Class. 
 
 Book- 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
HISTORY 
 
 CITY OF NEW YO.RK 
 
 MAEY L. BOOTH 
 
 TRiSSLATO OF " JIAKTLN'S HISTORY OF mANCE," ETC. 
 
 ILL LIST RAT ED 
 
 > 
 
 NEW YOKK 
 E. p. BUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 713 BROADWAY 
 
 1880 
 
 T 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlic year 186T, 
 
 Br W. R. C. CLARK. 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of tlie District Court of (he United States for the Southern District 
 
 of New York. 
 
 Copyright 
 
 isai 
 
 Bt E. p. button & CO. 
 
 ^n 
 
THE MERCHANTS OE THE CITY OF XEW YORK, 
 
 WHO, CHEEKFULLT SACRIFICING TUEIR INTEREST TD THAT OP 
 
 THEIR COUSTRY 
 IN THE REVOLUTION, 
 
 WERE THE FIRST TO PROPOSE A ^"O^•■I^•TERC0URSE ACT— THE LAST 
 
 TO RENOUNCE IT, AND THE ONLY ONES TO MAINTAIN 
 
 IT IN\'IOLATE; 
 
 AND WHO, EY TUEIR ESEUGV AND ENTERPRISE, HAVE MADE THEIR CITV 
 AT THE PRESENT TIME 
 
 TLIE COMMERCIAL METROPOLIS OF THE WESTERN WORLD, 
 
 ® In s Stl r k is Inscribe!), 
 
3 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Frequent demands for this popular History of the 
 City of New York, wliicli has for some time been out 
 of print, have led to the publication of a fresh edi- 
 tion, revised and brought down to date. This may in- 
 deed be regarded as substantially a new book, being for 
 the first time made accessible to the general public 
 through the regular trade channels, and moreover com- 
 prisiug the history of the last twelve eventful years 
 which, though seemingly within the memory of all the 
 world, will be found a convenient reference for most 
 who may endeavor to recall with precision even the 
 most prominent facts and dates. 
 
 At the time of its first appearance, this work was, as it 
 virtually remains to this day, the only complete Histoiy 
 of New York City extant. It had been the fashion to 
 tell the story of the metropolis in a series of fragment- 
 ary memoirs, full of personal reminiscences and enter- 
 taining gossip concerning leading families and familiar 
 landmarks, but these, while affording most valuable 
 material to the historian, were not history. To write a 
 narrative on this plan of the three centui"ies during 
 which the great city has grown from a hamlet of a few 
 ^vretched huts to its existing magnitude, would require 
 ponderous and costly tomes, and would be of interest, 
 moreover, chiefly to a favored few. 
 
 It has been the aim of the present work to eschew 
 this kind of personalities as far as possible, and to con- 
 fine itself to a record of the important events in the 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 Histoiy of New York City wliich are iuteresting to the 
 pul)lic at large. In the Ijegiuuing, when the histories 
 of the province and city are inseparable, this necessarily 
 includes the early settlements on the Long Island, New 
 Jersey and adjacent shores. Later, it is devoted more 
 especially to the city, retaining so much of the history 
 of the State as is necessary to preserve the outline of 
 events. Especial care has been used to collect the 
 incidents of the Revolution, in which the city bore so 
 prominent a part, and of the late Civil War. Great 
 pains have been taken to consult all accessible authori- 
 ties, and to verify facts and dates. In conformity with 
 the popular style of the book, references in the form of 
 foot-notes have been avoided. The author begs leave 
 to acknowledge the assistance received from the wi-itings 
 of Brodhead, Valentine, Hildreth, Bancroft, O'Callag- 
 hau, Dawson, Irving, Smith, Dunlap, Moultou, Leake, 
 Hardie, Watson, Horsmanden, Heckewelder, and many 
 others ; as well as the courtesies shown by the va- 
 rious city lil)rarians, and municipal and state officials. 
 In the pi'eparation of the new edition, especial thanks 
 are due the eminent historian, Benson J. Lossing, for 
 his excellent suggestions and careful revision of the 
 whole work. Cordial acknowledgments are also ten- 
 dered to Berthold Fernow, keeper of the State Records, 
 for valuable data from the colonial archives ; to the vari- 
 ous chroniclers of the Civil AVar ; to Charles F. Wingate's 
 "Episode in Municipal Government," in the North 
 American Review, and Samuel J. Tilden's "New York 
 City Ring " ; and to many who cannot be enumerated, 
 for much prized information. It is believed that the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 record wnll be found veracious, and that New Yorkers 
 will welcome this compact history of their city as a use- 
 ful addition to their libraiies. 
 
 In point of fact, New York belongs to the whole 
 country, as London does to England or Paris to France. 
 It is the metropolis of the United States, in which not 
 the citizens alone, but the whole people, from Maine to 
 Califoi'nia, are entitled to take interest. New York is 
 the American Mecca, toward which all eyes are turned. 
 There are few who have not a share in it, either 
 through themselves, their fi-iends, or their kindred. 
 The gay, fascinating to-wn has a strange attraction. 
 Those who have once tasted its delights leave it reluct- 
 antly, and long to return to it again. One might fancy 
 that like Rome, it has its Fountain of Trevi, whose 
 waters once drank are thirsted for ever after. And 
 if there is a grain of truth in the adage that no one but 
 Washington Irving was ever bom in New York — all 
 the rest came very young and stayed — then its citizens 
 being chiefly such by adoption, it possesses that cosmo- 
 politan element which is the essential feature of a true 
 metropolis. 
 
 However this may lie, it is cei"tain that NeAV^ York is 
 rich iu memories which are worthy of the most i-everent 
 respect, and which belong alike to all its inhal)itants, 
 but which are too often unheeded. Throngs of busy 
 citizens pass and repass the grave of Stuyvesant and the 
 tomb of Montgomery, ignorant of their locality; and 
 look Avith indifference on the Battery and Bowling 
 Green, teeming Avith reminiscences of the old Dutch 
 Colony days; and that cradle of liberty, the Park, 
 
C PREFACE. 
 
 where still may be seen one of the old prison houses of 
 the Revolution. In these things we are far more remiss 
 than our neighbors. Boston never forgets to celebrate 
 her tea party ; few New Yorkers even know that a 
 similar one was once held in their own harbor. Boston 
 proudly commemorates her "Massacre;" how many New 
 Yorkers are aware that two months previous to this 
 Ijrief affray, the eai-liest battle of the Revolution, lasting 
 two days, was fought in the streets of New York, on 
 Golden Hill, where the first blood was shed in the 
 cause of freedom ? 
 
 It is possible, however, that this indifference to local 
 memories is an exaggerated outgi'owth of the metropo- 
 litan spiiit, which tolerates nothing provincial, and in 
 its haste to press fonvard, never stops to look back 
 to the past. This is a pity, for an heroic history is a 
 stimulus to an equally worthy future. The philosophic 
 observer wiU note with pleasure that the iulluence 
 of the genial, kindly and tolerant spii'it of the Knicker- 
 Ijockers, mingled with the refinement and culture of 
 their English successors, still lingers in their adopted 
 city, and that the hearty welcome which New York 
 accords to strangers from all lands, making them feel 
 instantly at home, is the result of that happy mingling 
 of races which gave birth to the great American me- 
 tropolis. 
 
 If this record of the glorious past of New York 
 contributes in any way to inspu-e its peoj^le with a 
 deeper love for their city, it ■will serve the purpose for 
 which it was designed. 
 New York, 1880. MARY L. BOOTH. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 New York as it was— Aborigines of Manhatinn— Causes which led to the discovery of 
 the island— Eariy navigatois-Iliscovery of Manhattan by Henry HiKl-on-Laiidinir of 
 the lirst while mon-n.'nth ami hnrtil nf folman TTiuNiiii nlinii^ t" ll..l;,ii.l ii,„-nino- 
 of th.' fur trade— Fir-i Ihni-,.- hnili m, tlir i-land llnil.liii- ..f ■■ 'ri:- l:. ' ,. ■ "■ ■:i,ma- 
 tionof th,' \ew X.-ll,.aiaial 1 "iii|,Min A lltaii. ■■ vMih th- nai r, ■•- I',,,;,, ,, ,,, ,,,e 
 
 We>?t India Compaiiv -i mi ii..li..rii ,lar>.l,.(ii M:\ a].|i. .iiiir,l ih-! w, , ,,, A;iival of 
 
 the first colonwts-'I'lH' Wall --W illiaiii Xcrhlll-I ai.|»,n;,.,| .,, n rrtnr— <_)rgan- 
 
 ization of a I'r.iviiir lai i ;i)\.ruinrut — I^.-ter Minnit apiiMinf,.! !'!,<[: in-al of Kew 
 Netheriand-l'invlia-,' ..f ihr i-land nf Maiiliatian - l;uili;i_ -! 1.- Amsterdam — 
 The Patroc)n--l-'.iiil iiip,' ol the maminotli slu|. "Neu NnhrnnMl i, M miiaitan— Growth 
 of tilt coioiiy— It call of FeUr Minilit— His departure l.u H..naiMl. and sHbseqncnt 
 
 C H A r T E R I I 
 
 
 
 1633—1643. 
 
 jrival of Won 
 
 t.T Va 
 
 ri Tuiller-First clergvman ai 
 
 Ani-lri.|aii 
 
 ^1 
 
 i ; /M ■' ijranteil to Ilir . :> 
 
 BoL'a"). ■ 1 ' 
 
 W 
 
 .M iiN to Fort Oran-r .H' 
 
 Dirt- ' 1 
 
 
 - on the Coniucli 1 
 
 peter -. li- 11 
 Removal ,.l rh 
 
 n: ' < 
 
 1. i;iiud.-Piiri-lias>. of i 
 
 1' ^1 In 
 
 ail tV-.l ^I'arr'i, . <a' !■ ,, 
 
 Wilhelm Ki.f. 
 
 . Ill" 1 
 
 
 Liberal poiicv 
 
 -il lllr' 
 
 1 '< niij, inv .|hi < 'I .. . i!' 
 
 Settlement of 
 
 (ira\r- 
 
 -end -Tlie .Iaii-( a- ih [; r i. h 
 
 city — t'ity lots 
 
 -Tavc 
 
 ■rn built at l'o.-iiUt> Sli|')— C 
 
 -Ohmrh hiiilt 
 
 Seauaut curreucy (;3_]01 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1613—1664. 
 The Indian War r.ii^e. ulii.li ii„l,,, , ,1 ;■ Ma-,), ,■ ,.r n ,,•- 'i,nh.-r]r~< laililv 'ii.-iiii" in 
 
 New .\msteril im 'V ■ T '. : . M. \l -- . |. a I , ... . .' . . II .... I .. i,.,":, of 
 
 the war— The i|. i' K'. ii i a ..;..... .1 a.. . I,- \.i , , . -, I, .,,1 'ii I.... ,.|,,r— 
 
 A trace pi ! i;. ■• " , mI ■in a-- i a- l,.._ia M . a, ■ v. . \, and 
 
 StrirklaiiiV. r , a I .^ .; ma war-palisailas tliniiiL-a Wa.i i i bv 
 
 Kief' . a . ■ ■ .i i ■. . liaaver— Dissatisfaction of Ilia iia.i.i \l ' , IjL'h't 
 
 Men K - ;. iia-rt on— Petrns Stuvvcsant apii" a .■ - i airrel 
 
 betuaaa Ka i; iiai I- i.' nans— Arrival of Stuvvcsant— Miniaap a la-' in,- Minn and 
 Knylcr— >liiinvrcck ana ilaaih of ICieft and Bogardns— Coniicil nt Nine .Men cho-en by the 
 people — Firewardens appointed— Origin of theFire Department of New York— City 
 provements — Municipal government granted to Brenckclcu- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 fit Mmilmltan— First ftntltlmv! 
 
 i.. .i| tin- L.mg Island Firrv— I 
 
 : i,. Iiuliaiis attack fhciiiv- 
 
 , "Ik's iHiti-lit— Tlic EiiL.'lisli i 
 
 -Ui- buriul-iilacc— The old !?tiiv 
 
 >lip— Tuvasion threatened bj' the 
 •d to the city— Expedition against 
 id census— Projrress of the city — 
 -Surrender of the fort— Death of 
 
 C H A P T E E I Y . 
 1664— 1G;4. 
 
 Col. Eichard Nicnlls, Governor— The Nicolls Charter— City incorporated under a Mayor, 
 Aldermen, and slierill- Mavor Willett— The I.ntherans— War between England and Hol- 
 land— Fnrriti.atidii of ihe citv— Peace <>r I'.iei 
 
 of Nicol] 
 citv— Tlu 
 Holland- 
 
 ■ Netlierland ceded to England— Return 
 
 -Ne 
 
 eal gr; 
 M:ii d-\V: 
 
 ed to the 
 vith 
 
 I if t 
 
 r witchcraft- 
 .^ndin-. 
 rk, Nice 
 
 Dutch - 
 >f tlie Dutch form 
 t— Warlike prepa- 
 -I'reaty of peace— Final 
 'inor— The first council — 
 d Lawri'nce— New York, 
 156—174 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 107-1. 
 
 w Amsterdnin in the old Dutch colony times— Ilonses and furniture of the Burghers of New 
 Amsterdam— Carpets— Beds— Chests and cupboards— Chairs and tahles— Tea parties of New 
 Amsterdam— Clocks— Looking-glasses and pictures— Hearthstones of the Knickerbockers — 
 Planners and customs— Costimics of the early settlers- Church going— Early streets in the 
 citv— Social custo—s— Holidays— New Year's Day— Paas and Pinxter— Christmas— Santa 
 cuius 175—195 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 Sir Edmund Andros, Governor— Despotism of the Dnke of York— Expedition of Andros to 
 
 - - - '- -New citv ordinances established- Freedom of 
 
 .and — Im'pi-nvcnient of Urcind street- Stephanlis 
 
 iMii^r ii! ti,. fiiv Will. V "f tlie island of Man- 
 
 ::..;i..i-. Jill"!! 1.1 !i- . i I, V— Establishment 
 
 England— Nicholas de Me. 
 the citv-^Tavern rntes-The Sbomi 
 Van Corilandt, M:i-."r «.-, j. imiM 
 hattan— Franv" 
 
 of the First Adnm ii i i • " '. " -i- 
 
 Andros to Englami h." •" ;i ■ 
 
 lector of Customs uiKi svni i.. Lhl-miuI 1"i 
 Andros. and apiiointnu-nt of Cul. Tluiin.i- 
 under the English governincnt— Chaitc r if 
 into six wards- Monopoly of packing flmn , 
 citv— Aldermen and Coinicilmcn for the ili 
 veille. Mayor— Sncces-ion of the Dnke of Y 
 Persecution of the Jews— Powder ningaziui 
 granted to tlie citv— Citv Seal of l(18(i 
 proposed— Wall street laid out— Ind 
 
 assumes command of the jin 
 Mary to the throne 
 
 -Slepliann 
 
 affairs-lie 
 
 Revolution i 
 
 Mavor— Vii 
 
 :.i i! II" "I f'v "I III his office of Col- 
 
 ",". "II. ^" . iiv, >, K, Mayor— Recall of 
 
 i"".r I,,,, iii.i I 'opular Assembly 
 
 . Mil,,, "i ,1 1 :,,i,rs-Ciiy divided 
 
 I, ■ I. , ,"i t"i . \|."ii"iiiiu granted to the 
 ,1,1 1, il In III.- jui.iile-Gabrielle Min- 
 Ihe throne— Nicholas P.ayard, Mayor— 
 iflu-il in the citv— The Dongan Charter 
 - \an Corilandt, Mavor— Water street 
 call of Dongan— Sir Ji^ancis Nicholson 
 n England— Accession of William and 
 . 196— S18 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1G80— 1G92. 
 
 Dissension between the ofiiclals and the people— .Jacob Leisler chosen as the i)optdar leader- 
 Seizure of the fort by the Leislerian partv— Committee of Safety apiiointcd— seizure of the 
 Custom House- Impotent resistance of iNidiolsou and his party— Flight of Nicholson to 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 England— Lei ^I'T mpihhih. .' r.,,irM ,,,'1. i-m < In-! r-ir hI-'mm.^h ..f i)i,. rip.- Pi.i-;' 1 1. hmoy. 
 Mayor— Twn hi. i ■■ l. .. |: ,,,,,. :■.■ , ■, \ ■ ■ i. w.,:..!::!,. i;,.r:h- 
 
 ern frontier- i" ;>■■!.■■■'!■., \| ■.. ; ,,, ,> \ :■ im', m ■ , .■, ■ ',-■■.' ..n- it ! .n^laiid^ 
 
 Leisler asj-iiiu'- ili.' ';' i. ■.' l, ' ■ ■ ■ \: <■ , ;: ,■■■ ^l ,- -.n , ■ .m --. Ii..in.'c- 
 tady— Lcisler ;u.-kiKnvlfdi;fd Im ;■ \ ,: i ■ I ; , - , ■ , ii,;. ^Lmirh- 
 ter appointed Governor— An i\ 1 1 -I Mi;.: In .i' I:, n , ; I - i i. i the 
 fort- Arrival of Sloughter— 1 1 1 - i | . i 1 1 , , ■ i i : i , \ ~ i 1 > i and 
 Mil borne — John Lawrence ai-jM.: ii;.^ \i.i\ n;- l": i.ii > >i" i In' !'■ i-i iip'! - i;\' . ni h .ri . ii l.i-ij-Ier 
 and Milbnrne— Subseoiient reversal ot rlie act nf attainder— A-s.-mbly nt KJ'.il— Sujueme 
 Court instituted- Abranam De Peyster. Mayor— Pine and Cedar streets "laid out- Support of 
 public paupers assumed by the city— South Dutch Church built in Garden t^treet- Death of 
 Sloughter 21U— 345 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 Benjamin riclchor, Cnvnin.r f, ',„■■■■ lu tiy f r,,,, ,' TiT'Tni,..! iv|irnl nf the noltins Act- 
 n>itiMri .. ' ,. l; ;, I ■ I |,nl\ Fir-t nrwspapiT est:lb 
 
 lislu'd i 
 the prii 
 of tlir. 
 appoiiil 
 
 dUilil. ,1 . I.... . .1 .:; .: i.. ■.-..■ L,,..,i - ..., .;r 1 . A,,, •,- Dolt- 
 ins A. I I) i.il l'i..,>.-l, .M,r..,i :\>'/ ■>.; ,..:i^. .-Il.^p.i.il 1.11 l.,,;i|" i- ■ •;, -lirilin 
 
 the tin -l.i;i-i> -r ll.r Ifirv -FiTiv i I- , , p. UiuuK-r, 3Iayur-\i-r ..f 11. , ,.iitto 
 
 Boston -Hi- .Icalhaiul liiirial in tlh ., ■■ fort— John Nanfiiii. l.i. :in i, :,tii (Jov- 
 
 ernor-Urni.nal iiHil Impreachment ..I I; i I,, , muston— The Noell •■].'.:,..:, Ai:rstof 
 
 Bavard— Arri\;il ot Lord Cornbury a.~ ti^.uiii.u, and :;Ubsequent chau:,'<- lu itiu a^pi-tt of 
 affairs ;J4tt— 268 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Character and antecedents of Combnrv — nis instructions from Queen Anne— Indian Laws— 
 Marliet for Siaves in Wall strei-t-Difflcultius witli tlie negroes— Reception of Coniliurv l)y 
 the Corporation— Fir-i I n . -i iiii:a it -.!i,,m1 r.ral)li -lied in tlie City— Yellow fever in \ew 
 Yorli— Panic amonu' ilh . i: - i: ]ii..\ li ni roniipurv tu Jaiiiaica— Keiisiims per-enition— 
 Trinity Cemetery don ii-l " 'ii iiui. !i -['iir. ha--' F)v Trinity cluin-h of die property 
 
 of Anelce Jans— War jm- 1 i:!.i ■'. _ mi-i Fi.n •■ md >paiii-F"rlili.ati r Ihrciiv-Poll 
 
 tax instituted — Assemltly of i; i . 1 1. ^|. .■ i~im a ' -: n'ia; \ la-ii-i i i- [i. t - : a: a >ii and im- 
 prisonment of the clergy — Hi- r i i ' I'iol;- 
 
 ress of the city— Philip Freiia I i , a> ■ ' i , ; i air in 
 
 Pine street by the Huguenot> ^ia;i,iii. i. .. i la^ iia^^a-aa i - .ai "-la*. n l-,aiai I.'.- a . a j)ri- 
 vateersmen— Ebenezer Wilson, ^I lya ['an idwav paved for the Hi-i tiiii' — Naw f. ii y lease 
 granted to James Harding — .\rrival of Lord Lovelace as Governor— Conduct of the .Assem- 
 bly—Death of the Governor— (ierardiis I'.eiknian at the head of aSairs— lioherr Hunter, Gov- 
 ernor— Commencement of German immiurilion- The Palatine- — Liith.'iaii ilmnli built m 
 
 Broadway— Lewis Morris of Morrisania-Hostile e.\p,alii uaa-t r.inada Fii-t negro 
 
 plot in the city— Peace of L'trecht—Conte-t heiweeii 111- i- la \ -mdiK In-itution 
 
 of aCourt of ChaneiTV- Return of Ilnnter lo Kii-laiid '. . . anai-i.i.d ii.l'.-ter 
 
 Schuyler— .Jacobus Van Ciirll.indt, Mav.>r--Progcs- of ila . n , \Faa ijaal ooini: - iif the 
 
 administration of Hnni. ■ i , '- Ibalhcote. Mavor-lli- In-naa .md ant.r,driii--Alms 
 
 House and House .d' 1, .' i,.,l in lli.^ Ooinnion .lame- .Tolin-lnii, \I:ua.r-Flrst 
 
 public clock in the ■ ■ !'a a .nan rhiurll ereeted ill Wall -treel-Fn-t rapewalk 
 built in Broadway— da ,aai- \ ,i, c.nlalidl, . Mayor-Arrival ..f William liiirnel a- Gov- 
 
10 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Marriage of th'^ On 
 
 afEiiirs— (ihiiK-r- .v 
 
 of the cir ■ 
 
 enterpri" 
 street— <■" I ' : i 
 — Rnlicrl W.i.i. - 
 
 1720—1732. 
 
 nor to n hwlv of New York— Debut of f'a(h\alla(ler Colden in political 
 
 ■i:^- .Ml the iinrtliiTii niicl\ve>trrn fv"iiiii'i-—l'olicy of Buniet— Abolition 
 
 ■ ! !>;.;. - 11 .,f I lie infr'lnM t-- -( ipi iiitiL' i>t' tlic fnr tradc to private 
 
 , ' . , .1^ ill \iii:ni\ I'll!;, iilii. - 111 til.' I.^rencli clinrch in Pine 
 l; ■: ii.lih.' \---. iiil.l\- ilmn.'. -. (..i-fd.'d liy Jotm Montgomerie 
 
 ! M , , ,.: III. ,11...:- - :i.i...in^iiiiti.in-.Iohan.ie«;jiinsen, 
 
 _ \1 , ,, I i.,' .,!.,.. I:.,..,, .,.• I :i,,. 1..I I.. II.. niv-Middle 
 
 All.inn 
 (.l... II 1 
 — \ ,111.1. 1 
 
 flllL' 111) 
 
 JIar.~li- I 
 city— Fir- 
 sumes till 
 
 ,1^ l;.u,.:a Ml, an, .,...i..iii- 11. .uk I'lILji'.- Hill - W".. lint's 
 I -CiU' divided into seven wards— File eni^ines introdueed into llie 
 if a Fire Department— Death of Montgomerie— Rip Van Dam as- 
 irs- Arrival of William Cosby as Governor 303—388 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Character of Cosby— His controverev with Rip Van Dam— Suit institntert in the Exchef^ner— 
 Its resnlt- Chief Jnstice Morris removed from ollice and James De I,ancev appointed m his 
 
 " ~ ""iihliratinn of Zenger's Wecklv .TniiriKil- First newspaper 
 
 ii._'. r - ].:i|...r ordered to be piil.li.lv i.iiin.d-Kefnsa: of the 
 itii.." III., .rremony— Zenger iiii|. 
 \ Siiiiili mill Alexander renioM il 
 n..il ;.- .-..1111-. I f..r Z(.ll._'..r Til 
 
 stead— P 
 contro\'i 
 Mayor a 
 Artifiees 
 
 ihlir Sriili 
 'l'<"'' 'il' 
 
 Hull ill 
 
 \\,lll M1..I 
 
 law oltl 
 the Gov 
 
 'i ';.":'!;"■, 
 
 Conned - 
 
 ' ■■ ■ ■ 
 
 Ritrosp. 
 
 
 of Wutrl 
 
 — Jlark.. 
 Six feet t 
 
 Uilklll 1 
 
 CHAPTER XII, 
 
 The negro idnf ,.f 1711— Canse= and .ITci't -I!..1ili,.rv at the hnncp of ITogg— Arrest of Iliiahson 
 
 and his a--... ■ .l. - Il.ii'.lln- m (li. r^.i l .I.'^li ,.i.' .1 l.v fi...- s.i. .•.•-- ix I:iL.|:ili..lls- Tlie 
 
 Spanish n ■- . .... ..,: .. ,' ,.:,. ■: ..■■ i'., I.i.. - rr i: ... :!.,.■ 1.1 - r,.iir....i,,ii .,f 
 
 wife and I'. ...'■ . i:.', |.|....i. -- ..1 .'i.. II ..^ I I',. . I- .• |.,ii.i. 
 tion (if panl..i, ami r.^waril I.. ...iil ...-ii,... . . .ii- 1 .i i ;ii . .. - M..i 
 
 deninali. I' .l.ihii liv— Dtlier \\ liii.- a.iii-.il l.v Maiv Ii. 
 
 Kevirw i.f the |.l.il- Yellow fevuv in Nr^^ ^"..lk (,.■,. i_'.. Clii, 
 
 n..ii- I'liii'laliiu- 
 -- trial and con- 
 I't proceedings — 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1758— 17G3. 
 
 Lieutenanl-GovernorDe Lancey— Position of the two great parties of the provirce-De Lancpy s 
 ,,oMcv— The third intercolonial war— Peace of Aix-la-t'hapelle— Congress at Albany— Charter 
 of King's follese sisiitd nn.l -,-:.l.d hy th.- ijov ernor-ronlroversy hctwecn the Epi«copal.;ii,s 
 
 and Presbyteria 
 
 Hector- Society Libr;ii ' : ■ 
 
 York and Staten IslaiHl I 
 
 flcation of the city— Sir ( !i 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor— .John i i 
 ressof the French and Indian \' 
 Colden, Lieutenant-Go verner- 
 General Amher»t to Xew Y.h 
 GeoiL'.-n .aihl .-^.M,.n: 
 
 nirain 
 
 I'lOU- 
 
 :ill:i(l,-r 
 
 -Methodist Chi 
 
 of the Government. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The American Colonies at the br^iimin -.f tl,,- Rev,.luti..i. -Policy of Great Bntain-Nayi- 
 
 sation Acts-Proposed schem, ..I un. nia, y laxati.m -Lord (.,rL-nvill;- at the head of the 
 
 British Cabinet— Stamp Act |a.>ii.i-,,l I'l n-t ..f tli<->cw ^ .>ik As-cmhiy— I assnge of the 
 Stamp Act— Reception of the in-u^ in i;- ^ :iv I'h.' ^ .n- ..I I ii'"ii> ' ..n-titntimmi i .mi- 
 rant p.ibli.hed-Aflair of the (iarLMMl I ■ I'- Pn l-i:~i .Mionial 
 
 Consiress held in New York-Oppo-iM. , ' . ,,y, h. . i i-i I :, hi ■ o,! , , ^ :„ices 
 -J,.miiaK,if Nvw York-IIolfs(ia/r,;, , ]'■.-■ t: Mil ■:.- >l . i • h im - n l.nnis 
 
 ;, ;,, :' , , ,",'.. ,\.' ~ .. , . I-' ,.!.,._• ii: I'.iittles 
 
 ' , , . . i; • |, ., \\ II , M , ■ New 
 
 ':,l |-,„ ■ I i,, M, ,,, \, . , ,„,i. ■ I, ;/, . .. :i,. . : , - ■rnibly 
 
 '..I \:.,> \,Mk ia III l;:,ii-h l\.i,;,i I l,.;...uTia -,, :■ A'A .y.Au.no! 
 
 : r, III, ,11. Ill ,,l 111, \,« Vmk mrriliinili-— P'ormal aiM-oliiliun of the 
 A<., I , , \ , . ,,11,, ,,,111, 11,,, I lii-i ,i-iti, 111 of till- 11. ■»• Assembly— Sympathy with the 
 
 g^_[ i,i. i; _' ,,i 111, (.,i\, rii-.i 111,1 SiiiriiT of n,)^toii ill effigy on the Commons — Death 
 
 of Mu.iH- uii,l^..ii-i-uiifiit .Kce^>i..u..l CiaualladerColdeu 405^42 
 
 around tlii' 
 York A^si'i 
 
 — Di-fni,, ! 
 the s , 
 As- 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1769—1773. 
 
 Di-nosition of the Assembly of 1769— Emission of Bills of Credit-Handbills posted de- 
 11011110102 the Assembly— Meeting on the Commons-Public protest— John Lamb cliaraed 
 Willi libel, and subsequently di^niissed-Arrest and impri-..iiment of Alexander McDougall 
 -Movements of the Sons (if Liberty— Lord North at tin- lu-a.l ot the Britisii Cabinet —Tax 
 removed from all articles except tea-Attack of the li.iti-h .oMiir- on the libertj- pole-Con- 
 flict 'It Moiifenie'*— Fourth liln-vtv iioli- cut ilovii liv ili, .,,l,li,r.— Indignation meeting 
 nn tl,,, I ,11111 M - r ti',, ,,f r;, ,■,],■, n;" Ii,r,',i ,,r •'. IVi'-ii -,.ldiers— Permission to 
 '.', , I, i ,1 ,■■,■,-, ,1 I , I, , , , I, M, ■ ' I ': million— Fifth liberty pole 
 
 '.,,,,: ,|, ' I- ',| , .,' ,,,,' ', -, ,1 1,, 1 ,,',,,,■ Hampden Hall by the 
 
 Tii„.itv !■ ,1 1 — \vw iiViik ,Hi 111, III,, in i.,.i.' i.v III.' I'.iiii-ii .,.1 n.i— Their defeat— Final 
 
12 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 destiny of the liberty pole— Nathnn TtixV^' 
 of One Hundred— Kesumption of imin'inii 
 more amvesasGovemor— Trialof Mt I><>n- 
 in respect to the salaries of otficiaN— Sr;ii 
 Hospital foimded— Burning of the G^^»vi-mi 
 
 r^ Inimed in effigy on the Common?— Committee 
 i,,n— Protest of the Sons of Liberty— Lord Dun- 
 ill- William Tryon, Governor— New arrangements 
 i.nutVL'd to ijivf place to Montagne— Kew York 
 .1 -s liouso in t^lii fort 443-465 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Scheme of Parliament for forcing the tea on the colonies— Reception of the news in New York 
 — Resolutions of the Mohawks and Liberty Boy!^—ApprohiT-ioTi' ' ■' ^ ^- - -• 
 — Mectiiii of the Sons of Liberty on the 16th of Docimlnr ■Vh,- v 
 tea— Tivon returns to Enaland— Colden again at tli- ' ■ ' ' ' 
 tea-ship Nancv— Her reception by the Sons of Lil" : ' , 
 arrives with tcii— The New York tea pnrtv— Public ' 
 
 ThcBostmi T'ort Bill 
 miiortatinn :iLnr. 
 -Debut ul A]. xM 
 Mew York Iirhr 
 :ent h:lck l.i Kirj 
 
 -II: 
 
 of Paul Revere to Nt« 'i"i 
 m of the Committee of Fill 
 ti — Second Colonial C'ouLTe- 
 irr of Sixty appointed in 
 
 of the 
 
 Londoi 
 
 1 merchants 
 
 
 . Ml-A 
 ' :■ .if 1 
 
 rriva! of the 
 lie Loiiih.n 
 
 ^u-at meeting 
 iladelphia-Eh 
 —The James 
 
 m the fields 
 •ction of the 
 of Glasgow 
 
 N.' 
 
 rk TI 
 
 A~i! 
 
 ■,\ l.v 
 M.n- ..t "Li 
 
 lihla 
 
 Commaii(ler-in-< III. r ll i.. New "iOrk and i. 
 
 turn of Tryon— 'I 111 > i: n|u.n the town— Al 
 
 demolished by tin ^ , . I 1 i . iry- Gen. Putnam 
 
 dependence— '■ Dec i.ii..li..h ..1 independence by Ih 
 
 the news in the ciiv— Wa.-hington in New Y'ork- 1 
 
 iii^ton from New Vork— Capture of Fort Washington— The British in possession of the 
 
 city ; 46&-509 
 
 of Long Island— Retreat ol ^\■a5h- 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII, 
 
 1776—1783. 
 
 The British in New York— Gen. Howe, Commander-in Chief— Prisons of the Revolntion— The 
 North Dutrh Church— Brick Church in Beekiuail street— Friends' Meeting House— Frencli 
 Church in Pine street— Middle Dutch Church— Reminiscences of John Pihtard— Old sugar 
 honse in Liberty street— Bridewell— New Jail— Reminiscences of John Pintard. Levi 
 ■ ■ ■ ■ -The prison ships— Tlie old Jersey, Scorpio- "' ■- "' •' 
 
 ford, 
 
 Freneau's poem on tlie prl 
 ■ of the house .,f nli 
 
 "T... Fii 
 
 superseded by Sirtiuy 
 
 hers— 
 
 tlagration of i~6— Death of Cadwallader Coldeii— 
 
 Df. I.aucev— Journals of the City— Arrest and imprismmient 
 
 f 111 ■=! i''i . f Ni nv Y'ork— Gen. Clinton, Governor— Aid from 
 
 , • w I S ii_f.>n thwarted by the Action of the New 
 
 I k— Conflagration of 1778— David Mathews, 
 
 , ,11 \. ., 1 IK -I old winter of ]78»-9l>— Treason of Arnold— 
 
 eei hii lii- ;tiiuiiriion by Champe— Capture of Comwallis — 
 
 Conclusion of peace between the United States and 
 
 Great Britain— Evacuation by the British troops of the city of New York 510—568 
 
 CHAPTER XYIII. 
 
 1783—1801. 
 
 Mutilation of the flagstaff by the Britii 
 Commander-in-Chief at the fort— Par 
 Tavern in Pearl street— Municipal Go\ 
 ure of Lafavette for Fran.f.-VlMt ..f .1 
 
 Pou<.'hkccpsie-Fed 
 
 IS previously to the evacuation- Gen. Enos, 
 Wa-hingio'n with his officers at Fraunces' 
 t n-organized— James Duane, Mavor— Depart- 
 
 -liii.L'l II. !iih1 sti.nlHn— Theirpuhlie reception 
 . - ,•' ■ ,. I, \..niilnu — Improvement of tlie 
 !ii ^ I limbered by order of the 
 
 ' . al Conven tion— Federal 
 
 rill 1 I. Ill I: rmv"— state Convention at 
 \(loj)tion of the Federal Constitution- 
 
 Riots in the city— Destruction of the office of the " Patriotic Register "—John Lamb's house 
 
COKTEIVTS. 
 
 13 
 
 in XVall street attackol l.v ih. 
 — CilvHai: repaincl-Wa-lnii: 
 arrival and r«c-|. II. HI l.v ili^ [.: 
 in Wall stiTii Aiiixal I.I 
 Theatre--- 11.11 . J-- i 
 
 Selu..^a] ..I .V 
 
 Cltv-A|.-., ■ M. . .il.... I 
 
 (.f the f.'.l. rnl t:..v.inment 
 (11,1 \-i., I'l. -i.l.iii Tlieir 
 :iii,ii.-.l III M„ j-.-.l. Ml Hall 
 
 N.u \,.ik .l..hii street 
 
 ■. l;.-..,, I''... I . .,. Ii Meet-C-iiet in Xe.. \ ..il- 11 1 • !:.'.. i ._■ .i: i . ■ \i ■.,ll..ni!e 
 
 -. ...11 ■ .lav treaty— YelluH le\.i in tii.- , ii y - r..iiii.-,.l ih.-.in ai the 
 
 uf the el^'liteelith i entiiry 5011— BU 
 
 CHAP TEE XIX. 
 
 New York in the beginning of the nineteenth centnrv— Bouiuis of the 
 flelil— Public gardens— Country seats— Itahniond "Hill Ma 
 
 Chelsea— Mnrray Hill— The 
 man House— Madame Jiir 
 Bunker'- Man-.i.jn Hoiiv,. 
 — Ne« .Tail— H.,u-e.irK..f 
 le.;e-i;,.H.-i..l..ut lli-.tll 
 
 Ai.thnrpe House-Tli. 
 
 Ne 
 
 the IM 
 
 the liefonned Dutch Churcll-^[>elety lanrary— (. uMom House— Po: 
 Theatres— Newspapers— Markets — Ferries — tjiiip yards — Fire Department- 
 
 
 iii.i 
 
 a Col- 
 
 III- 1 II 
 
 111. h 
 
 .•s of 
 
 1- anil . 
 
 
 msof 
 
 ■t Drtiee- 
 
 -iia 
 
 uks— 
 
 -Militia- 
 
 -Manners 
 
 
 . 615-6(33 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Manhattan Water Works— City Hall erected in the Park— De Witt Clinton, Mayor- 
 
 Polities of the 
 Fire of 18IM-Publi"c ' 
 mont— Ferries l)et» e.- 
 —St. John's Chapel . 
 ship maityrs- Fire ot 
 
 and Burr— Foundalii 
 
 Steam Navigation— Fulton a 
 
 I Brooklyn— Steam ferr\ 1. 
 
 .•adeliff. Mayor— Internuni 
 
 k Island surveyed and lai.i . . 
 
 paratious Un- defeiu-e— CI., 
 
 -leal Society- 
 -fnn-The Cler- 
 - Willet. Mayor 
 
 .\ I ^U— Meetings 
 
 in the Park— Harbor l..ii,iKaii..i,:-— I'repaiatious Un- defeiu-e— CI.,-. ..i il.^ W .n-Polit,cs of 
 the city- Cadwallader D. Colden, Mayor- Stephen Allen, Mayor- William Pauldiiij;, Mayor 
 —Visit of Lafayette to New York— The Erie Canal Celebra'tion— Death of De Wilt Clin- 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 1825—1855. 
 
 Introduction of gas into t 
 Opera— The Garcia Ti - 
 change built in Wall 
 Charter of 18.30— P.. In 
 the citv— Establishni 
 Mayor-^Great tire of l- 
 Mayor— Robert H. :Mi 
 the Croton into th.- 
 Mayor- Politics in ih. 
 Charter of 1849— Ast< 
 
 ■ity— .Toint -lock i 
 
 nieof ]S-y,-Th.. Ttiilian 
 
 il.ai ,1- M II li .lit>'Ex- 
 
 'I Mil \ uded 
 
 I ■ :: .' I i-m ill 
 
 . ,;,.- \\ l.inM-ence, 
 
 -III. -l-aac L. Varian, 
 
 i-ii in— Introduction of 
 
 ; Hia — Tames Harper. 
 
 1 Wii..rll,ull— Amended 
 
 l\ini;sland, .Mayor— .leiiny Lind 
 
 York— .\rrival of Kossuth— Jacob A. Westervelt, Mayor— The Crystal Palace- 
 Frauconi's Hippodrome— New York in 1855 T33 "" 
 
 53 
 
14 
 
 COJfTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 1855—1860. 
 
 Consolidation of Brookhii. Vrilliamebureih ami Tiiishwicl<— Hard Winter— Mayor Wood's Ad- 
 ministration— Cliarttrnf 1857 -Castle Gani.r f nii-fMrm. ci -nf.. ;m Emigrant Dep6t— Rachel 
 
 and Thackeray in New York— Tlie Central Ik Nn, .1, i t, rof 1857— Burning of the 
 
 Quarantine B'uildinss-Changes in the • ;■ i _ '• ,; Works— Police Kiots— 
 Financial Distress— Burden Mnrder— Poll. I I 1. I .ibtrnade- Burumg of the 
 Crystal Palaie-Japanese Embassv-Ciieai 1l„,li.:; L-.l.;- ! !.a...:.n— The Prince of Wales in 
 Ne\y Vork-Election of Mr. Lincoln 755 
 
 CHATTER XXIII. 
 
 1800—1880. 
 
 Accession of Mr. Lincoln — Brt-.^ikin-.' ' 
 Meeting— March nf tli,- N. v \ . k 
 ticin— Death of Cni,,ii,l 1 ■ 
 Kanitarv Commissi.'!!— L.i, k , 
 Fair— The Presideiiliiil Ek. i;.. ; 
 Richmond— Assassination nf I'l. - 
 Department— Death of Preston }\ . i 
 —Atlantic Telegraph— Board of Ik 
 Park and Tammany Hall— Burnn . 
 Speculation— Loew BridL'.- Ink. . 
 Grand Opera House- BiK.:k - li 
 York Post Otiicc— Death ..• ! ■ : ' 
 Grand Duke Alexis— Orai!_-. I; . i- 
 
 i.f the Insurrection-Peace Measures — Union Square 
 
 niiriil^- Union defence Committee — Relief Associa- 
 
 II Meeiinirs — Volunteering— Union League Club— 
 
 s,.iiety— The Draft— The Great Riot— The Sanitary 
 
 V Y.ivk— Hotel Burning- Gold\yin Smith— Fall of 
 
 ; 1 i;,.. iii-His Obsemiies in New York— Paid Fire 
 
 \. , .if Design— Burning of Barnum's Museum 
 
 I k I in Xe^v York — Demolition of St. Johns 
 
 1868— Real Estate 
 
 Tkiki'i 
 
 Ne 
 
 York - 
 
 Xe 
 
 • Ch; 
 
 al Deput-Ne 
 ■ i; . M - . , Tfiuple— Visit of 
 Fra' .!- W.'-M k. -1. T. Annexation of— 
 iVdrus \ i>n— Latayelte Statue— Hell 
 |il,,~Kiii— Seyenth Keginie'nt Armory— New York Hospital— Lenox Library— Dese- 
 if Mewart's Graye— List of Mayors— Eleyated Railmaus — Metropolitan Museum of 
 
15 
 
 Xist of Illustrations. 
 
 ^ 21— LISPENARD'S MEADOWS (in the lieart of wliich now stands tlie St. 
 
 Nicholas Hotel). 
 ~ 29— HENRY HUDSON. 
 r34— THE HALF MOON ASCENDING THE RIVER. 
 -/45_THE COUNCIL AT TAWASENTHA, in 1G17. 
 > 53— SEAL OF NEW A.MSTERD.U\I. 
 >69-WRATH OF VAN TWILLER. 
 ■^ 89— NIEUW NEDERLANDT (supposed to he the Earliest View of New 
 York now extant). 
 
 - 93— OLD HOUSE, corner Peck Slip and Water Street. 
 ■^ 97— STADT HUYS (erected in 1043). 
 
 -^104— INDIANS BRINGING TRIBUTE. 
 11.3— MASSACRE OF INDIANS AT PAVONIA. 
 128— PETER STUYVESANT, the last of the Dutch Governors. 
 129— SEAL OF PETER STUYVESANT. 
 140— SEAL OF NEW NETHERLAND, 1G25— 1664. 
 153— THE OLD STUYVESANT PEAR-TREE. 
 154_TOMB OF PETER STUYVESANT. 
 159— OLD LUTHERAN CHURCH (erected about 1764). 
 163— FIRST ENGLISH SEAL OF THE PROVINCE. 
 174— NEW YORK IN 1674. 
 
 176— HOUSEHOLD IN THE OLD DUTCH COLONY TIMES. 
 177— DUTCH GROCERY IN BROAD STREET. 
 195— PORTRAIT OF SANTA CLAUS, the Patron Saint of New Amsterdam. 
 
 - 303— DUTCH COTTAGE IN BEAVER STREET IN 1679. 
 213— CITY SEAL OF 1686. 
 
 243— RESIDENCE OF N. W. STUYVESANT. 
 ^ 243— OLD GARDEN STREET CHURCH (erected in 1696). 
 
16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 258— THE STITTVESANT MANSION. 
 
 283— FRENCH CHURCH IN PINE STREET (erected in 1710). 
 ■^285— PORTRAIT OF AUGUSTUS JAY. 
 
 299— PORTRAIT OF CALEB HEATHCOTE. 
 
 304— PORTRAIT OF CADWALLADER COLDEN. 
 
 316— OLD SUGAR-HOUSE IN LIBERTY STREET. 
 -317— MIDDLE DUTCH CHURCH IN OLDEN TIME. 
 
 —835— OLD RUTGERS MANSION, at the junction of East Broadway and 
 Division Street. 
 
 348— OLD FERRY-HOUSE, corner of Broad and Garden Streets. 
 -^349— RHINELANDER'S SUGAR-HOUSE AND RESIDENCE. 
 -351— OLD BROOIvLYN FERRY-HOUSE OF 1740. 
 ^ '371— PORTRAIT OF SIR GEORGE CLINTON. 
 
 371— PORTRAIT OF LADY CLINTON. 
 
 374— ST. GEORGES CHAPEL IN BEEKMAN STREET (erected in 1752). 
 
 - 377— KING'S COLLEGE. 
 
 385— THE WALTON HOUSE IN 1807. 
 -388— ENTRANCE HALL OF THE WALTON HOUSE. 
 "~ 389— SITTING-ROOM IN THE SECOND STORY OF THE WALTON 
 
 HOUSE. 
 --401_METHODIST CHURCH IX JOHN STREET (erected in 1785) IN THE 
 
 OLDEN TIME. 
 ^403— BRICK MEETING-HOUSE IN BEEKMAN STREET. 
 — 415— ATLANTIC GARDEN HOUSE (Burns' Coffee-House). 
 --43a— BATTERY AND BOWLING GREEN DURING THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 463— NEW YORK HOSPITAL (erected in 1773). 
 ^475— PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 490— WASHINGTON'S HEADQl\\RTERS IN FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 ^ 523— BRIDEWELL (erected in 1789). 
 
 527— NEW JAIL. 
 ^ 545— PORTRAIT OF JOHN JAY. 
 
 -- 559— PRIVATE ROOM OF SIR HENRY CLINTON, No. 1 BROADWAY. 
 ~- 571— DINING-ROOM IN FRAUNCES' TAVERN, comer of Pearl and Broad 
 
 Streets. 
 -577— STONE BRIDGE ON THE CORNER OF BRO.\DWAir AND CANAL 
 STREET IN 1812. 
 
 - 593— FEDERAL HALL AND THE VERPLANCK MANSION. 
 620— MURRAY HILL COTTAGE. 
 
 C20— THE TOMBS. 
 
 628— COLUMBIA COLLEGE, at tlie foot of Park Place. 
 
 031- THE BIBLE HOUSE, in Eighth Street. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "-635— SOUTH REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, comer of Fifth Avenuo and 
 
 Twenty-first street. 
 ^ 639— COLLEGIATE MIDDLE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, in Lafayette 
 
 Place. 
 "^641— REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty- 
 ninth street. 
 \ 645— TRINITY CHURCH, Broadway. 
 ^ 647— GR.\CE CHURCH, Broadway. 
 
 649— FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Fifth Avenue. 
 ^651— PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, formerly corner of Fifth Avenue and 
 Nineteenth street. 
 653-ST. JIATTHEWS CHURCH, corner Broome and Elizabeth streets. 
 654— OLD ST. PATRICKS CATHEDRAL, corner of Mott and Prince streets. 
 657— THE OLD PARK THEATRE. 
 658— THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. 
 -, 665— RESERVOIR OF MANHATTAN WATER-WORKS, in Chambers St., 
 1825. 
 -^ 667— CITY HALL AND PARK. 
 
 ^671— THE GRANGE, Kingsbridge Road. Residence of Alexander Hamilton. 
 ~- 675— CALVARY' CHURCH, corner of Twenty-first street and Fourth Avenue. 
 
 677— FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOLHOUSE ERECTED IN NEW YORK. 
 "^ 679— COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 681— ROBERT FULTON. 
 
 683— THE " CLERMONT"— FULTON'S FIRST STEAMBOAT. 
 694— CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION, corner of Fifth Avenue and Tenth st. 
 ~707— ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL. 
 
 ~-711— TOMB OF MONTGOMERY, in wall of St. Paul's Chapel. 
 "~T27— ACADEMY OF MUSIC. 
 730— THE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY. 
 
 735— OLD CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH, formerly in Broadway. 
 742_WALL STREET (looking toward Broadway). 
 74C_HIGH BRIDGE. 
 747— CROTON RESERVOIR. 
 
 750— INTERIOR OF CASTLE GARDEN IN FORMER TIMES. 
 752— CRYSTAL PALACE. 
 ^ 763— VIEW IN THE CENTRAL PARK. 
 ^--767- SKATING SCENE IN THE CENTRAL PARK. 
 85.5— LOWER ARSENAL. 
 859— COOPER INSTITUTE. 
 865— ALL SOULS' CHURCH. 
 871— VIEW FROM THE PARK, 
 if i -•©;5_SUB-TRE.\SURY. 
 cfijf .8t*^CUST0M-H0USE. 
 
ly 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 CITY OF ^EW YORK. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1(309—1633. 
 
 Primitive New York— Aborigines of Manliattan— Causes wMcti led to tlie Discovery of 
 the Islaud— Karly Navigators— Discovery of Manliattan by Henry Hudson— Landing of 
 tlie first Wliito Men. 
 
 Two liimdred and eiglity years ago, tlie island on Avhicli 
 now stands the city of New York was uninhabited by 
 white men. The lower part of it consisted of wood- 
 crowned hills and beautiful grassy valleys, including a 
 chain of swamps and marshes, and a deep pond. North- 
 ward, it rose into a rocky high ground. The sole 
 inhabitants were a tribe of dusky Indians, — an off- 
 shoot from the great family of the Algonquins, that 
 inhabited the vast territory bounded by the Penobscot 
 and Potomac, the Atlantic and Mississippi, — dwelling in 
 the clusters of rude wigwams that dotted here and there 
 the surface of the country. The rivers that gird the 
 
20 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 island were as yet unstirred by tlie keels of ships, and 
 tlie bark canoes of the native Manhattans held sole pos- 
 session of the peaceful waters. 
 
 The face of the country, more particularly described, 
 was gently undulating, presenting every variety of hill 
 and dale, of brook and rivulet. The upper part of the 
 island was I'ocky, and covered by a dense forest ; the 
 lower part grassy, and nch in wild fruit and flowers. 
 Grapes and strawberries grew in al)un dance in the fields, 
 and nuts of various kinds ^vere plentiful in the forests, 
 which weie also filled with abundance of game. The 
 brooks and ponds were swarming with fish, and the soil 
 was of luxuriant fertility. In the \-icinity of the pi'esent 
 "Tombs" was a deep, clear and beautiful pond of fresh 
 water, (with a picturesque little island in the middle) — 
 so deep, indeed, that it could have floated the largest 
 ship in our navy, — which was for a long time deemed 
 bottomless by its possessors. This was fed by large 
 springs at the bottom, which kejit its waters fresh and 
 flowing, and had its outlet in a little stream which flowed 
 into the East Eiver, near the foot of James street. 
 Smaller ponds dotted the island in various places, two 
 of which, lying near each other, in the vicinity of the 
 present corner of the Bowery and Grand street, collected 
 the waters of the high grounds which suiTounded them. 
 To the northwest of the Fresh Water Pond, or Kolck, 
 as it afterwards came to be called, beginning in the 
 vicinity of the present St. John's Pai'k, and extending 
 to the northward over an area of some seventy acres, 
 lay an immense marsh, filled with reeds and brambles, 
 and tenanted by frogs and water-snakes. A little 
 
CITY OF NEW YOKK, 
 
 21 
 
C I T Y O F N E W Y O R K . 23 
 
 rivulet connected this marsli with the Fresh Water Pond, 
 which A\"as also connected, by the stream which formed 
 its outlet, with another strip of marshy laud, covering 
 the region now occupied by James, Cheny, and the 
 adjacent streets. An unbroken chain of waters was thus 
 stretched across the island fi'om James street at the 
 southeast to Canal street at the northwest. An inlet 
 occupied the place of Broad street, a marsh covered the 
 vicinity of Feriy street, Rutgers street formed the cen- 
 tre of another marsh, and a long line of meadows and 
 swampy ground stretched to the northward along the 
 eastern shore. 
 
 The highest line of lands lay along Broadway from 
 the Battery to the northernmost part of the island, 
 forming its back-bone, and sloping gi-adually to the east 
 and west. On the corner of Grand street and Broadway 
 was a high hill, commanding a view of the whole island, 
 and falling off gradually to the Fresh AVater Pond. To 
 the south and west, the country, in the intervals of the 
 marshes, was of great beauty — rolling, grassy, fertile, 
 and well watered. A high range of sand hills traversed 
 a part of the island, from Yarick and Charlton to Eighth 
 and Greene streets. To the north of these lay a valley, 
 through which ran a brook, which formed the outlet 
 of the springy marshes at Washington S(piare, and 
 emptied into the Xorth River at the foot of Hammersly 
 street. 
 
 The native Manhattans belonged to that well-kno\vn 
 race of North American Indians, the manners and cus- 
 toms of which have been made too familiar by repeated 
 descriptions to require a detailed notice at our hands. 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Tliese were the same in outline among all the tiibes ; 
 the chief difference lay in the individual character, and 
 in this there was a mai'ked distinction. One tribe Avas 
 peaceful and gentle ; another, tierce and warlike ; a third, 
 treacherous and cunning. The natives of the island of 
 Manhattan were distinguished for their ferocity, in con- 
 trast Avitli their peaceful In'ethren of the neighboring 
 shores. They lived in plenty on their beautiful island, 
 the Avomen cultivating maize, pumpkins, beans, and 
 tobacco, and gathering the roots and bemes which 
 Nature so abundantly yielded ; the men scouring the 
 forests in quest of game, and drawing stores of fish from 
 the ponds and rivers. Their villages were scattered 
 here and there in pleasant localities over the island — 
 villages consisting of clusters of huts, made by twisting 
 the tops of young saplings together, and covering them 
 with strips of bai'k. Windowless and Hoorless were 
 they, Avith boughs for doors, and a hole in the roof to 
 let out the smoke. Yet each of these structures usually 
 acconuuodated from six to thirty families, who lived in 
 peaceful haimony together. 
 
 Like most savages, they were fond of di-ess, and 
 shaved their croAUis, painted their faces, and adorned 
 their deei'-skin mantles and moccasins Avith feathers, 
 shells, and wampum, in the most approved style. This 
 Avampum, which served as a circulating medium among 
 them, and afterwards became a recognized currency 
 among the whites, consisted of small cylindrical beads, 
 made from the Avhite lining of the conch and the purple 
 coating inside the muscle-shells — the purple beads being 
 worth twice as much as the Avhite ones. 
 
CITV OF NE W YO EK, 1:0 
 
 lu rommon witli tlieii- race, they were eloquent ora- 
 tors, trusty friends, crafty enemies, brave warriors, and 
 cruel victors. Tliougli at first disposed to receive their 
 white visitors with fzivor and to treat them kindly, it 
 was not long before their own jealous nature, together 
 ■^vith the ever-present spii'it of European encroachment, 
 brought on the usual warfare, in which Indian sagacity 
 and cunning was forced to succumb to the superior skill 
 of the white man. 
 
 Let us glance briefly at the causes which led to the 
 discovery of this vast and hitherto unknoM'u region. At 
 the period of which we speak, more than a century had 
 elapsed since Columbus had first unlocked the door of 
 the new continent, yet little was known of it in the 
 old world beyond the bare fact of its existence. Its 
 geography was Avholly unknown to its new possessors. 
 Its possible resources were totally disregarded ; in itself 
 it was regarded as a thing of little value, and the chief 
 iitility of the new discovery was supposed to lie in the 
 easy communication which it might afford to the rich 
 countries of the East. Now and then an adventurous 
 na\'igator sailed along the coasts, landing here and there 
 and erecting a flagstaff, and thus taking possession of 
 the country iu the name of his sovereign ; yet but few 
 attempts at er[)loration had been made, and these few 
 had proved, f<n' the most part, unsuccessful. Some of 
 the explorers had penetrated a little way into the inte- 
 I'ioi', and some had planted colonies which had soon lieen 
 broken up by hardsliips and discouragement, but few had 
 been al)le to gain much topographical knowledge of the 
 countries which they claimed to own. The English had 
 
26 HISTORYOFTUE 
 
 succeeded iu establishing a small colouy at Jamestown, 
 and the French had founded a colony at Quebec, and 
 made a settlement at Port Royal, but the rest of the 
 country remained in the hands of the natives. 
 
 In the year 1524, Francis I. had dispatched Jean 
 Verrazaui, a skillful Florentine navigator, ^vith a squad- 
 ron of four ships, to explore the coast of North America. 
 Soon after their departure, three of these became dis- 
 abled in a violent tempest, and Verrazani reached the 
 island of Madeira with but a single vessel. Stopping 
 here a few days to refit, he proceeded on his voyage, 
 and reached the American coast, as it is supposed, in the 
 vicinity of "Wilming-ton, whence he coasted northward, 
 and was the first to enter the bay of New York, ^vhich 
 he thus describes : 
 
 "After proceeding one hundi-ed leagues, we found a 
 " veiy pleasant situation among some steep hills, through 
 " Avhich a veiy large river, deep at its mouth, forced its 
 " way to the sea. From the sea, to the estuary of the 
 " river, any ship heavily laden might pass with the help 
 " of the tide, ^vhich lises eight feet. But as we were 
 " riding at anchor in a good berth, we would not 
 " venture up in our vessel without a knowledge of 
 " the mouth ; therefore we took the boat, and entering 
 " the river, -we found the country on its banks well 
 " peojiled, the inhabitants not differing much from the 
 " others, being di'essed out ^-ith the feathers of bii'ds of 
 " vaiious colors. They came towards us with evident 
 " delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and showing 
 " us where we could most securely land our boat. We 
 " passed up this river about half a league, when we 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 27 
 
 " foiiud it formed a most heautifuJ lake, three leagues iu 
 " circuit, upon which they were I'owing thirty or more 
 " of their small boats from one shore to the other, filled 
 " with multitudes who came to see us. All of a sudden, 
 " as is wont to happen to na\'igators, a violent contrary 
 "wind blew in fi'om the sea, and forced us to return to 
 " our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region, A\hich 
 " seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we 
 " supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills 
 " showed many indications of minerals." 
 
 This graphic description is the more worthy of notice, 
 inasmuch as it is the earliest now extant of the island 
 and natives of Manhattan. From here Verrazani pro- 
 ceeded to the haven of Newport, where he anchored for 
 fifteen days, after which he coastetl northward as far as 
 the fiftieth degree of north latitude, then returned to 
 France, where he published a brief narrative of his jour- 
 ney. To the newly discovered coimtr}-, he gave the 
 name of New France, a name by which Canada con- 
 tinxied to l)e known as long as it remained in the 
 possession of the French. This discovery laid the foun- 
 dation for a claim by France on all the territory north 
 of the Carolinas — a claim which she long continued to 
 maintain. Previously to this, hoAvever, Sebastian Cabot, 
 a Venetian by birth, in the service of Henry VII., had 
 explored the country from Labrador to Florida, thus 
 giA-ing to England a prior claim upon the same territory. 
 As has before been said, both nations had profited by 
 these discoveries to make settlements in the country 
 thus claimed by each, the one iu Virginia and the other 
 in Canada ; but at the period in which our history opens. 
 
28 HISTORY OFT HE 
 
 the whole of the vast territoiy lying between these 
 distant points remained in the possession of its first 
 owners, the natives. It was not long before a third 
 nation disputed the rich jirize mth them by \4rtue of 
 the right of actual possession. 
 
 At this time, the Dutch were the richest commercial 
 nation on the globe. Hadng conquered their inde- 
 pendence from Spain and their country from the sea, 
 they turned their attention to commerce, and with such 
 success that it was not long before their sails whitened 
 the waters of every clime. A thousand vessels were 
 built annually in Holland, and an extensive trade was 
 carried on with all the European nations. But their 
 richest commerce was with the East Indies ; and the 
 better to secure themselves in this against all com- 
 petition, the merchants engaged in this traffic had, in 
 1602, obtained a charter of incorporation for twenty- 
 one years from the States General under the name of 
 the East India Company, gi-antiug them the exclusive 
 monopoly of the trade in the Eastern Seas beyond the 
 Cape of Good Hope on one side and the Straits of 
 Magellan on the other, with other valuable privileges. 
 This obtained, it next became desirable to shorten the 
 passage thither, and thus to render the commerce more 
 lucrative. The voyage to China by the only kno-mi 
 route — that by the way of the Cape of Good Hope — 
 consumed two years, and the time seemed long to the 
 impatient merchants. It was thought that a more expe- 
 ditious passage might be discovered by the way of the 
 Polar Seas, and three expeditions, under the command 
 of Bareutsen, Cornelisseu, and Heemskerck, were dis- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 29 
 
 HENRY HUDSON. 
 
C I T Y O F N E W Y O R K . 31 
 
 l^atclied, one after the otlier, in search of it. But they 
 found nothing but ice and snow where they had hoped 
 to find a clear sea, and returned after ha\aug endured 
 unheard-of liardships, and earned a hasting fame as the 
 earliest Polar navigators. 
 
 The English, in the meantime, had not been idle. 
 Jealous of the gi-owing commercial prosperity of their 
 neighbors, they determined on trying the experiment in 
 which the Dutch had failed. In 1607, a company of 
 merchants fitted out a ship, and inti'usted it to the com- 
 mand of Heniy Hudson, an Englishman and an experi- 
 enced and skilKul navigator, with instructions to carve 
 a passage through the Polar Seas to China and Japan 
 for the benefit of England. But he met with no better 
 success than his predecessors, and after two voyages, the 
 merchants became discouraged, and refused to permit 
 him to make a third trial. 
 
 Hudson, however, was more than ever sanguine of the 
 ultimate success of the enterprise, and after an unsuccess- 
 ful neo-otiatiou with Henri IV. of France, he induced the 
 Dutch East India Co. to fit out a small yacht called the 
 Halve Maeu, or Half Moon, of sixty tons burden, manned 
 with a mixed crew of Dutch and English, twenty in num- 
 ber, to attempt the discoveiy of the Northwest Passage.* 
 
 Hudson sailed from the Texel on his third exi^edition, 
 on the 6th of April, 1609, hoping to reach the Indies by 
 the way of the Polar Seas. After a stormy yoyage, he 
 reached the banks of Ne^\^oundland early in July. 
 Here he lay becalmed for some time, after which he 
 steered to Penobscot Bay, where he remaiue<l a week to 
 
 » He was instmcted to attt-mpt no other route than that above Nova Zembla. 
 
32 n I S T O R Y F T II E 
 
 replace Lis foremast, which had beeu lost during the 
 voyage, and to mend his rigging. Coasting southward 
 as far as Chesapeake Bay, lauding on his way at Cape 
 Cod, which he mistook for an island and named New 
 Holland, he retraced liis course, and proceeded north- 
 ward to Delaware Bay, Avhich he attempted to exi:)lore ; 
 but finding the navigation ditficult, he again put to sea, 
 and, on the evening of the 2d of Sept., came in sight of 
 the Highlands of Navesinck, which he describes " as a 
 " good land to fall in Avith, and a pleasant laud to see." 
 Here he remained all night, and setting sail the next 
 morning came to what he describes as "three great 
 " rivers," the northernmost of which he attempted to 
 enter, but was prevented by the shoal bar before it. 
 This was probably Rockaway lulet ; the others, the 
 Raritan and the Narrows. Foiled in this attemjit, he 
 rounded Sandy Hook, sending a boat before him to 
 sound the way, and anchored his vessel in the louver 
 bay. Seeing that the waters were sAvarming -with fish, 
 he sent a boat's crew to obtain some. They landed, it 
 is said, at Coney Island, and were the first white men 
 that ever set foot on the soil of the Empire State. 
 
 We can easily excuse Hudson if he forgot the North- 
 ern Passage and the Polar Seas — the prime objects of 
 his expedition — in the beautiful scene before him, and 
 determined to explore this strange, new country, Avhich 
 was worth more than all the wealth of the Indies. The 
 shores were covered \vith gigantic oaks fi'om sixty to 
 seventy feet high, the hills beyond were croAvned with 
 grass and fragrant flowers, strange wild birds were flit- 
 tiuo- throuu'h the air, and flsh were darting through the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 33 
 
 sparkling waters. Friendly Indians, dressed in mantles 
 of feathers and fine furs, and decorated with copper or- 
 naments, flocked on board the vessel, bringing corn, to- 
 bacco, and vegetables for the mysterious strangers. 
 Hudson received them kindly, and gave them axes, 
 knives, shoes, and stockings in retiu-n. But these arti- 
 cles were all new to them, and they put them to a new 
 use ; they hung the axes and shoes about their necks for 
 ornaments, and used the stockings for tobacco pouches. 
 
 Hudson remained in the bay for a week, sending a 
 boat's crew, in the meantime, to sound the river. They 
 passed through the Narrows, entered the bay, and came 
 in sight of the grassy hills of Manhattan. Passing 
 through the Kills, between Staten Island and Bergen 
 Neck, they proceeded six miles up the river, and disco- 
 vered Newark Bay. On their return, the boat was 
 attacked by the natives. An EngUsh sailor named John 
 Colman was struck in the throat by an arrow and killed ; 
 two others were slightly wounded, and the rest escaped to 
 the ship with the dead body of their companion, to carry 
 the tidings of the mournful catastrophe. This was the 
 first white man's blood ever shed in the territory, and it is 
 probable, though not certain, that the sailors themselves 
 were the first aggressors. Colman was an old comrade of 
 Hudson ; he had been the companion of his earlier voy- 
 ages, and his death inspired him with distrust and hatred 
 of the natives, whom before he had regarded with favor. 
 On the following day — the 9th of September — the first 
 white man's grave in these regions was dug on Sandy 
 Hook, and the spot was christened Colman's Point in 
 memory of the departed 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 On the nth of September, 1609, the Half Moon passed 
 through the Narrows, and anchored in New York Bay. 
 Distrusting the fierce Manhattans, the captain remained 
 there but a single day. Canoes filled with men, women 
 and children, flocked around the ship, bringing oysters 
 and vegetables ; but though these were purchased, not a 
 native was sufTered to come on board. 
 
 
 / i' 
 
 TU,' Half Moou ascemliug the river. 
 
 The next day Hudson made his way up the river 
 which now bears his name, and through which he hoped 
 to find the long-sought passage to the Indies. He called 
 it the Groot Rivier. It was called by the respective 
 tribes which inhabited its shores, the Shatemuc, Mohi- 
 
C I T y F N E W Y R K . 35 
 
 can, and Cahohatatea. The Dutch afterwards gave it 
 the name of the Mauritius, in honor of Prince Maurice 
 of Nassau, by which it continued to be known until the 
 name of its discoverer was properly bestowed on it by 
 its English owners. Sailing slowly up the river, and 
 anchoring at night in the friendly harbors so plentifully 
 scattered along his way, Hudson pursued his course 
 towards the head of ship navigation, admiring the ever 
 changing j^anorama of the beautiful river with its lofty 
 palisades, its broad bays, its picturesque bends, its ro- 
 mantic highlands, and its rocky shores, covered with 
 luxuriant forests. Everywhere he was greeted with a 
 friendly reception. The river Indians, more gentle than 
 those of the island of Manhattan, welcomed the strangers 
 with offerings of the best that their land afforded, and 
 urged them to remain with them. Fancying that the 
 white men were afraid of their arrows, they broke them 
 in pieces and threw them into the fire. Game was 
 killed for their use, hospitalities were urged upon them, 
 and every attention which a rude but generous nature 
 could prompt was offered to the strangers. Indeed, this 
 seems in the beginning to have been the usual conduct 
 of the natives, and it is probable that in their future 
 hostilities, in nearly every instance, the whites were the 
 aggressors. 
 
 On the 21st of September, Hudson reached the site of 
 the present city of Albany, which, greatly to his disap- 
 pointment, he found to be the head of ship navigation. 
 To be sure of the fact, he dispatched the mate with a 
 boat's crew to sound the river higher up, but, after pro- 
 ceeding eight or nine leagues, finding but seven feel 
 
36 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 water, they were forced to return with the unwelcome 
 intelhgeuce. After remaining at anchor for several 
 days, during which time he still continued to hold friendly 
 intercourse with the natives, Hudson prepared to descend 
 the river. His stay here was marked by a revel, the 
 tradition of which is still preserved among the Indian 
 legends, and the scene of which is laid by some historians 
 upon the island of Manhattan. Various legends of a 
 similar import concerning the introduction of the fatal 
 " fire-water " are in existence among the different tribes 
 of Indians ; everywhere the same causes produced the 
 same results, and the multiplicity of these traditions may 
 easily be accounted for. 
 
 On the 23d of September, Hudson commenced to 
 descend the river. He had ascended it in eleven days ; 
 he descended it in the same time, constantly receiving 
 demonstrations of friendship from the natives of the 
 neighboring shores. But unfortunately this harmonj' 
 was soon destined to be broken. While anchored at 
 Stony Point, an Indian was detected pilfering some goods 
 through the cabin windows. The offender was instantly 
 shot by the mate, and the frightened natives fled in con- 
 sternation. 
 
 Nor was this the only rupture of peaceful relations 
 with the hitherto friendly natives. Following the exam- 
 ple of other discoverers, who were accustomed to carry 
 to their own homes specimens of the natives of the new 
 countries which they had visited, Hudson had seized and 
 detained two Indians on board his ship at Sandy Hook: 
 both of whom had escaped during his passage up the 
 river, and were lying in wait for his return, to avenge 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 31 
 
 their captivity. Their narrative had enlisted the sympa- 
 thies of their countrymen, and a hxrge body gathered in 
 their canoes at the head of Manhattan Island, and 
 attempted to board the vessel. Repulsed in the attempt, 
 they discharged a harmless flight of arrows at the yacht, 
 which was returned by a musket shot, which killed two 
 of their number. They scattered in dismay, only to 
 gather again, reinforced by several hundreds, at Fort 
 "Washington; where they again attacked the vessel as she 
 was floating down the stream. A few musket-shots soon 
 put tliem again to flight, with the loss of nine of their 
 warriors. This strange new weapon of the white men, 
 speaking in tones of thunder, and belching forth fire 
 and smoke, was more terrible to them than an army of 
 invaders. They did not return to the attack, and Hud- 
 son pursued his way unmolested to the bay near Hobo- 
 ken, where he anchored for the last time, and, lying 
 windbound there for one day, set sail for Europe on 
 the 4th of October, just one month after his arrival, to 
 carry to liis patrons the news of the discovery of a new 
 country, and the opening of a new commerce. Though 
 Verrazani was the first to behold the island of destiny, 
 to Hudson belongs the credit of being its practical dis- 
 coverer, and of opening the way to its future settlers.''^ 
 
 The directors of the East India Company were dis- 
 satisfied with the success of the enterprise. They had 
 expected to find a short road to the land of silks 
 and spices, and cared little for the rich lands and 
 broad forests described by Hudson. Hudson proposed 
 again to undertake the enterprise, and would probably 
 
 * The result, as we have shown, of disobedience to his instructions. 
 
38 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 have done so, but, having hinded at Dartmouth on his re- 
 turn homeward, he was forbidden to leave the country by 
 the Enj;lish authorities, who were jealous of the advan- 
 tages which the Dutch had gained by his means. Untir- 
 ing in his efforts to find the northwest passage, that ignis 
 fatuus which has lured on so many intrepid navigators 
 to their destruction, he sailed on another voyage of dis- 
 covery in the service of his early English patrons in the 
 spring of 1610, and, after passing a winter of suffering 
 among the Arctic regions, perished, abandoned by his 
 mutinous crew, amid the ice and snows of the bay which 
 bears his name. The Half Moon, on her return to Hol- 
 land, was dispatched on a trading voyage to the East 
 Indies, during which she was wrecked and lost on the 
 island of Mauritius.^' 
 
 The voyage of the Half Moon to America, if it did not 
 gain the exact thing desired, was at least suggestive of 
 a new idea to the busy Dutch speculators. Though 
 their most lucrative traffic was with the East Indies, 
 they did not neglect the smaller mines from which 
 money might be extracted, but maintained a flourish- 
 ing commerce with the other European nations, espe- 
 cially with Russia. They dispatched nearly a hundred 
 ships to Archangel every year, whence they carried on a 
 lucrative traffic in fui'S with the interior of the country, 
 subject to a duty of five per cent, on aU goods exceeding 
 an equal amount of importations. But Hudson's 
 glowing accounts of the rich peltries which he had seen 
 among the natives of the newly-discovered territory, 
 suggested to the traders that it would be much cheaper to 
 purchase them with knives and trinkets in a country where 
 
 * The account of Hudson's voyage was first published by Van Meteren, iu ICll 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 39 
 
 custom-houses and duties were unknown, than to buy them, 
 as hitherto, at a high rate in Russia. Acting under the 
 impulse of this idea, in 1610, a few merchants fitted out 
 another vessel, and dispatched her under the command 
 of the former mate of the Half Moon, to trade in furs 
 with the Indians. The speculation proved eminently 
 successful. Stimulated by their example, other mer- 
 chants joined in the enterprise, and in 1612 dis- 
 patched the Fortune and the Tiger, under the command 
 of Hendrick Christiaensen and Adriaen Block, on a trad- 
 ing voyage to the Mauritius River, as it was now called. 
 The following year, three more vessels, under the com- 
 mand of Captains De Witt, Volckertsen, and Mey, were 
 sent from Amsterdam and Hoorn to the same coast on 
 the same errand. 
 
 The fur traffic might now be considered to have fairly 
 commenced, and a new mine of wealth to be opened to 
 Holland. It was determined to open a regular com- 
 merce with the new province, to make the island of 
 Manhattan the chief depot of the fur trade in America, 
 and to establish agents there to collect furs while the 
 ships were going to and returning from Holland. Hend- 
 rick Christiaensen was appointed the first agent. He 
 built a redoubt with four small houses on the site of the 
 present 39 Broadway, and thus laid the foundation of 
 the future city. 
 
 The navy was commenced about the same time. One 
 of the vessels, the Tiger, commanded by Adriaen Block, 
 was accidentally burned just as he was preparing to return 
 to Holland. He immediately set about building another, 
 the fine timber of the island furnishing him with ample 
 materials, and in the spring of 1614, finished the first 
 
40 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 vessel ever launched on the waters of Manhattan. This 
 was a yacht of sixteen tons burden, and was called the 
 Restless — a name truly prophetic of the future city. 
 The building of the vessel occupied the whole winter, 
 the friendly natives meanwliile supplying the strangers 
 with food. 
 
 The little yacht completed, Block set about explor- 
 ing the neighboring country. Passing through the 
 Hellegat into the Long Island Sound, he discovered the 
 Housatonic, and Connecticut, or Fresh River, as he named 
 it, in contradistinction to the Hudson, the waters of 
 which were salt, and ascended the latter to the head of 
 navigation. Returning to the Sound, he again proceeded 
 eastward to Montauk Point, which he christened " Vis- 
 schel's Hoeck," and discovered Block Island, which still 
 bears his name. Continuing his course to Narragansett, 
 or Nassau Bay, he thoroughly explored its waters, 
 discovered Roode or Red, since corrupted into Rhode 
 Island, and coasted northward as far as Nahant Bay, 
 exploring and naming the intervening bays and islands, 
 which, however, had before been discovered and named by 
 earlier English adventurers. On his return to Cape Cod, 
 he encountered the Fortune, which had quitted Manhat- 
 tan to return to Europe. The temptation was too strong 
 to be resisted, the picture of home rose before his eyes, 
 and leaving his little yacht, too frail to encounter the 
 perils of the ocean voyage, in the charge of Cornelis 
 Hendricksen, he embarked in the returning vessel to 
 bear the news of his discoveries to Holland. He never 
 returned to the scene of his early discoveries, but his 
 name is one of the few relics of the early pioneers that 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 41 
 
 still remain to us. His comrades had not been idle in the 
 meantime. Cornelissen Mey had explored the southern 
 coast of Long Island, thus proving for the first time that it 
 was an island, and had visited Delaware Bay and bestowed 
 liis name on its northern cape, while Hendrick Christiaen- 
 sen had ascended the Mauritius, and built a little struc- 
 ture, half fort, half warehouse, armed with two large 
 guns and a few swivels, and garrisoned by eleven men, 
 on Castle Island, a little below Albany. This post he 
 christened Fort Nassau in honor of the stadtholder. 
 
 It is affirmed by several historians that, soon after its 
 foundation, the little settlement was visited by Captain 
 Argall of Virginia on his return from his Acadian expe- 
 dition, and that the Dutch traders were compelled by him 
 to strike their flag and to acknowledge the supremacy of 
 England. But this assertion seems unsupported by suffi- 
 cient evidence. The earlier historians are silent in re- 
 spect to it, nor do the state papers of either nation make 
 mention of the fact. The story rests upon the authority 
 of one or two printed English works, unsupported by 
 documentary evidence, and cannot at least be affirmed 
 with certainty ; the probability is that it is fictitious. 
 
 A few months previous to Block's return to Holland, 
 the States General of the Netherlands, to encourage 
 emigration, had passed an ordinance, granting to all dis- 
 coverers of new countries the exclusive right of trading 
 thither for four vo3^ages. Unwilling to lose any part 
 of the profitable commerce thus opened by their enter- 
 prise, the merchants who had fitted out the first expedi- 
 tion made a map of all the country between the Cana- 
 das and Virginia, and, claiming to be the original dis- 
 
42 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 coverers thereof, petitioned the government for the 
 promised monoply. This was granted, and on the 11th 
 of October, 1614, they received a charter, granting them 
 the exclusive right of trade, to the territory lying be- 
 tween the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of north lati- 
 tude, for four voyages within the period of three years ; 
 and forbidding all other persons to interfere with this 
 monopoly, under penalty of confiscation of both vessels 
 and cargoes, with a fine of fifty thousand Netherland 
 ducats for the benefit of the grantees of the charter. In 
 this instrument, the province first formally received the 
 name of New Nethei'land. 
 
 The merchants now formed themselves into an asso- 
 ciation under the name of the "United New Nether- 
 land Company," and prepared to carry on their opera- 
 tions on a more extensive scale. Parties were sent to 
 explore the interior, and to collect furs from the natives 
 which were stored at the depots of Fort Nassau and 
 Manhattan ; and Jacob Eelkins, a shrewd and active 
 trader, was appointed agent at the former, in the place 
 of Hendrick Christiaensen, who had been murdered by 
 one of the natives. This is the first nmrder on record 
 in the province. The murderer, a young Indian, whom 
 Christiaensen had carried to Holland on his first voyage, 
 and who had ever since remained with him, met a 
 speedy death from the hands of the settlers. 
 
 Yet the Dutch did not neglect to cultivate the friend- 
 ship of the natives. The several tribes within the pro- 
 vince of the New Netherland differed widely in char- 
 acter. The whole, indeed, claimed originally to have 
 been one people, the Algonquins, or the "unbroken 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 4S 
 
 nation ;" but few vestiges remained of the original 
 brotherliood. The generic name of this people was 
 Wapanachki; the name "Indian" was an anomalous one, 
 derived from the idea that Xorth America formed part of 
 the Indies. The Manhattan Indians were fierce and war- 
 like, though they treated the traders kindly, and supplied 
 them with food during the long, cold winters. The Mo- 
 hicans on the east side of the river were peaceful and 
 friendly, yet they were the deadly enemies of the Min- 
 cees, who dwelt on the other side ; and their war parties 
 often crossed and recrossed the river on hostile expedi- 
 tions. On the southern border of the province, along 
 the Delaware River, were the Lenape or Delawares. To 
 the north of these, were the Mengwes or Iroquois, the 
 most dreaded and powerful of all the Indian tribes. 
 These held acknowledged supremacy over all the other 
 tribes. Their hunting-grounds stretched across the 
 entire province, and their wigwams opened at the east 
 on the Hudson River, and at the west on Lake Erie. 
 But they had not gained this ascendency without a 
 strufgle. Weak in the beginning, they had learned to 
 comprehend that union is strength ; and the five tribes 
 which originally occupied this vast extent of territory — 
 the Mohawks, Oneidas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Ononda- 
 gas. had leagued themselves together in a firm union 
 under the name of Iroquois, or the Five Nations. 
 Later, the Tuscaroras were admitted into the confeder- 
 acy, and the Five Nations were thus increased to six. 
 Strengthened by this alliance, and fierce and despotic by 
 nature, they soon subjugated their gentler brethren, and 
 forced them to lay aside their weapons and to assume 
 
14 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 the name of " women," trusting their defence entirely 
 to them. They sent their ohl men into the villages to 
 collect tribute from the river Indians, and there was not 
 one among them who dared refuse it. A single Iroquois 
 would put a hundred Mohicans or Mincees to flight, so 
 great was the terror inspired by them. But this sove- 
 reignty did not extend to the Hurons or Canada Indians, 
 who were as formidable as they, and their constant and 
 deadly foes. The French in the Canadas leagued with 
 the latter, and taught them the use of firearms ; and see- 
 ing themselves threatened with extermination by this 
 new and wonderful weapon, the Iroquois hailed the 
 arrival of white men in their own country with delight, 
 as the only means which could save them from being 
 subjugated in turn, and forced to take their place with 
 the Mohicans and Mincees. The Dutch, on their side, 
 were quite as ready for the alliance. The country of 
 the Iroquois abounded in rich furs which could only be 
 obtained through the friendship of the natives. Their 
 fort at the head of the river was on the land of the Iro- 
 quois, and, without their alliance, they could not secure 
 its safety. In the spring of 1617, a solemn council of 
 both nations was held in a place called Tawasentha, near 
 the site of the present city of Albany. Each tribe of 
 the Iroquois sent a chief to the meeting, and a delega- 
 tion was also present from the river tribes. A formal 
 treaty of peace and alliance between the Dutch and the 
 Iroquois was concluded, and the other tribes renewed 
 their acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Five 
 Nations. The pipe of peace was smoked, and the 
 hatchet buried in the earth ; and the Dutch declared 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 45 
 
 that tliey would build a church over the spot, so that none 
 could dig it up without overthrowing the sacred struc- 
 ture, and thus incurring the wrath of the Great Spirit 
 and the vengeance of the white men. Well indeed 
 would it have been for them, could it always have thus 
 remained buried. 
 
 The Council at Tawasentha, in 1617. 
 
46 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 This treaty insured the prosperity of the traders. 
 Sure of the friendship of the natives, they fearlessly 
 sent their agents among them to obtain their costly furs 
 in exchange for the muskets and ammunition they so 
 much coveted. It was not long before the Indian be- 
 came more skillful than his master in the use of the 
 deadly weapon, and grew in turn to be the terror of the 
 white man. The agents explored the interior, bringing 
 back stores of valuable furs, and the trade became so 
 profitable that when, in 1618, the charter of the United 
 New Netherland Company expired by its own limitation, 
 they petitioned the government to grant them a renewal. 
 This they failed to obtain, though they were permitted to 
 continue their trade under a special license two or three 
 years longer. 
 
 Hitherto the Dutch had looked on Manhattan only as 
 a trading-post. They did not think of making them- 
 selves homes in this new, wild country, but dwelt in 
 temporary huts of the rudest construction, which 
 scarcely protected them from the cold. But the English 
 were exploring the coast, and laying claim to all the coun- 
 try between Canada and Virginia, and the Dutch began 
 to realize the importance of planting colonies in the 
 new province, and thus securing their American posses- 
 sions. 
 
 About this time, too, the little settlement received a 
 visit of threatening import. In 1620, Captain Thomas 
 Dermer, an Englishman in the service of Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, touched at Manhattan on his way to New Eng- 
 land, and warned the traders not to continue on Enghsh 
 territory ; to which they replied that it belonged to them 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. il 
 
 of right, as the first discoverers and occupiers. Upon 
 this, Dermer, Gorges, Argall and others, petitioned 
 James I. for a grant of the province of New Netherland, 
 protesting that it was wrongfully occupied by the Dutch, 
 and claiming for Dermer the discovery of Long Island 
 Sound and the adjacent country. That he was the first 
 Englishman who had ever sailed through the Sound 
 is probable : yet Block, Christiaensen and others had 
 preceded him. He is one of the few who makes men- 
 tion of the prior visit of Argall to Manhattan — an inter- 
 ested witness, since this pretext served to strengthen his 
 claim to the possession of the territory. The king, how- 
 ever, listened to their prayer ; a royal charter conferring 
 the exclusive jurisdiction of all territories in America 
 between the parallels of forty and forty-eight degrees 
 was granted to Gorges and his associates, and the English 
 ambassador at the Hague was directed to remonstrate 
 with the States General against the occupation by the 
 Dutch of English territory. But httle attention was paid 
 to this remonstrance, and the Dutch went on in their 
 work of colonizing New Netherland. 
 
 There was little freedom of thought at this time in 
 England. The people were divided into two great re- 
 ligious sects, the Episcopalians, and the Puritans. The 
 latter, by their stern denunciation of the rites and cere- 
 monies of the Episcopalian Church, the established 
 Church of England, their refusal to conform to the 
 statutes of the realm, and their almost fanatical opposi- 
 tion to everything that savored of prayer-book or 
 ritual, had drawn upon themselves the displeasure of the 
 government. Disapprobation soon grew into persecu- 
 
48 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 tion. The Puritans sternly refused to yield a single 
 point of their obnoxious doctrines, while the government 
 daily increased in rigor. Weary of the contest, a num- 
 ber of the persecuted nonconformists fled, with their min- 
 ister, John Robinson, to Holland, where they foand the 
 fullest toleration. Settling at Leyden, they organized 
 a congregation, and enjoyed the religious freedom which 
 they had failed to obtain in their native land. Yet here 
 they felt hke strangers. The manners and customs were 
 foreign to them ; the language was strange and the gov- 
 ernment unlike their own, and their children were grow- 
 ing up in the speech and habits of the new country and 
 forgetting their mother-tongue. They were English and 
 they feared to become Dutch. The New World offered 
 a tempting home to them in which they could enjoy both 
 civil and religious liberty, and train up their ofispring in 
 their own faith and language. It was at first proposed 
 to settle at Guiana, but this scheme was finally aban- 
 doned. Hearing of the glowing accounts of the pro- 
 vince of New Netherland, Robinson entreated permis- 
 sion of the Dutch to settle there, promising to take with 
 him four hundred families if the govei'nment would 
 pledge itself to protect him against all other powers. 
 The offer pleased the merchants, who would gladly have 
 transported them thither free of cost, and have fur- 
 nished them with cattle and agricultural implements to 
 aid them in establishing the much-needed colony. But 
 the States General had other plans in view. They wished 
 to organize an armed military force that could assist 
 them in the war which they were then carrying on with 
 Spain ; and besides, they thought it better policy to peo' 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 65 
 
 and Notelman and Van Remund retained their offices of 
 schout and koopman. Tlie council organized, he turned 
 his attention at once to public improvements. The Com- 
 pany had authorized him to fortify the depots of the fur- 
 trade, an.d he was not slow in obeying their instructions. 
 The fort which had been commenced in 1626 and never 
 completed, and which was now in a ruinous condition, 
 was rebuilt, and a guard-house and barracks erected at 
 a heavy cost for the newly arrived soldiers. Having a 
 minister, a church now became indispensable. The loft 
 in the horse-mill in which prayers had been read for the 
 last seven years was abandoned, and a wooden church or 
 rather barn was erected, on the shore of the East River, 
 in Pearl between Whitehall and Broad streets ; near 
 to which was also constructed a parsonage and stable for 
 "the domine." By this appellation, the ministers of 
 the Dutch churches long continued to be known ; the 
 name is even now in vogue in some of the western 
 settlements of Long Island. A graveyard was also laid 
 out on the west side of Broadway, above the present 
 Morris street. Three windmills were built in the 
 vicinity of the for.t ; so near it, indeed, that the build ■ 
 ings within the walls often intercepted the wind and 
 rendered them useless. Several brick and stone build- 
 ings for the use of the director and his officers were built 
 vfithin the walls of the fort. Van Twiller also caused a 
 dwelling-house, barn, breweiy, boat-house and other 
 out-buildings to be built on Farm 'No. 1. of the Com- 
 pany, extending from Wall street, northward to Hudson 
 street, where he himself took up his abode. The farm 
 No 3, at Greenwich, he appropriated as his tobacco 
 5 
 
66 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 plantation. Houses were built for the corporal, the 
 smith, the cooper and the midwife, and several costly 
 dwellings were also erected at Pavonia and at Fort? 
 Nassau and Orange, all of which were constructed at the 
 expense of the Company. 
 
 About this time, the commercial importance of New 
 Amsterdam was increased by the grant of " staple 
 right ;'' a sort of feudal privilege, having its basis in the 
 institutions of the Fatherland. By this grant, all vessels 
 trading along the coast, or passing up and down the 
 rivers, were obliged either to discharge their cargoes at 
 the poi't, or to pay certain duties in lieu thereof. This 
 right was valuable, for it gave to the colony the com- 
 mercial monopoly of the whole province. 
 
 In the person of Domine Bogardus, Van Twiller had 
 brought with him an unruly subject. Scarcely had he 
 commenced his administration, when the latter began to 
 rebuke him for his conduct in public affairs. Van Twil- 
 ler angrily resented the interference, whereupon Bogar- 
 dus anathematized him from the pulpit as a child of the 
 devil, and so incensed the governor that he refused ever 
 to enter the church-doors again. The people naturally 
 took sides in the quarrel, and the contest between 
 governor and domine continued to the end of the admin- 
 istration. In the records of the year 1638, we read that 
 "for slandering the Rev. B. Bogardus, a woman was 
 "obliged to appear at the sound of a bell in the fort 
 "before the governor and covmcil, and to say that she 
 " knew that he was honest and pious, and that she lied 
 " falsely." However this may be, it is certain that Bogar- 
 dus was rude and imperious, and that many charges 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 67 
 
 were brought against him which were never sufficiently 
 refuted. 
 
 A short time before the arrival of Van Twiller, Pe 
 Vries returned with the mammoth ship Xew Nether- 
 land and a yacht, to visit his little colony of Swaanen- 
 dael. Mournful, indeed, was the scene that met his 
 eyes. Where he had left a flourishing settlement, there 
 was naught to be seen but blackened ruins,; charred 
 trees, and the mouldering bones of the unhappy 
 colonists. De Vries sickened at the sight ; but prudently 
 concealing his sorrow and anger, he summoned the 
 Indians, gleaned from them an account of the terrible 
 disaster, then, instead of wreaking on them the vengeance 
 they had expected, dismissed them with presents to 
 meditate on the mercy of the white men. Such a 
 vengeance would have been the signal for the destruc- 
 tion of every white man within the province. This De 
 Vries well knew ; and after contracting this necessary 
 but detested alliance, he sailed to Virginia, and opened 
 a friendly intercourse with the governor, Sir John Har- 
 vey, who assured him that the Dutch had nothing to fear 
 from that side, but warned them to beware of their 
 Plymouth neighbors. On parting, the friendly gover- 
 nor sent several goats as a present to the director at 
 Fort Amsterdam, by whom they were gladly received, 
 there being as yet none in the colony. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Van Twiller, the William, an 
 English ship, arrived at Manhattan, with Jacob Eelkins, 
 the former agent at Fort Orange, who had been dismissed 
 by the Company in 16.32, as supercargo. Irritated by 
 his dismissal, Eelkins had gone over to the service of the 
 
68 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 English, and had no\Y come in the interests of his new 
 employers to trade in furs with the Indians of the Mauri- 
 tius River. This was contrary to the policj- of the West 
 India Company ; and Van Twiller, who, though a bad 
 governor, was a good merchant, understanding the value 
 of the monopoly of the fur trade, refused to permit the 
 vessel to proceed on its way, and demanded Eelkins' 
 commission. This Eelkins refused to produce, declaring 
 that he was on British territory, discovered by an 
 Englishman, and that he would go up the river if it cost 
 him his life. The governor forbade him in the name of 
 the Dutch government, and ordered the flag to be hoisted 
 at Fort Amsterdam, and three guns to be fired in honoi 
 of the Prince of Orange. In return for this display, 
 Eelkins run up the English flag by way of bravado, and 
 ordered a salute to be fired in honor of King Charles ; 
 then coolly sailed up the river in defiance of the guns of 
 Fort Amsterdam, leaving the astonished governor to 
 meditate on his audacity at his leisure. 
 
 Thunderstruck at such an act of daring, Van Twiller 
 summoned all the people together in the square before the 
 fort, now the Bowhng Green, then ordering a cask of wine 
 and another of beer to be brought, he filled a glass, and 
 called on all good citizens who loved the Prince of Orange 
 to do the same, and to drink confusion to the English Gov- 
 ernment. The citizens were not slow in obeyitig the com- 
 mand ; and, indeed, this was all that they could do, for the 
 ship was now far beyond the guns of the fort, and safely 
 pursuing her journey up the river. But they were deeply 
 mortified at the governor's pusillanimity, and De Vries 
 openly taxed him with cowardice, and told him that if i< 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 09 
 
 had been his case, he should have sent some eight-pound 
 beans after the saucy EngUshman and helped him down 
 again, but as it was now too late for that, he should cer- 
 tainly send the Soutberg after him and drive him down 
 the river. After meditating on this counsel for a few 
 days, the vacillating Van Twiller resolved to follow it, 
 and dispatched an armed force to Fort Orange, where 
 
 WratU of Vau TwiUc 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Eelkins had pitched a tent on the shore, and was busily 
 engaged in trading with the natives. This tent the 
 soldiers speedily demolished, and, reshipping his goods, 
 brought his vessel back to Fort Amsterdam, where he 
 was required to give up his peltries, and was sent to sea 
 with a warning never more to intei-fere with the trade 
 of the Dutch government. 
 
 It was not long before Van Twiller, who always acted 
 promptly on inopportune occasions, attempted to vindi- 
 cate his statesmanship at De Vries' expense. The latter 
 wished to send his yacht through Hellegat to trade along 
 the coasts, a privilege to which he was entitled as a 
 patroon ; but the governor refused his consent, and 
 ordering the guns of the fort to be turned on the reced- 
 ing vessel, commanded her to stop and unload directly. 
 "The land is full of fools!" exclaimed the exasperated 
 De Vries, running to the Battery point where stood 
 the governor with some of his council, "if you want 
 " to shoot, why didn't you shoot the Englishman when 
 " he sailed up the river ?" The governor dared not give 
 the order to fire, and the yacht passed on, and was soon 
 winding her way through the tortuous channels of the 
 Hellegat. 
 
 Although, in the general appropriation of patroon- 
 ships, no claim had been made on the country about the 
 Connecticut River, and the few settlers who had gone 
 thither had soon returned with their families to Manhat- 
 tan, the Dutch had constantly kept up a brisk trade with 
 the Indians, and as constantly asserted their right to the 
 territory. In the meantime, a grant of the same terri- 
 tory had been made to Lord "Warwick by the English 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 7] 
 
 government ; and Van Twiller, taking alarm at the 
 movements of the English, determined to forestall them 
 by securing its possession. During the summer preced- 
 ing the arrival of Van Twiller, a small tract of land at 
 the mouth of the Connecticut River had been purchased 
 of the Indians, and the arms of the States General affixed 
 to a tree. Immediately after his arrival, the governor 
 dispatched Jacob Van Corlaer with six other agents 
 thither, who purchased a tract of land of tlie Pequods 
 near the site of the present city of Hartford, and built 
 a redoubt upon it, which they fortified with two cannon 
 and named Fort Good Hope. 
 
 Hearing of this encroachment, the people of Plymouth 
 applied to the Massachusetts colony to aid them in driv- 
 ing off the Dutch intruders. But, deeming the country 
 almost valueless on account of the difficulty of entering 
 the river and the hostility of the Indian tribes in the 
 vicinity, the latter declined, although Governor Winthrop 
 dispatched a letter to Van Twiller, remonstrating with 
 him for encroaching upon English territory. To this 
 Van Twiller returned a courteous reply, proposing that 
 the matter should be referred to their respective govern- 
 ments, and hoping "that two great powers might not 
 "fall into contention about a little part or portion of 
 "these heathenish cotm tries." The Plymouth colonists, 
 however, resolved on more decisive measures, and pur- 
 chasing a small tract of land of the Indians, just above 
 Fort Good Hope, dispatched Lieutenant William Holmes 
 thither with a picked company of men and the frame of 
 a small house to found an English settlement. As they 
 ueared the Dutch post, they were hailed by Van Corlaer, 
 
72 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 who threatened to fire if they proceeded. " Fire !" was 
 the reply, " we are following the commands of the gover- 
 " nor of Plymouth, and, living or dead, we must obey his 
 " orders." The true follower of Van Twiller, Van Corker 
 dared not fire, and Holmes ascended the river a mile and 
 a half higher, set up his house, and founded the settle- 
 ment of Windsor. Van Twiller, on hearing of these 
 proceedings, served a written protest on the intruders, 
 and soon after sent seventy soldiers to dislodge them. 
 But they stood on their defence, and the Dutch com- 
 mander withdrew without attempting their expulsion. 
 
 In the meantime, De Vries had returned to Holland, 
 contending to the last with Van Twiller, who vainly 
 endeavored to detain him and to wring from him a tri- 
 bute in the shape of taxes and duties. Soon after, he 
 withdrew from his partnership in the patroonship of 
 Swaanendael, which was bought up by the Company for 
 the sum of fifteen thousar.d six hundred guilders, or six 
 thousand two hundred and forty dollars. About the 
 same time, Notelman, the schout fiscal, who had been 
 convicted of dishonesty in the performance of his duties, 
 was superseded by Lubbertus Van Dinklagen. 
 
 Trouble broke out in a new quarter. A party of 
 Englishmen from Point Comfort, headed by George 
 Holmes, took possession of the deserted trading-post of 
 Fort Nassau. For once. Van Twiller seems to have 
 acted with promptness. He at once dispatched an armed 
 force to South River, who dislodged the intruders and 
 brought them back as prisoners to Foi't Amsterdam. 
 Just at tliis juncture, De Vries arrived from Holland, on 
 his way to Virginia. Van Twiller, at a loss how to dis- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 73 
 
 pose of his prisoners, begged him to wait for a few days ; 
 the unlucky EugUshmen were embarked on board his 
 vessel, and landed two days afterwards at Point Comfort, 
 just in time to prevent a party of their countrymen from 
 setting out to rejoin them. This timely action ended 
 the proposed invasion, and secured to the Dutch for the 
 time being the undisputed possession of the South 
 River. 
 
 Not equally fortunate were they on the Connecticut. 
 In 1634, a company of emigrants from Massachusetts 
 founded a settlement at Wethersfield ; while another 
 party established themselves near the mouth of the river, 
 tearing down the arms of the States General which had 
 been affixed there three years before, and treating them 
 with contemptuous derision. To this latter settlement 
 they gave the name of Saybrook. Van Twiller, finding 
 protests unavailing, dispatched a sloop to dislodge them, 
 which was driven off by the English without being 
 suffered to land. At a loss how to act, the governor dis- 
 patched an account of the proceedings to his sujieriors, 
 and waited for further instructions. In the meantime, 
 the English occupied Springfield, thus gaining almost 
 exclusive possession of the territory of the Fresh River. 
 
 About the same time, some incidents less serious 
 and more ludicrous occurred at Fort Amsterdam, which 
 have been caught up by the witty historian of the 
 Knickerbocker times, and converted into a choice bit 
 of satire on the unlucky governor. Finding that Vir- 
 ginia was not a good place for the Dutch to trade 
 at, De Vries, after landing his prisoners, returned to 
 Fort Amsterdam, which he reached about two o'clock in 
 
74 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 the morning. The whole city was asleep. Not a sen- 
 tinel appeared on the walls, no challenge was given, and 
 no one was conscious of the arrival of the vessel. At 
 daybreak he fired a salute of three guns. The 
 frightened citizens sprang from their beds and seized 
 their arms, the startled soldiers ran to their guns, and 
 the governor fancied that the English were in possession 
 of the city. A few minutes explained the mistake ; the 
 people laughed at their terror, and De Vries was heartily 
 welcomed back again. His vessel leaking badly, she was 
 hauled up into the " Smit's Vly," a morass lying outside 
 of Pearl street between Pine and Fulton streets, where 
 she was careened and repaired. This " vly " or valley 
 afterwards became the site of the well-known Fly 
 
 Market. 
 
 Soon after De Vries' arrival, the first fire in the vicin- 
 ity occurred at Pavonia. Cornelius Van Voorst, the 
 newly appointed agent for Patroon Pauw, had just 
 arrived, bringing with him some choice claret, and 
 Van Twiller, with De Vries and Domine Bogardus, 
 hastened thither to greet his arrival and taste the 
 luxury. The party was not altogether an harmonious 
 one, for Van TwiUer and Bogardus, who were friends 
 for the occasion, quarrelled with Van Voorst about a 
 murder which had recently been committed on his pre- 
 mises. They parted, however, on friendly terms, and on 
 their return, the agent fired a' farewell salute from a 
 swivel that was mounted in front of his house. A spark 
 fell upon the thatched roof, the reeds caught, and in half 
 an hour the building was in ashes. Such an event had, 
 as yet, been hardly anticipated, and no means were at 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 75 
 
 hand for extinguishing the fire ; nor indeed did any exist 
 until several years after. 
 
 De Vries soon after prepared to return to Europe, and 
 the director resolved to give a banquet in honor of his 
 departure. Tables were spread on the Battery in one 
 of the angles of the fort and a large company invited 
 and Van Corlaer, the celebrated trumpeter of the fort, 
 was called upon to furnish music for the occasion. The 
 wine circulated fi'eely and all were merry ; but just as 
 the festivity had reached its height, a couple of worthy 
 "koopmans," or supercargoes, took it into their heads to 
 find fault witli the trumpeter. Tlie valorous Van Cor- 
 laer vindicated his cause by giving them both a beating, 
 upon which they ran home for their swords, uttering 
 threats of the most direful vengeance. But their anger 
 evaporated during the night, and in the morning, says 
 the quaint chronicler of the times, "they feared the 
 "trumpeter more than they sought him." De Vries, 
 after selecting Staten Island as his future residence, and 
 entering his claim to it through the director, set sail for 
 Holland, taking with him several Englishmen, who had 
 sold their vessel, together with two captured prizes, at 
 Fort Amsterdam. 
 
 Van Twiller, as has already been said, was too good 
 a merchant to neglect his own interests. In the simi- 
 mer of 1636, he, with Jacob Van Corlaer, Adriaeu Hudde 
 and Wolfert Gerritsen, purchased a tract of land com- 
 prising some fifteen thousand acres on Long Island, where 
 they founded New Amersfoordt, the present Flatlands. 
 About the same time, he granted to Roelef Jansen a 
 tract of thirty-one morgens or sixty-two acres of land, 
 
76 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 beginning a little south of the present Warren street, 
 and extending along Broadway as far as Duane street, 
 and thence northwesterly a mile and a half to Christopher 
 street, thus forming a sort of unequal triangle with its 
 base upon the North River. This grant afterwards 
 became a part of the famous Trinity Church property. 
 Jansen died a few years after, leaving four children, and 
 his widow and heiress, Aneke Jans, became the wife of 
 Domine Bogardus. After his shipwi'eck and death, the 
 grant was coufii-med by Stuyvesant to Aneke Jansen, a 
 second time a widow with eight children. Upon the 
 subsequent capture of the province, the grant was again 
 confirmed by the English government to her heirs, who 
 sold it hi 1671 to Colonel Lovelace, though one of the 
 heirs failed to join in the conveyance. It was now incor- 
 porated into the King's Farm, once owned by the Dutch 
 West India Company, and, in 1703, was presented 
 by Cornbiuy unto Trinity Church, at that time the 
 established church of the city. Van Twiller also con- 
 firmed the possession of the Waal-bogt to George Jansen 
 de Rapelje, one of the Walloons who had emigrated 
 with Cornelissen Mey,* and granted to Jonas Bronck 
 that part of Westchester lying opposite Harlem. 
 
 Nor did Van Twiller neglect to increase his own pos- 
 sessions. Besides his recent purchases on Long Island, 
 he already had a flourishing plantation at Red Hook ; to 
 this he added Nutten's Island, which lay opposite it, only 
 separated by a narrow channel, so shoal that cattle 
 
 * The ceinpanions of de Riipeljo, whose names, slightly changed iu orthography, 
 may still be fouud among the residents of the Wallabout and its vicinity, wert 
 L'Escuyer, Duregee, Le Sillie, Cershaw, Conscilleur, and Musserol. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 1 1 
 
 foi'ded it at low water. This undoubtedly formed origin- 
 ally a i^art of Long Island. But the abrasion of the 
 neighboring shores b}^ the waves, together with the fill- 
 ing in of the lower part of the city, have widened and 
 deepened the chasm, and ships now pass in safety 
 through Buttermilk Channel. So lately as the close of 
 the last century, its passage ^vas hardly deemed safe for 
 boats, on account of the rocks with which it was filled ; 
 though market-boats, loaded with buttermilk and rowed 
 by women, glided through it on their way from Long 
 Island to the Xew York market, and gave it its name. 
 Nutten's Island, which had derived its name from its 
 abundance of nut-trees, was henceforth known as Gover- 
 nor's Island. Soon afterwards he purchased Great Barn 
 and Blackwell Islands in the Hellegat River ; becoming 
 through these acquisitions the richest landholder in the 
 colony. The growing rapacity of the director became 
 at length so apparent that it excited public attention, and 
 called forth open murmurs from Yan Dincklagen, the 
 upright and able schout-fiscal. Incensed at this audacity, 
 Yan Twiller removed him from his office, and, retaining 
 his salary, which was now three years in arrear, sent him 
 a prisoner to Holland on a charge of contumacy. Ulrich 
 Lupoid was appointed as his temporary successor. But 
 on his arrival, Yan Dincklagen, who was a man of 
 marked ability, represented the bad management of the 
 director so strongly to the States General, that they 
 urged the Amsterdam Chamber to recall him, and to 
 reinstate Yan Dincklagen in his office. To this they at 
 first demurred, but the representations of Yan Dinck- 
 lagen being confirmed bv De Yries, they finally con- 
 
78 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 sented, and on the 2d of September, 1637, appointed 
 Wilhelm Kieft as his successor. Nor did the schout- 
 fiscal stop here ; he also censured Domine Bogardus so 
 severely, that the latter, on learning of the charges made 
 against him, petitioned for leave to return to Holland to 
 defend himself. This was denied him, but the consis- 
 tory of his church instituted ecclesiastical proceedings 
 against Van Dincklagen, which were brought several 
 years afterwards before the Classis of Amsterdam. Van 
 Dincklagen was forced to wait many years for the pay- 
 ment of his salary, though the States General had signi- 
 fied their pleasure that it should at once be paid to him. 
 But he finally returned with honor to New Amsterdam, to 
 fill one of the most important offices in the government. 
 One of the last events in the administration of Van 
 Twiller was the purchase of Pavonia from its patroon by 
 the "West India Company. This purchase consolidated 
 their power, by giving them possession of the Jersey 
 shore as well as of Staten Island, Swaanendael they had 
 before acquired, and all the patroonships with the excep- 
 tion of Rensselaerswyck thus reverted back to them. 
 This, indeed, was the only one in which the system had 
 produced the colonization so much desired by the Com- 
 pany. Yet the settlement at Manhattan remained the 
 only one worthy of the name ; and, at this date, the his- 
 tory of the city and that of the province must necessarily 
 be hiseparable. Pavonia soon lost its euphonic appella- 
 tion, Latinized from the uncouth name of Pauw, in the 
 hands of its new proprietors ; and at the present time, 
 the little village of Communipauw is all that is left to 
 remind us of the wealthy patroon. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 79 
 
 On the 28th of March, Wilhehn Kieft, the new 
 director, arrived in the ship Herring, at Manhattan. His 
 antecedents were not prepossessing. Born at Amster- 
 dam and educated as a merchant, he had become a 
 bankrupt at Rochelle, where his portrait had been affixed 
 to the pubUc gallows after the custom of the city. After 
 this, he had been sent to ransom some Christians in 
 Turkey, where he was accused of having left several 
 captives in bondage, retaining the money which had been 
 raised for the purchase of their liberty. He w^as a 
 bustling, excitable man, with some show of business 
 talent and considerable energy, yet testy, irritable and 
 capricious, without stability or mental equilibrium, and 
 devoid of the sound judgment and cool prudence so 
 necessary in the governor of a province. In some 
 respects, he was the superior of the heavy, indolent Van 
 Twiller, yet the nervous irritability which rendered him 
 so, involved the province in scenes of blood and horror 
 which it would probably have escaped beneath the plac- 
 able sway of the good-natured director. 
 
 Kieft immediately set to work with bustling activity, 
 organizing his council in such a manner as to keep the 
 direction of affairs in his own hands. Lupoid was con- 
 tinued in the office of schout. Van Tienhoven was 
 appointed koopman, and a Huguenot physician by the 
 name of Johannes la Montague, who had lately emigrated 
 to New Amsterdam, was admitted into the council. 
 This done, he set about reforming the abuses which had 
 crept into the colony, and repairing the disorder of pub- 
 lic affairs. He found no lack of business in this direc- 
 tion. The fort was in a ruinous condition, and all the 
 
so HISTORY OF THE 
 
 guns dismounted ; the church and government build- 
 ings were out of repair ; but one of the three mills 
 which had been built was in working order, and almost 
 all the vessels were leaky or disabled. The few cattle 
 of the Company had been sold or transported to the 
 plantations of Van Twiller, and their farms thrown into 
 commons. There were abuses everywhere- — private 
 individuals smuggled furs and tobacco, and sold powder 
 and guns to the Indians, regardless of the prohibitions 
 of the Company, and law and order were almost obsolete 
 in the colony. Kieft energetically set to work to cure 
 these evils, and issued a code of laws and regulations, 
 which were not much better heeded by the colonists 
 than the wordy protests of Van Twiller had been by the 
 English. All illegal traffic in furs was forbidden under 
 penalty of confiscation of the goods, the selling of mus- 
 kets or ammunition to the Indians was made a capital 
 offence, tobacco was subject to excise, and no liquor 
 but wine was permitted to be sold at retail. Sailors 
 were forbidden to leave their ships after nightfall, hours 
 were fixed for all to commence and leave off work, and 
 strict laws were passed against all vice and profanity. 
 Thursday in each week was fixed for the session of the 
 council as a civil and criminal court. All persons were 
 prohibited from leaving the island without a passport, 
 and strict measures were taken to restrain the illegal 
 traffic which had grown so dangerous to the interests of 
 the Company. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Dutch were threatened with a new 
 rival from an unexpected quarter. Minuit, the ex- 
 director, indignant at his abrupt dismissal, resolved to 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 49 
 
 l)le the proviuce with their own countrymen. The}', 
 therefore, refused the prayer of the Puritans ; and on 
 the 3d of June, 1621, granted a charter to the " West 
 India Company," conferring on them for a period of 
 twenty-one years, the exclusive jurisdiction over the pro- 
 vince of New Netherland. The powers thus conferred 
 upon this new association were as extensive as those en- 
 joyed by the Bast India Company. The exclusive right 
 of trade in the Atlantic, from the Tropic of Cancer to 
 the Cape of Good Hope on the eastern, and from New- 
 foundland to the Straits of Magellan on the western 
 continent was granted them. Their power over this 
 immense territory was almost unlimited. They could 
 make contracts with the native princes, build forts, 
 administer justice, and appoint governors and public 
 officers, the appointment of the former to be subject to 
 the approval of the States General, to whom they were 
 required to take oaths of allegiance. In return, the Com- 
 pany pledged themselves to colonize the new territories, 
 and to keep the States General informed from time to 
 time of their plan of operations. The government of 
 the association was vested in five separate chambers of 
 managers, established in five principal Dutch cities : one 
 at Amsterdam, one at Middleburg, one at Dordrecht, 
 one in North Holland, and one in Friesland and Gron- 
 ingen. The details of its management were intrusted to 
 a board of directors, nineteen in number, one of whom 
 was appointed by the States General, the others by the 
 respective chambers, in proportion to their relative im- 
 portance. Full executive powers, with the exception of 
 a declaration of war, for which the consent of the States 
 
 4 
 
50 HISTORYOF T a k. 
 
 General was necessary, was conferred on this board of 
 directors, commonly caUed the Assembly of Nineteen. 
 The States Genei'al, on their part, promised to protect 
 the Company from all interference, to give them a mil- 
 hon of guilders, and to supply them with ships and men 
 in case of war. The Puritans, meanwhile, repulsed 
 on this side, had made their way to Plymouth Rock, 
 and planted their faith on the shores of New England. 
 
 The West India Company set about the work of co- 
 lonizing the new province with vigor. In 1623, the 
 Amsterdam Chamber, to whose especial care the province 
 had been intrusted, fitted out the New Netherland, a 
 ship of two hundred and sixty tons burden, and dis- 
 patched it, with thirty families, to the territory whose 
 name it bore, for the purpose of founding a colony. The 
 expedition was placed under the command of Cornelissen 
 Jacobsen Mey, who was also appointed First Director of 
 the province. Most of these new colonists were Wal- 
 loons, or French Protestants, from the confines of France 
 and Belgium, who had obtained from the Dutch what 
 they had vainly sought from the EngUsh, permission to 
 make themselves homes in the New World. These were, 
 properly speaking, the earliest colonists of the province, 
 the Dutch, who had previously emigrated hither, having 
 been mere traders and temporary sojourners. The new 
 comers scattered themselves over the country. Eight re- 
 mained at Manhattan. Four coui^les, who had been mar- 
 ried dui'ing the \ oyage, together with eight seamen, were 
 sent to South River, where they founded a settlement on 
 the Jersey shore, near Gloucester. The Walloons, headed 
 by George Janscn de Rapelje, settled on Long Island, 
 
GiTY OF NEW YORK. - 51 
 
 at the Waal-bogt, or Walloon's Bay, where Sarah de 
 Rapelje, the first child of European parentage in the pro- 
 vince, was born, in 1G25.''' A few of the colonists were 
 dispatched by the governor to the Fresh, or Connecticut 
 River, and the rest proceeded with him up the Mauritius 
 River, where they built Fort Orange, on the west shore, 
 about four miles above Fort Nassau, and vigorously com- 
 menced the work of clearing the wilderness. The New 
 Netherland returned to Holland under the command of 
 Adriaen Joris, the second in command of the expedition, 
 with a cargo of furs, valued at twelve thousand dollars. 
 
 In 1625, three ships and a yacht, bringing a number 
 of families, with their furniture, farming implements, and 
 a hundred and three head of cattle, arrived at Manhattan. 
 Fearing lest the cattle might stray away into the forests, 
 the settlers landed them on Nutten's, now Governor's 
 Island, until further provision could be made for them ; 
 but finding the island destitute of water, they were com- 
 pelled at once to carry them in boats to Manhattan. 
 Two more vessels soon arrived, and the colony now num- 
 bered some two hundred persons. 
 
 A nucleus was now formed from which to form a per- 
 manent settlement. Hitherto the form of government 
 had been simple and the settlers transient, but affairs 
 were now assuming a more settled aspect. In 1624, Mey 
 returned to Holland, and was succeeded in the director- 
 ship by William Verhulst. At the end of a year, he, too, 
 was recalled, and Peter Minuit was appointed Director- 
 
 * Recent investigations tend to conBrm the theory that Sarah de Rapelje was 
 born at Albany, where her parents appear to have resideJ about the period of hci 
 birth, instead of at the Waal-bogt, as has been supposed. 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 General of New Netherland ; with instructions from the 
 Company to organize a provincial government. In this 
 government, the supreme authority, executive, legisla- 
 tive, and judicial, was vested in the Director and Council, 
 with full power to administer justice, except in capital 
 cases ; in which, the offender, on being convicted, must 
 be sent with his sentence to Holland. Next to these 
 came the Koopman, who performed the double duty of 
 Secretary of the province, and book-keeper of the Com- 
 pany's warehouse. Subordinate to this functionary, was 
 the Schout Fiscal, a sort of civil factotum, half sheriff and 
 half attorney-general, the executive officer of the Director 
 and Council, and general custom-house officer. At the 
 same time, the first seal was granted 
 to the province of New Nether- 
 land.* Minuit's council consisted of 
 Peter By velt, Jacob Elbertsen Wis- 
 sinck, Jan Jaussen Brouwer, Simon 
 Dircksen Pos, and Reynert Har- 
 menssen. Isaac de Rasi^res, the 
 
 first Koopman, was succeeded two Seal of New Amsterdam. 16o4. 
 
 years afterwards by Jan Van Re- (.Described en p. m.) 
 
 mund ; Jan Lampo acted as Schout Fiscal. 
 
 On the 4th olf May, 1626, Peter Minuit, tne new 
 Director, arrived at Manhattan in the ship Sea Mew. com- 
 manded by Adriaen Joris. To his credit be it said, the 
 first act of his administration was to secure possession 
 of Manhattan by lawful purchase. Soon after his arrival 
 he bought the whole island of the Indians for the Dutch 
 West India Company for the sum of sixty guilders, or 
 twenty-four dollars. The island was fifteen miles i;; 
 
 * For engraving of the seal, see D. 140. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 53 
 
 length, and from about a quarter of a mile to two miles 
 ia breadth, and was estimated to contain twenty-two 
 thousand acres. 
 
 Having thus become the lawful owners of the terri- 
 tory, the first care of the colonists was to provide for 
 their personal safety. The English were constantly 
 prowling about their coasts and threatening their 
 destruction, and they knew that they were not secure in 
 the neighborhood of the fierce Manhattans. A fort was 
 at once staked out by their engineer, Kryn Frederycke, 
 on the triangle which formed the southern part of the 
 island, and which seemed chosen by nature herself for 
 the purpose. This fort, which was a mere block-house, 
 surrounded by cedar palisades, received the imposing 
 name of Fort Amsterdam, and was completed in the 
 course of the following year. A horse mill was also 
 erected, with a large room on the second floor for religious 
 services, and a stone building, thatched with reeds, was 
 built for the Company's warehouse. Some thirty rude 
 huts along the shores of the East River made up the 
 balance of the settlement. Neither clergyman nor school- 
 master was as yet known in the colony, but two visitors 
 of the sick, Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck by 
 name, were appointed, whose duty it was to read the Scrip- 
 tures and the creeds to the people on Sundays. Every 
 settler had his own house, kept his cows, tilled his land, or 
 traded with the natives — no one was idle. The settle- 
 ment throve, and the exports of furs during this year 
 amounted to nineteen thousand dollars. 
 
 Minuit now determined to open a friendly correspon- 
 dence with his eastern neighbors, and on the 9th of 
 
54 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 March, 1727, Isaac de Rasieres, the secretary of the pro- 
 vince, addressed au amicable letter by his order to Gov- 
 ernor Bradford at Plymouth, congratulating him on the 
 prosperity of his colony, and expressing a hope that 
 pleasant relations might continue to exist between them. 
 This letter was the first communication between the 
 Dutch and the Yankees. Bradford replied in the same 
 friendly tone, though he took care to throw out a few 
 hints on the questionable propriety of Dutch trade 
 within the limits of New Eng-land. Alarmed by this 
 claim, Minuit answered a few weeks after, vindicating 
 the right of the States General to the territory of New 
 Netherland. The matter rested thus until three months 
 after, when another letter was received from Bradford, 
 apologizing for the long delay, and requesting that the 
 Dutch would send a commissioner to discuss the 
 boundary question in an amicable manner. The sugges- 
 tion was complied with, and Isaac de Rasieres dispatched 
 on the errand, which amounted to little more than an 
 interchange of civilities between the two powers. 
 
 Ere long, seeds of trouble were sown, which ripened 
 into a harvest of horror and misery. 
 
 A Weckquaesgeek Indian, who had come down with 
 his nephew from West Chester to sell furs to the settlers, 
 was attacked near the Fresh Water Pond by three oi 
 Minuit's farm servants, who robbed and murdered him. 
 His nephew, a mere boy, escaped, vowing vengeance on 
 his uncle's murderers. It is but justice to the authori- 
 ties to say that they were ignorant of this deed of horror, 
 which in after years was visited so terribly upon the 
 whole colony. Revenge is an Indian's virtue, and the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 55 
 
 young savage grew up to manhood, cherishing his 
 terrible oath, and swearing to wash out his uncle's mur- 
 der in the blood of the white men. 
 
 In the meantime, the colony was increasing slowly, 
 not so much by new arrivals as by the accession of the 
 settlers from Forts Nassau and Orange, and the settle- 
 ments at the South River, who, attacked by the Indians 
 and tiring of their lonely position, had deemed it 
 advisable to remove to Manhattan. Six forms, called 
 " Bouwerys," were reserved as the private property of 
 the Company, four of which stretched along the east 
 shore, the other two lying on the western side of the 
 island, and extending to Greenwich. The inhabitants now 
 numbered two hundred and seventy. But the settlement 
 was expensive, and the Company, who were anxious to 
 settle the country, determined to induce individual mem- 
 bers of their body to establish settlements at their own 
 risk. To effect this, in 1629, an act was proposed by 
 the Assembly of Nineteen and ratified by the States 
 General, granting to any member of the West India 
 Company who should found a colony of fifty persons, 
 upward of fifteen years of age, within four years after 
 notice ©f his intention, the title of Patroon, with the 
 privilege of selecting a tract of land sixteen miles on 
 one side or eight miles on both sides of a navigable 
 river, and extending as far iidand as they chose, any- 
 where within the limits of the province except on the 
 island of Manhattan. This, the Company resei'ved to 
 themselves, together with the exclusive right to the fur- 
 trade, and a duty of five per cent on all trade carried on 
 by the patroons. The patroons were required to satisfy 
 
•56 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 the Indians for the hmd, and to maintain a minister and 
 schoohnaster ; and the Company promised to strengthen 
 the fort at Manhattan, to protect the colonists against all 
 attacks both from the English and the natives, and to 
 supply them with a sufficient number of negro-servants 
 for an indefinite length of time. This was the first 
 introduction of slavery into the province of New Nether- 
 land. Those settlers who emigrated at their own 
 expense were to have as much ground as they could 
 cultivate, and to be exempt from taxes for ten years ; in 
 no case, however, either on the territory of the patroon« 
 or the Company, were they permitted a voice in the 
 government. They were also forbidden to make any 
 woollen, linen, or cotton cloth, or to weave any other 
 stuffs, under penalty of punishment and exile. These 
 and similar arbitrary restrictions sowed the seed of that 
 discontent which agitated the people for so many years, 
 and finally culminated in open rebellion. 
 
 These patroons were petty sovereigns in their own 
 right — feudal lords of the soil — possessing complete juris- 
 diction over their tenants, who were forbidden to leave 
 their service for a stipulated time. They also had 
 authority to appoint local officers in all cities whifch they 
 might estabhsh, and were endowed with manorial privi- 
 leges of hunting, fishing and fowling on all lands within 
 their domain. This tempting offer at once excited the 
 cupidity and love of power of the merchants of the 
 West India Company, and no sooner was the act passed 
 than a number hastened to comply with its requirements. 
 Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert, both of whom 
 were directors of the West India Company, dispatched 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 57 
 
 agents to New Netherlaad, who piu^cliased of the Indians 
 two tracts of land ; the one extending from Cape Henlo- 
 pen thirty-two miles up the west shore of Delaware Bay ; 
 and the other, a piece of land sixteen miles square on the 
 opposite shore, including Cape May, to which they gave 
 the name of Swaanendael. Soon after, the agents of 
 Killian Van Rensselaer, another director of the Company, 
 purchased in his name the lands above and below Fort 
 Orange, including the present counties of Albany and 
 Rensselaer, to which they gave the name of Rensselaers- 
 wyck. Another director, Michael Pauw, appropriated a 
 tract of land on the Jersey shore opposite to Manhattan, 
 including Paulus Hook, Hoboken, and the adjacent 
 country, to which he gave the name of Pavonia. To 
 this purchase he soon after added that of Staten Island. 
 
 This wholesale appropriation of the province excited 
 the jealousy of the other directors. Loud murmurs of 
 discontent arose among the Company, and the grasping 
 patroons were forced to admit their colleagues to share in 
 their domains. Companies were formed for the proposed 
 .scheme of colonization, and David Pietersen de Vries, 
 A^ho had become one of the patroons of Swaanendael in 
 the new arrangement, proceeded thither with a colony of 
 thirty persons, which he established at Hoarkill near the 
 present site of Lewiston. Colonies were also established 
 about the same time at Rensselaerswyck and Pavonia. 
 
 The settlement at Fort Amsterdam, meanwhile, con- 
 tinued to flourish. Not only was it the chief depot of 
 the fur trade, but also of the coast trade of the patroons, 
 who were obliged to bring thither all thfeir cargoes. In 
 1629 and 1630, the imports from Amsterdam amounted 
 
58 niSTOKYOFTHE 
 
 to one hundred and thirteen thousand guilders, while the 
 exports from Manhattan exceeded one hundred and 
 thirty thousand. The people were turning their atten- 
 tion to ship-building, in humble imitation of the Father- 
 land, and at this early date, New Amsterdam was the 
 commercial metropolis of America. It fiiirly won the 
 title in 1631 by the construction of the New Netherland, 
 a ship of eight hundred tons, which was built at Man- 
 hattan and dispatched to Holland. This was an impor- 
 tant event in the ship-building annals of the times, for 
 the New Netherland was one of the largest merchant 
 vessels in the world. But the experiment was a costly 
 one, and was not soon repeated. The land about the 
 fort was fast being brought under cultivation, and, under 
 the management of the industrious Walloons, a thriving 
 settlement was springing up on the Brooklyn shore, and 
 gradually extending back upon Long Island. Emigrants 
 of all nations were beginning to flock into the province, 
 allured by the liberal offers of the Company, who trans- 
 ported them thither in their own ships at the cheap rate 
 of twelve and a half cents a day for provisions and pas- 
 sage, and gave them as much land as they could cultivate 
 on their arrival. Unlike the policy of the Colony of 
 Massachusetts, the fullest religious toleration was granted 
 in the province, and this attracted many victims of the 
 persecution which was raging so fiercely in Europe. Wal- 
 loons, Huguenots, Calvinists, Friends and Catholics, all 
 found a home here, and laid (he foundation of that 
 cosmopolitan character which the city has since so well 
 sustained. 
 
 Yot the colony was chiefly of the Dutch type. The 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 59 
 
 simple aud frugal settlers had imported the manners and 
 customs of Holland along with its houses and furniture, 
 and these for many years imparted a marked individual- 
 ity to the growing city. To the north and south, the 
 settlements were essentially English ; for a long time, 
 New Amsterdam and its successor, New York, remained 
 essentially Dutch. Yet these Holland manners and cus- 
 toms were becoming greatly modified by the exigencies 
 of the new country. The settlers were gradually adopt- 
 ing something of the mode of life of their savage allies ; 
 already had they learned to relish the Indian luxuries of 
 succotash and liominy, and to welcome to their tables 
 the game, shell-fish, fruits and berries which the island 
 afforded in such profusion ; nor did the tobacco find less 
 favor among them. The wampum had come to be a com- 
 mon currency in the settlement. Much of the Indian 
 life was already clinging to them ; though in thought and 
 feeling they still belonged to the Old World, and looked 
 fondly back to Holland as their true fatherland. 
 
 At this juncture, a heavy calamity fell upon the infant 
 colony which had been planted by De Vries at Swaanen- 
 dael. According to custom, a tin plate, bearing the 
 arms of Holland, had been affixed to a tree, in token of 
 the sovereignty of the nation. Attracted by the glitter 
 of the metal, and thinking no harm, a chief took it down 
 to make it into tobacco pipes. This proceeding, Hossett, 
 who had charge of the place, imprudently resented as an 
 insult, and the natives, to appease him, slew the offender 
 and brought him his right hand as a token of a ven- 
 geance of which the Dutch commander had never 
 dreamed. But it was now too late. A few days after, 
 
60 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 the friends of the murdered chieftain fell upon the 
 settlers as they were at work in the fields, slew them 
 without mercy, burned the fort and laid waste the whole 
 settlement. Thirty-two colonists were massacred in cold 
 blood — not one escaped to tell the tale. It was from the 
 Indian chiefs themselves that De Vries heard the details 
 of the horrible catastrophe on his arrival. The colony 
 at Rensselaerswyck meanwhile continued to prosper. 
 
 The directors of the West India Companj' had hoped, 
 by the aid of the patroons, to succeed in colonizing the 
 country, and, at the same time, to retain the rich mono- 
 poly of the fur trade in their own hands. In this they met 
 with serious opposition. The patroons, who had grown 
 powerful through their extensive privileges, interfered 
 with the traffic to such an extent that the directors 
 resolved to limit their authority and to break their 
 power. This procedure excited almost a civil war in 
 the Company. By the provisions of the charter, the 
 patroons were obliged also to be members of the associa- 
 tion, and the Company was thus divided against itself 
 A warm dispute arose, and in 1632, Peter Minuit, who 
 was suspected of favoring the pretensions of the patroons, 
 was recalled from the directorship, although no suc- 
 cessor was appointed for more than a year. At the 
 same time, Jan Lampo, the schout fiscal, was super- 
 seded by Conrad Notelman, who had brought the letters 
 of recall. Minuit at once resigned the government into 
 the hands of the council, and embarked for Holland in 
 the ship Eendragt, which had brought the news of 
 his dismissal, accompanied by the ex-schout and several 
 families of returning colonists. The Eendragt also car- 
 
CITTOFNEWYORK. 61 
 
 ried witli her a cargo of five thousand beaver skins — a 
 token of the growing prosperity of the colony. 
 
 On her return, the ship was forced by stress of 
 weather into the harbor of Plymouth, where she was 
 detained by the authorities as an illegal trafficker in 
 English monopohes. Minuit instantly dispatched news 
 of this proceeding to the Company, and also to the Dutch 
 ambassadors at London, who remonstrated with the 
 English government. The arrest of the Dutch trader 
 led to a correspondence between the two countries, in 
 which the claims of the rival powers were distinctly set 
 forth. These claims, which formed the basis of contin- 
 ual agitations as long as the province remained in the 
 hands of its Dutch proprietors, ai-e too important in their 
 connection with the history as well of the city as of the 
 whole country, not to find a place here. 
 
 The Dutch claimed the proprietorship of the province 
 on the grounds of its discovery by their nation in 1609 ; 
 of the return of their people in 1610 ; of the grant of a 
 trading charter in 1614 ; of the maintenance of a fort 
 and garrison until the organization of the West India 
 Company in 1621 ; of the failure of the English to 
 occupy the territory ; and of the purchase of the land 
 from its original owners, the natives. The English, on the 
 other hand, laid claim to it on the ground of the prior 
 discovery of Cabot, and declared it to be the property of 
 the Plymouth Company, by virtue of a patent granted 
 by James I., its lawful sovereign. As to the purchase of 
 the land from the natives, they alleged that the wan- 
 dering and communistic Indians, not being the bona fide 
 possessors of the land, had no right to dispose of it, and 
 
62 CITYOF NEW YORK. 
 
 therefore, that all Indian titles must be invalid — a theory 
 which they had certainly done their best to reduce to 
 practice. They offered to permit the Dutch to remain 
 in New Netherland, provided they would swear alle- 
 giance to the English government ; otherwise they were 
 threatened with instant extirpation. But civQ war was 
 now on the eve of breaking out in England, and the 
 authorities were ill prepared to put their threat into exe- 
 cution. Contenting themselves with this assumption of 
 sovereignty, they released the Eendragt, and reserved 
 ine accomplishment of their designs for a more con- 
 venient season. 
 
CHAPTER II, 
 
 New Amsterdam in the Days of Wouter Van Twiller— English Diffionlties— Wiine.'iB 
 ICieft. 
 
 During the interregnum which succeeded the departure 
 of Minuit, the governinent was administered by the 
 council, headed by Koopman Van Remund, the succes- 
 sor of Isaac de Rasieres. In April, 1G33, the ship Sout- 
 berg arrived at Manhattan, bringing Wouter Van 
 TwiUer, the new director-general, with a military force 
 of a hundred and four soldiers, and a Spanish caraval 
 which she had captured on the way. Among the pas- 
 sengers came also Everardus Bogardus and Adam 
 Roelandsen, the first clergyman * and schoolmaster of 
 New Amsterdam. 
 
 * The reader is referred to the aroliivcs of the Historical Society for a curious lettei, 
 transmitted tliereto by tlie Hon. Ik-nry C. Murphy, ex-United States Minister at the 
 Hague, bearing date the 11th of Angust, 1628, and purporting to have been 
 iddressed by Jonas Michaelius, first Minister of the Church of New Amsterdam, 
 to Domine Adriauus Sraoutius, Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Amster- 
 1am. This letter, of the authenticity of which Mr. Murphy expresses himself 
 strongly persuaded, was found among the papers of Jacobus Koning, clerk of the 
 fourth judicial district of Amsterdam, and communicated to the Kerk-historisch 
 Archief by J. J. Bodel Xijenhaus, Esq. Of its previous history, nothing whatever 
 is known. In the records of the Classis of Amsterdam of a later date, Domine 
 Michaelius is mentioned as the late minister of Virginia ; and the fact that the Dutch 
 
64 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 A weaker, more vacillating or thoroughly iucompe- 
 teiit governor could hardly have been selected than 
 Wouter Van Twiller. He had married the niece of the 
 wealthy patroon, Killian Van Rensselaer, and it was 
 probably in consequence of this connection that he had 
 succeeded in obtaining this important post. He had 
 been employed as a clerk in the Company's warehouse, 
 and had done them good service in this capacity ; but 
 knowing nothing at all of the science of government, 
 and ignorant of everything except of money-making, he 
 soon became ridiculous in his new position. 
 
 Immediately upon his arrival. Van Twiller assumed 
 the direction of affairs, and organized his council. This 
 council consisted of Jacob Jansen Hesse, Mai-tin Gerrit- 
 sen, Andries Hudde, and Jacques Bentyn. Cornelius 
 Van Tienhoven was made book-keeper of the Company, 
 
 language was unknown in Virginia proper, coupled with the general custom of 
 bestowing this appellation indiscriminately upon all portions of the western world, 
 affords strong presumptive proof of the genuineness of the letter. If it be really 
 authentic, it is, with the exception of Isaac de Rasieres' letters to Governor Brad- 
 ford and to Mr. Blommaert of Amsterdam, the only letter now extant written hj 
 the pioneers of New Amsterdam. The history of Michaelius is full of adventure. 
 Born in 1577 in North Holland and educated at the University of Leyden, he 
 settled in 1614 at Nieuwbokswouden, whence he, two years afterwards, removed 
 to Havre. On the capture of St Salvador by the Dutch in 1624, he was dispatched 
 thither to preside over the church of the victors. The next year, the island fell 
 again into the hands of the Portuguese, and Michailius, abandoning his charge, set 
 out on a missionary expedition to Guinea. In 1627, he returned to Holland, and 
 soon after, if we may rely on this letter, made his way to New Amsterdam, to enact 
 the part of the religious pioneer which historians have hitherto agreed in assigning 
 to Bogardus. He probably did not remain long in the province. The next trace 
 (if him appears in 1637 or 3S, when it was proposed by the Classis to send him again 
 10 New Amsterdam ; but the request was refused by the West India Company, pro- 
 bably on account of his advanced age. The letter in question is quaint and curious, 
 and gives a graphic picture of the primitive life of the early settlers 
 
CITY OB' NEW YORK. 81 
 
 found a new colony under his own direction. TVitli tliis 
 design, he proceeded to Stockholm, and, gaining access 
 to Q,ueen Christina, described -the new country to her in 
 such glowing language that she at once became anxious 
 to secure a portion of it for Sweden. The project, 
 indeed, was not a new one ; it had previously been pro- 
 posed to Gustavus Adolphus by William Usselincx, the 
 original projector of the Dutch West India Company, 
 who had favored the undertaking ; but ere it could be 
 carried into effect, Sweden's greatest monarch had found 
 his death on the field of Liitzen. It remained for his 
 daughter, aided by the counsels of the able Oxenstiern, 
 to carry out his project, and to secure a foothold for 
 Sweden in the New World. By her command, the 
 Key of Calmar man-of-war, and a tender called the 
 Griffin, were fitted out with goods suitable for traffic with 
 the Indians, a Lutheran clergyman and some fifty emi- 
 grants were embarked, and the expedition was placed 
 under Minuit's direction. Steering directly for the 
 Virginian coast, he touched at Jamestown for wood 
 and water ; then, proceeding to Delaware Bay, he pur- 
 chased all the territory on the west side of the river 
 from Cape Henlopen to Trenton Falls, with an indefinite 
 extent inland, of the sachem of the country, for the con- 
 sideration of a kettle and a few trifles, and, taking pos- 
 session of the country in the name of Sweden, erected a 
 trading-post which he called Fort Christina. This was 
 situated near the site of the present Wilmington, and 
 was the first settlement within the State of Delaware. 
 
 On learning of this new encroachment, Kieft imme- 
 diately served a protest on the intruders, claiming the 
 6 
 
82 HISTOKTOFTHE 
 
 territory as the property of the West India Company, 
 and declaring that he would not be answerable for the 
 consequences which might result from their illegal occu- 
 pation. Finding his remonstrances disregarded, he 
 applied for instructions to the Amsterdam Chamber. But, 
 at this time, Sweden was one of the most powerful of 
 the European kingdoms ; the States General, unwilling 
 to embroil themselves with so dangerous a neighbor, 
 deemed it expedient not to pursue the matter further, 
 and the Swedes were permitted to continue their traffic 
 under protest. 
 
 Soon after this occurrence, a measure was adopted by 
 the Company which proved of vital importance to the 
 interests of the colony. Hitherto, their efforts at coloniz- 
 ation had proved futile, and the patroon system had 
 resulted in a total failure. For the encouragement of 
 individual enterprise, a new charter of privileges was 
 granted, limiting patroonships to four miles of frontage 
 on navigable rivers with eight miles inland ; granting to 
 every person who should transport himself and Jive 
 others to the province at his own cost, two hundred 
 acres of land ; and conferring on all villages and cities 
 which should hereafter be founded, the right of choosing 
 their own magistrates. The monopoly of the Indian 
 trade was relinquished in consideration of a moderate 
 duty, the Company only retaining the exclusive right of 
 transportation to and from the colony. They offered a 
 free passage, however, to all respectable farmers, with 
 as much land as they could cultivate on their arrival, 
 subject to a quit-rent of a tenth of the produce. The} 
 also pledged themselves to provide ministers, school- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 83 
 
 luasters, aud "comforters for the sick;" and renewed 
 thtii promise to supply tlie cofoiiists witli negroes. The 
 prohibition against making cloths was also repealed. The 
 Reformed Dutch Religion was declared the established 
 faith of tbo prov'ince, though the fullest toleration was 
 granted to all other sects. No distinction was made 
 between foreigners and Hollanders, the only obligation 
 imposed on tht former being an oath of fidelity to the 
 Dutch governmeivt 
 
 Allured by these Uberal offers, numerous w^ealthy emi- 
 grants soon flocked Iwvo the colony. In 1639, De Vries 
 returned to ManhattAr with a party of colonists, and 
 erected some buildingiji and began a colony on Staten 
 Island. In the course oJ' the same year, Jochem Pieter- 
 sen Kuyter and Cornells Melyn, both men of means and 
 influence, arrived with a nuBiber of emigrants at New 
 Amsterdam, where they soon became prominent mem- 
 bers of the colony. Some English iudentui-ed servants, 
 who had served out their time in Virginia, came also to 
 Manhattan, where they carried on the cultivation of 
 tobacco, and introduced cherry and peach-trees which 
 had hitherto been unknown in the settlement. Attracted 
 by the greater religious freedom in the province, several 
 valuable settlers came in from New England, among 
 whom was Captaui John Underbill, who had distin- 
 guished himself in the Pequod war, and had afterwards 
 become Governor of Dover. The strangers were cor- 
 dially welcomed, and at once inducted into all the privi- 
 leges of citizenship, and they soon grew warmly attached 
 to the interests of their adopted city. The island was 
 fast losing its savage aspect, full thirty farms and planta- 
 
84 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 ticns were in thrifty cultivation, and the country outside 
 the walls of the fort resembled a blooming garden. 
 
 The land in the vicinity of Manhattan, both on the 
 Long Island and Jersey shores, and northward on the 
 mainland, was fast being brought under cultivation. In 
 the summer of 1638, Kieft had purchased for the Com- 
 pany a large tract of land on Long Island in the vicinity 
 of the present Newtown, and commenced the settlement 
 of the country adjacent to the AYaal-bogt. In the fol- 
 lowing summer, Antonie Jansen de Rapelje, the brother 
 of the founder of the Walloon settlement, obtained a 
 ga-ant of a hundred morgens, or nearly two hundred 
 acres of land, opposite Coney Island, and commenced the 
 settlement of Gravesend. Rapelje, or Jansen, as he was 
 commonly called, was a man of prodigious streng-th and 
 stature, and was reputed by many to be a Moor by 
 birth, a circumstance probably owing to his adjunct 
 of De Salee, under which name his patent was granted, 
 and by which he was often known. This report, how- 
 ever, was without foundation ; he was a native Walloon, 
 and the suffix to his name was probably derived from 
 the river Saale in France, and not from Salee in 
 Morocco. For many years after the Dutch dynasty had 
 passed away, his farm at Gravesend continued to be 
 known as Anthony Jansen's Bouwery.* Thomas Belcher, 
 
 * William Jansen de Rapelje, the third brother of this family, distinguished as hav- 
 ing been among the earliest settlers of Long Island, and the founders of the present 
 city of Brooklyn, settled at New Amsterdam, where he died without children. By a 
 curious caprice, the descendants of Antonie have discarded the name of Rapelje, 
 retaining that of Jansen, or Johnson as they are more commonly called ; while 
 the familv of George have dropped the Jansen, and are known by the name of 
 Rapelje or Rapelyea, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 85 
 
 an Englishman, soon after obtained a tract of land at 
 Brooklyn, and George Holmes and Thomas Hall, the 
 leaders of the unsuccessful Virginian expedition against 
 Fort Nassau, who had now become residents of Man- 
 hattan, obtained farms near Deutel's, now Turtle Bay on 
 the East River. In the spring of 1640, Kieft purchased 
 of the Indians in behalf of the Company, all the territory 
 comprised within the present hmits of Kings and Queens 
 Counties which was not already in their possession. De 
 Vries soon after established another colony at Tappan 
 on lands which he had previously purchased of the 
 Indians, to which he gave the name of Vriesendael. 
 The following year, another colony was established 
 within an hour's walk of the former by Myndert Vander 
 Voorst in the valley of the Hackensack River; and 
 about the same time, Cornells Melyn obtained a grant 
 from the Amsterdam Chamber for all that part of Staten 
 Island which was not already occupied by De Vries. 
 Previously to this, Kieft had established a distillery and 
 buckskin manufactory there on his own account, and had 
 stationed a few soldiers in a small redoubt on one of the 
 headlands, with orders to signal to the garrison in the 
 fort the arrival of vessels in the lower bay. 
 
 The English, meanwhile, continued their encroach- 
 ments upon the territory of the Connecticut, and had 
 almost succeeded in forcing the Dutch from Fort Good 
 Hope, the only foothold which they possessed in that 
 region. Not content with this, they next attempted to 
 gain possession of Long Island also. In 1635, Lord 
 Stirling had obtained a grant from the Plymouth Coun- 
 cil of a part of New England, together with Long Island ; 
 
86 HISTOKYOFTHE 
 
 and dispatclieJ James Farrett thitlier as Lis proxy, 
 granting Lini sixteen thousand aci'es for his own use. 
 Farrett selected Shelter and Robins' Islands in Peconic 
 Bay, and granted Gardiner's Island to Lyon Gardiner, 
 the first settler of the region. Shelter Island was after- 
 wards conveyed to Captain Nathaniel Silvester and 
 Ensign John Booth, who, March 23, 1652, strengthened 
 their title by purchasing it of the Sachem Yokee.* It 
 was subsequently sold to Lyon Gardiner. Under a title 
 from Farrett, a party from Lynn attempted to settle on 
 the lands claimed by the Dutch neai- Manhassett, but were 
 speedily aiTested by au armed force fi'Oin the fort and 
 carried to Manhattan, then sent back to New England. 
 They returned in 1640, and settled at Southampton. 
 In the same year, the neighboring town of Southold 
 v/as settled by a company of immigrants from Norfolk- 
 shire, England, who secured the lands in the vicinit}- 
 of Yiunicock, now Greenport. But these distant set- 
 
 * The deed of purchase is recorded in Liber A., p. 74, of Records of South- 
 old, L. I., and is still in possession of the family. This interesting specimen 
 of an Indian title is worth transcribing : 
 
 " We, whose names are hereunderneath subscribed, doe freely testify and 
 declare that T" Kee, formerly Sachem of Munghunsick Aququatunasmack, 
 now called Sheltered Island, did on the three and twentieth of March, 1G53, 
 give full possession unto Capt. Nathaniel Silvester and Ensign John Booth 
 of the aforesaid Island of Aququatunasmack, with all that was belonging to 
 the same, and he, the said Tokee, delivered unto the aforesaid Capt. Nathan- 
 iel Silvester and Ensign John Booth * * * according to the usual custom of 
 England, after which delivering and full possession given, the said Yokee 
 * * * foi-mally leaving the said Island of Aququatunasmack, did freely and 
 willingly depart the aforesaid Island, leaving the aforesaid Capt. Nathaniel 
 Silvester and Ensign John Booth in full possession of the same, unto which 
 we witness our hands, the date as above being the 23d of March, 1652. 
 " John Hebbekt. Robert Seelt, D.^^xiel Lane, Giles Silvester. 
 
 " Recorded the 28tli of January. IGlil, by me, WiLLlAii Wells, Recorder." 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 87 
 
 tlements scarcely troubled the Dutch authorities, who, 
 content with maintaining their claim to the western 
 part of the island, suffered the eastern colonists to 
 remain in peace. In 1648, another party of colonists 
 from Lynn took possession of the easternmost part of the 
 island, and founded the town of Basthampton. With the 
 exception of a small colony that was founded at 
 Setauket, on the north side of the island, in 1655, these 
 were the only English settlements that were made on 
 Long Island during the rule of the Dutch dynasty. 
 
 The Swedes, meanwhile, had continued to carry on 
 a flourishing trade with the Indians in the neighborhood 
 of Fort Christina. In the beginning, they experienced 
 hardships and privations ; at one time, indeed, rendered 
 desperate by famine, they were on the point of breaking 
 up their little settlement and removing to Manhattan, 
 where Kieft had promised them a cordial reception. 
 Fortunately, the day before the projected emigration, a 
 ship laden with colonists and supplies appeared in the 
 river. Others soon followed, and the colony rapidly 
 increased. In 1641, Peter Minuit died, and was buried 
 at Fort Christina. Peter HoUendaere, a Swede, suc- 
 ceeded him in the command. 
 
 But the success of these Swedish colonists on the 
 South River was too marked not to excite the cupidity 
 of the New Englanders. In 1640, a bark was fitted out 
 at New Haven by a merchant (George Lamberton), and 
 dispatched with some fifty families to the shores of the 
 Delaware to found a settlement. On the way, they 
 touched at Manhattan, where they were warned by Kieft 
 to desist from all enterprises in that quarter. Disregard- 
 
88 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 ing his injunctions, they proceeded on their way, and 
 estabUshed themselves, a part on Salem Creek, and the 
 rest on the Schuylkill. Enraged at this interference 
 with the Dutch trade, Kieft fitted out two yachts with 
 a force of fifty men to dislodge the intruders ; but 
 trouble breaking out among the Indians on Staten Island, 
 he was forced for the time to abandon the enterprise. 
 In the following year, he dispatched an expedition, 
 which, seconded by the Swedes, broke up both the 
 settlements, and brought back the English with their 
 goods to Fort Amsterdam, whence they were sent back 
 to New Haven. Lamberton, who persisted in trading at 
 the South River, was soon after arrested and brought to 
 Manhattan, where he was compelled to pay full duties 
 on his cargo. The English demanded satisfaction for 
 the damages done their people, which they estimated at 
 a thousand pounds, but Kieft boldly justified his con- 
 duct, and refused to accede to their demand. The con- 
 troversy continued, and the English annoyed their neigh- 
 bors so greatly that Kieft proclaimed a non-intercourse 
 with the colony of Connecticut. This state of affairs 
 proving embarrassing, the colonists soon opened a nego- 
 tiation with Kieft for the purchase of the territory about 
 the Dutch post ; and this failing, both parties appealed 
 to their respective powers in England and Holland for a 
 redress of their grievances. But civil war was now rag- 
 ing in England between the king and the parHament, 
 and though a correspondence was opened between the 
 two governments, the settlement of the question was de- 
 ferred till a more convenient season. Meanwhile, the Eng- 
 lish persisted in their design of crowding out the Dutch 
 
CITY OF NEW \ YORK 
 
 89 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 91 
 
 from a territor}' which indubitably belonged to them, 
 both by right of discovery and that of first possession. 
 
 The settlement at Fort Amsterdam — the embryo New 
 York — continued to increase in numbers and prosperity. 
 Among the late accessions were many men of wealth 
 and public spirit, who were ambitious for the advance- 
 ment of the colony. The settlement was growing into 
 respectable proportions. A few brick and stone houses 
 had been erected for the accommodation of the governor 
 and officials, but the greater part were unpretending 
 little cottages, with thatched roofs and wooden chimneys, 
 standing with the gable end to the street. Until 1642, 
 city lots and streets were unknown ; the settlers chose 
 land wherever it was most convenient for them, and 
 being gregarious in habits, streets were formed almost 
 by instinct. This fact accounts reasonably enough for 
 the crooked ways of the lower part of our metropolis. 
 Two roads leading from the fort towards the northern 
 part of the island had been formed by common consent ; 
 the one, afterwards known as the Boston or Old Post 
 Road, leading from the fort up the line of Broadway to the 
 end of the Park, then winding round through Chatham, 
 Duane, William and Pearl streets to avoid a steep hill 
 with a brook at the foot at Roosevelt street, and continu- 
 ing its course up tlie line of the Bowery ; the other, 
 extending from the fort through Stone street to Hanover 
 Square, and thence along the river shore to the ferry, 
 where the ferryman, Cornelis Dircksen, who owned 
 a farm hard by, came at the sound of the horn that 
 hung against a tree, and ferried the waiting passen- 
 ger across the river in his little skiff for the moderate 
 
92 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 charge of three stivers in wampum. This ferry, in the 
 earUest days of the city, was estabhshed between the 
 nearest points of contact of the opposite shores, that is, 
 from the vicinity of Peck Slip to a point a Uttle below 
 *he Fulton ferry landing at Brooklyn. 
 
 At this time, and for many years after, Pearl street 
 formed the edge of the river. It is at no very distant 
 date, indeed, that Water, Front and South streets have 
 been reclaimed from their river beds and made to do 
 their duty as a stanch support to commerce. From the 
 old yellow house — one of the last relics of the past — 
 standing until 1867 on the corner of Peck Shp and 
 Water street, one could easily throw stones into the 
 river which flowed through Water street at the time of 
 its erection. In the days of Wilhelm Kicft, ihis street 
 was selected as the site of the up-town residences of the 
 wealthy burghers on account of its fine river prospect. 
 The fei-ryman Dircksen owned the land directly oppo- 
 site the ferry ; the tract above of thirty-three acres, 
 extending up to the vicinity of Franklin Square, was 
 owned by Henry Bressar. Above this lay Wolfert's 
 Marsh, the property of Wolfert Van Couwenhoven, 
 covering the Roosevelt street district. Between the 
 lands of Dircksen, and Wall street, which formed the 
 northern boundary of the city, the lands along the line 
 of the street were owned by David Provoost, Philip de 
 Truy, Cornells Van Tienhoven, Laurens Vanderwel, and 
 Govert Loockermans, the most of whom were agents in 
 the Company's employ. On the west side of Broadway, 
 above the graveyard, stood the country seats of Messrs. 
 Vandiegrist and Van Dyck. But the most of the houses 
 
CITT OF NEW TOKK 
 
 93 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 95 
 
 were clustered at the lower end of the town about the 
 walls of the fort. In Whitehall street, stood the parson- 
 age, with its garden of variegated tulips intersected by 
 plain alleys of clipped box and cedars. In close proxim- 
 ity stood the bakery, brewery, and warehouse of the 
 Company. In South William near Pearl street was the 
 old horsemill, erected by Minuit, and since superseded 
 by the windmills of Van Twiller. One of these stood on 
 State street, the most ^^rominent object in the city as 
 seen from the river. Tlie fort itself was bounded by the 
 BowUng Green, Bridge, Whitehall and State streets. 
 The former was known as "the plain," and was a valu- 
 able institution, both in peace and war. It was the vil- 
 lage green, where the people erected their May poles, 
 and danced on holidays ; it served also as the parade 
 ground of the soldiers of the fort, and more than once, 
 had it witnessed the departure of a warlike expedition. 
 Pearl street was probably the street first occupied — the 
 oldest in the annals of the city ; the first houses were 
 built on it in 1633. Bridge street came next in order, 
 and a deed is still on record whereby Abraham Van 
 Steenwyck sells to Anthony Van Fees a lot on this street, 
 thirty feet front by one hundred and ten feet deep, for 
 the sum of twenty-four guilders, or nine dollars and sixty 
 cents — the earliest conveyance of property now on record 
 in this city. Whitehall, Stone, Broad, Beaver and Market- 
 field streets were built on soon after. In 1640, the first 
 grant of a city lot east of the fort was made near Smit's 
 Vly to Ph. de True. The following year, several grants 
 of lots on the lower end of Broadway, or Heere Straat 
 as it was then called, were made to diif ei'eut individuals. 
 
96 HISTORY OFTUE 
 
 Martin Krigier was the first grantee of a lot on this street, 
 o^jposite the Bowling Green, containing about eighty-six 
 rods. On this he built the well-known " Krigier's 
 Tavern," which soon became a place of fashionable 
 resort. Upon its demolition, the " King's Arms Tavei'n " 
 was erected in its stead. This afterwards became the 
 head-quarters of General Gage, the commandant of the 
 fort and commander-in-chief of the British forces at the 
 breaking out of the Revolution. Transformed into the 
 Atlantic Gardens, No. 9 Broadway, it remained stand- 
 ing, one of the few relics of the olden time ; the more 
 remarkable for being but the second structure that has 
 occupied the site since the foundation of the city. Other 
 grantees soon purchased lots, and streets became fixed 
 facts in the lower part of the city, though no systematic 
 eflbrt was made for their regulation until after the arrival 
 of Stuyvesant. The price of lots averaged at about 
 fourteen dollars ; they were laid out in uneven figures to 
 suit tiie course of the streets, containing from thirty to a 
 hundred and twenty-five feet, according to the location. 
 
 In 1641, Kieft instituted two annual fairs for the 
 encouragement of agriculture, the first for cattle, to be 
 held on the 15th of October, and the second for hogs, to 
 be held on the 1st of November, upon the Bowling 
 Green. This opened the way for another inprove- 
 ment. As yet, no tavern had been erected within 
 the settlement for the accommodation of strangers, 
 and the numerous visitors from the New England 
 colonies as well as from the interior were compelled 
 to avail themselves of the hospitalities of the director. 
 The fairs swelled the number, and Kieft, finding the tax 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 97 
 
 becoming a heavy one, in 1G42 erected a large ^slone 
 tavern at the Company's expense for their accommoda- 
 tion. This tavern was situated on the east shore of the 
 river, near the present Coenties Shp, and was afterwards 
 transformed into a citj- hall or Stadt huys. 
 
 
 ■• stadt Huys," at Coenties Slip 
 
 The chiirch which had been built by Van Twiller, and 
 which was but a barn at best, was becoming dilapidated, 
 and several of the settlers, headed by De Yries, urged 
 the erection of a new one. " It was a shame," they said, 
 " that the English, Avho had such fine churches in their 
 "settlements, should see them worshipping in a mean 
 "barn, when they had jjlenty of fine wood and stone 
 "and oyster-shells for lime at their very doors." It is 
 more proljalile that they feared an attack from the 
 Indians in the old structure outside the walls of the fort, 
 7 
 
98 HISTORYOFTlfF 
 
 Hut this they did not choose to assign as their motive. 
 The governor consented, and proposed, doubtless for the 
 same reason, that the church shoukl be erected within 
 the walls of the fort. To this arrangement, many 
 demurred. They objected that the fort was already 
 crowded with buildings, and that the church would in- 
 tercept the southeast wind and obstruct the working of 
 the windmill on the shore of the North River ; but the 
 director remained firm, and the site was finally agreed 
 upon. Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, and Jan Jansen 
 Damen, with De Vries and Kieft, were appointed " kirke- 
 meesters," to superintend the building of the edifice, and 
 nothing was wanting but the necessary funds. 
 
 How to obtain them was the question. Kieft, on his 
 part, promised to advance a thousand guilders on the 
 Company's account, and De Vries headed a private sub- 
 scription-list with a hundred more, but this was not 
 nearly sufiicient, and the citizens were not in a liberal 
 humor. A little management extricated the projectors 
 from their difficulty. At this juncture, a daughter of Do- 
 mine Bogardus was opportunely married. The principal 
 citizens were invited to the wedding, the wine circulated 
 freely, and all were merry. When the festivity had 
 reached its height, the subscription paper was produced, 
 and the excited guests vied with each other in the 
 amount of their donations. There were some the next 
 morning who would fain have recalled their reckless 
 liberality ; but repentance availed them nothing, the 
 money was subscribed, and the work went on. 
 
 A contract was made with John and Richard Ogden 
 of Stamford for the mason-work of a church of rock- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 99 
 
 stone, seventy-two feet long, fifty-two wide and sixteen 
 high, at a cost of twenty-five hundred guilders, with a 
 bonus of a hundred more, should the work prove satis- 
 factory. The roof was covered with split oaken shingles, 
 then called wooden slates. In the front wall was 
 inserted a marble slab with the inscription, " Ao. Do. 
 "MDCXLII. W. Kieft Dr. Gr. Heeft de Gemeente dese 
 " Tempel doen Bouwen ;" which, being translated, gives 
 the somewhat equivocal sentence, "Anno Domini, 1642, 
 " Wilhelm Kieft, Director-General, hath the Common- 
 " alty caused to build this Temple." When the fort was 
 demolished in 1787 to make room for the Government 
 House, the stone was discovered, buried in the earth, 
 and was removed to the belfry of the old Dutch Church 
 in Garden street, where it remained until both were 
 destroyed in the conflagration of 1835. The church was 
 styled the St. Nicholas, in honor of the tutelary saint of 
 New Amsterdam. The town bell was removed to the 
 belfry, whence it regulated all the affairs of the city ; 
 ringing time for laborers, summoning courts of justice, 
 ringing merry peals for weddings, tolling out funeral 
 knells, and calling the people on Sundays to their devo- 
 tions. 
 
 Better order, too, was beginning to be observed in the 
 colony. The director had succeeded in part in enforcing 
 his laws, and in restraining contraband trade ; as well as 
 in checking the importation of bad wampum into the 
 colony, which had been a source of serious annoyance 
 to the settlers, by reducing its value from four' to six 
 beads for a stuyver. This wampum, or seawant, as it 
 was properly called, merits a more extended notice than 
 
100 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 has hitherto been given it. It was of two kinds, the 
 wampum or white, and the suckanhock sucki, or black 
 seawant — the former being made from the stem of the 
 periwinkle, and the latter from the purple coating of the 
 hard clam. These were rounded and polished into 
 beads, and pierced with sharp stones, then strung upon 
 the sinews of animals, and woven into belts of different 
 sizes. The black beads were accounted twice as valuable 
 as the white, the latter being made the standard of 
 valuation. A string a fathom long was worth about four 
 guilders. Although seawant was the generic name of 
 the currency, the wampum, strictly speaking, being only 
 the white beads, among the Dutch and English the lat- 
 ter name was universally applied to it. The best was 
 manufactured on Long Island, called by the aborigines 
 Sewanhack}', or the Isle of Shells. The seawant of the 
 Iroquois and New England Indians was inferior in 
 quality, and rough and badly strung. Indeed, it seems 
 to have been unknown among the New England tribes 
 before 1627, when Isaac de Rasi^res, the koopman of 
 New Amsterdam, when on an embassy to Plymouth, 
 purchased corn with it from the English settlers. Find- 
 ing it convenient as a circulating medium, the Indians 
 soon learned the art of its manufecture, and it was not 
 long before the cunning New Englanders succeeded in 
 draining New Netherland of its finely polished seawant in 
 payment for their goods, and introducing large quantities 
 of their imperfect beads in turn. Nor was this all ; 
 beads 6f porcelain were manufactured in Europe and put 
 into circulation among the colonists, and the evil grew 
 so alarming that, in 1641, the council published an ordi- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 10] 
 
 nance \pith the sanction of Kieft, declaring that "a 
 great deal of bad seawant, imported from other places, 
 was in circulation, while the good, splendid sewant, 
 usually called Manhattans sewant, was out of sight oi 
 exported, which must cause the ruin of the country.'" 
 To remedy this evil, the ordinance provided that in future 
 all coarse seawant, well stringed, should pass at six for 
 one stuy ver ; while the well polished should be valued at 
 four for a stuyver. This ordinance is the first on record 
 for the regulation of the exportation of specie in the 
 colony. In 1657, tliey were again reduced from six to 
 eight for a stuyver. 
 
 About this time, too, the increasing intercourse with 
 the English settlements rendei'ed it necessary that some 
 provision should be made in respect to coiTespondence 
 in the English language. Dutch was of course the lan- 
 guage of the settlement ; Kieft knew something of Eng- 
 lish, but his officers were ignorant of it, and this was 
 often embarrassing. It was therefore resolved that an 
 English secretary was indispensable ; George Baxter 
 was appointed to the office, with an annual salary of two 
 hundred and fifty guilders ; and the English language was 
 thus first recognized in New Amsterdam. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Indian War— Petrns Stuyvesant — New Amsterdam becomes New York. 
 
 A. CLOUD had long been gathering over the colony ; it 
 now burst with terrific fury. At the period at which 
 our chapter opens, the colonists were involved in the 
 horrors of an Indian war — a war which devastated the 
 little settlement, and the bloody tragedies of which were 
 long perpetuated in legends and traditions. To better 
 depict its rise and progress, it will be necessary to re- 
 trace the events of a few years, and to glance briefly at 
 the causes which had thus transformed the friendship of 
 tlie natives into bitter hostility. 
 
 For some years past, an unfriendly feeling had gradu- 
 ally been springing up between the settlers and the 
 Indians. The better to carry on the fur trade, the Dutch 
 had separated from each other, and scattered over the 
 interior of the province, where they had allured the 
 natives to their houses by supplying them with liquor, 
 and treating them with great familiarity ; and had bar- 
 tered guns and ammunition in exchange for their furs, 
 despite the laws to the contrary. The natives thus 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 103 
 
 Ijeoame well supplied with fire-arms, and also gained i 
 knowledge of the numbers and habits of the settlers 
 This was especially the case with the Mohawks in the 
 aeighborhood of the colony of Rensselaerswyck. In the 
 vicinity of New Amsterdam, stricter regulations were 
 observed, and the colonists were strictly prohibited from 
 selling guns and ammunition to the Indians. This excited 
 the jealousy of the river tribes, who accused the Dutch 
 of partiality to their enemies. The cattle of the settlers 
 often strayed into the unfenced corn-fields of their Indian 
 neighbors, who revenged themoelves for the mischief by 
 shooting them down. Many of the natives were at this 
 time employed as house and farm servants in the colony, 
 who often committed petty thefts and ran away, to 
 acquaint their tribes with the domestic arrangements of 
 their masters. 
 
 In the midst of the bitter feelings which had been 
 stirred up by these petty aggressions, Kieft rashly deter- 
 mined to levy a tribute of corn, furs and wampum upon 
 the Indians, under the pretext that the government in- 
 curred heavy expenses in protecting them from their 
 enemies. This excited the indignation and contempt of 
 the natives, who well knew that they received no pro- 
 tection from the soldiers at Fort Amsterdam. They 
 coidd not understand why they should be compelled to 
 support the Dutch because they had suffered them to live 
 peaceably in their country. "The sachem must be a 
 '• mean fellow," they said ; "he had come to live among 
 " them without an invitation, and now wanted them to 
 " supply him with maize for nothing.'' 
 
 At this juncture, a party of Dutch, on their way to the 
 
104 
 
 HISTORY OF TUE 
 
 Inui;ius briuging Tribute. 
 
 South River, landed at Stateu Island and stole some 
 hogs belonging to De Yvies ; the blame of whicli was laid 
 on the Raritans, a tribe on the west shore of the Hudson, 
 who were also aceused of having attacked a yacht, and 
 stolen a canoe from its crew. 
 
 The impetuous Kieft resolved at once to jiuni.sh the 
 offenders, and, on the 16th of July, 1640, dispatched 
 Koopman Van Tienhoven with seventy men, to demand 
 immediate reparation. On reaching the settlement. Van 
 Tienhoven demanded the restitution of the property. 
 But iiotliing; less than the blood of the natives would 
 
CITY OF NEW YOKE. 105 
 
 eatisfy the men under his command. After vainly re- 
 monstrating, Yan Tienhoven left them to their work o( 
 destruction, and returned to the fort. The soldiers fell 
 on the innocent Raritans, burned their crops, killed ten 
 of their warriors, and returned to New Amsterdam, hav- 
 ing lost one of their own men in the encounter. Thus 
 was laid the foundation of a bloody war, which threatened 
 for a time to destroy the infant colony, and which 
 prudent management miglit easily have averted. 
 
 This unprovoked outrage naturally awakened a desire 
 for vengeance in the hearts of the Raritans. While await- 
 ing a fitting moment, they amused the director with over- 
 tures for peace ; then, suddenly falling upon the plantation 
 of De Vries at Staten Island, they burned his dwelling 
 and tobacco house, and killed four of his planters. 
 
 Incensed at the consequences of his own folly, tlio 
 governor determined to exterminate the whole tribe, 
 and xillured the river Indians to assist him by offering 
 a bounty of ten fathoms of wampum for the head of 
 every Raritan, and twenty for the heads of the actual 
 murderers. It was not long before Pacham, a chief of 
 the Tankitekes or Haverstraw Indians, came in with the 
 hand of the dead chief of the party as a token that he 
 had earned the price of blood. Terrified at the power 
 of their foes, the Raritans sued for peace, and hostilities 
 were for a time suspended. 
 
 But it was only to change the scene of warfare. An 
 Indian never forgets an injury, and the memory of his 
 uncle's murder had long been rankling in the breast of 
 the Weckquaesgeek boy who had witnessed the foul deed 
 in the days of Minuit. The boy had now grown into 
 
106 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 a man, ajid, according to the Indian custom, the duty 
 devolved upon him of offering up a victim to the maues 
 of his murdered kinsman. Twenty years had passed 
 since the murder ; the Dutch, if they had ever known, 
 had forgotten it; but tne memory was fresh in the mind 
 of the young Indian, and a harmless old wheelwright, 
 by the name of Claes Smits, who dwelt in a little house 
 near Deutel's Bay, was chosen by him as the victim of 
 his revenge. Stopj^ing at the house of the old man one 
 day, under the pretext of bartering some beaver-skins 
 for blankets, the Indian struck him dead with an axe 
 while he was stooping over the chest in which he kept 
 his goods, then, rifling the house, escaped with his booty. 
 A judicious governor would have overlooked this 
 offence, heinous as it seems, in view of the consequences. 
 The stern law of Indian justice, blood for blood, had 
 been satisfied, the murder could not be undone, and to 
 seek to avenge it was to endanger the lives of the whole 
 community. But Kieft, who thirsted for the extermina- 
 tion of the Indians, refused to be satisfied with anything 
 less than the blood of the offender, and demanded him 
 of his tribe, who refused to give him up, saying that he 
 had but avenged his kinsman after the custom of the 
 nation. Upon receiving this answer, the first impulse of 
 Kieft was to declare an immediate Avar. But the people 
 remonstrated — scattered as they were, over the island on 
 their farms and bouweries, such a proceeding menaced 
 them with instant destruction ; and Kieft, perceiving 
 that he would be held responsible for the consequences 
 of su3h a war, reluctantly called a council of the prin- 
 cipal citizens to consult together ir: the emergency. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 107 
 
 Tliey assembled in the fort on the 28th of August, 1641, 
 and formed the first public assembly that ever convened 
 on the island of Manhattan. 
 
 To this assembly, Kieft submitted these propositions : 
 Whether the murder of Glaes Smits should not be 
 avenged ? — Whether, in case the tribe refused to surren- 
 der the murderer, the whole village should not be 
 destroyed ? — In what manner and when should this be 
 executed ? and by whom could it be effected ? 
 
 The assembly at once chose "Twelve Select Men," to 
 act as their representatives in this matter. These first 
 representatives of the people were Jacques Bentyn, 
 Maryn Adriaensen, Jan Jansen Damen, Hendrick Jan- 
 sen, David Pietersen de Vries, Jacob Stoffelsen, Abram 
 Molenaar, Frederick Subbertsen, Jochem Pietersen Kuy- 
 ter, Gerrit Dircksen, George Rapelje, and Abram 
 Planck ; all Hollanders. Of these, De Vries was chosen 
 president. In answer to the propositions of Kieft, they 
 replied that, while the murder of Smits ought to be 
 avenged, "God and the opportunity " should be taken 
 into consideration. They advised that preparations 
 should be made for war, that coats of mail should be 
 provided for the soldiers, and that two parties, headed 
 by the director in person, should march against the 
 Weckquaesgeek village in the hunting season, if they 
 still refused to deliver up the murderer ; but that, in the 
 meantime, every effort should be made to bring the 
 affair to a peaceful termination, and to avert a war with 
 the natives. De Vries, though he had been the prin- 
 cipal sufferer, having witnessed the destruction of his 
 colonies both at Swaanendael and at Staten Island, was 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 earnestly ojoposed to war. The Company, too, was 
 averse to it, and had constantly directed the colonists to 
 keep peace with tlie natives, as tliey valued tlieir own 
 safety. 
 
 These peaceful counsels did not suit the temper of the 
 vengeful director. But the Twelve Men succeeded in 
 postponing the war for a season, then turned their 
 attention to public affairs. The number of the council 
 being optional with the director, Kieft's consisted only 
 of himself and La Montague, Kieft having two votes and 
 Montague one. The Twelve Men demanded that the 
 council should be reorganized and increased at least to 
 five, that four of these should be elected by the people, 
 and that judicial proceedings should only be had before 
 a full board. They also demanded that the militia 
 should be mustered annually, and that the Company 
 should furnish half a pound of powder to each man ; 
 that the people should be allowed to visit vessels arriv- 
 ing from abroad, and to trade freely with neighboring 
 places, subject to the duties of the Company. Besides 
 this, they required that the English should be prohibited 
 from selling cows and goats within the province ; and 
 that a greater increase should be made in the value of 
 the provincial currency. 
 
 These bold demands irritated the director beyond 
 expression: but as he could only thus gain their consent 
 to the war that he so ardently desired, he consented to 
 make some concessions. A complete council, he said, 
 was daily expected from Holland ; he was willing, how- 
 ever, that the people should choose four men, two of 
 whom were to be chosen annually, who should be 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 109 
 
 called into the council when necessary, and should 
 assemble occasionally to consult upon public aflairs. The 
 other demands he granted without much reluctance, 
 refusing only to permit the people to visit vessels from 
 abroad, or to furnish powder to the militia for practice. 
 [n return, he wrung from them a reluctant consent to the 
 war, and on the 18th of February, 1G42, dissolved the body. 
 
 Having at last obtained the formal consent of the peo- 
 ple to commence hostilities, Kieft dispatched a party of 
 eighty men against the Weckquaesgeeks with ordei's to 
 exterminate them by fire and sword. The party was 
 intrusted to the command of Hendriclv Yan Dyelv, and 
 accompanied by a guide who professed to know the 
 country. Night set in, however, before they reache'l 
 the Indian village, the guide lost his way and Van Dyck 
 his temper, and the party returned, innocent of tlie death 
 of a single Indian. The Wecquaesgeeks, discovering from 
 the trail of the white men the danger to which they had 
 been exposed, became terrified and sued for peace, pro- 
 mising to deliver up the murderer of Smits — a promise, 
 by the way, which they never performed. 
 
 While these negotiations were pending, a trader made 
 an Indian drunk, and stole from him a dress of beaver 
 skins. On regaining his senses, the incensed savage, 
 meeting De Vries, told him of the theft, and vowed to 
 shoot the first white man he should meet. De Vries 
 tried to dissuade him from his purpose, but in vain. A 
 few days after, he shot an Englishman on Staten Island, 
 and afterwards, a Dutch colonist at Newark Bay. 
 
 The frightened sachems hastened to New Amsterdam 
 and offered two hundred fathoms of wampum as an 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 indemnity for the murdei', which Kieft refused, demand- 
 ing the immediate surrender of the murderer. The 
 sachems pleaded that he was the son of a chief, and that 
 he had gone two days' journey off, among the Tankitekes, 
 whence it was impossible to retake him. " Why do you 
 " sell brandy to our young men?" said they ; " they are 
 "not used to it, and it makes them crazy. Even your 
 "own men, who are used to it, get drunk sometimes, 
 " and fight with knives. Sell no more fire-water to the 
 " Indians, and you will have no moi'e murders." But 
 this reasoning failed to satisfy the implacable director, 
 and the sachems returned sorrowfully to Vriesendael 
 with their slighted offering, while Kieft sent a messenger 
 to the Tankitekes to demand the head of the fugitive. 
 
 Before the Tankitekes had time to accede to the 
 demand of the director, they were attacked by a new 
 foe from an unexpected quarter. A band of Mohawks 
 made a descent upon the river Indians, and, killing and 
 making prisoners of many, forced them to flee from their 
 homes to seek protection from the Dutch. Hundreds of 
 the half naked and homeless savages fled to Manhattan 
 in the depth of winter to implore shelter from their 
 dreaded enemies. More than a thousand encamped at 
 Pavonia. Some, crossing to Manhattan, settled at Cor- 
 laer's Hook, where the more compassionate of the 
 colonists supplied them with food, and counted on the 
 occasion to inspire them with lasting gratitude and 
 friendship for the whites. Despite the jealousies and 
 hostilities which had so lately prevailed, the Indians were 
 not yet estranged from the colonists. They still had a 
 confidence in the superior power of the white man, and 
 
CITY OF NEW YOrxK. Ill 
 
 this confidence might have been strengthened by judi- 
 cious pohcy. But a different spirit prevailed in the 
 councils of the director. At this time, there were two 
 parties in New Amsterdam, the peace party under De 
 Vries, and the war party, headed by Van Tienhoven. 
 At a Shrovetide feast at the house of Jan Jansen Damen, 
 when all were merry with wine, the host, with Adriaen 
 sen and Planck, presented a petition drawn up by Tan 
 Tienhoven to the governor, and, feigning to speak in 
 the name of the Twelve Men, their colleagues, urged 
 him to avenge the murder of Smits by an instant attack 
 on the defenceless Indians whom God had thus delivered 
 into their hands. 
 
 The proposal chimed with the wishes of the director, 
 who, drinking a toast to the success of the enterprise, 
 instantly dispatched a party of men under the command 
 of Sergeant Rodolf to Pavonia, and another headed by 
 Maryn Adriaensen to Corlaer's Hook, to destroy the un- 
 armed savages in the name of the commonalty. It was 
 in vain that Domine Bogardus warned Eaeft against this 
 violence, that Councillor la Montagne begged hian to 
 wait until the ai'rival of the next ship from Holland, and 
 that Captain De Vries declared that hostilities could not 
 legally be commenced without the consent of the peo- 
 ple ; for his sole reply, Kieft took De Vries aside, and 
 showed him his soldiers, ready to cross over to Pavonia. 
 "The order has gone forth ; it cannot be recalled," said 
 he. 
 
 At midnight, on the twenty-eighth of Febi-uaiy, 1043, 
 this order was executed, and one of the most terrible 
 tragedies enacted that ever disgraced the auuals of a 
 
112 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 civilized uation. The Indians, surprised in the midst of 
 their slumbers, were slaughtered without resistance. 
 Chief and warrior, mother and child, old and young, all 
 met the same fate — all were dispatched by the muskets 
 of their enemies, or driven into the river to perish there. 
 Eighty Indians were slaughtered at Pavonia. So sud- 
 den was the attack that they knew not who were their 
 murderers, and died believing themselves slaiu by the 
 Mohawks. The humane De Vries sat by the kitchen 
 fire at the director's, listening mournfully to the shrieks 
 of the victims that were wafted across the river from 
 Pavonia, when an Indian and squaw who had escaped in 
 a canoe from the scene of the massacre, rushed into the 
 house to implore his protection. "The Fort Orange 
 " Indians have fallen upon us ; we come to hide our- 
 " selves in the fort," said they. "It is no time to hide 
 " yourselves in the fort ; no Indians have done this deed," 
 answered De Vries, pityingly. "It is the work of the 
 " Swannekens — the Dutch." And he led them from the 
 gate, and watched them until they were hid in the shel- 
 ter of the forest. 
 
 In the meantime, a similar massacre was being per- 
 petrated at Corker's Hook. The party headed by 
 Maryn Adriaensen, a noted freebooter, had fallen upon 
 the sleeping savages, and murdered them all in cold 
 blood. Dayhght ended the tragedy, and the party re- 
 turned to Fort Amsterdam in triumph, with thirty 
 prisoners and the heads of several of their victims, where 
 they were received with joy by the director ; and with 
 sorrow by the citizens, who thus saw the door opened to 
 long and bloody war. On Wilhelm Kieft rests the sole 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 113 
 
 Massacre of Imliaiis at Pavonia. 
 
 responsibility of this atrocious deed, which was neither 
 suggested nor sanctioned by the people of New Amster- 
 dam. 
 
 Stimulated by the success of their neighbors, some of 
 the settlers at New Amersfoordt soon after petitioned 
 for leave to attack the Indians in their vicinity. Res- 
 trained by the remonstrances of Bogardus and De Vries, 
 Kieft refused his consent, on the grounds that they had 
 always been friendly to the Dutch, and urre hard to con- 
 quer; but added that in case they should prove hostile. 
 
114 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 every man was at liberty to defend himself as best he 
 could. It was not long before some demonstrations on 
 the part of these Indians were construed into hostilitiee 
 by the covetous settlers, and made the pretext for rob- 
 bing them of their corn. The natives attempted to defend 
 their property, and in the struggle lost three of their men. 
 Enraged at this injustice, the Long Island Indians 
 joined with the river tribes in avenging their wrongs. 
 Eleven tribes banded together and proclaimed open war 
 against the colonists. The retribution was terrible. The 
 swamps and morasses of the island were filled with lurk- 
 ing Indians, watching for opportunities to shoot down 
 the colonists while at work in the fields, drive off their 
 cattle, set fire to their houses, and rob, kill, and plun- 
 der. The peaceful and smiUng country was quickly 
 transformed into a wilderness. Men were shot down in 
 broad daylight, and women and children carried into 
 captivity ; fences were torn down, trees uprooted, and 
 thrifty bouweries laid waste in the general ruin. The 
 affrighted settlers fled within the walls of the fort, now 
 their only place of safet3^ Every thicket outside con- 
 cealed a foe, and no place was safe from the bullet of the 
 subtile enemy. The settlements on Long Island, West 
 Chester and the Jersey shores all shared the same fate. 
 Rensselaersw3-ck alone escaped destruction, sheltered 
 by the friendl}^ Mohawks. The despairing colonists, 
 stripped of their property and fearing for their lives, 
 threatened to quit the fort in a body and return to Hol- 
 land, and Kieft was compelled as a last resort to take 
 them all to serve as soldiers for two months in the pay 
 of the Company. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 115 
 
 Amid all the horrors of this savage warfare, an inci- 
 dent occurred which proved that the Indians did not for- 
 get past kindness in their thirst for vengeance. De 
 Yries had always been a firm friend of the Indians, and 
 had enjoyed their confidence, yet his plantation at Vries- 
 endael did not escape the general destruction. A party 
 of Indians made a descent upon the plantation, set fire 
 to the barns, and destroyed the crops and cattle. The 
 planters took refuge in the rudely fortified manor-house, 
 and were preparing to defend their lives to the last 
 extremity, when the Indian whose hfe De Vries had 
 saved on the night of the Pavonia massacre rushed to 
 the spot, and, telling the story, begged his countrymen 
 to spare the life of "the good chief." The effect was 
 magical. The grateful savages cried out to the planters 
 that they were sorry that they had killed the cattle, but 
 that they would let the brewery stand, though they 
 " longed for the copper kettle to make barbs for their 
 " arrows," and at once departed. 
 
 Kieft began to repent bitterly of his rashness. He 
 dispatched a messenger with overtures of peace to the 
 Long Island Indians, which were rejected with scorn. A 
 fast was proclaimed throughout the colony. At this time, 
 Roger Williams visited Manhattan on his way to Europe. 
 " Before we weighed anchor," he writes, " mine eyes 
 " saw the flames of their towns, the frights and hurries of 
 " men, women and children, and the present removal of 
 " aU that could to Holland." Maddened by their misfor- 
 tunes, the excited colonists threw all the blame on Kieft, 
 and even talked of deposing him and sending him in 
 chains to Holland. To shield himself from their re- 
 
116 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 proaches, the director endeavored to throw the odium 
 upon Adriaensen and his colleagues, as the instigators of 
 the Pavonia massacre. Enraged at this cowardice, Adri- 
 aensen, himself almost a ruined man by the destruction 
 of his property during tlie war, rushed into the presence 
 of the governor, armed with a pistol and hanger, and 
 attempted his life. He was quickly disarmed and sent 
 to prison, whence, despite the open resistance of his 
 friends, he was soon afterwards sent to Holland foi 
 trial. 
 
 Meanwhile, the spring had come, and the Indians were 
 anxious for a cessation of hostilities that they might plant 
 their corn for the coming season. On the 4th of March, 
 1G43, three red men approached the fort, bearhig a white 
 Hag, but none but De Vries and Jacob Olfertsen dared 
 go forth to meet them. " Come and speak to our chief 
 " on the sea-coast," said they. De Vries and his com- 
 panion fearlessly accompanied their savage guides, who 
 led them to Rockaway, where they found nearly three 
 hundred Indians assembled. They passed the night in 
 the wigwam of the chief. 
 
 At daybi-eak, the next morning, they were roused to 
 attend a council of the sachems. The Indians ranged 
 themselves in a circle, placing De Vries and his com- 
 panion in the middle, and their chosen orator of the tribe 
 arose with a bundle of sticks in his hand, and slowly ad- 
 dressed the strangers: "When you first came to oui 
 " coasts," said he, "you had no food ; we gave you oui 
 " beans and corn, and relieved you with our oysters and 
 " fish ; and now, for recompense, you murder our peo- 
 " pie," and he laid down a stick as the first comit of the 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK. 117 
 
 indictment. " In the beginning of your voyages, you 
 " left your people here with your goods ; we traded with 
 "them while your ships were away, and cherished them 
 " as the apple of your eye ; we gave them our daughters 
 " for companions, who have borne children ; and now you 
 " villainously massacre your own blood," and he laid 
 down another stick as the second count. Many more 
 still remained in his hand, but De Vries, not knowing 
 where the fearful catalogue would end, hastily inter- 
 rupting him, begged the sachems to go with him to Fort 
 Amsterdam, and conclude a peace with the director, to 
 which they consented, despite the remonstrances of their 
 tribes. " Are you all crazy," said the warrioi's, indig- 
 nantly, "to go to the fort where that scoundrel lives who 
 " has murdered your friends ?" But De Vries assuring 
 them of safety, they said, " Upon your word, we will go, 
 " for you have never lied to us, like the rest of the 
 " Swannekens." They went, and Kieft gladly con- 
 cluded a treaty with them, and sent them away, loaded 
 with presents, entreating their mediation with the river 
 Indians. 
 
 With some difficulty, a truce was soon after concluded 
 with these ; yet it was but a hollow truce. The natives 
 were still smarting beneath a sense of their wrongs ; they 
 grumbled at the insufficiency of their presents, and mut- 
 tered words of ominous meaning, while the whites were 
 distrustful of their terrible neighbors, and lived in con- 
 stant fear of midnight assault, so that the peace was even 
 more fearful than the war. " Our people are con- 
 " tinually crying for vengeance ; we can pacify our 
 " young men no longer," said a friendly sachem sadly at 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 midsummer, as he Wcarned De Vries in behalf of his 
 countrymen against venturing alone in the woods, lest 
 some stranger Indian might kill their favorite. 
 
 The words of the sachem were soon fulfilled. In 
 August, the war broke out anew. Several trading-boats 
 were attacked on the North River, nine men were killed, 
 and a woman and two children carried away into cap- 
 tivity. In this emergency, Kieft again summoned the 
 people together, and eight men were chosen by the 
 popular voice to advise with the governor in respect to 
 the war. This second representative body consisted of 
 Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, Jan Jansen Damen, Barent 
 Dircksen, Abraham Pietersen, Isaac AUerton, Thomas 
 Hall, Gerrit Wolfertsen, and Cornells Melyn. Their first 
 act was to expel from the board Jan Jansen Damen, who 
 had been one of the prime instigators of the massacre 
 of Pavonia, and to appoint Jan Evertsen Bout in his 
 stead, after which they resolved to preserve peace with 
 the Long Island Indians, but to renew hostilities with the 
 river tribes. 
 
 Preparations were immediately made to carry on the 
 war with renewed energy. The colonists were mustei'ed 
 and drilled, and to prevent the English colonists from 
 leaving the province, fifty were taken into the Company's 
 pay, the commonalty having agreed to meet one-third of 
 the expense. The command of this detachment was 
 intrusted to Captain John Underbill, who had lately 
 removed from New Amsterdam to Stamford. 
 
 The colony seemed, indeed, in a hopeless condition. 
 One after another of the outside settlements fell a prey 
 to the fury of the savages. The Weckquaesgeek Indians, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 119 
 
 joining in the strife, .fell on the plantation of the cele- 
 brated Anne Hutchinson, at Annie's Hook, and murdered 
 her with her whole family, with the exception of one 
 grand-daughter, a child, whom they carried into captivity. 
 Proceeding thence, they laid waste the other plantations 
 in West Chester, killing, burning, and destroying all be- 
 fore them. At Gravesend, they attacked the settlement 
 of Lady Deborah Moody, who, having been expelled 
 from Salem as an Anabaptist, had estaljlished herself 
 there by Kieft's permission, with others of her persuasion. 
 The heroic woman, with her friends, made a brave de- 
 fence, and iinally repulsed the savage invaders. Not 
 equally fortunate was the larger settlement of Doughty, 
 at Mespath, which was destroyed, while the colonists 
 were forced to flee for safety to Manhattan. The settle- 
 ments on New Jersey fell a prey to the Indians, and little 
 remained to the Dutch save the small colony at Manhattan. 
 Five or six farmhouses were still standing on the upper 
 part of the island, but these were hourly threatened with 
 destruction. The only place of safety was the fort, around 
 which the women and children huddled in straw huts, 
 while their husbands and fathers defended its walls. And 
 these defenders were but few ; all the men that could be 
 mustered were about two hundred, besides fifty or sixty 
 soldiers in garrison, and a handful of Englishmen; and with 
 these, it was necessary to keep a constant guard, and to re- 
 pel the attacks of seven tribes, numbering fifteen hundred 
 well-armed men. The cattle had been gathered into the 
 fort, where they were starving for want of food. De Vries, 
 the only white man in whom the Indians had confidence, 
 lict sail for Holland, a ruined man, reproaching Kieft in 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 his last words, with the ruin that had resulted from his 
 reckless cruelty. 
 
 In this extremity, the council of Eight Men invoked 
 the aid of the colonists at New Haven, but their request 
 was unheeded. The English professed to doubt the jus- 
 tice of the quarrel ; it may be, too, that they were well 
 satisfied that the Indians should do the work they wished 
 done, and exterminate the Dutch from the face of the 
 New World. Foiled in this quarter, the Eight Men 
 addressed an earnest appeal to the government at Hol- 
 land, and set about organizing a desperate defence. 
 Expeditions were dispatched against the Indian villages ; 
 their corn was destroyed, and their wigwams levelled to 
 the ground. But here, instead of simply acting on the 
 defensive, they darkened the story of the war with 
 another act of bloody cruelty. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1644, a colony of English 
 emigrants, headed l)y Robert Fordham, had settled at 
 Heemstede on Long Island, after securing a grant of 
 land from the Dutch government. Penhawitz, the 
 sachem of the Canarsee tribe in the vicinity, had ever 
 shown himself a firm friend of the whites ; but in this 
 time of general distrust, the English suspected him of 
 treacherous designs, and conveyed information of their 
 suspicions to the governor at Fort Amsterdam. With- 
 out waiting to ascertain the truth of the charge, Kieft 
 at once dispatched a detachment of a hundred and 
 twenty men under the command of La Montague, Cook 
 and LTnderhill with orders to exterminate the Canarsees. 
 The party proceeded in three yachts to Cow Bay, where 
 they landed, and dividing their foi'ces, marched upon 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 121 
 
 the two Indian villages at Mespath and Heemstede. The 
 Indians, taken by surprise, fell an easy prey to their 
 enemies. One hundred and twenty were killed and two 
 taken prisoners, while of the assailants but one was 
 killed and three wounded. The prisoners were conveyed 
 in triumph to Fort Amsterdam, where they w^ere put to 
 death with the most excruciating tortures. The one fell 
 dead in the fort while dancing the death dance beneath 
 the knives of his more than savage victors ; the other was 
 belieaded on a millstone in Beaver Lane, near the Battery. 
 Encouraged by this bloody success, the governor dis- 
 patched Underbill with a hundred and fifty men on a 
 new expedition against the Connecticut Indians. He 
 landed at Greenwich, and, after marching all day in the 
 snow, arrived at midnight at the Indian village. This 
 consisted of three rows of wigwams, nestling in a nook 
 of the mountain which protected them from the north 
 winds. The night was clear, and the full moon, shining 
 on the snow, gave it all the brightness of a winter's day. 
 This time, the Indians were not sleeping, but w^ere 
 merrily celebrating one of their annual festivals. In the 
 midst of their festivity, the Dutch surrounded the village, 
 and charged upon them, sword in hand. The Indians 
 made a desperate resistance, but in vain ; every attempt 
 to break the line of their foes failed, and in an hour, the 
 snow was dyed with the blood of a hundred and eighty 
 of their number. Having forced all the Indians into the 
 wigwams. Underbill determined to terminate the battle 
 by setting fire to the village. Straw and wood were 
 quickly heaped about the houses, the pile was kindled, 
 and in a few moments, the whole village was in flames, 
 
122 UlSTORT OF THE 
 
 Men, women and children were shot down as they rushed 
 from the burning huts, or forced back again to perish 
 there. Between five and six hundred perished by fire 
 and sword, and but eight escaped to tell the fearful tale 
 to their countrymen. Not a single man of the assailants 
 was killed, though fifteen were wounded. The victors 
 kindled large fires and slept on the field of battle. The 
 next morning, they set out for Fort Amsterdam, which 
 they entered in triumph, three days after. They were 
 received with open arms, and a public thanksgiving was 
 pi'oclauned in gratitude for the victory. This battle is 
 supposed to have taken place on Strickland's Plain, 
 within three miles of Greenwich. 
 
 This victory practically terminated the war — a war 
 which began and ended in massacre, which very nearly 
 destroyed the youthful colony, and which was carried on 
 by the governor against the wishes of the people. In 
 April, 1644, the chiefs of the Long Island and several of 
 the river tribes, appeared at the fort and pledged them- 
 selves to peace. But the tribes nearest Manhattan 
 Island continued hostile until the following year, when 
 the Mohawks intei'posed in favor of the Dutch. On the 
 30th of August, 1645, the sachems of all the hostile 
 tribes assembled on the Bowling Green, and, smoking 
 the calumet of peace, pledged themselves to eternal 
 friendship with the whites. The 6th of September was 
 appointed as a day of general thanksgiving, and the war 
 was at an end. 
 
 And it was time. The war had lasted but two j-ears, 
 yet the island was almost depopulated. Scarcely a hun- 
 dred men were left in Manhattan. The cattle and farms 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 123 
 
 were all destroyed, and the ueighboring settlements 
 levelled to the ground. The fort, which had originally 
 been nothing more than a bank of earth with corners of 
 stone, was crumbling into ruins. The stone church 
 which had been commenced in 1642 remained unfinished, 
 the money that had been raised for the support of a 
 school had been expended for the troops, and the English 
 auxiliaries were yet unpaid. Other expenses, too, had 
 been incurred in providing for the safety of the city. In 
 the spring of 1644, a strong fence had been built through 
 Wall street, for the protection of the few cattle that yet 
 remained to the settlers ; and this fence, which was 
 afterwards extended and strengthened, continued to serve 
 as the wall of the city for the ensuing fifty years, and 
 gave its name to the street which stands now as the 
 monetary wall of the metropolis. The Company, ci'ippled 
 by the expenses of their military operations in the 
 Brazils, were utterly powerless to render them any assis- 
 tance, and a bill which Kieft had drawn on them the 
 preceding summer for 2,622 guilders was returned pro- 
 tested. To meet this emergency, Kieft again convened 
 the assembly of the Eight Men, and proposed to levy an 
 excise on wine, beer, brandy and beaver. This was bit- 
 terly opposed by the representatives of the people, both 
 on account of the impoverished state of the city, and 
 because it transcended his rights as a subordinate officer 
 of the Company. Their remonstrances were of no avail ; 
 the tax was imposed by the unyielding director. 
 
 Just at this juncture, a hundred and three Dutch sol- 
 diers who had been expelled from Brazil by the Portu- 
 guese insurrection, arrived at Manhattan. These had 
 
124 niSTORYOFTHE 
 
 been sent by Petrus Stuyvesant, the govei-nor of Cura^'oa, 
 to aid the colonists in the war with the Indians. On the 
 arrival of these troops, the English auxiliaries were 
 civilly dismissed, and the new comers were billeted on 
 the citizens. But they were destitute of clothing, and to 
 meet this exigency, the director ordered that the excise 
 duties, which had been provisionally imposed, should be 
 continued. The brewers, upon whom this tax fell most 
 heavily, made a sturdy resistance. They were sum- 
 moned before the council, a judgment was rendered 
 against them, and their beer was given as a prize to the 
 soldiers. 
 
 Indignant at this bold violation of their rights, on the 
 28th of October, the council of the Eight Men addressed 
 a memorial to the Company, demanding the recall of 
 Kieft, whom they charged with the whole blame of the 
 war, and petitioning that the people might be allowed a 
 voice in the municipal government. This document re- 
 flected severely on Kieft, who had already sent to the 
 directors his own version of the war, together with a 
 book and drawings, descriptive of the province. This, 
 they quaintly assured the Company, had as many lies 
 as hnes in it. "And besides," they continued, "in 
 " respect to the animals and geogi'aphy of New Neth- 
 " erland, it would be well to inquire how the director- 
 " general can write so aptly about those distances and 
 " habits, since his honor, during the six or seven years 
 " that he has been here, has constantly resided on the 
 " Manhattans, and has never been further from his 
 " kitchen and his bedroom than the middle of the afore- 
 " said island." This memorial was referred to the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 125 
 
 Assembly of Nineteen, who at once determined upon 
 Kieft's recall. Being undecided as to a successor, 
 Lubbertus Yan Dincklagen, the schout fiscal who had 
 been so unceremoniously dismissed eight years before by 
 Van Twiller, was appointed to take charge of the gov- 
 ernment provisionally. Before he had embarked, how- 
 ever, to repair to his new post, the Company made choice 
 of Petrus Stuyvesant, the ex-governor of Curagoa, for 
 director-general. Van Dincklagen's appointment was 
 therefore revoked, and that of vice-director or lirst coun- 
 cillor of the province given him instead. 
 
 This done, new regulations were made for the govern- 
 ment of the province. Peace with the Indians was 
 strenuously insisted on, and Kieft and his council were 
 required to repair to Holland to defend their conduct in 
 the late war. The annual salary of the director was 
 fixed at three thousand, and the expense of the civil and 
 military establishment of the province at twenty thousand 
 guilders. The director, vice-director and schout were to 
 constitute the council, and to have supreme authority in 
 civil and military affairs ; in criminal cases, in which 
 the schout was comjielled to act as public prosecutor, 
 the military commandant took his place in the council, 
 and two representatives were added from the people. 
 Port Amsterdam was immediately to be repaired with 
 " good clay, and firm sods," and a permanent garrison of 
 fifty-three men to be maintained in it ; and the colonists 
 were counselled to provide themselves with weapons and 
 to form a provincial militia. The director was ordered to 
 use every effort to procure the planting and settlement 
 of the island of Manhattan, and to encourage the intro- 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ductiou of as many negi'oes as the colonists would i3ur- 
 chase at a fair price. AH resti'ictions were removed from 
 trade, with the sole proviso that New Amsterdam shovdd 
 remain the only port of entry. 
 
 But we have anticipated events in the course of our 
 history. The first act of Kieft after the close of the In- 
 dian war was to purchase, in behalf of the Company, the 
 tract of land on Long Island now known as New Utrecht. 
 This purchase was made on the 10th of September, 1641. 
 The following month, Thomas Harrington, with several 
 other Englishmen, Anabaptist refugees from Massa- 
 chusetts, obtained a patent for sixteen thousand acres 
 of land, lying east of Mespath, and founded the settle- 
 ment of Flushing. Soon after, Kieft gave to Lady 
 Moody, her son, and two English officers, a patent 
 including the town of Gravesend, with the most liberal 
 civil and religious privileges, as a tribute of admiration 
 for her gallant defence against her savage assailants. 
 
 Not equally fortunate was Thomas Doughty, the Ana- 
 baptist minister and ex-proprietor of Mespath, whose 
 settlement had been destroyed during the Indian war. 
 A dispute having arisen between him and his associates, 
 the director and council decided the case against him and 
 took the control of the colony out of his hands ; and upon 
 his threatening to appeal to the court of Holland, fined 
 him twenty-five guilders, and imprisoned him twenty- 
 four hours for contumacy. Soon after, Arnoldus Van 
 Hardenburg, a merchant of New Amsterdam, appealed 
 in the like manner from a decree of confiscation, and was 
 subjected to the same penalty. This refusal of the right 
 of appeal excited the indignation of the people, who 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. ii( 
 
 murmured at the desjiotic conduct of the director, and 
 declared that "under a king they could not be worse 
 " treated." The rumor of his speedy recall reached the 
 colony, and emboldened them in their rebellion. Domine 
 Bogardus, whom Kieft had accused of drunkenness, 
 joined in the cry, and denounced him from the pulpit in 
 no measured terms. To this, Kieft retorted by absent- 
 ing himself from church, and ordering cannon to be fired 
 and drums to be beaten about the house during the 
 sermon-time to annoy the domine. Nothing daunted, 
 the intrepid clergyman continued his anathemas, and 
 Kieft at length arraigned him to appear before the court 
 within fourteen days to answer to a charge of sedition ; 
 but after considerable wrangling, the proceedings were 
 finall}'' quashed by the interference of mutual friends. 
 
 On the 11th of May, 1647, these domestic dissensions 
 were ended by the arrival of Petrus Stuyvesant, the 
 newly appointed director, Vice-director Van Dinckla- 
 gen. Fiscal Van Dyck, and a number of officers, sol- 
 diers and colonists. The whole city turned out in .irms 
 to meet him, firing salutes, and uttering shouts of joy, 
 mingled with deep execrations of the late director. "I 
 shall govern you as a father does his children," answered 
 Stuyvesant, in return to this spontaneous welcome. 
 
 Petrus Stuyvesant, a native of Friesland, had formerly 
 been director of the Company's colony at Cura(?oa, 
 whence, having lost a leg in an attack on the Portuguese 
 settlement at Saint Martin's, he had been obliged to 
 return to Europe for surgical aid. Having regained 
 his health, and replaced his leg by a wooden one with 
 silver bands, which gave rise to the tradition that he 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Petvas Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Governors. 
 
 wore a silver leg, he received the appointment of director- 
 general of the pi'ovince of Xew Xetherland, still retain- 
 ing his command of Curapoa and the adjacent islands. 
 He was brave and energetic, and the man of all others 
 best calculated to retrieve the fallen fortunes of the 
 colony. But he was also haughty, imperious, and impa- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 129 
 
 tient of contradiction, and his despotic love of power 
 soon weakened the affection with which the citizent 
 greeted him on his first arrivaL But, with all his faults, 
 he was the man for the times, and his firm and vigorous 
 ride contrasts well with the ill-judged and capricious 
 conduct of his predecessor. Though sworn hy the duties 
 of his office to execute the commands of the West India 
 Company, he was at heart attached to the interests of 
 the people, with whom he identified himself after the 
 forced surrender of the city, by taking up his residence 
 among them as a private citizen, the ancestor of a long 
 line of prominent men, which has reached down even 
 unto the jjresent day. 
 
 Seal of Petrus Stuyvesant. 
 
 Stuyvesant set vigorously to work to reform abuses. 
 His first act was to organize his council, which consisted 
 of Van Dincklagen, Van Dyck, Adriaen Keyser and Bryan 
 Newton, with La Montagne as councillor and Tan Tien- 
 hoven as secretary. Paulus Van der Grist was appointed 
 equipage-master, and George Baxter was retained as 
 English secretary. This done, he set about the work of 
 regulating the streets and improving the city. Vau 
 9 
 
130 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 Dincklagen, Van der Grist and Van Tienhoven were ap- 
 pointed fence-viewers to regulate the erection of new 
 buildings ; proprietors of vacant lots were directed to 
 improve them within nine months, and hog-pens and 
 out-houses were ordered to be removed from the high- 
 ways. The church still remained unfinished, and Stuyve- 
 sant, who had become a member of the Consistory, took 
 the woi'k of its completion into his own hands. Bogar- 
 dus resigned his charge in order to proceed to Holland 
 to answer the charges preferred against him by Van 
 Dincklagen, and Johannes Backerus, the former clergy- 
 man of Curagoa, was appointed in his place at a salary 
 of fourteen hundred guilders per annum. Drunkenness 
 and proftmity were strictly forbidden, no liquors were 
 permitted to be sold to the Indians, and strict laws 
 were passed for the protection of the revenue. The ob- 
 noxious duties upon beer, brandy and beaver were not 
 removed ; far from this, a new excise was levied upon 
 wines and other liquors, and the export duties upon pel- 
 tries were still further increased. This proceeding excited 
 some discontent among the people, who had looked to the 
 coming of the new director to remove this hateful duty. 
 Another cause of disaffection soon arose in the colony. 
 Kuyter and Melyn, the leading members of the council 
 of Eight Men, petitioned that the administration of Kieft 
 during the period of the Indian war might be made the 
 subject of inquiry. The petition was rejected by the 
 director, who saw in it a dangerous precedent for the 
 assumption of power by the people ; and the petitioners 
 were ordered in turn to be examined as to the origin of 
 the Indian war, and to state whether their demand had 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 131- 
 
 been authorized b}' the government or the commonalty ; 
 as, otherwise, they must return to Holland with Kieft, to 
 substantiate their complaints before the States General. 
 Emboldened by this decision, Kieft accused them of be- 
 ing the authors of a calumnious memorial to the Assem- 
 bly of Nineteen, and, on this ground, demanded their 
 banishment. The accusation was accepted, and an in- 
 dictment preferred, charging Melyn and Kuyter with 
 having fraudulently procured the signatures of the Eight 
 Men to the calumnious memorial of the 28th of October, 
 1644, unauthorized by the commonalty. In addition to 
 this, Melyn was accused of rebellious conduct, while 
 Kuyter was charged with urging the mortgage of Man- 
 hattan to the English, and threatening Kieft with per- 
 sonal violence. 
 
 Both Melyn and Kuyter defended themselves vigor- 
 ously against these accusations. They declared that the 
 memorial had been written by the authority of the Eight 
 Men, and in the name of the commonalty ; that the 
 charges in it could be fully substantiated ; and that the 
 destruction of fiftj- or sixty bouweries and the murder of 
 numerous colonists furnished ample cause for its trans- 
 mission. Melyn confessed that he had proposed that the 
 island of Manhattan should be pledged to the English as 
 a measure of necessity. But their defence availed them 
 little ; Stuyvesant and his council, fearing the encroach- 
 ments of the people, espoused the cause of Kieft, and 
 Melyn was sentenced to seven years' banisliment, and to 
 pay a fine of three hundred and fifty guilders ; while 
 Kuyter was sentenced to three years' banishment, and to 
 pay a fine of one hundred and fifty guilders ; one-third 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of the money to be given to the poor, one-third to the 
 church, and one-third to the fiscal. The heavier punish- 
 ment of Melyn was imputed by many to a private 
 revenge on the part of Kieft, with whom the former 
 had refused to share his grant on Staten Island. 
 
 Both Kuyter and Melyn were placed as criminals on 
 board the ship Princess, then ready to return to Holland. 
 Kieft accompanied his victims with his ill-got fortune ; 
 and Domine Bogardus and Van der Huyghens, the late 
 schout fiscal, were also of the company. But the ill- 
 fated vessel struck on a rock on the coast of Wales, and 
 went to the bottom, carrying with her Kieft, Bogardus, 
 a son of Melyn, and eighty others. But twenty were 
 saved ; among whom were Kuyter and Melyn. The rich 
 cargo of furs, valued at a hundred thousand dollars, was 
 irretrievably lost. The news of the tragical end of the 
 director excited but little sympathy at New Amsterdam 
 while the New England settlers affected to regard it as a 
 special mark of the wrath of God against their enemies. 
 The sentence against Kuyter and Melyn was afterwards 
 reversed by the Company, and they returned with honor 
 to New Amsterdam. 
 
 To complete the proposed improvements, money was 
 necessary. But the treasury was empty, the taxes came 
 in slowly, and the colonists murmured grievouslj^ at 
 being taxed without their consent. Embarrassed by the 
 difficulties of his position, Stuyvesant at length consented 
 to concede a representation, and in August, 1647, called 
 an election at w-hich the inhabitants of Manhattan, 
 Breuckelen, New Amersfoordt and Pavonia chose eighteen 
 men, from whom nine were selected by the director and 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 13S 
 
 council to advise with them in matters relating to the wel- 
 fare of the province. This new house of representatives 
 consisted of Augustine Heermans, Arnoklus Van Harden- 
 burg, Govert Loockermans, Jan Jansen Damen, Jacob 
 Wolfertsen Van Couwenhoven, Hendrick Hendricksen 
 Kip, Michael Jansen, Jan Evertsen Bout, and Thomas 
 Hall ; three of whom were to have seats in the council 
 in turn on the usual weekly court day, and to act as 
 arbitratoi's in civil cases. Six of the board were to be 
 succeeded annually by six others, elected by the director 
 and council from among twelve chosen by the people at 
 the election on the last day of December. 
 
 The Nine Men at once commenced their deliberations 
 in respect to the proposed repairs of the fort and city. 
 Stuyvesant offered on the part of the Company to defray 
 a part of the expense of a school, and to furnish one of 
 the government houses for its temporary accommodation, 
 but insisted that the people should repair the fort for 
 their own security. This, the Nine Men refused, as the 
 Company had bound itself by its charter to keep the 
 fort in a posture of defence. They offered, however, to 
 repair the church and to reorganize the school without 
 delay, and after some hesitation this proposition was 
 acceded to, and the repairs commenced forthwith. 
 
 In 1648, Adriaen Keyser, Thomas Hall, Martin Krigier 
 and George Woolsey, were appointed fire wardens to in- 
 spect the houses in the city. The owners of all chim- 
 neys, condemned by them as foul, were to pay a fine of 
 three guilders. If a house should be burned by the 
 owner's carelessness, he was to pay a fine of twenty-five 
 guilders. These fines were to be appropriated to the 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 purchase of ladders, hooks and buckets, to be deposited 
 at different places throughout the city. The pubhc wells 
 were in the middle of the streets, and the water was 
 passed from them in buckets through long rows of 
 citizens to the scene of the fire. It was not until 
 several years after, however, that these buckets were 
 actually provided. Every Monday was fixed as a 
 market-day, and an annual fair fur ten days, com- 
 mencing on the Monday after St. Bartholomew's Day, 
 was established. Various laws for the regulation of 
 trade and immigration were enacted, and new ordi- 
 nances were passed, forbidding the sale of fire-arms and 
 ammunition to the Indians. So earnest were the council 
 in this latter prohibition, that Jacob Reintsen, with Jacob 
 Schermerhorn and his brother, being convicted soon after 
 of violating it, were sentenced to death ; a sentence 
 which was afterwards commuted, through the intercession 
 of their friends, to the confiscation of their goods. In 
 1649, an order was established for the regulation of 
 weights and measures, the Amsterdam standard being 
 adopted. The same year, a dispute arising between 
 Domine Backerus and the director, the domine obtained 
 permission to return to Holland ; and Domine Megapo- 
 lensis, the ex-minister of Rensselaerswyck, was installed 
 as his successor. The following year, Du-qk Yan 
 Schelluyne, the first lawyer, commenced practice in the 
 city. 
 
 In the meantime, outside difficulties had been pressmg 
 heavily upon the director. The dispute between the 
 Dutch and English, in respect to the territoiy of the 
 Fresh River, together with Long Island, was still pend- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 1 ")5 
 
 ing, and as a last resort, Stuyvesaiit repaired in person 
 to the scene of the contest. After a long negotiation, it 
 was finally decided to submit the case to two delegates 
 from each side, to be subject to their decision. These 
 arbitrators assigned to New England, all the eastern por- 
 tion of Long Island, comprising the present Suflblk 
 County. On the mainland, the boundary was to begin 
 at the west side of Greenwich Bay, to run northerly 
 'vwenty miles into the country, but in no case to approach 
 within ten miles of the Mauritius River. The Dutch 
 were left in possession of their territory at Fort Good 
 Hope, and no disposition was made in respect to South 
 River. 
 
 The people were dissatisfied with an arrangement 
 which ceded so large a portion of their territory to their 
 enemies, and loudly accused the director of injustice. 
 Both the arbitrators appointed by him had been 
 Englishmen ; and this displeased the colonists, who 
 claimed that their wishes had not been represented in 
 the treaty, and complained to the Company that the 
 director had surrendered territory enough to form fifty 
 colonies, and had taken Englishmen into his confidence 
 instead of his legal counsellors. They also petitioned for 
 a municipal government, like that of the independent 
 cities of the Fatherland. This had been granted to 
 Breuckelen some time before. On the 26th of IS^ovem- 
 ber, 1646, a charter had been conferred upon the little 
 village, then situate nearly a mile distant from the wa- 
 ter's edge, granting to the inhabitants the right of elect- 
 ing two schepens, or magistrates, with full judicial 
 powers. These were subordinate to a schout, who was 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in turn, subordinate to the schout fiscal of Manhattan. 
 These liberal privileges naturally excited the envy of their 
 brethren across the river, who claimed similar rights for 
 themselves. On the 4th of April, 1652, their petition 
 was granted by the Company, and a "burgher govern- 
 ment" established at Manhattan. This consisted of a 
 schout, to be appointed by the Company, and two 
 burgomasters and five schepens, to be elected by the 
 people ; who were to form a municipal Court of Jus- 
 tice, subject to the right of appeal to the Supreme Court 
 of the province. At the same time, the States General 
 ordered Stuyvesant to repair at once to Holland, to give 
 an account of his administration ; but, yielding to the 
 remonstrances of the Amsterdam chamber, were at 
 length persuaded to revoke their recall. Domine Dris- 
 sius was appointed as assistant to Megapolensis, and La 
 Montague took charge of the school. 
 
 The city thus received its first incorporation. Cornells 
 Van Tienhoven was elected schout ; Arent Van Hatten 
 and Martin Krigier, burgomasters ; and Paulus Van der 
 Grist, Maximilian Van Gheel, AUard Anthony, Wilhelm 
 Beekmau* and Pieter Van Couwenhoven, schepens. 
 The stone tavern at Coenties' Slip was converted into a 
 " stadt buys" or city-hall; and the magistrates held 
 their court there every Monday morning, beginning at 
 nine and closing at twelve. 
 
 In the autumn of 1652, the settlements of Middleburgh 
 and Midwout, now Newtown and Flatbush, were founded 
 under patents from Stuyvesant. In the same year, a war 
 
 • Emigrated from Holland with Stuyvesant iu 16i7. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 137 
 
 broke out between England and Holland, and the citi- 
 zens, fearing an attack from their New England neigh- 
 bors, set to work to fortify the city. The fence that had 
 been erected along the line of Wall street during the late 
 war for the protection of the cattle, was converted into 
 a ditch and palisades with a breast-work, and extended 
 from river to river. The fort was also strengthened, and 
 the whole body of citizens were ordered to mount guard 
 every night. Grateful for the concessions which had just 
 been made them, the citizens promptly raised the six 
 tliousand guilders which were needed for the completion 
 of the fortifications, and set to work themselves, pick and 
 shovel in hand, to dig the trenches and erect the palisades. 
 During the whole summer, the citizens remained under 
 arms, expecting an attack ; nor were their fears un- 
 founded. The settlers of New England took advantage 
 of this opportunity to break the late treaty, and to en- 
 deavor to further their plans for the ultimate conquest of 
 New Netherland. Their first step was to accuse Stuy ve- 
 sant of having plotted with the Narragansett Indians for 
 the destruction of the English. The sachems themselves 
 denied all knowledge of such a plot, and Stuyvesant 
 indignantly demanded an investigation of the matter. 
 Three delegates were accordingly appointed to visit New 
 Amsterdam, and receive depositions; but little was accom- 
 plished by this negotiation, and the delegates returned to 
 Boston with small proof of the accusation. On Long 
 Island, Captain Underbill, turning against his late allies, 
 endeavored to stir up the colonists to revolt, but without 
 effect. The commissioners of the United Colonies, who 
 •till professed to believe in the reality of the plot, urged 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 immediate hostilities against the Dutch, but the General 
 Court of Massachusetts refused to take part in the war, 
 and thus prevented the accomplishment of the design. 
 Eager for the conquest of the Dutch province, the other 
 colonies persisted in their purpose, and by their repre- 
 sentations, induced Cromwell to send an expedition 
 against New Amsterdam. Before it arrived, peace was 
 proclaimed between England and Holland. The news 
 was received with joy in the city ; bells were rung and 
 cannon fired, and the 12th of July, 1654, was set 
 apart as a day of general thanksgiving. 
 
 In the meantime, a continual contest had been going 
 on between the people andthe director, and to replenish 
 his exhausted treasury, the latter had been compelled to 
 surrender to the city the obnoxious excise on beer and 
 liquors. But this failed to satisfy the burgomasters 
 and schepens, who, on the 24th of December, 1653, ad- 
 dressed a letter to the Company, entreating that New 
 Amsterdam might enjoy equal municipal privileges with 
 her namesake in Holland. They demanded that the 
 schout should be chosen by the people, instead of being, 
 as heretofore, the Company's fiscal ; and that as the city 
 was compelled to defray its own expenses, the excise 
 should go into the city treasury, and power should be 
 conferred upon the municipal authorities to levy taxes, 
 and to lease the ferry between Long Island and New 
 Amsterdam. They also demanded that the city should 
 have a seal and a stadt buys of its own, and should have 
 full authority to sell and convey lands, and to regulate its 
 local affairs ; and that fixed salaries should be granted 
 to the magistrates. In the spring of 1(354, a portion of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 139 
 
 their demands was reluctantly granted. The office of 
 schout was separated from that of the Company's fiscal ; 
 but the directors still retained the power of appointment 
 in their own hands. The municipal authorities were 
 granted tlie use of the stadt buys, which had hitherto been 
 wholly under the control of the provincial government; 
 they were permitted to pay the public salaries out of the 
 excise, and to levy taxes with the consent of the com- 
 monalty and the provincial government; and to sell and 
 convey lands within the limits of the city. No one was 
 permitted to ferry across the river without a license from 
 the magistrates. The ferryman was required to keep 
 proper servants and boats, and a house on both sides the 
 river for the accommodation of passengers, and to pass 
 all officials free of toll. On the other hand, he was not 
 compelled to ferry anything without prepayment, or to 
 cross the river in a tempest. On the 10th of October of 
 the same year, an ordinance was passed by the city au- 
 thorities, regulating the rates of ferriage at three stuy- 
 vers each for foot passengers, except Indians, who paid 
 six each, unless there were two or more. On the 19th of 
 March, 1658, the ferry was put up at auction, and leased 
 to Hermanns Van Borsum for three years, at three hun- 
 dred guilders a year. The annual salary of the burgo- 
 masters was fixed at three hundred and fifty, and that of 
 the schejjens at two hundred and fifty guilders. A seal* 
 
 * This seal is thus described by E. B. 0. Callaghan, Esq., to whom we are indebted 
 for this information: — "Argent per pale; three crosses saltire ; Crest, a Beaver 
 proper, surmounted by a mantle, on which is a shield or, bearing the letters G.W.C. 
 (Geeoctroyerde West Indische Compagnie). Under the base of the arms are the 
 words, SiGiLLtiM AiiSTELLODAMEXSis IN Novo Belgio : — the Seal of Amsterdam in 
 Jscw Xcthcrland. The whole is encircled with a wreath of laurel." — See cut on p. 52. 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ,>-4 
 
 .'^Y- 
 
 Seal of New Netherlancl, 1623-1664.— ( T^w seal is referred to on page 52.) 
 
 was also granted to the city, which was received and 
 pubUcly delivered on the 8th of the next December by 
 the Director to Martin Krigier, the presiding burgomas- 
 ter. Jochem Pietersen Kuyter was appointed schout 
 by the Company, as many supposed, to make amends 
 for the harsh usage he had formerly received from the 
 hands of their officer. But he was murdered by the In- 
 dians before the arrival of liis commission, and Fiscal 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 141 
 
 Van Tienhoven was continued in the office by Stuyve- 
 sant, despite the discontent of the burghers. 
 
 Much dissatisfaction also prevailed in the settlements 
 on Long Island, and on the 10th of December, 1653, a 
 Laudttag or Diet, composed of delegates from New 
 Amsterdam, Breuckelen, Midwout, MidcUeburgh, Heem- 
 stede, Amersfoordt, Flushing and Gravesend assem- 
 bled in the city. These delegates addressed a remon- 
 strance to the governor, complaining of the arbitrary 
 enactment of laws and appointment of officers, and the 
 partial distribution of lands ; and demanding for the peo- 
 ple a direct share in the government. This proceed- 
 ing deeply offended the director, who regarded it as an 
 encroachment upon bis prerogative, and he angrily dis- 
 solved the assembly. Upon this, the delegates protested 
 to the Company ; and the English settlers, who were noto- 
 riously disaffected, and were even suspected of conspiring 
 with the freebooters who infested the shores, grew so 
 turbulent, that, to counteract their influence, Stuyvesant 
 determined to increase the power of the Dutch villages by 
 giving them the privileges they desired. Breiickelen had 
 two schepens already ; two more were now added, and 
 David Provoost was appointed her first separate schout. 
 Midwout and Amersfoordt also received a municipal 
 government. The Company, on their part, treated the 
 protest with scorn, and ordered Stuyvesant to crush all 
 such insolent pretensions. 
 
 Hitherto, the minister at New Amsterdam had also 
 officiated occasionally on Long Island. But, as the 
 settlements increased, the colonists demanded a settled 
 minister, and, in 1654, the first church on Long Island 
 
142 HISTORY or THE 
 
 was built at Midwoutor Flatbush, and Domine Johannes 
 Polhemus, who had just arrived from Brazil, was installed 
 at a salaiy of six hundred guilders. In this church, he 
 preached every Sunday morning, preaching in the after- 
 noons alternately at Breuckelen and Amersfoordt, until 
 1660, when Domine Henry Selyns was installed as minis- 
 ter of the church at the former place. At the same 
 time of the erection of the church at Midwout, the 
 Lutherans determined to build a church at New Amster- 
 dam. But Stuyvesant, who was a zealous Calvinist, 
 refused them permission, and the Company, influenced by 
 the representations of the Classis and the clergy of the 
 Reformed Dutch Church, supported him in the refusal, on 
 the ground that so dangerous a precedent would soon be 
 followed by the other dissenting sects, and thus destroy 
 the established religion of the province. This was the first 
 manifestation of religious bigotry in New Netherland. 
 
 At this juncture, trouble broke out in a new quarter. 
 In 1650, Stuyvesant had built Fort Casimir near the 
 mouth of the Brandywine River, about five miles dis- 
 tant from the Swedish fort Christina, for the purpose of 
 protecting the Dutch commerce from the encroachments 
 of the Swedes. This territory, the Swedes claimed as 
 their own, and in 1654, Rising, their governor, took 
 jjossession of the fort, disarmed the garrison, and changed 
 its name from Casimir to Trinity — the capture having been 
 made on Trinity Sunday. Indignant at this outrage, Stuy- 
 vesant seized the Golden Shark, a Swedish ship which 
 had entered Sandy Hook Bay by mistake, took posses- 
 sion of her cargo, and brought the factor a prisoner to 
 Fort Amsterdam ; then invited the Swedish srover- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 143 
 
 nor to visit him at Manhattan to adjust differences; 
 promising him courteous treatment and a safe return 
 This invitation was peremptorily refused by the Swede, 
 upon which Stuyvesant dispatched an account of the 
 affair to his superiors, and demanded instructions as to 
 further proceedings. Tlie Swedish rule was now broken 
 iu Europe, and the government, having no longer any 
 reason for temporizing, at once directed the governor 
 not only to avenge tlie insult, but to drive the Swedes 
 from every part of the river. The command accorded 
 well with the warlike spirit of Stuyvesant. All the 
 military force of the colony was at once mustered for 
 the enterprise, and on the 5tli of September, 1655, lie 
 sailed with seven vessels and six or seven hundred men 
 to attack the Swedish colony at Fort Christina. The 
 enterprise was successful ; and the forts were forced to 
 surrender. The Swedes were compelled either to evacu- 
 ate the country or to swear allegiance to the Dutch gov- 
 ernment ; Rising was sent to Europe, and a Dutch com- 
 mandant was placed in charge of the conquered territory. 
 The Indians had always been friendly under the jiaci- 
 fic rule of Stuyvesant. In the ten years that had rolled 
 away since the Indian war. their former hostility had 
 almost been forgotten, and when Stuyvesant sailed for 
 New Sweden, leaving the settlement defenceless, no one 
 thought of danger from the natives. But, a short time 
 before, the ex-fiscal, Hendrick Van Dyck, had shot a 
 squaw whom he had detected in stealing peaches from 
 his orchard, just below Rector street ; and the murder 
 had not been forgotten by her tribe, who now seized the 
 opportunity to wreak their vengeance on the unprotected 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 settlers. Ou the 15tli of September, sixty-four canoes, 
 containing about five liundi-ed armed warriors, landed 
 before daybreak at Fort Amsterdam, and spread them- 
 selves over the town, telling the startled burghers that 
 they came in search of some Indians from the north, 
 who had secreted themselves there. The pretext did 
 not deceive the citizens, but by friendly words and pro- 
 mises, they succeeded in keeping their savage visitors 
 quiet, and finally persuaded them to leave the town at 
 sunset and cross over to Governor's Island. They 
 returned in the evening, and shot Van Dyck, the offender, 
 in the breast with an arrow. Van der Grist was also 
 struck down with an axe. The people were roused to a 
 desperate defence, and hastily rallying together, they 
 assaulted the savages, and drove them to their canoes. 
 It was only to change the scene of destruction. Crossing 
 the North River, they recommenced their bloody work 
 at Hoboken and Pavonia, slaughtering men, women and 
 children without mercy, and burning the houses, barns 
 and crops. Thence, they crossed over to Staten Island, 
 which they quickly laid waste. In three days, one hun- 
 dred of the settlers were killed, and one hundred and 
 fifty taken prisoners. Twenty-eight bouweries with 
 their cattle and crops were destroyed ; and the losses of 
 the colonists were computed at two hundred thousand 
 guilders. 
 
 The whole country was aroused. From all sides, the 
 terrified farmers flocked to the fort for safety. The 
 settlements on Long Island were threatened with des- 
 truction, and bands of Indians prowled over the island 
 capturing or killing every colonist that chanced to fall in 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 145 
 
 their way. An express was at once dispatched to the 
 director, who quickly returned to the terror-struck city. 
 
 But his pohcy differed widely from that of the head- 
 strong Kieft. While he used every precaution to protect 
 the colonists from the attacks of their enemies, Jje strove 
 to conciliate the latter by kind words and presents, in- 
 stead of incensing them still furtlrtir by new provocations. 
 In this, he was successful. The Indians, terrified by his 
 prejDarations and pacified by his gifts, soon consented to 
 release their prisoners and to treat for peace. 
 
 Peace having thus been made with both Indian and 
 European foes, the colony l>egan thenceforth steadily to 
 prosper. In 1656, the first map of the city, containing 
 seventeen streets, was drawn ; and two years after, 
 stone pavements were first laid down in Stone street. 
 At this time, the average price of the best lots was fifty 
 dollars. A census was taken, which enumerated a hun- 
 dred and twenty houses, and one thousand inhaljitauts 
 in the city of New Amsterdam. In the same year (1656) 
 a stand for country wagons was established at the foot 
 of Whitehall street. Provision was made to secure the 
 shores of the Bast River from the washing of the tide 
 by lining them with planks ; and the wharf, which was 
 on the line of Moore street, extending but little beyond 
 the low water mark, was improved by an extension of 
 fifty feet. 
 
 In the following year, an important distinction was 
 created among the citizens by the introduction of the 
 system of great and small burgher-rights, then in vogue 
 in Amsterdam. This change sprung directly from the 
 citizens themselves. For many years, peddlers had been 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in the habit of bringing their goods into the province and 
 disposing of them ; then returning to Europe with the 
 avails of tlieir adventure. The merchants, dishking that 
 their trade should thus be drawn off by those who bore 
 no part of the burdens of the colony, entreated that no 
 persons but city burghers should be allowed to carry on 
 business in the metropolis, and none but settled resi- 
 dents to trade in the interior. To meet their demands, 
 in 1657, Stuyvesant and his council required that before 
 selling their goods, all traders should open a store within 
 the limits of the city, and pay to the municipal authori- 
 ties the sum of twenty guilders. This entitled them to 
 the small burgher-right ; to which, likewise, all were 
 entitled who were natives, or who had resided a year 
 and six weeks in the city ; who should marry the daugh- 
 ters of burghers ; and all salaried officers of the Company. 
 By paying llic sum of iifty guilders, they entered the class 
 of great burghers, which included all the provincial and 
 municipal authorities, both present and future, together 
 with their m»ale descendants. All city officials were 
 required to be chosen from the latter class, who were 
 likewise exempt for one year from watch and military 
 service, and free from arrest from the inferior courts. 
 From this sprung the kindred institution under the Eng- 
 lish government of the freedom of the city. 
 
 In 1658, two hundred and fifty fire-buckets with 
 hooks and ladders, were imported from Holland for the 
 use of the city, and a rattle watch, consisting of eight 
 men, was organized. All thatched roofs and wooden 
 chimneys were ordered to be removed, and the best lots 
 were taxed imtil built upon At this time, the average 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 147 
 
 rent of the best houses was about fourteen dollars a year. 
 A market-house, the first in the city, was erected for the 
 sale of meat at the Bowling Green. The only school in 
 the city had always been irregularly sustained, owing to 
 the want of funds and a suitable school-house. Jacob 
 \'"an Corlaer attempted to remedy the deficiency by 
 opening a private school, but this was quickly inter- 
 dicted by Stuyvesant, on the ground that he had received 
 no permission from the provincial authorities. But many 
 of the burghers were anxious to give their children a 
 classical education, and as it was impossible to obtain 
 this nearer than Boston, they wrote to the Company to 
 send them a Latin teacher, promising to build a school- 
 house at their own cost. As a further inducement, they 
 urged that the inhabitants of the neighboring towns 
 would likewise send their children, and that "New 
 Amsterdam might finally thus attain to an academy, the 
 credit of which would redound to the honor of the Com- 
 pany." This argument proved convincing, and the next 
 year. Doctor Alexander Carolus Curtius was sent to 
 them at a salary of five hundred guilders and perqui- 
 sites. Curtius soon established a flourishing Latin school 
 in the city, where he also practised as a physician. He 
 returned to Holland two years after, and was succeeded 
 by Doraine /Egidius Luyck, the private tutor of the fam- 
 ily of the director. 
 
 At this time, but a small part of the island was under 
 cultivation. The greater part of it lay waste and com- 
 mon. The lots below Wall street were large enough for 
 garden-plots and orchards. Every settler kept his cows, 
 and a herdsman was appointed by the city to drive them 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to the public pasture — the present Park and the land in 
 its vicinity. Every morning, this functionary passed 
 through the streets of the city, blowing a horn to warn 
 the inhabitants of his approach. Collecting the cows 
 that were tm-ned out at the gates in a common herd, he 
 drove them through the city gates at Wall street ; then, 
 guiding them along the crooked Pearl street, he turned 
 them into the inclosure, and drove them back at night to 
 their owners. As the city increased, the inhabitants 
 built along the beaten track, which came to bear the 
 name of " the Cow Path." 
 
 The village was now growing into a city, and the 
 inhabitants began to feel the need of a good road for 
 pleasure riding. The upper part of the island was still 
 wild and rocky, and the governor resolved to found a 
 village there, to be called New Harlaem, and to open a 
 good road thither from New Amsterdam. To encourage 
 a speedy settlement, he offered to give the villagers a 
 ferry to Long Island, with a court and clergyman of 
 their own, as soon as they numbered twenty-five famihes ; 
 but few were willing to live so far in the country, and 
 two years passed before the village was large enough 
 to profit by his offer. In 1660, an inferior court was 
 organized, and the village thus received a partial incor- 
 poration. In the same year, a second survey was made 
 of the city, which was found to contain three hundred 
 and fifty houses. 
 
 From this time the colony flourished. The wise policy 
 of the Company induced them to use every effort to 
 encourage emigration, and thus to increase their strength 
 and prosperity. The strife between the people and the 
 
 i 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 149 
 
 governor was the principal drawback to the prosperity 
 of the colony. The West India Company wished to 
 rule supreme over the settlement which they had founded, 
 and which they regarded as their own peculiar property, 
 and Stuyvesant, their representative, was not the man to 
 bate one jot of their pretensions. The people, on the 
 other hand, were of the freest nation in Europe, they 
 had lost none of their native independence in this new 
 clime, and they demanded the right to choose their own 
 rulers ; a demand which, step by step, they obtained. In 
 1660, the Company yielded the last point, and permitted 
 them to have a schout of their own, appointed to the 
 office by the Amsterdam chamber. Pieter Tonneman 
 filled the office. Less religious toleration prevailed now 
 than formerly. Stuyvesant, a fanatical Calvinist, de- 
 tested all dissenters, and persecuted the Quakers for a 
 time with rigor ; but he was soon checked in this intol- 
 erance by the commands of the Company, who, while 
 they washed to establish the Reformed Dutch rehgion 
 in the province, were anxious at the same time to pre- 
 serve the spirit of religious freedom which character- 
 ized the Fatherland. 
 
 In 1661, the Company bought Staten Island from Melyn 
 and Van de Capellen, its former owners, and made grants 
 of land thereon to various colonists: and a small settle- 
 ment was founded a few miles south of the Narrows, by 
 several families of French Huguenots. In the same year, 
 Jacques Cortelyou founded the settlement of New 
 Utrecht, to which, a few months afterwards, Stuyvesant 
 o-ranted a village charter, as also to the village of Boswyck 
 or Bushwick, which had been settled the year before. 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Boswyck, New Utrecht, Breuckelen, Amersfoordt and 
 Midwout were placed under the jurisdiction of a single 
 sellout, each having separate schepens of its own, and 
 were known henceforth as the " Five Dutch Towns." 
 
 But danger was menacing the province from without. 
 The English, who laid claim to the whole continent as 
 having been discovered by Cabot, were slowly but surely 
 extending their rule, while, surrounded on all sides by 
 their colonies, and under the protection of a private 
 trading company instead of a powei'ful government, New 
 Netherland was ill prepared to defend her rights. The 
 English had long looked with a covetous eye upon the 
 rich possessions of their Dutch neighbors ; the time had 
 now come to attempt their conquest. Despite the threats 
 and protests of Stuyvesant, the Dutch colonies in Dela- 
 ware and Westchester and on Long Island successively 
 fell into their hands, and he saw that they would be 
 content with nothing less than the whole of New Nether- 
 land. It was not long before affairs reached the crisis. 
 In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother, James, Duke 
 of York and Albany, a patent of the territory lying 
 between Connecticut River and Delaware Bay, including 
 the whole of the Dutch possessions in America, together 
 with a part of the same territory in Connecticut which 
 had been previously granted by him to Governor Win- 
 throp. 
 
 Upon receiving the patent, and without giving any 
 notice to the government of Holland, the Duke of York 
 immediately dispatched four ships with four hundred and 
 fifty soldiers, under the command of Colonel Richard 
 NicoUs, his deputy governor, to take possession of his 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 151 
 
 newly acquired territoiy. Sir Robert Carr, Colonel 
 George Cartwright, and Samuel Maverick accompanied 
 the expedition as commissioners to visit the New England 
 colonies. The squadron separated on the coast in a fog, 
 the ship with the deputy governor on board put in at 
 Boston, and the others anchored at Piscatawa3^ Having 
 procured supplies, they proceeded on their way, and 
 anchored in Nyack Bay, between New Utrecht and 
 Cone}^ Island, in the month of August, 1G64 ; then 
 immediately took jiossession of the block-house on Stateii 
 Island, and intercej^ted all communication between Man- 
 hattan and the neighboring shores. 
 
 On hearing of the intended invasion, the citizens had 
 hastily fortified the city, and increased the military force 
 as much as they were able. But they were ill-prepared 
 to stand a siege. Not moi'e than four hundred men were 
 able to bear arms, and for these there were but six hundred 
 pounds of powder. The fort and the wall of palisades 
 which had defended them so well against the Indians, 
 would avail them nothing before their civilized foes. 
 They were exposed on both rivers, and there was no 
 hope that they could possibly resist an assault. Besides, 
 a large proportion of the inhabitants were English- 
 men, who were secretly longing for the triumph of theii' 
 countrymen ; while the Dutch themselves, wearied with 
 the arbitrary exactions of the Company, fancied that 
 good might result from a change of masters. The brave 
 old Stuyvesant would willingly have rallied his people 
 and stood a siege ; but his efforts were in vain, the time 
 bad come for the fall of New Amsterdam. 
 
 On the morning after the arrival of the squadron, 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 XicoUs sent a summons to the city to surrender, prom- 
 ising the inhabitants protection of Hfe, liberty and pro- 
 perty. Hastily convening the council and city autliorities, 
 Stuyvesant informed them of the summons, but refused 
 to let the people know of the proffered terms, lest they 
 might force him to yield the city. This the burgo- 
 masters sharply opposed, and after an animated debate, 
 the director was forced to accede to their wishes. 
 
 While they were thus debating the surrender, NicoUs 
 sent another letter to Winthrop, the aged governor of 
 Connecticut, who had joined the squadron, begging him 
 to assure Stuyvesant that the privileges of the Hollanders 
 should in no wise be restrained, but that they should 
 continue to have full liberty to settle at 'Manhattan and 
 to go and return thither in ships of their own country. 
 Winthrop at once visited the city under a flag of truce, 
 and delivered the letter to the governor, who vainly 
 endeavored to withhold it from the people. The burgo- 
 masters insisted that it should be publicly read, when 
 Stuyvesant, incensed beyond all expression, tore it in 
 pieces before their eyes. The news was soon carried to 
 the citizens at the palisades, who, abandoning their work, 
 rushed to the stadt-huys, crying, " the letter ! the letter !'' 
 Resistance was in vain, and a copy was made from the 
 carefully collected fragments and given to the people. 
 In answer to the summons to surrender, Stuyvesant 
 returned a long defence of the Company's right to the 
 province ; while he secretly sent his last dispatch under 
 cover of night to Holland. 
 
 Irritated at this long delay, NicoUs landed the soldiers 
 from two of his ships at Breuckelen to storm the city by 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 153 
 
 land. The others sailed up the bay, and anchored in 
 front of Fort Amsterdam. With the muzzles of their 
 loaded cannon pointed at the ships, the- soldiers of Stuy- 
 vesant awaited the conamand to fire. It would have lieen 
 the signal for the destruction of the city. Men, w^omen, 
 and children Hocked around the director, beseeching him 
 to desist and to surrender. " I would rather Ije carried 
 "out dead,'' was his reply. But he was at length 
 
 Old Stuyvesant Pear-tree in 1SG7. 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 obliged to yield. The lacoplc refused to obey his summons, 
 the principal citizens, including his own son, implored 
 him to submit, and at last tlie brave old Stuyvesant sadly 
 consented to deliver up the fort, ou condition that it 
 should be returned again in case the difference of the 
 boundaries should be settled by England and Holland. 
 
 On the morning of the 8th of September, 1664, 
 Stuyvesant marched his soldiers out of Fort Amsterdam 
 with all the honors of war. At the same time, the Eng- 
 lish troo^ts marched in triumph into the city, and run up 
 the English flag upon the fort, which they christened at 
 once by the name of Fort James. NicoUs was pro- 
 claimed as deputy governor, and the city of Xew Amster- 
 dam was transformed into Xew York. 
 
 Stuyvesant remained a resident of his beloved city, 
 where he died and was buried in the family vault within 
 tlie walls of the church which he had l)uilt at his own 
 expense upon his extensive farm. The church is now 
 gone, and its place is occupied by the church of St. 
 Mark. In the outside wall of the latter, may be seen 
 the original tablet with the following inscription : 
 
 mh. 
 
 ^=r" 
 
 lii; 
 
 "<,(_ III this vault lies buried 
 
 PETRUS STUYVESANT 
 late Captain General and Conimander-iu-Cliief of Anistcrda 
 
 in New Netherland now called Xew York 
 and the Dutch West India Islands, died in August a n. Iii8'2 
 aged SO years. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 155 
 
 Just without the gi-aveyard iuclosure, on the corner of 
 Thh-teenth street and TMrd Avenue, long stood the well- 
 known Stuyvesant i^ear-tree, which had been brought 
 from Holland m 1647, and planted by the governor's own 
 hands in what was then his garden. At the end of Feb- 
 ruary, 1867, this last relic of the Dutch dynasty, which 
 had survived its contemporaries more than two hundred 
 years, fell before the wind, and with it passed away aU 
 vestiges of the brave old director, Petrus Stuyvesant.* 
 
 * Governor Stuyvesant married Judith Bayard, a French refugee, by wliom he had 
 two sons, Balthaziir Lazar and Nicholas William, from the younger of whom is de- 
 scended the present Stuyvesant family of New York. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 New York under the English Government — Recaptnre of the Province by the Dutch, 
 and subsequent Retrocession. 
 
 The English having thus succeeded in their long-cherished 
 project of expelling the Dutch from their American pos- 
 sessions, Colonel Nicolls took possession of the conquered 
 pro\dnce as deputy-governor in behalf of the Duke of 
 York. The people, in fact, cared little for the change. 
 They had been oppressed by the Dutch governors ; taxes 
 had been levied on them without their consent ; they 
 had been denied that direct share in the government 
 which they claimed as their right, in conformity with 
 the municipal institutions of the Fatherland ; and the 
 few privileges which they enjoyed had been wrung with 
 difficulty from their despotic rulers. Yet the Dutch 
 government was at this time the most liberal of any ; 
 but the province had been abandoned to the tender 
 mercies of a selfish trading company, instead of being 
 fostered by the protecting care of the States General. 
 Besides, the English element now mingled largely in the 
 city. The settlers who had come from New England 
 and Virginia, retaining their predilection for their native 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 157 
 
 institutions, rejoiced in the change ; and the Dutch 
 themselves were not greatly affected by it. Their trade 
 with Holland was not interrupted ; they were still 
 allowed to choose their inferior officers and to presei've 
 their customs of inheritance ; their liberty of conscience 
 was respected, and they were exempted from all danger 
 of impressment, either for the arniy or the navy. The 
 most oppressive grievance of which they had to compkin 
 was a law declaring all titles of land granted by the 
 Dutch government to be invalid, and exacting large fees 
 for their renewal. 
 
 The governor made it his policy to conciliate his new 
 subjects, and it was not until the following year that he 
 deemed it prudent to meddle with the form of govern- 
 ment, and to substitute new officials for the schout, 
 burgomaster and schepcns. On the 12th of June, 1665, 
 he issued the first English charter, since known as the 
 Xicolls Charter, which revoked the form of the muni- 
 cipal government, and placed the executive power in the 
 hands of a mayor, five aldermen and a sheriff, accord- 
 mg to the English custom of incorporation ; said officers 
 to be appointed by the governor. Thomas Willett was 
 appointed mayor ; Thomas Delavall, Oloffe Stevensen 
 Van Cortlandt,* John Brugges, Cornelius Van Ruyven 
 and John Lawrence, aldermen, and Allard Anthony, 
 sheriff. Thomas Willett, the first mayor of New York 
 city, and great-great-grandfather of Col. Marinus Willett 
 of Revolutionary memory, who held the same office a 
 hundred and forty-two years after, was one of the Ply- 
 
 • Emigrated from Holland in 1637. 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mouth Pilgrims. He had emigrated from England in 
 1629, and soon after engaging in trade with New 
 Amsterdam, had purchased land in the city, and finally 
 become a permanent resident. He was a popular man 
 among his fellow-citizens, and this fact, joined with the 
 judicious mingling of Dutch and English in the appoint- 
 ment of the other officials, disposed the people favorably 
 towards the new government. Soon after, jury trials 
 were established in the city. The governor retained the 
 right to himself and his council to impose taxes and to 
 enact or modify laws as they might deem proper. This 
 last clause was distasteful to the people, and occasioned 
 much complaint during his administration. 
 
 The city records were now ordered to be kept both in 
 Dutch and English, and Nicholas Bayard* was appointed 
 assistant clerk to the Common Council ; the principal 
 secretary, Johannes Nevius, being imperfectly versed in 
 the English language. 
 
 At this time, the city contained about fifteen hundred 
 inhabitants, consisting of people of every sect in the 
 nation. The only church, however, in the city, was the 
 stone edifice within the walls of the fort, erected by Wil- 
 helm Kieft, in which the Dutch Reformed ser^dce had 
 hitherto been performed. The service of the Church of 
 England was now introduced, and Nicolls, who appears 
 to have been a man of liberal sentiments, gave the 
 Lutherans permission to erect a church for themselves 
 and to send to Europe for a preacher of their own 
 denomination, which they had sought in vain from Stuy- 
 
 • His mother was the sister of Stiiyvesatit. 
 
CITY OF NEW Y O 11 K . 
 
 159 
 
 vesaut. They nvailed themselves of this, and huiU a 
 small churcli in which the Rev. Jacob Fal)ritius, who 
 arrived in 1GG9, officiated as the first mniister. It was 
 not long before dissensions arose between him and his 
 charge, who accused him of grave misdemeanors, which 
 seem to have been sul)stantiated, as, on inquiry, the 
 governor and council suspended him from tlio ministry, 
 permitting liim only to preach a farewell sermon and to 
 install Bernardus Arent as liis successor. Fabrieius 
 soon after repaired to Albany. On the recai:)ture of the 
 province by the Dutch, this church was removed by the 
 orders of Governor Colve. It was rebuilt after the 
 retrocession on the site of the future Grace Church on 
 the west side of Broadway, for which a patent was 
 obtained from Governor Dongan. The iirst churches 
 were but temjiorary buildings. The structure in Broad- 
 way, which was destroyed by the fire of ITTG, was Ijuilt 
 in ITIO, soon after the commencement of the adminis- 
 tration of Governor Hunter, and chiefly tliruugh the 
 efforts of the newly-arrived Palatines. 
 
 Old Lutheran Cliurch in Frauklort Stieut. Erected in 17G7. 
 
160 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Soon after the capture of the province by the English, 
 the territory forming the present State of New Jersey, 
 which had hitherto belonged to New Netherland, was 
 granted by the Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir 
 George Carteret as a distinct and separate province. 
 The boundaries between New York and Connecticut 
 were also defined by commissioners appointed for the 
 purpose, and Long Island was adjudged the property of 
 the former. 
 
 In the meantime, this invasion of the Dutch possessions 
 in a time of profound peace had caused a war between 
 England and Holland, and a rumor that a hostile squad- 
 ron under the command of the formidable De Ruyter had 
 been dispatched by the States General to recapture the 
 lost province gave the governor great alarm. He imme- 
 diately set about strengthening the fortifications, which 
 were very much out of repair, and making preparations 
 for defence ; and summoned the citizens to aid him in 
 the work. This they were reluctant to do. A few, 
 indeed, offered to assist him, but the majority were not at 
 all inclined to war against their own countrymen, how- 
 ever indifferent they might be to the result of the strug- 
 gle. But, ere long, peace was declared, and by the treaty 
 of Breda in 1667, the province of New Netherland was 
 ceded to the English government in exchange for Suri- 
 nam, though many of the English grumbled at the 
 exchange, and complained that their countrymen had 
 been overreached in the bargain. 
 
 After administering aff^iirs with considerable sagacity 
 for three years. Colonel Nicolls determined to return 
 to Europe, and, having asked and obtained his recall. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. J 61 
 
 set sail on his homeward voyage in August, 1668. He 
 engaged in the subsequent war against Holland, and was 
 killed in a naval engagement in 1672. Colonel Francis 
 Lovelace was appointed his successor. 
 
 The change of rulers was not to the advantage of the 
 people. Lovelace proved far more despotic than NicolLs 
 had been. The people had long since demanded the 
 right of levying their own taxes, and of controlling their 
 own affairs ; but the governments, both Dutch and Eng- 
 lish, had decided that their only right was to obey, and 
 had made it their settled policy to force them to submis- 
 sion. This, Lovelace determined to do in the most effect- 
 ual manner. He ordered his deputy in the territory 
 west of the Delaware to carry out his measures m that 
 section of the country by levjing such taxes on the peo- 
 ple as might give them "liberty for no thought but how 
 " to discharge them ;" and proceeded himself to impose a 
 duty of ten per cent, upon all imports or exports to or 
 from the province. Contending for the rights of free- 
 born Englishmen, among which, they claimed, was a par- 
 ticipation in legislation, several of the Long Island towns, 
 together with West and East Chester, petitioned for a 
 redress of grievances, but to no effect. 
 
 Li 1670, Lovelace ordered the towns of Long Island 
 to contribute to the repairs of the fort at New York. 
 This they positively refused to do unless they were 
 admitted to a share of the government. Flushing, Hemp- 
 stead and Jamaica protested against this tyrannous pro- 
 ceeding ; for their sole answer, the governor and council 
 ordered the protests to be publicly burned by the hands 
 of the hangman. 
 
 II 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1669, a public seal was transmitted by the Duke of 
 York to the city authorities, together with a silver mace, 
 and gowns for the municipal officers. During the same 
 
 First Englisli Seal of the Piovince. 
 
 year, Lovelace established a meeting for merchants on 
 Fridays, between the hours of eleven and twelve, near 
 the bridge which crossed the sewer near the foot of 
 Broad street. This was the site of the future Exchange. 
 The hour of meeting was announced by the ringing of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 163 
 
 the stadt-huys bell, and the mayor was ordered to see 
 that no one disturbed the assembly. 
 
 In the same year, an incident occurred which proves 
 how absolute was the authority exercised by the gover- 
 nor and council. Marcus Jacobson, a Swede from Dela- 
 ware Bay, who had shown himself refractory under the 
 new regime, was brought to Manhattan, tried by a spe- 
 cial commission, and sentenced to death — then whipped, 
 branded and sent to Barbadoes to be sold into slavery — 
 his first sentence having been commuted through the 
 mercy of the governor. 
 
 In 1670, Lovelace purchased Staten Island from the 
 Indians, who complained that they had never received 
 full payment from the Dutch, for the consideration of 
 four hundred fathoms of wampum, together with several 
 axes, kettles and coats, and thus secured the island to the 
 property of the English government. He also approved 
 the race-course which had been instituted by Kicolls at 
 Hempstead, and directed that races should take place 
 there in future during the month of May. In 1673, 
 he established the first mail between New York and 
 Boston, consistmg of a single messenger, who was 
 ordered to go and return with letters and packages once 
 within a month, for a "more speedy intelligence and 
 " dispatch of affairs." 
 
 In 1672, Charles II., at the instigation of the Frencl 
 government, proclaimed war against Holland. T",- , 
 Dutch availed themselves of the opportunity to end'-.- or 
 to regain their lost province, and fitted out a squadron 
 of five ships, under the command of Admirals Benckes 
 and Evertsen and Captains Colve, Boes and Van Zye. to 
 
164 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 sail against New York. The news of the expedition 
 soon reached the city. Instead of making preparations 
 to resist it, the governor placed the fort in the hands of 
 Captain John Manning, and set out for Albany to regu- 
 late the Indian difficulties which had sprung up in that 
 quarter. News was soon received that the Dutch fleet 
 had already arrived off the coast of Virginia, and Man- 
 ning immediately dispatched a messenger to the gover- 
 nor, who was then visiting in Westchester county, to 
 hasten his return. He came at once, and commenced 
 preparations for defence. The fort, which numbered 
 forty-six guns, was placed in a posture of resistance, a 
 force of four or five hundred men was mustered from 
 among the citizens, and the volunteers were drilled in 
 order to be in readiness for the expected attack. But 
 the enemy did not make their appearance ; and after 
 waiting a short time, the governor disbanded the troops 
 and set out on a journey to Connecticut. He had not 
 waited long enough. On the 29th of July, 1673, the 
 hostile fleet appeared off Sandy Hook. Manning 
 instantly dispatched a messenger with the news to the 
 governor, and set to work to beat up recruits, both in 
 the city and country. His efforts were unavailing ; the 
 settlers in the country refused to aid him, while the city 
 volunteers, who themselves were Dutch, went to work 
 to spike the guns, and to render all possible assistance 
 to the enemy. The fort contained but about fifty sol- 
 diers, most of whom were ignorant of the art of war, and 
 the city was in a defenceless condition. The ships., 
 meanwhile, quietly sailed up the bay, and anchored at 
 Staten Island on the 30th inst. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 165 
 
 The position of affairs certainly seemed hopeless enough, 
 and Manning, who lacked both energy and courage, was 
 not the man to retrieve it. He dispatched a messenger 
 to the ships to inquire why they came in so hostile a 
 marmer to disturb the peace of his majesty's subjects ; 
 while, at the same time, the admirals of the expedition 
 dispatched a trumpeter with a summons to the said 
 subjects to surrender. 'The messengers crossed each 
 other on the way. Manning at once acknowledged the 
 receipt of the summons, and promised to give them a 
 definitive answer on the return of his messengers. 
 By way of reply, the Dutch admirals weighed anchor 
 and sailed up the bay ; then, anchoring opposite the 
 fort, they sent word to Manning that half an hour 
 would be given him to answer their summons. He asked 
 till the following morning to consider. The request was 
 refused him, and he was told that, after half an hour, a 
 fire would be opened upon the fort. The half-hour 
 passed without repl}^, when the Dutch kept their word, 
 and opened a heavy cannonade on the English, which 
 killed and wounded several of their men. Though many 
 of the guns were in order, and an effective fire might 
 have been poured on the ships, not a shot was fired in 
 return. It was not long before six hundred men, under 
 the command of Captain Anthony Colve, landed on the 
 island, and ranged themselves on the Commons prepara- 
 tory to marching into the city. The terrified Manning 
 beat a parley, and sent Captain Carr, Thomas Lovelace, 
 and Thomas Gibbs, to negotiate with Colve ; but as they 
 had nothing definite to offer, that functionary detained 
 Lovelace and Gibbs as hostages, and sent Carr back to 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the fort, with a summons to Manning to surrender 
 within a quarter of an liour. But this summons was 
 never received. Carr, tliinking it his best pohey to pro- 
 vide for his own safety, made his way to the city gates, 
 and fled from the town without troubling himself about 
 his master. At the end of the time appointed, a trum- 
 peter was sent for an answer to the summons, and was 
 told in reply that none had Ijeen received. " This is 
 " the third time they have fooled us," exclaimed Colve 
 in a passion, as he ordered his men to march without 
 delay. They proceeded down Broadway, and, as they 
 approached the fort, were met by a messenger from 
 Manning, ofTering a full surrender on condition that the 
 garrison should be allowed to march out with all the hon- 
 ors of war. To this Colve assented, and after witness- 
 ing the exit of the English intruders, the Dutch troops 
 continued their march down Broadway and again took 
 possession of the fort and of New York. The name of 
 the city was changed to New Orange, while the fort 
 became Fort William Hendrick. But the Dutch did not 
 keep their promise. The English soldiers were seized 
 and imprisoned, their baggage plundered, and many of 
 them carried away to foreign parts in the Dutch ships of 
 war. The goA'ernor was permitted to return with the 
 Dutch admirals to Europe. 
 
 The news of so easy a capture occasioned the deepest 
 mortification to the English government, as well as to 
 the absent governor and the New England colonies, and 
 on the recovery of the province in 1674, Manning was 
 tried in New York, by court-martial, for cowardice and 
 treachery. The charges brought against him were, that 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 167 
 
 he had not put the garrison in a fitting state of defence ; 
 but treated with the enemy, suffered their ships to ap- 
 proach and to send their boats ashore without firing upon 
 them ; and, finally, struck his flag and surrendered the 
 city, although the fort was in a tenable condition and the 
 garrison desirous to fight, and let in the enemy without 
 conditions, unless to himself. It was also said, and 
 believed by many, that he had been bribed by the Dutch 
 to surrender the city. In defence, he alleged that he had 
 no time to put the fort in a defensive posture ; that he 
 treated with the enemy in hopes to delay their attack 
 until aid should arrive ; that he did not fire because his 
 ambassadors were on board ; that their landing was 
 unknown to him, and that they were eight hundred strong, 
 while he had but seventy or eighty men in the fort ; that 
 it was for this reason that he ordered a flag of truce to be 
 raised, but that the English flag was struck without his 
 consent ; and that he made no conditions in his own 
 favor, but only demanded that the garrison should march 
 out with the honors of war. His defence, though rea- 
 sonable in many points, proved unavaiUng ; the English 
 were smarting under the insult which they had received, 
 and piqued that one of their forts should have fiiUen so 
 easy a prey to the enemy ; and Manning was found guilty 
 of the charges brought against him. His interest at 
 court saved him from the sentence of death, but he 
 was adjudged to have his sword broken over his 
 head by the executioner in front of the City Hall, 
 and to be forever incapable of holding any civil or 
 military office in the gift of the crown. Lovelace 
 was also reprimanded by the English government, 
 
168 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and his estate ordered to be confiscated for tlie benefit 
 of the Duke of York, his creditor. 
 
 The Dutch having thus regained possession of the 
 city, the commanders of the fleet issued a new cliarter, 
 restoring the former municipal government. Antliony 
 De Milt was appointed schout, with three burgomasters 
 and five schepens. Courts of Justice were established 
 at Delaware Bay, Albany, and Esopus, and the magis- 
 trates of the provincial towns were required to appear 
 at New Orange and swear allegiance to the Dutch 
 government. The squadron soon returned to Holland 
 accompanied by Lovelace, leaving Captain Anthony 
 Colve in command of the province. 
 
 The Dutch now reasserted their right to the province 
 of New Netherland, as defined by the boundaries agreed 
 upon in the Stuyvesant treaty, and Colve received a 
 commission from Benckes and Evertsen, the admirals of 
 the fleet, authorizing him to govern the said territory. 
 His rule was brief, but energetic. Taking a lesson from 
 the condition in which the fort had been left by his pre- 
 decessor, he determined that the next assailant should 
 not find it so easy a capture, and vigorously set to work 
 to place it in a defensive condition. The city palisades 
 and the works of the fort were repaired, the buildings 
 and inclosures that had accumulated about and crowded 
 upon the latter were ordered to be removed, the guns 
 were put in order, the ammunition looked to, and the 
 citizen companies and watch drilled for active service. 
 All exportation of provisions from the city for the next 
 eight months was forbidden, not more than two of the 
 sloops usually engaged in trading on the shores of the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 169 
 
 Hudson were suffered to be absent at the same time, and 
 every precaution was taken to strengtlien the city and 
 enable it to resist an attack. It was supposed, and not 
 without reason, that the English would not give up this 
 coveted territory without a struggle, and Colve, himself 
 a military man, resolved that this should not be an easy 
 one. Everything assumed a military character. The 
 Commons became the place of general parade. The schout, 
 at the head of the general militia, reviewed them every 
 day before the stadt-huys at the head of Coenties Slip. 
 Every evening, at six, he received the keys of the city 
 from the officers of the fort, and proceeded with a guard 
 of six men to lock the gates and to place a sentry of 
 citizens at the most exposed points. At sunrise, he went 
 the rounds again, imlocked the gates, and restored the 
 keys to the guard at the fort. At this time the city con- 
 tained three hundred and twenty-two houses. 
 
 Soon after Colve assumed the reins of government, a 
 charge of witchcraft was brought before him against a 
 woman of the city, but the brave old soldier treated it 
 with the contempt it deserved. New York was never 
 much infested with this plague, which spread so widely 
 in the New England States. Yet it is probable that 
 some were infected with the contagion, for in 1665, 
 Ealph Hall and his wife, residents of Setauket on Long 
 Island, wei'e arraigned befoi-e the city court of assizes on 
 a charge of having caused the death of George Wood 
 and his child by sorcery. The court, having faith in the 
 black art, bound them both over to appear at the next 
 sessions, but the affair coming to the ears of Nicolls, they 
 were released from all recognizances, and acquitted of the 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 charge. In 1670, a similar accusation against a widow 
 named Katharine Harrison residing in Westchester, was 
 brought before the court. This woman had formerl_y 
 been a resident of Weathersfield, Connecticut, where 
 she had been tried for witchcraft, found guilty by the 
 jury, pardoned by the judge, and ordered to remove 
 from the colony. The odium followed her to her new 
 abode ; and her neighbors, fearful of the presence of so 
 dangerous a person, entreated that she might be driven 
 from the town. She was ordered by the court to give 
 security for her good behavior, and the proceedings 
 against her were finally dropped. Such was the rise and 
 progress of witchcraft in New York. Two other cases 
 occurred on Long Island which were referred to the IS^ew 
 England courts for trial, but they resulted in nothing. 
 
 Under the energetic rule of the warlike Colve, it is 
 probable that the Enghsh would have had some difficulty 
 in retaking the city by force of arms. But the days of 
 the Dutch rulers were numbered. On the 9th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1674, a treaty of peace between England and 
 the States General was signed at Westminster, which re- 
 stored the country to its former possessors. It was not. 
 however, until the 10th of November of the same year 
 that the city was finally ceded to the English, and the 
 Dutch definitively dispossessed of the beautiful province 
 which they had discovered and peopled, and of which 
 they had retained possession for nearly sixty years. On 
 that day the fort was surrendered to Major Edmund 
 Andros, who had been appointed governor by the Duke 
 of York. The fort again became Fort James, and the 
 inhabitants of the province were absolved from their 
 
CITY OF NEW TURK. 171 
 
 oaths of allegiance to the States General, and required to 
 swear fealty to the King of England. The new governor 
 and his r^ouncil, which consisted of John Lawrence, 
 Captain Brockholst and Captain Dyre, met immediately 
 after the surrender of the fort, and restoring the English 
 form of municipal government, ordered that the magis- 
 trates who were in office at the time of the capture of 
 the city should continue their duties six months longer. 
 In the course of the following year, Andros appointed 
 Wilham Dervall, mayor ; Grabriel Minvielle, Nicholas De 
 Meyer, Thomas Gibbs, Thomas Lewis, and Stephanus 
 Van Cortlandt, aldermen ; and John Sharpe, sheriff. He 
 also decreed that four aldermen should constitute a court 
 of sessions. 
 
 It may not be amiss to close this chapter with a notice 
 of the early settlers who successively filled the may- 
 oralty from the appointment of Thomas Willett in 
 1665 to the recapture of the city by the Dutch, and 
 whose names have been omitted in the rapid progress of 
 our history. Names and documents are always uninter- 
 esting unless connected with events and associations ; 
 and mere lists of city officials can have little interest for 
 the general reader. Thomas Delavall, the successor of 
 Willett in 1666, and who afterwards filled the mayor's 
 chair in 1671 and 1678, was a captain in the English 
 army, who accompanied NicoUs in his invasion of the 
 city, and soon became a prominent man in the province. 
 He engaged in mercantile pursuits, and purchased seve- 
 ral estates in Manhattan and the vicinity, among which 
 were Great and Little Barent's, now Barn Islands, in the 
 Hellegat ; together with a cherry orchard of several 
 
J.72 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 acres in the neighborhood of Franklin Square. From 
 this orchard, Cherry street derives its name. He died 
 in 1682, leaving several children, who married and 
 became permanent residents of the city. 
 
 Cornelius Steenwyck, mayor in 1668-69-70-82-83, 
 was a thorough-bred Netherlander, strongly attached to 
 all the customs of the Fatherland, and distinguished for 
 his inflexible integrity. He was a merchant, and one of 
 the wealthiest and most influential men in the colony. His 
 popularity was unbounded, as well among the English 
 as the Dutch portion of the community ; on one occasion, 
 he was appointed governor pro tern, during the tempo- 
 rary absence of Lovelace, and he was always found faith- 
 ful to his oaths of allegiance. He died in 1684, leaving 
 several children. His widow afterwards married Domine 
 Selinus, the clergyman of Brooklyn. 
 
 Matthias NicoU, an English lawyer, who emigrated 
 from Islip in Northamptonshire in 1660, was Steen- 
 wyck's successor. He held the office but for one year. 
 Previously to this appointment, he had officiated as the 
 first English secretary O'f the province under Col. Nicolls. 
 He afterwards became one of the judges of the Supreme 
 Court, and removed to Queens county, where he pur- 
 cha.sed large tracts of land, and died in 1687, leaving 
 numerous descendants. 
 
 John Lawrence, mayor of the city at the time of its 
 surrender to the Dutch, and subsequently in 1691, emi- 
 grated from England to the province during the admin- 
 istration of Kieft, and became one of the patentees of 
 the towns of Hempstead and Flushing. He took up his 
 residence in the city, where he had a house and store on 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 173 
 
 >hc river shore, between Hanover and Wall streets ; and 
 engaged in trade on the Hudson River. He died in the 
 city in 1699, leaving several children. 
 
 William Dervall. the first mayor of the city after its 
 restoration, was an English merchant who had removed 
 from Boston to New York during the administration of 
 Nicolls, and set up a store in company with his brother 
 near the lower end of Pearl street. His wife was the 
 daughter of Mayor Delavall, from whom he inherited 
 Great Barn Island, together with a large estate at Har- 
 lem. He was shrewd but upright, and was much 
 esteemed by his fellow-citizens. 
 
 The province thus passed away forever from the hands 
 of its Dutch rulers, but many years elapsed before the 
 Holland manners and customs were uprooted, and New 
 York became in truth an English city. Indeed, some of 
 them linger still, and New York yet retains a marked 
 individuality which distinguishes it from the eastern 
 cities, and savors strongly of its Dutch origin. The 
 memorials of the Dutch dynasty have fallen one by one ; 
 the Stuy vesant pear-tree was long the last token in being 
 of the flourishing nation which so long possessed the city 
 of New Amsterdam — the last link that connected the 
 present -with the traditional past — and this fell, in 
 1867, before the slow decay of age. But the broad and 
 liberal nature of the early settlers is still perpetuated in 
 the cosmopolitan character of the city, in its freedom 
 from exclusiveness, in its religious tolerance, and in its 
 extended views of men and things. Though New York 
 has many faults, yet they are not petty ones. There is 
 no city on the western continent in which men more 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 naturally find their own level. Deeds find more respect 
 than persons, and each one rises and falls, if not by his 
 own merit, at least by his own endeavors. Most of the 
 other cities of the United States have descended in a 
 direct line from the pioneer settlers, retaining all the 
 types of the character which first gave them, birth ; in 
 New York, this primitive type, instead of being predo- 
 minant, is blended with all the races of the earth ; and 
 if it be true, as one of our most eminent philosophers 
 asserts, that a mixture of many materials makes the best 
 mortar, there is no reason to regret it. The Dutch lan- 
 guage has disappeared, the Dutch signs have passed 
 away from the streets, and the Dutch manners and cus- 
 toms are forgotten, save in a few strongholds of the 
 ancient Knickerbockers. But the Dutch spirit has not 
 yet died out — enough of it is still remaining to enable 
 New York to trace its lineage in a direct line to its 
 parent — New Amsterdam. 
 
 New York in 1G74. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 New Amsterdam in the Old Dutch Colony Times. 
 
 Before proceediug further with the thread of our his- 
 tory, it may be well to glance at the condition of New 
 Amsterdam in the old Dutch Colony times, before its 
 primitive manners and customs had been adulterated by 
 English innovations. In the beginning of the settlement, 
 the people had been forced to accommodate themselves 
 to the necessities of a new country, and their houses, 
 furniture and apparel had necessarily been of the rudest 
 kind. But, at the time of which we write, the city had 
 grown into a state of comparative wealth, and the 
 inhabitants were beginning to enjoy the comforts of 
 affluence, according to the standard of the times. This 
 differed somewhat from the modern estimate ; a burgher 
 worth a thousand dollars was esteemed rich ; and his 
 neighbor worth five hundred, a man in easy circum- 
 stances. But money has but a relative value, and 
 expenses were graded in conformity with the standard 
 of wealth. 
 
 In the beginnino; of the settlement, as we have 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Household in the old Dutch Colony times. 
 
 already said, the houses were one story in height with 
 two rooms on a floor. The chimneys were of wood, 
 and the roots were thatched with reeds and straw. The 
 furniture was of the rudest kind, carpets were unknown, 
 as indeed they continued to be for many years after ; 
 the stools and tables were hewn out of rough planks by 
 the hands of the colonists ; wooden platters and pewter 
 spoons took the place of more expensive crockery, and 
 naught but the indispensable chest of homespun linen and 
 a stray piece of plate or porcelain, a treasured memento 
 of the Fatherland, was seen to remind one of civilization. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 17^ 
 
 As the forests became cleared away, and tlic coloii}- 
 increased, the style of living experienced a material 
 change. The straw roofs and wooden chimneys were 
 deemed unsafe, and were ordered to be removed ; and 
 the settlers commenced to build their houses of brick 
 and stone. For some time, the bricks were imported 
 from Holland ; in the administration of Stuyvesant, how- 
 ever, some enterprising citizens established a brick-yard 
 on the island ; and the material henceforth became pop- 
 ular in the colony. The northern pai't of the island fur- 
 nished abundance of stone. Many of the wooden houses 
 had checkerwork fronts, or rather gable ends of small 
 black and yellow Dutch bricks, with the date of their 
 erection inserted in iron figures, facing the street. Most 
 of the houses, indeed, fronted the same way ; the roofs 
 were tiled or shingled, and invariably surmounted with 
 a weathercock. The windows were small and the doors 
 large ; the latter were divided horizontally, so that, the 
 
 Dutch Grocery in Broad street. 
 12 
 
178 niSTORYOFTHE 
 
 upper half being swung open, the burgher could lean 
 on the lower and smoke his pipe in peaceful contempla- 
 tion. Not less comfortable were the social " stoeps/' 
 and the low, projecting eaves, beneath which the 
 friendly neighbors cojigregated at twilight to smoke 
 their long pipes and discuss the price of beaver-skins. 
 These mstitutions have come down to our own times, 
 and are still known and appreciated in the suburbs of 
 the city. 
 
 Every house was surrounded by a garden, varying in 
 size according to the locality, but usually large enough 
 to furnish accommodations for a horse, a cow, a couple 
 of pigs, a score of barn-door fowls, a patch of cabbages, 
 and a bed of tulips. Owing in part to the short-sighted 
 policy which discouraged the introduction of English 
 horses and cattle into the province, the stock had greatly 
 deteriorated. The horses were branded with the name 
 of the owner, and turned out in summer to graze on the 
 waste lands in the upper part of the island, where they 
 bred rapidly ; then were again collected and housed in 
 autumn. At a later period, horses were imported from 
 the New England settlements, particularly the Narra- 
 gansett pacers, which were the most highly valued. 
 Carriages were unknown, and it was not until after the 
 R,evolution that these came into general use. Lum- 
 ber wagons and sleighs were the only modes of convey- 
 ance in the old Dutch colony times. In 1G96, the first 
 hackney coach was introduced into the city ; later, one 
 horse chaises came to be used by the wealthiest inhabi- 
 tants ; but, with one or two exceptions, none but the 
 royal governors aspired to the luxury of a private carriage. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 1Y9 
 
 Carpets, too, were almost unknown in the colony up 
 to the period of the Revolution. Now and then, a piece 
 of drugget, ostentatiously dignified by the name of car- 
 pet, and made to serve for the purpose of a crumb- 
 cloth, was found in the houses of the wealthiest burghers, 
 but even these were not in general use. The snow-white 
 floor was sprinkled with fine sand, which was curiously 
 stroked with a broom into fantastic curves and angles. 
 This adornment pertained especially to the parlor ; a 
 room that was only used upon state occasions. The first 
 carpet said to have been introduced into the city was 
 found in the house of the pirate, Kidd, this was merely 
 a good-sized Turkey rug, worth about twenty-five 
 dollars. 
 
 The most ornamental piece of furniture in the parlor 
 was usually the bed, with its heavy curtains and valance 
 of camlet and killeminster. Mattresses were as yet 
 unheard of ; in their stead was used a substantial bed 
 of live geese feathers, with a lighter one of down for a 
 covering. These beds were the pride of the notal^le 
 Dutch matrons ; in these and the well-filled chests of 
 home-made linen lay their claims to skill in housewifery. 
 
 The beds and pillows were cased in check coverings ; , 
 the sheets were of home-spun linen, and over the whole 
 was thrown a patch-work bed-quilt, made of bits of 
 calico cut in every conceivable shape, and tortured 
 into the most grotesque patterns that could possibly be 
 invented by human ingenuity. 
 
 In a corner of the room stood a huge oaken, iron- 
 bound chest, filled to overflowing with household linen, 
 spun by the feminine part of the family, which they 
 
180 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 alwajs delighted in displaying before visitors. At a later 
 date, this gave place to "the chest of drawers" of our 
 grandmothers' times — huge piles of drawers, placed one 
 upon the other and reaching to the ceiling, with brass 
 rings over the key-holes to serve as knobs. The escri- 
 toire, too, with its complication of writing-desk, drawers, 
 and mysterious pigeon-holes, came into use about the 
 same time ; but both of these were unknown to the 
 genuine Knickerbockers. 
 
 In another corner stood the Holland cupboard, with 
 its glass doors, displaying the family plate and porcelain. 
 The latter was rare, and, as a general rule, was "wisely 
 " kept for show." Plate was more common, and there 
 were few wealthy families that had not their porringers, 
 tankards and ladles of massive silver, for plated ware 
 was then unknown. A few had tea-services of china — 
 tea-pots and sugar-bowls the size of a nut-shell, witli 
 cups and saucers that might have served for a fairy, 
 adorned with quaint devices of men and things in the 
 most impossible positions, which all can appreciate who 
 have borne witness to the extreme fidelity of the paint- 
 ings of the Celestials. But more generally, the fragrant 
 bohea was sipped from the humbler pewter mugs, which 
 were ranged in shining rows upon the kitchen dressers. 
 Wooden-ware, too, was in universal use, and it was not 
 until several years after that even the coarsest delf or 
 earthen-ware was imported into the colony. Glass-ware 
 was almost unknown ; punch was drank in turns by the 
 company, from a huge bowl, and beer from a tankard 
 of silver. Sideboards were not introduced until after 
 the Revolution, and were exclusively of English origin. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 181 
 
 Sofas, couches, lounges, and that pecuharly American 
 histitution, the rockhig-chair, were things unknown to 
 our Dutch ancestors. Their best chairs were of Russia 
 leather, profusely ornamented witli double and triple 
 rows of brass nails, and so straight and high-backed as to 
 preclude the possibility of a moment's repose. Besides 
 these, the parlor was commonly decorated with one or 
 two chairs with embroidered backs and seats, the work 
 of the daughters of the family. After the capture of 
 the province, cane-seat and mahogany chairs were intro- 
 duced, liut these were unknown to the primitive Hol- 
 landers. The kitchen chairs were usually rush-bottomed. 
 Couches and high-backed settees were introduced about 
 the time of the Revolution — sofas are an innovation of 
 modern times. Mahogany had not yet come into use ; 
 nearly all the furniture was made of oak, maple, or nut- 
 wood. 
 
 Tables were not yet ranked in the category of orna- 
 mental furniture. The round tea-table, indeed, with the 
 leaf turning up perpendicularly, like a Chinese fan, occu- 
 pied a conspicuous place in the corner of the parlor ; 
 but this room was sacred to the social gatherings, so much 
 in vogue among the Knickerbockers, denominated "tea- 
 parties," which may account for its presence. The great, 
 square dining-table, with leaves upheld by extended 
 arms, stood in the kitchen for daily use. Japanned tea- 
 tables and card-tables were introduced at a later date. 
 
 Some half-dozen clocks were to be found in the settle- 
 ment, with about the same number of silver watches ; 
 but as these were scarcely ever known to go, their exist- 
 ence was of very little practical consequence. No watch- 
 
182 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 maker had yet found it to his interest to emigrate, and 
 the science of horology was at a low ebb in the colony. 
 The flight of time long continued to be marked by sun- 
 dials and hour-glasses ; indeed, it is only siiace the Revo- 
 lution that clocks have come into general use. About 
 1720, the corner-clocks, consisting of cases reaching 
 from the floor to the ceiling, with the dial at the top 
 and the pendulum swinging almost at the bottom were 
 introduced. These were all imported, nor were any 
 manufactured in the country until within a comparatively 
 recent date. 
 
 Small looking-glasses in narrow black frames with 
 ornamented corners were in general use. Two or three 
 of the wealthiest burghers were the possessors of large 
 mirrors, in two plates, the upper one elaborately orna- 
 mented with flowers and gilding ; but these were objects 
 of luxury to which but few could aspire. Pictures were 
 plentiful, if we may believe the catalogues of household 
 furniture of the olden times ; but these pictures were 
 wretched engravings of Dutch cities and naval engage- 
 ments, with family portraits at five shillings a head, which 
 were hung at regular intervals upon the parlor walls. 
 The window curtains were generally of flowered cliintz, 
 of inferior quality, simply run upon a string. Yet among 
 these, as in the wearing apparel and the hangings of the 
 beds, were sometimes found specimens of costly India 
 stuffs, which had found their way, through the Dutch 
 East India Company to these distant shores, and many 
 rare articles of Eastern luxury thus floated in the wake 
 of commerce to the homes of the wealthy burghers. 
 
 Stoves were never dreamed of by the worthy Knijk- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 183 
 
 erbockers, but in their stead they had the cheerful fire- 
 phxce — sometimes in the corner, sometimes extending 
 almost across the length of the room — with its huge 
 back-log. and glowing fire of hickory wood. The shovel 
 and tongs stood, one in each corner, keeping guard over 
 the brass-mounted andirons which supported the blazing 
 pile. In front was the brass fender, with its elaborate 
 ornaments ; and a curiously wrought fire-screen stood in 
 the corner. Marble mantels had never yet been thought 
 of ; but the chimney-pieces were inlaid with parti-colored 
 Dutch tiles, representing all sorts of scriptural and apoc- 
 ryphal stories. The kitchen fire-places were less preten- 
 tious, and of an immense size, so large that they would 
 ahnost have sufficed to roast an ox whole. Over the 
 fire swung the hooks and trammels, designed for the 
 reception of the immense iron cooking pots, long since 
 superseded by the modern stoves and ranges. The chil- 
 dren and negroes grouped in the spacious chimney cor- 
 ners, cracking nuts and telling stories by the light of the 
 blazing pine knots, while the " vrouws '' turned the spin- 
 ning-wheel, and the burghers smoked their long pipes 
 and silently watched the wreaths of smoke as they curled 
 above their heads. At nine they regularly said their 
 prayers, commended themselves to the protection of the 
 good St. Nicholas, and went to bed to rise with the dawn. 
 So regular was their lives that the lack of time-pieces 
 made but little difference. The model citizens rose at 
 cock crowing, breakfasted with the dawn, and went about 
 their usual avocations. When the sun reached the " noon- 
 " mark," diimer was on the table. This was strictly a 
 family meal ; dinner parties were unheard of, and the 
 
184 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 neighbor who should have dropped in without ceremony 
 would have been likely to have met an indifferent wel- 
 come. But this apparent want of sociality was amply 
 atoned for by the numerous tea-parties. After dinner, 
 the worthy Dutch matrons would array themselves 
 in their best linsey-jackets and petticoats of their own 
 spinning, and, putting a half-finished worsted stocking 
 into the capacious pocket which hung down from their 
 girdle, with their scissors, pin-cushion and keys, outside 
 their dress, sally forth to a neighbor's house to "take 
 tea." Here they plied their knitting-needles and their 
 tongues at the same time, discussed the village gossip, 
 settled their neighbors' affairs to their own satisfaction, 
 and finished their stockings in time for tea, which was on 
 the table at six o'clock precisel}-. This was the occasion 
 for the display of the family plate and the Lilliputian 
 cups of rare old china, out of which the guests sipped 
 the fragrant bohea, sweetening it by an occasional bite 
 from the huge lump of loaf sugar which was laid invari- 
 ably by the side of each plate, while they discussed the 
 hostess' apple-pies, doughnuts and waffles. Tea over, 
 the party donned their cloaks and hoods, for bonnets 
 were not, and set out straightway for home in order to 
 be in time to superintend the milking and look after 
 their household affairs before bed-time. 
 
 As we have already said, the Dutch ladies wore no 
 bonnets, but brushed their hair back from their fore- 
 heads and covered it with a close-fitting cap of muslin 
 or calico ; over this they wore, in the open air, hoods of 
 silk or taffeta, elaborately quilted. Their dress consisted 
 of a jacket of cloth or silk, and a number of short petti- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 185 
 
 coats of every conceivable hue and material, quilted in 
 fanciful figures. If the pride of the Dutch matrons lay 
 in their beds and linen, the pride of the Dutch maidens 
 lay equally iu their elaborately wrought petticoats, which 
 were their own handiwork, and usually constituted their 
 only dowry. The wardrobe of a fashionable lady usually 
 contained from ten to twenty of these, of silk, camlet, 
 cloth, drugget, India stuff and a variety of other 
 materials, all closely quilted, and costing from five to 
 thirty dollars each. They wore blue, red, and green 
 worsted stockings of their own knitting, with parti-col- 
 ored clocks, together with high-heeled leather shoes. No 
 finer material was known until after the Revolution. 
 Considerable jewelry was in use among them in the 
 shape of rings and brooches. Gold neck and fob chains 
 were unknown : the few who owned watches attached 
 them to chains of silver or steel ; though girdle-chains of 
 gold and silver were much in vogue among the most 
 fashionable belles. These were attached to the richly 
 bound Bibles and hymn-books and suspended from the 
 belt outside the dress, thus forming an ostentatious 
 Sunday decoration. For necklaces, they wore numerous 
 strings of gold beads ; the poorer classes, in humble 
 imitation, encircled their throats with steel and glass 
 beads, and strings of Job's tears, the fruit of a plant 
 which was famed to possess some medicinal virtues. 
 
 The burghers wore long-waisted coats, with skirts 
 reaching almost to the ankles, vests with large flaps, and 
 numerous pairs of breeches. The coats and vests were 
 trimmed with large silver buttons, and decorated with 
 lace. The low-crowned hats were made of beaver 
 
186 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 — caps of fur and taffeta were also much in vogue. 
 Though this costume was somewhat ponderous, the gen- 
 tlemen do not appear to have fallen behind the ladies 
 in extravagance in dress. Taffeta, plush and velvet were 
 the favorite materials for their habiliments ; their shoe- 
 buckles and buttons were of solid silver, and they 
 sported silver-hilted small swords and ivory-mounted 
 canes. A few wore wigs ; though the most wore their 
 hair plaited tightly in cues. 
 
 But these garments Were susceptible of indefinite pre- 
 servation ; for the every-day apparel was of good sub- 
 stantial homespun. Every household had from two to 
 six spinning-wheels for wool and flax, whereon the women 
 of the family expended every leisure moment. Looms, 
 too, were in common use, and piles of home-spun cloth 
 and snow-white linen attested to the industry of the 
 active Dutch maidens. Hoards of home-made stuffs 
 were thus accumulated in the settlement, sufficient to last 
 till a distant generation. Cotton cloth was a fabric 
 unknown. The women spun and wove, milked and 
 churned, and attended to their household matters ; the 
 men traded with the natives or the other colonies, or 
 kept their shops in their own city — no one was idle. 
 They made no haste to be rich, were not given to specu- 
 lation in bank stock or real estate, or any other of those 
 schemes for making a fortune in the twinkling of an eye 
 that only originate in the brain of the active and adven- 
 turous Yankees — that, their phlegmatic temperament 
 forbade — but they realized the fable of the hare and the 
 tortoise, and made their way up the ladder of fortune 
 slowly but surely. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 187 
 
 Books were rare luxuries iu these times ; with the 
 exception of the Hbraries of the domine and the doctor, 
 Bibles and prayer-books constituted the sole literature of 
 the settlement. These were objects of considerable dis- 
 play, being gorgeously bound, and worn suspended from 
 the girdle by gold and silver chains of considerable value. 
 The intellectual wants of the community were satisfied 
 by the weekly discourses of the domine in the church of 
 St. Nicholas, as yet the only one in the city. Thither 
 the farmers drove from their bouweries on Sundays, 
 with their wives and children arrayed in their best, 
 and, leaving their farm-wagons upon the Bowling 
 Green, turned their horses loose to graze on the grassy 
 hill-slope outside the fort during the hours of service. 
 In these hours, profound silence was enjoined upon the 
 colony; the remainder of the day was given to the 
 Indians and negroes for recreation. But, though the 
 Reformed Dutch Church within the walls of the fort was 
 the only one as yet erected in New Amsterdam, it must 
 not be inferred that there was a corresponding unanimity 
 of religious opinion. Numerous religious organizations 
 were already in existence, which, restrained by the 
 repressive pohcy of Stuyvesant, were only waiting the 
 advent of a more tolerant government to erect churches 
 and chapels of their own. The service of the Church of 
 England had already been performed by an English chap- 
 lain in the chapel in the fort during the administrations 
 of Nicolls and Lovelace ; the Lutherans and French Cal- 
 vinists also had preachers of their own. The prevailing 
 religious denomination was the Dutch Calvinist ; but 
 there were a few Episcopahans, a few Roman Catholics, 
 
188 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 some Anabaptists, some Independents, several Jews, a 
 number of Quakers, and a great many of no faith at all. 
 At the time of the cession of the province to the English, 
 no less than eighteen different languages were spoken in 
 the city. Its religious tolerance had made it the refuge 
 of the persecuted of every sect and clime, while its com- 
 mercial advantages had attracted enterprising adven- 
 turers from all parts of the world, and had thus laid the 
 foundation of a cosmopolitan city. All this tended to pro- 
 duce greater breadth of view and liberalit}^ of sentiment 
 than was to be found in the Xew England colonies, 
 where but one sect was tolerated, and which were made 
 up almost exclusively of a single nation. 
 
 An outline of the streets of New Amsterdam at the 
 time of the surrender to the English in 1664, will indi- 
 cate the genealogy of the present streets of the city. A 
 minute account of the residents, with the location of their 
 property, which would extend beyond the scope of the 
 present work, has already been given by Mr. Valentine 
 in his valuable history. 
 
 Beginning at the ferry, along tlie road which led to 
 the water-gate at the eastern extremity of the city-wall, 
 was the Smit's Vly or Valley, so called from a black- 
 smith by the name of Cornelius Clopper, who set up his 
 forge on the corner of Maiden Lane and Pearl street, 
 where he intercepted the custom of the Long Island 
 farmers, on their way to the city from the ferry. This 
 road ran along the high water mark, and, consequently, 
 was only built upon one side. 
 
 Next came Hoogh straat, which extended along the 
 river shore, the line of which is marked now by the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 189 
 
 north side of Pearl between Wall aud William streets, 
 and both sides of Stone between William and Broad 
 streets. On the north side of Pearl between Broad and 
 William streets, extending thence along the shore to 
 Wall street was the Waal or " Sheet Pile street'" built to 
 protect the City Hall which fronted it on the northwest 
 corner of Pearl street and Coenties Shp, from the wash- 
 ing of the tides. 
 
 Still continuing on the road along the shores of the 
 river was the W^ater Side, extending along the northern 
 side of Pearl from Broad street to Whitehall, in front 
 of the old church, erected outside the walls of the fort 
 for Domine Bogardus in the days of Wouter Van Twiller. 
 This terminated in Perel street, which ran from White- 
 hall to State street. About the Battery were a few scat- 
 tered buildings, among others, the house and store of 
 Jacob Leisler on the west side of Whitehall street, 
 between Pearl and State streets, and the old " White 
 Hall " of Governor Stuyvesant which gave its name to 
 the first named street. 
 
 Beginning at the east side of Whitehall above Stone 
 street and extending to Heere straat or Broadway was 
 " T' Marckvelt," afterwards Marketfield street, so called 
 from the Bowling Green which fronted it, and which was 
 then used at stated times for a cattle fair or market. At 
 the western extremity of this street began Heere straat, 
 the ancestor of the present Broadway, which extended to 
 the west or land gate of the city wall, along the southerly 
 side of which ran Wall street to the East River. 
 
 In the interior of the city, were the Heere graft, the 
 inlet from which sprung the present Broad street, 
 
190 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 extending from the river to Beaver street, and the 
 Prince graft, the continuation of the same from Beaver 
 to Garden street or Exchange Place, above which was an 
 open common, used as a sheep pasture. From its inter- 
 section with these, an open ditch marked the course of 
 the Beaver graft to Broadway, on each side of which, 
 buildings were erected. 
 
 Beginning at Broad, and extending through Stone to 
 Whitehall streets was Brouwer or Brewer straat, so called 
 from having been the site of a number of breweries. In 
 this street, stone pavements were first laid in the city, 
 whence its future name. From the East River to Broad- 
 way ran T' Maagde Paatje, or the Maiden's Path. 
 
 From the bridge that crossed the inlet at Broad street 
 ran Brugh or Bridge straat to Whitehall, on the corner 
 of which was the house and store of Cornelius Steen- 
 wyck, the principal merchant of New Amsterdam. 
 Beginning in the middle of Bridge street and extending 
 to Stone street, parallel with Whitehall, was Winckel 
 street, or the street of tlie stores, so called from the 
 Company's storehouses, which fronted it on the east. 
 This is now consolidated into a single block, and 
 Winckel street is known only on the maps of olden 
 time. Last of all came Smee street, on the line of Wil- 
 liam between Heere and Peai"l streets, so called from the 
 glass-maker, Jan Smeedes, who is supposed to have been 
 its earliest resident. Other streets and lanes soon 
 sprung into existence with the new colonization, but 
 these long continued to be known as the ancient land- 
 marks, and to this day, the line of but one has been 
 blotted from the map of the city. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 191 
 
 At this time, and long after, the inhabitants of the city 
 continued to be distinguished for their frank good-nature, 
 their love of home, and their cordial hospitality. A late 
 writer says, speaking on this subject: " Tlie hospitality 
 "and simple plainness of New York city down to the 
 "period of 1790 and 1800 was very peculiar. All felt 
 " and praised it. Nothing was too good and no attention 
 "too engrossing for a stranger. The name was a pass- 
 " port to everything kind and generous. All who were 
 " introduced invited them to their house and board." 
 May we not hope that some of the spirit of the ancient 
 Knickerbockers still remains to us, and that we are not 
 churlish in our welcome of the strangers who visit our 
 shores ? 
 
 Yet, despite the staid decorum of the city, it was over- 
 flowing with sociality and genial humor. Fast young- 
 men, fashionable amusements, late hours, ilnd dissipation 
 were wholly unknown, but there was no lack of hearty 
 and homely sports. Of holidays, there were abundance ; 
 each family had some of its own ; birth-days and marriage 
 anniversaries were religiously observed in the family cir- 
 cle, and home-ties were thus drawn more closely together. 
 Each season, too, brought its own pecuUar festivals, and 
 many new ones were invented to meet the social exi- 
 gencies. The people held firmly to the old maxim that 
 "many hands make light work," and never failed, when 
 any extra task presented itself, to make it the occa- 
 sion for a social gathering. Thus they had " quilting- 
 " bees," "apple-bees," " husking-bees," and " raising- 
 "bees," in which the allotted task was soon completed 
 by the nimble fingers of the busy workers, who then sat 
 
192 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dowu to a supper of chocolate and soft waffles, and ter- 
 minated the evenuig by a merry dance. Dancing was a 
 favorite amusement ; the negroes danced to the music 
 of their rude instruments in the market-place ; and the 
 youths and maidens danced at their social gatherings, as 
 well as around the May-pole on the Bowling Green on 
 ihe first of May. This latter day was also memorable 
 for another festival, which is indigenous to New York, 
 and has grown into an institution — it was the general 
 moving-day, and all who changed their residences 
 were expected to vacate the premises which they 
 occupied befoi-e the hour of noon. Rents ranged 
 from twenty-five to one hundred dollars per annum ; 
 the houses being worth from two hundred to a thousand 
 dollars each. 
 
 Besides the holidays which we have noted, the Dutch 
 had five national festivals which were observed through- 
 out the city ; namely, Kerstrydt (Christmas) ; Nieuw jar 
 (New Year) ; Paas (the Passover) ; Pinxter (Whitsun- 
 tide) ; and Santa Glaus (St. Nicholas or Christ-kinkle 
 day). Most of these have come down to our own time 
 in a form but slightly varied from the ancient obser- 
 vance. Christmas day opened with a general exchange 
 of "merry Christmas" greetings throughout the city, 
 and he bore off the palm who was the first to offer the 
 wish to his neighbor; and this over, "turkey shooting" 
 came next in order, and the young men repaired to "the 
 " Commons" or to " Beekman's Swamp " to shoot at tur- 
 keys which were set up for a target. Each man paid a 
 few stuyvers for a shot, and he who succeeded in hitting 
 the bird bore it oft" as a prize. The older citizens, mean- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 193 
 
 while, gathered about the young sportsmen, criticising 
 their skill, and telling tales of their own youthful dex- 
 terity. At home, the day was commemorated by a family 
 dinner, after which the children and patriarchs joined 
 together in a merry dance, and closed the day with 
 gaiety and good humor. 
 
 New Year's day was devoted to the interchange of 
 visits. Every house in the city was open, no stranger 
 was unwelcome, cake, wine and punch were provided in 
 profusion, and the opening year was greeted with gene- 
 ral conviviality. It was considered a breach of etiquette 
 for any one to omit a single acquaintance in his round of 
 calls, and acquaintanceships were renewed and half-dis- 
 severed intimacies knotted again in the cordial warmth 
 of the New Year's greeting. This custom, which has 
 come down to our own times, has now extended to 
 other cities, but its origin belongs exclusively tf) New 
 York. 
 
 Paas, or Easter and Easter Monday, was once a 
 notable festival in the city ; though now it is nearly 
 forgotten, except among the children, who still crack 
 colored eggs in honor of the occasion. Not many 
 years have passed, however, since this holiday enjoyed 
 as wholesale an observance as the others we have men- 
 tioned, and colored eggs were found upon every table. 
 Thougli Easter Sunday is kept as a religious festival, it 
 is no longer an occasion for merry-making. 
 
 But Santa Claus day was the best day of all in the 
 estimation of the little folks, who, of all others, enjoy 
 holidays the most intensely. It is notable, too, for hav- 
 ing been the day sacred to St. Nicholas, the patron saint 
 
 13 
 
194 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of New York, who presided at the figure-head of the 
 first emigrant ship that touched her shores, who gave 
 his name to the first church erected within her walls, 
 and who has ever since been regarded as having especial 
 charge of the destinies of his favorite city. To the 
 children, he was a jolly, rosy-cheeked little old man, 
 with a low-crowned hat, a pair of Flemish trunk-hose, 
 and a pipe of immense length, who drove his rein- 
 deer sleigh loaded with gifts from the frozen regions of 
 the North over the roofs of New Amsterdam for the 
 benefit of good children. Models of propriety were they 
 for a week preceding the eventful Christmas eve. When 
 it came, they hung their stockings, carefully labelled, that 
 the Saint might make no mistakes, in the chimney corner, 
 and went early to bed, chanting the Santa Glaus hymn, 
 in addition to their usual devotions. For the hymn and 
 the translation, which we give entire as a curiosity, we 
 are indebted to D. T. Valentine, Esq. 
 
 " Sint Nicholaas, goed lieilig man, 
 Trekt uw' besten Tabbard an. 
 En reist daarmee naar Amsterdam, 
 Van Amsterdam naar Spanje, 
 Waar appellen von Oranje, 
 En appelen van Granaten, 
 RoUen door de Straten. 
 Sint Nicholaas, myn goden Vri"ii 1, 
 Ilj heb u altyd wel gediend, 
 Als gy my nu wat wilt geben, 
 Fal ik u dienen als myn leven." 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 " Saint Nicholas, good holy man, 
 Put your best Tabbard on you can, 
 And in it go to Amsterdam, 
 From Amsterdam to Hispaiije, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 195 
 
 Where apples bright of Orange, 
 And likewise those, pomegranites named. 
 Roll through the streets all unreclaimed. 
 ■ Saint Nicholas, ray dear, good friend, 
 To serve you ever was my end ; 
 If you me now something will give. 
 Serve you I will as long as I live." 
 
 These rhymes, Mr. Valentine tells us, continued to be 
 sung among the children of the ancient Dutch families as 
 late as the year 1851. But the custom is passing away, 
 and the Christmas gifts are now given prosaically without 
 legend or tradition. It is to he regretted, for childhood 
 is the golden age of illusions, and short as this illusion 
 may be, all who have tasted it know how sweet were 
 the fruits that grew in the mysterious gardens of the 
 good old Santa Claus. Peace to his ashes ! 
 
 auB, the Patron Saint of New Amsterdam. 
 
CHAPTER VT. 
 
 New York nnder the new Regime— Progress of the City. 
 
 Edmund Andros, afterwards known as the " tyrant of 
 " New England," was a man of marked ability, butimpe- 
 rious, and despotic in the highest degree. This was 
 doubtless owing, in part, to the commands of the Duke 
 of York, of whom he was a devoted follower, and who 
 had given him instructions to continue the arbitrary 
 oourse of policy pursued by the former government. 
 No sooner was he installed in his office, than the people, 
 hoping some advantage from the change of rulers, 
 renewed their petition for an assembly of representatives. 
 Andros laid the petition before the Duke of York, and 
 strongly advised him to grant it. James, who regarded 
 popular assemblies as dangerous and useless, utterly 
 refused to listen to their prayer. " What do they want 
 " with assemblies ? " said he. " They have the Court of 
 " Sessions, presided over by the governor ; or, if this is 
 " not enough, they can appeal to me." Such was the 
 estimation in which the rights of the people were held 
 by their royal masters. As another sample of the spirit 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 197 
 
 of the times, we may quote the remark made a short 
 time before by Sir William Berkeley, the governor of 
 Virginia, who " thanked God that there were neither free 
 "schools nor printing-presses in the colony." "God 
 "keep us from both," added he, fervently. And Lord 
 Effingham, his successor, was directed on no account to 
 suffer the latter to be established. The New England 
 colonies, however, enjoyed a representative government, 
 and this excited the envy of the New Yorkers, particu- 
 larly of the inhabitants of the eastern towns of Long 
 Island, who petitioned to be annexed to Connecticut, 
 alleging, as a pretext, their New England origin. The 
 request was refused, and Andros, intent on enlarging his 
 province, attempted to extend its boundaries to the 
 Connecticut River — the ancient limit — and repaired to 
 Saybrook with several armed sloops to enforce his claim. 
 The people immediately prepared for resistance ; and 
 Andros, seeing that he must fight or retreat, chose the 
 latter, and returned to New York. He afterwards took 
 forcible possession of Sagadahoc, a district in Maine 
 between the Kennebec and the Penobscot, inhabited by 
 a few Dutch settlers. Here, he erected a fort and con- 
 stituted the county of Cornwall. Martha's Vineyard and 
 Nantucket, and a tract west of the Delaware, extending 
 to the Schuylkill, were also included within the limits of 
 the province, which contained, at this time, thirty-two 
 towns and villages. 
 
 Though forced by the commands of his patron to deny 
 to the citizens the political privileges which they so much 
 desired, the new governor strove to make amends for 
 it by promoting public improvements. Li 1676, he 
 
198 HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 appointed as mayor, Nicholas De Meyer, a native-born 
 Hollander, and one of the most enterprising traders of 
 the province. Mayor De Meyer had emigrated from 
 Holland at an early age, married the daughter of Hen- 
 drick Van Dyck, one of the most influential burghers, 
 and grown up with the city, where many of his descen- 
 dants are 3fet to be found. 
 
 Ordinances were established by the governor for regu- 
 lating the public morals, and promoting the welfare of 
 the city. The city gates were ordered to be closed at 
 night at nine o'clock, and to be opened at daylight. The 
 citizens were required to keep watch by turns, and were 
 fined for absence or neglect of duty, and all profanity and 
 drunkenness were strictly forbidden. Every citizen was 
 ordered to provide himself with a good musket, or fire- 
 lock, with at least six charges of powder and ball ; and 
 to appear, with good arms, before the captain's colors at 
 the first beating of the drum. 
 
 All masters of vessels, on arriving in port, were 
 required to give a full list of their passengers to the 
 mayor, under penalty of a fine of a beaver-skin for each 
 offence. Peddling was forbidden and none were per- 
 mitted to sell goods at retail but freemen or burghers of 
 the city. For this freedom, the merchants paid six bea- 
 vers, and the mechanics two ; unless they kept up an 
 establishment therein, all lost it after twelve months' 
 absence from the city. Six wine and four beer taverns 
 were licensed by the governor, with permission to both 
 to sell strong liquors ; the rates of fare being regulated 
 as follows : Lodging, three pence and four pence per 
 night ; meals, eight pence and a shilling ; brand}', six 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 199 
 
 pence per gill ; French wines, fifteen pence per quart, 
 rum, threepence pei- gill ; cider, fourpence per quiirt ; 
 beer, threepence per quart ; and mum, sixpence per quart. 
 If an Indian was seen drvnik in the street, the tavern- 
 keeper from whom he had obtained the liquor was fined ; 
 if the latter couldnotbe found, the whole street was forced 
 to pay the penalty. No grain was suffered to be distilled, 
 unless unfit for flour. Two years after, the excise on 
 liquors was removed, and all were permitted to buy or 
 sell in quantities exceeding a gallon. 
 
 All owners of vacant lots or ruinous buildings, were 
 directed at once to build upon or improve them under 
 penalty of seeing them sold at public auction. The tan- 
 pits in Broad street were declared a nuisance, and the 
 tanners ordered to remove beyond the limits of the city. 
 They established themselves along Maiden Lane, which 
 was then a marshy valley. A company of four shoe- 
 makers, who were also their own tanners, purchased a 
 tract of land bounded by Maiden Lane, Broadway, Ann 
 street, and a line between William and Gold streets, and 
 set up their business there. Henceforth this became 
 known as "the Shoemaker's Land ;" and later, in 1696. 
 when Maiden Lane was regulated, and the land surveyed 
 and divided into town lots, it still retained its original 
 title. The tanners were eventually driven from theii 
 locality, and forced to take refuge in the "Swamp," in 
 the vicinity of Ferry street, of which more hereafter. 
 
 Other improvements, too, were made in Broad street. 
 This, which had originally been a little rivulet, conveying 
 the water from the marshes above Beaver street to the 
 river, was lined with planks and converted into an open 
 
200 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 sev/er. The uj^per jiart of this drain was called the 
 Prince graft ; the lower part, the Heere graft. The fol- 
 lowing year, a new dock was built, property-holders 
 being taxed for the expense, at one and a half per cent 
 a pound. Three hundred and one names are found on 
 the list of the tax collector ; one-third of which are Eng- 
 lish, four French, and the remainder Dutch. 
 
 Slaughter-houses were ordered to be removed from 
 the city and to l^e built over the water at the Smith's 
 Fly, near the " Kondeel " or Half-Moon fort at the foot of 
 Wall street. Permission was given to all the inhabitants 
 to cut wood anywhere on the island a mile distant from 
 a habitation. A weekly market was instituted, to be 
 held every Saturday in the market-house, at the foot of 
 Broad street. A yearly fair for cattle, grain and pro- 
 duce was also established, to be held at Breuckelen near 
 the ferry on the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 
 in November ; and on the Thursday, Friday and Satur- 
 day following, on the plain before the fort. For the 
 better provision of supplies, all persons were exempted 
 from arrest for debt while in attendance at these fairs. 
 
 In 1677, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, son of the well 
 known OlofFe Stevensen Van Cortlandt, and the first 
 native-born mayor of the city, was appointed to tl^e 
 mayoralty. Mr. Cortlandt, though still young, being but 
 thirty-four years of age when he attained to this position, 
 was already a prominent man in the city. He became 
 still more so in subsequent events, and we shall meet him 
 again in the affair of Leisler. He was a merchant and 
 large property-holder, owning the well known "Clover 
 Wavtie," south of ^laiden Lane, a large farm near the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 201 
 
 Fresh Water Pond, and a piece of land in the vicinity 
 of the present Cortlandt street, which thus obtained its 
 name, with a frontage of two hundred and fifty feet on 
 Broadway and extending quite down to the river shore ; 
 besides hxrge tracts of land on the shores of the North 
 River. He died in the year 1701, leaving a lai'ge family, 
 the descendants of which are still to be found in the city. 
 
 During this year, seven public wells were constructed 
 in the city. These were built in the middle of the streets, 
 and were especially designed for security against fires. 
 Water was generally scarce and bad. An occasional 
 spring of sweet water was found ; the best was in the 
 vicinity of the present corner of Chatham and Pearl 
 streets, but the march of civilization had not as yet 
 extended so far. Many years after, the citizens learned 
 to appreciate its virtues, and christened it "the Tea 
 " Water Pump." 
 
 The following year, Francois Rombouts was appointed 
 mayor. Mayor Rombouts was a Frenchman by birth ; a 
 naturalized burgher, and a considerable merchant of the 
 city, who had for several years been a prominent poli- 
 tician. His house was near the corner of Broadway and 
 Rector street, on the site of the present Trinity Church, 
 surrounded by extensive grounds extending down to the 
 river shore. He held the office of mayor but for one 
 year, though he continued to take an active part in poli- 
 tics until the time of his death, in 1691. He left one 
 daughter, who afterwards married Roger Brett, a mer- 
 chant of the city. 
 
 During the brief administration of Mayor Rombouts, 
 the citizens received a boon from tlie uovernor which, in 
 
202 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 a few years, trebled their wealth, and laid the founda- 
 tion of the fortunes of New York. A considerable part 
 of the country was now under cultivation, and flour was 
 becoming an important article of trade. To secure the 
 advantages of this commerce to the citizens, Andros 
 gi'anted them a monopoly of the bolting of flour, 
 together with the exclusive right of exporting it out of 
 the province, and forbade all other towns to engage in 
 the trade under penalty of the forfeiture of the articles. 
 This act excited the greatest indignation among the inland 
 towns, who used every effort to procure its repeal. This 
 they effected in 1694, six years after its enactment, but, 
 during that time, the exports and imports of the city 
 had increased from two to more than six thousand 
 pounds sterling per annum, the shipping had increased 
 from three ships to sixty, and more than six hundred 
 new houses had been erected in the city. Lands 
 increased to ten times their former value, and a fever 
 for speculation broke out among the inhabitants, who 
 vainly endeavored to prevent the repeal of this "bolting 
 "act," which brought them such golden fruit at the 
 expense of their neighbors. During Rombout's admin- 
 istration, the shipping of the city consisted of three 
 ships, eight sloops, and seven small coasting vessels. In 
 the same year an Admiralty Court was first established 
 in the province. 
 
 A curious law respecting the Indians is found upon 
 the records of 1679. Hitherto, the Indians had been free, 
 with the exception of a few slaves that had been brought 
 into the province from the Massachusetts Bay colony. It 
 was now enacted that all Indians who should come or be 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 203 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 205 
 
 brought into the px'oviuce for the next six months, should 
 be sold for the benefit of the government. A lack of 
 negro slaves was probably the cause of the enactment 
 of this ordinance. The slave trade had long been 
 regarded as a legitimate branch of commerce, and there 
 was scarcely a household in the city that was not pro- 
 vided with from one to a dozen negroes ; yet the demand 
 increased with the increase of the settlement, and the 
 supply was found to be insufficient. Strict laws were 
 enacted to keep this brute force within due bounds ; 
 negroes were forbidden to assemble together without 
 special permission ; to leave their masters' houses after 
 nightfall, or to go beyond the city gates without a pass ; 
 yet all these precautions proved unavailing to prevent 
 the terrible catastrophe in which the system of slavery 
 culminated in 1741. 
 
 In 1680, Captain William Dyre, an Englishman who 
 had taken up his residence in the city soon after the acces- 
 sion of the English government, was appointed mayor. 
 He had been the commander of a naval force dispatched 
 in 1612 by Rhode Island for the reduction of Fort Good 
 Hope — a fact which did not increase his popularity among 
 his adopted citizens. He also held the office of collector 
 of customs — an office especially odious to the people. 
 
 Andros, meanwhile, had been compelled to repair 
 to England to answer charges brought against him by 
 Fenwick and Carteret, the proprietors of the Jerseys, 
 who accused him of having interfered with their privi- 
 leges. He set sail for Europe in 1680, intrusting the 
 government to Anthony Brockholst. The discontent of 
 the people increased daily ; they grumbled at the heavy 
 
206 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 taxes which wore arbitrarily imposed on them, and even 
 went so far as to accuse Dyre of levying them without 
 authority. On this charge, he was indicted by the gi-and 
 jury as a traitor, and was ordered to be tried by a spe- 
 cial court. He pleaded that he had acted under the 
 duke's commission, and, as this could not be gainsayed. 
 he was sent to England for trial, and the port -was left 
 without a collector. The complaint was dismissed for 
 want of evidence, none of the citizens having seen fit to 
 appear as accusers ; but they had accomplished their 
 object in getting rid of the officer. Meanwhile, for a 
 few months, the port remained free. Cornelius Steen- 
 wyck succeeded to the mayoralty. A census of the city 
 was taken this year, and it was found to contain two hun- 
 dred and seven houses, and two thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Andros soon returned, cleared from the charges of his 
 enemies, with instructions to continue the system of tax- 
 ation which weighed so heavily upon the citizens. But 
 tlie resistance of the people, who went so far as to ques- 
 tion the supreme authority of the Duke of York, joined 
 with the remonstrances of William Penn, at length 
 induced the royal duke to bate something of his preten- 
 sions ; and in 1083, Andros was recalled, and Colonel 
 Thomas Dongan appointed in his stead, with instructions 
 to call a popular assembly. 
 
 Despite his sycophancy to the Duke of York, Andros 
 seems to have really had the interests of the province at 
 heart, and to have made the best of existing circum- 
 stances. He remonstrated with his royal master against 
 the commands which he executed with fidelity, and he 
 certainly enacted a different rc,Ic in Now York fri m that 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 207 
 
 which he afterwards played in New England. But the 
 people, who only saw the power nearest them, were dis- 
 posed to impute to him much of the blame which 
 belonged in truth to the Duke of York, and they gladly 
 received the news of his recall. The fidelity of Andros 
 was not forgotten ; on the accession of the Duke of York 
 to the throne in 1685, he was knighted and appointed 
 royal governor of the colonies of New England ; a posi- 
 tion which soon involved him in inextricable difficulties. 
 Governor Dongan reached New York on the 25th of 
 April, 1683. He was of the Roman Catholic faith ; a fact 
 which rendered him at first obnoxious to many ; but his 
 firm and judicious policy, his steadfast integrity, and his 
 pleasing and courteous address, soon won the affections 
 of the people, and made him one of the most popular of 
 the royal governors. In accordance with the instruc- 
 tions of his superiors, his first act after his arrival was to 
 call a general assembly of the people. This long hoped- 
 for concession was hailed with delight. On the 17th of 
 October, 1683, the first Assembly, consisting of the 
 governor, ten councillors, and seventeen representatives 
 elected by the people, convened in the city of New York. 
 This point gained, the contest continued, and New York, 
 the legislative capital of the province, was henceforth the 
 scene of bitter contention between the Assembly and the 
 royal governors. The first act of this body was to frame 
 a Charter of Liberties — the first popular charter of the 
 province. This Charter of Liberties ordained "that 
 ' supreme legislative power should forever reside in the 
 " o-overnor, council and people, met in General Assem- 
 •'bly ; that every freeholder and freeman might vote foi 
 
208 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 "representatives without restraint; that no freeman 
 " should suffer but by judgment of his peers, and that aL 
 "trials should be by a jury of twelve men ; that no tax 
 "should be assessed on any pretence whatever, but by 
 " the consent of the Assembly ; that no seaman or soldier 
 " should be quartered on the inhabitants against their 
 will ; that no martial law should exist ; and that no 
 " person professing faith in God, by Jesus Christ, should 
 " at any time be in any way disquieted or questioned for 
 " any difference of opinion in matters of religion." 
 
 The assemblies were to be held at least triennially ; 
 New York sending four representatives ; Suffolk, one ; 
 Kings, one ; Queens, one ; Richmond, one ; Westchester, 
 one ; Albany, two ; Schenectady, one ; Dukes County, 
 two ; and Cornwall, one ; the number to be increased at 
 the pleasure of the Duke of York. Twenty-seven was 
 the maximum number down to the period of the Revo- 
 lution. These representatives were free to appoint their 
 own time of meeting and of adjournment, and were the 
 sole judges of the qualifications of their own members. 
 In case of vacancy in the Assembly, the governor was 
 to issue summons for a new election. Bills passed by 
 this body were submitted to the governor for concur- 
 rence, and laws were repealed by the authority that 
 made them, with the consent of the Duke of York. One 
 of the first acts of the Assembly was the division of the 
 province into twelve counties — New York, Richmond, 
 Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Orange, Ulster, Albany, West- 
 chester, Duchess, Dukt'S and Cornwall. The two latter 
 were presently dropped from the list, and ceded to othei 
 governments. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 209 
 
 New police regulations were at once established. Sun- 
 day laws were enacted ; tavern-keepers were forbidden 
 to sell liquor except to travellers, citizens to work, child- 
 ren to play in the streets, and Indians and negroes to 
 assemble on the Sabbath. Twenty cartmen were licensed 
 by the municipal authorities, on condition that they 
 should repair the highways gratis whenever called on by 
 the mayor, and cart the dirt from the streets, which the 
 inhabitants were required to sweep together every Sat- 
 urday afternoon beyond the precincts of the city. The 
 rate of cartage was fixed at three pence per load to any 
 place within the bounds of the city ; beyond which, the 
 price was doubled. The cartmen, however, soon proved 
 refractory, and a few weeks after, the license system 
 was abandoned, and all persons, with the exception of 
 slaves, were allowed to act as cartmen. 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1683, the city was divided 
 
 into six wards. The First or South Ward, beginning at 
 
 the river, extended along the west side of Broad to 
 
 Beaver street ; thence westward along Beaver street to 
 
 the Bowling Green ; thence southward by the fort to 
 
 Pearl street ; and thence westward along the river shore 
 
 to the place of starting. The Second or Dock Ward, also 
 
 beginning at the river at the southeast corner of Pearl 
 
 and Broad streets, extended along the shore to Hanover 
 
 Square ; thence northward though William to Beaver 
 
 street ; thence along Beaver to Broad street; thence back 
 
 through Broad to the river shore. The Third or East 
 
 Ward formed a sort of triangle, beginning at the corner 
 
 of Pearl and Hanover Square, and extending along the 
 
 shore to the Half Moon fort at the foot of Wall street ; 
 14 
 
210 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 thence stretching along "Wall to the corner of WilUara 
 and thence returning along the east side of William to 
 the river. The Fourth or North Ward, beginning at the 
 northwest corner of William and Beaver streets, extended 
 through the former to the corner of Wall ; thence west- 
 erly along the palisades to a line a little beyond Nassau 
 street ; thence southerly to Beaver street ; thence easterly 
 along Beaver to the first-named point. The Fifth or West 
 Ward, beginning at the junction of the Fourth Ward with 
 Beaver street, extended northerly along the boundary line 
 of the latter to Wall street ; thence along the palisades 
 to Broadway ; thence southerly to Beaver street ; thence 
 easterly to the point of starting. The Sixth or Out 
 Ward comprised all the farms and plantations outside the 
 city walls, including the town of Harlem. Each of these 
 wards was authorized to elect an alderman and council- 
 man annually to represent them in the city goA^ernment. 
 The governor and council retained the appointment of 
 the mayor in their own hands ; it was not, indeed, until 
 long after the Revolution that this office was made elec- 
 tive by the people. 
 
 The following year, a monopoly of packing flour and 
 making bread for exportation was granted to the citizens 
 in addition to the previous "bolting act." At this time, 
 there were twenty-four bakers in the province. These 
 were divided into six classes ; a class being appointed 
 for each secular day of the week. The weight and price 
 of loaves was also regulated ; a white loaf weighing 
 twelve ounces being valued at six stuyvers in wampum. 
 This year, for the first time, the citizens elected their 
 aldermen and councilmen. Gabriel Minvielle, a mer- 
 chant of French origin, who had emigrated to the pro- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 211 
 
 vince in 1669, was appointed mayor. He held the office 
 but one year ; though he afterwards mingled largely in 
 politics, and took an active part with the aristocratic 
 faction in the affair of Leisler. He died in 1702, leaving 
 no children. 
 
 In 1685, the Duke of York succeeded to the throne 
 under the title of James II., and New York became a 
 royal province. His accession was marked b}' renewed 
 oppressions. In his new instructions to Dongan, he au- 
 thorized him, with his council, to resume the power of 
 enacting laws and imposing taxes ; and also directed him 
 on no account to suffer printing-presses to be established 
 in the colony. He also urged Dongan to favor the intro- 
 duction of the Roman Catholic religion into the pro- 
 vince ; a course of policy which the governor, himself a 
 Catholic, was reluctant to adopt. The French in the 
 Canadas were using every effort to gain over the Iro- 
 quois through the influence of Jesuitical missionaries, 
 and the clear-sighted Dongan saw that it was necessary 
 to counteract this influence to preserve the province to 
 the English government. This conduct displeased James, 
 who was more of a churchman than a statesman, and 
 paved the way for Dongan's speedy recall. 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1685, the Assembly was dis- 
 solved by proclamation of the governor, and no other 
 was summoned during the reign of James. Nicholas 
 Bayard was chosen mayor for this year. Bayard was of 
 Holland origin, and was cousin of Judith Bayard, the 
 wife of Petrus Stuyvesant. Few men in the province 
 led a more eventful life. Entering early into politics as 
 well as into mercantile life, he amassed a fortune, and, at 
 
212 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the same time, became one of the promment men of the 
 city. In the stirring times of the Leisler Rebellion, he 
 took sides with the aristocratic faction, was imprisoned, 
 tried, convicted of treason and sentenced to death by 
 the Leislerians ; then released and promoted to high 
 honors on the elevation of his own party to power. He 
 owned large tracts of land in various parts of the city, 
 among which was the well known " Bayard Farm," 
 l3-ing on the west side of the Bowery above Canal street. 
 He died in 1711, leaving an only son who inherited his 
 large estates. 
 
 A disposition was manifested during this year towards 
 the persecution of the Jews, which was subsequently 
 carried much further. The clause in the charter, grant- 
 ing tolerance to all who worshipped God through Jesus 
 Christ, was construed to exclude the Hebrew race, and 
 the Jews were forbidden to exercise their religion. They 
 were also prohibited from selling goods at retail, but were 
 permitted to continue the wholesale trade. 
 
 A public chimney-sweeper was appointed for the city, 
 who was to cry his approach through the public streets, 
 and who probably originated the whoop peculiar to his 
 vocation. His rates were fixed by law at a shilling and 
 eighteen pence per chimney, according to the height of 
 the house. A part of the slaughter-house over the 
 Smits's Vly was converted into a powder-magazine, its 
 distance from the city rendering it a safe place of 
 deposit for the explosive material, and Garret Johnson, 
 the proprietor of the establishment, was constituted the 
 keeper. Markets were ordered to be held three times a 
 week, though fish, poultry, butter, fruits and vegetables 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 213 
 
 were permitted to be sold daily. A haven master was 
 appointed to look after the shipping and collect the bills. 
 and surveyors were named to regulate the buildings and 
 preserve the uniformitij of the streets. 
 
 In 1686, the Dongan Charter was granted to the city. 
 This instrument, which still forms the basis of the muni- 
 cipal rights and privileges of New York, confirmed the 
 franchises before enjoyed hy the corporation, and placed 
 the city government on a delinite footing. The governor 
 retained the appointment of the mayor, recorder, sheriff, 
 coroner, high constable, town clerk, and clerk of tlie 
 market in his own hands ; leaving the aldermen, assist- 
 ants, and petty constables to be chosen by the people at 
 the annual election on St. Michael's Day. This charter 
 declared that New York City should thenceforth com- 
 prise the entire island of Manhattan, extending to the 
 low-water mark of the bays and rivers surrounding it.* 
 
 In the same year, the city received a new seal from 
 
 City Seai of lt;s6. 
 • Dated April 22, WSS. 
 
21 4: UISTORYOFTHE 
 
 the home goverument. This still jDreserved the beaver 
 of the Dutch, with tiie addition of a flour-barrel and the 
 arms of a windmill in token of the prevailing commerce 
 of the city. The whole was supported by two Indian 
 chiefs, and encircled with a wreath of laurel, with the 
 
 motto, SiGILLUM CiVITATIS NoVI EbORACI. 
 
 In 1G87, Stephanus Van Cortlandt was again appointed 
 mayor. During his mayoralty, it was determined to 
 enlarge tlie city by building a new street in the river 
 along the line of Water street, between Whitehall and 
 Old Slip, and water lots were sold by the corporation on 
 condition that the purchasers should make the street 
 towards the water, and protect it by a substantial wharf 
 from the washing of the tide, in imitation of the Waal or 
 sheet pile street, extending along the line of Pearl 
 street, from Broad to William streets in front of the 
 City Hall. It was not, however, until some years after, 
 that this scheme was canned into effect, and the projected 
 street rescued from the waters. 
 
 Measures were also taken to enlarge the city still fur- 
 ther by placing the fortifications further out, and laying 
 out Wall street thirty-six feet wide. The fortifications, 
 indeed, were now worse than useless. The palisades 
 which had been erected in 1653 along the line of Wall 
 street had fallen down, the works were in ruins, the 
 guns had disappeared from the artillery-mounts, and the 
 ditches and stockades were in a ruinous condition. Their 
 immediate removal was determined on and ordered, but 
 was delayed by the revolution which followed soon after. 
 When war bi'oke out between France and England in 
 1093, they were again repaired to be in readiness for the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 215 
 
 expected French invasion, and it was not until 1G99 that 
 their demohtion was finally accomplished. Wall street, 
 however, was laid out immediately, and it was not long 
 before it became one of the most important thorough- 
 fares in the city. During the same year, a valuation 
 was made of the city property, which was estimated on 
 the assessor's books at £78,231. 
 
 In the meantime, Indian aifairs had claimed the atten- 
 tion of the governor. The treaty of peace, long since 
 concluded at Tawasentha between the Dutch and the Iro- 
 quois, had never been openly broken, and the Indian 
 war during Kieft's administration had been definitively 
 ended by the interposition of these powerful tribes. Yet 
 the Five Nations had fancied themselves slighted by the 
 late governors, and their warriors had resented the sup- 
 posed insults by occasional aggressions upon the English 
 settlements. Just at this juncture, the French in Canada, 
 who had long been endeavoring to j^ersuade the Iroquois 
 to acknowledge their sway, resolved to force them to 
 submission ; and organized a large army, designed for 
 their extermination. On hearing of this project, James II., 
 regarding it as a good opportunity to rid the prov- 
 uice of a dangerous enemy, ordered Dongan not to 
 interfere in the matter. Dongan, however, was far too 
 honorable to see his allies murdered in cold blood, in 
 obedience to the wiU of his superiors. He warned the 
 Iroquois at once of their danger, and, promising them 
 assistance, invited them to meet him at Albany, to renew 
 the treaty of peace which had well-nigh been forgotten. 
 They were punctual at the rendezvous, and concluded a 
 new treaty, which was long respected by both parties. The 
 
216 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 French made two invasions on the territory of the Iro- 
 quois, but, Aveakened by sickness and unacquainted with 
 Indian warfare, the}^ soon returned with scattered ranks, 
 having effected nothing, except to arouse the wrath of a 
 powerful enemy. They had opened the door to a terrible 
 retribution. The Indians fell with fury upon the Cana- 
 dian settlements, burning, ravaging, and slaying without 
 mercy, until they had nearly exterminated the French 
 from the territory. The war continued until of all the 
 French colonies, Quebec, Montreal, and Trois Rivieres 
 alone remained, and the French dominion in America 
 was almost annihilated. Governor Dongan remainied 
 a firm friend of the Indians during his administration, 
 aiding them by his counsel, and doing them every good 
 ofl&ce in his power. By this policy, he gained the fullest 
 confidence of the grateful savages, and the name of 
 "Dongan, the white father" was remembered in the 
 Indian lodges long after it had grown indifierent to his 
 coimtrymen of Manhattan. 
 
 While Dongan was thus winning popularity abroad 
 among his savage allies, a growing feeling of discontent 
 was springing, up among his subjects at home. The 
 citizens were mostly Protestants, and bitterly opposed to 
 the Catholic religion.; many of them Waldenses and 
 Huo-uenots, who had fled from the religious persecutions 
 in Europe, and crossed the ocean to seek protection 
 under the tolerant Dutch government. On the cession 
 of the province to the English, they fell under the direct 
 rule of the Duke of York, a zealous Catholic, and an 
 avowed opponent to the Protestant religion. On his 
 accession to the throne, he awakened their distrust still 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 217 
 
 more by surrounding himself with those of his creed, 
 and elevating them to most of the posts of honor and 
 profit in the kingdom. It was evidently and naturally 
 his settled purpose to encourage the growth of Catholic- 
 ism in his dominions, and though his plans for the con- 
 version of the Indians were thwarted by the policy of 
 Dongan, the Protestants saw his designs maturing in the 
 city. Roman Catholics began to emigrate rapidly ; the 
 collector of customs with several other prominent officials 
 were avowed Papists, and the minister of the church of 
 England, with many others, was suspected of seci'etly 
 favoring the same religion. The people grew jealous of 
 the Catholic influence, and murmured loudly at the 
 spread of the obnoxious faith. Governor Dongan, who 
 was still popular, despite his creed, used every effort to 
 soothe their discontent by choosing the majority of his 
 council from among the stanchest Protestants, and 
 showing the greater possible religious toleration. But 
 his judicious policy displeased his royal master, and, in 
 the midst of his politic measures, he was suddenly recalled 
 from the government. Resigning his command to Francis 
 Nicholson, the deputy of Sir Edmund Andros, who had 
 been appointed royal governor both of New England 
 and New York, he set sail for Europe. He afterwards 
 returned, and took up his residence on an estate on 
 Staten Island, for which he had previously procured a 
 patent, and which continued for many years in the pos- 
 session of his family. 
 
 Nicholson took possession of the government during 
 the month of August, 1688. On the 24th of the same 
 month, Andros issued a proclamation for a general 
 
218 CITYOFNEWYORK, 
 
 thanksgiving for the birth of a prince, the heir to the 
 English crown. The next Enghsh mail brought start- 
 ling intelligence. The Prince of Orange had invaded 
 England, the people had everywhere flocked to his 
 standard, James had abdicated the throne and fled to the 
 continent in despair, and William and Mary, Prince and 
 Princess of Orange, had been proclaimed King and 
 Queen of England 
 
CHAPTER VIL. 
 
 Revolution of 1689— Affair of Leisler. 
 
 The news produced an instant revolution in the colo- 
 nies. The Prince and Princess of Orange were known 
 as stanch Protestants, and their accession to the throne 
 was hailed with delight. But a knotty point arose in 
 the administration of affairs. The commissions that had 
 been granted by James II. became null and void on the 
 receipt of this intelligence. The new sovereigns, involved 
 in the perplexities of home affairs, and hardly, as yet, 
 seated firmly on the throne, had found no time to for- 
 ward instructions to their distant colonies, who were 
 thus left without legal authority. Uncertain how to act, 
 they determined to act for themselves. The Bostonians 
 rose in arms, seized Sir Edmund Andros and his officers, 
 sent them to England, and resumed their former popular 
 government. The New Yorkers were not thus united. 
 While they recognized the supremacy of William and 
 Mary, a small party insisted that the colonial govern- 
 ment had not been overthrown by the late revolution, 
 but remained vested in the lieutenant-governor and his 
 
220 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 council until further advices should arrive from England 
 This party consisted chiefly of the wealthiest and most 
 aristocratic portion of the citizens, and was headed by 
 Stephanus Van Cortlandt, mayor of the city, Nicholas 
 Bayard, colonel of the city militia, Frederick Philipse,* a 
 wealthy citizen, and Joseph Dudley ; all of whom were 
 members of the council, holding their commissions from 
 Dongan, the royal governor. 
 
 The mass of the people, on the other hand, maintained 
 that the whole government had been overthrown by the 
 deposal of James II., and that, as no one could longer 
 legally hold power from the late authorities, the people 
 themselves must rule until the arrival of the newly com- 
 missioned governor. The greatest excitement prevailed 
 throughout the city. Nicholson and his party, though 
 openly acknowledging the supremacy of the new gov- 
 ernment, were suspected of being still in the interests of 
 the late king. Rumors of every sort were abroad. 
 Nicholson himself was known to be an adherent to the 
 Catholic faith, as well as many of his party ; and this 
 fact increased the distrust of the people. A rumor was 
 spread that the Papists had plotted to attack the 
 Protestants while at church in the fort, massacre them 
 all, take possession of the government, and erect the 
 standard of the Pope and King James. 
 
 These extravagant rumors seem to have been ground- 
 less, but they, nevertheless, excited general consterna- 
 tion. The people of Long Island deposed their 
 magistrates and chose others in their stead ; and also 
 
 * Or Fljpseu, originally from Bohemia 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 221 
 
 dispatched a large body of militia to New York, "to 
 "seize the fort, and to keep oft' popery, French invasion 
 " and slavery." 
 
 The militia force of New York at this time consisted 
 of five train-bands, of which Nicholas Bayard was 
 colonel, and Jacob Leisler, senior captain. Of Bayard, 
 we have already spoken. Jacob Leisler, who became in 
 this struggle the hero of one of the most eventful epochs 
 in the history of New York, was one of the oldest 
 and wealthiest of the ancient Dutch burghers. He emi- 
 grated from Frankfort to New Amsterdam in the ship 
 Otter, in the year 1660, as a soldier in the service of the 
 West India Company. Soon after his arrival, he married 
 Elsje Loockermans, widow of Cornelius Vanderveer, and 
 thus became uncle of Stephanus Van Cortlandt and 
 Nicholas Bayard, the foes who afterwards brought bin. 
 to the scaftbld. He engaged at once in commerce, and 
 soon became one of the leading shipping merchants of 
 the city. On the cession of the city to the English, he 
 took oaths of allegiance to the new government, and was 
 among those who contributed, in 1672, towards the 
 repairs of Fort James. Two years after, he was 
 appointed one of the commissioners for the forced loan 
 levied by Colve, at which time his property was valued 
 at fifteen thousand guilders. In 1678, on a voyage to 
 Europe, he was taken prisoner by the Turks, and forced 
 to pay a heavy ransom for his liberty. On his return, in 
 1683, he received the appointment of Commissioner of 
 the Admiralty from Governor Dongan. He had two chil- 
 dren, Jacob and Mary, the latter of whom married Jacob 
 Milborue, the companion of her father's prosperity and 
 
222 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 misfortunes, and, after his death, Abraham Gouverneur 
 his son grew up to vindicate his father's memory, and 
 to wring a tardy justice from the hands of his judges. 
 He was well known as a zealous opponent of the Catholic 
 faith. In Albany, in 1675, he had been imprisoned by 
 Andros for his opposition to Rensselaer, an Episcopal 
 clergyman and suspected Papist, who had been sent to 
 the province by the Duke of York, and had thus won 
 the confidence of the Protestant party, who in this emer- 
 gency, naturally chose him as their leader. 
 
 The public money, amounting to £773 12s., had been 
 deposited for safe keeping in the fort, which was gar- 
 risoned by a few soldiers, under the command of a 
 Catholic ensign. Anxious to secure the control of this 
 treasure, the citizens assembled on the 2d of June, 1689, 
 and marching in a body to the house of Leisler, requested 
 him to lead them to the seizure of the fort ; then, upon 
 his refusal, proceeded thither, headed by Ensign Stoll, 
 and entered the fortress without resistance. On learn- 
 ing of this capture, Leisler repaired to the fort with 
 forty-seven men, where he was welcomed by the citizens 
 and acknowledged their leader. 
 
 The people were now openly divided into two parties 
 — the democratic and aristocratic, — the Leislerian and 
 auti-Leislerian. The former met together, and chose a 
 Committee of Safety, consisting of Richard Denton, 
 Samuel Edsall, Theunis Roelofse, Pieter Delanoy, Jean 
 Marest, Mathias Harvey, Daniel Le Klercke, Johannes 
 Yermilye, Thomas WiUiams and William Lawrence, for 
 the immediate government of the province. This com- 
 mittee appointed Jacob Leisler captain of the fort, with 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 223 
 
 full power to preserve the peace and to suppress any 
 rebellion until the arrival of instructions from England. 
 
 In the meantime, the city militia had joined the popu- 
 lar party, and it was agreed that the fort should be held 
 by each of the five train-bands in turn. On the evening 
 of the capture, it was resigned by Leisler to Captain 
 Lodowick and his company. The next morning, a rumor 
 was circulated that three ships were coming up the bay, 
 upon which the train-bands hastily assembled in the fort, 
 where the five captains and four hundred men, together 
 with seventy volunteers from Westchester, signed an 
 agreement to hold the fort for Wilham and Mary. 
 
 Nicholson and his party, meanwhile, had not been 
 idle. No sooner had Leisler entered the fort than, hastily 
 calling together the city officials, they resolved them- 
 selves into a convention in opposition to the Committee 
 of Safety, and resolved to take measures to counteract 
 the revolutionists. Thinking the public money unsafe in 
 the fort, they determined to remove it to the house of 
 Frederick Phihpse ; but Leisler refused to deliver it to 
 their order. They next made an effort to secure the 
 custom-house revenues. The people had already refused 
 payment of duties to the collector, Matthias Plowman, 
 under the pretext that he was a Catholic. Nicholson 
 now dispatched Nicholas Bayard and three others to take 
 his place. On arriving at the custom-house, they found 
 it guarded by militia. The Committee of Safety had 
 already appointed their own collector, and armed men 
 were sent on board all vessels arriving in port. 
 
 Foiled in this quarter. Colonel Bayard repaired to the 
 fort to look after his refractory train-bands. He found 
 
224 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 them assembled on the BowUng Green, and ordered 
 them to disperse. They refused to obey. Unable to 
 enforce his commands, he returned to the City Hall at 
 Coenties Slip, where Nicholson had assembled the rest 
 of the council. It was not long before Captain Lodo- 
 wick, the captain of the day, came to demand the sur- 
 render of the kej-s of the fort. Nicholson, finding 
 that the militia had declared against him, and that 
 resistance would be in vain, reluctantly resigned them ; 
 and hastily breaking up his council, fled to a ship in the 
 harbor, and set sail for England, leaving the government 
 in the hands of Leisler and his party. Bayard took 
 refuge at Albany with Colonel Peter Schuyler,* the 
 mayor of that city, who also refused to acknowledge 
 the supremacy of Leisler. Van Cortlandt, who still 
 claimed to act as mayor, remained in New York. 
 
 On the 16th of August, the Committee of Safety 
 authorized Leisler to act as commander-in-chief of the 
 province until further instructions should arrive from 
 England. The neighboring colonies did not delay to 
 recognize his authority. Massachusetts approved his 
 conduct, and the General Court of Connecticut dis- 
 patched two deputies to congratulate him upon his suc- 
 cess, and to promise him assistance if necessarj\ These 
 deputies brought news of the proclamation of the new 
 sovereigns in England, upon which Leisler immediately 
 ordered them to be proclaimed at the sound of the 
 trumpet at the fort and the City Hall. He then went 
 energetically to work to restore order to public affairs. 
 
 * So well known for his salutary influence over the Indiang. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 225 
 
 Knowing that the French court had espoused the cause 
 of the deposed king, and that a war with France must 
 ensue, he set about repairing the fortifications and 
 providing for the public safety. He stockaded the fort 
 and erected a battery of seven guns to the west of it, 
 strengthened the fortifications on the hind side, and 
 placed a garrison of fifty men in the fort, besides a com- 
 pany of militia that mounted guard every night, after 
 which he dispatched a private letter to the king, relating 
 the particulars of the seizure of the fort, and accounting 
 for the expenditure of the public money, the most of 
 which had been swallowed up in the repairs. 
 
 On the 29th of September, 1689, by order of the 
 Committee of Safety, the people assembled in their 
 wards and elected their aldermen and councilmen, and 
 for the first time, their mayor also. Pieter Delanoy was 
 chosen mayor, Johannes Johnson, sheriff, and Abraham 
 Grouverneur, clerk. Mr. Delanoy was a native born Hol- 
 lander, who had emigrated to New Amsterdam in the 
 days of Stuyvesant, and engaged in trade with signal 
 success. He was warmly attached to the popular party, 
 and clung faithfully to it through its changing fortunes. 
 On the 14th of October, 1089, he was proclaimed mayor 
 by Leisler, and on the same day he took the oaths of 
 office, together with the Common Council, at the City 
 Hall at Coenties Slip, now in the possession of the popu- 
 lar party. 
 
 The city was emphatically divided against itself 
 
 Each party had its mayor and common council, who 
 
 claimed to administer the city affairs, and each met 
 
 and transacted the business of the city, wliolly ignoring 
 
 15 
 
226 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the existence of the other. Delanoy, on one side, had 
 possession of the City Hall ; Van Cortlandt, on the other, 
 held the charter, books, seals and papers. The newly- 
 elected mayor sent to demand the latter, but without 
 avail, and so the matter rested. 
 
 The election increased instead of allaying the popular 
 agitation, and Bayard, still at Albany, fomented it by 
 every means in his power. On the 20th of October, he 
 addressed a letter to the militia, declaring that Jacob 
 Leisler and his associates had illegally invaded their 
 majesties' fort and subverted all lawful authority, and 
 commanding the train-bands as their colonel to refuse 
 all aid to these usurpers, and to continue to obey the 
 civil government established by Sir Edmund Andros, 
 which was still in full force, and was the only legal 
 authority. This letter was productive of no effect. The 
 soldiers and the majority of the citizens continued faith- 
 ful to Leisler. Long Island, Westchester and Orange 
 Counties also recognized his authority, but the Albanians 
 continued to regard him as a usurper, and to obey the 
 authorities established by the late monarchy. 
 
 Li the meantime, war had broken out on the frontier. 
 France, espousing the cause of the exiled king, had 
 declared war against England, and the French in the Can- 
 adas, with their Indian allies, the Hurons, threatened the 
 little settlements that had sprung up along the northern 
 frontier with speedy destruction. Terrified at the dan- 
 ger, the Albanians resolved to seek assistance from New 
 York ; and in September, a convention of the civil 
 authorities dispatched a messenger to Leisler to entreat 
 him to furnish them with men, ammunition and money 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 227 
 
 Leisler made no reply to the convention, who heW their 
 commissions from James II. He sent some powder and 
 guns to the miUtary officers, l:>ut refused them any sol- 
 diers, on account of some alleged slight which his people 
 had received in Albany ; and urged the Albanians 
 to send deputies to New York to consult with him for 
 the public good. This they refused to do, and asked 
 assistance from Connecticut, which two months after. 
 sent them eighty-seven men. 
 
 About the same time, Leisler dispatched his son-in-law 
 and secretary, Milborne, who had arrived from England 
 the preceding summer, with a force of fifty men to their 
 aid ; but the Albanians, suspecting that this expedition 
 was covertly designed to gain possession of the fort and 
 overthrow the existing government, determined that they 
 should not be permitted to take command in the city. 
 The force, indeed, was too small for any such purpose, 
 but Milborne doubtless entertained the design, and relied 
 on the aid which he might receive from the citizens. 
 The latter, however, were averse to a change, and, yield- 
 ing to the persuasions of their officers, had already 
 pledged themselves at a public meeting to maintain the 
 present authorities. The troops, on their arrival, were 
 not suffered to land, but Milborne was invited to come 
 alone into the city. He repaired to the City Hall, and 
 at once commenced to harangue the people, telling them 
 that their present charter was null and void, and urging 
 them to depose their officers and choose new ones in 
 their stead, as they now had a right to govern themselves. 
 He also declared that he was authorized by the Commit- 
 tee of Safety of the province to administer affairs at 
 
228 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Albany ; and, by virtue of this autliority, he demanded 
 that an account should be furnished him of the arms and 
 stores in the fort, and that an election should be held for 
 both civil and military officers. The convention refused 
 to acknowledge his commission, and forbade him to come 
 within the gates of the city unless he would consent to 
 submit to their authority. He next attempted to force 
 an entrance, when the guns of the fort were turned upon 
 him, and seeing that, with his small force, he could effect 
 nothing, he wisely determined to return to New York. 
 
 In the month of December, a packet arrived from Eng- 
 land, addressed to Francis Nicholson, or to those who, 
 for the time being, administered the government in the 
 province of New York. This packet contained a com- 
 mission empowering the person who was then at the head 
 of the government to appoint a council and to act as lieu- 
 tenant-governor until further orders. Hearing of the 
 arrival of this precious document, Nicholas Bayard came 
 secretly to New York, and seeking out Riggs, the bearer 
 of the packet, endeavored to persuade him that Leisler 
 ■was a usurper, and that it rightfully belonged to himself 
 and Philipse as members of the late council. His argu- 
 ments failed to satisfy Riggs, who, finding that Leisler 
 had been conducting the government for nearly seven 
 months with the consent of the people and in behalf of 
 William and Mary, deUvered the papers to him as their 
 rio-htful possessor. Leisler showed them to the Com- 
 mittee of Safety, and, by their advice, assumed the title 
 of lieutenant-governor, and appointed a council of eight 
 persons to assist him in administering the government. 
 This council consisted of Pieter Delanoy, Samuel Staats, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 229 
 
 Hendrick Jansen, Johannes Yermilye, Gerardus Beek- 
 man, Samuel Edsall, Thomas WiUiams and WiUiam 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Thmking himself now the legal govei'noi' of the pro- 
 vince and sure of his position, Leisler resolved to 
 restore order by energetic measures. The party of his 
 enemies was constantly increasing. His fellow-citizens 
 were jealous of his sudden elevation, and the leaders of 
 the aristocratic faction used every effort to foment this 
 feeling, and to stir them up to open rebellion. They 
 even raised a street riot, from which he narrowly escaped 
 with his life. The drums were beat and the military 
 called out, and for a few minutes the result of the 
 struggle seemed doubtful. The riot was finally quelled, 
 several of the combatants were thrown into prison, and 
 warrants were issued for the arrest of Bayard, Van Cort- 
 landt and several others who had been implicated in the 
 affair. Van Cortlandt escaped, but Bayard and William 
 Nichols were arrested and imprisoned in the cells at the 
 City Hall, which then served also as the city prison, and 
 a court was summoned to try them for treason. Terrified 
 at his danger, Bayard sent a submissive petition to the 
 governor, acknowledging his errors, and entreating par- 
 don in the humblest terms. His supplication stayed tlie 
 proceedings and saved him from death, although it did 
 not obtain his release. He remained in jjrison fourteen 
 months until the arrival of Governor Sloughter, then 
 emerged to wreak a terrible vengeance upon his jailer. 
 Meanwhile, his party did not slacken their zeal, but 
 stirred up a powerful opposition to Leisler. 
 
 A new event occurred to attract the public notice 
 
230 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The frontier warfare still continued, with its scenes of 
 savage barbarity. In February, 1690, it reached its 
 climax. A party of French and Indians fell at midnight 
 upon the little village of Schenectady, and transformed 
 the peaceful settlement into a scene of ruin. Men, 
 women and children were shot, scalped or carried into 
 captivity ; the village was plundered and set on fire, and 
 but one house escaped the general conflagration. A few 
 escaped half-naked through the snow to carry the news 
 to their neighbors at Albany. 
 
 This fearful catastrophe opened the eyes of the Alban- 
 ians to their folly in rejecting the aid of New York at a 
 time when union was so much needed, and in wasting 
 their time in disputing the legality of commissions which 
 would so soon be settled by direct instructions from 
 England. The most natural conclusion in the existing 
 state of affairs was, certainly, that when the authority 
 of James II. ceased, the authority of his officers ceased 
 also, and the government reverted to the people until 
 further instructions should be received from the new 
 powers. Such was the interpretation of the mass of the 
 people. But the officials who had been commissioned by 
 the late government naturally availed themselves of every 
 quibble whereby to retain their powers, and being rich 
 in means, though poor in numbers, they were, at least, 
 partially successful. It was a combat between the aris 
 tocrats and the people. In New York, the democracy 
 triumphed ; in Albany, the aristocracy. Leisler, who 
 now considered himself lieutenant-governor, by virtue of 
 the royal commission, again sent Milborne with a strong 
 body of troops to force Albany to submit to his authority. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 231 
 
 The citizens, terrified at the massacre of Schenectady, no 
 longer attempted resistance, but quietly surrendered the 
 fort into his hands. 
 
 Having thus succeeded in gaining control of the pro- 
 vince, Leisler summoned a convention of delegates from 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut to meet him at New York 
 to consult together on the common danger. This con- 
 vention assembled on the 1st of May, 1690, and deter- 
 mined to fit out an expedition against the Canada?. 
 Leisler promised to join with Connecticut in dispatching 
 a force of nine hundred men to attack Montreal, while 
 Massachusetts pledged herself to send a fleet and an 
 army against Quebec. The expeditions were immediately 
 fitted out, but both proved signally unsuccessful. 
 
 The enemies of Leisler, in the meantime, had used 
 every effort to asperse his motives and actions to the king. 
 Though he had always administered the government in 
 the name of William and Mary, he was represented as 
 in a state of actual rebellion, and denounced to the 
 English court as a hypocrite and arch-traitor. Much of 
 this calumny was due to Francis Nicholson, who had 
 been received with favor on his return, and who had 
 avenged himself on Leisler for his forcible expulsion 
 from the government by intriguing against him in the 
 English court. Immediately upon his accession to the 
 government, Leisler had dispatched a memorial and pri- 
 vate letter to the king, informing him of the whole affair ; 
 but these papers, written in imperfect English — a 
 language which Leisler both wrote and spoke badly — 
 were wrongly construed. Nicholson did not cease to 
 represent Leisler to the king as an ambitious usurper, 
 
232 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 who had acted from aversion to the Church of England 
 and with an eye to his own private interests, rather than 
 from any devotion to the Prince of Orange. Misled by 
 these reports, the king made no reply to Leisler, although 
 he returned thanks to the colonies for their fidelity ; and 
 soon after appointed Henry Sloughter governor of New 
 York. This was a most injudicious choice. It is true 
 that the appointment of a new governor was needed to 
 restore harmony among the contending factions, but a 
 woi'se one than Sloughter could hardly have been found. 
 According to the admission of one of the king's own 
 officers, he was "licentious, avaricious and poor," — a 
 broken-down adventurer who came to i-epair his wasted 
 fortunes from the revenues of the office without thought 
 or care for the welfare of his subjects. But the enemies 
 of Leisler rejoiced at the appointment. They felt them- 
 selves sure of the new governor, whose necessities would 
 bhid him to the wealthiest party, and saw that the star 
 of their adversary was near its setting. 
 
 In 1690, Governor Sloughter set sail from England 
 with several ships and a considerable body of troops. 
 By some accident, the vessels parted company, and the 
 first ship that arrived was the Beaver, commanded by 
 Major Richard Ingoldsby, who had received the appoint- 
 ment of lieutenant-governor. The Beaver arrived in 
 January, 1691. Ingoldsby at once announced the appoint- 
 ment of Sloughter, and in his name demanded that the 
 fort should be surrendered to him for the accommodation 
 of his soldiers. Leisler, in reply, offered quarters for his 
 men, but refused to surrender the fort into his hands until 
 he had first produced tlie royal commission. This was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 233 
 
 impossible ; tlie papers were in the hands of Sloughter, 
 and Ingoldsby had no credentials whatever in his posses- 
 sion. Under these circumstances, it was but natural for 
 Leisler to refuse his demands ; but, urged on by the oppo- 
 site party, he issued a proclamation, calling on the people 
 and magistrates to aid him in enforcing the royal commis- 
 sion, and branding all as traitors who refused to obey. 
 Leisler, in turn, replied by another proclamation, protest- 
 ing against his proceedings, and warning him, at his peril, 
 not to attempt any hostility against the fort or city. 
 
 Ingoldsby immediately landed his soldiers, and pro- 
 ceeded to blockade the fort by land and sea, while 
 Leisler gathered his friends about him, and prepared 
 for future action. For seven weeks the city was thus 
 blockaded. During this time, the conduct of Leisler 
 seems to have been prudent and courteous. A shot was 
 fired at Ingoldsby's troops as they were returning one 
 night to their ship — he used every effort to detect the 
 offender. He ordered the soldiers to be quartered in the 
 City Hall and entreated the citizens not to molest them. 
 While he steadfastly refused to deliver the fort to 
 Ingoldsby until he should produce a royal commission, 
 he constantly spoke of him in respectful terms, and 
 declared his entire willingness to surrender the fort to 
 any one authorized to receive it. Ingoldsby, on his side, 
 who was wholly under the empire of the anti-Leislerian 
 party, spared no pains to annoy and irritate the gov- 
 ernor. He paraded his soldiers about the fort, shut out 
 supplies, interrupted the mayor and common council 
 while engaged in the discharge of their duties, and 
 endeavored by a thousand petty annoyances to provoke 
 
234 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Leisler to open combat. His efforts were unavailing ; 
 the governor intrenched himself in the fort and patiently 
 awaited the coming of Sloughter to free him from all 
 perplexities. He little dreamed of the manner in which 
 this would be accomplished. 
 
 On the 19th of March, 1691, the vessel of Sloughter 
 entered the harbor. Philipse, Yan Cortlandt, and others 
 of their part}^ hastened on board, and, greeting him with 
 the warmest protestations of fidelity, escorted him to the 
 City Hall, where he published his commission and took 
 the oaths of ofl&ce at eleven o'clock at night. Without 
 heeding the lateness of the hour, he immediately dis- 
 patched Ingoldsby with a party of soldiers to take pos- 
 session of the fort. Leisler, who did not know Sloughter, 
 and who suspected some snare, instead of surrendering 
 the fort in obedience to the order, sent a letter, written in 
 broken English, by Ensign StoU, to the governor, charg- 
 ing StoU, who had seen Sloughter in Europe, to look at 
 him well, and be sure that he was no counterfeit, got up 
 for the occasion. Sloughter, who suspected something 
 of this, informed Stoll that he intended to make himself 
 known in Xew York as well as in England, and ordered 
 Major Ingoldsby to go a second time to take possession of 
 the fort, and at the same time, to release Colonel Bayard 
 and Mr. Nichols from their imprisonment to attend his 
 majesty's service, they having been appointed members 
 of the council. He also ordered Leisler, Milborne, and 
 the others " who called themselves the council," to come 
 to him at once, without loss of time. Leisler refused 
 either to surrender the fort or to release the prisoners, but 
 sent Milborne and Delanoy to make terms with the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 235 
 
 governor, and to endeavor to procure some security for 
 his own safety, which he felt was in imminent danger. 
 Sh>ughter at once imprisoned the envoys, and sent 
 Ingoldsby a third time to take possession of the fort, 
 which Leisler again refused to him. 
 
 Early the next morning, Leisler sent a letter to the 
 governor, surrendering the fort, and apologizing for hold- 
 ing it after his arrival. That he had done so, was unwise, 
 but certainly not indicative of treasonable designs. He 
 had hoped to retain possession of it, that he might in 
 some degree counteract the influence of his enemies by 
 a personal surrender. lie well knew that to yield it to 
 Ingoldsby would be to place his life in the power of the 
 opposite faction ; but the delay by which he sought to 
 escape w^as made the most efiectual instrument of his 
 ruin. , 
 
 No notice whatever was taken of the letter. Sloughter 
 and his friends met at the City Hall, where a council was 
 sworn in, consisting of Joseph Dudley, Frederick Phil- 
 ipse, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Gabriel Minvielle, Chud- 
 ley Brooke, Thomas Willett, William Pinhorne and 
 William Nichols — all sworn foes of Leisler. This done, 
 twenty-nine papers from the English government rela- 
 tive to Leisler, which had been first sent to England from 
 Albany, were dehvered to the secretary, and Jacob Leis- 
 ler was brought in a prisoner. The king's letter, from 
 which he claimed to derive his authority, was taken from 
 him, and he was committed to the guard-house with 
 eleven of his adherents. At the same meeting, the gov- 
 ernor appointed John Lawrence mayor of the city. 
 
 Leisler and his companions remained in the guard- 
 
236 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 house until the 23d of March, when the governor and 
 council met at the fort, and appointed a committee to 
 examine them with a view to their removal to the city 
 prison. The next day the council met again, and organ- 
 ized a special court of eight members for the trial of the 
 prisoners. Sir Robert Robertson, William Smith, Wil- 
 liam Pinhorne, John Lawrence, Jasper Hicks, Richard 
 Ingoldsby, Isaac Arnold and John Young were ap- 
 pointed judges by the governor, for the trial of the 
 prisoners on a charge of murder and rebellion. 
 
 On the 30th of March, the court met for the trial of 
 the prisoners. Leisler refused to plead, alleging that the 
 court had no jurisdiction in the case, but that it belonged 
 to his majesty himself to declare whether he had acted 
 under legal authority, and insisting that the letter 
 addressed to Nicholson, or, in his absence, to the chiefs 
 of the government, had entitled him to act as lieutenant- 
 governor. The pliant judges, instead of deciding the 
 question, submitted it to the opinion of the governor and 
 council. They decided in the negative ; Leisler was pro- 
 nounced a usurper, and, on the 13th of April, both he and 
 Milborne were condemned to death as rebels and traitors. 
 
 Notwithstanding the prejudices of Sloughter against 
 Leisler, he feared to risk the displeasure of the king by 
 summarily putting to death the man who had first raised 
 his standard in New York, and who had constantly 
 professed to act under his authority. He hesitated, 
 talked of a reprieve, and flatly refused to sign his death- 
 warrant until it had first received the sanction of the king. 
 But the enemies of Leisler were thirsting for his blood. 
 Bayard, embittered by his long imprisonment, burned for 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 237 
 
 revenge, and Nichols and Van Corthindt were not slow 
 to second him. On the 14th of May, the council met 
 and urged the governor to carry the sentence into execu- 
 tion. The next day, the petition was seconded by the 
 new assembly, the speaker of which was a declared 
 enemy of Leisler. But Sloughter still hesitated, and the 
 council determined to gain by stratagem what they could 
 not by entreaty. Knowing the weakness of the governor, 
 they invited him to a feast ; then, when he was overcome 
 with wine, cajoled him into signing the death-warrant. 
 
 The fatal signature once procured, they dared not 
 await the possibility of its revocation. An officer stole 
 with it from the scene of festivity to the city prison, and 
 ordered the victuns to be led out for immediate execu- 
 tion. The council, meanwhile, plied the governor with 
 wine, and amused him into forgetfulness of the fate of 
 the prisoners. 
 
 In the midst of a cold and drizzling spring rain, Leisler 
 and Milborne were led out for execution. The scaffold 
 was erected in the square at the lower end of the Park, 
 on his own grounds, in full view of his country-seat. 
 The weeping people thronged about him, execrating 
 those who had deprived them of their leader. A few 
 members of the council stole fi'om the scene of revelry, 
 and came to witness the consummation of their vengeance. 
 Leisler's dying speech was full of humility and forgive- 
 ness. " Why must you die ?" said he to Milborne. " You 
 "have been but a servant, doing my will. What I have 
 " done has been but in the service of my king and queen, 
 " for the Protestant cause, and for the good of my coun- 
 "try; and for this T must die. Some errors I have 
 
238 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " committed ; for these I ask pardon. I forgive my 
 *' enemies as I hope to be forgiven, and I entreat my 
 " children to do the same." Not so humble was the 
 youthful Milborne. Turning to Robert Livingston,* 
 who had stationed himself near the scaflbld, he said 
 to him fiercely: "You have caused my death, but for 
 " this will I implead you before the bar of God." — The 
 drop fell ; the populace rushed forth with shrieks and 
 groans to snatch some i-elic of their martyred leader, and 
 the last act was ended of one of the most eventful 
 dramas ever enacted within the city of New York. The 
 bodies were taken down, and interred, by Leisler's own 
 request, in his garden near the site of Tammany Hall. 
 Thus perished the last Dutch governor of New York. 
 
 Leisler was truly a martyr of the peo^^le. They had 
 chosen him to stand at their head and to aid them in 
 preserving their civil and religious liberty when left with- 
 out a ruler and in danger of falling a prey to a clique of 
 ambitious men. Under their authority he acted until 
 it was, as he thought, confirmed by the king. On the 
 ari'ival of the new governor, he surrendered the fort on 
 the day that the council was sworn in ; and they had no 
 right to demand it before. Yet he was immediately 
 arrested without a hearing, thrown into prison like a 
 common malefactor, and sentenced to death, not by the 
 judgment of the court that had been apijointed for his 
 trial, but by the decision of a council composed of his 
 bitterest enemies. But it was the people instead of 
 Leisler who were struck at, in truth. It was then, as 
 
 * Emigrated iibont 1672, originally from Scotland. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 239 
 
 later, the policy of the English government to crush 
 every symptom of popular liberty in her colonies, and 
 to rule them with a rod of iron. Jacob Leisler and 
 Jacob Milborne were the first victims in the cause of 
 freedom, and the pioneers of the long train that fol- 
 lowed on the fields of the Revolution more than a 
 century after. 
 
 Four years afterwards, the son of Jacob Leisler did 
 justice to the memory of his father by prosecuting the 
 appeal which had been denied him. On the 11th of 
 March, 1G95, the Lords Commissioners of Trade, to 
 whom it had been referred, decided that the deceased 
 had been condemned and executed according to law, but 
 that their families were fit objects of royal compassion, 
 and ordered the confiscated estates to be restored. But 
 tills did not satisfy the friends of the victims, who 
 appealed from this decision to Parliament, and by 
 the aid of powerful influence, obtained the same year 
 a reversal of the attainder. This act stated explicitly 
 that Leisler had been appointed commander-in-chief 
 until their majesties' pleasure should be further known ; 
 that he was afterwards confirmed in his authority by 
 their majesties' letter, dated July 30, 1689 ; that, while 
 he held this power, by virtue of said authority, Major 
 lugoldsby had arrived in January and demanded the 
 surrender of the fort without producing any legal 
 authority ; that Leisler, pursuant to the trust reposed 
 in him, kept possession of the fort until the following 
 March, when Henry Sloughter arrived late in the even- 
 ing ; that Leisler, having received notice of his com- 
 ing, delivered the fort to him early the next morning ; 
 
240 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and coiiscqueutly, that all acts, judgments and attainders 
 were declared reversed by the decision of parliament. 
 Three years after, the bodies of Leisler and Milborne 
 were disinterred and reburied with great ceremony in the 
 old Dutch church in Garden street. 
 
 Sloughter was now firmly established as governor, and 
 affairs began to assume a settled aspect. But the rancor 
 of the late struggle did not soon die out, and for the 
 next quarter of a century, the supremacy of the city 
 was warmly contested by the Leislerians and anti-Leis- 
 lerians. The j^arties transmitted the feud to their children, 
 and the vestiges of it are even now to be found among the 
 descendants of these early colonists. 
 
 As may readily be inferred from preceding events, the 
 first Assembly that met under the new administration 
 was wholl}- devoted to the interests of the governor. 
 The laws which they framed, and Avhich came to be 
 recognized as the first acknowledged code in the province, 
 were molded to suit his interests, and to make him 
 wholly independent of the people, by granting him a 
 permanent revenue, together with the sole right of issu- 
 ing warrants for moneys fi'om the public treasury. The 
 Charter of Liberties, which had been granted by the 
 Duke of York in Dongan's administration, was declared 
 null and void. The single popular law passed by them, 
 declaring that it was the people's right instead o^ privilege 
 to be represented in general assembly was vetoed by the 
 king. The old Court of Assizes was abolished, and a 
 Supreme Court, consisting of five judges, instituted in its 
 stead. Of this, Dudley was made chief-justice with a 
 salary of a hundred and thirty pounds, and Johnson, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 241 
 
 Smith, Yan Cortlandt, and Pinhorne were appointed his 
 associates. 
 
 In 1691, Abraham De Peyster, captain of one of the 
 train-bands, and a friend of Leisler, was appointed to the 
 mayoralty. Mr. De Peyster had taken an active part on 
 the side of the people in the late agitation, and his ap- 
 pointment was well calculated to meet their favor. He 
 held the office for three years, after which he received 
 the appointment of treasurer which he held until his 
 death in 1721. 
 
 Comparative tranquillity being now restored the citi- 
 zens began to turn their attention to public improvements. 
 Water street was extended from Old Slip to Fulton street, 
 and Pine, Cedar, and the neighboring streets were laid 
 out through the old Damen farm. Two markets for meat 
 were established, the one in Broadway, opposite the fort, 
 and the other at Coenties Slip ; and no cattle were per- 
 mitted to be slaughtered within the city gates. 
 
 The city determined to assume the support of the 
 public paupei's, and each alderman was ordered to make 
 a return of the poor in his ward. Several were soon 
 recommended as objects of charity, to whom a pittance 
 was granted from the public treasury, no house being as 
 yet provided for their reception. The poisonous weeds, 
 stramonium and others, that grew in such abundance on 
 the island, were ordered to be rooted up from the high- 
 ways, and every citizen was directed to keej) the street 
 clean before his door. 
 
 In the same year, it was decided to build another 
 church up-town, and the officers of the church of St. 
 Nicholas purchased a building-lot in Garden street, now 
 16 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 Exchange place, 125 feet front by 180 feet rear, for 
 which they paid a hundred and eighty pieces of eight, 
 on which a church was soon after erected. 
 
 Many other municipal regulations, concerning huck- 
 sters, bakers, butchers and others were estabhshed, which 
 were then esteemed of vital importance, hut the minutice 
 of which would now be wearisome to the general reader. 
 A single item we must notice as convej'ing an idea of 
 the punishments practised in olden times. A pillory, 
 cage, wliipping-post, and ducking-stool were set up in 
 the vicinit\' of the City Hall, and hither were brought 
 all vagrants, slanderers, pilferei's, and truant children to 
 be exposed for public show, or to receive such severer 
 chastisement as their offences might warrant. 
 
 f^^ ■ — .fit' «' ^j.. i/% 
 
 ^•4 r 
 
 Tlie Bowery House. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 243 
 
 Old Dutch Cliurch in Garden Street, erected :n 1696. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 245 
 
 On the 23d of July, 1691, Sloughter died suddenly. 
 So hostile was the spirit of the times and so bitter 
 the animosities that existed against him, that it was at 
 first asserted that he had been poisoned by the Leisle- 
 rians, but this charge was disproved by a post mortem 
 examination. His remains were deposited in the Stuy- 
 vesant vault, next to those of the old Dutch governor, 
 The charge of affairs devolved upon Dudley, Major In- 
 goldsby, to whom it belonged of right, being absent in 
 CuraQoa. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Idmiuistration of Fletcher— Progress of the City — Piratical Depredations — Lord 
 Bellamont Governor. 
 
 On the 29th of August, 1692, Benjamin Fletcher, the 
 newly-appointed governor, arrived at New York. He 
 was also invested with the government of Pennsylvania 
 and Delaware, of which Penn had recently been deprived 
 by reason of suspicions of his loyalty, and was commis- 
 sioned to command the militia of Connecticut and New 
 Jersey — a duty which he found it somewhat difficult to 
 perform. The frontier warfare still continued, and New 
 York, who, from her geographical position, became the 
 English bulwark against the French in the Canadas, had 
 petitioned that the other colonies should contribute to 
 her defence. The request was granted, and Fletcher 
 came instructed to require the southern and eastern pro- 
 vinces to furnish their quota of men and money towards 
 carrying on the war. The order was grumblingly 
 received ; the Quakers excused themselves under pretext 
 of conscientious scruples, but finally voted a small sura 
 on condition that it should not be used for the war ; Vir- 
 ginia raised five hundred pounds as the extent of her 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. "247 
 
 resources ; Maryland furnished a small sum un(l(?r in-o- 
 test, Connecticut sent no money under plea of an empty 
 treasury, but promised to supply volunteers when 
 needed, and Massachusetts flatly refused to furnish either, 
 alleging that she had her own frontier to defend. The 
 whole burden of the war w^as thus thrown upon New 
 York, despite her exhausted treasury, and her population, 
 decimated by the tragedies lately enacted on the frontier. 
 
 The new governor was despotic, passionate, avaricious 
 and fanatical withal, it being his darling project to make 
 the Church of England the established church of the land. 
 He at once attached himself to the anti-Leislerians, 
 and continued a sworn friend to them during his admin- 
 istration. He retained the council of his predecessor 
 with the exception of Joseph Dudley and William Pin- 
 horne, who were replaced by Caleb Heathcote and John 
 Young. Dudley was also superseded in the chief-justice- 
 ship by William Smith. He returned at once to England, 
 when he obtained the governorship of the Isle of Wight. 
 
 On the arrival of the new governor, the mayor and 
 corporation of the city met and appropriated twenty 
 pounds from the public treasury towards a public dinner 
 in his honor. This was a politic movement on their part ; 
 they were anxious to dispose him favorably towards a 
 petition which they had to offer. Vigorous efforts were 
 being made by the towns outside to break up the mono- 
 poly of bolting flour and making bread for exportation, 
 which had been granted to the city several years before, 
 and which had grown to be so valuable a privilege. The 
 numerous laws that had been passed to prevent its 
 infringement had proved unavailing, and the citizens 
 
248 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 hoped to obtain the concurrence of the governor in 
 securing this right exclusively to the city. The dinner 
 was followed by an address entreating the governor to 
 petition to their majesties for a confirmation of the 
 city charter, and for the continuation of the bolt- 
 ing and baking monopoly ; and also entreating that 
 the duties of clerk of the market, water-bailiff and 
 coroner might be included in the functions of the 
 mayoralty. 
 
 That nothing might be spared to secure the governor's 
 assistance in the matter, the city authorities presented 
 another address to him a few days after, couched in the 
 most flattering terms, in which they expressed their joy 
 that so wise and pious a governor should have been set 
 to rule over them, and entreated him to take the decay- 
 ing state of their afflicted city into favorable considera- 
 tion, and become its benefactor by securing to it that 
 monopoly without which it must perish. The recorder 
 was also directed to prepare an address to William and 
 Mary, thanking them for the blessing which they had con- 
 ferred on the province by appointing Fletcher the gov- 
 ernor thereof. Nor did their efforts stop here. On his 
 return from a subsequent voyage to Albany whither he 
 had gone to direct matters in respect to the frontier war- 
 fare, the mayor and corporation appropriated one hun- 
 dred pounds for the purchase of a gold cup, to be presented 
 to him in testimony of their joy at his safe arrival. They 
 let slip no opportunity to load him with fulsome compli- 
 ments, and to testify to their approbation of all his 
 acts. But this servility availed them nothmg ; in the 
 autumn of 1G06, the bolting-act was repealed hy the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 249 
 
 Assembly, and the commerce in bread and flour thrown 
 open to all competitors. 
 
 News having been received of a projected French 
 invasion, it was determined, soon after Fletcher's arrival, 
 to erect a new line of fortifications across the island in 
 the place of those now in ruins, and a hundred pounds 
 were appropriated for the purpose by the corporation. 
 All Indians and negroes who were not already engaged 
 in military service were ordered to assist in the work, 
 and the citizens generally were directed to give it all the 
 assistance in their power. It was also detei-mined to 
 erect a battery upon a platform laid upon the point of 
 rocks under the fort, so as to command both rivers ; 
 and the filling in of the present Batteiy was also com- 
 menced. Orders were given to see that the guns of 
 the fort were mounted and fit for use, and that there was 
 a sufficiency of ammunition. 
 
 In 1693, William Bradford, the Philadelphia printer, 
 having become involved in difficulties in consequence of 
 his connection with George Keith? who had attempted to 
 produce a revolution in Quakerism, removed to New 
 York, and established the first printing press in the city. 
 lie was at first employed by the city authorities to print 
 the corporation laws, and a few years after estab- 
 lished a newspaper, which proved a successful specu- 
 lation.* 
 
 " New York was the third of the Anglo-American colonies in which printing was 
 introduced-ilassachusetts and Pennsylvania preceding it. The first thing printed 
 in this city was a small folio volume of the laws of the colony, executed by Brad- 
 ford in the first year of his arrival. The next of which we have any account was n 
 small 24mo. volume of 61 pages, entitled, "A Letter of Advice to a Yonng Gentle- 
 man leaving the University, concerning his Behavior and Conversation in the World, 
 
I 
 
 250 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1C94, Charles Lodowick, whom we have ah-eady 
 seen as captain of the train-bands in the affair of Leisler, 
 was appointed mayor. Mr. Lodowick was a prominent 
 merchant, the son of one of the early traders in the city 
 He retained the office for but one year, after which he 
 received the appointment of lieutenant-colonel of the 
 province. He subsequently removed to England, where 
 he died. 
 
 The chief aim of Fletcher, next to his personal aggran- 
 dizement, was the introduction into the province of the 
 English church and the English language. This was 
 contrary to the wislies of the majority of the inhabitants, 
 who still spoke the Dutch language and adhered to the 
 Dutch church, which they regarded as the established 
 church of the province. This church was attached to 
 the Classis of Amsterdam, which was made a pretext by 
 Fletcher for substituting the Church of England in its 
 stead. The first Assembly that convened after his arri- 
 val, though they approved his conduct, and supplied him 
 liberally with money .for the defence of the frontiers, 
 refused to listen to his intimations on this head. The 
 next Assembly, which convened in the September of 
 1693, proved more compliant. Besides granting him a 
 permanent revenue for five years and giving him control 
 of the treasury, they passed an act providing for the 
 
 by R. L. Printed and sold hy W. Bradford, Printer to Hia Majesty, King William, 
 at the Bible in New York, 16i)(!." A copy of this rare work was quite recently sold 
 at the auction sale of the library of the late E. B. Corwin, for the low sum of 
 |!12 00. On the 16th of October, 1725, the first newspaper in the city of New 
 York was issued by Bradford, with the following heading : " New York Gazette. 
 From Monday, Oct. 16th, to Oct. 23d, 1725." The paper was issued weekly, and 
 ««s printed on a small foolscap sheet. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 251 
 
 building of a church in the city of New York, another in 
 Richmond, two in Westchester, and two in Suffolk, in 
 each of which was to be settled a Protestant minister on 
 a salary of from forty to a hundred pounds, to be paid 
 by a tax levied on the inhabitants. This was less than 
 the governor desired — he returned the act, which had 
 been sent to him for approval, with an amendment 
 granting him the power of inducting every incumbent, 
 which the Assembly refused to pass. Upon this he 
 called them before him, and angrily broke up the session, 
 telling them that he would let them know that he would 
 collate or suspend any minister that he chose, and that, 
 while he stayed in the government, he should take care 
 that neither heresy, schism, nor rebellion should be 
 preached among them. The bill subsequently passed 
 withoitt the amendment, and the word Protestant being 
 construed to mean Episcopal, all the inhabitants were 
 compelled to support the Church of England, whatever 
 mi"-ht be their religious opinion. In 1696, Trinit}' 
 church was begun under the provisions of this act, and 
 was completed and opened for worship on the 6th of 
 February of the following year by the Rev. William 
 Vesey. The church was a small square edifice, with a 
 very tall spire. A pew in it was appropriated to the 
 mayor and common council, and a sermon was annually 
 preached to them on the day of the city election. In 
 1703, a cemetery was donated it by the corporation, on 
 condition that it should ever after be kept neatly fenced, 
 and that the burial fees should not exceed eighteenpence 
 for children and three shillings for adults ; and so great 
 was the immigration into this city of the dead, that, at 
 
252 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the period of the Revolution, its inmates numbered 
 more than a hundred and sixty thousand. The old 
 graveyard of the Dutch burghers in Broadway above 
 Morris street, had, in 1677, been cut up into four build- 
 ing lots and sold at auction to the highest bidder. In 
 1703, the King's Farm was granted to the church by 
 Queen Anne, thus becoming the celebrated Trinity 
 church property. The church was enlarged in 1735, and 
 again in 1787, to meet the increasing wants of the con- 
 gregation, and thus remained until it fell a victim to the 
 conflagration of 1776, which laid waste the greater por- 
 tion of the city. It lay in ruins until 1788, when it was 
 again rebuilt, and consecrated by Bishop Provost in 
 1791. In 1839, it was again demolished to make room 
 for the present edifice, which was opened in 1846. 
 
 The parish was afterwards made to include St. 
 George's in Beekman street, erected in 1752 ; St. Paul's 
 in Broadway, erected in 1766; St. John's in Varick 
 street, erected in 1807, and Trinity Chapel in Twenty- 
 fifth street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue, 
 erected in 1854, all chapels, dependent upon Trinity as 
 the parish church. 
 
 The frontier warfare had continued meanwhile, and 
 Fletcher's conduct in this had been characterized with 
 decision and promptness, thanks, in part, to the advice 
 of Peter Schuyler, who knew the Indians intimately, 
 and who had advised Fletcher on his arrival to form a 
 firm league with the Iroquois, who formed a powerful 
 barrier between the English settlements and the Canadas. 
 It was the policy of the French government to extermi- 
 nate these tribes as the greatest obstacle in the way of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 253 
 
 their designs, then to seize Albany, and, proceeding 
 down the river, take possession of New York, and thus 
 make themselves masters of the province. For this pur- 
 pose, they dispatched Frontenac with a large army in 
 1696 to invade the territory of the Iroquois. The expe- 
 dition proved unsuccessful, and before it could be 
 renewed, a treaty of peace was concluded at Ryswick 
 between France and England which definitively put an 
 end to the war. 
 
 The city had long suffered from the rapacity of govern- 
 ment officials and the reflected horrors of a distant war- 
 fare ; it had now another scourge to encounter. The 
 system of privateering had long been in existence, and 
 had not only been connived at but openly encouraged by 
 the European governments, who deemed it an excellent 
 means of annoying their enemies' commerce without 
 trouble or expense to themselves. The adventurous 
 privateers, emboldened by their successes, soon ripened 
 into buccaneers, and, bearing down upon ships of all 
 nations, plundered them of their cargoes, then scuttled 
 and sunk them, that none might escape to tell the tale. 
 The American coasts were infested by pirates, no vessel 
 was safe upon the waters, and the ocean commerce was 
 almost destroyed. New York suffered especially from 
 these depredations. Her merchant vessels w^ere rifled 
 and burnt within sight of her shores, and the pirates 
 even entered her harbors and seized her ships as they 
 lay at anchor. Complaint to the authorities availed 
 nothing ; nearly every government official was impli- 
 cated in the nefarious trade, and it was suspected, almost 
 with certainty, that Fletcher himself was confederated 
 
254 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with the pirates and a sharer in their booty. The 
 corsairs boldly entered the ports, sure that their mone} 
 would purchase protection, and many of the merchants, 
 finding legal trade suspended, were tempted to embark in 
 the traffic and to lend assistance to the -successful buc- 
 caneers. 
 
 The interruption to commerce at length grew so alarm- 
 ing that the English government found it necessary to 
 interfere in the matter, and to take vigorous measures 
 for the suppression of piracy. Fletcher, who was 
 accused on every side of protecting the corsairs, was 
 recalled, and Lord Bellamont was appointed in his stead, 
 with instructions to extirpate the pirates from the seas. 
 He received his appointment in 1695, — although he did 
 not enter upon the duties of his office until nearly three 
 years after — and immediately began to take measures to 
 follow out his instructions. He first urged the govern- 
 ment to fit out an armed force to cruise against the buc- 
 caneers, but as all the naval force was needed in the war 
 with France, which was not yet ended, the request was 
 lefused. He then organized a stock company, in which 
 tlie king himself, the Duke of Shrewsbury, Lord Chan- 
 cellor Somers, the Earls of Oxford and Romney, Robert 
 Livingston and several others, became shareholders, for 
 the purpose of fitting out a privateering expedition 
 against the pirates. Six thousand pounds were soon 
 raised for the enterprise. The Adventure Galley, a fine 
 ship, manned with sixty sailors and thirty guns, was at 
 once fitted out, and the command of it intrusted to 
 Captain William Kidd, a New York sea-captain, who 
 happened to be in London at the time, and who had been 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 255 
 
 warmly recommended to Bellamout by Robert Living- 
 ston, and, to stimulate him further in the jDursuit of his 
 prey, one fifth of the proceeds of the expedition was 
 promised him as his share in the enterprise. Kidd had 
 previously commanded a privateer in the West Indies, 
 and had, for some years, been captain of a packet ship, 
 which plied between New York and London. He was a 
 resident of the city of New York, where he owned a 
 house and lot in Liberty street and passed for a worthy 
 and respectable citizen. In 1G91, he had married Sarah 
 Oort, the widow of one of his fellow captains and a 
 woman of the highest respectability, by whom he had 
 one daughter. His house was one of the most com- 
 modious and best furnished in the city ; he moved among 
 the best circles of society, and nothing in his previous 
 conduct or mode of life indicated the terrible career that 
 followed the fitting out of this fatal expedition. 
 
 On taking command of the ship, Kidd immediately 
 repaired to New York, and, shipping ninety additional 
 men, saUed for the Indian seas in quest of pirates. The 
 sequel of his career is already too well known to be 
 repeated in detail. He succumljed to temptation, joined 
 the band which he had been sent to destroy, and became 
 one of the most daring and successful pirates that ever 
 hoisted the black flag on the seas. His career was short, 
 embracing only two years, yet, during that time, lie plun- 
 dered scores of ships, amassed countless treasure, and 
 made his name a terror on the seas and a by-word for 
 future generations. Grown daring by his success, he 
 (.-xchanged his ship for a frigate that he had captured, and, 
 in 1698, returned to New York. But BeUamont was 
 
256 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 now governor, and protection was no longer vouchsafed to 
 pirates. Passing up Long Island Sound, he landed at 
 Gardiner's Island and buried a portion of his treasure ; 
 then, dividing his spoils with his crew, he discharged 
 them and repaired to Boston, where he quietly took up 
 his residence under an assumed name. Here he was met 
 by Bellamont, who at once recognized and arrested him. 
 He was sent to England for trial, found guilty of piracy, 
 sentenced to death, and executed on the 12th of May, 
 1701, His wife and daughter continued to reside in 
 New York after his death in the strictest seclusion. 
 Search was made by the authorities for the buried trea- 
 sure, and a large box of gold, silver, and jewels was 
 found at the place of deposit on Gardiner's Island. 
 This inflamed the imagination of the gold-hunters ; 
 rumors of immense sums buried on Long Island and the 
 shores of the North River circulated eagerly from 
 mouth to mouth, and every likely and vnilikely locahty 
 was mined in search of the hidden treasure. The faith 
 has even come down to our own times, and the words 
 "Kidd's treasure," still suggests to some credulous minds 
 visions of untold wealth lying almost at their doors, 
 awaiting the touch of the spade and mattock. 
 
 The result of this enterprise caused great excitement 
 and indignation, both in America and in England, and 
 Bellamont, Livingston, and even the king himself, were 
 openly accused of having secretly connived at it and 
 shared in the spoils. A motion was made in the House 
 of Commons that all who had been interested in the 
 adventure should be deprived of their official positions. 
 and this motion being lost by a large majority, the noble- 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. ^O ' 
 
 men were impeached and forced to undergo the form of 
 a trial for their lives ; but the charges against them could 
 not be sustained and all the accused were honorably 
 acquitted. 
 
 As we have already said, Fletcher continued to admin- 
 ister the government for more than two years after he 
 had been superseded by Bellamont. During this time, 
 various public improvements were made and municipal 
 ordinances enacted, indicating the growth of the city. 
 Soon after the departure of Kidd from the port of Xew 
 York in 1696 on his piratical expedition, the erection of 
 Trinity Church as well as that of the new Dutch Church 
 — known to us by tradition as the Old Dutch Church — 
 in Garden street, was commenced. Both were completed 
 in the course of the following year. It was also deter- 
 mined to build a new City Hall, the old " Stadt-Huys" 
 at Coenties Slip having become so dilapidated that the 
 mayor and corporation, finding it impossible to meet 
 there any longer, had been compelled to remove to the 
 house of George Reparreck, next door. A consultation 
 was held as to the most available means for raising the 
 necessary funds, and it was decided to sell the old stadt- 
 huys and grounds, and to mortgage the ferry -lease for 
 fifteen yeai's. It was also resolved that the new hall 
 should be completed within a twelvemonth, and a com- 
 mittee was appointed to select a site and make the neces- 
 sary estimates, but it was not until 1699 that the site at 
 the junction of Wall and Broad streets was actually 
 selected, and the old stadt-huys sold at public auction. 
 This was purchased by a merchant named John Rodman. 
 
 together with the grounds and all the appurtenances, with 
 U 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Stiiyvesant ilansion (see page l.'i^). 
 
 the exception of the hell' and royal arms, for the sum of 
 nine hundred and twenty pounds stcrhng, the city 
 reserving the use of it for a jail a month longer. The 
 first building in the city used for a jail was at the corner 
 of Dock street and Coenties Slip. The new City Hall 
 was built in the form of an L, and open in the middle. 
 The dungeons for criminals were in the cellar. The first 
 story had two large staircases, and two large and two 
 small rooms. The middle of the second story was occu- 
 pied by the court room, with the assembly room on one 
 side, and the magistrates' room on the other. The 
 debtors' colls were in the attic. 
 
 In 1696, Maiden Lane was regulated, and Captain 
 Teunis Dekay was permitted to make a cartway through 
 Nassau street — designated iu his petition as " the street 
 " that runs by the pie-woman's, leading to the city com- 
 " nions,'' — recei\dng the soil in compensation for liis 
 labor. A cartway was also made along Hanover Square, 
 or " Burger's Path," as it was then called. A contract 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 259 
 
 was made for cleaning the streets at thirty pounds ster- 
 Ung per annum — a work which had hitherto been done 
 by the citizens themselves, every man being required to 
 keep the street clean before his own door. 
 
 In 1697, the first attempt at lighting the streets was 
 made. This was done by hanging out a lantern and 
 candle upon the end of a pole from the window of every 
 seventh house, on the nights when there was no moon ; 
 the expense being divided equally among the seven 
 houses. The first regular night watch, consisting of four 
 men, was established during the same year. 
 
 Two persons in each ward were also appointed by the 
 corporation to inspect every chimney and hearth once a 
 week, the better to secure the city against fire. At this 
 time the city numbered six hundred houses, and about 
 six thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Great scarcity of bread prevailed in the city during this 
 year. None was to be had of the bakers, who declared 
 that it was impossible to purchase flour at rates reasonable 
 enough to supply their customers at the prices fixed by 
 law. The matter was taken into public consideration, 
 and a census ordered to be taken of all the wheat, flour 
 and bread then within the city. Seven thousand bushels 
 of wheat were found — not more than a week's provision 
 for the six thousand inhabitants. The scarcity was at 
 once attributed to the repeal of the bolting act, which 
 had enabled the planters to grind their own flour and to 
 hold it back from the general market for private specu- 
 lation, and an address was directly forwarded to the 
 king, complaining of the famine to which the city was 
 reduced, and earnestly entreating him to restore the 
 
260 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 monopoly. Meanwhile an assize of rye bread was estab • 
 lished ; a five-pound loaf being valued at four pence- 
 half penny, and the price of rye being fixed at three 
 shillings and threepence per bushel. 
 
 On the 2d of April, 1698, Lord Bellamont arrived at 
 New York, accompanied by his wife and his cousin, John 
 Nanfan, who was also his Heutenant-governor, and was 
 received by the citizens with demonstrations of delight. 
 Johannes de Peyster, the brother of Abraham de Pey- 
 ster, the mayor of 1691, was at this time mayor of the 
 city, having succeeded William Merritt, who had filled 
 the mayoralty for the past three years. The cor- 
 poration at once gave a public dinner to the governor 
 and tendered him a complimentary address, and the 
 people wei'e not backward in seconding the welcome. 
 Bellamont, who was diametricall}^ opposed to the 
 policy of Fletcher, directly attached himself to the 
 Leislerian part}'. He had already esj)Oused the same 
 cause in England, and had aided young Leisler in pro- 
 curing the reversion of his fether's attainder. He 
 molded his council to suit his own views. Bayard, 
 Philipse and the rest of their party, resigned or were 
 removed, and a new council was appointed, consisting 
 chiefly of the Leislerian party. A new Assembly was 
 convened on the 18th of May, 1699, in which the same 
 element preponderated. Bellamont's opening speech 
 augured well for the future. He spoke of the disorderly 
 state of the province, left as it was with a divided 
 people, an empty treasury, ruined fortifications and a 
 few half-naked soldiers, and branded with the stigma of 
 being a rendezvous for pirates. " It would be hard," 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 261 
 
 said he, "if I, who come before j'ou with an honest 
 " heart and a resohition to be just to your interests, 
 " should meet with greater difficulties in the discharge 
 " of his majesty's service than those who have gone 
 " before me. I shall take care that there shall be no 
 " more misapplication of the public mone}' ; I shall 
 " pocket none of it myself, neither shall there be any 
 " embezzlement of it by others ; but exact accounts 
 " shall be given you when and as often as you 
 "require." 
 
 The members of the Assembly-, rejoiced at the pledges 
 of their new governor, passed a warm vote of thanks 
 for this welcome speech, and voted him a revenue for six 
 years. In compliance with his suggestions, they jDassed 
 several wholesome acts for the suppression of piracy, 
 for the regulation of the elections, and for the indemnifi- 
 cation of those who had been excepted from the general 
 pardon of 1691. Under this act, the families of Leisler 
 and Milborne recovered their estates. The time had now 
 come for the exaltation of tliese martyrs. Their remains 
 were disinterred with great ceremony, and after lying in 
 state for some weeks, were conveyed under guard of a 
 military escort to the Dutch church in Garden street, 
 and buried there. An immense concourse of citizens 
 attended the funeral, which was honored by the presence 
 of the governor himself. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Bellamont, the mayor and 
 corporation waited on him, and entreated his assistance 
 in the recovery of the coveted bolting monopoly. They 
 also raised the sum of fifty pounds sterling for the pur- 
 pose of dispatching a special agent to the English govern- 
 
262 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 meut to represent to them the misery which the repeal 
 of this act had occasioned in the city, and a memorial was 
 addressed to the king, depicting the prevaihng famine in 
 glowing colors, and prophesying utter ruin to New York, 
 unless this privilege, which constituted the life of the 
 city, should at once be restored to it. But their prayers 
 and petitions were of no avail ; the act of the Assembly 
 was not repealed ; yet New York continued to thrive 
 without the aid of the bolting monopoly. 
 
 In 1099, David Provoost was appointed mayor. Mr. 
 Provoost was the son of one of the ancient Dutch burg- 
 hers, and a popular man among his fellow-citizens. His 
 administration was marked by several public improve- 
 ments. Two new market houses were erected, one at 
 Coenties SHp and the other at the foot of Broad 
 street, and King, now William street, was filled up and 
 regulated. Public scavengers were employed to clean 
 the streets, and all persons were directed to pave before 
 their houses under penalty of a fine of twenty shillings. 
 A hospital was established for the poor in a house hired 
 for the purpose — no institution of the kind was built 
 until three-quarters of a centurj^ after. The ferry was 
 farmed out for a term of seven years at a rent of a hun- 
 dred and sixty-five pounds sterling per annum. By the 
 conditions of the lease, the lessee was required to keep 
 two large boats for corn and cattle, and two smaller ones 
 for passengers. The rates of fare were fixed at eight 
 stuyvers in wampum or a silver twopence for single per- 
 sons, or half that sum for each of a company ; a shilling 
 for a horse, twopence for a hog, a penny for a sheep, 
 etc. The city engaged to build a substantial ferry-house 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 263 
 
 on Nassau or Long Island, which the ferry-man was 
 required to keep in repair. The dock was also leased to 
 Philip French at an annual rent of forty pounds sterling ; 
 the lessee being required within a year to clean the dock 
 and slip till a sandy bottom should be found, and to 
 keej) it, and the wharves about it, clean in the future. 
 A. variety of municipal ordinances were passed the same 
 year, the general tendency of which was to restrain all 
 public excesses and to promote the welfiire of the city. 
 The firing of guns within the precincts of the city was 
 strictly forbidden. A powder-house was ordered to be 
 built for public use, and all persons were interdicted from 
 keeping more than fifty pounds of powder in their houses 
 at one time. An impost was levied upon all flour and 
 bread brought into the city, for the benefit of the public 
 treasury ; this tax, however, proved unpopular, and was 
 annulled a few weeks after. 
 
 In 1700, Isaac de Riemer, a merchant of Holland 
 origin was appointed mayor. He was a descendant of 
 one of the oldest families of the city, and a nephew of 
 the well-known Cornelius Steenwyck, the former mayor. 
 
 Bellamont, in the meantime, had gone to Boston, hav- 
 ing lieen appointed governor of Massachusetts as well 
 as of New York, to look after the interests of the Board 
 of Trade, as he had especially been instructed to do. 
 This board, consisting of a president and seven members, 
 had been instituted in 1696, just after the appointment 
 uf Bellamont as governor, and the commerce of the colo- 
 nies placed under its supervision. The acts of trade 
 restricting this commerce had been made still more strin- 
 gent, and courts of Yice-Admiralty established in all 
 
264 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the colonies, invested with supreme authority in all cases 
 pertaining to the admiralty or revenue. The colonists 
 protested bitterly against this measure, but the English 
 government sustained the courts, and imposed oaths 
 upon the colonial governors to enforce the acts of trade. 
 The people however rebelled against the new author- 
 ities, and the revenue laws were constantly violated, 
 especially in New England. Bellamont's address and 
 manners soon made him popular among his Boston 
 subjects, but they strenuously resisted his efforts to 
 enforce the navigation acts, and he returned to New 
 York, having effected nothing. Here, he soon became 
 involved in a new controversy with the New York 
 merchants, who complained of him to the Board of Trade 
 and to Parliament. But before the affair could be inves- 
 tigated, tlie proceedings were suspended by the sudden 
 death of the governor. He was buried with funeral 
 honors in the chapel of the fort, and a few days after- 
 wards, his coat of arms was carried in great state and 
 placed in front of the City Hall in Wall street, together 
 with that of his successor, John Nanfan. Here they 
 remained until the arrival of Cornbvny and the accession 
 of the anti-Leislerian party in 1702, when they were 
 torn down and contemptuously broken in pieces. 
 
 The authority now devolved upon Lieutenant-Governor 
 Nanfan until the appointment of a new governor, but, 
 he being absent in Barbadoes, a violent contest took place 
 in respect to the temporary administration of the gov- 
 ernment. The anti-Leislerians insisted that it belonged 
 of right to Colonel William Smith, the senior member 
 of the council, while the Leislerians, who were in the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 265 
 
 majority, declared that a temporary chairman must be 
 elected, as had previously been done after the death of 
 Sloughter. In the midst of the discussion Nanfan 
 arrived, and opportunely assumed the direction of the 
 government. 
 
 Nanfan was as warm a Leislerian as Bellamont, thougli 
 less judicious in his course of policy, and his first 
 Assembly was imbued with the same spirit. In the late 
 contest, the claims of Smith to the chair had been 
 warmly supported by Peter Schuyler and Robert Liv- 
 ingston, the latter of whom had been one of Leisler's 
 bitterest foes, and had been denoimced by Milborne in 
 his dying words upon the scaffold. The time had now 
 come for him to pay the penalty. The new Assembly 
 removed him from his office of Secretary of Indian 
 Affairs and Collector of Customs, and demanded his 
 accounts, which he could not furnish, as the Assembly 
 well knew, for they were at this time in the hands of 
 Lady Bellamont. LTpon his failure to produce them, 
 he was pronounced a defaulter, and expelled from the 
 council, and his property was confiscated for the public 
 benefit. 
 
 Not less was the confusion in the city affairs. At this 
 time, the municipal government was composed of a mayor, 
 recorder, six aldermen, and six assistants, the mayor 
 having the casting vote. In the fall election of 1701, 
 Thomas Noell, a merchant and an anti-Leislerian, Avas 
 elected mayor, and Abraham Gouverneur, a Leislerian 
 and the husband of the widow of Milborne, recorder. 
 The Dock Ward returned Philip French and Robert 
 Lurting, both anti-Leislerians, as alderman and assistant. 
 
266 HISTORV OF THE 
 
 In the Out Ward, Martin Clock and Abraham Messier, 
 and, in tlie North Ward, Jacob Boelen and Gerrit Oncle- 
 berg, all Leislerians, were elected to the same offices. 
 These returns were not disputed. In the other wards the 
 Leislerians also claimed to have gained the victory, but 
 the contest was so close that they were apprehensive that 
 the new mayor would refuse to receive their oaths, 
 denying their election, and to meet this exigency, they 
 determined to be sworn in by the retiring mayor, De 
 Riemer, who was one of their party, which was accord- 
 ingly done. Johannes de Peyster, alderman, and 
 Abraham Brasier, assistant, of the East Ward ; David 
 Provoost, alderman, and Peter William Roome, assist- 
 ant, of the West Ward ; and Nicholas Roosevelt, 
 alderman, and Hendrick Jallisen, assistant, of the South 
 Ward, were the members elect of the disputed dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 On the 14th of October, Mayor Noell took the oaths 
 of office before the governor at the fort, then proceeded 
 with the Common Council to Trinity Church to listen 
 to the annual sermon, according to the usual custom. 
 This done, he proceeded to the City Hall, and, having 
 proclaimed his commission, proceeded to swear in the 
 the members elect, but all refused to take the oaths 
 except French and Lurting, alleging that they had been 
 sworn in by (he retiring mayor. On hearing this, he pro- 
 ceeded to swear in Brandt Schuyler, John Hutchins and 
 William Morris as aldermen, and Johannes Jansen, 
 Robert White, and Jeremiah Tuthill as assistants of the 
 disputed wards. This proceeding caused so great an 
 excitement, that Noell was finally compelled to dismiss 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 267 
 
 the assembly, without liaving sworn in the new city 
 officials. 
 
 The city remained thus without a government until the 
 11th of November, wlien Noell again proceeded to the 
 Cit}^ Hall to swear in Schuyler, Hutchins, Morris and 
 their assistants. The Leislerian members were already 
 there in their places as members of the common council. 
 Regardless of their protests, the mayor proceeded to 
 swear in their antagonists, when the whole twenty took 
 their seats together, each fully determined to share in 
 the administration of the government. Finding that 
 nothing could be done with so intractable an assembly, 
 Noell ended by dismissing them all for a fortnight, and 
 availed himself of the recess to appeal to the Supreme 
 Court, which settled the matter by giving seats to Schuy- 
 ler and Hutchins, and their assistants of the anti-Leisle- 
 rian, and De Peyster and his assistant of the Leislerian 
 party. The board thus stood equally divided, but the 
 balance of power remained in the hands of the anti-Leis- 
 lerians, the mayor having the casting vote. The affair 
 occasioned the most intense excitement, and was one of 
 the most turbulent elections ever witnessed in the city. 
 
 News soon arrived that Lord Cornbury had been 
 appointed as Lord Bellamont's successor, and Bayard, 
 anxious to gain him over to his party, forwarded ad- 
 dresses to him and to parliament, denouncing the Leisler- 
 ians, and especially Nanfan, whose administration he vili- 
 fied in the most odious terms. News of this proceeding 
 coming to Nanfan's ears, he arrested and imprisoned Bay- 
 ard, together with John Hutchins, one of the newly elected 
 aldermen, who had taken an active part in procuring sig- 
 
268 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 natures to the obnoxious addresses. The iDrisoners were 
 tried by a special court, under the very act which Bayard 
 himself had procured to secure the condemnation of Leis- 
 ler. This act, which was the first passed by Sloughter's 
 assembly, provided "that any person who should 
 " endeavor by any manner of way, or upon any pretence, 
 " by force of arms or otherwise, to disturb the peace, 
 "good and quiet of the province, should be esteemed 
 " rebels and traitors, and should incur the pains and 
 "penalties which the laws of England liad provided for 
 " such offence." 
 
 As little fairness as had been shown in the trial of 
 Leisler was now accorded to Bayard; who was indicted 
 for rebellion and treason, for inciting the soldiers in the 
 fort to rebellion, and for persuading them to sign libels 
 against the existing government. The majority of the 
 judges were Dutch, and were well known as his declared 
 foes. Atwood, the chief-justice, pressed the charge in 
 the most violent manner, and, despite all the efforts of 
 the prisoner's friends and of the counsel, he was found 
 guilty and sentenced to death. Hutchins was also tried 
 and condemned. Thus far the cases of Bayard and 
 Leisler were parallel ; but the former received leniency 
 which had not been accorded to the latter — a reprieve 
 was granted him until the king's pleasure should be 
 known. Suddenly, the arrival of Cornbury changed the 
 aspect of affairs. Bayard was released and promoted 
 to honor, the Leislerian party fell into disgrace, Atwood 
 was forced to flee the country, and the new governor 
 declared himself at the head of the anti-Leislerians. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Cornbury in New York — Public Improvements — First Negro Plot in the City— Admin- 
 istration of Robert Hunter. 
 
 In May, 1702, Edward H3'de, Lord Cornbury, eldest 
 son of the Earl of Clarendon, arrived, charged with 
 the administration of the government of New York 
 and the Jerseys. These provinces had been divorced 
 for a considerable time, but, difficulties having arisen 
 between the proprietors of the latter, they had finally 
 ceded their patents to Queen Anne as the easiest method 
 of settling affairs and ridding themselves of a dignity 
 which they had found to be an expensive luxury. Upon 
 this retrocession, the queen placed both provinces under 
 the command of Lord Cornbury, a near kinsman of her 
 own, and they remained thus reunited until 1738, 
 though each presei'ved a distinct legislative assembly. 
 Cornbury was a reckless adventurer, profligate and 
 unprincipled, who had fled from England to escape the 
 demands of his creditors, and whose sole claLm to this 
 important command rested on his kindred to royalty. 
 Eager to acquire wealth from his new subjects, and 
 
270 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 wholly regardless of their wishes or interests, he soon 
 completely alienated their affections and became the 
 object of univ^ersal detestation. Cornbury had received 
 a long list of instructions from the queen. By these, he 
 was enjoined to rule the two provinces with impartiality, 
 to grant liberty of conscience to all except papists, to 
 consider Quakers eligible for offices of public trust and to 
 receive their affirmations instead of oaths ; yet, while 
 tolerating all religions, to endeavor to make the Church 
 of England the established church of the land ; to keep 
 the churches that were already built in repair, to build 
 more as occasion required, and to furnish each minister 
 with a house and glebe at the common charge ; to pun- 
 ish drunkenness, swearing, and vice of all kinds ; to 
 encourage trade and traders, particularly the Royal 
 African Company of England, and to recommend to the 
 said Company to see that the colony had a constant and 
 sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate 
 rates. He was also instructed to endeavor to get a law 
 passed for restraining inhuman severity to Christiafi ser- 
 vants and slaves, and to make the willful murder of 
 Indians and negroes an offence punishable with death. 
 The spirit of these instructions conveys a fair idea of the 
 state of popular feeling at this time in respect to slaves 
 and slavery. These degraded beings were held in the 
 most abject bondage, and the strictest laws were passed 
 for restraining their liberty. Not more than four were 
 allowed to assemble at a time, nor were they permit- 
 ted to pass the city gates without the permission of 
 their master. The use of weapons was not permitted 
 them, they were not suffered to own either houses or 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 271 
 
 land, and their masters were forbidden to set them free 
 under penalty of a heavy fine. As time wore on, their 
 burdens grew still heavier. In 1709, a slave-market was 
 erected on the site of the old block-house at the foot 
 of Wall street slip, where all negroes or Indians who 
 were to be hired were ordered to stand in readiness 
 for bidders. In the following year, a city ordinance was 
 passed, providing that any negro or Indian slave who 
 should presume to appear in the streets after nightfall 
 without a lantern with a lighted candle in it should 
 be committed to jail, to remain there until released 
 by the payment of a fine of eight shillings by his 
 master, and as an equivalent, the authorities pledged 
 themselves that the culprit should receive thirty-nine 
 lashes at the public wliipping-post, should his master 
 desire. But the negroes did not submit tamely to these 
 despotic regulations. From time to time, an outbreak 
 warned the whites of the strength of the power which 
 they were endeavoring to repress, and of the deadly 
 peril which was brooding among them. Such an instance 
 occurred in 1707 at Newtown, on Long Island, where 
 a Mr. Hallet, with his wife and five children, was mur- 
 dered one night in cold blood by two of his slaves. 
 The murderers were seized, tried, condemned, and 
 executed with the most horrible tortures. They con- 
 fessed the crime, saying that they had committed it 
 in revenge, because they had been forbidden to go 
 out on Sunday. The punishments inflicted for this 
 and similar deeds were terrible. The wretched crimi- 
 nals were chained to the stake and burned alive, 
 broken on the wheel, or suspended to the branches of 
 
272 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 trees and left there to perish. A negro suspected of a 
 crime was tried at once under a special act of the Assem- 
 bly by a court composed of three justices and five free- 
 holders, and invested with authority to try, convict and 
 sentence to immediate execution. An old newspaper 
 now before us, of the date of January 28, 1733, records 
 the case of a negro who was seized on Monday, tried on 
 Tuesday, and burned on Thursday in the presence of a 
 crowd of witnesses. Truly, we seem to be not very far 
 off from the barbaric ages ! 
 
 Upon his arrival, the new governor immediately 
 attached himself to the anti-Leislerians, and openly 
 avowed himself at the head of the party. Through his 
 efforts, the first Assembly that met after his coming was 
 composed chiefly of the same faction. Anxious to win a 
 continuance of his favor, they voted him a revenue for 
 seven years, increased his salary from six to twelve hun- 
 dred pounds, and presented him with two thousand 
 pounds to defray the expenses of his voyage. Xor w^ere 
 Mayor Noell and the corporation less profuse in their 
 demonstrations of affection and fidelity. A public din- 
 ner was given in honor of his arrival ; he was presented 
 with the freedom of the city in a gold box, and a con- 
 gratulatory address was tendered him by the civic 
 authorities. In honor of the opening administration, 
 the members of his suite were also made freemen, toge- 
 ther with the soldiers of the garrison, and all citizens 
 who were too poor to purchase their freedom. At this 
 time, the freedom of the city was not an empty name — it 
 conveyed the right to trade, to vote and to be voted for, 
 and to share in all other municipal privileges, and was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. Zi.i 
 
 indeed more pregnant with meaning than is the present 
 act of naturaHzation. A census of the inhabitants was 
 ordered to be made, and the population was found to 
 amount to 5,250. 
 
 Hitherto, there had been no free grammar school in 
 New York. Various private schools had been set up 
 from time to time under the supervision and with the 
 permission of the government, and ^gidius Luyck had 
 founded a flourishing classical school in the days of 
 Stujvesant, which had grown into a flourishing institu- 
 tion and attracted many pupils from the distant settle- 
 ments. But, owing to the frequent changes in the 
 government and the internal disorder of the city, this 
 had been broken up ; and though various individuals had 
 essayed from time to time to play the pedagogue, their 
 efforts had met with moderate success, and at this time 
 education was at a very low ebb in the city. At length the 
 corporation took the matter in hand, and, at a meeting 
 held soon after Cornbury's arrival, resolved that there 
 ought to be and must be a free grammar school in the 
 city, and that, as there was no teacher to be had in New 
 York who was capable of taking charge of one, steps 
 should immediately be taken to procure one from Eng- 
 land. A petition was accordingly addressed to the 
 Bishop of London, entreating him to send them a 
 native-born English teacher, of good learning, pious life 
 and conversation, and a mild and even temper ; and 
 Lord Cornbury was urged to back this petition by his 
 influence, and to recommend it to the notice of the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts ; and likewise to appropriate to it part of the 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 IDVoceeds of the King's Farm. This petition was repeatedly 
 urged by the citizens upon the notice of the governor, 
 but it was not until 1705 that the school was finally 
 established, and Andrew Clarke appointed master. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Lord Cornbury, a disease, 
 strongly resembling the yellow fever, was imported from 
 St. Thomas into the city. The infection spread rapidly, 
 nearly every one attacked with it died in a few hours, 
 and the epidemic was long remembered as "the great 
 " sickness of New York." The frightened inhabitants 
 fled in terror from the infected city to the Jersey and 
 Long Island shores. Lord Cornbury, with his council, 
 also fled from the pestilence, and took up his quarters 
 at Jamaica on Long Island. This village was under 
 the control of the Presbyterians, who, a short time 
 before, had erected a pretty little church, and had pur- 
 chased a house and glebe for the use of their minister. 
 Tliis parsonage was decidedly the best house in the town, 
 and, on hearing of the coming of the governor, Mr. Hub- 
 bard, the minister, removed with his family to a neigh- 
 boring cottage, and courteously tendered it for his 
 excellency's accommodation. The hospitality was 
 accepted, and requited in a somewhat peculiar manner. 
 Like Fletcher, Cornbury had for his aim the establish- 
 ment of the Episcopal church in the province. The 
 handful of Episcopalians in Jamaica had long looked 
 with an envious eye on the prosperity of their Presbyte- 
 rian neighbors ; now, sure of receiving the protection of 
 Cornbury, they determined on reaping the fruits of their 
 labors. The church had been erected by a vote of the 
 town, and no provision had been made for securing it 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 275 
 
 to the use of any particular denomination. Knowing 
 this, and arming themselves with the acts of Fletcher's 
 Assembly, the Ejiiscopalians entered the church one Sun- 
 day between the hours of morning and afternoon service, 
 and took possession of the building. A scene of vio- 
 lence ensued, both parties disputed possession of the 
 church, the pews were torn out in the contest, and the 
 struggle was only ended by the interference of the gov- 
 ernor, who sustained the claims of Episcopal partj^ A 
 long and tedious litigation followed, but the Episcopalians 
 retained possession until 1728, though but two of the 
 denomination had contributed a dollar towards the build- 
 ing of the edifice. N"or was this all ; the sheriff seized 
 upon the glebe, and leased it for the benefit of the Epis- 
 copal party ; and as a crowning act of perfidy, Corubury, 
 on his I'eturn to New York, instead of restoring the par- 
 sonage to his hospitable host, basely surrendered it into 
 the hands of the Episcopal clergyman, who occupied it 
 henceforth as his place of residence. 
 
 It must certainly be admitted that, in encouraging 
 the establishment of the Episcopal religion, Cornbury 
 carried out his instructions to the very letter, and it 
 was unfortunate for the popularity of the church that 
 its earliest patrons in the province should have con- 
 sisted of men of his stamp. In 1703, he induced 
 the city authorities to donate a cemetery to Trinity 
 Church, now the established church of the city. In 
 the same 3'ear, the King's Farm, which had originally 
 been the property of the Dutch West India Company, 
 and which had been increased in 1671 by the purchase 
 of a large tract of laud from the heirs of Aneke Jans, 
 
276 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 was presented by Corubury iiuto Trinity Cliurcli. Thus 
 was laid the foundation of the immense revenues which 
 the church still continues to enjoy, and which place it in 
 wealth as well as in antiquity, at the head of the Episco- 
 pal church in America. The schools were also placed 
 under the control of the same denomination, and an ordi- 
 nance was enacted, forbidding any person to teach school 
 in the province who had not first received a license from 
 the Bishop of London. 
 
 About this time, war was proclaimed by England 
 against France and Spain, and the Assembly that met in 
 1703, deeming it expedient to increase the fortifications, 
 voted an appropriation of fifteen hundred pounds for 
 the erection of two batteries at the Narrows, adding 
 that it should be used for no other purpose whatever 
 This sum was raised by a poll-tax, the conditions of 
 which were curious enough to be worth recording. 
 Every member of the council was required to pay forty 
 shillings ; an assembly man, twenty shillings ; a lawyer 
 in practice, twenty shillings ; every man wearing a 
 periwig, five shillings and sixpence ; a bachelor of 
 twenty-five years and upwards, two shillings and three- 
 pence ; every freeman between the ages of sixteen and 
 sixty, ninepence ; and the owners of slaves one shilling 
 for each. The required sum was raised in this manner ; 
 but, regardless of the conditions on which it was given, 
 the governor drew it from the treasury and applied it to 
 liis own use, refusing to account to the Assembly for its 
 expenditure. Exasperated at such a gross violation of 
 trust, the Assembly at once demanded a treasurer, and 
 refused to make any further appropriations until one 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 277 
 
 should be appointed, declaring that they were English- 
 men, and had a right to control the expenditure of their 
 own money. " I know of no right that you have. 
 " except such as the queen is pleased to allow you," 
 was the curt reply of the governor, as he angrilj^ dis- 
 solved the Assembly. 
 
 The new Assembly that was convened in 1705 was not 
 
 much more pliable. Money was needed, for the war 
 was still carried on, and the city was almost defenceless. 
 A French privateer had already entered the harbor and 
 terrified the inhabitants, and they had no security 
 against other and moi'e dangerous visitants ; but they 
 remembered that they had already paid for two batteries 
 at the Narrows, the first stone of which was not yet laid, 
 and they were loth to make another such investment of 
 their money. Seeing the real need of fortifications, 
 however, they at length voted three thousand pounds to 
 be applied to their erection and to the maintenance of a 
 company of scouts on the frontiers, but only on con- 
 dition that it should be disbursed by a person of their 
 own choosing. To this, Cornbury reluctantly con- 
 sented as the only means of raising the money, then 
 immediately prorogued the Assembly. In 1706, it was 
 again convened, but, being more refractory than ever, 
 was speedily dissolved by the governor. 
 
 The municipal authorities, awake to the danger of the 
 city, joined in the demand for fortifications, and, on the 
 appropriation of the money, summoned all the citizens 
 to aid in the work of strengthening the town. The resi- 
 dents of the six city wards were ordered to work in 
 turn upon the fortifications, either in person or by sub- 
 
278 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 stitute, whenever summoned by the mayor. The town- 
 crier went through the streets of each ward in turn, and, 
 caUing the inhabitants by thq sound of a drum, pro- 
 claimed the time and place of rendezvous for the 
 next morning's labor. The citizens repaired to the forti- 
 fications, armed with picks and shovels, and strengthened 
 the palisades, repaired the half-ruined artillery-mounts, 
 mounted the guns, and placed the city in a defensive 
 posture. From two to four hundred men were employed 
 daily upon the works ; and the inhabitants were ordered 
 to hold themselves in readiness to appear in arms at the 
 first alarm to repel the French fleet that was hourly 
 expected. But their fears were groundless — no attack 
 was made on the city. 
 
 Meanwhile, the governor had spared nothing which 
 might i-ender him odious in the eyes of his people. Not 
 content with his previous infringement of their civil and 
 religious rights, he pushed his despotism so far as to for- 
 bid the Dutch congregation to open their church or to 
 listen to their preacher. He imprisoned two Presby- 
 terian ministers for preaching without his license, and 
 practised the most shameless fraud and peculation in the 
 discharge of his official duties. Not content with this, 
 to render himself still more contemptible, he j^lunged 
 into debauchei'ies and extravagances of every sort, 
 parading the fort in the dress of a woman, and carousing 
 and revelling in the most shameless manner. He was 
 deeply involved in debt ; but, protected as he was by 
 the insignia of his office, none of his creditors dared to 
 molest him. Wearied at length beyond endurance with 
 this detestable tyranny, the citizens of New York 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 279 
 
 and New Jersey joined in a petition to tlie queen for his 
 removal. It was but the repetition of the numerous 
 complaints which had long been sounding from across 
 the water ; and Anne, finding it impossible longer to turn 
 a deaf ear to the prayers of the colonists, reluctantly 
 yielded, and revoked her kinsman's commission. Hardly 
 had she done this when his hungry creditors seized upon 
 their prey, and threw him into the debtor's pi-ison in the 
 upper story of the new City Hall in Wall street, where 
 he remained until the death of his father, the Earl of 
 Clarendon, raised him from his cell to the peerage of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Having thus followed the profligate nobleman through 
 his brief but dissolute career, let us take a retrospective 
 view of the prominent events in municipal affairs during 
 the time of his administration. It is not our purpose to 
 record dry documents, or to catalogue city ordinances 
 which would fill folios with but little interest to tlie 
 general reader ; yet we wish to note the milestones in 
 the progress of the city which may serve to indicate its 
 steady and rapid growth. 
 
 We have already noted the large donations of muni- 
 cipal privileges by which the corporation ushered in the 
 administration of Cornbury. At the same time, the rates 
 for purchasing the freedom of the city were changed to 
 twenty shillings for a merchant or trader, and six shillings 
 for a mechanic. New ordinances were passed in respect 
 to cleaning the streets — a matter in which the primitive 
 New Yorkei-s seem to have experienced a foretaste of 
 the trouble endured by their descendants. The previous 
 ordinances having failed of effect, it was enacted in 1702 
 
280 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that all the inhabitants should sweep the dirt in heaps in 
 front of their doors on Friday morning, and have it con- 
 veyed away and thrown into the river or elsewhere 
 before Saturday night under penalty of six shillings. 
 This, the cartmen were required to carry away at the 
 rate of three cents per load, or six, if they loaded their 
 carts themselves ; and were subjected to heavy fines 
 in case of a refusal. A pound was instituted for the 
 keeping of stray cattle, and a pound-master appointed, 
 who was to retain one-half of the fees as his due, and to 
 pay the remaining half into the city treasury. The fees 
 were fixed at ninepence for a horse, fourpence-halfpenny 
 for neat cattle, and threepence for sheep and swine. It 
 was also made lawful for any person to kill swine found 
 running at large south of the fresh water. In 1706, a 
 widow by the name of Rebecca Van Schaick received the 
 appointment of city pound-keeper. 
 
 In the autumn succeeding Lord Cornbury's arrival, 
 Philip French, a merchant, and one of the leaders of the 
 anti-Leislerian party, was appointed to the mayoi'alty. 
 Mr. French was the son-in-law of Frederick Philipse, 
 the richest man in the province and one of Leisler's 
 bitterest foes, and he warmly seconded the quarrel of his 
 fatlier. He had been among the most active in circulat- 
 ing the addresses which, during the administration of 
 Nanfan, had so nearly cost Nicholas Bayard his life, and 
 had been forced to flee to preserve his own liberty. On 
 the arrival of Cornbury, the scale turned, and, from an 
 outlaw, he came suddenly to the head of the municipal 
 government. Before his term of office expired, he was 
 forced to make a journey to Europe on business, and 
 
CITY OF NEW TORK. 281 
 
 resigned the charge of affairs into the hands of Sampson 
 Broughton, the city recorder. 
 
 In 1703, William Peartree, a West India merchant 
 and trader, was chosen mayor, and continued in the offic<> 
 for the ensuing four years. He was active and efficient, 
 somewhat fond of military life, and a fitting magistrate 
 to superintend the fortifications rendered necessary by 
 the exigencies of war during his administration. He had 
 a house and grounds on Beaver street, between New 
 street and Broadway, where he resided for a long time, 
 and died hi 1713, leaving one daughter, who married 
 William Smith, a New York merchant. 
 
 During the first year of his administration, the French 
 Protestant church Du Saint-Esprit was built in Pine 
 street by the Waldenses and Huguenots, many of whom 
 had settled in New York and its vicinity. The Rev. 
 James Laborie was the first pastor, and the church soon 
 numbered a flourishing congregation. The Waldenses 
 had a settlement at Staten Island ; a large number had 
 also settled in Brooklyn. The Huguenots had founded 
 a settlement at New Rochelle in 1689 on lands pur- 
 chased for them by Jacob Leisler ; and, on Saturday 
 night, after finishing their week's work, the zealous exiles 
 would walk down to their church at Manhattan, and, 
 spending the night with their brethren of New York, 
 walk back to their distant settlement the next night 
 after service, singing their hymns by the way, to be in 
 time to commence their tasks on Monday morning. This 
 church was one of the monuments of olden times which, 
 resisting age, and the more destructive fire which swept 
 away so many of our landmarks, continued to exist 
 
282 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 uutil quite a recent date. The descendants of its peo- 
 ple long congregated in Franklin street, but were finally 
 crowded out by business, and removed to their" present 
 chm'cli in West 2 2d street. 
 
 French Church in Pine street, erected in 1704. 
 
 During the same year, a catechising school for negroes 
 was opened by the Rev. "William Vesey, the rector of 
 Trinity Church — the first attempt made in the city 
 towards providing any kind of instruction for this 
 degraded people. It was from this clergyman that Yesey 
 street derived its name. He remained in the city for 
 several years, then returned to England to become the 
 commissary of the Bishop of London. Church, Chapel 
 and Rector streets also owe their names to the same 
 clerical origin. 
 
 About the same time, Beekman's Swamp, the abode 
 of the tanners of olden times and of the leatlier-dealers 
 of to-day, was leased to Rip Yan Dam, a member of the 
 council, for twenty-one years at a yearly rent of twenty 
 shillings. Of this swamp, more anon. Not many jiublic 
 improvements were made during Cornbury's administra- 
 tion ; he cared but Httle for the growth of the city, and 
 
CITY OF NEW YCRK. 283 
 
 the occurrence of the war diverted the thoughts of the 
 citizens from works of this kind to those of jnibUc defence. 
 
 In the autumn of 1705, a riot occurred which occa- 
 sioned considerable excitement. Three Enghsh priva- 
 teers brought a Spanish man-of-war of twenty guns as a 
 prize into the hai"bor of New York. She had only been 
 captured after a desperate conflict, and was heavily laden 
 with a rich cargo. Elated by their victory, the privateers- 
 men were roaming through the streets of the city, when 
 they came by some accident into collision with the sherifl', 
 with whom they had a violent quarrel. Exasperated by 
 some words which incautiously escaped him, they sur- 
 rounded his house and assaulted and beat back those who 
 came to his rescue ; then, encouraged by this success, and 
 incensed b}' a rumor that the soldiers of the garrison had 
 been called out to suppress them, they next attacked two 
 army officers, and wounding one severely, stabbed Lieu- 
 tenant Featherstonehaugh, the other, through the heart. 
 The murder excited general alarm ; the drum was beat 
 to arms, and a detachment of soldiers, backed by a 
 party of marines from the ships of war in the harbor, 
 quickly charged upon the mutinous privateersmen, and, 
 killing one and wounding several others, forced the whole 
 party to surrender. Erasmus Wilkins, the murderer of 
 the officer, was arrested, tried, convicted and executed. 
 
 In 1707, Ebenezer Wilson, a prominent merchant and 
 politician of the city, was appointed mayor. During his 
 administration, Water street was extended from Old Shp 
 to John street. Broadway was also paved from Trinity 
 church to the Bowling Green, and the residents permitted 
 to plant trees before their houses. These pavements 
 
284 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 were of cobble stones, the gutter curb being of wood. 
 The gutters ran through the middle of the streets. 
 Brick was universally used for sidewalks — flag-stones 
 being as yet unknown to the city authorities. The posts 
 for tying horses were also ordered to be removed from 
 the streets. New and more stringent regulations were 
 passed in respect to fires, the fire-wardens were directed 
 to keep strict watch of all hearths and chimneys within 
 the city and to see that the fire-buckets were hung up 
 in their right places throughout the wards, and two 
 hooks and eight ladders were purchased at the public 
 expense for the use of the embryo fire-department. 
 
 The ferry lease, granted in 1699, having now expired, 
 the ferry was leased again on similar conditions to James 
 Harding, at a yearly rent of one hundred and eighty 
 pounds sterling. The rates of ferriage remained the 
 same. The lessee was required to keep a house of 
 entertainment at the new brick ferry-house which had 
 been built by the corporation on Long Island, and to keep 
 the premises, consisting of a house, barn, well, and land- 
 ing-bridge, in good repair. He was also i-equired to keep a 
 pound for cattle, and to keep two scows and two small 
 boats constantly plying between the shores. These boats 
 were to receive and discharge passengers and freight on 
 Mondays and Thursdays at Countesses' Key,* or the foot 
 of Maiden Lane ; on Tuesdays and Fridays, at Burger's 
 Path,t or Hanover Square ; and on Wednesdays and 
 
 • So called from the Countess of Bellamont. 
 
 f This appellation originated in this wise. The land in the vicinity of Hanover 
 Square and William street having been originally owned by Borger Joris, one of 
 the early Dutch settlers, the latter street became known as Borger's, afterwards 
 corrupted to Burger's Path. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 285 
 
 Thursdays at the dock at Coenties Slip. The landing- 
 pUace on the Long Ishmd shore was a little below that 
 of the present Fulton ferry. 
 
 Mayor Wilson retained his office for three years. 
 Before the first had expired, news reached the city of 
 the recall of Lord Cornbury. His future career we have 
 already indicated. On the 18th of December, 1708, 
 John, Lord Lovelace, Baron of Hurley, who had been 
 appointed the spring before as Cornbury's successor, 
 arrived at New York, and was joyfully welcomed by the 
 citizens. In April, 1709, he convened his first Assembly, 
 of whom he demanded the grant of a permanent revenue 
 and the payment of the governmental debts, together 
 with a full examination of the public accounts, " that it 
 " might be known to all the world that the public debt 
 "was not contracted in his time." This last request was 
 hailed by the colonists as a good omen of the just inten- 
 tions of their new governor. But past experience had 
 taught them the importance of retaining the control of 
 the revenue in their own hands, as the only means 
 whereby they could secure a real power in the govern- 
 ment, and they were little disposed to grant the first 
 demand of Lovelace. They offered to raise twenty-five 
 hundred pounds for the expenses of the ensuing year, 
 sixteen hundred of which were to be appropriated to the 
 governor's salary, and the remaining nine hundred to the 
 maintenance of the forts at New York, Albany, and 
 Schenectady, together with the payment of printing bills 
 and other contingent expenses. The conduct of Corn- 
 bury and his predecessors had taught them a useful les- 
 son, and they were firmly resolved henceforth to grant 
 
28G HISTORY OF THE 
 
 none but annual appropriations, and thus to make the 
 salary of the governor dependent upon his good conduct 
 from year to year. How well Lovelace would have rel- 
 ished this independent proceeding can never be known, 
 for he died on the 5th of May, 1709, the same day on 
 which the act was passed, leaving the government in 
 the hands of the lieutenant-governor, Major Richard 
 Ingoldsby, our old acquaintance in the afiFair of Leisler. 
 He administered the government for eleven months, 
 when the complaints of his subjects concerning his mis- 
 management of a hostile expedition which had been dis- 
 patched against Canada, caused his removal. Gerardus 
 Beekman, the president of the council, assumed the direc- 
 tion of affairs during the short period that intervened 
 befoi'e the arrival of the newly-appointed governor. 
 
 Robert Hunter arrived in the early part of the sum- 
 mer of 1710, and immediately assumed the direction of 
 the government. He was a fair sample of the freaks of 
 fortune. Born of humble Scotch parentage, he was 
 apprenticed while yet a boy to the service of an 
 apothecary. The embryo governor soon tired of the 
 mortar and pestle, and it was not long before he ran 
 away, and enlisted in the army as a common soldier. 
 He was handsome, talented and ambitious, and possessed 
 of an education far above his station ; these qualities 
 attracted the notice of his superiors, and procured him 
 a speedy promotion. He soon became a favorite of 
 the officers, preferment followed preferment in rapid 
 succession, and ere many years had passed, the humble 
 apothecary-boy had risen to the rank of a brigadier in 
 the English army. His fine talents and graceful man- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 287 
 
 ners won him the friendship of many of the distinguished 
 literary men of the day, Addison and Swift among the 
 rest, and the liand of an English heiress, Lady Hay. 
 through whose influence he obtained the commission of 
 lieutenant-governor of Virginia. While on his way to 
 his new command, in 1707, he was captured by a French 
 privateer and carried back a prisoner to Europe. But 
 fortune, which seemed harsh to him in this single 
 instance, was only reserving him for a higher destiny. 
 After a short imprisonment, he was exchanged, and 
 invested with the government of the provinces of New 
 York and New Jersey. In education, mind and man- 
 ners, he was superior to most of his predecessors ; but 
 he had received strict instructions to guard the claims of 
 the crown against the demands of the people, and to 
 repress the spirit of independence which had manifested 
 itself so strongly of late in their legislative bodies. 
 
 With the new governor came three thousand Ger- 
 mans, natives of the Palatinate, who, driven from their 
 homes by the inhuman commands of Louis XIV. at the 
 instigation of Louvois, had besought the English gov- 
 ernment to give them homes in the New World. Ten 
 thousand pounds sterling were appropriated by parlia- 
 ment to defray the expenses of the unfortunate exiles, 
 who, in return, indentured themselves for a term of years 
 to manufacture tar for the naval stores of Great Britain. 
 This was the commencement of German immigration. 
 A considerable number of the new-comers remained 
 in New York, where they built the Lutherai^ church 
 in Broadway on the site of the future Grace church 
 soon after their arrival ; some ascended the Hudson River 
 
288 HISTORY OK THE 
 
 to Livingston's Manor, and commenced the cultivation 
 of the tract of land now known as the German Flats, 
 and by far the greater part migrated to Pennsylvania 
 and laid the foundation of the German population which 
 now forms so large an element in that State. 
 
 On his arrival, Hunter directly attached himself to the 
 anti-Leislerian party, which, at this time as formerly, for 
 the most part comprised the aristocracy of the city. His 
 first council was composed of Gerardus Beekman, whom 
 we have already mentioned as administering the govern- 
 ment after the dismissal of Ingoldsby; Rip Van Dam, a 
 Holland merchant and one of the wealthiest men of the 
 city ; Killian Van Rensselaer, of the family of the well- 
 known patroon of Rensselaerswick ; Judge Montpesson, 
 an eminent lawyer, John Barbai-ie, one of the early 
 Huguenot settlers, and Frederick Philipse, already known 
 to us from his action in the revolution of Leisler in 1789. 
 
 Immediately on his arrival in New York, Hunter 
 secured the support of Lewis Morris, one of the most 
 influential land-owners in New York and New Jersey. 
 He was the son of Richard Morris, an officer in 
 Cromwell's army, who had emigrated to America soon 
 after the retrocession of the province to the English, and 
 purchased a manor ten miles square in the neighbor- 
 hood of Harlem, to which he gave the name of Morrisania. 
 Dying soon after, he left his only son to the care of his 
 brother Lewis, who took up his residence on the estate 
 in question, and at his death, made his nephew his sole 
 heir. liCwis ^Morris* was an adherent of the Leislerian 
 
 * Richard Morris emigrated about 1670. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 289 
 
 party, and he and his descendants long continued to 
 exert a powerful influence on the affairs of the province. 
 
 The first act of Governor Hunter's administration was 
 to join with the New England States in a project for the 
 conquest of Canada. This had always been a favorite 
 scheme of the English ; and the citizens of New York 
 were especially interested in its success. Acadia had 
 just been conquered by Francis Nicholson, the governor 
 of Virginia, and its inhabitants expelled without striking 
 a blow ; and the door seemed thus opened to an easy 
 victory. The Assembly, on being convened, heartily 
 sanctioned the proposed expedition, and appropi'iated 
 ten thousand pounds towards defraying the expense. To 
 raise the money, bills of credit were issued, and paper 
 money was thus first introduced into New York. A 
 large body of troops, raised from New York, New Jersey 
 and Connecticut, assembled at Albany under the com- 
 mand of Nicholson, where they were joined by a rein- 
 forcement of eight hundred Iroquois. These were to 
 march to attack Montreal, while the fleet and army 
 which had been sent from England should at the same 
 time assail Quebec. The city was in a state of intense 
 excitement. The people were deeply interested in the 
 enterprise, they saw themselves in fancy already masters 
 of Canada, and eagerly awaited the news of the victory. 
 They were doomed to disappointment. 
 
 Nothing but judicious management had been spared 
 to secure the success of the expedition. A fleet of fif- 
 teen ships of war and forty transports, well manned and 
 provided with all the necessary mnnitions, had been dis- 
 patched from England with instructions to touch at Bos- 
 
 19 
 
290 HISTORY. OF T.HF 
 
 ton for the Massachusetts remforcements, then to sail 
 at once to attack Quebec. But a month was wasted in 
 Boston harbor in embarking the colonial troops and pro- 
 viding supplies, which, after all, were totally inadequate 
 to the wants of the expedition. After this long delay, the 
 ships set sail for the St. Lawrence ; but hardly had they 
 arrived in the mouth of the river when the fleet became 
 enveloped in a dense fog. The American pilots advised 
 that the ships should lie to with their heads to the south, 
 but the admiral obstinately refused to permit this, and 
 commanded them to keep on their course to the north- 
 ward. It was not long before they found themselves lost 
 among the rocks and islands of the northern shore. The 
 men-of-war escaped from the tortuous channels, but 
 eight transports were driven on the rocky shoals, and 
 went down, burying eight hundred and, sixty men 
 beneatli the waters. Dismayed at the fruits of his own 
 obstinacy, the admiral hastily put about and returned to 
 Spanish River Bay, where he held a council of war, and. 
 finding that they had but ten weeks' provisions, deter- 
 mined at once to abandon the expedition. On hearing 
 of the misfortunes of the fleet, the land force returned 
 disconsolate to the city, and the vision of the conquest of 
 Canada, on which the colonists had expended so much 
 hope and treasure, vanished in thin air from before their 
 expectant eyes. 
 
 The ill success of this expedition cast a deep gloom 
 over the city, and did not dispose the people to second 
 the governor's plans for their future course of action. He 
 had warmly urged the Assembly that had convened in 
 the spring of 1711 to grant a permanent revenue for the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 291 
 
 support of the governmeut, pleading that such were the 
 instructions of the queen, but this they persistently 
 refused to do, and granted appropi'iations for a single 
 year instead. The point was warmly contested by the 
 governor and council, but neither party could be per- 
 suaded to yield. 
 
 The session of 1712 was equally stormy in its charac- 
 ter. The Assembly repaired the fortifications and kept 
 up the military force in compliance with the exigencies 
 of the war, but steadily refused to grant anything more 
 than an annual appropriation for the support of govern- 
 ment. The state of affairs was gloomy enough. The 
 Iroquois, who had hitherto been their fast friends, were 
 growing distrustful ; rumors were afloat of a projected 
 attack by sea, and the recent fiiilure of the Canadian 
 expedition had weakened the faith of the people in their 
 own resources. At this juncture, a new source of trouble 
 arose. Ever since the introduction of slavery by the 
 Dutch West India Company, the traffic in negroes had 
 gone on continually increasing, till in numbers they 
 began to rival the whites. In the midst of the general 
 panic, the attention of the citizens was suddenly arrested 
 by some mysterious movements on the part of the slaves. 
 The danger to which they were hourly exposed from this 
 host of oppressed and hitherto despised people, which 
 had silently been growing up in their midst, now flashed 
 upon them. Rumors circulated of an intended negro 
 insurrection, some real or imaginary evidences of a con- 
 certed plot were discovered, and the whole city was 
 seized with alarm. How much the real danger was mag- 
 nified by the fears of the inhabitants can never be 
 
292 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 known ; certain it is that a riot occurred in which a 
 house was burned and several white men were killed. 
 A general arrest of negroes followed. Nineteen of the 
 unfortunate wretches were tried and executed for their 
 supposed complicity in the plot, and there the matter 
 rested, to be revived again a few years after in a still 
 more terrible aspect. 
 
 In the following year, the peace of Utrecht terminated 
 the war, and brought peace and rest to the harassed 
 colonists. By this treaty, France ceded the territory of 
 Hudson Bay, together with Newfoundland and Acadia, 
 to England ; but, as the boundaries of these were not 
 defined they became the source of fruitful dissensions, 
 and were made the pretext for a continual frontier war- 
 fare as long as the Canadas remained in the hands of the 
 French. 
 
 Meanwhile, the contest between the governor and the 
 Assembly in respect to a permanent revenue had 
 increased in bitterness. It was the fixed policy of the 
 English government to weaken the power of the people 
 and to strengthen that of the crown, and Hunter, though 
 far more liberal and judicious than most of his predeces- 
 sors, left no means untried to establish this end. What 
 they had failed to accomplish by force, he effected by 
 persuasion, and, having succeeded by the aid of his 
 friend, Lewis Morris, in convening an Assembly favorable 
 to liis interests in 1715, he prevailed on them to grant a 
 revenue for three years, and thus to render the officials 
 for that time independent of the people. Previously to 
 this, he had established a Court of Chancery, assuming 
 the office of Chancellor himself, and appointing as regis- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 293 
 
 ters, Frederick Philipse and Rip Yan Dam, both mem- 
 bers of his council. The Assembly protested loudly 
 against this innovation, and the affair was referred to 
 the Lords of Trade, who, ever obsequious to the interests 
 of the crown, sustained the action of the governor, and 
 decided that her majesty had an undoubted right to 
 establish as many courts as she thought proper in her 
 own dominions. Gratified at this victory, the governor 
 made several important concessions to the people. He 
 permitted the naturalization of the Dutch inhabitants, 
 imposed taxes on British imports for the benefit of the 
 province, and levied tonnage duties on foreign vessels. 
 Lewis Morris was made chief justice in reward for his 
 services, continuing, meanwhile, to retain his seat in 
 the Assembly. In the following year, the city wit- 
 nessed the arrival of two new-comers, destined to enact 
 an important part in her future history. These were 
 James Alexander, the father of Lord Stirling of Revo- 
 lutionary memory, and William Smith, the father of 
 the future chief-justice and historian of New York ; 
 both eminent lawyers, who soon carved their way to 
 positions of honor and profit in their adopted city. 
 
 Despite Hunter's rigid observance of the instructions 
 of his royal mistress, he was popular among his subjects, 
 and seemingly disposed to farther their interests when 
 they did not conflict with those of the English govern- 
 ment. But his administration was drawing to a close. 
 His health soon after failed him, and he was ordered by 
 his physicians to seek a warmer climate. Surrendering 
 the government into the hands of Peter Schuyler, the 
 eldest member of the council, the office of lieutenant- 
 
294 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 governor being at that time vacant, he set sail for 
 Europe on the 31st of July, 1719, bearing with him 
 the sincere regards of his subjects. He afterwards 
 sought and obtained the government of Jamaica. 
 
 Having thus followed Governor Hunter through his 
 general career, in which the histories of the city and the 
 province are too closely interwoven to be wholly 
 divorced, let us take a retrospective view of municipal 
 affairs during the seventeen years of his administration. 
 He arrived at New York in the closing months of the 
 term of office of Mayor Wilson. In 1710, Jacobus Van 
 Cortlandt, son of the well known Oloffe Stevensen Van 
 Cortlandt, and brother of the ex-mayor Stephanus Van 
 Cortlandt, was appointed to the mayoralty. Mr. Van 
 Cortlandt was a wealthy merchant, and a prominent 
 member of the anti-Leislerian party, having already 
 represented the city in Slough ter's Assembly of 1791 ; 
 and was allied to several of the leading families of the 
 city. In the year of his election to the Assembly, 
 he married the daughter of the wealthy Frederick 
 Philipse, with whom he received a large estate on the 
 shores of the Hudson in the vicinity of Yonkers. This 
 estate fell, at his death, into the hands of his son 
 Frederick, who had married the daughter of Augustus 
 Jay, the Huguenot ancestor of the celebrated John Jay 
 of Revolutionary memory.* 
 
 About the same time, a new market was established 
 
 •Mr. Van Cortlandt died in 1739, leaving four children: Fredericlc, whom we 
 have already mentioned ; Margaret, who married Abraham de Peyster, son of 
 the ex-mavor; Ann, who married John Chambers ; and Mary, who married Petet 
 Jay. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 295 
 
 Augustus Jay, 
 Born at La Roclielle, 16G5 ; died at New York. 1751. 
 
 Fi'om the Portrait belonging to the Jay Family, at Bedford, Westchester County, N.Y. 
 
CITY OF NEW rORK. 297 
 
 at the upper end of Broad street, between the City Hall 
 and Exchange Place, and permission was given to the 
 residents of the vicinity to erect stalls and sheds to suit 
 their convenience under the direction of the clerk of the 
 market. Country people were also permitted to sell 
 meat at wholesale or i-etail as they pleased, subject to 
 the same supervision ; and bakers were required to 
 brand their loaves with their initials, under penalty 
 of forfeiture of the bread, and to conform strictly to 
 the legal assize. 
 
 The laws relating to indentured apprentices were also 
 amended. The term of apprenticeship was extended 
 from four to seven years, at the expiration of which 
 time, the master was bound to purchase for his appren- 
 tice the freedom of the city. 
 
 The winter of 1711 seems to mark the fii'st appear- 
 ance of rowdyism in New York. A gang of men and 
 boys fell into the habit of amusing themselves by taking 
 midnight rambles, and throwing stones on their way at 
 the windows of the houses ; and so annoying did this 
 practice become, that the city authorities were finally 
 obliged to offer a reward for the apprehension of the 
 offenders. The evil was finally checked, and we find no 
 repetition of it for several years to come. 
 
 In the spring of the same year, it was resolved that a 
 meeting of the Common Council should be held at the 
 City Hall at 9 a.m. on the first Friday in every month, 
 and the treasurer was ordered to purchase eighteen 
 rush-bottom chairs, and an oval table, for their accom- 
 modation. The municipal ordinances of the preceding 
 year were rehearsed by their titles, and ordered to be 
 
298 HISTOET OF THE 
 
 continued. The market-house at Wall street slip was 
 ah'eady used as a public market-place for slaves — the 
 first that had ever been instituted in the city. A record, 
 dated the 1st of June of the same year, continues the 
 widow of Andreas Donn, deceased, in the office of scaven- 
 ger of Broad street for one year at a salary of eleven 
 pounds sterling — a curious proof of the estimate of the 
 sphere of woman by the city fathers of the olden time. 
 
 In 1711, Caleb Heathcote, who had long mingled 
 actively in the politics of the province as one of the 
 leaders of the anti-Leislerian party, and had served 
 as a member of the council of Fletcher in 1692, and 
 again of Cornbury in 1702, was elected mayor. Mr 
 Heathcote was a merchant, son of the mayor of Chester 
 in England, who, having been supplanted by his brother 
 in the affections of his betrothed, had come to America 
 to forget his disappointment in the excitement of new 
 scenes. He took up his residence in the family of his 
 uncle, George Heathcote, one of the wealthiest mer- 
 chants of the city, who had emigrated from England in 
 1674, and soon became absorbed in the politics of the 
 province. His brother, meanwhile, won a fortune in the 
 mother-country, and became Sir Gilbert Heathcote, the 
 founder and first president of the Bank of England, and 
 Lord Mayor of London. Caleb learned to forget his 
 perfidious love, and espoused Margaret Smith of Long 
 Island, daughter of the ex-governor of Tangiers, 
 familiarly styled " Tangier Smith" by his neighbors, 
 the better to distinguish him from his scores of name- 
 sakes. He retained the mayoralty for three years, after 
 which he retired to his estate at Mamaroneck and built 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 299 
 
 -%v?^ 
 
 Portrait of Caleb Heathcote. 
 
 there the well-known Heathcote Hall, where he died in 
 1721, leaving two sons and four daughters to inherit his 
 vast estates. 
 
 Little worthy of note in respect to niuuicipal affairs 
 occurred during his administration. In 1712, Broadway 
 was levelled between Maiden Lane and the present 
 Park, and speculators began to look forward to the 
 time when these up-town lots would be of value. 
 During the same year, the negro plot which we have 
 already mentioned broke out, but was quicklj" sup- 
 pressed by the citizens. 
 
 The number of the city watch was soon after increased 
 
300 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 from four to six. The paupers were now beginning to bo 
 both numerous and troublesome, and it was proposed, 
 instead of maintaining them by weekly pittances as had 
 hitherto been done, to provide a house where they could 
 be cared for at the public expense and be made to contri- 
 bute somewhat towards their livelihood. This scheme, 
 however, was not carried into effect until 1734, when a 
 commodious house was erected on the commons, in the 
 rear of the present City Hall, and well supplied with spin- 
 ning-wheels, shoemakers' tools, and other implements of 
 labor, to make it in some sort a self-sustaining institution. 
 During the same year (1714) an application was made to 
 the colonial government for permission to raise a yearly 
 tax of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling for the city 
 treasury ; but the request was refused. A census taken 
 at this time showed the city to contain five thousand 
 four hundred and eighty inhabitants. 
 
 In 1716, John Johnston, a shipping merchant of the 
 city was appointed mayor. Mr. Johnston was an active 
 politician and a member of the governor's council during 
 the last year of his mayoralty. He retained the office 
 for five years. But few changes took place in the city 
 during his administration. In the first year of his rule, 
 the City Hall was graced by the first public clock ever 
 put up in the city. This was a gift from Stephen 
 De Lancey,* who, having been paid fifty pounds for his 
 services as representative in the Assembly, invested the 
 sum in a clock, which he presented to the Corporation 
 for the use of the city. 
 
 ♦ Originally from Caen in Normandy 
 
CITT OF NEW TORE. 301 
 
 In 1717, the Long Island ferry was leased for a term 
 of five years commencing from the 5th of March, 1718, 
 the landing-places remaining the same. A new ferry 
 was also established, the landing-places on the New York 
 shore being at Hanover Square, and at the Great Dock, 
 near Broad street. This dock extended along Pearl 
 street from Whitehall to Coenties Slip. The Broad street 
 sewer flowed through it and emptied into the river. 
 
 In 1718, Gilbert Livingston, Thomas Grant, Patrick 
 Mac Knight and John Nicolls purchased a piece of 
 ground in Wall street, near the City Hall, for the site of 
 a church in behalf of the Presbyterians of the city ; 
 and asked permission of the Corporation to hold reli- 
 gious service in the hall until their church should be 
 finished. The request was granted, on condition that 
 they should in no wise interfere with the courts. The 
 structure was erected the following year, and was the 
 first Presbyterian church ever built in New York. 
 
 In 1718, the first ropewalk was built along Broadway, 
 between Barclay street and Park Place. These institu- 
 tions afterwards became popular in New York and its 
 vicinity, and formed the basis of a flourishing trade. 
 About the same time, another boon was conferred upon 
 this country by the introduction of the potato into 
 America by a colony of Irish emigrants who had settled 
 at Londonderry, in Maine. The culture was rapidly 
 extended, and it was not long before the valuable 
 esculent became naturalized among the farmers of 
 Manhattan, and ranked among the choicest products of 
 their soil. 
 
 During the thirteen months that intervened between 
 
302 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 the departure of Hunter and the arrival of the new 
 governor, the government of the province was adminis- 
 tered by Peter Schuyler with great good sense and 
 judgment. Schuyler was a veteran in public affairs ; he 
 was popular among the Indians, to whom he had ever 
 been a faithful friend, and his influence over them, 
 joined with his counsels to the royal governors, had 
 many times saved the infant settlements from destruc- 
 tion ; and he now showed himself as well fitted to rule as 
 he had been to counsel. He cemented the league anew 
 between the English and the Iroquois, which had well- 
 nigh been broken during the late warfare, and exerted 
 himself to the utmost to promote the peace and pros- 
 perity of the province. 
 
 In 1719, Jacobus Van Cortlandt was again appointed 
 mayor. He held the office for but one year — long 
 enough, however, to witness the installation of the new 
 governor. On the 17th of September, 1720, William 
 Burnet, the newly-appointed governor of New York 
 and New Jersey, arrived at New York. Peter Schuyler 
 immediataly resigned the direction of affairs, a new 
 council was chosen, and Governor Burnet assumed the 
 charge of the welfare of the province and city. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A&irs of the City under ■William Burnet — Suppression of the Circuitoos Traffic — The 
 Montgomerie Charter — New Yorli in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century. 
 
 William Burnet, the new governor, was the son of the 
 celebrated Bishop Burnet and had served in England as 
 comptroller of the customs previously to receiving this 
 new appointment. He was a man of fine talents, 
 polished manners, and comprehensive intellect, less 
 avaricious than colonial governors were wont to be, and 
 frank and outspoken almost to excess. Soon after his 
 arrival, he married Miss Van Home, the daughter of a 
 leading merchant of the city, and thus identified his 
 interests with those of his subjects. By the advice of 
 Hunter, he forbore to dissolve the pliant Assembly which 
 had been convened through the efforts of Morris, and the 
 same body continued in existence for a period of eleven 
 years. As a proof of their appreciation of this favor, the 
 Assembly at once voted the governor a five years' 
 revenue. 
 
 On his arrival in the province, Burnet at once attached 
 himself to Morris, who continued his fast friend during 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Portrait of Cadwallader Coldeii. 
 
 his administration. He also formed a friendship with 
 James Alexander, whom we have already mentioned, and 
 Cadwallader Golden, the sui-veyor-general and master in 
 chancery of the province, who had settled in the city two 
 years before, and who was destined to exert an impor- 
 tant influence on its future history. Cadwallader Colden 
 was a Scotch physician of fine talents and thorough edu- 
 cation, who settled at Pliiladelphia soon after his gradu- 
 ation from the University of Edinburgh, and commenced 
 the practice of medicine. He afterwards went to 
 Europe, where he mari'ied and resided for a short time, 
 then returned in 1716 to his practice in Philadelphia 
 In 1718, he removed to New York, where he obtained 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 305 
 
 an official appointment from his friend and countryman. 
 Governor Hunter, and took up his permanent abode. 
 
 These three men, with Schuyler, Smith and Living- 
 ston, were now the leading spirits of the province. The 
 council consisted of Peter Schuyler, Abraham de Peyster, 
 Robert Walters, Gerardus Beekman, Rip Van Dam, 
 Caleb Heathcote, John Barbarie, Frederick Philipse, 
 John Johnston, Francis Harrison, Mr. Byerly and Mr. 
 Clarke. 
 
 To give a clear idea of the events which signalized the 
 administration of Burnet, we must glance briefly at the 
 general position of affairs in the province. It was the fixed 
 policy of the French government to gain control of the 
 Indian trade, both along the northern frontier and in the 
 regions of the Far West. This not only secured to them 
 a lucrative traffic, but furthered their ultimate design of 
 attaching the Indians to themselves, and, with their aid, 
 rendering themselves masters of the province. For this 
 end, Jesuit missionaries had long been mingling with the 
 wandering tribes, seeking to secure them through con- 
 version to the interests of France. Foi'saking the com- 
 forts of civilized life, the devoted and adventurous 
 disciples of Loyola penetrated the unknown regions of 
 the West, and, skillfully ingratiating themselves with the 
 sons of the forest, established missions where the foot of 
 white man had never before trod, and laid open the 
 inmost recesses of the wilderness to the march of civiliz- 
 ation. In 1675, La Salle had founded Fort Frontenac 
 at the entrance of the Ontario ; then, with Tonti and 
 Hennepin, had pushed his explorations to the distant 
 regions of the Mississippi. The missionaries and traders 
 20 
 
306 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 followed ill the path tlius opened to them by Jesuitical 
 enterprise, and the Indian territory was soon everywhere 
 traversed by the indefatigable emissaries of the French 
 government. In the beginning of Burnet's administra- 
 tion, the Chevalier de Joncaire, himself a Jesuit and a 
 man of noble birth and fine talents, who, having been 
 made captive by the Senecas, had won their favor and 
 been adopted into their tribe,' established a permanent 
 trading-post at Fort Frontenac, from wdiich he designed 
 to command the region of the Mississippi through the 
 medium of the western traders. 
 
 As the goods sold by the French traders were mostly 
 of English manufacture, and purchased in the city of 
 New York, the merchants were well satisfied with an 
 arrangement which enabled them to dispose of large 
 quantities of goods with very little risk or trouble to 
 themselves. But Burnet, who had studied the position 
 of affairs attentively before his departure from England, 
 comprehended the ultimate result of this dangerous 
 policy, and saw clearly that the safety of the province 
 depended on estabhshing a line of English trading-posts 
 along the northern frontier, and thus counteracting the 
 designs of the French government. Through the influ- 
 ence of Lewis Morris, he prevailed upon the first Assem- 
 bly that convened after his arrival to put an end to the 
 circuitous traffic by passing a bill prohibiting all sales of 
 goods to the French, under penalty of the forfeiture of 
 the articles, with an additional fine of one hundred 
 pounds. This bill was warmly opposed by the mer- 
 chants interested in the traffic, who. thinking only of the 
 present, viewed it as a death-blow to their lucrative 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 307 
 
 trade. They complained loudly of the governor's con- 
 duct to the Board of Trade, and it was only through 
 the eai-nest efforts of Cadwallader Golden, who warmly 
 espoused the new policy, that this important measure 
 was finally sustained. 
 
 In 1722, Governor Burnet commenced the erection of 
 a trading-post at Oswego, and from this may be dated 
 the foundation of that profitable fur traffic which formed 
 the basis of so many colossal fortunes. This opening of 
 a new path in commerce wrought a revolution in the 
 aims and lives of the young men of the city. These 
 youths, instead of remaining, as formerly, behind their 
 fathers' counters or entering the beaten track of the 
 West India trade, now provided themselves with a stock 
 of guns and blankets, and set out with a trusty servant 
 ui a bark canoe to explore the pathless wilderness. 
 Here they roamed for months in the primeval forests, 
 forced at every step to turn aside to avoid some deadly 
 reptile or fierce beast of prey, or to guard against the 
 wiles of an insidious foe, ever on the alert to entrap 
 them in some snare, and to purchase their goods at the 
 expense of their lives. Forced to depend for their sub- 
 sistence on the quickness of their eye and the sureness 
 of their aim, to journey by day through thicket and 
 marsh, over cataract and rapid, to sleep at night with no 
 other canopy than the stars and sky, and to be constantly 
 on their guard against the unseen danger which was 
 lurking everywhere about them, this forest education 
 called forth all their resources of courage and sagacity, 
 and they came from the trial with muscles of iron, nerves 
 of steel, and a hand and eye that never flinched before 
 
308 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the most deadly peril. No fiction of romance can sur- 
 pass the adventurous career of these daring travellers 
 who thus pursued the golden fleece in the wilds of 
 America ; and those who came forth from this school of 
 danger were well fitted to play their part in the 
 approaching tragedies of the French and Indian war and 
 the drama of the coming Revolution. 
 
 In the same year of the establishment of the Oswego 
 trading-post, a congress composed of the governors of 
 New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, with deputies from 
 the other colonies, assembled at Albany to consult toge- 
 ther in respect to the war. This congress framed a me- 
 morial to the English government, urging the erection of 
 the projected line of trading-posts as the only means of 
 thwarting the policy of the French and securing the 
 safety of the English provinces. No attention was paid 
 to their request, and the scheme that would have pro- 
 tected the colony from the future ravages of the French 
 and Indians was at length reluctantly abandoned by the 
 disappointed governor. 
 
 Meanwhile, the usual bickerings had continued to 
 exist between the governor and the Assembly. This 
 body, so friendly to him on his arrival, had in part been 
 alienated by his recent policy. The merchants engaged 
 in the circuitous trade spared no pains to assail him in 
 public and private, and a powerful opposition was thus 
 excited against him. A dispute in which he became 
 involved in 1724 with Stephen De Lancey, a wealthy 
 merchant and a patron of the French Huguenot church 
 in Pine street, increased the difficulty. A portion of the 
 congregation, headed by Mr. De Lancey, becoming dis- 
 
CITY OF NEW YOKK. 309 
 
 satisfied with the Rev. Louis Rou, the pastor of the 
 church, dismissed him on the charge that he had flagged 
 in his duty, and had introduced innovations into the 
 church discipHne. M. Rou and his friends appealed from 
 this decision to the governor and council, who sustained 
 them in opposition to the party of l)e Lancey, and 
 decided that the malcontents had no right to dismiss 
 their minister. The affair caused great excitement; 
 indignant memorials were published on both sides, and 
 the; opposition party which had been raised against the 
 the governor by the suppression of the French trade, 
 received now accessions from day to day. Soon after, 
 De Lancey was elected as member of the Assembly, 
 when Burnet refused to administer the oaths to him, 
 alleging that he was not a subject of the crown. De 
 Lancey, who, though born in France, had left it before 
 the revocation of the edict of Nantes, insisted that he 
 had received a patent of denization in England under 
 the hand and seal of James IL, and the Assembly sus- 
 tained his claims against the governor. 
 
 The five years' revenue granted on the arrival of 
 Burnet having expired, the Assembly refused to renew 
 it for a longer term than three years. This was the 
 same Assembly that had been elected under the auspices 
 of Hunter, but its character and disposition had widely 
 changed. Several of the best friends of the governor 
 had died, and their places had been filled by new 
 members ; the suppression of the circuitous trade had 
 alienated many more, and the once pliant Assembly had 
 grown harsh and unyielding. Burnet at length dissolved 
 the body; but the new Assembly that convened in 1727 
 
310 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 proved still more refractory. This was made up mostly 
 of the friends of the French trade, men whose interests 
 were directly affected by its suppression, and who were 
 chiefly anxious to procure a repeal of the obnoxious act 
 and thus to thwart the policy of Burnet. The continu- 
 ance of the Court of Chancery, instituted by Hunter, also 
 gave rise to general dissatisfaction, which was greatly 
 increased by his assumption of the chancellorship. After 
 a short session, he dissolved them as incorrigible. But 
 their efforts did not stop here ; his commission expiring 
 soon after, on the death of George I., they represented 
 to the ministry that the interests of the province 
 demanded a new governor. Their arguments were lis- 
 tened to ; Burnet was transferred against his wishes to 
 the government of Massachusetts, and John Montgomerie 
 was appointed his successor. In 1729, the obnoxious act 
 n^as repealed, the circuitous trade again established, and 
 the ulterior designs of the French government thus aided 
 unwittingly by the merchants of New York. 
 
 Burnet was a man of fine talents, but his was the mis- 
 fortune of not being understood. Had he been ably 
 seconded in the schemes which he sought to execute, he 
 would have saved the province from the horrors of future 
 warfare and insured its peace and prosperity. Of a dif- 
 ferent stamp from his rapacious predecessors, he spared 
 neither time nor money in the fulfillment of his projects 
 for the public good. The trading-post at Oswego was 
 built in part from his private fortune — a debt which was 
 never repaid by the English government — and he left 
 the province poorer than he had entered it. He was of 
 literary tastes, polished manners and a genial tempera- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 311 
 
 ruent, and, but for the unhappy dissensions engendered 
 by his system of poKcy, would have been one of the 
 most popular of the colonial governors. Under his 
 auspices, the era of journalism was first commenced in 
 the city by the New York Gazette, published in 1725 by 
 WiUiam Bradford, the government printer. This was a 
 half-sheet paper, and was printed once a week. It was 
 increased to four pages during the following year. 
 
 We will now glance at the progress of the city dur- 
 ing the past eight years. The changes in this time had 
 neither been marked nor numerous. The city had 
 increased iu population to nearly eight thousand inhabit- 
 ants, and the vacant lots were gradually becoming filled 
 up and peopled. In the first year of Burnet's adminis- 
 tration, Robert Walters, a Holland merchant, who had 
 long filled a prominent position in the city, was chosen 
 mayor. He was also a member of the council both 
 of Burnet and Montgomerie ; was a devoted adherent 
 of the Leislerian party, and a popular man among the 
 democracy. He retained the office of mayor for five 
 years. Little worthy of note occurred during his admin- 
 istration, the principal event of which was the publica- 
 tion of Bradford's newspaper in 1725, of which we have 
 already spoken. Various municipal ordinances concern- 
 ing the restriction of negroes, etc. were enacted, but 
 they were but modifications of those whicli we have 
 already noticed. 
 
 In 1725, Johannes Jansen, a merchant of Holland 
 origin, was appointed mayor. He retained the office for 
 but one year, when he was succeeded by Robert Lurting, 
 a shipping merchant, who had long been actively 
 
312 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 engaged in politics, and had acted as alderman for sev- 
 eral yeai-s. He retained the office until his death in 1735. 
 On the 15th of April, 1728, John Montgomerie 
 arrived as governor and chancellor of New York and 
 New Jersey. Montgomerie had been groom of the bed- 
 chamber to the Prince of Wales, now George II. 
 Though bred a soldier, he was of a yielding and indolent 
 temperament, and his antecedents had not certainly been 
 calculated to fit him for the important command which 
 was now intrusted to him. He came charged to carry 
 out the policy of the late governors, and to sustain the 
 Court of Chancery ; but he shrank from the task, and 
 only assumed the chancellorship when speciall}' com- 
 manded ; and then under protest and avowedly as a mat- 
 ter of form. The citizens gave him a cordial welcome. 
 On the day after his arrival, the mayor and corporation 
 presented him the freedom of the city in a gold box ; and 
 at their first session, the Assembly granted him the five 
 years' revenue which they had so persistently refused to 
 the late governor. Affairs glided on smoothly enough 
 during his administration, the principal event in it being 
 the grant of an amended city charter in 1730. By this 
 charter, the limits of the city were made to comprehend 
 four hundred feet below low- water mark on the Hudson 
 River from Minetta Brook or Bestavers Killitje south- 
 ward to the fort, thence the same number of feet 
 beyond low-water mark round the fort and along the 
 East River as far as the north side of Corlear's Hook, the 
 west side of Pearl street being reserved for the use of 
 the fort. The sole power of establishing ferries about 
 the island, with all the profits accruing therefrom, wa.« 
 
CITY OF NEW VOEK. 313 
 
 granted to the corporation, the rates of ferriage to be 
 fixed by the governor and council or by an act of the 
 Assembly. A grant and confirmation was also given 
 them of the lands held by them on Long Island, including 
 the ferry, ferry-house and appurtenances. The market- 
 houses, docks, slips and wharves with all the profits 
 arising from them were granted to the city. The 
 appointment of subordinate officers was given to the 
 mayor, with the advice and consent of the common 
 council. Provision was made for a court of common 
 pleas to be held on every Tuesday in the year by the 
 mayor or his deputy, with two or more aldermen, power 
 being given them to adjourn the same for a period not 
 exceeding twenty-eight days. Authority was given to 
 the mayor or recorder, with a majority of the aldermen 
 and assistants, to meet and make or repeal such by-laws 
 and ordinances as they might deem fit — such ordinances 
 to continue in force a twelvemonth unless repealed. 
 Provision was made for a new division of the city into 
 seven wards, the limits to be hereafter determined by 
 the common council, each ward to choose the usual num- 
 ber of officers annually, with such a number of constables 
 as the common council might direct, and to be the sole 
 judge of the election and qualifications of its own offi- 
 cers. The mayor, recorder and aldermen were consti- 
 tuted justices of the peace for the city and county of 
 New York, with power to hear and determine all pleas 
 of forty shillings and under, and to nominate and 
 appoint proper officers for that court. The mayoi-, 
 recorder and three or more of the aldermen were 
 invested with power to administer oaths to freemen and 
 
314 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 officers of the city, and to make as many freemen as 
 they should see fit ; also to hold general quarter sessions 
 for the city and county, the mayor, recorder and eldest 
 alderman constituting the quorum. Power was given to 
 the corporation to erect necessary public buildings and 
 to appoint the proper officers ; also, to sue for their law- 
 ful dues and demands in the name of their chamberlain. 
 The petition of the common council that the offices of 
 mayor, recorder, sheriff, coroner and town-clerk might 
 henceforth be elective was refused by the governor after 
 some consideration, and these officials continued as here- 
 tofore to be appointed by the governor and council. 
 The mayor was appointed clerk of the market for the 
 time being. The jurisdiction of the city was fixed to 
 begin at King's Bridge, thence to run down by the main- 
 land to the point within the shortest distance from Long 
 Island, including Great and Little Barn Island ; thence, 
 crossing to low-water mark on the Long Island shore, to 
 extend down by the same mark to Red Hook ; thence to 
 run on a straight line to the lower end of the southern- 
 most Oyster Island ; thence to extend northerly along 
 the west side of the three Oyster Islands up the Hudson 
 to Spiking Devil or Spuyten Devil Ci-eek, and thence 
 along low-water mark to King's Bridge, the place of 
 beginning. The grant of all the waste and unappro- 
 priated lands of the island, which had been made to the 
 city by the Dongan charter of 1686, was again con- 
 firmed by the new charter. The wharves along the 
 shores were required to be made forty feet broad, both 
 for the greater convenience of trade, and to fit them for 
 the erection of batteries, the go\'ernment reserving the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 315 
 
 right of planting these in case of necessity. The quit- 
 rent was fixed at ten shillings over and above the for- 
 mer quit-rents. Such was the substance of the con- 
 ditions of the Montgomerie charter.* 
 
 In the first year of Montgomerie's administration, a 
 Jewish cemetery was first established in the city. This 
 was bounded by Chatham, Oliver, Henry and Catherine 
 streets, and was given in 1729 by N'oc Willey of London 
 to his three sons, merchants in New York, to be held as 
 a burial-place for the Jewish nation forever. But the eye 
 of the old Hebrew could not pierce into futui'ity ; the 
 trust was violated many years ago, and warehouses now 
 cover the site once destined as a final resting-place for 
 the Jewish Rabbis. Several years previously, a Jewish 
 synagogue had been erected in Mill street. 
 
 The city was gradually extending its limits, and the 
 powder-house which had been built a*few years before on 
 the Commons began to be considered as an unsafe place 
 of deposit for the powder which was stored there. A 
 new magazine was accordingly determined on, and after 
 some deliberation, the corporation selected a pretty httle 
 island in the Fresh Water Pond as the most available 
 location, and erected a storehouse there in 1728 for tlie 
 safe keeping of the explosive material. 
 
 The Garden street church having become full to over- 
 flowing, a portion of the congregation determined to 
 colonize, and, in 1726, purchased a lot of ground on the 
 corner of Nassau and Liberty, then Crown street, and 
 commenced the erection of the Middle Dutch church 
 
 * This was based on the Dongan Charter. 
 
310 
 
 HIST II Y OF THE 
 
 But ere long the undertaking came to a full stop for 
 want of funds, and, in 1729, the congregation applied to 
 the governor for a license to make a collection in aid of 
 its completion. This was granted ; the money was soon 
 raised, and the church was finished and opened in the 
 course of the same year. It was at first without a 
 gallery: the pulpit was on the east side, and two doors 
 opened on the west. For the first thirty years, the ser- 
 vices were performed exclusively in the Dutch language, 
 after which the English service Avas used half the time, 
 much to the dissatisfaction of the sires of the congre- 
 gation. In 1776, the pews were torn out and used for 
 fuel, while the church became the prison-house of three 
 thousand Americans. When no longer desired for this 
 purpose, it was converted into a riding-school for the 
 British cavalry, and the walls which had so often 
 reechoed the fervent prayers of the pious dominies now 
 rang with the caracoUing of steeds and the jests of the 
 soldiery. Adjoining it, in Liberty street, stood the old 
 sugar-house, built in 1689 in the days of Leisler, and also 
 
 Old Sugar Hous^e in Litjeit* fltreet, the Puson House of the Rcvoludon. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 317 
 
 onouraoLe 
 
 RIP VAN DAM. E. 
 
 mSWMrJ'Muu lh//m/iM (^m^n/frf(/r fiOmTEf NEW. 
 
 Middle Dutch Church iu Olden Time. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 319 
 
 transformed into a prison for the patriots. After the close 
 of the war, both buildings returned to their original use. 
 The sugar-house was levelled in 1840 before the march 
 of modern improvements ; the church long continued 
 the general post-ofHce of the city of New York. 
 
 Soon after the erection of the Middle Dutch church, it 
 was proposed to extend the city on the west side by rescu- 
 ing Greenwich and Wasliington streets from the waters ; 
 and they were ordered to be surveyed and laid out above 
 the Battery along the lines of high and low-water mark ; 
 the high-water mark to be the centre of one street, and 
 the low-water mark, the centre of the other. It was 
 also determined to establish three new slips, one opposite 
 Morris street, another opposite Exchange Place, and a 
 third opposite Rector street. The streets, however, 
 were not built upon until several years after. A line of 
 stages was established between New York and Phila- 
 delphia, to run once a fortnight during the winter months, 
 and proposals were issued for a foot post to Albanj'. 
 
 In 1729, a library of 1,622 volumes, which had been 
 bequeathed by the Rev. John Milhngton, Rector of New 
 ington, England, to the Society for the Propagation of 
 the Gospel in Foreign Parts, was presented by them to 
 the city for a public library. To these was added a col- 
 lection presented in 1700 by the Rev. John Sharp, chap- 
 tain Oi' Lord Bellamont, and the whole was opened to 
 the public under the supervision of the latter gentleman 
 as " the Corporation Librar3^" But the librarian died 
 soon after, and the books were neglected and almost for- 
 gotten until 1754, when a number of public-spirited 
 citizens organized themselves into a body and founded 
 
320 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Society Libraiy, obtaining permission from the Com- 
 mon Council to add the Corporation Library to their col- 
 lection and to deposit their bool^s in the City Hall. Here 
 the library continued to increase and prosj^er. In 1772, 
 a charter was granted it by George III. under the name 
 of the New York Society Library, and under the new 
 impetus given it by this incorporation, it flourished till 
 all thoughts of literary enterprise were banished by the 
 general stagnation of the Revolution. The city fell into 
 the hands of the British and the library into the hands 
 of the British soldiery ; and, in the scenes of vandalism 
 which followed, the choice and valuable collection which 
 had been gathered with so much care, was scattered, 
 nuitilated and almost totally destroyed. For fourteen 
 years, the library was neglected by its founders in the 
 excitement of the struggle for liberty ; then, in 1783, 
 when peace was finally declared, the scattered elements 
 of the society reunited, and, reviving their charter, once 
 more commenced the collection of books. In 1793, a 
 library building was erected in Nassau street, which was 
 at that time considered one of the architectural lions of 
 the city. But the collection soon outgrew its new quar- 
 ters, and, removing temporarily into the Mechanics' 
 Society building in Chambers street, continued there 
 until the completion of the new library on the corner of 
 Broadway and Leonard streets in 1840. Hardly was it 
 established here when the upward rush of business forced 
 it again to vacate this and to seek a new resting-place in 
 the upper part of the town. For a time, it established 
 itself in the Bible House in Astor Place, then removed, 
 in 1857, to its new edifice in L^niversity Place between 
 
CITY OF NEW TORE. 321 
 
 Twelfth and Thirteenth street, which seems spacious 
 enough for all present exigencies. Such was the rise 
 and progress of the first pubhc library of New York. 
 
 But we must return from our jiresent surroundings to 
 the daj-s of olden time. At this period, markets were 
 notal^le institutions. They were established at the foot 
 of almost every street along the East River. Several 
 market-places were to be found in the heart of the city, 
 the upper end of Broad street was a public stand for 
 country wagons, and a market occupied the centre of 
 Broadway, opposite Liberty street. In 1732, another 
 market-house was erected at the foot of Fulton street ori 
 the North River side for the accommodation of country- 
 men from Jersey. 
 
 Changes were also wrought in the lower part of the 
 city. We have before noticed the erection of a battery 
 on the rocks near Whitehall slip. This name originated 
 in a large house on the corner of Whitehall and State 
 streets, erected by Petrus Stuyvesant during his admin- 
 istration, and known to the people of that day as "the 
 Stuyvesant Huys." It afterwards fell into the hands of 
 Governor Dongan, who christened it "the White Hall." 
 This subsequently became the Custom House of the city. 
 Adjoining this was the store in which Jacob Leisler had 
 transacted business during his lifetime, and from which 
 that part of Whitehall between State and Pearl streets 
 had at one time been known as Leisler street. Opj)o- 
 site Whitehall street, in the block bounded by Whitehall, 
 Pearl, Moore and State streets, was an open space known 
 as " the Strand," and used as a market-place for coun- 
 try-wagons. In 1732, this space, having grown too val- 
 
322 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 uable to be used for such a jDuq^ose, was divided into 
 seven lots and sold at auction at prices ranging from one 
 hundred and fifty-six to two hundred and seventy-nine 
 pounds sterling. In the same year, the vacant space in 
 front of the fort which had hitherto been used for a 
 market-place, parade-ground, and similar purposes, was 
 leased to Frederick Philipse, John Chambers, and John 
 Roosevelt, for ten years, at a yearly rent of a pepper- 
 corn, to be used as a bowling-green. Soon after, Pearl 
 street, the ancient cow-path, which led from the settle- 
 ment to the common pasture, and along the line of 
 which houses had sprung up without regard to mathe- 
 matical squares and angles, was regulated, so far as 
 regulation was possible, and established as a public 
 road. 
 
 "The Commons," of which we have spoken before, 
 consisted originally of nearly a square piece of ground, 
 bounded on the east and west by Nassau street and 
 Broadway, and on the north and south by Chambers and 
 Ann streets. Through this passed the post-road, the 
 present Chatham street, cutting off a triangle on the east 
 side, a part of which was used for public amusements 
 and was known as " the Vineyard." The present Park 
 was a level plain, so level indeed that it came to be 
 known as " the Ylackte," or " Flat ;" a name which still 
 lives in the memory of our oldest inhabitants. For 
 many years, this was the place of public execution, the 
 gallows standing near the present Hall of Records. 
 
 North of this lay the Fresh Water Pond, with its 
 neighboring district of the Collect or Kalch-Hook. This 
 name, which finally came to be applied to the pond 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 323 
 
 itself, was originally given by the Dutch settlers to a 
 point of land on the shores of the pond of about forty- 
 eight acres in extent, the site of an old Indian village. 
 The Fresh "Water Pond was one of those traditional 
 ponds which are found in every village, reputed to have 
 no bottom — a reputation which it failed to sustain against 
 the researches of modern times. The pond was, indeed, 
 very deep ; deep enough, in fact, to have floated the 
 largest ships in the navy. Its waters were filled with 
 roach and sunfish, and to preserve these, the city authori- 
 ties passed an ordinance in 1734, forbidding any person to 
 fish in it with nets, or in any other way than anghng. 
 But the beautiful pond has passed away, and the spot 
 where its sparkling waters once played is now filled by 
 the " Halls of Justice " with their gloomy prison cells. 
 
 Below the Commons, on the east side of the city, was 
 "the Swamp," in the vicinity of Ferry street, a low 
 gi-ound, covered with tangled briers. This tract was 
 sold in 1734 for two hundred pounds to Jacobus Roose- 
 velt, who laid out the ground into fifty lots and established 
 several tanneries on it. This was indicative of its future 
 destiny, for it has ever since remained the seat of the 
 leather business of New York. 
 
 South of this region lay two estates known as the " Shoe- 
 " makers' Land," and " VanderclifF's orchard," the first of 
 which we have already described. The VanderclifF 
 farm, which was bounded on the east and west by the East 
 River and the Shoemakers' Land, and on the north and 
 south by Beekman street and Maiden Lane, was origin- 
 ally owned by Hendrick Rycker, who sold it in 1680 to 
 Dirck Yandercliff. The new proprietor continued to 
 
324 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 reside on it until his death, after which it was divided 
 into lots, which were sold at prices ranging from twenty 
 to thirty pounds each. This tract became classic ground 
 in the days of the Revolution, under the more euphoni- 
 ous name of Golden Hill. Cliff street still preserves a 
 part of the ancient title. 
 
 Along the Bowery road lay Steenwyck's orchard, 
 Heerman's orchard, and the well-known Stuyvesant 
 " bouwerie," whence it derived its name. Near the 
 latter, in the neighborhood of the present Grammei'cy 
 Park, was " Crummashie Hill." Above this, lay the 
 Zant-berg hills, with Minetta brook, winding its way 
 through the marshy valley on the other side to its outlet 
 in the North River ; and still further to the north, in 
 the vicinity of Thirty-sixth street and Fifth Avenue, 
 was the Incleuberg, or Beacon Hill, the Murray Hill of 
 modern times, which commanded a view of the whole 
 island. 
 
 On the lands of Nicholas Bayard, in the vicinity of 
 Grand and Centre streets rose Bayard's Mount, after- 
 wards known as Mount Pleasant and Bunker's Hill. 
 From this, the Crown Point road stretched along the line 
 of Grand street to Crown Point or Corlear's Hook, once 
 the farm of Jacobus Van Corlaer, passing over Jones' 
 Hill, at the junction of Grand and Division streets. Near 
 the Collect rose the Potters' Hill, at tlie foot of which 
 flowed the Ould Kill, conveying the waters of the pond 
 through the marshy Wolfert's Valley, to their outlet in 
 the East River. This valley derived its name from its orig- 
 inal proprietor, Jacob Wolfertsen Van Couwenhoven. 
 A bridge was thrown across the etream, near the junction 
 
CITY OF N E fl' Y R K 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 327 
 
 of Roosevelt and Chatham streets, for the accommoda- 
 tion of travellers. This creek, with the Fresh Water 
 Pond and the great Lispenard Meadows at the north- 
 west, formed a chain of waters quite across the island. 
 
 On the west side of Broadway above Trinity Church 
 was the King's Arms Tavern, the principal inn of the 
 city, and the head-quarters of the anti-Leislerian party. 
 Its grounds were extensive, running down to the river 
 and stretching a considerable distance along Broadway. 
 North of this were the estates of Van Cortlandt and Dey, 
 and above these the old King's Farm, which had originally 
 been the property of the Dutch West India Company, 
 then, falling, in 1664, into the hands of the English 
 captors, had been increased by the purchase of the 
 estate of Aneke Jans, and had afterwards been presented 
 to Trinity Church by Queen Anne. In 1720, the 
 southern part of this farm was surveyed and laid out 
 into streets which were named in honor of the various 
 church dignitaries. At this time, Broadway extended 
 no further than its junction with Chatham street. 
 
 In 1731, the city was divided into seven wards in con- 
 formity with the provisions of the Montgomerie charter. 
 In the same year, the first steps were taken towards 
 oro^anizing a Fire Department on a permanent basis. 
 Hitherto, the means for extinguishing fires had been of 
 the most primitive kind — a few leather buckets, a cou- 
 ple of fire-hooks and poles, and seven or eight ladders 
 constituting the sum total. In the early part of the 
 eighteenth century, fire engines were successfully intro- 
 duced into England, and in 1731, the corporation of 
 New York resolved to import two for the use of the city. 
 
328 CITT OF NEW YORK. 
 
 This was accordingly done, and a room in the City Hall 
 was fitted up for their reception. In 1736, an engine- 
 house was built in Broad street, and a contract made 
 with Jacobus Turk to keep the engines clean and in 
 good order for 1>he sum of ten pounds per annum. In 
 1737, a Fire Department was organized and twenty-five 
 members enrolled, who, in consideration of their ser- 
 vices, were excused from performing military duty or 
 from serving as constables, jurors, or surveyors of high- 
 ways. 
 
 On the 1st of July, 1731, Governor Montgomerie died, 
 after a peaceful administration of two years, and was 
 succeeded by Rip Van Dam, the eldest member of the 
 council. Mr. Van Dam was of Holland origin, his father 
 having settled in the city in the days of Stuyvesant. He 
 was engaged in commerce, like most of the leading men 
 of the time, and carried on an extensive foreign trade ; 
 and had been for several years a member of the council 
 when called to the .head of affairs by the sudden death 
 of the governor. Little occurred worthy of note during 
 the thirteen months of his administration. At the end 
 of that time. Colonel William Cosby arrived as his suc- 
 cessor. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1732—1711. 
 The Zenger Trial. 
 
 The citizens gained as little by the change in the gov- 
 ernment as did the frogs in the fable by parting with 
 King Log. Unlike the yielding and good-natured Mont- 
 gomerie, Cosby was testy, despotic, and rapacious withal. 
 A short time previously, when governor of Minorca, he 
 had been detected in a fraudulent transaction, the odium 
 of which had caused his recall. But he had served the 
 interests of the colonists while in England by opposing 
 an obnoxious sugar bill proposed by the Board of Trade 
 — an act which disposed them to receive him as a friend. 
 Under the influence of this feeling, the Assembly that 
 was in session at his arrival, cheerfully granted him a 
 revenue for sis years, and presented him with seven 
 hundred and fifty pounds as a token of gratitude for his 
 opposition to the obnoxious bill. But the smallness of 
 the sum incensed the governor. " Why did they not 
 add the shillings and pence ?" asked he tauntingly of 
 Morris, who was one of the council. 
 
 The first act of Cosby after his arrival in the province 
 
330 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was to produce a royal order, prescribing an equal 
 division of the salary, emoluments and perquisites of the 
 office since the time of his appointment, between himself 
 and Rip Van Dam. Van Dam declared his willingness 
 to comply with the order, and to divide the salary he 
 had received, which was a little less than two thousand 
 pounds ; but only on condition that Cosby should also 
 divide the six thousand pounds which he had received as 
 perquisites before reaching the province. Indignant at 
 the evident partiality to English favorites, the mass of 
 the people supported him in this posifion. It was obvi- 
 ous that if tlie English government could take a fairly 
 earned salary from the hands of an official and share it 
 with one who had done nothing to deserve it, there was 
 very little security for the rights of colonial subjects. 
 The citizens were growing weary of the rapacity of 
 English adventurers ; they saw that the interests of the 
 colonies were wholly disregarded by the home govern- 
 ment, and that they were chiefly valued as a means 
 whereby to repair the fortunes of spendthrift noblemen; 
 and, incensed beyond measure at this last act of tyranny, 
 they took a bold stand which shadowed forth their com- 
 ing resistance. 
 
 The council was at this time composed of Messrs. 
 Clark, Harrison, Horsmanden, Kennedy, Colden, Lane, 
 De Lancey, Cortlandt, Philipse and Livingston. Robert 
 Morris was chief justice of the Supreme Court, and 
 James De Lancey and Adolphus Philipse second and 
 third judges. James De Lancey was the son of the 
 Huguenot, Stephen De Lancey, whom we have already 
 seen figuring prominently in public affairs. He had 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 331 
 
 been appointed by Governor Montgomerie to fill the 
 place in the council rendered vacant by the death of 
 John Barbaric, and it vpas not long before he was 
 numbered among the leading men of the province. 
 Adolphus Philipse was the son of Frederick Philipse of 
 Leislerian notoriety. Both were attached to the anti- 
 Leislerian or conservative faction, in opposition to 
 Morris, who was a warm adherent of the democratic 
 party. 
 
 To recover the half of the salary which he claimed. 
 Cosby instituted proceedings against Yan Dam before 
 the judges of the Supreme Court as barons of the 
 Exchequer ; a position in which they were entitled to 
 act by their commission. As Cosby himself was chan- 
 cellor ex officio, and De Lancey and Philipse were known 
 as his intimate friends, William Smith and James Alex- 
 ander, who acted as Yan Dam's counsel, excepted to the 
 jurisdiction of the court in the case, and endeavored to 
 institute a suit at common law. Their plea was sup- 
 ported by Chief Justice Morris, but was overruled by 
 De Lancey and Philipse, and these two constituting a 
 majority, the cause of Van Dam was declared lost, and 
 he was ordered to pay half of his salary to the gover- 
 nor. Morris published his opinion, upon which Cosby 
 removed him from his office, and appointed De Lancey 
 chief justice in his stead, without asking the advice 
 of the council. Van Dam and several others were also 
 suspended, and Cosby gained an apparent triumph. 
 
 This high-handed proceeding aroused the indignation 
 of the people, and murmurs of discontent pervaded the 
 city. "I have great interest in England," said the 
 
332 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 goveinior, carelessly, when some of these reached his 
 ears. Yet this did not prevent him from sending a 
 justification of his conduct to the Board of Trade, 
 urging the necessity of arbitrary measures in order to 
 preserve the king's prerogative, and accusing the people 
 of being tainted with "Boston principles." 
 
 The people, though defeated, were not disposed to be 
 silent. The contemptible meanness of the whole affair 
 had excited their merriment as well as their indignation, 
 and squibs, lampoons and satirical ballads hailed without 
 mercy upon the aristocratic party. In their train fol- 
 lowed the first newspaper controversy ever carried on in 
 New York. We have already mentioned the publica- 
 tion of the New York Gazette, by William Bradford, the 
 government printer. This, deriving its support from 
 the government, naturally espoused the cause of Cosby. 
 While the suit against Yan Dam was in progress, John 
 Peter Zenger, a printer by trade, and collector of the 
 city taxes, set up a new paper called the New York 
 Weekly Journal* which at once became the vehicle of the 
 opposition. The columns of the new journal were filled 
 from week to week with able and caustic articles, 
 satirizing the proceedings of the Court of Exchequer, 
 and assailing the acts of the government party. No one 
 was spared ; the governor, council and Assembly were 
 alike made to feel the sharp lash of the critic ; the 
 
 * This was tlie second newspaper published in New York, and was first issued on 
 the 5th of November, ITSS. Zenger was originally a Palatine orphan, and was 
 apprenticed to Bradford at ten years of age. He published the Jor.rnal until his 
 death in 1746, after which it was continued by his widow, Catherine Zenger, till 
 December, 1748, when she resigned the publication to her son, John Zenger, It 
 was discontinued in 1752, after an existence of nineteen years. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 333 
 
 permanent revenue, the Court of Chancery, the system 
 of taxation, and all the other colonial grievances were 
 taken up and fearlessly discussed, and the attack was 
 carried on in a satirical vein, well calculated to enrage 
 the victims beyond expression. The authorship of these 
 articles was generally attributed to the defeated coun- 
 cillors, William Smith and James Alexander. The peo- 
 ple were delighted with the wit and pungency of these 
 missiles, but they were not relished quite so well by 
 the governor and council, who deemed them incendiary 
 productions, and as such, demanded the punishment 
 of the author. At a meeting of the council on the 
 2d of November, 1734, four numbers of the obnoxious 
 paper containing the alleged libels were ordered to be 
 burnt at the pillory by the hands of the common hang- 
 man, in presence of the mayor and aldermen. Robert 
 Lurting was at this time mayor of the city. On the 
 presentation of the order at the quarter sessions, the 
 aldermen protested against it, and the court refused 
 to suffer it to be entered ; Francis Harrison, the 
 recorder, alone attempting to justify it by precedents 
 drawn from the English courts. They even forbade the 
 hangman to execute the order ; and his place was sup- 
 plied by a negro slave of the sheriff. The papers were 
 burned in the presence of Harrison and a few of the 
 partisans of the governor, the magistrates unanimously 
 refusing to witness the ceremony. 
 
 A few days after, Zenger was arrested, on the charge 
 of publishing seditious libels, thrown into prison, and 
 denied the use of pen, ink and paper. The jails at this 
 time, and indeed as late as 1760, were all under the 
 
334 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 roof of the City Hall, in Wall street ; this building, 
 therefore, served as the prison of Zenger. His friends 
 procured a habeas corpus and insisted on his being 
 admitted to bail, when he was ordered by the court to 
 give bail for four hundred pounds, with two additional 
 sureties of two hundred pounds each. This was impos- 
 sible — he swore that, excepting the tools of his trade, he 
 was not worth forty pounds in the world, and the oath 
 procured his recommittal to prison. In the meantime, 
 he continued to edit his paper, giving directions to his 
 assistants through a chink in the door. His adversaries 
 replied through the columns of Bradford's Gazette, and 
 still more effectually, through the decrees of the courts 
 which they held at their disposal. 
 
 The grand-jury having refused to find an indictment 
 against the prisoner, on the 28th of January, 1735, the 
 attorney- general filed an information against him for a 
 false, scandalous, seditious and malicious libel. Smith 
 and Alexander were retained as his counsel. They 
 began by taking exceptions to the commissions of Chief 
 Justice De Lancy and Judge Philipse, because these com- 
 missions ran during pleasure instead of during good 
 behavior in conformity with the usual formula, and had 
 been granted by the governor without the advice or con- 
 sent of his council. The court refused to listen to the 
 plea, and to punish the audacity of the counsel for 
 framing it, ordered their names to be struck from the 
 list of attorneys. 
 
 At this time, there were but three lawyers of eminence 
 in the city — Smith, Alexander, and Murray ; and the 
 latter of these being retained by the government party. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 335 
 
 Zenger was thus left destitute of any able counsel. This 
 was exactly what the court had wished and foreseen. 
 Determined to thwart this ingeniously concerted intrigue, 
 liis friends secretly engaged the services of the vener- 
 able Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, then eighty years 
 of age, but in full possession of his faculties, and one of 
 the most distinguished barristers of the day. Hamilton 
 was imbued with the liberal principles that were fast 
 springing up on the soil of America, and had shown 
 himself earnest in opposing the despotic tyranny which 
 England was beginning openly to exert over her colonial 
 possessions. A more able or eloquent advocate could 
 scarcely have been found, and the scheme which had 
 been designed by the enemies of Zenger to insure his 
 ruin, ultimately j^roved the means of his salvation. 
 
 On the 4th of August, 1735, the court assembled in 
 the City Hall for the trial of the prisoner. The court- 
 room was crowded to excess, and the unexpected appear- 
 ance of the eloquent Hamilton as counsel for Zenger 
 filled the opposition party with astonishment and dis- 
 may. The trial came on in the Supreme Court, De Lan- 
 cey acting as chief justice, Philipse as second judge, and 
 Bradley as attorney-general. John Chambers, who had 
 been appointed by the court as counsel for the prisoner, 
 pleaded " not guilty" in behalf of his client, and obtained 
 a struck jury composed of Thomas Hunt, foreman, Stanley 
 Holmes, Edward Mann, John Bell, Harmanus Rutgers, 
 Samuel Weaver, Egbert Van Borson, Andries Marschalk, 
 Abraham Ketteltas, Benjamin Hildreth, Hercules Wen- 
 dover and John Goelet. As this trial possesses peculiar 
 interest to our readers as being the dawn of the llevolu- 
 
336 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lion in the city of New York, and the first vindicatioa of 
 the freedom of the press in America, we will transcribe 
 the alleged libels in full, that they may the better com- 
 prehend the force of the arguments and the position of 
 affairs. The libels complained of read as follows : 
 
 " Your appearance in print at last gives a pleasure to 
 " many, though most wish you had come fairly into the 
 " open field, and not appeared behind retrenchments 
 " made up of the supposed laws against libelling ; these 
 " retrenchments, gentlemen, may soon be shown to you 
 " and all men to be very weak, and to have neither law 
 " nor reason for their foundation, so cannot long stand 
 "you in stead; therefore you had much better as yet 
 " leave them, and come to what the people of this city 
 " and province think on the points in question. They 
 " think as matters now stand that their liberties and 
 " properties are precarious, and that slavery is like to be 
 " entailed on them and their posterity if some past things 
 " be not amended, and this they collect from many past 
 " proceedings." 
 
 " One of our neighbors of New Jersey being in com- 
 " pany, observing the strangers of New York full of 
 ' ' complaints, endeavored to persuade them to remove 
 •'into Jersey; to which it was replied, that would 
 "be leaping out of the frying-pan into the fire ; ' for,' 
 " says he, 'we both are under the same governor, and 
 " your Assembly have shown with a witness what is to be 
 " expected from them.' One that was then moving from 
 " New York to Pennsylvania, to which place it is reported 
 " several considerable men are removing, expressed in 
 "very moving terms much concern for the circumstances 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 00* 
 
 " of New York, and seemed to think them very much 
 " owing to the influence that some men had in the admin- 
 " istration, said he was now going from them, and was 
 " not to be hurt by any measures they should take ; but 
 " could not help having some concern for the welfare of 
 "his countrymen, and should be glad to hear that the 
 ' Assembly would exert themselves as became them, by 
 "showing that they have the interest of the country 
 " more at heart than the gratification of the private views 
 " of any of their members, or being at all affected by the 
 "smiles or frowns of a governor ; both of which ought 
 " equally to be despised when the interest of their coun- 
 ' ' try is at stake. ' You, ' says he, ' complain of the lawyers, 
 "but I think that the law itself is at an end. We see 
 "men's deeds destroyed ; judges arbitrarily displaced; 
 "new courts erected without consent of the legislature, 
 " by which it seems to me, trials by juries are taken away 
 "whenever a governor pleases, men of known estates 
 " denied their votes, contrary to the received practice of 
 "the best expositor of any law. Who is there in that 
 " province that can call anything his own, or enjoy any 
 "liberty longer than those in the administration will 
 " condescend to let them do it, for which reason I left 
 " it, as 1 believe more will.' " 
 
 Hamilton boldly admitted the publication of these 
 articles. "Then the verdict must be for the king!" 
 exclaimed Bradley, triumphantly. Hamilton quietly 
 reminded him that printing and libelling were not syno- 
 nymous terms, and was proceeding to prove the truth 
 of the charges contained in the alleged libels, when he 
 was interrupted by the attorney-general, on the plea 
 22 
 
338 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that the truth of a libel could not be taken in evidence. 
 " What is a libel ?" asked Hamilton in reply. "What 
 " the legal authorities declare it to be," returned Brad- 
 ley. "Whether the person defamed be a private man, 
 "or a magistrate, whether living or dead, whether the 
 " libel be true or false, or the party against whom it is 
 " made be of good or evil fame, it is nevertheless a libel, 
 "and as such, must be dealt with according to law ; for 
 "in a settled state of government, every person has a 
 " right to redress for all grievances done him. As to its 
 " publication, the law has taken such great care of men's 
 " reputations that if one maliciously repeats it or sings it 
 ' ' in the presence of another, or delivers a copy of it over 
 " to defame or scandalize the party, he is to be punished 
 " as the publisher of a libel. It is likewise evident that 
 "it is an offence against the law of God, for Paul him- 
 " self has said, 'I wist not, brethren, that he was the 
 " high-pi'iest ; for it is written, thou shalt not speak 
 " evil of the ruler of thy people.' " 
 
 Continuing at length in the same strain of argu- 
 ment, he went on to demonstrate that Zenger had 
 been guilty of a gross offence against God and man in 
 attacking by words and innuendoes the sacred person of 
 royalty through its representative, the governor, and 
 quoted precedents to show that, whether true or false, a 
 libel remained the same in the eye of the law. Despite 
 the indignant protests of Hamilton, the court sustained 
 the sage conclusions of the attorney-general, and decided 
 that a libel was all the more dangerous for being true. 
 After some brilliant sparring between the eloquent advo- 
 cate, and Bradley and De Lancey, in which the two lat- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 339 
 
 ter gentlemen were decidedly worsted, Chambers pro- 
 ceeded to address the jury in behalf of his client. 
 Hamilton followed in a brilliant speech, ridiculing witli 
 biting sarcasm the decision of the court that truth, only 
 made a libel the more dangerous; and insisting that the 
 jury were the judges both of the law and the fact, he 
 adjured them to protect their own liberties, now threat- 
 ened in the person of the persecuted Zenger. He quoted 
 the precedent of the Quakers in London, who, having 
 been shut out of their own meeting-house, preached to 
 three hundred of their persuasion in the streets, and 
 were afterwards indicted for disturbing the peace by 
 gathering together a tumultuous assembly. In this case, 
 the fact of the meeting being confessed, the court had 
 charged the jury to convict the prisoners ; but the jury 
 had asserted their right to judge of the character of the 
 assembly, and finding it neither tumultuous nor unlawful, 
 had returned a verdict of " not guilty." After urging 
 the evident analogy of this case to that of his client, " It 
 " is very plain," said he, " that the jury are by law at 
 "liberty (without any affront to the judgment of the 
 "court) to find both the law and the fact in our case. 
 " And may I not, too, be allowed to say that, by a little 
 " countenance, almost anything which a man writes may, 
 ' ' with the help of that useful term of art, called an 
 " innuendo, be construed to be a libel, according to Mr. 
 " Attorney's definition of it ; that whether the words are 
 " spoken of a person of public character, or of a private 
 "man, whether dead or living, good or bad, true or 
 " false, all make a libel, for, according to Mr. Attorney, 
 " after a man hears a writing read, or reads or repeats 
 
340 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " it, or laughs at it, they all are punishable. It is true, 
 " Mr. Attorney is so good as to allow, after the i:)arty 
 " knows it to be a libel ; but he is not so kind as to take 
 " the man's word for it. 
 
 " If a libel is understood in the large and unhmited 
 " sense urged by Mr. Attorney, there is scarce a writing 
 " I know that may not be called a libel, or scarce any per- 
 " son safe from being called to account as a libeller ; for 
 " Moses, meek as he was, libelled Cain, and who is it that 
 " has not libelled the devil; for, according to Mr. Attorney, 
 " it is no justification to say that one has a bad name. 
 " Echard has libelled our good King William. Burnet 
 " ]ias libelled among others, King Charles and King 
 " James, and Rapin has libelled them all. How must a 
 " man speak or write, or what must he hear, read, or sing, 
 " or when must he laugh, so as to be secure from being 
 ' taken up as a libeller. I sincerely believe that were 
 ' some persons to go through the streets of New York 
 " now-a-days and read a part of the Bible, if it were 
 " not known to be such, Mr. Attorney, with the help of 
 " his innuendoes, would easily turn it to be a libel. As 
 " for instance, the sixteenth verse of the ninth chapter of 
 " Isaiah : ' The leaders of the people (innuendo, the gov- 
 " ernor and council of New York) cause them (innuendo, 
 " the people of this province) to err, and they (meaning 
 " the people of this province) are destroyed (innuendo, 
 " are deceived into the loss of their liberty), which is the 
 " worst kind of destruction.' Or, if some person should 
 " publicly repeat, in a manner not pleasing to his betters. 
 " the tenth and eleventh verses of the fifty-fifth chapter 
 " of the same book, then Mr. Attorney would have a 
 
CITY OF NEW TORK. 341 
 
 " large field to display his skill in the artful aiDplication 
 " of his innuendoes. The words are, 'His watchmen are 
 " all blind, they are ignorant ; yea, they are greedy 
 "dogs, that can never have enough.' But to make 
 " them a libel, no more is wanting than the aid of his 
 " skill in the right adapting of his innuendoes. As for 
 " instance, ' His watchmen (innuendo, the governor, coun- 
 " oil, and Assembly) are blind ; they are ignorant 
 " (innuendo, will not see the dangerous designs of his 
 " excellency) ; yea they (meaning the governor and 
 " council) are greedy dogs which can never have enough 
 " (innuendo, of riches and power).' " 
 
 After dwelling on the fact that, laughable as these 
 illustrations might be, they were strictl}' analogous to 
 the charges against his client, and urging the jury to 
 judge for themselves of the truth or falsehood of Zenger's 
 articles and to render their verdict accordingly, the elo- 
 quent barrister thus concluded his remarks : "I am truly 
 " unequal to such an undertaking on many accounts. 
 ■' And you see I labor under the weight of many years, 
 " and am borne down by many infirmities of body ; yet, 
 " old and weak as I am, I should think it my duty, if 
 "required, to go to the utmost part of the land, where 
 " my service could be of any use in assisting to quench 
 " the flame of prosecutions upon informations set on foot 
 " by the government to deprive a people of the right of 
 "remonstrating (and complaining too) against the arbi- 
 " trary attempts of men in power. Men who injure and 
 " oppress the people under their administration provoke 
 " them to cry out and complain, and then make that 
 " very complaint the foundation for new oppressions and 
 
342 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " prosecutions. I wish I could say there were no 
 "instances of this kind. But to conclude, the question 
 '' before the Court and you, gentlemen of the jury, is 
 "not of small or private concern ; it is not the cause of 
 " a poor printer, nor of New York alone which you are 
 " now trying. No ! it may, in its consequences, affect 
 " every freeman that lives under the British gov- 
 " ernment upon the main of America. It is the best 
 " cause ; it is the cause of liberty ; and I make no doubt 
 " but your upright conduct this day will not only entitle 
 " you to the love and esteem of your fellow citizens ; but 
 " every man who prefers freedom to a life of slavery, 
 " will bless and honor you as men who have baffled the 
 " attempts of tyranny, and, by an impartial and incorrupt 
 "verdict, have laid a noble foundation for securing to 
 " ourselves, our posterity, and our neighbors, that to 
 " which nature and the laws of our country have given 
 " us a right — the hberty of both exposing and opposing 
 " arbitrary power in these parts of the world at least by 
 " speaking and writing truth." 
 
 The orator concluded amidst a burst of applause. 
 Every eye in the court-room glistened with admiration, 
 and every heart forgot the dead letter of the law in the 
 living inspiration of truth and patriotism. Wholly borne 
 down by this torrent of eloquence, Bradley attempted 
 but a brief reply, and De Lancey vainly charged the jury 
 that they were judges of the fact but not of the law, 
 and that the truth of the libel was a question beyond 
 their jurisdiction. Reason and common sense prevailed 
 for once over technicalities ; the jury withdrew, and 
 returned after a few minutes' deliberation, with the 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 343 
 
 unfinimous verdict of " not guilty." The court-room 
 rung with huzzas which the disappointed judges vainly 
 endeavored to suppress, and Hamilton was borne from 
 the hall by the exultant crowd to a splendid entertain- 
 ment prepared for his reception. The next day, a public 
 dinner was given him by the whole city, at which the 
 corporation presented him with the freedom of the city 
 in token of their appreciation of his defence of the 
 rights of the people and the freedom of the press. A 
 magnificent gold box, in which to inclose the certificate, 
 was also purchased by private subscription and pre- 
 sented to him on the part of the citizens. On this was 
 engraved the arms of the city, encircled with the words, 
 
 " DeMERS/E leges TIMEFACTA LIBERTAS — II^C TANDEM 
 
 " EMERGUNT ;" within a flying garter, " Non nxjmmis, 
 "virtute paratur ;" and on the front, " Ita cuique 
 " eveniat ut de eepublica meruit." The entertainment 
 over, Mr. Hamilton was escorted to the wharf by a crowd 
 of citizens, and entered the barge to return to Philadel- 
 phia under a triumphant salute of cannon. 
 
 Thus ended the celebrated Zenger trial, which 
 established the freedom of the press, and planted the 
 seeds which germinated among the people and sprung 
 up, like the sown dragon's teeth, a host of armed war- 
 riors. But its result was chiefly due to the brilliant 
 defence of its eloquent advocate ; and the daring political 
 principles, for the first time in America fearlessly avowed 
 in it, and as fearlessly maintained by an independent 
 jury in the face of an interested court and an arbitrary 
 governor, formed a precedent for resistance to oppres- 
 sion which ripened at last into the American Revolution 
 
344 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The corporation, however, did not persist in their 
 independence, but obsequiously courted the favor of the 
 governor by waiting on his brother, Major Alexander 
 Cosby, and his son-in-law, Thomas Freeman, on their 
 arrival in the province, and, presenting them with the 
 freedom of the city in silver boxes, besides offering them 
 the most fulsome adulation. The veneration for nobility 
 was stiU existing in the minds of the citizens, and of the 
 officials most especially ; and they let slip no opportunity 
 of manifesting it when it was not in direct opposition to 
 their rights or interests. Soon after the arrival of Cosby 
 and Freeman, Lord Augustus Fitzroy, the youngest son 
 of the Duke of Grafton, visited the governor. Hardly 
 had he landed, when the corporation waited on him in a 
 body, and, congratulating him on his safe arrival and 
 thanking him for having honored New York with his 
 presence, presented him with the freedom of the city in 
 a gold box. The mention of this occurrence is the most 
 important record found upon the minutes of 1732. The 
 same record also informs us that, while fourteen pounds 
 eight shillings was paid for this box, but ten pounds 
 could be afforded for the quarter's salary of the public 
 schoolmaster. This same Lord Augustus Fitzroy after- 
 wards became the hero of a romantic episode. Being a 
 youth of a susceptible temperament, he soon fell in love 
 with the governor's daughter. By the standard of society, 
 the match was beneath him, and though her parents 
 probably encouraged it in secret, they dared not give 
 their consent openly. A clergyman was secretly intro- 
 duced into the fort, and the marriage ceremony per- 
 formed without license. The affair gave great dis- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 345 
 
 pleasure to the friends of the young nobleman, who 
 accused Cosby of having inveigled him into an unequal 
 marriage, and the union proved an unhappy one in many 
 respects. 
 
 The check which Cosby had received in the Zenger 
 affair did not hinder him from further attempts against 
 the liberties of the people. He refused to dissolve the 
 Assembly, contrary to their own wishes and the petition 
 of the citizens, ordered a re-survey of the old grants and 
 patents in the hope of deriving a revenue from the fees, 
 and destroyed valuable documents which had been 
 intrusted to him by the corporation of Albany, and 
 which were obstacles in the way of his acquisitions. On 
 the 10th of March, 1736, his rapacity was suddenly 
 checked by his death. But, retaining his animosity to 
 the last, he called the members of his council together in 
 his chamber, and suspended Rip Van Dam, his former 
 antagonist, who, as the eldest member, was legally his 
 successor. 
 
 Upon the announcement of Cosby's decease, the coun- 
 cil assembled, and for the first time proclaiming the sus- 
 pension of Yan Dam, proceeded to administer the oaths 
 of office to George Clarke, the next in council. The 
 declaration of this fact was the signal for new dissensions. 
 As the eldest member of the council, Van Dam was 
 entitled to administer the government, and, knowing 
 himself to be popular, he demanded it as his right, claim- 
 ing the suspension to be invalid. The people, headed 
 by Morris, who had just arrived from England, whither 
 he had gone for the purpose of effecting the removal of 
 Cosby, rallied round their favorite, and exhibited such 
 
346 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 unmistakable signs of hostility that Clarke hastily 
 retreated into the fort, and summoned the military to 
 his aid. Terrified at the threatening state of affairs, 
 he sent to Morris to ask his advice. "If you don't 
 "hang them, they will hang you," was the significant 
 reply. But he did not need to have recourse to 
 such desperate measures, for, on the 14th of October, 
 dispatches arrived from England which confirmed him 
 in his authority and commissioned him to act as lieu- 
 tenant-governor. 
 
 Clarke, though born in England, had long been a resi- 
 dent of the colony. He was politic and sagacious, com- 
 prehending the spirit of the people and the best methods 
 of winning popularity. Knowing that he could only 
 hope to hold the office until the appointment of a new 
 governor, and . anxious in the meantime to secure a 
 princely fortune, his chief aim was to act in such a man- 
 ner as to ingratiate himself with both parties. His first 
 act was to dissolve the Assembly, and to restore Smith 
 and Alexander to the bar. Lewis Morris had previously 
 been appointed governor of New Jersey, now again 
 divorced from Xew York. 
 
 A new Assembly, consisting in great part of the 
 popular party, met in the summer of 1737, and many 
 important bills were passed during their first session. 
 But, despite the insinuating policy of the new lieutenant- 
 governor, they firmly refused to grant a revenue for a 
 longer time than one year, and this resolution was 
 strictly adhered to in future. One of the most significant 
 incidents in this session, as marking the popular prejudices 
 of the times, was an act disfranchising the Jews in the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 347 
 
 proviuce. This fanatical proceeding was owing chiefly 
 to the efforts of Wilham Smith, the lawyer, who has 
 already figured so prominently in our pages. 
 
 We will now glance at the progress of the city during 
 the administration of the late governor. In 1734, the 
 first poor-house, of which we have already made men- 
 tion, was erected in the Commons on the site of the 
 future " Old Alms-house." The building was forty-six 
 feet long, twenty-four feet wide and two stories high, 
 with a cellar, and was furnished with implements of 
 labor for the use of the inmates. The churchwardens 
 were appointed as overseers of the poor, and all paupers 
 were required to work under penalty of receiving 
 moderate correction. Parish children were to be taught 
 there to read, write and cast accounts, and to be employed 
 in some useful labor ; and as the building was also a house 
 of correction, it was used as a sort of calaboose for 
 unruly slaves, their masters having permission to send 
 them thither for punishment. A large vegetable garden 
 was laid out about the house, which was cultivated by 
 the inmates, and the produce devoted to the use of the 
 institution. In the same year, Cortlandt street was first 
 surveyed and opened. 
 
 In 1735, Robert Lurting died, after having discharged 
 the duties of the mayoralty for nine years, and Paul 
 Richard was appointed in his stead. Mr. Richard was a 
 merchant of French extraction, his gi-andfather having 
 emigrated from France to New York in tJie early days 
 of the English conquest. He retained the office for three 
 years. The first event of importance during his admin- 
 istration was the laying of the first stone of the battery 
 
348 
 
 HISTORY or THE 
 
 01(1 Ferry House, Corner of Broad and Garden Streets. 
 
 upon the platform of the Whitehall rocks, a little to the 
 east of the Copsey Battery. This was performed with 
 great ceremony, the stone being laid by Governor 
 Cosby, in the midst of great rejoicings. But an 
 untoward event occurred to mar the festivity — a cannon 
 burst in firing a salute, killing John Syms, the high 
 sheriff, Miss Cortlandt, daughter of the councillor, and 
 a son-in-Uiw of Alderman De.Riemer. The new works 
 were christened George Augustus' Royal Battery. 
 During the same year, the city watch was increased to 
 ten men and two constables, and additional precautions 
 were taken to prevent fires and to provide for the public 
 safety. 
 
 In 1737, Water street, which had received its name 
 the previous year, was extended from Fulton street to 
 Peck slip, a distance of four hundred feet. Trinity 
 church was also enlarged, for the last time, on the north 
 and south sides, making it seventy-two feet in width and 
 a hundred and forty-six feet in lengtli, including the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 349 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 351 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 35.S 
 
 tower and chancel. The spire was one hundred and 
 eighty feet liigh. In 1739, its churchyard was enUirged, 
 and Rector street was opened to the city. 
 
 In 1738, a sort of quarantine was established at Bed- 
 low's Island. The smallpox was raging in South 
 Carolina as it had raged in New York seven or eight 
 years before, and the citizens, alarmed at the danger, 
 entreated that all suspected vessels should anchor at 
 Bedlow's Island nor be sufTered to discharge their 
 cargoes until they had first been visited and examined 
 by physicians. This was accordingly done, and the panic 
 soon ceased. 
 
 In 1739, Mayor Richard was succeeded by John 
 Cruger, a well-known merchant of the city, who had been 
 engaged in his early youth in the slave trade, on the coast 
 of Africa ; and afterwards, almndoning this pursuit, had 
 settled in the city as a merchant and entered likewise 
 into public affairs. He continued in the mayoralty for 
 five years. During the first year of his administration, 
 a large market-house was erected in Broadway, opposite 
 Liberty street. Markets were now among the most 
 flourishing institutions of the city, and were under the 
 strict supervision of the municipal authorities, the mayor 
 himself usually officiating as clerk. During this year, 
 William Sharpas, the town-clerk, died, having served 
 the corporation in that capacity for a term of forty-seven 
 years. 
 
 The winter of 1740-1 was remembered for many years 
 
 as "the Hard Winter." The intense cold continued 
 
 from the middle of November to the close of March. 
 
 The snow was six feet on a level, the Hudson was frozen 
 
 23 
 
354: CITY OP NEW YORK. 
 
 at New York, and great suffering was felt among the 
 poor. But the severity of the season was a trifle in com- 
 parison with the cloud of terror and cruelty which was 
 now hovering in the horizon of New York. The evil 
 which the people had so long been cherishing in their 
 midst was now about to recoil upon them with conse- 
 quences which would long be remembered with horror. 
 The negro plot — that counterpart of the Salem witch- 
 craft — was on the eve of its development ; the details 
 we reserve for another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1741—1753. 
 The Negro Plot of 1741. 
 
 The negro plot of the city of New York will long con- 
 tinue to be classed in the foremost rank of popular 
 delusions, even exceeding in its progress and its fearful 
 dmoument, the celebrated Popish Plot concocted by 
 Titus Gates. At this distance, it is difficult to ascertain 
 how many grains of truth were mingled with the mass 
 of prejudice, or to discover the wild schemes which may 
 have sprung up in the brains of the oppressed and excit- 
 able negroes, but certain it is that nothing can justify the 
 wholesale panic of a civilized community, or the indis- 
 criminate imprisonment and execution of scores of igno- 
 rant beings without friends or counsel, on no other evi- 
 dence than the incoherencies of a few wretches more 
 degraded than they, supported by the horror of a terror- 
 struck imagination. We shall endeavor to follow the 
 development of this singular plot clearly and simply, 
 leaving the reader to draw his own inference from the 
 facts and to determine how much credence should be 
 given the testimony. 
 
356 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 At this time, New York contained about ten thousand 
 
 inhabitants, nearly one-fifth of whom were negro slaves. 
 
 Since the first introduction of slavery into the province 
 
 in the days of Wilhelm Kieft, it had increased and 
 
 flourished to an alarming extent. Every householder 
 
 who could afford it was surrounded by negroes, who were 
 
 contemptuously designated as "the black seed of Cain," 
 
 and deprived, not only of their liberty, but also of the 
 
 commonest rights of humanity. We have already 
 
 adverted to some of the laws established from time to 
 
 time in respect to these unfortunate beings. These 
 
 ordinances were of the most stringent character. "All 
 
 'blacks were slaves," says a late historian, "and slaves 
 
 ' could not be witnesses against a freeman. They were 
 
 ' incapable of buying anything, even the minutest neces- 
 
 ' sary of life ; they were punishable by master or mistress 
 
 ' to any extent short of life and limb ; as often as three 
 
 ' of them were found together, they were punished with 
 
 ' forty lashes on the bare back ; and the same legal 
 
 ' liability attended the walking with a club outside the 
 
 ' master's grounds without a permit. Two justices might 
 
 'inflict any punishment short of death or amputation 
 
 ' for a blow or the smallest assault upon a Christian or 
 
 ' a Jew." Such was the spirit of the laws of the times. 
 
 It had been the constant pohcy, both of the Dutch and 
 
 English governments, to encourage the importation of 
 
 slaves as much as possible ; the leading merchants of the 
 
 city were engaged in the traffic, which was regarded by 
 
 the public as strictly honorable, and, at the time of which 
 
 we speak, New York was literally swarming with negroes, 
 
 and presented all the features of a future Southern 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK. 357 
 
 city, with its calaboose on the Commons and us market- 
 place at the foot of Wall street. The people were 
 not blind to the possible danger from this oppressed 
 yet powerful host that was silently gathering in their 
 midst, and the slightest suspicious movement on the part 
 of the negroes was sufficient to excite their distrust and 
 alai-m. Since the supposed plot of 1712, of which we 
 have already spoken, a growing fear of the slaves had 
 pervaded the city, and the most stringent measures had 
 been adopted to prevent their assemblages and to keep 
 them under strict surveillance. But it was difficult to 
 restrain the thieving propensities of the negroes ; petty 
 thefts were constantly committed, and it was one of these 
 that first paved the way to the real or supposed discovery 
 of a plot to murder the inhabitants and take possession 
 of the city. 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1741, some goods and silver 
 were stolen from the house of a merchant named Robert 
 Hogg, on the corner of Broad and Mill or South William 
 streets. The police immediateiy set to work to discover 
 the thieves, and suspicion having fiillen upon John 
 Hughson, the keeper of a low negro tavern on tlie shores 
 of the North River, his house was searched, but to no 
 effect. Soon after, an indentured servant girl of Hugh- 
 son's, by the name of Mary Burton, told a neighbor that 
 the goods were really hidden in the house, but that Hugh- 
 son would kill her if he knew that she had said so. This 
 rumor soon came to the ears of the authorities, who at 
 once arrested Mary Burton and lodged her in the city 
 ;ail, promising her her freedom if she would confess all 
 tliat she knew about the matter. 
 
358 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 On the 4th of March, the Court met at the City Hall, 
 and John Hughson, his wife, Mary Burton, and an Irish- 
 woman of depraved character, commonly known as 
 Peggy Carey, but whose real name was Margaret Soru- 
 biero, who was also an inmate of Hughson's house, were 
 brought before them. Mary Burton testified that a 
 negro named CfBsar, belonging to John Varick, had left 
 goods and money in the keeping of Peggy, a part of 
 which had been concealed by Hughson. This, Peggy 
 obstinately denied, but Hughson admitted that he had 
 concealed some pieces of linen and silver. Csesar and 
 another negro named Prince Amboyman were at once 
 arrested and committed to prison, both denying the rob- 
 bery. Some of the stolen goods were discovered under 
 the kitchen-floor of the house of Caesar's master, and 
 restored to the owner, and here the matter rested. Not a 
 word was said during the trial of any plot or conspiracy. 
 
 Affairs stood in this wise, when, about noon on the 
 18th of March, the governor's house, in the fort next the 
 King's Chapel,* then occupied by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Clarke, was discovered to be on fire. All efforts to save 
 it were in vain ; it was burned to the ground, together 
 with the chapel, the secretary's office, the stables and 
 the barracks. The conflagration was at the time attrib- 
 uted to the carelessness of a plumber who had left fire 
 in a gutter between the house and the chapel, and it was 
 so reported bj' the governor to the legislature. A week 
 after, the chimney of Captain Warren's house near the 
 fort took fire, but the flames were soon extinguished with 
 
 • The old church in the fort, built by Wilhelm Kiert 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 359 
 
 little damage. A few days after, a fire broke out in tlie 
 storehouse of Mr. Van Zandt, which, at the time, was 
 attributed to the carelessness of a smoker. 
 
 Three days after, the hay in a cow-stable near the 
 house of Mr. Quick was discovered to be on fire. The alarm 
 was given and the flames were soon suppressed. While 
 returning to their homes, the people were called by a 
 fifth alarm to the house of Mr. Thompson, where it was 
 said that fire had been placed in a kitchen-loft where a 
 negro usually slept. The next day, coals were discov- 
 ered under the stables of John Murray in Broadway. 
 The following morning, a fire broke out in the house of 
 Sergeant Burns, opposite the fort ; and a few hours after, 
 the roof of Mr. Hilton's house, near the Fly Market, 
 was discovered to be on fire. Both were extinguished 
 without much damage, but the rapid recurrence of so 
 many fires alarmed the inhabitants, and a rumor was soon 
 circulated that the negroes had plotted to burn the city. 
 For some days past, the slaves had been objects of sus- 
 picion ; this suspicion now ripened into certainty. A 
 short time before, a Spanish vessel, manned in part by 
 blacks, had been brought into port as a prize, and the 
 negroes condemned to be sold as slaves at auction. The 
 exasperated Africans, who had hitherto been freemen, 
 murmured loudly at this harsh usage, and rashly let fall 
 threats which were now recalled as words of ominous 
 import. One of these negroes had been bought by Mr. 
 Sarly, the next neighbor to Mr. Hilton, whose house had 
 been fired. On being questioned about the matter, his 
 answers were deemed evasive, and suspicions were at 
 once excited against himself and his companions. "The 
 
oGO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " Spanish negroes ! the Spanish negroes ! take up the 
 " Spanish negroes ! " was the general cry ; and the unfor- 
 tunate wretches were at once arrested and thrown into 
 prison, together with Quack, a negro of Mr. Walters, who 
 had been heard to mutter some incoherent words about 
 the fire. 
 
 The magistrates met the same afternoon to consult 
 about the matter, and while they were still in session, 
 another fire broke out in the roof of Colonel Phihpse's 
 storehouse. The alarm became universal ; the negroes 
 were seized indiscriminately and thrown into prison ; 
 among them, many who had just helped to extinguish the 
 fire. People and magistrates were alike panic struck, 
 and the rumor gained general credence, that the negroes 
 had plotted to burn the city, massacre the inhabitants, 
 and effect a general revolution. 
 
 On the 11th of April, 1741, the Common Council 
 assembled, and offered a reward of one hundred pounds 
 and a full pardon to any conspirator Avho would reveal 
 his knowledge of the plot with the names of the incen- 
 diaries. Many of the terrified citizens removed with 
 their household goods and valuables from what they 
 began to deem a doomed city, paying exorbitant prices 
 for vehicles and assistance. The city was searched for 
 strangers and suspicious persons, but none were found, 
 and the negroes were examined without effect. Cuff 
 Philipse,* who had been among those arrested, was 
 proved to have been among the most active in extin- 
 guishing the fire at his master's house, yet he was held 
 
 * The negroes were famiViarly called by the surnames of their masters. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 361 
 
 ill prison to await further developments, and soine things 
 being found in the possession of Robin Chambers and 
 his wife which were judged unbecoming their condition 
 as slaves, they were thrown into prison and the articles 
 delivered to the mayor. 
 
 On the 21st of April, 1741, the Supreme Court 
 assembled for the especial purpose of investigating the 
 matter, Judges Philipse and Horsmanden being present. 
 The grand Jury was composed of Robert Watts, foreman, 
 Jeremiali Latouche, Joseph Read, Anthony Rutgers, 
 John Cruger, jr., John McEvers, Adonijah Schuyler, 
 Abraham de Peyster, John Merrit, David Provoost, 
 Abraham Ketteltas, Henry Beekman, Rene Hett, David 
 Van Home, Winant Van Zandt, George Spencer and 
 Thomas Duncan. The proclamation of pardon and 
 reward was read to Mary Burton, who deposed that 
 Ciesar and Prince brought the stolen goods to the house, 
 and that Hughson, his wife and Peggy received them. 
 She said, too, that Cajsar, Prince and Cuff Philipse used 
 frequently to meet at Hughson's, and talk about burning 
 first the fort and then the whole city, and that Hughson 
 and his wife promised to assist them. When this was 
 done, Hughson was to be governor, and Cuff king. 
 Then Cuff used to say that some people had too much 
 and others too little ; that his old master had a great 
 deal now, but that the time was coming when he would 
 have less, and Cuff more ; that they would set fire to the 
 town in the night, and, when the whites came to 
 extinguish it, would kill and destroy them. She swore, 
 moreover, that she had never seen any white person in 
 company when they talked of burning tlie town, save 
 
362 dlSTORY OF THE 
 
 her master and mistress with Peggy. All this story of 
 a plot conceived by a poor tavern-keeper and his wife 
 with a few ignorant negroes for the destruction of a city 
 of ten thousand inhabitants was received with eager 
 avidity by the credulous magistrates, and Mary Burton 
 became at once the heroine of the day. 
 
 The jury next examined Peggy Carey, promising hei 
 pardon and reward if she would make a full confession, 
 but she persistently denied all knowledge of the fires, 
 and said that, if she should accuse any one of any such 
 thing, she must slander innocent persons and blacken 
 her own soul. She was convicted of having received 
 and secreted the stolen goods, and sentenced to death 
 with Prince and Caesar. The daughter of Hughson with 
 one of his slaves were also committed as being impli- 
 cated in the conspiracy. 
 
 Terrified at the prospect of a speedy death, the 
 wretched Peggy endeavored to avert her fate by grasp- 
 ing the means of rescue which had before been offered 
 her, and begged for a second examination ; and, this 
 being granted her, confessed that meetings of negroes 
 had been held in the last December at the house of 
 John Romme, a tavern-keeper near the new Battery, of 
 the same stamp with Hughson, at which she had been 
 present ; and that Romme had told them that if they 
 would set fire to the city, massacre the inhabitants and 
 bring the plunder to him, he would carry them to a 
 strange country and give them all their liberty. This 
 confession was so evidently vamped up to save herself 
 from the gallows that even the magistrates hesitated to 
 behove it. Yet CufI' Philipse, Brash Jay, Cura(;'oa Dick, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 363 
 
 Cfcsar Pintard, Patrick English, Jack Boasted and Cato 
 Moore, all of whom she had named in her confession, were 
 brought before her and identified as conspirators. 
 Romme absconded, but his wife was arrested and com- 
 mitted to prison ; and the accused were locked up for 
 further examination. Upon this, the terrified negroes 
 began to criminate each other, hoping thereby to save 
 themselves from the fate that awaited them. But these 
 efforts availed them nothing,"any more than did the con- 
 fession of the miserable Peggy, who was executed at 
 last, vainly denying with her dying breath her former 
 confessions. In the meantime, several fires had occurred 
 at Hackensack, and two negroes, suspected of being the 
 incendiaries, were condemned and burnt at the stake, 
 though not a particle of evidence was found against 
 them. 
 
 On Monday, the 11th of May, Coesar and Prince, the 
 first victims of the negro plot, were hung on a gallows 
 erected on the little island in the Fresh Water Pond, 
 denying to the last all knowledge of the conspiracy, 
 though they admitted that they had really stolen the 
 goods. 
 
 Hughson and his wife were tried and found guilty, 
 and, with Peggy Carey, were hanged on a gibbet 
 erected on the East River shore, near the corner of 
 Cherry and Catharine streets. Every artifice was used 
 to extract from the prisoners an admission of their guilt, 
 and even to inveigle the daughter of Hughson into 
 criminating her father and mother. Their examination 
 elicited the new fact from Mary Burton that she had 
 seen a negro give Ilughsou twelve pounds to buy guns 
 
3ni HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 which he had purchased and secreted under the garret 
 floor of his house. The floor was taken up, but the 
 guns could neither be traced nor found ; yet this failed 
 to shake the belief of the credulous magistrates, who 
 still continued to accept her testimony. 
 
 Cuff Philipse and Quack were next brought to trial, a 
 negro boy named Sawney appearing as witness against 
 them. This boy was at first arrested and brought 
 before the magistrates, when he denied all knowledge of 
 the conspiracy. He was told in reply that if he would 
 tell the truth, he would not be hanged. To tell the 
 truth had now come to be generally understood to mean 
 the confession of a plot for burning the town. Urged 
 on by his fears, he acted on the hint, and said that 
 Quack had tried to persuade him to set the fort on fire ; 
 and that Cuff had said that he would set fire to one 
 house, Cura^oa Dick to another, and so on. A negro 
 named Fortune was arrested and examined, who testified 
 that Quack had told him that Sawney had confessed to 
 him that it was he who had set fire to the governor's 
 house. The next day, Sawney was called up and again 
 examined, when he confessed that he had been frightened 
 into a promise to burn the Slip market, that he had seen 
 some of the houses fired by the negroes, and that he and 
 the rest had been sworn to secrecy. On these accusa- 
 tions, the negroes were tried for their lives ; all the 
 lawyers in the city being arrayed on the side of the 
 prosecution. Bradley was still attorney-general ; and 
 Murray, Alexander, Smith, Chambers, Nichols, liodge 
 and Jameson made uj: the balance of the New York 
 attorneys. These voluntarily offered to attend the trials 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 365 
 
 by turns ; leaving the negroes as destitute of counsel as 
 tliey were of friends. Ignorant of the forms of law, and 
 terrified at the prospect of tlieir impending danger, it is 
 not strange that their bewildered and contradictor) 
 statements were construed by their learned adversaries 
 into evidences of their guilt. Quack and CufTee were 
 found guilty, and sentenced to be burned at the stake on 
 the 30th of May. 
 
 On the day appointed, the fagots were piled in a 
 grassy valley in the neighborhood of the present Five 
 Points, and the wretched victims led out to execu- 
 tion. The spot was thronged with impatient spectators, 
 eager to witness the terrible tragedy. Terrified and 
 trembling, the poor wretches gladly availed themselves 
 of their last chance for life, and, on being questioned by 
 their masters, confessed that the plot had originated with 
 Hughson, that Quack's wife was the person who had set 
 fire to the fort, he having been chosen for the task by 
 the confederated negroes, and that Mary Burton liad 
 spoken the truth and could name many more conspira- 
 tors if she pleased. As a reward, they were reprieved 
 until the further pleasure of the governor should be 
 known. But the impatient populace, which liad come 
 out for a spectacle, would not so easily be balked of its 
 prey. Ominous mutterings resounded round the pile 
 with threats of evil import, and the sheriff was ordered 
 to proceed with his duty. Terrified by these menaces, 
 he dared not attempt to take the prisoners back to the 
 jail ; and the execution went on. Despite tlieir forced 
 confessions, the terrible pile was lighted, and the 
 wretched negroes perished in the flames, knowing that. 
 
366 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with their last breath, they had doomed their fellows to 
 share their fate in vain. 
 
 On the 6th of June, seven other negroes, named Jack, 
 Cook, Robin, Caesar, CufFee, Cuffee and Jamaica, were 
 tried and found guilty on the dying evidence of Quack 
 and CufFee, with the stories of Mary ^urton and the 
 negro boy, Sawney. All were executed the next day 
 with the exception of Jack, who saved his life by pro- 
 mising further disclosures. These disclosures implicated 
 fourteen others, one of whom, to save his life, confessed 
 and accused still more. 
 
 On the 11th of June, Francis, one of the Spanish 
 negroes, Albany, and Curapoa Dick were sentenced to 
 be burned at the stake. Ben and Quack were con- 
 demned to the same fate five days after. Three others 
 were at the same time sentenced to be hanged, and five 
 of the Spanish negroes were also convicted. 
 
 On the 19th of June, the governor issued a proclama- 
 tion of pardon to all who would confess and reveal the 
 names of their accomplices before the ensuing 1st of 
 July. Upon this, the accusations multiplied rapidly. 
 Mary Burton, who had at first denied that any white 
 man save Hughson had been implicated in the plot, now 
 suddenly remembered that JohnUry, a reputed Catholic 
 priest and a schoolmaster in the city, had also been 
 concerned in it. His religion was proof presumptive of 
 his guilt in the minds of the populace, and he was at 
 once arrested and indicted, first, on the charge of having 
 counselled Quack to set fire to the governor's house in 
 the fort ; secondly, that, being a Catholic priest, he had 
 come into the province and remained there sc^•en 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 367 
 
 months, contrary to a law passed in the eleventh year of 
 the reign of William III., condemning every Popish 
 priest and Jesuit to death who should henceforth be 
 found within the limits of the province. The evidence 
 received against this unhappy man can only find its 
 parallel in the annals of the Salem witchcraft. The tide 
 of popular prejudice against the negroes was turned 
 into a new channel, and the rumor of a Popish plot 
 added fresh zest to the spirit of persecution. Ury was 
 accused of being an emissary of the Jesuits, deputed to 
 stir up the negroes to an insurrection. Sarah Hughson, 
 who had been coaxed and threatened into becoming the 
 tool of her parents' executioners, and had been pardoned 
 from a sentence of death in order that she might give 
 evidence against Ury, deposed that she had seen him 
 make a ring with chalk upon the floor of her father's 
 house, and, ranging all the negroes present around it, 
 stand in the middle with a cross in his hand and swear 
 them to secrecy ; and that she had seen him baptize 
 them and forgive them their sins. This story was con- 
 firmed by the testimony of Mary Burton : and William 
 Kane, a soldier belonging to the fort, deposed that Ury 
 had endeavored to convert him to the Catholic faith. A 
 confectioner by the name of Elias Desbrosses testified 
 that Ury had at one time inquired of him for wafers. 
 It was also proved that he could read Latin, and that a 
 joiner, the father of one of his pupils, had made a desk 
 for him, which the active imagination of his judges con- 
 strued into an altar. It was in vain for him to declare 
 that he was a non-juring clergyman of the Church of 
 Eno-land, to prove by reliable witnesses that he had 
 
308 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 never associated with the negroes, and to disclaim all 
 knowledge of Hughson and his family ; his judges had 
 determined on his sentence in advance, and he was con- 
 demned to be hanged on the 29th of August. 
 
 The arrest of Ury was the signal for the imphcation 
 of others of the whites. It was a true foreshadowing of 
 the Reign of Terror. Every one feared his neighbor, 
 and hastened to be the first to accuse, lest he himself 
 should be accused and thrown into prison. Fresh 
 victims were daily seized, and those with whom the jails 
 were already full to overflowing were transported or 
 hanged with scarcely the form of a trial in order to make 
 room for the new comers. So rapid was the increase 
 that the judges feared that the numbers might breed an 
 infection, and devised short methods of ridding themselves 
 of the prisoners, sometimes by pardoning, but as often 
 by hanging them. From the 11th of May to the 29th 
 of August, one hundred and fifty-four negroes were 
 committed to prison, fourteen of whom were burnt at 
 the stake, eighteen hanged, seventy-one transported and 
 the rest pardoned or discharged for the want of sufficient 
 evidence. In the same time, twenty-four whites were 
 committed to prison, four of whom were executed. 
 
 The tragedy would probably have continued much 
 longer, had not Mary Burton, grown bolder by success, 
 began to implicate persons of consequence. This at 
 once aroused the fears of the influential citizens, who 
 had been the foremost when only the negroes were in 
 question, and put a stop to all further proceedings. The 
 fearful catalogue of victims closed on the 29th of 
 August with the execution of John Ury. The 24th of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 369 
 
 September was set apart as a day of general thanksgiv- 
 ing for the escape of the citizens from destruction ; Mary 
 Burton received the hundred pounds that had been 
 promised her as the price of blood, and the city fell back 
 into a feehng of security. "Whether this plot ever had 
 the shadow of an existence except in the disordered 
 imaginations of the citizens can never with certainty be 
 known. Daniel Horsmanden, at that time recorder, 
 and one of the judges of the Supreme Court, attempts 
 in a history of the conspiracy to demonstrate its existence 
 and to justify the acts of the judges in the matter. But 
 the witnesses were persons of the vilest character, the 
 evidence was contradictory, inconsistent, and extorted 
 under the fear of death, and no real testimony was adduced 
 that could satisfy any man in the possession of a clear 
 head and a sound judgment. Terror was really the 
 strongest evidence, and the fear of the Jesuits the con- 
 elusive proof. The law passed in 1700 for hanging 
 every Catholic priest who voluntarily came within the 
 province still disgraced the statute-book, while the feel- 
 ing of intolerance which had prompted it remained as 
 bitter and unyielding as ever. 
 
 The French church in Pine street was rebuilt during 
 this year. The following year was marked by the break- 
 ing out of a malignant epidemic, strongly resembling the 
 yellow fever in type, which carried off over two hundred 
 persons. This was the second disease of the kind that 
 had appeared in the city. 
 
 In 174-3, Lieutenant-Governor Clarke was superseded 
 by Admiral George Clinton, a younger son of the Earl 
 of Lincoln, and the father of the Sir Henry Clinton who 
 24 
 
370 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 afterwards figured so conspicuously iu the city during 
 tlie Revolution. Clinton arrived at New York on the 
 22d of September, with his wife and family, and pub- 
 lished his commission on the same day at the City Hall. 
 lie was received by the corporation with the usual 
 congratulatory address and the freedom of the city in a 
 gold box, made by Charles Le Roux, the city goldsmith, 
 at a cost of twenty pounds. Clinton was of an easy 
 and indolent temjserament, anxious above all to improve 
 his fortunes, and not averse to popularity. Onhis arrival, 
 he at once took Chief-Justice De Lancey into his confi- 
 dence, and, under his guidance, for some time, things 
 went on smoothly. The Assembly voted him a hberal 
 revenue for the first year, while he, in turn, assented to 
 all the bills presented to him ; among which was one 
 limiting the existence of this and all future Assemblies 
 to a period of seven years. The third intercolonial war 
 breaking out at the same time, the Assembly voted 
 money to aid in carrying it on, and new expeditions were 
 organized for the conquest of Canada. It was not long 
 before Clinton became estranged from his first friend, 
 De Lancey, and formed an alliance with Cadwallader 
 Golden instead. This was the signal for the commence- 
 ment of hostilities. Heading the opposition party, the 
 late favorite, who was alUed either by blood or friendship 
 to most of the leading men of the province, stirred up a 
 fierce contest between the governor and the Assembly, 
 which harassed the remainder of his administration and 
 finally compelled him to withdraw^ from the province. 
 
 In 1744, Stephen Bayard, a descendant of Nicholas 
 Bayard of Leislerian memory, was appointed mayor 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 371 
 
 
 I", 
 
 VX'' 
 
 v^ 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 373 
 
 During the first year of his administration, steps were 
 taken towards founding a college in the city. It was 
 time, indeed, for, engaged in commercial and pohtical 
 affairs, the citizens had neglected the interests of educa- 
 tion. The few collegians in the province had been edu- 
 cated in England or at the eastern colleges ; while most of 
 the youth went directly from the gi-ammar-school to the 
 counting-room. Smith and De Lancey were the only col- 
 legians on the bench or at the bar ; and there were but 
 few to be found elsewhere. To remedy this remissness, 
 it was resolved to raise £2,250 by lottery — the usual 
 means of effecting such an object — for the foundation of 
 a college. The enterprise was at once commenced, 
 though it was not until ten years after that the money 
 was raised, and the corner-stone of King's, afterwards 
 Columbia College laid by the governor. The manage- 
 ment of the proposed institution soon became a subject 
 of contention between the Episcopalian and Presbyterian 
 parties, now the two gi-eat factions of the day, the former 
 of which was headed by James De Lancey, and the latter 
 by Philip Livingston. In this, the Episcopalians gained 
 the mastery, and the college long remained under the 
 control of that denomination. 
 
 In 1747, Edward Holland was appointed mayor. He 
 continued in the mayoralty until his death in 1756. In 
 the first year of his administration, the Presbyterian 
 church in Wall street, which had been erected during 
 the administration of Hunter, was rebuilt. During the 
 same year, the Common Council ordered fifty copies of 
 " An Essay on the Duties of Vestrymen " to be published 
 at their expense at a cost of four pounds in order to 
 
3^4 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 encourage works of this kind — one of the first cases of 
 this sort on record. In the course of the next two years, 
 Beekman and the contiguous streets were regulated, 
 Ferry street was ceded to the city, Beekman, Dey and 
 Thames streets were paved, Pearl street was dug down 
 near Peck Slip and regulated from Franklin Square to 
 Chatham street, and John street was paved and regu- 
 lated. In 1751, a Moravian chapel was built in Fulton 
 street. The following year, the first Merchant's 
 Exchange was erected at the foot of Broad street, and 
 St. George's chapel was built by Trinity Church on the 
 corner of ClifF and Beekman streets, and was conse- 
 crated on the 1st of July by the Rev. Mr. Barclay. 
 This long remained in good preservation, and was well 
 known to the down-town residents as one of the few 
 
 St. George's Cbapel ia Beekman street, erected in 1752. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 375 
 
 landmarks of the olden time. It was still a much fre- 
 quented place of worship when its centenary celebration 
 took place with great eclat. A few yeai's afterward, 
 the ancient church, with its quaint old chandeliers and 
 aisles flagged with gray stone, fell before the hammer 
 of the demolisher to make room for the stately ware- 
 houses that now occupy its site. It Avas j)artially de- 
 stroyed by fire in 1814, but was soon after repaired and 
 opened again for service. Washington was a fi-equent 
 attendant of this church during his residence in the city 
 in the early part of the Revolution. 
 
 In 1748, Clinton revived the scheme of making the 
 governors independent of the Assembly by means of a 
 permanent revenue, and urged the latter to favor his 
 designs by granting him a five years' appropriation, 
 threatening them with the vengeance of the king in case 
 of refusal. They did refuse it, nevertheless, and all the 
 persuasions and menaces of the governor, backed by the 
 royal autliority, failed to move them from the stand 
 which they had taken. Another incident occurred about 
 the same time which widened the breach between the 
 people and the royal governors, and prepared them for 
 a final separation. All colonial vessels were at this time 
 required to lower their flags in token of respect when 
 passing his majesty's ships of war. A captain by the 
 name of Ricketts, on returning one night with his wife 
 and family from New York to Elizabethtown, inadver- 
 tently neglected this token of homage when passing the 
 Greyhound, which lay anchored in the harbor. The cap- 
 tain of the latter immediately fired a shot, of which the 
 party in the boat took no notice, not dreaming that they 
 
376 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 were concerned in the matter. The shot was imme- 
 diately followed by another, which struck the nurse, 
 killing her instantly. The news of this outrage aroused 
 the citizens ; the captain was instantly an-ested and 
 brought to shore, and the governor petitioned to bring 
 him to trial ; but Clinton coolly disclaimed all jurisdic- 
 tion in the matter, saying that his commission gave him 
 no power over any of the ships of war, and that the 
 offender could only be proceeded against in England. 
 The people were exasperated almost to madness ; but 
 there was no redress ; they were forced to be silent. 
 
 Tn the meantime, the conduct of Clinton had alienated 
 Colden, who had gone over to the party of the opposi- 
 tion, and Smith, Alexander and Johnson alone remained 
 as his chief supporters. Under the leadership of De 
 Lancey, the Assembly grew more and more refractory, 
 and, after repeated efforts to obtain his demands, grow- 
 ing weary of the contest, the governor at length pro- 
 rogued them. Finding that his power in the province 
 was gone, and worn with the struggle against a powerful 
 opposition, Clinton at last dispatched his resignation to 
 England, and Sir Danvers Osborne was appointed in his 
 stead. 
 
 The new governor arrived on the 7th of September, 
 1753, charged with instructions to maintain the royal 
 prerogative, and to demand of the Assembly a perma- 
 nent revenue to be disbursed by the governor alone. 
 with the advice and consent of his council. Three days 
 after, he took the oaths of office, and published his com- 
 mission at the City Hall. The people welcomed him with 
 shouts and huzzas, mingled with deep invectives against 
 
CITY OF N E M- YORK 
 
 37' 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 379 
 
 Clinton, who walked by his side. This expression of 
 feeling wounded him deeply. "I expect the same treat- 
 " ment before I leave the province," said he. On his 
 return to the council chamber, the corporation met him 
 with a bold address, expressing their hope that he would 
 be as averse to countenancing as they should be to brook- 
 ing any infringement upon their civil or religious liber- 
 ties. A splendid entertainment, however, was given by 
 the city in honor of the new governor ; bells were rung, ' 
 cannon fired, and the whole town illuminated; yet it was 
 whispered that this was due more to the appointment of 
 De Lancey — now the idol of the people — as lieutenant- 
 governor, than to the accession of Sir Danvers Osborne. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th, the new governor con- 
 vened the council and laid his instructions before them. 
 "The Assembly will never yield obedience," said they. 
 " Is this true ?" said he, turning to William Smith, who 
 stood by his side. " Most emphatically so," answered 
 the chief-justice in reply. " Then what am I come here 
 " for !" exclaimed he, gloomily, bowing his head on the 
 window-sill and covering his face with his hands. 
 
 The next morning the whole city was in commotion. 
 The body of Sir Danvers Osborne had been found sus- 
 pended by a handkerchief from the garden-wall of John 
 Murray's house in Broadway, where he had lodged since 
 his arrival in the city. The unfortunate man had been 
 dei'anged and had even attempted his life before his 
 departure from England. The loss of a beloved wife 
 had unsettled his reason, and his friends, hoping to work 
 a cure by constant occupation and a change of scene, 
 had procured him this post and sent him to New York 
 
380 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 to assume the government. But the fractiousness of the 
 people over whom he had been sent to rule had proved 
 too much for his enfeebled brain, and, seeing the impos- 
 sibility of enforcing his instructions without becoming as 
 odious as his predecessor, he had retired to his chamber 
 after his stormy interview with the council, burned his 
 papers, set his affairs in order, and deliberately put an 
 end to his life. His remains were buried in Trinity 
 church, the obsequies being performed with some reluct- 
 ance by the rector, who protested that the burial service 
 was forbidden by the rubric to those who had died by 
 their own hands. This objection, however, was over- 
 ruled by the council, who declared that insanity was 
 equivalent to disease, and that the governor had as much 
 right to Christian burial as though he had died of a 
 fever ; and the body of the unfortunate Sir Danvers 
 Osborne was at last permitted to repose in consecrated 
 ground. The government devolved upon James De 
 Lancey, now grown a favorite with a large portion of 
 the people. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 New York Previous to the Revolation. 
 
 Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancet now assumed 
 the direction of affairs. His accession was hailed with 
 delight by the people, to whom he had endeared himself 
 by heading the party opposed to the " permanent reve- 
 ' ' nue " scheme of the royal governors. Strangely enough, 
 the parties had changed sides. The ex-royalist faction 
 — aristocratic, as it was satirically termed by its oppo- 
 nents — comprising most of the wealthy and influential 
 citizens, De Lancey, Van Rensselaer, Golden, Philipse, 
 Heathcote, and many more, was now openly ranged on 
 the side of the popular rights, while Smith, Livingston 
 and Alexander, once the leaders of the people, had gone 
 over to the other side, and had been foremost in the 
 councils of the late governor. Under these circum- 
 stances, De Lancey found himself in an embarrassing 
 position. The royal instructions bequeathed to him by 
 Sir Danvers Osborne directed him to insist on a perma- 
 nent revenue and absolutely to refuse to sign all annual 
 
382 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 appropriations, while he was pledged as the leader of 
 the popular party to a policy diametrically opposed to 
 this proceeding. He extricated himself from this diflS- 
 culty with seeming inconsistency, but wisely in truth ; 
 while, on one hand, he fulfilled his oaths of office by urg- 
 ing the Assembly to conform to the royal instructions, 
 on the other, he pressed the claims of the people upon 
 the notice of the home government, and was eventually 
 instrumental in obtaining the desired concession. 
 
 After a series of bloody campaigns, in which the chief 
 advantage on the side of the English had been the bril- 
 liant conquest of Louisburg, the third intercolonial war 
 had been terminated in 1748 by the peace of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, which, much to the discontent of the colonists, 
 restored to France all the newly-acquired territory. But 
 this peace was of short duration. The Canadians soon 
 recommenced their aggressions upon the frontier settle- 
 ments, and on the 19th of June, 1754, a congress of depu- 
 ties from the several provinces met at Albany to concert 
 measures for the common safety. Over this assembly, 
 De Lancey presided. The alliance with the Iroquois 
 was strengthened by presents and speeches, and plans 
 were projected for mutual defence. The chief feature of 
 this congress was, however, a plan for the union of the 
 colonies, which was drawn up and presented by Benja 
 min Franklin. This proposal, though opposed by De 
 Lancey, was adopted by the convention. It was not, 
 however, adapted to the times ; the people opposed it 
 as giving too much power to the king, and the king, as 
 giving too much liberty to the people ; thus, pleasing 
 neither, it was never carried into effect ; yet it sug- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 383 
 
 gestod the idea of a confederated power which finally 
 matured into the Federal Union. 
 
 On the 31st of October, 1754, De Lancey signed and 
 sealed the charter of the projected college, though, 
 owing to internal dissensions in the management, it was 
 not delivered until the following May. Doctor Johnson, 
 the Episcopal minister at Stratford, Connecticut, had 
 already been invited to fill the president's chair of the 
 institution, and Mr. Whittlesey, the Presbyterian minis- 
 ter at New Haven, was chosen as vice-president. By the 
 provisions of the charter, however, none but Episcopa- 
 lians were made eligible as presidents — a regulation which 
 occasioned much ill-feeling among the dissenters. The 
 Presbyterians, headed by the Livingstons, used every 
 effort to break down the college, and the city journals 
 joined in the controversy. These had somewhat changed 
 in character since the Zenger trial. William Bradford 
 had died in the city in 1752, at an advanced age, and 
 the Weekly Journal of Zenger had been discontinued in 
 the same year. In January, 1743, James Parker, an 
 apprentice of Bradford, had commenced a new weekly 
 called the New York Gazette or Weekly Postboy, and this 
 speculation proving successful, had published a monthly 
 styled the American Magazine and Historical Chronicle, 
 in October of the same year. The Weekly Mercury, the 
 government organ, was published by Hugh Gaine at his 
 office opposite the Old Slip Market. These falling into 
 the hands of the Episcopalian party, the Presbyterians 
 established a new journal in 1753, called i\ie Independent 
 Reflector, in which their side of the college controversy 
 was fully argued. The Episcopalians, however, pre- 
 
384 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vailed, thanks to the influence of their leader, De Lancey, 
 and long retained control of the institution. The dis- 
 putes were preparatory to the founding of the college ; 
 the corner-stone of the building being laid in 1756 by 
 the new governor, Sir Charles Hardy. 
 
 In April, 1754, a scheme for the foundation of a pub- 
 lic library was first projected, and a considerable amount 
 being soon raised by subscription, trustees were appointed 
 for the ensuing year. These trustees were James De 
 Lancey, James Alexander, John Chambers, John Watts, 
 William Walton, Rev. Henry Barclay, Benjamin NicoUs, 
 Robert R. Livingston, William Livingston, William P. 
 Smith, and Mr. Williams. The following autumn, the first 
 books arrived, and were deposited in the City Hall with 
 those belonging to the Corporation Library. The further 
 progress of this first City Library — the embryo of the 
 present Society Library — we have sketched elsewhere. 
 
 In 1754, the "Walton House," at that time the palace 
 of the city, was built in Pearl street by William Walton, 
 a merchant and son-in-law of De Lancey, who had 
 amassed a fortune by successful ventures in foreign trade. 
 This house was elegantly fitted up in the fashion of the 
 times, and furnished luxuriously ; and the fame of its 
 splendor extended to England, and was quoted there as 
 a proof of the mad extravagance of the colonists, and 
 their ability to support unlimited taxation. The house 
 was built of yellow Holland brick, with five windows in 
 front, and a tiled roof, encircled with balustrades. The 
 garden extended down to the river. At a later date, it 
 was the scene of the marriage of Citizen Genet, the 
 Minister of France, to the daughter of Governor Clin- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 385 
 
 ton. It still stands, stripped of its primitive splendor, 
 the lower story transformed into warehouses, and the 
 upper part into an emigrant boarding-house. In the 
 
 The Walton House, in 1867. 
 
 following year, a ferry was first established between New 
 York and Staten Island, which now possessed a consid- 
 erable population. During the same year, Peck Shp 
 was opened and paved. 
 
386 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 War having again been declared between England and 
 France, the fortifications were strengthened, volunteex's 
 enlisted, and a thousand stand of arms ordered for the 
 defence of the city in the event of an invasion. On the 
 2d of September, Sir Charles Hardy, the newly-appointed 
 governor, arrived in the city, and was proclaimed the 
 next day at the City Hall with the usual ceremonies. 
 Hardy was a sailor, an admiral in the English navy, and 
 knew far better how to steer a ship than to guide the 
 affairs of a turbulent province. Fortunately, he was 
 conscious of this fact himself, and frankly expressed it 
 with sailor-like bluntness. " Gentlemen," said he to a 
 group of the New York lawyers, "I can't pretend to 
 " say that I understand the law. My knowledge relates 
 " to the sea — that is my sphere. If you want to know 
 " when the wind and tide suit for going down to Sandy 
 " Hook, I can tell you that." Such is the confession of 
 incapacity which Chief-Justice Smith attributes to the 
 royal governor. But a knowledge of the science of 
 government was deemed altogether superfluous in these 
 officials by the English Court ; and even Pitt, the 
 so-called friend of America, afterwards said in Parlia- 
 ment, " There is not a company of foot that has served 
 " in America out of which you may not pick a man of 
 "sufficient knowledge and experience to make a gover- 
 "nor of a colony there." Such was the estimation in 
 which the intellect of the colonial subjects was held by 
 ^he mother country. 
 
 Sir Charles Hardy having assumed the nominal direc- 
 lion of affairs, De Lancey resumed his seat as chief-jus- 
 tice ; but. wisely recognizing his own incapacity. Hardy 
 
388 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 389 
 
CITY OF NETV YORK. 391 
 
 left him in actual command of the province, and enacted 
 the part of a lay figure in the government. This insipid 
 mode of life soon wearied the active sailor, and he 
 entreated to be restored to his former command. After 
 some delay, his request was granted ; the post of rear- 
 admiral was conferred upon him, and he sailed from 
 New York for the capture of Louisburg, leaving the 
 government again in the hands of De Lancey. 
 
 In the first 3'ear of Hardy's administration, the city had 
 been deprived of its chief magistrate by death, and John 
 Cruger, the son of the former ma3'or of that name, had 
 been appointed to fill his place. It was not long before 
 he became involved in difficulty with the royal officials. 
 At this time, the French and Indian war was raging in 
 the province, and Lord Loudon, the commander-in-chief 
 of the American forces, sent a thousand of his troops to 
 New York with directions to the city authorities to find 
 quarters for them among the inhabitants. This order 
 they regarded as an infraction of their rights, and quar- 
 tering the soldiers in the barracks in Chambers street, 
 they left the officers to take care of themselves. The 
 incensed general hastened to New York, and ordered 
 them at once to find free quarters for his officers, saying 
 that such was both the law and the custom, and that, if 
 they did not instantly comply, he would bring thither 
 aU the troops in North America and billet them himself 
 upon the inhabitants. This outrageous demand, though 
 opposed by De Lancey, was supported by the governor. 
 The indignant citizens refused to obey, the corporation 
 neither dared nor wished to enforce them, and the matter 
 was finally settled by providing for the officers by private 
 
392 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 subscription. But the demand once made, was repeatedly 
 renewed, and was one of the chief grievances that urged 
 the peojDle on to the struggle for independence. 
 
 The war, meanwhile, went on with uual)ated vigor, 
 and large bodies of militia marched from New York to 
 aid in the defence of the English forts and the conquest 
 of Canada. Spurred on by the inhuman massacre of 
 Foi"t AVilliam Henry, the colonists spared neither blood 
 nor treasure in avenging their murdered countrymen. 
 Louisburg, Frontenac, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, 
 Niagara and Quebec fell successively into their hands, 
 and the capture of Montreal in 1760 finally concluded 
 a disastrous war and secured to England the conquest 
 of Canada. 
 
 In the meantime, the province had again been left 
 without a ruler. On the morning of the 30th of July, 
 1760, Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey was found by 
 one of his children expiring in his study.* He had dined 
 the day before at Staten Island with a company of 
 friends, then had crossed the bay in the evening, and 
 rode out to his country-seat, where he had retired to his 
 library to repose in his arm-chair, as he was often forced 
 to do from a chronic asthma. His remains were escorted 
 the next day by a large concourse of citizens from his 
 house on the east side of the Bowery, a little above 
 Grand street, to Trinity Church, where he was interred 
 in the middle aisle, the funeral services being performed 
 by the Rev. Henry Barclay. Mr. De Lancey was a states- 
 man of marked ability, and his persistent support of the 
 
 * He was the great grauJfatber of Bishop DeLancey of New York 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 393 
 
 system of annual appropriations — finally conceded dur- 
 ing the administration of Hardy— won for him a de- 
 served popularity. 
 
 The government now devolved upon Cadwallader 
 Golden, the former protege of Hunter, at this time 
 seventy-three years of age. The new governor had long 
 been actively engaged in public affairs, and was known 
 to possess literary and political talent of no common 
 order. But he assumed the reins of government at a 
 critical period, and wrecked his popularity by taking 
 oaths which compelled him to sacrifice the rights of his 
 countrymen upon the shrine of official duty. 
 
 Soon after his accession, an affair occurred which 
 tended to increase the feeling of bitterness which was 
 rapidly springing up in the hearts of the colonists against 
 the mother country. The system of impressment was 
 now in vogue, and the captains of the British men-of-war 
 claimed the right to board colonial vessels and take 
 thence the men required to complete their quota ; or 
 failing in this, to land and kidnap citizens to serve in the 
 British navy. These outrages excited the indignation 
 of the citizens almost beyond forbearance ; but such 
 were the laws ; there was no alternative but to obey. 
 In the August following the death of De Lancey, a mer- 
 cliant vessel arrived from Lisbon, and a man-of-war 
 lying in the harbor immediately sent a boat on board to 
 demand some of her men. On seeing the movements 
 of the English sailors, the crew seized the captain and 
 officers and confined them below, and, taking possession; 
 of the ship, refused to suffer the intruders to come on 
 board. The captain called to them from the cabin win- 
 
394 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dow that he and his officers were prisoners, and there- 
 fore unable to obey; but, without heeding his position, 
 they at once opened a fire upon the oftending merchant- 
 man, kilHng one man and wounding several others. 
 The affair caused much excitement, yet it was but a 
 sample of the constantly recurring outrages perpetrated 
 upon the colonial traders. 
 
 In October of the same year, General Amherst, the 
 conqueror of Canada, visited the city and was received 
 with enthusiasm. A public entertainment was given in 
 his honor, the freedom of the city in a gold box was pre- 
 sented to him by the corporation, and an address, 
 couched in the most flattering terms, was tendered him 
 in behalf of the citizens. Salutes were fired, colors were 
 displayed, and the whole city was illuminated in honor 
 of the successful termination of the long-continued con- 
 flict which, for so many years, had drained the energies 
 of the harassed colonies. 
 
 Early in the following year, news reached the province 
 of the death of George II., and the consequent acces- 
 sion of George III. to the throne of England. The city 
 was hung in mourning, and funeral sermons preached in 
 all the churches for the departed ; then, one week after, 
 salutes were fired and illuminations made in honor of his 
 successor. 
 
 The winter proved one of intense severity. The Nar- 
 rows were frozen over, and men and horses crossed on 
 the ice. When spring opened, the work of public 
 improvement went on, and streets were regulated and 
 paved, wells dug, and other improvements made for the 
 benefit of the city. Fulton, then Partition street, was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 395 
 
 one of these ; and though it had long had a partial exist- 
 ence, it was now for the first time graded and paved, 
 and classed among the legitimate streets of the city. A 
 theatre was also opened in Beekman street mider the 
 auspices of Golden, but the Assembly frowned on this as 
 detrimental to good morals, and the mayor attempted to 
 obtain the passage of a law prohibiting all dramatic per- 
 formances within the precincts of the city. Failing in 
 this, the corporation turned their attention to the amuse- 
 ment of raffling, which had grown quite common among 
 the boys and negroes, and interdicted it with all similar 
 games of chance, under penalty of a fine of three pounds, 
 half to be paid to the churchwardens and half to the 
 informer. A variety of municipal ordinances, regulating 
 weights and measures, markets and docks were also 
 passed, indicative of the constantly increasing prosperity 
 of the city. 
 
 In October, 1761, a governor's commission arrived 
 from England for General Robert Monckton, who was 
 then commanding the forces on Staten Island. Monck- 
 ton was a careless young soldier, devoted to his profes- 
 sion, and somewhat profligate withal, but his appoint- 
 ment was not distasteful to the people, many of whom 
 were enemies to Golden. On the 2«6th, he published his 
 commission at the Gity Hall, declaring that, as for 
 instructions, he had none, and hoped never to liave any ; 
 an announcement especially pleasing to the citizens, to 
 whom the word was a signal for rebellion. On the 30th, 
 the usual freedom of the city, with the accompanying 
 gold box, was presented to the governor by the corpora- 
 lion, and graciously I'eceived. The new Assembly, who 
 
39C HISTORT OF THE 
 
 detested Golden, gave Monckton a warm reception, and 
 his administration opened auspiciously. 
 
 Affairs now seemed to be gliding on smoothly and 
 everything promised peace and prosperity. After a long 
 and tiresome contest, the English government had con- 
 ceded to the colonies many of the representative rights 
 which they demanded, the permanent revenue was no 
 longer insisted on, the citizens were permitted for the 
 most part to tax themselves, and the province was 
 steadily growing in importance. The main aggressions 
 still continued, for the governors disclaimed all jurisdic- 
 tion over the waters, and the naval officers were petty 
 sovereigns in their own right, forcing all colonial vessels 
 to lower their flags in token of homage, boarding them 
 and impressing their men, and firing on them at the 
 slightest provocation. But the citizens had faith in the 
 future redressal of all these grievances; despite their 
 mutinous demonstrations, their loyalty still remained 
 unshaken, and a separation from the mother-country 
 was a treason of which even the boldest had not dared 
 to dream. The rights of English subjects — the same 
 Avhich were enjoyed by their fellow-countrymen on the 
 other side of the water under a limited monarchy — were 
 all that they claimed, and had these been judiciously 
 conceded, England might long have continued to wear 
 America as the brightest jewel in her crown. The city 
 had increased to some fourteen thousand inhabitants, its 
 streets were constantly encroaching on the waste land, 
 public edifices were springing up here and there, and the 
 spirit of commercial enterprise was fast gaining ground, 
 despite the harsh restrictions imposed upon colonial 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 397 
 
 commerce by the arbitrary Board of Trade. Grievances 
 enough were still existing, yet the political horizon was 
 calmer than it had been for many years. It was a 
 deceitful calm ; the thunders of the coming tempest 
 were gathering in the distance, and preparing to burst 
 with blighting force upon the doomed city. 
 
 Not many days after his accession, Monckton received 
 orders to repair with his forces to the Island of Mar- 
 tinique ; and he accordingly set sail on the 15th of 
 November, leaving Golden again in command at New 
 York. The expedition proved successful, the island was 
 captured with scarce a show of resistance, and Monckton 
 soon returned to his government. 
 
 During this year, the old plan of lighting the streets 
 by lanterns suspended from the windows was definitely 
 abandoned, and public lamps and lamp-posts were 
 erected in the principal streets which were lighted at the 
 public expense. Laws were passed, regulating the prices 
 of provisions, some of which are worthy of being quoted 
 as affording an idea of the standard of the times. Beef 
 was sold at fourpence-halfpenny per pound ; pork, at 
 livepence-halfpenny ; veal, from fourpence-halfpenny 
 to sixpence ; butter at fifteen pence per pound, and 
 milk at six coppers per quart. An assize of bread had 
 been established from the earliest times, varying every 
 two or three months in proportion to the rise or fall of 
 flour ; at this time a loaf of one pound twelve ounces 
 sold for four coppers. 
 
 In 1763, Dr. Johnson, the first president of King's 
 College, tendered his resignation, and Dr. Cooper was 
 chosen in his stead. Soon after, a bequest of twelve 
 
398 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 liundred volumes was made to the institution by Dr. Bris- 
 tow of England, which, added to a collection which had 
 been bequeathed to it in 1757 by Joseph Murray, 
 formed the foundation for a substantial library. The 
 graduates at this year's commencement were Messrs. Cuy- 
 ler, Depeyster, Livingston, Hoffman, TVilkins, Bayard, 
 Verplanck, Marston, and Watts ; all names which have 
 grown old in the history of the city. In the May com- 
 mencement of the following year, held at St. George's 
 Chapel, John Jay, then a youth of nineteen, won his 
 maiden honors, and first became a candidate for the 
 public favor in a dissertation on the blessings of peace 
 — a theme prophetic of his future career. 
 
 In the following month, Sandy Hook lighthouse was 
 lighted for the first time. About the same time, a ferry 
 was established between Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, 
 and Miesier's Dock, just opposite on the New York 
 shore ; a convenience which had long been needed, and 
 which proved a great accommodation to the people of 
 New Jersey. Another ferry was also established 
 between Staten Island and Bergen. Considerable 
 improvement, indeed, had been made in travelling 
 arrangements ; a mail Avent regularly twice a week from 
 New York to Philadelphia, and packet-boats and stages 
 plied between the same places, making the journey in 
 the space of three days. These packet-boats run from 
 the Battery to Perth Amboy, where a stage-wagon 
 received the goods and passengers and conveyed them 
 to Burlington. Here they were again transferred to a 
 packet-boat, and thus at length reached the place of their 
 destination. The journey was also frequently performed 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 399 
 
 by crossing the bay in a scow to Staten Island, and tlience 
 to the Jersey shore, then taking the inland route across 
 the intermediate rivers to the Quaker City. Another 
 route was now established by the way of Paulus Hook, 
 whence travellers made their way over the Jersey 
 marshes to the Hackensack River, and blowing a horn, 
 which hung against a tree, summoned a ferryman to 
 carry them across the stream ; then, journeying in short 
 stages to the Passaic, the Raritan, the Delaware, and the 
 Schuylkill, were ferried across in the same primitive 
 manner, and arrived in three days at Philartlelphia. 
 Such were the simple modes of travelling in the olden 
 time. 
 
 In 1766, the Methodist denomination was first organ- 
 ized in the city by Philip Embury and others, and in 
 1767 the first chux'ch of this sect was erected upon the 
 site of the present one in John, near Nassau street, 
 and, like it, christened Wesley Chapel. Several new 
 streets were opened and regulated about the same time, 
 among others. Cliff street and Park place. For the 
 better prevention of fires, an ordinance was passed 
 directing that all the roofs in the city should be covered 
 with slate or tiles. For some years, however, tiles alone 
 were used, the first building roofed with slate being, it is 
 said, the City Hotel in Broadway, erected about 1794. 
 
 A riot of the British soldiers about this time occasioned 
 some excitement in the city. These worthies conceived 
 the sudden freak of setting the prisoners free, and 
 marching to the new jail, now the HaU of Records, they 
 broke open the door and demanded the keys of the 
 keeper. These being i-efused them, they fired througb 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the door, grazing the ear of Major Rogers, one of their 
 officers who had been imprisoned for debt and whose 
 release was really the chief object of their attack ; then, 
 forcing the door, they told the prisoners that they were 
 at liberty, and attenapted to carry off their major in 
 triumph. The prisoners not seeming disposed to quit 
 the jail, the soldiers attempted to drive them out by force, 
 and were only stopped by the arrival of the city militia, 
 who had been summoned in haste to the scene of the 
 combat. The riot was soon quelled and some of the 
 offendere arrested, who declared, upon trial, that they 
 had been instigated by Rogers ; the affair, however, 
 was passed lightly by, like most of the offences of the 
 British soldiery. 
 
 But we have anticipated events. The deceitful calm 
 of 1762 became strangely troubled ere the end of the 
 year, and in 1763, the clouds gathered thickly in the 
 horizon, foreboding the coming tempest. Towards the 
 close of the last-named year, Monckton abandoned the 
 government for more congenial pursuits, and returned to 
 England, leaving Cadwallader Golden again at the head 
 of affairs. The sequel of his administration is too 
 important to be introduced at the close of a chapter. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 401 
 
 86 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 i03 
 
 
CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 Passage of the Stamp Act — Organization of the Sons of Liberty — First Colonial Congress 
 in the City of New York— Non-Importation Agreement of the Merchants — Repeal of 
 the Stamp Act — The Liberty Pole — Tax on Tea. 
 
 Cadwallader Golden had truly taken the hehn of pub- 
 Uc afifairs in the face of a gathering tempest. The 
 contest between Great Britain and the colonies was fast 
 drawing on. The people were daily growing more 
 bitter against their rulers, while the latter grew more 
 persistent in enforcing their rigorous policy. While the 
 colonies had been jjoor and struggling for existence, 
 Great Britain had been fully contented to let them alone. 
 New Amsterdam, indeed, had owed somewhat to the 
 care of its Holland patrons, but the pioneers of the 
 British colonies had been driven out like Tshmaelites into 
 the wilderness to contend with a rigorous climate and a 
 savage foe, with no other aid than their own scanty 
 resources, backed by indomitable perseverance and 
 courage. But no sooner had the Dutch settlement 
 grown, through the industry of its founders, into a rich 
 and flourishing province, than England contrived by 
 
406 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 mingled force and intrigue to wrest it from the hands of 
 its rightful owners ; then, consolidating the colonies and 
 establishing over them a government of her own, she 
 wrung from them a rich revenue in the shape of im^aosts 
 and taxes, and compelled them to support and to be 
 ruled by adventurers of her own choosing, whose sole 
 interest in public affairs lay in the amount of money that 
 could be extorted imder divers pretexts from the purses 
 of the people. 
 
 The truth is that Great Britain contemptuously 
 regarded the colonists as I'ich barbarians, the chief end 
 of whose existence was to furnish an ample revenue to 
 the mother-country. Their interests were wholly disi-e- 
 garded in the government councils, and the restrictions 
 imposed on them were rigorous in the extreme. The 
 English parliament claimed the right of regulating the 
 trade of the colonies, and, under cover of this pretext, 
 levied heavy duties upon imports, ostensibly for the pur- 
 pose of defraying custom-house expenses, and, at the 
 same time, sedulously suppressed all attempts at home 
 manufactures. By a series of navigation acts, the colo- 
 nists were forbidden to trade with any foreign country, 
 or to export to England any merchandise of their own 
 in any but English vessels. The country was full of iron, 
 but not an axe or a hammer could be manufactured by 
 the inhabitants without violating the law. Beaver was 
 abundant, but to limit its manufacture, no hatter was 
 permitted to have more than two apprentices, and not a 
 hat could be sold from one colony to another. Of the 
 wool which was sheared in such abundance from the 
 flocks, not a yard of cloth could be manufactured except 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 407 
 
 for private use, nor a pound exported from one town to 
 another ; but the raw material must all be sent to Eng- 
 land to be manufactured there, then to come back as 
 imported cloths, laden with heavy duties. Imposts were 
 also levied upon sugar, molasses, and all articles of 
 foreign luxury imported into the colonies, and America 
 was, in fact, regarded only as a place from which to raise 
 money. 
 
 Notwithstanding, the colonists had patiently submitted 
 to this manifest injustice. They had evaded the pay- 
 ment of the duties by living frugally and dispensing with 
 the luxuries which could only be obtained at such a cost. 
 They had accepted the royal governors, profligate and 
 imbecile as they often were, and had contented them- 
 selves with opposing their unjust exactions. In the 
 French and Indian wars, they had acted nobly, and by 
 lavish expenditure of their blood and treasure, had 
 secured to England the possession of a rich and long- 
 coveted territory. These wars, which had added such 
 lustre to the crown of Great Britain, and had secured 
 the broad lands of Canada to her domain, had cost the 
 colonies thirty thousand of their bravest soldiers, and left 
 them burdened with a debt of thirteen milUons of pounds. 
 But, insatiable in her desires, in return for this, she 
 required still more. The country which had been able 
 to contribute so largely in the intercolonial wars, had 
 not, she thought, been taxed to the utmost, and, in order 
 to wring from it a still larger revenue, new means were 
 proposed by the British ministry for establishing a sys- 
 tem of parliamentary taxation — a right which the colo- 
 nists had ever persistently denied. 
 
408 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In 1763, it was proposed by Lord Grenville, then 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, to raise a permanent rev- 
 enue from the colonies by direct taxation ; to be accom- 
 plished by taxing various articles of foreign produce, and 
 by establishing stamp duties in the Anglo-American 
 possessions. It was also proposed to maintain a stand- 
 ing army of ten thousand men, ostensibly for the defence 
 of the colonies, but in reality to overawe them and 
 coerce them to obedience. The following year, Lord 
 Grenville became prime-minister, and these schemes 
 were brought before the notice of parliament. It was 
 immediately decided that the mother country had an 
 undoubted right to tax her colonies, and, though the 
 passage of the stamp act was delayed for a season, a 
 sugar act was passed at once, which, while it lessened 
 the duties formerly imposed upon sugar and molasses, 
 levied new taxes on articles hitherto free, and gave 
 increased power to the admiralty courts and the royal 
 collectors of customs. 
 
 The news of these proceedings fell hke a thunderbolt 
 upon the colonists, and they rose to a man in open 
 opposition to this new tyranny. Meetings were held 
 throughout all the colonies, and petitions forwarded to 
 the parliament, protesting against the proposed stamp 
 duties and praying for the repeal of the recent sugar act. 
 New York was foremost in these demonstrations. On 
 the 18th of March, 1764, the Assembly adopted and 
 forwarded a memorial to the ministry, protesting against 
 this invasion of their rights. But this document was 
 couched in terms so decided that no member of the syc- 
 ophantic parliament was found bold enough to present it, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 409 
 
 and the daring pi'ovince was afterwards forced to pay 
 the penalty for this and other acts of audacity in the 
 total suspension of legislative power. The petitions of 
 the sister colonies, feebler in tone, were received and 
 considered, then rejected by parliament ; and on the 22d 
 of March, 1765, the celebrated Stamp Act was finally 
 passed. By the provisions of this act, all legal and mer- 
 cantile documents and contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, 
 almanacs, etc., were required to be written or printed on 
 stamped paper, upon which a duty was imposed, and 
 which was to be sold only by agents appointed by the 
 British government. 
 
 The news of these arbitrary enactments reached New 
 York earl}' in April, where it was received with the 
 deepest indignation. Copies of the Stamp Act with a 
 death's head aiExed were hawked about the streets 
 under the title of " The Folly of England and the Ruin 
 " of America." The citizens assembled, and resolved 
 that no stamped paper should be used among them. On 
 the 21st of September, a new paper, called the Consti- 
 tutional Courant, made its appearance, beai-ing for its 
 device a snake divided into eight pieces, with the motto, 
 "Join or Die," and the device was caught up and re- 
 peated from one end of the country to the other."'' 
 
 * The appearance of this paper, which was circulated largely in the city, excited 
 great commotion, and efforts were made by the governor and council to discover 
 the author and printer, but without success. It was a half sheet of medium size, 
 with the imprint, "Printed by Andrew Marvel, at the sign of the Bribe Refused, or 
 " Constitution Hill, North America, and containing matters interesting to Liberty, 
 " and in nowise repugnant to loyalty," and was dated Saturday, September 21, 1765. 
 The device occupied the centre of the title. It was really printed at Parker's print- 
 ing house in Burlington, X. J., by William fioilihud, the fictitious Andrew Marvel. 
 
410 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Nor was this the first demonstration of the spirit of 
 the citizens. In tlie preceding spring, they had given 
 his majesty's officers some prehminary lessons which 
 should have warned them of the temper of the men 
 with whom the)' had to deal. The system of impress- 
 ment was still in vogue, and the naval officers regarded 
 American sailors as lawful prey. In April, 1764, 
 the ship Prince George arrived from Bristol, and the 
 sailors, seeing the Garland man-of-war lying in the har- 
 bor, took possession of the ship and steered uj) the bay. 
 No sooner were they perceived by the Garland, than a 
 •boat was dispatched to board the vessel and bring back 
 some new recruits for his majesty's service. The sailors 
 were armed and in readiness for their visitors, who 
 were beaten off with little difficulty. Seeing the defeat 
 of his men, the captain of the Garland opened a fire on 
 the merchantman, and sent another boat's crew to the 
 assistance of the first, but the sailors triumphantly pur- 
 sued their way, and brought their vessel safely into the 
 harbor, while their discomfited assailants returned to the 
 man-of-war, vowing revenge on the audacious rebels. 
 
 Aggressions of this sort, in truth, were frequent, and 
 one, which occurred in the ensuing July, aroused the 
 populace to a public demonstration. Four fishermen 
 who suppHed the New York markets were seized by 
 a press-gang, and carried aboard a tender from Halifax, 
 then lying in the harbor. The next morning, the captain 
 came on shore in his barge, but no sooner had the boat 
 touched the shore, than it was seized by the people, who 
 
 But a single number was issued ; a continuance was never intended. — See Isaiah 
 nomas' " History of Printinij," vol. ii p. 322. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 411 
 
 bore it off in triumph to their rallying-place, the Com- 
 mons. The terrified officer offered at once to release the 
 fishermen, and, going to the Coffee-House, hastily wrote 
 an order for their release. Armed with this paper, a 
 party of the Sons of Liberty repaired to the tender and 
 soon returned in triumph with the prisoners ; but, in the 
 meantime, the people had burnt the barge. The city 
 magistrates, who had vainly endeavored to restrain the 
 populace, met in the afternoon to take cognizance of the 
 affair, but no one knew anything of the authors of the 
 mischief. The magistrates did not press the investiga- 
 tion, and the affair ended satisfactorily to all but the 
 unlucky captain of the tender. Yet the British ministry 
 failed to profit by these lessons, and in the face of such 
 marked and spirited demonstrations, dared to pass an 
 act which could not fail to root out all lingering affection 
 for the mother country from the hearts of the colonists, 
 and esti-ange them from her forever. 
 
 The 1st of November was the day appointed for the 
 Stamp Act to take effect. The stamps were to be pre- 
 pared in England, then sent to agents in the colonies 
 accredited by parliament to receive them. James 
 McEvers was appointed Stamp Distributor for New York. 
 These agents at once became objects of distrust to the 
 people, who were resolved that this distribution never 
 should take place. The association of the Sons of Liberty, 
 founded in the stirring days of the Zenger trial by Wil- 
 liam Smith, William Livingston and John Morin Scott, 
 for the protection of popular rights, threatened by the 
 attempt of Cosby to make the judges and council sub- 
 servient to the crown by issuing their commissions " dur- 
 
412 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 " ing the pleasure of the king," instead of " during good 
 " behavior " as before, now revived, and circulated its 
 principles by means of colj^orteurs and auxiliary associa- 
 tions throughout the entire middle and eastern colonies. 
 Of this association, Isaac Sears, John Lamb, Alexander 
 McDougall, Marinus Willett, Gershom Mott, Francis 
 Lewis, Hugh Hughes, William Wiley, Thomas Robinson, 
 Flores Bancker, and Edward Laight were the leaders, 
 all men of tried patriotism and stanch courage. Through 
 their London correspondent, Nicholas Ray, they 
 received intelligence of the movements of the British 
 parliament, and thwarted them by every means in their 
 power. The Assemblies, on their part, projected a 
 general union of the colonies for mutual protection, and 
 summoned a congress of delegates from the several 
 provinces to meet at New York on the 7th of October, 
 1765, to consult together in respect to the proposed con- 
 federation. 
 
 On the day appointed, the first colonial congress, con- 
 sisting of twenty-eight delegates from New York, Penn- 
 sylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, South 
 Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, 
 assembled for deliberation in the City Hall in Wall street. 
 The Assemblies of Virginia and North Carolina having 
 adjourned before the adoption of the measure, no depu- 
 tation was in attendance from either of these colonies, 
 though they sympathized warmly with the objects of the 
 meeting. Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Philip 
 Livingston, William Bayard, and Leonard Lispenard 
 composed the New York delegation. Previously to the 
 meeting, a deputation waited on Lieutenant-Governor 
 
CITTOFNEWYORK. 413 
 
 Golden to solicit his sympathy and aid. " Your con- 
 "gress is unconstitutional, unprecedented and unlawful, 
 "and I shall give you no countenance," was his sole 
 reply, as he ordered the fortifications to he strength- 
 ened, and everything to be put in readiness for the 
 reception of the stamps. 
 
 Nothing daunted by this harsh repulse, the congress 
 commenced their deliberations. Timothy Ruggles of 
 Massachusetts was chosen president. The session lasted 
 three weeks, during which time a declaration of rights 
 was adopted, embodying the claims and grievances of 
 the colonies. First enunciating the principle that taxa- 
 tion without representation was tyranny, the daring 
 colonists went on to prove, that, as distance rendered 
 this representation impossible to them in the English 
 parliament, this right was vested only in the colonial 
 legislatures ; and therefore that the Stamp Act, with 
 all others of its kind, was a tyrannical grievance which 
 at once must be abohshed. A respectful address to 
 the king and a memorial to both houses of parliament 
 was drawn up and signed by most of the members. 
 
 The papers of the day, both royalist and democratic, 
 were fiUed with inflammatory articles. Handbills were 
 circulated among the people by the Sons of Lil^erty, 
 and the New York Gazette, or Weekly Pod Boy, now 
 published by John Holt,* became the vehicle of the 
 
 * At this time, three papers were issued in the city; the New York Gazette, or 
 Weekly Post Boy, established by James Parker upou the discontinuance of Brad- 
 ford's paper in January, 1742-3. and now published by John Holt ; the New York 
 Mercury, first i.ssued in August, 1752, by Hugh Gaine; and the New York Gazette, 
 published in February, 1759, by William Woymau. In November of the following 
 year, Parker resumed the pubUcation of the Gazette and Post Boy, and continued 
 
414 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 popular party. On the morning of the 31st of October, 
 the day before that on which the obnoxious act was to 
 take effect, the last-named journal made its appearance 
 in mourning, headed by the following prologue : 
 
 " A Funeral Lamentation on the 
 
 DEATH OF LIBERTY, 
 
 Who finally Expires on this 
 
 31st of October, in the year of our Lord MDCCLXV^ 
 
 And of our Slavery 
 
 L" 
 
 The discourse which followed was worthy of the 
 opening. In the evening, the merchants of the city 
 who were engaged in the importation of English goods 
 met at Burns' Coffee House, late the Atlantic Gardens, 
 and adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 1. To import no goods from England until the Stamp 
 Act be repealed. 
 
 2. To countermand all orders already sent for spring 
 goods. 
 
 3. To sell no goods from England on commission. 
 
 it until liis death in mO; wliile Holt issued a new paper under the title of the 
 New YorJi Journal, or General Advertiser, which remained the orgau of the Liberty 
 Party until the capture of the city in 1776. Holt then removed to Esopus, where he 
 set up his press; then, upon the burning of the village in October, 1777, he trans- 
 ferred it to Poughkeepsie, where he continued its publication until the close of the 
 war. In the autumn of 1783, it was again printed in the city of New York under 
 the title of the Independent Gazette, or the Sew York Journal Revived. Upon the 
 death of Holt, m the following year, the paper was continued by his widow and 
 Eleazer Oswald until January, 1787, when it passed into the hands of Thomas 
 Greenleaf, who merged it into two papers — a weekly, entitled G^-eenUaf's New Tork 
 Journal and Patriotic Register, and a daily, with the title of the New York Journal 
 and Daily Patriotic Register, afterwards the Argus, or Greenleafs Ne'.o Daily 
 Advertiser. Such was the origin of tlie lirst daily paper of New York. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 415 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 417 
 
 4.. To abide by these resolutions until they shall be 
 rescinded at a general meeting called for the purpose. 
 
 These resolutions were signed by more than two hun- 
 dred merchants. The retailers, on their part, bound 
 themselves to buy no goods of any person that should be 
 shipped after the first day of January unless the Stamp 
 Act should be repealed. To the merchants of N'ew York 
 city belongs the credit of having been the first to sacrifice 
 their commercial interests to the cause of liberty. At 
 the same meeting, a non-importation association was 
 organized, and a committee appointed, consisting of John 
 Lamb, Isaac Sears, William Wiley, Gershom !Mott and 
 Thomas Robinson — all prominent members of the Sons 
 of Liberty — to correspond with the other colonies with a 
 view to the universal adoption of similar measures. A 
 reward of five hundred pounds was offered for the detec- 
 tion of any villain who should presume to make use of 
 the stamped paper, on which the law required that every 
 valid instrument should be drawn — marriage licenses, 
 business contracts, shipping clearances and legal docu- 
 ments of all kinds. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1765, while the congress was 
 
 still in session, the stamps arrived from England in a 
 
 ship commanded by Captain Davis, but the accredited 
 
 stamp distributor was nowhere to be found ; and, not 
 
 daring to retain them on board his own ship, the captain 
 
 transferred them to a man-of-war lying in the harbor. 
 
 Fearing the fury of the excited populace, McEvers, 
 
 a few days before, had resigned his commission to the 
 
 Ueutenant-governor. " McEvers is intimidated, but I 
 
 " am not afraid, and the stamps shall be delivered in 
 21 
 
418 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 'due time," said Golden, as he ordered them to bo 
 brought on shore and deposited in the fort for safety. 
 But so great was the fear inspired by the people that no 
 official dared touch the papers, and after some delay 
 they were finally conveyed by Captain Davis to the 
 governor's house in Fort George : and on the 31st of 
 October, while the patriots were threatening vengeance 
 on all who should dare to distribute the papers. Golden 
 took paths to carry the Stamp Act into effect. 
 
 No sooner had the stamps been landed than handbills 
 appeared as if by magic in the streets, forbidding any 
 one at his peril to make use of the obnoxious paper. 
 In the evening, the citizens assembled in large numbers 
 and marched to the fort, where they were ordered by 
 the governor to disperse. Without heeding his com- 
 mand, they fell into line and marched in silence througli 
 the principal streets of the city— a funeral cortege, 
 mourning their lost liberty — then separated at midnight 
 and returned quietly to their homes. 
 
 The next day was the dreaded first of November — the 
 day on which the British parliament had decreed that 
 the Stamp Act should take effect. In the course of the 
 day, more of the mysterious placards appeared in the 
 streets, but the day wore away without other demon- 
 stration than the appearance from time to time of more 
 of the mysterious handbills, posted by an unknown 
 hand. The grand celebration of the festival was 
 deferred until evening. Soon after sunset, two organized 
 companies, composed in great part of the Sons of 
 Liberty, appeared in the streets. The first of these 
 repaired directly to the Commons where they proceeded 
 
CIT5r OF NEW YORK, 419 
 
 to erect a gallows, on which was suspended an effigy of 
 Cadwallader Coldeu, with a stamped paper in his hand, 
 a drum at his back, and a label on his breast bearing the 
 inscription, The Rebel Drummer of 1745.* By his side 
 hung an effigy of the devil with a boot in his hand, 
 designed as a satire upon the Earl of Bute, at whose 
 instigation they had the charity to believe that he had 
 acted. The other party, meanwhile, proceeded to the 
 fort, carrj'ing an effigy of Golden, seated in a chair, and 
 attended by torch-bearers. The procession was followed 
 by a crowd of citizens. They broke open the stable of 
 the lieutenant-governor, and, taking out his chariot, 
 placed the effigy in it, then returned in triumph to rejoin 
 their comrades, who were just raising their gallows to 
 take up their march to the city. Both companies imme- 
 diately mingled into one, the strictest orders were given 
 that not a word should be spoken or a stone thrown, and 
 the long procession set out for the fort, where they found 
 the soldiers drawn up on the ramparts ready to receive 
 them, and the muzzles of the cannon aimed directly at 
 their ranks. But, notwithstanding this threatening 
 demonstration. Gage, who was then the British com- 
 mander, prudently restrained his troops from firing, well 
 knowing that their first volley would be followed by the 
 instant destruction of the fort. The rioters knocked at 
 the gate for admission, which, of course, was denied 
 them ; then, proceeding to the Bowling Green, they tore 
 down the wooden palisades about it, and kindling a fire. 
 
 ' Colden had served as a drummer in 1745 in tlie array of the Pretender, hence 
 .be allusion. 
 
420 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 burned carriage, gallows, effigies and devil. Hitherto 
 the proceedings had been conducted with the utmost 
 decorum. But the fury of the populace could be 
 restrained no longer, and, despite the remonstrances of 
 the more moderate of the Sons of Liberty, an excited 
 party broke loose from their companions, and, proceed- 
 ing to Vauxhall, on the corner of "Warren and Green- 
 wich streets, at that time occupied by Major James of 
 the British army, a stanch friend of the Stamp Act, who 
 had incensed the people by some insolent expressions, 
 broke open the house, rifled it of its rich furniture, 
 kindled another bonfire and consumed the whole in the 
 flames. Not an article was spared, with the exception 
 of the royal colors, which were borne away as a trophy 
 by the party — pictures, mathematical instrument!?, 
 books, curtains, carpets and furniture—all were involved 
 in the general ruin. Major James was afterwards 
 indemnified for his losses by the corporation, but, 
 regarding the act in the light of a just punishment, they 
 refused the same satisfaction to Golden. 
 
 The next evening, the people assembled again upon 
 the Commons, and determined to march to the fort and 
 to demand the delivery of the stamped paper. But 
 before this resolution could be carried into effect. Golden 
 wisel}^ determined to withdraw from the contest, and 
 issued a bulletin declaring that he would have nothing 
 at all to do with the stamps, but would leave them to 
 Sir Henry Moore, the new governor, now hourly 
 expected, to dispose of them as he pleased upon his 
 arrival. In the next issue of the Gazette and Post Boy 
 appeared the following notice : 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 421 
 
 "The governor acquainted Judge Livingston, the 
 ■' mayor, Mr. Beverly Robinson and Mr. John Stevens 
 " this morning; being Monday the ith. of November, that 
 '• he would not issue nor suffer to be issued any of the 
 " EtamjDS now in Fort George. 
 
 (Signed) "Robert R.Livingston, 
 
 " John Cruger, 
 " Beverly Robinson, 
 " John Stevens." 
 
 The following notice also appeared without si-gna- 
 
 I ures : 
 
 " The freemen, freeholders and inhabitants of this 
 " city, being satisfied that the stamps are not to be issued, 
 " are determined to keep the peace of the city, at all 
 " events, except that they should have other cause of 
 " complaint." 
 
 But this anonymous communication failed to express 
 the sentiments of the people. On the following evening, 
 pursuant to a call issued a few days before, an armed 
 body of citizens assembled on the Commons, resolved to 
 storm the fort and obtain forcible possession of the papers. 
 Alarmed at this demonstration, the governor, who had 
 been fruitlessly negotiating with Captain Kennedy of the 
 ship of war Coventry, then lying in the harbor, to receive 
 the stamps on board his vessel, consented to yield, and 
 delivered them from the fort gate to the mayor and cor- 
 poration, who had previously dernanded them at his 
 
422 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 bands, promising to be accountable for their safe-keeping, 
 accompanied with a letter which we transcribe entire : 
 
 " Fort Geoege, Nov. 5th, 1705. 
 
 " Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Corporation : In 
 
 ' consequence of your earnest request, and engaging to 
 
 ' make good all such sums as might be raised by the 
 
 ' destruction of the stamps sent over for the use of this 
 
 ' province that shall be lost, destroyed, or carried out of 
 
 ' the province, and in consequence of the unanimous 
 
 ' advice of his majesty's council, and the concurrence of 
 
 ' the commander-in-chief of the king's forces, and to 
 
 ' prevent the effusion of blood and the calamities of a 
 
 ' civil war which might ensue from my withholding 
 
 ' them from you, I now deliver to you the packages of 
 
 "stamped paper and parchments that were deposited in 
 
 "my hands in this his majesty's fort ; and I doubt not 
 
 " that you will take the charge and care of them con- 
 
 " formably to your engagement to me. 
 
 " I am, with great regard, gentlemen, 
 " Tour most ob'dt humble servant, 
 
 " Cadwallader Golden.'' 
 
 The mayor and corporation received the stamps amid 
 the huzzas of the people, returning to the governor the 
 following receipt : 
 
 " Received from the Honorable Cadwallader Golden, 
 " Esq„, his majestj^'s lieutenant-general and commander- 
 " in-ohief of the province of New York, seven packages 
 " containing stamped jiapers and parchments, all marked 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 423 
 
 " 'No. 1, James McEvers, I. M. E., New York,' which 
 "we promise, in behalf of tlie corporation of the city of 
 " New York, to take charge and care of, and to be 
 " accountable in case they shall be destroyed or carried 
 ■' out of the province. Witness our hands. 
 
 (Witness) "John Crcger, Mayor, 
 
 " L. F. Carey, 
 
 " Major to the GOth Reg't. 
 " James Farquahar." 
 
 The formalities of the transfer having thus been con- 
 cluded amid the ironical cheers of the multitude, the 
 Sons of Liberty escorted the civic authorities to the City 
 Hall, and, after seeing the stamps deposited there iu 
 safet}', quietly dispersed. It was not long before a new 
 outrage roused them to action. Previously to the 
 delivery of the papers, the cannon in the king's yard and 
 on Copsey's battery had been spiked, as was alleged, 
 by the orders of Golden, to prevent the people from 
 making use of them in case of an attack upon the fort. 
 It was never clearly proved that the governor was guilty 
 of this charge, but the majority of the people were fidly 
 persuaded of it at the time, and loudly expressed their 
 indignation. A petition was even addressed to the 
 Assembly, entreating them to deduct the amount of 
 damages from the governor's salary ; but the request, 
 which came from an unknown source, was at once 
 rejected, and a reward was offered for the discovery of 
 the writers. The excitement, however, continued for 
 some time, the citizens inveighed bitterly against Colden 
 as the author of the mischief, and even burned his 
 
424 m STORY OF the 
 
 effigy, seated on a spiked cauuon, one night on the 
 Commons. 
 
 The Committee of Correspondence that had been 
 appointed on the 31st of October wasted no time in 
 idleness, but at once addressed circulars to the merchants 
 of the sister-cities, inviting them to join in the non-in- 
 tercourse agreement as the best method of frustrating 
 the designs of Great Britain. These unhesitatingly 
 answered to their summons, and the suspension of trade 
 soon became universal. To lessen the inconveniences 
 felt by the citizens, a fair was opened a little below the 
 Exchange for the sale of articles of home manufacture, 
 and the citizens soon learned to appreciate the internal 
 resources of their own country, and to sacrifice foreign 
 luxuries on the shrine of patriotism. To wear silks and 
 broadcloths was accounted a disgrace, the wealthiest and 
 most fashionable appeared clad in the homespun linsey- 
 woolsey, and the grand-dame: cheerfully exchanged the 
 once indispensable tea and coffee for decoctions made 
 from the fragrant wild herbs of the American soil. Docu- 
 ments continued to be written and newspapers printed 
 on unstamped paper, and betrothed couples, dispensing 
 with the now hateful licenses, were proclaimed in church 
 by bans as in olden time. 
 
 Nor was this all ; the Committee of Correspondence, 
 impressed with the idea that union was power, framed 
 articles of confederation banding the colonies together 
 in resistance to the Stamp Act, and providing for the 
 assembling of a general congress to concert measures for 
 future action in case the British ministry should persist 
 m enforcing it. These articles were sent to the eastern 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 425 
 
 and southern colonies for their concurrence, by whom 
 thoy were at once unanimously adopted. 
 
 On the 11th of November, the corporation tendered 
 an address to General G-agc, the commander-in-chief of 
 the British forces in America, congratulating him upon 
 the restoration of the city to tranquillity and its preser- 
 vation from the horrors of a civil war, and imputing the 
 result to his prudence in not heightening the spirit of 
 discontent already so prevalent in the colonies, by firing on 
 the citizens on the night of the riot. In truth, whether 
 trom prudence or otherwise, a remarkable spirit of for- 
 bearance had been manifested, for the guns of the fort 
 had been turned upon the rioters during the whole of the 
 proceedings on the Bowling Green, and, with the aid of 
 the ships of war then lying in the harbor, nothing would 
 have been easier than to have accomplished the destruc- 
 tion of the citj'. It is true that the act would have called 
 forth a terrible retribution ; but that was in the future, 
 while the chances for an easy capture lay close at hand. 
 Gage curtly replied to this bold address, that the spirit 
 which so lately bad been shown among them had been 
 carried almost to open rebellion, and recommended them 
 to show their respect to his majesty less in words than in 
 deeds, and to use their best efforts to calm the madness 
 of the people, and to bring them back to a sense of the 
 duty which they owed their superiors. The two parties 
 were now generally distinguished as Whigs and Tories, 
 names originally imported from England ; but the New 
 York patriots still continued to retain their favorite 
 jppellation of Sons of Liberty. 
 
 About this time, the ship Minerva, Captain Tillet, 
 
426 n I s T R Y OF the 
 
 arrived in tlie harbor, bringing a second shipment of 
 stamps and a new stamp distributoi- in the person of 
 Peter De Lancey, jr., who had been appointed in the 
 stead of the recreant McEvers. With her also came 
 the newly-appointed governor, Sir Henry Moore, who at 
 once won the affections of the people by declaring that 
 he would have nothing at all to do with the obnoxious 
 papers. The stamps were deposited with the rest in the 
 City Hall, and a Committee of the Sons of Liberty 
 waited on De Lancey, and warned him that his wisest 
 course would be to resign. De Lancey yielded with a 
 good grace to the necessity, and, protesting that, when 
 he received the appointment, he was ignorant of the 
 objections of the people, resigned his commission and 
 published a disclaimer in the papers of the day. A 
 formal renunciation was also exacted of McEvers, and 
 the city was thus freed from these dreaded officials. But 
 the Sons of Liberty went even further ; on learning that 
 Zachary Hood, one of the stamp distributors for Mary- 
 land, had fled for protection to Governor Colden, and 
 had taken shelter at Flushing, on Long Island, they sent 
 a deputation to compel him to resign, and to abjure his 
 office publicly by oath— a service for which they afterwards 
 received the grateful thanks of their Maryland brethren. 
 Delighted with the favorable disposition evinced by 
 the new governor, the civic authorities gave him a cor- 
 dial reception, and the Sons of Liberty held a grand 
 mass meeting in the Commons, now the rallying-place 
 of liberty, where they erected a pyramid and kindled 
 bonfires in his honor. They had previously tendered 
 him a congratulatory address, which had been received 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 427 
 
 with favor. In fact, everything augured well for the good 
 intentions of the new governor. Anxious to conciliate 
 his subjects, he ordered the fortifications whicli had been 
 commenced by Golden at the fort and the battery to be 
 discontinued, and declared that he did not intend to 
 meddle witli the enforcement of tlie Stamj) Act. The 
 Assembly, which met on the day of his arrival, confirmed 
 the action of their committee in the colonial congress, 
 and adopted resolutions of the same import. 
 
 About the same time, the ship Hope, commanded by 
 Captain Christian Jacobson, arrived from London, and 
 the fact was chronicled with the comment that Captain 
 Jacobson was the first who luid had the honor of refusing 
 to bring stamps to America. 
 
 On the 25th of November, the merchants met again 
 at their usual place of rendezvous, and resolved to con- 
 tinue their non-importation agreement, despite the 
 deadly blow which it inflicted on their interests. A 
 committee was also appointed to frame an address to be 
 presented to the Assembly, complaining of the restric- 
 tions on trade, and especially protesting against the 
 appeal from the decision of juries, which Colden had 
 sedulously endeavored to introduce. 
 
 The vigilant Sons of Liberty, meanwhile, had received 
 information that stamps were yet on board the Minerva, 
 designed for the sister colony of Connecticut. A call 
 was issued at once for the gathering of the brotherhood, 
 and at midnight on the 26th, the vessel was boarded, 
 but no papers were found. They had been transferred 
 to another vessel. Gaining a clew to this fact from their 
 brethren of Philadelphia, the patriots kept a lookout for 
 
428 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the suspicious craft, and as soon as she hove in sight, 
 boarded and searched her. This time, the search was 
 not in vain. Ten packages of stamps were discovered 
 by the self-appointed custom-house officers, which were 
 taken up to the ship-yards at the foot of Catharine street 
 and burned there. Soon after, it was discovered by the 
 indefatigable Sons of Liberty that a merchant of the city 
 by the name of Lewis Pintard had sent a bond to Philadel- 
 phia written on stamped paper. The vender of the stamp 
 was immediately sought out, his house searched, and the 
 stamped paper which was found there committed to the 
 flames. Mr. Pintard screened himself from their ven- 
 geance by taking an oath that he was ignorant at the 
 time of its transmission that the bond had been written 
 on stamped paper. These energetic measures elicited 
 the approbation of the other colonies, and encomiums 
 were lavished by the members of the sister cities on the 
 gallant conduct of the patriots of New York. 
 
 About the middle of December, Captain Blow arrived 
 from Quebec, bringing with him a stamped pass from 
 General Murray, the governor of Canada. This was the 
 first piece of stamped paper that had appeared in the 
 city. It was immediately posted up at Burns' Coffee- 
 House, the general rendezvous of the Sons of Liberty, 
 and gazed at by the dejected citizens as the epitaph of 
 their freedom. Li the evening, a procession of patriots 
 paraded the streets of the city, bearing a gallows on 
 wliich were suspended three effigies — that of Lord Greu- 
 rille, the author of the Stamp Act ; of Lord Colville, 
 who had endeavored to enforce it by stopping colonial 
 vessels ; and of General Murray, who had signed the first 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 429 
 
 piece of stamped paper that had made its way into the 
 city of New York. The march ended, the effigies were 
 taken to the Commons and burned there. 
 
 Not less energetic were the demonstrations of the other 
 colonies in respect to the odious Stamp Act. Seeing the 
 determined attitude of the people, the ministry at length 
 determined to recede, and repealed it on the 20th of Feb- 
 ruar}', 1766. On the 20th of May, the news reached New 
 York, where it was received with the greatest enthusi- 
 asm. On the following day, the people assembled on the 
 Commons, and manifested their delight by every possible 
 demonstration. Bells were rung, cannon fired, and a 
 public dinner given by the civic authorities. In the 
 evening, bonfires were kindled in the fields, and the whole 
 city was illuminated in honor of the triumph of liberty. 
 
 Not content with this, the patriots assembled again 
 on the Commons on the 4th of June — the king's birth- 
 day — for a second celebration, and Moore, hoping thus 
 to strengthen their loyalty, politically encouraged them 
 in their rejoicings. An ox was roasted, and twentj^-five 
 barrels of strong beer were provided, with a hogshead 
 of rum, and the necessary ingredients to convert the 
 whole into punch. A pole was erected, about which 
 were piled twenty-five cords of wood, with twelve blaz- 
 ing tar-barrels suspended at the top, while at another 
 part of the Commons, twenty-five cannon fired a salute, 
 to the sound of which the royal standard was raised 
 amid the shouts and huzzas of the excited populace. 
 But the crowning event of the day was the erection of 
 a pole or mast inscribed, "The King, Pitt, and Lib- 
 "erty"' — a Liberty-Pole which served as the rallying- 
 
I'SO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 point for many a sharp contest during the succeeding 
 years, and which came to stand for a principle almost 
 as dear to the New Yorkers as that of personal taxation. 
 The repeal of the Stamp Act served, in the first flush 
 of victory, to cover a multitude of sins. But it was not 
 long before the colonists looked more closely at the con- 
 ditions which surrounded it. In the first place, the 
 right of Great Britain to tax the colonies was distinctly 
 asserted, even by Pitt, the so-called champion of Ameri- 
 can liberty. Yet, despite this, a large meeting of the 
 citizens assembled at Burns' Coffee House, on the 23d of 
 June, and petitioned the Assembly to erect a statue in 
 honor of William Pitt. The request was granted. It 
 was also determined to erect an equestrian statue of 
 George III. on the Bowling Green, and a hundred 
 pounds were appropriated for the purchase of a service 
 of plate for John Sargent, in token of the faithful ser- 
 vices which he had rendered in England as agent of the 
 colonies. The statue of Pitt was of marble, and was set 
 up in Wall street on the 7th of September, 1770. The 
 statesman was represented in a Roman toga, with a half- 
 open scroll in his right hand, on which were the words, 
 Articuli Magnce Chartcc Libertatum. The left hand 
 was extended, as if in the act of delivering an oration. 
 The pedestal bore the inscription : "This Statue of the 
 "Right Honorable William Pitt, Eai4 of Chatham, was 
 " erected as a public testimony of the grateful sense the 
 " colony of Xew York retains of the many eminent ser- 
 " vices he rendered to America, particularly in promot- 
 " ing the repeal of the Stamp Act, Anno Domini 1770." 
 It did not long retain its place. After the occupation 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 431 
 
 of the city by the British in 1776, the head and right 
 hand were struck off by the soldiery, in revenge for the 
 insults before offered by tlie Americans to the statue of 
 George III. The headless trunk remained standing until 
 after the evacuation in 1783, when it was removed to the 
 Bridewell Yard. It was thence transferred to the yard 
 of the Arsenal near the Collect, and finally found its way 
 to the corner of Franklin street and West Broadway, 
 where its headless tnink was long displayed in front of 
 the basement entrance of the Museum Hotel. 
 
 Nor did the leaden equestrian statue of George III., 
 which was erected on the Bowling Green in front of Fort 
 George on the 21st of August, 1770, amid the noise of 
 artillery and the huzzas of the people, meet a better fate. 
 In July, 1776, the night after the Declaration was read 
 to the New York troops, the horse and rider ^vas thrown 
 from its pedestal and dragged through the streets by the 
 indignant patriots ; then run into bullets for the use of 
 'he Revolutionary soldiers. The pedestal of the statue 
 remained standing for some time longer, and was finally 
 removed a few years after the close of the war.''' 
 
 We have already mentioned the erection of a Liberty 
 
 * This statue lias a curious history. Erected during the outburst of loyalty 
 that followed the repeal of the Stamp Act, upon the reception in New York of 
 the news of the Declaration of Independence, it was dragged from its pedestal 
 by a band of patriots headed by Belden, and sent, hewed in pieces, to Litchfield, 
 then the residence of Oliver Wolcott, the patriot governor of Connecticut, by 
 whose wife and daughters it was run into bullets, of which the Whigs of the 
 surrounding country were invited to come and take freely. In their hands, they 
 did good service, killing four hundred British soldiers during the subsequent in- 
 vasion of Connecticut by Governor Tryon. Forty-two thousand bullets were 
 made from the statue. The saddle-cloth was sunk in a marsh opposite the 
 house of Wolcott, where it was discovered a few years since by accident and ex- 
 
432 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Pole on the Commons, on the 4th of June, 1766. This 
 formed the pretext for a series of outrages which kept 
 the city in a perpetual ferment, and goaded on the peo- 
 ple to open civil war. The British soldiers detailed for 
 the protection of the city were at that time quartered in 
 the barracks standing on the line of Chambers street, 
 and were thus brought in daily contact with the people. 
 Enraged at some triumphant expressions of the Sons of 
 Liberty, on the 10th of August, a party belonging to the 
 28th Regiment cut down the Liberty Pole which had 
 been erected on the king's birthday. The next day, the 
 citizens assembled on the Commons, and were preparing 
 to erect another in its stead, when they were attacked 
 by an armed party of soldiers and forced to disperse. 
 Several of their number were seriously wounded, among 
 whom were Isaac Sears and John Berrien, both promi- 
 nent members of the Sons of Liberty. The citizens 
 complained loudly of this outrage, and Theophilus 
 Hardenbrook and Peter Yandervoort made affidavits 
 before the mayor, charging the soldiers with having, 
 without provocation, commenced the assault. But the 
 conduct of the soldiers was approved by their officers, 
 and their commander, Major Arthur Brown, coolly told 
 the mayor that the whole charge was an utter falsehood 
 and, though the affidavits were sustained by abundant 
 testimony, refused to punish or even reprimand the 
 offenders. The Liberty Pole was set up again by the 
 
 humed, and, after passing tlirough various hands, was purchased by Mr. Riley 
 of the Museum Hotel, where it remained for some years with the statue of Pitt, 
 but was finally broken and destroyed. Some pieces of this statue are now 
 (1880) in possession of the N. Y. Historical Society. 
 
CITY OF X E W YORK 
 
 433 
 
 28 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 435 
 
 Mtizens and suffered to stand a few days longer, then 
 levelled to the ground on the night of the 23d of Sep- 
 tember. Before two days had passed, a third one was 
 erected in its stead, and the soldiers, restrained by the 
 orders of Moore, permitted it to stand without further 
 molestation. 
 
 During the whole winter, the city was harassed by 
 continual outrages on the part of the soldiers. Houses 
 of peaceable citizens were broken open and plundered 
 under pretext of searching for proofs of rebellion. On 
 one occasion, a soldier forced his way into the dwelling 
 of an industrious carman, and, after wounding him 
 severely with his bayonet, hamstrung his horse and thus 
 deprived him of his only means of support for his family. 
 No notice was taken by the officers of these aggressions ; 
 on the contrary, they rather countenanced them in 
 secret, and urged on the soldiers to fresh assaults, hoping 
 thus to break the spirit of the people, and to awe or 
 coerce them into abject submission. 
 
 On the ISth of March, 1767, the people met on the 
 Commons, and celebrated the first anniversary of the 
 repeal of the Stamp Act with the greatest enthusiasm. 
 This demonstration awakened the ire of the British 
 soldiery, and, before morning, the Liberty Pole was again 
 levelled to the ground. Nothing daunted, the next day 
 the Sons of Liberty set up another and more substantial 
 one, well secured with iron bands, in its place. On the 
 same night, an attempt was made to destroy it, but 
 without success. The next night, another attempt was 
 made to blow it up with gunpowder, which also proved 
 a failure. Licensed by these repeated assaults, the Sons 
 
436 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of Liberty set a strong guard around the pole. For 
 three successive nights, the soldiers renewed their 
 attacks, but each time were beaten off by the people. At 
 length the governor, who had himself been suspected 
 of secretly inciting the soldiers, intei'fered and peremp- 
 torily commanded them to desist. The pole continued 
 to stand, a trophy of the victory of the people, and on 
 the king's birthday, which happened not long after, the 
 Union flag was run up to its top, and cannon planted at 
 its foot answered derisively, gun for gun, to the royal 
 salute from Fort George. 
 
 Let us return to the proceedings of the New York 
 Assembly of 1761-1768, — a body which, by its daring 
 acts in the cause of liberty, won for itself political mar- 
 tyrdom from the British ministry and a crown of lasting 
 glory from all true patriots. Through the whole of the 
 eventful Stamp Act epoch, the Assembly of New York 
 stood true to the interests of the country, and to its bold 
 protests against the enactment of the odious Stamp Act, 
 its determined attitude in the struggle which ensued, and 
 most of all, its earnest advocacy of the union of the 
 colonies, aided by the efforts of the vigilant Sons of 
 Liberty, may be attributed much of the almost miracu- 
 lous success which attended the coming struggle for 
 independence. 
 
 We have already spoken of the Declaratory Act, 
 asserting the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies. 
 Simultaneously with this was passed the Mutiny Act. 
 requiring the citizens to furnish quarters for all the 
 soldiers that might be stationed among them by the royal 
 orders, and to provide them with various necessaries ; 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 437 
 
 and Sir Homy Moore was instructed to lay the matter 
 before the Assembly on his arrival, and to see that the 
 troops were supplied according to the provisions of the 
 Act. New York was at this time full of soldiers ; it was 
 the head-quarters of the British army under General 
 Gage, and new regiments of troops were daily expected. 
 The people at once detected in these movements the 
 fixed determination of the ministry to establish a stand- 
 ing army among them — a measure utterly abhorrent to 
 their spirit of independence — and refused to comply. 
 The Sons of Liberty banded together in open opposition, 
 and the Assembly of 17G6, to whom Moore communi- 
 cated his instructions on his arrival, resolved that they 
 could only legally be required to provide for soldiei-s on 
 the march, and that, as there were already barracke 
 enough to accommodate the soldiers then in the city, the 
 requisition was wholly unnecessary for the present 
 They offered, however, to appropriate a sum which had 
 been left over from the appropriation of a preceding 
 year, to the support of two battalions not exceeding five 
 hundred men each, but absolutely refused to maintain 
 any more, or to furnish vinegar, salt and liquors as the 
 provisions of the act required, limiting the supplies to 
 candles, bedding, fuel and cooking utensils, as actual 
 necessaries of life. They also refused to indemnify 
 Golden for the damages which he had sustained on the 
 night of the riot, in opposition to the express commands 
 of the king, alleging that he had suffered through his 
 own misconduct ; though they granted Major James the 
 required compensation, attributing his losses to the 
 excitement of the mob. During this year, Whitehead 
 
438 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Uicks, a lawyer of the city, the descendant of a family 
 of Friends who had settled in Queens County in the 
 early days of the province, was chosen mayor. 
 
 Distasteful as were these limitations to the governor, 
 he was forced to receive them as the best that could be 
 obtained, though he complained bitterly in his letters to 
 the ministry of the ingratitude shown by the colonists 
 after the gracious repeal of the Stamp Act. The 
 answers brought him back a reprimand for yielding ; 
 and on the 17th of November, 1766, the moi'tified gov- 
 ernor communicated to the Assembly the king's positive 
 refusal to receive the Limited Supply Bill, and the instruc- 
 tions of Lord Shelburne in respect to their future con- 
 duct. " I am ordered by his majesty," said Shelburne 
 in these, "to signify to 3'ou that it is the indispensable 
 " duty of his subjects in America to obey the acts of the 
 "Legislature of Great Britain. The king both expects 
 "and requires a due and cheerful obedience to the 
 " same ; and it cannot be doubted that his majesty's 
 " province of New York, after the lenity of Great Britain 
 " so recently extended to America, will gratefully yield 
 " a prompt submission." 
 
 On the 15th of the following month, the Assembly 
 answered this arbitrary message by another as bold and 
 decisive in tone. Insisting that, bj' strict construction, 
 they could only be required to supply soldiers on the 
 march, they declared that they had already, by the 
 rejected Supply Bill, assumed heavier burdens than 
 were borne by any other colony, and declared that. 
 though the)' were willing to support his majesty's gov- 
 ernment, it must be in conformitv with the circumstances 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 43G 
 
 of their constituents. " And in conclusion," said tiiey, 
 " we cannot, consistently with our duty to these coti- 
 " stituents, consent to put it in the power of any person, 
 "whatever confidence we may have in his prudence and 
 " integrity, to lay such laurdens upon them at his 
 " pleasure." This bold response was forwarded to the 
 king, and the Assembly was prorogued by the governor 
 while waiting for an answer. 
 
 Displeasing as was the conduct of the Assembl}' to 
 the ministry-, it was almost equally so to the Sons of 
 Liberty, who protested also against the Limited Supply 
 Bill as an actual concession to the policy of the British 
 government. But, urged on by rumors of warlike pre- 
 parations in England, as well asb}' the threats and persua- 
 sions of the governor, they finally yielded another point, 
 and consented to grant a further appropriation of three 
 thousand five hundred pounds for the preceding and three 
 thousand pounds for the current year to defray the expen- 
 ses of the soldiers quartered among them. This compli- 
 ance, while it incensed the Sons of Liberty, was too slight 
 to atone for their past audacity. Resolved to punish the 
 contumacy of the daring representatives, and to humble 
 their arrogance, both houses of parliament, with scarcely 
 a dissenting voice, passed a law suspending the legislative 
 power of the Assembly, and forbidding the governor to 
 assent to any bill from them until the Mutiny Act should 
 first be complied ■with. 
 
 The news of this disfranchisement produced intense 
 excitement throughout the colonies. Letters of sympa- 
 thy poured in from the patriots of New England and 
 the southern provinces, and the whole country was 
 
440 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 roused in opposition to the flagrant injustice. T)\c 
 Assembly met as usual, and passed resolutions, declar- 
 ing that any suspension of colonial legislation was 
 unconstitutional, and therefore null and void, and pro- 
 ceeded to appoint committees and transact business as 
 before. 
 
 They had now a new grievance with which to con- 
 tend — the immediate cause of the American Revolution. 
 In 1767, almost simultaneously with the disfranchisement 
 of the province, Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, under the ministry of William Pitt, Lord 
 Chatham, had introduced a bill into parliament, imposing 
 duties on all tea, glass, paper, painters' colors, and 
 lead, which should henceforth be imported into the Ame- 
 rican colonies. This new project for raising a revenue 
 from America was strictly in conformity with the spirit 
 of the Declaratory Act, and w-as unanimously adopted. 
 
 The news of the enactment raised a new tempest in 
 the city. The Sons of Liberty renewed their efforts to 
 form Committees of Correspondence throughout the 
 colonies, and the merchants revived the Non-importation 
 Act of 1765. They also wrote letters to the merchants 
 of Boston, urging them to extend the agreement of non- 
 importation indefinitely until every dut}' should bo 
 repealed. This agreement was subsequently entered 
 into and nominally maintained by all the colonies, but, 
 of all these, to quote the words of the eloquent Bancroft, 
 "New York alone remained perfectly true to her 
 " engagements, while the other colonies continued to 
 " import nearly half as much as before." * 
 
 * .See page 442. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 44.1 
 
 On the 11th of February, 17G8, the recusant Assembly 
 was formally dissolved by the governor, and measures 
 taken to convene a new one in its stead. The governor 
 had previously received instructions to take care that 
 the next should be composed of less stubborn materials, 
 and, whether through his secret influence or from other 
 existing causes, it is certain that it proved far more 
 compliant than its predecessor. In the city elections, 
 the contest ran high between the lawyers and the mer- 
 chants. Heretofore, the former had been most largely 
 represented in the Assembly, and had come to view it 
 almost as a perquisite of their profession. But the scale 
 now turned in favor of the merchants, who, backed by the 
 influence of the Sons of Liberty, won the election, and 
 returned Isaac Low, John Cruger, John Alsop, and 
 James De Lancey as representatives to the Assembly. 
 
 The new Assembly, which convened in 1768, com- 
 menced their career by following closely in the steps of 
 their rebellious predecessors. Disregarding the royal 
 command that they should hold no correspondence witb 
 the other colonies, they received the circular of the 
 Assembly of Massachusetts, entreating their cooperation 
 in obtaining a redress of the common grievances, and. 
 boldly protested against all interference in the matter. 
 At this time, Boston was prostrate beneath the ban of 
 the royal displeasure, and the citizens of New York 
 warmly repaid the sympathy which had been extended to 
 them in their hour of trial. The patriotic journals of the 
 day teemed with eulogies of the Boston patriots and 
 denunciations of their oppressors, and the effigies of the 
 royal governor of Boston and his sheriff were carried in 
 
H2 
 
 CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 procession through the streets of the city, then puWiclj 
 burned on the Commons. The governor, who was really 
 of a conciliatory disposition, endeavored in vain to restrain 
 these demonstrations and to bring back the people to a 
 sense of their loyalty. His efforts were suddenly 
 checked by his death, which took place on the 11th of 
 September, 1769, and threw the government again into 
 the hands of Cadwallader Coldeu. 
 
 The following letter from a resident of New England to Gov. Trnmbnll, which we extract from 
 "The Sons of Liberty in New York," by Henry B. Dawson, furnishes accvirate data from official 
 authority in respect to the observance of tiie non-importation agreement by ths respective 
 
 colonies : 
 
 " March 6, 1770. 
 
 " .\fter all the tergivereations amongst the merchants, the trade has been this year reduced about 
 "seven hundred thousand pounds, as you see by the following account, nearly as it was stated 
 " last night from the custom house entries. 
 
 •' Value of all goods exported from England to the colonies in N. America from Christmas, 1767, 
 "to do., 1769, distinguishing each colony. 
 
 
 1767 to 1763. 
 
 1768 to 1769. 
 
 
 £110,000 
 
 ao9,ooo 
 
 82,000 
 
 56,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 419,000 
 
 46,000 
 
 6,000 
 
 482,000 
 
 19,000 
 432,000 
 476,000 
 
 £174,000 
 306,000 
 29,000 
 &S,000 
 4,000 
 207,000 
 64,000 
 6,000 
 74,000 
 19,000 
 199,000 
 488,000 
 
 Carolina 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Hudson's Bay 
 
 N. England 
 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 Virginia and Maryland 
 
 "How forcibly would the commercial argument have appeared, had all the colonies abated Ir 
 * the proportion N. York has done, who seems to have imported only the articles allowed by the 
 ' agreement."— [Letter of W.m S. Johnson to Gov. Jona, TrumbulL] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 CITY OF NEW TOEK. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 1769— ins. 
 
 Change in the Assembly— Lord North's Administration — Removal of Taxea — Kesumption 
 of Importations — Conflicts about the Liberty Pole— Battle of Golden Hill. 
 
 It was not long before Golden, through the instrumen- 
 tality of De Lancey, won over tlie members of the new 
 Assembly to the interest of the royalists. They com- 
 plied without much reluctance with most of the require- 
 ments of the Mutiny Act, and projected another scheme 
 which was viewed by the patriots with much distrust, 
 as concealing some insidious snare for the liberties of the 
 colonies. This was the emission of bills of credit to the 
 amount of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, to 
 be loaned to the people, the interest of which was to be 
 applied to the support of the colonial government. 
 A grant of a thousand pounds from the treasury, 
 together with a thousand more of the bills about 'to 
 be issued, was made for the maintenance of the troops, 
 and a strong disposition was evinced in favor of the 
 royalist party. 
 
 This new scheme for raising money excited the dis 
 
444 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 trust of the people, and rumors were circulated that the 
 Assembly had betrayed the country to the governor and 
 the British ministry. On the 16tli of December, an 
 inflammatory handbill, signed by a Son of Liberty, 
 appeared, addressed to the betrayed inhabitants of the 
 city. This document, which was ably and earnestly 
 written, warned the people against the subtle attack 
 made on their liberties by the emission of the bills of 
 credit, as a scheme devised to separate the colonies ; 
 and, denouncing the Assembly in no measured terms, 
 closed with an invitation to the people to meet the next 
 day in the fields and discuss the conduct of their 
 representatives. 
 
 The next day, a large assemblage gathered on the 
 Commons. John Lamb was chosen chairman of the 
 meeting. The proceedings of the Assembly were unani- 
 mously disapproved, and a committee was appointed, 
 with Lamb at the head, to convey the sense of the 
 meeting to the Legislature. The latter received the 
 deputation with courtesy, but refused to make any 
 change in their policy, declaring that the law was 
 satisfactory to the mass of the jjeople. On the follow- 
 ing day, another handbill appeared, over the signature 
 of "Legion,"* written evidently by the same hand as 
 
 • We give this handbill verbatim. 
 " To THE Public. — The spirit of the times renders it necessary for the inhabitants 
 " of the city to convene, in order effectually to avert the destructive consequences of 
 " the late ease inolokiocs conduct of our General Assembly, who have in opposition 
 " to the loud and general voice of their constituents, the dictates of sound policy, 
 " the ties of gratitude, and the glorious struggle we have engaged in for our 
 " invaluable birthrights, dared to vote supplies to the troops without the least shadow 
 " of a pretext for their pernicious grant. The most eligible place will be in the Fields, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 445 
 
 the first, and openly charging the Assembly with a 
 betrayal of their trust. This second attack roused the 
 ire of the body ; they at once denounced the papers as 
 libelous, and oftered a reward of one hundred and fifty 
 pounds for the discovery of the writers, Philip Schuyler 
 alone voting against it. Lamb was accused and brought 
 before the bar of the House, where he boldly justified all 
 that he had done, declaring that he had only exercised 
 the right of every Englishman. His colleagues on the 
 committee — Isaac Sears, Caspar Wistar, Alexander Mc- 
 Dougall, Jacobus Van Zandt, Samuel Broome, Erasmus 
 Williams and James Van Vaurk — seconded his defence, 
 fearlessly avowing that they were implicated with Lamb, 
 and equally ready to answer for their conduct, and the 
 charge, which had been made at the instance of De 
 Noyellis, was finally dismissed by the Assembly. But 
 they did not relax their efforts to discover the authors 
 of the so-called libels. The type afforded a clue to the 
 printing- oQice of James Parker, who was at once 
 arrested, confined in the fort, and threatened with the 
 loss of his place as Secretary of the Post-office, unless 
 he would reveal the name of the writer. The menace 
 produced the desired effect ; Parker denounced Alex- 
 ander McDougall, who was at once arrested and 
 imprisoned in the new jail, where a daily ovation was 
 tendered him by his friends, who regarded him as a 
 
 "near Mr. De La Montaigne's, *nd the time — between 10 and 11 o'clock this mom- 
 " ing, where we doubt not every friend to his country will attend. 
 
 " Legion " 
 The original of this and the other handbills quoted here are preserved in tho 
 library of the Historical Society. 
 
44G HISTORY OF THE 
 
 martyr to the cause of libert}'. The hxdies flocked in 
 crowds to the cell of the imprisoned patriot, and so 
 numerous were his visitors, that, in order to gain leisure 
 for the defence of his cause, he was obliged to publish a 
 card, fixing his hours for public reception. He remained 
 in the jail from February to the April term of the court, 
 when the grand jury found a bill against him, to which 
 he pleaded "not guilty." A few days afterward, he 
 was released on bail. 
 
 The Sons of Liberty, meanwhile, continued their 
 opposition to the Assembly, watching vigilantly over 
 the maintenance of the Non-importation Act, which the 
 merchants, on their part, had not ceased to observe. 
 They also attempted to substitute the vote by ballot for 
 the old mode of the open vote, but the plan, though 
 warmly approved by the people, was rejected in the 
 House by a large majority. In the spring of 1770, a 
 change took place in the disposition of the British 
 ministry. Lord Nortli assumed the charge of affairs, 
 and, under his direction, the tax was at once removed 
 from all the articles enumerated in the bill of Towns- 
 hend, with the exception qf that on tea. This, indeed, 
 was retained rather in proof of the right of Great Britain 
 to tax the colonics, than for any considerable difference 
 in the revenue. But the principle was equally dear 
 to the American patriots ; they were sworn to resist 
 parliamentary taxation, and they resolved that they 
 would not yield a single point which might be construed 
 into a precedent for future oppression. 
 
 In the meantime, the contest had been renewed about 
 the Liberty-Pole, which, for three years, had remained 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 4-17 
 
 unmolested. On the 13th of January, 1770, a party of 
 soldiers belonging to the 16th regiment attacked it, and, 
 cutting off' the wooden supportei's about it, made a fruit- 
 less attempt to blow it up with gunpowder. Failing iu 
 this, they next fell upon a knot of citizens who had 
 gathered in front of Montague's public-house in Broad- 
 way near Murray street^at that time the head-quarters 
 of the Sons of Liberty — and forced them into the house 
 at the point of the bayonet. The besieged vainly 
 attempted to barricade the doors, but the soldiers broke 
 in, sword in hand, and demolished the windows and fur- 
 niture. In the midst of the destruction, some officers 
 came up, and ordered the soldiers back to their bar- 
 racks. 
 
 On the two following nights, the attempts were 
 repeated without success ; but, on the night of the 16th, 
 taking shelter in a ruined building near by, which had 
 formerly been used for barracks, the soldiers accom- 
 plished their design, and, levelling the pole to the 
 ground, sawed it into pieces, and derisively piled it up 
 before Montague's door. 
 
 This insult aroused the Sons of Liberty. Handbills 
 were circulated the next day through the city,* calling on 
 the people to meet that night on the Commons to dis- 
 cuss the outrage. Three thousand citizens assembled in 
 answer to the call. The meeting was quiet but earnest. 
 Resolutions were passed, declaring unemployed soldiers 
 
 • Taking warning by the defection of Parker, to escape detection, tlie Liberty 
 Coya went at night to Holt's printing-office in Broad street near the Exchange, where 
 they set up the type and printed the handbills themselves, then circulated them hf 
 their emissaries the next day through the city. 
 
448 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to be dangerous to the peace of the city, while their 
 employment by the citizens when off duty was detri- 
 mental to the interests of the laboring classes and should 
 tnerefore be discontinued. They further resolved that 
 all soldiers under the rank of orderly, with the exception 
 of sentinels, who should appear armed in the streets, 
 together with all, both armed and unarmed, who should 
 be found out of their barracks after the roll-call, should 
 be regarded as enemies of the city and dealt with 
 accordingly. Committees were also appointed to demo- 
 lish the ruined building which had sheltei'ed the soldiers 
 in their attack on the Liberty-Pole, and to ask permis- 
 sion of the Common Council to erect another in its 
 stead. 
 
 The next day, three soldiers were detected by Isaac 
 Sears and Walter Quackenbos in the act of posting 
 throughout the city, scurrilous placards, signed by the 
 1 6th Regiment of Foot, and abusive of the Sons of 
 Liberty.* Incensed at this proceeding. Sears instantly 
 
 • " God, and a Soldier, all Men most adore. 
 In Time of War, and not before ; 
 When the War is over, and all tilings righted, 
 God is forgotten, and the Soldier slighted." 
 
 " Whereas, un uncommon and riotous disturbance prevails throughout the city by 
 
 " some of its inhabitants, who style themselves the S — s of L y, but rather ;i;ay 
 
 •' more properly be called real enemies to society ; and whereas, the army now quar- 
 " tered in New York, are represented in a heinous light, to their ofEcers and othor.=, 
 " for having propagated a disturbance in this city, by attempting to destroy their Lib- 
 " erty-Pole, in the fields ; which, being now completed, without the assistance of the 
 " armv, we have reason to laugh at them, and beg the public only to observe how 
 
 " cliaTlned these pretended S — of L look as they pass through the streets ; 
 
 •' especially as these great heroes thought their freedom depended on a piece of wood, 
 " and who may well be compared to Esau, who sold his birth-right for a mess of pot- 
 " ta^e. And although those shining S — of L have boasted of their freedom. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 449 
 
 grasped one by the collar, while Quackenbos laid hold 
 of the other. The third of the party rushed upon Seary 
 with his bayonet and endeavored to free his conn-ade 
 from his grasp, but the latter, seizing a friendly ram's 
 
 " surely they have no right to throw an aspersion upon the array, since it is out of the 
 " power of military discipline to deprive them of their freedom. However, notwith- 
 " standing, we are proud to see these elevated geniuses reduced to the low degree of 
 " having their place of general rendezvous made a (Gallows Green) vulgar phrase for 
 " a common place of execution for murderers, robbers, traitors and r — a, to the lat- 
 
 " ter of which we may compare those famous L B — s (Liberty Boys) who have 
 
 " nothing to boast of but the flippancy of tongue, although in defiance of the laws 
 
 "and good government of our most gracious sovereign, they openly and r y 
 
 " (riotously) assembled in multitudes, to stir up the minds of his majesty's good sub- 
 "jects to sedition; they have in their late seditious libel, signed Brutos, expressed 
 " the most villainous falsehoods against the soldiers But as ungrateful as they ;iie 
 " counted, it is well known, since their arrival in New York they have watched nigl t 
 "and day for the safety and protection of the city and its inhabitants ; who have sul- 
 " fered the rays of the scorching sun in summer, and the severe colds of freezmg 
 " snowy nights in winter, which must be the case and fifty times worse had there been 
 
 " a war, which we sincerely pray for, in hopes those S — s of L (Sons of Lib- 
 
 " erty) may feel the effects of it, with famine and destruction pouring on their heads, 
 " 'Tis well known to the ofliicers of the 16th Regiment, as well as by several others, 
 " that the soldiers of the sixteenth always gained the esteem and good will of the 
 " inhabitants, in wh.atever quarter they lay, and were never counted neither insolent 
 " or ungrateful, except in this city. And Ukewise the Royal Regiment of Artillery, 
 " who always behaved with gratitude and respect to every one. But the means of 
 " making your famous city, which you so much boast of, an impoverished one, is 
 " your acting in violation to the laws of the British government ; but take heed, lest 
 " you repent too late — for if you boast so mightily of your famous exploits, as you 
 " have heretofore done (witness the late Stamp Act) we may allow you to be all 
 " Alexaxdeks, and lie under your feet, to be trodden upon with contempt and dis- 
 "dain; but before we so tamely submit, be assured we will stand in defence of the 
 '■ rights and privileges due to a soldier, and no farther ; but we hope, while we have 
 " officers of conduct to act for us, they will do so, as we shall leave it to their discre- 
 " tion to act impartially for us, in hopes they, and every honest heart, will support 
 '• the soldiers' wives and children, and not whores and bastards, as has been so mali- 
 " elously, falsely and audaciously inserted in their impertinent libel, addressed to the 
 " public ; for which, may the shame they mean to brand our names with, stick ou 
 " theirs. 
 
 " (Signed bv the 16th Regiment of Foot.)" 
 
 29 
 
450 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 horn which happened to He near b}', hurled it with force 
 into the face of his assailant, who reeled back from the 
 shock, and left the Sons of Liberty to make their way 
 with the captives to the office of the mayor. 
 
 A reinforcement of twenty soldiers now came up with 
 drawn swords and bayonets to the rescue of their com- 
 rades. The unarmed citizens, who had flocked in num- 
 bers to the spot, wrenched the stakes from the carts and 
 sleighs that stood about, and, surrounding their pri- 
 soners, prepared to guard them at all hazards. Mayor 
 Hicks now interfered, and ordered the soldiers to their 
 barracks. Yielding a partial obedience, they retired as 
 far as Golden Hill, in John street between William and 
 ClifiF streets, closely pursued by the citizens, where thev 
 were joined by a fresh reinforcement, headed by a pre- 
 sumed officer in disguise, who gave the command to halt 
 and charge upon the populace. The few of the people who 
 had been able to secure weapons ranged themselves in 
 front of their defenceless friends, and a sanguinary con- 
 test ensued, in which numbers wei-e injured on either 
 side. Francis Field, a peaceable Quaker, who was stand- 
 ing in his doorway watching the affray, received a 
 severe wound in his cheek. Three other citizens were 
 wounded, one of them being thrust through with a bay- 
 onet. At some distance from them, a sailor was cut 
 down. A boy was wounded in the head, and fled to a 
 neighboring house for shelter. A woman kindly opened 
 the door for him, when a brutal soldier made a thrust at 
 her with a bayonet, fortunately missing his aim. One 
 of the citizens who had been foremost in securing the 
 prisoners at the mayor's office was attacked by two sol- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 451 
 
 diers at once, but he defended himself vigorously wiih a 
 cane, his only weapon, and forced his assailants back to 
 the hill. Another citizen who was standing in the door 
 of his house was attacked by a party of soldiers who 
 attempted to enter — but, being armed, he succeeded in 
 beating off the intruders.* 
 
 During the whole of the affray, the citizens had con- 
 tinued to surround the hill, and thus to keep their 
 enemies in a state of blockade. Many of the soldiers 
 were severely wounded, and many more disarmed ; jet 
 this was done chiefly in self-defence ; the people stand- 
 ing on the defensive, and contenting themselves with 
 merely repelling the attacks, when they might easily, if 
 disposed, have massacred the aggressors. At this jui c- 
 ture, a fresh party from the barracks came up, and 
 called to their comrades to charge on the citizens, while 
 they would support them by an attack on the rear, but 
 just as they were preparing for the assault, a party of 
 officers appeared, and ordered them to their barracks. 
 The people at once opened their ranks and raised the 
 siege, thus ending the first day of the contest in a drawn 
 battle. 
 
 The next morning — the 19th — the soldiers recom- 
 menced the conflict by thrusting a bayonet through the 
 cloak and dress of a woman who was returning from 
 market. This dastardly act awakened the indignation of 
 the citizens, and knots of people gathered ominously 
 
 * Michael Smith, tlie last survivor of the Battle of Golden Hill, as well as of the 
 >f 3w York Liberty Boys, died in 1847, at the advanced age of ninety-four yoars. A 
 tousket which he took from a soldier in the fray, and which did active service ij) his 
 hands through the whole of the Revolution, is still preserved as a relic in his family. 
 
452 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ftbout the corners of the streets to discuss the outrage 
 together with the aflfray of the day before. About noon, 
 a group of sailors, who were invariably found on the 
 popular side, came in collision with a party of soldiers 
 from the barracks. A violent altercation ensued, from 
 words they came to blows, and, in the conflict, an old 
 sailor was run through the body. In the midst of the 
 strife, the mayor appeared on the ground, and ordered 
 the military to disperse, but the infuriated soldiers 
 refused to obey. He then dispatched a messenger to 
 the barracks to summon the officers, but the troops inter- 
 cepted him, and, barring the way with their drawn 
 bayonets, refused to suffer him to proceed. At this 
 juncture, a party of Liberty Boys, who had been playmg 
 ball on the corner of Broadway and John street, came 
 to the rescue and soon dispersed the soldiers, and hos- 
 tilities ceased for a few hours. 
 
 In the afternoon, the battle commenced anew. Seeing 
 a group of citizens assembled on the Commons in front 
 of the New Jail, a party of soldiers approached them in 
 a body and insultingly endeavored to force their way 
 through, when the citizens quietly opened their ranks, 
 and gave them free passage. Determined at all hazards 
 to provoke an affray, they next assaulted the people, and 
 endeavored to disarm them of their canes. This inso- 
 lence awakened the ire of the citizens, who turned at 
 once upon their assadants. A party of Liberty Boys in 
 the neighborhood, on hearing of the fray, hastened to 
 the spot, and a sharp conflict ensued, in which the dis- 
 comfited soldiers were driven to the barracks. Several 
 o]> The soldiers were disarmed by the citizens, one was 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK. 453 
 
 haclly wounded in the shoulder, and another who had 
 distinguished himself in the conflict of the day before, 
 was arrested and committed to prison for trial. Thus 
 ended the battle of Golden Hill — a conflict of two days' 
 duration — which, originating as it did in the defence of 
 a principle, was an affair of which New Yorkers have 
 just reason to be proud, and which is worthy of far 
 more prominence than has usually been given it b}^ stand- 
 ard historians. It was not until nearly two months 
 after that the "Boston Massacre" occurred, a contest 
 which has been glorified and perpetuated in history ; yet 
 this was second both in date and in significance to the 
 New York " Battle of Golden Hill." * 
 
 On the day after the defeat of the British troops, the 
 ma3^or issued orders that no soldiers should appear out- 
 side the barracks when off duty unless accompanied by 
 a non-commissioned officer ; and the Sons of Liberty, 
 thus relieved from the annoyance of their presence, 
 
 * The following extract from a London journal, dated Thursday, March 15, 1770, 
 kindly furnished us by Henry B. Dawson, Esq., whose researches have done much 
 to rescue the history of the New York Liberty Boys from oblivion, proves by the 
 testimony of the British themselves that, in the streets of the city of New York, the 
 first blood was shed — the first life sacrificed to the cause of Liberty in the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. 
 
 •' Extract of a letter from Ifew Vor/c, dated Jatiuari/ 22. 
 " We are all in Confusion in this City ; the Soldiers have cut and blowed up Liberty- 
 " Pole, and liave caused much Trouble between the Inhabitants : on Friday last 
 " (January 18, 1770) between Burling Slip and the Fly Market, was an Engagement 
 '■ between the Inhabitants and the Soldiers, when much Blood was spilt : One 
 •'■ Sailor got run through the Body, who since Died: One man got his Skull cut ia 
 " the most cruel Manner. On Saturday (January 19, 1770) the Hall Bell rang for 
 " an Alarm, when was another Battle between the Inhabitants and Soldiers ; but 
 " the Soldiers met with Rubbers, the Chiefest part being Sailors and Clubs to 
 " revenge the Death of their Brother, which they did with Courage, and made 
 " them all run to their Barracks. What will be the end of this God knows !" 
 
454 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 turned their attention again to the erection of a Liberty- 
 Pole. ^yG have already mentioned the appointment of 
 a committee to ask permission of the mayor and Com- 
 mon Council to erect a pole in the place of the one that 
 had been cut down by the soldiers. This measure was 
 opposed by John Lamb and some others, who declared 
 that the corporation had no voice in the matter, but 
 their objections were finally overruled by the majority. 
 On the 30th of January, the committee presented a 
 memorial to Mayor Hicks and the Common Council, 
 stating that the token of gratitude to the king and his 
 minister which had been erected by the patriotic citizens 
 of Xew York had been repeatedly overthrown by the 
 riotous soldiery, and craving permission to vindicate the 
 rights of the people by setting up another monument to 
 constitutional liberty in its stead.* The request was 
 
 • •' To THE Sons of Liberty in this City. 
 " Gentlemen : It's well known, that it has been the custom of all nations to erect 
 " monuments to perpetuate the Remembrance of grand Events. Experience has 
 " proved that they have had a good effect on the Posterity of those who raised 
 " them, especially such as were made sacred to Liberty. Influenced by these Con- 
 " siderations, a number of the Friends to Liberty in this City erected a Pole in the 
 " Fields, on Ground belonging to the Corporation, as a temporary memorial of the 
 " unanimous Opposition to the detestable Stamp Act; which, having been destroyed 
 " by some disaffected Persons, a Number of the Inhabitants determined to erect 
 " another, made several applications to the Mayor, as the principal member of the 
 " Corporation, for Leave to erect a new Pole in the place where the old one stood. 
 •' The Committee that waited on him the last Time, disposed to remove everv 
 'Objection, apprehensive that some of the Corporation might be opposed to the 
 " erection of the Pole, from a supposition that those Citizens who were for its being 
 " raised, were actuated solely by a Party spirit, offered, when the Pole was iinished, 
 "to make it a present to the Corporation, provided they would order it to be 
 " erected either where the other stood, or near Mr. Van Bergh's, where the two 
 " roads meet. But even this, astonishing as it may seem to Englishmen, was 
 " rejected by the Majority of the Corporation and the other Requisitions denied 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 455 
 
 refused. In the meantime, Lamb and his associates had 
 piircliased a piece of ground eleven feet wide by a hun- 
 dred feet deep, near the site of the former pole, and, 
 while the memorial was yet before the board, made 
 preparations for the erection of a Liberty-Pole, inde- 
 pendent of the corporation. Here, on the 6th of 
 February, 1770, a mast of great length, cased two-thirds 
 its height with iron hoops and bars, firmly riveted 
 together, was sunk twelve feet deep into the ground, 
 amid the shouts of the people and the sound of music. 
 Tliis pole was inscribed, " Liberty and Property," and 
 was surmounted by a gilt vane, bearing a similar inscrip- 
 tion in large letters. Thus was raised the fifth Liberty- 
 Pole in the city, with a motto far less loyal than that 
 which had so deeply offended the royal soldieiy. 
 
 Montague's house had heretofore been the head-quar- 
 ters of the Sons of Liberty, but, ere long, the proprietor 
 suffered himself to be won over by the opposite party 
 who engaged his rooms for the approaching celebration 
 of the repeal of the Stamp Act. The Liberty Boys 
 however, were not to be balked by this arrangement , 
 determining to support an establishment of their own, 
 they purchased a house on the site of Barnum's Museum, 
 kept by Henry Bicker, which they christened Hampden 
 
 '■ We question whether tliis Conduct can be paralleled by any Act of any Corpora- 
 •' tiou in the British Dominions, chosen by the Suffrage of Free People. 
 
 " And now, Gentlemen, seeing we are debarred the privilege of Public Ground 
 " to erect the Pole on, we have purchased a place for it near where the other 
 ■■ stood, which is full as public as any of the Corporation Ground. Your Attend- 
 " ance and countenance are desired at nine o'clock on Tuesday morning^ the fith 
 " instant, at Mr. Crommelin's Wharf, in order to carry it up to be raised. 
 
 "By Order of the Committee 
 Vew York, Februnrx/ 3, 1870." 
 
456 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Hall, and consecrated to the cause of liberty ; and, on the 
 19th of March, they assembled for the first time at their 
 new quarters in defiance of the recreant Montagne, and 
 celebrated the anniversary of the colonial triumph. At 
 this time, McDougall was in prison, and his brethren 
 resolved to give him an ovation. The proceedings 
 against him having been recorded on the forty-fifth page 
 of the Journal of the Assembly, the number had grown 
 into a cabalistic word among the fraternity. On the 
 day in question, forty-five toasts were drunk, among 
 which was one to Alexander McDougall, and, after din- 
 ner, the whole company proceeded to the jail to pay 
 their respects to the imprisoned patriot. Here they 
 saluted him with forty-five cheers, then, marching to 
 the Liberty-Pole, they quietly disbanded. 
 
 A similar compliment had been paid to McDougall on 
 the forty-fifth day of the year, when forty-five of the 
 Liberty Boys went in procession to the New Jail, where 
 they dined with him on forty-five beef-stealvs cut from a 
 bullock forty-five months old, and, after drinking forty- 
 five toasts with a number of friends who joined them 
 after dinner, separated, vowing eternal fidelity to the 
 common cause. These demonstrations are trivial in 
 themselves, but they serve to show something of the 
 spirit which animated the New York patriots of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 On the 29th of March, a party of British soldiers, who 
 had been ordered to embark in a few days for Pen- 
 sacola, made another attack on the Liberty-Pole, a part 
 of which they had vowed to carry with them as a 
 trophy. Finding the lower part too strongly fortified, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 457 
 
 they attempted to unship the topmast which supported 
 the vane, but were discovered in the attempt by a few 
 citizens Avho happened to pass by and who quickly gave 
 the alarm. The soldiers hastily retreated to the barracks, 
 while the Liberty Boys rallied to the defence of the 
 pole. In the meantime, the soldiers, at first fifteen in 
 number, had been reinforced by forty more, and returned, 
 charging with drawn weapons upon the citizens, who 
 retreated to Hampden Hall. The soldiers, closely pur- 
 suing them, surrounded the house and attempted to 
 force the door. Bicker defended the entrance with 
 fixed bayonet in hand, while the infuriated marauders 
 swore that they would burn the house with all the rebels 
 it contained, and take vengeance on the enemies of Eng- 
 land and King George. A party of Liberty Boys who 
 had escaped from the pole, hastened to St. George's 
 Chapel in Beekman street, and rung out a general alarm. 
 The citizens flew to arms, and the British officers, seeing 
 that the affair was becoming serious, and warned by the 
 result of the battle of Golden Hill, hastened to the spot 
 and ordered their men to the barracks. A strong guard 
 was set about the pole every night afterwards until the 
 3d of May, when the disappointed soldiers set sail for 
 Pensacola without the coveted trophy. Henceforth, the 
 Liberty-Pole was left for some years to stand unmolested. 
 On the anniversary of the repeal of 1775, William 
 Cunningham, the notorious Provost Marshal of '76, 
 who had been in the beginning of the struggle a pro- 
 fessed Son of Liberty, approached the pole in company 
 with John Hill, and made an assault on the patriots who 
 were aathered about it. After a short struggle, they 
 
log HISTORY OF THE 
 
 were disarmed and committed to jail. Such is the 
 popular version of the story. The royalist papers, on 
 the other liand, assert that Cunningham and Hill were 
 first attacked by the people, who endeavored to force 
 them to abjure the king, and, on their refusal, wantonly 
 maltreated them. Whatever may be the truth of the 
 matter, certain it is that Cunningham wreaked a terrible 
 vengeance on the helpless prisoners intrusted to his care 
 in the following year, after the capture of the city by 
 the British. The Liberty Pole at the same time was 
 levelled by his orders — its fittest destiny when the liberty 
 of the city had fled. 
 
 Soon after the departure of the troops, a Boston 
 merchant by the name of Nathan Rogers, who had been 
 posted by his fellow-citizens for refusing to comply with 
 the non-importation agreement, visited the city, and the 
 Sons of Liberty, suspecting that his visit was designed 
 to win over the New York merchants, resolved to give 
 him a public reception. On the 10th of May, they 
 assembled in procession, bearing his effigy suspended 
 on a gallows, and, passing through the principal streets 
 of the city, proceeded to his house, attended by four or 
 five thousand spectators, in order to introduce him in 
 person to the citizens. In this they were disappointed, 
 as he had dined out of town. They then repaired with 
 the effigy to the Commons, where it was burned amid the 
 acclamations of the people. Terrified at this demon- 
 stration, Rogers immediately returned to Boston, while 
 the vigilant Sons of Liberty, learning that he designed 
 in a few days to visit Philadelphia, dispatched an 
 account of their proceedings with a minute personal 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 459 
 
 descrijition of the traitor to their brethren of that city, 
 urging them to accord to him a similar welcome. 
 
 Some time previous to this, a General Committee of 
 One Hundred had been appointed to watch over the liber- 
 ties of the city. This was composed in part of moderate 
 men, who, without belonging to the royalist party, 
 wavered between it and the enthusiastic Sons of Lib- 
 erty — who were, in short, conservative. Now that the 
 duty had been removed from all articles except tea, a 
 portion of this committee began to talk of resuming the 
 importations with this single exception. Rhode Island 
 had openly broken through the non-importation agree- 
 ment, and the other colonies, though they nominally 
 protested against the infraction of the compact, were 
 constantly violating it, and had continued to import 
 nearly half as much as before.' 'New York alone had 
 remained faithful to her pledge ; for five years, her com- 
 merce had been almost totally suspended, and, weary 
 of thus sustaining the brunt of the contest, the almost 
 ruined merchants welcomed the idea, and, believing that 
 they could now honorably retrieve their fortunes without 
 the sacrifice of a principle, on the 9th of July, resolved 
 to resume their importations of all goods with the excep- 
 tion of the duty-laden tea. In this resolution they felt 
 themselves justified ; they had been the first to propose 
 the compact and to urge it upon the notice of the mer- 
 chants of other cities ; the pledge once given, they had 
 preserved it inviolate, without compromise and witlioui 
 evasion ; with ruined commercial interests, impoverished 
 fortunes, and a suffering city, they had faithfully adhered 
 
 ' Sec page 442. 
 
4 GO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to their agreement, so long as the cause which had called 
 it forth remained, and now that it was partially removed, 
 they frankly and openly recalled their obhgations, and 
 were, in truth, the last to renounce the compact, as they 
 had been the only ones to maintain it inviolate. 
 
 Yet this conduct failed to please the impetuous Sons 
 of Liberty, who insisted on preserving the agreement 
 until the duty on tea should also be repealed, and they, 
 with all who belonged to their band, continued to 
 maintain it intact until the end of the struggle. The 
 eastern and southern colonies, though they had virtuaUy 
 renounced it long before by their infractions, at lirst 
 protested bitterly against the open renunciation by the 
 New York merchants, but many weeks had not passed 
 before they followed the example, and formally resumed 
 their importations with the single exception of the article 
 of tea. 
 
 On the 25th of October, Golden was superseded in 
 the government by the arrival of Lord Dunmore. The 
 new governor informed the Assembly of the king's 
 approval of their emission of bills of credit, and reminded 
 them that they were expected to continue in well-doing 
 and not to forget to make due appropriations for the 
 troops quartered among them. The complaisant body 
 received the message gi-aciously, and, as a first demonstra- 
 tion of loyalty, on the 20th of January, 1771, summoned 
 Alexander McDougall, who was now at large on bail, to 
 appear before them and answer to the indictment for 
 libel which was pending over him. McDougall obeyed the 
 summons, but refused to acknowledge the authorship of 
 the paper. He was questioned the second time, and 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 461 
 
 ordered to return a definitive answer. " The House hae 
 " declared the paper a Hbel, and the law does not require 
 " me to criminate myself," replied he in answer to the 
 second interrogation. " The House has power to extort 
 "an answer, and will punish you for contumacy if you 
 " refuse to reply," exclaimed De Noyellis, at whose 
 instance the charge had first been brought. " The 
 " House has power to throw the prisoner over the bar or 
 "out of the window, but the public will doubt the 
 "justice of the proceedings," hiterposed George Clinton, 
 the future governor of New York and vice-president of 
 the United States, who alone dared avow himself 
 McDougall's defender. A written answer was finally 
 submitted by the prisoner, but the House refused to 
 receive it, alleging that its contents reflected on the dig- 
 nity of their body. " The dignity of the House would 
 " be better supported by justice than by overstrained 
 " authority," exclaimed CUnton, indignantly. But the 
 Assembly refused to listen to his remonstrances, and 
 upon McDougall's refusal to ask pardon for the offence, 
 committed him to jail without further ceremony. A writ 
 of habeas corpus was immediately sued out, but the 
 House refused to deliver him up, alleging the existence 
 of precedents in the Enghsh courts of law, and he was 
 detained as a prisoner until the last of February, when, 
 through the efforts of his friends, he obtained his 
 release. 
 
 It was not long before the government was again 
 changed by the transfer of Lord Dunmore to Virginia, 
 and the appointment of "VViliiam Tryon in his stead. The 
 new governor arrived with his family, on the 8th of July, 
 
462 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1771, and was well received by the jieople. Directly 
 after his arrival, the Assembly voted him an income of 
 two thousand pounds ; but he refused its acceptance, 
 saying that his salary was to be paid from his majesty's 
 treasury, and that he had been forbidden to receive any 
 gifts from tlie Assembly. A similar offer had previously 
 been rejected by Lord Dunmore. This was a new 
 scheme of the British government for securing the sub- 
 mission of the colonies ; the treasury in question was 
 intended to be supplied from the colonial taxes, the dis- 
 bursement of which was thus retained in the hands of 
 the ministry. 
 
 Hardly had Tryon arrived in the province before 
 Isaac Sears was called upon to pay the penalty of his 
 previous daring. His prominence in the public censure 
 of the Assembly had never been forgotten, and to 
 punish him, he was accused of having neglected his 
 duty as inspector of pot and pearl ashes. George Clin- 
 ton, Philip Schuyler and Nathaniel WoodhuU warmly 
 espoused his cause, and numerous affidavits were made 
 before the House to prove his fidelity to his duty ; but 
 these failed to appease the irate Assembly ; Sears was 
 condemned to political decapitation, and Montague, the 
 tavern-keeper, appointed in his stead. 
 
 Few outbreaks occurred within the next two years, 
 yet the spirit of opposition continued to grow more 
 intense among the patriot citizens. Complete stagnation 
 pi-evailed in the city, public improvements were totally 
 neglected, and the people thought only of resistance to 
 oppression. Commerce, indeed, was partially resumed, 
 but the use of tea had become obsolete in the city, and 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 463 
 
 any citizen \vho would have dai'ed to introduce it on iiis 
 table, would have been branded at once as a traitor 
 to his coiintr}". 
 
 The only edifice of anj' consequence ei'ected in the 
 cit}' from the building of the Brick Church in Beels- 
 man street in 1752 to the close of the Revolution, 
 was the New York Hospital, the corner-stone of which 
 was laid by Governor Tryon on the 2d of Septem- 
 ber, 1773. The site at this time was far out of town, 
 and any one would have been considered visionary 
 
 Old Nnv York Hospital, lu BroadH ij (betneeu Dinnc and Anthony Streets) 
 
464 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 indeed, who would have dared to suggest the possibihty 
 that the city might one day crowd upon its grounds. 
 The scheme had been projected some years before ; in 
 1770, several physicians notified Colden that sundry 
 public-spirited individuals were collecting subscriptions 
 for a public hospital, and in the following year, a royal 
 charter was granted the institution. The necessary 
 funds haviuf? been subsciibed, a spacious square of five 
 acres on Broadway was purchased in 1773, and build- 
 ings erected at a cost of about eighteen thousand dollars. 
 Before their completion, the interior was burned out by 
 an accidental fire, and the works thus retarded for a con- 
 siderable time ; they were finished, however, in time to 
 be used as barracks by the English troops duiing theii* 
 subsequent occupation of the city. After the evacuation 
 in 1783, the hospital was restored to its original use, 
 and was opened in 1791 for the reception of patients. 
 It served for this purpose until May, 1873, when the fine 
 old ivy covered building at the head of Pearl street was 
 demolished, and its site was covered with warehouses. 
 
 On the night of the 29th of December, a fire broke 
 out in the governor's house in the fort, which had been 
 rebuilt since its destruction in the days of the negro plot 
 of 1741, and was now occupied by Governor Tryon, and 
 80 rapid was the progress of the conflagration, that the 
 inmates barely escaped with their lives, while the houses 
 in the vicinity were only saved by the snow which lay 
 thickly upon the roofs. The governor and his wife fled 
 through a side door, their daughter saved herself by 
 leaping from a second-story window, but a young 
 servant girl by the name of Elizabeth Garrett, perished 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 465 
 
 miserably in the flames. The house was burned to the 
 ground, with all that it contained. Two days after- 
 wards, the great seal of the province was raked out from 
 the ashes uninjured. The governor removed with his 
 family to the house on the corner of Wall and William 
 streets, afterwards occupied by the Bank of New York, 
 where the Legislature tendered him their condolences, 
 and presented him with five thousand pounds by way 
 of indemnification for his loss. It was not long before 
 business recalled him to England, and he set sail from 
 the city, leaving the government again in the hands of 
 Oadwallader Golden. 
 
 30 
 
CHAPTER XVI, 
 
 1773—1776. 
 
 The New York Tea Party— Commencement of Open Hostilities— Declaration of Inde 
 pendence in New York— Battle of Long Island— Battle of Harlem Plains— Capture of 
 Fort Washington — The British in Possession of the City. 
 
 Affairs were now rapidly drawing to a crisis. Incensed 
 by the steadfast refusal of the colonists to receive the 
 tea, the ministry determined to force it upon them, and, 
 despite the remonstrances of the East India Company, 
 who offered to pay double the amount of the American 
 impost, provided parliament would repeal the tax, passed 
 a law, permitting the Company to export their tea to 
 the colonies free from the duties which they had hitherto 
 paid in England, and only retaining the duty of three- 
 pence per pound which was paid in America. As this 
 enabled the Americans to obtain their tea cheaper even 
 than the English, it was thought that they would be 
 entrapped by the insidious snare, and unguardedly yield 
 assent to the principle of parliamentary taxation. 
 
 As soon as it was known that this bill had passed 
 and that large shipments of tea had been ordered for 
 America, the Sons of Liberty again assembled to consult 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 467 
 
 together in this new emergency. Stamp Distributors 
 and Tea Commissioners were declared by them to be 
 ahke obnoxious, and it was resolved that no tea should 
 be landed in the city ; while the Mohawks, another 
 organization of the same stamp, pledged themselves to 
 take care of the tea-ships on their arrival. 
 
 The news of these demonstrations soon reached Eng- 
 land, and so much alarmed some of the commission- 
 merchants that they refused to have anything to do with 
 the shipments of tea to the colonies, so firmly persuaded 
 were they of its certain destruction. A merchant named 
 Kelly, who had resided in New York but was now in Lon- 
 don, assured them that their apprehensions were ground- 
 less, and that the tea would be landed, saying that, in the 
 days of the Stamp Act, affairs were in the hands of an 
 imbecile old man, but that now a soldier was at the head 
 of the government, who could easily reduce the rebels to 
 obedience. On hearing of this, the patriots called a 
 meeting, and burnt Kelly in effigy on the 5th of Novem- 
 ber in front of the Coffee House on the corner of Water 
 and Wall streets. 
 
 Taking alarm at these expressions of the people, the 
 three Tea Commissioners who had been appointed for 
 New York resigned their commissions on the 10th of 
 November. The tea-ships had sailed from England on 
 the 26th of October, but had been forced to put back b)^ 
 stress of weather. On the 25th of November, the 
 Mohawks were notified to be in readiness for their 
 arrival, and, two days after, the Sons of Liberty formally 
 reorganized and passed the following resolutions, which 
 are of sufficient importance to be transcribed entire : 
 
468 HISTORY OF TUB 
 
 " Resolved, That whoever shall aid or abet, or in any 
 " manner assist in the introduction of tea from any 
 "place whatsoever into this colony, while it is subject, 
 "by a British Act of Parhament, to the payment of a 
 " duty for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, 
 •'shall be deemed an enemy to the liberties of 
 " America. 
 
 "Resolved, That whoever shall be aiding or assisting 
 " in the landing or carting of such tea from an}- ship or 
 "vessel, or shall hire any house, storehouse or cellar, or 
 " any place whatsoever to deposit the tea, subject to 
 " such duty, as aforesaid, shall be deemed an enemy 
 " to the liberties of America. 
 
 " Resolved, That whoever shall sell or buy, or in any 
 "manner contribute to the purchase of tea, subject to 
 " duty, as aforesaid, or shall aid or abet in transporting 
 "such tea by land or water from the city until the 
 "7th Geo. III. Chap. 46, commonly called the Revenue 
 " Act, shall be totally and clearly repealed, shall be 
 " deemed an enemy to the liberties of America. 
 
 "Resolved, That whether the duties imposed by this 
 " act be paid in Groat Britain or in America, our liber- 
 " ties are equally affected. 
 
 " Resolved, That whoever shall transgress any of these 
 "resolutions, we will not deal with or employ, or have 
 " any connection with him." 
 
 The spirit of. these resolutions, coupled with the 
 energetic preparations of the New York patriots, 
 demonstrate clearly the reception which they held in 
 store for the tea-ship on its arrival. But the expected 
 vessel encountered a severe tempest on her way, and was 
 
CITY or NEW YORK. 469 
 
 forced f.o put in at Antigua for repairs. Iiitelligence 
 having been received that she might hourly be expected, 
 on the IGth of December, the very day of the Boston 
 tea-party, the Sons of Liberty assembled in the City 
 Hall, and unanimously resolved that no tea should be 
 landed under any pretext. In the midst of their delib- 
 erations, the mayor and recorder entered, bearing a 
 message from the governor, in which he assured the 
 people that the tea should be sent back in the ships that 
 brought it, but must first be taken into the fort to await 
 an order for its return from the council. The snare was 
 a subtle one, and it nearly entrapped the assembly. 
 But John Lamb detected the artifice, and, springing to 
 his feet, he read the Act of Parliament, and pointed out 
 therefrom that if the tea were landed, the duty must be 
 paid. " Shall it be received ?" asked he, in conclusion. 
 " No! no ! no!" was the unanimous reply, and the dis- 
 appointed ambassadors withdrew to carry to the governor 
 the tidings of their failure. 
 
 The winter wore away without much event. The long 
 expected tea-ship, delayed by contrary winds, failed to 
 make her appearance, yet the patriotic citizens relaxed 
 nothing of their vigilance, but, through their committees 
 of correspondence, kept themselves notified of every 
 suspicious movement on the part of their enemies. On 
 the 7th of April, Tryon set sail for England, leaving the 
 government in the hands of Golden. As yet there had 
 been no rupture between him and the people, who 
 were disposed to regard him with favor for his lax observ- 
 ance of his rigid instructions, and he quitted the province 
 with their sincere regrets. 
 
470 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 On the ISth of Aiiril, 1774, the Nancy, Captain 
 Lockyer, arrived off Sandy Hook, bringing the tea 
 destined for the port of N"ew York. Apprised of her 
 coming, the Committee of Vigih\nce had instructed the 
 pilots to detain her in the lower bay, as well as the 
 London, commanded by Captain Chambei's, which, they 
 had been informed, was also on the way with a consid- 
 erable quantity of the prohibited tea. Faithful to their 
 orders, the pilots refused to bring the vessel up to the 
 city ; while a part of the committee proceeded on board, 
 and, secur.ing the boats to prevent the desertion of the 
 crew, took possession of the vessel until she should be 
 ready to return to England. The captain entreated 
 permission to go up to the city to consult with his con- 
 signee, and to obtain the necessary supplies for his 
 return. This was granted him on condition that he 
 should not approach the Custom House, and he was sent 
 under strict surveillance to the wharf, where he was met 
 b}' the committee and a large concourse of citizens. 
 Seeing that all attempts at evasion would be in vain, he 
 proceeded at once to his consignee, who refused peremp- 
 torily to receive the cargo, and advised him as his best 
 course to return with it to England. This advice was 
 seconded by the Vigilance Committee, who rendered 
 every facility for preparing the vessel for sea, but refused 
 to suffer a single sailor to come on shore, while they 
 kept a watchful eye upon all the movements of the 
 captain. 
 
 The vessel being nearly ready for sea, it was deter- 
 mined to give the captain a public leave-taking, and 
 numerous placards were posted through the city, inviting 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 471 
 
 the citizens to join in the demonstration.* On the day 
 after these were issued — the 22d of April — the London 
 with her recreant captain, a New Yorker, who had once 
 received the public thanks of the city for refusing to 
 bring tea on a previous voyage, appeared off Sandy 
 Hook, where she was instantly boarded by two of the 
 Vigilance Committee. The captain assured them that 
 there was no tea on board his ship, and, as none was to 
 be found on his manifest, he was finally permitted to 
 come up to the city. The wharf was thronged with cit- 
 izens, and was a scene of intense excitement. Hardly 
 had the vessel touched the shore when she was visited by 
 the whole committee, who demanded the delivery of the 
 tea. Chambers repeated his denial. He was told in 
 reply that they knew that the tea was there, and that 
 they would search every package in the ship till they 
 found it. Finding it impossible to escape the dreaded 
 search, he at length confessed that there was really some 
 tea on board, but insisted that it was only a private 
 adventure, belonging to himself, and shipped without 
 the knowledge of the East India Company. The Com- 
 mittee then withdrew to the Coffee House on the corner 
 of Water and Wall streets to deliberate, taking the 
 
 * The placard in question ran as follows : " To the Public. — The sense of the city 
 " relative to the landing of the East India Company's tea, being signified to Captain 
 " Lockyer by the Committee, nevertheless, it is the design of a number of the citizens 
 " that ftt his departure hence, he shall see with his own eyes their detestation of the 
 " measures pursued by the ministry and the India Company to enslave this country. 
 ■' This will be declared by the convention of the people at his departure from this city, 
 "which will be on next Saturda;/ xaovnmg, a.t o'clock; when, no doubt, every 
 " friend to this country will attend. The bells will give notice about an hour before 
 "he embarks from Murray's Wharf. 
 
 " New York, April 21, 1774. " Br order of the Committek.'' 
 
472 HISTORYOF THE 
 
 captain and the owners with them. The people mean- 
 while thronged the wharf, awaiting the result of their 
 council. It was not long before a message was sent out 
 declaring the tea to be confiscated, and directing the 
 Mohawks to be ready to discharge their duty at the 
 proper hour. But the impatience of the crowd could be 
 restrained no longer ; at eight in the evening, they 
 boarded the vessel without waiting for the Mohawks, 
 forced open the hatches, hoisted eighteen chests of tea 
 on deck, broke open the lids, and emptied the contents 
 into the river. The captain wisely kept at a distance to 
 avoid the risk of following his adventure. Everything 
 was conducted decorously and openly, a guard was sta- 
 tioned below to prevent all disorder, the citizens wore 
 their usual attire, and no attempt was made at disguise 
 or concealment. Two hours afterwards, the whole party 
 had dispersed, and the wharf was empty and silent as 
 the grave. 
 
 The next day was the one appointed for the festival, 
 for which they had now an additional hero. At nine in 
 the morning, the people assembled in front of the Coffee 
 House in Wall street where Lockyer was lodging. The 
 whole city wore an air of festivity, the bells were ringing 
 in mei-ry chorus, the City Hall and King's College* alone 
 refusing to contribute to the chime, the flag was hoisted 
 on the Liberty Pole, and the ships in the harbor displayed 
 
 * Dr. Myles Cooper, the President of King's College, was a stanch loyalist, and 
 soon became obnoxious to the people by his support of the British government. 
 Hearin? soon after that the Liberty Boys intended to attack his cottage, he fled to 
 Stuyvesant's house on the shores of the North River, whence he escaped to the Asia 
 man-of-war then lying in the harbor He afterwards went to England, where ho 
 rermitieti during the war. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 473 
 
 their colors in triumph. The committee who had Captain 
 Lockyer in charge brought him out on the balcony and 
 introduced him to the people, by whom he was receiv^ed 
 with ironical cheers, the bands, meanwhile, playing 
 "God save the King." The presentation over, his new 
 acquaintances escorted him to the foot of Wall street 
 where a pilot boat was in waiting, where they parted 
 with him, wishing him a pleasant journey. As he entered 
 the boat, a royal salute was fired from the cannon at the 
 foot of the Liberty-Pole in honor of his departure. 
 Captain Chambers, meanwhile, had been escorted to the 
 Ship with less ceremony by another committee, and the 
 Nancy set sail with both worthies on board, still under 
 the guard of the Vigilance Committee, who did not sur- 
 render possession of the vessel until she was three leagues 
 from Sandy Hook. 
 
 The British ministry, meanwhile, incensed at the 
 colonial reception of the consignments of tea, had made 
 the refractory provinces feel the weight of their ven- 
 geance. The tax was insisted on more strongly than 
 ever, new provisions were made for quartering troops in 
 America, Franklin was removed from his office of 
 colonial post-master, and Boston was punished for her 
 rebellion by a Port Bill, closing her harbor and removing 
 her custom house to Salem. In this emergency, the 
 Bostonians, on the 13th of May, resolved to renew the 
 non-importation agreement, and dispatched a letter by 
 Paul Revere to the Sons of Liberty in New York, 
 urging their cooperation in the measure. This missive 
 was crossed on the way by another from the Liberty 
 Boys, bearing date the 14th, urging the Bostonians to 
 
•174 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tjnergetic measures, and assuring them of the hearty sup- 
 port of their New York brethren. 
 
 On the 16th of May, a meeting of the citizens was 
 held at the Exchange to consult on future action. A 
 new Committee of Fifty-one was nominated to corres- 
 pond with the other colonies, and a general meeting of 
 the people was called for the 19th to reject or confirm 
 the nomination. At the latter meeting, the ticket was t 
 confirmed, and the request of the Bostonians referred to 
 a sub-committee, consisting of Alexander McDougaU, 
 Isaac Low, James Duane and John Jay, to prepare and 
 report an answer. The majority of this Committee, — 
 for the impetuous McDougall indignantly withdrew, 
 demanding the adoption of more ultra measures — 
 deemed it inexpedient for the present to renew the com- 
 pact, but recommended a General Congress of Deputies 
 from all the colonies instead, and requested the Bosto- 
 nians to fix the time and place of meeting. For this 
 action, they were then and afterwards censured severely, 
 yet the future cai'eer of the men who composed the 
 committee in question is conclusive proof that they were 
 actuated by no lack of patriotism, and that, though their 
 resolves seemed for the moment to chime with the wishes 
 of the royalist party, they only sought to postpone the 
 compact until it could be better matured by concerted 
 deliberation. But the enthusiastic Sons of Liberty would 
 listen to no temporizing, and summoned a meeting of the 
 people in the fields on the 6th of July at six o'clock in 
 the evening, to discuss the conduct of the Committee of 
 Fifty-one. 
 
 On the day appointed, an immense multitude gathered 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 475 
 
 Portrait of Alexander Hamilton, from the Original Portrait in the Possession of the 
 Family. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 477 
 
 on the Commons — Alexander McDougall presiding over 
 the assembly — known henceforth as the " gi'eat meeting 
 " in the fields." Resolutions were passed, denouncing the 
 Boston Port Bill and sustaining the action of the people 
 of that city ; a subscription was opened for the relief of 
 the sufferers, and the non-importation agreement was 
 again renewed. The Congress recommended by the 
 Committee of Fifty- one was also approved by the meet- 
 ing, and it was resolved that deputies should at once be 
 appointed, and instructed to insist upon the enforcement 
 of the non-intercourse agreement until every duty should 
 be repealed. At this meeting, Alexander Hamilton, 
 then a youth of seventeen, and a student in King's Col- 
 lege made his maiden speech, and gave an earnest of his 
 future brilliant career. 
 
 On the following day, the Committee of Fifty-one met 
 and disavowed the proceedings of the meeting. Upon 
 this, eleven of the Sons of Liberty — Francis Lewis, 
 Joseph Hallet, Alexander McDougall, Isaac Sears, 
 Thomas Randall, Leonard Lispenard, Peter V. B. Liv- 
 ingston, Abram P. Lott, John Broome, Jacob Van 
 Zandt and Abraham Brasher — withdrew from the com- 
 mittee, and published an address to the people, in 
 justification of their conduct. The plan of the general 
 Congress had now been decided upon, and polls were 
 opened under the inspection of the maj^or and aldermen 
 for the election of delegates, at which all tax-payers 
 were allowed to vote. The nominations had been made 
 by the Committee of Fifty-one, in conjunction with a 
 Committee of Mechanics, and consisted of Philip Living- 
 ston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane and John 
 
478 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 I 
 
 Jay. For the latter, the seceders endeavored to sub- 
 stitute McDougall ; but the attempt was defeated, the 
 whole ticket was elected, and the delegates soon after- 
 wards set out to join the First Continental Congress, 
 which assembled at Philadelphia early in September. 
 This Congress adopted a Declaration of Colonial Rights, 
 the composition of which is attributed to John Jay, in 
 which they claimed for themselves all the privileges 
 enjoyed by British subjects, protested against standing 
 armies and parliamentary taxation, and declared eleven 
 acts which had been passed since the accession of 
 George III., to be infringements upon their rights, and 
 therefore unconstitutional. They likewise leagued 
 themselves into an American Association, pledging 
 themselves to import no goods from Great Britain or 
 the West Indies until the obnoxious acts should be 
 repealed, and forbidding traders to increase the price of 
 their goods in consequence of this agreement. The 
 slave trade was also denounced by the Association, and 
 the citizens were urged to develop the internal resources 
 of their country by the encouragement of home manu- 
 factures ; and vigilance committees were appointed 
 throughout the country to see that none of these regu- 
 lations were evaded. The patriots in the New York 
 Assembly endeavored to obtain the sanction of that 
 body to the measures of the Continental Congress, but 
 were overruled by the majority of conservatives ; yet, 
 despite this dissent, the House addressed a remonstrance 
 to Parliament so bold in its tone that the ministry 
 refused its reception. The attempt to procure the 
 indorsement of the resolves of Conorress was subse- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 479 
 
 queiitly renewed with the same result, and on the 3d of 
 April, 1775, the Assembly adjourned, never to meet 
 again. A Committee of Sixty was appointed in the city 
 of New York to enforce the observance of the aforesaid 
 reo-ulations. An opportunity was soon offered them for 
 action. On the 16th of February, the ship James of 
 G-lasgow arrived with a cargo of goods, which the 
 consignees attempted to land, but were prevented by 
 the committee, who ordered the vessel to put to sea 
 again immediately. This order was countermanded by 
 the lieutenant of a man-of-war, then lying in the harbor, 
 the captain of which happened to be on shore at the 
 time. The latter was immediately seized by the com- 
 mittee, and threatened with their vengeance if he did 
 not at once retract the commands of his subordinate. 
 Terrified by their menaces, he promptly obeyed, and 
 ordered that the vessel should be suffered to return — 
 a command which was speedily executed under the 
 supervision of the committee. 
 
 The Assembly ha\'ing refused to make any provision 
 for the appointment of delegates to the Continental 
 Congress, it was determined that they should be chosen 
 by a Provincial Congress, composed of delegates from 
 the respective counties. This Congress assembled on 
 the 20th of April in the city of New York, and 
 appointed five delegates to the Continental Congress, 
 which convened at Philadelphia in the ensuing month. 
 In this Provincial Congress — the first in New York — 
 the city and county was represented by Isaac Sears, who 
 had but recently escaped the imprisonment before 
 suffered by McDougall. 
 
480 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A short time previous to this, the seveuty-four guu 
 ship, Asia, had been ordered from Boston, and anchored 
 off the Battery with her guns bearing on the town, 
 while, at the same time, the troops stationed in New 
 York and New Jersey had been transferred to Boston, 
 to maiie room for the reinforcements which were daily 
 expected. More barracks became needed in that city in 
 conseqaence of this arrangement, but the governor 
 found it impossible to induce any Bostonian either to 
 furnish the materials or to aid in the erection. In this 
 extremity, he applied to New York ; but the Sons of 
 Liberty forbade the citizens to render any assistance 
 under penalty of being considered as traitors to their 
 country. Such traitors, however, were found, and the 
 committee was soon apprised that a vessel had been 
 fitted out with a cargo of boai-ds and straw for the 
 barracks at Boston. Upon the receipt of this intelli- 
 gence, a meeting was at once summoned upon the 
 Commons, John Lamb and Marinus Willett were chosen 
 chairmen, and it was resolved to seize the ship and 
 to prevent her voyage. At this meeting, Sears was the 
 chief orator, urging the people to arm and to supply 
 themselves with twenty-four rounds of ammunition — 
 a recommendation which was at once adopted. For 
 this bold proposition. Sears was arrested on a warrant 
 and carried before the mayor. Like his predecessor, 
 McDougall, he refused to give bail, and was committed 
 to prison, but was rescued on his way by the people, 
 who bore him through the streets of the city in triumph, 
 in ironical defiance of the legal authorities. 
 
 On Sunday, the 24th of April, 1775, the news of the 
 
CITY 0/ NEW YORK. 481 
 
 battle of Lexington reached the city. This was the sig- 
 nal for open hostilities. Business was at once sus- 
 pended ; the So .IS of Libert}^ assembled in large num- 
 bers, and, taking possession of the City Hall, distributed 
 the arms that were stored in it, together with a quantity 
 which had been deposited in the arsenal for safe keeping, 
 among the citizens, a party of whom formed themselves 
 into a voluntary corps under the command of Samuel 
 Broome, and assumed the temporary government of 
 the city. This done, they demanded and obtained the 
 keys of the Custom House, closed the building, and 
 laid an embargo upon the vessels in port destined foi 
 the eastern colonies ; then notified tlie members of 
 the fraternity in the other cities of what they had done 
 calling upon them to follow their example. 
 
 It now became necessary to organize some provisional 
 government for the city, and, -for this purpose, on the 
 5th of May a meeting of the citizens was called at the 
 Coffee- House, at which a Committee of One Hundred 
 was chosen and invested with the charge of municipal 
 affairs, the people pledging themselves to obey its orders 
 until different arrangements should be made by the Con- 
 tinental Congress.* This committee was composed in 
 
 • This committee was composed of Isaac Low, chairman, John Jav, Francis 
 Lewis, John AIsop, Philip Livingston, James Dnane, E. Duyckman, William Seton, 
 William W. Ludlow, Cornelius Clopper, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Ilcnry Remsen, 
 Robert Ray, Evert Bancker, Joseph Totten, Abraham P. Lott, David Beeckman, 
 I^aac Roosevelt, Gabriel H. Ludlow, William Walton, Daniel Phoenix, Frederick 
 Jay, Samuel Broome, John De Lancey, Augustus Van Home, Abraham Duryec. 
 Samuel Verplanck, Rudolphus Ritzema, John Morton, Joseph Hallet, Robert Ben- 
 son, Abraham Braslier, Leonard Lispenard, Nicholas Hoffman, P. V. B. Livingston, 
 Thomas Marston, Lewis Pintard, John Imlay, Eleazar Miller, jun., John Broome 
 John B. Moore, Nicholas Bogert, John Anthony, Victor Bicker, William Goforth 
 
 31 
 
482 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 part of men inclined to the royalist cause, yet, such was 
 the popular excitement at the time, that they were car- 
 ried away by the current, and forced to .acquiesce in the 
 measures of their more zealous colleagues. An address 
 to the Lord Mayor and citizens of London, justifying the 
 course which the colonists had taken, and assuring 
 them that the city was ' ' as one man in the cause of 
 " liberty," was drawn up and signed by most of the 
 assembly. 
 
 The committee at once assumed the command of the 
 city, and, retaining the corps of Broome as their execu- 
 tive power, proliibited the sale of weapons to any per- 
 sons suspected of being hostile to the patriotic party. 
 They also ordered that all the cannon of the city not 
 belonging to the colony should be carried away, and 
 appointed a sub-committee to inquire into the supply of 
 arms and ammunition then in the city. Everything 
 wore a martial appearance, the stores and workshops 
 were closed throughout the town, and armed citizens 
 paraded the streets, as if the city were in a state of siege. 
 The moderate men of the committee succeeded in pre- 
 v^ailing on their colleagues to present a placable address 
 to Lieutenant-Grovernor Golden, explanatory of their 
 
 Hercules Mulligan, Alexander McDougall, John Reade, Joseph Ball, George Jane- 
 ^ay, John White, Gabriel W. Ludlow, John Lasher, Theophilus Anthony, Thomas 
 Smith, Richard Yates, Oliver Templeton, Jacobus Van Landby, Jeremiah Piatt, 
 Peter S. Curtenius, Thomas Randall, Lancaster BurUng, Benjamin Kissam, Jacob 
 Lefferts, Anthony Van Dam, Abraham Walton. Hamilton Young, Nicholas Roose- 
 velt, Cornelius P. Low, Francis Basset, James Beecl;man, Thomas Ivers, William 
 Denning, John Berrien, Benjamin Helme, William W. Gilbert, Daniel Dunscomb, 
 John Lamb, Richard Sharp, John Morin Scott, Jacob Van Voorhis, Comfort Sands 
 Edward Fleming, Peter Goelet, Gerret Ketteltas. Thomas Buchanan, James Des 
 biosses, Petrus Byvanck and Lott Embren 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 483 
 
 appointment, and assuring him that they should use 
 every effort to preserve the pubUc peace ; yet ominous 
 precautions were taken to put the arms of the city in a 
 serviceable condition, and to survey the neighboring 
 grounds with a view to erecting fortifications. 
 
 A rumor was now spread that a large body of troops 
 were on their way to New York, and the people at once 
 petitioned Lieutenant-Governor Golden to use his influ- 
 ence with General Gage, at this time the commandant 
 at New York, to prohibit their landing. The Conti- 
 nental Congress, however, recommended that the troops 
 should be permitted to land and take peaceable posses- 
 sion of the city, but, on no account, should be suffered 
 to erect fortifications, and also, that the warlike stores 
 should be removed from the town, and a safe retreat 
 secured for the women and children in case of a siege. 
 
 Some time previous to this, a quantity of military 
 stores belonging to the royal troops had been deposited 
 at Turtle Bay, near the foot of Forty-seventh street on 
 the North River, which the Liberty Boys now deter- 
 mined to take into safe keeping. Headed by their dar- 
 ing leader, John Lamb, they obtained a vessel from Con- 
 necticut, sailed up to the storehouse under cover of the 
 night surprised the guard, and carried off the booty, a 
 part of which was dispatched to the army at Cambridge, 
 while the rest was expended in the Northern campaign. 
 A. boat belonging to the Asia was soon after destroyed 
 by the people, but this act was disapproved by the com- 
 mittee and the corporation, and the boat restored at the 
 expense of the city ; and, anxious to prevent all future 
 excesses, as well as to secure the people from possible 
 
484 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 retaliation, the Provisional Congress requested General 
 Wooster, who was hovering in the suburbs, to take up 
 his head-quarters in the city, with which request he com- 
 plied early in June, and encamped with his troops at 
 Harlem. 
 
 In tlie meantime, the expected troops had arrived and 
 encamped in the city, whence they were soon afterwards 
 ordered to repair to Boston. The Sons of Liberty urged 
 that the whole regiment should be made prisoners, but 
 the committee, who were not yet prepared for such a 
 step, gave them permission to depart, stipulating that 
 they should take with them nothing but their arms and 
 accoutrements ; but, heedless of this order, they prepared 
 to embark Avith all the spare arms in their possession. 
 Intelligence of this proceeding was speedily conveyed to 
 a knot of the Liberty Boys assembled at the tavern of 
 Jasper Drake, in Water street near Reekman Slip, at 
 that time a well-known rendezvous of the patriots, who 
 at once determined to stop the embarkation, and hastily 
 set out by different routes to rally their friends and take 
 forcible possession of the weapons. Colonel Marinus 
 Willett, who was one of the number, hastened to the 
 Coffee-House to give public notice of the course deter- 
 mined on by the party ; then proceeded through Water 
 street to the Exchange at the lower end of Broad street, 
 where he discovered the troops coming down the street, 
 with five carts loaded with chests of arms in front 
 under a smaU guard. Without a moment's hesitation, 
 he advanced to meet them, and, coming in contact with 
 them at the corner of Broad and Beaver streets, seized 
 the horse that was drawing the foremost cart, anrl 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 4S5 
 
 brought the whole company to a full stop. The major 
 at once rode forward to learn what was the matter, upon 
 which Willett informed him that the committee had 
 given the troops no permission to carry arms out of the 
 cit}', and that he intended to stop the proceeding. "While 
 remonstrating with the officer, the mayor, who was 
 strongly suspected of inclining to the side of the roy- 
 alists, came up and ordered Willett to suffer the carts to 
 pass, reprimanding him severely for thus disturbing the 
 peace of the city, in which he was supported by Gou- 
 verneur Morris, who happened to arrive at the same time, 
 and who supposed that permission for the removal of 
 the arms had been granted the troops by the committee. 
 Staggered by this opposition, Willett was on the point of 
 yielding, when John Morin Scott came up, and, catching 
 the last words of his remonstrance with Morris, exclaimed 
 in a loud voice, "You are right, Willett ; the committee 
 " have not given them permission to carry off any spai'e 
 " arms!" Hardly had the words been spoken when the 
 intrepid colonel seized the horse's head, which he had 
 let go in the strife, and, calling upon all of the soldiers 
 who were unwilling to shed the blood of their country- 
 men, to come from the ranks to the side of the people, 
 turned the cart to the right, and ordered the carman to 
 drive up Beaver street. A single soldier stepped from 
 the ranks in compliance with the invitation. He was 
 received with three hearty cheers by the crowd which had 
 gathered about the scene of contention, then mounted on 
 one of the carts and escorted in triumph to the corner 
 of Broadway and John street, where the arms were 
 deposited in the yard of Abraham Van Wyck, a stanch 
 
486 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Whig who kept a ball-alley at this place, which was a 
 favorite resort of the Sons of Liberty. These arms were 
 afterwards used by the first troops raised in New York 
 by the order of Congress. The soldiers, meanwhile, 
 were escorted to the wharf, where they embarked amid 
 the hisses of the citizens.* 
 
 Open hostilities had now commenced. Ticonderoga 
 and Crown Point had been taken ; the battle of Bunker 
 Hill had been fought, and George Washington had been 
 appointed commander-in-chief of the American army. 
 Yet the people had not yet grown to the idea of inde- 
 pendence, and the Committee of Safety, when accused 
 of the thought, indignantly repelled it as treasonable and 
 preposterous, while even the Sons of Liberty freely 
 acknowledged the right of England to regulate trade, only 
 denouncing the principle of parliamentary taxation. On 
 the 25th of June, Washington entered New York on his 
 way from Mount Ycrnon to Cambridge to take command 
 of the army assembled there. The Provincial Congress 
 received him with a cautious address. Despite their 
 patriotism, they still clung to the shadow of loyalty ; 
 fearing to go too far, they acted constantly under pro- 
 test that they desired nothing more than to secure to 
 themselves the rights of true-born British subjects. The 
 next morning, Washington quitted the city, escorted on 
 his way by the provincial militia. Tryon had entered 
 it the night before, and thus had been brought almost 
 face to face with the rebel who was destined to work 
 such a transformation in his majesty's colonies of 
 
 • Sec WUIett'g Narrative, pp. 28-32. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 487 
 
 America. The mayor and corporation received the 
 returning governor with expressions of joy, and even the 
 patriot party were glad of the change which reUeved 
 them from the government of Golden. But the city had 
 greatly changed during his absence. He had left it 
 mutinous, yet anxious to obey him as far as was pos- 
 sible, and always disposed to treat him with respect ; he 
 found it in a state of open rebellion, preserving the 
 semblance of loyalty without its substance, and far less 
 disposed to yield obedience to his orders than to those of 
 the Provincial Congress, now estabhshed among them. 
 
 Meanwhile, the colony of New York had been ordered 
 by the Continental Congress to contribute her quota of 
 three thousand men to the general defence, and four regi- 
 ments were accordingly raised, which were placed under 
 the command of Colonels Alexander McDougall, Goosen 
 Van Schaick, James Clinton, and Holmes. Of the first 
 of these, which was raised fi'om the city of New York, 
 Adolph Ritzma, the son of the domine of the Dutch 
 Church, was lieutenant-colonel ; Frederic Wisenfelts, a 
 Prussian of fine military talents, first captain, and Mari- 
 nus Willett, second captain. A Swiss ofiicer, by the 
 name of Zedwitz, served as major of the regiment ; both 
 he and Ritzma afterwards proved traitors to their trust. 
 John Lamb was appointed to the command of a com- 
 pany of artillery, and Wiley, Oswald, Sears and others 
 of the Liberty Boys entered the ranks, and soon after- 
 wards set out on the Northern campaign. 
 
 The city now presented a curious spectacle, as the 
 seat of two governments, each issuing its own edicts, 
 and denouncing those of the other as illegal authority. 
 
■488 HiSTOKr OF the 
 
 It was not long before the two powers came into colli- 
 sion. Regarding the guns on the Battery as dangerous 
 to the patriot interest, and needing them for the forti- 
 fications of the posts in the Highlands, the Provincial 
 Congress directed their removal ; and, on the night of 
 the 23d of August, Captain Lamb with a party of Liberty 
 Boys and a number of citizens, among whom was 
 Alexander Hamilton, proceeded to execute the order ; a 
 part of the company remaining under arms while the rest 
 were employed in removing the cannon. While thus 
 engaged, a musket was discharged from the barge of the 
 Asia, which had been stationed near the shore to recon- 
 noitre. The fire was returned by Lamb and his company, 
 killing one of the crew, and wounding several others, upon 
 which the barge at once made her way to the ship. No 
 sooner had she reached it than a heavy cannonading was 
 opened on the town, riddling the houses near the Bat- 
 tery, and severely wounding three of the citizens. The 
 drum beat to arms ; a rumor was spread that the British 
 intended to destroy the city, and many of the people fled 
 with their wives and children in apprehension of the 
 impending catastrophe. The intrepid Libei'ty Boys, 
 meanwhile, cooll}' continued their task in the ftice of 
 the enemy's fire, nor did they quit the Battery until the 
 last of the twenty-one pieces had been carried away in 
 safety. The next day, Captain Vandeput, the com- 
 mander of the Asia, dispatched a letter to the mayor, 
 complaining of the murder of one of his men, and 
 demanding immediate satisfaction. A correspondence 
 of mutual recrimination, resulting in nothing, ensued, and 
 on the 29th of Ausust, the Provincial Congress issued 
 
CiTT OF NEW YORK. 489 
 
 an order declaring that, as the Asia had seen fit to can- 
 nonade the city, she must henceforth cease to receive 
 suppUes from it, and must obtain them instead by the 
 waj^ of Governor's Island. 
 
 Hitherto, the governor had remained firm at his post ; 
 but, finding his position daily growing more perilous, 
 despite the pledges of the corporation for his personal 
 safety, he determined to abandon the city, and took 
 refuge on board the Asia ; from which he kept up a con- 
 stant communication with his friends on shore, and insti- 
 gated violent attacks on tlie Sons of Liberty through 
 Rivington^s Gazette* the organ of the royalist party. 
 Finding this journal becoming somewhat too scurrilous 
 in its abuse, the Liberty Boys, after vainly remonstrating 
 with the printer, directed Captain Sears to attend to the 
 matter. Mustering a party of light-horse from Connec- 
 ticut, he entered the city at noon on the 4th of Decem- 
 ber, and, proceeding to the printing-office, forced open 
 the doors, demolished the press, distributed the types 
 through the windows, and effectually stopped the paper. 
 
 * This journal, which was first issued by James Rivington on the 22d of April, 
 1773, on a large medium sheet, folio, from the beginning warmly supported the 
 cause of the British government, and received the support of the royalists through- 
 out the country. After the destruction of his office, Rivington went to England, 
 where he procured a new press, and obtained the appointment of king's printer for 
 New York. After the conquest of the city by the British, he returned, and, on the 
 4th of October, 1777, issued his paper anew, and continued it under the title of 
 the Royal Gazette until the close of the war, when he discarded the royal arms from 
 the title, which henceforth appeared as liivingtori' s Neiv York Gazette and 
 Universal Advertiser. The paper, however, was regarded with coldness; and, dis- 
 couraged by the want of popular faith in his conversion, in 1783, he discontinued 
 its publication, and devoted himself exclusively to the sale of books and stationery. 
 Ue also published several volumes, among which were Cook's Voyages. He waa 
 rei'ai'led by liis contemporaries as a man of considerable ability. 
 
490 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 Early in the spring of 1776, General Lee,* who had 
 commanded the American forces at New York since the 
 departure of Wooster, was ordered to Charleston, and 
 General Putnam was left in sole command of the city. 
 Putnam fixed his head-quarters at No 1 Broadway, in a 
 
 Franklin Mansion : Pro-idiMit Washington's residence, Franklin Square. 
 
 * Lee came to New York in January, 1776, with a force of twelve hundred men, 
 and took up his head-quarters at the Kennedy House, the same afterwards occu- 
 pied by Putnam. Previously to the departure of Washington for Philadelphia, he 
 lodged while in the city at No. 184 Pearl street; upon his return, he removed 
 to the Kennedy House, the favorite resort of the officers of the army. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 491 
 
 house built by Captain Kennedy of the British army. On 
 the 1-ith of April, Washington arrived, having succeeded 
 hi expelling the British troops from Boston, and took up 
 his quarters at Richmond Hill, in tlie vicinity of Varick 
 and Charlton streets. The idea of independence was fast 
 gaining ground, and those who would have shuddered at 
 the thought a few months before, were now discussing 
 the expediency of a total separation from the mother 
 country. At this juncture, "Common Sense" was pub- 
 lished in Philadelphia by Thomas Paine, and electrified 
 the whole nation with the spirit of independence and 
 liberty. This eloquent production severed the last link 
 that bound the colonies to the mother-country ; it boldly 
 gave speech to the arguments which had long been 
 trembling on the lips of many, but which none before 
 had found courage to utter, and, accepting its con- 
 clusions, several of the colonies instructed their delegates 
 in the Continental Congress to close their eyes to the 
 ignis fatuus of loyalty, and fearlessly to throw off their 
 allegiance to the crown. On the 7th of June, 1776, 
 the subject was introduced into Congress by Richard 
 Henry Lee, who offered a resolution declaring " that the 
 "United Colonies ai'e, and ought to be, free and inde- 
 " pendent States, that they are absolved from all alle- 
 " giance to the British crown, and that their political 
 "connection with Great Britain is and ought to be 
 "totally dissolved." A spirited debate followed these 
 resolutions. The delegates of several of the colonies^ 
 New York among the rest, had received no instructions 
 how to act in this emergency, and they drew back shi'ink- 
 ingly from the perilous step which would condemn them, 
 
492 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 if unsuccessful, to a traitor's doom. Seven of tlie thir- 
 teen colonies voted in its favor. Aiined with this small 
 majority, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Read, Shennan and 
 Robert R. Livingston were appointed to draft a Declar- 
 ation of Independence ; which, ou the -Ith of July, was 
 adopted by Congress, and the British colonies trans- 
 formed into the United States of America.- 
 
 Ou the 10th of July, the news reached New York, 
 where it was received with the greatest enthusiasm. 
 Orders were immediately issued for the several brigades 
 then in the city to meet on the Commons at six in the 
 evening to hear the document publicly read. At the 
 hour appointed, the soldiers ranged themselves in a hol- 
 low square, within which was Washington on horseback 
 with his aids, on the site of the present Park Fountain, 
 to listen to the address which, for the first time, pro- 
 claimed the United States a free and independent nation. 
 The reading ended, the immense auditory burst into 
 shouts of applause. The people, impelled by the new- 
 born spirit of independence, rushed in a body to the 
 City Hall, and, tearing the picture of George III. from 
 its frame, rent it in pieces and trampled it under foot. 
 Proceeding thence to the Bowling Green, they hurled 
 from its pedestal the statue of the royal tyrant which 
 they had set up in a fit of ill-judged enthusiasm a few 
 years before, and dragged it in triumph through the 
 streets of the city. The statue of Pitt escaped desecra- 
 tion upon this occasion ; yet the people had lost much of 
 their reverence for their former idol, and the statue had 
 already received considerable mutilation from their 
 bands. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 493 
 
 Everything now indicated that the city of New York 
 had been chosen by the enemy as the next point ot 
 attack. On the 25th of Jnne, General Howe had 
 arrived at Sandy Hook from Hahfax, and had hxnded on 
 the 21st of July at Staten Island, where he found many 
 partisans of the royal cause. Here he was joined a few 
 days after by his brother, Admiral Lord Howe, from 
 England, together with the forces of Clinton from the 
 South, and thus placed in command of an army of 
 twenty-four thousand of the best disciplined troops of 
 England, besides the large reinforcements of Tories which 
 flocked to his standard, and rendered him invaluable aid 
 by their knowledge of the country. To oppose this 
 formidable array, Washington had collected a force of 
 twenty thousand raw militia — the best at his command — 
 nearly one half of whom were invalids or detailed for 
 other duty, while many more were destitute of arms and 
 ammunition. 
 
 The city, meanwhile, had been strongly fortified. On 
 the southernmost point of the island was the Grand 
 Battery, mounting twenty-three guns, with Fort George 
 Battei-y, of two guns, immediately above it, in close 
 proximity to the Bowling Green. The N^rth River 
 shore was defended by McDougall's Battery, of four guns, 
 on a hill a little to the west of Trinity Church ; the 
 Grenadiers' or Circular Battery, of five guns, some dis- 
 tance above, in the neighborhood of the brewhouse ; 
 and the Jersey Battery, of five guns, to the left of the 
 latter. On the East River shore were Coenties' Battery, 
 of five guns, on Ten Eyck's wharf ; Waterbury's Battery, 
 of seven guns, at the shipyards ; Badlam's Battery, of 
 
494 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 eight guns, on Rutger's Hill, in the vicinity of the Jews' 
 burial-ground in Chatham street ; and not far from 
 that, Thompson's Battery, of nine guns, at Hoorne's 
 Hook, and the Independent Battery on Bayard's 
 Mount, now christened Bunker Hill, on the corner 
 of Grand and Centre streets. Breastworks were 
 also erected at Peck, Beekman, Burling, Coenties and 
 Old slips ; * at the CofFee-House, and the Exchange : 
 and in Broad and other streets of the city, and a line of 
 circumvallation was stretched across the island from river 
 to river. Fortifications were erected on Governor's 
 Island, Paulus Hook, Brooklyn Heights, and Red Hook ; 
 a line of works were thrown up on Long Island 
 from Fort Greene at the Wallabout to Gowanus Creek, 
 within which nine thousand men were encamped and the 
 passages to the city, both by the North and East Rivers, 
 were obstructed by chains and sunken vessels. The 
 latter fortifications were erected under the superintend- 
 ence of General Greene, who was intrusted with the 
 command of the American forces on Long Island. 
 General SuUivan was deputed as the assistant of Greene ; 
 
 * These slips were simply openings between two wharTes, into which the wood- 
 boats entered at high water and grounded there, that the cartmen might enter at 
 low tide to unload them. There were at this time six slips on the East River 
 
 shore Whitehall Slip, so called from the large white house, built by Stuyresant 
 
 adjoining the slip; Coenties' (Coen and Antey's) so called from Conrad Ten Eyck 
 and Jane, his wife, who lived in the house on Little Dock, now Pearl street 
 adjoining the slip; Old Slip, the first in the city; Burling Slip, which derived it* 
 name from Mr. Burling, i merchant on the corner of the Smit's Vly and Goldet. Hill . 
 Beekman's Slip, so called from Mr. Beekman who resided on the southwest cornei 
 of Pearl street and the slip, and Peck Slip, which received its name from Mr. Peck, 
 at that time the owner of the lands in its vicinity. The only slip on the North 
 River was at the foot of Oswego, now Liberty street. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 495 
 
 General Nathaniel WoodhuU was directed to forage for 
 the troops on Long Island, and Washington retained 
 command of the forces in the city. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of the British fleet at Stateu 
 Island, Admiral Howe, who came commissioned by the 
 British government to treat for peace with the rebels, 
 as they were contemptuously termed, attempted tc 
 open negotiations with the American forces, and, to this 
 end, addressed a letter to "George Washington, Esq.," 
 which Washington returned without reply. He then 
 dispatched another, addressed to " George Washington, 
 etc. etc.," which was also returned ; upon which the 
 general, resolved never to acknowledge the military 
 rank of a traitor, abandoned all hopes of an accommo- 
 dation with the rebels, and turned his thoughts to 
 a wai'like policy. 
 
 At this critical juncture. General Greene fell danger- 
 ously ill of a fever, and Washington, anticipating that 
 New York and Long Island would be attacked simulta- 
 neously, dispatched General Putnam to take command 
 at the latter, with strict injunctions to guard the passes 
 to the American camp, and by all means to hinder the 
 advance of the enemy. For this, the position of the 
 ground was well chosen. A range of thickly wooded 
 hills, extending from the Narrows to Jamaica, and only 
 accessible by three easily -guarded passes — the first, wind- 
 ing round the western base of the Narrows ; the second, 
 crossing the range by the village of Flatbush ; and the 
 third, passing to the right through Flatlands and inter- 
 secting the road which led from Bedford to Jamaica — 
 separated the American lines from the expected landing- 
 
496 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 place of the enemy at Graveseiid. Near these passes 
 breastworks had been erected and three or four regi- 
 ments stationed, while patrols were set to reconnoitre the 
 roads and to give the earliest intelligence of the advance 
 of the enemy. Trusting to the watchfulness of Lord 
 Stirling and General Sullivan, Putnam, who knew nothing 
 of the topography of the country, unwisely removed 
 these patrols from their posts, and thus insured the 
 defeat of the American army. 
 
 Contrary to the expectations of AVashington, Howe 
 determined to reach New York through Long Island, 
 and on the 22d of August, passed over with four thou- 
 sand men from Staten Island to Gravesend, where he 
 landed without opposition. Other regiments, commanded 
 by Earls Cornwallis and Percy, Sir William Erskine, 
 Count Donop, and Generals Grant, De Heister, and 
 Knyphausen soon followed, increasing the number to 
 fifteen thousand men, who stretched along the eastern 
 base of the hills, where they lay encamped for several 
 days, rcconnoitering the ground and skirmishing with 
 straggling scouting parties from the American lines. 
 
 Clinton was not long in discovering the unguarded 
 state of the passes through the hills. He at once com- 
 municated the intelligence to Howe, a consultation was 
 held by the generals, and a skillful ruse concerted for the 
 plan of attack. On the evening of the 26th, De Heister, 
 with the Hessians under his command, advanced along 
 tlie road which led through the hills by the way of 
 Flatlnish, while General Grant, with the left division of 
 the army, took the lower road along the shore ; a manoeu- 
 fre desiii'ued to divert the attention of Putnam, and thus 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 497 
 
 enable Clinton with the main body of the army to skirt 
 the hills by an easterly route, gain possession of the pass 
 in the heights near Bedford, and thence turn the left of 
 the American lines. The artifice was successful ; Putnam, 
 apprised by advance parties of the advance of Grant 
 and De Heister, dispatched a strong detachment under 
 Lord Stirling to guard the lower road, and another under 
 Sullivan to stop the progress of De Heister, and it waa 
 not until the army under Clinton had gained the coveted 
 position and opened a heavy fire upon Sullivan's rear, 
 that the ruse was detected by the cheated general. Find- 
 ing themselves thus completely hemmed in, the troops 
 under Sullivan, after vainly attempting to break through 
 the lines of the enemy, scattered in confusion and took 
 refuge among the hills, where the greater portion with 
 their commander were soon discovered and taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 The conflict at Gowanus creek was far more sanguinary. 
 Posted wnth his troops on the slope of the hills north 
 from Greenwood Cemetery, Lord Stirling maintained his 
 ground against Grant, until the approach of Cornwallis 
 with a large reinforcement warned him that further 
 resistance would be in vain. Closely pressed by the 
 enemy in front, and having in his rear the deep marsh 
 and creek at Gowanus, eighty feet in width, two courses 
 alone remained to him ; either to surrender at once to 
 the enemy, or to attempt to escape across the creek, 
 spanned only by the remnant of a half-burnt mill-dam. 
 He gallantly chose the latter ; and, selecting four hun- 
 dred men from the Maryland brigade to cover their 
 flight, he ordered the remainder of his troops to retreat, 
 32 
 
498 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 then charged with fixed bayonets with this forlorn hope 
 upon the brigade commanded by Cornwallis. Four times 
 the desperate charge was repeated ; on the fifth, the 
 enemy was on the point of yielding, when De Heister 
 came up from the rout of Sullivan, and commenced an 
 assault on the rear. This new onslaught determined the 
 fortunes of the day. Stirling and a portion of the 
 detachment surrendered themselves prisoners of war ; 
 while the remainder resolutely cut their way through 
 the ranks of the enemy, only to perish in the deep 
 morass which ingulfed the most of their number. The 
 loss of the Americans in this battle amounted to nearly 
 twelve hundred men, a thousand of whom, including 
 Lord Stirling and General Sullivan, remained prisoners 
 in the hands of the enemy. On the day after the battle, 
 General Woodhull was also captured while scouting at 
 the southwest part of the island, and so severely 
 hurt that he died of his wounds a short time after. 
 About four hundred of the British were killed, wounded 
 and taken prisoners. 
 
 Encouraged by this success, the victorious troops 
 advanced in front of the American lines, which had been 
 reinforced during the battle by Washington in person 
 with a large body of troops from the city, and made 
 preparations for investing them in form. In tliis emer- 
 gency, Washington summoned a council of his officers, 
 and, by their advice, determined to evacuate the island. 
 In order to conceal this resolution from the British, it 
 was announced that boats were wanted to transport a 
 detachment of the American troops to Hellgate in order 
 to attack the enemy in the rear. At eight in the even- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 499 
 
 ing of the 29th., the embarkation commenced under 
 cover of a heavy fog and a fine, drizzling rain. To 
 deceive the British, companies of troops marched and 
 countermarched from the ferry to the lines while their 
 comrades were embarking. At eleven o'clock, the wind, 
 which had been unfavorable, suddenly changed, and the 
 boats crossed rapidly, almost under the guns of the 
 British fleet which was lying in the Upper Bay, ignorant 
 of the easy escape of its prey. Nor was this the only 
 danger to which the Americans were exposed ; a Tory 
 who lived in close proximity to the ferry, dispatched a 
 negro servant with the intelligence to Clinton ; but the 
 slave was apprehended by a Hessian guard, who, not 
 understanding his language, detained him until morning, 
 then conducted him to headquarters, too late for his mes- 
 sage. Washington, who for two days had scarcely quit- 
 ted his saddle, superintended the retreat of his troops 
 with intense anxiety, each moment expecting to see them 
 discovered by the enemy. But the friendly fog screened 
 them effectually, the boats rapidly crossed and recrossed 
 in safety, and, by sunrise the next morning, the whole 
 army of nine thousand men, with their prisoners, bag- 
 gage, and stores, together with most of the wounded, 
 were safely landed on the opposite shore. The fog 
 continued till a late hour the next morning, when the 
 British scouts, suspecting that all was not right from 
 the dead silence which reigned in the camp, drew 
 nearer and nearer the American line.* By and by, one, 
 more daring than the rest, crept cautiously within 
 
 ' See Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incident?, pp. 130-131. 
 
500 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the works, and finding them abandoned, gave the 
 alarm, upon which the British army rushed in and 
 hastened to the ferry, just in time to witness the 
 escape of their foes. 
 
 Thinking this a favorable moment for winning back 
 the colonies to their allegiance, Howe opened a negotia- 
 tion with the Continental Congress, promising pardon to 
 all who would la}^ down their arms, together with a 
 repeal of the obnoxious laws in which the struggle had 
 originated. But this concession came too late ; the 
 people had grown into a spirit of self-government, and, in 
 the conference which was subsequently held on Staten 
 Island, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Francis 
 Rutledge, the commissioners appointed by Congress for 
 the negotiation, refused to treat for peace on any other 
 terms than the full and entire acknowledgment of the 
 independence of the colonies. This, of course, was 
 inadmissible. Seeing that no terms could be made with 
 Congress, Howe issued a proclamation repeating the 
 offer to the peojDle, then proceeded at once to invest the 
 city. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fortifications which had been 
 erected, it was evident to all that the city could not 
 maintain a siege against the British on the neighboring 
 islands and the ships of war which held the harbor in 
 blockade, and on the 12th of September, Washington 
 called a council of war, and reluctantly detei'mined to 
 abandon it to its fate. The military stores were at once 
 ordered to be removed across the Harlem River, a con- 
 siderable force was stationed at Kingsbridge, Putnam 
 was left with a force of four thousand men in the cit} 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 501 
 
 and Washington withdrew with the main body of the 
 army to Harlem Heights.* 
 
 AVhat was next to be done ? was a question which 
 Washington put to himself, but could gain no reply. 
 The British had complete possession of both rivers ; they 
 could ascend when they pleased, and, landing above liim, 
 hem him in and insure the destruction of his army, for 
 resistance would be in vain with such unequal forces ; 
 could attack the city at once, or could cross over from 
 Long Island and attack him when they thought proper. 
 That he would eventuallj'- be forced to evacuate the 
 island, he foresaw clearly — to evacuate it too soon would 
 be to yield an important advantage to the enemy ; to 
 linger too long would be to surrender his army. His 
 own conduct must depend on the movements of Howe, 
 yet with all his endeavors he had failed to procure the 
 slightest clue to these movements. In this emergency, 
 it was resolved, in a council of war, to send a trusty 
 man to penetrate the enemy's ranks in disguise and 
 obtain the desired information, and Nathan Hale, a 
 young officer in the regiment of Knowlton, volunteered 
 to undertake the dangerous mission. He passed over to 
 Long Island, penetrated the enemy's lines, made drawings 
 of his works, and gained full intelligence of the projected 
 movements of the army. On his return lie was recog- 
 nized as belonging to the American army, and at once 
 
 * After his retreat from the city, Washington first fixed his quarters at the 
 house of Robert Murray on Murray Hill, whence he issued his instructions to Nathan 
 Hale, and where he was on the day preceding the landing of Howe. On the 
 15th, he was at Mott's Tavern, at the corner of One Hundred aud Forty-third street 
 and Eighth Avenue. He subsequently resided at the house of Col. Roger Morris, 
 on the shore of the Harlem River. 
 
502 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 arrested and conveyed to the Beekman House, on tlie 
 corner of Fifty-first street and First avenue, now the 
 head-quarters of General Howe, who, since his departure, 
 had taken possession of the island. Here he was tried, 
 convicted as a spy, and sentenced to be hung the next 
 morning at day-break. He was at once delivered over 
 to the notorious Cunningham, the Provost-Marshal of 
 the Revolution, who confined him for the night in the 
 green-house of the garden, refusing his prayer for a 
 light and writing materials that he might write for the 
 last time to his parents and friends. Through the influ- 
 ence of the lieutenant, these were afterwards furnished 
 him ; but, in the morning, Cunningham savagely tore the 
 letters in pieces before his eyes, declaring that the rebels 
 should never know that they could die with so much 
 firmness ; and ordered the prisoner to immediate execu- 
 tion, demanding, as a last refinement of cruelty, that he 
 should make a dying speech and confession. " I only 
 " regret that I have but one hfe to lose for my country," 
 was the calm reply of the doomed patriot. These were 
 his last words ; the next moment he was suspended on 
 an apple-tree in the orchard, whence his bones were 
 thrust into a nameless grave. The tragedy cast a deep 
 gloom over the army, in which Hale was universally 
 beloved ; while the heartlessness with which the affair 
 was conducted must ever remain a stigma on the name 
 of the British general. 
 
 Soon after the departure of Hale on his perilous mis- 
 sion, the British ships advanced up the rivers, and under 
 cover of their fire, which swept across the island, Howe 
 landed at Kip's Bay at the foot of Thirtv-sixth street. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 503 
 
 The guard stationed there to prevent liis landing fled 
 without striking a blow, followed by the two Connecticut 
 brigades under the command of Generals Parsons and 
 Fellows, which had been sent to their suppoi't. On 
 hearing the firing, Washington immediately rode to the 
 scene of action, which he reached just in time to catch a 
 ■glimpse of the vanishing bi'igades. "Are these the men 
 " with whom lam to defend America !" exclaimed he, 
 indignantly dashing his hat upon the ground, as he saw 
 himself thus deserted by his recreant soldiers. His aids 
 hurried him from his perilous position, and, seeing that 
 the island was irretrievably lost, he retired with his 
 forces to Kingsbridge, sending orders to Putnam to evac- 
 uate the city. In the meantime, Howe advanced to the 
 centre of the island, and, encamping on Incleuberg Hill, 
 made preparations to stretch a cordon across the island 
 and thus insure the capture of the troops still in the city. 
 The retreat of Silliman's brigade,* which, by some 
 
 * The following affidavit, copied from the original in the possession of Abraham 
 Tomlinson, Esq., Poughkeepsie, N. Y., seems to indicate that Putnam waa 
 separated from and considerably in the rear of the retreating brigade : 
 
 " Hezekiah Ripley of said Fairfield doth certify that on or about the 15th day of 
 " September, 1776, I was the officiating chaplain of the brigade, then commanded by 
 " Geul. Gold S. Silliman. From mismanagement of the commanding officer of that 
 " Brigade, was unfortunately left in the city of New York, and, at the time before 
 " mentioned, while the Brigade was in front and myself considerably in the rear, I 
 " was met by Genl Putnam, who then informed me of the landing of the enemy 
 " above us, and that I must mak« my escape on the west side of the Island, where- 
 " upon, I, on foot, crossed the lots to the west side of the Island unmolested. 
 " excepting by the fire of the ships of war, at the time lying on the North River. 
 " How the Brigade escaped, I was not an eye witness. 
 
 " IlEZEKiAn Ripley, 
 " Afterwards one of the Trustees of Yale College 
 " Sept. 26, 1776." 
 
504 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 unaccountable error, remained too long in the city, was, 
 indeed, eflected almost by a miracle. Hastily rallying at 
 Bunker Hill, under the supposition that all the avenues 
 were in the possession of the enemy, they had just deter- 
 mined to make a bold stand and sell their lives as dearly 
 as they could, when Colonel Burr, at this time one of the 
 aids of Putnam, came up to extricate them from the diffi- 
 culty by his superior knowledge of the country. Guiding 
 them by a cross-road from Bunker Hill to a new road, 
 recently cut through the hills on the line of Broadway, 
 he led them along the edge of a swamp to the woods 
 which surrounded the house of Robert Murray, at 
 Incleuberg Hill, and, passing thence up the Greenwich 
 Road, reached the Apthorpe House on the road to 
 Bloomingdale, where Washington was impatiently await- 
 ing their arrival. In the meantime, Howe, Clinton, Tryon 
 and a few othei'S had halted for refreshment at the Mur- 
 ray House, where, beguiled by the smiles and the choice 
 wines of the Quaker hostess, who had received a hint 
 from Washington to intercept and detain them as long as 
 possible, they lingered in forgetfulness of the enemy they 
 now deemed a certain prey, until a soldier rushed in, 
 panting for breath, to tell them that the brigade had 
 passed almost within their grasp, and was now advanc- 
 ing up the Bloomingdale road. To mount and pursue 
 them was the work of an instant. Fifteen minutes after 
 Washington had quitted the Apthorpe House, it was 
 tilled with British troops ; but the few minutes' delay 
 had saved the retreating soldiers. At ten minutes after 
 three, the colors were struck in New York, and General 
 Robertson with his foi'ces took possession of the city. 
 
CITY OF N K W YORK. 505 
 
 The two armies, separated by Harlem Plains, 
 encamped for the night ; the one on the heights between 
 Manhattanville and Kingsbridge, the other in a line 
 between Hoorne's Hook and Bloomingdale. Early the 
 next morning, two parties, under the command of Colonel 
 Knowlton and Major Leitch, were detached by Washing- 
 ton with orders to gain the rear of a body of British 
 troops stationed on Tandewater's Heights (on the site of 
 the present Bloomingdale Asylum) while dispositions 
 were made to attack them in front ; but, by some mis- 
 take, a fire was opened upon them before the rear was 
 gained, and, warned of their danger, they made good 
 their retreat to the main body of the army. 
 
 By way of retaliation, Howe ordered a detachment to 
 push forward through McGowan's Pass and attack the 
 American lines. They were met by Colonel Knowlton 
 at the foot of a rocky gorge between the Eighth and 
 Ninth Avenues, near the line of One Hundred and 
 Twenty-fourth street, who drove them into a cleared 
 field about two hundred rods distant, where they took 
 shelter behind a fence and continued the contest. It was 
 not long before they were forced from this position ; 
 and, retreating to a buckwheat field four hundred yards 
 distant, they made a stand on the summit of a high hill, 
 where, joined by a reinforcement of Hessians, they 
 fought for two hours with great spirit, but were finally 
 forced to retreat for the third time to another hill near 
 the British lines.* The main body now prepared to 
 
 • Vide Dunlap's Hist, of New York, vol ii., pp. 11, IS, Lossing'g Field Book of the 
 Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 817-819, and Dawson's Battles of the United States by Se» 
 and Land, pp. lGO-16'.i. 
 
OOG mSTOEY OF TUE 
 
 advance to their aid, when "Washington, not wishing to 
 risk a general engagement, prudently retreated, with the 
 loss of sixteen of his men, among whom was the gallant 
 Colonel Knowlton. Major Leitch was also so severely 
 hurt that he died of his wounds a few weeks after. 
 The loss of the British, as acknowledged in the official 
 report, was fourteen killed and seventy-eight wounded. 
 Clouded as it was by the loss of two valuable officers, the 
 success of this skirmish greatly inspired the Americans, 
 who had been much depressed by their last defeat. A 
 few days after. Major Thomas Henly fell in an unsuccess- 
 ful attack upon the British forces under the command of 
 General Heath, which were stationed at Moutresor's, 
 now Randall's, Island. 
 
 For several weeks, Washington retained his position 
 in the high grounds above Manhattanville, residing at 
 the house of Col. Roger Morris, on Harlem Heights, near 
 Carmausville, late Madame Jumel's. Not caring to risk a 
 direct attack, Howe withdrew the greater part of his 
 forces from the island and landed them at Throg's Point 
 in Westchester County, with a view to cutting off all com- 
 munication from the eastern States ; while, at the same 
 time, he dispatched three frigates up the Hudson River to 
 intercept all supplies from the southern and western 
 shftres. Forced by this movement to evacuate the island, 
 Washington detached a garrison of three thousand men 
 for the defence of Fort Washington, and proceeded with 
 the remainder of his forces to White Plains, whei'e, on the 
 28th of October, a spirited action took place in which he 
 lost nearly four hundred of his men ; then, fearing a 
 speedy repetition of the attack, he withdrew to the almost 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 507 
 
 impregnable heights of North Castle. No longer daring 
 to pursue the main body of the army, Howe now 
 retraced his steps across Kingsbridge, and proceeded to 
 invest the garrison at Fort Washington. 
 
 This fort, which was but the centre of the fortifica- 
 tions on this part of the island, stood on the shores of 
 the North River about two and a half miles below 
 Kingsbridge. The position was a strong one ; the hill 
 was steep and difficult of access on all sides but the 
 south, which was commanded by the fort ; and sur- 
 rounded on all sides by redoubts and batteries. Three 
 lines of intrenchments, a mile in lengtli, extended across 
 the island from the Harlem to the North River ; the first 
 in the vicinity of One Hundred and Fifty-first street : 
 the second about half a mile further north ; and the third 
 westward from Colonel Morris' house along the line of 
 One Hundred and Seveijtieth street ; but the works 
 were unfinished and defended only by a few old pieces 
 of artiller}' ; while, to maintain them properly, an army 
 would have been needed instead of the handful of men 
 detailed for their defence. Colonel Magaw, who was in 
 command at the station, remained in the fort ; Colonel 
 Rawlins, with his regiment of riflemen, occupied a redoubt 
 to the north and also a small breastwork on the southern- 
 most part of the island, overlooking Spuyten DuyveJ 
 Creek ; Colonel Baxter, with the militia under his com- 
 mand, was posted along the heights of the Harlem River 
 opposite Fort "Washington ; Colonel Cadwalader, with a 
 force of eight hundred men, was stationed at the lowei 
 lines which crossed the island, and the rest of the troops 
 were distributed among the other redoubts and breast- 
 
•508 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 works at Manhattanville and along the Kingsbi-idge 
 Road. 
 
 On the 15th of November, a summons to surrender 
 was sent to the garrison by Adjutant-General Patterson 
 of the British army, which was peremptorily refused by 
 Magaw. Early on the following morning, a heavy can- 
 nonade was opened upon the positions of Colonels 
 Rawlins and Cadwalader, and about ten o'clock, a large 
 body of the enemy, headed by Lord Percy and preceded 
 by their field-pieces, appeared on Harlem Plains and 
 advanced to attack Cadwalader, who held them in check 
 for more than an hour and a half, while Washington, 
 with Putnam, Greene and Mercer, crossed the river from 
 Fort Lee, and after examining the ground, returned 
 again to his intrenchments. 
 
 At noon, the riflemen of Colonel Rawlins were 
 attacked by the Hessians under Knyphausen, and, after 
 defending themselves with great bravery until their rifles, 
 through frequent charging, became useless in their hands, 
 were forced to retreat to the fort, whither Knyphausen 
 pursued them, and intrenching himself behind a large 
 storehouse in the vicinity, summoned Magaw again to 
 surrender. Finding his position hopeless beyond redemp- 
 tion, the commander gave a reluctant assent, and sur- 
 rendered himself and the garrison, twenty-seven hun- 
 dred in number, as prisoners of war. 
 
 Lord Percy, in the meantime, had been reinforced by 
 a detachment under the command of Colonel Sterling, 
 which had descended the Harlem River in bateaux, and 
 landed in the rear of Cadwalader. After defeating the 
 parties under Captains Lenox, Edwards and Tudor, which 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 50£ 
 
 had been detailed to oppose their landing, the new 
 troops advanced to the heights near Morris' house, and, 
 seconding the efforts of Percy, forced Cadwalader to 
 retreat to Fort Washington, where he was at once made 
 prisoner by the British, now in possession of the fort. 
 A few minutes after, the troops of Colonel Baxter, 
 who had been di-iven from their ground with the 
 loss of their leader by General Mathew and Lord 
 Cornwallis, came in, and were also made prisoners of 
 war ; and at half-past one the British flag wa,ved 
 triumphantly over the fort in token of the undisputed 
 sovereignty of the island. About fifty of the Americans, 
 among whom were Colonels Baxter and Miller, and 
 Lieutenants Harrison and Tannihill, were killed in this 
 engagement ; one hundred were wounded, and nearly 
 three thousand made prisoners of war. The loss of Fort 
 Washington was soon followed by that of Fort Lee; 
 Washington retreated with his troops through the 
 Jerseys, and the struggle for liberty in New York was 
 over. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 New York during the Occupation of the Royalists — The British Prisons and Pi.sou Ships 
 of New York. 
 
 The city now lay prostrate in the hands of its captors. 
 Those of the Sons of Liberty who had escaped imprison- 
 ment had fled to rejoin the Northern army, or the 
 patriots who were struggling almost hopelessly in the 
 Jerseys, and their place was filled by a host of Tories 
 from the neighboring counties. The Provincial Con- 
 gress, abandoning the city, held secret meetings, armed 
 and in disguise, at various towns in the suburbs, con- 
 stantly changing their place of rendezvous to avoid the 
 vigilance of the Toiy spies who infested the neighborhood. 
 Westchester, between Croton River and Fordham— the 
 neutral ground — swaiinecl with Cow Boys and Skinners; 
 the former, the avowed friends of King George ; the 
 latter, ready to attach themselves for the moment to the 
 party which might offer the greatest hopes of plunder. 
 To guard against the machinations of these, a Committee 
 of Safety, with John Jay at the head, was appointed by 
 the Provincial Congress, the adventures of which were 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 511 
 
 fraught with incidents which shame the wildest tales of 
 romance. Intrigue was thwarted by intrigue ; plot was 
 met by counterplot. All trust in man was destroyed in 
 the dark and terrible struggle ; the most intimate 
 friends, the nearest relatives, were arrayed on opposite 
 sides in the strife, and none dared be sure that the most 
 trusted acquaintance, the kindest neighbor, might not be 
 laying a snare to dehver him up to an ignominious 
 death from the hands of his enemies. Each party endea- 
 vored to elude the suspicions of the other, and to lure 
 the unwary within the American lines or to decoy them 
 within reach of the British at New York. 
 
 The city, meanwhile, became then and henceforth the 
 headquarters of the British army in America, and the 
 residence from time to time of its princijDal officers. 
 General Howe took up his abode in the Kennedy House 
 at the lower end of Broadway. General Knyphausen 
 took possession of a large house in Wall street. The 
 Hessians under his command were encamped at Corlaers 
 Hook, whence a line of intrenchments was thrown up 
 on the Bowery Lane to Bunker's Hill ; while the bar- 
 racks, the hospital and the empty houses of the Whigs 
 who had fled for safety were filled with the British sol- 
 diers. The Beekman House in Hanover Square became 
 the residence of the naval officers arriving at the station; 
 there Admiral Digby afterwards dwelt, with the sailor 
 prince William Henry- — the future William IV. — under 
 his charge. 
 
 About five thousand prisoners were now in the hands 
 of the British, comprising those who had been captured 
 at Long Island and Fort Washil^gton, together with 
 
512 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 many who had been brought in by privateers ; and as 
 New York was henceforth the British prison-house, this 
 number received constant accessions during the war. 
 The privates were crowded into the public buildings ; 
 the sailors were conveyed to the loathsome prison-ships 
 which lay, first in the North River opposite the lower 
 end of the island, and afterwards at the Wallabout ; and 
 the officers were required to give their parole, then suf- 
 fered to lodge in the town under the strict surveillance 
 of the British guard. This permission was in many 
 instances afterwards recalled, and the officers committed 
 to tlie old Provost, the receptacle of the prisoners of 
 superior rank. Among these officers were Colonels 
 Magaw, Rawlins, Allen, Ramsey, Miles and Atlee , Majors 
 Bird, West, Williams and De Courcey ; and Captains 
 Wilson, Tudor, Edwards, Forrest, Lenox, Davenport, 
 Herbert and Edwards, with many others. 
 
 The city became emphatically a city of prisons. Every 
 available building was transformed into a dungeon for 
 the soldiers of the American army, who, under the super- 
 vision of the infamous provost-marshal, Cunningham, 
 with his deputy O'Keefe, and the commissaries Loring, 
 Sproat and others, were treated with almost incredible 
 barbarity. The pews of the North Dutch Church in Wil- 
 liam street were torn out and used for fuel ; a floor was 
 laid from one gallery to another, and eight hundred 
 prisoners were incarcerated within its walls. Here they 
 were allowed neither fuel nor bedding, their provisions 
 were scanty and of the poorest quality, and many died 
 from cold and starvation. "The allowance," says Adolph 
 Myer, of Lasher's battalion, who had been taken prisoner 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 618 
 
 at Montresor's Island, and afterwards imprisoned here 
 " was one loaf of the bread left on tlie evacuation 
 "of Xew York (and which had been made for an 
 " allowance of three days), one quart of peas, half a 
 ■' pint of rice, and one and a half pounds of pork for 
 ' ' six days. Many prisoners died from want, and others 
 " were reduced to such wretchedness as to attract 
 " tlie compassion of common prostitutes, from whom 
 " they received considerable assistance. No care was 
 " taken of the sick, and if any died, they were thrown at 
 "the door of the prison, and lay there till the next day, 
 "when they were put on a cart and drawn out to tlie 
 " intrenchments, beyond the Jews' burial-ground, wliere 
 " they were interred by their fellow-prisoners, conducted 
 "thither for that purpose. The dead were thrown into 
 "a hole jiromiscuously, without the usual rites of sepul- 
 " ture." 
 
 The Brick Church in Beekman street was at first used 
 as a prison, then converted into a hospital for the sick 
 among the prisoners. The Friends' Meeting-house in 
 Pearl street and the Presbyterian Church in Wall street 
 were also used as hospitals, and the French Church in 
 Pine street was transformed into a depot for militaiy 
 stores. 
 
 The Middle Dutch Church, the future Post-Office, 
 was also stripped of pulpit and pews, and made to 
 furnish room for three thousand prisoners. " Here," 
 says John Pintard, an eye-witness -of the scene, "the 
 " prisoners taken on Long Island and at Fort Washing- 
 " ton — sick, wounded and well — were all indiscriminately 
 "huddled together by hundreds and thousands; large 
 
 33 
 
014 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ■ ' numbers of whom died by disease ; and many were un- 
 " doubtedly poisoned by their inhuman attendants for the 
 "sake of their watches or silver buckles." The inmate? 
 were subsequently transferred to the other prisons, and 
 the church was converted into a riding-school, to train 
 dragoon horses. The glass was taken from the windows 
 and the shutters left unhung, the floor was taken up and 
 the ground covered with tan-bark ; and a pole was 
 placed across the middle for the horses to leap over. 
 
 Just to the east of this, in Liberty street, stood the 
 old Sugar-house, built in the days of Leisler ; a grey 
 stone building, five stories in height, with thick walls, 
 and small, deep windows, which now became one of the 
 gloomiest of the improvised dungeons of the city. Each 
 story was divided into two rooms, with ceilings so low 
 and windows so small that the air could scarce find 
 entrance under the most favorable conditions. A pon- 
 derous, jail-like door opened on Liberty street to the 
 courtyard — a broad, flagged walk about the building, 
 through which two British or Hessian soldiers were 
 constantly pacing, night and day. On the southeast, 
 a heavy door opened into a dismal cellar, also used 
 as a prison. The yard was surrounded by a close board 
 fence, nine feet high. In this forbidding prison-house, 
 secured by massive locks and bars, the wretched prison- 
 ers were huddled so closely that they could scarcely 
 breathe, and left for many weary months, without fire 
 or blankets and with no other clothes than those which 
 they had worn on their entrance, to while away the 
 hours of their captivity by carving their names upon the 
 walls with rusty nails — often the only clue to their 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 515 
 
 probable fate ; for the typhus fever raged fiercely among 
 
 them, and the dead-cart paid its daily visits, bearing 
 
 away the writers ere they could finish the rude epitaphs, 
 
 thus left as the sole trace to their friends of their doom. 
 
 " In the suffocating heat of summer," says Dunlap, the 
 
 contemporary historian of the times, " I saw every narrow 
 
 " aperture of those stone walls filled with human heads, 
 
 " face above face, seeking a portion of the external air." 
 
 " While the jail fever was raging in the summer of 1777," 
 
 says Onderdonk, in his " Incidents of the British 
 
 Prisons and Prison-ships at New York," "the prisoners 
 
 ' were let out in companies of twenty, for half an hour 
 
 ' at a time, to breathe the fresh air ; and inside they 
 
 ' were so crowded, that they divided their numbers into 
 
 ' squads of six each. No. 1 stood ten minutes as close 
 
 ' to the window as they could crowd, and then No. 2 
 
 ' took their places, and so on ; seats there were none ; 
 
 ' and their beds were but straw, intermixed witlr ver- 
 
 ' min. For many weeks, the dead-cart visited the 
 
 ' prison every morning, into which from eight to twelve 
 
 ' corpses were flung and piled up, then dumped into 
 
 ' ditches in the outskirts of the city." An interesting 
 
 reminiscence of this prison, as well as of the hospitals of 
 
 the city — the more interesting from being one of the few 
 
 descriptions on record of the treatment which the sick 
 
 received in these hospitals — is found in the narrative of 
 
 Levi Hanford, of Walton, Delaware County, New York. 
 
 Entering the army in the autumn of 1775, at the early 
 
 age of sixteen, he was one of the company sent by Lee, 
 
 in the spring of 1776, to break ground for the first 
 
 fortifications erected on Governor's Island. In March. 
 
•516 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1777, he was surprised and captured by a party of 
 Tories while on guard at Long Island Sound, and taken 
 first to Huntington, then to Flushing, and thence to 
 New York, where he was incarcerated in the old Sugar- 
 house in Liberty street. 
 
 " The old prison," says he, " was a stone building, 
 " six stories high ; but the stories were very low, which 
 " made it dark and confined. It was built for a sugar 
 " refinery, and its appearance was dark and gloomy. 
 " while its small and deep windows gave it the appear- 
 " ance of a prison, which it really was, with a high board 
 " fence inclosing a small yard. "We found at this time 
 " about forty or fifty prisoners, in an emaciated, starv- 
 " ing and wretched condition. Their numbers were 
 ■' constantly being diminished by sickness and death, 
 ■' and as constantly increased by the accession of new 
 "prisoners, to the number of 400 or 500. Our allow- 
 " ance of provisions was pork and sea-biscuit ; it would 
 " not keep a well man in strength. The biscuit was 
 " such as had been wet with sea-water and damaged, 
 " was full of worms and moldy. It was our common 
 " practice to put water in our camp-kettle, then break 
 " up the biscuit into it, skim off the worms, put in the 
 " pork, and boil it, if we had fuel ; but this was allowed 
 " us only part of the time ; and when we could get no 
 " fuel, wc ate our meat raw and our biscuit dry. 
 "' Starved as we were, there was nothing in the shape of 
 " food that was rejected or was unpalatable. Crowded 
 "together, in bad air and with such diet, it was not 
 " strange that disease and pestilence should prevail. 
 I had not been long there, before I was taken with the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 517 
 
 " smallpox, and conveyed to the Smallpox Hospital. 
 " I had it light, and soon returned to the prison, but not 
 " till I had seen it in its most malignant forms. Some 
 " of my companions died in that hospital. When I 
 " returned to the prison, others of our company had 
 " been taken to the different hospitals, from which few 
 " returned. I remained in prison for a time, when, 
 " from bad air, confinement, and bad diet, I was taken 
 " sick, and conveyed to the Quaker Meeting Hospital, so 
 " called from its being a Quaker Meeting-house. 
 
 " I soon became insensible, and the time passed 
 " unconsciously till I began slowly to recover health and 
 " strength, and was again permitted to exchange these 
 " scenes of disease and death for the prison. On my 
 '' return, I found the number of our companions still 
 '' further reduced by sickness and death. During all 
 " this time, an influence was exerted to induce the men 
 " to enlist in the Tory regiments. Although our suffer- 
 " ings were intolerable, and the men were urged by 
 " those who had been their own townsmen and neigh- 
 " bors, who had joined the British, yet the instances 
 " were rare that they could be influenced to enlist. 
 " So wedded were they to their principles, that they 
 " chose honorable death rather than to sacrifice them. 
 " I remained in the prison till the 24th of October, when 
 " the names of a company of prisoners were taken down, 
 " and mine among the rest. It was told us that we 
 " were going home. We drew our week's provision, 
 " which, by solicitation, we cheerfully divided among our 
 " starving associates whom we were to leave in prison. 
 ' But whether it was to torment and aggravate our feel- 
 
518 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ings, I know not ; but this I do know, that, instead of 
 going home, we were taken from the prison, and put on 
 board one of the prison-ships (the Good Intent) lying 
 in the North River, and reported there with one week's 
 provision. The scene of starvation and suffering that 
 followed cannot be described ; everything was eaten 
 that could appease hunger. From this and other 
 causes, and crowded as we were, with over two hun- 
 dred in the hold of one ship, enfeebled as we had 
 become, and now reduced by famine, pestilence began 
 to sweep us down, till, in less than two months, we 
 were reduced by death to scarcely one hundred. In 
 addition to all this, we were treated with the utmost 
 severity and cruelty. In December, when the river 
 began to freeze, our ship was taken round into the 
 Wallabout, where lay the Jersey, another prison-ship 
 of terrihc memory, whose rotted hulk remained till 
 lately to mark the spot where thousands yielded up 
 their lives a sacrifice to British cruelty. 
 " The dead from these ships were thrown into the 
 trenches of our fortifications ; and their bones, after 
 the war, were collected and decently buried. It was 
 here that Ethan Allen exhausted his fund of curses 
 and bitter invectives against the British, as he passed 
 among the prisoners, and viewed the loathsome dens 
 of suffering after his return from his shameful 
 imprisonment in England.* Here again I was taken 
 sick and ray name taken down to the hospital. The 
 day before New Year's, the sick were placed in a boat 
 
 • See Ethan Allen's Xarrative, pp. 93-102. 
 
CITY OF NEW YOKK. 519 
 
 " for the city ; she had lost a piece of plank from her 
 " bottom ; but it was filled up with ice, and we were taken 
 " in tow. From the motion, the ice soon loosened, and 
 " the boat began to leak ; and before we had gone far, 
 " the sailors inquired if we leaked. Our men, from pride, 
 " and not to show fear, replied but a mere trifle ; but 
 " they soon perceived our increased heft, pulled hard for 
 " a time, and then lay to until we came up. Our boat 
 " was half filled with water. When they saw it, they 
 " cursed us, and pulled for the nearest dock, shouting for 
 " help. When the boat touched the dock, she struck 
 "level with the water, and we held on with our 
 " hands to the dock and a small boat by our side to 
 " keep from sinking. It was low water, and the sailors 
 " reached down from the dock, clenched hold of our 
 " hands, and drew us up. I remember that I was drawn 
 " up with so much violence, that the skin was taken from 
 " my chest and stomach. One poor fellow that could not 
 " sit up, we had to haul on the gunnel of the boat 
 " to keep his head out of water ; but he got wet and died 
 " in a few minutes after he was got on shore. We were 
 " taken to the hospital in Dr. Rogers' Brick Meeting- 
 " house (afterwards Dr. Spring's) near the foot of the 
 " Park. From the yard, I carried one end of a bunk, 
 " from which some person had just died, into the church, 
 " and got into it, exhausted and overcome. The head 
 " nurse saw my condition. She made me some tea, and 
 " pulled the blankets from the sick Irish, regardless of 
 " their complaints or curses, and piled them on me, till I 
 " sweat profusely and fell asleep. When I awoke in the 
 " morning, they gave me some mulled wine and water. 
 
520 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " Wine and some other things were sent in by our gov- 
 " ernment for the sick ; the British furnished nothing. I 
 " then lay perfectly easy and free from jDain, and it 
 " appeared to me that I never was so happy in my life, 
 " and yet so weak that I could not get out of my bunk, 
 " had it been to save the Union. The doctor (who was 
 " an American surgeon and a prisoner, had been taken 
 "out of prison to serve m the hospital) told me that 
 " my blood was breaking down and turning into water 
 " from the effects of the small pox. He said I must 
 " have some bitters. I gave him what money I had, and 
 " he prepared some for me ; and when that was gone he 
 " had the kindness to prepare some for me once or twice 
 " at his own expense. I began slowly to gain, and finally 
 " to walk about. While standing one day in March by 
 " the side of the church, in the warm sun, my toes began 
 " to sting and pain me excessively. I showed them to 
 " the surgeon when he came in ; he laid them open ; they 
 '' had been frozen, and the flesh wasted till onlj^the bone 
 ' and the tough skin remained. I had now to remain 
 ' here for a long time on account of my feet. And of 
 " all places, that was the last to be coveted ; disease and 
 " death reigned there in all their terrors. I have had 
 " men die by the side of me in the night, and have seen 
 " fifteen dead bodies sewed up in their blankets and laid 
 " in the corner of the yard at one time, the product of 
 ■' one twenty-four hours. Every morning, at 8 o'clock, 
 " the dead-cart came, the bodies were put in, the men 
 " drew their rum, and the cart was driven off to the 
 " trenches of the fortifications that our people had made. 
 " Once 1 was permitted to go with the guard to the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 521 
 
 '■ place of interment, and never shall I forget the scene 
 " that I there beheld ; they tumbled them into the ditch 
 " just as it happened, threw on a little dirt, and then 
 " away. I could see a hand, a foot, or part of a head, 
 " washed bare by the rains, swollen, blubbering, and 
 " falling to decay. 
 
 " I was now returned to the prison, and from this 
 " time forward I enjoyed comfortable health to the close 
 "of my uiiprisonment, which took place in the May fol- 
 " lowing. One day, as I was standing in the yard near 
 " the high board fence, a man passed in the street close 
 " to the fence, and without stopping or turning his head, 
 " said in a low voice, ' General Burgoyne is taken with 
 " ' all his army ; it is a truth, you may depend upon it.' 
 " Shut out from all information as we had been, the news 
 "was grateful indeed, and cheered us in our wretched 
 " prison. Knowing nothing of what was taking place 
 " beyond the confines of our miserable abode, we had 
 '' been left to dark forebodings and fears as to the result 
 " of our cause, and the probabilities of our government 
 " being able to exchange or release us. We knew not 
 ■' whether our cause was progressing, or whether resist- 
 '• ance was still continued. Our information was 
 " obtained only through the exaggerations of the British 
 " soldiery. But this gave us the sweet consolation that 
 " our cause was yet triumphant, and the hope of final 
 " liberation. Had our informant been discovered, he 
 ' might have had to run the gauntlet, or lose his life for 
 " his kindness." 
 
 Such were the horrors of the Old Sugar-house in Lib- 
 erty street. lUiinelander's and the other sugar-houses 
 
522 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in the city were also filled with prisoners, but as the 
 Old Jersey ranked foremost among the prisoii-ships, this 
 seems to have taken the precedence of all the rest. 
 Columbia College was used as a prison for a short time 
 only. The City Hall was converted into a guard-house 
 for the main guard of the city, the dungeons below 
 being filled with prisoners. During the latter part of 
 the war, the court-room in the second story was granted 
 to the refugee clergy for service in lieu of their churches. 
 Another prison was the Bridewell, in the Commons, a 
 cheerless, jail-like building of grey stone, two stories in 
 height, with a basement and pediment in front and reai , 
 which is still remembered by many of our citizens. This 
 building had been erected in 1775, just in time to serve 
 as a dungeon for the patriots of the Revolution. At 
 this time, it was scarcely finished, the windows were yet 
 unglazed, with nothing but iron bars to keep out the cold ; 
 yet, despite the excessive inclemency of the weather, 
 more than eight hundred of the unfortunate prisoners of 
 Fort Washhigton were thrust within its walls on the day 
 of the capture and left there for three days without a 
 mouthful of food. " We were marched to New York," 
 says Oliver Woodruff, one of the prisoners, who died 
 not long since at the age of 90, " and went to difler- 
 " ent prisons — eight hundred and sixteen went into 
 "the New Bridewell, I among the rest; some into 
 " the Sugar-house ; others into the Dutch Church. 
 " On Thursday morning, they brought us a little pro- 
 " vision, which was the first morsel we got to eat or drink 
 " after eating our breakfast on Saturday morning. We 
 " never drew as much provision for three days allowance 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 523 
 
CITY OF NEW TORK. 525 
 
 " as a man would eat at a common meal. I was there 
 " three months during that inclement season, and never 
 " saw any fire, except what was in the lamps of the city. 
 " There was not a pane of glass in the windows, and 
 "nothing to keep out the cold except the iron grates." 
 This statement is confirmed by N. Murray, who says that 
 the doctor gave poison powders to the prisoners, who 
 soon died. Every indignity which human ingenuity could 
 invent was heaped upon the wretched prisoners in the 
 furtherance of the policy which hoped thus to crush the 
 spirit of the army by disabling those that had been taken 
 prisoners for future service and terrifying the remainder 
 by the possibility of a similar fate. In the first part of 
 of their project they succeeded but too well ; on the 6th 
 May, 1778, when an exchange of some of the prisoners 
 took place, of the three thousand men who had been cap- 
 tured at Fort Washington, but eight hundred were report- 
 ed as still living. But this wanton cruelty only deepened 
 the indignation of the patriots ; instead of bringing them 
 humbled and submissive to the feet of Great Britain, it 
 estranged them more widely from the once loved mother 
 country, and forever destroyed all hope of reconciliation. 
 The most notorious dungeon, perhaps, of all, was the 
 New Jail or Provost, so called from having been the 
 headquarters of the infamous Cunningham, the provost- 
 marshal of the Revolution. Through tlie influence of 
 General Gage, he had succeeded to this post on the 
 retirement of WiUiam Jones in 1775, and from the fact 
 that he retained it until the close of the war, we may 
 judge that his conduct was pleasing to his superiors. 
 The injuries which he had received the preceding year a1 
 
526 HISTORY OF TUE 
 
 the foot of the Liberty-Pole, had never been forgotten, 
 and he eagerly availed himself of this opportunity to 
 wreak his vengeance on his defenceless prisoners. 
 Among these were the most distinguished of the American 
 captives ; Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga ; Majors 
 Wells, Payne, and WilUams ; Captains Randolph, Fla- 
 haven, Vandyke, Mercer, and Bissell ; John Fell, a 
 member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, with 
 many other prominent men and officers, who, after 
 having been released on parole, had been arrested again 
 upon frivolous pretexts and thrown. into a dungeon with 
 the vilest criminals, where their brutal jailer heaped 
 every possible indignity upon them, even amusing the 
 young English officers, who were his frequent guests, at 
 the conclusion of their drunken orgies, by parading his 
 helpless prisoners through the courtyard of the jail as 
 specimens of the rebel army. Not content with seeing 
 them die a slow death from cold and starvation, he is said 
 to have poisoned man}^ by mingling a preparation of 
 arsenic with their food, then continued to draw their 
 rations as before, giving rise to the sarcasm that he fed 
 the dead and starved the living ; and to have boasted that 
 he had thus killed more of the rebels with his own hand 
 than had been slain by all the king's forces in America. 
 The cruelty practised towards the inmates of the Provost 
 and the other prisons of the city rivals all that may be 
 found in the annals of Christendom, and stamps the gene- 
 ral who permitted it with far deeper disgrace than the 
 subordinate who was only the instrument of his will. 
 Mr. Pintard, one of founders of the New York Historical 
 Society, at that time a young man, the clerk of his uncle, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 527 
 
 Elias Boudinot, who had been appointed Commissioner 
 of Pi'isons by the Continental Congress, has left us a 
 graphic picture of the scenes of which he was himself 
 an eye witness. 
 
 The New Juil, now tie Hall nf Reeords. 
 
 "The Provost," says he, in a puljlislied document, 
 was destined for the more notorious rebels, civil, naval, 
 and military. An admission to this modern Bastile was 
 enough to appall the stoutest heart. On the right hand 
 
 ■ of the main door, was Captain Cunningiiam"s quarters, 
 
 ■ opposite to which was the guard-room. Within the 
 
528 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " first barricade was Sergeant O'Keefe's apartment. At 
 ■'the entrance door, two sentinels were always posted. 
 " day and night ; two more at the first and second bar- 
 " ricades, which were grated, bai-red, and chained, also at 
 " the rear door, and on the platform at the grated door 
 " at the foot of the second flight of steps, leading to 
 " the rooms and cells in the second and third stories. 
 " When a prisoner, escorted by the soldiers, was led into 
 " the hall, the whole guard was paraded, and he was 
 " delivered over with all formalit}' to Captain Cun- 
 " ningham, or his deputy, and questioned as to his 
 " name, rank, size, age, etc., all of which were entered 
 " in a record-book. What with the bristling of arms, 
 " unbolting of bars and locks, clanking of enormous iron 
 " chains, and a vestibule as dark as Erebus, the unfortu- 
 " nate captive might well sink under this infernal sight 
 " and parade of t3'rannical power, as he crossed the 
 " threshold of that door which probably closed on him 
 " for life. 
 
 "The northeast chamber, turning to the left, on the 
 ■'second floor, was appropriated to officers and charac- 
 " ters of superior rank and distinction, and was christened 
 " Congress Hall. So closely were they packed, that 
 "when their bones ached at night from lying on the 
 "hard oak planks, and they wished to turn, it could 
 "only be done by word of command, 'Right, Left,' 
 " being so wedged and compact as to form almost a solid 
 " mass of human bodies. In the day-time, the packs and 
 "blankets of the prisoners were suspended around the 
 " walls, every precaution being used to keep the rooms 
 "ventilated, and the walls and floors clean, to prevent 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 529 
 
 "jail-fever, and as the Pi-ovost ^Yas generally crowded 
 " with American prisoners or British culprits of every 
 "description, it is really wonderful that infection never 
 " broke out in its walls." 
 
 The following graphic list of the grievances endured 
 by the prisoners, which was sent to General Jones by 
 Mr. Pintard, reveals a terrible tale of suffering : " Close 
 confined in jail, without distinction of rank or charac- 
 ter ; amongst felons (a number of whom are under 
 sentence of death), without their friends being suffered 
 to speak to them, even through the gates. On the 
 scanty allowance of 2 lbs. hard biscuit and 2 lbs. raw 
 pork per man per week, without fuel to dress it. Fre- 
 quently supplied with water from a pump where all 
 kinds of filth is thrown that can render it obnoxious 
 and unwholesome (the effects of which are too often 
 felt), when good water is as easily obtained. Denied 
 the benefit of a hospital ; not allowed to send for medi- 
 cine, nor even a doctor permitted to visit them when 
 in the greatest distress ; married men and others who 
 lay at the point of death, refused to have their wives 
 or relations admitted to see them, who, for attempting 
 it, were often beat from prison. Commissioned officers 
 and other persons of character, without a cause, thrown 
 into a loathsome dungeon, insulted in a gross manner, 
 and vilely abused by a provost marshal, who is allowed 
 to be one of the basest charactei's in the British army, 
 and whose power is so unlimited that he has caned an 
 officer on a trivial occasion, and frequently beats the 
 sick privates when unable to stand, many of whom are 
 daily obliged to enlist in the new corps to prevent 
 34 
 
530 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " perishing for the necessaries of life. Neither jien, ink 
 "nor paper allowed (to prevent their treatment being 
 "made public), the consequence of which, indeed, the 
 "prisoners themselves dread, knowing the malignant 
 "disposition of their keeper." 
 
 These statements are amply confirmed by the testi- 
 mony of eye-witnesses as well as of the sufferers them- 
 selves ; and it is not strange that the name of Cunning- 
 ham became a by-word of horror in the annals of the 
 times. It was afterwards reported and currently 
 believed that he was executed at Newgate for forgery ; 
 and a dying speech and confession, purporting to be his, 
 was published in 1791 in a Philadelphia paper and 
 copied thence into the Boston journals of the day ; but 
 the Newgate Calendar, examined by Mr. Bancroft, con- 
 tains no recofd of any such name. The Americans were 
 willing to beUeve all things possible from a man who 
 had shown himself capable of such barbarity, and rumors 
 of this sort found ready credence. But the odium of this 
 cruelty must forever rest on Howe, who was cognizant 
 of all its details, and to whom the provost marshal was 
 but a tool — a cat's paw, as he is called by the indignant 
 Ethan Allen — to execute his vengeance upon the detested 
 rebels. The sufferings of the captives excited universal 
 sympathy, and considerable aid was afforded them by 
 the citizens ; yet this was not encouraged by the British 
 commandant, and Mrs. Deborah Franklin was even 
 banished from the city in 1780 for her unbounded 
 liberality to the American prisoners. Remonstrances 
 would have been in vain. The American officers who 
 were free on parole shrunk from visiting the pi'isons to 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 531 
 
 witness the sufferings which they could not reUeve, and 
 dared not appeal to Howe for aid, lest this audacity 
 should doom them to a similar fate. In 1777, after the 
 successes of Washington in New Jersey, a portion of the 
 prisoners were exchanged ; but, exhausted by suffering, 
 many fell dead in the streets ere they reached the vessels 
 destined for their embarkation, and few long survived 
 their return to their homes. The churches and sugar- 
 houses were gradually cleared of their inmates during 
 the course of the war, but the Provost and the 
 old City Hall were used as prisons till Evacuation Day. 
 "I was in New York, Nov. 2Gth," says Gen. Johnson, 
 " and at the Provost about ten o'clock a.m. A few 
 " British criminals were yet in custody, and O'Keefe 
 " threw his ponderous, bunch of keys on the floor and 
 " retired, when an American guard relieved the British 
 "guard, which joined a detachment of British troops, 
 " then on parade in Broadway, and marched down to the 
 " Battery, where they embarked for England." 
 
 Not less deplorable was the condition of the sailor- 
 captives on board the loathsome prison-ships.* The first 
 of these vessels were the freight-ships which brought 
 the British troops to Staten Island in 1776 ; in these, as 
 
 * For further details respecting the prisons as well as the prison-ships of New 
 York, the reader is referred to " Narrative of Col. Ethan Allen's Captivity," Burling- 
 ton, 1838; " Onderdonk's Incidents of the British Prisons and Prison-Ships at 
 ■' New York," New York, 1849; " Life of Jesse Talbot ;" "Life of Ebenezer Fox, of 
 " Roxbury," Boston, IS'iS ; " Recollections of the Jersey Prison-Ship," by Capt. 
 Thomas Dring, Providence, 1829 ; " The Old Jersey Captive," by Thomas 
 Andros, Boston, 1833; "The Interment of the Remains of 11,500 American 
 " Prisoners .at the Wallebocht," New York, 1808 ; Freneau's " Poem on the Prison- 
 " Ship," and Gaines', Rivington's, and other papers of the day. 
 
532 UISTORT OF THE 
 
 they lay anchored at Gravesend Bay, the pi'isoners taken 
 at the battle of Long Island were confined fo) a few 
 days until the conquest of the city, when they were 
 transferred thither and the vessels reserved for the cap- 
 tured seamen. The Good Hope and Scorpion were then 
 anchored in the North River off the Battery, whence the 
 bodies of the prisoners who died were conveyed to 
 Trinity Churchyard for bui'ial. Some time after, they 
 were taken round to the East River and moored in the 
 Wallabout Bay, where a dozen old hulks, among which 
 were the Good Hope, Whitby, Falmouth, Prince of Wales, 
 Scorpion, Strombolo, Hunter, Kitty, Providence, Bristol, 
 Jersey, etc., lay anchored in succession, usually two or 
 three at a time, to serve as floating prisons for the British 
 commanders. Of all these, the Jersey gained the greatest 
 notoriety; christened "the hell afloat " by her despair- 
 ing inmates, her name struck terror to the hearts of 
 every American sailor. A 64-gun ship which had been 
 condemned in 1776 as unfit for service, she had been 
 stripped of her spars and rigging and anchored at 
 Tolmie's Wharf to serve as a storeship. In 1780, when 
 the prisoners on board the Good Hope burnt the vessel 
 in the desperate hope of regaining their liberty, the 
 chief incendiaries were removed to the Provost, and the 
 remainder transferred to the Jersey, which was thence- 
 forth used as a prison-ship until the close of the war, 
 when her inmates were liberated, and she was henceforth 
 shunned by all as a nest of pestilence. The worms soon 
 after destroyed her bottom, and she sunk, bearing with 
 her on her planks the names of thousands of American 
 prisoners. For moi-e than twenty years, her ribs lay 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 533 
 
 exposed at low water ; she now lies buried beneath the 
 United States Navy Yard. 
 
 Though the Jersey has gained a bad eminence as a 
 prison-ship, which would naturally lead many to suppose 
 that her prisoners alone were subjected to suffering and 
 privation, the testimony of those confined in the other 
 hulks proves clearly that their treatment was every- 
 where the same. The chief difference lay in the fact 
 that the Jersey was larger than the others, and con- 
 tinued in the service for a longer space of time. David 
 Sproat, the British Commissary, denied, indeed, that any 
 suffering existed, and, painting the situation of the 
 captives in glowing colors, brought documents signed by 
 them to testify to the truth of his assertions ; but as 
 these were forced from them almost at the point of the 
 bayonet, and universally retracted as soon as they were 
 free, the papers in question are not worth much in 
 evidence. 
 
 The life on board the Jersey prison-ship may be 
 regarded as a fair sample of the life on all the rest. 
 The crew consisted of a captain, two mates, a steward, 
 cook and a dozen sailors, with a guard of twelve marines 
 and about thirty soldiers. When a prisoner was brought 
 on board, his name and rank were registered, after 
 which he was searched for weapons and money. His 
 clothes and bedding he was permitted to retain ; how- 
 ever scanty these might be, he was supplied with no 
 more while on board the prison-ship. He was then 
 ordered down into the hold, where from a thousand to 
 twelve hundred men were congregated, covered with 
 rags and filth, and ghastly from breathing the pesti- 
 
534 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lential air ; many of them sick with the t3-phus fever, 
 dysentery and smallpox, from which the vessel was 
 never free. Here he joined a mess of six men, who, 
 every morning, at the ringing of the steward's bell, 
 received their daily allowance of biscuit, beef or pork 
 and peas, to which butter, suet, oatmeal and flour were 
 occasionally added. The biscuit was moldy and lite- 
 rally crawling witJi worms, the butter and suet rancid 
 and unsavory to the highest degree, the peas damaged, 
 the meal and flour often sour, and the meat tainted, and 
 boiled in the impure water from about the ship in a large 
 copper kettle, which, soon becoming corroded and 
 crusted with verdigris, mingled a slow poison with all 
 its contents. Yet for these damaged provisions, the 
 highest prices were charged to the king by the royal 
 commissioners, who, by curtailing the rations and substi- 
 tuting damaged provisions for those purchased bj^ the 
 government, amassed fortunes at the expense of thou- 
 sands of lives ; and, when accused, forced their prisoners 
 by threats of still greater severity, to attest to the kind 
 treatment which they received at their hands. 
 
 The prisoners were confined in the two main decks 
 below ; the lower dungeon being filled with foreigners, 
 who were treated with even more inhumanit}' than the 
 Americans. Every morning the prisoners were aroused 
 with the cry, '' Rebels, turn out your dead V The 
 order was obeyed, and the bodies of those who had died 
 during the night were brought up upon deck and placed 
 upon the gratings. If the deceased had owned a 
 blanket, any prisoner was at Hberty to sew it around the 
 corpse, after which it was lowered into a boat and sent 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 535 
 
 on shore for interment. Here, a hole was dug ni the 
 sands, and the bodies hastily covered, often to be disin- 
 terred at the washing of the next tide. 
 
 The prisoners were suffered to remain on deck till 
 sunset, when they were saluted with the insulting cry of 
 "'Down, rebels, dow7i!" This order obeyed, the main 
 hatchway was closed, leaving a small trap-door, large 
 enough for one man to ascend at a time, over which 
 a sentinel was placed, with orders to permit but one 
 man to come up at a time during the night. These 
 sentinels were often guilty of the most wanton cruelty. 
 William Burke, a prisoner for fourteen months in the 
 Jersey, says that one night while the prisoners were 
 huddled about the grate at the hatchway to obtain fresh 
 air, awaiting their turn to go on deck, the sentinel 
 thrust his bayonet among them, killing twenty-five of 
 their number ; and that this outrage was frequently 
 repeated. But these acts of cruelty, instead of crushing 
 the spirit of the rebels, as their enemies had fondly 
 hoped, only incited them to new acts of daring ; those 
 already free, fought with the more desperation, choosing 
 rather to face death than the dreaded prison-ship ; while 
 the prisoners, constantly seeking to escape, cherished 
 life that they might one d ly take vengeance for their 
 sufferings. How terrible sometimes was the retribution, 
 may be gleaned from the following extract from the 
 Life of Silas Talbot : 
 
 " Two young men, brothers, belonging to a rifle 
 " corps," says the author of the narrative, " were made 
 " prisoners, and sent on board the Jersey. The elder 
 " took the fever, and in a few days became delirious. 
 
536 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ' One night (his end was fast approaching) he became 
 ' calm and sensible, and, lamenting his hard fate and 
 ' the absence of his mother, begged for a little water. 
 ' His brother, with tears, entreated the guard to give 
 ' him some, but in vain. The sick youth was soon in 
 ' his last struggles, when his brother offered the guard 
 ' a guinea for an inch of candle, only that he might see 
 ' him die. Even this was refused. ' Now,' said he, 
 ' drying up his tears, ' if it please God that I ever 
 ' regain my liberty, I'll be a most bitter enemy.' He 
 ' regained his liberty, rejoined the army, and when the 
 ' war ended, he had eight large and 127 small notches 
 ' on his rifle-stock !" 
 
 To prove that the Jersey prison-ship was not an 
 exceptional one, we will quote the testimony of pri- 
 soners on board the others. Freneau has given a 
 graphic poetical account of his treatment on board the 
 Scorpion and the hospital-ship.* Another says : " The 
 
 * We subjoin as a curiosity the following extract from Freneau's poem on the 
 " Prison Sliip " — a work which is now exceedingly rare : 
 
 " Two hulks on Hudson's stormy bosom lie. 
 Two further south affront the pitying eye ; 
 There the black Scorpion at her moorings rides, 
 There, Strombolo swings, yielding to the tides, 
 Here bulky Jersey fills a larger space, 
 And Hunter, to all hospitals disgrace. 
 Thou, Scorpion, fatal to thy crowded throng. 
 Dire theme of horror and Plutonian song, 
 Requir'st my lay — thy sultry decks I know, 
 And all the torments that exist below. 
 The briny wave that Hudson's bosom fills. 
 Drained through her bottom in a thousand rills ; 
 Rotten and old, replete with sighs and groans, 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 537 
 
 ' greatest iuliumanity was experienced in a ship, of 
 which one Nelson, a Scotchman, luid the superintend- 
 
 ' ence (the Good Hope, afterwards burned by the pri- 
 soners, described by Sproat as the best prison-ship in 
 the world). Upwards of three hundred were contiiied 
 
 Scarce ou the waters she sustains her bones. 
 Here, doomed to toil, or founder in the tide, 
 At the moist pumps incessantly we ply'd ; 
 Here, doomed to starve, like famish'd dogs we tore 
 The scant allowance that our tyrants bore. 
 When to the ocean dives the western sun. 
 And the scorch'd Tories fire their evening gun, 
 ' Dovm, rebels, down /' the angry Scotchmen cry, 
 ' Damned dogs, descend, or by our broadswords die /' 
 Hail dark abode ! what can with thee compare ? 
 Heat, sickness, famine, death and stagnant air — 
 Swift from the guarded decks we rush'd along, 
 And vainly sought repose — so vast our throng. 
 Three hundred wretches here, deny'd all light, 
 In crowded mansions pass th' infernal night. 
 Some for a bed their tattered vestments join. 
 And some on chests, and some on floors recline ; 
 Shut from the blessings of the evening air, 
 Pensive we lay with mingled corpses there ; 
 Meagre and wan, and scorch'd with heat below, 
 We look'd like ghosts, ere death had made us so. 
 How could we else, where heat and hunger join'd, 
 Thug to debase the body and the mind, 
 Where cruel thirst the parching throat invades, 
 Dries up the man, and fits him for the shades ? 
 No water ladled from the bubbling spring. 
 To these dire ships the war-made monsters bring ; 
 By planks and pond'roug beams completely wall'd, 
 In vain for water, and in vain, I eall'd — 
 No drop was granted to the midnight prayer, 
 To Dives in these regions of despair ! 
 The loathsome cask a deadly dose contains, 
 Ita poison circling through the languid veins. 
 
538 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " at a time on board. There was but one small fire- 
 " place to cook the food of such a number, and the 
 "allowance was moreover frequently delayed. In the 
 " short days of November and December, the steward 
 " did not begin to serve out the rations till 11 a.m., so 
 
 generous Britons I generous, as you say, 
 To my parch'd tongue one cooling drop convey , 
 Earth knows no torment like a thirsty throat, 
 Nor hell a monster like your David Sproat /" 
 
 Frcneau was afterwards transferred to the hospital-ship Hunter, where he thus 
 describes his treatment : 
 
 " From Brooklyn groves a Hessian doctor came, 
 Not great his skill, nor greater much his fame ; 
 Fair Science never call'd the wretch her own. 
 And Art disdained the stupid man to own; 
 Yet still he doom'd his genius to the rack. 
 And, as you may suppose, was owned a quack. 
 He, on his charge, the healing work begun 
 With antimonial mixtures by the ton. 
 Ten minutes was the time he deigned to stay — 
 The time of grace allotted once a day — 
 He drench'd us well with bitter draughts, 'tis true, 
 Nostrums from hell and cortex from Peru — 
 Some with his pills he sent to Pluto's reign, 
 And some he blistered with the flies of Spain ; 
 His cream of Tartar walked in deadly round, 
 'Till the lean patient at the poison frown'd. 
 And swore that hemlock, death, or what you will. 
 Were nonsense to the drugs that stuffed his bill. 
 On those refusing, he bestowed a kick. 
 Or menaced vengeance with his walking-stick; 
 Here, uncontroU'd he exercised his trade. 
 And grew experienced by the deaths he made ; 
 By frequent blows we from his cane endur'd 
 He killed at least as many as he cur'd. 
 On our lost comrades built his future fame, 
 And scattered fate where'er his footsteps came." 
 
CITY OF NEW YOUK. 539 
 
 " that the whole could not be served till 3. At sunset 
 " the fire Avas ordered to be quenched, so that some 
 " had not then- food dressed at all ; many were obliged 
 '• to eat it half raw. No flour, oatmeal, and things of 
 " like nature, suited to the condition of infirm people, 
 " were allowed to the many sick — nothing but ship- 
 " bread, beef and pork." " I am now a prisoner," says 
 another, " on board the ship Falmouth in N. Y., a place 
 ' the most dreadful ; we are so confined that we have 
 '■ not room even to lie down all at once to sleep." 
 
 But we need not multiply corroborative statements 
 to prove the horrors of the loathsome prison-ships. 
 Negotiations were opened for the exchange of prison- 
 ers, and a long correspondence between Sproat and 
 Abraham Skinner, the American commissary, ensued 
 which amounted to little more than mutual recrimina- 
 tion. The captives being mostly privateersmeu, inde- 
 pendent of the Continental service, Congress was 
 unwilling to release healthy British prisoners in ex- 
 change, and thus give to the enemy a great and per- 
 manent strength, without receiving an equivalent. By 
 the agreement between the armies, officers were to be 
 exchanged for officers, soldiers for soldiers, and seamen 
 for seamen. The Americans, however, had few naval 
 prisoners ; those captured by the privateers had been, 
 for the most part, enhsted into the service, or suffered to 
 go at large for the want of a suitable place wherein to 
 secure them. Washington, who had no control over the 
 marine department, remonstrated earnestly with Sir 
 Henry Clinton and Admiral Digby against this inhuman 
 treatment, and threatened to retaliate on the British 
 
540 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 soldiers, but his protests were of little avail. The rebels 
 were urged by threats and promises to enter into 
 the British service. A few complied, trusting to the 
 chances for a speedy desertion, while many more perished 
 in the midst of darkness and privation, preferring death 
 to a seeming infidelity to their country. It is estimated, 
 we doubt if on sufficient authority, that eleven thousand 
 were buried from the Jersey alone. Despite the 
 vigilance of the guard, escapes were frequent, and a 
 whole mess would sometimes suddenly be found miss- 
 ing without having given the slightest indication of 
 their departure. After the arrival of Sir Guy Carlton, 
 in the closing days of the war, a few of the pri- 
 soners were released on parole, but the condition of the 
 majority remained substantially the same until the final 
 cessation of hostilities. In marked contrast with this, 
 the British prisoners were invariably treated with kind- 
 ness and humanity, and though retaliation was some- 
 times threatened, the threat was never in a single 
 instance carried into execution. But the treatment of 
 American prisoners at New York, connived at if not 
 sanctioned by the British commandants, must forever 
 remain a stain upon the boasted civilization of England. 
 On the 21st of September, 1776, while Howe's troops 
 were still stretched in a cordon across the island, in 
 readiness to fall upon the army of Washington, encamped 
 upon the heights on the opposite side of Harlem Plains, 
 a fire occurred, which reduced the greater portion of 
 the city to ashes. The conflagration broke out in a 
 small wooden grog-shop near Whitehall Slip, whence it 
 swept rapidly up Broad and Beaver streets to Broad- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 641 
 
 way, and thence consumed all the western part of the 
 town. The progress of the flames was at length stayed 
 by the college grounds at Barclay street; but ere this 
 was done, five hundred houses fell in ruins to the ground 
 Trinity Church and the neighboring Lutheran chapel, on 
 the site of the future Grace Church, were destroyed, while 
 St. Paul's Church was only saved by the unremitting 
 exertions of the citizens, who mounted on the roof and 
 extinguished the flakes of fire as they fell. No engines 
 were at that time to be had in the city, and the people 
 could only stand idly by and witness the work of destruc- 
 tion. Intense excitement prevailed among the British, 
 who accused the Sons of Liberty of being the incendi- 
 aries, and even seized a number of the patriots and thrust 
 them into the flames by way of revenge for the supposed 
 outrage. Several of the citizens were also arrested and 
 imprisoned on the charge of bemg accessories to the 
 deed, but the accusations were not sustained, and they 
 were afterward acquitted of the charge. No evidence 
 exists, indeed, to prove that the origin of this fire was 
 anything else than purely accidental, or that the sus- 
 picions of the British officers had any foundation. 
 
 Much of the burned district had been covered with 
 small wooden houses, tenanted by the lowest classes of 
 society. Driven from their wretched homes by the fear- 
 ful conflagration, and not knowing where else to find 
 shelter, the miserable inmates tacked sheets of canvas to 
 the remnants of charred walls and standing chimneys, 
 thus forming a city of tents, in which they bivouacked, 
 despite the inclemency of the weather, and the spot 
 henceforth became known as Canvastown — a sort of 
 
•542 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 progenitor of the present Five Points, the haunt ot 
 crime and misery. 
 
 A few days after the fire. Cadwalladcr Golden, who 
 had for so many years played a prominent part in the 
 affairs of the city, died at the advanced age of eighty- 
 nine. He was a man of preeminent talent and of fine 
 scientific attainments ; the literature of the province had 
 been greatly enriched by his valuable contributions, and, 
 previously to the role which he was insnared to play 
 in the drama of the Revolution, he had been loved and 
 honored by the people. This false step was the only 
 stain on his career ; he succumbed to the temptation of 
 private interests, and sacrificed the welfare of his coun- 
 trymen to the arbitrary maintenance of the royal pre- 
 rogative. Nor was he alone in this apostasy; many other 
 scions of ancient and distinguished families espoused the 
 cause of the king in the struggle, and openly ranged 
 themselves among the Tories. Foremost among these 
 was Oliver De Lancey, brother of the former lieutenant- 
 governor of the province, and one of the most zealous 
 adherents of the royalist party. Inferior in talent to 
 his brother, haughty and imperious in manners, yet pos- 
 sessing an almost diabolical knowledge of human nature, 
 with an adroitness in using it which was rarely ex- 
 ceeded, he became a formidable enemy to the patriotic 
 cause, and an object of detestation to the Liberty Boys ; 
 a party of whom, headed by the daring and impetuous 
 Martling, came down from the American lines on the 
 night of the 25tb of November, 1777, and burned his 
 house at Bloomingdale, by way of i-evenge for his infi- 
 delity to his country. At the close of the Revolution. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 543 
 
 his estates, as well as those of his nephew, James De 
 Laucey, were confiscated by the government ; after 
 which, he went to England, where he died, leaving 
 numerous descendants. 
 
 Many of the Tories who had been expelled from the 
 surrounding country by the vigorous measui-es of the 
 Committee of Safety, now removed to New York and 
 took up their residence there. Rivington, returned to 
 the city and recommenced the publication of his paper, 
 now the Royal Gazette; while Holt was driven with his 
 journal from place to place along the North River. Hugh 
 Gaine still continued to publish his Gazette, more than 
 ever devoted to the interests of the royalist party. 
 
 During the winter. General Howe made New York 
 his headquarters, from which lie dispatched detach- 
 ments by land and sea to harass the American forces. 
 It was not long before General Lee was seized as ho lay 
 carelessly guarded at a considerable distance from the 
 army, and brought a prisoner to the city, where he was 
 lodged in one of the dungeons of the City Hall in Wall 
 street. Lee was a born Englishman, and, on this ground 
 was claimed by Howe as a deserter from the British 
 army. "Washington made the most urgent eflbrts to 
 obtain his release, and, as he held no prisoner of equal 
 rank in his hands, offered in exchange for him six Hes- 
 sian field-officers ; but these terms were refused bv 
 Howe, who threatened to send him to England for trial. 
 " As you treat Lee, so shall the Hessians be treated," 
 was the reply; and fearing the consequences, the British 
 general dared not carry his threat into immediate execu- 
 tion, but kept him closely guarded, awaiting tlie moment 
 
544 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 when the destruction of the American army, which 
 seemed to him inevitable, should enable him to punish 
 the culprit with impunity. He waited in vain ; the 
 surrender of Burgoyne, in the following autumn, 
 proved the fallacy of these hopes, and he finally con- 
 sented to the offered terms. A negotiation was also 
 opened for the exchange of the rest of the American 
 prisoners, but this failed of any result. Worn and 
 debilitated by unwholesome food and inhuman treatment, 
 the captives were wholly unfit for service, and Washington 
 was unwilling to nullify his recent brilliant victoines in the 
 Jersej's by restoring to the British ranks a large corps 
 of able and efficient Hessians in equal exchange for 
 soldiers rendered useless beyond all hope of cure by the 
 brutalities which they had endured in the British prisons. 
 Humanitj- would have dictated the measure ; policy for- 
 bade it. Washington vainly endeavored to effect their 
 release on more equitable terms, and held a long corre- 
 spondence with Howe upon the subject ; but the latter 
 remained immovable, and the prisoners were condemned 
 to linger many more weary months amid the horrors of 
 captivity. 
 
 In A2:>ril, 1777, the Convention assembled at Kingston 
 framed the first written constitution of the State of New 
 York. By this constitution, the office of governor was 
 made elective by the people, and the legislative power 
 was vested in two distinct bodies, deriving their author- 
 ity from the same source. George Clinton, already dis- 
 tinguished for his patriotism in the annals of the province, 
 was chosen the first governor — an office which he con- 
 tinued to hold for eighteen years. John Jay was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 545 
 
 forualt of John Jay, Irum iLe Uiigiual b; btuail, m liie ^OBsenaioo ol ihe KuobV 
 
 35 
 

1 li T OF NEW YORK 547 
 
 appt)iuted Chief-Justice, and Robert R. Livingston, 
 Chancellor of the new State, over whicli, until the meet- 
 ing of the first legislature, the Committee of Safety 
 still continued to exercise their authority. Philip Liv- 
 ingston, James Duane, Francis Lewis, William Duer, 
 and Gouverueur Morris were at the same time appointed 
 delegates to the Continental Congress. 
 
 Other States sogn followed the example, and the new 
 power that was springing up to a prominent position 
 among the nations of the earth, grew stronger and 
 more consolidated, day by day. A national Hag was 
 adopted, and the thirteen stars and stripes, typical of the 
 thirteen original pioneers of the future constellation, 
 waved for the first time over the American fortresses, 
 carrying with it the assumption of a claim to general 
 recognition. Commissioners were also dispatched to 
 the various European courts, to ask their sympathy and 
 aid ; an appeal which was warmly responded to in 
 France. Actuated partly, it may be, by enmity to an 
 ancient foe, and partly by real sympathy for the strug- 
 gling patriots, called forth by the eloquence of Franklin, 
 Deane and Arthur Lee, the American Commissioners, 
 the French government granted them money to fit out 
 armed vessels for the relief of their countrymen, while 
 many young noblemen, inspired with enthusiasm for the 
 cause of liberty, proffered their services as volunteers in 
 the projected expedition. Among these were Lafay- 
 ette, Steuben, Pulaski, Kosciusko, De Kalb, and many 
 more, whose names still live in the hearts of a grateful 
 nation. These, by their knowledge of military science, 
 afforded invaluable service to the undisciplined army, 
 
548 HISTOKT OF THE 
 
 gathered from the workshop and the plough, totally igno- 
 rant of the art of war, and only knowing how to die 
 without shrinking in the defence of their hberty. 
 
 Despite this welcome aid, and despite the cheering 
 influence of the brilliant capture of Burgoyne at Sara- 
 toga, the season that followed was a terrible era of 
 suffering. The hardships of the winter passed at Valley 
 Forge, the half-starved army, encamped on the frozen 
 ground, tentless, fireless, destitute of money and cloth- 
 ing, and marking their path on the snow by their bleeding 
 feet, are too well known to require description at our 
 hands. Darkness closed around the unhappy army, and 
 nowhere were the clouds so dense as about the head of 
 its heroic leader. This was the dark day of the life of 
 Washington. The credit of Congress was exhausted 
 and its treasury empty ; the Continental bills, once so 
 easy a resource, had so far depreciated in value as to be 
 almost worthless, while the British at New York added 
 largely to this depreciation by putting in circulation 
 immense quantities of spurious money of the same sort ; 
 yet this debased currency was all that remained to the 
 commander-in-chief wherewith to pay his troops and 
 purchase food to support their existence. Nor was this 
 all, his ambitious and intriguing subordinates were 
 secretly leagued against him, plotting to throw him 
 down, that they might rise in his stead. A fortuitous 
 circumstance alone hindered their success ; the plot 
 was skillfully laid, and the weight of a feather at this 
 moment would have turned the balance, and precipi- 
 tated Washington, now enshrined as an idol in the hearia 
 of his adoring countrymen, into obscurity and oblivion. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 549 
 
 How different might not have been the destiny of the 
 future republic, had the intrigues of his enemies attained 
 this cuhnination ! They barely missed the achievement 
 of tbeir designs, and at this critical juncture it Avas 
 New York that turned the scale, and preserved the 
 credit and the future of George Washington. 
 
 Flushed by the recent victory at Saratoga, Gates 
 aspired to the chief command ; and in this he was 
 seconded by Mifflin, Conway, and many of the mal- 
 contents. In Congress, Richard Henry Lee and Samuel 
 Adams led the factious party. Washington was loudly 
 accused of incompetency ; the losses of New York, New- 
 port and Philadelphia, together with his recent defeats 
 at Brandywine and Germantown, were urged against 
 him, and his opponents left no means untried to enlist 
 the leading men of the country in a coalition which 
 should deprive him of his position as commander of the 
 army. Lafayette was appealed to, but he indignantly 
 repelled the overtures. Patrick Henry and Henry Lau- 
 rens were also addressed in anonymous letters ; they for- 
 warded the missives to Washington himself by way of 
 reply. Yet many did not remain tluis firm ; the con- 
 fidence in the commander-in-chief became gradually 
 weakened; the mine was prepared and on the point of 
 explosion. In respect to the denmment of the dark 
 intrigue, we quote the words of Dunlap, the contempo- 
 rary historian of the times : " The Congress at this 
 " time sat at Little York, the enemy being in Phila- 
 " delphia. The confederacy of sovereign States had, 
 " before 1777, in many instances been found wanting, 
 "In July, 1778, the confederacy was signed; but on 
 
550 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " October 14th, 1777, Congress resolved that no State 
 " should be represented by more than seven members or 
 '•]ess than two. New York had but two members pre- 
 " sent (Francis Lewis and William Duer), barel}' suf- 
 " ficient to give her a vote ; one of those was lying sick ; 
 " this was a situation which rendered her a nullity, and 
 " a day was appointed by the cabal to nominate a com- 
 " mittee to arrest Wasliington at the Valley Forge, 
 " they having a majority, owing to the absence of New 
 " York. 
 
 " Francis Lewis, the onlj' member from New York 
 " capable of taking his place, sent for the absentee. 
 " Col. William Duer sent for his physician, Dr. Jones, 
 " and demanded whether he could be removed to the 
 " courthouse (or place of meeting). ' Yes, but at the 
 " risk of your life.' ' Do you mean that I should expire 
 "before reaching the place?' 'No; but I would not 
 " answer for your life twenty-four hours after.' 'Very 
 "well, sir; you have done your duty; prepare a litter 
 " for me ; if you refuse, some one else shall, but I pre- 
 " fer your care in the case.' The litter was prepared, 
 " and the sick man ready to sacrifice his life for his 
 " country, when the faction, baffled by the arrival of 
 " Gouverneur Morris, and by the certainty of New York 
 " being against them, gave up the attempt, and the 
 " hazardous experiment on the part of Col. Duer was 
 " rendered unnecessary." 
 
 Washington subsequently received information through 
 Lord Stirling of a correspondence between Gates and 
 Conway, which left him no longer in doubt as to the 
 authors of the plot, though Gates, when taxed with it. 
 
CITT OF NE"W YORK. 551 
 
 at first denied it, and afterwards apologized in humble 
 terms. The intrigue was finally foiled, yet it would 
 have been carried by a coup de main, had it not been 
 thwarted by the influence of the New York delegation. 
 
 In the meantime, the English ministry, under Lord 
 North, had made a last attempt to regain their authority 
 over the colonies by renouncing the right of parlia- 
 mentary taxation, and appointing commissioners to 
 negotiate for the return of the colonies to their 
 allegiance. These overtures were hailed with delight 
 by the Tories and moderate men, who urged their 
 acceptance ; but the Whigs refused to treat for anything 
 short of an independence, and their determination was 
 strengthened by the action of the French government, 
 which, hitherto abstaining from a distinct alliance, now 
 entered into a treaty of friendship and commerce, with 
 pledges of a mutual defensive alliance in case that war 
 should be declared against France by Great Britain. 
 This treaty was followed by the anticipated result, and 
 the British ambassador was recalled from Paris. Seeing 
 the fatal consequences that must ensue, the opposition 
 party in the Parliament, headed by Lord Rockingham, 
 urged the ministry to abandon the struggle, and to 
 acknowledge the independence of America ; but this 
 proposal was indignantly scouted as a treason, and Pitt, 
 the former idol of America, in whose honor the colonists 
 had kindled bonfires, and erected statues, rose in his 
 seat and spoke against it with so much vehemence that, 
 exhausted by the effort, he sank fainting Lu the floor, 
 and was carried out of Parliament for the last time, 
 expending his dying breath in a vain effort to retain the 
 
o52 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 supremacy of Great Britain over the colonies of America. 
 His words prevailed, the measure v^as defeated, and the 
 war was carried on with renewed vigor. Sir William 
 Howe was recalled by his own request, and his place 
 was filled by Sir Henry Clinton. 
 
 Soon after this change, the battle of Monmouth was 
 fought, resulting in the defeat of the British army, 
 Clinton evacuated Philadelphia, and marched with his 
 forces to New York, where all the army had been 
 ordered to concentrate in order to thwart the plans of 
 the French fleet under Count d'Estaing, which was 
 approaching to blockade the British ships in the Dela- 
 ware. A few days after he reached the city, D'Estaing 
 arrived, and anchored his vessels off the harbor of New 
 York, with the design of attacking the city, while Wash- 
 ington proceeded to White Plains with his army, intend- 
 ing to make a simultaneous attack by land upon the town. 
 But the French ships were heavy, the pilots refused 
 to take them over the bar, and the projected assault 
 was finally abandoned. D'Estaing set sail for Newport, 
 then held by a moderate force under General Pigot, 
 while Admiral Howe, on his part, hastened to the relief 
 of his officer. On the 15th of August, before the attack 
 could take place, a violent storm shattered the vessels 
 and drove them off the coast. D'Estaing abandoned the 
 blockade and set sail for Boston for repairs, while the 
 British fleet returned again to New York, together with 
 Clinton, who had also marclied with a land force to the 
 relief of Newport. 
 
 On the 9th of August, 1778, the second great fire 
 broke out in the city of New York. The conflagration 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 55S 
 
 commenced in Dock, now Pearl, in the vicinity of Broad 
 street, and raged with violence for several hours, con- 
 suming three hundred houses on the eastern side of the 
 city. The fire companies had been disbanded during 
 the revolutionary struggle, and the military charged 
 themselves with extinguishing the fire ; but, inexperi- 
 enced in the work, they accomplished but little. Warned 
 by this example, orders were subsequently issued by the 
 commander-in-chief that the soldiers should help, but 
 not order in future conflagrations. 
 
 Scarcely had the flames been quenched when a new 
 calamity occurred. The Morning Star powder-ship, 
 which was anchored in the East River, was struck by 
 lightning during a violent thunder-storm ; and so terrific 
 was the explosion that the houses along the shore were 
 unroofed by the shock, the windows shattered, and the 
 furniture demolished. The crew had fortunately gone 
 on shore, leaving the vessel in the care of a boy, who 
 perished with his charge. 
 
 At this time, General Robertson was the commandant 
 of the city and the so-called royal governor of the pro- 
 vince. This office was afterward filled by Colonel 
 Birch, who resided in the Verplanck Mansion in Wall 
 street, on the site of the future United States Bank. 
 Baron Knyphausen still remained in the city, and acted 
 as deputy commander-in-chief in the absence of Sir 
 Henry Clinton. Andrew Eliot was lieutenant-governor 
 and superintendent of the police, and David Mathews 
 retained the office of mayor, to which he had been 
 appointed on the resignation of Whitehead Hicks in the 
 early part of the year 1776. 
 
554 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The summer and autumn of 1778 were marked by the 
 barbarous massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley — 
 acts of cruelty which stirred up the indignation of the 
 patriots and urged them on to an almost superhuman 
 struggle for vengeance. Retaliatory expeditions were 
 dispatched against the settlements of the Iroquois, who 
 had leagued themselves with the British, and many of 
 their villages were destroyed. But tlie seat of the war 
 was now about to be transferred to the South. During 
 the summer, Clinton had been busily employed in forti- 
 fying New York, then supposed to be destined for the 
 next point of attack by the combined forces of the 
 French and the Americans. Early in November, this 
 design was abandoned, and Count d'Estaing set sail for 
 the West Indies with a view to attacking the British 
 colonies in that quarter. On the same day, the English 
 Admiral Hotham set sail from Sandy Hook in pursuit, 
 and in the ensuing month, he was followed by Admiral 
 Byron, who had superseded Howe in the command of 
 the British fleet. A few days after, Clinton dispatched 
 General Campbell with a force of three thousand five 
 hundred men, against Savannah, then defended by the 
 American general, Robert Howe, The expedition proved 
 successful, and the British troops were soon in j^ossession 
 of the greater part of Georgia. At the North, the cam- 
 paign was carried on with vigor. Ex-Governor Tryon 
 marched with a strong force into Connecticut, plunder- 
 ing and burning the settlements, and leaving ruin every- 
 where in his path ; while Clinton himself headed 
 foraging expeditions from the city, laying waste the 
 surrounding country, and capturing Stony Point and its 
 
CITV OF NEW YORK. 555 
 
 neighbor, Verplanck's Point, on the Hudson River. Yet 
 victory was not wholly on the side of the British ; the 
 brilliant recapture of Stony Point by General Wayne on 
 the 15th of July, 1779, in.spired the Americans with 
 fresh courage, and the naval victorj^ of John Paul Jones 
 closed the campaign with signal success to the patriot 
 forces. Late in December of the same year. Sir Henry 
 Clinton embarked in person for Savannah with seven 
 thousand men, leaving New York in charge of General 
 Knj'phausen. 
 
 The winter of 1779-80 was one of intense severity. 
 Anticipating the scarcity of fuel, the commander-in-chief 
 had ordered the wood on Staten and Long Islands to 
 be cut by the proprietors and brought into market under 
 penalty of forcible seizure, yet this provision failed to 
 secure the needed supply, and many of the citizens were 
 even compelled to burn their furniture for fuel as a last 
 resort.* 
 
 * We are indebted to the late Isaac Bell, sen., long a resident of tliis city, who 
 had seen the Revolution ■\vitli his own eyes, been present when the iron balls 
 were broken by the people from the railing about the Bowling Green to serve as 
 leaden missives to the crew of the Asia on the occasion of the bombardment of 
 the city, and when the statue of George III. was dragged from its pedestal 
 and drawn through the streets of the city ; who had angled for blackfish in 
 the waters about the Old Jersey, and skated with Prince William Henry, the 
 future William IV,, then an awkward sailor boy on his first cruise, on the Lis- 
 penard Meadows — the Collect being regarded as too dangerous a place for the 
 scion of royalty — for very many interesting reminiscences of this winter, which, 
 he said, exceeded any thing in severity that had ever been dreamed of by that 
 classic authority, the oldest inhabitant. Wood was not to be had at any price, 
 and many families would split up their chairs and tables to cook their break- 
 fast, then go to bed for the rest of the day in order to keep warm. The father 
 of Mr. Bell, a well-known ship-builder of the city, cut up a cable worth six hun- 
 dred dollars for backlogs, and a spar of the same value for firewood. The 
 rivers aljout the city wei'> transfonned into a solid bridge of ic(? for forty days 
 
556 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Firewood was scarce and hardly to be bought at any 
 price ; jjrovisions were dear, and the general suffering 
 was increased still more by the depreciation of the Con- 
 tinental currency, which, taken at par, remained a drug 
 in the hands of its possessors. Excessive suffering was 
 experienced among the poor, as well as in the American 
 army, still encamped in the Jerseys, and enduring a 
 repetition of the horrors of Yalley Forge. The waters 
 about New York were transformed into a solid block 
 of ice, and men and horses passed over with impunity 
 to the Long Island, Xew Jersey and Connecticut shores. 
 Tempted by the opportunity afforded him by the icy 
 bridge, Lord Stirling projected a secret expedition to 
 Staten Island from the Jersey shores, hoping to surprise 
 the detachments which were stationed there ; but the 
 vigilant Tories of the neighborhood gave the alarm. 
 A convoy of eighty sleighs, fiUed with provisions and 
 stores, with the same number of cannon, was sent at 
 once, under an escort of a hundred soldiers, from New 
 York to the relief of the island ; and Stirling was forced 
 on his arrival to retreat with a trifling loss. 
 
 The campaign of 1780 opened disastrously for the 
 patriots. After making himself master of South Caro- 
 lina by a series of brilliant successes. Clinton returned 
 in June to New York, leaving Cornwallis with a strong 
 detachment to guard the conquered province. The 
 defeat of Gates and Sumter soon followed, and the 
 British commander remained in triumphant possession 
 
 and Mr. Bell said that he saw with his own eyes the eighty cannon, above al- 
 luded to, dragged across to Staten Island from the foot of Rector street to repe/ 
 the expected attack of Lord Stirling 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 55"^ 
 
 of the whole of the southern region, harassed, it is true, 
 by an annoying guerrilla warfare on the part of Sumter 
 and Marion. In the meantime, Knyphausen crossed 
 with a detachment of five thousand men from Staten 
 Island to New Jersey, and, taking possession of Eliza- 
 bethtown and burning Connecticut Farms, endeavored 
 to wrest the province from the American forces, but, 
 finding them too strong for him, was compelled to 
 retreat and to return to the city. 
 
 The treason of Arnold was the prominent event of the 
 year 1780. Brave almost to rashness, he had achieved 
 brilliant successes in the previous campaigns, and won 
 the implicit confidence of Washington. But despite his 
 consummate military talents — despite the northern cam- 
 paign and the battle of Behmus' Heights, in which his 
 tact and ability had won the admiration of both friends 
 and foes, he had for some time been growing unpopular 
 both with Congress and with the people. With the for- 
 mer, this was natural. Arnold was a man of fearless 
 courage ; no officer in the ranks of the army had served 
 more efficiently or won more brilliant victories than had 
 he, and in acknowledged bravery and military ability he 
 stood foremost among the generals of the day ; yet, 
 despite this, Congress evinced a manifest disposition to 
 keep him in the background by promoting inferior offi- 
 cers above him, and constantly assigning to him subordi- 
 nate commands. Much of this may be attributed to 
 military jealousy ; much, too, it may be, to the fact that 
 he was known as a warm friend of Washington, who, at 
 this time, was far from popular in the councils of the 
 nation. Chafed by these tokens of evident injustice, and 
 
558 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 goaded on by a natuiallj' jealous and imperious disposi 
 tino, Arnold complained bitterly of the slights to which he 
 was subjected ; while Washington used every eiFort to 
 soothe his wounded spirit, and on the evacuation of 
 Philadelphia by the British forces in 1778, procured him 
 the command of the city. Soon after his entrance into 
 his new office, he married Margaret Shippen, the daugh- 
 ter of a well-known Tory citizen of Philadelphia, who 
 had been the friend and companion of the young British 
 officers quartered in the city during the previous winter, 
 among whom was Major Andr€, the aid-de-camp and 
 confidential friend of Sir Henry Clinton. This union 
 tempted him to the indulgence of his naturally luxu- 
 rious tastes; the finest house in the town was chosen by 
 him as his residence, and 6tted up in a costly style, and 
 his whole 7n^nage was conducted in a manner better 
 befitting the purse of a prince than that of a simple 
 officer of an impoverished army. This extravagance 
 soon excited the murmurs of the citizens, who openly 
 accused him of peculation. To add to this, he soon 
 became involved in disputes with the mayor and com- 
 mon council in respect to the bounds of his authority as 
 the military commandant of the city ; and, by their direc- 
 tion, he was finally prosecuted by the attorney-general 
 of the State on various charges of criminality and 
 willful abuse of power, tried by a court-martial, found 
 guilty in part, and sentenced to be reprimanded by the 
 commander-in-chief. This painful task was performed 
 by Washington with all possible delicacy ; despite the 
 faults of Arnold, he loved him as a brother, and had con- 
 stantly endeavored to soothe his fiery temper and tc 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 559 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 561 
 
 persuade him to endure his grievances with manly forti- 
 tude Stung to the quick by the public rebuke, the 
 proud and impatient general speedily resolved on a 
 revenge which, if not more justifiable, might have been 
 more excusable, had it not been mingled with mer- 
 cenary conditions. But, drawn on by his late alliance 
 to aspire to a luxurious household with little means of 
 support beyond those he derived from the impoverished 
 treasury of his country, he now resolved by selling him- 
 self to effect the twofold purpose of accomplishing his 
 revenge and of procuring the means for a continuance of 
 his pleasures. 
 
 For this purpose, he first offered himself to the 
 French ambassador, who rejected his overtures with 
 scorn. Foiled in this quarter, he next opened a nego- 
 tiation with Clinton through the medium of Major 
 Andr^, who received him with open arms. The better 
 to effect his treasonable designs, and to enhance their 
 value to the enemies of his country, he sought and 
 obtained the command of West Point, at this time the 
 key of the American possessions, which he proposed to 
 deliver into the hands of Clinton. The price of this 
 trejtchery was fixed at ten thousand pounds sterling, 
 with the post of brigadier-general in the British army. 
 
 At this time, Sir Henry Clinton had his head-quarters 
 in the Kennedy House, No. 1 Broadway, later the Wash- 
 ington Hotel. Here he laid his plans for the seizi;re of 
 West Point, and intrusted the brave young Andr6 with 
 the papers and commission necessary to effect the pur- 
 pose, which proved his death-warrant, paving the way 
 to an ignominious doom. The sequel has been too 
 36 
 
562 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 often and too graphically described in general histories 
 to require a detailed notice at our hands. The gallant 
 young officer was arrested on his return from his 
 perilous errand, and, despite the earnest efforts of Clin- 
 ton, despite the anguish of Washington himself, con- 
 demned to execute a sentence against which his heart 
 revolted, was sacrificed to that inexorable military code 
 which prescribes an ignoble death on the gallows as the 
 inevitable doom of a spy. But far different was his 
 death from that of young Hale ; his last moments were 
 soothed by every attention that humanity could dictate, 
 and, a victim to the stern necessities of war, he met his 
 fate amid the tears of his executioners. Arnold, mean- 
 while, received the price of blood, and took up his abode 
 in New York, branded with the scorn even of those for 
 whom he had sacrificed his honor. Here he lived for 
 some time in partial concealment, sometimes in the 
 Verplanck House in Wall street, and sometimes at No. 9 
 Broadway, near the residence of Clinton. The most 
 earnest efforts were made by his incensed countrymen to 
 effect his capture. The gallant Champe, risking his life 
 and reputation, feigned to desert to the British army, 
 and, escaping with difficulty the pursuit of his comrades, 
 swam the river to New York, where he was warmly 
 received by Arnold, his perilous escape insuring full 
 faith in the fidelity of his professions. The supposed 
 deserter at once gained free access to the house in 
 Broadway, and matured his plans for the projected 
 capture. An alley adjoined the garden of the house, 
 through which the conspirators proposed to pass, and, 
 entering the garden by removing some palings, pre- 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 563 
 
 viously loosened by Champe, to proceed to the house 
 under the guidance of then- comrade, seize their victim, 
 gag him, and carry him off by tlie same route to the 
 boat which would await them by the shore. Tlie plan 
 was well laid ; a fortuitous circumstance alone prevented 
 its execution. On the day preceding the one fixed for 
 the capture, Champe was ordered to embark for Chesa- 
 peake, while Arnold removed from his head-quarters to 
 another house nearer the place of embarkation. The 
 Americans, punctual at the rendezvous, waited in vain 
 for several hours on the opposite shore ; then returned 
 to the camp, disappointed in one of their dearest 
 wishes. Champe seized the earliest opportunity to 
 desert from the southern army and return to his 
 comrades to clear up the stain that had rested on 
 his honor. Arnold remained in the service of the 
 British until the close of the war, when he repaired to 
 England, where he died in 1801, leaving a name black- 
 ened with inlamy. 
 
 The winter of 1780-81 differed little from the pre- 
 ceding. Disaffection prevailed among the army, who 
 grumbled at their scanty fare and arrears of pay. So 
 violent did this feeling become that, on the first ol' 
 January, the Pennsylvania troops abandoned the main 
 army in a body, and set out for Philadelphia to demand 
 of Congress a redress of their grievances. On hearing 
 of this, Sir Henry Clinton at once dispatched emissaries 
 to induce them to desert to the British service, but the 
 indignant patriots seized the agents, bound them, and 
 delivered them up to Congress to be treated as spies. 
 They were met at Princeton by a deputation from 
 
564 HISTORTOFTHE 
 
 Congress, which promised them relief. Step." T73re 
 immediately taken to secure the needed provisions ; 
 taxes and requisitions were levied upon the surrounding 
 country, and money, ammunition and clothhig were 
 furnished in tolerable supplies. Much of this was due 
 to the influence of Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant 
 of Philadelphia and able financier, at that time superin- 
 tendent of the treasury, who exhausted every resource 
 that his means and credit could offer, and resorted to 
 every expedient that his ingenuity could invent, to fur- 
 nish the necessary provisions and prevent the army from 
 disbanding in hopeless despair. 
 
 The southern campaign of this year opened favorably 
 for the Americans. General Greene, who had super- 
 seded Gates in the command of the southern army, 
 harassed the British forces severely, and forced them at 
 length to retreat to Charleston, leaving him in possession 
 of the rest of the Carolinas. Meanwhile, Lafayette, in 
 Virginia, watched the movements of Cornwallis, and 
 thwarted his plans continually. 
 
 In June, the French army imder Count Rochambeau 
 marched from Newport to rejoin Washington in the 
 Highlands, and, at the same time, intelligence was 
 received that Count de Grasse was on his way from 
 France with a powerful fleet to the American coasts. 
 Anticipatmg that New York would be the next point of 
 attack, Clinton ordered Cornwallis to abandon the 
 interior of Virginia and march to the sea-coast, to be in 
 readiness to reinforce the garrison of the city. The 
 latter obeyed, and proceeding to Yorktown on the south 
 side of York River, intrenched himself there ; Glou 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 565 
 
 jester's Point, on the opposite side of the river, being 
 occupied by Col. Tarleton. 
 
 Toward the last of August, De Grasse appeared off 
 the coast, and, instead of proceeding to New York as 
 had been expected, made his way to the Chesapeake, 
 where, entering the bay, he engaged the British fleet 
 under Graves which arrived a few days after, and covered 
 the landing of the French squadron from Newport which 
 had been dispatched with stores for the siege of Corn- 
 wallis, now blockaded at Yorktown by several frigates 
 under the command of Lafayette. Worsted in the 
 action, Graves returned to New York to refit, leaving 
 De Grasse in possession of the bay. In the meantime, 
 Washington and Rochambeau, who had succeeded in 
 firmly persuading Clinton of their designs on New York, 
 suddenly took up their march for Yorktown, nor was the 
 astonished general aware of the feint until they were 
 safely encamped before the army of Coruwallis. 
 
 Hoping to divert the attention of Washington, Clinton 
 dispatched Arnold on a marauding expedition against 
 Connecticut, which resulted in the burning of New Lon- 
 don, together with the destruction of Fort Griswold and 
 the massacre of its brave commander, Captain Ledyard, 
 with the greater part of the garrison. But this brutal out- 
 rage did not serve to check the advances of the combined 
 armies, who had now completely invested Cornwallis. 
 On the evening of the 9th of October, a heavy fire was 
 opened by the besiegers on the town, which was con- 
 tinued at intervals for several days. On the 14th, a 
 simultaneous attack was made by a French and Ameri- 
 can detachment, the latter under the command of Alex- 
 
566 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ander Hamilton, upon two redoubts, in advance and or. 
 the left of the British lines, which were successfully 
 carried. The works were immediately included within 
 the American lines, and a cannonading opened thence 
 upon Cornwalhs. Seeing himself thus closely besieged, 
 his guns dismounted, his men constantly falling around 
 him, and all hope of escape definitively cut off, after a 
 last attempt at a desperate sally, the general at length 
 consented to surrender, and, on the 17th of October, 
 capitulated to the patriot forces, and surrendered him- 
 self with seven thousand troops as prisoners of war. 
 Five days afterwards. Sir Henry Clinton appeared in 
 the mouth of the Chesapeake with large reinforcements, 
 but on hearing of the surrender, returned with preci- 
 pitation to New York. 
 
 This signal victory virtually closed the war. Public 
 rejoicings were pi'oclaimed throughout the country, and 
 the loth of December was set apart as a day of general 
 thanksgiving. The victorious army separated ; De Grasse 
 set sail for the West Indies, Rochambeau bivouacked in 
 Virginia for the winter campaign, and Washington 
 returned with the main body of the army to his fortified 
 post in the Highlands, first sending St. Clair with a strong 
 detachment to the southern army to reinforce General 
 Greene. 
 
 Upon the reception of the news of this defeat in Eng- 
 land, Clinton was superseded in his conniiand by Sir 
 Guy Carleton, who arrived at New York soon after, 
 and took up his residence in the Kennedy, now the Gov- 
 ernment House. But it was evident to aU that the 
 appointment was merely nominal, and that the time had 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 567 
 
 come foi' the cessation of hostilities. The peace party 
 in Parhament renewed their efforts to put an end to tlic 
 war, and, strengthened by the manifest public approval, 
 their influence grew so formidable that, on the 2Sth of 
 March, 1782, Lord North resigned his place at the head 
 of the Cabinet. His office was immediately filled by 
 Lord Rockingham, the leader of the opposition. Under 
 his leadership, the future could not be doubtful, and Sir 
 Guy Carleton was charged with instructions to negotiate 
 for an early treaty of peace. The summer passed away 
 in correspondence and negotiations ; and it Avas not until 
 the 30th of November of the same year that preliminary 
 articles of peace were signed at Paris by Mr. Oswald, 
 on the part of Great Britain, and John Adams, Benjamin 
 Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens in behalf 
 of the United States. Thomas Jefferson, who should 
 have been among the number, was absent by reason 
 of the illness of his wife. Similar articles were soon 
 after concluded between France and England. For 
 some time, the ambassadors attempted through intrigue 
 to prevail on the American Commissioners to accept a 
 truce for twenty years instead of an open acknowledg- 
 ment of independence ; and it is even asserted that 
 Franklin himself had nearly assented to this arrangement, 
 but, just at this juncture, John Jay arrived from Spain, 
 and fhitly refused to accept such a compromise. Oswald 
 at length reluctantly consented to the proposed conditions, 
 and, on the 3d of September, 1783, signed a definitive 
 treaty on the part of Great Britain, recognizing the 
 mdependence of the LTnited States, and fixing the great 
 lakes on the North and the Mississippi on the West as 
 
568 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 the boundaries of the new nation. The Floridas were 
 ceded to Spain, their former owner, and the contested 
 point of an unhmited right of fishing on the banks of 
 Newfoundland was conceded to the United States by the 
 British government. 
 
 A cessation of hostilities had been proclaimed in the 
 American camp on the preceding 19th of April, the eighth 
 anniversary of the battle of Lexington. On the 3d of 
 November, 1783, the Continental army was disbanded by 
 order of Congress, and, on the 25th of the same month. 
 General Washington entered the city of New York at 
 noon, by the Bowery, then the only road, while, at the 
 same time, the British troops evacuated the city, and, 
 entering the ships that lay anchored in the harbor, 
 unfurled their sails and slowly sailed down the bay. The 
 American militia, under the command of General Knox, 
 immediately took command of the fort, the stars and 
 stripes for the first time were unfurled from its walls, 
 a triumphant salute was fired by the corps of artillery, 
 and, after a seven years' foreign occupation. New York 
 was again in possession of her citizens. 
 
 The evacuation of New York was preceded by the 
 flight of a large number of loyalists to Nova Scotia, 
 the most convenient available spot on this side the 
 ocean Avhere they could live in j^eace under the Brit- 
 ish flag, without being branded by the name of Tories. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Waahmgtoa in New York — Partiag with his Offloera at Frannces' Tavern — Progres! 
 of the City— The Doctors' Mob. 
 
 Not openly and fairly was this evacuation made ; the 
 British, departing by the provisions of an honorable 
 treaty, employed the last moments of their presence in 
 the city in the commission of a base and unmanly out- 
 rage. Unreeving the halliards of the flagstaff at Fort 
 George, they knocked off the cleats and greased the 
 pole to prevent the hoisting of the American colors; 
 then evacuated the fort, sure that the stars and stripes 
 would not be hoisted until they were far out of sight of 
 their folds. 
 
 The discovery of this act excited general indignation, 
 yet it did not delay the ceremony as its perpetrators had 
 wished. A sailor-boy attempted at once to climb the 
 bare pole, but it was too slippery, and he failed in the 
 attempt. Upon this, the bystanders ran precipitately 
 to Goelet's hardware store in Hanover Square, and, pro- 
 curing hammers, nails, and other necessary tools, set to 
 
•570 11 I S T R Y F T U E 
 
 work, some to saw, some to split, and others to bore new 
 cleats for the flagstaflf. Filling his pockets with these, 
 the sailor-boy tied the halliards around his waist, and, 
 nailing the cleats above him on the right and left, 
 ascended, reeved the halliards, and hoisted the flag to its 
 place ; and as the stars and stripes reached the top of 
 the mast, a salute of thirteen guns rung its echoes in 
 the ears of the discomfited troops, not yet out of hear- 
 ing of the sound of triumph. 
 
 Another incident, related by an eye-witness of the scene, 
 the late Dr. Anderson, may serve to illustrate the reluc- 
 tance Avith which the British quitted their hold of the 
 city which they had so long claimed as theii* own. By 
 the conditions agreed ripou, the city was to be surren- 
 dered at noon, but an impatient shopkeeper in Mun-ay 
 near Greenwich streets anticij^ated the arrangement, 
 and hoisted the American flag during the course of the 
 morning. Provost-marshal Cunningham hastened to 
 the spot and confronted the proprietor. " Pull down 
 " that flag ;" exclaimed he with an oath ; " the city 
 "belongs to the British till noon." The man objected, 
 hesitated, and was on the point of yielding, when the 
 good woman of the house came to the rescue. "The 
 "flag shall not come down," said she. Cunningham 
 stormed and swore, and finally attempted to tear down 
 the colors with his own hands, but the woman assailed 
 him so vigorously with her broomstick, striking a cloud 
 of powder from his wig at each blow, that he was forced 
 at last to abandon the field and leave the stars and 
 stripes iu quiet possession. 
 
 Greueral Knox was at once installed as commander-in- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 571 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 573 
 
 chief of the military forces in the city. General 
 Washington lingered a few days, fixing his head-quarters 
 at Fraunces' or Black Sam's Tavern, as it was familiarly 
 called in allusion to the swarthy complexion of its pro- 
 prietor, on the corner of Pearl, then Queen, and Broad 
 streets, where at noon, on the 4th of December, his officers 
 assembled to bid him farewell. The scene was an affect- 
 ing one. The dangers and privations of years had knit 
 officers and general together as comrades, and now that 
 the object of all was attained, in the happiness of peace 
 was felt the pang of separation. Washington himself 
 could scarce restrain his feelings ; his friends did not 
 attempt to do so. Filling a glass for a farewell toast, he 
 turned to the company and said : " With a heart full of 
 " love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, and most 
 " devoutly wish that your latter days may be as pros- 
 " perous and happy as your former ones have been 
 " glorious and honorable." He raised the glass to his 
 lips, then continued : " I cannot come to each of you to 
 " take my leave ; but shall be obliged if each one will 
 " come and take me by the hand.'" They obeyed in 
 silence — none could speak ; Knox first, then the others 
 embraced him in turn ; then turning silently from the 
 weeping group, he passed from the room, and walked 
 to Whitehall, followed by his comrades, where a barge 
 was in waiting to convey him to Paulus Hook. Havhig 
 entered the boat, he bade them adieu with a silent ges- 
 ture, and the procession returned to their place of 
 rendezvous, mute and dejected at the loss of their leader. 
 Washington proceeded to Annapolis, where Congress 
 was then in session, and, resigning his conimission as 
 
■574 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 commander-ill-chief, hastened to Mount Vernon tc 
 resume the duties of a private citizen. 
 
 The city now began to fall back into a state of order, 
 and to resume the appearance of tranquillity. It was 
 time, indeed ; its commerce was ruined and its growth 
 retarded ; it had paid a heavy tribute to the cause of 
 liberty. No change was made in the character of the 
 city government. The Dongan and Montgomerie charters 
 were resumed as authority, the controlling power that 
 had formerly been exercised by Great Britain being 
 vested in the State. The city was still divided into seven 
 wards, an alderman and an assistant from each of which 
 were chosen annually by the people, while the appoint- 
 ment of the mayor remained wi,th the State government. 
 This office was solicited by the mass of the people for 
 James Duane, a native-born citizen, who had wrecked his 
 fortune in the Revolutionary struggle, and had now 
 returned to his farm, near Gramercy Park, to find his 
 house burned and his property desti-oyed. The desired 
 appointment was granted by Clinton, and, on the 5th of 
 February, 1784, he was installed as the first mayor of 
 the city under the new regime ; an office which he con 
 tinned to hold until 1789, when he resigned it for that oi 
 District Judge of the District of New York. 
 
 On the 11th of September, General Lafayette passed 
 through the city on his return to France, and was 
 received with all the enthusiasm which a grateful people 
 could offer. Upon his arrival, he was waited upon by 
 the corporation, who tendered him a complimen- 
 tary address, with the freedom of the city. He 
 remained but a few days. On his departure, he was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 575 
 
 escorted to the wharf by a large concourse of citizens, 
 who witnessed his departure with sincere regret. The 
 same welcome was extended soon after by the city 
 authorities to John Jay, on his ari'ival from his success- 
 ful European mission, and also to Baron Steuben, who 
 A'isited the city during the same autumn. On the 2d 
 of December, Washington arrived in the cit}', where he 
 was received with a burst of enthusiasm. The corpo- 
 ration paid him the highest honors in their power, while 
 the citizens vied with each other in proving by their 
 thanks that the days of the Revolution were not yet 
 forgotten. 
 
 The next few years wore away with little event. 
 Commerce, so long depressed, slowly revived, and public 
 impi'ovements were again talked of ; but, though much 
 was projected, little was done till the beginning of the 
 next century. The city was forced, as it wore, to begin 
 life anew ; her trade was ruined, her treasury empty, 
 her people even yet divided among themselves. Feuds 
 were existing everywhere, the effect of the recent war. 
 The patriots returned from their long expatriation with 
 their hearts full of bitterness against those — and they 
 were many — who had clung to the royalist side and 
 remained in possession of their homes during the days 
 of trial ; Avhile the latter indulged in bitter invectives 
 against the newly-establislied government, which, in manv 
 instances, had confiscated their estates, and branded 
 them by its success as traitors to their country. New 
 York was suffering from all the evils which a seven 
 years' foreign occupation could inflict upon a city. Para- 
 lyzed by the long-contiiuied dominion of a foreign armv. 
 
576 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with a disorganized governmeut, an interrupted com- 
 merce, and a scattered population, years were needed to 
 recuperate its energies and fully to complete the work of 
 its resuscitation. 
 
 The spirit of public improvement soon revived, a;id 
 the city began to grow apace. The population at this 
 time numbered about twenty-three thousand inhabitants. 
 The first step towards progress was made in the 
 improvement of the waste ground about the Collect, 
 through which Reade and Duane streets were opened in 
 1794. The upper bari-acks along the line of Chambers 
 street, now useless for their original purpose, were 
 leased as dwellings for the benefit of the corporation. 
 
 These barracks, which had been built during the old 
 French war, were rude log huts, a single story in height, 
 extending from Broadway to Chatham street, and 
 inclosed by a high wall, with a gate at each end. From 
 the eastern, familiarly known as " Tryon's Gate," was 
 derived the name of the present Tryon Row. 
 
 The process of filling in and grading the grounds 
 about the Collect went on slowly ; ere long, it 
 infringed upon the lake itself. A survey of the pond 
 and the land about it was made in 1790, and, during the 
 following year, the corporation purchased the claim 
 of the heirs of Anthony Rutgers, for the sum of 
 one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. This done, the 
 pond was staked off, and the work of filling up the 
 grounds in its vicinity from the neighboring hills went 
 on during several years. In 1796, a canal through Lis- 
 penard's Meadows, from the Collect to the North River, 
 was proposed and sometime after constructed along the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 577 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 579 
 
 line of Canal street. This canal was forty feet wide with 
 a street on each side of the width of thirty feet. A 
 stone bridge of a single arch, ten feet seven inches above 
 the surface of the meadow, crossed it at the junction of 
 Broadway and Canal street. 
 
 The pond, meanwhile, remained the same, deep, clear 
 and sparkling — a miniature sea in the heart of the city. 
 Its waters still furnished food for the angler, and rumors 
 were rife of strange sea monsters which had been seen 
 therein, one of which had carried off a Hessian trooper 
 in the days of the Revolution. It was a man-trap, too, 
 for the unwary traveller, and, fi-om time to time, a 
 citizen, who had mistaken his way in the darkness or 
 had drank too deeply, fell from its banks and was 
 drowned where now is solid ground. The possibility of 
 such a transformation had not yet occurred to the busy 
 speculators ; but schemes were projected to convert the 
 beautiful lake into a means of ornament and profit. 
 One company proposed to buy up the lands about it, 
 and, preserving the lake in its primitive condition, to lay 
 out a portion of the grounds as a public park, and 
 realize their exppcted profit from the enhanced value of 
 the remainder. But this project was scouted as vision- 
 ary by the cautious capitalists, who could not credit that 
 the city would ever extend so far ; the proprietors of the 
 land, joining in the belief, wei-e unwilling to risk their 
 property in so wild a scheme ; and the plan which would 
 have preserved an inland sea in the heart of the city — a 
 natural feature shared by no other — was finally aban- 
 doned by its enterprising projectors. 
 
 Another company proposed to cut a ship canal through 
 
580 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the island, connecting the pond with the rivers on either 
 side, and thus to convert it into a magnificent inland 
 liarbor ; but this scheme failed for the same reasons as 
 the other — the ca^jitalists lacked faith in such extrava- 
 gant hopes of the future city. As the city increased and 
 the once-neglected lands grew valuable as gold-mines, 
 the Collect was gradually filled in from the surrounding 
 liills, till, in process of time, the lake over whose waters 
 the Indians had so often guided their canoes, was trans- 
 formed into firm earth, the site of the gloomy " Tombs " 
 with its neighborhood of crime and misery. 
 
 From the earliest times, the Dutch " Vlackte " or 
 Flat — the English Commons — had been recognized as 
 the property of the city, to be used for public purposes. 
 These purposes had been somewhat various, it is true ; 
 a pasture under the peaceful sway of the Dutch burghers, 
 it had become, in the stormy times which preceded the 
 Revolution, the gathering-place of the patriots — the 
 cradle of Liberty. What Faneuil Hall was to Boston, 
 was the Commons to New York. There the enthusiastic 
 Sons of Liberty, under the chieftainship of Scott, Sears, 
 Lamb and McDougall, assembled to denounce the 
 obnoxious Stamp Act ; there they fought bravely in 
 defence of their Liberty-Pole, the exponent of a right 
 and a principle ; there they ended the battle of Golden 
 Hill — the first battle of the Revolution — a contest under- 
 taken, not from the impulse of sudden anger, but in 
 defence of the liberties of the people ; there, too, were 
 the Bridewell, the New Jail and the old Provost, the 
 gloomy prisons of the victims of Howe and Clinton. 
 
 At this time, as heretofore, the Commons lay open 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 581 
 
 uninclosed by any kind of fence or wall. On the north 
 side, was the Alms House and House of Correction. 
 The Bridewell stood at the west end of the present City 
 Hall, and the New Jail, now the Hall of Records, occu- 
 pied its present position. Between the Alms House and 
 the Bridewell was the public gallows, which, transferred 
 in 1756 from its place near the lower end of the Park to 
 the foot of Catiemut's Hill, in the vicinity of the Five 
 Points, had been removed again to the Commons in 
 
 1784. In 1796, a new Alms House was built on 
 Chambers street in the rear of the old one, now so 
 dilapidated as to be unfit for further use, into which the 
 inmates were removed in the course of the following 
 year. 
 
 The Bridewell had been erected in 1 775 on the site of 
 the first Liberty-Pole, and within the bounds of the 
 piece of land purchased for the second in 1770. This 
 land was still the property of the Sons of Liberty, and in 
 
 1785, Isaac Sears, in whose name it had been purchased, 
 claimed it on their behalf, and offered to release all 
 right and title to it for eighty pounds sterling, with law- 
 ful interest ; the amount of the original purchase money. 
 The claim was allowed b}' the corporation, and the sum 
 ordered forthwith to be paid ; but the said payment was 
 never made, and the grounds to the northwest of the 
 City Hall still belong to the heirs of the New York 
 Liberty Boys. 
 
 In 1790, the first sidewalks in the city were laid on 
 the west side of Broadway from Vesey to Murray street, 
 and opposite for the same distance along the Bridewell 
 fence. These were narrow pavements of brick and 
 
582 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Stone, scarcely wide enough to permit two persons to 
 walk abreast. Above Murray street, Broadway was a 
 succession of hills, having its highest elevation in the 
 vicinity of Anthony street, where the road rose precipi- 
 tously over a steep hill, then descended as abruptly on 
 the other side to the valley at Canal street. In 1797, 
 the grade of Broadway from Duane to Canal streets was 
 established by the corporation, though some time 
 elapsed before the proposed improvement Avas reduced 
 to fact. The highest point of the projected grade was at 
 the intersection of Broadway and Leonard street, whence 
 it was to descend gradually to the bridge across the 
 meadow at Canal street, where the land required to be 
 raised about seven inches. But, in return, at Leonard 
 street, it was necessary to cut through the hill to the 
 depth of fifteen and a half feet, and at Anthony street to 
 the depth of twenty-two feet nine inches. At Pearl 
 street, the ground was four feet nine inches above the 
 proposed grade. 
 
 The need of street numbers had been for some time 
 rendered apparent by the increasing growth of the city, 
 and in 1793, the corporation appointed a committee to 
 prepare and report a feasible system. This was done, 
 and the proposed method, beginning at the next house 
 in every street terminating at either of the rivers, at the 
 intersection of the main street next the river, and num- 
 bering all houses below these intersecting streets, begin- 
 ning with No. 1, looking upward in all the main streets 
 and downward in all the slips, and so on to the end of 
 the street or slip, was adopted by the corporation. 
 
 From the evacuation of New York by the British 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 583 
 
 troops in 1783 to the organization of tlie Federal Gov- 
 ernment in 1789, the most exciting event that happened 
 in the city was probably the riot, known since familiarly 
 as the Doctors' Mob. During the winters of 1787 and 
 1788, a number of dead bodies had been dug up by 
 stealth by medical students and others, not onl}- from 
 the Potter's Field and the Negroes' Burial-Grotuid — 
 then reclconed lawful prey — but from the private ceme- 
 teries of the city ; and the fact becoming known, excited 
 a general ferment among the people, and awakened a 
 violent prejudice against the medical profession. As is 
 usual in such cases, the facts were greatly exaggerated 
 by public rumor, the most absui'd reports were circu- 
 lated through the city, and the New York Hospital — at 
 that time the only one — was regarded by the people with 
 superstitious horror. On the 13th of April, while the 
 public mind was in this excited state, some students 
 thoughtlessly exposed the limb of a body from the win- 
 dow of the dissecting-room in sight of a grouj) of boys 
 who were at play in the rear of the Hospital. The news 
 spread like lightning, and was instantly caught up by the 
 unemployed crowds who were loitering in the streets to 
 enjoy the leisure of the day. An immense multitude 
 speedily assembled, and, besieging the Hospital, burst 
 open the doors, and destroyed a collection of anatomical 
 preparations, the most of which had been imported from 
 abroad. Some fresh subjects were discovered, which 
 were borne away and interred in triumph. The terrified 
 physicians attempted to secrete themselves, but were 
 dragged from their hiding-places, and would assuredly 
 have been sacrificed to the fury of the crowd, had not 
 
584 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the magistrates interfered and lodged them in the jai! 
 for safety. Satisfied with their work of vengeance, the 
 crowd dispersed, and the physicians flattered themselves 
 that the affair was over. 
 
 They were mistaken ; it was but the beginning of the 
 play. The next morning, the crowd assembled with 
 fresh reinforcements, and avowed their purpose of 
 searching the houses of the suspected physicians. Clin- 
 ton, Hamilton, Jay and others remonstrated, assuring 
 them that justice would be rendered them by the law ; 
 and, after searching Columbia College and several of the 
 suspected houses, they were at length persuaded to 
 retire. 
 
 In the afternoon, matters grew more serious. A 
 party of the more violent gathered about the jail, and 
 demanded possession of the students who were lodged 
 there. This demand was of course refused ; to have 
 complied would have been to deliver over the victims to 
 certain destruction. Alarmed at the hostile attitude of 
 the gathering, the mayor promptly called out the militia, 
 and, about three o'clock, dispatched a small party to the 
 defence of the refugees, which was suffered by the mob 
 to pass without much molestation. A reinforcement of 
 twelve men, dispatched to their aid an hour after, were 
 arrested and disarmed before they reached the jail. 
 Elated with this success, the rioters next attacked the 
 building, but were beaten back by the handful of militia 
 which had first been sent there, and which maintained 
 its ground against desperate odds. 
 
 The city became the scene of intense excitement. The 
 mob, unable to force the jail, tore down the fences and 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 585 
 
 broke the windows, vowing destruction to every doctor 
 in the city. The crowd about the building increased 
 every moment, and the position of affiiirs grew so alarm- 
 ing that, about dusk, the mayor marched with a large 
 party of armed citizens to the relief of the besieged. 
 The friends of law and order hastened to the spot, and 
 vainly exerted their eloquence to allay the tempest and 
 prevent the shedding of blood. They were assailed in 
 reply by a volley of stones and brickbats, one of which 
 struck John Jay in the forehead while he was earnestly 
 entreating the multitude to disperse, and felled him to 
 the earth, wounding him severely. Finding all other 
 arguments in vain, the mayor at length determined to 
 fire upon the rioters. Baron Steuben interposed and 
 implored him to desist, but, before he could finish the 
 entreaty, a stone whizzed through the air and laid him 
 prostrate. " Fire, mayor, fire !" cried he, before he had 
 touched the ground. The mayor hesitated now no lon- 
 ger ; the order was given, the militia obeyed, and a 
 number of the rioters fell a*: the first volley, while the 
 remainder dispersed without waiting for the second. 
 Five persons were killed in the fray, and seven or eight 
 severely wounded. 
 
 A ludicrous incident, illustrative of the height of the 
 popular fury, occurred during the riot, which was 
 nearly attended by disastrous consequences. While the 
 excitement was at its height, a party of the rioters 
 chanced to pass the house of Sir John Temple, then 
 resident British Consul at New York, and mistaking the 
 name of "Sir John" for " surgeon," attacked it furiously, 
 and were with difficulty restrained from levelling it to 
 
586 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the grouiul. For some days, the militia kept guard 
 about the jail, but no other attempt was made at 
 violence. The offending students were sent into the 
 country for a time, and the public^ excitement by degrees 
 became alla3'ed. But the venerable hospital was hence- 
 forth invested by the populace with a sort of hoiTor, 
 and became the scene of many a fearful resurrectionist 
 legend. 
 
 By the Articles of Confederation, under which the 
 States had continued to act since the close of the war, 
 each State was constituted an independent sovereignty, 
 governed exclusively by its own legislature, and only 
 subject as a political body to the general Congress, 
 which, even then, had no power to force compliance 
 with its dictates, or to prevent one State from making 
 war upon another. Without credit, without revenue, 
 empowered only to advise, and uninvested with any 
 executive authority, this Congress was, indeed, but a 
 mei'e farce, and the Articles "a rope of sand," as they 
 were termed at the time. The need of a closer union 
 of the States and of an efficient general government, 
 soon became apparent. The country was in an impover- 
 ished condition ; besides a foreign debt of eight millions, 
 a domestic debt of nearly thirty millions had been 
 incurred by the war ; yet Congress had no power to 
 meet these obligations, but only to urge the States to 
 raise money for the purpose. The officers and soldiers 
 of the Revolutionary army, who had received but four 
 months' pay, were clamoring for their arrears, but no 
 money could be found to discharge the debt. Some of 
 the States endeavored to meet these demands by levy- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 587 
 
 ing heavy taxes upon the citizens ; but this proceeding 
 excited general discontent, and in Massachusetts, an 
 insurrection ensued, which was with difficulty suppressed 
 by force. The State treasuries were exhausted, com- 
 merce was prostrated, the people, impoverished by the 
 late war, were unable to support additional burdens, 
 and, in the absence of a responsible general government, 
 all hope of relief from credit was necessarily futile. In 
 this exigency, a convention, growing out of a propo- 
 sition of James Madison, of Virginia, was held at Anna- 
 pohs in September, 1786, for the purpose of amending 
 the Articles of Confederation. Their deliberations 
 resulted only in paving the way for another convention, 
 composed of delegates from all the States, which was 
 held at Philadelphia in the following May, with George 
 Washington as president. After four months' delibera- 
 tions, on the 17th of September, 1787, the present Con- 
 stitution of the United States was accepted by the 
 Convention, and submitted to the different States for 
 approval. 
 
 Notwithstanding the obvious need of a consolidated 
 government, the proposed Constitution was opposed by 
 a large portion of the inhabitants, who averred that 
 it placed too much power in the hands of the Executive ; 
 and the States came slowly into the Union. Since the 
 restoration of peace, two political parties had sprung 
 into existence in New York. One of the primary causes 
 (if this division was the bill disfranchising all who had 
 adhered to the British government during the war, 
 which had passed the Assembly of 1784, chiefly through 
 (he ePTorts of the Sons of Lilterty who composed the 
 
588 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 New Yoi'k representation.* This act bore heavil}' upon 
 the loyalists, many of whom were also attainted for 
 treason, and their estates confiscated to the government ; 
 and urgent efforts were made by them to procure its 
 repeal, which were stoutly opposed by the Sons of 
 Liberty, but were seconded by Hamilton and Schuyler. 
 Through the influence of these joowerful friends, the act 
 was finall}^ repealed on the 3d of February, 1787, and 
 the loyalists reinstated in their privileges of citizenship. 
 This act, denounced by the Liberty Boys as emanating 
 from British influence, won the loyalists over to the side 
 of Hamilton, and secured concurrence in his efforts 
 for the adoption of the new Constitution. The 
 opposite party, meanwhile, known familiarly as the 
 " French party," for their sympathy with the struggle 
 for independence now going on in France and their 
 hatred of the opposing British influences, denounced the 
 new Constitution in no measured terms, and exerted 
 themselves to the utmost to prevent its acceptance by 
 the people. 
 
 This new issue drew a marked line between the 
 parties. The federalists, comprising the refranchised 
 royalists, indorsed the new Constitution ; the anti- 
 Federalists opposed it with all its adjuncts. The Consti- 
 tution had already been accepted by the nine States 
 necessary for its adoption, beginning with Delaware and 
 ending with Massachusetts ; yet New York still held 
 
 • John Lamli, Marinus Willctt, Isaac Sears, Henry Rutgers, William Malcolm, 
 Robert Harpur, John Stagg, Peter P. Van Zandt and Hugh Hughes, most of whom 
 were well known as active Sons of Liberty, were the New York representatives to 
 Ihis first Assembly after the close of the war. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 589 
 
 aloof. On the iTtli of June, 17SS, the Convention of 
 the State of 'New York assembled at Poughkeepsie to 
 deliberate on the matter. Governor Clinton, the presi- 
 dent of the Convention, was a stanch anti-federalist ; 
 while Alexander Hamilton and John Jay assumed the 
 leadership of the federalist party, which was in the 
 minority in the Convention. The State, at this time, 
 was emphatically anti-federahst ; the city, on the con- 
 trary, eminently federalist. In the latter, a society had 
 been organized some time before under the name of 
 Federal-Republicans, with John Lamb as chairman and 
 his son-in-law, Charles Tillinghast, as secretary, to con- 
 cert measiyes to prevent the adoption of the Constitution 
 with its opponents throughout the Union, and this party 
 through their organ, Greenleaf's Patriotic Register — the 
 Holt's Gazette of the Revolution — assailed the actions 
 and motives of the federalists, and stimulated the 
 opposition of their friends at Poughkeepsie. The fede- 
 ralists, on their side, spared nothing that might forward 
 the success of their design. On the 23d of July, three 
 days before the adoption of the Constitution, a thirty- 
 two gun frigate, christened "the Federal Ship Hamil- 
 ton," and manned by thirty seamen and marines under 
 the command of Commodore Nicholson, was drawn by 
 ten horses through the streets in procession from the 
 Bowling Green to Bayard's Farm, in the vicinity 
 of Grand .street, where tables were spread in the 
 open air, and a plentiful dinner provided for the whole 
 company, consisting of four or five thousand persons. 
 This demonstration, the first procession of the kind 
 ever witnessed in the city, excited the curiosity of the 
 
590 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 public to the highest degree, and thousands flocked 
 to the town from the neighboring country to witness the 
 spectacle. The Patriotic Register, however, indulged 
 freely in sarcastic remarks on the occasion, and so 
 incensed the federalists, that, on the announcement on 
 the 26th of the adoption of the Constitution, the spirit 
 of mobocracy broke forth with violence, and a crowd 
 of rioters, proceeding to the office of the paper in 
 Pine street, broke open the door with axes, and 
 demolished the press and types. Greenleaf, with an 
 apprentice, after vainly endeavoring to defend his 
 property, made his escape at the rear of the building 
 into Wall street. 
 
 e 
 
 Emboldened by this success, the rioters next made 
 their way to the house of John Lamb in Wall street, 
 about midway between Pearl and William streets ;* but, 
 anticipating the attack, preparations had been made for 
 defence. The doors and windows were barred and the 
 halls and stairways barricaded, and General Lamb, Col- 
 onel Oswald, and Major John Wiley, with two youths and 
 a colored servant, were stationed in the second stoiy 
 with loaded muskets, while the youngest daughter of 
 Gen. Lamb, with Miss Chapman, a visitor from Connec- 
 ticut, and a colored servant, who had refused to quit the 
 house, were stationed in the attic as a reserve force, with 
 an ample suppl}^ of Dutch tiles and empty bottles to be 
 launched at the heads of the rioters. The mob, now 
 
 • John Lamb was at this time Collector of Customs for the port of New York, 
 having been appointed to the office in 1784. A part of his residence was used for the 
 Custom House, the business being not yet large enough to warrant a separate 
 eslablislinient. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 591 
 
 increased to thousands, surrounded the house, yelhng, 
 shoutmg and threatening an attack, but to these the 
 inmates made no reply ; and at lengtli the rioters, con- 
 cluding the house to be either deserted or strongly 
 garrisoned, held a council of war, and determined to 
 withdraw. The city soon subsided into a state of quiet, 
 and the new constitution was gradually acquiesced in 
 by the opposition. 
 
 On the 13th of September, 1788, the adoption of the 
 Constitution was publicly declared, and the city of New 
 York selected as the seat of the general government. 
 This involved the need of more extensive accommoda- 
 tions. The City Hall in Wall street, in which the Con- 
 tinental Congress had been accustomed to meet, was fall- 
 ing to decay, and the exhausted city treasury furnished no 
 means wherewith to make the necessary repairs. In 
 this emergency, a number of wealthy gentlemen 
 advanced the requisite sum ; the Hall was remodelled 
 under the direction of Major L'Enfant, and placed by 
 the corporation at the disposal of the general govern- 
 ment. On the 4th of March, 1789, the day appointed 
 for the assembling of Congress, bells were rung and 
 cannon fired, and the hall was thrown open for the 
 expected session ; but only a handful of the members 
 made their appearance. Unable to transact business in 
 the absence of a quorum, they issued a circular letter to 
 their colleagues — and waited. Their patience was put 
 somewhat severely to the test. The roads were bad, 
 railroads and steamboats unknown, packets and stages 
 few, and punctuality, withal, regarded as a thing of 
 minor importance ; and it was not until the 6th of Apiil 
 
592 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that enough of the straggling members of both houses 
 had come in to constitute a quorum and enable them to 
 declare the result of the election. On the day in ques- 
 tion, both houses assembled in the Senate Chamber, the 
 votes were opened and read, two lists made out, the 
 House of Representatives withdrew to its chamber, the 
 votes were counted, and George Washington was declared 
 unanimously elected first President of the United States. 
 John Adams, having received the next highest number, 
 was declared elected Vice-President, and messengers 
 were dispatched to the new officials to notify them of 
 the result. 
 
 John Adams was the first to arrive. Reaching New 
 York on the 21st of April, he was met at the boundary 
 line by Governor Clinton, with a military escort, and 
 conducted to Kingsbridge. Here he was received by 
 the Senate and House of Representatives, together with 
 several companies of militia, and escorted to the City 
 Hall, where he delivered his inaugural address. Two 
 days afterward, Washington arrived. His journey from 
 Mount Vernon had been a march of triumph. Every- 
 where he was met with rejoicings, nor could he, with his 
 utmost endeavors, extricate himself from these public 
 exjDressions of their gratitude. He had wished to travel 
 unostentatiously as a private citizen ; but he found this 
 impossible without harshly repelling the heartfelt wel- 
 come that was everywhere oflfered to him. At Alexandria 
 he was greeted by a public entertainment, which was 
 repeated at Georgetown ; on the confines of Pennsylva 
 uia he was met by a large escort, headed by Miffiin, his 
 ancient enemy, now governor of the State, who 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 593 
 
 38 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 595 
 
 conducted him to Philadelphia, where a splendid ovation 
 was prepared for him ; and at Trenton, the bridge over 
 which he had once retreated before Cornwallis to fall on 
 the enemy's forces at Princeton, was strewn with flowers 
 by a band of maidens, and he was escorted into the town 
 with military honors by an immense concourse of 
 citizens. At Elizabethtowu Point he was met by a com- 
 mittee from both houses of Congress, which, embarking 
 with him in a barge which had been splendidly fitted up, 
 escorted him to the landing-place at the foot of Wall 
 street, where Governor Clinton was in waiting to receive 
 him, attended by the State and city officers. Landing 
 at the stairs at the foot of Murray's Wharf, which had 
 been decorated for the occasion, he was escorted by a 
 large procession to No 1 Cherry sti'eet, formerly occupied 
 by Samuel Osgood, which had been prepared for his 
 reception, whence he proceeded to Governor Clinton's 
 to dinner. In the evening, the city was splendidly illu- 
 minated, and a brilliant display of fireworks closed the 
 demonstrations. 
 
 The Federal Hall was not yet finished, and a week 
 elapsed before the arrangements for the inauguration could 
 be completed. For this, the outer balcony of the Senate 
 Chamber, looking down on Broad street, was chosen ; 
 Congress having prescribed that the ceremony should 
 take place in public and in the open air. The 30th of 
 April was fixed for the inauguration. At nine in the 
 morning, religious services were performed in all the 
 churches. A little after noon, a procession was formed 
 from the house of the President elect, consisting of the 
 city cavalry, with the members of Congress and the 
 
596 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 heads of departments in carriages, followed by Washing- 
 ton alone in a carriage, his aid-de-camp and secretary, 
 Colonel Hmnphreys and Tobias Lear, with the resident 
 foreign ministers, also in carriages, bringing up the rear. 
 Having reached the Senate Chamber, he was conducted 
 by Vice-President Adams to his seat, then informed that 
 all was ready for taking the oath of office. Upon this, 
 he rose and proceeded to the balcony, followed by the 
 Senate and House of Representatives. Adams, Knox, 
 Steuben, and Hamilton, his old companions in arms and 
 danger, grouped around him, Chancellor Livingston 
 administered the oath, and, as he ended with the exclam- 
 ation, " Long live George Washington, first President of 
 " the United States !" the multitude rent the air with 
 shouts of applause. Returning to the Senate Chamber, 
 he delivered his inaugural address, then proceeded on 
 foot, with the whole assembly, to St. Paul's church, 
 where prayers were read by Bishop Provost, lately 
 appointed by the Senate as one of the chaplains of Con- 
 gress ; after which, he was escorted back to his residence. 
 In the evening, there was a display of fireworks on the 
 Battery, and the houses of the French and Spanish 
 ministers were brilliantly illuminated. A month later, 
 Mrs. Washington arrived, and was received at the 
 Battery with the federal salute of thirteen guns, and 
 escorted from the landing-place with military honors. 
 
 This ceremonial over, WasMngton's life in New York 
 was simple and unostentatious. The new presidential 
 mansion, to make room for which the old fort had been 
 levelled in 1787-88, had not yet been completed, nor 
 was it \nitil after the removal of Congress, when it 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 597 
 
 became the residence of Governor Clinton, and was some 
 time afterward transformed into the Custom House. 
 During the first session of Congress, he continued to 
 occupy the house which had been assigned him in Cherry 
 street, the accommoclatious of which were so limited that 
 three of his secretaries — Humphreys, Nelson, and Lewis 
 — were obliged to content themselves with a single room. 
 Tobias Lear, his principal secretary, with his assistants, 
 Thomas Nelson, and Robert Lewis ; his aides-de-camp, 
 Colonel Humphreys and jNIajor Jackson, and ]\Irs. Wash- 
 ington with her two gi-audchildren, formed his house- 
 hold. His house was handsomely but plainly furnished. 
 On Tuesdays, from three to four, he held a public levee ; 
 on Thursdays, he gave congressional dinners ; and on 
 Friday evenings, Mrs. Washington held her receptions. 
 The wliole establishment savored of republican sim- 
 plicity, the chief tendency toward luxury being shown 
 in the horses, which were remarkably fine, and were 
 groomed with scrupulous care. Washington was simple 
 and abstemious in his habits. He rose regularly at four 
 o'clock, and went to bed at nine. On Saturdays, he 
 sought relaxation from his labors by riding into the 
 country, either on horseback, or with his family in the 
 coach-and-six. In the evening, he sometimes visited the 
 theatre in .John street, at that time the only one in the 
 city, which had been erected during the occupation of the 
 British, and used by the officers for amateur theatricals.* 
 
 * The earliest theatricals in New York were. in a store on Cruger's Wharf, near Old 
 Slip, where a number of youngmeu used to meet and amuse themselves with amateur 
 performances. The first regular theatre was a stone building, erected in 1750 in the 
 rear of the Dutch Church in Nassau street. Mr. Hallani was the manager, with a 
 
598 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In this theati-e, " which was so small," says Ciistis in his 
 ' ' Recollections and Private Memoirs of the lafe and 
 " Character of Washington," "that the whole fabric might 
 " easily have been placed on the stage of one of our 
 " modern theatres ;" the stage boxes were set apart for 
 the Pi'esident and Vice-President and adorned with ap- 
 propriate emblems and decorations. The playbills were 
 inscribed Vivat Repiiblica. The performances were 
 good, and the company included several players of 
 merit, among whom was Morris, who had been the asso- 
 ciate of Garrick in the beginning of his career. It was 
 here that the national air of " Hail Columbia" was first 
 played, having been composed by Fyles, a German 
 musician, the leader of the orchestra, in compliment to 
 the President. On Sunday morning, when the weather 
 was fine, "Washington and his family attended St. Paul's 
 church, wliere his pew could long be seen ; in the even- 
 ing, he read to Ms wife, receiving no visitors. He laid it 
 down as a rule to return no visits, and gave no dinner 
 invitations except to officials and foreigners of distinc- 
 tion. For some time, the adoption of a title suitable to his 
 position was discussed by Congress, but was finally aban- 
 doned by common consent, and the simple but dignified 
 address of "President of the United States," first con- 
 ferred on him by the House of Representatives in reply 
 
 tolerably good company; but, after a time, he removed to Jamaica, and the 
 theatre was, in consequence, pulled down. The second was a wooden building, 
 in Beekman street, a few doors befcw Nassau, erected with the permission of 
 Lieutenant-Governor Golden, by Philip Miller in 1769. This was destroyed by the 
 Liberty Boys during the days of the Stamp Act, in revenge for some insulting allusion 
 in the play. The next in order was the theatre in John street, above ciird. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 599 
 
 to his inaugural speech, adhered to theu and henceforth 
 by the nation. 
 
 During the residence of Washington in Cherry street, 
 he was attacked by a dangerous ilhiess, which rendered 
 a surgical operation necessary. The elder and younger 
 Drs. Bard were his physicians. Washington bore the 
 torture with surprising firmness. " Cut away — deeper, 
 deeper still ;" exclaimed the father to his son, wliom he 
 had deputed to perform the operation through distrust of 
 his own nerves, " don't be afraid ; you see how well he 
 bears it." For a time, he was considered in a critical 
 situation, and the greatest anxiety was manifested in the 
 city. The pavement in front of his residence was 
 strewn with straw, and chains were stretched across the 
 neighboring streets ; but the operation proved eminently 
 successful, and his speedy recovery removed all cause of 
 alarm. Upon his convalescence, he set out upon a tour 
 through the New England States, from which he returned 
 a short time before the opening of the second session of 
 Congress on the 8th of January, 1790. About the same 
 time, he removed to the Macomb House, No. 39 Broad- 
 way, afterward Bunker's Mansion House, where he con- 
 tinued to reside during his stay in New York. 
 
 This stay was not a long one. Since the first adoption 
 of the federal constitution, the country had been in a fer- 
 ment in respect to the location of the permanent seat of 
 government. The eastern States preferred New York, 
 Pennsylvania clamored for its return to Philadelphia or 
 the vicinity, the people of New Jersey petitioned for its 
 removal to the shores of the Delaware, while Maryland 
 and Virginia, with the rest of the southern States, urged 
 
GOO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the banks of the Potomac as the central location 
 During the first session, the banks of the Susquehanna 
 had very nearly been chosen as the site ; and no sooner 
 had the second session opened, than the discussion was 
 renewed with unabated ardor. Each party persisted in 
 urging its claims, and it was only by a somewhat curious 
 compromise that an amicable arrangement was finally 
 effected, and the District of Columbia selected as the 
 cajiital of the United States. 
 
 Early in the session, Alexander Hamilton, then 
 Secretary of the Treasury, threw a new apple of discord 
 into the assembly by proposing that, for the mainte- 
 nance of the public credit, the general government 
 should assume, not only the public foreign and domestic 
 debt, amounting to fifty-four millions, but also the debts 
 of the States, contracted during the Revolution, and 
 estimated at twenty-five millions. The foreign debt was 
 assumed without hesitation, as was also the domestic 
 debt after considerable opposition, but here the question 
 rested. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New 
 Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina and a part of Penn- 
 sylvania, joined in favoring the assumption of the debts 
 of the States, while Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, New 
 Hampshire and the remaining part of the Pennsylvania 
 delegation opposed the measure with so much acrimony 
 that, at one time, a dissolution of the Union seemed 
 inevitable. The debts of most of the opposing States 
 were small ; some objected to thus increasing the power 
 of the general government ; others, on the contrary, 
 advocated it as a federal measure ; but neither party 
 could claim a majority. At this juncture, as a last 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 001 
 
 resort, a compromise was effected through the joint 
 agency of Jefferson and Hamilton, and two of the Vir- 
 ginian representatives were induced to vote for the 
 assumption ; while the Northerners, in return, ceded the 
 other point at issue, and fixed the permanent seat of the 
 general government on the banks of the Potomac-; 
 though, by way of salvo to the feelings of the disap- 
 pointed Pennsylvanians, it was agreed that it should first 
 remain for ten years at Philadelphia. The precise loca- 
 tion was left to the President, who was to appoint com- 
 missioners to choose a site within certain limits from the 
 lands which had been proffered by Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia. These States, as well as Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey, in their eagerness to secure the capital of the 
 nation, had not only offered to furnish the necessary 
 ground, but also to appropriate money for the erection 
 of the public buildings, and, in the impoverished state 
 of the country, this saving of expenditure proved a 
 strong argument in their favor. Both bills soon after 
 passed the Senate, the former with various amendments ; 
 the federal government agreed to assume the greater 
 portion of the State debts in certain specified propor- 
 tions, and the month of December, 1800, was fixed as 
 the date of the opening session of Congress at the capital 
 city of Washington in the new District of Columbia. 
 
 Since the close of the war, Indian affairs had been m 
 an unsettled state along the western and southern fron- 
 tiers. Soon after the conclusion of peace with Great 
 Britain, treaties had been negotiated with the various 
 tribes which had taken part against the United States 
 during the war ; but these adjustments had proved 
 
(302 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 unsatisfactory, and the natives complained bitterly of the 
 constant encroachments of the whites upon their boun- 
 daries. In the Carolinas and Georgia, discontent 
 ripened into open war. The Cherokees, who claimed 
 the northern part of the States as well as the greater 
 portion of the State of Tennessee, were worsted in the 
 strife and forced to flee to the Creeks for protection ; the 
 latter, who inhabited Alabama and Georgia, strengthened 
 by an alhance with the Spaniards in Florida, carried on 
 the war with greater success, and, headed by their chief, 
 Alexander McGillivray, severely harassed the settle- 
 ments of the Georgians. McGillivray was a half-breed, 
 the son of a Scotchman, who, educated by his father in 
 the best schools of Charleston, had inherited the chief- 
 tainship through the line of his mother, according to the 
 custom of the nation, and turned his talents and educa- 
 tion to good account by devising ways and means to 
 strengthen its power. Bred in a counting-house and 
 familiar with mercantile affairs, he opened a profitable 
 trade with the Spaniards, through whom he obtained 
 the arms and ammunition necessary for the successful 
 continuance of the war. 
 
 Led by an enemy of superior intelligence, this out- 
 break occasioned considerable alarm, and, soon after the 
 opening of the first session of Congress, General Lincoln, 
 Colonel Humphreys and David Griffin were dispatched 
 as commissioners to the scene of contest to adjust the 
 boundaries of the disputed territory. This was a tract 
 of land, west and south of the Oconee River, which the 
 Georgians claimed had been ceded to them by three 
 successive treaties ; while the Creeks alleged that these 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 603 
 
 treaties had been obtained by force or fraud, and there- 
 fore could not be held as binding upon the nation. The 
 commissioners were well received by McGillivray and 
 his warriors, but, refusing to restore the lands, they 
 effected nothing except to obtain a temporary cessation 
 of hostilities. 
 
 The next year. Colonel Marinus Willett was dispatched 
 by Washington to open a new negotiation. Disguising 
 himself as a simple trader, in obedience to his instruc- 
 tions, he entered the Indian camp and sounded the dis- 
 position of the natives ; then, throwing off the mask, he 
 avowed his ei-rand, and invited McGillivray to go with 
 him to New Yorlv to talk with the Great Father. To 
 this proposal, McGillivray consented, and set out in the 
 beginning of the summer, accompanied by twenty-eight 
 chief and warriors of the nation. Their arrival excited 
 considerable interest in the city. On landing, they were 
 met by the Tammany Society, arrayed in Indian cos- 
 tume, which escorted them to their lodgings on the banks 
 of the North River at the tavern known henceforth as 
 the Indian Queen. Here they remained for more than 
 six weeks, negotiating the terms of a treaty with Gene- 
 ral Knox, the commissioner appointed by Washington 
 for that purpose, and, the matter being at length satisfac- 
 torily arranged, the treaty was ratified, in true Indian 
 style in Federal Hall in Wall street, on the 13th of 
 August, the day after the adjournment of the second 
 session of Congress. At 12 o'clock, the Creek deputa- 
 tion was met by the President and his suite in the Hall 
 of the House of Representatives, where the treaty was 
 read and interpreted, after which, Washington addressed 
 
604 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the warriors in a short but emphatic speech, detaiUng 
 and explaining the justice of its provisions; to each of 
 which, as it was interpreted to them, McGiUivray and 
 his warriors gave the Indian grunt of approval. The 
 treaty was then signed by both parties, after which 
 Washington presented McGiUivray with a string of 
 wampum, as a memorial of the peace, with a paper of 
 tobacco as a substitute for the ancient calumet, grown 
 obsolete and unattainable by the innovations of modern 
 times. McGiUivray made a brief speech in reply, the 
 "shake of peace" was interchanged between Washing- 
 ton and each of the chiefs, and the ceremony was con- 
 cluded by a song of peace, in which the Creek warriors 
 joined with enthusiasm. The warriors, indeed, had good 
 reason to be satisfied with this treaty, which ceded to 
 them all the disputed territory, and distributed presents 
 and money liberall}^ among the nation. Almost imme- 
 diately after its ratification, the Creeks returned to their 
 homes in the South, leaving their name as a memorial to 
 their place of entertainment. 
 
 The visit of the Indians closed the official career of 
 New York as the capital city of the nation, but this did 
 not retard her prosperity, as at the time was greatly 
 feared. Freed from the distractions of political excite- 
 ment, the people turned their attention to mercantile 
 pursuits, and soon made of their city the commercial 
 centre of the western continent. In the autumn of 
 1789, James Duane was succeeded in the mayoralty by 
 Colonel Richard Varick, who, since the evacuation, had 
 been the city recorder. Colonel Varick was a popular 
 law3'er of the city, who had won his military title in the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 605 
 
 sei'vice of Schuyler in the northern array, and, after wit- 
 nessing the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga and the 
 defeat of Burgoyne, had been aid-de-carap to Arnold till 
 the discovery of his treason, after which he had served 
 Washington as secretary until the close of the war. 
 
 In 1793, war broke out between France and England, 
 and on the 9th of April, just five days after the new« 
 reached New York, Citizen G-enet arrived at Charleston 
 as the accredited minister to the United States from the 
 new French Republic. This war placed the nation in 
 an embarrassing position. Bound on one hand to 
 France by obligations of gratitude as well as by the con- 
 ditions of a treaty of alliance, it was pledged on the 
 other hand by the federal policy to preserve strict neu- 
 trality in European wars. The nation became divided, 
 the anti-federalists warmly espoused the cause of the 
 French party, while the federalists, with Hamilton at 
 their head, insisted that the treaty had been annulled by 
 the change in the French government ; or, at all events. 
 did not apply in case of an offensive war. Washington 
 inclined to the latter opinion, and, while he received 
 Genet as the minister of the Republic, proclaimed a strict 
 neutrality in respect to warlike operations. This greatly 
 displeased Genet, as well as the anti-federalists, who. 
 warmly attached to France and detesting England, 
 cheered on their late allies in their struggle for liberty, 
 and warmly seconded the French minister in fitting out 
 privateers from their .ports to cruise against nations Hos- 
 tile to France. The journey of Genet through the States 
 was a march of triumph. Everywhere, he was feted 
 and caressed ; in Philadelphia, he met with an enthnsi- 
 
606 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 astic reception, and in New York, where he arrived on 
 the 8th of August, he was welcomed with ringing of 
 bells and salutes of cannon in honor of the success of 
 republican France. The opposition papers of the day — 
 Freneau's Gazette and Bache's General Advertiser at 
 Philadelphia, Greenleaf's Patriotic Register at New 
 York, the Chronicle at Boston, and all the republican 
 press beside, warmly espoused the cause of the minister, 
 and commenced a crusade against the course of the gov- 
 ernment. Encouraged by these manifestations of popu- 
 lar sympathy, Genet fitted out numerous privateers 
 from the American ports, manned in many cases by 
 American seamen, which, in the course of a few months 
 captured nearly fifty British vessels in direct violation 
 of the President's proclamation of neutrality. On the 
 12th of June, the Ambuscade, which had brought Genet 
 to the United States, arrived at New York, where her 
 officers and crew were welcomed with enthusiasm by the 
 anti-federalists, now first called democrats in derision, 
 by reason of their sympathy with the Jacobins of the 
 French Revolution. The Liberty-Cap was hoisted on 
 the flagstaff of the Tontine Colfee-House, and all true 
 patriots exhorted to protect it ; tri-colored cockades 
 were worn, the Marseillaise was chanted, and, for a sea- 
 son, New York seemed transformed into a veritable 
 French city. On the 22d of June, the Ambuscade sailed 
 on a cruise, from which she returned on the 14th of 
 July. During her stay in port, an event occurred which 
 greatly incensed the friends of Genet, and certainly 
 reflected no credit upon British honesty. On the 21st, 
 a frigate appeared off Sandy Hook, which was reported 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 607 
 
 by a pilot-boat that came iu as the Concorde, a consort 
 of the Ambuscade, and, too eager to await her arrival, 
 the lieutenant with a boat's crew went out to meet her. 
 Deceived by the tri-colored flag, which was hoisted on 
 their approach, the party mounted the decks, and found 
 themselves prisoners of war on board the British frigate 
 Boston. This act of treachery was severely and deserv- 
 edly denounced by the republicans, who urged Captain 
 Bompard of the Ambuscade to accept the challenge sent 
 directly after by way of bravado by the British captain 
 to meet him at sea, and even entered the lists themselves 
 for the coming contest. Escorted by a fleet of pilot- 
 boats, filled with spectators, the Ambuscade sailed down 
 the bay on the 30th of July, and encountered the Boston 
 off Sandy Hook. A bloody action ensued, in which Cap- 
 tain Courtney of the Boston was killed, and his vessel 
 disabled. Finding it impossible to hold out any longer, 
 the British frigate at length bore away for Halifax, pur- 
 sued for some distance by the triumphant Ambuscade. 
 
 On the 3d of August, a French fleet of fifteen sail 
 arrived at New York, where the officers were warmly 
 received by the republicans. On the 7th of the same 
 month, Genet arrived at Paulus Hook on his way to the 
 Eastern States, and was greeted with extravagant 
 demonstrations of welcome. Bells were rung, cannon 
 fired, and a great meeting held in the fields, at which 
 a committee of forty was appointed to wait upon the 
 ambassador and escort him into the city. The federalists, 
 on the other hand, backed by the Chamber of Com- 
 merce, held counter-meetings, denouncing the conduct 
 of the French minister, and warmly indorsing the 
 
bUO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 proclamation of neutrality. Soon after his arrival, 
 Genet strengthened his interests with the republican 
 party by espousing the daughter of its leader, Governor 
 Clinton ; the marriage ceremony being performed at the 
 Walton House in Pearl street. 
 
 The conduct of the French minister excited the indig- 
 nation of the President and Congress, who ordered the 
 captured prizes to be restored, and remonstrated with 
 Genet against his contempt of their authority. Sus- 
 tained by the powerful republican party, the ambassador 
 openly justified his conduct ; and his correspondence at 
 length grow so oflensive, that even Jefferson and Ran- 
 dolph, who had hitherto defended him, joined with the 
 opposite party in demanding his recall. Before the 
 letter reached France, a great change had been wrought 
 in the affairs of the republic. The Girondins, the 
 friends of Genet, had fallen from power, the Reign of 
 Terror, under the leadership of Robespierre, had com- 
 menced, and the Jacobins, now the dominant party, 
 made no difficulty in conceding the President's request. 
 Genet was formally recalled from the ministry, and 
 Citizen Fauchet appointed in his place, with instructions 
 to approve the proclamation of neutrality. Genet 
 remained in the United States, and died at an advanced 
 age at his residence on Long Island. His sons still con- 
 tinue residents of the city. 
 
 The subsequent tragedies of the Reign of Terror 
 destroyed much of the popular sympathy with the 
 French republic. America became the refuge of the 
 emigres, and this immense influx of foreign immigration 
 wrought a visible change in the character of the people. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 609 
 
 III New York, -where the exiles mostly congregated, was 
 this change most of all apparent. French manners, 
 French customs, French cookery, French furniture, 
 French fashions, and the French language, came sud- 
 denly in vogue, and for a season, Xew York seemed 
 transformed into Paris. Another element was added to 
 make up the cosmopolitan character of the city. It had 
 been essentially Dutch and essentially English ; it now 
 became essentially French ; and when the downfall of 
 Robespierre recalled the exiles to their homes, and the 
 city was vacated as suddenly as it had been filled, it still 
 retained the impress of the invasion ; nor has it ever 
 been wholly effaced, as all will acknowledge who have 
 observed how much more predommant is the French 
 element in this than in the other northern cities. 
 
 In the summer of 1795, .John Jay, the newly-elected 
 federal governor of New York, arrived from England 
 with a new treaty ; rendered necessary by the repeated 
 violations of the first, alleged by each nation against the 
 other. The provisions of this treaty, which bound the 
 United States to a strict neutrality in all wars between 
 England and other nations, were denounced by the anti- 
 federalist or republican party, as it had now come to 
 be called, as a shameful repudiation of the obligations 
 due by the country to France, and the most strenuous 
 efforts were used to induce the President to refuse its 
 ratification. In New York, the federalists were stronger 
 in wealth — the republicans, in numbers. In the chart(>r 
 elections from 1783 to 1803, the federahsts almost uni- 
 formly carried six out of the seven wards of the city ; 
 yet a large proportion of the inhaliitants were non- 
 
GIO HISTORY OF THE 
 
 voters, deprived of the elective franchise by the property 
 qualification, and many of these belonged to the repub- 
 lican party. This faction had sympathized warmly with 
 Genet in his efforts to provoke a new war with England, 
 insisting that the United States stood pledged by honor 
 to return the aid extended her in the Revolution, and to 
 take up arms in defence of the new republic. 
 
 No sooner had the new treaty become publicly 
 known, than a mass meeting of the republicans was 
 held in Boston, the treaty denounced as dishonorable 
 and disadvantageous, and a committee appointed to 
 state objections in an address to the President. A few 
 days after, an anonymous handbill appeared in the 
 streets of New York, calling on the citizens to meet in 
 front of the City Hall on the 18th of July, to join with 
 the Bostonians in expressing their opposition to the 
 treaty. This was instantly met by a gathering of the 
 federaUsts, who resolved to attend the meeting en masse, 
 to present both sides of the question to the people. 
 
 On the day appointed, an immense concourse assem- 
 bled in front of the City Hall. Aaron Burr and Brock- 
 hoist Livingston, the brother-in-law of Jay, who, with 
 Chancellor Livingston and the rest of that influential 
 family, had espoused the cause of the Republican party, 
 appeared as the leaders of the opposition ; Alexander 
 Hamilton and Richard Varick stood for the federaUsts 
 and the treaty. The latter party at first took the lead, 
 and succeeded in electing a chairman from among their 
 number ; then proposed at once to adjourn the meeting. 
 This proposal, of course, was opposed by the republicans, 
 as making of the whole thing a farce, and defeating the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 611 
 
 purpose of the meeting. A motion was made to leave 
 the matter to the decision of the President and Senate 
 and, the question being taken, both sides claimed the 
 majority. A scene of violence ensued. Hamilton 
 mounted the stoop of an old Dutch house which stood 
 on the corner of Wall and Broad streets, with its gable 
 end to the street, and attempted to speak in defence of 
 the treaty, when he was rudely thrown from his place, 
 and dragged through the streets by the excited multitude. 
 A motion was made to appoint a committee of fifteen to 
 report three days after, and a list of names was read 
 and pronounced carried. The tumult soon increased to 
 such a degree, that business became out of the question. 
 " All you who agree to adjourn to the Bowling Green, 
 " and burn the British treaty, wiU say Aye," shouted 
 some one from among the mass. The thunder of the 
 ' ' Ayes " shook the watch-house on the south corner of 
 Broad and Wall streets to its foundation, and the turbu- 
 lent opposition ran, shouting and huzzaing, to the Bowl- 
 ing Green, when the treaty was burned to the sound of 
 the Carmagnole, beneath the folds of the French and the 
 American colors. At the adjourned meeting, which was 
 attended chiefly by the republicans, twenty-eight reso- 
 lutions, condemnatory of the treaty, were reported by 
 the committee, and unanimously accepted. The follow- 
 ing day, a series of counter resolutions was adopted by 
 the Chamber of Commerce, at this time composed almost 
 exclusively of federalists, and on the 14th of August, 
 the treaty was finally ratified by the Senate and signed 
 by Washington. 
 
 In the autumn of 1791, the vellow fever broke out in 
 
612 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the vicinity of Burling Slip. Though soon checked in 
 its ravages by the approach of frost, it excited a panic 
 among the inhabitants, and cut down several well known 
 citizens, among others, General Malcolm of the Revo- 
 lution. In 1795, it again made its appearance, about tht 
 first of August, and raged with virulence during the 
 remainder of the season, carrying off seven hundred and 
 thirty-five of the citizens. But these visits were but the 
 precursors of the coming pestilence. About the last of 
 July, 1798, it again broke out with increased violence, 
 heightened perhaps by the general alarm which at once 
 diffused itself among the people. The whole community 
 was infected with the panic, all who could fled the city, 
 the stores were closed, the business streets deserted, and 
 for many weeks the hearses that conveyed the victims 
 of the pestilence to their last homes were undisputed 
 possessors of the streets of the city. Most of the churches 
 were closed ; Trinity, Christ's Church in Ann street, and 
 the Methodist Chapel in John street alone remaining 
 open. The Post-office was removed to the house of 
 Dr. James Tillary on the corner of Broadway and Wall 
 street, and the citizens came down for their letters from 
 their retreats at Greenwich and Bloomingdale between 
 the hours of 9 a.m. and sundown, the time at which the 
 physicians pronounced it safe to visit the city. The 
 greatest suffering prevailed, and contributions of money, 
 provisions, and fuel poured in from the neighboring 
 States for the relief of the poor, thus deprived of em- 
 ployment, and hourly threatened with the death from 
 which their poverty forbade them to flee. From the 
 breaking out of the pestilence to the beginning of Novem 
 
 i 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 613 
 
 ber, when it ceased, the deaths amounted to 2,086, 
 exckisive of those who had fled the city ; and this from 
 a popuktion of fifty-five thousand. Strangely enough, 
 not a single case occurred on the Long Island or Jersey 
 shores. The fever lingered in the city for several years, 
 breaking out with violence at intervals, yet at no time 
 did its ravages equal those of '98. 
 
 The contests between the federalists and republicans in 
 the charter elections increased in violence, and the federal- 
 ists began gradually to lose ground. In the election of 
 1800, the Sixth and Seventh Wards were carried by the 
 republican party, and, elated by their success, the victors 
 put forth renewed efforts in the election of the following 
 year. To evade the property qualification, requiring 
 every voter to be a landholder, an association of thirty- 
 three young men purchased a house and lot in the Fifth 
 Ward, jointly on the principle of a tontine, and having 
 thus rendered themselves eligible according to law, pre- 
 sented themselves at the polls as republican voters.* 
 The same scheme was adopted in the Fourth Ward by 
 a club of seventy-one members. The election returns 
 showed four wards for the republicans, and three for the 
 federalists ; the Fifth Ward being carried in favor of the 
 
 * The names of many of the members of this early Tontine Association after- 
 wards became prominent in the politics of the State. They were as follows: Joshua 
 Barker, S. Tiebout, A. Macready, Peter Black, Tenius Wortman, George I. Eacher 
 Daniel D. Tompkins, Ricliard Riker, Thomas Hertell, Edmund Ferris, Arthur Smith 
 William Boyd, William A. Davis, William Jones, Edmund Holmes, William P. Van 
 Ness, John Sonnelle, Jas. W. Lent, Cornelius C. Van Allen, Jno. W. Woolf, Robert 
 I. Livingston, John Jagger, Jas. Warner, Robert Swartwout, John L. Broome 
 David Thompson, Joseph Brown, Samuel Lawrence, Gideon Kimberley, Henry Post 
 Gordon S. Mumford, Maltby GcUton, John Drake. 
 
614 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 former by a majority of six, and the Fourth Ward by 
 thirty-five. This result was at once contested by the fed- 
 eralists on the ground of illegal voting by the Tontine 
 Association, and, being submitted to the decision of the 
 retiring board, the majority of which belonged to that 
 party, was pronounced nuU and void and the balance of 
 power restored to the hands of the federalists. The State 
 election having been decided in favor of the repubhcans 
 by the election of ex-Governor George Clinton, Edward 
 Livingston, the brother of the well-known chancellor 
 of that name, received the appointment of mayor of New 
 York. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ISOl. 
 K(!»v York in the bcgioniug of the Nineteenth Century. 
 
 At this time, the city, though the metropolis of the 
 western world, was a mere village in comparison with 
 the city of to-day. The city proper was bounded on 
 Broadway by Anthony, on the North River by Harrison, 
 and on the East River by Rutgers streets ; and even 
 within these limits, the houses were scattering, and sur- 
 rounded by large gardens and vacant lots. The farm- 
 houses on Bowery Lane extended as far as Broome 
 street ; the fields and orchards on either side reaching 
 from river to river. From the Battery to Cedar street, 
 Greenwich street was the outside street on the shore ; 
 there, Washington street had been commenced and 
 partly built upon one side to Harrison street, where it 
 terminated abruptly in the river. 
 
 Above Broadway was a hilly country, sloping on the 
 east to the Fresh Water Pond, not yet quite filled in from 
 the surrounding hills, and descending on the west to 
 the Lispenard Meadows ; dotted with the picturesque 
 country seats of wealthy citizens. Of the high hill at 
 the junction of Broadway with Anthony street we have 
 
616 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 already si^oken. This descended precipitously to the 
 arched bridge at Canal street, thus forming a valley, to 
 the north of which rose another high hill, falling oif 
 abruptly to a pond in the space between Broome and 
 Spring streets, through which Broadway was filled up 
 and prolonged. 
 
 At this time, Broadway ended at Astor Place, where 
 a pale fence, stretching across the road, formed the 
 southern boundary of the Randall Farm, afterward the 
 endowment of the Sailor's Snug Harbor. The Old or 
 Boston Post Road ran eastward, below Madison Square 
 aioug the Rose Hill Farm,* by turn the property of Watts, 
 Cruger, and G neral Grates, and wound its way by a cir- 
 cuitous route to Harlem ; while the Middle Road, begin- 
 ning in the Old Road near the entrance of the farm, 
 afforded a direct avenue to the same village. The Kings- 
 bridge or Bloomingdale Road, a continuation of the 
 Bowery Lane, formed a junction with the Fitzroy and 
 the Southampton Roads, and extended by the way of 
 McGowan's Pass and Manhattanville to Kingsbridge, 
 whence it continued to Albany. From the Bloomingdale 
 Road, Love Lane, now Twenty-first street ran westward 
 to the North River. 
 
 On the site of Washington Square was the new 
 Potter's Field, lately removed from its original locality 
 at the junction of the Greenwich and Albany roads, 
 where it had been established in 1794, and which was 
 deemed too near the public thoroughfares by the city 
 authorities, by whom Washington Square was selected on 
 
 * This farm covered some twenty-five blocks of ground in tlie Eighteenth Ward. 
 and was the proportv of John W;uts prior to the Revolution. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 617 
 
 account of its retired location. The property owners in 
 the vicinity of the latter protested strongly against the 
 change, and even offered to present a piece of ground in 
 another part of the city to the corporation, but the 
 officials remained 6rm, and for many years the marsh in 
 question continued to be used as a pauper burial-ground. 
 The negro burial ground was at the corner of Broadway 
 and Chambers street, on the site now occupied by Stuart's 
 marble building. The churches, too, had their respective 
 cemeteries, for it was not until 1813 that burials were 
 first prohibited in the city below Canal street. 
 
 Public gardens were at this time favorite institutions, 
 and were scattered in profusion over the city. On the 
 shores of the North River in the village of Greenwich 
 were the Indian Queen's and Tyler's, both favorite places 
 of resort. Between Lafayette Place and Fourth Ave- 
 nue, on the site of the Astor Library, was Vauxhall Gar- 
 den — not the original Bowling Green Garden, afterwards 
 Vauxhall, at the junction of Warren and Greenwich 
 streets, the resort of the early Dutch settlers — which had 
 been purchased about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury by a Swiss florist named Jacob Sperry, and after- 
 wards sold by him to John Jacob Astor, who leased it 
 to a Frenchman by the name of Delacroix, the proprietor 
 at the time of which we are speaking. Far up on the 
 Bloomingdale road was the Strawberry Hill House, after- 
 wards christened Woodlawn ; and on the eastern side of the 
 island was the fertile Kip Farm, which, though not num- 
 bered among the places of public resort, was noted for its 
 variety of choice fruit and flowers, and was often visited by 
 Washington and his cabinet during his stay in the city. 
 
618 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Oil the hill at the junction of Broadway and Anthou}' 
 streets, was a frame house with a brick front, which re- 
 tained its 23lfi.ce until a few years since, and is probably 
 remembered by many of our readers. On the east of 
 this hill was the country seat of Colonel Barclay. 
 Above, on the Bowery nearly opposite Bond street, was 
 the residence of Andrew Morris, in the vicinity of which, 
 on the corner of Third street, stood the Minthorne man- 
 sion. To the west, above Bleecker street, were the seats 
 of John Jacob Astor and "William Neilson, and in Laight 
 street, just above St. John's Park, was the residence of 
 Leonard Lispenard. At the northwest in the vicinity of 
 Varick and Charlton streets was the celebrated Richmond 
 Hill Mansion, built in 1770 by the British paymaster, 
 Abraham Mortier, on grounds leased from Trinity Church, 
 and occupied by Washington as his head-quarters during 
 the Revolution. After the surrender of the city to the 
 British, it became the residence of Sir Guy Carleton, after- 
 ward Lord Dorchester. It subsequently became the 
 property of Aaron Burr, and was his residence at the 
 time of his fatal duel with Hamilton, and it was here 
 that he was found by Dr. Hosack a few hours after, 
 cahnly reading the Confessions of Rousseau in his bath, 
 as if totally oblivious of the fatal tragedy. From his 
 hands, it passed into the possession of John Jacob 
 Astor, who converted it into the Richmond Hill theatre. 
 
 On the block bounded by Fourth, Bleecker, Perry and 
 Charles streets, was the now venerable Van Ness 
 House, then owned by Abijah Hammond. These 
 grounds originally formed a part of the extensive farm 
 of Sir Peter Warren, the brother-in-law of James and 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 619 
 
 Oliver lie Laucey, whose sou-in-law, the Earl of Abhig- 
 clou, disposed of his share, consisting of fifty-live acres, in 
 LT88 to David H. Mallen for the sum of twenty-two 
 liundi-ed dollars. From his hands, it passed into the 
 possession of Mr. Hammond, and was soon after dis- 
 posed of to Whitehead Fish, who resided on it until his 
 death in 1819, when it was purchased by Abraham Yau 
 Ness, for fifteen thousand dollars. 
 
 On the block of ground between the Ninth and Tenth 
 Avenues, and Twenty-second and Twenty-third streets, 
 stood the old Chelsea House, built before the Revolution 
 by the widow of Thomas Clarke, one of the veterans of 
 the old French war, who had purchased the estate a 
 short time before his death, and named it Chelsea as the 
 retreat of an old soldier. This subsequently became the 
 residence of Bishop Moore of Columbia College, and 
 was afterwards donated by him to his son, Clement C. 
 Moore, who continued to reside in it until the levelling 
 the grounds about it compelled its demoHtion. 
 
 At Incleuberg, now Murray HiU, lying between the 
 Foiu-th and Sixth Avenues, and Thirty-sixth and For- 
 tieth streets, was the residence of Robert Murray, the 
 father of the grammarian, notable for having been the 
 place where the worthy Quaker matron, by her cordial 
 hospitahty, detained the British generals long enough on 
 the day of the capture of the city to secure to Silliman's 
 brigade a safe retreat to Harlem In the neighbor- 
 hood, nearly opposite on the Bloomingdale road, was 
 the Varian House, and higher up at Bloomingdale was 
 the Apthorpe Mansion, where, as we have already 
 narrated. Washington narrowly escaped capture on 
 
620 
 
 UISTORY OF TUE 
 
 Murray Hill Cottage. 
 
 the same eventful da}', while anxiously awaiting the 
 arrival of his troops from the cit}' ; and also the 
 Grange, the residence of Alexander Hamilton. On the 
 shores of the East River, near Turtle Bay, stood the 
 celebrated Beekman House, built by Dr. James 
 Beekmau in 1764, and occupied in turn by the British 
 commanders-in-chief as a country seat during the Revo- 
 lution.''' Here, the unfortunate Xathan Hale was tried 
 
 * The fine situation and extensive ground of this house made it a favorite resi- 
 dence of the British officers. During tlie Revolution, it was occupied from the loth 
 of September, IVVfi, by General Howe, seven and a half months; from the 1st of 
 May, 17T7, by Commissary Loring, one year and five months; from the 20th of 
 October, 177S, by General Clinton, three years and six months; from the 1st of 
 May, 17S2, by General Robertson, eleven and a half months ; from the ICth of 
 April, 17S3, by Mr. Beekman ; and from the 16th of June, 1783, to the evacuation 
 by General Carleton, five months ; in the whole, seven years, one and a half months. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 621 
 
 and seuteuced to death, and confined in the greenhouse 
 of the garden on the night preceding his execution. 
 Near this, on the banks of the river, was the ancient 
 Cruger Mansion, now tenanted by General Gates, and 
 known as the rendezvous of the leading spirits of the 
 day. 
 
 On the shores of the Harlem River, just below the 
 High Bridge of the Croton Aqueduct, stood Colonel 
 Roger Morris' House, a large, old-fashioned, two story 
 building, commanding a fine view of the river from its 
 elevated position, which had been the headquarters of 
 Washington after his forced evacuation of the city. The 
 old house is still standing, now known as the residence 
 of Nelson Chase. 
 
 On the block bounded by Montgomery, Clinton, 
 Cherry, and Monroe streets was the old Belvidere House, 
 built on the banks of the East River in 1792 by thirty- 
 two gentlemen, composing the Belvidere Club, and used 
 for many years afterward as a place of public resort • 
 and near this, in the vicinity of Cherry street, was the 
 residence of Colonel Rutgers, with the cottage of Marinu? 
 Willett in close proximity.* 
 
 In Pearl, opposite Cedar street, was the residence of 
 Gov. George Clinton, the headquarters of Washington 
 on assuming the command of the army at New York. 
 Further down on the corner of Pearl and Broad streets, 
 was the well-known Fraunces' Tavern, the headquarters 
 of Washington after the evacuation of the city by the 
 British troops, and the scene of his final parting with his 
 officers. This house was built about 1730 by the 
 De Laneey family, and was sold by Oliver De Lancey, in 
 
 * Used also for a liotel. 
 
G22 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 17G2, to Samuel Fraunces, who soon after opened it as a 
 public tavern. It soon became notable as a Saturday 
 night rendezvous of a gathering of choice spirits calling 
 themselves the Social Club, and, though Fraunces was a 
 well-known friend of the Liberty Party, was a favorite 
 of both "Whigs and Tories, who harmonized in their taste 
 for the choice wines of the proprietor. 
 
 At the lower end of Bi-oadway stood the Kennedy 
 House, late the "Washington Hotel, built in 1760 
 by Captain Kennedy, afterward Earl of Cassilis, and 
 bequeathed by him to his son Robert, from whom it 
 passed into the possession of the late Nathaniel Prime. 
 This house was the headquarters of Putnam prior to, and 
 of Howe and Clinton during the Revolutionary "War, 
 and the scene of Andre's last interview with the British 
 general previous to his departure on the fatal "West 
 Point mission. Just above this was the King's Arms 
 Tavern, a double house, two stories in height, with a 
 front of yellow Holland brick, and a steep roof, covered 
 with shingles in front and tiles in the rear, the headquar- 
 ters of General Gage during his residence in the city. 
 This afterwards became known as Burns' Coffee House, 
 the well-known rendezvous of the Sons of Liberty, and the 
 place from which emanated many of the patriotic resolves 
 of the New York citizens. It was in this house that the 
 first non-importation agreement of the colonies was signed 
 by the mercliants of the city of New York on the even- 
 ing preceding the execution of the Stamp Act, and the 
 first step thus taken toward the rebellion which ripened 
 into their future independence. Here Arnold resided 
 after the discovery of his treason, and it was from the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 623 
 
 garden, which extended down to the river, that the ehi- 
 vah'ic Champe proposed to abduct the traitor and carry 
 him off in triumph to the American Hnes in the Jerseys. 
 
 Above this, on the site of 39 Broadway — the reputed 
 site of the first building ever erected on the island — was 
 the Bunker Mansion House, the residence of Washing- 
 ton during the second session of Congress. 
 
 But a volume would scarce suffice to note all the land- 
 marks, rendered interesting by some association of the 
 past. 
 
 The penal institutions of the island were the New Jail,* 
 chiefly used for the imprisonment of debtors ; the 
 Bridewell, in which vagrants and minor ofTenders were 
 confined, as well as criminals, while awaiting their trial, 
 and the State Prison in Greenwich village on the shores 
 of the North River, for convicts of a higher grade. The 
 latter was a large stone building, surrounded by a high 
 wall on which an armed sentry was constantly pacing. 
 It was opened for the reception of convicts in August, 
 1796, and was the second State Prison in the United 
 States. In the course of a few years, the number of 
 prisoners in this institution, as well as in the Bridewell, 
 became so great that it became necessary to erect 
 another building for their reception, and a Penitentiary 
 for the imprisonment of minor offenders was accordingly 
 built on the shores of the East River at Bellevue. This 
 
 * The first building used for a jail was on the corner of Dock street and Coen- 
 ties Slip. After the erection of the City Hall in Wall street, the criminals were 
 confined in dungeons in the cellar, while the debtors were imprisoned in the attic 
 apartments, from the dormer-windows of which they used to hang out old shoes and 
 ba,5« to solicit alms of the passers by. 
 
624 HISTORY OF TUE 
 
 institution, which was opened on the 16th of May, 1816, 
 was a stone building, one hundred and fifty feet in length 
 by fifty in breadth, and three stories high. In close 
 proximity to it stood the New Alms House, opened in 
 the spring of the same year ; a blue stone building, 
 three hundred and twenty-five feet in front, with two wings 
 of a hundred and fifty feet in depth each. In 1826, the 
 Bellevue Hospital was built near by, and the three build- 
 ings, inclosed by a stone wall, including twenty-six 
 acres, were known henceforth as the Bellevue Establish- 
 ment. The criminals in these institutions were set to 
 work for the benefit of the State at breaking stone, 
 picking oakum, etc. Through the efforts of Stephen 
 Allen, then mayor of the city, and others, the tread-mill 
 system was introduced into the Penitentiary in 1822, 
 but after a few years' trial, was found inexpedient and 
 abandoned. Upon the opening of the new State Prison 
 at Sing Sing in 1828, the convicts were removed to it 
 from the prison at Greenwich, and their places supplied 
 by the prisoners from the Bridewell and the New Jail. 
 In 1838, the Bridewell was demolished, and the stone of 
 which it was composed was worked up into the Tombs, 
 then in process of erection. The New Jail had some 
 time previously been transformed into the modern Hall 
 of Records. When this change was made, the fire alarm 
 bell, which had hung in the belfry during the Revolution, 
 was taken down and placed upon the Bridewell, where 
 it remained until the demolition of the latter. A cher- 
 ished relic of the firemen, it was then transferred to the 
 engine house of the Naiad Hose Co., in Beaver street, 
 where it remained until it rung out its own funeral knell 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. G25 
 
 for the great fire of 1835, which swept it to the ground 
 and destroyed it forever. 
 
 In 1825, the penal institutions of the city were 
 increased by the estabUshment of a House of Refuge 
 for juvenile offenders, which was founded under the 
 auspices of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenik^ 
 Delinquents, an outgrowth from the Society for the Pre- 
 vention of Pauperism, organized in 1818 by a number 
 of the prominent philanthropists of the city. The House 
 of Refuge was incorporated in 1824, and opened on the 
 1st of January, 1825, in the United States Arsenal in 
 Madison Square, with nine inmates — six boys and three 
 girls. On the destruction of the building by fire in 1839, 
 the institution, now grown into considerable impor- 
 tance, was transferred to the fever hospital at the foot of 
 Twenty-third street on the East River, where it remained 
 for fifteen years, when, its increasing wants demanding 
 enlarged accommodations, the present institution was 
 erected on Randall's Island, and the inmates removed to 
 it in 1854.* 
 
 In 1801, the New York Hospital, the charter of whicli 
 had been granted by Lord Duumore, in 1771, to Peter 
 Middleton, John Jones, and Samuel Bard, the three most 
 eminent physicians of the day, and the corner stone of 
 which had been laid in 1773, by Governor Tryon, was 
 the only institution of the kind in the city. This build- 
 ing, which had been almost consumed by fire before its 
 completion, then transformed into bai'racks for the 
 British troops during the Revolutionary War, wa? 
 
 For many of the^c details we are indebted to Israel Russell, Est). 
 40 
 
626 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 enlarged and reiDaired after Ihe restoration of peace, 
 and opened for the reception of patients in 1791. In 
 
 1807, a Lunatic Asylum was erected on the southerly 
 side of the Hospital grounds, near the main edifice, and 
 corresponding with it in the style of architecture, wliich 
 was opened in the following 3'ear. This was used for its 
 original purpose during fourteen years, when an asylum 
 was built at Bloomingdale, overlooking tlie Xorth River, 
 on the west side of Tenth Avenue, near One Hundred 
 and Seventeenth street, to which, in 1821, the patients 
 were removed. Tlie single dispensary for the aid 
 of the out-door sick was the City Dispensary, located in 
 a small building in the rear of the City Hall, fronting on 
 Tryon Row, which had formerly been occupied by the 
 Health office. This was instituted in 1790, and incorpo- 
 rated on the 8th of April, 1795, under the name of the 
 Xew York Dispensary. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 627 
 
 The only medical school in the city iu the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century was the Medical Faculty of 
 Columbia College, organized in 1768 through the efforts 
 of Drs. Bard, Middleton and others. In tlie Revolution, 
 which followed soon after, the association was scattered 
 and the college converted into a military hospital. In 
 1792, it was again revived, with Dr. Samuel Bard as 
 dean of the faculty, and remained the only school of the 
 kind in the city until the institution of the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons, with Dr. Romayne at the head, 
 in 1807, under the patronage of the Regents of the Uni- 
 versity. In 1813, a fusion was effected between the two 
 rival schools, who continued to work together until 1826, 
 when differences arose, which finally resulted in a sepa- 
 i-ation of the college, and the foundation of the Rutgers 
 Medical College, located in Duane street near Broad- 
 way, with Drs. Hosack, MacNeven, Mott, Francis, 
 Grodman and Griseom as its first professors. Drs. John 
 Augustine and Joseph M. Smith, Dana, Beck, Stevens, 
 and Delafield formed the professorial staff of the rival 
 college. 
 
 At the foot of Park Place, was the venerable Colum- 
 bia College, opened in 1755 under the presidency of 
 the Rev. Samuel Johnson ; then abandoned by its presi- 
 dent, Myles Cooper, in the Revolution, and converted 
 first into barracks and afterward into a military hos- 
 pital. Upon the restoration of peace, a number of 
 gentlemen were appointed by the Legislature, under the 
 title of Regents of the University, to superintend the 
 literary institutions of the State, and empowered to 
 act as Trustees of the College. In 1787, the institu- 
 
628 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tion was reorgamzed, the royal charter confirmed by 
 the legislature, and William Samuel Johnson, LL.D.. 
 appointed first president under the new regime. In 
 1801, he was succeeded by the Rev. Charles Wharton, 
 who resigned the office a few months after, when it was 
 bestowed upon Bishop Moore, who had acted as presi- 
 dent pro tern, in 1775, during the absence of Cooper. 
 
 Old Columbia College at the foot of Park Place. 
 
 The benevolent institutions wore the Marine Society, 
 incorporated in 1770, fur the improvement of maritime 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 629 
 
 knowledge, and the relief of indigent sea-captauis, their 
 widows and orphans ; the Chamber of Commerce, formed 
 in 1768 and incorporated in 1770, "for the purpose of 
 " promoting and extending all just and lawful commerce 
 " and for affording relief to decayed members, their 
 "widows and children;" the Humane Society, estab- 
 lished in 1787, for the purpose of affording relief to dis- 
 tressed debtors, and afterward extended so as to include 
 the resuscitation of persons apparently drowned, as well 
 as the relief of the poor in general, and incorporated in 
 1814 ; the Manumission Society, established chiefly by 
 Friends in 1785 for the purpose of ameliorating the con- 
 dition of negro slaves throughout the State and bestow- 
 ing upon them an education, and incorporated in 1808 ; 
 the Sailor's Snug-Harbor, founded by Captain Randall 
 in 1801 for the benefit of worn out and decrepit seamen, 
 and the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, 
 formed in 1784, and incorporated in 1792, for the relief 
 of the necessitous among their number, and for the sup- 
 port of the widows and children of those who might die 
 in indigent circumstances. In 1821, the Mechanics' 
 Institute in Chambers street between Chatham street and 
 City Hall Place was built by the Society, and a school 
 and library established for the education of its proteges. 
 Besides the societies which we have mentioned, were the 
 Society of the Cincinnati, founded at the close of the war 
 by the patriots who, like their Roman namesake, had 
 relinquished the sword for the plough, for purposes of 
 general benevolence, and into which none but Revolu- 
 tionary soldiers and their descendants were admitted : 
 the Tammany Society or Columbian Order, founded 
 
630 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 nearly at the same time, into which, in opposition to the 
 exclusiveness of the former, all were admitted without 
 regard to ancestry ; the St. .Andrew's Society, founded 
 m 1756, and several masonic and other societies. 
 Among the most remarkable of these was the Tontine 
 Association,* founded in 1790 and incorporated in 1794 
 by a company of merchants for the purpose of providing 
 a centre for the mercantile community. By the plan of 
 this association, each shareholder selected a nominee, 
 during whose life he was to receive his equal proportion 
 of the net proceeds of the establishment ; but upon 
 whose death his interest reverted to the owners of the 
 .surviving nominees. The original shai'es were assign- 
 able and held as personal estate, and the whole property 
 was vested in five trustees, who were to hold the pro- 
 perty until the number of the surviving nominees was 
 reduced to seven, when the whole was to be divided 
 among the fortunate seven shareholders depending upon 
 them. Under these regulations, two hundred and three 
 shares were subscribed for at two hundred dollars each, 
 and with this sum the Association purchased a lot of 
 ground a hundred feet square on the corner of Wall and 
 Water streets, and in 1790 commenced the erection of 
 the Tontine CofFee-House, to which, upon its completion 
 in 1794, the Merchant's Exchange was removed from 
 the dilapidated old building in the centre of Broad below 
 
 * The plan of this A.'sociation originated from tlic scheme of Lorenzo Tonti, t 
 Xeapolitaa, who introduced a similar scheme into France in 1653, during the reign 
 of Louis XIV. ; whence the word Tontine came to designate a loan advanced by j 
 n\irabcr of associated capitalists for life annuities with the benefit of survivorship. — 
 See Valentine's Manual for 1852. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 G31 
 
 y ^ W "■"T. '*'» >) III in 
 
 The BiUe H u l m Li Lth stiLtt bttween Third and Fourth Avenues 
 
 Pearl street where it had been located since the Revolu- 
 tion. After the erection of the new Exchange in Wall 
 street, in 1825, the building was let for various pur- 
 poses ; tlien, in May, 1855, was demohshed to make 
 room for the subsequent Tontine Building. 
 
 Many other societies sprang into Ijenig in the course 
 of the next half century — the Bible and Common Prayer 
 Book Society, instituted in 1809 ; the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Tract Society, founded in 1810, and the American 
 Bible Society, established in 1816. Next came the 
 various Missionary Societies — the Xew York Sunday 
 School Society, established in 1816 — the outgrowth of ? 
 
032 niSTORT OF THE 
 
 little Sunday School opened in 1811 by a few young 
 women of the Society of Friends for the purpose of 
 teaching adult colored women ; the American Tract 
 Society, instituted in 1825, the City Tract Society, 
 founded during the ensuing year, and many more beside. 
 The Reformed Dutch Church still continued predomi- 
 nant in the city which had been founded by its members. 
 This was, indeed, the oldest denomination in America, 
 having been organized in New Amsterdam with a hand- 
 ful of members as early as 1620. For a long time, the 
 church continued to retain its distinctive customs and 
 even language ; the first English sermon ever listened to 
 by the denomination having been delivered as lately as 
 1764 by Dr. Laidlie in the Middle Dutch Church in Nas- 
 sau street. Even at this late date, the innovation of a 
 foreign tongue was stoutly opposed by the ancient 
 Knickerbockers, but was sanctioned by the Consistory 
 as a matter of policy — the only means whereby they 
 could restrain the younger members of their congrega- 
 tions, who had well-nigh forgotten the language of their 
 sires, from straying off to listen to the more familiar 
 English tongue as preached in the churches of other 
 denominations Laidlie, invited to become the English 
 colleague of DominesRitzma and De Ronde, at that time 
 the officiating ministers of the South and Middle Dutch 
 Churches, at once opened a crusade against the dances 
 and merry holiday amusements which had come down 
 from the genial times of the early settlers, and did much 
 toward infusing the spirit of English asceticism among 
 the descendants of the jovial sires of New Amsterdam. 
 All the ministers who succeeded him preached in English 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 633 
 
 only, with the exception of Dr. Livingston and Dr. Kuy- 
 pers, the latter of whom preached for many years in 
 both languages. The last sermon in the Dutch lan- 
 guage was preached in 1803. 
 
 The customs that prevailed in the Reformed Dutch 
 churches were, indeed, peculiar ; many of them still 
 exist among the denomination, nor are tlie traditions of 
 any wholly lost. Unlike the plainly attired Puritan 
 preachers, the domines invariably appeared in the high, 
 circular pulpit, clad in a gown of black silk, with large, 
 flowing sleeves ; and so indispensable was this livery 
 deemed, that, at the installation of a domine in the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century, who came unpre- 
 pared with a gown for the occasion, the senior clergy- 
 man peremptorily refused to officiate, and the ceremony 
 would have been postponed for a week, had not a robo 
 been opportunely furnished by a friendly minister. 
 
 The tall pulpit was canopied by a ponderous sound- 
 ing-board. The first psalm was set with movable 
 figures, suspended on three sides of the pulpit, so that 
 every one on entering might prepare for the opening 
 chorus. Pews were set aside for the governor, mayor, 
 city officers, and deacons, and the remaining seats were 
 held singly by the members for their life, then booked, 
 at their death, to the first applicant. The clerk occupied 
 a place in the deacon's pew, and prefaced the exercises in 
 the morning by reading a chapter from the Bible, and, 
 in the aftenioon, by chanting the Apostolic Creed, to 
 divert the thoughts of the people from worldly affairs. 
 All notices designed to be publicly read were received 
 by him from the sexton, then inserted into the end of a 
 
634 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 long pole, and thus passed up to the cage-like pulpit, 
 where the minister was perched far above the heads of 
 the congregation. It was his business, too, when the 
 last grains of sand had fallen from the hour-glass which 
 was placed invariably at the right hand of the domine, to 
 remind him by three raps with his cane that the time 
 had come for the end of the sermon. A story is told of 
 a domine who, one hot summer's day, seeing the clerk 
 asleep and the people drowsy, quietly turned the 
 glass himself, and, after seeing the sands run out for the 
 second time, remarked to the congregation that, since 
 they had been patient in sitting through two glasses, he 
 would now proceed with the third. 
 
 Before entering the pulpit, the domine raised his hat 
 before his face, and silently offered a short prayer for a 
 blessing on his labors. After uttering the concluding 
 word of his text, he exclaimed. Thus far ! before pro- 
 ceeding with his sermon. This custom is preserved to 
 this day in some of the country churches. 
 
 When the sermon was over, the deacons rose in their 
 places, and, after listening to a short address from the 
 domine, took each a long pole with a black velvet bag 
 attached to the end, from which a small alai'm-bell was 
 suspended, and passed about the church to collect alms 
 for the poor. One of the bells used in the old Dutch 
 church in Garden street, is still preserved in the office 
 of the Christian Intelligencer, the present organ of the 
 denomination in the city. In the earlier times, boxes 
 strongl}' bound with iron, with a hole in the lid, which 
 was fastened by a padlock, were placed at the doer to 
 receive the alms of the consrregation on their exit. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 635 
 
 
 
 Reformed Dutch Chnrch, Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORU. 637 
 
 At the Lord's supj^er, the communicants, invariably 
 dressed in bhxck, stood round the communion-table at 
 the foot of the pulpit, and received the emblems from 
 the minister's ov/n hands, while the clerk read a suitable 
 selection from the Scriptures. The stone church built 
 by William Kieft in 1642 having been destroyed by fire 
 in tho days of the negro plot, the oldest church edifice 
 of this denomination at the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century, was the South Dutch Church in Garden street. 
 This was of an octagonal form, with a brick steeple large 
 enough to aflord space for a consistory room. The 
 windows were large, with very small window-panes set 
 in lead, and curiously emblazoned with the coats of arms 
 of the church dignitaries ; several escutcheons also hung 
 against the wall. In 1776, it was enlarged and repaired, 
 but at the time of which we speak, it was not open for 
 service. In 1807, it was rebuilt and repaired ; then 
 destroyed in the conflagration of 1835 ; when two con- 
 gregations arose from its ashes, the Dutch church on 
 Washington Square, and the South Reformed Dutch 
 Church on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first 
 street. 
 
 In Nassau street was the Middle Dutch Church, sub- 
 sequently, the Post-office. This was at first built with- 
 out pillars or gallery ; the ceiling forming an entire arch 
 without support. On the introduction of the English 
 service in 1764, the pulpit was removed from its original 
 place on the east side to the north end of the church, 
 and galleries were built on the east, west and south 
 sides. Of its use while the city was in the hands of the 
 British, we have already spoken ; in 1789-90, it was 
 
83S HISTORY OF THE 
 
 restored to its primitive state, and continued unaltered 
 until 1844, when it was purchased by the United States. 
 On the Sunday evening before its final surrender by the 
 congregation, the old building was thronged to its 
 utmost capacity by those anxious to take a last leave of 
 this relic of the olden times. The farewell exercises 
 were conducted in Dutch and English by Drs. Knox and 
 De Witt, a sermon was jareached, a historical sketch of 
 the structure given, a psalm sung, and the benediction 
 pronounced — the last words of prayer that were uttered 
 in the old building, being spoken in the language of the 
 ancient Knickerbockers.* 
 
 In William street was the North Dutch Church, a sub- 
 stantial building of brown stone, one hundred feet long by 
 twenty wide, built originally with a tiled roof, for which 
 
 • The Dell of this church still summons the congregation of the Reformed Dutch 
 Church in Lafayette Place, and has a curious history. It was presented to the 
 church by Col. Abraham De Peyster, who died in 1728, while the edifice was in 
 the process of erection, and directed in his will that the bell should be procured 
 from Holland at his expense. It was made at Amsterdam in 1731, and it is said 
 that a number of citizens cast in quantities of silver coin at the fusing of the metal. 
 When, in 1776, the church was converted into a riding-school for the British dra- 
 goons, the bell was taken down by one of the De Peyster family, and secreted tintil 
 some years after the evacuation of the city; when the church was repaired and 
 opened again for service, and the bell restored to its rightful position. Upon the 
 transformation of the church into the Post-office in 1844, it was removed to the 
 church in Ninth street near Broadway, where it remained until 1853, when the 
 building changed hands, and the bell was removed to the church in Lafayette 
 Place. The bell is fancifully gilt, and bears the inscription : " Me fecerunt 
 ■ De Gravae et }f. MuUer, Amsterdam, Anno 1731. 
 
 "Abraham De Peyster, geboren den 8 July, 1657, gestorven den 8 Augustus, 
 ■' 1728. Een legal .aan de Nederduytsche Kerke, New York. (A legacy to the Low 
 " Dutch Church at New York)." The silver baptismal basin procured for the Garden 
 ttreet church in 1793, is still used iu the South Reformed Dutch Church in Fifth 
 Avenue. 
 
I T y OF NEW YORK 
 
 639 
 
 Reformcil Dutch C'liurcli in Lafayette Piace. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 G41 
 
 A J l/--^J 
 
 
 Tl:-formeil Diitoh Cliiirch, Corner of Fifth Avenas aaii Twenty-niath Streul. 
 41 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 643 
 
 shingles were afterwards substituted. This was deiiiol- 
 islied to make room for business in May, 1S75. At Har- 
 lem was a small wooden cLurcli of great antiquity, and 
 at Greenwdcli village was another, built also of wood in 
 1782, and afterward enlarged. Drs. Livingston, Kuypers 
 and Abeel were at this time the pastors of the Reformed 
 Dutch churches of the city, consolidated under the title 
 of the Collegiate Church of New York.* 
 
 The Episcopalian, the next oldest religious denomina- 
 tion, introduced soon after the cession of the city to the 
 English, had at this time seven churches. Of these, the 
 ancient Trinity, built in 1696, enlarged in 1737, burnt 
 down in 1776, and rebuilt in 1788, was a Gothic edifice 
 of considerable pretensions, surmounted by a tall spire, 
 and furnished with a fine chime of bells, some of which 
 still sound in the ears of our citizens. To this church 
 two chapels were attaclied — a third was afterward added 
 by the erection of St. John's in 1807 — St. Paul's in 
 Broadway, a substantial stone edifice, built in 1766 ; 
 and St. George's in Beekman street, built in 1752 ; of 
 these the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore was rector, with 
 the Rev. Drs. Hobart and Beach as assistant ministers. 
 In Ann street was Christ Church, a stone edifice, built 
 in 1794, long under the care of the Rev. Di'. Lyell ; 
 
 * Tliis was the third church of the Reformed Dutch Consistory, and the 
 one furthest north, the first being the South in Garden street, and the 
 second the Middle, in Nassau street. U was built on land given it by John 
 Harbendincli, a wealthy tanner, at the intersection of Horse and Cart Lane, 
 (so called from a tavern \vith the sign of a horse and cart in William street,) 
 and Fulton street, and cost .$00,000. The corner-stone was laid July 3, 1707, 
 and the church was dedicated May 25. 1700. The tall steeple was burned 
 October 27, 1809. A series of noon prayer-meetings, begun in the church 
 September 17, 1857, continued until its demolition. 
 
04-1 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 St. Mark's in Stuyvesant street, built in 1795 with 
 the Rev. Dr. Harris as minister ; Zion Church on the 
 corner of Mott and Cross streets, built in 1801, and under 
 the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Pilmore ; and the 
 Eglise du Saint Esprit, the church of the early Huguenots 
 in Pine street, which, stripped of pulpit and pews during 
 the Revolution, had been repaired in 1794, but was not 
 opened for service until some time after. Grace Church, 
 the ancestor of the present splendid structure at the 
 apparent head of Broadway, was built soon after on the 
 site of the old Lutheran Church at the corner of Broad- 
 way and Rector streets. 
 
 N'ext in order came the Lutherans ; but their ancient 
 church in Broadway had been swept away by the fire of 
 1776; and the only one that now remained to them was 
 Christ Church, a stone building on the corner of Wil- 
 liam and Frankfort streets, under the care of the Rev. Dr. 
 Kunze, soon afterward succeeded by the well-known 
 Rev. F. W. Geissenhainer. Li Nassau, near John street, 
 was the German Reformed Church, erected in 1765, 
 and differing slightly in tenets from the latter. 
 
 Jfext came the Presbyterian denomination ; the first 
 church of which was a stone building, erected in Wall 
 street in 1719, and enlarged in 1748. In 1810, it was 
 rebuilt in handsome style, only to fall a victim to the 
 conflagration of 1834. It was rebuilt soon after, and 
 occupied for eight or ten years, when, tempted by the 
 increasing value of the ground, the congregation dis- 
 posed of it for secular purposes, and removed to their 
 new edifice in Fifth Avenue, between Eleventh and 
 Twelfth streets. The old church was taken down, stone 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 645 
 
 ' £ 
 
 Trinity (.'iiuRti. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 64^ 
 
 Giact; Cliurtli. 
 
CITY OF NEW Y () R K . 
 
 049 
 
 by stone and put up again in Jersoy city, where it still 
 remains one of the most conspicuous objects of the 
 town. 
 
 
 First Presbyteriau C'luiich, Fifth Avenue. 
 
 In Beekman street was the Brick Church, afterwards 
 known as Dr. Spring's, built in 1707, on the angular lot 
 traditionally known as " the Vineyard," which had been 
 granted by the corporation at a rent of forty pounds per 
 annum, to John Rogers and Joseph Treat, ministers, 
 and Julm Morin Scott, Peter R. Livingston, and others, 
 
6-50 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 trustees, foi* an indefinite period. More fortunate than 
 Its neighbor, tlie Brick Church escaped the great confla- 
 gration, and remained a landmark of olden times until 
 the widening of Beekman street in 1856-7 demanded its 
 demolition, when the eongi'egation erected a new Brick 
 Church on the comer of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-sev- 
 enth street. The iron railing which had surrounded the 
 church for so many years was taken down and removed 
 to South Brooklyn, where it was set up about the resi- 
 dence of the Hon. J. T. Stranahan. These were 
 Associated churches, and were under the care of the Rev. 
 Drs. Rogei's, McKnight, and Miller. The Rutgers street 
 church, built in 1797, was a large frame building with a 
 cupola and a public clock, and was under the charge of 
 the Rev. Dr. MilledoUar. In Cedar street was the Scotch 
 Presbyterian Church, built in 1758, for and at this time 
 imder the charge of Dr. Mason ; and in Chambers street 
 was the Reformed Scotch Presbyterian Church, a frame 
 building, erected in 1797, for the Rev. Dr. Alexander 
 McLeod. In 1807, a second Presbyterian Church was 
 built in Cedar street for Dr. Romeyn, which became the 
 ancestor of the Presbyterian Church in University Place, 
 and that on the corner of Nineteenth street and Fifth 
 Avenue, which was demolished a few years since. 
 
 The first Baptist church in the city was an edifice of 
 blue stone, erected in Gold street, near Fulton, in 1790, 
 of A\hioh the Rev. Mr. Parkinson was pastor. This 
 church was taken down in 1840, and the stone of Avhich 
 it was composed worked up into the First Baptist Church 
 on the corner of Broome and Elizabeth streets, which -was 
 subsequently sold to the Lutherans. In Oliver street, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 051 
 
 — wcfl:sn-~-s^- 
 
 Presbyterian Church, formerly Corner of Fifth Avenue and Nineteenth street. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 653 
 
 
 J:! " ' M I' 1 . 
 
 i\, 'J 
 
 IliLi^ J-l"-&£iil'^ 
 
 St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, corner of Broome and Elizabeth streets. 
 
 was another stone church of the same denomhiation, 
 built in 1795, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1819 ; and in 
 Rose street was another, built in 1799. 
 
 The Methodist Church had its foundation in a small 
 rigging loft in Horse and Cart Lane, now William street, 
 where William Embury, a local preacher from Ireland, 
 aided by Ctiptain Webb, of tlie British army, formed a 
 nucleus of the disciples of AVesloy in 176G. Soon out- 
 growing this humble tenement, the society purchased a 
 lot of ground in John street, and, in 1768, erected a 
 stone edifice which they christened Wesley Chapel. This 
 was removed in 1817 to Harlem, and in 1840 the present 
 chapel erected on its site. A second was built in Forsyth 
 street in 1790, and a third in Duane street in 1795. 
 
654 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Among the oldest of the religious societies was that of 
 the Friends, whose first place of worship was erected in 
 Green near Liberty street about 1706. This was rebuilt 
 and enlarged in Liberty street in 1802, and afterward 
 transformed into the seed store of the well-known Grant 
 Thorburn. The second meeting-house of the denomi- 
 nation, erected in Pearl street, in 1775, was taken down 
 in 1824, to make room for other buildings. 
 
 The Jews had a synagogue in Mill street — the street 
 is now blotted out of existence — a neat stone edifice 
 erected in 1730, nearly on the site of the small frame 
 building which they occupied at first as a place of wor- 
 ship. The Moravians had a church in Partition, now 
 Fulton, near William street, erected in 1751, of which 
 
 
 t 
 'I 
 
 'i\ 
 
 
 
 i.l .\Iotl and I'niKi- ^U 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK. 655 
 
 the Rev. Benjamin Mortimer was pastor. The only 
 Catholic church in the city was St. Peter's in Barclay 
 street ; a brick building erected in 1786. The next in order 
 was St. Patrick's Cathedral, on the corner of Mott and 
 Prince street, which was opened for service iu 1815. 
 This was burned in 1866. 
 
 The only library in the city was the Society Library, 
 incorporated in 1772, a sketch of which we have already 
 given. This was located in the library building in Nas- 
 sau street opposite the Middle Dutch Church, then con- 
 sidered an architectural ornament to the city. 
 
 The Custom House was in the Government House, 
 erected on the site of the old fort, in the place of the 
 present Bowling Green Row. The Post-office was kept 
 in the house of the postmaster, General Theodoras 
 Bailey, on the corner of William and Garden streets,* in 
 a room from twenty-five to thirty-five feet deep, with 
 two windows fronting on Garden street, and a little ves- 
 tibule on William street containing about a hundred 
 boxes. An extension was afterwards added in Garden 
 street, but it remained in the same spot until 1827, 
 when it was removed to the basement of the new 
 Exchange in Wall street. In 1844, it was transferred to 
 the Middle Dutch Church in Nassau street, where it re- 
 mained until August 28, 1875. 
 
 Three banks were at this time in operation ; the Bank 
 of New York, chartered in 1791, with a capital of 
 $950,000, with Matthew Clarkson as president ; the 
 
 • This house was also the residence of Sebastian Bauman, the first postmaster of 
 the city subsequently to the Revolution, appointed to the office by General Wasb 
 ington. 
 
656 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 United States Bank, incorporated in the same year, with 
 a capital of $10,000,000, with Cornelius Ray as presi- 
 dent, and the Manhattan Bank, incorporated in 1799, 
 with a capital of $2,050,000, with Daniel Ludlow as 
 president. The Insurance Companies were three in 
 number ; the N'ew York Marine Insurance, incorporated 
 in 1798 ; the Mutual Fire Insurance, incorporated the 
 same year, and the Washington Fire Insurance, incor- 
 porated in 1801. Both the banks and the insurance 
 companies were all located in Wall street. 
 
 Seven daily papers were now issued in the city — the 
 New York Gazette and General Advertiser, published by 
 Lang & Turner ; the New York Evening Post, published 
 by William Coleman and edited by M. Burnham ; the 
 Ame7-ican Citizen, published by James Cheetham ; the 
 Commercial Advertiser, published by Zachariah Lewis, 
 and edited by J. Mills ; the Public Advertiser, edited by 
 Charles Holt ; and the Mercantile Advertiser, published 
 by Ramsay Crooks ; besides the New York Weckhj 
 Musenm, published every Saturday by M. Harrison ; 
 and two medical journals, the one published quarterly 
 and the other semi-annually ; together with the Church- 
 man^s Magazine, by T, & J. Swords. This house, which 
 commenced business in 1787, continued in existence till 
 1859, under the various titles of Stanford & Swords, 
 Stanford & Delisser, and Delisser & Procter, and is notable 
 for having been the first publishing-house established on 
 a permanent basis in the city ; though books were issued 
 occasionally from the presses of Gaine, Rivington, Hodge, 
 Loudon, and other of the newspaper proprietors. 
 
 Three stages sufiBced for the wants of the travelling 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Go? 
 
 community— the pioneers of the army of omnibuses of 
 the present day. One of these ran to and from Green- 
 wich, one to and from Harlem, and one to and from 
 Manhattanville. The first stopped at Baiter's Tavern 
 on the corner of Wall and New streets ; while the others 
 started from tbe Bull's Head. The first omniljus seen 
 in New York was in Broadway, in 1S30. 
 
 The Park Theatre. 
 
 The only theatre in the city at the beginning of the 
 present century was the Park, built in 1798, and opened 
 three nights in each week. This theatre was burned in 
 1820, rebuilt and reopened in the following year, and 
 burned again for the last time in 1840, when its site was 
 covered with warehouses. This fronted the Park, from 
 which it derived its name, between Ann and Beekraan 
 streets, and long retained the theatrical monopoly of the 
 
 42 
 
658 
 
 UlSTORY OF THE 
 
 city. Among those opened in the course of the next 
 half century were the Chatham, erected in 1824, and 
 growing out of the Chatham Garden, kept by Mr. Bar- 
 rere ; the Xew York, now the Bowery, built in 1826 at 
 the Bull's Head ; and the Lafayette opened in 1825 
 in Laurens near Thompson street, under the manage- 
 ment of Mr. Dinneford. Beside these, were the Broad- 
 way ami Mount Pitt Circuses, the latter situated in 
 Grand sti-eet, opposite the upper end of East Broadway ; 
 the American or Scudder's Museum, oj^ened in 1810 in 
 the IS'ew York Institution, once the Alms House, in 
 Chambers street ; Peale's Museum in Broadway, oppo- 
 site the Park ; tlie Chatham Museum established some 
 
 Americau Museum, at tlie XortU cud of the Park. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 659 
 
 time after by John Scudder, the son of the proprietor of 
 the American Museum ; the Rotunda, erected in 1818 
 in the east corner of the Park, with its entrance ou 
 Chambers street, by John Vanderlyn, designed for the 
 exhibition of paintings, and many more. 
 
 The markets of the city were four in number — the 
 Exchange Market at tlie foot of Broad street ; the 
 Oswego Market in Broadway at the head of Maiden 
 Lane ; the Old Fly Market, which in 1822 gave place to 
 the jjresent Fulton Market ; and the Hudson or Bare, 
 now Washington Market, between Fulton and Vesey 
 streets. This curious appellation is thus accounted for 
 by a contemporary of the times. After the great fire of 
 1776 had destroyed the greater part of the houses in 
 that j^art of the city, it was thought advisable to estab- 
 lish a market there for the accommodation of the work- 
 men who were building up the burned district. But the 
 market-house was finished long before the streets about 
 it were rebuilt and settled ; as there were few purchasers, 
 the venders fell off, and thus in a very little time the 
 strange anomaly was presented of a fine market-house 
 bare of provisions. The present Washington Market- 
 house was erected and opened in 1813. 
 
 There were two ferries to Brooklyn, one from FI3' 
 Market Slip near the foot of Maiden Lane, and the other 
 from Catherine Slip ; one to Paulus Hook, now Jersej- 
 City ; one to Elizabethtown Point ; and another to Staten 
 Island. The ship-yards were between Catherine street 
 and Corlaer's Hook and between Corlear's Hook and Stan- 
 ton street, in the part of the town then called Manhattan 
 Island, and regjirded as quite beyond the limits of the city. 
 
660 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Fire Department consisted of a single engineer, 
 who received his appointment from the Common Council 
 and who was invested with absolute control over the 
 companies, engines, and all else that pertained to the 
 organization ; a number of fu'ewardens, commissioned by 
 the same authority to inspect buildings, chimneys, etc., 
 and to keep order at fires ; and several voluntary compa- 
 nies under the direction of a foreman, assistant and clerk 
 of their own choosing. A few engine-houses had been 
 built ; the greater part of the hooks and ladders, 
 buckets, etc., were deposited for safe keeping in the City- 
 Hall. Several of these pioneer companies continued to 
 retain their organization until the substitution of the 
 paid for the volunteer Fire Department system was 
 effected. 
 
 The militia consisted of a single division under the 
 command of Major-General Stevens. The United States 
 Arsenal was at the junction of the Old and Middle 
 Roads, now Madison Square, while the State Arsenal was 
 situated at the junction of Franklin and Centre streets. 
 In the rear of the Government House, near where 
 formerly stood the lower barracks, was the old arsenal, 
 yard, where a quantity of military stores was deposited, 
 and to which, from time to time, curious relics made 
 their way, well worth the attention of antiquarians. It 
 was from the rubbish heaped up in this place that the 
 mutilated statue of Pitt was unearthed after the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 The manners and customs of the citizens, now sixty 
 thousand in number, were still very primitive. The 
 Dutch language continued to be used largely in the city; 
 
CITY OF X E (7 YORK. 661 
 
 very many of the signs over the stores were in Dutch, 
 and in Hudson Market, the resort of the farmers from 
 New Jersey, a liuowledge of the hmguage was abso- 
 lutely indispensable. The lower part of Pearl street was 
 at this time the fashionable part of the town, though 
 Barclay, Robinson and William streets were beginning 
 to dispute its claims. Each citizen swept the street 
 in front of his own house twice a week ; and the bell- 
 man came around every day with his cart for garbage. 
 The streets were lighted by oil lamps. Coal was almost 
 unknown ; hickory wood was the principal article of 
 fuel. The milkmen traversed the streets early in the 
 morning, bearing a yoke on their shoulders, from which 
 tin-cans were suspended, shouting: "Milk, ho!" in 
 token of their coming ; and water from the celebrated 
 Tea Water Pump on the corner of Chatham and Pearl 
 streets, was carried about in carts, and retailed at a 
 penny a gallon. The chimneys were swept by small negro 
 boys, who went their rounds at daybreak, crying : 
 " Sweep, ho ! sweep, ho ! from the bottom to the top, 
 without a ladder or a rope, sweep, ho !" with numerous 
 variations. 
 
 Numerous quaint customs and street cries were in 
 vogue at this comparatively modern time, all of which 
 have now passed away, and are known to us only 
 through tradition. A strange mosaic of different nations, 
 with its successive strata of Dutch, English and French, 
 New York was truly a composite city, gathering floating 
 material from every nation under the sun wherewith to 
 form and mold a new people, which should embrace 
 tke whole universe within the scope of its sympathy, and 
 
662 CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 vie with its adopted tongue in its broad and cosmo- 
 politan character. Fit language, indeed, is the English 
 for such a nation ; as yet a mass of crude material, 
 gathered from the lexicons of every dialect that sprung 
 from the confusion of tongues, to be molded by time, 
 and use, and the master-hand of genius, into a sym- 
 metrical form, perfect because all-comprehensive, and 
 fitting to become a universal language — the only tongue 
 that should be spoken by the people of a New World. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Progress of the City— War of 1S12— Politics of New York— The Canal Celebration. 
 
 One of the first events that marked the mayoralty of 
 Edward Livingston, was tlie construction of the Man- 
 hattan Water-works, the forerunner of tlie magnifi- 
 cent Croton Aqueduct and Reservoir of the present 
 da}'. There had always been a scarcity of good water 
 on the island. The spring of the celebrated Tea Water 
 Pump in Chatham street was excellent, but this would 
 not suffice for the wants of a whole city ; and the water 
 of the other wells and pumps, which were scattered 
 in profusion over the island, was almost unfit for use. 
 The initiative step toward supplying the city with water 
 bad been taken in 1774 by Christopher CoUes, who had 
 constructed a reservoir at the public expense on the east 
 side of Broadway, between Pearl and White streets,* into 
 wlaich water was raised from large wells sunk on the 
 
 * These grounds comprised about two acres, and were purchased by the corpora- 
 tion of Augustus and Frederick Van Cortlandt, at the rate of six hundred pounds 
 per acre. 
 
664 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 premises and also from the Collect, then distributed by 
 means of wooden pipes throughout the city. These 
 works were completed in the spring of 1776, and placed 
 under the superintendence of Mr. Colles ; but the 
 supply proved insufficient, the water was of an inferior 
 quality, and in the ensuing foreign occupation of the 
 city, the enterj^rise was neglected, then finally aban- 
 iloned, and the citizens returned to the wells of theu- 
 ancestors, which still continued to be located in the 
 middle of the streets. In 1798, the subject was again 
 taken into consideration, and a report having been made 
 by Dr. Bi'own, affirming the impurity of the water on 
 the island, Engineer Weston was directed by the corpo- 
 ration to investigate the matter, and report upon the 
 most feasible method of bringing in water from the 
 mainland. He recommended the raising of the Rye 
 Ponds to a reservoir in Westchester County, the mills to 
 be located on the Bronx River, where the suri^lus water 
 would be used in raising the water, which would thence 
 be carried to the Harlem River in an open canal, then 
 conveyed across the river through an elevated iron pipe 
 to a reservoir, where it would be filtered and then 
 distributed through the city. After some discussion, the 
 matter culminated in the formation of the Manhattan 
 Water Company with banking privileges. This com- 
 pany obtained a grant from the corporation of the 
 grounds formerly occupied by Colles, and, erecting a 
 reservoir in Chambers street, between Broadway and 
 Centre street, a locality then considered far out of town, 
 pumped water into it from wells sunk in the vicinity, 
 whence it was distributed, by means of bored logs, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 GG5 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK 
 
 GG7 
 
 through the city. But this water proved both scarce 
 and bad ; the coniijany, neglecting the ostensible pur- 
 pose of its organization, soon turned its attention almost 
 exclusively to banking affairs, and thus lost the con- 
 fidence of the community, and it was not long before the 
 new works were voted a failure. 
 
 A new City Hall was determined on about the same 
 time, and in 1802, a premium was ofi'ered for the best 
 plan, which was awarded to Messrs Macomb and Mangin. 
 
 City Hull aaJ Paik. 
 
668 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 On the 20th of September, 1803, the corner-stone of the 
 new edifice was hxid in the Park by Mayor Livingston, 
 in the presence of the corporation and the few of the 
 citizens who had not fled from the yellow fever, which 
 at this time was prevailing in the city. This edifice, 
 which is too well known to our readers to require from 
 us a detailed description, was finished in 1812, at a cost 
 of half a million of dollars. The front and both ends 
 were built of white marble from the quarries of Stock- 
 bridge, Massachusetts ; for the Chambers street front, 
 red sandstone was used from motives of economy, it 
 being thought that the material of this side was of little 
 consequence, as so few citizens would ever reside on that 
 side of the town. 
 
 In 1803, Edward Livingston resigned his office, and 
 De Witt Clinton was appointed mayor in his stead. 
 Clinton was a native of the State of New York and a 
 resident of the city from early youth, having been the 
 first graduate of Columbia College after its change of 
 name. Few of her sons have contributed more largely 
 to the glory and prosperity of the city. Under his 
 auspices, the Historical Society was founded, the Public 
 School Society instituted, the Orphan As3dum estab- 
 lished, the City Hall completed, and the city fortified for 
 the war of 1812. He continued in the mayoralty with 
 two years' intermission until 1815, when he resigned it 
 to enter public Ufe on a more extended scale as governor 
 of his native State, and to mature the gigantic scheme of 
 canal-navigation, which won for New York the proud 
 title of the Empire State, and for its projector the lasting 
 remembrance of posterity. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 669 
 
 The charter election of November, 1803, was warmly 
 contested by the two opposing parties. Since the 
 last election, two new wards had been added to the city, 
 and this change gave the republicans strong hopes 
 of success. The contest resulted in favor of the fede- 
 ralists, who carried the First, Second, Third, Fourth, 
 Eighth, and Ninth Wards, the two latter by a small 
 majority, leaving the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh in the 
 hands of the republicans. The result was accounted a 
 gain by the latter, who now added the Fifth Ward to the 
 Sixth and Seventh which they had carried uniformly 
 since the election of 1800. This was the dawning of 
 success ; in the election of the following year, some 
 changes in the franchise regulations having opened the 
 polls to a larger nmnber of voters, they succeeded in elect- 
 ing their candidates in all the wards excepting the First 
 and Second. In 1805, they carried the Second Ward, 
 also, by a majority of two, and thus gained undisputed 
 ascendency in the city government. The First Ward 
 clung persistently to the fortunes of the federal party 
 until 1820, when the repubhcans, for the first time, suc- 
 ceeded in electing their candidate for alderman Tiy a small 
 majority. 
 
 The violent political disputes of this period gave rise 
 to a fatal duel between two of the most prominent citi- 
 zens of New York ; Alexander Hamilton, who, though 
 born in the West Indies, had been a resident of the city 
 from early youth, and his political antagonist, Aaron 
 Burr, at this time the third Vice-President of the United 
 States. The quarrel arose in political antagonism. In 
 the State election of 1803, Burr, who had lost the con- 
 
670 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fidence of the republican party, had been nomhiated for 
 governor by the federahsts, in opposition to Morgan 
 Lewis, and, although the latter were at this time the 
 leading party in the State, was defeated by his opponent 
 by a large majority. This defection in the federal ranks 
 he attributed to the influence of Hamilton, then the most 
 prominent man in the party, who had denounced him in 
 secret as an unprincipled politician and warmly opposed 
 his election ; and, smarting under the influence of his 
 defeat, he sent him a challenge, to which Hamilton demur- 
 red at first, then afterward accepted. At sunrise on the 
 11th of July, the parties met on a plateau on the Jersey 
 shore, about half a mile above Weehawken. Hamilton 
 was mortally wounded at the first fire, and fell, discharg- 
 ing his pistol in the air. He was conveyed across the 
 river to the house of Mrs. Bayard, over the site of which 
 Horatio street now passes, where he breathed his last on 
 the afternoon of the following day. The fatal result of 
 this affair caused the deepest sorrow, not only in the city 
 but throughout the whole country. Hamilton had been 
 the bosom friend of Washington, his talents were of the 
 highest order, he was a consummate statesman, and his 
 moral character was without a stain. Few men stood 
 higher than he in the esteem and confidence of the com- 
 munity, and even those who had been his bitterest polit- 
 ical opponents regarded his loss as the greatest evil that 
 could happen to a community — the loss of a man of 
 unblemished integrity from off its stage of action. His 
 remains were escorted, on the 14th inst., by a large pre- 
 cession to Trinity Church, where the funeral oration was 
 pronounced by Gouverneur Morris, and the body interred 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 C71 
 
 
 ik 
 
 W ' fi r %Wl'*t. ivi 
 
 
 "i 
 
 
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 Iff 4^ ^"^iPJ 
 
 -1 - -» ^ 4^ 
 
 t 
 
 </; 
 
 ■ill f- ^ * 
 
 ^ ? 
 
 ,3?-^ 
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 111 ^ri^i*!*^-!- f ^ " ^ 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 673 
 
 with military honors in the cemetery of the church. A 
 monument was afterward erected over his grave by the 
 Society of the Cincinnati, of which lie was a member ; 
 while the St. Andrew's Society, to which he also belonged 
 — his father having been a Scotchman, an indispensable 
 requisite to membership in this society — caused a mon- 
 ument to be erected over the spot on which he fell. 
 
 On the first of November, 1804, the foundation of 
 the present Historical Society — a body to which, more 
 than all others, the city of New York is indebted for the 
 preservation of those documents and records which alone 
 can preserve her true history to the world — was laid in 
 the picture-room of the City Hall by eleven persons, who 
 organized themselves into a society, and choosing DeWitt 
 Clinton as the first president, pledged themselves to 
 use their utmost efforts to collect whatever might relate 
 to the natural, civil, literarj' and ecclesiastical history of 
 the United States in general, and of the State of New 
 York in particular. The foundation of this society was 
 chiefly due to the instrumentality of Judge Egbert Ben- 
 son and John Pintard, Esq. The association soon grew 
 into favor, and its numbers increased slowly, but steadily. 
 For some time, the meetings continued to be held in the 
 City Hall, where the first historical festival of New York 
 was held on the 4th of September, 1809, the two hun- 
 dredth anniversary of the discovery by Hendrick Hudson 
 of the island of Manhattan. In the same year, the 
 society removed to rooms in the Government House, 
 where it remained until the demolition of the building, 
 in 1815 ; after which it located itself, first on the corner 
 of Broadway and Chambers street, then in the Stuyve- 
 43 
 
074 HISTORY OF 'iHE 
 
 sant Institute, aud afterward in the New York Univer- 
 sity, whence it removed for the last time in 1857 to the 
 new library building on the corner of Second Avenue nnd 
 Eleventh street, wliioh is fast becoming too small for its 
 valuable and varied collection. 
 
 The same year was marked by one of those terrible 
 fires which were wont to ravage the city periodically 
 before the introduction of lire-proof buildings, together 
 with an efficient Fire Department. The conflagration 
 broke out on the 18th of December in a grocery store 
 in Front street, and raged with fury for several hours, 
 burning the old CofTee House on the corner of Pearl 
 and Wall street, the scene of so many patriotic gather- 
 ings in the da3-s of the Revolution, with many other of 
 the old landmarks of the city. Forty stores and dwell- 
 ings were destroyed by this fire, which was supposed to 
 have been the work of an incendiary. The loss of 
 property was estimated at two millions of dollars. 
 
 The following year witnessed the initiatory movement 
 of a noble institution which, matured and perfected, is 
 destined to be the crowing glory of our country — the 
 Free School. The credit of this is due chiefly to some 
 members of the Society of Friends, who, aided by the 
 eObrts of De Witt Clinton, obtained the incorporation of 
 the Public School Society, in 1805, with Clinton as 
 its first president. The first school. No. 1, was opened 
 on the 17th of May, 1806, in Madison near Pearl street, 
 with forty scholars, the instruction being gratuitous to 
 some and almost nominal to all. Not content with thus 
 placing the means of education within the reach of every 
 one, the society did more ; it employed persons to go 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 675 
 
 St. Goorire's Chiircli 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 G77 
 
 First Public School House. 
 
 about the city and gather the destitute and untaught 
 chikh-eu into the schools that they might receive tlie 
 needed instruction. The experiment proved successful, 
 and soon won the pubhc approval, at first withheld or 
 cautiously bestowed on the innovation. In 1808, the cor- 
 poration donated the old State Arsenal, on the corner of 
 Chatham street and Tryou Row, to the society, on condi- 
 tion that they should educate the children in the Alms 
 House ; and, in ISll, School No. 2 was built in Henry 
 street, on ground given by Colonel Rutgers. The pioneer 
 school was afterwards removed to William street, where it 
 long stood numerically at the head of our public schools. 
 The society continued to flourish and rapidly to 
 increase the number of its houses vuitil 1842, when a 
 new school law was passed, providing for the establish- 
 ment of Ward Schools, to be wliolly gratuitous and 
 supported by taxation. The two systems continued to 
 work together harmoniously under the supervision of 
 
678 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 a Board of Education until 1853, when the Public School 
 Society resolved to make over their property to the 
 corporation, and to relinquish their charter, which was 
 accordingly done. Fifteen of the trustees were admit- 
 ted into the Board of Education for two years, the 
 remaining eighty entered the local boards, and the ven- 
 erable Public School Society passed out of existence. 
 Yet its name will ever be honored by the friends of 
 education as the efficient pioneer of public instruction. 
 From the single school with its forty scholars have sprung 
 up between two and three hundred schools, beside the 
 Free Academy, now the New York College, estab- 
 Hshed in 1847, for the purpose of placing a univer- 
 sity education within the reach of every 3'outh of the 
 city. 
 
 Of a different nature but not less important was the 
 event which marked the year succeeding the organiza- 
 tion of the Pubhc School Society — a year which will 
 ever be memorable in the annals of our city for the suc- 
 cessful introduction of steam navigation. In 1798, 
 Chancellor Robert R. Livingston had received from the 
 Legislature, as the discoverer of this new power, the 
 exclusive right of steam navigation in all the waters 
 within the limits of the State for twenty years, provided 
 that within twelve months, he should produce a boat, 
 the average speed of which should not be less than four 
 miles an hour. This he failed to do, and the grant 
 remained in abeyance until 1803, when, having made the 
 acquaintance of Robert Fulton in France, and aided him 
 in some encouraging experiments, he obtained a renewal 
 of the monopoly for the twenty years ensuing, on condi- 
 
CITY OF N E ■»' YORK, 
 
 G7y 
 
CITY OF N E W Y R K 
 
 681 
 
 Portrait of Robert Fnlton. 
 
 tion that he and Fulton, his partner in the grant, should 
 fulfill the required conditions within the space of two j-ears. 
 They innnediately set to work to realize their design. 
 Fulton took up his residence in New York, and com- 
 menced the construction of the Clermont, the first of the 
 steam vessels. No one believed in tlie possibility of his 
 success ; the citizens looked jeeringly at the craft, and 
 christened it in derision, " The Fulton Folly." Nothing 
 daunted by their taunts, the sanguine projector perse- 
 vered in his task, and on the Tth of August, 1807, an- 
 nounced his vessel as ready for tlie trial trip to Albany. 
 The boat was launched from Jersey City. At the time 
 appointed, thousands of spectators thronged the tem- 
 porary staging that had been erected along the sloping 
 shore, to witness the failure of the chimerical enterprise. 
 As the wheels revolved, slowly at first, then increasing 
 in velocity, and the vessel was propelled toward the 
 middle of the river, the crv of " she moves, she moves !" 
 
GS2 11 I S T O R Y OF THE 
 
 
 
 The Cltniiunt — Fultou's lirst Stuambuat. 
 
 run through the unbc4ieving crowd ; while the sailors on 
 the other vessels, on witnessing the strange craft as she 
 came puffing and snorting up tlie stream, fell upon their 
 knees, and prayed to he delivered from the evil one. 
 Fulton eiijoj-ed his triumph as the speed increased, and the 
 new power which he liad chained to his bidding, bore him, 
 in defiance of wind and tide, far from the sight of the dis- 
 comfited citizens. Stopping a single night at the seat 
 of Chancellor Livingston, lie reached the place of his 
 destination in thirty-two hours and secured the mouojjoly 
 of steam navigation over the waters of New York. 
 
 But Fulton had not been alone in the pursuit of this 
 lucrative monopoly. John Stevens with his son, R. L. 
 Stevens, of Iloboken, had long cherished the idea of 
 availing themselves of the power of steam, and almost 
 simultaneously with Fulton, but just too laic, liad 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 683 
 
 effected their purpose in the steamer Phoenix. Antici- 
 pated in the scheme by his successful rival, Mr. Stevens 
 struck out into a new field, and, sending his steamer 
 round to Philadelphia by sea, first won the mastery over 
 the waters of the ocean as Pulton had done over those of 
 the rivers. It was not long before the monopoly was 
 set aside, and the Stevens again entered the lists of 
 competition, producing an improved steamboat, capable 
 of making thirteen and a half miles an hour, which con- 
 vinced the doubters and persuaded them that the age of 
 miracles was not yet past. 
 
 One of the most important uses of this new power 
 which had thus been forced into the service of mankind 
 was in bridging the rivers which separated the city from 
 the opposite shores. The ferries, especially those of 
 Long Island, had alwa3^s borne an important part in the 
 history of the city ; from their rent a great part of its 
 revenue had been derived, and the proprietorship had 
 been a constant source of dispute between the citizens 
 and the residents at the opposite terminus. "We have 
 noted the progress of the ferries from time to time, in 
 the preceding pages, but we propose to give here a l)rief 
 review of their history, the better to explain the bear- 
 ings of the vexed ferry question. 
 
 The first ferry was naturally established between New 
 York and Brooklyn, its earliest neighbor. To avoid as 
 much as jjossible the labor of stemming the strong ciu-- 
 rent, the narrowest part of the river was chosen, though 
 this was fiir above the furthest limits of the city, being 
 from a point below Peck Slip on the New York to 
 Fulton street on the Long Island side of the river. This 
 
(381 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Ferry — tlie Old Ferry, as it afterward came to be called — 
 was maintained as a private speculation until about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century, when a regular ferry 
 was established, and made a source of revenue to the 
 city. The first ferry-house in New York was on the cor- 
 ner of Broad and Garden streets, now Exchange Place, 
 a low, one story house, with two dormer windows in the 
 high, steep pediment roof, built in conformity with the 
 Knickerbocker style of architecture, and an iron boat, 
 oars and anchor for a sign, the principal landing-jDlace of 
 the ferry-boats, both from the Long Island and Jersey 
 shores. The Brooklyn ferry-house at the foot of Fulton 
 street was a commodious two story house, with stables 
 and outhouses attached — for unlike the ferry-houses of 
 the present day, these were also taverns for the accom- 
 modation of travellers. This ferry-house was burned in 
 1748 by the Sepoys of Long Island by way of revenge 
 for the infringement on their rights by the corporation 
 of New York. 
 
 The dispute originated in this wise. As we have 
 already said, the ferry was at first a private speculation, 
 established in 1642 by Cornelius Dircksen, who kept a 
 small inn near Peck Slip and owned a farm in the vicinity. 
 William Jansen was his successor. 
 
 In 1652, the Burgomasters of New Amsterdam made 
 an unsuccessful application to Governor Stuyvesant for 
 the ferry to Breukelen to defray the city expenses. In 
 1654, an ordinance was passed, regulating the rates of 
 ferriage, and in 1658, Harmanus Van Borsum hired the 
 ferry from Governor Stuyvesant, at auction, at an 
 iinnual rent of three hundred guilders, and became the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 685 
 
 successor of his father Cornelius who had died a short 
 time before. 
 
 Upon the cession of the city to the English, the new 
 rulers assumed control over the waters, and made th? 
 ferry pay toll to the city government. Tlie people, how- 
 ever, insisted on their right to ferry themselves and their 
 neighbors across the river, provided that they did not 
 interfere with the landing-places of the corporation, and 
 so formidable became the opposition of these private 
 ferries that the lessees of the government abandoned 
 their enterprise in despair. John Airensen, John 
 Euwatse and Dirck Benson successively tried the experi- 
 ment and abandoned the lease, and the corporation 
 became convinced that they must adopt some new policy 
 or abandon all hope of revenue from the ferries. 
 Hitherto they had been balked in their endeavors to 
 crush these private enterprises from the fact that they 
 could claim no jurisdiction over the neighboring shores ; 
 but, in 1708, they obtained a charter from Lord 
 Cornbury, which not only confirmed them in their title 
 to the old ferry, but also invested them with a grant of 
 all the land lying between high and low-water mark on 
 the Long Island shore from the Wallabout to Red Hook, 
 with the privilege of establishing additional ferries 
 within these limits. The farmers along the shore were 
 still permitted to ferry themselves and their produce 
 across the river, but were strictly forbidden to carry any 
 passengers. 
 
 This charter incensed the Brooklynites greatly, and 
 they did all in their power to evade its conditions. Urg- 
 ino- that tlie instrument was worthless in the absence of 
 
()86 niSTOUY OF THE 
 
 some technical formality, they continued their ferries 
 and so harassed the corporation that in 1740 the latter 
 obtained a more explicit renewal of their grant in the 
 Moutgomerie charter, and also procured the passage of 
 an act by the Provincial Assembl}', prohibiting private 
 citizens from ferrying passengers across the river under 
 penalty of a fine. After vainly endeavoring to obtain 
 the repeal of this act, the peoi3le determined to have 
 recourse to the law, and instituted a suit which was car- 
 ried from court to court of the province, and finally 
 referred by appeal to the king, when the vexed questions 
 of the day were put to rest by the Revolution. Upon the 
 restoration of tranqviillity, it was again revived, and has 
 ever since furnished food for litigation, though the peo- 
 ple have, as yet, been worsted in the contest. 
 
 Until the year 1810, row-boats or pirogues were the 
 only ferry-boats upon the rivers. Next came the horse- 
 boats — twin-boats, with the wheel in the centre, pro- 
 pelled Ijy a sort of horizontal ti'eadmill worked by horses, 
 the first of which was introduced on the 3d of April, 
 1814, upon the Catherine street ferry. This was a boat 
 of eight-horse power, crossing the river in from twelve 
 to twenty minutes. The first improvement was made in 
 the substitution of steam for horses as the motive power, 
 and the first steamboat, the Nassau, was put on the Ful- 
 ton ferry on the 8th of May in the same year ; but the 
 new agent being found as expensive as expeditious, 
 it failed to find favor in the ej'es of the Company, and, 
 for many years, this remained the only steam ferry-boat 
 upon the river. In 1824, the monopoly which had been 
 granted to Fulton and Livingston was set aside by order 
 
CITY OF \EW YORK. 687 
 
 of the Supreme Court, the use of steaia was thrown opeu 
 to public competition, and the horse-buats soon became 
 obsolete institutions. 
 
 The first improvement in the steam ferry-boats was 
 the single boat with side-wheels ; the first of which was 
 the Hoboken, built by R. L. Stevens in 1822. Simul- 
 taneously with these came the floating bridges which rise 
 and fall with the tide, aided by counterbalancing weights 
 on the shore — the invention of Fulton — and the spring 
 piles, constructed by R. L. Stevens. These improvements 
 soon found favor on the ferries, the plan of bridging the 
 river by an arch was abandoned, in the face of this new 
 agent, which set time and space at defiance, and the 
 genius of steam gained undisputed dominion over the 
 waters. 
 
 In the charter election of 1806, the federalists suc- 
 ceeded in regaining the ascendency iu the city, of which 
 they had been deprived, and carried the First, Second, 
 Third and Fourth Wards, together with the Fifth 
 through an independent candidate to whom they had 
 given their support. De Witt Clinton was in conse- 
 qence removed from the maj^oralty by the Council of 
 Appointment at Albany, and the veteran Marinus Wil- 
 !ett was appointed in his stead ; while the recorder, 
 Pierre C. Van Wyck, was superseded in his office by 
 Maturin Livingston. Disaffection was now springing up 
 in the republican ranks. The scope of our work does 
 not permit us to trace the rise and progress of the 
 numerous political parties that sprung suddenly into 
 existence from time to time, and as suddenly vanished ; 
 it will suffice to say that, at this time, a deadly feud 
 
G88 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 existed between the Clintons and the Livingstons, that 
 Governor Lewis, who was rehi-ted to the latter, threw 
 his influence in their favor, that the section of the repub- 
 lican party which still clung to Burr made common 
 cause with these, and that with these cliques was allied 
 that of the Madisonian republicans, who supported Madi- 
 son for president in opposition to George CUnton, the 
 ex-governor of the State. 
 
 In the following year, the Clintonians regained the 
 ascendency, De Witt Clinton was again appointed 
 mayor, and Pierre C. Yan Wyck was restored to the 
 recordership. In the charter election, the First, Second 
 and Ninth Wards alone were carried by the federalists. 
 These were increased in the election of 1808, by the 
 addition of the Third and Sixth wards, making an 
 equal division of power. Dui'ing this year the Tenth 
 Ward was added to the cit}'. 
 
 At the State election of 1809, the federalists for the 
 first time since 1799, carried the State, upon which the 
 appointment of the mayor depended.* This change was 
 owing to the declaration of war which was now pending, 
 and against which there was strong ojDposition. At the 
 charter elections, the regnant party achieved a similar 
 success, electing their candidates for aldermen in all the 
 wards except the Fifth and Tenth, and gaining fifteen 
 out of twenty of the whole common council. At the 
 first meeting of the Council of Appointment at Albany, 
 De Witt Clinton was again removed from the mayoralty, 
 
 • The mayor was at this time appointed to o(fice by a Council of Appointment, 
 consisting of a senator chosen by the Legislature from each of the four districts of 
 the State, with the governor as cliairraan of the counciL 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 6S9 
 
 and Jacob Radcliff appointed in his stead ; wliile Pierre 
 C. Van Wyck was again removed from the recordership 
 to make room for Josiah Ogden Hoffman. In the fol- 
 lowing year, the latter was restored to the office, then 
 removed for the third time in 1813, and Hoffman again 
 appointed in his place. 
 
 In the charter election of 1810, the republicans gained 
 a majority in the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Tenth wards. 
 This success was followed up by a victory in the State 
 election, which restored De Witt Clinton to the mayor- 
 alty, in which he continued until 1815. During this 
 time, the politics of the city were fluctuating. The 
 charter election of 1811 made no change in the Board 
 The election of 1812 gained to the federalists the assist- 
 ant alderman of the Tenth Ward, and in 1813, the 
 republicans gained the Sixth Ward, thus securing an 
 equal division of power. This was recovered by the 
 federalists in the following year ; when the great issue 
 upon which the parties had been divided was ended by 
 the termination of the war. 
 
 From this brief sketch of the political affairs of the 
 city during the beginning of the centur}^ we will return 
 to its local changes and improvements. In 1807, a new 
 missionary enterprise was undertaken by Trinity Church 
 by the erection of St. John's Chapel in Varick street, 
 on what was then deemed the outskirts of civilization. 
 This was located opposite a dreary marsh, covered with 
 brambles and bulrushes and tenanted by frogs and 
 watersnakes, and was regarded by the citizens at large 
 almost as a proof of insanity on the part of the church 
 authorities. 
 
 44 
 
690 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A curious fact discovered on the records of a Lutheran 
 church of New York by one of the antiquarians to 
 whom the cit}'- is so deeply indebted for preserving its 
 traditions of the past, will serve to illustrate the popular 
 faith at this period in the rise and progress of real estate 
 in the upper part of the town. The church was at this 
 time involved in pecuniary difificulties, contributions were 
 solicited in its aid, and, to relieve it in its embarrassment, 
 a friend proposed to donate to it a tract of six acres of 
 ground in the neighborhood of the stone bridge on the 
 corner of Broadway and Canal street ; but, after mature 
 •leliberation, the trustees refused the gift, alleging that 
 the land in question was not worth the trouble of 
 fencing in. 
 
 The commencement of the United States Navy Yard 
 at Brooklyn in the beginning of tlie century called the 
 attention of the citizens to an act of duty which had too 
 long been delayed. The first stroke of the spade into 
 the sand-hill upon which the new buildings were to be 
 erected opened a terrible mine to the eyes of the public. 
 The whole shore, the slope of the hill, the sand island in 
 the vicinity — all were filled with the bones of the prison- 
 ship martyrs, who had been thrust coffinless into the 
 ground and literally piled one upon another. The hor- 
 rible revelation reminded the citizens of the too-long 
 neglected duty ; the relics were carefully collected and 
 placed in the charge of the Tammany Society, and, on 
 the 8th of May, 1808, escorted by one of the grandest 
 processions that New York had ever witnessed, were 
 conveyed to their final resting-place in a vault in Jack- 
 son street, not far from the spot of their original inter- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 691 
 
 ment. Thirteen coffins filled with the bones were carried 
 in the procession, and eighteen hogsheads besides were 
 gathered from the sands and deposited in the vault. 
 The corporation attended in a body, the bells were tolled 
 and minute guns fired during the procession, and the 
 whole city seemed clad in mourning. 
 
 In 1811, the city was again devastated by a terrible 
 conflagration, which raged witli fury for several hours, 
 destroying nearly a hundred houses, and baffling for a 
 long time all the efforts of the firemen. The steeple of 
 the Brick Church and the cupola of the New Jail took 
 fire and were barely saved, the one by the prompt action 
 of a sailor by the name of Stephen McCormick, the other 
 by the presence of mind of a prisoner on the premises. 
 Both were afterward rewarded by the corporation. 
 
 One of the most important events of tliis period was 
 the adoption of a plan of the future city, to which we 
 owe the parallel streets and broad avenues of the upper 
 part of the island, which contrast so strongly with the 
 narrow streets and crooked lanes of the down-town 
 locality. This plan was due to Simeon Dewitt, Gouver- 
 neur Morris, John Rutherford and S. Guel, who had 
 been appointed by the Legislature in 1801, as commis- 
 sioners to lay out and survey the whole island to Kings- 
 bridge into streets and avenues. By the proposed plan, 
 the streets, beginning with the first on the east side of 
 the Bowery -above Houston street, numbered upward 
 to the extreme end of the island. These were inter- 
 sected by twelve avenues, numbering westward from 
 First Avenue, the continuation of Allen street, to 
 Twelfth Avenue upon the shores of the North River. 
 
G92 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 As avenues were afterward laid out to the eastward of 
 the former, they were designated by the names of the 
 letters of the alphabet, A, B, C and D. By this plan, 
 the island was laid out with admirable regularity, while 
 the squares and triangles which were formed by the 
 junction of those time-honored thoroughfares which 
 could not be removed, were converted into public parks 
 for the adornment of the city. The despised Potter's 
 Field became the beautiful Washington Square ; the 
 Bowery and Broadway met amicably in Union Square ; 
 Madison Square was formed from the union of the Old 
 and the Middle roads ; the great salt meadow on the 
 eastern side of the city was drained, and Tompkins 
 Square, with hundreds of city lots, sprung up from its 
 depths ; valleys were filled up, hills were levelled, and 
 art seemed destined to surmount all the difficulties of 
 nature,- and to make every inch of New York Island 
 inhabitable ground. 
 
 During the occurrence of these events, the progress of 
 the city had been greatly retarded by the threatening 
 aspect of affairs with England. Despite the provisions 
 of the treaty of 1795, the English had not ceased their 
 aggressions upon American commerce. In the war 
 that existed between England and Prance, the hostile 
 powers blockaded each other's ports, and captured all 
 American vessels that attempted to enter, despite the 
 neutrality which was strictly maintained by the nation. 
 Nor was this all ; the British cruisers, on the motto, 
 " Once an Englishman, always an Englishman," per- 
 sisted in boarding and searching American vessels, and 
 taking thence all naturalized citizens as subjects of the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. Q9o 
 
 British crown. These constantly recurring grievances 
 irritated the people, and fast prepared them for an open 
 rupture. 
 
 As early as 1806, an affair of this kind occurred 
 almost within the port of New York, which excited uni- 
 vei-sal indignation. In April, the British frigate Lean- 
 der, commanded by Captain Whitby, while cruising ofif 
 Sandy Hook, fired into the sloop Richard, an American 
 coasting vessel, and killed one of her men. The corpse 
 was brought up to the city and buried at the public 
 expense; and the citizens joined in demanding reparation 
 of the British government for the unprovoked outrage ; 
 but, though Captain Whitby was sent home to England 
 and tried by a court-martial, he was speedily acquitted 
 without punishment or censure. 
 
 On the 22d of June of the following year, the Ameri- 
 can frigate Chesapeake, when off the coast of Virginia, 
 was fired upon by the British man-of-war Leopard, and 
 forced to surrender four of her men, who were claimed 
 as subjects to the crown of Great Britain ; three of whom 
 were afterwards proved to be American citizens who 
 had been impressed by the British but had escaped from 
 their service. This outrage was followed by a proclama- 
 tion from President Jefferson, forbidding British armed 
 vessels to enter the harbors of the United States until 
 reparation for the attack upon the Chesapeake had been 
 made by the British government, and security given 
 - against future aggressions. 
 
 War was now raging between England and France, 
 and, in November of the same year, the British govern- 
 ment issued " orders in council," prohibiting all trade 
 
694 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CliurcU ui" the Ascension, comer of Fifth Av 
 
 anJ Teuth Street. 
 
 with France and her alUes. By way of retaliation, in 
 the following month, Bonaparte issued the celebrated 
 Milan decree, forbidding all trade with England and 
 her colonies, and thus struck the death-blow to American 
 commerce. 
 
 It now became evident to all that war was inevitable ; 
 and, in order to call home and detain the American 
 ships and sailors, and to put the country in a posture of 
 defence, on the 23d of September, 1807, an embargo 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 695 
 
 was laid by Congress on all the vessels in the harbors of 
 the United States. The result was most disastrous . 
 business was instantly paralyzed, failures occurred ou 
 every side, and the whole country seemed in a state of 
 stagnation. This measure revived the disputes between 
 the federalists and the republicans ; the latter sustain- 
 ing the action of the administration, the former insisting 
 that, if war were made at all, it should be against Franco 
 as the principal aggressor. 
 
 On the 1st of March, 1809, the embargo which, while 
 failing to obtain from France and England the desired 
 acknowledgment of American rights, was ruinous to the 
 commerce of the country with other nations, ^s'ai- 
 repealed by Congress, and a strict system of ion- 
 intercourse substituted in its stead. Relying o' the 
 promise of Mr. Erskine, the British minister, th.^■. the 
 obnoxious "orders in council" should be r^-pealed 
 before the 10th of June, President Madison, lately 
 elected to the office, proclaimed that commer.v'al inter- 
 course with England should be renewed on that day. 
 The promise, however, was not kept, the ^Movernment 
 disavowed the pledge of the minister, and on the 19 th 
 of August, non-intercourse with England was again 
 proclaimed. 
 
 In March, 1810, the hostile decrees of the French 
 were revoked, and commercial intercourse was renewed 
 with the nation. The Englisli, meanwhile, continued 
 their aggressions, stationing ships of war before the 
 American ports, to intercept the outward-bound vessels 
 and take possession of them as lawful prizes. Scarce an 
 American vessel was safe on the seas, and, finding that 
 
096 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 no satisfaction was to be obtained from the British 
 government, Congress resolved at length to bring mat- 
 ters to a crisis, and on the 4th of Ajn'il, 1812, laid an 
 embargo upon all vessels within the jurisdiction of the 
 United States, which was followed on the 19th of the 
 ensuing month by the President's proclamation of war 
 against Great Britain. 
 
 Although the citizens had differed greatly in opinion 
 in respect to the expediency of the projected war, no 
 sooner had it been declared, than they pledged them- 
 selves heart and hand to aid in its accomplishment. 
 The news reached the city on the 20th of June, and on 
 the 24th, the citizens assembled in large numbers in the 
 Park to concert measures for future action. 
 
 The meeting was called to order at 12 o'clock, noon, 
 with Col. Henry Rutgers as president and Col. Marinus 
 Willett as secretary. The law of Congress declaring 
 war and the President's proclamation were read, and a 
 preamble and resolutions, apjjroving the action of the 
 government, and pledging to its support " their lives, their 
 fortunes and their sacred honor," were unanimously 
 adopted by the Assembly.* Copies of these resolutions 
 
 * These resolutions we transcribe entire — the preamble from which they are 
 deduced is too long to be inserted here. 
 
 " Resolved, 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 duly appreciate their able negotiations, and admire their unwearied patience to 
 " promote 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 preventing thereby the evib 
 " of war. 
 
 " Resolved, That while sohcitous of peace, and ardently attached to its blessings, 
 '• we believe that the crisis had arrived when it could be no longer with honor 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 697 
 
 were ordered to be forwarded to the President, to 
 Congress, and to the press for jjublication, and the 
 people dispersed,, fully determined to make their words 
 good whenever thej^ should be called upon to redeem 
 their pledges. So vigorously were they backed by 
 individual enterprise that, within four months after the 
 declaration of war, twenty-six privateers were fitted out 
 from the port, carrying two hundred and twelve guns 
 and twenty-two thousand and thirty-nine men. 
 
 The city, in the meantime, was ill prepared for 
 defence, although, taking warning by the indications of 
 the gathering storm, the government had for some time 
 past been busy with its fortification. In the beginning 
 of 1807, the city was entirely defenceless. The Narrows 
 and the Sound were open and undefended, not a fortifi- 
 cation was to be seen in the harbor or on any of the 
 islands, and a small force might have sailed up to the 
 city without opposition, and captured it as did Nicolls in 
 the days of Stuyvesant. Awakened to a sense of the 
 impending danger, in the spring of 1807, the general 
 government began to take measures to fortify the liarbor 
 of New York ; but the work went on slowly, and it was 
 
 " retained ; that we therefore hold our government justified in its appeal to arms 
 " against Great Britain, and yield to its decision our unqualified and decided appro- 
 " bation. 
 
 " Resolved, That as our government has now appealed to the sword, 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. 
 
 " Resolved, 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.' " 
 
698 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 not until the war had been prosecuted for two years, and 
 the city was threatened with invasioii by a British fleet, 
 that the citizens took the work into their own hands, 
 and succeeded in rendering the defences available. 
 
 In the spring of 1814, the blockade of the southern 
 ports, which had been maintained by the British since 
 the beginning of the war, was extended along the entire 
 coast, and the Common Council, alarmed by this hostile 
 demonstration, issued a public call, urging the citizens to 
 come together and concert measures for the defence of 
 the city. In pursuance of this call, the people assembled 
 in the Park in front of the City Hall on the 11th of 
 August, 1814, to redeem the pledges of the former 
 meeting. Colonel Heni-y Rutgers was again chosen 
 chairman, and Oliver Wolcott secretary ; and Drs. 
 Mitchell and McNeven, with Messrs. Wolcott, Riker, 
 Anthony, Bleecker and Sampson, were appointed as a 
 committee to draft resolutions to be presented to the 
 meeting ; pending which, the veteran Willett addressed 
 the audience in a stirring speech, reviewing the events 
 of their first struggle for independence, and urging them 
 not to falter, but to support their leaders to the 
 end. His speech was received with shouts of en- 
 thusiasm. In a short time, Richard Riker presented 
 a preamble and resolutions in behalf of the com- 
 mittee, declaring their resolve to unite in arms on the 
 first approach of the enemy, and to defend the city to 
 the last extremity, and urging all the citizens to enroll 
 in the militia and the naval service, to assist in the 
 public works, and, by ever}^ means in their power, to 
 aid the authorities in their efforts to secure the public 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. b&.-i 
 
 safety/^ These resolutions were passed unanimously, 
 committees were appointed to confer on the proper mea- 
 sures to be adopted, and to correspond with the citizens 
 of other States for tlie purpose of inviting them to form 
 voluntary associations similar to those proposed in the 
 city, and the meeting adjourned amid shouts of applause. 
 
 * These resolutions read as follows : 
 
 " Kesolred, That the citizens here assembled, will, to the last extremity, defend 
 " their city. 
 
 " Resolved, That we will unite ourselves in arms with our brethren of the country, 
 " and on the first approach of the enemy, make it a common cabse. 
 
 "Resolved, That humbly confiding in the favor of the Assembly, we hope to 
 " prove ourselves not unworthy of that freedom won by the heroes of the Revo- 
 " lution ; and trust that the enemy they vanquished will receive from us a similar 
 " defeat. 
 
 " Resoleed, That we highly approve of the measures for public 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 effectu.al execution. 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That it be recommended to the citizens generally, to meet, as soon as 
 " may be practicable with convenience, in their respective wards, for the purpose of 
 "electing discreet and efficient committees to promote the execution of the foUow- 
 " ing objects : 
 
 "1. To complete the voluntary enrollments of persons exempted by law from 
 " military service 
 
 " 2. To encourage the enrollment of seafaring citizens for service in the harbor, 
 " or as artillerists ; and 
 
 " 3. The enrollment of citizens for voluntary labor on the public works. 
 " Resolved, 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 protection of 
 " the families of such persons as may be absent on public duty, and also, to 
 '• provide in the best manner practicable, for the protection of such helpless per- 
 " sons and their property, as in case of alarm may be desirous of moving into the 
 " country. 
 
 " Resolved, That we will endeavor to promote concord, and will discountenance 
 " all attempts to weaken the patriotic efforts of good citizens. 
 
 " Resolved, That we will endeavor to discover and subject to the animadversion 
 " of the laws, all persons who shall be concerned in any illicit commerce or 
 " improper intercourse with the enemy." 
 
700 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The citizens were not slow in redeeming their pledges 
 Men of all classes and vocations lent a helping hand ; 
 masons, carpenters, shoemakers, merchants, and incorpo- 
 rated societies, all turned out in distinct bodies to aid in 
 digging and constructing the works, and so numerous did 
 the offers of aid become that the corporation was often 
 obliged to entreat the friendly societies to wait from day 
 to day for want of room. The whole city wore a martial 
 aspect, mihtia companies were organizing and drilling 
 here and ihere. the citizens hurried to and fro with pick 
 and shovel to labor upon the fortifications, and every- 
 thing bespoke the spirit of determined resistance. 
 With this efficient aid, the works were soon completed. 
 Castle Clinton, better known as Castle Garden, was con- 
 structed on the southwest point of the island, the North 
 Batter}' was built at the foot of Hubert street, and Fort 
 Gansevoort was erected at the foot of Gansevoort street. 
 On Governor's Island, about half a mile south of the 
 city, was Fort Columbus, with the strong Fort WilHam in 
 close proximity. About a mile to the westward of this, 
 on Bedlow's Island, was a strongly built star-fort, and on 
 Ellis Island, about a mile southwest from Castle Clinton, 
 wa.s a circular battery. On Staten Island, eight miles 
 below the city, at the narrowest point of the passage 
 between Long and Staten Island, stood Fort Richmond, 
 a strongly built stone fortress, well supplied with all the 
 munitions of war, with Fort Tompkins on an eminence 
 directly in the rear, and Fort Hudson a little way below 
 on the shore. In the Upper Bay, about two hundred 
 yards from Long Island was Fort Diamond, afterward 
 Fort Lafayette, the strongest fortress of any, built on 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 701 
 
 made ground on a shoal, which could only be seen at 
 low water. These fortifications, which in case of need 
 could mount five hundred cannon, amply defended the 
 harbor, and precluded the possibility of a successful 
 invasion. 
 
 Nor were the fortifications at Hellgate and on the 
 upper part of the island, less effective. On Hallet's 
 Point stood Fort' Stevens, with a stone tower in the rear; 
 the Opposite shore was strongly defended by the fortifica- 
 tions at Benson's Point ; and strong works were erected 
 to protect McGowan's Pass on the road to Harlem and 
 the Manhattanville Pass on the Bloomingdale road, be- 
 tween which a line of block-houses was thrown up. 
 
 Early in the month of August, a requisition was 
 made by Congress for twenty thousand troops, to 
 be stationed in and around New York, and the cor- 
 poration raised the necessary funds to meet the expense 
 under pledge of reimbursement by the general govern- 
 ment. Volunteers speedily flocked in from the 
 surrounding country, and, on the 1st of September, all 
 the artillery and infantry in the city and county were 
 consolidated and mustered into the United States service, 
 under their own officers, subject to the same rules and 
 regulations and receiving the same pay and rations 
 as the regular troops. Daniel D. Tompkins, at this time 
 governor of the State, and Major-General Morgan Lewis, 
 were the commanders at the post. The whole detached 
 division was placed under the command of Major-Gene- 
 ral Ebenezer Stevens. Commodore Decatur was 
 stationed in the city with a small force of picked men 
 to be ready for action by sea or land, and a strong fleet 
 
702 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lay in waiting in the harbor. The active duty required 
 was performed in turn by the companies with their 
 officers. Each company had its parade-ground, where 
 the men who quartered at home were drilled for three 
 or four hours every morning and afternoon. The bat- 
 talions formed twice each week, the regiments once 
 a week, and the brigade once in two or three weeks, 
 while the whole division under General Stevens had 
 three or four parades during their three months' service. 
 During this time, the different regiments encamped in 
 turn at Harlem, and guarded the fortifications there 
 until relieved by a new corps from the city. 
 
 When, at the close of the campaign of 1814, the 
 division was reviewed by Governor Tompkins, it was 
 found to consist of more than twenty-three thousand 
 men, of whom but five hundred were regulars, while the 
 rest were volunteers. The regular army w'as on the 
 northern and western frontier, repelling the attacks of 
 the British and Indians, and New York had none but 
 her own sons to depend upon for safety. Happily, their 
 protection was not needed. The battle of New Orleans 
 virtually closed the war. On the 24th of December, 
 1814, a treaty of peace had been concluded at Ghent, and 
 signed by the commissioners of both nations. Strangely 
 enough, no mention was made in this treaty of the 
 causes which had led to the war — the encroachments 
 upon American commerce and the right of search and 
 impressment, but the former had ceased with the conclu- 
 sion of the war with France, while Great Britain had 
 quietly abandoned the practice of the latter. 
 
 The federalists liavins; now the ascendency in the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 703 
 
 State, in March, 1815, De Witt Clinton was removed 
 from the mayoralty and John Ferguson api^ointed in 
 his stead. Ferguson was at this time the naval officer 
 of the customs. Being incapacitated by law from hold- 
 ing both offices, he resigned the new appointment in the 
 ensuing June, and Jacob Radelifl", who had already acted 
 as mayor in the last interregnum of Clinton's civic 
 administration, was appointed in his stead, while John 
 Ogden Hoffman was at the same time superseded in the 
 recordership by Eichard Riker. In the same year, the 
 time of the charter elections was changed from Novem- 
 ber to April. The election of this year was warmly 
 contested, and resulted in favor of the federalists, who 
 carried six wards as in the previous election. 
 
 In the charter election of 181G, the republicans 
 for the first time adopted the name of Democrats, an 
 appellation which was for some time confined only to 
 the party in the city. In this election, they achieved 
 a signal triumph, carrying six wards out of the ten and 
 effectually routing the opposite party. This result was 
 repeated in the election of 1817. 
 
 From this time, the ancient federahst party steadily 
 declined, while new factions rose from its ruins, and allied 
 themselves with off-shoots from the republican party. The 
 issues that gave rise to these divisions are too compli- 
 cated for any but a political history of the times ; leav- 
 ing all details of this nature, therefore, to those to whom 
 it properly belongs, we shall briefly make mention of 
 the questions of the day, and outline the career of the 
 rival parties. 
 
 At this time, the republican party was divided into the 
 
704 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 two great divisions of Madisonians and Clintonians. To 
 the former belonged the greater part of the Tammany 
 party, famiUarly known as "bucktails," from the deer's 
 tail worn as an emblem in their caps by one of the orders 
 of the society — an appellation by which the whole sec- 
 tion of the party opposed to Clinton afterward came to 
 be known. Of this party, Martin Van Buren became 
 the most j^rominent leader.* 
 
 The state election of 1818 placed De Witt Clinton in 
 the governmental chair by the unanimous vote of all 
 the parties in the field. In the charter election, there 
 was less unanimity. The First, Second, and Third wards 
 were won by the federalists without opposition, the 
 Clintonians carried the Fourth Ward by a small majority, 
 and the remaining six wards were won by the bucktail 
 party. The republicans being again in the ascendency 
 in the State, RadclifF was removed from the mayoralty, 
 and Cadwallader D. Colden, grandson of the former 
 lieutenant-governor of that name, of the Clintonian 
 section, was appointed in his stead, Governor Clinton 
 giving the casting vote necessary to secure his election 
 in the Council of Appointment. In the following year, 
 Richard Riker was removed from the office of Recorder, 
 and Peter A. Jay appointed in his stead. 
 
 The charter election was won by large majorities by 
 the bucktails ; the federalists carrying only the First and 
 
 ■* The section of the republican party opposed to De Witt Clinton originatea i%» 
 early as 1806 in the "Martllng men," who tool; their name from their place of meet- 
 ing at Martling's Long Room, on the site of the Tract House. Tammany Hall, which 
 was built in 1811, afterward became the rendezvous of the Madisonians, whence the 
 section derived the name of the Tammany party. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 705 
 
 Second wards entire and electing the alderman of the 
 Third. 
 
 The charter election of 1820 resulted in a still more 
 decided victory to the bucktails, who carried all the 
 wards iu the city, the Second alone excepted, for the 
 first time electing an alderman in the First Ward. The 
 State elections of the fall for the members of the Legis- 
 lature resulted also in their favor, and, having thus suc- 
 ceeded in gaining a majority in the Council of Appoint- 
 ment, they i-emoved Golden from the mayoralty to make 
 room for Stephen Allen, and restored the recordership 
 to their favorite, Richard Riker. 
 
 At the municipal election of 1821, the bucktails, now 
 known as the republicans, a name to which both they 
 and the Chntouians laid claim, succeeded in electing their 
 candidates in aU except the First and Second wards. 
 Their success iu the following election was still more 
 decisive ; and their candidates were elected in every 
 ward without opposition or by large majorities. 
 
 In the charter election held in November, 1823, a 
 new division arose in the politics of the city. The 
 ancient federalists were well-nigh extinct ; and the chief 
 point at issue was the nomination of a successor to 
 James Monroe, now on the eve of quitting the presi- 
 dency. William H. Crawford, Henry Clay, Andrew 
 Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and John C. Calhoun 
 were presented by their respective cliques as candidates 
 for the nomination ; and this competition excited new 
 party differences. Another question that arose at this 
 time was in respect to the appointment of electors ; a 
 
 portion of the people advocating the existing system bji 
 45 
 
706 HISTORY OF TUE 
 
 which they were appointed by the Legislature ; and 
 others urging that this law should be repealed and the 
 choice of the electors submitted directly to the people. 
 The bucktail party, styled by its antagonists the 
 " Albany Regency," which supported Crawford, avowed 
 itself in favor of the existing system, while the friends 
 of the other candidates, fusing on the point at issue 
 under the name of the " people's party," united in 
 urging the repeal of the law. The charter election was 
 closely contested, and resulted in the election of five 
 aldermen and six assistants on the people's ticket, 
 thus giving to the party a majority. In the course of 
 the year, the power of appointment of the maj'or was 
 transferred from the Council of Appointment at Albany, 
 to the city corporation, who soon after superseded 
 Stephen Allen in the mayoralty by the appointment of 
 William Paulding, the former competitor of Golden. 
 Richard Riker was also removed from the recordership 
 to make room for Samuel Jones ; then restored to the 
 office in the following year. 
 
 In the elections of the two following years, the poli- 
 tics of the city were strangely complicated. New 
 factions sprung into existence, and independent candi- 
 dates were put in nomination. The peojjle's party 
 retained its ascendency in the election of 1824 ; in the 
 following year the republicans regained their power, 
 electing their candidates in a majority of the wards. 
 Since the last election the Eleventh and Twelfth Wards 
 had been added to the city. In the course of the year, 
 William Paulding was removed from the mayoralty, and 
 Philip Hone, a native-born citizen and a federalist of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 707 
 
 M ^ii 
 
 St. Paul's CLapel. 
 
CITT OF NEW YORK. 700 
 
 the old school, appointed in his stead ; not from any 
 influence of his party in the council, but in consequence 
 of a quarrel between the friends of Paulding and Wil- 
 liam P. Yan Ness, the candidates of the rival democratic 
 factions. 
 
 Having thus glanced briefly at the political fluctuations 
 of the city during the first quarter of the century, we will 
 resume the narration of the events of general interest 
 which transpired subsequently to the termination of the 
 war of 1812. This war left the country in an impover- 
 ished condition, but commerce soon began rapidly to 
 revive ; so rapidly, indeed, that the unnatural growth 
 brought on a commercial crisis in 1818-19, which oc- 
 casioned many failures and much suffering. 
 
 In 1817, the first regular line of packet ships to Liv- 
 erpool — the "Black Ball Line" — was established by 
 Isaac Wright and Sou, Francis Thompson, Benjamin 
 Marshall, and Jeremiah Thompson. This line consisted 
 of four ships from four to five hundred tons — the Pacific, 
 Amity, William Thompson, and James Cropper, which 
 sailed regularly on the first day of every month. The 
 " Red Star Line " was next established by Byrnes, 
 Trimble, & Co., with four ships, the Manhattan, Hercules, 
 Panthea, and Meteor. These sailed on the 24th of each 
 month. About six months after, the proprietors of the 
 " Black Ball Line " added four more ships to their line 
 to sail on the 16th of each month, which were soon 
 after followed by the establishment of the " Swallow 
 Tf il Line " by Messrs. Fish, Grinnel & Co., and Thad- 
 deus Phelps & Co., consisting of four ships, to sail on 
 the 8th of each month, thus making a fleet of sixteen 
 
ilfl HISTORY OF THE 
 
 packets, with a weekly departure. This was a desidera 
 turn which the citizens had had avi opportunity to learn 
 to ajjpreciate ; as, previously to this, the departures of the 
 Eiu-opean packets had been verj- irregular and had occa- 
 sioned much inconvenience to merchants and travellers. 
 
 On the 8tli of July, 1818, the remains of Gen. 
 Richard Montgomery, the hero of Quebec, were trans- 
 ferred from their Canadian resting-place to the city, and 
 deposited with military honors beneath the mural tomb 
 in the front of St. Paul's Chapel, which had been erected 
 to his memor}^ in 1776 by order of the Continental 
 Congress. Montgomery, though of Irish parentage, was 
 allied to many of the prominent families of the city, 
 through his marriage with the sister of Chancellor Liv- 
 ingston, and this transfer of his remains occasioned a 
 lively interest among the people. 
 
 In 1819, the first Savings Bank — the institution now 
 located in Bleeckcr street- — was organized under the 
 auspices of Thomas Eddy, Dr. John Griscom, John 
 Pintard, and other well-known citizens, and opened in 
 the basement of the New York Institution, once the 
 Alms House, in Chambers street, with William Bayard 
 as its first president. 
 
 The charter of the United States Bank, gi-anted in 
 1791 through the efforts of Hamilton, had expired in 
 1811 by its own limitation, and, after endeavoring in vain 
 to procure its renewal, the friends of the banking system, 
 in 1812, applied to the Now York Legislature for a 
 charter for a proposed " Bank of America," in the city 
 of New York, with a capital of six millions, five millions 
 to be subscribed at their option by the stockholders of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 ■11 
 
 Tomb of Montgomerj-, in the front wall of St. Paul's Chapel. — {For Inscription, see p. 712.) 
 
7 12 HISTORYOFTHf, 
 
 Tliis Monument is erected by the order of Congress, 
 25th Jan''', 1776, to transmit to posterity a grateful remem- 
 brance of the patriotism, conduct, enterprize & perseverance 
 of Major General Richard Montgomery, 
 Who after a series of successes amidst the most discou 
 raging difficulties Fell in the attack on 
 Quebec, 31" Dec''. 1775, Aged 37 years. 
 
 Jnveait et sculpsit, Parisiis J. J. Caffieri, Sculptor Regius, Anno Domini cbbcdtxvii 
 
 THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 Caused the Remains of 
 
 JMUVJOR. GEIN^L. riICILA.Rr> MO^TTGJ-OlNrKRY, 
 
 To be conveyed from Quebec 
 
 And deposited beneath this MonuiEent, 
 
 the 8th day of July, 
 
 1818. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 713 
 
 the deceased United States Bank. This measure, which 
 was warmly supported by the federahsts as well asi by a 
 section of the republican party, was as zealously opposed 
 by Governor Tompkins, who, finding the bill likely to 
 pass both houses, prorogued the Legislature for sixty 
 days, in the hope, by gaining time, to secure its defeat. 
 But this delay availed him nothing ; the Legislature, on 
 reassembling, made it its first business to incorporate 
 the bank, the capital of which was subsequently reduced 
 to four millions. The City Bank, with a capital of two 
 millions, and the New York Manufacturing Company, 
 the ancestor of the Phoenix Bank, with a capital of one 
 million two hundred thousand, were also incorporated 
 during the same session by the Legislature. These were 
 followed by a new National Bank, chartered in 1816 for 
 twenty years, with a capital of thirty-five millions, v. 
 branch bank of which was established in New York, in 
 Wall street. 
 
 In 1819, the city was visited by the yellow fever, 
 which soon disappeared, to return with increased violence 
 in 1823, when its reappearance excited universal conster- 
 nation. This time, the disease broke out in a new 
 quarter. Hitherto, it had invariably made its first 
 appearance on the eastern side of the town ; it now 
 commenced in Rector street, near the North River — a 
 neighborhood which had always been peculiarly healthy, 
 and confined its ravages to that quarter of the city. 
 Although the fever had visited the city so often that it 
 might almost have been considered a naturalized disease, 
 with the appearance of which the citizens had grown 
 familiar through habit, it seemed this year to be regarded 
 
714 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ?.ith osiiecial consternation. All who could, fied me city -. 
 the banks and custom house were removed to Greenwicii 
 village, the streets below the Park, comprising the 
 infected district, were walled iip, and all intercourse with 
 them strictly prohibited, and the residents therein who 
 were unwilling to quit their homes were forcibly removed 
 by the Board of Health. For a time, business was 
 entirely suspended, and the city wore the aspect of 
 ab.'^olute solitude, broken only by the rumbling of the 
 hearses, and the shadows of the nurses who remained to 
 watch the dying and care for the burial of the dead. 
 But these precautions tended greatly to check the ra- 
 vaees of the disease. From the commencement of the 
 fever, on the 17th of June, to its disappearance, on the 
 2d of November, the deaths numbered but two hun- 
 dred and forty, being far less than in most of its pre- 
 vious visitations. The quarantine, established at Staten 
 Island in 1821, soon checked the periodical recurrence 
 of the disease, which appeared for the last time during 
 this summer. 
 
 In the summer of 1824, news was received that Gene- 
 ral Lafayette was on his way to New York, and the 
 corporation at once prepared to welcome him as the 
 guest of the city upon his arrival. The idol of the whole 
 country, he was especially such of the city of New York, 
 made up in great part of the so-called " French party," 
 which had sympathized warmly with France in the 
 struggle for independence, headed in the first place 
 by Lafayette ; which had denounced the neutrality 
 of the American government as cowardly and dis- 
 honorable, and which let no opportunity slip for 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 715 
 
 demonstrating its attachment to Prance, and its corres- 
 ponding detestation of her rival, Great Britain. Xot 
 less was he beloved by the opposite party — the friend ol 
 Hamilton, the adopted brother of Wasliington. the 
 favorite of all liis companions in arms, he liad won 
 o-olden opinions from all ranks and parties by his frank- 
 ness and valor in the American Revolution, and his visit 
 was a continnous march of triumph throughout the 
 country. On Sunday, the 15th of August, he arrived in 
 the ship Cadmus, and landed on Staten Island, where he 
 remained till the next day at the residence of Daniel D. 
 Tompkins, at this time Vice-President of the United 
 States. On Monday, he was escorted up to the city by 
 a large naval procession, and landed at Castle Garden 
 amid the ringing of bells, the salutes of artillery and the 
 shouts of the enthusiastic multitude, assembled to wel- 
 come the guest of the nation. Prom the Battery, he 
 was escorted to the City Hall, where he was welcomed 
 by the corporation, assembled there to receive him, and 
 congratulated by Mayor Paulding on his safe arrival, 
 then conducted to Bunker's Mansion House, where free 
 quarters had been provided for him and his suite. Dur- 
 ing his stay in the city, he visited the navy yard, fortifi- 
 cations and public institutions, and held a daily levee in 
 the City Hall, where he was waited upon by thousands 
 of the citizens. At his departure, he was escorted by a 
 large detachment of troops to Kingsbridge, whence he 
 set out for his proposed tour through the States. The 
 beginning was but the augury of the future. Every- 
 where, the same welcome and the same festivities awaited 
 him, and when he returned to New York in September 
 
) [Q HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1825, having accomplished a tour through the whole 
 country in the space of thirteen months, despite hi? 
 lameness and his eighty-six years, the citizens bade adieu 
 to him in a fete at Castle Garden which surpassed any- 
 thing of the kind before witnessed in the country. 
 
 The year 1825 witnessed the completion of a public 
 work to which the city owes much of its present import- 
 ance — the Erie Canal. This gigantic enterprise grew out 
 of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, incor- 
 porated in 1792, with fifty members, for the purpose of 
 improving the navigation of the Mohawk River and of 
 opening a communication by canal to Seneca Lake and 
 Lake Ontario. Of this company, General Philip Schuy- 
 ler was president, and Barent Bleecker, Jeremiah John- 
 son and Elkanah Watson of Albany, with Thomas Eddy 
 and Walter Bowne of New York, the most active mem- 
 bers. The Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company 
 was also organized about the same time for the purpose 
 of opening a communication between the Hudson River 
 and Lake Champlain. The route in question was care- 
 fully surveyed by Mr. Weston, a civil engineer from 
 England, in company with Thomas Eddy ; and their 
 reports, added to a tour of observation made by himself 
 in 1800 through the western part of the State, suggested 
 to Gouverneur Morris, who was actively interested in 
 the enterprise, the idea of a canal from the Hudson River 
 to Lake Erie. The proposal attracted general attention : 
 the aid of the federal government was solicited in the 
 matter, and, failing to obtain this, a resolution calling 
 attention to the subject was introduced into the State 
 Legislature, in 1808, by Joshua Forman, of Onondaga 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 717 
 
 County, and the surveyor-general directed to have the 
 route in question explored and surveyed, the sum of six 
 hundred dollars being appropriated for the purpose. 
 The survey was made by James Geddes, and a report 
 of it furnished to the surveyor-general in 1809. On the 
 13th of March of the following year, the subject was 
 brought up in the Senate by Jonas Piatt, and De Witt 
 Clinton, at this time a member of the Senate, was 
 induced to give his support to the measure. From this 
 time, dates the interest of Clinton in the canal ; and, 
 though he was not the original projector of the scheme, 
 it may safely be affirmed that to his practical talent, his 
 indomitable energy and his obstinate perseverance is due 
 the successful termination of the stu^^endous work — the 
 giant of canals and the pride of the Empire State. 
 Through his influence, the project was received with 
 favor in the Senate, and a committee appointed con- 
 sisting of Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, 
 William North, Thomas Eddy, Peter B. Porter, Robert 
 R. Livingston, and Robert Fulton, of which Morris was 
 chairman, to survey the track of the canal, take levels, 
 make estimates and form plans. In 1811, a report was 
 furnished in behalf of the committee by Gouverneur 
 Morris, accompanied with a finely executed map of the 
 whole route ; upon the' receipt of which, a bill was 
 brought into the Legislature by Clinton and passed on 
 the 8th of April, vesting the canal commissioners with 
 full executive power in respect to the navigation between 
 the Hudson and the Lakes — and now the struggle began. 
 The war, breaking out almost immeiliately, greatly 
 retarded the progress of the work. The magnitude of 
 
718 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the undertaking startled the citizens, many of whom 
 sneered at it as visionary, and termed it, in derision, 
 "Clinton's big ditch;" and the opponents of Clinton 
 made of the scheme a political issue, and thus strength- 
 ened the opposition by the prejudice of party. Clinton 
 and Morris, after vainly soliciting aid from the national 
 government, appealed for assistance to individual States, 
 and, aided by their friends, struggled long and eaniestl}' 
 for the success of the enterprise. How much the public 
 expression of sympathy in the city of New York contri- 
 buted to the ultimate success of their endeavors will best 
 be told in Clinton's own words. " At the commence- 
 " ment of the year 1816," says he, in his reply to the 
 New York Address, " a few individuals held a consulta- 
 ' tion in the city of New York, for the purpose of call- 
 ' ing the public attention to the contemplated Western 
 ' and Northern Canals. The difficulties to be sur- 
 ' mounted were of the most formidable aspect. The 
 ' State, in consequence of her patriotic exertions during 
 'the war, w^as considerably embarrassed in her finances; 
 ' a current of hostility had set in against the project; 
 ' and the preliminary measures, however well intended, 
 ' ably devised or faithfull}- executed, had unfortunately 
 ' increased instead of allaj'ing prejudice. And such was 
 ' the weight of these and other considerations, that the 
 ' plan was generally viewed as abandoned. Experience 
 ' evinces that it is much easier to originate a measure 
 ' successfully, than it is to revive one which has alread_v 
 ' been unfavorably received. Notwithstanding those; 
 ' appalling obstacles, which were duly considoreu, a 
 ' public meeting was called, of which William Baj^ard 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 710 
 
 •'was chairman and John Pinturd secretary ; a memorial 
 " in favor of tiie canal polic}' was read and approved, 
 "and a correspondent spirit, which induced the Legisla- 
 " ture to pass a law authorizing surveys and examina- 
 " tions, took place in every part of the State." 
 
 On the 17th of April, 1816, a law was passed, appoint- 
 ing a board of commissioners with authority to laj out 
 the track of the canals, and appropriating twenty 
 thousand dollars for the purpose. De Witt Clinton wa.« 
 appointed president of the board, then removed fron; 
 the office in 1824, in direct opposition to the wishes of 
 the friends of the undertaking. On the 10th of March 
 1817, the commissioners presented an elaborate report 
 of their proceedings to the Legislature ; and on the 
 17th of April, 1817, a law was passed amid the most 
 strenuous opposition, providing funds for the construc- 
 tion of a grand canal, three hundred and sixty-three 
 miles in length, with a surface of forty feet in breadth, 
 declined to eighteen feet at the bottom, and containing 
 a depth of four feet of water, sufficient for convey^- 
 ing vessels of more than one hundred tons biu'den, 
 which should connect the waters of the Great Lakes 
 with the Atlantic ocean, and form, next to the great 
 wall of China, the longest line of continued labor in the 
 world. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1817, the ground was first broken 
 for the canal by James Richardson, on the middle section 
 in the vicinity of Rome, and from this date the work did 
 not cease for a single day until its completion in 1825. 
 On the 22d of October, 1819, the first boat sailed on the 
 Brie canal from Rome to Utica, with De Witt Clintcn, 
 
720 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 then governor of the State, Chancellor Livingston, Gen, 
 S. Van Rensselaer, and a large party of friends of the 
 enterprise on board. This was a passenger-boat, named 
 the Chief Engineer, in comphment to Benjamin Wright, 
 and was dragged by a single horse. 
 
 The work completed, the city of New York was 
 naturally selected as the most suitable place for the 
 canal celebration. On the morning of the 26th of 
 October, 1825, the first flotilla of canal-boats left Buffalo 
 for New York, where the intelligence of its departure 
 was received one hour and twenty minutes after by the 
 sound of cannon, stationed along the line. The answer 
 was returned in the same time ; and thus, in less than 
 three hours, Buffalo had spoken to New York and 
 received a reply. In our days of telegraphs, this seems 
 filow conversation ; but the electric wire had not then 
 girdled the earth, and this rapid transmission of news 
 seemed almost a miracle. 
 
 On the 4th of November, at about five o'clock in the 
 morning, the fleet, consisting of the Chancellor Living- 
 ston, in which were Clinton and his party, with a long 
 line of canal packet-boats in tow, arrived at New York 
 and anchored near the State Prison at Greenwich, amid 
 the ringing of bells and the salutes of artillery. Here 
 they were met by the steamship "Washington, with a 
 deputation from the Common Council on board, to con- 
 gratulate the company on their arrival from Lake Erie. 
 The fleet soon after weighed anchor, and, rounding the 
 Battery, proceeded up the East River to the Navy Yard, 
 where salutes were fired, and the visitors were met by 
 the corporation. Here a grand naval procession was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 721 
 
 formed, consisting of nearly all the vessels in port 
 gaily decked with colors of all nations, and escorted tc 
 the United States schooner Dolphin, moored within 
 Sandy Hook, where the great ceremony of the day was 
 to be performed. The actors in the programme having 
 entered the schooner, the vessels in the procession 
 formed a circle about the spot, and Clinton poured a keg 
 of the fresh water of Lake Erie into the waves, thus 
 wedding the inland seas with the Atlantic ocean. Fol- 
 lowing in his footsteps. Dr. Mitchill poured into the 
 waves waters which he had gathered from every zone— 
 from the Ganges and the Indus, the Nile and the 
 Gambia, the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine and the 
 Danube, the Mississippi and Columbia, the Orinoco, the 
 Plate and the Amazon, in token of the varied commerce 
 which would gather about the island, destined to become 
 the commercial centre of the Avorld. On the land, the 
 celebration was not less imposing. A civic procession 
 four and a half miles in length, numbering nearly seven 
 thousand persons, paraded with banners and music 
 through the principal streets of the city, then proceeded 
 to the Battery to meet the corporation on their return 
 from Sandy Hook. A magnificent display of fireworks 
 was given in the evening in the Park, the public and 
 private buildings were illuminated, and the whole city 
 wore an air of festivity. Not a single accident occurred 
 to mar the harmony of the day, and the Erie Canal 
 celebration may justly be ranked as one of the most 
 successful pageants ever witnessed in the city. 
 
 Governor Clinton did not long enjoy his triumph, but 
 expired suddenly of disease of the heart while sitting in 
 46 
 
IZZ CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 his library on the 11th of February, 1828. The news 
 of his decease occasioned deep grief in the city of which 
 he had been the greatest benefactor. Suitable public 
 testimonials of respect were offered by the corporation 
 to his memory, and, on the Canal anniversary of 1853, 
 a colossal bronze statue of him, executed by H. K. Brown, 
 of Newburgh, to the order of several private citizens of 
 New York, wa.s set up Avith appropriate ceremonies in 
 Greenwood Cemetery. Mr. Clinton was t^vice manied ; 
 first, to Miss Maria Franklin, daughter of an eminent 
 merchant of the city, by whom he had seven sons and 
 tiiree daughters ; and lastly, to Miss Catherine Jones. 
 liaughter of Dr. Thomas Jones of New York, who sur- 
 vived him. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 'Jas Companies — The Italian Opera — Journalism in the city— Great Fire of 1835— Com- 
 mercial Panic in 1837- The Croton Aqueduct — Astor Place OperaHouse Riot — Crystal 
 Palace — Position of Affairs in 1855. 
 
 PfoR was the Erie Canal — a work, of all others, rele- 
 vant to the history of the city, to the growth of which 
 it has contributed so largely — the only puljlic improve- 
 ment that sprung into existence during the year 1825 ; 
 gas-pipes, joint-stock companies, the opera, the Sunday 
 press, and the Merchants' Exchange, all made their first 
 advent in the great metropolis in the course of the same 
 year. 
 
 First, of the introduction of gas into the city. Hitherto, 
 the streets had been dimly lighted with oil ; and though 
 efforts had been made to substitute something better, 
 and experiments had even been made in the Park with 
 gas-lights as early as the summer of 1812, nothing defi- 
 nite was done until March, 1823, when the New York 
 Gas Light Company was incorporated with a capital of 
 $1,000,000, with the privilege of supplying all that part 
 
724 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of the city south of Canal and Grand streets. In May, 
 1825, it commenced the proposed improvement by laying 
 gas-pipes iu Broadway on both sides of the street, from 
 Canal street to the Battery. From these, they were 
 gradually extended over the southern j)art of the island, 
 though for years the city presented a checkered appear- 
 ance, with one block dimly lighted by the ancient oil- 
 lamps, and the next brilliantly illuminated from the 
 works of the new gas company. In 1830, the impi-ove- 
 ment was extended to the northern part of the island by 
 the incorporation of the Manhattan Gas Light Company, 
 with a capital of $500,000, for the purpose of supplying 
 the upper port of the city, not included within the Hmits 
 of the New York Company. The innovation soon grew 
 into favor ; both companies have been eminently success- 
 ful, and at the present day, nearly the whole of New 
 York Island is veined with a net-work of pipes, both of 
 gas and water, bringing the two elements into the homes 
 of the citizens, ready to gush forth at the touch of the 
 obedient faucet. 
 
 Not so beneficial in their resvilts were the joint-stock 
 companies, which, following in the lead of the specula- 
 tive fever which was raging at this time so fiercely in 
 England, rose only to lead an ephemeral existence, and 
 to fall again in the course of the following year with a 
 terrible crash, involving the all of thousands in a com- 
 mon ruin. The history of these is of too recent a date to 
 be classed as yet among historical facts, nor would our 
 limits permit it, were we disposed for the investigation ; 
 it suffices to say that the commercial panic of 182G, 
 brought on by the failure of numerous joint-stock com 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 725 
 
 panies, some under the control of fraudulent stock-job- 
 bers, and others of visionary enthusiasts, honest in 
 purpose, yet misled themselves and misleading others by 
 the bubble of colossal fortunes, built up in a day by a 
 fortunate stroke, destroyed, for a time, all confidence in 
 business, and utterly paralyzed the commerce of the city. 
 But this state of affairs was of short duration ; business 
 gradually revived on a surer basis, the public lost confi- 
 dence in the lotteries, bogus banks, and kindred schemes 
 with which the whole country had previously been flooded, 
 and the chaos resulted in good to the whole community. 
 This year witnessed the first effort to introduce the 
 Italian opera to the shores of the New "World. The 
 theatre was already a fixed institution ; the stage ot the 
 old Park Theatre had witnessed the performances of 
 Cooke, Kean, Cooper, Booth, Wallack, Conway, Math- 
 ews and many others ; Incledon, Braham, Phillips and 
 other vocalists had also been received with favor by the 
 New York public ; yet no attempt had been made at 
 operatic performances. In 1825, the Garcia troupe 
 arrived, and, on the 29th of November, made their first 
 appearance at the Park Theatre in the opera of " II 
 Barbiere di Seviglia," in which Signorina Garcia, after- 
 ward the celebrated Malibran, then but seventeen years 
 of age, made her dibut before the American public, and 
 was received with unbounded enthusiasm. The genius 
 of the great artist was quickly recognized, and the press 
 of the city teemed with her praises. The first opera 
 was continued for thirty consecutive nights, then replaced 
 by others with equal success. She afterward appeared 
 in English opera at the Bowery Theatre, opened for the 
 
726 UISTORY OF TUE 
 
 first time in October, 1826, where she received ten 
 thousand dollars for seventeen nights' performances. But 
 the attempt was premature ; the country was still too 
 young to afford the nv^oessary encouragement to art, and, 
 finding their success not commensurate with their wishes, 
 the artists determined, after two years' trial, to abandon 
 the enterprise, and, in 1827, set sail for France, where 
 the youthful prima donna won herself a world-wide 
 reputation as the acknowledged Queen of Song, then 
 expired in the midst of her triumph, at the early age of 
 twenty-eight. Other attempts to establish the Italian 
 Opera on a permanent basis soon followed with like 
 success. Palmo, with a choice troupe of artists and a 
 tasteful little Opera House, seemed likely for a time to 
 succeed, but was forced at last to abandon the enterprise. 
 The Astor Place Opera House, built in 1848, bore the 
 stamp of failure from its very foundation, and, passing 
 in 1852 into the hands of Donetti, was converted into a, 
 menagerie ; then, in 1854, was purchased by the Mer- 
 cantile Library Association and transformed into the 
 present CUnton Hall. The Academy of Music was 
 opened in 1855, and, after repeated failures. Max Maret- 
 zek succeeded in naturalizing the Italian opera within 
 its walls. It was burned on the night of May 21, 1866, 
 together with the Medical College in Fourteenth street, 
 but was immediately rebuilt, and was formally reopened 
 by a masked ball, March 1, 1867. 
 
 This was also the epoch of the introduction of marble 
 as a building material. Marbles abounded of every 
 shade and texture, and of a fineness unsurpassed by any 
 in the Old "World, yet so strong was the prejudice exist- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 729 
 
 ing against them that when the American Museum, the 
 first marble-fronted building in the city after the City 
 Hall, was built in 1824, not a workman could be per- 
 suaded to put up the edifice, and, as a last resort, a con- 
 vict was pardoned out of the State Prison at Sing Sing 
 on condition that he would perform the work. This 
 museum was built by John Scudder, who removed his 
 collection thither from the rooms which he had formerly 
 occupied in the New York Institution. It remained in 
 his hands and those of his heirs until 1840, when it was 
 purchased by P. T. Barnum, who soon after added to it 
 the collection of Peale's New York Museum, located in 
 Broadway near the corner of Murray street, which had 
 been purchased of the proprietor in 1838 by the New 
 York Museum Company. 
 
 In 1825, the erection of the Merchants' Exchange in 
 Wall street was commenced and finished in 1827, when 
 the Post-office was removed to the Rotunda, where it 
 remained until its destruction by the conflagration of 
 1835. The New York University, the Masonic Hall in 
 Broadway, nearly opposite the New York Hospital, the 
 Arcade in Maiden Lane, and many other buildings of 
 more or less interest were also erected about the same 
 time. 
 
 The approaching presidential election of 1828, rallied 
 the parties together for a new contest. John Quincy 
 Adams, the regnant President, was the candidate of the 
 National Repubhcans, the lineal descendants of the old 
 federal party; while the pseudo "Albany Regency 
 "party," with the republicans at large, supported the 
 claims of General Andrew Jackson, the hero of New 
 
730 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Til isl 
 
 The New York Unifersity. 
 
 Orleans. The friends of the latter at this time assumed 
 the name of Democrats ; a term which had first been 
 ibestowed on them in derision in the days of the French 
 "Revolution, and which originated, like most of the parti- 
 san names, in New York city. The city, increased in 
 1827 by the addition of two wards, was now again under 
 the rule of Mayor Paulding, who had sujjerseded Mayor 
 Hone in 1826. The democrats had clearly gained the 
 ascendency, and in the charter elections of 1826, '7, '8 
 and '9, succeeded in electing a majority in both boards 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 731 
 
 of the Common Council. In the federal election, they 
 also obtained the victory, and placed their candidate in 
 the ^^residential chair of the United States. 
 
 This was also tlie epoch of the anti-masonic excite- 
 ment, arising from the abduction and supposed murder, 
 in 1826, of William Morgan, a recreant Mason of Bata- 
 via, who had threatened to expose the secrets of the fra- 
 ternity. This charge was soon converted into a political 
 weapon, a combination was formed against the Masons, 
 at this time a large and flourishing society, the most 
 extravagant rumors of diabolical practices in their secret 
 conclaves were put in circulation, and at the elections of 
 1827, the people, forgetting the ancient party divisions, 
 ranked themselves as Masons or anti-Masons at the polls. 
 The persecution of the luckless society was fanatical in 
 the extreme ; a number of prominent papers opened a 
 crusade against it, public meetings were held at which 
 seceders from its ranks denounced it as the sum and sub- 
 stance of all wickedness, and a prejudice was excited 
 throughout the community which paralyzed it for years, 
 and seemed for a time to threaten its existence. Before 
 the presidential election, the anti-Masonic colors were 
 adopted by the enemies of Jackson, while the democrats 
 ranged themselves on the side of the hunted Masons , 
 but, though the latter succeeded in electing their candi- 
 dates at the polls, their efforts could not save the fated 
 society from the unpopularity which long checked its 
 growth. The fate of Morgan was never positively 
 known ; a body found in Lake Ontario was declared to 
 be his by the anti-Masonic party — " a good enough 
 Morgan till after the election," the friends of the Masons 
 
732 niSTORr of the 
 
 called it ; and much doubt there was indeed of its iden- 
 tity. The society became almost a dead letter, and it 
 is only within a short time that it has revived from the 
 paralysis and regained its former position. 
 
 In the course of the year 1829, Walter Bowne, a mer- 
 chant of New York, and a prominent politician of the 
 democratic party, was appointed mayor in the place of 
 William Paulding. Mr. Bowne was a lineal descendant 
 of John Bowne, the leader of the Quakers at Flushing, 
 who had been imprisoned for his faith by the order of 
 Stuyvesant ; then released by the West India Company, 
 who would sanction no religious persecution within their 
 dominions. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1830, an amended charter was 
 granted to the city, which provided for separate meet- 
 ings of the two boards, and excluded the mayor and 
 recorder from the Common Council, giving the mayor, 
 however, the power of approving or disapproving the 
 acts of this body. In the course of the following year, 
 the Fifteenth Ward was added to the city. 
 
 New political issues arose on the approach of the pre- 
 sidential election of 1832, and with them new divisions 
 of party. The workingmen's party, suddenly arising in 
 the State election of 1830 to secure for mechanics a lien 
 on the buildings which tliey had erected for the better 
 security of their wages and electing Throop as gov- 
 ernor, then as suddenly vanishing from existence, had 
 not interfered with the charter elections of the city. 
 The democrats still preserved their ascendency, electing a 
 majority in both boards, though enough national repub- 
 licans were found in the city to insure a warm contest 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 733 
 
 at the polls. The first steps toward the organization of 
 the whig party were taken by the latter in 1830, at a 
 meeting held in the city of New York, at which Henry 
 Clay was nominated to the Presidency. 
 
 The party lines were now distinctly drawn, and for 
 more than twenty years the people continued to be 
 divided into the two great sections of Whigs and Demo- 
 crats. The foi-mer, first adopting their distinctive appel- 
 lation in the charter elections of 1833, rallied at first by 
 the name of the Clay party under the banners of Henry 
 Clay, in favor of a protective tariff together with the 
 preservation of a national bank ; the latter supported 
 the reelection of Jackson, who had lately doomed this 
 bank to dissolution by his veto of the bill passed by Con- 
 gress to grant it a new charter in 1836, when the first 
 would expire by its own limitation. The democrats 
 were everywhere successful, electing Jackson as Presi- 
 dent and William L. Marcy as governor of the State, and 
 gaining large majorities in both boards of the Common 
 Council. In the following year. Mayor Bowne was super- 
 seded in the mayoralty by Gideon Lee, a New York mer- 
 chant of eastern extraction, notable for having been one 
 of the pioneers of the leather business in Ferry street. 
 
 In 1832, New York, now freed from the periodical 
 ravages of yellow fever by the strict enforcement of 
 quarantine regulations, was visited for the first time by 
 the Asiatic cholera, wliich raged to a fearful extent, 
 almost depopulating the city and creating a universal 
 panic among the inhabitants. It returned two years 
 after, modified in violence, then disappeared entirely 
 until 1849, when it broke out early in the summer, and 
 
734 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 raged fearfully until late in autumn. In 1855, it again 
 appeared, nor has it since wholly abandoned the city, 
 but remains lurking in its midst, striking down a few 
 victims here and there every summer, yet reserving its 
 force for some future devastation. 
 
 One of the most important events in the history of this 
 era in its bearings upon the city as well as the whole 
 country, was the establishment of the penny press ; an 
 institution which opened the way for cheap literature, 
 and, by placing the daily journals within reach of every 
 citizen, disseminated general knowledge, and tended 
 emphatically to make of our people what they are now 
 acknowledged to be — the greatest reading nation of any 
 on the globe. 
 
 At this time, there were about fifty daily, weekly, 
 semi-weekly and monthly journals in New York. Fore- 
 most among these were the Commercial Advertiser, the 
 oldest of the city papers, at this time under the charge 
 of Col. William L. Stone ; the Evening Post, edited by 
 William Coleman ; the Morning Coxirier of James Wat- 
 son Webb and the New York Enquirer of Mordecai M. 
 Noah, blended, in 1829 into the Courier and Eiiquirer ; 
 the Journal of Commerce, commenced in 1827 under the 
 editorship of David Hale ; the Standard, edited by John 
 I. Mumford, and the Spirit of the Times, just issued by 
 WiUiam T. Porter. The New York Mirror, edited by 
 George P. Morris, in which N. P. Willis was first attract- 
 ing public attention by a series of piquant European 
 letters, and the Knickerbocker Magazine, commenced in 
 1833 under the auspices of Peabody and subsequently 
 sold by him to Louis Gaylord Clark and Clement M. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 735 
 
 Old Church of the Messiah in Broadway. 
 
 Edson, were the only literary papers of the city. In 
 these, Irving, Cooper, Paulding, Bryant, Sinims, Fay, 
 and a host of others, now well-known veterans in the 
 literary world, made their first essays as candidates 
 for public favor, and won an earnest of their future 
 laurels. 
 
 The dailies were sixpenny journals, and were distri- 
 buted to regular subscribers. Newsboys were unknown, 
 and though, upon the occurrence of some unusual event, 
 
736 HISTORYOFTIIE 
 
 a hundred extra copies were sometimes struck ofF in 
 view of a possible outside demand, the chances for the 
 sale of these were so hazardous, that few of the dis- 
 tributors cared to take the trouble and responsibility of 
 offering them for sale. On the 29th of October, 1832, 
 the New York Globe, a two-cent paper, was issued by 
 James Gordon Bennett, the founder of the N'e^o Yorh 
 Herald, ^vho tad been for several years connected with 
 the National Advocate and the Courier and Enc[nirer ; 
 but the experiment proved unsuccessful, and the paper 
 exi)ired just one month after the date of its birth. 
 
 The idea of the possibility of a penny paper first 
 originated in the brain of Dr, Horati David Sheppard, 
 a young medical student, rich in hopes but lacking in 
 money, who vainly endeavored to persuade his friends 
 of the feasibility of the scheme. Convinced as he was 
 that a spicy journal, offered everywhere by boys at the 
 low price of one cent, would be bought up by the crowd 
 with avidity, he found the idea scouted by all the jour- 
 nalists of the city to whom he in turn applied, and when 
 he finally succeeded in prevailing upon Horace Greeley 
 and Francis Story, who were on the point of setting up 
 a printing establishment, to print his paper and give him 
 credit for a week, he could only secure their cooperation 
 by fixing the price at two cents per copy. On the 1st 
 of January, 1833, he issued the Morning Post, his pro- 
 jected paper, in the midst of a violent snow-storm, which 
 checked the sale and disheartened the few newsboys 
 engaged in the enterprise. At the end of the first 
 week, he met the promised payment, during the second, 
 his receipts scarcely covered half his expenses, and at the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 737 
 
 expiration of the third, the young printers, themselves 
 almost destitute of capital, finding him wholly unable to 
 meet his engagements, were compelled to refuse him 
 further credit, and thus to stop the publication of the 
 paper. Discouraged at his ill success, Dr. Sheppard 
 abandoned the ranks of journalism and returned to his 
 profession. 
 
 The idea fell into other hands. On the 3d of Septem- 
 ber, 1833, Benjamin H. Day, who, in 1829, had com- 
 menced the publication of the Daily Sentinel, which he 
 afterward sold to George H. Evans, issued the Sun, the 
 first penny paper ever published in New York. Ho 
 soon discovered that he had struck a vein. Sneered at 
 and despised by its more pretentious contemporaries, the 
 cheapness of the little paper commended it to the mass, 
 and in less than a year, its circulation increased to eight 
 thousand copies. 
 
 Entering the lists of competition with its powerful 
 rivals without subscribers, and the acknowledged organ 
 of no party, the proprietor of the new journal struck 
 upon the method for insuring its circulation first projected 
 by Sheppard, and, advertising for boys to work for him 
 at two dollars per week, dispatched them with a 
 hundred and twenty-five copies each to different parts 
 of the city to cry the papers for sale to the passers-by, 
 with a promise of more at a reduced rate as soon as 
 these should be disposed of. In the course of two or 
 three hours, the papers were sold, and the boys came 
 back for a fresh supply, which was given them at the 
 rate of nine cents per dozen ; and from this period may 
 be dated the origin of the race of newsboys, now 
 47 
 
.00 H I S T R Y F T n E 
 
 flaturalized in almost every city in the Union. The 
 experiment soon proved successful ; and the boys made 
 the business profitable both to themselves and their 
 employer. Ere long, the other publishers, taking the 
 cue from this success, published an extra edition of their 
 papers for the newsboys, while, by way of exchange, 
 several of the regular distributors of these, finding that 
 the profits of the boys amounted to more than their 
 small weekly salaries, set to work to procure subscribers 
 to tlie Sun, and to establish newspaper routes as private 
 speculations. 
 
 The most curious fact in the history of this first penny 
 journal, was the publication of the celebrated " Moon 
 Hoax," or Discoveries in the Moon, written by Richard 
 Adams Locke, at that time editor of the Siin and subse- 
 quently one of the propi-iotors of the Netv Era. This 
 paper, wliich purported to be an account of Sir John 
 F. W. Herschel's discoveries at the Cape of Good Hope, 
 taken from the Supplement of the Edinburgh Philosophical 
 Journal, was written with every appearance of con- 
 sistency. After disarming suspicion by a scientific 
 description of an ingeniously-invented telescope by 
 which these discoveries had been made, the author pro- 
 ceeded to delineate the geographical features and the 
 inhabitants of the moon with such graphic power and 
 show of probability, that the gravest journals swallowed 
 the bait, and took the account as a historical fact, piqued 
 as they were at the lucky chance which had thrown the 
 earliest intelligence of so important a discovery into the 
 hands of the despised penny paper. One journal, 
 indeed, gravely assured its readers on the day after the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 739 
 
 puLlicatioii in the Sun of the lunar discoveries, that it 
 had also received the account by the same mail, and was 
 only prevented from publishing it l)y want of sufficient 
 space. The papers throughout the country copied and 
 commented on the article, keeping its much despised 
 origin as far as possible out of sight, and, in many cases, 
 leaving it to be supposed that they themselves had 
 copied it from the Edinburgh " Supplement." Sir John 
 Ilerschel was everywhere extolled as the greatest dis- 
 coverer of the age, and enthusiasts even began to 
 speculate on the possibility of opening a telegraphic 
 communication with their newly-descried neighbors. 
 The discovery of the hoax excited universal merriment ; 
 but the offence was not soon forgotten or forgiven by 
 the cheated contemporaries of the paper which had 
 issued the canard. In 1838, Mr. Day disposed of the 
 Sim establishment to Moses Y. Beach for thirty-eight 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Stimulated by the success of this enterprise, in 1834, 
 William J. Stanley, Willoughby Lynde, and Billings 
 liayward, commenced the publication of a second penny 
 paper called the Transcript. This proved tolerably sue 
 cessful, and was continued until 1839. Soon after its 
 publication, the Moon was issued by George H. Evans, 
 the printer and publisher of the Working Mens Advocate. 
 This, which was also a penny paper, survived but two or 
 three years. The fourth penny paper, the Morning Star, 
 was published soon after by Lincoln & Simmons ; but 
 this proved a failure, as did also the Morning Dis- 
 patch, published in 1839, by Day, the former proprietor 
 of the Sim, and edited by H. Hastings Weld. 
 
740 BISTORT OF THE 
 
 At this time, some of the best known journaHsts of 
 the present day made their debut in the ranks of their 
 profession. On the 22d of March, 1834, Horace Gree- 
 ley, Jonas Winchester, and E. Sibbett, commenced the 
 pubhcation of the New Yorker, printed at first on a large 
 folio sheet, and afterward in two forms, folio and quarto, 
 the former at two and the latter at three dollars a year. 
 This paper, though literary in its general character, 
 leaned strongly to the side of the whig party. Park 
 Benjamin was an occasional contributor to its columns, 
 and in 1840 Henry J. Raymond, aftenvards editor of 
 the New Yorh Times, then a recent gi'aduate of Burling- 
 ton College, Vermont, began his editorial career upon a 
 salary of eight dollars per week. On the 6th of May, 
 1835, the NrAu York Herald made its appearance as a 
 two-cent paper, under the auspices of James Gordon 
 Bennett and Anderson & Smith, a printing firm in Ann 
 street. A few months after, the office of the paper, 
 together with the whole printing establishment, was 
 destroyed by fire ; upon which Anderson and Smith 
 withdrew from the firm, leaving the paper in the charge 
 of Bennett, who subsequently retained absolute control 
 of its colunms. In June of the same year, the New 
 York Express was first issued by James and Erastus 
 Brooks, and on the 10th of April, 1841, the Tribune 
 appeared as the avowed organ of the whig party, edited 
 by Horace Greeley with the assistance of Henry J. Ray- 
 mond. This was a daily penny paper, about one-third 
 the size of the present Tribune. In the ensuing July, 
 Greele y formed a partnership with Thomas McElrath, 
 and soon after merged the New Yorker, together with 
 
CITY OP NEW YORK. 741 
 
 tlie Log Cabin, a small paper which he had issued during 
 the Harrison campaign, into the Weekly Tribune. Ray- 
 mond quitted the paper two years after to form a 
 connection with the Courier and Enquirer, which he 
 maintained for several years ; then, on the 18th of Sep- 
 tember, 1851, issued the first number of the N. Y. Daily 
 Times, at fii'st a penny sheet, which, the following 
 year, was doubled in price and size, and thus placed on a 
 par with the most prominent of the rival dailies. 
 
 At the time of the establishment of the N. Y. Tribu7ie, 
 a hundred periodicals and twelve daily papers were 
 published in the city of New York. Of these, the 
 Commercial Advertiser, Courier and Enquirer, New York 
 American, Express, and Tribune, supported the whigs ; 
 the Evening Post, Journal of Commerce, Sun, and Herald, 
 inclined to the democratic party, and the Signal, Star, 
 and Tatler were neutral. The Commercial Advertiser, 
 was then, as now, the oldest journal in the city, having 
 been first issued on the 9th of December, 1793. Next 
 was the Evening Post, which, commenced as a federal 
 paper in 1800, had, in 1830, espoused the cause of the 
 democratic party. 
 
 The year 1835 will long be remembered as the era of 
 the most fearful conflagration that ever devastated the 
 city of New York. The fire broke out on the night of 
 the 16th of December, in the lower part of the city. 
 The night was intensely cold — colder than any that had 
 been known for more than half a century ; the little water 
 that could be obtained froze in the fire-hose before it 
 could be used, the buildings were mostly old and wooden ; 
 in short, everything favored the work of destruction. 
 
742 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The flames raged fiercely for three days, completely lay- 
 ing waste the busmess part of tlie city, and consuming 
 648 houses and stores Avith $18,000,000 worth of pro- 
 perty ; among which were the marble Exchange in Wall 
 street, hitherto deemed fire-proof, and the South Dutch 
 Church in Garden street. Some buildings were finall}' 
 blown up by gunpowder by order of the mayor, and the 
 work of ruin was thus arrested. But the destruction had 
 been fearful, and not less terrible were the consequences. 
 Unable to meet the heavy demands of the suflerers, the 
 insurance companies unanimously suspended payment, 
 and the city seemed almost beggared at a blow. 
 
 Close upon this calamity followed the commercial 
 distress of the winter of 1837, which succeeded tlie sus- 
 
 Wall street looking toward Broad-n-ay. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 74" 
 
 pension of the United States Bank. For a time, the 
 business world seemed utterly paralyzed, bankruptcy 
 followed bankruptcy in quick succession, and ere long 
 the banks of the State unanimously suspended payment 
 for one year, having been authorized to do so by the 
 State legislature. But the elasticit;y of the city was not 
 long depressed by these misfortunes, a reaction took 
 place before many months had passed, and business 
 revived more briskly than before. 
 
 Cornelius W. Lawrence was at this rime mayor of the 
 city, for the first time elected to the office by the votes 
 of the people in April, 1834, in conformity with a recent 
 amendment to the State Constitution. Mr. Lawrence 
 was the candidate of the democratic party, which still 
 retained its ascendency in the politics of the city. Two 
 new parties had recently arisen ; the native American, 
 whose policy it was to exclude all foreigners from a voice 
 in political affairs ; and the equal rights or agrarian 
 party, which, crystallizing in 1829 through the influence 
 of the lectures of Frances Wright, then on her second 
 visit to the country, had grown into a powerful faction, 
 and now aspired to the leadership of the democratic 
 party, from whose ranks it had first sprung. This name 
 was also claimed by the Tammany party. The two fac- 
 tions assembled together at the primary meetings at 
 Tammany Hall, the acknowledged democratic head- 
 quarters, each assuming precedence in the councils of the 
 party, and scenes of \aolence often ensued. A curious 
 accident fastened the name of " loco foco" on the friends 
 of equal rights, a name which afterward came to be 
 applied to the whole democratic party. 
 
744 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Loco foco matches — an outgrowth from the phospho- 
 rized sphnters with their accompanying vial of acid and 
 cotton which, in 1825, had superseded the ancient tinder- 
 box, with its flint and steel — had recently come into use 
 with the penny newspapers, and were still regarded as a 
 novelty by the community at large. At a ratification 
 meeting held in Tammany Hall in 1835, at which the 
 Tammany men, finding themselves in the minority, 
 suddenly turned off the gas and left the assembly in 
 darkness, a box of the newly invented matches was 
 opportunely produced by the opposite party, which was 
 henceforth derisively styled " loco foco " by its oppo- 
 nents. The faction, however, accepted the name, and, 
 idealizing it into an emblem of promptitude, proudly 
 wore it as a badge of honor, and it was not long before 
 the once despised nickname was adopted and acknow- 
 ledged by the whole democratic party. It is a curious 
 fact that most if not all of the party appellations which 
 have served at various times to distinguish the politics 
 of the country first originated in this city — republican, 
 federalist, whig, democrat, loco foco, and many more. 
 
 The Sixteenth Ward was created in 1835, as was also 
 the Seventeeth during the following year. At the spring 
 election of 1837, Aaron Clark was elected mayor by the 
 whigs, who also succeeded in gaining majorities in both 
 boards of the Common Council. The election of the fol- 
 lowing year was attended with the same result, but in 
 the spring of 1839, Mr. Clark, who had been for the 
 third time nominated by his party to the mayoralty, was 
 defeated by Isaac L. Yarian, the candidate of the demo- 
 crats, who carried twelve wards out of the seventeen bv 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 745 
 
 small majorities. Mr. Varian retained his office until 
 1841, when he was succeeded by Robert H. Morris, who 
 was elected by the still triumphant democratic party. 
 
 On the 23d of April, 1841, the attention of the citizens 
 had been aroused by a new event, which was fraught 
 with interest to the mercantile portion of the community 
 —the arrival from England of the steamships " Sirius" 
 and " Great Western," the first ocean steamers ever as 
 yet seen in the harbor of New York. This new bond 
 of union between the Old World and the New was hailed 
 with an enthusiasm scarcely equalled by that displayed 
 on the late announcement of the success of the Atlantic 
 cable, and schemes were at once projected by the busy 
 speculators for the establishment of a line of steamers 
 between the continents, which were realized a few years 
 after by the Cunard and the Collins lines. 
 
 The spring election of 1835 decided another important 
 event in the annals of the city. The Manhattan Works 
 had long since been voted a failure, but though various 
 schemes had been from time to time devised for bringing 
 water into the city from the Bronx and various other 
 rivers in the suburbs, nothing had been accomplished, 
 and the people had been forced to return to the wells 
 and pumps of olden times. But the growth of the city 
 had now rendered it impossible to be longer delayed, and 
 after much consideration, a plan for constructing an 
 aqueduct from the Croton River was approved by the 
 corporation, and the question of "Water" or "No 
 Water" submitted to the people at the following 
 election, and decided in the affirmative by a large 
 majority, though those were not wanting who bewailed 
 
(46 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 High Bridge — Crotou Aqueduct. 
 
 the extravagance of the measure, and thought that the 
 water which had served their ancestors would answer 
 very Avell for the present generation. The popuLar ver- 
 dict rendered, the Croton Aqueduct was at once com- 
 menced at a distance of forty miles from the City Hall 
 and about five miles from the Hudson River, where a 
 dam was thrown across the Croton River, creating a 
 pond five miles in length, covering an area of four hun- 
 dred acres and containing 500,000,000 gallons of water. 
 From this dam, the aqueduct proceeded, now tunnelling 
 through solid rocks, then crossing valleys by embank- 
 ments and brooks by culverts until it reached the Haiiem 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 ri7 
 
 River, which it crossed by the magnificent High Bridge, 
 built of stone, 1,450 feet long, with fourteen piers, eight 
 of eighty feet and six of fifty feet span, one hundred and 
 fourteen feet above tide water to the tt)p, at a cost of 
 $900,000. From this bridge, at the foot of One Hun- 
 dred and Seventy-fourth street, the aqueduct proceeded 
 to the Receiving Reservoir at the corner of Eighty-sixth 
 street and Sixth Avenue, covering thirty-five acres, and 
 containing 150.000,000 gallons, whence the water was 
 conveyed to the Distributing Reservoir on Murray Hill, 
 
 11 Filtli Avenue, between Fortieth and Forty-second Streets. 
 
 of a capacity of 21,000,000 gallons, and thence distri- 
 buted l)y means of iron pipes through the city. The 
 work progressed rapidly. On the 4th of July, 1842, the 
 water was let into the reservoir, and the event was cele- 
 brated by an imposing procession. But these immense 
 
748 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 reservoirs have since grown too small for the increasing 
 wants of the city ; and a mammoth reservou' has since 
 been constructed in the Central Park of a capacity ex- 
 ceeding any other in existence. 
 
 Next came the Magnetic Telegraph, first opened to 
 the New Yorkers through the New York, Philadelphia 
 and Washington line, constructed in 1845 — the second 
 in the United States, the first having been constructed 
 in 1844 between Washington and Baltimore. In the 
 following year, a line was opened between Boston and 
 New York, and another the year after, between New 
 York and Albany. Others followed in quick succession, 
 and New York was soon placed within speaking distance 
 of the chief cities of the Union. 
 
 On the 19th of July, 1845, another great fire, second 
 only in its ravages to that of 1835, bi'oke out in New 
 street in the vicinity of Wall, and burned in a southerly 
 direction to Stone street, laying waste the entire district 
 between Broadway and the eastern side of Broad street, 
 and consuming several million dollars' worth of pro- 
 perty. The explosion of a saltpetre warehouse in Broad 
 street during this conflagration, gave rise to the vexed 
 question, "Will saltpetre explode?" which furnished 
 food for some research and much mcri'iment to the 
 savans of the day. 
 
 In 1844, James Harper was elected mayor of the city 
 by the native American party, aided by the support of a 
 large number of whigs. In the elections of the two fol- 
 lowing years, the democrats wei'e triumphant, electing 
 William F. Havemeyer and A. H. Mickle to the mayor- 
 alty. In 1847, the whigs regained the ascendency, elect- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 749 
 
 iug their candidate, William V. Brady. The following 
 year, William F. Havemeyer was reelected by his party. 
 In the April election of 1849, the whigs were again snc- 
 cessful, electing Caleb S. WoodhuU as mayor, and gain- 
 ing a majority in both boards of the Common Council. 
 In 1849, an amended charter was granted to the city, by 
 which the day of the charter election Avas changed from 
 the second Tuesday in April to the day of the general 
 State election in November, the term of office to com- 
 mence on the first Monday of the ensuing January. By 
 the provisions of this charter, which was to take effect 
 on the first of Jmie, 1849, the Mayor and Aldermen 
 were to hold their offices for two years, while the Assist- 
 ant Aldermen were to be elected annually as before. 
 The city at this time consisted of eighteen wards, an 
 additional one having been erected in 1845. Another 
 was added in 1851, and the number was increased to 
 twenty during the course of the following year. 
 
 The mayoralty of Caleb S. WoodhuU was marked by 
 the occurrence of the Astor Place Opera riot, an event 
 which created as much excitement as did the notorious 
 Doctors' Mob in its day. The native American party 
 was at this time powerful in the city, and a strong pre- 
 judice existed among the populace against every one 
 branded with the stamp of foreign birth. To enter into 
 a discussion of the causes or the justice of this hostility, 
 would transcend the limits of the present work ; it suf- 
 fices to say that, at this crisis, the open rivalry between 
 Edwin Forrest, the favoi-ite American tragedian, and the 
 English actor, Macready, was made the occasion for a 
 popular outbreak, and that, on the night of the 10th of 
 
VoO 
 
 EISTORY OF THE 
 
 !May, 1849, T?bile the latter was performing Macbeth, in 
 conipHance with an invitation, at the newly-erected 
 Astor PlacD Opera-house, the mob surrounded the 
 building and attempted to hinder the performance of the 
 play. A scene of violence ensued ; the mob, incensed by 
 opposition, threatened to burn the building, and the 
 mayor was finally compelled, as a last resort, to call out 
 the inilitary and order them to fire upon the rioters. 
 The volley was succeeded by a sharp encounter, in which 
 the mob assailed the soldiers in turn, wounding nearly 
 one hundred and fifty of their number, and the contest 
 
 Interior of Castle Garden in former times. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 751 
 
 did not end until several valuable lives had been sacri- 
 ficed and a host of bitter feelings engendered which time 
 has not yet been able to efface. 
 
 On the expiration of his term of office, Mayor Wood- 
 hull was succeeded by Ambrose C. Kingsland, the candi- 
 date of the whig party. Many local events and changes 
 occurred about the same time, which are of too recent a 
 date to require more than a brief notice at our hands. 
 Among these were the visit of Jenny Lind to the United 
 States, and her first appearance in Castle Garden on the 
 7th of September, 1850, the subsequent visits of Parodi, 
 Catherine Hayes, Sontag, Grisi and many other Euro- 
 pean celebrities ; the new municipal regulations imposed 
 by the amended city charter of 1849, the trial of the 
 caloric ship Ericssovi, the Grinnell expedition to the 
 Arctic regions, and the arrival of the Hungarian patriot, 
 Louis Kossuth, on the 5th of December, 1851. 
 
 At the November election of 1852, Jacob A. Wester- 
 velt was elected mayor by the democratic party. During 
 the ensuing session of the Legislature, the city charter 
 was again amended in some important particulars, among 
 which was the institution of a Board of Councilmen, 
 composed of sixty members, to be chosen respectively 
 from the sixty districts into which the Common Council 
 was directed to apportion the city, in the place of the 
 long-standing Board of Assistant Aldermen. ,.\ 
 
 The chief event which characterized the adm' -rtration 
 of Mayor Westervelt, was the opening of the • .-^orld's 
 Fair for the Exhibition of the Industry of all NatioVj, on 
 the Mth of July, 1853, at the Crystal Palace in Reser- 
 voir Square, near the Distributing Reservoir of the 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Crystal Palace. 
 
 Croton Aqueduct. The fairy-like Greelv cross of glass, 
 bound together with withes of iron, with its gi-aceful 
 dome, its arched naves, and its broad aisles and gal- 
 leries, filled with choice productions of art and manu- 
 factures gathered from the most distant parts of the 
 earth — quaint old armor from the Tower of London, 
 gossamer fabrics from the looms of Cashmere, Sevres 
 china. Gobelin tapestry, Indian curiosities, stuffs, 
 jewelry, musical instruments, carriages and machinei-y 
 of home and foreign manufacture, Marochetti's colossal 
 equestrian statue of Washington, Kiss's Amazon, Thor- 
 waldsen's Christ and the Apostles, Powers' Greek slave, 
 and a host of other works of art beside — will long be 
 remembered as the most tasteful ornament that ever 
 graced the metropolis. Contemporary with this, was 
 Franconi's Hippodrome on Madison Square, covering an 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 753 
 
 area of two acres of ground, an exotic from France, 
 which flourished for a few months, then disappeared 
 from the city. Scarcely more lasting was the existence 
 of the beautiful Palace, which vanished in the short 
 space of half an hour before the touch of the fiery 
 element on the 5th of October, 1858, and fell, burying 
 the rich collection of the Fair of the American Institute, 
 then on exhibition within its walls, in a molten mass of 
 ruins. 
 
 On the 10th of December, 1853, the printing and pub- 
 lishing establishment of the Messrs. Harper & Brothers, 
 in Franklin Square, was destroyed by fire. This estab- 
 lishment was the largest of its kind in the world, con- 
 sisting of nine five-story buildings, and combining all 
 the departments necessary for the manufacture of books. 
 Over six hundred persons were thrown out of employ- 
 ment by this conflagration, which destroyed more than 
 a million of dollars. The enterprising proprietors im- 
 mediately set to work to retrieve their loss, and in 1854 
 erected a magnificent structure on the site of the burned 
 buildings, covering half an acre, and extending from 
 Franklin Square to Cliff Street. As this New York 
 publishing house is the most extensive in the world, 
 as well as the lai'gest and now the oldest in the city, the 
 growth of which it serves well to illustrate, it deserves 
 special mention at our hands. It had its origin in a 
 small book and job printing office, estabUshed in 1817, 
 by James Harper, the future mayor, and his brother 
 John. In 1823 the third brother, Joseph "W. Harper, 
 became a member of the firm, and in 1826 the fourth 
 brother, Fletcher Harper, in turn entered the estab- 
 lishment. At that time their printing office had become 
 48 
 
754 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the largest in the cit}-, though it employed but fifty per- 
 .sons and did its work on ten hand pi'esses. In 1825 the 
 Messrs. Harper removed to 81 and 82 Cliff street, where 
 they entered more largely upon the publication of books 
 on their own account. At the time of the destruction 
 of their establishment, they kept in constant operation 
 thirty-three Adams' power-presses of the largest and 
 best description, and their current publications numbered 
 nearly sixteen hundred. The present establishment pre- 
 sents an imposing appearance, with its ornamental iron 
 fa9ade, five stories high, and one hundred and twenty 
 feet wide on Franklin Square, opposite the old Walton 
 House, the palace of the last century. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 1805—1860. 
 
 Consolidation of Brooklyn, Williamsbnrgli and Busliwick — Hard Winter — Mayor 
 Wood's Administration — Gliarter of 1357 — Castle Garden transformed into an 
 Emigrant Depot — Rachel and Tliackeray in New York^Tlie Central Bark — 
 Amended Charter of 1857 — Burning of the Quarantine Buildings — Changes in the 
 City — Ridgewood Water Works — Police Riots — Financial Distress — BurdeU Mur- 
 der — Potter's Field — Broadway Tabernacle — Burning of Crystal Palace — Japanese 
 Embassy — Great Eastern — Lady Franklin — The Prince of Wales in New York 
 — Election of Mr. Lincoln. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1855, Mayor Westervelt was 
 superseded in. office by Fernando Wood, the successful 
 candidate of the democratic party. High hopes were 
 founded on the new mayor, who inaugurated his rule by 
 advocating numerous municipal reforms, among others 
 the suppression of the Sunday liquor traffic and the pas- 
 sage of the Prohibitory Liquor Law, which was enacted 
 in the course of the winter, only to be declared unconsti- 
 tutional the following season by the Court of Appeals. 
 The contest respecting the sale of intoxicating beverages, 
 which has been continued to our time, was fairly inaugu- 
 rated, and assumed gigantic proportions at this epoch. 
 
 The same date was marked by an event of great 
 importance to the sister city of Brooklyn, which is so 
 closely identified in interests with New York, tliat they 
 can scarcely be separated in thought. On the first of 
 
756 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 January, 1855, the act which had recently been j^assed 
 for the consolidation of the cities of Brooklyn and Wil- 
 liamsburg and the town of Bushwiek took effect, and 
 Brooklyn suddenly leaped from the rank of the seventh 
 to that of the third city in the Union, with a territory 
 of twenty-two square miles, and a population of at least 
 200,000. It had been incorporated as a city just twenty 
 years before, with a population of 24,000. On the sarne 
 territory the population had sextupled, and the wealth 
 quintupled at this time. The new city was divided into 
 two districts, the Eastern and the Western ; the former 
 comprising the territory north and east of the Naval 
 Hospital and Flushing avenue, or Williamsburgh and 
 Bushwiek, and the latter the region south and west of 
 the aforesaid boundaries, or Brooklyn proper. The two 
 districts had separate fire departments and distinct 
 machinery for the collection of taxes ; in aU other re- 
 spects they were practically one, with their common 
 centre at the Brooklyn City Hall. By a somewhat 
 singular coincidence the first mayor of the newly-con- 
 solidated city was George Hall, who had been the first 
 mayor of Brooklyn after its original incorporation, 
 twenty years before. Many of the citizens of Brooklyn 
 desired its annexation to New York, and a biU for this 
 purpose was ineffectually introduced the next year into 
 the Legislature. 
 
 The winter of 1855 was a hard one for the poor. 
 Work was scarce and laborers plenty. Scarcely had 
 the year opened when the cry of famine was raised. 
 Thousands of suffering men, unable to find employ- 
 ment or bread, gathered in the Park and elsewhere, and 
 proclaimed their destitution, or paraded the streets with 
 
C I T Y F N E W Y R K . ( ( 
 
 lianners and mottoes appealing for aid, and cases of 
 want and starvation appeared on every side. New York 
 is never deaf to such a cry. Measures for relieving the 
 needy were at once devised, both by private individuals 
 and the municipal authorities, ward relief associations 
 were formed, soup kitchens were opened in every part 
 of the city, where the hungry were fed from day to day, 
 and a system of visitation was organized for the purpose 
 of allaying the suffering. In the Sixth Ward alone, in 
 one day in the month of January, nine thousand per- 
 sons were fed by public charity ; not one of whom, it 
 may be remarked m passing, was an American. In this 
 connection we will mention an incident which manifests 
 the rapid changes of the panorama before our eyes, so 
 rapid, indeed, that we do not take note in the whirl how 
 the marvels of to-day become the cast-off baubles of 
 to-morrow. The residence of Dr. Townsend, on the 
 corner of Thirty-Fifth street and Fifth avenue, was 
 completed the same season, and was regarded as such an 
 example of almost royal splendor, to use the language of 
 the day, that it was thrown open for exhibition to the pub- 
 lic for the benefit of the Five Points House of Industry. 
 In this short lapse of time the so-called palace has been 
 ruthlessly demolished to make room for a still more 
 sumptuous structure ; and doubtless the latter will ere 
 long be eclipsed by some private dwelUng of still gi'eater 
 magnificence. 
 
 The year 1855 was an uneventful one to New York. 
 Various schemes were agitated for the erection of a new 
 Post-office, — the old Dutch church in Nassau street 
 having long been inadequate to the needs of the city, — 
 an up-town Post-office and a new City HaU; but nothing 
 
758 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was done. The summer witnessed the transformation 
 of Castle Garden into an emigrant depot, a change 
 which at first seemed desecration, for the old fort at the 
 foot of the Battery, with its beautiful grounds, was lial- 
 lowed to the people by many associations, and was not 
 even yet regarded as too far off from the private resi- 
 dences for a place of public resort. Castle Clinton was 
 first granted to the city of New York by an act of 
 March 16, 1790, it having been previously reserved in 
 the Montgomerie Charter. After tlie war of 1812, being 
 no longer needed for military purposes, it was used for 
 many years as a place of public amusement. There the 
 annual fairs of the American Institute were held, and 
 there circuses, meuageries, concerts, theatricals and 
 operas followed each other, from the Chinese Junk to 
 Bosio, Sontag, Alboni, Jenny Lind and Grisi. But the 
 necessities of the case were urgent ; New York had be- 
 come the great centre of immigration, and it was imper- 
 atively necessary that some place should be provided 
 where these ignorant and friendless foreigners would 
 find a safe refuge on first reaching our shores. After 
 much debate, therefore. Castle Garden was surrendered 
 to the Commissioners of Emigration, who adapted it to 
 its new purpose, and on the 1st of August, 1855, it was 
 opened for the reception of the emigrants, who were 
 landed there direct from quarantine. 
 
 In the latter part of the same summer the great 
 tragedienne, Rachel, arrived at New York, where she 
 first appeared at the Metropohtan Theatre, and was 
 received with unbounded applause. In the autumn of 
 the same year Thackeray reached this city, and delivered 
 his first lecture, on George I., at Dr. Chapin's church, on 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 750 
 
 Broadway, between Spring and Prince streets, on the 
 1st of November. 
 
 In the winter of 1855—56, an important improvement 
 was made in the streets of the city by extending Canal 
 street from Centre street across Baxter to Mnl-berry 
 street, where it intersected Walker street, and widening 
 the latter street twenty-five feet to East Broadwa}-. 
 Park Place and Duane street were likewise wiilened. 
 A broad thoroughfare was thus made across the city, 
 which was also greatly improved by the extension of the 
 Bowery and Chambers street. 
 
 By far the most important event of 1856 was the 
 establishment of the Central Park, now the pride of the 
 city. The need of a large public park had long been 
 felt, and various schemes had been mooted from time to 
 time for supplying the deficiency ; but these had all 
 proved abortive, and as the city extended and became 
 denser, its breathing-places diminished ratlier than in- 
 creased ; for the Battery was transformed into an emi- 
 grant depot, and tlie City Hall Park, crowded with 
 public buildings, in noway served the purpose for 
 which it was originally designed. In the beginning of 
 the century, as we have already narrated, a plan was 
 set on foot to surround the Fresh Water Pond with 
 ornamental grounds, and thus to secure to New York 
 a natural feature of rare beauty possessed by few cities — 
 a magnificent lake in its midst ; but the scheme met 
 with no support, and the crj'stal Kolck, instead of being 
 preserved, was gradually filled up and became the site 
 of the Five Points district, the most noisome spot in the 
 city. Later, when Gouverneuf Morris laid out a map of 
 the upper part of the city, lie planned a pai'k containing 
 
760 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 three hundred acres, to be bounded by Twenty-third 
 and Thirty-fourth streets, and Third and Eighth 
 Avenues ; but these spacious grounds dwindled down in 
 reahty to Madison Square with its six acres, while the 
 remainder became the fashionable quarter of the town. 
 A few other parks were scattered over the city — 
 Tompkins Square, Gramercy Park, Stuyresant Park, 
 Union Square, Washington Square, and St. John's 
 Park ; but these were altogether insufficient for the 
 wants of the j^opulation, being simple promenades, in 
 some cases private, and possessing no facilities for 
 riding or driving. It was of the utmost importance to 
 secure the unappropriated lands of the city for this 
 purpose while there was time. On the 5th of AprU, 
 1851, Mayor Kiugsland had made a report to the Board 
 of Aldermen, urging the selection of a site for a pubhc 
 park. This was referred to the Committee on Lauds 
 and Places, who concurred in the report and recom- 
 mended the purchase of Jones's Wood, a fine ti-act of 
 forest land extending along the East River, and 
 bounded by the Third Avenue and Sixty-sixth and 
 Seventy-fifth streets. Their report was adopted by the 
 Common Council, and an application was made to the 
 Legislature for authorization to secure the lands in 
 question, which was granted, and the Jones's Wood 
 Bill was passed July 11, 1851. 
 
 This was but a first step. Various objections were 
 raised to the proposed site, Ijoth on account of its 
 limited space and the monotonous character of the 
 ground, and its situation at the extreme east of the city, 
 and a more central location was urged. On the 5th of 
 August, 1851, the Board of Aldermen appointed 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 761 
 
 Commissioners to examine and report upon the merits 
 of the different sites suggested. After mature deUb- 
 eration, the Committee made choice of a tract of land 
 bounded by Fifty-ninth and One Hundred and Sixth 
 streets and Fifth and Eighth Avenues, about two and a 
 half miles long by half a mile wide, and comprising 
 ""^tVo acres. The report was approved, and on the 
 23d of July, 1853, the Legislature passed an act 
 authorizing the purchase of the Central Park. On the 
 same day, the friends of the Jones's Wood Parlv 
 obtained a similar act in favor of their chosen location, 
 the previous one having remained a dead letter on 
 account of some technical flaw ; and thus the matter 
 stood until the following spring, when the Jones's Wood 
 Act was finally repealed. 
 
 On the 17th of November, 1853, five Commissioners 
 of Estimate and Appraisement were appointed by the 
 Supreme Court to take land for the Central Park. 
 They completed their labors in the summer of 1855, 
 valuing the land at $5,398,695 ; and on the 5th of 
 February, 1856, their report was confirmed by the 
 Common Council and the purchase consummated, 
 $1,658,395 of the amount being levied on the owners 
 of the adjacent property. The State Arsenal and 
 grounds were afterwards purchased at a cost of 
 $275,000. 
 
 At first sight, the spot selected seemed an unpromising 
 one. The land was as wild and uncultivated as in the 
 days of the aborigines of Manhattan. The surface was 
 gi-eatly divei'sified, presenting a succession of rocky hiUs 
 and marshy vaUeys, covered with brush and brambles, 
 with a sprinkling of fine trees, and intersected by a few 
 
7G2 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 little rivulets that took their rise among the marshes on 
 the west and flowed eastward to the river. Yet it was 
 admirably designed by Nature for its purpose, lacking 
 nothing but trees, a want that could be supplied by 
 time, and susceptible of becoming a spot of rare beauty 
 in the hands of a skillful landscape gardener, as time has 
 abundantly proved. In area it equaled Hyde Park 
 and Kensington Gardens united, and was seven times 
 larger than all the public parks and squares of New 
 York combined. As its name indicated, it was central 
 in location ; lying at an equal distance from the East 
 and North Rivers and the Battery and Kingsbridge, 
 the new park embraced gi'ound rich in historic associa- 
 tion — McGowan's Pass, the scene of the battle of 
 Harlem Plains, the old Boston post road of the early 
 Dutch settlers, and the fortilications of the War of 1812. 
 Yet fully as we realize the utility of our beautiful Central 
 Park at this day, and disposed as we are to increase rather 
 than lessen it, the citizens of that time were not equally 
 alive to its importance ; bitter complaints were made of 
 the exorbitant sum expended in the purchase of such 
 an unnecessary extent of land, and such earnest 
 endeavors were made to narrow its limits, that the 
 Common Council at last passed a resolution to petition 
 the Legislature to reduce the size of the new park. 
 This resolution, hapjjily, was vetoed by the mayor. 
 
 On the 19th of May, 1856, the Common Council 
 adopted an ordinance creating the Mayor and Street 
 Commissioner, Commissioners of the Central Park. The 
 latter immediately invited a number of private citizens, 
 distinguished for their taste and knowledge, to attend 
 the meetings, and form a Consulting Board. In pursu- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 703 
 
 ,^.^^;4^ 5l,i I III' 
 
CITYOF NEW YORK. 7G5 
 
 ance with this invitation the ConsuUiiig Board met, for 
 the first time, on the 29th of May. 1856, and elected 
 Washington Irving president. Under the united super- 
 intendence of these bodies, preUminary surveys were 
 made, and a plan offered by Lieutenant Viele, under 
 whose superintendence the survey had been made, was 
 adopted, though nothing further was done for the want 
 of the necessary appropriations. To meet this exigency, 
 on the 17 th of April, 1857, the control of the Park was 
 placed by the Legislature in the hands of a Board of 
 Commissioners, not to exceed eleven in number, who 
 were to hold office for five years, and who were empow- 
 ered to expend the moneys to be raised by the issue of 
 stock by the Common Council. Upon consideration, the 
 plan already adopted was abandoned by the new Com- 
 missioners, who advertised for fresh plans, and in April, 
 
 1858, adopted that of Messrs. Olmstead and Vaux, and 
 at once commenced its execution. On the 2d of April, 
 
 1859, an act was passed by the Legislature extending 
 the Northern boundary of the Pai'k to One Hundred 
 and Tenth street, and thus including a high hill west 
 of McGowan's Pass, which embraces a view of the whole 
 island. In 1864, the Park was again enlarged by the 
 annexation of Manhattan Square, a rugged tract of un- 
 improved ground, covering a space of 19jVo" ficres, and 
 bounded by Seventy-seventh and Eighty-first streets, 
 and Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The whole area of the 
 Park was thus increased to 862^Vo- acres. The largest 
 of the London parks has but 403 acres. 
 
 Under the skillful and judicious management of the 
 Board of Commissioners, to whom too much praise can- 
 not be awarded, the admirable plan of Messrs. Olmstead 
 
766 IIISTOKY OF THE 
 
 and Vaux was executed as rapidly as possible, and the 
 barren waste transformed into pleasure grounds almost 
 unrivaled in natural and artistic beauty, and which are 
 of inestimable value to the citizens of Xew York. Free 
 alike to all classes, with no restriction save that of good 
 conduct, the poor man, who has no other escape from 
 brick walls, here finds a place where he can drink health 
 and life from the pure breezes in the moments snatched 
 from labor, and enjoy the beauties about him far more 
 than his richer brethren who whirl past him in gilded 
 carriages along the gay drive ; for pedestrians alone can 
 appreciate the Park to the full ; the shaded by-paths, 
 sheltered nooks, and fascinating views of the romantic 
 Ramble are accessible to them alone ; and the riders 
 only obtain a bird's-eye view of the place, without ever 
 penetrating to its inner arcana. 
 
 At present, the Park is well-nigh completed, as far 
 as the general design is concerned. Time will heighten 
 its beauties and complete its collections. The cost to 
 the city, thus far, has been over $15,000,000, and never 
 was money more judiciously expended. By successive 
 acts of the Legislature, the entire control of the reser- 
 voirs, and the laying out and grading of the adjacent 
 streets, has been given to the Pai*k Commissioners, who 
 are thus enabled to carry out their plans untrammeled. 
 The Park, itself, is too well known to require more than 
 the briefest description at our hands ; we will only 
 attempt to specify a few general features. It is virtually 
 divided into two parks, an upjier and a lower, by the 
 old Croton reservoir, covering an area of thirty acres 
 in the centre of the grounds, and the new reservoir, just 
 above the latter, which comprises one hundred and six 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 767 
 
 g "f 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 709 
 
 acres. The lower park is most highly finished ; here are 
 found the arsenal, now vised as a museum ; the lake, cov- 
 ered by gondolas and filled with swans in summer, and 
 the resort of merry skaters in winter ; the mall, the 
 water-terrace and fountain, the magnificent bridges, 
 with their exquisite sculpture, the shaven lawns, the 
 music-pavilion, and the bewildering Ramble, with its 
 cave. The upper park is wilder, and more in the state 
 of nature : here are the lofty hill of which we have 
 spoken, the fortifications and block-house of 1812 ; Har- 
 lem Lake, and two smaller sheets of water ; Mount St. 
 Vincent, which was occupied, for more than three years, 
 as a soldiers' hospital during the late war ; the rugged 
 cliffs, and the broad meadows. At the west, on Manhat- 
 tan Square, is the Museum of Natural History ; at the 
 east, the ]\Ietropolitan Museum of Art. The number of 
 animals, both foreign and domestic, that are already in 
 the Park, is considerable ; stately Cape bnii'aloes, timid 
 deer, and placid southdown sheep, with abundance of 
 rabbits and squirrels, are met in the grounds. A fine 
 collection of birds and animals form the nucleus of the 
 proposed zoological gardens. Statues, also, are in pro- 
 cess of erection. Choice shrubs and flowers everywhere 
 adorn the grounds, through which wind over ten miles 
 of carriage-road and thirty miles of walks ; in short, 
 everything gives promise that the Central Park will, in 
 time, be unsurpassed by any public park in existence. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1856, considerable interest was 
 awakened by the launch of the Adriatic, the largest 
 steamship as yet afloat. In the same spring, a well- 
 known landmark passed away from New York ; namely, 
 the Brick Church in Beekman street, which, erected in 
 49 
 
770 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1767-G8, on the edge of the Swamp, or what was 
 formerly a portion of the estate of Jacob Leisler, had 
 reared its tall spire there for nearly a century. On the 
 25th of May, 1856, service was held for the last time in 
 the old church, which was soon afterwards replaced by 
 the Times Building, one of the finest structures in the 
 city. 
 
 The great popular excitement of the spring of 1856 
 was the assault on Senator Sumner by Preston Brooks, 
 which roused the indignation of the whole North, and 
 created great excitement in New York City. This 
 excitement found expression in an immense mass 
 meeting at the Broadway Tabernacle, the largest ever 
 held in that well-known hall. George Griswold was 
 chosen president, and a large number of the most 
 influential citizens acted as vice-presidents. Speeches 
 were made and resolutions adopted expressive of 
 sympathy for Mr. Sumner, and indignation for the 
 outrage which he had suffered. 
 
 In July, 1856, the first statue of modern New York 
 was setup ; namely, the equestrian statue of Washington, 
 at the lower end of Union Square. Since the demoli- 
 tion of the Pitt statue in Wall street and the statue of 
 George III. on the Bowling Green, the public places of 
 the city had remained unadorned by woi-ks of art. A 
 resolution was adopted by the Common Council in the 
 same month, authorizing the erection of a monument 
 to General Worth, whose remains had been brought 
 from San Antonio at the close of the summer of 1855, 
 by the city, and deposited in Greenwood Cemetery. 
 The triangle formed by the intersection of Fifth 
 Avenue and Broadway, west of Madison Square, was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. TTl 
 
 selected as the site of the monument. Even at that 
 late date, this location was regarded as far out of town, 
 almost beyond the inhabited part of the city. 
 
 On the 31st of Julj^, 1856, the ground was broken 
 for the construction of the Ridgewood Water Works, 
 designed to supply the city of Brooklyn with water. 
 The sources of supply were a number of small lakes, 
 nineteen miles distant, the chief reservoir being in the 
 vicinity of Cypress Hill Cemetery, six miles from 
 Brooklyn. This great public work was completed 
 within three years. The inauguration of the Ridge- 
 wood Water Works was celebrated in an imposing 
 manner on the 28th of April, 1859. The reservoir 
 covered twenty-seven acres, and contained 173,000,000 
 gallons of water. 
 
 The year 1857 was a disastrous one to New York ; 
 a year of mob rule ; beginning with civil strife and end- 
 ing with financial ruin. Many defects in the city 
 charter called for remedy, and the growing abuses in 
 the municipal government of New York, proceeding 
 from the ignorant majority that controlled the elections, 
 seemed to demand that certain powers should be trans- 
 ferred from the keeping of the city to that of the state, 
 which was so deeply interested in the welfare of the 
 great American Metropolis. It began to be more and 
 more realized that there were two peoples in New 
 York, the property owners, or bona-fide citizens, who 
 were for the most part respectable, orderly, and law- 
 abiding men ; and the poor and illiterate masses, chiefly 
 of foreign birth, who owned scarce a rod of land or a 
 dollar, yet who ruled the city by their votes, and 
 elected to office only such men as would pander to their 
 
772 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vices. Nevertheless, the latter class represented and 
 still represents New York City in the eyes of many ; a 
 most unjust judgment. 
 
 In the spring of 1857, the State Legislature passed 
 several bills relating to New York, and amended the 
 charter in several important particulars. The charter 
 and state elections, which had hitherto been held on the 
 same day, were separated ; the first Tuesday in Decem- 
 ber being fixed as the date of the former. The comp- 
 troller, as well as the Corporation Council and mayor, 
 were to be elected by the people. The city was 
 divided into seventeen aldermanic districts, from each 
 of which an aldei-man was to be elected by the people 
 once in two years. The Board of Councilmen was 
 composed of six members elected annually from each 
 senatorial district, or twenty-four in all. The Alms- 
 house and Fire Departments remained unchanged ; and 
 the superintendence of the Central Park was given to a 
 Board, to be appointed by the State Government. The 
 most important innovation, however, was the transfer of 
 the Police Department from the city to the state. By 
 the Metropolitan Police Act, a pohce district was 
 created, comprising the counties of New York, Kings, 
 West Chester and Richmond ; and a Board of Commis- 
 sioners was instituted, to be appointed for five years by 
 the governor and Senate, to have the sole control of 
 the appointment, trial and management of the police 
 force, which was not to outnumber two thousand, and 
 to appoint the chief of police and the minor officers. 
 This Board was composed of five members. The Police 
 Commissioners were to secure the peace and protection 
 of the city, to ensure quiet at the elections, and to 
 
C I T Y O F X E W Y R K . 7(0 
 
 look after the public health. The first members of the 
 Board appointed were Simeon Draper, General James 
 W. Nye and Jacob Chadwell, of New York; James S. 
 T. Stranahan, of Kings County ; and James Bowen, of 
 Westchester County ; the mayors of New York and 
 Brooklyn being members ex-officio. 
 
 This was the signal for war. Mayor Wood, who had 
 strenuously opposed the action of the Legislature, an- 
 nounced his determination to test the constitutionality 
 of the law to the uttermost, and to resist its execution ; 
 he refused to surrender the police property or to dis- 
 band the old police ; and for some time the city wit- 
 nessed the curious spectacle of two departments — the 
 Metropolitan Police under the commissioners, and the 
 Municipal Police under the mayor — vieing for mastery. 
 After exhausting all the resources of the law to evade 
 obedience to the act, the mayor and municipal govern- 
 ment finally caused it to be referred to the Court of 
 Appeals. Before the final decision came, blood was 
 spilled. On the IGth of June, matters were brought to 
 a crisis by the forcible ejection from the City Hall of 
 Daniel D. Conover, who had been appointed street 
 commissioner by Governor King, to fill the vacancy 
 caused by the death of the former incumbent. The 
 deputy commissioner meanwhile claimed his right to 
 hold the office, and a third competitor, Charles Devlin, 
 had been appointed by Maj^or Wood, who claimed the 
 appointing power. Mr. Conover immediately obtained 
 a warrant from the recorder to arrest the mayor on 
 the charge of inciting a riot, and another from Judge 
 Hoffman for the violence offered him personally, and, 
 armed with these documents, and attended by fifty of 
 
(7-i HISTORY OFTHE 
 
 the Metropolitan Police, returned to the City Hall. 
 Captain Walling of the police at first attempted in vain 
 to gain an entrance with one warrant. Mr. Conover 
 followed with the other, but met with no better success. 
 The City Hall was filled with armed policemen, who 
 attacked the new comers, joined by the crowd without. 
 A fierce affray ensued, during which twelve of the 
 policemen were severely wounded. The Seventh Regi- 
 ment chanced to be passing down Broadway, on its way 
 to take the boat for Boston, whither it had been invited 
 to receive an ovation. It was summoned to the spot, 
 and its presence almost instantly sufficed to quell the 
 riot. Mr. Conover, accompanied by General Sandford, 
 entered the City Hall and served the writ on the mayor, 
 who, seeing further resistance useless, submitted to 
 arrest. The Seventh Regiment resumed its journey ; 
 nevertheless the city continued in a state of intense 
 excitement, and nine regiments were ordered to remain 
 under arms Their services were not needed, however, 
 and the Metropolitan Police Act being declared consti- 
 tutional by the Court of Appeals on the first of July, 
 the mayor seemed disposed to submit, and the disturb- 
 ance was supposed to be ended. 
 
 The city, however, had become greatly demoralized 
 by this ferment. Amidst the civil strife of the pohce, 
 the repression of crime had been neglected. An 
 organized attempt seems to have been made by the 
 ruffians of the city, to take advantage of the prevailing 
 demoralization to institute mob rule, in order to rob and 
 plunder under cover thereof. The national hoUday 
 afforded an opportunity for this outbreak. On the 
 evening of the 3d of July, the disturbance commenced 
 
C I T Y F N E W Y R K . /* O 
 
 by an altercation between two gangs of rowilios, the 
 one styled the Dead Rabbits or Roach Guard, from the 
 Five Points District, and the other the Atlantic Guard 
 or Bowery Boys, from the Bowery. The next morning 
 the Dead Rabbits attacked their rivals in Bayard street, 
 near the Bowery. The greatest confusion followed ; 
 sticks, stones and knives were freely used on both 
 sides, and men, women and children were wounded. A 
 small body of policemen was dispatched to the spot, but 
 it was soon driven off, with several wounded, and the 
 riot Avent on. The rioters tore up paving stones, and 
 seized drays, trucks and whatever came first to hand, 
 wherewith to erect barricades ; and the streets of New 
 York soon resembled those of Paris in insurrection. 
 The greatest consternation and horror prevailed through 
 the city ; the Seventh Regiment, which was still in 
 Boston, was summoned home by telegraph, and several 
 regiments of the city militia were called out ; but the 
 riot was not quelled until late in the afternoon, when 
 six men had been killed and over a hundred wounded. 
 There was little fighting the next day until about seven 
 in the evening, when a new disturbance broke out in 
 Centre and Anthony streets. The militia were sum- 
 moned to the spot, and dispersed the crowd. Several 
 regiments were ordered to remain under arms, but no 
 other troubles occurred. 
 
 This riot aroused the citizens to the danger of the 
 position, and intensified the prejudice against the Muni- 
 cipal Police, which was accused of abetting the rioters. 
 Vigorous measures were taken to organize the Metro- 
 pohtan Police and secure its efficiency in spite of the 
 factious resistance which still existed. The rioters were 
 
7(6 HISTORYOFTHE 
 
 l)y no means quieted, however; and on the 13th and 
 14th of July, another outbreak occurred among the 
 Germans of the Seventeenth Ward, who had hitherto 
 lield aloof from the difcturbance, which had been almost 
 wholly confined to the Irish. The riot continued for two 
 days, but was finally quelled b}^ the police without the 
 assistance of the militia, who were under arms, awaiting 
 the signal for action. The peace of the city was not 
 again disturbed, and the elements of disorder were 
 gradually restrained. 
 
 The scourge of civil war was quickly succeeded by 
 that of financial distress. In the autumn of 1857, a 
 great monetary tempest swept over the United States. 
 For several years, the country had been in the full 
 tide of prosperity. Business was flourishing, com- 
 merce prosperous, and credit undisputed both at 
 home and abroad ; the granaries were overflowing 
 with the yield of a luxuriant harvest, and everything 
 seemed to prophesy a continued era of prosperity. In 
 the midst of the sunshine, a thunderbolt fell upon the 
 country. The credit system had been expanded to its 
 utmost limits, and the slightest contraction was suf- 
 ficient to cause the commercial edifice to totter on its 
 foundation. The first blow fell on the 24th of August, 
 1857, by the suspension of the Ohio Life and Trust 
 Company, an institution hitherto regarded as above 
 suspicion, for the enormous sum of seven millions of 
 dollars. This was followed by the suspension of the 
 Philadelphia banks, September 25, 26, succeeded by 
 the general suspension of the banks of Pennsylvania, 
 Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Rhode Island. 
 An universal panic was the result ; the whole community 
 
C I T Y F N E W Y R K . ill 
 
 seemed paralyzed by an utter lack of confidence ; the 
 credit system fell to the ground, carrying with it the 
 fortunes of half the merchants, and business was pros- 
 trated. Failure followed failure. A run upon the banks 
 forced the State Legislature to pass an act, October 13, 
 14, authorizing a general suspension of specie payment 
 by the banks for one year ; the city banks, however, 
 resumed payment on the 24th of December. The Massa- 
 chusetts banks suspended payment on the same day. 
 The panic spread through the United States, and thence 
 extended across the ocean, involving the European 
 nations in the general ruin. The manufactories stopped 
 work throughout the country, thus throwing thousands 
 out of employment and reducing them to a state of utter 
 destitution. A state of terrible suB'ering ensued. 
 Crowds of the unemployed workmen gathered in the 
 Park, clamoring for bread and threatening to procure 
 it at all hazards, while many more, as needy and less 
 demonstrative, perished silently of cold and starvation. 
 For some time, serious danger was apprehended from 
 the rioters, who accused the speculators of being at the 
 root of the evil and threatened to break open the flour 
 and provision stores and distribute the contents among 
 the starving people. Prompt measures were taken 
 by the corporation to alleviate the suffering and provide 
 for the public safety. Many of the unemployed were 
 set to work on the Central Park and other public 
 works, soup-houses were opened throughout the city, 
 and private associations were formed for the relief of 
 the suffering ; but this aid failed to reach all, and many 
 perished from sheer starvation, almost within sight of 
 the plentiful harvests at the West, which lay moldering 
 
778 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in the granaries for the want of money wherewith to 
 pay the cost of their transportation. Money abounded, 
 yet those who had it dared neither trust it with their 
 neighbor, or risk it themselves in any speculative ad- 
 adventure ; but, falling into the opposite extreme of dis- 
 trust, kept their treasure locked up in hard dollars in 
 their cash-boxes as the only safe place of deposit. As 
 spring advanced, business gradually revived, the manu- 
 factories slowly commenced work on a diminished scale, 
 the banks resumed payment one by one, and a mode- 
 rate degree of confidence was restored ; yet it was long 
 before business recovered its wonted vitality. The 
 failures during the year numbered 5123, and the habil- 
 ities amounted to $291,750,000. 
 
 Various landmarks had been displaced in the course 
 of the year. On the 29th of January, 1857, the re- 
 maining portion of the Columbia College grounds, in 
 Park Place, was sold, and the college was removed to 
 Fiftieth street, between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. 
 The fifteen lots of ground on which it stood were pur- 
 chased for the sum of $576,350. 
 
 On the 31st of January, the city was thrown into a 
 state of unwonted excitement by the murder of Dr. 
 Harvey Burdell, a well known dentist, residing at 31 
 Bond street, who was found in his room frightfully 
 mangled. Frequent as murders are in a great city like 
 New York, the horror of the event and the pecuharly 
 mystei'ious circumstances attendant thereon, absorbed 
 the attention of all, and for days and weeks it continued 
 the chief topic of conversation. Mrs. Cunningham, a 
 widow who hired the house of Dr. Burdell, and who 
 claimed to have been privately married to the murdered 
 
C I T Y F N E W Y R K . 7 rJ 
 
 man, with two of her lodgers, Messrs. Eckel and Snod- 
 grass, were deeply implicated by circumstances, and 
 were arrested on suspicion ; but nothing was proved ; 
 the parties were all acquitted, and the afiair remained 
 enveloped in mystery. 
 
 In April, 1857, the city government resolved to re- 
 move the hundred thousand bodies that filled the 
 Potter's Field, or pauper burial ground, from the city 
 limits to Ward's Island, where seventy acres had been 
 purchased for the purpose. Previous to 1823, the Wash- 
 ington Parade grovmd had been devoted to this use, 
 after which the ground now occupied by the distributing 
 reservoir, on the corner of Forty-second street and 
 Fifth Avenue, was taken for a pubhc cemetery. At 
 the expiration of two years, the bodies were removed 
 from both Washington and Reservoir Squares to the 
 new Potter's Field, bounded by Forty-eighth and 
 Fiftieth streets, and Fourth and Lexington Avenues. 
 This site was granted by the city, in the following year, 
 to the State Woman's Hospital, founded in 1857 by Dr. 
 J. Marion Sims, and subsequently conducted by Dr. 
 Thomas Addis Emmet, the grandson of the eminent 
 lawyer of that name, whose monument forms one of 
 the prominent features of St. Paul's Churchyard, and 
 the grand-nephew of the celebrated Irish patriot. 
 
 The same year witnessed the demolition of the old 
 Broadway Tabernacle, the spacious hall of which had 
 long been known as the usual scene of the large public 
 assemblies, as well as the centre of congregational wor- 
 ship in the lower part of the city. This building had 
 been erected in 1835-36, by a society formed for the 
 purpose of estabUshing a free church in that quarter. 
 
780 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The undertaking failed through lack of funds, and the 
 church was sold in 1840. In 1845 it was purchased by 
 the Tabernacle congregation, who continued to meet 
 there, under the charge of the Rev. Joseph P. Thomp- 
 son, until, April 23, 1857, it was finally closed. A new 
 Tabernacle was erected by the Society on the corner 
 of Sixth Avenue and Thirty-fourth street, which was 
 dedicated on the 24th of April, 1859. 
 
 On the first Tuesday in December, 1857, the date 
 fixed by the amended charter for the annual election of 
 municipal officers, Fernando Wood, who was again a 
 candidate for the mayoralty, was defeated by Daniel F. 
 Tiemann, a prominent merchant of the city. The new 
 mayor was duly installed in office on the 1st of Jan- 
 uary, 1858. 
 
 A great revolution followed the stirring scenes of 
 1857. The next few years were not marked by many 
 events of municipal importance. The destruction of the 
 quarantine buildings by the populace of Staten Island, in 
 July, who were determined that their shores should no 
 longer be appropriated to this purpose, occasioned great 
 excitement, indeed, durhig the summer of 1858, and 
 gave rise to a controversy which has continued tiU 
 the present time. During this year the new State 
 Arsenal was erected on the corner of Seventh Avenue 
 and Thirty-fifth street ; and the Cooper Institute, built 
 by Peter Cooper at the cost of over $600,000, for the 
 purpose of furnishing free courses of lectures and other 
 facilities for popular instruction, was thrown open to 
 the public. The School of Design for Women, an 
 admirable institution for the training of women in 
 drawing, painting, wood-engraving, etc., found a home 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 781 
 
 in this building. On the Ljth of August the corner- 
 stone of the new Roman Catholic Cathedral on the 
 corner of Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth street was laid by 
 Archbishop Hughes, in the presence of an immense 
 concourse of j^eople. This structure is in the form of 
 a Latin cross, three hundred and twenty-eight feet long 
 by one hundred and seventy-five feet wide, and is the 
 largest church edifice in America, with a capacity for 
 accommodation not exceeded by any Gothic building in 
 the world. It was consecrated May 25, 1879. 
 
 The great fire of the year was the conflagration, before 
 mentioned, of the Crystal Palace, during the fair of the 
 American Institute, which vanished like a dream on the 
 5th of October, 1858, leaving naught but dust and 
 ashes. On the 13th of February the hospital on 
 Blackwell's Island had been burned, and the physicians, 
 with five hundred patients, had barely escaped with 
 their lives. The hospital was rebuilt in the course of 
 the year. The City Hall also narrowly escaped burning 
 on the occasion of the great cable celebration, of which 
 we shall speak hereafter. 
 
 On the 3d of July, 1858, the remains of President 
 Monroe were removed from the cemetery in Second 
 street, where they had long reposed, to Richmond, 
 Virginia, escorted by the Seventh Regiment of New 
 York. The regiment returned bearing the corpse of 
 one of their beloved comrades. Lieutenant Hamilton, a 
 descendant of Alexander Hamilton, who had died on 
 the way, and whose remains were interred in Trinity 
 church-yard. 
 
 In the summer of 1860, the Atlantic Garden, at No. 
 9 Broadway, formerly Burns's CofFee-House, the Faneuil 
 
782 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Hall of New York, was demolished to make room for 
 Ijusiness, and a warehouse took the place of the an- 
 cient Cradle of Liberty. 
 
 During the years that intervened between the great 
 financial crisis and the civil war, little occurred of pecu- 
 liar interest to New York City ; which nevertheless was 
 deeply stirred by national events, the Kansas troubles, 
 the John Brown raid, and the great presidential elec- 
 tion of 1860. Fernando Wood resumed the mayoralty 
 at the opening of the latter year, having been elected 
 in December, 1859. Despite the impending storms, 
 the year 1860 seemed especially devoted to festivities. 
 An unusual influx of distinguished personages from 
 abroad visited the city, and were received with lavish 
 hospitality. First came the members of the Japanese 
 Embassy, who reached New York on the 16th of June, 
 1860. The arrival of these strangers from an almost 
 unknown country excited universal curiosity and inter- 
 est. They were made the guests of the city during 
 their stay, and entertained with all possible respect. 
 On their arrival at Castle Garden, they were escorted 
 by the National Guard to the Metropolitan Hotel, 
 where preparations had been made for their reception ; 
 at night a grand serenade was given them, and the 
 hotel and surrounding buildings were illuminated in 
 theu- honor. On the 18th of June a grand ball was 
 given them at Niblo's Theatre. They spent some days 
 in visiting the public institutions, and finallj- left the 
 city and country on the 1st of July. Their visit was of 
 peculiar significance, as being the first voluntarj' over- 
 ture on the part of their hitherto secluded nation to 
 open communication with the rest of the world, and 
 
C I T Y F X E W Y R K . 783 
 
 deserved especial notice from New Yoi'k, the commer- 
 cial metropolis of America. 
 
 Close in the wake of the Japanese followed another 
 visitor, in the shape of the mammoth ship, the Great 
 Eastern, which had been recently built in England, and 
 which still carries off the palm from all rivals in magni- 
 tude. The huge vessel was moored for some weeks in 
 the North River, where it was thrown open to the 
 public, and was visited by thousands. 
 
 During the same summer. Prince de Joinville visited 
 New York, as well as Lady Franklin, who came to 
 thank the New Yorkers for the interest and sympathy 
 which they had evinced for her unhappy husband, and 
 the generosity with which tliey had endeavored to learn 
 his fate. The most important guest of the year, how- 
 ever, was the Prince of Wales, who reached Newfound- 
 land in July, and after making an extended tour through 
 British America and the Western and Southern States, 
 reached New York on the 11th of October, 1860. The 
 visit to the American republic of the heir-apparent to 
 the British throne was regarded as a peculiar mark of 
 respect to the country, and did much to extinguish the 
 feud that had been smoldering among Americans since 
 the Wars of the Revolution and 1812. This feud had 
 come to be a thing of tradition, well-nigh obliterated by 
 time ; and the popular manners of the young prince, 
 who travelled under the title of Baron Renfrew, as weU 
 as the universal esteem felt for his mother, insured him 
 a hearty welcome. He was met at Castle Garden by the 
 First Division of the New York State Militia, number- 
 ing over seven thousand ; after reviewing the troops, 
 he was conducted to the City Hall, where he was received 
 
/84 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 by the iimyor and Common Council, and was thence 
 escorted to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, through streets 
 lined with spectators, and gayly decorated with the 
 united British and American flags. It is estimated that 
 over two hundred thousand people participated in the 
 ovation, yet such was the admirable order preserved 
 that not a single disturbance occurred in this immense 
 crowd. The next morning he breakfasted with the 
 mayor, after which he visited several of the public 
 institutions, together with the Central Park, where he 
 planted an oak. On the same night a grand reception 
 and ball were given him at the Academy of Music. On 
 the next night he was entertained by a firemen's torch- 
 light parade, one of the finest displays of the kind ever 
 witnessed in the city. On Sunday he attended Trinity 
 Church. The next morning, he quitted New York, on 
 his way to Boston, where similar demonstrations awaited 
 him. The friendly feeling awakened by the presence 
 of this distinguished guest was hailed as an omen of 
 future cordiality between America and England ; this 
 cordiality, however, was soon doomed to be overshad- 
 owed by the attitude of the latter in our great national 
 struggle. 
 
 The festivities were soon forgotten in the turmoil of 
 the presidential election. New York became the scene 
 of the wildest excitement. Mass meetings of the four 
 parties in the field were held in the public halls, and 
 torch-light processions paraded the streets, with numer- 
 ous banners and devices. Foremost among the transient 
 associations was the Wide-Awakes, a republican organ- 
 ization, which sprang into existence for the occasion, 
 and which attracted much attention by its originaUty 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 78-3 
 
 The tide of excitement rau high. The democrats were 
 stronger in numbers, and the repubUcans in wealth 
 and influence. The other two parties, the "Douglas" 
 and "Bell and Everett," were too small to weigh heavily 
 in the scale. Secession was loudly discussed ; but was 
 regarded by most as an idle threat, designed for political 
 effect. The Southern students in the Medical College 
 met, indeed, just before the election, and resolved, if 
 the republican party were successful, to withdraw in 
 a body and return to their homes ; but they were 
 restrained, and the affair passed over. The election of 
 Mr. Lincoln decided the contest. 
 
 50 
 
CHAPTER XXm. 
 
 1860—1861. 
 
 Accession of Mr. Lincoln — Breaking out of the Insurrection — Peace Measures — 
 Union Square Meeting — March of the New York Regiments — Union Defence 
 Committee — Relief Association — Death of Colonel Ellsworth — "War Meetings — 
 Volunteering — Union League Club — Sanitary Commission — Loyal Publication 
 Society— The Draft — The Great Riot— The Sanitary Fair— The Presidential 
 Election in New York — Hotel Buraiij, — Goldwin Smith — Fall of Richmond — 
 Assassination of President Lincoln — His Obsequies in New York — Paid Eire 
 Department — Death of Preston King — Academy of Design — Burning of Bamum's 
 Museum — Atlantic Telegraph — Board of Health^Cholera in New York — De- 
 molition of St. John's Park and Tammany Hall— Burning of Winter Garden — 
 Conclusion. 
 
 We are not presumptuous enough to undertake to give, 
 in these few pages, a history of New York City during 
 the great civil war. To do justice to this subject would 
 require a volume double the size of the present one ; 
 moreover, this epoch is stiU too near our own to belong 
 to the domain of history. Not tiU the smoke of battle 
 is cleared away, and the passions and prejudices aroused 
 by this period of bitter contention effaced, can the story 
 of this eventful era be fairly written. He would be 
 cold and unimpassioned indeed that could be an actor 
 in this intense drama and remain sufficiently unmoved 
 thereby to narrate it without laying himself open to 
 the charge of special pleading. The most that we can 
 hope to do, in the brief space allowed us, is to chronicle 
 
CITY OF NEW TOKK. 787 
 
 some of the pi-omineiit events that transpired in our 
 city during this time, and to aid in storing up materials 
 for the future historian.* 
 
 Xew York City occupied a peculiar position at the 
 outset of the conflict. It cannot be denied that her 
 most fervent wish was peace. By her commercial posi- 
 tion, as the great centre of the United States, she had 
 been brought into constant intercourse with the people 
 of the insurgent section, and entertained the most 
 friendly feeling for them as individuals, much as she 
 deprecated their public action. Again, she foresaw 
 that in case of war she would not only lose heavily, 
 but would also be obliged to bear the brunt of battle, 
 and to furnish the money, without which it would be 
 impossible to prosecute the conflict. It was natural, 
 therefore, that her citizens should be unanimous in 
 exhausting their resources to preserve peace, from 
 different motives, it is true. We speak of New York 
 collectively, but it must not be forgotten that there are 
 two New Yorks : Pohtical New York, by which the 
 city is usually judged, and which comprises its so-called 
 rulers ; and Civil New York, made up of its native-born 
 citizens, who, outnumbered by a foreign majority, honor 
 the law of majorities, obedience to which they demand 
 from others, pay the taxes that are imposed on them. 
 and hold the wealth which enables the city to sustain 
 its position as the western metropolis. Of these, the 
 
 * In preparing this sketch the author has consulted, besides the journals of the 
 day, Greeley's American Conflict, Moore's Rebellion Record, Harper's Pictorial 
 History of the Rebellion, Lossing's Civil War in America, and the American Annual 
 Cychpcedia, Mayor Opdyke's official documents, PoUard's Lost Cause, and various 
 other current publications. 
 
788 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dominant i^arty, headed by Mayor Wood, desired peace 
 at any price ; another large class, composed chiefly of 
 the men of wealth, were willing to make all possible 
 concessions to avoid the war, of which they knew that 
 they must pay the cost ; and a third party believed that 
 compromises enough had been made, and that the 
 country should brave the issue. Yet all met on the 
 common ground of the pi'esei'vation of the Union. 
 Scarcely the shadow of a disposition was anywhere 
 manifested to interfere with the existing institutions 
 of the South, which many deplored, but which most 
 regarded as a painful necessity, beyond the reach of 
 outside interference. Therefore, when, after Mr. Lin- 
 coln's election, menacing events followed thick and fast. 
 New York at first put forth her efforts to avert the 
 tempest. Floyd's huge robbery, the withdrawal of the 
 South Carolina senators, the secession of their state, 
 followed by that of others, and the seizure of the public 
 property, caused universal consternation ; yet men still 
 clung to the belief that the difficulty would be settled. 
 The attemjited secession of the states, indeed, had drawn 
 in a few of the ultra members of the democratic party, 
 among whom was the mayor, who, on the 7th of Jan- 
 uary, 1861, sent a message to the Common Council 
 setting forth the advantages that would accrue to Xew 
 York should she also secede from the Union and become 
 a free city. It is just to say, however, that he did not 
 formally recommend secession. The suggestion was 
 scouted with indignation ; why, it was asked, should 
 not Manhattanville, Yorkville, and Harlem secede in 
 turn, and where would be the end ? Four days after, 
 on the 11th of January, the State Legislature passed a 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 789 
 
 8eries of resolutions, tentlcriiig to the President "what- 
 ever aid in men and money might be required to enable 
 him to enforce the laws and uphold the authority of 
 the Federal Government," and on the 15th inst. !Major- 
 General Sandford offered the services of the whole 
 First Division of the Militia of New York in support of 
 the United States authority. 
 
 New York City, nevertheless, determined to make 
 one more effort to avert the horrors of war. A memo- 
 rial in favor of compromise measures was circulated. 
 On the 18th of January a large meeting of merchants 
 was held at the Chamber of Commerce, where a similar 
 memorial was adopted, which was sent to Washington 
 in February, with forty thousand names appended. On 
 the 28th of January an immense Union meeting was 
 held at the Cooper Institute, when it was resolved to 
 send three commissioners to the conventions of the 
 people of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
 Louisiana and Mississippi, to confer with the delegates 
 of these states, assembled in convention, in regard to 
 the measures best calculated to restore the peace and 
 integrity of the Union. The Crittenden Compromise 
 was suggested in these meetings as a basis of pacifi- 
 cation. 
 
 On the 22d of January- the chief of the Metropolitan 
 Police, John A. Kennedy, seized thirty-eight cases of 
 muskets which were about to be shipped for Georgia, 
 and deposited them in the State Arsenal of the city. 
 Information of the seizure was at once sent to the con- 
 signees, who appealed to Governor Brown, of Georgia. 
 Mr. Toombs, who was at Milledgeville, at once dis- 
 patched a menacing telegram to Mayor Wood, demand- 
 
790 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ing the cause of this act. The mayor apologized in reply, 
 protesting that he had no authority over the police. 
 Governor Brown retaliated by seizing two brigs, two 
 barks, and a schooner, which were lying in the harbor, 
 and sent word that they would be held till the arms were 
 released. Governor Morgan referred the owners to the 
 United States Courts for redress. They were soon 
 informed, however, that the arms had been surrendered 
 to their agent, G. B. Lamar, whereupon Governor 
 Brown released the vessels, which quickly left the har- 
 bor. Some delay, nevertheless, having arisen in the 
 release of the arms, the governor seized three other 
 vessels, all owned in New York, and held them till the 
 arms were actually in the jiossession of the claimants. 
 These arms were said to belong in part to private indi- 
 viduals, and in part to the State of Alabama, and were 
 supposed to be designed for the use of the insurgent 
 government. 
 
 The end of this phase of the contest soon came. 
 State after state seceded, fortress after fortress was 
 seized, armies were formed throughout the South, and 
 a Provisional Government was oi-ganized at Montgom- 
 ery, which, Febiniary 8th, adopted a Constitution for 
 the Confederate States of America, and elected Jeffei'- 
 son Davis, President, and Alexander H. Stephens, Vice- 
 President. Meanwhile Abraham Lincoln was inaugu- 
 rated President of the United States, at Washington, 
 March 4, 18G1. At length the blow fell. Fort Sum- 
 ter, where Major Anderson and his little band had been 
 for mouths beleaguered by the Confederate forces un- 
 der General Beauregard, was evacuated on the 14th of 
 April. It was owing to the gallantry of a sergeant of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 (91 
 
 tlie New York police force, Peter Hart, who liad for- 
 merly served with Major Anderson in Mexico, that the 
 American flag remained unfurled to the end over the fort. 
 When, in the thickest of the fight, the flag was finally 
 shot down, after having been hit nine times, Hart vol- 
 unteered to raise it again, and, climbing a temporary 
 stafl: amidst a blinding hail of shot and shell, nailed the 
 torn lianner fast, and descended in safety. Sergeant 
 Jasper had immortalized himself of old by a similar act 
 of daring, close by, at Fort Moultrie. Among the his- 
 toric memories of the time, it is worthy of record that 
 a New Yorker saved the Stars and Stripes from falling 
 in the first historic battle of the great war, as a New 
 Yorker, Lieutenant De Peyster, was the first to raise 
 them anew over the Confederate Capital. 
 
 The uprising that followed the fall of Fort Sumter 
 was unparalleled. The peaceful attitude of New York 
 had led it to be supposed that she would cast her for- 
 tunes with the South, or at all events stand aloof from 
 the contest. Never was there a greater mistake. The 
 crisis come, she nerved her energies to meet it, and 
 from that hour to the close of the struggle, her citizens 
 never faltered or withheld their blood and treasure. 
 Those who had been most anxious for peace now vied 
 with each other in asserting their determination to pre- 
 serve the Union, and the mayor, who just before had: 
 urged the advantages of secession, issued a proclamation 
 calling on all the citizens to unite in defence of the coun- 
 try. On the day after the evacuation of Fort Sumter, 
 President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 
 seventy-five thousand men, to serve for three months, 
 the quota for New York being thirteen thousand. The 
 
792 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 New York Legislature instantly responded by passing 
 an act authorizing the enlistment of thirty thousand 
 men, for two years instead of three months, and appro- 
 priating three million dollars for the war. The State, 
 nevertheless, like the country, was almost defenceless ; 
 its arms had rusted in the half a centuiy of peace that 
 had gone by, and of its twenty thousand regular militia, 
 only eight thousand had muskets or rifles fit for service, 
 while its whole supply of field-pieces amounted to but 
 one hundred and fifty. Steps were taken to supply 
 the deficiency ; the regiments prepared to mai'ch ; the 
 recruiting offices that were everywhere opened were 
 seen thronged with thousands eager to enlist, and those 
 were envied who were first accepted. And these volun- 
 teers did not come from the dregs of the people ; the 
 majority were young men of family and fortune, who 
 held it an honor to serve as private soldiers in their 
 country's cause. The Seventh Regiment, which was 
 foremost in the field, is well-known as being composed 
 of the best citizens of New York, and many other of 
 the militia regiments claimed to be its rivals. Besides 
 the regular militia, numerous volunteer organizations 
 were formed under different names. The national flag 
 was everywhere displayed, on public buildings and 
 private residences, steamboats and railroad cars. The 
 veteran General, Winfield Scott, was Commander-in- 
 chief of the United States Army. 
 
 The enthusiasm was general throughout the Northern 
 States, which vied with each other in sending troops to 
 the defense of the menaced National Capitol. Five 
 Pennsylvania companies, which had been hurried for- 
 ward by Governor Curtin from the interior of the State 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 793 
 
 with )ut waiting to organize them into a regiment, were 
 the lirst to reach the spot. On the 18th of April the 
 Sixth Massachusetts Regiment marched through New 
 Yorlv on its way to Washington, and received a most 
 enthusiastic welcome. " Through New York the march 
 was triumphal," Avrote Governor Andrew. Yet it had 
 been predicted that the regiment would be attacked 
 on its way through the city. 
 
 On the next day, the 19th, New York's favorite regi- 
 ment, the Seventh, under the command of Colonel 
 Marshall Leflferts, which had been drilling night aud 
 day, was to set out for Washington. At an early hour 
 the sidewalks were densely thronged, and the streets 
 seemed literally lined with banners. The moment was 
 a thrilling one ; the city, that had known nought but 
 peace within the memory of the present generation, 
 was on the brink of a terrible war with those whom she 
 had held as brethren, and was about to send forth her 
 cherished sons to encounter its nameless perils. It was 
 the first plunge ; and never, perhaps, did the emotions 
 of the ensuing terrible years equal the intensity of that 
 moment. The regiment formed in Lafayette Place in 
 front of the Astor Library, about four o'clock in the 
 afternoon. The surrounding windows, housetops, and 
 even trees, were thronged with enthusiastic spectators. 
 Just before they were ready to move, intelligence was 
 received that three of their guests of the day before had 
 been massacred on their way through Baltimore. An 
 electric thrill ran through the crowd and steeled all 
 hearts with a determination to avenge their deaths. 
 Forty-eight rounds of ball cartridge were served out to 
 the members of the regiment, and having formed in line. 
 
794 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they marched through Fourth street to Broadway, 
 down this great thoroughfare to Cortlandt street, and 
 thence to Jersey City Ferry, and crossing the river, 
 commenced their journey to Washington. Never had 
 New York seemed gayer than on this sunny day, with 
 hundreds of thousands of bright colored flags floating in 
 the breeze, and hundreds of thousands of people assem- 
 bled to take farewell of their departing brethren. The 
 brilliant display that had lately greeted the Japanese 
 Embassy and the Prince of Wales paled before this 
 demonstration ; but the holiday garb was only external, 
 and all hearts were filled with sadness at the the fratri- 
 cidal war, the first scene of which was passing before 
 them. Here we leave the gallant Seventh, the story 
 of whose six days' march to the National Capitol has 
 been so graphically described by one who speedily gave 
 his life in defense of his country. 
 
 . On the same day a meeting of the merchants of New 
 York was held at the Chamber of Commerce, at which 
 resolutions indorsing the action of the Government, and 
 urging a blockade of all the Southern ports, were 
 unanimously adopted, and a large committee of promi- 
 nent capitalists was appointed to make arrangements 
 for placing the nine million dollars still untaken of the 
 Government loan. The announcement having been 
 made that several of the regiments preparing to leave 
 were embarrassed for want of funds, a collection wa? 
 instantly taken up, and twenty-one thousand dollars 
 were raised in ten miiautes. 
 
 On the evening of the day that President Lincoln 
 had issued his call for troops, several gentlemen had 
 met at the house of R. H. McCurdy, and resolved on 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 795 
 
 measures for the support of the government. They 
 determined to call a public meeting of all parties to aid 
 in sustaining the government in this crisis, and ap- 
 pointed a committee, consisting of a large number of 
 influential citizens, to make the necessary arrangements. 
 The members of this committee were notified of their 
 appointment the next day, by a circular, and requested 
 to meet at the Chamber of Commerce, on the corner 
 of William and Cedar streets. A call was at once issued 
 for a great mass meeting at Union Square, to be com- 
 posed of men of all parties who were desirous of pre- 
 serving the Union. 
 
 The great Union Square meeting will long be remem- 
 bered. For the time, as complete unanimity of senti- 
 ment prevailed as could ever be achieved among a 
 million of people. All diffei'ences of opinion seemed 
 hushed for the time, and the only thought was the 
 common safety. The largest concourse of people 
 that had ever been witnessed in New York assem- 
 bled on the afternoon of the 20th of April, in Union 
 Square. All the places of business in the city were 
 closed. Four stands had been erected for the speak- 
 ers ; but these proved insufficient, and those who 
 were unable to obtain a place within hearing of 
 the principal speakers, were addressed from the bal- 
 conies, and even from the roofs of the houses. More 
 than a hundred thousand persons were supposed to 
 have been present. Major Anderson and his officers 
 were there, with the tattered flag of Sumter. The 
 leaders of all parties joined in the demonstration ; dem- 
 ocrats and republicans, conservatives and radicals, all 
 were united in the first flush of excitement. The four 
 
796 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 presidents of the meeting were, John A. Dix, Ex-Gov- 
 ernor Fish, Ex-Mayor Havemeyer, and Moses H. Grin- 
 nell. Among the numerous speakers were Daniel S. 
 Dickinson, Robert J. Walker, David S. Coddington, 
 Professor Mitchell and Colonel Baker, both of whom 
 were doomed to die in defence of their principles, and 
 Mayor Wood, who, on his own responsibility, pledged 
 the corporation of New York to fit out the brigade 
 which Colonel Baker had offered to raise. The speeches 
 were of the most stirring character, a list of patriotic 
 resolutions was adopted, and a Committee of Safety was 
 appointed, composed of some of the most distinguished 
 men of New York, without reference to party, and 
 charged to represent the citizens in the collection of 
 funds and the transaction of such other business in aid 
 of the movements of the government as the pubhc 
 interest might require. The Committee organized that 
 evening under the name of the Union Defence Com- 
 mittee. It was composed of the following citizens : — 
 John A. Dix, chairman ; Simeon Draper, vice-chair- 
 man ; William M. Evarts, secretary ; Theodore Dehon, 
 treasurer ; Moses Taylor, Richard M. Blatchford, Ed- 
 Avards Pierrepont, Alexander T. Stewart, Samuel Sloane, 
 John Jacob Astor, Jr., John J. Cisco, James S. Wads- 
 worth, Isaac Bell, James Boorman, Charles H. Marshall, 
 Robert H. McCurdy, Moses H. Grinnell, Royal Phelps, 
 William E. Dodge, Greene C. Bronson, Hamilton Fish, 
 William F. Havemeyer, Charles H. Russell, James T. 
 Brady, Rudolph A. Witthaus, Abiel A. Low, Prosper 
 M. Wetmore, A. C. Richards, and the mayor, comp- 
 troller and presidents of the two Boards of the Common 
 Council of the City of New York. The Committee had 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 797 
 
 rooms at No. 30 Fine street, open during the day, and 
 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, open in the evening. 
 
 It was not enough to provide men ; money also was 
 needed. On the 22d of April the Common Council, 
 by the recommendation of the mayor, passed an ordi- 
 nance authorizing a loan of one million of dollars for 
 the defence of the Union, in pursuance of which Union 
 Defence Fund Bonds, payable May 1, 1862, were issued. 
 On the same day a meeting of the whole New York 
 Bar was held, at which twenty-five thousand dollars 
 were contributed for the same purpose. A loan of five 
 hundred thousand dollars in aid of the families of volun- 
 teers, payable July 1, 1862, was subsequently made by 
 the Common Council. This was but a beginning. It 
 is estimated that in the course of three months, New 
 Yoi-k furnished one hundred and fifty millions to the 
 government ; and at the close of the year the secre- 
 tary of the treasury reported that, out of the two 
 hundred and sixty million dollars borrowed by the 
 government, New York had furnished two hundred 
 and ten millions. Boston had reduced the quota of her 
 advance from thirty to twenty per cent, while New 
 York took not only her own, but what Boston rejected. 
 Without this aid, the government would have been 
 forced, through lack of means, to consent to the dissolu- 
 tion of the Union. 
 
 New York now presented the aspect of a military 
 city. The City Hall Park was fiUed with barracks 
 for the accommodation of the Northern and Eastern 
 troops that passed through the city on their way to the 
 seat of war. Sunday was destined to be marked by 
 great events throughout the conflict, but of all the 
 
798 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 memovable Sundaj^s during these four years, none per- 
 haps was more impressive than the day after the great 
 Union Square meeting. Sermons appropriate to the 
 occasion were preached everywhere, and contributions 
 were taken up to aid in fitting out regiments. In many 
 of the churches, the flag was displayed, and the Star- 
 Spangled Banner sung by the congregation after tlie 
 service. The streets were thronged with an immense 
 crowd assembled to witness the departure of the three 
 regiments — the Sixth, Colonel Pinckney, the Twelfth, 
 Colonel Butterfield, and the Seventy-first, Colonel Vos- 
 burgh, that were to set out for Washington that after- 
 noon. Bells were rung, cannon fired, and flags displayed 
 on all the shipping and public buildings. The popular 
 enthusiasm seemed unbounded. During the few re- 
 maining days of the memorable month of April, the 
 troops already mentioned were followed by the Eighth 
 Regiment, Colonel Lyons ; the Thirteenth, Colonel 
 Smith ; the Fifth, Colonel Schwarzwaelder ; the Second, 
 Colonel Tompkins ; the Sixty-ninth, Colonel Corcoran ; 
 the Ninth, Colonel Stiles ; and the Twenty-fifth, Colonel 
 Bryan.* 
 
 On the 22d of April General Wool, the commander 
 
 * The New York City militia regiments which served for three months, at the 
 expiration of which time they returned and were discharged, were as follows : 
 
 Eegiments. 
 
 
 
 
 Commandere. 
 
 
 
 Left New York. 
 
 Xo. of Men. 
 
 Second Col. Geo. W. Tompkins . . 
 
 April 28 
 
 500 
 
 Fifth. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " C. Schwarzwaelder 
 
 
 
 '' 27 
 
 600 
 
 Sixth. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Jos. C. Pinckney 
 
 
 
 " 21 
 
 550 
 
 Seventh 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Marshall Lefferts 
 
 
 
 " 19 
 
 1,050 
 
 Eighth 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " George Lyons . 
 
 
 
 " 23 
 
 900 
 
 Ninth 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " John W. Stiles . 
 
 
 
 " 30 
 
 800 
 
 Twelfth 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Daniel Butt«rfield 
 
 
 
 " 21 
 
 900 
 
 Sixty-ninth 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Mich.iel Corcoran 
 
 
 
 " 29 
 
 1,050 
 
 Seventy-first 
 
 
 
 
 " A. S. Vosburgh . 
 
 
 " 21 
 
 950 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 799 
 
 of the Eastern Department, which comprised all the 
 country north of the Potomac and cast of the Mississippi 
 River, arrived in New York and fixed his quarters at 
 the St. Nicholas Hotel. He had been preceded by 
 Governor Morgan, who, having received orders from 
 Washington to send on troops as fast as possible, had 
 accepted the offer of Colonel Ellsworth's regiment of 
 Zouaves, and commanded that rations and transportation 
 should be furnished to all soldiers ordered to Washing- 
 ton. A complication arose between these officials in 
 relation to the Zouave regiment, which was full, and 
 which the governor wished to reduce to seventy-seven 
 men per company. None would go without the whole, 
 and General Wool took the responsibility of ordering 
 them forward at once. By way of reproof for his some- 
 what irregular promptness, he was ordered to " tiy to 
 recover his health," which never was better ; but the ac- 
 tion was subsequently reconsidered, and he was restored 
 to active service. The Union Defence Committee aided 
 him in hastening troops to the seat of war. The twen- 
 ty-one regiments offered by the State over and above 
 its quota had been accepted, and on the 24th of April 
 Geo. Schuyler left for Europe wth five huudi-ed thou- 
 sand dollars wherewith to purchase arms. 
 
 In the meantime, the women of the city set to work 
 with one accord to prepare means for softening the 
 labors of the soldiers in the field, and alleviating the 
 sufferings of the sick and wounded. On the 25th of 
 April a number of ladies met at a private house and 
 formed the plan of a Central Relief Association. A com- 
 mittee was appointed, with instructions to call a meetnig 
 of the women of New York at Cooper Institute, on the 
 
800 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 morning of the 29th iust., to concert measures for the 
 reUef of the sick and wounded. The largest gathering 
 of women ever seen in the city responded to the appeal. 
 David Dudley Field was chosen president, and the meet- 
 ing was addressed by the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, Han- 
 nibal Hamlin, the Vice-President of the United States, 
 and others. An organization was effected, with Dr. 
 Valentine Mott as president ; Dr. Bellows, vice-presi- 
 dent ; G. F. Allen, secretary ; and Howard Potter, treas- 
 urer ; and the corner-stone was thus laid of that noble 
 institution, the United States Sanitary Commission, 
 which followed the army everywhere, and assuaged the 
 sufferings caused by war. Thousands of women, and 
 even children, devoted themselves to scraping lint, knit- 
 ting socks, making garments, and preparing delicacies 
 for the sick and wounded whom they saw in perspective ; 
 and scores of the most tenderly reared and delicate 
 young ladies volunteered their services as hospital 
 nurses, and went into training under the directions of the 
 city physicians. The month of April, 1861, was a sub- 
 lime era in the annals of New York, as in those of the 
 whole country. Minor differences were forgotten, and, 
 for the moment, all hearts in the great city seemed to 
 beat in unison. 
 
 The work of forwarding troops went on, and by the 
 25th of May the authorized thirty thousand men had 
 been raised by the State, and by the 12th of July they 
 had been organized into thirty-eight regiments, Officered, 
 and despatched to the seat of war. Ten regiments were 
 accepted in addition from the Union Defence Committee, 
 in response to a call made by the President on the 4th 
 of May for volunteers, and by the 1st of July the State 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 801 
 
 of New York had nearly fortj-seven thousand troops in 
 the field ; consisting of three months' militia, three years' 
 militia, two years' volunteers, and three years' volun- 
 teers. Of these, the Eleventh, New York Zouaves, 
 Colonel Ellsworth, the first volunteer regiment in the 
 tield ; the Twenty-Eighth, Colonel Bennett ; and the 
 f'^ourteenth. Colonel Wood, left New York City in May, 
 followed in June by the Eighth, Colonel Blenker ; the 
 Tenth, Colonel McChesney ; the Garibaldi Guard, Colo- 
 nel D'Utassy ; the Twelfth, Colonel Quincy ; the Thir- 
 teenth, Colonel Walrath ; the Ninth, Colonel Hawkins ; 
 the Sixth, Colonel Wilson ; the Fourteenth, Colonel 
 McQuade ; the Thirty-Eighth, Colonel Hobart ; the 
 Eighteenth, Colonel Jackson ; the Seventeenth, Colonel 
 Lansing ; the Thirty-seventh, Colonel McCunn ; and the 
 Thirty-first, Colonel Pratt, of the volunteers ; and the 
 Seventy-ninth, Colonel Cameron ; the Nineteenth, Colo- 
 nel Clark ; Company K., Ninth New York, Captain Bunt- 
 ing ; the Twenty-first, Colonel Rogers ; the Twenty- 
 sixth, Colonel Christin ; the Twenty-ninth, Colonel 
 Von Steinwehr ; the Twenty-eighth, Colonel Donnelly ; 
 the First, Colonel Montgomery ; the Sixteenth, Colonel 
 Davies ; and the Thirtieth, Colonel Matheson, of the 
 New York State troops. Money was poui'ed out with 
 a lavish hand ; churches, associations, and individuals 
 liberally contributing everywhere to the outfit of the 
 troops. 
 
 On the 8th of May General John A. Dix was ap- 
 pointed Major-General of New York, and on the 15th 
 of May, the other Major-Generalship was bestowed om 
 James S. Wadsworth, who afterwards fell in the battle 
 of the Wilderness. 
 
 51 
 
80-i HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Time forbids us to follow the soldiers through their 
 wanderings ; it suffices to say that there was not a land 
 engagement in 1861, east of the AUeghanies and south 
 of Washington, in which the brave New York soldiers 
 did not participate. The first flag taken from the insur- 
 gents was the trophy of two New Yorkers, William 
 McSpedon, of New York City, and Samuel Smith, of 
 Queens County, Long Island, who, spying from Wash- 
 ington a Confederate flag flying in Alexandria, went over 
 and captured it. On the next day, another New Yorker, 
 Colonel Ellsworth, the commander of the first volunteer 
 regiment that marched from New York, fell while 
 attempting to haul down the stars and bars. He was 
 the first officer that had fallen in the struggle, and the 
 first man, in fact, in the campaign. His death caused 
 an intense excitement in New York, where he was well 
 known, and where his ability and gallant bearing had 
 inspired great admiration. His body was taken to 
 Washington, where the funeral services were performed 
 at the White House, President Lincoln officiating as 
 chief mourner ; it was then brought to New York, where 
 it lay in state for two days at the City Hall, after which 
 it was escorted through the streets by an immense pro- 
 cession to the railroad depot, whence it was taken to 
 Colonel Ellsworth's native place, Mechanicsville, N. Y., 
 for interment. Under the influence of the popular 
 excitement, a regiment was immediately formed, under 
 the name of the EUsworth Avengers. 
 
 His fate but presaged that of thousands of others. 
 To chronicle the sons of New York who fell in the san- 
 guinary conflict would far transcend the limits of this 
 brief sketch. The disastrous battle of Bull Run was 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 803 
 
 especiall}' fatal to the New York troops, many of whom 
 were killed or made prisoners, among others, Colonels 
 Corcoran and Wood, who were held as hostages for the 
 crew of a privateer imprisoned by the United States 
 government on a charge of jDiracy. Immediately after 
 this disaster, without waiting for additional authority 
 from the Legislature, Governor Morgan issued a pro- 
 clamation calling for twenty-five thousand troops to 
 serve for three years. On the 1st of October the quota 
 of the State was raised to one hundred thousand, and 
 on the 1st of November to one hundred and twenty 
 thousand men. 
 
 In the December election of 1861 George Opdyke, a 
 New York merchant of earnest patriotism and untiring 
 energy, was chosen mayor. This was a fortunate 
 choice, which secured to the city, during the two most 
 critical years of the war, the services of a loyal and effi- 
 cient chief magistrate. Time forbids us to dilate on 
 the events of the year farther than to say that, in spite 
 of the Bull Run disaster, the result had been favorable 
 to the Federal forces ; the Border States having been 
 secured to the Union, the insurgents driven out of 
 Western Virginia, the lilockade maintained, and many 
 important naval advantages won. During the year 
 1861 New York City had put into the field over sixty 
 thousand volunteers, exclusive of militia ; and heavily as 
 she had suffered from the loss of her Southern debts, 
 had loaned to the general government more than one 
 hundred million dollars. 
 
 The campaign of 1862 opened brilliantly. Signal 
 victories followed each other for month after month : in 
 the West the fall of Forts Donelson and Henrv, Nash- 
 
804 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ville, Memphis and Corinth, and the battle of Pittsburg 
 Landing ; on the coast, the successful expedition of 
 Burnside ; and at the South, the capture of New Orleans, 
 inspired the public with a belief that the war was fast 
 advancing to a happy termination. Under the lead of 
 her patriotic mayor. New York continued her contri- 
 butions of men and money without stint, and by re- 
 peated demonstrations manifested her fidelity to the 
 Union cause. On the 14th of February, 1862, Mayor 
 Opdyke issued a proclamation of congratulation on 
 G-eneral Bui-nside's victory at Roanoke Island, and the 
 other triumphs of the Union arms, and recommended 
 that on the following day a hundred guns should be 
 fired from the Battery and Madison Square, and the 
 national flag displayed on the public and private build- 
 ings. In accordance with the spirit of the times, the 
 22d of February was celebrated with unusual solemnity, 
 and a mass meeting was held at the Cooper Institute. 
 
 On the 11th of April the mayor also issued a procla- 
 mation of thanksgiving for the victory at Pittsburg 
 Landing. Meanwhile the city exerted itself to aid the 
 sick and wounded, and to provide for the families of 
 the volunteers. An appi'opriation was made for a 
 company of loyal refugees from Florida, who had been 
 driven from their homes and reduced to utter destitu- 
 tion. On the 2d of May, 1862, a Home for Sick and 
 Wounded Soldiers, capable of accommodating four or 
 five hundred patients, was opened by an association of 
 ladies, headed by Mrs. Valentine Mott, in the building 
 on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Fifty-first 
 street, erected a few years before for an Infants' Home. 
 Other similar ii:stitutions were opened ; among others 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 805 
 
 Mount St. Vincent, in the Central Park. On the 18th 
 of June the Common Council passed an ordinance 
 appropriating five hundred thousand dollars for the 
 relief of the families of volunteers. 
 
 After half a year of uninterrupted victory, the sea- 
 son of reverses began. General McClellan's campaign 
 against Richmond, at the head of the (irand Army of 
 the Potomac, from which so much had been expected, 
 proved a failure, and the country was overshadowed 
 with gloom. At this juncture, the Chamber of Com- 
 merce met on the 7th of July, and passed an unani- 
 mous resolution that a committee of five should be 
 appointed, to meet similar committees from the Union 
 Defence Committee and other loyal organizations, for 
 the purpose of devising measures to sustain the Na- 
 tional Government. This resolution was transmitted 
 to the Common Council by Mayor Opdyke, with the 
 recommendation that it should also pledge the people 
 of the metropolis to the support of the government in 
 the prosecution of the war and the maintenance of the 
 national honor, and that a public meeting should be 
 called, without distinction of party, to express the un- 
 diminished confidence of the citizens in the justice of 
 their cause, and their inflexible purpose to maintain it 
 to the end, and to proffer to the government all the aid 
 it might need, to the extent of their resources. 
 
 In August, General Corcoran was released from his 
 thirteen months' imprisonment by the Richmond au- 
 thorities, and was received with great enthusiasm, on 
 the 22d of August, at Castle Garden, where he was 
 met by the municipal authorities and addressed by the 
 mayor. The rank of brigadier-general had been con- 
 
806 
 
 HISTORY Of THE 
 
 ferred on him by President Lincoln, ni appieciatiou of 
 his valor and sufferings. On the 27th inst. a great 
 war-meeting was held in the City Hall Park, which 
 was thronged to overflowing. Speeches were raade by 
 Mayor Opdyke, General Corcoran, and others, and it 
 was resolved, as far as practicable, to close all places 
 of business at 3 P. M. until the 13th of the ensuing 
 September, in order to enable loyal citizens to carry- 
 forward volunteering, and to perfect themselves in mili- 
 tary drill. To further this work, the Common Council 
 passed an ordinance, which was approved by the mayor, 
 offering fifty dollars bounty to each volunteer.* 
 
 This was an exciting epoch of the war. General 
 Pope had concentrated a large force about Washington, 
 and a decisive engagement was hourly expected. The 
 crisis came ; and on the 30th of August the second 
 disastrous battle of Bull Run was fought, followed 
 shortly after by the Confederate advance into Mary- 
 land. The battles of South Mountain and Antietam 
 repelled the invaders, and another campaign against 
 Richmond was undertaken, again without success. The 
 battle of Fredericksburg closed the year disastrously. 
 Yet, if less had been gained than the public had hoped, 
 
 * The following New York City Militia Regiments served for three months in 
 1862. See Report of County Volunteer Committee. 
 
 Kf-ii 
 
 Commanders. 
 
 LeftNewTork 
 
 Seventh . . . 
 
 Eiglith . . . 
 
 Eleventh . . 
 
 Twelfth . . . 
 Thirtj'-seventh 
 
 Sixty-ninth . . 
 
 Seventy-first . 
 
 Col. Marshall Lefferts 
 
 " J. M. Varian . . 
 
 " Joachim Maidlioff 
 
 " Wm. G. Ward . 
 
 " Chas. Roome . . 
 
 " James Bagley 
 
 " Henrv P. Martin 
 
 May- 26 
 " 29 
 " 28 
 June 6 
 May 29 
 " 30 
 " 28 
 
 700 
 820 
 630 
 805 
 600 
 1,000 
 830 
 
 5,385 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 807 
 
 little had been lost. The whole coast, from Cape Henrv 
 to the Rio Grande, was occupied by the Union forces, 
 with the exception of Charleston, Mobile, Savannah, 
 and Wilmington, and a few unimportant places ; and 
 the Northern Army was closing in upon the insurgent 
 territory. During the year. New York City appropri- 
 ated a million and a half of dollars for the relief of 
 the families of volunteers. It was estimated that dar- 
 ing the first two years of the war the people of the city 
 had contributed to its support, in taxes, gratuities and 
 loans to the government, not less than three hundred 
 millions of dollars, and had furnished over eighty thou- 
 sand volunteers.* 
 
 Yet the great metropolis did not flag beneath this 
 heavy burden, but bore the load cheerfully and withour 
 complaint ; and on viewing the sacrifices which she 
 readily imposed on herself — heavier, far, than were 
 endured by any other city in the Union — we marvel 
 that any one should dare to impugn her loyalty, or to 
 judge her by the irresponsible masses that too often 
 rule her elections. 
 
 The year 1863 was the turning-point of the conflict. 
 and also the most eventful, if we except the brilliant 
 succession of victories which marked its termination. 
 The season opened gloomily ; although the area of the 
 rebellion had been reduced, its spirit seemed more 
 defiant than ever. The first great event of the year 
 was the emancipation proclamation, which took effect 
 on the 1st of January, and virtually blotted slavery 
 from the soil of the republic. Some believed, and 
 others doubted, in the efficacy of this act, which was not 
 
 * See Mayor Opdyke's Annual Message, January 1, 18C3. 
 
SOS HISTORY OF THE 
 
 at first followed by any brilliant results. The unanimity 
 which had characterized the conflict in the beginning 
 no longer prevailed ; a large paity had been formed in 
 the North which was anxious for peace dt any price. 
 This party exerted a powerful influence in New York 
 City, which had become the centre of Southern immi- 
 gration. It was confidently predicted that this city, 
 the political complexion of which was so strongly dem- 
 ocratic, would refuse to assist longer in prosecuting 
 the war, and would openly declare in favor of peace. 
 As the season waned, even the most stout-hearted lost 
 courage, and wavered in their faith of ultimate success. 
 The last State election had resulted in a triumph of the 
 democratic party, and the governor was notoriously 
 opposed to the war. Under these influences, a great 
 mass meeting was held in New York, on the 3d of 
 June, consisting of deputies from all parts of the State, 
 where resolutions were passed denouncing the adminis- 
 tration, and counselling compromises in order to obtain 
 peace. This was not, hoAvever, the prevailing spirit 
 among the citizens, who, in contradistinction, held war 
 meetings, formed patriotic organizations, and left noth- 
 ing undone to support the administration. Foremost 
 among these was the Union League Club, which was 
 formed on the broad basis of unquahfied loyalty to the 
 government of the country, and unswerving support of 
 its efforts for the suppression of the rebelhon, and which 
 embraced in its ranks almost every prominent loyalist 
 in the city. The history of the Union League Club is 
 the history of New York patriotism. We shall have 
 occasion to recur again to this great institution ; it 
 suffices to say here that from its organization in 1863, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 809 
 
 to the present time, it has been untiring in its eflbrts 
 to secure the triumph of tlie right, and to uproot the 
 causes of strife. 
 
 One of the most remarkable outgrowths of the Union 
 League Chib was the Loyal Publication Society, which 
 plaj^ed so important a part in the great struggle, that a 
 sketch of its rise and progress wiU not be inappropriate 
 in this connection. 
 
 As we have already said, the year 1863 opened 
 gloomy and beset with difficulties. It is now an ad- 
 mitted historical fact, that a vast conspiracy — " The 
 "Knights of the Golden Circle" — was laboring in the 
 West to carry the people of that mighty region into the 
 rebellion of the South. In the East a powerful faction 
 poisoned the pubhc mind, not only by the regular 
 action of the press, but also by the working of a society, 
 organized at New York, which, under the euphonious 
 name of "The Society for the Diffusion of Political 
 "Knowledge," preached disloyalty and hostility to all 
 the measures of the government. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that William T. 
 Blodgett, one of the most zealous patriots of New York, 
 met at Washington, in the beginning of Fel)ruary, the 
 secretaries of war and of the navy, the Hon. Edwin 
 M. Stanton and the Hon. Gideon Welles, as well as the 
 speaker of the House of Representatives, the Hon. 
 Schuyler Colfax. These gentlemen consulted about 
 the means of counteracting the efforts made by the 
 Northern allies of the Southern goveniment. Immedi- 
 ately after his return to New York, Mr. Blodgett 
 invited a number of loyal and devoted citizens to a 
 consultation about the organization of a society such as 
 
810 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 had been suggested iu the mterview which had taken 
 place at Washington. This initiatoiy step speedily led 
 to the wished-foi- i-esult. On the evening of the 14th 
 of February, 1863, at a meeting held at the house of 
 Charles Butler, the Loyal Publication Society was or- 
 ganized. 
 
 Charles King was unanimously elected permanent 
 president, and John Austin Stevens, Jr., permanent 
 secretary. 
 
 The following resolution was unanimously adopted as 
 the fundamental law : 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That the object of this organization is 
 " and shall be confined to the distribution of journals and 
 "documents of unquestionable and unconditional loyalty 
 "throughout the United States, and particularly in the 
 "armies now engaged in the suppression of the rebelhon, 
 "and to counteract, as far as practicable, the eflforts now 
 " being made by the enemies of the government and the 
 "advocates of a disgraceful Peace, to circulate journals 
 "and documents of a disloyal character." 
 
 Eighty prominent citizens subscribed for the neces- 
 sary funds, and the Society at once began its patriotic 
 work. The number of subscribers rapidly increased to 
 171, and the money contributed in t}ie second year 
 amounted to $11,620.94. 
 
 The Society held its first anniversary meeting on 
 February 13, 1864. Mr. King resigned as president on 
 account of continued iU-health, and Dr. Francis Lieber 
 was unanimously elected in his place. Mr. John Austin 
 Stevens had tendered his resignation as permanent 
 secretary, but was unanimously re-elected. Both these 
 gentlemen were continued in their functions until the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 811 
 
 final dissolution of the Society. Among the most active 
 members of the Society are to be mentioned Messrs. 
 Morris Ketchum, Charles Butler, George Griswold, 
 Charles H. Marshall, James McKaye, Jackson S. Schultz, 
 C. G. Detmold, T. B. Coddington, LeGrand B. Cannon, 
 George P. Putnam, Wm. P.Blodgett, Sinclair Tousey, 
 George Cabot Ward, T. Butler Wright, Grosvenoi- 
 Lowrey, Fred. Schutz, W. C. Church and Charles Astor 
 Bristed. 
 
 The Society published in the first year 43 pamphlets, 
 containing 720 pages of printed matter. The total 
 number of the documents was 400,000, at a cost of 
 $10,211.46. The pamphlets published by the Society 
 were distributed in every accessible State. Between 
 the 23d of P'ebruary and the 4th of April, 1863, there 
 were sent to Washington, for distribution to the Army 
 of the Rappahannock, 36,000 journals and publications. 
 Mr. Robert Dale Owen's "Future of the Northwest" 
 was the powerful and effective reply to the insidious 
 efforts of the conspirators of the "Golden Circle." 
 
 In April, 1863, a plan was submitted to the Society 
 to aid in the establishment of an "Army and Navy 
 "Journal " on principles of unconditional loyalty. Under 
 the auspices of the Loyal Publication Society of New 
 York, aided by that of New England, and the Union 
 League Club of Philadelphia, this well-known and de- 
 serving journal was established in New York, under the 
 direction of Captain W. C. Church. Soon there came 
 from many parts of the country the warmest expres- 
 sions of thanks to the Loyal Publication Society for the 
 great service rendered to the cause of the LTnion and 
 Libertv. 
 
812 HISTORT OF THE 
 
 During the second year the Society pubhshed 33 
 pamphlets, containing 637 pages of printed matter, and 
 distributed them all over the country and to the armies, 
 in 470,000 copies. A great number of them was sent 
 to England, France, and other European countries, 
 where they helped the noble friends of our cause to 
 dispel the clouds of errors, prejudices and evil passions 
 raised by the emissaries of the Confederate govern- 
 ment and its aiders and abettors. 
 
 On the second anniversary meeting of the Society 
 the following addition was made to the declaration of 
 the object of the Loyal PubUcation Society : 
 
 "By the dissemination, Xorth and South, of weU- 
 ' considered information and principles, to aid the 
 ■ national government in the suppression and final ex- 
 ' tinction of slavery, by amendment to the Constitution 
 ' of the United States, to reconcile the master and slave 
 ' to their new and changed conditions, and so to adjust 
 ' their interests that peace and harmony may soon pre- 
 ' vail, and the nation, repairing the ravages of war, 
 ' enter upon a new, unbroken career of liberty, justice 
 ' and pi-osperity." 
 
 During the third year of its operation the Loyal 
 Publication Society issued only ten pamphlets, but these 
 formed a substantial volume of 526 pages. 
 
 The complete overthrow of the rebellion led several 
 of the most active and influential members of the 
 Society to think the mission of that organization 
 fulfilled. Hence at the third anniversary meeting, 
 held on February 27, 1866, at the rooms of the Society, 
 the following motion was made and unanimously adopted : 
 '•In the opinion of this Society, the condition of the 
 
CITTOF NEW YORK. 813 
 
 " country no longer calls for the active labors of this 
 " Society as an independent organization." 
 
 The president, Dr. Francis Lieber, addressed some 
 deeply felt and impressive remarks to the members 
 present, and adjourned the Society sine die, with the 
 words : God save the Great Republic ! God protect 
 our Country ! 
 
 The property, stereotype plates and effects of the 
 Loyal Publication Society were transferred to the Union 
 League Club of New York. 
 
 The Loyal Publication Society of New York has been 
 the worthy twin-sister of the Sanitary Commission ; the 
 latter took care of the bodies of our patriotic soldiers, 
 the former administered salutary remedies to many an 
 infected mind. 
 
 The documents published by that patriotic Society 
 are now eagerly sought for by historians and public 
 libraries.* 
 
 * The following list of the publications issued by the Loyal Publication Society 
 during its existence -nTll indicate its scope and spirit, and is a valuable historical 
 record : 
 No. 1. Future of the Northwest. By Eolerl Dale Owen. 
 
 2. Echo from the Army. Extracts from Letters of Soldiers. 
 
 3. Union Mass Meeting, Cooper Institute, March 6, 1863. Speeclies of -Brady, 
 
 Van Buren, &c. 
 
 4. Three Toices: the Soldier, Farmer and Poet. 
 
 5. Toices from the Army. Letters and Resolutions of Soldiers. 
 
 6. Northern True Men. Addresses of Connecticut Soldiers— Extracts from 
 
 Richmond Journals. 
 
 7. Speech of Major-General Butler. Academy of Music, New York, April 2, 
 
 1863. 
 
 8. Separation; War without End. Ed. Laboulaye. 
 
 9. The Venom and the Antidote. Copperhead Declarations. Soldiers' Letters. 
 
 10. A few Words in Behalf of the Loyal Women of the United States. By One 
 
 of Themselves. Mrs. C. M. EirkJand. 
 
 11. No Failure for the North. Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 12. Address to King Cotton. Eugene Peltetan. 
 
814 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Most of the great national benevolent organizations, 
 indeed, had their rise in New York City. The United 
 States Sanitary Commission, that noble instrument of 
 good, was in some sort an outgrowth, as we have already 
 stated, of the Woman's Central Relief Association, 
 formed in New York in April, 1861, and was first sug- 
 
 No. 13. How a Free People conduct a long War. StiUe. 
 
 14. The Preservation of the Union a National Economic Necessity. 
 
 15. Elements of Discord in Seeessia. By William, Alexander, Esq., of Texas. 
 
 16. No Party now, but all for our Country. Francis Lieber. 
 
 17. The Cause of the War. Col Charles Anderson. 
 
 18. Opinions of the early Presidents and of the Fathers of the Republic upon 
 
 Slavery, and upon Negroes as Men and Soldiers. 
 
 19. ®trtf)cit unb )5rtit)fit» son Hermann Maftcr. 
 
 20. Military Despotism! Suspension of the Habeas Corpus I &c. 
 
 21. Letter addressed to the Opera-House Meeting, Cincinnati. By Col. Charles 
 
 Anderson. 
 
 22. Emancipation is Peace. By Robert Dale Owen. 
 
 23. Letter of Peter Cooper on Slave Emancipation. 
 
 24. Patriotism. Sermon by the Rev. Jos. Fransiola, of St. Peter's (CathoUc) 
 
 Church, Brooklyn. 
 
 25. The Conditions of Reconstruction. By Robert Dale Owen. 
 
 26. Letter to the President. By ffen. A. J. Hamilton, of Texas. 
 
 27. Nullification and Compromise: a Retrospective View. By Johti Mason 
 
 Williams. 
 
 28. The Death of Slavery. Letter from Peter Cooper to Gov. Seymour. 
 
 29. Slavery Plantations and the Yeomanry. Francis Lieber. 
 
 30. Rebel Conditions of Peace. Extracts from Richmond Journals. 
 
 31. Address of the Loyal Leagues, Utica, October 20, 1863. 
 
 32. War Power of the President — Summary Imprisonment. By J. Eeermans. 
 
 33. The Two Ways of Treason. 
 
 34. The Monroe Doctrine. By Edtcard Everett, &c. 
 
 35. The Arguments of Secessionists. Francis Lieber. 
 
 36. Prophecy and Fulfilment. Letter of A. H. Stephens — Address of E. W. 
 
 Gantt. 
 3". How the South Rejected Compromise, Ac. Speech of Mr. Chase m Peace 
 Conference of 1861. 
 
 38. Letters on our National Struggle. By Brigadier- General Thomas Francis 
 
 Meagher. 
 
 39. Bible View of Slavery, by John H. Hopkms, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese 
 
 of Vermont. Examined by Henry Driskr. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 815 
 
 gested by Henry W. Bellows, D.D., W. H. Van Buren, 
 M.D., and Jacob Harsen, M.D., all representatives of 
 this and kindred associations of New York, who, on 
 the 18th of May, 1861, addressed the secretary of war, 
 recommending the formation of an organization of this 
 kind. The Commission was duly authorized on the 9th 
 
 No. 40. The Conscription Act: a Series of Articles. By Geo. B. Butler, N. Y. 
 
 41. Reponse de MM. De Gasparin, Laboiilaye, &c. 
 
 42. Reply of Messrs. Gasparin, Laboulaye, and others. 
 
 43. Sliitwcvt itx ^crrcn Ee ®a?t""'"' Caboula^t, Wartin, SoAin, an tie Cotjal 
 
 5Jaticnal Scague. 
 
 44. Proceedings of First Anniversary Meeting of the Loyal Publication Society 
 
 February 13, 1864. 
 
 45. Finances and Resources of the United States. By H. G. Steblins. 
 
 46. How the War Commenced. From Cincinnati Daily Ccnnmercial. 
 
 47. Result of Serf Emancipation in Russia. 
 
 48. Resources of the United States. By S. B. Buggies. 
 
 49. Patriotic Songs. A collection by G. P. Putnam. 
 
 50. The Constitution Vindicated. James A. Hamilton. 
 
 51. No Property in Man. Charles Sumner. 
 
 52. Rebellion, Slavery and Peace. N. G. Upham. 
 
 53. How the War Commenced. (German Translation for the South.) By 
 
 Dr. F. Schutz. 
 
 54. Our Burden and Our Strength. David A. Wells. 
 
 55. Emancipated Slave and His Master. (German Translation.) By Dr. F. 
 
 Schuts, for the Society. 
 
 56. The Assertions of a Secessionist. Alex. H. Stephens. 
 
 57. Growler's Income Tax. By T. S. Arthur, Philadelphia. 
 
 58. Emancipated Slave and his Master. James McKaye, L. P. S. 
 
 59. Lincoln or McClellan. (German.) By Francis Lieber. 
 
 60. Peace through Victory. (Sermon.) By Bev. J. P. Thompson. 
 
 61. Sherman vs. Hood. Broadside. By the Secretary. 
 
 62. The War for the Union. By WiUiam Swinton. 
 
 63. Letter on McClellan's Nomination. Son. Gerrit Smith. 
 
 64. Letters of Loyal Soldiers. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4. By the Secretary. 
 
 65. Submissionists and their Record. Parts 1 and 2. By the Secretary. 
 
 66. Coercion Comi^leted, or Treason Triumphant. By John C. Hamilton. 
 
 67. Lincoki or McClellan. (English.) By Francis Lieber. 
 
 68. The Cowards' Convention. By Charles Astor Bristed. 
 
 69. Whom do the EngUsh wish Elected ? By Frederick Milne Edge. 
 
 70. Collection of Letters from Europe. By G. P. Putnam, L. P. S. 
 
816 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of June, 1861, with the Rev. Dr. BeUows as president. 
 It speedily extended its ramifications over the whole 
 country, and proved an indescribable blessing to the 
 soldiers. 
 
 The United States Christian Commission was also 
 organized in New York, at a Convention of the Young 
 Men's Christian Associations, held on the 16th Novem- 
 ber, 1861. This association, which was designed to 
 promote the phj-sical comfort and spiritual welfare of 
 the soldiers, was an instrument of great usefulness dur- 
 ing the war. Another most important organization was 
 the United States Union Commission, which was organ- 
 ized in 1864, under the auspices of the Rev. Dr. Joseph 
 P. Thompson, of New York, for the purpose of reliev- 
 ing the necessities of the destitute refugees from the 
 South, and which has since united with the Freedmen's 
 Commission. Besides these great national organiza- 
 
 No. 71. Lincoln or McCleUan. (Dutch Translation.) 
 
 72. Address of Dr. Schutz, at Philadelphia, October 5, 1865. 
 
 73. Address of N. G. Taylor on Loyalty and Sufl'erings of East Tennessee. 
 
 74. The Slave Power. By J. C. Hamilton. 
 
 75. The Great Issue. Address by John Jay. 
 
 76. Narrative of Sufferings of U. S. Prisoners of War in the hands of Rebel 
 Authorities. By U. S. Sanitary Commission. 
 
 77. Address on Secession. Delivered by i>r. Lieber m South Carolina in 1851. 
 
 78. Report of the Society. 
 
 79. Letter on Amendments of the Constitution. By Francis Lieber. 
 
 80. America for Free Working Men. By C. Kordhoff. 
 
 81. General McClellan's Campaign. By F. M. Edge. 
 
 82. Speech on Reconstruction. By Hon. Wm. D. KeUey. 
 
 83. Amendments of the Constitution. By Francis Lieber. 
 
 84. Crimes of the South. By W. W. Broom. 
 
 85. Lincoln's Life and its Lessons. By Bev. J. P. Thompson, D. D. 
 
 86. National System of Education. By Rev. Charles Brooks. 
 
 87. Gasparin's Letter to President Johnson. Translated by Mary L. Booth. 
 
 88. Memorial Service for Three Hundred Thousand Union Soldiers, with a 
 
 Commemorative Discourse. By Jos. P. Thompson, D. D. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 817 
 
 tions, numberless minor associations were formed for 
 the relief of the soldiers. In July, 1863, a State Sol- 
 diers' Depot was established in Howard street, which 
 was endowed by the State and which combined a sol- 
 diers' home, hospital, and reading-room. This institu- 
 tion had agents on all the railroad trains, whose duty it 
 was to protect the soldiers from wrong, and to look 
 after the sick and wounded. A Soldiers' Rest was 
 established in Fourth Avenue, near the railroad depots 
 on the corner of Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh 
 streets, under the auspices of the Union League Club, 
 where soldiers arriving in and leaving the city were 
 provided for during their temporary stay. At No. 194 
 Broadway were the rooms of the New England Soldiers' 
 Relief Association, which was organized in 1862 for the 
 especial benefit of the soldiers from New England, but 
 which opened its doors to all without distinction. But 
 even to catalogue all the noble associations that sprung 
 up in New York City through public and private enter- 
 prise, would fill a volume ; and as we have before 
 remarked, we cannot in this brief sketch undertake to 
 do justice to the patriotism of New York City, but only 
 to chronicle some of the most striking examples thereof 
 We should not omit mention, however, of a movement 
 which was set on foot about the same time to discour- 
 age the importation of goods during the war, and thus 
 prevent specie from leaving the country. For this end, 
 a large meeting of the women of New York was held at 
 the Cooper Institute, where great numbers pledged 
 themselves to purchase no articles except those of home 
 manufacture, save in cases of absolute necessity, until 
 peace should be declared. 
 
 52 
 
818 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In the mean time, the army was rapidly being de- 
 pleted by the expiration of the terms of enlistment of 
 the two years', twelve months', and nine months' regi- 
 ments. Some sixty-five thousand men would leave the 
 service in the spring and summer of 1863, and there 
 was little probability that their places would be sup- 
 plied by volunteers, even under the temptation of the 
 enormous bounties oftered. To meet this exigency, on 
 the 3d of March, 1863, Congress passed an emolment 
 and conscription act, authorizing the President to re- 
 cruit the army when necessary, by drafting from the 
 able-bodied citizens between the ages of twenty and 
 forty-five. The drafted men were allowed to furnish 
 substitutes, or to pay $300, in consideration of which 
 the government undertook to procure them. 
 
 Although conscription had been practised from the 
 very beginning by the South, this measure was de- 
 nounced by a large class in the North, as violent and 
 unconstitutional, and a virulent spirit of opposition was 
 manifested, especially among those opposed to the war. 
 A general enrolment nevertheless was made, and early 
 in May a draft of three hundred thousand men was 
 ordered to take place in each district, as soon as the 
 enrolment therein was completed, and the quota as- 
 signed. Just at this juncture General Lee invaded 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania, with the hope of transfer- 
 ring the seat of war to the north of the Potomac, and 
 relieving the Shenandoah Valley of the Federal troops. 
 The Confederates ravaged Southern Pennsylvania, and 
 advanced to within a few miles of Harrisburg, and their 
 commander issued manifestoes from that place and 
 York. The greatest consternation prevailed. The 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 819 
 
 governor of Pciins3'lvauia called the troops of the 
 State to arms, and entreated assistance from the neigh- 
 boring States. President Lincoln made a requisition 
 on Governor Seymour for twenty thousand militia, to 
 aid in repelling the invasion ; to which the latter re- 
 sponded by directing General Sandford, the commander 
 of the New Yoi'k City militia, to send every available 
 regiment at his disposal to the seat of war for thirty 
 days' service, and giving similar orders to the militia of 
 the neighboring cities. The troops wei-e immediately 
 directed to hold themselves in readiness, and on the fol- 
 lowing day, the 16th of June, General Sandford issued 
 a general order directing the regiments of the First 
 Division of the New York State Militia, comprising all 
 those belonging in New York City, to repair foi'thwith 
 to Harrisburg. The Seventh Regiment at once led the 
 way, followed within a few days by nearly all the rest 
 of the city militia, as well as those of Brooklyn.* The 
 result is well known : the tide of invasion was driven 
 back, and the national holiday was gladdened by the 
 news of the victory of Gettysburg and the capture of 
 Vicksburs;. 
 
 * Ke^ments. 
 
 Commanders. 
 
 Left New York 
 
 No. of Men. 
 
 Fourth 
 
 Col. Daniel W. Teller . . 
 
 June 20 
 
 500 
 
 Fifth . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Louis Burger . . 
 
 
 
 " 19 
 
 828 
 
 SLxth . 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Joel W. Mason . 
 
 
 
 " 22 
 
 656 
 
 Seventh . 
 
 
 
 
 
 •' Marshall Lefferts 
 
 
 
 " 16 
 
 850 
 
 Eighth . 
 
 
 
 
 
 " I. M. Varian . . 
 
 
 
 " 18 
 
 371 
 
 Eleventh 
 
 
 
 
 
 " J. Maidliofi" . . 
 
 
 
 " 18 
 
 762 
 
 Twelfth . 
 
 
 
 
 
 " Wm. G. Ward . 
 
 
 
 " 19 
 
 684 
 
 Twenty-second 
 
 
 
 " Lloyd Aspinwall 
 
 
 
 " 19 
 
 568 
 
 Thirty-seventh 
 
 
 
 " Chas. Roone . . 
 
 
 
 " 19 
 
 693 
 
 Fifty-fifth . . 
 
 
 
 " Eugene Le Gal . 
 
 
 
 " 24 
 
 350 
 
 Sixty-ninth. . 
 
 
 
 " James Bagley 
 
 
 
 " 22 
 
 600 
 
 Seventy-first . 
 
 
 
 " B. L. Trafford . 
 
 
 
 " 18 
 
 737 
 
 Eighty-fourth . 
 
 
 
 " P. A. CoukUng . 
 
 
 
 July 3 
 
 480 
 
 
 
 
 8,079 
 
820 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 This joy was soon overshadowed by the most humiU- 
 ating event ever recorded in the annals of New York. 
 The victories which rejoiced the hearts of the loyal 
 citizens exasperated the disloyal part of the population, 
 and urged them to desperate measures. The draft was 
 to commence on the 11th of July, and the opportunity 
 was seized to instigate an outbreak which might turn 
 the scale anew. New York was in a most defenceless 
 condition, being stripped of troops and devoid of any 
 means of protection. Mayor Opdyke had remonstrated 
 with Governor Seymour against thus draining the city 
 of the militia on the eve of the draft, but the governor 
 had replied that the orders of his superiors left him no 
 discretion in the matter ; and, moreover, that he was 
 confident that the city would be safe under the protec- 
 tion of the police. Not sharing this security, the mayor 
 ineffectually urged the governor to authorize the raising 
 of twenty or thirty new regiments, in order to 
 strengthen the militia force. Failing in this, he next 
 asked the government to postpone the draft until the 
 return of the troops from their thirty days' service ; but 
 this was not deemed advisable, and the draft was com- 
 menced under the direction of Colonel Nugent, the pro- 
 vost-marshal, on Saturday, the 11th of July, on the 
 corner of Forty-sixth street and Third Avenue, in the 
 ninth congressional district. A large crowd assembled, 
 but the drafting proceeded quietly, amidst the apparent 
 good-humor of the spectators, and it was generally sup- 
 posed that the apprehended danger had passed by. 
 
 The next day secret meetings were held, and meas- 
 ures were concerted to resist the draft by force. Early 
 on Monday morning an organized band went from shop 
 
CITY OF XEW YORK. 821 
 
 to shop, persuading or coercing the men to quit their 
 work and join the procession that was on its way to 
 the provost-marshal's office in Tliird Avenue. Captain 
 Jenkins and his assistants had just commenced drafting, 
 when the report of a pistol was heard in the street, and 
 at the signal a volley of paving-stones crashed through 
 the windows, overturning the inkstands, and felling two 
 or three of the officials to the ground. In an instant 
 after the infuriated mob, suddenly fired with rage, burst 
 open the doors, broke the furniture, destroyed the 
 records, and beat and dispersed the officials. Deputy 
 Provost-Marshal Vanderpoel was carried out for dead ; 
 the rest escaped uninjured. Not content with wrealving 
 their vengeance on the drafting machinery, the rioters 
 proceeded to fire the building, after pouring camphene 
 on the floor, and the whole block between Forty-fifth 
 and Forty-sixth streets was speedily reduced to ashes. 
 Chief-Engineer Decker, of the Fire Department, has- 
 tened to the spot, but the rioters had gained possession 
 of the hydrants, and would not suffer the firemen to 
 have access to them till the flames were beyond control. 
 The police were driven off, and Superintendent Kennedy 
 was knocked down and nearly beaten to death. In this 
 emergency the mayor made a requisition on G-eneral 
 Sandford and General Wool to call out the troops under 
 their command, and telegraphed to G-overnor Seymour 
 urging him to send militia from the adjoining counties. 
 He also telegraphed to the governors of the neighboring 
 States, and requested the co-operation of Mr. Acton, 
 the president of the police board. G-eneral Wool 
 immediately ordered all the garrisons of the various 
 fortifications in the neighborhood to repair to the city. 
 
822 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 and requested Admiral Paulding to send the marines 
 from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. General Harvey Brown 
 was placed in immediate command of the forces in New 
 York, and was stationed at the police headquarters, 
 whence expeditions of the military and the police were 
 sent in various directions to quell the riot wherever it 
 was reported to be most formidable. General Sandford, 
 with the handful of the militia that remainea in the 
 city, took up his headquarters at the Seventh Avenue 
 Arsenal, which he defended from attack, dispersing 
 several mobs in the vicinity, and General Wool and the 
 mayor established themselves at the St. Nicholas. The 
 Tenth New York Regiment, happily, had not yet left. 
 It was ordered to remain, and was stationed, part in the 
 City Arsenal and part in the arsenal at the Central Park, 
 The entire force assembled in the city up to twelve 
 o'clock at night did not amount to one thousand men. 
 
 A detachment of the Invalid Corps of about fifty in 
 number, under the command of Lieutenant Reed, was 
 sent in a Third Avenue car to the scene of the riot at 
 Forty-sixth street. The crowd, which by this time had 
 swelled to an army of men, women and children, 
 received notice of their coming, and tearing np the 
 railroad tracks and breaking the telegraph wires, armed 
 themselves therewith, and awaited them at Forty-third 
 street. The soldiers left the car, and Lieutenant Reed, 
 after vainly directing the mob to disperse, committed 
 the fatal mistake of ordering his men to fire blank 
 cartridges. The farcical discharge exasperated the 
 rioters, who sprang on the troops, wrenched their mus- 
 kets from their hands, and beat and maltreated them. 
 The unfortunate soldiers fled in every direction, pursued 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 823 
 
 by the riotei's ; many were killed and nearly all severely 
 injured. The police attempted to interfere, but were 
 driven off" with the loss of one of their number. The 
 sight of blood intoxicated the mob, who lost sight of 
 the draft to enter upon a crusade of murder and 
 plunder. After sacking and burning two private 
 residences in Lexington Avenue, one of which they 
 wrongly supposed to belong to a deputy provost-mar- 
 shal, they proceeded to the office of Provost-Mai-shal 
 Manierre, in Broadway, near Twenty-eighth street, 
 where the draft had also been commenced in the morn- 
 ing, but had been since suspended. A part of the crowd 
 passed down Fifth Avenue. On their way they per- 
 ceived the American ffag displayed in honor of the late 
 victories, over the residence of Judge White, in Fifth 
 Avenue, near Thirty-fifth street. They halted and cried. 
 "Haul down that d— d rag!" The order remaining 
 unheeded, they flung stones through the windows and 
 were about to set fire to the house, when some one 
 proposed that they should first burn the provost-mar- 
 shal's office, whereupon they left, promising to return 
 and complete their work. In a short time the whole 
 block in Broadway between Twenty-eighth and Twenty- 
 ninth streets was in flames. The lower part was used 
 for stores filled with costly articles, and the upper part 
 was occupied as a fashionable boarding-house. The 
 wildest confusion prevailed. The rioters rifled the build- 
 ings of their contents, and the surrounding streets, 
 usually the resort of fashionable promenaders, were 
 soon filled with squahd men, women and children, laden 
 with rich furniture, silver, and articles of wearing ap- 
 parel. The neighborhood rang with the shouts and 
 yells of the lawless mob. 
 
824 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 From this place the mob j^i'oceeded to the Colored 
 Orphan Asylum in Fifth Avenue, between Forty-third 
 and Forty-fourth streets, the home of seven or eight 
 hundred colored children, and proceeded to demolish 
 the building in order to gratify their spite against the 
 negroes, whom they regarded as the prime cause of the 
 draft. This feeling rapidly developed, and become one 
 of the most prominent features of the riot. The unfor- 
 tunate negroes were everywhere hunted down ; the 
 hotels and private houses where they were employed 
 were attacked, and all who gave them shelter were 
 threatened with violence. It is supposed that a 
 dozen at least were brutally murdered during the 
 course of the day. Some were driven into the river, 
 and others beaten to death or suspended from the lamp- 
 posts. One was thrown into a barrel of blazing whis- 
 key ; another, after having been beaten till he was 
 senseless, was hung to a tree over a fire, where he re- 
 mained until midnight, when he was taken down by 
 the police. The thieves of the city boldly joined the 
 mob, which now thought only of plunder. The Bull's 
 Head Tavern, on Forty-fourth street, was burned to 
 the ground because the proprietor refused to supply 
 the rioters with liquor. The residence Of Mayor Op- 
 dyke was attacked, and Postmaster Wakeman's house 
 at Yorkville was burned to the ground, together with 
 the Twenty-Third Precinct station-house in the vicinity. 
 
 In the afternoon Mayor Opdyke issued a proclama- 
 tion warning the rioters to desist from their proceedings 
 and return to their homes. At the same time he 
 authorized loyal citizens to organize defences on their 
 own premises, and to shoot down any one who should 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 825 
 
 attempt to break in. A detachment of the poUce was 
 sent to the Armory in Second Avenue, where a quan- 
 tity of fire-arms was stored, and the superintendent was 
 directed to arm his men, and to defend the building to 
 the last extremity. The rioters made a furious onslaught 
 on the premises, and were at first repulsed. They re- 
 turned to the attack, and after a sharp conflict over- 
 powered the defenders and fired the building, which 
 fell, burying some of their number beneath the ruins. 
 
 General Wool issued a proclamation to the veteran 
 volunteers, requesting them to report the next morning 
 at the police headquarters, at 300 Mulberry street, to 
 aid in suppressing the riot. Meanwhile the work of 
 devastation went on. The mob stopped the omnibuses, 
 cars and carriages, broke the telegraph wires, and at- 
 tacked and murdered the passers without provocation. 
 No man of respectable appearance was safe. Toward 
 evening an immense crowd assembled in Printing-House 
 Square, in front of the Trihmie office, and, after threat- 
 ening demonstrations, attacked the building. They 
 forced the doors, broke the counters and furniture, and 
 had already kindled a fire, when a detachment of the 
 police charged upon them and put them to flight. This 
 was an unusual circumstance ; in most of the collisions 
 of the first day the police were overpowered. The most 
 extravagant rumors were circulated ; it was reported 
 that the rioters had seized the gas-works and the reser- 
 voir, and were about to cut off the water and light. The 
 inhabitants were panic-stricken ; they were generally 
 unarmed, flight was impossible, and the city lay at the 
 mercy of a brute crowd. It was a true reign of terror. 
 None who passed through that terrible night will ever 
 
826 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 forget its horrors. Mobs sprang up in all parts of the 
 city, the horizon was illumined with the flames of blaz- 
 ing houses in every direction, and the air rung with the 
 yells of the rioters. Late in the evening a heavy shower 
 extinguished the smouldering fires and cooled the fury 
 of the crowd. 
 
 The sun rose the next morning on a lugubrious scene. 
 The usual street cries were hushed, and an appalling 
 silence prevailed everywhere. No one ventured abroad, 
 the tradesmen missed their daily rounds, and the break- 
 fast-tables were left unsupplied. The stores were closed 
 and the streets desei'ted, save by ruffianly men and 
 fiendish women, who were seen prowling here and 
 there, or occasionally a frightened negro crouching in a 
 corner and wildly looking about for some means of 
 escape. This day was even more fearful than the pre- 
 ceding one. The mob early recommenced its fiendish 
 work, burning houses, shooting men, and, above all, 
 persecuting the negroes. How many of this unfortu- 
 nate race perished on that fearful day will never be 
 truly known. Their houses were burned over their 
 heads, and those who escaped from the flames were 
 hunted down and put to death relentlessly. Negroes 
 were seen hanging all day from the lamp-posts, with- 
 out any one having the courage to cut them down. 
 Age or sex was no protection from these fiends, who 
 for a few hours held the whole city at their feet. 
 
 In obedience to the call of General Wool, the ex- 
 officers of the returned regiments had met the evening 
 before at the armory of the Seventh Regiment, and 
 concerted measures for rallying their men on the next 
 day, which was accordingly done. Several encounters 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 827 
 
 took place between the military aud the rioters ; and 
 whenever ball-cartridges were promptly used, the latter 
 fled. Lieutenant Wood, at the head of a hundred and 
 fifty soldiers from Fort Lafayette, attempted to disperse 
 a mob of two thousand men, near the corner of Grand 
 and Pitt streets, by ordering his troops to fire over their 
 heads ; this unfortunate proceeding only exasperated 
 the crowd, who answered with stones and other missiles. 
 The troops at length aimed and fired at the rioters, who 
 instantly dispersed, with a loss of twelve of their num- 
 ber, two of whom were children. 
 
 Early in the morning news was received that a large 
 mob had gathered in Thirty-fourth street for the pur- 
 pose of plundering aud burning the houses in that 
 region. A squad of three hundred policemen, under 
 Insj^ector Carpenter, was sent to the spot, and with 
 some difficulty succeeded in dispersing the rioters. As 
 they quitted the spot, they were met by Colonel H. T. 
 O'Brien, of the Eleventh New York State Volunteers 
 with a detachment of soldiers and two field-pieces. 
 Perceiving that the mob was rallying again, they 
 retraced their steps, and were met with a volley of 
 paving-stones and other missiles ; without hesitation, 
 they fired on the crowd, killing several, among others, 
 a woman and two children. The I'ioters fled, uttering 
 threats of vengeance against O'Brien. 
 
 At noon a fierce battle was fought at the Union Steam 
 Works, on the corner of Second Avenue and Twenty- 
 second street, for the possession of the arms from the 
 Armory, which had been secreted there the day before 
 After a protracted contest, the police and military suc- 
 ceeded in dispersing the rioters and taking from them 
 a large quantity of arms. 
 
828 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Me;uuvliile, a bloody scene was being enacted close 
 by. On returning to his head-quarters, Colonel O'Brien 
 had learned that his house was attacked by the mob ; 
 he instantly proceeded thither, and found it sacked 
 from top to bottom. Anxious to learn the fate of his 
 family, he quitted the place and entered a drug-store 
 on the corner of Thirty-fourth street, which was in- 
 di-rectly assailed with sticks and stones by the rioters. 
 The proprietor entreated O'Brien to escape ; but fearing 
 BO danger, he boldly stepped on the sidewalk to ex- 
 postulate with the crowd, whereupon he was felled to 
 the earth and stunned, after which his body was drag- 
 ged for hours through the streets and exposed to the 
 most brutal outrages. Two priests, who had been per- 
 mitted to read the last prayers over the dying man, 
 secretly carried his corpse by night in a cart to the 
 dead-house at Bellevue. The mayor subsequently 
 offered a special reward of five hundred dollars for the 
 conviction of the perpetrators of this outrage, which 
 was never avenged. 
 
 At noon Governor Seymour arrived in the city and 
 addressed a mild speech to the rioters from the steps of 
 the City Hall, informing them that he had urged the 
 government to consent to a suspension of the draft, and 
 had been informed that it would be postponed. During 
 the day the Common Council held a special meeting, 
 aii>d unanimously adopted an ordinance appropriating 
 $2,5O0,000 to pay the commutation of drafted men 
 The mi.yor was urged to approve this ordinance at once, 
 but firni\y refused to do so till he had given the subject 
 mature fo^^gifJei-.^tiQ,^ . feeling, he said, that it would be 
 pur has 11.^ the peace of the vAy too dearly thus to bow 
 
 i 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 829 
 
 to the dictation of the mob, and to nulUfy the draft by 
 the expenditure of honor and the sacrifice of so much 
 treasure. He afterwards vetoed the ordinance. 
 
 At two in the afternoon the merchants and bankers 
 assembled in force at the Merchants' Exchange, No. Ill 
 Broadway, and on motion of John Austin Stevens, Jr., 
 the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, unanimously 
 resolved to close their places of business, and to meet on 
 the south side of Wall street for immediate organization 
 in companies of hundreds, pursuant to the call of the 
 mayor, to aid in suppressing the riot. Meanwhile the 
 mayor telegraphed to the secretary of war, requesting 
 him to send a military force to the city. At the same 
 time he issued a proclamation, requesting loyal citizens 
 to report at the police headquarters. No. 300 Mulberry 
 street, for the purpose of being sworn in as special 
 policemen for the preservation of law and order. The 
 venders of arms and ammunition were ordered to 
 close their stores at once, and to cease selling to private 
 persons ; while those citizens whose houses were threat- 
 ened by the rioters were furnished with arms for their 
 defence. An attack on the gas-works being appre- 
 hended, the mayor directed a manufacturer of calcium 
 lights to have a sufficient number of these lights in 
 readiness to facilitate the movements of the forces in 
 case of need. The gas-works, however, were not mo- 
 lested. 
 
 In the mean time the work of arson and pillage went on. 
 Mr. Gibbons's house, in Lamartine Place, was sacked by 
 the rioters, under the belief that it was the residence 
 of Mr. Greeley, who chanced to be staying at the house 
 of one of the editors of the Tribune on the same block. 
 
830 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 AUerton's Hotel, the Weehawken Ferry-house, and the 
 negro quarters in various parts of the city were burned 
 during the day. At evening, the sky was ilkimined 
 with the flames of the Eighteenth Precinct station- 
 house, in East Twenty-second street, together with the 
 fire-alarm bell-tower, No. 51 Engine House, and a 
 number of private dwellings, among others, the resi- 
 dence of Port Warden Peck, in East Thirty-third street. 
 By this time, many of the citizens had armed their 
 houses with muskets and hand-grenades, and in Print- 
 ing-House Square two formidable rifled batteries, in 
 front of the Tones office, overawed the mob, and pre- 
 vented a recurrence of the scenes of the preceding 
 night. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 15th, it was evident that the 
 riot had reached its climax, and was on the wane, for- 
 midable as it still continued. The persecution of the 
 negroes raged even worse than ever. The colored 
 population were subjected to the most frightful atroci- 
 ties ; all day long the bodies of negroes hung sus- 
 pended from trees and lamp-posts in various parts of 
 the city, after their houses had been burned over their 
 heads. The principal fires on this day were a lumber- 
 yard in Fourteenth street, and two large grain ele- 
 vators in the Atlantic Dock Basin. The citizens, by 
 this time, began to recover from their panic, and to 
 take active measures for their protection. 
 
 The secretar}' of war ordered home the regiments 
 that were doing duty in Pennsylvania, while the police 
 and military steadily gained the advantage in their 
 collisions with the mob. On the afternoon of the 15th 
 the mayor issued a proclamation, announcing that the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 831 
 
 riot was in a great measure subduerl, with the excep- 
 tion of the bands that were organized for the purpose 
 of plunder, and requesting the citizens to form volun- 
 taiy associations to patrol and guard their respective 
 districts. He also declared that the lines of omnibuses, 
 railroads and telegraphs, all of which had been sus- 
 pended, must be put into full operation immediately, 
 and promised them adequate military protection. On 
 the evening of the 15th the Tenth and Fifty-sixth New 
 York Regiments arrived from the seat of war, followed 
 soon after by the Seventh, Eighth, Seventy-fourth 
 and One Hundred and Sixty-second New York, and 
 Twenty-sixth Michigan regiments. The news of 
 the riot had fired the militia with indignation, and 
 they were eager to reach the city to strike a blow 
 at the dastardly enemy. At midnight on the 15th 
 General Kilpatrick, who had obtained leave of ab- 
 sence from the Army of the Potomac for the express 
 purpose of coming to New York to subdue the 
 riot, arrived, and was placed in command of all the 
 cavalry in the city. The presence of these troops over- 
 awed the mob, and the disturbance practically ceased 
 on the 16th, though turbulent manifestations continued 
 for some days after. It is just to say, however, that 
 before the arrival of the militia, the combined action of 
 the police and the citizens, together with the slender 
 military force at the disposal of the authorities, had 
 really sufficed to quell, in the short space of three days, 
 one of the most formidable riots ever known. 
 
 On the 16th Archbishop Hughes invited the rioters to 
 assemble the next day, Friday, in front of his residence 
 on the corner of Madison Avenue and Thirty-sixth 
 
832 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 street, where he would address them. Some five 
 or six thousand persons gathered on the spot. The 
 archbishop appeared on the balcony in his pontifical 
 robes, and exhorted his hearers to return to their homes, 
 and to offer no further resistance to the government. 
 The command was obeyed ; the crowd dispersed quietly, 
 and no disturbance ensued. A large cavalry force 
 patrolled the disaffected district during the night without 
 opposition. The next morning seventy stands of arms 
 and several casks of paving-stones, which had been 
 secreted by the rioters, were found and captured. On 
 the 17th the mayor issued a proclamation declaring that 
 order was restored. A few days after a reward was 
 offered for the conviction of tliose who had been guilty of 
 murder or arson in the late riot. Many of the ringlead- 
 ers were arrested and brought to trial ; some were con- 
 victed and punished, but none in a degree commensurate 
 with their crime. A man by the name of Andrews was 
 accused of having been the most active of the rioters. 
 
 In all probability the secret history of this terrible 
 affair and its real instigators still remains unwritten. 
 The number that perished therein is unknown. The 
 killed and wounded were estimated by the police at one 
 thousand. The mob and the colored population suffered 
 most severely, the loss of the military forces and the 
 police being comparatively slight. The city subse- 
 quently paid about $1,500,000 in indemnification for 
 the losses sustained through the riot. 
 
 Had the militia been in New York, it is not probable 
 that the riot would have lasted a single day. As it was, 
 it is doubtful whether any outbreak of such magnitude 
 was ever subdued in so short a time, with such slender 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 833 
 
 forces and so little loss. The draft met with like oppo- 
 sition everywhere ; in Boston a formidable riot broke 
 out, which was suppressed by a strong military organi- 
 zation, and similar disturbances occurred in several of 
 the Eastern and Western States. The Common Coun- 
 cil subsequently passed a relief bill to pay $300 com- 
 mutation to every drafted man in indigent circum- 
 stances. The draft was resumed in the autumn, and 
 was peacefully concluded. 
 
 New auxiliaries soon strengthened the army and les- 
 sened the necessity of conscription. On the 3d of De- 
 cember the Committee on Volunteering of the Union 
 League Club obtained permission from the war depart- 
 ment to raise a colored regiment, to be known as the 
 Twentieth Regiment of Colored Troops, to whom no 
 bounties would be paid, and who would receive ten 
 dollars per month. In spite of these hard conditions, 
 in fourteen days the work was so far advanced that the 
 committee felt justified in applying for leave to raise 
 another regiment, which was granted on the 5th of 
 January, 18(34. On the 27th of January this regiment, 
 the Twenty-sixth, was likewise full, and authority was 
 asked and received to raise a third, the Thirty-first. 
 On account of delay in obtaining arms, the Twentieth 
 Regiment did not leave for New Orleans until the 5th 
 of March, when, after a presentation of colors from the 
 ladies of New York in front of the Club House, where 
 they were addressed by Charles King, the president of 
 Columbia College, they marched down Broadway a. 
 thousand strong, escorted by the Club, amidst a bril- 
 liant ovation, which exhibited a striking contrast to the 
 scene of a few months before, when their race had been 
 hunted through the streets. 53 
 
834 HISTORY OF TUE 
 
 In December, 1863, C. Godfrey Gunther, a New 
 York merchant, was elected mayor by the democratic 
 party, who thus regained the ascendancy in the ex- 
 ecutive department of the city government. 
 
 The spring of 1864 was rendered noticeable by a 
 series of fairs, held in all the large cities through the 
 North, for the benefit of the United States Sanitary 
 Commission. Chief among these was the great Metro- 
 politan Fair in New York City, which was opened on 
 the 5th of April, and which netted $1,100,000, for the 
 reUef of the soldiers, a sum exceeding that produced by 
 any other fair in the country. Two large buildings 
 were erected for the purpose, one in Fourteenth street, 
 near Sixth Avenue, and the other in Seventeenth street, 
 on Union Square, both of which were filled with stalls 
 loaded with articles for sale, and presided over by the 
 most beautiful and fashionable women of the city. 
 This fair was the ruling sensation of the day, and no 
 pains were spared to render it attractive. The most 
 striking feature in the Seventeenth street building was 
 the Knickerbocker Kitchen, which was fitted up in the 
 style of the old Dutch Colony times, with genuine relics 
 furnished by the descendants of Stuyvesant and his 
 contemporaries, who, arrayed in the fashion of those 
 ancient times, served doughnuts and waffles to the 
 curious spectators. The larger building in Fourteenth 
 street contained several departments apart from the 
 fair proper ; among others, a fine picture-gallery, rich 
 in works of art, loaned or donated by the owners, a 
 hall of arms and trophies, a curiosity-shop, which was a 
 veritable bazaar of quaint relics, and a Sunny Side 
 pavilion, wherein were assembled a choice collection 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 835 
 
 of mementoes of Washington Irving, that kingly author 
 to whom New York claims the lionor of having given 
 birth, and whose early home, now swejit away by the 
 tide of business, might long have been seen in William, 
 between John and Fulton streets. The fair was in 
 every respect a success, and remains one of the pleas- 
 antest reminiscences of the times. A sanitary fair had 
 been held in Brooklyn, in February, from which over 
 five hundred thousand dollars were I'ealized. 
 
 The opening of the campaign was gloomy. The 
 Union forces met with reverse after reverse in Florida, 
 Louisiana and North Carolina, and the bloody massacre 
 at Fort Pillow filled the public mind with grief and 
 indignation. Repeated calls were made for troops, and 
 New York continued her inexhaustible supplies of men 
 and money. According to the official report of the 
 Committee on Volunteering, the total number of men 
 furnished by New York City from the beginning of the 
 war to the 1st of October, 1864, was one hundred and 
 twenty-six thousand three hundred and ten. 
 
 In March, Ulysses S. Grant was appointed Lieuten- 
 ant-Genei'al, and placed in command of the armies of 
 the United States. He immediately made preparations 
 for an advance upon Richmond, and early in May the 
 final struggle commenced, and with it the most sangui- 
 nary season of the war. This bloody May will long be 
 remembered ; the battles of the Wilderness and Spott- 
 sylvania Court House, favorable as was their result, 
 appalled the public by the terrible loss of life which 
 they involved. The whole summer was one of combat ; 
 but the era of decided success began with Farragut's 
 victory in Mobile Bay ; the fall of Atlanta followed ; 
 
836 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 then came Sheridan's famous ride through the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, Stoneman's raid and Sherman's triumphal 
 march along the seaboard ; and the year ended with the 
 capture of Savannah and the fall of Fort Fisher. 
 
 The presidential election was the great event of the 
 autumn. A recurrence of the riots was apprehended 
 in New York, and vigilant measures were taken by 
 the authorities to provide against this emergency. A 
 report having been spread that rebel agents in Canada 
 designed to send large bodies of men into the United 
 States, with a view to vote at the approaching election. 
 General Dix, who was then in command of the Depart- 
 ment of the East, issued an order requiring all persons 
 from the insurrectionary States to report themselves for 
 registry. In pursuance with this order, several hundred 
 Southerners appeared at the head-quarters of General 
 Peck, No. 37 Bleecker street, and were duly registered. 
 
 On the 2d of November the mayor received a tele- 
 gram from the secretary of war, informing him that 
 there was a conspiracy on foot to fire the principal 
 Northern cities on the day of the election. The mayor 
 answered, expressing his disbelief in such an attempt, 
 but promising to take precautions against it, and to 
 invoke the Federal assistance if necessary. The gov- 
 ernment deemed it advisable, however, without inter- 
 fering with the election, to procui'e ample means of 
 protection, and for this purpose, despatched General 
 Butler from Fortress Monroe to New York, to take 
 command of the troops in the city, where he arrived on 
 the 4th of November. On the ensuing Monday seven 
 thousand troops landed at Fort Hamilton and Gov- 
 ernor's Island. The next morning these troops were 
 
CITY OF X E W Y O R K . 837 
 
 embarked on steamers and stationed off the Battery, 
 and in the North and East Rivers, where they remained 
 for the next three daj's, within call in case of need. 
 The day passed off quietly, and Abraham Lincoln was 
 the second time elected President of the United States. 
 
 The alarm had not been groundless ; scarcely were 
 the troops removed from the city, when on the night 
 of the 25th of November the St. James, St. Nicholas 
 and Metropolitan Hotels, Lafarge House, Barnum's 
 Museum, United States Hotel, Astor House, Love- 
 joy's Hotel, Tammany Hotel, New England House, 
 Howard House, Belmont House, Fifth Avenue Hotel, 
 Hartford Hotel, and some shipping and a lumber 
 yard on the North River, were one after the other 
 discovered to be in flames. The incendiaries, fur- 
 nished with small travelling bags containing the ma- 
 terials for destruction, had taken rooms at the divers 
 hotels like ordinary lodgers, and closing the shut- 
 ters of their apartments, had toni up the bedding, 
 saturated it and the furniture with phosphorus and 
 turpentine, and, after lighting a slow match, locked 
 the doors and left the houses to burn with their inmates. 
 The precautions which they had taken to avert a pre- 
 mature discovery foiled the attempt ; the flames were 
 smothered in the tightly closed rooms, and were speedily 
 extinguished. One of the participators in this horrible 
 crime, Robert Kennedy, was subsequently arrested and 
 hung, having first confessed that he had formed one of 
 a party of eight, organized for the purpose of firing the 
 principal buildings in New York City, in retaliation for 
 Sheridan's raid in the Shenandoah Valley. 
 
 In the autumn of 1864 Professor Goldwin Smith 
 
838 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 visited the United States to witness the jM-esidential 
 election, and was received with enthusiasm, as the rep- 
 resentative of the band that had nobly upheld the cause 
 of the Union in Europe from the beginning of the 
 struggle. Prominent among these were Cobden, Bright, 
 Mill, Cairnes and Smith, in England ; and De Gasparin, 
 Laboulaye, Cochin and Martin in France. Count De 
 Gasparin was the earliest champion of the North in 
 Europe ; his book, The Uprising of a Great People, 
 which was published in Paris almost simultaneously 
 with the breaking out of the conflict, appeared in New 
 York about the time of the disaster of Bull Run, and 
 flashed like inspiration from Maine to California, ro- 
 viving the drooping spirits of the nation. Augustin 
 Cochin's great work on the abolition of slavery ap- 
 peared just before the emancipation proclamation, and 
 equalled a whole phalanx in support of that beneficent 
 measure ; Edouard Laboulaye, by his brilliant lectures 
 before the College of France and his successful extrava- 
 ganza, Paris in America, did more than almost any other 
 man to mould French jjublic opinion in favor of the 
 Union ; and Henri Martin, the celebrated historian, never 
 failed in all his writings to express his cordial sympathy 
 with the American Republic. Across the Channel, 
 John Bright, Richard Cobden, John Stuart Mill and 
 Professors Cairnes and Smith, labored with equal zeal 
 to defend the North against the bias of their govern- 
 ment, which so nearly involved us in foreign war. 
 This brilliant galaxy of names will rank side by side 
 with that of Lafayette and Beaumarchais in the eyes of 
 posterity. Goldwin Smith met a cordial welcome in 
 New York. On the 12th of November a public recep- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 839 
 
 tion was given him by the Uiiioii League Ckib, at their 
 rooms in Union Square, where a magnificent banquet 
 was served, presided over by Charles Butler, of New 
 York, at which a large number of the most distin- 
 guished men of the country were present, together 
 with Auguste Laugel, the able advocate of the Union 
 in the columns of Revue des Biiex Mondes. 
 
 At the risk of some repetition, we recur to the Union 
 League Club, in order to give in this place a brief sketch 
 of its rise and progress, without which a chronicle of the 
 times would be signally incomplete, and which must 
 remain a matter of historic interest in the annals of 
 New York. 
 
 The part borne through the war by the club, which 
 the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, speaker of the House of 
 Representatives, fitly characterized as that "noble or- 
 ganization on which the government leaned in the 
 darkest hours of trial and peril," forms so illustrious a 
 feature in the recent history of New York, that some 
 sketch of its organization,, progress and results becomes 
 a necessary appendage to a complete history of the 
 national metropolis. The proposition of Mayor Fer- 
 nando Wood in January, 1861, that the City of New 
 York should withdraw, not simply from the Union, but 
 from the State, and become a free city, aflbrded a strik- 
 ing proof of the absence of national American sentiment 
 in the democratic masses, to whose sympathies the 
 mayor appealed ; and the subsequent efforts of leading 
 democrats to secure, through Lord Lyons, British inter- 
 vention in our domestic afl'airs, indicated the strength 
 of their feeling in behalf of the rebellion, and the 
 grounds upon which its leaders had confidently counted 
 
840 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 upon the effective sympathy of New York. Subsequent 
 exhibitions of that same un-American sentiment were 
 afforded by Mayor Gunther's attempt to arrest the 
 foreign emigration, which flowed in as life-blood to 
 invigorate the repubhc in the struggle, and to check 
 the joy of our citizens at the victories of our soldiers 
 and the triumph of the American flag. 
 
 In January, 1863, the Union League Club was formed 
 by gentlemen who had already, for some two years, 
 been associated in the effort to encourage and sustain 
 the government in the struggle with the rebellion, and 
 who now found it essential to present an united front in 
 behalf of the true spirit of the nation against the in- 
 sidious treason which lurked all around them, and 
 against " the dwarfed and pinched ideas of a nationality 
 which, unable to embrace the expanse of a continent, 
 or the dignity and welfare of a nation, was restricted to 
 the interest of a faction, the confines of a state, even 
 the suburbs of a city." They felt that the purifying of 
 the social circles of the national metropolis would tend 
 more than anything else to brighten everywhere the 
 national atmosphere. 
 
 The call issued was for the formation of a club, to be 
 known as "The National Club," the object of which 
 should be to cultivate a profound national devotion, as 
 distinguished from state or sectional feeling, to strength- 
 en a love and respect for the Union and discourage 
 whatever tended to give undue prominence to purely 
 local interests, to discuss and urge upon public attention 
 large and noble schemes of national advancement, to 
 elevate and uphold the popular faith in republican 
 government, to dignify politics as a pursuit and a study, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 841 
 
 to awaken a practical interest in public allairs in thotse 
 who had become discouraged, to enforce a sense of the 
 sacred obligations inherent in citizenship, and finally to 
 bring to bear upon the national life all that a body of 
 earnest and patriotic men could accomplish by united 
 effort. 
 
 The call was promptly responded to by the influen- 
 tial gentlemen to whom it was addressed, and on the 
 6th of February the articles of association were adopted 
 under the name of "The Union League Club." 
 
 The articles were brief and simple, and appealed to 
 loyal citizens of all parties. They read as follows : 
 
 "1. The condition of membership shall be absolute 
 "and unqualified loyalty to the government of the 
 "United States, and unwavering support of its efforts 
 "for the suppression of the rebellion. 
 
 " 2. The primary object of the association shall be to 
 "discountenance and rebuke by moral and social iufiu- 
 " ences all disloyalty to the Federal Government, and 
 "to that end the members will use evei-y proper means 
 " in public and private. 
 
 " 3. We pledge ourselves by every means in our 
 "power, collectively and individually, to resist to the 
 "uttermost every attempt against the territorial integ- 
 "rity of the nation." 
 
 The five hundred members who were presently en- 
 rolled largely represented the olden respectability and 
 the substantial worth of New York. Among the great 
 commercial names were those of Astor, Bininger, Benk- 
 ard, Brooks, Brown, Chittenden, Constable, Delano, 
 Drew, Forbes, Grinnell, Greene, Griswold, Haggerty, 
 Hall, Jones, Lorillard, Le Roy, Marshall Minturn, Nye, 
 
842 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Parish, Poll, Prime, Roosevelt, Sherman, Schultz, Spof- 
 ford, Stewart, Schieflelin, Sturges, Yermilye and 
 Wolfe. Descendants of the Dutch, English and Hugue- 
 nots prominent in our colonial and revolutionary history, 
 appear in the names of Beekman, De Forest, De Peys- 
 ter. Pish, Gerry, Hamilton, Jay, King, Murray, Putnam, 
 Stuyvesant, Suydam, Van Duzen, Van Nostrand, Van 
 Rensselaer, Van Wart, Van Winkle and Winthrop. 
 Names of note in Ameiican literature, law, science and 
 art: Bancroft, Bristed, Bryant, Butler, Irving, Sedg- 
 wick, Webster, Tuckerman ; Bonney, Evarts, Bowne, 
 Cutting, Emmet, Murray, Hoffman, Noyes, Stoughton, 
 Strong and Swan ; LeGrand Cannon, Cyrus Field, 
 Cisco, Bacon, Delafield, Doremus and Joy ; Blodgett, 
 Cropsey, Hunt, Johnston, Kensett ; with such repre- 
 sentation of modern Europe as Iselin from France, Det- 
 mold and Lieber from Germany, and Botta from Italy. 
 
 In March a committee of five were appointed to 
 confer with similar committees of the Union League 
 Clubs in Philadelphia and Baltimore, with reference to 
 the establishment of a common basis of action, and in 
 April a committee of one hundred gentlemen from the 
 Philadelphia Club, embracing names equally eminent in 
 law, literature, science, and commerce, came to New 
 York, were welcomed by the Union League in their 
 new Club House, entertained at Delmonico's, and 
 assisted at the grand Sumter celebration in. Union 
 Square. 
 
 On the Fourth of July the Clubs had arranged for a 
 joint celebration of the day, and a further conference 
 at Philadelphia ; but the rebel invasion of Pennsylvania 
 gave to the national anniversary new memories on the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 843 
 
 field of Gettysburg, and soon afterwards in New York, 
 where the leaders of the rebellion were prepared in 
 case Lee had been victorious to inaugurate "the Fourth " 
 by a revolutionary coup d] etat, the rebel element, dis- 
 appointed by the great victory of Meade, broke out in 
 riots, robbei-y, arson, and murder, in which a brutality 
 that might have shocked the Jacobins of Paris, was 
 inaugurated against the negroes, until the military and 
 metropolitan pohce, with a slender force, but a most 
 gallant spirit, met and checked the rioters with so firm 
 a hand that with their dispersion and defeat perished the 
 last hope of the rebels of inaugurating a successful North- 
 ern insurrection against nationality, liberty and law. 
 
 The Club resolved to exert its already large influence 
 in the approaching presidential election for the success 
 of the Union cause, and on the evening of the 8th of 
 November, 1863, they had the satisfaction of knowing 
 that the State of New York was agahi arrayed on the 
 side of nationality and freedom, and that the re-election 
 of Mr. Lincoln ensured the life of the republic. 
 
 The same month the Committee on Volunteering, con- 
 sisting of Messrs. Van Rensselaer, Carman, Roosevelt, 
 Cowdin, Kirkland, Bacon, Bhss, Schultz and Cromwell, 
 after a vain effort to procure any authority or sanction 
 from Governor Seymour, was authorized by the War 
 Department to raise the Twentieth United States 
 Regiment of colored troops, and the work proceeded so 
 rapidly under the direction of Mr. Vincent CoUyer, that, 
 as we have already mentioned, in fourteen days the 
 committee apphed for authority to raise a second regi- 
 ment, the Twenty-sixth United States colored troops, 
 and this again was succeeded by a third. 
 
844 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Twentieth Reghuent, as before described, on the 
 5th of March, was reviewed in front of the Ckib House 
 in Union Square, where it was presented with a banner 
 prepared by the mothers, wives and sisters of the mem- 
 bers of the Club, accompanied by an address written by 
 the poet, Henry J. Tuckermau, and signed by the do- 
 nors.* The regiment, after an address by Mr. Charles 
 King, and a response by the commanding officer, Colonel 
 Bartram, marched down Broadway escorted by the Club, 
 and from that day, when in our streets, colored men were 
 welcomed with an ovation instead of a massacre, it was 
 clear that thenceforth in New York black men had 
 rights which white men were bound to respect. 
 
 On the morning of Easter Sunday, the 27th of March, 
 the Twenty-sixth Regiment embarked for Annapolis, 
 attended by a few ladies and gentlemen on board the 
 steamer, where the colors prepared for them were pre- 
 
 * These names are worthy of record as indicating to future generations the part 
 borne, in one of the most significant events of the war — for the action of New York 
 in the case influenced the sentiment of the whole country— by the women who 
 so prominently represented the national sentiment as well as the culture and refine- 
 ment of the republic. 
 
 Mrs. J. J. Aster, 
 " G. W. Blunt, 
 " J. W. Beekman, 
 " S. Wetmore, 
 " S. B. Chittenden, 
 " G. BUss, Jr., 
 " S. J. Bacon, 
 " R. B. Mintum, 
 " Charles King, 
 " S. W. Bridgham, 
 " W. E. Dodge, 
 " R. Stebbins, 
 " S. B. Schieffelin, 
 
 Miss King, 
 
 Mrs. J. B. Johnson, 
 " N. D. Smith, 
 " T. M. Cheesman, 
 " H. A. Coit, 
 " A. P. Mann, 
 
 Mrs. J. W. Bigelow, 
 
 " M. O. Roberts, 
 
 " H. K. Bogart, 
 
 " E. C. Hall, 
 
 " J. Le Roy, 
 
 " J. Brown, 
 
 " M. Clarkson, 
 
 " J. 0. Stone, 
 
 " J. G. King, Jr., 
 
 " H. Van Rensselaer. 
 
 " J. A. King, Jr., 
 
 " J. C. Cassegee, 
 
 " J. L. Kennedy, 
 
 " F. Prime, 
 
 " Barnwell, 
 
 " Wheelwright, 
 
 " E. Collins, 
 
 " Bradisli, 
 
 " Bruce. 
 
 Mrs. J. McKaye, 
 
 " W. L. Felt, 
 
 " F. Haskell, 
 
 " Isaac Ames, 
 
 " L. F. Warner, 
 
 " A. G. Phelps, 
 
 " N. Chandler, 
 
 " H. Potter, 
 
 " P. S.Van Renselaer, 
 
 " Walter. 
 
 " H. Baldwin, 
 
 " H. G. Thomson, 
 
 " F. C. Peudexter, 
 
 " H. C. Chapman, 
 
 " G. Bancroft, 
 
 " M. K. Jessup, 
 
 " J. 0. B. Davis, 
 
 " W. H. Schieffelin, 
 
 " C C. Dodge, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 845 
 
 sented by Mr. John Jay, whose address was earnestly 
 responded to by Colonel Silliman, who soon after fell in 
 defence of the flag to which he touchingly declared the 
 devotion of his soldiers and himself. These two regi- 
 ments and the Thirty-first, which Avas next filled up by 
 the Club, exhibited in their career during the war, 
 combined with an admirable drill and discipline, a spirit 
 of earnest patriotism and fearless bravery. A second 
 Committee on Volunteering, consisting of Messrs. Bliss, 
 Roosevelt, Handy, Hyatt, Hoyt, Swift, Schultz, Wil- 
 liams, Fogg, Murdock, Fellows, Fuller, Halstead, Sat- 
 terlee, Churchill and Grinnell, was appointed at the 
 request of General Hancock to recruit for the Second 
 Corps. They raised some $230,000 and upwards of 
 three thousand men, making the total of troops placed 
 in the field by the Club wdthin the year six thousand 
 men. 
 
 Mrs. J. J. Phelps, 
 
 " G. B. De Forest, 
 
 " Le G. B. Cannou 
 
 " W. A. Butler, 
 
 •' U. A. Murdock, 
 
 " A. Dunlap, 
 
 " T. E. Howe, 
 
 " W. H. Lee, 
 
 " W. E. Dodge, Jr., 
 
 " David Hoadly, 
 
 " 0. Luddington, 
 
 " G. Lemist, 
 
 " E. C. Cowdin, 
 
 " J. A. Roosevelt, 
 
 " J. Sampson, 
 
 " R. B. Mintum, Jr., 
 
 " Alfred PeU, Jr., 
 
 " W. Hutchins, 
 
 " Geo. Opdyke, 
 
 " G. C. Ward, 
 
 " 0. G. Judson, 
 
 " S. W. Roosevelt, 
 
 " E. D. Smith, 
 
 " S. Gandy, 
 
 " R. L. Stuart, 
 
 " E. W. Stoughton, 
 
 Mrs. Tuekerman, 
 
 " Shaw, 
 
 " Williams, 
 
 " P. Richards, 
 
 " R. Winthrop, 
 
 " Weeks, 
 
 " Jaques, 
 
 " A. Brooks, 
 
 " W. Felt, 
 
 " J. W. Goddard, 
 
 " F. G. Shaw, 
 
 " R. G. Shaw. 
 
 " G. W. Curtis, 
 
 " R. C. Lovell, 
 
 " C. M. Kirkland, 
 
 " B. De Forest, 
 
 " Boerum, 
 
 " Hamilton Fish, 
 
 " Alfred FeU, 
 
 " Kennedy, 
 
 " J. Johnston, 
 
 " T. L. Beekman, 
 
 " J. F. Gray, 
 
 " J. Tuekerman, 
 
 " F. A. Whittaker, 
 
 " J. H. Maey, 
 
 Mrs. John Jay, 
 
 " E. M. Young, 
 
 " J. T. Schultz, 
 
 " J. E. Brenly, 
 
 " H. Chauncy, 
 
 " R. M. Hunt, 
 
 " Jones, 
 
 Miss J. Schieffelin. 
 
 " Fish, 
 
 " Jay, 
 
 " Anna Jay, 
 
 " Young, 
 
 " Schultz. 
 
 " Russel, 
 
 " J. M. King, 
 
 " Cochrane, 
 
 Vincent Colyer, 
 
 ■' C. C. Hunt, 
 
 '■ G. Williams, 
 
 " E. H. Chauncy, 
 
 " E. W. Cruger, 
 
 " W. C. Bryant, 
 
 " F. B. Goodwin, 
 
 " Emily Boerum, 
 
 Miss Norsworthy. 
 
 " F. H. Macy, 
 
 M 
 
840 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Another was the "Protective War-Chiim Associatiun 
 " and Employment Bureau for Discharged and Disabled 
 " Soldiers," under the direction of Messrs. Howard Pot- 
 ter, Wm. E. Dodge and Theo. Roosevelt. 
 
 A happy thought happily executed in November, was 
 that of providing a thanksgiving dinner for our soldiers 
 and sailors. Gen. Grant afforded every assistance for 
 the distribution of the gifts to the Army of the Shenan- 
 doah, to the Atlantic Squadron, to the Armies of the 
 Potomac and the James, and to some fifteen forts and 
 hospitals, remarking that "it was not the bit of turkey 
 "that the soldiers would care for, but the thought that 
 "they were kindly remembered at the North." 
 
 In January, 1865, the before-mentioned Soldiers' 
 Rest was established in New York for the comfort of 
 soldiers passing through the city, under the care of 
 Messrs. Dale, Hayes, Schultz, Lawrence, Bliss and 
 Howe ; and the same month the Club despatched a 
 committee to Washington to urge the adoption of the 
 Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The 
 committee remained at the capital until that great 
 work was accomplished, and in their report sketched 
 the memorable scene in the House on the adoption of 
 the amendment. 
 
 After the murder of President Lincoln, the Club was 
 represented at his funeral at Washington, and the com- 
 mittee the next day waited upon President Johnson, 
 the secretaries of the departments and the chief justice, 
 giving assurance that the Club on that momentous occa- 
 sion renewed its engagements of loyalty and service 
 towards the government and the country. In reply to 
 an address made him by Mr. Jay, on behalf of the Club, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 847 
 
 President Johnson, after thanking the Clnl) for their 
 encouragement as "especially appropriate," assured 
 them that "the idea that justice should be observed 
 "was one that had strongly impressed him," that " all 
 "crimes were submerged in treason, and that we must 
 " look to it in this light in the carrying out of stern, 
 " inflexible justice." 
 
 In July the Club took effective measures for the suit- 
 able care and reception of regiments returning from the 
 war, and Gov. Fenton, in returning thanks to the Club 
 on behalf of the State and of the soldiers, whose welfare 
 it had largely promoted, said : 
 
 " It is a source of grateful feeling and pride that the 
 "wise and humane provisions of the State have been 
 " encouraged and advanced by your body. An associ- 
 " ation which had its origin in the patriotic impulse 
 " stimulated by the war and the necessity of systematized 
 "effort, may properly receive the thanks of an apprecia- 
 "tive people, and be proud of a record which declares 
 "it faithful in the beginning, hopeful, watchful and 
 "unwearied during the period of greatest despondency 
 " and gloom, and devoted, sympathizing and humane to 
 "the brave defenders of our Union in the end." 
 
 In the work of reconstruction the Club spoke awd 
 acted with the same distinctness and promptitude as it 
 had done during the war. 
 
 In June, 1865, with but one dissenting voice, it "in- 
 " yoked the influence of the national authorities in the 
 " establishing of a system of suffrage in the late rebel- 
 "lious States, which shall be equal and just to all with- 
 " out distinction of color," and soon afterwards it ap- 
 pointed a committee to co-operate with the "New York 
 
848 H I S T RY OF THE 
 
 "National Froedmen's Relief Association," in securing 
 among the negroes the general diffusion of education. 
 
 In March, 1865, it gave its approval to the action of 
 Congress on the subject of reconstruction, in April 
 it endorsed the passage of the Civil Rights Bill, and in 
 September, 1866, the Club invited and entertained at 
 New York the Convention of Southern Loyalists who 
 had met at Philadelphia. 
 
 In January, 1866, the main object of the Club, the 
 
 preservation of the country, having been accomplished, 
 
 it adopted a new article making it " the duty of 
 
 'the Club to resist and expose corruption and promote 
 
 ' reform in our national, state and municipal affairs, and 
 
 ■'to elevate the idea of American citizenship." 
 
 The influence of the Club has already secured for 
 New York a Paid Fire Department and a Board of 
 Health, and it has spoken with great effect upon the 
 subject of legislative corruption, rousing the attention 
 of the State and the nation to the fatal consequences of 
 permitting government to be converted by lawless poli- 
 ticians into a machine for plundering and oppressing the 
 people. In pursuance of the latter object, a committee 
 of eleven was appointed by it to suggest changes in 
 the government of the city to the Constitutional 
 Convention. 
 
 Among the duties early assumed, and always grace- 
 fully performed by the Club, has been that of extending 
 a cordial welcome to all entitled to such an honor. It 
 thus received, during and since the war, Lieutenant- 
 General Grant and his most eminent commanders ; 
 Admiral Farragut, Ditpont, Rogers, Winslow, after 
 destroying theKearsarge,and Cushing, after sinking the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 849 
 
 Albemarle ; the governors of States ; Fessenden, Sher- 
 man and others of the Senate ; and Speaker Colfax 
 and promhient members of the House. Among the 
 honors jjaid at the Club House to foreigners, the break- 
 fast to Professor Goldwin Smith was perhaps the most 
 memorable, from the brilliancy of the circle then assem- 
 bled. Some of the ablest of the statesmen and jjubli- 
 cists of Europe are occasional correspondents of the Club, 
 and among the portraits that adorn its walls are those 
 of Cobden and Bright, Laboulaye and Gasparin. The 
 artists of New York, than whom there was no more 
 loyal class during the war, are prominently represented, 
 and an Art Committee, composed of Messrs. Putnam, 
 Kensett, Cropsey, Colyer, Butler, Stone and Holbrook, 
 adorn the club room at the monthly meetings with 
 works of art from the studios of the city, which are left 
 open for inspection by the wives and daughters of the 
 members. The Club has recently resolved, on the sug- 
 gestion of Mr. Alexander T. Stewart, to raise half a 
 million dollars for the erection of a new Club House, 
 and the work is entrusted to a committee of which 
 Mr. Stewart is the chairman. The presidents of the 
 Club have been Robert B. Minturn, Jonathan Sturges, 
 Charles H. Marshall and John Jay. Of these Messrs. 
 Minturn and Marshall are deceased. 
 
 It has been well said that the community, with pride 
 and affection, recognizes in the Club "a great j^ower 
 "employed with generous and earnest zeal in the pro- 
 emotion of patriotism, humanity and justice. . . . Ever 
 " foremost in duty, it has never broken ranks. . . . The 
 " Club has no long history to point back to, but it has 
 'lived long enough to see every principle and every 
 54 
 
•850 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 "measure which it has vindicated honorably suc- 
 cessful." 
 
 The year 1865 opened brilliantly with the fall of 
 Fort Fisher. Victories crowded upon each other ; the 
 capture of Columbia and Savannah, the brilliant raid 
 of Sheridan, the successful advance of the Army of the 
 Potomac, and, last of all, the fall of Richmond on the 
 3d of April, dazzled the public mind. A New Yorker, 
 Lieutenant De Peyster, a member of one of the most 
 distinguished of the Knickerbocker families, was the 
 first to raise the National flag anew over the Confede- 
 rate Capitol. The news of the fall of Richmond was 
 received in New York with unbounded rejoicing. The 
 whole city seemed intoxicated with delight. The 
 streets were thronged with joyous crowds, flags were 
 displayed everywhere, and the air rang with the 
 booming of cannon and the chimes of bells in honor of 
 the virtual termination of the great conflict. The 
 surrender of Lee, on the 9th of April, left only a hand- 
 ful of insurgents in the field, who were subdued in the 
 course of a few months. 
 
 The interval between joy and mourning was short. 
 On the morning of the 15th of April the whole com- 
 munity was paralyzed by the announcement that the 
 President of the United States had been stricken down, 
 the night before, by the bullet of an assassin, and that 
 the secretary of state and his son had been attacked 
 and well nigh murdered. As if by a spontaneous 
 impulse, scarcely was the news received at half-past 
 seven, that the President had breathed his last, when 
 the whole city, from the most sumptuous edifices to the 
 Humblest tenements, appeared draped in mourning. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 851 
 
 Business was entirely suspended, the stores were closed, 
 and the streets were thronged with crowds bewailing 
 the loved head of the nation, and breathing forth 
 vengeance on his murderers. Never before was such a 
 scene beheld in busy New York, thus suddenly trans- 
 formed into a city of mourners. At twelve o'clock, an 
 immense meeting assembled at the Custom House. 
 Simeon Draper, the collector of the port, was chosen 
 president, Moses Taylor and Moses H. Grinnell, vice- 
 presidents, and Henry M. Taber and S. B. Chittenden, 
 secretaries. The meeting was addressed by Genei'als 
 Wetmore, Garfield and Butler, Ex-Governor King, 
 Daniel S. Dickinson, Judge Pierrepont, and several 
 others, and a committee of thirteen citizens of New 
 York was appointed to be sent to Washington to 
 attend the funeral of the President, and to tender all 
 needful aid and sympathy to the government. This 
 committee consisted of Moses Taylor, Jonathan Sturges, 
 William E. Dodge, Hamilton Fish, Moses H. Grinnell, 
 WiUiam M. Evarts, Charles H. Russell, Edwards Pierre- 
 pont, Samuel Sloan, John J. Astor, Jr., F. B. Cutting, 
 R. M. Blatchford, and Charles H. Marshall. It was 
 also recommended that all places of business and of 
 public amusement should remain closed until after the 
 funeral of the President. 
 
 At one o'clock, a meeting was held at the Chamber 
 of Commerce, at which Charles H. Marshall acted as 
 chairman, and John Austin Stevens as secretary. The 
 rooms of the Chamber were hung with mourning. 
 Resolutions expressive of respect for the memory of 
 Mr. Lincoln, and of condolence with his f\\mily, and 
 that of Mr. Seward, were unanimously adopted, and 
 
852 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the meeting joined with that at the Custom House m 
 recommending the closing of all places of business and 
 amusement until after the obsequies of the President. 
 The Boards of Stock Brokers and Gold Brokers 
 adjourned at once, without transacting any business. 
 In Nassau street, in front of the Post Office, a large 
 concourse of citizens was addressed by General Burn- 
 side. The Courts and Boards of Aldermen, Councilmen 
 and Supervisors adjourned, after passing resolutions of 
 condolence with the nation in its affliction. The chief 
 of the police acted on the recommendation of the 
 merchants, and issued an order directing that all places 
 of amusement should remain closed until after the 
 burial of the President, a course which had been previ- 
 ously resolved upon by the Association of New York 
 Managers. The pervading thought of the city was 
 grief and indignation at this base assassination ; and it 
 is just to say that this indignation seemed universal, 
 and with scarcely an exceptioii, was shared by those 
 who had sympathized with the South during the 
 struggle. 
 
 The death of the martyred President was the general 
 topic of discourse the next day in the Christian 
 churches, as it had been the day before in the Jewish 
 synagogues. From that time until the remains of 
 President Lincoln passed through New York on their 
 way to their final resting place in Illinois, the city was 
 engrossed in preparations to do honor to the illustrious 
 dead. The 19th of April, a date memorable in the 
 annals of America, was observed as a day of mourning 
 by the whole nation. On that day, funeral services 
 were performed at the White House, and the body of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 853 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was removed to the Capitol, where it lay 
 in state until the morning of the 21st, when the funeral 
 train set out for Illinois by nearly the same route as 
 that taken by Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington 
 in 1861. His was a triumphal, though mournful return. 
 The districts which had then been most hostile, now 
 received him with reverence ; Baltimore, through 
 which he had passed secretly by night, and which had 
 justified this precaution by shooting down the Union 
 soldiers a few weeks after, greeted the mournful 
 procession with the deepest respect, as did all other 
 places on the route. 
 
 By night and day the funeral train passed through a 
 crowd of mourners. Lnposing as were the demonstra- 
 tions everywhere else, they were surpassed by the City 
 of New York. The City Hall had been prepared for 
 the reception of the honored remains, which were es- 
 corted thither from the Cortlandt Street Ferry, upon 
 their arrival on the 24th of April, by a sea of human 
 beings ; while minute guns were fired along the entire 
 route, and the bells of all the churches tolled mourn- 
 fully. The coffin was borne into the rotunda of the 
 City Hall, amid the chanting of eight hundred singers, 
 and placed on the magnificent catafalque which had 
 been prepared for it, where it remained buried beneath 
 flowers until the afternoon of the next day. An im- 
 mense procession of people, miles in length, had already 
 formed, and during the whole twenty-four hours this 
 stream of men, women and children slowly filed 
 through the City Hall, to look for the last time on the 
 face of the dead President. A large military guard 
 kept constant watch over the remains, and at midnight 
 
854 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the German musical societies performed a solemn chant 
 in the rotunda of the City Hall. When the time 
 arrived for departure, thousands who had waited iu line 
 for hours to pay their last respects to the dead, were 
 obliged to turn away disappointed. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 25th of April New York 
 City took its final leave of President Lincoln. The 
 remains were escorted to the railroad depot by a pro- 
 cession nearly five miles iu length, composed of a mili- 
 tary force of more than fifteen thousand men, together 
 with numerous civic officers and societies. Last in the 
 procession marched two thousand colored citizens. 
 Along the whole line the streets were thronged with 
 mourners. Every window and balcony was filled, and 
 every house was shrouded in funereal drapery. Even 
 the denizens of the poorest quarters of the city, who 
 could scarce buy bread, eked out the means to provide 
 shreds of crape, by which to express their sorrow ; 
 while the most tasteful arches, inscriptions and mourn- 
 ing devices lined the streets through which the funeral 
 train passed. A large assemblage met in the afternoon 
 in Union Square to listen to a funeral oration from the 
 Hon. George Bancroft, and an eulogy from William Cul- 
 len Bryant. On the 3d of May, after a journey of more 
 than seventeen hundred miles, the funeral party reached 
 Springfield, Illinois, and on the next day the remains of 
 President Lincoln were laid to rest in Oak Ridge Ceme- 
 tery, ne.ar by. 
 
 In the spring of 1865 an important change was 
 efiected in the municipal affairs by the substitution of a 
 paid Fire Department for the volunteer Fire Department 
 that had hitherto existed. On the 30th of March the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 855 
 
 Lower Arseaal. 
 
 Legislature passed an act providing for the creation of 
 a board of four fire commissioners, to be appointed by 
 the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 Senate, who were to have control of the new Fire De- 
 partment. Charles C. Pinckney, James W. Booth, 
 Philip W. Engs and Martin B. Brown were appointed 
 commissioners, and on the 2d of May, the paid Fire 
 Department was organized. A radical change was at 
 once effected in the prevailing system : steam fire-en- 
 gines were everywhere adopted within the limits of the 
 city proper in lieu of the old hand-engines, the telegraph 
 facilities were improved, and many important ameliora- 
 tions were made. The innovation at first called forth 
 the most violent opposition from the members of the 
 former organization, who protested that the act was 
 
856 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 unconstitutional. The case was carried before the 
 Court of Appeals, which affirmed the constitutionality 
 of the law. Fears were entertained lest the antagonism 
 of the volunteer firemen, some of whom at first assumed 
 a position of open hostility, and refused to surrender 
 the property of the Fire Department, might endanger the 
 city in case of conflagration ; the opposition, however, 
 was peacefully subdued with no more agitation than 
 might have been expected from so important a trans- 
 formation. 
 
 One of the most strikingly beautiful buildings erected 
 in New York during this year was the National Academy 
 of Design, on the corner of Twenty-third street and 
 Fourth Avenue, a tasteful structure of graywacke and 
 white marble, which is one of the architectural orna- 
 ments of the city. The first organized effort to estab- 
 lish an art institution in the city was that of the "New 
 " York Academy of Fine Arts," in 1802, which was char- 
 tered in 1808, under the name of the Academy of Arts, 
 with Robert R. Livingston as president, John Trumbull 
 as vice-president, and De Witt Clinton as secretary, 
 Trumbull being the only artist. The first exhibition 
 was held in Greenwich street, near Morris, in a building 
 formerly used as a circus. In 1825 an association was 
 formed by the artists of the city under the name of the 
 New York Drawing Association, which was afterwards 
 organized under the name of the National Academy of 
 the Arts of Design, with S. F. B. Morse as the first 
 president. The first public exhibition of the new acad- 
 emy took place in May, 1826, in the house on the 
 south-west corner of Bi'oadway and Reade street. The 
 room in which the exhibition was held was in the second 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 857 
 
 story, and was lighted with gas, six burners in all for 
 the whole exhibition, which consisted of one hundred 
 and seventy pictures. From this small beginning grew 
 the present Academy of Design. 
 
 Perhaps the most noticeable fire of the year was that 
 of Barnum's Museum, on the corner of Broadway and 
 Ann street, which was burned on the 13th of July; an 
 old landmark, which has since been replaced by the 
 Herald building. 
 
 A tragic event that occurred in the autumn excited 
 great attention. On the 12th of November, the Hon. 
 Preston King, who had superseded Simeon Draper a 
 short time before in the post of collector of the port of 
 New York, stole from his hotel early in the morning, 
 purchased a bag of shot of twenty-five pounds in 
 weight, suspended it around his neck, proceeded to 
 the Hoboken ferry-boat, and sprang from the deck while 
 crossing the river. The cares of the office had unseated 
 his reason. A diligent search w'as instituted for his body, 
 which was discovered some time after. Henry A. 
 Smythe, an eminent New York banker, was appointed 
 in his stead. 
 
 In December John T. Hoffman, the democratic 
 candidate, was elected mayor, and was inaugurated in 
 office on the 1st of January, 1866. 
 
 After the excitement of the last five stirring years, 
 the chronicle of the opening era of peace seems 
 uneventful. The victories of 1866 were bloodless ones. 
 Chief among them was that attained over the fetters of 
 space by the successful laying of the Atlantic Telegraph 
 Cable, the crowning event, not only of the year, but 
 also of the century ; and this gigantic project originated 
 
858 H I S T O RY F T H E 
 
 in New York City, and was due solely to the energy 
 and pei'severauce of a New York merchant, without 
 whose untiring zeal and devotion it is scarcely likely 
 that our generation would have seen the continents 
 linked together by an electric bridge. This fact will 
 warrant us in devoting some space to a brief sketch of 
 this miracle of the age, which may in some sort be 
 regarded as belonging peculiarly to New York.* 
 
 Whatever visions may have been entertained of a 
 remote possibility that Europe and America might some 
 daj^ be telegTaphically united, the first idea of jDracti- 
 cally effecting this communication belongs indisputably 
 to Cyrus W. Field, a New York merchant, who, after 
 retiring from business to enjoy a life of leisure, entered 
 the arena again for the ^aurpose of securing the triumjsh 
 of this great scheme to which he devoted twelve years 
 of unheard-of disappointment and fatigue, seeing his 
 hopes dashed to the gi-ouud again and again, giving up 
 all the comforts of home and crossing the ocean more 
 than forty times in this anxious interval. Such per- 
 severance is rare indeed, and deserves the highest meed 
 of praise. 
 
 In 1854 Mr. Field conceived the idea of spanning 
 the ocean with the electric wire. Such an undertaking 
 was too vast for the shoulders of a single individual, 
 
 * For tlie accompanying facts, we are indebted to the excellent History of the 
 Atlantic Telegraph, by Mr. Field's brother, Henry M. Field, D.D., the able editor 
 of the New York Evangelist. Mr. Field's whole family is marked by unusual 
 talent. His fatlier was a distinguished derygman of Stockbridge, Mass. Besides 
 his brothers, Da\-id Dudley and Henry M., whom we have already mentioned, 
 another brother, Stephen J., of California, is the youngest judge of the U. S. 
 Supreme Court, and still another, Matthew, a skilful engineer, aided materially in 
 the success of the cable. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK 
 
 859 
 
 
 Cooper Institute. 
 
 and he looked about hhn for coadjutors in the work. 
 The first interested was his next door neighbor, the 
 philanthropist, Peter Cooper, a native of New York. 
 Moses Taylor, a wealthy New York capitalist, was next 
 enlisted, and through him, Marshall 0. Roberts ; both 
 of these gentlemen were natives of New York, and 
 ranked among its most prominent citizens. Chandler 
 White, another New York merchant, filled up the 
 measure ; and at six o'clock on the morning of the 8th 
 of May, 1854, these five New York gentlemen met at 
 the house of Mr. Field's brother, David Dudley Field, 
 in Gramercy Park, and in half an hour organized a 
 company and subscribed a million and a half of dollars 
 
860 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with which to begin one of the most herculean tasks 
 ever undertaken within the memory of man. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to estabUsh telegraphic 
 communication from the mainland across the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence to Cape Ray, and thence to Cape St. 
 John's, in Newfoundland, the most easterly point of the 
 American continent. From this point the cable was 
 to be laid along the bed of the ocean to the coast of 
 Ireland. This part of the woi'k had been begun a few 
 years before by a company organized by Frederick N. 
 Gisborne, but which, after constructing a few miles, 
 became bankrupt, and was obliged to abandon the 
 undertaking. After two years of indefatigable labor 
 the first step was accomplished, and a submarine cable 
 laid across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and thence four 
 hundred miles overland to St. John's. Thus far it had 
 been purely an American, and, we may say, a New 
 York enterpi-ise, having been accomplished almost 
 solely by Mr. Field and his associates, the original 
 projectors of the scheme, with some slight co-operation 
 from Professor Morse, Wilson G. Hunt, Robert W. 
 Lowber and John W. Brett. Save the few shai-es held 
 by the latter gentleman, the father of submarine tele- 
 graphy in Europe, not a dollar had been raised for the 
 enterprise on the other side of the Atlantic. As the 
 Atlantic Telegraph was an international undertaking, 
 however, it was now fitting that Europe should bear 
 her part in the burden. Mr. Field appealed to the 
 British government for assistance, which was granted, 
 and ships were placed at the service of the company. 
 The American government rendered like assistance ; 
 and after much preliminary exploration and study, in 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 861 
 
 the summer of 1857 the first attempt was made, with the 
 Niagara and the Susquehanna, the two finest ships in 
 the American navy, and the Agamemnon and the 
 Leopard on the part of the British government, to hxy 
 the great Atlantic Cable, which snapped when three 
 hundred and thirty-five miles had been successfully laid, 
 and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Nothing daunted, 
 the persevering projector of the enterprise renewed the 
 attempt the following year, and again the cable parted. 
 This time public confidence, which had borne up under 
 the first disappointment, gave way ; men sneered at the 
 folly of casting money into the sea in pursuit of such an 
 Utopian aim, and the directors of the new company that 
 had been formed in England became disheartened and 
 were disposed to abandon the undertaking. A last 
 trial was however resolved on ; and on the 17th of 
 July, 1858, the cable expedition sailed for the last 
 time, and landed the wire on the shore of Trinity Bay, 
 August 5, 1858. 
 
 The excitement which followed the success of this 
 gigantic scheme was intense everywhere, especially in 
 New York, whose commercial interests were so deeply 
 involved in the enterprise. On the 16th of August the 
 Queen of England transmitted a message of congratula- 
 tion to the President of the United States, who returned 
 an answer. The next morning a hundred guns were 
 fired in the Park at daybreak, in honor of the event, 
 and the salute was repeated at noon. Flags were 
 raised on all the public buildings, the bells were rung, 
 and at night the city was brilliantly illuminated. The 
 City Hall, indeed, was well nigh offered up as a holocaust 
 on this occasion, for the cupola took fire from the lights 
 
862 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 around it, and the building was saved with great diffi- 
 culty. The 1st of September was set apart for a public 
 ovation, by the municipal authorities, to^Ir. Field and 
 the officers of the expedition. The celebration sur- 
 passed everything of the kind ever witnessed in the 
 city. A morning thanksgiving service was held at 
 Trinity Church, at which two hundred clergy officiated. 
 A.t noon Mr. Field and the officers of the ships landed 
 at Castle Garden and were received with a national 
 salute. A procession was formed, extending from the 
 Battery to the Crystal Palace, where the mayor 
 presented to Mr. Field the freedom of the city in a gold 
 box, with the thanks of the community. At night the 
 firemen paraded the streets in a torch-light procession 
 to do honor to the hero who had achieved such a 
 miracle, and whose fame was in every one's mouth. 
 On that very day the voice of the cable was suddenly 
 hushed. The revulsion that followed was excessive. 
 The cable at once fell into contempt, and was publicly 
 decried as a hoax or a stock speculation, many denying 
 that any message had ever passed over it, though four 
 hundred messages had been transmitted in the interval, 
 and the papers of the day proved that events were pub- 
 lished in the Enghsh journals forty-eight hours after 
 their occurrence in America ; a thing impossible without 
 the intervention of the telegraph. To give a single 
 example of this fact, unknown to many, Mr. Eddy, a 
 well-known telegraph operator, died suddenly at Bur- 
 lington, Vt., on Monday, August 23d, and his death 
 was telegraphed to England and published in the 
 London Times, August 25th. Mr. Field fell, in the 
 public estimation, from the rank of a successful hero 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 863 
 
 to that of a visionary scliemer and perhaps adven- 
 turer ; his task was rendered tenfold more difficult by 
 its momentary success, and for almost ten years he was 
 doomed to struggle against the tide, stimulating the 
 unwilling faith of his coadjutors, and raising the 
 immense sums of money that were necessary to carry 
 out his gigantic undertaking in the midst of an un- 
 heard-of season of financial depression and civil war. It 
 is safe to say that not one man in a million would have 
 persevered ; but his iron will carried him successfully to 
 the end, as did that of Fulton before him. In the inter- 
 val of waiting, important improvements were effected 
 in the manufacture of telegraphic machinery, and a 
 mammoth ship, the Great Eastern, was built, whose 
 vast capacity and smooth motion gave increased facilities 
 for the successful laying of the cable. The company 
 was revived, and on the 23d of July, 1865, the Great 
 Eastern set sail, trailing in her wake the precious wire. 
 So many precautions had been taken that failure seem- 
 ed almost impossible. In spite of all this care a fault 
 occurred when twelve hundred miles at sea, and 
 in attempting to recover it, the cable snapped and went 
 down. 
 
 It was necessary to begin the work anew. The 
 ship returned to England ; three millions of dollars 
 were raised to prosecute the undertaking, a new cable 
 was made, and on the 13th of July, 1866, the Great 
 Eastern again sailed with the cable, and this time suc- 
 ceeded in carrying it safely across the Atlantic, after 
 twelve years of almost superhuman effort. Nor was 
 this all ; the huge vessel retraced its course, and, with 
 the aid of its powerful grappling machinery, succeeded 
 
864 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in fishing up from the bottom of the sea, two miles deep, 
 the cable that had been lost the year before ; and, 
 having spliced it, established a second line of com- 
 munication between the Old and New Worlds. 
 
 The final success of this enterprise was hailed with 
 delight, and for the second time Mr. Field was re- 
 garded as the hero of the age. The Chamber of Com- 
 merce of New York gave a public banquet in honor of 
 the Ocean Telegraph and its projectors, at the Metro- 
 politan Hotel on the 15th of November, 1866, in which 
 the most distinguished personages of the country par- 
 ticipated, either in person or by letter, and the Thirty- 
 ninth Congress presented a gold medal to Mr. Field, 
 with the thanks of the nation. 
 
 An achievement so vast, accomplished in the face of 
 such difficulties, and conferring such benefits on man- 
 kind, justifies the tribute of one of the greatest of Eng- 
 lishmen, John Bright, when, in a speech at a monster 
 meeting at Leeds, addressing a hundred thousand of his 
 countrymen, he said: "A friend of mine, Cyrus W. 
 "Field of New York, is the Columbus of our time ; for, 
 "after not less than forty passages across the Atlantic 
 "in pursuit of the great aim of his life, he has at lengthy 
 "by his cable, moored the New World close alongside 
 " of the Old." 
 
 A great step in advance was taken in New York 
 during the same year, by the organization of a Metro- 
 politan Board of Health, consisting of four commis- 
 sioners, appointed by the governor by and with the 
 consent of the Senate, the health officer and the Police 
 Board, which was invested with extensive powers, and 
 charged with the task of abating nuisances and watching 
 
CITS OF NEW YORK 
 
 865 
 
 ^^ The spire which fomij pat t>f the Je:^ »fQ of tb chur I Has no yet be u ci 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 867 
 
 over the public health of New York and Brooklyn. 
 The act to create a Metropolitan Sanitary District and 
 Board of Health therein, for the preservation of life 
 and health and to prevent the spread of disease, passed 
 the Legislature on the 26th of February, 1866 ; and 
 James Crane, M.D., Willard Parker, M.D., Jackson S. 
 Schultz and John 0. Stone, M.D., were appointed to 
 constitute the said Board. This measure had been 
 called forth by the dread of an impending visitation of 
 the cholera, which had ravaged New York at different 
 times, especially in 1832 and 1849, and which was 
 raguig violently in Europe. In the preceding Novem- 
 ber the steamship Atlanta, an emigrant vessel, had 
 arrived at New York from Europe, having on board 
 several passengers sick of Asiatic cholera. No hospital 
 on land had been provided since the destruction of the 
 Quarantine Buildings on Staten Island, and the sick 
 were obhged to take refuge on a floating hulk in the 
 bay, which had been used during the summer for the 
 reception of yellow fever patients. In a few weeks 
 the disease broke out at Ward's Island, where several 
 deaths occurred. The severity of the weather checked 
 its further progress ; but the belief was general that it 
 would break out with fresh violence in the spring. The 
 Board of Health vigorously set to work to purify the city, 
 the hygienic condition of which was deplorable. Under 
 the energetic management of the Health Commissioners. 
 the streets were swept, the tenement quarters disin- 
 fected, the fat and bone boihng establishments and 
 slaughter-houses removed beyond the limits of the city, 
 the markets cleaned, the practice of driving cattle 
 through the streets during the day-time discontinued, 
 and many sanitary measures effected. 
 
868 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 In .he spring the steamship England arrived at Hal- 
 ifax, with one hundred and sixty cases of cholera, 
 exclusive of forty that had died on the voyage from 
 Liverpool. Information was at the same time received 
 that two vessels had stopped at Bermuda on their way 
 to New York, and were quarantined there on suspicion 
 of having cholera on board. The only quarantine hos- 
 pital possessed by New York was a hulk that would 
 accommodate about three hundred patients. In view 
 of the danger, the Board of Health petitioned the gov- 
 ernor for a grant of extraordinary powers to provide 
 for the accommodation of the sick and the purification 
 of the city. These powers were granted till the 15th 
 of October. The Board made earnest efforts to estab- 
 lish a quarantine, but were thwarted on every hand ; 
 the inhabitants of Staten Island, Coney Island, Sandy 
 Hook, and all other eligible spots in the vicinity of New 
 York, strenuously opposed the establishment of a chol- 
 era hospital in their neighborhood ; and though steps 
 were taken to occupy Seguin's Point by force, nothing 
 permanent was efiected, and thus the matter remained. 
 Meanwhile, the expected visitant arrived. On the 18th 
 of April the steamer Virginia reached New York from 
 Liverpool, with a number of cholera cases of the most 
 malignant type on board. The sick were transferred 
 to a hospital ship, and those in health to a steamer fitted 
 up for their accommodatiou Twelve days after, on the 
 1st of May, the first case of cholera broke out in New 
 York, in an old, ill-drained tenement-house on the 
 eoruar of Third Avenue and Ninety-third street. The 
 victim was a woman, who died in a few hours. The 
 next day another case occurred at 115 Mulberry street, 
 
CITY or NEW YORK. 8G9 
 
 five miles distant. From this time the disease slowly 
 extended, until it reached its height in August. It was 
 confined, however, almost wholly to the badly drained 
 and insalubrious districts of the city, and to the public 
 institutions on the islands round about. In Brooklyn 
 it raged with, great violence. The Board of Health 
 kept vigilant watch over the pestilence, and succeeded 
 in checking its ravages so far that the whole number 
 of fatal cases in the city, including the shipping at the 
 wharves and the vast floating population, was but four 
 hundred and sixty ; while the whole number of deaths 
 from cholera, comprising the hospitals and the penal 
 institutions on the islands, was twelve hundred and 
 twelve. In the Western cities, whither it extended with 
 fearful rapidity, the victims were numbered by thou- 
 sands. During the continuance of the pestilence the 
 barracks on the Battery, which had been used during 
 and since the war as a depot for troops passing through 
 the city, were converted into a hospital, together with 
 the United States Transit Hospital immediately adja- 
 cent. The barracks in front of the Five Points House 
 of Industry were also used as a depot for disinfectants. 
 A hospital was established in Second Avenue, and 
 a corps of medical men and nurses was organized to 
 serve during the plague, which finally disappeared in 
 October. 
 
 A marked event in the di'amatic world, during this 
 year, was the visit of the celeljrated Italian tragedienne, 
 Adelaide Ristori, the former rival of Rachel, who arrived 
 at New York in the autumn of 1866, and soon after made 
 her debut with great success. After a brilliant tour 
 throughout the whole country, Madame Ristori, or rather 
 
870 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Marchese del Grille, revisited the city in the following 
 spring, and took her final departure thence for Europe 
 on the 18th of May, 18G7. 
 
 The winter of 1866-1867 was marked by great 
 severity. The East River was entirely frozen over, an 
 event of rare occurrence, and in the space of a few 
 hours hundreds of persons crossed from Brooklyn to 
 New York on the ice. The interruption to ferry navi- 
 gation was so great that the public was stimulated to 
 undertake the long talked-of project of bridging the 
 East River, and the Legislature granted permission to 
 two companies to construct elevated bridges, one from 
 the vicinity of Chatham Square, in New York, to Fulton 
 street, in Brooklyn, and the other from the neighbor- 
 hood of Yorkville to the opposite point. About the 
 same time a novel undertaking was commeiiced in the 
 form of an elevated bridge for pedestrians, known as 
 the Loew Bridge, across the corner of Broadway and 
 Fulton street, a passage which had become extremely 
 perilous from the crowd of vehicles constantly accumu- 
 lated at that point. During the same session, an act 
 was passed by Congi-ess authorizing the purchase, by 
 the government, of the lower end of the City Hall Park, 
 on which to erect a new Post-office. 
 
 Various land-marks passed away in the spring of 
 1867. St. John's Park, which, compai-atively a few 
 years since, was the centre of wealth and fashion, was 
 sold to the Hudson River Railroad Company, and trans- 
 formed into a depot. This park had formed a portion 
 of the " Queen's Farm," granted to Trinity Church in 
 1705 by Lord Cornbury, and the title of which is still 
 contested by the heirs of Aneke Jans, the widow of 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 S7J 
 
 [61 1- Ib 
 
 B"e\ 
 
 
 Ifc 
 
 
 Roelof Jans, and afterwards the wife of Domine Bo- 
 gardus, who held the original patent. 
 
 On the 13th of February, 1867, the old Society 
 Library, on the corner of Broadway and Leonard 
 street, was destroyed by fire. This edifice had been 
 built in 1839 by the New York Society Library Asso- 
 ciation, which occupied it until 1853. It was then 
 sold to the publishers, D. Appleton & Co., who re- 
 modelea it, and used the ground-floor for their book- 
 store ; the upper stories being occupied by numer- 
 ous societies, editors and artists. In 1860 the pub- 
 lishing house of the Messrs. Appleton & Co. was re- 
 moved to Broadway near Grand street, and the building 
 was leased to the mercantile firm of S. B. Chittenden 
 & Co., who were its occupants at the time of its destruc- 
 tion, and whose loss thereby amounted to nearly a 
 million of dollars. The Grecian facade of the build- 
 ing remained for some time standing, almost unscathed 
 
872 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 by the fire ; the beautiful ruin is worthy of remem- 
 brance. 
 
 In March Tammany Hall, on the corner of Frank- 
 fort and Chatham streets, was sold to make way for a 
 newspaper establishment, the Tammany Society having 
 purchased the site of the Medical College in Fourteenth 
 street, which had fallen a prey to the conflagration 
 which destroyed the Academy of Music on the 26th of 
 May, 1865, in order to erect a new hall thereon. Tam- 
 many Hall stood on the Leisler estate, near, or on the 
 spot, where the unfortunate Leisler was buried. It was 
 erected in 1811, and had long been conspicuous in the 
 political annals of the city. 
 
 Another noticeable conflagration was that of the 23d 
 of March, 1867, which swept away Winter Garden from 
 the face of the earth, and seriously injured the adjoin- 
 ing Southern Hotel. This was a fatal spot, Tripler 
 Hall, the Lafarge Hotel, and the Metropolitan Theatre, 
 having been burned to the ground thereon in succession. 
 The fire, however, only gave a fresh impetus to private 
 enterprise, and scarcely was the building in ashes, when 
 its successor was projected. 
 
 The close of 1867 and beginning of 1868 was a mem- 
 orable epoch in the fortunes of New York. The era 
 was one of great and general prosperity. Business, 
 which had been gradually reviving since the end of the 
 war, received a sudden impetus about this time ; stock 
 and petroleum speculations flourished, and trade of all 
 kinds was thriving. This was especially ti'ue of real 
 estate on New York Island, owing in part to the natural 
 growth of the metropolis, and in part to the gigantic 
 schemes for municipal improvements projected by the 
 
CITY OF NEW y O K K. 
 
 873 
 
 famous Ring, wlio already more or less controlled the 
 city government, and tlie rise and fall of wliicli was 
 doomed to form snch a graphic episode in the history of 
 the metropolis. John T. Hoffman had Just been re- 
 elected Mayor, William M. Tweed was President of the 
 Board of Supervisors, Eichard B. Connolly was Comp- 
 troller, and Peter B. Sweeny was City Chamberlain and 
 Treasurer, all names destined to a bad eminence. As 
 the readiest means of dazzling the citizens with brilliant 
 visions of the public welfare, and thus blinding them to 
 their nefarious designs on the treasury, this band of wor- 
 thies planned a series of magnificent schemes for improv- 
 ing and beautifying the metropolis, many of which were 
 broad • and sagacious, but under cover of which they 
 succeeded in pei-petrating fi-auds almost unparalleled in 
 municipal administration. As yet, most of these schemes 
 existed only on paper, but they sufficed to inspu-e the 
 people with a firm and not misplaced faith in the future 
 grandeur and glory of New York. 
 
 Those who marvel at the rapid growth of the city in 
 a somewhat remote past, often fail to note the equally 
 ^vonderful changes that have taken place within their 
 own memory. To illustrate this, let us rapidly sketch 
 New York at so recent a date as 1868, contrasted with 
 the New York of to-day, with its well-paved and well- 
 sewered streets, lined with almost unbroken I'ows of 
 brown stone and brick houses, with only here and there 
 a vacant lot, already marked ]>}' some entei-prising builder, 
 stretching from the Battery to Harlem, and even beyond 
 it, and threaded by long lines of elevated railroads that 
 
874 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 almost auniliilate space, and bring the residents of the 
 outlying wards in close connection with Wall street and 
 the Stock Exchange. At the epoch of which we speak, 
 the whole upper part of the city, above Forty-second 
 street, was a desolate ex^jause of piles of rocks and 
 sunken lots, occupied chiefly with shanties, vaiied by an 
 occasional row of lonely-looking brown -stone houses. 
 The streets were mostly laid out, but few of them were 
 paved or flagged, many not even graded. Madison 
 Avenue, above Forty-second street, was a pile of debris, 
 and the daily papers were clamoring for the speedy 
 grading and paving of this important highway. Lex- 
 ington Avenue was opened only to Sixty-fifth street. 
 The steam cars of the Harlem and New Haven Rail- 
 roads ran down Fourth Avenue, on the surface, to Forty- 
 second street, whence the heavy cars were dragged by 
 horses through the Park Avenue tunnel to the depot at 
 Twenty-seventh street. At Thirty-second street and 
 Foiu-th Avenue was the upper tenninus of the Fourth 
 Avenue horse-car line, although a branch ran to the 
 Thirty- fourth street ferry. The Hudson River Railroad 
 branched off at Spuytenduyvel Creek on the west side 
 of the to^Ta, to the passenger dej^ot at Thirtieth street 
 and Tenth Avenue ; the freight depot being at St. John's 
 Park. The Grand Central Depot was as yet undreamed 
 of ; as was also the magnificent Fourth Avenue improve- 
 ment, and the extension of city car lines that has since 
 taken place. At this time the lumbering omnibuses were 
 in their prime. Six stage lines were in existence : the 
 Broadway and Fifth Avenue; the Broadway, Twenty- 
 
CITYOFNEWYOKK. 875 
 
 tliird street and Nintli Avenue; the Broadway and 
 Fom-tli xVvenue ; tlie Broadway and Eightli street ; the 
 Second street and Broadway ; and the Madison Avenue. 
 None of these found it woi-th while to go above Forty- 
 seventh street. 
 
 The venerable New York Hospital still stood on 
 Broadway at the head of Pearl street, in the midst of a 
 beautiful plot of five acres, carpeted with a greensward 
 rivaling the famous turf of the English parks, and 
 shaded by a double avenue of superb elms, the finest on 
 the island. The dark, dingy, and inconvenient Middle 
 Dutch Church in Nassau street served as the post-office 
 of the gi-eat city of New York. Noon-day prayer-meet- 
 ings were held in the North Dutch Church in "William 
 street, and the stone-flagged aisles of St. George's Chapel 
 in Beekman street echoed the tread of worshipers on the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 The building up of the city progressed with marvel- 
 ous rapidity. Property doubled, trebled, even quad- 
 mpled in value, not only in the improved and accessible 
 part of the town, but in the remote districts, where 
 everything was yet to be done, and with \vhich there was 
 hardly any means of communication. The Ring and 
 theii" tools, all of whom were reckless speculators in real 
 estate, stimulated private enteqirise by the most lavish 
 expenditure in public works. Believing in their power 
 suddenly to transform the wild region west of the Cen- 
 tral Park into the fashionable quarter of the metropolis, 
 they laid out a magnificent boulevard, extending from 
 the Grand Cii-cle at Eighth Avenue and Fifty-ninth 
 
876 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 street, in a uortlierly direction, nearly parallel ■with tlie 
 old Bloomingdale Road, midway between the Park and 
 the river, joining Eleventh Avenue at One Hundred and 
 Sixth street, and following its line northward to Tubby 
 Hook, making a continuous drive of eighteen miles. 
 The broad Avenue St. Nicholas was also laid out, extend- 
 ing from the Central Park gate at Sixth Avenue and 
 One Hundred and Tenth street, northward, along the 
 east side of the grounds of the Convent of the Sacred 
 Heart at Manhattamolle, and past the old Jumel man- 
 sion. Seventh Avenue was likewise made a fine and 
 spacious drive. Broadway, too, was widened from 
 Union Square to the Central Park. 
 
 With all these improvements, rapid transit from one 
 end to the other of this long, narrow island became a vital 
 necessity. Various means of aerial and underground 
 steam raili-oads were devised. A three-tier or ai'cade road 
 was warmly advocated, but was finally defeated in the 
 Legislature. A chai'ter was granted the central under- 
 ground road in April, 1868 ; a bill for a pneumatic rail- 
 road was likewise passed by the Legislature in 1870. 
 The only one of these projects destined to success was 
 the Greenwich Street Elevated Railroad, the actual 
 pioneer of all the others, which was begun July 2, 18G7, 
 with a subscription of a hundred thousand dollars. A 
 section was first built from the Batteiy to Cortlandt 
 street, and the trial trip thereon, July 3, 1868, proved so 
 satisfactory that the State Commission made a favora- 
 ble report, and the Governor authorized the completion 
 of the work from the Batteiy to Spuytenduyvel. 
 
CITY OF NEW YOEK. 877 
 
 Real-estate speculation reached its Leiglit in 1868 
 and 1869. In the reaction that followed it steadily 
 decliued ; the downfall of the Ring crushed it outright, 
 and an array of heavy taxes and assessments, followed 
 by foreclosures, beggared a host of luckless investors. A 
 panic ensued and property fell fai" below its value, until 
 it reached the lowest point in the gloomy year 1878, 
 when all business lay prostrate. Since that time it has 
 gradually appreciated, and promises to veiify the saying 
 that, in similar fluctuations, this kind of property has 
 always advanced, at each new flood tide, beyond the 
 high-water mark of the last receding wave. Indeed, if 
 such has been the growth of the iipper part of the city 
 during twelve years, with only the surface roads, what 
 may be expected during the next decade, with the ad- 
 vantage of rapid transit ? 
 
 Means were also devised for bridging and tunneling 
 the rivers on each side of the island, and the Legis- 
 lature of 1860-1867 passed three bills, authorizing 
 bridges to be constructed across the East River at three 
 different points. To facilitate the crossing of Broadway, 
 an elevated causeway, called the Loew Bridge, from 
 Aldemian Charles E. Loew, was constracted across that 
 thoroughfare at its intersection with Fulton street. 
 This costly but unsightly structure was opened May 16, 
 1867 ; it was, however, found impracticable, and was 
 abandoned the following year. 
 
 Aliout this time English sparrows were domesticated 
 in New York. The swarms of worms that infested the 
 trees in the parks and streets had attained the propor- 
 
878 HISTORY OF the 
 
 tions of a positive nuisance. It liad become impossible 
 to walk abroad duiing tlie summer months without 
 finding myriads of tMs repulsive veiinin dangling into 
 one's face or festooned about one's gai-ments. In 1866, 
 the happy thought was conceived of letting loose a few 
 sj)arrows in the parks. The hardy and voracious little 
 bii'ds multiplied so fast, and exteiminated the worms so 
 effectually, that tlie city was soon rid of the pest. The 
 gi-ateful citizens hastened to build houses and provide 
 druiking fountains for their useful little friends, never 
 dreaming that a time might arise when the spaiTOws 
 themselves would be assailed by an ungrateful generation. 
 
 The autumn of 1867 was marked by the advent of a 
 number of notable pereons, prominent among whom were 
 Ristori, Fanny Kemljle, Mazzoleni, and Jauauschek. 
 Charles Dickens paid his second visit to America at 
 this epoch. He andved at Boston, November 20, and 
 gave his first reading in New York, December 9. 
 
 Among the notable buildings erected in 1867 was 
 Pike's, afterwards the Grand Opera House, on the 
 corner of Eighth Avenue and Twenty -third street, which 
 was opened Jan. 9, 1868, by ]\Iadame La Grange and 
 Signer Brignoli. The beautiful Renaissance edifice. 
 Booth's Theatre, was built about the same time by the 
 gifted tragedian, Edwin Booth, and opened early in 
 1869. On October 31, 1868, the corner-stone of the 
 Young Men's Chnstian Association Building was laid 
 on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third street, 
 opposite the Academy of Design. The structure was 
 completed the following autumn. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 879 
 
 111 December, 1868, A. Oakey Hall was elected 
 Mayor. He was a clever, eccentric, ambitious mau, who 
 co-operated with the Riug from love of power rather 
 than greed. 
 
 1869 was signalized by the removal of some land- 
 maj-ks, notably of the New York Hos]^)ital, and the con- 
 struction of a host of buildings, public and private, 
 chief among which were the massive granite Post Office, 
 at the lower end of the park, and the Grand Central 
 Depot at Forty-second street, both of which were 
 begun during this year. The latter was built for Com- 
 modore Vanderbilt, under the supervision of his son, 
 William H. Vanderbilt, for the common use of the Har- 
 lem, New Haven, and Hudson River Roads, and is the 
 largest depot in the United States, being 696 feet long, 
 and 240 feet wide. Ground was broken November 15, 
 1869, and the depot was opened October 9, 1871. The 
 old depot at Twenty-seventh street was fitted up as a 
 place of amusement, and known first as Barnum's Hip- 
 podrome, and subsequently as " Gilmore's," and Madison 
 Square Garden. The new structure, which extends from 
 Forty-second to Fcn-ty -fifth streets, while promoting pub- 
 lic convenience in some ways, materially injured the city 
 by blocking up so important a thoroughfare as Fourth 
 Avenue, and cutting off communication between the east 
 and west sides of the town for the space of three squares. 
 
 The New York Post Office, the finest public edifice 
 in the city, was designed by A. B. Mullett, the noted 
 government architect, and was five years in building. 
 On Saturday night, August 28, 1875, the Old Middle 
 
880 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Dutch Churcli in Kassau street, wliicli had served the 
 city as a post office for more thau thirty years, was abau- 
 doned, and sixty-five loads of mail matter were con- 
 veyed to the new building under the direction of the 
 Postmaster, Thomas L. James, and the Supervising Ar- 
 chitect, William A. Potter. The next morning the reg- 
 ular business of the office was resumed as usual, with- 
 out any of the confusion that had been anticipated from 
 the important transfer. 
 
 On June 18, 1869, the youngest of the cpiartette of 
 renowned New York Journalists, Henry J. Raymond 
 of the Times, died suddenly of apoplexy in his fiftieth 
 year. He was followed, June 1, 1872, by the veteran 
 James Gordon Bennett, of the Herald, aged seventy- 
 seven. The next on the death roll was Horace Greeley, 
 the founder of the N'ew Yorh Tribune, who expii'ed 
 November 29, 1872, at the age of sixty-two ; and the list 
 was closed, June 12, 1878, by the death of the eldest, 
 the poet William CuUen Biyant, of the Evening Post, 
 in his eighty-fourth year. 
 
 The gi'eat event of 1870 was the beginning of the 
 Brooklyn Bridge. This enterprise was first commenced 
 by a j^iivate stock corporation, which was incoiporated 
 April 16, 1867, imder the name of the New York Bridge 
 Company. The control was afterward assumed by the 
 two cities. New York and Brooklyn, and the manage- 
 ment was vested in a board of trustees. In May, 1867, 
 plans for the l^ridge Avere submitted to the president 
 and directors by Mr. John A. Roebliug, the appointed 
 engineer; these were accepted, and surveys were made 
 
CITY OF X E W YORK. 881 
 
 for the work in 1869. On January 2, 1870, the long- 
 talked-of undertaking was actually begun by the sink- 
 ing of the caisson on the Brooklyn side. In conse- 
 quence of the engineer's death, the work was transferred 
 in August, 1870, to his son, Colonel W. A. Roebling, 
 who continued afterward in charge of the operations. 
 
 This magnificent engineering work, which extends 
 from Printing-House Square to Sands street, Brooklyn, 
 and which crosses the East River at its narrowest part, 
 is the highest bridge ever built at such an elevation, 
 being 119 feet above high water, and flanked by towers 
 at the river side 277 feet in height. It is 1,600 feet 
 wide, and a mile and one-seventh long, the distance from 
 the Chatham street end to the New York tower being 
 1,500 feet, while the Brooklyn approach is 900 feet. 
 The center span is about 1,600 feet, and the side spans 
 930 feet in length. Each of its foiir cables consists of 
 over 5,000 steel wires, with an ultimate strength of 
 11,500 tons. The first estimate of the cost of the 
 bridge was $6,750,000. In June, 1878, about $9,400,000 
 had been expended, and the estimate of the cost was 
 increased to about $13,000,000. 
 
 On the 8th of June, 1870, the corner-stone of the 
 new Masonic Temple was laid on the corner of Sixth 
 Avenue and Twenty-third street. In the same year the 
 statue of Lincoln, by li. K. Browne, was set up at the 
 lower side of Union Square. 
 
 A notable event of the autumn of 1871 was the 
 arrival of the Russian Grand Duke Alexis, on the 28th of 
 November. He was received with gi-eat e'dat, brilliant 
 50 
 
882 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 balls laeing giveu at tlie New York Academy of Music 
 and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and a grand review of 
 the troops held in Tompkins Sqiiare in his honor. Two 
 yeai-s previous, iu 1869, similar attentions had been paid 
 to Prince Arthur, afterward the Duke of Connaught, on 
 the occasion of his visit. 
 
 In the summer of 1870, the peace of the city was 
 disturbed by a riot which had far-reaching consequences. 
 On the 12th of July a party of Orangemen, while com- 
 memorating the battle of the Boyne by a picnic at Elm 
 Pai'k in Eighth Avenue in the vicinity of Ninety-second 
 street, was attacked by a mob of Boulevard laborers 
 who had been incensed, it is said, by the inflammatory 
 tunes played by the band on its way. Stones were 
 thr6wn and shots exchanged, three persons were killed 
 and several wounded, some fatally ; and the affray be- 
 came so serious that Superintendent Jourdan dispatched 
 a strong police force to the spot, that soon dispersed the 
 rioters. 
 
 Great excitement ensued among the partisans of the 
 rival factions, which assumed menacing proportions as the 
 next anniversary approached. The Ribboumen, joined 
 with the dregs of the populace, such as had figured in 
 the riots of 1863, made open threats of \aolence against 
 the Orangemen, should they venture to parade, and the 
 danger of bloodshed seemed so imminent that the city 
 authorities weakly quailed before the peril, and, July 
 11, Superintendent Kelso, with Mayor Hall's approval, 
 issued an order forbidding the pi-ocession. This act 
 aroused the mldest indicrnation. It was everywhere 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 883 
 
 felt that a ^irlnciple of liberty was at stake, and even 
 those who most deplored the folly of keeping alive a 
 foreign feud on American soil felt that the ri2;ht of free 
 assemblage must be protected at all hazards. Warned 
 by the storm of public feeling, Governor Hoffman 
 promj)tly revoked Kelso's order. Meanwhile most of the 
 Orangemen had prepared to celebrate the day in New 
 Jersey, and the members of Gideon Lodge alone, number- 
 ing some hundi'ed and sixty men, availed themselves of 
 the permission to parade. The little band set out on 
 its march escoi'ted by niimerous policemen in front and 
 rear, together with the Eighty-fourth, Twenty-second, 
 Sixth, and Ninth Kegiments of New York militia. They 
 passed in ominous silence through streets lined with 
 crowds of men, women, and children. On reaching 
 Eighth Avenue, between Twenty-fourth and Twenty- 
 fifth streets, a shot fired from a tenement house gave the 
 signal for a general onslaught. Volleys of paving stones 
 rained on the procession, chimneys were torn down 
 and flung at them, and shots were fired by the rioters 
 without provoking a response until Private Page, of the 
 Ninth Regiment, was shot from his horse. His conu'ades 
 instantly shot down his assailant, and the troops opened 
 fire upon the mob. The contest was short, sharp and 
 decisive ; the undisciplined crowd soon retreated before 
 the soldiery, and the procession went on its way to the 
 nearest point where it could disband with dignity. Great 
 consternation prevailed throughout the city. The shops 
 were everywhere closed, and business was suspended. 
 Rumors were rife that the riot was to be rene\ved, and 
 
884 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 a general attack made on the aiinories and public build- 
 ings. The police took possession of Hiberuia Hall, the 
 headquarters of the lioters, and Governor Hoffman and 
 General Shaler established themselves at the Central 
 Police Headquai-ters and summoned troops from Brook- 
 lyn. An unsuccessful attack was made by the mob on 
 the Fenian armory in Avenue A. By degrees the ex- 
 citement calmed, and tranquility was restored. In this 
 bloody conflict two soldiers. Sergeant Samuel Wyatt, 
 and Private Henry C. Page, of the Kinth Regiment, and 
 one policeman, Hemy Ford, were killed, and twenty-six 
 pohcemen and soldiers were wounded. Of the rioters 
 and others thirty-seven — among whom were a woman, 
 a girl, and a boy — were killed, and sixty-seven wounded. 
 The obsequies of the soldiei-s were celebrated the next 
 Sunday with an imposing parade. It is only just to 
 note that this riot was factious and political rather than 
 religious ; and that Archbishop McCloskey and the rest 
 of the Catholic clergy had earnestly adjured their flocks, 
 the Sunday before, not to interfere in any way with the 
 Orange procession; they afterward formally disowned 
 the rioters. 
 
 This exciting occurrence was speedily followed by 
 one of the most memorable events in the annals of this 
 city — the exposure of the Tammany Ring fi-auds. 
 
 For several years past, the great and wealthy metrop- 
 olis had been absolutely controlled by the band of un- 
 scrupulous men familiai-ly known as the Tammany Ring, 
 and whicli was itself ruled by the notorious William 
 M. Tweed. The career of this Captain Kidd of the 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 885 
 
 nineteentli ceutury is a drama of crime Avliicli needs no 
 fiction to enhance tlie interest of its gi'aphic reality. 
 Beginning life as an humble chairmaker, in partnership 
 with his brother Richaixl, he entered politics at an early 
 age, and by adroit affiliation with the powerful body of 
 firemen and the masses of ignorant voters that rule the 
 elections in the lower wards, succeeded in working his 
 way up, through various public offices, to the dignity 
 of President of the Board of Supervisors, and Deputy 
 Street Commissioner. The latter office, to which he 
 was elected in 1863, and by which he stood virtually 
 at the head of the public works, gave him almost un- 
 limited control of the expenditures for public improve- 
 ments, while the former enabled him to increase the 
 city pay-roll at his pleasure, and to reward his sup- 
 porters with sinecure positions. His election as Grand 
 Sachem of the Tammany Society in 1863 endowed him 
 with vast political power, through which he was thrice 
 chosen State Senator, iu 1867, '69, and '71. A host of 
 corrupt officials rallied round him, moved by thirst for 
 place or gold. Foremost among these were Richard B. 
 Connolly, Peter B. Sweeny, and A. Oakey Hall, who, 
 together with himself, formed the famous Ring, that 
 made every department of the city government, from 
 the highest to the lowest, their tool, and even suborned 
 the judges on the bench. A wholesale system of plun- 
 der, comprising the streets, boulevards, parks, armories, 
 and all public buildings and improvements, was inau- 
 giu'ated, in which the spoils were divided pro rata. 
 The new County Court House, in the City Hall Park, 
 
886 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 proved the richest mine. This was authorized by the 
 Legislature in 1858, and was not to cost more tlian 
 $250,000; in 1871 more than $8,000,000 had been 
 ostensibly expended on it, and it was still unfinished. 
 All the contractors were required to pay a commission 
 of from 65 to 85 per cent, to the Ring, of which Tweed 
 usually received one-fourth, and the I'est was divided 
 among his confederates. The mechanics' small share 
 suffered still further abatement, since they were re- 
 quired besides to contribute largely to the political 
 fund, and to fit up and furnish city and country houses 
 for the Ring and their friends gratuitously, besides 
 supplying them with anything which they chanced 
 to fancy. Those who dared remonstrate were threat- 
 ened, not only with the loss of the city patronage, but 
 with non-payment for the work ali'eady done, which 
 woiild have reduced them to bankruptcy. They were 
 encouraged to increase their bills to inordinate sums, a 
 million and a half being granted on one occasion for an 
 account estimated at $264,000. Of these bills, not ten 
 per cent, of actual value was received by the city. A 
 secret list of these fraudulent j^ayments was kept in the 
 Auditor's Office, under the seemingly inoffensive title of 
 " County Liabilities." 
 
 To facilitate his nefarious schemes, April 5, 1870, 
 Tweed secured the passage of a new city charter, by 
 which the city goveiTiment was vnthdrawn from all 
 control of State authority, and the executive power was 
 vested in a mayor and eleven departments — the heads 
 of which were to be appointed by the mayor. The 
 
CITY OF X E TV YORK. 887 
 
 offices of Street Commissioner and Croton Department 
 were vacated, and tlieii" powers were vested in a Com- 
 missioner of Pul)lic Works, who was to hold office for 
 four years. Mayor Hall immediately appointed Tweed 
 to this important post, and placed Peter B. Sweeny at 
 the head of the Park Commission. John J. Bradley- 
 was made Chambei'lain, Eichard B. Connolly was Comp- 
 troller. The power of auditing was taken fi'om the 
 Board of Supervisors and confeiTed on a board of audit, 
 composed of the mayor, comptroller, and commissioner 
 of Public Works — Hall, Connolly, and Tweed. This 
 Board of Audit held but a single session, of five min- 
 utes' duration, wherein they directed all outstanding 
 liabilities to be collected, and, as a means of evading 
 joint responsibility, illegally delegated the auditing 
 thereof to one of their tools, the County Auditor, James 
 Watson, Avho thenceforth signed the fraudulent bills, 
 and afterwards carried them to the different members 
 of the Board for their signature, sometimes indeed dis- 
 pensing Tvith this formality. Within three and a half 
 mouths, $6,312,000 was paid from the city treasury, 
 $5,710,130 of which was for fitting up and furnishing 
 the neAv Court House. It was estimated that the carpets 
 purchased by the city for this purpose would have car- 
 peted Union Square three times over. 
 
 For the next fifteen months the Ring ruled triumph- 
 ant, and squandered the public funds with a lavish 
 prodigality that rivaled that of Heliogabalus. The 
 tax-payers murmured at the waste ; the public journals 
 clamored, especially the Trihune, Times, and Harper'' s 
 
888 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 WeeMy, reinforced by Nast's cartoons ; to wliicli Tweed 
 jeeringly ansAvered, " What are you going to do about 
 it ? " But " lie laughs best who laughs last." The day 
 of reckoning was at hand. 
 
 In January, 1870, a clerk named William S. Cope- 
 land had been jilaced in the auditor's office through the 
 influence of Sheriff James O'Brien. While looking 
 over some records, he stumbled upon the secret list of 
 " County Liabilities." Fancying it suspicious, he made 
 an exact transcript of it, which he earned to his patron, 
 who at once discerned its importance, and attempted to 
 use it to enforce upon the Ring the payment of a claim 
 that he held against the city. By Sweeny's ad^-ice, the 
 payment was refused, and he left, threatening to pub- 
 lish the list in the Times. In the afternoon, the con- 
 federates reconsidered their action, and sent Auditor 
 Watson to negotiate with O'Brien at Bertholf's Hotel, 
 a sjjorting tavern in Harlem Lane. O'Brien w^as acci- 
 dentally detained, and on his return home Watson was 
 thrown from his carriage, in a collision with another 
 vehicle, and so severely injured that he died a few days 
 after, fi-om concussion of the brain. His death-bed was 
 surrounded by the Ring and their agents, anxious to 
 prevent a damaging confession, and to secure the trans- 
 fer of the large amount of property belonging to them 
 which Watson held in his name, and which devolved 
 on his "widow, as he never regained his consciousness. 
 
 O'Brien continued to press his claims, but they were 
 disregarded. Weeks and months passed by ; it grad- 
 ually became whispered about that compromising docu- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 889 
 
 meuts were in existence, and at length, feeling tliat his 
 time for vengeance had come, after vainly offering them 
 to the Sim, O'Brien placed the fraudulent accounts in 
 the hands of George Jones, the j)roprietor of the Times, 
 telling him to use them as he pleased. 
 
 The publication of these portentous figures, which 
 was continued in the Times fi-om July 20 to July 29, 
 plunged the city in a ferment of excitement. The con- 
 federates vainly tried to brave the storm of indignation 
 which wholly overthrew there power in the November 
 elections. Mass meetings were held ; a committee of 
 seventy was appointed to investigate the frauds ; An- 
 drew H. Green was made comptroller in the place of 
 Connolly, who was forced to resign ; and Charles 
 O'Conor, Richard O'Gorman, and other prominent citi- 
 zens took measures to bring the criminals to Justice- 
 Connolly, Sweeny, and many of their associates fled to 
 Europe. Tweed remained and was arrested and lodged 
 in Ludlow Street Jail. On Februaiy 10, 1872, he was 
 indicted for forgery and grand larceny. The Jury dis- 
 agreed. November 5, 1873, he was brought to trial 
 for the second time, and found guilty of all the fifty-one 
 counts in the indictment. He Avas sentenced, November 
 22, to twelve years imprisonment in the penitentiary, 
 and to pay a fine of $12,300.18 for each of twelve 
 counts of the indictment, and of $250 for each of the 
 other thirty-nine counts. For two years and a half 
 there was AA^tnessed the anomalous spectacle of a New 
 York senator imprisoned in the penitentiary of his own 
 State, wearing the convict garb, and employed in forced 
 
890 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 labor. He remained on Blackwell's Island until June 
 13, 1875, wlieu liis friends obtained a decision from the 
 Supreme Court, releasing liim on the ground that the 
 court had exhausted its power by sentencing him on 
 the first indictment, and that the cumulative sentence 
 was void. He was taken to court June 22, and gave 
 bail for $18,000 on the criminal indictments ; then, when 
 liberty seemed just within his grasp, and he felt him- 
 self once more a free man, he was again arrested on a 
 civil suit for the recovery of over $6,000,000 charged in 
 the County Liabilities, and held to bail in the enormous 
 sum of three million dollars. His boasted twenty mill- 
 ions had melted away in his numerous and costly suits, 
 and he Avas forced to take up his quarters in Ludlow 
 Street Jail, which, however, was luxurious in compari- 
 son with the penitentiary. Aided by his friends, he 
 concocted a plan of escape ; while taking an airing with 
 Sheriff O'Brien, December 4, 1875, he persuaded his 
 keepers to allow him to visit his wife at her house in 
 Madison Avenue, and from there succeeded in effecting 
 his flight. After a series of fatiguing and exhausting 
 adventures, aggravated by his infii-m health and ex- 
 cessive corpulence, he reached Vigo, Spain, where he 
 remained in concealment until November of the follow- 
 ing year, when he was apprehended and brought back 
 to the jail from which he had escaped. Proceedings 
 had been begun against him in the civil suit, January 
 13, 1876, which resulted, March 8, in a verdict by a 
 struck jury, for damages amounting to $6,537,117.38, 
 principal and interest. Hopeless of securing fi'eedom 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 891 
 
 by tbe restitution of liis stolen uiillious, branded with 
 infamy, without liope for the future or comfort in the 
 present, broken in health and prematurely aged, he 
 lingered out the rest of his wretched existence in Lud- 
 low Street Jail, where he died, April 12, 1878, at the 
 age of fifty-five. 
 
 In December, 1872, William F. Havemeyer was 
 elected mayor. He did not live to complete his term, 
 but died of apoplexy while sitting in his office, Novem- 
 ber 30, 1874. 
 
 One of the most important events of 1873 was the 
 annexation to New York City of the contiguous part 
 of Westchester County, comprising Morrisania, AVest 
 Farms, and Kingsbridge. This accession nearly dou- 
 bled the area of the cit}*, increasing it 13,000 acres. 
 The island contained 22 square miles, or 14,000 acres, 
 divided by survey into 141,486 lots. The new territory 
 formed the 23d and 24th Wards. 
 
 An amendment to the charter which was passed 
 June 13, 1873, abolished the board of assistant alder- 
 men, which had been substituted for the councilmeu 
 in 1869, constituted a new common council of twenty- 
 one aldermen, and provided tliat the State and charter 
 elections, which had hitherto been held at different 
 times, should take place on the same day in Novembei'. 
 The first election under this regime was held in No- 
 vember, 1874, when William H. AVickham was chosen 
 mayor. 
 
 The year 1873 was one of financial disaster. All 
 business was paralyzed, a general panic prevailed, mer- 
 
892 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 cantile firms, corporations, and banks stopped pa3Tiient, 
 and the Stock Exchange, for the first time in its his- 
 tory, suspended ojDeratious. It was long before public 
 confidence was restored, and the stagnation continued 
 without much improvement until the signal revival of 
 trade in 1879 and 18S0. 
 
 The summer of 1875 Avas signalized by the comple- 
 tion of the gi'eat engineering work known as the Fourth 
 Avenue improvement, which had been necessitated liy 
 the fiequent loss of life from the surface trains of the 
 three great arteries of travel, which had passed almost 
 continually since the comjiletion of the Grand Central 
 Depot. To obviate this, the four tracks of the roads 
 were sunk into a huge tunnel, extending from Forty- 
 second to One Hundredth streets, Avheuce they were 
 carried by viaduct over the Harlem Flats to One Hun- 
 di-ed and Sixteenth street, and thence through an open 
 cut to Harlem Bridge. This gigantic undertaking cost 
 $6,000,000, half of which was to be paid by the city 
 and half by the road, and was executed under the direc- 
 tion of Allan Campbell and Alfred AV. Craven. The 
 road was opened from Forty-second street to Harlem, 
 June 20, 1875. 
 
 New York was visited, in 1876, by the genial and 
 intelligent Empei-or of Brazil, Dom Pedro H. and his 
 wife, the first reigning sovereigns that had set foot in 
 the Republic, with the exception of the dusky King 
 Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands, in the winter of 
 1874-'75. Unlike most royal personages, who expect 
 entertainment, these princely visitors entertained them- 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 893 
 
 selves, seeking out piil:>lie institutions, schools, manu- 
 factories, and printing-offices, and impressing all with 
 whom they came in contact with their good sense and 
 excellent taste. 
 
 In the summer of 1876, the French government paid 
 New York a graceful compliment by presenting to it 
 a statue of La Fayette, by the eminent sculptor Bar- 
 tholdi, in token of gratitude for the substantial sympa- 
 thy extended to France during the disastrous Franco- 
 Prussian war. The statue was set up at the lower end 
 of Union Square, between those of Washingtt>n and 
 Lincoln, and unveiled, September 0, with appropriate 
 ceremonies. 
 
 The most noteworthj^ public work of the Centennial 
 year was the Hell Gate explosion. In 1851, M. Maille- 
 fert had attempted to open this important channel by 
 surface blasting, which only demolished the rocks above 
 water, and left them even more dangerous than before. 
 In 1866, General John Newton, of the U. S. Engineer 
 Coi-ps, surveyed the channel, and recommended a plan 
 for removing the obstiiictions by submarine blasting, 
 for which the first appi'opriation was made by Congress 
 in 1868. The laborious work was prosecuted for eight 
 years, under great difficulties ; at length, September 24, 
 1876, the dangerous Hallett's Point Reef was blown to 
 fragments by twenty-six tuns of powerful explosives, 
 ignited by electricity from the pressure of a button by 
 the hand of General Newton's little daughter. 
 
 Great fears had been entertained lest this prodigious 
 concussion would destroy half New York. Many peo- 
 
894 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pie left the city ; and tlie jDublic apprehended some 
 dire disaster. The river was cleared of shipping foi' a 
 considerable distance above and beloM^ the scene of 
 operations ; the dreaded explosion took place ; for an 
 instant a gigantic water-spout shot up in the air, filled 
 with immense masses of rock, the next moment the com- 
 motion had subsided, the waters flowed deep and clear 
 over the spot once occupied by the formidable reef, and 
 a safe passage was obtained. 
 
 The result was hailed with delight, and General New- 
 ton was ui'ged to prosecute the removal of other ob- 
 structions to navigation in Hell Gate channel. 
 
 At the November election of 1876, Smith Ely was 
 chosen mayor. 
 
 In the autumn of 1877, the corner-stone was laid of the 
 new Seventh Regiment Armoiy, on the block bounded 
 by Park and Lexington Avenues, and Sixty-sixth and 
 Sixty-seventh streets ; the old armory at Tomj^kins 
 Market having been found too small and inconvenient 
 for regimental use. The favorite Seventh Eegimeut, 
 the pride of the New York militia, had existed sub- 
 stantially as an organization since 1824, being an out- 
 growth of the 11th Regiment of State Artillery, which 
 consisted of two battalions, one of artillery and one of 
 infantiy. On May 6, 1820, the infantry battalion was 
 organized as a separate regiment, under the title of 
 the 27th Regiment of Artillery ; but was long known 
 as the National Guards, a title which afterwards be- 
 came common to all the militia. The name of the 
 Seventh Regiment was bestowed on it, July 27, 1847, 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 895 
 
 by Governor Youug. Tlie new armoiy rapidly pro- 
 gi-essed, witli the aid of the lilieral snbseriptions that 
 poured in from all sides, and was externally finished in 
 the autumn of 187U, when a brilliant and highly suc- 
 cessful fail- was held \vithin its walls to raise funds to 
 fit up the interior. It was occupied on April 1, 1880. 
 
 Another notable public institution opened in 1877 
 was the New York Hospital, in the old Thorne man- 
 sion, in Sixteenth street, between Fifth and Sixth 
 Avenues. The Lenox Library, in Fifth Avenue, be- 
 tween Seventieth and Seventy-first streets, was opened 
 the following year. 
 
 The desecration of A. T. Stewart's grave in St. 
 Mark's churchyard. May 6, 1878, caused nuich excite- 
 ment in New York. Mr. SteAvart had died April 10, 
 1876, and his remains had been temporarily interred 
 there, until the completion of the mausoleum in the 
 Stewart Memorial Cathedral, at Garden City. The 
 thieves escaped with the body, but were disappointed 
 in gaining their expected reward. 
 
 In the autumn of 1878, Edward Cooper was elected 
 mayor.* 
 
 * Tlie following complete list of the mayors of New York city, from the 
 first English Charter granted by Governor Nicholls, June 12, 1665, to 1880, 
 will be found convenient for reference : 
 
 Thomas WiUett 1665, 166T. 
 
 Thomas Delavall 1666, 1671. 1678. 
 
 Cornelius Steenwyck 1668, '69, '70, '83, '83. 
 
 Matthias Kicolls or Nicholas 1672. 
 
 (1673. Deputy mayor, 
 
 John Lawrence "!.„~i ^ir i pm 
 
 ( 1674. Mayor, 1691. 
 
 Matthias NicoUs, November 10 1674. 
 
896 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The year 1878 ■\vituessetl tlie successful issue of the 
 most important work undertaken in New York since 
 the introduction of the Crotou water ; namely, the Ele- 
 vated Raili'oads. We have abeady noticed the various 
 
 William Dervall 1675. 
 
 Nicholas De Meyer 1676. 
 
 Stephanus Van Cortlaudt 1677, 1686-89. 
 
 Fran(;ois Rombout 1679. 
 
 William Dvre 1680, 1681. 
 
 Gabriel Minvielle 1684. 
 
 Nicholas Bayard 1685. 
 
 Pieter Delanoy (Leislerian) 1689. 
 
 Abraham De Peyster 1691-1694. 
 
 Charles Lodowick 1694. 
 
 William Merritt 1695-1698. 
 
 Johannes De Peyster 1698. 
 
 David Provoost 1699. 
 
 Isaac De Riemer 1700. 
 
 Thomas Noell 1701. 
 
 Philip French 1702. 
 
 William Peartree 1703-1706. 
 
 Ebenezer Wilson 1707-1710. 
 
 Jacobus Van Cortlandt 1710, '19. 
 
 Caleb Heathcote 1711-1714. 
 
 John Johnston 1714-1718. 
 
 Robert Walters 1720-1724. 
 
 Johannes Jansen 1725. 
 
 Robert Lurting 1736-1734. 
 
 Paul Richard 1735-1739. 
 
 John Cruger 1739-174.3. 
 
 Stephen Bayard 1744-1746. 
 
 Edward Holland 1747-1756. 
 
 John Cruger, jr 1757-1765. 
 
 Whitehead Hicks 1766-1776. 
 
 David Mathews (Tory) 1776-1783. 
 
 James Duane 1783-1788. 
 
 Richard Varick 1789-1800. 
 
 Edward Livingston 1801 , 1802. 
 
 De Witt CUnton 1803-1806, 1809-1814 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 897 
 
 projects that had been set on foot for rapid transit, both 
 aerial and underground, as well as the opening of the 
 Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue Elevated Road. 
 On June 18, 1875, the Husted Act, providing for the 
 appointment of a raj^id transit commission, was passed 
 by the Legislature, and on July 1, Mayor Wickham 
 accordingly commissioned Joseph Seligman, Lewis B. 
 Brown, C. H. Delamater, Jordan L. Mott, and Charles 
 
 Marinus Willett 1807. 
 
 Jacob Radcliff 1808, 1815-1818. 
 
 Jolin Ferguson March, 1815 — June, 1815. 
 
 Cadwallader D. Colden 1818-1831. 
 
 Stephen Allen 1821, 1832. 
 
 William Paulding 1833, 1824, 1826, 1837. 
 
 Philip Hone 1835 
 
 Walter Bowne 1838-1831. 
 
 Gideon Lee 183.3. 
 
 Cornelius W. Lawrence 18-34-1837. 
 
 Aaron Clark 1837, 1838. 
 
 Isaac L. Varian 1839, 1840. 
 
 Robert H. Morris 1841-1844. 
 
 James Harper 1844. 
 
 William F. Havemeyer 1845, 1848, 1873, 1874 
 
 Andrew H. Mickle 1846. 
 
 William V. Brady 1847. 
 
 Caleb S. Woodhull 1849, 1850. 
 
 Ambrose C. Kingsland 1851, 1853. 
 
 Jacob A. Westervelt 1853, 1854. 
 
 Fernando Wood 185.5-1857, 18G0, 1861. 
 
 Daniel F. Tiemann 1858, 1859. 
 
 George Opdyke 18G3, 1863. 
 
 C. Godfrey Gunther 1864, 18C5. 
 
 John T. HoSman 1806-1809. 
 
 A. Oakey Hall 1869-1873. 
 
 William H. Wickham 1875, 1876. 
 
 Smith Ely 1877, 1878. 
 
 Edward Cooper 1879, 1880. 
 
898 HISTORY OF the 
 
 J. Cauda, to designate routes for elevated roads on both 
 sides of tlie city. The commissioners selected Sixth, 
 Third, and Second Avenues, with the streets continuing 
 them to the lower termini, at the Batteiy and City Hall. 
 Two companies imdertook the A\ork, the Gilbert, and 
 the Xew York, already organized under the act of 1850, 
 the hrst Avith Dr. Rufus H. Gilbert, the inventor of the 
 road bearing his name, as president ; the second under 
 the presidency of Cyrus W. Field, who purchased a 
 controlling interest in the Greenwich Street and Ninth 
 Avenue Eoad in 1877, and infused new energy into that 
 hitherto languid enteq^rise. The Gilbert Company ob- 
 tained the i-ight to construct on the Sixth and Second 
 Avenue routes ; while the New York Company secured 
 the lucrative Thii'd x\venue route, in addition to that 
 already held by them. 
 
 The virulent opposition to rapid transit that had been 
 manifested from its inception, in 1866, by the horse-car 
 companies and interested property-owners, increased 
 tenfold ; suits were brought and injunctions laid at 
 every step of the undertaking, the unconstitutionality 
 of the charters was alleged, and the cases Avere carried 
 from tribunal to tiibunal, until, in September, 1877, the 
 Court of Appeals unanimously declared the charters 
 constitutional, and the companies at liberty to build 
 their roads. The work was immediately prosecuted 
 with the iitmost vigor ; armies of men were employed 
 on the different roads, and June 5, 1878, the Sixth 
 Avenue Elevated Road — the name of which was 
 changed from the Gilbert to the Metropolitan— was 
 
CITY or N E W Y O K K . 899 
 
 opened from Rector to Fifty-eiglitli streets. Ou the 
 26tli of August, tlie first public train Avas run on the 
 Third Avenue route, from the Battery thi-ough Pearl 
 street to Forty-second street ; on September 16th, the 
 road was opened to Sixty-seventh street, and was soon 
 after extended tQ Harlem. The Sixth Avenue Road 
 was extended to One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street 
 the following year. The Second Avenue Road Avas 
 opened to Sixty-seventh street, March 1, 1880. In 1879, 
 both companies came under one management, having 
 leased their respective roads to a third corporation, by 
 the name of the Manhattan Railway Company. 
 
 The success of the elevated roads was as brilliant as 
 it was startling, and rewarded the enteiprising project- 
 ors with a golden harvest. Few had foreseen the mag- 
 nitude of the undertaking, or the influence it would 
 have on the fortunes of the city. By bringing the Cen- 
 tral Park within twenty minutes' distance from Wall 
 street, and Harlem and the Battery only three quarters 
 of an hour apart, it had I'emoved the disadvantages of 
 the long and narrow island, and rendered all parts of 
 the town conveniently accessible to each other: In fact, 
 it had van(|uished the one formidable oljstacle to the 
 ■ growth of the great metropolis, and opened the way to 
 an incalculable progi'ess. 
 
 In the AA-inter of 1879-80, the Metropolitan Museum 
 of Art was removed from the old Cruger Mansion in 
 Fourteenth street, near Sixth Avenue, to the handsome 
 structure erected for it on the east side of the Central 
 Park, between the Lower Reservoir and Fifth Avenue, 
 
900 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 aud wliieli was formally opened to the public, with 
 appropriate ceremonies, Marcli 30, 1880. This val- 
 uable museum was organized by a committee of a 
 hundred and sixteen gentlemen, appointed at a pub- 
 lic meeting, November 23, 1869, and was incoi-po- 
 rated by the Legislature April 13, 1870, for the jjurpose 
 of promoting the study of the fine arts, and diffusing 
 popular knowledge on kindred subjects. Its first ac- 
 quisition Avas a considerable collection of pictures, 
 chiefly the works of old Dutch and Flemish masters, 
 which were first exhibited at 681 Fifth Avenue, together 
 with a loan collection of pictures and bric-a-brac. In 
 April, 1871, the Legislature appropriated $200,000 for 
 the erection of a building for the museum in the Central 
 Park or elsewhere. In 1872-'73, it was enriched by the 
 unique Di Cesnola collection of Cypriote antiquities, 
 which its public-spii'ited president, John Taylor John- 
 ston, bought on his own account, through William T. 
 Blodgett, while the British Museum was debating its 
 purchase. In the spring of 1877, it also secured the rich 
 treasures discovered by General di Cesnola at Curium. 
 
 To chronicle all the changes, however, that have 
 occurred and are occurring, would far transcend the 
 limits of our work. Far different, indeed, is the New 
 York Island of the present day, with its forests of cities, 
 its marble, iron, and free-stone palaces, and its million 
 of bustling inhabitants, from the grassy hills which met 
 the eye of Hudson little more than two centuries and a 
 half ago. Then the island belonged to Nature, now it 
 has become the property of Art. The marshes ai-e 
 drained, the forests levelled, and the fair, broad farms 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 901 
 
 laid out into building lots and traversed with large u'on 
 pipes, conveying fire and water side by side through the 
 earth. Scarce a vestige remains of the primitive Man- 
 hattan. Under the impetus given it by the Central 
 Park, the city is fast rushing northward, and, in all 
 probability, comparatively few years will pass before 
 the whole island will be covered with a compact mass 
 of buddings. 
 
 Nor have the suburbs failed to keep pace with the 
 city. Indeed, the whole country within a radius of 
 thirty miles may be considered as a part of New York, 
 a sleeping place for its citizens. Across the East River 
 lies Brooklyn, the third city in the Union, somewhat 
 overshadowed by the greatness of her mammoth neigh- 
 bor, with the thriving villages of Green Point, Hunter's 
 Point, Ravenswood and Astoria stretching to the north- 
 ward along the Sound shore ; and on the west shore of 
 of the Hudson are Jersey City, the Paulus Hook of 
 the Dutch settlers, Hoboken, and the picturesque 
 heights of Weehawken. The lines of the Hudson River, 
 Harlem and New Haven Railroads, are studded with 
 thrifty towns, populated by the New Yorkers, who have 
 also monopolized Staten Island and spread far back on 
 the Jersey shore. 
 
 The islands in the East River are admirably adapted 
 by their location to the penal institutions of which they 
 are made the site. On Blackwell's Island, opposite 
 Yorkville, are the Penitentiary, Lunatic Asylum, Alms 
 Houses, Hospital and Workhouse. Above this are 
 Ward's Island, where the Emigrant Hospital is situated, 
 and Randall's Island, the site of the Pauper Nursery 
 and the House of Refuge. In New York Bay, south- 
 
902 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 west of the Battery, are Ellis and Bedloe's Islands, 
 both strongly fortified for the protection of the harbor. 
 A little to the south-east of the Battery is Governor's 
 Island, the site of Fort Columbus and Castle WiUiam, 
 and below this, in the heart of the Bay, is the beautiful 
 Staten Island, the villa of the merchant princes of New 
 York, commanding the Narrows by Forts Tompkins and 
 Richmond, with numerous batteries. The opposite 
 shore of the Narrows is protected by Fort Hamilton on 
 Long Island and Fort Lafayette on Hendrick's Reef, 
 about two hundred yards from the shore. On a mole, 
 connected by a bridge with the Battery, is Castle Garden, 
 the fortress of olden times, now used as the depot of the 
 Commissioners of Emigration. The Sound entrance is 
 defended by Fort Schuyler and other works. 
 
 Numerous ferries connect New York Island with the 
 neighboring shores, and it is probable that ere long the 
 broad rivers on both sides will be spanned with bridges. 
 At Harlem River it is connected with the main land by 
 the Harlem Turnpike and Harlem Railroad Bridges, 
 McComb's Bridge and the High Bridge of the Croton 
 Aqueduct, while Spuytenduyvel Creek, the northern 
 boundary of the island, is crossed by the well-known 
 Kingsb ridge, first built of wood, by order of the Cor- 
 poration, as early as 1691. 
 
 At the Dry Dock, on the north-east shore of the 
 island, and also on the opposite shore, are the exten- 
 sive ship-yards of the city ; and at the United States 
 Navy Yard, in the Wallabout, is the Naval Dry Dock, 
 the largest in the world. 
 
 The public buildings of the city are numerous, and 
 are mostly in keeping with its wealth and importance. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 903 
 
 1 I 
 
 w 
 
 §?').: 
 
 
 Sub-Treasury. 
 
 In the Park is the New Court House, the City Hall and 
 various minor buildings, devoted to municipal purposes ; 
 close by, in Centre street, is the City Prison, or ' ' Tombs.'" 
 a gloomy structure in the centre of the most squaUd 
 portion of the city. 
 
 In Wall, at the head of Broad street, on the site of 
 the old City Hall and Custom House, erected in the 
 beginning of the century, is the Sub-Treasury of New 
 York, an edifice of Grecian architecture, built of Mas- 
 sachusetts marble, at the cost of nearly a miUion of dol- 
 
904 UISTORY OF THE 
 
 lars. Adjoining this, in the building formerly occupied 
 by the old Bank of the United States, is the Assay- 
 Office. On the corner of "Wall and William streets, is 
 the Custom House, a magnificent edifice of blue Quincy 
 granite, built originally for the Merchants' Exchange, 
 at the cost of over a million of dollars. The handsome 
 granite Post-office occupies the triangle at the lower end 
 of the City Hall Park, below Beekman sti'eet. The 
 libraries of the city are numerous and worthy of notice. 
 The chief fi-ee public Libi'aiy is the Astor, in Lafayette 
 Place, between Fourth street and Astor Place, which 
 was erected by means of a bequest of $400,000 made 
 to it in 1848, by John Jacob Astor. The building was 
 first opened to the public in 1854, with a collection of 
 eighty thousand volumes, under the superintendence 
 of Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell. It has since been trebled 
 in size and the property increased to over a million 
 dollai*s, by the liberality of the descendants of the 
 foxmder. 
 
 The oldest library in the city is the Society Librar} 
 in University Place, between Eleventh and Twelfth 
 streets ; the liistory of this we have already sketched. 
 In a tasteful stone edifice on the corner of Second Ave- 
 nue and Eleventh street, is the Historical Society, 
 Library, founded in 1804. Here is found a choice 
 collection of historical works, chiefly pertaining to 
 American history, a rare assemblage of coins and relics, 
 the Abbot collection of Egyptian curiosities, the Nine- 
 veh marbles, and many other valuable objects. In the 
 Clinton Hall building, once the Astor Place Opera 
 House, is the library and reading-room of the Mercan- 
 tile Library Association, which was organized in 1836, 
 
CITY OF NEW Y i: K . 
 
 905 
 
 Custom House. 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 907 
 
 with seven liundred volumes, for the purpose of sup- 
 plyiug the merchants' clerks with facilities for reading 
 and study, and which is about to be removed to the 
 corner of Broadway and Thirty-seventh street. A free 
 reading-room has also been estalilished in the Cooper 
 Union, togetlier ^vith a picture gallery. Other libra- 
 ries, too numerous to specify, and containing many 
 thousands of volumes, are attached to the vai-ious pro- 
 fessional and educational institutions of the city. 
 
 Our task is ended. Statistical lists we do not intend 
 to give, nor shall we trespass upon the limits of that 
 modern institution, the directory, by further mapping 
 out the city, with its massive banking houses, its mag- 
 nificent churches, and its marble -fronted palaces, all 
 changing from hour to hour with such kaleidscopic 
 rapidity that the picture of to-day would scarcely be 
 recognized to-morrow. It suffices to say that in pala- 
 tial splendor, ill gorgeous magnificence, and in lavish dis- 
 play of inexhaustible wealth. New York may well be 
 regarded as bearing off the palm from all other cities 
 in the Union. Yet were this all, did her claims to her 
 proud title of the Empire City rest merely upon the 
 power of riches, were she but the Golden City, the 
 Venice of the Western Continent, then indeed we might 
 tremble for her future, sure that the seeds of decay 
 were lurking in her heart. But that she has played a 
 far different part in the history of her country, her 
 annals give suffi -icnt proof. The first to practice that 
 religious freedom which the Eastern colonists emigrated 
 from tlie Old World to secure for themselves only to 
 deny to others, and to throw open her doors to the poor 
 and oppressed of her sister settlements : the first to 
 
908 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 vindicate the freedom of the press ; the first to enter a 
 practical protest against the arbitrary Stamp Act by 
 dooming liei'self to commercial ruin ; the first to shed 
 her blood on the battle-fields of the Revolution, and 
 the chief in furnishing the sinews of war without which 
 the late gigantic conflict could never have been con- 
 ducted to a successful termhiatiou, New York has not 
 falsified in maturer years the promises of her youth. 
 Not only has she given an impetus to gigantic schemes 
 of internal improvement that challenge the admiration 
 of the whole world — the Ocean Telegraph, the Steam- 
 boat, the Erie Canal, the Croton Aqueduct, and the 
 magnificent Central Park ; not only does she, by her 
 open-handed liberality, attract to herself men of science, 
 enterprise, and broad and earnest thought, ingenious me- 
 chanics, far-seeing merchants, talented artists, and bril- 
 liant literary men, but she has fostered within her own 
 bosom statesmen, philosophers, inventors, and authors, 
 who may compete advantageously with any in the world. 
 We have simply endeavored to chronicle the progress 
 of the city, to select and briefly make mention of the 
 most important facts from the mass of rich material 
 which lies temptingly about us, looking longingly, mean- 
 while, at the accessor)' incidents which would so charm- 
 ingly fill up the picture and relieve the dullness of mere 
 details, yet forced to desist by the conviction that the 
 task would swell the volume beyond the compass of an 
 entire library. What we could do, we have done ; and 
 if any of the facts which we have thus collected 
 and woven together shall suggest to the future historian 
 the desire to rescue the stoiy of the past career of our 
 city from the neglect with which it has hitherto been too 
 
CITY OF NEW YORK, 
 
 909 
 
 often treated, or shall inspire her citizens with love and 
 pride of their native or adopted city, and urge them to 
 perpetuate the memory of a glorious past by a still more 
 glorious future, and to make their chosen home the 
 Empire City in truth, not only of wealth, but of science, 
 of learning, of art, of all that can elevate and beautify 
 humanity, we shall feel that we have not labored in vain. 
 The future destiny of New York rests with the pre- 
 sent generation ; their verdict must decide whether she 
 will patiently bear the name of the Golden City, by some 
 so tauntingly bestowed upon her, or vindicate herself 
 not only by past proof but by present action. That it is 
 in her power, through her immense resources, her bound- 
 less wealth, her buoyant elasticity, her composite popu- 
 lation, the vast array of talent which lies at her disposal, 
 and most of all, by the breadth, cosmopolitanism and 
 geniality of the character of her people, to mould herself 
 into what she will — to become the Athens of America, 
 the centre of culture and of art — must be evident to all. 
 Her fate is in her own hands ; whether her future fame 
 is to rest on marble palaces or erudite universities — on 
 well-filled warehouses or wealth of brain, she alone can 
 decide. Let her but choose the latter position — let her 
 out expend her wealth, regardless of outside display, in 
 fostering talent, in encouraging art, in attracting to her- 
 self by liberal patronage the intellectual power of the 
 whole country, in endowing universities, and in develop- 
 ing the mental resources of her own citizens, not by a 
 lavish expenditure of money alone, but by an earnest 
 appreciation of talent, and the time is not far distant 
 when she will be cordially acknowledged, both by 
 friends and foes, as the Empire City, not only of the 
 ^.Tnion but also of the World ! 56 
 
I M D E X. 
 
 Academy of Music, erection of, 728. 
 
 Academy of Design, 856, 857. 
 
 Adriatic, launch of, 75i). 
 
 Adriaensen, Maryn, otie of ttie Counsel of 
 
 Twelve Men, 107. At Corleav'.s Hook, lia. 
 Alexander, James, 293, 304, 33J-334, 346, 384. 
 Ale-xis, (Jiand Dulce, visit of, 881, 883. 
 AlIertDTi, Isaac, one of the Council of Eight 
 
 Men, 118. 
 Alsop, John, delegate to the Continental Con- 
 
 gre 
 
 , 477 
 
 Ambuscade, the, arrival of, 606 ; engagement 
 of the Boston \^■ith, 607. 
 
 Andre, Major, at New York, 561 ; arrest and 
 execution of, 562. 
 
 Anthony, Allard, one of the first schepens, 
 13fi ; sheriff, 157. 
 
 Apthorpe House, narrow escape of Washing- 
 ton Irom, 504, 621. 
 
 Argall, supposed visit to Manhattan of, 41 ; 
 grant of the province by James II. to, 47. 
 
 Armory, Seventh Regiment, 894, 895. 
 
 Arnold, treason of, 551 , 563; at New York, 512, 
 M3 : death of, 563. 
 
 Arsenal. State, erected. 780. 
 
 Arthur, Prince, visit of, 882. 
 
 Articles of Confederation, 586, 587. 
 
 AsM.eiati.iii. C.iilral Kclief, orsanizcd, 799. 
 
 As>.i^ I ;,i:hMlr_ \ \|. I S^K 
 
 Asi..' 1 ( I .: ..f, 726. 
 
 All:. till. Ti h L-i ipii ' iii-i.in i.f, 857,864. 
 
 Backerus, Domine Johannes, minister at New 
 
 Amsterdam, 120; return to Holland of, 134. 
 Bailey, Gen. Theodorus, postmaster of New 
 
 York citv in the beginning of the nineteenth 
 
 century, '651. 
 Bancker, Flores, one of the Sons of liberty, 412. 
 Barentsen, expedition of, 30. 
 Battles of 
 
 the Liberty Pole, 429-J36. 
 
 Golden Hill, 448-463. 
 
 Long Island, 405-498. 
 
 Harlem Plains, 605, 606. 
 
 Fort Washington, 507, 609. 
 Bauman, Sebastian, tirst postmaster of New 
 
 York city after the Revolution, 65,5. 
 Baxter, George, first English secretory of the 
 
 province, 101. 
 Bayard, Nicholas, secretary of the province, 
 
 168; mayor, 211; member of the council in 
 . 1689, 220; in the afiair of Leisler, 220-294; in 
 
 the administration of Ncanfan, 267. 
 Bayard, "William, New Y'ork delegate to Colo- 
 nial Congress, 412. 
 Bay.ard's Mount — See Uills. 
 
 Beekmnn, Wilhelm, one of the first schepens, 
 136. 
 
 Beekman, Gerardus, administers affairs after 
 the removal of Ingoldsby, 286 ; member of 
 the council of Hunter, 288. 
 
 Beekman's Swamp, 282. 
 
 Beekman House, 502, 620, 621 
 
 Belcher, Thomas, earliest patentee of lands at 
 Brooklyn, 85. 
 
 Bell, Isaac, sen., reminiscences of. 555, 566 
 
 Belvedere, the, in the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth centurv, 621. 
 
 Bennett, J. O., died, 879. 
 
 Bentyn, Jaques, one of the Council of Twelve 
 Men, 107. 
 
 Berrien, John, wounded at the Liberty Pule, 
 482. 
 
 Block, Adriaen, arrives at Manhattan, 39 ; builds 
 the Restless, 40 ; explorations and return of, 
 40. 
 
 Blommaert, Samuel, first p.atroon of Swaanen- 
 dael, 67. 
 
 Bn^ardus, Pomine Everardus, arrival at Man. 
 hattan of, 68; controversy with Van Twiller, 
 66, 67; with Van Dincklagen, 77, 78; mar- 
 riage with Aneke Jans of, 76; opposes the 
 massacre of the Indians, 111; return to Hot- 
 land, shipwreck and death of, 182. 
 
 Bout, Jan Evertsen, one of the Council of Eight 
 Men, 118; of Nine Men, 183. 
 
 Bowling Green, annual fair held on, 96, 200; 
 treaty with the Indians concluded on, 122; 
 leased by the corporation, 322. 
 
 Brarllbrd, "William, first printer in the eitv, 25f), 
 811. 
 
 Bressar, Henry, 92. 
 
 Bridge, Loew, 870, 877. 
 
 Bridge, Brooklyn, 880, 881. 
 
 Bridges of New York Island, 874. 
 
 Brockholst, Anthony, 205. 
 
 Brooklyn, consolidation of Williamsburg and 
 Buehwiclv with. 755, 7.56 
 
 Broome, Sam'l, one of the Sons of Liberty, 
 445. 
 
 Brugges, John, Alderman, 157. 
 
 Brvaut, W C, died, 879. 
 
 Bunker Mansion House, the, 62.3. 
 
 Burikll, Dr., mnrder of, 778, 779. 
 
 Burns' Coffee House, demolition of, 782. 
 
 Burr. Aaron, in the retreat of SiUiman's Brigade, 
 804; in the affair of the Jay treaty, 610; duel 
 with Hamilton, 669, 670, 
 
 Burgher right granted to the citizens, 148, 14& 
 
 Bushwick founded, 150. 
 
 Butler, Gen., In New Y'ork, 886. 
 
 Cabot, Sebastian, explorations of, 29, 
 
ei2 
 
 CadwallndiT, Col , at Fort Washinpton, Sfrt- 
 
 509 
 rarleton. Sir Guv, at New York. 566. 
 I'astlc Garden, 758. 
 Cathedral. Roman Catholic, in Fifth Avenue, 
 
 erected, 781. 
 Central Park, history of, 759-769. 
 Chanipe, John, attempt to carry oflE Arnold 
 
 from the city made bv, 5<i3, 563. 
 aiarrers. New City, 886, 891. 
 
 (rranted to the 
 
 New Netherland Company bv the Statea Gen- 
 eral in 1614, 42. 
 
 Expiration of. in 1618, 4& 
 
 Gorges and his associates bv James L, 47, 
 
 West India Company in 1621, by the States 
 General, 409. 
 
 Patroonships, oE, in 1629, 65, 66. 
 
 Privileges of, 82, 68. 
 
 Breuckeleil, 135. 
 
 New Amsterdam, 186. 
 
 Nicolls, 187, 
 
 New Orange, 16S, 
 
 New York, 171. 
 
 Liberties of; 207, 20S. 
 
 Dongan, 218. 
 
 Mont^omerie. — 
 
 Amended, of 1830, 782. 
 
 Amended, of 1S49, 749. 
 
 Amended, of 1863, 750. 
 
 Amended, of 1857, 772. 
 Chelsea House, the, 619. 
 Cholera in New Y'ork, 73»-7S5, 86S, 809. 
 t'hristiansen Hendrick, arrival at Manhattan of; 
 
 39 ; Fort Nassau built by, 41 ; Death of, 42. 
 Churchefi — 
 
 Reformed Dutch — first organization of, 53; 
 tirst minister of, 63, 54; primitive manners 
 and customs of, 6.32-635; first church in 
 Manhattan, 65; Church of St. Nicholas, 
 97,99,358; South Dntch in Garden street, 
 241, 242, 257, 742; Middle Dutch in Nassau 
 street, 315, 316, 513, 637; North Dutch in 
 William street, 687, 6i9; churches in the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century, 638- 
 613. 
 
 Lutheran — organization of, in Stuyvesant*s 
 administration, 142; first minister of, 159; 
 church in Broadway built by the Palatines, 
 159, 287; churches in the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century, 644. 
 
 Episcopal— Established by Fletcher in 1696, 
 261 ; first clergyman of, 251 ; Tiinitv Church 
 erected, 261, 257 ; King's Farm granted by 
 Queen Anne to, 276; estate of Ancke Jans 
 purchased by, 76, 275; cemetery donated to, 
 275, 348, 645; Eglise dn Saint^-Esprit, built 
 by the Huguenots, 2S1, 282, 808, 309, 369, 
 513,514; St George's Chapel in Beekman 
 street, 374; churches in the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century, 648, 644. 
 
 Presbyterian — Wall street church erected, 
 801, rebuilt, 373; in the Eevolution 618; 
 Brick Church in Beekman street erected, 
 468; in the Kevolution, 513, 619, 649; 
 churchesin the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century, 648-650. 
 
 Baptist— Gold street church, 650; Oliver 
 street church, 6.51. 
 
 .Methodist — organization of John street chapel 
 erected, 399 ; in the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century, 662, 653. 
 
 Friends— In the beginning of the nineteenth 
 eenturv, 654. 
 
 Jews' Synagogue in Mill street, 315, 653. 
 
 Moravian— Chapel in Fulton street, 874, 654. 
 
 Catholic — In the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century, Qfio, 
 Clarke, Andrew, first English schoolmaster in 
 
 New York, 274, 
 Clinton, Admiral George — See Governors. 
 
 Clinton. Sir Henry, in the battle of Long Island. 
 495-493; commander-in-chief at New York. 
 552; fortifies the citv, 554; southern expedi- 
 tion of, 555; sails to 'the relief of Cornwallis, 
 566; superseded by Sir Guy Carleton, 560. 
 Ginton, George, defence of McDougall by, 461 ; 
 defence of Sears by, 462 ; first governor of the 
 State, 544, 614. 
 Clinton, DeWitt— See Mayors. 
 Club, Union League, organized, SOS, 809 ; His- 
 tory- of, S89-S60. 
 Colden, Cadwallader — See Governors, 
 Collect, Eolck, Fresh Water Pond, the primit- 
 ive condition of, 80. 822, 328; proposed im- 
 provement of, 619, 5'20 ; filled up, 680. 
 Colleger — 
 King's, founded. 373, 397. 398; in the P.evolu- 
 tion, 472, 473 ; transformed into Columbia, 
 627, 628; removed, 77S. 
 Colored Troops, raising of. 8.3.3. 
 Commerce, Chambrr of. Peace Meeting at, 789 ; 
 Meeting of Merchants at, April 19, 1861, 794; 
 Patriotic action of, 805 ; Death of the Presi- 
 dent, 851. 
 CommissionH — 
 Christian, 816. 
 Freedmen's, 816^ 
 Sanitary, 814. 
 Union, 816. 
 Committer of 
 Safety, 16S9, 222, 228. 
 Correspondence, appointed bv the Sons of 
 
 Liberty, 417. 424, 426. 
 Fifty one, 474. 
 One Hundred, 481-483 
 Safety, appointed by the Provincial Congress, 
 
 510, 511. 
 Union Defence, 796. 
 Commons, the primitive condition of; 822 ; Alms- 
 house erected on, 347 ; in the Eevolution, 429- 
 492; new Alms-house built on, 580; in the 
 beginning of the nineteenth century, 6'24, 
 Companies — 
 United New Netherland, organization of, 42 ; 
 treaty with the Indians, 45; dissolution of, 
 46; West India, organization of. 49; coloni- 
 zation of the province by, 50-56; Burgher 
 government established at New Amsterdam 
 bv, 136; further municipal privileges grant- 
 el 139, 149; Staten Island purchased by, 
 149. 
 Congress — 
 First Coloni.al, at New York, 412, 413. 
 Second Colonial, at Philadelphia, 478, 479. 
 Provincial, at New York, 479-486. 
 Constitution — 
 First, of the State of New York, framed at 
 
 Kingston, 644. 
 Federal opposition to, in the city of New York, 
 590 ; federal procession in the city, 589 ; 
 a<loption of, 691. 
 Coney Island, discovery of, 82. 
 Cooper, Myles. president of King's College, 397, 
 
 Cooper, Peter, Cooper Institute foimded by, 859. 
 Corcoran, General, capture of, 803; release oC 
 
 805, 806. 
 Corlaer, Jacob, 74. 
 Corlaer's Hook, massacre at. 111, 112; In 1781, 
 
 824. 
 Cornelissen, expedition of, 80. 
 Crummashie Hill— See Hills. 
 Crystal Palace, 781. 
 Cunningham, William, at the Liberty Pole, 467; 
 
 Provost Marshal of the Revolution, 6'25--680 ; 
 
 at the evacuation of the city, 570. 
 Custom House, death of the President at, 861 ; 
 
 removal of, 876. 
 
 Damen, Jan Jansen, one of the Council U 
 
INDEX, 
 
 913 
 
 Twelve Men, 111 : one of the Council of Eight 
 
 Men; expelled by his colleagues, IIS; one of 
 
 the Council of Nine Men, 133. 
 De Lancey, Stephen, first public clock of the 
 
 city presented by, 300 ; dispute with Burnet 
 
 308, 309. 
 De Lancey, Oliver, house of, burnt at Bloom- 
 
 ingdale, 542. .^43. 
 DeVries, David Picterscn, 57, 07-70, &4, 107- 
 
 Depo't, State Soldiers', 817. 
 
 Depot, Grand Central, 879. 
 
 Dernier, Thomas, visits Manhattan and claims 
 it as his discovery, 46, 47. 
 
 Dickens. Charles, in New York, 878. 
 
 Dircksen, Barent, one of the Council of Elsht 
 Men, lis. 
 
 Dircksen, Cornells, first ferrymaster of New 
 Amsterdam, 91, 92. 
 
 Directors — 
 Mey, Cornclissen Jacobsen, in 162-3, by West 
 India Company, 60, 61: returns to Hol- 
 land, 51. 
 Verhulst, William, in 1624, 51 ; recall of, 51. 
 Minuit, Peter, in 1626, appointed Director- 
 General, 51, 62 ; aiTival of, 62 ; purchase of 
 the Island of Manhattan by, 82 ; correspond- 
 ence with Governor Bradford, of, 53, 54; 
 recall of, and return to Europe, 60 ; arrest 
 by the English authorities and subsequent 
 release, 61, 62; visit to Sweden of, 80, 81; 
 returns to America and founds Port Chris- 
 tina, 81, 82 ; death and burial of, ST. 
 Van Twiller, Wonter, arrival of, in 1633, 68; 
 character of, 63; public improvements of, 
 65 ; dispute with Bogardus of, 66, 67 ; affair 
 of the " William," 67-71 ; De Vries and, 70 ; 
 protest against the English on the Connecti- 
 cut Elver, 72 ; expulsion of the English from 
 Fort Nassau by, 72, 73 ; expedition despatch- 
 ed against Wethersfield and Saybrook by, 
 73 ; purchase of New Amersfoordt and Gov- 
 ernor's Island by. 75-77 ; discontent of the 
 people: recall of, 77. 
 Kieft, Wllhelm, arrival of, 79; antecedents 
 and character -of, 79; l.iw-s nod ordinances 
 established by, 79, ?" : , .,:-., 1 1\\^ insti- 
 tuted by, 80; protest , v. 1 I - <l..«at 
 Fort Christina, of, SI. s J | i . .' Kin-'s 
 and Queen's Counties S.n- m, ( . ;ii;m,iv bv, 
 St, So; expedition desputiiicl oixainst the 
 English on Long Island by, so, 86 ; expul- 
 sion of the English from the Delaware by, 
 88; public improvements of, 96-99; regu- 
 lations respecting seawant issued by, 101 ; 
 tribute on the Indians levied by. 103; ex- 
 pedition .against the Raritans despatched by, 
 105; public Assembly summoned by, 106; 
 massacre of Indians at Pavoniaand Corlaer's 
 Hook sanctioned by. 111; war against the 
 natives cairied on by, lll-117;"tre.aty of 
 peace, 117 ; recommencement of hostilities 
 and continuance of the war, 118-122; treaty 
 with the Indians concluded on the Bowlino- 
 Green by, 122; new excise levied by, 123; 
 recall 01, 125; despotism of, 126, 127; dis- 
 pute 'between Bognrdus and, 127, 128 ; return 
 to Europe, shipwreck and death of, 132. 
 Stuyvesant, Petrus, appointed by the Com- 
 pany, 125; his history and character, 127- 
 129; publicimprovementsof, 129, 130; new 
 excise levied by. 130; banishment of Kuyter 
 and Melyn by, 131, 132; Assembly of Nine 
 Men summoned bv, 182. 133; boundaries 
 between N.w Ynrl nnd New England set- 
 tled hv 1 :.: , .t,i, -f between the people 
 and. 1 I M .It New Amsterdam 
 byi'l iil- i' ranee toward the Lu- 
 theraij^ -1. llJ: -mdes c-xpelled from Fort 
 Christina hy, 143 ; second Indian war during 
 the administration of, 143-145 ; the system 
 
 of "burgher rights" iniililiiL-d I.\. 1 1.".. 140. 
 persecution of the Quakri - '^ i I" : . , ;,,n 
 of the city by the En2li-:i 1. lin. 
 
 f.il-I.M: future career. ,1; '.i- ;ii, ;!:,,; ! 'iir""; 
 
 ''i ' > V • . ■ ,,il ofiiew Viirk, m. 
 
 I' ' '-"■-_ . i "i.i >- I'-.'nl-ri.fMespath, 119,120. 
 
 Drissius. Domine, assist;mt to Megapolensis, 136. 
 
 Duer, William, 547-650. 
 
 Dudley, Joseph, member of Council in 1089, 240, 
 
 East India Compiiny, Dutch, 30, 31 
 
 Eddy, Thomas, 710, 710. 
 
 Eelkins, Jacob, agent at Fort Nassau 42' 
 
 super-cargo of an Engli-h trading vessel ; 
 
 contest with Van Twiller, 07-70. 
 Election, Presidential, uf 1804, in New York 
 
 836, Si7. ' 
 
 Ellsworth, Colonel, death of, 801, 802 
 Explosion, Hell Gate, 893 
 
 Fair, Sanitary, 834. 
 
 Ferguson, John, mayor. 703. 
 
 Ferries, first lease of, ]3!l: I'l-nv t.. IInl. m pro- 
 posed by Stuyvesant. 11-' I J, , .1 l.rrv 
 
 lease by the coi[>' r ,, , , ]i.'.t'.i: 
 
 ferrv rates and r-j ., ,,f 
 
 1717,284.285; new i, rn .-lui.h-k. a i'.. i;,..,,k- 
 lyn, 801 ; first ferry to 8tatcn Island, 3s4 ; ferry 
 established to Paulus Hook, 898; ferries in the 
 beginning of the nineteenth centurv, 6.'>9; 
 history of the Long Island ferries, 6S:3,'6S7. 
 
 Fire of 1770. .'►JO. rAl ; of 1778, 652 , of 1835, 741. 
 742; of l~l,x T4S. 
 
 Fire Deianni.nt, Paid, organized. 854. 
 
 Flatbubh f.und./d, 137. 
 
 Flushing first settled, 126. 
 
 Forts — 
 First redoubt built on the Island of Manhat- 
 tan, 39. 
 Nassau, 41, 7'2, 73. 
 
 Amsterdam, 58, 05 ; captured and christened 
 Fort James, 154 ; recaptured by the Dutch 
 and called Fort Wilhelm Hendrick, 166; 
 surrendered to the English and transformed 
 again into Fort James^ 170. 
 Good Hope, 71. 
 Christina, 81. 
 Casimir, 14'2. 
 
 Fortifications of the city in 1776 49-3. 
 
 Fortifications of 1812-1814, 701, 703 
 
 Franklin. Lady, visit of. 783. 
 
 Fi ir -■ Tn.,!,, the head-quarters of Wash- 
 
 Fi'! ■ ;■ : II 1 he Prison-ship, 536-538. 
 Fiili-n, I: .' , ]i i.iiiIdingoftbeClermontbv,681, 
 Os-J; in the line Canal, 717. 
 
 Gage, General, commandant at New York. 426. 
 Gas C&Tnpanien — 
 New York, 7-23. 
 Manhattan, 7'24. 
 George III., statue of, on the Bowling Green 
 
 431, 432, 
 Genet, Citizen, arrival of, 607 ; marriage at the 
 Walton House, 608; policy and subsequent 
 recall of, 60S. 
 Great Eastern, first arrival at New York, 783. 
 Oovemws — 
 Nicolls, Colonel Richard, appointed by the 
 Duke of York, in 1661, l.'iO; arrival and in- 
 vasion of New Amsterdam by, 161-153; con- 
 quest of the fort, 154; proclaimed governor, 
 150; form of municipal government changed 
 
914 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 by, 157; t:ixps lovk-d by, IJiS; tolerance 
 toward the Lutherans, 15S, 15&; city forti- 
 fied by, 160; recall of, 161; death of, 162. 
 
 LoTelflce, Colonel Francis, in 1668; arrival of, 
 161; despotic conduct of, 161, 162; public 
 meetinsr for merchants instituted; races 
 approved; first mail between New York 
 and Boston established by, 163; fort in- 
 trusted to Captain John Manning by. 164; 
 invasion of the city by the Dutch fleet; 
 cowardice of Manning; capture of the town. 
 164-166; return to Europe of, 166; public 
 reprimand and confiscation of estates of, Itis. 
 
 Oolve, Captain Anthony, arrival of, 103; inva- 
 sion and capture of the city by, 164. 105; 
 assumes command of the province, 16S; 
 city fortified by, 16S; martial rule of, 169; 
 contempt of witchcraft of, 169, 170; sur- 
 render of the fort by, 170. 
 
 Andros, Sir Edmund, takes command of the 
 city. 170; English form of municipal gov- 
 ernment restored by, 171; character and 
 policy of, 195; regulations and ordinances 
 established by, 197-200: bolting monopoly 
 granted to the city by, 201, 202; admiralty 
 court established, 202; slave laws of, 204, 
 205; return to England of, 205; return to 
 New York, and subsequent recall. 206; 
 appointed royal governor of New England 
 and New York ""207; sent a prisoner to 
 England by bis subjects of Boston. 219, 
 
 Dongan, Colonel Thomas, arrival of, 207; first 
 English assembly summoned by, 207 ; mu- 
 nicipal regulations of, 209, 210, 212. 213; 
 monopoly for packing flour and baking 
 bread for exportation granted to the city 
 by. 210; charter granted by, in 1686. 213, 
 Canadian policy of, 211, 210; home aflfairs, 
 217; recall of. 217. 
 
 Nicholson, Sir Francis, assumes command as 
 lieutenant-governor. 217 ; superseded bv 
 Leisler, 223; fii;-'lit to En-Iiind, 224; in- 
 
 trigues at the I't 
 
 Leisler, Jacob, :iii 
 
 sen leader of i 
 
 der-i 
 
 'J'.'2 ; cho- 
 appfiinled 
 
 Safety, 224; forliii..'^ ihe l-uv ; dc-spatches a 
 memorial to William and Mary, 224, 225; 
 despatches Milborne to Albany, 227 ; assumes 
 title of lieutenant-governor. 223 ; is acknow- 
 ledged by the Albanians ; despatches an ex- 
 pedition against Canada, 231 ; superseded 
 bySleughter, 232; blockaded by Ingoldsby, 
 233,234; letter to Sloughterand subsequent 
 surrender of the fort, 234, 235; arrest and 
 imprisonment of, 235; trial and condemna- 
 tion, 285, 236; execution of, 236, 537; dis- 
 interred and reburied in the South Dutch 
 Church in Garden street, 271. 
 
 Sloughter, Col. Henry, appointed governor, 
 232; arrival of, 238; Leisler and adherents 
 arrested by, 235; death warrant of Leisler 
 and Milborne signed by, 237 ; municipal ordi- 
 nances during the administration of, 241, 
 242; death of, 245. 
 
 Fletcher, Benjamin, in 1692, arrival of. 24G ; 
 character and policy of, 247; Episcopal 
 church established in the province by. 251 ; 
 Indian policy, 252; suspected connivance of 
 piratical depredations. 253; recall of, 254; 
 progress of the city during the administra- 
 tion of, 257-260. 
 
 Bellamont, Lord, in 1G95, appointment of. 254; 
 stock company for the sui>pression of piracy 
 oi^anized; the Adventure t'alley fitted oiit 
 by, 254; failure of t!ir , niv l■|l^i^e; popular 
 discontent. 2r.r»--jri^ ; :nii\jl i-f. '.'(".(l; jioliov 
 of, 261; visit t<> llnM.^n. ■_■!;;; ; dispute \\ith 
 the merchants. 2tV4 ; i|. ;iiIl .>t, 2iU. 
 
 Nanfan, John, lieuten;int-^'<>vernor, arrival of 
 260; assumes direction of affairs, 265; at- 
 
 taches himself to the Lelslerian party, L'Ofi ; 
 imprisons Bayard and Hutchins, 267,268; 
 superseded by Cornbury, 268. 
 
 Cornbury, Lord, arrival of, 269 ; insti-uctiona 
 of Queen Anne to, 269, 270; joins the anti- 
 Leislerian party, 272 1 city schools during 
 the administration of, 278 ; at Jamaica, 274, 
 275; efi"orts to establish episcopacy of, 275, 
 276; peculation of, 276; fortities the city, 
 277,278; despotism of, 278,279; recall and 
 subsequent arrest and imprisonment of, 279 ; 
 progress of the city during the administra- 
 tion of, 279-285. 
 
 Lovelace, Lord, arrival of, 285; assenably con- 
 vened by, 285; sudden death of, 286. 
 
 Ingoldsby. Major Richard, arrival of, 232; con- 
 test with Leisler, 233, 234 ; assumes direc- 
 tion of afi'airs upon the death of Lovelace, 
 286 ; removal ot; 286. 
 
 Hunttr, Robert, arrival of, in 1710, 286; his- 
 tory oi^ 286,287; joins the anti-Leislerian 
 party, 268; council o^ 2SS; expedition 
 against Canada dispatched by, 289; failure 
 of the expedition, 290; contest with the as- 
 sembly, 291 ; court of chancery established 
 by, 292; popular concessions of, 298; de- 
 parture for England and subsequent career, 
 293, 294 ; progress of the city during the ad- 
 ministration of, 294-302. 
 
 Burnet, William, arrival of, in 1720, 802; char- 
 acter and antecedents of, 803; marriage 
 of; friendship with Morris, 803; council of, 
 805; Indian affairs during the administra- 
 tion cf. 305; policy of; abolition of the 
 cin-nit ri- trirti.' by, 806; contest with the 
 111. ; ' - ■■■'•: :iis; trading post at Oswe- 
 L T ; congress of governors at 
 
 Ai LI , ■:■■•. .hspute with Stephen De 
 Liiiict-j. ui, ou>. boy; contest with the assem- 
 bly, 309, 310; transferred to Massachusetts, 
 31*0; progress of the city during the admin- 
 istration of, 310-812. 
 
 Montgomerie, John, appointment of, 310; ar- 
 rival and instructions of, 312; policy of the 
 ir, 812; Montgomerie charter 
 
 granted by, 312-315; progress of the city 
 during the administration of, 828 ; death of, 
 
 Cosby, CoL William, arrival of, 828; charac- 
 ter and antecedents of, 815-829; council of, 
 830; contest with Kip Van Dam, 330, 331 ; 
 removal of Morris from the chief justiceship 
 by, 831; conduct in the Zenger trial 383- 
 843; names of Smith and Alexander struck 
 from the roll of attorneys by, 834; contest 
 with the assembly, 34.>; rapacitv of; Rip 
 Van Dam suspended by.»45; death o^ 345: 
 l)rogress of affairs during the administration 
 of, 347-353. 
 
 Clarke, George, assumes the direction of 
 affairs, 845; contest with Kip Van Dam, 
 845,346; commissioned as lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor, 346; dissolves the assembly, and re- 
 stores Smith and Alexander to the bar, &46; 
 negro plot during the administration of, 
 355-369 ; superseded by Clinton, 869. 
 
 Clinton, Admiral George, arrival of, 370 ; alli- 
 ance with De Lancey; subsequent ruptme, 
 .and alliance with Colden, 370; dissension 
 with the assembly, 870,375, 376; aflair of 
 the ''Greyhound," 375, 876; resignation of, 
 876. 
 
 Osborne, Sir Danvers, arrival of, 876; instruc- 
 tions of, 876. 379; popular demonstrations, 
 347; forebodings of the council, 879; sui- 
 cide of the governor, 847; previous history, 
 
 De Lancey, James, previous ca-^er, 330. 335. 
 3711. 373; assumes direction of affairs as 
 lieutenant-governor on the death of Sir 
 Danvers Osborne, 8S0; policy of; 381,882; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 915 
 
 at Albnnv, 3S2; Sociptv Library fonndi-d 
 uncliT tlu- aiispicos of. 8S4: jiroLTiss c.f thti 
 city durin? the administration of. 3S4^S6 ; 
 superseded by Sir Charles Hardy, .$S6; chief 
 justice, 88T: at the head of 'affairs, 388; 
 FniK-h war durinir the administration of, 
 
 al of; incapacity for 
 1 and departure 'tVom 
 
 SSti. 
 Hardv, 
 
 OfluT. 
 
 the j.i 
 
 Cadwallader CoI'Ieii, assumes command as 
 lieutenant-frovernor, 393; previous career 
 of, 304, 30o, 330. 370, 871, 876; attempt at 
 impressment durins the administration of. 
 393,3i'4: death t.f <;,,,,i-e II. .iiid pr..,-luma- 
 
 tion uf I. -_'.■ Ill . :'.:i4: tlir:,lrr .ii.ened 
 
 in Bi'. kiu.ih -Ir.-r t v,ul-T ll„ :,u. ia.es of. 
 395; su[,.rv,d.d l.v M..ri.ki.4,. :,:i.-,; a-ain 
 in comm.and. :W7,4iiO; -: ; . ,; .-,,,- iu the 
 colonies iu 1763, 4iil-! . . i the 
 
 Stamp Act. 409; darmj i i i r the 
 assembly to the Ministry, In-; r. ci [iiion 
 of the St,imp Act in the city. 400, 410; non- 
 importation agreement of" the New York 
 merch,ints. 414, 415; arrival of the stamps; 
 Colden undertalies the office of distributor; 
 is burnt in effitry on the Bowling Green, 418, 
 419 ; delivers the stamps to the mayor, 422, 
 423; superseded by Moore, 425 ; again in 
 command. 442 ; emission of bills of credit by 
 the assembly, 443 ; tax on tea, 446; non-im- 
 portation asreement rescinded. 460 ; Colden 
 superseded in the government by Lord Dun- 
 more. 460; assumes the government in the 
 abseoce of Tryon, 467: arrival of tlie tea 
 ships; tea party in New York Harbor. 
 469-473; second Colonial Congress; the 
 American Association. 478. 
 Monckton, Gen. Robert, appointment, popu- 
 larity of, 395; reception by the assembly, 
 396; departure for M.artinique and return 
 of, 397; municipal ordinances, 397, 39S ; re- 
 turns to Enirland, 400. 
 Moore, Sir Henry, conciliatory disposition of; 
 reception by the Sons of Liberty, 426, 427 ; 
 repeal of the Stamp Act, 429 ; Limited Sup- 
 ply Bill passed by the assembly, 437; con- 
 test with the assembly; disfranchisement 
 of the province, 438, 4-39 ; assembly dis- 
 solved by. 441 ; new assembly convened, 
 «l ; death of, 442. 
 Dunmore, Lord, arrival of, 460 ; complaisance 
 of the assembly; trial of McDougal, 461- 
 408; transfer of nunmore to Virgini.-!, 461. 
 Tijon. W'!M>ni i].;- iuted governor, 461 ; re- 
 fusal .t ' ' income voted by the 
 asseiii ii . ! M ^ 1 1 of Sears from office, 
 462; N. ,., li-iijial founded underthe 
 auspi.i ^ ..I, 4..,. 4.4 , l.urning of the Govern- 
 ment House, 464; tlie tea ships; spirited 
 action of the Sons of Libert;-. 467. 46S ; de- 
 parture for England, 467 ; return. 4S6; bom- 
 bardment of the town by the Asia, 4S8; 
 Hight from the city of, 449.' 
 Greene, General, 494, 495, 508, 564. 
 Greeley, Horace, died, 879. 
 
 Hale, Niithan, 501, 509. 
 
 Hall, .\, Oakcy, Mayor, 879. 
 
 Htill. Tammany, removal of, 872. 
 
 Hall. Thomas, 85, 13.3. 
 
 ]|,iiMi:i-ii. Andrew, defence of, in the Zenger 
 t,i:,l. :',a5-34.3. 
 
 I!:ii]iilt.in, Alexander. rithtU of, in the great 
 ni. . tin- in the fields. 477: in the affair of the 
 A-ia, 4^>: p.,liii,-al .-aiver of. 588-605; in the 
 atlair.if the .lay treat! . 010 ; death of, 669,670. 
 
 Hamilton. Lieut., death' of, 7S1. 
 
 Hanibrd. Levi, reminiscences of, 515-521. 
 
 HaWenburg, Araoldus, 126, 138. 
 
 Ilarlr-m first settled, U8. 
 
 llaipc.r Hiothers' Priutingand Publishiug Es- 
 
 tablisbment burned, 7^, 754. 
 Hart. Petci . nails the flag over Sumter, 790,791. 
 H.-ivemeyer, W. F , death of. 891. 
 Health, Board of. 866, 867, 868, 869. 
 Heemskerck, expedition of. 30. 
 Heemstede, first settled, 120 ; Indian massacre 
 
 at, 121. 
 Heermans. Augustine, one of the Council of Nine 
 
 Men, 1.3.3. 
 
 Bayard's Mount, afterward Bunker UilL 25 
 324,503. 
 
 Crumma.shie, 324, 
 
 Incleuberi;. 8'24. 
 
 Murray, .104. 619. 
 
 Potter's, 824. 
 
 Zantber..'. 2.i, 3'24. 
 Holfmau. .I..5iah Ogden, recorder, 6S9, "08. 
 Holmes, George, settles at Turtle Bay, 8S. 
 Ilitfipitain — 
 
 New York, founded. 463, 625, 753. 
 
 Bellevue, 624. 
 
 ■ft-o 
 
 .779. 
 
 Hotel Burning, 837. 
 
 Howe, Gen., arrival a; -i.iii 1 '.,.;. r -(:':;• in 
 the battle of Lon- ! : i - Km,-, 
 
 B.iy, 502; in the 1...' I: r .".-,, 
 
 506; in commandat Ni ,. \.il .', l, .-: ; , r. . all 
 of. 552. 
 
 Hudson, Henry, first expeditions of. 81 : discov- 
 ery of Manhattan by, 88; ascends the river, 
 84; encounter with the Indiansat Fort Wash- 
 ington, 36; return to Europe, 87; death of, 
 38. 
 
 Hudson River, various names of, 84. 35. 
 
 Hughes, Hugh, one of the Sons of Liberty. 41'2. 
 
 Huyck, .Jan, " Krankbesoecker" at New Amster- 
 dam, b'i. 
 
 Improvement, Fourth Avenue, 892. 
 
 Incleuborg— See Hills. 
 
 Independence, Declaration of, reception in New 
 
 York of, 492. 
 Indian War, first, 111-122; second, 144, 145. 
 Institutions, benevolent, in the beginning of the 
 
 nineteenth century, 628-680. 
 Irving. Washington,' birthplace of, 885. 
 Islands — 
 Barent's or Barn. Great, now Ward's, pur- 
 chased by Van Twiller, 76, 77; site of Emi- 
 grant Hospital, 878. 
 Barent's or Barn, Little, now Randall's, site 
 
 of the House of Refuge, 87-3. 
 Bedloe's, first quarantine established at, 355; 
 
 Fortifications of, 874, 
 Blackwcll's, purchased bv Yan Twiller, 76, 
 
 77; pubir; buildings of, '873. 
 Nutten, no .7 Governor's, purchased by Yan 
 
 Twiller, 76; fortifications of, 498, 874. 
 Oyster, now Ellis, fortifications of, 874. 
 Staten. grant of land to Cornells Melyn, 85: 
 purchased by the Company ; first settlement 
 of the Huguenots. 142; Howe at, 493; in 
 thu Revolution, 555, 556; fortifications of, 
 874. 
 
 .Jacobson, Marcus, sold into slavery by order of 
 Lovelace, 163. 
 
 James. Major, house destroyed by the Sons ol 
 Liberty, 420. 
 
 Jansen. Roelef, land granted by 'Van Twiller to, 
 75. 76. 
 
 Jans, or Jansen, Aneke, widow of Koelef; mar- 
 riage with Bogardus of, 76 ; sale of estate t(r 
 the Colonial government, and subsequent lease 
 to Trinity Church. 76. 275. 
 
 Jansen. He'ndrick.one of the Council of Twelve 
 Men, 107. 
 
916 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Jansen, Michael, 133. 
 Japanese Eiiiha-M,\i- 
 
 niief Justier, ;■,:,: IVace fommissii.ner, 
 567 ; in tlie Dociors' Moi), 5S5 ; governor of 
 New York, 509 ; tifiity of, 509-511. 
 
 Jay, Peter A., recoriliT, 704. 
 
 Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 373. 397. 631. 
 
 Kennedy House, 490. 633. 
 
 Kennedy, John A , 789, 790. 
 
 Kidd, William, 251, ■.'54. 2.i5. S.56. 
 
 Kip. Hendrick Hendricksen, 95, 13.3. 
 
 Kins, Charles, president of Columbia College, 
 
 784. 
 King's Farm granted to Trinity Church, 275, 
 
 347. 
 King, Preston, death of, 857. 
 Knox, rieneral, in command at New York, 
 
 siis-.in. 
 
 Ivnowiton. Colonel, 505, .506 
 Knv]ihauson, General, 495, .508, 511. 
 Koisnth, Louis, arrival at New York of, 751 . 
 KriL'ier, Martin, one of the first burgomasters. 
 
 96. 1.3.i. 136. 
 Krol. Sebastian Jansen, " Krank besoecker " 
 
 at New Amsterdam, 53. 
 Knvter, Jochein Pietersen, ariival of, 83 ; one 
 
 of Council of Twelve Alen, 107; one of 
 
 Council of Eight Men, 118 ; dispute with 
 
 Kieft ; exiled from the province, 130, 131 ; 
 
 shipwreck, 132 ; appointed schout l>y llie 
 
 Company, 140 ; murder of, 141. 
 
 Laborie, Rev. .James, tirst pastor of the French 
 
 church lu Pine street, 281. 
 Lai'^'hl, EdwVi, one oflhe Sons of Liberty, 412. 
 
 Lafrr.' ffr Cr I- ;;r!" ;ii T.f. .507; departure from 
 N' ■ > "I ' 1 -'■<■-' ;iii-nt visit of,714. 
 
 La!,, .• ■,',.,. 
 
 Laiiiii ,1,, ,n. ih s,,iisof Liberty, 412, 
 
 41, , an,. -led l.\ 11..- assembly, 445, 480; 
 
 in the atlair of 1 lie Asia, 48S ; in the federal 
 
 riot, 590, 591. 
 Lanipo. Jan, first schout fiscal of the province, 
 
 1' J 
 1 1 ^' ' 1UU8 nn-mbtrof theCoun- 
 
 111 120 UI 130 
 Li itis from the hve Dutch 
 
 II II It New \mbteidam. 141. 
 
 Lt I (ja. n C h II k ^ in comni ind at \ew York, 
 
 490 al rested and impi ironed m the City 
 
 Hill 54) 
 I'll I \r . 1 1 till battle of llailem Plains, 
 
 1 of the Sons of Liberty, 
 
 L 1 - „ \ enior of the State of New 
 
 1 ik IS -Ul 
 
 Lilart\ Pole erected on the Commons, 429; 
 
 cut donn b^ the British soldiers, erected 
 
 and igun tut dov\n 4i2-4-3) new Liberty 
 
 Pole elected bv the Sonsof Libeitv,454,455. 
 Li/jiune<- 
 
 \stor 876 
 
 Cooper Inion, 978 
 
 Hisioiieal boe ctj in 1S04 876 
 
 Leno\ 895 
 
 Meicantile in 1S.36 876 878 
 
 Soelet^ in 17j4 il9 J2n JM 655 R76. 
 Lincoln Pre-idelit ilntlou of 7^4 7,S5 ; first 
 
 iilltirmenbx ~M death of 8.)0 ; obse- 
 
 auiesin Nm \ork Sjtl S>1 
 Li peiiaid Leonard di l< gate to fllst Colonial 
 
 Congress 413 477 
 Lispenard s Meadow s, >3, 335 
 
 Livingston, Robert, first proprietor of Liring- 
 stoh Manor, 2.36. 256. 265. 
 
 Livingston, William. 3.3ii, 409. 
 
 Livingston. Philip, leader of the Presbyterian 
 party, 373 ; delegate to first Colonial Con- 
 gress. 412. 477. .547. 
 
 LiviiiL'-i. I:, i: .: . i: n.. delegate to first Colo- 
 nial I ' 1 ■ ' line of theframersof the 
 Dei I II ' I i'l' iiendence, 492; chan- 
 cellii,..i . Ill 11' laie Canal. 713, 720. 
 
 Livingston. .Maiiuni. recorder, 687. 
 
 Loockermans. Govert, 92 ; one of the Council 
 of Nine Men, 133. 
 
 Low, Isaac, 441, 474. 
 
 Lupoid, Ulrich, schout fiscal, 77, 79. 
 
 Masonic Temple, 881. 
 
 Magaw. Colonel, in command at Fort Wash- 
 ington, 507-509; prisoner at New Y'ork, 
 513. 
 
 Manhattan, the island of, in its primitive 
 state, 21, 24, 28; natives of, 25-28; causes 
 which led to the discovery of, 28. 33 ; first 
 settlement of, 39 ; purchase by the Dutch 
 from the Indians of, 52 ; Fort Amsterdam 
 erected on, 57 ; first ship bniltat, 59. 
 
 Manhattan Waterworks, 745, 746. 
 
 Manning, Captain John, left in command of 
 theciFy, 164; .surrender of the fort to the 
 Dutch by, 166 ; court martial of, for coward- 
 ice, 166, 167. 
 
 Mamaroneck, the properly of Caleb Heath- 
 cote, 299. 
 
 Mayors. List of— 
 Willett, Thomas , first mayor of the citv in 
 1665. 1667. 157, in the affair of Leisler, 235. 
 Delavall, Thomas, 1666, 1671, 1678, 157, 171, 
 
 172, 173. 
 Steenwyck, Cornelius, 1668, '69, '70, "83, '83. 
 
 173. 
 Nicolls or Nicholas, Matthias, 167U, 173. 
 Lawrence, John, 1673, 157 ; deputy mayor, 
 
 1674 ; mayor, 1691, 173, 173, 235,"3;J6. 
 Nicolls, Matthias, November 10, 1074. 
 Dervall, William, 1675, 173. 
 De Meyer, Nicholas. 1676, 198. 
 Van Cortlandt, Stephanas. 1677, lG86-'89, 
 200, 301 ; in the affair of Leisler, 330, 236, 
 239. -m, 2.35. 241. 
 Romiv..i», Fnii-.i--. 1679, 201. 
 
 Dvr. \v I "s.!, 1681, 205, 206. 
 
 I 1 1684, 210, 211; in the 
 
 all. I 
 
 .\ . 
 
 Bav 
 
 affairof L. 1-1. I .' 
 
 the admini-iiai ei 
 
 Delanoy, Pier r a... 
 
 elected by the _peo| 
 
 15>;. oil : in the 
 
 ill mayor 
 l..:iii.:;-J3.325; 
 contest with Van Cortlandt. 336, 238. 
 
 De Pevster, Abraham. 1691-1694, '341, .305. 
 
 Lodowick. Charles. 1694. 23:!. 250. 
 
 Merritt, William, 1695-1698. 360. 
 
 De Peyster, Johannes, 1698, 260, 266, 
 367. 
 
 Provoost. David. 1699. 362. 2GI1. 
 
 De Riemer. Isaac, 1700. 
 
 Noell, Thomas. 1701 ; appointed, 265 ; con- 
 test between the Leisleriaiis and anti- 
 Leisleriaus during the admiuistration of, 
 265-267. 
 
 Fiench, Philip, 1702, 263, 380. 
 
 Peartree. William, 1703-1706, 281. 
 
 Wilson, Ebenezer, 1707-1710. 383. 
 
 Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, 1710, '19, 394. 
 
 Heathcote. Caleb. 1711-1714, '347. 398. 299..305. 
 
 Johnston. John. 1714-1718, 300. 30.5. 
 
 Walters, Robert, 1720 1734, 305, 311. 
 
 •Jansen, Johannes, 17*35, 311. 
 
 Lurting, Robert. 1786- 1734. 311, 347. 
 
 Richard, Paul, 1735-1739, 347. 
 
917 
 
 eraser, John. 1V39, 1743, 333. 
 
 Biiyard. Stephen, lT+4-n-(ri. 370, 371, 
 
 Holland, Ed\v:ir(l. i:i: i: r, :;r:! 
 
 Criiger. John, ,ii li" ■ ■ :'il : dispute 
 with Lord Lt)iii;ii '., i!i'Iep:ate to 
 
 first Coloiiiiil ' - ' sl.Hmjis re- 
 
 ceivi'd fi.iMi I .. . ■. i;j, 441. 
 
 Iliclvs. w 1 !■ I ,■ ;: I ;r 438, ■154. 
 
 MatlK'\\ - |i; ,i i il.si, mayor 
 
 CIniloi,. i>v \^ itr. l,sii:-i-)>. • ;-.'- I--I I , ,|,- 
 pointeil, (ilj8; vemuv. .1 : i i : , . 
 
 aity ; reappointed inn; i :: i. 
 
 687; restored to offlei', i-^^ , ri. . i . d l^m i - 
 nor. 704; in the Erie canal, 71ij-vx'l ; 
 death of, 74J. 
 
 Willett, Marinas, 1807, appointed mayor, 
 6S7 ; previous career of, 412. 480. 484, 486, 
 603; aml.a—i.l.M :„ i!,,. r , rk>, 890, 
 
 Radcliir, .1 II ..li 1-'- ]-r ! IS, appointed, 
 689: ivapi, ,. -n: ;n| 
 
 Fergu^ni,, .luiiii. Mil. II, lM:,-.linie. 1815. 
 
 Coldeu, (.'aawallader Li., lul.s-lwjl, appoint- 
 ed to the mayoralty, 704 ; removed, 705. 
 
 Allen. Steph.-n. Ifii, 1S22, appointed, 705 ; 
 superseaerl. 706. 
 
 PauklijiL', Will[|.ii, 1S.J3, 1824, 1826, 1827, 
 
 Hone, I'i. :> ' - 
 
 Bowni. ',\ : .' |s:!i, 732-733. 
 
 Lee. fii.l. . I - . 
 
 Lawreii.. I \\" , 18.'M-1837. 743. 744. 
 
 CUark. .\ .: ■ ;. ;>. 744. 
 
 Variiii, l-i;. I. i- .'• l.tll). T44. 745. 
 
 Morii>. 1;..I...|L il,. i,s41-lf>14,745. 
 
 Harper, James. Ib44, 74S. 
 
 Havernever. William F., 1845, 1848, lS;:i. 
 1874, 718. 749. 
 
 Mirl:!,. \i,-lr..,v TT., 1846,748. 
 
 V.I :.!. W.i . ;.., \- 1-47, 749. 
 
 ^\. .' Ill 1 ' I . Il s . islil, 1850,749-751. 
 
 Kill-- I .\" .■ <'.. 1851. 18,52,751. 
 
 \\\.,;ri i,.,l, ,1a. ..b -\., lS.i.3, 1854. 7.51. 7&4. 
 
 Wood, Fernando, 1S55-1S57, 1S60, 1861, 782. 
 
 Tiemann, Daniel P., 1858, 185.9, 780, 
 
 Opdyiie, George, 1863, 1863. 803. 
 
 Gnnther. C. Godfrey, 1864. 1865, 831. 
 
 Hoffman, JohnT., 1866-1S60, .s57. 
 
 Hall. A. Oakev, 1869-1873. 
 
 Wickham, William H., 1875, 1876. 
 
 Ely, Smith, 1877, 1878. 
 
 Cooper, Edward, 1879, 1880. 
 McDougall, Alexander, one of the Sons oi Lib- 
 erty, 412; arrest and imprisonment of, 445, 
 
 446; one of the Committee of Fifty -one, 474; 
 
 colonel of New York regiment, 4SG. 
 McEvers, James, stamp distributor at New York, 
 
 40T. 417. 
 McGiUivr.ay, Alexander, visit of, with Creek 
 
 deputation, 608, 604. 
 Megapolensis, Domine, clergyman at New Am- 
 sterdam, 134. 
 Meh-n, Cornells, arrival of, S3; grantee of Staten 
 
 Is'land, 66 ; one of Council of Eight Men, 118; 
 
 dispute with Kieft; exiled from the colony, 
 
 180, 131 ; shipwreck of, 182. 
 Mespath, destruction of, 119; Indian massacre 
 
 at, 121. 
 Michaelius, Rev. Jonas, supposed first clergy- 
 man at New Amsterdam, ft?, 64. 
 Milborne, J acob, despatched by Lcisler to Al- 
 bany. 22T ; return to New York, 223 ; second 
 
 expedition to Albany. 230, 231 ; arrest and 
 
 imprisonment of. 235 ; trial and execution of, 
 
 236-238 ; disin terred and buried in the Garden 
 
 street church, 271. 
 Militia, New York City, tendered by Gen. Sand- 
 
 ford for the suppression of the rebellion, 7S9 : 
 
 first departure lor the seat of war, 79S-b01 , in 
 
 1S63, 819. 
 Minetta Brook, 25, 824. 
 Moleraar. Abram, one of the couneU of Twelve 
 
 Men, 107. 
 
 Miilila_.||. , \'.i.i'i INI, II I, 117, I.".', 1^;, 
 
 Mi.i.:- ... I I. I: . ■ ,: I :, ,. , ,1 of, in St. 
 
 Jlo 
 
 , Lew 
 
 .1. 732. 
 
 the 
 
 .1 II -' ... . .11 iisticc,293. 
 
 303. 306, :;.';i , i.i ,..i imiii .ni,. .. iiy Cosby, 
 
 ■■■']: . -piiiM-J lUi- cause el \uu Dam, 345 
 I .if New Jersey, 346. 
 ■I . I. iverneur, 485, 547, 650, 691, 719. 
 ;..i 1 ,1 ,1,1 i.nrchased by Lewis Morris, 2S8. 
 .Moiii., il.Mi.-e, Col. Roger, 506, 621. 
 Jluseum, Banmm's, bunied, 857. 
 Museum of Art, Metropolitan, 890, 899. 
 
 Negro plot of 1712, 291, 292; of 1741, 3.55-369. 
 New Netherland erected into a province, 51 ; 
 conquest ol^ by the English, 163 ; recapture by 
 the Dutch, 164; ceded to the English govern- 
 ment in exchange for Surinam, 166. 
 J^etcs/j apera — 
 Constitutional Corn-ant, issued in 1765, 409, 
 
 410. 
 Greenleafs Patriotic Register, 589, 690. 
 Independent Keflector, organ of the Presbvte- 
 
 rian party in 1764, 383. 
 New York Gazette, first paper in the city, 
 published by William Br.adford, 260. 311, 
 882, 834, 388. 
 New York Gazette or Weekly Post Boy, 383, 
 
 418, 444, 643. 
 New York Weekly Journal, issued by John 
 Peter Zenger, 282 ; burnt by the hangman, 
 283 ; discontinuance of, 383, 
 Rivington's Gazette, destroj^ed by the Liberty 
 Boys, 489 ; transformed mto the Eoyal Ga- 
 zette, 543. 
 Weekly Mercury, published by Hugh Gaino, 
 
 888, 548. 
 Journalism in the city, 656, 734-741, 789. 
 Newtown found<'d. 137. 
 New York ill 1S68, 873. 
 Notelman, Conrail, schout fiscal, 52, 59, 65, 72, 
 
 O'Brien, Colonel, murder of, 827, 
 Opera House, Grand, 878. 
 Opera-House Riot, Astor Place, 749-752. 
 Oswald. Francis, 413, 487. 
 
 Packets, first line of European, established, 
 
 709, 710. 
 Palatines, immigration of, 287 ; migration to 
 
 Pennsylvania and Li\ingston's Manor, 288. 
 Paulus Hook, purchase of, 57. 
 Pauw, Michael, patroon of Pavonia, 57, 
 Pavonia, first erected into a patroonship, 57 ; 
 
 purchased by Ihe company, 78; Indian mas- 
 sacre at. 111, 112. 
 Pedro II., Dom. visit of, 892, 
 Philipse, Frederick, member of council in 1689, 
 
 220, 
 Philipse, Adolphus, judge of Supreme Court, 
 
 330, 331 ; in the Zenger trial, 835, 
 Planck, Abraham, one of the councU of Twelve 
 
 Men, 107, 
 Pintard, John, reminiscences of, 513, 514, 526- 
 
 530, 710, 719. 
 Pitt, William, statue of, 431. 
 Polhemus, Domine Johannes, installed at Mid 
 
 wout, 142. 
 Police, Metropolitan, instituted, 772. 
 
918 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Police Riot, 773. 774, 776. 
 
 Po*r Offic<". New York, built, 679, 880. 
 
 Pi.rr.M-- Ki<-]r] (116. 017. 
 
 I'M ,.(-,.; !1h I. •.volution, 512-531. 
 I-!- ; M,.- Revolution, 531-540. 
 
 i-M\._ii!L!!M.i House and public bnildins^ 
 
 erected by VanTwiller. H5 ; stone tavern. 
 
 in 1642, »t Coenties Slip, by Kicft, 79 ; 
 
 converted into a Stadt Hays, 136. 
 First Market-house, 147. 
 City Hall built in "Wall street ; Stadt Huys 
 
 sold at auction, 25S. 
 Aims-House erected on the Commons, 3l)0, 
 
 ii:^'e, at the foot of 
 
 74. 
 
 >t of Park Place, 3;;3; 
 
 the Revolution, 522, 523, 5S0, 
 
 84T, 
 
 First M. 
 Brua.l 
 
 King';^ < 
 
 Coliinil.i,, t ..Il._.. '.JT. t>28. 
 
 New York ll<.si.it;il, founded in 1"3.4G3,4C4, 
 625, 626. 
 
 Bridewell, 
 5S1, 623. 
 
 New Jail, in the Revolution, 523-5:J0, 5S1, 
 623, 624. 
 
 Federal Hall in "Wall street fitted up for Con- 
 gress, 591. 
 
 Government House erected on the site of the 
 old fort; afterwnrd the Custom House, 596, 
 597, 655. 
 
 Alms House on the Commons, in 1796, 5S1. 
 
 State Prison at Greenwich. 623. 
 
 Bellevue Establishment, 627. 
 
 Post-office. 655. 
 
 Tontine Coffee House, 630. 
 
 Arsenal, 660. 
 
 City Hall built iu the Park, 667. COS. 
 
 Jlerchants' Exchange built in Wall street, 729 ; 
 burning of. 742. 
 
 Public buildings of 1859, 775-783. 
 I'ublic improvements and municipal ordi- 
 nances— 
 
 Fort staked out; horse-mill built, 58. 
 
 Foit rebuilt; graveyard laid out; windmills 
 1 uilt, 65. 
 
 Civil and criminal court established; excise 
 laws established by Kieft, 80. 
 
 Two annual fairs instituted in 1641, 96. 
 
 City wall built alony the line of Wall street, 
 123. 
 
 Fire w.irdens appointed; wtights and meas- 
 ures regulated, 134. 
 
 Fortifications erected in Wall street, 137. 
 
 Burgher rights established in the city, 145, 146. 
 
 Fire-buckets, hooks and ladders imported, 
 and a rattle watch organized; thatched 
 roofs and wooden chimneys abolished, and 
 improved property subjected to taxation, 
 146. 
 
 Latin school (jpc-ned. 147. 
 
 Roadoi'^ iM il I , II. ii:, m, 143. 
 
 Publicn:>. , ii.intsinl669,in Broad 
 
 streii, fithly mail established 
 
 bet^vr,n^.^^ \ .1 1 :iii<l Boston, 102. 
 
 Ordinances orv\ndrns. 197-200. 
 
 Broad street improved, 199. 
 
 Slaughter houses removed from the city, 200. 
 
 Public wells built in the city, 134, 201. 
 
 City divided into six wards, 209, 210. 
 
 Po",'der magazine established at the Smit's 
 Vly, 212. 
 
 Water street projected; Wall street laid out, 
 213, 214. 
 
 City fortified by Leisler, 226. 
 
 Water street extended ; Pine and Cedar streets 
 laid out, 241. 
 
 Maiden Lane regnlated, 253. 
 
 Streets cleaned at public expense, and for the 
 first time lighted, 258, 259: 
 
 First English school established in the citv, 
 273, 274. 
 
 First night watch established. 2i9. 
 Freedom of the city in Cornbury's adminis 
 
 tration; street cleaning; jmblic pound, 279, 
 
 2S1. 
 Water street extended ; Broadway paved ; 
 
 ordinances of 1707, 283. 
 Market opened at the upper end of Broad 
 
 street, 296, 3'97. 
 First purchase of furniture for the use of the 
 
 Common Council, 297, 298. 
 Public dock put up on the City Hall, 800. 
 First ropewalk bulit in Broadway, 301. 
 New ferry established, 301. 
 Jews'bui-ial ground established near Chatham 
 
 Square, 315. 
 Powder Magazine built on the island in tho 
 
 Collect, 815. 
 Greenwich and Washington streets com- 
 menced; new ships built, 319. 
 Line of stages established between New York 
 
 and Philadelphia, 819. 
 First public library established in the city 
 
 319, 820. 
 Markets of 1785, 821. 
 
 Tlie "Strand" sold at public auction, 322. 
 Pearl street laid out and regulated, 322. 
 City divided into seven wards, 325. 
 Fire engines first introduced, 325; fire depart- 
 ment organized, 326. 
 Alms House and House of Correction built on 
 
 the Commons; Cortlandt street opened, 317. 
 First stone of the new battery laid on the 
 
 Whitehall rocks, 348. 
 Water street named and extended, 343. 
 Rector street opened, 349. 
 Quarantine established at Bedloe's Island, 355. 
 Market-house built in Broadway, opposite 
 
 Liberty street, 353. 
 John. Hey. Bookman and Thames streets 
 
 pnvr-^ ■!n.( r, -iilated. 374. 
 Fir- M. ! ' ,; Exchange built at the foot 
 
 ie(i. 37; 
 
 betwe 
 -J. 
 
 New York and 
 
 IV. .. -:., i 1 and paved, 8S4. 
 
 Fiilivi. .-u, , 1 .•j.uK-d and regulated, 394. 
 Theatre opened in Beekman sti-eet, 395. 
 Public lamps and lamp-posts for the first time 
 
 erected, 397. 
 Sandy Hook lighthouse lighted for the first 
 
 time. 898. 
 Ferries established between New York and 
 Paulus Hook, and Staten Island and Bergen, 
 898. 
 New York Hospital commenced, 46:3. 
 Canal constructed in Canal street, 578, 579. 
 Collect filled up, 680. 
 First sidewalks laid in the city, 581, 532. 
 Broadway graded below Canal street, 5S2. 
 Streets numbered, 582. 
 
 Manhattan Water-works constructed, 663, 667. 
 Public Schools established in the city, 674- 
 
 677. 
 Introduction of Steam Navigation, 678-683. 
 Steam ferry-boats first used on the rivei-s, 
 
 636, 6S7. 
 New York island surveyed and laid out, 691, 
 
 692. 
 Fortification of the harbor, 697-701. 
 European packet lines established, 709, 710. 
 First Savings Bank opened in the city. 710. 
 Introduction of gas into the city, 723, 724. 
 Marble first used as a building material, 726, 
 
 727. 
 Penny press first established, 734-73S. 
 Introduction of the Crotou water into the 
 
 citv 745-748. 
 Crystal Palace opened in 1&53, 751. 
 Central Park purchased and laid out, 759-770, 
 
010 
 
 Putnam, Con. Israel, 490. 485-408, 603, 604, 
 
 Quackenbos, Isaac, 448-450. 
 Quarantine, Staten Island, burned, 780. 
 
 Racliel in New York. 758, 759. 
 Railroads, Elevated 896-899. 
 Randall, Tli..mas. AT. 
 
 Rapelje. ( -■ .l:ii,-o, .1-, .-0, 84, 107. 
 
 Rapid Ti:ii • ■-•'' 
 
 Rosieres, I ;. ' .' :■' .-4 
 Rawlins. (■■ i.iiii , :.",. .•.ii.s, .Mi. 
 Raymond. 11. .7.. died, 879, 
 Real Estate Speculations. .'.75-.'-77. 
 Regiment, Se\enth, march to Washington, 
 793, 794. 
 
 Riots, Oi 
 Ristori. \ 
 Riker, Ki 
 
 Kitzin:i. I 
 
 i;ii,'iii,,. .■ 
 
 -1^7 
 
 «"■ 
 
 I. I. iMiS, 708, T04. 
 the (.:i»lie^i.'ite Church. 533. 
 nelolNew York regiment. 
 
 r[i. r;il, military commandant of the 
 
 city, 5110. bo3. 
 Robinson. Thomas, one of the Suns of Libertv. 
 
 410, 417. 
 Robinson, Beverly, 421. 
 Kou, Rev. Louis, of the FrencQ Church in Pine 
 
 street, SOU. 
 
 Sandy Hook, discovery of, 32. 
 
 Saybrook founded. 7S. 
 
 Schuyler, Peter, 224, 265, 294, 306. 
 
 Scott, John IMnrin. one of the Sons of Liberty, 
 411; in !':'■ F.r":.'l "fi-f.'t nffair, 485, 
 
 Seal first - ■:• ! ' :!i . itv. 1R9. 140; flrstEng- 
 lishsriil :<: . .1 ' I r.Mi. 213, 214. 
 
 Sears, Is.m i', ~.ms of Liberty, 410, 
 
 417; «..,,. I :, I il-rtv Pole, 4.32, 435; 
 
 inthi.li ii I : 11'" I '--t.'iit; removal 
 
 from •■111' ■ i 1 irum thecity 
 
 to tlu- 111 I) '■■ ' -' --. 479; arrest 
 
 and sul'.-.c.i.Kiii itu.ic.^ wi. isu ; enters the 
 army, 4S7; office of Jiiciiigtuii s Gazette de- 
 stroyed by, 489. 
 
 Selyns, Domine Henry, installed at Breuckelen, 
 171. 
 
 Shoemaker's Land, the, 328. 
 
 Skinner, Abraham, American Commissary, 539. 
 
 Smits, Claes, murder of, 106. 
 
 Smith, \VilH:iin. i'.a. .Son: in the Zenger trial, 
 331 Z'-^:.:- nil. k iiMiii !!,i ii~i i.f ;ittorney8 by 
 Cosbv, :: ! ' '.I ; i .1 .;7.3, 376,409. 
 
 Smith, 'Ml • '■ Mi-n Hill, 461. 
 
 Smith. (.i'..i'i'.> 111, 1' ■ • [III. .11 ..:, - ■- 
 
 Societies, beiievoknt, in the lnu'innins of the 
 nineteenth century, 62S-630; in 1859. 7S4; 
 religious, in the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century, 631. 
 
 Society. Loyal Publication, history of, S09-S13. 
 
 Sons of Liberty, organization of, 409 ; leaders of, 
 410; patriotic handbills of, 413; Committee 
 of Correspondence chosen bv. 417; Cuiden 
 
 burnt in efflgy on the (' n- !'} 11^120; 
 
 stamps delivered by * - ' - i - 428; 
 
 stamp distributor for Mi ' i I by. 
 
 426; stamps on board tin Mi: ■ i i - i/. 4 and 
 burnt bv. 427.428; tirst st:oo|i.'d |i;i|«.r seen 
 tn thee'itv.42S: Lord Grenville, Lord Colville 
 and General .Miirrav burnt in effi-v on the 
 Commons. 42'-, 429; repeal of the Statnp Act; 
 Liberty Pole erected .m the Commons bv. 
 
 429, 430; battles about the Liberty Pole, 429- 
 430; handbills denounciiig the Assembly is- 
 sued bv. 444; arrest of John Ijunb. 445; 
 Liberty Pole cut down bv tli.' .soldi, .r>. in- 
 dignation iiir.tiii_-ol'tli..>oii,sol' l.ni.rli, IIT; 
 battle of (i-ildrii Hill. H-- t.'^-l; l,ili.ri> I'ol- 
 erected bv,4.vi, 4.V.; ll;oiiii,l.-ii Ibill |.ui. Ii.i-.d 
 by, 455, 456; Nathan l:o^'ir>. 4..^; -iitii.d 
 action in respect to the hiu.lin,' oi' i.:i I'o 
 463; aiTival of the tea ships; t. ;i i>iiilv m ^■ w 
 York Harbor, 469-473; leai. takini; ol ih,- 
 captains by the Sons of Liberty, 472. 47o ; 
 correspondence with the Sons of Liberty in 
 Boston; the Committee of Fifty-one ; renewal 
 of the non-importation .agreement proposed. 
 4T:; 171. ..1. I 111, eting in the fields, 476, 477; 
 ),,, i I I lloston BaiTacks seized by. 
 4m,. I.I . it the news of the battle of 
 L, \,iijt..ii l,\ l-,l-433; seizure of the stores 
 at lurll,- ISav 1,.\,4S3; the Broad street affair, 
 484-486; removal of the cannon from the 
 Battery; bombardment of the town by the 
 A-i:i, 4^s; HUhiaiana Gazette destroy, d by. 
 
 :,:-V640. 
 , .,r. 877. 878. 
 ilie Doctors' 
 
 Steulieii. liaioii. M,, b 
 Mob. 586. 
 
 Stewart's Grave, desecration of, 895, 
 
 StirlinK, Lord, Long Island granted by Ply- 
 monfli I'riniiianv to. 85, 86. 
 
 Stirling: I.oiil \\ liliam Alexander, in the bat- 
 tle of l.oiiL' l-land. 494-498; e.xpedition 
 latoii Island of, 556. 
 
 Sir 
 
 .878. 
 
 Tabernacle, Broadway, history of, 779-780. 
 Telegraph, first Magiietic, from ^"e^v York, 
 
 748. 
 Theatre. Booth's, 878, 
 Tombs, 783, 
 
 Tompkins, Daniel D., 761, 702, 715. 
 Treaty of Tawasentha, 41, 45. 
 Tweed, death of, 891. 
 
 Underbill, -John, settles in New Netherland, SB ; 
 
 in the Indian war, 118-121 ; revolts against the 
 
 Dutch government, 137. 
 Union Square Meeting. April 20, 1861, 796, 796. 
 Utrecht, New, founded by Jaques Cortelyou, 150. 
 
 Van Cortlanilt, Oloffe Stevenson, alderman, 157. 
 
 Van I ■II"- III.'., 11.92, 183, 186. 
 
 Villi I ' 1.; , iiiber of Council of Hunter, 
 *j-- .,,. I iiinu-t, 805; administers affairs 
 all, r III, ,1. i.iii ,.1 .Montgomerie, 828; •ontest 
 with Cosby, liso, 331 ; contest with Clarke, 845. 
 
 Vanderclifl'''8 Orchard, 32.3, 824 
 
 Vandergrist, Paulus, one of the first schepens, 
 136. 
 
 Van Dincklagen, Lubbertus, schout fiscal of the 
 province; dispute with Van Twiller, 72; sus- 
 tained by the States General, 77, 78; Vice- 
 Director under Stuyvesant, 125, 
 
 Van Dyck, Iknilrick, in the Indian war, 109. 
 
920 
 
 Van Fees, Anthony, earliest conveyance of pro- 
 perty in the city made to, 95. 
 Van OlieeL Maximilian, one of the first schepens, 
 
 136. 
 
 , burgo: 
 
 Hatten, Areut, one of the 
 
 ters. 186. 
 Viui Ness House, the, 618, 619. 
 Van Kemund, Jan, koopman, 52, 63, 65, 
 Van Kuyven, Corneliu^ alderman, 157. 
 Van Schelluyne. Dirck, first lawyer of New 
 
 •Vnisterdam, 184. 
 Vau Tienhoven, Cornelius, koopman, 64, 71*; in 
 
 the Indian war, 104, 105; schout, 136. 
 Van Vaurk, James, 145. 
 Van "WM-k, Piciie C. recorder, 6S7-6S9. 
 Van .7.n:V, J..o.l.,KS, 445. 
 Xrt: I 1 III li-ifivery of Manhattan by, 28; 
 
 V,■^>■ 
 
 iri^i, first clergyman of Trinity 
 
 Wadsworth, James A., Major-General, of New 
 
 York, sol. 
 Wales, Prince of, visit to New York, 783-784. 
 Wallabout, the, settled, 50, 51. 
 Walloons, arrival of, 50. 
 Walton House, the, erected, 385, 386. 
 Wampum, description of, 99, 100; ordinance 
 
 respecting, 100, 101 
 
 Washington, Gen., in command at New York, 
 491; at the Battle of Long Island, 49&-49S; 
 retreats from Lon^ Island, 498-500 ; evacuates 
 the city. 501; in the battle of Harlem Plains. 
 505, 606; at Morrisania, 506; evacuates the 
 island. 501 ; conspiracy against, baffled by the 
 New York delegation,'M9, 550; enters the city 
 on the 25th of November, 1783, 56S; at 
 Fraunces' Tavern, 572, 573 ; inaugurated first 
 President of the United States in the Citv 
 Hall in Wall street, 594, 595; life in New- 
 York. 596-600. 
 
 Washington, Union Square statue, 770. 
 
 Westchester Annexation, 891. 
 
 Wiley, William. 412, 417, 487. 
 
 Williams, Erasmus, one of the Sons of Liberty, 
 445. 
 
 Winter Garden burned, 872. 
 
 Wistar, Caspar, one of the Sons of Liberty, 445. 
 
 Wolferrs Marsh. 25, 824. 
 
 Woodhull, Gen. Nathaniel, death of. 49& 
 
 Wool, Gen., in command at New York, 799. 
 
 Worth Monument, erection of, 770. 
 
 Zantberg— See Hills. 
 
 Zenker, John Peter, birth and history of, 882 ; 
 * """ iT,.,.^ Weeklt/ Journal published by, 
 ■ " — ; '*tBe 
 
loi-iMMY UP •■.:•■ '.MGRFSS 
 
 III I I I 
 
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