  chancellor  under  the  State  government,  had 
been  an  able  judge,  a  great  diplomat,  and  a  sagacious  figure  in  pohti- 
cal  life,  but  his  judicial  work  is  not  known,  as  his  opinions  have  re- 
mained unpublished.     Only  his  legal  opinions  in  the  council  of 
revision,  and  a  few  rules  of  court,  as  yet  mark  his  term  of  oflSce  as 
chancellor.    Of  Chancellor  Lansing's  administration  more  is  known, 
for  he  promulgated  seventy-four  chancery  rules,  or  standing  orders 
in  chancery,  which  are  called  by  jurists  the  equivalents  of  edicts  or 
direct  legislation,  and  are  recognized  as  powerful  factors  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  government.    Some  of  these  rules  were  an  improve- 
ment  on  the   contemporary  English   equity  practice.     Chancellor 
Lansing's  career  also  labors  under  the  disadvantage  of  having  had 
no  reporter.     But  with  Lansing's  successor,  Chancellor  Kent,  it  is 
otherwise:  from  the  very  beginning  of  his  judicial  life  he  was  at- 
tended by  the  reporters,  and  the  precise  value  of  his  labors  to  the 
State  and  nation  is  approximately  ascertainable.     Chancellor  Kent 
had,  at  the  threshold  of  his  career,  perceived  that  to  an  American 
lawyer  of  his  day  two  great  and  living  problems  were  presented  for 
solution :  the  relations  of  the  common  law  of  the  older  country  to  the 
new  republic,  and  the  relations  of  the  judicature  branch  of  government 
to  the  legislative  and  executive  branches  in  a  composite  or  federal 
state.    In  1794,  as  professor  of  law  in  Columbia  College,  he  had  ad- 
dressed himself  tentatively  to  the  latter  proposition.    In  1795  he  pulj- 
lished  a  small  volume  of  dissertations  preliminary  to  a  proposo<i 
course  of  lectures  on  the  common  law.    But  the  lectures  failed  to  at- 
tract hearers,  and  were  discontinued.    At  a  long  subsequent  period, 
and  in  his  retirement,  he  gave  to  the  public  his  "  Comment^ies  on 
American  Law,"  which  throughout  the  United  States  became  a  recog- 
nized institutional  treatise,  as  celebrated  in  its  way  as  Blackstone's 
"Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England"  had  been  in  its  way.    In 
the  New-York  Court  of  Chancery,  Kent  found  an  instrument  which 
he  at  least  knew  how  to  use.    He  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
traditions  and  dignity  of  the  ancient  prototype  of  his  court,  the  High 
Court  of  Chancery  in  England.    No  one  could  be  more  mindful  of  the 
fact  that  in  England  the  chancellors  had  exercised  legislative  func- 
tions similar  to  those  which  the  Roman  pretors  discharged  in  the 
development  of  the  civil  law.    But  Kent  had  no  disposition  to  inno- 
vate.   His  was  an  eminently  practical  mind,  and  in  the  year  follow- 


CX)NSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK      619 

ing  his  elevation  to  the  chancery  he  stated  that  he  would  follow  the 
English  chancellors'  conceptions  of  equity,  and  would  undertake  no 
innovations,  which  he  regarded  as  very  dangerous/  In  thus  limit- 
ing his  extended  judicial  powers,  he,  perhaps,  denied  himself  an 
opportunity  of  expressing  his  own  conceptions  of  equity,  and  of 
taking  an  original  place  in  the  very  front  rank  of  English-speaking 
chancellors.  He  was  content  to  serve  as  an  expounder  and  com- 
mentator of  Anglo-American  law:  thus  he  contributed  little  that 
was  original  to  those  fundamental  canons  of  English  equity  which 
comprise  the  perpetual  edict  of  that  system,  and  which  were  prac- 
tically completed  in  England  by  his  contemporaiy.  Lord  Eldon.  In 
this  respect  Kent's  present  influence  differs  from  the  influence,  for 
example,  of  such  an  American  jurist  as  Marshall,  who  possessed  an 
original  and  creative  intellect  of  the  highest  order,  and  whose  judg- 
ments must  always  be  sensible  on  this  continent  in  the  region  of 
political  law  and  philosophy.  In  thus  treading  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  English  chancellors,  Kent  did  not,  as  we  shall  see,  escape  the  re- 
sponsibilities which  the  anomalies  incident  in  New-York  to  his  oflBce 
made  inevitable;  for  the  recipient  of  such  great  political  powers  could 
not  hope  to  elude  criticism  under  a  republican  form  of  government. 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  those  who,  in  the  convention  of  1821,  criticized 
the  abnonnal  power  intrusted  to  a  chancellor  of  this  State,  were 
wholly  without  justification.  In  addition  to  exercising  the  law  pow- 
ers of  a  chancellor  under  the  former  English  system,  the  chancellor 
of  New- York,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  sat  in  the  court  of  last  resort,  and, 
though  he  could  not  vote,  might  argue  in  support  of  his  own  judg- 
ment below.  He  was  also  one  of  those  who  possessed  in  the  council 
of  revision  a  qualified  veto  on  all  legislation  under  the  first  constitu- 
tion. This  was  an  abnormal  and  tremendous  power  for  a  judge. 
These  powers,  which  it  is  proper  to  say  Kent  had  not  sought,  nor 
even  helped  to  confer,  he  exercised  without  fear,  in  the  old-fashioned 
federal  and  professional  manner,  veiy  exasperating  to  the  newer 
school  of  republican  lawyers,  who  would  not  defer  so  profoundly  to 
the  legal  system  of  England.  Thus,  toward  the  year  1821,  Kent,  in 
the  minds  of  his  opponents,  was  the  leading  representative  of  the 
hated  and  influential  survival  of  what  they  believed  ought  to  have 
been  purely  ante-revolutionary  traditions,  having  little  application  to 
the  conditions  of  American  life  under  the  republic.  His  opponents 
deprecated  the  chancery  conceptions  of  a  "throne  of  equity."  Indeed, 
the  whole  idea  of  a  chancellor,  they  said,  was  associated  with  a  king- 
ship: a  chancellor  without  a  king  was  almost  as  inconsistent  as  a 
king  without  a  chancellor.  The  entire  chancery  establishment  came 
in  for  condemnation  because  it  fostered  a  class  of  officials  and  prac- 

1 1  Johnson's  Cbanceiy,  530. 


620  mSTOBY    OF    KEW-YORK 

titioners  whose  exclusiveness  was  distasteful  to  the  population  of  the 
newer  and  growing  parts  of  the  State.  Thus,  side  by  side  with  Chan- 
cellor Kent's  practical,  conservative,  and  just  administration  of  the 
Court  of  Chancer}',  were  growing  up  the  seeds  of  discontent  in  the 
minds  of  the  more  independent  and  emancipated  political  thinkers. 
This  discontent  culminated  in  the  constitutional  convention  of  1821, 
when  Kent  had  been  only  seven  years  chancellor  of  New-York. 

In  addition  to  the  great  courts  mentioned,  there  were  in  the  year 
1821  the  Court  of  Errors  and  the  Court  of  Probates,  already  noticed. 
The  Court  of  Errors,  it  will  be  recalled,  consisted  of  the  senators,  the 
chancellor,  and  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,^  In  1787  a  minis- 
terial part  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  of  Probates  had,  by  an  act 
of  the  legislature,*-  devolved  upon  certain  officers  termed  surrogates. 
The  Court  of  Admiralty  had  expired  when  the  admiralty  jurisdiction 
had  been  called  into  being  by  the  federal  constitution  of  the  general 
government.  The  minor  courts  of  the  State  remained  in  1821  sub- 
stantially as  before  the  Revolution. 

Before  noticing  the  changes  wrought  by  the  new  constitution,  let 
us  glance  again  at  the  condition  of  the  State  of  New-York  about  the 
time  of  the  convention  of  1821.  In  1808  the  number  of  freeholders 
entitled  to  vote  for  senator  and  governor  was  36,500,  and  in  1820, 
despite  the  increase  in  population,  the  number  of  freeholders  qualified 
to  vote  for  the  great  officers  of  the  State  had  not  increased  in  a  like 
ratio  with  the  population.  This  was  felt  to  be  a  grievance  by  the 
I>eople  at  large.  In  1820  the  major  part  of  the  inhabitants  were  still 
engaged  in  agriculture,  and  the  rural  districts  were  increasing  in 
population  at  a  greater  ratio  than  the  urban  communities.  In  1812, 
twelve  new  counties  had  been  carved  out  of  the  one  great  county 
theretofore  lyiug  west  of  Seneca  Lake.  In  1820  the  sixteen  counties  in 
the  State  of  the  year  1790  had  become  fifty-five  counties,  embracing 
(ivo  incorporated  cities  and  six  hundred  and  sixty-two  boroughs 
or  towns.'  After  the  peace  with  England  in  1783  the  western  terri- 
tory, or  that  great  country  west  of  the  80th  meridian,  had  attracted 
large  numbers  of  settlers.  One  of  the  routes  to  the  Ohio  country 
from  New  England  was  through  central  New- York,  and  many  men 
of  New  England  birth  either  stopped  on  their  way  to  the  far  West, 
or  settled  in  New-York,  finding  certain  advantages  or  attractions 
in  the  then  wild  parts  of  this  State.  Thus,  central,  western,  and 
northern  New- York  soon  began  to  have  the  political  tone  of  New 
England.^  These  men  of  New  England  entertained  very  different 
conceptions  of  government  from  those  embodied  in  the  State  consti- 
tution of  1777  by  the  old  land-owning  and  lawyer  classes  of  the  prov- 

i  Chapter  XIV,  Volume  IL         2  Chapter  38.        8  Spofford'g  "  Gazetteer,''  p.  ®L 
4  •*  Gazetteer  of  Western  Continent  for  1810 : "  title,  "  New-YoriL" 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      621 

ince  of  New- York.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  exponents  of*  the  new 
parts  of  the  State — men  of  the  old-fashioned  Puritan  names — were, 
in  the  constitutional  convention  of  1821,  as  a  rule,  found  in  the  party 
of  reform,  and  not  in  the  ranks  of  the  more  conservative  and  native 
element  of  the  State. 

As  late  as  1820  the  more  populous  districts  of  the  State  existed  in  the 
two  oblongs  anciently  settled, — extending,  the  one  down  Long  Island 
and  the  other  up  the  Hudson  River, — and  there  the  inhabitants  were 
mainly  of  the  old  provincial  type.  In  Kings,  Ulster,  Albany,  and  parts 
of  Orange  County  might  stiU  be  heard  the  Low  Dutch  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  although,  from  the  want  of  Dutch  schools  and  the 
preponderance  of  people  of  English  stock,  the  use  of  the  language 
of  the  first  European  settlers  had  greatly  diminished.  But  in  the  an- 
cient districts  Dutch  and  English  names  were  still  found  in  most 
families  curiously  combined,  denoting  that  the  social  condition  had 
followed  the  political  transitions  of  the  province,  and  that  the  race 
of  the  conqueror  had  blended  with  that  of  the  conquered.  The  pop- 
ulation in  these  districts  was  still  largely  native.  Franklin  pointed 
out  that  even  at  the  time  of  the  war  of  independence  the  inhabitants 
of  all  the  American  colonies  were  largely  natives,  and  descended  from 
those  who  had  emigrated  from  Europe  prior  to  the  year  1700.  The 
fact  that  the  population  of  New-York  State  was  largely  native  in  1820 
is  corroborated  by  the  statistics  of  the  city  of  New- York  in  1820,  when, 
out  of  a  total  population  of  123,706,  but  5390  of  the  inhabitants  of 
that  city  appear  to  be  classed  as  unnaturalized  foreigners.  Indeed,  in 
1820  the  population  of  the  whole  State  was  mainly  composed  of  na- 
tive Americans,  and,  as  stated,  the  major  part  were  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural pursuits. 

The  great  city  which  now  stands  rather  for  North  America  than  for 
the  State  of  New-York,  and  which  is  fast  outgrowing  its  traditions  as 
an  ancient  capital  of  an  ancient  province,  had  increased  from  80,000 
inhabitants  in  1808  to  123,706  in  1820.  From  the  year  1756  to  the  year 
1790  the  general  progress  of  the  city  in  population  and  resources  was 
much  like  that  of  other  American  cities.  But  after  1790  it  became 
evident  that  New- York  was,  for  a  long  time  at  least,  to  lead  other 
American  cities.^  Yet  for  some  years  after  the  constitutional  con- 
vention of  1821  the  affairs  of  this  city  were  conducted  mainly  under 
the  royal  charter  known  as  the  Montgomerie  Charter  of  1730.^  As 
late  as  1827  General  Dix  noticed  the  fact  that  in  New- York  city  "  the 
Dutch  families  by  which  the  first  settlement  was  formed  were  still 
represented  in  their  descendants,  who  constituted  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  whole  number  of  inhabitants,^^  but  he  admitted  "that 

1  Dix'8  '*  Resources  of  the  aty  of  New- York  in  1827."  2  See  Chapter  VI,  Volume  II. 

3  "  Resources  of  the  City  of  New- York,"  p.  38. 


622 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


the  descendants  of  the  English  families  who  established  themeejveg 
during  its  eolouial  dependence  on  Great  Britain"  were  then  much 
more  numerous. 

Such,  then,  were  some  of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  New-Tork 
at  the  time  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1821 — a  population 
composed  largely  of  native  AmerieaQs 
whose  pursuits  were  in  the  main  agri. 
cultural.  No  body  of  aliens  had  yet  be- 
come so  formidable  or  consolidated  as  to 
constitute  a  known  and  separate  political 
organization,  generaied  and  led  by  pro- 
fessional  political  headmen  of  their  own 
race.  The  conditions  of  commerce  were 
stiU  largely  primitive  in  character:  the 
Erie  Canal  had  not  been  completed;  steam 
navigation  was  yet  in  its  infancy;  the 
telegraph  and  the  railroad  were  unknown; 
while  postal  circuits  were  made  over  the 
common  turnpikes  and  waterways  of  the 
State.  Yet  the  material  conditions  of  lite 
were  relatively  those  of  a  highly  civilized 
State,  and  not  very  dissimilar  to  the  conditions  in  the  civilized  States 
of  the  older  world.  New- York  had  already  been  settled  for  two  cen- 
turies. 

When  the  constitutional  convention  met  at  Albany,  August  28, 1821, 
the  delegates  were  fairly  representative  of  both  the  reformers  and  the 
conservative  party  in  the  State.  The  older  counties  sent  their  most 
distinguished  lawyers  and  the  landholders  representing  their  tradi- 
tions. From  Albany  and  the  older  counties  came  Chancellor  Kent, 
the  Jays,  and  the  Livingstons ;  from  New-York  County  came,  among 
others,  Nathan  Sandford^  Ogden  Edwards,  Henry  "Wheaton,  and  Jacob 
Radcliff.  From  the  newer  counties  were  sent  such  men  as  Jarvis  Pike, 
Nathan  Carver,  Victory  Birdseye,  Micah  Brooks,  Jason  Penton,  and 
General  Erastus  Root.  Among  the  other  notable  members  of  the 
convention  were  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  and  Martin  Van  Buren.  From 
the  fact  that  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  "  the  favorite  fanner's  son,"  as  he 
was  then  called,  was  elected  ohairman  of  the  convention,  it  was  soon 
evident  that  the  Democrats  were  in  the  majority,  and  that  the  new 
constitution  was  to  be  made  more  democratic  in  principle  than  the 


lAnJrew  Klrkpatrick  waa  bom  Fpbniary  17, 
1756,  and  (rrfxliiated  at  PrinceMD.  He  studied  law, 
va*  Bdniiti«d  to  the  bar  in  1785.  and  practlwd  suc- 
cessfully. In  1797  he  wan  »  member  ot  the  New 
Jersey  legialahins,  booh  resijniinif  to  become  judge 
of  the  Slate  Supreine  Court.     In  1803  he  was  mode 


chief  justice  of  the  Stale,  which  offlc*  be  held 
for  twenty-one  years.  He  Burried  Jane.  elUi'it 
daughter  of  Colonel  John  Bayard,  and  died  in 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J..  January  7,  1831.  (  Vidt  a 
priyately  printed  address  on  the  chief  justice,  by 
Genersa  Wilson,  Now-Tork,  1870.)  EnrroB. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      623 

old  one  had  been.  The  debates  in  the  convention  show  clearly  that 
the  primacy  of  the  old  judicial  establishment,  with  its  abnormal  polit- 
ical power  and  the  qualified  electoral  franchise  erected  on  a  basis  of 
landed  interest,  in  conformity  to  the  former  Anglican  institutions  of 
the  province,  were  the  main  points  of  attack  by  the  reformers.  In- 
cidentally the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  even  the  distin- 
guished chancellor,  were  virtually  put  on  trial  by  the  convention. 
They  were  made  the  manifest  victims  of  an  organization  which  had 
confused  the  coordinate  departments  of  government,  and  their  ex- 
planations in  convention  were  generally  prefaced  by  apologetic  and 
painful  explanations  due  to  their  unfortunate  position.  In  this  re- 
gard the  spectacle  of  the  convention  was  a  triumph  of  democracy 
over  the  upholders  of  mncient  institutions.  Sometimes  the  debates 
became  virulent.  The  chancellor  was  likened  to  "  the  Bohun  Upas  of 
Java,  that  destroyed  whatever  sought  for  shelter  or  protection  in  its 
shade.''  Even  his  reporter,  Johnson,  with  his  "  big  and  little  ^  books, 
was  ridiculed.  Chief  Justice  Spencer,  in  some  respects  the  ablest 
common-law  judge  in  the  State,  was  contemptuously  told  "that  he 
might  have  been  a  Holt  or  a  Mansfield  had  he  kept  from  the  political 
arena."  It  was  evident  that  the  people  were  impatient  with  the  veto 
power  vested  in  the  council  of  revision,  which,  it  will  be  remembered, 
consisted  of  the  governor,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the 
chancellor.  The  judiciary  had  thus  been  dragged  into  every  political 
measure  of  importance,  and  the  consequent  torrent  of  popular  de- 
nunciation had  much  diminished  then*  usefulness.  Thus,  Kent  and 
Spencer,  whom  we  now  regard  as  the  high  priests  of  the  ancient  sys- 
tem of  law,  were  at  the  end  of  their  judicial  careers  made  the  victims 
of  the  Anglican  institutions  of  a  former  century,  of  which  they  were 
the  stoutest  upholders.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  chan- 
cellor and  the  judges  were  wise  in  attending  the  convention  as  dele- 
gates. They  knew  that  their  power  was  to  be  broken;  they  were 
there  making  stately  defenses  of  their  past,  and  to  save  the  remnant 
of  former  institutions,  when  neither  needed  extenuation.  The  con- 
vention finally  decided  to  make  a  new  constitution,  as  the  old  was 
deemed  past  amending.  The  council  of  revision  was  abandoned,  and 
after  the  fullest  deliberation  a  limited  veto  power  was  transferred  to 
the  governor.  The  council  of  appointment,  which  then  appointed 
709  officers  in  the  city  of  New-York  alone,  next  shared  the  fate  of  the 
council  of  revision.  A  great  number  of  minor  offices  were  made 
elective.*  Justices  of  the  peace  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  boards 
of  supervisors  and  the  county  judges.^  The  appointment  of  the 
higher  judicial  officers  was  vested  in  the  governor,  with  the  consent 

1  Constitution  of  1821,  Art.  IV. 
2  In  1826  an  amendment  made  the  justices  elective. 


624 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


of  the  senate.^  The  appointment  of  secretary  of  state>,  comptroller 
treasurer,  attorney-general,-  surveyor-general,  and  commiasary  was 
vested  in  the  senate  and  assembly  on  joint  ballot.  All  officers  hold- 
ing their  offices  during  good  behavior  might  be  removed  by  joint 
resolution  of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature.  The  term  of  oflBce  of 
governor  having  been  invested  with  some  part  of  the  former  powers 
of  the  several  coimcils  of  revision  and  appointment,  was  abridged 
from  three  to  two  years  in  order  to  insure  a  greater  responsibility  to 
the  electors. 

The  debates  in  the  convention  on  the  electoral  franchise  were 
spirited,  exhaustiv^e,  and  really  instructive.  With  the  most  advanced 
thinkers  on  this  subject  stood  Peter  R.  Livingston  of  Duchess 
County.  He  allied  himself  to  the  tenant-fanners,  who  were  largely 
for  reform,  and  opposed  General  Van  Rensselaer  and  Chancellor  Kent, 
who  stood  openly  by  the  ancient  traditions  of  a  superior  lauded 
interest,  and  who  were  at  least  for  the  survival  of  an  upper  legislative 
house  which  should  represent  the  more  exclusive  body  of  freeholders. 
All  recognized  that  some  extension  of  the  franchise  was  ineWtable, 
and  the  more  conservative  fought  to  retain  the  pro\isions  of  the  old 
constitution  which  divided  the  electors  into  two  classes  according  to 
property  interest.  The  debates  afford  curious  evidences  of  the  sur- 
vival of  ancient  institutions,  and  the  frequent  use  of  such  words  as 
"  yeomanry  ^  and  "  landed  interest "  denotes  that  the  legacies  and  tra- 
ditions of  a  former  century  were  hard  to  extinguish  even  under  the 
republic.  General  Van  Rensselaer  placed  his  objections  to  universal 
suffrage  on  the  ground  that  the  influence  of  the  city  of  New- York 
would  be  augmented  at  the  expense  of  the  ancient  and  long-settled 
i-ural  districts.  Other  opponents  placed  them  on  the  more  subtle 
ground  of  experience,  which  they  affirmed  had  demonstrated  that  uni- 
versal suffi'age  gave  an  undue  control  to  the  plutocracy  of  wealthy 
manufacturers  and  other  employers  of  labor.  The  convention  finally 
enlarged  the  basis  of  the  franchise.  Freeholds  no  longer  qualified. 
Every  white  male  resident  taxpayer,  militiaman,  fireman,  and  la])orer 
on  the  public  highways,  of  full  age,  was  to  have  a  vote  for  all  elective 
officers.^  Men  of  color  only  were  disfranchised,  unless  they  were  free- 
holders and  for  three  years  citizens  of  the  State.  Singularly  enough, 
the  most  radical  upholders  of  universal  suffrage  appear  to  have  been 
the  opponents  of  the  negroes,  whose  true  friends  were  found  in  the 
ranks  of  the  old  land-holding  and  legal  aristocracy  of  the  State. 


1  Constitution  of  1821.  Art.  TV.  Sec.  7. 

2  Under  an  act  of  February  12,  171»6,  seven  as- 
sistant attorney-generals  were  appointed  by  the 
governor  and  council  of  appointment  during 
pleasure.  The  attorney-general  oflflciated  per- 
sonaUy  in  New- York  (^ounty.  The  office  of  district 
attorney  was  created  April  4,    1801.     By  a  law 


passed  April  21, 1818,  each  county  was  erected  into 
a  separate  district.  Under  the  second  constitution 
the  district  attorneys  were  appointed  by  the 
Court  of  General  Sessions  in  each  county.  S«« 
Volume  II,  Chapter  XIV,  of  this  work. 

3  In  1826  most  barriers  were  removed,  and  white 
manhood  suffrage  made  practically  universal 


CONSTITXjnONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      625 

The  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  convention 
relates  .to  the  judicial  establishment,  which  we  have  seen  owed  its 
existence  to  the  former  royal  government,  and  its  continuance  to  the 
conservatism  of  those  who  had  framed  the  constitution  of  1777.  In 
the  year  1821,  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature  consisted  of  Chief 
Justice  Spencer  and  three  associate  justices,  who  were,  as  we  see  them 
now,  all  able  common-law  lawyers,  but  perhaps  not  free  from  the 
peculiar  formalism  of  the  old  English  law  administered  by  them. 
Their  political  attitude  and  their  labors  in  the  council  of  revision 
had  undoubtedly  made  them  very  obnoxious  to  the  people,  and  had 
brought  even  their  judicial  work,  which  was  of  the  highest  order, 
into  great  and  unmerited  disrepute.  The  new  constitution  vacated 
all  judicial  offices  after  December  1,  1822,  and  thus  assured  a  new 
common-law  judiciary.  Various  proposals  were  made  in  convention 
to  transfer  the  entire  equity  powers  of  the  chancellor  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  to  render  the  court  more  popular  and  accessible ;  but  this 
reform  was  postponed. 

The  changes  effected  in  the  judicial  establishment  were  not  great. 
The  powers  of  the  judges  of  the  great  courts  were  somewhat  circum- 
scribed, and  the  judges  themselves  were  removed  out  of  the  imme- 
diate realm  of  polities  by  the  destruction  of  the  council  of  revision. 
They  were  retained  as  members  of  the  old  Court  of  Errors,  consisting 
of  the  senators  and  the  higher  judiciary,  as  before,  though  the  senate 
was  rendered  much  more  democratic  by  the  practical  abolition  of  the 
former  property  qualification  required  of  the  electors  for  senators. 
Some  slight  change  was  made  in  the  procedure  of  the  court  when 
sitting  as  a  court  for  the  trial  of  impeachments.  The  powers  of  the 
Supreme  Court  justices  were  further  circumscribed,  as  it  was  sup- 
posed, by  taking  away  from  them  the  duty  of  going  the  circuit,  which 
it  was  asserted  had  been  often  made  a  political  tour  whereby  the 
authority  and  majesty  of  the  law  had  been  perverted  to  partizan  uses. 
The  circuit  and  chamber  duty  of  Supreme  Court  justices  was  trans- 
ferred to  a  new  class  of  circuit  judges,  who  might  also  be  invested  by 
the  legislature  with  an  original  equity  jurisdiction.*  Thus  relieved  of 
circuit  duties,  the  Supreme  Court  was  reduced  to  three  justices,  con- 
sisting of  a  chief  justice  and  two  associates,  who  were  to  hold  office,  as 
before,  during  good  behavior  or  until  sixty  years  of  age,  though  they 
might  be  removed  by  joint  resolution  of  the  two  houses  of  the  legis- 
lature. Although  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  not  destroyed.  Chan- 
cellor Kent's  term  of  office  was  not  extended,  and  was  left  to  expire  in 
a  few  months,  or  when  he  reached  sixty  years  of  age,^  which  hap- 

1  Constitution  of  1821,  Art.  V.  through  the   senile  infirmities  of  Chief  Justice 

2  The  same    limitation  was  contained  in  the      Horsmanden,  one  of  the  last  of  the  crown  judges, 
constitution  of  1777.     It  was  inserted  at  the  in-      and  for  some  thirty  years  on  the  bench. 

stance  of  the  lawyers,  who  had   been   plagued 

Vol.  m.— 40. 


626 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


pened  in  a  short  space/  It  was  proposed  in  the  convention  to 
abolish  this  court  and  transfer  its  powers  to  the  law  courts,  but  the 
time  was  not  deemed  opportune.  Under  the  authority  of  the  consti- 
tution, which  authorized  the  legislature  to  vest  equity  powers  in  the 
common-law  judges,^  very  considerable  changes  in  the  organizatioa 
of  the  court  were,  however,  soon  introduced  in  practice.  It  was 
thought  that  this  measure  would  lessen  or  popularize  the  power  of 
the  chancellors.  But  the  chancellors  soon  demonstrated  the  fallacy 
of  this  opinion,^  claiming  that  their  judicial  powers  were  beyond  the 
control  of  the  legislature.  The  measure,  however,  did  demonstrate 
the  feasibility  of  merging  legal  and  equitable  powers  in  the  same 
judicial  officer,  and  under  the  succeeding  constitution  it  led  to  very 
extended  reforms  of  a  like  nature. 

The  new  constitution  of  1821^  made  a  slight  alteration  in  the 
declaration  concerning  the  future  law  of  the  State.  The  original 
constitution  had  continued  a  part  of  the  statute  law  of  Englaml  as 
the  law  of  New-York.  The  legislature,  having  consolidate!  all  the 
English  statute  law  in  a  general  revision,  had  repealed  in  1788  the 
residue,  and  so  the  new  constitution,  unlike  the  first,  made  no 
reference  to  the  English  statutes,  but  declared  "such  parts  of  the 
Common  Law  and  of  the  acts  of  the  legislature  of  the  Colony  of 
New- York  as  together  did  form  the  law  of  the  said  Colony  on  the 
19th  day  of  April,  1775,  and  the  resolutions  of  the  Congress  of  the 
Colony  and  of  the  Convention  of  the  State  of  New- York  in  force 
on  the  20th  day  of  April,  1777,-  which  had  not  since  expired,  or 
been  repealed,  or  altered,  and  such  acts  of  the  legislature  of  this 
State  as  were  then  in  force,  should  be  and  continue  the  law  of  this 
State,  subject  to  such  alteration  as  the  legislature  should  make  con- 
cerning the  same.''  All  parts  repugnant  to  the  new  constitution  were 
excepted. 

The  other  changes  wrought  by  the  constitution  of  1821  were  in  the 
main  subordinate  to  those  indicated.  The  Bill  of  Rights  sections  were 
amplified  in  conformity  to  the  amendments  to  the  federal  constitu- 
tion. One  section,  growing  out  of  a  famous  case,  was,  however,  en- 
tirely new.*  It  provided  that,  in  all  prosecutions  for  libel,  the  truth 
might  be  given  in  evidence;  and  if  it  should  appear  to  the  jury  that 
the  matter  charged  as  libelous  was  true,  and  published  with  good 
motive  and  for  justifiable  ends,  the  party  should  be  acquitted.    The 


1  When  Chancellor  Kent  left  the  bench  he  was 
overwhelmed  with  attention  by  the  bar,  and  va- 
rious memorials  and  tributes  were  addressed  to 
him.  He  had  been  a  faithful,  learned,  and  diligent 
judge,  and  reflected  great  honor  on  the  State.  But 
he  was  not  in  strict  accord  with  the  more  ad- 
vanced democratic  notions  of  popular  govern- 
ment ;  and  when  he  refused  even  to  sign  in  the 


convention  so  moderate  a  reform  as  the  constitu- 
tion of  1821,  he  was  consistent. 

2  Art.  V,  Sec.  5.         3  2  Paige,  95. 

*  The  constitution  of  1821  came  into  full  forre 
and  effect  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1823,  bat  the 
convention  was  chosen  in  1821,  and  entered  upon 
its  duties  in  August  of  that  year. 

5  Art.  VII,  Sec.  8. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEOAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOEK      627 


jury  were  to  have  the  right  to  determine  the  law  and  the  fact  in  such 
cases.  The  history  of  this  section  was  intimately  associated  with  the 
trial  of  Crosswell,  indicted  in  1803  for  libeling  Thomas  Jefferson,  then 
president  of  the  United  States.  On  the  trial,  Chief  Justice  Lewis  had 
charged  the  jury  that  they  were  to  pass  only  on  the  publication  of 
the  libel  and  the  truth  of  the  innuendoes,  other  questions  being  re- 
served to  the  court.  Alexander  Hamilton,  in  the  motion  in  arrest  of 
judgment,  was  said  to  have  made  the  great- 
est argument  of  his  life,  thus  vividly  recall- 
ing the  trial  of  Zenger,  and  the  argument 
by  another  great  advocate  of  the  same 
name,  in  the  same  court,  in  the  year  1735. 
The  court  in  banc  being  divided  in  Cross- 
well's  case,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the 
legislature  in  1805,  by  William  "W".  Van  Ness, 
settling  the  law  on  this  point.  The  pur- 
port of  this  act  was  now  thought  important 
enough  to  be  fixed  more  securely  by  consti- 
tutional enactment. 

In  January,  1822,  the  people  ratified  the 
new  constitution  by  a  vote  of  75,422  to 
41,497  for  the  constitution,  and  in  favor  of 
a  change  in  the  nature  of  the  original  State 
government  of  New- York.  By  the  con- 
temporaries of  this  measure  it  was  esteemed  a  revolution;  but  as  we 
see  it  now  it  was  but  a  conservative  step  forward  in  the  march  of 
more  democratical  institutions.  The  changes  thus  really  wrought  in 
the  political  fabric  may  be  briefly  summarized  as  follows :  The  mode 
of  exercising  the  veto  power  was  reformed  by  transferring  a  qualified 
negative  to  the  governor  alone.  A  more  democratic  method  of  exer- 
cising the  appointing  power  was  adopted,  while  complete  democracy 
was  attained  in  respect  of  many  minor  offices  made  elective.  The 
suffrage  was  so  extended  as  to  constitute  practically  white  manhood 
suffrage,  .few  persons  without  property,  except  those  of  African 
descent,  being  disqualified  to  vote."    The  senate  having  been  thus 


1  William  PatersoD  was  bom  in  IT15,  and  his 
parenta,  who  were  Irish,  brought  htm  to  this  conn- 
trf  when  he  was  two  years  old.  He  wu  gradiutod 
at  PrlDcetOD,  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1769.  In  1TT6,  he  was  &  member  of  the  New 
Jersey  State  Cooatitatioiul  Conventloii,  and  the 
same  year  became  attorney-funeral.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Continentil  ConRTeM  In  1780-81 
and  to  the  National  ConHtttutional  Conrention  in 
1787,  and  In  1789  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Seoato,  which  then  met  in  this  city.  He  became 
governor  of  New  Jersey  in  1791,  and  two  years  lat«r 
was  appointed  by  Wa^ilngton  a  justice  of  the  Su- 


preme Court  of  the  United  States,  an  office  he  held 
until  his  death.  In  1806.  His  daughter  Cornelia 
married  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer.  (  Vidi, 
'•  New-York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record 
Dt  1892,"  for  an  address  oti  the  Judge  by  hia  gnoid- 
-Bon  WllUam  Patarson  ol  Perth  Amboy. ) 

EbrroB. 

£  It  was  not  until  18S6  that  citizenship,  man- 
hood, and  residence  became  the  avowed  basis 
of  the  electoral  franchise  (Constttutional  Amend- 
ment of  1826)  for  the  white  part  of  the  population, 
negroes  being  required  until  1870  to  be  freeholders 
paying  tax  before  they  were  entitled  to  vote. 


628  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

popularized,  the  Court  of  Errors,  then  constituted  in  the  senate,  wag 
brought  nearer  to  the  great  body  of  the  people.  The  original  courts 
of  justice  of  New-York,  the  Chancery  and  the  Supreme  Court,  were 
left  in  such  a  condition  that  the  chancellor  and  the  Supreme  Court 
justices  were  no  longer  officers  of  State,  but  were  to  exercise  judicial 
functions  only,  of  which  they  might  be  largely  shorn  by  the  power 
reserved  to  the  legislature,  and  affecting  their  several  jurisdictions. 
The  defect  in  the  original  constitution,  which  made  no  provision  for 
its  future  amendments,  was  remedied  by  Article  VIII  of  the  new  in- 
strument, prescribing  the  formalities,  including  a  vote  of  the  electors, 
to  attend  future  amendments.  This  amendment  was  taken  from  a 
similar  provision  in  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  and  obviated 
the  necessity  of  a  convention  upon  each  change  proposed  thereafter. 

In  several  respects  the  new  constitution  still  reflected  ancient  class 
prejudices:  the  governor  must  be  chosen  from  the  body  of  free- 
holders, and  must  be  a  native  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Neither 
the  possession  of  personal  estate  nor  naturalization  was  sufficient  to 
qualify  a  non-freeholder  and  an  alien  born  for  this  office.  The  ex- 
periment of  voting  by  ballot,  having  been  provided  for  in  the  first 
constitution  and  having  proved  successful,  was,  in  the  new  constitu- 
tion, made  imperative  on  the  future. 

The  first  legislature  under  the  new  constitution  was  overwhelmingly 
Democratic,  not  a  single  senator  being  of  the  other  political  party. 
Governor  Clinton  met  the  legislature  when  it  convened,  and  delivered 
a  speech  to  them,  which  was  met  with  a  motion  for  a  committee  to 
consider  the  propriety  of  answering  it.  This  committee  made  a  re- 
port animadverting  in  terms  of  severity  upon  the  governor,  and  pro- 
nounced the  practice  of  delivering  a  speech  instead  of  a  message  "a 
remnant  of  royalty  ^  which  ought  not  to  be  tolerated.  This  incident 
serves  only  to  indicate  the  jealous  deprecation  of  the  ancient  customs 
of  New -York,  and  that  with  the  new  constitution  the  people  intended 
more  fully  to  break  with  the  past  and  to  enter  upon  a  genuine  era  of 
republican  government. 

In  April,  1823,^  the  legislature,  pursuant  to  the  new  constitution, 
divided  the  State  into  circuits  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  the  new 
Circuit  Coiu-ts  carved  out  of  the  old  Supreme  Court,  and  substituted 
for  the  old  nisi  prius  or  itinerant  sessions.  By  the  same  act,  the 
new  circuit  judges,  who  possessed  the  powers  of  the  old  justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  chambers  and  on  circuit,  were  required  to  reside 
within  the  circuit  for  which  they  were  appointed.  This  last  provision 
for  prudential  reasons  had  not  been  thrust  on  the  convention,  as  it 
might  have  alienated  the  votes  of  those  who  were  believed  to  be  can- 
didates ;  but  the  idea  was  nevertheless  very  influential  in  animating 

Chapter  182. 


CONSTITUTIONAL   AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      629 

some  persons  who  regarded  the  old  courts  as  centralized  institutions 
and  too  closely  connected  in  their  traditions  with  ante-revolutionary 
times.  This  school  of  thought  desired  a  local  judiciary  of  first  in- 
stance, rather  than  one  whose  domicile  and  inspiration  were  to  be 
found  at  the  seat  of  government.  This  was  the  beginning  of  that  re- 
form in  the  judicial  establishment  of  New -York  which  consists  in 
decentralizing  or  rather  localizing  all  the  courts  of  first  instance, 
thus  constituting  them  county  rather  than  State  tribunals. 

In  1823  an  act  was  passed  authorizing  the  circuit  judges  to  hold 
Courts  of  Equity;  it  was  soon  repealed  and  the  power  restored  to 
the  chancellor,  but  the  circuit  judges  were  to  act  as  viee-chanceUors 
within  their  circuits.  In  the  year  1826,  in  the  first  district,  embracing 
the  city  of  New -York,  equity  jurisdiction  was  conferred  on  a  legal 
oflScer  termed  the  vice-chancellor;  for  in  this  district  the  volume  of 
litigation  demanded  an  increase  in  the  number  of  judges.  From  time 
to  time  other  coadjutors  were  in  like  maoner  appointed.  By  an  act 
of  1823/  the  Court  of  Probates,  founded  in  1778,  was  abolished,  and  its 
original  probate  jurisdiction  was  transferred  to  the  surrogates  of  the 
various  counties,  but  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  chancellor,  who  was 
invested  with  the  residuum  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  of  Pro- 
bates not  otherwise  delegated. 

We  come  next  to  one  of  the  most  important  reforms  instituted  ui^der 
the  second  constitution  —  the  Revised  Statutes.  Before  treating  of 
this  celebrated  work,  let  us  review  for  a  moment  the  prior  revisions 
of  the  statute  law  Qf  the  State.  In  the  chapter  on  the  laws  of  the 
preceding  centuiy  some  account  was  given  of  the  first  revision  by 
Messrs.  Jones  and  Varick.  The  second  revision  of  the  acts  of  the 
State  legislature  was  undertaken  as  a  private  or  commercial  venture 
by  Thomas  Greenleaf .  The  second  edition  of  Greenleaf  s  work  brought 
the  revision  of  the  State  laws  to  a  period  nine  years  later  than  that 
of  Messrs.  Jones  and  Varick,  and  as  it  was  recognized  by  the  courts  as 
a  faithful  work,  it  received  a  judicial  sanction,  accorded  to  no  other 
private  edition  of  laws,  excepting  perhaps  the  Webster  publications 
from  1802  to  1812  inclusivCo  The  next  revision  of  the  laws  was  under- 
taken by  Justices  Kent  and  Radcliff,  pursuant  to  an  act  of  the  legis- 
lature;" this  soon  became  the  corrected  version  of  the  public  and 
private  acts  of  the  State.  This  revision  simply  omits  the  laws  or  parts 
of  laws  abrogated,  and  pursues  a  chronological  arrangement  of  the 
first  volume  and  a  subject  arrangement  of  the  second.  The  new  re- 
vised laws  of  1813  next  superseded  Kent  and  RadcliflPs  revision.  By 
an  act  of  the  legislature,^  William  P.  Van  Ness  and  John  Woodworth 
were  directed  to  arrange  the  laws  of  a  general  and  permanent  nature 

1  Chapter  70.       Chapter  190,  Laws  of  1801.    3  Chapter  150,  Laws  of  1811 ; 

Chapter  195,  N.  R.  L.  of  1813. 


630  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Bystematieally  in  divisions  under  proper  heads,  with  such  margins] 
notes  as  appeared  to  be  best  calculated  for  public  information.  Aa 
the  revision  of  Jones  and  Varick  was  the  first  of  the  State  revisions 
in  point  of  time,  so  that  of  Van  Ness  and  Woodworth  was  facik 
princeps  in  point  of  method  and  arrangement ;  the  marginal  notes, 
prepared  by  John  V.  N.  Yates,  and  in- 
eluded  in  the  revision  of  1813,  are 
among  the  most  valuable  expositions 
of  the  laws  of  this  State ;  they  often. 
times,  by  enumerating  the  variona 
English  and  colonial  acts  which  con- 
tained like  provisions,  embrace  a  sue- 
cinct  history  of  the  statutes  to  which 
they  refer.  Even  at  the  present  day 
the  history  of  many  legislative  mea- 
sures may  be  more  easily  gathered 
from  this  revision  than  from  any 
other  single  work,  and  it  remains  a 
profound  example  of  faithful  profes- 
sional service.* 

The  revisers  of  1813,  imitating  the 
example  of  Messrs.  Jones  and  Varick, 
idid  not  include  in  their  revision  the 
^  colonial  acts  which  remained  in  force 
under  the  35th  section  of  the  State  constitution.  Printed  as  an 
appendix  to  the  revision  of  1813,  are  to  be  found  several  acts  of  the 
colonial  assembly  which  the  revisers  thought  would  be  useful  to  the 
profession.  Among  these  is  the  "Charter  of  Libertys"  enacted  by 
the  first  regular  legislature  of  New-York  in  1683;  the  Ordinances  of 
Lord  Bellomont  and  Viscount  Corubury  —  continuing  the  Supreme 
Court  of  New -York  after  the  act  of  the  legislature  passed  in  1691  had 
expired  by  limitation — are  also  included  in  such  appendix.  As  illus- 
trating several  questions  concerning  the  former  provincial  law  of 
inheritances,  which  long  retained  some  elements  of  the  Dutch  juris- 
prudence, the  reHsers  appended  also  the  Articles  of  Capitulation 
between  the  Dutch  and  English,  signed  in  1664.     They  might,  with 


a  Ijom  Detpmlwr  17, 


IT'Ja,  and  wu  a  lii 

well    un    hh    iiiother'a    sidu. 

academy  at    lIudMni,  N.  Y. 

law  with  Manin   Van  Buren.  then  practining  in 

that  town,  and  eventually  bwame  bis  partner.    In 

1'>'21  -24  ho  was  district  attomej-of  Albany  County. 

and  wftK  appointed  une  of  the  thrco  commigsionpre 

to  revise  the  staMiteX  of  New-Tork.     In  1H28  he 

was  a   member  of  the  lettiBlatun. ;   Id   18S3.  the 

commisiioner  for  the  SUte  of  New- York  to  adjust 

the  N'ew  Jersey  boundary  line  |  and  the  same  year 


President  Jackson   appointed  him   attomey-fra- 

nt  or  (JLiver  Crom-      cral  of  the  United  States.     In  IS37  he  beame  tbt 

He    attended    the      chief  professor  oflaw  inthel'niTermty  of  IheOiy 

afterward  studied      of  New-York.    Jlr.  Butler  waa  a  Democrat  until 

then  practising  in      the  panxapce  of  Che  Kansas- Nehruka  biU  aboUih- 

inn  the  Missouri  Compromise,  when  be  joined  tit 

Republican   party.      He  died   in    Paris.   Prance, 

November  a,  1«58.  EdiTok. 

■■:  See.  however,  the  eoranientarj  on  the  nrv 
rion  of  1813  by  Samuel  Jones,  co-author  of  Joan 
and  Varick's  Revision  (N.  Y.  HUtoricat  Sodety-i 


..  mi. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YORK      631 

equal  propriety,  have  included  in  the  appendix  the  definitive  treaty  of 
peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  in  1783,  for  it 
was,  with  unusual  particularity,  made  a  fundamental  part  of  the  State 
law  by  an  act  of  the  legislatm'e,  passed  in  1788,^  repealing  all  acts  and 
parts  of  acts  which  conflicted  with  the  treaty  in  question. 

To  recur  to  the  revision  under  the  second  constitution  of  the  State. 
In  the  year  1823,  and  again  in  1824,  Governor  Yates  directed  the 
attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  condition  of  the  statute-book  of 
the  State,  and  recommended  a  revision  on  account  of  the  changes 
made  in  the  law  by  the  constitution  of  1821-3,  and  the  very  confused 
and  scattered  situation  of  the  statutes.^  Obedient  to  the  governor's 
suggestion,  an  act  was  passed,  at  the  following  session  of  the  legis- 
lature,^ for  the  purposes  indicated.  This  act  of  1824,  though  soon  re- 
pealed, is  important  as  the  precursor  of  the  Revised  Statutes.  The 
revisers  designated  by  it  were  of  very  different  types  of  thought. 
Chancellor  Kent  was  selected  as  the  exponent  of  the  traditional  school 
of  law ;  Erastus  Root,  the  lieutenant-governor,  as  the  most  radical  of 
the  reforming  lawyers.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  then  a  young  lawyer 
associated  with  Martin  Van  Buren,  was  the  third  reviser  under  this 
act.  By  the  act  of  1824,  the  revisers  were  authoiized  and  directed, 
among  other  things,  to  collect  and  to  reduce  into  proper  form  all  acts 
of  the  legislature  then  in  force,  omitting  all  the  acts  repealed,  and  re- 
ducing the  various  acts  upon  the  same  subject  to  acts  of  one  chapter 
each ;  they  were  also  to  report  to  the  legislature  the  defects  in  the 
existing  laws.  Two  years  were  allowed  for  the  contemplated  revision, 
which,  like  its  predecessors  of  1802  and  1813,  was  to  be  little  more 
than  an  orderly  arrangement  of  the  statutes  then  in  force,  with  a 
proper  index  for  more  convenient  use. 

Chancellor  Kent,  for  reasons  easily  perceived  from  the  reports  of 
the  constitutional  convention  of  1823,  refused  to  act  with  any  one 
else ;  and  the  governor  designated,  in  his  stead,  John  Duer.  There 
seems  to  have  been  little  or  no  sympathy  existing  between  General 
Root  and  his  associates,  Messrs.  Duer  and  Butler,  who,  quite  inde- 
pendently of  their  colleague,  submitted  the  plan  of  the  revision  which 
they  deemed  to  be  the  most  suitable.^  Meanwhile  General  Root  had 
been  proceeding  on  his  own  account  with  the  revision  of  the  laws  re- 
lating to  taxation  and  highways. 

During  the  legislative  consideration  of  Messrs.  Duer  and  Butler's 
proposed  amended  bill  giving  larger  scope  to  the  revisers,  the  name 
of  Henry  Wheaton  was  substituted  for  that  of  Erastus  Root.  The 
senate  non-concuning  in  this  particular  amendment,  a  compromise 
was  attained  by  directing  compensation  to  be  given  to  General  Root 

1  Chapter  41.        2  "  Assembly  Journal."  1824,  p.  9.        3  Chapter  336,  Laws  of  1824. 

4  See  Appendix  D,  *' Journal  of  Assembly,"  1825. 


632  mSTOBY   OF   new-york 

for  his  services  in  the  matter.^  The  amended  bill  then  became  a  law.'- 
In  their  suggestions  to  induce  the  legislature  to  enlarge  the  scope  of 
the  revision,  Messrs.  Butler  and  Duer  stated,  among  other  things,  that 
they  conceived  that  not  only  a  reduction  of  all  the  laws  on  the  same 
subject  into  chapters  was  necessary,  but  also  an  entire  new  arrange- 
ment  of  the  existing  statutes.  This  they  thought  would  reduce  the 
statutes  then  in  force  to  half  their  extent ;  it  would  render  them  so 
concise,  simple,  and  perspicuous  as  to  be  intelligible  not  only  to  pro- 
fessional men,  but  to  persons  of  every  capacity ;  it  would  relieve  the 
statutes  from  obscurities,  lead  to  an  easy  reference  by  proper  indexes, 
and  greatly  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  the  law  as  a  science.  Lastly, 
it  would  supersede  the  necessity  of  all  future  revisions,  aud  prepare 
the  way  for  a  scientific  codification  of  the  law.  Utopian  as  the  scheme 
then  seemed,  it  nevertheless  led  to  what  may  be  called  the  most 
brilUant  achievement  ever  then  performed  upon  the  text  of  the 
English  common  law.  It  is  even  highly  probable  that  future  revi- 
sions might  long  have  been  dispensed  with,  had  the  revisers'  plan 
been  carried  out,  and  had  each  new  act,  as  passed,  been  assigned  to 
its  appropriate  chapter,  by  some  persons  or  persons  whose  duty  it 
was  to  prepare  the  session  laws  for  publication.  That  the  revision 
led  to  codification  may  well  be  believed,  for  even  Jeremy  Bentham, 
in  a  letter  to  Livingston  of  Louisiana,  approved  of  the  work. 

But  to  follow  the  inception  of  this  great  revision.  The  act  of  1825,* 
thus  amending  the  original  act  of  1824,  reappointed  Mr.  Butler,  added 
the  governor's  appointee,  Mr.  Duer,  and  substituted  Mr.  Wheaton, 
afterward  the  distinguished  publicist,  for  General  Root  in  the  corps 
of  revisers.  That  the  substitution  of  Mr.  Wheaton  added  much  to  the 
philosophic  conception  and  character  of  the  work  ought  not  to  be 
doubted ;  but  greater  praise  is  due  to  the  other  revisers,  for  they,  with 
Mr.  Spencer,  completed  the  whole  work  with  a  lucidity  and  a  felicity 
of  expression  at  that  time  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  statutes  com- 
posed in  the  English  tongue. 

The  act  of  1825  empowered  and  directed  the  revisers  to  collect  all 
public  acts  in  force  at  the  end  of  the  forty-eighth  session  (1825),  and 
to  reduce  and  consolidate  into  one  act  all  the  different  acts  relating  to 
the  same  subject,  distributing  them  under  such  titles,  divisions,  and 
sections  as  they  thought  proper,  but  omitting  all  acts  and  parts  of 
acts  repealed  or  expired  by  limitation.  In  every  other  respect  the 
revisers  were  to  complete  the  revision  in  such  a  manner  as  to  them 
seemed  most  useful  and  proper  to  render  the  revised  acts  more  plain 
and  easy  to  be  understood.-  From  time  to  time  they  were  to  report 
the  revision  to  the  legislature,  to  be  reenacted  if  that  body  saw  fit  An 
important  feature  of  the  act  of  1825  was  the  advisory  power  it  con- 

1  ♦♦  Assembly  Journal,"  1825,  p.  1173.  2  Chapter  324,  Laws  of  1825.  3  Chapter  324. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    mSTOBT    OF    NEW-YOEK 


ferred  on  the  revisers,  who  were  to  suggest  to  the  legislature  all  such 
changes  as  they  deemed  expedient  in  the  statute  law  of  the  State. 
Two  years  were  allowed  by  the  act  to  complete  the  revision. 

In  the  year  1826,  the  revisei-s,  Messrs.  Butler,  Duer,  and  Wheaton, 
mapped  out  more  completely  the  plan  of  the  revision,  and  classified 
the  statutes  to  be  revised.  They 
finally  determined  upon  dividing 
the  work  into  five  principal  divi- 
sions, as  follows:  The  first  part  to 
contain  those  acts  which  related  to 
the  territory,  the  political  division, 
the  ei'\'il  polity,  and  the  internal 
administration  bf  the  State ;  the 
second  part,  those  acts  which  re- 
lated to  real  and  personal  property, 
the  domestic  relations,  and  to  all 
matters  generally  connected  with 
private  rights;  the  third  part  to 
contain  the  statutes  relating  to  the 
judicature  branch  of    government 

and  to  the  procedure  in  civil  cases  \     ^  ,^  \ 

the    fourth    part  to    be    concerned  ,,^^-^'    <^^^^c-»-^    ^'^^^^^«-»-««':t^ 
with  the  statutes  relating  to  crimes,  ^ 

punishments,  and  to  the  mode  of  procedure  in  criminal  cases,  and  to 
prison  discipline ;  and  the  fifth  part  with  the  laws  relating  to  cities, 
villages,  and  other  corporations. 

The  first  and  fifth  parts  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  relating  to  the  ter- 
ritory, the  political  divisions,  the  civil  polity,  and  the  internal  admin- 
istration of  the  State,  are  of  the  least  interest  in  a  purely  juristic  or 
scientific  phase  of  the  revision ;  but  they  were  of  great  utility. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  general  and  comprehensive  plan  of  the 
whole  revision  of  1829  had  the  valuable  cooperation  of  Mr.  Wheaton.^ 
The  first  part  of  the  Revised  Statutes  was  the  work  of  Mr.  "Wheaton, 
Mr.  Butler,  and  Mr.  Duer ;  but  before  this  part  of  the  revision  was 
acted  on  by  the  legislature,  Mr.  Wheaton  was  sent  abroad  in  a  diplo- 
matic capacity,  and  Mr.  John  C.  Spencer  took  his  place.  After  Mr. 
Spencei-'s  appointment  considerable  additional  labor  was  bestowed  on 
the  part  already  prepared ;  and  it  may  be  said,  therefore,  that  the  first 


1  Josiah  Ogden  Hoftman  was  a  diitinguiahed 
lanyer.  and  was  tlie  father  al  Murray  Hoffman. 
the  juris!  aod  author  ot  several  works  on  chan- 
cerj  and  sccl^siaslical  law;  of  Ogden  Hoffman, 
the  gifted  orator  and  lawyer,  wlio  was  counsel  in 
almoBtevery  prominent  criminal  case  in  New- York 
dty  for  twenty-flvB  years,  and  who  had  been  a 
member  of  Congress,  U.  S.  diatrlct  attorney,  and 


State  attamey-Keneral ;  and  of  Charles  Fenno 
Hoffman,  the  accomplished  man  of  letters.  Hr. 
Hoffman  was  a  warm  friend  of  Washington 
Irrlnf;,  vho  studied  law  in  his  office.  It  was  to 
his  daitRhter  Matilda  that  Irving  was  pn((aged. 
When  he  died,  her  Bible,  containing  a  lock  of  her 
hair,  was  found  under  his  pillow.  EnnvB. 

3  "Senato  Journal,"  1827,  p.  32. 


634 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


part  of  the  Revised  Statutes  was  the  work  of  four  revisers,  and  not 
of  three,  as  originally  contemplated/ 

While  the  revisers  in  their  general  aiTangement  mainly  adopted  the 
system  employed  in  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  and  took  the  titles  of 
the  various  chapters  of  the  revision  from  that  celebrated  work,  yet 
they  made  disciiminating  changes  and  avoided  some  erroi^s  made  hy 
Blackstone  himself,  notably  his  division  of  the  jiis  privatum  into 
"  rights  of  persons  and  rights  of  things,''  criticized  by  Austin, — things 
being  incapable  of  rights  and  a  mistranslation  of  the  phrase  of  the 
civilians,  ^^jus  rerum.^  No  opponent  of  Blackstone  has  ever  denied 
that  his  arrangement  was  eminently  practical.  The  revisers  could 
not,  therefore,  have  taken  a  plan  more  familiar  to  lawyers  than  this, 
and  it  added  to  the  success  of  the  work. 

If  we  except  the  Statute  12,  Car.  II.,  ch.  24,  converting  most  of  the 
feudal  tenures  in  England  into  free  and  common  socage,  and  sound- 
ing the  knell  of  the  entire  feudal  system.  Part  11  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  of  New- York  embodied  the  most  important  reforms  ever 
made  by  a  single  statute  in  the  historic  land  law  of  an  English-speak- 
ing people." 


1  See  Senate  Journal,  1827,  p.  32 ;  Bevisers'  Re- 
ports to  the  Leginlature  with  chapters  9  and  19  of 
the  first  part. 

2  The  better  to  note  some  of  the  more  important 
changes  introduced  in  the  land  law  of  New- York 
by  the  revisers,  in  the  second  part  of  their  revi- 
sion (the  first  three  chapters  of  which  are  devoted 
to  this  subject),  we  may  briefly  recall  the  condi- 
tion of  this  branch  of  our  jurisprudence  prior  to 
this  revision.  Charles  II.,  with  what  right  pre- 
viously inquired,  granted  the  territory  occupied 
by  the  Dutch  of  New  Netherland,  and  much  more 
adjacent,  to  the  Duke  of  York  by  letters  patent, 
dated  March  12,  1664,  and  subsequently  by  letters 
confirmatory,  dated  in  1674.  By  both  these  patents 
the  tenure  of  the  province  was  **  as  our  Manor  of 
East  Greenwich  in  our  county  of  Kent,  in  free 
and  common  socage,  and  not  in  capite,  nor  by 
knight's  service."  At  the  date  of  the  first  patent, 
the  Statute  12,  Car.  II..  ch.  24.  had  already  swept 
away  most  of  the  burdens  of  feudal  tenures  in 
England.  The  socage  tenure  in  1664  remained 
subject  only  to  the  feudal  incidents  of  relief,  rent, 
fealty,  and  escheats.  As  thus  modified,  the  socage 
tenure  was  introduced  in  New- York.  The  rent  in- 
cident to  it  was  a  quit -rent  of  trifling  value  (some- 
times, in  New- York,  a  bushel  to  the  hundred  acres, 
but  in  1732  the  surveyor-general's  report  puts  it  at 
2j».  6d.  for  the  same  quantity) ;  the  relief  payable 
by  the  heirs  on  the  ancestor's  death  was  the  equiv- 
alent of  a  year's  quit-rent,  while  the  oath  of  fealty 
was  commonly  never  exacted,  and  escheats  were 
no  more  bunleiisome,  in  practice,  than  at  the  pres- 
ent time.  After  the  English  conquest  the  former 
Dutch  inhabitants  generally  renewed  the  titles  to 
their  lands  by  taking  out  new  patents,  which  re- 
cited the  Dutch  ground-brief  and  confirmed  the 
possession  of  their  lands,  to  be  held  of  the  ducal 
proprietor  in  free  and  common  socage.     The  new 


inhabitants  took  out  their  patents  from  the  duke'g 
agents  in  one  of  the  prescribed  forms  of  convey- 
ance. Subsequent  to  1664  the  modified  socage  ten- 
ure alone  existed  in  New- York.  It  will  be  recalled 
that,  on  the  Duke  of  York's  accession  to  the  throne, 
his  private  estate  in  the  province  was  merged 
in  the  crown,  and  he  became  seized  thereof  jurt 
eoronoR.  On  the  abdication  of  James  II.,  the  prov- 
ince of  New- York  pursued  the  line  of  devolution 
prescribed  by  the  act  of  settlement,  the  crown  pofi- 
sessions  and  the  crown  being  etmeomituntia.  The 
duke's  estate  before  he  ascended  the  throne  was 
in  the  nature  of  a  feudatory  principality ;  after  the 
merger  it  became  a  royal  province,  transmitted 
8ecutidum  jus  .coroncBf  and  .thus  it  rwnained  imtil 
the  war  of  independence. 

Comparatively  recently  it  was  made  a  debatable 
question  whether  the  statute  quia  emptcres^  prohib- 
iting subinfeudation,  was  in  force  in  the  province 
of  New- York ;  and  the  revisers  seem  erroneously  to 
have  thought  not  (see  3  R.  S.,  565,  2d  ed..  Rev. 
Notes),  and  the  Court  of  Appeals,  in  the  case  of  De 
Peyster  v.  Michael  (6  N.  Y.,  503),  assumed  the  same 
thing.  But  in  a  later  case  (People  r.  Van  Rensselaer, 
9  N.  Y.,  338)  Judge  Denio  doubted  the  correctneu 
of  the  c4)nclusion,  and  in  the  still  later  ease  of  Van 
Rensselaer  v.  Hayes  (19  N.  Y.,  74)  he  demonstrated 
the  absurdity  of  the  conclusion  that  the  statute  was 
not  generally  in  force  in  the  province  of  New- York. 
The  fact  is  one  of  considerable  importance;  for  if 
this  statute  was  not  in  force,  a  necessary  conse- 
quence was  that  the  feudal  system  flourished  here 
during  the  entire  English  dominion,  and  for  ten 
years  subsequent  (or  until  the  statute  was  enacted 
in  Jones  and  Varick's  revision),  with  a  vigor  en- 
tirely unknown  to  contemporary  Enj^land.  The 
obvious  error  that  this  statute  was  not  in  force 
.seems  to  have  arisen  by  reason  of  not  distinguish- 
ing between  the  manors  and  the  residue  of  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL  AND  LEGAL  HISTORY  OF  NEW- YORK   635 


Although  the  law  of  real  property  remained  a  diflScult  branch  of 
legal  science,  yet  the  revisers  of  1829  did  much  to  rid  it  of  many 
subtleties  which  had  been  fused  on  it  by  the  political  and  social  pro- 
cesses through  which  the  common  law  had  passed.  The  reform  in 
question  was  accomplished  not  so  much  by  the  introduction  of  new 
rules  of  law,  as  by  the  judicious  selection  and  application  of  the 
wisest  of  the  old  rules,  and  by  the  total  repeal  of  mere  scholastic 
subtleties. 

The  cardinal  reform  of  the  Revised  Statutes  concerning  lands  did 
not  consist  so  much  in  shortening  the  period  during  which  the  power 


lands  in  the  province.  The  erroneous  presump- 
tion was  that,  because  manors  existed  here,  the 
statute  was  not  in  force,  whereas  by  the  common 
law,  non  obstante  the  statute,  the  king  might  grant 
the  right  to  his  tenants  to  alienate  lands  to  be 
holden  of  the  tenant,  and  thus  create  a  manor, 
where  the  lands  were  not  in  tenure  prior  to  18 
Edw.  I.  The  lands  in  New -York  not  embraced 
in  the  manor  grants  were  within  the  statute,  and 
could  not  be  aliened  to  be  held  of  other  lord  or 
person  than  the  king.  In  short,  every  sub-aUena- 
tion  of  those  lands  in  New- York,  not  situated 
within  the  manors,  placed  the  new  tenant  in  the 
same  position  toward  the  king,  the  lord  para- 
mount, as  that  occupied  by  the  grantor. 

During  the  entire  colonial  or  provincial  period, 
lands  in  New- York  were  theoretically  subject  to 
the  same  laws  as  socage  lands  in  the  royal  manor 
of  East  Greenwich,  in  the  county  of  Kent,  in  Eng- 
land. In  point  of  fact,  such  lands  were  almost  en- 
tirely exempt  from  the  nominal  rents  on  which 
they  were  holden  of  the  crown.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  formerly  no  such  thing  as  an  abso- 
lute ownership  of  socage  lands  was  known ;  the 
tenant  had  only  an  estate  in  them.  This  estate, 
without  alluding  to  the  more  subtle  distinctions, 
was  either  an  estate  for  years,  for  life,  an  estate 
tail,  or  in  fee  simple,  the  latter  being  far  from  ab- 
solute in  the  eyes  of  the  feudalists.  The  method 
of  transmitting  title  to  socage  lands  in  New- York 
was,  until  some  time  subsequent  to  the  war  of  in- 
dependence, in  accord  with  the  method  in  vogue 
in  England,  whether  by  descent  (the  law  of  pri- 
mogeniture being  in  force  here  until  the  year  1782); 
by  purchase,  in  its  generic  sense  as  well  as  in 
its  Umited  sense ;  by  deeds  of  feoffment  with  liv- 
ery of  seizin,  by  lease,  by  exchange  at  common 
law,  by  partition,  by  releases,  by  defeasance,  by 
devise,  and  all  conveyances  operating  by  virtue  of 
the  statute  of  uses.  In  addition  to  these  modes, 
alienations  by  matters  of  record,  such  as  fines  and 
recoveries,  until  the  abolition  of  estates  tail  in 
1782,  and  even  subsequent  (see  2  J.  and  V.,  p.  84; 
c.  ^0,  Laws  of  1827),  were  not  unknown  in  New- 
York,  as  is  shown  by  Mr.  Wyche's  work  on  the 
**  Theory  and  Practice  of  Fines,"  one  of  the  first 
law  books  written  and  published  in  New- York.  (It 
was  published  in  1794.)  Of  the  conveyances  by 
force  of  the  statute  of  uses,  that  kind  termed  lease 
and  re-lease  was  most  commonly  employed  in  New- 
York  prior  to  the  revision  of  the  English  statutes 
by  Jones  and  Varick  in  1788,  when  the  mode 
termed  bargain  and  sale  became  most  prevalent, 


and  so  continued  until  the  Revised  Statutes  in 
1830.  Alienation  of  lands  by  devise,  attested  un- 
der the  statute  Car.  II.,  was  commonly  em- 
ployed in  New- York  from  the  very  foundation  of 
the  English  government  of  the  province.  Among 
the  earliest  English  laws  of  New- York  we  find 
distinct  recognition  of  wills.  The  adoption  of  the 
English  law  of  wills  introduced  the  intricate  com- 
mon-law rules  relating  to  executory  de\'ises.  Yet 
of  all  the  intricacies  relating  to  the  common  law, 
those  concerning  executory  devises  were  among 
the  most  rational,  for  they  arose  out  of  a  most 
candid  effort  to  effectuate  the  intentions  of  devi- 
sors. Therefore,  when  the  revisers  of  the  statutes, 
appointed  after  the  second  constitution,  came  to 
select  rules  relating  to  certain  future  interests  in 
lands,  they  gave  the  preference  to  those  rules  and 
principles  of  the  common  law  which  were  applied 
to  executory  devises,  rather  than  to  those  relating 
to  future  uses  and  contingent  remainders. 

The  establishment  of  the  State  government  in 
1777  made  but  formal  changes  in  the  tenures  of 
New-York  and  in  the  law  of  real  property.  In- 
deed, it  may  be  said  that  until  the  Revised  Statutes 
the  changes  effected  in  the  provincial  jurispru- 
dence relating  to  land  were  but  slight  in  compari- 
son to  those  then  introduced.  Among  the  more 
marked  changes  effected  before  the  Revised  Stat- 
utes were  the  following:  A  resolve  of  the  pro- 
vincial convention  transferred  the  seigniory  and 
escheats  and  all  lands, together  with  the  quit-rents 
due  to  the  crown,  to  the  State  eo  tiomine.  This 
statute  was  further  confirmed  by  an  act  of  the 
legislature  recognizing  the  people,  passed  in  1779 
(14,  IJ.  &  v.,  p.  44;  56  N.  Y.,  503).  In  1782  the 
first  of  the  statutes  affecting  the  antecedent  law 
of  real  property  was  passed  (ch.  2,  Laws  of  1782). 
Estates  tail  were  altered  into  estates  in  fee  sim- 
ple, the  law  of  primogeniture  was  abolished,  and 
the  canon  of  descents  was  made  to  conform  to  the 
more  democratical  institutions.  In  1786  the  stat- 
ute abolishing  entails  and  changing  the  course  of 
descents  was  re^nacted,  but  with  this  difference : 
estates  tail  were  converted  into  estates  in  fee  sim- 
ple absolute,  thus  avoiding  any  question  as  to 
whether  the  statute  of  1782  had  not  intended  sim- 
ply to  change  estates  in  fee  tail  into  conditional 
fees,  as  they  had  existed  in  England  prior  to  the 
statute  de  donis.  It  is  sometimes  supposed  that 
when  that  portion  of  the  statute  law  of  England 
which  extended  to  New- York  was  revised  by 
Jones  and  Varick,  some  new  principles  affecting 
the  law  of  real  property  were  introduced.     This 


636 


HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 


of  alienation  might  be  suspended,  as  in  the  repeal  of  purely  arbitrary 
technicalities  and  in  substituting  therefor  uniform  and  rational  pro- 
visions. Under  the  Revised  Statutes  almost  any  limitation,  artificial 
or  inartificial,  was  valid  if  it  did  not  contravene  some  well-known 
principle  of  public  policy,  or  the  new  rule  against  perpetuities ;  a  fee 
might  be  mounted  on  a  fee  as  freely  by  deed  as  by  executory  devise ; 
a  freehold  estate  might  be  created  to  commence  at  a  future  day ;  an 
estate  for  life  might  be  created  in  a  term  of  years,  and  a  valid  re- 
mainder limited  thereon;  a  remainder  of  freehold  might  be  created 
expectant  on  the  determination  of  a  term  of  years,  provided  only 
that  such  limitation  in  no  way  transcended  the  rule  against  perpe- 


supposition.  however,  is  incorrect;  no  new  prin- 
ciples affecting  this  branch  of  jurisprudence  were 
enacted,  and  all  that  Jones  and  Varick  did  was  to 
select  the  English  statutes  which  they  deemed  in 
force  in  New- York  after  the  adoption  of  the  first 
constitution.  The  legislature,  then,  in  order  to 
reduce  a  doubtful  question  to  certainty,  repealed 
the  residue  not  so  selected  for  reenactment,  by  de- 
claring their  force  to  be  at  an  end  (2  J.  &  V.,  282). 

The  statute  abolishing  entails  was  not  a  reform 
of  such  great  importance  as  it  is  sometimes  es- 
teemed, for  entails  might  be  broken  and  lands  ren- 
dered alienable  by  the  tenant  of  the  freehold's 
suffering  a  fine,  or  common  recovery,  thus  barring 
the  entail,  reversion,  or  remainder,  and  converting 
the  estate  into  one  in  fee  simple.  The  force  of 
the  New-York  statutes  converting  estates  tail  into 
estates  in  fee  simple,  like  all  statutes  attempting 
reforms  without  complete  reference  to  collateral 
results,  was  greatly  circumscribed  by  the  evident 
desire  of  the  courts  to  support  the  limitations 
over,  in  some  cases  of  wills,  as  an  executory  devise, 
so  as  not  to  defeat  the  remainder.  In  this  effort 
the  courts  made  a  distinct  departure  from  the  for- 
mer common  law ;  and  in  order  not  to  effectuate 
the  statute  to  its  literal  extent,  they  held  that  cer- 
tain words,  before  creating  an  estate  tail,  did  not 
now  create  an  estate  tail,  which  would  have  been 
converted  into  a  fee  in  the  first  taker,  and,  there- 
fore, that  the  limitation  over  on  the  death  of  the 
first  taker,  without  issue,  was  good  as  an  execu- 
tory devise.  (1  Johns.,  440 ;  3  id.,  292 ;  11  id.,  337 ; 
16  id.,  382,  Medcef  Eden's  case.) 

Prior  to  the  Revised  Statutes  socage  lands  might 
be  rendered  inalienable  for  an  uncertain  period  by 
vesting  the  title  to  them  on  contingencies  after 
the  creation  of  a  short  precedent  estate.  By  an 
ingenious  invention  of  the  conveyancers,  through 
the  medium  of  trustees,  to  support  contingent 
remainders,  the  contingent  interests  could  not 
thereafter  be  barred  as  formerly.  Contingent 
remainders  might  be  created  by  any  mode  of 
conveyance.  The  methods  of  rendering  lands 
inalienable  were  by  the  technical  methods  styled 
secondary,  springing,  shifting,  or  future  uses  and 
executory  devises,  and  those  known  to  the  chan- 
cery bar  as  express  trusts  in  lands.  Under  the 
extremely  technical  rules  employed,  limitations 
mii;bt  be  valid  in  one  instrument,  and  invalid  if 
put  in  another.  The  wliole  learning  was  occult, 
and  historically  denoted  the  contest  in  England 
between  the  great  landowners  who  desired  to  per- 


petuate their  estates,  and  the  commons  who  de> 
sired  to  render  real  property  merchantable)  and 
alienable  and  to  avoid  perpetuities.  In  the  course 
of  this  conflict,  whenever  Parliament  passed  a  n> 
medial  act.  the  twhUsse  de  la  robe  of  England, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  AristoteliAn  logic  and 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  invariably  defeated  the 
full  extent  of  the  remedy.  Covered  with  scholia, 
and  known  to  only  the  most  intellectual  members 
of  the  bar,  the  English  law  of  real  property  wm 
in  practice  a  very  labyrinth  delightful  only  to  its 
guardians,  although  it  had  become  by  1^26  very 
systematic  and  greatly  improved.  In  this  ye«r 
the  New- York  law  of  real  property  had  theoreti- 
cally attained  to  the  same  advanced  sri^^e  of  de- 
velopment as  that  of  England.  It  was  capable  of 
becoming  a  horrible  burden  for  the  new  State, 
and  when  the  young  revisers  approached  their 
task,  the  black-letter  lawyers,  who  had  learned  a 
recent  lesson  in  the  constitutional  convention  of 
1821,  made  little  or  no  effectual  outcry  against  the 
reforms  proposed. 

Having  very  briefly  and  inadequately  intimated 
the  condition  of  the  land  law  of  New- York  when 
the  revisers  approached  it,  we  may  now  assume 
that  it  was  substantially  the  English  law  relative 
to  the  English  tenure  in  free  and  common  socage 
as  modified  by  a  few  statutes  of  the  province 
which  had  become  singularly  inaccessible,  or  had 
fallen  into  disuse.  Premising  that  the  revisers 
procured  the  repeal  of  all  the  province  statutes 
(Subdivision  4,  Sec.  554,  c  21,  Laws  of  1828).  the 
Revised  Statutes  declared  that  the  people  of  the 
State,  in  their  right  of  sovereignty,  possessed 
the  original  and  ultimate  property  in  and  to  idl 
lands  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State.  Eii- 
cheats  were  made  to  follow  this  ultimate  proprie- 
torship, though  all  lands  were  declared  allodiad.  It 
has  been  argued  by  very  learned  lawyers  that,  as 
long  as  escheats  survived,  this  change  effected  no 
siibstantial  reform,  and  that  the  very  terminology 
of  the  Revised  Statutes  involved  the  entire  ante- 
cedent law  relating  to  the  socage  tenure.  Although 
this  is  logically  true,  the  real  changes  effected  miti- 
gated the  rigor  of  the  common  law  of  escheat  by 
pro\iding  that  escheated  lands  should  be  subject 
to  the  same  trusts  and  encumbrances  which  they 
would  have  been  subject  to  had  such  lands  not  es- 
cheated. The  revisers  retained  the  rights,  pow- 
ers, and  duties  of  socage  guardians,  but  vested 
them  in  a  different  class  of  persons,  wisely  chang- 
ing the  common-law  rule  that  the  guardianship 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTOBY    OF    NEW-YOBK      637 


tuities.  Even  contingencies  double,  treble,  or  manifold,  probable  or 
improbable,  might,  if  they  did  not  cause  a  perpetuity,  be  the  basis  of 
limitations. 

Other  changes  in  the  antecedent  law  were  made  by  Article  1  of 
Title  2,  Chapter  1  of  Part  11/ 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  scope  of  the  change  effected 
by  the  revisers.  While  the  work  as  a  whole  purported  to  be  a  re- 
vision of  existing  laws,  the  term  "  revision  ^  covered  a  multitude  of 
reforms,  and  modified  large  parts  of  the  common  law  declared  to  be 
part  of  the  law  of  the  State  by  the  constitutions  of  1777  and  1821. 

The  modifications  which  the  revisers  made  in  legal  estates  in  lands 


shall  belong  to  the  next  of  kin  to  whom  the  inher- 
itance could  not  by  any  possibility  descend,  so  as  to 
enable  near  relations  to  become  guardians  of  the  in- 
fant possessors  of  lands.  The  wisdom  of  the  com- 
mon-law rule  had  been  impeached  long  before  by 
Lord  Chancellor  Macclesfield.  In  Article  2  of  Part 
II  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  the  revisers  saw  fit  to 
perpetuate  the  rule  of  the  common  law,  founded 
entirely  on  feudal  reasons,  that  only  citizens 
should  hold  lands  within  the  State,  though  they 
modified  the  rigor  of  the  rule  somewhat  in  favor 
of  persons  about  to  become  citizens.  The  wisdom 
of  retaining  any  part  of  the  disability  in  question 
may  be  doubted  at  this  day,  when  land  has  be- 
come merchantable  property,  and  the  duties  of  its 
owners  to  the  State  do  not  differ  from  those  of  the 
owners  of  personalty. 

The  second  title  of  Chapter  II  introduced  the 
most  considerable  changes  in  the  law  of  real  prop- 
erty. The  revisers,  however,  retained  the  estab- 
lished terms  defining  the  quantity  of  interest 
persons  might  have  in  immovable  property,  al- 
though in  some  instances  they  converted  particu- 
lar terms  from  species  to  gei\era :  the  force  of  the 
term  remainders  was  extended  so  as  to  include 
future  and  contingent  uses,  as  well  as  contingent 
remainders.  Notwithstanding  the  abolition  of  ten- 
ures, every  estate  of  inheritance  continued  to  be 
designated  either  a  fee  simple,  or  a  fee  simple  ab- 
solute, thus  preserving  the  former  distinction  be- 
tween limited  or  conditional  fees  and  fees  absolute 
at  common  law.  The  statute,  first  passed  in  1782, 
converting  estates  tail  into  fee  simple,  was  reSn- 
acted,  but  the  revisers  remedied  the  hardship  of 
the  original  statute  by  which  a  remainder  limited 
upon  an  estate  tail  was  cut  off,  even  though  the 
first  taker  or  tenant  in  tail  died  without  issue 
living  at  his  death. 

One  of  the  most  considerable  changes  in  the 
antecedent  law  effected  by  the  Revised  Statutes, 
related  to  the  period  during  which  the  power  of 
alienation  might  be  suspended.  The  common-law 
period  was  reduced  from  any  number  of  lives  in 
being,  and  an  absolute  term  of  twenty-one  years, 
and  a  fraction  for  gestation,  to  two  lives  in  being ; 
but  the  Revised  Statutes  permitted  a  valid  contin- 
gent remainder,  to  take  effect  in  case  this  second 
life  die  before  attaining  majority,  or  the  estate 
was  determined  in  any  other  way  before  the  ma- 
jority of  the  second  life.  This  reform,  though 
apparently  slight,  was  really  a  considerable  inno- 
vation; lives  alone  became  the  standard  of  sus- 


pension, and  no  absolute  term,  not  even  a  day  or 
an  hour,  might  intervene.  The  new  period  of  sus- 
pension now  amounted  to  the  longest  of  two  lives 
in  being,  and,  in  a  single  case  of  actual  Infancy, 
the  period  of  minority  in  addition.  At  a  subse- 
quent judicial  interpretation  of  this  new  rule  in 
which  they  took  part,  the  revisers  do  not  seem  to 
have  been  entirely  clear  as  to  what  the  exact  ob- 
ject of  the  statute  really  was.  In  the  leading  case 
of  Coster  v.  Lorillard,  they  argued  that  the  new 
rule  ought  to  be  applied  to  executory  limitations 
of  a  contingent  character  only,  and  not  to  vested 
remainders  which  did  not  suspend  the  power  of 
alienation.  The  court  of  last  resort,  as  it  was  then 
composed,  had  a  good  proportion  of  laymen,  and 
the  new  rule  was  ultimately  applied  to  all  future 
estates  in  lands,  vested  and  contingent  alike.  It 
is  difficult  to  perceive  how  the  court  could  have 
decided  otherwise,  in  view  of  the  section  which 
provides  for  the  acceleration  of  remainders,  in 
all  cases  where  the  estate  is  limited  on  more  than 
two  successive  estates  for  Uf e,  to  persons  in  being 
at  the  creation  of  the  estate.  Yet  the  other  con- 
struction was  stoutly  contended  for  by  some  per- 
sons eminent  in  the  legal  profession.  (See  V.-Ch. 
McCoun's  opinion,  5  Paige,  179-198.) 

1  The  famous  common-law  rule  now  associated 
only  with  Shelly's  case  was  abrogated,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  real  intention  of  the  donor  when 
the  remainder  was  limited  to  the  heirs  of  a  person 
to  whom  a  life  estate  in  the  same  premises  was 
given,  the  heirs,  by  the  Revised  Statutes,  took  as 
purchasers.  The  rule  in  Shelly's  case  had  origi- 
nal reference  in  England  to  the  political  struggle 
against  perpetuities,  and  its  longer  existence  was 
now  rendered  unnecessary  in  New- York  by  reason 
of  the  very  clear  rule  on  the  subject  of  perpetu- 
ities. The  accumulation  of  the  profits  of  lands 
was  controlled  so  as  not  to  permit  a  repetition  of 
,  Thelluson's  case  (4Vesey,  221 ;  11  id.,  112) ;  and  as 
the  New- York  law  was  not,  of  course,  affected  by 
the  British  acts  39  and  40  George  III.,  an  en- 
tirely new  provision  was  introduced :  the  revisers 
confined  the  accumulation  of  the  profits  of  lands 
to  the  single  case  of  an  infant  owner  or  beneficiary, 
and  tolerated  it  in  no  other  case.  Many  other 
minor  provisions,  confirming  the  general  scheme 
of  the  statute,  were  revised  and  incorporated  by 
the  revisers  in  the  revision ;  but  in  a  general  com- 
mentary on  the  subject  it  is  imx)Ossible  to  refer 
to  all  of  them. 


638  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

having  been  noticed,  we  may  point  out  some  of  the  changes  which 
they  instituted  relative  to  uses  and  trusts,  cognizable  in  the  Courts 
of  Equity  of  New- York  from  the  inception  of  the  English  rule. 
Although  prior  to  the  Revised  Statutes  the  exigencies  of  society  here, 
as  fortunes  were  then  more  limited,  had  not  made  any  very  great  de- 
mands on  the  English  law  of  trusts,  yet  by  reason  of  the  constitu- 
tional definition  of  the  fundamental  law  of  New-York,  the  English 
law  of  uses  and  trusts  was  assumed  to  be  in  full  force  and  vigor 
in  the  State.  It  was  in  consequence  open  to  like  objections,  which 
prior  to  the  Re^dsed  Statutes  had  been  very  fully  discussed  in  Eng- 
land by  an  advanced  thinker,  a  barrister  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  Mr.  Hum- 
phreys, who  had  outlined  a  scheme  of  reform  of  the  socage  tenure, 
and  made  some  very  practical  suggestions.  Our  revisers  certainly 
had  the  benefit  of  Jiis  scheme,  though  they  did  not  always  follow  it 
to  its  logical  conclusion,  with  diverse  opinions  as  to  the  result.  The 
law  of  uses  and  trusts  had  grown  up  in  England  from  a  species  of  in- 
direct legislation,  sometimes  called  the  English  jiis  honorarium  from 
its  likeness  to  the  pretorian  legislation  of  Rome.  The  reforms  in  the 
branch  of  the  New- York  law  contemplated  by  the  revisers  were 
materially  assisted  by  the  popular  hostility  to  the  extended  judicial 
power  of  the  chancery,  already  noticed.  The  Statute  of  Frauds  ^  had 
put  an  end  to  secret  trusts,  and  required  all  trusts  in  lands  to  be  in 
writing;  and  subsequent  to  this  the  learning  on  this  subject  had  be- 
come fairly  systematic.  The  Revised  Statutes  abolished  all  charitable 
and  pious  uses  and  all  simple  or  passive  trusts,  and  saved  only  four 
classes  of  active  or  special  trusts,  called  "  the  statutory  trusts.''  *  Most 
of  the  former  active  trusts,  however,  survived  the  revision  as  i)Owers 
in  trust,  while  some  former  trust  powers  were  enumerated  as  express 
trusts.* 

The  scheme  of  the  reform  intended  was  the  abolition  of  all  passive 
trusts  in  lands,  the  restriction  of  the  lawful  special  trusts  to  fewer 
purposes,  the  abolition  of  secret  resulting  trusts  in  favor  of  persons 
paying  the  consideration,  and  lastly  to  cause  the  legal  title  to  devolve 
according  to  the  canon  of  descents  in  a  greater  number  of  instances 
than  formerly.  In  the  application  of  the  revisers'  scheme  to  the  ac- 
tual work  of  revision,  many  minor  sections  contribute  to  the  result.  In 
the  abolition  of  former  trusts  several  things  were  to  be  accomplished, 
such  as  the  consistent  devolution  of  the  legal  title  in  cases  where 
formal  or  other  unlawful  trusts  were  attempted  to  be  created  or  then 
*  existed.  Every  avenue  for  a  continuance  of  formal  trusts  was  skil- 
fully closed  by  the  revisers,  and  in  cases  where  the  special  trust  pur- 
pose was  converted  into  a  statutory  power,  it  was  provided  that  the 
legal  title,  as  it  was  not  a  necessary  adjunct,  should  pursue  that  line 

129  Car.  n.  «2N.  Y.,307.  S12N.  Y.,403. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      639 


of  devolution  it  would  have  pursued  had  there  been  no  "power'' 
affecting  it.  For  abundant  caution  all  executed  uses  in  possession 
were  confirmed  so  that  the  revised  statutes  of  uses  and  trusts  should 
not  be  retroactive.  The  adjective  law  of  trusts  was  not  affected  by 
this  article  of  the  revision ;  it  naturally  belonged  to  a  more  extensive 
work,  which  should  include  procedure. 

The  revisers  had  not  only  to  effect  the  reforms  mentioned,  but  they 
had  to  harmonize  the  revised  laws  of  uses  and  trusts  with  the  revised 
laws  concerning  legai  estates;  for  the  revision  preserved  those  distinct 
conceptions  of  property  which  the  antinomy  of  the  English  juridical 
system  had  introduced  here  * 

The  revisers  had  to  some  extent  contemplated  the  destruction  of 
the  former  analogy  between  legal  and  equitable  estates  in  lands. 
They  provided  that  the  cestui  que  trust  should  no  longer  take  an 
estate  in  lands,  and  converted  his  right  into  an  equitable  interest 
enforceable  in  chancery.  This  was,  however,  a  verbal  rather  than  a 
substantial  change;  but  in  view  of  that  clause  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
preventing  anticipation  by  the  beneficiary  interested  in  a  trust  for  the 
receipt  of  the  rents  and  profits  of  lands,  it  certainly  seemed  logical  to 
term  such  a  beneficiary  right  an  "  interest,''  and  not  an  "  estate";  for  a 
right  that  is  not  assignable  bears  little  similarity  to  an  estate  which 
is  nomen  collectivum,  including  the  right  to  dispose  of  it.  In  some  other 
respects  there  is  no  longer  a  perfect  analogy  between  the  natures  of 
legal  and  equitable  estates  in  lands.  Legal  life  estates  must  be  lim- 
ited to  persons  in  being,  but  trusts  will  inure  to  the  benefit  of  per- 
sons not  in  being  when  the  trust  is  created.- 

Whether  on  the  whole  any  great  reform  in  the  former  law  of  trusts 
has  been  produced  by  the  Revised  Statutes,  is  an  open  question.  A 
new  learning  of  trusts,  founded  on  the  revision,  has  certainly  arisen. 


1  In  English  jurisprudence  the  distinct  concep- 
tions of  legal  and  equitable  interests  in  property 
were  soon  discovered  to  be  artificial,  and  a  ten- 
dency to  assimilate  the  two  distinct  interests  be- 
gan. This  reactionary  tendency  ultimately  pro- 
duced striking  analogies  between  legal  and 
equitable  estates.  An  equitable  tenant  in  tail 
could  even  alien  hia  equitable  interest  by  fine, 
and  the  courts  talked  gravely  about  the  seizin 
and  deseizin  of  equitable  estates.  Subsequent  to 
the  Revised  Statutes  some  attempts  to  revive  the 
former  analogy  between  legal  and  equitable 
estates  were  made.  Why,  it  was  reasonably 
asked,  should  the  rule  concerning  the  limitation  of 
legal  estates  now  diifer  from  the  rules  cx>nceming 
equitable  estates  or  Interests  in  lands  f  In  cases 
where  a  remainder  in  a  legal  estate  was  limited 
on  more  than  two  lives  in  being,  such  remainder, 
by  the  section  accelerating  remainders,  was  pre- 
served. Why  should  this  not  be  the  rule  where  a 
perpetuity  by  way  of  trust  was  created  antece- 
dent to  the  remainder  ?  But  the  courts  intimated 
that  the  Revised  Statutes  had  destroyed  any  anal- 


ogy between  legal  and  equitable  estates  in  land. 
Limitations  beyond  the  legal  trust  period  were 
now  vitiated  by  statute.    9  N.  Y.,  403. 

2  As  the  Revised  Statutes  restricted  anticipa- 
tion, many  difftcult  questions  involving  the  jus 
disponendi  of  an  equitable  estate  («.  flf.,  8  N.  Y.,  9) 
ceased,  although  others,  perhaps  as  dif&cult,  have 
succeeded  them.  Attempts  to  reach  what  is  obvi- 
ously a  property  right —  the  interest  of  a  cestui 
que  trust  in  a  permanent  trust  for  the  receipt  of 
the  rents  and  profits  of  lands — have  from  time 
to  time  been  attended  with  many  embarrassments, 
owing  to  the  change  in  the  law  (31 N.  Y.,  9 ;  35  id., 
361;  70  id.,  270). 

The  estate  which  the  trustee  took  in  all  cases  of 
valid  express  trusts — though  apparently  enlarged 
by  the  Revised  Statutes,  which  declare  that  the 
trustee  shall  be  vested  with  the  whole  estate,  in 
law  and  in  equity,  subject  only  to  the  execution 
of  the  trust — was  in  reality  not  extended  at  all. 
As  before  the  Revised  Statutes,  the  trustee's  legal 
estate  was  commensurate  with  the  trust  duty  to  be 
performed;  and  when  the  duty  was  performed, 


640 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 


and  the  present  law  of  uses  and  trusts,  now  as  formerly,  is  to  be 
found  in  reported  cases  rather  than  in  a  statutory  form.  In  the  hands 
of  skiHul  conveyancers,  real  property  continued  susceptible  to  very 
subtle  modifications  and  limitations.  Whether  this  is  a  healthy  con- 
dition of  the  laws  of  real  property,  it  is  for  the  hustings  and  for  our 
statesmen  to  determine.  Any  of  us  is  entitled  to  the  opinion  that  it 
were  better  had  the  revisers  gone  farther.  It  is  not  an  interference 
with  the  rights  of  property  to  abridge  a  power  of  testamentary  dis- 
position, and  to  destroy  the  power  of  accumulating  overgrown  or 
ill-gotten  fortunes  by  means  of  trusts.  But  on  the  whole  the  reforms 
in  the  land  law  of  New- York  conduced  to  simplicity  and  were  a  soimd 
reform.  They  have  created  a  new  learning  founded  on  the  statute, 
but  a  learning  much  simpler  than  the  old,  yet  on  the  whole  still 
susceptible  of  great  improvement  in  the  future.  Such  obscurities  as 
those  relating  to  lineal  and  collateral  warranties  ceased  by  their  abo- 
lition. Landed  property  was  rendered  easily  subject  to  the  payment 
of  debts.  The  canon  of  descents,  and  many  other  matters  relating 
to  real  .estate,  were  modernized  and  improved.  Among  the  more  im- 
portant reforms  embodied  in  Part  II  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  were 
those  concerning  the  law  of  wills,  which  the  revisers  reduced  to  much 
simplicity.  The  laws  relating  to  marriage  in  New- York  were  in  great 
confusion  prior  to  the  Revised  Statutes.  This  evil  was  also  corrected, 
and  the  law  made  plain  and  certain  * 

Part  III  of  the  revision,  relating  to  the  courts  of  justice,  was 
generally  declaratory,  and,  while  of  great  practical  utility,  introduced 
fewer  novelties  than  the  other  parts  by  reason  of  the  limitations  im- 
posed by  the  constitutions  on  this  subject.     Part  IV,  relating  to 


eo  itutunti,  the  trustee's  estate  ceased  (3  N.  Y., 
525;  43  id.,  363),  and  oftezitimes,  by  virtue  of 
the  statute,  instantly  devolved  upon  the  person 
entitled  to  the  next  estate  (3  N.  Y.,  535;  7  id., 
571 ;  10  id.,  268  ;  34  id.,  555),  though  in  some  cases 
a  trustee  might  still  be  compelled  to  execute  con- 
veyances to  the  next  eventual  owner,  just  as  the 
donee  of  a  power  in  trust  might  be.  {In  arguendo, 
24N.  Y.,  15.) 

The  revisers  made  a  radical  change  in  the  devo- 
lution of  the  legal  estate  on  the  death  of  trustees. 
Prior  to  the  Revised  Statutes  the  trustees  might  de- 
vise the  legal  estate,  or  it  might  descend  to  their 
heirs  cloaked  in  the  trust.  But  this  inconvenient 
rule  was  wisely  changed  so  that  on  the  death  of  a 
trustee  the  legal  estate,  in  all  cases,  x>assed  to  the 
appropriate  court  of  judicature,  possessing  chan- 
cery jurisdiction.  (44  N.  Y.,  249.)  This  canon  of 
descents,  if  it  may  be  so  termed,  had,  however,  no 
application  to  trusts  ex  mc^^efino.  (14  Wend.,  176.) 
The  Revised  Statutes  made  no  change  in  the 
equity  power  of  the  chancellor  to  remove  trustees 
for  cause.  The  peculiar  distinction  between  equi- 
table and  legal  interests  in  property  not  having 
been  abolished, —  even  if  its  abolition  were  pos- 
ijilble, — the  courts  have  been  obliged  to  continue 


to  recognize  such  distinct  interests,  notwithstand- 
ing the  subsequent  abolition  of  the  distinction 
between  the  remedies  correlated  to  these  distinct 
rights. 

1  There  has  been  some  discussion  concerning 
the  principal  authorship  of  the  first  three  chapters 
of  Part  II,  involving  the  leading  changes  made  in 
the  land  law  of  the  State;  but  the  general  opinion 
of  those  most  familiar  with  the  subject — an  opin- 
ion borne  out  by  the  journals  and  legislative  rec- 
ords— is  that  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Duer,  in  the  or- 
der named,  were  the  responsible  authors  of  these 
great  changes.  But  they  did  not  stop  here.  We 
know  that  Mr.  Si>encer  carefully  considered  the 
scope  of  the  entire  revision ;  for  with  his  own  hand 
he  wrote  a  commentary  for  the  **  Ontario  Messen- 
ger,^ pointing  out  the  principal  alterations  made 
by  the  revisers  in  the  common  and  statute  law  of 
the  State.  As  Mr.  Duer  was  the  oldest  of  the  re- 
visers, being  forty-three  years  of  age,  while  Mr. 
Spencer  was  thirty-seven  and  Mr.  Butler  twenty- 
nine,  the  presumption,  in  the  absence  of  proof 
positive,  is  in  accord  with  trsulition  and  the  indi- 
cations of  the  public  documents,  which  are  cor- 
roborative. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      641 

<5rimiiial  law,  including  a  whole  scheme  of  punishment  and  prison  dis- 
cipline, was  very  comprehensive  in  its  character.  While  most  of  the 
provisions  of  the  criminal  code  were  taken  from  the  former  statutes 
of  the  State,  some  suggestions  touching  the  penal  law  were  adopted 
from  Livingston's  justly  celebrated  "System  of  Penal  Law  for  Loui- 
siana,'' and  some  from  the  newer  English  reformatory  acts  introduced 
by  Mr.  Peel,  but  never  in  force  in  New- York.  That  portion  of  Part 
IV  which  relates  to  prison  discipline  may  be  said  to  have  introduced 
too  few  of  the  humane  reforms  which  had  even  then  been  recom- 
mended by  Edward  Livingston  of  Louisiana,  who  was  much  impressed 
with  the  suggestions  of  Jeremy  Bentham,  the  great  master  of  the 
philosophy  of  legislation.  The  revisers  announced  themselves  as 
quite  satisfied  with  the  old  system,  and  evidently  were  not  impressed 
by  the  advanced  speculations  of  the  theoretical  writers.  In  this  sin- 
gle respect  the  Revised  Statutes  of  New- York  were  notably  faulty. 
Several  notes  to  the  text,  containing  a  brief  outline  of  the  changes 
wrought  by  the  Revised  Statutes,  have  been  inserted  because  such  re- 
vision constitutes  an  epoch  in  the  law-making  of  the  State.  While 
they  purported  to  be  a  revision  of  old  laws,  they  were  more.  After 
they  were  enacted,  all  the  former  laws  of  the  old  province  made  part 
of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State  by  the  constitutions  of  1777  and 
1821  were  also  repealed.  Thenceforth  the  corpus  juris  of  New- York 
consisted  only  of  the  statute  law  of  the  State  (the  English  statutes 
having  been  previously  recast  and  the  residue  repealed),  and  the 
common  law  of  England,  as  previously  received  and  interpreted  under 
the  province  and  State  governments ;  but  even  this  was  declared  by 
the  constitution  to  be  subject  to  such  alterations  as  the  legislature 
should  make  in  it.  That  the  legislative  power  to  alter  included  the 
most  sovereign  power  of  change  was  not  doubted.  What  the  Revised 
Statutes  best  demonstrated  was,  that  the  common  law  of  English- 
speaking  States  and  origin  was  susceptible  of  important  statutory 
modifications  without  the  destruction  of  those  essential  principles  of 
growth  which  had  been  unfolded  in  the  course  of  the  history  of  the 
English  nation,  and  that  such  changes  could  be  made  by  the  ordinary 
legislative  machinery  without  a  catastrophe  to  the  body  politic.  Thus 
the  revision  destroyed  the  fetish  of  the  common  law,  while  it  showed 
that  the  law  itself  was  not  elusive;  and  it  pointed  the  way,  followed 
in  many  other  States,  to  important  changes  in  the  private  jural  rela- 
tions of  America.  Through  it  subsequent  changes,  not  yet  foreseen, 
were  involved  and  made  easy,  while  the  dead  law  of  the  past  was 
rendered  the  servant  and  not  the  master  of  the  State.  Though  per- 
haps too  frequently  and  often  unskilfully  amended,  the  Revised 
Statutes  of  1829  may  be  said  to  be  still  the  chief  source  of  the  statute 
law  of  the  State. 

Vol.  in.— 41. 


642 


HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOEK 


While  the  constitution  of  1821  declared  that  the  common  law  i^ 
force  in  the  colony  on  April  19,  1775,  should  continue  to  be  tbe  Uir 
of  the  State,  it  did  not  abrogate  the  small  residuum  of  the  ancieQj 
Dutch  law  left  standing  by  that  postulate  of  the  common  law  whjeii 
gives  effect  to  the  laws  of  the  conquered  until  abrogated.'  Yet  tliis 
portion  of  the  ancient  Dutch  law  wag 
very  slender  and  rather  a  rule  of  prop- 
erty :  the  burden  of  proof  was  on  tht 
proponent  to  show  the  particular  insti- 
tute of  the  Dutch  law  in  force,  as  the 
presumption  was  that  tbe  common  law 
controlled  in  the  absence  of  such  proot.- 
The  adjudged  cases  give  evidence  of  the 
extent  of  this  slight  survival  of  Dutch 
law.  For  example,  in  1830,  in  the  canal 
cases,  eminent  counsel,  including  the 
attorney-general,  coutended  that  the 
Dutch  law  still  determined  the  right  of 
certain  riparian  owners.'  In  1817  even 
Chancellor  Kent,  who,  in  a  desire  to  in- 
voke the  entire  ready-made  system  of 
Euglish  law,  often  ignored  the  differ- 
ences observed  in  the  province  of  New- York,*  held  that  by  the  Dutch 
law  a  gi'ant  to  the  inhabitants  of  Hempstead  constituted  them  a  i-or- 
poration.'  Still  later  cases,  such  as  Dunham  v.  Williams,"  have  given 
effect  to  a  particular  rule  of  the  ancient  Dutch  law.  But  the  great 
foundation  of  the  unwritten  or  non-statute  law,  under  the  constitution 
of  1821  as  before,  continued  to  be  the  common  law  receive<l  in  the 
province,  as  altered  by  the  statutes  of  the  State.  What  indeed  was 
technically  meant  by  the  use  of  the  term  "common  law" — a  term 
ambiguous  enough  to  denote  at  times  either  the  jus  non  scriptiim  or 
the  eutire  particular  jurispinidence  of  England  — has  occasioned  much 
consideration  by  the  more  subtle-minded  among  the  lawyers.  On  the 
whole,  the  general  and  vague  definition  in  Morgan  v.  King,"  to  the 
effect  that  it  meant  the  rationale  rather  than  a  particular  institute  of 
English  jurisprudence,  is  the  most  satisfactory.  Yet  so  vague  a  defi- 
nition could  not  be  otherwise  than  an  unsatisfactory  basis  for  the 
common  law  of  a  great  State.' 

We  have  already  noticed  some  of  the  changes  effected  by  the  con- 


I  See  Chapter  XIV,  Vol.  I.  p.  559 ;  rhspter  XIV, 
Vol.  II.  p.  593.     :  PaDsl  Cues,  5  Wendell.  446. 

:iS  Wendell,  4315;  17  WendcH.  571. 

*SwIheUtoB,  P.Buller'n  "Oiitlioeof  tbe  Cod- 
Htitutkonal  HiHtory  of  New- York.*'  fMxaim. 
B  Denton  r.  Jackwn,  2  Jobns.  Chancery,  320. 

•  37N.  Y..2JI. 


'30  Barb..  14;  rererwd  on  another  point.  £ 
N.  v.,  4o4. 

BThere  la  in  existence  m  old  English  book  fbIIhI 
"Tomlin's  Repertcriiun  Jartdioum,"  which,  uiit 
U  remombered.conlaiDsalistotBll  Eni^lixh  dwi- 
sions  down  lo  the  date  of  tbe  battle  of  L>eiinpon. 
when  the  En);Usb  caaea  ceaaed  to  be  anthorliatiT* 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      643 

stitution  of  1821  in  the  greater  among  the  ancient  courts  of  New- 
York.  With  the  exceptions  indicated,  they  continued  substantially 
as  before/  but  the  chancellor  and  judges  under  the  new  constitution 
owed  their  oflBice  to  the  appointment  of  the  governor  with  the  consent 
of  the  senate,  instead  of,  as  formerly,  to  the  council  of  appointment, 
which  this  constitution  abolished.  In  order  to  prevent  a  repetition 
of  the  odium  fastened  on  the  judges  by  their  State  functions  under 
the  first  constitution,  the  new  constitution  provided  that  neither  the 
chancellor  nor  the  judges  should  hold  any  other  office  or  place  of 
public  trust  during  their  term  of  office.  The  Revised  Statutes  did 
not  attempt  to  define  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  of 
New- York,  which  had  never  been  very  precisely  defined.  The  act 
of  1683,  which  has  the  credit  of  its  erection,-  gave  it  general  equity 
powers.  The  Revised  Statutes  declared  the  powers  of  the  court  to 
be  vested  in  the  chancellor.  How  far  the  Court  of  Chauceiy  of  New- 
York  was  vested  with  the  ancient  jurisdiction  of  the  English  court 
was  discussed  in  the  year  1810,  in  the  most  interesting  case  of  Yates 
V.  People,^  which  involved  a  conflict  between  the  chancellor  and  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  where  it  was  held  that  the  New-York  Chancery 
possessed  only  those  common-law  powers  of  the  court  which  in  Eng- 
land were  exercised  in  the  officina  justiticBj  or  that  part  from  which 
writs  issued  ex  debito  justitice^  and  that  the  chancellor  of  New-York 
possessed  the  powers  exercised  by  the  lord  chancellor  in  that  branch 
of  the  English  court  called  the  Court  of  Equity  in  Chancery. 

Under  the  constitution  of  1821  the  powers  of  the  Supreme  Court 
continued  substantially  as  under  the  crown,^  and  the  Revised  Statutes 
declared  this  to  be  the  fact.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  minor  courts  of 
the  justices  of  the  peace  was,  however,  fixed  by  the  Revised  Statutes, 
though  the  courts  themselves  were  anciently  in  the  province.  The 
county  courts  for  common  pleas  also  were  ancient  institutions,  and 
were  only  reorganized  by  the  Revised  Statutes.  In  some  of  the  cities 
of  the  State  the  common-law  jurisdiction  of  the  justices  and  county 
courts  have  in  this  century  for  convenience  been  distributed  among 
municipal  courts,  such  as  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  in  New- York 
city,  or  the  Marine  Court  of  the  city  of  New- York,  which  had  also 
jurisdiction  of  civil  actions  brought  by  seamen.  The  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  in  the  city  of  New-York  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  the 
tribunals  of  the  State.^  The  Superior  Court  of  the  city  of  New-York 
was  erected  in  1828,  to  have  cognizance  of  local  actions.®  It  owed  its 
establishment  to  the  long-protracted  conspiracy  cases  which  grew  out 

here,  and  our  own  courts  took  up  the  ampliflca-  *  Graham's  "  Courts  of  New-York,**  p.  141  (edi- 
tion of  the  common  law.  tion  of  1839). 

1  Chapter  XIV,  Vol.  II.  «  See  Chapter  XIV,  Vol.  I,  p.  551 ;  Chapter  XIV, 

21  Hoffman's  "New-York  Chancery  Practice,"  VoL  11,  p.  595. 

Chapter  1.  «  Laws  of  1828,  p.  141,  c.  137 ;  3  Reyised  Statutes, 

36  Johns.,  337.  261. 


644  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

of  the  heavy  bank  failure  in  the  city  of  New- York  in  1826,  and  clogged 
the  calendars  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  Its  jurisdiction  was 
statutory,  and,  unlike  that  of  most  of  the  other  courts  of  New- York, 
was  not  dej&ned  by  a  cross-reference  to  some  established  jurisdiction 
of  a  common-law  court  of  England.  Under  the  second  constitution, 
as  under  the  first,  the  court  for  the  trial  of  impeachments  and  cor- 
rection of  errors,  constituted  in  the  upper  legislative  house,  like  the 
old  Court  of  Appeals  in  the  province  of  New-York,  had  supreme 
appellate  jurisdiction  in  both  law  and  equity. 

Under  the  constitution  of  1821  the  practice  in  all  the  courts,  both 
in  law  and  in  equity,  remained  substantially  that  of  England,  but  with 
many  local  variations  which  had  grown  up  under  the  crown  govern- 
ment of  New- York,  and  which,  if  separately  studied,  proved  very 
interesting  phenomena.  Singularly  enough,  under  the  State  govern- 
ment there  was  a  tendency  among  the  judges  to  obliterate  these  dis- 
tinctions which  had  grown  up  in  the  province,  for  to  follow  ancient 
precedents  is  easier  than  to  follow  innovation.  The  Revised  Statutes 
did  not  reform  the  practice :  they  systematized  many  of  the  old  statutes 
of  New-York  relative  to  jeofail  practice  and  proceedings,  and  embodied 
some  new  provisions  relative  to  the  limitations  of  actions  in  the  courts 
of  justice,  but  no  great  reform  in  practice  was  eflFected  until  after  the 
constitution  of  1846.  The  changes  made  in  the  judicial  establishment 
by  the  constitution  of  1821  were  not  sufficient  to  accomplish  much 
good.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  complaints  concerning  the 
delay  and  expense  in  legal  proceedings  became  so  general  as  to  serve 
as  influential  reasons  for  the  reforms  instituted  by  the  succeeding 
convention,  called  in  1846.  The  new  circuit  judgeships,  created  by 
the  constitution  of  1821,  proved  in  the  end  unsatisfactory  to  the  peo- 
ple, because  of  the  disposition  evinced  by  suitors  to  review  all  their 
decisions  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  banc. 

After  so  great  a  change  in  the  form  of  the  law  as  that  involved  in 
the  Revised  Statutes,  the  statute-books  of  the  State  for  some  years 
showed  a  cessation  of  legislative  activity.  Some  few  rigid  rules  of 
the  common  law,  relative  to  the  non-assignability  of  certain  rights  of 
action  or  to  commercial  paper,  were  modernized.  In  1831,  however, 
the  arrest  and  detention  of  the  debtor's  body  in  civil  actions  was 
abolished  by  the  Stilwell  Act,  although  this  monstrous  remedy  had 
been  retained  in  1829  by  the  revisers  of  the  statutes.  The  material 
development  of  the  State,  the  founding  of  cities,  banks,  schools,  turn- 
pike and  industrial  companies,  occupied  the  larger  share  of  the  atten- 
tion of  the  law-makers  for  some  years  after  the  Revised  Statutes. 
This  was  not  unnatural,  for  between  the  years  1830  and  1845  the  popu- 
lation of  the  State  had  increased  from  1,918,608  to  nearly  2,700,000. 
The  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825  had  altered  the  relation 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK      645 

of  the  State  to  the  commerce  of  the  great  West;  and  by  1831  the  con- 
struction of  steam  railways  had  added  new  forces  to  the  civilization 
and  development  of  the  State. 

From  1821  to  1846  the  constitution  of  the  State  underwent  few 
organic  changes  or  amendments.  In  1826  the  oflBice  of  justices  of  the 
peace  had  been  made  elective.  In  1833  the  franchise  for  elective 
officers  was  conferred  on  all  white  male  citizens  inhabiting  the  Stat« 
one  year  preceding  ah  election.  The  disability  of  those  of  African 
descent  continued  as  before.  In  1835  and  1837  the  office  of  mayor 
in  all  the  cities  of  the  State  was  made  elective,  and  ceased  to  be 
appointive.  With  these  exceptions,  the  constitution  of  1821  stood 
unaffected  by  change  until  the  year  1846. 

Between  the  years  1821  and  1846  immigration  had  already  intro- 
duced into  this  commonwealth  a  very  large  number  of  persons  of 
foreign  birth.  While  such  constant  migrations  of  strangers  into  a 
cultivated  and  industrious  community  was  reciprocally  highly  advan- 
tageous from  an  economic  point  of  view,  it  no  doubt  temporarily 
complicated  civil  government  to  some  extent.  The  new-comers,  easily 
transmuted  by  naturalization  into  citizens,  and  having  abandoned  the 
restraints  of  their  old  homes,  were  attracted  by  those  political  doctrines 
which  were  most  novel  to  them,  and  which  savored  of  the  most  abso- 
lute equality,  being  opposed  to  centralization  and  privilege,  or  in 
short  to  the  older  institutions  perpetuated  to  some  extent  by  the 
State  constitutions  of  1777  and  1821.  Thus  the  foreign  element  of 
the  population  of  New-York  swelled  the  ranks  of  those  of  our  citizens 
who  were  opposed  to  the  State  constitution  as  it  existed  down  to  the 
year  1845.  By  1845  the  balance  of  political  power  had  about  shifted 
from  the  rural  districts  to  the  growing  towns,  and  the  political  dis- 
content was  promoted  by  those  in  the  cities  who  favored  a  redistribu- 
tion of  representation.  Yet  the  persons  so  opposed  to  the  ancient 
order  of  things  were,  perhaps  independently  of  those  of  foreign  birth, 
in  the  majority.  Many  causes  had  contributed  to  this  disaffection; 
notably  the  permanent  judicial  establishment  including  the  Court  of 
Chancery,  the  nature  of  the  land  laws  of  the  State,  and  the  loose  con- 
dition of  the  State  debt  and  finances  occasioned  by  the  great  public 
works  undertaken.  The  indiscriminate  grants  of  lands  already  noticed 
as  taking  place,  both  before  and  after  the  establishment  of  the  State 
government,  were  now  producing  their  legitimate  results — agrarian, 
social,  and  political  disturbances.  At  different  periods  in  the  history 
of  New- York  similar  disturbances  had  arisen.  It  will  be  recalled  that 
the  landlords  of  the  vast  grants  of  lands  in  the  interior  of  the  State 
had,  in  accordance  with  the  English  land  law  of  the  province,  made 
perpetual  teases  instead  of  granting  estates  in  fee.  Sometimes  the 
leases  were  on  condition  of  rent,  services,  or  of  produce  to  be  rendered 


646  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

in  kind.  The  landlords  bad  generally  resei-ved,  also,  mines  and  water- 
power,  and,  to  preserve  the  character  of  their  estates,  had  restrained,^ 
the  tenants  from  assigning  their  interests  except  on  payment  to  th^ 
landlords  of  some  portion  of  the  consideration  received  by  the  tenant^ 
The  leases  were  full  of  subtle  and  ingenious  covenants  of  distrair^^^ 
in  favor  of  the  landlord.  The  great  grants  had  been  protected  by  ilx^ 
State  constitutions  of  1777  and  1821.  As  early  as  1811  the  legislatUi^ 
had  appointed  Ambrose  Spencer,  John  Woodworth,  and  William  P. 
Van  Ness  to  examine  the  laws  of  New-York  on  this  subject,  and  to 
report  what  reforms  in  the  land  law  could  be  instituted  without  im- 
pairing vested  rights.  A  bill  was  accordingly  introduced  into  the 
Senate,  but  failed  to  become  a  law.  About  this  same  time  the  tenants 
on  the  Clarke  estate  in  various  western  counties  memorialized  the 
legislature  to  investigate  the  title  of  their  landlord,  and  the  whole 
subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  General  Root  was  chair- 
man. Subsequently  the  manor  of  Livingston  underwent  legislative 
investigation.  In  1813  the  sheriff  of  Columbia  County  was  murdered 
by  the  "anti-renters,''  as  the  uprising  tenants  were  called.  In  1837 
the  settlers  in  many  counties,  occupying  the  lands  of  the  Holland 
Company,  and  holding  certain  contracts  of  sale  with  forfeiture  clauses, 
destroyed  papers  in  the  land  office  in  Chautauqua  County,  and  an 
armed  multitude  of  them  collected  in  Batavia,  but  were  dispersed  by 
the  military.  After  the  death  of  the  patroon  in  1839,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  attempt  to  collect  unpaid  rents  on  the  manor  of  Rensselaer- 
wyck.  This  process,  being  resisted,  led  to  the  employment  of  the 
militia  and  a  proclamation  by  Governor  Seward,  when  the  tenants 
consented  to  refer  their  grievances  to  the  legislature.  A  policy  of 
delay  and  official  red  tape  led  to  the  deplorable  scenes  of  1844-5, 
when  the  turbulent  tenants,  arrayed  as  Indians,  committed  various 
agrarian  outrages  and  disturbances.  Anti-rent  newspapers  and  poli- 
ticians sprang  up  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  presidential  canvass 
of  1844,  while  in  some  counties  civil  government  was  entirely  para- 
lyzed. In  the  midst  of  these  serious  disturbances  the  legislature  took 
steps  for  a  constitutional  convention.  Meanwhile  the  civil  authorities 
acted  with  great  propriety  in  their  efforts  to  maintain  law  and  order, 
and  acts  of  assembly  were  passed  enabling  the  governor  to  declare 
martial  law  in  disturbed  counties,  and  making  it  felony  to  rescue 
prisoners,  to  resist  legal  j)rocess,  or  to  appear  disguised.  Withal, 
there  was  a  feeling  prevalent  in  the  minds  of  many  disinterested  per- 
sons that  the  lands  of  New- York  had  been  grossly  mismanaged  from 
the  foundation  of  the  English  government  in  1664,  and  that  the 
present  successors  of  the  early  land  speculators  were  now  really  pay- 
ing off  the  moral  debts  of  their  predecessors.  The  agrarian  difficulties 
and  the  natural  growth  of  democratical  doctrines  served  to  increase 


CONSTITUTIONiL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK      647 


/9>.::C-^ 


the  dissatisfactioD  with  the  nature  of  the  government  under  the  con- 
stitution of  1821,  and  in  1844  and  1845  steps  were  taken  toward  a 
constitutional  convention. 

In  the  year  1845,  the  mandates  of  the  constitution  of  1821  providing 
for  its  amendment  having  been  per- 
formed,' the  question  of  "  constitutional 
convention  "  or  "  no  convention "  was 
submitted  to  the  electors,  and  decided 
in  the  aflirraative  by  a  vote  of  213,257 
to  33,860. 

On  June  1,  1846,  the  convention, 
elected  pursuaut  to  law  in  April  pre- 
cedin'g,  assembled  at  the  capitol.  It 
embraced  many  distinguished  citizens, 
including  some  of  the  leading  lawyers 
of  the  State,  notably  Charles  O'Conor, 
Charchill  Cambreling,  John  K.  Porter, 
Levi  Chatfield,  Samuel  Nelson,  Samuel 
J.  Tilden,  Henry  Nicotl,  Ambrose  L. 
Jordan,  Ezekiel  Bacon,  Nathan  "Wil- 
liams, and  others.  For  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  political  movements  of  New-York,  the  gi-eat  landhold- 
ers of  the  ancient  parts  of  the  State  seem  to  have  been  ignored  by 
the  voters.  The  old  regime  had  obviously  lost  control,  and  new  coun- 
sels were  thenceforth  to  prevail  in  the  State,  founded  on  the  enlarged 
suffrage  and  on  more  democratic  and  enlightened  principles,  or  at  least 
on  those  freer  from  purely  Anglican  traditions  and  customs  inherited 
or  transmitted  by  the  constitution  of  1777.  It  was  ob\'ious  that  a 
large  share  of  the  rural  population  were  no  longer  to  be  obligated 
by  such  ridiculous  restraints  and  covenants  in  farm  leases  as  "that 
they  should  go  to  the  gi-antor's  mill  only,"  or  that  they  should  not 
entertain  strangers  over  one  day,  or  that  they  should  set  out  trees  to 
the  number  of ,  keeping  them  replaced  ivinter  or  summer. 

The  new  constitution  was  formulated  in  fourteen  articles,  much 
discussed,  and  adopted  with  one  exception  by  large  majorities.  Space 
will  permit  a  glance  only  at  their  purport.  The  preamble  repeated  its 
emanation  from  the  people  of  the  State,  while  the  first  article  con- 
tained certain  general  limitations  of  the  powers  of  goverament  in  the 
shape  of  a  bill  of  rights  aud  privileges,  every  sentence  of  which  again 
bore  evidences  of  the  historic  struggle  for  liberty  by  the  English- 
speaking  peoples  in  the  old  and  new  worlds.  Most  of  these  limita- 
•  tions  had  been  contained  in  the  earlier  constitutions.  Trial  by  jury, 
religious  liberty,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  bail  for  accused  persons, 

I  New-York  Law^  1S4S,  c.  252. 


648  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

the  exercise  of  eminent  domain,  freedom  of  speech,  were  each  pro. 
tected  by  appropriate  clauses.    Some  old  statutes  reenacted  in  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  1829,  regarding  tenures  of  real  estate,  were  incor- 
porated  in  the  first  article  of  the  constitution,  against  the  general 
protest  of  the  lawyers,  who  thought  them  supererogatory.    All  feudal 
tenures  were  again  declared  abolished,  saving,  however,  all  rents  and 
services.    So  all  lands  were  again  declared  allodial,  but  subject  to 
escheat.    All  fines,  quarter  sales,  or  other  restraints  upon  alienation 
were  again  made  void.    Leases  of  agricultural  lands  for  longer  than 
twelve  years  were  made  void  for  the  future.    All  these  provisions, 
in  so  far  as  they  affected  vested  rights,  were  known  to  be  quite  in- 
operative, and  the  only  really  new  provision  of  importance  was  di- 
rected against  long  farm  leases  in  the  future.    The  old  farm  leases 
which  were  valid  in  their  inception  had  to  be  dealt  with  by  very 
different  modes  from  a  constitutional  referendum.    For  this  reason 
some  of  the  lawyers  thought  that  these  clauses  of  the  constitution 
betokened  insincerity.    The  provisions  as  to  the  land  law,  however, 
had  the  effect  of  making  the  policy  of  the  State,  in  the  future,  very 
clear,   and  of  prohibiting  thenceforth  long  leases  of  farm    lands* 
Even  these  clauses  of  the  constitution  might  not,  however,  have 
proved  effectual  had  not  the  new  methods  of  transportation  acted  as 
auxiliaries  and  made  better  and  cheaper  lands  more  accessible  to  the 
agriculturist;  so  that  the  tenure  of  large  districts  of  farm  lands  of 
New- York  had  to  be  revised  by  the  consent  of  the  proprietors  them- 
selves, thi-ough  commutations  and  compromises,  which  naturally  fol- 
lowed the  new  economic  rather  than  the  new  constitutional  conditions. 
Article  II  carefully  regulated  the  right  of  suffrage,  conferring  the  bal- 
lot on  all  white  male  citizens,  in  conformity  to  the  amendment  of 
1826,  already  noticed.  Negroes,  unless  freeholders,  were  still  excluded 
from  the  suffrage,  and  so  remained  until  the  adoption  of  the  fifteenth 
amendment  to  the  federal  constitution,  the  electors  of  the  State  hav- 
ing refused  in  the  years  1846,  1860,  and  1869  to  reheve  them  of  this 
disability.    In  1874,  by  constitutional  amendment,  the  electors,  how- 
ever, removed  the  ban.     Slavery  after  the  year  1827  had  been  abol- 
ished by  a  statute  of  1817,  while  all  persons  were  by  statute  bom  free 
in  this  State  after  July  4,  1799.    By  Article  III  of  the  constitution  the 
legislative  power,  vested,  as  theretofore,  in  the  assembly,  was  regu- 
lated.   The  senate  was  reduced  to  thirty-two  members  and  the  legis- 
lature to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight. 

As  space  forbids  following  minutely  the  extensive  alterations  of 
the  fundamental  law  by  the  convention  of  1846,  attention  must  be 
directed  to  the  important  features  only  of  the  new  organic  law.  By 
Article  IV  it  was  provided  that  a  candidate  for  governor  might  be  a 
naturalized  citizen,  and  he  was  no  longer  required  to  be  even  a  free- 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      649 

holder.  This  provision  well  indicated  the  very  serious  change  which 
public  sentiment  had  undergone  in  the  preceding  twenty  years.  The 
time  when  property  was  regarded  as  the  easiest  test  of  a  man's  capa- 
city or  respectability  had  passed  away;  so  naturalized  foreigners 
were  no  longer,  as  a  body,  to  be  deprived  for  that  reason  of  the  su- 
preme honors  of  the  State.  Such  changes  were  no  doubt  reason- 
able, as  the  electors  at  large  might  be  depended  on,  without  artificial 
restrictions,  to  choose  the  great  State  officers  wisely.  In  other  arti- 
cles of  the  constitution  the  general  power  of  appointment  to  public 
office,  vested  by  the  constitution  of  1821  in  the  governor  or  in  the 
senate  and  assembly,  was  given  directly  to  the  people.  Even  judicial 
offices  were  made  elective  without  any  formidable  protest  in  the  con- 
vention. This  feature  was  not  so  novel  as  it  might  seem,  for  a  major- 
ity of  the  members  of  the  old  Coui*t  of  Errors  (the  senators)  had  been 
elective  since  the  foundation  of  the  State  government,  and  the  Court 
of  Errors  had,  on  the  whole,  in  the  past  proved  more  satisfactory  to 
the  people  at  large  than  the  other  courts  of  record  where  the  judges 
were  appointed.  It  was  well  understood  by  the  convention  of  1846 
that  the  people  desired  an  elective  judiciary,  and  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  ancient  appointive  system.  Many  plans  were  suggested  in 
the  convention,  but  nearly  all  favored  a  judiciary  partly  or  wholly 
elective.  The  judiciary  article  of  the  constitution  of  1846  made  great 
changes  in  the  judicial  organization  of  the  State,  and  was  cai'ried  by 
a  small  majority.  A  new  appellate  court  of  last  resort  in  cases  civil 
and  criminal  was  created,  to  be  called  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  with 
its  erection  the  old  Court  of  Errors  was  to  disappear.  Four  of  the 
justices  of  the  new  Court  of  Appeals  were  to  be  elected  for  a  term 
of  four  years,  and  another  four  were  to  be  selected  from  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  Instead  of  the  old  Supreme  Court  and  Court  of 
Chancery  a  new  Supreme  Court  was  established,  having  general  origi- 
nal jurisdiction  in  law  and  equity.  In  order  to  prevent  centralization 
of  judicial  authority  at  the  capitol,  this  new  court  was  divided  into 
eight  districts,  of  which  the  city  of  New- York  was  one.  The  judges 
were  to  be  elected  in  the  districts.  Thus  the  great  court  of  original 
jurisdiction  was  in  this  way  constituted  on  the  basis  of  county  rather 
than  of  State  lines;  the  evident  object  being  to  diffuse  and  not  to 
centralize  judicial  influence  and  responsibility.  With  an  elective 
judiciary  the  district  plan  for  courts  of  original  jurisdiction  was 
inevitable. 

One  of  the  objects  of  the  convention  being  to  reform  the  laws  rela- 
tive to  the  debt,  finances,  and  property  of  the  State,  most  minute 
directions  were  contained  in  the  new  constitution,  and  very  consider- 
able limitations  were  imposed,  in  this  respect,  on  the  powers  of  the 
legislature.     No  compromises  with  certain  debtors  of  the  State  were 


650  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

to  be  tolerated;  sinking  funds  were  to  be  created;  the  State  salt, 
mines  and  canals  were  not  to  be  sold ;  the  State  credit  was  not  to  be 
loaned.    Time  has  justifiied  the  wisdom  of  all  these  limitations.    The 
subject  of  franchises  to  corporations  also  received  attention,  and  it 
was  provided  that  private  corporations  could  not  be  formed  iu  the 
future  except  under  general  laws,  subject  to  alteration  at  the  legisla- 
tive will.    In  conformity  with  the  popular  demand,  the  stockholders 
in  such  corporations  were  made  personally  liable  for  debts  in  proper 
cases.    Certain  banking  principles  looking  to  the  security  of  note- 
holders were  fixed  in  the  constitution  itself.    Many  other  minute 
provisions,  some  of  which  may  be  noticed  hereafter,  were  contained 
in  the  constitution.     Thus  the  policy  of  the  State,  touching  certain 
spheres  of  legislative  action,  was  so  fixed  by  the  people  as  to  be  beyond 
the  control  of  the  ordinary  legislative  body.     This  course  was  then 
more  novel  than  it  has  since  become  in  this  country.     On  November 
3,  1846,  the  new  constitution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  221,528  to 
92,436.    In  confonnity  to  the  terms  of  the  instrument  which  made 
future  amendments  more  easy  than  did  that  of  1821,  the  constitution 
of  1846  has  been  since  amended  in  several  particulars,  but  its  general 
features  remain  undisturbed.     The  policy  of  these  amendments  has 
been  to  reserve  more  of  the  legislative  power  to  the  people,  and 
further  to  limit  the  powers  of  the  legislature.   In  1874  the  term  of  oflBce 
of  the  governor  was  extended  from  two  to  three  years ;  his  powers  a8 
chief  magistrate  under  the  constitution  of  1846,  as  amended,  remained 
substantially  as  under  the  former  constitution,  being,  however,  some- 
what more  prescribed  with  each  organic  change.    In  the  j'ear  1858,  a 
proposition  for  a  new  constitutional  convention  was  defeated  l)y  the 
people ;  but  in  1866,  steps  were  taken,  as  directed  by  the  constitution, 
toward  a  convention,  and  on  April  23,  1867,  delegates  wore  chosen 
who  convened  at  Albany,  June  4, 1867.    Among  them  were  many  per- 
sons of  distinction  and  attainment.    Notwithstanding  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  State  had  increased  from  1,372,111  in  1820  to  nearly 
3,000,000  in  1846,  the  people  evinced  greater  satisfaction  with  the  con- 
stitution of  1846  than  many  had  expected.     The  constitution  framed 
by  the  convention  of  1867  was,  with  the  exception  of  the  judiciary 
article,  defeated  by  a  vote  of  290,456  against,  to  223,935  for,  its  adop- 
tion.   By  the  particular  amendment  then  adopted,  some  of  the  city 
courts  were  made  constitutional  courts,  and  thus  freed  from  legisla- 
tive interference.   The  other  changes  were  not  extensive.   The  general 
policy  of  the  constitution  of  1846  in  making  the  great  courts  of  general 
original  jurisdiction  decentralized  or  local  courts,  was,  in  1867,  and 
again  in  1880,  confirmed  by  provisions  compelling  the  Supreme  Court 
justices  to  reside  within  their  districts,  although  any  Supreme  Court 
justice  might,  if  designated,  sit  in  any  county  of  the  State.     In  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OP    NEW-YORK      651 


year  1873  the  people  rejected  au  amendment  looking  to  the  future 
appoiutmeut  to  office  of  the  justices  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  and  the 
Supreme  Court  In  1874,  and  again  in  1884,  the  powers  of  counties, 
cities,  towns,  and  villages  to  incur  indebtedness  were  restricted  by  an 
amendment  to  this  end.  In  1882  the  canals  of  the  State  were  made 
free  by  constitutional  amendment.  In  1874  two  new  articles  were 
added  to  the  constitution  of  1846 :  one  of  these  was  directed  against 
bribery  of  public  officials,  and  the  other  provided  that  all  amend- 
ments to  the  constitution  should  be  in  force  from  the  first  day  of 
January  sueceediug  the  election  at  which  the  same  were  adopted. 

Of  all  the  changes  instituted  by  the 
constitution  of  1846,  those  creating  a  new 
judicial  establishment,  elective  and  di- 
rectly responsible  to  the  people,  were  the 
most  profound.  Next  in  importance  were 
those  provisions  concerning  the  codifica- 
tion of  the  law  and  the  further  direction 
to  the  legislature  to  appoint  commission- 
ers to  revise,  simplify,  and  abridge  the 
practice,  forms,  and  proceedings  in  all  the 
courts  of  justice  of  the  State.  Up  to  this 
time  the  courts  in  the  State  and  their 
practice  and  proceedings  had  been  sur- 
vivals, and  antedated  in  whole  or  in  part 
the  war  of  independence.  It  was  very 
obvious,  from  the  articles  of  the  new  con- 
stitution, that  the  people  desired  a  revolu- 
tion in  these  ancient  institutions — an  inference  further  emphasized 
by  its  permission  to  the  legislature  to  erect  new  courts  of  conciliation. 
Such  new  tribunals  were  the  first  English  courts  contemplated  in 
New- York  which  were  not  patterned  after  the  law-courts  in  England. 
The  scope  of  the  political  revolution  intended  by  the  people  was  fur- 
ther shown  by  the  innovation  which  permitted  a  naturalized  citizen 
to  become  governor,  and  which  took  away  from  the  executive  the 
appointing  power.  A  policy  of  governmental  decentralization  was 
disclosed  also  by  those  provisions  which  permitted  the  legislature  to 
vest  a  share  of  the  legislative  power  in  boards  of  supervisors  of 
counties.  This  constitution  provided  that  senators  were  to  be 
chosen  for  two  years  instead  of  for  four  years,  and  by  smaller  dis- 
tricts, thus  enlarging  their  direct  responsibility  to  the  people.  Mem- 
bers of  the  lower  house  were  to  be  chosen  by  single  districts,  and 
no  longer  by  the  counties  as  a  whole.  This  single-district  system 
was  an  innovation,  and  had  a  tendency  to  do  away  with  the  old 
county  as  a  political  unit.    The  argument  for  it  was  that  in  large 


/&&*-y^i^ 


652  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

communities,  such  as  cities,  the  district  system  provided  for  a  more 
direct  and  responsible  representation.  It  was  provided  ako  that 
these  districts  were  to  be  reapportioned  from  time  to  time  so  as  to 
provide  for  more  equal  representation,  as  populations  were  shift^Kl 
or  augmented.  While  the  argument  in  favor  of  this  single-district 
system  was  no  doubt  sincere,  it  has  met  with  great  opposition  and 
censure  from  many  who,  while  ardently  attached  to  representative 
institutions,  have  believed  the  ancient  county  a  more  dignified  and 
proper  political  unit  than  a  district.  In  the  city  of  New-York  the 
single-district  plan  at  first  met  with  no  favor,  and  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  opinion  of  the  more  thoughtful  has  had  reason  to  change 
the  earlier  opinion. 

In  addition  to  the  organic  changes  tending  to  do  away  with  a  cen- 
tralized State  government,  and  to  reserve  greater  power,  judicial, 
legislative,  and  executive,  to  the  people,  should  be  noted  that  article 
of  the  new  constitution  which  provided  for  its  future  amendment. 
Under  the  constitution  of  1821,  a  majority  of  the  first  and  two  thirds 
of  a  second  legislature  must  favor  the  change  before  a  proposed 
amendment  could  be  submitted  to  the  people.  By  the  constitution  of 
1846,  a  bare  majority  vote  of  approval  sufficed  to  cause  such  submis- 
sion.  The  constitution  of  1846  directed  thau  in  the  year  1866,  and  in 
each  twentieth  year  thereafter,  and  at  such  other  times  as  the  legisla- 
ture provided,  the  question  of  holding  a  constitutional  convention 
must  be  submitted  to  a  direct  vote  of  the  people.  To  many  these  last 
provisions  furnish  the  greatest  evidence  of  change  in  the  nature  of 
the  State  government  as  first  established.  The  system  constructed 
by  the  earlier  constitutions  may  be  said  to  have  been  one  by  which 
the  government  was  delegated  to  certain  officers,  executive,  legisla- 
tive, and  judicial,  who  were  invested  with  general  and  more  or  less 
permanent  powers.  These  officers  were  the  law-makers  and  adminis- 
trators of  the  system.  But  by  the  new  constitution  such  delegation 
was  not  only  more  limited  in  scope,  but  greater  power  was  reserved 
to  the  people  themselves  to  act  more  frequently  by  constitutional  en- 
actment on  a  large  class  of  questions.  The  student  of  institutions  has 
detected  in  this  constant  reference  of  important  laws  to  the  people  ^ 
themselves,  an  advance  in  the  nature  of  popular  institutions — the 
referendum  being  the  greatest  height  to  which  popular  government 
can  obtain  among  largo  masses  of  people.  Such  legislation  by  the 
people  themselves  was  not  contemplated  by  the  founders  of  the  State 
government,  either  when  they  created  their  permanent  judicial  estab- 
lishment or  invested  their  executive  with  the  magisterial  and  legisla- 
tive powers  of  the  former  crown  governors.  Nor  did  the  founders  of 
the  State  government  dream  that  the  investment  of  the  legislature 
with  the  entire  legislative  power — an  achievement  which  then  re- 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK      653 

fleeted  the  success  of  the  Ee volution — would  some  day  have  to  be 
guarded  by  reservations  from  the  legislature  itself. 

The  constitution  of  the  State  government  formulated  by  the  con- 
vention of  1846  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  221,528  in  its  favor  to  92,- 
436  against  it.  This  new  organic  law  went  into  effect  on  January  1, 
1847,  and  with  few  modifications  it  still  remains  in  force.  The 
nature  of  the  judicial  establishment  created  by  this  constitution  was 
in  substance  as  follows :  A  court  of  final  appellate  jurisdiction,  known 
as  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  already  described,  was  substituted  for 
the  old  Court  of  Errors  constituted  in  the*  upper  legislative  house, 
attended  by  the  great  common-law  judges  and  the  chancellor.  It 
should  be  said  that  in  the  whole  history  of  the  commonwealth  of 
New- York  from  the  time  when  final  appeals  lay  to  great  tribunals  in 
Europe  down  to  the  present,  no  other  appellate  court  connected  with 
New- York  has  given  greater  general  satisfaction  to  the  people  than 
the  Coui-t  of  Appeals  erected  under  the  constitution  of  1846  and  con- 
tinued and  reestablished  by  constitutional  amendment.  The  courts 
of  original  jurisdiction  created  under  the  frame  of  government  estab- 
lished in  1846  have  generally  preserved  the  historical  continuity. 
The  new  Supreme  Court,  for  example,  which  is  the  great  court  of 
original  jurisdiction,  preserved  the  jurisdiction  of  the  former  Su- 
preme Court  of  Judicature  of  the  State  and  province,  but  added  to  it 
that  of  the  Court  of  Chancery.  In  other  words,  the  two  former  courts 
have  been  merged  into  one  great  court,  whose  judges  possess  sub 
modo  the  jurisdictions  of  the  old  chancellor  and  of  the  supreme  jus- 
ticiars of  the  State,  who  in  turn  had  the  power  of  the  chancellor  and 
of  the  justices  of  the  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and  Court  of  Ex- 
chequer in  England.^  The  proceedings  of  the  new  supreme  court  of 
general  jmisdiction  were  soon  much  simplified  by  the  adoption  of  a 
uniform  system  of  pleading,  evidence,  and  trial  in  all  actions  in  the 
new  court,  whether  such  actions  were  formerly  denominated  legal  or 
equitable.  Without  such  auxiliary  provisions  the  fusion  of  the  former 
courts  of  law  and  equity  in  one  court  would  have  been  more  difficult. 
As  the  nature  of  this  fusion  possesses  great  historical  importance,  it 
will  be  again  noticed  below.  In  addition  to  the  new  Supreme  Court, 
the  courts  of  record  provided  for  under  the  constitution  of  1846,  or 
created  by  the  legislature  pursuant  to  such  constitution,  are,  as  for- 
merly, of  several  orders.  There  are  minor  civil  courts  for  the  dif- 
ferent counties,  which  are  known,  as  formerly,  as  county  courts, 
and  there  are  likewise  civil  courts  for  cities,  generally  styled  city 
courts,  or  superior  courts.  In  addition  to  these  are  the  several  crimi- 
nal courts  for  counties  and  municipalities,  such  as  courts  of  sessions 
and  recorders'  courts.    The  jurisdictions  of  all  these  courts  are  pre- 

1  Section  217,  Code  of  Civil  Procedure. 


654 


HISTOBT    OF    NEW-YORK 


scribed  by  law,  and  sometimes  have  cross  or  remote  references  to  the 
jurisdictions  of  the  courts  of  the  province  of  New- York  which  pre- 
ceded them.  Where  the  jurisdiction  of  any  of.  the  present  courts 
is  fixed  by  the  constitution  itself,  it  is  beyond  legislative  interference; 
but  when  such  court  is  one  created  by  the  legislature,  its  jurisdietiou 
is  subject  to  alteration  by  the  legislature.  In  addition  to  the  county 
and  municipal  courts  are  certain  civil  courts,  not  of  record,  intended 
for  the  trial  of  small  or  speedy  causes.  In  the  counties  these  court*, 
are  generally  styled  the  courts  of  the  justices  of  the  peace;  but  in  th^ 
cities,  district  courts.  In  addition  to  these  small  courts  not  of  reconj 
there  have  been  created  under  the  eoostj. 
tution  of  1846  certain  criminal  courts  of 
lesser  jurisdiction,  with  power  to  tn 
minor  offenses,  or  to  bind  offenders  over 
to  keep  the  peace.  These  courts  are 
known  generally  as  police  or  justices' 
courts.  The  jurisdictions  of  all  the  lowtr 
courts  in  the  State  may  be  styletl  statu- 
tory. The  Supreme  Court,  under  the  con- 
stitution, alone  possesses  a  common-law 
jurisdiction,  or  one  defined  most  largelv 
by  reference  to  judicatories  having  their 
rise  and  origin  in  the  common  law  of 
England,  as  it  stood  before  the  British 
occupation  of  this  commonwealth.  In  this  respect  the  Supreme 
Court  possesses  a  certain  historic  significance  not  possessed  by 
even  the  appellate  court.  It  also  affords  the  gateway  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law,  as  it  licenses  for  all  courts  of  the  State  all  at- 
torneys and  counsel,  who  by  the  new  constitution  may  be  any  male 
citizen  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  of  good  moral  character,  and 
proper  attainment.  In  addition  to  the  courts  denoted,  the  constitu- 
tion of  1846  provided  expressly  for  courts  having  jurisdiction  of 
wills,  testaments,  cases  of  intestacy,  and  probate  matters  generally,  in 
counties  possessing  a  population  of  over  forty  thousand  inhabitants. 
In  smaller  oouuties  the  county  judges,  who  had  a  probate  jurisdiction 
conferred  by  the  constitution  itself,  were  to  act  exclusively  as  surro- 
gates. Surrogates'  courts  have  now  been  generally  created  for  all  the 
counties  of  the  State.     Occasional  courts  of  impeachment  were  also 


THOHAS  J.  OAKLEY.' 


t  TbonitH  J.  Oaklfy  was  bom  In  1T8 
Isw  in  Poufthkwpsle.  N-Y-;  ser\-ecl  ■ 
u  a  Fedenilist,  from  1813  to  1815, 
tomev-Kpneral  of  New- York  Stale 
1S2T  he  went  to  ConicreBB  as  ■  Clinto: 
resigDin^  Id  1828  tolreromea  jiidicein  tbeSuperii 
Court  ot  New-York  city.  Upoii  the  I'oiirt'H  re- 
orguiiuition  iu  1846  he  was  elected  chief  Justice, 


;  practised  flllinB  (be  office  until  hin  death.  May  12,  1857.  H» 
I  ConsTpss,  possessed  remarkable  mental  powers,  waa  cool  and 
ind  was  BI-  imperturbable  even  in  tbe  heat  of  debat«.  reason. 
1  ISIO.  In  Ing  clearly  and  lo^cally;  and  bia  cautioD  and 
Democrat.  jiidKiuent  made  bim  an  admirable  part;  leader. 
~       iH  highly  esteemed  as  a  judge  of  luumlbed 


COXSTlTUTlOyAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORT    OF    NEW-YORK      655 

created  and  limited  by  the  constitution  of  1846,  as  by  all  preceding 
constitutions  of  the  State,  Such  is  the  outline  of  the  present  judicial 
establishment  of  the  State  under  the  existing  constitution.  The  State 
courts  possess  complete  and  entire  jurisdiction  throughout  the 
State,  and,  except  as  modified  by  the  federal  constitution  and  acts  of 
Congress  conferring  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  certain  prescribed  cases 
on  the  federal  establishment,  the  range  of  the  jurisdiction  of  tlie  State 
courts  covers  the  entire  field  of  judicial  inquiry.  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  lesser  courts  is  confined  to  certain  cities  and  counties,  and  their 
process  cannot  run  beyond  the  limits  prescribeil. 

The  constitution  of  1846  is  also  notable  for  its  effort  to  confer  upon 
the  j>eople  a  system  of  laws  which  should  not  afford  such  persistent 
evidence  of  the  former  colonial  subordination.  Although  the  con- 
stitution elsewhere  declared  that  such  parts  of  the  common  law  as 
did  form  the  law  of  the  colony  on  April  19,  1775,  and  not  since  abro- 
gated, should  remain  in  force  (together  with  such  acts  of  the  colonial 
legislature,  of  the  congress  of  the  colony,  and  of  the  former  legisla- 
tures of  the  State),  but  subject  to  future  legislative  alteration,  yet  it 
directed  the  first  legislature  of  the  State  thereafter  to  appoint  three 
commissioners,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  reduce  into  a  written 
and  systematic  code  the  whole  body  of  the  law  of  the  State,  or  so 
much  thereof  as  to  the  commissioners  seemed  practicable  and  expe- 
dient. To  many  persons  this  was  a  welcome  announcement  that 
the  State  had  entered  a  more  complete  phase  of  independence,  and 
that  it  was  preparing  to  make  its  laws  of  purely  domestic  origin,  and 
to  avoid  the  necessity  of  constant  reference  to  the  laws  of  England. 
From  the  context  of  the  constitution  it  was  exceedingly  plain  that 
the  people  of  the  State  demanded  the  codification  of  their  laws.  The 
judiciary  article  of  the  constitution  of  1846  contained  also  some  pro- 
visions obligatory  upon  the  proceedings  in  the  new  courts,  such  as 
that  "the  testimony  in  equity  cases  shall  be  taken  in  like  manner  as 
in  cases  at  law'';  but  there  was  considerable  ambiguity  about  the  pro- 
visions concerning  the  Supreme  Court,  which  induced  some  of  the 
older  school  of  lawyers  to  hope  that  the  practice  in  the  new  Supreme 
Court  might  still  continue  to  reflect  the  former  antinomy  between  law 
and  equity  in  some  such  manner  as  now  prevails  in  the  federal  courts 
of  this  country.  In  January,  1847,  David  Dudley  Field  of  New- York 
published  a  tentative  treatise  entitled  "What  shall  be  done  with  the 
practice  of  the  courts!  Shall  it  be  wholly  reformed!  Questions 
addressed  to  lawyers."  A  memorial  followed,  largely  signed  by  law- 
yers of  the  State,  urging  the  legislature  to  abolish  the  old  forms  of 
action,  and  to  provide  for  a  uniform  course  of  proceedings  in  all  cases, 
whether  of  legal  or  equitable  cognizance.  On  the  8th  of  April,  1847, 
the  legislature  passed  an  act  appointing  Arphaxed  Loomis,  David 


656  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

Graham,  and  Nicholas  Hill  commissioners  on  practice  and  pleadings. 
Mr.  Hill  resigned  in  September  following,  and  Mr.  David  Dudley 
Field  was  appointed  in  Mr.  Hill's  place  by  a  resolution  of  the  two 
houses  of  legislature  on  September  29, 1847.  On  February  29,  1848, 
the  first  instalment  of  a  code  of  civil  procedure  was  enacted,  to  take 
effect  July  1  following.  The  completed  code  of  civil  procedure  was 
reported  December  31,  1849,  but  its  adoption  was  delayed.  On  the 
same  day  the  code  of  criminal  procedure  was  reported,  but  it  was  not 
adopted  at  that  time.  That  instalment  of  the  code  of  civil  procedure 
which  was  enacted  abolished  all  distinction  between  actions  at  law 
and  suits  in  equity,  and  substituted  one  form  of  action  for  the  pro- 
tection of  private  rights,  or  the  redress  of  private  wrongs.  At  this 
time  this  single  reform  was  the  gi'eatest  ever  accomplished  in  the 
'remedial  law  of  an  English-speaking  people.  Its  design  and  accom- 
plishment were  largely  if  not  exclusively  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Field,  one  of  the  most  lucid  of  all  legislative  draftsmen,  as  well  as 
one  of  the  most  powerful  and  original  thinkers  ever  seen  in  the  ranks 
of  English-speaking  lawyers.  Unfortunately,  the  symmetry  and  ex- 
cellence of  Mr.  Field's  legislative  work  have  been  much  man-ed  either 
by  the  action  of  the  legislature,  or  by  its  failure  to  adopt  the  entire 
scheme  of  reform  as  reported  by  the  codifiers.  Not  until  April  6, 
1857,  were  efforts  to  continue  the  reform  contemplated  by  the  consti- 
tution of  1846  successful.  In  that  year  an  act  was  passed  revising  a 
former  code  commission.  The  earlier  commission  had  failed  to  codify 
the  whole  body  of  the  law  of  the  State,  or  to  perform  any  part  of  the 
task  assigned  to  them  by  the  legislature.*  The  act  of  1857  -  appointed 
David  Dudley  Field,  William  Curtis  Noyes,  and  Alexander  Bradford 
commissioners  to  codify  so  much  of  the  law  as  was  not  included  in 
the  reports  of  the  commissioners  on  pleading  and  practice  reported 
to  the  legislature  in  1850.  On  April  10,  1860,  a  political  code  was 
accordingly  reported  to  the  legislature.  On  March  30,  1861,  a  book 
of  forms  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  practice  code  was  reported, 
but  not  adopted.  The  penal  code  was  reported  in  December,  1864, 
and  the  civil  code  on  February  13,  1865. 

The  civil,  criminal,  penal,  and  political  codes,  together  with  the  book 
of  forms,  would  have  completed  the  entire  scheme  of  reform  contem- 
plated by  the  constitution  of  1846.  But  of  these  great  works  only  the 
penal  and  criminal  codes  have  passed  into  laws.^  The  civil  and  polit- 
ical codes  have  up  to  this  time  failed  of  enactment.  For  whatever 
reason  these  completed  codes  have  failed  to  become  laws,  it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  their  enactment  would  have  relieved  the  jurispru- 
dence of  the  State  from  many  anomalies  and  archaisms  peculiar  to 
that  part  of  the  law  of  England  which  we  have  seen  to  be  the  law  of 

1  Chapter  49,  Laws  of  1847  ;  Chapter  289.  id. ;  Chapter  312,  Laws  of  1849.       «  Chapter  286i 

3  Chapters  442  and  676,  Laws  of  1881. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-TORK      657 


the  former  proviDce  of  New- York.  The  whole  body  of  the  law  of  the 
State  would  then  have  been  reduced  to  a  written  form,  with  the  effect, 
as  many  believed,  of  permitting  the  energies  of  the  bar  to  be  directed 
to  a  higher  and  more  philosophical  exposition  of  principles  than  is 
permissible  when  the  text  of  the 
law  is  unwritten  and  deduced  only 
from  cases  and  precedents. 

As  the  law  stands, —  several  of 
the  codes  not  having  been  enacts 
ed, — the  private  jural  relations  of 
all  the  citizens  of  the  State  are  now 
determined  either  by  certain  inhi- 
bitions contained  in  the  written 
constitutions  of  government  re- 
lated to  private  law,  or  by  the  acts 
of  the  legislature  of  New- York,  in- 
cluding the  Revised  Statutes  (fre- 
quently amended  by  later  legisla- 
tures of  the  State),  or  lastly  by  the  , 
common  law  of  the  province  of ' 
New- York,  as  it  stood  on  the  date 

of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  in  the  year  1775,  and  as  since  altered  by 
legislation.  The  constitution  of  1846,  adopting  the  phraseology  of  the 
constitution  of  1821,  provided  also  that  the  acta  of  the  old  assembly 
of  the  province,  and  the  resolutions  of  the  congress  and  of  the  con- 
vention of  the  State  in  force  April  20, 1777,  and  not  since  repealed  or 
altered,  should  also  form  part  of  the  fundamental  law ;  but  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact  the  acts  of  the  provincial  assemblies  were  all  repealed  in 
the  year  1828,  while  those  acts  of  the  convention  and  the  resolutions 
of  the  congress  of  any  permanent  effect  had  by  the  year  1846  been  re- 
vised by  statutes  of  the  State,  so  that  the  common  law  and  the  legisla- 
tive acts  of  the  State  government  may  be  roughly  said  to  constitute 
the  entire  body  of  the  substantive  law  of  the  State  in  force  since  1846. 
The  common  law  so  in  force  has  of  late  years  received  so  much  ju- 
dicial interpretation  that  almost  all  its  leading  institutes  appear  in 
the  printed  reports  of  the  adjudications  of  the  State  courts.  That 
such  a  form  for  the  great  body  of  law  of  the  State  is  now  at  all  what 
was  contemplated  by  the  constitution  of  1846,  cannot  be  pretended. 
Yet,  that  the  contents  and  substance  of  the  law  as  it  actually  exists  are 
adequate  at  present  to  all  the  exigencies  of  a  highly  civilized  State, 
experience  affirms.  To  indicate  more  fully  the  nature  of  the  institutes 
of  this  great  body  of  private  law  would  require  greater  technical  pre- 
cision than  the  limits  of  this  outline  permit.  By  force  of  the  constitu- 
tional definition  of  the  law  of  the  State,  the  remnant  of  the  old 
Vol.  III.— 4a. 


658  HISTORY    OF    NEW- YORK 

Dutch  law  which  had  become  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  prov- 
ince, still  remains,  in  very  limited  instances,  a  rule  of  particular  prop- 
erty held  under  Dutch  ground-briefs,  or  by  Dutch  subjects  under  the 
articles  of  capitulation  of  1664.  Otherwise  the  law  of  New  Nether- 
land  has  been  repealed,  abrogated,  or  wholly  displaced.  In  many  in- 
stances the  common  law  of  the  province  of  New-York,  referred  to  by 
the  constitution  of  1846  as  continuing  in  effect  under  that  constitu- 
tion, has  until  a  comparatively  late  period  regulated  wholly  many  of 
the  domestic  relations  in  this  State,  such  as  husband  and  wife,  parent 
and  child,  guardian  and  ward,  and  master  and  servafnt.  But  of  late 
years  the  common  law  has  been  modified  by  such  statutes  as  the  mar- 
ried women's  property  acts,  and  other  acts  in  conformity  with  the 
trend  of  modern  thought  and  opinion.  On  March  2,  1870,*  efforts 
were  again  made  to  accomplish  the  work  directed  by  the  constitution 
of  1846,  and  remaining  unperformed.  The  new  commissioners,  of 
whom  Mr.  Field  was  not  one,  were  directed  to  incorporate  into  and 
make  part  of  their  revision  the  proposed  codes  reported  to  the  legis- 
lature by  the  earlier  commissions.  The  last  commission  proceede^l 
to  revise  the  early  code  of  procedure :  the  other  portions  of  their  task 
have  remained  unfulfilled.  Thus,  up  to  the  present  time,  the  com- 
plete codification  contemplated  by  the  constitution  of  1846  has  not 
been  accomplished. 

Having  now  outlined  the  form  of  the  public  and  private  law  of  the 
State  as  it  exists  at  the  present  day,  a  word  of  application  may  be 
made  to  the  status  of  a  citizen  of  the  city  of  New- York.  The  com- 
mon law  of  the  State  is  the  same  in  all  parts  of  the  territoiy  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  State,  there  being  no  portion  subject  to  a  dif- 
ferent common  law  from  the  rest.  Of  the  statutes  of  the  State  some 
are  general  in  application,  while  others,  by  limitation,  apply  to  specific 
communities,  such  as  the  city  of  New- York.  Thus,  those  inhabiting 
the  city  of  New- York  are,  as  a  rule,  subject  to  a  common  law  of  uni- 
versal application  throughout  the  State,  and  to  a  statute  law  which 
may  or  may  not  be  general  in  operation.  Of  the  statutes  of  the  State 
not  everywhere  operative,  the  municipal  charters  of  the  city  of  New- 
York  afford  good  examples ;  for  these  charters  contain  not  only  fran- 
chises to  the  city  as  a  corporation,  but  also  occasional  rules  for  the 
government  of  the  citizens  within  the  jurisdiction  of  such  municipal 
corporation.  In  the  preceding  volumes*  the  Dongan  and  Mont- 
gomerie  charters  were  noticed.  At  the  adoption  of  the  first  consti- 
tution of  the  State,  the  Montgomerie  Charter  of  1730  was  in  full  force, 
and  both  the  State  constitutions  of  the  present  century  have  pro- 
vided that  nothing  therein  contained  should  annul  any  charters  to 
bodies  politic  and  corporate  made  prior  to  the  14th  of  October,  1775. 
Until  the  year  1830  the  Montgomerie  Charter,  as  somewhat  modified 

1  (liapter  33.  2  Chapter  XIV,  Vols.  I  and  II. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AND    LEGAL    HISTORY    OF    NEW-YOBK      659 

by  statute,  remained  the  fundamental  charter  of  the  city.  In  that 
year  an  amended  charter  was  adopted.  In  June,  1829,  the  common 
council  had  recommended  the  citizens  to  choose  delegates  to  a  con- 
vention for  the  purpose  of  amending  and  revising  the  ancient  char- 
ter. Steps  were  accordingly  taken  under  the  advice  of  Ex-Chancellor 
Kent,  and  on  the  7th  day  of  April,  1830,  at  the  request  of  a  majority 
of  the  citizens,  the  legislature  passed  an  act  "to  amend  the  Charter  of 
the  City  of  New- York."  *  In  this  act  the  old  charter  is  recognized  as 
subsisting,  in  so  far  as  it  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  new  act's  own 
provisions.  On  April  2, 1849,  July  11, 1851,  April  10,  1852,  April  11, 
1853,  and  at  other  times,  further  amendments  were  made  to  the  char- 
ter. But  on  April  4, 1857,  most  of  the  more  recent  amendments  were 
repealed,  and  chapter  446  of  the  laws  of  1857  was  substituted  for 
them.  It  was,  however,  still  provided  that  the  provisions  of  the  royal 
charters  should  continue  in  force  where  not  abrogated  or  inconsistent 
with  chapter  446  of  the  laws  of  1857. 

In  the  year  1873  ^  an  act  was  passed  "  to  reorganize  the  local  gov- 
ernment of  the  City  of  New- York,"  which  made  extensive  changes  in 
the  administrative  part  of  the  city  charter,  repealing  various  amend- 
ments enacted  in  the  present  century,  but  still  continuing  in  force 
those  provisions  of  the  ancient  royal  charters  then  operative  and  not 
inconsistent  with  its  provisions.  In  1874  the  city's  boundaries  were 
much  enlarged,^  and  the  power  of  the  separate  county  government 
was  transferred  to  the  city  authorities.^  In  the  years  1879  and  1880, 
the  legislature  authorized  a  revision  of  the  special  and  local  laws  af- 
fecting New- York  city,  and  made  such  revision  presumptive  evidence 
in  the  New- York  courts  of  justice  of  all  special  or  local  laws  in  force 
in  the  city  of  New-York.^  In  1881,®  most  of  the  local  acts  affecting 
New- York  city  passed  subsequent  to  1784  being  contained  in  the  re- 
vision mentioned,  were  otherwise  repealed.  In  1882  all  the  laws  af- 
fecting public  interests  in  the  city  of  New- York,  having  been  revised, 
were  consolidated  in  one  act  known  as  the  "  consolidation  act,"  ^  and 
it  was  thought  that  all  future  laws  affecting  the  city  of  New-York 
should  refer  to  this  act.  But  such  has  not  been  the  case,  and  various 
acts  affecting  the  city  have  been  since  passed  without  any  special  ref- 
erence to  the  consolidation  act  of  1882.  Curiously  enough,  the  an- 
cient royal  charter  known  as  the  Montgomerie  Charter  of  1730,  in  so 
far  as  it  has  not  been  swept  away  by  inconsistent  legislative  enact- 
ment, remains  in  force,  having  never  been  expressly  repealed.  Thus, 
though  the  nature  of  the  city  government  in  most  of  its  administra- 
tive features  has  completely  changed,  that  feature  of  the  Dongan 
Charter  which,  in  the  year  1686,  vested  the  powers  of  local  government 

1  Chapter  122,  Laws  of  1830.  5  Chapters  594  and  595,  Laws  of  1880. 

2  Chapter  335,  Laws  of  New-York.  «  Chapter  537. 

3  Chapter  411.  7  Chapter  410,  Laws  of  1882. 

4  Chapter  304. 


660  HISTORY    OF    NEW-YORK 

in  a  mayor,  alderman,  and  commonalty,  exists  at  the  present  time. 
Notwithstanding  the  many  changes  introduced  by  the  legislature  in 
the  present  century,  the  skeleton  of  the  city  government  possesses 
a  very  considerable  antiquity.  To  give  in  detail  the  nature  of  the 
changes  actually  instituted  would  exceed  the  limits  prescribed  for  a 
mere  outline,  and  has  not  been  attempted. 

lu  conclusion,  it  may  be  remarked  that  in  the  State  of  New-York 
popular  sovereignty,  which  attained  its  highest  phase  under  the  State 
constitution  of  1846,  has  been  developed  somewhat  differently  from 
that  in  the  other  original  States,  where  it  was  often  observable,  even 
before  the  war  of  independence,  in  town  and  city  governments. 
But  in  the  city  of  New- York,  down  to  the  war  of  independence,  the 
crown  government  exercised  unusual  influence  and  authority.  After 
the  American  Revolution  the  State  government  succeeded  to  this 
power  over  the  city  government.  Not  until  1834  were  the  mayors 
of  this  city  elected  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  At  the  present 
time  the  old  legislative  powers  of  the  municipal  authorities  have 
almost  dwindled  into  insignificance,  having  been  largely  assumed 
by  the  legislature  of  the  State,  so  that  the  measure  of  freedom  now 
enjoyed  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  city  is  determined,  not  by  the 
history  and  the  laws  of  the  city  itself,  but  by  those  of  the  State, 
although  the  history  of  the  city  long  antedates  that  of  the  State. 
Hy  a  change  instituted  in  the  State  constitution  of  1846,  restoring 
to  the  clergy  eligibility  for  public  oflSce,  and  by  the  fifteenth  amend- 
ment to  the  federal  constitution,  forbidding  any  State  to  abridge 
the  right  to  vote  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition 
of  servitude,  the  political  equality  of  all  citizens  of  the  State  is  abso- 
lute. Notwithstanding  the  annual  introduction  into  the  State  and 
city  of  a  large  number  of  persons  of  foreign  birth,  wise  naturaliza- 
tion laws  have  incorporated  most  of  them  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
body  politic,  so  that  they  too  are  amenable  to  the  same  laws  and 
X>ossess  the  same  rights  as  the  descendants  of  the  original  settlers, 
thus  avoiding  many  complications  peculiar  to  those  mixed  States 
w  here  extensive  consular  jurisdictions  are  recognized.  By  the  four- 
teenth amendment  to  the  federal  constitution  the  children  of  for- 
eigners, if  born  in  the  United  States,  are  citizens  of  the  State  where 
they  reside.  Thus  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New- York 
are  citizens,  and  all  citizens  possess  precisely  the  same  rights  and  are 
subject  to  the  same  law.  Under  such  conditions  there  is  happily  no 
excuse  for  political  discontent.  The  object  of  the  founders  of  the 
State  has  been  in  this  respect  fully  consummated.  Yet  to  assert  that 
the  condition  of  the  law  and  the  constitution  is  perfect  would  be  an 
exaggeration ;  but  the  assertion  that  there  has  been  and  is,  on  the 
whole,  a  steady  and  healthy  growth  of  law  and  liberty  here,  would 
be  one  which  few  will  deny. 


TABLE    OF    DATES    IN    NEW- YORK    HISTORY 


1784  -  February  7,  James  Duane  appointed  Mayor.    First  American 

city  government  organized.  Chamber  of  Commerce  (founded 
in  1768)  incorporated.  Custom-house  established.  Congress 
removed  from  Philadelphia  to  New- York. 

1785  General   Society  of   Mechanics  and  Tradesmen  established. 

Philanthropic  and  other  societies  organized,  including  the 
Society  for  the  Manumission  of  Slaves.  Petition  to  legisla- 
ture to  regulate  trade. 

1786  Rebuilding  of  the  city  pushed  rapidly. 

1787  Mutual  Fire  Assurance  Company  organized.    October  27,  first 

number  of  the  "  Federalist^  papers  published. 
1788 -April  13,  Doctors'  riot.    Procession  in  honor  of  adoption  of 
Constitution  by  ten  States.    August  21,  corner-stone  laid  of 
new  Trinity  Church  building. 

1789  -  February  2,  Corporation   authorized   to  raise  ten  thousand 

pounds  by  taxation,  for  the  poor,  the  street  improvements, 
the  bridewell,  watchmen,  and  street  lamps.  March  4,  First 
Congress  assembled  in  New- York.  April  30,  Washington's 
inauguration  as  first  President  of  the  United  States,  at 
Federal  Hall.  New  Federal  Constitution  ratified.  May  13, 
first  meeting  of  the  Tammany  Society. 

1790  -  July  5,  grand  celebration  of  Independence  Day. 

1791  -  March  21,  Bank  of  New- York  incorporated. 

1792  -  October  12,  celebration  of  the  third  centenary  of  the  discovery 

of  America.  Contest  between  Clinton  and  Jay  for  governor- 
ship.   Tontine  Coffee  House  built. 

1793  -  December  9,  first  issue  of  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser,^  then 

called  "  The  Minerva." 
1795    Visitation  of  yellow  fever.    The  Park  Theater  erected.    Society 
Library  opens  its  first  building. 

1798  State  capital  removed  to  Albany.    Second  visitation  of  yellow 

fever.    The  Park  Theater  opened. 

1799  Slaves  set  free.     Manhattan  Company  chartered  to  supply 

water  to  the  city. 
1801  -  November  16,  New- York  "  Evening  Post "  first  issued. 


681 


662  TABLE    OF    DATES    IN    NEW-YOBK    HISTOBT 

1803  CornerHstone  laid  of  the  present  City  HalL 

1804  Hackney-coaches  first  licensed.    July  11,  Hamilton-Burr  duel 

November  20,  New-York  Historical  Society  founded. 

1806  -  March  15,  New- York  Orphan  Asylum  Society  organized.    May 

19,  first  Free  School  opened. 

1807  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  organized.    August  11, 

Fulton's  steamboat  Clermont  makes  first  trip  to  Albany  in 
thirty-two  hours,  returning  in  thirty  hours.  City  surveyed 
and  laid  out  by  Gouverneur  Morris,  DeWitt  Clinton,  and 
others.    December,  the  Embargo  Act  passed. 

1808  American  Academy  of  Fine  Arts  incorporated. 

1809  New- York  Historical  Society  celebrated  the  two-hundredth  an- 

niversary of  the  discovery  of  Manhattan  Island  by  Henry 
Hudson.    First  woolen-mills  established  in  New-York. 

1811  -  May  19,  nearly  one  hundred  buildings  destroyed  by  fire. 

1812  War  with  England  declared.    Present  City  Hall  completed. 

First  steam  ferry  to  Jersey  City.  New- York  blockaded  by  a 
British  fleet,  1812-14. 

1814  Suspension  of  specie  payments,  continuing  until  July,  1817. 

1815  -  February  14,  news  of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  peace  at 

Ghent  (December  24, 1814)  reaches  New- York. 

1816  American  Bible  Society  formed. 

1817  -  February,  intense  cold ;  Hudson  Eiver  frozen  over,  and  people 

crossed  to  New  Jersey  on  the  ice. 

1818  Another  severe  winter ;  Long  Island  Sound  entirely  closed  by 

ice.    July  8,  General  Montgomery's  remains  reach  New- York, 
and  are  deposited  in  St.  Paul's  Church. 
1820 -May  25,  burning   of   the  old    Park   Theater.      Apprentices' 
Library  founded. 

1821  Mercantile  Library  founded. 

1822  -  August,  visitation  of  yellow  fever.    Castle  Q-arden  ceded  to  the 

city  by  the  United  States. 

1824  -  August,  General  Lafayette  revisits  the  city. 

1825  Gas  first  introduced.    November  4,  celebration  of  completion 

of  the  Erie  Canal. 

1830  First  stage  line  begins,  from  Bowling  Green  to  Bleecker  street 

Manhattan  Gas-light  Company  organized. 

1831  University  of  City  of  New- York  founded.    The  Leake   and 

Watts  Orphan  Asylum  established. 

1832  First  horse-railroad  in  the  world  (the  New- York  and  Harlem 

Eailroad  Company's)  opened  to  travel.  University  of  New- 
York  organized.    First  appearance  of  Asiatic  cholera. 

1833  New- York  "  Sun  "  established  by  Benjamin  H.  Day.    June  12, 

President  Jackson  visits  the  city,  and  is  publicly  received. 


TABLE    OF    DATES    IN    NEW-YORK    HISTORY  663 

1834  -  April  10,  Election  riot.  July,  Abolition  riot.  Mayoralty  made 
an  elective  office. 

1835 -June,  Five  Points  riot.  August,  Stone-cutters'  riot.  "New- 
York  Herald  ^  established  by  James  Gordon  Bennett.  De- 
cember, great  fire,  lasting  nearly  three  days. 

1836  Union  Club  formed.    Union  Theological  Seminary  founded. 

1837  -  February  10,  Bread  and  Flour  riot.     Great  financial  panic 

throughout  the  countiy.  May  10,  suspension  of  all  the  New- 
York  city  banks.*   October  24,  Fourth  Avenue  Tunnel  opened. 

1838 -May  10,  city  banks  resume  specie  payments.  The  Bank  of 
Commerce  established. 

1840    The  "New-York  Tribune"  founded  by  Horace  Greeley. 

1842  All  property  qualifications  for  city  voters  abolished.  October 
14,  celebration  of  the  completion  of  the  Croton  Aqueduct. 
Common-school  system  of  the  State  extended  to  New- York 
city  by  legislative  act. 

1844  Municipal  Police  Act  passed  by  legislature.    Anti-rent  riot. 

1845  -  July  19,  disastrous  fire ;  300  buildings  destroyed. 

1848  The  Astor  Library  founded  by  John  Jacob  Astor. 

1849  -  May  10,  the  Astor  Place  riot. 

1851  The  "  New- York  Times  "  founded  by  Henry  J.  Raymond.  The 
Hungarian  patriot,  Kossuth,  visits  New- York.  The  Erie 
Railway  opened  from  this  city  to  Dunkirk.  The  Nicaragua 
route  opened  between  New- York  and  San  Francisco. 

1853  World's  Fair  held  in  the  Ciystal  Palace  (site  of  Bryant  Park), 
Sixth  Avenue  and  Forty-Second  street.  Children's  Aid  So- 
ciety founded.    Yellow  fever  in  the  city. 

1856  Site  of  Central  Park  purchased  for  about  five  and  a  half  mil- 

lions of  dollars. 

1857  Metropolitan  Police  Act  passed.    October  14-15,  financial  cri- 

sis ;  banks  suspend.  December  12  -14,  banks  resume  specie 
payments. 

1858  Atlantic  cable  laid.     Corner-stone  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral 

laid. 

1860  Japanese  Embassy  arrives.    New- York  "  World "  founded  by 

Manton  Marble.  June  28,  steamship  Great  Eastern  reaches 
the  city.  Prince  of  Wales  visits  New- York.  South  Carolina 
secedes  from  the  Union. 

1861  -  April  12-13,  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter.    April  19,  depar- 

ture of  Seventh  Regiment  for  Washington.   The  banks  of  the 
city  suspend  specie  payments. 
1863  -  July  13-15,  anti-draft  riots  in  the  city ;  violent  attacks  on  the 
negroes ;  many  rioters  killed.    October,  corner-stone  laid  of 
New- York  Academy  of  Design. 


664  TABLE    OF    DATES    IN    NEW- YORK    HI8T0BY 

1864  New-York  Sanitary  Commission's  Fair  held,  realizing  over  a 

million  dollars.  July  16,  gold  reaches  highest  premium,  viz^ 
284  per  cent. 

1865  -  April  9,  surrender  of  General  Lee.    April  14,  assassination  of 

President  Lincoln  at  Washington. 

1866  Atlantic  cable  successfully  completed.    Queen  Emma  of  the 

Sandwich  Islands  visits  the  city. 

1869  -  September  24  ("  Black  Friday"),  disastrous  financial  panic. 

1870  -  September  30,  funeral  of  Admiral  Farragut. 

1871  -  July  12,  the  Orange  riot.    Visit  of  Grand  Duke  Alexis. 

1872  Tweed  Ring  broken  up  and  the  leaders  imprisoned. 

1876  -  July  4,  celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  American  Indei)en- 

dence.  September  24,  Hallett's  Point  obstructions  at  Hell 
Gate  blown  up.    Visit  of  Emperor  of  Brazil. 

1877  -  May  16,  unveiling  in  Central  Park  of  a  bronze  statue  of  Fitz- 

Greene  Halleck,  the  first  erected  in  the  New  World  to  a  poet. 
July  23  -  27,  labor  riots  and  railroad  strikes. 

1878  The  Chinese  Embassy  visits  the  city.    December  17,  gold  sold 

at  par,  the  first  time  since  1862. 

1883  -  May  24,  the  East  River  Bridge  opened  for  travel. 

1884  Panic  in  Wall  street.     Suspension  of  Marine  Bank.     Greely 

relief  steamers  Bear  and  Thetis  leave  New- York. 

1885  Special-delivery  system  inaugurated  in  the  post-office.     Flood 

Eock  blown  up.    August  8,  funeral  of  General  Grant. 

1886  Senate  passes  bill  appropriating  $250,000  toward  erecting  the 

Grant  monument  at  Riverside.  Bartholdi  statue  unveiled 
in  New- York  Harbor. 

1889  -  April  30,  celebration  in  New- York  city  of  the  one-hundredth 

anniversary  of  Washington's  presidential  inauguration. 

1890  -  February  4,  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  United  States 

Supreme  Court  celebrated  in  the  city. 

1891  -  January  29,  sudden  death  of  William  Windom,  United  States 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  at  a  banquet  at  Delmonico's. 
February  19,  Funeral  of  General  Sherman. 

1892  -  October  10,  11,  and  12,  grand  Columbian  celebration  in  New- 

York  city,  in  honor  of  four-hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
discovery  of  America  by  Christopher  Columbus.  December 
27,  corner-stone  laid  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  the  Divine,  with  impressive  ceremonial. 

A  carefully  prepared  index  to  the  complete  work  will  appear  in  the  fourth  volume. 

END    OF    VOLUME    m. 


PUBLISHERS'  ANNOUNCEMENT 

OF 

The  Memorial  History  of  the  City  of  New- York, 

From  the  earliest  settlements  on  Manhattan  Island  to  the  year  1892, 
inclusive,  the  four-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  America 
by  Columbus,  edited  by  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson,  assisted  on  the 
cooperative  plan  by  a  corps  of  able  writers  who  prepare  chapters  on 
periods  or  departments  in  the  history  and  life  of  the  city  to  which 
they  have  given  special  study.  To  be  illustrated  by  portraits  and 
autographs  of  prominent  personages,  also  by  fac-similes  of  important 
and  rare  documents,  and  by  maps,  views  of  historic  scenes  and 
houses,  tombs,  statues  and  monuments,  executed  in  the  handsomest 
manner,  and  numbering  more  than  one  thousand,  including  several 
hundred  vignettes  by  Jacques  Reich,  the  accomplished  artist  who 
contributed  above  a  thousand  portraits  to  General  Wilson's  "  Cyclo- 
paedia of  American  Biography  ^  and  other  valuable  works. 

No  time  seems  more  appropriate  than  the  present  for  placing  before 
the  American  public  a  work  like  this,  which  shall  utilize  the  abundant 
original  material  bearing  on  the  histoiy  of  the  metropolis  that  has 
come  to  light  since  the  last  important  history  of  the  city  was  pub- 
lished in  1878,  and  which  combines  the  united  researches  of  several 
writers  in  their  chosen  and  lifelong  fields  of  inquiry.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  publishers  do  not  hesitate  to  commend  the  present 
work  to  the  scholar  and  to  the  general  reader  as  a  trustworthy  source 
for  the  latest  and  most  accurate  historical  information. 

The  Memorial  History  of  the  City  of  New- York  will  be  completed 
in  four  volumes,  royal  octavo,  of  above  600  pages  each.  The  first 
volume  was  published  in  the  autumn  of  1891;  the  second  volume 
appeared  in  the  summer  of  1892,  and  the  third  volume  in  February, 
1893;  the  entire  work  to  be  completed  by  the  publication  of  the 
fourth  volume  in  May,  1893. 

Volume  I 

Embraces  the  events  falling  within  the  seventeenth  century,  beginning 
with  the  discovery  of  Manhattan  Island  and  its  earliest  colonization 
by  the  Dutch. 


Volume  H 

Covers  the  events  of  the  eighteenth  century  down  to  the  year  1783, 
thus  including  the  momentous  period  of  the  Revolution,  during  the 
whole  course  of  which  the  position  of  our  metropolis  was  a  unique 
and  trying  one.  This  has  been  fully  set  forth  by  the  military  writer 
on  this  period,  and  has  also  been  most  copiously  illustrated. 


Volume  in 

Takes  up  the  history  of  the  city  when  it  became  a  part  of  a  free 
Republic,  and  treats  of  the  nineteenth  century,  bringing  the  account 
down  to  our  own  day,  and  telling  the  story  of  the  city's  marvelous 
progress  and  rapid  growth  until  it  has  reached  the  magnificent 
metropolitan  proportions  of  the  memorial  year  of  1892. 


Volume  IV 

Will  contain  exhaustive  monographs  and  interesting  accounts  of 
special  departments,  such  as  Arts  and  Sciences,  Hospitals  and  other 
Charities,  Churches,  Commercial  and  Literary  Associations  and  So- 
cieties, Libraries,  Seats  of  Learning,  Clubs,  Theaters,  Museums, 
Music,  Magazines  and  Newspapers,  Coins  and  Currency,  Central 
Park,  Q-ovemor's  Island,  Brooklyn,  Staten  Island,  and  other  suburbs. 
Statues  and  Monuments,  the  Military,  Navy-yard,  Shipping,  Yachts, 
Notes  on  Portraits  and  other  Illustrations,  Bibliography,  and  an 
extended  article  by  the  Editor  on  the  Authors  of  New- York,  pro- 
fusely illustrated  with  beautiful  vignette  portraits. 

THE    NEW-YOEK    HISTOEY   COMPANY, 

132  Nassau  Street,  New- York. 


PEESS  AND  PRIVATE  INDORSEMENTS 

The  reception  accorded  the  "  Memorial  History  of  the  City  of  New-York'* 
by  the  press  has  been  highly  flattering.  It  has  been  universally  commended 
for  its  historical  accuracy,  literary  excellence,  artistic  illustrations,  and  general 
mechanical  execution.  The  following  commendatory  expressions  from  leading 
journals  and  personages  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  the  work  has  evoked : 

"  We  can  cordially  recommend  these  volmnes  to  all  lovers  of  history." — Chicago  Herald, 

**No  history  of  an  American  city  has  ever  embraced  nearly  so  much  valuable 
material." — Brooklyn  Eagle, 

"An  elaborate  and  valuable  work,  superbly  prepared.  It  will  be  a  permanent 
Hterary  treasure." — The  Observer, 

"  A  comprehensive  and  scholarly  history  of  the  city  by  well-known  historians  and 
antiquarians." — Publishers^  Weekly. 

**  A  literary  gem  of  high  order,  by  eminent  scholars  and  historical  writers,  that  to 
our  knowledge  has  not  its  peer  upon  American  soil." — Christian  Union, 

**  We  are  at  last  to  have  a  narrative  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  American 
meti'opolis  worthy  of  the  theme  in  respect  of  exhaustive,  luminous  and  trustworthy 
treatment." — Literary  News, 

"  A  magnificent  work.  .  .  .  The  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  pains- 
taking editor  of  these  volumes  for  putting  in  such  interesting  form  all  these  valuable 
materials." — Christian  at  Work. 

**  It  has  been  reserved  for  Gen.  Wilson  to  prepare,  with  the  aid  of  experienced 
writers  and  specialists,  what  is  Ukely  to  survive  as  the  only  standard  and  compre- 
hensive history  of  New- York  City." — Jewish  Messetiger, 

"  This  history  exhibits  the  story  of  New- York  in  the  light  of  the  latest  researches. 
The  pages  bristle  with  dates  and  foot-notes,  and  everywhere  the  reader  finds  evidence 
that  all  the  reliable  sources  have  been  thoroughly  ransacked." — The  Churchman, 

"The  local  importance  alone  of  this  superb  undertaking  lifts  it  above  the  ordinary 
field  of  mere  *  book  notices.'  .  .  .  It  is  as  perfect  as  the  printer,  artist,  and  engraver 
can  make  it,  and  a  credit  and  honor  to  the  city  of  New- York." — New- York  Advertiser, 

"  The  leading  city  of  the  Union  is  to  have  a  history  worthy  its  preeminence,  .  .  . 
being  supplied  in  this  monumental  work.  It  is  of  a  high  hterary  as  well  as  historical 
merit,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  of  surpassing  value  and  interest." — Chnstian  Intelligencer, 

"  Everything  pertaining  to  the  history  of  New- York  is  chronicled  in  these  voliunes. 
.  .  .  Gen.  Wilson  has  displayed  remarkable  tact  in  the  management  of  this  immense 
work.  It  will  be  welcomed  by  the  citizens  of  the  country  generally." — New-York  World, 

^^  The  plan  of  making  a  continuous  history  of  essays  on  successive  periods  and 
epochs  will  be  cordially  approved  by  such  readers  as  desire  history  instead  of  mere 
annals.  .  .  .  All  New-Yorkers  with  any  local  pride  in  them  will  want  to  own  this 
work." — New-  York  Herald, 

"  Many  scarce  and  early  portraits,  maps,  and  views,  never  before  pubUshed,  have 
been  engraved  for  this  work,  and  it  has  been  beautifully  printed  from  large  type  on  a 
fine  quahty  of  paper.  The  care  which  the  contributors  have  taken  is  obvious  and 
commendable." — New-  York  Times. 

^^  Among  the  publications  this  season  the  palm  for  real  value  must  be  given  to  the 
work  edited  by  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson.  ...  No  New- Yorker  with  any  affection 
for  his  native  town  or  the  city  of  his  adoption  should  fail  to  subscribe  for  this  master- 
work." — The  American  Hebrew. 


PRESS    AND    PRIVATE    INDORSEMENTS 

''  The  city  that  carries  the  keys  of  the  continent  at  her  g^irdle,  has  her  seat  on  the 
site  most  favored  of  nature  within  the  bounds  of  the  Republic,  and  withal  numbers 
more  years  than  make  a  quarter  of  a  millennium,  is  having  her  annals  fitly  costumed 
by  masters  of  the  *  art  preservative.' " — The  CriHc. 

"  After  a  careful  reading  we  unhesitatingly  pronounce  it  in  every  respect  a  superior 
work  and  a  valuable  addition  to  American  history.  In  wealth  of  illustrations,  in  ac- 
curacy of  its  historical  statements,  and  in  the  high  standard  of  literary  excellence  main- 
tained throughout,  it  is  unequaled  by  any  publication  of  its  kind." — National  Mct^azine, 

''  Nothing  has  been  neglected  to  produce  a  book  of  the  greatest  beauty  and  sub- 
stantial usefulness.  .  .  .  We  note  a  valuable  historic  series  of  original  documents 
recently  obtained  in  Holland,  and  which  appear  in  fac-simile  in  the  present  volume. 
The  illustrative  merits  of  these  volumes  are  very  striking.  They  will  be  as  useful  as  a 
museum  of  well-chosen  and  systematic  illustrations." — The  Independent. 

"  The  history  of  New- York  during  the  Colonial,  Revolutionary,  and  Constitutional 
periods  must  always  have  an  interest  for  Americans  who  would  understand  aright  the 
genesis  and  growth  of  the  Republic,  and  especially  for  citizens  of  the  Western  States, 
in  view  of  the  marked  influence  exerted  by  our  City  and  State  upon  their  legislative, 
constitutional,  and  judicial  progress.  Perhaps  no  city  of  its  age,  ancient  or  modem, 
conveys  lessons  of  higher  example  or  of  graver  warning;  and  this  memorial  work 
justifies  Carlyle's  remark  that  ^  history  is  the  essence  of  innumerable  biographies,  .  .  . 
philosophy  teaching  by  experience.' " — John  Jay. 

"  Of  the  books  called  forth  by  the  approaching  celebration  of  the  discovery  of  the 
New  World,  none  will  commend  itself  more  strongly  than  the  *  Memorial  History  of 
the  City  of  New-York.'  There  has  been  during  the  present  century,  and  even  in 
recent  years,  no  lack  of  attempts  to  describe  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  American 
metropolis,  but  none  has  been  made  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  importance 
of  the  subject,  nor  have  the  methods  and  results  of  inquiry  conformed  to  the  high 
standards  of  modem  historical  research.  The  work  planned  and  edited  by  Gen.  James 
Grant  Wilson  was  undertaken  on  the  cooperative  system,  which  has  been  applied  so 
successfully  by  Mr.  Justin  Winsor  to  the  general  history  of  the  North  American 
continent.  That  is  to  say,  the  exposition  of  particular  branches  of  the  subject  has 
been  confided  to  men  specially  qualified  by  their  studies  to  speak  with  authority.'' — 
(Extract  from  a  six-column  review  in  the  New-York  Sun,  written  by  Mr.  M.  W. 
Haseltine.) 

"  No  pains  or  expense  have  been  spared  in  the  preparation  of  this  work.  It  is 
printed  on  heavy  paper  in  large  type,  and  is  illustrated  with  fine  steel  full-page  en- 
gravings, hundreds  of  woodcuts  in  the  text,  and  a  large  number  of  fac-similes,  maps, 
and  plans.  Many  of  these  fac-similes,  and  many  also  of  the  historical  documents 
which  appear  in  the  work,  are  now  published  for  the  first  time.  The  archives  of 
Holland  have  been  ransacked  to  furnish  new  material  for  the  history  of  the  Dutch 
occupation.  ...  At  such  a  distance  in  time,  and  after  so  many  laborious  inquests  as 
have  been  made  into  the  beginnings  of  New- York,  it  might  be  thought  that  the  last 
word  must  have  been  said  on  every  really  important  event  and  question.  But  this  is 
not  the  case.  The  researches  of  General  Wilson  and  his  contributors  have  resulted  in 
the  discovery  of  much  new  evidence  materially  affecting  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn 
in  several  matters  of  consequence,  so  that  an  element  of  novelty  enters  into  this  historj* 
which  differentiates  it  from  all  its  predecessors.  ...  In  short,  the  Memorial  HistorN* 
has  been  written  and  made  mechanically  in  the  most  careful  and  thorough  manner, 
and  it  gives  conclusive  evidence  that  it  is  to  be  a  monumental  work,  and  standard." — 
NetC'York  Inbune. 


«   Jr 


3  bios  007  35li  731 


G 


STANFORD  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

STANFORD  AUXILIARY  LIBRARY 

STANFORD,  CALIFORNIA  94305-6004 

(415)  723-9201 
All  books  may  be  recalled  ofter  7  days 


DATE   DUE 


fK,     Jt^l^'Ol^-